Search "two+fingers+stunt+rhythms" 1701 Items

2LP | 2023 | UK | Original (IOT)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Described by Swiss press as an “inventive genius marked by total unpredictability,” Roger Baudet’s music has preserved its freshness and spontaneity. Provoking feelings of surprise, anxiety and subjugation, he ends up bewitching you completely through his bizarre non-conformity. The oddity of the sounds is a choice of heterogeneity: the works gathered, although coming from one person, have little to do with each other. Forming a mosaic that provides a fragmented vision of atmospheres without apparent links, his music multiplies diverse rhythms and combinations, rejecting any principle of hierarchy in the musicality of the moment. The decorative music was composed as the soundtrack for theatre and ballet performances, documentaries, short films and exhibitions of paintings – a context that inevitably shines through the twenty-two pieces. Despite these classical settings, the music had a forward-facing, futuristic cadence – a precursor to the electronic genres that would later become techno or trance. This compilation from the past century is a collage of ornaments made out of sounds; stripped down, yet undoubtedly imbued with sensitivity, with hints of classical training, all suitable for contemplation.

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Mounika.

Don't Look At Me

Fruko Power Vol.1: Rarities & Deep Album Cuts 1974

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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LP version comes with 1 random Carl & TJ Comic Board (out of 5 different boards) + 1 Pack of Stickers
Each comic board is into 200 copies.
Three years after his last album 'I Need Space', Mounika. is back on his favorite playground: electronic music, which arouses his curiosity since his beginnings. He is now ready to unveil 'Don't Look At Me', a new opus that takes us, by other paths, to his unique universe. Recorded during the confinement in the intimacy of his home studio, the French artist reveals little by little another facet of his artistic personality, more raw and affirmed, without totally abandoning the cottony sounds already proposed on titles like 'Cut My Hair' (diamond single) or 'Tender Love' (gold single). We discover sensitive compositions, still inspired by his love for trip-hop, piano and artists who made his musical culture during his youth: Moby, Ratatat, Air or Bonobo. After all, a Mounika. album without a tribute to these figures is not really an album...
But something new was needed to distinguish this opus from the previous ones. From the very first tracks, we can clearly feel this need for exploration that has always guided the French producer. 'BonXair' or 'Nomadics' take us, for example, in a more straight electronic, more heady than usual. In the same spirit, the rhythms close to the deep house of a track like 'See You Dancing In The Dark' offer to the album a new direction, and yet is quite representative of the work undertaken by Mounika. these last years.
In this new record that will also satisfy the fans of the first hour (a sample loop well felt, as on 'Little Love' or 'I Looked Into Her Eyes', always makes its effect), the French artist has also opened to collaborations of choice. Mounika. works on the heart, and thus wished to welcome those who have particularly marked him during his more or less recent discoveries. The American artist Roland Faunte lends his voice to the effective 'Little Love', while Ural Thomas & The Pain (discovered notably on the series 'It's Bruno') takes care of the chorus of 'I Looked Into Her Eyes'. The British rapper Lord Apex delivers a spellbinding performance on 'Memories'.
Finally, if you listen carefully, you can even hear Mounika. singing on some tracks... like '20' or 'Don't Smoke'. Put together, these appearances perfectly complement the energy transcribed by Mounika. throughout 'Don't Look At Me'.
And what could be better than an amazing graphic universe to open the doors of this album like no other? Meet Carl & TJ, two cartoonish characters created in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Joe Taylor, who take care of guiding the listener through this new adventure. One is dreamy and contemplative, the other asks himself a lot of questions... and between them, they form a colorful duet illustrating with tenderness the universal emotions that punctuate this third opus, and that Mounika. will notably defend in the first part of Wax Tailor's French tour starting next April.
The successive pianos composing the productions of 'When In My Heart In Your Heart' then 'Outro' come, at the end of the record, to conclude the setting in orbit proposed by this 'Don't Look At Me'. One more step in the sensory journey that Mounika. is committed, from the intimacy of her room to the international success, to build relentlessly.

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Fruko y sus Tesos

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Vampisoul)

City Of Echoes Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Twenty rarities and deep cuts from the early years of Fruko y Sus Tesos on legendary label Discos Fuentes. A collection of powerful Colombian salsa dura for the serious collector, DJ and dancer, but also enjoyable for those just discovering Fruko for the first time.2LP including an insert with photos and liner notes by DJ Bongohead (of Peace & Rhythm).The two-volume collection FRUKO POWER is not an homage, career overview, greatest hits or 'best of' collection showcasing the evolution of Fruko (Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincón), the Renaissance Man of Colombian tropical music. Instead, this compilation series shines a light on a lesser-known side of the bassist and band leader's work during the early 1970s with Fruko y Sus Tesos, reissuing in physical form many of his rare or hard to find salsa 45s as well as a few deep album cuts from the first half decade of his career, assembled in chronological order.There are interesting cover versions as well as originals, some of which never appeared on an LP. All of Fruko's classic vocalists are represented, from early collaborators Humberto "Huango" Muriel and Edulfamid "Píper Pimienta" Díaz to golden-era stars Joe Arroyo and Wilson "Saoko" Manyoma.FRUKO POWER is less for the newcomer and more for the serious salsa collector, DJ and dancer who may have a few of the maestro's albums or hits but wants to dig deeper and have all these obscure rarities in one place. However, it also serves as an excellent compendium of powerful Latin dance tracks by Fruko y Sus Tesos that have stood the test of time, so even those who do not know much of his work will be sure to feel the power of Fruko.

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Pelican

2LP | 2007 | US | Reissue (Thrill Jockey)

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Glass Redux)

Release: 2007 / US – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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15 years after the album"s release, City of Echoes is now available in a deluxe 2xLP edition, newly remastered by Josh Bonati and featuring a full LP-worth of bonus material, including original album demos, alternate takes, and pieces originally only available on the rare Pink Mammoth EP. City of Echoes, originally released in 2007 by Hydra Head Records, marked a paradigm shift for Pelican. Coming off the heels of the glacial Australasia and their even more expansive and acclaimed follow-up, The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, their third album is a study in precision. Inspired by their non-stop tour schedule following The Fire"s release, the quartet composed City of Echoes to be a lean powerhouse of non-stop melodic hooks and lurching rhythms that reflected the energy of live performance. With City of Echoes, Pelican defied expectations and set themselves apart from the single-minded thrum of retreading old ground. The more concise pieces trade breadth and rumination for a distinct clarity and a razor"s edge for hook-driven songcraft. Guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec trade crisp riffs that twirl in opposition before thundering together in monoliths. The sheer amount of potent interplay between the two, often borrowing from disparate edges of rock and metal at a whim before completely transforming, is mind-boggling. Bassist Bryan Herweg and rhythm section compatriot/drummer/brother Larry Herweg lock into a wider array of grooves than ever before. Their considered bedrock guide the band"s dynamics into some of the ensemble"s most tender moments as well as their most ferocious. City of Echoes stands as a testament to Pelican"s ability to reconfigure the grandeur and force of their sound without ever repeating themselves.

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The Vaselines

Dum Dum

3x12" | 2022 | EU | Original (Love Love)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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A reissue of The Vaselines' debut full-length Dum-Dum, originally released in 1989. Available here on Limited Edition of 1,000 Clear Colored 180 Gram LP.The Vaselines formed in 1986, originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, later adding James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively. They released two EPs; Son Of A Gun, released in 1987, and Dying For It, released in 1988, which featured the songs "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" both of which Nirvana would later cover. In 1989 they released their first album, Dum-Dum on 53rd and 3rd Records. The band broke up shortly after its release. They briefly reformed in 1990 to open for Nirvana when they played in Edinburgh. Kelly went on to found the band Captain America, supporting Nirvana on their 1991 UK Nevermind tour, later signing to Creation offshoot August Records in the UK -- A&R'd by David Barker of Glass Records. Dying For It was reissued on his Seminal Twang label at the time of the Nirvana tour and Atlantic for the US, they renamed themselves Eugenius after anticipated legal threats from Marvel Comics. Following solo performances Kelly released the album Man Alive in 2004. McKee founded the band Suckle and released her first solo album, Sunny Moon, in 2006. Though they were not widely known during their short career, apart from fans of the international pop underground, their association with Nirvana brought huge exposure to the band. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain once described Kelly and McKee as his "favorite songwriters in the whole world". With their songs "Son Of A Gun" and "Molly's Lips" were covered on Nirvana's album Incesticide (1992) and "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for A Sunbeam" was covered on on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York (1994) giving the band a new audience. At the 1991 Reading Festival, Kelly joined Nirvana on stage for a performance of "Molly's Lips". The Vaselines reformed (minus the old rhythm section) in 2008 and have released two further al...

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dgoHn

Undesignated Remixes

Fred Anderson / Hamid Drake

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Undesignated remixes is an expansive project containing 12 remixes of tracks from dgoHn’s iconic 2020 full-length by some choice artists from in and around the Love Love sphere. Remixes that take dgoHn’s unique razor-sharp original productions and send them through a loop and round the twist, some stripped down, some messed up, most but not all maintaining the speedier tempos that dgoHn likes to work around. The result is a collection of seriously futuristic electronic music with some stylistic leanings towards labels like braindance or drumfunk or jungle but completely genre-eluding as a whole, reshaped from the minerals of the original LP by some absolute dons of their craft.

Opening the album Equinox does a fantastic job highlighting the lushness of ‘Puppet’ layering sky-high sunshine pads before sliding into Meat Beat Manifesto’s heavy sci-fi acid dub version of ‘Daisy Takes Two’. A woozy remix of ‘Lucky Gonk’ by Macc & dgoHn marks the first new material from them as a duo since ’09 and Wisp also makes a rare appearance bringing his inimitable post-rephlexian vibes on an agonisingly wonderful, melody-heavy remix of 'Electryon'. Skee Mask’s choice of remixing ‘Robin’s Windmill’ turns the original into a bundle of writhing rhythms organically unfolding with swelling ambient tones. Homegrown heroes Rognvald & Scrase both opt for pumped up post-breakcore in unconventional time signatures while Djrum emphatically provides the LP’s dose of peak jungle choppage, tempering the drum breaks of ‘Ninnyhammer’ with a blistering amen. Also featured on the LP are crisp and beefy drum workouts courtesy of Coco Bryce and Forest Drive West, visceral and apocalyptic half-time bass from Activia Benz affiliated duo Quavis and virtuosic noir-jazz tearout from fellow East-Anglian Carl Brown.

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From The River To The Ocean Black Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2007 | US | Reissue (Thrill Jockey)

Fred Anderson / Hamid Drake

Release: 2007 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Available on vinyl for the first time since it's original CD-only release in 2007. On black or limited edition forest green with gold double LP, in gatefold jacket with download card. Tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer Hamid Drake had the closest of relationships, as close as a father and son might have. Their communication was at a higher level musically and emotionally. The music on this album reflects not only their masterful musical skills, but a conversation in music that is exceptionally powerful and unique. For From the River to the Ocean, they assembled a band consisting of fellow Chicagoans to record the most relaxed, perfectly balanced album they made together. It may seem hyperbolic to call From the River to the Ocean Fred Anderson's greatest album, but the empathy and cohesiveness of the ensemble, coupled with the saxophonist's brilliant, searching improvisations, makes it a powerful contender. From the River to the Ocean is an especially varied outing, ranging from Anderson's classic setclosing blues "Strut Time" to the meditative, spiritual, modal track "For Brother Thompson," dedicated to the late trumpeter Malachi Thompson and featuring bassist Harrison Bankhead on brooding piano and Drake chanting in Arabic. The record's title track and the closer, "Sakti/Shiva," find bassist Josh Abrams laying down an astounding bed on guimbri, the threestringed Moroccan acoustic bass familiar to fans of Gnawa music. Another of the album's delights is guitarist Jeff Parker, well known Jazz guitarist as well as member of Tortoise. Here, Parker displays an immense sensitivity and melodic genius, sharing solo spotlight with Bankhead's cello on "From the River to the Ocean" and sculpting a stunning array of shapes on the group's swinging take on Anderson's "Planet E." Underneath it all is Hamid Drake, an intensely creative soul continuing to challenge himself. Drake's growth is not measured in how many different instruments he plays - indeed, he's scaled back his arsenal over the years - but in the depth and musicality of his feeling. On this record he is remarkably light and airy, playing with tremendous delicacy and clarity. Propulsion can be introduced without a pneumatic drill, and Drake instigates an avalanche of rolling forward momentum on the opening moments, inspiring the two basses and guitarist to move, to make something moving, and in turn to further inspire Fred Anderson to some of his most forceful and imaginative playing ever documented. If the individual is a small receptacle of expressivity, a mountain spring if you will, then it is in ideal settings like this one that the springs join forces, turning into streams, then bigger and bigger tributaries, finally swelling into rivers that open into the oceanic creative waterways.

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From The River To The Ocean Forest Green Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2007 | US | Reissue (Thrill Jockey)

2LP | 2022 | UK | Original (Leng)

Release: 2007 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Lex

Waving

2LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (Staalplaat)

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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It can take a while for an artist to find their musical voice. For Alex Andrikopoulos, it’s been a journey that’s taken the best part of two decades. Now he’s set to mark a major milestone in his transition from record store owner, label co-founder and DJ to producer with the release of his long-promised first solo album for Leng, Waving. The Greek artist first joined the Leng Records roster in the autumn of 2020 and has since gone in to release the acclaimed ‘Punta Allen’ EP for the imprint. Before that, he spent the first decade of the century running the popular Radical Sounds record shop in Athens, before refocusing on running Quantized Music with fellow DJ/producer Tolis Q and developing his DJ career, where his unique blends of disco, house and techno tracks earned him bookings at some of Europe’s most storied clubs.

Waving, which appears on the back of a handful of fine EPs for a variety of labels, is his boldest and strongest statement yet as a musician and producer. Created with a little help from guest musicians and collaborators including keyboardist Artis Boriss, bassist Brotha Gilla, percussionists Ilario Arnel and Harold Perez, pianist Luciano Ledesma and guitarist Alex Searle, the album brilliantly blurs the boundary between 21st century disco, afternoon-ready downtempo grooves, and the kind of dancefloor-minded Balearic fare that’s devilishly difficult to pigeonhole.

Fittingly, the set begins with previous single ‘Punta Allen’, an eight-minute chunk of organic dancefloor goodness which slowly unfurls before rising towards and gorgeous and joyous conclusion, and ends with the squelchy, slo-mo cosmic funk of ‘Patrol Di Caribe’, where trippy synthesizer lines, layered percussion and more tuneful style pan style lead ins catch the ear.

In between, highlights are plentiful, from the driving, piano solo-laden dub disco brilliance of ‘Down My Soul’ and the languid, sun-kissed, beach-ready downtempo grooves of ‘The Jamail Pass’, to the rubbery, pitched-down electrofunk of ‘Window Spells’ (featuring a fine lead vocal from Max Giovara, the flash-friend, dubwise Balearic funk of ‘Waving’, and the throbbing brilliance of ‘La Di Da Di’, whose crunchy Clavinet lines, fluid electric piano solos, snappy drums and pulsating, arpeggio-style bass encapsulate all that is good about the album.

The digital edition of the album also comes bundled with eight more tracks not featured on the double-vinyl LP. Featuring the same blend of expansive musicality, organic drums and dancefloor nous, this octet effectively extends the album via a string of similarly playable, club-ready and sofa-friendly tracks. Standouts include the non-stop, nu-disco-meets-house excellence of ‘Large Stacks’, Hammond-laced head-nodder ‘Take The High Road’, horizontal Balearic funk shuffler ‘Prezend’ and hazy, vocal-sporting dub disco roller ‘Angels of Rhythm’, which previously appeared on the flipside of Lex’s ‘Punta Allen’ 12”.

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Het Zweet

3LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Cocoon)

Release: 1983 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Remastered reissue of Het Zweet's 1987 self-titled LP + a bonus LP, consisting of previously unreleased material.

Marien Van Oers work under the name Het Zweet (“The Sweat” in English) originally came out in the 1980s (specifically 1983-1988), but listening to the new reissue of this self-titled album from 1987 can feel like one is listening to something that’s both much more current and also much, much older than that. Van Oers, who passed away in 2013, made music that tended to get classed as “industrial”, and tracks here like the steady, clanging churn of “From the Lowland” or “On Earth” show why, but he was as or more inspired by tribal music intended to produce trance-like effects via rhythm and (percussive and vocal) repetition. Using instruments made by himself out of anything from shopping carts to cardboard tubes, the music of Het Zweet locks into grooves that somehow feel more elemental and physical than many of his contemporaries. It never quite feels like Van Oers is emulating or echoing the music of any particular region or tradition so much as trying to synthesize all the ones he’s heard into some sort of ur-pulse, an overtone so powerful as to compel the “Massive Trance” the title of the last song on the record evokes.

While the 1987 Het Zweet has four track titles per side, and on listening you can discern some segues and places where it feels like new movements do shift into place, it’s fitting to have this record on vinyl where the listener is encouraged to experience each side as one uninterrupted piece. The bonus material included on this reissue expands Het Zweet from one LP to two, the second LP consisting entirely of previously unreleased material. This bonus LP is sequenced similarly, with three untitled tracks and two live excerpts presented as side-long experiences that belie their disparate origins with a unity of sound and purpose. Van Oers’ percussive nous and distantly yelled chants certainly sound capable of working up a sweat in both the performer and any movement- minded listeners, but maybe the most striking thing about Het Zweet is how vital it still sounds, despite its age and relative obscurity.

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Sven Väth

Catharsis

The Warm World Of Joao Gilberto: The Man Who Invented Bossa Nova Complete Recordings 1958-1961

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Catharsis is Sven Väth's first solo album in almost 20 years, and the 50th album to be released on his incomparable label, Cocoon Recordings. Produced alongside Gregor Tresher, it arrives on 25 February 2022 and is a musical autobiography that charts Svens most extraordinary life in techno.

Without the West German-born Väth, techno would look, sound and feel very different. Since falling in love with electronic music and DJing in 1981, his dedication to the art has never faltered. He plays every party as if it were his last. His broad smile has connected with millions of people around the world. His colourful and curious character has imbued techno with a personality it was often lacking. His selections remain hugely unpredictable, despite the fact that he has been playing around the world for more than 40 years. To remain not only relevant but innovative after so long is a testament to Sven's ability to connect through music on a deeper level.

Technically, of course, he is a DJ who can play for thirty hours and not miss a beat. His track selections seem almost divine, and his aura is certainly otherworldly. But more than that, he is a ringleader who is able to mix the artful side of techno with the playful side of partying. Most famously he has done this for more than 20 years at his iconic Cocoon parties in Ibiza. They single-handedly introduced techno to the White Isle and have been its beating heart ever since. Under his charge, strict style guidelines and exaggerated pigeonholing no longer apply. Instead, he has perfected the art of playing far and wide while always remaining true to his own musical identity.

In the studio, Sven has always been just as unique. He has worked under several aliases but always brought a fresh perspective. Whether securing chart hits as part of OFF in the eighties, serving up brutalist techno and trance-tinged sounds in the nineties or crafting major label albums in the 2000s, his music has remained utterly forward-looking. That legacy continues with Catharsis as Sven teams up with highly respected producer Gregor Tresher for his latest long-form offering. Tresher has long been part of the Cocoon family and is a revered artist in his own right, when the two got together in the studio it was clear they had an instant connection and there would only be one person fit to co-author this LP.

It is a record inspired by Sven's interest in the physical and spiritual processes that take place when we dance. "They are realms into which we immerse ourselves to experience our own mysticism and ecstasy," he muses. "Dancing is a conversation between body and soul and it spiritually connects us with each other." Because of the pandemic, that is of course a feeling that we all missed out on for so long. "No dancing, no paradise!" says Sven. "My imagination for this record was fueled by the many cultural experiences and encounters I have had in my life. They gave me the strength to find a way, the way to myself." And that way to himself is through music, through purifying dancing rituals and the exchange of spiritual energies that are generated in the club.

The thirteen-track album explores all facets of Sven's sound. It opens with the stomping drums but sleek synths of 'What I Used To Play' and unfolds through deep and dirty rhythms like 'The Worm', subtly euphoric highs on 'The Inner Voice' and the bubbly tribalism of the title track. There is the impassioned call-to-arms that is 'Feiern', peak-time melodic workout 'Mystic Voices' and soothing electronic lullabies like 'Being In Love'. The second half of the album takes in many more twists and turns such as the exotic strings and driving drums of 'Butoh', the paranoid techno minimalism of 'nyx' and expansive synthscapes of ambient gem 'The Cranes Of Gangtey Valley' before things play out though rugged beats and emotive chords on 'We Are', which is named after the idea that we are what we think. "With our thoughts, we make the world.? says Sven.

Then comes the moody reflection of 'Silvi's Dream', which was written in French for Sven's girlfriend. Last but not least we have the immersive dream that is 'Panta Rhei', which completes a trio of electronica tunes on the album. Ambient music has been an integral part on almost every album Sven has written because it can bring a certain emotional deepness, a quality that Sven always has been looking for.

'Catharsis' is an adventurous album that captures the good times, the sad times and, most importantly, the times of hope.

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Joao Gilberto

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Ubatuqui)

Yo! - The Early Days Of Hip Hop 1982-84

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Deluxe double gatefold 180gr audiophile grade LP. Includes two-page spread with complete lyrics. Personnel on Side A and Side B #1-2: Orchestra arranged and conducted by Antonio Carlos Jobim (p). João Gilberto (vcl, g). Musicians featured on these sides: Nicolino Cópia “Copinha” (fl), Edmundo Maciel (tb), Guarany (percussion), Milton Banana (Antonio de Souza) (d), Juquinha (triangle), Rubens Bassini (bongo), Milton, Acyr and Edgardo (vcl Side A #3) Personnel on Side B #5-10 and Side C #1-6: João Gilberto (vcl, g) with orchestra arranged and conducted by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Side C #1: Solo guitar and rhythm Personnel on Side C #7-11: João Gilberto (vcl, g) with Walter Wanderley’s Group Personnel on Side D #1-4: with orchestra arranged by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Side D #5-6 & 8: with Antonio Carlos Jobim (p) and rhythm. Side D #7: João Gilberto accompanies himself on guitar The poet Vinícius de Moraes pointed out that the bossa nova movement began after his first songs with Antonio Carlos Jobim appeared in the 1958 album Cançao do Amor Demais, sung by Elizete Cardoso and played by an unknown 28 year-old guitarist from Baia named João Gilberto. He accompanied the singer (in two songs “Chega de Saudade” and “Outra vez”) with a new rhythmic feeling, “batida”, and with rich harmonies that would become the trademark of the modern Brazilian samba, which became known as Bossa Nova.

