NEW ARRIVALS

TMZ stood out as a fiercely unique presence on TRANSONIC COMPACT DISC 01 and 02, the compilation albums that marked the first standalone releases from the newly reborn TRANSONIC RECORDS. An existence that could well be called an out-of-place artifact in techno history, this debut album bridges the gap between a hidden past and the present.

Kevin Drumm’s The Mild Temper gathers over six hours of work shaped by gradual change, fine detail and sustained tones. Across six discs, he explores density, resonance and space through small, deliberate shifts rather than overt movement. Sounds emerge, recede and recombine, holding a careful balance between stillness and motion. There’s no narrative push here—just close attention to texture, duration and the physical presence of sound. The result is a cohesive, absorbing body of work that reflects the precision and focus of Drumm’s long-standing practice.

Blues in the Mississippi Night documents a remarkable 1947 session recorded by Alan Lomax in New York, shortly after performances at his Midnight Special concert series. Featuring Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim and Sonny Boy Williamson—originally credited under pseudonyms for their safety—the recording pairs intimate performances with candid conversation. Prompted by Lomax, the musicians speak openly about racism, labour and life in the Jim Crow South, tracing the blues back to lived experience. The result is a powerful blend of music and testimony, grounded in the realities that shaped the form. Remastered from the original tapes by Lomax Archive, this edition restores the clarity and presence of the session. It stands as a vital historical document, capturing three defining voices in direct, unguarded form.

On revelations of divine love, jason calhoun’s fifth release for Dear Life Records, Calhoun has assembled an especially potent album of work that whirrs, hums, and glows. Unlike his recent output centered around extended, hypnotic compositions, the fourteen tracks here immediately request your attention and curiosity. Their concision only underscores one of his greatest strengths: the ability to capture an evaporating, fleeting moment, and hold it close. The title is a nod to British Anchoress Julian of Norwich, whose collected writing of the same title is the earliest of any woman written in English. Here it serves as a unifying theme for Calhoun's particular palette of restless textures and tentative melodies. This is personal music, to be sure, but it also feels tactile, almost taffy-like in its presentation—and with such a potent combination, it is hard to resist a smile while listening. Like when the insistent pulse grounding 'last one' suddenly changes color as yawning tones reveal themselves, or how 'eye dilation' tiptoes into the room with each note sounding like a carefully chosen step. Though never precious or fussy, the album remains resolutely intimate. Calhoun puts it plainly: “Julian of Norwich says “‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well’. These days, I’ve been having my doubts that this is true. As no solution to the issue at hand, I look for the revelations of divine love in my life, and I find them--in my partner asleep on the floor in our studio, my survival of a social interaction with a stranger, being bad at chess. Don't ask me what they mean-I'm still figuring that out myself. Maybe we can figure it out together.” It is from this place of doubt, searching, and openness that the album finds its footing. When asked about the origin of the album's cover art, Calhoun explained, "I see this spot all the time on my commute home from work". A true statement of how the mundane and meaningful are interwoven, from someone who celebrates that union better than most. Unlike Julian of Norwich, Calhoun is no hermetic mystic himself-but in his daily life he works at an oncology center, doing routine but necessary work to provide treatment for those in need of it. While he might resist any analogizing, it is sincerely easy to say that Calhoun's body of work, which is only fortified by revelations of divine love, also offers care and company.

To be an attentive listener to the world as it stands is to be saturated with language. Speech resounds through nearly every space that features human beings, whether unwanted or desired, mundane or profound. Words sit on the page and in the ear, proliferating endlessly. This superabundance has long been a point of fascination for composer and musician Ben Vida, but over the past several years it has led to a new method of music making that simultaneously exalts and interrogates the primacy of language in our sonic and cultural environments. Gently, playfully, Vida breaks down language’s hierarchy of meaning and sound until they exist in egalitarian harmony. Oblivion Seekers is Vida’s newest album in this mode of composition, following 2023’s collaboration with new music ensemble Yarn/Wire The Beat My Head Hit. Like its predecessor, the music’s focus is on coordinated duets of spoken word in a neutral tone, the variable cadences of the words in motion creating complex internal rhythmic structures. He is joined by the voices of Nina Dante, Christina Vantzou, John Also Bennett, and Félicia Atkinson, creating a singular tone that is neither theirs nor his, fluid in its gender presentation, accent, and diction. The instrumental compositions that form the album’s understory have the casual flow of dialogue, conversational but subdued, rarely the agent of change. Here, Vida likewise called upon an accomplished community of players to accompany him: Dante on harp, Bennett on bass flute, Matt Bauder and Will Epstein on saxophones, Henry Fraser on bass, Cleek Schrey on violin, and Booker Stardrum on percussion. These elements form lattice-like structures that the text darts in and around, often adhering to downbeats but otherwise moving freely within each lilting phrase. A tranquil, focused temperament persists, enhanced by the reserved cadence of the voices that makes it feel as if the music is one long mantra that never quite reaches back to its genesis point. The effect is entrancing, equally soporific and gripping, implying repetition without ever moving exactly the same way twice. The instrumentation on each of the album’s four pieces varies; “Be Yr Own Abyss” is defined by the wave-like counterpoint of saxophones, while the ambiguous chime of vibraphone floats over “Oblivion Seekers” and Fraser’s swelling bass provides the album’s sole dramatic entrance. The music shifts in the ear as the text constantly redefines and recontextualizes the composition’s form and movement, even as it remains consistent in its otherworldly glow. The text is often drawn from snippets of language that Vida encountered throughout his life as he was composing: overheard mumblings from the supermarket line, impactful phrases from a novel he was reading, impressions of the music that wouldn’t leave his turntable. Small details, otherwise insignificant, accumulate not to form a narrative, but an impression of the complex meaning-making process that happens as one lives day to day. Characters and scenes flicker in and out of the frame, and phrases that beg to be unpacked are allowed to glide by. In “Be Yr Own Abyss” something like a thesis appears without fanfare: “Her tongue was out to kill her / all hail this mental space / constructing ambiguity / and the endless stream.” On two separate occasions the listener is told that waves are heading our way. There are many predecessors to these types of novel confluences of music and speech. Vida’s love of Robert Ashley is well documented, but perhaps even more significant are Mark E. Smith and The Fall, Neil Tennant and the Pet Shop Boys’ spoken verses, the entire history of hip hop, Meredith Monk. The way the words are delivered matters just as much as the words themselves, revealing an intentionality and directness that Vida highlights and subverts with the text’s abstract construction patterns. On Oblivion Seekers, the omnidirectional din is the marble Vida chips away at to illuminate the way we process the vast strangeness of the world. Its triumph is that we lose none of the beautiful mystery of how these signs bridge our external and internal worlds.

