CD!

* Japan styled CD edition with printed innersleeve, OBI and 36x36cm poster
* A legendary yet long lost crown jewel from the early 80s Japanese Electronic and Jazz Rock scene
* new powerful master, much appreciated by the artist


Mariah was a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with 5 albums up their score from 1980 to 1983. The album from 1979 entitled as “Mariah” was actually made before the band Mariah was formed, and was released as a solo album by Yasuaki Shimizu. The album at hand is the fifth and for the time being last album in this row, released as a double vinyl back in 1983. Original copies, that are at least in very good condition, are hard to find. The brand new reissue on Everland, unlike the original and the first vinyl reissue from 2015, comes housed in a thick and artfully designed gatefold sleeve with OBI, which finally does justice to the progressive spirit of the music you will find here.

The musical basement of Utakata No Hibi is a fusion of dreamy synthesizer pop and haunting new wave music, that could be found all around the globe back in 1983. In the vein of TEARS FOR FEARS or more adventurous DAVID BOWIE stuff, with a touch of KRAFTWERK or even BRIAN ENO here and there, but all this gets spiced up with an atmosphere of Japanese traditionalism, with a few bits and pieces from the old music from this Far East island, which sounds so magic to us Westeners. The progressive, wacky art pop of this project was led by the popular Japanese composer and musician Yasuaki Shimizu, a relentlessly exploratory saxophonist who even dared to rework Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites for saxophone.

As brilliant as this man is, the music on „Utakata No Hibi“ turns out to be. And the master himself approved and much appreciated the brandnew remastering of this album by assisting a highly professional team of sound engineers who dusted off the ancient tape reels. For certain the record sounds and feels 80s through and through, electronic to the very rhythmical bone of each song sugar coated with catchy melodies that resemble Japanese classic and Enka music, which is a kind of folksy pop music. The listener gets directly drawn into a feverish dream of steaming Far Eastern cities and their darkest and most depraved corners where you find everything cheap in sleazy bars and unlighted backyards and alleys. The next moment he strolls through a beautiful Japanese park surrounded by a sea of blossoms. This change in mood and style you will experience in the sparsely instrumented tune „Shisen“, which indeed comes closest to classic Japanese folk tunes without any too catchy and pop oriented melodies. But we certainly find these harmonies allover the album. Some tunes even feel like ancient BEACH BOYS compositions and Brian Wilson creations played by a then contemporary electronic pop act and sung in Japanese.

An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth and art pop aficionadoes.

Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with MARIAH, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called, it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of musical art that shall be listened to.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

CD!

* Japan styled CD edition with printed innersleeve, OBI and 36x36cm poster
* A legendary yet long lost crown jewel from the early 80s Japanese Electronic and Jazz Rock scene
* new powerful master, much appreciated by the artist


Mariah was a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with 5 albums up their score from 1980 to 1983. The album from 1979 entitled as “Mariah” was actually made before the band Mariah was formed, and was released as a solo album by Yasuaki Shimizu. The album at hand is the fifth and for the time being last album in this row, released as a double vinyl back in 1983. Original copies, that are at least in very good condition, are hard to find. The brand new reissue on Everland, unlike the original and the first vinyl reissue from 2015, comes housed in a thick and artfully designed gatefold sleeve with OBI, which finally does justice to the progressive spirit of the music you will find here.

The musical basement of Utakata No Hibi is a fusion of dreamy synthesizer pop and haunting new wave music, that could be found all around the globe back in 1983. In the vein of TEARS FOR FEARS or more adventurous DAVID BOWIE stuff, with a touch of KRAFTWERK or even BRIAN ENO here and there, but all this gets spiced up with an atmosphere of Japanese traditionalism, with a few bits and pieces from the old music from this Far East island, which sounds so magic to us Westeners. The progressive, wacky art pop of this project was led by the popular Japanese composer and musician Yasuaki Shimizu, a relentlessly exploratory saxophonist who even dared to rework Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites for saxophone.

As brilliant as this man is, the music on „Utakata No Hibi“ turns out to be. And the master himself approved and much appreciated the brandnew remastering of this album by assisting a highly professional team of sound engineers who dusted off the ancient tape reels. For certain the record sounds and feels 80s through and through, electronic to the very rhythmical bone of each song sugar coated with catchy melodies that resemble Japanese classic and Enka music, which is a kind of folksy pop music. The listener gets directly drawn into a feverish dream of steaming Far Eastern cities and their darkest and most depraved corners where you find everything cheap in sleazy bars and unlighted backyards and alleys. The next moment he strolls through a beautiful Japanese park surrounded by a sea of blossoms. This change in mood and style you will experience in the sparsely instrumented tune „Shisen“, which indeed comes closest to classic Japanese folk tunes without any too catchy and pop oriented melodies. But we certainly find these harmonies allover the album. Some tunes even feel like ancient BEACH BOYS compositions and Brian Wilson creations played by a then contemporary electronic pop act and sung in Japanese.

