Carrying on from recent archival releases from masters of Indian classical tradition such as Kamalesh Maitra and the Dagar Brothers, Black Truffle presents a previously unheard recording of a concert by Pakistani vocalist Salamat Ali Khan. Born to a musician family in Hoshiarpur in the northwestern state of Punjab, Khan moved with his family to Lahore in Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India, becoming a child musical prodigy. Khan was a master of the kyhal form of Hindustani classical vocal music, a style integrating influences from Middle Eastern musical traditions that gives the singer a great deal of improvisational freedom. Travelling widely across the globe from the 1960s until his death in 2001, Khan approached ragas performed in the kyhal style as expressive forums for risk-taking improvisation, enlivened by ceaseless ornamental invention. This remarkable recording was captured by Michael Hönig (of krautrock legends Agitation Free) in concert at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie as part of the MetaMusik festival in 1974. Khan, who is also heard accompanying himself on a specially tuned alpine zither (in place of the traditional swarmandal, an Indian style of zither), is joined by Shaukat Hussein Khan on tabla and Hussein Bux Khan on harmonium. The lack of a familiar underlying tanpura drone gives this performance a weightless, floating quality, with all three of the musicians playing masterfully with the interaction between silence and the pulse propelling each section of the raag. Virtuoso tabla interjections at first barely state the tempo, and the interplay between musicians is so spacious that we hear scraps of audience noise and the squeak of the harmonium's mechanism in between the notes. Gradually picking up rhythmic definition and melodic complexity, after around fifteen minutes the music builds dramatically, with Khan letting out emotive yelps and swooping scalar shapes ranging across his full vocal range. Accompanied by stunning black and white concert photographs, the LP also contains a moving and entertaining recollection from acclaimed German musicologist Peter Pannke, looking back on his experience assisting Khan and his musicians in Berlin at the Metamusik festival (including a mouth-watering description of a feast cooked by the maestro himself). As Pannke describes in his account of attending the concert, the beauty and spiritual intensity of this music leaves the listener speechless.

2025 repress. Kalita Records unveil the first ever compilation focusing on the phenomenon of "Burger Highlife", a crossover of West African melodies with synthesizers, disco, and boogie that took over Ghanaian airwaves during the 1980s and beyond. Highlighting key recordings from genre-defining artists including Thomas Frempong and George Darko, as well as more obscure sought-after tracks by elusive bands such as Aban and Uncle Joe's Afri-Beat, Kalita come to the rescue of audiophiles, DJs, and music-lovers alike with Borga Revolution! The 1970s had witnessed an increased Western airtime and physical presence in Ghana introducing funk, soul, and disco sounds to the region. By the turn of the decade the country was also enduring economic turmoil, with rising poverty, military dictatorships, and long periods of enforced curfews (amongst other factors) making it impossible for artists to survive. As a result, many Ghanaian musicians with a broader outlook began to pursue their careers in the west, moving to both Europe and America in search of stardom. It was here that Ghanaian musicians developed a digitized version of highlife music which fully embraced Western contemporary music styles and newly introduced technology such as the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and various drum machines. It is in this context in which the evolution of Ghanaian dance music and the emergence of "Burger Highlife" was born. With Borga Revolution!, Kalita endeavor to tell this story, with prominent and lesser-known musicians' accounts and documentary evidence providing a comprehensive understanding of this shift to the digital age. Also features Native Spirit, Wilson Boateng, Paa Jude, and Dr. K. Gyasi's Noble Kings. Includes 16-page booklet featuring extensive interview-based liner notes on each artist and never-before-seen archival photos. Gatefold sleeve.

Afrosonica is a multidisciplinary project developed alongside an exhibition at the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva (MEG) in 2025. It explores African and Afro-diasporic sound through critical, artistic, and sensory lenses. The record, Afrosonica: Soundscapes, features commissioned works by KMRU, Midori Takada, Yara Mekawei, and Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape (Mo Laudi). Through sound art, they reactivate museum collections and explore links between memory, identity, and diasporic trajectories. Together, these two objects offer a polyphonic and critical reflection on how sound can carry, question, and reimagine histories. The International Archives of Popular Music (AIMP), affiliated with the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva (MEG), is a label and collection dedicated to the preservation of world music. Founded in 1944 by musicologist Constantin Brăiloiu, it gathers over 18,000 recordings, from wax cylinders to digital formats. AIMP releases albums and collaborates with artists such as Midori Takada, exploring the connections between sound archives and contemporary creation. Through these projects, the label preserves and reinterprets musical traditions on a global scale.

LP version. Afrosonica is a multidisciplinary project developed alongside an exhibition at the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva (MEG) in 2025. It explores African and Afro-diasporic sound through critical, artistic, and sensory lenses. The record, Afrosonica: Soundscapes, features commissioned works by KMRU, Midori Takada, Yara Mekawei, and Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape (Mo Laudi). Through sound art, they reactivate museum collections and explore links between memory, identity, and diasporic trajectories. Together, these two objects offer a polyphonic and critical reflection on how sound can carry, question, and reimagine histories. The International Archives of Popular Music (AIMP), affiliated with the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva (MEG), is a label and collection dedicated to the preservation of world music. Founded in 1944 by musicologist Constantin Brăiloiu, it gathers over 18,000 recordings, from wax cylinders to digital formats. AIMP releases albums and collaborates with artists such as Midori Takada, exploring the connections between sound archives and contemporary creation. Through these projects, the label preserves and reinterprets musical traditions on a global scale.

