270 pages. Soft-cover, fully illustrated. 196 x 268mm. Edited by Eva Prinz. Preface by Neneh Cherry. Afterword by Joe McPhee. New York, NY, USA -- musicians Mats Gustafsson, Neneh Cherry, Joe McPhee, and Thurston Moore, along with music writer Byron Coley, have contributed to an illustrated collector's guide to records -- replete with 270 pages of beatific album art, labels, sleeve notes and collector musings on their life-long obsessions of record collecting, with a distinct focus on the recorded history of free jazz and free improvisation. Compiling personal archives of their selections of recordings which could be contenders within a list defined by a parameter of 100 of the most essential releases presented in chronological order, acknowledging the music to be preternaturally noncompetitive, non-hierarchical, and of equal value, Now Jazz Now is a book for all adventurous music lovers, whether ravenous record collectors, avant-garde jazz enthusiasts, students of radical culture, or simply curiosity seekers in wonder to this music's illustrious history and lineage. The gleanings of Cherry, Coley, Gustafsson, McPhee and Moore will enlighten, delight, amuse, and bemuse all who follow their streams of consciousness, knowledge, perception, and, most importantly, unbridled respect and regard for a genre of music dedicated to the dignity of practicing freedom.

Hardcover. 588 pages. "Fiery, funny, inviting and digressive, Sonny Simmons' memoir is a long overdue celebration of the famed New York free jazz pioneer. Though his years in the New York free-jazz scene of the sixties cemented his reputation as 'one of the most forceful and convincing composers and soloists in his field,' saxophonist Sonny Simmons (1933-2021) was nearly forgotten by the '80s, which found him broke, heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, and separated from his wife and kids. 'I played on the streets from 1980 to 1994, 365 days a year,' Simmons tells jazz historian and biographer Marc Chaloin. 'I would go to North Beach, and I'd sleep in the park. The word got around town that Sonny is a junkie, really strung out.' The resurrection of Simmons' career -- upon the release of his critically acclaimed Ancient Ritual (Qwest Records) in 1994 -- has become a modern legend of the genre. In the last two decades of his musical career, Simmons broke through to a new echelon of recognition, joining the pantheon of great innovators and masters of the music. But to this day he remains an undersung figure. Here, in the first ever book dedicated to his life, Simmons recounts his childhood in the backwoods of Louisiana, his adolescence in the burgeoning Bay Area jazz scene and his star-studded life in New York playing alongside the greats."

"On the cover: 2025 Rewind: The Year in Sound and Music: The Wire's essential guide to the highs and lows of the last 12 months in underground music and culture. Our 2025 Rewind double issue will have twice the shelf life of a standard issue and will include our essential Top 50 Releases of the Year and Archive Releases of the Year charts, both compiled from the votes of more than 60 of our critics and contributors. Other features include cultural reflections from our roster of writers, our specialist columnists' charts and analyses from avant rock to dub, and essays on some of 2025's talking points including DIY radio, slow music for fast times, and the current state of skronk. Inside: Makaya McCraven; After a three year hiatus in solo output, the prodigious drummer, producer and bandleader has released one new studio album, Off The Record via Chicago's International Anthem label, and four EPs, all edited and reworked from extensive live recordings dating back as far as 2015 and featuring contributions from Theon Cross, Ben LaMar Gay and Jeff Parker. In this special feature he is interviewed by Black Rock Coalition bassist Melvin Gibbs; Company was the name the British improv guitarist Derek Bailey gave to the festival he ran in London between 1977?1994, for which he would invite diverse casts of musicians to come and improvise together. To mark the 20th anniversary of Bailey's death, Mark Wastell gives the inside story of what happened when the guitarist revived Company for events in New York, London and Marseille; Hilary Woods; The Irish confessional singer, songwriter and filmmaker returns to the Sacred Bones label with her new album Night CRIÚ, a follow up to 2023's acclaimed Acts Of Light. By Leah Kardos."

2025 restock. 32nd volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "Avant-garde jazz drummer Sunny Murray was a major player in the experimental jazz community throughout the 1960s. After three years as a member of Albert Ayler's band (1964-1967), Murray traveled to France where, after releasing two LPs on the BYG label, he recorded An Even Break, (recorded on November 22, 1969) for Affinity. Although his first release for the Affinity label, this was Murray's third release of the year! Featuring Byard Lancaster, Malachi Favors and Kenneth Terroade."

