In the summer of 1976, a peculiar album appeared in Italian record shops, its cover bearing no artist name, only the cryptic moniker Elektriktus. For the handful of listeners who encountered it before it vanished from circulation, the music posed a question that wouldn't be answered for decades: who had created this strange hybrid of jazz sensibility and kosmische synthesis, this music that seemed to emanate from somewhere between Cologne and Calabria? The answer was hiding in plain sight. Andrea Centazzo, by then a recognized figure in European free improvisation -- a percussionist who had shared stages with Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, and Derek Bailey -- had been leading a double life. Between 1973 and 1976, in the intervals between touring with Giorgio Gaslini's quartet (Gaslini would soon co-compose Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso with Goblin), Centazzo retreated to his farmhouse in Moruzzo and to studios in Pistoia, where he conducted experiments with Minimoog, Davolisint, and the GEM Rodeo 49, an Italian-manufactured synthesizer that had become essential equipment in the country's progressive rock underground. What emerged from these sessions was music that occupied a peculiar position in the taxonomy of 1970s electronic experimentation. PDU Records -- owned by the pop icon Mina and by the mid-seventies functioning as Italy's primary distributor for German avant-garde labels like Ohr, Brain, Kosmische Musik, Pilz, and Kosmische Kuriere -- recognized the value of what Centazzo had created. But there was a commercial calculus at work: the label's executives worried that Centazzo's established identity as a jazz percussionist would confuse the market for cosmic electronics, then in the process of consolidating as a genre distinct from both progressive rock and academic electronic music. The solution was to create Elektriktus -- a pseudonym that functioned as a conceptual portmanteau, fusing "electronic" with "Ictus," the name Centazzo would soon give to his own label and to his series of percussion works. The name suggested both electronic impulse and percussive attack, a synthesis that accurately described the music's character. For where German kosmische musik tended toward the infinite and the abstract, Centazzo's electronic music retained a tactile, almost physical quality.

New York-based artist James K returns with Friend. This album is full of electric pop anthems that blends ear-worming melodies with peak-time breaks, buzzing powerpunk guitars and a classic rave pulse, with K's signature enchanting vocals playfully spitting emotion. It's a hallucinatory pleasure, tearing through your body and mind. "Play" rushes with a rebellion of friends -- an electro fever daydream waking up everywhere you go. Hot off extensive tours worldwide, playing the likes of Pitchfork Festival, Dekmantel, iii Points, and Mutek, following in the footsteps of her last two critically acclaimed singles Friend comes on AD 93. RIYL: Cocteau Twins, Yves Tumor, Prodigy, Oklou, Grimes. Also available on transparent vinyl (WHYT 083TR-LP).

Much of the Collide's sound is derived from an old Aria Pro II electric guitar from Leif's childhood, scratched up with damaged and unpredictable electrics. The record leans into this sense of things being broken or damaged -- and how sometimes things need to break in order for listeners to make sense of them -- reveling in, rather than resisting, unpredictability. Lush textures traverse the listener. across unexpected terrains.

The collaboration between Anthony Moore and filmmaker David Larcher began in the late '60s, at the start of both their respective careers and lasted many years. Following on from the 2024 release of the soundtrack to Mare's Tail (PD 041LP) (the first collaboration with Larcher) comes the release of the soundtrack to his second film, Monkey's Birthday. This LP is a condensation of the essence of this six-hour film. The sound is partly taken directly from the existing soundtrack and partly from stereo masters that have survived through the decades. Shot and edited between 1973 and 1975 this epic film moves through a variety of landscapes, both physical and abstract. It was filmed in various locations, starting in Germany and moving through Hungary, Romania and most substantially in rural Turkey. In large part this is a road movie that takes the filmed events and locations and uses them as sources for further experimentation. In much the same way, the location recordings made by Anthony Moore are used as raw material for creating much of the soundtrack, working from a battery powered studio in the back of his truck in this east bound convoy. The previously released excerpt, "Plains Of Hungary (ReR Quarterly Vol.2 No.1)" is included on this album in its rightful place among the collages of Islamic chant, field recordings, tape loops, jam sessions etc. Heathcote Williams is also in the mix reading from esoteric texts. Also feature, alongside various voices from the crew and general public, is a repeated theme using the looped cut up voice recordings from the two other members of Slapp Happy (Dagmar Krause and Peter Blegvad), who took to the road for part of this grueling journey. Comes with large four-sided insert. Numbered edition of 500.

We Jazz Magazine, Issue 17, Weathering for aja monet. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. aja monet by Ayana Contreras, Azymuth by Ben Lee, Henry Threadgill by Bret Sjerven, Sven-Åke Johansson by Magnus Nygren, Anna Webber by Stewart Smith, Rafiq Bhatia by Florent Servia, Talk Show (Steph Richards & Qasim Naqvi) by Andy Cush, Ganavya by Tina Edwards, Cosmic Tones Research Trio by Blake Gillespie, Quincy Jones by Rob Garratt, Devin Daniels by Samuel Lamontagne, album design essay by Alex Coles, Discaholic column by Mats Gustafsson, album reviews, live reviews, photo essay and more.

