Band on the Wall's latest 7" release is from producer, musician & DJ Contours. Known for applying his own percussive dexterity, his sound is placed within the intersection of House, Jazz, Broken-Beat and percussive experimentation. Double A-side 'The Programme / Conga Quinto (Dub)' is the latest in an ongoing sonic evolution for Contours, having released music on labels including Rhythm Section, Tru-Thoughts, Anma Records, in turn receiving praise from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff, Alex Nut and Bradley Zero. Premiered by Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music, covered by The Vinyl Factory, Music is My Sanctuary, Stamp the Wax, Resident Advisor, Bolting Bits. Airplay from Laani on Worldwide FM, Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music.

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Contours, a UK based DJ and producer, known for bubbling dance rhythms and undertone melodies focuses on a wide range of organic percussion on this 4 track EP.
A1 opens up with its most prominent instrument, the balafon, creating a hypnotic vibe in which keys and broken beat intertwine creating a swinging rhythm. The second track, Batterie, slows down the groove and allows plenty of space for the keys to lay over the depth of bass-heavy drum pattern.
The flip side of the record pitches up the tempo and sees layers of Latin infused rhythms mix with London scene defining broken beat riffs, synths and melodies. The record finishes up with a remix from one of the London underground scene’s key contemporary figures, K15, adding a darker tone to the flow of the track while upping the dancefloor energy of the groove.

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After the success of the Henry Wu & Chaos in the CBD releases, Rhythm Section International present their 9th offering, from Mancunian newcomer 'Contours’. ‘Technician' is a percussion led rhythmic exploration, spanning 6 tracks which take in down-tempo grooves to up-beat workouts, all held together by a smooth, lucid sonic palette and arresting, unorthodox live percussive elements. Already an accomplished drummer and percussionist, Contours manages to combine driving rhythm, lush textures and hypnotic melodies to create a sound that feels very much at home as part of the Rhythm Section imprint, while simultaneously pushing it forward into new, undiscovered territory. One for the Heads, one for the Dancers, one for the warm up, one for the afterparty.





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'Distorted Clamor', the latest full-length album from legendary Spanish ambient composer Suso Saiz. Marking his eighth release with our label, the album showcases Saiz at his spellbinding best, continuing a prolific creative phase in a career that spans over 40 years.

Building upon 'Resonant Bodies' and 'Nothing Is Objective', his most recent full length releases for Music From Memory, Saiz's dedication to experimentation and conceptual approach to sound lie at the centre of 'Distorted Clamor'.

Discussing his process and the concept behind the album, Saiz says: “Thousands of beings cry out for their lives, for the sustainability of their habitats, for their future.

Their clamouring together generates a distorted, deafening and incomprehensible noise. Trying to go deeper into that distortion and understand all the voices and discover the strength and beauty in all of them. This was the first image I had when I started composing Distorted Clamor. Can distortion and all those sounds (clicks, clips, ticks, tocs, pluks, crashes) that we normally discard, generate beauty? This question has also accompanied the entire whole project.”

The transit of sound through various materials is also central to the work, with Saiz using water, wood, and metals as filters and sound-transforming pedals. The album was created without the use of synthesizers, relying entirely on acoustic sounds that were transformed in an unnatural way to achieve something completely new.

Spanning eleven compositions, Saiz's mastery of timbre and ability to paint layers of sound with the subtlest of touches stand out unmistakably to the listener. As always, his radiant drones are a nest of hidden feelings; they glisten with complex emotions and textures, teasing out moods of vulnerability and hope.

Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

Snippets follow soon.



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Music From Memory return with a further six tracks from Dutch musician Richenel. Continuing with recordings taken from his debut album 'La Diferencia’, originally released in 1982 on the cult Amsterdam cassette only label Fetisj, the tracks on Music From Memory’s second EP ‘Perfect Stranger’ includes alternate takes drawn from Richenel’s personal copy of the album alongside a further composition which didn’t make it onto the original Fetisj cassette.

Studying set and costume design whilst making a name for himself as a singer and performer in Amsterdam’s underground clubs, Richenel played with several disco acts and cultivated an extravagant cross-gender stage persona before connecting with members of the local label. Hooking up through their time together at the Rietveld art academy in Amsterdam, Fetisj was an experimental multi media collective which revolved around a loose mix of various young artists and musicians. Having developed a house band with artists going by a number of different pseudonyms the label set up their own small makeshift studio and would produce and sell the cassettes through their distribution network and at events across the city. Recorded amongst the turmoiled punk and squatter scene of Amsterdam against a backdrop of drugs and social unrest, the ‘La Diferencia’ sessions reflect a unique mix of punk aesthetics with a synthesized bedroom funkiness.

A somewhat illustrious figure in Dutch pop history with his flamboyant appearance as well as having one of the more exceptional male voices to come out of the country, Richenel would go on to record a number of successful albums and hit singles in the Netherlands and beyond. This largely unknown album on Fetisj however, seems to embody the spirit of another time; a particularly unique and richly creative moment in Amsterdam’s musical and cultural history and one that is deserving of a much wider audience.

