LP version. On Throne, Heather Leigh takes her place as queen of pedal steel with a suite of heart-rending ballads cauterized with burning riffs. After the rawness of its precursor I Abused Animal (SOMA 023LP, 2015), Throne is a record of late night Americana and heavy femininity; intimate love songs smoked in sensuality. The songs on Throne are woozy, gorgeous and uncomfortable, smothered in thick layers of bass but lifted by multi-tracked vocals. These are rich song forms that stand in contrast to the stripped down steel in her duo with Peter Brotzmann. "Prelude To Goddess" sashays in wearing leopard-print jeans under the twinkling fluorescent illuminations of the British seaside, like Brighton Rock with extra bass. It is followed in by "Lena" -arguably Leigh's "Jolene" - a perverse love song soaked in a subversive sexuality, weighed down with a heavy pulse. "Soft Seasons" is anchored with sunken beats shrouded in wailing, growling steel and an earwormy melody. "Gold Teeth", the longest track on the record, crests and breaks in waves; ecstatic peaks balanced and echoed by melancholic troughs. It soars on an updraft, and from cosmic heights dives seaward into a gnarly and riotous pedal steel breakdown, before catching the breeze again. "Days Without You" and "Scorpio & Androzani" are shorter, intimate songs; in the latter the synths seethe and the steel bows and bends as Leigh's voice falters above a Greek chorus of shadows and reflections. But this isn't autobiography, and Throne departs on "Days Without You", a confrontationally unfinished romantic song, anxious with half-thoughts and missed connections. It glides into the night on stilettos leaving unanswered questions, in a fugue of psychic disturbance and lovesick sensuality. Leigh's artwork (which she photographed and designed) is a visual mirror of the songs on Throne. It is an album of cosmic echoes, abstractions and introspection, of characters and stories that make up Leigh's first best pop record, its melodies and hooks set alight with the fiery core of her unique and distinctive pedal steel. Additional instrumentation by John Hannon (violin, synthesizer) and David Keenan (electric bass). Recorded and engineered by John Hannon, Rayleigh, Essex, March 2018. Photographs and design: Heather Leigh.

Faitiche is ten years old. October 2008 saw the release of Ursula Bogner - Recordings 1969-1988, for which the label was created. While working as a pharmacist, Ursula Bogner experimented with electronic music, undiscovered, for over three decades. When Jan Jelinek first heard Bogner's work in 2008, he was enthusiastic. The resulting album, compiled by Jelinek from Bogner's extensive oeuvre, is being reissued in a remastered version to mark the label's tenth anniversary. This new version also includes four bonus tracks that were previously only available on a 7" single. Jelinek on the music's initial discovery: "It seems incredible that Bogner's musical talents should have remained undiscovered, but in view of her biography, this might have been inevitable. I met Sebastian Bogner, Ursula's son, on a flight, and the usual small talk led to the topic of his mother, who 'liked to play around with synthesizers', albeit purely on an amateur level. Among her acquaintances, it was considered an eccentric hobby and not paid a great deal of interest. Bogner's life seemed simple and bourgeois to the core: she was a pharmacist, wife and mother. This situation made her obsession with electronic music all the more bizarre - an obsession that saw her build her own home studio. Throughout her early twenties, she followed the activities of Studio für elektronische Musik, attended seminars by Studio founder Herbert Eimert, exhibited enthusiasm for Musique Concrète and later shared her children's enthusiasm for new wave. Nevertheless, Bogner never involved herself in any scene, never made her music public. Her compositions, betray few signs of esotericism; they are closer to studies and sketches, humorous and almost silly, rather than tied to any particular school. Nevertheless, it is remarkably hard to grasp or classify her work as a whole. Over the course of 20 years, she dabbled in many different styles, leading to a bewildering variety of titles. In the late 1960s, Bogner started to record her own music on reel-to-reel tapes. Covering a fairly short period of her creative career, this music conveys a peculiar coherence in both form and content, a coherence that reflects her accessible, rhythmic and sometimes even poppy side. My own preference played a part in the selection process, but a further compilation is already in the works. I hope that listeners will enjoy the same exhilaration I experienced on discovery of Ursula Bogner's music" Gatefold sleeve, includes download.

Low Jack and Equiknoxx join Dominick Fernow's Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement on a new double vinyl expansion of Red Ants Genesis, originally issued on limited cassette in 2018. Recorded in winter 2017, Red Ants Genesis finds the Hospital Productions boss discovering strength in collaboration following the triumph of his classic Ambient Black Magic (HOS 498CD/LP, 2017), which was conjured with the crucial assistance of Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant. Here, he works with Phillippe Hallais aka Low Jack and of Editions Gravats, who also tags in his pals Gavsborg and Time Cow from Jamaican digidub futurists Equiknoxx for a killer new version of the title track. On the tape's original four tracks, Low Jack transmogrifies Fernow's high volume microphone recordings of synthetic field ecologies with masterful sleight of hand in-the-edits, resulting in a hyperreal detachment and realignment of spatial proprioceptions executed with exquisite textural tactility. It's far more oblique and desiccated than the relatively lush Ambient Black Magic outing, rendering the stark durational immersion of their 30 minute "Red Ants (Mics)" split over the first disc, while Low Jack's percussive edits really come into play on the utterly gutted "Shields Ferns / Brown Pine Magic" and the slow, febrile push of "Papua Land (Live Edit)." No doubt one of the biggest attractions here is the curveball of an Equiknoxx remix of "Red Ants Genesis". Surely one of the first meetings of Jamaican dancehall and dark ambient in existence, it's a spellbinding piece of dub physics that demonstrates the endless, mutable imagination of Gavsborg and Time Cow in haunting and deeply mystic effect. Unmissable. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.