Alga Marghen presents two previously unpublished seminal works by Bill Fontana, "Suite For Toy Tape Recorder" from 1968, and "Wave Spiral" from the early '70s. These recordings come directly from the archives of Philip Corner who also curated this LP edition and contributed the liner notes. 1968: In the basement Music Room of the New School For Social Research, Philip Corner was teaching "Analysis of New Music," a class he inherited from Malcolm Goldstein and before him Richard Maxfield and of course all the way back to the famous founder John Cage, present in the spirit of living history. The "Suite For Toy Tape Recorder" was a series of little reels of 1 7/8" tapes, unique experiments by means of "working-with" and so "transcend" by "making use-of" those little cheap tape-recorders. A sensitive ear that listened to hum and hiss and all the other characteristic distortions; and recorded these materials via a kind of physical phonogène of musique-concrete perspective, his thumb's friction as the reel was running fast-forward in order to create tape loops in contrapuntual collision. Side B presents "Wave Spiral, for 5 Rin Gongs," a 21-minute blissful piece recorded in the early-'70s and first presented in Australia in 1977. This work shows how Bill Fontana's research evolved toward working with the distinct physical dimension of different frequencies. An exploration of how sound becomes simultaneously its own material and the force acting upon it. The piece unfolds as an investigation of how frequency itself becomes sculptural. Across its 21-minute duration, the rin gongs generate sustained waves that spiral outward and inward simultaneously, their overtones interacting with the listening space that Fontana would describe as a "definition of motion interacting with a particular acoustic environment." The spiral manifests itself here not through cycles within cycles of tape loop manipulations like on Side A, but through the acoustic behavior of metallic resonance in space. This sound is rendered as tangible phenomenon, frequency made visible through its physical impact on the listening environment. These recordings have remained unheard for decades, only existing in Philip Corner's archive. Their publication allows the world to trace the development of an artist discovering that to work with sound was to investigate its physical dimensions, to understand that frequency and space are inseparable, that sound sculpure begins not with installation but with the fundamental recognition that all sounds exist as waves interacting with architecture itself. Edition of 232.

Edition of 300. Includes 8-page booklet. In 1969, while American minimalism was consolidating into its most recognizable forms, Charlemagne Palestine was conducting solitary experiments with oscillators and sine waves that only now reveal their visionary scope. This was the New York of lofts and abandoned industrial spaces, of artists pushing sound toward its physical limits -- a city where the boundaries between music, performance art, and bodily endurance were dissolving. Battling the Invisible unearths two electronic studies from that crucial year, paired with rare 1972 Bösendorfer sessions -- a document that illuminates the passage from pure electronics to the keyboard as an instrument of prolonged ecstasy. "Low Sounds 3" opens the record with fifteen minutes of low frequencies that seem to emerge from the very foundations of the sonic edifice. There is no development in the traditional sense, but a static presence that gradually colonizes the listening space. Think Eliane Radigue's meditative drone work filtered through a raw, almost brutalist sensibility. "Sine Tone Study" on Side B extends this practice for nearly nineteen minutes -- sine waves overlapping, creating beating patterns, zones of interference explored with the patience of an entomologist. The two 1972 Bösendorfer fragments function as bridges toward the Palestine the world knows better -- the strumming ecstasies, the hypnotic accumulation of overtones, the piano as a vehicle for transcendence. Here the physical approach to the keyboard is already evident -- what he would describe as a "battle." This release is part of Alga Marghen's The Golden Research series -- a concept devised by Palestine himself around the idea of "perfect sound." The series focuses exclusively on completely unreleased archival materials, bringing to light legendary recordings that have never been heard before. The LP includes a 8-page interview conducted by Sumner Crane and Rudolph Grey in January 1979 at Palestine's NYC loft, with Arto Lindsay present, later redacted by Alan Licht. The insert is an anastatic reproduction of the original 12-page typescript. Unfiltered, explosive -- Palestine on violence, on the body as battleground, on his Brooklyn childhood. Essential reading.

LP version. ATA Records present the new release by Work Money Death, A Portal to Here. This album continues WMD's exploration of spiritual jazz and the sounds and styles that evolved out of the '60s New Thing, particularly the recordings of Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. The first WMD album released since the tragic death of ATA guitarist Chris Earl Dawkins in early 2025, all four tracks reference the journey that band members and the studio have been on -- in many ways this record is a testament and tribute to Chris, his musicality and creativity. Featuring WMD stalwarts Tony Burkill, Neil Innes, Sam Hobbs, and Sam Bell, the album introduces Sorcerers keyboardist Johnny Richards to the WMD sound. Richards brings a fresh new take to the piano role here, drawing on what is clearly a broad knowledge of jazz history and channeling that through his own unique 21st century musical perspective. The album also features contributions from Alice Roberts on harp, bringing the spirit of Alice Coltrane, Ben Powling on baritone saxophone, Richard Ormrod on woodwind, and Kev Holbrough and Steve Parry on brass. Those Sun Ra-esque horn sections lift the mood whenever they appear. Standout tracks are the second, "Dance of the Spirits," with a strong core of "Baptism and The Blues" and some lovely playing by Richards, and the third track, "Brother Earl," which begins with Tony on flute over rhythms that are directly reminiscent of open-hearted, late-'60s spirituality. A Portal to Here is a stunning addition to the WMD catalogue and a clear statement that the band continues to create and produce, whatever life throws its way.

This album is both a musical and political document that tells the story of one of the most brutal massacres that took place in 1976 in a Palestinian refugee camp during the Lebanese Civil War. Pianist Gaetano Liguori, along with Giulio Stocchi and Demetrio Stratos (the legendary singer of the band Area), composed this album, a gut-wrenching blend of free jazz, poetry, and Mediterranean music. The first edition was released in 1978 and, after almost 50 years, unfortunately, nothing seems to have changed. This is the third edition of the album, and as with the previous releases, all proceeds will go to charity. This time, Black Sweat have chosen to donate the funds to UNRWA.