If you were to ask Joey Quiñones where he found inspiration for his music, you wouldn't have to look far from where the East LA son grew up. Listen to his work, and you're transported to a two-block radius of his neighborhood—from the liquor store to Sign of Music record store on Whittier Boulevard and back to a homie's house. In those two blocks, you hear cumbia blaring from the stores, punk rehearsals from a garage, oldies drifting from a neighbor's yard—a sensory overload that follows you home, all those genres singing in your head at once. This isn't a revelation to longtime fans of Quiñones' music. He has established himself as a premier interpreter of his generation, dedicating his career to offering his unique perspective on the Chicano soul songbook. But before Thee Sinseers, before the lush orchestrations and pitch-perfect harmonies that became his signature, Quiñones cut his teeth leading various backing bands for visiting Jamaican ska and dancehall acts touring Southern California. He describes those years as reggae college, getting yelled at by every Jamaican artist who had a record out. Those years of apprenticeship in rock steady and roots reggae would inform everything that followed—and on his new solo record Inna Soul Steady Situation, Quiñones finally showcases those influences front and center. That quintessential blending of styles rings out immediately on the opening track "Soul Steady Situation"—Quiñones's vocals enter like a selector toasting over the riddim, an alarm call announcing his intentions with an urgency that feels club-ready and immediate. Then comes the classic drum fill, dropping into a rock steady groove that establishes the vibe: this is dancehall-infused soul meant for movement, not just contemplation. It's a deliberate departure from Thee Sinseers' lush orchestrations, stripped down to showcase the Jamaican foundations that have always lived beneath Quiñones's work. Before you know it, you've taken off on a sonic soul spaceship with Quiñones at the helm, supported by his two-person crew: Eric Johnson from Thee Sinseers on saxophone and Eleazar from the Brown Boyz on piano, as you cruise across silver-lined clouds and dip your toes into dreamy moonlit grooves found on "Don't Let Go," "Driftin'" and "One More Night." What Quiñones manages to do on this record—with the full support of Colemine Records, the defining label for contemporary soul music happening right now—is prove time and time again that he is an artist willing to take risks and continue to show his prowess when it comes to experimenting with different styles, while still being able to authentically express himself. It's a partnership built on trust: Colemine has established itself as the premier destination for modern soul artists pushing the genre forward, recognizing that genre-blurring isn't a gimmick but the natural evolution of soul music itself. With that authentic self-expression, Quiñones and his crew manage to squeeze in some lighthearted fun as well, establishing a sense of equilibrium to counteract the heavier emotional overtones found on previous Sinseers efforts. A perfect example is "Bolsita," a tongue-in-cheek party song paying homage to iconic anthems like "Tequila" by The Champs and "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & the Drells. But Quiñones doesn't stop there—he folds in electric boogaloo, early Ray Charles big band energy, and the Latin soul flourishes of Joe Cuba and Willie Colón, creating something that feels both nostalgic and fresh. Eric Johnson's saxophone takes center stage, adding playful solos that widen the sonic spectrum. The term "bolsita," which translates to "little bag," serves as the lingua franca for "let's get the party started"—it's admittedly corny, Quiñones will tell you, but it's the kind of song where everybody's going to shout along whether they like it or not. And that's precisely the point. By the time you reach the end of the record, having followed Quiñones across various genres and eras, you realize you've witnessed an artist in his prime doing what the best always do: capturing something deeply specific—Chicano identity, East LA's sonic DNA—and in that specificity, revealing something universal. It's music that transcends age, race, geography, and class precisely because it refuses to sand down its edges. Cross-generational talent building timeless appeal, one genre-blurring groove at a time.

