4000 Records

East of West

‘Velella’ refers to Velella velella - the “by-the-wind sailor,” a colonial hydrozoan whose way of life, floating across the surface of the open ocean, carries it by the wind to many places, as we hope our music does for our listeners. Recorded live in Brisbane by the extraordinary Melbourne-based sound engineer Siiri Metsar, this album further extends the band’s unique sound and style, inviting listeners to immerse themselves in its finely-crafted soundscapes and improvisations. Over the eight years of their collaboration, East of West have developed an intuitive musical relationship, flourishing through their dynamic interplays, virtuosic unison melodies and expressive soloing. Gajić’s compositions explore gentle melodic motifs nested in uptempo passages set to Balkan-influenced rhythms, interspersed with moments of mesmerising musical sparseness. “I had two new ideas for this album,” Gajić says. “One of them was to arrange tunes allowing for improvised sections to become more open and interactive, and to be as important part of the recording as the melody. I believe we managed to achieve this in a couple of tracks and I am quite pleased with that. Another thing I wanted is to give more opportunity for Malindi to express herself on percussion. She always carefully crafts her percussion arrangements, but this time she had a few more opportunities for open solos which she played rather beautifully.“ Philip Griffin, the trio’s oud player and a highly skilled naturalist, has also contributed two compositions to this album: a Distinct Lack of Parrotfinch - a driving piece in the unusual time signature of 50/8 - whose title links to his adventures in search of the elusive bird. His second piece, Camille, was written for his god-daughter.

The Scornful Four

Following on from their 2023 live album which launched the project/imprint that has become the landmark Jazz in Meanjin series, the band has taken the fire and spontaneity of live performance into the studio. 'Hopeful Music for Hopeless People' is a two-sided reference: providing hope to those who feel like they are living in a hopeless world, but also as an antidote to the hopeless (read: useless) leaders that the world seems to be blighted by currently. The songs find beauty in the universality of the human experience: loved ones (‘Sun Drenched Son’, ‘Hymn for the Light’, ‘Like an Angel’), the passing of dearly beloved elders (‘Birthday Goodbyes’), parental advice (‘One Day You Will Know’) and the quiet comfort of warm beverages (‘For Tea’). Recorded in a single three-hour session with the audiophile purity of only four condenser microphones (one for each musician) in one room, the album is imbued with an honesty and immediacy of communication and expression that is rarely heard, even on jazz records.

Shugorei

'The Sounds of Uncertain Walls - Futashika na Kabe no Oto - 不確かな壁の音' is an exploration of urban magic — the quiet space where everyday reality brushes against a shadow world. Inspired by Haruki Murakami’s 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' (2023), Shugorei shapes a gentle, dreamlike soundscape that feels enchanted yet grounded in the here and now. Created through open studio improvisations, this EP remains atmospheric and unhurried, offering a brief resting place rather than forward motion. These sounds invite you to slow down, drift, and step briefly under a spell — music that binds twilight, imagination, and ordinary life into one. The same music accompanies the LightPlay installation at Ipswich Art Gallery, extending its quiet magic to listeners of all ages. The artwork by Tom and Noz echoes the novel’s beautiful, uncertain world.

East of West

This album began with a small piano being crammed into the back of a family car. Malindi, our percussionist, was on a mission to buy a piano that could fit in our tiny apartment. After visiting and rejecting a number of them, Malindi found a beautiful old spinet upright. She called the owner, we drove to the suburbs, walked behind the house - and there was the piano, sitting on the grass, covered in a tarpaulin, in the middle of the rainy, sweaty Brisbane summer. Our hearts sank deeper than our feet into the suburban floodplain mud. The owner's ex had turfed the piano and all his music gear out of the house to the mercy of the subtropical summer weather. He offered it to us for zero dollars. Malindi bargained the price up, three of us somehow loaded it into the back of Subaru Forester and took it home. The piano tuner worked hard to give the piano back some self-respect, and on it I sketched out the compositions on this album which were played by the remarkable Romano Crivici to complement East of West's oud, double bass and percussion. We recorded on a beautiful Steinway piano with an equally interesting story, but we'll leave that for another time.

