Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.
Cerca:11 off
Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.
Thomas Headon was born in London and raised in Melbourne but dreamt of moving back to the city to pursue music. Thomas’ mum told him he had a year to get a “proper job” otherwise he would have to return home. Arriving in London just before the pandemic hit, Thomas started to build a community online - blowing up on TikTok with 14.7M likes and over 400K followers to date - with his off-kilter live sessions, tongue-in-cheek charm and remarkable song writing ability. Learning to write and produce on his own in his late teens, Thomas has already released a self-written and self-produced debut EP, ‘The Greatest Hits,’ and dropped The Goodbye EP last year, amassing 50M streams world-wide. All before his 21st birthday.
On November 5th, Thomas will announce his brand-new EP, Victoria, due 11th March 2022 and available to pre-order from the announcement. Alongside the announcement, he drops new single ‘Strawberry Kisses’ a few days prior, kicking off the road to the EP officially.
Building an incredibly loyal fanbase over lockdown and amassing 100K followers on Instagram, Thomas’ blend of playful alternative pop that speaks to the Gen-Z experience, has been compared to the likes of the 1975’s Matty Healy, and critically praised by Triple J, naming him a “seriously impressive force in pop music”. Already performing a charmingly energetic live session on Jack Saunders’ BBC Radio 1 show, Thomas has just sold out two nights at London’s Heaven on a 17-date tour in November, following the “Living Room Shows” tour, where he played an intimate acoustic series to thousands of fans across the UK. One of the first artists to curate Spotify’s Our Generation playlist, the 21-year-old has also collaborated with American singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine on his single 'Bored’ and gained over 50M global streams.
Thomas will also be supporting Sigrid next year on her European Arena Tour.
- 01: Jack Of Heart - Love In Vain
- 02: Les Bellas - Belladelic
- 03: Sonic Chicken
- 04: El Vicio - Longanisse
- 05: Pablo Escobar's Sons - Fuzz Rapid Fuzz
- 06: Destination Lonely - Vanessa
- 07: Migas Valdes - Marijuana
- 08: Sonic Chicken
- 09: Les Bellas - She's On My Track
- 10: The Mighty Go-Go Players - Fallin' With You, In Love Wi
- 11: Hair And The Iotas - Tell Her Lies
- 12: T. Time Fantasy - Shake With Me
- 13: Ultralove - Je Viens D'une Autre PlanÈTe
- 14: El Vicio - Darkside
- 15: Hair And The Iotas - Faster
- 01: Hushpuppies - You're Gonna Say Yeah
- 02: Hair And The Iotas - Head It On
- 03: White Ni***Rs - Don't Wanna Be Back
- 04: Men In The Moon - Meteorite Beat
- 05: Les Bellas - Mistrial Blues
- 06: Crank - Kill My Brain Make Me Smile
- 07: The Fatals - Feel Allright
- 08: Zoo Trash - Not Enough Noise
- 09: Jack Of Heart - Tell Me Lyres
- 10: Kung Fu Escalator - Get Off My Mind
- 11: Circles - Many In My Head
- 12: Migas Valdes - Gories
- 13: Los Santos - Henri
- 14: T.time Fantasy - San Francisco
- 15: Hushpuppies - Hushpuppies
Here we are! Back for the second volume of Back from the Canigó ! In the same spirit as Back from the Grave, our goal is to look back at what happened in the South of France near Perpignan at the beginning of the 21st century. As you can hear it in the first volume, the city of Perpignan (and its region, Northern Catalonia) has been a strong place for underground rock'n'roll for many years. In the 90's, there were a lot of garage bands and an important mods community. These guys created a spirit in the city that's still present today. This volume showcases the new bands created by Perpignan's city rockers and the country punks from the nearby villages. Bands like Les Gardiens du Canigou, The Ugly Things, The Likyds, The Toxic Farmers, The Vox Men, The Feedback, heard on the first compilation, spawned plenty of new formations. This time the scene has its own labels - Nasty Products and Profet Record are two of them. It has never been easier to record music and put it on vinyl. There are live venues all over the city. The beginning of the internet also makes life easier, even when you're in a town in the South of France near the Spanish border and the Mediterranean. Myspace is growing fast and local bands make contact with the other side of the Atlantic. The Sonic Chicken 4 are signed by In the Red and Trouble in Mind. Parisian labels are also interested in the work of bands from Perpignan. The Hushpuppies, ex-Likyds, go to the capital and are signed by Diamondtraxx. They're certainly the best known band of that era with their hit "You're Gonna Say Yeah", featured on Guitar Hero and in several commercial ads. Boosted by international touring, Catalan bands make their way into the world. The Fatals go on tour in Italy and Canada. The Sonic Chicken 4 are booked for a US tour while Jack of Heart, signed on Born Bad, play all over Europe. The whole world listens. This is the story told by our compilation. Just put the needle on the record and let the music do the talking...