It's time for the 5th album of the Long Trax series, featuring six new tracks produced in an A/B style, cut onto 3 vinyl records and compiled onto a single CD. Staying all-hardware, with drooping synth pads and Rhodes piano, rhythm machines, space echo and spring reverb, and featuring 3 new narrators here to put us in our place. Stay independent, and anti-AI. All music by Will Long Artwork by Tsuji Aiko Mastered by Stephan Mathieu A Long Trax Productions release

Cult digidub mutators Froid Dub slow their steez to deeply knackered, ghostly levels on a follow-up to joints with Krikor and Ransom Note. Back with Parisian patrons Delodio, the pair bring a deep studio knowledge earned since the ‘90s (and their days together as Bosco) to a half hour of purposefully sluggish pressure slanted at the earliest or latest hours of the night/day. With Black Roots Players’ ‘Slow Tempo’ riddim possibly in the back of their mind, they keep it all heavily downbeat and rent with a psychoacoustic nous that draws lines between The Black Ark, GRM, and DJ Screw. ‘Deep’ feels like the onset of a space cake, all super blunted vox and wiggy synths, and ‘The Swap’ snaps tightly to slowed digidub templates, next to echoes of ’Slow Tempo’ in the cranky chords of the title tune. They really let the bass flare in acres of space on the spangled zingers ‘Too Digital’ and an acidic ‘Love’, whilst crossing lines with Full Circle’s proto-goa trance in ‘Diggin’’ and the swampy motion of ‘No Sense’.

Jon Savage's SF Sike 1966-72 charts the evolution of San Francisco's psychedelic underground through 18 essential recordings from the era. Spanning 1966 to 1972, the compilation brings together key tracks by The Beau Brummels, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, Skip Spence, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grace Slick & Paul Kantner, Country Joe & The Fish, Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, The Grateful Dead and more. Inspired by Savage's exploration of the city's countercultural explosion, SF Sike 1966-72 captures the adventurous spirit and musical freedom that made San Francisco one of the defining centres of late-'60s psychedelia.

"The constant and destructive waves of noise make this decisively a Merzbow record, but its cosmic mood and rhythms prove that Sun Ra lives in its DNA... Many of the strengths Akita has developed over roughly four decades of noise devotion are put to use here. He creates relentlessly forward-moving music with so much going on that it feels three-dimensional... You could call Strange City a Merzbow victory, but it couldn’t have happened without Sun Ra on his team." (Pitchfork) "Strange City is a transformative, cyclical work that rewards repeated listens. As Sun Ra’s dextrous compositions shift and flex somewhere beneath Merzbow’s thick clumps of abrasion, like muscles encased in steel wool, the effect is somewhat unsettling... a remarkable, difficult and disquieting record" (The Line Of Best Fit) "Strange City” gives me the impression of sonic lava, which is progressively covering your imagination with images of terror. The totally transformed jazz elements are a rather weird, but exciting aspect of the work... I can imagine noise freaks will fully enjoy this opus while jazz lovers will maybe experience this work as pure blasphemy." (Side-Line) "Recorded music is able to generate a fistful of dreams and this is one of them... Instead of being a noise release using the name of Sun Ra as smoke and mirrors, it tries to fuse the two language and it's a reminder about some jazz purists called free jazz as noise". (4/5, Chain D.L.K.) "By balancing out [Merzbow's] chaos with Sun Ra’s sense of exploratory wonder, the songs possess much of Sun Ra’s original intention and spirit... Over the course of each piece Merzbow tries to ensure that the original piece remains in awe of its incredible journey and masterful blend of styles." (The Beach Sloth) "Purely a labor of love and a must-have for fans of both artists... Noise and avant-garde jazz have long shared common sensibilities. While this certainly isn't the first such undertaking, it's certainly one of the best" (Big Takeover) "The overall achievement is the strange sense of balance Strange City radiates with. While Merzbow's sonic razors are sharp and appear to be all over the spectrum, the presence of Sun Ra lies in the core of this work. Despite its disfigurement and tempering, it dictates the progression of the record, through modes of granular synthesis or extravagant processing... the explosiveness of Merzbow in its purest form, while the underlying structures of Sun Ra provides the lucidity to this chaotic narrative" (Scene Point Blank) "Given the influence and massive oeuvre of both artists, it stands to reason that two of the giants of noise would come together, even across time and space... Merzbow’s noise seems well-tuned and finely placed – at times obscuring the action, but more often than not, complementing Sun Ra’s intergalactic explorations"

At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It’s Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of… Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson’s label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib. The recording of “Exactement” required two sessions in the studio: February 1st and May 18th 1974 – in between the two dates, Lancaster recorded, alongside Clint Jackson, the excellent “Mother Africa”. Two names appear on the cover of “Exactement”: Lancaster (Byard) and Speller (Keno). Byard Lancaster wanted to be precise, moving regularly from one instrument to another: first on piano, which was the first instrument he learned. On “Sweet Evil Miss Kisianga”, his inspiration is first and foremost Coltrane (even if leaning more towards Alice than John), this announces the storm to follow. It is Lancaster’s horn-playing which really stands out: on alto (the sound of which is transformed by an octavoice on one track, "Dr. Oliver W. Lancaster") or soprano saxophones, as well as on flute or bass clarinet, the musician walks a tightrope making the most of all the risks he takes. Using the full register of his instruments, he has fun with the possibilities. Then, Lancaster invokes or evokes Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and even Prokofiev, before going into a danse alongside Keno Speller on percussion. Above all, he has a unique sound. Byard Lancaster, on whatever instrument he plays and by continually seeking, always ends up hitting the right note… ends up by playing exactement the note he had to play.