Fictions

'Only Children' is a collaborative work between Anthony Christopher (Fictions), James Lees (Ghostwoods, Silver Sircus), and Joshua MacGregor (Spirit Lights). Developed out of demos and sketches initially recorded to a mobile phone, compositions were approached in a similar way to painting - thinking about sound as brushstrokes on a canvas, as colour or texture, then stepping back to examine how different elements interact together. Altering or reducing until an image formed. Recorded in a home studio environment by Jim Jones (Scum Vegas) across 2023-2024, the collective contributions birthed something that feels simultaneously intimate and distant, existing at the border between the alluring and the ominous sides of suspense. Making use of piano, nylon string guitar, drums, synthesisers and drone elements, the album’s nine tracks traverse themes of identity, creation, human limitations and obsessions, illusion versus reality, and time’s passage. 'Only Children' is an album of ever-shifting landscapes, distortions of natural phenomena, and recurrent dualities. Unfolding with a dreamlike quality, it creates a circular narrative ending where it began.

Endless Valley

'Kaskashir', the sophomore album from Endless Valley, is a sonic tapestry that weaves together the threads of psychedelic rock, world music, and spiritual vibrations. This cosmic masterpiece invites listeners on a journey through the infinite possibilities of sound and consciousness. From the opening notes, it's clear that 'Kaskashir' is an album that defies boundaries and pushes the limits of musical exploration. Endless Valley takes listeners on a wild ride through the cosmos, drawing inspiration from African and Middle Eastern traditions, psychedelic rock, and the mysteries of the universe. Throughout the album, Luna's enchanting vocals and percussion work in tandem with the Schipp brothers' instrumentation to create a richly textured sound that's both timeless and futuristic. 'Kaskashir' is an album that's full of surprises and revelations. With its message of peace, love, and self-empowerment, this is a records that's poised to resonate with listeners around the world.

Méva’s Journal

As the brain-child of drummer, composer and bandleader Evan J. Evans, Mèva's Journal has been a long time in the making. Evan had been working with and starting many projects throughout all forms of jazz and jazz-adjacent music, until he finally decided it was time to build what to him was the perfect band to explore the music of his mind. Mèva's Journal explores different sounds of the '60s hard bop scene. A big and early inspiration to Evan has always been Thelonious Monk, being exposed to Monk in his first year at the esteemed Jazz Music Institute (JMI). Through Monk he found himself finding more people that he would come to look up to such as Eric Dolphy, Freddie Redd, Horace Silver, Bud Powell and Elmo Hope.

Spirit Lights

Deeply rooted in exploration, each song on Spirit Lights is composed of drifting layers of Moog modular, Prophet 6, OB6 and Korg MS20. The single ‘Open Heart’ showcases the richness of Joshua’s sound with lush chord layering and stirring arpeggios. Polyrhythmic synthesiser lines weave in and out of focus in ‘Darko’, a reflection on Jung’s integration of the shadow self. The release concludes with the swirling modular warbles of the emotive ‘...Embers Remain’; a love letter Joshua imbues with hope and tenderness. Each of these songs began as sketches. Some date back five years. I would have rough ideas before powering up my gear but would usually let my unpredictable modular synths lead the way. I love to combine elements from different sessions to see what else comes forth, often songs change meaning, go through new iterations and take lives of their own. There is a lot of feeling and movement in each layer. Also, many of the synth takes on the album are compilations of recordings from live rehearsals. Structures solidify over time and are discovered through improvisation. Keeping with the theme of spontaneity, the addition of drums to the album happened late in the writing process. Longtime friend Benjamin Shannon (Big Dead, Milton Man Gogh, Kodiak Empire, Milk Buttons) stepped up to record and the result is a masterful display of art-rock and jazz influenced percussion. A few days after a live performance of the full record, Benjamin recorded his drum parts in a single session. Guided by Joshua playing his hypnotic synthesiser sequences, Benjamin’s explosions of energy and complex fills are on full display in D’n’B-lite ‘Running Rings’. ‘Spirit Lights’ showcases Benjamin at his most creative, with the solid groove of the first section collapsing into an entrancing avant-garde finale.