Search:a song for you

What Are People For? make the perfect kind of dystopic dance music for our times. Born from a collaboration between artist Anna McCarthy and musician/producer Manuela Rzytki, the band could be the illicit lovechild of Tom Tom Club and Throbbing Gristle, displaying the ideal balance of hip shaking vibes and dark provocative content.

On their collaborative debut, McCarthy and Rzytki share songwriting duties. The album was produced by Rzytki herself. They are joined by Paulina Nolte on backing vocals and Tom Wu on drums, while Keith Tenniswood mastered the record.

The whole project stems from a publication and exhibition by McCarthy laying the foundations for the content and lyrics of the album, which is humorous, poetic and political. As a lyricist, McCarthy uses her storytelling ability to explore anxieties and desires, digging into free surreal word associations reminiscent of Su Tissues’ tongue in cheek experiments with Suburban Lawns, but also explosive and gripping like a Kae Tempest rap.
Rzytki’s precise sonic palette and talent at penning structured bangers perfectly complement McCarthy’s playful and subversive language manipulations. Rzytki's beats are rooted in old school Hiphop loop principles and an authentic love for the analog. Her use of an array of synthesizers and other "real" instruments adds to WAPF's depth, soul and sincerity.

The album opens with a joyful anthem, full of energy and melodic hooks. The audience is confronted with the quintessential titular question What Are People For? and told that they are just a mere disposable commodity. Throughout the album, lyrical themes revolve around underground aspects of society, violence, political ideologies, sexuality and mysticism. The content is deep but the album is as danceable as it is biting.

73, with its drum machine hysteria and hypnotic synth basses is a a text collage written on the 73 bus through London, consisting of situations and conversation snippets encountered along the way. Drones indulges in the narrator’s paranoia as they feel they are being watched by cigarette machines, whilst the haunting choir is half spoken, half sung, ending on the orgasmic chanting of the word “mummy”. Nursery Rhyme brings more soothing incantations. There is definitely an affinity for fairytales, albeit adult ones and especially the anarchistic ones such as The Moomins, who were a consistent influence on the band. The artwork for the record, created by McCarthy, is a beautiful children's book-style painting of the group in a forest, seemingly about to engage in a magical encounter to which we are invited.

WAPF? have absorbed and digested a variety of influences. Trip hop, Punk and Techno are rubbing shoulders on Party Time. 1977 was coined “Summer of Hate” in the UK and unsurprisingly in WAPF?’s Summer of War, ethereal singing alternates with a powerful marching Garage/Grime chorus reminiscent of street protests and UK culture.

Mz. Lazy starts like an invitation to meditation and references Gertrude Stein’s book Ida in which she develops the idea that publicity is a new religion and people are now famous for being famous. Repressed anger explodes into violence and freedom at the end of the song as our heroine eventually grabs an axe to destroy her oppressors.
Fantasize, on its part, is raw, sexual and liberating while the closing track Bring Back the Dirt is a welcome hymn into a world that is becoming more and more sanitised.

While exploring deep subject matters throughout their album, WAPF? manage to remain satirical, exciting and funny. Each and everyone of their songs have a cathartic quality.

The visual identity of the band is intrinsic to their appeal. Live, they are eccentric, wild and unapologetic, wearing see-through costumes, bright miniskirts and intricate headpieces while delivering their songs with sharp intensity. Their performances radiate queer sexiness and transcend B52's thrift store aesthetics, creating a space for collective dreaming.

WAPF? is a rare combination of contemporary punk energy, irresistible groove, absurdist dry humour and astounding depth of field. They have the mighty power to create a party with their music and soon you will find yourself lifting your arms as if controlled by an external force, to chant: WAPF? WAPF? WAPF?

– Marie Merlet (Malphino, Little Trouble Girls, London)

10 years after Being As An Ocean crashed into the scene with “Dear G-D…”, the legendary debut album of the Californian band is now available on vinyl including 1 brand new previously unreleased song and 2 acoustic bonus tracks! As a special for the fans the album will also be released as a strictly limited double vinyl in bone white color.

When times are tough, or you’re feeling worn down, you start longing for a life of total peace. A life where there are no fights, arguments or lies; where there is no such thing as disappointment and your actions have no consequences. Some might call it a “fantasy world”. Genre-jumping Belgian trio Brutus call it the “Unison Life” – a phrase that titles their third studio album. Unison Life is about all the stuff that wears you down in the first place. It’s the ugliness, the pain, and the acts of bravery that get you through it all. Beginning with a portrait of contentment and unravelling from there, the album goes into battle and asks what really counts. In their own words: “Is this Unison Life a hoax? Or a quest?”

Since their formation in 2014, Brutus have made a name for themselves with their restless, emotionally raw rock that traverses the landscape of metal, punk, post-hardcore and beyond – often in the same song. The three members first met in their hometown

When times are tough, or you’re feeling worn down, you start longing for a life of total peace. A life where there are no fights, arguments or lies; where there is no such thing as disappointment and your actions have no consequences. Some might call it a “fantasy world”. Genre-jumping Belgian trio Brutus call it the “Unison Life” – a phrase that titles their third studio album. Unison Life is about all the stuff that wears you down in the first place. It’s the ugliness, the pain, and the acts of bravery that get you through it all. Beginning with a portrait of contentment and unravelling from there, the album goes into battle and asks what really counts. In their own words: “Is this Unison Life a hoax? Or a quest?”

Since their formation in 2014, Brutus have made a name for themselves with their restless, emotionally raw rock that traverses the landscape of metal, punk, post-hardcore and beyond – often in the same song. The three members first met in their hometown

Freedom – the debut album from Leah Weller – a modern soul soundtrack to her head spinning twenties turning into empowered, contented thirties. Completed last year, Weller’s first complete album follows a decade-long career on catwalks, in front of cameras and making dancefloors shake, constantly on the move and with music as a constant companion. Finding the escape route out of anxiety-inducing mix-and-match career moves with the stability of love, the slowdown of repeated lockdowns and, finally, motherhood, Weller’s race is now to be run at her own pace with a collection of songs set perfectly to her flow.



Gathering nine, finely-tailored songs together with a drum beat of support from producer and collaborator, Steve Craddock, the collection speaks, much rather than screams, of finding the sweet spot between the need for hope, however naïve, and the truths that only experience can spell out.

Freedom – the debut album from Leah Weller – a modern soul soundtrack to her head spinning twenties turning into empowered, contented thirties. Completed last year, Weller’s first complete album follows a decade-long career on catwalks, in front of cameras and making dancefloors shake, constantly on the move and with music as a constant companion. Finding the escape route out of anxiety-inducing mix-and-match career moves with the stability of love, the slowdown of repeated lockdowns and, finally, motherhood, Weller’s race is now to be run at her own pace with a collection of songs set perfectly to her flow.



Gathering nine, finely-tailored songs together with a drum beat of support from producer and collaborator, Steve Craddock, the collection speaks, much rather than screams, of finding the sweet spot between the need for hope, however naïve, and the truths that only experience can spell out.

Perpetual Doom proudly presents the new album from Austin Leonard Jones: Dead Calm. On this collection of nine new tracks, the Texas-based troubadour channels his eclectic talent into a melancholy country groove. Full of signature tumbleweed melodies and his deadpan wit, it is an essential addition to Jones’ unique and varied catalog.

Like any good country record, Dead Calm starts with a joke and ends in tears. “A werewolf walks into a bar,” Jones sings on opener “Cape Fear,” where vampires pour drinks and no one seems to escape. The town might be full of the undead, but it could be anywhere—after all, as Jones says, “It’s hard on the living in Cape Fear.” The slide guitar and faint bright keys set the tone for an album that mixes domestic sorrow with a touch of kitsch, like Conway Twitty at a seasonal Halloween outlet. “I’m the sole survivor of the all-night show,” he sings on “Back in the Black Lagoon,” “and it cost a thousand tears for every episode.” Somewhere between a funeral and a costume party, Dead Calm bursts with classic songwriting sure to get you on the dance floor and crying.

