Announcing Perseverance Flow, the latest album from acclaimed Chicago-based ensemble Natural Information Society (NIS). After a trilogy of double LPs by expanded manifestations of the band that began in 2018 with Mandatory Reality & continued through Since Time Is Gravity (a Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Album of the Year selection & Mojo's #1 Underground Album of 2023), NIS returns to its core formation of Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, & composer/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams on guimbri for one continuous 37 minute composition across a single LP. As the rocket boosters on spaceship earth sputter closer to burnout, lower your stylus into a soundfield that grows stronger the deeper you travel into it; a dose of the medicine many of us look to music to deliver awaits you inside. One of the deep contemplations of this natural information (thanks Bill Callahan) is the wide range of source materials Abrams draws from over the band's more than 15 year history: Ideas from minimalism, modal jazz & traditional musics are regularly reimagined in these compositions. The 2021 double LP descension (Out of Our Constrictions), with guest soloist Evan Parker, reflected aspects of Abrams' love of party music, Chicago house, & John Coltrane. *But even veteran travelers with the NIS best brace themselves for the Perseverance Flow. Speaking to the history & the inspirations behind the album, Abrams offers: "We played the piece for a year in concert before the recording. At Electrical (Audio Studios, Chicago) we went in at 11 & were done in time to pick our kids up from school." Abrams continues: "In a reference world, I imagine Perseverance Flow like a live extended realization of a Jaylib lost instrumental as remixed by Kevin Shields. Or vice versa. I also think it has sympathies to some of the more rhythmically intricate dance musics out of Chicago & Lisbon." The core NIS ensemble heard on Perseverance Flow always address Abrams' writing with the discipline of orchestra musicians & the creativity of improvisers. But this time around, instead of inviting living legend status musicians Evan or William Parker or Ari Brown as honored guests to solo freely over the composed materials, Abrams' invited guest collaborator was the medium of the recording studio itself. Situated at the board with engineer Greg Norman, Abrams pushed post production techniques found only sporadically on earlier NIS records deep into the heart of the music, distorting & reshaping instruments to subtly &, at times, aggressively mutate timbre & texture, color & time. Refracting the band's signature mesmerizing chains of overlapping rhythmic patterns through the sonic funhouse of dub makes Perseverance Flow the most formally experimental NIS album to date. Now a soundworld fully unique to itself is listening to itself, consoling & humoring itself, & consoling & humoring you. A destruction myth & a creation myth of a soundworld together at once -- "energetically nutritious" (October 2025 Issue 500 The Wire) supernatural information society.

"Perseverance Flow is skipping rope in slo-mo. A dance of co-operation to rally guts & humors & keep marching through pouring tears" (Abrams).

LP version. "From out of the dark, the crackle of feedback birdsong signals a return to the land of sound environments exclusive to the music of Rafael Toral. A year and a half after his epochal electric guitar album, Spectral Evolution, Traveling Light finds him sharpening his focus, moving boldly from abstract forms to concrete compositions in the form of a set of jazz standards. Based on Toral's discography, this may seem an unlikely endeavor, but happily, Traveling Light transpires to be one of the major accomplishments in his long history, expressing these songs on their own terms through the unique listening lens of his music. Toral sidesteps the traditional logic of how to play a song, moving outside the framework with which one would expect a standard to be treated. Three decades ago, in the early years of his practice, Toral used the guitar as a generator, to create discreet texture and droning tones. Later, he abandoned the guitar entirely, focusing on self-made electronics to render his music, and the silence from which it came, with a post-free jazz perspective. For the music of Spectral Evolution and Traveling Light, Toral has combined his methodologies, radically expanding the space within their harmonies with his self-made machines, while engaging directly with his instrument and the chords of the material. The result is a listening experience of these standards, that remains 'in the tradition,' even as the elongated harmonies seem to alter time such that, as Toral notes, 'the chords become events on their own.' At points, the long tones animate the sacred ennui of liturgic music, the choir or the organ standing in for silent contemplation while rumbling the ground beneath our feet. Another echo of the concentric circling of music in time. In addition to Toral's proxy orchestra of guitars, sine wave, feedback and bass guitar, Traveling Light features the sounds of clarinetist José Bruno Parrinha, tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, flügelhorn player Yaw Tembe, and flautist Clara Saleiro, who each guest on one song. One of Toral's self-made devices incorporates a theremin -- another near-century old innovation in electronics conceived for use in classical music -- to modulate feedback melodies here. In every contour of Traveling Light's path -- arrangement, improvisation and production -- the spring of the old pours through the new in an unstoppable flow."

"On the cover: A comprehensive feature by music writer Shahlin Graves on why Japanese Breakfast's recent record For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) rules so hard, going in-depth on the meaning and gestation of many of its songs with band leader Michelle Zauner, author of Crying in H Mart. Also includes a bunch of really killer, exclusive photos lovingly accompanying the piece. An exceptional interview with Kai Slater, the super prolific, talented 20-year-old member of Lifeguard, about his terrific pure-pop-for-now-people solo project Sharp Pins by Sydney Salk. Includes amazing, lengthy oral history from the crew who worked behind the scenes on the 1981 Bronx-based cult horror flick Wolfen. This alone is probably worth the price of admission. A deliriously well-written tribute by noted music scribe and DJ Kurt Reighley to Gavin Friday, covering his entire career: from the Virgin Prunes through Hollywood collaborations, and his solo work today. Two separate charged and cantankerous interviews by Knoxville-based historian Eric Dawson, stitched together and serving as a swell tribute to the great Pere Ubu leader David Thomas (RIP). Ubu forever."

Color vinyl version. Originally released in 1975 during the so called "Italian Years Of Lead", Angoscia endorses all of the subliminal and controversial emotions of the time with a series of ethereal yet mysterious sketches. It is possibly one of the most intense and obscure release by famous Morricone alumni and collaborator Alessandroni. His guitar is the leading voice here, with several cloudy synth arpeggios, classical piano chords and solemn string sections. A dark feel surrounds the opera overall: a true gem ranked between the most confrontational of the Italian library genre.

