Buscar:richardson

Reissue des Debütalbums der irischen Singer/Songwriterin Sorcha Richardson auf Powder Pink-Vinyl. Sorcha entwickelte sich von Schlagzeugerin zur Troubadourin. Die glänzende Produktion ihres Debüts "First Prize Bravery" (erschienen 2019 bei Faction Records), gepaart mit ehrlichem Storytelling, machten sie zum "Liebling von Dublin". Das Album ist mittlerweile wie ein edler Wein gereift, so dass Impressed Recordings sich veranlasst sah, es neu aufzulegen, aber nicht ohne die fantastische 2023er Single "Map Of Manhattan" als exklusiven Bonustrack erstmals auf Vinyl zu ergänzen.

- "Richardson erkundet kleine Anfänge und kolossale Enden, sammelt Erinnerungen und präsentiert sie wie Fotos: einen verspäteten Bus aus Dublin, ein kaputtes Klavier, leere Schlafzimmerwände und kalte Laken. Es ist diese Art von purer Nostalgie, die die Jugend verkörpert – ihre Besonderheit erinnert an Momente, die in der nicht allzu fernen Vergangenheit liegen." – Journal of Music

The first edition of Era Specific Noise is both an ode to the early 2000s and the debut of a new alias by label founder Richardson. Having spent the better part of his recent memory scouring record stores and consuming more VG+ dance music than is medically recommended, this 12-inch marks a personal shift towards character-filled production without limitation.

Armed with a growing appreciation for the originality and love poured into old-school techno, ESPN001 is the first glimpse into Richardson's fast-growing stockpile of musical weaponry.

We kick things off with "Introductions", the first of two upbeat, vocal-laden pieces of DJ-friendly dance music that make up the A side. A new hardware-focused approach produces whirling, stabbing chords and a groovy baseline to meet the eponymous sample of this track. Up next, "Coming In Hot" which does just that - presenting a cohesion of warm, groovy techno littered with dubby synths and a throwback feel.

On the flip side is a pair of fresh takes reminiscent of the more functional sound of the era - the timeless, loopy techno that powers dancefloors worldwide. There’s nothing quite like finding a hidden gem on the B side! Robotic vocal loopings and a galloping low-end form “Notch”, a warehouse tune completed by a warmer feeling send-off littered with floating pads and a classic Reese bass. Closing out the release is “Synthetic Scream”, a synthesiser in anguish showcasing an almost mournful interpretation of the 909 era, complete with fast, driving percussion and classic break hits.

Welcome to Era Specific Noise - New school old school.

Past collaborators of Decosimo include indie/folk artists Jake Xerxes Fussell, Wye Oak, and Hiss Golden Messenger. Past collaborators of Schrey include experimental/sound artists Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma and Yasunao Tone. In April 2021, Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Cleek Schrey three of the most compelling interpreters in the American traditional music scene gathered at a cabin in Tennessee to explore their collective repertoire of Old-time fiddle and banjo tunes, gleaned from visits with older players, field recordings, and vintage 78s. Working with fiddle, hardanger d’amore (a fiddle with sympathetic strings), banjos, and a 19th-century pump organ, the trio captured both the sonic details of their instruments and a generous musical interplay rooted in a dozen years of collaboration. Their debut album, Beehive Cathedral, presents resonant, thoughtful, and expansive explorations of Appalachian and American music. The results showcase deep Details study and enveloping, exhilarating performances. A rich vein of stories and relationships to people and places underpin Beehive Cathedral. Much of the album draws on Decosimo’s experiences learning the music of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, where he grew up and worked as a folklorist. A key source of inspiration was fiddler Clyde Davenport (1921-2020), “Clyde was a social and musical trickster who knew hundreds of old tunes and had an uncanny ability to recall each piece in exquisite detail,” says Decosimo. “During my visits, he’d play breathtaking local pieces from his father Will, who was born in 1868. His father had learned some of them from a neighbor who was born in 1829.” "This record expresses some of what we hear in Southern traditional music: the ring of the strings, the buzz of the tunings, the hum of the organ,” explains Schrey. Spending time listening to old recordings and imagining how those sounds were made has made the trio keenly interested in the relationship between physical motion and sound in their source material. The result is a dense layering of sounds and interaction. Of this sonic interplay, Irish fiddle luminary Martin Hayes observes, “The sound of a beehive conveys the idea of a unified harmonious soundscape which is how this recording sounds. Beehive Cathedral is a sonic delight, a beautiful blend of Old-time soundscapes and more. This is a hypnotic recording that is grounded, subtle and refined

Sorcha Richardson's debut album 'First Prize Bravery' was the
culmination of her experiences throughout young adulthood, a time
during which she ventured from home in Dublin to New York, Los Angeles
and then back again
After spending time alone over the last two years to focus on creating a body of
work. The result is her second album, 'Smiling Like An Idiot', which she says,
focuses on what her life looked like over the course of those eighteen months."It
mostly tracks one specific relationship," she says. "It's about falling in love with a
person and a place, which in this case is Dublin, and how those two are
interlinked." Thematically it highlights a pursuit of happiness and the full- blown
intensity of new love, but gaining something so life-affirming comes with the fear
that it could just as easily be swept away. 'Smiling Like An Idiot artfully articulates
those moments in life that you don't want to have to go through, but it emerges
with the optimism that - somehow - things will work out for the best in time.
LP Tracks: Archie / Shark Eyes / Spotlight Television / Stalemate / Purgatory /
525 / Good Intentions / Hard to Fake It / Holiday / Jackpot / Smiling Like An Idiot

Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson first started writing songs together in their teens after meeting at school in their Southampton hometown. Forming Band of Skulls 17 years ago with drummer Matt Hayward, they went on to make five acclaimed studio albums together. Now, the pair have temporarily stepped away from Band of Skulls to focus on a new musical project they’ve been dreaming about since their earliest songwriting days.