All these ghost towns, desert bars, and haunted capes emerge from the small town outside Austin where Jones wrote and recorded the album. Alongside producer Jesse Woods, he crafted a sound based on the traditional country palette of acoustic and slide guitar, organ and gentle drums. Songs like “Night Parrots” and “Demon Sands” take stock of life’s disappointments as Jones’ maudlin voice and Jesse Siebenberg’s pedal steel twist tighter around each other. “The Australia Song” puts autobiographical storytelling first, while “Exotics” laughs at our tendency to seek satisfaction in far-off places and things. It all comes together on “Its Treachery,” where Jones confronts the intimate betrayals of “a whole life not working out as planned.”

Sound familiar? Austin Leonard Jones invites you to join the club.

Die lang erwartete erste Wiederveröffentlichung eines Klassikers, dessen (einzige) Originalpressung innerhalb weniger Wochen nach der Veröffentlichung am 15. Oktober 2001 ausverkauft und seitdem nicht mehr erhältlich war.

Vielleicht das dynamischste und abenteuerlichste Album, das die Montrealer Szene der frühen Nullerjahre um Godspeed you black emperor! hervorgebracht hat.

Aufgenommen über einen Zeitraum von fünf Tagen, handelt es sich bei dem beeindruckenden Debütalbum des 13-köpfigen Kollektivs aus Montreal, dem auch Mitglieder von Godspeed you black emperor!, A Silver Mt Zion und Fly Pan Am angehören, laut TimeOut um 'eines der grüblerischsten, dramatischsten, emotionalsten und eindringlichsten Alben, die jemals an deiner Seele gekratzt haben.' Auch Pitchfork zeigte sich beeindruckt und attestierte: 'ein wunderbar einfallsreiches und kraftvolles Album.'

Remastered bei Dubplates & Mastering.

CABAL is one of the most brutal and promising heavy acts hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band aims to create a visceral and doom-laden atmosphere throughout both their music and visual expression. The production is crystal clear, whilst the songwriting draws inspiration from everything from black-and death metal to djent and hardcore.

The young band has since the release of their debut album “Mark of Rot” in 2018 managed to make a name for themselves in both Denmark and the rest of the world by playing renowned festivals like Copenhell, Roskilde Festival, Euroblast Festival and Complexity Fest as well as touring in Europe, Japan and North America.

CABAL released the sophomore album “Drag Me Down” in April 2020-a dark descent into a personal hell brought to life by crushing instrumentals, an oppressive atmosphere and dark personal lyrics delivered with relentless intensity, while still leaving room for experimentation and expansion of CABAL’s signature sound. Add to this guest appearances from metal titans Trivium’s Matt Heafy, rising metalcore stars Polaris’ Jamie Hails and Denmark’s Blackgaze darlings MØL’s Kim Song Sternkopf and there is no doubt that CABAL is a band with friends in every corner of the metal scene.

CABAL is now ready to unleash their third and most ambitious album to date “Magno Interitus”, in collaboration with the metal label mastodons Nuclear Blast. This album sees CABAL expanding on the foundation they’ve built with previous releases, but also sees the band experiment more than ever before.

(feat. Joe Russo)

The 10-piece ensemble founded by saxophonist Stuart Bogie and drummer Joe Russo is comprised by musicians who hail from a long list of groups, including Antibalas, The Dap Kings, Red Barat, Arcade Fire, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, David Byrne’s American Utopia, St. Vincent, The Budos Band and Superhuman Happiness. A collaboration between old friends, Bogie's horn arrangements meet Russo's propulsive drumming in an explosive combination of woodwind and brass instruments that reimagine wind music in bold and dynamic new ways.

‘The Struggle (45 Edit)’ is a battle song, musically contemplating the seemingly constant struggle between forces in society. It features solos by Michael Leonhart and Raymond Jay Mason, with the exclusive 45 remix of “Arrival” originally featured on The Prophets in the City LP. Do you remember your first time in the City?

Die Arctic Monkeys veröffentlichen am Freitag, den 21. Oktober, ihr neues Album mit dem Titel 'The Car'. 'The Car' ist das siebte Studioalbum der Band und enthält zehn neue Songs, die von Alex Turner geschrieben und von James Ford produziert wurden. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in Butley Priory, Suffolk, den RAK Studios in London und La Frette in Paris. Nach dem 2018 erschienenen Album 'Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino' finden sich die Arctic Monkeys auf 'The Car' in einer neuen, üppig orchestrierten musikalischen Landschaft wieder und bieten einige der besten und beeindruckendsten Gesangsdarbietungen in der Karriere von Alex Turner.

Herbert Bodzin's "Revival II" is the next exciting vinyl highlight on our young label. It features completely unreleased electronic music which was recorded between 1979 and 1982. On the album we can hear the sounds of legendary analogue machines like the ARP 2600, the Korg PS-3300, the Roland System-700 Modular synthesizer, the PPG Waveterm and the PPG Wave 2.2 as well as classic synths like the Roland Jupiter-8, the Polymoog and the Prophet-5. The album additionally features Bernd Hollendiek, as well as Bodzin's two sons, Stephan and Oliver Bodzin. Most of the music they performed was completely synthesizer based while Oliver Bodzin played drums on a few tracks. The songs are a mixture of mostly ambient, deep, psychedelic, yet experimental and futuristic sounds as well as more vibrant recordings that featured the complete band. One of these vibrant tracks is "Lifting Blue" which qualifies as a unique version of space rock. On other tracks like "Voices of the Mind" we hear deep melodies topped with dreamy vocoder voices. "Against the Wall" sounds like it could be taken off of an Italian horror movie soundtrack while the mid-tempo "Orbital" pre-dates the sounds of techno and trance. As a side note, the album may also show early musical influences of Stephan Bodzin, who became world famous in the 1990s as one of the leading techno producers. Without any doubt, "Revival II" should be an exciting lost masterpiece of German electronic (rock) music and a must have for synth music lovers - revived and finally alive!

Pinkshift are a vehemently unapologetic punk
band whose songs rail against prejudice and
oppression while also examining in great depth the
human condition.
 Foregoing more traditional careers in the hard
sciences / medicine, Baltimore natives Ashrita
Kumar (singer), Paul Vallejo (guitar) and Myron
Houngbedji (drums), are inspiring fans in a
different way.
 The band smash any preconceived notions of what
a punk band should look or sound like.
 After self-releasing the viral hit ‘I’m gonna tell my
therapist on you’ and the ‘Saccharine’ EP, Pinkshift
partnered with Hopeless Records to release their
debut album, Love Me Forever’.
 Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Code Orange,
Tigers Jaw), the band have put together an
emotionally cathartic, raucous, and powerful debut
that centres their unique perspective as POC
individuals in a scene that historically did not
represent them.

Blue Vinyl

Das GRAMMY-nominierte Trio PVA veröffentlicht ihr mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum, „BLUSH“ Mitte Oktober auf Ninja Tune. Das Album der Südlondoner Band, das kurz nach ihrer 2020 beim Ninja Tune-Sublabel Big Dada (u.a. Yaya Bey, Young Fathers oder Diplo) veröffentlichten EP, „Toner“, erscheint, verbindet den Pulsschlag elektronischer Musik mit der rohen Energie eines lebensbejahenden Konzerts und offenbart mehr über das Trio, als sie bisher je preisgegeben haben. Die elf mitreißenden Tracks der Gruppe, bestehend aus Ella Harris und Josh Baxter (die sich Leadgesang sowie Synthesizer-, Gitarren- und Produktionsarbeit teilen) sowie Schlagzeuger und Perkussionist Louis Satchell, basieren auf einer Formel aus Acid, Disco, knallenden Synthesizern, der Befreiung des Dancefloors und kathartischem Spoken Word-Post-Punk.

