PRE-ORDERS

[Meditations Japan Edition] Grey Marble Vinyl LP+Japanese Obi. LIMITED 98 copies.

Kali Malone’s music reminds the listener that spectacle is felt in the chest. Its otherworldliness, represented by its scale, duration, and presentation in spaces defined by the aesthetics of transcendence, activates intimately held feelings of wonder and insight. Here is a space where sound can unlock a state of reflection and unwavering tenderness. Still, the creation of that music, Malone’s own experience of it in performance, has been one defined by focus and rigor, by adherence to structures that dictate cyclical returns and the detailed work of exploring microtonal harmony. For all its grandeur, her music is elemental at its core: born of sweat, concentration, the physicality of pipes vibrating as air rushes through them, the desire to share the emotional intensity ignited with each tonal shift. Burning Song, Malone’s first new album of solo compositions since early 2024’s All Life Long, represents a transformation in her compositional strategy towards a process that is more intuitive and direct. Feeling supersedes matrices, and each piece proceeds linearly, connected to one another by subtle bridging tones. The album was recorded at the historic Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany, where J.S. Bach was cantor for the last 27 years of his life; his body rests beneath the sanctuary. Malone is the first musician to perform contemporary works on the church’s Bach Organ, an instrument completed in 2000 but with bespoke tuning and temperament systems based on historical norms of the baroque period. She is joined by Lucy Railton on cello and Stephen O’Malley on bowed acoustic guitar, the same trio that honed a profound connection based on deep listening through the development of Malone’s work Does Spring Hide Its Joy. Recording took place over the course of two late nights in August 2025, with the engineer Francesco Donadello placing over 20 microphones throughout the room and closely upon the instruments, allowing the listener to locate themselves within the music as it fills the historic sanctum. Chord follows chord, each in slow succession, emerging like stones of various shades and shapes on a winding path. The trio moves as one, stepwise, through passages that are alternately ambiguous and radiant, at times triumphant as the tones rise towards the organ’s upper register. By discarding canon form, which has dominated much of her organ work, there is a clear sense of freedom that allows these pieces to unfold more gradually and speak more declaratively than ever before. Even with the presence of one of the most canonized and dissected composers of all time just underfoot, Malone felt the pressure of tradition lifting, an ease of being dictating the flow of the music. She is careful to never extend the narratives of any individual piece beyond what feels conclusive, resulting in a relatively compact cycle of compositions. The first half of Burning Song was commissioned for the 2023 Venice Music Biennale and presented at the remarkably ornate San Pietro di Castello. Initial seeds of these pieces were developed on a piano backstage at Bozar in Brussels following a solo electronic performance, long after the audience and staff had departed. It was the first time Malone had used the piano as a compositional tool since her childhood, offering a portal to a younger self. The album’s final three pieces were composed swiftly in the month preceding the recording session in 2025, their stately progressions emerging within her mind’s ear with a sense of ease and inevitability, hovering in the moment just before understanding, where revelation lives. The album’s final piece, “My Eve My Dawn,” represents a clear vision of this process; foregrounding the cohesion between endings and beginnings, it moves through passages of sadness and joy, the linking tones offering a sense of continuity, and thus of acceptance. The metaphor of burning holds two meanings. Fire moves in ways that appear intuitive, changing shape moment by moment, and relentlessly insistent. Here, Malone moves from harnessing the fractaline beauty of mathematics to reveling in the impact of feelings, of foresight, of something more undefined and from within. But burning is a process of change in which transformation spreads from a nexus point to rapidly consume whatever it encounters. The freedom found in the process of composing and realizing Burning Song is one that opens innumerable doors of possibility. In the fertility of ashes grows whatever comes next.

[Meditations Japan Edition] Grey Marble Vinyl LP+Japanese Obi. LIMITED 98 copies.

