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2005's Naturally was a pivotal moment in the history of soul music. It was the first Daptone album tracked at the renowned "House of Soul", a recording studio handbuilt by Sharon and the rest of the Daptone family in a two story rental in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The album has gone on to sell over 200,000 records, with hit singles "How Long Do I Have To Wait?" and "This Land is Your Land" streaming in the hundreds of millions- staggering figures for a wholly independent release.

Up to this point Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings had yet to reach an audience outside of dingy, hole-in-the-wall clubs, dive bars, and underground DJ parties, attended by only the most in-the-know. This was the scene where the band began to flourish, developing the sound that would forever alter the musical landscape and set a lofty new bar for what could be considered real-deal soul music. It made Daptone a household name and opened doors for countless musicians and record labels to come. Naturally sparked a renaissance that is still vibrating today- a testament to Sharon Jones' legacy as the undisputed, reigning Queen of Heavyweight Soul.

MM Discos presents 'Freedom Spirit' by Pleasure Voyage: a sonic journey into the essence of Balearic Beat From the sunniest corners of the Balearic imagination, MM Discos opens the doors to a new musical expedition with Freedom Spirit, the highly anticipated vinyl release by Pleasure Voyage. A tribute to freedom, nature, and the connection to the ethereal, this EP encapsulates the spirit of eternal summer with six carefully crafted tracks that move between ambient landscapes, hypnotic downtempo, and immersive grooves. This work is a testament to Pleasure Voyage's talent for capturing the magic of the sea breeze and the ebb and flow of the waves in sound form. From the first chord of Cloud Waves (New Age Balearic Mix) to the deep reflection of Cloud Waves (Ambient Meditation Mix), each track is a gateway to a state of escape and immersive enjoyment. Side A kicks off with Cloud Waves (New Age Balearic Mix), an enveloping anthem with celestial pads and floating arpeggios, followed by Surf Meditation, an ode to the ocean with pulsating basslines and ethereal percussion. Verano Española closes the A-side with a warm groove and guitars that evoke golden sunsets and cocktails by the sea.

2005's Naturally was a pivotal moment in the history of soul music. It was the first Daptone album tracked at the renowned "House of Soul", a recording studio handbuilt by Sharon and the rest of the Daptone family in a two story rental in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The album has gone on to sell over 200,000 records, with hit singles "How Long Do I Have To Wait?" and "This Land is Your Land" streaming in the hundreds of millions- staggering figures for a wholly independent release.

Up to this point Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings had yet to reach an audience outside of dingy, hole-in-the-wall clubs, dive bars, and underground DJ parties, attended by only the most in-the-know. This was the scene where the band began to flourish, developing the sound that would forever alter the musical landscape and set a lofty new bar for what could be considered real-deal soul music. It made Daptone a household name and opened doors for countless musicians and record labels to come. Naturally sparked a renaissance that is still vibrating today- a testament to Sharon Jones' legacy as the undisputed, reigning Queen of Heavyweight Soul.

Picking up where "Máquina de Vénus" (Blacksea Não Maya) left off, this is now 100% DJ Kolt at the controls. Slow, grinding power tools working their way across the complex web of ideas the producer lays down. Truly a next level thing, taking elements from recognized styles such as tarraxo, EDM, even trap, bending their accepted signifiers to suit his own creative mind instead of the crowd pleasing monster that constantly haunts Dance Music. Here we find a wonderful, twisted approach to the dancefloor, one heavy on brain activity, fantastically moody, showcasing music that we long ago quit trying to define.

"Despertar" (again) changes the game, adding secret doors and pathways previously unheard and unthought of. This right here is the mark of a unique producer. You'll have a hard time trying to compare Kolt with any other artist on Príncipe, much less on the outside world. A keen sense of groove filters through all tracks, the dance is never forgotten but you know there are certain demands - you can't just expect a straight line to "a good night out", there's an effort required, you'll have to reach out as well so you can let loose and connect with the universal Master Plan.

The album is all made up of liquid transitions as much as rock-hard foundations, perfectly capable of being explicit when honouring the roots but so committed to a new stance that one may feel thrown off balance by the sheer genius of

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Plus' endlich auf Vinyl, als expanded Doppel-LP in Gatefold. Die 13 Original-Tracks von 'Alpha Beta Gamma Delta', plus 9 Bonus-Tracks, die zuvor auf Single und alternativen Akustik-Tracks veröffentlicht wurden, auf einem denkwürdigen Album von unfehlbarem Inhalt: zeitgenössischer, aufregender, dunkler und gefährlicher Rock & Roll. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta, von der Band im September 2022 selbst veröffentlicht, war das erste neue Material der legendären britischen Rock'n'Roll-Gruppe The Godfathers seit fünf Jahren. Das während der obligatorischen Pandemic-Pause aufgenommene Album wurde von den Fans in den höchsten Tönen gelobt und erhielt einige der besten Kritiken in der gesamten Karriere der Band. Peter Coyne, Leadsänger und Frontmann der Godfathers, nannte es ,eine klangliche Tour de Force". Alpha Beta Gamma Delta ist eine brillante, aktuelle Sammlung von Rock-'n'-Roll-Songs, die perfekt mit dem konkurriert, was The Godfathers in der Vergangenheit gemacht haben, und Spannung in eine Welt bringt, die nicht mehr die Welt ihrer Anfänge ist. Sie behalten ihre Identität bei, aber der Gesamtsound ist etwas anders. Zur Wut der Vergangenheit gesellen sich Gesangsharmonien ('Bring on the Sunshine'), Gitarrensoli, Melancholie und eine Reihe neuer Referenzen, die auch ihre eigenen sind. Dead in Los Angeles", ein Song über einen Spaziergang im Mondlicht, könnte von einigen mit The Doors verglichen werden, und ,Tonight` ist sehr Iggy Pop. Die Godfathers machen auch leisere Nummern, wenn es nötig ist, und so ist Peter Coynes Baritonstimme auf dem sensiblen, honigsüßen ,There Is No Time" zu Hause. You Gotta Wait" ist ein melodischer Punkrock-Klassiker, der das Montagsgefühl auspackt, bei dem das Wochenende eine Million Meilen entfernt scheint... Kurzum, dreizehn Tracks solider und abwechslungsreicher wütender Rock'n'Roll für eine neue Ära. Darüber hinaus enthält Alpha Beta Gamma Delta PLUS drei Tracks, die auf der Originalausgabe des Albums nicht enthalten waren: 'Wild and Free' (zuvor als Single zusammen mit 'I'm Not Your Slave' veröffentlicht) sowie 'When the Cowards Fall' und 'Fade Away' (enthalten auf ABGDs Vorab-EP 'Midnight Rider'). Außerdem sind sechs akustische Neuinterpretationen der Titel enthalten, die während der Studio-Sessions eingespielt wurden. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Plus ist ein melodisches, reifes und abwechslungsreiches Album, auf dem The Godfathers weiterhin ihr wütendes Wesen in einer anderen Ära, in einer anderen Welt zeigen, in der sie sich immer noch weigern, Rock 'n' Roll als Routine zu akzeptieren.