Bárbara Salazar aka Barbarelle is an experimental multidisciplinary artist from Buenos Aires, known for her conceptual work as a DJ, creative director, and curator. In addition to her work as an artist, Barbarelle is the founder of Atlas, a platform dedicated to active listening through radio, live performances, listening sessions and more. She is also known for her radio show of the same name on Dublab, where she shares her unique approach to sound with eclectic selections and interviews with the likes of Air, BADBADNOTGOOD, Lucrecia Dalt, Juana Molina, and more. Celesta marks her first foray into composing and producing her own music; a debut that reveals the intimate, heartfelt territories of her creative universe. The culmination of years of composing for herself -- "behind closed doors" -- Celesta is a deeply personal, self-guided masterstroke of beguiling, free-flowing ambient soundscapes and DIY electronics. With Celesta, Barbarelle artfully transitions from ardent music aficionado to fully-fledged artist, unveiling an enchanting sonic world that has quietly matured over time. Celesta is an exquisite odyssey of sound, assembled from fifteen tracks recorded between 2022 and 2024 in Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. Conceived as spontaneous and intuitive explorations, many of these tracks were recorded in one take without technically-minded premeditation. The product of organic experimentation rather than concrete intention, Celesta is an authentic, candid record of emotions, memories, and profound interiorities. Over time, the pieces in this tapestry found a common thread: a conversation with the ethereal, defined by expressive, softly spoken eloquence. Celesta is an invitation to immerse yourself in soundscapes that merge to the point of dissolution, evoking the transparency of water and the lightness of a dreamlike world that transcends matter. Like the song of a siren, the voice becomes just another instrument, beyond language yet full of significance. A collection of songs that feels like opening a secret diary; a direct pathway to the center of the heart.

LP version. A long-time best-seller of the MEG-AIMP collection and long out of print, this album of sanza music recorded among the Gbaya people of the Central African Republic by ethnomusicologist Vincent Dehoux was originally released on CD in 1993. It is now being reissued to coincide with the exhibition Afrosonica - Soundscapes. It features a selection of "songs for thought": an intimate repertoire conducive to introspection, accompanied by the repetitive, meditative sound of lamellaphones.

Emerging from the Minneapolis underground and heading straight towards the sky, IE arrive on Quindi with a full-length album of sparkling, sophisticated wonder. Touching on kosmische grandeur, Riley-esque cyclical patterns, lounge pop and dubbed out psychedelia, the five-piece allow their songs to unfurl with a natural, hypnotic elegance which can take many different forms. There's a loose, live quality to the recordings IE's members commit to record, which reflects their steady presence gigging in Minneapolis and the surrounding area. Since putting out their first release in 2016, they've glided from drone and synth-led jam band ambience (2018's Pome) to strung out, stoner-tinted slowcore (on 2023's outstanding Junk Body). For Reverse Earth they strike a smoky note that wraps itself around your skull across extended run times that evolve with a meditative poise. From the deceptively driving 4/4 thrum of the opening title track through "Divination Bag"'s snaking tryptamine mantras on to "Simplify"'s slow and smoldering indie-soul, IE's sound is bathed in a sumptuous warm glow that rounds out the lows and the mids, creating a nocturnal shroud in which their nebulous song structures can feel deliciously endless. Meredith Gill's drums provide rolling and tumbling undercurrents for the slowly shifting phases of the instrumental players, as Michael Gallope and Travis Workman trade keyboard parts and Workman and Sam Molstad chop and pick at their six-strings. Atop the thrum of her bass, Mariel Oliviera's vocal adapts to the scenery, from a distant, dreamlike siren song on "Reverse Earth" to a spoken word meditation on "Babel." There's space in each track for every instrument to cut through and have its moment, from a spiraling key vamp to a chicken-scratch guitar flex. The gently twisting, head-feeding groove exercises of the first four tracks give way to a slow and powerful march on "Dark Rome," closing the record on a noirish anti-ballad fit to peal out in the closing slot at Twin Peaks' Roadhouse (circa season three). As much as the tracks teem with composition, musicianship, and production to savor, a sound like IE's has a soporific quality that soaks in unconsciously. It's an evocative portal where the band feel as if they could just play on each piece ad infinitum -- where the time itself seems to dislodge from its moorings.

Part 1. A noughties classic, an earworming anthem, an eventual schoolyard ringtone favorite; Roman Flügel's once inescapable "Geht's Noch?" celebrates turning 21 on Running Back, refreshed and remixed by a scene-spanning set of artists paying keen tribute to its absurdist energy. Casually released as part of a Cocoon Records compilation in 2004, "Geht's Noch?" rose from the depths with the support of Sven Väth, becoming an international phenomenon, conquering and uniting the dominant scenes of minimal and electroclash alike. Some have said it laid the foundations for the "Dirty Dutch" house scene, albeit from over the border in Germany. Well known for injecting much-needed levity into the contemporary club landscape via her Live From Earth parties, DJ Gigola adds additional firepower to "Geht's Noch?," inducing a planet-shaking kick drum, before sending the track's signature bleeps into nonsensical Morse code for even greater pleasure. Another rave culture connoisseur, Luca Lozano, offers two alternate takes; his "Technocs" mix rolls deep with additional cowbells, robotic voice commands and stadium-sized claps. Meanwhile, the "Gehts Garage Remix" draws a savvy connection with the original's as-yet-untapped UK funky potential. Peder Mannerfelt, who straddles the line between innovation, functionality, humor and seriousness quite like its original author, takes "Geht's Noch?" to truly wuthering heights. His remix builds unexpected drama and catharsis around the enduring riff, before a collaboration with studio partner Par Grindvik as Aasthma spins the club out with a glossy, anime-tinted take, full of whimsy and color. This vinyl release presses Steve Angello vs Who's Who remix to wax, that which helped take "Geht's Noch?" out of the underground and into the stratosphere. Twenty years on, and Flügel's offbeat hit is always ascending. Love it or hate it, "Geht's Noch?" will still get you good.