‘Perfect Stranger’ is co-compiled by Orpheu De Jong

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Music From Memory is thrilled to introduce Dead Sound, the collaborative project of Marco Sterk (aka Young Marco) and Berlin-based pop-auteur John Moods. Both artists are no strangers to the label; Sterk forms one third of the trio Gaussian Curve, while Moods released the 2022 album ‘Hidden Gem’ with The Zenmenn.

Their collaboration was both planned and spontaneous; Sterk initially reached out in 2022 expressing his desire to work with Moods. The pair finally got together in 2024 to produce ‘Into The Void’, an album that burst into life over the course of a few creatively charged days in each other’s company.

Moods’ dream-like, emotionally charged music wears its heart on its sleeve; its very human vulnerability makes it a perfect match for Sterk’s strong sense of melody and textural sonic visions.

‘Into The Void’ carries these psychedelic traits in its DNA, but they exist layered deep amongst the shadows. Painting on a wide canvas that effortlessly skips between genres, the pair weave anything that inspires them into a truly unique tapestry; a bold attempt to touch at the beyond.

Exploring the space between perception (level of the mind) and the nature of the universe (actual level of reality) seems traditionally like an impossible task. But there’s gotta be a time and a space for the profound and this album invites the listener to go deep, letting go of concepts such as love and opening oneself up to one’s own authentic journey. This transformative force of healing is a central theme of ‘Into The Void’, a path that is lined with light and darkness in equal measure. But, as Moods says, “do not skip the darkness, let that door open and swallow you. And maybe you’ll find, it's not as dark as you perceived at first."

Sleeve art by Michael Willis.

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The next installment of MFM's popular multi-artist compilation Virtual Dreams: 'Virtual Dreams - Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999'. As with Part One, released in 2020, 'Virtual Dreams II' shines a light on house and techno-adjacent music that helped redefine the definition of ambient music during the 1990s.

The focus of Part One heavily fell on music from techno and house producers in Europe, eagerly exploring new soundtracks for chill-out rooms and re-imagining the potential future of club culture from new perspectives. For Part Two, we narrow the lens to focus on a unique time and place, namely Japan between 1993-1999. Despite missing out on the 'Acid House Fever', club culture was beginning to take shape in Japan during the early '90s. In contrast to the rest of the world, where ambient techno / IDM emerged as a by-product or response to the scene, 'listening techno', as it is known in Japan, was a central pillar of the culture right from the start.

'Virtual Dreams II' aims to shine a light on this unique moment in time where the thread of ambient music weaved its way through the music of an emerging club culture. This period saw the birth of many great Japanese techno labels such as Sublime Records, Transonic Records, Syzygy Records, Frogman Records, and Form@ Records, following in the late '90s. 'Virtual Dreams II' features ambient, chill-out, and intelligent techno from these leading labels alongside other lesser-known but equally influential imprints, as well as ambient deviations from Japanese house producers. Much of the music featured has only ever been released on CD.

'Virtual Dreams II' is compiled by Eiji Taniguchi and Jamie Tiller, who have worked closely together on previous Music From Memory releases such as 'Heisei No Oto' and 'Dream Dolphin - Gaia'. It is also the final project Jamie Tiller worked on before his tragic passing in 2023. Jamie had been researching, planning, and compiling this version of Virtual Dreams even before the first chapter was released, believing that there were many great tracks in Japan that fit the concept of the series. Knowing how much love and energy he put into compiling it gives it an extra special place in our hearts.

Compiled by Jamie Tiller and Eiji Taniguchi with artwork by Kenta Senekt, design by Steele Bonus and liner notes by Itaru W. Mita,

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Introducing ‘Total Blue’, the Los Angeles-based trio of Nicky Benedek, Alex Talan, and Anthony Calonico. Despite collaborating for over a decade, ‘Total Blue’ represents a new chapter in their artistic journey together as a trio.

Embracing chance, inviting the unknown, and guided by a spirit of sheer play and exploration, ‘Total Blue’ was driven by a desire to ‘touch the beyond’ in pursuit of an elusive vibe the three had been chasing for years.

Alex, Nick, and Anthony envision ‘Total Blue’ as the all-encompassing full picture, a place where the real and the imaginary begin to blur; a destination reached not through escapism but by expanding one's perspective; a widened scope of vision where personality both shines and disintegrates.

Across the album, their mission statement is expertly achieved with subtlety and delicate human touch; painting with a lush palette of digital synths, Akai EVI wind synthesizer, fretless bass, and guitar, the trio masterfully balance texture and color, evoking wide expansive vistas that stretch from Los Angeles right out to the furthest reaches of sky and sea. This is ‘Total Blue’ - a place of time and timelessness where echoes of history and tradition merge with rootless inhuman sonics.

Art and design by Michael Willis.

