TRACKLIST
1.1 Soft Opening Machine
1.2 Liquid Sound Waves
1.3 Limitations
1.4 M And A
1.5 Gummi Twist & Crawl (Die Koffer sind leer)
1.6 Sunglasses
1.7 Orion Stars
1.8 Back From The Primitive Galaxy
1.9 Cheapo Sounds
1.10 Afterhour


Stefan Schwander hat bereits eine unglaubliche Fülle an Musik geschaffen und ist ein fester Bestandteil auf der berüchtigten Achse um den Düsseldorfer Salon Des Amateurs. Mit seinem Projekt Harmonious Thelonious erforscht er seit mittlerweile 12 Jahren die Welten von panafrikanischen, südamerikanischen und nahöstlichen Rhythmen in Kombination mit einem minimalistischen Electronic-Sound, aus deren Zusammenspiel er mittlerweile seinen ganz eigenen Groove destilliert hat. Für sein neues Album mit dem herausfordernden Titel "Cheapo Sounds" wendet sich Schwander von bereits erprobten Rezepten ab. Eine musikalische Neuausrichtung, die zunächst in der Veränderung der Produktionsweise selbst begründet liegt: So ist die gesamte Platte unter Verwendung nur eines Instruments entstanden, der Monomaschine, die den Klang der 10 Stücke mit ihren sehr physischen Sounds erheblich prägt. Es stehen nicht mehr polyrhythmische Tracks im Vordergrund des Geschehens, sondern das Verweben von mehreren Melodien und Akkorden über einem Grundgerüst von spröden, simplifizierten Beat-Konstrukten und schroffen Basspulsen. Bei genauem Besehen ist dies mitunter eine neue Vision einer alten Herangehensweise: Standen in Schwanders Proberaum zwar auch alte Verstärker, die primitive Rhythmusbox, die programmierbare Drummachine oder Synthesizer wie MS-20, kamen diese jedoch auf "Cheapo Sounds" nicht zum Einsatz. Allerdings ist die Idee, mit der dieses Instrumentarium assoziiert wird, eng mit der DNA dieses Albums verwoben. Als der New Wave den Punk und die letzten Rockismen abgelöst hatte, entstand jener spezielle, neue Geist, den Stefan Schwander in den neuen Stücken einfangen wollte. Eine WavePlatte mit dem Verständnis von Techno. Und tatsächlich ist es ihm gelungen, damit auch den Bogen zu der grundlegenden Idee des Projekts Harmonious Thelonious selbst zu schlagen: Eine Art von Dance-Musik, die wie eine gute Clubnacht nicht nur zu einer schablonenhaften Formel verkümmert oder GenreErwartungen bedient, sondern das Publikum herausfordert und in sich sowohl Jazz, Krautrock, Industrial, Punk, Dub und Disco verhandelt.

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

We're delighted to kick off our 10th anniversary celebrations with a release from an artist we've long admired, Dusseldorf's Harmonious Thelonious. His explorations into minimalism and polyrhythms have been staples in our sets since we were first connected via the Salon des Amateurs, and we couldn't be happier to welcome him into the Highlife fold with one of his brightest sounding records yet - documenting his musical adventures in Uganda.A1. Versteckte Muziek, A2. George Villa ft. Leo Palayeng, B1. Company, B2. It Never Rains In Jinja ft. Ocen James

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

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

The new tunes, condensations of the 2016 album: the waist-deep sway Blinky - the title may be read as a tribute to the artist Blinky Palermo - and the pumping Shark Dance. Walkmen set too loud, ghetto-blaster too quiet, crosstalks in the bazaar, sun-bleached fabrics shimming in the Mediterranean wind. Tolouse Low Trax's Rivera Remix drags on a hoarse scratch, relentlessly spurring on in the rhythm of approach, into the distance, a sand fortress, where a yearning horn is calling, promising comfort. Wolf Mueller's remix of RFS (Vol. 3) does not detour, and takes no prisoners. Breaking straight into the aluminum can factory and shreds what he can find. Love actually, of course. A four-fold rattling and clanking, overdriven speakers, the groove is dirty. Dancers rub against each other and on the walls. The disco machine is a human.
Tracklist:
A1. Shark Dance
A2. Rivera (Tolouse Low Trax RMX)
B3. Blinky
B4. RFS (Vol. 3) (Wolf Müller_RMX)

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

Harmonious Thelonious's ethnomusicologic journeys to the African continent continues with a burning package of 3 rhythmic tracks inspired by American minimalist music and African rhythm patterns. A primordial soup of polyrhythms and dense harmonics hypnotise the body into movement, transporting the origins of dance music to neoteric audiences.