Light in the Attic is honored to announce the long-awaited reissue of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, the revolutionary 1982 album from composer and musician Charanjit Singh. Pairing Indian classical ragas with then-state-of-the-art Roland synthesizers and drum machines, Singh created an electronic masterpiece that was far ahead of its time.

Recording live at Mumbai’s HMV studios, Singh married the past to the future—blending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts, but that’s where the story begins…

Released in cooperation with Singh’s estate, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat arrives on June 26th. The 10-track album was remastered by Johanz Westerman at Ballyhoo Studio Mastering and stretched across 2-LPs for the highest quality listening experience. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and housed in a gatefold jacket that replicates the original artwork.

An accompanying 16-page LP booklet features previously-unreleased photos and two new essays: the first from Arshia Fatima Haq and Jeremy Loudenback of Discostan—a multimedia collective and record label focusing on music from South West Asia and North Africa—while the other comes from filmmaker and writer Rana Ghose of event and film production entity REProduce Artists, who managed Singh in his final years and documented his triumphant return to the stage. Additionally, fans can find a limited-edition pressing of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat on ‘Pearlescent Transcendent Future’ Color Wax, while the album will also be reissued on CD with a 32-page booklet containing all of the above.

More on Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat:

Indian multi-instrumentalist and composer Charanjit Singh (1940–2015) never intended to be an electronic dance music pioneer when he recorded 1982’s Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. Yet three decades later, his inventive use of state-of-the-art synthesizers and drum machines would prompt some to crown him the “Godfather of Acid House.” The real story, however, runs much deeper.

A native of Mumbai, Singh spent much of his career as a Bollywood session musician, collaborating with renowned composers like RD Burman and Shankar–Jaikishan, and appearing on some of the most iconic Hindi film hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Outside of the film industry, Singh recorded several of his own albums and toured the world alongside the era’s biggest stars—an opportunity which allowed him to collect new instruments, including synthesizers and other electronic devices. As psychedelia and disco wove their way into Bollywood scores, Singh was at the forefront, integrating a host of electronic textures into his work (his hypnotic Transicord introduction on “Dum Maro Dum” from 1971’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna is among his most recognizable performances).

By the turn of the ‘80s, however, Singh was disenchanted by the creative limitations of session work and embarked on a solo career. Not long after, on tour in Singapore, he discovered three Roland devices that had just hit the market: the TR-808 drum machine (released 1980), the TB-303 bass synthesizer (released 1981), and the Jupiter 8 synthesizer (released 1981). While this trio would fuel early electronic dance music in the coming years, Singh was among the first known artists to pair them on record when he was inspired to create his next album, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat.

Using only the three devices and recording live at Mumbai’s HMV studios, Singh married the past to the future—blending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats, while programming the TB-303 to follow classical Hindustani scales. From the hypnotic drones of “Raga Bhairavi” to the uplifting jams of “Raga Bairagi” the album proved perhaps to be a bit too visionary for its time. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts.

Two decades later, Dutch DJ and record collector Edo Bouman was in New Delhi when he came across an old copy of Ten Ragas. Bouman was astounded by what he heard—electronic music that had all the hallmarks of acid house, recorded five years before Chicago DJs coined the term. Bouman spent the next few years tracking down Singh and, in 2010, reissued the album on his label, Bombay Connection.

Soon, Ten Ragas became a viral sensation, sparking disbelief and debates about the origins of acid house. But, as Haq and Loudenback explain, those in the conversation “Had little frame of reference for [Singh’s] music outside of the parameters of western club music.” Viewed through the lens of the Hindi film industry, they argue, the album’s through-line comes into focus. In the ‘60s, when Western artists were looking to India for inspiration, Bollywood was “A laboratory for discovering sounds, and for harnessing every new technology that could be found or repurposed…. Singh’s album is more fittingly placed within the framework of the expansion of Bollywood’s experiments in disco, rather than that of acid house.”

“Perhaps this is yet another example of how a public engages with those who are ahead of their time,” adds Rana Ghose. “This record is a direct consequence of a centuries-old classical music form, rendered through the lens of a visionary who used the vanguard of technology at the time to recast it, resulting in an artefact that, almost 40 years later, is finding entirely new audiences in an era marked by a changing and uncertain global landscape of soft-power assertion. Considering this reassessment is as exciting as it is fascinating. Much like this record.”