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Sophie Bramly

Soul Jazz Books

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Drag City)

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Yo! The Early Days of Hip-Hop 1982-84 is a new book published by Soul Jazz Books/Records that features 300+ pages of stunning photographs documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly.

Featuring: Fab Five Freddy Futura Afrika Bambaataa Grand Mixer D.ST Beastie Boys Kool Herc Run DMC Cold Crush Brothers Rocksteady Crew Grandmaster Flash and many more!

Introduction BY: Bill Adler

With Additional Text BY: Fab Fab Freddy Grand Mixer D. St Rahiem of The Furious Five Arthur Baker Zephyr Muhamad of The Magnificent Force Lady Pink Mister Freeze of The Rock Steady Crew Patti Astor & Slick Rick

“All these photos speak for a time that is so special, is never coming back and changed the world. It’s pretty much this experience that changed everything for ever. What makes it amazing, is that you hear stories about superheroes that changed the world, and that was us.” Grand Mixer D. St

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Sophie Bramly lived in New York in the early 1980s and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency.

These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, the Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and many more.

Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers.

Aside from the musical stars of hip-hop you will also see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew

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Sophie Bramly is a French photographer born in 1959. In 1982, she moved from France to New York at age 22 and for two years documented the burgeoning hip-hop scene, taking pictures of everyone from graffiti artists and breakdancers to rappers such as the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. She returned to France in 1984, bringing a number of US hip-hop artists to Europe and then in 1987 moved to London to host and produce MTV’s first ever hip-hop show, Yo! MTV Raps.

She currently lives in Paris and her work is featured extensively at Hip-Hop 360 a six month long exhibition showing at the prestigious Philarmonie de Paris, France (Dec 21–Aug 22)

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“One of the curious facts about hip-hop’s history is how little photographic documentation exists of the culture’s early years. Come the dawn of the Eighties, a handful of talented photographers finally began to pay attention, most notably Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, and Joe Conzo. In retrospect, it’s clear that each of them focused on a particular element or two of the multiform explosion of creativity that came to be called hip-hop. Henry zeroed in on graffiti. Martha devoted herself to graffiti and breakdancing. And the heart of Joe’s work documents the career of the Cold Crush Brothers. Uniquely Sophie Bramly, unlike the others, managed between 1982 and 1984 to put her arms around all four of the hip-hop elements: the emcees, deejays, graffiti artists, and breakdancers.” Bill Adler from the introduction.

Isbn: 978-1-9163598-2-6

Flexibound, 304 pages, Dimensions 224 X 284 mm, Weight 1.75Kg

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Ty Segall

Harmonizer

Krokofant With Stale Storlokken & Ingebrigt Haker Flaten

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Fifth

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Rune Grammofon)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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As David Fricke Pointed Out In His Liner Notes To "Q", The Previous Album From This Expanded Edition Of Krokofant, This Is Not Just Another Novelty Guest-Project. In Fact, All The Involved Were So Happy After Finishing "Q" That A Follow-Up Was Decided Upon Straight Away. So Here It Is, With Four New Tunes From Guitarist And Leader Tom Hasslan, Each Clocking In Between Eight And Twelve Minutes. Originally A Guitar And Drums Duo, Tom And Axel Met In A Guitar Shop In Kongsberg, A Town In Southern Norway Famous For Its Annual Jazz Festival Since 1964, And Recognised For Its Experimental And Innovative Profile. Jorgen Was Invited To Join Them For The Sessions That Resulted In Their Self-Titled Debut Album In February 2014. Two More Albums Followed In 2015 And 2017.When Considering Guest Musicians For "Q", To Become Their Fourth Album, Keyboard Maestro Ståle Storlokken (Elephant9, Supersilent, Terje Rypdal) Was The Trio's First Choice. He Had Seen Krokofant Live In 2015 And, In His Own Words, "Had An Instant Kick", So He Said Yes Straight Away. Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Scorch Trio, The Thing, Atomic) Had Seen Them The Same Year, And After A Few Backstage Beers Practically Invited Himself To Join Up At Some Time. By His Introduction, A "Proper" Rhythm Section Was Born And Work Was Lifted From Hasslan's Shoulders. Hasslan's Tunes Are Perfect Vehicles For Storlokken To Present The Full Scope Of His Playing; From Sheer Pastoral Beauty To Full On Jazz Skronk. The Same Can Be Said About Mathisen, Who Is Given Ample Room For Soloing. The Tunes Are Rich In Harmonic Structures And Melodic Hooks, But There Is Also Room For Adventures Into More Free Passages. Many Names Have Been Mentioned In Connection With Krokofant Over The Years, But With The Distinctive Sax And Organ Combination, It's Difficult Not Think Of Van Der Graaf Generator In Their Prime. Which Is The Highest Accolade In Our Book, Anyway. Thus The Expanded Krokofant Is Everything A Progressive Jazz And Rock Fan Could Wish For; Positive Energy, Melodic Rich...

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Jeff Özdemir & Friends Volume 3

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Karaoke Kalk)

Gilles Peterson & Stuart Baker

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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In the past years, the multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and music enthusiast Jeff Özdemir had been focusing on organising the Live-Mixtape series in Berlin, inviting numerous artists to join him on stage for every single event. However, the year 2020 put an end to this for all the painfully obvious and obviously painful reasons. Undeterred, he instead put together the third instalment of the »Jeff Özdemir & Friends« series, working with singers, musicians and groups such as Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex, F.S. Blumm, Joanna Gemma Auguri, Elke Brauweiler and Elmer Kussiac for an 18-track … Now, is this a compilation or an artist album? Well, why just either this or that when it can just be both at once? This is »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« after all, emphasis on »&«.

Released on Karaoke Kalk like its two predecessors from the years 2015 and 2017, respectively, »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« sees the man behind Kreuzberg’s 33rpm record store and the 33rpm Records label showcase his qualities as a people remixer, songwriter and versatile musician. He put together a collection of groovy tunes picking up on funk and afrobeat rhythms, introspective ballads, a musically channeled punk attitude, shoegaze sentiments, spoken word passages, drones, glockenspiel sounds, seriously fun experimentation and much more. Just like on the cover artwork - courtesy of Marion Eichmann, Özdemir’s favourite visual artist - everything here seems to discreetly exist for itself while being tightly connected to everything else at same time.

While artists like Ertan Doğancı, Désolé Léo, eng°n, F.S. Blumm and Zap have been long-term collaborators of Özdemir and were featured on previous instalments of the »Jeff Özdemir & Friends« series, new faces and forces also enter the mix. The melancholic »Love Letters« for example marks the first (though hopefully not last) collaboration with singer Joanna Gemm Auguri, while Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex’s appearance has been dreamt of collectively but hasn’t been fully realised until now.

Whether it’s Désolé Léo’s French crooner soul, the lo-fi synth pop song »Bored« featuring former Commercial Breakup singer Elke Brauweiler or the many different sounds and styles presented under the name Jeff Özdemir: no decision is ever made between either that or this musical direction, but all are being joyfully enjoyed together. Thus, throughout its 70 minutes, the stylistic diversity of »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« does not once border on randomness. Instead, these sometimes very different songs are marked by a shared atmosphere - a direct result of these very different musicians approaching their studio time together less as a chance to make music but more of a chance to carefully listen to and interact with each other.

Just like you’d expect it from someone deeply connected with the local music community who also happens to run a record store, Özdemir is also the kind of person who’ll hand you the worn copy of a record he has just fished out from the bargain bin because he knows about its potential to change your life. The contributions by Vackrow (»Kleistpark«), Gebrüder Teichmann’s old band BeigeGT (»Disco«), and Otto von Bismarck (»Zu viele Erinnerungen«, produced by The Whitest Boy Alive’s Daniel Nentwig) do not even feature Özdemir, but are simply musical pearls that were (almost) lost in the shuffle of music history and unearthed for this very special occasion. That’s just what friends do, don’t they?

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Cuba: Music And Revolution: Original Album Cover Art Of Cuban Music - Record Sleeve Designs Of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90

Soul Jazz

2LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Mello Music Group)

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‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Album Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90 ’ is a stunning new deluxe 250-page large format hardback book compiled and edited by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that features many 100s of stunning and unique Cuban record sleeve designs made since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959. These album covers have rarely been seen (nor heard) outside of Cuba and show a rich previously hidden history of both music and design.

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution’ is the first ever book about Cuban record sleeve design and has been five years in the making, made in full co-operation with the Cuban government. The record sleeve designs reflect both the rich cultural Latin musical legacy of Cuba, as well as the political and aesthetic influence of revolutionary Communism, which manifests itself both in the music created on the island and the artwork of the designs included here.

Cuban music is the source of much Latin music in the 20th century. Salsa, the all-encompassing Latin music that came out of New York in the 1970s, and soon spread across Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, owes all of its success to the Cuban music on which it is fundamentally based.

These record sleeves help document the dramatic change in Cuba’s identity from that of 1950s tourist paradise to socialist state. Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States imposed a trade embargo which exists to this day, and as a consequence the many 100s of Cuban records featured here have rarely been seen outside of Cuba.

The book is edited and compiled by Gilles Peterson, BBC broadcaster, record label owner, DJ, record collector, founder of Worldwide FM and Stuart Baker, founder of Soul Jazz Records. Together they have edited two earlier critically-acclaimed music and design books ‘Freedom, Rhythm and Sound – Revolutionary Jazz Cover Art 1965-83’ and ‘Bossa Nova and The Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s’.

In conjunction with the deluxe book, Soul Jazz Records will be releasing an album also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, charting the rise of Cuban music in the 1970s and featuring many of the artists who appear in this book.

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Homeboy Sandman

Don't Feed The Monster

Vámonos Que Nos Vamos Opaque White Vinyl Edition

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Hip Hop

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Homeboy Sandman drops a new album that is entirely produced by Quelle Chris.

Homeboy Sandman’s new album Don’t Feed The Monster, is a collaboration with producer/MC Quelle Chris. It’s also his most vulnerable & poignant work to date. Having grown up in Queens, New York, hip-hop was part of everything in life. This deep-rooted connection to the culture is evident when listening to his style of rhyming- bold, classic & deeply respectful. On Don’t Feed The Monster, he pulls back any pretense to show his most honest truth - a process that he needed both artistically and spiritually. “I was having a hard time and this record saved me thank Quelle and thank God and shout to Gabor Maté,” he said about the new album.

Album producer (and guest vocalist) Quelle Chris has been one of the most talked about and celebrated hip-hop artists on the planet these last few years. Both producing & rapping, Quelle has released critically acclaimed albums like Guns, Innocent Country 2, and Everything’s Fine with his collaborator & wife Jean Grae. “There's a certain mystic/magical power in words, sounds, rhythms, etc. It's rare to come across a brother/artist like Sandman,” he says when asked about his new album with Homeboy Sandman.

The new album Don’t Feed The Monster is a marvel of how an artist can dig deeper still, even years into his craft. The chemistry between the producer & MC has unlocked something within Sandman, surfacing memories, textures & details in a more vivid way than ever before. “(We) wanted to project growth and not regression. Being careful not to feed the monster,” Quelle says about the mission of the album. One would be right to assume that bringing two elite talents together would yield an incredible album. But, when imagining what this album brings in its entirety, Quelle says it best: “raw, pure, organic magic."

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Bulla En El Barrio

LP | 2024 | US | Original (Figure & Ground / Sonorama)

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Sophomore Lounge)

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“During the pandemic, I was hearing drums all the time,” says Carolina Oliveros, who leads the New York-based group Bulla en el Barrio. “Not only bullerengues, but also tamboritos panamanians, solomas – like panamanian styles – also I’ve been listening to salve, which is a rhythm from Dominican Republic. I always want to try to create a bullerengue that sounds more traditional but also sounds like me with my own influences.” Since 2015, Bulla en el Barrio has been envisioned as a collective and a study group of the traditional rueda de bullerengue – dance music originating from the Caribbean coast of Colombia that transmits ancient African rhythms and knowledge. Oliveros and Bulla co-founder Camilo Rodriguez – both in NY tropical futurism band Combo Chimbita – first experimented with writing their own bullerengue during their monthly residencies at Barbès in Brooklyn, culminating in two singles released by Names You Can Trust in 2017. Thanks to these recordings, these two Bulla en el Barrio compositions are now sung in music festivals and ruedas all over Bullerengue territory. They now present eight original songs recorded live to tape, preserving and documenting the participative and rough vibes of the ruedas and performances. “We’ve been playing together since 2015,” says Rodriguez. “The group is a space to study, connect, to learn, so this record captures a moment where we were – taking a picture of a process. This was just what was happening at that time. It was a way to document what we were doing and our process of learning, documenting bullerengue.”

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Gub

Dexter Gordon & Slide Hampton

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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GUB—debut full-length from the two-headed beast of Beau Wanzer / Champagne MIRRORS—is a low-boiling cauldron aswirl with glurpy synthscapes, hypnotized rhythms and eerily dubbed-out electronic discharge. A timeless collaboration from two of Chicago’s finest exports.

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A Day In Copenhagen Black Friday Record Store Day 2023 Sky Blue Vinyl Edition

LP | 1969 | EU | Reissue (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald)

Graven Sin Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1969 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Quantity: 1000
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release

With his big, warm, round-toned sound, sophisticated phrasing, and hip quotes, Dexter Gordon was one of the major forces on the tenor saxophone from the mid-1940s until his death in 1990. Gordon was cited by both Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane as a major influence on their playing and is acknowledged as a jazz icon.

The popularity of mainstream jazz was on the decline in the States during the 1960s. The Vietnam war and racial turmoil were in high gear, and many of the music’s top-flight musicians, including Gordon, migrated to Europe in order both to escape and to make a living playing jazz. Gordon eventually settled in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this period, he usually played and recorded backed by a piano trio, but this 1969 recording is different. The usual quartet has been expanded with some of those premiere jazz ‘refugees’, each a major voice on his instrument, assembled for the session.

One of the great modern jazz trombonists, Slide Hampton, is also a composer/arranger of note. The album was a collaborative venture between Gordon and Hampton, and three of the compositions and all the arrangements on the album are his. The classy Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reese completes the front line. The rhythm section includes two jazz giants who were Gordon’s constant companions at Copenhagen’s famous Club Montmartre, fellow American expatriate pianist Kenny Drew and the great Danish bassist N-H Örsted-Peterson. The Gordon/Drew pairing is one of the classic horn-/piano matchups in jazz, and has often been compared with the Miles Davis/Red Garland and John Coltrane/McCoy Tyner pairings. Art Taylor, who “helped define the sound of modern drumming”, was brought in from Paris to complete the all-star rhythm section.

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Graven Sin

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Svart)

LP | 1990 | EU | Original (Wewantsounds)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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The Debut album from Finnish band Graven Sin is a modern classic of godly, Doom-laden Heavy Metal. Veil of The Gods is etched in granite via Svart Records on November 2023

Pristine new Finnish band Graven Sin stomp proudly on the shoulders of giants with their ravishing debut album, Veil of The Gods. Immaculate Heavy Metal, expertly delivered with stunning finesse and elegant Doom perfection, Veil of The Gods is a classic in the making. Rarely has a new band sounded so timeless, serving up a godly platter of first-class Heavy Metal, that Graven Sin seem chiselled in granite to sit side by side at a table with the greats from the very get go.

From the galloping charge of opening barn-stormer Morrigan, with jaw dropping solo guitars courtesy of riff master Ville Pystynen, the epic and anthemic She Who Rules Niflheim with soaring vocals from Greek vocalist Nicholas Leptos to the formidable double bass canter of Ville Markkanen’s drums on songs like Beyond Mesopotamia, Graven Sin knows the true riddle of steel.

Throughout Veil of The Gods’ eleven cast-iron tracks, we can trace veins of recent Finnish greats such as Sentenced, Amorphis, Reverend Bizarre or their nordic counterparts Grand Magus from Sweden, but there is much more at play here. Graven Sin offers up heavy, doom laden orthodox Heavy Metal in the true, chugging, monumental sense of the term. The knowledge and prowess of Heavy Metal craft on display in Veil of The Gods is second to none, from the Maidenesque command of melody to the swarthy Manowar rhythms, herculean Deep Purple keys and Messiah like Candlemass-rich voice of astonishing vocalist Leptos, these are songs to be inscribed into stone tablets.

Where pitch dark mythical themes and occult leanings of the lyrics bring to mind the Heavy Metal running through Black Metal bands like Dissection, the song arrangements swing from gallop to thundering, head-banging mid-sections with such magnificence, you would think you were in the hands of a band with decades of heritage behind their backs. A “where have you been all my life moment” awaits Heavy Metal fans of all shades when Graven Sin hits the speakers, delivering a sound that cuts glass and steel. A refreshing tour–de-force through everything Heavy Metal is loved for, not shrinking from the dark but embracing it with gusto and fierce bravado. Veil of The Gods shows us that real metal lives forever, if crafted with true spirit and belief. Hear the cry of the seer of doom, by heeding Morrigan’s call now:

Ville Pystynen - guitar, bass

Nicholas Leptos - vocals

Ville Markkanen - drums

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Nagat

Eyoun El Alb

The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1990 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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First-ever Vinyl Release OF Cult 1980 Cassette-only Album BY Egyptian Singer Nagat EL Saghira, Curated AND Annotated BY Disco Arabesquo. Includes Production BY Egyptian Funk Legend Hany Shenouda
Following the highly-acclaimed "Sharayet El Disco" compilation, Wewantsounds is delighted to team up with Disco Arabesquo for the reissue of Nagat El Seghira's cult 1980 album "Eyoun El Alb"
Originally released only on cassette on the Egyptian label Soutelphan, the album has since become a sought-after classic on the Arabic groove scene and this is the first time it is released on vinyl. Consisting of four tracks, the album features two tracks produced by Hany Shenouda whose group Al Massrieen is a reference on the Arabic disco funk scene.
Remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio in Paris, the album features the original cassette artwork plus a two page colour insert featuring liner notes by Disco Arabesquo.
When it comes to Arabic Divas, Oum Kalthoum, Fairuz and Warda usually take the lead in the poll list. But in her native Egypt, singer Nagat Al Saghira comes very close to this triumvirate. Born in Cairo in 1938, Nagat began singing when she was still a child gaining her stage name "El-Saghira" ("the young one") at this occasion as she started giving concerts at the age of seven, pushed by her father, the famed calligrapher Muhamad Hosny (Nagat's half-sister is the renowned actress Soad Hosny).
Nagat quickly rose to fame in the late forties and became an essential part of classic period of Arabic music, interpreting songs by such titans as Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Baligh Hamdy and Kamal Al Taweel. She also sang the works of Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani whom she introduced to a mainstream audience. Nagat started singing shorter songs but then upgraded to longer ones, often performing/recording them live as it was the trend in the 60s and 70s.
One such song is "Eyoun El Alb" ("Eyes of the Heart") which makes up the whole of Side 1 of the original cassette. Written by Mohamed El Mougy and Abd al-Rahman al-Abdouni, Eyoun El Alb is a love song made up of several distinct sections enhancing Nagat's hypnotic singing, accompanied by a percussion-heavy, traditional Egyptian orchestra.
Side 2 is the "diggers" groovier side featuring two floaters,"Bahlam Ma'ak" ("I Dream with You") and "Ana Basha El Bahr" ("I Adore The Sea") produced by cult Egyptian musician and producer Hany Shenouda, whose albums with his group Al Massrieen are highly sought after on the Arabic funk and Disco scene. One Al Massrieen track features on the "Sharayet el Disco" set compiled by Disco Arabesquo who notes that "Hany Shenouda had made waves with his new musical style that weaved in western funk and disco sounds into Egyptian music"
Both tracks feature an infectious slow-burning groove and incorporate funk influences with fat bass and lines of synth and clavinet that adds a funky tone to Nagat's soft singing. The third track "Fakra" ("Do You Remember") brings the best of both world with a syncopated rhythm and arrangements that are slightly more traditional than the Shenouda-produced tracks.
Originally released in Egypt on Cassette in 1980 on the venerable Soutlephan label, the album is now making its vinyl debut on Wewantsounds annotated by Disco Arabesquo and remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio in Paris for the joy of Arabic funk and Global beats worldwide.

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Pelican

2LP | 2005 | US | Reissue (Thrill Jockey)

3LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Femacosmé)

Release: 2005 / US – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Pelican and Thrill Jockey are proud to present a deluxe edition of the band’s acclaimed 2005 album: The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, newly remixed, remastered, and featuring special bonus rarities including an early version of “Red Ran Amber,” (previously only available on a split with Mono) and demos of “Autumn Into Summer,” “Last Day of Winter” and “Sirius” The Fire In Our Throats established Pelican as indisputable masters of their craft. Pelican’s ability to alchemize their influences into a sound so wholly original and then expand on that sound into a work of captivating beauty remains a marvel. The album indelibly shifted the paradigm of heavy music and the ripples of that shift can be heard in the countless bands that have risen to prominence since its release. The genre-busting nature of the album’s melodicism and refined dynamics was a harbinger of things to come in a genre whose strict boundaries were rapidly being shattered; a fact recognized and cemented by the album’s critical reception, which engendered everything from an Album of the Year nod from Decibel, to pontifications about Pelican representing a rising wave of intellectualism in metal from the New York Times. Nearly two decades since the album’s release on Hydra Head Records, The Fire In Our Throats has stood as not just one of the band’s most celebrated releases, but as a watershed work of avant-metal. The album arrives with a fresh mix by its original engineer Greg Norman and mastering by Josh Bonati, imbibing the songs with a new ferocity while also granting increased clarity, highlighting the developing interplay between each member The refreshed mix brings an additional punch to the rhythm section of bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg, bolstering the brightened melodicism and interlocking riffing between guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec. The more articulate presentation of the album showcases the power of each individual player while buttressing Pelican’s distinct sound as a unified force.

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Rue Des Garderies

33,14 €* 38,99 € -15%

The Movers - Volume 1 1970-1976

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Outsider ambient soundscape by two musicians from the Paris alternative : Désiré Bonaventure & Zach. An enchanted yet psychedelic dream-like ballad recorded in one take in an ephemeral delirium; borrowing from dub, drone, IDM & techno, reflecting singular inter-worlds and inviting us to join them.

