Release-Highlights in Oktober 2021 20 Items

Following Their Last Release, The Day Before Halloween_an Imaginative, Distorted-Synth-Driven Concept Album_atmosphere Returns With A Refreshing New Project, Simply Titled Word? Steering Back Toward Their Signature Sound, The Album Further Highlights Producer Ant's Undeniable Talents As The Project Leans Into The Classic Boom-Bap Aesthetic, Bringing A Uniqueenergy Out Of Slug's Wisdom, Wit And Delivery. From Onset, Word? Proves To Be Every Bit An Exercise In Refining And Advancing Their Craft As It Is A Harkening To Earlier Work. That Is, While Their Releases Have Grown More Broodingly Cinematic, And Increasingly Concerned With The Human Conditionand Mortality, Word? Manages To Reintroduce Moments Of Levity And Lightheartedness Throughout, An Approach Seldom Heard On Their Albums Of Late. From Album Opener "Fleetwood," With Its Razor-Sharp Snares And Warm Fleshy Bassline, To The Resonant Melody Of "Clocked", There Are Strong Hints Of Atmosphere's Nascent Years Within The Sound. Meanwhile, Songs Like "Woes", "Strung" And "Vanish" Cheerfully Make Light Of Daily Hardships, But They're More Likely To Be Remembered For Making Listeners Want To Bob Their Heads And Sing Along. With Slug And Ant Directing The Course, The Album Plays Like A Joyride Through A Range Of Experiences And Emotions, With An Extensive Cast Of Special Guests Hopping In And Out Along The Way, Includingevidence, Muja Messiah, Musab, Nino Bless, Nikki Jean, Anwar Highsign, Blackliq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, Lateef The Truthspeaker, Aesop Rock, And The Late Mf Doom (Rip). The Result Is A Project That Feels Like It Came From The Era Or, Perhaps More Fittingly, The Mindset That Created Albums Like God Lovesugly, Seven's Travels, Or The Popular Sad Clown Series, While Sounding As Polished And Perfected As More Recent Albums Like Mi Vida Local Or Whenever. Ultimately, Word? Pairs The Breadth Of Atmosphere's Talents With The Beauty Of Their Growth, All While Showing They Still Have A Lot Of Fun In The Process And Don't Mind Letting The Listener In On T...

What were they up to? Nobody could tell—not even them. Bremer/McCoy recorded straight to tape so that they had as little time as possible to think about it. They just laid it down. They couldn’t really explain it.

“When it works for me,” says pianist Morten McCoy, “it’s pure meditation, pure prayer. Pure gratitude for simply being, without all kinds of jibber-jabber filling my thoughts.” A sentiment that tells you everything about the feeling and nothing about the sound.

McCoy and the bassist Jonathan Bremer started making music together back in 2012 when they were still in school. At first the Danish duo played dub. It’s hard to imagine that that’s how they started when you listen to the ethereal sounds they make now, but the influence becomes clearer when you see them live: they insist on traveling with their own sound system.

For Bremer/McCoy, making music is all about what happens in the room. That’s why they go through the trouble of carrying their own equipment, and it’s why they record analog. When they write music, they aim for direct transmission—idea straight to composition.

Natten, which means “The Night” in Danish, draws inspiration from the end of day, that regenerative time under the constellations when our lives look different. “We felt a greater freedom this time around because we now have a much deeper understanding and grounding in what we’re doing,” says Bremer. “This allows us to venture further out than ever before, because we know that things typically fall into place.”

This album is an assemblage… …glimpses of tradition …reflections on our collective present …luminous echoes between love and solitude. hope and absurdity. euphoria and mourning.

This album grapples with and transgresses these binaries because we have/and continue to cross borders. Yet, for us, the border is no metaphor—too much real staring back at us.

We embody the border. We (our families) have crossed it. We (our stories) are coated with its residues. And so… we cross the border of self through our art—out of necessity.

This album was imagined while touring the country as families were corralled in cages. We then fled the wildfire of a nascent pandemic poised to (especially) ravage our communities as we recorded in Los Angeles. And our sonic journey concluded in Chicago while the country rebelled against the murderous consequences of policing in the U.S.

