Passivité is the entrancingly beautiful debut solo album from You Ishihara, the founder of Japan's legendary White Heaven. Originally released on CD in 1997, it received scant attention. Since then, it has steadily gathered adherents, who, like P.S.F. Records founder Hideo Ikeezumi, have praised its tremendous depth and discovered that they experience something new each time they listen. The album draws from rock and psychedelic music, the sounds of '60s America as well as elements of jazz, bossa nova, soul, and even electronic music. Joined by a choice group players including Michio Kurihara (White Heaven) on guitar, Chiyo Kemekawa (Yura Yura Teikoku) on bass, and Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple), Ishihara creates an enigmatic late-night meditation that unfolds in a cool darkness pierced by scattered flashes of light and heat. Listening back today, Passivité sounds timeless and encapsulates the concepts and brilliance that have marked Ishihara's near 50-year career and standing as a key figure in the history of Japanese underground music. Black Editions presents Passivité for the first time on vinyl in a meticulously remastered deluxe edition with notes by Masato Matsumura (Studio Voice, Tokion) and by Shinji Shibayama (Nagisa Ni Te, Org Records). Pressed to high quality vinyl at Record Technology Inc. Housed in a metallic silver tip-on jacket with gloss film laminate finish, matte pigment stamping, two inserts with liner notes in Japanese and English.

LP version. The reinterpreted traditional folk songs that make up Cold Blows The Rain are shaped by the land and the weather. Wrapped in mist and drizzle, the crawling drone of low heavy clouds on flat-top moors. The sound of the dark Calder Valley floor and sun starved hills in West Yorkshire in the North of England. A must for fans of Karen Dalton, ØXN, Shirley Collins, and Lisa O'Neill -- it's found a home on local Todmorden label Basin Rock (Jim Ghedi, Myriam Gendron, Michael Chapman, Juni Habel, Trevor Beales). Bridget Hayden is a soul who found a home among the hills of Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in for the classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about the wind and rain, fog and mist, how rare and treasured the breaks from it are. Her favorite thing to do in the valley, she says, is "to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine." Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via the Todmorden- based label Basin Rock. Having hired the town's Oddfellow's Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of 2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recording when the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time. The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for the sunlight. They come, instead, wrapped in mist and coated with drizzle, those elements shaping the album as much as the voice and the instruments held within, as real but ambiguous as the ghosts that linger in the shadows. The sound of the dark valley floor. Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, and led by Bridget's stirring and weather-beaten voice, the songs on Cold Blows the Rain drift and crawl like low heavy clouds on flat-top hills, shaped by the land. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of The Apparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill). 180gm heavyweight black vinyl. Includes download code.

"On the cover: In February New York based artist and sonic therapist Devi Mambouka will release her second album as Masma Dream World. The long awaited follow-up to 2020's Play At Night, Please Come To Me will be released via Nabil Ayers' Valley Of Search label. For The Wire Mambouka discusses ritual, healing and 'music for the shadow world' with Emily Pothast; Sound Art with Stones Sound: artists like Glasgow-based Cypriot Antonia Kattou and the UK's Simon James, aka The Simonsound, as well as critical architectural practices such as Bethlehem-based AAU Anastas, use stone as a focal point for an interrogation of geopolitics. Bobby Jewell reports; Caxtrinho: As Caxtrinho, Brazilian singer and guitarist Paulo Vitor Castro's turbulent, psychedelic strategies against samba and bossa nova made a formidable impression with last year's album Queda Livre. By Derek Walmsley; Louis Laurain: The experimental cornetist has brought his free and extended techniques to ensembles like the The Umlaut Big Band and Lumpeks as well as collaborations with Éliane Radigue, Stephen O'Malley and, most recently, Pierre Bastien with whom he's releasing a new album via Brighton's Rose Hill records. By Clive Bell; Invisible Jukebox: Lydia Lunch From downtown NYC to The Lydian Turn podcast, legend in her own lifetime Lydia Lunch takes on The Wire's blind listening test. Tested by Claire Biddles; Global Ear: Tijuana; Unlimited Editions: Pointless Geometry; Inner Sleeve: Jules Reidy; Plus, one page profiles of Chris Cundy, Able Noise and Polonius."

Wojciech Rusin presents Honey for the Ants via AD 93. Honey for the Ants completes an "alchemical trilogy," after The Funnel and Syphon. These albums are informed by mystical and gnostic texts, celebrating the weird, unhinged and occasionally beautiful. In this album the tonalities have shifted from mediaeval and renaissance to modernist dissonances. New singers and instrumentalists contribute to an emotional and textural richness achieved in a collaborative process. Distant musical periods, real and fictitious, are nonchalantly interwoven to create a delirious mongrel that salutes the imagination. Wojciech Rusin is a Polish-born audio-visual artist based in London. He draws inspiration from alchemical and gnostic texts, early renaissance choral music and Eastern European mythologies. He released Syphon LP on AD 93 in 2022 and The Funnel LP on Akashic Records in April 2019. He designs and makes 3D-printed reed instruments, reworking ancient designs with contemporary 3D modelling technologies. In 2020 he released Meat for the Guard Dogs on Cafe OTO's Takuroku digital imprint, and the Rufus Orbis cassette for Boomkat Editions/Documenting Sound series. His music has been featured on BBC Four and he has worked for The National Theatre and The Southbank Centre.

