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Review: In 1976, seven Cabo Verdean musicians going by the name Voz Di Sanicolau gathered in a small recording studio in Rotterdam where they laid down an album of fearsome coladeira songs inspired by the music of their home island of Sao Nicolau.

The album took only a few days to record, which may explain the unexpected urgency that fires each track. Treble-soaked electric guitar lines snake back and forth through percussion-and-cavaquinho driven rhythms rooted in the sound of the islands established by the previous generation of Cabo Verdean emigres; subtle keyboards wash through the background, and the vocals, traded between Joana Do Rosario and To-Ze, alternately push the music forward and soar above it. The resulting album is both deeply felt and fiercely executed, and in its grooves one hears the sound of some of the finest Cabo Verdean musicians of their era locked in complete unity of purpose.

It should have been the beginning of something extraordinary; but the pressures of making ends meet forced the musicians back to their day jobs, and Voz Di Sanicolau vanished as quickly as they had appeared, leaving their lone album, Fundo de Mare Palinha, as sole proof of their existence. Forty-four years later the album sounds as fresh as it did the day it was recorded. It is unknown if dutch sound engineer Frans Rolland, who oversaw the recordings, knew he was helping to make history: during these sessions, Joana Do Rosario, whose majestic vocals were crucial to the sound of Voz Di Sanicolau, became the first Cabo Verdean woman ever to appear on a long playing record.

Review: This is a beautiful new project from Lucy Gooch (UK), Black Brunswicker (US) and zake (US)-

Lucy Gooch's vocals become an ocean of loops and washes that float above the Black Brunswicker lap steel swells and zake drones.

Review: Haruomi Hosono was a key player int he 80s music scene, often fusing myriad sounds and styles from all over the world into his music. Another of his key album has been reissued by Light In The Attic this month, while this one comes on Sony and is a truly playful electronic pop gem. He may be one of the most revered figures in the Japanese music industry but his record with its playful melodies and shuffling beats, vocal ad libs and pirouetting grooves all prove Hosono doesnt take himself too seriously.

Review: German Ivan Ave is a core member of the flourishing contemporary beat scene and has put out a coupe of crucial record on labels like Berlin's Jakarta. Now he branches out to Norway's Mutual Intentions with a crisp new EP, Mid Season, on 10". It showcases the dexterity of his voice which goes from offering up classic bloom bap era par's to more stylised Prince-esque deliveries on 'Mid' and downbeat, almost mumble rap styles on 'Names.' Four instrumental versions of the originals are included on the flip and will be sweet in the club, but you can't beat the vocals.

Review: Quite when Record Store Day starts and ends amidst all the vinyl delays we're all suffering from is anyone's guess these days. But this is a record set for that celebration of all things waxy and it is a limited 10" with tracks by Edi Fitzroy and DATC Dubcrew which were all produced by Mikey Dread. It comes on hand numbered copies on solid red, solid green and solid gold coloured vinyl. 'The Gun' kicks off with withering synth work and fat rolling rhythms before 'Invasion' sinks into a much slower, deeper dub. Flipside versions offer more rib rattling bass and pillowy drum

Review: 'Blues & Rhythm, Exotica & Tittyshakers' - if ever there was ever an album sub-title we could buy into, it's probably that. The fifth instalment of the celebrated Gibble Gobble blues compilation series lands and brings with it some of the farthest reaching tracks from the heyday of a sound which, let's face it, seems incapable of ageing, even if it often sounds like the era it was produced in.


Bringing together a stack of iconic names onto one expansive album, everyone will recognise artists like Earl Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Bob Callaway, while only the die-hard will be drawn to this collection by the inclusion of The Voodoos and Touissaint McCall, talent that goes someway towards explaining why we're recommending this one 'til we're blue in the face. A record that will introduce new generations to forgotten greats.

