Lefto Early Bird showcases the next generation of Belgian jazz artists on its third comp on Sdban Ultra

Belgian-based record label Sdban Ultra get ready to drop their latest groove-heavy compilation ‘Lefto presents Jazz Cats 3’, this May.

Lefto presents Jazz Cats is back with volume 3 and still doing what it does best: putting you in the front row of what the thriving Belgian jazz scene currently has to offer and revealing a melting pot of the musical talent coming out one of the smallest countries in Europe. Never change a winning team they say, so we’re happy to have Belgian DJ and eclectic connoisseur Lefto on board again

Although you expect the compilation to be talking jazz, volume 3 explores a broader array of styles, genres, and sounds than ever before, arriving at a point where the ‘young cats’ of today don’t bother no more. It may focus on the Belgian scene, but let’s face it, seeing the influences, this one could be compiled from all over the world. 

Watch Orson Claeys’s ‘Conversations’ – Live at Music at Mari’s

Another release in less than two years!”, says Lefto. “I am very impressed by the amount of creative “jazz” talent we’ve managed to compile over the last couple of years. Thanks to the internet, young musicians find inspiration from around the globe and incorporate diverse influences into their work. Given the history and heritage of jazz in this country, it has managed to create a healthy jazz scene supported by festivals, venues, press, and labels. Therefore, I am very proud to present to you the third installment of Jazz Cats. This compilation is dedicated to the young and hardworking musicians who are the present and the future of Belgium’s jazz scene.

Tracklist

A1. Oriana Ikomo – NEVER FORGET
A2. Moodprint – Eartha
A3. Kin Gajo – Exit, Gajo!
A4. Adja – Told you so
A5. bodies – brioche
B1. Orson Claeys – Conversations
B2. Bodem – Kleine Mars
B3. HONEY – Bossa dolce
C1. Azmari – Sheep Party
C2. Le Ministère – De l’Amour
C3. Ciao Kennedy – Parcifal Pt. I
D1. echofarmer – beginning would have been outside
D2. Kassius – Escapism
D3. Bruno x Soet x Moene – OTT

Sdban Ultra will releases Jazz Cats Volume 3 on May 3, 2024

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Jeff Mills Presents The Trip

The World’s First Cosmic Opera

What happens on the cosmic journey toward the black hole? What is on the other side of the black hole?

Jeff Mills is set to explore these questions through a performance and an album release, that appeals to the auditory and visual senses.

An art performance focusing on being lost In space

“The Trip” began about leaving Planet Earth and searching the cosmos for a new locations to live. Now, at 23 years later, we are entering a new chapter of the project where we encounter The Black Hole “Black Hole”. A black hole is a celestial object whose gravity is so strong that no information leaks out, so it was impossible to observe it, and it was only a theoretical existence, but its location was identified for the first time in 2011. The latest research shows that it rotates on its own axis. Black holes are physically contradictory entities that are difficult to imagine, but what Jeff Mills is trying to deal with in “The Trip” also overlaps with singularity, which is the beginning or possible end of time and space. Displayed in 5 theoretical scenarios of what could happen after entering through the Black Hole and exiting on the other side.

Special guest: Jun Togawa

The provocative vocalist artist Jun Togawa was invited to participate by Jeff Mills as one of the highlights for this project. Among many talents such as acting and modeling, she is a trailblazing artist representing Japanese new wave, and her emotional songs have an unparalleled impact and continue to break down generational barriers. She is one of the greatest influences on Japanese avant-garde music and media, and her career spans over 35 years.

Jeff Mills, fascinated by Jun’s unique way of singingas well as a commanding stage presence, approached her through the right channels and by the evening of the same day, Jun Togawa agreed and the lyrics had been written. The recording sessions of the collaborated songs which were conducted remotely between their locations in Japan and the US, went smoothly.

Two songs are: Contradiction and Hole. For both songs, Jun added the vocals to the rhythm originally composed by Jeff Mills, and the final synth pad added by Shinichi Yamaguchi was edited by Jeff Mills.
On “Contradiction” (Long Radio Mix), he wanted to include a guitar similar to the style of rock and roll legend Bo Diddley, which is masterfully played by Kazuhide Yamaji of the current Yapoos.

Tracklist

A1. Jeff Mills – Entering The Black Hole
A2. Jeff Mills – Time In The Abstract
B1. Jeff Mills feat. Jun Togawa – Contradiction (Silent Shadow Mix)
B2. Jeff Mills – Wandering
C1. Jeff Mills – When Time Stops
C2. Jeff Mills – Time Reflective
D1. Jeff Mills – Infinite Redshift
D2. Jeff Mills feat. Jun Togawa – Hole

*This double LP is cut in reverse, plays inside out

Releases May 10, 2024





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Discover The Sonic Brilliance Of Bedford’s Underground Dance Music Legend Tony Boinsega

Cold Blow has joined forces with Musique Pour La Danse to deliver an anthology of Tony Boninsegna’s greatest productions and co-productions – many rare or hard-to-find – for the first time.

Featuring 24 restored and remastered tracks stretched across two volumes on vinyl and digital, including a handful of previously unreleased tracks and mixes, and accompanied by detailed sleeve notes by Anniss, Notes From The Underground 1986-1994 is a joyful celebration of one of British dance music’s most under-appreciated artists. The full breadth and depth of Boninsegna’s rave-ready catalogue, as well as an indication of the sheer volume of aliases he utilised during the period, is explored in detail across the two-part compilation.

The story of dance music is littered with hidden heroes and underground activists whose immense contributions have been overlooked, ignored and under-documented. Tony Boninsegna, a producer who made and released countless classic cuts and forgotten gems during the acid house and rave era, is one such example.

Volume one features two previously unreleased recordings that mark his earliest explorations of the emerging house sound (both as The Rhythm Squad, with Richard Compton), alongside touchstone releases such as Zeco’s The Witch Trials (a 1989 production that marked his first outing on vinyl), celebrated workouts recorded with regular collaborator Mykey Tee (Lab Technicians’ bleep-inspired We Gave U Life, Big Showdown’s epic They’re Here and AEK’s mind-mangling, bleep & breaks number ‘Lick It’), and genuinely overlooked gems (the proto-tribal house of Pierrepoint’s acid-smothered ‘Tonnerre’ and saucer-eyed rush of Estudiantes’ Let The Music Into Your Mind).

Volume two continues in a similar vein while devoting more disc space to Boninsegna’s breakbeat-driven productions of the early 1990s. So, alongside more must-have tracks from the producer’s Chill-released projects (Return of The Living Acid’s surging acid thumper Big Dipper, MI7’s twisted bleep and breaks monster Show I, and a couple of killer cuts alongside Mykey Tee as Original Clique), Cold Blow & Musique Pour La Danse have also made room for the proto-jungle brilliance of Ragga Head’s Give The People Junglis, the tongue-in-cheek excellence of Ministry of Fear’s Original Cliché, two top tracks as Napoleon, and the wild, acid breaks breathlessness of Monsoon by Sykosis 451.

Tracklist

Volume 1

A1. Lab Technicians – We Gave U Life
A2. Aural Exciter – U = Euphoria
A3. Original Clique – “F” (Whistle Mix)
B1. Pierrepoint – Tonnerre
B2. A.E.K. – Lick It
B3. Zubbizerretta – Wake The Town (Somnabulist Mix)

C1. Estudiantes – Let The Music Into Your Mind
C2. Zeco – The Witch Trials
C3. Big Showdown – They’re Here
D1. The Rhythm Squad – Animal House (Original Mix)
D2. The Rhythm Squad – Manhunt (Instrumental)
D3. Nine-L – Islands, Part 2

Volume 2

A1. Lab Technicians – We Gave You Life (Original Version)
A2. Nine-L – Untitled (Houston, We Have A Problem B2)
A3. Sykosis 451 – Monsoon
B1. Original Clique – U = Underground
B2. Original Clique – Now Hear Me Now
B3. MI7 – Show I

C1. Napoleon – Fortuna
C2. Napoleon – La Chaux Du Fonds
C3. Ragga Head – Give The People What They Want
D1. Return Of The Living Acid – Big Dipper
D2. Ministry Of Fear – Original Cliché
D3. Nine-L – Untitled (Houston, We Have A Problem A2)

Released February 9, 2024

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Listen: New Hieroglyphic Being album

Listen to Hieroglyphic Being’s Qudaric Surfaces album, features score for abstract animation film.

“Off-world electronica at its most squiggly, relentless & primal” The Wire

”A sonic collection of sci-fi techno and kosmische psychedelia” Inverted Audio

“Hieroglyphic Being produces unique sounds (opening) up a wormhole from Cairo to Darmstadt to Chicago” A Closer Listen

“Quadric Surfaces collects the soundtracks Moss wrote for Parellel Spheres & Figures in Mynd, two parts of an abstract animation film by visual artist Gabriela González Rondon. The film premiered in October 2023 during Videodroom / Film Festival Ghent.

In her surreal and trippy gem of analog filmmaking Gonzales draws up whole universes of movement and color that seem to share a spiritual space with like-minded sci-fi writers such as Ursula K Le Guin or filmmaker John Whitney. The soundtrack for this dreamy experiment was provided by kindred soul and psychonaut Hieroglyphic Being.”

Edition of 500 copies on heavy-weight black vinyl. 45rpm for maximum sound quality.

Released February 16, 2024

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Sdban Records Revives Legendary Library Gems 1976 – 1981

Sdban Records reissues parts of the library series ‘A Special Radio ~ TV Record’ release on the Belgian based Selection Records between 1976 and 1981 on vinyl. Sdban Records teams up with publisher Hans Kusters wo recently bought this catalog.

Sdban Records continues its reissues of the legendary library series A Special Radio – TV Record with Selection 23, releasing a variety of notable tracks from the 70s library label together on a physical compilation for the first time. With this release, the label continues the vinyl reissues of the Belgian imprint ‘Selection Records,’ featuring tracks originally released between 1976 and 1981.

Essentially, the tracks take you through a cinematic musical landscape where funk and soul merge with a hint of jazz, always evoking a sense of familiarity.

One name that immediately springs to mind is René Costy. From this virtuoso and insatiable artist, the compilation ‘Expectancy’ was previously released. With Strange Dream and Crystal Waltz, he shows once again that he was not only a versatile composer but also a curious jazz cat. With Space Shuttle Jazz, pianist and harmonica Jacques Siroul shows his fascination for synthesizers. Which, as a composer, earned him an unofficial title as an expert in music on demand. This, and much more, make Selection 23 a must-have for fans of previous compilations like Beat Action, Funky Chicken, and Funky Chimes!

Tracklist

A1. Bob Porter – Chiang Mai
A2. Jordan Stevy – No Thoroughfare
A3. René Costy – Strange Dream
A4. Stern Selection – Imagination
A5. Leonard D Messina – Osmoses
B1. Jordan Stevy – By Pass
B2. Stern Selection – Black World
B3. Jacques Siroul – Space Shuttle Jazz
B4. René Costy – Crystal Waltz
B5. Jordan Stevy – Pink Donkey Pop
B6. Bob Porter – Chief Of Freen Bean

More releases from the same label here

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The Axis Expressionist Series continues in 2024

For Part 04 ‘X-Rax Zulu’ Jeff Mills went into the studio again and created ‘Just Like A (Vernacular Objects)’, a new mix of ‘Vernacular Objects’ (previously released 2020 only in digital as ‘Every Dog Has Its Day. Vol. 13’) and produced three new tracks exclusively for this vinyl edition.

X-Ray Zulu refers all the things that could be defined as correct, as right and as perfect in an imperfect world and context. It serves as a barometric meter of all harmonious things. And with this balance, there is a certain amount of clarity and certainty about what is connected to this subject. A strong mind or opinion, passion, dedication and devotion. Essentially, this release is about undeniably and incontestable truth. – Millsart

The Axis Expressionist Series:

A collection of vinyl and limited digital releases, curated by Millsart, an alias of Jeff Mills, of his most eclectic and transcendent compositions that derive from his Every Dog Has Its Day project as well as new unreleased works.

Vernacular creations that fall off from the “other side” of the Electronic Music tree, this project is designed for the experienced Techno music listener, and its goal is to reflect upon the pure artistry of the craft of storytelling. A realization between music and life.

Whereas “dancing” is the goal of Dance Music, the goal of this music is about “reflecting on the complexity and simplification of life”. Soundtracks for people in their evolutionary process.

More releases from the same label here

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