"A common misconception about Mars is that their music was meant to be dark and nihilistic. That's not totally wrong: When their guitars sawed noise, rhythms lurched heavy and words came in howls, listening could be a harrowing experience, as suffocating as any of their apocalyptic No Wave counterparts. But the quartet's work was also energetic, joyful and buoyantly melodic. After all, they started by jamming on tunes by the Velvet Underground, pretty much the ur-band when it comes to sounding both dark and bright. As much as Mars stretched and remade that model into new wiry shapes, the spark of brightness sustained. It's easy to hear when listening to this set recorded in the summer of 1977 at a series of shows put on by the late Terry Ork at the Village Gate, a renowned jazz club in Greenwich Village. All eight songs have an urgent bounce, which is clearest in the caffeinated energy of the vocals, usually delivered in the pungent wail of either Sumner Crane or Connie Burg. Mark Cunningham's rubbery bass and the chopping guitars of Crane and Burg shoot flares as if they were running a fireworks display. Add Nancy Arlen's nonstop drumming -- roughly echoing Mo Tucker if she had extra limbs and Live at the Village Gate becomes a dizzying rush of tunes that zooms by in a taut 24 minutes. Though Mars hadn't even recorded at this point, they were already what Burg called 'like a machine in a way -- a really out of control machine.' Most of these songs were honed when the band was called China, a name they changed a few months before this gig after discovering other, potentially litigious groups bearing that moniker. In fact these songs were so far along that when Mars did start recording, only '3E' would survive, none of the other seven would ever see the dank light of a studio." --Marc Masters

The cult album, fully remastered. Recorded in Paris with Jean-Yves Messan, Patrick Francfort, and François Corea, leading figures of the African diaspora, Na Bo Ndedi is one of the pinnacles of makossa's golden age. A classic by Ngallé Jojo, with a unique sound that blends traditional rhythms with modern arrangements, vibrant grooves, and a powerful rhythmic drive. Thirty years later, Celluloid Records is reissuing this essential album in a remastered version. For collectors who know it by heart, and for all those who are finally discovering it. Also available with bonus 7" (CELPACK 001LP).

LP version. Wewantsounds presents the first official reissue of the highly sought-after 1979 classic, Summer-Time Love Song by The Milky Way. Originally released on the Seven Seas label in Japan and produced by the legendary Makoto Matsushita -- the visionary behind the cult album First Light -- the album is a premier example of the sophisticated sound that defined the era. Featuring the cream of Japanese musicians, including Yasuaki Shimizu, the record offers a superb mix of AOR, jazz fusion, funk, and bossa nova. Remastered by Colorsound Studio, this deluxe reissue features the original artwork, an OBI strip, and a 4-page booklet with a new introduction by Paul Bowler. The album serves as a vital precursor to Matsushita's own 1981 cult masterpiece First Light. Here, he and Nobuta lead the cream of Japanese session musicians. From the sun-drenched bossa nova rhythms of the Jobim classic "Wave" to a sophisticated rendition of Boz Scaggs' classic "Harbor Lights," finishing with the dreamy rhythms of "Endless Summer," the record is a masterclass in elegant funky arrangements and relaxed harmonies. As music journalist Paul Bowler writes in the liner notes for this release: "Summer-Time Love Song represents a fascinating bridge in Japanese pop history; a moment where the breezy aspirations of the '70s met the meticulous studio perfectionism that would soon take over the world." This deluxe edition features the original artwork, showcasing classic photography by the cult photographer Shinpei Asai -- famed for his iconic work on the Pacific album by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. Newly remastered, this reissue finally makes one of the most coveted albums of the 70s Japanese scene accessible to Japanese music fans worldwide.

"Limited edition double LP set. For the first time together, the complete Torch Of Freedom sessions. The acclaimed follow up to the classic Pick A Dub And Flesh Of My Skin album. Original raw manmba label Jamaican mix, plus Keith's UK remix and re-sequence. Includes bonus dub crying previously only available on rare import 7" single. Features the classic 'Turn The Heater On' as cover by New Order. Extensive sleeve notes by Keith Hudson biographer Vincent Ellis."

LP version. Released in 1974, Zuckerzeit marks a clear turning point in Cluster's work, introducing shorter formats and a more defined rhythmic framework. The increased use of drum machines and structured sequencing sets it apart from the duo's earlier, more diffuse recordings, while maintaining a focus on texture and tone. Developed in close proximity to Michael Rother and under increasingly independent production conditions, the album establishes a more direct and accessible approach without simplifying its underlying ideas. This standard edition makes the album available again on CD and vinyl following the previous limited anniversary release. A key recording in Cluster's catalogue, capturing a pivotal moment of transition and refinement. In 1974, Cluster entered the sugar era. Many a thing had changed for band members Moebius and Roedelius since Cluster II: They had moved from boisterous Berlin to this calm rural village, they had founded the band Harmonia, had set up their own studio and had bought new equipment. As a result of this and many other things, new impulses were noticeably spurring the evolution of their music. The album Zuckerzeit ("sugar era") launched a revolution for Cluster. Strictly speaking, Zuckerzeit is not really an album by Cluster. More precisely, the LP contains two mini solo albums by Moebius and Roedelius. Those who were familiar with the stylistic peculiarities of the two musicians could easily relate the solo pieces to either one of them. As Roedelius and Moebius had not yet released any solo works by the time, it was actually not possible to draw up any comparisons yet. Zuckerzeit is light and cheerful, freed from the Germanic gravity and the mystic incense fumes that were so fashionable at the time. Cluster managed to keep both feet on the ground without becoming plain or even sterile. The friendliness of the music is clearly due to the two personalities of Roedelius and Moebius; its down-to-earth character possibly comes from Michael Rother, the album's coproducer. When comparing Zuckerzeit to the works of other electronic combos produced at the same time, it is first of all the shortness of the tracks that seems most striking. The fact that Cluster worked in such a calm and collected way, that they concentrated on their musical ideas instead of losing themselves in long-windedness -- all this taken together gave way to the creation of electronic miniatures that sounded as extraordinary in the 1970s as they still do today.