PVA begann, als Harris und Baxter 2018 begannen, gemeinsam etwas zu machen, das sie als „Country-Friend-Techno“ bezeichneten. Ihre erste Show, eine Nacht namens „Narcissistic Exhibitionism“ im The Five Bells Pub in New Cross, fand nur zwei Wochen nach ihrem Kennenlernen statt. Der Abend wurde von Harris kuratiert und bot im Obergeschoss Malerei, Bildhauerei und Fotografie, während im Erdgeschoss Bands auftraten. Sie buchte PVA als Headliner. Einer ihrer ersten Songs, „Divine Intervention“, entstand, als Harris ihrer neuen Bandkollegin ihre Träume diktierte. Auf ihrem Debütalbum nehmen PVA die gleiche Energie aus der Live-Szene mit, während sie gleichzeitig eine ganzheitliche Welt voller Textur und Herz aufbauen. „BLUSH“ ist reich an schwergewichtigen Industrial-Beats, zerklüftetem Punk-Spirit und Momenten stiller Kontemplation durch Harris' poetische Lyrics. Das Album rennt unermüdlich vorwärts und verbindet Einflüsse wie Portishead, PC Music, Laurie Anderson und das kultige Rave-Pop-Duo The Pom-Poms mit Leichtigkeit. „BLUSH“ wurde während der verschiedenen Lockdowns geschrieben, eine Leidenszeit für eine Band, die es eigentlich gewohnt ist, die Grenzen ihres Sounds live auf der Bühne auszuloten. Diese Einschränkungen machten PVA aber nicht zu schaffen. Wenn überhaupt, fühlten sie sich durch die erzwungene Distanz in ihrem Songwriting gestärkt. Harris schrieb Gedichte und lernte, Musik zu produzieren, Baxter arbeitete mit anderen Künstler*innen als Produzent, und Satchell setzte sein Musikstudium an der City University fort und studierte unter anderem alte afrikanische Polyrhythmen.

Isokratisses (Greek for "women who sing the "iso" or "drone") is a vocal ensemble comprised of eight women who carry the ancient tradition of polyphonic songs from Epirus: a region in northern Greece and southern Albania. Born and reared in the Greek speaking villages around Deropoli and Politsani in Albania, the women of Isokratisses have sung these songs since childhood. The group ranges in age from 19 to 56 with some sisters in the group as well as an aunt. They were nurtured by this archaic music, listening and singing it with their family and friends. The songs were passed down from generation to generation. The group started its artistic activity in 2015, after the singer Anna Katsi took the initiative to encourage the younger members to perform regularly. The communal nature of polyphonic singing is a way of revitalizing an art that has declined in recent years and to reassert the primacy of female voices in the southern Balkans. Singing these songs builds an invisible bridge that connects the present with the past, the memories of childhood travel with the immediacy of daily life. On Oct 14, 2022, Third Man Records will release a full album of these solo polyphonic songs, with Grammy-winning producer Christopher King. "It is social music, woven into the fabric of poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised communities. Many of the songs are variations of mirologia (songs of fate, songs of morning) that used to be sung throughout the southern Balkans but have largely disappeared on an informal cultural level except for Epirus. Structurally, the songs are pentatonic (five notes with no semitones) and are composed of three or four distinct melodic voices that weave together in an organic yet unexpected way. The remaining members of the group provide the iso or “drone” that is the low tonic note of the melody." - Chris King.

Today Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer Makaya McCraven announces the details of his new album In These Times, which is set for release on September 23rd via International Anthem / Nonesuch / XL Recordings. The first offering from the new album is a song tiled "Seventh String," which encapsulates the various musical dimensions present on McCraven's new album, a career-defining body of work that is a remarkable new peak for the already-soaring McCraven. In These Times is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as McCraven's personal experience as a product of a multinational, working class musician community. It's the recording that he's been trying to create for 7+ years, as it's been consistently in process in the background while he's put forth a prolific run of releases including: In The Moment (2015), Highly Rare (2017), Where We Come From (2018), Universal Beings (2018), We're New Again (2020), Universal Beings E&F Sides (2020), and Deciphering the Message (2021). With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators - including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill - the music was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Featuring orchestral, large ensemble arrangements interwoven with the signature "organic beat music" sound that's become his signature, the album is an evolution and a milestone for McCraven, the producer. But moreover, it's the strongest and clearest statement we've yet to hear from McCraven, the composer. Profiled in the New York Times, Vice, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and NPR, among other publications, Makaya and the music he makes today is what Passion of Weiss explains, "is part of a necessary conversation about the next evolution of the Black improvised music known colloquially as 'jazz.' He's found the threads connecting the past with the present, and is either wrapping them with new colors and textures, or he's plucking them gleefully like the strings of a grand instrument." McCraven, who has been aptly called a "cultural synthesizer" and "beat scientist," has a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st century folk music. In These Times encompasses his artistic ethos, his experiences, identity and lineage, while pushing his music to new heights.

“Micro tonal poetry” - Mats Gustafsson

'Its an honor for the AFJ-Series to introduce the self-titled debut album by Danish Oslo resident Signe Emmeluth. Recorded at Flerbruket, in the forest an hour outside of Oslo - Emmeluth alone in a room with her alto and tenor saxophones.

A fantastic session of sax solo ecstasies recorded by Magnus Hemnes Nergård. Much like Joe McPhee’s Tenor and Peter Brötzmann’s 14 Love Songs, this album share the same beautiful intimacy. It is close, sparse, poetic and raw at the same time. Minimalist and soulful free music.

Signe Emmeluth is a Danish saxophonist and composer educated by the Jazz Department in Trondheim and is currently based in Oslo. Emmeluth has recently become a rising star on the international scene for improvised music. She has her own quartet Emmeluth’s Amoeba and has worked with Trondheim Jazzorkester, John Edwards, Tony Buck, Paal Nilssen-Love, Mats Gustafsson and Mette Rasmussen to name a few.'

All music by Signe Emmeluth, except 'I’ll Be Seeing You' by Sammy Fain
Signe Emmeluth: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, recorder and electronics
Recorded at Flerbruket, Hemnes (December 2020/January 2021)
Sound Engineer: Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard
Mix/Master: Lasse Marhaug
Artwork: Kim Hiorthøy

Tak til Karl, Magnus, Lasse og Joakim for hjælp og gode vibber

Time 2 Love is an album based on Irene’s many influences and foregrounds her sensitivities. All the tracks embody reminiscent of the 00s R&B vocals, inspired by legends like Brandy and Aaliyah.
The production has the signature of RSN, one of the music’s most influential artist and producer, who together with Irene bridge the gap between cinematic soul, R&B classics, Hip Hop and contemporary music scene.

Time 2 Love is about the journey we make from love to toxic relationships and independence. Irene’s journey goes through love to loneliness and shows how the reminisce of a past love may force to toxic old habits. Life pointed her back in the same old directions, but as she is ultimately the master of her own individual destiny, she progressed and moved from abandonment to a healing experience and she regained to be emotionally independent. The album features Anduze from Parov Stelar, MC Yinka, Word Of Mouth, Mr. Collage and the vinyl edition includes an extra track with BNC.

Time 2 Love is available on vinyl by the label Mind The Wax and on all digital platforms via Hidden Track as of September 16th 2022 and includes 10 tracks.



Irene is an R&B artist, born in Athens and based both in UK and Greece. Her debut album “Time 2 Love” is an album sank into her feelings about self-love, toxic relationships, love and independence.

Irene has received three Awards at Manhattan’s IMTA 2011 and released her breakout single ‘Like A Rainbow’ on 2016 with Ian Ikon which was included in the global collection “NOW 2016” from Universal.

In addition, Irene collaborated with celebrated artists such as Anduze (Parov Stelar) and MC Yinka and she released four songs ‘Familiar’, ‘Light It Up’, ‘Piece Of You’, ‘Whatsa Say’ (via Hidden Track Records).

repress

Limited

The follow up to "Pieces", "Matt the Cat" (1978) and Cassell's last released single, "Love to Love / When I go Down" (1980) are being compiled on vinyl for the first time ever! With Cassell at the height of his powers as both a performer and songwriter, this record sees him expand on the iconic sound that defined his previous work with each song packing a soulful punch. Don't miss this limited viny release.

repress

Play that funky music white boy! In 1977, San Francisco singer-songwriter Matthew Larkin Cassell privately pressed and distributed his debut LP "Pieces" to little fanfare. It took over two decades and being sampled by Madlib for listeners everywhere to recognize Cassell's unique combination of soul, funk, and rock as ahead of its time. Even now, 45 years after its release, the record sounds fresh.