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

After releasing a brilliant and stomping three-tracker on Kontra-Musik White Label last year, ex-Durian Brother Harmonious Thelonious returns to the Kontra-Musik family with an absolute gem of a record. This is everything we want dance music to be: characterful, playful and impossibly funky. Harmonious Thelonious is a master of crafting organic sounding rhythms but arranging them in a manner that reminds one of a 1970's car factory. Primal pulses running through modern assembly lines, gears and pistons covered in green lianas. The result is a perfect symbiosis between living tissue and mechanical parts - dance music for primitive cyborgs.

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

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

The world is spinning, and so is HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS, the latest project by Stefan Schwander (aka Antonelli). The Düsseldorfer's 2010 album "Talking" conquered new rhythmic worlds with Afro-Industrial music fueled by dizzying sequencer patterns, garnering much praise for its global mixture of sound.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Under his Chemotex alias, Marcos Cabral has been one of The Trilogy Tapes most productive artists in recent times. This is his third 12" for Will Bankhead's imprint in less than 12 months. Unlike Cabral's recent album for L.I.E.S, which reveled in its' own distorted, balls-out intensity, Thulsa strives to get a balance between becalmed techno hypnotism, skuzzy grooves and gently melodious intent. This blend is perhaps most satisfyingly mixed on the industrial-tinged clank of "Delta City", though the woozier, scuffled late night warmth of "Music For Security" pushes it close. Twice he heads towards deeper territory; first on the title track's trance-inducing synthesizer loop groove, and secondly on the dubby, locked-in tech-house majesty of "Lorentz".

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

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

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

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

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

Blawan's new side project Bored Young Adults is up next on Will Bankhead's label The Trilogy Tapes. The Shy Dancers On Bungalowdorf Beach features some restrained and slow burning techno experiments that differ from Jamie Robert's more usual hard-hitting sounds. The seething title track treads the same path as Kassem Mosse or Vactrol Park. The Fentanyl techno of "But We Need This Bench" sounds like an old Regis record played on -8, while devoted fans of the young UK producer's sound will get something a bit more familiar on the menacing hypnotic techno grinder "Check Up From The Neck Up".



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

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

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

Following the announcement that they've collaborated with perma-masked Zomby on his upcoming LP for Hyperdub, behooded hardware manglers Rezzett return to home soil for their latest, and perhaps best so far, 12" for The Trilogy Tapes. With a very defined, redlining approach to techno and hardcore tropes established across their prior output on Will Bankhead's label, the duo demonstrate there is still plenty of scope for invention on Doyce. In essence you get two versions of the same track either side of this 12"; the A-side is nominally the club cut though there is a feeling of restraint where usually Rezzett deal in speaker bursting madness. The "Yavas" version on the flip is quite something else however, discarding with any rhythmic elements over an eleven-minute journey into mind-bending sonics based around that quite exquisite mangled synth line.

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

Blawan's new side project Bored Young Adults is up next on Will Bankhead's label The Trilogy Tapes. The Shy Dancers On Bungalowdorf Beach features some restrained and slow burning techno experiments that differ from Jamie Robert's more usual hard-hitting sounds. The seething title track treads the same path as Kassem Mosse or Vactrol Park. The Fentanyl techno of "But We Need This Bench" sounds like an old Regis record played on -8, while devoted fans of the young UK producer's sound will get something a bit more familiar on the menacing hypnotic techno grinder "Check Up From The Neck Up".



