Exploring late-night, after-hours meditations on sound; ‘Everything Above The Sky (Astral Travelling with Luke Una)’ is a new compilation by the titular DJ, promoter and enigmatic cultural curator. Off the back of the E Soul Cultura phenomena, this compilation comes at a timely point in Luke’s rich career as he soars the heights of playing all over the world. Avoiding any chance of his sound being pigeonholed, Luke has put together a tracklist of songs and music that have a transcendental feel, after coming off the grid, going back to source, outside the city walls .

Music has long been believed to aid out of body experiences and many of us have searched long and hard for a combination of those elusive ingredients that might alleviate some of the monotony of everyday life, our daily routines and obligations, and those things that seem to block us from the spirit of the universe. In this collection, Luke selects music with all the right ingredients in just the right quantities, allowing the listener to engage in an esoteric journey of enlightenment through sound. Being a prolific collector of music, Luke initially delivered enough tracks to compile several compilations, making the licensing process the biggest effort to date for the label. The music moves softly and slowly, never becoming too intrusive, exemplifying the wonderful elevating properties of simple songs played from the heart.

Luke’s Everything Above The Sky manifesto reads, “Astral Travelling in the meadowlands with acid folk, spiritual jazz, around midnight hocus pocus, cosmic psychedelic soul, magical spellbound whirling swirling love songs, Brazilian ballads of light into machine soul gospel utopia dreaming, Balearic bossa, Outer Space ancient African drum, the breath of trees, escaping the big bad modern world, gathering round winter fires, walking amongst the bracken in Padley Gorge in late summer twilight, overlooking the Hope Valley, escaping ego, detaching and finally letting go amongst the stars with the slowly floating people. It’s beautiful beyond. Everything above the Sky”.

Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then came Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to É Soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape. Luke’s Friday evening show on Worldwide FM captured imaginations and became a cult four-hour must-listen monthly journey for fans all over the world. Today, Luke remains, as ever, at the forefront of a changing milieu, pairing the momentous legacy of Manchester’s 80s and 90s scene with the delivery of what today’s club communities need to get down. 

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. John Martyn - Small Hours
2. Stephen Whynott – A Better Way
3. April Fulladosa - Sunlit Horizon
SIDE B:
1. Sylvain Kassap - Plancoët
2. Manu Dibango - Night In Zeralda
3. Henri Texier - Hocoka Time
4. Nivaldo Orneleas - O Que Ha
5. 808 State – Pacific State (Massey’s Conga Mix)
SIDE C:
1. Magma - Eliphas Levi
2. Homelife - Stranger
3. Michael Gregory Jackson - Unspoken Magic
SIDE D:
1. Dora Morelenboum - Avermelhar
2. Simone - Tudo Que Você Podia Ser
3. Experience Unlimited – People
4. Otis G. Johnson - I Got It
5. Mel & Tim - Keep The Faith
* CD Will Contain Tracks Above + Bonus Tracks

Following on from 2019's 'The Unforgiving Current', Horsebeach's Ryan Kennedy returns with his fifth record 'Things To Keep Alive'. With 'The Unforgiving Current' exploring the themes of isolation whilst living in Tokyo, Kennedy has since returned to the perpetual grey of Mancunia. But rather than viewing his return to Manchester as a step back, Kennedy has used Horsebeach as a catalyst to explore and make positive strides within his mental health.

From Beatles-esque balladry, fuzzed out shoegaze and a lavish cover of a 00s pop classic, 'Things To Keep Alive' still importantly retains the Horsebeach DNA and even has moments that will take fans all the way back to Kennedy's C86 inspired debut LP. In turn, this results in Horsebeach's most varied and rewarding album to date. A record that inspires and shows growth; a record that makes you appreciate the things you help to keep alive.

Here’s what Ryan (Horsebeach) had to say about the album."I always treat each album as a snapshot of a certain period of my life and Things To Keep Alive is no different. However, it's less of a measure of time and more a snapshot of the mental space I've come to occupy over the past few years.

Fundamentally, this album is about my own struggle with one particular side effect of my mental health. Especially my propensity to long for the sweet release of death. I've come to learn how to deal with these things over time and I have always cared for my many cats, plants and important people close to me. These things bring me great joy and through the fog of my depressed haze I have finally learned to water, feed and care for myself as well. These are the things I keep alive. Musically I've decided to revisit themes from my earlier work but allow myself to open up to sounds I might have restricted from the Horsebeach palette in the past. It's quite a simple album thematically but perhaps the one I'm most proud of to date. I've given myself much longer to write this album and I hope the extra time I’ve spent nurturing each song comes through in the end."

