CD!

Tracklist:
1.DORIS
2.B SIDE
3.CHOCOLATE HILLS
4.FATHER FATHER
5.MARIELLA


Two of the acts boldly leading Texas music into the future have now delivered a second chapter of their groundbreaking collaboration, further extending the region's sonic possibilities. Singer/songwriter Leon Bridges, from Ft. Worth, and trailblazing Houston trio Khruangbin have joined forces for the Texas Moon EP, a follow-up to 2020's acclaimed Texas Sun project. While the five new songs are clearly a continuation of the first EP, they also have an identity all their own _ Bridges calls it "more introspective," while Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says it "feels more night time." When Texas Sun was released, AllMusic called the results "intoxicating" and Paste noted that "their talents and character go together so well." Now comes the next stage _ a set of songs that touch on themes like love, faith, and death while exploring new dimensions of inventive, hypnotic grooves. Significantly, both parties' musical directions were clearly affected by their time working together. Khruangbin's most recent album, Mordechai, moved their own vocals much further forward, a change they readily admit was a direct result of working with Bridges. Meanwhile, since these recordings began, in addition to his genre-defying album Gold-Digger's Sound, Bridges has put out several other challenging, shared tracks, including work with John Mayer, Lucky Daye, and Jazmine Sullivan. Texas Moon represents a genuine and rare achievement, with two of the most respected and innovative acts of their generation truly collaborating to create something new. "As far as an essentially instrumental band, these guys are kind of the top for me," says Bridges. "I'm honored to have been the first singer that they've incorporated in their music." "It feels really special to me," says Lee. "It's not Khruangbin, it's not Leon, it's this world we created together."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgugkEB-q_Q

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Hole Erth, Chaz Bear’s eighth full-length studio record as Toro y Moi, is the genre shapeshifter’s most unexpected and bold move to date, with Bear diving headlong into rap-rock, Soundcloud rap and Y2K emo. The album blitzes anthemic pop-punk next to autotuned, melancholic rap – two genres that inform one another now more than ever before — and packs in the most features ever on a Toro y Moi album. We get Don Toliver’s moody crooning on the anti-love song “Madonna.” We get Kevin Abstract and Lev’s breathy reflections on “Heaven.” We get emo king Benjamin Gibbard, the beating heart of millennial indie for crying out loud. Recorded in the span of a few months across late 2023 and early 2024, Hole Erth’s features built naturally over that short span, with Bear simply reaching out to long-time friends. The sum of Hole Erth’s parts is massive, and demonstrates Bear’s deft abilities as a producer, especially in hip-hop; his role in the culture has long been solidified from previous collaborations with some of rap's biggest trailblazers. It’s a daring left turn for Bear, but the feel is effortless, the make-it-look-easy of a master at work. All told, Bear pushes himself into new sonic ground for the TyM oeuvre while embracing the project’s celebrated, well-known electronic beginnings. Hole Erth is brand new, but somehow perfectly at home.

The album’s title is an homage to Whole Earth, Stewart Brand’s DIY periodical from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the central purpose of which was to empower people to be holistically self-sufficient. From product reviews of carpentry tools, to how-to guides for growing your own food, to techno-optimistic analyses that’d go on to inspire Silicon Valley startup culture, parallels of the catalog’s DIY ethos can be found all throughout Hole Erth. Bear cites gorpcore, a new-age fashion trend of functional, outdoorsy outerwear worn as streetwear, as influencing the album’s aesthetic. This also ties back to Brand’s influential counterculture catalog. Bear notes: “Things have gone in a more gorp-y direction. Humans are tapping into this more tribal, earthier aesthetic. The Whole Earth catalog is this encyclopedic, self-sustaining guide. With the album title alone, that’s something I wanted to spark as a conversation. We can be off the grid, and also be on the internet, and try out all of these different lifestyles at the same time.” This sense of duality exists within Hole Erth: it’s seeped in the technological world while embracing real-world human connection.

