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In a testament to Ireland’s vibrant musical history, Allchival presents an anthology celebrating the disco era’s hidden gems from Stuart Bingham's Sunshine. Culled from the annals of their studio recordings, this collection shines a light on the country’s lesser-known contributions to the global disco phenomenon.

Kicking off the compilation with Sunshine's electrifying "Boogie on Up," a testament to the band's prowess in embracing disco rhythms despite their pop cover origins. Produced by the acclaimed Paul Curtis, the track embodies the infectious spirit of disco, marking a pivotal moment for Irish disco hits. Accompanying it is "Don't Stop Me," radiating with Euro-disco vibes, further exemplifying Sunshine's versatility. Bingham recounts the bittersweet journey of "If This Is Free." Initially slated for success under Curtis's wing, the disco era's abrupt demise altered its trajectory, leading to an independent recording that retains a raw, garagey edge reminiscent of the era's ethos.

"Give It To Me" is another standout, blending Nile Rodgers-inspired arrangements with a Euro-disco flair. Stuart Bingham's production prowess and Rosey's captivating vocals converge to create an irresistible groove that transcends disco conventions.

Venturing into more experimental territory, "The Boogie Bug" showcases some Irish ingenuity in rap-infused grooves. Despite its ahead-of-its-time sound, the track faced resistance in a disco-weary landscape and rounding out the compilation is "Oh Gee, I Got U B.B.," a playful nod to dub-mix traditions.

This Sunshine anthology is a journey through Ireland's disco era, unearthing forgotten gems and shedding light on the country's rich musical tapestry. From Sunshine's infectious rhythms to Stuart Bingham's resilient spirit, each track encapsulates the era's vibrancy and innovation.

2LP, Standard 140gr Vinyl, schwarz, limited edition, HQ 380gsm invercote cardboard sleeves & antistatic polylined innersleeves

Nonkeen, the avant-garde musical collective comprising Nils Frahm, Frederic Gmeiner, and Sebastian Singwald, is gearing up for their long-awaited return with the upcoming album "All good?". Renowned for their boundary-pushing soundscapes, Nonkeen captured global attention with their critically acclaimed 2016 albums, "The Gamble" and "Oddments of the Gamble". The releases showcased their ability to seamlessly blend electronic, ambient, and experimental elements into a mesmerizing auditory experience. The trio has been celebrated for their intricate compositions, intense live shows and a sonic palette that defies conventional genres. "All good?" promises to build on their established legacy, offering listeners another immersive journey into the uncharted realms of musical expression.

Doc Sleep returns to Dark Entries with Cloud Sight Fade, an album of ethereal house and techno. Doc Sleep is the alias of DJ and producer Melissa Maristuen. Following 2023’s Birds, her ambient and IDM-leaning debut album, Cloud Sight Fade shows Doc drawing on her years of queer clubbing to bring us seven diverse tracks sitting between muscular New York house, Berlin twilight techno, and funky West-coast breakbeats. Production began in the Bay Area and was completed in Berlin; Maristuen says that this work became a love letter to the West Coast’s magnificent natural landscape, the light of the Pacific sunrise. While draped in dreamlike textures and melodies, this is also a record about embodiment and the memories that live within our corporeal forms. The powerful grooves on the breakbeat-inflected “Lemon Zest” and the propulsive “Cloud Sight Fade” remind us that dance music is for bodies dancing. Meanwhile, tracks like the sparkling album-closer “Enchanted Static” or the brooding groover “Water Sign” plunge us deeper into hypnotic depths. On Cloud Sight Fade, Doc Sleep guides us through slumber and wakefulness, in and out of our bodies, with the mastery of a seasoned DJ and clubgoer.

Yaya Beys neues Album ‘Ten Fold' knüpft an den kraftvollen Doppelschlag ihres 2022er-Albums, „Remember Your North Star“, und der Folge-EP, „Exodus The North Star“, aus dem Jahr 2023 an und ist ein frei gesprochenes und fließendes Selbstporträt, das von unmittelbaren Reflexionen über die Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft geprägt ist. „Ten Fold“ ist vollgepackt mit den Nuancen von Yaya Beys Identität und den verschiedenen Facetten ihrer kreativen Bemühungen. Es richtet den Fokus nach innen und meditiert über ihr inneres Wesen, während es gleichzeitig Raum für den Humor und den bissigen sozialen Kommentar schafft, der ein bestimmendes Merkmal ihrer Arbeit ist.
Die als Hadaiyah Bey geborene Yaya Bey begann bereits im Alter von neun Jahren mit dem Schreiben von Songs und trat mit ihrem 2020 erschienenen Album, „Madison Tapes“, als neue Stimme in der Avantgarde der R&B-Storyteller:innen in Erscheinung. Ihre 2022 erschienene LP, „Remember Your North Star“ und die darauf folgende EP, „Exodus The North Star“, wurden vom Spiegel, Stern, Zeit Online, Rolling Stone Deutschland, Jazzthetik, Missy Magazine, Plattentests u.v.m. und im Radio von u.a. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, BR 2, Cosmo, ByteFM, RBB Radioeins und FluxFM sehr positiv aufgenommen, sowie international u.a. von der New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, NPR, GQ, Crack Magazine, The Times, Clash ebenfalls hochgelobt.
Kürzlich spielte sie an der Seite von Immanuel Wilkins die Hauptrolle in einer Werbekampagne für die aktuelle Zusammenarbeit von Converse mit der New Yorker Marke AwakeNY. Bevor die in Brooklyn geborene Künstlerin offiziell das Jahr 2023 abschloss, spielte sie eine ausverkaufte Show im New Yorker SOBs für Spotify Stages und krönte damit eine Reihe von Live-Auftritten auf Festivalbühnen rund um den Globus in diesem Jahr, darunter Glastonbury, Pitchfork Festival in Chicago, Roskilde Festival in Dänemark und viele mehr.

Info: The soulful power of Asabi Goodman's vocals is finally on vinyl! Blunted Stylus ft. Asabi Goodman s' "Rhythm's Got Soul" has "groove and style" reminiscent of the back-to-back, wall-to-wall packed dancefloors of the fever-pitched disco era, steady spinning in at 115 BPM. The highly anticipated collaboration between the renowned singer/ songwriter Asabi Goodman, and producer/arranger Geoff Boardman A.K.A. Blunted Stylus brings authority and intrigue to the dance floor, with soul.... "Free your mind and the mirror ball will follow".



Side A "Rhythm's Got Soul bursts through the stratosphere 'all frequencies blazing!"

Treating the listener to pitched horns, filtered drums, those sultry Asabi vocals, reinforced by the everlasting bass from Andrew 'Bigfoot' Leslie.

Momentum steps up with the rhythm guitar of Dave VHS, accompanied with vamp keys and hectic percussion.

The SOULICITORS are the band on this release 'sitting in the groove', syncopated and loose after the MPC4000 sample treatment, a sort of new paradigm of band-samples soul-fusion exploration!



Side B "Rhythm's Hot" (Afro Instrumental) is a monster cut on the flip, a relentlessly persuasive percussion groove, well timed transitions spread smooth like butter, akin to Midnight Marauders chords, styled across 'A Taste Of Honey' bassline for example, on an Afrocentric trip building up to the disco-fever instrumental strut.



Asabi Goodman is an American born (Oklahoma), entertainer now calling Australia home, consistently performing in stage and screen productions, and touring with bands and Broadway musicals (Hairspray! The Musical, CHICAGO). Asabi's vocal ability effortlessly elevates from 'sweet and soulful' to 'commanding and powerful', all the while showing unmistakably that her passion for the audience, and respect for the song is at the heart of every performance.

Geoff Blunted is an Australian producer, avid record collector, and co-founder of the ground breaking sample-funk group the 'RESIN DOGS' (1996-2005) extensively touring and producing. From the early days in the 80's of cutting his teeth in mixtapes, and volunteering at community radio at 4ZZZ in 1988 (arguably the golden era of hip hop) hosting Australia's first dedicated Hip Hop show "Just2Def" that aired for 1 year. Four Jazz-funk sample albums under his belt, 'Rhythm's Got Soul' arrives cued-up ready! The track highlights Geoff's ability to blend his time proven sample ethic into a resonating dynamic disco experience.

Wormrot's 2011 follow-up to 'Abuse' is about as far from "the difficult second album" as you can get, presenting an even more refined, stream-lined and dynamic take on their ferocious grindcore sound. Whipping past in less than eighteen and a half minutes, there's not a second wasted here whatsoever, and the trio's musicianship has been honed to perfection. The blastbeats are even faster, the riffs even heavier and vocalist Arif deploys an even wider array of shrieks, grunts, growls and barks this time. Whilst the addition of new drummer Vijesh in 2015 would take the band to even greater heights, this is arguably the original lineup's defining statement.

Club music culture necessarily shifted gears in many ways during and after the course of the pandemic. Older participants found their way into other interests and younger participants took new reigns to orient spaces they felt good inside of. The agenda for the music, and the cultural industry surrounding it at large, took a more frivolous and “fun” turn. Clubs needed to recoup lost money, people needed more refreshing catharsis for their nightlife escape, and in some pockets scattered around the globe a newer and younger cadre of producers/promoters/DJ’s pulled optical cues from a scattering of “darker” influences to give an alternate aesthetic to the aforementioned “vibes” culture. In the midst of this, a large polarization of conceptual energy shifted within the compositional and utilitarian machinations of the club music culture leaving behind the brooding and cerebral placeholders for different kind of enjoyable hedonism. Terrestrial Paradise’ “Artificial Hell” harkens to another prescient time before that shift occurred. “Artificial Hell’ might just be an illustration of what all of this fun escapism encapsulates.

Terrestrial Paradise is the latest moniker from Montreal come Los Angeles based producer Jaclyn Kendal. Having developed and cemented her sonic positionality with releases on North American labels like Ascetic House and Summer isle over the years, as well as a series of monolithic live sets, Bank is pleased to announce Kendal’s Terrestrial Paradise first full length album “Artificial Hell”. Over the course of nine recordings, “Artificial Hell” gives a master class in pressurized industrial techno of the slower variety. Fitting with the legacy of Bank’s output since it’s inception, Terrestrial Paradise’s aesthetic sensibilities sit within the canon of a certain tinge of club music imbued with a sense of natural grit, sans pretense.

“Artificial Hell” nods to artists like Scorn, Regis, and 400 PPM while maintaining it’s own territory in the landscape of cerebral and brooding rhythmic techno. Ominous, mechanistic drones sit above succinctly exacted percussion composition and sound design. Throughout “Artificial Hell”, Kendal shows her proficiency with the push and pull of building and releasing tension. On tracks like “Salvation” and “Relativity” she melds her synth wash wallscapes with driving percussion, serving as both a hint and counterpoint to the the entirety of the latter part of the album taking on spartan ambient compositions as a way to keep the listener in a subdued stasis. This album is a statement piece from a long time participant in the North American underground music sectors. It reminds the listener through perilous, considered rhythms and darker drone impositions to cement themselves back into a place where not
everything is always a good time.