Ryan

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: After an unbearable wait, Horsebeach finally return, and guess what, it's their best album so far! Fabulously varied and with tunes to die for, this record will jangle and sigh its way straight into your hearts.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Friend By The Lake
2. In The Shadow Of Her
3. A Fault In All Of Us
4. Things To Keep Alive
5. Let Me Stay In Tonight
6. Until You
7. Cinnamon Challenge
8. Pure Shores
9. Colourless
10. Tradition 

Celebrating twenty-five years of Aficionado as a place to play away from suffocating mainstream club culture, DJs Jason Boardman and Moonboots have compiled a contemplative set of 16 tracks that holds a deep meaning to both themselves and attendees of their now legendary parties. The compilation includes two new tracks exclusive to the release: J-Walk’s ‘Cool Bright Northern Morning’ and Begin’s remix of Canyons ‘Akasha’.

Reflecting on how it all started 25 years ago, Moon considers their no-plan-plan to be a makeshift plateau which evolved organically: “All we did was try to play good records one after the other without any consideration for fashion. And people wanted that”. Alternative approaches were not unknown at the time, but Aficionado, as Jason and Moon’s Sunday sessions became known, pressed the reset button with unique resolve.

Jason elaborates: “It was 1998 when we started. It was our own 'fuck you’ to the Super Club regime - almost everywhere then. The ‘anything goes’ Balearic ethos was in abeyance. It wasn’t cool at the time, but we both just wanted to keep that original spirit alive. ‘Keep it open’ had always been my approach to DJing - even from playing at Youth Clubs as a teenager. No rules or generic constrictions. Play anything that you like from any era, any style from any time. We always encouraged our guests to dig deep and play outside of their comfort zones, their usual styles”.

Regular contributors quickly realised there was a freedom here which expected exploration of the most cobwebbed corners of the collection. The trick was to do something that hadn’t been done before - to play a record which might make these genuinely genre-less sonic adventurers double take. Aficionado reserved the right to apply the brakes and offered the same opportunity to their guests in terms of avoiding stultifying ‘sets’ and routine dance floor button pushing. At the same time, Jason and Moon were also adept in responding to the hedonistic excess that often erupted by playing music likely to facilitate random outbursts of dancing on tables on a school night. Aficionado never settled or coalesced into something readily identifiable and easy to sell.

While there were many Manchester venues, for Jason Sundays at Zumbar were special: “It would get very deranged. A cranky Citronic double deck console and very lo-fi, but a real vibe. Free pizza! At Fat Cat we got offered a proper wage - credit in the straight world! A basement by the Canal”. Moon concurs: “Zumbar was crackers - Sunday became the essential day to go out for our lot. But my two favourite ’Nado venues were Arch in Hulme and Fat Cat. People who’d been up all weekend would turn up spangled. Some bods stopped going out on Saturdays and made Sunday their big night out. Did these people have jobs? Very, very funny times…”.

The lovingly crafted musical mystery tour of this compilation, considering its pleasantly hypnagogic intent, may not reflect the madness of these now distant memories. This is an older and considerably more responsible collection and this is what we need right now - a temporary respite from a world almost capsized. A mood, a meditation created by masters of their craft. Odd socks from disparate global locations making new sense side by side. An assemblage, if you like. A thread through many different kinds of thinking. A new picture pieced together from the lost pieces of many jigsaws. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Aficionado is a cult. A nod-and-a-wink into cryptic catacombs of musical discovery. A paradoxical combination of Moonboot’s hushed mythical reverence and the contagious sense of enthusiasm and adventure from Jason Boardman.

A club night that’s uniquely Mancunian in spirit yet has gone on to inform and inspire a whole global network of record obsessives. A label that spins on a different axis to the mainstream, yet evolves and adapts in natural cycles in harmony with the growing maturity of its founders. Which is why we find ‘25 Years Of Aficionado’ in a decidedly unhurried and meditative mood - showcasing sounds that are at home amongst sun-blushed beaches, English countryside and the relaxed contentment of a free weekend afternoon. Rather than re-hash the hits that soundtracked their debauched Sunday sessions back in the day, the pair have curated a contemplative set that reflects the unwinding of pace that undoubtedly comes with age – in turn delivering something that’s unequivocally relevant to the listeners it's aimed at.