Will probably ship earlier than the 14th. Up until Raising Hell, the rap juggernaut we know as Run-DMC was still in its building and breaking-down- doors phase. In 1986 that changed, and in a dramatic way. With their third long-player, the group had reached the mountaintop. It was THE record that proved hip-hop wasn't a fad. Raising Hell marked an important and significant new era for the group. Leaving producer Larry Smith for up-and- coming sonic innovator Rick Rubin (still co-produced by Run's brother Russell Simmons), they began to fully transition not only their own sound, but the sound of the entire genre. Less live playing - with some exceptions - and a slicker, tighter sonic attack. Musical aesthetics aside, though, at their core they stayed true to the essence of hip-hop: two turntables and a microphone, or two. It's impossible to talk about the album without its worldwide smash, 'Walk This Way,' which hit #4 on the Billboard pop charts and saw the group digging in the rock crates to summon Aerosmith in the flesh, combining Steven Tyler's and Joe Perry's musicianship with the group's own take on the '70s classic. The song's video cemented Run-DMC as legit MTV idols, and both groups rode its wave to new heights. Beyond 'Walk This Way,' the platter is full to the hilt with undeniable classic singles: 'You Be Illin''; 'It's Tricky'; 'Peter Piper' and the fashion-world shifting 'My Adidas.' Each song was new proof that Run-DMC's sound was indeed new, but still familiar, and full of the energy, charisma and innovation that drew fans to their first two LPs. Aside from the singles, the reason the album stands up so well is the fact that there is virtually no filler. 'Proud To Be Black' remains a pioneering and underrated cut when people talk about 'conscious' hip-hop. And to make sure they never lost the streets that gave them their start, 'Hit It Run,' 'Son Of Byford,' 'Is It Live' and 'Perfection' all bring it back to the group's early days in the park. Besides the triple platinum status the album achieved, it was more than just a pop smash. It signaled a new era for rap music, and it was

the no-turning- back point for the entire genre. This was the beginning of what we now call the Golden Era, and it still sounds as fresh today as it did three decades ago.

Forest Jams continues the journey into the great beyond with Mori Ra’s Mantra–an EP composed of four edits created for any inquisitive earthling and forest wanderer.

Mori Ra is a DJ based in Osaka, Japan his sets are a witches brew composed of balearic, cosmic, and electronic disco ingredients. He has released on other labels such as Rotating Souls, Macadam Mambo, Berceuse Heroique, MM Discos and more. In Mantra, Mori Ra acts as a mysterious wanderer who has stumbled upon the doors of our minds in the middle of the night. When we answer the door he is bearing gifts of creative glory and all we need to do is provide shelter in return. We invite him in so that he can rest, recharge, and continue his journey.

During his visit in our minds Mori Ra shares “Mantra” the secrets of the universe disguised as parables packaged neatly into four tracks. Catharsis begins the journey and immediately throws us into a sound that feels like we are driving a spaceship in Gran Turismo 37, the spaceship simulator. Now that we have successfully crossed the plane and have entered the digital unknown, Seinn O! becomes the story of communication. Seinn O! gave the smoke leaving my mouth color and the shamanistic chants placed me in an atmospheric state with the ability to cross over and communicate in the digital space. Then comes 孫行者 the Grandson Traveler, which embodies the story of the simulation. Imagine the sound of a bustling dystopian city in the matrix–neon signs, dancing billboards, talking vending machines, radioactive wildlife, and overgrown foliage leaking in from the jungle the city is carved into. Mori Ra seems to have melded all of those sounds together to create the soundtrack of the big city where everyone is lost. Finally, before leaving our minds Mori Ra offers the final parable, あの星 That Star. Which becomes the story of realization, the journey back home from the exploration of the mind. That Star brought me into a cave and I could see the opening at the end of it, all I had to do was walk towards it. However, I couldn’t walk. I could only galumph forward, while bouncing up and down to the beat. My arms slivered and guided my body forward as the vocals came in. As I moved forward the opening, the clearing, the destination remained the same distance away. The endless tunnel of the mind gave me a feeling of comfort because I did not want this journey to end.

The EP ends and we will never know who visited our minds that night, but we know we loved the journey. Mori Ra is the steward of our journey through consciousness, and the vessel is “Mantra”.

One of the most dynamic female soul singers in the history of the music, Tina Turner oozed sexuality from every pore in a performing career that began the moment she stepped on-stage as lead singer of The Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the late '50s.

Her gritty and growling performances beat down doors everywhere, looking back to the double-barrelled attack of gospel fervor and sexual abandon that had originally formed soul back then. After almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner has become one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars to date.

Rian Treanor keeps knocking new doors of possibility with his new label Electronic Music Club and its initial focus on Rotherham Sight & Sound, participants of a community-based initiative in their shared post-industrial home town Rotherham. Utilising software synths designed by Rian and his dad Mark Fell, the trio twist out vortices of shearing, asymmetric anarchitecture, rudely resembling the sort of hyper-contemporary styles alluded to in Rian’s solo works, but inflected with cranky timing and an intuitive freedom that bears extraordinary results, especially when considering the fact the trio had no prior musical ability, and only encountered electronic music a few years ago.

After a couple of years of practice and performance, ‘Action Potential’ now firms up their quicksilver sound for club and home buzzes with seven actions that warp and morph from the needling jolts and hoof of ‘Pass The Go’, to shuddering detonations in ‘Dial’, each with a properly electrifying force carrying a genuine futureshock. Working within Rian’s systems-based framework, Anne, Kathleen, and Mick deploy a tactile feel for the machines, finely honed over the course of many sessions at the Rotherham Sight & Sound facility, that uses their visual impairments to synaesthetic advantage.

Between the wickedly metallic ragga swivel of ‘Hold’, the diffractive chain reactions of ‘When It Ends’, and more tempered, sloshing sensuality of ‘30 Seconds’, the trio follow their noses down wormholes that manifest an ideal of accessibility and expressionism within electronic music contexts that Rian and Mark have long worked towards, with Anne, Kathleen and Mick’s relative lack of cultural conditioning in this paradigm prompting them to act on pure instinct

"Raise a glass to the latest entry in Bloodshot’s Barrel Select Series!

Barrel Select exists to highlight the best of Bloodshot’s cask-strength catalog. Robbie Fulks has made some of the finest records we can claim as our own, but if there’s only room for one on that sacred shelf at the top, it’s Gone Away Backward.

“At a time when modern country feels like bloated spandex-and-Aquanetted pop-metal, Fulks defiantly embraces an unflinching traditionalism.” Paste’s words, not ours, but we’re not gonna argue the point they made when Gone Away Backward hit their doorstep 11 years back. They also called this “a tour du force of bluegrass-derived spare country,” which we’ll also let stand. Magnet said it was “the best album Fulks has ever made, period,” and out of respect for the wonderful work Robbie has done in the past decade, we’ll simply point out that this too is an 11-year-old review.

With Steve Albini at the board, Robbie was able to break his songs down to their core and fire his characters, his chops, his band, and his amazing voice directly at listener’s souls. “We recorded it pretty fast, in a couple of days. People are always bragging that they did it without overdubs, but that’s the way we did it.” The results are everything we ever wanted from Robbie and a high-water mark of folk or bluegrass or alt-country or whatever genre bucket you want to pour his gifts into.

