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Keith Hudson’s Nuh Skin Up Dub is a heavyweight dub album that stands out as one of the most potent statements in the genre’s history. Released in 1979, this sonic masterpiece showcases Hudson’s dark, almost mystical production style, where heavy bass lines, echo-drenched drums, and ghostly fragments of vocals swirl together in a hypnotic haze. It was also the first time Hudson highlighted the significant role played by his favorite studio band, the legendary Soul Syndicate, who he had already been working with for some years. Despite providing backing tracks for many important Jamaican artists and big hits, the band rarely received the recognition due.
Unlike the more polished, accessible dub records of the time, Nuh Skin Up Dub is raw, unfiltered, and experimental, pushing the boundaries of rhythm and space. Tracks like “No Commitment” and “Ire Ire” pulse with an eerie, almost menacing energy, while Hudson’s masterful use of reverb and delay creates a soundscape that feels simultaneously expansive and claustrophobic. It’s a record that also rewards deep listening—every spin reveals new layers of sonic detail, hidden textures, and dub wizardry.
Often referred to as the “Dark Prince of Reggae,” Hudson had an uncanny ability to craft music that was both deeply meditative and unsettling. Nuh Skin Up Dub is a prime example of his genius, solidifying his status as one of the most visionary figures in reggae history.
Can you believe it? Devendra Banhart's Cripple Crow - originally released by XL in 2005 - is turning 20 years old. This was the 5th album from the Venezuelan American artist who is considered the pioneer of the "Freak Folk" and "New Weird America" movements. To celebrate - Devendra has compiled a reissue of the out of print release that features a 3rd Bonus LP (on Clear Green Smoke!) featuring 9 bonus tracks, including 1 B-Side, 5 previously unreleased demos, 2 previously unreleased live tracks, and 1 unearthed smash hit from the recording sessions. This release is the first on his newly created Heavy Flowers label. The album received a "Best New Music" 8.4 review from Pitchfork upon its release. The release date will fall 1 day prior to the actual 20th Anniversary, which will be the first time Devendra is early for anything. Now THAT is something to celebrate!
The latest by iconic slowburn Australian duo HTRK is an elegant nine song suite of windswept emotion and heartbreak noir, crafted in skeletal arrangements of guitar, voice, metronomes, and FX. Inspired by a recent infatuation with “eerie and gothic country music,” Rhinestones moves from whispered lament to acoustic eulogy to downtempo vignettes, tracing muted embers of loss and lust through haunted city streets. Taking cues from the economy and brevity of western folk but skewed through a narcotic, nocturnal lens, the album maps enigmatic badlands of strung out beauty and lengthening shadows.
Nigel Yang cites friendship as a central muse, “particularly the forging of it, and its potential for new feelings of telepathy and trust.” Jonnine Standish’s wounded, alluring vocals echo similar mysteries of connection and unknown crossroads, poetic but direct, dream diaries faded with age and rain. The rhinestones of the title evoke the glittering plastic of cowboy glamor, yet “made precious somehow;” Standish cites as an example a baby blue star brooch from Texas, gifted to her “from a stoned friend on New Year’s Eve 10 years ago in Brighton – cheap keepsakes can be more valuable than diamonds.”
Even for a group as enduringly versatile as HTRK, Rhinestones is a revelation, condensing their lyrical alchemy to its simmering, magnetic essence. “Sunlight Feels Like Bee Stings,” “Reverse Déjà vu,” and “Gilbert and George” in particular are masterpieces of drama, delivery, and distillation, dried flowers clouded by smoke, the candle’s flame flickering but unforgotten: “Some things are not like the others / Some friends are not like the others / did I ever say / did I ever say / did I ever say thank you?”
Instrumental four-piece Yuuf return with a new EP ‘Mt. Sava’, out on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour. The release follows their earlier 2025 EP ‘Alma’s Cove’, a six-track journey through natural soundscapes and quiet introspection.
