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Recorded at the 1962 Jazz Jamboree festival in Warsaw and originally released in 1963 on Danish Metronome label, here's a true gem from one of the most important figures in Polish music and a founding father of European Jazz. "Ballet Etudes" was one of the three full LPs released during Komeda' short lifetime. His fluent modern jazz conception was a perfect synthesis between the American influence and the European harmonic complexity, a unique kind of marriage colored by a clear Slavic lyricism. For many years considered a rare collector item "Ballet Etudes" comes back to life as a major statement in East-European music history.” Allan Botschinsky - trumpet, Jan Wróblewski - tenor sax, Krzysztof Komeda - piano, Roman Dylag - bass, Rune Carlsson drums.

Deeply affecting & jewel-like pop songs from the early 1980s by the internationally renowned Ethiopian singer, Kuku Sebsibe. Born in Addis Ababa, she began performing live during high school and was almost immediately a sensation, doing stints in many of the most legendary ensembles of the day, including Roha Band, Wallias Band, & Ibex Band. She cut her first single with the great Alemayehu Eshete (see the two separate Ethiopiques volumes dedicated to him), and recorded her first full-length tape with the Roha Band in 1982, from which the present album is derived. The band’s loping bass lines, singing brass, and ethereal organ tones serve to lift Sebsibe’s golden voice to celestial heights even as her firm roots in Ethiopian traditional music keep the music terrestrially planted. Her supple melodies twist & glide —if a lullaby could be said to have power, or a physicality even, then this is something of what it would sound like. Like much of the greatest music, what you find here is that it’s capable of enacting two ideas or feelings simultaneously; one of unbridled joy, the other a graceful, haunting melancholy. This is such moving, immediate music from a master singer —you can just settle along with the momentum of the groove, or give it your full attention to all the layers it's willing to reveal of itself.

Acoustic, no-age krautrock from Berlin releasing on Glasgow label, Phase Group. 

 The next release on Phase Group unearths a truly unique project that has existed as an outlier in the Berlin underground since 2002. 
 A stage decked out with xylophones, tambourines, timpani, wooden percussion, two drum kits, a cello, harmonicas, saxophones and pieces of scrap metal. Eight unassuming musicians playing repetitive, trance-inducing phrases, at times serene, fragile and dream-like and at others wild, primitive and driving. This isn’t a scene you might associate with hazy nights out in Berlin but it’s what you’d find if you ended up at a Kulku show. Kulku's music is a hard to define blend of percussive minimalism, folk, krautrock, post-punk and no wave, almost exclusively derived from acoustic sound sources. Their debut album ‘Fahren!' presents this unique sound-identity that they have been crafting for the best part of two decades. The A-side presents 3 tracks of percussive propulsion, minimalist xylophone motifs and repetitive drums alongside monotone organ, dramatic narration and woodwind instruments moving in and out of dissonant howls and melodic improvisation. The B-side is devoted to lighter tones, beginning with the glockenspiel minimalism of ‘Unterm Himmel’ and rounding the record out with trance inducing drone of the album’s title track which builds up into a cacophony of snare drums, dissonant accordion and melodica before fading out like dream. All songs composed and recorded in Berlin by Wenzlovar, Gatis Silde, Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer, Johanna Riska, Cornelius Onitsch, Alexander Samuels and Maxfield Gassmann

 Artwork by Andrija Čugurović



studio mule is proud to announce the latest release from one of japan’s most respected producers and musicians, kuniyuki takahashi.

this new single was created with the atmosphere of our listening bar studio mule in mind, and showcases kuniyuki’s unmatched ability to bridge dance music with sophisticated musical expression.

the a-side, “open window,” is a modern classical piece inspired by the light and breeze flowing into his sapporo studio—an uplifting, deeply moving composition. on the b-side, “tobira” offers a dreamlike journey of ethnic new-age jazz, evoking the sensation of stepping into a new world.

kuniyuki is a rare artist who has continued to push boundaries across genres, and this release is no exception—a future classic in the making. the artwork has been designed by yoshirotten, a leading figure in tokyo’s contemporary art scene.

with this release, studio mule delivers an inspired response to the timeless legacy of ecm, while continuing to explore new musical horizons.