The sounds that make up Hole Erth might feel like new territory for Bear, but in reality it’s a return to form for Toro y Moi – a project that has always orbited electronic music. “Toro is not a rock band,” Bear assures. “To me, my folk records and psych rock records are the side quests. What I fell in love with with the Toro project were the electronic productions – the samples. There’s always more to be done in the electronic world.” His experimentation with electronic production is most obvious on tracks like album opener “Walking In The Rain,” an immediate immersion into the brooding pulse of Hole Erth. Given Bear’s work with some of modern rap’s most influential acts, it’s no surprise that his autotuned cadence and cheeky play-on-words calls to mind the moody braggadocio of today’s popular hip-hop. “Hollywood,” featuring Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service fame, places warped vocals and ephemeral sound bites of internet dial-up beneath watery ruminations on celebrity and the delusions prevalent in Tinseltown. The track’s nostalgic nods in combination with Bear’s genre fluidity is a Toro y Moi trademark that can be heard throughout his discography. From the twangy, laidback reflections that comprised his most recent Sandhills EP, to the retro-futuristic grooves of 2019’s Outer Peace, Bear is no stranger to flexing his muscles as a forward-thinking musical chameleon, while still managing to make music that feels eternally familiar yet compelling.

A sense of nostalgia sneaks its way into almost every Toro y Moi release, but angst is an emotion that Bear has never intentionally explored the way he does here. Tracks like “Tuesday'' channel a specific, yet forever-relatable sense of adolescent unease. A distorted guitar riff leads into a repeating chorus that conjures misunderstood teenagers singing aloud, maybe too loud, while riding bikes through American suburbs. This foreboding can also be heard on “HOV,” though not without poking some fun with lines like “Romance is so cold / My advice? To bring a coat.”

A sense of playful ambition and experimentation sits at the core of Hole Erth. Bear has the energy, but is acutely aware that his energy isn’t forever. At a time when the internet is blending multiple genres into one at an increasingly rapid pace, Bear accomplishes the rare feat of keeping up with the contemporary alternative listener. Constantly changing, evolving and experimenting is the heart of Toro y Moi, and on Hole Erth Bear challenges but also reclaims himself, embracing the myriad sounds and eras that formed him, while crashing new worlds together.

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“‘A La Sala,’ I used to scream it around my house when I was a little girl, to get everybody in the living room; to get my family together. That’s kind of what recording the new album felt like. Emotionally there was a desire to get back to square-one between the three of us, to where we came from–in sonics and in feeling. Let’s get back there.” - Laura Lee Ochoa

The title makes it clear. A La Sala (“To the Room” in Spanish), the fourth studio album by Khruangbin, is an exercise in returning in order to go further, and do so on your own terms. It extends the air of mystery and sanctity that’s key to how bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson, Jr. and guitarist Mark “Marko” Speer approach music. Yet if 2020’s Mordechai, the last studio album Khruangbin made without collaborators, was a party record whose ensuing post-lockdown tour enhanced the band’s musical reputation far and wide, A La Sala is the measured morning after. It’s a gorgeously airy album made only in the company of the group’s longtime engineer Steve Christensen, with minimal overdubs. It is a porthole onto the bounties powering Khruangbin’s vision, a reimagining and refueling for the long haul ahead. A La Sala scales Khruangbin down to scale up, a creative strategy with the future in mind.

It is also a response to the unique moment Khruangbin finds itself in now: following a decade spent cultivating extraordinary music paths, beginning a year when they'll perform for more people, in more iconic spaces, staging a live show that pushes a creative envelope peculiar to them alone. (Look for the band at major festivals and venues near you.) 2024 feels like both marker and pivot, cementing Khruangbin’s stature as a commercially and critically successful group that continues to be guided by creative possibilities.

Such crossroads are familiar for iconic artists throughout the rock era — your Dylans, Stevies and Bowies, up thru turn-of-the-century Radiohead, all have navigated these straits. On A La Sala, Khruangbin also pulls exploration inward, spurning the din of the crowd’s expectations, mapping a personal direction home. The trio’s collective musical DNA and the years spent constructing it in Houston’s local-meets-global cultural stew ensure the band carries on sounding like no one but itself. A La Sala may in fact be Khruangbin’s purest distillation. A cascade of crisp melodies still emanates from Marko’s reverb-heavy electric, dancing gently around Laura Lee’s minimalist almost-dub bass triangles, while DJ’s drums serve as the tightened-up pocket and unwavering dance-floor on which all this movement takes place.