Described by the band as the “spiritual sister to ‘Alma’s Cove’”, ‘Mt. Sava’ shifts the setting from lush coastal tranquility to the awe-inspiring scale of mountainous desert terrain - one that “lets the listener both explore the serenity of a night sky filled with stars far removed from human life and the brutality and fierceness of life in the desert” the band comment. “The name Mt. Sava comes from the place where we shot a Live Session of the full EP. It’s a breath-taking and canyon-like gorge that is often referred to as St. Sava Canyon”.
When Straight Ahead hit the shelves in 1974, it marked another bold chapter for Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express. The band—Steve Ferrone on drums, Barry Dean on bass, Jack Mills on guitar, and Lennox Langton on congas—was firing on all cylinders, pushing jazz fusion into fresh, uncharted territory.
Critics took notice, with Billboard praising the album as “excellent in development and inventiveness,” and it found its way onto multiple charts at once.
The journey begins with “Beginning Again,” a lively opener built on Langton’s congas and Ferrone’s muscular groove. Auger’s electric piano sparkles here, immediately setting the album’s adventurous tone. Then comes their take on Wes Montgomery’s “Bumpin’ On Sunset.” Darker in mood and drenched in atmosphere, Auger stretches out into improvisation while still honoring Montgomery’s spirit. The interpretation struck such a chord that, years later, Wes’s widow wrote to Auger to tell him it was her husband’s favorite version of his much-loved tune.
The title track, “Straight Ahead,” shifts gears into funk, showcasing the group’s ability to slide effortlessly between genres. “Change” pushes further, blending rock’s raw energy with jazz’s improvisational freedom, driven by Auger’s command of the Hammond organ. To close “You’ll Stay in My Heart” brings the tempo down with a tender, soulful ballad—an intimate ending to an album full of bold explorations.
At the time, reviewers hailed the record as a gem. One called it “a minor masterpiece of incredibly engaging and melodic keyboard-centric jazz rock fusion. ” Another singled out “Bumpin’ On Sunset” as “the best reason to own this recording.”
Half a century later, Straight Ahead still resonates. It captures that fertile moment in the 1970s when jazz, rock, and funk were colliding, and artists like Auger were busy redrawing the map. To this day, it stands as proof of Auger’s fearless curiosity and his knack for breaking boundaries—music that looked forward then, and still feels ahead of its time now.
Recorded during that unique period in the late ‘60s when jazz, blues and rock musicians found common ground in London’s vibrant subterranean clubs, 1968s Definitely What! was the second of the run of the four ground-breaking Trinity albums. Showcasing Auger's open-minded approach and his masterful organ & piano skills, the album whips up a rich blend of jazz, R&B, psychedelic touches and soulful grooves, complemented by the tight, dynamic rhythm section of Dave Ambrose (bass) and Clive Thacker (drums).
After the previous year’s Open (1967) with its 'Summer of Love' feel and its melting pot of Mod R&B, cover versions of US soul hits led by Julie Driscoll’s inimitable vocals, Auger considered Definitely What! as his first solo album, and so he travelled deeper into jazz territory, balancing original pieces with audacious covers. Tracks include versions of Mose
Allison's 'If You Live' and of Wes Montgomery’s ‘Bumpin’ On Sunset’.
“I got a letter from Wes's wife,” recalls Auger, “saying that it was Wes' favourite version. Can you believe that, Wes's wife wrote to me!
Elsewhere, we find a dramatic re-arrangement of The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’ complete with orchestral strings and a punchy horn section, alongside a supercharged version of Booker T & The MGs’ ‘Red Beans & Rice’.'George Bruno Money' was dedicated to Auger's drinking pal of the era, Zoot Money, and 'John Browns Body' both combine prime Hammond jazz with the very British surrealist humour that was in vogue at the time. The title track goes further “out” in a sprawling instrumental piece rooted in experimentation. Brian himself specifically states in his sleeve notes that his concept “lies along a straight line drawn between pop and jazz and aims at the 'fusion' of both elements” - ‘fusion’ at that time was not even a recognised musical term, further reinforcing Auger’s credentials as an innovator.