The album covers the full breadth of human emotions, mining deeply into songs about human connection, vulnerability, loss, change, love, identity and forgiveness – as well as the future and hope. It’s vast in scope, something magnified by its grandiose cinematic feel that leans towards the soaring jazz arrangements of the 40s and 50s. The album’s strings were scored and directed by Tom Edwards, who had worked with Band of Skulls previously when he’d reimagined several of their songs. “When Tom sent back the first song, ‘Outsider’, it was a jaw-dropping moment for us to see what he’d done with it,” Emma says. “We challenged him to take inspiration from the incredible composers and arrangers from the 40s and 50s jazz era

Alto saxophonist, composer and producer Logan Richardson’s career has been marked by his deep engagement with the Black American improvised music tradition as much as by his fearlessly open-minded embrace of the contemporary sounds of the global diaspora and his keen gaze towards the future.
‘AfroFuturism’ (his fifth solo album) synthesises all those elements together into a stunningly audacious statement that is epic in its scope while providing a deep, intimately personal view into its creator’s inner life.
The core of the album is a series of towering alt-rock/trap/wonky beat soundscapes created Logan’s extensive range of keyboards, synthesizers and programming along with the latest iteration of his Blues People band - Igor Osypov
on guitar and Peter Schlamb on vibes and keys, with Dominique Sanders on bass and sharing production duties, and the thunderously virtuosic drumming of Ryan J. Lee and Corey Fonville rounding out the rhythm team.
Logan intersperses these with an array of diverse sonic interludes, scraps of found audio, unexpected, limpid pools of introspective strings performed by Ezgi Karakus and quiet glades of hushed balladry from long-time collaborator, vocalist Laura Taglialatela. Over all, his unmistakable keening voice on alto sax provides the constant narrative thread. “I was trying to get back deeper to the core of my artistic voice: using fresh production processes to mix in my interconnected influences and all the sounds I hear, while trying to find a sense of roots.”
As one of today’s most singular voices in contemporary music, with AfroFuturism Richardson delivers not only a hugely impressive statement, but one with a direct and urgent message for the future that is rooted in his own and the larger contemporary Black American state of affairs, while reminding us of his musical unpredictability. One can only imagine what he’ll do next.

Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2014 haben sich These Wicked Rivers zu einer der fesselndsten Bands der aktuellen Rock-Revivals in Großbritannien entwickelt. Die aus Derby stammende Gruppe schöpft aus dem reichen Erbe von Rocklegenden und Blues-Größen und hat sich mit ihrem unverwechselbaren, vom Blues geprägten modernen Rock einen Namen gemacht. Dank ihrer Live-Auftritte, die oft eine fast spirituelle Tiefe erreichen, und ihres zeitlosen Songwritings hat die Band in den letzten Jahren enorm an Fahrt aufgenommen. Ausverkaufte Konzerte in Großbritannien, den Niederlanden, Frankreich und Deutschland sowie der große Kritikererfolg ihres zweiten Studioalbums "Force of Nature" (Platz 3 der UK-Rockcharts) haben ihren Ruf als Live-Act, den man unbedingt gesehen haben muss, gefestigt. Das Jahr 2026 verspricht ein Meilenstein für das Quintett zu werden: Im Herbst erscheint ihr mit Spannung erwartetes drittes Album "Fire and Folklore". Aufgenommen wurde das Werk in der Heimatstadt der Band, Belper in Derbyshire, im Heimstudio von Andy Sneap. Unter der Regie des Grammy-Preisträgers Sneap (Judas Priest, Saxon, Megadeth) und Colin Richardson (Slipknot, Massive Wagons, Those Damn Crows) ist das bisher ausgereifteste Album der Band entstanden. "Fire and Folklore" geht über den typischen ,Wizard-Blues-Rock"-Sound hinaus und erschließt neue klangliche Territorien; dabei werden Country-Einflüsse und Southern-Rock-Flair integriert, ohne den für die Band charakteristischen Groove und Soul zu verlieren. Zudem ist die aus Derby stammende Country-Hoffnung Kezia Gill als Gastmusikerin auf dem Album vertreten. Geliebt von einer rasant wachsenden Schaar von Fans und ausgestattet mit einem Album, das den Sprung auf die großen internationalen Bühnen anvisiert, stehen These Wicked Rivers bereit, neue Höhen zu erklimmen. Seid dabei, klingt klasse. CD mit zwei Bonustracks, LP als Purple oder Black Vinyl!

[GER Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2014 haben sich These Wicked Rivers zu einer der fesselndsten Bands der aktuellen Rock-Revivals in Großbritannien entwickelt. Die aus Derby stammende Gruppe schöpft aus dem reichen Erbe von Rocklegenden und Blues-Größen und hat sich mit ihrem unverwechselbaren, vom Blues geprägten modernen Rock einen Namen gemacht. Dank ihrer Live-Auftritte, die oft eine fast spirituelle Tiefe erreichen, und ihres zeitlosen Songwritings hat die Band in den letzten Jahren enorm an Fahrt aufgenommen. Ausverkaufte Konzerte in Großbritannien, den Niederlanden, Frankreich und Deutschland sowie der große Kritikererfolg ihres zweiten Studioalbums "Force of Nature" (Platz 3 der UK-Rockcharts) haben ihren Ruf als Live-Act, den man unbedingt gesehen haben muss, gefestigt. Das Jahr 2026 verspricht ein Meilenstein für das Quintett zu werden: Im Herbst erscheint ihr mit Spannung erwartetes drittes Album "Fire and Folklore". Aufgenommen wurde das Werk in der Heimatstadt der Band, Belper in Derbyshire, im Heimstudio von Andy Sneap. Unter der Regie des Grammy-Preisträgers Sneap (Judas Priest, Saxon, Megadeth) und Colin Richardson (Slipknot, Massive Wagons, Those Damn Crows) ist das bisher ausgereifteste Album der Band entstanden. "Fire and Folklore" geht über den typischen ,Wizard-Blues-Rock"-Sound hinaus und erschließt neue klangliche Territorien; dabei werden Country-Einflüsse und Southern-Rock-Flair integriert, ohne den für die Band charakteristischen Groove und Soul zu verlieren. Zudem ist die aus Derby stammende Country-Hoffnung Kezia Gill als Gastmusikerin auf dem Album vertreten. Geliebt von einer rasant wachsenden Schaar von Fans und ausgestattet mit einem Album, das den Sprung auf die großen internationalen Bühnen anvisiert, stehen These Wicked Rivers bereit, neue Höhen zu erklimmen. Seid dabei, klingt klasse. CD mit zwei Bonustracks, LP als Purple oder Black Vinyl! Established in 2014, These Wicked Rivers have emerged as one of the UK's most compelling forces in the recent rock resurgence. Hailing from Derby and drawing influence from the well of rock legends and blues greats, the band have made quite an impact since their inception with their unique brand of blues-infused modern rock. With a reputation for soulful-bordering-on-spiritual live performances and timeless songcraft the band have built unstoppable momentum in recent years. Sold-out shows across the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany have cemented their reputation as a must-see act, bolstered by the critical acclaim of their second studio album 'Force of Nature' (#3 UK Rock Chart). 2026 is set to mark a landmark chapter for the quintet, with their hotly-anticipated third album 'Fire and Folklore' set for release in autumn 2026. The record was recorded in the band's hometown of Belper in Derbyshire, at Andy Sneap's home studio. With the Grammy-winning Sneap (Judas Priest, Saxon, Megadeth) and Colin Richardson (Slipknot, Massive Wagons, Those Damn Crows) at the helm, it's the band 's most accomplished record to date. Expanding beyond their signature wizard-blues rock sound, Fire and Folklore pushes into new sonic territory, blending in shades of country and Southern spirit while retaining the groove and soul that defines the band. The record also features a special guest appearance from fellow Derby artist, country starlet Kezia Gill. Loved dearly by a rapidly growing "Family" of fans, and armed with a homegrown record with its sights set firmly on the global stage, These Wicked Rivers are poised to reach new heights. Jump on in and enjoy! CD contains two bonustracks, LP comes in Purple or Black Vinyl!