Through this cascade of tipping points and tragedy, we summoned melody and verse to sound out verdant technicolor dreams of freedom and desire, mirroring the vortex of our time.

And borders were at the center of these struggles. Borders—of nation, of belonging—are the struggle.

And so, this album is a set of dispatches from that wondrous journey… …our journey across and into a sunburst surreal. …our astral meditations on loss and triumph. …our sonic trek across a landscape of trauma and effervescence.

…The border divides and defines places—yes. But it is equally a place unto itself—a borderland. It is the forbidden place where we dwell. The enchanting space where we are at home. The bustling city where we reflect. Look into our mirror. See us in you.

Limited edition of 300 copies of FLAME's "Kings & Queens" on black vinyl via Flawless Delivery and HHV Records.

14 tracks full of moody sampling and dusty drums with the help of MC's and producers like Retrogott, Dankery Harv of Frank N' Dank, Twit One, Hulk Hodn and others. The artwork is provided by DJ Pattycologne. Tip!

Hikaru Utada's debut single “Automatic/time will tell” released on December 9, 1998 sold over two million copies, catapulting her to top-artist-status at age 15. The first album “First Love” released a few months later and marked the highest number of CDs sold in Japan, a record that remains unbroken to this day. All of her albums that followed have topped the charts. The 2007 single “Flavor Of Life” set a world record for the highest number of digital downloads. She announced a hiatus from her music career in 2010 to focus on her "人間活動/ningen katsudo/career as a person," or personal growth, returning to her career of music in April 2016 with singles “Hanataba Wo Kimini” and “Manatsu No Tooriame.” Her sixth studio album "Fantome" followed in September 2016 to great success in both Japan and abroad with a #1 on the Oricon charts stretching four consecutive weeks for the first time, a #3 on the US iTunes chart, and over a million units total in sales of CD and digital downloads. Since March 2017, She has been with Epic Records Japan a division of Sony Music Labels Inc. The year 2018 saw the release of her 7th album "Hatsukoi" on June 27, 2018, marked her twenty-year anniversary from debut, and going on her first Japan-wide tour since recommencing her music career. Footage from the tour is available as a video release under the title "Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018." The theme song for video game KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅲ "Face My Fears" was released as a single in 2019. The track was co-created with Skrillex and marked Utada's first Billboard Top 100 in the US. An EP including the A.G. Cook co-produced single "One Last Kiss" and her first self-cover "Beautiful World (Da Capo Version)" is available March 10, 2021. The two tracks are both theme songs appearing in the feature film EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME (SHIN EVANGELION).

What an unbelievable record. From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots from Ian Carr’s Nucleus is one of the dopest albums we know. This is seriously thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, other than a couple of versions at the time for other territories, Roots was never re-pressed since so it’s gone on to become another one of those impossible to find records. Maybe it was a little too out there for the time, but it’s aged very, very well indeed and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press. Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. Working together with producer Fritz Fryer and engineer Roger Wake, the seven compositions by Carr, Brian Smith and Dave MacRae that make up Roots flirt with perfection, and Nucleus at that time made up of the cream of 1970s UK jazz.

Maugli blends vibrant sounds and driving rhythms from all over the globe. With a background as a drummer and of various styles, his genre-bending music blends sampling and recording into a lively collage. His crisp arrangements balance an electronic yet organic feeling. His debut album “Alba” (translated from Italian as “sunset“) is inspired by traditional music and the dance rituals of various Afro cultures and their diaspora such as capoeira, work songs or gnawa. While seeking to translate their spirit into the present day, MAUGLI combines these elements with electronic music, wobbling synthesizers and stomping beats. “Ladainha” is a soulful homage to the capoeira culture featuring Professor Chipreu PDM and "Baksheesh" to the rich American blues tradition, with hypnotic synth riffs and chopped up guitar licks resolving in a south african chant (recorded in the late 1950`s). “Mizan” opens with a pounding Guembri (a traditional gnawa three-stringed lute) accompanied by it’s descendant the ’banjo‘, allowing the sampled berber vocals to shine through. “Rawa’s” striking guitar riff is set up against biting synth blobs and piano chords, Nigerian fiddles and chants that swing us deeply into the groove. Get your ticket, for this album is an outernational roundtrip.

