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The limited box (only 500 copies worldwide) includes five colored vinyl LP’s with over 35 exclusive tracks plus four additional digital bonus tracks (with digital download code), a bonus double CD version exclusively designed by Lorena Assisi, a T-shirt (only size L) and an exclusive documentary about the label – all in a specially designed box by Dave McKean.

Only 1 per customer!

A journey to the moon that began fifteen years ago now reaches another milestone – 15 years, one and a half decades, over 150 individual releases, many many artists, countless professional relationships but also friendships along the way. Many many stories and shared memories – not all of them good, not all of them bad either. While modern space age technology would make it possible to reach the moon’s surface a lot faster, for us it is not only about moving forward as quickly as possible, but also to turn around, look back and around ourselves and to reflect on everything that happened and is happening. This is why we have such a broad range of artists guesting on our latest compilation. Some that have been part of the voyage from its earliest stages, others that have been with us for major milestones along the way, and even more that might move ahead with us into new and unchartered musical regions.

Working with Dave McKean – a true legend, especially for anyone into comic illustrations – wraps up this whole trip in the sweetest way. Not only is it a big honour, but – in a way – it completes the circle, as Dave has been a major influence for the label’s artworks from its earliest beginnings already.

Luckily, we have not crashed into any lunar crater with our listeners. We want to thank you for making this long journey possible and we greatly look forward to celebrating this milestone with our partners, musical family and of course with you, our listeners.

Since our 10th anniversary the face of one of our founding members who passed away way too early graces our logo. This release is dedicated to her and commemorates the 11th anniversary of her death.

Featured on the compilation are such artists as Synkro, Rain Dog, Monsoonsiren, Tom Day, Robot Koch, Flako, 40 Winks, Long Arm, submerse, kidkanevil, 1000 Names, Tendts, Kafuka, Erik Luebs, My Panda Shall Fly, CYNE, Soosh, Nuage, Michał Lewicki, Jilk, Sieren, Olof Melander, KRTS, Deft, Barnaby Carter, Rumpistol, Fau, Button Eyes, Deceptikon, Pavel Dovgal, Memotone, Graciela Maria, Mujuice, Stompy’s Playground, Sina., Sweatson Klank, Senoy, Parra for Cuva, Fybe One, and many more. Artwork by Dave McKean (Dark Horse Comics / DC Comics / Tundra).

Definitive career-spanning anthology
Includes previously unreleased tracks, inspired collaborations, and material from Leslie’s groundbreaking 1990 solo debut, Witch
Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, Christophe Van Huffel, Jay Glass Dubs, Mari G. Mooney, and Diamond Version, amongst others
Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin
24-page booklet featuring a new, extensive interview with Leslie and liner notes by acclaimed author, critic and compilation co-producer Wyndham Wallace, along with an essay by award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei
Cover collage by renowned British artist Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon
Picture shows a mock up. The actual records are unique and will differ.

“The definition of a hidden gem” – John Peel

“The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life.” – Max Richter

“She might just be the coolest woman on the planet!” – Boy George

Light in the Attic is ecstatic to announce When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It: a 16-track anthology that celebrates the extraordinary work of musician, poet, and author, Leslie Winer. When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It spans Winer’s three-decade-long musical career: from her groundbreaking solo work in the early ‘90s to her latest inspired projects. Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, and others, the collection also spotlights Winer’s diverse collaborations, and unearths previously-unreleased recordings.

Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin, When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It will be available in multiple special 2xLP editions, on CD, and across digital platforms. The album includes a new interview with Winer, captured by the compilation’s co-producer, acclaimed author and critic Wyndham Wallace. Rounding out the package is an insightful essay by the award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei and an original cover collage by the renowned British photographer and artist, Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon.

MORE ABOUT LESLIE WINER….

Musician, poet, iconoclast, model, artist, enigma. Leslie Winer is many things.

Born to a teenage mother and sold for $10,000 in a black market adoption when she was just hours old, Winer has always lived an uncommon life. She grew up in Boston with a voracious appetite for music and the written word and embraced the city’s lively jazz and folk scene in the ‘70s. Moving to New York for art school, she gravitated towards a vibrant crowd of intellectuals, artists, and radical thinkers—or perhaps they gravitated towards her.

There, Winer formed an unlikely friendship with writer and artist William S. Burroughs and lived on-and-off with Jean-Michel Basquiat. In London, where Winer began her musical ventures in earnest, she was a regular at Leigh Bowery’s underground club Taboo, where she met many of her collaborators, including filmmaker John Maybury, Kevin Mooney (of Adam and the Ants), and Boy George, who once declared that Winer “might just be the coolest woman on the planet!”

Winer’s striking looks also attracted fashion designers and photographers. Throughout the early ‘80s, she was an in-demand model—appearing in campaigns for Valentino, Christian Dior, and Yohji Yamamoto, and serving as a muse for a young Jean-Paul Gaultier, who later dubbed Winer “the first androgynous model.” She posed for Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Pierre et Gilles, and graced the covers of The Face, French and Italian editions of Vogue, and Mademoiselle.

But music was Winer’s true passion and, at the turn of the ‘90s, she would unknowingly help invent the massively popular genre known today as trip-hop.

On her debut, Witch, Winer masterfully blended the uninhibited sampling of early hip-hop with dancehall basslines and programmed beats, while weaving mesmerizing—and coolly-detached—spoken-word vocals into her ambient tracks. It was unorthodox in the most delicious ways.

The album was a bold experiment by the self-taught artist, who enlisted a number of talented musicians in the sessions, including Culture Club’s Helen Terry, Karl Bonnie of Renegade Soundwave, former Public Image Ltd. bassist Jah Wobble, and Kevin Mooney, as well as Marco Pirroni and Matthew Ashman (both of Adam and the Ants, among other acts).

While Witch was finished in 1990, it wouldn’t be released for three years, due to the whims of Winer’s label. In the meantime, several tracks made their way out into the world as early as June 1990, thanks to BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who later referred to Witch as “the definition of a hidden gem.”

Opening with the laid-back dub beats and soft, sing-songy chorus of “He Was,” Witch features such highlights as the up-tempo “Skin,” the hypnotic, bass-heavy “The Boy Who Used 2 Whistle,” and the album’s closer, “Dream 1,” in which waves of reverb-soaked vocals bounce from one ear the other.

While sonically, Winer was breaking new ground, she was also bringing a fresh, incendiary take on what it means to be a woman in the music business, as embodied by her composition “N1 Ear,” in which she delivers a scorching, feminist manifesto, borrowed from the Women’s Liberation Broadsheet: “If I get raped it must be my fault / And if get bashed I must’ve provoked it / And if I raise my voice I’m a nagging bitch / And if I like fucking I’m a whore…And if I ask my doctor too many questions I’m neurotic and need pills / Because I still can’t get a safe birth control while some fucker’s roaming the moon.”

Winer had every right to vent her frustrations as a woman in music. Despite her fierce demeanor and steadfast focus, she was consistently disregarded and typecast by the industry. Many of her early collaborators failed to credit her work, while others simply overlooked her influence. Witch, for example, was so delayed that by the time the album saw the light of day (released under the pseudonym “©”), trip-hop was gaining mainstream traction via acts like Portishead, Massive Attack, and Madonna. Although Winer eventually gained wider acknowledgment (prompting the NME to give her the dubious distinction of “The Grandmother of Trip-Hop”), Witch initially went sorely unnoticed.

Following the disappearance of Witch, Winer continued to record, undeterred by the elusive nature of mainstream success in the modern music business. Her network of inspired collaborators continued to grow and expand, yet her influence remained largely a secret except to those in the know, such as Grace Jones and Sinead O’Connor, who would cover her songs.

Today, Winer stays busy on new musical projects in the French countryside, where she has spent the past two decades raising her five daughters. A prolific writer, she has also published two collections of poetry and oversees the literary estate of Herbert Huncke, a defining member of the Beat Generation.

In the modern era, one is hard-pressed to find an artist who continues to push the creative envelope as much as Winer does. And yet, three decades after her revolutionary debut, her work remains just as startling and fresh.

Winer’s influence might best be summed by the award-winning composer Max Richter, who offered the following thoughts to Wyndham Wallace for his extensive liner notes: “The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life. A visionary commentator on the relationship between individuals and society in the mould of Blake or Woolf, Leslie Winer knows things that the culture at large just doesn’t understand yet, and she has never been afraid to let us know that.”

Marmo, a collaborative project between Christian Duka (Vādin / Amoenus) and Marco Maldarella (Sinestesie), was born out of friendship and shared passion for music-making. Starting off respectively as the electric guitarist and singer in a metal band nearly a decade ago, the pair have worked their way through various flavours of electronic music inhabiting someplace between ambient and dance music, arriving at their singular aesthetic on this, their second album and first for Utter. 'Epistolae' - Latin for 'written letters' - was created between London and Bologna during the Covid-19 pandemic, an ode to friendship and as a way to keep connected during a time of isolated separation. The album is conceived as one continuous musical experience, with each track flowing effortlessly into each other in sequence as is heard on the final cut you are listening to now. A veritable sonic journey, as one might say. The outcome is an undulating collage carrying emotion as its common thread, with rich ambient textures giving way to bursts of percussion, simmering with shrouded whispers and spoken word, embossed with rhythms and borrowing influences from downtempo, dub, breaks, techno and tribal electronica. 'Epistolae' is available on limited vinyl and digital formats, mastered & Cut by Anne Taegert at D&M. Artwork by Marco Maldarella.

Damian Lazarus celebrates 20 Years of his world-renowned Crosstown Rebels imprint with a special album project of unreleased cuts and fresh remixes, featuring material from Black Coffee, Maceo Plex, Art Department, Dennis Cruz and many more.

Undeniably one of the most influential record labels within underground dance music, releasing material from Laurent Garnier, Krust and Mathew Jonson to Rósìn Murphy, Deniz Kurtel, Francesca Lombardo and Jennifer Cardini while playing a pivotal part in the careers of artists like Maceo Plex, Jamie Jones, Art Department and Seth Troxler, Crosstown Rebels stands today as a hub and platform for flourishing projects across the electronic spectrum, including via sub-label Rebellion and across a long list of showcases across the globe. More than just your everyday label, the Crosstown Rebels legacy has grown alongside its founder in equal measure, with head honcho Damian Lazarus continually showcasing, championing and spotlighting artists from across the globe who share his radiant, experimental vision for house music and beyond. Ringing in a major milestone in style, 2023 will see the biggest twelve months to date as Lazarus and Crosstown mark the 20th Anniversary of the label with a series of projects set to be unveiled in the lead-up to summer, with ‘cr20 The Album’ set for release on 12th May 2023.

“20 years ago, I dreamed a dream of creating a family of like-minded, crazy individuals from all corners of the planet - releasing music to the world and making people dance. That dream was Crosstown Rebels, and this year we are 20. Over these years, I have forged beautiful friendships, discovered very talented artists and tried my best to help, advise and support some of the most colourful characters in dance music. Crosstown Rebels is more than a record label, it is family. So 2023 will mark the label’s 20th Anniversary. This is an opportunity for the Crosstown Rebels family, a global community of artists, DJs and creatives, and the label’s myriad of followers to celebrate this momentous milestone. There will be parties and events around the world. A killer compilation of exclusives and special remixes, a beautiful coffee table book, a short film, and a special launch event are planned to bring together the sights and sounds of the label’s unique and influential history. There’s lots to share, announce and reminisce. 20 years young.” - Damian Lazarus.

Comprised of six stellar, high-profile remixes of releases from the label’s catalogue, alongside two previously unreleased original gems, the eight-track package is a rich and exemplary showcase of the far-reaching corners of the Crosstown Rebels sound and also its globally connected family of artists and close friends.

Opening the package, Lazarus’ own 2020 collaboration ‘Into The Sun’ with regular Crosstown vocalist Jem Cooke is given a cosmic rework by Johannesburg’s Major League DJz, while Jamie Jones’ slick ‘Paradise 2011’ is stripped back and given a new lease of life by the hypnotic and heady sounds of Art Department. Opening the B-Side, Dennis Cruz brings his percussive Latin-infused signature sound palette to Chilean musician and producer Pier Bucci’s ‘Hay Consuelo’, before Audiojack’s ‘Feel Good’, another standout collaboration alongside Cooke, is taken into synth-led territories as Michael Mayer reaches for an evolving bed of captivating tones.

The second half of the project brings more excellently remixed material, both new and old, with GRAMMY-winning DJ/producer Black Coffee turning his hand to the label’s first release of 2023 in Made By Pete and Zoe Kypri’s emotive ‘Horizon Red’, unveiling reworked melodies and sparkling keys as he delivers an interpretation of a track which has featured as a staple in his sets. Next, the project welcomes Adam Ten & Yamagucci’s playful yet off-kilter and wonky ‘The K Dance’ which unveils itself as a production perfect for those late night hours and early afters, before Ellum boss Maceo Plex’s ‘Together (2011 Mix)’ brings another lost production to the mix with a driving and zipping ride through sugary synths and soaring leads. To close, Tibi Dabo turns his attention to Guti & Dubshape’s absorbing ‘Every Cow Has A Bird’, delivering a nimble minimal-led trip through lush pads and crisp percussion to round things out in style.