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The return of Gaussian Curve - Gigi Masin, Jonny Nash and Marco Sterk’s much-loved trio are back for the first time since their 2016 sophomore album 'The Distance', presenting two new tracks entitled 'Winter Sun' and 'Fever Dream'.

Both tracks originate from recording sessions that took place in Amsterdam in 2016 for 'The Distance'. Despite not finding a place on the final album and being left as unfinished sketches for six years, the tracks represent an important part of the Gaussian Curve story which the band felt compelled to complete. Coinciding with the decision to perform a handful of live shows in 2022, they finally revisited the sketches, mixing and arranging them with the goal of giving them the full release that they deserve.

The trio’s trademark sound hits from first moments of 'Winter Sun'; a lush slow builder with all the classic GC ingredients; Nash’s airy and spacious guitar lines interplay with Masin’s warm rhodes, underpinned by Sterk’s subtle use of electronics and the minimal rhythm of a CR-78 drum machine.

On 'Fever Dream', the trio subtly expand their palette; a gently building 303 bass line and 808 rhythm form the foundations of the piece, with Masin’s vocals adding to a slow-burning intensity. Arguably a fuller sound hinting at new areas of exploration for the trio, but unmistakably Gaussian Curve.

Graphic art by Qiu Yang, design by Steele Bonus,

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2024 Repress!
Music From Memory continue their 12? series with the release of an EP. This 4 track comp holds 3 tracks from the LP and one unreleased.. Tip!

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Music From Memory is excited to announce a special compilation that they’ve been working on for some time now; MFM053 – VA – Heisei No Oto – Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996). Compiled by long-time friends of the label, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, Heisei No Oto delves into a world of music released almost exclusively on CD and brings together a fascinating selection of discoveries from a little known and overlooked part of Japan’s musical history.

The last ten or so years have seen a global wave of interest in Japanese music encompassing ambient, jazz, new wave and pop records from the 1980s, some of which is increasingly considered the most innovative and visionary music of that time. Although some music from this period, in the form of ‘City Pop’ or ‘rare groove’ records, had been coveted by collectors and DJs for a number of years, most Japanese music from the time was little known outside and often even within Japan.

Sometime around the mid 2000s, two Osaka record store owners, Eiji Taniguchi of Revelation Time and Norio Sato of Rare Groove, along with a handful of deep Japanese diggers such as Chee Shimizu of Organic Music records in Tokyo, began to explore beyond the typical ‘grooves’ or ‘breaks’. Much like their counterparts in Europe and the US, they began delving into home-grown ambient, jazz, new wave and pop records, discovering visionary music, often driven by synthesizers or drum computers, that broke beyond the typical confines of their genres.

Spending tireless hours in local record stores and embarking on digging trips across the country, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, much like Chee Shimizu, have been at the forefront of unearthing and introducing many of the very Japanese records now loved and sought after around the world. Yet as YouTube algorithms and vinyl reissues would transport such music into the global consciousness and demand and therefore scarcity intensified for such records, so Eiji and Norio have recently begun to turn their attention to CDs.

The title of the compilation Heisei No Oto refers to the sound of the Heisei era, which began in 1989 and corresponds to the reign of Emperor Akihito until his abdication in 2019. Marking the culmination of one of the most rapid economic growths in Japanese history, 1989 also coincided with the music industry’s final shift away from vinyl in favour of CDs. And, although compact discs were first introduced seven years earlier it wasn’t until late into the ‘80s that, beyond dance music labels, CDs became the exclusive format for major and independent labels in Japan and throughout the world.

This however didn’t signal the end of the innovation in Japan. Many of those same musicians who have become known for their work in the ‘80s would continue to produce outstanding music well into the mid ‘90s, as greater innovation and advances in musical equipment allowed Japanese musicians and producers to refine and explore new sounds. While musicians such as the seminal Haruomi Hosono, whose productions feature on a number of tracks, would continue to push the boundaries of these new technologies, these technological advances also meant less established musicians were able to make use of increasingly affordable but state-of-the-art equipment.

Including music by Haruomi Hosono as well as Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshifumi Hinata and Ichiko Hashimoto who have become known and loved around the world in recent years, Hesei No Oto also features Japanese pop star Yosui Inoue, producers Jun Sato and Keisuke Kikuchi in aaddition to less established artists from the contemporary, jazz, new wave, pop and dance music scenes. Bringing together a selection of tracks that seem to define these specific genres and in fact move fluidly between a number of them, the music on the compilation is again underscored by experimentations with synthesizers and drum computers though with something of a gentle Pop sensibility. Reimagined here then under the encompassing term ‘Left-field Pop’, this is an exciting chapter in Japanese musical history that has only just begun to be fully explored.

VA - Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996) is a 2xLP/2xCD that includes liner notes by Chee Shimizu and artwork by Hagihara Takuya and is released on February 28th.

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Music From Memory is pleased to announce the upcoming release of ‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’, a collaborative album from Tim Koh and Sun An.

