1
GAÉG - Bonne M
2
GAÉG - Merpa
3
GAÉG - Hi-Land
Optimo Music excitedly unleashes Japan’s G?G and their Anarcho Disco volumes 1 & 2 into the world. We thought we were done with 12” single release, at least for now, but then these tracks showed up and it was instantly obviously ESSENTIAL that they get pressed up on big fat twelve inch singles. Every single track here has been tried and tested and caused delirious delight on the dancefloor over the last year. Now it is time to share them with YOU! Truly Anarchic, Psychedelic dance music for the open-minded and genre-free crews.
G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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
G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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
More records from GAÉG
1
GAEG - Pepperland
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
More records from Optimo Music
1
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Fountain
2
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Blue Fusion
3
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Brother
4
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Crazy Pa Pa
Optimo Music excitedly unleashes Japan’s G?G and their Anarcho Disco volumes 1 & 2 into the world. We thought we were done with 12” single release, at least for now, but then these tracks showed up and it was instantly obviously ESSENTIAL that they get pressed up on big fat twelve inch singles. Every single track here has been tried and tested and caused delirious delight on the dancefloor over the last year. Now it is time to share them with YOU! Truly Anarchic, Psychedelic dance music for the open-minded and genre-free crews.
G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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
G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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
1
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Dark Blue Trees
2
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Spiral Jetty
3
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Cold Stars
4
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Hireath
5
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Left Home
6
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Below Mono
7
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - Fogou
8
Open Yellow Circle / O Yuki Conjugate - The Chasmic
In 1994, UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate recorded their landmark Equator album. To mark the 30th anniversary of this musical milestone, many of the same personnel – Roger Horberry (co-founder of O Yuki Conjugate), Dan Mudford (ex-Sons of Silence and co-creator of the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack), Joe Lamb (ex-Sons of Silence) and Malcolm McGeorge – came together to make New Meridian, reflecting the range of influences they’ve picked up over the intervening years.
Generously described as “almost like normal music”, the eight tracks of New Meridian feature instrumentation ranging from classic analogue to actual wooden logs. The result takes you on a rain-drenched, open-top ride from Electronica Avenue to the drone caverns of Uranus, with various Fourth World ambi-dub diversions along the way. File under: duress.
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
Generously described as “almost like normal music”, the eight tracks of New Meridian feature instrumentation ranging from classic analogue to actual wooden logs. The result takes you on a rain-drenched, open-top ride from Electronica Avenue to the drone caverns of Uranus, with various Fourth World ambi-dub diversions along the way. File under: duress.
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
1
Blotter Trax - Tramp
2
Blotter Trax - Machine Sky
3
Blotter Trax - Level Control
4
Blotter Trax - Super Conductor
5
Blotter Trax - Octopii
6
Blotter Trax - Dictation
7
Blotter Trax - Beets
8
Blotter Trax - Circus In My Head
9
Blotter Trax - Steppin' Through
10
Blotter Trax - Muscle Relaxer
11
Blotter Trax - Sleeping Through The Day
Back in 2018, two mysterious twelve-inch singles appeared in underground record sthops. Credited to Blotter Trax, a previously unknown outfit who cherished “faceless” anonymity, the pleasingly twisted and mind-altering music on show was a mutant form of electronic psychedelia. The included tracks were variously informed by analogue techno, acid, electro and minimal, but inhabited their own clandestine sonic space. These tracks were, we later discovered, lightly edited “straight to tape” jams, crafted on the fly by their creators in one of Berlin’s most admired studios.
By the time Blotter Trax delivered their follow-up on Clone offshoot Frustrated Funk a year later, the secret was out: the project was in fact a collaboration between two storied artists, techno titan Magda – a DJ/producer who should need little introduction – and serial underground aggravator (and man of many aliases) Jay Ahern, sometime Hauntologists member and acid techno royalty thanks to years spent releasing similarly shadowy EPs as T.B Arthur.
In the years that followed, and before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded them in Berlin, the pair took their incendiary, modular-driven live show to esteemed clubland institutions (Fabric included), on an acclaimed tour of Japan, and onto the stages of festivals across Europe.
Four years on from that appearance on Frustrated Funk, Blotter Trax are back in updated and expanded form. Now a trio thanks to the addition of bassist Hannes Strobl, the band is set to release their far-sighted, funk-fuelled debut album, Super Conductor – a pulsating, thrill-in-minute ride includes contributions from a swathe of notable guests (Nina Hynes, Ilhem Khodja and David Moss provided vocals, Shigeru Tanabu played guitar, Matthew Styles mixed the set and old friend John Tejada mastered it).
While rooted in electro and acid, the album is impressively low-slung, stylish and funky, with nods towards Blotter Trax’s mutual love of Arthur Russell, early ‘80s NYC downtown disco, leftfield new-wave pop and flash-fried punk-funk. Released by JD Twitch’s Optimo Music imprint, it charts the ongoing dancefloor evolution of a band whose days of mystery and mischief are now a distant memory.
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
By the time Blotter Trax delivered their follow-up on Clone offshoot Frustrated Funk a year later, the secret was out: the project was in fact a collaboration between two storied artists, techno titan Magda – a DJ/producer who should need little introduction – and serial underground aggravator (and man of many aliases) Jay Ahern, sometime Hauntologists member and acid techno royalty thanks to years spent releasing similarly shadowy EPs as T.B Arthur.
In the years that followed, and before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded them in Berlin, the pair took their incendiary, modular-driven live show to esteemed clubland institutions (Fabric included), on an acclaimed tour of Japan, and onto the stages of festivals across Europe.
Four years on from that appearance on Frustrated Funk, Blotter Trax are back in updated and expanded form. Now a trio thanks to the addition of bassist Hannes Strobl, the band is set to release their far-sighted, funk-fuelled debut album, Super Conductor – a pulsating, thrill-in-minute ride includes contributions from a swathe of notable guests (Nina Hynes, Ilhem Khodja and David Moss provided vocals, Shigeru Tanabu played guitar, Matthew Styles mixed the set and old friend John Tejada mastered it).
While rooted in electro and acid, the album is impressively low-slung, stylish and funky, with nods towards Blotter Trax’s mutual love of Arthur Russell, early ‘80s NYC downtown disco, leftfield new-wave pop and flash-fried punk-funk. Released by JD Twitch’s Optimo Music imprint, it charts the ongoing dancefloor evolution of a band whose days of mystery and mischief are now a distant memory.
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
1
Kaukolampi - Inside the Sphere
2
Kaukolampi - VCS3
3
Kaukolampi - /n?'stald??/
4
Kaukolampi - Ee-Nni-Aa-Ssa
5
Kaukolampi - The Mask of Sanity
6
Kaukolampi - Chrystal Desert
Timo Kaukolampi, frontman for Finnish electronic rock group K-X-P and tireless sonic wanderer, is releasing his second solo album, this time on Optimo Music. Exquisitely rendered, shadowy, curiously claustrophobic and even occasionally paranoid, Inside The Sphere is an album wholly deserving of its name.
A sense of paranoia is one of the threads through this glittering, winking electronic maze. Kaukolampi says “I came up with this metaphysical concept of the “sphere”. When you are manipulated you are ‘Inside The Sphere’. It’s like this dome of ‘undue influence’ that you don’t know exists around you. It’s a bit like the inside of a cult.”
Indeed, it’s amazing the effects achieved with a few sparse electronic textures, the odd smattering of studio trickery, and two or three well-placed synthesizer parts. Though the result might sound ostensibly simplistic, Inside The Sphere is an album of reduction rather than addition. The rhythmic and textural scaffolding is based around what’s not there, rather than what is. Take ‘VCS3’. At first listen, it seems forged from a few synth lines and a simple percussion part – so far, so simple. But listen closer, enter the sphere, look behind the mask – notice the slightly detuned drones, the chattering percussive textures, that distant swell of bass, the way the central fugue shifts and mutates somehow statically, like a barber’s pole.
Might we be listening to an album within an album, a more complex song cycle hiding within the folds of an ambient electronic album? This ties in with another of Kaukolampi’s thematic frameworks – that of the mask. He references Oscar Wilde’s quotation that “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
Inside The Sphere is not a one-note album. For every moment where a clammy ambient space enters, a buttery analogue bassline is there to fill it. This clash seems to be the album’s engine room, its power supply.