Alongside the album, the 20 Year celebrations will also welcome a 192-page hardback book, ’20 Years Of Magic, Madness and Music’, with words from renowned journalist and key underground music player Joe Muggs, and a feature-length documentary directed by acclaimed director David Terranova.

Crosstown has become known globally for throwing some of the world’s best parties, from the wondrous cultural journey of Day Zero Tulum to longstanding Music Week marathon Get Lost Miami. This ethos of creating magical dancefloor moments spills into the label’s 20 year celebration with its worldwide Get Lost tour, launched with Get Lost Miami, and followed by Bali, Tokyo, Ibiza, Dubai, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, London, Berlin and more, plus a special to-be-announced London showcase.

We’ve patiently waited after LSW’s 2019 debut “Life Style West” and it was more than worth it. The Düsseldorf group is blessing us with their sophomore work “Mir Tut Alles Weh” — Everything Hurts. But why does it feel so good?

This 11-track double LP is guaranteed to be a hit in your local Stammkneipe. Packed with forward-thinking nostalgia, poetic impressions of western decadence, LSW are certifying that punk remains posh in the Federal Republik of Germany. In an undeniably candombléan set up, Leonard Horres, Sebastian Welicki, Gregor Darman and Aki Vierboom continue their weird world building with a more mature sound. A holistic, detailed production that leaves you finding new elements at every listen.

Broken only by occasional melodic whispers, Horres introduces us to his city with ecstatic reiterations of his deepest, most deconstructed and sarcastically self-depreciating narratives. Dampened, forward-moving, industrial rhythms, orchestrated upon with live instrumentation and spherical synths pull us back and forth between dirty streets and the light clouds above. All with that chique nonchalance we cannot withstand.

Is this the new Deutsche Welle? Or eclectic Angstwave at its finest? Whatever,

‘Still’ is the new collaborative record by The Vernon Spring and Gwilym Gold. Borne of three and a half hours of collective piano improvisations in the aftermath of a bereavement, these meditative works are the result of friendship and generosity in a time of vulnerability. Performed using a prepared Upright Piano and Grand Piano installed with The Mechanical Resonator Piano (invented by Andrew McPherson) this project champions the beauty of both raw human interaction and modern technological instrumentation.

‘Still’ was originally recorded for Trestle Records, One Day Band 26. Trestle Records is a London based label dedicated to new instrumental music. Alongside a programme of new LP releases the label also hosts the One Day Band sessions. Musicians are invited to a fully engineered studio to make a record in a day. A multitude of artists have been invited to participate from a variety of backgrounds and genres of music.

The prodigious 20-year old South East Londoner Tom Misch releases Beat Tape 2 through his own label Beyond The Groove. The project is a soulful extension of the themes explored on Beat Tape 1, this time featuring a host of collaborations including Carmody, the beautifully delicate soulful singer who just happens to be one of his friends older sister; fast-rising wordsmith, Loyle Carner and Melbourne native Jordan Rakei, who since striking a friendship up with Tom online, has taken the plunge and moved from Oz to East Dulwich himself.

The creative partnership between Tiga & HudsonMohawke expresses a mutual love of "hardcoreromance," a liminal state where the boundsbetween euphoria, melancholy and the raw powerof friendship disintegrate completely. Recorded inLos Angeles from 2019-2023, thesecommonalities ebbed and flowed through variousrecording sessions, culminating in their debutalbum - L"Ecstasy. Originally conceived as a hardcore rave projectfocusing on bleary-eyed 6am catharsis, thebreadth of the project expanded to encompasstheir shared love of the music surrounding the 90sravebiome, with chill-out quasi-IDM ambient - "ExitWarehouse at Dawn", "lmznin" - creating spacefor the album"s tentpole anthems - "IN Order 2,""VSOD," "Ascending into the Clouds" - to breathe.

As the fable goes: pre-discogs, intrepid disc jocks would often take trips to Italy (many tricking their spouse into believe it was a ‘holiday’!) to source records from the seemingly endless supply of top tier Italo, disco and cosmic record shops across the country. According to legend, the classified sections of local yellow pages and information booklets which would contain the addresses of the record shops and dealers in the area would often be ripped out unscrupulously, thwarting – or at least making it more difficult for – the next vinyl tourist to source out the rare gems amongst the rich seams – a wild west vinyl gold rush if you will.

Such stories are a rarity these days, with youtube making some of the most underground tracks common knowledge, and discogs almost making any record obtainable – at a price of course. Upgrading his digging methodology, Bosco has developed a secret New Technique to side-step the machine and in doing so obtained a clutch of amyl-soaked fluffers that are so rare, that upon writing they aren’t even listed online! Seriously, he must be communicating with some interdimensional, upper echelon Italo overlords; taking us on a primo-thrust tour through the most unexposed recesses of the Italo disco galaxy.

Don’t be hoodwinked by their sheer obscurity however; we wouldn’t give a toss if they couldn’t tear the arse off the dancefloor. But they’re all fuckin rhodium grade tackle peeps! Eight neon-drenched late night roman candles of Italo disco decadence that’ll defo have you jizzing rainbow skittles over the dancefloor as you search desperately through the fog for another huff of poppers off Darren.

Total Discogs market value: as yet undetermined

Pharoah Brunson’s Pyramid Points: 9999999999999

An album about friendship, belonging, faith and understanding, themes which are palpable in the music, which is gentle and uplifting, healing and rousing. Efterklang has become an open community with three permanent members: Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg. On this album the core trio re-connected with their old friend and founding Efterklang member Rune Mølgaard who left the band in 2007 to join the mormon church, and ultimately withdrew from the church in 2022. His profound spiritual journey significantly influences the album's content and tone, on which he has co-written seven of the nine songs. 'Things We Have In Common' coincides with the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut album, and presents 2 decades of collaboration, exploration, evolution and reconnection. The album features contributions from a variety of international musicians. Zach Condon of Beirut, Finnish drummer Tatu Rönkkö, Venezuelan guitarist Hector Tosta and Guatemalan cellist and singer Mabe Fratti all became key collaborators. Italian award-winning mixer Francesco Donadello and South Denmark Girls’ Choir both left their indelible mark on the record, as their did with the band’s 2012 album ‘Piramida’.

After a huge year of travelling in 2022, playing DJ sets in more than 30 cities across 10 countries, Captain Planet dove back into the studio to create his 5th and most ambitious album to date- Sounds Like Home. Taking a turn toward the more organic, retro sounds of artists who originally inspired him as a young musician, Charlie Wilder (aka Captain Planet) flexed his composer and bandleader muscles- incorporating horn sections, strings and acoustic drums more than the big club focussed electronic sounds he has often come to be known for. "The basic concept was to make a record like the ones I constantly pull off my shelves at home and play on the weekends. The records that turn into living room dance parties with my family, the soundtracks while I'm cooking, the music that fills the backyard for lazy hang outs." An avid vinyl record collector and musicologist since his teens, the Captain has a near encyclopedic knowledge of music from around the world, particularly artists from the 60's and 70's, which is the era that inspired much of the sonic texture on this new album.
In classic Captain Planet style, a kaleidoscopic array of genres from around the world find their way into the mix- Brazilian disco, Latin funk, Jamaican dub, Middle Eastern psychedelia, and American soul music. While this diversity may sound more like a mixtape, the Captain's trademark uplifting vibe and impeccable knack for building a great groove, provide the special ingredients that pull it all together and makes the sauce work. The Fader wrote "the Captain is a walking 'recommended vinyl' section from the best record store you've ever been to", because all his deep love and appreciation for classic music comes right through him in his original songs. Throughout this album you'll hear echoes of timeless artists like Cymande, Gilberto Gil, Ray Barretto, Curtis Mayfield, Mulatu Astatke, and Gabor Szabo, all funneled through the Captain's modern musical sensibility, shaped by nearly 2 decades of being a professional world-traveling DJ.
The past year also brought some major challenges for Charlie Wilder, most central of which was losing a close friend and collaborator, the fellow LA-based DJ/producer Sumohair (1⁄2 of the band Reyna Tropical). The album starts off with a brief tropical tribute to his friend, followed by the strong message "Music Is Medicine" sung by another regular collaborator, the Zimbabwean-American (Grammy winning) singer Shungudzo. With the true value of friendship front and center on his mind, Captain Planet made a strong conscious effort to include many of his oldest friends and musical partners throughout the album, including Grammy winning pianist Sam Barsh, Chico Mann, Zuzuka Poderosa (who bartended at one of the Captain's earliest DJ residencies in Brooklyn), David Walters (whose new album "Soul Tropical" was co-written & co-produced by the Captain), Todd Simon, Leo Mintek (who has played guitar with Wilder since their teens), and Wilder's youngest brother Taj Bethel who co-wrote 2 of the songs on the album. The warm light of friendship and family shines throughout the album, and while the influences reach far across the globe, the music clearly shows that Captain Planet has found his musical home.

Four years on from the release of her last, critically acclaimed LP, Julianna Barwick returns with “Healing Is A Miracle”, to be released on July 10th on new home, Ninja Tune.

A distinctive meditation on sound, reverb and the voice, “Healing Is A Miracle” is a record built on improvisation and a close affinity to a couple of trusted items of gear, from which she spins engrossing, expansive universes. Additionally, Barwick draws on the input of three collaborators with whom she has nurtured deep friendships with over the years: Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Nosaj Thing and Mary Lattimore; who each gently nudge out at the edges of her organically-evolved sound.

Recorded in the wake of a seismic shift in her life following a move from New York—where she had lived for 16 years—to Los Angeles where she is now based, the title of the record came to her after thinking about how the human body heals itself, of the miraculous processes we pay little attention to: “You cut your hand, it looks pretty bad, and two weeks later it looks like it never happened… That’s kind of amazing, you know?” It’s a sentiment that feels particularly apt for the moment. From there, she conceived of the record’s simple statement title, ran it past a couple of friends, and it was settled. Like with the record itself, and all of her work, it’s about following her gut, and seeing where it takes her.

Ultraflex’s new album ‘Infinite Wellness’ is naughty. Are you really allowed to combine a horny saxophone solo with a relentless eurodance beat, steel drums and shameless moaning? No, that is not ok. Neither is putting a melodramatic Spanish guitar solo in an excessively erotic power ballad, nor ending a whole album on a loud gong. Which is precisely why they’ve done it. Ultraflex aren’t interested in being good girls, but rather to explore what they can get away with - relying on faux innocence and devious charm. And they do get away with it all thanks to the immaculately pristine production that drapes the whole thing in glossy sophistication.

‘Infinite Wellness’ is a mashup of disco, R&B, 80’s synth pop, Italian 70’s film music and eurodance, with some references to jazz and classical music. Sources of inspiration include Estonian synth-funk producer Uku Kuut, International Music System, Master C & J and Alice Deejay on the dashing singles ‘Baby’, ‘Mi Vuoi’ and ‘Under The Spell’; Enrique Iglesias, Spice Girls and author Carmen Maria Machado on their power ballad ‘Melting Away’; while also drawing inspiration from Alessandro Alessandroni and Snoop Dog on the sensual ‘Ultrasex’.

The high note of the album is the evident friendship behind the music – you can vividly imagine the pair grinning in the studio while whispering a sensual Norwegian quote or adding secretly recorded party conversations. Their exhilarating playfulness welcomes you into their intimacy and lets you in on their secrets while inviting you to dance!

Artwork: Gréta Þorkels

The intimate familiarity of friendship and long-running collaboration oozes from the fine-tuned steel
strings and prepared piano notes of O’Malley & Pateras’ 2nd collaborative album; a glacial, moonlit homage to
departed pals - RIYL Morton Feldman, Michael Pisaro, Loren Connors, Keiji Haino...
‘Sept duos pour guitar acoustique et piano préparé’ continues a longstanding creative union deepened on the
2011-2016 recordings featured on their ‘Rêve Noir’ debut. This new album cleanly swaps out electro-acoustic
experimentation for a more plaintive dialogue of O’Malley’s just-intoned strings and the vaporous overtones
of Pateras’ prepared piano, which are left to linger in the air with an unhurried conversational quality that
draws us right into their mood.
In fact, the album features O’Malley’s most extensive recordings on steel string acoustic guitar (playing an
instrument whose previous owners include Marissa Nadler and Glenn Jones), and is Pateras’ return to the
prepared piano, which he had rarely employed in recent years, after spending much of the first decade of the
21st century exploring its possibilities. Recorded during a period when the duo were each grieving the loss of
recently departed friends and collaborators, these seven pieces possess a reflective, at times almost mournful
quality.
Album opener ‘déjà rêvé’ faithfully characterises the duo’s approach to patiently unfolding minimalism with
O’Malley’s metallic/acoustic gestures slowly chiming in mid-air with the wilting off key softness of Pateras’
prepared piano, operating to no meter or tempo other than the ponderous speed of late night thought.
Unadorned and shy of tricks or stunts, the pathos of their music is stark and enhanced by an inherent use of
alternate tuning systems and a sense of displacement from the norm.
The preceding parts make the penultimate ‘déjà trouvé’ feel almost flush with pain, despite its ostensible
stillness, before they offer a sense of resolution with only the barest materials in ‘déjà raconte’ that
epitomises their long honed ability to make every deliberate note count. It’s a notable departure from either
artist’s work in recent years, taking cues from departed friends and musical allies for a solemn, reflective
work that’s measured with harmonic nuance.