Tim Koh is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles. He has been touring, releasing music and showing art works internationally for nearly two decades. Sun An is a Southern California-based graphic designer, art director, and sound designer who has self-released music since 2012.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ plays somewhat like a dreamlike collage; across 18 short compositions, finger-picked guitars melt with electronics and warped samples to create a form of American Primitivism bent and refracted through Tim and Sun’s unique lens.

Their collaborative journey unfolded gradually, exchanging snippets via email over the span of a year or so, Sun in LA and Tim in Berlin. Amidst personal struggles and uncertainties, the act of recording and composing became a refuge, a safe space where they could navigate life's complexities together. Though they didn't converse much, mostly just sending music, their musical dialogue spoke volumes, shaping a narrative that evolved naturally over time. As they shared their musical ideas, they discovered a profound sense of connection and understanding with one another. The music became a conduit for healing, bridging the gaps between them and offering comfort in times of need.

Their musical influences and backgrounds anchored them. From reminiscing about past scenes to exploring cultural intricacies of being Korean American in Los Angeles, infused with a natural sense of shared identity, their collaboration reflected a mergence of old and new memories into a hallucinatory, dream-like experience. Across the 18 compositions that make up the album, incense emerges as a poignant motif, symbolizing the passage of time. Each incense stick becomes a vessel carrying the essence of moments gone by, while the holder becomes the custodian of these ephemeral memories.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ invites the listener on a boundary-transcending journey of introspection, joy, and pain, creating an experience that lingers long after the last note fades.

Sleeve art by Brian DeGraw, design by David McFarline.

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Repress!
Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop From Europe, 1980-1991 is the second multiple artist compilation on Music From Memory and is compiled by record connoisseur Raphael Top-Secret and label man Jamie Tiller. The compilation brings together twenty one tracks from across the continent; exploring the more unusual and unexpected sides of Pop music produced during that period.Drawing material from cult experimental artists such as Steve Beresford, Brenda Ray and Bill Nelson alongside one-off independent musical projects rescued from the fringes, ’Uneven Paths’ focuses on a selection of tracks that go beyond the confines of mainstream pop music but which also transcend expectations of much of the ’experimental’ music of the time. This is music with one foot in the avant-garde and another foot firmly rooted within the sensibilities of Pop; where Jazz musicians detour into Synth-Pop, Punk bands break into Boogie jams, and student doctors jam out on odd melodies with synthesizers and drum machines during their night shifts.

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Staying on the Mediterranean coast for their third release, Music From Memory this time shift their attention to the work of Mallorcan musician Joan Bibiloni. TIP!

Primarily a guitarist, Bibiloni was creating music at an early age, releasing his first single at the tender age of 15. In his twenties he formed Spanish progrock outfits Zebra and Euterpe where he would meet Pepe Milan, the two of them becoming the bluesy folk duo 'Milan & Bibiloni'. Bibiloni himself would later go on to play with a number of luminary musicians such as Larry Coryell, Daevid Allen and John Cage to name but a few.

In 1982 Bibiloni set up his own label Blau in order to highlight the muchoverlooked work of musicians not only on his home island of Mallorca but across the Balearic Islands. In doing so he created a platform not only for
local talent but also for his own music to breathe a new life, much influenced by the landscape and life that surrounds the islands.

Whilst Bibiloni's first solo releases on his Blau imprint have stronger echoes of contemporary Jazz fusion of the time, it is on the album known as 'Una Vida Llarga I Tranquila' where Bibiloni really began to experiment with new soundsand technologies; fusing tape loops, drum computers and synthesizers.

Taking these more electronic infused works as a departure point for the compilation and drawing on material from across his following five albums, El Surï sets out to highlight Joan Bibiloniïs unique ambient fusion and sun-drenched Mediterranean beach boogie.

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2023 marks the tenth year of Music From Memory; a decade of groundbreaking archival releases, cross-generational collaborations and long-standing creative partnerships with our ever-expanding community of artists.

To celebrate this milestone, earlier this year we asked our roster of artists to submit a piece of music for an anniversary compilation. As submissions gradually came in, we were blown away by what we received and slowly began to piece them together into what was to become “10”.

Featuring work from artists who were present during the formation of the label, such as Gigi Masin, Joan Bibiloni and Michal Turtle, as well as artists like The Zenmenn, RAMZi and Dea, who have helped the label expand over subsequent years, “10” serves as a natural bookmark of where we are musically, whilst simultaneously reflecting on the label's rich musical past.

In keeping with the Music From Memory ethos, the music of “10” spans both time and space, with submissions ranging from Vito Ricci's 'Da Hamptons' (1985) to Yu Su & J. Wilson's 'Mitti Atar' (2023). It crosses the globe, with a total of 10 countries represented across 17 tracks. The final result is an immersive musical compilation that flows perfectly from start to finish.