Written and recorded in the midst of a dizzying stretch in which nearly everything about the way the band lived and worked was turned on its head, Motel Radio's "The Garden" is indeed a work of relentless hope. The songs are profoundly vulnerable here, and the performances are warm and breezy, calling to mind everything from Andy Shauf and Cass McCombs to Beck and Tame Impala with an easygoing demeanor that belies the deep emotional work underpinning them. Motel Radio generated early buzz in their adopted hometown of New Orleans on the strength of their 2015 debut EP, Days & Nights, which helped land them dates with the likes of Kurt Vile and Drive-By Truckers in addition to festival slots at Firefly, Jazz Fest, and more. The band followed it up with the similarly well-received Desert Surf Films in 2016 and their first full-length, Siesta Del Sol, in 2019, touring the country on a seemingly endless loop as they built up their devoted following one night at a time. Since then, the band had set a goal of becoming more self-sufficient and learning to record on their own, and when it came time to cut The Garden, they dove in headfirst, cutting half the collection in an old fishing camp south of New Orleans with the help of engineer Ross Farbe (Video Age, Esther Rose) and the other half fully remotely while engineering themselves. "There was this real creative freedom that came with working remotely and learning how to run the sessions on our own," explains co-lead singer Ian Wellman. "Synths, samples, beats, plug-ins; suddenly these whole new worlds of sound were at our fingertips and the possibilities were limitless." That creative liberation is easy to hear on The Garden, which opens with the mesmerizing "Wise." Like much of the album, it's a gentle meditation on finding joy and fulfillment, on spreading love and positivity. "I've gotta open my eyes," co-lead singer Winston Triolo sings over dreamy guitars and a hypnotic digital drum loop. "I only get one life, well now how can I live it wise?" The airy "Outta Sight" celebrates the simple pleasures of letting go and being present, while the washed-out "Sweet Daze" revels in the warmth of human connection, and propulsive "Happiness Pie" looks for ways to share the comfort and contentment that comes with self-acceptance. On The Garden, they've realized there's no sweeter garden than the one you grow yourself.

"Bobby Dove is a gifted artist, and a brilliant new light on the songwriting scene - A time traveler, Bobby's songs meld genres with the touch of a master - I am a fan" – Mary Gauthier.Bobby Dove has built a following across Canada and beyond Born in Montreal, Quebec, Bobby has become known as one of the country's most dedicated troubadours, crooning live audiences with heart- worn originals, and paying tribute to the golden age of Country music. Along the road, Bobby has worked with a number of legendary players, and shared stages with artists such as Mary Gauthier, Richard Thompson, Irish Mythen, The Sadies and JD Mcpherson.

Bobby Dove's new album, Hopeless Romantic, offers eleven new
original Americana/Country songs on subjects such as unrequited love, being on the road, a haunted hotel and a hard-rocking pallbearer. Co-produced with Bazil Donovan (Blue Rodeo) and Tim Vesely (Rheostatics) at The Woodshed studio in Toronto,On, the record includes some of the finest in Canadian Country music including members of Blue Rodeo Jim Cuddy, Bazil Donovan and Jimmy Bowskill (The Sheepdogs, Blue Rodeo), and Burke Carroll (Kathleen Edwards).

The Dove is currently perched in western Manitoba, supporting the launch of Hopeless Romantic, as well as releasing The Bobby Dove Show, a virtual variety show, featuring Bobby's new songs, and interviews with renowned roots/Country singer- songwriters from across Canada. Sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, the show can be streamed on Bobby's social- media as well as on bobbydove.

"Dove can write rings around all but the very best of troubadours, telling stories in a compelling way…. This is very impressive indeed and I suggest you get Bobby Dove on your radar immediately." – Country Music People Magazine

Akae Beka's inimitable style of rich, deep, multi-layered songwriting, uncompromising devotion to RasTafari and soulful healing melodies developed over decades performing with St. Croix based band Midnite and countless recordings. At the point of his untimely passing in 2019, he had released over 70LP's. He is without a doubt one of the most prolific reggae artists ever known.

The stellar production trinity that is Zion I Kings have been involved collectively and individually in creating some of the most highly regarded contributions to the vast Akae Beka catalogue. Beauty For Ashes was named as the best reggae album of 2014 according to iTunes. A monumental achievement for undiluted, uncompromising RasTafari roots reggae music this side of the millennium. Two of the LP's tracks, Weather the Storm and Same I Ah One, have been catapulted into global notoriety in part due to the viral success of the YouTube video of the 'Dub in the Rainforest' session organised in St. Croix by Tippy I in 2014. The video offered an unparalleled audio visual insight of the powerful, captivating, energy of Vaughn Benjamin, Pressure Buss Pipe, Ras Batch, and many of the bredrin and sisterin of St. Croix rallying around the I Grade Dub living dub experience.

Following 8 years of anxious anticipation, for the countless Akae Beka fans that are also vinyl connoisseurs, this LP is now being released on as a 12" vinyl LP courtesy of Before Zero Records. This offers the listener not only the chance to enjoy this LP in an analogue form, but also the chance to hold the artwork as a 12" square masterpiece, created by the hands of Ras Marcus, the artist who gave the powerful visual presence that became synonymous to much of the I Grade / Akae Beka works over the years.

Folk Songs Of Black British Experience

PLEASE NOTE - LP RELEASE DATE IS 10th MARCH 2023
The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience is the
upcoming album by Cornwall-based folk singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Angeline Morrison, her first record for the historic Topic
Records label
Produced by Eliza Carthy and featuring some of her beautiful, soaring
string arrangements, The Sorrow Songs was recorded in Cornwall at
Cube Studio and is a work of what she calls 're-storying'
"The traditional songs of the UK are rich with storytelling, and you can find songs
with examples of almost any kind of situation or person you can think of. But
whilst people of the African diaspora have been present in these islands since at
least Roman Times, their histories are little known - and they don't tend to appear
in the folk songs of these islands." Angeline Morrison began to wonder if she
could discover more about the lives of these ordinary and extraordinary Black
ancestors and create an album of songs in the sonic style of UK folk and
traditional music, in the hope that this silent space could then begin to be filled
with stories. With the help of Arts Council National Lottery funding, Angeline
began what became a year of research into this neglected area of Black British
history. The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience is the result.
Released to commemorate Black History Month in October, this powerful record
is intended to honour these Black ancestors who lived in these islands and to act
as a gift to the folk community.
The musicians on the album are: Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (anglo concertina,
melodeon, vocals), Clarke Camilleri (guitar, banjo, vocals), Hamilton Gross (violin,
vocals), Rosie Crow (piano, vocals), Alex Neilson (drums, vocals), Eliza Carthy
(violin, fiddlesticks, vocals), Martin Carthy (guitar) and Angeline Morrison (vocals,
autoharp, double bass).
In July 2022, Angeline Morrison became the fourth recipient of the prestigious
Christian Raphael Prize, which generously supports the development of emerging
talent in the folk genre.

