KingCats are a German Show Band from West Germany, formed in 1972 first as AristoCats. They became KingCats in 1976. The lineup was Peter « Pit» Kurz and Norbert « Knox » Rieger on vocals and guitar, Theo Wild (and later, Hans-Jörg Koch) on keyboards and vocals, Eberhardt « Lupp » Krieg on bass and vocals, and Rolf Knauss on drums and vocals. French drummer/singer Patrick Buchmann, alias « Sdinganuff », joined the band in 1980 upon recommandation from Claus Backhaus (Studio 2000, Mannheim, Germany) and saxophone superstar Peter Drischel, alias « Pete Tex ». Before Buchmann’s departure to Los Angeles to study at Musicians Institute, he suggested they record an LP to document some of the band’s compositions which led to the original self titled « KingCats » album in January of 1983.

This rare album was recorded and mixed in Strasbourg, France at Omega Studio by sound engineer Francis Adam, the LP showcases a variety of 80’s unique compositions by Buchmann, Kurz and Rieger. The song « Down In California » gently made its way to the public ear since. Luckily, Francis Adam found the original 16 track, 1 inch tape in early 2024 and saved the original project from desintegration. This long awaited discovery led to this freshly edited, remixed and remastered 2024 version of « KingCats ». Produced by Francis Adam, Patrick Buchmann and Peter Kurz, no instruments or vocals were added, and no animals or vegetables were harmed during this process. We hope you will like this new limited edition of « KingCats » !

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the debut release of women’s brightest hope “polygonia” on mule musiq.

our friend&label artist “simone de kunovich” introduced her and she sent us an excellent unique house music.

she sung,wrote the lyric, playing violin and flute.

a1 “upside down” reminds us bit early herbert style.unique melody and vocal.

a2 “eyes between letters” is kind of excentric afro brazilian deep house.we love this deep house.

b1 “beyond light and shade is like electronic version of midori takada or mkwaju ensemble. it reminds us japanese 80’s kankyo ongaku.

b2 “complementary senses” is highlight of the release.very playful organic psychedelic mini-mal deep house.we think this kind of music is very rare these days.

so polygonia´s new 12nch is definitely on of the highlights on mule musiq in this year. we love it so much!

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Official reissue of this highly sought-after album by the late Sonya Spence on the original High Note label.

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The Italian 80s avant garde / anarcho scene is explored in this limited 12” release presenting Nengue and their previously unreleased cover version of the new wave classic Los Ninos Del Parque and the electro pop wave African Beat.

The tumultuous political climate of the 1960s through 1980s inspired Italian artists to craft an introspective, psychological musical landscape. As civil unrest, violent demonstrations, and political murders became commonplace, Italy's centres of intellect vibrated with activist energy. This atmosphere gave birth to a unique, mechanized sound that blended electronic elements with a raw, discordant aesthetic, reflecting the chaotic spirit of the times.

Through vintage forms of social networking and music sharing, a community led process steered the scene, publishing zines and records that grasped alternative concepts of music and lifestyle.

Nengue, were similar to many of these lo-fi, retro-future electronic music pioneers. Based in Rome, their music / art backgrounds flowed with anti-art, extreme noise, futurism, industrial, experimental, martial, folk, free jazz and exotica.

With a couple of releases as a duo, as was often the case, they appeared in numerous other projects and the music was a mixture of their individual backgrounds.

Extraordinarily, only appearing on a couple of obscure cassette compilations, indicative of the time, the quality of Nengue’s productions stands testament. Originally approached to reissue their Cosmic meets Kraftwerk inspired African Beat, a wonderful yet simple electronic idiom, layers of electronica rising, each element an addition flow, vocals the release’s waves.

However, the discovery of their cover of Los Ninos Del Parque – describing it as ‘powerful anarchic nonsense’ – is rightfully now the primary focus.

Acting as some Brutalist interpretation, its sharp electronics and industrial vocals, propel you to a brick-strewn squat party and a place in anarcho folklore.

These are matched with a remix / remake by Berlin’s Bionda e Lupo. Presenting a ‘Neumisch’, Sneaker’s exacting studio mastery and Sano’s additional vocals are a blessing – a new duo version – dynamic and wonderfully special.

To complete, the powerful dub of African Beat closes. Stepping out of his time as one half of Romanian duo Khidja (DFA / Hivern Discs), Andrei Rusu builds on his recent solo releases / remixes for Malka Tuti with a fantastic, bottom heavy version, perfectly building with expertise, an EP for the basements of today that was made in the dark times of the past.

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This is like rave. Only if it was for now and could sit happily in any set. Breakbeats that roll and tidy samples. You know… These are fun club tracks. On and on to the break of dawn… Bass heavy. Inside. Ask a dream. Solid.