"When you cut into the present, the future leaks out" William S. Burroughs. Third Ear are proud and excited to release a new Brendon Moeller project exclusive to Third Ear... Ultra Random Analog Orchestra. The project kicks off with 13 tracks released on vinyl over 3 individually released 12" and a digital album with 16 tracks. The music ranges from deep, wide-screen Techno to Ambient and beatless, that pushes the limits of the sonic palette. Artwork by The Designers Republic. Brendon says, "The ability to sculpt an audio collage in realtime employing techniques of randomness is one of my favorite pursuits using a eurorack modular system.
Since its inception in 2007, Minimood has continued to explore the deeper, dubbier realms of techno, house and minimal, playing host to the likes of CV313, David Hausdorf, Steve O’Sullivan, Luke Hess, Sascha Dive, Delano Smith and many more. Now, label head Voltmar returns to the subseries Minimood Extra together with his good friend Polish DJ/producer Blazej Malinowski to serve up two individual atmospheric, dub-techno reworks of Russian underground duo Advanced Dreams’ ‘Blurred Trip’ pressed on transparent wax.
Inner Tension chief Blazej Malinowski’s interpretation of the aptly titled ‘Blurred Trip’ creates a complex sonic soundscape as evocative keys, subtle percussion, reverberating basslines and ethereal samples work in harmony. On the flip, Voltmar offers up a chuggy, stripped back reshape as ghostly echoes, tight snares, and a punchy bassline carry this profoundly emotive cut.
External Combustion – the second album and first as band leader of the Dirty Knobs – is proof that lightning can strike twice. His first record, Wreckless Abandon, was released in November 2020 to a great reception, gaining attention from Broken Record, Vulture, WTF with Marc Maron podcast, LA Times, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Billboard and many more.
The Dirty Knobs made External Combustion in three weeks over the summer of 2021, and "The band became this spontaneous type of combustion”, Campbell recalled, recounting how the band became more intuitive the longer they played.
Campbell claims he was never offered a solo deal in his four decades with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, despite also writing and producing for artists like Roy Orbison and Don Henley. "I wouldn't have known what to do with it," he adds quickly. "I was Tom's partner. Lyrics and singing – he could always do it much better. But I was writing and recording more music than Tom could deal with. That's when I got the Dirty Knobs, which gave me a chance to try singing. So I started woodshedding. And then when my life changed (with Petty's death in October 2017) it was, 'Time to do this now.'"
'Revisited' is a hybrid of studio and concert recordings from the
acclaimed Norwegian pianist/composer Helge Lien and his trio
Miraculously, however, you can't hear the hybrid nature of the source material. All
tracks blend into a cohesive, 50- minute piece: There are no sounds from the
audience and the studio takes feel as urgent as the live performances.
After the departure of Frode Berg (after 'Guzuguzu') and Per Oddvar Johansen
(after '10'), Helge Lien had to re-think and re-assemble his trio. All the while, he
continued to record and (virtually) perform you could call it improvisation
squared.
The courage has paid off: The new formation - Johannes Eick joining on bass
alongside the returning Knut Aalefjaer on drums - arrived at interpretations which
felt like a look back and a fresh departure all at once: This is not a revolution, it's
passion under the microscope.
repressed !