That forward-thinking approach was developed in Open and Definitely What! would come to fruition a year later with the release of Streetnoise (1969) featuring the Trinity and Julie Driscoll. At the time, the move to bring together jazz, rhythm & blues, folk, gospel and pop into a progressive new sound may have annoyed the purists and confused the less open- minded, but these albums stand today as a testament to Auger’s unique position within British music, foreshadowing his future 1970s explorations with the Oblivion Express and beyond. Definitely What! remains a fascinating snapshot of 1960s musical experimentation - raw, eclectic, and unapologetically Auger!
This new Strut reissue is curated by Impressive Collective’s Greg Boraman in partnership with Brian and Karma Auger. The album is remastered by Cosmic Audio from the original tapes, and is packaged in Brian's favourite version of the 3 different sleeves the album was originally issued in.
Songs for Nothing was written upon Olan Monk’s return to the west coast of Ireland. The album is imbued with the influence of sean-nós singing, Irish language songs in the “old style” that often proclaim tales of love, loss and landscape; and also heavily indebted to the late Sinéad O’Connor’s confessional songwriting. Reconstructing these influences through their unique perspective has resulted in a fragmentary album veering between collaged pop, machinic rock and slow airs, “dedicated to Conamara and all who have called it home”. The western, Atlantic-facing edge of Ireland has a particular feeling and energy, one that permeates the release: the granite pulsates, the ocean and sky reflect intensities, seaweed rots on shingle shores, plants bloom, ancient trees come up for air from the drowned forest in Galway Bay, the sun splinters through the low clouds.
The new album "Passing Tone" by SOFT, a band of Kyoto's party scene/music culture treasures, is released from their own base of activities, "softribe.
The album was jointly released in 2021 by 17853 Records and TUFF VINYL, presided over by CHEE CHIMIZU, and Crosspoint, presided over by J.A.K.A.M., the release source, and was followed by a vinyl reissue of their 2010 album Soft Meets Pan "Tam (Message To The Sun )", the 11th and latest album released on analog at the memorial timing of the 30th anniversary of the band's formation since "Tokinami" in 2018.
They have collabolated with various musicians in the past, but this album features only one guest musician, PRITTI, an old member, who participates in one song. The album was produced by the three members since the formation of the band, guitarist SIMIZ, drummer PON2, and double bassist UCON, as well as engineer/electronics KND, who is an indispensable part of the Kyoto music scene. Lurking in the background are vibrant sounds, psychedelic acoustics, and dub work in a style similar to that of a live performance. Their 30th anniversary live performances in Osaka and Kyoto, which were a great success, and their Asian tour are also included in this album.
Chicago Underground Duo is the long-running collaborative project of composer/trumpeter/electronicist Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217, New Future City Radio with Damon Locks) and composer/drummer/mbiraist Chad Taylor (jaimie branch’s Fly or Die, Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons, Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio). Hyperglyph is their first album in 11 years, and 8th in the absolute cabinet of wonders that is the Chicago Underground Duo.
The pair have played music together in a multitude of formations over nearly three decades, including their ongoing partnership in Mazurek’s large-format-skyward-expressionism vehicle Exploding Star Orchestra, in the expanded Chicago Underground Trio & Quartet (with guitarist Jeff Parker), and in a plethora of other assemblages. The early albums by the Duo have proven to be embryonic blueprints for the avant-jazz / electronic / indie rock hybridizations of the time, making them majorly important moments in the articulation of the “jazz” dimensionality of the then-burgeoning "post rock" sound. That sound, of course, was being transmitted far and wide due to the success of these groups as well as Mazurek’s Isotope 217 project with Jeff Parker, and the Chicago Underground’s frequent collaborators in Tortoise.
But the sounds being created by this extended family are and were far from static. Just as most of the still-working artists born of that Chicago era have evolved, reconfigured, and grown, Chicago Underground Duo has undergone a number of musical moltings, with the project always in the background of disparate individual aural investigations — always an option, always an outlet. As the project drops off and picks back up, the concurrent personal evolutions of Mazurek and Taylor make the Duo a true reflection of their own lives and friendship.