Recorded by Steve Albini

10th Anniversary Barrel Select edition on Bloodshot Red vinyl

“Stunning” —Saving Country Music

“a work of great, accomplished craft . . . vivid and moving” —Ken Tucker, NPR

“The level of artistry is so complete that it suggests a world in which Fulks isn’t a household name is somehow upside down.” —Wall Street Journal"

Senking and DYL team up again after first collaborating for a track on 2020’s »Uniformity Of Nature« EP that also featured different solo productions by the two producers. »Diving Saucer Attack« is the first full-length record by the German artist and his Romanian collaborator, released through the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk label, home to the former’s work for more than a quarter of a century. The six pieces, two of which were produced individually, both showcase the duo’s shared interests for dub-heavy, adventurous electronic music while also emphasising the productive friction generated by the subtle differences between their respective approaches.

Cluj-Napoca-based DYL, real name Eduard Costea, cites his colleague Jens Massel’s work and especially his »Ping« EP—released in 1999 through Karaoke Kalk—as a crucial point of reference for his own development. »He’s one of the producers who inspired me to start making music,« he says. Massel was already familiar with his partner’s eclectic productions when he was approached by him with the idea of collaborating for a piece in 2020. They didn’t stop there, as Massel explains »It went very well and ever since we’ve been sending each sounds and tracks.« As their first joint album, »Diving Saucer Attack« documents the multi-faceted results of this on-going process.

The album opens with a track in true Senking style. Throbbing bass frequencies, haunting synth melodies and carefully placed rhythmic elements form a slow, but driving groove. Before DYL’s »a7r380R« introduces the listener to his anthemic take on IDM, the collaborative second track »2024« showcases how well their respective philosophies complement one another: the two create a detailed soundscape in which an intricate interplay of percussive elements and melodies can unfold. The title track transforms rattling drums and growling bass sounds into a laid-back, spooky trip-hop tune with a live-jazz feel, while »Astral Project« sees the duo venture into the uncanny regions of dub techno. »Not Just Numbers« closes on an even more sombre note—a fitting closing statement to an album full of twists and turns.

»Diving Saucer Attack« is a special album on more than the musical level. Massel released his first records under different guises such as Fumble, Kandis, and Senking through Karaoke Kalk between 1997 and 2001, after which he focused on his work as Senking, putting out a string of iconic albums through raster-noton, among others. 23 years after his last Senking LP for Karaoke Kalk, 2001’s »Silencer,« his return is as non-nostalgic as you’d expect it from such a forward-thinking producer: together with DYL, he continues to explore the possibilities and outer limits of electronic music in an intergenerational dialogue.

For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.

A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.

In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.

Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.

Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.

"Natural Palace is real wave, where the city lights have dimmers and adjust to the vision of the night. They get bright before an afterparty, can ease some shade for a cooldown celebration or spark the shine upon your day. It all started as a distant dream between four friends with a love for '90s dance, '80s AOR and '70s downtown. The dream started to become a fever during a self-imposed recording lock-in. Now, the doors of the Natural Palace are ready to be opened as a post-pan band with songs that could be welcomed on the mid-level of a three-story German dance emporium and in the back rooms of laundromats on future retro nights.

RIYL: Throwing on ""Dewdrops in the Garden"" at the first signs of spring, smoke machines with extra fog juice, hanging out with Howard Jones in a HoJo lobby, Black Box dance parties with Neneh Cherry on top."

Samosa Records dips its toes back into the Afrikano waters with Volume 3 of the Afro themed, genre-busting series and features four deadly tracks from some of Samosa’s most trusted lieutenants.

Breaking the ice as the first track of this exceptional EP is Vincent Galgo and ‘African Rebel’. Mr Galgo has clearly read the brief here – giving us a 125bpm marauder that’s a melting pot of unstoppable horns, furious rhythms and an Afro-pop style bass that is the beating heart of the track.

Track 2 is Samosa regular Frank Virgilio who introduces us to his ‘Mistress’. As a straight up jazz-infused, mid-tempo rhythmic chugger, ‘Mistress’ quickly gets down to the important business of racking up the beats and instrumentation. The generous spread of guitar riffs, assertive bass and organ stabs are expertly lifted by the layered and always rolling drums and bongos induce a trance-like state of mind, so be warned!

On the B-Side Samosa newcomer Casper Leo wears his Tribal heart on his sleeve with the enchanting and utterly captivating jangler - ‘Tom Tom’. You can never have too much Kora guitar and ‘Tom Tom’ has lashings of it, with delicious sprinkles of melodic Marimba – perfect for West African sunsets.

Closing the EP off in style is Afro beats grand master, Lego Edit and the filthy-sexy ‘El Safari’. No other producer can take the essence of the Afro beat structure and bend it to their will like Lego Edit can. Like a late night fist-fight in Club Coco Bongo, ‘El Safari’ punches its way out of the doors. A slinky, wily alley cat of a tune that digs deep with its claws and doesn’t let go and another masterpiece from Lego Edit.

Afrikano Vol.3 has done the impossible and set the bar even higher for this wonderfully diverse Samosa series. We want more. We want ‘4’. With this in your record box, you’ll come with a warning.

Brighton (UK) punks THE BAR STOOL PREACHERS have announced their new EP 'Below The Static', which features reimagined versions of songs from the bands 2022 album 'Above The Static'. The EP is out 13th September 2024 via Pure Noise Records. Speaking about the new EP the band said, "For this release, we really wanted to highlight how good the songwriting was. We were stoked with how well the album went down but we really wanted to expose some of the more vulnerable elements and fuck with the format a bit. To hear such strong fxmale vocals, and having heavy guitar riffs on cellos/violins etc. really got us excited about these songs again. Some of the versions are stripped right back to just a voice and one instrument. It's the band like you've never heard it before, and really breathes a different life into the songs."

In their musical journey spanning 15 years, Jungle by Night always knew their music isn't about individual talent, but in the blend of all elements its members bring to the table. This realization birthed the theme of their seventh album, “Synergy”. With the mantra "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" echoing in their minds, Jungle by Night embarked on a mission to make an album that is recorded right in the moment, and as live as possible, to capture the energy between musicians. And to take it a step further, they threw open the doors of their studio in Amsterdam and invited some of Holland’s most prolific vocalists such as: Spinvis, Sef, Merol, Pitou, and Meral Polat. Each vocalist brought their unique style to the mix, infusing the tracks with depth and emotion. Recorded in their beloved studio in Amsterdam Noord, "Synergy" captures the essence of Jungle by Night's creative spirit. Here, imperfection is embraced, and spontaneity reigns supreme. It's about capturing the energy of the moment, where music comes alive in all its vibrant glory. So, dive into the world of "Synergy" and experience the crazy world Jungle by Night, and friends. It's more than just an album – it's a testament to the beauty of coming together and creating something greater than the sum of its parts. Jungle by Night are seven Dutch guys who together form a live act to be reckoned with. This Amsterdam band consists of a lot of synths, drums, bass, guitar and percussion enhanced by a trumpet and trombone. From more brass-heavy earlier albums to a stronger focus on the electronic groove on their latest, they bravely go where no band has gone before and now find themselves in the goldilocks zone between analogue dance music, nu-disco, Krautrock, 70’s funk and 80’s electro. The transfer to a more electronically driven sound might have been a small step for this merry band of highly skilled musicians, but it became a giant leap for the people on the dance floor. Their radiant and energetic live shows have become the must-see festival act that festivalgoers all over Europe include as a staple in their concert schedule. They know this won’t be a show, it’ll be a downright party. It’s like that tree in the forest. Was it really a festival if you didn’t see Jungle by Night? What constitutes this ever-present attraction is the highly danceable and addicting build up of their set, in which they take their audience by the hand and lead them into the groove. What happens when you come out on the other side? Depends. Just know you won’t be the same.

Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.

The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”

Die US Alternative Metal-Vorreiter MUSHROOMHEAD melden sich diesen Sommer mit ihrem neuen Album Call The Devil zurück. Call The Devil ist der Nachfolger des achten Albums und Label-Debüts A Wonderful Life (2020), mit dem die Horror-Ikonen in den USA große Erfolge feierten (Platz 2 der US Current Hard Music Albums Charts und Platz 8 der Current Rock Albums Charts). Außerdem war es das Debüt von Jackie LaPonza – der ersten Sängerin von MUSHROOMHEAD.

Nach zwölfjähriger Pause kehrt Gitarrist Dave „Gravy" Felton auf Call The Devil zurück und verleiht zwei der neuen Tracks seine unverkennbaren Skills. Felton hat in der Vergangenheit auf mehreren wegweisenden Alben von MUSHROOMHEAD mitgewirkt und gilt durch seine Arbeit an Klassikern wie „Along The Way", „Sun Doesn't Rise" und „The Dream Is Over" als einer der prägendsten Songwriter. Call The Devil wurde erneut von Mastermind und Drummer Skinny produziert und von Matt Wallace (Faith No More, 3 Doors Down) gemischt, der bereits für das Kultalbum XIII mit der Band
zusammengearbeitet hat. Gemastert wurde Call The Devil von Jacob Hansen, der für seine Arbeit mit Größen wie Volbeat, Epica und Arch Enemy bekannt ist.

Limitiertes farbiges Vinyl, 2024 Pressung! Valley of Rain ist das Debütalbum von Giant Sand, das 1983 von Howe Gelb (Gesang, Gitarre) und Winston Watson (Schlagzeug), Tommy Larkins (Schlagzeug) und Scott Garber (Bass) aufgenommen und schließlich 1985 veröffentlicht wurde. Zum Zeitpunkt der Aufnahme war Howe Gelb mit den Möglichkeiten von Röhrenverstärkern nicht vertraut und hatte den Großteil des Albums mit einem Roland JC120 in den wunderbaren 8-Spur-Studio The Control Center in Korea Town, Los Angeles zusammen mit Ricky "Mix" Novak produziert. Gesamtkosten der eineinhalbtägigen Aufnahme betrugen $400. Als Enigma Records anbot, das Album zu veröffentlichen, baten sie um weitere 15 Minuten Musik, um es zu einer vollständigen LP zu machen. Ron Goudie wurde dann hinzugezogen, um die zusätzlichen Aufnahmen in einem Studio in Venedig, CA namens Mad Dog mit Eric Westfall Engineering zu überwachen. Es war dort, als Howe sich einen Verstärker auslieh, der im Studio gelagert worden war, dass er das Polster eines Röhrenverstärkers entdeckte und seine Welt sich veränderte. Der Verstärker war ein leicht modifizierter Fender Twin Reverb von Robbie Krieger von The Doors. 30 Jahre später, nachdem die Band auf unbestimmte Zeit eingeschläfert worden war, begannen sich die ersten Songs in die letzten Giant Sand Tourneen einzuschleichen. Irgendwie schien es angebracht, ihnen einen weiteren Versuch mit dem richtigen Verstärker zu geben, nur um zu sehen, was sie hätten sein können. Was die Idee zugänglicher machte, war die Verfügbarkeit der beiden ursprünglichen Schlagzeuger, die in Tucson lebten. Der erste Versuch kam letzten Sommer mit Winston & Tommy und Thoger Lund am Bass, sowie den beiden neuesten Mitgliedern, dem 29-jährigen Gabriel Sullivan und der 23-jährigen Annie Dolan an Doppelhalsgitarren. Das Geräusch war wahnsinnig. Der lustige Teil war Gabriel, der die Session entwickelt und gemischt hat und ihr einen absichtlichen 80er Jahre Produktionssound gab. Howe erklärte ihm später, dass er sich seit den ersten Originalaufnahmen im Krieg mit diesem Produktionstrend befand. So versuchten sie es alle noch einmal zur Weihnachtszeit, diesmal mit einem neu entdeckten Fender 30 Amp, der von 1980 - 1983 in Produktion war. Diese neue Neuaufnahme des ersten Albums klingt jetzt so, wie es hätte klingen sollen. Es wurde für $400 und am selben Tag und in der halben Sessionzeit wie das Original neu gemacht. Scott Garber kam sogar von Austin TX mit seinem Fretless Bass, so dass das Album buchstäblich die ursprüngliche Besetzung für mindestens die Hälfte der Songs zusammen hat. Giant Sand sind an den Anfang zurückgekehrt.

A very special double-LP gatefold edition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Mr Ms club that opened its doors in 1974.

Love, Love, Love, Love will make you walk a thousandcmiles to be with her. She is the wisdomcyou long to have, the courage you nevercthought you had. Love is peace, she is patient, she is Kind. Love will heal that infected wound that you long gave up on to heal, more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction. Cuddled up in her grasp, her tears will roll down your face. She’s the real deal. She will fight for you, she will carry the sword for you, She will walk a thousand miles for you. She is sweet, very sweet. Welcome to Jaqee 6th and final album, a closure of a chapter in my artistry so far. This is not the end, it’s just a crossroad that is proudly and lovingly directing me into an unpredictable future. I felt a strong need for healing on this album, so I made way for Vulnerability. I have opened doors that are to be obediently followed as I dig deeper in the understanding of the one thing that we humans yearn so much for. Love is King.

Das phantastische Debutalbum der schwedischen Hard'n'Heavy Legende erstmalig auf grün transparentem Vinyl inklusive bedrucktem Innersleeve mit Lyrics und Liner Notes!

Mit "Of The Son And The Father" legte die Band aus Borlänge im Jahr 2002 den Grundstein für ihre bis zum heutigen Tag anhaltende erfolgreiche Karriere mit weltweiten Charterfolgen.
Stücke wie der Titelsong oder das epische "Cloudbreaker" sind nach wie vor fester Bestandteil eines jeden Astral Doors Konzerts.

The Slovenian label Cogo is back for another unmissable 4-tracker vinyl compilation with the heaviest hitters in the scene who represent the most artistically driven hypnotic techno to date. Jeroen Search, Border One, ORBE, and Tonske all lend a hand to provide an understated and deep vibe to this release full of music actively attempting to remove your mind to otherworldly places hitherto unknown.

Jeroen Search kicks off the release with ''Observer'' expertly drawing you in with a very simplified but polyrhythmic staccato synth and kick combination that slowly builds with modulating and swirling pads until it reaches a climax with a tightly regulated drum track and disorienting LFO sequenced synth patch.

Border One continues the theme of the release of minimalistic aesthetics with ''Contour'' featuring polyrhythmic ideas and evolving dissociative synths. The release culminates in a very simplified and restrained drum track that opens up the doors to a massive sonic environment where you're lost completely within the music, sitting somewhat awestruck by passing elements unfolding in front of your mind's eye.