The Disappearer story is an abstract and conflicted one, loosely based around moral codes handed down through generations, reinterpreted, debated and enforced, followed and broken. What happens when a threat is posed? Is the answer diluted to the simple fact of survival by any and all means necessary? Does instinct take precedence over all? This cycle is full of contradiction, feeding back in its most primitive animalistic and oft brutal of levels, with many questions left unanswered. Who becomes the disappeared and who becomes the disappearer? Two years since his last releases for Hospital Productions -- A Gathering Together (HOS 477CD/LP, 2015) -- L.I.E.S. Records boss Ron Morelli returns with Disappearer, his third full-length. Disappearer claws and tears its way through 13 tracks at 54 minutes long, touching upon everything from cold, stripped-back electronics, to hints of 1990s Hague scum techno, to grim passages reminiscent of early tape minimalists, the amalgamation forming a nasty sonic narrative that reaches an explosive unsettling apex. This is a definitive return to tense, urgent punk roots; the minimal beat construction, unexpected acid burned vocals, and stark atmospheres touch upon Morelli's full spectrum of influences with his signature rusted razor production. Composed over the last two years in various foul states, the album is a fusion of base level hardware programming, open room mic recordings and extensive computer processing, all finalized in the Paris studio of Krikor Kouchian. Compositionally, Morelli has fused the brute immediacy of his then-controversial now-cult debut album Spit (HOS 407 CD/LP, 2012) with intricate compositional cut-ups of cassette culture, the updated crushing production the product of having circled and lived Europe's nightclub circuit for close to a decade. Presented here as a double LP with new artwork, re-sequenced and edited from its original cassette format.

For Mary Jane Leach's Flute Songs, Modern Love is honored to bring together four pieces composed for flute and voice, spanning a period of over 30 years and triggered by a fascination with sound and performance. As Leach explains, "In the late 1970s I was practicing playing and singing with tapes that I had made of myself performing long sustained tones. It had started out as an exercise in intonation, and ended up with a fascination for sound phenomena: difference, combination, and interference tones. The first piece I wrote for an instrument that I couldn't play was Trio For Duo (1985), for live and taped alto flute and voice. I had noticed that my voice matched the sound of the bottom fifth of the alto flute, and so the voice in this piece is sung to sound as much like an alto flute as possible. By using glissandos, more 'extra-notated' sounds are created than appear on the page. Bruckstück (1989) was originally written for eight sopranos, but is played on flutes on this recording, using the same pitches, but sounding very different. The piece is polyphonic, with a lot of closely resolving intervals; primarily major and minor seconds. I initially wrote Dowland's Tears (2011) for nine flutes, thinking of it as a recording project and not a concert piece (it now has a 'solo' tenth part added), while Semper Dolens (2018) is for solo and six taped flutes, with sustained harmony and dissonance in mind". These four recordings feature noted Roman flutist Manuel Zurria, who has worked with some of the most important composers around the world. In 1990 he founded Alter Ego, a leading group for contemporary music in Italy. Numerous composers have written pieces for him, and he has expanded the repertoire even further by re-orchestrating compositions into pieces for multiple flutes, as heard on almost forty albums. Mary Jane Leach has played an instrumental role in NYC's pioneering Downtown avant-garde community since the 1970s, working alongside peers including Arthur Russell, Ellen Fullman, Peter Zummo, Philip Corner, and Arnold Dreyblatt, as well as devoting years to the preservation of Julius Eastman's legacy since his death in 1990. Her vinyl debut Pipe Dreams was issued via the Blume imprint (BLUME 011LP, 2017). Mastered and cut by Matt Colton.

Double LP version, in reverse board-printed inners and double-width spine jacket. New York-based artist Eli Keszler is at the apex of his career. This year alone he's had a solo exhibition in the UK, performed with Laurel Halo, collaborated with author László Krasznahorkai, taught experimental composition and performance in the Pyrenees, and toured with Oneohtrix Point Never. Stadium is his new album for Shelter Press. As his ninth solo record, Stadium reflects his move from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where he produced the album. The constant motion and ever-changing landscapes of the island helped him modify and shape his sound into a new kind of film noir. There is a startling amount of expression at play on each track, where intersections of melody, restraint and rhythm are used to challenge the idea of memory, impression and space. Keszler is often mistaken for an electronic musician, but in fact his sounds are raw and natural, produced by hand. His performance with drumset and acoustic percussion are central to his work. He produces almost impossible textures through self-realized methodologies: cascading melodies, a shadow of voices, and a unique pointillist materiality. Although playing with the intensity of digitally-created music, his communications are done live with no processing; this is what gives Stadium its depth and warmth. On Stadium, Keszler uses lived experience to realize the most wide-ranging sound he's created to date, drawing out textures from overlapping geographies and transforming these recordings into starting points for composition. He then builds on these environments to create subliminal spaces for his music, which is pushed to new levels with string and brass arrangements. Is this the "stadium" referred to in the title: a larger network of sound and bodies moving continually, oscillating and turning in on itself? Keszler has explored these ideas before with notable projects such as his Manhattan Bridge installation Archway (2015) Stadium takes these long-running ideas to new depths. Keszler states: "The recordings on Stadium are inverted. They are landscapes scaled for the singular, like a mass collecting in one arena, this music compresses city spaces, genre and instrumentalism into an amorphous form. On the record, there are ruptures of information and happenstance. Like a game, it could go any number of ways."

