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HiTech - Honeypaqq Vol.1 (Titty Milk Springs Vinyl LP)
HiTech - Honeypaqq Vol.1 (Titty Milk Springs Vinyl LP)Loma Vista Recordings
¥5,764

Detroit’s baddest yungers get down on their ones with a 2nd self-released volley of modern ghetto-tech and hyperlocal jit, reprising the road-ready sound of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s for new crowds hungry for this shit

Including a killer 2024 single indicative of what to expect in the tabla and jazz key puckered slam of ’SPANK!’, the 14-track ‘Honeypaqq Vol.1’ says its bit in a brisk half hour of scudding subs and sampler chops racked up at 160BPM. The levels are typically up there and lyrically lascivious from the bucking ace ‘Take Yo Panties Off’ to the ruthlessly sped-up R&Bop ‘Freak in Full Effect’, deftly reinterpreting and factoring the groundwurk of DJ/producers Funk, Assault, Rashad and Maaco for 2020s needs.

Since staking their sound with two LPs for Omar-S’ FXHE and a ruck of acclaimed live shows, Hi Tech have become standard bearers for a brand of ghetto house that found international favour some 25 years ago and long since long bubbled away in the background. The trio of King Milo, Milf Melly and 47chops aka Hi Tech are almost single-handedly responsible for renewed interest in this zone, paralleling the pace and intent of Chicago’s renowned footwork sound with similar but distinctively jazzy Motor City tekkerz.

Trust it twerks and fizzes in all the right places. Putative jit and deb dualities juke it out in the itchy but sublime ‘Norf Cold 304’s’, while they balance bebop and crunk in ‘New Jazz Schmell’ and snap to quicksilver electro-soul in ‘Empty Bus Stop’, or push out into that sort of weirdo scuttle that the 313 does so well on the spooked-out ‘Adultswim Doctor Etrange’ or ‘Queenbootyathenaaphrodite’, saving a superb sting in the tail for ’Shadowrealm.’

R.D. Burman - Film Background Score, 1970s (LP)R.D. Burman - Film Background Score, 1970s (LP)
R.D. Burman - Film Background Score, 1970s (LP)Tara Disc Record
¥8,967

Tara Disc Record LLP celebrates composer RD Burman’s 86th birthday with the grandeur of his lost treasure. A treasure lost in the vagaries of time!

Unveiling an unbelievable collection of RD Burman’s background music scores…

Never heard before…

Never known before…

A beautiful bouquet of world-class instrumental tracks recorded in the 1970s. LP comes with an attractive RD Burman fridge magnet!

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Ghosted III (LP)Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Ghosted III (LP)
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Ghosted III (LP)Drag City
¥3,476

Quickly following on from last year's 'Ghosted II', the third Reichian kraut-jazz session from Oren Ambarchi and his long-time collaborators loosens the screws a little, inviting in Americana, dream pop and blues influences and zeroing in on the tiny details.

Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling and percussionist Andreas Werliin are familiar with each other at this stage to fully let rip. 'Ghosted III' is their third recorded set in four years, and although they're still led by the jazz-taught instincts that guided their subtle, minimalist-inspired folk-jazz-rock debut, they've unclenched their muscles and let rip this time around. There's a new-found, liberating slackness to opener (and lead single) 'Yek', where Ambarchi daubs his chiming guitar notes over Werliin's jerky rhythms and Berthling's unraveled bassline. Catching the desert dust at first, it hardens into a Tangerine Dream-cum-Philip Glass nu-new age shimmer before it comes to a close. And 'Do' pulls back the bluster even further, reducing Weliin's drums to a faint patter, and filling the gaps with Ambarchi's cosmic pad-like guitars. After the 'TNT'-era Tortoise in dub Leslie-powered euphoria of 'Seh', the trio get back into the groove with 'Chahar', pulling Ambarchi's fictile notes into an orbit of ratcheting drums and repeating bass plucks that concludes with a splatter of xenharmonic guitar tones.

They venture into Americana territory on the long, plodding 'Panj', padding the low end with Ambarchi's swirling organ-esque tones that transform into concertina-ing zaps, and the best is saved for last - 'Shesh' is a dream-pop/post-rock melter that's among the best tracks Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin have recorded, falling somewhere between Labradford and Talk Talk. Gorgeous.

