NEW ARRIVALS

Thompson Sound proudly presents LINVAL THOMPSON & FRIENDS VOLUME 1, a set full of classics and the definitive roots reggae compilation of 2020. This solid set showcases a unique string of top reggae aartists including HORACE ANDY, FREDDIE McKAY, CEDRIC “CONGOS” MYTON, JUNIOR DELGADO or the same LINVAL THOMPSON, all of them at their best during the golden era of reggae (late 70´s early 80´s). All the songs has been produced by Linval Thompson who also offer us in this set two previously unreleased songs by Horace Andy and U Brown, which makes the set even more special. This compilation is the best opportunity to enjoy such an amount of reggae stars in one unique set; it also is the best way to highlight the importance of Linval Thompson as a producer, contributing to the solid development of Jamaican popular music

Classic 1978 album with Linval Thompson on vocals. Recorded at Channel One and mixed at King Tubby's. Essential in every collection!

An ode to a very good girl, Luna. It is my hope this record is soothing and trippy because it is trippy how soothing she is to me ºo∞Oº

NPLGNN's BABYLON INNA 'A CAPA MI is a five-track assault of fractured rhythms, damaged bassweight and post-industrial tension. Emerging from the momentum of his lathe-cut series, the record pushes deeper into a landscape of urgency, disorder and decay, where relentless percussion and corroded low-end collide. Drawing comparisons with DJ Scud, Conrad Pack, DJ Gonz and The Bug, these tracks thrive on pressure rather than resolution, turning ruin into a source of raw energy.

Rough Trade Records release Volume 2 of seven-inch singles boxset.

Nine disc set includes repressings of handpicked 1980s and 1990s releases from The Fall, Scritti Politti, Robert Wyatt, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens, Jonathan Richman, The Sundays and Mazzy Star

Additionally The Smiths’ The Headmaster Ritual becomes a Rough Trade single especially for this release at Morrissey and Marr’s request, with unique b-side plus new artwork from Morrissey

Sleeve notes feature new interviews with Rough Trade co-MDs Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, plus contributions from Elvis Costello, Harriet Wheeler, Anton Corbijn, Stewart Lee and more.

Rough Trade Records release a second volume of their acclaimed boxset series tracing some of the key seven-inch singles in the independent label’s history.

Following the first set which came out last year and focused on the indie’s first few years of existence, Volume 2 will feature nine seven-inch singles from the 1980s to the early 1990s, marking the period when Rough Trade came of age as a label.

Handpicked by Rough Trade’s co-MDs, Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, the tracks represent a mix of key releases and personal favourites.

Starting with The Fall’s 1980 Totally Wired, Scritti Politti's The Sweetest Girl, Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding, Aztec Camera’s Oblivious, The Go Betweens' Cattle and Cane, Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling and The Sundays' Can’t Be Sure have all been repressed on seven-inch, including b-sides, as they were released by the label at the time.

Mazzy Star’s cover of Love’s Five String Serenade, which appeared on Rough Trade’s single’s club in 1993, appears as the original release, but its b-side has been switched at Lee and Travis’ request for David Roback and Hope Sandoval’s version of Slap Happy’s Blue Flower to create a unique “covers release”.

In addition to these original releases, Volume 2 also boasts a ninth, ‘new’ single which has been created at the request of members of The Smiths, and will only be available in this edition. Although it was released in Netherlands, The Headmaster Ritual had never been an official Rough Trade single until now.

At Morrissey and Marr’s request the track from Meat Is Murder is backed by I Want The One I Can’t Have as its b-side, while Morrissey has overseen the creation of brand new artwork for the seven-inch. In keeping with his use of found art for The Smiths’ singles, he sourced an image of the American actor Billy Halop from 1939 especially for this single.

Both band members have contributed to the sleeve notes that accompany Volume 2, which also includes contributions from Elvis Costello, Stewart Lee, Roddy Frame, Green Gartside, Jonathan Richman, The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler, David Gavurin and The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison and Robert Forster. Plus, there is a brand new, extensive interview with Travis and Lee, who discuss the label during the 80s and 90s, the music and their collaborations with the artists featured.

The sleeve notes also contain memorabilia and imagery from the Rough Trade archive, along with contributions from Anton Corbijn, Laura Levine, Paul Slattery, David Corio and more, who photographed the artists at the time.

