Projects
Kowa + Klein – Summertime
About: Reading an account of the lives of musicians Marlon Klein (Real Ax Band, Pili Pili, Dissidenten) and Win Kowa (Streetmark, Octopus, The Radio), one might get the impression their paths were never destined to cross. But destiny has a habit of provoking happy accidents, and auspicious evidence of such twists of fate can be heard on their collaborative debut. Not that SUMMERTIME is an album that arrived without sorrow as well. The veterans’ decision to unite followed the loss in July, 2024 of Win’s wife, Jennifer Kowa, a founding member of Octopus, after the release of her second solo album, Stay Strong. Both men had worked side by side on the record, and by the start of 2025, they’d formed KOWA + KLEIN, with Frank Itt (Jennifer Rush / Terence Trent D’Arby / Pili-Pili) soon signing up as the band’s bassist. Their ten-track album features previously unreleased vocal contributions from Jennifer, and is due for release by RougeRecords/Sireena on 26 September 2025 on CD, vinyl and via all digital music services.
Real Ax Band – Move Your As In Time
Irrespective of society, country or marketing creed, it is a simple fact of supply and demand that scarcity ratchets up prices. Look at the sighingly high prices that certain record pressings command. Rarity value and collectability go hand in hand. In extreme cases when demand outstrips supply suppliers may have recourse to ‘alternative’ options in order to meet demand. Ugly words like bootleg and pirate spring to mind. Consequently, many a reissue has been predicated more on the original record’s rarity value than its aesthetic or musical worth, conjuring the sneer of Ireland’s wit and man of letters Oscar Wilde who famously put down an opponent marking him as somebody who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is the Real Ax Band’s only album. Its initial pressing reached maybe 2500 or so copies – to be frank, nobody seems sure, those were different times and a different spirit was abroad. That, and the fact that ‘Nicht Stehenbleiben/Move Your Ass In Time’ commanded high enough prices to become a pirate CD, would qualify it as proper supply-and-demand KrautRock rarity on several counts. But much more important is its musical worth. And its place in the history…
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Real Ax Band – Webside
Where Is Jack – Dancing Through the Dust
A multi-crossover music project – based on deep “true blue” lyrics – for fans of Blues, Rock, Indiefolk, World and Americana music.
A chance meeting of Marlon Klein (percussionist/founder of the legendary world music band DISSIDENTEN /composer/producer and recording engineer) with Tony McLoughlin (cult status singer /guitarist/songwriter and recording artist in the roots/rock/americana style) has led to an exciting new “tribal-rock” album.
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Where Is Jack – Facebook
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