Pon is Tujiko Noriko's sixth album for Editions Mego and a further extension of her already significant body of work as both a solo and collaborative artist. Dedicated to her cat who she adopted as an infant and passed away due an accident having been born deaf, Pon is imbued with abstraction, tenderness and a deep emotional resonance. Noriko's palette of electronics, romantic melodies and surprising sonic details are all fully present here, and like her last full length, 2023's Crépuscule this is an epic work, released as a 2LP by Editions Mego. The unmistakable hue of Japan hovers throughout this emotional rich landscape. Subtle field recordings and fragile, abstract motifs drift through the album, all cloaked in a warmth and humanity that only Noriko seems able to conjure. Pon moves effortlessly between the childlike and the obscure. There are moments of deceptive simplicity where unexpected elements suddenly surface -- strange voices emerge on "Boku Wa Obaka." "Knife of Yonder" is a standout: a startling ten-minute unfolding that begins with a warm, almost Eno-esque drift before launching into a soaring mid-section and finally landing somewhere unexpectedly blues-adjacent. "Kikoeru Pon" is brimming with childlike wonder -- a heartfelt ballad that dissolves into domestic field recordings, including sounds of the feline for whom both the album and track are named. A quietly devastating ending that brings the personal nature of the record into sharp focus. There is a deep sense of the human in the way Noriko embraces technology. This is far from cold abstraction; rather, Pon feels like a colorful photo album, documenting Noriko's inner world and instincts with remarkable intimacy. Hovering in liminal states between pop, ambient and abstraction, this is a deeply affective and moving release that reveals new surprises with each listen. The emotional range of Noriko's latest offering inspires hope in a world in disarray. It is both gentle and epic and one which we feel embodies the work of an artist fully at the height of her powers.

Includes four-page insert. "TCJQ together with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray! This is THE sunken treasure. This is music I have only heard about. And yet, here it is. Unbelievable. Intact. Preserved. Beaming of energy and JOY! This is a sensational find. My favorite Danes exploding together with my favorite double bass player all time. Gary Peacock. The engine. The power engine. I can hardly breathe when he plays, and when he starts soloing and creating beautiful duo bass action with his colleague Steffen Andersen in this very first recording of 'Predetermination,' 10 minutes in -- my heart expands, and the world suddenly looks and sounds entirely different. Add Sunny Murray on top of it all? The master of unreal flow and accents. Sunny was a beast to deal with at the time. But what he adds to the music is pure poetry. No other drummer did anything even close to this back in the mid-'60s. To have Steinmetz and Beckerlee playing alongside Peacock and Murray in 1964 is as good as it gets. The absolute point-zero of free jazz, Spiritual Unity, was just released. It changed everything. This is the mother of it all. The birth. You would think Steinmetz and Beckerlee would have had a little anxiety joining the American duo. There is nothing of uncertainty or vague playing here. This is for real. Right-on-take-no-prisoners-do-not-look-back. Added to the A-side of this mythical recording with creative Danes and the rhythm section of Spiritual Unity is a little improvised miniature. 'In the Name of Beauty.' The title very accurately describes what is going on. TCJQ creating pure communal beauty. Steinmetz, Beckerlee and Andersen getting very real! Dig the harmonics of the last note. The B-side´s 'Spontaneity,' 'Action' and 'Collusion' are just wild. Raw. And utterly beautiful. The group is doing real sharing on a level unheard of before. While listening through this music numerous times and trying to write something simultaneously of intellectual or emotional content something happens? I lose the sense of time. The emerging free jazz scene of Denmark of the early '60s, is something spectacular and WILD. Years before the other Scandinavian countries even got a grip of the new jazz, the Danes were doing it already. Fueled by very important guest visits by Cecil Taylor, Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler at both clubs and radio or TV appearances. Those were the times when public service actually noticed new developments in art, music and literature." Mats Gustafsson, April 2026

LP version. Yellow vinyl. Renascent marks the long-awaited return of legendary Manchester outfit The Durutti Column, their first new studio album in over fifteen years, produced by Keir Stewart. Around the guitar work of Vini Reilly, the album plays between sonic atmospherics and structure: warm ambient washes, piano, beats and guest vocal turns by a new generation (Caoilfhionn Rose on "Agonistes" and Lucas Elliot on CD bonus track "All they See is Fire"). Both contemporary and otherworldly, and with a swathe of new champions citing the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis), Renascent is a timely and vital rebirth for The Durutti Column. Artwork by long-time collaborators 8vo.

LP version. The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly album is available again to everyone. Produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries, New Order). Many new champions cite the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis). Includes booklet.