G VERSION III - Summer Night Blues EP (12")G VERSION III - Summer Night Blues EP (12")
G VERSION III - Summer Night Blues EP (12")Riddim Chango Records
¥2,750

Emerging from the Kansai underground with a sense of ritual and restraint, G Version III returns with a slab of meditative pressure, carved for sound systems. Following last year’s cassette release on Digital Sting, the Kyoto-based producer deepens her exploration of experimental steppers and sacred low-end science.

TRK 1 treads heavy—medium-tempo four-to-the-floor steppers, soaked in 80s/90s UK dub DNA and wired with flickers of celestial synth energy, edged with something unknown.

TRK 2 drifts off-grid—a 100bpm oddity conjuring sacred synth rituals and off-beat spatial tension. Droning and eerily weightless, it hangs like a vapor of frozen scent in an echo chamber.

Flip the plate and TRK 3 and 4 ignite—raw, unrelenting steppers built to test the physical limits of the rig. No compromise, no decoration—just ritual voltage for the floor.

Riddim Chango’s 16th release channels something ancient through circuitry, born for the weight.

MC Yallah & Debmaster - Gaudencia (LP)MC Yallah & Debmaster - Gaudencia (LP)
MC Yallah & Debmaster - Gaudencia (LP)Hakuna Kulala
¥4,549

Yallah Gaudencia Mbidde has always been ahead of the curve. ‘Gaudencia’ is her third full-length since 2019’s acclaimed breakout ‘Kubali’, but she’s been active for far longer than that, working tirelessly on the East African circuit since way back in 1999. She had to wait until time and technology caught up with her, and until she had found a kindred spirit in Berlin-based French producer Debmaster, who returns as the sole architect of this dizzying new set of forward-facing beats and tongue-twisting rhymes. If its predecessor, 2023’s electric ‘Yallah Beibe’, had looked outward, welcoming collaborations with Lord Spikeheart and Ratigan Era, and external production from Hakuna Kulala staples Chrisman and Scotch Rolex, ‘Guadencia’ digs deeper into Yallah and Debmaster’s collective psyche, laying out a revolutionary narrative that tramples over genre boundaries and questions rap’s elemental purity.

Yet again, it’s Yallah’s dexterity on the mic that sets her apart from her peers. Rapping, singing and ad-libbing in English, Luganda, Luo and Kiswahili over Debmaster’s time-fluxing beats, she formulates her own idiosyncratic flow without worrying about being lost in translation. “Even if they don’t understand, it’s the impact that I leave on them,” she told The Quietus in 2022. “Music speaks to the hearts of the people.” And this time around, Debmaster meets her lyrical innovations head-on, developing a sound that’s correspondingly multi-lingual. On ‘Kujagana’, his microtonally-skewed synth arpeggios liquefy into bass-heavy 808 drops and ear-piercing snaps, and Yallah puppeteers the rhythm and the harmony, rapping in double-time and crooning a haunting chorus. The ghosts of breakcore wind around ‘Lioness’ meanwhile, with ruptured distortions, spliced percussion and scraped ASMR FX that repurpose the rave canon while Yallah boldly asserts her position. “Watch me,” she commands through the wall of warped noise.

Jet engine whirrs and ominous, rolling beats underpin Yallah’s high-speed chat on ‘Wantintina’, and the mood is ruptured by wiry, wordless vocal chants. It’s apocalyptic music, but not without cracks of light – between the distorted interference and ritualistic drones, Yallah’s animated rhymes push her emotions to the surface, as if she’s wrenching herself out of harm’s way. And she’s never more flexible than on ‘Yalladana’, chanting, evangelizing and switching up her flow without warning, accompanying Debmaster’s widescreen airlock hisses and torched blips with accelerated prophetic observations. Yallah and Debmaster have cultivated a single voice on ‘Gaudencia’, figuring out a way to alloy dynamic, modern production with the world’s most ambitious oddball street poetry – it’s taken Yallah over two decades to find her congregation, but it was worth the wait.

Catu Diosis - Anyim (LP)
Catu Diosis - Anyim (LP)Hakuna Kulala
¥3,987

Hakuna Kulala debut from Kampala’s Catu Diosis — 7 tracks of mutant afrohouse, slanted Batida, and slow-burn Kuduro pressure. Deeply rhythmic, fiercely physical, and thrillingly unplaceable.

Stepping out from her work as a choreographer, MC, and co-conspirator with Rian Treanor, Catu Diosis delivers a remarkable first statement in Anyim — a body-moving, genre-splintering set that folds East African club DNA into warped afrohouse, achingly reduced Batida, and kinetic vocal meditations.

