All products

In 1974, a brash young designer called Augustus Kerry Taylor had an idea. He'd gather together the hottest musicians in Ghana and record an album of the heaviest and funkiest sounds coming out of America. And this time, he wouldn't just design the cover, like he'd done with Fela Kuti, he'd even release it on his new label, Emporium, as well. Local Accra legends Joe Wellington, Jagger Botchway, Leslie Addy, Officer Toro, Oko Ringo, Soldier and Steve answered the call. They were christened the Kelenkye Band and gelled immediately. Moving World, is a funky, disparate album that exudes a rare warmth, enthusiasm and togetherness. 'Moving World' and 'Brotherhood of Man' are hard, grinding funk. 'Jungle Music' has a more soulful groove. There's also a bit of reggae, 'Dracula Dance', and old-skool highlife, 'Wale Tobite'. Accra's leading DJ, Charlie Sam, declared his mind 'well and truly boggled.' The Kelenkye Band never recorded another album. Augustus Kerry Taylor shut down Emporium and went back to designing album covers. But in Moving World they delivered a perfect moment of funk alchemy that has rightly become the Holy Grail of 70's Ghanian groove. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com / Licensed by the bandleaders and songwriters of the album, Joe Wellington and Jagger Botchway.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan’s, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover’s eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). “There’s nothing like making records,” says Finnigan. “It feels like that’s my purpose — the reason I was put on this earth.” Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. “I enjoy working alone but it’s not how you want to make a record…almost everybody I brought in for this album I’ve worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with.” Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on “Be Your Own Shelter”) and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like “Get a Hold of Yourself” or “Chosen Few”. Finnigan’s take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on “Walk Away from Me” and “Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)”, while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters “His Love Ain’t Real” & “Cold World”. Slower songs such as “Let Me Count the Reasons”, the emotional “All That’s Left”, and the soul-stirring album closer “Count Me Out” show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan’s calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy — in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan’s sound.

Kelly made you a mixtape. It’s an eclectic mix of ideas, recorded and produced at Transistor Sound Studio in Marin County, California. “I want to share what I’ve been working on,” Kelly explained. “It’s not a proper album, and it doesn’t have the same vibe all throughout. It’s a collection of different ideas, which is how I used to share the music I loved with my friends.” About half of the songs represent his influence directly from hip-hop, crate digging, record collecting and the art of sampling. The original beat-driven drums and looping melodies provide the backdrop for future emcees to record over. “When I first decided that I wanted to make my own music, it was with drum machines and samplers,” Kelly shared. “I’ve always been inspired by the sounds on hip-hop records. That’s where my musical aspirations began.” Fans of Kelly’s previous work know that he’s capable of creating the kind of classic records that are often the subject of sampling. The mixtape contains a few new original tunes, instrumental versions of his known b-sides Trouble and It’s Not That Easy, and a soul stirring acoustic version of Impressions of You, which was originally released on Kelly’s debut LP The Tales People Tell in 2019. Kelly is working with Colemine Records to release the mixtape exclusively on cassette. “Owning a physical copy of a song and using a specific piece of equipment to hear it – that was a huge part of my musical upbringing. This is a selection of different songs on a tape. It’s how I want people to experience it.”

Born out of a series of studio sessions, LP.8 was created with no preconceptions or expectations: an unbridled exploration into the creative subconscious. After releasing her sophomore album Inner Song in the midst of the pandemic, Kelly Lee Owens was faced with the sudden realisation that her world tour could no longer go ahead. Keen to make use of this untapped creative energy, she made the spontaneous decision to go to Oslo instead. There was no overarching plan, it was simply a change of scenery and a chance for some undisturbed studio time. It just so happened that her flight from London was the last before borders were closed once again. The blank page project was underway. Arriving to snowglobe conditions and sub-zero temperatures, she began spending time in the studio with esteemed avant-noise artist Lasse Marhaug. Together, they envisioned making music somewhere in between Throbbing Gristle and Enya, artists who have had an enduring impact on Kelly’s creative being. In doing so, they paired tough, industrial sounds with ethereal Celtic mysticism, creating music that ebbs and flows between tension and release. One month later, Kelly called her label to tell them she had created something of an outlier, her ‘eighth album’. Lasse Marhaug is known for hundreds of avant-noise releases, previously working with the likes of Merzbow, Sunn O))) and Jenny Hval, for whom he produced her acclaimed albums Apocalypse, Girl, Blood Bitch and The Practice Of Love. A label mate of Kelly’s, Marhaug has recorded for Smalltown Supersound since 1997. Welsh electronic artist Kelly Lee Owens released her eponymous debut album in 2017 and followed this up with 2020’s Inner Song. She has collaborated with Björk, St. Vincent and John Cale. In April, she returns with LP.8.

