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​With help from Karaoke Kalk, Mimsy scavenge & mould sonic fragments into a wayward, yet warm & welcoming world outside reality tunnel constraints & away from human folly, but thoughtfully scatter the route with folk, acid pop & kindly vocal snippets to guide you back in case the endless possibilities are too bewildering.

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»Ormeology« by Mimsy, previously known as Wechsel Garland and Wunder, is an album that whirrs and flickers, seeking to mediate between the tangible world and the intangible by blurring the boundaries between words and sounds and space. It is an archipelago that is in many ways connected to what surrounds it, while at the same time opening up a space of its own. 

mimsy.de 
telekinetic-bakery.tumblr.com 
karaokekalk.de

Creditsvoices on 
2,4,7 Lydia Schmidt (additional instruments) 
11 Lilia Katherine & Andrea Hernandez 
12 Wolfram Wire

So another sedate trawl through the world of slow music with a healthy and long overdue global injection, not to mention those old ambient, electronic and dreamy pop favourites, all neatly packaged in an hour long audible candy bar, perfect for late night musical munchies.

Innesti - Narrative Forms (Self Release)
Bremer McCoy - Natten (Self Release)
Ballaké Sissoki - Nan Sira Madi (No Format!)
Guy Buttery - Kya Baat (Riverboat)
Vanishing Twin - Phase One Million (Fire Records)
Monde UFO - Lying On The Ground (Self Release)
HTRK - Kiss Kiss and Rhinestones (N & J Blueberries)
De Beren Gieren - Less Is Endless (Sdban Ultra/N.E.W.S.)
Brett Naucke - Rose Water (American Dreams)
Nueen - Moving II (Quiet Time Tapes)
Louf - Kilopascal (Omena)
Other Lands - Pine Barrens (Circles And Phases)
Motoko & Myers - Gaze Brace (Soda Gong)
Reuben Vaun Smith - Truth (Soundway)

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​If you're struggling with the concept of work after the weekend then the new Future Museums LP for Aural Canyon of rhythmic ambient, New Age nods and fluffy kosmische constructs should help ease the reality check & get you to the photocopier on time.

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Harpoon of Sunlight exists inside the infamous Texas summer. In the liminal space between shade and a blinding heat. In that sigh of relief as the sun dips below the tree line and a long awaited breeze announces it's presence. Recorded in quarantine (but not isolation) between June & August 2020, Harpoon emerged and transformed itself after weeks of demos attempting to perfect certain percussion sounds. Originally intended as an hour and a half long album exercising patience and repetition, the most melodic moments were cutaway to form the first vinyl release for both Future Museums and Aural Canyon. This is a statement on heat, on the pleasure of sunlight, and compassion surviving a historically tragic and traumatic cycle of seasons.

Credits
Written, performed & produced by Neil Lord 
Mastered by Dylan Cameron at Stassney Studios 
Art & Layout by Samantha Wendel​

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Sunday salutations from the RVNG Intl. diaspora who have kindly supplied a dressing gown, slipper & supplement friendly selection of New Age noodles, weightless folk, wispy pop & a couple of weirdy wobblers just to keep you on your toes, as you will have to get dressed sometime.

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Salutations signals a series of meetings, greetings, group assemblies and exercises along the invisible plane created through correspondence. This is the inaugural compilation of new music from RVNG, inspired in part by a collaboration with Adult Swim. 

The question of how similar we are arises in the simple form of contact, and how we choose to embrace the potential of that moment and one another. Through correspondence, we connect, communicate, and form community. At first, correspondents with one another, and through the processes of collaboration and transmission, we correspond to parallel and intersecting collective cores. 

This eternal network, perhaps informed (consciously or subconsciously) by some celestial or spiritual force, becomes a portal to practice social responsibility and an access point to a wider, inclusive universe of information. In turn, the network becomes a human phenomenon, as well as a potent demonstration of art and collectivism. As the world heals, and evolves through future changes, having this network in place provides a vessel to and grow / glow beyond our corporeal state.

