2026 repress. "Water Damage don't play songs. They invoke states. It's not rock and roll, it's ritual repetition therapy, like if Glenn Branca got stuck in a feedback loop with La Monte Young and they both forgot what year it was -- Texas 2025 or Berlin 1972 or maybe just eternity's parking lot. This isn't music for driving -- unless you're driving into the sun with your eyes rolled back and the gas pedal held down with a cinderblock of intent. Captured in Utrecht, Netherlands at the almighty Le Guess Who? Festival, where churches tremble and strobes reflect off every holy surface, Live at Le Guess Who? is a document of sustained sonic immolation. Eight members. Two drummers. Multiple stringed instruments. One saxophone. All hammering away at 'Reel 25,' captured live here shortly after the recorded version which would end up becoming the lead track on their most recent double LP Instruments. A single idea drilling into the molten center of your skull with the grace of a jackhammer ballet. It's not a show. It's a slow-motion landslide with amps. And for this particular descent into the drone abyss, Water Damage were joined by two very special fellow travelers and honorary members: Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy, University Challenged) adding six-string sorcery and smolder, and Patrick Shiroishi, the free-reed exorcist himself who is a guest on Instruments and just happened to be at Le Guess Who? as well, channeling ghosts through saxophones like he's trying to crack the sky. As if Water Damage weren't already enough of a wall, these two brought the ceiling and the floor. Water Damage, the Austin psych-drone monolith with the un-Googleable name and the wall-of-amplifiers ethos, doesn't just flirt with chaos -- they drag it behind the van and mic up the gravel. Their motto? 'Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation.' Which sounds like the world's most menacing yoga class or a commandment from some amp-fried cult, and maybe it is. This ain't no avant-noise chin-stroke either. It's hot and dense and loud like a steel mill hallucination, and if you find yourself dissociating mid-set, that just means it's working. This is music that doesn't 'build' -- it grinds. It gnaws. And then it blooms. If you're lucky, it leaves you somewhere softer. Le Guess Who? handed them the altar. Water Damage, Saggar, and Shiroishi set it on fire."

2026 repress; LP version. As the first entry in its catalog, French label Akuphone presents a reissue of Lily Chao's Chinese Folk Songs, originally released by Four Seas Records in 1968. This edition includes four previously unheard titles and exclusive liner notes containing Lily Chao's biography and lyric translations. Chao Xiao-Jun aka Lily Chao was born in Taiwan in 1948, while mainland China was rapidly undergoing major changes immediately following the end of the Chinese Civil War. After experiencing hard times in her girlhood, she ventured out into singing quite unwillingly. Indeed, at age 19, Lily Chao was compelled to give up her studies to support her family and start a career as a singer, after passing an audition at the Taipei Cabaret in Taiwan. The cabaret industry was in full swing at the time, offering destinations for popular entertainment, and Lily Chao's efforts to launch her singing career immediately attracted producers' attention. Her appearances at the Taipei Cabaret as part of its shows, which combined music in Mandarin, poetry, drama, magic, and other fine arts, soon earned her a reputation. Despite the immediate success that her numerous stage performances and appearances on the national television channel won her, Lily Chao led a chaotic and painful private life. As she smiled very little and tended to appear distant, the audience dubbed her the "Ice Queen," a nickname that she would keep for the rest of her career. This barely-concealed melancholy can be felt throughout Chinese Folk Songs, as well as in her very particular way of singing, which is both jerky and perfectly fluid. The album stands halfway between Mandarin folk songs and rock singing inspired by The Shadows, all surf guitar and garage sounds recorded with pinpoint precision and enhanced by saxophone and organ touches, while Lily Chao's intoxicating vibratos bring a pinch of soul to the music. An outstanding achievement of timeless pop music from the 1960s.

Color vinyl version. A cornerstone in European experimental and popular modern composition. Formed around the core of jazz vibraphonist Christian Burchard and drummer Dieter Serfas, the group started his career in Munich in 1969. More than 300 musicians have passed through their ranks, from their colleagues in Amon Duül II (Lother Meid, Chris Karrer, Jimmy Jackson), Xhol (Hansi Fischer), Between (Roberto Detree, Peter Hamel) to renowned jazzmen (Charlie Mariano, Mal Waldron) and countless musicians from around the world (Yoruba Dun Dun Orchester, Okay Temiz & Oriental Wind, Karnataka College Of Percussion, Mahmoud Gania, Xizhi Nie), making Embryo an ever-changing but always interesting collective of musicians. This is where it all began. Originally released by Ohr in 1970, Embryo's legendary debut was an inventive piece of progressive jazz-rock spiced-up with free moves and soaked in a late '60s psychedelic atmosphere. Miles Davis was right, Embryo was more than a unique experience. While talking with Charlie Mariano (the saxophone player was one of the most impressive collaborators of the band) one day he stated: "Embryo -- they are these crazy creative musicians playing really weird stuff." When you get the blessing from the prince of darkness itself, nothing can go wrong, so here's the story. Opal was the beginning of all things to come, the record was released in 1970 and licensed by pioneering early Berlin rock/jazz/experimental music label Ohr. It was quite a shock!

"Glorious vinylization of this 2022­duo session, originally issued as a cassette, documenting the first time Suzuki and Noyes ever collaborated. Ayami Suzuki has become known to cognoscenti for her brilliantly imagined vocal improvisations, through recordings with like-minded folks such as French vocalist/polymath Delphine Dora and avant hurdy gurdy player, TOMO. Rob Noyes has developed a parallel reputation as a master third-generation acoustic guitarist in the post-Takoma tradition. Originally based in the U.S. he wisely relocated to Tokyo several years ago. Which is where this meeting took place, and while I initially assumed the music had been composed to some degree. Rob assured me that was not true. He says, 'I think the recording can seem like something we took a lot of time with and discussed/composed to some degree, but we actually just agreed to meet at a rehearsal studio. It took a little more than an hour to track it all, without ever having played together before or even really discussing the approach we were going to take. I just tuned my guitar to a different tuning for each one and we let it roll.' The results kinda speak for themselves, but I was blown away by the notion they had never collaborated previously. The intimate nature of their blend recalls such long-time collusionists as Tim Buckley & Lee Underwood or Loren Connors & Suzanne Langille. Rob's delicate instrumental arcs create a perfect net for Ayami's vocals, which are usually wordless (although they always feel weighted with emotional content). It's a mesmeric pairing of voices. Which I can only hope is the first of many. Classic Fevers and Chills is a perfect soundtrack for spring, unconditionally magical." --Byron Coley, 2026