Light as a feather and colorful as the autumn and spring: the new album of Kuniyuki Takahashi, sometimes known as Koss, is an affair of the heart. It spreads love while revealing that the man from Tokyo is one of the finest Japanese producers at the frontier of classic, jazz, house, ambient, and electronic songwriting. One thing all his artistic expressions have in common: they are loaded with tones and rhythms straight from the heart that filter and modulate human emotions without losing their natural source. Until today he released five full length albums and countless Eps on Mule Musiq. And this with an artistic progression from an electronic producer to a musician that melts organic instruments with electronic sounds while showing his love for free spirited rhythms and bittersweet melodies. He is also a man of collaborations and already worked together with such one off a kind artists like Innervisions jazz house icon Henrik Schwarz . Under his second nom de plume Koss he also produced beside lots of albums and EPs a jazz infiltrated ambient trip together with the Swedish Minilogue boys Marcus Henriksson and Sebastian Mullaert. His new album features now again guests like Bugge Wesseltoft, Anne Clark, or Henrik Schwarz – just to name a few. They all play with and not for him! A quality that attributes to Kuniyuki’s way of sharing music and to his rich diversified knowledge about it. Because beside his work as a musician he breath sounds all day long and listens to tons of possible musical expression from all decades to keep his consciousnees wide open. This openess is inscripted in „Feather World“ all over the place. The album opens with „Before Creation“ – a slow ambient intro enriched with a sweet piano phrase, strings, and a clandestine loop driven rhythm. Then comes „Inner Groove“ - a composition in which Norway’s terrific jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft jams playful to an airy rhythm arrangement that reminds partly on Herbie Hancocks spiritual „Rain Dance“ and that grooves with a Jaco Pastorius funk bass coolness. Thereon Kuniyuki travels to Africa, drops an earthly rhythm and let the singer Sona Diabaté from the West African Republic of Guinea hum soulful together with a wild but noble touching African guitar melody. All those who are familiar with Kuniyuki’s work know about his passion for house music made by such heroes like José „Cochise“ Claussell. With the track „Shout“ he assures this love while using electrifying percussion beats that dance around deep melancholic saxophone melodies played by Tetsuro Kawashima, one of Japan’s most famous saxophone players. That followed the guitar mojo ambient composition „The Big Wall“ which functions like a little bridge that ease the listener before entering the second part of the album. This starts with the dancefloor bomb „The Session 2“ – which Kuniyuki produced with his longtime buddy Henrik Schwarz. A house track full of stirring jazz flute madness and rhodes driven chords that got everything it takes to put a smile on the lips of dancers who like to enjoy jazzy mood experiments. Subsequent with „Between Shadow and Lights“ he continues to keep his eyes on the dancefloor – this time with a more minimalistic foggy arrangement to which the legendary New Wave spoken word queen Anne Clarke chants with her incompareable androgyn cold chilling voice. It is not that last time that Kuniyuki features extraodinary vocals on „Feather World“. In the very last quite part of the longplayer also Joyce Bowden, known for her heartfelt contribution to the Arthur Russel compilation album „Another Thought“, hums to a folk influenced slow rythmn track that waves the listener a goodbye from a freethinking album to which he will return to forever!

Kuniyuki Takahashi's debut album, We Are Together, originally released on CD in 2006.

"Nearly two decades later, the album is finally seeing a vinyl release to commemorate the 300th title from mule musiq."

Indonesian duo KUNTARI make music that's so distinctive, they had to devise their own genre: primal-core. On 'MUTU BETON', multi-instrumentalist Tesla Manaf and percussionist Rio Abror dialog with both history and their tropical surroundings in Bandung, West Java's mountainous capital. Using the cornet and hulusi, a free reed instrument made from a bottle gourd and bamboo pipes, Manaf echoes the bellows of local elephants, orangutans and rhinos, grazing Abror's ancestral Indonesian rhythms with potent overdriven riffs and evocative microtonal chimes. It's music that's profoundly atmospheric and simultaneously raw, recorded live to fully encapsulate the dynamic and deeply human interaction between the two seasoned players. There are elements of sludge metal, noise and post-hardcore, references to traditional folk music and jazz, and gestures towards sound art, 20th century minimalism and dark ambient, but what KUNTARI do is completely idiosyncratic - it's hardly surprising it needed a similarly unique categorization.