Kali Malone’s music reminds the listener that spectacle is felt in the chest. Its otherworldliness, represented by its scale, duration, and presentation in spaces defined by the aesthetics of transcendence, activates intimately held feelings of wonder and insight. Here is a space where sound can unlock a state of reflection and unwavering tenderness. Still, the creation of that music, Malone’s own experience of it in performance, has been one defined by focus and rigor, by adherence to structures that dictate cyclical returns and the detailed work of exploring microtonal harmony. For all its grandeur, her music is elemental at its core: born of sweat, concentration, the physicality of pipes vibrating as air rushes through them, the desire to share the emotional intensity ignited with each tonal shift. Burning Song, Malone’s first new album of solo compositions since early 2024’s All Life Long, represents a transformation in her compositional strategy towards a process that is more intuitive and direct. Feeling supersedes matrices, and each piece proceeds linearly, connected to one another by subtle bridging tones. The album was recorded at the historic Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany, where J.S. Bach was cantor for the last 27 years of his life; his body rests beneath the sanctuary. Malone is the first musician to perform contemporary works on the church’s Bach Organ, an instrument completed in 2000 but with bespoke tuning and temperament systems based on historical norms of the baroque period. She is joined by Lucy Railton on cello and Stephen O’Malley on bowed acoustic guitar, the same trio that honed a profound connection based on deep listening through the development of Malone’s work Does Spring Hide Its Joy. Recording took place over the course of two late nights in August 2025, with the engineer Francesco Donadello placing over 20 microphones throughout the room and closely upon the instruments, allowing the listener to locate themselves within the music as it fills the historic sanctum. Chord follows chord, each in slow succession, emerging like stones of various shades and shapes on a winding path. The trio moves as one, stepwise, through passages that are alternately ambiguous and radiant, at times triumphant as the tones rise towards the organ’s upper register. By discarding canon form, which has dominated much of her organ work, there is a clear sense of freedom that allows these pieces to unfold more gradually and speak more declaratively than ever before. Even with the presence of one of the most canonized and dissected composers of all time just underfoot, Malone felt the pressure of tradition lifting, an ease of being dictating the flow of the music. She is careful to never extend the narratives of any individual piece beyond what feels conclusive, resulting in a relatively compact cycle of compositions. The first half of Burning Song was commissioned for the 2023 Venice Music Biennale and presented at the remarkably ornate San Pietro di Castello. Initial seeds of these pieces were developed on a piano backstage at Bozar in Brussels following a solo electronic performance, long after the audience and staff had departed. It was the first time Malone had used the piano as a compositional tool since her childhood, offering a portal to a younger self. The album’s final three pieces were composed swiftly in the month preceding the recording session in 2025, their stately progressions emerging within her mind’s ear with a sense of ease and inevitability, hovering in the moment just before understanding, where revelation lives. The album’s final piece, “My Eve My Dawn,” represents a clear vision of this process; foregrounding the cohesion between endings and beginnings, it moves through passages of sadness and joy, the linking tones offering a sense of continuity, and thus of acceptance. The metaphor of burning holds two meanings. Fire moves in ways that appear intuitive, changing shape moment by moment, and relentlessly insistent. Here, Malone moves from harnessing the fractaline beauty of mathematics to reveling in the impact of feelings, of foresight, of something more undefined and from within. But burning is a process of change in which transformation spreads from a nexus point to rapidly consume whatever it encounters. The freedom found in the process of composing and realizing Burning Song is one that opens innumerable doors of possibility. In the fertility of ashes grows whatever comes next.

Andy Stott returns to Modern Love with Late Loop, his first album in five years. Two voices sit at the centre of the record: Alison Skidmore, Stott's vocal partner for more than a decade, and Elaine Howley, working with him for the first time. They were given songs in various states of completion, some close to finished, others fragments or loops, often pitched down and slowed. The vocals were layered up, then carved back until only what was needed remained, carrying a set of songs mostly concerned with a separation. Stott began with no plan and a small set of constraints: no basslines, no reverb, no effects except a single delay unit. The album passed through several near-complete versions before settling - a drone record, something close to brass band concrète, a piece that might have ended up as an installation. Each was set aside because texture alone was not the point. He wanted songs. The methods stayed loose and primitive throughout. A drum machine was played through speakers and recorded back into the room, then pitched down until the rhythm sagged under its own weight. A pump organ was recorded through a microphone placed on the floor. Valves warming up and a mixing desk worn in over the years leave their mark on the sound. With no reverb or low end to lean on, the arrangements are left exposed, with an unusual clarity and fragility, every stitch on show. Downbeat, electronica and leftfield song sit side by side across the record, which gives up its detail gradually over repeated listening. Mastered by Rashad Becker. Cover photograph by Myriam Boulos.