Rue des Garderies is a distillate produced by the spontaneous collaboration of Désiré Bonaventure and Zach, two musicians evolving in the Parisian alternative scenes and so named in homage to a high-place of local other-music Rue des Gardes - now bygone - where this improvisation was conceived. Used to exorcising time and space with the multidisciplinary collective †een▲ge g☺d, Zach has also been evolving for over 15 years in various frequencies - beatmaking, mastering where Désiré Bonaventure is a member of the duo Euphonic Alliances Ltd. and R.A.F. Soundsystem.

Rue des Garderies was recorded in one take, using samplers and effects, in a hail of cables, eyes closed in a delirium that accompanied the dawn, in preparation for another present. Here Désiré and Zach explore the in-between worlds (musical, but not only), immersing themselves in their cracks, their folds and their emanations, and trying to recount us.

From this material they mould a new alchemy lasting over a hundred minutes like a long journey into psychedelia, borrowing from various currents (ambient, drone, IDM, dub techno, the English electronic scene of the 1990s), rich in organic and analogue textures that superimpose, stretch, fold and expand.

The result is a grand and ethereal fresco, with shifting colours and textures, invoking astral projections and sporadic rhythms; a whole other world, populated by shapes, hues and new lives, forming a complex but enchanting sound essay.

Rue des Garderies is an ephemeral harmony, born of a fragile chaos that accompanies moments of existence; a dance without tangible movement.

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The Movers

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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It’s a special, but also a strange sensation to be releasing an album of one of your early musical heroes. I first discovered The Movers on my very first “record safari” in 1996. My destination was Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, and to get there I had to travel via Jo’burg. While in town I stopped at a store called Kohinoor, in search of Mbaqanga – also known as Township Jive – and found a few tapes which I listened to non-stop on the bus that carried me to the land of Chimurenga Music. One of these cassettes included the songs “Hot Coffee” and “Phukeng Special” which instantly became part of my daily life. Twenty-five years later I’m still grooving to them.

What I didn‘t know at that time was that The Movers were hugely successful during the 1970s; so when it came time to release some of their music, I though it was going to be “a walk in the park” to track down information about them and write their biography. I was in for a rude awakening. Despite their legendary status, there was almost no information available on band or any of its members.

Fortunately Nicky Blumenfeld from Kaya Radio came to the rescue. A few days after I reached out to her, she had managed to get the phone number of Kenneth Siphayi, who is considered to be the founder of the band, as well as vocalist Blondie Makhene and saxophonist Lulu Masilela. Although we left no stone unturned, we were unable to find any of the four original members who seem to have passed away in total anonymity.

The story of The Movers began in 1967 when two unknown musicians – the brothers Norman and Oupa Hlongwane – approached Kenneth Siphayi a stylish and wealthy businessman from the Alexandra township to ask if he could buy them musical instruments. In return he would receive a cut from future life shows and record deals. Kenneth, ended up doing much more, becoming their manager, setting them up in a rehearsal space, and introducing them to an organist who would prove to be the missing link in the band’s skeletal sound. He also gave them their name: The Movers … because, as he said, their music was going to move you, whether you liked it or not.

The band exploded onto the country’s racially-segregated music scene at the dawn of the 1970s with a sound that applied the rolling organ grooves and elastic rhythms of American soul to songs that came straight from the heart of the townships. Rumours of the band started to spread throughout the country and soon the record labels were sending their talent scouts to the Alexandra township to hear it for themselves.

The Movers finally signed to Teal Records in 1969, and their first album, Crying Guitar, went on to sell 500,000 copies within the first three months, launching them into the front rank of South African bands. In their first year they went from local sensations to being the first band of black South Africans to have their music cross over to the country’s white radio stations,

Although the first record was entirely instrumental, The Movers started working with different singers soon after – scoring an early hit with 14 year old vocal prodigy Blondie Makhene – and enriched their sonic palette with horns, extra percussion and various keyboards. Their stylistic range also expanded, incorporating elements of Marabi, Mbaqanga, jazz, funk, and reggae into their soul-steeped sound. But the essence of their music came from the almost telepathic connection of its founding members: the simmering organ of Sankie Chounyane, the laid-back guitar lines of Oupa Hlongwane, the energetic bass grooves of Norman Hlongwane and the simmering rhythms of drummer of Sam Thabo.

The band reached their apex in the mid-1970s, and their hit ‘Soweto Inn’, sung by Sophie Thapedi, became inseparable from the student revolts that signalled a new resistance to the apartheid government. In 1976, however, their manager was forced out, and their producer started to play a more active role in the band’s direction. By the end of the decade there were no original members left. But at their height The Movers were titans of South African soul who left a legacy of over a dozen albums and countless singles of pure groove. On The Movers 1970–76, Analog Africa presents 14 of the finest tracks from the band’s undisputed peak.

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Angola Soundtrack Volume 2

2LP | 2013 | EU | Reissue (Analog Africa)

2LP | 2004 | EU | Reissue (Black Truffle)

Release: 2013 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In 2010, against all odds, Angola Soundtrack Vol.1 was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize in the category "Black music". This victory was all the sweeter for its triumph over the predicted winner, Aloe Blacc's multi platinium record, "Good Things". Many were surprised that the award was handed to a compilation that covered obscure music, but it didn't surprise the team behind Analog Africa who believed such award should have come much earlier. Since discovering the music of Angola 15 years ago, styles such Kazucuta, Rebita and Semba have become an addiction for Samy Ben Redjeb, the compiler, who proclaimed a serious warning in the first edition liner notes:

"Listening to these tracks may cause addiction and provoke heavy rotation!"

Angola Soundtrack Vol.2 - Hypnosis, Distortions & other Sonic Innovations 1969-1978 - The unique blend of incomparable musicianship, passionate delivery and regional rhythms that make these tracks so combustible are no accident. An exceptional set of circumstances existed in the history of Angola before Independence that created the giant leap in the style and standard of bands and recordings of the time.

When Portuguese repressive measures prevented the small Turmas, street musician groups, from being able to perform in Carnaval celebrations in 1961, a Portuguese civil servant, entrepreneur and Angolan music fan named Luis Montês was already in a position to capitalise on Luanda's need for a live music scene. His self-designed "Kutonocas", Sunday afternoon live music festivals, delighted a Luandan population hungry for a communication between the city and musseques (townships). It also forced groups to adapt to a different style of playing that would accommodate large stages and broader audiences. They equipped themselves with electric guitars, and fed on the musical influences from Cape Verde, Congo and the Dominican Republic, while staying patriotically true to their own musical legacy and unique rhythms.

The intimacy of those participating in this musical revolution meant they playfully and professionally wanted to trump each other's style; communication between the groups was frequent as everyone studied each other's records and concerts and players were under a lot of pressure to outdo each other due to the limited recording and performing opportunities. Development of skill and ingenuity was a must, as well as addressing the highly politicised climate. The optimism of Independence can be heard in these recordings; a common goal between the audience and musicians.

Upon reading the characteristically generous liner notes of this new Analog Africa release, you will be given more hints of the crucial melting pot that allowed this short period to have such an outstanding productivity. Featuring 44 pages acquired in coordination with the National Library of Luanda and the art magazine "Note E Dia", Analog Africa head honcho Samy Ben Redjeb has managed to collect newspaper clips, extremely rare pictures of the bands on stage and printed interviews from the 70s.

The stunning pages of passionate photography and artistic design also include interviews with many of the original artists and their families, biographies of the three labels that made it all possible, and of Luis Montês, who was the pulse of the live music scene in Luanda. This compilation is a dedication to the short lived recording industry in Angola, a brief moment of history between 1969 and 1978 in which three recording companies produced approximately 800 records, mostly singles. They are rare jewels, each song with a significant story and feel behind it. You will hear exciting music blazed with the anticipation of emancipation, tracks fuelled with a sense of unity, community, importance and immediacy.

This addictive, outlawed music from Angola shakes and grooves with the smoothness of staccato machine gun fire. Do yourself a favor and submerge yourself into some of the most addictive music created by mankind!

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Oren Ambarchi

Grapes From The Estate

LP | 2024 | Original (Sweet Gee)

Release: 2004 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Black Truffle is pleased to make Oren Ambarchi’s Grapes from The Estate available once more on vinyl. Originally released on CD on Touch in 2004 and reissued on Southern Lord as a limited double LP in 2006 during Ambarchi’s tenure as a member of Sunn O))), Grapes from the Estate was a landmark release for Ambarchi, seeing him expand his sonic palette beyond the clipped, bass-heavy electric guitar tones he was known for at that point. Incorporating subtle layers of strings, keyboards, percussion over a bedrock of his signature guitar tones, in retrospect this album can be seen as the beginning of a broadening and evolution in Ambarchi’s work that would lead to his acclaimed, densely layered epics for Editions Mego, Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016). Beginning with the shuddering pure tones of opener ‘Corkscrew’, which looks back to previous guitar-only releases such as Suspension (2001), the album’s next two pieces show a progressive broadening of the instrumental palette and a corresponding move away from textural abstraction and sustained tones towards more traditional notions of musicality. This reached its high point on the album’s third piece, the fifteen-minute long ‘Remedios The Beauty’, where guitars, both acoustic and electric, strings, piano, and bells build from a murmur to an interlockinging web of repeating melodic patterns over gently swinging brushed snare and cymbals. The epic closer, ‘Stars Aligned, Webs Spun’, returns us to a space populated only by the electric guitar, but unlike everything Ambarchi had produced up until this point in his career, the piece has a liquid, psychedelic edge that looks forward to the shimmering harmonics of his more recent work. As Brendan Walls wrote at the time of the original release, this is ‘another outpouring of personal, intimate and enduring music from Oren Ambarchi’. Presented in a stunning gatefold sleeve featuring the original artwork and design by Jon Wozencroft. Redesigned by Stephen O’Malley Remastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.

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Bellrays

Heavy Steady Go

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Originating from Riverside, California, the BellRays have been mixing punk, rock and soul with the unique authenticity that has made them who they are in today. "We created a band and music based on what we love." - explain Lisa Kekaula and Robert Vennum, the founding members of The BellRays. The tradition that the band continued over the last thirty years inspired them to infuse their influences. It's in their DNA. The sound can be described by one simple formula: Emotion + energy = excitement. Their latest album, Heavy Steady Go! Strictly follows this rule but also, provides new coloring and shades to the well-beloved formula. "We've heard ourselves described by some variation as 'Tina Turner fronting AC/DC' or 'Motorhead meets Aretha Franklin' which comes with an expectation to be that every time." - explains Robert Vennum. "We are expected to be something that does not exist." This recording is split by two cities, two years and two badass rhythm sections: Mark Cisneros (bass) and Ron Miller (drums) both from Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds in Tucson, AZ and later the return of past drummer Craig Waters (Cody Chestnut, Andre Williams, the Countdowns) and newest arrival, Nico Miles on bass recording in Riverside, CA produced by Lisa and Robert. Heavy Steady Go! #is described by the two as 'a festival in album form'. It's contrasting style mashups and musical collaborations between each quartet is powerfully concentrated rock and roll." Robert and Lisa explain that with these songs "we pay homage to Tom Petty, Bon Scott, Fleetwood Mac, Howlin' Wolf, Cheap Trick, Betty Davis, and dozens of others that inspired this album. We wrote and crafted these songs looking at ourselves through the lens of the iconic sounds we heard growing up. Pressed on 180g vinyl / Gatefold jacket.

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Ecuatoriana - El Universo Paralelo

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Eskimo)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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On 12 February 1949 an angry mob stormed into the centre of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, burning the offices of the city’s main newspaper and its oldest radio station to the ground.

On that tragic day Radio Quito had just broadcast a local adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds. The novel – first published in 1898 and famously adapted into a radio series by Orson Welles – is one of the earliest stories to depict a conflict between mankind and a hostile race of extra-terrestrials. The large audience - not understanding that it was pure fiction - believed that intergalactic intelligence had invaded the country as all hell broke loose. Thousands began running the streets of Quito looking for shelter, chaos broke out, causing a deadly stampede. People blamed the broadcaster for the tragedy, formed a dense crowd and stormed Radio Quito, setting it ablaze. Several musicians, who were there performing, were killed.

In the decades after the second world war, outer space was on everyone’s mind and the ‘space race’ of the 1950s and 60s not only produced groundbreaking efforts to launch artificial satellites, send space probes to Mars and land a human on the moon, it also had a huge impact on the movie and music industry which was taking advantage of the world‘s fascination with space voyages and lunar missions to create instruments capable of mimicking imaginary interstellar sounds. These synthesised space effects that captivated the imagination of a whole generation of young Ecuadoreans coincided with a period in which workers and musicians from the provinces started flocking to Quito and to the commercial port of Guayaquil, some hoping to find regular work, others looking to break into the musical big leagues by getting hired by one of the prestigious urban radio station. These artists brought riches of rhythms to the major Ecuadorian cities who would soon witness the explosion of what would be known as “Andean Cumbia”.

That fusion, of tropical electronics mixed in with Andean melodies and lyrics describing the cruel reality of migrant workers, achieved massive success. And so while budding Ecuadorian UFOlogy lead to widespread extraterrestrial sightings, Ecuadorian musicians began released various albums consisting of traditional music combined with synthesisers in order to bring their traditional music into the space age. One of these musicians is Polibio Mayorga who had travelled 160km from his hometown of Chisalata to Quito where he showcased his talent as he championed the art of modernising his region’s ancestral rhythms - Huaynito, Sanjuanito, Albazo and many others - using the latest in electronic instruments.

After 4 years with Los Locos del Ritmo, one of Ecuador’s most popular bands, Polibio joined Fadisa (Fabrica De Discos S.A) in 1973 as a solo musician and songwriter before becoming their musical director a year later. While there he would team up with saxophonist extraordinaire Olmedo Torres, and for 10 years they would compose and arrange hits, not only for themselves but also for their fellow artists in the Fadisa family. Although Fadisa had countless labels in their roster, the jewel in their crown was Rondador and it was on that imprint that Polibio would release “Ponchito de Colores” and his famous album “La Farra Está Aquí”. With their novel use of Moog synthesiser, both become huge hit records and were broadcast constantly by Cosmopolita and Marañón de Quito – the two major radio stations of the capital. This led to a surge of interest in Andean cumbia, and the subsequent record sales helped to revive the country’s flagging music industry, turning Polibio into Ecuador’s most influential musician.

Polibio has never considered his music to be “tropical psychedelia” - although he thinks it would make a good name for a band. He has the sense of humour of a genius and the ability to make anyone laugh, yet he remains discreet, eloquent and humble … but as a musician he is daring and visionary, with an intrepid, vigorous style almost impossible to imitate. More than perhaps any of his peers, Polibio Mayorga established a unique place for himself at the vanguard of tropical music.

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Satin Jackets

Reunion

Venus HHV Exclusive Splattered Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Gatefold with UV gloss finishing. 'Reunion' is the third album from nu-disco star Tim Bernhardt, aka Satin Jackets. Released this summer on Eskimo Recordings 'Reunion' is a stunning follow up to the German producer's first two critically acclaimed albums and features 14 stunning tracks of sun kissed disco, Balearic house, leftfield pop and guest vocals from the likes of Australian star Panama, Belgian singer Ivy Falls, US based vocalist Metaxas and up and coming British singer Tailor.

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Logic System

LP | 1981 | EU | Reissue (Wewantsounds)

Troublegum Caramel Vinyl Edition

Release: 1981 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Limited Edition of 100 copies of clear vinyl with pink & sea blue splatters. Only at HHV!

His name may not be instantly familiar, but Hideki Matsutake has had a huge influence over Electronic music. Starting his career as the assistant of Japanese Electronic Music master Isao Tomita in the early 70s, he went on to work with Ryuichi Sakamoto and then Yellow Magic Orchestra as their keyboard programmer and unofficial fourth member. In 1981 he started his own Logic System project recording "Venus" that year in Los Angeles with Don Grusin, Nathan East and Michael Boddicker, brilliantly mixing Synth Funk, Ambient and Boogie with a touch of Fusion Jazz predating Vaporwave by a mere 30 years. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue this visionary album, which
comes remastered from the original tapes and features Pater Sato stunning artwork including the rare beautiful 8-page insert with an exclusive interview of Hideki Matsutake by Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha.
The early 80s were prolific for Hideki Matsutake. As the go-to keyboard programmer for the tokyo music scene, he worked on Akiko Yano's "Gohan Ga Dekitayo", YMO's "BGM", Ryuichi Sakamoto's "B-2 Unit", Mkwaju Ensemble's "Mkwaju" and found time to record two Logic System albums in 1981. While the first album, "Logic" had a harder techno feel, the second one "Venus" was different affair. Recorded in Los Angeles at the new state of the art Yamaha Studio, it was loosely themed on the Greek goddess Venus and had a funkier more organic sound. For the album Matsutake had asked a handful of American musicians to provide songs he would then add his synth magic touch to. Michael Boddicker, Don Grusin, Nathan East and Roger Powell duly complied and also played on the album.

The updated sound was achieved by switching from the Moog III to the E-mu modular System (which Matsutake brought over to LA) and other synths like the Prophet 5, the Roland MC-8 and TR 808 and the Yamaha GS-1, a forerunner of the DX7.

The result is an amazing futuristic mix of electronic music and early 80s funk, announcing many genres to come, from techno and house to French electro and Vaporwave. From the breezy ambient synth of "I Love You" to the city pop edge of "Be Yourself" (originally written by Nathan East for Debra Laws) and the vocoder-led Daft Punk-ish "Take A Chance", Venus is a fascinating album that both pushes the boundaries of electronic music and is yet strangely accessible and beautiful.

The other key elements of Venus is the artwork designed by Japanese legendary illustrator Pater Sato. Sato had started in Japan in the early 70s doing many album covers for Japanese artists including Tatsuro Yamashita's cult Spacy LP before moving to New York in 1979 to pursue a career in fashion and advertising. His airbrush style became hugely influential over the years and in 2018, Stella McCartney dedicated a whole Men’s collection based on his Venus. Star make up artist Pat McGrath also regularly posts his artwork to her 3 million fans on her instagram.

The original album came with a beautiful 8-panel insert illustrated by Sato which Wewantsounds has reproduced on this deluxe reissue also featuring remastered sound, OBI strip and a second insert featuring credits and line up plus liner notes by Hashim Bharoocha. The notes will feature an exclusive interview with Hideki Matsutake reminiscing about the making of this visionary album which Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue.

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Therapy?

LP | 1994 | EU | Reissue (Proper)

Release: 1994 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Therapy's Troublegum album , this 2LP set contains the original album pressed on 180g silver vinyl plus a further 14 tracks rounding up B-sides and bonus tracks of the era pressed on 180g lavender vinyl

By the time Therapy? released Troublegum in 1994 they were already well established, but it was the first time many had encountered the group's intensely melodic blend of hard rock and indie, an arresting combination of old and new, striking in its immediacy.

Formed by schoolfriends in Larne, Northern Ireland, Therapy? consistently pushed the rock trio to its limits, often saying that their use of feedback was their fourth instrument. Singer, guitarist and writer Andy Cairns, bassist Michael McKeegan and drummer Fyfe Ewing had been playing together since 1989, and were signed to indie label Wiiija the following year on the strength of their live reputation. After two albums with Wiiija, they were signed to A&M Records, and their 1992 album, Nurse, reached the UK Top 40. The group paired with Mission producer Chris Sheldon and went to Chipping Norton Studios to record a follow-up. The results were stunning.

Lead single "Screamager" (on the Shortsharpshock EP) reached the UK Top 10 in March 1993; follow-up "Turn" made the Top 20. By the time Troublegum was released in February 1994, it contained both singles, plus "Nowhere" and "Trigger Inside", further hits from the album. Troublegum is warm and powerful, showing that grunge was not just the preserve of bands from the western seaboard of the US. Mixed without any discernible gaps between tracks, the album offers 45 minutes of attack. Amid the originals, the band's post punk roots are shown by their storming cover of Isolation by Joy Division. Widely acclaimed, Troublegum reached No 5 in the UK charts, went Gold and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. It sounds as fresh today as it did in 1994.

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3LP | 2023 | UK | Original (R&S)

In Order To Dance

Where Light Touches (A Nima Story)

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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First released back in the fall of 1989, the In Order To Dance album was a compilation LP that pulled together tracks from a select band of electronic producers, pushing the boundaries of the house and electronic music that was in its infancy stage. Released on the R&S Records label, the Iotd series would become pivotal in the development of the electronic music scene at large. The world of music is a constant shape shifting, trend moving behemoth. Style may come and go (and come back around again), stars are made, stars can fall. But the ethos behind In Order To Dance remains the same as it ever has, with a fierce independent spirit, and a pledge to bring forward the next generation of young artists and their music. And so, here we arrive at a new collection, fresh for 2023, and just in time for the labels 40th anniversary year, and with the ardent A&R’ing of label founder Renaat Vandepapeliere, a selection of new tunes is assembled to reinforce the strength and power to be found within music. Across thirteen tracks, a squad of refreshingly contemporary producers from around the globe are brought together under the In Order To Dance banner. Ushering the series into a new era, new variations on the electronic genre and fresh ideas are fused into a delightfully engaging collection of tracks. There’s deep breakbeats courtesy of UK producer Dharma, smooth and dubby live action from Saytek and complex bass heavy rhythms from Vromm. There’s esoteric electronics from Hyphen, epic piano driven deep house from Dino Lenny and swinging jazzy breaks from Nphonix & Matrika. Paul Roux’s melancholic ‘Bapteme’ unfurls waves of deft pianos and guitar swirls over taunt beats, and a driving electro tone is set on Acidulant’s contribution. Intoxicating rave tropes and hefty breaks come courtesy of Pascal Nuzzo and Adam Antine delivers a wall of sound anchored by shuffling, funky beats on ‘Sortavala’. And to accompany the new wave of In Order To Dance, a series of music videos have been produced. Acclaimed artists and video directors, including Alessandro Amaducci, Ben Marlowe and Gala Mirissa, have all stamped their digital artistic visions onto these stunning compositions, synching audio and visual for a multi-sensory experience.