At the end of the 1980s, Mariolina Zitta approached the world of natural sounds, studying musicology and developing a passion for speleology. Her encounter with Walter Maioli was fundamental, guiding and influencing her definitive research into sound archaeology and the primitive sources of musical acoustic phenomena. In these recordings Mariolina conducts a magical ritual as a cave priestess, celebrating the icons par excellence of the mysteries of the night: bats. The specific frequencies of the calls of these fascinating creatures are recorded with special detectors used by ecologists, and the result is an organic synthesizer. The fusion with the sounds of natural objects (stones, stalactites, logs, bone whistles, Tibetan bells, mouth bows, trumpet shells) and the vocal modulations of harmonic singing allow listeners to travel into a still unexplored sound dimension, through an evocative experience of total sensory listening. It is an arcane landscape filled with pure vibrations, magnetic resonances and aquatic sounds; an ancestral enchantment on the border between consciousness and dreams, a symbolic liturgy of primordial reverberations, echoes and whistles. Edition of 200 copies.

"Gagaku" is the oldest of the Japanese performing arts, with a history more than a thousand years old. The term refers to Japanese classical music and dance, traditionally performed by families of musicians linked to the ancient Imperial court, and later passed down in Buddhist temple ceremonies and Shinto shrines. Shiba Sukeyasu, founder and director of the Reigakusha ensemble, descends from the Koma clan, whose origins date back to the end of the 10th century. These recordings partly reflect repertoires borrowed from Chinese music between the 5th and 9th centuries. The incredible variety of timbres of the instruments greatly amplifies the listener's exotic imagination: the eternal breath of the flutes (ryuteki and hichiriki) creates a sort of suspension of time, together with the hypnotic and hallucinatory atmosphere of the mouth organs (shō). The meditative tone of the string instruments (bika and koto) that punctuate the voids and silences is impressive, as is the enigmatic percussion section, with the tolling of the gong (shōko) and the calibrated beats of the drums (taiko and kakko).

Reissue in white color vinyl. First time reissue of this French cold-wave/minimal-synth treasure. Originally released in November, 1981.

LP, one-time edition of 200 copies, pressed to 180g black vinyl and housed in a pro-printed jacket, contained in a silk-screened PVC sleeve. Returning with its final instalments, Die Schachtel's Decay Music series extends its explorations of inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract with Sergio Armaroli and David Toop's And I Entered Into Sleep, an astounding electroacoustic gesture of blurred space and time, plumbing complexity of meaning bound to sonority. Creatively groundbreaking and inspired, radically rethinking the terms of what ambient music can be perceived to be, it stands among the most striking efforts to appear within the series to date. Reconfiguring the notion of bridge building on a multitude of terms, it feels fitting that the tenth and final installment of Die Schachtel's Decay Music series, Sergio Armaroli and David Toop's And I Entered Into Sleep, was co-created by an artist whose work featured in the first suite of LPs issued by Brian Eno's Obscure Records in 1975, the groundwork toward which Decay Music's own efforts nod. David Toop has been regarded as a pioneer in British experimental and improvised music: a sonic voyager who has continuously challenged the sources and materiality of sound through rigorously thoughtful performances, a vast catalog of recordings, and a steady flow of highly influential texts. Be it as a member of Alterations, his group breaking group with Peter Cusack, Terry Day, and Steve Beresford that ran between 1977 to 1986, or through is noteworthy work with artists like Rie Nakajima, Thurston Moore, Paul Burwell, and numerous others, collaboration has always played a central role within Toop's singular practice. A composer, percussionist, vibraphonist, and multidisciplinary artist, Armaroli has been issuing radical and forward-thinking musical gestures for decades, working as one of Italy's most noteworthy interpreters of composer's like Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, Franco Evangelisti, Giancarlo Schiaffini, and Walter Branchi, as both a solo performer and member of the highly regarded Rib Trio, as well as forging a singular practice as a composer. Featuring Armaroli on vibraphone and prepared vibraphone and Toop on electronics, And I Entered Into Sleep is "a sonic journey, a Proustian suggestion à la Recherche, into the unconscious between electronic and acoustic sounds." Feeling almost subaquatic at times, each artist's markedly different sound-sources dance in abstract grace, incorporating subtle nods to minimalism, free jazz, and musique concrète. And I Entered Into Sleep traverses uncharted realms at the borders of literary reference, sound art, ambience and abstraction through delicately musical sounds, revealing new depths at every turn.

Mimosa Pudica brings together two works by Luciano Maggiore, both conceived as live performances structured around the presence and behavior of an audience. In both cases, rhythmic and formal elements arise from acts of observation and listening: eye contact, involuntary sounds, shifts of attention, hesitation, withdrawal. Mimosa Pudica reconstructs the conditions of these works in the absence of an audience. The record operates as a displacement: a concert without spectators, a live situation deprived of the social geometry that normally sustains it. What remains is not the trace of an event, but the internal workings of the pieces -- listening as response, rhythm as a fragile negotiation, sound as the outcome of relational tension. Recorded during a residency at Nub Project Space, the two works are built through layered actions performed by a single body, yet assembled to suggest the presence of a full room. The result is neither a straightforward studio construction nor a live recording, but a deliberate ambiguity: a record that imitates the dynamics of a concert while suspending its most recognizable cues. In straight lines, an uncertain whistle unfolds against a cluster of sine waves, punctuated by rhythmic elements triggered by imagined exchanges of gaze. Circle on circle on circle on circle, where murmurs and percussive gestures respond to barely perceptible sounds, evokes a spatial situation in which listening replaces any visual reference. In both works, rhythm does not present itself as a fixed structure, but as something contingent, dependent, and reversible. Only 100 copies available for international distribution, with white-on-black printed artwork on the sleeve plus insert with score and liner notes.