Twenty-five years after its original release, Markus Guentner's debut album In Moll returns in a special anniversary reissue on Black Knoll Editions, reaffirming its place as one of the defining ambient recordings of the early 21st century.

Released in 2001 during the formative years of Kompakt's influential Pop Ambient series, In Moll emerged from a period of rapid transformation in electronic music. New technologies, expanding digital networks, and shifting creative possibilities allowed artists to imagine entirely new sonic worlds. Amid this fertile landscape, Guentner's music stood apart. Combining delicate melodic fragments, slow-moving harmonies, and a remarkable sense of spatial depth, In Moll introduced a distinct artistic voice whose impact can still be felt a quarter-century later.

The album arrived shortly after Guentner's contributions to the inaugural Pop Ambient compilation, including the now-beloved "Regensburg 1," named after his Bavarian hometown. Those early recordings immediately captured the attention of Kompakt founders Michael Mayer and Wolfgang Voigt. Recalling his first encounter with the music, Mayer describes listening to a demo CDR with Voigt while wandering through Cologne late into the night, replaying the tracks for hours. "We knew that we had found something outrageously beautiful and we wanted the whole world to listen."

Across its running time, In Moll unfolds like a series of dreamlike landscapes, inviting the listener into a world that feels both familiar and strangely other. Bells, hisses, distant textures, and slow-moving bass tones drift through vast expanses of atmosphere while luminous synthesizer washes seem to blur the horizon in a fine digital mist. The album's transportive qualities are matched by a remarkable sense of compositional discipline. Every gesture feels deliberate, every texture carefully placed. Balancing warmth and melancholy with restraint, Guentner created a body of work that rewards both close listening and complete surrender.

Reflecting on the album twenty-five years later, Wolfgang Voigt describes Guentner as "one of the first, but also one of the most important ambient artists" associated with Kompakt, calling his music "an integral, timeless part of the long history of pop ambient." Music critic and former Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Mark Richardson, who reviewed In Moll upon its original release, similarly noted that the album "marked the arrival of an important new voice," and today regards it as "one of the finest ambient releases of the decade."

The album's influence continues to extend far beyond its original audience. For many listeners, In Moll served as an entry point into a new understanding of what ambient music could be. Black Knoll boss Rafael Anton Irisarri first encountered the album shortly after its release in 2001. "It immediately opened a door to a world of music I didn't know existed," he recalls. "At a time when I was still discovering my own creative voice, Markus showed me entirely new possibilities for what electronic music could communicate." Simply put, "The Sight Below would not have existed without In Moll paving the way."

Far from a historical curiosity, In Moll continues to feel strikingly contemporary. What once sounded futuristic now feels timeless, its patient pacing, attention to detail, and sense of wonder remaining entirely intact. The album's enduring power lies not only in its influence, but in the curiosity it continues to inspire, inviting listeners to step inside its world and lose themselves within it.

To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, Black Knoll Editions presents the most complete edition of In Moll to date. Newly remastered in full analog by Rafael Anton Irisarri, this expanded release pairs the original album with a newly reworked interpretation by Markus Guentner himself, revisiting the material through the lens of twenty-five years of artistic development. The anniversary edition also features a new visual presentation designed by Guentner, offering a visual counterpart to the album's continued evolution. Together, these recordings and visuals celebrate both the enduring legacy of In Moll and its ability to reveal new dimensions twenty-five years later.

This 25th Anniversary Edition on Black Knoll Editions celebrates a recording whose quiet impact has only grown with time, preserving a work that remains as evocative, singular, and essential today as it was in 2001.

Twenty-five years after its original release, Markus Guentner's debut album In Moll returns in a special anniversary reissue on Black Knoll Editions, reaffirming its place as one of the defining ambient recordings of the early 21st century.

Released in 2001 during the formative years of Kompakt's influential Pop Ambient series, In Moll emerged from a period of rapid transformation in electronic music. New technologies, expanding digital networks, and shifting creative possibilities allowed artists to imagine entirely new sonic worlds. Amid this fertile landscape, Guentner's music stood apart. Combining delicate melodic fragments, slow-moving harmonies, and a remarkable sense of spatial depth, In Moll introduced a distinct artistic voice whose impact can still be felt a quarter-century later.

The album arrived shortly after Guentner's contributions to the inaugural Pop Ambient compilation, including the now-beloved "Regensburg 1," named after his Bavarian hometown. Those early recordings immediately captured the attention of Kompakt founders Michael Mayer and Wolfgang Voigt. Recalling his first encounter with the music, Mayer describes listening to a demo CDR with Voigt while wandering through Cologne late into the night, replaying the tracks for hours. "We knew that we had found something outrageously beautiful and we wanted the whole world to listen."

Across its running time, In Moll unfolds like a series of dreamlike landscapes, inviting the listener into a world that feels both familiar and strangely other. Bells, hisses, distant textures, and slow-moving bass tones drift through vast expanses of atmosphere while luminous synthesizer washes seem to blur the horizon in a fine digital mist. The album's transportive qualities are matched by a remarkable sense of compositional discipline. Every gesture feels deliberate, every texture carefully placed. Balancing warmth and melancholy with restraint, Guentner created a body of work that rewards both close listening and complete surrender.

Reflecting on the album twenty-five years later, Wolfgang Voigt describes Guentner as "one of the first, but also one of the most important ambient artists" associated with Kompakt, calling his music "an integral, timeless part of the long history of pop ambient." Music critic and former Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Mark Richardson, who reviewed In Moll upon its original release, similarly noted that the album "marked the arrival of an important new voice," and today regards it as "one of the finest ambient releases of the decade."

The album's influence continues to extend far beyond its original audience. For many listeners, In Moll served as an entry point into a new understanding of what ambient music could be. Black Knoll boss Rafael Anton Irisarri first encountered the album shortly after its release in 2001. "It immediately opened a door to a world of music I didn't know existed," he recalls. "At a time when I was still discovering my own creative voice, Markus showed me entirely new possibilities for what electronic music could communicate." Simply put, "The Sight Below would not have existed without In Moll paving the way."

