NEW ARRIVALS

Indie Stock places itself in a context it adores and defies. Every wall is movable and no accident is an accident. Just as a song is made out to be one thing it reveals itself to have been the other all along. Make no mistake, there is something at the heart of it all, even though its pulse resonates from all directions at once. The listener becomes the toad, gladly boiled in a shimmering liquid until it is too late: The bass kicks in and cant be unheard. From 2, Amsterdams self-proclaimed troupe of folk mutants, take stock of it all on this record: hushed affect in tumultuous settings, a mole insurrection of epic proportions, the secret workings of pornography platforms and memory. One song might invite to dance, stumble or float, while another is what a ghost should sing. Above all, it is real. Palpably real in a way only the fabrications of true devotees might ever be. What is a consoculator, again?

Jazz-fusion, disco-funk, Latin jazz and batucada rhythms get the Filipino treatment onAfter Midnight, the sublime second album from keyboardist Boy Katindig. Originally released in 1980, After Midnight draws heavy influence from soul and funk contemporaries in the US as well as Latin America, in particular the famed Brazilian percussionist Paulinho da Costa. It’s a testament to his musical prowess that Katindig weaves effortlessly between styles and tempos. His reverence for Paulinho da Costa extends far, with covers of several songs from the latter’s 1979 Happy People album. This includes slow-burner ‘Déjà Vu’ written by Isaac Hayes originally for Dionne Warwick; on the Filipino instrumental version, local legends Jun Regalado and Roger Herrera (from Regalado’s ‘Pinoy Funk’ single) are reunited on drums and bass respectively. But Katindig’s original compositions hold just as much weight and unique personality: title track ‘After Midnight’ opens with a sultry funk serenade reminiscent of The Isley Brothers, and quickly transforms into a catchy, blistering, saxophone chorus that brims with swagger. Hidden B-side gem ‘Got The Need’ is an uptempo tribute to batucada that would not be out of place in a jazzy house set, and boasts increasingly elaborate and psychedelic solos from Katindig on keys and Ben Concepcion on soprano sax. Meanwhile, ‘Love Till the End of Time’ is a masterclass in instrumental disco funk, penned by the prolific Greg Phillanganes who at that same time was writing for many of the greats including Chaka Khan, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons and Cheryl Lynn. This album is lovingly reissued by Sama Sama Records, a boutique label from DJ and collector Norsicaa, who ran the esteemed Soundway Records for 8 years and released the compilation Ayo Ke Disco in late 2024.

“Lustful Expanse,” an early work from US underground visionary Evanora Unlimited, captures the rawest and most unrestrained form of their destructive pop aesthetic.

Following on from their seminal Light As A Feather LP, Outubro (October) was originally released in 1980 and began Azymuth’s run of prolific output for Milestone Records throughout the decade. Typifying the consummate craftsmanship of the three members’ performances - each with such distinct personality and together so perfectly balanced - their perfectionist attitude to sound is maintained across the production on the album, beautifully colouring the expressionist fusion of samba rhythm, jazz progression, funk attitude and psychedelic electronics. The album hosts a wonderful mix of tempos and styles, from Alex Malheiros’ earth-shaking slap-bass on ‘Dear Limmertz’, which was to become a hit on London’s underground disco and jazz-dance club scenes alike, to the late maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami’s genial melodic Rhodes excursions on the vocoder laden, samba-jazz masterpiece ‘Un Amigo’, while Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti’s signature swing on ‘Maracana’ exemplifies the root of Azymuth’s ‘samba doido’ (crazy samba) philosophy. The two cover versions on the album are the title track which was originally penned by Milton Nascimento, and Chick Corea’s, ‘500 Miles High’, both of which magically reimagine the originals and further demonstrate the immense virtuosity of this cult recording.