London Records presents a new compilation Hit That Perfect Beat: The London Records Story, a double CD featuring 40 classics. Released alongside a new major podcast Hit That Perfect Beat: The story of London Records (5 episodes), the compilation showcases the incredible success, breadth, and variety of the London Records with over 40 top 40 hits, 20 top 10 hits, 15 Top 5s and 5 number 1s. Featuring select tracks from the '80s, '90s and '00s, Hit That Perfect Beat traverses synthpop (Blancmange, Bronski Beat), rave and D'n'B (Orbital, CJ Bolland, Goldie, Armand Van Helden) Britpop (Menswear, Gay Dad), antidote pop groups (All Saints, East 17), Y2K pop (Sugababes, Dannii Minogue) and monster global hits (Fine Young Cannibals, Bananarama, Shakespeares Sister) and more (such as Happy Mondays, Brand New Heavies, Echo & The Bunnymen, Flowered Up). Featuring liner notes from journalist Siân Pattenden (former writer for Smash Hits, The Face, Select Magazine), who is also the presenter of the podcast, this is the perfect introduction to the one of the world's most exciting and dynamic labels. Also featuring The Bluebells, Total Contrast, Carmel, The Communards, Hothouse Flowers, D Mob, Cookie Crew, Jimmy Somerville, Voice of The Beehive, Flowered Up, Utah Saints, New Order, Marcella Detroit, Berri, Stretch & Vern, The Mike Flowers Pops, Lisa Marie Experience, The All Seeing I, Asian Dub Foundation, Artful Dodger, and Sugababes.

"The Miller Brothers, Roger (Mission of Burma, etc. etc. etc.), Laurence (Destroy All Monsters, etc. etc. etc.) and Benjamin (Destroy All Monsters, etc. etc. etc.) grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan in a musical family. When the Beatles hit in 1964 Roger was 12 and Laurence and Benjamin were 10, all three ready to rock. Their first band, which covered 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Kinks, Yardbirds, performed two shows summer 1967. In 1969, their spontaneous improv. session Freak Trio Electric sealed the fate towards Sproton Layer. With a complete belief in weed as the doorway to an alternate universe, Roger began a furious bout of composing that spring. There was a lull in the summer, but in the fall, with the addition of Harold Kirchen (brother of Bill Kirchen, Commander Cody) on trumpet, they were off and running again. A few recordings were made in 1969 with one mic on the ping-pong table, and Mark Brahce, set up his first session with the band. The best of these recordings make up the '1969' side of Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates. At the end of August 1970, Mark Brahce recorded their album With Magnetic Fields Disrupted in the Miller family recreation room, and the band promptly folded when they got no notice or response. Their brand of psychedelia was on the wane. They reformed briefly in 1971 as an instrumental trio but played only two shows before disbanding in that incarnation. They reformed for a series of five shows in 2013 with Steve Smith on trumpet. The '1969' side of Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates consists of songs that didn't make it onto With Magnetic Fields Disrupted, and the '1971' side are all spontaneous Free Rock/Space Jams, with their very unique take on this matter. After Sproton Layer folded, all brothers kept extremely active and continue creating music to this very day. In chronological order, after the demise of Sproton Layer: The Fourth World Quartet, Empool, Destroy All Monsters, Mission of Burma, Nonfiction, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, GKW, M3, Larynx Zillion's Novelty Shop, No Man, Mister Laurence and his Play Money Band, The Alloy/Anvil Orchestra, Solo Multiphonic Guitar, Binary System, The Mister Laurence Experience, Third Border, M2, Transistor, Trinary System, The Sensorium Saxophone Ensemble, Exploded View, Porcelain Hammer, The Sensorium Chamber Ensemble, Tinn Parrow, and his Clapfold Platune, Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble, and many many more."

Includes new album Rotation (LP 1), High Low presented on vinyl for the first time (LP 2), debut album Trickfinger I on green vinyl (LPs 3 and 4), and Trickfinger II on red vinyl (LP 5). "When I recorded the first two Trickfinger records, I had recently discovered that you could make electronic music in a room with a bunch of synced machines going at the same time, record it on a CD burner and have a finished track. I've heard this process described as 'overdubbing into the air.' I wasn't trying to be good, or original. I was just excited that music could be made that way; it felt like I was a whole group of musicians playing together, or like I was jamming with ghosts of myself. In 2007, I started doing it myself, which resulted in what was eventually released as Trickfinger, and Trickfinger II. I was just home from tour and was still in the middle of recording The Empyrean. A couple of years later I started making music by overdubbing onto a computer, but using the same machines. I tried to make music that didn't sound like anything else. I saw a way of combining progressive rock and synth pop which nobody had done. And I was combining my songwriting and guitar playing with these old machines in a way which I was sure was unique. I had reached a point where it was more important to do something original than to do something good. Some of this music did not get a proper release, and is compiled here as the vinyl record High Low. I don't think I have ever tried so hard at making music as I did during that period. This in contrast to those two Trickfinger records, where I wasn't trying at all. I was really pushing myself on High Low. Looking back, it was as if I had an audience inside myself, driving me to go beyond my abilities, while at the same time I had a total disregard for any concept of an actual audience. It was one of those periods in life where things come together in a certain way that feels natural at the time, but seems foreign in retrospect. It felt like I was going to die if I didn't do something musically different. The fourth record in this box is me breaking in a new mixing console, making live-to-stereo music. The record is called Rotation, and it is all new music. These tracks are more in the 'not trying' category, since we're on that subject. I had just come home from tour, and was just really glad to be in the studio with my machines. Acid Test thought it would be nice to do a box set commemorating the 10th anniversary of the release of Trickfinger, and so we put together this box set, with homemade cover art." --John Frusciante, 2026