Far from a historical curiosity, In Moll continues to feel strikingly contemporary. What once sounded futuristic now feels timeless, its patient pacing, attention to detail, and sense of wonder remaining entirely intact. The album's enduring power lies not only in its influence, but in the curiosity it continues to inspire, inviting listeners to step inside its world and lose themselves within it.

To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, Black Knoll Editions presents the most complete edition of In Moll to date. Newly remastered in full analog by Rafael Anton Irisarri, this expanded release pairs the original album with a newly reworked interpretation by Markus Guentner himself, revisiting the material through the lens of twenty-five years of artistic development. The anniversary edition also features a new visual presentation designed by Guentner, offering a visual counterpart to the album's continued evolution. Together, these recordings and visuals celebrate both the enduring legacy of In Moll and its ability to reveal new dimensions twenty-five years later.

This 25th Anniversary Edition on Black Knoll Editions celebrates a recording whose quiet impact has only grown with time, preserving a work that remains as evocative, singular, and essential today as it was in 2001.

A timeless classic - coming up on nearly 20 years since the original 12's were released and the very first time this LP has collectively been available on wax. (over 15 years since last in circulation)

This edition was remastered to analog perfection from the Grammy award winning ears @Stardelta Mastering. paying close attention to every finite detail - this album has never sounded so alive!

A multidimensional sound experience; it's like taking a swim in an analogue ocean and being immersed into the deepest end of the Mariana's Trench. Sonic Submersion of the Highest Order!

Credits:
Written & Produced by Steven Hitchell.
Vocal & Rhodes Performance by Paul St. Hilaire (Tikiman), courtesy of false tuned. Published by Basic Channel Publishing. (BCP)
Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Mark Richardson @ PrairieCat/Metropolis Mastering, Chicago, USA. (2007-2009)
Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Stardelta, UK. (2024)

It's time for the next instalment from our gracious Spiritual Vibes label to bring some joyous musical upliftment and what better way than to introduce an inspirational piece we entitled 'Hands of Moses'; a revamp from the vaults of Bushman's works from the 80s and known to many as a one-away dubplate called 'Moses' in which we have now brought up to speed inna 2025 style with some exceptional musicianship involvement from the Spiritual Players of Instruments bringing emphasis to the majestic soundscapes on this project! ????

As it's the 2nd edition on Spiritual Vibes and to keep the theme of the release - we have decided have the main run in a special luminous red colour disc pressing and if that wasn't enough we are also giving away an EXTRA DUB CUT as a digital download to the first 100 copies sold via Bandcamp as a token of appreciation for all the support for both Ashanti Selah & Bushman's works over the years!

This vinyl comes complete with 4 stomping cuts mixed down in the Selah Dub studio with precision and quality ensuring to bring the right energy to the sessions through the sound-system style selection!

Originally Written by S. Richardson (Bushman) & Re-worked by both Bushman and Ashanti Selah for Spiritual Vibes recordings!

Anonymous British funk studio outfit Ultrafunk was spearheaded by Blues & Soul magazine proprietor John Abbey, who ran a fashionable record shop and label called Contempo in London’s West End during the 1970s; he conceived of the group as the UK counterpart to US studio bands like Mfsb. Arranger Gerry Shury, who had worked with Barry White and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, drafted guitarist Chris Rae and bassist Frank McDonald (who often composed library music together) and future Rubettes drummer John Richardson to form the group, in situ. A lack of band photos, suggestive song titles and a predilection for American cover tunes led many to believe the band was US-based. Their self-titled debut LP is where the myth all begins, with a number of truly atmospheric and cinematic hard funk instrumentals, given added textural depth through full orchestration, including covers of Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and Stevie Wonder’s “Living In The City.” Though not quite as compelling as the better-known follow-up set, Meat Heat, there is still plenty to savour on Ultrafunk, making this debut companion disc a must-have for all true funk aficionados.

Manonmars’ 3rd album sees him at his most amorphous and psychedelic, at points sharper and laser focused, and at others more blurred and impressionistic than his previous records. Many of the core players remain the same, all of the production is once again handled by O$VMV$M (the duo of Neek and Amos Childs of Jabu) while Paulina Korobkiewicz (also of Young Echo) makes a return handling both the album’s cover artwork and contributing a series of diaristic field recordings and voice notes.

‘The project references movies, cartoons, fictional characters and video games, among other things. The album title is open to interpretation but all of these elements are forms of visual entertainment which have their own unique ability to transcend things like language barriers and cultural divides. The visual element is key because those details bridge the gap on a communicative level.’ - Manonmars

The album blends abstract, blurred braggadocio with more immediate personal details such as on ‘Volcanic Shield’ a posse cut of sorts featuring Bristol improv luminary Dali de Saint Paul and Franco Franco (½ of cyborg rap duo Kinlaw & Franco Franco) - where Mars recalls;

‘Memories of brighter days, happy meal hit the spot
Mum was spinning vinyl playing Super Ape or Pressure Drop
I would spend the weekend with the Turkish mandem on the block
single parent household, mum was studying or on the job
money came and went always was an on and off
made it back from school time to see what’s on the box’


The beat fades away to leave one of Korobkiewicz’s recordings of Mars’ mum talking about her life in London in the 80s, spending her money on reggae records as an ambient chord fades in like an echo of a jungle intro – stretching out as a link between generations of UK music.

The production by and large is brighter and more kinetic than earlier Manonmars records – with O$VMV$M drawing on everything from modern underground rap and drill through to jazz and acid ambient passages.

London is also a central character here, bustling and constantly shifting, either when bleeding in through field recordings, or as an ever-present backdrop in the lyrics;

‘I’m a fusion of Tippa Irie and Topper Harley
Hit the target like the black Atari
I dropped a tab now shit’s A Scanner Darkly
Got the munchies, Imma yam a sarnie
Pour the Wray and Ting like man at Carni
Exit Peckham Rye and turn left, walk past Hannah Barry
Get your (w)raps up like its January’

‘I've always considered London my home, despite spending some time in the South West of England too. My mum had been living in London for 25 years (...) That was a pretty big deal in some ways because it removed us from multicultural society during the period which overlapped with my teenage years. (...) I never got used to how quiet it was in the countryside (...) Bristol was the closest city to where we lived and it was through travelling there and making connections that I became involved in making music and playing gigs.’ - Manonmars

Mars’ practice as a painter (under his given name Jack Martyn Richardson) and photographer also loom heavy over the album, he cites Paul Verhoeven, Abdul Mati Klariwein and H.R Giger as influences – as well as Miles Davis, Drakeo the Ruler and DJ Rashad.