Free your mind and float away, you’re now entering the mode of the Growing Bin. Hamburg’s centre for audio enlightenment is back with another sublime sensory experience, this time from the land of the rising sun. Keen to get another stamp on his passport, Basso reached out to Japanese duo Singu, two open minded cats who just love to jam. Marrying Kiyo’s free drumming with Keta Ra’s melodic mastery of keyboard and guitar, the two-piece fuse free jazz, post-rock, kosmische and ambient into immersive and esoteric improvisations. Free from any compositional concerns, the Hiroshima outfit trade in energy, emotion and expression. The frenetic percussion and ephemeral melodies of opener ‘Aurora Gate’ instantly transport you to the breathless churn of a Tokyo crossroads, where thousands of people rush by but you stand still in the eye of the storm. Though they may be explosive, the drums sit back in the mix, offering a soft intensity behind the shimmering wall of melody. A nimble and nuanced affair, ‘Bop’ brings rapid fire rhythm, slick syncopation and hypnotic piano refrains. Cool bass rolls along like KDJ’s ‘Rectify’, as Singu update the acid jazz template like Toshio Matsuura covering Carl Craig. Singu journey from far out to Furthur on Aside closer ‘Nagebu’, strapping in for psychedelic synth wig out which is heavy on the resonance and free on the filter. Blooming out of the darkness on the B1, Basso favourite ‘Fazaria’ soothes and moves you with its twinkling keys, nebulous wave forms and delicate guitar, leaving you wide eyed in wonder as the drum fills burst like fireworks across a star-filled sky. ‘828’ sweeps into abstraction as Kiyo and Keta Ra combine snapping glitches and aquatic electronics with fractal guitar tones and woozy bass, pushing through a portal to see what’s beyond. An a-grade wal
A staggering collection Detroit techno-soul music, beamed directly into your consciousness from 1994. Kenny Larkin should need no introduction to those whose ears are trained in the ways of the motor city and her musical sons and daughters. He is one of a handful of artists from the city whose original and unique sonic output has helped shape and advance techno as an art form and as a serious musical movement across the world and it's galaxies beyond, a formidable DJ and producer whose music continues to push the envelope today. 'Azimuth' gives us what would be Larkin's first full length offering, and across 11 tracks of blistering hi-tech machine funk, ambient, soul drenched rhythms and futurist club music he deftly crafted a classic. This is the album you hold in your hands now, here in 2021. Originally released on Warp Records, 'Azimuth' is back here in it's expanded form of a 2 x LP and bonus 10" reissue. A record that effortlessly sounds like it came to earth yesterday while being 25 years old, a true Detroit classic that still makes waves across the planet today. File under - 'Essential'.
'Azimuth' has been legitimately reissued for 2021 on Kenny’s own Art Of Dance imprint. Remastered from DAT tapes and original sources by Curve Pusher. Designed by Atelier Superplus
Modern metallers DAGOBA are back! After putting their stamp on the metal scene with a unique blend of metal and neckbreaking grooves, relentlessly touring and sharing the stage with legendary acts like Metallica, Machine Head and In Flames, DAGOBA have signed with leading Austrian metal label Napalm Records and are prepared to hit the next level. The French four-piece returns with the band’s most ambitious material yet: punishing vocals, groove and modern metal infused guitars and hard-hitting production shows DAGOBA on top of their game, pushing boundaries and incorporating electronic elements seamlessly into a unique modern metal formula. Vocalist Shawter impresses with a high variety in his singing by covering a wide span from intense and deep growls, strong shouts and precise clean vocals. The album starts off with an electronic intro that bursts into the massive attack „The Hunt“, that has already been released in July 2021 as a standalone single and includes all the significant trademarks: melodic passages with clean vocals alter with intense breakdowns and all of this underlined with electronic elements. This mixture leads to a catchy sound as showcased on the dramatic „Bellflower Drive“ or the melodic „City Lights“. Furthermore the sound of DAGOBA stands out for dominant drumming that oscillates between double bass, blast beats and forward going up tempo drumming as it occurs on „The Last Crossing“ or „Sunfall“. Between all the action, there is also space for calmer parts such as the interlude „Break“ or the track „On the Run“ that begins with female vocals that gradually build up into another hymn lining up brilliantly with the other songs of the album. DAGOBA manages the balancing act between harsh breakdowns, dense soundwalls and grooving passages with ease. Even on its hardest passages, the album never gets too enigmatic - quite the opposite: One smashing track is followed by the next, the record just flies by and leaves no time to breathe. By Night is a beast of an album showcasing how far DAGOBA can take electronic influences on the upcoming material – a must-have for true fans of modern metal! alone!