Restocked. "The successor to 2022's Bajascillators glides easily into frame, but once there, Inland See is deceptively immediate. It's so dialed in, you hardly even feel how present the music (and you the listener) is. Time wharping's always been a resident magic for Bitchin Bajas, as is flow, which is translucent like water here. That's the Inland See vibe, unique unto itself. In turn, each of the four songs here are entirely within themselves, all together forming an essential whole. The coincision'll cause yer breath to shorten, like an exciting and non-fatal kind of exercise! New freedoms, yet more molecular structure in each one. With every successive Bitchin Bajas release, we see that the real key for them is a sense of discovery, that tingle that comes when you feel something breaking through. The sky opening up. The stuff that fills this Inland See holds you up powerfully, as if you're floating, saltwater or helium-wise -- effervescent, effortless, elemental. An increasing sense of the Bajas' physicality -- what's ephemeral, what's mercurial, and what sits inside us after it's all over. This music was mostly written on the road. It's an unusual happening for Bitchin Bajas! They were open for it, though -- the landmarked Bajascillators kept them out there for a while, and when inspiration struck, there they rolling. When it was time to render it to tape and find the record there, they did the whole thing at Electrical Audio. Recording all together in the room there lent a sense of space, which they dug and captured as natural as possible. No reverb at all added after the fact. Everything that's there was in system, directed through the interconnects with cool hands. And once Inland See is flowing toward you, through the hi-fi, you feel it all in the air."

Aoki Takamasa and Tujiko Noriko's 2005 album 28 has become a cornerstone in the artists' respective discographies. 20 years after its initial release, Keplar issues it on vinyl for the very first time. Three years in the making, 28 saw the sound artist and the avant-pop singer-songwriter combine their distinct aesthetics for an album that defied categorization. Their combination of advanced electronic experimentation and pop appeal paved the way for a new generation of artists and turned 28 into an enduring fan favorite. Remastered by Stephan Mathieu, the reissue comes with a brand-new artwork by Joji Koyama and a changed track listing -- authorized by Takamasa and Tujiko -- for the vinyl version to fit it on a single LP, while the digital version remains identical to the original release. Tujiko and Takamasa first shared the stage together after the turn of the millennium. Both were emerging solo artists, with Takamasa a mainstay on the Progressive Form label and Tujiko forging a connection with Mego in Vienna, Austria. They first collaborated in 2002 for two shows at the Fondation Cartier in Paris and at SonarLab in Barcelona, respectively. The first joint piece was a rework of Tujiko's "Fly" from "Hard Ni Sasete (Make Me Hard)" by Takamasa, appearing as the album opener Fly2 on 28. After that, the Paris-based Tujiko and Takamasa, still based in Osaka, worked sporadically and remotely on new material. For the first two years of their collaboration, the two met in the context of live events or Takamasa's visits to the French capital to discuss their process and exchange hard drives while also occasionally sending each other CDrs in the mail. Takamasa used hardware such as the Nord Modular, the Korg Z1, and the Korg ER-1, while also working with different kinds of software and plug-ins as well as Logic. Tujiko was using Cubase, her preferred piece of gear at the time being an AKAI MPC. After Takamasa moved to Paris in 2004, this enabled the duo to finish the album together in person. Starting with its subtle use of glitches to the almost-anarchic way in which it deals with the structures of a song, »28« came to be an incomparably intricate album. 20 years on, it remains timeless because of its flawless synthesis of the cutting-edge avant-garde ideas of early 2000s electronica with an idiosyncratic but accessible pop sentiment.

Rosy Parlane is a musician from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. His work combines piano, guitar, electronics, and field recordings to create music that sits somewhere between composition and environment -- less about performance, more about presence. Parlane first became known in the early 1990s as part of Thela, a trio whose exploratory sound bridged noise, improvisation, and minimal rock forms. Later, as one half of Parmentier with Dion Workman, he explored digital minimalism and abstract rhythm before turning his attention fully to solo work. His solo albums Getxo (Sigma Editions 2001), Iris (TO 058CD, 2004), and Jessamine (TO 068CD, 2006) established a distinct approach built on patience, restraint, and the careful layering of tone and texture -- less about melody or structure than about how sound behaves in time and space. Array gathers recordings made between 2006 and 2022, originally issued on compilations and the Willow 7" single. Heard together, they offer a quiet through-line in Parlane's work -- small pieces connected by a shared attention to detail and the art of listening. Written and recorded in Aotearoa New Zealand 2006-2022. Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space. Photography and design by Jon Wozencroft.

