Prophetic Perfect Tense is the new album on Kou Records by Oren Ambarchi — Australian guitarist, composer, and one of the most restlessly inventive figures in experimental music over the last three decades. Founder of Black Truffle Records and a consummate collaborator whose credits span Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin, Ambarchi arrives here in his most stripped-back configuration: solo guitar, two sides, two takes, minimal effects.

While his studio records have typically been conceptual, layered affairs featuring guest collaborators, Prophetic Perfect Tense breaks that pattern entirely — by his own account, the most conventionally guitar-sounding solo record he has ever made, and the closest he has come in a studio context to the live, in-theroom energy of his Ghosted trio.

Recorded at Studio Dede in Tokyo in January 2026 and produced by Randall Dunn, the album began as an act of stubborn restraint — somewhere between João Gilberto's hushed 1973 self-titled and Alemu Aga's Bägänna sessions. But once the tape was rolling through a Leslie cab, Fender Twin, and Ampeg B-15 into a Telefunken 24-track, something else emerged: a loose, abstracted shuffle, warm and three-dimensional, with amp hum, fret squeaks, and room noise left intact. Both sides in single takes. One guitar overdub added at Randall's insistence.

A record that sounds like a room, not a studio.

Recorded, mixed, and produced by Randall Dunn. Mastered by Ben Greenberg. Dolby Atmos mixes by Ben Greenberg. Lacquer cut by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering. Front cover artwork Untitled, 1977 by Kazuko Miyamoto, photo courtesy the Estate of Kazuko Miyamoto / Zürcher Gallery, NY. Back cover portrait by Ken Langraf.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Aspect-Prominent
Side B
1. Tense-Prominent

'Key To World Peace' is the third release by Prophetic Justice Ministry - aka Australian musician Sam Perry. An atmospheric, cinematic album that belies a striking pop songwriting nous at its core, its conductor Prophetic Justice Ministry is at the centre of a new wave of creative, rule-bending Melbourne artists. Romantic, smudged and hazy, Perry emerges from behind a wall of half-light with a clutch of earworms and affecting emotions.

Recorded in home studios in Belgrade (Serbia), Christchurch (New Zealand) and Melbourne (Australia) over the course of three years, 'Key To World Peace' offers a dichotomy in approach. Shifting on a dime between ambient, filmic washes of sound and more traditional song structures, the approach feels natural, casually acid-tipped and emotionally revealing. While Perry’s distinctive keys and production melding with melody is evidenced in Melbourne group Who Cares?, as Prophetic Justice Ministry there’s a heightened sense of mystery and space being used.

Swirling in a psychedelic fog with dry iced chords falling down like melting stars, the album pulses with an ominous, distorted intro that sculpts air into blocks of sound before 'Psyop' offers a glimpse through the gloom at the artist navigating through crushed, shoe-gazing chords, singing a consolation into an abandoned building. Side A’s more abstract tone veers from industrial tracks ('T-A') to pastoral, impressionistic pieces ('Trance') before album highlight 'Life’s A Party' showcases the effortless, classic songwriting lurking in Prophetic Justice Ministry. Built on the tension between the upbeat lyrics and suppressed, rich delivery, the song lopes on an alluring loop with acoustic guitars and Perry’s voice walking a tightrope between irony and sincerity. The song blooms into a bright burst of light, almost inducing synesthesia in the listener and reminding a little of The Beta Band’s most outre and catchy moments.

Opening Side B, 'Naked Shine’s scintillating guitar is punctuated by a sub bass swell that offsets the yearning vocal performance. With palpable sensitivity the song is shepherded into short, atmospheric passages before 'Love Drum’s direct delivery: Perry’s vocal and guitar, dancing over a hint of distortion feels like Syd Barrett at his most casually brilliant. Carrying on the tradition of a single cover on every Prophetic Justice Ministry release, here Lana Del Rey’s 'Mariner’s Apartment Complex' is given a stripped back but faithful treatment. With a sound that feels like a hushed, Chris Isaak classic it’s testament to Perry’s own compositions that the cover doesn’t outshine the rest of the album. Album closer and single 'Spirit House Party' combines a classic chord progression with Perry’s double-tracked vocal into a murky but brilliantly catchy chorus. While nowhere near as lush in its production, there’s something in the atmosphere of Prophetic Justice Ministry’s vocal sitting in the mix just so that reminds us of The Electric Prunes’ 'Holy Are You'-era work with David Axelrod.

'Key To World Peace' flits between displaying a spectrum of blurred emotional resonance in its instrumental passages and vulnerability in the shape of raw, melodic songwriting. With his first release outside of Australia and vinyl debut, Sam Perry’s Prophetic Justice Ministry is a beguiling dance in and out shadows.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prelude To World Peace
2. Psyop
3. T-A
4. Trance 102
5. Life’s A Party
6. Naked Shine
7. Aurora Drone Cam
8. Lake Of Ice
9. Love Drum
10. Mariner's Apartment Complex
11. Spirit House Party

Ami Taf Ra is an LA-based artist of North African heritage who has a long held passion for musical and cultural fusion. Her latest work — ‘The Prophet and The Madman’ — is a musical interpretation of the timeless writings of Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Khalil Gibran. Heralded for her seamless fusion of Arabic musical traditions like Moroccan gnawa with jazz and gospel, ‘The Prophet and The Madman’ is beautifully cinematic and epic in scope. Composed, produced and arranged by Ami Taf Ra and legendary saxophonist composer and frequent collaborator Kamasi Washington, the album features contributions from a stellar cast of musicians including: Ryan Porter, Miles Mosley, Brandon Coleman, Tony Austin, Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr., Allakoi Peete, Kahlil Cummings and more. Kamasi’s musical contribution infuses a rich lineage of spiritual jazz, afrocentric philosophy, and orchestral grandiosity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Speak To Us (Intro)
2. How I Became A Madman (feat. Kamasi Washington)
3. The Prophet
4. God
5. Love (feat. Ryan Porter)
6. My Friend (feat. Brandon Coleman)
7. Children
8. Gnawa (feat. Kamasi Washington)
9. Gibran
10. Khalil
11. Speak To Us (Outro)

For Fans Of - PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Chelsea Wolfe, Mark Lanegan, Elliot Smith, Thurston Moore, Patti Smith. Acclaimed alternative alchemist’s highly-anticipated debut LP. “Striking, black-shrouded songwriting” (Clash). A bold soundtrack to the apocalypse.

“We Are The Plague” declares Suzie Stapleton over the anthemic, fuzzed-out bass that opens the acclaimed alternative alchemist’s extraordinary debut album. It is a rallying cry, the defiant call of a generation sold down the river and acutely aware of its own imminent demise. The album centres around Stapleton’s midnight vocal; raw, poetic lyrics; and expressive, unique guitar playing ranging from a light touch similar to Elliot Smith to effects-soaked riffs evoking Sonic Youth or Soundgarden. Backed by band feat members of The Stranglers and Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, and mixed by Dan Cox (Thurston Moore/Laura Marling). “Suzie has toured with Mick Harvey and Mark Lanegan - it won't be long before they're opening for her.” 

TRACK LISTING

01 Intro
02 We Are The Plague
03 Thylacine
04 Blood On The Windscreen
05 September
06 Don't Look Up
07 The River Song
08 Angel Speak
09 You Were There
10 In The Darkness
11 Silence In My Bones
12 Negative Prophet