First official reworks of the disco/jazz-funk masterpiece "Trip To Your Mind" -- now available for the first time with a picture cover featuring a classic shot of composer Reginald Hudson on the front. For decades, "Trip To Your Mind" was celebrated as a Brit Funk classic, though its true origins remained a mystery. While recorded at London's Advision Studio, Hudson People were neither local nor British -- a fact first uncovered with its official 2022 reissue on Backatcha Records. In interviews with label owner DJ Scientist, Reg Hudson revealed that the backing band behind his composition was Body Heat, a GI group based in Germany. The recording, believed to date back to around 1977, remained shelved for some time. By the time it was finally released in 1979, Body Heat was on the verge of disbanding, leading to the track being credited to Hudson People. Since then, "Trip To Your Mind" has been heavily bootlegged and compiled since the late '90s, cementing its status as an in-demand classic. For this rework release, the A-side features a brilliant DJ-friendly edit by Delfonic, based on the original "Hithouse" mix. Delfonic's masterful editing ensures the track keeps listeners engaged until the very end. The B-side features a rework by Italian DJ and producer Luca Trevisi, aka LTJ Xperience. His version is based on the Ensign remix of "Trip To Your Mind" by Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent. The new mix was mastered by Frederic Stader on an EMI TG124 -- an iconic mixing desk, famously used at Abbey Road Studios. Both edits preserve the psychedelic essence of the original while making it more compatible with modern listening habits. Pressed on a high-quality, loud-cut 12", this release is a must-have for any DJ's collection.

2025 repress. Originally released in 2021. Eight reworks of rare and unexpected Italian disco and funky pop music from the 1970s. Not the usual electronic Italodisco classics, but some more organic sounding band-disco music from the time of 1976-82. Positive vibrations and high-quality dance pop reworked for today's advanced dancefloors by Toy Tonics head honcho Kapote and his Italian friends BPlan and Paul Older.

Tresor resident DJs LNS and DJ Sotofett have for some years been developing a style at the club's Globus floor, and their new EP is a die cut of exactly the classic techno, electro, and house music they play. Here are no productions drenched in reverb, no hi-fi obsessions or generic algorithmic patterns -- this is Globus Trax, the duo's third release on Tresor Records, four tracks consisting of real TR-909 workouts, rude and driving basslines, live runs through the mixing desk, and a Blake Baxter cover version with LNS on vocals. LNS & DJ Sotofett programmed an EP to perfectly fit their warehouse style of DJing, bringing out color and variation in a spectrum more similar to a club compilation than a dogmatically reduced concept. With a single repeated vocal sample, Globus Trax opens bombastically with "ClickClickClick," a dub -infused UK garage house track anyone in the world can easily describe in the course of a second. Following this comes "Gearbox" which is a hefty slab of big room electro featuring a centerpiece arpeggio and the warmest harmonic pads on the EP's four tracks, which not-so-subtly makes reference to the pioneering band that shares a name with Globus and Tresor's home, the Kraftwerk. The house vibe returns on "Destination 909," which is nothing but a manifesto for the TR-909, where the beloved drum machine's jacking beats meet galactic strings and synthetic bass, only to be ripped apart in a slamming break that sees the machine take center stage as it cuts in-and-out of the mix, again a clear nod to the duo's sets in the club. LNS steps up on vocal duties and DJ Sotofett keeps the 909 running for their final cut, taking a deeper dive into the realms of classic techno and paying tribute to "The Prince of Techno" Blake Baxter by covering his "Reach Out" originally released on Tresor Records in 1995. The 12" was cut by DJ Sotofett himself at Manmade Mastering, where he resurrects the lost art of late-'90s loud cuts with sonic presence and punch, optimal for the club-focused 12" format, and is the first to come in the new Tresor Sleeve, boasting an embossed logo on either side.

One of the British progressive era's most intriguing but overlooked groups, Deep Feeling were an obscure short-lived band from Kent. Their one and only album from 1971 contained six tracks that showcased their dazzling harmonies and superior musicianship. Highly collectable amongst UK progressive rock aficionados, the record has been finally officially re-issued.

Aus Music founder Will Saul collaborates with Fink and James Alexander Bright on the final EP in the AUS200. After music from the likes of Quantic, Dam Swindle, K-Lone and Cinithe, Will Saul brings celebrations around his label's 200th release to a close with one track alongside long-time friend Fink and one with James Alexander Bright. Saul's music has provided the backbone of the label since day one. His club-ready EPs and more immersive, expansive albums have helped to define its melodically rich fusion of bass and house. Just as importantly, his A&R has helped it evolve over the last two decades so it remains as relevant as ever with the current generation while providing a platform for contemporary talents to shine. First up here he links up with his old friend, singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Fink who, as Sideshow, was behind the first-ever release on Aus back in 2006. Since then, he and Saul have continued a fruitful working relationship which now bears juicy musical fruit once more. Their "Slo-mo Life" is six sublime minutes of deep, dubbed-out downtempo. It's powered by a prowling bassline with tender melodies and introspective chords next to subtle vocal loops that cannot fail to bliss you out. Fink then offers up a remix as Sideshow that rides on airy jungle breaks while evocative synths are smeared in painterly fashion before decaying in endless reverb to an angelic ambient sound. British multi-hyphenate James Alexander Bright has built up a colorful body of albums and EPs that soundtrack everything from hazy daydreams to lazy afternoons in the park via dance floor trips. The singer has worked with, among others, Groove Armada's Tom Findlay and Girls Of The Internet and always brings a lovably lo-fi and intoxicating sensibility. "Blue" is a raw, live sound with crashing hits and broken kick patterns. Bright's nagging vocal speaks of emotional pain while shimmering chords bring the heat. Bright's remix reworks the track into a widescreen hazy breakbeat soul track that gives his vocals extra room to make their mark while the exquisite live drums from Joris Feiertag keep you moving.

2025 repress. "The original dub style: King Tubby treats Bunny Lee's productions. Comes as a triple 10" on colored vinyl, in a nice magnetically-sealed box."

Tokyo playwright, director and artist J A Caesar sprang to prominence in the early '70s largely through his work with Shuji Terayama's Tenjo Sajiki Theatre, specializing in vaguely sinister music. The Kokkyou Junreika release, often considered Caesar's finest work, was culled from the five hours of music written for the original play distilled down to an album's worth of ageless chants, Buddhist mantras, heavenly invocations and fuzztone guitar vamps supported by Caesar's droning electric organ and the eerie female vocals of Yoko Ran, Keiko Shinko, and Seigo Showa. An album that sits comfortably alongside early Ash Ra Temple, Cosmic Jokers, and ATEM-period Tangerine Dream.