As with much of Richardson’s work the raps at times feel blurred to a point of almost inscrutability, creating a distance between the audience and himself. A process that ties into his visual work and the way he experiences the world as mainly abstract colour without his glasses. He explores this further in an ongoing visual collaboration with Korobkiewicz, ‘Fun and Games’ which serves as a visual archive of one of London's largest and oldest travelling fairgrounds.

‘I was diagnosed with very severe short-sightedness at the age of seven. I remember my early formative years as visually blurred. Some of my photography reflects this experience of partial vision and uncertainty, referencing memory and perception rather than fixed representation.’

Manonmars’ first public outing as a rapper was at a Young Echo radio event, broadcast shambolically from a practice room just off Jamaica street, Bristol in 2011, as much as things have moved on both stylistically and in terms of focus - strong links back to the city remain a key foundation throughout the collaborations and guest appearances.

‘I have no problem with being an outsider looking in. One of the things I enjoy about London is the anonymity (...) it's easy to be a stranger here when so much is happening. I feel like thats more valuable than people may realise.’

Die britischen Alternativ- und Progressive-Rocker von The Pineapple Thief melden sich 2016 mit einem neuen Album zurück. »Your Wilderness« heißt der Nachfolger von »Magnolia« aus dem Jahr 2014.

Mit gerade einmal acht Songs handelt es sich dabei auf den ersten Blick fast schon um ein Minialbum. Bei näherem Hinsehen bzw. Hinhören stellt man aber fest, dass alle Songs zwischen 3:46 und 9:52 Minuten liegen, was eine Durchschnittslänge von rund 5 Minuten pro Song macht. Hier kommt also niemand zu kurz.

Im Gegensatz zu früheren Alben haben sich The Pineapple Thief für »Your Wilderness« zum ersten Mal einen ganzen Haufen illustrer Gäste eingeladen.

Zunächst einmal ist Schlagzeuger Gavin Harrison mit von der Partie, der dem einen oder anderen bereits durch seine Mitgliedschaft bei der Band Porcupine Tree bekannt sein dürfte. Für einige Klarinettenparts stand zudem niemand Geringeres als John Helliwell von Supertramp zur Verfügung. Geoffrey Richardson von den legendären Caravan steuerte unterdessen das Streichquartett bei, das auf dem Album zu hören ist. An der Gitarre unterstützte Darran Charles von Godsticks. Zu guter Letzt sorgte ein vierköpfiger Chor für die Backgroundgesänge.

Produziert wurde »Your Wilderness« komplett in Eigenregie der Band, mit Ausnahme der Drumparts, die Harrison in seinem eigenen Studio einspielte.

Mit »No Man’s Land« haben The Pineapple Thief auch bereits die erste Single des neuen Albums vorgestellt. Und die lässt erahnen, dass die Band sich trotz neuem Personal musikalisch treu bleibt – zur Freude vieler Fans.

In 1986, legendary vocalist Paul Di'Anno who was the unmistakable original voice behind Iron Maiden's formative years launched a bold new chapter with the release of Fighting Back, the explosive debut album from Battlezone. Following his departure from Iron Maiden, Di'Anno refused to look backward. Instead, he forged ahead, assembling Battlezone to deliver a fresh assault of raw British heavy metal power. Originally released through Raw Power Records in the UK, Fighting Back captured Di'Anno's unmistakable grit and intensity while showcasing a revitalized creative fire that reaffirmed his status as one of metal's most commanding frontmen. Featuring standout tracks including "Welcome to the Battlezone," "Warchild" "Running Blind," and the title anthem "(Forever) Fighting Back," the album fused aggressive riffs, streetwise energy, and melodic power into a statement of resilience and reinvention. Recorded in East London and produced by Ian Richardson alongside the band, the record introduced a formidable lineup featuring guitarists John Hurley and John Wiggins, bassist Pete West , and drummer Bob Falck. Four decades later, Fighting Back remains an essential document of 1980s heavy metal and to celebrate this 40th Anniversary Deko Entertainment has remastered and repackaged this landmark release from the former Iron Maiden frontman. It will be available on 180G vinyl and contains the Bonus Track "Rising Star". For fans of classic heavy metal, collectors of NWOBHM history, and those who continue to celebrate the enduring legacy of Paul Di'Anno, Fighting Back stands as a powerful reminder of an artist who never stopped fighting.

In 1986, legendary vocalist Paul Di'Anno who was the unmistakable original voice behind Iron Maiden's formative years launched a bold new chapter with the release of Fighting Back, the explosive debut album from Battlezone. Following his departure from Iron Maiden, Di'Anno refused to look backward. Instead, he forged ahead, assembling Battlezone to deliver a fresh assault of raw British heavy metal power. Originally released through Raw Power Records in the UK, Fighting Back captured Di'Anno's unmistakable grit and intensity while showcasing a revitalized creative fire that reaffirmed his status as one of metal's most commanding frontmen. Featuring standout tracks including "Welcome to the Battlezone," "Warchild" "Running Blind," and the title anthem "(Forever) Fighting Back," the album fused aggressive riffs, streetwise energy, and melodic power into a statement of resilience and reinvention. Recorded in East London and produced by Ian Richardson alongside the band, the record introduced a formidable lineup featuring guitarists John Hurley and John Wiggins, bassist Pete West , and drummer Bob Falck. Four decades later, Fighting Back remains an essential document of 1980s heavy metal and to celebrate this 40th Anniversary Deko Entertainment has remastered and repackaged this landmark release from the former Iron Maiden frontman. It will be available on 180G vinyl and contains the Bonus Track "Rising Star". For fans of classic heavy metal, collectors of NWOBHM history, and those who continue to celebrate the enduring legacy of Paul Di'Anno, Fighting Back stands as a powerful reminder of an artist who never stopped fighting.

London Jazz Classics originally came out in 1993 - the first album ever to be released on Soul Jazz Records. The album brought together rare and obscure dance tracks in a unique mix of jazz dance and fusion, funk, Brazilian and Latin grooves. 

The album was ironically titled - none of the music was from London, none of the music was traditionally classified as jazz, and all of the tracks were at the time practically unknown to most people. Instead these were tracks that were filling dancefloors in a nascent jazz dance scene in London being created by a small group of DJs – Paul Murphy, Gilles Peterson, Sylvester, Patrick Forge and a few others.