"This issue's cover story is an extraordinary interview with Jim 'Harpo' Valley who talks about his years on the early Northwest rock 'n' roll scene with the Viceroys and Don & the Goodtimes, his wildly eventful year with Paul Revere & the Raiders at their 1966-67 peak, a summer of love solo career that failed to launch, and the dramatic events that sent him to live alone in a cave in Big Sur. Then, from 'Louie Louie' to Fun House, Don Gallucci tells all about his adventures with the Kingsmen, Don & the Goodtimes, Touch, and producing the Stooges' seminal second album. Also, the wild ride of 1965-67 Sunset Strip garage band the New Generation, the continuing saga of '60s Canadian psych/rock legends the Collectors, and a short chat with writer/musician Michael Moorcock. Plus the life-sustaining reviews sections covering the latest reissues and music-related books."

Alga Marghen presents the historical Intervalli by Giuseppe Chiari, a world premiere of the compete cycle of 12 Intervalli. Elegantly performed and recorded by Reinier Van Houdt, this timeless composition from 1950-56 anticipates Minimalist by a decade as well as Concetual and Sytems-Based-Composition while intersecting the perspectives that would soon be developed by Fluxus, the group Chiari would join in 1962. Giuseppe Chiari's Intervalli for piano still retain the charm of a discovery, even when considered in the context of their historical perspective. Composed within a time frame that extends throughout the entire first half of the 1950s, they are striking for the precocity of their compositional conception based on a radical reduction of musical parameters on mathematical and rational grounds. One might also be surprised to discover that Chiari's early compositions follow such a rigorous logical approach in the organization of musical material, particularly in light of the subsequent direction his work took, which established him, within the Neo-Avant-Garde, as the most resolute and determined exponent of gestural music -- a genre thus free from any dogma or structural constraints. In Intervalli Chiari focuses on the idea of a rational "arrangement" of the sequence of sounds and/or their simultaneity through a more or less controlled system of repetitions of variants or invariants, defined by their interval features and duration. The systematic processes of limiting and repeating musical parameters are elements that, by analogy, later came to the fore with the birth of musical minimalism. It would, however, be a stretch to regard Chiari's Intervalli as a driving force that will have a direct impact on the emergence and establishment of this current. Whilst minimal music employs the systematic reduction of parameters and their repetition to guide unidirectional development as a gradual process, Chiari's Intervalli move towards an opposing concept that "explores the relationships between sounds without any temporal hierarchy" in order to achieve "music that strips succession of its discursive power." A clear indication of an objective, almost atomistic conception of sound, aimed at deconstructing its syntactic homologation. Hence its conceptual relevance, which cannot be equated with the canonical currents of minimalism: a nuance that would subsequently predispose Chiari to an informal openness towards the performative gesture. The Intervalli cycle thus marked Chiari's first point of arrival, but also a point of no return -- save for the final decade of his creative career, when a still surprising new recourse to musical writing was mediated precisely by a gestural instinctiveness. This first edition of complete Intervalli also includes liner notes by Gabriele Bonomo as well as the reproduction of some of the pages from the original score.

200 pages. "Eternal Rhythm: Conversations & Travelations with Don Cherry and Graeme Ewens offers an intimate, free-flowing portrait of a legendary improviser and musical visionary. Drawn from priceless cassette-taped interviews gathered since 1979, the book is woven together by writer Graeme Ewens -- a confidant, travel companion, and close friend of Don Cherry. Through Ewens' vivid storytelling and Cherry's own reflections, Eternal Rhythm traces a life lived in constant motion -- artistically, spiritually, and geographically. The result is an unfiltered insight into the evolution and working life of a musician globally recognized as one of the most unique, innovative voices to emerge from the '60s free-jazz movement. It's a rich exploration of creativity without borders, capturing the essence of Cherry's expansive global musical journey. Printed in black and white and color.

Clear vinyl version. In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room. Back in Mogard's studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centers and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard's layering and subtraction reassembled everyone's parts into the final arrangement. The album opens with "In the Eastern Wild," building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. "Over the Domes" widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with "A Blue Descent," centered on Bertoni's cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth. At the album's center, "In a Quiet Radiance" unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli's violin lines and Bertoni's lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli's processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record's pivotal moments. "Of Blessed Ages" suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music's internal drift. The closing "Among Shadows" settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede. Mogard and Irisarri's shared language balances restraint and maximalism.

LP version. In this work, first published in 1978 by Cetra, Antonio Infantino continues to express his ritualistic and shamanic relationship with the musical traditions of Southern Italy. The recordings focus on the mystery of death and the sacraments, the light of the spirit and the divine that descends and conquers souls. The phenomenon of Tarantism is still strong, the power of dance as a symbol of transformation and revolt, a therapeutic process of final healing. Folk music celebrates a deep sense of community, the memory of a peasant world that no longer exists but is still alive in the collective memory. Behind the tight and insistent rhythm of the percussion, the voices of the people, the colors of the squares and the scratchy string arrangements always emerge. The magical sound of the bagpipes is lost in the alleys of the villages. Infantino sings of minor cultures, the poor and oppressed classes, who share joys and sorrows, dance and music as secular forms of liberation.