Kiasmos - Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen – are returning, renewed and restored, with II. The triumphant follow-up to their universally acclaimed self-titled debut in 2014, which re-envisioned minimal techno with orchestral flourishes and weightless production. They’d made most of that album in just two weeks; this time it’s been 10 years. The making of II was a test of their friendship, but also testament to how great musical chemistry can always go the distance and be just the same as it ever was.

They worked on a lot of II during the lost year of 2020-2021, including a trip to Ólafur’s studio in Bali. “We spent a month there and wrote a few songs that ended up on the record,” says Janus. The pair sampled traditional Balinese percussion like the gamelan and incorporated Janus’s field recordings of their natural surroundings – the sound of birds, crickets and, on standout track ‘Dazed’, echoing the sunrise over the lush landscape.

Kiasmos have an enviable knack for conveying complex emotions and evocative visuals with instrumental music. But this time they’ve got more experience as producers to draw on. The album’s expansiveness can be linked to Ólafur’s intervening years as a Grammy-nominated composer and prominent soundtracker in film and TV. And they’ve subtly shifted from four-to-the-floor to the frenetic broken beats of UK dance music, experimenting more with BPMs, echoing Janus’s time spent DJing in major venues worldwide. There are still those aching melodies that fans know and love but they’re catchier too: tracks like ‘Laced’ and ‘Bound’ have an irresistible, elastic bounce beneath the ethereal palette.

Anadol and Marie Klock have teamed up for a joint album, La Grande Accumulation. They met two years ago at a festival in England crowded with violent seagulls and outsider musicians. Klock being prone to barking on stage and Anadol not laughing at jokes she doesn’t find funny, they straight away had the intuition that they would meet again. And so they did, a few months later, at Anadol’s studio in Istanbul.

Today, the two Pingipung artists present the fruit of this musical friendship. La Grande Accumulation was born out of the peculiar atmosphere of the studio neighbourhood in Büyükada, an island where thousands of cats run free and humans randomly destroy things during apocalyptic times when parts of Turkey had just been turned into dust by terrible earthquakes. The French lyrics are inspired by hours of conversations, the music is consequently drenched in absurdity, overflowing with a strong urge to live and enjoy. According to the LP sticker, this album has been certified “Best handshake of 2024”, and stickers never lie.

La Grande Accumulation brings together Marie Klock's mysterious metaphors and Anadol's intriguing radiophonic psych-pop. Stretching forms beyond common sense to see how long they can resist is probably their favourite game. The result are six highly imaginative tracks that challenge the sub-3-minutes standards of Spotify pop.

Gözen Atila aka Anadol is well known to the Pingipung audience, with three solo LPs on the label. Her music follows a kind of collage logic, she interweaves countless styles, combining field and studio recordings with obscure quotation marks here and there. "I hope no one will come and explain this music to me, because it's the most beautiful music there is", says Kristoffer Cornils about her solo album Felicita.

Marie Klock is a French writer and musician who produces songs oscillating between synthpop and neo-folk, full of anarchic humour and existential dread. Her recent solo LP on Pingipung was a captivating tribute to the recently deceased poet Damien Schultz entitled Damien est vivant.

Marie Klock delivers her lyrics in song or spoken word, stream-of-consciousness musings on strange human adventures, and her rich keyboard melodies culminate in a nonchalant dialogue with the bass trombone (La Reine des Bordels). In the opulent opening piece (La Grande Accumulation), a woman is cursed to take home everything she kicks in the street; a bit later, we stumble upon a ghoul hiding in the gutter (Sirop amer), Mona Lisa loses her teeth (Sonate au Jambon) and a warthog struggles to climb the stairs of a silver tower (Sabots triviaux).

La Grande Accumulation was mixed and mastered by Jonas Romann at Chaos Compressor Club in Hamburg and cut to vinyl by Kassian Troyer at D&M in Berlin. It's an audiophile LP that invites to focus on every detail in this heap of musical ideas.

Don’t believe your ears - Pepper’s Ghost is the latest offering from NYC project Nuke Watch.

Whatever you think it is - it is not. By the same token it really can be whatever you want - electronica, jazz, improv, noise, new age, ambient - it’s none and all of these. Like the primitive visual illusion it’s named for - Pepper’s Ghost is a projection of a thing, it’s not the thing.

The Nuke Watch method - like that of Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos’ other primary project Beat Detectives - leans almost entirely on live improvisation, with some advanced studio alchemy in post. Where the Beat Detectives palette draws from club music tropes, Nuke Watch blends recognizable tones (hand drums, woodwinds, keys, fretless bass) with sounds of providence unknown, the line between organic and synthesized instrumentation unintelligibly smudged. What is real and what is projection? It’s hard to say. What do our ears tell us? This is where we arrive at Pepper’s Ghost.

Warped as the sounds may be, the playing belies a crew of deeply expressive, learned improvisers who have their craft honed. Their friendship and psychic connection enhances the ritualistic rhythms, mutant modular synthesis, nimble keyboard runs, absurdist sampling and unidentified skronk. They’re wonderfully complemented across several tracks on this set by Cole Pulice’s levitational, sublime saxophone.

As unhinged as this might all appear, once the mind and music meet on the same wavelength this is profoundly moving, energizing and uplifting Alive Music that recalibrates the sense of what music can be.

Nuke Watch is Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos, with an array of friendly guests. They’ve released records as Nuke Watch on The Trilogy Tapes, Commend and Moon Glyph. As Beat Detectives they’ve released records on Not Not Fun, 100% Silk and their own studio imprint Nypd Records.

Pepper's Ghost was written and produced by Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos. Additional instrumentation on these recordings by Cole Police, Leonard King, Eric Timothy Carlson, Chris Farstad and William Statler. It was mixed by Chris Hontos and mastered by Jack Callahan. Painting on the cover is “The Unity Of Being” (2020), by Ry Fyan. Design and layout by Aaron Anderson.

Riyl - Musical illusions, puzzles and magic tricks, downtempo, music of the spheres, good journey, Eddie Harris, Ketron, "world building", orange sunshine, suspension of disbelief.

A cultural and collective exercise, Atlantic Stereo brings 24 Colombian and French artists together for a 11-track sound experience connecting two continents. Nuits sonores, an urban festival showcasing electronic cultures in Lyon (France) since 2003, began building bridges with Colombia in 2017 as part of the French Institute’s Année France—Colombie. The festival invited representatives from the new Colombian electronic scene to go on tour in France and organised a series of events in Colombia (Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales). This multi-city event in Colombia would go on to be repeated in 2018 and 2019, allowing a total of 25 of the most captivating artists on the French electronic scene to perform in Colombia over the course of three editions. Between 2020 and 2021, although forced to cancel the 4th edition of Nuits sonores Colombia due to the health crisis, the festival team offered to pursue the exchange by initiating, with the support of the French Institute and the French Embassy in Colombia, the production of a brand new compilation. Atlantic Stereo reflects the artistic riches found in two territories that Nuits sonores intends to carry on bringing together. A shared conversation in a moment of profound crisis for culture, thus becoming a perfect opportunity to reimagine it. The compilation opens with artists who know how to listen to the world and the diversity of its sounds, as shown by the soaring Cumbia psychedelic track by Dani Boom (Systema Solar, El Leopardo...), Tushen Raï & Cornelius Doctor. It then digs into Reggaeton and Dancehall influences with a collaboration between Linapary, Simo Cell & Low Jack: a subtle alliance between the Colombian artist’s sensual trap music on the one hand, and the kicks and heavy basses of the French electronic duo on the other. With ‘Full Friction’ (Voiski and Verraco’s track) and the Julianna and Zadig collaboration, the compilation moves on to another atmosphere: a more vaporous and syncopated one, made of powerful breaks and kicks, with ice-cold and bewitching electro and breakbeat tracks. Atlantic Stereo’s last tracks eventually lean towards Dance and Club, inviting us to dance to Bambounou’s solar techno, revisited by Gladkazuka, and the Balearic house remix of Laurent Garnier’s ENCHANTé by Julio Victoria. Atlantic Stereo is a compilation standing at the crossroads of different cultures, permeable to all sound research. It is also the result of a shared friendship and trust that drives Nuits sonores, determined to make such music resonate across all four corners of the glob

We are excited to present a 4-song EP by the iconic French synth duo, Deux, entitled Let’s Go ! Gérard Pelletier and Cati Tête formed Deux shortly after meeting in Lyon in 1981. They became known for their stripped-down synthpop compositions and suitably cold duets, through their first Minimal Wave release entitled Decadence (2010) and later their Golden Dreams EP (2012). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they began to branch out and make more dancefloor-oriented music. The Let’s Go ! EP features three remastered mixes of their underground classic Let’s Go ! and an unreleased version of Everybody’s Night. This release is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, presented in a heavy printed sleeve, based on their 1991 artwork, and accompanied by a black and white photo of the duo. The record is pressed as an edition of 999 copies.

Regular Edition WITHOUT the 7".

Rainbow Disco Club and Rush Hour, a long-standing friendship that transcends continents! House, disco, new wave, Caribbean, rare groove, leftfield.. Antal compiles the second release on "Beyond Space And Time", loaded with personal choice cuts.

Internationally recognised and much-loved festival from Japan, Rainbow Disco Club’s offshoot project "Beyond Space And Time" record label presents their sophomore release! Following the work by DJ Nobu, their second compilation has been compiled by none other than Antal. Also known as the festival's headliner and the man behind Amsterdam record shop/label Rush Hour, all 11 tracks are selected by Antal in a 2 x 12-inch + bonus 7-inch format. From local Dutch newcomers to '80s Japanese cult music, rare grooves to danceable house music, and rare Caribbean soul, this compilation is a portrait of music enthusiast Antal Heitlager’s enormous collection and 30-year DJ career, a work of art that can be enjoyed by all music fans!

An afro electronics track recommended by South African collector DJ Okapi, who co-produced the masterpiece compilation "Pantsula!: Rise Of Electronic Dance Music In South Africa: 1988-90" released in 2017, which brought Kwaito back onto the map. A-1

Improvisation Organic Deep House track by New Zealand’s newcomer. A-2

A rare breezin' boogie by Larry Heard’s alias Trio Zero from 1989. Highly sought after by all collectors as a cult Balearic track. Previously unreleased version. B-1

From the 2015 album by L.A. funk maker DAM-FUNK on the prestigious Stones Throw label. LO-FI beats and synthetic breakdowns that are reminiscent of early Rush Hour works and ‘90s house. B-2

The debut single of Japanese idol unit, Shohjo-Tai. Haruomi Hosono also produced some of their tracks later on in their career. Japanese new wave disco from 1984. C-1

The soundtrack from the Japanese manga "Touring Express". RDC fans will recognize this track from the final hours of the festival. A nostalgic oriental disco from 1985. C-2

80s Silky Mellow Soul by Connecticut jazz vocalist Dianne Mower who also contributed to the re-press of the prestigious Numero Group. D-1

The original version is a masterpiece from 1983 by Zouk singer Jocelyn Mocka of French Guadeloupe. This edit still very much emphasizes an emotional mid-tempo Caribbean soul, nicely reconstructed by Rush Hour's Bonnefooi. D-2

The first 500 copies will include a limited 7-inch bonus disc featuring a Dutch artist.
Modal jazz track from the Han Litz Group led by Han Litz, a jazz flute player representing the local Amsterdam scene. A-1

A freestyle percussion jam track inspired by Brazilian and Klaus Weiss music. Los Calxunxos Tuyos, derived from the band Zuco 103 formed by students of the Rotterdam Conservatory. B-1

A mysterious electronic pop floating, between the dance floor and easy listening by Rush Hour's Kamma. B-2

A total of 11 tracks from all types of genres and generations, a true masterpiece and representation of Rainbow Disco Club’s vision “Beyond Space And Time”. Bringing you the love from Amsterdam to the world!