Graduate of Mahogani Music and Databass, Detroit’s Sheefy McFly hits critical jit x juke x ghetto-tech x footwork momentum on six vocal bangers for Amsterdam’s Cape St. Francis. Big one FFO Hi-Tech, Omar-S, Urban Tribe, DJ Assault Known to 313 locals for his colourful murals all over the city, and on this sleeve, Sheefy McFly also trades in a mean vein of uptempo booty music, as heard at his Ghettotechtopia parties and recently on a self-released LP and an ode to local ghetto-tech hotspot, ‘Belle Isle 2099’. His ‘Baddies Only’ EP elevates a signature sound of scudding 808 bass, claps, and keys with a spotlight on six original vocalists from his ends, each characteristic of classic-contemporary Motor City club music and its bridges to Chicago ghettotech. From the front, he loops bars by duo Etherpussy on undulating subs and electrosoul chords in a style shared by Lola Damone’s bars on ‘Pretty World’, and also calling to mind Andrés’ class GT Flips - a reference point for the choppier soul of ‘You’re Mine’, which tilts more into footwork angularity. Tiptonaires also brings a fierce but warm energy with her faux naïf bars on the chromatic synths of ‘Cute2Nite’, while your trunk’s Cerwin Vegas get a proper test in the Miami Bass-type tremors of ‘Young N Turnt’, voiced by DJ Mobetta.

Although he is still completely unknown to Western audiences, for Ethiopians, Tlahoun Gèssèssè is THE VOICE. The first-ever pan-Ethiopian star, he has embodied such nonstop unanimity since the end of the 1950s that is a role-model and a point of reference.

Souldynamic celebrates the 10th year anniversary of their all time classic “Equatoriale” with two special re-edited and re-mastered versions, including an instrumental mix and released on vinyl format only on Excedo Records. “Equatoriale” became Souldynamic's biggest track after the release of the legendary video showing Lil Louis playing it at Concrete in Paris with the acapella of Chuck Roberts - My House. The 12 inch record also includes two more fresh new tracks which make this record perfect for the summer heat.

Born in 1944 on Martinique island, Max Cilla worked his whole life to resurrect the bamboo flute played by his forebears in the fields from the relative oblivion into which it had fallen in the early 20th century. At first, Max Cilla built them. He went up into his native coastal hills to manufacture them according to traditional rules used in India. Using a simple piece of rough wood, he fabricated a noble instrument of great « historical » significance that showed the way for a younger generation in search of its identity. « I came up with the name of the coastal hills flute »: the great mystic asserts. Fascinated by Cuban music and Latin rhythms, he composed & played his own songs accompanied by the island’s traditional percussions. He recorded and released La Flute des Mornes Vol.1 in 1981. Max Cilla played with Archie Shepp in Paris, recorded on Bonga’s album Angola 74, shared the stage with Tito Puente & Machito and keep on playing today.

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.

