NEW ARRIVALS

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.

"Never before heard tunes from the heart of Manchester circa 1989. The lost demos of the band that was Joanna, recorded at iconic Strawberry and Pentagon Studios were discovered in a Manchester apartment loft after 35 years on the shelf. For fans of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Charlatans. With the release of Hello Flower, Joanna is no longer “the most popular band without a record out,” as NME called them in 1990, but their singular spirit is now available for anyone who wants a taste." It’s 1989. The Stone Roses are dominating the Indie scene and music press. Happy Mondays are laying the foundations of what would come to be known as the Madchester era with chaotic live performances. All eyes are on the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Along the East Lancs Road, throughout industrial heartlands between Manchester and Liverpool, punctuated by woollyback accents, four young musicians meet and form the next contender for the scene’s attention, Joanna. Neil Holliday (vocals) and Terry Lloyd (bass), work colleagues from Runcorn and Widnes, join forces with Leigh Music College students Tyrone Holt (guitar) and Carl Alty (drums). They hail from thoroughly working-class backgrounds, raised by hard working dads and harder working mothers. Rejected by other local bands because of their perceived youthful naïveté, the four lads create a world of their own inside Pentagon Studios in Widnes. This world includes a stolen smoke machine and strobe lights, a wooden shack to prevent feedback on the vocals, and the occasional friend who would dance around wildly. “I think the first tune we rehearsed was called (I Wanna) Marry Joanna,” says Holliday, “I’d never sang into a mic before and had no clue about levels, amps or speakers and started sweating after a couple of failed attempts to vocalise the words I had on a scrap of paper about smoking weed.” Each track on Hello Flower came together in the Pentagon rehearsal room, a fusion of hard-edged indie rock with bass funk rhythms and crunching guitar riffs spiraling into infinity. With a clear sixties influence, Joanna was impossible to ignore and irresistibly danceable. Listening back today, their music evokes fantasies of Hacienda acid trip jubilees, where the hook is secondary to the groove and attitude. Organic and jammy, their demos are infused with a kinetic energy, full of the defining youthful experience of figuring it out. Their momentum grew quickly. They were interviewed on the cult Kiss FM by future Best Selling author and filmmaker Jon Ronson, performed at the 1500 capacity Ritz in Manchester, International 1 and Liverpool Polytechnic. The band secured coveted support slots for established acts of the time including Shack, Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations, Rig, and Asia Fields. After recording several demos, Joanna had the opportunity to perform in London. It seemed like a given. The A&R people would show up, the band would sign a contract backstage, and their local-legend status would evolve into international superstardom. They were already mentioning an upcoming record deal in interviews, with a bravado that inspired one journalist to describe Joanna as epitomising “the simple beauty of youth.” Bands like World of Twist, Charlatans, Rig and Paris Angels had all followed a similar route towards recognition and secured record deals. A few hours before their fateful London show after the band had sound-checked, singer Neil bumped into a girl he knew from school. She had started dating a guy with a good job and settled into London life and escaped beyond their small-town limitations. She’d made it out. Neil puffed out his chest and let her know about Joanna’s big show and imminent success. She laughed. Neil returned to the venue in a black mood, leading to a domino-like fall of morale. They were never offered a record deal. As soon as doubt was seeded about the individual talent of any one member, and strategy became more important than expression, Joanna started to lose its magic. Wounded, they limped along for another year, never recovering their initial verve. This story doesn’t have the happy ending of instant success, but it does preserve something much more ephemeral and unique. Joanna constantly brushed shoulders with fame as manager and friend Martin Royle pulled the strings with a quiet determination in the background. A major player in the Liverpool scene, Dave Pichilingi, offered to manage the band. The Boardwalk, which later became the rehearsal space for Oasis, asked Joanna to headline their re-opening after a major refurb, selling the venue out. Was a certain young roadie called Noel Gallagher there to witness the evening while he was putting his own band together? Definitely. Hand-written letters on headed stationery, recently found in the attic of the Isle of Man home of Royle, show labels like Rough Trade, Factory Records and Polydor courted and encouraged the band to keep playing and recording. Thirty-five years later, these long-forgotten ¼-inch reel tapes from Pentagon Studios were discovered in the loft of a mutual friend, their manager having handed them off to him 24 years earlier. These musical time capsules contained tracks the band members themselves hadn't heard in over three decades, offering a poignant reconnection with their creative past and tantalising glimpses of what might have been. “We realised we were actually as good as we remembered,” says Alty. The memories between the band members are blurred and contradictory but the tapes hold everything together, they are real, definite and irrefutable. With the release of Hello Flower, Joanna is no longer “the most popular band without a record out,” as NME called them in 1990, but their singular spirit is now available for anyone who wants a taste. The simple beauty of youth can only be experienced when you are invincible, fulfilling your natural destiny, buoyed by complete optimism… This record captures innocence untainted by failure. Beyond analysis, beyond critique, just lost in the groove.