2022 repress

Ben Bondy blesses Special Guest DJ’s Experiences Ltd with a near-fathomless solo debut of sensual, low key electronics and intimate nocturnes following a pair of peaches from from Ulla and Folder. This one’s all fizzing warm and loved up, highly recommended listening if you’re into anything from Newworldaquarium/154 to Harold Budd. Like his split with Exael for Huerco S.’ West Mineral, ’Sibling’ sees Bondy return to a seductively gauzy mid-ground sound that over the course of 15 tracks lulls and lists with a minimalist patience, allowing forms to emerge and evaporate in constantly shifty transitions and weathered plays of light according to an immersive eco-logic. Those liminal traces of sound and influence are almost imperceptible, pulling you into a protective amniotic sound-world thats evocative and comforting. The album actually started out as a single LP but the mood spilled over into something twice as long and deep with it, creating what he describes as “kinda two parts to one being. kinda like the way the bonds of friendship/siblinghood work”. This fraternal pathos percolates throughout the album, knitting together gently windswept permutations of thizzing pads and frayed rhythms under a smudged and slowly turning kaleidoscopic lens. It’s pretty much the definition of hypnagogic, likely to draw your eyelids to half-mast and your mind to blissed-out dream states.

In the wake of a profound loss, Marie Klock, a neo-chanson singer and multi-instrumentalist from Paris, presents a poignant tribute with her debut on Pingipung. On “Damien est vivant” Marie Klock pays homage to the poet Damien Schultz, who has recently passed. They were intertwined both in artistic collaboration and deep friendship. Marie Klock creates a powerful ode to Damien Schultz's surreal, anarchic, witty and at times provocatively obscene French (English translations are included in the vinyl release). The poet's own voice resounds alongside Klock's, oscillating between spoken word and neo-folk vocals. Recorded in an intimate lo-fi setting with co- producer Julien Louvet, the 10 songs are far from a mournful requiem. They showcase idiosyncratic pop music brimming with humour and absurdity. “Damien est vivant” is a celebration of the unique bond they shared, in past and present. The melancholy sometimes takes on an almost whimsical quality, an allusion to the world as perceived through the lens of two kindred spirits. Marie Klock has appeared as keyboardist on international stages with Sofia Portanet and collaborated with artists such as Jean-Louis Costes, Chilly Gonzales, Charlotte Brandi and Adrienne Pauly. Her self-titled solo LP (2020, Les Disques De La Face Cachée) was a cheeky outing of her synth-chanson act. She is currently working on a duo album with Anadol, to be released on Pingipung in autumn 2024. “Damien est vivant” will be released on Good Friday 2024. Marie Klock will present the album in live ceremonies.

Malian and French pair Siraba unveil their much-anticipated self-titled debut LP on Damian Lazarus’ Secret Teachings label, a 10-track odyssey fusing Mali’s rich musical traditions with cutting-edge electronic music.

Malian hunter Boubacar Samake and Damien Vandesande, one half of the French electronic band dOP, have won plenty of plaudits for the early singles taken from their debut album as duo Siraba. Those singles, spanning across the summer months, have found the pair bring the traditional sound of the Wassoulou - a river valley of West Africa - to the electronic world after 20 years of friendship. The music comes with an important underlying message of love and respect and results in spellbinding tracks that move heart, body and soul, finding a perfect home on Secret Teachings - a left-of-centre alternative label to Lazarus’ celebrated and often more club- focused Crosstown Rebels. With the arrival of the full album, the pair exhibit and showcase the emotional breadth and depth of their music, with detailed explorations of organic textures and native sounds merged with future-focused ideas and concepts.

The title track opens with an atmospheric mix of spoken words and spine-tingling chords that bring rich Afro flavours, while ‘Dounoiia’ is a languid groove made from hand drums and pixelated synth leads that cast a fine spell. The slow-blooming ‘Bani’ brings rich Malian blues and melancholic horns, while ‘Komafly’ is a rich mix of acoustic strings and broken beats that transports you to a hot and dusty landscape. A vital component of the sounds of the Wassoulou, the indigenous stringed instrument the Ngoni features again on the rousing ‘Nanse’ as spiritual vocals sung in Bambara rouse the soul.

‘Djandjo’ is another rich infusion of Malian culture with simmering electronics to make for something both ancient sounding yet futuristic, and the hypnotic ‘Ngana Fôlly’ with its rich bass is a song ‘dedicated to those who fight for the well-being of their families, for unity... a song for the people who also fight a great disease, between life and death’. The sublime ‘Toro’ is a wavy groove perfect for sundown - a deep and inviting sound rich in soulful vocals and dreamy melodies, while ‘Tolonawoulile’ is driven by the intense strumming of the Ngoni with busy hand claps and hurried drums and last of all ‘Fo Te Mokobana’ sinks into a heart-warming slow groove with sweeping strings and Malian percussion all overlaid with impassioned vocals.

A rich listening experience, Siraba’s debut album is an immersive journey and absorbing dive into the minds of two artists breaking new grounds while spotlighting native traditions and musical techniques spanning hundreds of years.

Mates now for many moons - Mr.G and Duncan Forbes met at the time of Duncan’s Animated project; forging a friendship through weekly record shopping trips; a love of Soho; and regular banter over Duck and Rice. But it was their chance meeting at Glastonbury a few years back which finally sparked them to work together; since leading to a string of remixes for both Phoenix G and 49North, and culminating in their first, combined studio creation, Curry Nite, in late 2022. Fast forward to Spring 2023, and what we have here is their first, collaborative full-length on vinyl - artist album, All Under One Moon. Conceived and created in Duncan’s studio on a long, full moon weekend with cosmic forces at play; the pair - both chomping-at-the-bit with excitement and no real plan or outcome in mind - set about creating, with a pure love of making music and the freedom to go wherever it might take them as their only guide. As G sums up for us... “Two friends of old with a shared love of music, having fun making music together in D’s studio. It was a long time coming but in truth caught us both off guard...the sum of both parts being sooo much more. The beauty of being free, making music. What a great moment.” So, on paper, we have - two mates, excited to play away in the studio with their favourite toys until they have to come up for air. But on record, what we actually have is - two close friends, united by a deep love of House, Techno and everything between / beyond - relishing a rare opportunity to jam, and with freedom....it’s only when you consider quite how almanack-like our two music-obsessed pals are anyway, as individuals; that it begins to dawn on you, just how mind-meltingly rich and stylistically explosive - an album, that’s the sum-of-their-parts - is inevitably going to be.

Allchival present their second look at the music of Roger Doyle and Operating Theatre (a little known proto synth-pop act and experimental theatre group that he led.)

In reverse chronological order the second disc contains music from the United Dairies release of 1979 – ‘Rapid Eye Movements’. Experimental tape work heavily influenced by the French school of music concretists and recorded at various points during the 70s in Finland, Holland and Ireland, although it is most certainly a Roger Doyle solo record the label ran by Nurses With Wounds John Fothergill decided to release it under the group name for reasons now lost to the fog of time.

After this a volte-face towards a more accessible sound, coming via his friendship with future Hollywood actress Olwen Fouéré and her connection to the theatre. It also featured the vocals of a young Spanish immigrant Elena López- bucking the 80’s trend by moving to rather than from Dublin. With Fouéré adding the theatrical element to the group (an almost essential part of any early 80s synth act) alongside pulsing synths, brass, a vocoder and the electro acoustic production talents of Doyle himself, it was the first time a Fairlight sampler was used in an Irish studio setting and gives a prescient but alternative take on the new wave sound that came to dominate the charts soon after. Doyle’s work on the newly released Fairlight sampler had brought him to the attention of U2’s Bono who had seen a feature about his sampling experimentations and reached out to him for piano lessons. This led to a deal on the bands embryonic Mother records for what Doyle calls his first “popular song” - Queen of No Heart - which alongside “Spring is Coming” made up the backbone of the EP which was released some years later (1986) on the Mother Records label. Established by U2 in 1984 and initially intended to launch Irish bands, many of the acts – including this one – were subsequently unhappy about the label’s haphazard approach to releases and lack of promotion. The record was released as a die cut 7 inch with the two main tracks and a 12 inch EP with additional tracks – ‘Part of My Make-Up’ / ‘Atlantean’ / ‘Satanasa’. The Mother experience was for Doyle and the rest of the group a frustrating one with no promotional plan and no tour. After that Operating Theatre as a quasi pop project ‘just kind of fizzled out’ says Doyle.

Doyle, the musical maverick at the heart of the act, continues to produce to this day and has released 30 albums. A frequent collaborator we round out the record with a remix from another Irish outsider - Morgan Buckley of the Wah Wah Wino fame.

The Sound Of Love International 004 is a particular poignant collection of rarities, collectables and unearthed gems, pulled together by the Italian DJ and crate digger Budino. For the last two years, the pretty coastal town of Tisno in Croatia has been devoid of the (now) legendary Love International week-long celebration of music, leaving thousands of revellers and regular devotes with only the sounds of Love International to keep the spirits strong until the next time friendships are rekindled and dance resumes under the sun and the stars. Luckily, the fiesta is scheduled for a return to Tisno from 13th – 19th July 2022. Budino, AKA Valentina Bodini, has a lifelong passion for vinyl, amassing an enviable collection of multi-genre LPs and singles via her years spent in Italy and now in Berlin. As resident DJ for Discodromo’s CockTail d’Amore parties, her enthusiasm for music and digging knows no boundaries, and her instalment into the Sound Of Love International series gives us an aural insight into her musical realm. Musically, The Sound Of Love International #004 is a smorgasbord of sound. Opening with the glacial tones of Peter Seiler’s 1986 new-age gem ‘Serengeti’, the twelve track selection glides through proto-house, tribal ambience, industrial EBM, balearic dance and so much more. It’s a testament to the ground- breaking nature of these tracks that most of the music here was originally released some 30-40 years ago. Inclusions from Oliver Leib’s The Ambush project, Vibes Of Rhythm and Scott Edward stem from the post house & techno explosion of the early 90s, whilst the early proto-electronic experiments from the likes of Kirlian Camera, Clock DVA, Bourbonese Qualk and Pyrolator are welcomely revived for a new audience. Interestingly, a flexi-disc only release of ‘Hark’ by William Orbit & Laurie Mayer’s early 80s Torch Song project is also included here, elongated by Budino herself in the edit suite. Two brand new productions from DJ Blasy and Budino & Berko ensure that business is brought bang up to date, offering a unique and modern spin on the sounds of Budino, and her tantalising selection on this compilation.

We are proud to announce that electronic music veterans Nick Höppner and Alex Kassian will launch their collaborative project H.A.N.K. on Second Circle, debuting with an album entitled 'The Big Melt'.

Born out of the unprecedented circumstances of the global pandemic, 'The Big Melt' represents a departure from the duo's typical club-oriented productions, instead exploring their shared passion for Krautrock, ambient, and guitar-driven music. The album showcases a more introspective and experimental side of both artists, blending elements of Fourth World, New Age, and leftfield electronic music.

Höppner and Kassian's creative partnership began in 2018 when Höppner released music from Kassian's project Opal Sunn on his label, Touch From A Distance. Their friendship quickly evolved into musical collaboration, initially focusing on dance music. However, as the pandemic unfolded, their studio sessions took an organic, freeform approach, embracing spontaneity and intuition.

'The Big Melt' features contributions from a diverse array of guest musicians, adding depth and texture to the album with instruments including guitar, clarinet, and the tar, an ancient Persian string instrument. Höppner's newly acquired drumming skills, developed during lockdown, also play a significant role in shaping the album's sound.

The creation of 'The Big Melt' spans several years, with initial jam sessions evolving into carefully crafted compositions through remote collaboration. This extended gestation period has allowed the music to mature, resulting in what Höppner describes as his proudest release to date.

'The Big Melt' stands as a testament to artistic resilience and creativity in the face of global challenges, offering listeners a rich, immersive journey into new sonic territories crafted by two of electronic music's most respected talents.

Sc021 will be released on LP as well as digitally on November 8th 2024. Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

"Early Doors documents many of my travels, interactions and celebrates the wonderful connections I've made through music since 2007. From Glasgow to São Paulo and back again, many of the tracks included have been in my life for years at this point and remain obsessions. Some were lying unheard on hard drives, others tucked away in a corner of the internet. They’ve all reached my attention through a combination of lasting friendships, chance encounters and staying curious. After appearing on the occasional mix over the years, it's a real buzz to share them with you now in a more formal format. Musically you’ll find synths, dub, gay electronics, self taught piano compositions, improvised jams and intriguing covers." Andrew Thomson

Wave to Mikey, the fourth album from the Los Angeles-based actor, musician and photographer Danny Lane is a nocturnal, neon-lit ode to the friendships that shape us. “I made this album for my friend Mikey from back home,” Danny explains. “We were pretty much inseparable for a large part of our lives, and our musical and social minds were always in sync in a special way. Then with age, we drifted apart, especially since I moved to Los Angeles. This album is just a little wave hello to an old friend and a kindred spirit.”

Equal parts avant-garde composition, instrumental city-pop, ambient, Kankyō Ongaku (environmental music) and Fourth World music, Wave to Mikey is an impressionistic and reflective cycle of eleven richly detailed memory portraits. Throughout the album, the influence of Jon Hassell, Arthur Russell, Hiroshi Yoshimura and Yellow Magic Orchestra hangs in the air like late-night mist, adding character but never overshadowing the rhythmic ambience of Danny’s musical visions.