While Ten Ragas sparked plenty of conversations within the electronic music community, it also gave a bemused Singh a surge of newfound fame during the final years of his life, allowing him to play with his live collaborator Johanz Westerman (Thee J Johanz) to thousands of fans at packed club shows and festivals in Europe, the U.S., and India. Among those fans are Australian duo Glass Beams (who covered “Raga Bhairav”), German electronic duo Modeselektor, and Thom Yorke, who ranked “Raga Lalit” as one of his “6 Tracks You Need to Hear” via the BBC.

Most importantly, however, Ten Ragas resonated deeply with South Asian artists, who saw electronic music from India being recognized with new reverence. In the words of Vish Matre (of the UK DJ duo Dar Disku), “This record will be remembered for, not being the predecessor to another genre, but being a precursor to a lot of new music from the diaspora that relied on it as inspiration.”

Adrian Sherwood teams up with Speakers Corner Quartet and African Head Charge for new four track EP Barbican Heights, a project which traverses the musical worlds of dub, jazz, electronic, afrobeat, and beyond. Barbican Heights is born out of a spirit of collaboration, bringing together one of the UKs most innovative and influential producers, Adrian Sherwood; one of the longest serving and most iconic members of the On-U Sound family, African Head Charge; together with Speakers Corner Quartet, a rising force whose influence is integral to the sound of the contemporary UK jazz scene. Recorded during a singular day of creative spontaneity at Wicker Studios, the three acts, alongside Alex White of Primal Scream and Fat White Family, combined for semi-improvised reworkings of classic African Head Charge composition “Wicked Kingdom Of This Earth”, Speakers Corner Quartet’s own “Topanga”, as well as two new tracks constructed from scratch during the session

The album is built on a singular concept: every sound is produced from a single cello. While effects pedals are used to extend and amplify the instrument, no other instruments or field recordings are involved. What remains is the act of performance itself—an ongoing exchange between body and instrument, where sound emerges as voice. Yet the resulting sonic landscape resists any sense of limitation. Layered textures of percussive gestures, micro-noise generated by a self-made bow, and sustained drones unfold into a complex, immersive environment.

Artur Strekalov, aka mu tate, joins the OST roster with another set of dreamtime snapshots that he collages into a plunderphonic scrapbook of new age-y samples, dialog snippets and squirly, bass-heavy rhythms. One for fans of Oneohtrix Point Never, Special Guest DJ, Space Afrika and Ludwig Wandinger, then. Last spotted breaking bread with Nexciya and Exzald S on 2025's 'Labège', Strekalov has become a reliable presence on the dubwise ambient fringe, spreading his influence across imprints like Warm Winters, Experiences and Alex Egan's Utter. He joins New York's OST, home of Organ Tapes, DJ Pitch and shineteac, among others, with 'life of mu', an album that moves beyond the gauzy, downtempo hum of his last solo joint, 2024's 'wanting less'. This one, as the title suggests, traces a more sturdy narrative, avoiding the overtly nostalgic bass-heavy ambiance that rooted its predecessors and emphasising more suggestive soundscapes that Strekalov peppers with movie samples. Opener 'world has ended for me many times...' cuts fluttering, 'Incunabula'-alike synth vamps into radio interferences and a woman's exasperated monologue that's spirals into distortion. It's remarkably open, too - Strekalov doesn't overload us with ideas, letting his story emerge slowly from the pregnant pauses and negative space. A song almost coalesces on 'low desire society' from whirring electronics and wily oscillations, and the IDM influences that emerged on the opener crystallize properly on 'world of'. But as soon as the album takes a more corporeal form, it inevitably turns to gas: 'lost in translation' is a selection of synthetic belches and cinematic cues and 'heavyweight' is anything but, an oozing, tempo-fluxed chug that's latched to its own druggy logic. Ben Bondy shows up on 'memory of a memory' as the track stumbles from warm, Toytronic-era electronix into crunchy emo-rock in the second half, and Yves B. Golden, who helped zhuzh up Ludwig Wandinger's excellent 'Is Peace Wild', adds her side to the atmospheric 'Yves's Story'.

Friend, james K’s critically-acclaimed third album, opens as a portal and continues to garner a life of its own, a constant earworm that continually resonates as the map of its emotional cartography shifts into new ground. The map continues to unfold with Friend Remixes. Speaking on the remixes, K says: “Friends remix Friend. It is such a sweet honour to have my friends and collaborators, whose work has inspired mine, interpret and translate this work into new narratives.”

This compilation brings together eight tracks by Yassine Nana and his group, recorded between 1984 and 1989, during a key moment in Mauritania’s musical history. A central figure of one of the country’s most respected musical families, Yassine stands at the crossroads of a long-standing tradition and a period of deep transformation in form, sound and production. Recorded in Mauritania as well as during stays in Paris and Rabat, these songs integrate drum machines, synthesizers and electric guitars into Saharan musical structures. Influenced by reggae, soul and new wave, the group develops a sound that reflects the circulation of music and technology in the 1980s, while remaining firmly rooted in Mauritanian languages, themes and melodic systems. Love, travel, exile and music itself run through lyrics sung in Hassaniya and classical Arabic. Originally released on cassette and long confined to local circulation, these recordings offer a rare perspective on African popular music of the period, seen from Nouakchott. A body of work that documents a Mauritanian modernity, both popular and exploratory, now brought back into circulation by Les Disques Bongo Joe and Sofa Records. 