Not to be outdone, ORBE takes a different tact with ''Wolheim'' by introducing the groove elements first and bringing in his deep understanding of setting the sonic stage with his signature atmospheres and scintillating synth hits. The track also echoes the thematic choices previously laid down by Border One and invites you into this strange alien world full of sonic curiosities and audio biology.
Tonske buttons up the release with ''Droid''. A track that has an overall sense of pulling the sonic environment toward you while you travel as a listener in your mind's eye. Outward synth blips are constantly coming from the outer periphery into view as if they are passing stars while traveling forward at a deliberate and determined pace.

"The debut longplayer from Washington, DC-based Ekko Astral is a complex mesh of bubblegum noise punk and no-wave art rock that holds an elastic space for the knotty, tangled horrors of living in the imperial core. Their songs thrash with intense, necessary defiance against codified gender-based violence, their distortion and sibilance a direct response to the dangers outside our front doors.

pink balloons opener “head empty blues” specifically bites back against the terrors of the normative male gaze that dominates so much of American culture. Over a post-punk passage that plays call and response with a wall of harsh noise, frontwoman Jael Holzman belts playfully morbid details of the head-exploding anxieties that haunt her daily: “is it bon eye-ver or bon iver? / i don’t care / i’ve got stalkers outside / not going out tonight / gonna sit and take pics / in my underwear.”

Holzman formed the band in 2021 with best friend Liam Hughes (guitar), and eventually rounded out the band’s lineup with Miri Tyler (drums), Guinevere Tully (bass), and Sam Elmore (guitar). Ekko Astral’s local scene quickly welcomed the band for their wildly fierce live presence, emboldened by the community-building message behind the band’s mascara mosh pit brand.

Ultimately, Ekko Astral are here to uplift, a mission exemplified by the frenetic and bewitching pre-release singles “baethoven” and “devorah,” cornerstones of pink balloons in both style and theme. The former serves as a reminder to keep your larger than life personality in a world that wants to downsize you, where the latter proclaims urgent solidarity with missing and murdered people. Such crucial messages of upliftment are the foundation of pink balloons, and, by extension Ekko Astral, whose thrashing debut leaves no stone of solidarity unturned."

Full of Hell Coagulated Bliss bio Full of Hell burst forth with incredible force from the small, dagger-shaped city of Ocean City, Maryland, 15 years ago. Over five full-lengths, five collaborative full-lengths, and countless splits, EPs, singles, and noise compilations, they’ve evolved at extraordinary speed, their music becoming more complicated and technical without ever slowing down or losing its soul. Everything on a Full of Hell album feels like a blur: smears of guitar, harsh noise shaken like gravel in a bag, singer Dylan Walker’s snarl and bite carrying him into outer space or into the core of the earth. They’re coiled, interlocking, impossible to penetrate, and they move with alarming speed. They have now reached terminal velocity. Having created their own context, they’re now able to walk around within it, to survey its terrain, to visit far corners and see who’s nearby. Coagulated Bliss sounds like Full of Hell, but it’s nothing like any Full of Hell record that’s come before it. These songs are trimmer, less freighted with anxiety, more interested in opening up than speeding away. Its bile is sometimes funneled into traditional song structures. It never shies away from the extreme harsh noise, unrelenting spirit, and pitch-black sadness of previous Full of Hell records; if anything, the leanness of these songs makes them feel even heavier. Nevertheless, there are tracks here you might find yourself whistling hours after listening. It’s an extraordinary and unexpected evolution in sound for a band who made their name on rapid metamorphosis, and it’s the logical endpoint of everything Full of Hell has covered so far..

Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album has few parallels. Viewed solely through the lens of sales numbers, Whitney Houston is a watershed statement on par with the most commercially successful and culturally dominant LPs ever released. Having sold more than 14 million copies in the U.S. and upwards of 25 million units worldwide, the 1985 LP became the equivalent of the television show or blockbuster film that everyone collectively experiences and discusses. Nearly four decades later, it’s lost none of its appeal or magnetism — and its artistic significance and historical import have only grown.


Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

It does the same for the songs’ cascading melodies and captivating arrangements. Individually produced by one of four renowned industry veterans — Kashif, Micheal Masser, Jermaine Jackson, and Narada Michael Walden — each composition feels grander, closer, more genuine. A vocal spectacular, Whitney Houston benefits from the high-end characteristics of SuperVinyl, which include a nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces. This is how an album that changed the direction of popular music — opening previously inaccessible doors for Black artists; bringing smooth-singing vocalists back into the mainstream; kickstarting a movement that soon included several “divas” who would command the charts through the early 21st century — should look and sound.

Though Houston’s seemingly effortless performances suggest otherwise, creating the record Rolling Stone ranks as the 257th Greatest Album of All Time wasn’t easy. Nearly 18 months were required to identify songs suitable for a still-unknown singer who did not fit into the conventional frameworks of the mid ‘80s. Confident, powerful, and prodigiously talented, Houston would forge her own parameters with Whitney Houston. In the process, she obliterated the stubborn lines between R&B and pop, Black and white radio. She dared to reimagine who could be a superstar and then went out and defined the role. Recorded for nearly $400,000 and released on Valentine’s Day, the LP exceeded the wildest expectations of those most closely associated with it — save for Houston and her family.

Having made her first public appearance at the age of 11 singing at a Baptist church, Houston understood pressure and knew her way around, inside, and through a song. The invaluable guidance and support she received from her mother, Cissy, an accomplished gospel vocalist who backed Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, are on display throughout Whitney Houston. They arrive in the types of authoritativeness, discipline, and diction rare for even most seasoned veterans — and unheard-of for a 21-year-old newcomer. Houston brings a soulful elegance, understated glamour, and in-the-moment rapture to every note. Moving up, down, or staying in the middle of the vocal ladder; channelling softness or sweetness; showing restraint or increasing the volume, she is a marvel of emotionalism, a dynamo who can seamlessly transition from one mood to another within a verse.

Though the 10-track LP largely concerns itself with the ballad tradition, Houston covers the bases, getting into an R&B groove on the fleet “Thinking About You,” turning up the heat on the duet “Take Good Care of My Heart,” and investing the contagious dance-pop confection “How Will I Know” with all the anxiety, hope, energy, and enthusiasm its lyrics demand. Featuring her mom on background vocals and Houston’s pitch-perfect tone, uncanny precision, and skyscraper highs (no AutoTune here, friends), the synth-based anthem propelled Whitney Houston into the stratosphere, the vocalist into regular MTV rotation, and the term “crossover” into popular parlance. The double-platinum single reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts — a trifecta that foreshadowed accomplishments that would ultimately crown Houston as the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Whitney Houston became the first album by a Black female performer to top the Billboard charts. It remained there for 14 non-consecutive weeks en route to claiming the title of the best-selling LP of 1986. It stands as the first debut and first album by a solo female artist to spawn three No. Hits, as well as the first album by a Black female artist to top the year-end charts in Australia and Canada. These are just a handful of the accolades — along with four Grammy nominations — that surround a set that also contains the unforgettable ballad “Saving All My Love,” string-accompanied “Greatest Love of All,” and sensual “You Give Good Love.”