Wave To Mikey began as a series of sketches on analog synthesisers, guitar, sample and found percussion sketches, initially recorded in Danny’s home studio. Once he’d located the vibe, Danny called on his friends E Talley II, Solange collaborator John Carroll Kirby and Destroyer session musician Joseph Shabason, who respectively added flute, spiritual synth textures and saxophone to the record.

For Glossy Mistakes founder Mario G.R., who originally discovered Danny through his photography, Wave To Mikey captures a vivid feeling of melancholy and peace. “He's able to encapsulate emotions in a very straightforward way, either in his portrait or songs,” Mario says. “I think that's a kind of virtue or skill given to talented artists, no matter the field.”

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Danny began playing music with his friends when he was thirteen, before putting that passion on pause to study Fine Arts (Theatre) at Rider University in Lawrence Township in pursuit of an acting career. Acting led him to photography, after playing a photographer in a film, he was inspired to pursue the medium. Danny began shooting photos on film for magazines and lifestyle brands, spent a stint living in New York’s Chinatown neighbourhood, and eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 2017.

Four years ago, Danny started recording and releasing music under his own name, leading to the trilogy of releases that preceded Wave To Mikey, How To Empty A Cup (2019), Memory Record (2019) and Caput (2021). Over the course of these releases, he’s revealed himself to be a sophisticated composer and producer with a studied ear from years spent digging through record bins for ambient, experimental, new age, jazz and electronica records from around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Japan.

“Music is something that’s always been involuntary for me,” Danny reflects. “It’s unconditional, always there. It’s something I just have to do. I’ve taken breaks and it’s always gloomy when I’m not playing. I just want to get better and better and understand more and more.”

Here at Glossy Mistakes, Wave To Mikey marks our second contemporary album release, following on from Evenings by Japanese composer Metoronori. We’re proud to be able to present Danny, Metoronori and other modern musicians' work alongside reissues of classic works from Stevia aka Susumu Yokota, Akira Ito, Yuji Toriyama & Ken Morimura, and Takashi Kokubo.

Mastered by Damian Schwartz, Wave To Mikey will be released on Vinyl LP Glossy Mistakes on June 27 2022. Besides the regular black vinyl, a limited clear vinyl will be available in an edition of 100 copies. Both editions come packaged with original cover art photography shot by Danny.

Composer duo Kaae & Batz release hazy electronica single and announces new album L.U.S.H on vinyl. Kaae & Batz, the duo behind the Netflix series Bordertown’s score, is ready with a new album. The first single “Into the Void” is released 15th September, while the album L.U.S.H lands 29th October both digitally and on vinyl on Copenhagen- based record label StereoRoyal.

The album is a collection of reflective and melancholic cinematic tracks with clear references to jazz and neo-classicism where organic elements merge with electronic textures and emotional vocal samples. The album is teased with the first single “Into the Void (Part 1)” – a dark and hazy dystopia accompanied by beautiful piano chords. The album came to life on a 14-day trip to Istanbul and the majority of the tracks, including the first single “Into the Void”, are created entirely from samples and programming.

Kaae & Batz has previously released two albums, Basement Tales (2015) and Mosaic (2019), as well as composed scores for several international film productions which have garnered attention and critical acclaim in the industry. The story about childhood friends Kaspar Kaae (cody) and Brian Batz (Sleep Party People) dates back to their teenage years in Bornholm where they were both born and raised. They went to high school together, cultivated their shared interest in music, and played together in bands. These years became the cornerstone of their friendship and musical collaboration.

With L.U.S.H, Kaae & Batz shines a light on Danish electronica. The album is released 29th October on a limited-edition LP (180g) and on all streaming platforms.

“The idea of getting together Orquesta De Las Nubes with Glen Velez, Layne Redmond and Miguel Herrero in a recording studio arose when Glen and Layne visited Spain to hold a seminar on frame drums techniques. We had met Glen some years before during an event that took place in the amazing “Aula de Música de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid”. Glen came to Madrid playing with Charlie Morrow as part of an event about Fluxus with Alison Knowles and Philip Corner. On that time Glen played in Steve Reich Ensemble and our mutual love for repetitive music and ethnic music allowed us to build a very good friendship. When Glen visited Madrid we always get together in our rehearsal space and we played, talked and drink for hours. In 1985, during one of those sessions, Miguel Herrero joined us. On that time Miguel and meI used to play together in a club each week, where we made a bizarre fusion between pop and repetitive music. The sessions sounded so good, our ideas flowed so easily that after one session, I called Track Studios to ask if they have free rooms to make a recording during next days and as they told yes, I booked it immediately. The recording was made with an incredible fluency and about 12 hours after, we had recorded Música Esporádica. Fluency, spontaneity, close friendship was the fuel that fed us. After 34 years everything remains the same. Some of them are not with us any more but Música Esporádica keeps the unselfish spirit that encourages to share without objectives. Música Esporádica never step on stage and the 6 never met again altogether.” - Suso Saiz

‘Unknown Fate’ is the debut release from UF - the collaborative live project between German experimental techno artist Oake and British producer and live performer Samuel Kerridge. Self-described as the ‘power metal techno’ duo, the project was initially born from an Atonal commission. Now, Oake & Kerridge present two EPs ‘Unknown’ and ‘Fate’, culminating in 9 tracks of unadulterated sonic warfare for their LP release. Of the project UF say "Forged through friendship, addiction, and debauchery, UF is the sum of our parts. It’s taken over a decade to formulate these ideas and the noise is palpable. Pack your end of world survival bags and prepare yourselves for the ensuing riot.” Samuel Kerridge and Oake started creating music together when they shared a studio in Berlin and have been making music together for a decade. This is the first time that they have released music as a duo and it’s been a long time in the making.

“The art of the remix has been around for several decades, from the fervid imaginations of JA pioneers like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid or King Tubby to the disco enthusiasts of New York, such as Tom Moulton, who bequeathed us the modern iteration of the remix and provided a template from which most remixers still work. Moulton's first commercial remix, a reworking of BT Express' appropriately-named `Do It 'Till You're Satisfied', which stretched it from three minutes to a luxurious five, assisted the band in securing its first Billboard R&B Number One, as well as providing a pathway for remixers like Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Richie Rivera and Tee Sott, to completely reinvent the concept of a remix (and in some instances, deconstructing the idea of what comprised a song). It has subsequently been used as a marketing tool, a dancefloor-devastator, a gimmick (both cheap and expensive) or even as a way of reaching a different audience (think Tori Amos' `Professional Widow'). Khruangbin are no slouches when it comes to the remix themselves. They've been reworked before, in 2016, with the highly collectible EP on Boogiefuturo. But this time, they're taking it a step further with an album dedicated to the art. Entering the tight-knit world of a Khruangbin song can be a little daunting. They have created this entire universe in which the trio seem to function telepathically in the way the music is composed, arranged and played. To mess with their delicate eco-system can invoke feelings similar to that of an unwanted guest crashing a good-time party. "We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music," reassure Khruangbin. "There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves." The choice of remixers for this album is neither arbitrary nor accidental. They're not names picked randomly out of a hat or chosen via a throw of the dice. All have some connection to the band, sometimes personal friendships, musical connections, or simply mutual musical appreciation. Harvey Sutherland and Ginger Roots have both toured with the band, Kadhja Bonet and Ron Trent had their own mutual fan club going on, Knxwledge sampled `White Gloves' on a recent mixtape, Natasha Diggs and Soul Clap's Eli's are recent buddy-ups, Quantic is a mutual friend of Bonobo (crucial in the KB origin story), while I've known Laura for number of years; plus she is also godmother to one of Felix Dickinson's kids. Doesn't get much more intimate than that, right? Some of these remixes were specifically made so you can dance your ass off while getting down to the Khruangbin sound, while some might better be appreciated horizontally with headphones on, wearing fashionably loose clothes. The choice is yours. But all were made with love and respect for Khruangbin. "A good remix deconstructs, recontextualizes, or simply extends a good time," say the band. Amen and out." - Bill Brewster

Sen Am is an enduring and tender album, rich and beguiling and generous in a quiet way. Over the last few years, I find myself returning to it, listening and absorbing, reflecting on the voices and working through the multiple layers of feelings and themes it announces with confidence and equanimity. Notions of care and contradiction, expressions of joy and desire and the underlying feeling of unease and turmoil; there is an urgent appeal to the listener for generosity, to strengthen our capacity to hear multiple voices simultaneously, to exist in multiple places at once.

Duval Timothy’s music was dropped into our world from another realm sometime in the spring of 2017. We received the call and we answered it. The rhythm and spirit was transmitted via London’s NTS Radio on the Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show with Charlie Bones and a short while later we were listening to the first vinyl edition of Sen Am in our living room in Berlin. The record got a lot of plays (at home and at some shows, before and after performances). It was like sunlight filtering through a cracked window and remaining there for a moment, dancing. Blue music emanating from a liminal zone, an in-between space, somewhere on the outskirts of Freetown, or rural Sierra Leone, or the outer edges of South London, or Bath, UK, or some undisclosed orbit, unfixed location. The music is soaked in diasporic experiences. It refuses to settle but still invites us to enter and stay awhile in that zone, where multiple forms exist (all) together with jazz, hip-hop, various strands of expressive electronics and experimental music all breathing together and moving around. It is a portal to a place of possibilities, a space for building and repairing possible and lost connections. But life in that liminal zone is precarious; it is life under duress; under pressure – not merely the pressure to produce a presentable, categorizable, and salable body of work, but the pressure that compels us to experiment and create new concepts and things that will help us imagine a different existence, a way out of the turbulence.

Freetown is a marvellous and sometimes sad place. It is one of those unmistakable locations inscribed diasporic memory; a place that touches you, a place that holds you and demands you bear witness: witness to pain, poverty, joy and desire. You remember the voices and the eyes of people even in momentary encounters. In Sen Am, you hear not only Duval’s recollections and sounds of Freetown, you hear family and friendship, people coming together and forming bonds, creating surrogate families. Forging community wherever you go is a practice, and community is at the core of this music. It’s in all the voices, from Emmerson and 6pac to Aminata and Aruna. It opens up a space for Black voices, for Sierra Leonean voices, and those voices extend through the succeeding projects, the 2 Sim EP and the album Help, and all that radiates from Duval’s Carrying Colour imprint.

Thank you for the invitation to write about the album Sen Am, on the occasion of its re-release which also coincides with the release of the exquisite double 7” Smɔl Smɔl with cktrl — a wonderful piece which calls on the listener to play both records at the same time to hear the music or play them separately and hear different versions. Duval is strengthening us, encouraging us to feel comfortable with discomfort, with incompleteness, with the hard-to-understand. This is a beautiful thing.

Speed Dealer Moms, the combustible live electronics duo comprising John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares) is over a decade into their idiosyncratic run. On "Birth Control Pill," the duo's third release, the parameters of the chaotic and elegant project come into focus.

If there are virtuosos patching modular synthesizers and slicing up breakbeats, then they were in the room when these two tracks were recorded. The epic title cut is perhaps the most "functional" track the duo has ever recorded. This is ruffneck dnb business, but it's also the Speed Dealer Moms, so there is the requisite descent into chaos. The track's precise melodies are unceremoniously dunked into Funk's signature, ripping breakcore, the drums picking up speed until the crash test dummies hit the wall—a thrilling, extratone breakdown.

More madness lurks on the B-side, "Benakis," which seemingly nods to the visionary Greek composer. With its unconventional time signature and intricate melodies, this song cycles through breakcore and hard techno before eventually giving the listener a reprieve with a dreamy, beatless outro.

Speed Dealer Moms drive their own, crooked road built on friendship and a telepathic musical connection—the collaboration and encouragement of Funk ushered Frusciante into the dense world of hardcore machine funk. The results of these sessions don't sound quite like anything else, they are electronic records made in fearless pursuit of the new. Funk and Frusciante follow ideas to an illogical endpoint, and this hurtling approach has now resulted in the best and most concise Speed Dealer Moms record yet.

Having torn up raves for well over a decade, the Detroit duo Rickers and Ted Krisko AKA Ataxia present their debut longplayer ‘Out Of Step’. Featuring guest spots from close peers DJ Minx, Andrés and Mr Joshooa, they twist house, techno, electro, breakbeat and rave into revitalized new shapes; embellished with a touch of soul, funk and hip hop. With backgrounds in hardcore and punk, Ataxia’s debut is suffused with that energy, attitude, and approach; this is raw, lean and unashamedly no-nonsense dance floor tackle that goes straight for the jugular. Heavily analogue, the album experiments with tape saturation, which harks back to the duo’s formative years in bands, recording demos to cassettes. These straight-up, in-the-red tracks give preference to overdriven drum machines, rather than generic polished sheen, but conversely, it’s all deceptively well-crafted too; ‘Out Of Step’ is a standout record that’s big in character, bringing to mind the renegade spirit of Underground Resistance, and the bombastic brilliance of The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers.