Transversales Disques present Electrucs !, a new release of never-released music by Francois Bayle. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the GRM, composer Bayle introduces some of his unpublished archives; pieces include the title composition, "Electrucs !" (1974) composed on a 1970s Synthi AKS synthesizer like an imaginary soundtrack, "Foliphonie" (1974) inspired by La Grande Polyphonie (1978), and "Marpège" (1995), dedicated to Bernard Parmegiani. Also included is "Cinq Dessins En Rosace" (1973). Born in 1932 in Tamatave, Madagascar, where he lived for 14 years, Bayle is a major figure of electro-acoustic music and member of Pierre Schaeffer's historic Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), formed in Paris in 1958. In 1975, the GRM was integrated with the new Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) with Bayle as its head, a post he held until 1997, bringing invaluable contributions to the opening of musical research in these original innovative institutions. Ever since his first productions, L'expérience Acoustique (1971) Bayle has developed through a great variety of formats and designed the Acousmonium, a sound diffusion system used originally by the GRM. He also originated the record series Collection INA-GRM, and continues to organize concerts and support the development of technologically advanced musical instruments (Syter, GRM Tools, etc.).

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes printed inner sleeve with lyrics; Includes download code. Repressed; 1999 release. A Perfect Pain is a manifestation of the incredible power created by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Psychic TV/Throbbing Gristle) -- the founding father of the industrial world, and Merzbow -- the undisputed king of Japanese noise. Recorded exclusively for Cold Spring, A Perfect Pain has been hailed as an important album and an extremely successful collaboration.

New York Downtown producer/composer Peter Gordon returns with Eighteen, his first album in three years. Gordon on Eighteen: "Eighteen: the year of release, 2018. Eighteen: the age at which I first used a synthesizer. In creating Eighteen I worked independently in the studio, building up tracks with synthesizers and found sounds. After working with the tracks for several months, I shared them with some musicians, who added instrumental layers, sharing a similar working process in our personal recording spaces. The musicians are: Gabe Gurnsey (drums) of Factory Floor, Larry Saltzman, (guitar) known for his work with Arthur Russell and in demand by acts such as Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Nowinski's (bass) credits include Les Paul, Matt Mottel, (electric piano), is half of Talibam!, while Lewin Barringer (guitar), is a producer in Philadelphia. After mixing the final tracks, I brought the mixes to Berlin. There I worked with engineer Mike Grinser who helped to give the album a unified sound. I think of this album as electronic music. It was created in my home studio, using analog and digital synthesizers, found sounds, and instrumental parts contributed by friends. Finely crafted melodies and harmonies are set against subway noises, street construction, and distant foghorns. Deliberateness paired with randomness: this is what guided the artistic process. My father was a radio journalist so the reel-to-reel tape recorder was a ubiquitous presence growing up. From an early age, I experimented with the tape machine: recording, overdubbing and splicing tape, but electronic music was on my radar as well. My first exposure to an actual synthesizer came when I recorded my first single at the fabled Sound City Studio in Van Nuys, CA. The studio had a custom Neve board, but it also had a Moog modular synthesizer. I asked and they kindly let me experiment with it. Soon, I enrolled at the University of California, San Diego after I discovered they had separate studios for their Moog and Buchla systems. These large modular synthesizers were affordable then only by institutions and rock stars. But these would be soon eclipsed by smaller, cheaper synths in the '70s and early '80s in the same way recording studio technology became accessible in the '90s. Thus, the personal computer and digital audio allowed studio quality production in the home studio; electronic music had become democratized. Handmade music by way of digital technology; this is the music of Eighteen."

Hot Mule & Secousse presents a reissue of N'Draman Blintch's Cosmic Sounds, originally issued in 1980. Tired of reading the words 'classic', 'masterpiece', 'missing link', 'cult', in every press release? Just trust Hot Mule & Secousse on this one; there is no choice but to use those words and urge you to (re)discover one of the ultimate Afro-disco lost classics. How could such a masterpiece stay in obscurity for so long? Well, no one knows where N'Draman is. He's presumed dead, and so is Mr Patrick, the label owner, an ex-football player who turned his focus into fashion after suffering a career ending injury. Selling jeans from an outlet in Monrovia (Liberia), he only ventured in the music business for a short period of time, releasing a handful of incredible albums on his Cosmic Sounds imprint. The word on the street was that Nigerian legend William Onyeabor was somehow involved with the production of the album, or maybe playing synths on it. Both were inaccurate, although N'Draman Blintch's previous and first record Cikamele (1979), was indeed recorded at Willfilms, Onyeabor's studio. And some of the musicians playing here were also key members in his pool of session musicians. Cosmic Sounds is many things: psychedelic, politically engaged, funky to death, full of synths, with artwork to die for, a perfect crossover of African and western culture: music for the body and soul, cosmic disco before the genre even existed. Did DJ Danielle Baldelli hear it? Was it ever played by Larry Levan or David Mancuso? In a pre-Internet era, it's unlikely but not impossible. Hot Mule & Secousse are honored to release this gem and have treated the task with utmost respect: both artwork and audio were restored by specialists, and liner notes were written by Temitope Kogbe, Afro-funk expert who runs the Odion Livingston label, founded with legendary producer Odion Iruoje. 38 years after its original release, the world is finally ready to hear Cosmic Sounds in all its glory. Gatefold sleeve.

