MUSIC

Mega rare great jazz recording of the legendary US saxophonist Hal Singer and French pianist Jef Gilson from 1974, originaly released on the French Le Chant Du Monde Label. The birth act of the Afro-/Jazz-Parisian scene that fascinated so many musicians and music fans throughout the 70s and 80s.Fantasic modal soul jazz masterpiece, a pure beauty from start to end..

A member of the radical black nationalist US Organisation, percussionist James Mtume championed the Kawaida way of life, aiming for collective creativity linked to its pan-African and Socialist ideals. With uncle Albert and father Jimmy Heath on board, Mtume cut this intense modal jazz concept album in December 1969 with Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Ed Blackwell and Buster Williams, yielding a masterpiece of percussion-heavy jazz, with every player on exceptional form, the five extended tracks reaching to peaks of emotional expression. This is a must-have delight for all lovers of spiritual, modal and Afrocentric jazz.

Another side of Serge Gainsbourg permeates this 1963 film soundtrack about 'a stripper lost in the nocturnal world' of Paris, according to director Jacques Poitrenaud, who cast Nico in the lead role (after her appearance in La Dolce Vita and just prior to the single she cut with Jimmy Page for Andrew Loog Oldham). Created by Gainsbourg with arranger and longstanding collaborator Alain Gourager, the music is fittingly the cool jazz of dingy nightclubs and seedy bordellos, with Gainsbourg on piano, and there's the sultry title track, delivered breathlessly by Juliette Greco. Another lost gem for all serious Gainsbourg fans.

The compilation album Miss Indubala features rare recordings of the legendary Bengali female vocalist, Miss Indubala, who was active in the early 20th century. This album includes recordings primarily from the 1920s and 1930s, showcasing a variety of genres that represent the cultural music scene of northern India at the time, such as Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Holi, and Khayal. Indubala’s music is known for its delicate yet strong expressions, with her graceful and rich voice resonating across time. Released by Tara Disc Record, a label driven by passion rather than profit, the album meticulously revives South Asian music culture from over 100 years ago in analog form. It offers not only a nostalgic experience but also a timeless, compelling listening journey that remains engaging from a contemporary perspective.

DJ Haram's debut album Beside Myself is testament to the survival of the spirit as an artist reckoning with the present global hellscape. A reference for rage/grief and also the alienation of feeling out of step with the world, the album title functions as a double entendre. With a decade spanning career, the “multidisciplinary propagandist” insists on evolving in times of war and weaponized entertainment, challenging herself and her peers, she asks - “how can this be, how can we live with ourselves, how can we find each other and the truth, how can we get free?” The answer is never so explicit but the out-loud musing places her firmly “beside herself”, travelling a “lonely road”, building her space, sharpening her technical production and lyricism to new focus and intention.

On Beside Myself she is joined by a swarm of collaborators, finding her ‘lonely road’ full of peers, collectively navigating pain and purpose, and in occasional moments of joyful respite, mocking the strife. Haram describes herself as a “god fearing atheist” who makes “anti-format audio propaganda/anti-lifestyle immersive sonics”. Her music attests to this, as she brings in friends and collaborators some of whom she’s previously produced with, from MC's Armand Hammer (billy woods + ELUCID), Bbymutha, SHA RAY, her 700 Bliss partner Moor Mother, Dakn, through to co-producers like Underground rap god August Fanon, Egyptian producer El Kontessa, Jersey Club producer Kay Drizz, musicians like trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, and guitarist Abdul Hakim Bilal.

It's immediately identifiable as her work, but simultaneously unclassifiable; a syncretic ensemble built on middle eastern music, that finds equal space in its tormented live production for Jersey Club, punk, noise, electro-acoustic instrumentation and sampling, tambourines, shakers, darbuka drums and violin, matched with trancelike rave synths, walls of 808's and lurking, rumbling bass. Often at the centre is her own performance of unflinching, heartbroken poetic verse, in conversation with inspiring thinkers like Audre Lorde or Nawal El Saadawi (who’s words are featured on the album) and Kim Gordon in context, examining the material and the abstract in equal measure.

