Label Description: Feral Grace was written around old childhood places reclaimed by nature, or replaced by new housing estates. Places long forgotten, their purpose discarded as the world moved on. Yet the memories stay there, caught in the undergrowth, thought of once in a while.
We remember gathering leaf moss from the woods for our tomato plants. Building dams in shallow streams. Filling our wellies with frog spawn and carrying it home like treasure. Small acts that felt large at the time.
Fishing banks where we spent hours. Not talking, just sharing food. Two cans of shandy bass and egg sandwiches. The water long drained and the people gone, but if you look hard enough you can still see the faint outline of where it once was.
Some places still hold the paths where people once walked to work. The tracks remain cut into the land, but the work itself has gone. Trades smashed during the years of Thatcher, ripping communities apart. That memory still lives on. You see it when a scab walks into the pub. Some things are never forgotten.
The music on Feral Grace sits between then and now. A bridge between memory and the present day. A last spell cast before those memories fade and the fingerprints disappear.
Who will know we were here at all?
Perhaps only a distant echo left behind in our Feral Grace.
Written, Mixed, Produced and Mastered By The Black Dog – 353
Label Description: THE SECOND STUDIO ALBUM FROM THE NORWEGIAN EXTREME METAL PIONEERS, COMPRISING MEMBERS OF ARCTURUS, THORNS, MAYHEM & 1349.
Mortem was originally known as the Norwegian cult band which preceded Arcturus. Formed by Marius Vold & Steinar Sverd Johnsen in 1989, Mortem was one of the first black metal bands to crawl out of the woodwork in Norway, releasing the highly coveted and brutal ‘Slow Death’ demo, with Euronymous & Dead of Mayhem acting as producer and cover artist respectively (whilst also featuring Hellhammer on session drums). After the release of ‘Slow Death’, the band was laid to rest, with members going on to form and feature in acclaimed titans such as Arcturus and Thorns, both of which would become mainstays in the black metal scene and beyond.
It wasn’t until 2019, when Mortem’s studio debut ‘Ravnsvart’ was released, and the magic of old undoubtedly returned with that same spirit and brutality of the original incarnation, whilst injecting new elements to form an opus of ferocious yet atmospheric horror. This was followed soon after by the fully re-recorded and re-worked ‘Slow Death’ tracks.
And now Mortem returns with new ode to the dark, ‘Mørketid’. The album presents an expansion and marked progression over the debut, with brooding mid-paced monumental riffs interspersed with periods of hyperspeed black metal. The album presents eight tracks of savage yet eerie and also often epic Black Metal of the highest order, adorned with the indomitable keyboard textures of Sverd, along with Hellhammer’s unmistakable percussive prowess, and the returning vicious snarls of vocalist Marius Vold.
‘Mørketid’ was recorded at Toproom Studio in Norway, by Børge Finnstad & Kevin Kleiven.
Label Description: The Bug aka Kevin Richard Martin launches his brand new LADYBUG single series on his own PRESSURE imprint with this seductive opener, his latest collaboration with Berlin-based producer and performer Dis Fig (aka Felicia Chen).
Replacing the “tunnel sound” of their 2020 In Blue collaborative album with the hallucinatory heat haze of ‘Vanishing’, Martin and Chen return with a study in emotional desolation, set adrift on a deeper-than-thou low-end theory. Yet perversely, it results in the most alluring transmission yet from this pair of musical nomads. Musically gorgeous, emotionally devastating.
Unexpectedly, the EP conjures the widescreen expansiveness of the devastated Harry Dean Stanton wandering the sun-baked desert of Paris, Texas. But instead of Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas score and its Blind Lemon Jefferson blues inflections, it’s the super-heavyweight beat, bass and ambient drone of The Bug’s desolation dub that soundtracks Dis Fig’s tale of post-break-up trauma. The swoonsome sonic humidity recalls an evolved King Midas Sound, reimagined for a lovesick Gen Z. A modern lover’s rock for 50,000-watt sound system worshippers.
The ‘Numb Mix’ is no less compelling, just a hundred fathoms deeper. An irresistible slow-motion narcosis, landing heavily and beautifully. Imagine a fictitious fusion of prime Massive Attack and classic Basic Channel, yet one that remains unmistakably Bug-like. This stripped-down mix will nonchalantly level clubs or transfix hometrippers alike with its zonal, sub-heavy momentum and bewitchingly levitational atmospherics.
For the headz, the accompanying versions and dubs once again reflect Martin’s well-documented love of Scientist’s classic productions, while further amplifying his insatiable bass addiction. The sound-lab psychedelia rivals the dubbed-out delirium of On-U Sound at its most exploratory.