Don’t Trust Mirrors caps off one of the most transformative periods of Kelly Moran’s musical life. In 2019, her career was defined by extensive touring and festival dates — waking up early to play her sets, and staying late to dance to techno. The experience of staying out and absorbing this environment generated a new connection between herself & the music she was making, inspiring her to work on a more rhythmic followup to her 2018 Warp Records debut Ultraviolet.

But an unexpected and personal shift in her life, along with a halted tour during the pandemic, changed the course of the project. Her self-perception altered — both physically and emotionally — as well as her path, presenting a new creative process. This led to 2024’s Moves in the Field, which The New York Times called “a softhearted but steel-skinned set of 10 piano pieces that are as rapturous as a waterfall or as delicate as vapor.”

Setting itself apart from her last release, Don’t Trust Mirrors is a pivotal return to a project that was put on hold and to self-actualization, showcasing the experience of observing yourself through distortion, reflection, and the slow work of piecing yourself back together again. The album features Warp Records labelmate Bibio, and comprises 10 tracks of magnificent textural refractions — reflecting light, hard edges, and the full spectrum of embracing true embodiment.

The announcement is accompanied by the release of new single “Echo in the Field,” which opens the album, and comes with a mesmerizing, kinetic video directed by Katharine Antoun.

え

Kelly Moran has steadfastly established himself as a standard-bearer of contemporary music, challenging the classical school of piano with modern and experimental approaches; in 2018, he joined Oneohtrix Point Never's touring ensemble and has performed live with FKA Twigs. In the classical realm, she has composed for Margaret Leng Tan, while also performing with artists such as Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor. Her latest album, "Moves in the Field," was released on March 29, 2012 on Warp Records! This album contains 10 duets that explore the inhuman and impossible realm of piano playing, experimenting with the Yamaha Disklavier automatic piano, which Moran plays in real time while the Disklavier plays ultra-fast arpeggios and chords that require more than 10 fingers, accompanying motifs that transcend the physical limits of the piano. Mixing and recording was done by Dan Bora, known as the sound engineer for Philip Glass, and mastered by Joshua Eustis of Tel Aviv.

Kelz’s debut ‘5am and I Can’t Sleep’ delivers us a frothy dream-pop introduction to the mind of Vietnamese-American producer and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Truong. Written and recorded in the middle of the night in her Orange County, California home, these songs tell a nostalgic yet hopeful story following loss. For kelz, carefully looping beats, tinkering with synthetic waveforms, and interweaving guitar picking serves as a meditation--a mode of processing emotions and the inevitable passing of time. Front and center are her airy vocals, recorded in a whisper so as to not wake people in the other room. Each song folds in on itself like a wave’s undertow, reorienting infectious melodies from tracks previous. When asked about the tracks, kelz reflects on the process as “feeling like running towards something” but not knowing what it is. Escape with kelz on a long night drive with this effervescent electro-pop debut.

Ken Boothe and Lloyd Charmers come together on a landmark release that bridges soulful vocals with the stripped-down power of drum and bass. Each song is followed by a raw version, offering a bold, unfiltered statement that points directly to the future of reggae. No filler here—just foundation music at its purest.

In the mid-90s, Ken Ishii rose to prominence, with a futuristic sound rooted in Detroit’s machine soul yet unmistakably his own. Hailing from Sapporo, Ishii quickly became synonymous with futuristic, cutting-edge productions, and ‘Jelly Tones’ – originally released on R&S Records in 1995 - was the breakthrough release that propelled the Japanese producer to global notoriety.

The musician and DJ Ken Ishii sits right at the pinnacle of techno's most noteworthy, but although a game changer for the artist personally - and for Japanese electronic music in general - his 1994 album 'Reference to Difference' is something of an unsung gem today. Now reissued and remastered, released to mark the 30th anniversary of Musicmine / Sublime Records, and available on vinyl with its original track-list for the first time, this stunning, lesser-known classic is ripe for rediscovery.