“Summer Jam” is back! A long-awaited repress of this powerful and joyful tune described as “acid pied piper”, with new artwork and new flip-side. EM Records is very happy to again bring you our & your favorite tune from the artist known as Tapes, here in a 10-inch vinyl/download format that, with its good vibes, positivity and major-key delightfulness, will rescue you from any doldrums you are experiencing, whether personal, societal or cosmic. “Summer Jam” is a solo recording from 2019, but it soars over the worries of the year, any year, with an uplifting rhythmic lilt, a positive tonality, non-annoyingly catchy melodies and some lovely sonic textures. There’s something here for fans of bass music, mid-80s-and-beyond electronic music, and pure toe-tapping good times. There’s a sweet chord progression and background drift in the title track that are particularly pleasing, and the flip-side is a very satisfying “acid” live version with his ally, 7FO, that will lovingly catapult you to another major-chord heaven. The sun can shine anywhere, anywhen, so enjoy!

Disiniblud, the thrilling new collaborative album project from the composers/producers/multi-instrumentalists Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith. Rachika and Nina meet on complementary but seemingly disparate musical grounds. On her 2022 breakout LP Heaven Come Crashing, Rachika departed from her usual ambient guitar in favor of maximalist synths, sub-bass, and flickers of Amen breaks. Her distinct fusion of post-rock and electronica earned her accolades as Pitchfork's Best New Music, on several best of the year lists (The New York Times, Stereogum, Fader, GQ, Bandcamp, etc), and as the opening act on tour with M83. Nina, meanwhile, is best known for her self-trained approach to composition, as evident on her 2019 debut MARANASATI 19111 and its delicate medley of cello, piano, clarinet, and flute, used to explore a personal history marked by community tragedy and paranormal incidents. On Disiniblud, the two’s self-described “wordless conversation,” orbits such themes as mortality, reinvention through destruction, and sublimating fractured histories into music—all resulting in a work that suggests sweeping transformation can come from embracing old wounds with childlike wonder. Nina envisions this as she and Rachika's younger selves packing a satchel, holding hands, and daring one another to run away into a place of "wounds and wonder," only to discover an unforeseeable magic in an amalgam of post-rock, glitchy indie electronica, ambient, and pop genres in this co-created realm. Disiniblud features guest appearances from Julianna Barwick, Tujiko Noriko, Cassandra Croft, ASPIDISTRAFLY, Katie Dey, June McDoom and Ponytail's Willy Siegel.

Gilla Band Ireland’s favourite Avant-punk quartet has re-issued The Early Years EP, a collection of out of print 7” singles and covers originally released on Any Other City Records and The Quarter Inch Collective and then on Rough Trade Records in 2015. The re-issue features new artwork based on the original colour blocks plus The Cha Cha Cha has now been remastered alongside the rest of the tracks and is ready for the dancefloor once again.

Fan fave (and live setlist staple) featured on the collection is an eight-minute cover of post-dubstep mastermind Blawan’s absurdist banger and demented earworm “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage” that, simply put, is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before or since.

No digital version available 

This is the long-awaited, first-ever vinyl release from the Osaka-based band goat. The five tracks are compiled from their debut album “New Games” (2013) and their second album “Rhythm & Sound” (2015). The titles of those releases provide a hint: a sense of joyful play within defined structures, and an emphasis on propulsive pulse and a prioritizing of pure percussive sound over melodic content. With guitar, bass, drums and saxophone, goat create music which is unlike most rock bands, utilizing harmonics outside standard tonality, as well as clever muting, to craft intricate, driven, forceful compositions by Koshiro Hino, aka YPY. goat is currently going through a period of new development and further exploration of intertwining patterns of rhythmic repetition; this compilation is the bedrock. Superbly recorded and mixed by Bunsho Nishikawa, mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, cover art by Tomoo Gokita, this release will be a revelation for your turntable. 

TRACKS: 
A1. New Games 
A2. std 

B1. Solid Eye 
B2. Ghosts Part 1 
B3. On Fire

Yes! Tommy Guerrero’s much-loved 4th LP – the smooth West Coast classic From The Soil To The Soul - gets its first ever vinyl release. As the follow up to his revered Soul Food Taqueria, this album was originally released by Quannum Records in 2006 but only on CD. Working with Tommy directly, the LP has been fully remastered, cut on to heavyweight wax, and comes with artwork freshly reworked by the man himself.