Double LP version. A classic compilation that emanated out of Osaka, Noise Forest brings together a powerhouse of early '90s Japanese noise stalwarts: Merzbow, C.C.C.C., Solmania, Dislocation, Monde Bruits, Masonna, Violent Onsen Geisha, and Incapacitants. The ultimate Japanoise collection, originally released in 1992 on the cult Les Disques Du Soleil label/record store on CD-only, and now impossible to find. Remastered and presented here with new artwork. A forest isn't something normally associated with noise; it brings to mind silence and solitude. However, the ominous cover art here - and the artists within -- bring to mind the notorious suicide forest Aokigahara. Despite all tracks falling into the Japanoise genre, the tracks are very diverse, yet every track is so distinct it could only be by that artist.

The music of Green Cosmos makes listeners realize that their never-ending quest for love can find fulfillment. You take a long, slow breath and feel the magic of transcendent wisdom. It's like looking up from your room to the brightly lit windows of the home of your neighbors. Might someone be standing there, watching? Listen to Abendmusiken and imagine what life would be like if you were one again with God's original ideas. Green Cosmos enchant listeners with their blend of jazz, the sound of heartbeats, emotional outburst, and folk-music. There is not one note too many, and everything gets to the heart of the matter. A saxophone that sails ahead on a world-map of sound, driven by the beat of Kalimba and drums, sometimes fraternizing with a bass that's now insistent and then shy, and closely listens to a reassuringly omniscient piano until the music merges into a unit that's greater than its parts. It's no exaggeration to say that this band has created something new and unique, and that the excellence of the moment got captured in this recording. This, quite simply, is beautiful and exciting music that steers us through the night. And if you are standing by a window seeing someone looking at you from their window -- give them a wave!

Double LP version. "High quality music to be enjoyed by many people all around the world, no matter where they are." --Andreas Brunner-Schwer, MPS Records. The German SABA and MPS family of labels extended this sentiment to include music from musicians all around the world, no matter where they were from -- and here on Spiritual Jazz 17: SABA/MPS, Jazzman explores that very theme. Throughout the '60s and '70s both labels released a wealth of music from a wealth of international jazz musicians coming from both North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean and the Far East. The aim was to release jazz that was exciting, innovative and interesting, regardless of style: there was swing, blues, bop, avant-garde, fusion -- and spiritual jazz. Plurality became a defining feature and the immense breadth of their output made both SABA and MPS worthy European counterparts to American imprints such as Blue Note and Impulse. On Spiritual Jazz 17: SABA/MPS Jazzman features, among others, international contributions from Americans Elvin Jones, Nathan Davis, and Dave Pike, Europeans Pedro Iturralde, Jef Gilson, and George Gruntz, and the Japanese Hideo Shiraki. The extensive liner notes outline the history of the SABA and MPS labels, and go some way to explain the spirit and philosophy behind the long-standing record company and the musicians who bore their souls to the recording process. Friedheim Schulz, who oversaw many of the sessions, has fond memories: "These guys had ideas, they had their special thing, it was the time when there were lots of ideas and new sounds and what have you, and [SABA proprietor] Hans Georg was always of the mind that people should do their own kind of music. So he gave them the chance to record and then he would just put out the albums and that was it! The musicians would really play what they wanted to play." Their great legacy is a lineage of music that has transcended the fatigues of time, and Jazzman has picked prime examples from the SABA and MPS catalogues to uphold its own legacy in the long-running series of Spiritual Jazz. Also featuring Tony Scott and the Indonesian Allstars, Albert Mangelsdorff Quartet, Orchester Roland Kovac, Fritz Pauer, and Joachim Kühn Group.

All articles presented in English. Includes "Mary Lou Williams" by Anton Spice, "Tomeka Reid" by Michael Mikesell, "Horace Silver" by Seymour Wright, "Wind Up & Julius Eastman" by Marc Medwin, "Esmond Edwars at Prestige" by Francis Gooding, "Contemporary Ethio-Jazz" by Nathan Hamelberg, "Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp" by Phil Freeman, "Arooj Aftab" by Rob Garratt, "John Surman" by Bret Sjerven, "Punk Jazz with Benjamin Herman" by Danny Veekens, "Discaholic Column" by Mats Gustafsson, Odysseus Festival 2024 photo report, reviews, and more. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers.

How can a sense of beauty be found amidst fear and cruelty? How can all the unspeakable be made audible, but also anger, hope, and an unyielding will to live? With his third album Temple Of Hope, Iranian composer Saba Alizadeh has created a moving homage to the people of his homeland. He transforms the events during the "Woman Life Freedom" movement, as well as the struggles of the population in previous years, into poignant electro-acoustic music. Intensified by the vocals and lyrics of Andreas Spechtl, Sanam Maroufkhani, and Leila Rahimi. In his compositions, Saba Alizadeh combines the traditional string instrument Kamancheh with strings, modular synthesizers, and a no-input mixer. This results in a tense sound that explores the speechlessness and torn emotions between suffering, rebellion, and hope. Historical radio sequences ground his pieces in the culture and history of the country. The strong alienation and deconstruction of these acoustic elements, in turn, point to the incomprehensible -- to existential upheavals and dissolution processes.

Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv's number one Afro funk collective, melding his enchanting vibraphone playing with their brass heavy force across original compositions that play tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while forging fresh paths. Produced by and featuring Dap-King Neal Sugarman, the results are gritty, yet majestic, soulful and uplifting. Mulatu Astatke requires little introduction at this point. Born in Jimma, Ethiopia, Mulatu went on to live and study in London, Boston and New York. Initially drawn to and trained in jazz and Latin music, he developed the sound he called "Ethio-jazz" over a series of seminal albums combining jazz, Latin, funk and soul, with traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms. Long a cornerstone of the Ethiopian recording industry, his albums and even guest appearances were long sought after by record collectors and music enthusiasts around the globe. Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12-member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought-after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music. The collective draws together a huge array of musical talents such as guitarist Ilan Smilan and organist Eitan Drabkin of Sababa 5 fame, Shalosh trio drummer Matan Assayag, and percussionist Rani Birenbaum of The Faithful Brothers, many of whom also contribute compositions to the orchestra, ensuring its collaborative environment. Over time, members of the orchestra came to find they shared a growing interest in Ethiopian music, particularly the Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke. One can imagine the band slowly marching out of the venue through the crowd at the end of their show, the audience clapping in time with the orchestra's brass and percussion, recalling another legend, the late great Sun Ra. On one hand, Tension is clearly a deeply personal tribute by the Hoodna Orchestra to iconic Mulatu Astatke, but at the same time the recordings emit a remarkable amount of chemistry, and together they have created an essential addition to Mulatu's rich discography that charts new directions in his Ethio-jazz trajectory and provides the Hoodna Orchestra with their strongest album to date.

Immerse yourself in the incomparable world of funk and soul with the compilation Rare Grooves: A Funk And Soul Era. This unique collection of 16 hand-picked tracks from the '60s, '70s, and '80s brings back the vibrant influence of funk and soul to the European musical landscape of the time. This CD is a musical time capsule that brings long-forgotten treasures back to life. Many of the songs included were originally only released as vinyl singles and are now available on CD for the first time. Look forward to a fascinating mix of disco, krautrock, pop, Afrobeat and jazz songs, which gets its very own charm with a healthy dose of funk and soul. Let yourself be carried away by the creative diversity and unbridled groove of this era. Rare Grooves: A Funk And Soul Era is more than just a CD -- it is an essential piece of music history for collectors and lovers who appreciate the authentic sound of the funk and soul era. Featuring Atlas, Abadie, Ganymed, Charly And The Diamonds, Bill Gabo, The Jaguars, Stonewall, Epsilon, Lee Reed, MC London, Wolfgang Ambros, and Christian Kolonovits.

LP version. Final part of the Nichts deluxe reissue series: The almost forgotten third Nichts album Aus Dem Jenseits from 1983 has finally been reissued! Due to circumstances, it was lost and unsuccessful at the time, but that's why it's also rare and has become a cult favorite. Nichts reorganized themselves in 1983 and released an unbroken series of six German-language new wave power pop super hits on side A of the LP, garnished with the always good post-punk lyrics of singer Andrea Mothes. Their echoes can still be found today in current guitar pop, new wave and new German wave. At least the single "Venus Schenkt Dir Schöne Stunden (Horrorskop)" should have been an NDW classic of the better kind. And side 2 is hardly weaker. After the band ended their tour in autumn 1982 following two successful albums and the NDW hits "Radio" and "Tango 2000," founding member and guitarist Meikel Clauss and bassist Scarbeck left the band. But singer/lyricist Andrea Mothes and drummer Tobias Brink were not finished with Nichts and recorded the third album Aus Dem Jenseits with a new line-up. A live performance at Mal Sondock's Pop Explosion, a planned single release and a booked tour seemed to continue the success, but things turned out differently: due to an injury to Brink, the tour had to be cancelled, the single was not promoted any further, the band soon broke up and the album became a die-hard fan favorite. The remastering of the album, which was enthusiastically approved by the former band members with a grade of 1+, was produced in the Düsseldorf Skyline sound factory by Kai Blankenberg, whose services are otherwise utilized by International Music, Boy, Madsen and regularly by Udo Lindenberg, among others. In addition to a bonus track (Horrorskop 2024 Single Edit), there is also a 16-page booklet with photos of the time and the lyrics!

LP version. When the sense of time and space disappears, psychedelic sounds merge into an endless tapestry of sound, nothing can really be categorized here. You don't have to, better switch off your head. Only rarely do records like ADA appear that offer seemingly endless opportunities to dream away -- because there is so much history in them: "The new album is something like the essence of over 30 years of Electric Orange," explains Dirk Jan Müller, who started the long-running project back in 1992 in Aachen, Germany and later developed it into a great band. Electric Orange are clearly rooted in the Krautrock of the seventies (and also use some of the equipment from this era), so many tracks are reminiscent of the well-known legends of the genre: Can, Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül -- a mixture of everything the band members love. In this world, every groove is even better when you play it for minutes on end. Electric Orange's music is constantly evolving, spherical sounds come in and go out again -- or are replaced by experimental wah-wah guitars. Space sound effects? Movie samples? Yes! Electric Orange reveal an expansive world and then lead the listener through it; their music is both driving and dreamy at the same time.