British producer Shackleton has transformed Saagara's highly acclaimed 2024 album 3 into a haunting, dub-infused counterpart. What began as a remix request evolved into a full-length reinterpretation, where Saagara's intricate blend of South Indian percussion, jazz, and electronic elements enters a dark, atmospheric dialogue with Shackleton's shapeshifting soundscapes. The result is a captivating rework that stands beautifully alongside the original, subtly amplifying its drama while adding new layers of depth and mystery. 3 made itself right at home in the tak:til universe as soon as it was released to considerable acclaim, quickly becoming as much of a touchstone for the label's Fourth World aesthetic as Jon Hassell, 75 Dollar Bill, and Sirom. A mind-twisting conference of jazz clarinet and sax, Carnatic percussion from South India and the kind of minutely textured electronic music that doesn't mind if you sit down (but would definitely prefer you to dance), the band's first album for seven years was well worth waiting for. What had Wacław Zimpel been up to in the meantime? Those seven years appear to have been extremely well-spent. What's been picked up on the way? For one, the conviction that the studio is as much of an instrument as the clarinet, the sax and indeed the percussion and violin that Saagara's elite line-up of Giridhar Udupa, Aggu Baba, K Raja and Mysore N. Karthik have spent their whole lives mastering. And it's to the studio that 3 has been led once again, in the form of this brilliant set by a British experimental electronicist celebrated for his groundbreaking dubstep productions and, latterly, for his more ambient and minimalist work and a series of high-profile collaborations (Pinch, Six Organs of Admittance, Holy Tongue and, indeed, Wacław Zimpel). At every point as beautifully coiled and weighted as 3, it matches the original for drama, trades blows with it, squints at it, smiles at it, waves at it and just as often picks its pocket. There's a little more darkness in these versions, Lancashire rain rather more than the heat and dust of Southern India, perhaps; but it's recognizably an exchange of love and respect that will get owners of both records scuttling backwards and forwards between the two. Wacław's lovely description of 3 as "interstellar folk" places that record firmly within one of music's more fascinating recent currents: the meeting of electronics and global roots, often anchored by drone, a fascination with minimalism and the kind of progressive retrofuturism that always seems to emerge at times of crisis.

LP version. Sunflare color vinyl. "claire rousay's music cascades from a well of documented experience, reflections of the past that compose the present. A prolific multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer, rousay gracefully crafts boundaryless music. From her frequent and acclaimed collaborations with artists like M. Sage, more eaze, Gretchen Korsmo, Andrew Weathers, LEYA, and Alex Cunningham, to her film scoring like on The Bloody Lady. From her own compositions to her solo pop work, rousay's music is delicate yet powerful, carefully constructed with a casual intimacy. rousay collages a wealth of found sounds and field recordings with earthy strings, stately piano, and processed instrumentation, all of which trace the outlines of memories and distinct impressions and create a complex constellation of feeling. rousay's music has evolved from confessional to conversational and excavates the rich emotional essence of each passage. Her work as both archivist and adept arranger and orchestrator merge sublimely into deeply honest and engrossing music. On a little death, rousay's blend of pop sensibility and compositional acumen turn abstracted sounds into tangible feelings, its warm, glimmering glow coalescing sensually with the darkness. The process of composing a little death felt like a homecoming for rousay after the more pop-oriented song forms of 2024's sentiment. 'sentiment was a different way of working that helped refresh my music making habits and usual flow,' rousay notes. 'This record is a return to what I see as my core solo practice, a re-dedication to those methods of working which I've found most align with what I envision my music or sound to be.' Intended as a part of a trilogy along with a heavenly touch and a softer focus, the pieces on a little death sprout from a wellspring of tactile samples and granularly processed sounds. The use of sounds recorded from her life outside of the studio remains a throughline in her work. While the previous two albums used field recordings as the primary sound source or central figure in the compositions, here they act more as springboards, timbrally intertwining with live instruments like additional voices in a chamber ensemble."

"Pop at its most fragile, attenuated and surreal." --New York Times

"a fantastic tour de force -- a musical antidote to numbness." --Rolling Stone

"Originally released as an edition of 50 lathe-cut LPs housed in silk-screened jackets in 2020 (fast on the heels of What's Tonight To Eternity), Cat O' Nine Tails has long intrigued die-hard Cindy Lee fans with its combination of the classic songwriting that would dominate Diamond Jubilee a few years later and an actual suite of classical songs under the title itself. Opening with the gothic soap opera theme of 'Our Lady Of Sorrows' into the manic exploration of 'Cat O' Nine Tails,' onto the dusty western walk through Patrick Flegel's lovely guitar work on 'Faith Restored,' the album seems to soundtrack the coolest movie the late '60s ever produced. All of this builds to the lush and sweeping ballad of bruised hearts that introduces that beautiful voice via 'Love Remains.' Side two sees 2024 live show closer 'Cat O' Nine Tails III' complete the suite to epic effect, before introducing the absolute showstopper that is 'I Don't Want To Fall In Love Again.' It is tender and fragile in that way that only Flegel can make both familiar and unique. Closing with the ethereal soul shuffle stomp of 'Bondage Of The Mind,' the album showcases nine songs from an essential time in the Cindy Lee evolution. W.25TH/Superior Viaduct is proud to bring this collection to the larger audience it deserves."