Continuing its faithful documentation of the early years of Monolake, Field Records proudly present the first-ever vinyl pressing of seminal 1999 album Interstate. In a kaleidoscopic lattice of micro-rhythms and exquisitely dynamic textural work, Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles fully collaborated for the final time on this record — and created an electronica landmark in the process.

Monolake's evolution from their earlier dub-techno-tinted works saw their exploration of Max/MSP go further out. The duo yielded greater complexity in the behaviour of their sound palette to achieve an organismic quality that remains an enduring influence on so many strands of experimental electronic music today. Interstate is a vivid record that builds up eight different ecosystems of sound and subtly threads elegant grooves through their root structures.

There's a house-like undulation to the low-end driving 'Tangent-I' and 'Tangent-II', but the infinitesimally detailed layers of sound on top swoon from techno synth shimmers to trickling waters, snaking delay trails and pin prick percussion. You can hear the unmistakable, snappy rhythmic thrust of drum & bass driving 'Ginza', but here it's used as an engine for the crispest array of designer percussion and dub-soaked synth chirrups. Across every track, Henke and Behles demonstrate a potent combination, both groovily instinctive and eternally fascinating to try and pick apart.

After Interstate, Behles departed to focus entirely on the development of Ableton Live and Henke steered Monolake towards a leaner — but no less pioneering — sound. Every Monolake record has its own unique context and sound, and the circumstances of Interstate could never be repeated. Capturing the leaps in progress that were being made in digital music production at the end of the millennium, it's an information-rich document of a moment in time that still sounds wildly futuristic 27 years later.