Carla Dal Forno offers Top Of The Pops, a self-released cassette disclosing six songs of sultry pop devotion. This late-spring cassette of cover songs now gets the wider autumnal release it deserves, showcasing the full range of Dal Forno's virtuous taste, style and production in her distinct post-punk, pop (but) minimalist sensibility. Not without cheek, the wink-and-a-nod blue-film bawdiness of "Lay Me Down" (Renee) and "Give Me Back My Man" (The B-52s) are complemented by the earnest ballads of "A Silver Key Can Open A Lock Somewhere" (Liliput) and The Fates's "No Romance." Kiwi Animal's "Blue Morning" finally gets a recorded release as well. This cosmic inner dialogue of love lost is matched only by the penultimate track, "Summertime Sadness" which is the best example of how devastatingly personal a pop song truly can be. It's all emphasized by Dal Forno's sparse production which, as with each of these six songs, brings her vocal interpretations to the fore. Pearl blue cassette wrapped in color-printed J-cards and with color sticker inlays. Artwork designed by Carla Dal Forno.

Double LP version; gatefold sleeve. Saigon Supersound Vol. 2 presents more interesting tunes of a musical era that has long been obscured. As with Saigon Supersound Vol. 1, (SSS 001CD/LP, 2017) this new volume digs deeper to share the beautiful music of a short but significant period in Vietnam's history. Much like the country itself, the music of Vietnam has endured many twists. As the result of the Geneva Accords in 1954, Vietnam was divided into two. From the North, the Nationalist forces fought to reunite Vietnam as a Communist state, while American troops backed the government of the South. This caused a mass migration of Northerners to the South, which included many Tân Nhạc (modern music) singers and songwriters. Tân Nhạc continued to develop in the South, moving on from the influences of its main inspiration, French music. In the North, the Resistance music, the so-called Nhạc Đỏ (Red Music), promoted socialism, patriotism and anti-capitalism and was the only genre allowed on national radio. Between 1954-1960, the theme of (quê hương), or hometown, was a main inspiration for many songwriters such as Hoàng Thi Thơ, Lam Phương and Nguyễn Hữu Thiết. The 9th track on the compilation, "Thôn Trăng Mở Hội Trăng Tròn" showcases a variety of images often described in this genre: the harvest moon, playful children, an old mother. Every recording made in this era is then an organic combination of human experiences, communications and uniqueness. In 1965, the first American troops landed in Vietnam, bringing with them the musical influences of the likes of Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis Presley. The Vietnamese people quickly integrated it into the repertoire with the hope of further diversifying the music of Vietnam. Constantly changing and learning from different cultures, the modern music of Vietnam cuts a window into the soul of a Vietnamese person and the country's history as a whole. With that, the hope is that Saigon Supersound Vol. 2 would take you on a trip back to the unique atmosphere of Saigon through the different palettes of music that this beautiful place offers. Features: Carol Kim, Son Ca, Van Son, Elvis Phương, Thanh Tuyên, Thanh Thuy, Phuong Dung, Thanh Lan, Tuy Phuơng, Champagne, Hùng Cương & Mai Lệ Huyên, Connie Kim, Truơng Hai, Mai Lẹ Huyên, Lẹ Thu, and Kích Động Nhac AVT.

Pepe Bradock returns to his own Atavisme label with ATA 019. Best or worst? Young and willing! Breaking down the boogaloo, study all we can do. Conquered panic and bored with style, manicure might be too wild, but everything should be fine wine despite the evident warning. Hum, sing, rap - simply dance with the mad yogi of discernment. Sleek or berserk, bump with the jerk or ride a bike with angels, hustle on Broadway! You will need two copies, if you want to blend your psychic power to romance with direct note access. Monotonous for stereo tonus Chic!

Todd Barton honed his craft composing for acoustic instruments - string quartets, small ensembles and orchestras. In the 1970s, he was drawn to emergent synthesizer technologies, because of their abilities to access tones "between" the standard 12 notes of the Western musical scale, and to have the power to craft music out of glitches and unique sonic gestures that are unplayable on acoustic instruments. Multum In Parvo is reflective of this approach; it has a definite and logical flow as a composition, but its content is abstract sound sculpted out of pure energy, something only analog synthesis can offer. Sometimes sparse, sometimes bristling and jumping with detail, Multum In Parvo provides a genuinely multidimensional experience. Like the classic Forbidden Planet (1956) soundtrack, by which Todd was inspired or indeed his collaboration with Ursula K. Le Guin on Music and Poetry of the Kesh (originally released in 1985 and reissued by Freedom To Spend in 2018), Multum In Parvo seems to function as part of some unique sonic ecology, according to its own rules, in its own universe and somewhere just beyond time.