Straight to the point: Indian classical music is, and will always be, the most complete music in the world. There is Indian classical music that suits all seasons, all times of day, all moods, and all emotions. Holmlia, on the southern side of Oslo, is honored to host one of the most skilled performers of Indian classical music in Europe: Sudeshna Bhattacharya. Sudeshna began learning the art of playing the sarod from her father, Sri Krishna Mohan Bhattacharya, who himself was a student of Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra. She grew up in a home where Indian classical music was deeply rooted, and at the age of four, she started playing. Her grandfather had studied with Ustad Ameer Khan Sarodia from the Senia Vinkaar Gharana, a name and lineage that left a strong imprint on her musical heritage. At the age of eight, Sudeshna began formal training under the renowned master Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. In 2003, she was invited by the French Ministry of Culture to France, where she spent a decade giving concerts both domestically and internationally, conducting courses and workshops, recording music, and participating in cultural celebrations and events. In 2013, Sudeshna moved to Norway, where she has lectured master’s students at the Norwegian Academy of Music and continued her life’s work as a performer, composer, teacher, and recording artist. She plays the sarod. The finest instrument there is?! The sarod, which together with the sitar stands as one of the most revered and well-known carriers of sound in Hindustani tonality, has a unique essence. Unlike the sitar, whose frets guide notes with strict discipline, the sarod embodies naked freedom – a fretless form requiring masterful handling with the left hand. When playing the sarod, the strings are struck with a plectrum made of coconut shell, a touch of nature's own design. Notes are created as the player presses their nails against a cold, gleaming steel fingerboard with remarkable precision. In this humble interplay between hand, nail, and string lies a profound breath, a tone reflecting the eternal itself. Joining her on this album is Mosin Kawa. He was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, on May 3, 1992. At the age of three, he began learning tabla under the guidance of his father, Ustad Shabbir Ahmed. While continuing to learn from his father, Mosin also sought inspiration and new compositions from great masters such as Ustad Munshi Ahmed, Ustad Hidayat Khan, and Ustad Yusuf Khan. At the age of eight, Mosin performed at the Saptak Festival in Ahmedabad with a qawwali group. From then on, he began performing as a tabla soloist across different parts of India. At 18, Mosin travelled to Paris, France, with his older brother Shahid Hussain Kawa, an accomplished santoor player. Together, they performed music across several European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy, spreading the musical heritage of Rajasthan to wider circles. About the title: As Sudeshna says: Mohini is the feminine version of Krishna and symbolizes feminine strength – not in war, but in peace, love, and harmony. This goddess could definitely step forward a bit more in the times ahead, thank you very much! Or, she is already present; one just needs to read a book or two or watch an informational film to realize that there’s much to learn from her and the various gods worshipped around the world. They are often on to something, and there’s no reason not to emulate them! Isn’t it strange that (at least in the Western world), it’s entirely acceptable to “look up to” athletes, actors, and capitalists, while many feel embarrassed to acknowledge a spiritually sound character or two? But yes, Indian music is and will remain the best. Indian classical music, this ancient source of resonant wisdom and spiritual beauty, has two branches that each, in their own way, embrace the mystical in the human spirit: Hindustani and Carnatic music. Sudeshna, this art’s faithful steward, enters the Hindustani tradition with a spirit so profound and an interpretation so masterful that it feels as if the music itself speaks through her as its vessel. Hindustani music is an art form that aims to reach the heart's roots, a painting of the nine primary emotions – the states of being that shape our lives: the burning fire of erotic love, the radiant joy of undisturbed happiness, the depth of empathy that brings solace to another, the power that rises like a spring flood of energy, heroism breaking through like a star in the night, fear rushing through one’s core, disgust pulling one away from what repels, awe lifting the soul towards the divine, and harmony, the gentle sense of everything in its rightful place. Each of these resonant tones acts as a medicine for the body and mind, reflecting the cosmos itself in every note and interval. In Hindustani music, notes belong to their proper time slots. Each piece, each raga, is tied to a certain time of day or a season. Like the morning light reflecting in the dew or the autumn wind sweeping over leaf-heavy hills, music must follow nature's rhythms to be whole. Before the mighty strikes of percussion enter, each raga opens with a long and exploratory alap, where the notes search outward like roots seeking water – a journey into the soul’s deepest darkness and brightest clarity. And even more beautiful, even deeper, is the play of the 22 microtones – the small, airy rising and falling tones that reveal a world beyond the West’s familiar scales, a wholeness that opens the door to a different, eternal tonal universe. Hindustani music is not just a listening experience; it is a revelation – a humble prayer, a step toward the heavens, and a resonance between earth and eternity. May more open their eyes and ears to this wondrous, deepening art!