As TIME observed in an article written two years after the album took the world by storm: “This is infectious, can't-sit-down music, and her performance dares the listener not to smile right back.” We’re still smiling.

Buffalo & Detroit are America’s broken dream. They are once thriving cities, now known for frigid temperatures and violent crime. The cities were birthed in a different era, forged in fire, built of cold steel. It follows that the rawest Hiphop in recent memory has bled from these two regions. No two artists exemplify this hard truth more than legendary Detroit producer Apollo Brown and Buffalo’s maverick emcee Che’ Noir. The two artists came together to create a sound as natural as calm after the storm. The soulful, head-nodding production of Apollo Brown has been a staple called on by some of the greatest to ever do it. From Ghostface Killah to Danny Brown, and from Freddie Gibbs to Chance the Rapper, Apollo Brown’s signature style has become an iconic staple of the culture. Meanwhile, Che’ Noir has stepped onto the scene as smoothly as any double dutch veteran. Having already worked alongside Benny The Butcher, Kool G Rap, and Fred The Godson, she has emerged as one of the most extraordinary New York talents heard in years. The pair’s new album, “As God Intended”, drifts up and down city streets and offers a glimpse behind closed doors, telling the stories of gunshots, missing fathers, & playing the system. The album from Apollo Brown & Che’ Noir features Skyzoo, Blakk Soul, Planet Asia, Ty Farris, and Black Thought. Part of the Mello Music Group 24 for '24 Artist Series featuring limited edition vinyl art by oil painter KipDaFog.

As God Intended by Apollo Brown & Che' Noir, released 22 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Hustle Don't Give (feat. Black Thought)", "Hours", "Daddy's Girl", "The Apple (feat. Planet Asia)" and more.

This version of As God Intended comes as a 1xLP.

The vinyl is pressed as a brown disc.

For a few years Leo Robinson was the sort of hidden secret you sometimes come across in local music scenes. First in Manchester and now in Glasgow, he’d pop up regularly on DIY bills or as local support to a touring act, quietly blowing them off stage with his rich baritone vocal and homespun lo-fi tales of folklore and animism. With The Temple – his debut on PRAH Recordings – he looks set to cross over from being a cult concern.

“There's a spectrum within the album between fully mythologising or symbolising my lived experience, and just stating it in very matter of fact terms - that push and pull between the need to abstract and the need to break through the abstraction and have an honest moment with oneself” he explains. “This is one of the themes of the album as well as part of the process. The aim was to take all these anecdotal or symbolic elements and merge them into one narrative and one world, in a way that you can find your way through the record as if it were a landscape or language with its own logic.”

The record takes on a pastoral, slightly baroque nature that Robinson partly attributes to a friend screening a lot of ‘70s BBC material in his book shop that they used to hang out at. There are also elements of jazz, flickering to life in “The Spring”’s piano-led finale and coda.

Thematically, Robinson likens it to a Jungian ‘Hero's Journey’, his voice possessing a character who goes through several defined stages of consciousness. From conception and the beginning of an earthly life, the first half of the album recognises the development of the protagonist’s narrative and identity, before “The Pink Light”’s freeform departure from the hitherto more song-based suite devastatingly shatters this. The second half of the album then sees the protagonist witness “the uncontainable” water; learning that true divinity lies not in the individual self or lofty notions of gods and temples, but in the unremarkable nettles, insects and dogs on the roadside riverbank - referenced on tracks “The Cormorant” and “The Spring”.

Although now residing north of the border, The Temple was written while Robinson was finding his feet in Manchester, having moved there to go to art school as a teenager (as a visual artist, he has exhibited at the Tiwani Contemporary in London and Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre). As a result, many of the tracks bear out the shadows of his experiences in the northern city – at their most visible and explicit on the beautifully fragile storytelling of “The Pavement”. Written the day after the Manchester Arena Bombings, it recalls Robinson waking up to go to work on a hot summer’s day to discover that his street had been blocked off for terrorism investigations; it then progresses through the rest of his day, amidst the grimly surreal aftermath of the previous night.

Having written the chords, melodies and lyrics to the album, Robinson fleshed out the tunes by scoring out parts for the additional instrumentation, but it was only when a friend sent a demo to PRAH that he was able to fund its full recording. Guitars, vocals, piano and French Horn (the latter recorded by Lauren Reeve-Rawlings) were put down at Green Door Studios in Glasgow. Microphones were placed around the room and the sound of the musicians stepping on creaky floorboards and opening creaky doors were left audible to further the record’s live feel. The harpsichord heard on “The Serpent”, meanwhile, came from University of Glasgow lecturer David McGuinness. Strings were then recorded at PRAH Studios by Francesca Ter-Berg and Raven Bush, the Social Singing Choir adding their choral vocals to “Temple II”.

The result is an album that feels both luscious and yet intimately raw; as grand as Richard Dawson at his most panoramic but containing the rough edges and skeletal looseness of a Calvin Johnson work. At times Robinson lyrically moves towards the surreal, but ultimately this is a record grounded in reality; a true showcase of Robinson’s skill as a lyricist and songwriter.

Lanarkshire born singer-songwriter Ryan Kershaw delivers beautifully emotive reflections on life Deftly navigating the alt- folk/ acoustic tradition, Ryan weaves touching and thought- provoking vocals into poignant, often sublime, tracks. Released on a limited run of black vinyl with Red Tangent Records and The LNFG Cartel.

Following a first iteration which set the tone for our newly-minted Heimat series in explosive fashion, here comes the much anticipated second batch of our zeitgeistian take on today's scene's, its current potential and destination. Showcasing productions from artists keen to roll up their sleeves and sail into the impassible status quo, this new number packs the kind of red-hot hammering and cutting-edge punch we've been so adamant to push and defend over the past decade. Berlin-based French producer Arkan steps in first with a proper magnetic depth charge. Dwelling the darker layers of our ocean floor as its name suggests, 'Submarine' is pure hypnotic material geared up for heavy-duty boogie in the warehouse. Filling its ballast tanks with a hefty deluge of muscular bass onslaughts, sonar-like bleeps and untamed cascades of loopy arps, this one rolls and pitches like a haunted ship on predator mode. Adding his dynamic pulse and mind-bending spin to the A-side, Frameworks & Untertwegs bossman Decka cuts a path of straight mental obliteration as he smashes the doors of the club wide open and parades all guns blazing with the unapologetic crusher that is 'Circumvent'. A no-holds-barred workout for the strong stomachs, churning out fiery bars of kick-drum/squelchy bass contrast with in-your-face swagger. Switching on to the flip side, there's Manchester's Yant cruising with the ebulliently dynamic (no shit, Sherlock) tune, 'Moving'. A multidirectional concerto of pong-like modularity and racing synth arpeggios flying off like coloured bricks in a Tetris game gone absolute batshit. The kind of hi-intensity burner that'll awaken any lukewarm mid-set flow with its bouncy unpredictability and ruthless forward-pushing thrust. Rounding it off on a further minimal note, Amsterdam up-and-comer Hitam treats us to an inch-perfectly engineered finale with a stripped-back - yet, absolutely not hollow - bomb, 'Venusian Winds'. Gutsy that one sure is, with its metronomic step ticking at near-cyclonic speed and cleverly arranged, subtly FX-coated funk keeping things both suspenseful and focussed thru and thru. A sleek combo of pared-down brutalism and masterly executed analogue tailoring altogether. All dressed in clear purple marbled wax for the occasion, "Heimat II" shall please both the techno purist and visual aesthete in you with its velvet touch and effortless chic.