Repressed! Joanne Robertson follows up on AD 93 with the album Blurrr. Written between painting sessions and also whilst raising a child, Blurrr is a record of loose and playful intuition. Robertson's vocals and guitar drift, murmur and whisper across the record; fostering a deep intimacy as unknown emotions rise up from the well. Robertson's intuitive approach to music making co-exists alongside her improvisatory and collaborative nature. She has collaborated regularly with artists such as Elias Rønnenfelt on Heavy Glory, Dean Blunt on Backstage Raver, and Black Metal, and Sidsel Meineche Hansen on Alien Baby. In Blurrr Robertson turns to previous collaborator and friend: cellist, composer and producer Oliver Coates.

"First time on vinyl for Chapter One of the acclaimed previously CD-only set that was released to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Randy's Records. Kicking off with the joyful ska of Lord Creators' Independent anthem, Chapter One runs the true course of Jamaican music in the 1960s with a virtual who's who of reggae music including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals, Rico, Skatalites, John Holt & Alton Ellis. Beautifully packaged with inner sleeves featuring rare photos and liner notes by Blood & Fire's Steve Barrow."

With Processing Music, Dutch composer and electronic musician Casimir Geelhoed offers a compelling meditation on sound transformation as a metaphor for psychological and emotional processing. Operating at the intersection of overstimulation, introspection and fragility, the album unfolds as a deeply immersive and personal exploration -- one that invites the listener to inhabit a space of their own projection, memory and reflection. Rather than imposing a fixed compositional structure, Processing Music follows a bottom-up approach, allowing form to emerge organically from the interaction of sonic materials. Digital signal processing is not used here as a mere technical tool, but as a poetic device: transformation as narrative, delay as memory, distortion as tension. Through slowly eroding loops, gently collapsing textures and shifting layers of timbre and space, Geelhoed crafts a delicate sound world that is charged with friction. What may at first seem abstract gradually reveals an emotional core. The album evokes the suspended time of a largo, the layering of memory like an excavation, the psychological tension of perceived spatial expansion. These are not literal themes, but associative keys to a music that operates in a distinctly human sonic language. Emerging from a series of live performances, Processing Music retains a performative sensibility: the music breathes, transforms, and invites attention to nuance. It slowly unfolds a landscape shaped by the subtle interplay between structure and dissolution. Casimir Geelhoed has presented performances and installations at festivals such as CTM, Sonic Acts, Rewire, Fiber, SPATIAL, and Aural Spaces. He studied computer science, composition, music technology, and sonology in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

Double LP version. Originally released in 2005, OK Cowboy, Vitalic's first album, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a reissue in several formats, enriched with rare tracks and previously unreleased versions. OK Cowboy is a landmark album in electronic music, a pivotal record between eras. It perfectly captures that period while also anticipating the raw, abrasive new sounds of French Touch 2.0 (the movement led by Justice and the artists of the Ed Banger label). Twenty years later, the impact and power of this major album still mark it as a defining release of the mid-2000s, retaining its full sonic relevance today.

Interstitial Spaces is Martin Brandlmayr's debut release on Faitiche. In this award-winning radio collage, the well-known drummer and composer (Radian, Polwechsel) explores the quiet moments in music and film recordings. The last notes of a piece of music fade out in the space. The pianist and the violinist remain frozen in place, holding their breath. The sound engineer sits silently at the desk. Once he has switched off his tape machine, the dull drone of a ship's horn is heard in the distance. Otherwise, not a sound. Or was there something else hidden in the white noise? Interstitial Spaces is based on short excerpts from music recordings, films, TV adverts and field recordings. Brandlmayr takes these quiet scenes, intervals in which nothing seems to happen, and brings them into the foreground, subjecting them to a microscopic spotlight. Moments in which one hears only the space itself, or the subtle presence of someone in the space: faint breathing, footsteps and the soft creak of a chair. Listeners also hear preparations for an orchestra rehearsal: the musicians are all busy tuning their instruments, talking to each other, the concert has not yet begun. This leads to a shift in perception: incidental details hidden in the hubbub of voices or in the silence suddenly take on a leading role. In the empty spaces, the listener discovers various shades of noise, sharpening their awareness of sonic peculiarities. In a gentle rhythm, Brandlmayr's radio collage offers a sequence of strange, not immediately identifiable sounds that are woven in the second part into a dense structure. At the end, the carefully captured sounds are released back into the empty space. Interstitial Spaces is a bold spectacle that celebrates the eventful uneventfulness.