Maximum Implosion collects all collaborative pieces between Zeni Geva (KK Null) and Steve Albini (Big Black/Shellac): "Nai-Ha" and "All Right, You Little B*st*rds!". Also included are bonus tracks from the limited 12" Superunit (1996), presented with meticulous CEDAR mastering by Denis Blackham. On the first disc, Zeni Geva present ultra-heavy Japanese noise rock, with sludgy riffs, thundering feedback, lumbering drums, subhuman bass crawl, and complex noise textures, with Null's trademark vocals and guitar accompanied by Albini's heavy guitar. "Nai-Ha" loosely translates to "broken inside", with the title track relaying the gruesome aftermath of a car accident. The second disc captures Zeni Geva and Albini's live-to-desk tracks from Tokyo & Osaka in 1992. Albini also makes vocal appearances, as well as guitar throughout. All production and mixing by Albini, final mastering by Martin Bowes at Cage Studios in England, and presented here in its complete form for the first time on Cold Spring. Original artwork/photo by Mitsushiro Hiruma and design/layout by Alonso Urbanos.

Originally released by Wounded Wolf Press as a limited cassette in 2016, Loopworks compiles Turkish visual and sound artist Koray Kantarcıoğlu's (b. Ankara 1982) loop-based work composed of samples taken from Turkish records released in '60s and '70s as source material. Loopworks impacts almost instantly mainly because it shows some familiarity with the recent work of Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker, particularly with the "haunted ballroom" effect. Koray explores the usage and the dynamic of these sounds as ambient music for different scenarios as well as the importance of a newfound life with the raw material he used to create these songs. The source material appears as enigmatic as these new sounds and activates a sense of discovery and constant wonder throughout Loopworks. With the vinyl release of Loopworks Discrepant continues to manifest the importance of showing how technology and geography create different and original approaches to the standard western interpretation of field recordings and sound manipulation. Kantarcıoğlu's work here is a strong manifestation of that and how "haunted music" can express a myriad of feelings and sensations. Loopworks has a tremendous vision of the metamorphosis that's been occurring in ambient music during the last decade. Sometimes it's dreamy and calm as aquarium music is ("500606" or "22 47 91 Take 1"); surprising and infinite as "263 Loop", one of the few tracks with a voice, in this case a mysterious and transcendental one; or part of a John Carpenter or David Lynch film yet to be made ("Organ Extract KP 001"). A fantastic voyage, from earth to space, through time or simply as the most beautiful and peaceful dive into the ocean, this is old music transformed into something new and unique; that's special.

Two new tracks from UUUU, featuring members of Coil, Wire, and Tomaga. The motorik music hinted at on UUUU (EMEGO 239LP, 2017) is given space to unfold here. "Electric Blanket" chugs along with perpetual percussion, blankets of feedback and state-of-the-art electronics all embedded with a spectral melody that moves into more mystical ambient planes. "Nice Setting" places a strange short spoken narrative at the center of a shifting sonic landscape of skittering electronic debris and a deep shifting sea of sound. A vibraphone holds proceedings together as well. UUUU are Edvard Graham Lewis, Valentina Magaletti, Matthew Simms, andThighpaulsandra.

LP version. Clear vinyl; includes poster. Given its years of manifestation behind the scenes of other projects, Falling In Love With Sadness reflects a renewed understanding of Emika's own genealogy, kindred lineage, and its connection to modernity. Marking a drastic departure from the menacing, stripped-down qualities of albums past, Dva (2013) and DREI (EMK 002CD/LP, 2015), Emika has surfaced with a new upwelling of sound gracing the bittersweet, melancholic, and sanguine. With the interplay of myriad genres both rhythmically and melodically intertwining between spacy, dub-tinged "Promises", lush synth pop hooks on "Escape", and the title track's soulful electro, a full spectrum of musicology remains primary to the ever-evolving chroma of Emika's shadowed sound. Further characterized by the breathy sibilance and sultry tones of Emika's noirish, vocal aesthetic, the album navigates through the morose and trappings of misanthropy by illuminating a narrative of emotional resilience and recovery. Co-produced with Robert Witschakowski of The Exaltics, and continuing her collaboration with guitarist Chris Lockington (as heard on DREI and Dva), Falling In Love With Sadness provides a fifth solo album for Emika, but moreover, defines itself as an overture for her future works.

Hot For Your Love/Jealousy is amazing island disco-funk by Trinidad soul diva Nadie La Fond. Produced by Richard 'Nappy' Mayers.

"Eugene Chadbourne is one of the great guitar players of the modern era. At the time he began recording in Canada in 1975, his music was a unique syncretic formulation. While its most obvious component was free improvisation in a style then most widely associated with English and European players, his music also contained elements of jazz, country, folk, blues, psychedelic and international sounds, referencing these threads in ways that were so diverse and intensely personalized it would take scholars decades to decode them. Volume 1-1/3 is the first of four LPs devoted to documenting some of the music Dr. Chadbourne was creating during the years he was based in the provinces of Canada, while avoiding the constrictive powers of Richard Nixon and his ilk. Exact details of the recordings are moot, but that's trivial. The music on this record is a joyous celebration of traditions of liberation, using approaches that range from the ridiculous to the sublime. But regardless of the humor level (which can be very high at times), the quality of the musicianship and the originality of Chadbourne's compositional theories is staggering. Today there are charts and maps that can lead anyone into and out of the conceptual jungles Eugene was exploring. In the mid '70s, when these tracks were laid down, this was all terra incognita. While still in his early '20s, the Doc was figuring all this shit out for himself. And doing so at a level that can still make your jaw drop. Today Chadbourne continues making some of the most exciting music on the planet, but these examples of his early work should serve as a challenge to many musicians who would like to imagine they're doing something new. That they're also a total gas to hear is just gravy. Delicious, hot and very juicy." --Byron Coley