Where prior album-by-album growth seemed to point the narratives towards music’s polyglot edges, such inquiries now sound like known intimacies. What once seemed like sonic invocations — spaghetti-western film scores, found-sounds, dancing moments more living room than rooftop disco — are ingrained characteristics. This is who they are! And there’s a freshness to the instrumental interactivity on A La Sala that’s less concerned with getting further out than going deeper in. That depth is not about therapeutic self-reflection, but a profound desire to celebrate the world’s external wonders.
A La Sala invites intimate intercontinental partying. The first single is, after all, called “A Love International.” “Pon Pón” holds the band’s table at the West African discotheque; yet the joy now moves to the corner left of the dancefloor, where the back-and-forth between Laura Lee’s bass, DJ’s hi-hat, and Marko’s tuneful rhythm scratches, is a marvel of knowing head-nods. There’s “Hold Me Up (Thank You),” a familial sweetness in its spare lyrics, feeding off the rhythm section’s sturdy funk shuffle, and a chorus on which Marko’s guitar evokes both sides of the Atlantic in confident unshowy rhythms. They’re on “Todavía Viva” too, next to DJ’s noir-soul rim-shots, synth strings and a pregnant pause that is Laura Lee’s favorite moment on the album, the mood kin to the band’s glorious live interpretations of G-funk fantasias. And the rocked-up miniature, “Juegos y Nubes,” demonstrates Khruangbin’s Houston-born superpower to culture-mix, a dancing mood less concerned with worldly glamor than communal grooving.

“I read something long ago, attributed to Miles Davis. He said, ‘When they play fast, you play slow. When they play slow, you play fast.’ And it's definitely how I've approached looking at music: Don't follow the trends. And if the trend is this, then do something else.” - Marko

From the get-go, Khruangbin’s journey has been emphatically its own: a sound and visual representation with few precedents, ignoring pop expectations, relying only on internal inspirations, and a multitude of visions. It’s a mindset of penetrating the self, connecting to the surrounding world, modeling your own life experiences. This ethos is threaded throughout A La Sala, audible in the album’s form and function. (It’s even visible in the vinyl version’s physical package, which will be released as a set of seven distinctive covers and color-sets — more on which in a sec.)

The building blocks for the album’s 12 songs were jigsaw pieces found in Khruangbin’s creative past. Having stockpiled ideas originally set down as off-the-cuff recordings (voice-memos made at sound-checks, on long voyages, as absentminded epiphanies), they began fitting those pieces together in the studio. Which parts were apt? Which could be massaged and stretched out? Which inspired new sections or rhythms or musical interactions? Once more, Khruangbin’s familial DNA kicked in. Layer-by-layer, the intimate work, rework and re-rework bore new fruit. They also brought back a strategy once foundational to their records: seeding an album with field recordings.

Some results fold directly into A La Sala’s down-home feel. “Three From Two” and “May Ninth” are wistful mid-tempo numbers, with guitar melodies that reside somewhere between Bakersfield and by-the-riverside, cues that, for all its borderless inclusivity, another core Khruangbin value is being steeped in American roots. And in the landscape that music comes from. Like all albums prior to Mordechai, Marko made sure environmental sounds — natural and man-made — appeared as textures. (At times philosophically: the group recorded while cricket chirps played in their headphones, presumably for terroir.) It’s how A La Sala achieves such interconnected set-and-setting-ness.

Other results are more metaphorical, especially in Khruangbin’s flirtation with ambient spaces. The dramatically beatless “Farolim de Felgueiras” and “Caja de la Sala” both feature only Marko’s unmistakable guitar dueting with Laura Lee’s Moog, lightly layered with sounds of shoes on stone steps, and cicadas in an open field. The closing “Les Petits Gris” more fully reduces and fleshes out the ambiance, with a piano and a simple single-note bass pattern, Marko’s plaintive spare guitar echoing the melody of a ballerina-turning music box. It feels an apt way of ending — as a passing of this particular moment, preparation for the next one, soon-come.