Buh Records presents Anthology 2: Works for the Experimental Orchestra of Native Instruments, a double album that deepens the exploration of the work of Bolivian composer Cergio Prudencio (La Paz, 1955) and his inseparable bond with the Experimental Orchestra of Native Instruments (OEIN), the project he co-founded in 1980 and of which he is now emeritus director. Like Anthology 1, widely praised by the international music press, this second installment continues to reveal the conceptual, aesthetic, and sonic magnitude of one of the most radical contemporary-music endeavors to emerge from Latin America. The OEIN is a unique ensemble within the international musical landscape. Its approach begins by embracing the traditional instruments of the Andean highlands in all their dimensions: their materiality, modes of sound production, tuning systems, cultural contexts, and the Indigenous philosophies that sustain them. It is grounded in central principles of Aymara music—arca-ira alternation, the formation of large “troops” of instrumentalists, and the communal energy of wakiña—integrating them into a creative process that articulates both tradition and contemporaneity. For Prudencio, these foundations are living structures that allow for the projection of an ever-expanding musical thought. Anthology 2 brings together works composed between 1989 and 2014 and performed by the OEIN and its chamber ensemble. Cantos crepusculares (1999), written for the Donaueschingen Festival, unfolds a sonic continuum in which successive atmospheres evoke the shifting light of twilight. Cantos ofertorios (2008), conceived during residencies in Bellagio and completed in La Paz, incorporates multiphonics, massive textures, and a performative gesture referencing the prayers and offerings of Aymara yatiris.

Aaron Dilloway presents No Skill Comedy Mind Reading, a disorienting collection of solo work developed over nearly a decade. The former Wolf Eyes member and Hanson Records founder twists field recordings, feedback, tape hiss, vocal improvisation and electronics into music that veers between harsh noise and absurdist humour. Influenced by Alvin Lucier, cult horror film The Weirdo and composer Hugo Montenegro, the album also draws on Dilloway’s fascination with sound poetry and degraded cassettes. The result is deliberately unstable: strange voices, static blasts, drones and fractured rhythms assembled into a surreal, frequently unnerving whole.

What exactly is Folk Soul? It’s not the contemporary roots-rock or country-adjacent ballads you’re probably familiar with. Folk Soul sits right before, if not directly alongside, the black music diaspora of the mid-to-late 60s through the early 70s. Where Spiritual Soul channels the ethos of pro-black liberation and the broader struggle of its era, Folk Soul lived in the dissection, classification, and outright denial of the status quo — confronting the complex, rigid power struggles of the time through minimalist, classically trained, and forward-thinking approaches to song craft. This LP Kills Fascist.

What exactly is Folk Soul? It’s not the contemporary roots-rock or country-adjacent ballads you’re probably familiar with. Folk Soul sits right before, if not directly alongside, the black music diaspora of the mid-to-late 60s through the early 70s. Where Spiritual Soul channels the ethos of pro-black liberation and the broader struggle of its era, Folk Soul lived in the dissection, classification, and outright denial of the status quo — confronting the complex, rigid power struggles of the time through minimalist, classically trained, and forward-thinking approaches to song craft. This LP Kills Fascist.

Prophetic Perfect Tense is the new album on Kou Records by Oren Ambarchi - Australian guitarist, founder of Black Truffle Records, and one of the most restlessly inventive figures in experimental music over the last three decades. Recorded at Studio D ede in Tokyo in January 2026 and produced by Randall Dunn, the album finds Ambarchi at his most stripped back: solo guitar, two sides, two single takes, minimal effects - running through a Leslie cab, Fender Twin, and Ampeg B-15 into a Telefunken 24-track, with amp hum, fret squeaks, and room noise left intact. While his studio records have typically been conceptual, layered affairs with guest collaborators, Prophetic Perfect Tense breaks that pattern entirely - by his own account, the most conventionally guitar-sounding solo record he has ever made, and the closest he has come in a studio context to the live, in-the-room energy of his Ghosted trio. A record that sounds like a room.

“Independence,” an improvised jazz recording from 1969 by the jazz group “New Directions”—comprising Masayuki Takayanagi (g), Motoharu Yoshizawa (b), and Yoshisaburo Toyozumi (d)—which was recorded at the Teichiku Kaikan Studio on September 18, 1969, from 6:30 p.m. for approximately six hours, has been reissued.

Hanne Lippard and Renato Grieco bring language and composition into close conversation on Today’s Special. Lippard’s playful spoken-word pieces meet Grieco’s viola da gamba, piano and Wurlitzer, with the music mirroring the pitch, rhythm and inflections of her voice. Rather than improvisation, the duo use strict rules and compositional structures, drawing on wordplay, anecdotes, nursery rhymes, colour and borrowed language. Developed through residencies in Rome, Naples and Berlin, the result is sparse, witty and meticulously constructed, with every voice, note and pause serving a purpose.