Manaf started KUNTARI as a solo project, debuting in 2020 with 'Black Shirt Attracts More Feather' and animating his nimble instrumental improvisations with bold electronic processes and booming synthetic drums. And by the time he recorded 2022's acclaimed 'Last Boy Picked', his approach had evolved significantly; prioritizing organic sounds, he played prepared cornet and piano, bringing in additional percussionists to help devise a ritualistic rhythm section. Abror was one of those performers, and ended up sticking around, playing on 2023's furious 'LARYNX/STRIDULA', the stylistic precursor for 'MUTU BETON'. At this stage, the duo have racked up a litany of accolades and collaborated with a spectrum of like-minded artists, from noise deity Keiji Haino to fellow Indonesian free-thinker Rully Shabara, who's best known for his work with Senyawa and avant-garde supergroup OSMIUM. 'MUTU BETON' plays like a lap of honor, showcasing their most kinetic and most feral recordings to date.

On 'Parai', a two-part composition made for Singapore-based artist Priyageetha Dia's multimedia installation LAMENT H.E.A.T, KUNTARI surround loose, rattling polyrhythms with blood-curdling, animalistic calls and industrial strength chugs from Manaf's prepared guitar. The artwork honors indentured laborers forced to extract rubber in Southeast Asia, and KUNTARI's response is an incisive critique of colonialism, celebrating the region's ancient rhythmic forms and sharpening their edges as they barrel into the future. Upsetting the logic of academic American minimalism, KUNTARI disrupt winding Reichian xylophone, glockenspiel and marimba repetitions on 'Kerak Terusi', wielding swinging ceremonial thuds from Manaf's Rebana, a cow skin drum that often accompanies Indonesian Islamic rituals.

They confront local sonorities even more directly on 'Miamch', a commission the duo made for Yogyakarta's Festival Kebudayaan, dueling on saron, a single-octave metallophone, and a Javanese gamelan set, and don't just follow the expected path. The familiarity is soon replaced with eccentricity as eerie resonances and reverberations sweep across the rhythmelodic patterns. Rough-edged technoid patterns are bent into new shapes on the abrasive 'Paniscus', and on 'Bessing', KUNTARI do their best to recreate the singular atmosphere of a local trance ritual, interrupting howling spirit voices and jangling chimes with blackened, grindcore-inspired riffs. KUNTARI surpass even their own high standards with 'MUTU BETON', folding history and geography in on itself and suggesting a trailblazing Indonesian cultural movement that's not restricted by highbrow Western conventions. It's not just automation and technology that drives progression, it's interaction and observation. And there's nothing more primal, or revolutionary, than that.

Kutmah pays dues to departed astro-dub and beats pioneer Ras G in a mazy album primed for playing and smoking loud.

Lest we forget, Ras G (1979-2019) was like the cosmic offspring of Sun Ra x Madlib x King Tubby, and his run of works as Ras G & the Afrikan Space Program for the likes of Brainfeeder and others between the ‘00s and up till his passing were massive touchstones for the whole West Coast US beats scene and far beyond.

Kutmah tends to his departed peer’s legacy on ‘Sacred Conversations’ in a transdimensional dialogue across 26 tracks that ape G’s style and sense of moon boot gravity, replete with heavy use of the recognisable “oh Ras!” ident and samples of the artist in convo with DJ Sacred. In beat tape style they’re all rugged morsels that add up to an undulating session of squashed offbeats rendered with haziest, psychoactive dubbing and astro-soulful vibes to the rafters.

Kutmah pays dues to departed astro-dub and beats pioneer Ras G in a mazy album primed for playing and smoking loud.

Lest we forget, Ras G (1979-2019) was like the cosmic offspring of Sun Ra x Madlib x King Tubby, and his run of works as Ras G & the Afrikan Space Program for the likes of Brainfeeder and others between the ‘00s and up till his passing were massive touchstones for the whole West Coast US beats scene and far beyond.

Kutmah tends to his departed peer’s legacy on ‘Sacred Conversations’ in a transdimensional dialogue across 26 tracks that ape G’s style and sense of moon boot gravity, replete with heavy use of the recognisable “oh Ras!” ident and samples of the artist in convo with DJ Sacred. In beat tape style they’re all rugged morsels that add up to an undulating session of squashed offbeats rendered with haziest, psychoactive dubbing and astro-soulful vibes to the rafters.

In addition to her classic low-tech processing based on analog tapes, this work is a new frontier with multiple layers of synth sounds, tape loops, sampling of voice and instrumental sounds, and participation performances by friend musicians. The result is a mysterious music that is unclear whether it is 300 years old African folk music, a spliced folk song of some country, techno or experimental music, and the coolest 2013 latest contemporary music. .. A 35-minute hypnosis with a tingling sensation and an analog mellowness ... This may be the front-line rock.