Even the seven different covers that adorn A La Sala’s various vinyl editions offer a throughline from the music into Khruangbin’s current frame. Designed by the band using Marko’s multitude of travelog photos, they are windows from the band’s living room onto a set of daydreams, scenes of impossible skies, external glances illuminating what is going on inside. These are also directly related to David Black’s images of DJ, Laura Lee and Marko which accompany A La Sala, and to Khruangbin’s live staging reinvention. It’s all about looking out and looking back, in order to better look ahead.

“All the little moments you capture. You don't see how impactful they are until you hear what eventually comes of them. A lot of those scraps end up being the thing — and you don't realize it until it's ‘The Thing.’” - DJ
credits
releases April 5, 2024

Produced by Mark Speer & Steve Christensen
Written, Arranged & Performed by Khruangbin
Art Direction: Tiny Frees
Mixing: Steve Christensen
Mastering: Chris Longwood

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"Live at Sydney Opera House" ist der letzte Teil der Live-Alben Serie von Khruangbin, dem weltumreisenden, genreübergreifenden Trio aus Houston, Texas. Das Album ist eine Doppel-LP, die ausschließlich aus Khruangbin-Kompositionen besteht und den Abschluss eines ehrgeizigen einjährigen Projekts für die Band bildet, das eine Hommage an ihre Live-Shows ist und ihre Improvisationskünste und kultigen Setlists feiert. Hier kommen karriereübergreifende Songs wie "A Calf Born in Winter", "Maria También", "So We Won't Forget", "Shida" und "Friday Morning" in ihrer vollen interplanetarischen Pracht zur Geltung, aufgenommen an einem der berühmtesten Veranstaltungsorte der Welt, dem Opernhaus Sydney. Der erste Solo-Auftritt der Band im berühmten Opernhaus fand im November 2022 statt und war an drei Abenden ausverkauft, womit sie sich in die Reihe der unzähligen Stars einreihten, die dort ebenfalls auf der Bühne standen. Die Doppel-LP folgt auf vier Live-Alben der Band, die seit Anfang des Jahres veröffentlicht wurden und mit Gästen wie Kelly Doyle, Ruben Moreno, The Suffers und Robert Ellis im Stubb's in Austin, Nubya Garcia im Radio City in New York, Men I Trust im RBC Echo Beach in Toronto und Toro y Moi im Fillmore in Miami aufwarten. Khruangbin sind bekannt für ihre Verbindung von Klängen aus aller Welt - darunter "eine Mischung aus R&B, Reggae, Surf-Rock, Melodien aus dem Nahen Osten, persischen Phrasierungen, lateinamerikanischen Rhythmen, Hip-Hop der 90er Jahre, westafrikanischer Instrumentierung, ätherischen Harmonien, psychedelischen Effekten und rumpeliger Disco" (Vanity Fair). Das Trio war mit zahllosen Welttourneen unterwegs und stand auf fast allen großen Festivalbühnen der Welt, darunter Glastonbury, Primavera und Coachella.

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TRACKLIST:

1. SOURCE (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
2. THE MESSAGE CONTINUES (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
3. LA CUMBIA ME ESTá LLAMANDO (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
4. SO WE WON'T FORGET (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
5. THE INFAMOUS BILL (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
6. PELOTA (LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL)
7. TIME (YOU AND I) [LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL]

It's only fitting that Khruangbin's first-ever official live releases would be albums paired with their tourmates: artists whose music they love and admire, friends who've become family along the way. Khruangbin's 'Live At' series of live LPs traces just one small slice of the band's flight plan through the years: it's a taste of some of their most beloved cities, stages and nights. Most of all, Khruangbin's 'Live at' series ignites both sides of the band's magic: the warm, prismatic feeling of their albums and the bewitching energy of their performances. 'Live at Radio City Music Hall' features performances by Nubya Garcia and Khruangbin.

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It's only fitting that Khruangbin's first-ever official live releases would be albums paired with their tourmates: artists whose music they love and admire, friends who've become family along the way. Khruangbin's 'Live At' series of live LP straces just one small slice of the band's flight plan through the years: it's a taste of some of their most beloved cities, stages and nights. Most of all, Khruangbin's 'Live at' series ignites both sides of the band's magic: the warm, prismatic feeling of their albums and the bewitching energy of their performances. 'Live at Stubbs' features performances by Kelly Doyle, Ruben Moreno, The Suffers, Robert Ellis, and Khruangbin.