2022 Repress

The legendary gig that Joe Strummer, singer from the Punk Rock band 'The Clash' attended and inspired his writing their classic 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' took place on the 05th June 1977.
At the Hammersmith Palais venue on Shepherd's Bush Road W6, London during the height of Punk Mania. The full line up for the show were all Jamaican artists Dillinger, Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson (all the first time from Jamaica) and Ken Boothe.
'Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae' who had already scored some hits with 'Everything I own' and 'Crying Over You' in 1974. Joe Strummer was expecting Roots, Rock, Reggae but the Sound System this evening 'Admiral Ken Sound' was playing 'Four Tops all night' as in soul and northern soul that were staple crowd pleasers at the time to warm up the audience, but in Joe's eyes the music should have reflected more Jamaican roots based music. The song also deals with bigger issues of black and white unity, but some people including the Punk Rockers.
'They're all too busy fighting, for a good place under the lighting'. Joe Strummer himself was looking for fun. 'I'm the Whiteman in the Palais....Just Looking for Fun'

The artwork supplied by Punk Artist MAL-ONE has used the two posters that were made for this gig, the reggae promoters 'Star Promotions' poster, that contained a picture of Ken Boothe and the venue's own poster that used text to announce it's line up for that evenings performance. Alongside these lost relics he has also combined the groups own poster for the 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' single that incorporated the use of rifle target sights, perhaps enhancing the air of violence contained in the songs message.
MAL-ONE has collaged these together joining the two stories as indeed the song lyrics reflected. People often forget that the songs release was in fact as year after the actual gig, we have tied this release to the 40th anniversary of the song's release. Joe Strummer was one of the few voices from the Punk Era that used his lyrics as a weapon to tell the events that were happening around him and their relevance to those times.
The song itsel a Clash Classic and also a Punk Anthem, released on the 16th June 1978. We have compiled this album with songs by these artists, most of which you would have heard that night. As a post script to this story when the Hammersmith Palais sadly closed its doors for the last time after 82 years' service in 1999, the owners thought it fitting to present Joe Strummer with a sign from the venue's entrance. Mr Strummer's understated reply 'I guess I'll have to send a man with a van round to pick it up'.
Hope you Enjoy the set....

We are proud to present "I'm Always Right" by Imagination, an unreleased jazz rock LP from 1977. Comprised of five tracks with a playtime of roughly 30 minutes, you will hear one of the finest German late-70s rock-tinged electric jazz albums of the era. The recording is a delightful stand-out with unique compositions, aspiring solo work, and a soulful spirit throughout. Additionally, the album veritably glows with exceptional sound quality, as it has been remastered from original tapes that were cut more than four decades ago at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne.

Here is the story of how label founder John Raincoatman became aware of these lost tapes:
"I first got in touch with members of Imagination from Düsseldorf (not to be confused with the UK disco band under the same name) in 2017 for licensing the track "Strawberry Wine" from their collectible "Shake It" album from 1980. A couple of months later, when I was speaking with Willi Hövelmann, the guitarist for Imagination, he told me about some recordings the band had made a couple of years before, when they had been invited to to the studio of the WDR, a major German broadcaster. A couple of weeks later, when Hövelmann finally sent me the files that he had requested from the WDR, I could not believe what I heard - not only that the songs were totally different from what I expected, but that they were also very very good! The music wasn't comparable to any other kind of fusion release that I knew of. These five songs were straight forward, tight and soulful electric jazz rock, a combination rarely heard from Germany from that time period."

How come Imagination - at that time a young newcomer band consisting of musicians between 19 and 22 years of age - was able to record at the well-equipped Funkhaus studio of German radio and television? Hövelmann explains: "The WDR got to know us from a newcomer band competition called "Pop am Rhein" (Pop at the Rhine) which was set up to support local bands and was promoted by several bigger newspapers. Imagination was one of the 5 contestants which were picked from 59 bands by a jury of music journalists and our band was invited to play a concert at the Philipshalle in front of about 3500 guests. Although a band called "Accept" won the contest (yes, the heavy metal band that gained international success in the following years!) and Imagination only made 3rd place, we were invited by music host and journalist Wolfgang Neumann to record in a professional studio."

Neumann's broadcasting show at the WDR was called "Rock Studio", and one of his special goals was to help push newcomer bands by giving them airplay. As a side note, Neumann actually compiled a series of three LPs on the Harvest label from 1979-1982, each of them featuring four bands. However, the earlier recordings of Imagination had only been used for broadcasting reasons, they were aired a couple of times but never made it to a vinyl or CD release.
So, on October 10th, 1977, it was time for the band to show up and prove themselves in the studio. The tracks were all recorded in one afternoon, mainly as one takes. In some cases flute, saxophone were overdubbed, as well as the vocals on "Love is Genesis", as Hövelmann remembers.

The first song, "Jazzgang" can probably be seen as Imagination's most characteristic composition out of their early period: heavy bass, saxophone leads and speedy solos by the band members. A genuine, rough, yet funky uptempo jazz rock tune. But it's "I'm Always Right", the second track on the album, that raises the bar as the key track of the release with its 10-minute length. The song starts with a great piano solo by Mario F. Demonte. In fact, "Demonte" was a pseudonym of Ratko Delorko, a classically trained piano virtuoso who is still active today as conductor, composer and performer. At that time, it was simply impossible for him to officially be part in a band like Imagination and hence the alias was invented. Anyway, the speedy intro leads to a very soulful mid-tempo jazz funk groove that offers space and time for the band members to perform a solo. First off is Uwe Ziss with sax and flute combined. The second solo belongs to Willi "Sultan" Hövelmann on electric guitar. For the furious ending the pace is set back to high speed. Delorko serves us with one of the most brilliant uptempo piano solos you may have heard in a while on a jazz record.

The next song stylistically stands out from the rest. "Biting My Time" incorporates a rhythm and blues feel with a 60s soul jazz attitude. The track was composed by Uwe Ziss who leads through the track with aspiring flute solos which feel like an easy summer breeze after the first two rock tinged tunes.

"Himalaya" sees Imagination move away from jazz quite a bit, rather approaching the psychedelic rock genre with a vibe reminiscent of the sound of the early 70s. Again starting with a piano solo by Ratko Delorko the pace is quickly at 150 bpm with the full band laying down an energetic jazz rock sound. Just after a little over one-and-a-half minutes there is a breakdown to a slower tempo with overdubbed mysterious vocals and psyche-y screams which may remind more of the legendary krautrock band Can than what is typically known as "jazz". The mood continues with tense saxophone and guitar solos, just to speed up again towards the end with furious drumming by Andreas Oelschläger.

"Love Is Genesis" concludes the release. It was composed and sung by former bassist Robert Schlickmann. Though most of the band members didn't really like the song at that time it still is a one-of-a-kind soft rock pop ballad which partly reminds of some of the vocal song tracks later to be found on the "Shake It" LP from 1980. The track manifested that Imagination were never really supposed to be solely an instrumental band.

We are now happy to have cleared the exclusive rights for this recording from the WDR and are proud to re-present this amazing collection of songs. It should appeal to fusion, jazz rock and jazz funk aficionados but also to late krautrock collectors. We are also certain that it will also please fans of the "Shake It" album, simply in terms of being such a bright and soulful debut with great music overall.

Marked by resilience, maturity, and the optimistic joy of a creative resurgence, Pat Green’s Miles and Miles of You is the work of an icon reclaiming ground only he himself could have ceded. Ten fresh tracks feel like the spiritual exhale of a celebrated troubadour, taking fans on a journey to the other side of turmoil… and to a place where the old ways feel new again.

Credited as one of Texas country’s modern-era founding fathers, Green has traveled many roads in the 25 years since his debut album, Dancehall Dreamer. A Grammy nominated singer-songwriter with a restless creative spirit, his career has gone beyond the bounds of a “country star” to include the work of a painter, sculptor, philanthropist, family man and more. But one constant has remained – his vision.

Green’s 14th album overall, Miles and Miles of You is also his first in nearly seven years – since his inspiration-first writing style means he won’t force a song into existence. But that philosophy also makes it possible for a whole album to arrive in a dam-burst of expression, and Green now calls Miles and Miles of You an “effortless” project.

“It was just so smooth and natural,” he says. “I write the song when it comes, and it was like ‘Man, we’re on a roll.’”

Recorded outside Austin with producer Dwight Baker (Bob Schneider, Josh Abbott Band), more of that story is revealed with each track, as Green and his band mirrored the loose vibe of the songwriting with country balladry, dancehall energy, soul-baring reflection and at times, a swampy blues strut. “The older you get, you just have more to think about,” he says. “So that’s
what this record is – a guy with more to think about, coming through a hard time and into something as fun and beautiful as creation. I’m just gonna take the ball and run with it.”