LP version. In the summer of 2015, against the backdrop of the Italian Dolomites, a friendship between two European heavy underground bands was struck. Now, Roman psych-doom formation L'Ira Del Baccano and Tilburgian doom rock outfit Yama join forces in a musical collaboration: their split album Tempus Deorum, released on Subsound Records. The background is less picturesque, the bands see this international collaboration as an artistic response to emerging nationalistic navel-gazing. L'Ira's contribution comprises a drawn-out instrumental psych doom jam, in which they fully expand the concept of an ever-evolving song, taking a theme and leading it on a dynamic roller-coaster journey, reshaping it through the heaviness of doom, the tension, physicality, and psychedelia of improvisation, and the precision of progressive rock. Yama brings some of their doomiest tracks to the table and experiments with psychedelic drone elements, in collaboration with producer David Luiten (Autarkh). Tempus Deorum ('time of the gods') is not only an allegorical congregation of deities, it is a bastion for the confluence between two manifestations of psychedelic heaviness.

"Water Damage is ten people from one town and one sound from twelve people. For Instruments, the plus two are guitarist David Grubbs and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, neither of whom blunt the angle or confound the aim. The tempo? Slow and low. Four tracks, averaging twenty minutes each, the pace never above a comfortable walk. The damage creeps, a forest becomes a mountain, and the faithful move forward. The album is named after Fugazi, in a manner, and 'Reel 25' takes after the Shocklee Brothers, in a cry. Stop asking the lord how many drummers this band has and ask him how much of your mind, babe. Some people say drone and same people say trance and some people say invocation through patterned unity. Some people just say rock and we let them set their clocks back. Lie down and let these holy treads flatten you. Just because Water Damage know what they are doing doesn't mean you have to. Fix your hearts or die!" -- Sasha Frere-Jones

LP version. Unreleased material composed by Bernard Parmegiani in 1992. Lac Noir - La Serpente is part of Emmanuel Raquin-Lorenzi's Lac Noir, a composite work inspired by a serpentine female creature or "snake-woman" that he saw in Transylvania in 1976, with a total of 33 pieces using various media, 24 by himself and 9 by other artists. All the materials used in Lac Noir were gathered on the land of the snake-woman between 1990 and 1992. The first coordinated broadcast ran from June to October 2019, like a theatrical display of media.

"At the end of May 1992, in Provence, in his Summer studio not far from the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, Bernard Parmegiani played the first musical moments he had worked on from the sounds he and Christian Zanési had collected in Negreni in October 1990. A few days after this listening session, on 4th June, I wrote him a letter. I didn't mean to take control of what was to become the ninth movement of his composition, but to share with him some of the resonances I had heard in what he had composed, which mingled with my dreams and memories of the Transylvanian snake-woman, and outlined possible concordances with the other pieces underway for Lac Noir. In the midst of the garish chaos of the fair and its spectacular stunts, there could spread out -- still, silent eye of the cyclone -- the long waters of a lake. Calm waters. Patches cool but sensitive as skin. Between the waters there flows and ripples, there shows up and dives again a snake-woman born of the still waters. A sweet, good serpent whose song -- strange and melodious, sensual, yet already tinged, as if bitten by the black depths, with bitterness; that of prescience, shading it with melancholy -- is her very undulation, the rings of which appear, together or in turn, the way translucent veins overlap, slither over one another in a moving braid of metamorphoses." (Extracts from notes by E. Raquin-Lorenzi)

"The term 'Miao' is a very ancient Chinese misleading pseudo-ethnic categorization, the Hmong in western languages, a term recognized by colonial French Indochina. Miao became a generic term which does not reveal the diversity of 38 subgroups or 9 million people, mostly in Southern China Guizhou Province. China, since having moved towards the market economy, now includes a large number of minority regions that are marketed a commodity available only to them: their ethnicity itself. Ethnic tourism has developed in a big way in China since the 1990s, for both Chinese and foreign tourists, and it is often promoted as the way to generate income in those areas for development. I usually stay away from Ethnotouristic shows and try to get music that is not a commodity! I was based in Dali, Yunnan, China between 2006 and 2013." --Laurent Jeanneau

Recorded by Laurent Jeanneau and Shi Tanding. Notes By Laurent Jeanneau. "Miao Three Mouthorgans In Guizhou China" features three men each using a different size lushen or gué and four women each blowing in a different mantong. Recorded in Paisha village. "Hua Miao Wedding Dance In Sichuan China" features an instrument called the lushen, the predominant kind of mouth organ being used for entertainment. "Hmoob Dongliang In Guizhou China" was recorded in Biasha village, composed of two reeds instruments and male and female singers, intended as love songs. "Hua Miao Hulushen In Sichuan China" was performed by one man. The main music instrument is the small mouth organ, hulushen, the predominant mouth organ used for entertainment, where the long tubes lushen is mounted on a wooden resonance box. "Hmoob Mouthorgans In Guizhou China" was recorded in Biasha village, and features a Miao (they call themselves Hmoob). This is part of musical demonstration for tourists. Armed with heavy cameras, six men using six lushen of various sizes. "Gelao Gupiaoqin In Guizhou China" was recorded in Songlong village, where people identify themselves not as Miao but as Gelao, using a very rare string instrument called the Gupiaoqin. "Gelao Canon Singing In Guizhou China" features two old ladies performing canon singing in Songlong village. "Shui Miao Travelling Song Guizhou China" features the Shui Miao (water Miao), a sub group of the Miaos of Guizhou, based in the Shidong area outside of Kali in Guizhou.