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Rasmus Faber

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Farplane)

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (3eme Bureau)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Classical Music

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Rasmus Faber 'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story] Album Farplane Records / Fp076 https://www.rasmusfaber.com https://www.instagram.com/rasmusfaber/ https://myanimelist.net/people/36680/Rasmus_Faber https://rossdraws.com https://www.instagram.com/rossdraws
Available IN Dolby Atmos Where Supported.
Sweden's worldwide acclaimed composer, producer, DJ and pianist, Rasmus Faber, reveals his first album of ambient / neo-classical work, 'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story]. The album is inspired by, and in collaboration with, Los Angeles based illustrator Ross Tran (RossDraws), as an audio interpretation of his highly praised book, 'Nima'. Crafting a fully immersive listening experience, Rasmus paints stunning audio pictures with delicate melodic hues, abound with atmospheric conversations between emotive pianos, soothing strings and sophisticated electronica that gracefully flow through this enchanting body of work. Composed, arranged and produced entirely by Rasmus, and conceived and mixed using Atmos surround sound, the album was recorded with a full orchestra in Stockholm and fused with contemporary electronic elements from Rasmus' rich musical heritage.

'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story] began after Ross contacted Rasmus to make music for one of his projects. They immediately found admiration and kinship in each other's work. Ross sent Rasmus his new illustrations book entitled 'Nima', which served as the perfect catalyst for a musical idea Rasmus had - to make an album of subtle beauty and immense production and technical dexterity. Rasmus became absorbed in the characters and worlds in the 'Nima' book, encouraging him to match his composing and production skills with Ross's otherworldly illustrations and boundless talent. The result is something quite extraordinary and beautiful that can be enjoyed accompanying the 'Nima' book, or purely as an audio gift for the senses.

Rasmus Faber started his career as a Jazz musician and house DJ, touring the world, performing to fans of the melodic side of electronic music over the last two decades. His success as an artist in Japan, and being fan of Anime and Manga opened the doors to becoming a composer (one of the only non-Japanese) of music for Anime. He's composed music for the Meta Quest VR platform, AAA games such as Metal Gear Solid and is behind an almost constant stream of music releases under aliases and his on name garnering hundreds of millions of streams.

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Fatoumata Diawara

London Ko

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Pop

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The Malian singer's third studio album includes features from Damon Albarn, Roberto Fonseca (Buena Vista Social Club), -M-, Angie Stone, Yemi Alade and M.anifest.

One of the most outstanding voices in global pop, Fatoumata Diawara's music can be classified between Afro-pop, Afro-folk and Afro-futurism - in the midst of tradition and modernity. Always with a guitar in hand, she brings together the rhythms of Wassoulou and West African vocal techniques with contemporary sounds. On London KO, the singer, composer, musician and actress draws attention to contemporary conflicts through an alternation of avant-garde and tributes to her ancestors, and processes experiences of her native Mali, especially the role of women and children. Born out of a collaboration with Damon Albarn, London KO represents an imaginary continent that brings Europe and Africa closer together - specifically London and Bamako. The joint song "Nsera" was not only the first track of the upcoming album, but also testimony to a long musical bond between the two musicians*. In projects like Africa Express, Rocket Juice & The Moon, the Gorillaz track "Désolé" as well as numerous live performances they already worked hand in hand. The artist has received further prominent support from Cuban piano virtuoso Roberto Fonseca (Buena Vista Social Club), Nigerian Afropop singer and activist Yemi Alade, and French rock musician -M-, among others. The result is London KO, a versatile work that, true to the two-time Grammy-nominated singer's own style, combines traditional African music with facets of Afrobeat, jazz, pop, electro and hip-hop. With London KO, Fatoumata Diawara shows us a vision of Africa's versatility. She creates a place where it is possible to become the master of one's own destiny and thus positions herself as an important player in the future society. Fatoumata Diawara shows once again that she belongs in the first league of the great voices of Afrofuturism.

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Ernesto DJedje

Roi Du Ziglibithy

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (!K7)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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If someone would have told me years ago, when I started the label, that one day I would be releasing music by Ernesto Djédjé, the king of Ziglibithy himself, I would have personally driven them to the closest psychiatric institute such is the magnitude of the artist and his iconic tune “Zighlibitiens”.

The star of Ernesto Djédjé started rising in the late 60s, when he became the guitar player and leader of Ivoiro Star, founded by Amédée Pierre, star of Dopé, the leading musical style at the time. Annoyed by the “congolisation” of the Ivorian music that was taking place within the band, Ernesto left the group and emigrated to Paris in 1968 to record his first few singles arranged by Manu Dibango and influenced by Soul, Rhythm & Blues and Jerk. Those recordings reflect the musical mood at that time which was dictated by two musical trends within the Ivoirian scene: Traditional music, embodied amongst others by Amédée Pierre on one hand and imported music from the States, Cameroon and Zaïre on the other. And while the first trend was generally neglected, the youth fully embraced the second and as a result bands such as „Les Black Devils“, „Djinn-Music“, „Bozambo”, “Jimmy Hyacinthe”, shot to stardom overnight by recording mainly funk and disco music. It is within this context that Ernesto would draw the inspiration for a future formula.

Returning to Côte d‘Ivoire in 1974 Ernesto began looking for like minded musicians to form the mighty “Ziglibithiens”. Diabo Steck (drums), Bamba Yang (keyboards & Guitar), Léon Sina (Guitar) and Assalé Best (chef d´orchestre and Saxophon) would become the core of the group and together with Ernesto they began thinking of ways of combining the rhythms and chants of the Bété people and fuse them with Makossa, Funk and Disco and create a musical style that was both Ivorian and International. He called his experiment Ziglibithy and his first two albums, immortalised at the EMI studios in 1977 in Lagos and released on the Badmos label, took West Africa by storm turning Ernesto Djédjé into an icon overnight and one of the legends of African music. Ernesto Djédjé died in mysterious circumstances on June 9th, 1983 - at the age of 35 - shocking the whole Ivorian nation. And although the end came abruptly, it didn’t come soon enough, and Ernesto had time - within 5 albums - to cement his legacy as one of the most innovative artists the Ivory Coast ever produced.

The song Zighlibitiens, brought to Colombia by an aeronautical mechanic in the early 1980, would become a huge hit on the Caribbean Coast. Renamed “El Tigre” by locals soundsystem operators - certainly due to the Badmos logo - that particular song would reach legendary status in Barranquilla and Cartagena. Setting fire to uncountable local parties, it has become one of the most sought-after Album in that part of the world. And so, while Ziglibithy has mostly disappeared from the airwaves of its country of birth, on the other side of the Atlantic, its fire continues to shine bright.

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Tosca

Osam

OST Music From Grizzly Man

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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For Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber, the idea of rebirth is a creative driving force - an artistic device which not only informs their work, but anchors it. As the avant-garde electronic group Tosca, the two artists have lived many musical lives, from their early electronic experiments with tape decks to the blissed-out dub compositions with which they have made their name. Their latest project, Osam, takes this idea of renewal even further. A meditative journey through rhythm and texture, the album represents a new chapter for the Austrian duo. It's as much an instrument for change as it is a source of inspiration. 'Osam' is a direct translation of the number eight in Serbian, but it also acts as the mediaeval symbol for a fresh start - a renaissance. This is their ninth studio album but in true Tosca style when they started working on the concept for the record, they thought it was their eighth.

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Richard Thompson

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (No Quarter)

Dark In Here Blue Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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Richard Thompson's score for Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog's 2005 documentary film of real life and death in the Alaskan wilderness - is one of the best-kept secrets in the British guitarist's epic canon: an instrumental masterpiece disguised as a movie soundtrack. Recorded over two days as Thompson played live in the studio to Herzog's footage - mostly alone, at times in chamber settings with cello, piano and percussion - these tenderly detailed melodies and quietly visceral improvisations are cinema in their own right, rendered with pictorial instinct and the dazzling technique forged in Thompson's lifelong passage through traditional folk, psychedelia, North African modes and intensely personal songwriting. Here is Thompson at his natural best - finger-picking dance; snake-curl twang and singing-wire harmonics - in a solo clarity that runs from jig-like joy to deep-note meditation, the "Main Title" blues march with its echoes of Fairport Convention's "Sloth" to the long night of "Treadwell No More," a harrowing darkness in slicing treble and tremolo shiver. Produced by guitarist Henry Kaiser, Grizzly Man is a record of powerful solitude - as bold and majestic as the land in Herzog's film; as intimate as prayer - and essential Richard Thompson.

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The Mountain Goats

2LP | 2021 | US | Original (Merge)

3LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Timesig)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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When the Mountain Goats got together in March 2020, it was to make not one album, but two. The idea was to again work with Matt Ross-Spang, the dashing Memphis wunderkind. Matt pitched we spend a week at Sam Phillips Recording, his home base in Memphis, followed by another at the storied Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a plan that dovetailed nicely with John's notion of corralling these songs into two complementary batches: one light, one dark. The Memphis album_Getting Into Knives, would be brighter, bolder, marked by rich and vibrant hues; the Muscle Shoals album _ Dark in Here, is quieter, smokier, but more deeply textured and intense. We were all aware of the mythos surrounding Fame. The second you step inside you transport to its early '60s heyday and its louche mid-'70s denouement. The room we set up in is the room where Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" and where Aretha Franklin recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." The Wurlitzer with which Spooner Oldham opens the last? It's sitting right there. Spooner is living musical history, having played with everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Linda Ronstadt and Liberace, for crying out loud. And Spooner is all over Dark in Here_any time you hear a bit of Hammond organ or electric piano chiming in without repeating a phrase. We tracked the album's one outright banger, "The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower," live with Spooner, and "Mobile" and "Dark in Here" with guitarist Will McFarlane_another local veteran who played with Bonnie Raitt for years. We only had Spooner for two afternoons, though, and Will for just one. After it was just the four of us: John playing acoustic guitar and occasional piano, the rhythm section of drummer Jon Wurster and myself, and our jack-of-all-trades Matt Douglas picking up everything else. The result is something more stripped down and intimate than the lush arrangements of Getting Into Knives. Of "The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums," John concedes that the song is autobiographical. While the lines, "In a new universe / trying to find the mask that fits me" would take on a newly literal connotation in the weeks to come, the song is about going to late `80s metal shows at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, and about seeking a sense of identity and community in strange and occasionally forbidding places. This theme _ feeling at once conspicuous and invisible, the frustrated craving for acceptance _ is echoed elsewhere. Then there are elegies to lost causes, some big and institutional ("The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower"), some small and personal ("Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review," a tribute to David Berman, whose return from self-imposed musical exile had been cause for huge celebration in our camp). "Before I Got There" neglects to identify its victims, or the tragedy that's befallen them. John writes in the liner notes that "if you're looking for a governing theme here, it's calamity, as all the songs are either anticipating one or reflecting one that's already happened." - Peter Hughes, Rochester, March 2021

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Richard Devine

Sort\Lave

LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Analog Africa)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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After a break of 6 years, Atlanta based electronic musician, producer and sound
designer Richard Devine returns with a new album. Recorded between 2016 and
2017 using Richard's custom built Eurorack modular system and two Nord G2
Modular units, Sort\Lave features 12 tracks of intricate electronica that ranges from
abrasive percussive experiments such as `Revsic` to `Astra's dazzling juxtaposition of
sounds and onto the radiant ambience of the album's closer `Takara`. Talking about
the album's genesis Devine explains "I've been using modular synthesizers since I was
17, but have never written complete tracks using these newer systems. This was my
first experiment to see if it would be possible and I probably spent about 5 years
building up the systems that I used on this album." "The aim here was to create
something that felt very organic, detailed, spacious, big and warm and just as
importantly, a record that you could put on and play all the way through that flowed
in a seamless way. So the tracks are more like captured snapshot performances
where I could play around with the idea of probability-based sequencing for every
patch, string multiple sequencers together that would feed other sequencers to
come up with interesting rhythms and melodies. It was really fun coming up with
new sounds this way too, I felt like I created several I haven't heard before with this
album. Some of the tracks on the album were complete accidents and evolved from
something that happened spontaneously." Making his debut in 1995, Devine's
releases for labels including Schematic, Warp Records and Detroit Underground
have established him as one of the leading figures within the electronica community

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Bitori

Legend Of Funaná /

Let The World Burn Down Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Analog Africa No. 21 „bitori“ - Legend Of Funaná (The Forbidden Music of The Cape Verde Islands) - In 1997, a quiet, unassuming man of 59 years old named Victor Tavares - better know as Bitori - walks into a studio for the very first time to record a masterpiece which many Cabo Verdean consider to be the best Funaná album ever made.

Bitoris musical adventure had begun long before this point. It was 1954 when he embarked on a journey across the seas to the island of Sao Tomé & Principe. The young man´s hope was to return to Cabo Verde with an accordion.

Following two years of hard labour Bitori had succeeded in saving enough money to acquire what was to become his most valued possession, his cherished instrument. The two month journey back to Santiago, his island of birth, proved time enough to master it. Self taught, Bitori developed his own style, an infectious blaze, that quickly caught the attention of the older generation. Before long Bitori was being asked to share his musical talents, igniting the local festivities around Praia with his music.

But not everybody welcomed the rural accordion-based sound. Perceived as a symbol of the struggle for Cape Verdean independence and frowned upon as music of uneducated peasants, Funaná was prohibited by the Portuguese colonial rulers. Performing it in public or in urban centres had serious consequences - often jail time and torture awaited musicians that were “caught in the act”. In light of such persecution the genre of Funaná began to slowly disappear.

In 1975 Cabo Verde achieved independence from Portuguese colonial rule. Along with Cabo Verde’s independence came a lifting of the ban placed on Funaná. The musical repercussions in Cabo Verde were plenty - many upcoming artists embraced Funaná, translating and adapting its musical form in new ways. It was not to be until the mid-1990’s, however, that Funaná in its traditional form was actually recorded.

It was a young singer from Tarafal, Chando Graciosa, who was to play a key role in this event. Upon hearing Bitori, Graciosa immediately felt drawn to Bitori's unique playing style - a raw and passionate sound accompanied by honest lyrics that reflected the harsh reality of the Cabo Verdean working class. He eagerly approached Bitori suggesting they join forces and travel overseas with the objective of taking Funaná beyond its rural roots. The two of them, with others in tow, achieved their goal and travelled to Europe, introducing a receptive European audience to the vibrant energy of Funaná. Eventually Bitori returned to his beloved Cabo Verde. Graciosa opted to settle in Rotterdam in order to pursue his career - he vowed, however, to bring Bitori across to Holland at a later date to record an album.

In 1997 the time was ripe to immortalise the sound Bitori had shaped over a time span of four decades. Built around a formidable rhythm section, formed of drummer Grace Evora and bass player Danilo Tavares, "Bitori Nha Bibinha" was recorded. The recording catapulted Chando Graciosa to stardom, making him Cabo Verde´s No.1 interpreter of Funaná.

The success in Cabo Verde was phenomenal and Funaná rapidly gained the recognition it deserved, especially in urban dance clubs. Bitori´s songs quickly became standards - classics known and loved throughout the country. The musical success, however, was solely limited to the Cabo Verdean islands - until now!

Analog Africa is proud to contribute to the worldwide promotion of Funaná - the once forbidden sound of the Cabo Verde archipelago - by releasing a worldwide re-issue of Bitori and Chando Graciosa´s legendary recording. The release will herald Bitori´s first European tour taking place during the summer of 2016. Watch this space! And listen!

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The Devils

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Go Down)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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“After releasing our third album in 2021, during the lockdown, we thought we would never play again. But all that anguish and disillusionment gave us the energy to go back to writing new songs, thanks to our desire to discover new musical horizons and many inspirational blues and soul listenings in recent years. Let The World Burn Down is dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who have had enough of Humanity.” - The Devils This quote from the Naples-based power duo introduces us to their fourth studio album. Let The World Burn Down marks their renewed collaboration with California musician Alain Johannes. The tracklist includes covers of ‘Big City Lights’ by Cleo Randle (1966) and ‘Teddy Boy Boogie’ by Crazy Cavan ‘n’ The Rhythm Rockers (1975), here adapted into ‘Teddy Girl Boogie.’ About THE Band THE Devils formed in Naples, Italy, in 2015. Their first two albums, Sin, You Sinners! (2016) and Iron Butt (2017) were produced by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, The Sonics) and released by Voodoo Rhythm Records. Since 2016, they have been consistently touring with over 500 shows throughout Europe, the UK and Canada. Gianni Blacula rapes the guitar, and Erika Switchblade hits the drums. The Devils embody the definitive sound of chaos; their style is primitive, filled with sex, sin, and Rock’n’Roll. They are wild, very loud, and sexy. They named themselves after Ken Russel’s legendary movie The Devils (1971).Their third album, Beast Must Regret Nothing (2021), was produced by Alain Johannes (qotsa, Them Crooked Vultures, Chris Cornell, PJ Harvey) and features Mark Lanegan on lead vocals for ‘Devil Whistle Don’t Sing.’ Their upcoming studio album still features the multifaceted musician Johannes in mixing, mastering, and performing guitar solos for ‘Horror and Desire.’Let The World Burn Down will drop via Go Down Records in February 2024. The same label released The Devils’ first live album in January 2023. The band has toured with great acts such as The Sonics, Jon Spencer & The Hitmakers, Boss Hog, Mudhoney and many others. They have also performed at several major European festivals, including Azkena Rock Festival and Helldorado

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2LP | 2018 | US | Reissue (Now-Again)

Loving On The Flipside

Dull Boy Red Vinyl Edtion

Release: 2018 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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We at Now-Again unearthed so much information about the bands that recorded the definitive disco and modern soul contained in our Soul Cal anthology that we decided we had no choice but to release this album at the same time. With that, Loving On The Flip Side was concieved. Loving On The Flip Side offers the enthused a chance to listen to and reflect on another great burst of black American creativity: the creation of the sublime genre we like to call "sweet funk." It seems laughable to skip past Thomas East’s "Slipping Around" 7' for the cheesy funk of "Just A Trip," or to listen obsessively to Lou Ragland’s instrumental funk on the Hot Chocolate LP and ignore his indolent-yet-stirring "We Had True Love." Yet we did just that, until we first heard the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s beautiful two-sider. This was the record that set Loving On The Flip Side in motion, as the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s two songs precipitated the sweet funk genre: the dichotomy of Funky Heavy’s skull snapping rhythm section and the teenage Dears’ angelic harmonies didn’t sound like anything we’d heard before. That discovery set off a decade long search for the band and culminated in their discovery, the documenting of their stories, the emergence of their master tapes and the inclusion of their songs on Loving On The Flip Side. The excitement we felt while listening to the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s masterworks forced us back into the field, in search of other sweet funk swooners and beat-heavy ballads to round out this anthology. The opportunity to present anew such wondrous soul music made the exhaustive process that produced Loving On The Flip Side worthwhile, and allowed us to collect one-offs that escaped prior investigations into the deep funk and sweet soul genres.

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Whistling Heads

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Disasters By Choice)

Melchior Productions Ltd & Chez Damier

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Debut album from Italian sensation Whistling Head, quite a surprise in the british post-punk egemony. Teenage Cliché fast, fresh and edgy, brisk and dodgy, quivers like a carefree kid sneaking around responsibilities, just two minutes that stick like gum under the counter, as short and insatiable as the interval you wish would never end.... The graceful song form represents in a brio that pure sense of evaporating idealism, a track you could listen to the point of exasperation because of its potential structure and the leisurely moments it offers while never concealing that veil of restlessness, disorder and dissatisfaction. ‘Shoot Shoot. Work, eat, sleep, repeat.All work and no play, I'm a dull boy, I'm a dull boy.’ Shoot Shoot is a modern-day Greek tragedy, versifying their conception of the modern horror of routine, homologation and bewilderment, letting out, in a liberating spurt, all the accumulated irritation. The song's verse is held up by a crushing, gloomy and repetitive rhythm section accompanied by a guitar as distorted and sharp as a litany scratching at your brain. The track moves between more noise sounds close to the explosive emotionality of Unwound. A cathartic experience emerges from the sum of alienating, annihilating verses and explosive, angry refrains. Peaceful Warning shows the softer, more vulnerable, but still biting and dynamic side. Alternating between noisy phrasing and melodic refrains, Peaceful Warning sounds like a call to be oneself and to never change, despite the mutability of everything around us…

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The One

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (DisDat)

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Pressure)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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The two artists have worked together to create a unique sound that combines elements of Chicago house with Melchior's minimal sensitivity: subtle beats and hypnotic rhythms.

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Ghost Dubs

Damaged

Túnel Acústico Orange Vinyl Edition

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Ghost Dubs, real name Michael Fiedler, aka Jah Schulz, announces a rebirth with 'Damaged', his first album for The Bug's Pressure label. Having recently dropped two criminally overlooked, experimental dub LPs, with his 'Dub Over Science' series, the German producer/bass specialist, now stretches his own parameters of outwardness still further, with these twelve fresh explorations of dub deviance.

For those who feel the fusion of dub techno and ambient drone had creatively ended with the demise of the short lived, Berlin based Chain Reaction label. Ghost Dubs now upgrades and extends that legendary blueprint's abstract methodology even further and deeper, floating away upon a wonderfully warm sea of hiss and static bliss. This is dub so atomized that it disintegrates within your eardrums. Its music, where the machines take over and virtually all traces of humanity are erased. But thankfully, the warmest soul still oozes seductively from the pores of Fiedler's robo riddims. Relentlessly hypnotic, seriously sedated, 'Damaged' celebrates the point of departure within its mesmerising low-end grooves.

Album opener 'Chemical', provides an opiated slo-mo skank, which sounds like Plastikman's 'Consumed' era pulsations drenched heavily in sub aquatic fx. A triumph of surface noise surfing and sub-woofer testing relentlessness, it provides the perfect intro to this compellingly immersive album. For batty shakers and headtrippers alike, there's added thrills aplenty, as Ghost Dub's richter scale tremor rhythms remain impressively massive, and the atmospheric depths of 'Damaged' appear tantalisingly oceanic. Throughout the duration of the dreamy selection, there is an obsessive balance of bewitching ambience and heavyweight bassbin shaking.

The lead single 'Thin Line' itself provides a missing link between African Headcharge's early percussive body probes and Rhythm & Sound's addictive radiance, with the slightest hint of Burial's doomed romantic hauntology added for good taste. Alternately, and no less gracefully, 'Dub Lobotomy' bizarrely resembles Miles Davis 'Get Up with it' chopped, screwed, and relocated to a futuristic Kingston Town. Impressive indeed, Fiedler's mastery of live dubbing on his mixing desk shines accross the duration, and gives the album an improvised edge, and sense of peripheral chaos.

Elsewhere, spooked steppers ('Hot Wired'), haunting house ('True to life') and 4th World psychogeography ('Undone'), combine to ensure there is a forever changing mixture of flavours percolating within the admirable consistency of the overall sound. With a tip of the cap, and nod of the head to Pole ('Second Thoughts'), it’s no surprise then that Pressure would then turn to the great, Berlin based producer Stefan Betke, to master/cut this collection at his infamous Scape mastering room. And a fine job he did too, as high quality sound and levels are definitely maintained throughout.