Kendra Morris returns with Next, her fourth full-length of original material and a vibrant departure into rawer, more immediate territory. Co-produced with Leroi Conroy of Colemine Records, the album was recorded using vintage gear in Loveland, Ohio, tracked through a Tascam 388 for a warm, tactile sound that favours grit over gloss. Featuring contributions from Jimmy James (Parlor Greens, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio) and Ray Jacildo (The Black Keys, Jr. Thomas & The Volcanos), Next unfolds like a lo-fi concept album in reverse, drawing inspiration from old board games and the DIY spirit of retro television. Across ten tracks, Morris blends doo-wop, boom-bap, and rocksteady into a pastiche of New York nostalgia, where Brill Building songcraft and Warholian aesthetics share the same sonic real estate. It's a cut-and-paste world soundtracked by an artist equally at home behind the lens as she is behind the mic—imperfect, imaginative, and full of heart.

Keni Burke's seminal Changes yielded the eternal club classic "Risin' To The Top". You need this record for this iconic steppers anthem alone. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that the whole of Changes, first released in 1982 on RCA but now a tricky one to find, is something truly special. It's a masterpiece of sophisticated 80s groove, containing first class funky soul that sounds as fresh as ever. This is multi-tempo soul music conceived in heaven. Ace bass player, songwriter, arranger and producer, Keni Burke was discovered by Curtis Mayfield and a childhood member of the Five Stairsteps. Emanating from that magical 81-83 era and pristinely recorded at Philadelphia's legendary Sigma Sound Studios, his third solo album Changes really perfected Keni's groove. It incorporated tight, snappy rhythm arrangements which, despite the era, featured *real drums* courtesy of Steve Ferrone (from Average White Band) to compliment Keni's meaty bass lines. With Dean "Sir" Gant on synths and keyboards and Ed Walsh handling the Vocoder-OBX and Prophet 5, wonderful lines from Earth, Wind & Fire's legendary horn section and hooky rhythm and lead guitar riffs courtesy of Ed "Tree" Walsh, Keni was truly spoiled for excellence. With Doc Gibbs on percussion and Vince Montana on vibes elevating the sensational writing and arrangements, Keni couldn't really go wrong. “Risin’ To The Top” is undoubtedly the defining crown and lasting legacy of this album. Wth its instantly captivating bassline, slowly creepin' groove and uplifting lyrics, it was a favourite among both the 80s soul steppers and hip-hop crowd and remains canonical to this day. Written by Burke, Allan Felder, and former Chic member Norma Jean Wright, it incredibly failed to garner much American radio play or really trouble the soul charts. Whilst it was an instant classic in the U.K., in the States it took the hip-hop generation and later R&B and hip-hop samples of the tune to finally make it popular, many years later. Of note, Big Daddy Kane sampled it for "Smooth Operator", LL Cool J for "Around The Way Girl", Pete Rock & CL Smooth for "Take You There" and O.C. with "Born 2 Live". But the highlights are not restricted to this one behemoth. For example, the track which precedes "Risin'" on Side B is another steppers favourite. "One Minute More" is a perfect mid-tempo ballad and the epitome of deep modern soul. A truly timeless work of genius. We, for one, struggle to think of a better song segue than the moment you're still reeling from the intense beauty of "One Minute More" and "Risin'" elegantly stirs into action. Frisson in excelsis. The propulsive, bass-heavy opener "Shakin" is an indisputable cracker and its followed by the timeless mid-tempo class of "Hang Tight". Just gorgeous. Next up, "Can't Get Enough" is another emotional, horn heavy chugger. The side closes with the sparse, tender, floating sl-o-o-w jam "Who Do You Love"; a truly divine ballad. The B-side beings with the title-track, "Changes", a squelchy, melodic boogie banger with fantastic keys, incredible vocals, ace shuffling percussion and spacey synths. It's followed by the ultimate one-two in "One Minute More" and "Risin'" before this sensational set closes with the glorious easy glide "All Night". An absolutely essential record for fans of deeply soulful modern-funk, Changes was mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios. The artwork was restored at Be With HQ over many painstaking months so, hopefully, this fresh new edition ensures this long-lusted after album is no longer so awkward to find.

What an amazing pair of compositions, beautifully balanced music that transports me to a deep zone where time stands still.