Featuring DJ Anderson do Paraiso, DJ Sandrinho, Jonas Albrecht, Xexa, Felinto, Gabi Guedes, Sávio de Queiroz, Vincent Taeger, and Kimia. Upon their arrival in Brazil after the traumatic Atlantic crossing, enslaved populations from West Africa sought to reconstruct their sacred cultural and spiritual systems within a profoundly hostile environment. Five centuries later, the vitality of terreiros (ritual grounds) across the country bears witness to a living and adaptive religion that continues to evolve while remaining deeply rooted in ancestral traditions. Today, Candomblé is celebrated throughout Brazil and increasingly recognized internationally, far beyond Afro-descendant communities. The project Candomblé: Sacred Rhythms in Brazil, articulated around the publication of a book and a double LP combining original sound archives with newly commissioned compositions, seeks to honor this tradition by documenting its historical foundations while offering a critical and artistic reflection on its contemporary transformations and future trajectories.

"The German-British progressive rock band Message was formed in the fall of 1968 by bassist Horst Stachelhaus (who later played with Birth Control from 1977 to 1979). In the spring of 1970, British musician Alan Murdoch joined the band. Murdoch brought his friend and fellow countryman, saxophonist Tom McGuigan, into the band. With guitarist and singer Billy Tabbert and drummer Gerhard Schaber, Message eventually became a quintet. Billy Tabbert had previously played in a band with Derek Moore and Ron Howden, who would later become founding members of Nektar. Message debuted in 1970 with the single 'Sunshine Girl' (B-side: 'Bubble Gum'). This was released on Bellaphon. For their second single, 'Smile' (B-side: 'Painted Lady') from 1971, the band switched to the new progressive rock label Bacillus, which was distributed by Bellaphon. Under the direction of producer Peter Hauke (Nine Days Wonder, Pell Mell, Nektar, etc.) and sound engineer Dieter Dierks, the debut album The Dawn Anew Is Comin' was released in 1972. Nektar keyboardist and singer Allan 'Taff' Freeman appeared as a guest musician. Critics and audiences responded enthusiastically to Message's debut album. Yet despite the success, Schaber and Tabbert left the band. In August 1973, Message released their second album From Books and Dreams for Bacillus, once again with Hauke and Dierks at the controls. The band was now a quartet with Günther Klingel on drums. On their second LP, the band celebrated Krautrock-influenced hard rock with progressive and experimental elements. Both albums are being released remastered with bonus material as a double CD in a digisleeve (eco pack)."

Blue Hour is the most recent release from Friday Night Plans, recently signed by Modern Obscure Music. The project marks FNP's shift from their "pop" roots towards a more experimental and ambient sound. Friday Night Plans is pioneered by singer/songwriter Masumi who has collaborated on this project with acclaimed Japanese producer Ena. Together, they have created a collection of songs that represents the quiet introspection and emotions of the AM hours, using improvisation during the production process to create a cyclical record that is described as "dreamlike." Masumi attributes the project to a journey consisting of fragments of memory through each song; a reflection of how nostalgia and recollection connects listeners to emotions.

This album is a collaborative project born from the creativity, cooperation, and boldness of three completely different artists who decided to combine their talents to shape this remarkable work. Ignacio Scola is a Spanish record producer who, in the early 1990s, released albums with a number of artists, including well-known names such as Juan Luis Guerra, Willy DeVille, and Manu Dibango. Rita Marley was a Jamaican singer who had been a member of the Soulettes -- something like a Jamaican version of The Supremes -- in the mid-1960s. While still very young, she married Bob Marley and lived through a turbulent relationship, overshadowed by her famous husband. After Bob's death, she decided to resume her artistic career and released several noteworthy reggae albums, which were later rediscovered by Scola and issued in Spain through his record label. He subsequently became her producer and organized several concerts for her, bringing her a certain level of recognition and helping her songs reach major radio playlists. When Scola presented Marley with a song he had composed, "Miracle Baby," dedicated to his newborn son, she agreed to record it immediately. The original recording was completed with arrangements by Spanish cult artist Gregorio Paniagua, and the result was so striking that they decided to record more songs following a similar approach. Scola would show Paniagua the song sketches, and they would later meet in Paniagua's studio to embellish them with instrumental arrangements, as well as contribute their own ideas -- creating a kind of artistic ping-pong completed by Rita Marley's voice, who traveled from Jamaica to Madrid to take part in the recording sessions. The result is an album of sophisticated and experimental pop, in line with other works by Gregorio Paniagua, in which Marley showcases her extraordinary vocal talent, rooted in soul and Jamaican music, built around Scola's concept. Companies such as Luaka Bop and Disney showed strong interest in the album, which was ultimately released in 1995 on Scola's own label, Tabata. Munster presents here, for the first time on vinyl, Spectacles for Tribuffalos -- never before reissued -- along with the remixes by Spanish ambient producer Suso Sáiz, influenced by trip-hop, dub, and more, previously unavailable on vinyl. Includes an insert with liner notes.