Dewa Alit, master of radical Balinese gamelan, returns to Black Truffle with Baur Bentur."Genetic (2020) introduced international listeners to the magical sound-world of Alit’s Gamelan Salukat, who perform on instruments tuned to a unique scale derived from modified versions of two traditional Balinese scales. The two pieces heard on Chasing the Phantom (2022) further demonstrated his radical fusion of tradition and experimentation, with passages where unorthodox techniques make the acoustic ensemble resemble glitching electronics. Baur Bentur now highlights another aspect of Alit’s work, presenting pieces composed in 2024 and 2025 where Gamelan Salukat performs alongside virtuoso pianist Sri Hanuraga.Alit’s music is grounded in deep reflection on the tradition of Balinese gamelan and its place in the contemporary world. His title, ‘Baur Bentur’, which translates as ‘mixing and smashing’, points to his embrace of the intercultural mixture of Eastern and Western elements in the search for innovation. Against the calcification of Balinese music into tourist entertainment, Alit poses his searching, experimental work, which celebrates the communal values and performance practices of traditional gamelan while pushing into startling new directions.‘Sukat Tacara’ is a study in layered tempos, meters, and polyrhythms, a constantly shifting dialogue between piano and the instruments of Gamelan Salukat. It begins close to a traditional concerto, pairing a brisk sequence of melodic variations from the piano with a spare but propulsive accompaniment of drums and hanging metallophone tones, punctuated by low gong strikes. The piano builds in volume and density across a rapid succession of fragments, at points recalling George Antheil’s ticking wind-up machinery, though Hanuraga’s jazz background shines through in the fluidity with which he navigates the complexities of the score, where chromatic movement co-exists with bluesy phrases. An abrupt change in the piano to patterns of dense clusters introduces a new episode, during which the metallic instruments of the gamelan enter the foreground. The piece dazzles with its inventive rhythms and dynamics, building to a stunning passage featuring the signature heavy muting technique of the Gamelan Salukat metallophones in kinetic patterns that would be at home on a Príncipe release.The title piece begins at high intensity and rarely lets up, working through bracing unison ensemble melodies and punctuation points where piano and gamelan together seem to become a single, thudding drum. For much of the piece the piano is tightly integrated into the ensemble, the harmonic extensions of the melodic line subsumed into a moving cloud of complex overtones generated by the gamelan instruments. Wildly kinetic on the rhythmic level, the piece swarms with microscopic movements of beating patterns generated by the ‘blend and crush’ of three simultaneous tuning systems: the equal temperament of the piano and the saih cenik (small scale) and saih gede (big scale) used by the gamelan instruments. Accompanied by the composer’s thoughtful liner notes and images of the musicians, Baur Bentur is a stunning next step in Alit’s radical combination of tradition and innovation."

Appearing for the first time on vinyl is the complete performance of "THE NILE" from the Saturn LP "When Sun Comes Out", recorded at The Choreographers Workshop in New York in November 1962. THE NILE parts 1 and 2 creates a dense atmosphere of rolling percussion, lugubrious bass and clinking piano ostinatos beneath the evocative flute of Marshall Allen. This recording, especially when heard in its full form, invokes a deep sense of an unknown but familiar place and time, merging past-present-future through the spacious over/lapping drummings of Clifford Jarvis, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Tommy Hunter and RA. Both sides of the single sound particularly good when layered on top of each other, a confluence of Afro-Futurist myth science and primordial waters. Beautifully mastered for 7" by Adam Gonsalves and Telegraph Audio, and expertly pressed by Smashed Plastic in Chicago. Packed in hand-assembled silk-screened metallic gold and black ink jackets printed by Seizure Palace, with 4 different cover variations. Includes picture sleeve and ephemera.

Inventor of the “infinite guitar,” Canadian musician Michael Brook’s 1992 4AD record Cobalt Blue is a timeless and quietly stunning collection of instrumental pieces and shimmering dreamscapes, featuring contributions from ambient music pioneer Brian Eno, composer & multi-instrumentalist Roger Eno, and Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois.

Recorded later that year, Live at the Aquarium captures Brook’s rare solo performance in London, highlighting the hypnotic sustain and atmosphere that define his work. Beyond his albums, Brook has scored acclaimed films including Into the Wild, Brooklyn, and An Inconvenient Truth.

Newly remastered by Rashad Becker and presented as a 2XCD and crystal clear 2LP with artwork by Alison Fielding based on the original v23 designs, this set marks the first vinyl reissue of Cobalt Blue and the vinyl debut of Live at the Aquarium — a long-overdue celebration of an underrated gem in the 4AD catalogue.

Brook is known as a pioneer in the ambient music movement and a highly sought-after producer, especially in the arena of world music, for Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. He has worked with a vast range of important artists, including Cheb Khaled, U. Srinivas, Mary Margaret O’Hara, and the Pogues, and toured with David Sylvian and Robert Fripp and with John Cale.

Brook was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996 for his album with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Night Song, and for a Golden Globe in 2008 for the Into the Wild soundtrack. El Infierno won the 2011 Havana Film Festival award for best music. In 2024, Nusrat’s album Chain of Light, produced by Brook, was The Guardian’s World Music album of the year.