Billy Bruner is not only Tulsa's OG soul man, but he also wrote the best 80s soul tribute to his home city, T-U-L-S-A, not just a great nod but an earworm of the highest order. Flipped (as we love to do) with an unreleased ballad called 'I Want To Hold You' found in the archive. It came from a rough tape so we have done our best to bring it back to life, we pulled it off pretty, so don't sleep on the B-Side kids.
After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.
“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.
Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.
Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.
And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.
Each LP sleeve is delivered as a bespoke limited edition, hand-printed and customised by the man himself. Features Jehst, Taja, Jaz Kahina, Vandal Savage, Junior Disprol and Cappo. The return of the “Zack de la Rocha of Ashby de la Zouch”, back in tandem with Chicago producer Spectacular Diagnostics World status 2020-21; a write-off, one to be struck from the record, ‘NULL AND VOID’ if you will. This hasn’t stopped Kid Acne kicking on and bringing what he calls “the difficult fifth album” to the Lewis Recordings megaplex. Full of Yorkshire say-so, his inimitable strain of hip-hop delivers the mind-bending with everyman knowhow, fearlessly “taking out pop chart sucker rappers with a blow dart”. Spectacular Diagnostics (Westside Gunn, Vic Spencer, Conway the Machine, Nolan the Ninja) is back on the boards for Kid Acne’s latest magical mystery tour, strengthening regional alliances with UK heavyweights Cappo, Jehst and Vandal Savage as well as introducing one-to-watch Taja. Driven by the wise man’s testament that thou shalt never use the internet again, Acne shakes off screen burn and heads back to the great (socially distanced) outdoors with a fresh batch of wavy, chaos theorising boom-bap.
Die Scorpions melden sich mit ihrem Album „Rock Believer“ zurück, das während des Lockdowns in ihrer Homebase Hannover im Studio entstanden ist. „Das Album hat die Scorpions DNA, den Kern bilden die Schenker/Meine Kompositionen“, sagt Frontmann Klaus Meine und erklärt, warum die neuen Songs die Frische und Power der 80er-Scorpions-Alben haben: „Wir haben als Band alle zusammen in einem Raum gespielt und die Songs aufgenommen – genau so, wie wir es damals in den 80er Jahren gemacht haben.
Wir können es nicht erwarten wieder loszulegen, um endlich wieder für unsere Fans zu spielen.“ Der Sound hat eine Energie und Kompromisslosigkeit wie ein Adrenalinstoß und lässt keine Zweifel offen, welche Power die Rocklegenden auch live abliefern werden.
Es sind grandiose Songs, jeder eine lyrische Short-Story, minimale Gedichte in Prosa, dargestellt in opulenter Soundführung, mit dem Charakter der Scorpions Anfang der 1980er Jahre, jedoch im frischen
Produktionsmantel der 2020er. Die Ressourcen der Karrierejahre sind zu einem überbordenden Fundus geworden, der die Brücke vom Gestern ins Morgen schlägt. „Rock Believer“ erscheint als 1CD und 1LP (180g, schwarz) mit 11 Tracks und als limitierte 2CD und 2LP (180g, schwarz, Gatefold) mit zusätzlichen 5 Bonustracks. info sheet from distr.
- 1: Summer's Children
- 2: Joyous Lake
- 3: Treetops
- 4: The Big Deep
- 5: Mumbly-Peg
- 6: Slow Fawns
- 7: Camp Sunfrost
- 8: Overlook Mountain House
- 9: Saw Teeth
- 10: Witch Water
- 11: Magic Meadow
- 12: Summer's End
A Letter from TreeTops is the debut album from Pneumatic Tubes, the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Jesse Chandler. Grounded here in his own bucolic makings, Chandler opens his imagination to the world with this very personal and contemplative album. It’s a kind of American Kosmiche Music, a paean to the wild landscapes of the Adirondacks and Catskills of Upstate New York where he grew up. (TreeTops is the name of a summer camp, fondly remembered by several generations of the Chandler family.)