Like its predecessor Volume 1 – which included singes from Augustus Pablo, Young Marble Giants, Cabaret Voltaire, The Raincoats and more – this second Rough Trade seven-inch boxset is strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide.

Tracklisting:

7" - RT056 - 1980

The Fall - "Totally Wired"

B-Side: "Putta Block"

7" - RT091 - 1981

Scritti Politti - "The Sweetest Girl"

B-side: "Lions After Slumber"

7" RT115 - 1982

Robert Wyatt - "Shipbuilding"

B-Side "Memories of You"

7" - RT122 - 1983

Aztec Camera - "Oblivious"

B-Side "Orchid Girl"

7" - RT124 - 1983

The Go Betweens - "Cattle and Cane"

B-Side: "Heaven Says"

7" - RT152 - 1984

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - "That Summer Feeling"

B-Side: "This Kind of Music"

7" - RT0507S - 2026

The Smiths - "The Headmaster Ritual"

B-Side "I Want the One I Can't Have"

(Originally released in the Netherlands 1985 with B-side Oscillate Wildly - new B-side for this release selected by the band)

7" - RT218 - 1989

The Sundays - "Can't Be Sure"

B-Side: "I Kicked a Boy"

7" - 45rev19x – 1983

Mazzy Star "Blue Flower"

B-Side: Mazzy Star  Five String Serenade

(the single was originally released with B-side Under My Car, but has been changed at Rough Trade’s request for this edition)

Epic 2 hour trip of astral-planing, ambient psychedelia shimmering with displaced traces of pop, slurred acid grooves and ample flange. Definitely one for the road or rail trip this summer, and FFO The KLF, Fennesz, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Eno. “From the edges of a hallucinatory torpor, Rue des Garderies continue their explorations in psychedelia — Femacosmé presents here a new piece recorded live at the Pe:rsona festival, at Domaine des Éveils in the summer of 2025. An adventure guided by blur, the intangible, the impermanent, where layers, voices, sounds, and organic and synthetic echoes resonate, emerge, then fade away — as if to deceive reality, or at least our perception of it. More than two semi-improvised hours in which Rue des Garderies (Sweetzak, Désiré Bonaventure & Vasco Cesaretti) summon us to an astral yet motionless journey — somewhere between ambient, IDM, and post-pop.”

Habibi Funk’s new sister label Audible Beauty Records second release: A landmark collection retelling the untold story of Malaysian jazz featuring 9 songs from the legendary composer, arranger and trumpet player Johari Salleh. Salleh played a crucial role in shaping the sound of modern Malaysian music across radio, television, film and live performance and has composed dozens of popular songs in his decades long career. His personal musical passion always was jazz, reflected in this deep selection of jazz works that were previously unavailable unless you had one of the few dozen copies pressed locally in the 1970s. The album doesn’t only highlight his musical statue as a composer but also as a outstanding trumpet soloists bringing together jazz, spiritual undertones and Malaysian folkloric themes balancing slower pacing deep, modal grooves with more upbeat jazz funk leanings. For fans of Salah Ragab, Ahmed Malek, Mulatu Astatke, Dollar Brand and co.

Habibi Funk’s new sister label Audible Beauty Records debut release: We originally came across Soliao's music after visiting Malaysia and Indonesia as part of some DJ gigs for Habibi Funk and were immediately head over heels with the music. A landmark collection retelling the untold story of Malaysian jazz featuring 11 songs from the legendary composer, arranger and pianist Alfonso Soliano, originally recorded for Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) and only released in a run of a few dozen copies for radio broadcast. Widely regarded as one of the foundational figures of Malaysian music, Soliano blended jazz, Latin influences and traditional Malay musical forms into a uniquely local sound of all original compositions. The recordings also feature contributions from some of Malaysia’s most important musicians and composers of the era, including Johari Salleh and Ahmad Nawab. For fans of Salah Ragab, Ahmed Malek, Mulatu Astatke, Dollar Brand and co. The release includes extensive liner notes and previously unpublished archival photographs documenting Soliano’s life and legacy. Includes a special gatefold LP with a 12-page booklet attached to the sleeve and featuring in-depth essays, archival photography and historical material. Fully licensed from the Soliano family.