LP version. Following her debut album Penelope One for Optimo Music (OMLP 011LP, 2017), antipodean vocalist, musician, and soundscaper Penelope Trappes presents sophomore long player Penelope Two, for Houndstooth. Elements from multiple sources are subsumed by Trappes's sonic presence; one hears Badalamenti and Julee Criuse's work for Blue Velvet (1986) and Twin Peaks, Galaxie 500 and Slowdive's dreampop, the scorched comedowns of early Primal Scream, Tuxedomoon and Colin Newman's dark melancholia, plus contemporaries like Grouper, Tropic Of Cancer, and Sky H1. A deeply melodic record, with her intimate, maternally-tender voice floating in the middle of each three-dimensional, womb-like sonic space. Originally from Byron Bay Australia before moving to New York, meeting partner Stephen and developing experimental electronic projects Locke and Priscilla Sharp, prior to their best-know incarnation The Golden Filter. Cut and mastered by Matt Colton; Manufactured at optimal media, Germany.

Livity Sound continues to be one of the most innovative labels of its era with another essential release, this time in the form of a debut long player from Forest Drive West. This extended double 12", Apparitions is a fascinating further development of the producer's intricate fusions of techno, dub and jungle. The acclaimed UK artist has released two EPs (Jinx/Scanners, LIVITY 022EP, 2017 and Static/Escape, LIVITY 028EP, 2017) on the label before now, as well as on its sister label dnuoS ytiviL and the likes of Hidden Hawaii, Appian Sound, and London drum-n-bass outlet Rupture. Little is known about the London-based producer, but in just a couple of years he has established his own unique blend of complex rhythms and tactile sound design, distilling a rich history of UK musical influences into fresh new forms. This record continues in that tradition with a mix of sparse rhythm tracks that contrast heavyweight drum programming with rich and deft sound design. From menacing and mysterious, to cinematic and hypnotic, it makes for a compelling and immersive experience; Apparitions is a landmark release for one of the UK's most exciting new producers.

Lorem Ipsum present a reissue of Hycentto Junior's Mama Groove, originally issued in 1991. In the '80s, a Nigerian DJ named Hycentto Junior was notorious for making Onitsha people dance on his grooves. Soon, influenced by U.S hip-hop artists, he began rapping on top of the music he played. His eccentric style drew the attention of the biggest names, and the famous Nkono Teles decided to work with him on his next album, Mama Groove. Their project was released in 1991. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the number of copies available was really low, making it very hard to find. More than 25 years later, working for a motor company, Hycentto met online with French music passionate collective Lorem Ipsum, that had randomly found Mama Groove. The result is a reissue combining all the 1991 Mama Groove tracks and two bonuses selected from his first album, At A Party Last Night (1984). The unique variety of sounds and genres, covering electro hip-hop, digi-reggae and disco-funk, will carry from poolside to late night dancefloors.

On the tenth anniversary of Horațiu Rădulescu's death on September 25th 2018, NEOS present a comprehensive document of a wonderful artistic friendship will be released: the complete recording of Rădulescu's piano music, featuring the pianist Ortwin Stürmer. Horațiu Rădulescu, born in Bucharest on January 7th, lived in French exile from 1969 and became one of the leading exponents of spectralism; nonetheless, his music also has unmistakable roots in his home country of Romania. He was considered a sonic magician, a "philosopher of sound". One of his decisive encounters, in 1990, was with Ortwin Stürmer; it was for him that Rădulescu composed the second, third, and fourth of the Zen-inspired Lao tzu Sonatas, as well as the large-scale piano concerto "The Quest". It would have been wrong not to include the latter in this SACD box set -- with the same musicians as the premiere, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lother Zagrosek.

2018 repress. The enigmatic Tennessee-raised, Turin-based Yves Tumor presents Serpent Music, a poignant album recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin over three years. Evolved from a diverse and prolific creative history under an expansive plethora of covert aliases via various forward-thinking labels, Yves Tumor emerges as his most personal and matured incarnation to date. With involvement across various artistic outlets expanding to fashion such as a visceral live performance for LA's Hood By Air earlier this year, the global artist has built a distinctly bold personal aesthetic both musically and visually as a performer. Painstakingly written from pieces developed upon since 2013, Serpent Music was initially composed as a soul record - based around delicate and emotive songwriting in various forms. It was a highly difficult project to undertake on both a creative and personal level, weaving thematic links through paranoia, social anxiety, and missing loved ones. "The songs come from a much more emotional and very vulnerable place... They're very close to me and I've been cautious of how I would eventually present them to the world." he explains. The album spans sonically diverse and richly-textured pieces, formed from live, organic instruments, samples and various field recordings. Dreamlike lo-fi psychedelia sits alongside broken electronic experimentations, ambient compositions between abrasive noise, offering insight into a haunting otherworld. From melodic choral vocals and soaring synths, to screeching guitar riffs, dramatic spoken word samples and live drumming, Serpent Music evidently moves through a strange and intriguing personal journey. "Broke In" features Oxhy. The album is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M. Features photography by Daniel Sannwald.