Among the true Keiji Haino devotees, Nijiumu's Era of Sad Wings (released on P.S.F. in 1993) has always held a special place in the pantheon. Operating for only a few years in the early '90s and apparently only performing a handful of shows, Nijiumu operated at the opposite end of the dynamic spectrum to Haino's famed power trio Fushitsusha, dwelling in a hushed, meditative realm of mysterious droning sonorities and free-floating melodies that occasionally erupts into violence. Black Truffle now presents a new double-LP edition of a lesser-known 1994 Nijiumu recording, When I sing, I slip into the microphone. Into that void, I bring comrade "prayers", then, turning to face the outside, together we explode. Here, Nijiumu is the trio of Haino, Tetuzi Akiyama, and the obscure Takashi Matsuoka, the three performing on a wide variety of string, wind and percussion instruments, as well as electric guitar and bass, and Haino's unmistakable voice. Like on the early solo Haino album that shares the group's name, the instrumentation swims in reverb, often obscuring the instrumental sources. On the short opening piece, a distant reed instrument arcs long buzzing melodies over a bed of cymbals and gongs, like a psychedelic take on Tibetan music. The epic second part, occupying almost 50 minutes, begins as a splayed, near-formless cloud of electric guitar and bass, shadowed by bowed and plucked strings, the three elements working through twisting atonal shapes. At various points in the recording, we hear what seems to be the sounds of musicians moving between instruments, their shuffling and bumps fitting seamlessly into this radically open music. Eventually, what sounds like electric guitar moves closer to the foreground, fixing on a repeated melodic cell around which hover mysterious clouds of long tones and a sporadic shaker. In this new edition, the Nijiumu trio recording is supplemented by a piece recorded solo by Haino in 1973, a bracing electronic blowout stretching almost half an hour. Using a homemade electronics setup to unleash a barrage of crunching distortion and shuddering harmonic fuzz, it takes its place in the canon of extreme live electronics next to Robert Ashley's Wolfman and Walter Marchetti's Osmanthus fragrans, looking forward to extreme noise years before Merzbow. Taken as a whole, these four sides of music are a stunning document of some of the lesser-known waystations of Haino's singular creative path.

"Out of the roiling miasma of timeless time comes a long-promised delivery from one of the constants of this era: Major Stars, and their new LP, More Colors of Sound. Fueled by overdriven guitars and gut-punching rhythm, these veteran rockers are stalwart in their delivery of trippy, psyched-out extremes. Over the 27 years since The Rock Revival (their Twisted Village debut), they can be counted on to come back around every three or four years or so, with something heavy picked up on their journey. This time, it's been since 2019's Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy -- but what's a few years in the larger scheme of things? It's been since the late '90s that Major Stars have been transmitting their signal. But even eternity wasn't built in such an arc of time: Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar have been crossing necks dating back to the '80s, with Crystallized Movements' screaming psychpunk hybrids. Tom Leonard, Major Stars' current third axeman, has been in the mix almost as long: Luxurious Bags' amorphous low-fi was released on Twisted Village too, and Kate and Wayne and him all played together in Vermonster. The More Colors of Sound lineup is as-was for Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy: Kate, Tom, Wayne, Dave Dougan on bass, Casey Keenan on drums and Noell Dorsey singing lead. More Colors of Sound had been earmarked as a title for nearly twenty years when they started work on the album that would finally bear its name. For the first ten Major Stars releases, Wayne wrote everything, but due to the way things were in 2020 and 2021, Tom and Noell wrote a bunch of things together, along with Wayne's stuff. By the time they got to Gloucester's Bang-A Song Studios, there was enough music for a double LP. As ever, the crush of the three guitars as they riff with the rhythm defines Major Stars' sound. The work of two writing camps has produced a song-centric focus on More Colors of Sound -- one, of course, shot through with distorted tones, fevered neck-wringing solos and several extended jammers -- but the production overall has a cleaner sound than its predecessor. On More Colors of Sound, Major Stars find new hues inside the incendiary approach that's launched them so ecstatically since early times; another jar of infinity captured with a quality all its own -- and it's all in the grooves!"

A Place In My Memory Is All I Have To Claim is the new album by Australian atmospheric pop trio Hydroplane, the storied "offshoot" formed by three quarters of independent pop group, The Cat's Miaow. On this, their first music after two decades plus of radio silence, Andrew Withycombe, Kerrie Bolton, and Bart Cummings return to the gentle, close-quarters musical world they shared around the turn of the century. Recorded during 2024 in Melbourne and Ballarat, A Place In My Memory picks up the thread Hydroplane set down with its precursor, 2001's The Sound Of Changing Places, though you can hear echoes of their other releases, too, with Withycombe noting a through-line from the group's 1998 "Failed Adventure" single. There's little quite like A Place In My Memory, then or now, though. Fellow travelers might include Empress, The Ah Club, and further back, Young Marble Giants, Veronique Vincent (the muffled, ticking drum machine also makes me think of Robin Gibb 's Robin's Reign). There's also an umbilical to the bedroom-crafted electronica doing the rounds in the late nineties and early noughties. Hydroplane hint at this through their approach to songwriting, which often builds creatively around loops as structural devices. Through all this, the trio achieve an effortless, organic weightlessness across these nine lovely songs. Many feature Bolton's clear singing voice, drifting along, while guitars, keyboards, drum machines and loops tickertape away. The constituent parts fit together, but they also have a curiously detached quality -- think of abstract cloud formations sharing the same sky. Hydroplane and The Cat's Miaow often dealt in emotional ambiguity and uncertainty, and the uncertainty of the nostalgic. This was always one of the most appealing facets of their music, and A Place In My Memory is thus named perfectly. A beautiful collection of drowsy, sleepy pop, humble and quiet, but resolute in its craft, A Place In My Memory Is All I Have To Claim is dream work in practice; a lovely reintroduction.

Pingipung introduces Iko Chérie, the experimental pop project of French multi-instrumentalist Marie Merlet. The 7" single Ghosted Ghosters of the Holy G features a hypnotic blend of dub-infused songwriting and blissful noise. On the flipside, French electro-dub visionaries Froid Dub unravel the track into a shadowy, slow- motion version, with a solid sub-bass, flickering delays and half-heard whispers.

2025 restock, on red vinyl. Fugazi's debut 7 song EP, originally released in 1988. Printed inner sleeve with lyrics. "This 12" EP was recut from the Silver Sonya masters in 2008 at Chicago Mastering Service."