Opener “Chaa” sets the tone with a stunning post-rock/gqom splicer featuring Uganda peer R3ign Drops — all stuttering kicks and scorched atmosphere. From there, it gets deeper and stranger. “Legi” and the title track “Anyim” push into stripped rhythm experiments: skeletal percussive grids punctuated by breathy, mantra-like vocals, evoking a kind of ceremonial minimalism.

Across the record, Catu Diosis keeps things raw but fluid, staying close to the body and the floor. The beats swing but never settle, rooted in Kuduro’s momentum but constantly fracturing into unexpected pockets. It’s music as movement, shaped by a dancer’s ear for timing and a producer’s instinct for subversion.

One for the heads and the dancers alike. RIYL: Nazar, Nídia, Rian Treanor, Nkisi, Chino Amobi, Slikback.

ThisisDA - Fast Life (LP)
ThisisDA - Fast Life (LP)Heat Crimes
¥4,277

Bristol-based, London-born auteur ThisisDA has spent over a decade at this point furrowing out his own niche in the experimental rap landscape. Across a slew of under-the-radar solo releases and eclectic collaborations, he’s routinely peered beyond the boundaries of traditional hip-hop, taking a refreshingly open-minded, eclectic approach to his art. Working alongside jazz collective Sumo Chief, playing throughout Europe with Klein and breaking bread with bedroom pop viral superstar Eyedress, ThisisDA has always refused to stay in the same spot for too long, and his latest full-length offering is a testament to that spirit.

Dizzyingly inventive, ‘Fast Life’ crackles from idea to idea, gesturing to drill, grime, electro and trap but refusing to adhere to any conventional template. Featuring collaborations with Hakuna Kulala’s master beatmaker Debmaster – who’s racked up production credits on records from MC Yallah, Aunty Razor, Ratigan Era and more – and Welsh-born vocalist Mimi Jones, the album’s bound together by ThisisDA’s boisterous personality and lightheaded wordplay. “Elevate you like the rapture, it’s an independent matter,” he quips on the euphoric intro to ‘Breakout’ before handing the mic to Jones, whose seductive coos foreshadow a barrage of DA’s most tongue-twisting rhymes.

On ‘Tell Him’, Debmaster spaces out weightless synth stabs and skeletal, grimey kicks, leaving ThisisDA to grandstand for a moment. “Dat boy there is a pussy, flip the coin if you push me,” he spits, molding his voice into an android croon. But it’s not all bravado; there’s a more solemn flex to the ‘808s & Heartbreak’-inspired ‘End Up’ as ThisisDA recalls the trappings of the lifestyle, underpinning his words with soulful AutoTuned cries. Elsewhere, on ‘Captain’, neon-flecked Southern rap excesses rumble through DA’s squelchy, haunted soundscape, and its this wide-eyed, boundless fusion that sets him way out on his own.

“I wanna brush my hands between the clouds and claim that sky,” he exclaims on the album’s lulling closer ‘Change That’. With ‘Fast Life’, ThisisDA aims high and leaves the rest of the scene in the dust.

Angel's Corpse - Vanity Bay (LP)
Angel's Corpse - Vanity Bay (LP)Heat Crimes
¥4,549

Debut full-length from DJ Loser’s gothic ambient alias delivers a phantasmic blend of blackened chamber music, dungeon techno tropes, and ritualist synthetic lore – a modern Greek fever dream for fans of Akira Yamaoka, K-holes in Skyrim, or crying in the club with your velvet gloves still on.

Emerging from the post-club catacombs of Thessaloniki, Vanity Bay marks Angel’s Corpse’s most ambitious invocation yet – a baroque-laced, mist-wreathed descent into haunted ambient fantasia. Across 11 tracks, DJ Loser (Pantelis Terzoglou) casts off the scorched rave detritus of his mainline alias in favor of something more narcotic, more narratively driven, and ultimately more unplaceable.

If previous works like Technophobia Network or Deathtripper EVO flirted with the sacred/profane divide, Vanity Bay plunges straight into its depths – a world of glitched-out Gregorian chants, decaying synth choirs, and organ drones that flicker like candlelight in an abandoned cathedral. At times evoking the windswept melancholy of Twin Peaks or the spectral desolation of late-‘90s survival horror OSTs, the album treads a fine line between affective ambient fiction and hardcore spectral poetics.