Jacken Elswyth is a London-based folk musician, banjo player, and instrument builder. At Fargrounds is her third solo album, her first for the Wrong Speed label and the latest in a rich catalogue that repositions the spectral, vulnerable sound of the banjo away from its familiar role as signifier of the past and onto lands brave, new and unexplored. “The living wood is imbued with qualities that require engagement and understanding. Working with cherry, oak or walnut involves naming it an equal partner. The parallel, synchronous transformations of wood into instrument, of growing tree into resonating sound, musical tradition into musical flourishing, lie at the heart of Jacken Elswyth’s practices both as an instrument builder and as a creative musician. One might consider her primarily as a worker in wood, but whose craft and fields of expression are absorbed by those transitional and interim processes that manifest change. The traditional tunes included here have been cultivated and maintained by generations of players and collectors, pruned, grafted, and shaped over time. However, in this setting, their long-established forms seem to morph and shift. They audibly accrue unique qualities, blossoming and swelling into new modes of being, bright-stepping arrangements unfolding with a liveliness hinting at practices of ritual and community. Meanwhile, other pieces, creative cornerstones of this collection, appear fluid, partially formed. They suggest not the cultivation of new growth from established stock, but instead the actions of something on the verge of taking form. Working with raw elements of melodic and tonal abstraction, they illuminate the process of emergence and evolution. In this context, the title At Fargrounds is telling. It suggests a point set at some distance from any centre of human concerns, a liminal space in which the cultivated world encounters the world of other living things in their living state. Here, the innate strangeness of the maintained environment–vast lawns, sculpted hedges, vacant playing fields–encounters sprawling vistas of driftwood, dense thickets of brambles, stony hillsides. Across a full century-and-a-quarter, long-standing rural and pastoral musical traditions, at some distance from their origins, have been preserved, nurtured and re-shaped under the folk revival. Placed here, these artefacts now sit in alignment with unvarnished documents featuring the raw elements of sound-making. Their working-together is achieved through a universally-applied interest in musical growth and development. The juxtaposition and combination of these elements gives evidence of new, emerging approaches to community and social music: familiar, known, yet charged with an alien vitality”–CWK Joynes. “...she knows how to knit atmospheres, and does so to especially powerful effect during Scene 4b’s three minutes of stunning bowed banjo, yearning with longing and dread, while showing off her talent, curiosity and range”–Jude Rogers review of Six Static Scenes (Guardian Folk Album Of The Month July 2022) "Jacken is an emotive player with high technical ability. Further, she builds banjos and other instruments, and that intimate knowledge of the bones and fibres holding everything together means that her playing has very few cracks" - Foxy Digitalis

British four-piece rock band Collateral are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album Should’ve Known Better on May 24, 2024. The album is distributed worldwide by Cargo. The album will be released on CD, red vinyl, picture disc, limited edition cassette, and digital. Friday February 9th saw the release of the lead single “Glass Sky.”. The new single “Glass Sky” and the forthcoming album Should’ve Known Better is produced by Dan Weller (Those Damn Crows, Enter Shikari, Monster Truck, Kris Barras, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow). "I love massive riffs, massive hooks and feel-good guitar music,” says Weller. “When Collateral sent me their demos, I jumped at chance to produce their new record. I’m proud of what we managed to create. It’s Collateral mk2 - ambitious, daring and refined. I can’t wait for people to hear it." Since the band released their debut album (Top 5 UK Rock Album Chart) at the start of 2020 Collateral have spent no time standing still. Covid came only weeks after the debut album was released and forced the band to cancel their highly successful tour with Phil X (Bon Jovi) halfway through. This made the band hungry to keep the momentum. With innovative ways to produce top quality live streams, the band became special guests supporting the likes of Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love. The exciting and flamboyant Kent-based rock and roll band are comprised of Angelo Tristan (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Malagodi (guitar), Jack Bentley-Smith (bass) and Ben Atkinson (drums). On October 21, 2022, Collateral independently released a re-mixed and re-mastered version of their debut album “Re-Wired” which featured Jeff Scott Soto, Phil X, Kee Marcello, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Vaughn, and Joel Hoekstra. The re-release saw the band in the Official UK Rock Charts at #12. After the gruelling back-to-back tours with Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, the band ignited a spark and strengthened their already loyal fanbase leading them to win the opening slot at 2023s Stonedead Festival, leading the band to perform their biggest show. Collateral’s hotly tipped sophomore album looks like it will take them to the next level. A lot of people don’t know what to expect from the new album, as the band have been tight-lipped about the new songs. Collateral have created a state-of-the-art rock album that will immerse listeners in their rock music universe, enabling fans to feel the blood, sweat and glory that went into the recording of every song. “We felt that our debut album was lacking the production,” reflects Collateral’s frontman, Angelo Tristan. “For the sophomore album, I wanted to make sure that this time we left no room for error and so got one of the hottest producers in the music industry, Dan Weller, to help lift these songs into a new dimension. With Dan’s pioneering studio expertise, this album has massive production quality that enables you to get lost in each character-filled track. Dan really brought out the emotions we were trying to portray and has achieved it with his own unique style.” “We wanted this album to express where we were in our own lives since the release of our first. So much has happened since then, I mean the world shut down for what felt like a lifetime! And it was obvious that people were going to need some sort of optimism. I hope ‘Glass Sky’ is one of those songs that gives people the belief to find themselves again.” “Whereas, the feel-good ‘Just One Of Those Days’ is trying to find the good side of a bad day. Me being me, couldn’t help but to write a big power ballad, ‘The Long Road’, that I wrote from a very hard and deep place, in hope that it could maybe bring some peace and comfort to people who need it. I think there’s all aspects of life running though this album and what it means to us will remain in our hearts forever. ”Should’ve Known Better” is an album that goes beyond specific music genres,” says Angelo. “It’s almost like a soundtrack to a beating heart. It’s an album that will remain timeless in years to come

British four-piece rock band Collateral are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album Should’ve Known Better on May 24, 2024. The album is distributed worldwide by Cargo. The album will be released on CD, red vinyl, picture disc, limited edition cassette, and digital. Friday February 9th saw the release of the lead single “Glass Sky.”. The new single “Glass Sky” and the forthcoming album Should’ve Known Better is produced by Dan Weller (Those Damn Crows, Enter Shikari, Monster Truck, Kris Barras, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow). "I love massive riffs, massive hooks and feel-good guitar music,” says Weller. “When Collateral sent me their demos, I jumped at chance to produce their new record. I’m proud of what we managed to create. It’s Collateral mk2 - ambitious, daring and refined. I can’t wait for people to hear it." Since the band released their debut album (Top 5 UK Rock Album Chart) at the start of 2020 Collateral have spent no time standing still. Covid came only weeks after the debut album was released and forced the band to cancel their highly successful tour with Phil X (Bon Jovi) halfway through. This made the band hungry to keep the momentum. With innovative ways to produce top quality live streams, the band became special guests supporting the likes of Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love. The exciting and flamboyant Kent-based rock and roll band are comprised of Angelo Tristan (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Malagodi (guitar), Jack Bentley-Smith (bass) and Ben Atkinson (drums). On October 21, 2022, Collateral independently released a re-mixed and re-mastered version of their debut album “Re-Wired” which featured Jeff Scott Soto, Phil X, Kee Marcello, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Vaughn, and Joel Hoekstra. The re-release saw the band in the Official UK Rock Charts at #12. After the gruelling back-to-back tours with Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, the band ignited a spark and strengthened their already loyal fanbase leading them to win the opening slot at 2023s Stonedead Festival, leading the band to perform their biggest show. Collateral’s hotly tipped sophomore album looks like it will take them to the next level. A lot of people don’t know what to expect from the new album, as the band have been tight-lipped about the new songs. Collateral have created a state-of-the-art rock album that will immerse listeners in their rock music universe, enabling fans to feel the blood, sweat and glory that went into the recording of every song. “We felt that our debut album was lacking the production,” reflects Collateral’s frontman, Angelo Tristan. “For the sophomore album, I wanted to make sure that this time we left no room for error and so got one of the hottest producers in the music industry, Dan Weller, to help lift these songs into a new dimension. With Dan’s pioneering studio expertise, this album has massive production quality that enables you to get lost in each character-filled track. Dan really brought out the emotions we were trying to portray and has achieved it with his own unique style.” “We wanted this album to express where we were in our own lives since the release of our first. So much has happened since then, I mean the world shut down for what felt like a lifetime! And it was obvious that people were going to need some sort of optimism. I hope ‘Glass Sky’ is one of those songs that gives people the belief to find themselves again.” “Whereas, the feel-good ‘Just One Of Those Days’ is trying to find the good side of a bad day. Me being me, couldn’t help but to write a big power ballad, ‘The Long Road’, that I wrote from a very hard and deep place, in hope that it could maybe bring some peace and comfort to people who need it. I think there’s all aspects of life running though this album and what it means to us will remain in our hearts forever. ”Should’ve Known Better” is an album that goes beyond specific music genres,” says Angelo. “It’s almost like a soundtrack to a beating heart. It’s an album that will remain timeless in years to come

After making waves with her critically acclaimed debut EP Sometimes I Forget You're Human Too, Bored at My Grandmas House, AKA Leeds-based Amber Strawbridge, is releasing her debut album “Show & Tell” on 7th June via CLUE Records/EMI North. The title track is out now with the reveal of the record - ‘Show & Tell’ is a breezy track which meets at the intersection between dream-pop, bedroom-pop and shoegaze, the sprightly guitar work echoing the droll lyrics and themes. It’s a hooky song which lays bare difficulties with trust, and building walls for self-protection. As Amber explains: “Show & Tell is quite a tongue-in-cheek song about me being the opposite of an open book and all the little specific things about me that I sometimes wish were different. Overall it’s about me being a guarded person and fearing the possibility of having to be vulnerable and realising that vulnerability is actually a beautiful thing and something I shouldn’t be so scared of.”

Earth Tongue, the brainchild of guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons, present their second full-length album Great Haunting. The duo, known for their heavy flavor of fuzz-soaked psychedelic rock, are also pleased to unveil their signing to In The Red Records. Earth Tongue’s partnership with In The Red stems from a run of shows supporting the legendary Ty Segall throughout New Zealand. Larkin explains: “Ty’s band Fuzz was a significant influence for our sound early on. Ezra and I saw them play live in London about nine years ago, long before Earth Tongue existed. We absorbed a lot of music at that time, and in fact many of the bands we saw released records via In The Red.” Great Haunting sees the duo draw inspiration from the eerie depths of ’70s and ’80s horror cinema, delivering a sonic concoction of dark and primitive songs with thick layers of fuzz and punchy, compressed drums. The album was engineered by Jonathan Pearce from The Beths at his studio on Karangahape road in Auckland. The ascent of Earth Tongue is testament to their dedication and hard work. They’ve toured relentlessly across Europe and scored support slots for acts like IDLES and Queens Of The Stone Age. They’re consistently selling out headline shows and have featured on festival lineups throughout Aotearoa and Australia. Having just spent last week shredding SXSW, they tour America and then, in May, hit Europe/UK, playing DESERT FEST in London on 18th May!! Amongst a huge EU tour.

Yes, once again, CATS in SPACE are firing on all cylinders and ready to launch their long-awaited, blistering, double, live album this June, together with a documentary style film about their successful 2023 tour. FIRE in the NIGHT - Live was recorded during the ‘Kickstart the Sun - Part II’ theatre tour in 2023 when our fabulous sound crew captured the full two-hour show. As always, this release will be available in CD, vinyl and digital formats and due to the sheer length of the performance will once again be delivering both quality and value on double CD and limited double vinyl LP in a choice of colour variants - Fire red vinyl and spotlight white vinyl. A lead single, and crowd favourite, ‘Johnny Rocket’ was released ahead of the album in March 2024 on all digital platforms. 'For The Love Of It', a film made by James Heron of Carriage Return productions, chronicles the stage production from conception to delivery of the CATS in SPACE Kickstart the Sun tour. It is a detailed insight into the highs and lows of modern-day touring for original rock bands and shows the unique way that the tour was put together. All in all a fantastic opportunity to see behind the curtain before the release of the album! Whilst on the subject of ‘Johnny Rocket’, he is also set to appear later this year, in a full-length feature cartoon book designed and published by Sentinel Publications. The team are putting together the full ‘Johnny Rocket’ story that first appeared on the 2019 Daytrip to Narnia album and is set to be a very special publication. “We are super hopped-up with the recording of the album, thanks to our amazing live engineer Pete Russell and the fans who made every night so special throughout the tour. It really has captured the power and excitement of the band’s show...It will be a fitting finale to our time with Harmony Factory label, as we head down a new flight path for a very exciting future for all of us in CATS in SPACE. More to be revealed soon! As ever we have a LOT going on this year so keep your eyes peeled for updates…we are all thrilled to bits!”

Yes, once again, CATS in SPACE are firing on all cylinders and ready to launch their long-awaited, blistering, double, live album this June, together with a documentary style film about their successful 2023 tour. FIRE in the NIGHT - Live was recorded during the ‘Kickstart the Sun - Part II’ theatre tour in 2023 when our fabulous sound crew captured the full two-hour show. As always, this release will be available in CD, vinyl and digital formats and due to the sheer length of the performance will once again be delivering both quality and value on double CD and limited double vinyl LP in a choice of colour variants - Fire red vinyl and spotlight white vinyl. A lead single, and crowd favourite, ‘Johnny Rocket’ was released ahead of the album in March 2024 on all digital platforms. 'For The Love Of It', a film made by James Heron of Carriage Return productions, chronicles the stage production from conception to delivery of the CATS in SPACE Kickstart the Sun tour. It is a detailed insight into the highs and lows of modern-day touring for original rock bands and shows the unique way that the tour was put together. All in all a fantastic opportunity to see behind the curtain before the release of the album! Whilst on the subject of ‘Johnny Rocket’, he is also set to appear later this year, in a full-length feature cartoon book designed and published by Sentinel Publications. The team are putting together the full ‘Johnny Rocket’ story that first appeared on the 2019 Daytrip to Narnia album and is set to be a very special publication. “We are super hopped-up with the recording of the album, thanks to our amazing live engineer Pete Russell and the fans who made every night so special throughout the tour. It really has captured the power and excitement of the band’s show...It will be a fitting finale to our time with Harmony Factory label, as we head down a new flight path for a very exciting future for all of us in CATS in SPACE. More to be revealed soon! As ever we have a LOT going on this year so keep your eyes peeled for updates…we are all thrilled to bits!”