From The Soil To The Soul represents a continuation of Tommy’s blissful guitar-soul whilst demonstrating increasingly complex chops and a slightly darker side to his distinctive sound. His spare, effortless funk is blended here with elements of Americana, heavy psych, lo-fi fuzz and intoxicating Latin rhythms. Combined with his typically breezy, laid-back San Franciscan style, it’s a vibe from start to finish.

Recorded primarily in his home studio, Tommy wrote, arranged and played nearly all the instruments, including bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion and kalimba. Renowned street artist Barry McGee, aka Twist, designed the cover art which Tommy has now recast in a deep, deep red for the vinyl version.

As ever with Tommy, the highlights are many and memorable. From twinkling, sun-drenched opener “Hello Again” to the penultimate, punk-rocking track “Let Me In Let Me Out” (featuring the melodic yet fearsome rapping of Lyrics Born), the variety across the LP is relentless, but satisfying, and without once losing focus.

We’re treated to the gorgeous hip-hop blues of “The Under Dog”, Meters-style Hammond B-3 jams like “War No More” and “No Guns More Glory” and Balearic bangers like Bing Ji Ling’s star-turn on the sleazy “Don’t Fake It.”

Curumin’s soulful guest vocal elevates the already-great Brazilian lounge feels of “Salve” to hitherto unscaled heights and the heavy, driving basslines - funky and warm on “Badder Than Bullets”, sombre and intense in “Tomorrow’s Goodbye” and “Molotov Telegram” – never fail to move both body and soul.

But our favourite track is the beautiful breezy pop of “Just Ain’t Me”. A bittersweet, skipping ballad which boasts an incredibly rare instance of Tommy singing. “What you want from me, I can never give” he repeats throughout, lending the already-melancholic atmosphere greater poignancy. It would’ve been number 1 across the planet in a parallel universe.

In Sheep’s Clothing is excited to announce our first archival release: Electric Satie, a one-off conceptual project by acclaimed Japanese electronic music producer Mitsuto Suzuki. Originally released on CD-only in 1998, Gymnopédie ’99 reimagines Erik Satie’s beloved piano compositions in electronic form ranging sonically from downtempo bossa-nova (featuring Brazilian percussionist Marco Bosco and vocalist Silvio Anastacio) to freestyle ambience and chillout room IDM, not far from the music featured on Music from Memory’s Virtual Dreams or Warp Record’s Artificial Intelligence.

A deeply imaginative composer and arranger, Suzuki was inspired early on by Yellow Magic Orchestra to develop his own style of synthesizer music. Suzuki’s first releases include 1994’s Voices Of Planet, an acid techno set under his ARP-2600 moniker, and “Medium Feedback,” which was included on Haruomi Hosono’s 1996 Daisy World Tour compilation album.

On Electric Satie, Suzuki harnesses a unique mix of drum machines, synthesizers (Prophet 5, Memorymoog, PPG Wave, Juno 106, JX-8P, nord modular & nordlead, AKAI & Emu samplers), live percussion, soprano saxophone, piano, and spoken word to craft a lush and vividly futuristic sound world. Compositions like Gymnopédie, Sarabande, Son Binocle, and Musique D'ameublement (Furniture Music) are reimagined with electro-rhythms and inventive digital effects processing, while retaining the sweet melodic simplicity and otherworldly modal harmonies of Satie’s timeless piano works.

FJLP-05 continues with Forest Jams recent trend of Japanese re-issues from the 90’s. This one is E.S. Island’s “Southwind from Hachijo” a deep ambient exploration that is more tribal and spiritual than prior E.S. Island releases. This was recorded on Hachijo Island featuring several traditional instruments with the bulk of the music being played by Eisuke Takahashi (R.I.P.) and Nene Sanae. Limited copies.