LP version. At the forefront of a rising wave of Brazilian artists captivating international audiences, Nyron Higor brings a quiet yet potent sense of wonder to his new self-titled album. Born in Maceió, Higor's latest work is rooted in the traditions of Northeastern Brazilian music and golden-era MPB. Within the peaceful surroundings of his home, Higor weaves these roots together with global influences and contemporary production techniques, for a uniquely dreamlike vision of hope. Following the success of his self-released debut Fio de Lâmina -- an instrumental record of delicately balanced rhythmic and harmonic patterns, which earned support from tastemakers like Mr. Scruff, Gilles Peterson, and John Gomez -- Higor's new album is a move towards a more expansive, lyrical exploration of transcendence and triumph. Taking his demos and unfinished tracks to São Paulo, Higor worked alongside friends and collaborators from Brazil's vibrant contemporary music scene -- including fellow Maceioense artists Bruno Berle, Batata Boy, and New York-based Brazilian vocalist Alici Sol -- assembling a rich musical landscape and a cutting-edge development on the musical world from which he emerges. For Higor, the process of recording and producing in close collaboration with Berle and Batata Boy allowed him to fully cultivate the emotive power of his compositions. Album opener "Ciranda" sets the tone with a slow frevo rhythm, as wistful trombone melodies and melancholic acoustic guitar harmonies create an atmosphere both intimate and grand. Lead single "São Só Palavras," featuring Alici Sol and Bruno Berle, captures both the lightness and depth of young love in an all too fleeting minute-and-a-half moment of soaring brilliance. Building upon the instrumental sound of his debut, "Louro Cantador" with its playful organ, birdlike whistles and elegant acoustic guitar, emanates a kind of rare natural beauty, as each sound dances amidst the gentle pulse of Higor's bass. Through ten carefully crafted tracks, Higor's acuity for sound and silence draws listeners into a place that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. This album is a testament to the timeless themes that define Higor's artistry, as well as his creative drive to overcome the obstacles he faces. Conveying his feelings of jubilance for his work, Higor notes, "This work is liberating, contemplative and victorious!" Each track invites the listener to experience the raw intimacy, the joy and longing, and the otherworldly ingenuity of Brazilian music, which seems to endlessly keep listeners coming back for more.

LP version. Hailing from Cyprus's divided capital Nicosia, and led by Antonis Antoniou, the founder of Monsieur Doumani and Trio Tekke, Buzz' Ayaz creates a transfixing Eastern Mediterranean psychedelia. Their self-titled debut album is a fuzzed-out urban soundscape of dubby electronics, '70s-psych organ, growling bass clarinet, amplified folk instruments, ritual beats and Greek and Anatolian melodicism. The band members come from both sides of the capital's divide, and the music found on Buzz' Ayaz is a deliberate attempt to give a voice to the city as a whole. A mercurial sound that echoes above the concrete walls and checkpoints. Cyprus is a holiday destination for people from all over Europe, a sunny, blue-sea island in the Eastern Mediterranean with a proud, ancient history. But it's also a divided island, with longstanding political tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations. Yet, inevitably in a small place, the two cultures intertwine. Walk the streets of Nicosia, the divided capital, and you'll hear Greek rembetiko alongside Turkish pop, Anatolian psychedelia next to Western rock. That urban mix of sounds he heard each day put a spark in Antonis Antoniou's head. With his new band, Buzz' Ayaz, that spark has caught fire, making Cypriot music that strides between decades and continents, electric and organic. The results on their eponymous debut album holds a barely contained wildness -- and a bass clarinet. Buzz' Ayaz carries a big sound, a punchy heaviness that draws from ʼ60s and ʼ70s rock, but stirring it up with all the differing sounds of Cyprus that Antoniou has known all his life. The recording captures the energy of Buzz' Ayaz, with all the rawness and sweat of performance, coated with urban grit. But there's far more to this than power; Buzz' Ayaz prickles with intelligence, invention and imagination. Buzz' Ayaz is the electric sound of modern Cyprus, the musical bridge that spans worlds. It's music that keeps Antoniou's blood racing, the sound in his head coming to life. The roots of Buzz' Ayaz are in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and throughout the Levant, but they meld together on the streets of Nicosia. "I hope," Antoniou says, "that the reach is infinite."

Another Mississippi Sunday Morning is the poignant sequel to Some Mississippi Sunday Morning (2023), the prison-recorded gospel album that was met with unexpected global acclaim by the likes of the New York Times, The Guardian, the New Yorker, and BBC (just to name a few). In early 2024, Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Good Ones [Rwanda]) returned to the Parchman Farm maximum security facility in Mississippi to record a second collection of raw, haunting performances from the prison's Sunday gospel service. The results are once again captivating and unforgettable. Twelve men participated in the new recording session, ranging in age from 23 to 74. Three are serving life sentences and six of them were newer arrivals or not on the debut album. There were no guards or chaplains present this time. Like the first album, all songs were first takes, recorded 100% live and without overdubs. The session took four hours, twice the length of time Brennan was allotted for Some Mississippi Sunday Morning. This time the singers knew what to expect and some came to the session with pre-prepared material. "Certain people who were involved the first time became very prominent this time," Brennan says. "They were also more motivated to write their own songs, so a lot of them had done that in advance. A couple of those from before were really eager to do song after song. Everybody sang at least one song." Though all of the music is intimate and stripped back, each song and performance, whether it is based on traditional gospel or hip hop or the deep blues, has an individual and powerful story to tell.

