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Cult north manc enigma Michael J. Blood provides the DDS 12” series with its latest instalment following aces by Shinichi Atobe and Demdike Stare x Dolo Percussion. From 170BPM ghetto tekkerz to bucking House, it's a full dose of fire if yr into Theo, Rezzet, H-Fusion, Marcellus Pittman... Michael J. Blood needs little introduction to followers of these pages; his misfit take on House at its broadest definition is a lowkey phenomenon, with each turn different to the previous, but all sharing a screwed passion for the rudest variegations that dovetail Demdike Stare’s own wayward instincts. Following up his outstanding recent Richie Culver link-up, on ‘Raven’ MJB plays with a custom-made trio of tracky blinders certain to set fire to yr floor. He boots right off with a searing title cut, starting up like a head-flapping nitrous oxide trip before locking into a 170BPM boot knocker imagining Howard Thomas’s H-Fusion via Rezzett at a free party. Flipside, he chills his beans in a more familiar style, wrapping warped chords around a wooden bassdrum synced to roving subs and offset claps for the loosey goosey crew, before tussling with the filters on ’TRGR’, a delicious section of insistent, Theo-ish loops woven with intuitive body geometry, liquifying limbs in a mode that also reminds us of Marcellus Pittman at his deadliest.

Cult-beloved experimental producer Michael J. Blood, hailing from North Manchester, returns with the second collaborative album alongside the elusive act samizdat, released on his own label BLOOD. Bathed in a sense of unease, this work weaves hypnotic loops, noise-fringed textures, and low-end pulses into a shape-shifting soundscape that blurs the boundaries between post-industrial abstraction and deconstructed R&B. A masterful blend of intimacy and abstraction, it’s a record that sinks deep into the psyche—perfect for solitary, late-night listening.

There are constellations within the grooves of Cymbalom Solos. Innumerable points of light, rendered audible in glowing, radiant sound. There are entire worlds too - undiscovered, yet familiar - both terrestrial and celestial. There are moments of quiet comfort and exultant discovery. And all of it conjured by one man with a handful of ancient and invented instruments, recorded mostly-live, with precious few overdubs. Michael Masley has been a fixture of Berkeley, California, since he arrived from Michigan in 1982. Even today, he remains a common sight, working as a street performer - catching the attention of passers-by as he summons otherworldly overtones from a coterie of arcane instruments. This is how he met fellow east-coast transplant and musical voyager, Barry Cleveland, in 1983. Cleveland was enraptured by the sound of Masley’s wildly innovative bowhammer cymbalom. The cymbalom is an ancient instrument, similar to a zither or hammered-dulcimer - originating in Eastern Europe in 1874, but with primitive early examples dating back as early as 3500 BC. Yet Masley’s approach to the instrument was wholly original. Masley replaced the two traditional cymbalom hammers, with bowhammers - an invention wherein he fitted each of his fingers with it’s own combination hammer/bow device, which allowed him to both strike the strings, and bow them like a violin. Outfitted with his bowhammers, Masley was able to wrest startlingly new sounds from a centuries-old instrument. In 1985, after performing together for a couple years, Cleveland produced Masley’s first solo endeavour, Cymbalom Solos. With the help of Cleveland’s timely production, Masley’s technique reached its zenith. His complex and beautiful compositions combined elements of Eastern-European classical, new minimalism, and celtic/folk music, yet the end result falls squarely within the world of new age kosmiche. Music of the spheres, conjured by earthbound strings. Masley estimates that he sold tens-of-thousands of cassette copies of Cymbalom Solos over his years of performing. And now, Morning Trip is distinctly proud to offer it on vinyl for the first time ever - an album of startling, imaginative beauty, by a brilliant American folk artist.