“Rob is my longest collaborator and also one of my best friends,” says Taylor, who first performed with Mazurek at a club in Chicago in 1988, aged 15.
“When it feels right we do it,” says Mazurek of the gaps in duo activity. “We have worked together and have been friends for a long time. This creates a kind of continuity not only in the music, but in our lives.”
Musically, there are certainly internalized nods here to AACM composers like Wadada Leo Smith, or albums like Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell’s “Mu” and El Corazon, but the songs of Hyperglyph exemplify Mazurek and Taylor’s individualities while also addressing another longtime influence on the Chicago Underground Duo sound — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of extreme studio editing in jazz-adjacent music, Miles Davis and Teo Macero’s Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, and Get Up With It.
“Post production has always been a big part of our process,” says Taylor.
“Sometimes it just flows and we one-take a thing,” Mazurek elaborates. “Other things take time to ferment. We hit those hard in the post production.”
International Anthem engineer Dave Vettraino was indispensable as part of this process, recording and mixing the entire album at IARC HQ in Chicago. “We are very open and free in the studio,” says Mazurek. “Working with Dave is a joy because he is so intuitive and open with his approach as well. We can try anything with him. In this way it is more like a trio than a duo.”
Couple this trio’s take on the now classic cut-and-recut production techniques of Davis/Macero with Mazurek and Taylor’s longtime interest in deep electronic sounds (think Bernard Parmegiani, Morton Subotnick, Xenakis, Eliane Radigue, Plux Quba), transformative processing (think Autechre, King Tubby, Mouse On Mars, Carl Craig) and we can finally get close to understanding just where the duo lands in this lineage — this ongoing narrative each individual finds themselves in whether they see it or not. The Chicago Underground Duo, it seems, sees it.
While the musical language of Mazurek and Taylor can certainly be clocked in the slew of projects that they participate in together, the sound of a Chicago Underground Duo album is singular among them. Hyperglyph is no exception and could even be considered a distillation of that intuitive yet complex sound. A key can be found in the title of the album itself: highly complex geometric structures which can seem overly complex at first but, when thousands are arrayed in 3D space and with user training and adaptation, can significantly enhance perception and information assimilation and lead to new knowledge and insights.
The album opener “Click Song” kicks off with a blown-out horn chant from Mazurek, doubled by tuned bells and nestled into a muscular and symmetrical stereo-overdubbed polyrhythm from Taylor. Synthesized bass pulls our ears along cyclically, dropping in and out to almost severe dynamic effect while Mazurek and the subtle-yet-persistent bells elaborate upon the melody before ultimately departing from their repetitive psalm in favor of improvisation. It’s all held together by the steady, deep, chest-thump boom of Taylor’s kick drum pattern.
“There has always been a lot of African influence in the rhythms we play,” says Taylor. “With this record, specifically, we utilize rhythms from Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.” Taken as a whole, spiritually, this introductory three-minute stomper lives somewhere between a Tuareg wedding and the most hypnotic moments of the click songs of Northern Africa.
Title track “Hyperglyph” follows, and begins with a chromatic moving harmony played by Mazurek on the RMI electric piano, an instrument famously utilized on Miles Davis’ groundbreaking Filles de Kilimanjaro. The vibe here, though, is one of unyielding, trancelike repetition. The trumpet introduces the time, with Taylor's chunky smacking rhythm hitting hard from the get go. Eventually, the tune undergoes a transformation, with the back and forth of melody and rhythm hitting a fever pitch. A pitch-shifted trumpet becomes a New Orleans march baritone. Dennis Bovell-style dub sounds enter (or, maybe, reveal themselves) at the start of the song’s final movement, followed by wordless incantations. Swelling and saturated, the track sounds as if it’s about to tear itself apart. Static pulsing merges and overtakes the recorded percussion to present a new rhythm of hissing electronics — the harnessed wailing of the unleashed ghost in the machine. A spiritual awakening from the bowels of the earth.