Review: The Advisory Circle (Cate Brooks) is a central cog in the machine that is Ghost Box, one of the most compelling labels to operate in the genre of hauntology in modern times. Brooks' too-perfect muzik is uncanny, reflecting on the grey memories of attempted architectural utopias and 80s library music for TV. These are slow instrumental electro ballads that inspire something of a failed sense of wonder in the listener, and they form a perfect addition to Brooks' extensive catalogue.

Review: A Very Spidey Christmas was first released only on digital platforms back in 2018. It entails five of the Christmas tunes that were first recorded for the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. There is the lovely holiday song 'Spidey-Bells (A Hero's Lament)' by Chris Pine, who is also behind the festive 'Up On The House Top'. Other cast members such as Shameik Moore appear on 'Joy To The World', with Jake Johnson doing a fine turn on 'Deck The Halls' and Jorma Taccone on 'The Night Before Christmas 1967'. These are fun tunes with plenty of warming festive cheer on crystal clear vinyl 10" picture disc that is going to send collectors wild.

Review: This intriguing little 10" LP charts some of the so-called king of rock n' roll's most romantic tunes to ever hit the shelves. On pink and green vinyl comes 'Blue Suede Shoes', 'Blue Moon' and 'Tutti Frutti', reminiscing on a thoroughly missed era of the skiffle monarchist Presley's heyday. Watch out, as it comes with a 16-page booklet full of exclusive track breakdowns and extra notes. Thank you very much.

Review: For a project that has taken thirty years it would be totally inadequate to call the formation of Hypocritical Beatdown a lockdown-project. There's a deep history and psychology in these records by Violators Of The English Language and their spin-off groups Magnets (Rap Group) and ProVerbs, that combines stage-fright, loss, pride, creative-schizophrenia, racial inequality, surrealism, personal politics, brotherhood, artistic-constipation, better judgment, love, anti-love, soul searching and much more.

The one remaining untapped energy source here is perhaps FEAR, refreshing when used correctly, but never imposter syndrome. As maligned and mutated as this British Hip-Hop might appear to be, it could not be more pure. Each member of all of the Hypocritical Beatdown crew were committed to this cause as soon as the doors opened. They rapped on stages before they had even tasted beer or lost their virginity and the curse had already taken hold in the years when these youngsters still had to be back home before dark and it has never left their bloodstreams.

That's why this record NEEDED to be made. Completed, recorded, exorcised, committed to vinyl, rotated and liberated. Not unlike the VHS tape in a well known Japanese horror film, every listened copy, complete with its broken beats, old-school sensibilities and Marmite Mancunian accents, adds to the mystic circle... breaks the dream... some people might even like it. If you were given a chance to go back and meet your teenage self, wouldn't you?

Review: There is no messing when it comes to the techno served up by Umwelt's essential Rave Or Die. Over the course of 14 previous EPs the label has dropped rib-rattling, brain boggling bangers aimed squarely at the floor. This time out the boss himself steps up with Ancient Methods with each providing one solo track. This one comes on limited 10" picture disc so is an extra special one to add to the collection Ancient Methods's 'Accept Light' is a harshly textured industrial banger and Umwelt's 'Shades of Security' is just as caustic and hard edged.

Review: Vladislav Delay can manipulate sound like few others. Where he gets his ideas from is anyone's guess but we're presented with a laid more of them here in the first of five EPs in a series. This one finds the man born Sasu Ripatti deconstructing his soundscapes into whirring machines, metallic textures and chopped dup dubs. It is sound art as much as club music but will still work on the more adventurous dance floors out there. 'Three-Room Problem' in particular is an eerie and unsettling piece but one that leaves you wanting more.

Review: The impact of Weldon Irvine's music across a wealth of genres cannot be overstated with his jazzy piano playing and compositions regularly passed down to newer generations. Artists like Q-Tip and Mos Def are noted admirers of the jazz-funk artist, and the distinct sounds of Irvine echo across the ages in samples etched into hip-hop history. The album version of Time Capsule was originally released in 1973, and this 10" features two versions of 'Deja vu' on the A-side and 'Feelin' Mellow' and 'Watergate --- Don't Bug Me!' on the B.