Music From Memory are excited to present the first compilation of works by British electronic pioneers MLO aka Peter Smith and Jon Tye. Titled ‘Oumuamua’ and second up in the Virtual Dreams series, the compilation is an in-depth artist focused release containing twelve thoughtfully selected tracks that touch on highlights from the duo’s discography as well as newly (re)discovered music drawn from a vast archive of unreleased pieces, sketches and extended jams recorded between 1993-1995.

MLO’s ambient explorations began when Pete and Jon, having first met in rival punk bands during the late ‘70s, found themselves with unlimited access to an incredibly well-equipped studio, having been hired to produce an Icelandic pop star’s record in the early ‘90s. Particularly charmed by the Korg PS 3300 and an Emulator 2, Smith and Tye were also deeply fascinated by outer space and set about developing a musical landscape informed by both this new state of the art musical equipment and what lay beyond the Earth’s limits. Painting with a palette informed by classical minimalism, new age and the works of Cluster & Eno; the duos primary colours were drones, sustained tones, washes, calming tides, gentle temple bells and soft angelic voices with flickering glimpses of percussion and drums that hinted at the possibilities of a dance floor.

‘Oumuamua’ is a collection of music to get lost-in, a wander down the mazed, mirrored corridors of the subconscious. Peaceful, flowing, fresh-water patterns, drawing the listener toward a mediative, inner space. Not strictly ambient, rather the music rests temporarily within the boundaries between drum ‘n’ bass, library music, soundtracks and Techno. Or how Jon Tye himself puts it: “It really feels like music from a different place, a different time, made by different people.”

Artwork by Vica Pacheco, design by Steele Bonus, liner notes by Dr. Rob

First official release in nearly five years from the rapper, poet, and trailblazer Mykki Blanco, since their debut full-length Mykki. This 9-track body of work also marks their debut release as part of a recently signed deal with Transgressive Records in London (supported by [pias] worldwide). Features special guests Blood Orange (Dev Hynes), Big Freedia, Kari Faux + more Produced by FaltyDL Includes the 6Music A-listed single ‘Free Ride’, co-produced by FaltyDL and Hudson Mohawke

Sault returns with a new album featuring Michael Ofo and Little Simz. NINE will be limited to a short press run of 16,000 units, never to be re-issued again!

Convocations, the new instrumental album from Sufjan Stevens, moves like a two-and-a-half-hour electronic/ambient mass for our present age of anxiety and dread; its 49 tracks work through the stages of grief and gladness with emotional mood music that is dreamy, dissonant, vertiginous, rhythmic, repetitive, urgent, and calm_that is, all the things we undergo when we inevitably live through isolation, uncertainty, and loss. Its five sonic cycles (Meditations, Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations, and Incantations) replicate different stages of mourning, healing and catharsis, working both to soothe our unease while savoring a renewed sense of awe and wonder for being alive in these unprecedented times. Stevens initiated Convocations in response to (and as an homage to) the life and death of his father, who died in September last year, two days following the release of The Ascension. It is, then, ultimately an album about death, and an album that reflects a year in which we have all lost so much. That said, this is not a personal record, but a universal one. Convocations is built on a shared experience that seeks to be honest about how complicated grief can be in these difficult times_the pain and separation, the anxiety, the unknown, the absolute joy of memory. This is also an album made in lockdown, when we were all cloistered in whatever space we had. Convocations arrives just as we begin to emerge from a year whose losses we will calculate for a lifetime. It is, then, right on time, as we begin to process our grief and try to carry on with it.