Original 2xLP Remastered by Bob Weston pressed on maui blue vinyl

Never-Before-Released Live Studio Album pressed on orchid purple vinyl

all 3 LPs are packaged in a triple LP gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeves

After finishing American Don with (Steve) Albini, we were nearing the peak of interpersonal tensions that would eventually wash us overboard. I (Eric) became convinced we lost the true essence of the songs in the recording process. It was not a unanimous decision to record with Steve. We wrote the album entirely on guitar loops and Team Storm & Stress wanted to go further in the studio with Pro Tools, which felt related to both what we were doing and where we were going. Steve had just finished building the magnificent A room at Electrical and Damon insisted we would record there for the drums. He never budged on it. As soon as we got there we realized all the songs, which were written in stacks of overdubs on our pedals, would only allow for mono guitar recordings. We worked around this by performing the songs to a single loop and overdubbing all the guitars later allowing for a full stereo field to match the glorious bombast of Steve’s drum recordings. This approach

dramatically changed how we played. While it allowed for magic moments of improv (Peter Criss intro), once the album was done, it sounded bloated and the performances sluggish. With increasing certainty I was sure the sound of the Akai Headrush, and the tempos it set for Damon was the heartbeat of these songs. Ian agreed.

In an audacious last ditch hail mary, I had the idea to call Greg Norman (who worked for Steve!) and asked if we could secretly come to his studio in S. Chicago *road hot* after our next shows and re-record the album LIVE. It was an enormous gesture that could’ve never worked, but miraculously everyone agreed to do it and we gave it a try. Greg captured us at our most fiery hot personally and professionally. The tempos are faster and no one is holding back with anything to lose. These true live tapes show the songs exactly as we played them on the road where they were developed between June of 1999 and July of 2000. Now, 25 years later, the Greg Norman tapes have been dusted off, baked, and transferred to digital. With the aid of modern restoration tools, and the expertise of Sir Bob Weston, we were able to re-mix and master these recordings for the first time.

Collected Works and War of the Martian Ghosts is the definitive recorded collection of living Chicago DIY legend, Dr. Charles Joseph Smith. Born on Chicago's southside in 1970, Smith is a lifelong resident of the Beverly neighborhood who went on to earn 3 degrees in piano (Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate) and perform as a concert pianist in 5 countries (USA, Italy, Germany, France and Hungary). The album also marks the first archival release from Chicago’s Sooper Records.

All of the music here is being made widely available for the first time. This 90-minute collection is compiled from 30 years of Charles’ self-released original music spanning concert piano, electroacoustic experimentation, electronic beats, free improvisation, and two instrumental sketches of his evolving sci-fi opera, War of the Martian Ghosts (a 2023 electronic realization, and a 2018 piano realization). This double Vinyl / Triple CD Collector’s Edition comes with an extensive Insert Booklet containing 9000 words including poetry, interviews, quotes, 30 archival photographs, and extensive liner notes on the life and work of Charles Joseph Smith written by Sooper co-founder Glenn Curran (edited by Sadie Dupuis). This is a piece of Chicago music history.

Dr. Charles Joseph Smith’s remarkable story begins with a mute child’s gift for music, and the purposeful way he nurtured this talent to become both life practice and raison d'être. Charles recounts this artistic journey in his autobiography, The 88 Keys that Opened Doors, a self-published book that chronicles a life in which music was (and still is) the primary key to overcoming immense challenges posed by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

His career as a musician starts in the church, reaches into the international concert piano circuit, and eventually settles to bear strange fruit in Chicago’s experimental underground. Along the way, Charles Joseph Smith’s compositional voice absorbed and metabolized popular music spanning pop to jazz, the gospel of the church, the canon of the classical conservatory, modern dance scores, and the rule-shattering experimentalism of his city’s DIY subculture, where he has been a mainstay for over 30 years. Since the mid-1990s, Charles has been performing, dancing, and selling his self-published musical and written works in person, often at the local shows he frequents. He is known around Chicago as a living symbol of the power of music, and of the beloved spirit of community at the heart of DIY. This is the definitive collection of his original recordings—though it would be impossible to ever encompass the galaxies of music, poetry, and prose penned by the prolific Dr. Charles Joseph Smith.

"David Jackman released the eight-part "Organum Electronics Subscription Series" via Die Stadt between 2023 and 2025; 'Mausoleum' is his latest work, created to further advance the trajectory established by that series.

While 'Mausoleum' follows the lineage of the "Organum Electronics Subscription Series," long-time listeners will likely be reminded of earlier albums like *HORII* or *RASA* the moment playback begins. The placement of sounds, the handling of deep bass, and the unique sense of time driving the piece all embody the essence of David Jackman—qualities that have remained consistent since his earliest works.

The composition features a tanpura, layers of deep bass drones, church bells and gongs, and high-register organ tones that emerge like shafts of light breaking through the clouds. Each sound is constructed with a precise understanding of exactly when it should ring out and where it should be placed. Although it possesses the meticulous sound design characteristic of his recent output, *Mausoleum* is by no means a mere recreation of the past.