The second album by Norwegian folk synth dance music makers Naaljos Ljom. This new collection of tunes represents the next step in the direction paved out on their first album. With more severe singular tonalities mined from the archives the duo have been looking further into the nuances and details, exposing tissue samples of the modes, forms and progressions of Norwegian folk music, and thus gaining greater control over the format. Naaljos Ljom 2 opens with a statement from Norwegian composer and music-theorist Eivind Groven, taken from a radio program from 1966 entitled "In-tune or out-of-tune in our folk music - lecture by Eivind Groven with musical examples.” The statement aptly explains the album's point of departure: "Today, we shall listen to music that cannot be expressed on a regular organ or piano. This is folk music which contain pitches and intervals that are outside the regular tuning system." As elaborated upon in a text on the inner sleeve of the LP we get to hear adaptations of traditional tunes from various Norwegian villages. Naaljos' versions are inspired by a mix of archive recordings of performers such as Andres K. Rysstad, Torleiv H. Bjørgum, Ivar Fuglestad and Gunnar Austegard and the practice of active players such as Sigurd Brokke, Daniel Sandén-Warg, Anders E. Røine, Thov Wetterhus and Kenneth Lien. We also hear a “Halling” (dance style) inspired by master fiddler Trygve K. Vågen. The duo honors the aforementioned Eivind Groven on two tracks of the record and both "Tolvtalvisa" and "To visetoner etter Eivind Groven og Ola Brenno" are based on the melodic material from unique 1930s recordings by Groven and Brenno. Adding to their signature sound of synthesizers and folk instruments the album features more fiddle playing than before, with guest fiddler Rasmus Kjorstad contributing on one track and Naaljos’s Anders Hana playing the fiddle himself on 2 tunes. Next to their usual electric bounciness, some of the tracks go in the direction of sound collage, inspired by the archive recordings the duo uses to learn the original tunes and tunings, and in this way they bring us closer to the source material. The music is put in a context - the real world, past and present. Naaljos Ljom have played at an impressive list of festivals for "cutting edge" music: Rewire Festival in The Hague, Unsound Festival in Krakow, Fri Resonans in Trondheim, Elevate Festival in Graz, Sonic Protest in Paris, UH party in Budapest, Motvindfestivalen in Oslo, Tuvas Blodklubb at Riksscena, Wonderful World in Stavanger, Fanø Free Folk Festival, and Folkemusikkveka in Ål. And this release will surely bring them to many more places. Fiona Talkington wrote the following about the first record: "I was transported to secluded valleys where age-old traditions are the passionate expressions of a community, here re-energized by the chillingly sensitive electronic wizardry of Anders Hana and Morten Joh." And in Norway even the tabloid newspapers picked it up. VG reported on one track of the album: "Gorrlaus has the same intense and monotonously suggestive sound hunt as early Kraftwerk, at the time they played ‘Ruckzuck’".

Henriette Eilertsen's solo debut from 2021, "Poems for flute", is regarded by many as one of the classics in the Motvind Records catalogue. Since then, many concertgoers have also been thrilled by the flautists fresh trio, with Joel Ring (cello & electronics) and Øystein Aarnes Vik (drums). Finally, we are all approaching the opportunity to dive deep into this warm, mysterious and alluring sonic bath. Henriette Eilertsen Trio's debut album "Mother" is characterized by captivating compositions, and balanced interaction that at the same time manages to be intimate and almost limitlessly expansive. The leader's unmistakable tone and improvisational excess are naturally a focal point, but there is no doubt that we are dealing with a proper band. Joel Ring and Øystein Aarnes Vik are masterfully light-footed and tight; calmly driving the music forward, filling it with color and texture. The music is acoustically anchored, refined with abstract electronic gestures and processing. Throughout the albums ten pieces, we are offered catchy tunes, chamber musical landscapes and open passages characterized by collective exploratory curiosity. Pianist and innovator Jon Balke contributes on the three tracks “Medieval + Moren”, “Raka Blakk” and “Kulturistisk ingang”, further expanding the music with his non-compromising and timeless tone. Eilertsen is simultaneously moving in several dimensions. The title “Moder” embraces the core of her musical agenda; a caring force that digs into both something mother-earthly, and something more abstract and over-arching. The flute functions as a narrator throughout the album; sometimes in the center of the plot, sometimes observing from a distance. One can easily imagine that "Moder" would have been a hit a thousand years ago, and that adventurous music lovers will experience it as a musical pot of gold a thousand years from now. It is often emphasized that Eilertsen was the first in Norway to be trained as a jazz flautist. However, it also feels relevant to point out that her education is of a far more wide-ranging and holistic nature than what specific genre designations can insinuate. The flute is almost omnipresent in the history of music. Both across cultures and continents, but also across classes; for both shepherds in the mountains, and nobility in castles and concert halls. For many, this historical ballast takes the form of a challenge. Where many seem to be engaged in a wrestling match with cannon, it seems as if Eilertsen meets it with a warm and understanding embrace. A gust of wind between the pasture and the wide-open cosmos, that elegantly and insistently carries the instrument's history into the future.