We are proud to present the official 40-year anniversary issue of Imagination's debut album Shake It. Remastered from original tapes, this deluxe edition is a double vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve, featuring a newly available lyric insert.

Shake It covers a diverse spectrum of styles and sounds, all combining to a unique soulful amalgam that ranges from sunshine AOR funk ("Mornin' Lights") and leftfield disco ("Strawberry Wine") to psychy, epic, downtempo, vocoder grooves ("Can't Stand Without You") and more. Originally released in 1980, it fast became one of Germany's most collectible privately-pressed LPs.

Shake It was the creation of young thoroughbreds working hard on becoming professional musicians, trying to take their next big step in the music business. Starting out as a pure jazz-rock combo in the mid '70s (as we hear on the recently released lost studio tapes, I'm Always Right (The WDR Tapes 1977)) Imagination left behind their instrumental roots, incorporating new musical trends and styles.

Uwe Ziss, their saxophonist and flutist, became one of two lead singers in Imagination. He would be joined by the younger Roger Mork, a student of original guitarist Willi Hövelmann, around 1979. Roger's voice would best be heard on the aforementioned "Mornin' Lights", one of the various standout tracks on Shake It. However, there is much more that this album offers.

There are brilliant soulful soft rock ballads like "Clouds Flee Before The Wind" and "Waitin for your Call" or the catchy "California" song that switches from a dreamy Westcoast sound (as the title implies) to danceable rhythm & blues with equal ease. Last but not least, we have unearthed three unissued bonus cuts. On one, the demo take of "Clouds Flee Before The Wind", we hear, for the first time ever, the original refrain of this song, which, for some strange reason, was taken out from the final mix on Shake It.

When all eight original songs were recorded and mastered in June, at the well-equipped West Aix-La-Chapelle studio, the stage was set for Imagination's long-desired career push. They'd initially press about 2500 copies of Shake It selling it mainly, locally, directly to their hometown fanbase in Düsseldorf. Meanwhile, their manager would attempt to arrange a record deal with a music label. Unfortunately, this became more difficult than expected. Negotiations with a smaller publishing company were made by Imagination, and Shake It was repressed on Nash Records in 1981 without their consent, under the false promises of a nationwide promotional tour which would never come to fruition. At the same time, the group would face a UK band under the same name achieving mainstream success, making it difficult (not to say entirely impossible) to perform as "Imagination". Though the band would remain active after Shake It, they'd split shortly after Nash's duplicitous reissue hit store shelves.

Luckily, through time, Shake It itself has remained worthwhile, creatively, for those who stumbled upon it and financially, too, becoming quite the sought after gem in record collecting circles. This deluxe anniversary double vinyl issue makes the LP available once again at a far more reasonable price, featuring the original, illustrious, eye-catching, Roy Lichtenstein-influenced banana art, as well as previously unavailable press pictures and more.

"They push everything right to the brink and then pull back at precisely the right moment" - Pitchfork

"'Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song) gives a tantalising glimpse of where their future could lie. Matching lucid pop elements to daring innovation, ALASKALASKA allow the song to become a portal to their own potential." - Clash

"It’s impossible to walk away without the repeated promise 'I won’t let you down' in 'Growing Up Pains' stuck in your head – and it’s a mantra we should all be following as we as a species continue to fight for our future." - Beats Per Minute

ALASKALASKA announce their superb new album, Still Life, arriving October 14th on Marathon Artists (Lava La Rue, Courtney Barnett, Pond).

'Still Life' finds writers and producers Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley embrace a more free-form electronica, giving a taste of what's to come with this fantastic new record produced by Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco)–full of digital sounds, drum machine and synth melodies cunningly sat beside rich, organic, acoustic instrumentation, it's a looping tug of war between existential dread and everyday simple pleasures.

Listen to / watch the video for 'Still Life' (shot by Jacek Zmarz) here: https://youtu.be/TL7s6QJ3ANc

Four seasons of dawn chorus, panoramically framed by fruit trees and more analog synths than can comfortably fit in a cow shed-come-recording studio...the scene is set for the recording of ALASKALASKA’s second album Still Life. Ordinarily located in South East London, writers and producers Fraser Rieley and Lucinda Duarte-Holman were eager to get out of the city. Taking advantage of this rustic countryside scene, they were able to capture something uniquely their own.

Following their debut album in 2019, they resurface into a new era embracing all the things that first put the band on the map, attracting the likes of Tame Impala, Hot Chip, Porches and Nilüfer Yanya for tour support slots. For Rieley and Duarte-Holman, writing began in 2019, pre-lockdown-era, although the subsequent alone together/together alone time added a new spin on ALASKALASKA's process of experimentation and fine-tuning. The band now push their foundational ideas further and explore the freedom of playing with new sounds. Duarte-Holman explains, “...with everything going on at the time, the restrictions led us to try working in a new way. The limitations were different, but meant we were able to adventure into a more electronic soundscape that we're really looking forward to expressing live."

The ‘Still Life’ LP has been pressed on recycled black vinyl to reduce the carbon intensity of the finished product.

Italian duo Agents Of Time have been incredibly busy over the past few years, from releasing a string of classic singles – including their recent single for Afterlife, “The Mirage”, which earned more than five million views on Instagram – to remixing The Weeknd’s “Take My Breath”, which appeared on his recent Dawn FM (Alternative World). But the biggest news is here now – their second album, Universo, is ready. Elevating their trademark melodic techno with an exquisite pop-ness, Universo has found its ideal home with Kompakt, following their Music Made Paradise 2020 debut EP for the label. It’s a meeting of minds that makes perfect sense.

Andrea Di Ceglie and Luigi Tutolo, the two members of Agents Of Time, used their time during the pandemic to work on Universo, an album loosely conceptualised around their ‘personal universo’, a manifestation of the world Di Ceglie and Tutolo built both within and around their studio. This accounts for the sparkle and brightness of Universo – it’s full of personality, vim and vigour, the duo experimenting with their music, exploring its furthest corners. If you come to Universo expecting just another album of melodic techno, get ready to be pleasantly surprised – there’s a whole lot more going on here, and it’s all equally compelling.

After a typically poetic opening gesture – the swirling, synaesthetic, self-titled intro track – expectations are immediately blindsided with the two-step pop of “Fallin’”, sung with gentle clarity by guest Audrey Janssens, a dream of a song that harks back to the glory days of early ‘00s UK garage. “Interstellar Cowboy” is a confident, lithe, disco-fied strut; the gentle minor-key piano of “Liquid Fantasy” spirals into a gorgeously melancholy techno-pop epic, Vicky Who?’s voice rich with yearning. Janssens also reappears on the electro-swirl of “Poison”; “Dream Vision” revisits their single “The Mirage”, soft with sweeping strings, loaded with drama; “Part Of Life” sashays into view with a schaffel-stomp.

This rich variety throws the more dancefloor-focused tracks, like “Ciao”, into even starker relief – they’re more decisive, streamlined, yet rich with detail, chugging, Moroder-esque bass meeting strobe-lit synths that fire melodies out into the firmament. Universo feels texturally dense, but it still breathes, its sounds so tactile you want to reach out and grab them, its tunes so seductive you can’t get them out of your head. Universo is a fiercely beautiful album, brave in its spirit, a perfectly poised meeting-point of pop melody and stylish, lush techno: Agents Of Time in excelsis.

Das italienische Duo Agents Of Time war in den letzten Jahren unglaublich fleißig, von der Veröffentlichung einer Reihe klassischer Singles - darunter ihre jüngster Beitrag für Afterlife, "The Mirage", der mehr als fünf Millionen Aufrufe auf Instagram erhielt - bis hin zum Remix von The Weeknds "Take My Breath", der auf dessen aktuellen Album “Dawn FM (Alternative World)” erschien. Aber die bahnbrechendeste Neuigkeit ist erst jetzt endlich da - ihr zweites Album "Universo" ist fertig! “Universo" verbindet ihr Markenzeichen, melodischen Techno, mit einer besonderen Pop-Haltung und findet nach der EP "Music Made Paradise 2020" sein ideales Zuhause bei Kompakt. Eine Seelenverwandtschaft, die absolut Sinn macht.

