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.

LP version. "With the quickness, time's still slipping into the future. Take it from Ty Segall. He's been on a few trips around the sun himself, making records in orbit as he charts his path forward. Modern life is here to stay, but also (to quote an old civil war scribe), everything rocks and nothing dies -- so for Possession, Ty's 16th album, he strikes up the orchestra in his head with an abiding view of some quintessentially American stories, a quest channeled into ten non-stop bangers. A year and a half removed from the trenchant identity opus of his 'Three Bells' song cycle, Ty's beamed himself out from deep within psychic interiors. Here, compulsive rhythm arrangements are joined in battle by sweeping movements of strings and horns that further the charge righteously. Be it de Toqueville, duBois, George H. Nash, Howard Zinn, Bob Dylan or Smile-era Beach Boys, it doesn't matter where you get your history: whether you wanna party like it's 1999 or 1699, the stories you like to tell yourself tend to reinforce what you already believe. Here, coursing through the irresistibly high music spirits, Ty foists social concepts that you won't read about in school. In the process, he manages to slip discreetly in and out of the ranks of silver-tongued bums, fly-by-nights and way-outs like Cheap Trick and Steely Dan, never tarrying long enough to retain their distinctive ordure. One of the keys to this new music involved tapping an old friend and collaborator, filmmaker Matt Yoka, to write with him. As a non-musician, Matt's language sense is different from the one Ty's amassed as a player of music. With the trust they've developed over the years -- brainstorming the visual worlds of Goodbye Bread, Manipulator, Emotional Mugger, and plenty more -- they throw the conceptual ball back and forth to translate general vibes and feels into wicked lyric imagery, each acting as writer and editor in the process. Rife with singing guitar leads and Wizzardian brass n' reeds lustily riffin' on the banks of Ty's harmony vocal choir, Possession features some of Ty's most inspired songs to date. Taking back alleys through complicated cityscapes, ripping riffs jaggedly out of past hits for a new purpose, Ty scans the wreckage scattered all around, singing about the end of the rope while resisting defeat -- suggesting an ecstatic new empire to build as he cruises the countryside in his glittering craft."

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.

"Liz Durette returns with a gorgeous fourth LP (her third for Feeding Tube) and not a moment too soon! With Well Up, Liz delivers a bright and sparkling sonic gem to illuminate our days and nights. Liz is an artist, keyboardist, improviser, and deep thinker based in Massachusetts, after many years in Baltimore. She has created an uncanny body of musical work of keyboard improvisations. Her style strikes me as utterly unique, and this latest album offers an entirely new example of her vision. While her earlier records were often shifting, madcap melodic constructions, Well Up offers another side, in a rich and distilled scope. Here, Liz generates a lush and enchanting sound world of morphing, cycling melodic phrases which gently swirl and pool into three great lakes of beauty. Liz improvised this music on a MIDI Polyphonic Expressive keyboard, but the album can't be characterized as a 'synth,' 'ambient' or 'minimal' release. Her employment of multiple voicings of pre-modern sounds like flutes and reeds create a singular headspace that defies easy description. 'Heart' begins the album with serene, mysterious melody that unfolds in elastic and expressive motivic gestures. All of the three songs are built on phrases of simple melodic variation that spiral out of simplicity, slowly and steadily, with subtle layers of increasing ornamentation. The touch sensitivity of Liz's instrument with its parameters of ultra bendy notes spill phrases across the soundstage in delightful patterns. It's a beguiling stew. The second piece, 'Lake' was born from Liz's complete mis-remembering of a Lebanese folk song which transformed itself into this special and hypnotic reverie. I can picture a court of dazzling beings promenading in a splendid choreography as I listen to this track with my eyes closed. You may capture something equally grand in your mind's eye while listening, it's ultra visual music. Side two offers us the side-long opus of 'Naga.' It gradually unfurls and billows into a vast and deep pool of sound that I don't light heartedly describe as cosmic. I can imagine this piece playing on for eternity like some gyroscopic, perpetual motion machine that generates the world's dreamiest tones. The album is another rare example of music that generates a strange emotional response (at least for me), operating in a special region that exists somewhere at the border of joy and sorrow. I can't conjure a word or phrase in English that captures it accurately but I'm sure you'll know it when you hear it. The sounds surely live up to Liz's brilliant and peculiar cover art featuring an exquisitely manicured hand threatening to insert a deep blue push pin into a blazing pink balloon. While Liz has openly expressed having derived inspiration from improvisation and ornamentation across a variety of eastern and western traditions, this work seems to me to be pure Durette. Calm, soothing, novel, exotic, luminous and expansive -- much more could be said or written about this album but the wonderful sounds do a fabulous job of speaking for themselves. Please let them speak to you." --Rob Thomas, 2025