Tragically, during the last few weeks of finalising MFM066, label co-owner Jamie Tiller passed away in a sudden accident. “10” was always intended to be a way to reflect on the journey of Music From Memory. The fact that it is now also one of the last releases that the team all worked on together adds a whole other level of reflection and makes it all the more special.

* incl. insert liner notes by John Gómez) Artwork by Bráulio Amado. Design by David McFarline.

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2023 Repress!

Music From Memory are excited to present the debut LP of Kaifeng born, Vancouver based artist Yu Su in collaboration with Chinese label bié Records. Titled 'Yellow River Blue' it is our first release of 2021 and the second collaboration between label and artist, following up on the strongly received EP 'Roll With The Punches' from 2019 on Second Circle.

Named after the world’s most heavily silted river, 'Yellow River Blue' is Yu Su's personal musical autobiography, constructed around stories of chasing something inconceivable. Written and recorded in different continents in between August 2019 and March 2020, all songs seek to musically translate years of moving and touring, temporarily settling, and the feelings of both being turned away and accepted. In her own words, “The world is my home and it isn’t, but as long as there is generosity of water and mud...” It is an homage to her home beside the Yellow River.

Yu Su's debut album consists of eight songs that are versatile in both writing and aesthetics. Versatile individually, consistent as a whole. Yu Su is in a class of her own, dodging the obvious while combining sounds and inspirations of various origins into a new destination that sounds like her home in the here and now. It's a release that is constantly in motion and moves fluently between contemporary pop, ethereal sound compositions and dance-floor experiments.

'Yellow River Blue' comes as part of a collaboration with Yu Su's co-founded new label bié Records and will be released as MFM052 in vinyl format by Music From Memory on January 25th 2021, after seeing a full digital album release via bié on January 22nd in the new Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese zodiac. Both formats come in different exclusively designed artworks.

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Self-titled debut album of Habitat Ensemble, a new musical collective headed up by musician Marius Houschayer.

The collective originates deep in the south of the Czech Republic, on the border with Austria, amongst the idyllic hills and fields of a village called Maríž, where a summer school of outsiders and creatives have been gathering since the 1990s. Enriching each other through intercultural exchange, summer school participants have created a unique gathering of artistic expression and interdisciplinary research.

Originally grown out of the idea of translating the unique energy of the community and its environment into a musical journey where each member makes their own individual contribution, during the summer of August 2022, The Habitat Ensemble became an exciting vehicle for connection and co-creation.

Whether it be musical experimentation, composition, poetry, song or dance, Habitat Ensemble, having started as a series of multidisciplinary workshops, slowly developed into a unique musical recording. The album serves to conjure the unique nature, community, experimentation surrounding the school and the collective’s search for harmony across all of these, both musical and spiritual.

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The new LP by Krefeld-born, Berlin-based artist Philipp Otterbach entitled 'The Dahlem Diaries'.

Recorded in a little-visited corner of the German capital, 'The Dahlem Diaries' is a convergence of ideas, sketches and tracks, both old and new, most of which were produced between 2020-2022. Whilst eerie atmospheres, electronics and drums have played a pivotal role in Philipp’s earlier releases, his latest is a rather more introspective affair, in which the guitar takes a leading role. A role Otterbach uses to quietly bring light and hope to his music.

Speaking about his writing process, Philipp explains that, based around his original compositions, “Friends were nice enough to contribute additional parts on their instruments which I then reworked, put together and re-contextualized. The recordings encapsulate a very specific moment in time, one that would have sounded perhaps very different the day before or after.”

Combined with a strong use of effects and field recordings, 'The Dahlem Diaries' feels somewhat like a scene or fragment from a story, in which the narrative remains undefined. It is a playful album that is something of a blurred underwater adventure, sounding as bright as it is hazy, even psychedelic at times, yet with an almost melancholic positivity. In Philipp’s own words: “It could be an album about friendship and being at one with myself, whilst at the same time bringing a certain seriousness to my music, but not necessarily to myself; there is also a playful humour hidden in there. ”

Artwork by David McFarline.

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Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996-2003)’ is a new in-depth compilation of works by Japanese musician Dream Dolphin. Co-compiled by Eiji Taniguchi, it draws from a vast discography of music oscillating between IDM, Pop and Electronic Dance Music. First appearing on Eiji’s compilation ’Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996)’, this selection of rediscoveries, further shines a light on the singular musician known as Dream Dolphin and her place in Japan’s rich electronic music legacy.

Dream Dolphin was originally an Ambient and Electronic project by the Japanese artist referred to simply as Noriko, who moved from studying classic Italian songs as a child, to increasingly being inspired by artists such as PIL, Yellow Magic Orchestra, KLF and movies such as ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘Le Grand Bleu’. The music she released under the name Dream Dolphin, from the age of sixteen, is unique and versatile in style, encompassing Ambient, IDM, Techno, Trance and Drum & Bass, whilst fusing natural sounds with her own spoken word lyrics.