If you like your melodies submerged, your dub narcotic, your basslines obese, and your beats evaporating, 'Damaged' provides the perfect prescription and entry point into Ghost Dub's spectral soundworld.

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Marcos Valle

LP | 2024 | WW | Original (Far Out)

Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe

Release: 2024 / WW – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“It sounds amazing!” - Gilles Peterson (BBC 6 Music)
“This is pure bliss” **** SHINDIG!
“Yuhuuu” - Coco Maria (NTS Radio)
“Just copped doubles!” - DJ Spinna
No one has lived a life quite like Marcos Valle. He became an overnight international sensation, fled a military dictatorship, dodged the Vietnam war draft, had his music sung by Homer Simpson, made enemies with Marlon Brando, and became an unsuspecting fitness guru for multiple generations. But to truly understand the great Brazilian composer, arranger, singer and multi instrumentalist, one must listen to his music.
Between the release of his first album in 1962 and today, Marcos Valle has released twenty-two studio albums traversing definitive bossa nova, classic samba, iconic disco pop, psychedelic rock, nineties dance and orchestral music. He has also had his songs recorded by some of the all time greats, including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Sergio Mendes, Elis Regina, and (last but not least), Emma Button of the Spice Girls. He has also had his music sampled by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Pusha T and many more.
With his twenty-third studio album Túnel Acustico, Valle set out to bring it all together.
“I believe my music is many things. It goes in different directions. I have many different ways of writing music, sometimes it’s melodies and harmony, sometimes the groove is the focus. But all the music I have made over my sixty year career is unified. It is all natural and it is all sincere. And this is what I wanted to bring to my new album.”
A prominent feature of Valle’s career has been his dual residence between Brazil and the USA. Originally moving over in the mid-sixties on the back of bossa nova’s international proliferation, Valle toured with Sergio Mendes and became hugely in demand as a composer and arranger. But the Vietnam War loomed and the threat of being drafted saw him return to Brazil. He spent the following years in Rio writing music for TV and film, as well as four cult favourite albums in collaboration with some of Brazil’s most groundbreaking musicians including Milton Nascimento, Azymuth, Som Imaginario and O Terco.
By 1975, Brazil's military dictatorship was at its most oppressive, making living and working increasingly difficult. Valle moved back to the US where he would reside in LA, writing songs for, and collaborating with the likes of Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira, Chicago, Sarah Vaughn and Leon Ware, amongst others.
Túnel Acústico features two songs originally conceived during Valle’s time on the West Coast: “Feels So Good”, a stirring two-step soul triumph written in 1979 with soul icon Leon Ware, and the sublime AOR disco track “Life Is What It Is”, composed around the same time, with percussionist Laudir De Oliveira from the group Chicago.
Built around an unfinished demo Marcos found on a shelf in his house 44 years after it was made, the “Feels So Good” demo was restored with the help of producer Daniel Maunick, who also utilised AI stem-separation to remove the placeholder vocal ad-libs. Valle added Portuguese lyrics to sit alongside Ware’s vocal hook, as well as extra keyboards and percussion.
Also written in late seventies LA, “Life Is What Is It” was co-penned by Laudir De Oliveira from the band Chicago and first released on the bands’ Chicago 13 album with lyrics by Robert Lamb. Another nod to his good times in LA, Valle recorded his own version for Túnel Acústico, upping the tempo and deepening the groove for a blast of irresistible summer soul.
On Túnel Acústico, Valle's core band features two members of the renowned Brazilian jazz-funk group Azymuth: Alex Malheiros on bass and Renato Massa on drums. The rhythm section is completed by percussionist Ian Moreira, with additional contributions from guitarist Paulinho Guitarra and trumpeter Jesse Sadoc.
The contemporarily composed music on Túnel Acústico features an impressive lineup of guest lyricists, including renowned Brazilian artists: Joyce Moreno (Bora Meu Vem), Céu (Nao Sei), and Moreno Veloso (Palavras Tão Gentis) as well as Valle's brother Paulo Sergio Valle (Tem Que Ser Feliz).
The album closes with "Thank You Burt (For Bacharach)", a tribute to the legendary composer who passed away in 2023.

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Albert Ayler

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Elemental)

Afro-Indigenous Music From The North-Western Andes

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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One of the last records made by avant sax legend Albert Ayler – a really mind-expanding album that's unlike anything else he ever did! By the time of the record, Ayler had made a full round trip between the New York and European jazz scenes – leaving important influences wherever he went, and trying desperately to pick up new ones the further he moved on. Here, he's working in a style that's a bit like that of Archie Shepp at the time – still steeped in free jazz and new thing ideals, but infused with a free-thinking approach to the music that allows for bold new styles and sounds. In addition to his own stunning work on tenor, Ayler's also blowing bagpipes and vocalizing a bit next to singer Mary Maria, who does a great recitation on one track of the record. Rhythm is by the two-bass team of Stafford James and Bill Folwell, next to drums by Muhammad Ali – and the whole thing's capped off by guitarist Henry Vestine, who plays in modes that range from bluesy to free. At the time, this one was kind of dismissed as a messed-up mistake that occurred at the end of Ayler's too-short life – but honestly, over the years, this record really really opens itself to us more and more, and we have to say that we think it's one of his most groundbreaking albums!

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Juyungo

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Honest Jon's)

There Is Always A Solution

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Juyungo Afro-Indigenous Music From The North-Western Andes Hjrlp089 2LP £16

‘Since the 16th century, the Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas has been home to a unique Afro-Indigenous culture originating in the integration of the Indigenous Chachi and Nigua peoples with African Maroon communities. Juyungo documents significant Esmeraldan artists and bands playing the Afro-Ecuadorian folklore of the province, as well as including some older field recordings. Based mostly on the marimba, whose origins lie partly in the African balafon, partly in Indigenous percussion instruments, the music is laced with call and response chants, ambient insect and bird noise, the filigree finger-styles of the Andean guitar tradition and the panpipes of the mountains. This is resonant insider roots music at its headiest — the mystic revelation of Esmeraldas, gully deep and lustral.’ - Francis Gooding, The Wire.

The fifth in our series of LPs compiling classic music from Ecuador. Customary Honest Jons runnings: a beautiful gatefold sleeve; superior pressing, with vivid, intimate sound; full-size, sixteen-page booklet, in colour throughout, with detailed, fascinating, bi-lingual notes, and stunning photographs.

The music is transfixing, magical; not like anything else. From start to finish, this album is continuously, profoundly immersive; a kind of journeying, trippy meditation about slavery and cultural resistance, identity and mix, places and spaces, futures and pasts. It’s inscrutable to net-surfing, algorithms, Shuffle. But for a taste try the insurgent marimba roller Agua Largo, jet-propelled by Rosa Huila’s rapturous blend of African spiritualist and Christian chant. ‘Healing music,’ Zakia called it on Gilles Peterson’s BBC show recently. And the ravishing pasillo Kasilla Shungulla — ‘calm your heart’ in the Quichua language — a duet between the Peruvian master-guitarist Raúl García Zárate and viola da gamba by Juan Luis Restrepo from Medellin, recorded in a baroque church in Buzbanza, Colombia.

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Vel

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Mama Told Ya)

Soul Jazz Records presents

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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On October 4, 2024, Vel will make a splash with the release of her debut LP, MTY-011 «There is Always a Solution», through Anetha’s label, Mama Told Ya. After 3 exciting EPs and the recent rise of her Live performance, Vel made waves last year with the track «Velds1» on MTY-AIR «Mille Attaques, Les Vents Contrèrent» in collaboration with LDS. She is now ready to unveil her first full-length album.
«There is Always a Solution» flows with two slippery vinyl records and 10 immersive tracks. Nine tracks are produced solely by Vel, while one is co-produced by Vel and Anetha. Once again, Mama Told Ya returns with a valuable lesson: no matter the challenge, you will flow a way.

Vel is back with a mesmerizing new album featuring 10 tracks that draw you in with her captivating energy. Are you ready to heed the call? The High Priestess of Drums plunges us into a world of vibrant Techno and brisk Tribal rhythms, while her Ambient passages offer a calming retreat and her Mental influences are bound to stir your emotions. Rest assured, “there is always a solution.” Renowned for her expertise in rhythmic innovation and spatial soundscapes, Vel presents a revitalizing and dynamic release. MTY-011 promises to cleanse and rejuvenate—let yourself be immersed.
With a hint of irony, The Babe (A1) playfully teases, “Do you love me? Do you love my music?” But Vel’s real question is more reflective: you’re in deep water. Dive into the sound bath of Humans in Cafe (A2), close your eyes, and let the drums, the kicks, the bangs, and the buzz wash over you. One Xanax Introspection (A3) later, Vel is inviting us to explore the full spectrum of frequencies—a galloping race of deep bass and high treble in this ambient choreography.
« Don’t let the relentless BPM Anxiety (B1) drown you. Its tortured synth may try to hold you back, but you’re free. You’re in your Pop Tribe (B2), and nothing can stop you—DRUM BIG. »
Darling it's better down where it's wetter: joining Vel for a jam session « under the sea », it’s Anetha! Driving percussions are combining with a pulsating psytrance bassline, pure magic: « Ain’t We Mermaids (C1), dear? » Vel, ever the master of the salty beats, slows it down just enough to say, «I Don’t Care (C2),» as she deconstructs. A few moments later… She’s at it again—just when the BPMs are peaking, she draws us into a state of floating lethargy. That’s the absorbing power of Ambient Core (C3).
The current is strong with this one—prepare for a challenge. Deep Tracks Don’t Sell (D1) will drift you away in a swirl of intertwining undulations and dripping drums. It’s time to return to the surface: with a bubbly twist of whimsy, Oh La La (D2) pops in, full of new-wave energy. Vel gently swims us back to shore.
For this new LP, the artwork was crafted in-house under Vel’s artistic direction. The design was skillfully executed by Diplomatie Studio, while mastering was entrusted to In Aeternam Vale, Vel’s close friend and mentor.

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Gipsy Rhumba Record Store Day 2023 Yellow Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Soul Jazz)

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Be With)

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Record Store Day 2023 limited run / regional release limited to 1000 copies.
New one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition yellow vinyl pressing exclusively for Record Store Day 2023 of Soul Jazz Records’ Gipsy Rhumba: The Original Rhythm of Gipsy Rhumba in Spain 1965 – 1974, with a 28-page booklet and download code. The extensive booklet in this release contains definitive sleevenotes by the musicologist Jose Manuel Gómez, record designs and stunning photography from the celebrated photographer Jacques Leonard.

Soul Jazz Records’ Gipsy Rhumba is the first album outside of Spain to focus on one of the most exciting musical culture clashes ever. In the early 1960s, Gypsies from the Catalan region of Spain, primarily known as the creators of Flamenco, came up with a fascinating hybrid style – Gipsy Rhumba – which blended the Latin and Rhumba music of Cuba and the Caribbean together with their own Flamenco, as well as the emerging Rock ‘N’ Roll from America.

“A capsule of supercharged clapping and joyous vocals” -- The Guardian

“Must-have”. “You all know Gipsy Kings’ blend of flamenco and Latin rhythms … but where did this convergence of Latin music styles occur? This compilation demonstrates how mid-1960’s Barcelona hot-housed gypsy musicians who employed the rumba rhythm… Gipsy Rhumba unearths a forgotten corner of Europop.”-- The Sunday Times

“Musicologists aren’t the only ones who will enjoy pulling at the threads that bind this particular sound clash … Messing with the traditional form is daring at any time, but the result was something quite fantastic, potent and intriguing, full of marvelous grooves and compelling rhythms.”-- Irish Times

“A victory for gipsy party music… A collection worthy of conquering the world”--Dagens Nyheter, Sweden

“Punchy, rhythmic and popular …specialist Rhumba research starts here with this compilation released by the London Soul Jazz label. Another genre of pop history.” -- Junge Welt, Germany

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Ian Carr With Nucleus

Labyrinth

Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Popul

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Labyrinth is dark, brooding, beat-heavy, melancholic mood music courtesy of Ian Carr and the Nucleus crew. A favourite of Madlib, it goes without saying that this is one magnificent record. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, Labyrinth was never re-pressed and of course those original copies are now very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it’s aged ridiculously well and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.

Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.

Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the music has kept relevant. To steal a line from a recent review of our re-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’s basically already hip-hop”.

At this point Carr had parted ways with guitarist Alan Holdsworth and as a result the Nucleus sound found itself returning to the core elements of groove and melody. Carr had become bolder and more self-confident in his compositions and it shows in the sheer ambition of Labyrinth. Composed by Carr, and with lyrics written by his wife Sandy, Labyrinth was the result of a commission from the Park Lane Group and funded by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Originally a live performance by an augmented Nucleus, some of the expanded cast were brought back for the recording sessions, including vocalist Norma Winstone. So as the front cover of the finished album says, this is literally “Nucleus Plus”.

Labyrinth is presented as a suite, based on the ancient Greek legend of the Minotaur with musical instruments representing the various elements of the mythology. According to the LP’s original sleeve notes, the bass clarinet represents the tragic element, the trumpet represents the heroic element and the voice represents the human element. The rest of the musicians represent the two societies of Athens and Crete and their comments on the story as it unfolds.

The album opens with the experimental, sumptuously dissonant “Origins”. Teasing strands of atmospheric bass clarinet introduce the first theme before swiftly fading out with a startling blast of staccato fanfares and big drums. Heavy. The album soon finds its rhythm as it alights on the spell-binding and groove-friendly “Bull-Dance”, showing off the best Nucleus has to offer: subtle trumpet melodies, compelling rhythms, a psych-rock vibe and tight soloing. And of course there’s Norma Winstone’s stunning wordless vocals, that also take the lead in the next track “Ariadne”, a spacey-jazz song with beautiful piano, flute and clarinet, and the only recognisable lyrics on the album. You might recognise a snatch of it being looped by Madlib on Quasimoto’s “Astro Travellin”. The first part of the improvised “Arena” closes out the first side of the album, a short experimental piece with piano and horns.

Over on the flip-side, the powerful second part of “Arena” introduces a new theme. It swiftly builds, with vocal melodies, piano and horns all pronounced over the thick drums snapping your neck. It comes on like an alternate take on “Bull-Dance”, noisier, with a looser rhythm. The triumphant, shuffling Latin-jam “Exultation” leans on more scintillating vocals from Winstone, and a chunky counter melody from the rhythm section. It’ll get you moving.

The final track, the haunting, twelve minute “Naxos”, is an incredible way to close out this remarkable record. A circling bass guitar loop inspiring the group to a meditative psychedelic jazz rock improvisation in a silent, Miles kind of way, with a great flugelhorn solo from Carr and an ace synth climax.

This Be With edition of Labyrinth has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. Another great Keith Davis sleeve has been restored in all its airbrushed Golden Age of comics, gatefold splendour. Complete with Minotaur of course.

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Topical Dance Black Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Because Music)

Seeing Through Sound Pentimento Volume Two

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

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Jon Hassell

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Ndeya)

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Raster)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“Listen as if you were being told a secret” - Federico Fellini

A companion piece to 2018’s Listening To Pictures, this second volume in the pentimento series presents eight new tracks by the music visionary, continuing his lifelong exploration of the possibilities of recombination and musical gene-splicing. Pentimento is defined as the “reappearance in a painting of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over” and this is evident in the innovative production style that ‘paints with sound’ using overlapping nuances to create an undefinable and intoxicating new palette.

In classic Hassell fashion, the title can be interpreted in a myriad of ways, but perhaps the most pertinent at the moment is the human instinct to sing and play through a rain of difficulties. A future blues of indeterminate and ever-shifting shape. The album is buffered by two 8-minute plus epics at the beginning and the end - the hypnotic “Fearless” with it’s metronomic, almost Can-like rhythm, and blurry, noir-ish texture of sound emerging like car headlights from the fog; mirrored at the end of the record by the beautiful sci-fi lullaby of “Timeless”, a track with a gaseous, billowing quality as electronic clicks and bubbles float over a landscape of shimmering, glacially paced complexity. The bridge between those two worlds is no less compelling, from the frantic, spidery IDM sketch of “Reykjavik” to the collapsed-time ballad of “Unknown Wish”. Whilst containing seeds of classic ‘fourth world’ fusion, this record finds the artist still questing to create new forms and mutations of music, a thrilling window into what music could sound like in a world to come.

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Frank Bretschneider

Pounding

LP | 1999 | EU | Reissue (Thrill Jockey)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Unequal cycles searching for synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often considered to be an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, for example Dub effects that listen to themselves crumbling. But also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never clear, constantly restless and exciting.

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Sam Prekop

I've Seen All I Need To See Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1999 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Pop

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The Body

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Thrill Jockey)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Over the course of two decades The Body, Lee Buford and Chip King, have consistently challenged assumptions and defied categorization, redefining what it means to be a heavy band. On I've Seen All I Need To See, they test the boundaries of the studio to explore the extremes and microtonality of distortion to find its maximal impact. Their most incisively bleak, a towering monolith of noise, album to date Buford's booming, resolute drums paired with King's obliterated guitar and howl. Course, bristling distortion contorts every instrument, with samples of spoken word, cymbals, toms and King's already noxious tone emerging from layers of feedback. The recording studio remains indelible to The Body's creative process. Together with engineer Seth Manchester of Machines With Magnets, they capture the complexities of distorted sound in stunning detail. The clarity and the cacophony exceed anything they've created before, morphing desolate, festering soundscapes into an exhilarating sonic universe. Buford often lays the framework for songs from the drums up, mirroring hip hop production. I've Seen All I Need To See trades out 808s and The Body's self- sampling for live instruments with a focus on expanding mutations of sound from more limited sources. The results are remarkably rich textural bombardments. Throughout, The Body deliver oppressive noise with potent lucidity, replicating the overwhelming sound of their live performances in revelatory detail. I've Seen All I Need To See demonstrates not only The Body's fearless spirit and vicious edge, but their intellectual musical heft through its explorations of distorted sound and the power of distorted sounds' interplay. Composer Roger Johnson said "Noise is power, but is generally represented as negative, chaotic, dangerous, violent, when it comes... from those marginalized from power. Noise is also an expression of freedom, a 'liberation of sound.'" The Body are sound liberators capable of mining and extracting remarkable details from the most manipulated and distorted sound sources. I've Seen All I Need To See is a groundbreaking work and an ecstatic listen, whether seen as a testament to catharsis in oblivion, an opus of inexorable dread or a wholly liberating adventure.

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Jambú - E Os Míticos Sons Da Amazônia

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

LP | 1973 | US | Reissue (Riding Easy)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The city of Belém, in the Northern state of Pará in Brazil, has long been a hotbed of culture and musical innovation. Enveloped by the mystical wonder of the Amazonian forest and overlooking the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, Belém consists of a diverse culture as vibrant and broad as the Amazon itself. Amerindians, Europeans, Africans - and the myriad combinations between these people - would mingle, and ingeniously pioneer musical genres such as Carimbó, Samba-De-Cacete, Siriá, Bois-Bumbás and bambiá. Although left in the margins of history, these exotic and mysteriously different sounds would thrive in a parallel universe of their own.

I didn’t even know of the existence of that universe until an Australian DJ and producer by the name of Carlo Xavier dragged me deep into this whole new musical world. Ant it all began in Belém do Pará. Perched on a peninsula between the Bay of Guajará and the Guamá river, sculpted by water into ports, small deltas and peripheral areas, Belém had connected city dwellers with those deeper within the forest providing fertile ground for the development of a popular culture mirroring the mighty waters surrounding it. Through the continuous flow of culture, language and tradition, various rhythms were gathered here and transformed into new musical forms that were simultaneously traditional and modern.

Historically marginalized African religions like Umbanda, Candomblé and the Tambor de Mina, which had reached this side of the Atlantic through slaves from West Africa – especially from the Kingdom of Dahomey, currently the Republic of Benin – left an indelible stamp on the identity of Pará´s music. They would give birth to Lundun, Banguê and Carimbó, styles later modernised by Verequete, Orlando Pereira, Mestre Cupijó and Pinduca to great effect. The success of these pioneers would create a solid foundation for a myriad of modern bands in urban areas.

Known as the “Caribbean Port,” Belem had been receiving signal from radio stations from Colombia, Surinam, Guyana and the Caribbean islands - notably Cuba and the Dominican republic - since the 1940s. By the early 1960s, Disc jockeys breathlessly exchanged Caribbean records to add these frenetic, island sounds to liven up revelers. The competition was fierce as to who would be the first to bring unheard hits from these countries. The craze eventually reached local bands’ repertoires, and Belém’s suburbs got overtaken by merengue, leading to the creation of modern sounds such as Lambada and Guitarrada.

To reach a larger audience, the music needed to be broadcast. Radios began targeting the taste of mainstream audiences and played music known as “music for masses.” As the demand for this music grew, it led to the establishment of recording companies. Belém’s infant recording industry began when Rauland Belém Som Ltd was founded in the 1970s. It boosted a radio station, a recording studio, a music label and had a deep roster of popular artists across the carimbó, siriá, bolero and Brega genres.

Another important aspect in understanding how the musical tradition spread in Belém, are the aparelhagem sonora: the sound system culture of Pará. Beginning as simple gramophones connected to loudspeakers tied to light posts or trees, these sound systems livened up neighbourhood parties and family gatherings. The equipment evolved from amateur models into sophisticated versions, perfected over time through the wisdom of handymen. Today’s aparelhagens draw immense crowds, packing clubs with thousands of revelers in Belém’s peripheral neighbourhoods or inland towns in Pará.

The history of "Jambú e Os Míticos Sons Da Amazônia" is the history of an entire city in its full glory. With bustling night clubs providing the best sound systems and erotic live shows, gossip about the whereabouts of legendary bands, singers turned into movie stars, supreme craftiness, and the creativity of a class of musicians that didn’t hesitate to take a gamble, Jambú is an exhilarating, cinematic ride into the beauty and heart of what makes Pará’s little corner of the Amazon tick. The hip swaying, frantic percussion and big band brass of the mixture of carimbó with siriá, the mystical melodies of Amazonian drums, the hypnotizing cadence of the choirs, and the deep, musical reverence to Afro-Brazilian religions, provided the soundtrack for sweltering nights in the city’s club district.

The music and tales found in Jambú are stories of resilience, triumph against all odds, and, most importantly, of a city in the borders of the Amazon who has always known how to throw a damn good party.