Tracklist:
1.1WOMAN TROUBLE
1.2AT THE TRAILRIDE
1.3DON'T BOTHER ME
1.4NOBODY SMOKES ANYMORE
1.5BLIND MAN CAN SEE IT / (IT'S NOT THE EXPRESS) IT'S THE MONAURAIL
1.6BIN BIN
1.7FRIDAY MORNING
1.8NUMBER 4
1.9PEOPLE EVERYWHERE (STILL ALIVE)

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Tracklist:

1. SAVANNE
2. LOBBO
3. DIARABI
4. TONGO BARRA
5. TAMALLA
6. MAHINE ME
7. ALI HALA ABADA
8. ALAKARRA

Ali Farka Touré trekked the world, bringing his beloved Malian music to the masses. Dubbed "the African John Lee Hooker," one could hear strong connections between the two; both employed a bluesy style of play with gritty textures that elicit calm and fury in equal measure. While the influence of Black blues music prevailed, Touré created a West African blend of 'desert blues' that garnered Grammy awards and widespread reverence. Though he transcended in 2006, Ali's musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka "the Hendrix of the Sahara," an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original's integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend. Ali isn't just a greatest hits compilation. It's a lullaby, a remembrance of Ali's life through known highlights and B-sides from his catalog. It is a testament to what happens when creativity is approached through open arms and open hearts. "To me, music is magic, it is spontaneous, it is the energy between people," Vieux says. "I think Khruangbin understands this very well." The genesis of the album dates back to 2019, when Khruangbin, coming off their breakthrough album Con Todo el Mundo, was beginning to playto bigger crowds. The record was finished in 2021, as a global pandemic shuttered businesses and forced us to take stock of what Earth was becoming. Indirectly, Ali captures this as a moment of peace within a raging storm, a conversation between past and present without allegiance to suffering. Now, given Khruangbin's reach as a unit with legions of fans (including the likes of Jay-Z and Paul McCartney), they're poised to bring Malian music to broader groups of listeners. Ali is a masterful work in which the love surrounding it is just as vital as the music itself, driving it to unforeseen places; Vieux and Khruangbin are spreading the good word to a completely new generation. "I hope it takes them somewhere new, or puts them in a place they haven't felt or heard," Lee says. "It is about the love of new friendship and making something beautiful together," Vieux continues. "It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again. In the end and in a word it is love, that's all."

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Limited Jade Vinyl!

Tracklist:

1. SAVANNE
2. LOBBO
3. DIARABI
4. TONGO BARRA
5. TAMALLA
6. MAHINE ME
7. ALI HALA ABADA
8. ALAKARRA

Ali Farka Touré trekked the world, bringing his beloved Malian music to the masses. Dubbed "the African John Lee Hooker," one could hear strong connections between the two; both employed a bluesy style of play with gritty textures that elicit calm and fury in equal measure. While the influence of Black blues music prevailed, Touré created a West African blend of 'desert blues' that garnered Grammy awards and widespread reverence. Though he transcended in 2006, Ali's musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka "the Hendrix of the Sahara," an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original's integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend. Ali isn't just a greatest hits compilation. It's a lullaby, a remembrance of Ali's life through known highlights and B-sides from his catalog. It is a testament to what happens when creativity is approached through open arms and open hearts. "To me, music is magic, it is spontaneous, it is the energy between people," Vieux says. "I think Khruangbin understands this very well." The genesis of the album dates back to 2019, when Khruangbin, coming off their breakthrough album Con Todo el Mundo, was beginning to playto bigger crowds. The record was finished in 2021, as a global pandemic shuttered businesses and forced us to take stock of what Earth was becoming. Indirectly, Ali captures this as a moment of peace within a raging storm, a conversation between past and present without allegiance to suffering. Now, given Khruangbin's reach as a unit with legions of fans (including the likes of Jay-Z and Paul McCartney), they're poised to bring Malian music to broader groups of listeners. Ali is a masterful work in which the love surrounding it is just as vital as the music itself, driving it to unforeseen places; Vieux and Khruangbin are spreading the good word to a completely new generation. "I hope it takes them somewhere new, or puts them in a place they haven't felt or heard," Lee says. "It is about the love of new friendship and making something beautiful together," Vieux continues. "It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again. In the end and in a word it is love, that's all."