Dream Dolphin released an incredible twenty albums in just eight years. In addition to her own projects, she has also put together a number of fascinating compilations herself, as well as composing ambient music to be used in hospitals and other caring contexts. ‘Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996-2003)’ contains 15 tracks thoughtfully selected from various albums that until now were only released on CD format.

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Swiss based artist Androo, who previously released on MFM sub label Second Circle, returns with his debut LP 'Club Salon Theatre'.

Far from an album in traditional form, 'Club Salon Theatre' explores its potential as a musical collage of sound. Recorded during 2021 and the beginning of 2022, it is the result of Androo's desire to draw connections between diverse fragments of music and art.

Originally born out of the Dub sound-system scene in Geneva and with a continued love for the modal music of the likes of John and Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, Androo has long put improvisation at the center of his practice. His understanding of dub music as an integral part of the experimental music tradition, with ties to the school of Musique Concrète for instance, and with trap music as another vital ingredient, has as much to do with the form as with the method. With the studio as a laboratory for experimentation, Androo utilizes a variety of outboard instruments as well as working in-the-box, but it’s his classic “dub style” technique of mixing at the hardware console that leaves its quintessential mark throughout the whole record.

'Club Salon Theatre' is a rich patchwork of imagined scenes, emotive melodies, flying rhythms, harmonic changes, loose improvisations, with an almost romantic thread running through it. Like a collection of musical poems, gently arranged in what is sometimes sparse musical language. Far from a patchwork of scattered and disjointed inspirations, there is a real unity and singularity at work, resulting in a record which can be enjoyed as a collection of sonic poems, simultaneously nonchalant and earnest, sentimental and playful.

Full Tracklisting:
A0. Préface, Bonjour
A1. (shhhht) Introduction
A2. Wyatt revolt
A3. Or,
A4. Autonomia
A5. – Ah balbec!
A6. Obsessions. étoiles. neurones
A7. Giant steps (alternate take)
A8. Bcp de bruit pr rien (si jav sus)
A9. Pensées
A10. Equipments (guattarix mix)
A11. Clou, vis
A12. Moment’s notice (part 1)

B1. Moment’s notice (part 2)
B2. Judso Danc Theate
B3. Club géography
B4. Original J dub
B5. Djs, Argen, capital, plus-valuxe
B6. Subversion, seduction
B7. Histoires sans livres
B8. Tout ça
B9. UZI
B10. Outro (en finir avec les clubs)

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Welcoming North 90 to the M.A.D family, the couple DJ / Production duo from Liverpool make music we want to play. Euro Trash is a hot contented for tune of the summer!

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Tracklisting
A1 Xander - You Take Me (so far)
A2 Xander - Feeling
B1 Xander - The Underground

Sales Note
Xander makes his debut on Shall Not Fade sub-label Time Is Now with three 90s driven garage house anthems!

Feeling EP drops May 24th via Time Is Now.

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Being somewhat of a conceptual experiment. All the artists on this album were asked to imagine fusing Acid and House with the Virtualsex LP which was released on Buzz in 1993. A 303 sound would be welcomed but not essential with an emphasis on soulful emotion and melody.

Each record comes with a individual digital download code

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Detroit's Filthiest closes his past (private stock) present (prime cuts) and future (premium content) trilogy, celebrating 20 years of Motor City Electro Company's excellence together with Casa Voyager presenting his outstanding electro funk works.

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Tracklisting
A1 DJ Sommer - Darling I Pray
A2 DJ Sommer - All My Love
B1 DJ Sommer - Heartbeat
B2 DJ Sommer - So Happy



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Wonderful and utterly nuts home studio genius...with artwork to boot (includes printed inner sleeve). A gem. BIG TIP!

" A pop star who turned his back to show business to become an independent
artist, steered by the revolutionary ideas of his wife Jacqueline in
1960's France; these are the outlines of Henri Salvador's unusual
musical career. It made him into a star then led him to entirely
dissociate from the record industry, preferring to make music in his
living room with his guitars. At 50, Salvador starts experimenting with
synths and drum machine, multi-track recorders and altered voice
collages. He takes up editing and mixing, and solitarily makes songs for
young and old from his home in Paris' Place Vendôme.

"Unfortunately, it's not beautiful songs that make an amazing
career. These are songs that will exist after I die." (1969)

How can one even begin to tell the story of Salvador? Seventy years of
music, a thousand of creations of all styles. He has known each and
every genre and trend, appropriated some and invented yet new ones.
Sometimes associated to ye-ye singers, he's also known to have brought
rock to France (in 1956, with Boris Vian). Yet he's 26 years older
than Johnny Hallyday. He's 47 when _Zorro est arrivé_ is released in
1964... and 83 at the release of _Jardin d'hiver_. Seen with today's
eyes it's all very dizzying. You never know whether he's young or
old, or under which label to file him: jazzman, crooner, entertainer,
composer, guitar player, children song singer...