At the age of 72, "Evil" Graham Lee, the legendary pedal steel pioneer and veteran of the iconic Australian band The Triffids, delivers his first ever album under his own name titled ‘I Think I’m Alone Now’. In addition to his work with The Triffids, Graham’s place in ambient history was cemented in 1990 when his evocative pedal steel became the soulful centerpiece of The KLF’s masterpiece, Chill Out (specifically on the highlight “Baltimore to Fair Play”).I Think I’m Alone Now is a profound exploration of the instrument's emotional range, blending traditional country infused melodies with vast, reverb drenched ambient textures. The album spans six tracks, anchored by the Side B title track, a 15 minute textural piece that leans heavily into the ambient genre. From the delicate melancholy of "Seeking Beauty in Sadness" to the curious abstraction of "Nursery in the Beehive," Lee uses his pedal steel and an array of pedals to sculpt unique, haunting soundscapes that exist between tradition and the avant garde.The connection is brought full circle with exclusive liner notes written by The KLF’s Bill Drummond. Reflecting on a forty year friendship that began when The Triffids served as the backing band for Drummond’s solo debut, The Man, Drummond provides a personal and poignant context for this long awaited solo bow.A 180g pressing housed in a full sleeve designed by Bradley Pinkerton with metallic sticker and bespoke inner sleeve featuring liner notes signed by Bill Drummond.

NYC’s Urner chimes with Dutch label topo2’s tastes for shimmering electronic melody and subtly crooked structures on a quietly charming LP made from Japanese lava, modular synths and software: tipped to fans of Irdial’s Anthony Manning, Georgia’s Brian Close, Visible Cloaks. In the wake of a self-issued 2020 debut and tape on Atlantic Rhythms, ’Afterimages’ is Isaac Pearl aka Urner’s 3rd album and the first to fix his ephemeral tactility to vinyl. Under a name and title hinting (to us at least) a play on psychedelic or oneiric experience, the music follows with an often fleeting, tongue-tip sensuality that patently fits topo2’s emerging remit, as heard in their sides by Upsammy, Mor Elian, Windu. It’s not hard to trace lines from ‘80s Japanese environmental ambient to ‘90s electronica and modernist reflections on new age, partly thanks to its combo of clinking, rhythmelodic Sanukite lithopone tones - think a xylophone made from rare volcanic rock - with analog and digital synth sources, applied with a mix of care and nuanced daring that feels timeless yet also up-to-date in its oloid asymmetry. A whispering opener ‘Options, Thoughts’ unfolds into hyaline dimensions, where the rest settles, offbeat, at meditative pace, between plucked melodic chin reactions of ‘Stranding’, dreamy aeolian harmonics of ‘Anni,’ and air-kissing romance of ‘Lover Cusp.’ The Visible Cloaks comparison is apt on a standout ’Suspend’ and the cascading notes of ‘Tides,’ to a quietly fizzing conclusion.

In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room. Back in Mogard’s studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centres and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard’s layering and subtraction reassembled everyone’s parts into the final arrangement. The album opens with “In the Eastern Wild,” building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. “Over the Domes” widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with “A Blue Descent,” centred on Bertoni’s cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth. At the album’s centre, “In a Quiet Radiance” unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli’s violin lines and Bertoni’s lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli’s processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record’s pivotal moments. “Of Blessed Ages” suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music’s internal drift. The closing “Among Shadows” settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede. Mogard and Irisarri’s shared language balances restraint and maximalism. UK magazine Crack describes the music as “a tidal wave held in suspension,” while Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant writes, “What a colossal sound, and how this music strikes at the emotions.” Reflecting on the residency sessions, Irisarri recalls: “At moments I genuinely couldn’t tell if a sound was coming from me or from Abul. It stopped feeling like two people making decisions and began to feel like we were inside a system moving on its own." Marja de Sanctis’ cover artwork revisits the vessel sculpture from the duo’s first album, Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close. There it appeared as raw, unfired clay. Here it has been fired in the kiln and finished with a glaze. Light gathers on its polished surface and spills into the surrounding space. As she explains, “I wanted to convey the idea of continuity within the duo, and the vessel became a kind of container for that idea. However, their music felt different this time, and with the collaboration of Martina and Andrea, I felt it should have a sleeker, softer, more glamorous look, very distant from the first raw appearance.” The transformation of the vessel from raw clay to fired form suggests a passage from immediacy toward permanence, mirroring the music’s gradual expansion.