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

Terrific record! Eight charged, intimate meditations by Julie Normal and Olivier Demeaux, playing a rickety ondes Martenot and an old church harmonium. Gripping, detailed, stately improvisation — a bit like the ùrlars in classical bagpipe music — which nervily mixes the sternly doom-laden with precarious, other-worldly wonderment. (The ondes Martenot is an amazing twentieth-century instrument — beloved by Messiaen, for example, and Varese. The theme-song of Star Trek is a vocal forgery of its sound. ‘J’aime cette fragilité qui côtoie la capacité de te décoller le tympan sur certaines fréquences inopinément,’ says Julie. ‘Je tiens une bombe dans les mains. J’aime son instabilité, son humanité.’) Wood, breath, blood, eggshells… on the night of a purple moon. Very warmly recommended.

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

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

Hailing from Raw Culture, Anna Funk Damage returns with his third release on the Roman label, delivering a record as fierce as it is intimate. Tarantola was born out of a winter suspended between contrasting emotions – melancholy, anger, love, confusion – distilled into a sound that transforms personal fragility into collective energy. There’s no pursuit of perfection here, but rather an urgency running through the veins, taking shape across supersonic punk, wave, ambient and industrial.

Each track is an emotional fragment, a bite that leaves its mark: from the electric tension of Vivere Distaccati to the feverish rush of Trasmissione, from the rawness of Decadente to the hypnotic title track Tarantola, which embodies the beating heart of the album. Side B unfolds into more nocturnal and intimate landscapes, from Chiang Mai to the disenchanted sincerity of Lavoro Troppo, closing with a party that carries the bittersweet taste of reality.

Tarantola is a journey into the chaos of human emotions, an album that doesn’t just narrate but pulls you deep into its sonic labyrinth, giving noise back its vulnerable yet powerful soul.

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

Legendary dub techno artist Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) announces new collaborative album, marking 10 years of Kynant Records



Building on the success of Paul St. Hilaire’s landmark solo album for Richard Akingbehin’s label Kynant in 2023, w/ The Producers switches up the formula to pair St. Hilaire’s with a different producer on each track. Referencing fellow dub techno pioneers Mark Ernestus & Moritz von Oswald’s acclaimed album w/ The Artists as Rhythm & Sound, St. Hilaire flips the concept to feature as the lone vocalist.



Over the album’s nine tracks, St. Hilaire offers a range of conscious song-writing and headtop musings, such as the spoken-word dread of “What’s This” or the sparse call-to-action of “Send Them On”. The record weaves through all shades of contemporary dub evolutions, showing the vocal range and versatility of St. Hilaire. w/ The Producers is yet another essential record in St. Hilaire’s unmatched discography.



The producers were curated by label owner and DJ Richard Akingbehin to give the new album a future-facing feel and mark 10 years of Kynant Records. Akingbehin sourced beats from luminaries such as Digital Mystikz boss and dubstep trailblazer Mala or elusive Chain Reaction artist Shinichi Atobe. They sit alongside some of the most exciting names in recent electronic music - Batu, Gavsborg, Azu Tiwaline, Priori, Cousin, Russell E.L. Butler, Aurora Halal and DJ G - all of whom bring different elements of dub techno into their productions.



w/ The Producers finds Kynant Records bridging the original voice of dub techno with the genre’s new wave. It’s a statement of intent from the label, which began 10 years ago with deep, hypnotic techno and has veered gradually towards more dubwise sounds



Tracklist

A1 Paul St. Hilaire & Mala - Like It’s Always Been
A2 Paul St. Hilaire, Aurora Halal & DJ G - Mary Jane Greenfield
A3 Paul St. Hilaire & Cousin - Back Inna Business

B1 Paul St. Hilaire & Priori - Send Them On
B2 Paul St. Hilaire & Shinichi Atobe - Time to Wake Up

C1 Paul St. Hilaire & Batu - Free Your Mind
C2 Paul St. Hilaire & Azu Tiwaline - Let The Night Start

D1 Paul St. Hilaire & Gavsborg - Confidential
D2 Paul St. Hilaire & Russell E.L. Butler - What’s This


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

Introducing: Temporary Blessings, the new project by stalwart Naarm / Melbourne trumpet player and composer Liam McGorry. Assembled to realise McGorry's compositions drawing on 1960s Italian & French soundtrack music, Temporary Blessings brings together trusted instrumentalists and fellow travelers from Melbourne's rich enclave of cinematic soul. With Liam at the helm, the group is composed of members of Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, Saskwatch and Let Your Hair Down. The resulting recordings realise McGorry's sonic visions of film noir, giallo, library music and cinematic soul, captured live in one room with what the maestro describes as "a shared spirit". The recordings, produced by paragon Henry Jenkins, bring together emotive string arrangements, tough horns and a steadfast rhythm section with an acute attention to detail McGorry has developed over years in the saddle.