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Tracklist:
1. The Medium
2. Goes By So Fast
3. Magazine (Feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) https://youtu.be/qSKlCWGaaao
4. Postman https://youtu.be/xI0alDWn2tM
5. THe Loop
6. Last Year
7. Mississippi
8. Clarity (Feat. Sofie)
9. Foreplay
10. Déjà Vu
11. Way Too Hot
12. Millennium (Feat. The Mattson 2)
13. Days In Love

Toro y Moi's seventh studio album, MAHAL, is the boldest and most fascinating journey yet from musical mastermind Chaz Bear. The record spans genre and sound_encompassing the shaggy psychedelic rock of the 1960s and `70s, and the airy sounds of 1990s mod-post-rock_taking listeners on an auditory expedition, as if they're riding in the back of Bear's Filipino jeepney that adorns the album's cover. But MAHAL is also an unmistakably Toro y Moi experience, calling back to previous works while charting a new path forward in a way that only Bear can do. MAHAL is the latest in an accomplished career for Bear, who's undoubtedly one of the decade's most influential musicians. Since the release of the electronic pop landmark Causers of This in 2009, subsequent records as Toro y Moi have repeatedly shifted the idea of what his sound can be. But there's little in Bear's catalog that will prepare you for the deep-groove excursions on MAHAL, his most eclectic record to date. The second the album begins we're immediately transported into the passenger seat, jeep sounds and all, ready for the ride Chaz and company have concocted for us. Seeds of some of MAHAL's 13 songs date back to the more explicitly rock-oriented What For? from 2015. MAHAL was mostly completed last year in Bear's Oakland studio with the involvement of a host of collaborators, Sofie Royer and Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Neilson to Neon Indian's Alan Palomo and the Mattson 2. "I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine," he explains. "To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal perspective to the table." As a result, MAHAL is lush and surprising at every turn, from the cool-handed "The Loop," which recalls Sly and the Family Stones, to the elastic psych rock of "Foreplay" and the dizzying Mulatu Astatke-recalling of "Last Year." Lyrically, the album zooms in on generational concerns, picking up where the Outer Peace standout "Freelance" effectively left off. Bear seems to be surveying the ways in which we connect with technology, media, each other, and what disappears as a result. Cuts like the squishy "Postman" and the "Magazine" take a deep dive into our relationship with media in a changing digital world. "It's interesting to see how we adapt to this new age. We're so connected, but we're still missing out on things," Bear ruminates while discussing the album's themes. It's not all introspection. Bear cools things down near the album's end with the Mattson 2-featuring "Millennium," a laid-back jam with tricky guitar licks about ringing in new times even when everything else seems upside down. "It's about enjoying the new year, even when it's been shitty," Bear explains. "There's nothing else to do." Finding a sense of joy in the face of adversity is embedded in MAHAL's DNA, right down to the jeepney that literally and figuratively brings the music out into the community. "We know that touring is messed up for now, and large gatherings are a fluke," he explains. "It's about the notion of us going out to the people and bringing the record to them." And with the wide-open atmosphere of MAHAL, Toro y Moi stands to connect with more listeners than ever before.



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CD!

Tracklist:
1.DORIS
2.B SIDE
3.CHOCOLATE HILLS
4.FATHER FATHER
5.MARIELLA


Two of the acts boldly leading Texas music into the future have now delivered a second chapter of their groundbreaking collaboration, further extending the region's sonic possibilities. Singer/songwriter Leon Bridges, from Ft. Worth, and trailblazing Houston trio Khruangbin have joined forces for the Texas Moon EP, a follow-up to 2020's acclaimed Texas Sun project. While the five new songs are clearly a continuation of the first EP, they also have an identity all their own _ Bridges calls it "more introspective," while Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says it "feels more night time." When Texas Sun was released, AllMusic called the results "intoxicating" and Paste noted that "their talents and character go together so well." Now comes the next stage _ a set of songs that touch on themes like love, faith, and death while exploring new dimensions of inventive, hypnotic grooves. Significantly, both parties' musical directions were clearly affected by their time working together. Khruangbin's most recent album, Mordechai, moved their own vocals much further forward, a change they readily admit was a direct result of working with Bridges. Meanwhile, since these recordings began, in addition to his genre-defying album Gold-Digger's Sound, Bridges has put out several other challenging, shared tracks, including work with John Mayer, Lucky Daye, and Jazmine Sullivan. Texas Moon represents a genuine and rare achievement, with two of the most respected and innovative acts of their generation truly collaborating to create something new. "As far as an essentially instrumental band, these guys are kind of the top for me," says Bridges. "I'm honored to have been the first singer that they've incorporated in their music." "It feels really special to me," says Lee. "It's not Khruangbin, it's not Leon, it's this world we created together."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgugkEB-q_Q