Life Goes On Records present a reissue of The Beat Of The Earth's The Electronic Hole, originally released in 1970. Second album from the cultish experimental jam band formed in 1967 in Orange County, California. Their second effort from 1970 -- The Electronic Hole -- takes a step away from their earlier work, being composed with definite song structures versus the earlier drawn-out freeform jams. Sounding much like a west-coast version of The Velvet Underground & Nico, the album has melodic motifs but is much more primitive and mysterious than its cousin, with loads of fuzz, haunting organ, Phil Pearlman vocals, and even some sitar, acoustic strumming, and ballad-like moments ("Love Will Find A Way, Part I"). The album includes even a wild cover of Frank Zappa's "Trouble Every Day". Had the story ended here it would have been a real tragedy, as Pearlman's finest hour was yet to come. Six years later (with who knows what in between), recording commenced on the majestic Relatively Clean Rivers album with an entirely new band and musical vision.

The visionary musician and record producer Augustus Pablo made some of the most unique and individual recordings in the history of reggae. As with his friend and mentor, Jackie Mittoo, the man born Horace Swaby was of mixed Indian and African heritage, and although his middle-class background might have pointed him in a very different direction, the lure of Jamaica's sound system culture captured him at a young age, particularly after debilitating health problems saw him drop out of school. He began recording as a session keyboardist as the '60s gave way to the '70s, but everything changed when a school-friend introduced him to the melodica, a small plastic keyboard operated by a mouthpiece, which he used on seminal recordings for producer Herman Chin-Loy, credited to Augustus Pablo on the release. During the early 1970s, Pablo crafted melodica instrumentals for all of the leading reggae producers, scoring "best instrumental" for "Java" in 1973, and launching the Rockers label to showcase self-produced work at the same time. This multi-faceted compilation, first issued on Bunny Lee's Attack label in 2005, compiles memorable melodica interpretations of some of Lee's greatest productions, recorded over dub cuts of immortal numbers such as Cornell Campbell's "Queen Of The Minstrel" and John Holt's "My Desire".

Originally released in 1975. Tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook is rightly considered a giant of Jamaican music. Chosen by Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd to be leader of The Skatalites in the early 1960s, he went on to become the chief exponent of rock steady as leader of The Supersonics house band at Treasure Isle. McCook remained a key session player throughout the reggae era, and during the roots reggae heyday of the mid-1970s, his expressive melodies found particularly strong outlet, especially on the music he created for grassroots producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee as a member of The Aggrovators, the studio outfit Lee hand-picked from the cream of Jamaica's musical crop. When enhanced by the adventurous mixing experiments of King Tubby, the engineer that turned dub into an art form, instrumental Aggrovators music became positively ethereal, yielding an exceptional listening experience. On King Tubby Meets The Aggrovators At Dub Station, Tommy McCook blows mean sax and flute over dubs of outstanding tracks by Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Linval Thompson, Delroy Wilson, and others greats. LP version comes with four bonus tracks.

The classic album now returns with new analogue mastering and stunning smoky blue vinyl pressing Originally released in 1970, Soul Rebels marked the first full-length album credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers, establishing it as a cornerstone of the roots reggae movement and a musical monument in the early stages of their career. This album is a powerful blend of love songs and defiant rebel anthems that captures the essence of the era's burgeoning reggae scene. With its catchy rhythms, revolutionary spirit, and thought-provoking lyrics, this recording stands as a testament to the band's ability to seamlessly merge the themes of love, liberation, and self-awareness. The title track, ‘Soul Rebel’, has become an anthem for those seeking freedom from societal norms and restrictions, encapsulating the themes of resistance and self-determination that Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer wove into their music. The album also highlights their collaboration with visionary producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, recorded at the renowned Randy’s Studio in Kingston, which became the birthplace of some of the most influential sounds in reggae history.