LP version. Echo Beach presents: Don Letts: The Rebel Dread -- legendary film and video director, disc jockey and musician. Don Letts, in his capacity as a selector (it's not for nothing that he hosts his own show on BBC6 radio), enthusiastically accepted the invitation to create a compilation from Echo Beach's extensive catalog to mark its 30th anniversary. A splendid and crisp selection. Featuring Dubinator, Martha And The Muffins, Dubmones, Earl 16 & Oku Onuora, Dubblestandart, Dubxanne, Claire Parsons, Dub Stax, Don Letts Dub Cartel, Aaron, Dubblestandart, Marcia Griffiths, Toogah, Fila Brazillia, Ari Up, Lee Scratch Perry, Noiseshaper, Kid Loco, Soul Sugar, RSD, Ammoye, and Dub Spencer & Trance Hill.

"Tinariwen are the grandfathers of what is known today as Taureg guitar music. Started in refugee camps in Algeria and Libya in 1979, Tinariwen created a new sound of Taureg music that pushed the tradition into a new direction. Ahmoudou, Souleymane, and I all came to Tinariwen in different ways throughout our life and there is no doubt the importance the music has on all three of us. Just as much as Tinariwen pushed what Tuareg music is, that was the idea with TAKAAT is, to push the tradition even further, create something new, create something fresh that blends our love for bands like Tinariwen but also our love of heavier more chaotic bands. Is Noise Vol. 2 includes the TAKAAT versions of a couple of our favorite Tinariwen tunes. Unlike the original Tinariwen versions, these songs are unedited shredding jams recorded live to tape in Washington D.C. This is raw, this is noisy, this is TAKAAT." -- Mikey Coltun

LP version. Repress of Mephistofeles' debut album. This debut release offers catchy grooves and melodies, complemented by a gritty, lo-fi production. The tracks delve into themes of self-destruction and drug addiction, presenting a raw and unfiltered stoner doom experience. A must have!

Jerome Froese's fourth solo album. Jerome Froese was a long-standing member of the legendary German electronic band Tangerine Dream, working as a composer and multi-instrumentalist from 1990 to 2006. During this period, he received seven Grammy nominations. As the son of Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese, who passed away in 2015, he carries on the musical DNA with independence and innovative spirit -- in his own unique way. Froese's solo works are characterized by his unmistakable trademark sound, which he himself describes as "guitartronica" -- a unique fusion of electronic sound structures and guitar-based textures. In addition to electronic elements, the album also features stylistic influences from the post-rock and dreampop genre, which lend the sound additional emotional depth and organic warmth.

The 85-year-old video game queen and film composer pdqb (born on November 14, 1939) delivers a beautiful love letter to your boomer childhood, a wild ride through the golden age of video gaming. Hear how she dodges bullets, jumps over cosmic chasms, beats bosses, reaches bonus stages, uses cheat codes and even her last continue -- just to stay in a world of pixels and vectors forever. pdqb will bring you back all those fond memories of unburdened joy that you might have lost while growing up. She could be your savior. Synaptic Cliffs is filled with otherworldly pride to present these 14 timeless masterpieces to its beloved listeners.

2025 repress. WRWTFWW Records present the much-anticipated official reissue of Japanese duo Inoyamaland's quintessential ambient/environmental/electronic album Danzindan-Pojidon, produced by Haruomi Hosono and originally released in 1983 on his Yen Records label. Available outside of Japan for the first time, the new age classic comes as a limited LP with liner notes by band member Makoto Inoue. With Danzindan-Pojidon, Yasushi Yamashita and Makoto Inoue created what they describe as "a special place where the kingdom of summer vacation never ended." Playful and magical, it's a sonic landscape defined by tinkling synths, floating minimalist melodies, pastoral excursions, and mythical overtones. The ten-track adventure takes the listener on a joyful audio exploration of unknown but friendly territories, like childhood memories of an imaginary island where everything is vibrantly alive and peaceful. The original recording sessions for the album took place in an apartment filled with Inoyamaland's "favorite things and friends" and the wonders that came out of them were handed to master Harry Hosono who added his undeniable genius touch. And thus Danzindan-Pojidon was born, an absolute must-have, sitting in the pantheon of all-time '80s Japanese ambient greats alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 018LP/019CD/019LP), Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (WRWTFWW 030CD/LP) -- and holding that mysterious power of "music that makes life a little easier and happier." 350gsm sleeve with selected UV high gloss varnish.