“Jambú is a plant widely used in Amazonian and Paraense cuisine. Known for having an appetitestimulating effect, it is added to various dishes and salads but is most famously one of the main ingredients in Tucupi and Tacacá, two delicacies that have been immortalized in countless Carimbó songs. Chewing the leaves of the Jambú plant will leave a strong sensation of tingling on the tongue and lips. Indigenous communities have relied upon its anaesthetic qualities for centuries as an effective remedy against toothaches and as a cure for mouth and throat infections. A decade ago, a distillery from Belém discovered the euphoric effects of the Jambú plant when combined with distilled sugarcane based spirit - known as cachaça - and created the now legendary “Cachaça de Jambú“.

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ODA

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Pan-Am Tracks)

Release: 1973 / US – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Of the plethora of touted "private press hard rock monsters'' out there, very few live up to the swaggering riff-fury of west coast blasters ODA. Commonly known as the "Black Album," the first clobbering platter by the quartet was released on their own tiny Loud Phonograph Records imprint and now commands large sums—but is actually worth the heavy hype. The band naturally centered around Randy Oda, a multi-talented ax shredder and keyboardist, and the lineup was filled out by his brother Kevin on drum assault, Art Pantoja on lead bellows and rhythm guitar, and galloping bassist Kyle Schneider.

The Oda brothers were born in Alameda County, California, attending Kennedy High School in Richmond, and started the band while still teenagers at the beginning of the '70s. ODA was influenced by hard UK rockers like Deep Purple, Zep, Free, and the Who, and they gigged all over the Bay Area, with Randy garnering comparisons to Jeff Beck's molten six-string mastery. This 1971 self-titled LP (aka the Black Album) fully displays their blistering talents, but despite some local airplay on Ksan radio, the band packed it in by '73.

This would not be the end of the Oda story, as Randy joined CCR's Tom Fogerty in the outfit Ruby afterwards, laying down his licks on two LPs that flirted with the mainstream, while staying true to his highly electric guitar muse. In 1983, ODA actually reformed for one more LP on Loud Phonograph, entitled Power Of Love. The comeback album delves a little deeper into radio friendly power pop, which makes sense, as in '82 Oda co-wrote "Think I'm In Love" with Eddie Money (which, let's face it, is Money's best song by like a mile). Randy would also collaborate with Fogerty as a duo, and the posthumous Sidekicks album (released after Fogerty passed) listed the clearly-integral Randy Oda as "arranger, composer, guitar (acoustic), guitar (electric), keyboards, primary artist, and producer.” In the 2000s, Randy would start another band with his brother called OPO which means "to lay a foundation" in Hawaiian, and ODA would reform to play a benefit in 2015 along with other obscure and heady/heavy Bay Area rockers like Savage Resurrection and Country Weather (some live footage of the event shows the band still rocking hard).

At last, Riding Easy is legitimately reissuing ODA's first smoking, gargantuan LP with bonus tracks, so crank this one up in the '70s Camaro with the windows open, and some dirt weed joints a-blazin'.

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Dvs Nme & Krypton 81

The Endless Pattern

LP | 2004 | EU | Reissue (Schema)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Excellent robotic electro(nix) as Pan-Am Tracks welcomes DVS NME and Krypton 81 with this ambitious project that pays homage to German Electro producer Das Muster. Both artists set the tone with intricate rhythms and analogue warmth. Pulsating basslines and shimmering synths intertwine, creating a vibrant, futuristic soundscape. This dynamic interplay between the two artists continues throughout the album, as DVS NME and Krypton 81 counterpoint each others explorations into the sound. A sonic trip that will surely resonate with fans of the genre.

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Nicola Conte

Other Directions

Empty Country II Pink Vinyl Edition

Release: 2004 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The album has been released in different versions and on two different occasions. The first, in 2004, saw the original release of “Other Directions” as a 2-lp set, while a single CD version had been licensed to Blue Note Records. In 2011, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Edizioni Ishtar, Schema Records has published a 2-cd version with an extra CD featuring the tracks previously released on vinyl, plus some unreleased ones.

Always in balance between Jazz and Bossa Nova, “Other Directions” reveals Nicola Conte’s compositive soul bound, furthermore the composer’s intention is to communicate not only through the music but through the lyrics too, showing a talented and learned songwriter. Inspired both by the beat literature (The Dharma Bums is a true homage to Jack Kerouac) and the English one (Wanin’ Moon is inspired by a Percy Shelley’s poem), also the cinema and dramaturgy influenced the composer: “Le Depart” is a reassessment of the piece written in ’67 by Krzysztof Komeda for the namesake Jerzy Skolimovsky’s movie, and “All Gone” is a homage to Joseph Losey’s “Il Servo,” a ’60s black-and-white movie directed by Harold Pinter.

Includes a line-up of Italian and international artists such as Gianluca Petrella, Daniele Scannapieco, Pietro Lussu, Lorenzo Tucci, Fabrizio Bosso, Nicola Stilo, Till Brönner, Nicola traces with great skill the sensuality of the dialogue between the winds and the piano, he beats and emphasizes its rhythms, and adds some extremely elastic voices, the most remarkable of which belongs to Cristina Zavalloni.

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Empty Country

2LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Tough Love)

2x12" | 2023 | EU | Original (Hc Records)

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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As the front person of celebrated indie band Cymbals Eat Guitars, guitarist and singer Joseph D’Agostino spent over a decade setting autobiographical, emotionally vivid lyrics against a backdrop of soaring and compositionally ambitious rock. After four critically acclaimed LPs that solidified D’Agostino’s reputation as a gifted songwriter, he chose to break from his long-term band and debut a new project: Empty Country. On 2020’s self-titled debut, D’Agostino’s storytelling lens shifted away from personal narrative and toward fiction; psychopaths, apparitions and deplorables populated a bleak and uncanny parallel version of American dystopia. Empty Country’s sprawling and sonically adventurous arrangements—filled out by collaborating musicians including Rachel and Zoë Browne (Field Mouse), Kyle Gillbride (Swearin’), Zena Kay (Angel Olsen), and former CEG drummer Charlotte Anne Dole—ranged from luminous jangle-pop to scorching emo-punk to narcotized Americana. Though the pandemic curtailed planned touring, a seven-piece iteration of the band played one packed Brooklyn show in May 2022, supported by Charles Bissell (The Wrens) and Field Mouse; Empty Country also backed Bissell on several classics from The Meadowlands. “It was a wonderful return to live music for all of us,” says D’Agostino. “So many folks reached out to me and told me how Empty Country offered them comfort during those first several months of being stuck inside. I’m happy that it came out and connected with some people and that I was able to establish this universe I could continue to build on.”

Empty Country II, the project’s second full-length, is a thrilling expansion of that world. D’Agostino pushed himself to new places as a songwriter, crafting a collection of short stories set to music that grapple with the biggest questions now hanging over America—gun violence, the addiction epidemic, and generational hopelessness among them. In 2020, he’d moved from Philadelphia to small-town New England to be closer to family, and his new locale, coupled with the dread of lockdown, inspired him to return to the haunted world from the first LP. “It’s pretty jarring to leave a city—where you can safely assume you’re aligned with your neighbors on many political and social issues—for somewhere more rural and conservative,” says D’Agostino, noting the Trump flags and Blue Lives Matter hood wraps that dot his new dirt road residence. Across the new album’s nine tracks, D’Agostino introduces us to a bevy of characters: three generations of West Virginia clairvoyants, crushed by the weight of their secret knowledge; a group of drag queens and misfits in early ‘80s New York City; a pill mill doctor’s daughter who dabbles in necromancy; a convicted killer; a bullied kid injured and alone in the forest as night falls. Through the stories of these characters, Empty Country II delivers an engaging and deeply moving rumination on time, family, and the disintegration of America.

Despite the stoicism of its storytelling, Empty Country II cuts the darkness with beauty, humor, and an earnest belief in the transcendent power of rock music. It was recorded over two weeks at Fidelitorium, the renowned studio in Kernersville, NC, belonging to R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter. Legendary recording engineer John Agnello, whose previous collaborations with Cymbals Eat Guitars resulted in their 2014 high-water mark, Lose, brought his trademark clarity and nuance to the process, helping Empty Country II crackle with a vital energy that imbues these stories with genuine lifeforce. Dole returned on drums for the record, her virtuosic performances lending raw power and immediacy; her twin brother Patrick joined on bass, his decades of experience uplifting the songs with subtle melodicism and formidable technicality. The group's chemistry and deep personal history are palpable, allowing them to approach the record’s complex story with subtlety and dynamism. “Mitch has collected an astounding array of weird mics, amplifiers, and oddball orchestral instruments: organs, Buddhist temple bells, bar chimes, tubular bells,” enthuses D’Agostino about the studio. “FLA,” a gripping portrait of a queer tour boat pilot in the Florida Keys pining for their absent lover, was arranged from the ground so the group could incorporate Easter’s timpani. D’Agostino considers it a high point of his lengthy discography and lauds that song’s harmonica solo as “my favorite 30 seconds of music that I’ve ever been a part of.”

Empty Country II also features some of D’Agostino’s most danceable songs—like “David,” a tribute to D’Agostino’s late friend David Berman. Featuring a lyrical tapestry of Silver Jews references and surreally beautiful images, head-nodding Philly soul grooves collapse into cosmic freeform jazz-inspired sections, ornamented with inventive hand percussion, marimba flourishes, and toe-tapping piano chords. “Recite a poem as the day vibrates,” D’Agostino sings. “I finally wrote this song for you / But I don’t know who I’d show it to.” It’s a paraphrase of W.S. Merwin’s famed short poem “Elegy”, written after the passing of his own mentor, John Berryman. On “Bootsie,” a runaway girl from West Virginia explores the crumbling, glorious 1980s New York City of Paris is Burning, finding community in a scene of drag queens who offer her a new way of thinking about what makes America—and rock music—great. Based on his own mother’s experiences at the height of the Aids epidemic, the song has deep personal meaning to D’Agostino. “The men you thought were brave / are arrogant and depraved,” he sings against the damaged disco beats of the Dole siblings’ rhythm section. Inverting the chorus of the Talking Heads’ “Heaven,” the lyrics of “Bootsie” celebrate the underdogs and misfits: “Hell is the place where everything happens / The band’s playing all the songs ever written at once / Shape the chaos, make your little story / Baby, this life’s perfect purgatory.”

Though Empty Country II is a record about the forces that drive Americans apart, it’s also imbued with empathic love and an understanding of what binds people to family and country—in spite of the darknesses we encounter. The concept of a Great American Rock Album might scan as outdated in 2023, but with this sprawling and uncompromising epic, D’Agostino and Empty Country shatter ambivalence and confront the horrors with a community-minded sense of cautious optimism. “We may be staring into an abyss,” says D’Agostino. “But we’re all staring together.”

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The Lost Boys

Exiles Of Mars EP

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Soul Jazz)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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In the centre of deep space we tune in to the radio broadcasts from an old Class T interstellar spaceship. The emissions endlessly resonate the frequencies of the seventeenth release on the label HC Records by one of the titans of the Valencian scene, The Lost Boys, new pseudonym of the DJ and producer Raszia.

With releases on labels such as Bass Agenda, Subsist or Hxagrm Records, the artist mesmerises our senses with the Exiles of Mars Ep, available in both double vinyl and digital.

Syncopated rhythms are the protagonists across four original tracks together with remixes by four electro legends: Boris Divider, Estrato Aurora, Dark Vektor, and Filmmaker.

The EP’s first cut is a remix of "Wall Of Bricks" by the legendary Boris Divider, which gives the track an air of crystalline, synthetic and cosmic sound, very much in line with his latest works on the Generative Operations series. Next, we find the original version, where the kick drums are heavier, the synths and basses more colourful and the acid sequences take centre stage in an odyssey of sidereal intensity.

On the record’s flip side, a feeling of overwhelming melancholy takes root in our soul. Valencian Estrato Aurora mentally transports us to the mysterious red sand of Mars in a precise exercise in symphonic minimalism with his remix of "Exiles of Mars", which mutates the original idea with velvety pads, synths and a slow and rapturous hypnotism that sinks us to unfathomable depths. The Lost Boys' original concept on B2 is a combination of Miami Bass-style breaks and a demonic mantra-like main synth line, backed by what seems like an infinity of pearly effects and secondary melodies, pushing the track towards a crescendo punctuated by a dry and sharp snare.

The second disc’s opener "Bust My Moves" is a masterclass in deconstruction and reconstruction by Dark Vektor with his "Electro Escuadrón Remix”. The genius from Terrassa provides powerful lyrics loaded with a message about the modern rise of the 808 movement. We return to the original Lost Boys version on C2, a futuristic martial discourse takes shape with combating breaks combined with rave chords and brief episodes of respite, almost dreamlike, in the middle and end of the track’s exciting development.

On the D side, rough frequencies verging on distortion materialise through our ship's speakers as we pick up the Colombian Filmmaker’s remix of "Data Recovery For Brains". A psychotronic final appetiser that combines harshness and elegance in the use of the rolling kick drums and saturation of the sound, it is without a doubt the ideal soundtrack to narrate the collision of two galaxies. The closing of the EP features the original track, in which The Lost Boys show us his most mental and lysergic side as the track progresses along a slow and comforting broken rhythm, made dynamic by clever use of diverse acid sequences and clairvoyant stellar melodies.

The complete artistic experience is enhanced in all dimensions with accompanying artwork by Daniel Requeni and videos elaborated by Frank-F.

Mastering as usual by Steve Voidloss at Black Monolith Studios in London (uk).

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Hawksmoor

Telepathic Heights

LP | 1981 | US | Reissue (Riding Easy)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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This incredible new release follows a path along the electronic skyways first created by the German/Krautrock electronic pioneers of the 1970s such as Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Roedelius and Michael Rother.Hawksmoor is James McKeown. He first created "Hawksmoor" five years ago as an imaginary hauntological soundtrack, inspired by the six Hawksmoor churches in London. Further releases have followed on Environmental Studies, the cassette-only label "Spun Out of Control", Castles in Space and The Library of The Occult.For his debut on Soul Jazz Records, Hawksmoor has created a fascinating blend of these two sensibilities - a love of German electronic music of the 1970s alongside the British retrofuturism and cultural memory bank aesthetic of hauntology - Ghost Box, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Advisory Circle, Focus Group etc. Using strictly modular synths (Moog Sub37), electronic drum rhythms, and guitars, Hawksmoor creates an electronic landscaped music world that is both new and old, immediately identifiable and yet utterly unique.

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Mammoth

2LP | 2002 | EU | Reissue (Keplar)

Release: 1981 / US – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Mammoth is a grabber right out of the gate, every step they take is unleashed with deadly economical precision. They may flash on Lynyrd Skynyrd and other vintage southern rock traditions but the brilliant way the vocals are recorded and the to-the-point interlocking guitar moves will fire up anybody into any sort of hard rock. They can rip it up with hot leads, probably jammed out on these songs at live shows but lucky us, they laid them down for all times here with the sort of thought out unified force and construction that screams hit radio. Loads of personality, accessible, produced and mixed with the clarity of classic rock that never loses it's perfectly deployed impact. The uncluttered arrangements leave plenty of space, crafted with the kind of balanced mojo in the mix where every detail adds to the whole. Down and dirty but also achieving a universal pop-friendly appeal!

The Mammoth LP was recorded in 1981 at Relayer Studios in DeLand, Florida with the two guitars, bass and drums quartet line-up sounding like it could have been a decade earlier. Buzz Fetters on lead guitar, Bill Abell on rhythm guitar, Joey Costa on bass and Ron Herman on drums… with everybody contributing to the vocals. Rather than having a strong up front emotive singer the lead vocals here are multi-tracked and integrated into the songs with plenty of attitude but also a genre-transcending presence… you can imagine the vocal ambience working in punk, glam, even psychedelic contexts. Mammoth have a sound informed by roots music but it is really in the rear-view mirror the way they roll.

The songwriting here is terrific, they have a way of saying things that comes off as sincere but not too serious. You get plenty of in-your-face hard rock action but also several melodic tracks that have a more reflective charm to round out the trip. And… when you hear their brilliant ode to southern rock titled "Southern Sounds" I challenge you to find any song about the subject more delightful. These guys keep it real, whether they're being bad ass or vulnerable they express themselves with 100% genuine feeling as contagious and life affirming as it gets!

* Heavy Duty Southern Rock from 1981

* OG copy sells for several hundred dollars

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Arovane

Icol Diston

Garden Party Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2002 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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The »Icol Diston« compilation, released in 2002 on DIN, comprised the three first EPs released by Uwe Zahn under his Arovane moniker. Following up on vinyl reissues of his path-breaking debut album »Atol Scrap« as well as 2000’s »Tides,« the German Keplar label finally makes »Icol Diston« available in its entirety on vinyl for the first time in a remastered version with new artwork. This expansive reissue sheds a new light on Zahn’s first two outings as a producer on the »I.O.« and »Icol Diston« EPs on Torsten ›t++‹ Pröfrock’s legendary label as well as highlighting his radical inventiveness as a remixer with the two renditions of Pröfrock-produced material offered on »AMX.« Taken together, these musically complex and emotionally rich electronic compositions form the prologue to an artistic story like none other while also documenting a very specific era in cultural history. The energy running through Berlin and its boundaryless electronic music scene at the end of the 1990s is reflected by and refined through these eleven tracks. »There was an overwhelming dynamic of liberation reverberating through the city—through the clubs, the arts, the people,« says Zahn today. At this early stage in his career, he had a head full of ideas and slowly started filling up his studio with samplers, synthesizers, and sequencers to put them into practice. »I would compose percussive structures in my mind during long metro rides and record them once I was back at the studio as well as composing melodies spontaneously on my sequencer.« The Yamaha Qy700 would become his sketchbook that allowed him to experiment with different patterns, creating polymetric figures out of discrete musical elements. Zahn’s sessions, recorded live in stereo and straight to DAT, resulted in two very different EPs of original material. His debut »I.O.« showcases a playful and gentle, albeit dubby and at times moody aesthetic. The four tracks are exercises in sonic worldbuilding, creating vast spaces and filling them with a plethora of intertwining melodies and rhythms. Its successor »Icol Diston« drew on similar parameters, but painted a very different picture in terms of atmosphere and mood. »Berlin’s history felt still so tangible and yet somewhat ghostly during the 1990s, and it is a reflection of all that,« explains Zahn. »The weight of its past, starting with World War II up to the end of the GDR, clashed with an atmosphere of departure, a new zest for life among the people in the city.« It is perhaps no surprise then that the five tracks put a firmer focus on beats, at times even approximating techno or electro grooves despite never eschewing the complexity that is so central to Zahn’s work. The »amx« EP features two remixes of tracks originally produced by Pröfrock under two different guises. »Außen vor« had been released under his Dynamo moniker and was reworked by Zahn after having been introduced to his label owner’s Studio 440 sampler, sequencer and drum machine. By leaving the groove at the core of the original track mostly intact but infusing it with more dub as well as anthemic synth drones, Zahn gave it more depth both sonically and emotionally. With his remix of »No. 8,« released under Pröfrock’s tongue-in-cheek pseudonym Various Artists, Zahn followed a more radical approach which led him even deeper into dub territory. »I used a relatively short sample as the tonal foundation and then added an incredibly deep bass and percussive elements,« he explains. Widely different from the original version, it perfectly translated the spirit of this singular masterpiece into another stylistic idiom. The »Icol Diston« compilation is imbued with a forward-thinking spirit that remains exhilarating until today. It captures the sound of one unique artist, but also electronic music during that time more broadly. This is the sound of opening a new chapter, the willingness to venture into the unknown.

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Rose City Band

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Thrill Jockey)

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Thrill Jockey)

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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On Garden Party, Rose City Band"s country psychedelic rock evokes the wide-open spaces of the American west and free spirits who call it home. Led by acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson, Rose City Band are some of the best players in contemporary rock: pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg, bassist Dewey Mahood (aka Plankton Wat), drummer Dustin Dybvig, and features Sanae Yamada of Moon Duo on Synthesizer. Garden Party is both a celebration of summer and all it brings: friends gathering at backyard BBQs, cold beers on a hot porch, 12-foot sunflowers, and an exaltation of the value and respite of a moment of calm; the pleasures of time in the garden to appreciate the beauty of a contorted carrot, or a morning on a stoop watching a hummingbird. Freedom, contentment, and joy were the sources for the songs; they certainly bring the listener right there. From the soaring guitar solos to the driving rhythms, the elegant pedal steel lines to the organ grooves, Garden Party has a live band"s energy captured in exquisite detail. Garden Party is an invitation, a welcoming hand extended, and a joyous ride. Like all great music, the album taps into the listeners" emotional center and takes them to their happy place - their sunny spot. Recorded at Center for Sound, Light, and Color Therapy in Portland and mixed by John McEntire, the band"s sounds surround and embrace you. Garden Party"s last two tracks feature special guest Sanae Yamada (Moon Duo) who added some synth magic to the final two tracks. Ripley says it best "I always like when an album starts in one place and ends in another" What a beautiful journey it is!

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Sightless Pit

Lockstep Bloodwar

India Lo-Fi Abuse Picture Disc Edition

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Sightless Pit is the project of duo Lee Buford (The Body) and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell). Buford and Walker are born collaborators, known for their ability to subvert musical expectations, transcend genre and plunge headlong into the unknown. Across the album, the two highly inventive musical omnivores are buoyed by an astounding menagerie of eclectic and celebrated collaborators including: Gangsta Boo (Three 6 Mafia), YoshimiO (Boredoms), Frukwan (Gravediggaz), Claire Rousay, Midwife, Lane Shii Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), Foie Gras, and more. Their work with the likes of Thou, Uniform, Merzbow, and Nothing, taken together with their The Body & Full of Hell albums, have established each as singular voices and masterful alchemists of heavy music. The duo shares an affection for rhythm-based beat music, disparate electronic genres, dub, as well as darkly-hued atmospheric ambience. Lockstep Bloodwar exceeds expectations by stunningly combining the noise and confrontational posturing they are both well known for with pulsing and kaleidoscopic electronic samples, drum machines, and grizzled synths.Following the release of their first record, Grave of a Dog- which features Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), Buford and Walker continue to push the boundaries of heavy music. An aura of brusque confrontation and grime is sheathed around Lockstep Bloodwar and its multiplicity of noises and raw energy. Lee Buford"s signature rhythmic voice stretches into new complex patterns while retaining an unearthly punch, with gargantuan bass thuds and deft syncopations capable of transforming a song"s landscape in an instant. A spirit of malcontent and caged frustrations oozes from within each piece manifested in spiraling low end throbs and Dylan Walker"s pained wails. Walker describes the underlying worldview of the album: "Lockstep Bloodwar is the struggle to comprehend and come to terms with the fact that our lives are on a locked track, and the track is violent and painful. We have zero control over our lives on a...