Unveiling an unheard scene: Glossy Mistakes presents "Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993"
Glossy Mistakes is proud to announce the upcoming release of "Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993," a groundbreaking double LP compilation that offers a unique glimpse into the vibrant landscape of Portuguese experimental music. Set to launch on June 10th, this monumental release showcases the evolution and innovation of the Portuguese music scene during a transformative decade marked by political upheaval and artistic experimentation.
Compiled by Glossy Mario and featuring liner notes by Rui Miguel Abreu, "Atlantic Mavericks" captures the essence of a generation of artists who dared to challenge conventions and push the boundaries of what was possible in music.
The compilation stands as a testament to the eclecticism of the Portuguese music scene during this period, featuring a diverse range of genres and styles. From ambient and new age to electro, rock, and synth-pop, "Atlantic Mavericks" offers something for every listener, inviting them to explore the rich tapestry of sounds that defined the era.
The 1980s in Portugal were a time of profound transformation, marked by the aftermath of a peaceful revolution and a burgeoning desire for artistic expression. As the country emerged from political turbulence, a new generation of musicians began to explore uncharted territories, paving the way for a wave of experimentation and innovation.
From the emergence of artists like Rui Veloso and bands like UHF, who ushered in a new era of Portuguese rock, to the founding of independent record labels like Fundação Atlântica and Ama Romanta, the 1980s saw a surge in creativity and a desire for independence within the music industry.
"Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993" offers a comprehensive overview of this dynamic period, featuring tracks that span the spectrum of experimental music. Each song tells a story of artistic evolution and creative risk-taking, reflecting the diverse influences and eclectic tastes of the Portuguese music scene during this transformative decade.
Spanning from 1982 to 1993, the compilation includes contributions from a wide range of artists, including SPQR, Croix Sainte, Linha Geral, Balladium, Ban, Santa Maria, Gasolina Em Teu Ventre!, Fé de Sábio, and Telectu, among others. With each track carefully curated to showcase the breadth and depth of Portuguese experimental music, "Atlantic Mavericks" promises to be a must-have for music enthusiasts and adventurous listeners alike.
"Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993" will be available on June 10th as a double LP release, offering listeners a chance to immerse themselves in the sonic landscapes of 1980s Portugal. Whether experienced on vinyl or through digital channels, this monumental compilation is sure to leave a lasting impression on all who encounter it.

"Marv Won is a Detroit musical alchemist – a street poet laureate entrenched in the battle rap scene, as well as a cinematic world class producer as capable of channeling Dr. Dre as Donald Goines. Marv breaks new ground with his first Mello Music Group album “I’m Fine, Thanks For Asking” - a soul-baring endeavor, that weaves tales of struggle and triumph, drawing inspiration from his storied life in the Motor City.

As one of the most esteemed battle rappers, Marv Won brings a lyrical ferocity to his unapologetically raw and heartfelt rhymes. This album collaboration with Mello Music Group marks a pivotal moment in his career, showcasing a seamless fusion of his word play and production. The album, featuring collaborations with Quelle Chris, Elzhi, Freeway, Rapper Big Pooh of Little Brother and more, cements Marv Won's status in the rap game. Marv Won's storytelling transcends mere verses, painting vivid portraits of life in the D. Over ten self-produced tracks Marv showcases his ability behind the boards with tracks that blend epic orchestration and Joe Louis drums that hit like Tommy Hearns."

2010 release from the critically acclaimed Punk trio. Last year, Screaming Females toured relentlessly in support of their critically acclaimed third album Power Move. Their hard work landed them spots opening for Dinosaur Jr., Throwing Muses, and Jay Reatard, plus dates touring with Arctic Monkeys and the Dead Weather. The year brought them to a wider mainstream consciousness, gaining attention for their Punk Rock sensibilities and their raucous live shows driven by front woman Marissa Paternoster’s famed guitar heroics. On Castle Talk, the trio proves their abilities as more than just a pint-sized guitar shredder. Castle Talk showcases their growth together as a unit, as a band, with some of their most complex and confident songwriting to date.

Dinah Washington had one of the most distinctive and versatile voices in music. Washington could sell an R&B stomp just as well as she could interpret a torch song, and she could hold her own in the company of Jazz trumpet genius Clifford Brown and Bebop drum pioneer Max Roach. Her records, made for Mercury Records and the company’s Jazz offshoot EmArcy Records in the US appeared in the UK through Oriole and then EMI. Notably, the 1959 album release of What a Diff'rence A Day Makes featured the classics Cry Me A River, Manhattan, A Sunday Kind Of Love, Time After Time and What a Diff'rence A Day Makes. During the same year she visited the UK performing at the Bath Jazz Festival and recording an appearance for Granada Television’s The Variety Show. Washington’s discs regularly featured on BBC radio, but despite this, her only UK chart single came in November 1962 when September in the Rain reached number 35 from the album of the same title. Also taken from September Rain and featured on this LP is the popular Jazz standard composed by McHugh and Gaskill I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me...

One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.



There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.



Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album Bitches Brew.



But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.



Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I’m Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.”

Originally released in 1987, Life Time is the full-length debut by Rollins Band. This reissue—released on ROLLINS’ 2.13.61 label—has been remastered for vinyl by TJ LIPPLE and includes updated artwork by JASON FARRELL. Henry Rollins on Life Time: “Life Time is the first studio record by the Rollins Band. We did our first practice on 04-07-87 and went out on a long tour of America and Europe. On the road we wrote songs and put them into the set. By late October we finished the shows in London, UK. We went up to Leeds where Chris had a place to live and booked studio time at the same place that he and I did the Hot Animal Machine recordings a year before. I had no producer for this record and feared that since everyone in the band had strong opinions on how it all should be done that if we tried to do it ourselves we would do more harm than good. I called Ian MacKaye and asked for help. He got on a plane and came right out. That's Ian. We got straight to work as we had little time or money. All twelve songs were cut and mixed in a few days. We would do a take and Ian would tell us that it was good and we were moving on. When someone would say that they wanted to do it over again, he listened patiently and then asked again which song we wanted to do next. We got it all done and dragged it back to America for about 3,200 dollars. My, how things have changed. The album cover was drawn on the back of a diner place mat by Stephen Myers as a gift for my then roommate, Laura. Only the offset reproduction of the piece remains as the original went with her when she gave up her room. She shot herself a few years ago. Special thanks to Ian for coming to the rescue on such short notice. Thanks to you for checking this out.” Download code for full album plus live tracks. Also comes with lyric insert.

We're old and familiar friends. These compositions represent the thing that happens when we get together. They aren't representative of one individual, one moment in time, or one chain of decisions. Some are ancient refrains, beginning life as habits and warm-ups, in-jokes; others are distilled jams; more still are refined from MIDI sketches and ideas whistled into voice notes. On whatever terms these elements become something we're happy to stand in front of you and play, to put on record, so be it.” So ANTA describe the process behind 2024's Organesson. Characteristic of the Bristolian Sci-Prog quartet, the record weaves together mesmerising, muscular riffs in insanely loud compositions that extend well into excess. Less typical is the polarisation at play, where granular polymeters will yield in an instant to passages of one or two-note simplicity. The record strides from one raging refrain to the next, lurching between devastation, joy, chaos, and stirring the themes accumulated along the way in exposition. “It comes down to those precious sweaty hours” the group suggest, “in which we get to vibrate these sounds into your face and chest, and you can dance and laugh with us. This is the stuff we remember and plan for, the moments we talk about the most when writing these songs.” ANTA's live shows, ceaseless onslaughts of deafening riffs, have been notable for maintaining the same intense energy among festival crowds or to three people in a basement. Walls of amps going full-pelt. Pounding, ornate drums and metals, wherein drummer James King is relentless in discovering strange and mighty rhythms. Full-drawbar organs, electric pianos, piercing synths from keys-man Alex Bertram-Powell. Joe Garcia's growling bass that strides rather than walks. Ben Harris' all-encompassing, dizzying guitars. Hypnotic, communal, compelling, indefinite energy. Organesson is the latest effort to put this feeling on record.

Worst Case Scenario started out in 1994 with Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno from Unwound as another of the many bands they formed together. That summer was a little slow for Unwound’s hoped-for tour schedule so they decided to start another hardcore-influenced band while working day jobs. As they began practicing in the basement of the Olympia punk house “Lucky 7”, long time friend and roommate Chris Jordan jumped in as the vocalist. Sandeno soon recruited his college friend, Scott Larsen, that had recently moved from Minneapolis. They quickly wrote about an album’s worth of songs and recorded them with Tim Green at the Red House for a “demo tape” that Tobi Vail released on her tape label, Bumpidee. 1995 saw another Tim Green recording with 7-inch records on Lookout Records and Troubleman. This LP contains all of the forementioned material. In 1996 they recorded a full length record with “Seasick” Steve Wold in Olympia for Vermiform which resulted in the self-titled vinyl LP and The Complete Works of Worst Case Scenario CD collection a year later. WCS played a few random shows, mostly in Olympia, with friends’ touring bands from 1994-96 and set up a national tour for the summer of ’97. Shortly before the tour Jordan was injured in a random accident and then Larsen broke his wrist in a work accident, rendering the band unable to embark on the tour. To cap it off, the one sheet of paper that had all the venues’ contacts for the tour was destroyed in a laundry related incident and the band was unable to properly cancel the tour. Apropos to their name. They disbanded amicably later that year with members moving away from town and taking on more demanding tour and work schedules.

Folly Group become the first band on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour
(Elkka, Sofia Kourtesis, VTSS) with their new EP ‘Human and Kind’.

The four-piece of Sean Harper, Louis Milburn, Kai Akinde-Hummel and Tom Doherty formed in the tumultuous melting-pot of the London musical circuit. They released their debut EP ‘Awake and Hungry’ last year, receiving wide acclaim for their electronic infused post-punk sound and furiously brilliant live shows, landing coveted slots at Pitchfork Music Festival, in NME’s 100 Artists On The Rise and a co-sign from IDLES’ singer Joe Talbot.

Speaking about the EP, Folly Group said: “Where ‘Awake and Hungry’
doubled as a diary of the band’s formative months and encapsulation of our live show, ‘Human and Kind’ is a projection of our ambition, and our desire to push ourselves through what we might previously have
perceived as the ceiling of possibility for four players.”

For fans of Black Country, New Road, Squid, Yard Act, Black Midi, Dry Cleaning, Shame, Do Nothing.
140g crystal clear vinyl in 12” sleeve with spine and printed inner, plus
digital download code. Pressed sustainably within a 99% circular
environment at Deepgrooves.

“Every track is so good. They haven’t released anything that isn’t
amazing.” - Joe Talbot (IDLES, speaking on BBC 6 Music)
“thriving in well-crafted chaos.” - NME
“brilliant, experimental jungle rock” - i
“Give me that post-punk syncopation any day of the week” - Lauren
Laverne, who has made the band’s last three singles (including ‘I Raise You…’) her While You Were Sleeping Track Of The Day.
Headline UK Tour starting 31 March, taking in London, Bristol,
Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Margate, Newcastle,
Southampton, Milton Keynes and more.

Good Looks write kindhearted and cathartic rock songs about the persistence required to make it through hard times. In April 2022, the Austin, Texas quartet released their critically acclaimed debut `Bummer Year'. Immediately after their triumphant hometown record release show, lead guitarist Jake Ames was hit by a car crossing the street, fracturing his skull and tailbone. Thankfully, Ames made a full recovery. The traumatic accident strengthened the bond that built their electric new album `Lived Here For A While'. Out May 3 via Keeled Scales, it's fearlessly direct music that captures the fullthroated intensity of their galvanizing live show. Reinvigorated, Good Looks tracked `Lived Here for a While' at Texas' Dandy Sounds with producer/engineer Dan Duszynski (of Loma and Cross Record) the following summer. Though Ames had to relearn some of his parts, his palpably energetic performances elevated the entire record. On the LP, the band trades the Americana sound that colored in the lines of `Bummer Year' for clanging post-punk guitars and expansive indie rock. Lyrically, the songs on this album are healing meditations on family dysfunction, new relationships, and how a home can become unrecognizable. Lyricist Tyler Jordan's songs explore how relationships can crumble irrevocably but also how those partnerships can be centering, hopeful, and exciting. In another horrific accident in July 2023, their tour van was rearended by a speeding car, causing their van, instruments, merch, and records, to go up in flames. Thankfully, none of the band members suffered serious injuries. This resilience is essential to Good Looks and why the songs on `Lived Here For A While' resonate so profoundly.