Big Crown marks its tenth anniversary with BCR10 - Ten Years of Big Crown, gathering favourites from across the label’s catalogue alongside more recent material. Founded by Leon Michels and Danny Akalepse in 2016, Big Crown has built an international roster spanning soul, funk, jazz, psych and beyond. The collection features Lady Wray, El Michels Affair, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, Brainstory, Surprise Chef, Bobby Oroza, Liam Bailey, Holy Hive and many more, with liner notes from journalist and DJ Jeff Mao.

Swiss pianist and composer Lotti Tauber developed a distinctive approach to the piano, working with physical limitations to create sparse, intuitive music informed by improvisation, chance and her interest in Jungian thought. Concern and Simplicity Volume 1: Original Recordings, 1981–1986 gathers selections from privately pressed albums made during the final decade of her life. Personal yet exploratory, these pieces place Tauber somewhere between the spiritual minimalism of Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru and Dominique Lawalrée and the contemplative work of Joanna Brouk, Philip Glass and Erik Satie.

College of Knowledge Records proudly announce the self-titled second album by Let Your Hair Down. Let Your Hair Down is the Melbourne / Naarm based seven-piece boogaloo soul crew consisting of Hudson Whitlock (Karate Boogaloo, The Pro-Teens), Lachlan Stuckey (Surprise Chef), Tom Pettit (Temporary Blessings), Nic Ryan-Glenie (Owelu Dreamhouse), Will Morrissey (Saskwatch), Olaf Scott (Saskwatch) and Luigi Portararo. Shortly after the release of Let Your Hair Down’s now much-beloved cult classic debut ‘Waiting Room’, the band stepped back into the now defunct attic studio where their first album was recorded to commit a second album to tape. With celebrated engineer/producer Henry Jenkins (aka Jnbo) at helm once more, a fruitful and joyful weekend session produced 11 brand new original recordings, and the easy part was done. The pub-soul / cinematic boogaloo ensemble put their seven heads together to conceive a title for the album. As the ensuing seasons marched gradually on, Let Your Hair Down carefully meditated on this subject. After several years of committed thought, the band unanimously agreed to bestow the title of ‘Let Your Hair Down’ to the disc. “It just makes sense” the septet agreed. Now with a title and an album cover designed by Let Your Hair Down drummer Hudson Whitlock, Let Your Hair Down’s self-titled second album was complete; 11 killer instrumentals documenting the bent minor key funk, percussive psychedelia and horn-heavy boogaloo from the most underground group from the Melbourne soul underground. ‘Let Your Hair Down’ captures the group in full flight: spontaneous, energetic arrangements delivered by a top-shelf group of musicians who simply love to play music together. The ‘good clean fun’ factor combines with razor-sharp musicality and informed sensibilities to crystalise into a truly high grade original album.

London based Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer, and musician Nala Sinephro steps out on her own with a deeply personal debut album and her first release with Warp Records.

a masterpiece of Japanese jazz-rock by Jiro Inagaki. one of the leading saxophonists in the Japanese jazz scene, Soul Media’s "Woodstock Generation" is a landmark album that captures the frenetic musical movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Centered on jazz, it boldly incorporates elements of rock, funk, and psychedelia, delivering the exhilarating sound unique to the Japanese music scene of that era.

Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Ryo Kawasaki, Yoshiaki Masuo, and Masayuki Takayanagi. This classic album brings together musicians from different generations and with diverse musical styles, each fully showcasing their unique personalities and exceptional technique.

Originally released in 2009. "Back to music after three years of silence... On the suggestion of Robert Ashley, Douglas Dunn commissioned this piece from Éliane Radigue for choreography. Only the first part of Triptych was staged at the premiere at the Dancehall/Theatre of Nancy on February 27 1978. Recorded in the composer's studio in Paris. After the premiere of Adnos I (IMPREC 028CD) in San Francisco in 1974, a group of French students introduced Éliane Radigue to Tibetan Buddhism. When she returned to Paris, she began to explore this spirituality in depth, which slowed her musical production up until 1978. Triptych marks her return to composition, and draws its inspiration from 'the spirit of the fundamental elements,' water, air, fire, earth... Éliane Radigue likes to add that this has often been useful to her in her moments of research and transitions. This three-part composition, with its great humility and contemplative simplicity, heralded a new period of work and was the first in a series of masterpieces inspired by Tibetan Buddhism: Adnos II (1980); Adnos III (1981) [both included on IMPREC 028CD]; Songs of Milarepa (1983), with the voices of Lama Kunga Rinpoche and Robert Ashley; Jetsun Mila (1986); as well as the Triologie de la Mort (XI 119CD): Kyema (1988), Kailasha (1991), and Koumé (1993). Archival images included in the accompanying booklet." --Manu Holterbach