Fans of Manni Dee’s gothic lacerations, Christos Chondropoulos’ faux-ritualism, or even JS Bach filtered through a crusty VST will find plenty to lose themselves in here. But Vanity Bay is less about genre allegiance than emotional excavation – a record that functions as myth-making, mourning, and myth-breaking all at once.

A shadow-drenched debut that positions Angel’s Corpse as a vital node in the mutant continuum of Greek sound art – one eye on the club, the other staring unblinking into the void.

El Michels Affair - 24 Hr Sports (Translucent Red Vinyl LP)
El Michels Affair - 24 Hr Sports (Translucent Red Vinyl LP)Big Crown Records
¥3,282
A longtime favorite at our shop, El Michels Affair—New York-based instrumental funk/soul band renowned for their unique “cinematic soul” sound and a flagship act of the esteemed Big Crown Records—returns with a brand new album, featuring none other than Shintaro Sakamoto as a guest! Rooted in funk and soul yet infused with a breezy, urban summer feel, this exquisite release blossoms into a light and airy indie pop-soul masterpiece. A refreshing soundscape full of timeless musical elegance, perfect for strolling through sun-drenched city streets.
Zohrabai Agrewali - Zohra Bai Of Agra (LP)Zohrabai Agrewali - Zohra Bai Of Agra (LP)
Zohrabai Agrewali - Zohra Bai Of Agra (LP)Tara Disc Record
¥6,987
Zohrabai Agrewali (c.1868–1913) was one of the great female vocalists of early 20th-century Indian classical music, known to have influenced legendary singers like Kesarbai Kerkar and Begum Akhtar. A compilation album titled Zohra Bai Of Agra collects some of her rare and important recordings. Zohrabai was a leading figure of the Agra Gharana and was especially renowned for her khayal singing. This album features a variety of styles, including khayal, thumri, and ghazal, offering a rich snapshot of North Indian classical music from over a century ago. Released by the passionate, label Tara Disc Record, the album captures not only the raw texture of early recordings but also a deep love for the tradition itself—a truly priceless collection.
Miss Indubala - Miss Indubala (LP)Miss Indubala - Miss Indubala (LP)
Miss Indubala - Miss Indubala (LP)Tara Disc Record
¥6,987
The compilation album Miss Indubala features rare recordings of the legendary Bengali female vocalist, Miss Indubala, who was active in the early 20th century. This album includes recordings primarily from the 1920s and 1930s, showcasing a variety of genres that represent the cultural music scene of northern India at the time, such as Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Holi, and Khayal. Indubala’s music is known for its delicate yet strong expressions, with her graceful and rich voice resonating across time. Released by Tara Disc Record, a label driven by passion rather than profit, the album meticulously revives South Asian music culture from over 100 years ago in analog form. It offers not only a nostalgic experience but also a timeless, compelling listening journey that remains engaging from a contemporary perspective.
V.A. (Kersi Lord) - Rang Birangi : Colours Of Life (LP)V.A. (Kersi Lord) - Rang Birangi : Colours Of Life (LP)
V.A. (Kersi Lord) - Rang Birangi : Colours Of Life (LP)Tara Disc Record
¥6,987
"Rang Birangi: Colours Of Life" is an unreleased album featuring background music from the 1972 Indian film Pakeezah, composed by the legendary Kersi Lord. Known for pioneering the use of synthesizers and glockenspiel in Indian film music, Kersi Lord worked with iconic composers like Naushad, Madan Mohan, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, Kalyanji-Anandji, and Usha Khanna. This album captures the rich atmosphere of India more vividly than even classical music, showcasing the emotional depth and unique value of Bollywood’s golden era sound. Released by Mumbai-based Tara Disc Record, the album reflects a deep love and insider understanding of Indian musical culture. The deluxe jacket design features an intricate gold gatefold cover that opens to reveal a hidden sleeve—an imaginative and charmingly Indian touch. (Note: As these are dirctly from India, some light wear may be present on arrival.)

MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Pinball (2LP)MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Pinball (2LP)
MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Pinball (2LP)10K
¥7,700

- Double LP including both Pinball I & Pinball II

- Gatefold jacket

The Sabres Of Paradise - Sabresonic (2LP+Obi)The Sabres Of Paradise - Sabresonic (2LP+Obi)
The Sabres Of Paradise - Sabresonic (2LP+Obi)Warp
¥5,658

1993 debut album by the trio of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns. Unavailable on vinyl and CD since original release. Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton, contains “Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix)” for the first time on the 2LP edition.