San Francisco psych-pop legend announces new album, “La Fleur” out June 7th, 2024. Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA. “La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there? During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees. In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here. - GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

San Francisco psych-pop legend announces new album, “La Fleur” out June 7th, 2024. Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA. “La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there? During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees. In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here. - GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

A kaleidoscopic sonic riot, Nandakke? is the hotly anticipated debut album from Japanese-Belgian duo Aili. Featuring 10 tracks of surreal electro-pop, joyful electronica, house music and more, Nandakke? is a euphoric album that sees Aili Maruyama and Orson Wouters more than fulfil the promise of their acclaimed debut EP.

Recorded over the course of six months in Orson's studio, packed full of vintage synths, Nandakke? captures the spontaneous spirit and creativity of those sessions. Exchanging riffs and rhythms, bouncing sounds and samples off each other, Aili and Orson would let the music take them where it wanted. The result,an album full of wild ideas and bold, playful experimentation.

More than anything an exhilarating feeling of discovery courses through Nandakke?, leaving you never sure where it will go next. One minute a pulsing electro-pop number featuring Aili's dad discussing his takoyaki (battered octopus) recipe, the next an explosive high energy workout song like Up & Down.

Certainly Aili was surprised to find herself singing in her own unique version of Japanese again.

"I thought that I was done with that after our debut EP, but apparently not as I speak even more Japanese on the album!" said Maruyama. "Every time we were in the studio these words would just tumble out. It's a complicated language but I just love to play with it.

"In many ways I'm an outsider, I left Tokyo aged 7, so there's a lot I notice as someone who is not a native speaker and it doesn't always make sense, there's a lot of mistakes in it.But in a way that sums up the whole philosophy of the album and how Orson and I work together."

That notion of duality, a sense of belonging but feeling apart, of being between two worlds and inventing your own captures the spirit of Nandakke?, itself a Japanese word that roughly translates to "Well, what was it?".

"It's something you say when you're looking for a word, like you know it but have forgotten how to say it. That's literally how I communicate with my dad the whole time," Maruyama explains. "The main feeling I have when I go to Japan is that I know the language, I can speak it, but part of me still feels like it doesn't have all the vocabulary. There's a gap there that nandakke has always filled for me. All the lyrics come from that place, that seven-year old trying to speak Japanese."

Whether Aili's singing about the language she invented with her father over the years to bridge the gap between them (Nandakke?), the idiosyncratic Japanese relationship to fashion (Fashion) or riffing on children's playground songs (Yubikiri) the result is a remarkable album that defies easy categorisation.

Bursting onto the Belgian scene in 2021 with their acclaimed debut EP, Dansu, its lead track spent 8 consecutive weeks at the #1 spot of Radio 1's VOX list and saw the band nominated for Studio Brussel's De Nieuwe Lichting ('New Generation') award. Since then Aili have appeared playing live on the Belgian TV show Roomies, been tipped by the likes of Rolling Stone, become regulars on tastemaker stations like KEXP and KCRW in the US and Nova in France, toured across Europe and, just recently, played their first sell out shows in Japan.

This is the second album recorded about a year after "Scenery". The delicate yet emotionally rich playing is still there, but this time it has more power, and the world that Fukui has depicted comes to life with clearer contours and a greater sense of depth. The sweet and sad melody of "Mellow Dream" and the dynamic and fast-paced "Horizon" are among the dazzling performances. In addition, the album features three original songs, compared to only one on the previous album, which allows the listener to enjoy Fukui's musicality even more. Considering its maturity and rich content, it is safe to say that this is a masterpiece that surpasses the first album. Regrettably, Ryo Fukui passed away in 2016. His delicate touch, rich tone, and beautiful compositions. We are deeply grateful to him for the "pleasant dream" he showed us.

‘Empires into Sand’ is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early 80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep.
‘Empires into Sand’ came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record ‘Return of the Ranters’ (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. Normil Hawaiians played a launch show for that ‘lost album’ and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO. They were even chosen by Richard Dawson to perform with him in London.
Throughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for live performance. However for a group always so interested in evolving their sound, it came as no surprise that they shirked at the idea of a faithful retread. The band pushed their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at core, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny. A cinematic approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice and the group’s ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians’ current sound world.
When Normil Hawaiians write and record music they prefer to gather in a remote location and live together for a while, such is their communal ethos. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii (numbering seven key members) decided to encamp to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling. Noel Blanden from the band explains the process neatly: “we set up and began playing, slowly and patiently, allowing the music to take its own shape based on where we were staying and our ongoing friendship. We recorded for days, capturing everything. A lot of new and rich ideas began to emerge”.
Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. The last few years has seen the band reconvene in Herne Bay, Faversham, London and Leith to record new parts, constantly responding to the changing form of these quietly spectral songs of defiance.
‘Empires into Sand’ incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. ‘Exiles’ opens the album amid swirling atmospheres, synth flights and recordings of Vilnis Egle (father of Zinta Egle from the band) retelling his experience of fleeing his home in Latvia during Soviet occupation in 1942. George Bikandy also features on this track talking about his flight from Syria in 2014. ‘Ghosts of Ballochroy’ is a winding river of a song featuring a lively discourse in Scots courtesy of Rodney Relax. There’s a commitment to truth telling present across this hopeful album populated with angels, incoming tides, long shadows and the rose-washed sun. “From our broken windscreen, we feel the breeze” soars Guy Smith triumphantly over the driving beat of ‘Waterfalls : Bedford 330’. ‘Big City Sky’ flutters and sparkles with rapid synth runs, tape-looped drums and Jimmy Miller’s commanding vocal. With ‘In The Stone’ Zinta’s melody is deliberately jagged and blunt, exaggerated by octave-layered vocals and interjections from Guy.
This is thought-provoking, boundary-bothering music. Honest in intent, a solidarity of vision. The album’s title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group’s wish for the album: “we wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges.” ‘Empires into Sand’ certainly does that, it’s an echo from the past, an echo from the future.

Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the signing of the eagerly anticipated debut album by London singer-songwriter and renowned DJ Iraina Mancini. Iraina’s singular pop vision will be known to regular listeners of 6 Music, where her singles ‘Undo The Blue’, ‘Deep End’, ‘Shotgun’ and ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ have all been enthusiastically embraced. Iraina's obsession with music stretches back into her early childhood, much of which was spent absorbing her parents’ collection of old 45s, in particular her dad’s Northern Soul records – an alternative education which meant that, by her early 20s, she was a familiar presence in the DJ booth at many discerning London club nights. Her love of French ye-ye, British freakbeat, Brazilian bossa nova, soul, and Turkish psych will be well-known to regular listeners of her Soho Radio show. Having always sung from a young age, Iraina embarked on a string of collaborators such as Jagz Kooner (Sabres Of Paradise), Sunglasses For Jaws (Miles Kane) and Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground) which truly saw her find her metier as a songwriter, conjuring melodies that stand shoulder to shoulder alongside her impeccable influences. Iraina describes her first single for Needle Mythology ‘Cannonball’ as “a celebration of that moment when you meet someone you really fall for and it knocks you for six. It can be a bit scary, but you’ve just got to go with what your intuition is telling you.” Written with Simon Dine, the vertiginous heart-in-mouth abandon of the song perfectly mirrors the circumstances that brought it into being. Iraina cites Jacqueline Taïeb’s 1967 single 7h du Matin as an early inspiration for the song: “There’s such a great energy about that song. Her vocal is amazing and all those stops and starts that grab your attention.” “This is an artist I absolutely love, one of our rising stars at 6Music.“ Lauren Laverne BBC 6Music “Iraina seizes on the best aspects of the past, blurring those impeccable 60s and 70s influences with a touch of modernity.” Clash “Full of femme fatale poise and swooning chanteuse flourishes.” The Times

Limited White VInyl Version
Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer.

Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer.

Are you ready to hear the best live band of the early ‘70s? We at Real Gone Music have been privileged and proud to release Fanny’s four classic Reprise albums, each a tuneful testament as to why they were the first all- female band signed to a major label. But there has always been a piece missing from the Fanny fable; for while the band hooked up with big-time producers and engineers like Richard Perry, Todd Rundgren, and Geoff Emerick, their studio albums never really were able to capture the sheer excitement they could generate in concert. However, buried away in a vault thousands of miles away from their Los Angeles base there long lay a recording that could make the Fanny myth a reality, one that could provide the emphatic answer as to why these four ladies were the hottest ticket on the Sunset Strip during the early ‘70s. Now, over 50 years later, its time—and their time—has come. Live on Beat-Club ’71-’72 presents the two sets Fanny recorded for the German TV show, mastered by Mike Milchner of Sonic Vision from hi-res mono files taken from the original videotape. Aside from the incendiary and incredibly tight performances, what immediately becomes apparent is that all four of these women were powerhouses in her own right. June Millington’s stringbending Les Paul wizardry, her sister Jean’s driving, melodic bass lines and Janis Joplin-esque vocals, Nickey Barclay’s intricate yet somehow rocking keyboard work, and Alice de Buhr’s precise, piston-like drumming punctuated by ferocious fills—put together Fanny was an overwhelming display of talent, Yet somehow, as these shows reveal, live they were greater than the sum of their parts. That’s why getting these recordings released has long been a crusade for Alice, and why June tells the story in the accompanying liner notes (which feature contributions from June, Jean, and Alice) that the engineer who was assigned to do the transfers of all the Beat-Club material told her that their material was the best in the vault, better even than Hendrix. We are releasing this invaluable archival recording on juicy peach vinyl and on CD with a bonus track of the soundcheck to boot. Essential for a full understanding of ‘70s rock!

Belgian progressive post-hardcore quintet Hippotraktor have announced their second full-length album, `Stasis'. The combination of impressionistic songwriting ambitions and powerful, narrative-charged lyrics proved to be a perfest match for the band so far. Operating at the intersection of Meshuggah's relentless, polyrhythmic pounding and Gojira's colossal atmospheric weight, Hippotraktor have expanded upon their already distinctive sound by introducing De Graef's vocals that bring with them an intriguing new dedication to musical storytelling. "Stasis tells a story of human nature," explains lead vocalist Stefan De Graef about the album's narrative. "As the protagonist enters a new world in which he is confronted with other humans for the first time, he acquaints himself with their customs and ethics, discovering generosity and empathy, but also greed, jealousy and hatred." Taken from the Greek for `stoppage', `Stasis' sees Hippotraktor doing anything but stagnating. Hippotraktor chart intricate melodies and sprawling riffs as a map showing how humanity has come of age in a chaotic world of its own making. Deftly unveiling tender truths whilst tenderly shrouding the violent majesty at its core, `Stasis' is a fitting soundtrack to life in a world that's hurtling towards a stand still.

With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Elétrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.

At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana’s sophomore Little Electric Chicken Heart was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME ‘Best Music Producer’ Award, recognising Ana’s deep passion for music production – a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo’s 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album Sim Sim Sim.

The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener “Electric Fish”, with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. “Boy of Stranger Things” is its bombastic counterpart. It’s the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright – lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.

“I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,” the non-binary artist states – before qualifying that though “feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.”

“There’s so many references to different decades,” Ana explains. “Seventies drums with eighties processing … Going back, getting beyond … Testing the limits of organic sounds”. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B (“Dela”) and art pop (“Dr. Sabe Tudo”). “Nuvem Vermelha” is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, “Coisa Maluca” loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, “Let's Go Before Again”, is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.

The Talented Italian Producer, Known for His Enigmatic Project Hill and Recognized for His Previous Ep Collaboration With the Detroit Legend Javonntte on Skylax Records, Is Making a Much-Anticipated Return Under His Real Name, Alessio Collina. an Ardent Aficionado of Authentic House Music, Collina, Hailing From Italy, Gifts Us a Remarkable Lesson in His Latest Offering, the "Pieces of Life Ep." Collina's Dedication to the Origins of House Music Is Evident Throughout This Ep, and It's a Refreshing Reminder of the Genre's Timeless Roots. Italy, a Country With a Deep Appreciation for House Music, Once Again Serves as the Source of Inspiration for This Artist. the "Pieces of Life Ep" Pays a Heartfelt Tribute to the High-Energy and Groove-Laden House Tunes of the 90s, Echoing the Sounds of Iconic Figures Like Dj Duke, Marshall Jefferson, and Labels Like Strictly Rhythm. With Each Track, Collina Effortlessly Transports Us Back to That Golden Era, Capturing the Very Essence and Spirit of That Unforgettable Time. the Ep Kicks Off With the Electrifying "All of That," an Absolute Masterstroke That Sets the Tone for What Follows. Its Pulsating Beats and Infectious Melodies Are Reminiscent of the Fervent Dance Floors of Yesteryears, Evoking a Sense of Nostalgia While Remaining Incredibly Fresh and Contemporary. the Ep's Three Other Titles, "Humble Groove," "Lost World," and "Mid Season," Continue to Captivate and Immerse Listeners in Collina's World of Evocative, Groove-Filled House Music. Each Track Showcases His Meticulous Attention to Detail and His Ability to Create an Authentic Atmosphere That's True to the Genre's Roots. Collina's "Pieces of Life Ep" Is More Than Just a Musical Collection; It's a Genuine Homage to the Spirited House Music of the 90s. His Dedication to Preserving the Essence of the Genre While Infusing It With His Unique Creativity Shines Through in Every Beat and melody.

