optimo music presents a new offshoot label, so low, named after the night of the same name in glasgow run by becky marshall, iona mchale, jd twitch and katie shambles. first lp release is happy meals “full ashram devotional ceremony volumes iv – vi” out 23rd of june. the inaugural release is from glasgow’s much-loved happy meals, a duo comprised of suzanne rodden and lewis cook and is their second album release after 2014’s acclaimed “apero” on glasgow’s night school label. full ashram is the name of happy meals’ recording studio. the devotional ceremony is happy meals connecting with their cosmic inner selves. they realise their full ashram devotional ceremony on vinyl (and digital) banishing demons, devils and ill will. devote your soul to the positive forces before the misguided, suffering spirits pull you down and wipe you out. while the album is comprised of individual tracks segueing into each other, for full salvation it is recommended to be listened to as one continuous piece.

shackletons most expansive, ecstatic and hallucinatory music to date’ (in impressive gatefold packaging)

originally released in 2008!!

brand new album from los angeles producer jarren on apron records! see below for apron restocks

private press spiritual jazz from d.cs jeff majors. featuring harp, drum machines and synths. jeff was one of alice coltranes students at the ashram. he also played in brother ahs band. each song on this album is an inspired vision of the personal and the devotional via the harps universal gilstening range and linn drums. comes with info booklet. tip!

pharoah sanders is spiritual jazz, is devotional music, is the greatest living link between john coltrane, kamasi washington, and the next generation of this great lineage. his tenor sound, his singing voice, his compositions, and his recordings have already stood the test of time, in his time, endured, ever-aged so finely, and have now (in my opinion) surpassed critique. pharoah sanders is a giant, an innovator, colorful, prayerful, and worthy of all our attention, celebration, and enthusiastic, even ecstatic accolades!

k15 returns to wotnot after more killer releases on eglo & wild oats, a collaboration with henry wu, and remixes for nubya garcia, colm k (on tiffs joints) and wotnot s own william florelle, not to mention the beautiful record earlier this year under his culross close alias. we re all creative but somehow, being creative has become a class within itself, often defined and measured by the whims of popular culture and monetary gain, which leads us to devalue what we create if we are not successful by those metrics. we are all creative, we all use our experience, talent and feeling to shape and we should be glad we create anything. this ep holds onto this mantra tightly throughout, reflecting both the meditative and joyful effects of unimpeded creativity. the title track begins with k15s signature introspection, deep washes of jazz-inflected textures before exploding into a rapturous syncopated synth groove. b1 communion explores the spiritual angle with a devotional piano cadence over bouncing drum pattern, with interlocking bass and synth rhythms adding to the hypnotic mood. wrapping up the release is a warm, deep-soak hip hop instrumental titled you re alive (theres still time), a message to self but also a beacon of hope to those who have maybe not created as much as they would have liked, or have strayed from the path the intended to take.

the kalita sound is becoming more clearly defined with each release, as the london-based label continues to mine the rich history of overlooked disco, funk and soul from america and africa. darryl douglas inc. originally released -holding on- in 1981, and when you listen to it it s no wonder that second hand copies used to fetch dizzying prices. it s a perfect get down jam that no doubt used to delight switched on diggers with money to burn, but a track this perfectly crafted for good times should never be confined to the ivory tower of the collectors. -jesus is the light- is the original b side, a slower devotional soul cut with gospel undertones.

along with his rival, cornell campbell, johnny clarke was one of the most esteemed singers of the roots reggae era. having grown up next door to a popular sound system on waltham park road in western kingston, clarke s early fascination with music led him to hang out at studio one with jacob miller while still at school. he then made the rounds of talent shows with barry brown, sugar minott and the diamonds, which led to a debut recording in 1973, for the pianist glen stair, which remains unreleased. an early effort for clancy eccles, ‘god made the sea and sun,’ was not promoted properly, though ‘everyday wondering,’ for rupie edwards, impacted in britain, ‘golden snake’ for stamma houghton and a cover of smokey robinson’s ‘you really got a hold on me’ for glen brown were also false starts. the breakthrough finally came in 1975 when clarke linked with bunny lee, who had him voice the rastafari landmark ‘none shall escape the judgement’ (written by earl zero, who failed to muster a credible take), which kick-started the ‘flying cymbal’ craze. clarke’s resultant debut album, enter into his gates with praise, mixed hard-hitting rastafari devotional material with sympathetic cover versions of classics by the likes of the paragons, slim smith and delroy wilson, along with a few reggae renditions of some vintage american r&b.

as is the case with fellow ‘enforcers’-turned-producers, henry ‘junjo’ lawes and philip ‘fatis’ burrell, george phang had been involved in the internecine street battles that had split kingston into rival politically-aligned zones during the 1970s, when the broader effects of cold war politics were played out in jamaica. following some encouragement from sly and robbie, phang changed focus, putting the politics aside to concentrate on music production, becoming one of the most important producers of the early 1980s in the process. phang took over the rhythm twins’ power house label around 1982, and with the duo forming the mainstays of his productions, the result was guaranteed audio dynamite, as this killer devotional track by barrington levy from 1983 so amply suggests—a beautiful extended slice of late roots, heading towards the emerging dancehall style.

so low is an occasional night in glasgow run by iona fortune, jd twitch, katie shambles and becky marshall. so low is strictly for creatures of the night and plays music that could perhaps be described by the words dark waves / cold waves / minimal synthesis / maximal industrial / lo-nrg / forgotten flemish goth bands, teutonic apocalyptic beats +++ it is now also a label, administered by optimo music. after debuting with happy meals “full ashram devotional ceremony” album, here is the first 12” release, “now & then”, a various artists 4-track ep featuring two tracks from now and two from then.
the 12” comes housed in a bespoke hand printed fold out poster sleeve inserted into a plastic sleeve with screen printed text on the plastic, designed and created by katie shambles. due to the extremely labour intensive nature of the sleeve design this will be a strictly limited edition of 300 copies.