Ken Li 2026
Music / Production : The Bug Lyrics : Dis Fig Mastered : Frederic Alstadt / Mont Analogue Masters
Label Description: Nova Mitologia é um deselogio aos tempos que nos são contemporâneos. Bruto, maquinal, acídico. Derrotado, magmático, contemplativo. Explorativo por natureza, não foi planeado — foi sendo feito. Do EBM ao industrial mais barulhento, com lamirés ambientais e outsider-folk, houve preferência pelas tecnologias neo-arcaicas e a sujeição ao erro. Conta com a nobre participação de Vile Karimi, Violeta Azevedo e Inês Malheiro, que elevam e transportam o disco para novos territórios que sozinho seriam impossíveis.
Miguel Béco – Música, trabalho técnico e gráfico Inês Malheiro – Voz e efeitos (faixa 7) Vile Karimi – Sintetizadores e efeitos (faixa 1) Violeta Azevedo – Flauta transversal e efeitos (faixas 5 e 6)
Label Description: Tibshelf bring a new album to Cruel Nature: The Effete Descendants Of Robber Barons Are Poison To Civilisation.
The result of infinite splicing and pasting, The Effete Descendants.. is a layered cake of charred beats, morphing time and ecstatic repetition. The album channels both the Dusseldorf and the Jamaica of the 1970’s alongside vintage EDM, dancehall, the lyrical lament of Remains and the avalanching angst-pop of McBride. While tracks You Better and McBride might aggravate rhythmic norms, Champs and I Do Like A travel direct, the album veering from disorientation to frazzled urgency in reflection of the producer’s erratic brain.
The words to McBride are adapted from the novel A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride.
Label Description: A Lily – aka British-Maltese musician and founder of Phantom Limb James Vella – releases Id-Dar Tal-Missier, a collection of dark and mythological ambient-doom-folk compositions laced with his signature deep moodsetting.
Vella wrote and performed the instrumentation on Id-Dar Tal-Missier himself, recording at home and creating finished pieces layer by layer. Though the main body of composition is based on guitar and voice, Vella’s list of instruments performed also includes banjo, cello, organ, xylophone, an ancient Chinese harp named guzheng, and drumkit, amounting to subtle and intelligent arrangements, heavenly textures and a more song-based approach to the work he is best known for. Present here are verses and choruses, as if pop music, but also hazy, dreamy journeys through nocturnal sparseness and strangeness.
A few contributions from Vella’s friends also grace the record: Mercury Prize Nominee C Duncan lends lush choral vocals to “Banana Moth” and (yndi halda co-founder) Daniel Neal performs violin across several pieces.
Often inspired by non-musical forms, Vella writes that Id-Dar Tal-Missier was instead created under the influence of sensory experiences. He lists filmmakers Werner Herzog and Apichatpong Weerasuthakul; the TV show Stranger Things; his dog Sully; the (“painstaking”) process of writing his first novel; books by Cormac McCarthy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Cheever and Carson McCullers; travels around India, South America and the Middle East.
Mixed by Julian Tardo Mastered by John Hannon Photography by Mark Vella Design by David S. Blanco
Label Description: With Konstellationen, Camilla Pisani explores language as a fluid and universal force, extending beyond words into sound, gesture, symbols, and even the movements of the stars. At the heart of the work lies rhythm, the fundamental principle linking music, astronomy, and human perception, transforming disparate forms of expression into a unified creative language.
Through layered arrangements, hypnotic pulses, and suspended atmospheric textures, Pisani creates a series of immersive sonic environments where rhythm becomes more than structure, evolving into a vehicle for emotion, transformation, and connection. Delicate yet powerful, the compositions unfold as dreamlike spaces suspended between intimacy and vastness.
Expanding beyond the purely musical, Konstellationen embraces a multidimensional artistic approach in which sound, text, and imagery exist in constant dialogue. Each composition is accompanied by writings developed by the artist over several years, offering poetic entry points into the work and enriching its narrative depth.
Conceived as both a personal reflection and a universal gesture, Konstellationen presents electronic music as a spiritual language, one capable of transcending cultural boundaries through shared sonic experience. Cyclical rhythms echo celestial movements, natural forces, and collective human experience, inviting listeners into a world where perception, imagination, and communication converge.
CD Edition of 200 copies in 4 panel Digipak with 16 pages Booklet.
Mixed and mastered by Matteo Gualeni at @c.o.s.a.studio Teaser by Rosalia Giuliano at @studiogleba
Label Description: Bay Area based experimental metal entities Sutekh Hexen and Seattle’s Hissing unveil SH:HS, a long-awaited collaborative release capturing the raw intensity of their joint improvisational project, SH:HS (Sutekh Hissing Arkestra).
Originally conceived as a live convergence of both bands’ full lineups, SH:HS documents two volatile and distinct performances recorded in 2017 and 2019. These recordings, born from spontaneous interaction and unrestrained sonic exploration, have since undergone an extensive transformation. Across 2024–2025, both groups meticulously revisited the material, cleaning, mixing, and reshaping the source recordings with a careful balance of restraint and intervention, preserving the immediacy of the performances while expanding their depth and dimensionality.
The result is a work that embodies abstract metal improvisation at its most feral and unfiltered. SH:HS channels dissonant textures, unstable rhythmic forms, and raw sonic collisions unfolding in real time. What emerges is a dense and unpredictable soundscape, oscillating between chaos and intention, where structure feels simultaneously eroded and reconstituted in the moment.
This release stands as both a document and a reconstruction, capturing not only the ephemeral nature of live improvisation, but also the evolving dialogue between two of of the west coast’s most uncompromising experimental acts.
CD co-released with Phage Tapes.
Edition of 300 copies in 6 panel Digisleeve. 2 Tracks. Running Time 29:45
Live recordings by James Livingston and Joy Von Spain Mastered by James Plotkin Illustrations by Eric Radey Layout and design by Kevin Gan Yuen and Zach Wise
Label Description: Estonian producer TigerMort joins Body Musick with ‘Trip To Vatican’ EP, a hard stomper 4 tracker of bass electronics and industrial electro.
Label Description: “Nostalgic…dreamy. The sweet sound of teenage dreams made real.” Electronic Sound
“Stunning, oneiric, and otherworldly.” Bandcamp Daily
British-Maltese musician James Vella – founder of Phantom Limb – reissues his 2006 debut solo album of gentle, autumnal ambient-electronica wake:sleep for a special 20th anniversary edition featuring three previously unreleased tracks from the same period.
“I was overjoyed to sign my first ever record deal, back in 2006,” Vella reminisces. “I was a dorky teenager, writing songs in my bedroom and, later, university halls when this record came to be. I had published a few tracks on early music platforms like MySpace and mp3 dot com but when Dynamophone Records (a label! with a website!) told me they were listening, I was ecstatic.”
Created on a laptop part-purchased with his small salary as a clerk in a local record store (and with help from his parents, on the promise of using it for school and university work), wake:sleep is a surprisingly developed body of work. Over a gently diminishing palette, the record expresses the passage of falling asleep, opening with organic and flickering textures and ending with amniotic washes of ambient bliss. It was dedicated in full to Vella’s girlfriend at the time: “these songs are love songs” reads the inscription on the (long sold out) original CD. Catching the ear of nascent but momentarily prosperous San Francisco label Dynamophone Records, the album was released in June 2006, Vella still then a teenager, and garnered some recognition in music press at the time. A year later, Vella’s band yndi halda released their debut album and both projects became significantly more visible.
Opening “I Am To You” is made from dulcet synthesis, recordings of real-life moments, clicky IDM-inspired beat programming, and sweetly melodic acoustic instrumentation and voice. It sits alongside early electronica in its delicate micro-beats and blurring of organic with digital. Spotify hit “Leanna is a Quiet Meow” centres on a repeated harmonium motif and a voice pedal. Its combination of serenity and unexpected timbral playfulness has earned over a million plays on everyone’s favourite DSP.
Later in the record, “The Sleepers” acts as a pivot. Beginning with acoustic guitar, angelic pads, and home-recorded drumkit, it eventually gives way to a fizzing deconstruction of the same raw materials, now made hypnagogic and transportive where it was rhythmic before. After this, the album changes dynamic. It lulls, softly, into near silence with the gargantuan 34-minute closer “The Shipwreck” and newly added companion piece “The Lighthouse”.
Three tracks are added to this special anniversary edition of the album: “On Writing”, “Rosalie Sings”, and the aforementioned “The Lighthouse”. These works were composed at the same time as the remainder of the album, but not included in its original track sequence. They have remained unreleased until now.
Vella’s A Lily project was most recently seen with early 2024’s acclaimed Phantom Limb debut Saru l-Qamar, in which he married archival recordings from his native Malta with dulcet new arrangements for hardware synthesis. Twin releases Sleep Through the Storm and Nocturne Thunder were released on The Ransom Note’s Bytes label in 2020 and 2022 respectively. These two releases – and Saru l-Qamar – see Vella return to synthesis and electronic instrumentation following his band-orientated previous album of 2018. Vella is also a founding member of the highly recognised six-piece yndi halda, and has run the Phantom Limb label since its inception in 2017.