LP version. Al Doum &The Faryds have always been an enchanting organism, a timeless land of wisdom, humility, brotherhood and love. Their blend of spiritual jazz, psychedelia and Afro-Latin rock holds a magical balance, turning their music into a tropical celebration filled with harmony and deep vibrations. A volcano of emotion, where the poetry of rising and falling voices becomes a gospel and soul illumination, echoing from faraway places. The expanded horn section -- alto and tenor sax, soprano sax and bass clarinet -- erupts with power, igniting incandescent grooves. Sax lines weave and chase one another like a train in relentless motion, evoking the urgency of post-punk, a wry Zappa-esque eccentricity, and exotic jazz-folk arrangements tinged with retro flair. A hybrid assemblage, deeply anchored in the '60s and '70s, flowing through free-form instrumental turns and psych-tribal impulses, where the guitar traces unexpected, lysergic, dreamlike paths. The Faryds continue to believe in the possibility of a new utopia: moving forward with courage, with hearts open to human connections, grounded in the dialogue of their souls.

These three previously unreleased tracks reflect the cultural influences of a very young Riccardo Sinigaglia. In particular, the Anti-psychiatry movement founded by Ronald David Laing, author of the influential books The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise. As well as Jung's theory of archetypes, a subject explored in depth in the writings of Elémire Zolla. The compositional processes of concrete music are fundamental, while the extensive use of fragments from other cultures reflects a sensitivity matured through his travels in Africa and Asia. The mixture of aquatic and liquid sounds manifests a new state of mind: bird songs, hidden streams, marsh plants, invisible drains, light waves, African, Tibetan, and Indonesian echoes. Everything is skillfully collected using various recording methods (4 tracks Teac 3340, Akai S612) and then assembled on tape with reverbs, equalizers, and the electronic moods of the Revox. Music conceived in different times and situations, but with a similar mood, that of the waters of Lake Orta as a perennial source of peace and inspiration.

2026 repress; 1995 release. "A virtual wizard of the mixing desk, Overton H Brown has been one of the key figures in dub since the late 1970s. Getting his start as a teenager at King Tubby's legendary studio in Waterhouse, Brown was known as 'The Scientist' because his imaginative approach to the mixing desk and electronic gadgetry seemed to derive from magical powers that linked him to some intangible, futuristic realm."

Building upon their recent, incredible immersions into the contemporary landscape of experimental sound, Die Schachtel returns with one of their most striking releases to date, Border Soundscapes II, distilling their longstanding efforts at the borders of interdisciplinary practice with a profound sense of accomplishment and grace. Instigated and curated by the label's own Bruno Stucchi, who also contributed the release's graphic design, this very special vinyl only art edition encounters the guitarist and composer, Paolo Spaccamonti, operating in spectral collaboration with the renowned photographs of Pino Musi: utilizing 24 images selected by the artist, published as a three and a half meter long leporello (accordion style) book that accompanies the edition, as the score for the detail and ambience laden abstractions that sprawl across the album's two sides. Born in Salerno, but currently based in Paris, Pino Musi's photographs, exhibited widely across the globe and featured in the Venice Biennale, utilize modern architecture, classical ruins, steel mills, rural architecture, and urban cityscapes as their subjects, focused on pure form and compositional abstraction. Paolo Spaccamonti is a Turin-based guitarist and composer who, for more than two decades, has worked with sound across numerous creative disciplines, bringing him into intimate collaboration with everyone from Jochen Arbeit of Einstürzende Neubauten, to composers like Stefano Pilia, Riccardo Sinigaglia, Jim White, and numerous others. Imbued with a deep sense of abstraction and space that mirrors the foundational elements of Musi's photographs, Spaccamonti's work on guitar, often unrecognizable as such, unfurls across the album's two sides with a striking degree of range, embracing a palette of industrially tinged clangs and scrapes, subsumed tones, passages of dense distortion, overlapping and shifting drones, endlessly surprising tonal and timbral punctuations, and deconstructed melodies, embedded within the sprawling ambiences that bind these actions within a single, cohesive world. Issued as a very special vinyl only art edition, limited to 200 copies, housed in a silkscreened sleeve, hand-signed by Musi, Spaccamonti, and Stucchi, accompanied by a three and a half meter long leporello book comprising Musi's 24 photographs. Truly amazing and not to be missed.

To the best of anyone's knowledge this performance by John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danica was the first ever jazz- or improvisation-type concert held at London's hallowed recital room Wigmore Hall. 1968 was a year of Denmark's extensive cultural program in Britain, which included a poorly attended CND concert, not recorded, on 2nd October at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. That this was to be the sole concert by Tchicai -- of New York Contemporary Five, New York Art Quartet, Coltrane's Ascension fame -- was stupefyingly ridiculous so Anthony Barnett set about trying to organize a London concert. He traipsed the capital in search of an available venue without luck until, with no thought of a positive outcome, he entered Wigmore Hall. To his astonishment, with few questions asked, they said yes. Following that, there was the matter of work permits. Barnett visited the relevant office and they too said yes, probably because of the involvement of The Royal Danish Embassy and the Danish Cultural Ministry with the Manchester concert. Danmarks Radio asked the BBC to record the concert on its behalf. The arrangement was that Barnett would receive a small fee and a complete set of the tapes. Afterwards, it turned out that the BBC had edited the tapes down to what it sent to Danmarks Radio, as broadcast and now heard here for the first time since. Sadly, and quite true to form, the BBC had wiped the rest. And it was a struggle for Anthony Barnett to get back the tape that did remain. Possibly it shows how difficult things can be when one acts independently. Featuring Cadentia Nova Danica at the absolute peak of their powers; furious, rich and dense, moving between freeform improvisation and African touchstones before erupting into incandescent free improvisation. Includes an insert with the reproduction of both Wigmore Hall and Manchester's Free Trade Hall original press releases. Liner notes by Anthony Barnett.