— Jonny Nash (Musician / The founder for Melody As Truth)

"KANNON" achieves a profound listening experience by deliberately avoiding the diverse techniques of the shakuhachi and instead focusing on simple, sustained tones. This approach allows one to concentrate on the inner richness of a single note’s resonance and its delicate nuances, creating a sense of release into the infinite expanses within its deep layers. The moment a sound emerges, passes through, and fades away is truly beautiful.
"RAVEN" showcases the shakuhachi’s expansive yet delicate tonal expressions with remarkable beauty. I was astonished by its level of perfection, making it hard to believe it was recorded live. The piece harmonizes with the steady pulse of the mukkuri, evoking a sense of music that connects to a spectral dimension. I particularly love the latter half, where the high-register tones of the shakuhachi intertwine with the breath-infused mukkuri, resonating with deep overtones. I was utterly captivated by the gentle unfolding of this piece.

— Ko Ishikawa (Shō player / Ancient Kayō performer)

This is captivated by an auditory landscape of deep listening—an immersive soundscape of the mind. Could this not be one of the most uniquely innovative expressions in the current realm of traditional Japanese instruments?

— Kaoru Inoue (DJ / Musician)

Although I often say, "Genres of music don’t really matter," I was truly surprised when I listened to it and thought, "Is this really a shakuhachi?" It made me realize how trapped I had been by my existing preconceived notions. It's like a "eureka moment" for my ears! The deep resonance that is incredibly pleasing to the ear, along with the sonic development that feels like it’s breathing in unison with the natural environment, gradually led me to feel as if I had wandered into a bamboo forest, losing track of where I was—a meditative labyrinth-like experience. It reaffirmed for me the truth that sound tells the whole story. The balance of the sound is also exquisite and remarkable. Such improvisational performance reminds us of the forgotten awe that in the natural world, nothing is ever the same—while each individual expresses their uniqueness, they also form part of the overall harmony.

— Nami Hōtatsu (Vocalist / Synthesizer player / Composer)

I'll be terribly honest: those two tracks are the deepest and most intense I've heard from a long time, a vibrant sound that takes hold of your attention and takes you far, but without moving a step, as if it sounded inside, touching hidden and alive chords. Beauty, like a long breath, a story that the sea gives us, fast clouds that announce spring, wind that smells of flowers and meadows and a thousand leaves of dancing trees.... Gorgeous music that speaks to the heart.

— Gigi Masin (Musician)

I was surprised by the abstract tone, which is not unlike that of old instruments. The dense soundscape shows a love of musical culture.

— Jun Morita (Electronic instrumentalist / DJ)

Though best known for producing seminal albums for some of the world’s most exciting artists (Vince Staples, IDLES, Rico Nasty), on LOUIE Kenny subverts expectations with an almost entirely instrumental artist record that acts as a deeply personal tribute to the artist’s ailing father. Over 17 songs, LOUIE is a hypnotic odyssey of wounded, teardrop soul; a side of Kenny that has not been seen by the world before.

Though best known for producing seminal albums for some of the world’s most exciting artists (Vince Staples, IDLES, Rico Nasty), on LOUIE Kenny subverts expectations with an almost entirely instrumental artist record that acts as a deeply personal tribute to the artist’s ailing father. Over 17 songs, LOUIE is a hypnotic odyssey of wounded, teardrop soul; a side of Kenny that has not been seen by the world before.

We finally made it: BEWITH100LP! And what better way for a re-issue label to celebrate such a landmark catalogue number than to give it to a record of new music. We couldn’t resist when the artist is Official Be With Family Member Kenny Dickenson and when the music is his lovely, lovely score to French-Vietnamese artist Mai Hua's 2020 documentary film “Les Rivières”. If you enjoy the more minimal, intimate piano of the likes of Nils Frahm or John Carroll Kirby’s solo work, you’re certain to fall for this beautiful album. The whole score is built around delicate, sparkling piano motifs. At times they’re joined by cello and complemented with ambient chords and other flourishes. What Kenny has put together for the film score release is definitely a “soundtrack LP”, with the music arranged to work as a proper album in its own right that should be listened to from start to finish. This might not be a re-issue, but the Les Rivières film score album has still been given the full Be With treatment. The vinyl has been mastered by Simon Francis (under Kenny’s ever-watchful eye/ear, of course), cut by Pete Norman and pressed at Record Industry. The sleeve follows the film’s poster and other promotional material, including Lucile Gomez’s almost magical illustration.