Timo references devotional and choir music as an influence on this album. The paranoia and foreboding is tempered by these headier aspects. Kaukolampi mentions “empty and hollow spaces” in relation to several of the songs. Perhaps this is the very space behind the mask, where outward disguise merges with inner reality. Perhaps inside the sphere is not always such a bad place to be.
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
A sense of paranoia is one of the threads through this glittering, winking electronic maze. Kaukolampi says “I came up with this metaphysical concept of the “sphere”. When you are manipulated you are ‘Inside The Sphere’. It’s like this dome of ‘undue influence’ that you don’t know exists around you. It’s a bit like the inside of a cult.”
Indeed, it’s amazing the effects achieved with a few sparse electronic textures, the odd smattering of studio trickery, and two or three well-placed synthesizer parts. Though the result might sound ostensibly simplistic, Inside The Sphere is an album of reduction rather than addition. The rhythmic and textural scaffolding is based around what’s not there, rather than what is. Take ‘VCS3’. At first listen, it seems forged from a few synth lines and a simple percussion part – so far, so simple. But listen closer, enter the sphere, look behind the mask – notice the slightly detuned drones, the chattering percussive textures, that distant swell of bass, the way the central fugue shifts and mutates somehow statically, like a barber’s pole.
Might we be listening to an album within an album, a more complex song cycle hiding within the folds of an ambient electronic album? This ties in with another of Kaukolampi’s thematic frameworks – that of the mask. He references Oscar Wilde’s quotation that “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
Inside The Sphere is not a one-note album. For every moment where a clammy ambient space enters, a buttery analogue bassline is there to fill it. This clash seems to be the album’s engine room, its power supply.
Timo references devotional and choir music as an influence on this album. The paranoia and foreboding is tempered by these headier aspects. Kaukolampi mentions “empty and hollow spaces” in relation to several of the songs. Perhaps this is the very space behind the mask, where outward disguise merges with inner reality. Perhaps inside the sphere is not always such a bad place to be.
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
1
Various Artists - Can't Cheat Karma
2
Various Artists - Girl on the Run
3
Various Artists - Bloody Revolutions
4
Various Artists - Hello Horror
5
Various Artists - Tube Disasters
6
Various Artists - Death is Big Business
7
Various Artists - Underbitch
8
Various Artists - Anti-Christ
9
Various Artists - Rub Me Out
10
Various Artists - Mob Violence (unreleased studio version)
11
Various Artists - We're Looking for People
12
Various Artists - Here's What You Find in Any Prison
13
Various Artists - Idolisation
14
Various Artists - The Force is Blind
15
Various Artists - Revolution
16
Various Artists - Aye Carmela
17
Various Artists - Conscious (Pilot)
18
Various Artists - No Doves Fly Here (unreleased studio version)
Anarcho Punk was the one sub-genre of Punk that emerged in isolation from the rock & roll establishment. During its pioneering days of the early 1980s it thrived in opposition to the music industry, existing as a fiercely underground alternative to the bands, labels and venues of the commercialised mainstream Punk scene. It continues to do so. Anarcho Punk represented one of the last truly underground and autonomous music movements ever witnessed and remains a movement that has never sold out and has never gone away.
The major differentiation between the Anarcho Punk acts and the more traditional Punk outfits was that for the former, albeit often more due to musical limitation than intent, the message was more important than the music. Standard song structures were often dispersed with in favour of a relentless lyrical polemic accompanied by a similarly uncompromising aural assault. As the scene grew, so did the diversity of records that emerged under the Anarcho Punk umbrella: from D & V (drums & vocals) to the proto-EBM synth-pop of Belfast’s one-man Hit Parade and the Dadaist Beefheart hybrid of The Cravats. In later days the two biggest acts of the scene, Flux of Pink Indians and Crass themselves, both released LPs which had more in common with improv Jazz than hardcore punk.
The resounding victory of Anarcho Punk is that it is now a the unifying soundtrack to a culture of resistance that spans Scotland to Indonesia and remains without compromise. It is still as removed from mainstream music and oppositional to conventional culture as it was over forty years ago and shows no sign of changing. Quite the opposite: the more popular Anarcho Punk becomes the less it has to engage with the music establishment and the more control it can enjoy. In 2023, that message remains as uncompromising as ever.
This is a double vinyl retrospective compilation of some of the most radical music ever made, a musical force that changed lives. Covering the years 1979 - 86 and including classic tracks from Crass, Poison Girls, Flux Of Pink Indians, The Mob, Zounds, Annie Anxiety, The Ex, ATV plus 10 more, all newly remastered by iconic Punk mastering engineer Daniel Husayn. It has been lovingly compiled by JD Twitch and Anarcho legend Chris Low and was ten years in the making. There are also a couple of previously unreleased mixes included. It comes as a high quality double vinyl pressing, and has a full colour sleeve with back and front images designed by the legendary Gee Vaucher. It also comes with a 6 page fold out poster on one side with detailed sleeve notes, recollections and essays on the other side.
The compilation is a fundraiser for Faslane Peace Camp. Not so far from Glasgow Faslane Naval Base is home to Britain's abhorrent Trident nuclear missiles. The camp has been there, protesting since 1982 and is still active to this day. We hope in our lifetime we will see those missiles leave Scottish soil. We have so much respect for those who have dedicated their lives to protesting these weapons and it seemed an obvious choice that the proceeds from this release should go to help them, and the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
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
The major differentiation between the Anarcho Punk acts and the more traditional Punk outfits was that for the former, albeit often more due to musical limitation than intent, the message was more important than the music. Standard song structures were often dispersed with in favour of a relentless lyrical polemic accompanied by a similarly uncompromising aural assault. As the scene grew, so did the diversity of records that emerged under the Anarcho Punk umbrella: from D & V (drums & vocals) to the proto-EBM synth-pop of Belfast’s one-man Hit Parade and the Dadaist Beefheart hybrid of The Cravats. In later days the two biggest acts of the scene, Flux of Pink Indians and Crass themselves, both released LPs which had more in common with improv Jazz than hardcore punk.
The resounding victory of Anarcho Punk is that it is now a the unifying soundtrack to a culture of resistance that spans Scotland to Indonesia and remains without compromise. It is still as removed from mainstream music and oppositional to conventional culture as it was over forty years ago and shows no sign of changing. Quite the opposite: the more popular Anarcho Punk becomes the less it has to engage with the music establishment and the more control it can enjoy. In 2023, that message remains as uncompromising as ever.
This is a double vinyl retrospective compilation of some of the most radical music ever made, a musical force that changed lives. Covering the years 1979 - 86 and including classic tracks from Crass, Poison Girls, Flux Of Pink Indians, The Mob, Zounds, Annie Anxiety, The Ex, ATV plus 10 more, all newly remastered by iconic Punk mastering engineer Daniel Husayn. It has been lovingly compiled by JD Twitch and Anarcho legend Chris Low and was ten years in the making. There are also a couple of previously unreleased mixes included. It comes as a high quality double vinyl pressing, and has a full colour sleeve with back and front images designed by the legendary Gee Vaucher. It also comes with a 6 page fold out poster on one side with detailed sleeve notes, recollections and essays on the other side.
The compilation is a fundraiser for Faslane Peace Camp. Not so far from Glasgow Faslane Naval Base is home to Britain's abhorrent Trident nuclear missiles. The camp has been there, protesting since 1982 and is still active to this day. We hope in our lifetime we will see those missiles leave Scottish soil. We have so much respect for those who have dedicated their lives to protesting these weapons and it seemed an obvious choice that the proceeds from this release should go to help them, and the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
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
1
De Ambassade - Verderfelijke
2
De Ambassade - De Elitetheorie
3
De Ambassade - Brand in De Straten
4
De Ambassade - Bag of Gold (Words by John Cage)
5
De Ambassade - Oh Light, Oh Flame
6
De Ambassade - Commando
7
De Ambassade - Later Met Je Beste Zelf feat. Eelco Couvreur
8
De Ambassade - Verwijder Jezelf
9
De Ambassade - De Dwaas
10
De Ambassade - The Valley
11
De Ambassade - Hé Romy
12
De Ambassade - Vlees Bloed
13
De Ambassade - De Zon Voor Altijd Rood
Ambassade’s 2019 ‘Duistre Kamers’ album was a huge favourite here at Optimo Music towers so we jumped at the chance to release the follow up; ‘The Fool’.