LP version. Originally released in 2024. From his first full-length album Minima Moralia in 2006, through the subsequent 70+ albums that followed, Chihei Hatakeyama has created a mighty canon of work. Having collaborated with the likes of Ai Kuwabara, Hiroki Chiba, Kei Matsumaru, Gen Hoshino, Terumasa Hino, Tony Allen, and countless others, Shun Ishiwaka is one of Japan's most prolific modern jazz drummers. Between them they've played across ambient, experimental, electronic, pop, hip-hop, jazz, and metal projects, and that's what this release represents -- a meeting of like-minded musicians with innumerable reference points coming together at an epoch-making juncture to produce an ambient work brimming with creativity and understanding. They met while appearing live on radio. This extended to a series of gigs. The chemistry was instantaneous and recording sessions for this two-volume epic followed, in March 2023. Chihei's specific references for guitar treatments on this album include My Bloody Valentine, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Keiji Haino. Both musicians drew on their love of free jazz and spiritual jazz, and in particular the works of Alice Coltrane and later period Sun Ra. Psycho-acoustic considerations, chance, spontaneity and the cross-section at which musicians respond (or not) to each other, in the heat of the moment, were all inspirations for this remarkable project.

"A true Ohio outsider legend in every sense, Tommy Jay along with his producer/co-hort Mike Rep were recording like crazy in the mid-1970s. Here is an unreleased 1974 studio album with another book of classics intertwined within, and if you've been following Tommy's hypnotic trajectory with Mike Rep, True Believers, and the Harrisburg Players over the years, it's another long-awaited reward for your faith in this underground system you're invested in. Pure Ohio Gold as they say, and as a recently unearthed recording, it is presented it for the first time anywhere, solidifying Tommy Jay's pillar-like influence in the sick and twisted Harrisburg underground. Forever underrated, Tommy shines hard here for the singer-songwriter era, keeping that creeping 'punk edge' just under the surface for extra tension, even in 1974. In another world Tommy Jay would be as well-known as Skip Spence or Ron House, but his star still rises, albeit slowly and surely. Much like a companion LP to The Grim-O-Comix Sequence and his essential Tall Tales of Trauma LP, Short Sagas of Sorrow fills yet another void with its deep lo-fi goodness that has no problem hitting all of your unprotected sweet spots."

When Eleh's debut Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis I was originally released it was praised as a powerful piece of new electronic minimalism. Twenty years later the artist's legacy has grown while Eleh continues to hypnotize new listeners with time stopping music. Critics, fans and neurologists have praised the music of Eleh as aiding attention and focus while seeming to slow time. Eleh's slow change drones are a state of flow hypnotizing listeners into meditative focus. From the original packaging: "Pure Sound. Pure Volume. Pure Analog. Dedicated To La Monte Young." Eleh began in 1999 as an exploration of analog synthesis, emphasizing low frequency difference tones and other resonant acoustic phenomena. Eleh highlights the physical presence of sound as it has been inspired by the physical world. There is also something "cathedral-like" and cosmos-inducing in the sound constructed by Eleh. This audiophile quality presentation of Eleh's debut album was mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds And Substance and manufactured at Optimal in Germany for the lowest possible noise floor and the highest analog resolution. Packaged using a 5th color metallic shimmer ink on solid black board stock.

"Nuances of sound turn symphonic." --New York Times

"Eleh's sounds move by stealth and are sculpted from the world rather than from ego. Eleh is not a personality; Eleh is an idea about sound. Eleh forces you to contemplate the cosmos and your place in it." --Gramophone

"Eleh demonstrates how a single amplified gesture delivered just so can reveal the inner workings of an entire cosmos." --Tony Herrington/Wire

Originally released in 2008 on Ezekiel Honig's own Anticipate Recordings, Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band finds the artist refining a compositional language rooted in the methodologies of musique concrete, ambient, and beat research. Working from a palette of environmental recordings, instrumental fragments, and soft electronic treatments, Honig pushes the source material into an array of sympathetic forms ranging from pillow-soft, lowercase ambient to diffuse downtempo and minimal house. For its reissue on Keplar, the album has been remastered by Kassian Troyer (D&M), bringing a new clarity to its intricate, low-lit architectures. Throughout the record, serving almost as audiographic guideposts, are faint but insistent gestures toward propulsion, an abiding and recurrent 4/4 pulse that guides the music laterally and instantiates a slow negotiation between its various elements. This music invites close listening precisely by not revealing itself all at once, allowing small collisions of timbre and subtle shifts in emphasis to carry the weight. The traces of lived environments that remain embedded in the mix -- distant crowds, sounds of transit, the indistinct acoustics of interiors in flux -- expand the frame without breaking its intimacy, creating a potent dislocation between the nearness of the sound and the scale of its sources. Rather than foregrounding any single voice, this is music that distributes attention equally across its materials, allowing background details to assert their presence as much as melody or rhythm. Honig presents listeners with an astute practice that's concerned less with building from the ground up than with uncovering what happens when disparate textures and structures are brought into close contact with one another.