<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1463976360/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=333333/artwork=none/transparent=true/" seamless="">&lt;a href=&quot;https://warprecords.bandcamp.com/album/sabresonic-remastered&quot;&gt;Sabresonic (Remastered) The Sabres Of Paradise&lt;/a&gt;</iframe>

The Sabres Of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall (2LP+Obi)The Sabres Of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall (2LP+Obi)
The Sabres Of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall (2LP+Obi)Warp
¥5,658

1994 second album by the trio of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, unavailable on vinyl and CD since original release. A concept album with accompanying text for each track by James Woodbourne, it also includes additional production by Portishead and Mr Scruff. Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton, contains “Theme” for the first time on the 2LP edition.

Willem Nyland - Piano Studies 337 (LP)Willem Nyland - Piano Studies 337 (LP)
Willem Nyland - Piano Studies 337 (LP)Mississippi Records
¥3,394

Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology.

A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff.

In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on “The Work” and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland’s teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland’s own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland’s wife of over 50 years.

These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and “paramusicologists.” Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.

Piano Studies 337 is a particularly tempestuous performance that Nyland himself recommended to Ansel Adams as a good starting place for his music. So we’ve teamed up with Psychic Sounds and Nyland’s family to bring #337 to the world. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed to high-quality vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, the record includes extensive liner notes and faithful reproduction of the original artwork. Hopefully the first of more to come!!!!

Majestic Arrows - The Magic of the Majestic Arrows (Opaque Sky Blue Vinyl LP)
Majestic Arrows - The Magic of the Majestic Arrows (Opaque Sky Blue Vinyl LP)Numero Group
¥3,976

Back in print for the first time in fifty years, The Magic of The Majestic Arrows is the crown jewel of Chicago sweet soul obscurities. Originally released on his own Bandit label, Arrow Brown’s singular LP was conceived in the basement of his Bronzeville headquarters—part home, part harem, part DIY recording hub. A lush, string-heavy suite that bridges the street-corner harmonies of ‘50s doo-wop and the opulent studio sounds of the 1970s, the album is a testament to Brown’s outsider vision.

Sung by his teenage daughter Tridia and falsetto powerhouse Larry Brown of The Moroccos, and backed by the Chosen Few and the Scott Brothers, the album was arranged by Benjamin Wright and features cover art by Eugene Phillips of The Wind. This long-overlooked artefact of soul music history is less a relic than a spell—unmistakably personal, uncannily timeless.

Shinichi Atobe - A.Whispers into the Void | AA.Fleeting_637 (12")
Shinichi Atobe - A.Whispers into the Void | AA.Fleeting_637 (12")Plastic & Sounds | AWDR/LR2
¥3,500

After more than 10 years of silence since his debut in 2001 on Chain Reaction subsidiary of Basic Channel, he has been consistently releasing music since 2014 on DDS label in Manchester, UK, attracting not only the club audience of dub techno / minimal but also the enthudieatic music fans around the world. Electronic musician Shinichi Atobe has established his own private label Plastic & Sounds.

The first release on Plastic & Sounds includes two tracks: ‘Whispers into the Void’, which gradually and ascetically develops from minimal synths and rhythms with the introduction of a flowing piano refrain, and the floor use ‘Fleeting_637’, which develops immersive minimal dub techno at around 125 BPM. Mastering / record cutting was done by Rashad Becker in Berlin, who has worked on many of Shinichi Atobe's productions.

Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves (White Vinyl LP)Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves (White Vinyl LP)
Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves (White Vinyl LP)Rvng Intl.
¥3,654

Lucrecia Dalt’s A Danger to Ourselves is a fearless reflection on the unfiltered complexities of human connection. Following up her breakthrough 2022 album ¡Ay!, A Danger to Ourselves unravels like a deeply personal conversation; Dalt’s voice is foregrounded and formidable, supported by a lush array of acoustic orchestration and processing, collaged percussive patterns, and an esteemed cast of collaborators including David Sylvian, who co-produced the album with Dalt, Juana Molina, Alex Lazaro, and Camille Mandoki.