The album came to Chandler almost as an automatic transmission. Shortly after the death of his father, he holed up alone in the old family home with a few synths, a couple of vintage keyboards, percussion instruments and of course his beloved flutes and clarinets - the “pneumatic tubes” of his nom de plume. Channelling raw memory and landscape, Chandler laid down most of the material for this mystical and elegiac suite of music in just a few days. He later called on some talented friends to flesh out the final recordings; Paul Alexander on bass, Bill Campbell on drums, Marissa Nadler backing vocals and Robert Gomez on electric guitar.
The result is a series of beautifully faded musical photographs. Gentle melodies are propelled along by synth arpeggiators or laidback sidestick and felt beater drums. Chandler’s wind instruments are woven throughout like wild vines binding the elements together. Towards the end of the album an underlying note of melancholy swells into grief during the very moving Witch Water, which is subtly underpinned with Marissa Nadler’s haunting voice. The clouds soon clear, the mountains reappear, and the wheel of the year and of the generations turns again as A Letter from TreeTops signs off with the same lilting melody on which it began.
Originally hailing from Woodstock, New York and now living in Denton, Texas, Jesse Chandler is the keyboard and woodwinds player for the bands Midlake and Mercury Rev. His particular warmth as a composer and improviser is informed by a childhood ensconced in the mystical Catskill mountains, where he absorbed the area’s rich musical history and developed a fascination with keyboard and woodwind instruments.
A Letter from TreeTops is not his first appearance on Ghost Box, he also contributed organ and flute on the Soundcarriers’ incredible Entropicalia album.
Evocative liner notes are provided by Justin Hopper, author of Old Weird Albion and writer of the Ghost Box spoken word album Chanctonbury Rings. By happy coincidence Hopper also grew up in New York State and has his own deep connection to the landscapes there.
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard began as a bedroom studio project for Tom
Rees in late 2016, though since then he has employed the help of brother
Eddie Rees, Ethan Hurst and Zac White
With an insatiably wild live show citing the ghosts of rock and rolls past, Buzzard
Buzzard Buzzard offer a fresh look on the classic rock model, and it comes
dressed in denim.
Obwohl es nun schon eine ganze Weile her ist, dass Svartsot neues Material veröffentlicht hat, ist die Band immer noch sehr lebendig. In der
Zwischenzeit seit dem 2015er „Vældet“ sind die biergetränkten Folk-Metaller in der Live-Szene in Dänemark und im Ausland aktiv, u des Bassisten
und der Entscheidung, das Material eines Albums 2017/18 auf Eis zu legen, entstand die Idee, eine Sammlung traditioneller Folksongs zu ver-
öffentlichen, die die Band inspiriert haben und die im charakteristischen Stil von Svartsot überarbeitet wurden.
Die ursprüngliche Idee war, dieses fünfte Album mit dem Titel „Kumbl“ (ein altes dänisches Wort für „Denkmal“ oder „Denkmal“) im Jahr 2020
zu Svartsots 15-jährigem Jubiläum zu veröffentlichen. Aus praktischen Gründen wurde das Album jedoch erstmals während der Pandemie aufgenommen – von keinem Geringeren als dem Schlagzeuger und aufstrebenden Produzenten der Band, Frederik Uglebjerg.
Die Veröffentlichung markiert auch die erste Zusammenarbeit der Band mit dem dänischen Metal-Label Mighty Music.