2025 repress; white vinyl. "In the 4 years after The Clipse dropped their sophomore classic Lord Willin' the duo was able to build a legacy that had fans hungry for new material. After the smoke cleared and they hit the studio the Virginia brothers recorded the confidently mature sophomore effort, Hell Hath No Fury. Best known for their unconventional radio smash 'Grindin',' Clipse are no strangers to taking risks with the boundary-pushing Neptunes, who return as trusted co-pilots for Hell Hath No Fury. As always the duo is right at home over The Neptunes crafted beats which perfectly embrace Pusha's inventive drug-game metaphors and Malice's soul-baring confessionals. Get On Down now proudly issues this Neptunes produced favorite on LP for the first timel."

Andalusian emerging-talent producer GAZZI, a young yet influential figure within the broader Spanish electronic scene, presents an LP that feels like a quiet turning point in his career. Rooted in ambient and new-age minimalism, the record drifts through piano-based textures, soft pauses, and spacious moments that invite deep introspection. Across its delicate arrangements, GAZZI captures the sensation of slowing down in a world where everything feels fleeting. These tracks hold space for reflection -- offering nostalgia, stillness, and the subtle suggestion that hope remains at the edges of even the most ephemeral moments. Each piece unfolds like a landscape suspended in time, shaped by restraint, emotional nuance, and a profound sense of presence. Presented by Glossy Mistakes, the release reflects the label's ongoing commitment to uplifting a new wave of contemporary Spanish artists, highlighting creators who are redefining the country's sonic identity through experimentation, sensitivity, and forward-thinking sound design.

2025 restock. "The Complete Studio Recordings of Overhang Party includes each of their studio albums (each with a bonus track) and their unreleased final recording sessions. While this four CD set is sure to please aficionados of Japanese underground rock , the biggest surprise will be for the uninitiated who can finally confront the groups emotional depth and stylistic breadth head on. Japan's Overhang Party were always one of their country's most interesting, multifaceted, and imaginative musical units, able to weave crawling rhythms and blown out psych feedback into full on rock anthems. Absolutely essential listening for fans of LSD March, Miminokoto, Les Rallizes Denudes, Damon & Naomi/G500, Ghost, PSF/Tokyo Flashback, and Japanese underground rock."

"Archival reissue of the Afro-prog-psych Zamrock masterpiece. Presented for the first time ever in an aged copper green pressing. The entirety of Witch's fourth album, restored and remastered from master tapes, and presented as an archival reissue in an aged copper green vinyl pressing. Witch's musical arc is contained to a five-year span and, in retrospect, it is a logical one. The band's fourth album -- recorded after the band toured with Osibisa -- makes use of traditional Zambian rhythms and folk melodies alongside progressive rock movements. It is the most 'Afro-rock' of Witch's oeuvre."

Marking the anniversary of three decades of career, Dopplereffekt debuts on Tresor Records with Metasymmetry. This latest release finds members Rudolf Klorzeiger and To-Nhan in deep inquiry in sound, contemplating structure and pattern in physics and nature resulting in a harmonious audio tessellation. Metasymmetry itself relates to a kind of second-order reality found not in the structures of life but in the rules that govern these structures; that order exists not only in things but in the relationships among systems of order. The four-track EP reflects this duality.

Elations Recordings presents Return of the Airpoets, an exploratory recording from longtime collaborators Reuben Lewis and Adam Halliwell, occupying a unique space between contemporary experimental music and avant jazz. Engineered and mixed by Reuben Lewis in 2023, and featuring guest appearances from acclaimed Australian drummer Ronny Ferella. Return of the Airpoets continues a conversation begun with "Cygon Dance", an extended duo between Lewis and Halliwell from Halliwell's 2023 LP Freedom Lapse; a dialogue that stems from a shared love and respect for Jon Hassell's Fourth World music. Sonic pioneer and adventurer, Hassell's futuristic vision advocated possible musics, stressing plurality and multiplicity. Faithful to his vision, Adam and Reuben, as trailblazers rather than imitators, delight in boundless musical possibilities, adopting Hassell's futurism as stock-in-trade, making it their own while augmented with neo noir hues and hints of the tilted electro-funk of Miles Davis' collaborations with Marcus Miller. These nine tracks flow together as a unified suite, their shadowy presence stitched from fractured narratives: imaginary crimes, murders, dreams, the unspoken. At the same time, you can detect the artists' meticulous attention to sonic detail, feel the undercurrents, the complex layering. This music has been distilled, winnowed, from extended improv sessions, with the artists -- as producers -- zeroing in on offcuts, shards, and splinters, seamlessly patching together fragments in post-production to construct intricately layered sound collages, taking a leaf out of Tao Macero's book, building from the ground up.