John Also Bennett - Στoν Eλaιώνa / Ston Elaióna (LP)John Also Bennett - Στoν Eλaιώνa / Ston Elaióna (LP)
John Also Bennett - Στoν Eλaιώνa / Ston Elaióna (LP)Shelter Press
¥3,771

Ston Elaióna is John Also Bennett’s first album for Shelter Press since his 2019 solo debut Erg Herbe. The American born, Athens, Greece, based flautist, synthesist, and composer weaves a strikingly singular electroacoustic excursion for bass flute and Yamaha DX7ii, largely recorded in the golden haze of the early morning hours - bending time at the otherworldly juncture of consciousness and place. Translating from Greek as “in the olive grove”, Ston Elaióna is permeated with the ambiences of the ancient and present world, guided into form by a playfully rigorous approach to sound.

Initially emerging during the mid 2000s as part of Columbus, Ohio’s noise scene, before relocating to NYC around 2010, Bennett’s diverse activities picked up an increasing sense of pace over the following decade - performing and recording as a solo artist (JAB), with the trio Forma and with CV & JAB, his prolific duo with his partner Christina Vantzou, as well as playing in Jon Gibson’s ensemble among many other multifaceted collaborations. However, since 2020 the flautist and electroacoustic composer has existed in a semi nomadic state: drifting between Brooklyn, Brussels, extensive tours, and Greece, where he finally came to rest in Athens last year. Drawing upon a carefully honed attentiveness to the environments and experiences of everyday life, Ston Elaióna is a suite of nine pieces (with an additional track exclusive to physical formats), many of them composed and played live as the early morning sun touched the Parthenon, in full view from Bennett’s studio window in Athens. Bennett’s refinement and restraint, honed over his years adrift, led him to adopt a limited palette focused on his primary instrument, the bass flute, and a Yamaha DX7ii synthesizer tuned to just intonation scales. Alongside a handful of other keyboards, digital oscillators triggered by his flute, and occasional field recordings, this simple palette is reflected by the deeply emotive sense of minimalism that permeates the album’s two sides.

Following two solo albums defined by outward facing temperaments - 2022’s Out there in the middle of nowhere (Poole Music), which used a lap steel guitar and generative oscillators to evoke the surreal landscapes of the South Dakota badlands, and the largely synthetic atmospheres of the 2024 anthology Music For Save Rooms 1 & 2 (Editions Basilic) - the shift in Bennett’s worldly circumstances offered an intuitive return to the calm, inward states of creative exploration that have historically defined JAB’s sound. In parallel, context provided clear sources of inspiration for many of the album’s themes, as well as sources for some of its sounds. The aura of Greece, from the ancient to the present, from its stones and olive groves to its traffic, figures heavily across Στον Ελαιώνα (Ston Elaióna)’s two sides.

The album’s title track and opener “Ston Elaiona” is but one key to opening the album’s multilayered worlds: swells of intertwining of bass flute, oscillators, and DX7ii channel feelings of playful contentment felt by Bennett when “in the olive grove” or in his apartment, reflecting quiet moments spent among the ancient hills of the noisy city that he now calls home. Drawing upon chance encounters within daily life, the flowing synthesizer tones of “Gecko Pads” dance in motions that seem to mimic the movements of a house gecko that appeared on a wall of Bennett’s studio - a quick dash, and then stillness - while “Hailstorm” expands this vision of domestic intimacy, playing the rise and fall of bass flute melodies against the captured sounds of an intense storm outside: a potent sonic metaphor for his intra and extra worlds. As the sharpness and depth of Ston Elaióna comes into focus, playfully threaded amongst its seductive tonal interplay, we encounter Bennett moving across dimensions of time, topical experience, and layers of cultural conjunction. Like “Hailstorm”, “Easter Daydream” incorporates field recording, but here his flute tones are joined by urban ambience and subtle punctuations of melody and rhythm, captured from a day long bell procession at the small church across the street from his apartment during Orthodox Holy Week, seeding the composition with a deep sense of immediacy and place that draw consciousness well beyond the limits of sound.

Moving the narrative possibilities further out into the landscape, “A Handful of Olives” utilizes Bennett’s technique of triggering long synthesizer tones with another instrument - in this case, fluctuating modular synth drones underscoring the glacial melodies of his bass flute. Immersive and meditative, the piece’s title nods to the resilience of a character from a Nikos Kazantzakis novel, who begins a long journey across the countryside with nothing but some wine, a piece of cheese, and a handful of olives. “First Lament” is the oldest work on Ston Elaióna, having been performed live by Bennett, in evolving states, for the past three or four years. A strongly affecting exercise in deep listening, meditation, and sometimes emotional catharsis, like “A Handful of Olives” it utilizes his technique of triggering long synthesizer tones with the flute, extending and overlapping resonances to create tone clusters that hang in the air with an otherworldly effect, echoing Bennett’s heartfelt yet restrained melodies of lament.