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

Back by popular demand, the limited-edition repress of one of Joe Claussell's most cherished compositions has returned. Originally released in 1999 and created in collaboration with Afro-dance innovator Jephte Guillaume and the late music legend Boyd Jarvis, Agora É Seu Tempo first appeared on the Trip do Brazil compilation in France. It was later issued as a highly sought-after promotional 12" on Spiritual Life Music-quickly becoming a defining release in the rise of Brazilian-influenced dance music from the late '90s onward.
In 2018, Joe Claussell revisited the piece, crafting two entirely new versions inspired by the musical spirit of New York City's barrios. Released as a limited 7", these remixes sold out within weeks. Now, answering the overwhelming demand, we're pleased to announce a new limited repress of this timeless and deeply soulful classic. Warm music for the heart and soul.


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

Format:
- Limited edition Cool Grey 2x12” vinyl LP.
- Housed in PMS printed inner sleeve, featuring custom fonts by No Format and spot gloss abstraction of the original album artwork.
- Accompanied with a double sided 2-panel insert and double sided 4 panel poster.
- All sleeved in a custom PMS reverse board outer sleeve with die cut square centre panel and belly band.

Will heralded a disarming, groove-based return to deep house. A wild melange of bumping beats, freestyle samples and esoteric goodness. Recorded over the same period as Grinning Cat this anomaly within the Skintone catalogue was seen as a way to circumvent the swirling politics of his club-oriented releases elsewhere. In itself Will was a reminder of Yokota’s ability to deliver a complex array of sounds within a more recognisable format.

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

Legendary French industrial pioneers Vox Populi! arrive on Dark Entries with a reissue of Sucre De Pastèque. Vox Populi! was founded in Paris in 1981 by Axel Kyrou, a multi-instrumentalist of Greek, French, and Palestinian roots. He soon recruited his future partner, Mytra, and her brother Arash Khalatbari, who were second-generation immigrants from Tehran, as well as bassist Fr6 Man (Francis Manne). Their sound was motley, combining elements of musique concrete and early industrial with horns, flutes, and traditional Persian instrumentation. Improbably prolific and ceaselessly divergent, Vox Populi! found their way onto dozens of cassette compilations during the heyday of the 1980s DIY tape music scene, including releases on era-defining labels like Insane Music, Cthulhu Records, and their own Vox Man. Sucre De Pastèque, the band’s sixth full-length release, came out in 1986 on Unlikely Records, the cult outlet of Rimarimba’s Robert Cox. Like most of Vox Populi’s output, Sucre is a scattershot endeavor, encompassing psychedelic dirges, cosmic drones, hypnotic chants, and fractured machine-funk. The mood is understatedly bleak, but Vox Populi’s genre agnosticism and curious sense of wonder prevent things from feeling oppressive or heavy-handed. The cover for Sucre DePastèque was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, and features a collage by Vox Populi member Fr6 Man. Each copy includes an insert with photos and notes by the band. This is deeply fried material, perfectly capturing the obscurantism that characterized much of the 80s DIY cassette scene.