An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth and art pop aficionadoes.

Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with MARIAH, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called, it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of musical art that shall be listened to.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

“Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s the title and theme that run throughout SOYUZ's fourth album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years, having moved to Warsaw due to political unrest in their homeland of Belarus and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger, who also decided to go a step further and change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The result is nine songs about dreams and outer space, ordinary miracles, things very close and very distant at the same time.

In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety abroad. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wisniewski joining the band.

Deeper and more melancholic than previous works, KROK is quintessentially SOYUZ, laced with hope, dreams and a celebration of life. Given the difficulties with finding rehearsal and recording spaces in Warsaw and the departure of the drummer Anton Nemahai from the band, Chumak explored alternative options. He reached out to friend and fellow musical collaborator, Sessa, about the possibility of recording the new album in his recently finished studio in São Paulo, with Sessa and Biel Basile coming onboard as recording engineers.

At the tail end of 2024, Chumak and SOYUZ’ new drummer, Albert Karch, made the trip to São Paulo to record the first sessions for KROK. Sadly, they travelled without Mikita Arlou, SOYUZ’ co-founder and Chumak’s longtime creative partner, due to the financial impossibility of bringing him too. Laid down directly to tape, these sessions featured prominent Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile, and Marcelo Cabral, with a guest vocal feature by Tim Bernardes recorded at a later date. The final touches were then added back in Europe. Lush string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Karch were recorded at the Polish Radio studio in Warsaw, and Rhodes parts were added by Chumak at Sven Wunder’s studio in Stockholm.

Though primarily recorded in Brazil, KROK is not a Brazilian or MPB album. It blends the bands' Eastern European roots with jazz, folk and global influences. The genre of the music is hardly identifiable: there are folk ballads and jazz-driven pop compositions covered in lush and often dissonant string and woodwind arrangements where each note is placed with care and meaning behind it.

Broad in its palette, KROK is full of highlights. The title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, making for a fitting opener and one of the band’s finest tracks. Darker than most of SOYUZ’ songs, the tensions lift and lighten as the track progresses. The cinematic library jazz of 'Voo Livre', with ghostly vocals sung by Ciça Góes and Ina, feels like a modern twist on the Italian library composer Alessandro Alessandroni through its sublime choir and woodwind orchestration. Elsewhere, the heartfelt 'Lingua Do Mundo', composed, written, and sung by Chumak and the incredible Tim Bernardes, features one of the standout string arrangements from Chumak and Karch. 'Cichi Karahod' is an instant SOYUZ classic, almost Pat Metheny-esque as it opens, with the acoustic guitar and bass riff transitioning into jazzy AOR / pop-folk territory. The record closes with 'Smak žyccia', a gentle, dreamy spoken-word poetry piece in Japanese by singer-songwriter Manami Kakudo.

Despite immense challenges, SOYUZ have delivered a career-defining album in KROK. Heartfelt and beautiful, it is not an imitation of the past, but rather a truly original, contemporary expression all of its own.

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Over the past few years, London based DJ and curator Sam Don has shone new light into the Reggae sub-genre of Lovers Rock with his comps 'For the love of You'. His deep, yet deeply accessible selections have opened the ears of many to the genre. With this new compilation 'Just A Touch' Sam shines his torch even deeper, this time through crates of UK Underground Soul. He painstakingly researched and tracking down each producer to bring you some of the sweetest soul cuts that will ever grace your eardrums. Sam Don explains: Whilst the US is most well-known for soul music, the UK has created its own take on the genre, due to the melting pot of cultures and musical styles that makes the UK so special. I didn't 'set out' to make a compilation like this, but one night an idea came to me, and I sketched it out at home with my record collection. When I saw how well these sounds came together, I started my mission to find the people involved with them and 'Just A Touch' was created.

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GU returns with another volume in his VAULTS series of rare and unreleased secret weapons. After years of fan requests GLENN is finally giving "WHAT'S NEXT" & "PLATINUM" a proper vinyl release. More techy and experimental than much of the SJU catalog this 12"is sure to be an instant classic

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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Landmark vaporwave album that defined the genre’s visual and sonic identity.
• Includes the iconic track “420” — the most recognized song in vaporwave history.
• High-quality vinyl pressing
• A must-have for collectors of internet-era electronica, ambient, and conceptual art releases.

The cult around Vektroid's genre-defining album as Macintosh Plus prevails as the 2011 release Floral Shoppe gets a fresh repress from Austrian label Everland. Vaporwave was but a twinkle in Ramona Andra Xavier's eye when she laid down the blueprint in a strange, seductive segue of nostalgic licks from 80s synth-pop, boogie, easy listening and a thousand nights lost in fuzzy VHS and cassette culture. Many have developed their own approaches off the back of Floral Shoppe's wondrous world building, but in these situations you can't beat the original idea. A vital document of online culture in the early 21st Century, and a dreamy listen to boot.