A collection of darkly shining northern diamonds, "Sous juju" is a two-CD compilation of the musical work of Kuupuu from her first releases in 2003 up to previously unreleased material from 2012. Kuupuu, known by her parents as Jonna Karanka, is a self-taught musician and visual artist from Finland who inhabits a semi-magical world where the mundane and the mysterious meet and make wonderful music together. Using tapes and loops, instruments both traditional and modern, Kuupuu's blend of low-tech electroacoustics and high-north songcraft is charming, surprising and unique. Sous juju gathers her self-released material, plus pieces culled from vinyl, cassette and CDR on American and European labels, as well as an unreleased piece and a 2012 vinyl remix from EM Records. This is a fine opportunity to hear the early work of an artist who promises to continue to enchant us well into the future.

Mirae Arts is thrilled to announce the release of "The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn," the debut album from Katsunori Sawa under his new KWARP alias. This six-track album marks a significant evolution in Sawa's musical journey, blending his experimental roots with fresh, vibrant textures.

"The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn" reflects on the fleeting nature of youth and the aspiration to maintain a childlike curiosity, while also acknowledging the fatigue that comes with aging. Mostly produced with modular synthesizers and analog equipment, the album takes listeners on an auditory adventure through a series of imaginative soundscapes.

The album opens with "Frog FM," a track characterized by forward-driving hi-hats and alien voices echoing and clashing, reminiscent of a scrambled FM frequency or a child playing with an analog radio dial. "Light Dash" follows, placing the listener in the cockpit of an unknown vehicle emitting reverberating artificial sounds. Side A closes with "The Spectator," featuring voices from above and creatures talking with one another.

Side B begins with "PlayStation," evoking the sounds of a gaming console booting up. "Metal Gear" reflects the inner metallic workings powering our entertainment. The album concludes with "Ultra," a track filled with belching aggression and mechanical expressions, almost as if the music itself is trying to escape the speakers.

KWARP's "The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn" is a testament to Katsunori Sawa's innovative spirit and his ability to push the boundaries of electronic music. The album's artwork and illustrations are done by the talented Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, adding a visual dimension that complements the auditory experience. The mastering and lacquer have been precisely crafted by Beau Thomas. 

kwes. returns to Warp after 8 years with his second album ‘Kinds’ - an expansive, intuitive composition set inspired by memory, colour and his kids, who also helped create the album artwork.

デトロイトの若き才能KYLE HALLによるアルメニアの「セヴァン湖」で問題となっている富栄養化に着目し、自然環境と植物の生命活動を音で描いた2つのトラックを収めたコンセプチュアルな作品。

Matsuli Music has been digging up lost South African Afro-jazz masterpieces by Hugh Masekela, Johnny Dyani and others. In recent years, contemporary jazz from South Africa has been gaining popularity, following in the footsteps of London and France. This is the latest release from Kyle Shepherd, an award-winning jazz pianist/composer from South Africa who has also worked on film and television projects. Recorded at a time when the world is facing death and disease from a pandemic. This album is dedicated to those who are facing darkness and despair. The album consists of re-edited versions of his previous fave songs and improvisations, and includes two full-length songs of over 20 minutes. This solo piano work is filled with lively pianism, sweet and light lyricism that can be found in lament songs and ukiyoe.

Join the Kyle Shepherd Trio on “A Dance More Sweetly Played” as they explore, collaborate and improvise on the ‘songs we like to play’. The album’s title is a dedication to the celebrated South African artist William Kentridge, with whom Shepherd collaborated on a joint-work “Waiting for Sybil” that has toured world-wide. In addition to ten Shepherd originals, perhaps most unexpected is the inclusion of an exquisite reading of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ and a deconstructed take of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, a favourite rock anthem that Shepherd describes as a ‘guilty pleasure’. ‘The inclusion of the Massive Attack and Journey tunes – that’s something out of character to me,’ observes Shepherd. The selection rests well within the grand jazz tradition of repurposing popular songs as vehicles for improvisation, thought, and pleasure. ‘It just came down to playing some tunes that we like and we can flow with, so that we can be inspired and express ourselves in a very natural organic way,’ he says. ‘We walked away from the from the studio feeling like – you know, we actually really enjoyed playing this record!’ ‘With this record, I felt less attached to any sort of predetermined concepts except that we would play some music that I wrote that we like – a selection of things that we like to play. It felt like a bit of a tonic – every musician gets a chance to breathe through the music, and the music just flows and moves as organically as we could make it.’ To hear one of South Africa’s foremost pianists play with intention, freedom and enjoyment, in the tradition and beyond it, is above all a gift to the listener, and Matsuli Music is proud to be able to share the Trio’s first album in a decade, A Dance More Sweetly Played. "… it’s in his linking of international influences with his own local traditions that his strength lies." Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast

To explore and absorb Planet Q, the new record by artists Kyoko Takenaka + Tomoki Sanders, is to become untethered from structural expectations, to reside in a realm where genre vanishes and a profound musical space remains, where the absence of gravity causes curious things to occur. It’s a spot where handclaps may not move in time, where sonic gurgles of unknown origin offer texture, where a deep, hooky rhythm can propel a groove into the stratosphere. At various times the tracks move like Dilla pieces, at others like Terry Riley explorations, like Flying Lotus or Milford Graves or Alice Coltrane meditations. But every time you think you’ve got the sound figured out, it hits from another angle. Though a brief missive at 30 minutes, you exit Planet Q as if leaving an utterly alien spot.

Formed in 1968, Mauritania's National Orchestre was the official band of the post-colonial desert country. Led by the young Hadrami Ould Meidah and trained in Guineau Conakry under the guidance of the Bembeya Jazz, the Orchestre National was both musical group and idealogical symbol - sharing many of the aspirations of the young country. To the Mauritanian classical music, with its rigid and complex modal system, the group unabashedly added electric guitars and brass sections. Traditional epics were adapted with contemporary sounds. Multi-lingual compositions honored the diverse ethnic groups throughout the country. The life of the National Orchestra would parallel the events shaping the nation, lasting from 1968 to 1975 - shortly before the military coup which would spell not only the end of the Orchestra, but the end of a democracy. Recordings are hard to come by. Aside from the few copies of the 7" that still exist, no other commercial releases were ever made. The remaining legacy of the Orchestra consisting of live performances and radio broadcasts, was nearly destroyed during the coup d'etat of 1978. Under orders to burn any and all recordings related to the Daddah regime, the radio archive was looted by loyal military forces. During the chaos, one heroic radio engineer snuck into the archives and salvaged the reels of the music contained here which were sequestered in his home for the past decades. Working with Hadrami Ould Meidah, radio archivists, and former members of the band, these selections highlight some of the remaining recordings of the prolific L'Orchestre National de Mauritania.

At the turn of the 1980s, L.G. Mair, Jr. was coercing young electronic gear into odd new timbres by day and masquerading as a consummate bass guitar hero by night - a regular fixture at the legendary NYC comedy club Catch a Rising Star, where he was the house bass player – regularly performing alongside a host of iconic comedians from the past 40 years inc. Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman and Chris Rock. His early music was born out of improvisation, often recorded between acts at Catch and he soon began issuing a dizzying array of home-baked cassettes. In the 1980s, cassettes were the ultimate guerrilla media, from home-dubbed compilations to private releases in editions of 100 copies, tapes offered a chance to redraw established evolutionary accounts. It was probably no coincidence that Mair, Jr. thrived in this realm – a continuum which offered him the seductive prospect of both escape and compensation, insight and freakout. In 1992, Mair, Jr. released ‘Music for Winefride’, which on its 30th anniversary remains, in its own unassuming way, a revelatory work of electro-minimalism. It swings between beautifully suspended chords, avant-funk tropes and mesmeric loops for its entire duration, yet this never feels like a confrontation or a challenge. Neither is it tedious; the apparent stasis on the surface of the music invites the listener to look beneath and discover the detail teeming below. The album is warm, approachable and often startlingly melodic. Perhaps most important of all in understanding why its influence has proved so enduring amongst obscure music enthusiasts - you can dance to it. Mair, Jr. recorded hundreds of cassettes during this period, most of which remained unreleased or traded with like-minded artists around the world. Nevertheless, the music he made at this time was some of his most melodic, accessible and at times brazenly brilliant. The sound of off-centre dub rumblings, Kosmische synthesis and sweat-stained Library funk telescoping into modern sounds like Reichian minimalist rhythm and spartan proto-Techno - a dizzying and unexpected cosmic tapestry. Available for the first time on vinyl and presented over two expansive volumes, the ‘Selected Rhythm Tracks 1988-1994’ of L.G. Mair, Jr. reveals a hidden archive of pulsing echojams, avant-funk meditations and introverted electro-minimalist songwriting culled from over 30 years of unreleased cassettes. Produced in cooperation with the artist’s estate for chOOn!!, a label specialising in obscure, archival and forgotten releases.