Michael Nau is set to release his fifth full length record under Karma Chief Records on 12/8/2023. Since the mid 2000’s, he’s crafted a catalog of thoughtful, reflective songs as the frontman of indie-rock mainstays Cotton Jones, Page France, and Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread. All 11 tracks come together to paint a beautiful picture. The lyrics invoke the listener’s imagination throughout. They’re introspective, but vague and open-ended. The indie rock backdrop shows signs of psych-soul influence with dry and punchy drums, lush synth lines, and tastefully verb-soaked vocal production. Sweeping string arrangements and French horn runs add cinematic motion to the waltz-y “Shiftshaping” (track 4). Slide guitar and a shuffling snare drum add some get-up-and-go to “Painting a Wall” (track 2). Nau’s vocal delivery falls somewhere between crooning to a crowd, telling stories to a loved one, and musing to himself. The singer-songwriter’s relaxed attitude toward making records is discernible in the sound. A while back, veteran producer and engineer Adrien Olsen (The Killers, Lucy Dacus, Fruit Bats), approached him about recording in his Richmond, Virginia-based studio. For the first time in a while, Michael had some sessions on the calendar. He called a few old friends and put together a band. “I didn’t have much of a plan before Adrien reached out, so I wrote some songs specifically for the session,” Michael explained. “I was thinking about what would be fun to play with this specific group of guys." The band consisted of several long-time collaborators and musicians who had participated in Nau’s various recording and touring efforts over the years. “It had been a while since I’d made music in a room with other people,” Michael shared. “We just sort of started playing and didn’t really talk about what was happening.” The combo’s newfound chemistry was a primary source of inspiration and, with the help of Olsen, ultimately led to an album’s-worth of music. Nau and the band spent five days at Montrose Recording and left with a plan to return and finish up a few months later. “After the first session, I took a copy of the recordings with me to overdub a few things at my spot,” Michael shared. While he was working through it, he found a bunch of beautiful moments of jamming in between the takes. “I grabbed a bunch of the pieces and tried to work them in. Then, I dumped the whole thing onto a cassette as one long stream of songs.” With the record mostly complete, the final session at Montrose would consist of some simple overdubs and finishing touches. But somehow, in the months between, he lost the overdubs. “Going into the second session, all I had was the cassette,” Michael explained. The band got back together and performed another batch of songs. At the end of their second session, they had enough music to pick and choose from for the new full-length. “The songs, as they appear on the album, are basically how they were recorded as a live band.” Grab a copy of Accompany on 12/08/2023 and keep an eye out for tour dates in the coming months.

Having sold his instruments to fund a nomadic 1970s lifestyle, eccentric Irish experimentalist Michael O’Shea was forced to create his own handmade answer to the sitars and zelochords he’d become accustomed to playing on his travels around the globe. 

Using an old door, 17 strings, chopsticks and combining them with phasers, echo units and amplification, the new device was to become his signature sound, mixing Irish folk influences with Asian and North African sounds in a mesmerising and soulful new way that brought him to the attention of the leading improvisers of his day - Alice Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, Don Cherry and more. 

A logical follow up to AllChival’s recent reissue of Stano's debut LP, Michael O’Shea’s self titled LP was originally released on Wire's Dome Imprint in 1982. 

The background to the album is as interesting and inspiring as the artist who created it - born in Northern Ireland but raised in the Republic, O’Shea was keen to travel and escape the troubles of his home. 

Wandering throughout Europe and the Middle East, O’Shea found himself living and working as a relief aid in Bangladesh in the mid Seventies where he learned to play sitar while recovering from a bout of hepatitis. A later period spent busking in France accompanied on zelochord by Algerian musician Kris Hosylan Harp led to O’Shea’s idea of combining both instruments as a homebuilt instrument - Mo Chara [Irish for "My Friend"]. 

He later described the process on the back of the LP himself saying: "Having sold my sitar in Germany and being desperate for money to travel to Turkey, I conceived of the idea of combining both sitar and zelochord. The first Mo Cara was born, taken from the middle of a door, which was rescued from a skip in Munchen" 

A combination of dulcimer, zelochord and sitar, O Shea would play it with a pair of chopsticks, striking the strings softly using Irish folk rhythms mixed with the rich, nostalgic sounds of of the many Asian artists he’d encountered on his travels. 

It was a pan cultural sound standing at an unusual crossroads of folk, traditional, rock, progressive, jazz, electronic and post-punk worlds without hesitation. 

Perfecting the instrument on the streets, there were further spells spent busking in the underground stations and cafes of London's West End and Covent Garden during the heady days of the 1970s when they were full of eccentric street entertainers, jazz improvisers and musical pioneers. 

His work with Rick Wakeman never saw the light of day but O’Shea’s contact with the world of post-punk London ensured his name would live on. 

Introduced to Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis via cartoonist Tom Johnston, O’Shea eventually acquiesced to an open invite to record at their studio. Turning up unannounced in the first half of 1981 the LP was recorded in a day in the legendary Blackwing Studios and released on Dome the year after. 

The first side features the fifteen minute masterpiece "No Journeys End" with the B side featuring more input from Wire in processing the Mo Chara sound. 