While the work shares a conceptual nature with the paintings of Rothko or the compositions of Morton Feldman, it asserts a powerful presence as a standalone piece rather than functioning merely through repetition or variation. It represents a coexistence of his unchanging artistic identity and a persistent drive to explore new forms with every release.

What makes this album truly special is its exceptional level of refinement. David Jackman’s work is not typically intended as entertainment; however, here, the precisely controlled sense of pacing and structural integrity come together at a high level, resulting in a work that captivates as a piece of pure music.

In this sense, 'Mausoleum' stands as a milestone in David Jackman’s recent body of work. At the same time, subtle signs of a shift toward a slightly different direction appear throughout, hinting at the evolution to come. This work embodies two facets: it is both a culmination of the artistic identity cultivated over time and a starting point for a new evolution..."

The virally Tok'd Everyone Asked About You return with their first new recordings in 25 years. Never Leave follows up on six midwest emo seeds set into the wind of adulthood. What do we become when the guitar is pawned, when we sing only in the shower, when our hair begins to thin, when our parents die, when the dog is on prozac. Can we crash synths and guitars and ADHD polyrhythms into our abandoned teenage call and response dreams. How can we miss our band if we never leave? Catching up a quarter of a century of life in just 13 minutes, Never Leave's four songs are urgently paced—there's no extra time in the couch cushions of middle age. Rehearsed and tracked in their native Little Rock by Jason Weinheimer during April 2024 Total Eclipse, the EP confronts America's own darkening and wryly replies, "Where we goin' next?" Available exclusively from Numero or the Everyone Asked About You merch table, Never Leave is packaged in a sharp picture sleeve with accompanying lyric sheet for easy screaming along.

Obscure, rare spiritual jazz, deep folk and psychedelia sounds from the French ‘70s - ‘80s underground ‘Spirit of France’ is an anthology celebrating the French artists whose total desire not to belong to a particular trend expanded their horizon by pushing the boundaries of creative music. Recording in caves during the full moon, or in the open air in Ibiza to celebrate the sun - with flutes, cromorne (French woodwind reed), darbouka and hurdy-gurdy, or with fascinating, unusual, artist-build instruments, with sounds heavily influenced from Indian, African, Arabic, Eastern and Malagasy cultures, this is what makes this compilation so unique. Freedom of expression, experimental creativity and collaboration constitute the fuel for these hand picked artists – similar to Don Cherry’s influence on Colin Walcott and Kahil El’Zabar (in the field of jazz), and folk background artists like Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull; in Europe, the same approach was manifested in Italy with bassist Marcello Melis, the Sardinian singers from the Gruppo Rubanu, Aktuala and Futuro Antico. In France, Cossi Anatz, Nu Creative Methods and Sonorhc were also echoing the same approach. ‘Spirit of France’ – a long project in the making, is dedicated in unearthing more than just curiosities, instead focusing on never been reissued, obscure, artist-self-released music. Carefully curated by Spiritmuse Records’ Mark Gallagher and Thea Ioannou, and joined by young French digger Tom Val, ‘Spirit of France’ is an anthology of obscure spiritual jazz and its’ relationship with deep folk in the ‘70s - ‘80s French multi-cultural melting pot underground scene. The album’s aim is evident from the outset, with Rémy Couvez’s aptly named ‘Rêve de Voyage’, illustrating the theme’s quest for imaginary folklore, continued with Workshop de Lyon, Jef Gilson – France’s spiritual jazz giant, Sylvain Kassap, Noco Music, Pân-Râ, L’Empire des Sons, Ghédalia Tazartès, and the mysterious Adjenar Sidar Khan. Some of these artists remain unacknowledged, yet they’re all extraordinary heroes of the French music avant-garde scene. ‘Spirit of France’ is a journey of imaginary folklore, blending spiritual jazz influences and deep folk, celebrating the unique sounds of the French avant-garde underground, at the crossroads of the tribal, the secular and the universal.