„Kumbl“ enthält 12 Tracks, die eine Mischung aus relativ unbekannten und anderen populäreren Folk- und spätmittelalterlichen Liedern aus
Dänemark und ganz Nordeuropa präsentieren. Zwei Lieder beinhalten Gastauftritte von Andrea Uglebjerg, Sängerin der dänischen Punkband
Situationsfornærmelse und Schwester des zuvor erwähnten Frederik. Drei Singles werden veröffentlicht: „Liden Kirsten“ ist eine traditionelle
dänische Volksballade, die davon erzählt, wie ein König beschloss, die Dame seiner Begierden zur Mutter seiner Kinder und seiner Königin zu machen, ohne es ihr vorher zu sagen; „Carmen Vernale“ ist ein Lied aus der Zeit um 1500, geschrieben von Morten Børup, Kantor an der Kathedrale
von Aarhus, das die Ankunft des Frühlings preist und in der lateinischen Sprache vorgetragen wird – die Melodie wird stündlich von den Glocken
des Rathauses von Aarhus gespielt; „Drømte Mig En Drøm“ ist eine Ausarbeitung des ältesten aufgezeichneten dänischen Liedes, das uns in einer
Runenhandschrift von ca. 1300. Zu „Liden Kirsten“ wird ein Musikvideo veröffentlicht, außerdem wird eine Lyric-Videoversion von „Drømte Mig
En Drøm“ erhältlich sein.
Zur Unterstützung des Albums wurden Svartsot für eine Reihe von Konzerten in ganz Dänemark gebucht. Während derzeit nur wenige europäische Shows gebucht oder geplant sind, werden hoffentlich weitere folgen, wenn die Reisebestimmungen dies zulassen.
Obwohl es nun schon eine ganze Weile her ist, dass Svartsot neues Material veröffentlicht hat, ist die Band immer noch sehr lebendig. In der
Zwischenzeit seit dem 2015er „Vældet“ sind die biergetränkten Folk-Metaller in der Live-Szene in Dänemark und im Ausland aktiv, u des Bassisten
und der Entscheidung, das Material eines Albums 2017/18 auf Eis zu legen, entstand die Idee, eine Sammlung traditioneller Folksongs zu ver-
öffentlichen, die die Band inspiriert haben und die im charakteristischen Stil von Svartsot überarbeitet wurden.
Die ursprüngliche Idee war, dieses fünfte Album mit dem Titel „Kumbl“ (ein altes dänisches Wort für „Denkmal“ oder „Denkmal“) im Jahr 2020
zu Svartsots 15-jährigem Jubiläum zu veröffentlichen. Aus praktischen Gründen wurde das Album jedoch erstmals während der Pandemie aufgenommen – von keinem Geringeren als dem Schlagzeuger und aufstrebenden Produzenten der Band, Frederik Uglebjerg.
Die Veröffentlichung markiert auch die erste Zusammenarbeit der Band mit dem dänischen Metal-Label Mighty Music.
„Kumbl“ enthält 12 Tracks, die eine Mischung aus relativ unbekannten und anderen populäreren Folk- und spätmittelalterlichen Liedern aus
Dänemark und ganz Nordeuropa präsentieren. Zwei Lieder beinhalten Gastauftritte von Andrea Uglebjerg, Sängerin der dänischen Punkband
Situationsfornærmelse und Schwester des zuvor erwähnten Frederik. Drei Singles werden veröffentlicht: „Liden Kirsten“ ist eine traditionelle
dänische Volksballade, die davon erzählt, wie ein König beschloss, die Dame seiner Begierden zur Mutter seiner Kinder und seiner Königin zu machen, ohne es ihr vorher zu sagen; „Carmen Vernale“ ist ein Lied aus der Zeit um 1500, geschrieben von Morten Børup, Kantor an der Kathedrale
von Aarhus, das die Ankunft des Frühlings preist und in der lateinischen Sprache vorgetragen wird – die Melodie wird stündlich von den Glocken
des Rathauses von Aarhus gespielt; „Drømte Mig En Drøm“ ist eine Ausarbeitung des ältesten aufgezeichneten dänischen Liedes, das uns in einer
Runenhandschrift von ca. 1300. Zu „Liden Kirsten“ wird ein Musikvideo veröffentlicht, außerdem wird eine Lyric-Videoversion von „Drømte Mig
En Drøm“ erhältlich sein.
Zur Unterstützung des Albums wurden Svartsot für eine Reihe von Konzerten in ganz Dänemark gebucht. Während derzeit nur wenige europäische Shows gebucht oder geplant sind, werden hoffentlich weitere folgen, wenn die Reisebestimmungen dies zulassen.




