Backwoodz Studioz is excited to announce a new album from Kenny Segal and K-the-I??? Genuine Dexterity is the title of this record, but it is also an equally apt description of their artistic skill sets; Kenny’s ability to tailor his production to each project is well established, and K-the-I???’s acrobatic style easily renders dense rhymes weightless. Together they have made an album that pogo sticks over genre conventions to deliver a daring and immersive listening experience. “Genuine Dexterity is an album made in order to display my many facets, whether it be my mood, growth or the adventures that formulate my present-day outlook,” the rapper explains, “Letting everything come naturally to me and to never force the envelope. It’s also about the direction the universe is heading towards whether I like it or not” Rapper/Producer Kiki Ceac, best known by his stage name K-the-I???, was at the forefront of the mid-00’s experimental hip-hop wave that laid the groundwork for much of the alternative rap music that followed. Originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kiki moved to Los Angeles around the same time that fellow East Coast transplant Kenny Segal was beginning to make noise under the Project Blowed umbrella. Despite moving in the same circles for many years, they had never worked together until Genuine Dexterity- which, ironically enough, came about after Kiki moved back to the East Coast. “Sometimes a vocalist will just spark a whole wave of creativity in me, and that’s what happened with Kiki,” Segal says, “last year I sent him two beats to use on a different album and when he sent the songs back it was obvious we had something special and needed to do more” Genuine Dexterity features Armand Hammer, Open Mike Eagle, ShrapKnel, Fatboi Sharif, Self Jupiter, and Jesse the Tree but K-the-I??? is the undisputed ringmaster of this circus. It has been a decade since Kiki’s last album and yet he has returned to the game at the height of his powers. He has always been an unorthodox lyricist and remains so here, but in his time away from the spotlight, his style has grown in many ways. “Maybe I’m calmer nowadays, I don’t feel the need to ALWAYS shout like I used to. My vocabulary has grown, and my flow is more polished,” Kiki writes, before adding that one thing that has not changed is the intricacy of his writing. Meanwhile, Kenny Segal’s customized soundscapes whisk Kiki’s styles to places they haven’t been before, and he never fails to find a pocket in which to ply his craft. Genuine Dexterity, if you will.

ドラマーのTom Sunneyとキーボード奏者のFilip Sowaからなる西ロンドンのデュオ、Kessoncodaによる最新アルバム『Outerstate』が英国の現代ジャズの聖地〈Gondwana Records〉からアナログ・リリース。ロックやエレクトロニカ、アンビエント、ブレイクビーツ、映画のサウンドトラック、Squarepusher、Radiohead、Clarkといった様々なインスピレーションを軸としつつ、アコースティックの伝統とエレクトロニカの間に佇む彼らのサウンドは、メロディアスなオスティナートが織り込まれたピアノと揺るぎないドラムのブレンドに基づいた、心地よく、新しいヴィジョンを示すものとなっています。

"Kevin, a new collaboration between Ben Bondy and Mister Water Wet, presents what feels like a time-machine hidden in the back of your closet. ‘Laundry’ pleasantly haunts listeners with phantom purrs, harmonies, hums and horns. This project is a hand reaching through the void and out of your speakers responding to moments of isolation and pining with resounding gratitude. It makes space for warmth in slow-healing wounds; the gift of reset that is born from the call and response between friends." -Yves B. Golden

Ever unpredictable, Drumm this time takes the fellow time-traveller through what sounds like an electronic field recording, a journey through an electronic soundscape of luminescent textures that invites immersive listening.