West Virginia Snake Handler Revival "They Shall Take Up Serpents" marks the arrival of a landmark record, documenting the last, snake handling church in Appalachia. Featuring hillbilly rock guitars, trance-like rhythms, and howling vocals, this album was recorded 100% live and without overdubs by Grammy-award winning producer and author, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Zomba Prison Project). The first release of American music ever by Sublime Frequencies, Brennan states, "As much as I've traveled around the globe to remote areas such as Comoros, the southeast Sahara or up-river in Suriname, few places have felt more foreign or 'exotic' than this part of Appalachia. The recording represents in many ways a companion and counterpoint -- the other side of the Deep South, so to speak -- to the music that was explored on the Parchman Prison Prayer albums. The Snake Handler album was an attempt to listen across that divide -- a divide that's never fully healed and continues to haunt and imperil the USA to this day." The recording took place during a two-plus hour Sunday service in the West Virginia mountains. Brennan states, "I'd sworn to stay far away from the snakes at the service, but instead they were waved in my face as they coiled in the preachers' hands, and I crouched down at the foot of the altar tending to the equipment. The pastor soon was bitten and blood splattered, pooling on the floor. The female parishioners hurriedly came to wipe up the mess, and it instantly became clear just what the rolls of paper towels stacked on the pulpit had been for. You can actually hear this moment transpire towards the end of the track 'Don't Worry It's Just a Snakebite (What Has Happened to This Generation?)'. The congregation leapt to its feet and a mini mosh-pit formed. The tag-team preachers huffed handkerchiefs soaked in strychnine, as they circled like aggro frontmen and an elderly worshiper held the flame of a candle to her throat, closing her eyes and swaying. The church PA blew out from the screams as a bonnet-wearing senior whacked away at a trap kit that dwarfed her. It was the most metal thing I'd ever seen, rendering Slayer mere kids play." The flock claim to be the first church that merged Rock and Roll with firebrand preaching -- that the music was stolen from them by Satan, that they are the originators. Given that snake handling ministries can be traced back to at least 1910, there might even be a faint something to the claim. The pastor's father and brother both died after being bitten by timber rattlesnakes, and the pastor himself suffered greatly from one a few years back -- his forearm swelling to twice its size and turning slime green. As a result, he fell unconscious and his forearm had to be sliced open from wrist to bicep to relieve the pressure. Nonetheless, Pastor Chris steadfastly claims that "Jesus is our anti-venom." "Some people think we're Devil worshippers, that we're a cult. But snake handling is only a small part of what we do." In the 1970s there were reportedly five-hundred snake churches throughout Appalachia, but now there is only one -- in West Virginia, the only state where serpent handling remains legal. It's estimated that in the past century more than one-hundred preachers have died from poisonous snakebites inflicted while leading these services. This includes the founder of the first snake handling flock, George Went Hensley, who was illiterate and once convicted of selling moonshine during the Prohibition era. His death was officially ruled a suicide due to his refusing medical treatment. The local county's population has dropped by more than 80% in the wake of the West Virginia coal industry's globalization gutting, and the area now leads the USA in drug-related deaths per capita while also being the poorest in the state. Within minutes of launching into trance-like states during the service featured on this album, both preachers became drenched in sweat. More than strict scripture, the preachers are gifted improvisers able to vent for hours at a time. Brennan states, "Pastor Chris joked, 'You definitely don't want to hear me sing.' But, in fact, he is a gifted vocalist with singular phrasing." Like so much of the most classic music ever made, it sounds as if it is emanating from the past and the future simultaneously -- some parallel universe where instead of discovering amphetamines, The Damned found God (or maybe both) and became born again. The vinyl edition includes a long 13-minute bonus track and features a four-page booklet sporting stunning photos of the congregation's rituals in action.

Black Truffle presents Melopea, two new pieces highlighting the incredible voice of Amelia Cuni (1958-2024), the great Italian singer, based in Berlin in later life, whose mastery of the classical Indian dhrupad developed in parallel with a commitment to contemporary experimental approaches. After two stunning archival releases documenting traditional dhrupad performances in India in the 1990s, the two side-long pieces here embody the freedom with which Cuni explored new contexts and settings for her singing. Both make use of a long recording of Cuni singing the pentatonic Raag Bhoop (or Bhopali) made in 2012 by her partner Werner Durand in Berlin. Melopea began from Cuni and Durand's superimposition of this recording with violinist Silvia Tarozzi and cellist Deborah Walker's performance of Éliane Radigue's Occam River II. Inspired by the beauty of this chance encounter (and other experiments with non-synchronous collaboration during the pandemic years), Tarozzi and Walker recorded independently, without hearing Cuni's voice but "having her present in memory." Tarozzi and Walker's bowed strings places Cuni's magisterial performance in a new context, emphasizing, as Radigue commented upon hearing the initial layering of her piece with Cuni's voice, a shared "searching toward the partials, overtones, these natural constituents of acoustical sounds in their richness." Primarily focusing on her lower register, Cuni's performance demonstrates her mastery of microtonal pitch subtleties, elegant sweeping glissandi and meditatively unhurried pacing. The continuation of the same recording by Cuni forms the foundation of "Bhoop-Murchana," with Anthea Caddy on cello and Werner Durand on soprano saxophone. In contrast to the randomized layering of the first piece, here Durand and Caddy have carefully selected pitches based on the raag Cuni sings, using the "Murchana" form, which uses the constituent notes of the raag as tonics of new raags, retaining the same interval structure. Both players who have developed tones of striking depth and harmonic purity on their instruments, Caddy and Durand's patient long tones are simultaneously rigorously grounded in the physical properties of sound and possessed of an immaterial, floating quality. Combined with Cuni's voice and, near the piece's end, her contributions on hammered and plucked tanpura, the effect borders on miraculous. Accompanied by liner notes from Durand, Tarozzi and Walker, Melopea is both a moving tribute to the profound art of Amelia Cuni and, for the uninitiated, a perfect introduction to it.

2025 repress. Pop -- the album that has become widely recognized as the defining moment in which Wolfgang Voigt brought his listeners into a clearing of his deep, psychedelic forest. A landmark release in the GAS odyssey that drew international attention, Pop was originally released in 2000 on the iconic Frankfurt imprint, Mille Plateux. Pop was heralded by Pitchfork at the time of release as being "an exercise in sonic texture... pure sonic velvet, the layered drone radiating a palpable warmth." Pop was reissued by Kompakt in 2016 as a part of GAS Box (now out of print) and by itself here. First time on 180 gram, triple-LP vinyl; includes original artwork.

Kompakt's Total 25! Another anniversary in a year that is already rich in anniversaries. For the 25th time, the Kompakt family is gathering for its annual rendezvous. The latest boy band in town, Pop Vampires Cologne, opens the party with the enigmatic "Karianne." Superpitcher knows how to make a grand appearance, accompanied by high-caliber guests. His electro-pop treat "Pandora's Box" features Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor on vocals. Jürgen Paape isn't coming alone either, but with newcomer Hella in tow. "Grace (A Tale)" once again shows the resident hit maker at his best. Jörg Burger also has a table companion, the extremely talented Irene Kalisvaart, and remixes himself on top of that. Reinhard Voigt points out that money never sleeps and proceeds according to the motto: "Zahl an einem anderen Tag (Pay another day)." Brazilian whirlwind Gui Boratto returns after a long absence with the banger "Panorama X-Press." After careful consideration, Robag Wruhme has named his new track "Total" and sings in the chorus with his family for the first time. Wassermann contributes an ultra-fat remix of Mayer's "Brainwave Technology," while Michael Mayer himself marvels at the rare "Erdbeermond." Hardt Antoine's "Let Me Go" really gets the party going again before Wassermann orders a large taxi and skips out on the bill.