“Hemiunu”, a Chad Taylor composition, is a waltz based around a simple piano figure repeated throughout. A folk melody from anywhere, the kind that’s been in the air for as long as anyone can remember. One might imagine the melody played clawhammer on an Appalachian afternoon, bowed somberly on the Chinese erhu, or hummed nonchalantly on the factory line. From the jump, Taylor’s percussion threads itself into the sound of a well-worn upright piano as the high register is haunted in wide stereo by that roiling RMI electric piano in octaves, alternately dubby and harplike. Enter Mazurek with another folk-like melodic phrase. Pause. Again. Pause. Leaving room for the now densely waltzing bouquet to bloom before diving deep into laser-sharp Lee Morganesque territory with a wildly vibrating high trumpet cry, but with a tone Mazurek owns completely.
The deeper reference for Mazurek’s most untethered emotional playing is his late friend and mentor Bill Dixon, an extraction most apparent in the three-part "Egyptian Suite.” At the start of part one (“The Architect”) a cyclical pattern from Taylor becomes a bed for Mazurek’s repeating, descending, synthetic-Egyptian scaled theme. This call to action dissolves into the second movement, “Triangulation of Light,” where Taylor’s bowed cymbals set the stage for an exploration of microtonal color with and against the occasional joining and un-joining of tones that stretch the frequencies to their limits from Mazurek's open and half muted trumpet. Like a tornado siren in the distance, breaking through the membrane of storm clouds on the horizon, in search of another siren.
The third and final movement, “Architectonics of Time,” announces itself with free rolling swaths of percussion from Taylor à la Robert Frank Pozar’s mind-bending percussion on The Bill Dixon Orchestra’s classic Intents and Purposes. Here, though, the lineup is limited to two, with no overdubs or post-production. Taylor's singular style and Mazurek's tonal painting coalesce into a maelstrom of intervallic tone and beat before the final repeat of the lead melody from the suite’s first movement. It truly feels like reaching the summit. It’s pure and free duo interaction, the symbiosis of 30 years.
“Succulent Amber,” the final track on Hyperglyph, could fit just as easily on side two of Autobahn. After a brief modular synth-induced pan-harmonic melody shift, a steady kalimba is joined by the gentle intermittent raindrop-melodicism of the RMI electric piano in this understated final duo performance, unadorned by further studio arrangement. It’s a full-on comedown moment after the intensity of “Egyptian Suite,” though rather than winding down or petering out, here the Chicago Underground Duo still manage to point toward some kind of incoming mystery with four sudden-yet-patient ascending chords on the low-register of the RMI electric piano just before the curtains close. The piano notes end on a leading tone, leaving the resolution to the listener.
Once we’ve climbed the mountain, they remind us, we have to deal with what’s on the other side.
Different Rooms is a collection of songs and musical motifs we composed, edited, and collaged in the weeks between late 2024 and early 2025. Most of the recorded material was performed during that editing process, except for live performances taken from improvisations we recorded with Jeff Parker and Josh Johnson some time in 2023.
In our typical process, much of our material is collaged and combines moments of live improvisation, field recordings, and in-studio experimentation. This record, however, marks an evolution in our approach to studio production.
Our studios are side-by-side. When we were writing this album, you might have found us tracking viola stacks in one studio while, in the other, we were writing through-composed themes and rearranging the material. Granular synthesis and tape manipulation are key tools we use to create variation and movement in a composition. This process often yields surprising results, capturing the emotion but expressing it in unexpected ways. It feels essential that we embrace a bit of chance.
In contrast to our first album, Recordings from the Åland Islands, we wanted this music to feel very present. Where Recordings was intended to transport you to another place, Different Rooms is meant to meet you where you are. It’s a decidedly urban album. The field recordings were captured on train platforms, in city streets, in rooms at home, and intentionally paint a quotidian sonic image, blurring the line between what you hear in your own environment and what is on the record.
The song cycle is set in palindromic sequence, figuratively, with certain pieces (reflected) by a reprised or recurring motif that is often reimagined with new instrumentation.