Kikagaku Moyo's debut album exerts an elemental power. Enlivening their sound with sitars, percussive drums, theremins, wind instruments and ethereal vocals, the band manages to sound powerfully spacious and lazily serene all at once. Their songs can be light as air, or heavy as earth. Many evolve out of intense experiences of engagement with the natural world. The album’s first track, “Can You Imagine Nothing?” was written over a night spent jamming on a suspended footbridge in remote mountains. As the song progressed the bridge began to sway, making band members feel as though they were floating weightless in midair. =Band Description= Kikagaku Moyo started in the summer of 2012 busking on the streets of Tokyo. Though the band started as a free musiccollective, it quickly evolved into a tight group of multi-instrumentalists. Kikagaku Moyo call their sound psychedelicic because it encompasses a broad spectrum of influence. Their music incorporates elements of classical Indian music, Krautrock, Traditional Folk, and 70s Rock. Most importantly their music is about freedom of the mind and body and building a bridge between the supernatural and the present. Improvisation is a key element to their sound.

The blissed family band is back! TENGGER have always moved together, through time, space & genre. 'SKY' arrives as a new chapter: a little more still, a little more inward, while keeping all the warmth that's always been at the heart of what they do. Embodying the band name meaning "endless sky" in Mongolian and "vast sea" in Hungarian, their 8th album 'SKY' centres on the feelings of boundless, infinite expansion. Conceived as one continuous environment rather than a collection of tracks, the album unfolds slowly through luminous synths, patient drones and Itta's breath-like vocals. Like a soft big sky you can actually float on: 'SKY' is vast, warm, and wide open. "Rather than a specific emotion, we hope the record opens a certain awareness — that the sky is not just something to be seen. Through it, we sense a connection to something much larger — a feeling of being linked to the wider universe. This sense of connection runs through the entire record."

Morgan Buckley and Ben Donohoe present SWORX, a dense and disorientating collision of paranoid electronics, fractured polyrhythms and dystopian ‘crowdrock’. Released via Wah Wah Wino, the record plays like a corrupted transmission from a near-future network overseen by the mysterious titular modem ‘Sworx’, endlessly sorting coded signals into hidden archives. Blending IDM textures, restless percussion and warped digital atmospheres, the duo construct a world where surveillance, malfunction and synthetic consciousness blur together. Equal parts hypnotic and unnerving, SWORX feels beamed in from a damaged post-fibre-optic reality where even your dreams are under observation.

After a successful run of early EPs and his debut double LP You!, Producer and Singer-Sing Writer Alek Lee returns to Antinote with his new album Like a Flower — an 8-track journey (plus 3 digital bonus dubs) that feels like open-heart surgery. With raw vulnerability, Lee exposes his deepest fears, pain, and inspirations, singing straight from the gut, but also sending words of inspiration and hope. From dub-infused vibes like the opening track Alright featuring My Lord, to grungy ‘90s trip-hop stylings on Compensation and the title track Like a Flower, the album showcases Alek’s wide emotional and sonic range. He shifts seamlessly into smoky, Sade-esque moods on tracks like Change, Let the Sun Just Shine, and Hold On — intimate ballads exploring heartbreak and existential reflection. With his signature blend of melodica, live percussion, guitars, vocal choirs, and lush '80s synths, Alek Lee locks you into his unique sonic universe. His brutally honest, yet deceptively simple lyrics are dressed as balearic dub-pop bangers.