Lewis himself said years later of the forgotten masterpiece: “I always said it was the best job we ever did.” 

After an aborted LP with The The's Matt Johnson the following year, O’Shea quietly disappeared from the formal recording world . His brief but unique contribution to the music world came to a sad end in 1991 when O’Shea was struck by a post van and died a few days later in hospital in London. 

This repress on All City’s AllChival imprint has been remastered and reissued with the approval of both Dome and his surviving siblings. 

Radiation Roots continues its exploration of Jah Thomas' Midnight Rock label with the releases of this sought after and rare early dancehall album. Recorded at the legendary Channel One Studio, Osbourne and Palmer are two sublime vocalists and they are backed here by The Roots Radics, with Scientist on the mix.

Even though only being fully terminated 50 years after its conception, ‘Azabu’ can be regarded as the starting point of Michael Ranta’s creative self-discovery. The recordings that form the base of ‘Azabu’ were mostly made in the Tokyo district with the same name (Azabu-Juban). Next to abstracted field recordings ‘Azabu’ is also pervaded by a rich variety of percussion, string and wind instruments, all played by Ranta himself. Subsequently Ranta edited, layered and processed the recordings at the NHK electronic music studio in Tokyo. Both pieces display a vast array of acoustic, electronic and concrete sound events meticulously sequenced to a complex fusion symbolizing the entire spectrum of earthly and heavenly sounds. Dynamic extremes evoke a restless flight through space, or through the depths of human subconsciousness, between dream and reality. Ultimately the music disappears, like a dot in the sky gradually fading into nothingness – an “ascension” that closes the loop in a ritual of life that can begin anew again at any time.

Original dead stock. "MU V / MU VI" released in 1984 by Michael Ranta (1942-), an American percussionist known for his collaboration with Toshi Ichiyanagi and Takehisa Kosugi on "Improvisation Sep. 1975"! This is a great album recorded and mixed at Conny Plank's Studio in 1984, featuring Mike Lewis and Conny Plank performing the masterpiece "Mu" No. 5 and No. 6.

More than any other of Ranta's releases this album shows his multiple roots and ideas as a composer, percussionist and concrete/electronic musician, building a seamless bridge between Eastern and Western avantgarde. Ranta is one of those rare composers able to organically melt his wide artistic span into a singular but yet diverse universe morphing his rich vocabulary as a percussionist with the Oriental esoteric tradition, the psychedelic underground and the realm of electronic minimalism.

The only time this ensemble got together before was for the singular and legendary 'Wired' session recorded in 1970 and published on the Deutsche Grammophon box set 'Free Improvisation' in 1974. The Wired session also included Karl-Heinz Böttner while this release of 'Mu' just has the trio of Ranta, Lewis and Plank. Mu got recorded a few months after the 'Wired' session, in Plank's studio, but never got released strangely enough. Yet it's a true hidden treasure of marvellous minimal psychedelic improvisations with an oriental touch controlled and mixed by 'Diabolis in Musica' Conny Plank. Although the intense recording session ended early in the morning the mixdown was still done straight afterwards of which this is the direct result for MU1, Mu2, and Mu4. For Mu 3 Michael Ranta added live percussion to the original tape mix and dedicated it to Mike Lewis. Due to circumstances and moving to different continents they never had the chance to meet again.

Previously unreleased live recording from the Ranta archives. The creative duo of Michael Ranta and Takehisa Kosugi performed many times in the 1970’s and 1980’s. On this outstanding performance, recorded at the Japanese Culture Institute in Cologne in 1987, the application of an advanced multi delay system, independently utilized by both players, plays a central role. The smartly treated cyclic tapestry of the delay system (modulated, transformed, harmonized) injects additional dimensions to the highly coordinated improvisation with voice, percussion, violin and electronics, creating interactive ‘composition-like’ textures being ‘Multiple Musics’.

For five decades, Michael Smith’s performance art has inhabited bland domestic spaces, mass media and its promise to keep us company and failing business ventures that misread the moment. Through art installations, theater, video, television and live performances, Smith’s comedic work lives inside the identity models that both constitute and disassociate our shared experience. His two performance personae, Mike and Baby Ikki, plumb the depths of American and culture to perform the discrepancies between what is promulgated by controlling interest and what actually exists in the reality of our day-to-day worlds. MIKE’S BOX is an immersive 8-disc DVD collection of his work up until now, including the complete collaborative video work of Smith with both Joshua White and Doug Skinner, collaborations with William Wegman, Seth Price, Mike Kelley and many others. It is accompanied by a richly illustrated book with an essay by Tim Griffin, featuring documentation from shows exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Museo Jumex, along with filmed conversations between the artist, curators and collaborators.