Double LP version. Founding work of minimalism, Music with Changing Parts is a piece with free instrumentation. The musicians choose which part to play among the eight staves of the score. At each indicated cue, the musicians can change part, which produces an abrupt change of instrumentation. While the music is based on a melodic material limited to a few notes that are repeated in patterns that expand or contract, the changes in orchestration refresh the listening experience by producing sonic contrasts. These techniques at work in Music with Changing Parts, written in 1970, will lead Philip Glass to renew his language and move from the monochromatic works that precede it to more dramatic works such as music in 12 parts and especially the opera Einstein on the Beach. When Philip Glass began rehearsing the piece, he was surprised to hear long notes when everything was written in eighth notes. After making sure that none of the musicians were playing held notes, he realized that the fact that the same notes were played by all the instruments in the ensemble produced, through a psycho-acoustic effect, a harmonic substrate of resonant frequencies. He then decided to add to the score the possibility of playing long notes to reinforce this effect. "For this recording, we chose to record first the eighth notes, then the long notes in re-recording. This utopian version, with each musician playing short and long notes at the same time (!), illustrates the minimalist aesthetic that plays with our perception and allows us to reconcile opposites and cultivate the apparent paradox of a music that moves forward without Moving and changes constantly while remaining the same." --Dedalus Ensemble

Double LP version. A unique artistic partnership. This project represents a distinct and carefully considered artistic endeavor. Developed by Mark Springer (Rip, Rig and Panic) and Neil Tennant (The Pet Shop Boys), it combines a suite for piano, quartet, and quintet with vocals, accompanied by lyrics offering thoughtful introspection. The collaboration explores the intersection of divergent creative approaches-one characterized by radical expression, the other by meticulous craftsmanship. The result is a work that invites reflection and demonstrates the potential of disciplined artistic dialogue. Neil Tennant: "I bought a book of Goya's print series Los Caprichos which had inspired Mark's music and saw that the artworks were a satirical, cruel, nightmarish portrayal of the politics, corruption and culture of his era, exploring his dreams -- or nightmares -- while exposing the double standards of the ruling establishment. The lyrics I wrote for Sleep of Reason, in response to Los Caprichos, are intended to be sardonic and dreamlike, looking back to Goya's nightmares but then reflecting on my experiences in 21st Century popular culture and media in which I have located the 'monsters' Goya saw in his dreams. It often feels like we're living in an era dominated by monsters with their grotesque egos hollering through social media, unfiltered and untruthful, leaving a trail of wreckage behind them. Maybe it's always felt like that."

"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.'"

Tsapiky music from Southwest Madagascar features wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted -- ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike. In Toliara and its surrounding region, funerals, weddings, circumcisions and other rites of passage have been celebrated for decades in ceremonies called mandriampototse. During these celebrations -- which last between three and seven days -- cigarettes, beer and toaky gasy (artisanal rum) are passed around while electric orchestras play on the same dirt floor as the dancing crowds and zebus. The music, tsapiky, defies any classification. This compilation showcases the diversity of contemporary tsapiky music. Locally and even nationally renowned bands played their own songs on makeshift instruments, blaring through patched-up amps and horn speakers hung in tamarind trees, projecting the music kilometers away. Lead guitarists and female lead singers are the central figures of tsapiky. Driven as much by their creative impulses as by the need to stand out in a competitive market, the artists distinguish themselves stylistically through their lyrics, rhythms or guitar riffs. They must also master a wide repertoire of current tsapiky hits, which the families that attend inevitably request before parading in front of the orchestra with their offerings. This work, a constant push and pull between distinction and imitation, is nourished by fertile exchanges between various groups: acoustic and electric, rural and urban, coastal or inland. What results during these ceremonies is a music of astonishing intensity and creativity, played by artists carving out their own path, indifferent to the standards of any other music industry: Malagasy, African or global. Recorded live on location by Maxime Bobo, this vinyl LP includes a four-page full-color insert with detailed liner notes plus photos of the musicians and surroundings.

Featuring Mamehy, Drick, Befila, Behaja, Mahafaly Mihisa, Meny & Ando, Rebona, and Mirasoa & Mahapoteke.

Egypt's "official" popular music throughout much of the 20th Century was a complex form of art song steeped in tradition, well-loved by the middle and upper classes, and even accommodating to certain non-Arabic influences. It was highly structured by professional musicians working an established industry centered in the capitol, Cairo. However, far from the bustling cosmopolitan center of Cairo, north and northwest, in towns like Tanta and Alexandria and extending across the Saharan Desert to the Libyan border, dozens of fully marginalized artists were developing a raw, hybrid shaabi/al-musiqa al-shabiya style of music, supported by smaller upstart, independent labels, including the short-lived but deeply resonant Bourini Records. Launched in the late 1960s in Benghazi, Libya, Astuanat al-Bourini اسطوانات البوريني (Bourini Records) published some 40 to 50 titles from 1968 to 1975. Bourini released 7-inch 45 RPM singles by 15 artists, all but one of them Egyptian, igniting brief careers for Alexandrian singer Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader and the blind Bedouin legend Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz (aka Abu Abab). The tracks compiled here comprise a full range of styles covered by the label, while highlighting some of its most gobsmacking moments, from Basis Rahouma's beastly transformation into a growling and barking man-lion by the end of "Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda," to Reem Kamal's hopeful-if-bitter handclapping party pivot "Baed Al Yas Yjini," which descends into an almost Velvet Underground outro-groove of nihilistic dissonance. All the tracks on this compilation were laid down in stark divergence from the mainstream Egyptian popular music topography of heightened emotions buoyed by lush arrangements. The contrast is most evident in Mahmoud al-Sandidi's "Ana Mish Hafwatak," wherein his voice weaves heavily but deftly through a constant accordion drone, and Abu Abab's "Al Bint al Libya," a sparse, slow-burning lament with minimal percussion, violin, and Abab's nephew Hamed Abdel Muna'im Mursi on lyre. Whereas the Egyptian mainstream was aspirational, attempting to reflect Egyptian culture at its most refined, the performances captured by Bourini were manifestations of everyday life lived by the mostly otherwise ignored masses. More than half century old, this music has lost none of its urgency, presence, or relevance. We hear these artists as if they'd just joined us in our living room, and not on a stage decades ago surrounded by tens of thousands of long-forgotten acolytes.