The first new studio album from William Basinski since 2020's 'Lamentations'. "In the realm of past-life regression hypnotherapy, there is a concept known as “Life Between Lives,” wherein a sacred exchange of energy occurs between two souls in the spirt world, helping a spirit fully understand and forgive a being who hurt them in a past life. This exchange – called “passing the cup of sorrows” – became the unexpected inspiration for William Basinski’s first new album in six years. While sinking deeper into the daily abyss of our collective negativity bias, William Basinski stumbled upon a video describing the spiritual hypnotherapy exercise known as “passing the cup of sorrows.” Fixed on the glow of a screen that projected mounting anxiety and cynicism at a seemingly interminable pace, Basinski found the testimonials of this fascinating therapeutic practice to be profoundly moving. He sat at his piano, translating the transformation of those traumatic memories of past lives into cathartic tears of the present day. Channeling the quiet curiosity and asymmetrical patterns of pioneering 20th Century composer, Morton Feldman, Passing the Cup of Sorrows is a single 40-minute piece that employs a solitary piano and subtle electronics to truly haunting effect. It recalls fragments of traumatic memories and projects them as fractals in a slow-moving soft focus that’s as eerie as it is enlightened."

The first new studio album from William Basinski since 2020's 'Lamentations'. "In the realm of past-life regression hypnotherapy, there is a concept known as “Life Between Lives,” wherein a sacred exchange of energy occurs between two souls in the spirt world, helping a spirit fully understand and forgive a being who hurt them in a past life. This exchange – called “passing the cup of sorrows” – became the unexpected inspiration for William Basinski’s first new album in six years. While sinking deeper into the daily abyss of our collective negativity bias, William Basinski stumbled upon a video describing the spiritual hypnotherapy exercise known as “passing the cup of sorrows.” Fixed on the glow of a screen that projected mounting anxiety and cynicism at a seemingly interminable pace, Basinski found the testimonials of this fascinating therapeutic practice to be profoundly moving. He sat at his piano, translating the transformation of those traumatic memories of past lives into cathartic tears of the present day. Channeling the quiet curiosity and asymmetrical patterns of pioneering 20th Century composer, Morton Feldman, Passing the Cup of Sorrows is a single 40-minute piece that employs a solitary piano and subtle electronics to truly haunting effect. It recalls fragments of traumatic memories and projects them as fractals in a slow-moving soft focus that’s as eerie as it is enlightened."

Private Mexican lounge that still burns long after the cruise ship disembarks. Armed with a single nylon string guitar, a toy chest of rudimentary percussion, and the emotional microtones of the Spanish tongue, Alejandro Bravo's lone LP blends bossanova, samba, and the Brill Building into a horny margarita for the tourist class. Recorded at home in Acapulco in 1971, Bravo's self-released LP slaps and thrills with its taps and trills. Pair with a pregnancy test for best results.

Among the most influential hip-hop artists to emerge in the rapid creative expansion of the early 1990s, Queens duo Organized Konfusion helped reshape rap's aesthetic horizons with the 1991 release of a groundbreaking self-titled album. A dizzying display of lyrical dexterity and forward-thinking production, Organized Konfusion helped lay the foundation for what would become underground hip-hop, with intricate wordplay and cerebral rhyme structures. Both Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po shine throughout the album, revealing the immense talent that would later establish Monch as one of hip-hop's most revered voices and spark Po's collaborations with producers like Danger Mouse, Madlib, Large Professor, Oh No, and more. From playful nostalgia to sharp social commentary to surreal linguistic explorations, the duo navigates chaotic drum breaks with dense rhyme patterns, vivid imagery, and ever-shifting narratives. After decades of limited availability and unofficial bootlegs, this is the first official vinyl reissue of Organized Konfusion since its 1991 release. Featuring three rare bonus tracks, this 35th anniversary edition is available on 2LP and CD, giving a long overdue spotlight to one of hip-hop's most important albums.

'Edge Conditions' is the new album by Chicago born and raised, longtime Los Angeles based composer, synthesist, and multi-media artist Jeremiah Chiu.

Following three electro-acoustic duo albums with violist Marta Sofia Honer (one in collaboration with late legend of minimalist music Ariel Kalma) and three heavily-fused trance-jazz LPs with his co-led quintet SML, 'Edge Conditions' settles Chiu into a world of densely layered, tightly composed electronic music deviations in the vein of the YMO spinoffs, Arthur Russell 12-inch mixes, Yasuaki Shimizu, classic Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, or Art of Noise. Outsider deconstructions spun through the dance/chill cycle and lovingly rebuilt on California land. There’s an emotional, energetic arc here — a shining display of Chiu’s range and depth as both a composer and producer, in which every facet of his collaborative work and sonic personality feels represented without force.