MIKE'S BOX includes 8 DVDs along with a 128-page booklet packaged in a printed slipcase.

With Michaela Melián's LP music for a while, a-Musik is releasing the first album by the visual artist, co-founder of F.S.K., and solo musician since Monaco, which appeared on Monika Enterprise in 2013. While her last releases, Electric Ladyland (2016), Music from a Frontier Town (2018), and Tania (2022) were created as part of exhibitions and sound installations, music for a while is Melián's fourth autonomous LP, characterized on the one hand by her unmistakable dreamlike sound along the interfaces between dark chamber music, solemn ambient techno, and cinematic sound art.

As with her previous albums, there is also a wonderful avant-pop cover version—this time of the track “My Other Voice” (1979) by the Sparks. On the other hand, music for while, whose cover is adorned with Melián's photographs of the clouds above her new home of Marseille, spreads a comparatively ominous mood – one that is nevertheless appropriate given the circumstances in 2025 – thanks in part to the sedate, almost ticking drum sounds of co-producer Felix Raethel. Once again, the multi-instrumentalist, supported by Ruth May on violin and Elen Harutyunyan on viola, weaves her recordings of various string instruments — cello, guitar, bass, and zither — into fascinating, lurching, looping, and almost hypnotic soundscapes, but atonal synthesizer sounds in tracks such as “traverse benjamin” and “märchenwald” open up the music to electroacoustic and experimental music. The concluding cover version of Irving Berlin's “they say it's wonderful” (1946) rounds off one of this year's most impressive releases in an incomparably groovy and melancholic way.

Michel Banabila is an indispensable part of the Dutch experimental music scene, where he has acquired a special place with many, in the 40 years that he has been releasing music. Michel is also just as active as a composer for the theater and ballet world, as well as for TV productions, to considerable fame. The threat of drowning in the sea of his oeuvre is real in view of the unprecedented amount of output, but once sailing unmissable monolithic rock formations loom up rapidly. Echo Transformations' is one of them. It's a magical album, where everything falls into place in a rich domain inspired by the Fourth World dimension. A world of sound arises from our imagination, stimulating the senses. A concept album where every sigh has its place and where no superfluous tone can be heard. What remains is to embrace the inevitable surrender that accompanies unstoppable change. This is Banabila at his best.

Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics. Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic barriers. Through remarkable complexity and technique, 'Unspeakable Visions' is full of sonic textures, together evoking a layered, emotional arc. While the track 'Rattles' still references the artist's first album on Knekelhuis, 'Echo Transformations', the style of most other tracks departs towards an intriguing new mix of both pop-infused songs and gloomy abstraction, balancing between a sense of anticipation and desolation. (Luke Cohlen, May 2024)