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

Quiet Pieces initiates Abul Mogard's personal imprint Soft Echoes with a definitive self-portrait of calm, contemplative, and discreet inner landscapes made audible. It is the first solo album on vinyl in four years. While sifting through archived material left idle from earlier projects, a chance encounter with a late uncle's trove of beloved 78rpm classical and opera records prompted the reworking and completion of what would eventually become the album. Spinning dusty records at 33 and 45rpm, Abul Mogard recombined their enduring specters with unfinished sketches from his archive. The resulting soundscape blurs distinctions between his memories and those of another, exquisitely short-circuiting the senses with its waking, dream-like lucidity. The resulting pieces hover over a threshold, a liminal space that harmonizes the old and older material. Voluminous waves of quiet and loud undulate between consonance and dissonance, conjuring imagery of a decaying grandeur that humanity's decadence has surrendered to the elements. Abul Mogard's seemingly abandoned yet vast landscapes are nevertheless intimate with timbral frissons of red-lined distortion. Elusive, yet as tangible as sea spray or smog, they affect the olfactory senses with a rarified, synesthetic quality that modestly engages one's emotional register -- a hypnotic, distinguishing feature long hailed as one of the hallmarks of his work. Looking back, Mogard notes an unexpected influence: "I realize being inspired by Phill Niblock, whose work I had barely known at the time but explored after his passing in 2024. His album Boston Tenor Index changed the way I approached dissonance. It encouraged me to push my sound further, to the edge of a space where I began to feel uncomfortable." The album artwork, created by longtime collaborator Marja de Sanctis, features a photograph taken at the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, an archaeological site overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Captured with an iPhone, the image traces the residual presence of construction techniques and architectural forms of the Romans, where material history is transcribed through contemporary tools. The convergence of ancient and modern technology aims to reverberate the site's lasting spiritual presence -- an echo persisting in what is now perceived as a quiet, emptied space. The spiral gestures towards infinity and light. Past and present dissolve into one another, reflecting Quiet Pieces meditation on sound, memory, and time. RIYL: Alessandro Cortini, William Basinski, The Caretaker.

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.

2025 restock. Faitiche presents a long-lost vinyl album. Since 2003, Jan Jelinek's Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, originally released in 2001 on ~scape, existed only as a download. Now the album is available again on vinyl, as a double LP with two bonus tracks, "Moiré (Guitar & Horns)" and "Poren", B-sides from Tendency EP (2000).

"Don't be misled by the title, though for there isn't a finger-snapping rhythm bebop lead anywhere on the album. Instead, Jelinek chooses to explore the visual effect moiré - two shifting patterns creating an implied third dimension - in the audio realm." --Alternative Press

"The title acts as explanation for the studio technique that provided the basis for this album, snippets of other people's arrangements deconstructed through a sampler into loops and then splashed onto an audio canvas." --ATM

"Jelinek's sound evolved out of his dislike for (and inability to play) keyboards." --RPM

"Jelinek has abstracted his sources beyond recognition, looping his millisecond samples into flickering patterns of sonic moiré laid atop a dub techno framework. . . . Jelinek might as well have sampled a horn player's hissing intake of breath - it would have been 'jazz' enough for his purposes." --The Wire

"It's a perfect inversion of conventional music, a sonic negative. Everything that would typically be foreground is moved back or pushed off the screen altogether, and the flecks of sonic debris that would normally be covered by other sounds are left to carry the melody and rhythm." --Pitchfork

"All you need to know is that these onomatopoeic non-specific songs . . . are warm, paradisiacal creations." --NME

"Listen carefully and you'll hear textures slowly unfolding and mutating. Presuming you've not fallen asleep of course." --iDJ