"In the early 1970s, the band from Hilden and Düsseldorf (Germany) dropped the name Q 66 and has performed as Cobraa ever since. A demo tape by the band caught the attention of talent scouts at the Cologne-based record label EMI Electrola, who subsequently offered them a record deal. The single 'Ride a Pony' was released as early as 1973, and the album Cobraa followed in 1974. The LP received very good reviews in well-known music magazines, and even the teen magazine BRAVO had words of praise. Critics particularly liked the harmonized vocals, the catchy melodies, and the varied arrangements -- not just drums, bass, and guitars, but also flute, harmonica, and strings. The band members, however, were disappointed with their collaboration with the record label and wrote a letter to the head of EMI, complaining about the lack of support and the lackluster cooperation. After a clarifying meeting with top management, it was agreed to release another single, 'Take A Look At Love.' The record company, however, was unwilling to make any further concessions, so it remained at just one LP release. Over 50 years later, this Cobraa album has achieved cult status among progressive rock and Krautrock fans. It is now being re-released on vinyl as well as, for the first time, on CD and digitally, including the 1973 single 'Ride A Pony'/'The End Of The Day.'"

"In the magazine: Fire-Toolz, DeForrest Brown, Jr., Franck Vigroux, Phil Coy, Carlos Giffoni, Labake Sabbath, Tokyo rockers: from Friction to The Stalin, Invisible Jukebox: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Global Ear: New York venue ABC No Rio, Unlimited Editions: GLARC, The Inner Sleeve: Marvin Tate on Funkadelic's Maggot Brain, Against The Grain: discipleship at Terry Riley's Kirana East, Epiphanies: Darius Jones on Abdullah Ibrahim, and in the reviews sections: Concepción Huerta, Bibliotek: UFO, Infinite Livez, Niblock / Hooker / Soldier / First, Cecil Taylor Humane Orchestra, Simon Reynolds's history of shoegaze, Jauna Musika, Moers Festival, and much more. On the CD: 16 new tracks by Tegh & Adel Poursamadi, FRANTX, Tyondai Braxton, Dream Skills, Waakya, Driftwood, Midori Hirano, ELEH, Nacht, Speaker Music, Balli Marraffa Balli TRIO, DJ Plead, Gulls, Alan Braufman, James Ilgenfritz/Robbie Lee/Elliott Sharp, and Sophia Space Agency."

LP version. EarthBall are an avant/noise/rock wrecking ball of a band from Nanaimo, Canada. Rooted in total improvisation, free expression, and a deeply psychedelic sensibility, EarthBall operate on pure instinct. They hurtle onwards in a combustion of spontaneous composition, shooting from the hip, as they fall out of the sky ablaze. The group encompasses Isabel Ford (vocals, bass), John Brennan (drums, percussion), Jeremy Van Wyke (vocals, guitar, trumpet), Kellan Maclaughlin (guitar, talkbox), and Liam Murphy (saxophone). Each member brings a rich and varied musical history, with past and present projects including Shearing Pinx, Plan Your Future, Kamikaze Nurse, Eschatons, and Psychedelic Dirt. Collectively and individually, they have collaborated with artists such as Deerhoof, Raven Chacon, Chris Corsano, and William Hooker, deepening the band's exploratory reach and collective language. Since forming in 2021, EarthBall have released six cassettes and three fervently received LPs on Upset The Rhythm, including the widely-acclaimed Outside Over There. Their latest release, Actual Earth Music: Volume 3 & 4, follows the first instalment in the series and captures two mind-quaking highlights from their European tour. This is EarthBall plunging to full fathom five, transforming into something rich and strange -- channeling the fleeting moment as it fractures, erupts, and dissolves into the unknown. Side A captures a thumping performance at Cave12 in Geneva. Frazzled from a white-knuckle alpine descent, the group settles into a hypnotic sprawl, stretching time and form across a colossal 53-minute set. The Cave12 recording is a study in tension and release; ruminative, volatile, and barely contained. Drums stumble and surge, saxophone howls cut through the air, and Ford and Van Wyke's voices briefly pull together the circle twice, before the tumult lapses into a spinning maelstrom. Side B meanwhile presents a scorched excerpt from EarthBall's crushing performance at Le Guess Who? Festival. Actual Earth Music: Volume 3 & 4 marks another ascent in EarthBall's ever-expanding, totemic discography, an ecstatic storm of raw immediacy and unfiltered expression.

Government Alpha, the project of Yasutoshi Yoshida, is one of the central figures in Japanese harsh noise, emerging from Tokyo's early 1990s underground scene. Through his Xerxes label, he developed a style that is both extreme and meticulously constructed, balancing ferocity and precision with remarkable control. Even at its most chaotic, every sonic eruption feels carefully placed. Originally released on cassette in 1994, The Human Race Was Restored To Life Repeatedly captures a pivotal stage in Yoshida's artistic development. At this point, he was still refining his unique musical language. The album is raw, unstable, and charged with experimental energy, yet it already reveals the defining characteristics of his later work. These recordings reflect a deeply physical, hands-on approach to sound creation. Worn electronics, manipulated tapes, feedback, and metallic objects become sonic material, each noise bent, reshaped, and reassembled into new forms. It is harsh noise in a state of constant transformation, still free from rigid conventions. The album moves through continuous walls of distortion and corrosive frequencies. Beneath its abrasive surface lies a wealth of detail, pulse, and texture, where chaos is organized into shifting, layered structures. It is precisely this balance between violence and composition that defines Yoshida's work. This new vinyl edition, remastered by Lasse Marhaug, marks the first time the album appears on vinyl, bringing out every nuance of the original recording. The sound retains its rawness while gaining depth, clarity, and spatial presence. Today, the album stands as a landmark of harsh noise history, a vital work that transforms sonic destruction into musical architecture. Recorded at F23 Studio Tokyo, January 16-29 1994. Mixed by Yasutoshi Yoshida on January 30, 1994.