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we are proud to announce the restock of Sound Sculptures Vol. 1
It will be the first time available since the original press.



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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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Germany
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Originally released in 2017, PHANTOM BRICKWORKS is an ongoing ambient/drone project by Stephen James Wilkinson a.k.a. Bibio. The work explores the human echoes still present in various sites around Britain. Wilkinson has visited these locations, observed their gradual decline, and responded with improvised and composed music. New in 2024, a sequel titled PHANTOM BRICKWORKS (LP II) is a 10-track LP, mastered by Guy Davie and vinyl cut by Hendrik Pauler. The new record draws attention to new sites - some are intriguing, vast scars on the natural landscape, others survive only in local memories, historic clips and photographs. A few remain submerged from ordinary sights, while some exist purely as legends and stories.

- Specs: Black 2LP Vinyl in printed inner sleeve in wide spine outer sleeve and download code

TRACKLIST:
A1. DINORWIC
A2. DOROTHEA'S BED
B1. PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VI
B2. SURAM
B3. LLYN PERIS
C1. PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII
C2. TEGID'S COURT
D1. BROGRAVE
D2. SPIDER BRIDGE
D3. SYCHDER MCMLXXXIX

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Germany
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This is tenor sax giant Pharoah Sanders caught live in France in summer 1971, when the man was still in full post-Coltrane mood. At the head of a strong quintet featuring: Lonnie Liston Smith - piano, Cecil McBee - bass, Jimmy Hopps - drums, and Lawrence Killian - congas, Pharoah delivers two very intense yet serene versions of his milestone piece "The Creator Has A Master Plan" and "Let Us Go In The House Of The Lord", a traditional gospel hymn arranged by Lonnie Liston Smith. This is deep spiritual music kissed by the sun of a splendid southern France summer.

Tracklist:

Side A
The Creator Has A Master Plan (Pharoah Sanders, Leon Thomas) 21:35

Side B
Let Us Go In The House Of The Lord (Traditional, arr. Lonnie Liston Smith) 25:24

Line up:

Pharoah Sanders (tenor sax)
Lonnie Liston Smith (piano)
Cecil McBee (bass)
Jimmy Hopps (drums)
Lawrence Killian (congas)

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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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King Street Sounds is on a mission to reintroduce timeless house classics to the dancefloor with another iconic release. Their aim, to educate a new generation about the sounds of the old school while also offering fresh remixes for everyone to enjoy.

Kerri Chandler's 'Bar A Thym' is back on 12-inch vinyl, featuring the full original 7:24 mix. This track builds, keeping listeners at the brink of euphoria and inviting them to dance. It’s THE perfect groove.

The original track is accompanied by a new version via South African producer Themba who adds his signature afro sound to the mix, infusing the song with swing, extra percussion, and heightened anticipation around the various drops.

Then the classic Foremost Poet's version, which was a great alternative to the timeless bomb. If you’re a house head, you need this in your life.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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AIR 's Jean-Benoît Dunckel & Jonathan Fitoussi have joined forces to release Mirages II, a sonic exploration of analogue synthesis, moving from the minimal to the cinematic.

"After their first album as a duo, released in 2019, JB & Jonathan have gone back together to build another work, in which their two personalities unfold even more surreptitiously, always very attentive to each other.

At their heart, an electronic spirit, anchored to a very mineral rhythm.

There are glimpses and echoes of the great German musicians of the 70s, with their infallible metronome.
There are also ghosts of Detroit's hypnotic machines.

Above all, this album moves forward as if it were running slowly, its rhythms giving a cadence that calms and radiates, in sparkling harmony...