This Ep Not Only Reinforces Italy's Profound Connection to the House Music Legacy but Also Solidifies Alessio Collina's Place Among Contemporary Artists Who Honor the Past While Paving the Way for the Future. as Skylax Records Prepares to Release This Exceptional 12-Inch, It's Clear That "Pieces of Life" Is a Treasure Trove for Any House Music Enthusiast, Inviting Them to Rediscover the Magic of the 90s With a Fresh Perspective....

After reigniting Fruit Merchant and firing out a string of club-ready releases, Hidden Spheres is back again. This time teaming up with Private Joy for new floor-filler ‘Hold on Me’.

It's a track about being totally under someone's spell despite the relationship starting to turn and show its true colours.

Yearning reflections and hard realisations all served over two different mixes. One blending refined deep house rhythms and textures. The other is fierce, acid laced and driving, aimed at those peak moments in the club.

Score by 20 Time Academy Award Nominee, 2 Time Academy Award Winner, Music Legend: Randy Newman. The album is pressed on classic black vinyl and includes printed inner sleeves. The vinyl release features different artwork from the CD and digital releases. Written & Directed by Academy Award Nominee Noah Baumbach. "At once funny, scalding, and stirring, built around two bravura performances of incredible sharpness and humanity, it's the work of a major film artist, one who shows that he can capture life in all its emotional detail and complexity — and, in the process, make a piercing statement about how our society now works.”

Forest Law's debut album, "Zero," is a vibrant journey blending Balearic funk with urban Tropicalia, showcasing his adept guitar playing, old-school sampling, and UK- styled beats alongside his mellow yet sombre vocals. Recorded across eclectic locations from Icelandic fish net factories to a garden shed in Romford, this innovative release marks a new chapter for the multi-instrumentalist producer.

Released in collaboration with the UK home for jazz and electronic sounds, Total Refreshment Centre, Zero is Forest Law’s first release since his debut EP on Brownswood Recordings four years ago, marking a new and exciting chapter for the up-and-coming talent.

Crafted over seven years, "Zero" is deeply influenced by Law's experiences, from immersive stays in Porto where he delved into Portuguese music to an artist residency in a remote Icelandic fishing village. The album was finished, and recorded in his garden shed in Romford, East London. It’s a beautiful juxtaposition about a boy from Essex, who fell in love with international music, discovered the world, and then produced a musical treatise about his adventures from his shed.

Still fresh from the release of KELDER EXTASE and their contribution to Sassy J’s excellent A SANCTUARY tape, Left Bank unexpectedly present their new album, SOUL DISCHARGED MAGNETIC TAPE. While the sonic trademarks of their earlier work are still present, SOUL DISCHARGED MAGNETIC TAPE showcases a raw and emotional side of the beatmaking duo:
“Musically, this tape is all about true soul music. The place where love and loss are just two sides to the same single. Distorted by low bit-rate samplers and bass heavy EQ’s, the forever classic lowrider oldies let all their dreams & deep feelings shine through (brightly…). Listen close: underneath all the hiss, pops & crackles, the analog tape also caught the brutally and painfully honest heart of the soul music (…by magnetic force!). Now we bring you the SOUL DISCHARGED MAGNETIC TAPE!”

"It seemed that if I didn’t somehow repeat the process of greatness, and do so immediately, multiple times away to satisfy playlist and binge watch culture, then I “wasn’t shit”. After a while I was like “nah this doesn’t feel good,… I don’t know if I am finding joy in this”. I would record songs and not release them, obsess over sessions recorded in my home with 30 takes of vocals and wake up only to delete them. When it began to feel right I found solace in an epiphany that I was not obligated to operate at any other wavelength. I am moving on a different type of time, and that doesn’t expire." -Cavalier

For heads of a certain time period of NYC hip-hop, Brooklyn born, New Orleans-based rapper and songwriter, Cavalier was the one that got away. The outrageously talented artist whose name and reputation preceded him everywhere you went in the scene. The rapper who everyone knew was so dope that he had to blow, but who never seemed concerned with any of that. The pretty boy draped in Polo who stole every live show with a feather in his hair and a mouth full of gold fronts. The cat so dedicated to his own independence that even indie labels stopped trying to sign him and projects came when they came, but when they came they were undeniable.


Cavalier was THAT guy for a lot of us; a silver-tongued philosopher with an eye for the poignant details of black life and a delivery as effortless as a young Ken Griffey’s swing. All that said, it never really felt like Cav had that moment in the spotlight that we always assumed was coming. After chiseling away through headier cult corners of the NYC hip-hop scene Cavalier was recognized for his memorable co-pilot to Quelle Chris’ 2013 Mello Music debut, Niggas Is Men. The critically acclaimed LP helped propel Quelle Chris into the forefront of indie hip-hop (and also happened to be the first production credits for Messiah Muzik). Cav followed up with his first full length, Chief, which sports a notable Raekwon feature but also early work from producers like Ohbliv and Tall Black Guy. A relocation to New Orleans and partnership with producer/vocalist Iman Omari yielded two more projects: 2015’s Lemonade EP and Private Stock in 2018. Great records all; eagerly sought by collectors and signal boosted by influential media like OkayPlayer, Solange’s Saint Heron, and Pitchfork. Cavalier’s bonafides have never been in question, but his new album Different Type Time feels like a revelation—a sonic suspension bridge between his rich history and the artform’s future.

Different Type Time doesn’t sound like the future though, its vibrations are somewhere all their own. It sounds like jazz, like a conversation overheard in roti shop, or a pool hall, or the foyer of your old building on a fall day, front door propped open with a brick. The blues is in there too, and the south—the American South, and theGlobal South, and South Brooklyn. It’s not that it sounds like the past, but you can hear everything that came before in the thick of the basslines and the yearning of the keys. Different Type Time also doesn’t sound like now, it sounds like RIGHT NOW; the bounce of the lyrics like the staccato of basketball in the park, carried on a spring breeze.

Although he doesn’t rap on DTT, Quelle Chris plays a pivotal role; producing eight songs and serving as associate producer/consigliere to Cav throughout the creative process. “There is no time wasted in explaining things when I collaborate with Quelle. He understands the universe I am in and the realities I want to create. He’s in them. And I don’t think I can envision one without him,” Cavalier explains. Messiah Muzik, Wino Willy, Ohbliv, Ahwlee, Child Actor, Fushou and several other producers round out the credits, all lending their talents to the album’s spaciously soulful sound. At the center of all these alchemies is Cavalier, nimbly dancing in and out of pockets like a sidewalk game of jumprope. Different Type Time is a masterclass in this thing we call hip-hop; daring and original, yet always standing deeply rooted in the culture.

"Espontaneamente se Tenta: Aventuras Sonoras de Djalma Corrêa is an album of deeply exploratory pieces by legendary percussionist and composer Djalma Corrêa. This double-LP set features previously unreleased recordings that cover a wide range of sonic experiments, revealing an unknown side of the prolific and groundbreaking Brazilian artist. Most of the tracks on this album were digitized for the first time – directly from the original tapes – and were compiled in collaboration with Corrêa just before he passed.

The result is a wild and unsettling collage that shows us just how original and intense Corrêa could be: from the unorthodox electroacoustic piece Evolução (Para Fita e Filme), which channels ancestral African inspirations to create a sonic cosmogonical narrative, to the proto-mixtape Exemplo de Sintetizadores, in which he transitions from transcendental drones to astral cha-cha-chas.

While the compilation might seem disjointed at first listen, it is in fact the most accurate translation or representation of his central concept: spontaneous music. Djalma's relationship with sound was always guided by his fearless approach to listening, and by his audacious and dynamic interaction with both musicians and equipment, which enabled him to work across a wide array of genres: from jazz to completely abstract music, always through a personal DIY ethic.

Corrêa developed a strong bond with experimentalist and inventor Walter Smetak, with whom he shared a studio during his formative years at Universidade Federal da Bahia. Suite Contagotas, featured in this collection, is no less than a sonic materialization of that bond: an experiment revolving around dripping water and its randomness – a tentative exploration of the ideas and possibilities envisioned by Smetak for his audacious, albeit unrealized, Estúdio OVO.

Djalma, however, is best known for his studio work in historical albums, including many by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben, and for his own polyrhythmic opus Baiafro. The last track is an early recording called Bossa 2000 dC, first performed by Djalma at the 1964 Nós, Por Exemplo concert, an event which is often cited as marking the beginning of the Tropicalia movement. At the time, he was the only artist in the lineup using electronic devices to create sounds, e.g. medical oscillators and contact mics to augment his percussive palette.

The artwork is an amalgamation of material found in the Djalma Corrêa Archive (currently managed by his son Caetano Corrêa) and other material created during the period in which the record was being put together. The intention is to guide the listeners through this possibly tempestuous soundscape, giving them additional resources so that they may draw their own meanings and make their own sense of this extremely immersive and original experience – which is like nothing we've ever heard before."

The Telescopes Radio Sessions collects together the essence of three live session recordings in 3 different countries over a three year period between 2016-2019. This is the third in a series of radio session releases from Tapete Records that have so far included The Monochrome Set and Comet Gain. More session releases are being lined up for the rest of the year and beyond - enjoy the sonics and stay tuned. Over the years I have read a lot on people’s impressions of The Telescopes. Some folk think it’s a collective, others imagine it used to be a band and feel nostalgia towards what they consider to be the original line-up (even though many had come before, during and since) and some people refer to it as currently a solo career. In a way this is all true and none of it is. When faced with these kind of questions, along with questions about the style of music that The Telescopes make I often say The Telescopes house has many rooms, which explains things perfectly for me but for people on the outside looking in it only serves to increase their confusion. For me, confusion isn’t such a bad thing. Everything is born into confusion, the sense we try and make of that chaos is interesting and excites me. The universe often disorientates, it sends me a jumble of thoughts and impressions coupled with a feeling of something I need to express… if I could only decipher the encryption. This is how The Telescopes music comes to be and it is also how The Telescopes came to me. I regard The Telescopes as an entity of it’s own that introduced itself in my darkest hour and I was chosen as its vessel. From the second it arrived I was obsessed to the point where there was nothing else. A bit like having an imaginary friend. As the obsession grew it began to infect others, everybody loved my imaginary friend and wanted a piece of it. As its success grew however, so did the corruption, until one day the entity fell silent. The silence lasted for years, I tried everything to reconnect but it was having none of it. I had been a bad caretaker, I had let the house become infested and I had lost my way. This epiphany served to remind me of simpler times when anything felt possible with this entity by my side. It had trusted me with something so simplistically profound and I had let it down. The realisation of this was a eureka moment. I am not The Telescopes, I never was and never will be, I am the caretaker, the lighthouse keeper and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. With this dawning, I felt a crack open up in the cosmic egg and a familiar confusion in my head. The entity had returned. It was time to start untangling its tangled threads once more, to make sense of what it was saying, this time without corruption. It’s all about listening. I listen to what my cosmic friend sends me and channel this expression into what you hear through your speakers. It may take one person to achieve this, it may take more. There is no set line up or instrumentation that can hold The Telescopes. Whatever it takes to hit the zone, whatever is available, absolute focus is imperative. Sometimes it takes sabotage to keep that line of vision intact, there is no room for preconceptions or complacency in making the music. The Telescopes music is the now

incarnate and a state of total being is necessary to achieve. From the outside looking in... again, it’s all about listening. What comes through your speakers is the only thing that matters. The music either reaches you or it doesn’t. Everything else may seem interesting or confusing but ultimately it is corruption. So if you’ve bought the record, read the sleeve notes and bought a ticket to see a live show, don’t be surprised if the line-up is or isn’t the same as the recording. The only thing that is for sure is that The Telescopes as an entity is speaking to you in its own voice in every scenario.
Of course the difference between albums and live shows is that you can play the record over and over again to the point where you know every line and every note that was played. Whereas with live events you are left with an impression that can only be replayed in your mind. It can be frustrating at times. When you are touring with a great line-up and feel like something exciting is happening, you want everyone to hear it, not just the people at the shows but the people that couldn’t make it on the night as well. There is no guarantee that there will be the same line-up at a live show as there is on the album. This is why live sessions are important, they document a side of things that is often fleeting. Here we have three sessions, all different people transmitting The Telescopes sound on each. Some are regulars, some dip in and out and some were just passing through. In each case The Telescopes chose them as their vessel and as the lighthouse keeper I did everything I could to help them on that journey while trying to be a good caretaker to the house of many rooms. The Telescopes have been invited in for many sessions over the years, the first two were for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. We also recorded a session for Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe before their
celebrity when they had a show on BBC Radio Manchester. We could have compiled this album from those sessions, it was certainly considered but Tapete and myself believe this selection gives an exciting glimpse into that fleeting side of The Telescopes in a constant state of flux that is left mostly to myth and imagination. For those who listen to the records but have never had the chance to take in the live experience, welcome to the other side. For those that follow us live, here’s a little reminder and a keepsake. Infinite suns. Stephen Lawrie February 2024.

Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts is an American rock band from Nashville founded and fronted by former Biters leader Tuk Smith, originally from Atlanta, now living in Nashville. The band released their debut single "What Kinda Love" on January 10, 2020 and were also added as an opening act for The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe on the same day. Then came the onset of Covid 19. “When the pandemic hit, it was like hitting the reset button on my music career” recalls Tuk, “everything got taken away…album campaign, stadium tour, record deal. The world was in lockdown, and the only way to escape was to throw myself into writing. My thoughts began exploring the past, and the inspiration for the songs just came in tidal waves.”
The new collection is a rock ‘n roll silver lining that came out of the solitude and reflection of the pandemic. Ballad Of A Misspent Youth is the new single (and subsequent album of the same name) released summer of 2022 on Tuk’s new record label MRG, through Virgin Music. Tuk explains, “I decided to make a rock and roll record for me and what I like because there was no label, there was no committee involved…just me and my stories. I wanted to create a setting and an authentic feeling about everything. I reunited with long-time friend Dan Dixon and recorded these songs in his garage studio, and there is a purity to the work that came from all the circumstances of that time.” Growing up as an outsider in rural Georgia, Tuk found solace in hardcore punk acts like Black Flag and The Exploited. From there, Smith branched out into exploring seventies New York bands like The Dead Boys and New York Dolls, which lead him across the sea where he embraced first-wave British acts like The Buzzcocks and the Clash. Smith wasn’t just a casual fan of these acts, he was obsessed with them and traced their lineage with fervent dedication. “I was always into the Clash growing up and Mick Jones’ favorite band was Mott The Hoople, so through the years I ended up developing a love of the first wave of British glam, power pop and things like that,” he explains. Soon Smith was forming his own acts, touring relentlessly and building a following with his high-energy live shows, including his tour of duty as lead singer for the Biters, who he fronted for nearly a decade. He offers “Then after being on the road for years, I had a reckoning about where I was at and the future ahead. …I realized the only way to achieve something meaningful was to be a good songwriter…that clicked. I went on a musical diet where I stripped the obscure stuff away, and I really started focusing on the greats. When I started clicking that it was just about the songs, things changed. I had already put my 10,000 hours in the van to play in the dive clubs, but then I put my 10,000 hours into figuring out how to write. I also started working with other songwriters. I humbled myself… it was an education, like going to school.” Tuk elaborates, “I wanted to kind of branch out musically and do different things, and I figured to go solo would be better. My manager actually suggested I call my new band “The Restless Hearts” and that's what he would call me all the time. It was the title of a Biters song that people loved and I’d seen a few restless hearts tattoos at our shows along the way… and so Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts was born. I was in a period where I changed everything including the way I lived my daily life. I experimented with different ways to tap into positive/creative energy…it was an evolving overall process (and still is).” Tuk summarizes, “Things used to be about debauchery, and now they’re more about dedication. I mean, I was always driven, but I was sometimes focusing on the wrong things. Now I focus on the music and the craftsmanship of writing and producing and performing. “

Luxury Apartments have spent long enough pondering in the orb of creative frustration as art charged city dwellers and have alchemised a jagged piece of guitar work that calls on the past for a quick catch up before cracking on with their day as a witty, energised and wiry punk band. Formed before your favourite East London neighbourhood became full of high rises, cockapoos and pubs with Madri & Beavertown on Draft, there’s a whole swath of words you could use to describe Luxury Apartments, but doing so might draw too many parallels to estate agent listings wo we’re gonna let their track record and new LP do the talking… LA played with the likes of TOY, TELEGRAM, Deep Tan, Es, The Chisel and Rifle before even having an LP. Mixing dry humour with a belting live show served them well while the guys were woodshedding and earnt them early fans such as Graham Coxon and Jamie Reynolds, who I can only gather shed a single tear of seeing where they came from with all the chaotic guitar-busting, skin-splitting, bottle-smashing madness of an early LA show. But we’re here talking about NOW and NOW is the time to get your pre-order for their first LP, a half hour of power smashing the atoms of 80s c86 indie on lead track ‘Energy’, 77 punk on ‘Wire’ and new garage rock explosions on ‘Taliban’ which morph in to a piece of black wax that’s 100% guaranteed to get the disenfranchised wiggling, the fed-up hurling half bricks through foxtons windows and the punk lifers flipping off yet another boss before carving out another fork in their paths of resistance.

Big Vern, also known as DJ Vern was a resident DJ on Weekend Rush, a pirate radio that broadcast out of the Nightingale Estate in Hackney. To be precise, it broadcast out of the Embley Point high rise, the same tower that Kool FM as also broadcasting out of at the same time. It was here that Vern met DJ Ash, a resident of Kool FM and the two of them joined forces for their release on Tearin Vinyl in 1994.

Around the same time as the two of them teamed up, Vern was also running his own label, World Bass Records. It was on this label that Vern formulated his own distinctive East London sound of Jungle. His debut release on the label in 1994 – The V Experience EP, was a 3 tracker that received a lot of rotation back in the day. This release was followed a 12” in 1995 which had one of Vern’s tracks on there – ‘Vision’.

Fast forward 27 years to 2022 and Vinyl Fanatiks have repressed all 4 of those tracks on one EP titled ‘Vision Of Experience’, an EP that showcases the raucous sound of Vern and his integrate and rambunctious skill and ability to manipulate a sampler to create some of the heaviest jungle of the era.

Both of the original releases are highly collectable and withstand the elements of time and capable of going toe to toe with any recent jungle output from the 21st century.

Support the architects…

Danza Nativa has done a great job of establishing its own unique sound in the techno sphere over the last half a decade. Now it marks the occasion of its fifth birthday with a two-part compilation that showcases its avant-garde take on the genre. They tell us that part one has been assembled as a sort of "mental (as in pensive, not deranged) techno album that takes the form of some direct tools for working DJs. Anthony Linell, Claudio PRC, Luigi Tozzi and DanielI are those who step up and explore abstract, drone, deep and plenty in between.

Darning Woman is an intentional, beautiful, sometimes confrontational album that shreds expectations of DIY, bedroom music, and feminine themes. There's a lushness and maternal instinct at play, as Coope connects the dots between physicality, ephemera, and the ultrafeminine. "I don't really like to deal that much with themes of personal hardships, or heartache and love," says Anastasia Coope. "Ultimately, I work most honestly with the language of what is happening in a moment and the passage of time around it. That, coupled with my reaction to entering the artistic landscape, and my thoughts about what does and doesn't get representation, comprises most of this album." Darning Woman explores, among other things, the meditative aspect of sewing, patching and embellishment, care and repair, collection not as modern, craven consumption but as a counterpoint to materialism. This sort of collection - the good kind, the gathering of things to make a home - can be, in Coope's words, "A very baby way to critique capitalism. Birds make nests, right? It can be a new life for a thing that was made. What you surround yourself with matters." To that end, Anastasia Coope is also the founder and leader of the Bonzo collective and show series, an exciting new home for the type of expansive, profoundly creative scene that New York has been missing for some time. And while Bonzo may well be the ascent of a new community, Darning Woman is the story of Anastasia Coope, herself. It is the sound of Coope entering the world as an artist, acknowledging the tangle of what changes - the gaze of the world, Coope's art in reaction and community to art in general - and what does not: her ideas and her own self.

Darning Woman is an intentional, beautiful, sometimes confrontational album that shreds expectations of DIY, bedroom music, and feminine themes. There's a lushness and maternal instinct at play, as Coope connects the dots between physicality, ephemera, and the ultrafeminine. "I don't really like to deal that much with themes of personal hardships, or heartache and love," says Anastasia Coope. "Ultimately, I work most honestly with the language of what is happening in a moment and the passage of time around it. That, coupled with my reaction to entering the artistic landscape, and my thoughts about what does and doesn't get representation, comprises most of this album." Darning Woman explores, among other things, the meditative aspect of sewing, patching and embellishment, care and repair, collection not as modern, craven consumption but as a counterpoint to materialism. This sort of collection - the good kind, the gathering of things to make a home - can be, in Coope's words, "A very baby way to critique capitalism. Birds make nests, right? It can be a new life for a thing that was made. What you surround yourself with matters." To that end, Anastasia Coope is also the founder and leader of the Bonzo collective and show series, an exciting new home for the type of expansive, profoundly creative scene that New York has been missing for some time. And while Bonzo may well be the ascent of a new community, Darning Woman is the story of Anastasia Coope, herself. It is the sound of Coope entering the world as an artist, acknowledging the tangle of what changes - the gaze of the world, Coope's art in reaction and community to art in general - and what does not: her ideas and her own self.

“Not a lot of people talk about the true origins of bluegrass music,” says Swamp Dogg, “but it came from Black people. The banjo, the washtub, all that stuff started with African Americans. We were playing it before it even had a name.” Blackgrass, Swamp Dogg’s remarkable new album, is no history lesson, though. Produced by Ryan Olson (Bon Iver, Poliça) andrecorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan, the collection is a riotous blend of past and present, mixing the sacred and the profane in typical Swamp Dogg fashion as it blurs the lines between folk, roots, country, blues, and soul. The tracklist is an eclectic one—brand new originals and vintage Swamp Dogg classics sit side by side with reimaginings of ’70s R&B hits and timeless ’50s pop tunes—but the performances are thoroughly cohesive, filtering everything through a progressive Appalachian lens that nods to tradition without ever being bound by it. Special guests like Margo Price, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and The Cactus Blossoms all add to the excitement here, but it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery—sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache—that steals the show. The result is a record that’s as reverent as it is raunchy, a collection that challenges conventional notions of genre and race while at the same time celebrating the music that helped make Swamp Dogg the beloved iconoclast he’s known as today.

"Good Grief" ist das erste neue Soloalbum seit 25 Jahren von Bernard Butler, Gitarrist und Songschreiber der Brit-Pop-Kultband Suede. Butler entwickelte sich zum mehrfach ausgezeichneten Songwriter und Produzenten (u.a. BRIT Award 2009 als Best Producer), zu dessen Referenzen zwei bahnbrechende Alben mit dem Folk-Musiker Sam Lee, ein für den Mercury Prize nominiertes Projekt mit Schauspielerin Jessie Buckley, Kollaborationen mit Bert Jansch, Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl), The Libertines und Tricky sowie das mit dem Grammy ausgezeichnete, millionenfach verkaufte Debütalbum von Duffy zählen.

Round-Circle-Shows mit seinen Freunden Norman Blake und James Grant in Schottland brachten Butler auf den Geschmack, sich wieder auf die Bühne zu wagen. Abseits der Sicherheit seiner Gitarre schrieb er Worte auf, bevor er die Melodien um die Zeilen herum schnitzte. "Good Grief" trifft auf einen Bernard Butler mit über drei Jahrzehnten Arbeit, frei um wieder aufzutreten, gestützt von wild kontrastierenden Erfahrungen von Verlust, Freude und Verwirrung. Das Album ist eine Reise von der Stadt zur Küste und zurück und dazwischen ein gesamtes Spektrum menschlicher Emotionen.

"Good Grief" ist das erste neue Soloalbum seit 25 Jahren von Bernard Butler, Gitarrist und Songschreiber der Brit-Pop-Kultband Suede. Butler entwickelte sich zum mehrfach ausgezeichneten Songwriter und Produzenten (u.a. BRIT Award 2009 als Best Producer), zu dessen Referenzen zwei bahnbrechende Alben mit dem Folk-Musiker Sam Lee, ein für den Mercury Prize nominiertes Projekt mit Schauspielerin Jessie Buckley, Kollaborationen mit Bert Jansch, Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl), The Libertines und Tricky sowie das mit dem Grammy ausgezeichnete, millionenfach verkaufte Debütalbum von Duffy zählen.