file under: devotional / idm / ambient / electronica / electronics / techno / stockholm

distinctive tenor singer linval thompson honed his singing craft in his formative years, growing in the west kingston ghetto of three mile, where he was associated with dennis brown, johnnie clarke and al campbell. a subsequent move to new york brought him into expatriate act hugh hendricks and the buccaneers, with his debut recording, ‘no other woman,’ being made circa early 1974 at patrick alley’s art craft studio. a series of other singles followed from his new york sojourn, but the return to jamaica in 1974 led to more noteworthy singles for stamma hobson, phil pratt and lee ‘scratch’ perry, with ‘jah jah redder than red’ and ‘girl you’ve got to run,’ both cut at the black ark for pratt, being the most successful. yet, it was all but a prelude to the breakthrough success he would finally achieve upon teaming up with bunny lee for ‘don’t cut off your dreadlocks,’ one of the most popular releases of 1975, a debut album of the same name, issued by third world in 1976, contained some of his most outstanding material, including the devotional ‘jah jah the conqueror’ and ‘long long dreadlocks,’ the romance thriller ‘black princess lady’ and the anti-rude boy opus, ‘cool down your temper.’

the highest heights of 60s nyabinghi music from the drums of ras michael aka king negus fifteen tracks of glorious, devotional rastafarian hymns of praise originally released on rare zion disc singles in extremely limited pressings and never before available outside of jamaica

already founding member of phosphor and currently in leave the planet, nathalia bruno is shaping her own way to those sounds bands as tropic of cancer and northern electronics’ född död have also been pursuing. there’s a brighter component to drift’s music visible both in shiny tracks like grave and hard to accept as in the more ethereal dreams in silkscreen and say it right. featuring six songs, black devotion marks the birth of what nathalia herself calls devotional synth.

back by popular demand, we are thrilled to bring you this limited edition re-press of the debut lp by algerian born producer el mahdy jr. pressed on black vinyl, and housed in a heavyweight clear polyvinyl sleeve with download code included.
born in sidi bel abbess, algeria, now living in istanbul, el mahdy jr. is a rising voice in sample based global electronic music. his sonic experiments have grown into a collection of disciplined, well timed musical gestures that confound the expectations of any single genre. splicing devotional music into a blunted blend of half time bass and mystic sound. familiar in its bass weight and its global melt, but completely new and enveloping in its fragility and poise.

returning to this chicago label, he brings a solid release beginning with a spaced out soundscape & flows into dark devotional energies, an eerie cut with killer drums like the china syndrome. place space this galaxy and easing the cosmic streets take on the flip on this essential ep.

>rispah<, the sophomore album by the invisible and their first for ninja tune, is >a love letter to grief< following the passing of singer dave okumus mother, is imbued with an inevitable melancholy but defined by a sense of hope. throughout, the band reveal their rich creativity and musicianship. echoes run through these songs of african music (including beautifully-woven-in samples of the singers from okumus mothers funeral), psalm tones and devotional music, in a silent way-era miles davis, hints of minimal classical composers such as steve reich and the wilder more psychedelic end of hip hop and related electronic musics.
nothing is ever included for the sake of it, no attempt is made to patronise or sell the audience short. it is a record brimming with real emotion and restless intelligence, a record to get lost in.
double 12 inch vinyl in gatefold cover, including insert and code for free mp3 download.

reptile youth is a riot, a dream and a 21st century fuck you dadaism movement. - mads damsgaard having already earned a devotional following after a series of intense, raucous and explosive gigs across europe and asia, the release of their debut single ‘speeddance’ will let the rest of the world in on the reptile youth secret. formed in denmark in 2009 by vocalist mads damsgaard kristiansen and bassist esben valløe, and previously known as reptile and retard, the band toured extensively in 2010 and 2011 to rapturous acclaim from audiences and critics alike. their live shows have border on barely contained chaos, their dominance of the stage inspiring a fervent following among those in the know. danish producer kasper bjørke, acting as a&r and executive producer for the band, is the man ensuring the transfer of this volatile energy to reptile youths releases.

trust now is the keystone album of brooklyns prince rama. the album takes the kaleidoscopic mysticism of ancient devotional music and focuses it through the fierce urgency and archetypal language of pop, forming an environment that is both accessible and impenetrable. deep synths rise from a sparkling sea of gamelans and prayer bells as tribal drums pound the earth with the hypnotic power to heal or destroy. voices carry captivating and haunting melodies that shine like the diamond jewels of old bollywood soundtracks spilling over dark wave dance floors.
first conceived as a ritual to be performed live, the songs were fittingly recorded inside a 19th century church in seattle by scott colburn (sun city girls, animal collective, arcade fire). as their 5th full-length album, and first as a duo, trust now is perhaps prince ramas most focused, cohesive and powerful album to date.
comes with code for free digital download of this album.

incl. langenberg rmx! supported by king britt, brendon moeller, jimpster, roland appel, soultourist, lexx, alex dallas, dirk rumpf, ingo sõnger, koljah

the third and final part of the tactile series >tactile green< features mike shannons deeper, slighty melancholic deep techno house tracks

trust now is the keystone album of brooklyns prince rama. the album takes the kaleidoscopic mysticism of ancient devotional music and focuses it through the fierce urgency and archetypal language of pop, forming an environment that is both accessible and impenetrable. first conceived as a ritual to be performed live, the songs were fittingly recorded inside a 19th century church in seattle by scott colburn (sun city girls, animal collective, arcade fire). as their 5th full-length album, and first as a duo, trust now is perhaps prince ramas most focused, cohesive and powerful album to date.