The sonic and temporal abstraction between what is performed in real-time versus what is recorded, manipulated, and collaged reinforces our intent to collect the works under the title Different Rooms, which literally expresses the way the material was recorded in different rooms while reminding us that our shared experience of present time is also one that is asynchronous, historied, and complex.
Eje Eje, the orbiting side project of Şatellites founder and multi-instrumentalist Itamar Kluger, shares ‘Primordial Soup’, his second album on Batov Record, stirring an even wider pot of influences from East to West that defies genre. Kluger first achieved international success with six–piece Turkish psychedelic rock evangelists, the Şatellites, whose enviable catalogue has won them support around the world, from KEXP in Seattle to BBC Radio 6 Music, and FIP in France. Kluger launched his solo project, Eje Eje, with the 2023 ‘Five Seasons’ LP, playing the majority of instruments himself and refining his production chops. Kluger’s blend of traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern music with psych, funk, dub, and beat production, culminated in strong support from BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, and Songlines. Much like its predecessor, ‘Primordial Soup' was largely self-recorded by Kluger, blending meticulous studio work, recalling DJ Shadow or early Four Tet, with raw, expressive performances - mainly himself on strings, bass guitar, percussion, and keys, including a new recently acquired microtonal keyboard - perfect for exploring Eastern musical scales, plus musical friends such as drummer Raz Man of Sababa 5, Şatellites and Project Gemini fame. Taking its name from the scientific theory on the origins of life, ‘Primordial Soup’ is as much about sonic experimentation as it is a metaphor for existence itself. For Kluger, the title represents both a philosophical question and a creative mission. “‘Primordial Soup’ is a scientific theory about how life began - thick mixtures of organic matter that, with the sun’s energy, formed self-replicating systems”, Kluger explains. “I still feel sometimes we are just some kind of walking soup bound by a skin balloon”. The album mirrors this idea in its fusion of disparate elements - a bubbling mix of Turkish percussion, psych guitars, dub textures, synths, drum machines, and Middle Eastern musical scales - forming a cohesive yet unpredictable whole. “This album is also a thick mixture of many things, a primal fusion of sounds that exist together only in my imagination, with a potential to come to life”. Kluger began work on Primordial Soup in October 2023, though many ideas had been gestating long before. The process was shaped by both creative compulsion and emotional necessity: “It was a very hard time. Making this album felt like something I had to do to stay sane. I hope it came out banging like my heart did at that time”. Album opener, “Oyun Çorbası” is a playful fusion of Turkish folk and indie rock textures. Its title is a wordplay on Oyun Havaları (traditional dance tunes) and çorba (soup), reflecting the track’s mix of influences. A tight, marshy groove from drummer Raz Man drives the rhythm, while a phased baglama riff leads, layered with swirling keys into a hazy, cymbal-driven bridge. Drawing on the spirit of Ottoman-era dance music but twisted into something uniquely modern, with a Stone Roses meets Turkish folk twist. “The Bride” is a collaboration between Eje Eje and rising flautist, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Elad Kimhi. Inspired by Lebanese weddings, the track blends tradition with dancefloor energy. Known for his work with Firqat El Nur Orchestra, Sharif, among others, Kimhi brings a deep understanding of Mediterranean music, from Andalusian to Moroccan and Turkish. Middle Eastern synths fly across the funk driven groove, arguably like Omar Souleyman if he made boogie. Brighter in tone than much of the album, poppier but with a psychedelic twist, “The Bride” was made with one thing in mind: parties. Similarly, the uptempo “Puzmak” has a highly celebratory feeling and is set to wreak havoc on dancefloors and parties. Middle Eastern horns lead the track, but carried by heavy percussion, a solid bass groove, and subtle drum machine programming. “Horrorizon”, is heavy in almost every sense — dark, cinematic, and immersive. Relentless, languid drums, a hypnotic bassline, and harsh bouzouki textures create a foreboding atmosphere, evoking a deep sense of an ominous future. Think early DJ Shadow with a pile of Turkish psych wax. Kluger imagines it as a kind of “riding song” for “an old carriage wobbling its way down a muddy road into the unknown night”, recalling “the alertness in your guts that something isn’t right about where humanity is heading”. From brooding cinematic rides to joyous wedding bangers, ‘Primordial Soup’ explores what it means to be alive, connected, and creative in turbulent times and cements Eje Eje as one of the most exciting voices fusing Middle Eastern traditions with cutting-edge beat culture. Whether on the dancefloor or in headphones, this is music that moves.