Sonor Music Editions presents the definitive reissue of Piero Piccioni's often unheralded soundtrack to the 1969 bittersweet Italian comedy classic Amore Mio Aiutami (Help Me, My Love), starring two giants of Italian cinema, Monica Vitti and Alberto Sordi. This soundtrack is a prime example of Piccioni's immense talent as a composer of timeless, lushly orchestrated lounge music -- a masterpiece of its era that rightfully deserves its place alongside his most cherished works from the same period, such as Colpo Rovente, Camille 2000, Appassionata, Il Dio Sotto La Pelle, and Travolti Da Un Insolito Destino Nell'Azzurro Mare D'Agosto (Swept Away). In recent years, it has found new life in the age of streaming, being extensively rediscovered and sampled within the hip-hop and lo-fi communities. Maestro Piero Piccioni remains one of the brightest shining stars among Italian composers from the golden age of cinema, soundtracks, and library music. With a prolific career that includes more than 300 film scores, Piccioni began his journey in the world of cinema in Rome during the 1950s. At the time, he was practicing law but soon began composing for film, developing a particularly close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi and Alberto Sordi. Among his vast body of work -- especially his collaborations with Sordi -- Amore Mio Aiutami stands at the pinnacle of Piccioni's oeuvre, showcasing his style of composition and production. The score moves seamlessly from sophisticated bossa and lounge pieces like "Amanda Strain," "North Pole Penguin," and the versions of "Bossa Per Alberto" -- performed with a smaller jazz combo -- to dreamy vocal pieces by Nora Orlandi and her choir, including "Miss Luna Special," "Luna Amore E No," and "Luna Non Sei Nessuna," featuring British actress and dancer Gloria Paul. The highlight, however, perhaps remains the pastoral main theme, where romantic strings intertwine with Piccioni's unmistakable sound and bittersweet melodies -- forever linked to Italian Commedia all'italiana films, of which Amore Mio Aiutami is a prime example. This revitalized reissue of Piero Piccioni's Amore Mio Aiutami soundtrack has been carefully remastered by Jonathan Dakers, lacquer-cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting, and packaged in a thick cardboard tip-on sleeve with fully restored artwork. It also includes two versions of "Bossa Per Alberto" as bonus tracks.

For over four decades, Masami Akita, the man behind Merzbow, has remained one of the most singular and uncompromising figures in experimental music. Known as a pioneer of Japanese noise and a tireless sonic innovator, Akita has consistently pushed boundaries, exploring sound not as a vehicle for melody or harmony, but as a raw material to be shaped, sculpted, and sometimes obliterated. Originally released on CD in 2003, Animal Magnetism is now receiving a long-overdue vinyl reissue -- a deluxe edition that not only revives the album but enhances it. This new edition has been meticulously remastered by Lasse Marhaug, a respected figure in noise and experimental music who brings new clarity, weight, and depth to the recordings. Spread across two vinyl LPs and housed in a gatefold sleeve, the reissue replicates the original artwork, including Masami Akita's own photographs, while also adding a previously unreleased bonus track, "Quiet Comfort #2." Animal Magnetism occupies a unique position in Merzbow's vast catalogue. It is a work that remains firmly rooted in the artist's signature approach -- dense layers of distortion, feedback, and electronic debris -- but it also stands out for its sense of structure, variation, and surprising accessibility. It's an album that, while intense, is not impenetrable. It invites the listener to explore its textures and uncover subtle melodic patterns and rhythmic shifts beneath the surface noise. What makes Animal Magnetism distinctive is its balance between harsh noise and a more refined, composed sensibility. Where many Merzbow albums plunge into total abstraction, this one maintains a sense of movement and progression. The newly added bonus track, "Quiet Comfort #2," fits seamlessly into the album's sound world. It serves as both a continuation and a reflection, extending the album's themes while offering something fresh. Animal Magnetism is not just for seasoned noise fans, but also for adventurous listeners looking for a unique and challenging experience that rewards attention and repeated listening. Pressed on 100% black virgin vinyl to ensure optimum audio quality, housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring Akita's original photographs, limited to 299 copies. This edition is a must-have for collectors and newcomers alike: an essential document of an artist who continues to redefine the outer edges of sound. Absolutely essential.