I’ve had both the joy and pain of playing at ‘Nado. Forced to spend most of the evening wearing record sleeves on my head as my ill prepared set contained bootlegs, edits and, the biggest rule break of all – beat matching! I was young and ignorantly unaware of these basic fundamentals, but it was a beautiful schooling. To some this might seem like a militant and contrary manifesto; but it serves to highlight the purity of spirit that can easily be lost in today’s modern age, where digital versions of most songs can be acquired at the click of a mouse and true undiscovered rarities come few and far between. JB & Moon epitomise the excitement of the hunt, the joy of eclecticism; and I think it's due to this immovable and uncompromising passion for unearthing true vinyl gems that goes someway to explaining the pair’s universal admiration and acclaim as DJs and label curators.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting:
1. Held By Trees - In The Trees - Ambient
2. Stanley Clarke - Desert Song
3. Jan Akkerman - Ode To Billy Joe
4. Alain Debray - Concierto De Aranjuez
5. The Hightower Set - Departure Lounge (Nothing To Declare)
6. J-Walk - Cool Bright Northern Morning
7. Canyons - Akasha (Begin Remix)
8. Waves - Summer Sunday
9. Mudd - Summer In The Wood
10. Trevor Heiron - Love Chains (Instrumental)
11. Korallreven - Honey Mine (Lissvik Remix)
12. Giorgio Tuma - Through Your Hands Love Can Shine (feat. Laetitia Sadier)
13. The Superimposers - Seeing Is Believing
14. Teacher - Can't Step Twice (On The Same Piece Of Water) (New Version)
15. Kalima - Shine (Gilles Peterson Vibrazonic Dub Mix)
16. The Haggis Horns - The Traveller Part Two 

CD Tracklisting:
1. Stanley Clarke - Desert Song
2. Jan Akkerman - Ode To Bellie Jo
3. Alan Debray - Concierto De Aranjuez
4. High Tower Set - Departure Lounge (Nothing To Declare)
5. J-Walk - Cool Bright Northern Morning (Exclusive)
6. Canyons - Akasha (Begin Remix)
7. Waves - Summer Sunday
8. Mudd - Summer In The Woods
9. Trevor Herion - Love Chains (Instrumental)
10. Korallreven - Honey Mine (Lissvik Remix)
11. Georgio Tuma With Laetitia Sadier - Through Your Hands Love Can Shine
12. Superimposers - Seeing Is Believing
13. Cecilio & Kapana - Someday
14. Teacher - Can't Step Twice On The Same Piece Of Water
15. Kalima - Shine On (Vibrazonic Dub Mix)

For 'Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume Two', Paul dives back into the vaults for more seriously good, rare cuts for all to enjoy. Spanning seventeen tracks, the new compilation represents his continued journey with the Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours sound. Think of heady sounds to soundtrack balmy English summers and Balearic poolside drops, the compilation includes a huge slab of privately pressed obscurities with some previously unreleased material.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: From horizontal ambient folk business to head-nodding Balearica, the wonderful Paul Hillery once again raids his vaults for a unique selection of the finest gems. This time sees more drifty numbers like Len Udow's gorgeous “Beauty Raise The Tree” joined with some more upbeat numbers, like Grand Union's funky odyssey, “Morning Brings The Light”'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Morning Brings The Light - Grand Union
2. Undone - Tasha Lee McClunney
3. Olivia - Lucy Kitchen
4. Beauty Raise The Tree - Len Udow
5. Wild Canada - Dan Donahue
6. The Ballad Of Ho Chi Minh - Mike Glick
7. Song Of Creation - Chris Rawlings
8. Bamboo In The Wind - Gary Lapow
9. Turn On Your Lovelight - Summer Rain
10. Rainfall - Jennie Rylatt
11. Prospect Of Wealth - Henry Parker
12. Teardrops Lost In The Rain (Stallions Remix) - Findlay Brown
13. Change Is Me, Change Is You - Harris And Crane Band
14. Waco - Frank Pyne & Loon Saloon
15. Theme IV _A Detective KJAMM1644 D1 - The B.B. Jackson Band
16. Weepin' - Cascada
17. Let Me Ride - Peter Campbell 

RE:WARM 012 is a double AA side 12” with remixes of two of the most talked-about tracks from the compilation, Fug – From Little Seeds We Grow & Bobby Lee & Mia Doi Todd – Walking With Trees. None other than 4hero & A Mountain of One were on remix duties for these two wonderful tracks.

For the A-Side 4hero take the wonderfully laidback style of the original track by Fug – From Little Seeds We Grow and turn in a full-on tearjerker. The strings and orchestration on this remix are reminiscent of some of our favourite 4hero moments from over the years. The Drums shuffle along nicely with Jess Williams voice perfectly complimenting this take on the track. This one is set for summer glory by any standard.

Flip this over to the AA side for the complete analogue journey that is A Mountain of Ones spaced out dubs of Bobby Lee & Mia Doi Todd - Walking with Trees. Mo & Zeben take this track by its scruff and give it a full-on tropical overhaul using crazy old fashioned dub techniques, stringing it out into a low end slow motion house dub ready for sun-drenched moments with sand between your toes and the smell of sun lotion on the breeze.