Following hot in the heels of the acclaimed ‘Young Birds / Palette’ 12” on Optimo Music, ‘The Fool’ is destined to be another Cold Wave, Synth, New Industrial, Experimental …whatever you want to call it …classic. We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the album – Born from several years of research and contemplation on the human mind ‘The Fool’ can be understood as a reflection to the dark energies – natural, political, human and otherwise – that are released when it comes to religion, greed and power.
Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimise their power. We were also inspired by wanting to examine what negative impact religion can have from the fact that it’s always dominated by men.
This was pursued by exploring a wide range of diverse and unusual types of instruments that took on a new approach of tonal expression, with the use of detuned choral and voice samples, droned tape loops and DIY metal and found percussion. It’s from these diverse sources that the process of creativity keeps persistently mutating. This process was focused through the enigmatic electronic and percussion composition from the band which alternates between foreground and background for the haunting vocal performances.
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
Following hot in the heels of the acclaimed ‘Young Birds / Palette’ 12” on Optimo Music, ‘The Fool’ is destined to be another Cold Wave, Synth, New Industrial, Experimental …whatever you want to call it …classic. We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the album – Born from several years of research and contemplation on the human mind ‘The Fool’ can be understood as a reflection to the dark energies – natural, political, human and otherwise – that are released when it comes to religion, greed and power.
Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimise their power. We were also inspired by wanting to examine what negative impact religion can have from the fact that it’s always dominated by men.
This was pursued by exploring a wide range of diverse and unusual types of instruments that took on a new approach of tonal expression, with the use of detuned choral and voice samples, droned tape loops and DIY metal and found percussion. It’s from these diverse sources that the process of creativity keeps persistently mutating. This process was focused through the enigmatic electronic and percussion composition from the band which alternates between foreground and background for the haunting vocal performances.
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
1
Pleasure Pool - Pure Touch
2
Pleasure Pool - Love Without Illusion
3
Pleasure Pool - Sell Your Stuff (Dub)
4
Pleasure Pool - Zero Hours
5
Pleasure Pool - Modern Nature
6
Pleasure Pool - Open Hours
7
Pleasure Pool - Ask Your Body
8
Pleasure Pool - Lick the Bag
Pleasure Pool are Finn O’Hare, Andrew Robertson and a rolling cast of Glasgow-based musicians, performers and artists. They sound like nothing else to have come out of Glasgow recently, exploring the territory between live performance and club culture through their collaborative ethos and party-starting attitude. Their debut EP, Night Scars, arrived in early March 2020 and now comes Love Without Illusion, Pleasure Pool’s debut album, released on Optimo Music.
Love Without Illusion adds layers of complexity and introspection to Night Scars’ squarely dance floor-focused brew, though the record still oozes danceable energy. Open Hours is like opening a door and finding a party already in full swing, an assortment of recurring Pleasure Pool motifs – echoing, dubbed-out vocals, gorgeous, impossibly airy synth melodies, louche percussion, cowbells, rising and falling flecks of trumpet – all introduced in short order. Lick The Bag, which prominently features vocalists Chloe Charlton and Raissa Pardini, has a controlled chaos befitting its morning-after-the-night-before name.
The rest of the album rides this glimmering, night-magic mood at varying frequencies, with the title track a gentle storm of grandiose walls of synth and pulsing vocal fragments. The slow and low flickering funk of album closer Zero Hours pulls all that has come before it together to end things in the woozy bliss of a walk back home in warm, gentle sunlight.
Love Without Illusion is a dazzlingly complete expression of Pleasure Pool’s intoxicating sound and vision. Dive on in and explore.
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
Love Without Illusion adds layers of complexity and introspection to Night Scars’ squarely dance floor-focused brew, though the record still oozes danceable energy. Open Hours is like opening a door and finding a party already in full swing, an assortment of recurring Pleasure Pool motifs – echoing, dubbed-out vocals, gorgeous, impossibly airy synth melodies, louche percussion, cowbells, rising and falling flecks of trumpet – all introduced in short order. Lick The Bag, which prominently features vocalists Chloe Charlton and Raissa Pardini, has a controlled chaos befitting its morning-after-the-night-before name.
The rest of the album rides this glimmering, night-magic mood at varying frequencies, with the title track a gentle storm of grandiose walls of synth and pulsing vocal fragments. The slow and low flickering funk of album closer Zero Hours pulls all that has come before it together to end things in the woozy bliss of a walk back home in warm, gentle sunlight.
Love Without Illusion is a dazzlingly complete expression of Pleasure Pool’s intoxicating sound and vision. Dive on in and explore.
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
1
De Ambassade - Palette
2
De Ambassade - Young Birds
The Netherland’s De Ambassade have dropped the ‘De’ and are now known as Ambassade. Optimo Music is extremely happy to be working with them and will be releasing their second album in 2023. Ahead of that is this glorious 2 track 12” featuring music that took our breath away when we first heard it. Both tracks are exclusive to this release. We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the tracks… “These 2 songs were born after a collaboration with Naama Freedman. She’s an artist from Amsterdam and former member of Ambassade. She brought a couple sketches to the studio and we came out with these 2 songs. The lyrics on ‘Young Birds’ come from an old traditional English folk song from around 1903. It has been re-arranged a couple times throughout the years by multiple artists. The song reflects our development in sound and arrangement with extended synthesiser parts, less conventional song-writing. Also, us singing in English is a new path. The pulsing song ‘Palette’ is a perfect combination of sequence and extended legato vocal parts. It creates a tense atmosphere which builds up to the very end.”
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
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
1
Isa Gordon - Second Love
2
Isa Gordon - A Coin In The Bush
3
Isa Gordon - Joanna Picollo
4
Isa Gordon - Isolee With Sarah
5
Isa Gordon - Stride Breaker
6
Isa Gordon - Three Airs
7
Isa Gordon - Blue Fire
8
Isa Gordon - For You Only
9
Isa Gordon - Definitely Defy
10
Isa Gordon - Stranger Than Disguise
11
Isa Gordon - Lament Crescent
12
Isa Gordon - Parting Game
When Isa Gordon sent the demo of this album to me I knew I wanted to release it before I had got half way through it. I had previously released her super good Resili collaborative project but I wasn’t quite prepared for how good this was going to be. Isa is patently a once in a blue moon talent and I feel honoured to help get her unique, visionary sounds out into the world. This is next level programming & sound design but always with soul, and musicality. Sui generis.
Isa says
“For you only came about in the lockdown winter in 2020. I started seeing a lot of beats and motifs that I’d been working on working together as a collection and spent a few months compiling, completing, mixing and weaving together the tracks into a coherent album.
It was many nights tucked away entering the wormholes of making music and trying to honour the emotion contained in each song by expanding the sentiments within them into complete pieces, chasing down the journey in each one.
It was a very personal, solitary exploration of how I interpret and compose instrumentals, with the rare global situation inhibiting outsider contact and influence. I include a mix of tempos, styles and freely combine digital and live instruments in order to serve whatever intention or feeling needs to be heard”.
Isa is an Ayrshire bred, Glasgow based producer and singer. Impressed upon by myriad styles; Singing folk music since a youngster, Playing guitar since a teen, Producing electronic music thereafter. Now freely cherry-picking whatever sounds, instruments, words and methods serve the feeling. Exploring solitary beat making as Isa Gordon and Singing and writing heartfelt lyrical ditties with her band Fantasy Land.
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Isa says
“For you only came about in the lockdown winter in 2020. I started seeing a lot of beats and motifs that I’d been working on working together as a collection and spent a few months compiling, completing, mixing and weaving together the tracks into a coherent album.
It was many nights tucked away entering the wormholes of making music and trying to honour the emotion contained in each song by expanding the sentiments within them into complete pieces, chasing down the journey in each one.