Call it soulful dream pop, proto-trip hop, or downtempo jazz -- Tender Rain is the follow-up LP to the successful This Is album and continues to deliver Ghia's unmistakable sonic magic. On this release, the band shares a selection of previously unreleased vocal songs alongside instrumental pieces, all carried by their trademark chilled and almost meditative atmosphere. Most of the recordings date from the early 1990s, while early demo versions of "New Love" and "Teardrops in Your Eyes" may reach back as far as the late 1980s. The album opens with the title track "Tender Rain," where smooth vocal jazz harmonies merge effortlessly with soulful pop elements. The track originally appeared only on CD in 1993 on the small Mikado label run by renowned German guitarist Ulli Bögershausen. The band recalls that the piece was first pre-recorded using MIDI equipment and a Tascam 16-track recorder before being completed in the studio with drums by legendary drummer Mickie Stickdorn, percussion by Corinna Ludzuweit, and the final touch -- Lisa Ohm's remarkable vocals. Several further pieces in a similar vein were created during this period, including the previously unissued "Auf unserm grünen Sofa," "Reise bei Nacht," and "Was ich Dir noch sagen wollte." These tracks are beautifully crafted downtempo pieces featuring smooth, jazzy piano lines combined with touches of ambient and New Age aesthetics. "Auf unserm grünen Sofa" stands out in particular and will likely resonate with all downtempo enthusiasts. Lutz Boberg recalls that many of these recordings were captured during a single afternoon in the studio, fueled by spontaneous ideas and creative momentum. On tracks such as "Teardrops in Your Eyes," "New Love," and the haunting Dark Spirits Mix of Ghia's song "What's Your Voodoo?," singer Lisa Ohm delivers soulful pop performances with her clear and captivating voice. Together with This Is and Curacao Blue, Tender Rain forms another essential chapter in the rediscovery of the band's work. More than thirty years after their creation, these recordings still sound strikingly fresh, reflecting a unique style that in many ways anticipated the rise of trip-hop in the early to mid-1990s.

Much like the fusion resulting in the output of light and heat within a star, the last seven years for Dave Sumner, aka Function, have been defined by immense change and an outpouring of creative energy. Aeternum (Existenz) serves as the missing element in his creative arc. It acts as the final chapter of a cycle, that began with the 2019 album Existenz and moved through Subject f (Transcendence), Awakening from the Illusory Self, and Green EP. Drawing inspiration from the seven stages of alchemy, this mini-album represents a cathartic process; a natural end point of a psychological cycle and the beginning of a new curve. Across the six tracks on the mini-LP, recorded 2016-2019, Function builds a unique world, one which underlines his place as one of the luminaries of contemporary techno.

Limited-edition green vinyl. Artwork by Pierre Thyss. Includes OBI strip and sticker sheet. WRWTFWW Records announces the return of Louisiana-based composer and producer Jammin' Sam Miller with A Link To The Past Tribute, his homage to the music of Zelda (A Link To The Past). Originally composed by the legendary Kōji Kondō, the epic 1991 Zelda soundtrack for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the most celebrated pieces of video game music ever, a sound that will automatically bring fans to a complete state of pixelized nostalgia bliss. Jammin' Sam Miller entirely remade the soundtrack from scratch, note by note, without sampling any of the original audio. He recorded his cover versions by finding the original equipment used to create the score, translating the MIDI into a modern studio context, adding his keyboard sounds, and re-mixing and re-mastering the whole soundtrack with modern techniques. The result is a new experience of vintage Zelda music in full HD uncompressed glory and blessed with the beloved Jammin' Sam Miller touch! Pure heaven for video game music lovers!

"Concentric Circles is pleased to present a collection of recordings from Halkyn, the solo project of Chris Coyle, most known for being a member of much beloved Leeds, UK group Empress.  Halkyn released two 7"s around the turn of the century on the 555 label, which have, like a lot of the best music from that time, fallen somewhat by the wayside. This LP release collects both of those 7"s, along with a few tracks that originally appeared on compilations, and two unreleased recordings from the time. Halkyn was part of a small non-scene of sorts in Leeds that included Hood and Empress, which collectively was a small group of friends who appeared on each other's records, with Hood acting as somewhat of an anchor.  In addition, they all shared a similar knack for writing beautifully melancholic music, with an occasional foray into electronic abstraction that still remained approachable. Halkyn's music was imbued with a glass-like sense of fragility, sometimes feeling like it's on the verge of collapse, but Coyle, being a master of melody, always rooted his tracks back down into the earth. This is music for slow, grey skied walks in the countryside. Halkyn has remained a lesser-known name from that special time in music, but we hope that this LP, released in an edition of 300 copies with beautiful jacket photography from Coyle himself, will help put his name on the map where he belongs."

"Edgar debuts on Dark Entries with Pavor, an 11-track LP of sleazy disco, warped synthpop, and gothic cumbia. Veteran musician Luis Gutierrez has spent the past two decades touring in bands, running Lalalandia Studio, and building his practice in Oakland and Guadalajara. But now, for his first solo outing, he has become Edgar, a pop star who knows no limits! 'Edgar feels mightier than anyone but is always reduced to his vices,' says Gutierrez, and Pavor delivers vices in spades. From the opening salvos of 'Otra Agua,' it's clear listeners are in for a wild ride: seasick synths slide along slamming disco beats, menacingly chanted vocals sit amid a flurry of careening horror movie samples. The mischief does not abate through a demented funhouse of genre detournements. Edgar puts his indelible fingerprints over every inch of this vinyl, from up-tempo numbers like the spooky chip-tune frenzy of 'Nunca Mas' to the twisted cumbia of 'Panteon.' There's even a fairly faithful (and majestic) Spanish-language cover of Amanda Lear's 'Follow Me,' here titled 'Sigueme.' EBM, space disco, and horror movie soundtracks all find their way into the mix on Pavor, but the diverse palette comes together perfectly, like a Yello album for the 21st century. Pavor comes housed in a sleeve designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh and features a photograph by Izaak Schlossman. Also included is an insert with lyrics and notes. On Pavor, Edgar brings people a healthy dose of pure excess, reminding audiences that dread can be a hell of a lot of fun."