Chiu’s previous solo album, 2023’s 'In Electric Time', was a first-thought-best-thought album recorded at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in LA, and offered a narrower glimpse into his solo process and sound, essentially acting as a collection of studies & experiments à la Raymond Scott's essential 'Manhattan Research Inc'. The goal was for the work to be immediate, improvisational, and born of quick decision making. The operation was ultimately simple: Jeremiah Chiu, synth practitioner, finding his way around a very impressive collection of analog synthesizers, recording said findings to 8-track tape.

'Edge Conditions' expanded the aim of that approach to make room for a larger scope of vision, developing under a more nuanced series of self-imposed boundaries, limitations, and clarifying frameworks meant to help connect the threads of the disparate artistic worlds Chiu inhabits in a more patiently-considered way. The music was mostly written and recorded during February and March of 2026, with the composer operating both in isolation and with a select team of musical comrades, while also incorporating live collaborations, field recordings, and audio sketches going back years.

About the album’s title and binding concept, Chiu says: “In architecture, “edge conditions” are the boundaries, interfaces, or transition zones between two different areas, materials, or states, often acting as a unique, occupiable, or functional space. They describe the interaction between systems — such as public vs. private land, or contrasting building materials — and are critical in architectural design, urban planning, and ecology for their "active" or "passive" nature. Thematically, the idea of an architectural edge condition came to mind during the process of making this record as it, too, feels like a practice bound by (environmental) restrictions, or boundaries.”

“Way In” is the album’s bite-sized call to action. A classic key-turner, this introductory wind-up promptly kicks into a wave of bleeping electronics atop a melancholic synth motif while chaotic, ultra-processed drum samples build at warp speed in wide stereo. By the time we know what is happening the mid-tempo techno-jazz of “A.M. Fuses” is in full swing, echoing the sonic upheaval of turn of the century Chicago — Tortoise, Prekop, Chicago Underground, et al — and the magnetic pull it had for formative groups like Stereolab. It’s more than just a reference, though. These sounds are from a community that Chiu grew up listening to and is now, fittingly, enmeshed in as a forward-marching composer in his own right.

“In Visibility” eases in with soulfully abstract drip-drop melodies, quickly and smoothly enveloped by a laid back west coast rhythm. “It was written with Art of Noise in mind, whom I love,” says Chiu. “I always get the sense that they’re having fun. Their music is all incredibly dialed in, but there’s a lightness to it — serious play.” It’s a spaced-out cruiser of a tune and a perfect example of Chiu’s use of industrial sounding texture to create an almost humanlike sense of pulse and breath. Somewhere in the multiverse an alternate Laurie Spiegel came home from the club, recorded the perfect makeout track, and it sounded exactly like this.

The title track follows with a wide-swinging pendulum, boasting both the most sensuous groove and the noisiest chaos on the album: ramping up the tension with truly anarchic processing of Marquis Hill (trumpet), Will Miller (EVI), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone) before a cool down coda of synthetic ambient waves and cut-up distant human chatter, segueing again, suddenly tuff, into the muscle drums of “Interfaces.”

That wide swing is something that covers the entirety of 'Edge Conditions', and it’s the sheer breadth of the spectrum which really makes the record shine as a whole. As listeners, we’re never in the same place for long. The pastiche of recording styles and fidelities, the quick cut employment of field recorded moments, the building and dissolving textural focuses — it’s all done within tracks, as well as over the album in macro. It’s clear that Chiu is not solely focused on one thing, and that he is insisting, correctly, that all of his points of focus work together.

It’s on the most radical departures that Chiu proves himself right. “Sentimental Object,” which features luscious strings from Marta Sofia Honer, delivers an almost academic turn away from pulsing drone and cool modality, instead favoring a tonal concern with drama, tension, and tonic resolution. Chord changes, essentially, and more of them than you think, all nestled in a dense collection of expertly synthesized sonic layers. “The day I first sketched it out, I re-listened to a Handel figured bass exercise as well as Ryuichi Sakamoto’s async,” says Chiu. “It felt like what I was doing subconsciously had these reference points. There’s this incredible melancholic feeling that overtakes you when listening to Sakamoto’s song “andata.” It’s impossible not to be moved by it. Similarly, Albinoni’s Adagio shares this melancholy, but feels more uplifting and hopeful, almost stately.”