CreditsMastered by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering, Bonn, Germany 
Artwork by Will Work For Good​

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I'd probably recommend this LP just to wig people out with the cover & make my Instagram feed look cooler, but fortunately the new LP from Dr. Joy for Idee Fixe Records is a desert wind warmed, kosmische Americana, freak folking, space rocking, double dropping trip and a half. Jump on the bus.

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Post punk leaps into the kosmische metaverse to be overwhelmed by the oneness of all things & decides to work through its anger issues at the dreamy synth pop workshop run by Baltimore's Smoke Bellow analysts at the Trouble In Mind Records institute in this illuminating fusion.

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Transcontinental, experimental duo Smoke Bellow have been at it since 2012, relocating from Australia to Baltimore, MD & back again and then BACK AGAIN (now firmly settled in Baltimore). The duo released the “Blooming/Middling” LP in 2014, followed by “Isolation 3000” in 2018 (both on Baltimore label Ehse Records) After a line-up shuffle, they eventually recruited one of their favorite drummers and dear friend, Emmanuel Nicolaidis (Thank You, Oh Hang). which found the duo refining their sound into a dizzyingly attractive mixture of kosmiche serenity, minimalist composition, test-card psychedelia, and highlife guitar. 

With “Open for Business” the three members set out to create a set of songs more immediate and bare than previous outings. The album title itself is a cheeky reference to Maryland governor Larry Hogan’s less than inspired motto “we’re open for business”. Half of the songs were written in a room together and the second half via email (for obvious reasons). At the time they were listening to a lot of post punk and were struck with the partnership of drums and bass as propulsive instruments. The trio started writing songs around that idea - with the rhythm as a brace to hang their decorations. 

Sonically, Smoke Bellow are inspired by disparate sources. The heyday of Compass Point studios’ famed rhythm section of Sly and Robbie sustained them for months. Others included good old VU, ESG, guitar hero Zani Diabate, The Raincoats (especially their under-appreciated second album, Odyshape), the frenetic sound collisions of the Flying Lizards, the ever warm blanket of Yo La Tengo, the evolving repetition of Stereolab, the understated genius of Asa Osborne, as well as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. The David Byrne/ Robert Wilson "Knee plays" reminded them of the joy of the spoken word set to music. Lyrically, Best & McHugh drew from life in Baltimore, from isolation (again), memories of life in Melbourne, their friends and each other. “We wanted to talk about resilience and resistance.” Says Best. Recording and mixing took place between a remote cabin in the Smoky Mountains and Tempo House in Baltimore with Jared Paolini. “Maybe Something” includes cello from Owen Gardner (Horse Lords). Words on "Night Light" by Daniel Stephensen.

CreditsSmoke Bellow are: Meredith McHugh, Christian J. Best, Emmanuel Nicolaidis 

Recorded at home by Smoke Bellow 
Additional recording and mixing by Jared Paolini at Tempo House in Baltimore, MD 
Mastered by Mikey Young 
Album photos by Victoria Hannan 
Album layout by Owen Gardner 

This record is dedicated to Alice Edgerton​

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Club constructs and IDM get lost in an ambient fog, slow down to avoid collision and decide taking it easy rather than than jumping around getting all sweaty is the way to go in Harry Rodger 's fine slowtronic sojourn.

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‘New Metrical Resources’ is the debut album from Mancunian musician, DJ and producer Harry Rodger, and the inaugural release on his label Grey Focus. It is a collection of tracks which playfully explore club-influenced electronic music by utilising and engaging with alternative meters and time signatures. 