Damian Dalla Torre returns with People Pleaser, a record shaped by movement, collaboration and an ever-deepening relationship with sound as environment. The Leipzig-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer first found wide attention with his 2022 debut Happy Floating, and his subsequent album I Can Feel My Dreams was named the #1 Contemporary Album of 2024 by The Guardian, an accolade that broadened his audience and deepened confidence in his evolving voice. That second album, written between Europe and South America, opened unexpected doors and took Dalla Torre to stages across New York, Japan and Italy. "When you release music, it's very intimate," he reflects. "You show your emotions pretty raw. I was kind of scared. But getting so much positive feedback gave me a lot of self-confidence to try out more." People Pleaser begins in that quiet shift of confidence. The title stayed with him for months before he committed to it. "It was a working title for a long time," he says. "I didn't actually think I would use it. But this term also felt somehow relevant in connection with the phase of self-negotiation during the development process. Some aspects are related to pressure, others are positive." The ambiguity felt right. Rather than presenting it as a statement, Dalla Torre leaves it open, an invitation rather than a confession. At the center of People Pleaser is collaboration. Guitarist Bertram Burkert, whose playing stretches from classical delicacy to electric abstraction, joined Dalla Torre in the studio for an intensive three-day session, recording a wide palette of textures that would become the backbone of the album. Vocalist Laura Zöschg, a key live collaborator, harpist Babett Niclas, organist Felix Römer, tape experimentalist Markus Rom, marimba and vibraphonist Volker Heuken and Japanese artist Manami Kakudo also contribute, creating a sound that feels intimate yet expansive.

2026 repress! Deluxe laminated sleeve and high-quality vinyl made in France. Includes: A3 poster, 2x 12'' inserts, 1x 4-panels flyer. Limited edition of 700. Akuphone and The Cambodian Vintage Music Archive present the first-ever retrospective dedicated to So Savoeun -- one of the radiant voices that defined Phnom Penh's golden age of sound in the 1960s and 1970s. In those vibrant years, the city pulsed with music: rock bands, crooners, and traditional ensembles blended East and West, shaping a uniquely Cambodian pop that shimmered with hope and modernity. Amid this flourishing scene, So Savoeun's voice stood out -- silken yet powerful, intimate yet expansive, carrying with it the promise of a new era. This collection brings together rare and long-unheard recordings, including luminous duets with legendary contemporaries Meas Saman, Lek Savath, and Sinn Sisamouth. Each track is more than just a song -- it is a fragment of memory, a preserved echo of nights when Phnom Penh's dance halls and radios overflowed with rhythm and possibility. In her own words, hearing these songs resurface is like opening a long-buried chest of jewels, hidden beneath the dust of history and now gleaming again after half a century. Her voice, once thought lost to time, reemerges like the cicada whose chant reverberates endlessly through the forest -- an eternal call that bridges silence and remembrance. Her music is more than nostalgia; it is testament and rebirth. It continues to resonate, not only with those who lived through that golden era, but with new generations discovering its beauty for the first time. Through this release, the past breathes again -- tender, luminous, and unforgettably alive.

Repressed!Ak'chamel, The Givers of Illness plunged into truly deranged extremes to summon the decayed, otherworldly essence captured on Spiritually Unemployed, embracing unhinged and esoteric methods during the tracking process. Recorded in a makeshift adobe studio amid liminal border-zone ruins. Nocturnal treks along forgotten stretches near the U.S.-Mexico line, through derelict border outposts and sun-bleached vehicle husks, yielded unique recording opportunities: Ak'chamel dragged tape decks like sacrificial talismans, to capture gravel crunch, distant javalina fights, and unintentional EVP-like anomalies. Harvesting the psychic weight of migration, abandonment, and geopolitical limbo. A half-broken oud, double-reed pipes, a battered hurdy-gurdy, and self-built spike fiddles were "tortured" pre-recording; strings detuned to unstable microtonal chaos, reeds soaked in questionable desert-sourced liquids, and instruments were kept outdoors to absorb ambient dew, dust, and wild temperature swings, ensuring every take carried an unpredictable, haunted instability. Vintage cassette decks and reel-to-reel units were powered through erratic, low-voltage setups (literally dying generators) which introduced random voltage drops, speed fluctuations, and ghostly dropouts mid-take -- turning tracking into unpredictable spirit interventions. Fresh analog takes were dubbed onto tapes previously buried in arid soil throughout the hot day, then exhumed and played back while layering new overdubs; creating a palimpsest of temporal erosion where past decay bleeds into present performance. Live performances were blasted through overloaded, malfunctioning analog chains (cranked cassette walkmans, battered spring reverbs filled with gravel, warped echo units), then physically "mauled" by running the tape through sandpaper-wrapped capstans or crushing segments underfoot before resplicing -- resulting in tracks that feel compressed, twisted, and ruptured. Thus the desert claims its due: instruments tortured into prophecy, tapes interred and exhumed in chapels of malfunction. Spiritually Unemployed is the resulting artifact -- a sonic border autopsy where enlightenment arrives not as a sealed doctrine but as an open infested wound.

2026 restock. Gatefold! Comes with booklet. Black Truffle presents Dalbergia Retusa, an extensive double LP selection of the solo guitar music of Hans Reichel, compiled by Oren Ambarchi. Last heard on Black Truffle as one quarter of the joyously anarchic Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett, Hans Reichel (1949-2011) is one of the great figures of experimental guitar music. Though perhaps lesser known than peers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, and Keith Rowe, Reichel's rethinking of the instrument was in some ways the most radical of all. Early on, he dispensed with existing guitars to build a series of his own that explored the use of additional strings and fretboards, moveable pickups, extra bridges, special capos, and other innovations documented in the extensive booklet accompanying this release. Reichel was a long-term resident of Wuppertal, the small Western Germany city that became an unlikely center of European free jazz in the late 1960s, also home to Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. His solo debut Wichlinghauser Blues was an early entry into the FMP discography and began a relationship with the label that stretched into the 1990s; all the solo performances heard here were first released on FMP. Reichel was an important source for the development of Oren Ambarchi's own extended approach to the electric guitar. Appropriately enough, his selection opens with the very first piece by Reichel he ever heard, on a flexidisc included with a 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Though Reichel collaborated with others extensively in many settings and also performed on violin and his other major contribution to instrument invention, the daxophone, his music for solo guitar remains at the core of his oeuvre. Focusing exclusively on solo pieces recorded between 1973 and 1988, the 23 pieces on Dalbergia Retusa showcase the range and consistency of Reichel's work, allowing the listener to see how his performances developed hand-in-hand with his instrumental inventions. Many of the pieces from the 1980s make use of varieties of the "pick behind the bridge guitar," instruments of uncanny harmonic richness primarily designed to be played on the 'wrong' side of the bridge. At times the unexpected behavior of attacks, resonance, and decay can almost seem electronic, conjuring up the technology-assisted work of Henry Kaiser or even Fennesz, but realized solely through Reichel's unorthodox techniques on his invented instruments. Extensively illustrated with photos and Reichel's own plans and drawings of his instruments, Dalbergia Retusa is an essential introduction to the unique world of Hans Reichel.