2018 repress on white vinyl. Mono No Aware is the first compilation to be released on PAN, collating unreleased ambient tracks from both new and existing PAN artists. Featuring Jeff Witscher, Helm, TCF, Yves Tumor, M.E.S.H., Pan Daijing, HVAD, Kareem Lotfy, ADR, Mya Gomez, Sky H1, James K, Oli XL, Bill Kouligas, Flora Yin-Wong, Malibu, and AYYA, the compilation moves through more traditional notions of what is called "ambient", to incorporating wider variations that fall under the term. "Mono no aware", "the pathos of things", also translates as "an empathy toward things", or "a sensitivity to ephemera". A term for the awareness of impermanence, or the transience of things. A meditation on mortality and life's transience, ephemerality heightens the appreciation of beauty and sensitivity to their passing. In investigating the passing of time, the boundaries between memory and hallucination become blurred; between fiction and reality. The movement of time transforms into an eternal present. James K's "Stretch Deep" features Eve Essex. Features photography by Molly Matalon; Design by Bill Kouligas. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering.

Pharaway Sounds present a reissue of Cem Karaca's Yoksulluk Kader Olamaz, originally released in 1977. Yoksulluk Kader Olamaz is the fifth album by the Anatolian rock legends, and showcases a progressive pop/rock sound including the 11-minute epic, Moog-laden "Sevdan Beni". Remastered sound, color insert with photo and original artwork. Gatefold sleeve.

Franco on Trial is a documentary film by Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios. After the success of Franco's Settlers (PL 084DVD), their first exploration of Franco's dictatorship, now they investigate one of the darkest chapters of European history: the crimes committed in Spain during the 1936 coup, the subsequent civil war (1936-1939), and during Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975), which could only be established with the cooperation of Germany, Italy, and Portugal. After a Spanish judge's attempt to prosecute Franco and his generals for crimes against humanity failed in 2010, Franco's victims filed a case in Buenos Aires, known as "Querella Argentina". An Argentinian investigating judge, María Servini, has now issued 24 international arrest warrants for high-ranking representatives of the Franco dictatorship. The filmmakers accompany her as she tries to initiate court proceedings against the accused, proving that a reappraisal of Spain's darkest chapter is long overdue. Franco on Trial investigates specific cases presented in the "Argentinian Complaint". By interweaving never-before-seen archival material with current footage and contextualizing each case historically and juridically, the film reveals new evidence. In one of the key scenes, when one of the suspected perpetrators is confronted directly with the accusations by the plaintiff, the investigating judge and the plaintiff's lawyers, the film creates a sense of the impending lawsuit's significance. For more than twenty years Palacios and Post have been investigating Spanish "historical memory". Franco on Trial is the result of over ten years' work. During that time the directors managed to gain access to people from both sides of the conflict, including the daughter of a general in the 1936 coup, who still cherishes a silver-framed portrait of (and personal present from) the German Nazi leader Hermann Goering. Franco on Trial reveals an almost forgotten part of 20th century European history and considers whether the "Argentinian Complaint" will become a Spanish Nuremberg.

DVD content: Germany, Spain 2018, DVD 9, NTSC, no regions. Film running time: 102 minutes; Total running time: 121 minutes. Includes 16-page booklet in German, English, and Spanish. Subtitles: English, German, Spanish.

From Scanner, aka Robin Rimbaud: "There were three performers and one witness. I can remember this day well, even though it was some twenty-four years ago. Standing up before a mixing desk in a dark room in an apartment in South London, Jim O'Rourke, Robert Hampson, and myself, literally all hands-on deck as we each took responsibility for the faders on the desk. Introducing sounds to the mix, the accident reigned supreme. Sometimes the high frequency of cellular noise would pervade the atmosphere, at other junctures it would erupt into words and melt down to radio hiss. Mike Harding from Touch stood silently, listening intently. A couple of years earlier we had set up Ash International, an audio project which allowed us to release unusual and exploratory music and sounds that we felt deserved a wider audience, from Runaway Train (1994) to the early Scanner releases. Two mixes were captured directly onto DAT tape, one of which would be released as Mass Observation (1994), an EP that featured a 25-minute version of one of these sessions, but until today the second, longer mix has never been heard. Dehumanized communications, beatless radio signals drawn in live to tape, and accompanied by dial tone pulses and abstract textures, Mass Observation is a highly suggestive picture of a particular place in a city at a specific time. A form of "Sound Polaroid" as I tended to call such recordings. My early work, in the early and mid-1990s, was a study in surveillance. Long before our concerns about data leakage at Facebook, and Siri spying on our private moments, I used the scanner device itself - a modestly sophisticated radio receiver - to explore the relationship between public and private spheres, lending a deep sense of drama to these found cellular conversations within a contextual electronic score. In many ways, this work pre-empted our reality culture, with television now saturated by Love Island and Big Brother. In the experimental techno uprising of Britain in the mid-1990s, this work proved controversial and memorable. Bjork sampled Mass Observation controversially for her "Possibly Maybe" single, whilst Coil and Aphex Twin bought radio scanners and introduced these found voices into their recordings; I continued to create work in this grey area of ambient sound. It's work that still carries great meaning for me, opening up possibilities with sound and introducing the human voice back into experimental electronic music."