Defiantly optimistic despite the state of the world, a “life is good” vocal sample meets minor chords sliding over 808 hats on the exemplary house/techno pumper ‘Detroit Gospel’, before a lighter moment on the album, but no less impactful with its hefty low-end thump, is ‘Pine Island’ featuring Motor City hero Andrés. Together they cook up a Motown-inspired house cut awash with horn swells and backup singers, bouncing to wide swung funk bass, in classic 313 style. ‘Language’ turns the club on its head – busting out one of the most distinct basslines in recent times, and bristling with buzzy, undulating chords, whilst ‘Maxia’ features influential Detroit royalty DJ Minx. Inspired by her classic ‘A Walk In The Park’, with a fat distorted kick and stealthy bass groove, this is low-slung, stripped-back, heads-down coolness. The high-tech funk of ‘Spit In Your Percolator’, is laser-guided in its efficiency, with a strobe-like, increasingly intensifying energy, peppered with clever, tripped up vocal chops. With the next cut, conveyor belt noises and fast churning low-end gives way to a dubbed-out breakdown, on the deep breakbeat roller ‘98 Degrees’. Charged with a blistering, rave intensity, ‘Number Streets’, is a futuristic distorted techno workout that booms through the subs, whilst ‘The Formulator’ mixes filtered snippets, abstract synth noises and melodic bleeps with a bassline echoing Paperclip People’s ‘The Floor’. Closer to the UK definition of hardcore, combining 4/4 and breakbeat, ‘The Pusher’ evokes the spirit of late 80s orbital raves, adding a natty keys solo, and deadly bass used sparingly, for even deadlier effect. ‘Feels Like’ sees Rickers and Ted team up their studiomate and fellow TV Lounge resident and club booker, Mister Joshooa. Inspired by Photek but also almost UKG in style, this breakbeat session is stamped with MJ’s signature chopped vocals and intricate rhythmic interplay. The bubbling, wobbly loose swing of ‘wm’ is constructed around a classic chopped-up MTV cribs sample, with a filtered vocal creating a far out psychedelic effect – all of which is propelled apace by a huge bruising LFO. The LP concludes in fine style with ‘Dance The Bridge’, where bouncy beats and wigged-out keys meet bright, gently uplifting synth chords that bring a clear-skied mood; ending the record as it began, on an optimistic note.

‘Out Of Step’ marks another chapter in the ongoing relationship between Life and Death co-founder DJ Tennis and Ataxia. Their connection goes back to the earliest days of the label, where they played gigs together on some of Tennis’ initial visits to Detroit. It’s a friendship that’s blossomed organically over the last decade through their shared love of punk and hardcore, and led to the fruition of one of Ataxia’s most compelling projects to date. Labels to release Ataxia’s output include legendary Detroit techno imprints Planet E and KMS, plus the seminal American house label Nervous Records. Their catalogue also includes music for Visionquest, Leftroom, 20/20 Vision and Seth Troxler’s Play It Say It.

By now, the story of how Jlin went from working in a steel factory in Gary, Indiana to being one of the most widely appreciated electronic musicians is well known. “Black Origami” was one of the most reviewed and lauded albums last year. Seriously prolific and seriously hard-working, she has toured constantly since its May 2017 release and despite being involved in a wide range of projects, still manages to find a balance and “do some personal healing and growing.”
Here we are over a year later with “Autobiography,” the score for her collaboration with renowned British choreographer Wayne McGregor arranged by Unsound. This isn’t technically her third album (that’s due to arrive in 2019 or 2020), but the soundtrack stands up on its own with all the emotional peaks and troughs of a well-sequenced longplayer.
For Jlin, making music for dance is the fulfillment of one of her lifelong dreams – and remarkably, Company Wayne McGregor’s performance was the first show she’d ever seen. She describes the process of working with Wayne: “We first met face to face in October 2016 in a downtown Chicago hotel, talking for about a solid two hours. Immediately, I saw Wayne was very friendly and energetic. He’s brilliant, witty, and knows exactly what he wants; an absolute gem to work with. Before I even started composing for Autobiography, Wayne told me so gently that he trusts me completely with my direction of creating the score. That was the best feeling in the world. I would wake up at two in the morning and work until six in the evening until I completed all the pieces. We were both very happy with the outcome. Creating the score for an impeccable piece of work such as Autobiography changed my life as an artist.”
“Autobiography” is a highlight in an evolving and growing career. During the last year, Jlin has also become an in-demand remixer, securing her place among a roster of music heavyweights. Unsurprisingly, given her positive and outgoing nature, she also developed friendships with the artists she has remixed such as Björk, Max Richter and Ben Frost.
Jlin will be touring with Company Wayne McGregor performing “Autobiography” this year in addition to completing a commission for the Kronos Quartet titled “Little Black Book.” She still approaches every performance “with the same attitude of doing my best to execute a good show, no more, no less. Doing my best is what’s most important to me.” She also still lives in Gary, Indiana, which keeps her grounded. She notes with her typical humility, “The local community is a little more knowledgeable of me now. But I don’t mind my community taking its time.”

The unconscious and unknown must be really nice places. In any case, if you take the second album of Menelaos Tomasides under his given name as travelogue. A trip into dreamlike territory, yet concrete enough, a journey without target yet looking forward and looking back into familiar places, „dreamhike“ both continues and departs from the style Menelaos has found earlier, in “When the Moon Comes Through”, or his more conceptual-intentional “31 Minuten” works. As the album title - which roughly translates to “dream hiking” but also hints on “walkabout” and “songlines” – suggests, we are rambling between the real and the imaginary. From the bucolic border triangle of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to the buzzing streets of the capital of Cyprus, where Menelaos has lived for many years, the tracks are about real places, about real experiences and emotions yet interwoven with a dreamlike fabric. Something that is just not tangible, yet substantial and palpable. Something concrete that manifests in the genuine and special sound design of this records - basically all of Menelaos’ works - his really special treatment of dynamics and loudness. It is one of the very few records where the established language of music making, specifically Techno, House, Dub, and early 2000’ Electronica, the clicks, thumps and plops from an earlier age of electronic music, transmogrify into slow movements of something new. Something that is gentle and truly personal, looking inwards. There are four-to-the-floor beats, there is wobbly bass, and dubby chords, even sublimated clarion calls. There is an immense energy in these tracks, the sheer materiality of low frequencies of a massive sound system manifested in a tiny room. Yet it is without any aggression, stripped bare of sonic pressure. It is quiet music no matter how high you turn up the volume. A rare treat, that requires exceptional skills and exceptional restraint and control on the technical side of music making. Probably it is a result of Menelaos specific combination of instinctual, intuitive approach to making music, which meets a genuine love for sound in seemingly endless loops of refinement that can lead to such a result as „dreamhike“. The elegant floating balance of control and playful experimentation manifests for example in a track that continues the ongoing collaboration with seasoned Cologne improviser Achim Fink on bass trumpet. Not only in this respect, the album can be described as a product of openness. It comes from a lot of taking in the world, of travel, of places and people met, of friendship and conversation (not necessarily with words). The deep trip of “dreamhike” further manifests Menelaos as one of the truly independent voices of electronic Cologne and beyond. Somewhat alike in character and attitude probably to what late Pete Namlook has established for Frankfurt with his label Fax +49-69/450464 (though ultimately warmer and much less uncanny) Menelaos has found his very own sound and vision. Music that answers to no one but speaks to everyone. Uncompromising yet gentle to the core: kind sounds from a kind spirit, arguably the most extraordinary and valuable quality music can have these days.

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

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

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

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

Artwork by David McFarline.

Maribou State announce their new album “Kingdoms In Colour”, via Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint, their first full-length since 2015’s breakthrough debut album “Portraits”. The record features new single ‘Feel Good’ - a collaboration born of their friendship with Houston-based trio Khruangbin and a shared love of breakbeats, vintage surf riffs and a common desire to explore worldwide music cultures. "Sometimes a chance meeting plants the seed for something bigger,” say Khruangbin. “Such was the case when we met Maribou State at KOKO a couple of years ago. We are very happy to be involved in this project. And we ‘feel good’ already.”

The band continue their long standing relationship with Holly Walker who has previously vocalled fan favourites such as ‘Midas’, ‘Steal’ and ‘Tongue’. Also featured on the record is recent single ‘Turnmills’ - named after the legendary London club which closed its doors in 2008 - the release was accompanied by a sold-out ‘all-night’ DJ set at Corsica Studios raising money and awareness for the The Night Time Industries Association's #SaveNightlife campaign to protect the UK’s most vulnerable music venues from closure.

Today they also announce a new headline UK tour this Autumn. Returning with a 5-piece band, they play at London’s iconic Roundhouse on the 18th October. Ahead of this they will also embark on a string of European festival dates which include a headline show at Sonar By Day, Parklife Festival, Roskilde, Pukkelpop Festival, Nova Batida and recently DJ’d after Flying Lotus at All Points East festival in London.

Beginning life in 2011 as a project between Chris Davids and Liam Ivory, Maribou State had released a string of EP’s and singles before the arrival of debut album “Portraits” propelled them to the world stage. Spawning a live show that took them around the globe and included standout festival performances at Glastonbury, Bestival, a headline slot at Secret Garden party; a 32-date European tour with two sold-out London shows including the legendary KOKO; plus dates throughout Asia, Australia and America. They received radio support from the likes of Annie Mac, Zane Lowe and Gilles Peterson, addition to the BBC 6 Music A-list, a 5-show BBC Radio 1 Residency, a slot on the legendary BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and performed a session Live from Maida Vale. Critical support came from the likes of The Guardian, I-D magazine and Vogue, with the album amassing over 80 million streams to date and drawing comparisons to acts such as The XX, James Blake & Mount Kimbie, as well earning them plaudits from the likes of DJ Koze and Bonobo.

This incredible success that followed the release of “Portraits” took Chris and Liam quite by surprise, “It was like Christmas every day” laughs Liam, “stuff like doing a show in Bangalore and having a crowd come and see us who knew the music and would sing all the words. It was an incredible experience”.

After more than a year of touring they returned to the UK to begin work on new material, but relocating their studio from The Shack - their home-built studio at the back of Liam’s garden in Hertfordshire - to a new base in London found them struggling to find their creative flow. The solution was to start looking outward and back over their journey of the past two years. They began making regular excursions out of the city, setting up a temporary studio space for weeks at a time, they started to piece together a “sonic collage” - drawing on ideas that were written while touring in places like India, and on field recordings from Asia, Australia, Morocco, America and beyond - the result of which is the stunning "Kingdoms In Colour”.

“The first album felt quite insular for us” says Chris, "not just in sound, but literally that it was all written in The Shack. We always had a bigger idea of what we wanted it to be, we wanted to create something that was palpable, that could in some way transport you to another country or another place entirely in your mind”. “The idea with Maribou State was always to draw on influences from different parts of the world” continues Liam "by traveling, sampling, recording, we wanted to create this all encompassing thing. Which is what this second record has ended up being for us”.

Jacques Bekaert (1940-2020) was a man of many gifts: author, journalist, composer, photographer, visual artist, wine connoisseur, radio talk show host, diplomat and expert in Southeast Asian affairs. His whole life Bekaert has been actively involved in music but not much of his work got recorded or published. In the early 60’s Bekaert studied with Pousseur and through his frequent visits to the US he became friends with artists like John Cage, David Tudor, Charlotte Moorman and most of all David Behrman with whom he had a close friendship ever since.

Bekaert helped organize the first European tour of The Sonic Arts Union (David Behrman, Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma, Alvin Lucier) and in the early 70’s he formed the group Transition (with Belgian jazz pianist Michel Herr, Takehisa Kosugi and Ryo Koike, both members of the Taj Mahal Travelers). His meeting with Japanese experimental film-maker Akiko Iimura resulted in two film soundtracks featured on this one of a kind discreet avant garde album.

Over the last 5 years the duo of Félicia Atkinson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma have intertwined sublime sonorities across the geographic expanses between their respective homes in France and the United States. Their third album for Shelter Press, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ (‘A winter in the middle of summer’) - the first to have been largely recorded by Atkinson and Cantu-Ledesma together in the same space - distills a mesmerizing pallet of acoustic and electronic sources into an open discourse of radically poetic forms, offering glimpses of warmth and intimacy waiting in the post-covid world to come.

Both veteran experimentalists with celebrated bodies of solo work behind them - each traversing the challenges of electroacoustic practice in their own singular ways - prior to their first recorded
outing in 2016, Félicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma had only crossed paths in person once, initially meeting in San Fransisco during 2009. The mutual bond formed during that brief encounter flowered into their first LP, ‘Comme Un Seul Narcisse’, followed two years later by 2018’s ‘Limpid As The Solitudes’. Both recorded remotely - sending files back and forth, fortified by conversations on a vast range of subjects - these two albums were guided by impassioned
conceptual nods to Guy Debord, Baudelaire, Brion Gysin and Sylvia Plath, while seeking resolutions for the challenges and unique possibilities that working at a distance provoked.