"At times, it's all a bit dripping tap Japanese water torture; so sedentary it drowns in its own motionlessness" --DJ

"Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records is a genuine modern classic whose re-release is anything but a cynical mortgage repayment exercise. Consider this a second chance, then pretend you had it all along." --Boomkat

Margaux Gazur presents her debut album Blurred Memories on Smallville -- almost 70 minutes into a very special search for her musical origins. Margaux Gazur is a French-Vietnamese composer, musician, producer and DJ, now based in Berlin. Having lived in Vietnam for five years from 2012, she found herself searching for the sounds of her roots, played-back in form of field-recordings combined with traditional instruments and the sounds of her blurred childhood memories. The tracks of her debut-album unfold the magic in a very subtle way, filled with vivid rhythms of Hanoian street sounds, evolving layers of mesmerizing tones and organic textures to create an intimate and unique atmosphere. Each track offers yet another something to discover while listening -- mysterious voices and fragile elements next to beautiful melodies and trippy glitches, organic grooves and hypnotic wonkiness- and a lot of magic moments implemented. Woozy pads meandering and moving along -- there are so many things to discover within Blurred Memories. Margaux released her first track on vinyl on Smallville 55 back in 2019 and she has played endless live-sets and DJ performances at amazing spaces like Panorama Bar/Berghain, Heideglühen, Club der Visionäre, Berlin, La Station, Paris, Giegling events, Smallville, and Kann Parties as well as beautiful festivals such as Waking Life in Portugal, Fusion, Berlin Atonal, Meakusma Festival or Equation in Vietnam amongst others. Smallville is happy to present Blurred Memories, music to stay with you. LP number 18 on Smallville comes with a special gatefold cover artwork by Stefan Marx.

Picture one of the greatest living singer-songwriters in a kitchen. He is on holidays, he's just had a swim. His wife is out on the beach, and he finds himself faced with a bowl of irresistible strawberries. They're meant to be shared, of course, but their taste is "out of the ordinary," so he just can't help himself. Minutes later all of the delicious fruit are gone, but there's the germ of a song as the phrase "Someone ate all the strawberries" has just popped into Robert Forster's mind, sounding "so weird, but normal". Thankfully, he has taken his guitar with him. As the story goes, his wife Karin Bäumler not only forgave her husband, she actually joined him on a duet of what was to become the title song to his ninth solo album. Robert Forster has perfected the art of being outré in a least ostentatious way, from his time in the Go-Betweens to his solo career, now spanning almost three decades, interrupted only by the old band's reformation in 2000 which ended with his songwriting partner Grant McLennan's untimely death in 2006. Strawberries follows a recent spate of deluxe reissues of four of his older solo albums as well as the third and final volume of the career-spanning series of G Stands For Go-Betweens boxsets with a much awaited helping of new material. Next to admittedly bigger names such as Bob Dylan or Nick Cave, Robert Forster is the rare case of an artist with a celebrated past whose current work evokes genuine interest among a faithful fan base. As a straight-up personal song, "Strawberries" is a bit of a red herring in the context of this new album that, unusually for Forster, deals almost exclusively in observational character studies or, as the author would have it, "story songs". Louis Forster, by the way, also makes an impressive appearance on lyrical lead guitar in "Such a Shame." As his slapback echo vocals tuck into a rockabilly vibe, you can hear Forster enjoying the company of his Swedish backing band: producer Peter Morén (of Peter, Björn and John fame) on guitar, Jonas Thorell on bass, and Magnus Olsson on drums, crucially augmented by Lina Langendorf on various woodwind instruments and Anna Åhman on keys. The album's monumental closing track "Diamonds" starts off as a cross between Lou Reed and Buffalo Springfield, then takes off via Astral Weeks into an (almost) Albert Ayler direction, with Lina Langendorf given free rein on the tenor sax and Forster himself relinquishing his trademark understatement for some unexpected outbursts of falsetto.