132 Ranks for Pipe Organ was composed by Olivia Block in 2016-2017, as a commission for LAMPO and The Renaissance Society. Block composed the piece specifically for the enormous Skinner Organ at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in Chicago. The world premiere was performed by Block on April 21, 2017. The concert, free and open to all ages attracted a large crowd. 132 Ranks was conceived as a hybrid of concert and sound installation. Six speakers were placed throughout the chapel. These speakers played white noise, sine tones, and prerecorded organ sounds, designed to interact acoustically with the live performance, and bring out the acoustics of the chapel in unconventional ways. White noise and low bass tones pulsed and sliced through the air, while sine tones and organ clusters created complex beating patterns and inner ear sound phenomena. Audience members were participants, quietly walking through the majestic, dimly lit chapel. Listeners noticed how the acoustics, materials and shape of the space altered the live and recorded organ sounds as Block performed. Some audience members relaxed on the floor of the chapel, listening, while others explored the upper balconies and hallways. 132 Ranks was designed to emphasize the architectural qualities and unique sonic and spatial capacities of the Skinner Organ. The piece included both the lowest pedal notes, felt in the body, as well as the highest bell tones, played at extreme dynamic levels. At times, sounds were isolated in discrete locations to emphasize the chapel's shape. Olivia Block is an American composer and media artist. Her body of work includes electroacoustic recordings, audio-visual installations, performance, sound design for cinema, and scores for orchestra and chamber music concerts. She has performed throughout Europe, America, and Japan in tours in festivals and performance series including The Walker Museum concert series, Incubate (Tilburg), Festival del Bosque Germinal (Mexico City), Sonic Light (Amsterdam), Kontraste (Krems), Dissonanze (Rome), Archipel (Geneva) Angelica (Bologna), Sunoni per il Popolo (Montreal), and many others. Additionally, she has presented work at the ICA (London), MCA (Chicago), La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music, The Kitchen (NYC), ISSUE Project Room, Experimental Intermedia (Brooklyn) and TIFF (Toronto).

"Melodic Energy Commission is a Canadian gem and an interesting branch of the Hawkwind family tree (featuring Del Delmar on electronics.) Hailing from British Columbia, their unique blend of space rock, progressive and hippie psychedelia began in 1977 as a recording-only project titled The Melodic Energy Commission of Collected Artists. MEC quickly released two albums: 1979's Stranger in Mystery and 1980's Migration Of The Snails. The music is raw and heavily exploratory, often shifting styles radically within a single track, moving from quiet chamber orchestras to dissonant guitar freak outs with smears of analog electronics filling in gaps along the way. RIYL: Amon Düüll II, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Sun City Girls and Syd Barret."

Transversales Disques announces the release of Bernard Parmegiani's Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1. Spanning 1966-1990, this is a revelatory collection of never-released commercial and secret music by electronic music pioneer Parmegiani. Since the late 50's, Bernard Parmegiani, a major figure of electroacoustic music and a founding member of GRM has created some sixty pieces. From the start, Parmegiani's work was closely linked to the screen, with dozens of documentaries, films, long features, animation films but also musical pieces for dance, stage or television. If many of his pieces are landmarks in the history of electro-acoustic music (De Natura Sonorum (1978), La Roue Ferris (1971)), his application of music compositions is strongly embedded in the subconscious landscape of the French public (Stade 2, Roissy CDG Paris Airport...). The first volume of this compilation allows one to discover some of these lost tapes and unpublished recordings which were composed for the screen or the performing arts.

This is the second full-length album from Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe. The self-titled album contains 9 tracks. "Right On" is the only track that has been released before on the eponymous EP released earlier in 2018. All tracks were recorded at Cobra Studios, Berlin in 2017, the majority of the songs co-written by Tess & Anton.

Le Coeur Et La Raison is a 12" album of synth-centric neo-braindance from French experimental electronic musician Yan Hart-Lemonnier. He has been active since the early 2000s releasing music under several names including; Edmünd Prinz, Edmond Leprince, and Sir Edmund Et L'Autre, on various record labels. "Now this is quite something else, an echo from a lost decade, the vintage exquisite, the tailoring simply sublime arriving toned in a celestial chic, an oceanic lunar lost in beautiful isolation emitting love note transmissions into the galactic voids, arresting doesn't do it justice." --Mark Barton, The Sunday Experience

It's that time again... Every summer Jennifer Cardini's Correspondant imprint celebrates another ground-breaking year with a far-reaching collection. Ranging from palpitating ambience to juggernaut technoid trips; the stirring 16-track set features late night creations from old friends (Red Axes, Zombies In Miami, Mike Simonetti, Moscoman) new friends (Simple Symmetry, Perel, Julian Stetter), and friends that have been Correspondant kindred spirits since day one, but have never had the opportunity to cast their magic on the label... until now (Black Merlin, MR TC, Yula Kasp & Mi.ro). As always, the vibe is deep, smoldering, emotive, innovative, and unapologetically cosmic as you push headfirst into Correspondant's boundary-less soundscape. From the coiled spring funk of Javi Redondo's "Fictional Friendship" to the hypnotic harmonics and trippy vocal textures of Uriah Klapter's "Breeze" via the slinky arpeggiated charm of Marvin & Guy's "Cowboy Disco", it's another sublime excursion from one of the most consistent and considered imprints on the left side of techno. Also features The Golden Filter, Frangie, and Fabrizio Mammarella.