“Sentimental Object” certainly embodies that stately melancholy while maintaining the boundaries and limitations of the larger project, showing us that anything goes as long as the internal logic is followed. The entire album maintains an effortless, almost tidal ebb-and-flow. Each new moment arrives and dissolves just when it should, not a moment before and never outstaying its welcome. Chiu is, here, making a very difficult thing look very easy. A mathematical equation that is somehow ecstatic. Rarely has something so masterful sounded so hip: total rhythmic transformations accompanied by harmonic and melodic modulation drawing clear, functional lines between distinct, fully developed and interconnected moments. Edge conditions.

By contrast, “Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines” returns us to the body: dense but soft train whistle puffs beg the attention behind a steady shaker before the beat drops courtesy of SML bandmate Booker Stardrum. Chiu’s modular chatter sits on top of Stardrum’s deeply saturated low-end percussive bump, augmented by only occasional, expertly placed phrases of tonality amongst the satisfying chaos of pings, clangs, and shimmers. The train has left the station, no doubt, and in the final movement the rider joins the pastoral world: the chatter becomes tonal and melodic; the percussion becomes gentle and deliberate; a long and simple melody hovers delicately on top. It’s in this second movement that we hear what might be the most Chicago vibe on the record, with Chiu reflecting back the essence of his heroes as a peer from the next generation.

'Edge Conditions' is that full reflection and most definitely the first full-frame look at Jeremiah Chiu as a composer. Here, one of the most exciting artists in Los Angeles, a subtly ground-breaking new voice in contemporary music across the globe, finally flashes his badge and steps fully into the spotlight.

'Edge Conditions' is the new album by Chicago born and raised, longtime Los Angeles based composer, synthesist, and multi-media artist Jeremiah Chiu.

Following three electro-acoustic duo albums with violist Marta Sofia Honer (one in collaboration with late legend of minimalist music Ariel Kalma) and three heavily-fused trance-jazz LPs with his co-led quintet SML, 'Edge Conditions' settles Chiu into a world of densely layered, tightly composed electronic music deviations in the vein of the YMO spinoffs, Arthur Russell 12-inch mixes, Yasuaki Shimizu, classic Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, or Art of Noise. Outsider deconstructions spun through the dance/chill cycle and lovingly rebuilt on California land. There’s an emotional, energetic arc here — a shining display of Chiu’s range and depth as both a composer and producer, in which every facet of his collaborative work and sonic personality feels represented without force.

Chiu’s previous solo album, 2023’s 'In Electric Time', was a first-thought-best-thought album recorded at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in LA, and offered a narrower glimpse into his solo process and sound, essentially acting as a collection of studies & experiments à la Raymond Scott's essential 'Manhattan Research Inc'. The goal was for the work to be immediate, improvisational, and born of quick decision making. The operation was ultimately simple: Jeremiah Chiu, synth practitioner, finding his way around a very impressive collection of analog synthesizers, recording said findings to 8-track tape.

'Edge Conditions' expanded the aim of that approach to make room for a larger scope of vision, developing under a more nuanced series of self-imposed boundaries, limitations, and clarifying frameworks meant to help connect the threads of the disparate artistic worlds Chiu inhabits in a more patiently-considered way. The music was mostly written and recorded during February and March of 2026, with the composer operating both in isolation and with a select team of musical comrades, while also incorporating live collaborations, field recordings, and audio sketches going back years.

About the album’s title and binding concept, Chiu says: “In architecture, “edge conditions” are the boundaries, interfaces, or transition zones between two different areas, materials, or states, often acting as a unique, occupiable, or functional space. They describe the interaction between systems — such as public vs. private land, or contrasting building materials — and are critical in architectural design, urban planning, and ecology for their "active" or "passive" nature. Thematically, the idea of an architectural edge condition came to mind during the process of making this record as it, too, feels like a practice bound by (environmental) restrictions, or boundaries.”

“Way In” is the album’s bite-sized call to action. A classic key-turner, this introductory wind-up promptly kicks into a wave of bleeping electronics atop a melancholic synth motif while chaotic, ultra-processed drum samples build at warp speed in wide stereo. By the time we know what is happening the mid-tempo techno-jazz of “A.M. Fuses” is in full swing, echoing the sonic upheaval of turn of the century Chicago — Tortoise, Prekop, Chicago Underground, et al — and the magnetic pull it had for formative groups like Stereolab. It’s more than just a reference, though. These sounds are from a community that Chiu grew up listening to and is now, fittingly, enmeshed in as a forward-marching composer in his own right.