2025 repress. Wilson Tanner come to shore with II, a new album of floating melodies, lightly salted. Throwing electroacoustic conventions overboard, Andrew Wilson (Andras) and John Tanner (Eleventeen Eston) recorded this new work aboard a 1950s riverboat with a resourceful array of weatherproof electronic instruments and a long extension lead. These eight compositions pull in a by-catch of maritime folklore; of siren and selkie, seagull and engine oil slick. A change of course from their debut album 69, the ambient temperature drops as II casts out to sea in uncertain weather and returns to the safe harbors of Port Phillip Bay. The seafarers head out to "My Gull"'s poised optimism -- the birds watch but do they listen? By the arrival of "Loch and Key," the shoreline has dissolved completely, the boat floating in serene infinity as the rest of the world spins. Conditions soon take a treacherous turn on "Killcord Pts I-III" -- a 12 minute odyssey that battens down the hatches as these sailors eye merciless waves and blinding ocean spray, jointly channeling Berlin-school electronics and sea legs. In the aftermath, the waterlogged bleeps of "Idle" survey the damage as our parched crew sound the distress signal and ultimately descend into delirium. Known for navigating individual courses as solo musicians, Wilson and Tanner's collective storytelling is saturated in detail, buoying between tension and harmony. II modestly stands as some of both artists' most accomplished material. Includes download.

Another selection of eight songs following the first compilation released in late 2020 covering the same period but also venturing in the 1990s. Drissi is one of Rai's softest voices. This is more Wah-Wah driven, mid-tempo guitar-based Rai from the city where Rai's "harder' form was conceived. Sad romantic songs about lost loves and other sorrowful tales.

Bren't Lewiis Ensemble -- Northern California's gift to the world -- offer five dense and haunted tape/electronics cuts recorded a few years ago for a world that was not yet ready and therefore were carefully stored. A soundtrack that justifies all purpose and passion for modern emerging hype trends.

"I realized [that the significance of work put together specifically to annoy listeners lies in its capacity to illuminate some of the key problems in sound culture today] in an epiphanic flash while reading a quote cited by Walter Benjamin: 'Truth lies in the extreme.' He meant that no genre of art can be defined by its lowest common denominators, only by its most aberrant exemplars -- thus at a stroke explaining the value to criticism of Rudoph Grey, The Stooges, Charlie Feathers, and Elder Otis Jones. To understand why this kind of lo-fi noise, willful absurdism, deliberate chaos and the rejection of meaning have become such ubiquitous touchstones of contemporary culture, we have to examine the Petri dishes of this tendency -- the underground cassette culture of the early 1980s -- and for this, BUFMS is locus classicus." --Dr. Bruce Russel

Perfect to chill to, Headnodic and Jazz Mafia's astounding self-titled record blends hip-hop and jazz effortlessly, bringing the two genres together with their intrinsic beauty intact. Just 500 pressed for the world. Jazzy hip-hop on that mellow-melodic tip, Headnodic + Jazz Mafia is an unforgettable album with nothing but dope beats and dope bars. By way of introduction, Headnodic is a part of the fabric of underground hip-hop. From his contributions to the groundbreaking group Crown City Rockers, to his production work with Lateef & the Gift of Gab as The Mighty Underdogs, Headnodic embodies the spirit of hip-hop in a way that is both unique, rare and universal. In the year 2000, trombonist, bassist, composer, arranger, and producer Adam Theis co-founded Jazz Mafia -- an eclectic artist collective of forward-thinking and accomplished players in electro, hip-hop, world, classical, and jazz. 25 years in the making, Jazz Mafia is a prolific staple of the quintessential San Francisco sound, uniting creative and accomplished Bay Area instrumentalists, vocalists, MCs, composers, and arrangers. The collective quickly garnered a reputation for its collaborative and risk-taking spirit, and over the years has worked with Roy Ayers, Lyrics Born, Zion-I, Latyrx and Blackalicious, to name a few. Headnodic has been making beats since he was a teenager and, around the same time, he played electric and upright bass in jazz ensembles. This album is a true collaboration between Headnodic and Adam Theis, along with The Jazz Mafia collective of musicians. In essence, Headnodic made the beats, Adam reacted with the horn arrangements but, with the extended family of musicians they pulled in, it made it feel like they were painting with infinite colors. Indeed, some musicians -- like vibraphonist Dan Neville -- would replay and improvise over sampled loops, blurring the line between live performance and production. Other times, they'd strip out the sample entirely and build from the ground up with live players, leaving a recognizable loop to become a faint but welcoming echo of the original idea. They enlisted some amazing vocalists and emcees: Genra, Do D.A.T., Ozay Moore (Lightheaded), Eligh (Living Legends) and Breathless brought raw lyricism. It's been mastered for vinyl by Be With stalwart Simon Francis, cut by favorite engineer Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios and pressed at the legendary Record Industry in Holland. Quality to the end.