It was a very personal, solitary exploration of how I interpret and compose instrumentals, with the rare global situation inhibiting outsider contact and influence. I include a mix of tempos, styles and freely combine digital and live instruments in order to serve whatever intention or feeling needs to be heard”.
Isa is an Ayrshire bred, Glasgow based producer and singer. Impressed upon by myriad styles; Singing folk music since a youngster, Playing guitar since a teen, Producing electronic music thereafter. Now freely cherry-picking whatever sounds, instruments, words and methods serve the feeling. Exploring solitary beat making as Isa Gordon and Singing and writing heartfelt lyrical ditties with her band Fantasy Land.
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Germany
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1
INIT - Holes In My CV
2
INIT - Time
3
INIT - Snowglobe
4
INIT - NRGY
5
INIT - Module
6
INIT - N.O.D.
INIT is Benedikt Frey & Nadia D`Alo. We are delighted to present their long delayed vinyl and digital album, NRGY.
Born out of various art performances and installations, INIT states a logical outcome of Berlin based duo Nadia D`Alo and Benedikt Frey. With heavy use of analogue synthesis and drum-machines, INIT rethinks its genre's sonic approach, unfolding a unique and organic, yet alienating sound, somewhere in the mysterious midst of Acid, Techno, Ambient and Kraut-Rock.
This is INIT's third album, following two releases on Hivern Discs, and performances at clubs such as Berghain, Robert Johnson and Pudel Club.
INIT say -
Module, NRGY, and Time were reverse extracted out of our live set and re-recorded and re-arranged after we realised how well they work in clubs. It is the first time we worked this way as we tend not to play our compositions live, like we produced them. Mostly we just extract loops out of our production to mess around with in a loose live project.
Snowglobe, Holes In My CV and N.O.D. were more built up from a studio jam plus a bulletproof-ish arrangement afterwards.
Tried and tested on dance floors this is a surefire hit album on the dancefloor, and at home. NRGY!
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Born out of various art performances and installations, INIT states a logical outcome of Berlin based duo Nadia D`Alo and Benedikt Frey. With heavy use of analogue synthesis and drum-machines, INIT rethinks its genre's sonic approach, unfolding a unique and organic, yet alienating sound, somewhere in the mysterious midst of Acid, Techno, Ambient and Kraut-Rock.
This is INIT's third album, following two releases on Hivern Discs, and performances at clubs such as Berghain, Robert Johnson and Pudel Club.
INIT say -
Module, NRGY, and Time were reverse extracted out of our live set and re-recorded and re-arranged after we realised how well they work in clubs. It is the first time we worked this way as we tend not to play our compositions live, like we produced them. Mostly we just extract loops out of our production to mess around with in a loose live project.
Snowglobe, Holes In My CV and N.O.D. were more built up from a studio jam plus a bulletproof-ish arrangement afterwards.
Tried and tested on dance floors this is a surefire hit album on the dancefloor, and at home. NRGY!
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1
Rudolf Abramov - Cold Feet
2
Rudolf Abramov - Agent Kink
3
Rudolf Abramov - Fragments Of A Marching Stone
4
Rudolf Abramov - Lazy Soldier
5
Rudolf Abramov - All Diving Lucid Blue
Rudolf Abramov hit all Optimo Music's buttons at once. Drums, energy, songs, instrumentals, super production, Post Punk echoing, dance floor destroying, home listening friendly, and completely unique.
Who are they and what are they about? Read on...
Rudolf Abramov is a duo based in Berlin. They seem to open a door to unexpected musical encounters. It's an almost impossible task to sum up their sound in a comprehensible way, but in their own words their music is 'a response to a seemingly endless conflict about disgust, acceptance and love.' Since the duo likes to invite other musicians and fellow humans to add to their pieces, this often creates another layer to their unexpected musical encounters.
"Losing Perspective" is the result of a journey that began with a week-long recording session outside the city. Back in Berlin the skeletons of the track gradually grew in flesh, experience and emotion, describing this time in a vibrant and ever-changing city; a city where the faded colours sometimes seem more appealing than the unifying glow of the new.
In order to preserve for ourselves the conflicting colours in their fantastic disharmony, we have therefore watched the pieces change rather than moving them in a particular direction. The result is a number of tracks with different facets that derive from different moods and voices, indulging in diversity.
At the end of this process, we look back at this colourful collage and connect our own very personal history with it and both resolve in harmony. When asking the cat from our studio’s courtyard for example, she said that "Losing Perspective" was about stray tomcats who have lost their old home port to a newfangled establishment wandering randomly through the days in search of songbirds, distraction and rest. And we feel like she kinda has a point there.
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Germany
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Who are they and what are they about? Read on...
Rudolf Abramov is a duo based in Berlin. They seem to open a door to unexpected musical encounters. It's an almost impossible task to sum up their sound in a comprehensible way, but in their own words their music is 'a response to a seemingly endless conflict about disgust, acceptance and love.' Since the duo likes to invite other musicians and fellow humans to add to their pieces, this often creates another layer to their unexpected musical encounters.
"Losing Perspective" is the result of a journey that began with a week-long recording session outside the city. Back in Berlin the skeletons of the track gradually grew in flesh, experience and emotion, describing this time in a vibrant and ever-changing city; a city where the faded colours sometimes seem more appealing than the unifying glow of the new.
In order to preserve for ourselves the conflicting colours in their fantastic disharmony, we have therefore watched the pieces change rather than moving them in a particular direction. The result is a number of tracks with different facets that derive from different moods and voices, indulging in diversity.
At the end of this process, we look back at this colourful collage and connect our own very personal history with it and both resolve in harmony. When asking the cat from our studio’s courtyard for example, she said that "Losing Perspective" was about stray tomcats who have lost their old home port to a newfangled establishment wandering randomly through the days in search of songbirds, distraction and rest. And we feel like she kinda has a point there.
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - Black Cat In A Black Room
2
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - A Man Without Purpose Feat. Andreas Røysum
3
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - Hab Mich Lieb
4
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - Slow Down Feat. Linn Nystadnes
5
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - Cold Clementine
6
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - The Light You Saw Was Not For Real Feat. Andreas Røysum
7
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - The Night Within The Night
8
Sex Judas Feat. Ricky - When You Wak Up Everything Will Be Fine
International musicgroup SexJudas feat.Ricky returns to Optimo Music this Winter with a new album: Night Songs. The eight track LP draws inspiration from the night and features Malian percussionist Sidiki Camara,jazz clarinetist Andreas Røysum and noise rocker Linn Nystadnes. Making their own blend of disco, post punk and African music.
“It’s the return of Sex Judas feat.Ricky, this time as a six piece in fully fledged band mode. We’re here to take you on a journey through suburban psychedelia, forming our own brew of postpunk, disco and electronic, as well as traditional music from Mali. Night Songs is a meditation on the night time. The excess, the dreams, the highs and lows of night time activity.”-Sex Judas feat. Ricky.
“Black Cat In A Black Room” begins proceedings, taking the form of a psychedelic six-minute offering packed full of tribal drums and desert-like percussion. “A Man Without Purpose” comes next with its African-inspired vocal, before “Hab Mich Lieb” soon arrives. The six-minute cut is hypnotic, trippy and relaxing all in one, as is “Slow Down” feat. Linn Nystadnes. Taking on more of a funk-rock feel, there’s plenty of groove in the guitar-laced bassline, whilst in “Cold Clementine”, Sex Judas tells the sad tale of rave casualty over a dark and funky groove.
We’re taken down a spiritual path on The Light You Saw Was Not For Real, as Andreas Røysum’s clarinet solos sit underneath shamanic vocal offerings that open neatly into The Night Within The Night. Aslow-burning cut, riffs and hats serenade us before When You Wake Up Everything Will Be Fine brings proceedings to a close. Dream-like chords wrap us in a warm and glowing hue, with the harp-like sounds from Sidiki’s Ngoni, leaving us in a starry-eyed state to finish.