Andrea Di Ceglie und Luigi Tutolo, die beiden Mitglieder von Agents Of Time, nutzten die Zeit während der Pandemie, um an "Universo" zu arbeiten, einem Album, das lose um ihr "persönliches Universum" herum konzipiert ist, eine Manifestation der Welt, die Di Ceglie und Tutolo in und um ihr Studio herum aufgebaut haben. Das macht den besonderen Glanz und die strahlende Helligkeit von "Universo" aus - es strotzt nur so von Persönlichkeit, Elan und Kraft, das Duo experimentiert mit Musik und erkundet auch noch deren entfernteste Ecken. Wer bei "Universo" nur ein weiteres Album mit melodischem Techno erwartet, wird angenehm überrascht sein - hier ist viel mehr los, und alles ist gleichermaßen spannend.

Nach einer poetischen Eröffnungsgeste - dem wirbelnden, synästhetischen, selbstbetitelten Intro-Track - werden mit dem 2-Step-Pop von “Fallin” alle Erwartungen sofort über den Haufen geworfen. Mit sanfter Klarheit von Gastsängerin Audrey Janssens gesungen, ist “Fallin” ein Traum von einem Song, der an die großen Zeiten von UK-Garage in den frühen 00er Jahre erinnert. "Interstellar Cowboy" ist ein selbstbewusstes, geschmeidig über den Laufsteg stolzierender Disco-Track; das sanfte Moll-Klavier von "Liquid Fantasy" entwickelt sich zu einem wunderbar melancholischen Techno-Pop-Epos, mit Vicky Who?’s Stimme voller Sehnsucht . Danach taucht auch Janssens Gesang auf dem Elektro-Wirbel von "Poison" wieder auf; "Dream Vision" greift die Single "The Mirage" auf, sanft und mit schwungvollen Streichern, voller Dramatik; "Part Of Life" dagegen ist ein echter Schaffel-Stomp.

All der Abwechslungsreichtum lässt eher tanzflächenorientierte Tracks wie "Ciao" noch deutlicher hervortreten - sie wirken noch entschlossener, stromlinienförmiger und dennoch reich an Details, pluckernde, Moroder-eske Bässe treffen auf stroboskopisch blitzende Synths, von denen aus die Melodien ins Firmament schießen. “Universo” fühlt sich textlich dicht an, aber es atmet trotzdem, seine Klänge sind so greifbar, dass man sie anfassen möchte, seine Melodien so verführerisch, dass man sie nicht mehr aus dem Kopf bekommt. “Universo” ist ein wunderschönes, mutiges Album, ein perfekter Treffpunkt von Pop-Melodien und stilvollem Techno: Agents Of Time in excelsis.

Upstairs, a band from Frankfurt, Germany was active from 1977 to 1983. Though considering themselves mainly a rock group, the band incorporated elements of funk, jazz rock and disco into their music. On their rare and privately released debut album "It's Hard To Get In The Showbiz" from 1980 they created something that could be called Germany's definite answer to AOR, yet still with an edgy and unique krautrock flavor.

The album starts with "Wontcha Try," a track where core songwriter, guitarist and lead singer Helmer Sauer is telling the story about being dismissed from his job: "They tried to tell me in a fucking gentle way, that the time had come to kick me…". Sauer serves more personal, hard-edged lyrics on the album as well. On "Happy Hooker," for example, he tells the story of a working girl in the red light milieu: "The job is as hard that you really can never imagine, she serves for the money, degradin' herself in a way - if you'd know how she's feelin' you wouldn't laugh at all". An empathetic view on the subject of prostitution rarely heard at that time.

But aside from the profound lyrics and songwriting, the album has a lot to offer on the groovy side of things. With catchy bass lines, rhythm guitar, Fender Rhodes, Moog synthesizer, Clavinet and swift crisp drumming "It's Hard To Get In The Showbiz" is one of the best examples of late 70s flavored funky rock from Germany. Additional to the aforementioned "Wontcha Try" another DJ delight should be "Make Your Steps On Better Lines" which showcases a superb synth line and disco funk flavors. We also get the slick mellow latinesque AOR grooves of "Get On A Plane" as well as the now-classic "You're Just Yourself", which marks the most soulful track of the LP. As followers of our label are already well aware, "You're Just Yourself" was featured on the compilation, "Boogie On The Mainline - A Collection Of Rare Disco, Funk And Boogie From Germany 1980-1987" from 2018.

The band mainly performed locally and never really had ambitions to release their music on a bigger label. Too bad that Upstairs only released this one album. Of course, the highly sought-after original pressing is almost impossible to find nowadays. Therefore, we are proud to finally make this record available again after 40 years for a reasonable, regular LP price. Only 300 copies of the carefully re-mastered repress have been produced, and included is a printed lyrics insert identical to the original.

2022 Repress
The Sound of Studio One can be identified by the great singers that it cultivated along the many great songs that these singers released. But as studio 1's dominance was slowly pulled away by the up and coming new breed of producers many of the artists would inevitably end up working for these new camps and so the songs and singers found a new audience. The reggae sound of the Studio 1 would make a great combination and the man to pull this was together Bunny Lee.
The 1960's in Jamaica was run by two main factions, Coxsonne's Studio 1 and Duke Reid's Treasure Isle. These two leading protagonists saw what some of the other great Sound System men like ' Tom The Great Sebastian' had not taken onboard, that when the tunes they imported began to dry up from the USA, their future lied in producing music. Tunes that suited the musical styles that the people of Jamaica still enjoyed. By the late 1960's thse supremacy was being challenged by the up and coming new producers on the scene, Lee Perry being one, and the other being 'Ghost of the Studios' himself, Bunny Lee. Bunny 'Striker' Lee may have inherited the moniker 'Striker' from his liking of a particular TV show called 'The Hitch-Hiker', but it would soon stand also for the considerable hits he would obtain as he was declared producer of the year in Jamaica in 1969, 1970,1971 and 1972.
For this release, we have compiled many of the great Studio hits that Bunny Lee recorded with the singers that had originally cut at the famed Studio 1. Bunny Lee's sprinkling of magic over some classic tunes....the sound of Studio 1 backed up this time Bunny 'Striker' Lee's set of star musicians The Aggravators. Proving you can't keep a good tune down, or a great producer pushing forward.....Bunny Lee strikes back....
Hope you enjoy the set.....

Freedy Johnston is one of those rare singer-songwriters who counts
critics among his biggest fans — and whose heroes consider him a peer.
Not bad for a self-proclaimed "geek in glasses who never left his room."
Johnston's 9th album, 'Back on the Road to You' is a record steeped in
wit, humor, pathos, love, and friendship drenched with memorable,
infectious melodies
Johnston recorded the album in Los Angeles with producer Eric Corne after
setting up house in nearby Joshua Tree. The new surroundings seem to have
imbued the album's mood and instrumentation with echoes of The Byrds,
Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young. Joining Johnston in the studio
were Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, and longtime collaborator,
Susan Cowsill, along with an all-star roots music band, including Doug Pettibone
(Lucinda Williams), Dusty Wakeman (Jim Lauderdale), Dave Raven (Shelby Lynn)
and Sasha Smith (Priscilla Ahn).In 1994 Rolling Stone named Johnston the
'Songwriter of the Year', describing him as "A master storyteller, (who) sketches
out full- blown tragedies in a few taut poetic lines." Adding, "He joins that elite
cadre of songwriters—Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Costello—whose brilliant pop
compositions turn magical with the addition of a defiantly idiosyncratic singing
voice."
'Back on the Road to You' is a return to grace for this gifted songwriter. It
embodies the sound of an American original reminding us that he is still
considered one of the best songwriters of his generation.