After forty years, the enigmatic Italian collective Capricorni Pneumatici's lost opus, Über Artaud, finally emerges complete. Originally conceived in 1987 as an electronic sonorization of Antonin Artaud's censored 1947 radio work "Pour En finir avec le Jugement de Dieu," this mysterious project showcases masterful use of FM synthesis via the iconic Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, creating dark ritualistic soundscapes akin to Throbbing Gristle and Nurse With Wound. In the widening realms of uncovered Italian outsider art and cursed musical enigmas, few discoveries prove as compelling as the resurgence of Über Artaud. After nearly four decades from its original conception, this work returns in a completely remastered LP edition and, for the first time, in its definitive and complete form via Vasopressin. Capricorni Pneumatici emerged from the Italian underground during the late '80s as one of the most mysterious and elusive projects of the era. Little is known about the collective beyond their dedication to researching the esoteric and ritual implications of music and sounds. The name itself, derived from Aleister Crowley's work, hints at the radical and visionary approach that would define their influential existence, evolving from acoustic/concrete music toward the darker territories of electronic manipulation. Composed between November and December 1987, Über Artaud was born from a temporally charged coincidence: exactly forty years after Antonin Artaud's apocalyptic radio work Pour En finir avec le Jugement de Dieu (November 28, 1947) was censored and never aired due to its blasphemous content and violent critique of Western civilization. This piece, featuring Artaud alongside Roger Blin, Maria Casarès, and Paule Thévenin, represents one of the most radical expressions of his "Theater of Cruelty" philosophy. The album demonstrates an extraordinary mastery of FM synthesis, extracting from the Yamaha DX7 a universe of complex timbres and intricate stratifications. Capricorni Pneumatici's electronic manipulations function as both artistic statement and esoteric ritual. The original cassette edition of Über Artaud was produced in an extremely limited edition through underground channels but remained incomplete, lacking the sonorization of Artaud's final "Conclusion" section. After almost forty years, the work finally finds completion with an additional track, recorded in 2024, that blends seamlessly with the original material. This new LP edition was sourced from the original tapes, remastered by Capricorni Penumatici, and optimized for vinyl pressing by Andrea Marutti. Coming as a black vinyl housed in a poly-lined sleeve, released in a limited-edition of 150 copies, Über Artaud transforms Artaud's censored radio work into a revelatory aural experience, connecting the prophetic vision with the dark electronic sensibility of the Italian underground.

In March 1969, the Velvets (with Doug Yule now on bass) embarked on a nationwide tour. One of these dates included a stint at the "End Of Cole Avenue" club in Dallas, one of the Velvets' few live performances where a professional sound engineer was actually on hand to record the sets. Some of the songs recorded over those few nights showed up in 1974 on their 1969: Velvet Underground Live album, but the sound quality was not great due to the use of third or fourth generation tapes. However, the first-generation tapes have since resurfaced, and the difference in sound quality (heard here) is a welcome one.

This new album by Eric Random coincides with the start of the last Cabaret Voltaire tour, for which Eric joined as a member. The album marks a contrast to his most recent releases, less dance-oriented and with a darker pop tone and a cinematic, soundtrack-like atmosphere.

"Muluken Mèllèssè leaves posterity with a clear idea of the level of sophistication and mastery that modern Ethiopian music had reached before it was crushed under the military-Stalinist boot of the Derg. Betraying the singer's extreme youth (he was not yet 18 at the time), his angelic voice fooled more than one listener into thinking they were hearing a female singer. It was Muluken who inaugurated the Ethiopiques series more than twenty years ago with Hédètch alu, the B-side of his first single. He was not yet 22 when he released his last vinyl record on Kaifa Records (KF 39LP) in 1976, one of the last released in Ethiopia before the cassette became the dominant medium for music distribution. Ethiopia, 1976. For a year now, cassettes have been inexorably crushing the vinyl record market. Muluken Mellesse's 33 rpm album Muluqän Mälläsä, produced that year by Ali Abdella Kaifa on his Kaifa Records label, is historic in more ways than one. It is one of the last vinyl records released in Ethiopia, but more than that it is the absolute masterpiece of Ethiopian Groove -- and its swansong. It leaves posterity with a clear idea of the level of sophistication and mastery that modern Ethiopian music had reached before it was crushed under the military-Stalinist boot of the Derg -- the word that stands for the bloody revolution that had been underway since 1974."

Assembled by Pedro Alves Sousa, Má Estrela is a conjuration of ideas and obsessions around dub, leftfield dance phenomena and the hypnotic potential of urban somnambulance. In a levitating state, not exactly detached from the unease of these end times, Sousa surrounds himself by a number of accomplices from past and present endeavors to project a scrying mirror reflection of distinct languages of trance and liberation -- dub's space and infinity, jungle and footwork's broken shards, DJ Screws legacy perpetually reanimated via numerous slowed down anonymous versions on Youtube and the lyricism and fire of jazz. Temporarily a quartet, comprised of Sousa on saxophone and its electronic processing, Bruno Silva and Simão Simões on electronics and Gabriel Ferrandini on acoustic and electronic drums, after the departure of Miguel Abras, Má Estrela had in their 2022 debut album their first document of this ongoing process that's now continued with Tornada. Miguel Abras has since been replaced with Bruna de Moura and Má Estrela came back to being a five piece. Tornada deepens the symbiotic connection between those rhythmic, melodic and textural particles in a mutating flux of continuities and disruptions throughout seven tracks. Featuring the invocations of Elvin Brandhi in "All You Did," Tornada makes its way amidst harmonic specters, rhythmic debris that breathe for life and a certain, implicit idea of ritual that sustains itself liminally between the ethereal dissolution of time and the physical projection of space.