These mirages, second chapter of that name, are at their zenith."

J. Ghosn

A1 - Iris
A2 - Ghost Town
A3 - Marimbalum
A4 - Karakoum
B1 - Spark (alternate version)
B2 - Atlantica
B3 - Tanzanite
B4 - Autumnal Equinox

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Proudly presenting our reissue of a bona fide Latin classic from 1979 by the Cuban-born violinist Alfredo De La Fe. Based in New York and Colombia, Alfredo worked with some of the greats in Latin music including Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon and Roberto Roena, alongside disco and soul icons like Sylvester and Aquarian Dream.

His debut album, Alfredo, is sublime and comprises two distinct halves. The A-side is a fine outing of Latin dancefloor workouts, with Alfredo innovatively incorporating the violin as a key element of his songwriting. Take to ‘Toca Alfredo Toca’ or ‘Charangueando’ to hear Alfredo’s violin solos placed centre stage, a unique dimension to Latin music which he helped to pioneer at the time.

Side two though is where things get interesting and unexpected. ‘Hot To Trot’ is a string-laden, Latin groover with a heavy dose of disco-funk and bubbling Brazilian percussion. It is sheer genius and still ignites a dancefloor to this day. The track became a favourite with the iconic New York DJ Larry Levan and was spun in one of the ground zero blueprints of modern clubbing, the Paradise Garage. This tune has been a mainstay amongst DJs ever since its release, has featured on compilations by Louie Vegas, Dave Lee and Danny Krivit over the years and is a record that never leaves our bag.

Other highlights include the cosmic, layered string, Latin jazz version of 'My Favourite Things' that opens into a psychedelic percussive jam and the mesmerising ‘Que Rico Bailo Yo’. Also be sure to check the epic closer 'Canto Del Corazon', which fuses avant-garde elements into a bass-gliding funk before morphing into a brilliant Latin final section.

This is a true masterpiece from the trailblazing “El violín de la salsa” and one that deserves a place in every collection.

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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Classic 90's and early 2000's Detroit Booty / Ghettotech / Electro from Mr De'
Most of this stuff has been unavailable on vinyl for years and still kills dancefloors today.


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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Source of an all-time 'Breaks and Beats' classic, Mr Bongo reissue Herman Kelly’s timeless 1978 album Percussion Explosion!. Immortalised in hip-hop folklore, when the anthemic 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat’ was featured on the influential Ultimate Breaks & Beats compilation series in 1986.

Percussion Explosion! was the brainchild of drummer, percussionist, producer and arranger, Herman Kelly and his percussive disco-funk group from Miami, 'Life', that featured Aaron McCarthy, Oliver Well, John DeMonica, Michal Cordoza and Travis Biggs. The album houses a collection of disco, funk and Latin-inspired cuts that were destined for greatness. Nestled within the grooves is the B-Boy and B-Girl’s anthem, 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat’, which contains a now legendary break. A cursory glance at Whosampled will show that it has been sampled in over 125+ songs. These include Double Dee & Steinski on their groundbreaking 1985 production 'Lesson 3 (History Of Hip Hop Mix)', as well as by DJ Shadow, N.W.A, Masters At Work, Run D.M.C. and a whole host of heavyweights across hip-hop, dance and pop music.

When the album was released in 1978 it came out on two different labels, Alston Records and Electric Cat. Each label pressed different versions of 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat’, with the former featuring a 4:12 version and the latter a longer 5:09 version that has a different structure, crowd noise at the start and overdubbed percussion.

For this Mr Bongo reissue, we have chosen the classic 4:12 version from the Alston Records release, which would later find its way on to the illustrious Ultimate Breaks & Beats compilation. To make matters even more confusing the Alston version art on the back cover also states the track length as 5:09, whilst the centre label lists it correctly as 4:12.

Aside from the much celebrated 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat’, the album includes a range of other fantastic overlooked cuts. From the percussive soul stepper 'Share Your Love', to the beautiful Latin-flavoured 'A Refreshing Love' or the party disco-funk groover 'Who's The Funky D.J.?'.

This wonderful and inspirational record features an important piece of hip-hop heritage and deserves a place in every collection.

Housed in a tip-on sleeve.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore