Pop International

Artist: 2RAUMWOHNUNG Label: 2RAUM

Artist: PATRICK RICHARDT Label: GRHVC

Artist: KEELE Label: ROOK.

Artist: FORTUNA EHRENFELD Label: GHOTE

Artist: ERIC PFEIL Label: TRIKO

Record Label: Jasmine Style: Rock & Roll

CLASSIC ALABAMA BROADCAST RECORDING FROM 1995 - PRESENTED ACROSS 2 CDS Record Label: Left Field Media Style: Rock/Pop

Gatefold. Berlin duo The/Das release their sophomore album, Exit Strategies, on Life And Death. The absorbing 12-tracker is the result of a period of searching that finds the new line-up of Fabian Fenk and Philipp Koller combine multiple ideas, layers, fragments and sounds and refine their distinct idea of techno tenderness. It makes for a soothing and escapist 60 minute listen that works as well at home, on headphones, as it does loud in the club. The new album is a perfect blend of the pair’s Berlin techno roots with a devotion to organic sounds and cinematic details that makes it a real trip for the head, heart and heel from start to finish. More house influenced than their previous works on labels like Sinnbus, Krakatau and DJ Tennis’s Life And Death, their artistic vision ties it all together as the duo continues to push each other, bounce ideas back and forth and eventually distill them into something fresh and new. The album itself was an unhurried affair made from various sketched starting points collected over three years of research. Influenced from their travels, a decade of DJ gigs and shared musical experiences, they then headed into the studio for three intense months to arrange, rework, jam out new material, edit and collate all their sounds and ideas. Finally, they spent three weeks behind the mixing desk, shaping the whole lot into one complete form. Made using an array of drum machines and with a new focus on sampling, the album has experimental loops, sounds and rhythms imbued within, and lyrics that act as textural and emotive interventions, adding to the overall flow Record Label: Life And Death Style: Pop

D.Code / Gatefold. Love makes the world go around. Two, the second album by The Soul Session, is full of love. Ralph Kiefer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer from South Germany embarks on a stylistically diverse journey into Soul, Jazz, Funk and World Music. Being a highly respected session musician in the jazz as well as the crossover scene, Kiefer made a serious impact in 2011 with one, the first Soul Session album. one was built on a solid backbeat of Soul, Hip Hop and Funk, while two now takes a step further into a spiritual and eclectic dimension. Quantraversa featuring the voice of Las Vegas based neo-soul queen Georgia Anne Muldrow is the mind- blowing opener of this album, a truly deep and intense rhythmic statement Record Label: Agogo Style: Pop

The only album by Euphoria, released on the Heritage label in 1969, is a terrific sunshine pop masterpiece filled with dazzlingly bright songs built around radiant vocal harmonies and solid arrangements, echoing artists such as The Mamas & The Papas, Free Design and The 5th Dimension, but with a distinctive lysergic edge. The band's sudden break-up would lead its members to two new different projects: Bermuda Triangle and Pacheco & Alexander. Presented in facsimile gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180g vinyl. Music genres are labelled for a good reason. They can be of great help when it comes to putting sounds into a few words. This terrific album is usually filed with the "sunshine" tag on it and it is hard to think of a better way to describe the dazzlingly bright songs recorded in 1969 by this American band. The core of the group was formed by Roger and Wendy, an acoustic duo that was a regular performer at NYC's Greenwich Village scene of folk clubs. Two more members, Tom Pacheco and Sharon Alexander, joined them in Euphoria during their brief existence. The band signed to Heritage Records and recorded this fantastic self-titled debut, featuring songs mostly written by Tom Pacheco and led vocally by Roger and Wendy. Their music is built around radiant vocal harmonies and solid arrangements, echoing artists such as The Mamas & The Papas, Free Design and The 5th Dimension, but with a distinctive lysergic edge. 'there Is Now', the opening track, is a beautiful example of the psych twist that eventually spiced up the strongest songs of the album, as so is ide The Magic Carpet'. On the other hand, ¶ucson' or ou Must Forget' are dreamy folk numbers that show the band's smoother side. The catchy 'calm Down' makes you wonder about Euphoria's commercial appeal if they had been strongly backed by promotional efforts... However, by the time the LP came out in 1969, this kind of folk-pop sound had become out of fashion and live performances with top selling artists such as Van Morrison, Iron Butterfly or Sly & The Family Stone were not enough to reach decent sales figures. Euphoria disbanded shortly after their only album was released and two new different projects followed, Bermuda Triangle and Pacheco & Alexander, pursuing more contemporary sound Record Label: Vinilissimo Style: Pop

Re-issue! With Caravan Palace, the next big hype from France is announcing, because Caravan Palace are for swing what Gotan Project is for the Tango. At the Womex World Music Fair in 2007 they sparked a lot of enthusiasm with their mixture of traditional Manouche jazz, swing and electro. On over 40 international festival appearances, the band received overwhelming reviews last year. With their debut album, they rushed to 15th place in the album charts in France. No wonder the 6-piece band is a natural force. Their mixture of virtuoso jazz and clever French-house elements is not only unique, but also goes straight into the blood. The 15 album titles move into a finely dosed Elektronica-fueled dance noise, somewhere between Daft Punk and Billie Holiday, Justice and Django Reinhardt. With the exalted singer and photo artist Colotis Zoé at the helm, each song becomes a masterpiece. In addition to the big MySpace hits like "Jolie Coquine" and "Brotherswing" there are fascinating inserts like the Vocoder-Scat-singing in "Star Scat", the glamorous ballad "Ended With The Night" and the great duet "Suzy", where Cab Calloway with Sophie Ellis Bextor and Vitalic seem to enjoy a Groovebox. For more traditional pieces such as the "L'Envol" arranged in the Django Reinhardt style, there is also space for the violin Valse, which is dominated by violins and guitars, and the "Kopfnicker-Interlude" sofa. Conclusion: An extremely versatile and highly energetic mix, which after the German album release and live gigs in the top locations of Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin in May 2009 the electro-swing wave also here to one of the hottest Trends. Playfully easy, extremely catchy and enormously danceable. Record Label: Mvka Style: Pop

Toronto rock band BIBLICAL's sophomore full-length, The City That Always Sleeps, is a deep dive into sludgy psych rock that explores spaces, textures and tones beyond the outer limits. Heavy, propulsive and totally hypnotic, The City That Always Sleeps is BIBLICAL at its weapons-grade best, leveraging rhythm and dynamics to explosive effect. Smashing supersaturated guitar riffs, piled-high psych production and the ghostly croon of bassist/vocalist Nick Sewell unite to create monstrous music that fires off svelte, snaking grooves and turbulent, gorgeous chaos. Molten music for modern times! Record Label: Tee Pee Style: Psychedelic Rock

All five original Beach Boys members (Brian, Carl, Dennis, Al and Mike) plus early recruit Bruce Johnston, got together on Independence Day, 1981 for a beautifully laid back and hugely enjoyable show. This broadcast recording of the entire set finds the group on good form, clearly delighted to have Brian back playing live Record Label: Parachute Style: Pop

Record Label: Metro Tins/Union Square Music Style: Pop

SLIM DIGIPACK EDITION - 80'S ROCK, POP & SOUL SONGS Record Label: Crimson Style: Pop

SLIM DIGIPACK EDITION - 70'S DISCO, ROCK, POP, SOUL Record Label: Crimson Style: Pop

Tricky returns with his 13th album, Ununiform on his own label False Idols via !K7 Music. It’s a delicate, storming, intricate album that sees Tricky take perhaps his most radical step yet – a journey into happiness and contentment. It’s a record that shows the legendary British producer confront his legacy, history, family – even death itself. And in all of this, he finds the strangest, least familiar thing – peace Record Label: False Idols Style: Pop

Digipack. Berlin duo The/Das release their sophomore album, Exit Strategies, on Life And Death. The absorbing 12-tracker is the result of a period of searching that finds the new line-up of Fabian Fenk and Philipp Koller combine multiple ideas, layers, fragments and sounds and refine their distinct idea of techno tenderness. It makes for a soothing and escapist 60 minute listen that works as well at home, on headphones, as it does loud in the club. The new album is a perfect blend of the pair’s Berlin techno roots with a devotion to organic sounds and cinematic details that makes it a real trip for the head, heart and heel from start to finish. More house influenced than their previous works on labels like Sinnbus, Krakatau and DJ Tennis’s Life And Death, their artistic vision ties it all together as the duo continues to push each other, bounce ideas back and forth and eventually distill them into something fresh and new. The album itself was an unhurried affair made from various sketched starting points collected over three years of research. Influenced from their travels, a decade of DJ gigs and shared musical experiences, they then headed into the studio for three intense months to arrange, rework, jam out new material, edit and collate all their sounds and ideas. Finally, they spent three weeks behind the mixing desk, shaping the whole lot into one complete form. Made using an array of drum machines and with a new focus on sampling, the album has experimental loops, sounds and rhythms imbued within, and lyrics that act as textural and emotive interventions, adding to the overall flow Record Label: Life And Death Style: Pop

Digipack. Love makes the world go around. Two, the second album by The Soul Session, is full of love. Ralph Kiefer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer from South Germany embarks on a stylistically diverse journey into Soul, Jazz, Funk and World Music. Being a highly respected session musician in the jazz as well as the crossover scene, Kiefer made a serious impact in 2011 with one, the first Soul Session album. one was built on a solid backbeat of Soul, Hip Hop and Funk, while two now takes a step further into a spiritual and eclectic dimension. Quantraversa featuring the voice of Las Vegas based neo-soul queen Georgia Anne Muldrow is the mind- blowing opener of this album, a truly deep and intense rhythmic statement Record Label: Agogo Style: Pop

I wanted to create a world that made the listener feel like they were floating,” says Tim Mislock. “But I didn’t want it to feel like floating in an unnatural or forced environment – like a sensory deprivation tank – I wanted it to feel like you were in a boundless, organic space like a lake or an ocean.” This feeling of elemental immersion that Mislock has created is on his debut solo album, Now is the Last Best Time, a guitar-centric ambient record inspired by the Alzheimer’s caretaker experience. Throughout the last decade, Mislock has watched his stepfather deteriorate at the hands of the disease while his mother fulfils the role of caregiver – her love, dedication and energy required evermore as time goes on. The purpose of the concept record was twofold. “I wanted to raise awareness of the disease,” Mislock says. “The numbers of people suffering from Alzheimer’s is growing with each generation. As the parents of those in my generation grow older, Alzheimer’s disease will affect more and more families. I also wanted to develop a historical document to thank my mother and tell her that her generosity and kindness have not gone unnoticed.” It’s a record that envelops the listener in a deep fog, where guitars fizz and crackle among melodic dips and glides; electronics pulse, hum, and whir through the compositions like wind. It’s rooted in emotions, ones that Mislock has experienced firsthand, as he says. “The disease has changed the way I think about time and the importance of being present. I began focusing on creating a musical place where I could vent my fears and emotions about what my family was going through. Upwards of 70% of spousal or familial caretakers predecease the Alzheimer’s patient they are caring for and I was afraid of losing my mom. These musical worlds became places to express and explore those emotions.” Mislock is a previous member of The Antlers and Holly Miranda and has just wrapped up his debut run in the original Broadway cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, worked closely with Dave Harrington (one half of Darkside with Nicolas Jaar), someone he admires greatly. “I’ve always looked up to Dave; he has been a torchbearer for me musically. I knew that Dave was the only person who could help me visualise the music, that he’d force me into improvisational and sonic territory that I needed help accessing. He’s my musical shaman.” Over the course of a year, the two worked to preserve the natural essence of the music and the emotive charge that sparked it. Being rooted in the personal and the human, it had to be by its very nature, imperfect. This was something Mislock embraced. “Technology has progressed to a point where music can be inhumanely perfect and I wanted to leave imperfections in these songs to make sure the human element was felt. I wanted it to feel like digital components in a human world, versus human components in a wholly digital existence.” The album is named after a passage in the Alzheimer’s memoir of Thomas DeBaggio, entitled Losing My Mind. “In one of his entries was the phrase “now is the last best time.” It resonated with me, this heartbreaking description of what struggling with the disease can feel like, not only to the patient, but also for the caretakers, and even more broadly, for the whole family. Personally, I think it’s a call to action—to live in the present, for tomorrow is unknown.” While the album is vastly influenced by the stalwarts of the ambient world – Eno, Stars of the Lid, Eluvium – and some more modern minimalist composers such as Max Richter and Jonny Greenwood, there’s one particular piece of music that connected deeply with Mislock during the process. “The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars was a huge influence because it deals with such a tragic event but, musically, it creates an emotional world that is somehow grounded in respect and reverence for the event itself. I wanted to borrow from that idea, since Alzheimer’s impacts so many people. I wanted to be respectful to their struggles and emotions.” Ultimately, the record is a sonic exploration of respect that pays homage to his greatest influence: his mother. Record Label: !K7 Style: Pop