LP version. Clear vinyl. "Thalia Zedek's considerable body of work demonstrates a clarity of vision, a singular performance style, and an expansive range. Her ability to deliver raw emotions through her vivid stories of loss and hope, strife and triumph is unmatched. Zedek has long been a melodic songwriter in a series of heavy bands. That contrast, alongside her distinct blend of both direct and poetic lyrics, allows her to sing of the most difficult of life's moments in ways that are both elevating and devastating. Out and proud her entire career, Zedek never hesitates to speak truth to power. The Boat Outside Your Window finds Zedek contemplating absence and distance, with songs as spirited as they are profoundly moving. The band is guitarist and vocalist Zedek, bassist Winston Braman, and drummer Gavin McCarthy (Karate), now joined by newest member, pedal steel guitarist Karen Sarkisian. On The Boat Outside Your Window, Sarkisian's counter melodies and oblique augmentations created with non-traditional tools like an ebow, add an otherworldly quality to songs. The grit of Zedek's guitar and drive of Braman and McCarthy are met with synth-like swells and more harmonic density. The album features guests Nancy Asch (percussion) and Beth Heinberg (piano) whose subtle touches are added to 'Shoes' and 'Aliyah.' The record was recorded with Andy Hong, mixed by Seth Manchester, and mastered by Sarah Register. Throughout the album, Zedek deftly uncovers how external realities manifest in internal worlds. Zedek's mastery of songwriting is on full display on The Boat Outside Your Window. Her unique musical voice remains potent and pointed. Cultivating her sound with purpose and an unflinching view of humanity, Zedek's words and music are both invigorating, and capable of deep emotional complexities. The Boat Outside Your Window is Thalia Zedek reaching new heights, reinforcing her status as a peerless songwriter and voice.

"Ms.Zedek's songs (are)... more hard-nosed, delivered... in a raspy voice that backed by the band's folk-rock, sounded surprisingly like Bob Dylan's." --New York Times

"she has rediscovered the energy that defined her work with Uzi, Live Skull, and Come, pouring imposing defiance into ten rocking cuts." --The Wire

"This is someone getting better at something they were already incredible at." --The Quietus

"her voice sounding like a cross between Nico and Patti Smith? musically she spans pedal-steel-laden country rock, punk menace and string-driven Velvets drones." -- Uncut

LP version. Blue color vinyl. "Emptyset, James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas, explore both spatial and physical properties of sound; specifically the perceptible boundaries between it and noise. They have produced installations for Tate Britain and the Architecture Foundation in London. Emptyset's new album Dissever continues their exploration of the histories of 20th century electronic sound and media. Dissever delves into the intertwined evolution of cosmic rock, minimalism and electronic music, viewed through their prospective dreams and overlapping technological ambitions. Premiered at Tate Modern as a live performance, Dissever was part of the exhibition Electric Dreams, a large-scale survey of the global history of art and technology. The resulting album is astoundingly sublime, rich with sonics that are as thrilling and immediate as they are singular and dense with complexity. The compositions across Dissever draw threads from pioneering production methods emerging in parallel across the late 1960s, considering the cross talk between these fields and their radical intentions to carve out the future from differing paths, traversing the mystical and modern, while incorporating elements of the transformative, hypnotic, expansive and transcendent to define new principles within sound. The arrangements, performed live and captured in single takes, emerged across a series of sessions at long term collaborator Mat Sampson's recording studio in Bristol. This process revisited early hardware, spatial and multitrack recording techniques to create a dynamic body of material that could look back to these foundational musical forms and converge them through the lens of a reimagined timeline, cultivating a transmission from 1969 to the present and a sensory bridge to the past."

"Emptyset are in a class by themselves when it comes to excavating brutality out of silence." --Pitchfork

LP version. Timo Lassy, one of the leading lights in the current generation of Finnish jazz, releases a new live album with his hard-cooking trio on We Jazz Records. That's Lassy on tenor sax, Ville Herrala on double bass and Jaska Lukkarinen on drums -- each member a We Jazz recording solo artist on their own right. Recorded at G Livelab, Helsinki's premiere live music spot, in 2023 and including new versions of tracks all across the sax man's celebrated catalog, Live in Helsinki proves why Lassy usually packs the house when he plays a hometown show. For those familiar with Timo Lassy's studio work, especially his latest We Jazz release, Trio (2021), the sound of this live recording is likely to sound both familiar and delightfully new. The trio's live sound is rough around the edges, and the immediate rawness of the live situation brings out a new edge of the band. Timo Lassy, a remarkably strong tenor player with his own sound, pulls no punches while delivering his message live. He colors more outside of the lines than on his albums -- a fitting rationale for any live version released, and his highly potent combo follows suit. The underlying spirit of Timo Lassy Trio's music is the true friendship of the band members. It's evident all across the album that they play for their audience but also for each other, pushing and inspiring each other into new territory in a way that echoes togetherness in the stead of competition. This is a sold-out hometown show for a band that needs no hype. They play raw jazz from the heart -- a recipe enough for building an expanding fanbase.

"Back in the mid-'90s the Dirty Three opened for Ed Kuepper in Melbourne. That's when Ed and Jim White first crossed paths. Jim of course was well-aware of Ed; who wasn't? This was an artist who had redefined Australian music not just once with The Saints, not just twice with Laughing Clowns, but was at it again for a third time, under his own name. Roll forward to 2020. Time became malleable, even these most industrious of artists found themselves with time to kill. Jim was unexpectedly back in Australia, in fact stranded in Australia. Despite all the complexities of the pandemic Ed recognized an opportunity to capture the collaboration he'd long had in mind. The original idea was for the two of them to do a few shows together. It would be 'casual'. But it proved to be anything but. Amidst the on-off restrictions and the threat of the virus the tour was a turbulent ride. They performed two sold out nights at the Sydney Opera House and fluked the only gig at Rising before the Melbourne Festival was cancelled. Other gigs were blown out and plans would be changed at the last minute. Touring was precarious with Ed and Jim unsure when restrictions would be announced, leaving them high and dry or forcing them to drive cross county late at night to cross state lines before the borders were closed. In amidst this turmoil a musical bond was forged. Ed appreciated Jim's "rhythmic intent. It's intuition based" he explains. The duo grasped an opportunity to enter Melbourne's Sound Park Studio. Working quickly over four days they captured the music they had been performing. The resulting album features eight tracks that provide, as Ed puts it 'The broadest representation of what we did, with the most variety.' The widescreen selection of songs gives a tracking shot of Ed's career to date. The earliest song reimagined here is The Saints' 'Swing For The Crime,' which originally appeared in 1978 on the Prehistoric Sounds album. Ed's early '80s band Laughing Clowns is generously represented and rewired with the songs 'Crying Dance,' 'The Year Of The Bloated Goat,' and 'Collapse Board.' Deep into their careers, at the top of their game, ever curious, changing and searching, Ed and Jim reach another high-water mark. After The Flood was recorded and mixed by Idge at Sound Park Studio, Melbourne, Spring 2023. Produced by Ed Kuepper and Jim White."

2025 repress. Known principally as a smooth titan of blue-eyed soul, Bobby Caldwell transcended genre tags with consummate ease; he was a musical icon of real class and versatility, cherished the world over. His double platinum self-titled album from 1978 is a timeless masterpiece of sophisticated jazzy soul brilliance and is strictly canonical. Whilst Ned Doheny is known in Japan as "Mr California", native New Yorker Bobby Caldwell has always been "Mr AOR" to his Far-Eastern friends. His distinct charm is an irresistible blend of soul, jazz, and pop influences. He possessed phenomenal songwriting prowess, smooth vocal performances, was both a great soul guitarist and dextrous keyboard player and known for genius chord progressions. It all added up to a multi-layered brilliance entering the studio, and the singular sound he landed on was laced with soulful, sweeping strings and funky horns, touching lightly on disco, while allowing his supple voice to carry the stunning tracks he'd crafted. Bobby sadly passed away on 23rd March 2023, after a long struggle with mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress, due to an adverse effect from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The reissue of his eponymous album will be available on vinyl across the globe, ensuring that fans -- and soul music enthusiasts worldwide -- can radiate in the deep beauty of this seminal album. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest quality at Record Industry in Holland.