2025 repress. MG.ART announce the reissue of Join Inn as part three of the authorized 50th anniversary "A.R.T." re-edition series. Join Inn is the fourth album by Ash Ra Tempel. It was recorded at Studio Dierks and originally released on LP by Ohr Musik-Produktion Each side of the LP comprises one long track. In 1972, Ash Ra Tempel teamed up again with Klaus Schulze during the recording of Walter Wegmüller's Tarot album, and after one of the recording sessions, Ash Ra Tempel members Enke, Göttsching and Rosi, together with Klaus decided to "play it again" in a late-night session. This recording led to the birth of the Join Inn album, as well as two legendary last concerts in February 1973 in Paris and Cologne. Manuel Göttsching recalls Hartmut Enke on bass and Klaus Schulze on drums being a dream-team rhythm section for him to play his guitar, especially here to hear on "Freak n' Roll", that was ingenious and not to replace ever since. It was the last recording ever where Klaus Schulze (who sadly passed away in 2022) played the drums and also Hartmut (the Hawk) Enke soon after quit the bass and music forever. Join Inn marks the end of the collaboration with Klaus Schulze. However, together with Ash Ra Tempel, their eponymous first album, it is considered a highlight of the Krautrock movement. Re-cut overseen by Manuel Göttsching.

Julian Cope's review from his book Krautrocksampler (1995): "'Freak'n'roll' fades in like it never started -- just was always there from the beginning of time, a dry wah-guitar free rock riff-out unlike any of the other Ash Ra Tempel LPs, and not much like any other music. Yes, there are bluesy riff but none of them have a blues context. Manuel Göttsching's guitar is so confident that he sometimes drops down to a simple major chord groove, whilst the Hawk pushes that round woody bass into strange overlapping rumbling melody. And ... it's the return of Klaus Schulze on drums which propels 'Freak'n'roll' to its height. No-one but Klaus has the ability to transcend rock n' roll in such an on-the-beat non-groove-y way and still send sparks of light into the cosmos as he does it. 'Freak'n'roll' is so egoless that it even works at a quiet volume as meditational music. Themes rise from the high tempo pulse beat, then are carried along the muscles of the song into the main area where the riff actually becomes real and expressionist for just long enough before slipping back into the musical fabric of the song. As usual with Ash Ra Tempel, the other side is an enormous drift piece called 'Jenseits (The Next World)', a beautiful Klaus Schultze meditation of haunting synthesizer chords over which Rosi Muller tells the story of the Cosmic Couriers' meeting with Timothy Leary..."

Restocked. "Alto saxophonist Marion Brown was an initially underrated hero of the jazz avant-garde. It was only after he moved from Atlanta to New York and joined John Coltrane that audiences and critics took notice. Dedicated to discovering the far-reaching possibilities of improvisational expression, Brown possessed a truly lyrical voice. In the early seventies, he played with Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, Bennie Maupin, Jeanne Lee, and Chick Corea, among others. On this recording, he was accompanied by the German jazz musician Gunter Hampel (composer, vibraphonist, saxophonist, flutist, pianist, and bass clarinetist). His son Djinji remembers his father by saying, 'The way he played sounded like his speaking voice, the way he held his horn reminded me of the way he held my hand, the way he walked was in the same rhythm as his songs, and then everything made sense. His music was first and foremost who he was. It was the purest expression of his soul, and everything he did had the same gentle power as his music. He was truly one with his art; there was no separation between the two.'"

Limited 2025 restock, last copies; Double LP version. Includes download card. Featuring Nogzi Family, Witch, Musi-O-Tunya, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Amanaz, Blackfoot, "and every important Zamrock band." "Explore Zambia's liberation and its impact on the country's rock revolution. By the mid-1970s, the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country's first president Kenneth Kaunda had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new federation found itself under his self-imposed, autocratic rule. Conflict loomed on all sides of this landlocked nation. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty. This is the environment in which the '70s rock revolution that has come to be known as Zamrock flourished. Fuzz guitars were commonplace, as were driving rhythms as influenced by James Brown's funk as Jimi Hendrix's rock predominated. Musical themes, mainly sung in the country's constitutional language, English, were often bleak. In present day Zambia, Zamrock markers were few. Only a small number of the original Zamrock godfathers that remained in the country survived through the late '90s. AIDS decimated this country, and uncontrollable inflation forced the Zambian rockers that could afford to flee into something resembling exile. This was not a likely scene to survive -- but it did. Welcome To Zamrock!, presented in two volumes, is an overview of its most beloved ensembles, and a trace of its arc from its ascension, to its fall, to its resurgence."

2025 repress. "In the late '70s, The Avengers established themselves as one of the US's preeminent punk bands. Fusing incisive guitar hooks, explosive rhythms and adolescent venom, the group forged some of the most in-your-face songs of the era. Their live shows were legendary, playing up and down the West Coast and even blowing Sex Pistols off the stage at the latter's final performance. As Byron Coley writes in the liner notes, 'Of the best bands of San Francisco's first wave in 1977, The Avengers were by far the coolest and youngest sounding. They roared without irony, as though this were indeed Year Zero (and, for a moment, it was), with history being overwritten by the new. The honesty of their belief was carried by their sound. And it was convincing!' Originally released in 1983, four years after the band's dissolution, The Avengers' self-titled LP is often referred to as 'The Pink Album' for its magenta-hued cover design. Frontwoman Penelope Houston's iconic voice and razor-sharp lyrics resonate on anthems 'We Are The One' and 'The American In Me,' while penetrating ballads like 'Corpus Christi' reveal a truly out-of-body euphony. The Pink Album remains The Avengers' definitive statement -- collecting their classic Dangerhouse EP, sessions recorded with the Pistols' Steve Jones and a half-dozen revelatory demos. While much has been written about The Avengers in the past three decades, rock critic Greil Marcus puts it succinctly, 'The word I always come back to is mystical, and that remains almost theirs alone.'"