Where the triumphs of its predecessors rose from the bridging of disparate moments and divergent spaces, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ culminates as a celebration of closeness, a result of Atkinson and Cantu-Ledesma working together in the studio, responsively in real time, for the first time. Recorded in Brooklyn during August of 2019 - a handful of months before the pandemic would impose chasmic distances across the globe - its six discrete works, carefully crafted and finalized over the ensuing year, evolve seamlessly across the album’s two sides, weaving a sprawling tapestry of sonority, within which both artists retaining their own voices and visions, while drawing each other towards uncharted ground.

Crafted from deconstructed melodic elements and drifting long-tones - laden with subtle nods to Indian classical ragas and free jazz - searching patterns of speech, textural elements captured within the studio and the outside world, and searching tonal and percussive interventions, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ coheres as a multi-faceted series of electroacoustic dialogues; nesting conversations between two artists working at the juncture of abstraction and narration, field recording and harmony, and the philosophical and phenomenological, in search for the meaning of friendship, and its manifestation in pure sound.

It’s not easy to summarize any band whose career has stretched over two decades. In the case of Growing, though, it’s all in the name: since 2001, the core duo of Kevin Doria and Joe DeNardo have been making vibrating, explorative experimental music that is in a forever state of evolution. In that time, they have amassed a hard-to-define and influential body of work, and Diptych sees the band operating at the height of their “big amp ambient” powers. Diptych is a masterclass in slowly undulating ambient drift, and quite possibly the definitive headphone album of the year. Guitars that sound like organs pointed at the heavens are cut with subtly damaged electronic moves, the end result being a record that is at once ecstatic, transportive and gritty. Ambient and new age music have become part of the larger indie vocabulary. Things were different over twenty years ago in the Olympia, Washington punk community where Doria and DeNardo got their start. Both veterans of aggressive music by the time the band began, Growing emerged like a rainbow at the other end of the heavy music tunnel: loud as ever, but with a sonic and aesthetic position that ran counter to punk rock norms. Created over the past year and a half, Diptych extrapolates on Growing’s formative drone-based work, showing a unit in full control of a language that they have built and reconfigured over time. The music here continues to be an intuitive outgrowth of a friendship that started in late-90s Olympia and still bears fruit today—even as each member lives in a different city.

The first 2000 copies of the LP will be available on transparent turquoise or pink vinyl, randomly picked. 'All The Time', Jessy Lanza's first album since 2016's 'Oh No', is the most pure set of pop songs that she and creative partner Jeremy Greenspan have recorded, reflective and finessed over time and distance. Innovative juxtapositions sound natural, like rigid 808s rubbing against delicate chords in 'Anyone Around', subtle footwork flutter giving a nervous energy to 'Face', unusual underwater rushes underpinning 'Baby Love'.The songs also sound more "live" than ever before. Jessy's voice is treated, re-pitched and edited on songs like 'Ice Creamy' and gestural sounds seem to respond to her lyrics in songs such as 'Like Fire', which reward the listener on repeated plays.More than previous albums, the lyrics on 'All The Time' became an important focus for Jessy too, channelling the negativity of anger and frustration arising from some significant changes in her personal situation into the text. These lyrics sometimes process raw feelings, which aren't obvious to begin with, but are soon felt, standing in stark contrast to the cushioned settings of the music.'All The Time' has ended as a triumph and an abstracted diary of a sometimes difficult, but enduring friendship and creative relationship, and it's their best work yet.

Weird shapes emerge from the darkness, illuminated only by muted street lamps and neon signs CPR album, Lymbic Resonance sifts through the shadows of night life decadence, influenced dimly lit romantic and mysteries that lurk on the streets in the early hours of the morning.

CPR is a collaboration of a mysterious Berlin duo of lovers Together they conjure a sound that paradoxically traverses darkness and brightness - diving into the depht of the unconsciousness leading to a hypnotic, transportive and psychedelic state done within a dark, intriguing and mysterious way.

Since its opening in spring 2021, Jubg, a still young Cologne gallery for contemporary art, has specialized in the broad field of artists and collaborations working along artistic interfaces, especially those between visual art and experimental and/or electronic music. For example, Jubg has already hosted exhibitions by Markus Oehlen, Kim Gordon, Wolfgang Voigt, Matthias and Aksel "Superpitcher" Schaufler, Sven-Åke Johansson, and Emil Schult. Albert Oehlen, who is a kind of mentor and supporter of the gallery, was also a guest at Albertusstraße this summer, where he presented the exhibition D-i-e Orpheusmaschine together with Michael Wertmüller, Thomas Stammer and the poet Rainald Goetz.

It is only logical that the gallery now expands its sphere of activity to include its own label, on which music appears that comes from similar contexts as the artists listed above already suggest.

As catalog number 1, Jubg is now releasing the official soundtrack to "The Painter" from 2021. The film, German title "Der Maler", is a mixture of feature film and documentary and a collaboration between German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, best known for his Oscar-nominated film "Downfall", and Albert Oehlen, with whom Hirschbiegel has a long friendship, as they both once studied together at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste in Hamburg.

The docu-fiction shows Oehlen struggling with a painting and pondering the meaning of his work. Oehlen is played by German actor and musician Ben Becker, accompanied by the off-screen voice of Charlotte Rampling. In the film, Becker makes a painting that Oehlen himself creates step by step behind the camera, while the actor improvises the process in front of the camera.

The wonderful music for this film comes from no less than two outstanding personalities whose individual biographies and musical signatures could hardly be better suited to this project. On the A-side it is Gudrun Gut, icon not only of the German electronic music scene since at least the 90's, singer, composer, DJ, label owner (Monika Enterprise) and of course founding member of the legendary 80's New Wave band Malaria. On the B-side it’s the world famous and award winning US avant-garde trumpeter and improvisational musician Nathan "Nate" Wooley, who has played with Fred Frith and John Zorn among others.

Gudrun Gut's tracks bear such beautiful titles as "Bewegung", "Küste" or "Weinen" and she once again pulls out all the stops of her great skills and decades of experience as a producer of the most diverse electronic music genres. These are unusual and much more experimental musical paintings that she creates here than on her recent solo works. Edgy, angular, raw and unpolished, yet always elegant and clever, she subverts the male artist madness depicted extensively in the film in her own unique way.

Nathan Wooley answers with the instrument he has been familiar with since childhood, the trumpet, with which he is able to create a ravishingly virtuosic noise. His pieces are more like sketches, often only 90 seconds or a few minutes long, but in all their abstractness underpin the narrative of the film almost perfectly.

80g Limited Edition (2×12″lp)

“Sueño Mediterráneo” meets our primary goals of then and now: expanding our sonic horizon and telling a story in music that focuses on the human being, the soul, and the essential things to appreciate in life. “Sueño Mediterráneo” is a two-hand effort by the Italian DJ and producer Luca Averna (elsewhere also known as Jay Green) and the UK House veteran DJ and producer Chris Coco.

Luca moved to Ibiza permanently a few years back, firmly wanting to live the isle differently, appreciating the rustical life of the western hills with his beloved wife, dog, turntables, vinyl records, and drum machines. Chris is an Ibiza regular since the 90s, and during the last two decades, he has become one of the most respected figures within the island’s Balearic scene.

After meeting a couple of years ago, they decided right away to produce music together, giving birth to this “Sueño Mediterráneo” project, with the desire to pay tribute to the 90s Italo Dream House, celebrate a newborn friendship, and their shared love for the White Island.

All tracks written & produced in 2018 by Chris Mellor and Luca Averna, between Ibiza and London and using the following gear: Roland® TR 606,626,707,909; Yamaha RX5, Yamaha DX7, Korg M1.

Additional Credits: Guitar in ‘Mare’ By Micko Roche. Bass Guitar in “Walearic Dub” By Yusuke. Vocals in “Underwater” By Louis Van Johnson. Vocals in “Il Tempio Dell’Amore” By Luca Averna.

Mastered by Rune Lindbaek.

Graphic design by Dextro.org.

Buy Digital Album Streaming + Download Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, Flac and more.

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

This remix compilation, affirming the friendship across both sides of the former Iron Curtain, is released by a bunch of music lovers in association with the independent label Xion (xionlabel.bandcamp.com), right in the heart of Europe, the city of Prague. Enter "Holan Remixed" – a full tribute to Ota Pavel's and Luboš Fišer's work and its typical poetics, compiled from six electronic music remixers. UK based pioneer of atmospheric drum'n'bass Lucida represents the west side, while Sintez, a skilled producer hails from the east side with his deep dnb roller. The rest are 3 guys from the Czech republic – Rabbit with his 2 reworks, one in breakbeat rhythm and 2nd with mellow deep dubstep vibe. Prague based owner of Pathfinder Records Title brings his vision of deep drum and bass and Martin Kuška closes the whole EP with an ambient piece.

The critically acclaimed musical outlet of Eric Phillips, a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist living in Portland, Oregon. Drawing from an eclectic array of influences to create his own unique style of cinematic electronic music, he is set to release his sophomore album ‘Without Star or Compass’ on the 2nd September via Night Times Stories, the sister label to LateNightTales. Releasing his debut album ‘Departure’ at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, ‘Without Star or Compass’ was written and recorded during a phase in Phillips’ life which allowed him to re-examine his motivations. “The first primary influence for this record is that, more so than ‘Departure’, I wanted to write this record for my friends and others rather than for myself. Maybe it's also a product of maturing, but I wanted the music to communicate more clearly to others, and be less of an exercise of some kind for myself.”
From the subtle electronica of ‘Leaving The Canyons’ featuring the distinctive vocals of Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring, the expanding electronic beats of ‘Tall Tales’ featuring Hemlock Ernst (the rap moniker of Samuel T. Herring) and US singer Sudan Archives, to the effortlessly cast rhythms of ‘The Great Divide’ featuring Yazz Ahmed on horns, Phillips set out to make an album which was more direct with sparser arrangements and distinct melodies, while still maintaining the eclectic and creative nature of his debut. “I think if I were a writer, my words would be all setting and very little narrative. I'm really trying to evoke a sense of place and motion and journey and environment but the facts of the story are left vague.” On working with Herring, Phillips adds, “I think our styles just resonated well with one another, and we clicked naturally. We sent some ideas back and forth remotely and then he flew out to Portland and we recorded all the vocals in three days together. It was so fun and inspiring - and really deepened my appreciation for his craft. He's such a nice guy and a total genius. Sam's lyrics really hit a beautiful balance between that sense of magic and folklore in the natural world that I'm after,
while really bringing his own sense of narrative. He's really amazing at constructing lyrical concepts in a way that I think compliments my own strengths (and weaknesses).”Throughout ‘Without Star or Compass’, Phillips masterfully creates an evocative sense of place and motion in a cinematic way, in part due to his love of soundtrack music, a heavy influence on the album. ‘Castalay's Fountain’ was inspired by classic JRPG music such as ‘Zelda’, ‘Chrono Trigger’ and ‘Final Fantasy’,while instrumental tracks ‘Friendship song’, ‘The Great Divide’ and ‘Calyptra’ are rich in cinematic grandeur. In addition to the Kennebec project, Phillips has composed the music for numerous feature films, documentaries, podcasts and games. In 2020, alongside Mark Orton (of Tin Hat Trio) and John Hancock, Phillips co-composed the soundtrack to 'Wind of Change', a podcast created by New York Times Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe and produced by Spotify, recorded the Moscow Bowtie Orchestra for the feature length film ‘12 Mighty Orphans’ starring Luke Wilson, Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen and scored Northfork Studios documentary ‘Chehalis: A Watershed Moment.’Running since 2013, 'Night TimeStories’, the sister label to LateNightTales, is a platform for original artist material, hosting artists connected by a common thread of authenticity.

Music From Memory are excited to introduce another new group for 2021, this time presenting the self-titled debut album from Loveshadow. Currently based in San Francisco, the duo of Anya and Izaak initially met whilst working in an Oakland cafe in 2016. The two Californians quickly bonded over a track by the ’80s disco band Aurra which was playing over the radio and almost immediately their separate journeys in music became interwoven. They soon began to write music and creating their own work would become a way for the pair to get closer to the sound they were searching for, as well as enabling them to discover the healing power of making and listening to music. ‘Loveshadow’ was recorded predominantly in the Bay Area between 2017-2020 as well as whilst traveling to NYC, Chicago and around Portland. Having released previously as the outfit ‘S Transporter’ alongside Detroit friend Ryan Spencer, Loveshadow is formed of Anya as singer and song writer alongside Izaak on synthesizers, bass and percussion. This eight track album is the duo’s first release; exploring emotive Pop and DIY Funk leanings it stands as a joyful homage to the music they bond over, as well as an ode to their own love and friendship.