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Tracklist
A1. Begadang (All Nighter)
A2. 135,000,000
A3. Joget (Dancing)
A4. Penasaran (Intrigued)
A5. Nyanyian Setan (Devil’s Song)
A6. Ghibah (Gossiping)

B1. Tung Keripit (Turkey Berry)
B2. Rupiah
B3. Hak Azasi (Human Rights)
B4. Sampai Pagi (Till Dawn)
B5. Kandungan (In the Womb)
B6. Any
B7. Buta (Blind)

Dangdut is the biggest musical genre in Indonesia. Dangdut, onomatopoetic name from the sound of hand drums used in this type of music, is what reggae to Jamaicans, country to Americans or skiffle to mid 20th century British people. And in this genre of dang dut, the name Rhoma Irama looms large. He is until today the undisputable king of dangdut and his role as pioneer of the music is already in the history book. In fact, there's one book documenting the outsized role of Rhoma in establishing dangdut as the father of this music. The book is aptly titled Dangdut Story, written by Pittsburgh University music professor Andrew N. Weintraub.

Among Indonesian fans of dangdut, there’s this one misconceptions that dangdut music is that it is an indigenous art form from Indonesia and that it constitutes an amalgamation of local, traditional music of this Southeast Asian nation, with Malay music being the most prominent feature in the mix.

Dangdut pioneer Rhoma Irama is among the first to reject this assertion. “Dangdut music may have originated in Deli (in North Sumatra) but then got the influences from the West and India”, he said.

Indeed, most of Rhoma’s well-known compositions may have been influenced by Indian tunes but some of his best quality works owed much to the West.

Rhoma had long found home in Western pop music. In the early 1960s, after honing his guitar playing skill, Rhoma set up his first band Gayhand to play the tunes of The Beatles, Paul Anka and Tom Jones. In 1972, Rhoma won best singer title in a Southeast Asia singing competition in Singapore playing Tom Jones “I Who Have Nothing.”

Yet, nothing changed Rhoma’s fortune in the music industry, to a point where he decided to leave pop and switched to playing Orkes Melayu (Malay Orchestra) music, first with Orkes Melayu Purnama and later with Soneta Group.

His career soon took off with Soneta, especially after he introduced what ethnomusicologist William H. Frederick considered as “theatre”, through which Rhoma borrows many elements from stage performances of British and American rock bands. These elements, kitsch and pomp, he liberally adopted and became an inseparable part of dangdut itself; tight pants, long hair, platform shoes, glitter and glamour which would not be out of place in Elton John and David Bowie stage show.

And this is actually the contradiction of Rhoma’s brand of Malay music. “One might legitimately ask how imaginative, not to say bizarre, costuming and dancing with abandon could be related to some of the objectives of Rhoma has set for himself and soneta group”, Frederick wrote on his seminal work on the singer, Rhoma Irama and the Dangdut Style: Aspects of Contemporary Indonesian Popular Culture, published in 1982.

From technical point of view, Rhoma not only replaced the acoustic elements from Melayu Music with electric instruments but also created new synthetic sounds that has never been attempted before in Indonesia’s music industry.

Detractors like to point out how much he was indebted to Deep Purple, but a closer inspection reveals how he in fact had mined his influences even deeper.

Notice how Rhoma reproduced funk, which is all the rage in early 1970s, in the song “Santai” (Relax), this album’s closer or “Credit Title (Instrumentalia)” which opens this Darah Muda (Young Blood) soundtrack. The rubbery bass lines that open both songs can easily find home in any Sly and the Family Stone’s or Isaac Hayes’ tunes from that era. Other highlights of the song is the funky guitar licks and the droning Hammond a la George Clinton that stabs deep in the record groove. In the guitar solo, you can also hear the bark of George Harrison’s licks from “Taxman”.

The 13 tracks contained in this compilation “Begadang: Soneta Group Best Songs, 1975-1980” are some the most innovative music that came out of Indonesia’s music scene in the 1970s, tunes that has cemented Rhoma Irama’s status as the king of the genre. Only 500 copies were pressed for this compilation.



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Everything Is Recorded, the collaborative music project centred around producer Richard Russell, have announced their third studio album, Temporary. Releasing 28 February 2025 on XL Recordings.

Temporary features an incredible roll call of collaborators including Sampha, Bill Callahan, Noah Cyrus, Florence Welch, Maddy Prior, Berwyn, Alabaster Deplume, Jah Wobble, Yazz Ahmed, Laura Groves, Kamasi Washington, Rickey Washington, Roses Gabor, Jack Penate, Samantha Morton, Clari Freeman-Taylor and Nourished By Time.

On Temporary, Russell reboots his musical DNA, letting the rhythm take up less space and bringing melody to the fore. Some songs are inspired by the sonic thought experiment “what if folk music had ‘gone digital’ in the 80s, just as reggae had?”, while spiritually and lyrically the themes encompass grief and loss.

The album's second single Losing You is out now. It features the project's longtime collaborators Sampha and Laura Groves alongside contributions from composer and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, and bass hero Jah Wobble.

The single is accompanied by a music video by Ed Morris featuring Russell, Sampha, Ahmed, Wobble, Tic, and Mary In The Junkyard’s Clari Freeman-Taylor.

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