"Experience the profound legacy of The Last Poets with their new release, Africanism. Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan revisit and re-energize some of their seminal works such as 'When The Revolution Comes,' 'Gash Man' and 'Niggers Are Scared of Revolution,' infusing them with fresh and potent new soundscapes. Joining the Poets are the late, great Tony Allen (Fela Kuti) -- laying the album's foundations with legendary Afrobeat rhythms -- Egypt 80 guitarist and bassist Akinola Adio Oyebola and Kunle Justice, jazz keyboardist Kaidi Tatham (dubbed as 'The UK's Herbie Hancock') and saxophonist Courtney Pine. Africanism is the result of vibrant live sessions in Brooklyn and London, recorded and mixed by producer Prince Fatty. The album bridges spoken-word poetry with a bold fusion of Afrobeat and contemporary jazz, where live instruments amplify the Poets' raw and unflinching verses."

Announcing Perseverance Flow, the latest album from acclaimed Chicago-based ensemble Natural Information Society (NIS). After a trilogy of double LPs by expanded manifestations of the band that began in 2018 with Mandatory Reality & continued through Since Time Is Gravity (a Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Album of the Year selection & Mojo's #1 Underground Album of 2023), NIS returns to its core formation of Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, & composer/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams on guimbri for one continuous 37 minute composition across a single LP. As the rocket boosters on spaceship earth sputter closer to burnout, lower your stylus into a soundfield that grows stronger the deeper you travel into it; a dose of the medicine many of us look to music to deliver awaits you inside. One of the deep contemplations of this natural information (thanks Bill Callahan) is the wide range of source materials Abrams draws from over the band's more than 15 year history: Ideas from minimalism, modal jazz & traditional musics are regularly reimagined in these compositions. The 2021 double LP descension (Out of Our Constrictions), with guest soloist Evan Parker, reflected aspects of Abrams' love of party music, Chicago house, & John Coltrane. *But even veteran travelers with the NIS best brace themselves for the Perseverance Flow. Speaking to the history & the inspirations behind the album, Abrams offers: "We played the piece for a year in concert before the recording. At Electrical (Audio Studios, Chicago) we went in at 11 & were done in time to pick our kids up from school." Abrams continues: "In a reference world, I imagine Perseverance Flow like a live extended realization of a Jaylib lost instrumental as remixed by Kevin Shields. Or vice versa. I also think it has sympathies to some of the more rhythmically intricate dance musics out of Chicago & Lisbon." The core NIS ensemble heard on Perseverance Flow always address Abrams' writing with the discipline of orchestra musicians & the creativity of improvisers. But this time around, instead of inviting living legend status musicians Evan or William Parker or Ari Brown as honored guests to solo freely over the composed materials, Abrams' invited guest collaborator was the medium of the recording studio itself. Situated at the board with engineer Greg Norman, Abrams pushed post production techniques found only sporadically on earlier NIS records deep into the heart of the music, distorting & reshaping instruments to subtly &, at times, aggressively mutate timbre & texture, color & time. Refracting the band's signature mesmerizing chains of overlapping rhythmic patterns through the sonic funhouse of dub makes Perseverance Flow the most formally experimental NIS album to date. Now a soundworld fully unique to itself is listening to itself, consoling & humoring itself, & consoling & humoring you. A destruction myth & a creation myth of a soundworld together at once -- "energetically nutritious" (October 2025 Issue 500 The Wire) supernatural information society.

"Perseverance Flow is skipping rope in slo-mo. A dance of co-operation to rally guts & humors & keep marching through pouring tears" (Abrams).

GusGus are continuing their weird fusion of '80s and '90s vibes in the spirit of their last album DanceOrama. This time its nostalgic futuristic raving, delivering two nasty bits for those DJ's bringing stranger journeys on floor, or some madness when the crowd is vulnerable for some alter reality experience.

"Amish Records is excited to announce wet glass, the stately sophomore album from Carrboro, NC-based Verity Den. This eagerly awaited new record follows their 2024 debut, which was built from early demo recordings and quickly attracted a passionate following despite the raw origins. The energy and innovative sound of that album earned praise for its originality and musicianship. Sun13 Music praised the debut as 'a scuzzy, blissed-out torrent of sound that stands completely on its own two feet.' Heathen Disco, naming it 2024's Album of The Year, wrote, 'this thing is just perfect, patient, and pretty revelatory for any band playing in this puddle decades after the fact, and the little-recognized high card they're playing with is texture -- reminds that the best bands don't fall into a stylistic trap so much they rebuild the trap altogether, and let others do the falling.' The new album was self-recorded and self-produced and is built upon the same foundational elements as their first album, noise, texture, ambience and simple songcraft, but wet glass has a wider ranging landscape. A bigger frame brings a bigger picture, but fear not, Verity Den has not forgotten what we've come to love about their sound. Just because it's groomed doesn't mean it's 'clear.' It's 2025, clarity is downright embarrassing and Verity Den has expertly mastered the skill of translating the current mind-fuck zeitgeist into a sonic snapshot. They are equally inner-political journalists as they are musicians. Casey Proctor, Trevor Reece, Mike Wallace, and Reed Benjamin's musical simpatico is natural. wet glass flows between multiple zones including, but not limited to, the melodic Yo La Tengo 'Painful' era drive of 'wet glass' and 'green drag,' the loopy Flying Saucer Attack haze of 'unsolved mystery' and 'highway fifty four' or the loner neo-Fred Neil devotional 'to trees.' Impressionistic lyrics, effective songs and jams that sound warm and familiar. The make-up of wet glass is dense, yet simply beautiful. Unintentionally cinematic. Verity Den conjure a sound that soaks in like an Epsom salt bath after a long day of being pummeled by your 9 to 5. SWEET RELIEF." --David Kenneth Nance