"Drag City and Yoga Records return to the music of Matthew Young. Following Recurring Dreams (1981, reissued 2014) and Traveler's Advisory (1986, reissued 2010), Undercurrents (2025) collects eight oddly dissimilar pieces that somehow fit together perfectly. Although unique enough to be called outsider, Young's new album occupies a musical world accessible to fans of many genres. Matthew Young, born in 1950, grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. When he showed early musical interest, his parents bought an upright piano, and Matthew began taking lessons. In his teens, he attended concerts by Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, and Count Basie, and grew up to discover iconoclasts such as Eric Satie, Charles Ives, John Cage, Harry Partch, Brian Eno, and experimental rock groups such as Can and Harmonia. He also regularly attended and played at folk music gatherings in the nearby New Jersey Pine Barrens. His music began to appear in local theater productions, leading to the 1981 release of Recurring Dreams, through New York distributor NMDS. Later, Young became obsessed with the hammered dulcimer, and in 1986 he released a new album, Traveler's Advisory, which featured the instrument prominently, along with electronics, tape effects, and his first foray into vocals. Composed and recorded over the span of several decades, Undercurrents displays the wide range of Young's various sonic pallets. On the opener 'Reflexion,' a quartet of marimbas twist and turn over each other, while in 'One and All,' a harp melody is overtaken by various electronic effects. The 12-minute title track is an abstract weaving of piano and synthesis, with the six sections named after oceanic currents. 'A Game of Chess, a Game of Chance' consists of sparse electronic tones created on the Princeton University IBM mainframe during his studies in 1976. This all makes way for the second half of Undercurrents, where settings of Marion Lineaweaver's poems, 'The Summer Girls' and 'Her Key is Minor,' showcase Young's honest, fragile vocal approach, conveying a deep sense of soulful longing, and the latter even sweetly approaching something akin to synthpop. The piano on 'Inflexion' calls back to the end of 'Reflexion,' and in the album closer, 'Into the Woods,' Young plays the hammered dulcimer with the disciplined reverence of an alchemist. Simply put, Undercurrents is a triumph across many musical realms."

NTSC/All-Region. 8 discs. Includes 128-page booklet. Color/B&W. Stereo/Mono. Works collected from 1975-2022. "For five decades, Michael Smith's performance art has inhabited bland domestic spaces; mass media and its promise to keep viewers company; and failing business ventures that misread the moment. Through art installations, theater, video, television and live performances, Smith's comedic work lives inside the identity models that both constitute and disassociate our shared experience. His two performance personae, Mike and Baby Ikki, plumb the depths of American culture to perform the discrepancies between what is promulgated by controlling interest and what actually exists in reality of day-to-day worlds. Like culture itself, Smith's is forever in and out of time. Mike's Box is an immersive eight-disc DVD collection of his work up until now. In the 1970s, the idea of the American everyman was rarely questioned. The '50s postwar aspiration for blessed conformity had been a primary objective of the powers that be, continually hammered into everyone's home via that ubiquitous box, the TV set. Although developments in the late '60s offered a new appraisal of everyday life, it was apparent that this approach was not easily processed by the general population, and the status quo remained intact. It felt increasingly urgent to reevaluate old world values with those surfacing in an alienated youth culture. As this alienation continued to grow, it appeared that this was the primary issue that everyone could agree upon. Enter Mike, who, along with his contemporaries on the NYC art scene of the 1970s and '80s (a sprawling group spread across disciplines, including but not limited to Laurie Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Andy Kaufman, Mike Kelley, Cindy Sherman, and the many freaks feeding the nascent Saturday Night Live franchise), was inclined to disengage the frame of reference from the traditional rarified 'white cube' context, and instead insert his practice in relation to everyday life and the institutions exerting control over it. Mike's Box covers Smith's career from the '70s to the present, collecting his infamous and prescient performances, installations and videos (many only previously seen at galleries and museums within the fine art context), as well as forms more accessible to a general audience: comedy shows, cable access programs and musical theater. Mike's Box also contains the complete collaborative video work of Smith with both Joshua White and Doug Skinner, as well as his team-ups with William Wegman, Seth Price, Mike Kelley and many others. It is accompanied by a richly illustrated book that includes an essay by Tim Griffin, and features documentation from shows exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Museo Jumex, along with filmed conversations between the artist, curators and collaborators."

2025 repress; double LP version. 30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist. Grammy Nominated for Best Historical Album 2022/23! Mastered for vinyl by Daddy Kev; includes an insert with full credits, rare photos from the archives of Brian "B+" Cross and producer J. Sumbi, as well as copious liner notes by David Ma and Nate LeBlanc of DadBodRapPod. Manufactured entirely in the USA. 30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist.

"Freestyle Fellowship -- the legendary rap crew from Los Angeles made up of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The 'Best Historical Album' nomination is the first ever for any rap album in Grammy history, and comes a little over 30 years after the group released their solo project as a grassroots, independent effort. In a time and region underscored by gangsta rap, G-funk, and record sales, the Freestyle Fellowship was largely built on collaborative community, long term friendships, and artistic willpower. What most defined the group is not only their lyrical dexterity, but their commitment to an authentic, do-it-yourself spirit that can often elude the most commercially successful rappers. Highlighted by their free-flowing, jazz-inspired cadences and multi-rhythmic flows delivered in obtuse ways -- whether rapping slightly off beat, meandering in and out of alternating patterns, or coming in at rapid fire bursts -- the Freestyle Fellowship helped to build the West Coast's underground movement, drawing inspiration from East Coast boom bap, spoken word poetry, and the socially explosive world around them." --OkayPlayer

Mercenárias is an iconic band in the history of Brazilian punk and post-punk. They gained global recognition after being included in several compilations outside Brazil. Recommended for fans of The Slits, DNA, Malaria!, Kleenex, and Minutemen, the group stood out for their rebellious attitude, incisive lyrics, and raw sound that blended punk, post-punk, no wave and experimental elements. This is a compilation of rare tracks from 1983 to 1987, including ten amazing songs that didn't make it onto their two albums; there's also a great early live recording, as well as a "lost" studio session. It has been remastered from the original tapes and includes an insert with previously unseen photos and a short text by Edgard Scandurra. This is a collaboration release with the Brazilian label Nada Nada Discos. Born in the vibrant alternative scene of 1980s São Paulo, Mercenárias is an iconic band in the history of Brazilian punk and post-punk. Formed in 1982 by Sandra Coutinho (bass and vocals), Rosália Munhoz (vocals), Ana Machado (guitar), and Edgard Scandurra (drums), the group stood out for their rebellious attitude, incisive lyrics, and raw sound that blended punk, post-punk, no wave and experimental elements. Their debut album, Cadê as Armas? (1986), is considered one of the most important records in Brazilian music history.