Round-Circle-Shows mit seinen Freunden Norman Blake und James Grant in Schottland brachten Butler auf den Geschmack, sich wieder auf die Bühne zu wagen. Abseits der Sicherheit seiner Gitarre schrieb er Worte auf, bevor er die Melodien um die Zeilen herum schnitzte. "Good Grief" trifft auf einen Bernard Butler mit über drei Jahrzehnten Arbeit, frei um wieder aufzutreten, gestützt von wild kontrastierenden Erfahrungen von Verlust, Freude und Verwirrung. Das Album ist eine Reise von der Stadt zur Küste und zurück und dazwischen ein gesamtes Spektrum menschlicher Emotionen.

THE 1968 ALBUM ON WHICH JOHNNY CASH BECAME A LEGEND: AT FOLSOM PRISON AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AND POTENT STATEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY


Johnny Cash already knew his way around Folsom Prison when he and his band stepped inside the institution’s forbidding walls on the morning of January 13, 1968 to record At Folsom Prison. He’d played there two years prior. But this time was different.

Cash took the stage that day for two shows amid a darkening sociopolitical atmosphere and a raging war in Vietnam, as well as the knowledge his career and health hung on by a thread. The Arkansas native shared many of the long odds and abject failures of the inmates for which he performed. The songs he chose, and the conviction with which he delivered them, say as much. The point at which Cash transformed from a country star into a legendary artist, and a bold statement about the American prison state and its commitment to rehabilitation, the triple-platinum At Folsom Prison remains one the most important, potent, and fabled records of the 20th century.

You can hear it echo off the walls of the room; pulse through the itchiness of the Tennessee Three’s acoustic-based boom-chick rhythms; crackle in the announcements conveyed over the intercom; ring in the comedy of the off-cuff remarks and pair of novelty tunes; sense it in palpable energy that wells up within Cash and his audience. And you can experience it like never before via Cash’s knockout singing. The bedrock foundation of all his music, the singer’s baritone resonates with profound degrees of depth, pliability, and passion that underscore how much this appearance meant to him — and the extent he was living the narratives.

Indeed, every song on At Folsom Prison serves a purpose and speaks to the conditions — mental, emotional, physical, geographical, legal, social — the inmates confronted on a daily basis. Beginning with the explicit messages of the opening “Folsom Prison Blues,” Cash makes it clear he understands and shares many of their plights. Not for nothing did the myth of Cash having done hard time persist for decades once this record hit the streets. That’s how real it is, and how dedicated Cash remains to conveying every note with the same truth he invests in the impromptu comments he makes between and amid songs.

Listen to the sorrow, regret, pity, and loneliness of Merle Travis’ “Dark as the Dungeon,” Cash pulling syllables til they threaten to break and inhabiting the mood of bleak phrases such as “pleasures are few” and “the sun never shines.” Witness the isolation, dejection, and sadness punctuating the walking-blues “I Still Miss Someone,” matched in gravity by a solemn reading of “The Long Black Veil” — a traditional dirge that involves murder, cheating, and deception. Cash cuts even deeper on a heartbreaking solo rendition of “Send a Picture of Mother” and plainspoken version of Harlan Howard’s “The Wall,” detailing a suicide disguised as jailbreak through cliched-jaw deliveries that softly curse the impossible situation.

In chronicling temptations, mistakes, mortality, punishment, and life “inside” — for better or worse, the stories of the disenfranchised, forgotten, written-off, and unrepentant — At Folsom Prison also has a blast playing the outlaw role. Cash captures wild-eyed craziness and out-of-control mayhem on a revved-up take of “Cocaine Blues,” taking extra satisfaction in its dastardly tales by way of voice that shifts into character for the sheriff and judge. The gallows humor and racing drama of “25 Minutes to Go”; quicksilver accents and resigned acceptance of “I Got Stripes”; train-whistle blare and twangy locomotion of “Folsom Prison Blues” — all fight the law only to see the law win.

Cash remains deeply committed at every moment, and inseparably connected with the tortured souls removed from the goings-on of the outside world. No wonder all but two songs here stem from the day’s first performance that saw Cash, Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant, and company give everything. As does the Man in Black’s soon-to-be-wife, June Carter. The couple’s fiery duet on “Jackson” scorches; their combination of surrender and fortitude “Give My Love to Rose” puts us in the dying protagonist’s shoes.

And with the closing “Greystone Chapel,” famously penned by convict Glen Sherley, who watched it all happen under the watchful eye of guards, Cash separates the corporeal from the spiritual, relaying lessons about salvation and survival. Heady themes to which he’d return for the remainder of his illustrious career.

In The Red Records is proud to announce a previously unreleased new album by Brooklyn-born master of minimalism Alan Vega, Insurrection. The eleven songs here showcase the unparalleled vision and uncompromising force from one of the most influential artists of all time. Alan Vega was born in Brooklyn in 1938. He co-founded the legendary New York City punk band Suicide with Martin Rev in 1970. Suicide’s groundbreaking 1977 debut is considered one of the most influential albums of all time. Vega considered his solo records the audio counterpoint to his visual art that reflected the world around him while simultaneously exploring universal themes. It makes his work as relevant today as it was when he created them. It was during his highly experimental period beginning in the late ’80s that he began working with Liz Lamere, who became the most crucial collaborator of his solo career until his death in 2016. Lamere, along with Jared Artaud, resurrected these newly unearthed collection of lost recordings, which they co-produced and mixed. Lamere and Artaud spearhead the Vega Vault project, which aims to bring rare, unreleased and back catalog work spanning Alan Vega and Suicide’s career to the public for the first time. On Insurrection, Lamere says: “Insurrection was created in the time period around 1997/98, after Mutator and prior to Vega’s 1999 release of 2007 and captures the intense energy of NYC in the ’90s rife with crime, killing, hate, fascism, racism, and moral bankruptcy. You can hear the tortured souls floating through this album. Post-Gulf War angst still enveloped Alan. He was having premonitions about a major terror attack in the US, well before 9/11. The upcoming birth of his son raised further awareness of the state of our world. All these emotions are mirrored in the sounds he magnetized. And true to Vega form, there remains hope and empowerment coursing through the tracks. In the almost three decades of going into the studio with Vega, we recorded significantly more material than the seven albums released. Vega’s intention was to experiment with sound which would become the canvas for the poetry that reflected his vision of the universe. Because the goal wasn’t to make albums, he had no timeline or constraints and would freely follow new paths uncovered along the way.”

LAKE's 2009 album Let's Build A Roof KLP213, produced by Northwest legend Karl Blau, is sweet, funky and nostalgic - a paragon of psychedelic pop. Originally, this landmark album had overlooked sonic anomalies now corrected by REMASTERING. Five bonus songs have been added to the DIGITAL ALBUM, creating a whole new Let's Build a Roof.Let's Build A Roof is LAKE's most popular album with many fan favorites, though every track is unique. After extensive touring in 2009, LAKE entered Dub Narcotic Studio (Olympia, Wash.) to record fresh with their live energy. In the studio they were able to fill out their jingly pop aesthetic, enhanced with the vintage sounds of instruments available at Dub Narcotic and the local community. Blazing synth solos, timpani, flutes, saxophones, cello, and marimba, are just some of the featured sounds on Let's Build a Roof.Some of the album's most requested songs: "Madagascar," a dubby, slow-groove track; "Christmas Island" a surfy Phil Spector-sounding song used as theme music for the television in show Adventure Time; and "Don't Give Up", an upbeat motivating dance song with Blau performing the hook on harmonized saxophones; "Gravel" is the first single and has that a driving intensity that we can all deeply relate to - trying to keep up.

Maya Hawke ist US Musikerin, Songwriterin, Schauspielerin und Produzentin - und nebenbei Tochter von Uma Thurman und Ethan Hawke. Sie hat bisher zwei hochgelobte Musikalben veröffentlicht, "Moss" (2022) und "Blush" (2020), die beide ihre natürliche Begabung für Songwriting und Geschichtenerzählen sowie ihr Händchen für eine eindrucksvolle visuelle Präsentation mit selbst entworfenen Coverdesigns unter Beweis stellen. "Thérèse", die Leadsingle von Moss, erregte mit dem faszinierenden Video unter der Regie von Brady Corbet weltweite Aufmerksamkeit - und zig Millionen Streams - und bescherte Maya einen beeindruckenden TV-Auftritt in der Tonight Show mit Jimmy Fallon. Maya und ihre Band ernteten jede Menge begeisterte Kritiken für ausverkaufte Shows in den USA und der EU, sowie Support-Slots für Bright Eyes und Faye Webster. Auf ihrem dritten Album "Chaos Angel", geht Maya, die mittlerweile 25 Jahre alt ist, mit ihrem sparsamen, ehrlichen Songwriting, mit dem sie sich einen Namen gemacht hat, noch einen Schritt weiter. Es ist ihr bisher klanglich anspruchsvollstes und thematisch nuanciertestes Werk und fühlt sich wie ein Höhepunkt an. In diesen 10 Songs katalogisiert Hawke Umbrüche, Enthüllungen, Schwächen und gebrochene Versprechen, während sie die Muster durchläuft, die wir wiederholen, während wir nach Wachstum streben, uns verirren und unseren Weg zurück zu einem grundlegenden Verständnis von uns selbst finden. "Chaos Angel" ist auch ein Dokument dafür, dass Hawke als Musikerin immer mehr zu sich selbst findet. Nach ihren beiden vorangegangenen Alben war Hawke im Studio abenteuerlustiger und lehnte sich an ihre Ambitionen an. Viele dieser Tracks werden immer noch von der Akustikgitarre und Hawkes anmutigem, aber dennoch gesprächigem Gesang getragen, aber ihre Umgebung ist komplizierter und üppiger als je zuvor. Sie hat sich erneut mit ihren langjährigen Mitarbeitern Benjamin Lazar Davis und Will Graefe zusammengetan, wobei Christian Lee Hutson als Produzent fungierte.

Maya Hawke ist US Musikerin, Songwriterin, Schauspielerin und Produzentin - und nebenbei Tochter von Uma Thurman und Ethan Hawke. Sie hat bisher zwei hochgelobte Musikalben veröffentlicht, "Moss" (2022) und "Blush" (2020), die beide ihre natürliche Begabung für Songwriting und Geschichtenerzählen sowie ihr Händchen für eine eindrucksvolle visuelle Präsentation mit selbst entworfenen Coverdesigns unter Beweis stellen. "Thérèse", die Leadsingle von Moss, erregte mit dem faszinierenden Video unter der Regie von Brady Corbet weltweite Aufmerksamkeit - und zig Millionen Streams - und bescherte Maya einen beeindruckenden TV-Auftritt in der Tonight Show mit Jimmy Fallon. Maya und ihre Band ernteten jede Menge begeisterte Kritiken für ausverkaufte Shows in den USA und der EU, sowie Support-Slots für Bright Eyes und Faye Webster. Auf ihrem dritten Album "Chaos Angel", geht Maya, die mittlerweile 25 Jahre alt ist, mit ihrem sparsamen, ehrlichen Songwriting, mit dem sie sich einen Namen gemacht hat, noch einen Schritt weiter. Es ist ihr bisher klanglich anspruchsvollstes und thematisch nuanciertestes Werk und fühlt sich wie ein Höhepunkt an. In diesen 10 Songs katalogisiert Hawke Umbrüche, Enthüllungen, Schwächen und gebrochene Versprechen, während sie die Muster durchläuft, die wir wiederholen, während wir nach Wachstum streben, uns verirren und unseren Weg zurück zu einem grundlegenden Verständnis von uns selbst finden. "Chaos Angel" ist auch ein Dokument dafür, dass Hawke als Musikerin immer mehr zu sich selbst findet. Nach ihren beiden vorangegangenen Alben war Hawke im Studio abenteuerlustiger und lehnte sich an ihre Ambitionen an. Viele dieser Tracks werden immer noch von der Akustikgitarre und Hawkes anmutigem, aber dennoch gesprächigem Gesang getragen, aber ihre Umgebung ist komplizierter und üppiger als je zuvor. Sie hat sich erneut mit ihren langjährigen Mitarbeitern Benjamin Lazar Davis und Will Graefe zusammengetan, wobei Christian Lee Hutson als Produzent fungierte.

“Heart of the Dragon” is part of a series of dub albums by The Mighty Upsetter, showcasing Lee “Scratch” Perry’s groundbreaking sound explorations. Having previously delved into Western themes, Perry now turns his attention to martial arts films. With “Heart of the Dragon,” especially notable for its innovative use of sound effects, echoes, and studio manipulations, Perry demonstrates his ability to push the boundaries of music production. Long unavailable, here it is again in a limited-edition yellow vinyl release, featuring an entirely new cover design!