J. Robbins on Basilisk:
2020 gave us the pandemic, which despite all its awfulness also gave me a lot of opportunities to write and demo music - but everyone was terrified to get into the same room together to play. Finally, around February of 2021, I called up Brooks Harlan and Darren Zentek and asked if they would be down to meet me at the studio and do a 2-day session and see how it turns out. Brooks and Darren were into the idea - we were all in full cabin fever mode at that point and dying to do anything - so I sent them the demos and we did it. The musical connection had always already been there, but the energy that came from all being in the same room doing this together - something we had just spent a year wondering if we’d ever get to do again - was wonderful. It felt like having been lost in the desert, and then finding an oasis. I’ve never been so happy with a session - both the results and the experience, and the outcome was exactly what I had wanted: something more stripped down and very immediate.

We were all fired up and we did a second session in March 2022. In the interim I enlisted some collaborators:Gordon Withers to add cello and second guitar to a few songs, Janet Morgan and her two sisters to sing some harmonies, Dave Hadley to play pedal steel on “Not The End,” and Chicago punk legend John Haggerty to add an actual blazing guitar solo to the song "Exquisite Corpse." And I went on working on vocals and overdubs at home. The lyrics were (as always) somewhat therapeutical: “Automaticity” came out of thoughts on aging and remaining present in a world increasingly going on auto-pilot; “Last War” and “Dead Eyed God” work out fears prompted by January 6th and the rise of neo-fascism. More personal matters were trying to work themselves out as well. Recurring childhood dreams ("Deception Island"), surrealist games ("Exquisite Corpse"), and trephination guru Amanda Feilding ("Open Mind") were also in the mix.

Another result of pandemic isolation was that I had also been working on more abstract, electronic based music(inspired by my love of film soundtracks, Peter Gabriel’s music, and by studio work I had done not long ago with the band Locrian), using granular synthesis, sampling, and software synths. So as Basilisk came together, I wanted to see if I could pull those sounds into the flow of the record, open up its vocabulary a little and still make something cohesive. Connection has always been the whole point of music making for me. There are so many ways to come at it, and i don't want to close any of those doors. Going forward, I only want to open more of them.

A four-piece band based in Tokyo.

Initially playing reggae/dub music, the band gradually developed into an innovative fusion of diverse musical influences, such as jazz, soul, psyche pop, new age, and exotica. A sound is based on groove and euphoria, with nostalgic melodies.

They have performed at iconic events in Japan such as Fuji Rock Festival, and also have been looking overseas since they performed in Canada(Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver) in 2019. The new EP "Ramble In The Rainbow"(2024) is their first international release on the US label Peoples Potential Unlimited.

The work shows their musical maturity, drawing inspiration from Sun Ra, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Yasuaki Shimizu.

Gruff Rhys is pleased to announce his new album "Sadness Sets Me Free" which will be released by Rough Trade Records on 26.01.2024. This incredibly will be the 25th album he has released in his 35 year career individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands. "Sadness Sets Me Free" is also the follow up to 2021"s "Seeking new Gods", his first solo top ten record. The album will be available in a range of formats including a unique Dinked edition on "honeycomb neo-neapolitan" vinyl, an LP sleeve with "container doors" and a bonus 7" with exclusive audio for the first 1500 copies. A gatefold soft pack CD also includes a pull out poster. Lead-off single "Celestial Candyfloss" is a telling four minute glimpse of the forthcoming album, revealing the heady wonders and classic pop sounds within. Soaring strings carry the sweet melodies along, anchored by just enough necessary melancholy to add emotional ballast. The eye-popping video was created by long-time collaborator Mark James and compliments the scope and style of the song on a galactic scale. "Celestial Candyfloss" is, Gruff says, "an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance. Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that"s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I"ve had a hand in writing I"ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness." And so it was that Gruff and his band - Osian Gwynedd (piano), Huw V Williams (double bass) and former Flaming Lips drummer turned Super Furry Animals archivist Kliph Scurlock (drums) piled into a van driven by the late, legendary tour manager "Dr" Kiko Loiacono and raced from Dunkirk, where they had just played the final show of a tour of Spain and France, to the outskirts of Paris in the early hours of a March morning in 2022. There, in La Frette Studios, a recording facility installed in a 19th-century house, Gruff and his road-hardened group tracked "Sadness Sets Me Free" in just three days. Backing vocals were added along the way by Kate Stables from This Is The Kit along with additional strings and orchestration and it was mixed between Marseille and Cardiff. What finally emerged from these intense bouts of cross-continental activity was Gruff"s most accomplished and beautiful record to date. In a career that has taken him from the slate-mining towns of north-west Wales, down to the expat communities of Patagonia, up to the Mandan tribe of the Great Plains of North America and across to the Tuareg rock groups of the Saharan Desert, Gruff Rhys, one of Britain"s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters, has always been willing to follow an opportunity, wherever it may lead him. "At this point I quite like working with serendipity," he says. "Not in a cosmic way, but I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I"m around 25 albums in I"m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record".

Gruff Rhys is pleased to announce his new album "Sadness Sets Me Free" which will be released by Rough Trade Records on 26.01.2024. This incredibly will be the 25th album he has released in his 35 year career individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands. "Sadness Sets Me Free" is also the follow up to 2021"s "Seeking new Gods", his first solo top ten record. The album will be available in a range of formats including a unique Dinked edition on "honeycomb neo-neapolitan" vinyl, an LP sleeve with "container doors" and a bonus 7" with exclusive audio for the first 1500 copies. A gatefold soft pack CD also includes a pull out poster. Lead-off single "Celestial Candyfloss" is a telling four minute glimpse of the forthcoming album, revealing the heady wonders and classic pop sounds within. Soaring strings carry the sweet melodies along, anchored by just enough necessary melancholy to add emotional ballast. The eye-popping video was created by long-time collaborator Mark James and compliments the scope and style of the song on a galactic scale. "Celestial Candyfloss" is, Gruff says, "an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance. Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that"s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I"ve had a hand in writing I"ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness." And so it was that Gruff and his band - Osian Gwynedd (piano), Huw V Williams (double bass) and former Flaming Lips drummer turned Super Furry Animals archivist Kliph Scurlock (drums) piled into a van driven by the late, legendary tour manager "Dr" Kiko Loiacono and raced from Dunkirk, where they had just played the final show of a tour of Spain and France, to the outskirts of Paris in the early hours of a March morning in 2022. There, in La Frette Studios, a recording facility installed in a 19th-century house, Gruff and his road-hardened group tracked "Sadness Sets Me Free" in just three days. Backing vocals were added along the way by Kate Stables from This Is The Kit along with additional strings and orchestration and it was mixed between Marseille and Cardiff. What finally emerged from these intense bouts of cross-continental activity was Gruff"s most accomplished and beautiful record to date. In a career that has taken him from the slate-mining towns of north-west Wales, down to the expat communities of Patagonia, up to the Mandan tribe of the Great Plains of North America and across to the Tuareg rock groups of the Saharan Desert, Gruff Rhys, one of Britain"s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters, has always been willing to follow an opportunity, wherever it may lead him. "At this point I quite like working with serendipity," he says. "Not in a cosmic way, but I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I"m around 25 albums in I"m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record".