“In Visibility” eases in with soulfully abstract drip-drop melodies, quickly and smoothly enveloped by a laid back west coast rhythm. “It was written with Art of Noise in mind, whom I love,” says Chiu. “I always get the sense that they’re having fun. Their music is all incredibly dialed in, but there’s a lightness to it — serious play.” It’s a spaced-out cruiser of a tune and a perfect example of Chiu’s use of industrial sounding texture to create an almost humanlike sense of pulse and breath. Somewhere in the multiverse an alternate Laurie Spiegel came home from the club, recorded the perfect makeout track, and it sounded exactly like this.

The title track follows with a wide-swinging pendulum, boasting both the most sensuous groove and the noisiest chaos on the album: ramping up the tension with truly anarchic processing of Marquis Hill (trumpet), Will Miller (EVI), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone) before a cool down coda of synthetic ambient waves and cut-up distant human chatter, segueing again, suddenly tuff, into the muscle drums of “Interfaces.”

That wide swing is something that covers the entirety of 'Edge Conditions', and it’s the sheer breadth of the spectrum which really makes the record shine as a whole. As listeners, we’re never in the same place for long. The pastiche of recording styles and fidelities, the quick cut employment of field recorded moments, the building and dissolving textural focuses — it’s all done within tracks, as well as over the album in macro. It’s clear that Chiu is not solely focused on one thing, and that he is insisting, correctly, that all of his points of focus work together.

It’s on the most radical departures that Chiu proves himself right. “Sentimental Object,” which features luscious strings from Marta Sofia Honer, delivers an almost academic turn away from pulsing drone and cool modality, instead favoring a tonal concern with drama, tension, and tonic resolution. Chord changes, essentially, and more of them than you think, all nestled in a dense collection of expertly synthesized sonic layers. “The day I first sketched it out, I re-listened to a Handel figured bass exercise as well as Ryuichi Sakamoto’s async,” says Chiu. “It felt like what I was doing subconsciously had these reference points. There’s this incredible melancholic feeling that overtakes you when listening to Sakamoto’s song “andata.” It’s impossible not to be moved by it. Similarly, Albinoni’s Adagio shares this melancholy, but feels more uplifting and hopeful, almost stately.”

“Sentimental Object” certainly embodies that stately melancholy while maintaining the boundaries and limitations of the larger project, showing us that anything goes as long as the internal logic is followed. The entire album maintains an effortless, almost tidal ebb-and-flow. Each new moment arrives and dissolves just when it should, not a moment before and never outstaying its welcome. Chiu is, here, making a very difficult thing look very easy. A mathematical equation that is somehow ecstatic. Rarely has something so masterful sounded so hip: total rhythmic transformations accompanied by harmonic and melodic modulation drawing clear, functional lines between distinct, fully developed and interconnected moments. Edge conditions.

By contrast, “Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines” returns us to the body: dense but soft train whistle puffs beg the attention behind a steady shaker before the beat drops courtesy of SML bandmate Booker Stardrum. Chiu’s modular chatter sits on top of Stardrum’s deeply saturated low-end percussive bump, augmented by only occasional, expertly placed phrases of tonality amongst the satisfying chaos of pings, clangs, and shimmers. The train has left the station, no doubt, and in the final movement the rider joins the pastoral world: the chatter becomes tonal and melodic; the percussion becomes gentle and deliberate; a long and simple melody hovers delicately on top. It’s in this second movement that we hear what might be the most Chicago vibe on the record, with Chiu reflecting back the essence of his heroes as a peer from the next generation.

'Edge Conditions' is that full reflection and most definitely the first full-frame look at Jeremiah Chiu as a composer. Here, one of the most exciting artists in Los Angeles, a subtly ground-breaking new voice in contemporary music across the globe, finally flashes his badge and steps fully into the spotlight.

“dm studies 000 - 004” is the first official music release by Daito Manabe, a visual artist, programmer, and composer who has continued to push the boundaries of music, technology, and visual expression. Originally released exclusively at the venue of the new festival “Future Frequencies Festival,” which Manabe co-organized in 2026, the CD is now available to the general public. Comprising five tracks, *dm studies 000 - 004* is an avant-garde electronic music work created around themes of contrasting concepts such as “chaos and order” and “humanity and process.” It explores the intersection of classical mathematical principles, beautifully and intricately constructed kinetic sound design, and club music, presenting Daito Manabe’s unique and cutting-edge musical universe.