Nasty Boy
NBI EP

EM Records: ...Cool, sophisticated and melodically funky pop from Japan, recorded in 2014/15, six irresistible new songs from veteran members of 90s Tokyo underground pop bands like Love Tambourines, Arch and Bridge, all influenced by the Tokyo Neo Acoustic scene as well as early "club music" like Acid Jazz, Rare Groove and early Techno and mentored by Kenji Takimi of Crue-L Records. Bank formed in 2006 and have been assiduously honing their sound since then, distilling an elegant brew compounded of 80s dance music, the funkier elements of post-punk and the Factory Records roster, and other groups such as Young Marble Giants, Weekend and Duran Duran. A consummate blend. Vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Dai Nakamura is joined by guitarist Nobuyuki Ohashi, keyboardist Tadashi Kitami, with Fumio Hirami on bass and Bo Suzuki on drums. The contributions of the latter two are a key part of Bank's charm, with Hirami's funky bass laid over Suzuki's YMO-inspired grid-style drums. But make no mistake, these are true songs, not mere rhythmic exercises. Featuring memorable melodies, heavenly harmonies and attractive arrangements, these songs were mixed and mastered by Tomoki Kanda, a renowned member of the Shibuya-kei scene.

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.

Seance Centre: ...Plus or Minus Two compiles 4 songs from Kansas City wave pioneers Short-Term Memory’s first cassette album, Every Head Needs Cleaning, with with a song each from their last cassette release Cinema Mind, and their digital retrospective, Flub Dub and Other Love Songs. This EP focuses on the group’s prescient dance-floor DIN-sync workouts which share sensibilities with contemporaneous early Detroit experiments by Juan Atkin’s Cybotron, Ron Hardy’s visionary Kikrokos tape edit, Shoc Corridor’s extended 808 exercises, and 90s Techno Pop by Haruomi Hosono. Rounding off the EP is the existential electronic soul ballad Words. Remastered from the original reels, 45rpm DMM pressing. Kansas City, 1983: a band formed, wires connected and synapses fired. Three friends, tired of guitar/bass/drums rock started jamming with newly acquired synths and Roland TR 606. They called themselves Short-Term Memory. Thanks to the vanguard technology of the time, these electronic instruments spoke to each other, and Jim Skeel, Kevin Dooley & Jon Paul could program their instruments and ride the DIN-sync wave. Weekly jams became more ambitious, and in 1983 they released their first album Every Head Needs Cleaning on their own Silly Poodle Music label. Over the 80s members drifted in and out of the group, and they released 2 cassettes, an LP and a 7” EP. By the 90s Jim Skeel was at the helm, the only original member, and joined by Tim Higgins he continued to record in MIDI mode for a few years before pulling the plug, leaving recordings and memories that resisted the great fade-out of time, and today sound vibrant and more visionary than ever.

The first ever international album from the Republic of Djibouti and Ostinato's first studio recorded album. While the music of Somalia is widely celebrated, its neighbor, Djibouti, formerly known as French Somaliland, is home to an equally deep reservoir of its own unique Somali music.A stunning collision of Indian Bollywood, Jamaican dub and reggae, sleek horns inspired by Harlem's jazz era, and the haunting and joyous synthesizer melodies of the Red Sea by Groupe RTD, the national radio band of Djibouti and one of East Africa's best kept secrets.Helmed by Mohamed Abdi Alto, possibly the most unheralded saxophone virtuoso in all of Africa, and mentored by guitarist Abdirazak Hagi Sufi -- both of whom feature as instrumentalists on our Grammy-nominated compilation Sweet As Broken Dates -- Groupe RTD is the finest expression of Djibouti's cosmopolitan music style.Alto honed his trade from a steady diet of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Abdirazak's guitar style draws heavily from his love affair with Jamaican music. Young singers Asma Omar and Hassan Omar Houssein are fluent in the classic hits of Bollywood and Indian music. Synth player Moussa Aden Ainan brings a distinctly dexterous Somali touch, reminiscent of the exceptional keys work of Somalia's Iftin and Waaberi Band. Their sound is kept afloat by measured Tadjouran rhythms, courtesy of drummer Omar Farah Houssein and dumbek player Salem Mohamed Ahmed's perfect interplay.Recorded in three days -- as per the strict limit set by Djibouti's national radio authorities -- with a state-of-the-art mobile recording studio replete with the very best audio interfaces and carefully positioned microphones around a less than soundproof room to achieve a vibrant, professional sound while maintaining the analog warmth of decades prior.Double vinyl pressed at 45 RPM, housed in a gatefold sleeve.