On Everything You Giveaway, Pablo’s Eye turn Richard Skinner’s seaside vignette into a drifting meditation on loss and camouflage, where a missing jade earring becomes a quiet parable about hiding what hurts in the very element that once held it.Everything You Giveaway feels like a record built around a single, small gesture: a woman sitting by the sea, unconsciously loosening one jade earring while the man beside her skims green pebbles into the waves. The moment passes almost unnoticed, but later, in bed, she discovers that one earring is gone. Instead of panic, she feels relief. In her mind’s eye, she sees it lying on the seabed, indistinguishable from the stones he threw. “The best place to hide a leaf is in a tree,” she thinks, echoing the logic at the heart of Richard Skinner’s poem “a remoteness from the centre” (from the light user scheme, Smokestack Books, 2013). That line – and the short narrative wrapped around it – becomes the emotional axis for Everything You Giveaway.In typical Pablo’s Eye fashion, the text is not treated as a literal script but as a set of images to be dissolved into sound. The waves breaking become slow, undulating pulses; the green pebbles, small percussive or melodic events that vanish almost as soon as they appear; the jade earrings, bright timbral flashes that suddenly go missing from the texture. The music hovers in a state of “remoteness from the centre,” circling around implied themes rather than landing on them. What matters is not the dramatic revelation of the loss, but the quiet, inward turn that follows – the sense that giving something away, or losing it, can sometimes feel like placing it more deeply inside the world, hidden in plain sight.The album’s title, Everything You Giveaway, makes Skinner’s line universal. It’s not just about earrings and pebbles, but about all the things we let slip – relationships, secrets, fears, versions of ourselves – and how they might be absorbed by the environments we move through. The seaside setting is both literal and metaphorical: a place at the edge, where solid ground meets shifting water, and where it’s easy to imagine objects sinking out of view, merging with their surroundings. Pablo’s Eye use this as a frame for their sound-world: a gentle, porous music where elements arrive, mingle and recede, and where the distinction between foreground and background is constantly eroded.This approach aligns with the group’s long-standing interest in spoken word, ambient drift and cinematic suggestion. Here, the poem’s final line operates almost like a compositional rule: hide things in their own element. Melodies surface only to dissolve back into textures that resemble them; voices appear briefly and then disappear into a murmur of similar frequencies; a motif is introduced, then later “lost” inside a denser arrangement. As listeners, we are invited to experience the same subtle shift the woman feels: the movement from anxiety to acceptance, from clinging to an object to recognising its place in a larger pattern.Everything You Giveaway thus becomes less a straightforward adaptation of Skinner’s poem than a kind of extended footnote to it. By dwelling on that moment by the sea – the waves breaking, the casual gestures, the delayed discovery – Pablo’s Eye offer a sonic meditation on how we hide, how we surrender, and how the world quietly absorbs everything we let go.

Really feeling this trippy acid treat by a one-of-a-kind Lolina; her 10th solo album since the last Hype Williams drop with Dean Blunt in the early 2010s, and typically riddled with low-key mischievous slants on mutant dance-pop, as heard in her regular midweek club night at ace London venue, Spanners. Chasing up her trip-hop tinted LP ‘Unrecognisable’ (2024), and a mix CD as Balmainjeans repping her club night ‘Distressed’, Lolina plays to an ideally unpredictable form with a shift into acid pop on ‘Monopoly of Mistakes’; featuring eleven concentrated formulations of dry drum machines x tweakiest 303 gunk gilded with those vocals that keep us coming back. The combo of silver box x slanted vox finds the DIY prism-pusher bending timelines thru lo-fi indie-pop with sound system steppas, basement noise, cold wave and free party acid tekno, but never quite settling into any one style. Maintaining her mutable range of variations within a theme, Monopoly of Mistakes really catches our breath with the way Lolina turns a paucity of ingredients into a dead satisfying thing. Whether commanding the 303 to the beat-less abstraction ‘Border Beach’ or alloying with wooziest keys and steppas fizz on ‘The Mercenaries’, or going deep into the lushest wormhole on the titular, 7 minute standout, her min-to-max sense of economy is key to this LP’s appeal. It’s there in the piquant synth-pop of ‘Menace’ and ‘Everlasting’ - think Wee Papa Girl Rappers via Dave Ball at John T. Gast’s - and calling to mind a lost SOPHIE x EVOL gem in ’Stand Off’. But it’s also finely measured with an utterly gorgeous new age miniature harking to classic Hype Williams on ‘Welcome to the Drift of Whats Already Begun’, and of course the zinging closer ‘Penalty’, where zippiest ‘80s french cold wave meets AFXian harmony and a sort of Dopplereffektish science-lab engineering in a chef’s kiss demo of the extended melodic wooo that sets all her work apart. Best believe it’s fully distinctive, addictive gear.

Seoul’s Uman Thurman & Yetsuby, aka Salamanda, meditate on the inner life of a basil plant with a delicately flavoured suite of pottering pulses and harmonised warmth in a fine tradition of Far Eastern ambient electronica that chimes with label mates at GMT and the likes of E Ruscha V or Woo. “The album moves through a full day in the plant's life opening with ‘introduce my atom which is my favorite one’, an act of quiet self-declaration in morning light, before settling into the unhurried rhythmic pulse of ‘to to ki toki tok’- the drip of water, the tick of a clock, the slow beat of photosynthesis. ‘allez, pousse!’ - one of the standouts in this journey - carries the basil's gentle will to grow, to push, to tilt toward the sun, while ‘hungry snail’ captures a moment of creaturely encounter on the glass: an uninvited visitor, moving slowly, wanting. As the afternoon deepens, 'Basil's Ritual' traces the daily ceremony of light and warmth, repeated with calm devotion from root to leaf. Night falls across 'Basil's Dream', and in the stillness something like sleep arrives - the plant resting, imagining tomorrow's sun. The album closes with ‘the blue wine’, a final mysterious reverie in which the basil seems to contemplate its own fate, somewhere between acceptance and wonder.”