Double LP version. Originally released in 1995, Jimmy Somerville's Dare To Love stands as a powerful statement of pride, passion, and pop brilliance, carried by one of the most unmistakable voices in modern music. It embodies Somerville's gift for marrying political conviction with irresistible melodies. Produced by Stephen Hague and other longtime collaborators, the album traverses bass-laden house grooves, slower, dubby reggae numbers and classic pop ballads. Featuring the UK Top 30 hits "Heartbeat" and "Hurt So Good," along with the poignant "Safe in These Arms," Dare To Love explores love, loss, and identity, both on and off the dancefloor. London Records now celebrate 30 years of Dare To Love with a full remaster and expended editions. 2LP version contains 21 tracks and comes as two crystal-clear blue curaçao vinyl with 5mm spine sleeve and two printed inner sleeves plus marketing sticker.

FYC40 celebrates 40 years of Fine Young Cannibals, the British trio who stormed the global music scene in the mid-to-late '80s. Their journey began with the soulful, new wave energy of their 1985 debut Fine Young Cannibals, before reaching new heights with 1989's The Raw & The Cooked, a worldwide smash that fused rock, funk, and house, all powered by Roland Gift's unmistakable voice. Across their career, the band scored eight UK Top 40 hits, two U.S. Billboard #1 singles, multiple Grammy nominations, and two BRIT Awards -- cementing their place in pop history. The Raw & The Cooked delivered enduring anthems like "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing," both U.S. chart-toppers whose influence still resonates today, from hit shows like The Bear to Chanel campaign featuring Dua Lipa and BLACKPINK's Jennie. Includes new artwork and new liner notes. Fully remastered. Also available on clear vinyl (LMS 1725531), double vinyl (LMS 1725532), and as a 4CD/DVD box set (LMS 1725530). DVD is NTSC format, region 0.

The saga of squelch continues. After the first round proved that the acid line might be the most durable cliché in dance music, part two turns the resonance knob a little further. Steve Bug and Stefan Braatz, Deetron, Todd Osborn, and Mathew Jonson with The Mole join forces for another ode to the silver box -- less museum piece, more perpetual motion machine. Proof that you can't retire a sound that never had a desk job. Once again, Gasius supplies the visual psychedelia, while the tracks handle the auditory side of the trip.

Mellonius One's blend of cinematics and downtempo breaks gets fully captured in all its emotive brilliance for his first long player vinyl LP. Turquoise color vinyl.

2025 restock; gatefold LP version. Includes CD. Legendary French record executive, talent agent, and producer Jacques Canetti recorded French singer Jacques Higelin's first disc in 1965, though their meeting dates back to 1954, when Higelin was 14 years old and was already singing Trenet -- at the time, Canetti refused to work with teenagers, whatever their talent. To celebrate the 2015 50-year anniversary of his career, the release of his 2013 album Beau Repaire, and a 2015 residency at the Philharmonie de Paris, Jacques Canetti Productions reissues his first album, with two bonus duets with French poet and vocalist Brigitte Fontaine.

A legend of the Chicago house scene, K'Alexi Shelby partners with Tony Loveless for their Planet E debut, Ancestral Rhythm. Across a rolling nine-minute odyssey of old-school but future-facing jack, Ancestral Rhythm finds the pair tapping into their most uncompromising rhythmic instincts, melding the tough machines of their studio with organic percussion and oscillating plunges into raw, escalating electronics. In complimentary fashion, Carl Craig expands on the existing material for a subtle, tight C2 edit of the pair's original material.

Fakelore, neo folk, alternative electronic, eclectic. PLEVNA is the solo project of Horatiu Serbanescu, tracing a path through motion and memory. Ethnic roots, eastern-twilight melodies, and synthetic textures weave a sound that feels both ancient and entirely new. Nothing here asks to be named. Featuring Catalin Lungu, Inana, and Marian Bîzga.

