Various
LV VA 12-1

deejay.de: ...This 12' release is the fourth in the series in support of the Kuzoku film Bangkok Nites. Both songs here are covers of The Countryside is Great', a 70s luk thung classic originally sung by Runghpet Laemsing. The song, which plays a pivotal role in the film, is re-titled on the A side by Ozawa and the Babylon Band, who deliver a funky version with winsome vocals by Katsuya Tomita, one of the film's directors, who, as Ozawa, also plays the leading role in the film. The Babylon Band is led by Iwao Yamazaki, who has a long-running relationship with Kuzok films, he is the sound engineer of Bangkok Nites. The AA side is a version by the Tokyo-based synthesizer quartet Kufuki, with vocals by Rifu Otsu, a singer/voice performer and master of shigin. Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi of Soi48.

Last Resort: ...One of life’s most difficult arts is learning to let go. You can try to cling to control in the face of a turbulent world, but the only constant we can count on is change—the tendrils of cleansing fire wiping away the old, new life springing forth from the dust and ash. So what’s the point? Give yourself over to the depths. Surrender to the flow.G.S. Schray’s new solo album The Changing Account is an appropriate soundtrack for learning to cope with a world we can’t count on. Each piece is full of elliptical melodies that swirl with the unstable logic of dreams. Flurries of piano, guitar lines, and other more alien instrumentation shimmer delicately, but before they coalesce into familiar shapes or rhythms they change, then change, then change again. Listening is a bit like falling asleep on a long road—with each passing song you’re waking up somewhere new, trying to get your bearings in another strange world. How did I get here? Where are we going? It doesn’t matter. Close your eyes, drift away again.

Comfortnoise: ...“Powder Blue” is another composition of crisp heavyweight Swiss dubbings delivered by NEW.COM on his Comfortnoise imprint: Six soundsystem workouts assembled into a proper mini album, accompanied by a picture inlay plus sticker, and the download code.This record maps NEW.COM’s own take of Bristol-influenced bass music. It advances his preceding “The Unity Is Submarine” EP by inclining towards grime and drill patterns, shaded by reggae, jungle, funky, acid and electro.“Milan” opens the A-side with a turbulent flow of percussion grounded by a solid, deep-rooted bassline. It develops into a ravey, yet melancholic hands-in-the-air mood. “Olamina” invites to dance by displaying a reduced, funky drum pattern with fat kicks: You choose whether you ride the pushy flow or drift into a cool, laid-back reverie. “Dubclusion” concludes this side with a mighty bassline wrapped up in a deliberately idiosyncratic digital reggae tune.On the B-side, “Decoy” rushes through the dancefloor like a proper techno tune. However, it has its own edge and surprises not only with some sort of hysterical birds but also a swinging bassline. Thereafter, “Brainbridge” enters a most reduced, spacious, heavyweight realm. Its drill pattern is fully presented just once but never stops clinging to your head throughout the whole suspenseful journey. “Cessation” comes full circle as a dark, spooky, droning tune that dismisses you into your very own inner world.This is serious heavyweight meditation business!

Karlrecords: ...The new album by the Peruvian-born / Berlin-based experimental artist Ale Hop was conceived in a context of immobility and provides six sonic vignettes that wonder about location, circularity, rootedness and experience. In collaboration with Ana Quiroga, Concepcion Huerta, Daniela Huerta, Elsa M’balla, Felicity Magan, Fil Uno, Ignacio Briceño, KMRU, Manongo Mujica, Moises Horta, Nicole L’Huillier, Raul Jardín, Sukitoa Onamau, Tomas Tello.