Cecil McBee’s debut album, Mutima, stands as a landmark achievement in 1970s jazz, blending the deeply introspective qualities of spiritual jazz with adventurous post-bop and avant-garde influences. Released in 1974 on the revered Strata-East label, the album highlights McBee’s virtuosic skill on the bass alongside his remarkable gift for crafting compositions that resonate with emotional and intellectual depth. Backed by a stellar ensemble featuring luminaries such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Onaje Allan Gumbs, and Dom Salvador, Mutima – translated as “unseen forces” – unfolds as a vivid musical journey. The album’s intricate interplay and sweeping arrangements reveal McBee’s ability to unite diverse voices into a cohesive, transcendent statement. A cornerstone of 1970s jazz, Mutima solidifies Cecil McBee’s reputation as a trailblazer, channeling the spirit of innovation and collective artistry into a timeless recording. Now remastered from the original analog tapes, this iconic album is available in digital format for the first time, inviting listeners to rediscover its brilliance like never before!

Featuring stunning solo piano work by Strata-East co-founder Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams is a landmark album in jazz, celebrated for its intimacy and innovation. Recorded in 1974, it stands as one of the most significant solo piano albums of its time, blending jazz with classical, African, and Eastern influences. Cowell’s pioneering use of both electric and acoustic piano expands the expressive range of the instrument, creating a deeply personal and spiritual experience. Musa: Ancestral Streams is a cornerstone of the Strata-East discography, reflecting the label’s commitment to artistic freedom and genre-defining works. It not only highlights Cowell’s extraordinary vision as a musician but also exemplifies Strata-East’s role in championing boundary-pushing, artist-produced records. For the first time ever, this pioneering solo work from the famed pianist will be available on CD and digital platforms, as well as on 180-gram vinyl. The digital release features an alternate take on the classic “Travelin’ Man” as well as 3 additional never-before-released bonus tracks. Pressed at Record Technology Inc. (RTI) and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, the vinyl edition comes in high-quality, glossy tip-on gatefold jackets. It also includes new liner notes by Nate Chinen and never-before-seen photos, making this release a must-have for jazz enthusiasts and collectors alike.

Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist, composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul. Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu devotional songs) led by legendary jazz harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane. Her musical and religious teachings continue to have a profound effect on the keyboardist, whose career has since gone on to take in acting stints in the TV series Vinyl and Boardwalk Empire alongside a diverse range of musical collaborations with the likes of Reggie Workman, Joey Bada$$, Gangstarr’s GURU, Amel Larrieux, N’Dea Davenport, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. His work as the Music Director of the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers has seen him tour internationally honouring Swamini Turiyasangitananda Alice Coltrane’s devotional music. “The way I play the piano is not the way my friends play the piano” he says. “It forced me to find the place I truly dwell in - the place between the hip hop and jazz, but based in meditative and long form expressions of my spirit.” Botofasina’s renown has enabled him to enlist a supremely talented, cross generational group of musicians for the project including major LA mainstays such as multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Carlos Niño - who also produced the album - jazz singer Dwight Trible, and indie folk vocalist Mia Doi Todd. Brilliantly gifted guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Pablo Calogero, and drummer Efa Etoroma Jr., round out the guest collaborators alongside Botofasina’s mother, the harpist Radha Botofasina, a key musical disciple of Alice Coltrane’s during her Ashram years and a hugely formative influence on the keyboardist. Ten years in consideration, the album’s genesis lay in Botofasina and Niño’s long-running creative partnership. The pair first linked up through Niño’s Build An Ark jazz ensemble, by the recommendation of Atwood-Ferguson, in 2011 and - after Niño suggested recording a Surya lead project, the idea began to solidify with a series of collaborative concerts in 2018 (still on-going,) that engendered a deep musical bond. Recorded by Jesse Peterson in 3 joyous sessions last year in Glendale, California, the results are grounded in the ashram music that Botofasina grew up with and present his own unique jazz-influenced take on devotional sounds. That vision achieves heady form in the shape of album opener Surya Meditation, an epic twenty-seven-minute duet with Niño built around Botofasina’s assorted keyboard textures. Synths hum hypnotically, softly patter like raindrops or drift by like clouds on a hazy summer’s day. Niño’s subtle percussive accompaniment offers a gentle sense of otherworldliness throughout a contemplative, meditative and stunningly beautiful piece that offers feelings akin to floating gently across water. “I knew when it was happening that it would be the focal point, the opus, the centre of this project” says Niño of the recording. The solo piano piece I Love Dew, Sophie melds jazz and classical keyboard notes in warm-toned clusters before the ecstatic spiritual jazz excursion Beloved California Temple opens things out into a group setting. Here, Botofasina’s hypnotic piano motifs and Niño’s expressive percussion are joined by Pablo Calogero’s breathy saxophone lines, before Dwight Trible’s dramatic wordless vocals bring things to a rapturous climax to the accompaniment of Efa Etoroma Jr.’s crashing drum crescendos, with the harmonic brilliance of Nate Mercereau’s guitar synth fortifying the whole. The title track Everyone's Children follows. Featuring Mia Doi Todd - whose pregnancy at the time of the recording inspired it’s name - the track blends her dream-like singing with the buzzing swoop and swirl of a synthesizer - a recognizable throwback to the Sai Anantam Ashram devotional sound - alongside gentle piano runs. Begun in reflective mode, Sun Of Keshava’s synthesizer textures build in warmth towards a denouement of radiant keyboard notes that recall the beauty of a summer sunrise. The cascading Waves For Margie features gentle harp textures and vocals from Radha Botofasina. The album ends with a reprise of it’s centerpiece Surya Meditation, in a shortened and powerful edit that comes accompanied by the potent spoken reminiscences of Swamini Satsang. It’s return marks the closing of an extraordinary musical circle whose singular blend of improvisatory and devotional music defies easy categorization. The warmly reflective solo synth piece for Meghan Jahnavi* was added with the intention to promote mental health and wellness initiatives. “That is specifically what Dew Sophie's and Meghan's pieces are composed for,” Surya reflects. “Their imperative nature and importance to me cannot be overstated. I, and we, are in a place where uplifting our spirits to wellness is the most crucial part of many aspects of human existence.” Dedicated to the formative influences in Surya Botofasina’s life; his mother, grandmother and Alice Coltrane, his debut album is imbued with a wide-eyed sense of discovery. He explains: “Each piece feels like an inaugural experience in the most spiritually youthful way. Many musicians have many albums - but there is only one first. The Divine energy of a new life is within every second of the music.”

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.

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”.

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”.