As a kid he picks up the guitar without any theoretical basics and
becomes so talented he plays with Django Reinhardt. He learns to sing
and compose on his own. The 30s are the years of his training; the 40s
of his emancipation within musical ensembles which are to see his
talents flourish. He finds his public and perfects his tricks: laughter
and seduction. In the 50s he rediscovers the songs of the islands where
he grew up, revisits jazz, swing, blues and sings for children. It's
the years of his unforgettable "sweet song", and his voice changes.
His cheeky humour makes way for a multifaceted talent, he fills up
venues, surrounds himself with serious lyricists and accumulates
classics: _Le blues du dentiste, Dans mon île,_ _Syracuse._

"My wife has come to understand me so well that she can now think in
my place. When she has an idea it's, so to speak, my own idea!"
(Télé Magazine, 1972)

Jacqueline shapes and emancipates him. When they marry in 1950, she's
a quiet and cultivated young lady who's to progressively take charge
of his career. She enforces her views and frantic pace. A spectator in
the world of show business, Jacqueline realises that the artists, left
out of professional conversations, often get cheated. Henri undoes the
chains binding him to Philps, Vogue, Barclay, his editor, his manager
and his impresario, and becomes independent. The Salvadors get to know
the inner workings of production, edition, record pressing, distribution
and promotion. They always have material to record a demo at hand. Their
apartment is full of recorders: one at the bed end for the guitar, yet
another in Henri's office for the Steinway. He's on all fronts; he
accumulates hits, invents, mocks, adapts, and produces.

Place Vendôme sees the birth of the label Rigolo. Why Rigolo (French
for "funny")? "Because it's funny", he used to answer.
Homemade clips are broadcasted in TV shows they self-produce: Salves
d'Or (a play on words sounding like "Salvador" meaning "bursts
of gold") and Dimanche Salvador. Their approach turns out to be
profitable. The Salvador couple enters the 70s with confidence.

At times, Henri takes out the cabriolet along with his colporteurs on
record shop tours. Meanwhile Jacqueline is a formidable businesswoman.
Disney threatens to sue the singer over his use of the name Zorro: she
turns the situation to her advantage and cashes in on a Disney-Salvador
contract. The decade will see them release five records: _Les
Aristochats ("The Aristocats")_, _Blanche-Neige ("Snow White")_,
_Le petit Poucet ("Hop-o'-My-Thumb")_, _Robin des Bois ("Robin
Hood")_ and _Pinocchio_. Ever reinventing themselves, the Salvadors
intend to do without studios, engineers, producers and musicians
altogether.
"I started working with just a tiny recorder. Now I've gotten to
sixteen tracks. I have electronic drums and my instruments. I can give
the impression of a full orchestra. It's amazing, I have as many
musicians as I want at my disposal, at whichever time of day and
night" (1972)

They install a high-end recording studio in their living room they
nickname the PAM – referring to the name of their company, Productions
Artistiques et Musicales. Louis Chedid remembers, "there was a huge
mixer, custom made I believe, a 3M tape recorder. They must have had the
very first drum machines, the ones that accompanied organs for example,
inspired by the Ace Tone; they came with pre-recorded beats like 'samba'
or 'biguine' [pressing two keys simultaneously you could combine them].
Plus there were quite a few guitars. What I do remember very well is his
guitar playing. He was seen as an entertainer but, really, he was a
virtuoso."

Using his mixer and reels, Henri endlessly multiplies and harmonises his
voice. Everything is done hastily though with care. He plays around with
the offbeat sounds of the synths, has a blast with the drum machines. He
uses all of the pre-recorded beats, loops the "fillers" to generate
more beats, fiddles with the speeds, programs his own, sometimes goofy
rhythms. This creative shift changes his musical groove. Salvador
invented a mechanical jazz for himself, one that gathered its swing from
the guitars and its energy from the vocals. He worked around his
weakness on the bass with his strings and Moog keyboard. To get his
public used to this new style, the PAM first produces a few singles'
B-sides – _On n'est plus chez nous_, which recounts the story of two
scat-men interrupted by a passerby looking for Place de l'Opéra in
Paris. Then an A-side: _Ah ce qu'on est bien quand on est dans son
bain_, (which could be translated as "Oh how nice it feels to
bathe"), which was recorded straight from the bathroom and became
1970's Christmas hit. And finally the first self-released album: _Les
Aristochats_, rewarded by the Charles Cros Academy in 1971. Many things
are in Jacqueline's hands: the lead, the books, and even the keys of
the studio: at times Henri would get locked in to compose, let out only
to work on his TV shows.