Purple Trap, the powerful trio of Keiji Haino (voice, guitar), Bill Laswell on bass, and Rashied Ali (drums), recorded live on stage at The Stone. Recorded in December 2005, this furious live album by what can easily be called a super group remained unreleased till in 2023 Bill Laswell made it accessible in a rough-mixed digital version for his bandcamp subscribers program exclusively. For this vinyl version, the music has been newly mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus (SchneiderTM) and mastered/cut by Ruy Mariné at Dubplates & Mastering Berlin. Purple Trap reunited for this one-off gig as part of a five-day Haino-festival at John Zorn's venue, The Stone, seven years after its only album had been recorded (released on Tzadik in 1999). The six untitled tracks deliver what can be expected from such musical masters: Rashied Ali, iconic free jazz drummer who played with John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Rollins, James Blood Ulmer, and countless more, is all drums, from quiet tiny sounds to high-energy rhythm patterns. Keiji Haino, one of the most prolific artists of the Japanese experimental/noise scene for almost 50 years now, switches between truculent guitar splatters and full-on psychedelic outbursts. Bill Laswell, who as producer and musician created a massive body of work in fields as diverse as ambient, world music, funk, jazz (and often hybrids of these), has proven his mastery in improvisation in projects like Massacre, Painkiller or (early) Material and provides the low-end grounding with his signature bass sound, or adds effect-laden ornaments to the whole. An overdue addition to a very small body of work by a clearly under-documented supergroup!

On June 13th 2024, Joakim, along with six guest musicians performed Terry Riley's renowned piece "In C" at a sold-out Philharmonie de Paris. This is the recording of their live performance. The guest musicians were Amosphere, Apollo Noir, Canblaster, Narumi Herisson, Joseph Schiano di Lombo, and Frederic Soulard. Each musician used their own synthesizers, creating a synthetic chamber orchestra that showcased the evolution of electronic musical instruments. This included Amosphere's Philicorda from 1967, Joakim's Arp2600 (first launched in 1971), and contemporary instruments like Narumi's Osmose from Expressive, along with Eurorack modular systems from Canblaster and Apollo Noir. The performers were arranged in a circle at ground level with Joakim in the center. Each musician had their own speaker, making it seem as if the sound originated from their instrument. This setup encouraged the audience to move around the circle, experiencing a variety of sounds based on their position. The result is a uniquely reimagined version of "In C" that is both purely electronic and organically rich. Despite the relatively small ensemble, the piece feels immensely full, occasionally leading listeners to believe they hear a flute or oboe interspersed throughout. Limited pressing of 300 copies in heavy cardboard sleeve with an insert. For fans of: Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Philipp Glass, Max Richter, Caterina Barbieri.

The Fun Years, comprised of multi-instrumentalists Ben Recht and Isaac Sparks, have been making music together since the turn of the century, producing intriguing interrogations of ambient, drone, post-rock, and turntablism. Originally released in 2008 on the now-defunct Barge Recordings, baby it's cold inside is perhaps the high watermark of their discography. Equally concerned with microtonal nuance and harmonic intensity, it is both a product of its time and something well past it. The chief protagonist is surely the turntable, deployed to create woolly, evocative loops from unidentifiable source material that recall, at times, the work of Philip Jeck or Jan Jelinek -- churning, roiling, hissing, atrophied textures further articulated with nuanced processing and buoyed by baritone guitar drones and anti-riffing. The title of opener "my lowville" feels like a wink to the famed slowcore duo, with spare post-rock motifs hovering in a dusty ether, slowly consumed by distorted washes of rich, harmonic sound. One of the most satisfying aspects of the album is that despite the recumbent nature of most of their sound design choices and compositional proclivities, Recht and Sparks are loath to sit still. "auto show of the dead" is a serpentine piano/guitar exploration full of subtle detail, preceding the immaculately titled "fucking milwaukee's been hesher forever," in which the tactile delights of clicks and cuts are liberated from the laboratory and allowed to slum it in the world of tape gunk and '90s plate reverb. Later, "re: we're again buried under" presents an inky black ambience that feels truly expansive and almost overwhelming, and closer "The Surge is Working" tears apart an anthemic shoegaze dirge at the seams, leaving only billowing filtered noise and negative space in its wake. Presented here with a brilliant remaster by LUPO, baby it's cold inside should be considered alongside records like Belong's October Language and Polmo Polpo's Like Hearts Swelling -- an arresting early aughts ambient marvel that warrants ongoing investigation.