Following their first album in 2016, The Pilotwings are back – having gone from two to three members - with the LP « Les Charismatiques » on the infamous Brothers From Different Mothers label. As witty and sparkling as ever, the trio’s given birth to a 2020 millesime that dares to oscillate from synth-pop to digit dub, psych-rock and new-age ; combining acoustic sounds with traditional music, all tainted with an 80s summer-hit influence… As whacky as it may sound at first listen through its melting-pot of personal anecdotes and dated corporate speeches, the album does succeed in avoiding the totally-offbeat ; by adjusting sensibilities and altering the way one listens to music these days, these tracks transcend and fly. Guided by anti-conformist synth-sounds, « Les Charismatiques » embarks on the path towards the gilded light of remission and spiritual rebirth ! New collaborations have also emerged on this album from long-lasting friendships but also impromptu meetings, with Hajj firstly, the Dawn Records’ boss who needs no introduction, but also with their Lyon friend Amélie Arcuri alias Bigoudi, half of Schmilblick ; or more surprising, with the cult underground figure of Robert Lapassenkoff, crooner and singer from the 80s band of the same name who’s been recently re-issued on vinyle before joining the Pilotwings on tour. 5 years later the Pilotwings are back on Bfdm with an album that seems ripe for tasting, like a fine wine with a mouthful of flavors.

Comet Records presents from Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen, N.E.P.A Reissue LP Vinyl remastered and coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket. In 1979, Tony Allen decided to leave Fela Kuti & Africa 70 and moved to London in 1982. Originally Released in 1984 on Earthworks Records, this reissue holds an extra track previously unreleased on vinyl called “Olokun”. N.E.P.A (Never Expect Power Always) is a searing critique of the Nigerian Electric Power Authority, an organisation that governed the use of electricity in Nigeria. It starts out with the title track, with a definite Afro-beat punch. Electro-claps stand as part of the percussion line, adding to a more modern look at what Afro-beat was becoming. This is followed by an even further modernized piece of Afro-beat, as the title track is given a dub mix. “When One Road Close” has a similar pace, and is similarly followed by a dub remix, complete with the necessary space-effects reverb. And to make this reissue extra special the track “Olokun” was never released on vinyl before. Blending the nascent rise of electronica into Afrobeat production, it’s tighter than any Fela album and became a definitive project in shaping Allen’s future sound. Whether it’s the electro beats or the punchier, multilayered arrangement, it instantly stands out in Allen’s vast and expansive discography

Daptone celebrates 20 years of soulful music with the release of The Daptone Super Soul Revue "LIVE at the Apollo".
Performed and recorded over three nights in front of a sold out crowd at The World Famous Theater in Harlem, NY (December 4th - 6th, 2014), this album brings the electrifying performances that helped put Daptone on the map directly to your living room! Featuring live sets from: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, Saun & Starr, The Sugarman 3, as well as our em-cee, Binky Griptite. This album is lovingly dedicated to the memory of our dear friends Sharon, Charles, Naomi and Cliff.

Imagine if you could put together a dream line-up of MCs and producers from all four corners of the rap world? That’s what artist and illustrator Gangster Doodles set out to do with the first Gangster Music comp back in 2018. This second volume follows the first with an all-star line-up which features everyone from hotly-tipped emerging Producers and MCs like Ovrkast, Shungu, Woodie Smalls, Big Baby Scumbag next to underground perennials like Teebs, Ohbliv and Knxwlege all the way up to top flight producer Dam Funk and established vets like M.E.D, Black Milk, Lil B and Open Mike Eagle.

Altercat proudly presents the definitive reissue of one of the crown jewels of South American jazz. Essentially the brainchild of Argentinian jazz's leading figure Jorge López Ruiz, the project Viejas Raíces marked Lopez Ruiz's departure from the traditional forms of jazz. The trio that recorded this album, consisting of López Ruiz joined by his life-long friend drummer Pocho Lapouble and gifted Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro, created a thrilling blend of jazz and Uruguayan candombe, surrounded by an undeniable cinematic feel spurred by López Ruiz's long experience in the soundtrack field. When read as one element, the cleverly chosen combination of group name and album title (in English: 'Old Roots of the Colonies of the River Plate') readily hints at the kind of sounds the listener will be challenged with when diving into this LP.