As the resident bass player for renowned Manhattan comedy club Catch A Rising Star, Lloyd George Mair, Jr. worked alongside a host of iconic entertainers and comedians from the past 50 years inc. Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy, Larry David, Chris Rock and plenty more. This was a creatively vibrant and socially dynamic period in New York’s history marked by the unique meeting and synthesis of post-disco, post-punk and early hip-hop; shaped by a hybrid party culture in which cross-cultural music scenes (Afrika Bambaata, Anita Sarko) collided with artistic ones (Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat) as well as intellectual spheres (Sylvère Lotringer, Antonio Negri) on NYC’s dance floors (Danceteria, Mudd Club), offering unique social and sonic possibilities of interaction, openness and exchange. As the 1980s progressed, together with increasingly tough Reaganomics, the crack epidemic, real estate inflation, demographic shifts and musicians and clubs catering to increasingly segregated audiences, the synergistic elements that first set the scene apart weakened severely from 1984 onwards. However, thanks to a dedicated underground, the forward-looking sensibilities of Mair, Jr. found an audience, gripping the imaginations of a select group of collaborators and peers from the so-called ‘cassette culture’ movement. These were not simply ‘demos’, but fully realised art projects primarily traded with other like-minded artists around the world. All kinds of folk found this a simpatico space to make music, think aloud, drift in and out of focus. Mair, Jr. started recording a dizzying array of home-baked cassettes, most of which remained unreleased or traded internationally. Captivated by the promise of possibility, his sound totally embraced the plastic potential of MIDI and digital, in all their unreal perfection. The sound of placeless, dream-like environments: movie sets, photo shoots, videogame backdrops. Dense webs of flickering neon, laser-strafed minimalism and thick saw-wave synths. This expansive second volume of rarities is drawn from Mair, Jr’s ‘Selected Rhythm Tracks 1988-1994’, a hidden archive of introverted electro-minimalist songwriting culled from over 30 years of private and unreleased cassettes. There's the boogie of the opening ‘Rhythm Track’, rendered in such perfect hi-res, it approximates digi-Motown via sci-fi Library Music soundtracks. ‘The Escape’ strings the most plastic of trumpets over an avant-funk stroll that’s so laidback you feel like it must be hiding something. The Afro-tropicalia of ‘Winefride XL’ is a beatific series of polyrhythmic kalimba lines that you can imagine gathering and drifting over and over again, like tides. There’s a distinct cinematic quality in Mair, Jr’s sequencing, and most of all on the outro to the blissful sweet-sour synth spirals of ‘Winefride LIV’, which sounds like Angelo Badalamenti scoring Perry Henzell instead of David Lynch. Available for the first time on vinyl and produced in cooperation with the artist’s estate for chOOn!!, a label specialising in obscure, archival and forgotten releases.

Rome’s own disco wizard L.U.C.A. aka Francesco De Bellis is back for his second LP Terra, hot on the heels of his Venus 12” EP earlier this year. In this far-reaching album, the Edizioni Mondo founder explores the deteriorating relationship between Man and Nature, and the dire consequences. The album is split into two themes - part one is Consacrazione (Consecration) and side two is Coscienza (Conscience) - as L.U.C.A. charts a trip through mankind’s psychic universe, and imagines worlds beyond our physical dimension. The opening composition Cities is an uptempo number that slowly comes into focus, as dreamy drum machines emerge from the urban bustle, before settling into a soulful groove as keyboard, upright bass and guitar figures dance across bright percussion. As it builds up a head of steam, the piece gives way to an ambient, tribal breakdown, which is also echoed in the following song, Drum Talk. This second tune sets up in a fourth world dreamscape of drums, synths, and abstracted echo effects, and is peppered with word fragments from the bush of ghosts. By the time we’ve reached the third track, Congiunzione sounds like travelling at singularity speed, beaming in from a future where human consciousness and gaia can finally dance on a cosmic plain. Part two of Terra details how revelation of the spirit can guide the mind, as Time Spirals rises out of a drum motif with a nod to classic ragas, as a disembodied voice asks questions on the nature of corporeality. The sound design is just as front and centre as the sitar and fretless bass, and the song gives way to a richly-layered soup that sounds like the vast space between atoms. It’s this shift from composition to ambience that is the dynamic core of Terra, giving L.U.C.A. plenty of space to showcase his next-level audio and arranging skills. Midway through part two, Giallo Assoluto begins with reverb tails and choral voices before expanding in brightness and texture until the audio field is practically levitating your hi-fi speakers, vibrating them with drones, twinkling keys and shards of digital noise. The closing composition Ritorno al Domani is a perfect balance of optimism and mystery. Tension and release collapse in on themselves as waves of ambient pads crescendo and then break over stretched-out sonic turbulence, before reversed synths bring the listener to a closing door, and the end of the journey. It’s a mind-expanding musical exploration of other worlds and parallel universes which are surely all around us, and in many ways serve to remind us of the marvel that is our own planet.