Clear vinyl version. The second album by Christian Burchard and alumni was released in 1971 on the prestigious United Artists imprint, only a year after their debut. A significantly progression and the first venture in the realm of the ethnic/world-rock fusion that would come to be their trademark. The gang from Munich flew over a series of packed jam showing their authentic passion for the Middle East. Combining a series of progressive numbers, still miles away from their British counterpart, the band opened up for a series of transcendental and wicked numbers, pushing the boundaries of the '70s counterculture. While it was some eastern-blues rapture or a post-Coltrane collage in the vein of the classy melody of A Love Supreme, the band built his foundation while facing an ancient future. That was the beginning of a whole era where freedom was the keyword.

Here's for the real thing! A Late '60s Japanese compilation investigating the so-called "Group Sounds" movement. Includes early recordings by a series of musicians better known as The Genova, The Cougars, Micky Curtis & The Samurais, The Playboy, The Burns, The Genova, Isao Idemitsu, The Spiders, and The Rangers.

2026 restock. Double LP. Re-cut from original Peter Christopherson approved masters. The Ape Of Naples is Coil's highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of Jhonn Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape Of Naples uses Balance's final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece. Packaged in a heavy tip-on gatefold sleeve with Ian Johnstone's original artwork coated in a custom spot gloss. Each LP is house in a printed inner sleeve and side D is printed with all three original etchings. Lyrics are printed across the gatefold.

"Rooted in the Philadelphia experimental music and acid-folk revival scene of the early 2000s, Woodwose neither fits comfortably into said scene nor any musical movement current or past. While their sound can be described as primitive, in the sense of the primordial, not in terms of playmanship, their folk-horror aesthetic abuts a pop sensibility that undermines pure thrift in either genre. What results is a wholly unique sound that permeates one's physiognomy like poison from a deliciously enchanted apple. Keyboardist/flautist/vocalist Jessica Weeks (Magus, The Valerie Project) and guitarist/vocalist Gillian Chadwick (Ex Reverie, Rusalnaia) together draw from a storied musical past to infuse a new creation whose iteration defies ease of labeling. Dueting vocals clamber and soar, guitars stab and arpeggiate, keys rumble and swoon as the rough beast that is Woodwose's debut long-player stands upright, ready to be born into the world."

2026 repress. Lilith present a reissue of Os Mutantes' self-titled debut, originally released in 1968. With the release of their debut LP in 1968, Os Mutantes cracked the already red hot Tropicalia scene wide open. Fusing traditional Brazilian music, psychedelia, rock, and a good dose of pure experimentation, they quickly became giants both in Brazil and in the outer fringes of pop music, where they have managed to reign supreme for the past four decades. Not an easy task in such a crowded arena. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Tom Zé, and Os Mutantes? What do these people put in their drinking water? The band went on to release several more albums, but this one was their magnum opus. Obi "bookmark" Japanese style; 180 gram vinyl; Includes CD.

The story of The MD's ("Los Médicos") from San Juan, Puerto Rico, is truly unique. They were the first -- and in fact the only -- group in the entire Caribbean influenced by new wave and punk, not only in Puerto Rican music but in the entire region. At a time when Spanish-language rock was overshadowed by salsa and disco, and before MTV existed, they still managed to listen to Devo, Oingo Boingo, Adam Ant, The Police, The Specials, and Madness. It was a rough time in Puerto Rico with many fights between cocolos (fans of salsa music) and rockers. The MD's were formed in 1979 when the band members were still teenagers. They rehearsed three or four days a week in the school cafeteria, as an extracurricular activity project, under the influence of a new English teacher, Richard D'Lima, who had recently spent a considerable amount of time in New York. There, he had the good fortune to experience and immerse himself in the new wave music scene of the late '70s. One of the band members' father -- the band's fixer -- donated some surgeon's scrubs that provided the look and name of the group. Recorded and mixed in just three days in early 1980, Brain Damage was released on their own label, Surgeon Records. Its 10 original songs offer an interesting and fresh mix of punk, proto-hardcore, and new wave influences, raw rhythms, with the prominent and effervescent presence of the minimoog synthesizer and catchy lyrics perfect for singing along. No fillers. It received radio support for over a year and achieved great general acclaim, especially within the burgeoning underground rock scene on the island. The group's members dropped out in '83 to focus on their studies at the University leaving behind this rare gem that is now part of Puerto Rico's rock music history. First time reissue, including an insert with previously unseen photos and notes.

Rediscover a defining moment of Scandinavian underground rock with the vinyl reissue of Lea Riders Group's 1968 single "The Forgotten Generation" b/w "Dom Kallar Oss Mods" -- a raw and uncompromising snapshot of youth culture at the edge. Released in connection with the groundbreaking Swedish documentary They Call Us Misfits, the B-side "Dom Kallar Oss Mods" became an enduring cult statement -- a gritty, hypnotic track that channels the disillusionment and attitude of a generation outside the mainstream. This reissue brings both sides of this rare 1968 single back to life -- from the defiant punch of "The Forgotten Generation" to the shadowy, cinematic pull of "Dom Kallar Oss Mods." Reissued for the first time.

Joe Davies back on Smallville, providing his skills to double the magic on the fly! Soundscapes that will tickle your sweetspots. Straight-but-quirky, far-out but still to the point -- Joe is a master of his craft. His highly-acclaimed 2023 longplayer Shields In Full Sunlight is still on the plates of oh-so-many heads out there. Comes with a stunning full cover artwork from Stefan Marx.