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Muslimgauze

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Kontakt Audio)

Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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India Lo-Fi Abuse was recorded in 1998, some tracks are "pure" Muslimgauze and some are re-mixs of tracks from Systemwide's "Sirius" CD (see also Systemwide meets Muslimgauze "at the City of the Dead" 12"). Nearly all of the tracks have hand percussion in varying tempos and intensities and at least 1/2 make use of electronic noise surges. The sound is very crisp and clean, extremely well produced, recorded and nicely varied throughout the length of the disc. Some track by track comments: "Antalya" is obviously from the same sessions as "Fakir Sind" seeing as it shares the same hand percussion sound, whistles, vocal wailing, cut-ups and delays. "Valencia Flames" sounds like a Systemwide remix. A dub bass line, hi-hat and background vocal of some sort are all obliterated by numerous delays, starts, stops and re-starts with an unpredictable nature in these cut-up tracks. "Al Souk Dub" injects background voices, market sounds and drones into the cut-up mix of slow hand percussion playing. "Catacomb Dub" and the final two tracks make use of twinkling synth waves, presumably a Systemwide sound source. "Dust of Saqqara" has a heavy pulsating electronic sound wave over an old beat box rhythm. "Android Cleaver" is brutal (as is "Nommos' Afterburn") hand percussion, jabs of noise and an oft repeated, unintelligible vocal sample. Yes, India Lo-Fi Abuse is yet another great Muslimgauze release, grab it! - Brainwashed.com

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I Get Along Without You Very Well Black Vinyl Edition

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Thrill Jockey)

LP | 2022 | JP | Original (Disk Union)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden embody the limitless curiosity and fearless innovation of the Swedish and Berlin new music scenes they inhabit. Arkbro is a composer and musician whose work has been presented around the globe at prestigious institutions such as the Barbican in London, GRM in Paris and the Kölner Philharmonie in Köln, and has studied under legendary minimalists such as La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi. Graden is one of Sweden"s most sought-after pianists, moving freely between classical music and the European contemporary jazz scene. Currently living in Amman Jordan, he is an active member of the Jordanian experimental pop scene. I get along without you very well is a daring statement from two of the most progressive voices in contemporary music. In allowing themselves to be at their most vulnerable - with each other, their collaborators and with listeners - they have created some of their most powerful work to date. Following their collaboration on the acclaimed For Organ and Brass released on Subtext, new album I get along without you very well expands on the duo"s intoxicating exploration of meditative, spiritual sonics in unexpected ways. It is a beautiful meeting of two friends and inventive musical minds, resulting in the most affecting and surprising of pop albums. From its opening notes, I get along without you very well delights in subtle tensions and contradictions. While no song lasts more than a few minutes, the album feels distinctly unhurried, its atmospheric textures and sparse rhythms seemingly distorting the flow of time. The duo"s arrangements conceal an incredible amount of compositional detail paired with a distinctive sonic pallet, of brass, woodwinds, upright bass and synthesizer. Timbres in a similar register create an incredible depth of sound while paradoxically giving the impression of sparseness with individual instruments blending with one another seamlessly. Arkbro"s ephemeral vocals, entirely absent from her solo works, provide a perfect counterpoint to the album"s rumbling low-end, magnifying the intimacy and vulnerability of the music. On the opening track, described by Arkbro as "the most naked song on the record", the composer"s breathy vocals curl in ribbons around murky brass, as delicate blue vapors evaporate, underpinned by featherlight percussion

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The Bawdies

Blast Off!

Under Cover Indie Exclusive Yellow Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / JP – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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A rock'n'roll band consisting of ROY (Vo,B), Taxman (G,Vo), JIM (G), and Marcy (Dr), who have been classmates since their college days. Their songs are sublimated from their beloved Rhythm & Blues/Rock 'n' Roll roots. The band's style of all-English lyrics has earned them a strong following not only in Japan but also overseas. This is the 8th major album, the first major album in about two years since the previous "Section #11".

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Valerie June

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Concord)

2x12" | 2022 | UK | Original (Platform 23)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Under Cover features extraordinary interpretations of songs by some of June’s favorite artists including previously unreleased versions of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home,” Gillian Welch’s “Look At Miss Ohio,” and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Into My Arms.” The EP also includes two tracks that appeared on June’s (digital only) The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers Deluxe Edition: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon.” Bob Dylan’s transcendent “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” (previously available as an Amazon Original exclusive) and June’s captivating reading of Mazzy Star’s "Fade Into You," released last month, rounds out the set.

As one of American music’s most admired sonic experimentalists, June approaches these carefully chosen tracks with a sense of both reverence and freedom. It’s a one-of-kind balance between modern and traditional influences that makes her a special artistic force and these timeless songs her own.

Valerie June’s most recent full-length album, 2021’s acclaimed The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, was one of the year’s most celebrated releases. Produced by June and Jack Splash, the album is “a psychedelic tour de force” that is “powerfully, elegantly subversive” (UNCUT) and “a stunning song cycle of redemption and reclamation” (Rolling Stone). June’s spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder ground the record, and “her every quiver bespeaks emotional honesty” (New Yorker).

The follow-up to her 2013 breakthrough, Pushin’ Against A Stone, and the widely adored The Order of Time — a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists — The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers is a landmark work for the Memphis-born, Brooklyn-based auteur. The album’s “Call Me A Fool,” featuring Stax legend Carla Thomas, was nominated for Best American Roots Song at this year’s GRAMMY Awards, the first nomination of June’s illustrious career.

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De Fabriek

Music For Hippies

Under Cover Limited Magenta Red Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Platform 23 again explores to the dense voids, this time with a touch of the funk, with a reissue of Dutch experimentalists De Fabriek and two tracks from their "Music For" cassette series, this time calling all Hippies. Featuring both original and reinterpretations from modern-day heads, Dunkeltier and Khidja, this double-pack is something of an oddity, showcasing the bands' expansive range, moving away from the noise, drone and industrial soundscape releases they had become known for and crafting here, free flowing, groovy longform jams. Active since the late 70s to today, De Fabriek (The Factory) have never considered themselves a real band - being also a label too - with an evolving and irregular line up centred around Richard van Dellen, they present their music and output as a kind of work-union. With literally four decades and dozens of releases across all formats, 1988's cassette release, 'Music For Hippies', has become something of a cult curio, with the long improvisational tracks, Lullabye and Coming Down eschewing the rougher, industrial experience for something completely different. In opener Lullabye, we go full leftfield P-Funk meets Motorik undertones. An incessant beat is laid from the start and doesn't cease for over 10 minutes, while spoken vocals call closer to the Krautrock realms of Can and hark to Liebezeit's stylised grooving best. Analog, echo washed, with touches of glam and wrapped in simple effects pedal work, the secrets are passed to Dresden / Berlin inhabitant Dunkeltier aka Sneaker DJ aka Thomas Smorek. His darker moniker, appearing on obscure edits for Macadam Mambo and the much-missed Bahnsteig 23, his 'Hey Robot' mix adds bass, percussion, strings and synth to remold Lullabye into a late night, red light, basement denzien. This is followed by an additional, bonus reimagining, creating an all-new time piece, an ear worm of the best kind with Tik Tok Goes The Clock. The second slab presents in Come Down, a more resembling De Fabriek werk. Edited to fit, the darkness is entered as snapshot vocal quips, oscillations and synthesised mutations are laid over a lazy, relentless ostinato rhythm where cymbals crash on the bar. Inviting, calling, De Fabriek's aptly titled downer is in fact, a joyous journey. To complete, label affiliates, Khidja take a break from finalising their debut album to unfold their 'Psychebabble Mix', a dozen plus minutes of warped, twisted, cassette machinations that suck the listener further along the trip. Added bass propels their edit suddenly to a new direction, a hook for mind and for the open willed, the body. De Fabriek's "coming down lullabye" arriving on vinyl for the first time, with a twist and shake, calling deeper to acceptance.

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Valerie June

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Concord)

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Morr Music)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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B. Fleischmann

Music For Shared Rooms

Second Skin Orange/Green Swirl Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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»Music for Shared Rooms« is B. Fleischmann’s eleventh solo album and his first since 2018. It is also not an album, or at least not in the conventional sense of the word. These 16 instrumental pieces provide a kaleidoscopic glimpse of a forward-thinking musician at home in many different musical worlds, including experimental and abstract music, pop and more classically-minded compositional forms. These pieces were culled from an archive of roughly 600 compositions for theatre pieces and films written throughout the past twelve years. The Österreichischer Filmpreis-awarded composer, however, aimed for more than simply documenting his extensive work in and with different media. To do so, he edited and re-mixed the individual recordings for this release, taking them out of their contexts and reworking them for an audience who can experience them in a different setting. »Music for Shared Rooms« makes it possible for its listeners to engage with the sounds and to fill the spaces they open up with their own imagination.

Roughly speaking, music for theatre or film can serve two functions: it either takes the lead, or underscores what is happening on stage or screen. The marvelous thing about these pieces is that they manage to do both. Fleischmann’s work as a prolific producer has always drawn on contrasts, at times combining pop sentiment with rigid experimentation, the seemingly naive with the intricate and complex. This approach also marks the tracks collected here: bringing together acoustic elements and electronic sounds, at times working with conventional structures but always de- and re-contextualising them, Fleischmann constructs a vivid dramaturgy out of discrete singular compositions, letting them interact across the record.

Take, for example, the opener »Träumerei« and the following »Brenne«: after the soothing acoustic sounds of the former, the latter quickly picks up speed with hard-hitting drum machine rhythms. It’s a stark contrast sonically and stylistically, however both tracks are tied together by a certain harmonic sensibility. This sort of dramaturgical interconnectedness of varied musical materials is the thread that runs through »Music for Shared Rooms«. A droney piece for string instruments like »Sehnsucht« is followed by a trip-hop beat, before »Schock« lives up to its title with skittering beats and piercing high frequencies. The differences between the pieces may be striking, but the progression from one to the other is subtle. It goes on like this through different moods and tempos. There’s soothing-yet-eerie piano pieces like the »Für Elise«-inspired »Der Lärmkrieg«, gentle house grooves, joyful synthesizer excursions and, finally, »Die Erde ist mir fremd geworden«, a collage of abstract textures and concrete sounds.

All these pieces create distinct situations through the juxtaposition of diverse musical elements, but are also bound together by a single vision. Writing music for theatre pieces or film requires a composer and his pieces to engage with people and their movements in space, which is exactly what Fleischmann offers on this record. He breaks down the fourth wall and invites his listeners into his world, a wide-ranging musical panorama. »Music for Shared Rooms« is indeed not an album in the conventional sense of the word, but more like a photo album in which each page opens up a new space to get lost in; recreates different scenes in which you can immerse yourself. These are shared rooms indeed.

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Ian Blurton's Future Now

LP | 2022 | UK | Original (Seeing Red)

Totally.. Orange Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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If you’re a fan of any kind of ’70s heavy rock – Southern Boogie, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, MC5/Stooges Detroit Punk, Junk Shop Glam or straight-up Classic Rock – we are willing to bet Ian Blurton’s Future Now has something for you. If you’re the kind of person who might geek out on the vintage gear used to record that music, we’ll double down on that wager. A mainstay in the Canadian scene since the ’80s, Ian Blurton may have come along after hard rock’s heyday, but he has parlayed his love of the era’s musical sensibilities into a career as both a musician (Change of Heart, C’mon, Public Animal) and a producer (Cursed, Tricky Woo, Weakerthans, Cauldron). For the follow up to his acclaimed solo debut, 2019’s Signals Through the Flames, he is pulling out all the stops, sourcing the best of the best for all elements. Formed to tour Signals, Future Now features some of the top talents heard on that record: drummer Glenn Milchem (Blue Rodeo) and bassist Anna Ruddick (City and Colour). To complement the powerhouse rhythm section, and recreate live the Wishbone Ash/Judas Priest–inspired harmonies that define the album, Aaron Goldstein is drafted for second guitar. In tandem with planning the Signals dates, Blurton was accepted as an Artist in Residence at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, in Calgary. The residency presented an opportunity to pack up the band – hot from a string of live shows – and head west to track a follow up album with the country’s most enviable collection of musical equipment. Second Skin was recorded using the famed Rolling Stones Mobile studio that Mick, Keef, and Co. used to make Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. The unit was also loaned out for Led Zeppelin III and IV, and Deep Purple’s Machine Head, before eventually landing at the NMC. Combining the RSM with the institution’s selection of rare guitars formerly owned by Randy Bachman, amps from Neil Young, and an array of vintage gear borrowed from Calgary friends, Future Now had the ingredients for a dream session. Throw in an early ‘80s Mellotron, and the band had all it needed to cook up a crushing collection of sludgy riff-driven rockers and Prog epics, all with clean vocals, thunderous bass/double-kick, and the kind of guitar solos you wish you could play.

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Stoner

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Heavy Psych Sounds)

2LP | 2021 | UK | Original (Claremont 56)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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This is Epic! Half of the original members of Kyuss: the Lord of Coolness Brant Bjork himself, and the mighty Rex Everything AKA Nick Oliveri former of Queens of The Stoneage are ready to deliver you the album of the year 2022 !!! The Dukes of the Desert are back with an incredible sophomore album: Stöner – Totally … is the perfect mix of Desert Swing, Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, and Low Punk all at once! 8 brand new tracks which will blow your mind, recorded by Yosef Sunborn who followed Brant in the last decade for his solo recordings. Mellow guitars, funky stoner rhythms, blusy atmospheres, tipical Nick’s punky sounds..the album flies away in one single listen and makes you want to play it again immediately. Cover art is Hilarious, as this band wants to be. Nothing too serious, they wanna play and have fun, that’s the recipe the Dukes are bringing us after 30 years of experience !! If the name Stöner seems a little on the nose, well… it is. Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, founding members of the stoner rock legend Kyuss, are joined again by drummer Ryan Güt (of Bjork’s solo band) and they’ve got dibs on the thick and dusty swinging grooves, returning as Stöner with their sophomore release ”totally…” Stöner’s love for their early inspirations (bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Ramones, Blue Cheer, Misfits, Black Flag, The Stooges, Mc5) result in big, groovy, sunbaked riffs that can cruise low and slow but then floor it and run all the red lights. Live, this is a band about the magnetism between the players, the groove, the loose vibe and straight up badass rock and roll… Stöner are masters of their trade. With “totally...” Stöner is in its true form, getting together and having fun. Stöner’s world is a colorful joyride, heavy of rock but not of head. The record cranks with vibes of classic hard rock, heavy blues, desert rock and psych rock jams - things that come organically to this trio. Stöner can’t help but express an abundance of punk rock rawness and passion for real rock and roll swagger. With two records, “Live at Mojave” and “Stoners Rule” (available on Heavy Psych Sounds), the latest release “totally...” sees the band realizing the chemistry of these old friends developing a statement of pure rock and roll fun. Produced, recorded and mixed by Yoseph Sanborn and Stöner. Released by Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Guest appearances on guitar by Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks) and Mario Lalli (Yawning Man). Grab a slice, crank it, and catch the band on tour in ‘22 in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.

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Hear & Now

Milvus

Soft Opening Transculent Pink Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Since joining the label back in 2018, Hear & Now have quickly become one of Claremont 56’s most prolific and consistent acts. The Italian duo impressed with their debut album Aurora Baleare – a drowsy, mood enhancing masterpiece – and then went one better with 2020’s Alba Sol, a seductive and sun-kissed set that incorporated more nods to Hear & Now members Ricky L and Marcoradi’s 1990s deep house roots.

The pair have once more struck sonic gold with their third album, Milvus, a set whose colouful chords, unfurling melodies, warming instrumentation and sun-soaked vibes were mostly laid down during the various pandemic lockdowns of 2020. If it’s vivid, picturesque and immersive musical escapism you’re after, Milvus delivers and then some.

The album’s clear White Isle-friendly intent can be heard on opening track ‘Bassa Marea’, a yearning chunk of horizontal brilliance in which guest musician Marco Evengelista’s emotive flugelhorn sounds spar with slow-motion, eyes-closed electric guitar solos over billowing ambient chords and a tactile, thickset bassline. The pair’s ability to craft high-class, saucer-eyed Balearic soundscapes is a theme that’s returned to several times across the album, with ‘Abisso’– another near beat-free slab of touchy-feely dreaminess – standing out.

Ricky L and Marcoradi’s love of evocative, pitched-down excursions is another recurring theme. For proof, check out the chugging weariness of ‘Zanziblu’, where a lone whistle drifts across waves of heady chords and metronomic beats, the dub-fired Balearic reggae shuffle of ‘Coccobello’ and the bright aural colours of gentle title track ‘Milvus’, whose cascading piano motifs, echoing harmonica motifs and chunky dub disco grooves are as appealing as they are infectious.

While the prevailing mood is perhaps even more horizontal than their previous albums, Hear & Now have not completely abandoned the dancefloor. Two of the set’s standout moments are those where the pair actively explore their early ‘90s Italian dream house roots.

There’s the rolling haziness of ‘Levante’, where more emotion-rich electric guitar solos and ear-catching whistling softly spar with pulsing pads, club-ready house beats and chiming synthesizer motifs, and the breathlessly brilliant ‘Baiadriatica’, whose stirring, sustained opening chords should always be described as “rush-inducing”.

Rich in jangling piano riffs, fluid keys, squelchy bass and glistening guitars, the track is little less than a glorious 21st century update of the dream house sound first made famous by the likes of Sueno Latino and Key-Tronic Ensemble. Like the rest of Hear & Now’s absorbing and emotive third album, it’s a stunning, sunset-ready delight.

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Terry Gross

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Thrill Jockey)

Grown In U.S.A. Purple Vinyl Edtion

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Terry Gross is an engrossing trio composed of guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am), bassist Donny Newenhouse, and drummer Phil Becker. The trio are also connected as owners and engineers at Bay Area recording spot El Studio, where they began improvising together as a way to test the boundaries and gear of the studio. Their loose, organic chemistry burgeoned into a deep camaraderie and a sound both expansive and exacting. The three experienced musicians crafted their first fulllength album through the pure joy of playing together with no expectations. With the tapes rolling on their rehearsals, the band captures the exuberance of live performance and elevates those recordings through a deft use of the studio as their collective instrument. On their debut LP Soft Opening, Terry Gross channels their cosmic powers and considerable chops into a gleefully mesmerizing odyssey fit for an arena. Soft Opening took shape over the course of 2016-2019, with Terry Gross writing and refining their songs. "Space Voyage Mission" and "Worm Gear" parallel one another as sinuous jams that pulse with adamantine fervor. Each mountainous epic churns spellbinding repetition and simplicity into dizzying gallops that take hairpin turns into sinewy riffing and elysian vocal melodies. Phil Manley's guitar takes on a constellation of tones across "Space Voyage Mission" with drifting delays soaring over the Newenhouse and Becker's driving rhythm section which all succumb to frothing overdrives that spin the song into entirely new pastures. The hypnotic throb of "Worm Gear" grows all the more enchanting as Newenhouse and Becker add subtle shifts to the single-chord barrage. "Specificity (Or What Have You)" contrasts these two in its more traditionally pop-oriented structure while retaining its predecessors wide-eyed energy and delves further into the album's lightheartedyet-earnest take on sci-fi tropes from space and time travel to the singularity. As Terry Gross, Phil Manley, Donny Newenhouse, and Phil Becker are sonic scientists traversing the borderlands of rock. Soft Opening captures the simple joy of a no-holds-barred trio in stunning detail, transporting the listener into the splendor and freedom of rock.

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Homer

LP | 1972 | EU | Reissue (Guerssen)

2LP | 1967 | UK | Reissue (GNP Crescendo)

Release: 1972 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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With their roots traced in two legendary 60s garage bands, The Outcasts and The Stoics, Homer were without doubt one the best psychedelic / hard-rock outfits coming out from Texas. “Grown in U.S.A” was their only album, released as a private pressing in 1970. Rural psychedelic rock with early prog hints fueled by stunning lead / dual guitar, melodic vocals and occasional mellotron.

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The Seeds

Future

All Infinite Purple Vinyl Edition

Release: 1967 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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The ensuing album, “Future”, seemed at once both calculated and confused. For some, it represents the Seeds’ grand psychedelic statement, a mind-blowing articulation of the flower power movement of which they had been proclaimed torchbearers. To others, “Future” is Sky Saxon’s folly: an over-egged, acid-damaged pudding that submerged the true power of the band with meaningless grandeur. The truth lies somewhere between. A narcissistic over-confidence made Sky feel the need to now augment Daryl, Jan and Rick in the studio with numerous overdubs – strings, harp, tuba – on hastily cobbled material that brimmed with bizarre lyrical concepts. On certain tracks the combination worked fine, on others it seemed almost like a parody of psychedelia. Nevertheless, “Future” contains many fan favourites such as ‘Painted Doll’, ‘Flower Lady’, ‘Two Fingers’ and ‘A Thousand Shadows’.

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Kooley High & Tuamie

LP | 2024 | US | Original (Mecca)

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Komos)

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Hip Hop

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Dive into the timeless realm of ‘All Infinite’, the new album from NC Hip Hop collective Kooley High & ATL-bred Producer Tuamie. Head-knocking drums and superb flows come together to create a lush soundscape filled with tight scratches, vocal soundbites & more. Sit back and take it all in. This album is a sonic journey that explores the boundless nature of energy and the concept of infinity. Kooley High & Tuamie bring forth a fusion of soulful beats and insightful lyrics that are all their own. While beginning as a one-track collaboration, the instant sonic chemistry of Kooley High & Tuamie has blossomed into a full-length album. Each track resonates with the essence of classic Hip-Hop, echoing the roots of the genre while pushing the boundaries of contemporary sound. ‘All Infinite’ is poised to be a testament to the enduring power of music. The dynamic blend of retrospective and prospective lyrics seeks to impact each listener on a personal level. Two passionate creative forces have been united. Kooley High & Tuamie’s mission is clear – to spread good vibrations through the universal language of sound waves. Join them on this musical odyssey where the energy is boundless, and the rhythms are eternal.