Under his contract with Disney, he's required to produce
family-friendly records. Along with his authors he creates songs about
Uncle Scrooge, Sneezy and Mickey. He combines them to other, very
peculiar, pieces: _Les voisins_ ("The neighbours"), an old hater
complains about the noise; _Petit Lapin_ ("Little Bunny"), a city
man advises a rodent not to settle in town; _Voilactus_, (from "voie
lactée", French for the Milky Way) an alien mocks our banking system;
_J'ai envie de Lucie_, in which the narrator explains how he's
always longing for Lucie; _Maman Papa_, a spoiler for kids on how to
hate theirs parents later on in life; but also _Le temps des cons
_("The time of the jerks"), a harsh commentary on French society.
"I make kids laugh. I love to belong to this audience, the most
righteous and the most severe. If they like you, they tell you; if they
don't like you, they tell you, too." (Télé-Star, 1977)

These LPs are also full of tender songs, dance floor baits and
environmentalist vignettes - a hodgepodge less well regarded than his
sixties period. And yet it's a boisterous collection of gems, with a
peculiar signature and many fresh ideas. _Siffler en travaillant_
("Whistle While You Work") is a brilliant reinterpretation of one of
_Snow White_'s theme song, which a young Salvador had already
performed with Ray Ventura's Orchestra in the 40s; _Hello Mickey_, a
catchy, spirited ska_; J'aime tes g'noux_, a great cover of Shirly
and Co's _Shame shame shame_; on _Un jour mon prince viendra_, he
makes a beat borrowed from Suicide and a Les Paul solo collide.

Meanwhile Rigolo also releases less family-oriented singles. After all,
Salvador's in for a bit of fun. He takes up eroticism, the financial
crisis, and the negotiations between the US and Vietnam. He writes some
luminous ballads such as _Marjorie_ and catchy classics like _Pauvre
Jésus Christ_. Some tracks are the result of unbridled experimentation,
like _Sex Man_ – particularly innovative – or _Et des mandolines_,
an ode to cool eyeing on the side of Lucio Battisti. He makes the score
of a messy film, _L'explosion_. The soundtrack was only released in
Canada though it's full of wonderful material like _Thème du bateau_
or the depressing though dazzling _Le bilan_, written by his friend, the
drummer Moustache.

Should he have kept recording in his living room beyond 1975, where
would have Salvador ended up? Would he have been found to be one of the
pioneers of rap or techno? In 1975 Jacqueline is diagnosed with a
cancer. As she manages, decides and initiates everything, Rigolo starts
idling. The year's only release, _Pinocchio_, is finished in a rush
and poorly distributed. The Salvadors accumulate medical consultations
but the following year Jacqueline passes away. It's the end of an era,
the end of the home studio. Weary and beat, Henri doesn't feel like
playing in his empty house anymore. He lets all of their projects die
out: the TV show, the label, the musical editions, the PAM. It's a
free-for-all; the labels and editors scramble at his door. He's robbed
and pressed for more Disney albums. _Peter Pan_ is on the way, _Bernard
et Bianca_ ("The Rescuers") and _Mary Poppins_ should be next, but
nothing comes out. His old impresario Marouani helps him back on his
feet and takes him to the other side of the globe to drown his sorrows.
Henri had never gotten on a plane before.
"He's my man, my child, my baby and my islands' memories. I'm
his shadow and alter ego. I live for him." (Jacqueline Salvador, 1973)

Back in line, he records _Salvador 77_ with a handful of producers. He
slips in two oldies from his home-studio period: _Rock star_, a Johnny
Hallyday parody made for their TV show at the time and _L'amour, va,
ça va_, made in his crooner style. The latter is an outsider with its
sloppy arrangements. The synth is so saturated on the record it seems
the speakers might just blow up. In 1978, for RCA still, he records _On
l'a dans l'baba_ in the studio. It resembles a typical electronic
track with a Vocoder – the beat though doesn't emanate from a drum
machine but from a flesh-and-blood drummer. Here again however the irony
didn't bother Salvador. And neither us – we included the song as the
closing-track of our compilation.

In 1980, he handwrites _"Si vous ne l'aimez pas, allez vous faire
foutre"_ (literally, _"If you don't like it, go fuck
yourselves"_) on the sleeve of his latest album. We'll never know
whether it was meant for the journalists or his label. He records the
same hits again, releases dull singles. All the same, he remains a great
performer who can get the whole of Paris dancing, as well as a champion
for the youth (_Emilie Jolie, La petite sirène_). The 90s may prove to
be artistically poor, they are emotionally rich for Salvador: he meets
his last wife, Catherine. Lifted and lit up once again, he makes his
comeback in the 2000s with _Chambre avec vue_.
"In the 60s, the artists were getting ripped off with ridiculous
rates. In the 80s, the lawyers got involved. The economy changed and
non-recoverable advance payments emerged. Labels started financing
artists so they wouldn't end up doing like Salvador did." (Louis
Chedid)

Together with Jacqueline, Henri Salvador should've set an example for
other artists: one of independence against an unfair and unyielding
system. An inspiration not to end up enslaved by contracts signed too
early, or to feed a bunch of comatose owners clenching onto millions of
publishing rights. Be glad, music-consumer friends: tonight a pen-pusher
will offer himself an entrecote thanks to the money you kindly invested
in this compilation. Happy listening.

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3 classic and rare chicago cuts plus another recent, searched after house anthem.

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