2026 restock; LP version. Includes "Todo en La Vida", the track featured in the Netflix Narcos series, "an ode to patience propelled by a yearning riff that wouldn't have been out of place in a Gainsbourg perv-jam").
The recordings that the sisters Elia and Elizabeth Fleta made, hand-in-hand with music arranger Jimmy Salcedo in the early '70s in their native Colombia, remained hidden like lost pearls in the undervalued musical pop history of Latin America until today. Their concise and natural mix of styles sways between soft-pop with a touch of tropical-pastoral funk, singer-songwriter sweetened by the subtle perfume of Caribbean music and the psychedelia of a world in the midst of discovering all the possibilities offered by the recording studio. These elements blend graciously and fortuitously, brimming with freshness, in a perfect partnership of sharp melodies with lyrics inspired by a genuine juvenile curiosity about life's mysteries, love and nature in its simplest forms. Elia and Elizabeth Fleta Mallol were born in Bogotá by chance. Their parents were both from Spain but met and got married in Barranquila, and soon after moved to Bogotá. Their father, Miguel Fleta, was the son of the renowned tenor of the same name. Given the family's musical history, the sisters were fully supported and motivated by their parents, who bought them acoustic guitars and encouraged them to take lessons. Mr. Fleta's work would take them to Cali, back to Barranquilla, Lima, and finally Madrid and Barcelona in 1971. In Spain, Elia y Elizabeth were invited to a televised homage for their famous grandfather and were heard by composer and musical arranger Juan Carlos Calderon, who had previously worked with their aunts, the popular duo of sisters Elia and Paloma Fleta. Immediately, he invited them to record under his direction two songs in the studio of the Zafiro label from Barcelona. The chosen songs were "Cae la lluvia" and "Fue una lagrima," two of Elia's compositions. Both songs were released on a 45rpm single, although it lacked any kind of promotion given that, yet again, the Fleta family was about to move back to Colombia. Back in Barranquilla, after performing at a charity event with their friends from the Bakarett Blues Band, the sisters were heard by Graciela Arango de Tobon, a wealthy lady and composer who recommended them to Alvaro Arango. The latter was the musical director of Codiscos, subsidiary of Zeida, a label with headquarters in Medellín which was looking for a female duo with the characteristics of the Fleta sisters. After hearing them sing over the phone, Mr. Alvaro traveled to Barranquilla the next day, where he formalized his intention to record the duo. Soon after, Elia and Elizabeth were in the studios of Codiscos in Medellín. Humberto Moreno, head producer, entrusted the musical arrangements and direction to the pianist Jimmy Salcedo, a Mompox native. A talented and charismatic musician from the bohemian and jazz scene in Bogotá, Salcedo was a former member of The Be-Bops who had become a TV interviewer and started his own band, La Onda Tres. The support of Jimmy Salcedo and his band contributed to the Fleta duo becoming regulars in the local media. During their meteoric career, the sisters were the winners of the Coco Festival in Barranquilla, the recipients of the Principe de Oro -- an award given by the eponymous radio station -- and were nominated for the Onda Award as the best new band of 1972. A second LP appeared the following year and the TV shows continued weekly, leaving Elia less and less time to devote to her studies, which she was most interested in. She decided to talk to her family and explain to them her desire to stop her television performances and instead completely devote herself to her university education in music pedagogy. Elizabeth, meanwhile, understood and accepted her sister's decision and also quit the world of entertainment. Includes a booklet with liner notes by compiler Carlos Icaza and photos from Elia Fleta's personal archive.

2026 repress. Keith Hudson, who temporarily worked as a dentist in the ghettos of Kingston, emigrated to New York City in 1976 and died there prematurely in 1984. He is best known for his work as a producer for artists such as U-Roy, Big Youth, Ken Boothe, and Horace Andy and within short order Hudson brought his all-round talent to full fruition. In 1974, he produced two ground-breaking albums. Pick A Dub was one of the first official dub albums ever, and is still considered to be one of the greatest moments of Jamaican music. In addition, the unique Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood became the first concept album in reggae history. Thematically dedicated entirely to black history, this masterpiece captivates with an atmosphere that is as dark as it is deeply spiritual, charged by Hudson's eccentric vocals. In 1981, he created the dub masterpiece Playing It Cool, Playing It Right which he produced with the help of Wackie's founder and mastermind Lloyd 'Bullywackie' Barnes. It remained the only collaboration between the two producers. Hudson decided to release it on his own label Joint International as he has done on his previous releases. The album continues Hudson's psycho-acoustic journey into the abyss of existence and has the power to overwhelm the listener with the beauty of artistic self-empowerment. "Too Much Formula" sings Hudson, whose voice occasionally recalls Sly Stone, "Darkest Night" answers an echoing background chorus found elsewhere on the track "California." Hudson's production techniques are fascinating on this album. There is often a kind of flashing-whip sound on the snare, which adds dynamics to the whole album. Rarely has a dub record sounded so electrifying, with radical spatial sound spreading out in all directions and rarely has it been as crystal clear, with warm bass and echophonic treatments as contained within these 30 minutes of music. 43 years after its first release and 20 years after its last re-release on the German-British label Basic Replay (Basic Channel/Honest Jon's), Playing It Cool, Playing It Right is now finally available again via Week-End Records, with a newly revised master and a rare interview with Lloyd 'Bullywackie' Barnes, talking about the making of this amazing album.