As demand for these rare groove jazz tracks grew, previously unknown records such as Alive!’s ‘Skindo Le Le’, Doug Richardson’s ‘Salsa Mama’, Carlos Franzetti’s ‘Cocoa Funk’ and Emilio Santiago’s ‘Bananeira’ became sort after and even-harder-to-find items with original copies going for £100s of pounds. 
These tracks became part of the soundtrack to this jazz dance scene which has now spread across the world. This music paved the way for the arrival of many of the UK’s new wave of current artists such Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia and Ezra Collective who today offer a uniquely London sensibility of fusing jazz with wide-ranging cultural influences – everything from afrobeat to soul.

London Jazz Classics was the first album to bring this jazz dance music featured here to a wider audience. More than 30 years since its initial release Soul Jazz Records are releasing this new 2026 edition, bringing the music once more to a new generation of listeners.

In Sheep’s Clothing announces the long-awaited vinyl pressing of Marc Leclair’s beloved 2005 album Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes. The album will also be available on streaming for the first time via Community Music Group.

For years after Marc Leclair released Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes, he heard from listeners who had lived with the record in an unusually intimate way. Many described how the music became part of the emotional landscape of the months leading to birth. “I never expected that,” Leclair says. “Many women told me they listened to the record throughout their pregnancies. They said it made a real difference, that it helped them. It became more than just a record.”

First issued on CD in the early 2000s, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes (Music for Three Pregnant Women) now returns in a new edition from In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi, appearing on vinyl for the first time as a double LP. The record is being pressed in Detroit at Archer Record Pressing, the historic plant behind deep-groove classics by Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Underground Resistance, UR’s Jeff Mills, and J Dilla.

Listeners who know the Montreal-based Leclair through his better-known work as Akufen might be surprised by the tone here. During the same years he was shaping the intricate micro-sampling tracks that made Akufen a cult figure on labels including Perlon, Force Inc. and Trapez, Leclair was quietly developing this far more personal project. The meticulous craftsmanship remained the same, though the focus shifted from the hyper-detailed cut-up rhythms of his dance records toward something slower and more atmospheric. “I always compare my work to a jeweler,” Leclair says. “It’s really very precise. I’m a bit of a detail freak. I can spend hours or days on just one phrase in one song. Everything has to be perfectly put together.”

The project began almost accidentally. A few members of Leclair’s circle became pregnant nearly simultaneously, including one who had long believed she couldn’t conceive. The first track he recorded for the project wasn’t meant to advance a larger concept, he says. “It was meant to highlight the fact that three of my closest friends became pregnant at exactly the same time.”

Leclair was already a father with a three-year-old daughter, so the emotional terrain of early parenthood was familiar. Gradually the idea expanded. “I began thinking, why not make a whole album that celebrates this and also follows the entire pregnancy, the nine months,” he says. The music developed piece by piece, including a track originally commissioned by the Berlin experimental duo Rechenzentrum that would later become the album’s opening movement.

Nearly seven years passed between the first composition and the finished album, and the music mirrors the strange arithmetic of pregnancy itself. What begins as a single idea multiplies outward, sounds layering and branching until the album feels less like a sequence of compositions than a living process unfolding in time. “I work very slowly,” Leclair says. “Everything has to be something I’m completely behind. I never want to rush anything. I want things to come naturally.” Across its 72 minutes, the album blossoms with the patience of a long meditation on time, growth and emergence.

When Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes first appeared via Mutek, it circulated quietly but steadily. Critics who discovered it later recognized its unusual scope. In a 2006 Pitchfork review, Mark Richardson gave the record an 8.1, calling “150e Jour” “an unfailingly gorgeous and tightly sequenced quilt of guitar and piano samples reminiscent of Tangerine Dream,” and describing “85e Jour” as infused with “viscous pop ambient drift, the gauzy synth pads ebbing and flowing with rhythm.” Boomkat described the album as “a majestic opus from a producer that's always promised so much — here delving into a panoramic construction of almost visibly radiant music that works so beautifully through each and every second of its 72 minute lifespan.”

The new In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi edition finally presents the record in the format Leclair long imagined. “I always thought that record deserved a vinyl edition,” he says. Spread across two LPs, the music now has room to unfold at its natural pace. More than twenty years after it first appeared, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes remains what it was from the start: a carefully shaped meditation on transformation and the quiet miracle of life beginning.

Soul meets Funk 1967-style. Club Sounds, Funk Guitar Groovers, Soul Cha-Cha, Hammond Magic, Freak-Out Party Sounds, Slinky Organ Smoochers. Cornbread And Buttermilk, Chittlin' Salad, Sweet Potato Gravy, and a Bucket Of Grease. Just Instrumentals Soul and Funk-Style. Mmm Mmm Mmm.

Legendary Metal Band STRYPER Announces Long-Awaited Christmas Album 'The Greatest Gift Of All' out November 21 via Frontiers Music Srl Iconic and long-running Christian metal band STRYPER is set to release their long-anticipated Christmas album, The Greatest Gift Of All, on November 21st via Frontiers Music Srl. Fans have been requesting a holiday record for years—and now, the wait is finally over. The celebration begins this July with the release of the first single, "Still the Light". STRYPER's current lineup features original members Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet, and Oz Fox, alongside bassist Perry Richardson. Together, they continue to craft what they believe is some of the most powerful and inspiring music of their career. The band recently wrapped up a successful world tour in support of their latest studio album, When We Were Kings. The tour spanned the USA, Europe, and South America, and marked the band’s 40th anniversary—a milestone celebrated with a dynamic setlist featuring classic hits, fan favorites from the newer era, outfit changes, and an upgraded stage production. As STRYPER continues to evolve, they remain a cornerstone of Christian rock and metal, blending faith and heavy music for four decades. Looking ahead, the band is also working on a Kickstarter-funded documentary directed by Chris Atkins, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their remarkable journey. With over 10 million albums sold worldwide and several Billboard Top 40 hits, STRYPER shows no signs of slowing down as they continue to write, record, and perform for their global fanbase.

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), and trad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), andtrad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra’ is the second studio album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, released in 1981, and recorded between 1977 and 1980.  By this album, the line-up for the band had expanded greatly, with contribution including Simon Jeffes, Helen Leibmann, Steve Nye and Gavyn Wright of the original quartet, as well as Geoff Richardson, Peter Veitch, Braco, Giles Leamna, Julio Segovia and Neil Rennie.
All pieces were composed by Simon Jeffes, except for ‘Paul’s Dance’ (Jeffes and Nye), ‘Cutting Branches’ (traditional), and ‘Walk Don’t Run’ (by Johnny Smith).
The cover painting is by Emily Young.
‘Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter’ is based on the traditional Zimbabwean song, ‘Nhemamusasa’, a field recording of which can be heard played on mbira on the Nonesuch Records album ‘The Soul of the Mbira’.