On ‘Corner (750k)’ and ‘Dawlish’ polyrhythm and polymeter intertwine with metrical dissonance and Euclidean rhythms. Melodies twinkle over mid-tempo drums in ‘Kindling’. Pops of humanity pervade the technologically focused sound world in the form of vocal chops and washing up bubbles on ‘Shepherd Patentee’. Plucked piano strings resonate through warbled echoes on ‘All for That’ while wonky grooves persist throughout ‘The Second Floor’ and ‘Roy Keane’s Late’. Halftime and triplet grooves in 9/4 propel ‘Wanna Go For (Pints Or)’ forward, before lush pads and ethereal breaks finish the album on ‘Fine Form (Make Me Lucky)’. 

Across nine tracks an open, airy and fully realised auditory world passes through darker and more jarring textures, while always making use of 3D space. The album is an enjoyable, rewarding and personal recontextualisation of a disruptive 18 months through a musical approach to dance music. Harry’s reference points range from the cinematic, club compositions of Leon Vynehall and Floating Points to the 8-bar structure of grime instrumentals, the warped basslines of UK techno and the ambient sensibilities of Kara-Lis Coverdale.​

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Vintage library music & kaftan wearing pop meet good natured, blue eyed psychedelic soul in this lovely laidback meeting of vintage inclined minds from Maston and L'Eclair for Innovative Leisure Records.

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Maston released his debut album, Shadows, in 2013, and moved from his native Los Angeles to Amsterdam for a several year stint sitting in with Dutch musician Jacco Gardner’s band. It was during this period that Maston wrote and recorded his second album Tulips (2017). Influenced by European film and library music, the largely instrumental Tulips was released to critical acclaim, garnering comparisons to Ennio Morricone, Sven Libaek, & Piero Umiliani. The record was accompanied by several 16mm films directed by Maston, and the LP’s limited private press release on his own Phonoscope label has become highly sought after among crate diggers and collectors alike.

Following Tulips, he began producing and mixing records for other artists, including his collaboration with Pedrum Siadatian (Allah-Las) as PAINT, whose first two LP’s were produced and recorded by Frank. In April 2021 Maston released his third album, Panorama, on the legendary library music label KPM, bringing his soundtrack influences full circle and firmly cementing himself as a contemporary composer.

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Pull up a chair in your favourite dimly lit, late night basement jazz club, Lady Blackbird will be on stage shortly with her intimate, 20th century yet timeless take on sparsely accompanied vocal jazz for Foundation Music.

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With a voice that has stopped critics in their tracks, Lady Blackbird is a revelatory new talent with music that transcends the jazz scene through which the LA-based artist is rooted. Reflecting influences as varied as Billie Holiday, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner and Chaka Khan, with critics drawing comparisons to Adele, Amy and Celeste, Lady Blackbird’s distinct and beguiling talent is not one to be missed. 

Honouring the great's has come as a musical process to Lady Blackbird, having recorded her highly anticipated debut album Black Acid Soul in legendary Studio B (Prince’s room) in Sunset Sound, produced by Grammy-nominated Chris Seefried. 

Minimal yet rich, classic yet timely, the album connects backwards to Miles Davis (his pianist, Deron Johnson, plays Steinway Baby Grand, Mellotron and Casio Synth throughout) and forwards to Pete Tong (he made the Bruise mix of ‘Collage’ his Number Two Essential Selection tune of 2020) and, yes, Victoria Beckham – Matthew Herbert’s remix of second single ‘Beware The Stranger’ soundtracked the designer’s Spring/Summer 2020 Fashion show. 

Its 11 tracks have a sound, feeling and attitude that speak of Lady Blackbird's deep experiences in music.
CreditsProduced by Chris Seefried 
A&R by Ross Allen 

Deron Johnson playing Steinway Baby Grand, Mellotron, Casio Synth 
Jon Flaugher playing Double Bass 
Jimmy Paxson playing Drums, Percussion 
Chris Seefried playing Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar 
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews playing Trumpet 

Recorded and Mixed By Seth Atkins Horan 
Mastered By Bernie Grundman, At Bernie Grundman Mastering LA CA 
Recorded at Sunset Sound LA CA 
Mixing at Gnu Gnome LA CA​

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