2025 repress, gatefold sleeve, gold pantone print, incl. hot foil stamping. Edition of 500 ** After more than two decades, one of experimental noise music's most uncompromising statements returns to vinyl. Mego presents the long-awaited reissue of Kevin Drumm's Sheer Hellish Miasma, first released on CD in 2002 on the original Mego label. This 2LP edition marks the return of a landmark album that has remained a ferocious document of Drumm at his most inventive and unrelenting. The history of Sheer Hellish Miasma is one of resilience to the twists of underground trends that have come and gone since its initial release. Where lesser works have faded into obscurity or been absorbed by the zeitgeist, Drumm's vision has only grown more singular and essential with time. This is not music that seeks to comfort or accommodate - it is an artifact of eternal power that demands confrontation on its own uncompromising terms. Using guitar, tape manipulation, microphones, pedals, analog synthesizers, and subtle computer processing, Sheer Hellish Miasma constructs an overwhelming sonic architecture. This is an album that exists at the intersection of brutal physicality and meticulous composition - a careful orchestration of storming feedback, fractured textures, and unrelenting energy that reveals Drumm's mastery of extreme electronic sound. The album offers a singular vision positioned at the outermost edges of sound art, where conventional musical structures dissolve into pure sonic phenomenon. Each element - from the carefully manipulated guitar feedback to the processed analog textures - contributes to a cohesive statement that transcends the sum of its abrasive parts. For seasoned noise veterans, Sheer Hellish Miasma offers a bracing soundscape filled with exquisitely abrasive textures and hidden details that reward deep, repeated listening. In an increasingly homogenized world of abstract electronic noise, Drumm's work maintains a distinct voice that refuses easy categorization or imitation. For the uninitiated, Drumm's journey through the noisy underworld represents something more challenging - a confrontation with sound pushed to its absolute limits. This is music likely to inspire fear, or in the most optimistic case, a fearful admiration for the composer's uncompromising vision. Sheer Hellish Miasma stands as an abstract noise classic precisely because it refuses the comfortable compromises that allow underground music to be easily absorbed by mainstream culture. This 2LP reissue presents the work in its full, unmediated power - an artifact that has lost none of its capacity to challenge, disturb, and ultimately transform the listener's relationship to sound itself. In an era of endless digital reproduction, the return of Sheer Hellish Miasma to vinyl represents more than mere nostalgia. This is music that demands physical presence, that requires the listener to commit to its durational extremes, and that rewards those willing to submit to its particular form of sonic discipline.

Light patterns in a glass dream Sound fountains in a gentle stream Smoked visions in another room Form and fade all too soon In 1970, Kevin and David met whilst they were working in the Labour Exchange Office on Aytoun St, Manchester. Both played guitar and had been searching for other musicians who played atmospheric music. Kevin had been playing in small clubs in Manchester and David had been playing in a few local bands. One evening, they jammed together, at Kevin’s family home, and quickly realized that their playing blended together to form the basis of the sound they had been looking for. In the late 70s, the music scene in Manchester was bursting with new bands and music. Kevin and David, however, had little in common with the local acts, being disciples of a more meditative approach. They followed a path of their own, reaching for an otherworldly sound that they heard from artists like John Martyn, David Crosby, Erik Satie, Terry Riley, Eberhard Weber, Alice Coltrane, and Ralph Towner. They experimented combining their acoustic guitars and David’s bass with various effects pedals and techniques to try and achieve a warm and expansive sound that rides the line between ambient, jazz, and psychedelic folk Music. Towards 1981, they had written eleven songs and accompanied a few with Moog synthesizer laid down by Rob Baxter. All were recorded on cassette decks in their simple home studios. They named this collection of music “Light Patterns”, after a poem Kevin had written. With Light Patterns complete, they set out to find a label to represent their music. They started playing a few gigs in Manchester; Band On The Wall, the Gallery, and other venues, such as Rotters which local promoter Alan Wise had organized. They set up with small amps along with their effects and played as though they were back at home. As Kevin remarks, “It was unusual, to say the least, to play such venues in a low volume chilled out way. However, people listened, often in shocked curiosity, and some even asked for tapes.” Peter Jenner, of Blackhill Enterprises, eventually picked up the album for his new label, “Sheet”. Peter had managed lots of experimental bands and solo artists, including Pink Floyd in their early Syd Barrett days. He always favored outsiders! The tapes were taken to Strawberry Recording Studios in Manchester, who were surprised when Kevin and David walked in with just a couple of home-produced cassette tapes. Fortunately, they liked them and agreed to master the album. It was then sent to Portland Recording Studios in London for final mastering to vinyl. George Peckham, aka “Porky”, did the pressing with a personal message in the deadwax; “Kaftans, Candles and be Cool Man”. The artwork for the album cover was done by the late Barney Bubbles, a truly visionary artist. After the album’s release, the pair continued to play together regularly until David moved away from the city. Kevin still resides near Manchester in the rolling hills outside of the city. He continues to experiment with dreamy music in his loft, and we are set to share a selection of his ethereal archival and current compositions on vinyl in the coming months. David lives a quiet life in a small coastal town in the South, he likes to sail and is an avid cricket fan. We’re excited to make Light Patterns accessible again for the first time in nearly 40 years, remastered from the original tapes. As the original press release said, “Put the album on, lie back and enter the land of no floors”.

