More than the compilation series, more than the lovingly organised events, more than the radio shows: "Le Café Abstrait" is a philosophy of lifestyle: relaxed and culturally open-minded.
It was "Le Café Abstrait" and its mastermind, Raphaël Marionneau, who pioneered chill-out culture at Hamburg's internationally renown Mojo club in 1996: "Le Café Abstrait" reinvented nightclubbing in a new relaxing way. Once a month, stylish sofa installations and light projections transformed Mojo's dancefloor into a gigantic living room. There, up to 400 laid-back nightlife connoisseurs indulged in relaxation and Raphaël Marionneau's very special downtempo music selections. A new lifestyle was born: the couch culture…

Leila Bordreuil - Headflush (2019) {Catch Wave Ltd. CW004}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 138 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 82 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2019 Catch Wave Ltd. | CW004
Jazz / Contemporary Classical / Electronics / Noise / Avant-Garde / Experimental / Cello

Recorded in a single afternoon in Brooklyn, Leila’s debut album of unprocessed amplified cello recordings in ‘Headflush’ render an arrestingly detached yet immersive perspective on her instrument - which is commonly known to mirror the range of the human voice. With this is mind, Leila’s recordings speak to a sense of disembodiment or an out of body experience, drawing the instrument’s Ur voice out of itself and into space where she reinforces and makes it sigh thick smoky tones pealing with stressed partials in a way that wouldn’t sound out of place on the ‘Eraserhead’ soundtrack. It’s most excellent.

The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium (1982) {Sony BMG Limited Deluxe Edition 88697353662 rel 2008}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 393 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 71 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1982, 2008 Epic / Sony BMG | 8869735366
Rock / Punk Rock / British Punk

In Clash lore, the band's stint as the opening act for the Who's farewell tour in 1982 is where the band had stardom in its hand and dropped it on the floor. That's how Joe Strummer phrased it in retrospect, but in 1982 the pairing was seen as a rock cultural clash, with the Who's audience bristling at the punks, and the punks not quite being comfortable operating on a larger scale – a suspicion somewhat proven by the band's implosion within months of the Shea Stadium gig.

After two albums of inventive, unpredictable progressive hard rock, Stray kept chugging right along with their third album, Saturday Morning Pictures, which notably found guitarist and guiding force Del Bromham growing ever more obsessed with the latest synthesizer technology, although not to the point where gadgetry was crowding out his ever-dominant fretwork, or completely hijacking the band's analog roots. Rather, Bromham's ever-growing arsenal of synths and keyboards mostly added enriching nuances to some of the band's more adventurous material like "After the Storm," "Sister Mary," and "Move That Wigwam," featuring an odd mixture of country-fried harmonicas and Native American themes…

Phil Ranelin's first record as a leader is worlds away from his later 1976 offering, Vibes From the Tribe. The Time Is Now is a vanguard jazz record, full of the spirit, determination, and innovation inspired by John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, and Archie Shepp. Recorded in 1973 and 1974 and released at the end of 1974, the set shows Ranelin to be an imposing composer and frightfully good trombonist. The original album contained six compositions that are a deep musical brew of avant-garde improvisation, hard bop jazz esthetics, and soulful melodic ideas that were superimposed as a jump off point for both harmonic and rhythmic (read: Latin) invention…

Franco Battiato - L'era del cinghiale bianco (2019) {40th Anniversary Remastered Edition, Universal 060257795600 rec 1979}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 434 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 164 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1979, 2019 EMI / Universal Music / Italia | 06025779560
Rock / Pop / Progressive Rock / Pop Rock / Neo-Classical / Spiritual

On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the release, Franco Battiato's disc was reprinted on 19 July 2019. The era of the white boar - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition (1979-2019) on Universal. The album - which in the original version was released on September 10th - marks the pop turning point of the Sicilian artist and is considered by many to be a transitional masterpiece, between past and future, between experimental prog and intellectual pop totally influenced by New Wave. In fact, in the work there are many references to esotericism, exoticism, spirituality, to the philosophy of René Guenon, who defined the era of the white boar as "a mythological and magical age, during which every man reaches absolute knowledge in a spiritual sense".

Caught by the Machine is the new album from U.K. outfit The Room, who hail from the south of England and is their first release for the White Star label, run by John Mitchell (It Bites, Kino & others). The music is a very Melodic Rock in places, but with definite progressive rock leanings, especially on the longer tracks. The Room explain that both the title and song content of ‘Caught By The Machine’ directly relates to the feeling one experiences when the state, a job, a relationship or even a drug begins to control their every living moment. It is a reflection on many aspects of the modern world, for better or worse…