Emerging from Italy’s contemporary underground scene, La Festa Delle Rane is the project of Naples-based musician Lucia Sole, whose new cassette release is a collaboration with UK label All Night Flight. Her music gently captures fleeting everyday moments, evoking dreamlike nostalgia through a childlike lens. With a simple setup of melodica, acoustic guitar, and flute, combined with percussion and brass, the sound balances intimate stillness and kaleidoscopic improvisation. Lo-fi recordings preserve the delicate textures of her innocent vocals, whispering glockenspiel, and distorted organ—tracing the breath and presence of space itself.
"Yasoka" (Night Song) by Suishou No Fune is a live recording captured late at night in Beijing’s UFO Space in August 2024. The album features five deeply atmospheric tracks blending psychedelic improvisation with ethereal vocals and guitar. A haunting meditation on night, memory, and emotional resonance.
"UNDERGROUND SPIRIT 20 – Faraway Thunder" is a live recording by Suishou No Fune featuring drummer Koji Shimura, captured in Tokyo in May 2025. The album blends psychedelic rock and free improvisation in a deeply emotional tribute to Matt Zaun. Ethereal guitar layers and haunting vocals evoke distant storms and spiritual resonance.
Counter Culture Chronicles is proud to announce the release of a remarkable archival discovery: Allen Ginsberg – En Route To Gent, a previously unreleased recording capturing the legendary Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in an extraordinarily candid and intimate setting. This unique audio document presents Ginsberg interviewed in Amsterdam, traveling en route to Gent, and finally performing at the concert hall, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the mind and artistry of one of America's most influential poets. This extraordinary tape features Ginsberg with his lifelong partner Peter Orlovsky, alongside prominent figures from the European literary scene: Dutch poet Simon Vinkenoog, who served as Ginsberg's translator and was a key figure in the Dutch "Fifties Movement", and Dutch Beat poet and artist Harry Hoogstraten, known for his collaborations with international literary figures. Throughout the recording, Ginsberg displays the remarkable candor and spontaneity that made him a defining voice of his generation. Far from a formal interview, this is an intimate portrait of the poet in conversation, revealing his thoughts on poetry, politics, and the human condition with characteristic honesty and insight. The tape captures Ginsberg not only speaking but also singing and playing, demonstrating the performative dimension of his work that made him such a compelling live presence. Vinkenoog was European Beat personified, serving as Ginsberg's translator and publishing the first substantial Dutch translation of Ginsberg's poems. Orlovsky, Ginsberg's lifelong companion and fellow poet, was a central figure in the Beat Generation, portrayed by Jack Kerouac as the saintly Simon Darlovsky in Desolation Angels. Hoogstraten was a veteran Dutch poet and artist whose work appeared in publications from Rolling Stone to The East Village Other. This recording represents a convergence of American and European counterculture movements, capturing a moment when Beat poetry was finding new audiences and interpretations across the Atlantic. What makes this recording particularly special is its unguarded nature. Ginsberg speaks with the same directness and vulnerability that characterized his greatest poems, including Howl and Kaddish. The presence of Orlovsky adds an intimate dimension, while Vinkenoog and Hoogstraten provide the European perspective that enriches the conversation. For scholars of Beat literature, this tape offers invaluable insight into Ginsberg's working methods and philosophical outlook. For general listeners, it provides an accessible entry point into the world of one of America's most important poets, presented in his own voice and words. This is essential listening for anyone interested in Beat literature, 20th-century poetry, or the international counterculture movements that shaped modern literary expression.