Renowned US-Dutch gospel-soul powerhouse Michelle David & The True-tones mark a bold new chapter with their forthcoming album, “Soul Woman”, out February 27, 2026 on Milan-based imprint Record Kicks. Building on the critical acclaim of 2024’s “Brothers & Sisters”, a record that held a mirror to the complexities of the world, the new LP “Soul Woman” turns inward — a deeply personal exploration of identity, healing, and spiritual resilience. “How can I ask others to take time to reflect on their lives if I’m not doing the same myself?” Michelle David asks. That spirit of self-inquiry and renewal lies at the heart of “Soul Woman” — a record that embraces vulnerability while radiating strength. Musically, “Soul Woman” continues to refine the band’s signature blend of gospel fire, soul and vintage rhythm & blues, while drawing from a wider palette of influences. Echoes of Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, and The Four Seasons pulse through the grooves, while the gospel fire of The Blind Boys of Alabama and the joyous uplift of Diana Ross & The Supremes lend the album both gravity and sparkle. At the center is Michelle David’s unmistakable voice — raw, warm, and filled with purpose — wrapped in rich, analog-driven arrangements from longtime collaborators Paul Willemsen (guitar, bass guitar), Onno Smit (guitar, bass guitar) and Bas Bouma (drums). Together, Michelle David & The True-tones stand tall at the forefront of the retro soul scene — blending timeless grooves with modern urgency, unshakable authenticity, and heartfelt spirit. A Voice Born in the Church, Honed on the Road. Born in New York and raised in the church, Michelle David began singing at just four years old and joined her first group, The Mission of Love, at five. Her powerhouse vocals took her around the globe, starring in acclaimed Broadway productions like Mama, The Sound of Motown, Glory of Gospel, and Mahalia, and recording with legends including Diana Ross and Michael Bolton — all before beginning her celebrated journey with The True-tones. Together, Michelle David & The True-tones have released seven critically acclaimed albums and lit up stages across Europe, from Pinkpop to North Sea Jazz and London Jazz Festival. Known for their electrifying live shows, the band has earned standing ovations from Spain to Scandinavia, appeared on major TV and radio platforms, and even performed at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Their recorded work has been equally praised: The Gospel Sessions earned an Edison Award nomination (the Dutch equivalent of a Grammy), while 2020’s Truth & Soul was named Album of the Year by Craig Charles’ BBC Radio 6 Music and Album of the Month by FIP (Radio France). Their most recent album, Brothers & Sisters (2024), marked their debut on Record Kicks and became a breakout release — celebrated by Rolling Stone France, KEXP, Jazzthing Magazine (Germany), De Volkskrant (Netherlands), and BBC 6 Music. A Testament to Soul’s Timeless Power With “Soul Woman”, Michelle David & The True-tones offer more than just a new record — it’s a musical testimony of resilience, a celebration of spiritual growth, and a reaffirmation of soul music’s ability to heal, connect, and inspire. At once rooted in classic traditions and blazing new trails, this is contemporary soul at its finest.

Shelter Press and INA GRM's excellent Portraits GRM series continues with Michelle Helene Mackenzie and Stefan Maier's collaborative piece 'Orchid Mantis' which takes inspiration from Taiwan's abandoned Sanzhi Pod City. The building project came to a halt following multiple accidents in the workplace. The site is now a wasteland, said to be haunted, and is inhabited by five species of orchid mantis. Their soundworld conjures this mysterious place. Meanwhile, Olivia Block's electroacoustic piece uses field recordings from the San Ignacio lagoon and synthesised sounds to provoke thought on humanity's threat to the survival of Pacific grey whales and other species.

'Soundwriters: The Incomplete Guide to Indonesian Diaspora Music (1969–1989)' is a book and catalogue devoted to artists whose work shaped the cultural life of postcolonial Netherlands, yet rarely entered official archives; cataloguing 62 rare and overlooked releases by Indonesian diaspora artists recorded in the Netherlands and Suriname, from soul and funk to reggae and pop. "Written by Michiel Sekan with additional research by Harry “Munir” Septiandry, the book combines historical analysis with personal reflection. Essays move between migration histories, colonial legacies, family memory, and music culture. At its core sits a catalogue of sixty two releases that document the range of sounds created by Indo-European, Moluccan, Papuan, Javanese Surinamese, Peranakan, and broader Indonesian diaspora communities. Soul, funk, pop, reggae, rock, and protest songs appear side by side. Together they form an aural record of resistance, adaptation, and creativity across continents. Printed in Jakarta and published by Jiwa Jiwa in three languages, Dutch, English, and Indonesian, Soundwriters positions music as both archive and testimony. It asks how sound preserves stories when written records fall short, and how listening can reconnect personal memory with shared history. The project extends beyond the page through exhibitions, listening rooms, documentaries, and public programs in the Netherlands and Indonesia. Michiel Sekan is an Amsterdam based DJ, curator, and multidisciplinary artist. Through his platform Jiwa Jiwa he researches and presents music from the Indonesian archipelago and diaspora across radio, exhibitions, publishing, and club culture. His work links record collecting with archival study and personal history. Soundwriters is his first book."

Known as an early member of Napalm Death and later a pioneer of industrial and dub’s deepest realms with Scorn and Lull, Mick Harris returns with a long-awaited new album, issued on vinyl by U.S. stronghold L.I.E.S.—a bastion of industrial and raw techno. Across nine tracks, Harris sculpts an abyssal soundworld where cavernous bass pressure and grainy textures descend like a dive into the deep sea. Delay and reverb loop like chisels carving stone, layering dub’s decay with the grit of noise to construct shadow-filled spaces. Probing the very limits of lightless zones, this work stands as a weighty statement at the outermost edge of industrial dub.