øjeRum is the moniker of Danish artist Paw Grabowski. Since 2007, his mostly tape-based works have unfolded like private diaries -- intimate, textural, often centered around a vintage pump organ Paw found left abandoned in a dilapidated Danish home, and to which he would return, sometimes in the dead of winter, to play and record on. The works featured on this release are centered around this pivotal engagement and collect some of his earliest releases from around 2014 to 2017. These were then carefully selected and released via Vaagner's sister label in 2018 via a double cassette release, which has since become a coveted collectors' item. Throughout the album, the organ breathes, sighs -- the moments of brief silence that follow are almost palpable, then like a sonorous echo, the sound rushes back into the foreground with gentle restraint, submerging the listener into an undulating current of emotional upheaval. In this ebb and flow, øjeRum shapes a space where memory seems to waver and dissolve, and where a fragile, lingering melancholy unfolds with a kind of hushed inevitability. With the newly minted Vaagner.Archive, this album is now reissued on vinyl for the first time -- carefully remastered and housed in a 2LP gatefold sleeve printed on special cardboard, its tactile presence echoing the material sensitivity that has always defined Paw Grabowski's practice. A love letter to repetition and restraint.

On his new album, Micha Acher rearranged compositions for bands such as Tied & Tickled Trio and Ms. John Soda from previous years. None of the 15 pieces from Henry and the Ghost is really scary. On the contrary, they all feel strangely familiar. Like revenants or doppelgängers, which in fact they are. They have all been released before. But in a different form. In different line-ups. With different band projects such as Tied & Tickled Trio, The Notwist or the Alien Ensemble. With the Songbook, Micha Acher's aim was, as he says, to find out how the familiar pieces sound in a chamber music instrumentation. Therefore he met with Theresa Loibl (bass clarinet, piano), Timm Kornelius (bassoon), Markus Rom (guitar, banjo, electronics) and Simon Popp (drums, percussion) in his living room for a musical séance in the summer of 2022. The séance lasted two days. Afterwards, Markus Rom added some haunting electronical ideas. The mood of most of the pieces is melancholic. There are surprising twists and siren-like melodies. Just as ghost stories should be. However, most of the songs sound very light-footed. With their feet in pop, folk, jazz and classical music. The concluding "Nordlead" turns out to be a revenant of the instrumental "N.L." from The Notwist's legendary album Shrink from 1998. In the new version, the piece sounds like a distant echo. One that also brings to mind how Micha Acher's music has evolved. Which new worlds he explored and opened up since the nineties. And yet Acher's signature is recognizable in every single note of this fascinating Songbook.

Fragile presents the release of Juan Pablo Echeverri and Wolfgang Tillmans' unreleased 2016 composition, "Warm Star," alongside a new remix of the song by TR/ST, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Tillmans and Echeverri's first recording sessions together.

Originally released on Umor Rex on cassette, El Sol de los Muertos deeply shaped the evolution and vision of Mexican producer Concepción Huerta's sonic work, becoming a reference point for a kind of experimental sound deeply connected to Latin American critical thought. Crafted entirely through subharmonic structures and tape manipulation, El Sol de los Muertos stands as Concepción Huerta's most abrasive and emotionally charged work to date, rooted in drone, musique concrète, and visceral textures. The album reflects on dispossession, extraction, and colonialism, while connecting deeply with Latin American critical thought and Indigenous resistance across the region. Inspired in part by Eduardo Galeano's work, it is not a manifesto, but an invitation to reflection, memory, and vigilance against the enduring forms of fascism and colonialism. Recorded by Concepción Huerta in 2024 between Berlin, The Hague, and Mexico City. Original master and remastered for vinyl by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, New York. Volcano photography by Magaly Ugarte. Design by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

"Four years near the beginning of the last decade, William Cashion and Bruce Willen created quietly radiant instrumental music from two tessellated guitars, a few modest synths, and a slew of percussive and noisy toys, like walkie-talkies or the things that gave the pair their handle, bells. This 2016 live recording is taken from the band's next-to-last show, at least for now, cut in an artist-run space called The Compound in their hometown of Baltimore. Peals is the project of two bassists known best for their other livewire and loud Baltimore bands: Future Islands for Cashion, Double Dagger for Willen. Technically, Double Dagger -- an absolutely electrifying post-punk trio -- had reached its end just as Cashion and Willen began talking about trying to make music together, but that context never really mattered. Peals emerged at an inconvenient moment for their sort of instrumental wonder. The noisy international explorations of great acts like Yellow Swans, Growing, and Fuck Buttons (all duos, mind you) had mostly subsided before Peals played their first show in April 2012. And the current bloom in New Age and ambient music was very much still germinating, those terms still catching substantial side-eye from arbiters of acceptability. That was steadily changing, however, as Peals offered this set in September 2016, with the United States unknowingly at the edge of successive upheavals that would increasingly make such sounds feel like requisite medicine. Writing to you from 2026, then, this recording does not feel at all out-of-time, like some overlooked gem that was simply swallowed by its moment. It sounds relevant, welcoming, welcome. These 38 seamless minutes have clear predecessors: Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, Cluster and Eno's Cologne dalliances, the way Midwest emo could sound smarter than its lyrics read. I hear bits of old spirituals and Appalachian banjo music, too, nested inside the guitars. But the way Cashion and Willen stitched it all together ignored any rules of what this music was supposed to be, so that very gentle passages abutted joyously jarring ones, so that the saxophone line that unexpectedly offers the denouement here feels as though it were birthed by a symphony of chattering guitars. It's a sound meant for you to inhabit, to take a walk around, to notice." -- Grayson Haver Currin