The Boston Globe opined that “this is one of the most eccentric records released this or any year... It’s also one of the most delightful.”
In 2021, ‘Penguin Cafe Orchestra’ was named among The Fifty Best Albums Of 1981 by Spin.
This repress uses the 2008 remaster.

Pressed on apricot vinyl.

Fünf Jahre nach ihrem gefeierten Album 'forevher' meldet sich die britische Sängerin Shura mit ihrem dritten Studioalbum 'I Got Too Sad For My Friends' zurück. Eine Mischung aus Kammerpop, 60er-Jahre-Folk und Lagerfeuer-Americana, die Shuras introspektives Songwriting in eine weite Landschaft ausdehnt - ruhiger als der gefühlvolle Schwung von 'forevher' und rustikaler als der grüblerische Synthie-Pop ihres Debüts 'Nothing’s Real' aus dem Jahr 2016.

Obwohl das Album Themen wie Isolation, Traurigkeit und Depression bearbeitet, klingt es aber alles andere als niedergeschlagen - Shuras kristallklarer Gesang trifft auf eine warme, erdige Produktion. Shura dazu ganz selbst-ironisch: „Auch wenn es nicht unbedingt eine maximalistische Platte ist, was den Sound angeht, war der Ansatz für mich, die Platte mit maximaler Freude aufzunehmen - was urkomisch ist, denn es geht darum, unglücklich zu sein!“

Angegangen wie eine „Old-School-Platte“, die eher eine Performance als eine Produktion einfängt, wurde ein Großteil des Albums live aufgenommen, wobei Keys, Bass, Gitarre und Schlagzeug in einem Rutsch aufgenommen wurden. Nur der Gesang wurde separat aufgenommen - mit Ausnahme des sanften Funk-Tracks Ringpull.

Welcome to the second edition of Era Specific Noise! This release sees the debut of three talented new artists to the label - there's nothing better than a good VA. With an audible sonic influence and shared appreciation for the originality and love poured into old-school techno, ESPN002 has something for every drum machine lover out there.

We kick things off with Toecruncher's track "Turnstyle", the first of two driving pieces of dancefloor-friendly techno that make up the A side. A classic 16th note bassline, strong percussion, and just the right amount of ear candy and ephemeral pads - this work practically mixes itself into your DJ set. The next output by label head Richardson "Situational Awareness" builds off this style and adds a growling, modulated synthline, a uniqueness which ensures its memorability and slot in your bag.

The clarity in production of B1 "Occhio per occhio" by Alfa Cornae is hard to put into words. There's a mountain of percussion in this hardgroove-inspired piece and yet, everything seems to have its own place - and those squelchy breakdowns don't hurt either. Rounding off the release is "Kintsugi" - a slamming, industrial yet ethereal piece by Andrea Crestani. We personally enjoy a release that tells a story, and this track has all the hallmarks and melancholy of an EP closer.

We hope you enjoy your stay with Era Specific Noise - New school old school.

The definitive survey of America’s independent 70s soul scene, and a companion piece to Now-Again’s long-running Soul Cal series. “(Soul Cal) captures the retro-utopian vision of a past where every smalltown record store or garage in the US might have hidden a virtuosic funk outfit; the thrill of knowing that jobbing musicians might be getting paid for the first time; plus the bittersweet knowledge that those that passed on are getting deserved recognition. And all that before you get the thrill of the music itself.” - Wire Magazine. Compilation produced, annotated and researched by Eothen “Egon” Alapatt. Art direction by Errol Richardson. Mastered by Dave Cooley, Kelly Hibbert and Jason Bitner. Additional coordination by Tanner McCrary.

Just as his basslines never stay within the limits of the obvious, so Joe Sanders" life as a bassist, composer, band-leader and educator has never followed the single, most discernible pathway. A Midwest native, he"s studied and played jazz on the opposite coasts of California and New York: a master of the acoustic bass, he"s equally at home producing in the digital realm; embedded deep in the living tradition of American jazz; and living, teaching and creating in Europe. All these separate strands come together on his third headline release, "Parallels". The album presents a set of live recordings from a dream line-up that matches the leader"s full-bodied acoustic bass presence with Seamus Blake, Logan Richardson and Gregory Hutchinson in performances that capture all the daring and drive of the East coast scene. Alongside them is a set of studio self-productions with guests Jure Pukl and Taylor Eigisti that capture the laid-back dreamy adventurousness of the West Coast.

"The Night The Zombies Came is Pixies’ tenth album, if you count their classic 1987 4AD mini LP Come On Pilgrim, and first new music since 2022’s acclaimed Doggerel LP. 13 new songs that find Pixies looking ahead to the most cinematic record of their career. Songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Black Francis explains: “Fragments that are related and juxtaposed with other fragments in other songs. And in a collection of songs in a so-called LP, you end up making a kind of movie.” Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval themed restaurants, 12th century poetic form, surf rock, gargoyles, bog people, and the distinctive dry drum sound of 1970s era Fleetwood Mac are just some of the disparate wonders that inform the new songs. For the new album recording sessions the band returned to work with producer Tom Dalgety, who drummer David Lovering refers to as “a fifth Pixie” after producing 2016’s Head Carrier, 2019’s Beneath the Eyrie and 2022’s Doggerel. Early on in the recording process at Guilford Sound studio in Vermont, the band noticed the new songs were dividing into two camps: what they came to call the “Dust Bowl Songs” - country-tinged, ballad-esque numbers such as ‘Primrose’ and ‘Mercy Me’, and on the other side, the album’s furious punk numbers such as ‘You’re So Impatient’ and ‘Oyster Beds’. Only ‘Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)’ keeps its feet in both camps — reminiscent of early 60s Phil Spector, the band hitting the sweet spot between mushy and abrasive, it’s a track that Black Francis allegedly likened to being chased by a swarm of bees.
The Night The Zombies Came sessions also saw Pixies welcoming new bass player Emma Richardson (Band Of Skulls) to the line up; the first British band member to join the group. There’s also an expanded role for guitarist Joey Santiago. After contributing his first-ever Pixies lyrics on Doggerel, for the new record Santiago wrote the words to ‘Hypnotised’ by completing a complex lyrical riddle of sorts, known as a sestina.
The Night The Zombies Came is released via BMG on CD, black vinyl"

Fronted by former South London lovers rock vocal harmony group, Alpha (sisters Jackie & Jean Heron and Marlene Richardson), Take Three was the brain-child of writer/producer trio "S.H.E." - Steve Sinclair, Peter Hinds & Kevin Ellis.