Another massive offering from the one and only Mick Harris, continuing on in his Culvert Dubs Sessions experimentations with a new 2xlp. Once again Mick delves deep into the shadow realm of slow beat, psychedelic heavily textured, grinding dub techno. Eight tracks of absolute industrialized, delay swept, full pressure, sound system shaking murk ridden, dark water dubs. Top form work when Mick lets loose in this wild style, just the right balance of beauty, restraint and brutality. Total heavy weight music!

Hard Texas funk from the celebrated San Antonio scene. As Abe Epstein was tracking West Side brown-eyed soul groups on General McMullen Blvd., Mickey Foster and his biracial Soul Generation band were answering James Brown's call to get on the good foot just south of the River Walk. Collected here are a dozen of their swaggiest and crook-legged instrumentals, a mood building survey of the band's 1969-'77 run, including the paper hit knee-wobbler "Iron Leg." Chop up your next sample here.

CLEAR VORTEX CHAMBER charts a new period of exploration and discovery for Alexander Tucker both as musician and producer. After discarding a year’s worth of material, Tucker sought the advice of Downwards Records label boss Karl O’Connor aka Regis who advised him on production techniques and approach. Along with further support form Freddy Lomas of Kinn and Emptyset’s James Ginzburg, Tucker got to work on a new set of material with a heightened sense of clarity and density. Tucker explains “Making this album really tested me, it was the outcome of a long period of hard lessons and harsh realities, but I had some good friends to guide me along the way and pull me out of the mire.”

At the core of MICROCORPS is Tucker’s complex modular systems, knitted into the tracks are triggered samples of his own cello and bass guitar playing, which meld into the electronic fabric of each track. Tucker expands “I wanted the album to sit somewhere between machine technology with something primitive, where synthetic and acoustic sources become intertwined. I like the idea of different dimensions phasing in and out of one another, creating new areas where I can explore sound, structures and imaginary spaces”

These imaginary spaces play a key role in the construction of CLEAR VORTEX CHAMBER. Tucker’s background in fine art and his current work with experimental comics bleeds into the unspoken landscapes of his music. “I want to trigger parts of the brain that can dream up imagery whilst at the same time focus of the sonic structure of the music itself, I guess I’m still obsessed with trying to create some sort of psychoactive environment” The architecture of each track presents itself in the form of massive kicks, sonar clicks and kinetic percussive rhythms, supported by pulsing bass drones. Cello and bass guitar samples initially bowed, plucked and hit by mallets are triggered creating dense wooden timbres that punctuate the electronic field. Voices and vocals both treated and untreated weave throughout the album in the form of cryptic dialogues and unspooling wordless singing, adding to the cross pollination of something human, machine and a space in-between.

Collaboration is a key element to MICROCORPS. Justin K Broadrick’s heavy spidery guitar lines and processed screaming rip wormholes in ‘FEDBCK’, Regis lends his distinct vocal work to ‘ZONA’, Japanese artist Phew injects organ drones, vocals and fried electronics throughout ‘SANSU’. On penultimate track ‘FEBCK 2’, Karl D’Silva’s droning saxophone joins Broadrick’s feed backing guitar noise and improvising lyricist, producer and sound artist Elvin Brandhi spits out cut up diatribes across final track ‘MALLETS’. Throughout the album Tucker’s own processed voice sits alongside singer JJOWDY’s eerily gentle laments

This is a best-of cassette release by Midnight Express, a fantastic funk unit from the 80's that has been popular since the early days of PPU, known for their classic Danger Zone. The cassette contains 11 tracks, including excerpts from the previously published Tri-Fire Volume One and Two compilations, plus one previously unreleased track. The funk groove and sound quality are just right.

After highly acclaimed releases from OK EG and Donald’s House, Wax’o Paradiso Recordings proudly welcomes Naarm/Melbourne producer Midnight Tenderness (Ryan Hunter) to the fold. Over four tracks the ‘Hydrosphere EP’ continues the label’s narrative of platforming contemporary antipodean psychedelia with three masterful productions and a remix from Boorloo/Perth’s Hame DJ.

As a producer with influences rooted in dub, street soul, boogie and the DNA of UK club music, Ryan draws down on the Middy T sound with the title track ‘Hydrosphere’, a blend of broken machine funk, glistening synth lines and beautiful crisp drum programming. ‘Rain Vibe’ takes the sound palette further adding a hefty wub for good measure. ‘Catamaran’ transports us back to the golden era on the Balearic isles, with the original evoking Ibizan sunset cruises whilst Hame DJ’s remix brings some Madchester chug to the mix.