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

Joaquin Joe Claussell Presents the Second Installment of His Acclaimed Alias: BlackSalsoul
Brooklyn, New York City - Renowned producer, DJ, and spiritual music visionary Joaquin Joe Claussell returns with the second chapter of his celebrated alias, BlackSalsoul. Continuing his lifelong exploration of deep, soulful soundscapes, this latest release focuses on edits and reinterpretations across Spiritual Jazz, Soulful Disco, and African Dance traditions.
Following the success of the debut 7" (Cat# CIRCUIT.7), which sold out within weeks and remains a one-time pressing despite overwhelming demand, the BlackSalsoul series reaffirms its commitment to exclusivity. Each edition will be available strictly on limited 7" and 12" vinyl-a tribute to the physicality and ritual of true record culture.
Blending the warmth of analog production with Claussell's signature spiritual energy, this release bridges eras and continents-honoring the roots of soulful expression while speaking directly to today's dance floors.
For fans of Fusion Jazz, Soulful Disco, and Afro-inspired Edits, the new BlackSalsoul record offers another essential journey through rhythm, emotion, and transcendence.


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

SML is the quintet of bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann. Their second album, How You Been, finds the supergroup of prolific composer/producers pushing ever further into the hyperrealist, collectivist approach to music creation nascently explored on their debut Small Medium Large, which was lauded as “awe-inspiring” by Glide, “exuberant” by the Los Angeles Times, and “an exciting milestone” by Pitchfork.

How You Been represents a breakthrough in the musical language of the group. This new work was crafted via extensive post-production of recorded improvisations from a handful of shows in a similar fashion to their debut, but whereas Small Medium Large was constructed from analog tapes of the band’s very first (and very modest) shows at bygone Highland Park LA venue ETA, How You Been was built with a far higher level of self-awareness and a far deeper pool of source material.

As SML has evolved and spread out in space-time, their fluencies, both as an improvising unit in performance and as a production team in the studio, have sharpened. At inception the band inspired disparate but distinctive artist comparisons like Essential Logic, Oval, Herbie Hancock’s Sextant, and electric Miles Davis, as well as assorted genre touchpoints like Afrobeat, kosmiche, proto-techno and new-jazz. With How You Been their work manages to both collapse and explode such derivatives, displaying a new, high resolution version of SML, fully-flowered into a new strain of sound, bound to incite its own copycats in due time.

“SML might signal a new iteration of jazz, or it might not be jazz at all, or it might not matter.” - Pitchfork

It’s important to note that SML’s sound wasn’t created in a vacuum. The band is part of an extensive community of creative musicians who collaborate in a multitude of ways, and that community has proven to be essential to a growing family tree of innovative, genre-expanding music. Los Angeles in the 2020s is a musical Petri dish in the same way that Cologne & Dusseldorf were for the birth of Krautrock; Canterbury for progressive rock in late-60s; NYC for No Wave & the Downtown sound in the late 70s and 80s; Chicago for genreless, Tortoise-adjacent sounds in the 90s. The musicians of SML represent the core of a new school within the Los Angeles jazz and improvised music scene that seems to breed infinitely overlapping combinations, including Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet, the Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes trio, Anna Butterss’s own band (as heard on 2024’s Mighty Vertebrate), and various other solo and ensemble projects encompassing every single member of the SML, respectively. Available Friday November 7th, 2025.

Listen: listen.k7.com/e29444dd-0fd1-4859-91d1-6ff8d0730dd0

Tracklist:
1.1Gutteral Utterance
1.2Chicago Four
1.3Taking out the Trash
1.4Plankton
1.5Chicago Three
1.6Daves
1.7Old Mytth
1.8Stepping In / The Loop
1.9Brood Board SHROOM
1.10Odd Evens
1.11How You Been
1.12Moving Walkway
1.13Mouth Words

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

ATANGANA RECORDS PRESENTS: A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH TIME! :
Dive into our latest release, a tribute to the vibrant spirit of Guadeloupean music. This track, born from the improvisational magic of the '70s, weaves together the legacies of the Latour brothers and the soulful essence of jazz. With a rich history of collaboration and creativity, we honor the past while breathing new life into cherished melodies. Experience the rhythm, feel the memories, and let the good vibes flow. Play it loud!

TRACKLIST:

A1. Eddy Latour & His Kombit Band / Lagué Yo
A2. Pascal Latour & Frederic Caracas / Lagué Yo
B1. Pascal Latour & Frederic Caracas / Déni Shaïn Banger

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

Repress!

Oaths were made, plans and maps drawn up. The Spawn has escaped. Wavejumpers spotted off the coast of Scotland. Can you decode The Sound that lurks in the fog?

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