‘Yarrow’ is a bouquet of new music by Portland, Oregon-based musician and field recordist Patricia Wolf, marking the label’s ninth release and the third of Season Two. These works are her reflections on the life cycle of plants and their dynamic ecological relationships. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium, Asteraceae) is a flowering plant with a broad geographic range that includes North America and Eurasia. Yarrow connects Portland and London, where these songs were created and produced. Wolf wrote and recorded the music in Portland, Oregon, and it was pressed in the UK. Wolf created the album in response to her artist residency at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, as part of the Art-Science Exchange Project in the summer of 2024. She worked closely with ecologists Dr Paul CaraDonna, Dr Amy Iler, Dr Jane Ogilvie, Dr Nickolas Waser, Dr Mary Price, and Dr Will Petry, spending weeks engaged in long-term research on plants, pollinators, and their interactions as the climate changes. Each track on Yarrow looks at a different part of a plant’s life. The songs touch on the conditions that plants need to grow, the quiet life of roots, how flowers attract pollinators, and the strength of seeds. The first single, 'Inflorescence', the scientific name for the floral display that a plant makes in an effort to reproduce, captures this event in song. The music slowly builds layers, reflecting the album’s overall feel. The album ends with the majestic Boards of Canada-esque 'Adapted for Extreme Conditions', and the entire b-side features Patricia’s field recordings from around Gothic, Colorado, and a guided meditation by Dr Paul CaraDonna, whose research inspired the project, inviting listeners to tune into the sounds and activities of the ecosystem.

FELT survey Copenhagen's contemporary jazz scene with RMC graduate Vincent Yuen Ruiz’s intimate and strikingly minimal rendition of stifled percussion, spacious piano and precise double bass work, tipped FFO of The Necks x Talk Talk, naturally. Ruiz is a seasoned jazz player who's also nursed a parallel reputation as a post-rocker, formerly playing bass in Plaistow. And it's this knowledge of a world outside of jazz that gives 'Trio' its edge. It's not a post-rock record, by any means, but it's not pure jazz either - or at least, it doesn't sound as if it's confined by the aesthetic. The ensemble formed in 2019, but their last record together, 2021's 'Le seul salut que je connaisse', was recorded as a six-piece. Ruiz strips the sound to its bare bones on 'Trio', relying on unusual percussive sounds (provided by drummer Anders Vestergaard) to fill in some of the gaps. And although Rasmus Kjær takes a de facto lead roll on piano, it's the rhythm section, commanded by Ruiz on double bass, that makes 'Trio' so fascinating. There's an almost meditative sense of calm to opener 'Choral', with Vestergaard's bowed cymbal tones providing a neat bed for Kjær's Bach and Ravel-inspired flourishes. The tension is only released when Ruiz's soft bass enters the frame, played somewhere between improvisation and composition, minimalism and decelerated chamber jazz. Just as he slimmed down his ensemble, Ruiz slims down the pieces themselves, condensing and distilling his ideas so the record never gets busy, or outstays its welcome. Just head to the central piece 'Weaving', beautifully balancing its measured piano with Vestergaard's odd flurries of percussion that sometimes appear for just a second. We can hear post-rock - particularly the variety that Talk Talk perfected - but our brains are also directed into filling in the gaps. 'Trio' is an album that lives and dies on its pauses, focusing on decaying notes and echoing rhythms in all their quiet beauty.

Ampoule's Pub returns with a fresh remaster of the classic 'Summer' and a brand new track titled 'The Fragile Root'

'Summer' was originally released 20 years ago on the Vertical Form label - a result of a multitude of completely live and improvised studio sessions, that gently swell and evolve over the tracks 16 minutes.

'Fragile Root' is a brand new track, think vintage idm - intricate rhythms and melodies crossed with massive dub chords.