Review: We've extensively covered the work of Greek electronic music project Neural Network for a long time now, thanks to their compelling fusion of experimental techno and industrial music with themes of malevolent AI and/or cyborg takeover. Mostly active during the 1990s, the trio were instrumental in bringing robotic ideas to EU techno. This reissue of 'Cybernetics' is a big curio, with four new alternate takes on classic neuromantic cuts including 'Authentic' and 'Mechanic'. For those who like to sprinkle a bit of dystopianism into their DJ sets, this EP littered with sinister vocal samples scraped from future-facing TV documentaries abut cyborgs.

Review: Brussels label By the Bluest of Seas is a secret gem of the free jazz and improvisation scene that should get plenty more eyes on it in the wake of this new album from Delphine Dora and Mocke. it is their second long player after one on Okraina Records and it invites you to slip into a dreamstate as languid guitar strumming and drawn out vocals stretch to infinity. Melancholic arpeggios gently rise and fall, there is both tension and tears and a churchy architecture to this which places you at the centre gazing up in awe - no shock really given that it was recorded in an old church in the village of Mauzun in the Puy-de-Dome.

Review: The House Of Love was the name of both a British indie band and that of their debut album. Notably part of the C86 scene in the late 1980s - a catch-all term to describe a wave of bands at the time making jangly indie with a distinctive power-pop song structure, and which was sadly maligned after a dismissal by massively influential radio DJ John Peel - the band's sound fit well into the category and is a suitable precursor for an undeniably British sound which still resounds today, whether exemplified by its lead track 'Christine' or follow-ups 'Shine On' or 'Destroy The Heart'. The reissue is pressed on vinyl for the first time since 1989.

Review: Sasu Ripatti continues to plunge into techno abstraction through his Hide Behind The Silence series. It's but one outlet for the seemingly constant stream of innovative sound emerging from the Finnish pioneer's studio, and on this fourth 10" he's offering up more compelling studies in noise, texture, rhythm and space. 'Death Of A Bassdrum' seems to take aim at techno by burying a 4/4 kick under a twitchy, uncomfortable bed of scuffs and scrapes, while 'Post-Mortem' diverts into space-building sonics where found sounds and artful reverb create a vibrant, three-dimensional space to explore with your mind's eye.

Review: Finnish underground icon Sasu Ripatti returns under his most frequently used pseudonym, Vladislav Delay, for another bout of Dancefloor Classics. The series has already established a loyal following, and the fourth episode is enough to explain why, even if you've not encountered any of the preceding instalments. Music for imagined dancefloors is how the official release information puts it, it quickly becomes clear just how vivid that imagination is. Throwing down a string of footwork inspired cuts, the four tracks here are frantically upbeat and packed with filthy, jacking potential. But they're also deep, at times ghostly - or at least a little eerie - and ground in a desire not just to make people move, but also push sounds forward into new territories. Never an easy line to tread, the overall results hit as hard as the beats themselves.

Review: Back in 2005 we might not have predicted what a phenomenon Ghost Box would become. In the years since, the label has become a beacon for the hauntological exploration of Britain's inherent oddness creeping just below the surface. Julian House's graphic design is a huge part of the label's artistic merit, and it figures his music as The Focus Group follows a similarly aesthetically rigorous direction. There's a pastoral collage quality to Hey Let Loose Your Love which takes you right back to the 70s, with beautiful musical passages offset by surrealist samples and unexpected diversions into the recent history of these wyrd isles.

Review: Originally known as The Cretins before altering their moniker to DeeCracks in 2007, the Austrian-born Vienna-based pop-punk bruisers have become legends of the underground over their past two decades of tenure, which is precisely what 20 Years: A Frantic Effort commemorates, celebrates and self-critiques. Spread out across 3x10" green marbled vinyl LPs, this retrospective compendium of the band's personal favourite cuts has been revitalised with studio magic to add additional finesse, riffs, keys and even vocal harmonies to bring the tracks up to the members' increasingly rising artistic standards, while two new cuts in the form of 'Burnt Out' and 'Where We Belong', top and tail the compilation.