LP version. Opaque jade blue color vinyl. "Master, We Perish's deluxe reissue is newly remastered and expanded. The Body's landmark record Master, We Perish, originally released in 2013, found the acclaimed duo at a crossroads in their career. Recorded just before the duo of drummer Lee Buford and guitarist/vocalist Chip King were leaving their longtime home of Providence for Portland and released in between their breakthrough albums All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood and Christs, Redeemers, Master expanded on the duo's love of layered worldbuilding with more precision and a stronger emphasis on percussive samples than ever before. The seeds of the duo's celebrated collaborative inclination are evident as the album features Assembly of Light Choir leader Chrissy Wolpert, choir member Reba Mitchell, Otesanek vocalist Leslie Weitz, and guitarist David Lifrieri. With the expanded edition, the album's striking cover painting by Providence mainstay Manifester aka Matt Brinkman (Mindflayer, Forcefield) is finally rendered in its original form. Master, We Perish is expanded with rare bonus tracks from The Body's early days, taken from a pair of rare 7" singles 'Cop Killer/Dead Cops' as well as a split with Get Killed. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It also marks the beginning of The Body's practice of wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets."

"Master, We Perish lashes at perceived and much-debated divisions between metal and noise so hard and so fast that its tremendous squall and anthemic structures might actually be the sound of those fortified seams splintering -- every bit as exhilarating and intimidating as you might hope" --Pitchfork

"Cartographers and US multinational technology corporations might think they've mapped out most of the planet, and yet there's always more to discover if you know where to look. French-born, London-based composer and musician Pascal Bideau takes this as his central premise on a new album of intrepid sonic exploration that delights in the sensation of being somewhere you've never been before. Terra Incognita invites listeners to seven faraway sonic imaginariums fusing global and spiritual jazz with life affirming minimalism into a hypnotic, polyrhythmic odyssey. This time, the albums' sound palette is more vibrant, earthy and abundant, drawing inspiration from the radiating optimism and high-energy sources heard in Afrobeat, highlife and electronic Afro-pop music, sounding looser, free and primarily interested in raw sensations. Terra Incognita is a hybrid blend of traditional music and modern electronics, a trip into the unknown that ambulates freely, taking pleasure in its repetitions and never staying still. Bideau suggests this unmarked territory could be as much a fantasyland as it is a transportive journey into the inner self. In an era where the concept of nation states and their need to be protected has come to dominate the political discourse, Terra Incognita embraces adventure without borders, seeking out the unexplored territory of the title, breathlessly beholding vistas and pirouetting to take in boundless panoramas. Bideau is not the only musician on Terra Incognita. There's the Indian-born tabla virtuoso Sarathy Korwar who adds an almost drum and bass-like kineticism to 'Rain Dance', Dudú Kouate, the celebrated Senegalese musician adds an array of percussions, ngoni, flutes throughout with a spirited multi-octave vocal to give a climatic end to the album on 'Dawning Dusk'. Levitation Orchestra's Marysia Osu alongside Lluís Domènech Plana respectively bring harp and flutes whilst pulsing electronics are provided on 'Anima' by longtime collaborator Daniel Brandt. Ecstatic improvisations were overlaid with an array of instruments at his disposal, many from around the world, from Africa to South East Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, gathered from his own travels or brought back by family and friends. Pascal plays flutes, clarinet, guitars, bass, mbira, balafon, dutars, marimbas, zither, adungu and many other percussions."

White color vinyl. Sababa 5 continues their musical journey following the success of their acclaimed self-titled debut album, which fused deep funk and Middle Eastern grooves. This offering, still under the Batov Records label, ventures into more explorative and experimental instrumental compositions. While evolving their musical direction, Aspan delves into the realm of psychedelic rock while retaining the essence of the band's signature Middle Eastern groove. In recent times, Sababa 5's talent has gained recognition on prominent French radio stations such as Radio Nova and FIP. Their tracks have become regular features on BBC Radio 6 Music, drawing the attention of notable figures and emerging talents like Gilles Peterson, Cerys Mathews, Jamz Supernova, Gideon Coe, and Deb Grant. Leading music publication Songlines has praised the band's "slick precision" and the captivating elements they infuse, ranging from "Moog synth licks" to "flavors reminiscent of Wes Montgomery-style guitar." The origin of the title stems from a misinterpretation of an upcoming storm named Alpis that proved to be milder than anticipated. The name resonated, resulting in several tracks adopting storm-related titles. Concluding the album is "Indra," a laidback composition that stands as its most serene offering. This track's fusion of psychedelic folk rock is poised to capture the hearts of many, serving as a poignant postscript to the bittersweet conclusion of summer -- a narrative of love discovered and lost.