"When I was little, I could open the window and go right up to the roof. I didn't have a balcony, so I would lie on the roof and watch the night sky." A dream to be releasing the first vinyl edition of Yahho no Potori, a treasured recording by one of our most cherished contemporary Japanese folk outfits, Eddie Marcon. Comprised of the core duo of Eddie Corman and Jules Marcon, Eddie Marcon was formed in Himeji in 2001, following Corman's involvement in noise-rock duo Coa and Shinsuke Michishita's fabled psychedelic outfit, LSD March. Marking a stylistic shift into delicate, acoustic territories, the duo would release dozens of albums and singles, mostly self-released through their Pong-Kong imprint, that have seen little distribution outside of Japan. An'archives helped us source some of their recent 7" singles, while Preservation, who compiled their earliest works in 2005, remains the only other label outside of Japan to have released their work exclusively. Recorded over a particularly humid summer and autumn, Yahho no Potori sees Eddie Marcon drifting from the delicate psychedelia of their debut EP (2002) into traditional song-based structures, first hinted at in their preceding and debut album, Aoi Ashioto (2005). A document of tenderness, wistfulness and joy, Marcon's deft yet effortless guitar strum sets a stylish backdrop for Corman's voice to ascend. Desirous yet self-assured, Corman breathes life into an intimate space adorned by the elegant instrumentation of Yashuhisa Mizatani, Yoriro Tatekawa, Ran Mizutani and Saya Ueno, whose ingenuous collaborative instinct has been gifted to listeners through collectives such as Tenniscoats, Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Spirit Fest. Here, she also lends her engineering prowess, having produced the entire album. Devotees of ambitious yet beautifully understated songwriting will find much to adore in the songs of Eddie Marcon, and followers of Reiko and Tori Kudo, Nagisa Ni Te, Ai Aso, and those curious about the wider contemporary Japanese underground, will not be surprised by the inclusion of the album's devastating climax, 'Toratolion', in Morr Music's Minna Miteru compilation in 2020. An intense and heartbreaking piece where Corman's voice takes centre stage, it remains a favourite amongst listeners and a centrepiece of Eddie Marcon's live performances. Released on vinyl on June 14 with remastered audio, faithful artwork and Japanese lyric sheet, A Colourful Storm is proud to give new life to a shimmering, underappreciated gem.

At the end of my armA finger, a thread, a vanishing pointWhere nothing can be seen and the air is movingAnnie A, the one-off collaborative project between Félicia Atkinson, Time is Away’s Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney, Christina Petrie and Maxine Funke, arrives on A Colourful Storm with a profoundly inquisitive, exploratory composition evoking questions of inconstancy and reconciliation, vastness and finitude, and the sometimes cruel deception of human perception. Who will conduct our dreams if we never wake?Annie A quietly observes and attempts to compartmentalise the answers. A geographically diverse yet determinedly like-minded ensemble, its seeds were sown during a spring night in London, where time on stage was shared and cherished by Atkinson, Time is Away and Petrie after years of mutual appreciation. Atkinson had found solace in Time is Away’s Ballads, Funke’s Seance and particularly the voice of poet and performer Petrie, whose remarkable delivery, first heard on Ballads, here drifts effortlessly from a wide-eyed stream of consciousness to crystalline sensory expression: “The wind is full of creases / It is shaking the weak threads in the cliff / The coast is releasing teeth and nails into the air”. It is the perfect accompaniment to Atkinson’s hushed tones - a sometimes textural, if not spectral, presence - spoken sensitively like a mother to a resting child, reflecting upon the forces of nature, the fragility of ecology and the surrendering of self to air, rain, and earth.Devotees of Atkinson’s practice will recognise the significance of the natural world in her work, her evocative sonic landscapes formed from a toolbox of keyboard, voice and materials collected from everyday life on the dramatic rocky coast of Normandy, as well as field recordings from places far and wide. She breathes life into liminal spaces, the sound of wind, whispers and the distant clatter of rocks conjuring visions of places both beautiful and eerily familiar. Petrie wanders curiously in these places. “First the Crocus” introduces her desirous cries above a wistful electronic signal, the alternation with Atkinson’s whispers suggestive of each other’s distant presence. “The wind that had not touched land, moving with the warm gyre of the sea / Is now touching land / And is beginning to draw the dust”. What is her fate when this wind touches land? The meeting of the other, the crossing of paths. Their voices, layered and dreamlike, drift and entrance each other with gossamer intensity.Interpreting and arranging the field of sonic accoutrements is Time is Away, whose weaving, layering and sensitivity to detail is likened to the meticulous assembly of an Anni Albers textile. The spirit of Albers guides the piece’s entirety, Petrie’s recounting of her loom and thread a symbol of endurance, vitality and seeking wonder in intricacies: “Every thread needs to pass through the eye of a needle before you begin / I keep wondering, I just keep wondering what will happen”. The piece concludes with a timely appearance by Funke, whose meditation on vulnerability confronts and surrenders herself to the enchanting natural world.