Tapping a sense of dualism endemic to Greece, where the ancient world continues to occupy the present day, both “Sacred House” and “Oracle” refer to the building that housed the Oracle of Ancient Dodoni in Epirus, where people have continued to seek guidance or assistance from the gods for thousands of years, in modern times by hanging small notes on the tree within its grounds. Unaccompanied pieces composed and played on Bennett’s just intoned synths, each positions haunting, slow paced melodies - imbued with metaphysical and spiritual weight - as bridges that span the millennia and diverse states of the conscious and unconscious mind. With “Seikilos Epitaph”, Bennett takes his immersion into the subcutaneous depths of Ancient Greece one step further. The piece is a version of the oldest known surviving complete musical composition, found notated in Greek on a stone pillar / stele on the site of an ancient village. Played on his DX7ii, and subtly permeated with field recordings of environmental sounds, his brilliant rendering builds bridges between the present and the distant time Bennett calls forth: another key, equal to the title track, to unlocking the album’s lingering depths.

John Also Bennett’s Ston Elaióna forms an elegantly rigorous world of electroacoustic sonority, bridging the expanse of time with the immediacies of environment and happening in the here and now: a profound sonic mediation on the countless dimensions unlocked by life in Greece.

Novisad - Seleya (LP+DL)
Novisad - Seleya (LP+DL)KEPLAR
¥4,186

Novisad’s second album Seleya, originally released by Tomlab in 2001, is reissued by Keplar with a previously unheard bonus track from 2004 and a fresh cut by LUPO. Produced by Kristian Peters, these thirteen loop-based miniatures evoke a sense of early-2000s digital experimentation—crafted with the rudimentary tools, quirks and limitations of pre-Ableton software and repurposed equipment. Aliased tones, subtle dissonances and quietly colliding loops form a delicate, melancholic atmosphere that’s both intimate and exploratory. Untethered from convention, Seleya documents a moment of sonic curiosity and invention, where imperfection and unpredictability add emotional depth to its fragile beauty.

TAMTAM - Where They Dwell (LP)
TAMTAM - Where They Dwell (LP)Peoples Potential Unlimited
¥4,494

following the success of their 2024 PPU EP "ramble in the rainbow", TAMTAM returns to their studio "where they dwell"

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Deluxe Edition) (LP+Obi)
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Deluxe Edition) (LP+Obi)Domino
¥6,915

Musically, first of all, 1991's second album, "loveless," was more advanced and unexpected than anything else released at the time. Kevin Shields and band thoroughly pursued a sound based on pure sensuality, resulting in a work that overwhelmed the listener's senses. 1990's representative work was hailed as a perfect masterpiece that pushed the possibilities of studio recording to the limit, and has been featured on The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and It has been hailed as a milestone on par with The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," Miles Davis' "In A Silent Way," and Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions.

Japanese obi included.
Mastered from 1/2" analog tape using Studer A80 VU-PRE and Neumann VMS 80
180g vinyl weight
Standard gatefold outer sleeve
Six 300 x 300 mm art prints enclosed
Includes DL code (24-bit | 16-bit | mp3)

 

Shawty Pimp - Still Comin' Real (LP)
Shawty Pimp - Still Comin' Real (LP)Gyptology Records
¥5,094

California and New York aren't the only US cities to have pioneered underground hip-hop over the years. Back in the nineties, southern states such as Memphis, Tennessee were also hotbeds for the fast evolving musical phenomenon. As we push on into the second millenium; from the swathes of short-run, tape-only releases that came out in the 1990's, some are at last being cut to vinyl. Shawty Pimp and the Big Pimpin' Productions crew were brought to international ears in 2014 when his album 'Comin' Real Wit It' was pressed to vinyl and sold out in the blink of an eye. Gyptology Records (a new Europe-based Hip-Hop and Egyptian Archaology styled re-issue label) now present a vinyl pressing of the 1995 sequel; 'Still Comin' Real'. Here are eleven original, raw rap cuts, remastered and restored with love. Available June 2018 for the first time in the format that never goes out of style. Vinyl only for now and in one short-run only, no represses. Produced with the full consent and participation of the artists.

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