A download code is included. At the forefront of the dance music landscape, DJ/Production duo and label heads, Catz ‘n Dogz are well and truly in the driver’s seat of their musical journey. Starting out as close friends, the pair have risen to critical acclaim, leaving a lasting impression on the electronic music community with their honest productions and label releases; spreading the love far and wide. With friendship as one of the main precursors to their success, they present a warming and emotional album channeling the intricacies of ‘Friendship’ and relationships.

It's the kind of project that brings the old mad scientist cliché out for an airing, "It's insane, but it just might work." The insanity in this case being a motley cast that features Andy Moor (The Ex, Amsterdam), Desmond Denker (Cologne), Phanton (Cologne), Yürke (Düsseldorf), Dubby King Knarf (Knarf Rellöm, Hamburg), Istari Lasterfahrer (Hamburg), Begritty (Cologne) laying down their versions of tracks from the demento-a-go-go-electro-pop-rock-mono-mind known as Zea.

How could we resist the spasmodic schizoid psychedelic menace of that devilish Dutch juggernaut called Zea. This bastardised twelve inch slab of wax has Zea sonically re-assessed, dissected and twisted in side out. And it had to happen, it had to be made.

"Standing up I forgot what came to mind when I was lying on the kitchen floor. Standing up I forgot what came to mind, something I tried to remember before." It's the punky pop intro of the song 'Staande ben ik vergeten wat ik dacht toen ik lag', the Dutch translation of the first sentence of the song that provided the title for this collection of remixes. Zea, a.k.a. Arnold de Boer, a musician who skips sitting down, who either jumps or lies on the floor fumbling with a dictaphone trying to remember the ideas that just came to mind jumping around from the couch straight into the kitchen, trying to write the next song while cooking spicy food that makes his head explode. It's all inthere, everyone is in there; shrinking people, growing people, dead people. And all "Sub specie ludens" (from the perspective of human play).

Andy Moor and Arnold de Boer are in a band together called The Ex, and with Michael Heiber, the Krachladen Dub label maker and idea creator for this project, they share a love of dub, grime, dubstep, drum & bass, breakcore and much more. Zea, with his obstinate breakpop sampler-guitar-voice combination, shared the stage with many off-kilter electronic music artist from 1-Speed Bike to Felix Kubin to Jason Forrest (who all remixed Zea back in 2004) to recently Japanese OLOLOLOP and Arakawa Atsushi. And with his friends Desmond Denker (Cologne),Knarf Rellöm, (Hamburg) and Istari Lasterfahrer (Hamburg). So the logic behind this album isn't far from a friendship being celebrated and the music is very close to a fundamental experience of wonder and joy. Lay this record down and see what comes to mind. Did we say it's essential? It's essential.
Arnold de Boer, November 2023

This album came together through a series of coincidences. It captures a recording session from 1994 featuring Kris Vanderstraeten, Daniel Duchamp, and Luis Ferin. The session, long forgotten, resurfaced 30 years later when it was rediscovered in an old DAT tape archive. Initially unrecognized, the tape began with a recording of passing cars, captured from a Brussels balcony at the time. This ambient sound was seamlessly integrated as an intro to the musical session that followed. The quality of both the recording and the performance proved to be exceptionally good, making it a rediscovered gem. The session marked a refreshing collaboration with musicians from a jazz and free improvisation background, leading to lasting friendships.

Kris Vanderstraeten: Drums, percussion, sounds, electronics Daniel Duchamp: Double bass, (prepared) cornet, effects Luis Ferin: Soprano sax, electric guitar Timo VAN Luijk: Autoharp, percussion, sounds, effects

"the sixth gollaberration features a rather odd encounter indeed! it all happened when matchless vocalist ghedalia tazartes challenged gol dada-style quartet. ghedalia threw in the game his pan-africanasian singing techniques blending gypsy, jewish and trans-continental flavor. gol exceeded on electric mandoline, jew's harps, percussions, janotron, flutes, electric guitar, bass guitar, electronic garage and voice. together with ghedalia they developed into what became a "bal musette" for mentally disabled. reaching at some points the sides of rock that doesn't roll, this sonic attack jumps from topic to topic as a ritualistic anthology of unknown "ritournelles". such a decadence was hardly contained in the neutral environment of the swiss cultural center in paris where the recording took place on feb 22nd and 23rd, 2011. tired liver resonances accurately rendered by the acid yellow cover created by dennis tyfus. a mountain peaks journey below the very heart of no-where europe to be consumed gently without skis on. one-time pressing edition limited to 400 copies."

Only 100 copies Mathlovsky’s Yassssin is a celebration of 10 years of his musical journey, reflecting the friendships and relationships during this time period. The cuts on the LP display a wide spectrum of versatility and track the entire cartography of his artistic creativity and collaborative spirit. However, Yassssin as an album is not so much a collection of wild mood swings, as it is a threading of the needle wound through the joining points of Mathlovsky’s musical history - then amplified with the sounds of live drums and electric guitar to make something completely new. Joined for the album by live drummer Gregory Simons, Mathlovsky also employs the vocal talents of Jason & Rhonda, Thibaud Meiresone, Amazumi, Mixmeister Michelle, Mathieu Joyeux, Brennt, and absolutely Shreds on guitar himself on several of the tracks. Speaking toward the number of fellow artists he has invited to play on the record, and the themes on the record, Mathieu elucidates: “The best way to collaborate is to give an artist full artistic freedom to write and record what they want. So I can feel their essence and creativity. I can then mash up it at my will to let it fit into my chosen path.” “This album is about friendship and relationships in all its forms. How we interact at raves and shows, all being each other’s family at that right musical moment, feeling the love of your life supporting you, being disappointed by lifelong friends and even being backstabbed by people you once thought to be family.” Created for Ravers and Moshers alike, Mathlovsky skillfully serves track after track of this unique hybridization - formulating a upgraded musical experience. The arc of the album goes from pure punk to heavy and danceable to pure funk to the absolutely drowning ending of “Life is Suffering and I Suffer Good”, illustrating the comparable energies of in your face vocals, Distorted 909 kicks, heavy electric guitar, and thundering live drums.

Experimental musician Claire Rousay and visual artist Dani Toral have been in each others’ orbit since young adulthood in San Antonio, but it took a decade for them to find A Softer Focus. Before Rousay had put her compositional gray matter to task for the album’s music, she knew she wanted to work with Toral- being familiar with her past work centering her Mexican heritage. Toral’s vibrant color palette and reinterpretations of comfort in oneself and the natural, vegetative world connected easily with her explorations in communication and intimacy. Historically, Rousay primarily operated in non-melodic experimental music, sculpting compositions from obsessive field recordings, inserting voice-to-text, percussion played via text message sounds, conversations, and daily life. By contrast, the six-song collection and collaborative project A Softer Focus is lush and almost entirely melodic, even veering into pop at a couple points.

Though Rousay created the album’s recordings, Toral created the artwork and visual narrative for the album - the recurring floral motifs and designs, the photography, the video work, and the ceramic whistles that accompany a special edition of the vinyl record. She also assisted in crafting the linguistic framework, assisting with song titles, and coming up with the name of the album - “A Softer Focus” became the album’s central motif, alluding to the meditative or recollective-dream state of creating. Toral, being primarily a painter and ceramicist, took on this challenge of working digitally to create a visual language accompanying the music. She wanted to explore the feelings of present familiarity she felt with Rousay, through warm light and glow while mimicking the flow of the music using her organic soft shapes melding together and creating a portal-like entry to the album. Fittingly, the songs gently amble from one to the next, creating a syrupy, hypnagogic narrative that uses string sections, field recordings, and vocals to touch upon love, friendship, endurance, and transcendence - sounding like what living inside a brain must feel like, oscillating on how far to let its guest in.

Songs like “Peak Chroma” and “Stoned Gesture” are the closest Rousay’s gotten to pop, and are signposts of her growing compositional prowess. It’s on the third track “Peak Chroma” that the first and most wonderful surprise of A Softer Focus arises. The song begins with an airy drone that cuts out right as Rousay’s tastefully autotuned voice emerges alongside cello from Chicago musician Lia Kohl. “Stoned Gesture” also boasts autotuned vocals, though it is a more overtly melancholy composition, perhaps even dirge-like while Rousay brings in field recordings of percussive fireworks that dart around another of clinking ice in a glass.

A Softer Focus is an exciting next step for both Rousay’s compositional practice and Toral’s visual work, showcasing both artists venturing into new territories, and coming out the other side with strengthened friendship and impactful creation. It’s a testament to their trust, playfulness, and candor that we’re allowed to come along for the ride.

Boundary-pushing composer and sound designer Andi Otto returns with his new album ‘Rwandance’, which sees live instruments, studio recordings and sampled archival material melded together as part of an electrifying reimagining of the musical traditions of Rwanda
‘Rwandance’ is a collaboration between Rwandan dancer and musician Evariste Karinganire and cello player and electronic music producer Andi Otto, brought together by a chance connection. Inspired by Steve Reich, Mark Pritchard’s Harmonic 313 and Otto’s mesmerising musical experiences touring India, Otto built software to translate the intensity of Karinganire’s hand claps into different synth notes - the structure and time signature of traditional Rwandan music providing the framework for Otto’s creations, new instruments and sounds incorporated into its parameters.

Otto follows a path similar to many producers from Latin America’s burgeoning electronic music scene but instead of using Andean folk music as a starting point, he reappraises Rwandan music mirroring traditional sounds but similarly, reimagined through a contemporary lens. ‘Rwandance’ follows Otto’s 2016 link-up with Indian singer and actress M.D. Pallavi and underground hit ‘Bangalore Whispers’, a showcase for his original approach to cross-cultural musical dialogue. He has since cemented that reputation with subsequent albums “Via” and “Bow Wave”, weaving global sounds into his distinct sonic approach.

Producing and releasing music since the early 2000s, under the Springintgut alias and under his own name, for labels including Multi-Culti and his own Pingipung imprint, Otto draws on minimalism, electronic music and sound theory to create work that’s as considered as it is engrossing. ‘Rwandance’ is respectful and bold at the same time; Otto hews close to Karinganire’s hard-learned traditions, while unpacking and reconstructing them in unique ways.

Otto has long nursed an interest in creating music with a hypnotic quality, and working with Karinganire provided the perfect platform for exploring this. ‘Igisasa’ is a prime example, a slow-building track built around Otto’s custom-built thumb piano, Karinganire’s vocal, and a gentle acid bassline. It’s underscored by a long-nurtured interest in repetition, developed through tours of India – where he saw four hour, trance like performances based around one note – and an artist residency in Kyoto, Japan.

A pioneering force, he developed a digital sensor-extension of his cello, the “Fello” at Amsterdam’s radical STEIM centre, a reflection of his interest in repetition in music. It’s seen him featured in a London Science Museum conference on the history of electronic music. He teaches a course at a sound art academy in Bern, Switzerland, called “Repetition is Change”, where he leads students in considering how we relate to sound. “I’m thinking a lot about repetition and change and the dialectic between these two words,” he says. “It’s like brushing your teeth: you do the same thing every day, but if you really look at it, it’s new every time.”

The connection between Otto and Karinganire came through a serendipitous crossing of paths in the 2018 stage show Planet Kigali, where Otto was hired to create the soundtrack, and where Karinganire was hired as one of the dancers. In creating the soundtrack, Otto was given access to a wealth of archival recordings from Rwanda, ranging from music to field recordings of everyday goings-on. By chance, one of the drum parts he sampled for the show was a recording of Karinganire performing from some time during the 1970s.

Karinganire pointed this out to Otto, who suggested they go to his studio and record Karinganire singing. Otto had imagined he would perform for a few minutes but, aside from a brief pause to drink a beer, he sang for 45 minutes with no backing or metronome. This session was the starting point for the record, and Otto went on to build around the plentiful material which Karinganire had provided him with.

The record they’ve created was a natural fit for the Shika Shika label, founded in 2015 by UK producer Robin Perkins (El Búho) and Argentine producer Agustin Rivaldo (Barrio Lindo). Otto and co-founders Perkins and Rivaldo had had an online friendship for a while, and this album presented the perfect opportunity to work together. The label is currently focused on a crowdfunding campaign to launch their second edition of a new compilation, “A Guide to the Birdsong”, where electronic artists will be commissioned to write tracks incorporating field recordings of birds from their respective countries. It taps into the natural ambience that filters through many of the label’s releases, with all of the proceeds going towards supporting bird charities.

Shika Shika is a home for music that combines organic and electronic sounds, a meeting place between the past and the future. (They also put an emphasis on supporting artists, splitting profits in their favour.) This chimes exactly with what Otto wanted to achieve in his collaboration with Karinganire, taking deeply-rooted traditions and giving them a new sonic make-up.

Thoughtful without being obtuse, ‘Rwandance’ fuses different musical disciplines together with ease, making for a unique record that’s easy to get lost in.