Mastered by Dubplates & Mastering

If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear. Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it. With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut on Laura Lies In, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. color in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before. Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty). The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)

Re-up of vital 1977-’78 dubs by the wee legend, cooked up long, strong and odd at his fabled Black Ark Studio for DJ play and dancers’ satisfaction. ‘Disco Devil Vol.2’ homes in on 1977-78 on six tracks that still do the business, unless you’re prepared to shell out for spenny OGs. It’s bookended by two showcases of the wee radge packet really getting into it, as with the 9 min disco jam of Hugo Blackwood & Dr Alimantado’s ‘reggae Music’, diffusing the vox and melodica to a haze on clean-heeled step, and again working the chants and nyabinghi of Sangie Davis’ ‘Words’ to a mesmerising sway, into biblical roots business by Watty Burnett. But maybe best of all is the haunting mix of Devon Irons’ ‘Vampire’ with Perry’s deeply unusual, psychoacoustic tekkerz in full effect.

Vital 1977-’79 dubs by the wee legend, all cooked up long, strong and odd at his fabled Black Ark Studio for DJ play and dancers’ satisfaction. Holding 40 minutes of golden era dub heat, ‘Disco Devil Vol. 1’ spotlights Lee “Scratch” Perry at a crest of his innovative powers. The title cut is a certified all-timer, full of chants, cauldron bubble and ten tonnes of bass that would be sampled in a ‘90s anthem by The Prodigy. Likewise he takes all the time needed to crease your Clarks with a 9 min discomix of Junior Murvin’s sparrow-voiced trotter ‘Roots Train’, and nearly 10 mins of the unreleased Seven Leaves disco mix to ‘Such is Life’, cooling Lord creator’s croon on duskiest sway and FX balm, next to soul-stir fire of Winston Watson’s ‘Dispensation.’

AFTER DARK is the latest project from French producer Onra, conceived as the soundtrack to an imagined late-night film. Entirely self-produced, the album continues the sophisticated R&B and Modern Soul direction explored since his 2010 classic Long Distance and 2018's accomplished Nobody Has To Know, focusing on late 80's / early 90's inspirations. Structured like a film unfolding between dusk and dawn, After Dark moves through themes of intimacy, urban solitude, distance, and quiet indulgence. Analog synthesizers, tight drum programming, understated basslines, and selective live saxophone textures shape a cohesive body of work that favors mood and narrative over excess. The sequencing reinforces its cinematic intent, opening and closing with intro and outro pieces that frame the record as a cohesive night-time narrative album. Over 20 years since emerging in the mid-2000s from the beat scene, Onra has steadily evolved from sample-based Hip-Hop production toward polished, song-oriented projects rooted in contemporary R&B and Funk. With After Dark, he delivers one of his most focused and refined statements to date: a mature, immersive album built for late hours, and attentive listening. The first taster of the album to drop is the slick nostalgic ’Lap of Luxury’, sets the tone for the project, a blend between Instrumental Hip-Hop, late 80s R&B and 90''s Smooth Jazz.

Colombian artist Nicolás Vallejo aka Ezmeralda lands lands a cassette on Swedish label blundar. "Known for his deconstruction of traditional cumbias, Ezmeralda has become a defining voice in the Latin American ambient scene. His arrival at blundar marks an exciting cross-continental fusion, bringing his signature "post-impressionistic" soundscapes—a blend of fluid textures, synthesizers, and loops—to the Swedish imprint's curated electronic catalog."

This compilation charts the unlikely link between Cologne’s DIY scene and the Ukrainian underground at the turn of the 1990s. Visual artist and producer Guido Erfen and sound engineer Michael Springer were central figures in SHM1, a Cologne collective who ran concerts and a studio space inside the vast, disused Rhenania grain silo. From this base, they built an independent network for recording and distributing music beyond the mainstream. In 1990, Erfen received a cassette from Ukraine featuring bands from Kharkiv and Kyiv, alongside an essay by Sergey Myasoyedow, co-founder of Kharkiv’s Novaya Scena rock club. The music—shaped by punk, avant-garde experiment, folk motifs and abrasive grooves—opened a window onto a scene largely unheard in the West. Further tapes followed, and Erfen travelled to Ukraine, eventually persuading Alfred Hilsberg to release the Novaya Scena compilation on What’s So Funny About, documenting 14 bands recorded between 1986 and 1992. In the wake of that release, musicians including Svitlana Nianio and Yewgeny “Yenia” Taran travelled to Cologne. From 1994 onwards, informal sessions at Springer’s Phantom Studio and the SHM space at Rhenania forged a new chapter in this exchange. Those recordings form the basis of this collection, capturing four distinct incarnations of the Ukraine–Cologne connection.