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway — Genesis' gold-selling sixth studio album!
180-gram 45 RPM 4LP
Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Pressed at Quality Record Pressings and RTI
Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

Genesis' sixth studio album was released as a double album in November 1974 by Charisma Records and is the last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel. The group's longest album to date, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S..

The album is a concept album and tells the surreal story, devised by Gabriel, of a young Puerto Rican named Rael who embarks on a journey through a series of strange and bizarre events in New York City.

Musically, the album is a departure from the band's previous works, incorporating a wide range of styles including progressive rock, art rock, funk, and jazz fusion. The album features complex rhythms, intricate melodies, and dense layers of instrumentation, showcasing the band's virtuosic musicianship.

The album is notable for its use of storytelling, with each track contributing to the larger narrative of Rael's journey. The lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, and the album's surreal imagery has been interpreted in a variety of ways by listeners and critics.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway gained acclaim in the years after its release, reaching gold certification for sales in the U.K. and U.S.. In 1978, Nick Kent wrote for NME that it "had a compelling appeal that often transcended the hoary weightiness of the mammoth concept that held the equally mammoth four sides of vinyl together." In a special edition of Q and Mojo magazines titled Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, The Lamb ranked at No. 14 in its 40 Cosmic Rock Albums list. The album came third in a list of the 10 best concept albums by Uncut magazine, where it was described as an "impressionistic, intense album" and "pure theatre (in a good way) and still Gabriel's best work." A Rolling Stone poll to rank readers' favourite progressive rock albums of all time placed The Lamb fifth in the list.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is widely regarded as one of Genesis's most important and influential works, inspiring generations of progressive rock musicians.

“This one might’ve been in us from the start”, says John Hancock. He’s talking about ‘Echos’ - his, Becky Williams, Finn Bjarnson & Ryan Raddon seventh Late Night Alumni longform. Predominantly known for blending electronic and organic elements into their music, the album represents a departure from the band’s largely house-led sound. An all-acoustic affair, in many ways though ‘Echos’ is a natural extension of LNA’s DNA. “Most of our songs”, John continues, “are written in the organic/acoustic realm and then produced with electronic flavours to create our sound. In those intimate song beginnings though, there’s a magic all its own. We’ve long wanted to do an album that captured and augmented that initial intimacy.” Which is indeed what Becky, John, Finn & Ryan have now done. The quartet have dug back into their twenty-year, six-album history and selected eleven tracks that they felt could most benefit from this song-spotlighting treatment. With their original acoustic intros as cues, they’ve taken them to their natural conclusions. A Sliding Doors-type feast for LNA enthusiasts both new and established, or indeed all lovers of downtempo, downtime, live instrumentation-led music, ‘Echos’.

Tape

Vestigios, Aeondelit’s second full length record after recently releasing an EP of shifting club music influenced by postmodern philosopher Leotard on Tel Aviv’s Sadan records, tells a lucid, captivating story of heritage, transformation, vulnerability and healing. It will be released via Berlin-based art platform and record label Unguarded as a digital and tape release with an artwork created by Petra Hermanova, and will be accompanied by limited textile pieces by Diane Esnault. Aeondelit’s music is strongly influenced by the rocky surrounding of his hometown Manizales and fuses electronic sensibilities, ambient streams and avant-percussive rhythms that build his sound identity. Aeondelit's evocative music has previously been released via the Insurgentes imprint, Vienna-based Ashida Park and was recently featured on the 'Unguarded 2 – Entangled' compilation. Cortés describes the meaning of Vestigios as such: “The memories of past generations: the lives that burn within me, are the pillars of who I am. They constitute longings and traps, sin and strength, the temple that breaks down and rebuilds. The different dimensions of consciousness converge in the mind, which constantly tells us who we are, synthesizing and projecting our contradictions. The pain that comes with getting in touch with our vulnerabilities opens the doors to healing through confrontation. This lays the foundation for a more honest relationship with our past, present and future. 'Vestigios' is the bridge between the temporal and the eternal, the crystallized remnant of pain caused by transformation and recognition of the convulsive underworld of our psyche.” Aeondelit, birth name Sergio Cortés, is a Colombian music producer who explores themes related to technology and human condition in sound. He focuses on the creative use of sample manipulation techniques and digital sound synthesis to deepen the idea of a dialogue between computer and human, and how both influence each other. Deep in Colombia's Andes, surrounded by big mountains and the sacred Nevado del Ruiz, Aeondelit has been forging his own sound identity, exploring the intersection points between sparkly experimental club music and melodic ambient electronic. His first release Editing Destiny on the Colombian label Insurgentes was well received by the public and DJs, named one of the best albums of 2020 on Mixmag. His last release on Sadan Records, Anima Minima, was reviewed and premiered on platforms like DJ Mag, THE BRVTALIST and Orb Mag. He is also the co-founder of the independent record label Nvrclose, where his debut album as Æon Series: Dualidad, was released. About Unguarded: Unguarded is a Berlin based experimental electronic music label and art platform. In 2020 long-term collaborators Tim Roth aka Sin Maldita aka 1k Flowers and Phillipp Hülsenbeck founded Unguarded to foster forward thinking artists with a focus on exploring cross-disciplinary collaboration and embarking on sonic adventures. Unguarded was founded in a time of turmoil and uncertainty for artists and music, trying to keep personal connections alive through shared personal and collective experiences between doom and destruction and glistening hope. Amongst their own contributions, Hülsenbeck and Roth gather a collection of genre-defying works by longtime collaborators as well as artists they bonded with in recent years. Their releases constantly escape from definition but through entangling their unique artistic marks, this diversity remains absorbing and compelling throughout their sprawling sonic miasmas. Combining earth-shattering club cuts, equally elegant and bouncy, Unguarded contributes to and connects the experimental music scene in and outside of Berlin. We invite the curious to a deep, tense but rewarding experience.

"Reptile Brain Music" - Imperial State Electric's third studio album was originally released in 2013.
Clocking in at a little over 33 minutes RBM boasts a dozen tracks of their particular and peculiar rock'n'roll.
The album is bookended by two high-energy live favorites, "Emptiness into the Void" and "Down in the Bunker" in a classic Andersson style. However, the less obvious songs within also reveal some unexpected treats. The heavy Blackmoresque "Faustian Bargains" showcases some unexpected time signatures. "Dead Things" feels like Beatles meets horror movie soundtrack (Fred Estby contributes lyrics). While the frantic "Born Again" is far from pieous, delivering a blistering blow to religion.

RBM also shows the further development from solo project into a full-fledged band with multiple songwriters and different lead vocalists. Tobias Egge opens new doors with his contribution "Stay the Night" and Rudolf de Borst screams lead vocals for the wonderfully primitive title track - "Reptile Brain".

Recorded at Gutterview Recorders, mixed by Fred Estby & Nicke Andersson & produced by Nicke Andersson.
Originally released on Warner Music and promptly "Out of Print" fans have been clamoring for a reissue.
From the press release 2013 "Imperial State Electric is entering phase 3 in its ongoing battle against mediocrity.
An endless quest to make the rock roll".