Steve Moore reprises his beloved Lovelock guise by presenting his unique riff on the library breaks genre. Business And Pleasure contains grimy groove and sleazy funk-laden lounge music, oscillating between dark and light flashes. It's nothing short of astounding! This vinyl release is hyper-limited, with just 500 pressed for the world. The LP is ushered in by the spacey synth-funk of the sleazy, woozy title track. This is that serious slo-mo cosmic-balearic head-nod shit. Laidback bass, heavy funk with dreamy synth and electric guitars. An outstanding opener. Heaven-sent synth flourishes and a laidback bassline over smooth drums cement its simple, vivacious grace. This collection was written and recorded in Spring and Summer of '24. Everything was tracked at Steve's home studio in Albany, NY except the drums and percussion, which were recorded by Jeff Gretz at his space in NYC. The whole collection is basically a rhythm section feature, so Steve's Rickenbacker 4003 and Fender Jazz Bass play very prominently. The bass guitar serves as lead instrument in a lot of these tracks. Also, lots of Rhodes and stringers and guitar. He even dusted off my sax for this one, which he doesn't do as often as he'd like! This type of groove-oriented library music has been a steady part of Steve's diet since the late '90s. Lovelock started as a dedicated Italo-disco project, but over the years Steve expanded it to include anything directly informed by the commercial/pop side of the music of his childhood ('70s/'80s). Writing and recording this album was, like a lot of Steve's music these days, basically a test to see whether or not he could do it. The album's cover was designed by Chris Stevenson, with no little direction from Steve. He knew that he wanted to go with something photography-based for this cover so, in true DIY/cheapskate spirit, Steve started by looking through his own photos. He found the cover image on his phone, taken through an almost empty bottle of beer, and it clicked. The whole album has a very boozy vibe, so this shot seemed appropriate. Mastering for this vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis, and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry.

Wally Badarou is a synth pioneer and musical polymath. But rarely does he sing over his sumptuous tracks. The six songs that comprise new record Simple Things finally realize Wally's vision for select backing tracks from his beloved Colors Of Silence. The tracks were originally developed back in 2001 for the release of the original CD; here, Wally has "simply" added overdubs and vocals to their mastered mixes with some discerning edits. Simply put, Simple Things is another slice of simply stunning Wally Badarou genius. Simple Things has been decades in the making. Indeed, Wally struggled not only with the idea of singing these wonderful songs himself but singing them in English and writing his own lyrics, while wrestling with the sensational backing tracks, which themselves seemed to have taken on a life of their own. As Wally explains: "In addition to the instrumental artist I have been known as, so far, there has always been a singer who simply was not sure he was, up until now. Even though Back To Scales Tonight, my very first album, was, indeed, a song album." The guide vocal Wally had laid for Colors Of Silence -- with an organ sound -- seemed striving for words in Linguala, a Congolese language he could not speak. Therefore the decision to do it himself was not an easy one, for it had to be in English to fit his singing. A synth specialist, there can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango, and Miriam Makeba. Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorization. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possible quality at Record Industry in Holland.

The songs of Louisiana's Francophone and Creole heritage have flowed through the bayous for centuries, shaped by African, Native American, French, and Caribbean influences. This double vinyl compilation and its OBI strip features a staggering 34 songs, ranging from French ballads and Creole renditions to zydeco hooks and reinterpretations by a wide array of contemporary artists such as Madteo, Tanz Mein Herz, Radio Hito, Cyril Cyril, and Deafkids, among others. With archival recordings and contemporary creations side by side, it serves as a bridge across the vast bayou of Louisiana music. Also featuring Elby "Bee" Deshotels, Alma Barthélémy, Caesar Vincent, Raywood Morvant, Chalvin Godar, Burton LeMaire, Clifton Chenier, Isome J. Fontenot, Gabriel Broussard, Emeline Broussard, Chimère FM, Yama Warashi, Herandu, _thesmoothcat, Juu, and NAPPYNAPPA.

2025 restock. Jacques Canetti Productions presents Jacques Higelin & Brigitte Fontaine's 1967 album Chansons D'Avant le Déluge, reissued on vinyl as part of a series of albums highlighting the work of French talent agent and producer Jacques Canetti. In his lifelong dedication to chanson, Canetti supported and developed the careers of a dizzying array of artists: Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Boris Vian, Georges Brassens, Serge Reggiani, Léo Ferré, and Jeanne Moreau are among the most notable. Brigitte Fontaine's partnership with Canneti had begun a year before this album's release with her debut album, 13 Chansons Décadentes et Fantasmagoriques (BEC 5772795). This, her second release on Disques Jacques Canetti, heralded the arrival of her highly productive partnership with Jacques Higelin, and remains a cult duet album. Chansons D'Avant le Déluge includes "La grippe" and "Maman j'ai peur," two songs that would go on to become centerpieces of the duo's stage musical Maman j'ai peur. The album features production by Canetti and orchestral arrangements by Jimmy Walter, who also arranged the orchestral parts for Fontaine's debut. Remastered from the original tapes. Housed in a gatefold jacket with original artwork.

Berlin-based Swedish singer-songwriter Nadya Albertsson returns with her most personal work to date. Half Silk Half Blade blends diaristic storytelling with lush, layered instrumentation, the capturing a fleeting, transformative moment of queer self-discovery. A Scottish Young Jazz Musician finalist in 2018, her sound has been described as evoking Alice Coltrane, with a blend of Ella Fitzgerald, Esperanza Spalding, and Erykah Badu. Her versatile and expansive vocal range has already been showcased on Rebecca Vasmant's Blessed and Broken Biscuits and Amanda Whiting's After Dark -- projects championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, Jamz Supernova, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, and BBC Radio Scotland. For fans of Olivia Dean and Cleo Soul.