Bassist, composer and producer Shay Hazan returns with his third solo album, When It Rains It Pours, on Batov Records. Following the critical success of Reclusive Ritual and Wusul, Hazan takes a bold step forward, shifting from the guimbri-led sound that established his reputation to a broader palette of bass, guitar, and synth-driven compositions. Where his earlier work foregrounded the raw, earthy textures of Gnawa tradition, When It Rains It Pours reflects Hazan's evolution as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. Across eleven tracks, Hazan deepens his exploration of layered grooves, spiritual melodies, and experimental textures, resulting in his most expansive and personal statement to date. The album's title embodies Hazan's experience of being tested by life when multiple challenges arrived at once -- musically, personally, and physically. A painful period in which he was unable to play double bass or guimbri due to joint issues became the spark for rediscovering the electric bass, reconnecting him with an instrument he had set aside personal projects for years. The record documents this transition, capturing the tension between struggle and renewal. Unlike his previous guimbri-focused albums, Hazan's approach here highlights his growth as a studio craftsman. Sampling, layering, and textural exploration sit at the core, without losing the immediacy of live musicianship. Longtime collaborators including saxophonist Eyal Netzer, trumpeter Roy Zuzovsky, and drummer Shahar Haziza, help ground the record in ensemble interplay, even as it pushes further into electronic and producer-led territory. The album's gestation was shaped by encounters and inspirations stretching far beyond Tel Aviv. Hazan draws influence from Malawian one-man-band Gasper Nali, the spiritual openness of his recording sessions with legendary drummer Hamid Drake, and years of improvisational collaborations across jazz and global traditions. When It Rains It Pours captures Shay Hazan at a turning point: confronting physical and personal limitations, yet finding new creative channels in response. By leaning into bass, guitar, and studio experimentation, Hazan has crafted an album that feels at once urgent, meditative, and transformative, a body of work that situates him firmly among today's most adventurous voices in spiritual jazz and beyond.

In the heart of 1990s Morocco, Cheb Nacer brought a new breeze to the popular music scene. Born in Oujda, he grew up surrounded by raï, staïfi and chaâbi before moving to Casablanca, where he blended these roots with the electronic sounds filling cabarets and clubs. Inspired by the international clips broadcast on 2M and RTM, he reimagined European hits in darija, creating a hybrid, dance-driven sound. "Olé Olé Olé" became a national hit, carried by bright synths and playful energy -- far from the sentimental pop dominating the airwaves. Between 1993 and 2006, he released a string of tapes, shows and hits, defining his unique style: spontaneous, raw and festive techno-raï born in studios, living rooms and wedding halls. Cheb Nacer embodied an era when the lines between cabaret and club blurred, when music circulated freely and reinvented itself without rules. Decades later, his songs still echo as the soundtrack of a generation tuned into global waves -- free, curious, and proud to dance their own way.

Double LP version. Having ended the '90s with the spirited Laughing Mostly compilation of singles and demos, Delta finally released their debut studio album of twelve songs in the summer of 2000 on the Dishy Recordings label. Accepting that this might be their sole studio album the band threw everything at these recordings allowing it to exist in its own sphere, unbothered by their contemporary generation and disregarding the idea of even releasing a single. Recorded at DEP International there was a notable difference to the scruffier, looser charm of their 1990s recordings, a tighter focus developed by having the experienced Lenny Franchi mixing the LP with them. Lenny had been working with a number of Island artists including My Bloody Valentine and Tricky so knew his way around a desk. There was also the question of budget, so every day counted. Ultimately though you can hear the joy in the recordings, even amongst the melancholy and angst. As James recently recalled in an interview in Shindig! Magazine: "It was such a big deal for us. It's one of my fondest memories doing that record. Everyone was happy. If there's anything that I'd stand by, I think it would be that." Louis Clark Jr joined the band towards the end of the '90s and brought a classically-trained element to the recordings particularly with his string arrangements. For "Cuckoo," "I Want You," and the prophetic "We Come Back" Louis brought in eight players from the Birmingham Conservatoire; the baroque style is partly why the record often receives comparisons to Love's "Forever Changes." On release Slippin' Out was a big favorite with writers at the NME, Mojo, and The Guardian again and before long the band were signed to Mercury/Universal for their second studio album Hard Light, a far more expensive and expansive love affair. It was a temporary palatial home where things quietly fell apart again, but that's another chapter.

"If long-term memory is nothing more than selective editing and only pop's most weighty visceral works are built to last then it's quite possible that in 50 years the Britpop era will be best recollected for the two bands it ostracized. Earlier this year we met Shack and thought their story of mercurial brilliance indicated the biggest music biz oversight of the '90s. We were wrong because we hadn't met Delta yet. This is richer and more engrossing than anything by Shack." --The Guardian