The calming nature of the album is a nod to the band’s influences: they were inspired by the great meditative records of the past, setting off on a musical trip that saw them record the whole release at legendary Norwegian studio Athletic Sound. This happened during lockdown and whilst the LP was never meant to be comment on the pandemic, there remains a brooding intensity to each track because of it. Sex Judas feat. Ricky originally began life as the solo project of Tore Gjedrem (from electronic duo Ost & Kjex), but has since grown into a steady six piece involving the talents of Sidiki Camara (djembe/ngoni/balafon), Ivar Winther (guitar/keys), Tracee Meyn (vocals), Tore Brevik (drums/percussion) and Kristian Edvardsen (bass). Centre stage is also illustrator and comic artist Sindre Goksøyr, this time portraying each character as they paddle their way into the sunset and uncharted territories.
Malian-born, Norwegian-based percussionist Sidiki Camara has played a pivotal role in promoting “Night Songs” to world music circles. Having lived in Norway since 2006, he has helped bring WestAfrican rhythms into the country’s wider jazz scene.
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“It’s the return of Sex Judas feat.Ricky, this time as a six piece in fully fledged band mode. We’re here to take you on a journey through suburban psychedelia, forming our own brew of postpunk, disco and electronic, as well as traditional music from Mali. Night Songs is a meditation on the night time. The excess, the dreams, the highs and lows of night time activity.”-Sex Judas feat. Ricky.
“Black Cat In A Black Room” begins proceedings, taking the form of a psychedelic six-minute offering packed full of tribal drums and desert-like percussion. “A Man Without Purpose” comes next with its African-inspired vocal, before “Hab Mich Lieb” soon arrives. The six-minute cut is hypnotic, trippy and relaxing all in one, as is “Slow Down” feat. Linn Nystadnes. Taking on more of a funk-rock feel, there’s plenty of groove in the guitar-laced bassline, whilst in “Cold Clementine”, Sex Judas tells the sad tale of rave casualty over a dark and funky groove.
We’re taken down a spiritual path on The Light You Saw Was Not For Real, as Andreas Røysum’s clarinet solos sit underneath shamanic vocal offerings that open neatly into The Night Within The Night. Aslow-burning cut, riffs and hats serenade us before When You Wake Up Everything Will Be Fine brings proceedings to a close. Dream-like chords wrap us in a warm and glowing hue, with the harp-like sounds from Sidiki’s Ngoni, leaving us in a starry-eyed state to finish.
The calming nature of the album is a nod to the band’s influences: they were inspired by the great meditative records of the past, setting off on a musical trip that saw them record the whole release at legendary Norwegian studio Athletic Sound. This happened during lockdown and whilst the LP was never meant to be comment on the pandemic, there remains a brooding intensity to each track because of it. Sex Judas feat. Ricky originally began life as the solo project of Tore Gjedrem (from electronic duo Ost & Kjex), but has since grown into a steady six piece involving the talents of Sidiki Camara (djembe/ngoni/balafon), Ivar Winther (guitar/keys), Tracee Meyn (vocals), Tore Brevik (drums/percussion) and Kristian Edvardsen (bass). Centre stage is also illustrator and comic artist Sindre Goksøyr, this time portraying each character as they paddle their way into the sunset and uncharted territories.
Malian-born, Norwegian-based percussionist Sidiki Camara has played a pivotal role in promoting “Night Songs” to world music circles. Having lived in Norway since 2006, he has helped bring WestAfrican rhythms into the country’s wider jazz scene.
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1
Bergsonist - No Title
2
Bergsonist - No Title
3
Bergsonist - No Title
4
Bergsonist - No Title
5
Bergsonist - No Title
6
Bergsonist - No Title
7
Bergsonist - No Title
8
Bergsonist - No Title
9
Bergsonist - No Title
10
Bergsonist - No Title
11
Bergsonist - No Title
After a digital single on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Music welcomes Bergsonist to the main label with a full album. Ridiculously talented and prolific, Bergsonist is one of thee most interesting, thoughtful and important artists of our times. Bergsonist aka Selwa Abd is a New York–based artist and musician originally from Morocco. She is the founder of Bizaarbazaar, a music platform and publication that publishes podcasts and interviews by DJs and producers from around the world. Under the guise Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze’s Bergsonism), she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, and music concrete, to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics. In 2017, she started Pick Up The Flow, a resource to promote congregation and exchange between peers. Currently, co-run with Stephen Decker. In 2019, she co-founded 3afak with DJ Sanna, a collective that aims to empower Arab women’s creative vision in New York.
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After a digital single on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Music welcomes Bergsonist to the main label with a full album. Ridiculously talented and prolific, Bergsonist is one of thee most interesting, thoughtful and important artists of our times. Bergsonist aka Selwa Abd is a New York–based artist and musician originally from Morocco. She is the founder of Bizaarbazaar, a music platform and publication that publishes podcasts and interviews by DJs and producers from around the world. Under the guise Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze’s Bergsonism), she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, and music concrete, to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics.
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1
lia mice - Human Being
2
lia mice - Overwrite the Past
3
lia mice - It's All Connected
4
lia mice - Time Can Break In
5
lia mice - We Are the Beat
6
lia mice - Marconi's Eternal Tone Cloud
7
lia mice - Made of Glass
8
lia mice - Which Memories Will Make It?
Optimo Music is delighted to release the new album from Lia Mice, Australian-born but UK-residing DJ, producer and instrument designer. Here’s a few words from Lia - "When I moved to London in 2015, many things changed at once - I started going to more techno and electro nights, I changed my live-set setup, and I had access to a fully-equipped recording studio through my music masters programme. At the same time I was reading a lot of books on time travel, not just science fiction but also psychology and neuroscience - like how the human brain perceives time from moment to moment, how we can experience overlapping time, and how we interact with our past and future through memory and imagination. “The Sampler As A Time Machine” is the result of all these new influences coming together. The tracks were developed out of ongoing studio experiments interpreting these different ideas of time travel by using samplers and tape to re-sample and manipulate original music performed by me on various instruments including my voice."
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1
the golden filter - End Of Times (Golden Dub)
2
the golden filter - End Of Times (Silver Dub)
3
the golden filter - End Of Times (Drone-Apella)
Optimo Music don’t generally do limited edition releases but when The Golden Filter did these extra mixes of “End Of Times”, the A1 track off their recent EP we thought they were too good to remain in the digital domain so have pressed up a small run of 12” singles aimed specifically at DJs. The original single version is a future synth classic. These new dub versions take it to the dancefloor and have been tried and tested around the world over the last few months. They are considerably extended, dubbed out and add extra dynamics & ecstatic synth power with hints of the original vocal. There is a slo mo version at 103 bpm and a faster version at 118bpm which means the track should work any time from warm up to peak set. There is also a Drone-Apella version included too
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We like to let our artists speak for themselves about their music whenever possible so asked Penelope to tell us about her album – “In 2016. I rented out a small piano studio in East London for nearly the whole year and set out to write an introspective, trendless, and mostly beatless album. Inspired by albums from This Mortal Coil and Scott Walker, who also sought freedom to work outside of the expectations of their previous work, I limited the instrumentation to mostly an acoustic piano and effects, which left space to expose a lot of emotional vulnerabilities about myself and people close to me. Writing lullabies about being a mother in a dystopian world, with pensive words about swimming against the current as a female artist, I felt free enough to tell untold truths that I’ve never felt comfortable talking about within music. Free, liberated, empowered. naked.”
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Pussy Mothers is the behaviour of a cross-continental two piece from Scotland and Down Under: formed by waving not drowning. Chasing percussions, vocal athletics and hand claps concocted into a platter of disco junk funk and early hip hop rhythms, The Number 1 EP took shape in Glasgow's tenement flats and came to life through a spaced-out echo party held at Green Door Studios.
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Mamacita Ft. Persona RS - Tu Amor (Your Love Spanish Version)
2
Mamacita Ft. Persona RS - Tu Amor (Double Drop Luke É Soul Re-Edit)
When it comes to musical discovery, sometimes the stars just align. DJ and record collector, Steve KIW, put Mr Bongo onto this amazing Chilean cover version of Jamie Principle & Frankie Knuckles' all-time classic 'Your Love’. Despite being originally released 13 years ago, it had recently started to prick the ears of house and Balearic connoisseurs in the UK, further cemented by inclusions in the Idjut Boys epic sets. Steve heard them play it, tipped us off and it soon became a favourite at Mr Bongo HQ.