“A beautiful conceptual approach that is understandable and appreciated.” - Eric Therer, Jazzmania “But somehow, all pieces are strangely interconnected and cast a sensual, hypnotic rhythmic spell.” Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts " a soundscape that is quite extraordinary, unconventional and vibrant." - Ivan Rod With Unit of Time, Hans Hulbækmo and Egil Kalman aim to show that we can experience the essence of time through rhythm. How can the perception of time—both for the listener and the performers—be turned completely on its head by rhythm? By zooming in on rhythms from traditional music from around the world, the hyper-focused interplay of free jazz, and the rhythmic structures of just-intoned drone music (which is essentially about resonant intervals built on polyrhythms), these gentlemen create a wholly unique rhythmic universe—a universe where both listeners and performers can lose themselves in a thicket of twisted branches. As you know, Motvind Records is much about filling out our own record collections, and it’s high time for a drum’n’bass record that you can enjoy on the couch at home. Piercing the Veil by William Parker and Hamid Drake is fantastic, but it’s 25 years old... Now, we finally have another album where the groove button is stuck in the "on" position, and creativity overflows. "The rhythm section" has long had a supporting role in rhythmic music like jazz, pop, and rock, often overshadowed by a brash saxophonist, lead guitarist, or singer dominating most of the frequency range. In jazz, much happened early on with drummers like Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, and Warren "Baby" Dodds, as well as bassists like Jimmy Blanton, Charles Mingus, and Scott LaFaro. In folk music traditions with strong rhythmic elements, such as those in Africa and Southeast Asia, these instruments have played a more prominent role in shaping the music. But all too often, especially in Norwegian folk music, these instruments have had a rather static function. In my own record collection, I even have an album where the accompanying musicians aren’t credited—it just says, "Ola Opheim, fiddle w/Rhythm." However, Hans Hulbækmo and Egil Kalman have long been a playful and creative rhythm section, with one foot in free jazz and the other in folk music. They’ve played together in the Marthe Lea Band and other projects, and since last year, they’ve delved into the folk music of Norway and Sweden—all set in an experimental duo format: drums and mouth harp (Hans) meet modular synth and double bass and mouth harp (Egil). They’ve now gone deeper into this, aiming to create an album they can take on tour. Both individually and together, they have explored folk music, jazz, and experimental electronic music. Their projects, such as Hulbækmo & Jacobsen Familieorkester, Skrekk & Guro, Camilla Hole Trio, and Reolô, showcase their diverse musical backgrounds. In this duo project, they draw from rhythmic details in folk music—small elements that form the basis for minimalist compositions full of improvisation. They have composed and improvised most of the material, including a traditional tune from Setesdal, Filleværen. The album is a good old-fashioned musical journey where all the tracks have distinct characteristics yet are strangely interconnected. The music is also highly visual. Once the record has spun through once, it’s tempting to flip it over again—once you get a taste for good music, it’s hard to stop. And they don’t let the groove dictate everything. Some melodies are interpreted more straightforwardly, but the unconventional instruments they use give the music a different kind of depth. Unusual timbres and sonic phenomena emerge, giving the music a hypnotic quality. Both the listener and the musicians themselves can get lost in the groove, immersed in a rhythmic cosmos.

Originally released in 2005, Out To Lunch by Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Orchestra (ONJO) is a bold, track-by-track homage that reimagines Eric Dolphy’s legendary 1964 album of the same name. Bringing together the early members of ONJO, this record serves as the most vivid manifestation of Otomo’s "New Jazz" concept at the time—placing a jazz orchestra, free improvisation, and electronic textures on the exact same stage.