Kevin Morby writes (and records, and imagines) at an almost incomparable clip, and his most recent album, This Is A Photograph, studies life, time and mortality through myriad lenses. It’s a dynamic, buoyant record on big, heavy themes, so it only makes sense that Morby found he wasn’t quite done with it on its completion. More Photographs (A Continuum) finds new nooks, corners and vantage points. “If This Is A Photograph is a house that you have been living inside of,” says Morby, “then More Photographs is, perhaps, the same home just experienced differently. As if you, its inhabitant, have taken a tab of something psychedelic and now, suddenly, you've replaced your eyeglasses with kaleidoscopes.” Here, Morby returns to his landmark album's bottomless themes with new wisdom, new imagination, and the winking, looping callbacks that tie his full body of work together in uniquely special ways. “Everything you once thought was familiar,” he continues, “suddenly appears differently, shifting shapes, color and sonic landscapes.” “Five Easy Pieces Revisited” captures the same moment from Bobby’s point of view; “This Is A Photograph II” takes a similar tack, revisiting its predecessor from a different angle. “Triumph” explores more of the myths and deaths that surround Memphis, TN, this time inspired by Big Star’s Chris Bell. And “Kingdom Of Hearts” arrives as an origin story to both This Is A Photograph and its new companion. “With every collection of songs,” says Morby, “I feel I must cast them out of me before moving onto the next project, and here I knew that what I had begun with This Is A Photograph was not finished. Releasing this collection is my tying a bow on that time and place in my creative life.” With a luxurious nine tracks – three re-imaginings and six brand new songs – More Photographs (A Continuum) is prequel, sequel and primer to an already rich and generous record from one of our most luminous modern songwriters.

Every person we meet, every moment we live through, all the love we feel, and the losses we endure, add another layer to the intricate pattern of our lives. Like multicolored threads, these layers twist together to form a complex, vibrant tapestry - a reflection of our life journey until this point. On his new album Layers, Khalab acknowledges and celebrates the encounters that have shaped his ever-evolving musical vision. The record represents the culmination of a creative journey that began with Eunoto EP (Black Acre Records, 2015), evolved with the Afro-Futuristic soundscapes of 2018’s highly acclaimed album Black Noise 2084 (On The Corner Records), and has since developed further through a series of experiences and deep musical collaborations. Layers summons all the alchemy of Khalab’s live performances, and embodies the transcendental power of music-making as a collective art form. “Since the release of Black Noise 2084 I’ve increasingly developed the stage and band dynamic, focusing on arranging with the musicians in mind, and this album was almost entirely conceived together with musicians I’ve collaborated with”, says Khalab. In a testament to the label’s close-knit and highly collaborative nature, Khalab's live band includes a cadre of musicians from the Hyperjazz family, including David Paulis and Enrico Truzzi of Phresoul, as well Pietro Santangelo, Fabio Sasso, and longstanding creative-partner Nicola Guida. The album’s nine tracks feature an impressive lineup of collaborators old and new, including UK drummer and producer Emanative, Burkinabe singer, guitarist, and m'bira player Gabin Dabiré, Italian producer Clap! Clap!, multi-wind instrumentalist Tamar Osborn, drummer and producer Tommaso Cappellato, British-Bahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, Bristol’s vocalist and producer Grove, multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious, Italian jazz singer Alessia Obino and British-born Nigerian spoken-word artist Joshua Idehen. Layers still revolve around the key components of Khalab’s sound - dark and trancey electronics and his research into Black music and all its evolutions - but with a bigger emphasis on harmonic arrangements. Across the record, Khalab’s productions twist and pulsate into mesmerizing motifs, as the interplay between different instruments coalesce into focused melodies and rich, complex textures. Khalab and his collaborators masterfully blend gloomy and radiant tones, eliciting feelings of both doom and hope. For Khalab, Layers represents the end point of a journey that began with the synthesis of ancestral rhythms and electronic experimentation on Black Noise 2084 and has taken him on a meandering route through a Mauritanian refugee camp (M’berra, Real World Recordings, 2021), and deep into the catalogs of legendary Italian labels Soul Note and Black Saint (for the Hyperituals compilations). To Gabin, a friend, a teacher, a guide, and a constant inspiration.