September 2026
Five records the editors listened to with their eyes closed. No rankings, no algorithms. Just ears.
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01Entertainment!
Gang of Four · 1979picked by Sergio
I put this on when I need to wake up, not to be comforted. In 1979 Gang of Four took funk, stripped every gram of warmth out of it, and laid lyrics about commodities, alienation and desire on top: Andy Gill's guitar cutting like a blade while bass and drums groove as if nothing were wrong. It's post-punk that thinks while it dances — or makes you dance while it accuses you. After last month's Unknown Pleasures, it's the other English face of 1979: not the darkness of Manchester but the cold clarity of Leeds.
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02Super Ape
Lee Perry & The Upsetters · 1976picked by Mike G.
If King Tubby, last month, was the surgeon of dub, Lee 'Scratch' Perry is the shaman. Super Ape came out of his Black Ark studio, and you can hear it: reverbs that look like smoke, buried voices, a giant ape on the cover and a groove in the grooves that never quite ends. Perry didn't mix a record, he conjured an atmosphere — and this is his studio peak. I put it on low, in the evening, and let the Black Ark work its spell.
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03What Color Is Love
Terry Callier · 1972picked by Emma
This is the record I reach for when I want something that fits no box. Terry Callier came out of Chicago and blended folk, soul and jazz with a warm voice and Charles Stepney's strings that open like curtains: almost nobody bought it in 1972, and for years it was one of those names whispered among diggers. 'Dutchman' and the title track are beautiful to the point of ache. It's the kind of gem that makes the long afternoons in the bins worth it.
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04Phaedra
Tangerine Dream · 1974picked by John
Phaedra is the record where the machine starts to dream on its own. In 1974 Tangerine Dream let the sequencers take over, and the title track — seventeen minutes born almost from an accident, a synth drifting out of tune and the band going with it — is still pure hypnosis. This isn't music to listen to in the foreground: it's music to step inside. I put it on at night, in the dark, and let the pattern carry me off.
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05Darwin!
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso · 1972picked by Sergio
I'll close with my second pick, and go back to the home island. If Gang of Four's post-punk is one pole, Italian prog is the other — and Darwin! is one of its peaks, alongside the PFM and Il Balletto di Bronzo we've already written about. In 1972 Banco made a concept album about evolution with two keyboardists, Francesco Di Giacomo's operatic voice and boundless ambition: long, theatrical pieces that aren't afraid to overreach. Yes, I'm signing two records again this month — but I wanted this one here, because it's the next door of the island we're building.
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