Frederiksberg Records presents the long-awaited reissue of Ambonisye Lord Shepherd's 1981 debut album, Evidence For Real -- a deeply personal and spiritual fusion of soul and jazz that has remained a hidden treasure for more than four decades. The newly remastered edition arrives on vinyl, restoring the powerful work of a drummer, composer, and bandleader who chose to walk his own path, well outside the mainstream. Born Robert Charles Sheppard Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, and later known as Ambonisye Lord Shepherd, the artist carried a life story as inspiring as his music. From his formative years in Omaha's historic 24th & Lake district to his creative explorations in Los Angeles, Shepherd forged a sound that was at once fiercely personal and universally searching. Recorded in late-night sessions across Hollywood and Hermosa Beach with a close circle of collaborators, Evidence For Real reflects Shepherd's spiritual journey in the wake of his mother's passing, embodying his belief in music as a vehicle for healing and higher consciousness. Though self-released on his Verline Records label and overlooked upon its release, Evidence For Real has since become a cult artifact -- a record whispered about among collectors who revere it as a profound statement of resilience, spirituality, and independence. This reissue finally brings Shepherd's masterpiece back into the light.

2025 repress. Two 180-gram LPs with 15 bonus tracks from the deluxe CD edition. Despite his huge success with his 1971 political concept album What's Going On, Marvin Gaye left social concerns behind for those of a more intimate nature with this 1973 album. Let's Get It On album broke new ground, gaining its place in history as one of the most sexual albums ever recorded, laying the basis for every slow jam ever after, and making Gaye both socially concerned and sexy -- a potent commercial combination.

Paperback. 248 pages. "The vinyl record as an artistic medium: a contemporary sequel to the 1989 definitive guide on sound works and records by artists. Following Ursula Block's groundbreaking 1989 exhibition 'Broken Music: Artists' Recordworks' and the accompanying publication, which was reproduced in facsimile by Pioneer Works in 2018, this theoretical sequel explores the development of the record as an artistic medium from the postwar period to the present. Broken Music Vol. 2 explores links between the fields of music in composition and improvisation, pop, punk and techno, expanded by sound works from the collection of the Nationalgalerie, including sound installations and media works. Artists include: Tauba Auerbach, Harry Bertoia, Luciano Castelli, Martin Creed, Henning Christiansen, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Romuald Hazoumé, Rolf Julius, Milan Knízák, Christina Kubisch, Piotr Nathan, Bruce Nauman, Hermann Nitsch, Charlemagne Palestine, Mario Pfeifer, A.R. Penck, Salomé, Richard Serra, Viktor Vasarely, Lawrence Weiner."

A Few We Remember is the new album by Jonah Parzen-Johnson and Lau Nau. The recording debut for the new duo of Finnish composer Lau Nau, aka Laura Naukkarinen, and American baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, it cycles between moments of knotty ambience, whispered melody, and innocent tinkering, as the duo improvises over 8 narrative scores composed by Parzen-Johnson. Jonah Parzen-Johnson and Lau Nau are each prolific and celebrated creators on their own, with 22 albums released between the two of them, but in this fresh conversation, something completely new comes to life. In Laura's words: "I enjoy recording live takes without overdubs, and this album is exactly that -- pure first takes, bubbling creative energy happening in the moment. Jonah's written stories gave a powerful spark and direction for our improvisations, but the album reminds me of a chemical reaction: a result that is impossible without both of our inputs, and a surprise to each of us." On the debut single, First Time Viewer, it is almost impossible to tell where Jonah's fragile baritone saxophone melody begins and where Lau's live-sampled, processed, and re-synthesized accompaniment ends. As the improvisation develops, a cloud of ethereal fragments forms into a lattice of melody and texture strong enough to support the entire track.

Léo Dupleix returns to Black Truffle with Round Sky, following the enchanting Resonant Trees (BT 119LP, 2024). The composer here performs on analogue synthesizer, harpsichord and spinet as one member of Asterales, a group that brings together four important figures in the international community of musicians working with just intonation: Dupleix, Jon Heilbron (double bass), Rebecca Lane (quarter-tone flute) and Frederik Rasten (guitars). The quartet perform three recent pieces by Dupleix, each of which is like a different view on the same landscape of unruffled calm, where the unique harmonic events made possible by just intonation flicker across melodies and harmonies like light on the surface of water. The first side is dedicated to "Poème d'air," composed while Dupleix was immersed in the music of 14th-century ars nova composer-poet Guillaume de Machaut. A sustained study of the "sonic possibilities of low-pitched sounds in just intonation," it begins with a long, rumbling pitch from Heilbron's bass, soon joined by the organ-like tones of the composer on synthesizer. The piece is made up of cycling sequences of chords, each of which is repeated for several minutes before the music either freezes on a single harmony or silently pauses before the next episode begins. The development culminates in a stunning episode around fifteen minutes in where the texture thins out, casting a spotlight on a melodic figure exploiting the uncanny sound of Lane's quarter-tone flute. On the second side comes two briefer pieces, closer to the sound of Resonant Trees as they return harpsichord and spinet to the foreground. "Ghosts" centers on a harpsichord melody that slowly expands as it repeats, growing from a haunting six-note cell to a flowing succession of notes whose shape become increasingly difficult to perceive. Alongside this melodic development, an increasingly lush accompaniment grows, with long tones from bass, flute, e-bowed guitar and synthesizer holding notes picked out the harpsichord melody in a swaying harmonic cloud. Dupleix notes that the concluding "Round Sky" was written in the countryside in spring, a circumstance that seems far from irrelevant to the impression the piece makes when its euphonous spinet arpeggios emerge from a gentle synthesizer drone like a flower from a bud. Performed as a duo with Rasten, with both instrumentalists also singing, this title piece exemplifies what makes Dupleix's music so unique: grounded in a rigorous application of just intonation principles yet as open as Harold Budd or Andrew Chalk to an uncomplicated, intuitive experience of beauty.