Experimental dark folk group Brannten Schnüre's 2016 album, 'Geträumt hab ich vom Martinszug' back in print. "Dich lieb ich, Erde! trauerst du doch mit mir! Und unsre Trauer wandelt wie Kinderschmerz In Schlummer sich und wie die Winde Flattern und flüstern im Saitenspiele The third stanza of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem ‘Dem sonnengott’ evokes a narrator who is tortured by Spleen until slumber makes his childlike gloom disappear with music. Although today’s readers might judge these nineteenth century musings of the Imagination as mere stylistic platitudes, they also still speak beyond the grave as universal truths. A mere two hundred years later similar anxieties and hopes are still channeled through various art forms, with changing success and reverberation. Brannten Schnüre are one of those neo-romantic music experimentalists who add to a long tradition of celebrating folk tale and exoticism. Their meticulously crafted loops, hesitant melodies and heavily nostalgic lyricism could easily be translated to what the late philosopher and music critic Mark Fisher called ‘hauntology’, a postmodern longing for a lost future. To describe the beauty of ‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’, however, the term seems somewhat dissatisfying. Romanticism is a hard nut to crack in the Anthropocene, and Brannten Schnüre’s realms of the cerebral are too deeply ingrained in a German tradition of story telling to define them within popular paradigm. ‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’ was recorded in 2014 in Würzburg and functions as the autumn part of the band’s seasonal cycle quadrilogy (the other segments being ‘Aprilnacht’ (SicSic), ‘Sommer im Pfirsichhain’ (Aguirre) and ‘Durch unser zugedecktes Tal’ (Youdonthavetocallitmusic)). It deals with the Saint Martin’s parade, a mostly European tradition to celebrate the medieval spirit of Saint Martin of Tours, friend of children and patron of the poor. Around 11 November children come out on the streets with lanterns and sing ancient songs in exchange for sweets. It’s a period of snugness and expectation, of yearning and dreaming, and therefore a consummate subject for the duo to scrutinize. To the adult’s ear the dream of the Saint Martin’s parade isn’t all that consolatory. The dark and slow loops of Christian Schoppik rather sound like motifs for a welcome paralysis. Sometimes as a gentle backdrop for vocals by Katie Rich and Schoppik himself, the repetitive structures serve as tricksters that trade innocence for the uncanny. The dream becomes a fever dream which quickly absorbs the listener into a vacuum, an eternal post-panic attack semi-relief. Maybe that’s the amazing paradox of Brannten Schnüre. The space they occupy is never comforting – as if being locked up inside a Carl Grossberg painting – but it’s also a subliminal aural zone you do not want to leave. It’s music as being, as a stream, devoid of climax or catharsis. And because it is flux and being, and exists to be taken, it speaks in art’s purest form. ‘In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art’ Susan Sontag famously concluded her essay ‘Against Interpretation’ with. Well, look no further …"

Brannten Schnüre, the experimental dark folk group out of Würzburg, Germany's 2015 album, 'Sommer Im Pfirsichhain' back in print. "Christian Schoppik composed and played all the music, Katie Rich whispers, recites and sings. Together they make astoundingly beautiful folk with a rich instrumentation leaning towards the atonal spectrum. Instrumental wanderings stand alongside Nico-esque poetry tales. Christian plays the accordeon and in some songs guitar and flute. Inspired by hierophants like Nový Svět and David Jackman, solemn song fragments (a lot of old greek rembetiko-recordings) are modified and looped, with additional instruments and voices being integrated later on. His music has been described as “surreal folkcollage” and “german hauntology”. With the emergence of Schoppik’s second project, a dada cabaret called Agnes Beil in 2010, Brannten Schnüre moved closer to the song structures of its frivolous sibling. The songs of Schoppik’s latest creation Sommer im Pfirsichhain are further accompanied by a female singing voice, lending the pieces the voluptuous quality of a stickily tense midsummer. Sommer Im Pfirschhain (Summer In The Peachgrove) is the second part of a quartet of releases. The first being Aprilnacht which got released on Sic Sic Tapes last year. Part three Geträumt hab' ich vom Martinszug and part four will follow later. Reference points are bands like Winter Family and Twinsistermoon. Music etched on folkloric, ritual elements transferred into the 21th century. Also worth mentioning is the hand-drawn artwork which is made by artist Gwénola Carrère."