Freedy Johnston is one of those rare singer-songwriters who counts
critics among his biggest fans — and whose heroes consider him a peer.
Not bad for a self-proclaimed "geek in glasses who never left his room."
Johnston's 9th album, 'Back on the Road to You' is a record steeped in
wit, humor, pathos, love, and friendship drenched with memorable,
infectious melodies
Johnston recorded the album in Los Angeles with producer Eric Corne after
setting up house in nearby Joshua Tree. The new surroundings seem to have
imbued the album's mood and instrumentation with echoes of The Byrds,
Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young. Joining Johnston in the studio
were Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, and longtime collaborator,
Susan Cowsill, along with an all-star roots music band, including Doug Pettibone
(Lucinda Williams), Dusty Wakeman (Jim Lauderdale), Dave Raven (Shelby Lynn)
and Sasha Smith (Priscilla Ahn).In 1994 Rolling Stone named Johnston the
'Songwriter of the Year', describing him as "A master storyteller, (who) sketches
out full- blown tragedies in a few taut poetic lines." Adding, "He joins that elite
cadre of songwriters—Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Costello—whose brilliant pop
compositions turn magical with the addition of a defiantly idiosyncratic singing
voice."
'Back on the Road to You' is a return to grace for this gifted songwriter. It
embodies the sound of an American original reminding us that he is still
considered one of the best songwriters of his generation.

Greg Puciato, the enigmatic singer known for his diverse list of projects, from the incendiary The Dillinger Escape Plan to the brutalist electro-pop outfit The Black Queen and the unabashedly thrashy Killer Be Killed, releases his debut solo album, Child Soldier: Creator of God this Autumn via Federal Prisoner. The Los Angeles-based singer premiered the single “Fire For Water” on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter and followed with the debut of a video for the three-minute track via Revolver. The video was edited and directed by Puciato and fine artist Jesse Draxler, Puciato’s Federal Prisoner co-founder. Puciato played all of the instruments on the song with the exception of drums, which were done by Chris Pennie (the last original material the pair worked on together was The Dillinger Escape Plan’s 2004 Miss Machine), who also contributed additional programming. “I started writing in May or so of 2019, for what I thought would be the next Black Queen album, except that’s not at all what came out. So, just like with everything else that’s been born from necessity, it felt like the right time to create a home for anything that I do that didn’t fit neatly under any other existing roof. The misfits needed a place to go,” explains Puciato about releasing his first solo album.

Juno-winning saxophonist Chet Doxas is a guiding voice in the world of
creative improvised music
Doxas, co- leader of Riverside with trumpeter Dave Douglas and a respected
collaborator of Carla Bley and Paul Bley, joins Whirlwind for 'You Can't Take It With
You', his ninth album as a leader and first at the head of a trio. He's joined by two
stand-out collaborators - Ethan Iverson (piano) and Thomas Morgan (bass) - for a
meticulously constructed album with playful positivity at its heart.Both the
inspiration and the encouragement to put this album together can be traced back
to Carla Bley. Jimmy Giuffre's trio was a big influence on Doxas - "the way he
shapes and articulates is one of a kind - and the group regularly featured Bley's
music. An early-morning airport transfer saw Doxas discussing future plans with
Bley and Steve Swallow, who advised Doxas to write "one song a month",
distraction-free for a year.
The ten tracks on the album represent a year spent writing and closely editing his
compositions. That process gradually revealed his trio, selected for their personal
sensibilities as much as their outstanding technical capabilities. "Ethan and
Thomas's tones are very inspiring. I wanted to let myself be guided by their sound
palettes, and focus on phrasing in a way that's a little more multidimensional.."

Re-Issue "Fuck Content" is an audio-video release composed of a performance of ten live songs off of the "Child Soldier: Creator of God" album, as well as five new studio tracks. The video release contains the footage of the live performance, footage from the recording of the new songs, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from both the studio and the live performance.

“I’ve been coming a thousand years / you could call me the endless fuck,” goes the memorable opening line of Rubblebucket’s Earth Worship, a dance-forward, joyously layered collection of songs which work to dissolve the imaginary lines between the natural world and its inhabitants. Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth, the group’s front persons and co-writers, first began a friendship as jazz students at the University of Vermont. Soon after, they formed a prolific band that has delved into pop, funk, dance and psychedelia over five records, with performances spanning Bonnaroo to their self-curated Dream Picnic Festival, and collaborations with kindred genre-blenders including Arcade Fire and Questlove. But Traver and Toth initially bonded over another shared passion: the two were part of UVM’s Sustainable Community Development program. Though Toth communes with nature as part of his morning routine, and Traver is adept at foraging in the band’s adopted home of New York, songwriting explicitly about environmentalism in Rubblebucket has felt immaterial—besides, the band has shared its beliefs over the years by inviting anti-fracking, reproductive justice, and other organizations to table at their shows. But Traver was interested in writing love songs for and from the natural world, and both were inspired by their parents’ work in ecology and community facilitation, from which they saw a throughline to music’s communal healing. Traver suggested “earth worship” as a lyrical prompt for their sixth record, and with this concept at its core, the duo began writing Earth Worship: a Rubblebucket album with renewed shimmer, showcasing the group’s intricately sparkling beats, hushed yet hooky vocals and infectious melodic complexity.

“I’ve been coming a thousand years / you could call me the endless fuck,” goes the memorable opening line of Rubblebucket’s Earth Worship, a dance-forward, joyously layered collection of songs which work to dissolve the imaginary lines between the natural world and its inhabitants. Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth, the group’s front persons and co-writers, first began a friendship as jazz students at the University of Vermont. Soon after, they formed a prolific band that has delved into pop, funk, dance and psychedelia over five records, with performances spanning Bonnaroo to their self-curated Dream Picnic Festival, and collaborations with kindred genre-blenders including Arcade Fire and Questlove. But Traver and Toth initially bonded over another shared passion: the two were part of UVM’s Sustainable Community Development program. Though Toth communes with nature as part of his morning routine, and Traver is adept at foraging in the band’s adopted home of New York, songwriting explicitly about environmentalism in Rubblebucket has felt immaterial—besides, the band has shared its beliefs over the years by inviting anti-fracking, reproductive justice, and other organizations to table at their shows. But Traver was interested in writing love songs for and from the natural world, and both were inspired by their parents’ work in ecology and community facilitation, from which they saw a throughline to music’s communal healing. Traver suggested “earth worship” as a lyrical prompt for their sixth record, and with this concept at its core, the duo began writing Earth Worship: a Rubblebucket album with renewed shimmer, showcasing the group’s intricately sparkling beats, hushed yet hooky vocals and infectious melodic complexity.

“I’ve been coming a thousand years / you could call me the endless fuck,” goes the memorable opening line of Rubblebucket’s Earth Worship, a dance-forward, joyously layered collection of songs which work to dissolve the imaginary lines between the natural world and its inhabitants. Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth, the group’s front persons and co-writers, first began a friendship as jazz students at the University of Vermont. Soon after, they formed a prolific band that has delved into pop, funk, dance and psychedelia over five records, with performances spanning Bonnaroo to their self-curated Dream Picnic Festival, and collaborations with kindred genre-blenders including Arcade Fire and Questlove. But Traver and Toth initially bonded over another shared passion: the two were part of UVM’s Sustainable Community Development program. Though Toth communes with nature as part of his morning routine, and Traver is adept at foraging in the band’s adopted home of New York, songwriting explicitly about environmentalism in Rubblebucket has felt immaterial—besides, the band has shared its beliefs over the years by inviting anti-fracking, reproductive justice, and other organizations to table at their shows. But Traver was interested in writing love songs for and from the natural world, and both were inspired by their parents’ work in ecology and community facilitation, from which they saw a throughline to music’s communal healing. Traver suggested “earth worship” as a lyrical prompt for their sixth record, and with this concept at its core, the duo began writing Earth Worship: a Rubblebucket album with renewed shimmer, showcasing the group’s intricately sparkling beats, hushed yet hooky vocals and infectious melodic complexity.