"From a cappella and delicately inflected tenor ornamentation to a hypnotic basso profundo chant; from an urgent rap about a singer's remorse to a hopeful choral outburst: this is inspirational music, triumphant rather than beaten down and defeated." --BBC Music

LP version. Chris Eckman is one of those songwriters with the alchemist's touch. He's proved it over the years as the songwriter of the Seattle rock folk band The Walkabouts, as well as across a lauded six album solo career. His songs have been recorded by Townes Van Zandt, Steve Wynn, Willard Grant Conspiracy (and others), and his last album, the spare, haunted Where the Spirit Rests, won the prestigious German Record Critics Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) in 2021. Three and a half years later he's back with The Land We Knew the Best, and new stories to tell.

White color vinyl version. Highly-anticipated vinyl represses of this stone-cold classic. Now comes with new gold foil embossed artwork. After a couple of demos for the French promoter who paired him with his childhood hero Love's Arthur Lee in 1992, Pale Fountains and Shack legend Michael Head entered a Liverpool recording studio the following year, with a new project in mind, The Strands. Michael teamed up with his brother and lifelong companion, John, his long-time drummer Iain Templeton and two new recruits, Michelle Brown on bass and Les Roberts on flute. The recording sessions would last two years and were only halted because Michael was offered a new major label deal. A deal, not for his current work, but for him to record as Shack again. So it came to be that Stephane Bismuth, the French promoter, was left with 100 or so minutes of a thwarted project, only a third of which had made it to the mixing studio in Sheffield in the summer of '95. Patch-working and weaving rough mixes and sketches -- by engineer Steve Powell, made in Liverpool -- with completed mixes by producer Mark Coyle who had hired an arranger and string section for sessions in Sheffield, Stephane Bismuth founded a new label Megaphone and finally released The Magical World of The Strands, in autumn of 1997.

Produced and engineered by Jah Wobble at home in his bedroom (hence the title), the album was originally released in spring 1983, showing a different side in the bass player evolution. His proper second album after a major label stint with Virgin -- for his debut -- and the stratospheric collaborations with Holger Czukay and The Edge. A mystical hybrid of dub fusion, ethereal wave and global beat, still ahead of his time.

The first ever commercial vinyl release of the classic folk horror score, presented in an incredible pop-up Witchfinder sleeve. For many, this is the long-awaited score that completes the "holy trinity" of folk horror: The Wicker Man (1973), Blood On Satan's Claw (1971), Witchfinder General (1968). And all these albums were first commercially found and released by Jonny Trunk. This is the first time Witchfinder General has been commercially released on LP (previously only available as a mega rare 1973 library LP or withdrawn CD). As well as the superb Matthew Hopkins/Vincent Price pop-up, the gatefold sleeves feature stills from the classic film, plus comprehensive notes about the film production history and the music. This is just the package the folk horror fans really want. Classic pastoral, melodic and scary music.

WRWTFWW Records reissues revered UK electronic duo Ultramarine's best kept secret from their discography, the superb A User's Guide album, available as a limited double LP housed in a beautiful heavyweight sleeve with inside out printing. On the rare occasions that Ultramarine's story is told, the duo's fifth album, 1998's A User's Guide, tends to get omitted from the narrative. Radically different to anything the duo released before or since, it has remained a slept-on, timeless and inherently futurist classic ever since. Unavailable on vinyl since the year it was released, A User's Guide was the result of a conscious decision by Ultramarine members Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper to change their working methods and the "sound palette" that underpinned their work. Out went the partially improvised hybrid electronic/acoustic sounds and the collaborations with guest musicians they'd become famous for. They were replaced by painstakingly created electronic sounds and textures, metallic motifs, spaced-out chords, rhythms rooted in contemporary techno and drum and bass culture, and nods aplenty to pioneering music of the period, from the post-rock atmospherics of Tortoise, and the hazy dub techno of Basic Channel, to the tech-jazz of Detroit, the minimalism of Berlin, and the musically expansive warmth of Chicago deep house. As this first vinyl reissue conclusively proves, the material showcased on A User's Guide has lost none of its sparkle in the 26 years that have passed since its release. Fully remastered from the original DATs by Jason G at Transition Studios, the 2024 vinyl edition of A User's Guide thrusts Ultramarine's most overlooked album back into the spotlight. This WRWTFWW edition also features brand new contextualizing sleeve notes, complete with new quotes on the production process from Ultramarine, by dance music historian Matt Anniss (author of Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music, and founder of online electronic music platform Jointhefuture.net). For fans of electronic, leftfield, postrock, tech-jazz, IDM, minimalism, futurist electronica, dub techno, house, experimental, Autechre, Tortoise, Basic Channel, forgotten gems from superb discographies, and very good music.