Another blinder from Basic Channel's Wackies re-issue programme finally gets a re-press. Between stints in Jamaica for legends like Glen Brown and Junjo Lawes, Wayne Jarrett travelled from his Connecticut base to record this album during the same weeks as the sessions for everyone's favourite - Horace Andy's Dance Hall Style. These are two of the great vocal reggae LPs of all time - no questions asked. With Clive Hunt in full effect, Showcase Volume One follows the six-track dub-showcase format and Wayne never sounded more like Horace with his yearning throaty gargle! Blues afficionados might even want to discuss the influence of the late, lamented Bobby 'Blue' Bland on reggae vocals, but that's by the by. Including four unmissable Studio One versions - Azul's deadly Rockfort Rock, Sleepy's Every Tongue Shall Tell (with outrageous Isley fuzz), yet another Heptones cut via Leroy Sibbles, and a killer Drum Song.

Ignatz, the long-running project of Belgian musician Bram Devens, has spent two decades refining a distinctive approach to songcraft—built on repetition, subtle shifts, and an ear for the uncanny. Across a steady stream of releases on labels including (K-RAA-K)³, Ultra Eczema and Fonal, his work remains instantly recognisable while continually evolving. I Don’t Know marks a striking departure. Following earlier recordings centred on guitar, Devens turns to piano, uncovering a new, more skeletal language. The instrument first entered his orbit in the mid-2010s, when he inherited a family piano and began exploring its possibilities as a self-taught player. Recorded at home in Landen, these pieces feel sparse and unsettled, carrying a raw intimacy that sets them apart from his previous work. The result is a haunted, deeply personal album that reframes Ignatz’s sound without losing its core identity.

This compilation ‘Pas Un Pas Sans… The Boleros of O.K. Jazz 1957-77’ is a selection of songs from what is one of the most unique and passionate music genres on earth, the Congolese bolero. Of all Congolese bands venturing into the bolero, the O.K. Jazz orchestra is by far the king of this musical style which originated in the late 19th century in Cuba. In its nearly forty years of existence, the illustrious band released dozens of boleros, with beautiful compositions, mainly by Franco and Vicky, and occasionally from Kwamy, Edo, Simaro and Mujos among others. The slow form of the bolero allowed Franco, who said in various interviews that he loved all forms of ‘slow music’, to express his most profound soul stirrings and create a style of his own. With the suave voice of Vicky and the breathtaking and dramatic guitar touch of Franco, O.K. Jazz was able to capture the true essence of the bolero. The favorite theme in the bolero songs of O.K. Jazz was, without doubt, the joy and pain of love, but it also touches on friendship, city life in Kinshasa, laments, politics and even advertising for a shoe brand like the remarkable song ‘Pas Un Pas Sans Bata’ featured on this compilation. All of the songs, except one, were restored and remastered from the original 45 rpm or 78 rpm release. The selection chronologically presented here consists – as always – for a good part of songs never reproduced after their original release.

Shape of the Moon is the California based duo of Benjamin Burke and Bear Glass that explores existential headspaces beyond mundane frames of thought. Following streams of consciousness that contemplate the stardust that forms us to the very first human sound that reverberated through a cave, Shape of the Moon intertwines language and music into ambient dream-weaving narratives. When the land is laid bare forms a collection of recordings composed of Burke reciting his introspective poems and Glass improvising gripping modular synth and string patterns. Burke brings a wealth of experience working between an impressively vast range of written and visual mediums to Glass’s live electronics and acoustic instrumentation mirroring the spoken word. The pieces on the album consist of excerpts from live outdoor performances under the night sky in the Mojave desert as well as sessions in Glass’s off-grid solar powered studio. Burke drapes vivid vocal narration over deeply immersive textures and melodies conjured up by Glass on Buchla, bass and sitar, painting peaks and valleys that live score the storytelling. The duo tread their own path fusing poetry with undulating electroacoustic instrumentals, arriving at meditative and ASMR territories that draw inspiration from ambient and electronica. Often joined on stage by guest musicians playing anything from Rhodes, percussion, jaw harp and saxophone, the recordings edge towards blues and spiritual jazz. Benjamin Burke is a poet, writer, performer, and visual artist who spends his time lending a hand to unusual artistic expeditions around the world. Most recently, he helped to launch Dhun and Dhun School, a humanist eco-township and progressive education center on a 500 acre biopreserve in Rajasthan, India. He has written and performed countless unusual shows, experimenting widely and, through that, witnessing firsthand what makes ideas resonate for his audiences. This work evolved over time into an approach he refers to as Applied Poetics which he employs to help communities set intentions, scientists present their findings, and humanitarian organizations find their footing. Bear Glass is a sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, music teacher, live sound engineer, and founding member of Mobius Acoustics who build innovative sound systems and host events on the West Coast (utilizing a quadraphonic setup for live performances and immersive drone bath sessions). Glass is involved in various collaborative projects with a couple of releases under different pseudonyms as well as a solo tape featuring a track with prolific producer Carlos Niño. For most of the year, Glass lives sustainably off-grid with his family on a plot of land outside Joshua Tree, a mini utopia infamous for his well curated private campouts and artist residencies. Wide skies, magnificent climates, and being surrounded by the love of family and friends inform Bear’s musical output and artistic practice. Shape of the Moon present their debut album for Marionette’s 30th title, channeling an inquisitive yet playful state of mind that marvels at the mysteries of the universe.