50th Anniversary edition of the legendary Eduardo Bort album, the crown jewel of Spanish hard-prog and psychedelic hard-rock from the '70s. Recorded between 1973 and 1974 and released in 1975 as part of Movieplay's legendary Gong series, Eduardo Bort's debut stands as one of the most visionary and legendary works in the birth of Spanish progressive rock. Conceived in Valencia after years of performing across Europe and enduring several failed recording attempts, Bort set out to create, without compromise or commercial restraint, an album that fused fantastic literature, instrumental virtuosity, and sonic experimentation. Inspired by the dreamlike worlds of H. P. Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany, the Valencian musician composed a conceptual suite based on the imaginary river Yann, weaving together passages of pure prog-rock, psychedelia, hard-rock, and cosmic poetry. He surrounded himself with an exceptional band -- José Soriano, Marino Hernández, Vicente Alcañiz, and Fony -- with whom he recorded the complex demos that would eventually shape the album. The sessions at Audiofilm Studios in Madrid, featuring dazzling production and a technical arsenal previously unheard of in Spain (Mellotron, Moog, Hammond organ, Rhodes piano), resulted in a sound so advanced that no local label knew what to do with it. Even EMI UK, deeply impressed by the recording, offered to release it internationally -- but the project was never finalized. Eventually, the album appeared quietly in 1975 through Movieplay, though over time it has come to be recognized worldwide as an absolute masterpiece of progressive and psychedelic rock. Featuring original artwork in gatefold sleeve. Sourced from the original masters. Includes insert with detailed liner notes (Spanish only) and photos.

Hard psychedelic bluesy rock with heavy fuzz-wah guitar by these legends from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, the first band to perform live with a boa constrictor, before Alice Cooper. Privately pressed in 1972, Everlasting Tributes was really a collection of studio tapes recorded in 1968/1969. Born in the summer of 1965 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, The Finchley Boys carved out their place as one of the Midwest's most electrifying and unpredictable rock bands. Starting with British Invasion covers (Yardbirds, Kinks, Animals, Stones), the group quickly moved into originals like "Only Me" and "Hooked," setting them apart from the pack. By 1967, they were on the road full-time -- too young to drink but old enough to blow the doors off every bar from Illinois to Iowa. A fateful merger with local favorites Somebody Groovy led to the definitive Finchley lineup: George Faber (vocals, harp), Garrett Oostdyk (guitar), Larry "Tabe" Tabeling (bass), and J. Michael Powers (drums). Named after a gang mentioned on a Kinks album, the Finchleys became infamous for their wild stage shows, psychedelic blues riffs, and outrageous theatrics -- including a real live boa constrictor on stage. They shared bills with legends like The Byrds, B.B. King, Canned Heat, MC5, Iggy & The Stooges, The Faces, and John Mayall, and were hailed as one of the Midwest's most exciting live acts. Their defining moment came at The Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival (1970) -- a "mini-Woodstock" where their explosive set left tens of thousands of fans in awe and the Chicago Sun-Times proclaiming them festival standouts. Though mainstream fame eluded them, their recordings at Golden Voice Studios and Chess Studios captured their raw power and unique sound. These sessions became the cult-classic 1972 LP Everlasting Tributes -- a roaring mix of heavy blues, hard-psych and proto-punk energy that continues to inspire collectors and fans worldwide. Featuring original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve plus OBI. Ultimate reissue of this classic US hard-psych album including two killer tracks that were left off of the original tracklist. Includes insert with detailed liner notes and photos/memorabilia. Sourced from the original masters.