In recent years, in the world of jazz and spiritual jazz, the phrase 'holy grail' has been often used. Once in a while though the phrase is truly justified, such as is the case with this reissue: Abdullah Sami - "Peace Of Time" Recorded in New York in August 1977 and released in 1978 on Sami's own label imprint, only 300 copies were ever pressed, each cover individually hand-made with different covers photocopied and pasted onto different coloured paper while some copies were adorned with Sami's own hand-drawn art (in much the same way as some of the rarest albums by Sun Ra). Forty years later, such a fabled, rarely seen artefact would garner mythical status amongst spiritual Jazz seekers with original copies selling online for over $2,000. But first, behind every myth and legend, there's a true story, or in this case two stories... Abdullah Sami's father, William Frank Slaughter, the composer of ‘Afrikan Samba’ and an accomplished saxophonist in his own right, was a great stimulus in his child's musical development, teaching him music theory and nurturing his creative approach to music since childhood. Called ‘Mudon’ by those closest to him, Abdullah Sami would go on to be part of Chicago's rich, musical tapestry, a city imbued with the urban blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, the soul of Curtis Mayfield and Donny Hathaway, home to influential record labels Chess and Delmark and the legendary Jazz artists co-operative the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). Sami built a steady reputation in Chicago’s underground jazz and art loft scene, often performing with percussionist Yaounde Olu and bassist Imhotep Askia Ba at the former's own artist gallery Osun on Chicago's South Side, as well as other venues such as the Institute of Positive Education and Aziza Artist Space. In this period he would formulate his own multi-directional saxophone approach, his alto horn shifting modal frequencies in free flight, fluid and hypnotic, playing and teasing with harmony and melodics. Recognition in the Windy City remained elusive however and seeking wider exposure and better playing opportunities Sami headed east to New York where the recording "Peace Of Time" would come to fruition. It would remain perhaps the only documentation of Sami's creative talent, New York and the jazz scene ultimately proving to be as unforgiving as Chicago, to where he would return, but at least Chicago was home. The daily reality of life would take over, and Sami retreated from the music scene that nurtured him... Fast forward forty years to Japan where two jazz-heads from London - DJs, label bosses, radio show hosts, and vinyl diggers - stumble across a record without a sleeve. Intrigued, they ask to listen to it. Immediately they identify it as 'their' vibe, in 'their' spirit. They ask questions. Who is the artist? Where are they from? Did they release anything else? There's no sleeve, just a label. They are informed that nobody knows of anything else by this artist, or what happened to him/them. People have tried for years, they are told, tried to find the artist, tried to locate the label, tried to bring it to the attention of those who love and care for great music. They return to London enthused with missionary zeal to locate the source of this beauty. Phone calls are made, e-mails are sent, they speak to someone who knows someone who maybe knows someone else who...well, more than a year later, it is the spirit muse that finds the artist. He's still in Chicago, working, residing, living, unaware of his only album's legendary status, but he's flattered and thrilled that the team of two, guided by the spirit muse, had found him. Of course they can re-issue his masterpiece! Delighted by his approval, they tell him it's going to be re-mastered and re-issued on audiophile vinyl. Reciprocating their passion, and renewed with artistic vigour, he proclaims he might even "play the horn again!". The circle is complete.

Due to high demand of dubplates, the "Bush Tea" is finally released in vinyl 7"!

For our 17th expedition, we once again put our trust in expert bass navigators, Inner Echo. After an exceptional outing on PSI011, the Bristolian duo have been further honing their craft via an LP on Moonshine, and the launch of their own imprint, EchoPlex Recordings. They return to the Challenger Deep with a brace of dub-drenched, bass heavy excursions. Limited press, no digital.

We take the same and start again A winter week at One Buck studio, 4 musicians. Ocman Dread and Ras Salam once again call on Jolly Joseph and Dr Charty to accompany them on guitar, bass, keyboards... The recordings of this session do not suggest the negative temperatures and the frost outside, the riddims are sunny and sound warm. Pinnacle Sound's 5th album is in the wake of the previous ones, roots that make you smile. Breath is life The rest takes place at the Bat Records studio. The Dub Shepherds refine these takes where breath and grain mingle, in search of the authenticity that has made Pinnacle Sound special since its beginnings. With the help of vintage machines and magnetic tapes, the album takes shape and begins to take shape. Many guests Another Pinnacle Sound trademark, numerous guests behind the microphone are present on this disc as on the previous ones. We find the essentials: Marcus I and Jolly Joseph, to which are added new voices, like Payoh SoulRebel who opens the album with the unequivocal “Downpressure”: we are here to have a good time! Big news on this album, the presence of female voices! The trio The Steadies delivers the brilliant “Thank You”, and Nina Murple signs the ballad “By The Train”. You will have understood, Pinnacle Sound unveils a rich and generous new album, 10 tracks from the most kitsch to the most profound, which will leave no one indifferent.