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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Green Colored LTD Vinyl!

It’s been 12 years since Karizma’s last album, and in that time the world has changed beyond recognition.
What has remained constant is Karizma’s commitment to constantly pushing the boundaries of his sound and defying categorization, effortlessly moving from down-tempo soul, hip-hop, house and electronic dance, and connecting it all with his emotive production and his ear for moving a dance- floor.
“Can’t Call !t” is a double album that sees Karizma craft 17 tracks to take his music in ever new directions. As always, he pours his heart into every cut, always with a message and purpose of intent.
Like all of us, Karizma’s wondering what comes next, which way things will go. Can you call it?

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I met Aaron Parr back in 1992 aka the golden era of electronic dance music. Everything was kicking off in the L.A Underground and he was working slap dap in the epi-center at Beatnonstop Records on Melrose Avenue in the heart of Los Angeles. At the time I was living in Santa Barbara still doing my college radio show "The Joy of X" and coming down to L.A on the weekends almost every week since 1989. Aaron had been a mainstay down the street at Streetsounds Records where my then Young friend 19 year old Steve Loria worked alongside warehouse dj & underground legend Barry Weaver.

These were heady times. Clubs, after-hours and renegade break in warehouse jams were the order of the day…every day! The shops fueled the dj's with the dope records and the ravers with the party flyers, the Record Stores were the hub of the whole scene and the key was befriending these upwardly mobile soon to be underground superstars if you wanted fat slabs of wax AND to know where the real deal undergrounds were shaking…literally.

In 1992 I got selected for the U.S Olympic Basketball team and headed back to Europe in an effort to make it to Barcelona and get smashed for the GOLD by the dream team in front of the whole World…no thanks! We got knocked out by Petrovic and the Czechs right b4 Barcelona!
Anywho after 3 months I returned to Cali and there had been a shift, Steve Loria moved up the street from Streetsounds & opened Beatnonstop and it was HUGE! It had quickly become the largest independent record store in the U.S. The scene was massive, everything had exploded. I got in where I fit in and started a weekly Techno club "Happy Planet" on Tuesdays and a House club "NYC" with Doc Martin on a Friday. Both were rammed.

Aaron the industrious Brit from Nottingham & his bredren Dave Fong went to work early too, putting out the Rudiments EP on Worldship Records and then following up with Psycho Ray in 1998.. In 1998 II closed my Culture shop "Soma" down in Santa Barbara, packed up my studio & sound system and moved to L.A official. I had gotten the offer to manage Beatnonstop on Melrose after Steve Loria left and jumped at the chance.

I quickly put together the Beatnonstop Record Label, releasing a double pack "Pacific Coast House EP" feat myself and local producers Aztech Sol, CPen and Kenneth Graham/Steve Loria. I then kicked off PCH Records with "Rhodes Through Space" and after a drunken rendezvous at the Hall of Records Studio one night I signed Aaron & Daves Teflon Dons "My Vice" to the labels.

Vice was right down my alley a dark, grimy acid track with menacing Pacino samples.
After a buying trip for Beatnonstop to NYC. Harry the Bastard from Watts took me down to meet fellow Brit Stefan at Dance Tracks in Manhattan where I found the sample "Our Music" on an accapella in the bins. Super inspired after two weeks trolling round every record distributors warehouse (Watts, Nemesis, Syntax, Downtown etc) and hitting every record store in Manhattan (Vinyl Mania, Discorama, Frankie Bones shop, Satellite and on and on) I came home to L.A and me and Nate loaded up the Emu 64 Ultra sampler and penned "Our Music."

The track is obviously very New York inspired and was received well by Big Apple Dj's David Morales, Junior Vasquez, Roger Sanches & Baby Hec Romero. I would definitely say this track was a slow burner elsewhere and took off later getting the nod from DJ Deep in Paris, + Terry Francis, Eddie Richards and Mr. C in the UK.

It got no love in L.A surprisingly but everywhere else across the country with Miguel Migs and DJ Garth in the Bay, King Britt in Philly and DJ Pope in Baltimore. Now it's back on wax after 25 years remastered by the mighty Martin Iveson and I think the World is finally ready!


Track list:
A – Teflon Dons – Vice
B – The Coastal Commission – Our Music

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10-Year Anniversary Repress of Crazy P’s Seventh Studio Album Walk Dance Talk Sing, featuring Like A Fool and Cruel Mistress.

Tracklist
1.1Like A Fool
1.2The Come On
1.3Hear My Song
1.4Echo
2.1Scrap The Book
2.2Witch Doctor
2.3Something More
2.4The Come On
2.5WDTS


Listen: https://soundcloud.com/crazyp/sets/walk-dance-talk-sing-1

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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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