Europe's first lady of house is back on Heist with a massive new EP and a Demi Riquísimo remix. Cinthie's 2023 Piano Heaven EP on Heist was a big release for both her and the label, getting tons of airplay and support from the likes of Pete Tong, Danny Howard, Chloe Caillet, and Blessed Madonna. The Dam Swindle remix of "Won't u take me" that followed on that year's Round Up is still among her top tracks on any platform. Cinthie now returns to Heist with an EP full of dancefloor weapons that range from classic grooving house to quirky rave. With her frequent plays at renowned clubs all over the world, as well as spots in her Berlin back yard like Panorama bar, Cinthie has the ideal testing grounds for new peak-time material. And that's exactly what the A1 "Deep inside love" is: an epic peaktime weapon. With a stomping beat and signature uplifting keys, she serves up themes of classic '80s and '90s house music with a modern aesthetic. With that, "Deep inside love" has all the ingredients to become an instant Heist classic. The A2 shows listeners Cinthie's rave side, where inspiration from the current dancefloor high octane energy shines. Or maybe it's just her early rave days that are finally back in the limelight after her well received Rave Baby release on Aus Music. Either way, "Higher" is a fun tune with an infectious beat, classic rave stabs and a female vocal telling listeners to take her higher. "Get up" is a lovely organ-led track with long ethereal strings and dubby vocal chops. The breakdown deepens the mood with some heavy chords tuned in true house style before a free-flowing drum roll (crashes and claps included) catapult you into back into the full groove. Enjoy the music and as always, play it loud!

LP version. Coming four years after the previous trio album Ding Dong. You're Dead, it´s the longest period ever between Hedvig albums. That, however, is no indication she´s been idle, quite the contrary, actually. There´s been five commissioned works, two of which have resulted in albums in her own name. 2023 saw the debut release from power-impro-trio Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns with Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Ole Mofjell (drums). The same year she was Artist In Residence at the Moldejazz festival, with vital guest appearances from the likes of Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn, and Colin Stetson. Hedvig also found time to write new music for a screening of the silent movie Limité (Brazil 1931). After these busy years, she felt a strong urge to get back to the core, which has always been the trio that started it all back in 2011 with the powerful debut album Shoot!. Starting work on new music before last summer, she later in the year hooked up with Ellen on several occasions to collect loose ends and put it all together before drummer Ivar was brought into the fold to complete the process. There was plenty of excitement going into the studio, and with a lot of the music being quite complicated with lots of small variations and long structures, the studio sessions were extremely focused and concentrated. Hedvig stresses that the main objective of the trio is to always have fun whether in the studio or on stage, and to share that joy with the listener. Listening to Bees In The Bonnet, it shines through how much the trio had been missing making new music together, with glowing evidence of their skills both as writers and players. The daughter of a jazz musician, Hedvig soon lost herself in his record collection, studying classic works by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, and Jim Hall before discovering riff-raging titans like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as well as Mahavishnu Orchestra in her early 20s. This would eventually lead to the formation of Hedvig Mollestad Trio after she received the "Jazz Talent Of The Year" award at Moldejazz in 2009. Their relentless recording and touring schedule (hundreds of concerts all over the world) have earned the guitarist a stream of accolades, including two Norwegian Grammies and DownBeat magazine naming her one of the 25 artists who "could shape jazz for decades" in 2020.

2x10" version. Causa Sui return with the perfect companion to From The Source (EPR 076CD, 2024). Whereas that record was a tightly structured piece of work, that condensed many aspects of the band's sound into a concise 45-minute LP, In Flux presents the more loose and impulsive side of Causa Sui. After an introductory suite in classic Causa Sui territory, with deep fuzz riffs and syncopated grooves, things gradually become more outlandish. The band channels Hot Rats-style jazz fusion, the oceanic post-rock of late-period Talk Talk, and the impulsive, anarchic experimentalism of Can's Tago Mago into their own beatific brew. On "Spree," the band abandons guitar entirely, relying on a dual synthesizer on top of drums and bass instead, yet maintains that uniquely Sui-an vibe. The centerpiece in this set, "Astral Shores," unfolds over 16 minutes -- from gently hypnotic, ritualistic folk, through motoric psychedelia and back again. It's been many years since Causa Sui have sounded this unmoored on a studio record. In Flux is an essential chapter in the band's ever-changing oeuvre. Each track has a character all off its own, taking the listener somewhere different.