"Stephan Micus is a musical globetrotter and multi-instrumentalist who has been exploring the diversity of sounds on the planet for almost five decades. Since the release of his debut album in the 1970s, he has recorded nearly 30 albums -- always on his own and with an impressive range of wind, string and percussion instruments from all over the world. As a self-taught musician, he has always been passionate about traditional and exotic instruments, which he not only explores in their original playing style, but also places in a completely new context using unconventional techniques. Over the years, Micus has developed an unmistakable musical language that has long since become his trademark. His soundscapes transport listeners to distant places and open up meditative spaces full of beauty and depth. They show that instruments from different cultures can blend together in harmony -- a musical vision that conveys hope and connectedness. With Behind Eleven Deserts, Stephan Micus presents a work of exceptional radiance. Originally composed in 1978, it combines the Balinese bamboo flute suling with the Indian sarangi, whose warm timbre is reminiscent of a cello. The sound spectrum is complemented by the Indian sitar and the Irish frame drum bodhran. The result is a multi-layered and timeless soundscape that transcends cultural boundaries and at the same time leads deep into meditative spheres. Now, Behind Eleven Deserts is being released for the first time in the INTUITION Master Series as a carefully remastered 180-gram vinyl edition by Intuition Music -- a masterpiece that, more than four decades after its creation, has lost none of its intensity and relevance."

4K Ultra HD. Region code: 0. "In early 1980s New York City, independent filmmaker Charlie Ahearn and downtown artist Fred Brathwaite ventured uptown with the aim of capturing an exciting new underground scene that was happening in the South Bronx, a scene that featured graffiti artists, breakdancing b-boys and two turntables and a microphone. The result was Wild Style, and to many viewers it was their first glimpse of the musical and cultural phenomenon called hip-hop. In this unique hybrid of fiction and documentary, the story of lone graffiti artist Lee 'Zoro' Quiñones trying to achieve success on his own terms is brought to vivid life with support by Fred 'Fab 5 Freddy' Brathwaite, Sandra 'Lady Pink' Fabara, and Patti Astor, and with historic music performances by such luminaries as Grandmaster Flash, Busy Bee, The Fantastic Five, The Cold Crush Brothers, and The Rock Steady Crew. To create the score, Chris Stein (Blondie) would collaborate with Brathwaite to produce the actual breakbeats to be used in the film, an inspired decision that would provide a source of obsession among crate diggers for decades to come. Endlessly sampled, imitated and debated, Wild Style is the truest portrait of the hip-hop scene during its early years, and remains one of the most important music films ever made. Arrow Films is proud to present Wild Style in an exclusive new 4K restoration with hours of brand-new bonus features, vintage interviews and featurettes."

"This debut album captures Massive Dread at an early stage of his career when he was starting to make a name for himself as a unique voice in reggae. The production has that classic late-'70s roots vibe -- deep basslines, steady drum rhythms, and dub influences mixed with Massive Dread's distinctive vocal style. The album contains a mix of vocal tracks and deejay toasting, showcasing Massive Dread's versatility. His style helped bridge the gap between the roots reggae era and the rising dancehall movement."

Witchess is an experimental concept album by drummer and composer Francesca Remigi, which blends music, spoken words, and political concepts together to explore themes of feminism, social justice, and historical memory. Drawing on the radical voices of Angela Davis and Silvia Federici, the album confronts the intersections of gender, race, and capitalism, tracing the roots of gender violence from witch-hunt to today's systemic economic inequalities. Through edgy compositions and spoken excerpts, the music calls for a feminism that is deeply intersectional and transformative, not merely inclusive. Each track becomes a sonic essay -- reflecting on the erasure of women, the colonial legacy of patriarchal violence, and the role of art and music in revolutionary movements. Combining improvisation with political urgency, Witchess offers not only a listening experience but a space for critical reflection and collective liberation.

"Malesch, the debut album by Agitation Free, is a critically acclaimed 1970s krautrock masterpiece known for its unique blend of psychedelic, experimental, and Middle Eastern-influenced music. It features instrumental jams, spacey atmosphere, and electronic devices, creating a 'cosmic' soundscape with mesmerizing hypnotic rhythms. Reviewers highlight the album as a milestone in the genre, praising its 'meta-music' and originality while noting its experimental and sometimes 'trippy' nature. When the band came together in 1967 as a result of the merging of two Berlin rock groups, one of the most interesting groups in a dawning independent German music scene was created. With their improvisations between rock, jazz and new music, Agitation Free -- soon relegated to the not so flattering category of 'Krautrock' -- made musical forays into areas that few of their fellow German musicians had ever penetrated. At a time when most in Germany were still orienting themselves as closely as possible to Anglo-American musical formats, Agitation Free found a completely new and very original form of musical expression. Starting with their debut album Malesch, Agitation Free delivered a fascinating sound, influenced not least by the manifold impressions from a Near East tour. The band moved toward a form of meta-music, a weaving of exotic-sounding compositions. The album has been justly regarded as a milestone in the genre, especially abroad. Looking back, it's evident that the Agitation Free was one of the most important bands of the experimental circle known as the 'Berlin School,' and a career springboard for a whole slew of musicians. At the same time, this policy of changing personnel also meant risking that the band couldn't keep itself together over the long run. Agitation Free consciously took this risk in order to remain as close as possible to their own concept - free from commercial pressure or concessions to the latest trends and modes."

"Here, in the luminous hush between breath and presence, Sentient Being unfolds. With a lush analog palette of sustained ambient currents, Steve Roach sculpts timeless textural worlds and atmospheres of immersive depth expressing the contours of an inner world where awareness thrives. The six tracks organically reveal the intimacy of present-moment perception and emotion. 'These pieces,' he says, 'explore consciousness through direct engagement. Rather than referencing the term in its philosophical context, 'sentient being' describes the experience of perceiving, encountering, and creating from one's own mindfulness. It evokes the subtle drift of deeper meditative states into the moment of now.' This is Roach at his most intimate and contemplative: sumptuous sonics and grounding immersive realms. Each piece rises out of silence, carrying emotional warmth and the shimmer of the ineffable; gentle companions, at once expansive and heartfelt, are shaped by a master of the audible arts. The music seems dreamed more than composed -- a current of consciousness where a place of knowing rises from within. Emerging from deep presence and surrender, it evokes the gentle pulse of awareness itself. The grace of sensing and reflecting allows the music to speak truths that words cannot reach. Here, sound is feeling. Here, attention has texture. Here, the invisible becomes tenderly audible. This is the sound of being awake inside your own existence."