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Bumcello

The Party

Boston Iii / Tenor / Index

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

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Phill Niblock

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Alga Marghen)

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Explorations)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Some of the earliest works by American composer Phill Niblock, including three never before released pieces: "Index" (1969), "Tenor," and "Boston Iii" (both from 1972). Until now, it's been impossible to encounter Niblock's compositions from earlier than the 1960s, a reality thankfully rectified by the long overdue publication of this Boston/Tenor/Index LP on Alga Marghen.

"Tenor" (1972) represents the first evolution of Niblock's musical thought towards the aesthetics of microtones, overtones, and drones which the composer would develop in following decades. The piece was recorded by the photographer Martin Bough on tenor saxophone and gradually dubbed back and forth by the composer in his New York studio. "Boston Iii" (1972) was recorded at the Intermedia Sound studio in Boston with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice); the composer himself also contributed with his voice. The LP also includes "Index" (1969), an improvised sound performance by the composer himself. Guitar (both its body and strings), fingers and fingering fuse in a vehement action around which barely listenable sounds and resonances vibrate. Considering the extended pulsation as an organic blend of impulse, rhythm, drive, strength, vitality and passion, the end of this sole solo in Niblock's complete oeuvre is not defined by the fixed duration of the piece but as the consequence of the tiredness of the performer. The music changes according to the loudness of playback. The interaction of the upper harmonics changes especially, with much richer overtone patterns being produced at louder levels.

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Somatic Responses

Volatile Landscape

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Explorations was born from the inquisitive spirit that Hypnotica Colectiva has always had for the world of experimental music. We can classify it as an ambitious project, based on the fact that it is the first official sub-label of HC Records, but also pointing to the musical section both on the publishing side and on the live art side. The main objective is not to adhere to any pigeonhole, seeking to cover a wide range of unconventional sounds and rhythms without straying too far from recognizable and danceable patterns. That is why we want to create space for this project on and off the track, without barriers, and with our eyes mainly set on the future.

To kickstart the project, we look within for answers, paying attention to our mother label. John and Paul Healy hide under the name of Somatic Responses, two Welsh brothers with a long and proven career in intelligent music. We won't say that they are pioneers, but they did manage to forge a characteristic sound and style that has accompanied them since they began their career in the mid-90s.

Explorations 01 was not conceived as an LP is usually made. When contacting the artists, they sent us a large number of tracks that they thought would fit the label's preferences. From here, the Explorations team selected the 13 tracks that now come to you, trying to find the balance between the three main styles we bet on for this first release: IDM, Ambient and Drone.

"HC Records is expanding its horizons with a new parallel yet ambitious project. In an effort to broaden its recording legacy from an evolutionary perspective, the Valencian label is venturing into the field of experimental sound. This new direction signifies a rejuvenation and adaptation to a new era, where music fragments and expands towards infinite horizons. Complex compositions, abstract designs, and extreme sound treatments define this innovative approach, pushing music beyond its limits and sacrificing some of its essential properties in the process." Ximo Noguera @Industrial Complexx

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2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Use Vinyl)

Soul Fingers 2

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Mono Jazz)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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A?er the success of the first volume, the second Soul Fingers’s tribute compila&on is released on double vinyl too. Soul Fingers is a wandering black music dancefloor that in 2023 reaches to celebrate 10 years lifelong. Soul Fingers mixes soul, disco and funk, with rap and La&n rhythms. In this brand new compila&on there are some pieces that have really marked great par&es since 2013. This &me featuring soAme carefully selected dancefloor music bombs directly from the hands of Claudio Cavallaro, the leader of the Soul Fingers console.

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Francesco Sotgiu

Passing

A Trip To Bolgatanga Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“Francesco Sotgiu has forged a unique and very swinging project of songs. WIth a quintet consisting of Luigi Bonafede on piano, Emanuele Cisi and Riccardo Luppi on woodwinds, Salvatore Maiore on bass, Francesco on drums, and with special guest Paolo Fresu on trumpet to cap off this heartfelt collection. There is also a nice diversity of groups within this larger collection. A nice trio piece called “Calm” featuring Paolo Birro sitting in with Marco Micheli and Francesco. And one called “Lotus Blossom” where Francesco shows his considerable skills and soul on violin. But the bulk of the material is straight ahead jazz and is totally swinging and soulful, proving that jazz has no borders and is a worldwide language to wich Francesco has added to that tradition with this project and all the great voices he has included here. Bravo maestro.” This is the comment of Gil Goldstein, American accordion player who won 5 Grammies and collaborated with giants such as Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter and Michel Petrucciani. This record was recorded in the middle of the pandemic times and most of the work for preparing this record took place via the telephone: the selection of the songs on paper, the exchange of ideas on arrangements, staff and instruments, a sort of "phone rehearsal" of the structure of the songs, with the choice of a solo; everything else, everything that will happen in the recording sessions, is the result of a controlled improvisation, a jam session masterfully captured in the studio through the use of well-positioned ribbon microphones. This is why "passing", literally "passing" or "crossing": because the musicians have gone through listening to these songs as teenagers, and find themselves today, as a mature meeting of old friends who create an informal game made of nostalgic fun, great personality, confrontation and deep spirituality. In the classic Caravan by Ellington and Tizol or Afro Blue by Mongo Santamaria, Coltrane toning, the latin accent of the rhythm section supports the interpretation of the theme and the interplay in the solos between the soprano and tenor saxophones by Cisi & Luppi, and the piano by Bonafede. A certain elegance in the execution distinguishes pieces such as Duke Ellington's Sound OF Love, yet another tribute by Mingus to the Duke, with a calibrated solo on the double bass of Maiore and the flute by Luppi, the immortal Take Five by Paul Desmond, with the highlighted soprano by Cisi, Wishes, 7th Street and the eponymous Passing, all pieces composed by Sotgiu, characterized by the precise medium / fast drive of the drums and a certain "cinematic" taste of the main themes. In songs such as Black Bats AND Poles, composed by trumpeter Jack Walrath for the Mingus orchestra, and in Stranatole, an original piece in which Sotgiu writes a theme of Monk’s influence and enjoys overturning the traditional "anatole jazz” structure, the quintet opts for an effective hard bop language, with exciting moments of dazzling virtuosity in Bonafede's solo, while in Coltrane's Wise ONE and McCoy Tyner's Ballad FOR Aisha we enter a modal, mystical and ceremonial jazz, of a cosmic depth, which seems to hover in the sweet volume of the great hall of the recording studio. These are truly magnificent interpretations. A special separate mention for two classics such as MY Foolish Heart by Victor Young, performed in trio by Sotgiu, Maiore and the unmistakable trumpet by Paolo Fresu, and the (unfortunately very short) Lotus Blossom by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, which in the piano-violin duo of Birro and Sotgiu, in a minute gives a suspended momentary magic, sums up the roots of African-American jazz music, and also referencing an old fashioned Italian musical sensitivity, typical of Nino Rota's music for Federico Fellini’s films.

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African Head Charge

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (On-U Sound)

Christina Vantzou / Michael Harrison / John Also Bennett

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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African Head Charge return to On-U Sound with their first new album in twelve years. Titled A Trip To Bolgatanga, the recordings are led by founder member Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, with close friend and co-conspirator Adrian Sherwood once again at the controls. A Trip to Bolgatanga is a stunning return, bringing together the talents of two masters who, after a hiatus, have created a rich album brimming with ideas and executed with finesse.

Commenting on the gap between records, Bonjo says: “In the twelve years that have passed, I have been spending time with my family in Ghana, but I was still creating things. I still have a lot of things to let off, you know what I mean? At this time in my life I want to work, but I want to enjoy time with my family as well. When I’m enjoying myself, I’m also creating, because when you’re happy it helps you to be more creative, and the greatest happiness is to be with your family.”

Although there are sounds on this album which recall previous African Head Charge classics such as My Life In A Hole In The Ground and Songs Of Praise, it would be wrong to assume that their music is not still evolving. The master percussionist adds: “All the drumming and the chanting, it took a while to do. I’m always meeting drummers, all over Ghana. The Fante, the Akim, the Ga, the Bolgatanga, all the tribes, and they all have their different drums. I try to learn as much as I can, and put it all together. It’s like cooking, when you’re blending all of the elements, like yam, banana, pumpkin, and the end taste, that’s where it matters. That’s how I look at music. Throw a lot of things together, and then you taste it and say, “Yeah man, that tastes good. Yeah man, that sounds good.” That’s what African Head Charge is all about, those different combinations, and then bringing it to Adrian, who helps to make it another thing again.”

Producer Adrian Sherwood concurs: “It’s always a case of getting all the right ingredients sorted for Head Charge, and then having some fun with overdubs and mixing and getting it completely perfect. We always work well together, but I think on this one we have the greatest result."

The group have been active for over four decades, and this album sees other members of the musical entity’s extended family come back to the fray. Multi-instrumentalist Skip McDonald and fellow Tackhead co-conspirator Doug Wimbish contribute to a variety of tracks. Drummer Perry Melius, whose involvement in the project dates back to the early `90s, adds a righteous rhythmic heft to a trio of tunes. In addition there are a number of notable fresh recruits. The horns and reeds of Paul Booth, Richard Roswell, and David Fullwood; Ras Manlenzi and Samuel Bergliter on keys; Vince Black on guitar. There’s additional percussion from Shadu Rock Adu, Mensa Aka, Akanuoe Angela, and Emmanuel Okine, strings from Ivan “Celloman” Hussey, plus the voice of the mighty Ghetto Priest. Very special guest, and one of Ghana’s foremost kologo players, King Ayisoba also provides vocals, and demonstrates his dexterity on the traditional two-stringed lute.

Where previous albums have been a melting pot of global influences, on their new LP African Head Charge have but one place in mind. A Trip To Bolgatanga is a musical journey to Bonjo’s current hometown in north Ghana. A psychedelic travelogue across the landscape featuring their trademark hand percussion and group chanting augmented with rumbling bass, mutated horns, dubbed out effects, wild wah-wah, haunted voodoo dancehall, synthetic swells, disco congas, tumbling layers of electronic effects, blues-inflected woodwind, and funky organ. As with every On-U Sound production, each repeated listen reveals fresh detail, and its power won’t be really understood until heard on a big system, when it’ll reduce all competition to rubble.

- Specs Black 12" Vinyl in polylined inner sleeve in 3mm spine sleeve with 12” poster insert and download code

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LP | 2022 | CA | Original (Seance Centre)

31,49 €* 34,99 € -10%

One Coin Clear Colored Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / CA – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance, Classical Music

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A suite of raga-inspired compositions and improvisations that grew from a fertile collaboration between Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison and John Also Bennett centered around a devotion to just intonation tuning, deep listening, and resonant spaces.

Michael Harrison is a composer and pianist who is a dedicated practitioner of just intonation and North Indian classical music. He was La Monte Young's protégé and piano tuner during The Well-Tuned Piano years and a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath, and has since developed his own customized tuning systems. Guided by conversations with Christina Vantzou, who provided structural frameworks for each piece and directed the sessions, the compositions drew from Harrison's daily raga practice, using its ancient forms as starting points from which the compositions could blossom and morph. A resonant backdrop of modular synthesizers played by John Also Bennett, who also contributed piano improvisations played on Harrison’s custom tuned Steinway concert grand, expanded the sessions into true collective praxis.

As noted by Parul Gupta, a conceptual artist based in New Delhi who contributed the stunning artwork for the album, “the songs feel like an extension of silence.” The notes from the piano emerge, resonate, and dissolve in measured and meditative sonic fields, allowing for a concentrated listening experience where every sound lives, breathes, and ultimately returns to silence. Contained within these aural ecologies are potentialities that emerge from a collective listening and improvising experience, and a resonant rebuttal of the standard equal tempered tuning system that has dominated Western music for centuries.

This release collects the verdant recordings from the trio’s 2019 Berlin sessions on two 45rpm records, accompanied by a risograph printed insert featuring track credits and Harrison’s handwritten tuning charts used on the album.

Artist Statement

An observer, a pianist and a synthesist form a triangle. The observer (Christina) is both witness and guide, the pianist (Michael) is precise and intuitive, and the synthesist (John) provides a palate of drones which offer increased resonance and a supportive framework. The piano has been carefully prepared to become a resonant body. This enhancement was achieved by tuning it to two of Michael’s just intonation tunings, based on his work, “Revelation,” and North Indian classical music, or ragas. These tunings maintain mathematically precise intervals. In place of voice, sitar or tabla, is the piano, and in place of the tanpura, is the synthesizer. Playing ragas is an ancient practice of structured improvisation. Time, knowledge and memory interplay in the body and mind of the practitioner and this is a large part of the raga practice. The raga combines with muscle memory and personal aesthetics to individuate results. Through the formation of a trio, multiple perspectives and timelines collapse and the raga mutates again. These twists and turns seem to only fall back on themselves as the raga shows us that there are multiple compositions already stored in our collective memory. They blossom, morph and spring forth like nature.

Nothing was written down to execute these recordings. The simplest forms were explored in the least complicated way. The first reflection of this process is what happens in the mind and body of the listener. The observer is always observing. Regions of sound tap into memory and imagination and the sound of the raga itself becomes a prismatic event.

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Twardowski

LP | 2022 | UK | Original (U Know Me)

31,44 €* 36,99 € -15%

Live At Jaiyede Jazz Festival Transparent Ochre Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Hip Hop

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Made in two versions - classic black and limited multicolor vinyl. Limitied Surprise Edition was pressed in 200 copies and has got an OBI.

After a six year hiatus Twardowski returns with his fourth album on U Know Me Records. The newest outing is a retrofuturistic trip to the author's two biggest influences: instrumental hip-hop and… video games. The new album eschews Twardowski's previous synth-heavy style in favor of multiple layers of chopped and mended together samples, topped off by cuts from U Know Me's own jazz guitarist/turntablist Żyńy. The album invokes video games with the track titles, the LP's title being a homage to coin-ops and via the overall sound: wonky, heavily shuffled, almost-out-of-sync rhythms sounding almost as if the tracks were done sampler in one hand gamepad in the other, over a lengthy, laid back gaming/sequencing session. Maybe if a gamepad was a sampler and instrumental hip-hop was a game, "One Coin Clear" could have been its soundtrack.

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London Odense Ensemble

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (El Paraiso)

Up The Bracket 20th Anniversary Red Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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London Odense Ensemble is a powerhouse quintet that combines forces from the Causa Sui/El Paraiso family tree (Jakob Skott, Jonas Munk, Martin Rude) with the vibrant, experimental London jazz scene (Tamar Osborn, Al MacSween). On two studio full-lengths, released in 2022 and 2023, they have explored the confluence of psychedelia, improvisation and cosmic jazz. On this set, recorded at the 2021 edition of Denmark's Jaiyede Jazz Festival, the energy is cranked up another notch or two. Comprised almost entirely of exclusive material not found on the two studio records these three sonic excursions dive head-on into the fiery side of the group's sound. Taking up the entire A-side "Energy Ascending" starts out as a gently flowing piece of dreamy jazz that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a late 1960s Pharoah Sanders record. As the piece evolves the guitar takes it into rock territory, where it dissolves in a mesmerising breakdown before commencing a build of epic proportions, lead by Tamar Osborn's baritone sax, channelling The Stooges as much as John Coltrane. Heavy. On the B-side things get more electronic and spacy. Here the ensemble uses album track "Sojourner" as a starting point for a new improvisation guided by Al MacSween's virtuoso keyboard work. The rhythm section creates a hypnotic foundation for layers of synths and electric keys to fully blossom and travel into cosmic territory.

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The Libertines

2LP | 2002 | UK | Reissue (Rough Trade)

Some Songs Of A Dumb World

Release: 2002 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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To celebrate the release of their astonishing debut album, Up The Bracket, The Libertines are releasing a 20th Anniversary Edition on multiple formats, through Rough Trade, on October 21st 2022.

In addition to a remaster of the original Up The Bracket album, produced by Mick Jones (The Clash), the Super Deluxe Edition also includes a remarkable 65 previously unreleased recordings including many original demos, radio sessions and live recordings all helping to chart the making of Up The Bracket, plus a live recording from the 100 club in 2002. It also contains a 60 page book with a forward by Matt Wilkinson, new interviews with the band by Anthony Thornton and many unseen photos and memorabilia. Up The Bracket arrived like a raging bull in a tired post-Britpop china shop and introduced the world to The Libertines, a new gang of London bohemians, whose ragged tunes, red military tunics, opiated poetry and ‘live now pay never’ lifestyle came to define the millennial angst of the early noughties. At the heart of the band is the blood bond bromance between the ramshackle Music Hall Jagger/Richards, Peter Doherty and Carl Barat, ably assisted by the rock solid rhythm twins John Hassall and Gary Powell. Any bookie worth his salt would have given you short odds on this quartet surviving more than a month or two, given the teetering on the brink lifestyle they chose to lead, but here we are two decades later and our Byronic heroes, though older and wiser, are still fighting the good fight and making music every bit as vital as their debut. The belief, talent and fervour that Doherty spoke of in their earliest manifesto has stood them in good stead. Up The Bracket, justly considered one of the greatest albums of the noughties, was originally released on October 21st 2002 by Rough Trade Records. The album, a heady stew of indie rock, skiffle, blues, dub and English bucolic pop, was a huge shot in the arm to a largely redundant music scene and helped to inspire the rebirth of guitar music, going on to influence countless artists who followed in its wake. Up The Bracket, which was produced by Mick Jones of The Clash, takes you on a wondrously poetic journey into the band’s mythical world and their fevered dreams of Albion, a land of squalid glamour, liberty, equality, fraternity, gin palaces and chip shops. Quite simply Pete, Carl, Gary and John created a hugely compelling timeless British rock'n'roll classic debut as relevant now as it was upon its release.

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Species Of Fishes

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Galaxiid)

LP | 2024 | US | Original (Gar Hole)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Some Songs Of A Dumb World

'The light at sunset is mysteriously pinkish.'

After Trip Trap, TRIP's sub-label Galaxiid releases the debut album by the Species Of Fishes duo. The record, originally released by the Dutch experimental label Korm Plastics in 1994, has influenced two generations of post-Soviet musicians. 'Some Songs of a Dumb World' is like a quest that you can either take up or appreciate as a mosaic of different music styles.

Igor Kolyadny and Vitaly Stern initially worked separately but later shared ideas during home sessions to build their own psychedelic world. They used a large number of cassette samples, including the voices of physicists, paranormal researchers, astronomers, and wildlife TV show hosts, combining them with pulsating rhythms inspired by various electronic music genres. The result, as the duo described it in an Inverted Audio interview (https://inverted-audio.com/feature/species-of-fishes-envelop-the-expanse-for-newtype-rhythms/), is 'a sort of alienated, extraterrestrial, studying view on the sound component of human activity.'

For the very first time, the tracks from the debut album by Species Of Fishes are now available on vinyl. The double LP reissue with the refreshed version of the original artwork includes the original tracks, mixed between 1993 and 1994, but re-edited and remastered by Igor Kolyadny in 2021. Two tracks were released on the lesser-known follow-up 'Songs of a Dumb World Part 2', while "Salmon Hunting/Kaluga-Mars" is being released for the first time.

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Chris Acker

Famous Lunch

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Be With)

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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"released October 11th, 2024. 140 gram SANDWICH BLUE vinyl with printed innersleeve lyric page. Chris Acker's latest collection of songs, Famous Lunch is, in his words, a "growing pains album." When writing the record, Acker found himself hunting for a voice that wasn't just an imitation of the one he'd been using on the last 30 songs he'd made. "At the same time, I worked hard to find a certain voice for myself over the previous 3 records and I didn't want to abandon that." While the album finds him continuing to transcribe life's fleeting and provocative banalities with refreshing grace, the songs on Famous Lunch are intentionally more absurd, stylizing his lyricism as both poetic and disarming simultaneously- commencing with "Shit Surprise"-an earworm with a vernacular that stays true to it's title. Inspired by George Saunders and Sasha Pearl (and wanting to make a song that sounds like Eagles saying the word "shit" over and over), "Shit Surprise" is the most Chris Acker song possible, in that it's earnestness arrives in spades and comes varnished with a one-of-a-kind, spectacular gnarliness. "We'd match our breath in the upstairs room and we'd hold together 'til I smelled like you," Acker sings, before nose-diving into that unforgettable chorus about stepping in a smelly, disgusting pile of shit. "It was definitely the first record I had to make while working and trying to be a real musician," he says. Across the record's 10 songs, Acker is joined by his Growing Boys bandmates Zach Thomas (bass), Nikolai Shveitser (pedal steel), Dave Hammer (guitar, vocals), Sam Gelband (drums, vocals), and Howe Pearson (piano). They made the album in December 2023 in the same place where their debut Re-Runs was recorded on a reel-to-reel more than seven years ago. "It's a fun full-circle moment," Acker says. "We really wanted to do another fully live record in that room, but, we're a way different band now, so it was especially cool." Many of these 10 songs are about an appreciation for closeness, no doubt a product of Acker having written many of them in pieces while on the road and during a two-week residency in Butte, Montana in the spring of 2023. On a track like "Swimming in My Calvin's," Acker takes a pause from musing about making swimtrunks out of underwear to meditate on the intimate warmth shared between lovers ("When I come home and lay down and you turn your body into me, I hold you below your belly button and you make the softest sound"). Album centerpiece "Wouldn't Do For You (Buddy)" Acker sings about "drawing my finger along your spine, crossing the room in your underwear" and a face next to a candle that looks like "a corner house under turning headlights." Though none of the songs on Famous Lunch came to Acker in a dream like "If I Needed You" did to Townes Van Zandt, the music sounds like the environment it was composed in: in-between self-booked gigs and late-night crashes on cross-continent couches, with different routines in different cities for years. When Acker sings about "doing dishes in the glow" or "follow[ing] whims like birds carry seeds" or "the inevitable ever when we're no longer together," you can hear the pages and pages of Moleskin journals being ripped through. He calls it "frankensteining" songs, the act of cobbling together memories-both drunken ramblings and clear-eyed yearnings-into poems with new lifespans, tape-hiss fadeouts, and plucky introductions. Famous Lunch contains some of his best work yet ("Stubborn Eyes," "Wouldn't Do For You (Buddy)," "Eyelash") and some raucous, bar-ready new joints ("Don't You Know (Who I Think I Am)," "Cursive Proverbs"). Caught someplace in-between the cowboy laments of Jerry Reed and the tender-hearted annals of Gram Parsons, Acker puts his world on a clothesline and let's it dry out in the sun. Famous Lunch is full of confusion and fragility, but it's also full of love not taken for granted and a profoundly familiar ache for domesticity and a clock turned ba

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Nucleus

Elastic Rock