new avatar is where everything Kelela has been building toward comes into focus. She started writing her first songs in the D.C. indie scene before the club music and electronic production that defined her early career took over. With new avatar, she closes the loop: R&B run through distorted guitar living alongside new intersections in dance music, culminating in a sound that pulls from everywhere she has ever lived musically.

A companion mini-album to Heavy Combination, last year’s career-spanning compilation documenting some of the amazing music recorded over five decades by the late Joseph Kamaru, a towering figure in post-colonial Kenyan culture. This new record presents five more gems from the archives, chosen by Disciples and Joseph Kamaru’s grandson, the sound artist KMRU. Carefully remastered from original tape transfers, with liner notes by Kenyan academic Maina wa Mũtonya.

Detroit’s dub techno lineage continues to evolve as cv313, Stephen Hitchell of Echospace, teams up with Federsen for Altering Dimensions Part Two, another collaborative EP set to land on Federsen’s Alt Dub imprint.

Anyone smote by DINTE’s ‘Begena Songs…’ will be properly enchanted by this more expansive - yet still intimate - suite of snapshots from Ethiopia, ’71, spanning the unique, twanging harp sound thru to Amharic poetry, Afar chants, and spellbinding flutes dances One that catches the breath with seldom felt sensations, ‘Ethiopian Musics 1971’ patently owes as much to the incredible performers as their faithful representation in Ragnar Johnson & Ralph Harrisson’s recordings. All secreted to tape on a Uher Report L stereo reel-to-reel recorder, they epitomise an era of ethnomusicological preservation, when the likes of labels such as Lyrichord and Folkways were already decades deep “in the field”, documenting long-held traditions practically untouched by an encroaching, western modernity. And perhaps most crucially, the recordings beautifully render the acoustic settings and vivid vibes with an immersive quality in stark opposition to the era of dry, so-called audiophile studio recordings of ethnic musics to come - all the better for immersing in this wonderfully unfamiliar world. The abundance of singular tones and strong, rare feels they produce is quite staggering to our northern english ears, and we reckon also for anyone else, for that matter. Opening to a joyful couplet of a bluesy ’Song about the beauty of women’, and the almost shanty-like swing and hard rhythm of ’Tej Beit Song’, the set reels to distinctive pieces of Ethiopian Christian song set to begena, or ‘Harp of David’, buzz, and a landscape-scale, 13 minute ‘Love Song (Mary Armede)’. A gripping ‘Drum Song (Jigsaw)’ will be mana to rhythm fiends, and a number of standout flute pieces reprise the frisson of our first encounter with this discipline on Sublime Freq’s ‘Staring into the Sun - Ethiopian Tribal Music’ set of 2012, most potently on the pluming twin pipes of the ‘Fila Flute Dance’ parts, whilst the pentatonic craar (6-stringed lyre) parts surely strike nerves for lovers of the rawest blues, and hail the liberated legacy of Mary Armede, a folk singer-fashion designer of Azmari heritage who surely warrants further investigation. No doubt this is one of the most striking archival discoveries of 2026, acutely advised to anyone enchanted with music from this corner of the world from Éthiopiques to begena harp, thru to Ragnar Johnson’s other arenas of research for Ideologic Organ in Yemen or Papua New Guinea. Dive in without delay.