Review: When he's not busy exploring the minutiae of electronic frequencies as Alva Noto, Carsten Nicolai likes to amuse himself with experiments like this one, where he sent magnetic tape and photographic film out to various parts of the world addressed to Mr Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, hoping for the packages to be returned to him. The idea was these magnetic tapes and photosensitive films would pick be exposed to electromagnetic waves and radiation during their respective journeys, and so when he received his parcels back, he digitised the results and made this album, presented as a gatefold 10" with an eight-page booklet.

Review: There's not a huge amount of background we can share on Mysterium, a startlingly beautiful and complex self-titled six-tracker on the always reliable Silver Arrow. A collection of music that lulls you with its blissful moments but still manages to maintain an air of uncertainty about it. A guitar-led dreamscape filled with achingly serene sections, yet underpinned with a real atmosphere that's neither relaxing nor intense, but is ever so-slightly unsettling at times. At least that's true of 'April Food' and 'I Am The Chaos', two tracks that open scoring here. Both seem to build a subtle darkness in comparison with closer 'Turn In', with its quietly rousing and affirming key changes. Taking elements of shoe gaze, beach pop, psychedelic rock, trip hop and more, it's an intoxicating ride through a spectacular unknown.

Review: Alt rock trio julie hail from LA, and their sound belies their youth. There's a brooding intensity that comes through on Pushing Daisies, as they ratchet down their guitar tone in a crunchy tribute to the grunge era and match it with the ethereal atmosphere of shoegaze. It's an addictive sound that calls back to the likes of Veruca Salt and Placebo, but julie have their own message to impart and this six-track EP is the perfect way to get into them. They're the kind of band to get obsessed with, follow them on tour, get your t-shirt signed and watch them grow from album to album. Catch on early, these kids are going places.

Review: Oceanvs Orientalis and Ilhan Ersahin first entered each other's orbits by chance at a performance at Turkey's Cappadox Festival in 2018. Orientalis is renowned for his fusion of Eastern musical motifs and traditions with cutting-edge electronica, while Ilhan Ersahin has long plowed a unique path uniting assorted musical strains from around the world via an exploratory jazz-improv sensibility. Following two tracks ('Mesta' and 'Pire') co-written by Ilhan and OvO and released as collaborations, as well as two more Ersahin / OvO co-writes ('Revenge Of The Wankers' and 'Television') released under OvO's name alone, a fresh and exciting new song, '1980', now heralds a full-length collaboration slated to land in Spring 2024. The track's title hints at a certain nostalgic bent, all while still keeping its gaze firmly fixed on the future as it evokes sun-drenched, bygone good times. The 10" edition adds several extra versions, one of which spotlights the multi-instrumental mastery of Darkside's Dave Harrington, and the other the mesmerizing vocal stylings of Gaye Su Akyol.

Review: Sunshine Sound's Birthday Medley, edited by Francois K, is a vibrant disco and nu-disco fusion that encapsulates the essence of celebratory energy. Side-1 kicks off with the exciting, 'Birthday Medley,' a dynamic blend of disco house and funk elements. Francois K's edit infuses the track with a pulsating rhythm and infectious groove, guaranteed to get listeners on their feet and moving to the beat. On Side-2, 'X Medley' continues the energetic vibe, with Francois K's studio know how adding depth and richness to the cosmic disco atmosphere. The track maintains a lively tempo throughout, accentuated by funky basslines, catchy melodies, and shimmering synths. Overall, Sunshine Sound's Birthday Medley is gem 12" for disco enthusiasts, offering a seamless mix of retro nostalgia and contemporary dancefloor vibes. Kevorkian is a legend of dance music for over 40 years now. If there is anyone's name you can trust, it's his.