LP version. Brown color vinyl. Carefully constructed aural rituals from T.A.G.C., this album maps new realms in the area of sensual electronic music. Founder Adi Newton (Clock DVA) uses The Anti Group as an outlet for his research in psycho-acoustic music. Iso-Erotic Calibration explores the potent topic of human sexuality. Recorded over a period of three years, this could be considered one of their more "accessible" albums. Originally released in 1994, Cold Spring now presents the album for the first time on vinyl, as well as the first official CD reissue, fleshed out with four bonus tracks: two were bonus digital-only tracks (2013); one track is taken from the soundtrack to the 2011 T.A.G.C. film Given; one is a remix of the title track. The Anti Group Communications (T.A.G.C.) was devised by Adi Newton and Steven James Turner as early as 1978 as a multi-dimensional research and development project. TAGC are not affiliated to any one system of philosophy or epistemological paradigm or occult fraternity but are open more to individual systems and innovative thinkers in science, art, music sonology, visual arts, literature, research and publication are its main areas. The artwork is filled with text and illustrations supporting the different songs.

Movie from France, music from Germany, CD from Poland -- it was the second time, when Tarwater release a special CD exclusively for Gusstaff Rec. In 2001 they released the album Not The Wheel, which contains unreleased material for movies, theatre and some other special songs. The record was distributed world-wide and had very good reviews in international and polish press. In 2009, they presented the original soundtrack for a French movie Donne-moi la main ("Give me your hand"). The movie was shown on cinemas across Europe since February 2009. Guests on this album: Stefan Schneider (Mapstation, To Rococo Rot, September Collective): banjo and bass; Robert Lippok (To Rococo Rot): additional production and effects.

It Was Always Time, the debut duo release from Berke Can Özcan and Jonah Parzen-Johnson on We Jazz Records, is a refreshing and full-throated expression of joy and curiosity. In a year when 76 countries hold national elections and listeners find themselves in an existential battle against apathy and cynicism, this effortlessly authentic album offers an innocent reminder that the antidote to stagnation is curiosity and the fuel for change is the joy of building something transformative together. In April 2022, Brooklyn based baritone saxophonist, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, found himself on a flight from New York to Istanbul to play a one-off duo concert with a veteran drummer and sound designer at the center of Istanbul's vibrant music scene, Berke Can Özcan. They met for the first time 30 minutes before soundcheck. The concert that followed could have been the culmination of years of collaboration. Both urgent and timeless, their musical partnership is instantly solid, innocent and joyful. Recorded across continents, time zones, and cultures, It Was Always Time meticulously builds on itself, weaving layers of found-sound samples over acoustic percussion to frame poignant saxophone melodies that melt into rich synth interludes. Although the album is almost completely improvised, the depth of texture and devotion to melody make it feel through-composed. From track to track, each musician places their trust in the other, and as ambition evolves into empathy, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. This is not a protest album, or music that sets out to directly change the world. Rather, in the subtle way that only art is capable of, the music made by this international duo of strangers turned friends is a reminder: Be curious, find joy, build something better together. It's time. It was always time.

LP version. Unionen is a new quartet of four star-level Norwegian and Swedish jazz musicians. The group takes its name from the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch 1814-1905 and brings together Ståle Størlokken (Supersilent), Per "Texas" Johansson, Petter Eldh (Koma Saxo), and Gard Nilssen (Supersonic Orchestra). It's not hip to say "supergroup" but this sure is one super of a group, with each member contributing to the band sound that is unique in all the best possible ways. From misty introspection to proper rock-out-hardjazz, Unionen is set out to blaze their own trail. Tracks such as opener "Ståhlbad" draw you in with their subtle intensity, while the "rock cut" on the album, "6983" brings forth energy that sounds very much "live". Whatever Unionen do, you can feel they've been around the block a time or too, and are not just opting for easy licks to wow the listener. This is deep music that is set to stand the test of time in its originality. Early live shows of Unionen have been triumphant, with UK's Jazzwise calling them a "highlight scoop" at the Cologne Jazzweek. The album consists of eight originals, each of which defies clear classification. The compositions, including writing credits by all four members in a true fashion of the "unionen", display a genuine musical storytelling desire, matched by the ability to build a narrative that holds the listener close. On the instrumentation side of things, you hear classics like grand piano, fender Rhodes, double bass and drums, but also jazz rarities like Cor Anglais, contrabass clarinet and MPC. It's all part of a coherent sound image so you'll likely not think of how stuff was made but how it makes you feel. Unionen's music is highly emotive, more autumn than summer, more misty than sunny, more evening than midday, and first and foremost more unified than separated. No need for a monarch here, this is true democracy in the form of a jazz quartet. RIYL: Supersilent, Fire!, Scandinavian jazz, the darker side of vintage ECM.

WRWTFWW Records presents a one-of-a-kind collaboration release between buzzing UK producer and DJ Pizza Hotline and Swedish electronic and synth icon Mitch Murder, delivering three gigantic tracks each for the Anti Gravity Tournament album, available as a limited-edition LP housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve illustrated by the legendary junkboy. Inspired by the classic WipEout video game series, this high-energy boosted split-album transports listeners into the futuristic world of anti-gravity racing, a colorful turbo adventure soundtracked by six mega tracks of fast-paced atmospheric jungle, thunderous breaks, and liquid drum and bass. The adrenaline-fueled collection delivers maximum energy and dreamy vibes, a true paradise for fans of '90s/Y2K video games, LTJ Bukem, Peshay, Soichi Terada, and previous efforts by Mitch & Pizza. Anti Gravity Tournament follows two critically-acclaimed albums by Pizza Hotline -- Level Select and Polygon Island, both still available on WRWTFWW Records, as well as the limited Low Poly Breaks cassette series which sold out in a few minutes. Mitch Murder is known as one of the originators of synthwave and has released timeless albums on Rosso Corsa Records, Mad Decent, and My Pet Flamingo (TimeSlave Recordings). He is also the man behind the Kung Fury soundtrack and has collaborated with David Hasselhoff himself! The astonishing exclusive artwork comes from the one and only junkboy, creative director at Mojang Studios (Minecraft) and all-around design grandmaster. Fasten your seatbelt and join the fun.