FFO: Jimi Tenor, Meridian Brothers, The Comet Is Coming, The Mauskovic Dance Band, Sun Ra Arkestra, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids

Psychedelic dub, Afro-Latin rhythms and cosmic grooves come together on La Chooma’s self-titled debut for Batov Records. Drawing on Moroccan Gnawa, Colombian cumbia, Afrobeat, Jamaica dub & roots, and cosmic jazz, the six-piece ensemble create deep, hypnotic music rooted in global traditions and shaped for contemporary dancefloors.

Having already captivated local audiences with their hypnotic, organic live performances, La Chooma – now a six-piece ensemble – have been steadily building an international following. Initial singles “Magic Plant” and “Huachuma” earned support from tastemakers including BBC Radio 6 Music’s Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft.

“Magic Plant” distills the band’s signature blend of hypnotic grooves, lush percussion and woozy synths, like Jimi Tenor lost in the Colombian Amazon. A dreamlike, dub-infused trip driven by organic rhythm and cosmic textures. “Huachuma” picks up the thread, fusing Afrobeat percussion, swirling basslines and psychedelic flourishes into a hallucinogenic jam made for a tropical dancefloor.

“High Grow” conjures images of The X-Files set in Addis Ababa, with Ethio-jazz-style synths dancing and tripping across a relentless Mulatu-inspired bassline and Afrobeat drums, all drenched in foreboding dub delay. Perfect for dark, smoke-filled rooms in the small hours.

Like the lost child of Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids and The Comet Is Coming, “Lonely” hits like a sledgehammer of cosmic synth funk and intense Afro-rock drums, riding an acoustic bassline that breaks into a frenetic solo after a minute. The drums constantly threaten to overwhelm, but open up for the spiraling synths to peak half way through the track.

“Cozumel” follows seamlessly, moving to a slightly slower groove built on a deep electric bassline and irresistible four-to-the-floor Afro-Latin rhythms. Synths rise in harmony with the haunting call of the hand-carved Egyptian kawala flute as the energy builds in the third minute before the tension finally releases. There’s something in the music’s spiritual core and soulful presence that recalls the groundbreaking work of Jamaican legends Count Ossie and Cedric Brooks, who fused jazz with Rastafari drumming.

La Chooma draw dotted lines across time and space, finding hidden connections and shared frequencies, pulling threads together into a sound that hypnotises the mind and moves the body.

La Düsseldorf's debut album, formed by Klaus Dinger after the dissolution of NEU!, sublimated the experimental nature of Krautrock into a pop sensibility.

The tracks "La Düsseldorf," "Silver Cloud," and "Time" create a hypnotic and celebratory atmosphere through their repetitive motorik beat and shimmering synthesizers. The album is marked by the energetic vocals of Klaus Dinger and a sense of openness within its minimal structure.

Transcending the boundaries of German rock, this work radiates a genre-crossing appeal, where an art-rock perspective fuses with a DIY spirit. It stands as a symbol of Krautrock's evolution, continuing to shine brightly with a freshness that influenced later new wave and techno music.

Viva is the second album by the German band La Düsseldorf, realized in 1978 and it is considered its most successful release. Indeed, the album contains both the singles "Rheinita", which was their most successful single, and "Cha Cha 2000"; an expansive and utopian piece that mixes repetition, piano passages, chants, and electronic textures into a kind of dreamlike manifesto for a more ideal society. Probably the band’s most famous song. The album represents a combination of modern electronic textures, pop clarity, and krautrock experimentation which has secured Viva a lasting place in the history of German experimental rock. This vinyl reissue is the first after fifteen years.