It is a human and artistic adventure made up of craftsmanship, passion, and continuous exchanges between high culture and pop tensions, that of Italo-House. A story of laboratories, sound workshops where the fascination for new technologies and the infinite possibilities they offered, is often mixed with the rigour for classical scores, the result of academic studies at the Conservatory. A story that is then intertwined with that of the balere, the places for dancing and socialising, where dance was not only an opportunity to stage a whirlwind pursuit of hedonism, but was born out of the desire to make a community, to meet, to discover a new family, that of the night, often more welcoming than the original one. It is also the concretisation of a dream, that of being able to ‘reconstruct’ an identity that did not taste of belonging, but of exoticism, of gazes turned towards the Afro-American culture, the one that derived from funk, soul, r'n'b, lived at times with the Salgarian spirit of ‘travelling without moving’.
Italian house was the first, anticipating the irruption of the digital scenarios that have forever changed ‘making art’, to redefine, to redraw a map that did not exist, that of the ‘young’ sound that shifted its creative trajectories from the megalopolises overseas (with all their urban poetics) to the Italian province, inside recording studios where a group of young maniacs of machines, mixers, synths, appropriated a language that was not their own and declined it by opening their minds, demonstrating, that indeed, anything is possible. They studied patterns that came from afar, they applied to those patterns the natural force of moving with sensuality, they showed that they knew perfectly how to build what rappers, a few years later, would call ‘The Perfect Rhythm’. They sought it out in the endless nights of discotheques, of dance halls, from the glitziest ones that would set the standard for Ibizan nightlife to the after-hours clubs on the outskirts of small towns. They succeeded in defining a syntax that, shortly afterwards, would mark, with its influence, the advent of what would become ‘club culture’. So many theme songs, often created for the occasion, rhythmic and melodic sequences packaged with the awareness that there are codified rules that can enhance ‘body language’. Sequences that, often, with their authors, would then fly to New York in search of the splendid voice to hire for a turn in the recording studio, to give the song that definitive and planetary dimension that has, with great ease, spanned the decades.
Authentic musicians, for the most part, those of the Italian house wave, often masters of the orchestra, other times electronic experimenters who were more familiar with the obscure and very, very underground rock clubs of new wave, with the distortions of post-punk, which had opened the ‘doors of perception’ in sound, rather than with the glittering clubs of the ‘original’ disco.
Music of mixture, in short, the representation of an aspiration, as one would say a few decades later, ‘glocal’, the maximum of localisation meets the maximum of globalisation. The airy crystalline openings, the national romanticism, the song that is tinged with black atmospheres, that wanders through the unfrequented streets of the ghetto and comes out with the strength of sentimentality that, in its best expressions, succeeds in making the liberating joy of dance a tactile experience. 

Andrea Burelli unveils her latest work, 'Sonic Mystics for Poems (of Life and Death of a Phoenix).' Rooted in her autobiography and metaphorically intertwined with myth, this work opens a portal to a mystical perspective on life, seamlessly weaving into the tangible fabric of our vulnerable human existence.

Structured around Andrea's evocative poetry, the album delves into the profound complexities of being, navigating shadowy depths while basking in the illuminating light of life. Burelli's vocals traverse landscapes lost in the sands of time, capturing the essence of captivating sunsets, the boundless infinity of the sea, and imaginary lands teeming with magic.