By pure chance when the Mr Bongo DJs joined Luke Una to play at La Paloma ballroom in Barcelona a few weeks later, Luke dropped this incredible interpretation at the peak of his set. A good friend of his, Michelle from Huddersfield, had also put him onto the track and he instantly fell in love. A serendipitous coming together, 'Tu Amor' seemed like the perfect next instalment in the É Soul Cultura discography.
The version in question was released in 2012 as part of a digital-only EP. It came courtesy of the Chilean DJ, producer and singer Mamacita (Carolina Vallejos) and producer Sebastian Roman, aka Persona RS. Meeting Sebastian while out partying in Santiago during a boom time for electronic music in Chile, their shared passion for making house music in Spanish and their admiration for Frankie Knuckles led to the creation of this raw and unique cover version.
Recorded on lo-fi equipment, including an old Windows laptop and a borrowed Neumann microphone, it nods to the DIY ethos of the early Chicago productions. The result is a stripped-back, quirky cosmic take on a stone-cold classic, full of squelching synthlines and Carolina’s stunning Spanish vocals, that became a club hit on Chile's underground circuit. However, aside from some Latin American and US DJs picking it up, it never got the international recognition it deserved.
Fast forward to 2025, and É Soul Cultura is proud to present the glorious 'Tu Amor' on vinyl for the first time, backed with a new, extended, club re-edit by É Soul Cultura captain Luke Una and Luke Solomon (Classic Music). On first hearing ‘Tu Amor’ Luke Una recalls, “There was a real charm to it, it was quite an unorthodox arrangement, a huge wonkiness and just sounded so DIY in a brilliant way. I was chatting to Luke (Solomon) about how much we loved it and we decided to re-edit it together. Accentuating the wonk of those crazy synths, we’ve extended it to make a fiercer underground club tool, without taking away that very charming cosmic feel”.
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By pure chance when the Mr Bongo DJs joined Luke Una to play at La Paloma ballroom in Barcelona a few weeks later, Luke dropped this incredible interpretation at the peak of his set. A good friend of his, Michelle from Huddersfield, had also put him onto the track and he instantly fell in love. A serendipitous coming together, 'Tu Amor' seemed like the perfect next instalment in the É Soul Cultura discography.
The version in question was released in 2012 as part of a digital-only EP. It came courtesy of the Chilean DJ, producer and singer Mamacita (Carolina Vallejos) and producer Sebastian Roman, aka Persona RS. Meeting Sebastian while out partying in Santiago during a boom time for electronic music in Chile, their shared passion for making house music in Spanish and their admiration for Frankie Knuckles led to the creation of this raw and unique cover version.
Recorded on lo-fi equipment, including an old Windows laptop and a borrowed Neumann microphone, it nods to the DIY ethos of the early Chicago productions. The result is a stripped-back, quirky cosmic take on a stone-cold classic, full of squelching synthlines and Carolina’s stunning Spanish vocals, that became a club hit on Chile's underground circuit. However, aside from some Latin American and US DJs picking it up, it never got the international recognition it deserved.
Fast forward to 2025, and É Soul Cultura is proud to present the glorious 'Tu Amor' on vinyl for the first time, backed with a new, extended, club re-edit by É Soul Cultura captain Luke Una and Luke Solomon (Classic Music). On first hearing ‘Tu Amor’ Luke Una recalls, “There was a real charm to it, it was quite an unorthodox arrangement, a huge wonkiness and just sounded so DIY in a brilliant way. I was chatting to Luke (Solomon) about how much we loved it and we decided to re-edit it together. Accentuating the wonk of those crazy synths, we’ve extended it to make a fiercer underground club tool, without taking away that very charming cosmic feel”.
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1
Italo Brutalo - City Sights
2
Italo Brutalo - Memory Sync
3
Italo Brutalo - Digital Freedom
4
Italo Brutalo - Surveillance State
5
Italo Brutalo - Technology
6
Italo Brutalo - Heiss oder Kalt
7
Italo Brutalo - Chasing Shadows
8
Italo Brutalo - Free to move
9
Italo Brutalo - Black Gold
10
Italo Brutalo - Human Code
11
Italo Brutalo - I am a creator
12
Italo Brutalo - Tonight
Genre: EBM, Italo, Electro, Acid
Second Horizon is the follow up album of his very successful debut album "Heartware", that has been voted as album of the year by more than 23.000 readers of FAZE Magazine. The twelve tracks are inspired by 80s music styles EBM, Italo, Acid, Electro and Dark Wave and produced with a lot of original equipment from that era transferred into 2025. The album is also inspired by his relocation to Berlin, and the music reflects this shift, balancing gritty, industrial influences with shimmering, retro-futuristic tones.
Tracklist:
A1: City Sights
A2: Memory Sync
A3: Digital Freedom
B1: Surveillance State
B2: Technology
B3: Heiss oder Kalt
C1: Chasing Shadows
C2: Free to move
C3: Black Gold
D1: Human Code
D2: I am a creator
D3: Tonight
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Second Horizon is the follow up album of his very successful debut album "Heartware", that has been voted as album of the year by more than 23.000 readers of FAZE Magazine. The twelve tracks are inspired by 80s music styles EBM, Italo, Acid, Electro and Dark Wave and produced with a lot of original equipment from that era transferred into 2025. The album is also inspired by his relocation to Berlin, and the music reflects this shift, balancing gritty, industrial influences with shimmering, retro-futuristic tones.
Tracklist:
A1: City Sights
A2: Memory Sync
A3: Digital Freedom
B1: Surveillance State
B2: Technology
B3: Heiss oder Kalt
C1: Chasing Shadows
C2: Free to move
C3: Black Gold
D1: Human Code
D2: I am a creator
D3: Tonight
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
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1
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Dennis Quin Remix)
2
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Kai Alce´ NDATL Remix)
3
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Rocco Rodamaal & Alex Finkin Remix)
4
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Louie's Instrumental Demo Mix)
5
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Miles (Rocco Rodamaal Deep Down Mix)
6
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Rocco Rodamaal Dubby Mix)
7
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Charlie Levine Remix)
8
Louie Vega Featuring Moodymann - Seven Mile (Charlie Levine Wild Version)
Louie Vega and Moodymann, two of the most celebrated and iconic talents in the world of House Music, come together for this very special single “Seven Mile.” Originally released as part of Louie Vega’s universally acclaimed “Expansions In The NYC” album on Nervous Records, the song is now being released as a Double Pack, Custom Art Remix Package with an all-star collection of producers on remix duty, including Dennis Quin, Kai Alcé, Rocco Rodamaal, Alex Finkin and Charlie Soul Clap
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Berlin-based Colombian DJ, producer, and curator Edna Martinez presents a sonic journey into the electrifying world of Picó—the vibrant and dynamic sound system culture that has defined the streets of Cartagena and Barranquilla for decades. More than just a musical movement, Picó is a way of life, a bold expression of identity, community, and resistance.
