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For the second volume of Reflections, Black Decelerant, the duo of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz, explore improvisational jazz traditions through contemporary tone and texture, fostering sonic meditations on themes of Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, expansion and limitation, and the individual and collective. Today we share “two,” the first offering from the self-titled album, with a video directed by Neil Nourigat. The vinyl edition of Black Decelerant is available for pre-order ahead of its Friday, June 21 release date, alongside a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.

“Grand Trine” is the first signal of sound from Tashi Wada’s forthcoming album What Is Not Strange? featuring creative and life partner Julia Holter on vocals, the song title refers to a configuration of planets forming an equilateral triangle, which is present in the astrological chart of Tashi and Julia’s daughter. The song is accompanied by a video from longtime collaborator Dicky Bahto. “I asked Dicky if he could create a portrait of the time period around the making of the album, which coincided with a lot of life and world events,” says Tashi. “I love the kaleidoscopic feeling of time, space, and people that Dicky conjured with his improvisatory editing technique. it’s a beautiful counterpoint to the music, rhythmic and bursting with life.”

Introducing Tashi Wada’s What Is Not Strange?, the first full-length solo album by the Los Angeles-based composer, and his most far-reaching and impassioned music to date. Written and recorded over a period that encompassed the death of his father and the birth of his daughter, the album sees Wada reflecting inward to explore broad narratives—being alive, mortality, finding one’s place in the world—through new modes of ecstatic, song-based expression. Today we share “Grand Trine,” featuring Julia Holter and the ensemble of Dev Hoff, Ezra Buchla, and Corey Fogel, who accompany wada on the journey of What Is Not Strange? The double LP edition of the album, pressed on audiophile black vinyl by RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket printed by Dorado Music Packaging, is available now for pre-order. A custom tenugui towel was produced for the Artist Edition of vinyl, and a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.

Released / unleashed ten years ago today, The Body’s I Shall Die Here. After a failed attempt tasking a vaunted luminary of the noise world to reassemble Chip and Lee’s Machines with Magnets studio sessions (if you guess who, we *might* send you a link to stream), and a “could be any other random day” encounter with Robin from Triangle Records, it felt like just a blink of an eye before Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak, was sitting at Gary's Electric Studio with his laptop and two giant monitors de/reconstructing the album we came to know and fear. We revisited Chip and Lee's original sessions, and had the untouchable Seth Manchester work his magic, just as he did the first time around, for an expanded edition of the album released in 2023 titled I Shall Die Here / Earth Triumphant. Why we revisited the album for its ninth anniversary instead of its tenth? Who knows, but it’s well worth a spin, if you missed it last year. A major moment / demarcation in the RVNG catalog, and a collaboration of the highest alchemic order.

A look inside, and outside, the “standard” (anything but!) and artist vinyl editions of Ka Baird’s new album Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos. 𖤓𖤓𖤓 We reserved copies of the artist edition for Ka’s record release show at Roulette this Thursday, April 4. If you’re in the New York area, don’t miss this opportunity to see experience Ka’s sound in ensemble form. 𖦹𖦹𖦹

In honor and celebration of Julia Holter’s exceptional, sublime new album Something in the Room She Moves, a look back and through Dicky Bahto’s photos for Ekstasis, Julia’s second album, and the beginning of our long collaboration + friendship.