The sonic journey unfolds across 15 meticulously crafted pieces, showcasing the virtuosity of esteemed violinist Mari Sawada and cellist Sophie Notte, distinguished members of the renowned Berlin ensemble Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop. Drawing inspiration from a diverse palette, including experimental electronica, classical, and Mediterranean music, the album orchestrates both simple and intricate polyrhythmic structures and harmonies influenced by classical and folk traditions. Burelli's flexible vocal range intertwines seamlessly with the emotive resonance of acoustic strings, the textured tones of FM synthesis, minimal Machinedrum kicks, and deep Moog Synths basslines.

"'Sonic Mystics for Poems' is a work that has taken on profound meaning for me," confides Andrea. “When I think of where this record developed, my memory leads me to my origins, the Mediterranean. Its waters are home to me." The album's thematic richness derives from the Mediterranean diverse cultural influences, from Southern Europe, to Middle East and North Africa. Her texts are filled with colors, an imagery derived from her past practice as a painter, in stark juxtaposition to her black and white analog videos, which portray an intimate world of symbols and poetic associations, leaving open to one’s interpretation the possibilities of their significance.

Central to the album is an imaginary journey of a phoenix, an invisible pilgrim guarding Burelli’s world of dreams, symbolizing rebirth and creative transformation in her own artistic evolution. : “Involuntarily, my poetry becomes symbolist, occasionally revealing confessional undertones." The album encapsulates change, with water as its elemental force, signifying beginnings, endings, and the eternal cycles that arise. Andrea Burelli's 'Sonic Mystics for Poems' beckons listeners to embark on a transformative journey, where the boundaries of genre dissolve, and the magic of music transcends into a realm of timeless resonance.

She concludes with a heartfelt wish echoing through the waves of her evocative melodies, saying “I dedicate this album to my sea. May the peoples of its shores one day coexist in peace."

One of the definitive albums of 2024, edited and remixed by close pals and admirers; Conrad Pack, ML Buch, Blood Orange, Valentina Magaletti, Lolina, Smerz, Slauson Malone, HVAD and more.

The judicious pick of editors render the downbeat charms and quietly reflective, penetrating lyrics of ‘Great Doubt’ into spaces faithful to, adjacent, and far removed from Astrid Sonne’s beloved originals. Variously teasing its baked in ingredients of chamber music, art-pop, and R&B from curious new perspectives, they range, for example, from the plonging industrial dub rework of ‘Boost’ by Conrad Pack, to a standout 12 minute expansion of ‘Light and Heavy’ along moonlit, Autechrian lines by an ever reliable HVAD, whereas avant R&B star Blood Orange emphasises the breezy soul of ‘Give My All’ is a bright, lustrous overhaul refreshed with tumescent art-pop harmonies, and ML Buch puckers ‘Overture’ to a sparkling whorl that highlights her collaborator’s instrumental tekkerz.

Valentina Magaletti (whose work rate, at this point, makes us wonder if she’s a tulpa) can be counted on for a dusted downbeat take on ‘Everything is Unreal’, and Lolina likewise reliably enhances the oddness of ‘Almost’ in her elusive way, whilst the likes of pop duo Smerz and Slauson Malone amplify Sonne’s infectiouus hooks with a dance-pop appeal.

The first release by Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures in over five years is a perfect example of creative music looking to the future while expressing the sound of now. The amazing chemistry and collective language amongst the musicians reflects their many years of developing and performing Rudolph's concept. These musicians each have direct and personal connections to the roots and history of jazz as they have performed with and have been mentored by key figures in 20th century creative music such as Ornette Coleman, Yusef Lateef, Roy Haynes, Don Cherry, Sam Rivers, Jon Hassel, and many more.

Audiophile Limited Edition Double Vinyl - 300 copies pressed

The exceptional and modern recorded sound of Glare of the Tiger was done by long-time collaborator James Dellatacoma, head engineer at Bill Laswell's Orange Music Studio.

"This recording is the fullest realization of aesthetic and concept, which I have been developing for the past three decades. My aim was to compose music that inspired the musicians to express their inner voice, while still maintaining a clear focus on aesthetic and overall sound. It is my feeling that to honor tradition, one should look forward and not backward. The tradition is to sound like yourself and create a NEW music that reflects the NOW. To put it another way, Yusef Lateef often said to me, "Brother Adam, we are evolutionists."