Spiritmuse presents “Pathways & Passages”, the debut album from “Cosmic Vibrations” the LA-based ensemble led by acclaimed jazz vocalist Dwight Trible that defines spiritual jazz in the 21st century. A genre-defying amalgamation of divine vocals, soul-stirring jazz, healing poetry, with a rich tapestry of African, Mesoamerican and indigenous North American percussion and instrumentation, taking you on a cosmic journey of spiritual improvisation and beyond. Cosmic Vibrations is a supergroup of heavyweight musicians with a vast combined experience, an ensemble of 6 souls who approach improvisation full of spirit and without ego. Gathered for this very purpose by Dwight Trible, undoubtedly the most acclaimed and in-demand vocalist currently working in the realms of spiritual jazz, the band has been performing steadily over the last three years, building a reputation in LA and further afield for their electric, mesmerising performances. “Pathways & Passages” presents the first time that their transcendental sound has been recorded and publicly released. A show-stopping performer and artist, Dwight Trible has directed the legendary Horace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and performed alongside with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, J Dilla, Gary Bartz, Kamasi Washington, Kahil El’Zabar, Madlib, Charles Lloyd, Matthew Halsall, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Soil & “Pimp” Sessions, Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Carlos Niño. There is indeed no one today who better carries on the tradition of legendary jazz vocalists such as Terry Callier, Leon Thomas and Andy Bey, whilst carrying that torch forward and exploring brand new territory. Apart from his rich vocal tones, Trible is also heard on kalimba here. Improvisation forms the core of this record, but the rhythm, the groove is never absent. The poetry led “Nature’s Vision” sets the tone for the record’s journey, but it peaks on the group’s incredible rendition “Motherless Child”. A live favourite of Trible’s, this bluesy take rides heavy on Williams’ bass and enjoys the addition of guest Scott Fraser’s lap steel guitar. With his rich, emotive singing Trible takes full possession of the song. By the time the beautiful closing ballad, “Some Other Time” ends, the album has truly succeeded in transcending the listener from their earthly surroundings. A genre-defying amalgam of divine vocals, intuitive improvisation and deeply spiritual music, on Trible’s voice soars among the nexus of winds & skins from an incredibly talented and “deeply rooted” group in complete brotherly connection with one another. If you are looking for genuine, soul-enriching spiritual jazz today, look no further than “Pathways & Passages”.

Ashram Sun is a transcendent journey toward the inner source of Surya Botofasina’s musical being. Returning to the places and spaces of his spiritual and musical upbringing, the keyboardist and vocalist’s second LP for Spiritmuse after 2022’s acclaimed Everyone’s Children delivers an inspiring meditation on the works and message of his mentor, Swamini Turiyasangitananda, better known as Alice Coltrane, and takes us back to his grounding in the Sai Anantam Ashram – a Vedic ashram built and founded by Coltrane in Santa Monica, California, in 1983. By this time, the spiritual jazz colossus had already taken the name Turiyasangitananda, dedicating Her remaining decades living, teaching, and seeking spiritual enlightenment through prayer, meditation and music. Ashram Sun rises in the light of Her spirit. Produced by the prolific Carlos Niño, whose vision has become a pivotal point for contemporary progressive jazz music, Ashram Sun features appearances from musical luminaries, including multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid, Los Angeles saxophonist Randal Fisher, vocalist Mia Doi Todd, as well as collaborations with vocalist MidnightRoba and acclaimed harpist and vocalist Radha Botofasina, among others. The album continues to expand on and conversate with the innovative spiritual-jazz configurations of recent works by Shabaka Hutchings, André 3000 and Carlos Niño —all of which Surya plays on. This evolution follows from his debut album ‘Everyone’s Children’, also produced by Niño, which was one of the earliest offerings of this fresh, spiritual approach. As the keyboardist on André 3000’s New Blue Sun and an integral member of André’s touring group, Surya has already directly brought the legacy of Alice Coltrane/Turiyasangitananda into this rich new current in creative music. The music on Ashram Sun is tuned into these wavelengths, consolidating a new jazz lineage with energies directly from the source. The album blends improvisation in the creative music tradition with washes of cleanly spiritualised keyboard work, atmospheric percussion, and sanctified vocalisation. Key points of reference might be ambient works of maestro Laraaji, the sounds of the Californian New Age movement documented on the seminal I Am The Center collection, and key inspirations of Surya including the music of McCoy Tyner, Jodeci, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Robert Glasper, and the multitude of new works that have flowed from the milieu around key collaborators Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau. And due to Surya’s formation at Sai Anantam Ashram, the divine aspects of the work have a powerful first-hand connection to the sacred musical and spiritual messages of both the expansive earlier music of Turiyasangitananda as Alice Coltrane, including Lord of Lords and Universal Consciousness, and her magnificent late ashram recordings, as recently documented on the collection World Spirituality Classic vol.1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda. As her mentee from his youth, Surya knew Her music intimately, for he was raised from childhood in Sai Anantam, where his mother Radha Botofasina, who plays harp and sings on ‘Your Soul is Perfect (Supreme Uniter)’, was a spiritual student of Turiyasangitananda. His musical, personal and spiritual growth within the Ashram remains the central reference point in his life. ‘The very core of my being resides and has been cultivated at the sacred grounds of Sai Anantam Ashram,’ he says today. ‘Each value, aspect, place, memory, person, quality, feeling, bhajan, Satsang, energetic representation collectively composes this person.’ As the album’s title indicates, he was and is an ‘Ashram Sun’, and the strong feminine presence of Swamini Turiyasangitananda and his mother Radha infuses the album’s ten tracks. In 2018, just over a decade after Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s passing, wildfires in California tragically burned the Sai Anantam Ashram to the ground. The light of the Ashram set in the flames, but Ashram Sun allows it to rise again in energy and music. The cover of the album features Surya on the steps of the fire-cleansed Ashram, a dedication to the place that he still calls ‘home’ and a statement of his devotion to the enspirited sound-message that Turiyasangitananda instilled in him. ‘The Ashram has taught me how to be a father to my unbelievably beautiful son and daughter; brother to the immediate and soul family; human being to the planet, and more,’ he explains. ‘Swamini and the Ashram has taught me that the only place worth going to, is within… I am always going to be an Ashram Sun.’