"It feels fresh and sounds amazing." --Lloyd Barnes Wackie's

"Legendary, strange, compelling music." --Mark Ainley, Honest Jon's

2026 repress! The long-overdue revival of Bim Sherman's catalog begins here. These essential recordings are widely available again for the first time in decades, opening a new chapter in the appreciation of one of Jamaica's most distinctive voices and representing a major moment for reggae and dub aficionados around the world. This reissue series not only preserves his legacy but also offers listeners the chance to experience the depth and timeless resonance of Sherman's work in its full glory. Bim Sherman -- born Jarret Lloyd Vincent, in Westmoreland, Jamaica -- holds a unique place in reggae history. Emerging in the mid-'70s, his ethereal, haunting vocal style quickly set him apart from his contemporaries. He was soon collaborating with the top producers and musicians of the era, including Adrian Sherwood and the On-U Sound collective, bridging the gap between roots reggae and experimental dub and laying the groundwork for the fusion of Jamaican sounds with the vibrant underground scene in the UK. His career, from Kingston to London to Mumbai, was marked by an artistic daring and spiritual intensity that has earned him enduring respect across generations. The centerpiece of this reissue campaign is Ghetto Dub from 1988, a record that distills Sherman's artistry into its most potent form. Originally released in a limited number, the album embodies the stark yet soulful beauty of dub production. With its reverb-drenched drums, cavernous basslines, and echo-laden atmospherics, Ghetto Dub transforms Sherman's various tracks into spectral presences that drift in and out of the mix. The arrangement and production -- minimal yet profoundly textured -- captures both the raw urgency of Jamaican street culture and the forward-looking experimentation of the UK dub scene. Each track unfolds like a meditation, balancing grit with grace, density with space. Ghetto Dub is more than an album; it is an immersive soundscape that reaffirms Bim Sherman as one of reggae's most otherworldly and visionary figures.

Six tracks. Six undeniable hits. Science can't explain it. Four dazzling pdqb originals: pop-infused disco house transmissions where retro dreams collide with absurdly modern groove technology and hyper-modern circuitry. Hooks everywhere. Basslines that flirt shamelessly with eternity. Rhythms that know exactly what they're doing. And then Roman Flügel arrives at the party. With two remixes of such dubby, technoid magnificence that they bend the laws of physics wherever they're played.

Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Heavyweight 180gr double LP. 425gm brown board gatefold outer sleeve with four-page portfolio. At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It's Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson's label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib. The recording of Exactement required two sessions in the studio: February 1st and May 18th 1974 -- in between the two dates, Lancaster recorded, alongside Clint Jackson, the excellent "Mother Africa." Two names appear on the cover of Exactement: Lancaster (Byard) and Speller (Keno). Byard Lancaster wanted to be precise, moving regularly from one instrument to another: first on piano, which was the first instrument he learned. On "Sweet Evil Miss Kisianga," his inspiration is first and foremost Coltrane (even if leaning more towards Alice than John), this announces the storm to follow. It is Lancaster's horn-playing which really stands out: on alto (the sound of which is transformed by an octavoice on one track, "Dr. Oliver W. Lancaster") or soprano saxophones, as well as on flute or bass clarinet, the musician walks a tightrope making the most of all the risks he takes. Using the full register of his instruments, he has fun with the possibilities. Then, Lancaster invokes or evokes Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and even Prokofiev, before going into a danse alongside Keno Speller on percussion. Above all, he has a unique sound. Byard Lancaster, on whatever instrument he plays and by continually seeking, always ends up hitting the right note -- ends up by playing exactement the note he had to play.

Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Comes in heavyweight 180gr LP. 425gm brown board outer sleeve with four-page portfolio. At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It's Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson's label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement, and Funny Funky Rib Crib. Funny Funky Rib Crib is an unforgettable recording (made up of several sessions dating from the middle of 1974) of creative jazz overwhelmed by funk and soul. If Lancaster had already made successful albums in the same genre -- notably New Horizons, under the name Sounds Of Liberation which he co-led with Khan Jamal -- this one is an homage to James Brown and Sammy Davis, enjoying the company of a host of guests including François Tusques (electric piano), Clint Jackson III (trumpet), François Nyombo (guitar), and Joseph Traindl (trombone). Funny Funky Rib Crib's cover is a three-quarter profile portrait of the saxophonist (who can also be heard on flute, piano and even vocals), however, on the record, it is the whole group, inspired and frenetic, that tests the melodies of "Just Test," "Dogtown," or "Rib Crib" -- the two versions of which display leader Lancaster's art of nuance. On both sides of the album, the group also moves into a calmer groove, infused by blues and soul, "Work And Pray" and "Loving Kindness" are meditative tracks where listeners can lay back and relax before asking for more.

LP version. Newly remastered version of Oren Ambarchi's long out-of-print classic Hubris, originally released on Editions Mego in 2016. Expertly remastered by audio wizard Joe Talia who worked with the original mixes, highlighting the myriad details of the audio with forensic precision, previously unheard up until now. From the 2016 press release: Hubris continues the exploration of relentless, driving rhythms heard on Ambarchi's Sagittarian Domain (2012) and Quixotism (2014). Where those records looked to Krautrock and techno for their starting points, the sidelong opening track here begins from the perhaps unlikely inspirations of disco and new wave, drawing particularly from Ambarchi's love of Wang Chung's soundtrack to William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. Leaving behind the song-forms of these reference points, Ambarchi weaves a sustained and pulsating web of layered palm-muted guitars from which individual voices rise up and recede, eventually setting the stage for some lush guitar synth from Jim O'Rourke. Arnold Dreyblatt collaborator Konrad Sprenger contributes overtone-rich motorized guitar, pushing the piece into a satisfying intersection of shimmering minimalism and rhythmic drive that smoothly builds up until the entrance of Mark Fell's electronic percussion in its final section. After a short second part, in which Ambarchi, O'Rourke and crys cole pay tribute to the skewed harmonic sense of Albert Marcoeur with a track built from layered guitar figures and abstracted speech, the long final piece pushes the concept of the first side into darker and denser areas. Joined by electronics from Ricardo Villalobos and the twin drums of Will Guthrie and Joe Talia, the layered guitars of the first piece are transformed into a raw and tumbling fusion-funk groove that calls to mind early Weather Report or even the first Golden Palominos LP. As this stellar rhythm section rides a single repeated chord change into oblivion, a series of spectacular events emerge in the foreground: first, aleatoric synthesizer burbles from Keith Fullerton Whitman, then slashing skronk guitar from Arto Lindsay, until finally Ambarchi's own fuzzed-out harmonics take center stage as the piece builds to an ecstatic frenzy. Few artists could hope to include such an incredible variety of collaborators on one record and still hope for it to have a unique identity, but Ambarchi manages to do just that, crafting three pieces that emerge directly out of his previous work while also pushing ahead into new dimensions.