The Swiss trio AMAMI returns with Islands, a new EP featuring four explosive tracks along with their Dub versions. Following the success of their previous projects Giant and Soleil, the group continues to explore the intersection of Dancehall, Dub, and Afro-Pop, while staying true to their live approach, without sequencers or computers. Issued from the EP comes "Wrong Way." The track kicks off with a powerful Jamaican influence, mixing steppa, rockers, and dub into AMAMI's signature explosive fusion. This track, a real dance floor igniter during the group's European tours, is an energetic bombshell that turns every set upside down. In addition to the original song, the 7'' features a Dub version, paying homage to the Jamaican Dub scene. For this remix, AMAMI collaborated with Dub legends Vibronics from the UK. These bold reinterpretations honor the genre, emphasizing bass, drums, and sound effects like delay and reverb, all while staying rooted in a dynamic and experimental vibe that invites dancing.

Outstanding and limited compilation of Turkish jazz-funk rarities. The release explores what happened when Western music styles such as modal jazz, bossa nova, fusion, and funk met Arabic folk music, tone scales and rhythm structures in the late sixties and seventies in Turkey and Egypt. Features Emin Findikoğlu, Mustafa Ökzent ve Orkestrasi, Erkut Taçkin, Fikret Kizilok, Erkin Koray, Aksu Orkestrasi, Ferdi Özbeğen, Erol Pekcan, Okay Temiz, Erol Pekcan Orkestrasi, and Durul Gence 10.

The fourth instalment in Pev's Pulse series finds him further widening the scope of his sound as he touches on the distinct energies which inform his unique strain of soundsystem techno. "Pulse XIII" deals in stark, tweaked-out acid lines cutting through a taut drum machine backbone, balanced out with a sci-fi pad which lets you know its Pev at the controls. "Pulse XIV" finds him dialing up his jungle roots once more for a dreamy excursion into diced up breaks, cascading synths and dislocated piano chord chops. There's a deeper dub techno spirit to "Pulse XV" and "Pulse XVI" deals in the raw, bleep-informed jack tracks that have started to creep into Pev's sound as the Pulse series has evolved. Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

Volume 12 in this amazing series of slow grinding R&B/Soul/Exotica tunes as they are being played in a club in Melbourne/Australia. Around midnight on the last Saturday of every month, an assemblage of juiceheads, grifters, kittens, dandies and derelicts gather in a dimly lit, smoke-filled room and dance together real slow. These are some of the records we dance to. Featuring Tony Mottola, Hirao Masaaki & His All Stars Wagon, Jeri Southern, Les Harris, John Mckinney & The Premiers, Guy Mitchell, Lyn Avalon, Roger Smith, The Surfmen, Billy Fury, Andre Williams & Gino Parks, Carl Holmes And The Commanders, Charles Brown, and Mr. Sad Head.

2025 repress. Jeff Mills's Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 initially came out in 1994 on Tresor Records. The eight titles on this album marked a turning point for Mills. It indicates a transition from the straightforward sound he had created through the early 1990s, into the different facets and sound palette he would develop through the remainder of the decade. It is a significant piece within Mills's oeuvre.

Onilu is an all-percussionist trio utilizing the extensive family of drummed and tuned percussion instruments to deliver beautifully composed, arranged and executed small ensemble music. Nothing about this all-percussion band feels rarified, or missing anything musical. To the contrary, Onilu create a soundworld where nothing is missing, and everything is musical -- defying the stereotype of modern percussion ensembles as esoteric or academic pursuits, reaffirming the powerful social and sacred musics made in African diasporic communities and across cultures by drum and percussion groups since the beginning of human time. The members of Onilu are: Kevin Diehl, leader of the enduring Philadelphia-based Afro-Cuban Yoruba free-jazz ensemble Sonic Liberation Front; Chad Taylor, Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and esteemed drummer of long standing in many scenes. Highlights of Taylor's recent history include his work with James Brandon Lewis, Jaimie Branch, Marc Ribot, Rob Mazurek, and with Joshua Abrams in the duo Mind Maintenance-. Taylor was part of the community of young Chicago-based musicians organized around Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge in the 1990s that included Abrams, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, and Matana Roberts, among others; living legend Joe Chambers, who began his illustrious career as the drummer on now-canonical early Blue Note recordings by Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, and Mccoy Tyner. A 1970 founding member of Max Roach's pathbreaking percussion ensemble M'Boom, Chambers continues to record percussion-centered music as a leader for Blue Note records. After nearly three decades working with such historic drummers as Denis Charles, Walter Perkins, Sunny Murray, Hamid Drake, Milford Graves, Susie Ibarra, Charles Bobo Shaw, and Han Bennink, it is Eremite Records' joy and honor to give the drummers not some, but ALL the spotlight. From Dana Hall's liner notes: "These three artists are master musicians and the music they present here is masterfully conceived. The drum, and its entire global family of membranophones, shakers, and idiophones, are conduits for their collective creative voice. In addition to drummers, they are also composers, and their works here represent a synthesis of ideas, concepts, and their individual dialectics on the language and syntax found in much of African and African Diasporic musics. A music that uses call and response. One that honors the past while looking forward to the future. A music that is principally concerned with feeling, mood, and storytelling. One that eschews frivolity and the baroque. A music that swings and grooves. I found myself dancing to this recording. Trust me, you, too, will find yourself rightfully and unapologetically dancing to this recording." First Eremite edition of 999 copies pressed on premium audiophile-quality 140-gram vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, from Kevin Gray/Cohearent audio lacquers. Recorded by Michael Richelle, Philadelphia. Mastered by Joe Lizzi, Queens, NY. Hand screen-printed insert by Alan Sherry, Siwa Studios, Northern New Mexico.