Tracklist
1.1Wulomei - Takoradi
1.2Conjunto Ana N'Gola - Puxa Odoette
1.3Zeal Onyia & His Music - Egbe Ne Lueli
1.4Los Corraleros De Majagual - Remanga
1.5Aquí Suena - Abel Llinas
1.6Peacocks International Highlife Band - Igbala Oso
1.7Pedro Lima Et L'Orchestre Os Leonenses - Philomene
1.8The Shoe Laces - Isitha Somunthu
1.9Claudio Y Su Combo - Como Sea
1.10Pa' Entro Mi Gente - Angelo El Auténtico
2.1Zaire - I'm Tired Of Living In The Shack
2.2Afous - Anavdhou (Edna Martinez Extended Edit)
2.3Zaïko Langa Langa - La Tout Neige (Edna Martinez Edit)
2.4Erick Cosaque Et Les Voltage
2.5Pico Sin Fronteras - Abel Llinas
2.6La Calandria - Como Duele Una Traicion
2.7African System International - Amina
2.8Carlos Díaz Y Su Orquesta - Tres Meses De Vida
2.9No Puedes Conmigo - Angelo El Auténtico
Listen: https://listen.k7.com/1675649d-ff05-4d34-b5d8-d12fd73fe97e
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Germany
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Tracklist
1.1Wulomei - Takoradi
1.2Conjunto Ana N'Gola - Puxa Odoette
1.3Zeal Onyia & His Music - Egbe Ne Lueli
1.4Los Corraleros De Majagual - Remanga
1.5Aquí Suena - Abel Llinas
1.6Peacocks International Highlife Band - Igbala Oso
1.7Pedro Lima Et L'Orchestre Os Leonenses - Philomene
1.8The Shoe Laces - Isitha Somunthu
1.9Claudio Y Su Combo - Como Sea
1.10Pa' Entro Mi Gente - Angelo El Auténtico
2.1Zaire - I'm Tired Of Living In The Shack
2.2Afous - Anavdhou (Edna Martinez Extended Edit)
2.3Zaïko Langa Langa - La Tout Neige (Edna Martinez Edit)
2.4Erick Cosaque Et Les Voltage
2.5Pico Sin Fronteras - Abel Llinas
2.6La Calandria - Como Duele Una Traicion
2.7African System International - Amina
2.8Carlos Díaz Y Su Orquesta - Tres Meses De Vida
2.9No Puedes Conmigo - Angelo El Auténtico
Listen: https://listen.k7.com/1675649d-ff05-4d34-b5d8-d12fd73fe97e
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1
Rahaan - Project Funk
2
Rahaan - Shangri La
3
Rahaan - Tribe Dance
4
Rahaan - Deeper
Next Edits Collection by , one of Chicagos finest exports, with 4 cuts from disco to house.
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Fountain
2
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Blue Fusion
3
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Brother
4
GAEG (Monkey Timers & Keita Sao)n - Crazy Pa Pa
Optimo Music excitedly unleashes Japan’s G?G and their Anarcho Disco volumes 1 & 2 into the world. We thought we were done with 12” single release, at least for now, but then these tracks showed up and it was instantly obviously ESSENTIAL that they get pressed up on big fat twelve inch singles. Every single track here has been tried and tested and caused delirious delight on the dancefloor over the last year. Now it is time to share them with YOU! Truly Anarchic, Psychedelic dance music for the open-minded and genre-free crews.
G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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G?G say – ?DISKO KLUBB boss MONKEY TIMERS, who leads Tokyo’s underground disco scene, and KEITA SANO, who has been gaining attention for his releases on labels around the world, have started the project “G?G”.
Using a variety of sampling and unique FX, our music has created a unique G?G sound that is psychedelic and anarchic.
This subversive sound is sure to be the key to shaking the dancefloor.
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
Love Records - A1.Green
2
Love Records - A2.Tryout
3
Love Records - B1.Cannonball
4
Love Records - B2.My Only
Indulge in 4 extraordinary edits and remixes crafted by heavyweight producers, each track highly sought-after and in-demand.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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1
Bogdan Ra - Taboo
2
Bogdan Ra - Buffalo
3
Bogdan Ra - La Battaglia
4
Bogdan Ra - Detective
Funkyjaws Music kicks off a new series here with a focus on hefty disco jams. Bodgan RA is first up to flex his muscle with 'Taboo' which is full of bright synth lines and gorgeous vocal harmonies best to some lush guitar riffs. 'Buffalo' then brings some old-school energy with chopped-up beats and scratching that eventually unravel into a feel-good 80s disco sound. The joyous vibes flow on freely through 'La Battaglia' with its cosmic guitar leads, horns and raw claps then 'Detective' shuts down with the most steamy cut of the lot complete with brilliant funky undertones and expressive synth solos.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Label:London Records
Cat-No:LMS1725320
Release-Date:23.05.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:2LP Excl
Label:London Records
Cat-No:LMS1725320
Release-Date:23.05.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:2LP Excl
Rights: World excluding FR & UK
Packaging: 2 x Black Vinyl, Gatefold sleeve, 2x printed inner sleeve, marketing sticker
GENRE : Electronics
TRACKLIST
DOUBLE VINYLS
Side One
1. Time Becomes
2. Planet of the Shapes
Side Two
1. Lush 3-1
2. Lush 3-2
3. Impact (The Earth Is Burning)
Side Three
1. Remind
2. Walk Now…
Side Four
1. Monday
2. Halcyon + On + On
3. Input Out
SHORT PRODUCT INFORMATIONS
- DOUBLE BLACK LP : Double Black 140 grs Vinyl , Gatefold sleeve, printed inners, sticker. Reissue has been cut at half speed, to ensure maximum audio fidelity for this landmark release, and is the first time the album has been pressed on vinyl for over ten year
SHORT INFOS / KEY POINTS
- Originally released in 1993, 'The Brown Album' marked a significant evolution in Orbital's sound - and was met with widespread critical acclaim. NME awarded it 9/10 in their review, and it was chosen as one of Mixmag's best albums of all time.
- Standout track, "Halcyon + On + On", became an instant classic, known for its ethereal atmosphere and haunting vocal sample from Opus III's It's a Fine Day. The track's dreamy progression and uplifting yet melancholic tone made it a staple in film soundtracks and DJ sets, embodying the emotional depth electronic music could achieve. "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" is another defining moment, an evolving journey of layered breakbeats and dynamic synth arrangements, reflecting the duo's ability to create both club-ready and introspective music. Meanwhile, "Lush 3-1" and "Lush 3-2" demonstrate Orbital's knack for crafting intricate, evolving grooves, balancing pulsating rhythms with melodic flourishes that keep the listener engaged.
- 'The Brown Album' 2LP reissue has been cut at half speed, to ensure maximum audio fidelity for this landmark release, and is the first time the album has been pressed on vinyl for over ten year
- The Brown Album' 2CD includes a 2nd disc of rarities, including the full 11:09 version of Halycon and the 13-minute Underworld mix of Lush.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Packaging: 2 x Black Vinyl, Gatefold sleeve, 2x printed inner sleeve, marketing sticker
GENRE : Electronics
TRACKLIST
DOUBLE VINYLS
Side One
1. Time Becomes
2. Planet of the Shapes
Side Two
1. Lush 3-1
2. Lush 3-2
3. Impact (The Earth Is Burning)
Side Three
1. Remind
2. Walk Now…
Side Four
1. Monday
2. Halcyon + On + On
3. Input Out
SHORT PRODUCT INFORMATIONS
- DOUBLE BLACK LP : Double Black 140 grs Vinyl , Gatefold sleeve, printed inners, sticker. Reissue has been cut at half speed, to ensure maximum audio fidelity for this landmark release, and is the first time the album has been pressed on vinyl for over ten year
SHORT INFOS / KEY POINTS
- Originally released in 1993, 'The Brown Album' marked a significant evolution in Orbital's sound - and was met with widespread critical acclaim. NME awarded it 9/10 in their review, and it was chosen as one of Mixmag's best albums of all time.
- Standout track, "Halcyon + On + On", became an instant classic, known for its ethereal atmosphere and haunting vocal sample from Opus III's It's a Fine Day. The track's dreamy progression and uplifting yet melancholic tone made it a staple in film soundtracks and DJ sets, embodying the emotional depth electronic music could achieve. "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" is another defining moment, an evolving journey of layered breakbeats and dynamic synth arrangements, reflecting the duo's ability to create both club-ready and introspective music. Meanwhile, "Lush 3-1" and "Lush 3-2" demonstrate Orbital's knack for crafting intricate, evolving grooves, balancing pulsating rhythms with melodic flourishes that keep the listener engaged.
- 'The Brown Album' 2LP reissue has been cut at half speed, to ensure maximum audio fidelity for this landmark release, and is the first time the album has been pressed on vinyl for over ten year
- The Brown Album' 2CD includes a 2nd disc of rarities, including the full 11:09 version of Halycon and the 13-minute Underworld mix of Lush.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallvillelp03
Release-Date:30.05.2025
Genre:House
Configuration:2LP Excl
Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallvillelp03
Release-Date:30.05.2025
Genre:House
Configuration:2LP Excl
1
Christopher Rau - A Line
2
Christopher Rau - Ping To You
3
Christopher Rau - Do Little
4
Christopher Rau - The Cool World
5
Christopher Rau - Always The Same
6
Christopher Rau - The Needs
7
Christopher Rau - Capri
8
Christopher Rau - Talk
2LP Vinyl Tracklist:
A1 A Line
A2 Ping To You
B1 Do Little
B2 The Cool World
C1 Always The Same
C2 The Needs
D1 Capri
D2 Talk
No trend to be followed, no invention to be intended, it is the reduced gorgeousness that let's us float on Asper Clouds. This is still valid in 2025, timeless grooves that still move your heart and soul and warm the dancefloor.