"Each of them approached music in a fundamentally different way. Aymeric Avice, originally from Normandy, grew up looking at the sea in a family where music was ever-present; he naturally got involved too and was introduced to jazz by his sister, a double bass player; he then committed himself entirely to music. Luke Stewart was born in Mississippi, a southern state whose history is marked by racism; he studied music and jazz there before moving north to Washington DC and then New York. Chad Taylor, born in Arizona into a family of musicians, moved at pre-teen age to Chicago, where he took up the drums after trying his hand at the guitar; it was there that he began his rich and brilliant career alongside some of the most important musicians of Chicago. Despite these differences in approach to music, it is obvious that they all three speak the same musical language, no matter how or where they learned it. A language that comes from afar, developed, shaped, and modified over the years by hundreds of jazz musicians. A language that they themselves, through the originality and creativity of the music they are playing, also contribute to enriching. While each of them, individually, was already part of this community of musicians who are shaping jazz, they are now part of it as a trio. Deep in the Earth, High in the Sky opens and closes delicately with two tracks on which Luke Stewart and Chad Taylor have swapped their double bass and drums for the mbira. While perfectly integrated into the whole, these two pieces allow to gently enter this rich, brilliant, abundant musical universe and to emerge from it serenely, musically enriched. Listen without moderation. These three were meant to meet. Just the beginning of a long journey, hopefully."

WRWTFWW Records presents a super limited vinyl release of Christine Aufderhaar and City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra's original soundtrack for the critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning 2022 animated-documentary film Aurora's Sunrise. The release comes as a 45rpm double LP in a heavyweight sleeve with inside out print. Aurora's Sunrise is directed by Inna Sahakyan, and tells the extraordinary true story of Aurora Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian genocide who later became an actress in the United States. The film combines animated storytelling, archival footage, interviews, and rediscovered scenes from the 1919 silent film, and one of Hollywood's first blockbusters, Auction of Souls, in which Aurora starred. Aurora's Sunrise was Armenia's official submission for the 95th Academy Awards for best international feature film. It has won over 20 international prizes. The composer, Christine Aufderhaar, is an accomplished German composer based in Berlin and Los Angeles, with over 20 years of experience and more than 50 films to her name. Her background spans classical, jazz, film scoring, and contemporary orchestral work, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards for her work. The soundtrack performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is deeply emotional, blending intimate melodies and majestic orchestral work, and weaving together themes of memory, survival, loss, and hope. A perfect fit for collectors of film scores, contemporary classical music, and limited vinyl releases.

"Geologist is the nom-de-théâtre of Brian Weitz, whose pursuits have been an active part of the music underground since he was 15, playing and working in alignment with an organic ensemble of friends that would one day choose to call what they were doing Animal Collective. Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? migrates from that tradition, containing a number of surprise affects of its own. It is the first step into a rippling songscape in which his hurdy gurdy gives and takes multiple forms, an epic electro-acoustic textile of many colors cut from the life and times of Brian Weitz. It's an inspired ride through his phases and stages, with traditional sounds, ritual moods, avant, prog-jazz, kraut, post-punk and minimalist vibes merging in electronic infinity. Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights?, lit like a constellation, threads impulses and happenings across space, cherry picking from his psychic archive: the vibe of an energizing drive from Tucson into the desert, taken repeatedly in the early aughts; an incendiary live witness one night in the clubs in 1998; the unending thrill of the mind-meld in eternal recurrence. Geologist uses the drone and chanter strings, whose possibilities blew open the walls for him back then, to highlight these moments in the kaleidoscopic flow of memory. As he set the controls to account for a multitude of directions on this long-promised journey, Brian took inspiration from late-dawning solo eras of players like Bill Orcutt and Susan Alcorn. Then, hurdy gurdy in hand, Geologist realized structures, improvisations and rhythm tracks at home before seeking other energies at Asheville's Drop of Sun Studio. At the session, Adam McDaniel helped a lot -- he drafted drummers Emma Garau, Alianna Kalaba (FACS, Cat Power) and Ryan Oslance (The Dead Tongues, Indigo De Souza), Sham's Shane McCord on clarinets and Mikey Powers on cello. Through vagaries of fate, Brian got Adam Lion to play vibraphone in a few places, Dave 'Avey Tare' Portner for a couple bass tracks, and his son, Merrick Weitz, on acoustic guitar for 'Government Job.' Izzy Barber painted the front cover and gatefold, capturing that Tucson magic, and Bob Nastanovich lettered the back cover, supplying additional pieces of time and space to the puzzle. Through the mystery and science of record making, Geologist refracts beatifically through his back pages throughout Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights?"

Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway were members of the folk-rock group Eclection, who released an album in August 1968 on Elektra Records. After the group disbanded in 1969, they formed Fotheringay with Lucas's girlfriend Sandy Denny, who had recently left Fairport Convention. The Fairports were recording mostly traditional folk material at this time and Denny left the group so that she could perform more of her own compositions. The BBC session on side one of this LP features songs from the first Fotheringay album and took place at the Playhouse Theatre on April 13th 1970. The songs on side two were recorded at BBC's Maida Vale Studios in November 1970. They are "off-air" recordings but the sound quality is still very good.

2026 repress on vinyl; Deluxe 3LP box version with an 8-page, large-format lyric booklet and printed innersleeves. "Joanna Newsom releases her first album since late 2006's Ys, making up for lost time with a disc for 2008, one for 2009 and one for today. Featuring Ryan Francesconi and Neal Morgan from Joanna's Ys Street Band, Have One On Me is an extravagantly packaged collection of fantastic new Joanna Newsom songs -- her most colorful record to date."

LP version. Yellow color vinyl. "The Soft Pink Truth (Drew Daniel also of Matmos) grafts chamber music and electronic music into a beguiling new hybrid pop album that evokes mid-20th century film soundtracks with nods to minimalism. Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? features artwork by Robert Beatty (Tame Impala, The Weeknd). The new album features a host of special guests: Bill Orcutt offers one of his most delicate performances committed to record. Other guests include strings arranger Ulas Kurugullu, harpists Neleta Ortiz and Cecilia Cuccolin, pianists Koye Berry and M.C. Schmidt, the Ebu String Quartet, as well as woodwinds played by Brandon Wilkins and Evelyn Frances and Zach Rowden of celebrated noise duo Tongue Depressor provides grinding double bass drones. Wedding emotional expression with canny references to the inherited history of recorded music, the chimes, organ and pizzicato strings on 'Phrygian Ganymede' recall Bernard Herrmann's scores for classic Alfred Hitchcock films, while galloping marimbas lend a sense of screwball comedy on 'L'Esprit de L'Escalier.' Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? is a singular album that speaks to the prowess of Drew Daniel as a composer and producer, deftly interlacing pop structure and classical timbre while interlacing subtle electronic sound design with gorgeous acoustics. Across the album Daniel embraces a spirit of drama and romanticism that blurs the boundaries between unconscious desire and everyday reality. The Soft Pink Truth has created a sound world of lavish fantasy that acts as a balm and counterpoint to the communal pains of modern life."

"Like that clubber throwing dancefloor etiquette out of the window, The Soft Pink Truth create thrills in their quest for something deeper." --The Quietus

"[Daniel] excoriates populism by making protest a deeply sensual act" --Uncut

Between 1987 and 1988, when Seattle was still a circuit of small clubs, four-track tapes and bands sharing drummers, Jack Endino went in to record one of the most solid -- and most unfairly invisible -- outfits of that scene: Bundle Of Hiss. Those sessions fell into limbo, stored in the basement of Dan Peters (who would soon go on to Mudhoney) and for years they were a kind of pre-grunge legend: everyone knew they existed, but there was no record, until Loveless Records from NYC released it on CD. This Bang! Records LP is, finally, that record. It gathers the core of those 1987-1988 recordings done by Endino: the moment when the band is tighter, darker and closer to what the press would later call the "Seattle sound": minor-key melodies, thick fuzz, vocals on the edge, and that mix of hard rock, punk and Sabbath-like heaviness fans would later hear in Mudhoney, TAD or early Soundgarden. Bang! Records is releasing this album on vinyl for the first time, just as it should have come out in the late '80s: a basement document turned into a collectible artifact. For those who want real grunge, not the domesticated version. Here is Bundle of Hiss exactly as Jack Endino captured them in 1987-1988.

LP version. Red color vinyl. "Barry Walker Jr. is a pedal steel player and guitarist whose roots in Americana, country and folk traditions influence his melding of minimalism, ambient and spiritual music. The Portland-based instrumentalist is also a member of the Rose City Band, known for his gorgeous phrasing and deft interplay with guitarist Ripley Johnson. On Paleo Sol, Walker demonstrates his singular voice as a pedal steel player and composer. Evoking the American western ranges and basins, the album embodies a longer, geologic view of time that patiently marvels at the ripples of change throughout lifetimes and ages. Walker is joined on Paleo Sol by drummer Rob Smith (Rhytion, Pigeons) and bassist and Mouth Painter bandmate Jason Willmon (Fruited Planes). Paleo Sol's tranquil landscapes glide, built on warm finger-picked guitar figures and pedal steel swells coupled with deft percussion and bass touches by Smith and Willmon respectively. The trio plays with exceptional fluidity either completing each other's' phrasing or working together to build momentum. Smith notes: 'The drums are not keeping time as much as evidencing its elasticity, mixing into the other instruments, changing phase states.' Every gesture on the album is rich with intention, moving with grace and playing with timbre and time. The pieces of Paleo Sol were composed during a monumental shift in Walker's own life, around the birth of his first child. Walker's compositions are guided by a serenity and gentleness that makes for a dreamy soundtrack. His acumen as a composer and instrumentalist are on full display on Paleo Sol. The album is a gorgeous reflection of Walker's own internal world as well as the detailed environment he's spent so much of his life exploring as a field geologist.

"In human reckoning, the essence of the solid earth is mostly still. Those engaged in deep time inquiry recognize the vigor of Earth's behavior, and quiescence is a small part of the action." --Barry Walker

"This is drift music, sustained by dusky drones and quiet fingerstyle. Everything's as gentle as a sunkissed stream. The pathways that once felt free and clear now sport an uneasy shade, yet the guitar picks on." --NPR Music