Meeting each other at The Factory community centre in Paddington (now known as the Yaa Asantewa centre and in the last few years, The Yaa Centre) Steve & Kevin began a partnership writing and directing their own theatre productions as part of The Black Theatre Co-Op, which called the centre home at the time. When a song they had written together for one of their productions received praise and plaudits, the path toward writing and producing records began, bringing in more seasoned hand Peter Hinds - formerly a member of key brit funk groups Light of the World and Beggar & Co, and player with Incognito, Imagination & Loose Ends - to complete the circle.

Take Three represented the first project for a creative partnership that would spawn multiple projects/aliases spanning the UK soul, funk & dance scenes, and still continues to this day. With this compilation we showcase for the first time the group's combined output as Take Three, complete with previously unreleased material.

Drei Jahre nach dem fesselnden Long Player Debüt ,Highly Refined Pirates" stellte die hochgradig stylische Seattler Indie Pop Band MINUS THE BEAR ihren mit beachtlichen Störimpulsen durchsetzten Prog Pop auf ihrem zweiten selbstmörderischem Album ,Menos El Oso" zur Schau. Die Jungs legten hierfür selbst ihre Hände an die Regler und übernahmen die Aufnahmen und Produktion gleich mit. Pendelnd zwischen verschiedensten Stilen, welche von '70s Prog Rockern (YES, RUSH) '80s Prototypen Punks (FUGAZI) bis hin zu '90s Art Rock Mind Fucks wie JAWBOX und JOAN OF ARC reichen, berufen sich MINUS THE BEAR auf eine moderne Liebesaffäre zwischen treibenden Tanz Rhythmen und höchst abgefahrenem Collegerock. Abgemischt wurde das Ganze vom Bandmitglied und angesehenen Studio Freak Matt Bayles (u.a.THE BLOOD BROTHERS, MASTODON, ISIS, PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES). Auf dem Album finden sich so illustre Gäste wie Judah Nagler & Josh Staples (THE VELVET TEEN), Michael Richardson (THE NEW TRUST) und HEATHER DUBY.

Sorgfältig remasterte Reissue von Chet Bakers LP-Klassiker 'Round' Midnight' (1979). Das Original, heute ein unbezahlbares Sammlerstück, wurde im September 1979 in London mit Jean Paul Florens (git), Henri Florens (piano), Jim Richardson (bass) und Tony Mann (drums) aufgenommen und enthält Bakers einzige 'Round' Midnight' Studioversion, zwei alternative 'My Funny Valentine' Takes, komplett instrumental und sehr intim, sowie das Miles Davis-Cover 'All Blues' mit Rachel Gould on vocals.

Die legendäre Metal-Band STRYPER meldet sich mit ihrem 12. Studioalbum "When We Were Kings" zurück, das über Frontiers Music erscheint.
Die Band feiert die Ankündigung nicht nur mit einer, sondern gleich mit zwei neuen Singles! "Loves Symphony" ist eine Mischung aus klassischem und
modernem Rock, während das eher poppige "Grateful" zeigt, dass sich die Band auch weiterhin für religionsbasierte Musik einsetzt.
Die aktuelle Besetzung von STRYPER besteht aus den Originalmitgliedern Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet und Oz Fox sowie dem Bassisten Perry
Richardson, die ihre bisher beste und kraftvollste Musik machen.
Mit weltweit mehr als 10 Millionen verkauften Alben und einer Reihe von Billboard Top 40-Hits nimmt STRYPER weiterhin Platten auf, tourt und tritt
vor begeisterten Fans auf der ganzen Welt auf.

OFAMFA by CHILDREN OF THE SUN

Original released in 1971 by the BAG groups (Black Artist Groupe) own label "Universal Justice Records" this album has for years been an impossible to find/listen to album, and this is its first reissue ever ..

Ofamfa by The Children Of The Sun, a band lead by poet/musicien Ajule/aka Bruce Rutlin Is a heady mix of poetry/jazz/political songs/ and a document of a comunity avent. The BAG group being about all the arts theater and dance.

The Muse/icians on the album are….

Rashu Aten / conga, small instruments

Oliver Lake / soprano &Alto sax, flute, poems, small instruments

Floyd LeFlore/ trumpet, small instruments

Ishac Rajab/ Trumpet

Arzinia Richardson/ bass, small instruments Vincent Terrell / cello

Charles "bobo" Shaw / drums, small instruments

Ajule / poetry, arrangements, small instruments, drums

"South Wales' Top 10 rockers Scarlet Rebels return with the follow-up to their #7 UK Top 40 Album 'See Through Blue'. Boasting an eye-popping album cover by Boomtown Festival poster designer Holy Moly, it certainly lives up to its name and perfectly illustrates the band's message of unity – i.e. 'Where The Colours Meet’.
Armed with the crack production team of Colin Richardson and Chris Clancy, 'Where The Colours Meet' sees the band radically expand their sonic palette, bringing in lush instrumentation, piano, keyboards and large drum sounds to channel the best of 80s rock. It’s an album full of fluid guitar lines, tasteful leads and irresistible choruses but with a contemporary full-on sound - imagine a modern-day U2 meets Bruce Springsteen!"

40 Years ago, Hunting Lodge was nearing the peak of its fertile 'tribal' period. In celebration of this anniversary we are releasing a book-style 3LP set including Nomad Souls, 'Tribal Warning Shot' (expanded) and The Harvest (live/expanded). All of the included tracks have been lovingly remastered from the original reels and cassettes, restored by Grant Richardson and mastered for vinyl by Sion Orgon. The Nomad Souls LP was originally released in the autumn of 1984 on S/M Operations in the USA, and in the following spring on Side Effekts Records, UK. The 'Tribal Warning Shot' 12” 4-track EP was released early 1985 on S/M Operations (USA). The title track was remixed with drums added for a 12” 45 release on Normal Records (Germany) soon thereafter. This version, along with the other three EP tracks appear on the second record in the set. A new remix of the 1983 7” 'Night From Night' b/w 'Untitled' is also included, along with 2 tracks that appeared on compilation albums and one previously unreleased track. To round off this LP we launch into a track from original The Harvest live cassette, to ease you into the album to come. The Harvest cassette was a collection of live Hunting Lodge tracks circa 1984 which has never appeared on LP until now. To make for a more cohesive theme we have separated the two LP sides by shows: Side A from Chicago, where the original 'Tribal Warning Shot (live)' was recorded, while the other side features a Detroit show which bears the distinction of being the only time Roselle Williams (The Wolf Hour) sang live with the band. Each side features one song that was NOT included on the original The Harvest release This set features a replica of the original S/M Operations' Nomad Souls cover, and of the original Normal Records 12” art on the second LP. The third sleeve features a newly designed back cover by Rolaid Alpo Cola, and an inner panel including the original promo poster artwork along with an essay from Graeme Revell.