Smallville is turning 20 Years, so we are starting a little musical celebration with a special re-release of this ultimate beauty, that stood the test of time - a milestone LP for Smallville by Christopher Rau.
Comes with Full Cover Artwork by Stefan Marx
All tracks w&p by Christopher Rau, except Track 5 & 9 written by Christopher Rau & Jacques Bon and Track 1 written by
Christopher Rau & Tilman Tausendfreund
Distribution: Wordandsound
Mastering: Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover Artwork: Stefan Marx
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A1 A Line
A2 Ping To You
B1 Do Little
B2 The Cool World
C1 Always The Same
C2 The Needs
D1 Capri
D2 Talk
No trend to be followed, no invention to be intended, it is the reduced gorgeousness that let's us float on Asper Clouds. This is still valid in 2025, timeless grooves that still move your heart and soul and warm the dancefloor.
Smallville is turning 20 Years, so we are starting a little musical celebration with a special re-release of this ultimate beauty, that stood the test of time - a milestone LP for Smallville by Christopher Rau.
Comes with Full Cover Artwork by Stefan Marx
All tracks w&p by Christopher Rau, except Track 5 & 9 written by Christopher Rau & Jacques Bon and Track 1 written by
Christopher Rau & Tilman Tausendfreund
Distribution: Wordandsound
Mastering: Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover Artwork: Stefan Marx
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
Freestyle Fellowship - A* : Blood (1:08)
2
Freestyle Fellowship - A1 : Bullies Of The Block (4:55)
3
Freestyle Fellowship - A2 : Everything’s Everything (3:47)
4
Freestyle Fellowship - A3 : Shammy’s (4:16)
5
Freestyle Fellowship - A** : Heat Mizer (1:08)
6
Freestyle Fellowship - B1 : Six Tray (4:39)
7
Freestyle Fellowship - B2 : Danger (3:58)
8
Freestyle Fellowship - B3 : Inner City Boundaries (4:39)
9
Freestyle Fellowship - B* : Bomb Zombies (1:06)
10
Freestyle Fellowship - C1 : Cornbread (4:21)
11
Freestyle Fellowship - C2 : Way Cool (4:22)
12
Freestyle Fellowship - C3 : Hot Potato (4:30)
13
Freestyle Fellowship - C4 : Mary (3:45)
14
Freestyle Fellowship - C5 : Park Bench People (4:59)
15
Freestyle Fellowship - D1 : Heavyweights (6:11)
16
Freestyle Fellowship - D* : Tolerate (1:01)
17
Freestyle Fellowship - D2 : Respect Due (3:53)
18
Freestyle Fellowship - D3 : Pure Thought (3:14)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes:
2024 repress, 140g vinyl, includes “Pure Thought” bonus track from the original CD version, original picture sleeve and printed inner sleeves based on the original one.
Track List:
A* : Blood (1:08)
A1 : Bullies Of The Block (4:55)
A2 : Everything’s Everything (3:47)
A3 : Shammy’s (4:16)
A** : Heat Mizer (1:08)
B1 : Six Tray (4:39)
B2 : Danger (3:58)
B3 : Inner City Boundaries (4:39)
B* : Bomb Zombies (1:06)
C1 : Cornbread (4:21)
C2 : Way Cool (4:22)
C3 : Hot Potato (4:30)
C4 : Mary (3:45)
C5 : Park Bench People (4:59)
D1 : Heavyweights (6:11)
D* : Tolerate (1:01)
D2 : Respect Due (3:53)
D3 : Pure Thought (3:14)
Release Notes (Short Version):
Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz.
The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever.
Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.
Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group’s dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city’s hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo.
With the bulk of the album’s production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” and Miles Davis’s “Black Comedy” were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, “Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the ’50s without verging into jazz-rap parody. Their innate jazziness felt tangible and hard-earned”.
The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship’s lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism.
Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic.
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
Format Notes:
2024 repress, 140g vinyl, includes “Pure Thought” bonus track from the original CD version, original picture sleeve and printed inner sleeves based on the original one.
Track List:
A* : Blood (1:08)
A1 : Bullies Of The Block (4:55)
A2 : Everything’s Everything (3:47)
A3 : Shammy’s (4:16)
A** : Heat Mizer (1:08)
B1 : Six Tray (4:39)
B2 : Danger (3:58)
B3 : Inner City Boundaries (4:39)
B* : Bomb Zombies (1:06)
C1 : Cornbread (4:21)
C2 : Way Cool (4:22)
C3 : Hot Potato (4:30)
C4 : Mary (3:45)
C5 : Park Bench People (4:59)
D1 : Heavyweights (6:11)
D* : Tolerate (1:01)
D2 : Respect Due (3:53)
D3 : Pure Thought (3:14)
Release Notes (Short Version):
Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz.
The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever.
Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.
Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group’s dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city’s hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo.
With the bulk of the album’s production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” and Miles Davis’s “Black Comedy” were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, “Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the ’50s without verging into jazz-rap parody. Their innate jazziness felt tangible and hard-earned”.
The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship’s lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism.
Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic.
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
Label:D.KO Records
Cat-No:DKORLP02
Release-Date:06.06.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:2LP Excl
Label:D.KO Records
Cat-No:DKORLP02
Release-Date:06.06.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:2LP Excl
1
Mad Rey - sunday blues 1 (dub mix)
2
Mad Rey - luv dub mix
3
Mad Rey - Tuesday good day (dub mix)
4
Mad Rey - longday (dub mix)
5
Mad Rey - Fruit
6
Mad Rey - no return (dub mix)
7
Mad Rey - Deeper (dub mix)
8
Mad Rey - please don't wait (dub mix)
Territories: ww -fr
Repress
Genre: Electronic
Tracklist :
A1. sunday blues 1 (dub mix)
A2. luv dub mix
B1. Tuesday good day (dub mix)
B2. longday (dub mix)
B3. Fruit
C1. no return (dub mix)
C2. Deeper (dub mix)
D1. please don't wait (dub mix)
The title of the double LP ”please don’t wait” is simple and refers to the passage of time, urgency, and the present moment. It’s a message that calls for movement and action. (The title also references a track of the same name performed by rapper Jwles, released in 2018.)
After a stay in Detroit in 2022, Mad Rey returned to Montreuil, inspired and brimming with energy. He repaired his MPC2000XL and unearthed two vintage synthesizers from the 2000s: a Korg Triton and a Yamaha Motif.
Connected together, these three instruments revived sensations and inspired him to create one track per day. After two years of work, the producer felt the desire to bring together the eight instrumental tracks he most enjoyed recording.
Each track is a "live" recording, preserving its raw energy. The sounds of the instruments convey nostalgia and melancholy. The recording is raw, delivering a message of peace, humility, and unity. It pays tribute to the early days of house music.
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
Repress
Genre: Electronic
Tracklist :
A1. sunday blues 1 (dub mix)
A2. luv dub mix
B1. Tuesday good day (dub mix)
B2. longday (dub mix)
B3. Fruit
C1. no return (dub mix)
C2. Deeper (dub mix)
D1. please don't wait (dub mix)
The title of the double LP ”please don’t wait” is simple and refers to the passage of time, urgency, and the present moment. It’s a message that calls for movement and action. (The title also references a track of the same name performed by rapper Jwles, released in 2018.)
After a stay in Detroit in 2022, Mad Rey returned to Montreuil, inspired and brimming with energy. He repaired his MPC2000XL and unearthed two vintage synthesizers from the 2000s: a Korg Triton and a Yamaha Motif.
Connected together, these three instruments revived sensations and inspired him to create one track per day. After two years of work, the producer felt the desire to bring together the eight instrumental tracks he most enjoyed recording.
Each track is a "live" recording, preserving its raw energy. The sounds of the instruments convey nostalgia and melancholy. The recording is raw, delivering a message of peace, humility, and unity. It pays tribute to the early days of house music.
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