"They had never played together before. They had never even met each other before this springtime 2024 concert at London's Café Oto. Evan Parker, circular breathing maestro of the saxophone, a legend in the universe that is free improvisation since the late 1960s and Bill Nace, one of the most intriguing experimental 'noise' guitarists of the 1990s/2000s underground scene. For those of us who have been enamored by the live and documented work of both these gents, this Café Oto duo was a must-hear event. It could have gone anywhere musically and that would have been totally fine. Particularly with Evan having a history of being thrown into a variety of challenging collaborations throughout his career, employing the learned elegance of trust in his own sensitivity to listening, responding, leading, following, sparring, intertwining, dialoguing, creating in the instant and, essentially, dignifying the non-hierarchical grace of chance? By the time Bill reached Café Oto in early 2024 he had relocated to Philadelphia all the while releasing a succession of collaborative LPs on his Open Mouth label to present his developing progression of solo and collaborative work. He also would find himself considerably engaged with playing the electric taishōgoto, a keyboard-activated string instrument from Japan which can exist as a one, two, four, five, or six string oblong sound object. Bill's approach to the taishōgoto would not be too unlike his approach to the traditional electric guitar, though no outboard implements such as files, sticks, and rocks are utilized. The similarity would lie wholly with Bill's full immersion of high velocity action-playing where, with the taishōgoto, an electric drone beauty occurs. The flurry of sonics and resultant harmonics emanating from the amplifier (which Bill opts to dial into with borderline loud-as fuck volume settings) furthers the meta-mantra properties of the instrument in an astounding display of drone dynamism. This sound world of Bill's two-stringed taishōgoto on this Café Oto night worked beautifully with Evan Parker's improvisatory saxophone conceptions. The duology achieved instant lift off at ground zero only to find its eventual finale as if it were organically ordained. Time seemingly morphed from its ancient human construct of control, rendered inconsequential to the torrential transcendence of the room wildly activated by the magic resonance of the multi-directional pan-spatial sonance of the music as if it were some beatific blessing. It was one of those nights where art as a liberating force of spirit gifted the listeners with an offering of exaltation and joy. It was entirely mystical and mind blowing. A night of Total Music." -- Thurston Moore, London, 2025

Tsapiky music from Southwest Madagascar features wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted -- ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike. In Toliara and its surrounding region, funerals, weddings, circumcisions and other rites of passage have been celebrated for decades in ceremonies called mandriampototse. During these celebrations -- which last between three and seven days -- cigarettes, beer and toaky gasy (artisanal rum) are passed around while electric orchestras play on the same dirt floor as the dancing crowds and zebus. The music, tsapiky, defies any classification. This compilation showcases the diversity of contemporary tsapiky music. Locally and even nationally renowned bands played their own songs on makeshift instruments, blaring through patched-up amps and horn speakers hung in tamarind trees, projecting the music kilometers away. Lead guitarists and female lead singers are the central figures of tsapiky. Driven as much by their creative impulses as by the need to stand out in a competitive market, the artists distinguish themselves stylistically through their lyrics, rhythms or guitar riffs. They must also master a wide repertoire of current tsapiky hits, which the families that attend inevitably request before parading in front of the orchestra with their offerings. This work, a constant push and pull between distinction and imitation, is nourished by fertile exchanges between various groups: acoustic and electric, rural and urban, coastal or inland. What results during these ceremonies is a music of astonishing intensity and creativity, played by artists carving out their own path, indifferent to the standards of any other music industry: Malagasy, African or global. Recorded live on location by Maxime Bobo, this CD edition includes three bonus tracks not on the LP plus an eight-page full-color insert with detailed liner notes and photos of the musicians and surroundings.

Featuring Mamehy, Drick, Songada, Befila, Behaja, Mahafaly Mihisa, Meny & Ando, Rebona, Renitsa, Gorop Milalaza, and Mirasoa & Mahapoteke.

Daniel O'Sullivan's transcendent new album, Eros, is one of the greatest things Be With has ever heard. A simply stunning song cycle of hypnotic, experimental contemporary chamber music composed for a 14-piece ensemble. Combining minimalism, complex syncopation, detailed acoustic textures, weird intervals and samurai precision, this record will elegantly blow your mind. Daniel first pitched it as "Liquid Swords meets Michael Nyman". A "unique hybrid orchestral music," it presents a confluence of Daniel's longstanding fixations; indeed, there's elements of Nyman, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Magma, Aaron Copland, and RZA. But this is wholly O'Sullivan's. Originally commissioned for the Sonoton Music Library in Munich, Eros now receives a deluxe vinyl release courtesy of Be With Records, bringing this meticulously crafted work to a wider audience. Limited to just 500 copies for the world, these are gonna fly. As a deep virtuoso and collaborator, O'Sullivan has also played in a number of influential projects, including Ulver, Sunn O))), This Is Not This Heat, Grumbling Fur, and Miracle (with Steve Moore), leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary experimental music landscape. O'Sullivan's first foray into classically informed chamber music, Eros is a culmination of his long-standing fixations and expansive musical influences. The album features arrangements that are as detailed as they are emotionally resonant, showcasing his unparalleled ear for intervals and mastery of counterpoint. The music brims with complex rhythmic syncopation and a sensitivity to texture and space, resulting in a soundscape that is both intoxicating and dauntingly precise. Recorded June 2023 and February 2024, in Brussels, London and Carmarthenshire, Wales, Eros features members of Echo Collective (Neil Leiter and Margaret Hermant), Thighpaulsandra (from seminal post-industrial band Coil), and jazz pioneer Oren Marshall. 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. Truly, Eros is a work of extraordinary depth and sophistication. It invites listeners to immerse themselves in its intricate layers, to lose themselves in its hypnotic rhythms, and to marvel at the precision of its execution. With this release, O'Sullivan reaffirms his position as one of the most inventive and uncompromising voices in contemporary music.