"In the mid-'70s in Northern New Jersey, some friends and I formed an ensemble called Atomic Squawk, with which we used our extremely limited musical techniques to play the sorts of whacked-out sounds about which none of our fucking peers gave a rat's ass. 'Funny' talking blues, free form skronk, vaguely detourned covers of Beefheart and the Velvets -- these were our stocks in trade, and much happy time was whiled away in Randy Charles' basement drinking and making noise, simply because most all the live music being played in the area was dull as shit; useless unless your only goal was trying to get a sloppy blowjob in the parking lot of Mother's. Fifty miles south, things were pretty much the same for future members of Steel Tips, King of Siam, Strapping Fieldhands, Spy Gods and other future legends of the South Jersey sub-underground. But the active (and semi-active) participants in Bangone Ensemble had access to many more and better musicians down around Rutgers. This meant the Bangone Ensemble's sound was leagues beyond Atomic Squawk's. Still, we shared the same aesthetic impulse. In 1975, Jersey bands like the Laughing Dogs and Another Pretty Face were considered cutting edge. If you knew anything about anything, this notion was a goddamn joke. It sounds to me (factual details are shrouded in mystery) like Bangone Ensemble had up to a dozen players at times, with miles of instrumental width, and chops almost on a par with Ithaca's Zobo Fun Band. There's some seriously good playing going on here, but it's all being done in the name of weirdo-rock as the truest expression of non-idiotic teen rebellion. It's a great damn sound, mixing jazz, art-rock, 'new music' and primitivism in much the same way DC band the Muffins did during their earliest days. The sound is kind of like a child's guide to the avant garde -- from the Mothers to the Soft Machine to the Magic Band to the Arkestra and beyond, with a soupçon of sheer wise-assery stirred in for good measure. Bangone Ensemble's sound is just a great gust of freedom from a time and a place that was pretty fucking square. They unwittingly set a pace not really matched until some of the free-rock post-everything fusion units of the mid '90s. As Mick Farren might have said, 'Give the anarchists a cigarette!' They earned it." --Byron Coley

2025 repress! LP version. Reissue. Originally released as private pressing in 1971, the Farm album is highly sought-after and revered by collectors. Recorded by this Southern Illinois band in 1971 at the legendary Golden Voice studios, it's chock full of jammy, bluesy guitar psych with heavy dual guitars, organ, congas, harp... Recommended if you like Quicksilver, Allman Brothers, Canned Heat, Ten Years After... Remastered sound; original artwork; includes booklet with photos and extensive liner notes by Kevin Rathert (It's Psychedelic Baby) LP version includes download card. "A vital album for fans of vintage guitar action." --Patrick Lundborg (Acid Archives).

2025 repress; Be With Records present a reissue of DJ Quik's Safe And Sound, originally released in 1995. Complete with "Tanqueray", the hidden track from the original CD release. DJ Quik is a giant of West Coast hip-hop. With 1995's Safe + Sound, he scaled new levels of musical magnificence with his signature new age P-Funk/laconic G-Funk. A quintessential, sun-scorched LA album, this is pretty much essential. A preternaturally gifted producer/rapper, DJ Quik has produced scores of LA gangsta rap classics. He's released platinum and gold records of his own, as well as helped craft them for the likes of Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and Dr Dre. Quik has always been quirkier and more interesting than his gangsta rap peers, both musically and lyrically. An old-school funk producer at heart, he's also incredibly nice on the mic. His raps often deal in boasts, jokes and good times but also cover his beefs, his trials and his trauma. Partying and pain, all mixed up. DJing and producing hype beat tapes from age 14, Quik's tracks blended the languid funk and rubbery synths of Zapp and George Clinton with a gangsta aesthetic, creating a more danceable foil to Compton's more typical nihilistic hedonism. Ultimately, his records sound custom engineered to drift out over sun-soaked barbecues. By the time of his third album DJ Quik was a household name on the West Coast -- California's premier rapper/producer not named Andre Young. Released on Profile in 1995, Safe + Sound was certified gold. Less reliant on samples and more focused on live instruments, it elevated him from producer to fully-fledged composer. This sound -- the quick, winding basslines, tinny high hats, smooth instrumental solos, soulful pipes, and Roger Troutman's talkbox -- defined him. This is an album of full-blown masterpieces. Rich soundscapes and masterfully arranged orchestrations with dense layers of sounds, intricate rhythms, and well-balanced songwriting. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and pressed at Record Industry.