Rough Trade release limited edition 7-inch singles boxsets to celebrate label's formative years (1978-1993) Having consistently released music by innovative, visionary, and transformative artists, Rough Trade have been defining record collections since their first release in 1977 (RT001 saw the shop help French punks Metal Urbain put out single Paris Maquis), continuing to release cutting edge albums and tracks right up to, and including the present day, with their current roster boasting the likes of Amyl and The Sniffers, Pulp, Jockstrap, Anohni, Dean Blunt, Sleaford Mods and many more. Now, to mark 45-plus years of the label, its co-MDs Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis have indulged in a rare retrospective look, personally putting together two boxsets featuring some of their favourite singles released by Rough Trade during its formative years. Accompanied by new sleeve notes featuring the pair's recollections, impressions and opinions, these limited-edition collections are no bog-standard trawl through the back catalogue but a personal look at the hits, gems, bangers, growers, underrated classics and more. Chronicling Rough Trade's emergence from behind the counter of the West London shop of the same name in the late 1970s, the first boxset in the series fizzes with the daring, Do It Yourself attitude that underpinned punk and subsequent musical expressions that surrounded the label's birth. "Typically for Rough Trade there wasn't a strategy,” says Jeannette of her and Geoff's enduring partnership at the heart of Rough Trade Records. "We just jumped in and hit it off. So, we've stuck together!"

With a clutch of EPs under his belt spanning a wealth of pallets, Henzo narrows the focus on his debut studio album “The Poems We Write For Ourselves” - a culmination of persistent iterations over several years, distilling his sonic milieu into something that feels decidedly his own. The album proper is coupled with a debut live performance which reinterprets the tracks and splices them with omitted material from the time of writing - recorded in full in the intimate confines of Manchester’s growingly infamous Stage and Radio basement. Honing his craft in the shadows of Lancashire, Poems is an expansive reflection of the producer’s time spent away committing to the scope of an LP.

A thread of stratified sound design weaves throughout the record, but with a discerning dancefloor proclivity mostly prevalent. Cold opener “Noggin” riffs on noughties Raster-Noton a la Byetone rebuilt with fractal tear out DnB, with closer “Indulgence” following suit on a puckered plod of Dub Techno ambience. More club-focussed moments come in the form of “Rustica Slump” and “Blue Will...”, the former’s sickly sweet vocals resolved by the latter’s stoic UKG/Techno rudeness. “A Bouquet of Clumsy Words” channels mechanical shuffle with a stripped back 2/4 pulse whilst maintaining a firmly FWD>>energy alongside “Plant Your Roots In Me” on a similar vector - swapping out a straight kick pattern for a bludgeoning 808 assault on an early Hessle-indebted tip.

“Take Stock, Touch Grass” harks to golden era ClekClekBoom and Night Slugs with a bare bones kick and vocal motif, updating the formula with a tweaking lead line that places it firmly in the contemporary space. “Swell:Shrink” sings from the same sheet with a shrieking, space age wobble doing the heavy lifting, knocking the pace back to a shoulder-lean swagger on a slow fast conundrum Henzo has shown his flair for on previous releases.

The outliers to Henzo’s more known approach, “Worm Grunting” with Belfast’s Emby, an amalgamation of halfest time DnB and illest mannered Road Rap, plus “The Rest Is The Mess You Leave”, a starkly anti-retro Ghettotek endeavour, give grounds to the LP. Clearly rooted in the comfortable universe of the dancefloor, these tracks expand the producer’s realm into loftier heights as he graduates into long play land.

We are delighted to present the new 12" maxi on Dubatriation records, two extended tracks for complete immersion ! This opus defines the encounter of Panda Dub and Adi Shankara, two artists already signed to the label.

Like buried treasures, these tracks from a joint studio session have been unearthed and reworked for this release.

Infused with the orientalist flavours of French dub, these two tracks elevate the genre with their neat sound design. Panda Dub's ethnic samples and catchy melodies blend with Adi Shankara's rough and hypnotic textures.

Following the label's signature style, this record offers a deep and solemn musical experience. Embark on an introspective journey without further ado !

Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This project aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects. Following the outstanding success of the first chapter of the project, From Then 'Til Now (2024), Fruits Records is pleased to reveal the dub album From Dub 'Til Now. A veritable immersion in the mythical sound of Kingston studios in the late 1970s. Dub master Roberto Sánchez sublimates the work of the Roots Architects with wildly inventive sound experiments. Reminiscent of the finest years of King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Scientist.

The project is the brainchild of Swiss keyboardist and producer Mathias Liengme. In 2013, he travelled to Kingston, Jamaica, to produce The Inspirators project, an all-star album gathering Leroy ”Horsemouth” Wallace, Lloyd Parks, Earl ”Chinna” Smith and Sangie Davis, the four of them acting both as musicians and vocalists. This first experience in Kingston studio life paved the way to what would become the Roots Architects project. In February and March 2017 Mathias Liengme travelled for the fifth time to Kingston to record as many of reggae’s greatest living veteran musicians as he could. With the help of a few of these Architects like Robbie Lyn, Fil Callender or Dalton Browne, he managed to gather over 50 session musicians aged 60 to 85 on nine instrumental songs.

Roots Architects are legends back together in Kingston studios doing what they do best: creating instrumental music all together!

Al Wootton samples a museum-worthy haul of vintage drum machines on this sick Library Record for his Trule label - big one for anyone into his work in Holy Tongue, or curios from Tolerance, Freedom To Spend, R.N.A. Organism. Tip!

Wootton was invited to Melbourne's Electronic Sound Studio where he got to work sampling their collection of rare vintage drum machines. And it's those boxes that laid the groundwork to 'Rhythm Archives', the prolific producer's most satisfying full-length to date. Wootton's been at this long enough to realise that restraint is the key, and playing with Holy Tongue has no doubt sharpened his skills. There's not much going on here, but that's what makes it so enticing - Wootton lets the machines set the pace for each track, and adds only the sparsest additional instrumentation for colour. On 'March', the plasticky beatbox pattern is fascinating because it's so weedy compared to the sounds of more modern machines - the kicks are like fingers on wet cardboard, and Wootton shadows them with bone-rattling rim shots, filling in the silence with cinematic piano twangs, white noise and a snake-charming flute.

In the wrong hands, this material would creep towards cringe - there's more than enough artists making canned library music or hauntological slop. But Wootton vaults over the pitfalls, staying on the right side of kitsch. The dissociated voices on 'Slow Rock' that shiver next to his new wave-patented Roland CR-78 take us to the seedy world of 'Liquid Sky', not the postmodern sampledelia that followed, and the footwork-inspired 150bpm whirr of 'Shuffle' is sneakily anachronistic, only echoing the Chicago genre's polyrhythmic patterns, not repeating them to the letter. Wootton does a good job staying away from very obvious genre signifiers; there's the character of each machine that's present, of course, but he sounds like he's trying to subvert the application, wondering how these decaying rhythms might react to his various processes.

If there's any real reverence here, it's for dub, and the genre's influence on everything that followed: post-punk, bleep techno, industrial music, whatever - Wootton sounds right at home threading tape echo trails thru his stuttering cycles. It's a love letter to the drum machine, and it doesn't lag for a moment.

ZamZam 95 is a link with the enigmatic French producer Hiss Is Bliss. We’ve been fans since the very first drop on their 777Hz label and these two sides drive straight to the heart of the dub techno galaxy. Little is known about Hiss Is Bliss beyond the fact that they hail from France, are steeped in esotericism, and create tunes as masterfully grounded in roots reggae as they are in techno and related strands of electronic music. Their releases are utterly free of hype, beautifully crafted 10” vinyl plates that let the singers and tracks speak for themselves. At the risk of being cheeky, “Nope” is absolute dub techno bliss. The 808 kick propels the track relentlessly forward, saturated washes of color streak the night sky, while syncopated hi hats and warm, soulful chords bring life- dare we say funk- to a style too often stiff and clinical, too in thrall to the past to truly step forward. Matching Hiss is Bliss in mystery, Ras Lys’ vocal brings a Dread perspective on music and the sometimes shady business of music, a grounded contrast to the deep inner space explored by the tune itself. The B-side version “Abbadia” splits musical atoms through the desk, focusing squarely on the stripped 4/4 elements and gloriously distorted pads that echo and cycle like tides in a darkly shimmering sea.