A holy grail for fans of French boogie, early hip hop, Arabic funk and Balearic bops,"Ettika" has been seriously sought after since Vidal Benjamin found it in the 1€ bin back in 2006. Teasing the ears of the underground via Vidal's 'Balearic Nightmare' mix for Noncollective, copies of the original were soon snapped up completely, and the later adopters were sated by a Blackdisco edit from Alexis Le-Tan (himself gifted Vidal's second copy), which is now also rare as hen's teeth. The fervour for the track is easy to understand. Underpinned by an endlessly buoyant bass groove, chanted female vocals dart out the speakers like a post- modern mantra while synth vamps flare in stuttering stereo.

Middle-Eastern motifs add an air of mystery, but this truly belongs in a dance floor utopia. That the track was the product of a 'back-to-work' scheme aimed at unemployed immigrant youth in Rouen only adds to the appeal. Led by teacher Bernard Guégan, a quartet of students delivered lyrics in French and Arabic inspired by their rejection letters, serving a little social commentary and a lot of funk. If you're mad on Ahmed Fakroun and Shams Dinn, or even those folks in the Bush of Ghosts, then this is a must have for you.

Archeology isn't just about excavation, there should be interpretation too, and in this case it comes from Italian duo Hear & Now and Leeds' The Veteran Delinquents. The former furnish the 12" with two radical takes, the dreamy downtempo stroll of their French Remix - all unhurried percussion, Gilmour-riffing and coastal élan - and the peaktime pump of their Arab Remix, which transports the original vocal into a land of desert new beat and Balearic trance with a little space left for some frazzled fretwork. If you've followed their work with Claremont you know the quality on show.

The Veteran Delinquents, the collaborative vehicle of Leeds stalwarts Craig Christon and Tim Hutton, condense a lifetime of club experiences into their remix, establishing the infectious groove of the original before subverting with chugging bass and winking acid, all augmented with their own slick synth work. The original was an all time classic at Craig's Joe's Bakery nights way back when, and this new interpretation is both respectful and revolutionary.

The Bratislava-based band 52 Hertz Whale release their new album Present Sense Impression in a collaboration of the labels Weltschmerzen and Full Moon Forum.

Three years since their album I've Met a Lot of People, the band brings forth a lot of new ideas, finding a new resonant space, and utilising the fierceness // savageness of their live shows, in an intimate stare at contemporary guitar music.

52 Hertz Whale is a band well known in the Central European music context. Their ferocious sound, mixing the intensity of post-punk, heavy guitar wails, and melancholic // stark vocals of Dominik Prok has been tearing down the fixtures of many festivals and venues, all the while being a great example of a band driving at 200mph nonstop. On Present Sense Impression, the band, composed of Dominik Prok, Dominik Fabian, Patrik Nagy, Tomáš Tabiš and Adrián Krišák, have arrived at a record full of manifold manifestations of their live sound, but at times recalling the more marginal waves of 80s pop // rock sound. Resolute drums, heavyweight guitar and bass riffs now deem closer to the lightness of early ethereal darkwave, just to indulge in the classic melancholic heaviness they are known for only seconds after.

Some of the songs have been produced by "Prague's favorite rock'n'roll enfant terrible" Lazer Viking as well as Pulp Studio's Jakub Hríbik, and one features a special guest - the cemballo virtuoso Marcel Comendant. The traditionally stunning artwork was created by the accomplished Martin Mesaroš.

Present Sense Impression is the 20th album released under the Slovak romantic // experimental label Weltschmerzen focused on emotionally hypercharged, humanely intertwined, and acutely sounding contemporary music. This time in collaboration with the czech label Full Moon Forum. It releases August 26th on limited edition baby pink, standard edition black vinyl and on all streaming platforms.

The creation and release of this record have been supported using public funding by the Slovak Arts Council, and SOZA. Fullmoon Forum project was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

This product is a Record Store Day exclusive title and is not available to pre-order.

To buy in-store: 8am, 20/04/2024 (Record Store Day).
To buy online: 8pm, 22/04/2024. (Subject to availability).
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Manhattan Fire is a collection of demos from prolific Brooklyn outfit The Men, revealing early versions of the tracks that would go on to make up their 2023 LP New York City – described by Pitchfork as “an unpretentious garage-punk racket … summoning the snottiest ghosts of the city’s punk past.”

Recorded in mono and with a drum machine by founding members Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi over lockdown in late 2020 – before being shelved for the full-band, live-to-tape affair of the final LP – Manhattan Fire shows a new side to those songs that's even more primitive and rough around the edges, as well as previously unheard tracks that never made it onto the album.

The Dream Of Delphi is an ode to motherhood created in LA, Natasha’s second home, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a sonic archive of a time when Natasha birthed her daughter Delphi earth side. The record weaves together ten song poems, documenting the polarity of navigating both an exterior world that was seemingly turning upside down, whilst also experiencing theprofoundly personal and transformational early moments of mothering Delphi, named after the Greek Oracle, the ancient future teller. The music became Natasha’s sanctuary, born out of stolen trips to the studio, where each track was improvised and completed in a few hours and chronologises her diary like offerings over a period of two years; from “The Midwives Have Left”; to writing a “Letter To My Daughter”; and all the way through to “Waking up”, as well as a cover of her daughter’s favourite song, “Home”.While the storytelling behind Bat For Lashes’ previous albums have traditionally used otherworldly narratives and female lead characters (e.g. ‘Laura’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘The Bride’), for the first ti me, The Dream Of Delphi is about Natasha’s personal experience of the magical and sometimes melancholy intimacy of early motherhood. This record creates a more private form of mythology around the music than her previous work. The Dream Of Delphi touches on more of an instrumental “Bat For Lashes” world, and shows Natasha to be both a confident composer and craftswoman of intimate landscapes. While the music creates a more womb-like, ambient space for the listener, it still leaves ample room for her signature dream pop songwriting to vibrate through. Natasha has worked with Brad Oberhofer, Mary Lattimore and Jack Falby on this record.

Available on “Green Tea” colored vinyl, limited to 300. Remixed by Chris Teti & remastered by Kris Crummet for 10th Anniversary. Recommend If You Like: Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Into It. Over It., Blink-182. Maybe it always had to be this way. Posture & the Grizzly formed in Connecticut, in '08, and churned out a couple of demo tapes before dropping their debut LP in early 2014. Busch Hymns was scrappy and raw, all weed smoke and pent-up fury. Songs like "Egg Nog Drunk Off Hilary Duff's Piss" (yeah) and "You Know I Know What You Did Last Summer" exemplify the band's charm perfectly crystalline, wobbly leads ready to burst under bouncy hooks equal parts snarl and singalong. Just a glance at the tracklist lets you know what Posture & the Grizzly's all about: eight goofily titled songs in and out in eighteen minutes. Just in time for the LP's tenth anniversary, it's been given a remix by The World Is…'s Chris Teti, who originally produced and engineered the album back in 2013, along with remastering from Kris Crummett (Knuckle Puck, Dance Gavin Dance). Sometimes when an album like this is remastered, it loses some of its charm; the gloss crowds out the grit, the whole thing is recolored a bit too bright. But not so on Busch Hymns—these songs are crisper, but that doesn't mean they're cleaner. J. Nasty's throaty howls are as ragged as ever, but this time around they stand out against Piss Malone and Cabbage Pile's rhythm section, no longer straining for spotlight but basking in it. Their sound would get streamlined a bit over the course of their next two albums, I Am Satan and Posture & the Grizzly, replacing some of Busch Hymns's bite with a clearer-eyed sparkle and a newfound melodicism. Busch Hymns stands now as a document of the cult punks' early days, a transitional period from their throat-shredding demo days to their all-too-brief time as a pop-punk juggernaut. It's clearer than ever with the Busch Hymns remaster that Posture & the Grizzly was meant to sound like this, was meant for more than basement shows and beer-soaked floors. In this light, Busch Hymns is more than a transitional period; it's a glimpse into the greatness to come. So if you're sick of listening to modern punk too, then quit it. Listen to Busch Hymns instead

A band who have justifiably been championed across the world, Tokyo’s Melt-Banana have been responsible for some of the most complex punk rock ever made … that far outshines ninety-nine percent of most other bands out there. The band once described their live show as “Shooting machine gun and laser beam, chaos in order.” And I think that pretty much sums them up. — Olli Siebelt, BBC No wave without the self-conscious pretension, avant garde composition compressed into one-minute-or-less bursts, urgency, intricate destruction, pure glorious abandon. Melt-Banana play the same way that Repulsion, Naked City, The Ruins, or The Boredoms all make you want to scream and dance and kill your neighbors. This is not music that we are conditioned to accept. This is you delirious with joy scraping your five senses off the floor. —Matthew Moyer, Ink19 Melt-Banana are in a league of their own. There are other extreme hardcore bands out there who are experimental and unique but Melt-Banana are more than that. They area giants amongst infants. Masters amongst pupils. Kings amongst serfs. Nobody can do what they do and nobody can adequately use words to describe them. —Jeb, Crass Menagerie

The Dream Of Delphi is an ode to motherhood created in LA, Natasha’s second home, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a sonic archive of a time when Natasha birthed her daughter Delphi earth side. The record weaves together ten song poems, documenting the polarity of navigating both an exterior world that was seemingly turning upside down, whilst also experiencing theprofoundly personal and transformational early moments of mothering Delphi, named after the Greek Oracle, the ancient future teller. The music became Natasha’s sanctuary, born out of stolen trips to the studio, where each track was improvised and completed in a few hours and chronologises her diary like offerings over a period of two years; from “The Midwives Have Left”; to writing a “Letter To My Daughter”; and all the way through to “Waking up”, as well as a cover of her daughter’s favourite song, “Home”.While the storytelling behind Bat For Lashes’ previous albums have traditionally used otherworldly narratives and female lead characters (e.g. ‘Laura’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘The Bride’), for the first ti me, The Dream Of Delphi is about Natasha’s personal experience of the magical and sometimes melancholy intimacy of early motherhood. This record creates a more private form of mythology around the music than her previous work. The Dream Of Delphi touches on more of an instrumental “Bat For Lashes” world, and shows Natasha to be both a confident composer and craftswoman of intimate landscapes. While the music creates a more womb-like, ambient space for the listener, it still leaves ample room for her signature dream pop songwriting to vibrate through. Natasha has worked with Brad Oberhofer, Mary Lattimore and Jack Falby on this record.

Kurt Wagner is back, mit neuer Platte, neuen Sounds und neuen Überraschungen, alles wie immer eigentlich, nur anders. Die Songstrukturen entstanden nicht wie üblich an der Gitarre, sondern wurden als Midi-Piano Miniaturen geboren." Die Befreiung von diesen Einschränkungen führte zu einem überraschenden neuen Sound, mit abgeschliffenen Kanten und durch Kurts eigene, spezifische Linse betrachtet. Etwa zur gleichen Zeit bereitete er sich auf eine Live-Show beim Eaux Claires Sommerfestival in Wisconsin vor, das ursprünglich von Justin Vernon von Bon Iver und Aaron Dessner von The National gegründet wurde. Inspiriert von der Originalität der Performances, die er während des PEOPLE Festivals 2018 in Berlin gesehen hatte, und einigen der Leute, die er dort getroffen hatte, machte er sich wieder einmal auf die Suche nach etwas Neuem und wandte sich an Ryan Olson und Andrew Broder, um seine groben Piano-Ideen zu konkretisieren. Wir müssen an dieser Stelle nicht erwähnen, dass die Show nie stattfand, aber die Ideen wuchsen weiter und führten zu etwas Größerem, zu einer ganz neuen Ära für Lambchop. Außerdem mit dabei Trompeter CJ Camerieri und Grammy-Preisträger Jeremy Ferguson kehrt als Co-Produzent zurück. Da schien es auch ein günstiger Zeitpunkt zu sein, einen weiteren Musiker an Bord zu holen, der ganz hervorragend zu Lambshop passt, eine Zusammenarbeit fühlte sich für viele längst überfällig an. Zum ersten Mal spielt James McNew, ein langjähriger Freund sowie Mitglied von Yo La Tengo, am Kontrabass.

avigating vibrant influences of Latin-jazz, Tropicália and joyful grooves; multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and producer Inês Loubet presents her utterly gorgeous debut album ‘Senga’. The album covers Inês’ experiences over the past five years, originating in Portugal, travelling through Brazil, before finding home in London.

Previously, Inês co-wrote and performed on Caravela’s album 'Orla' on None More Records, which was praised by the likes of Gilles Peterson and The Line of Best Fit. Her music has been played on Jazz FM, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 3, NTS and Soho Radio. A relentless live performer, she’s played alongside Brazilian legends Gilberto Gil & João Bosco, graced the stage of The Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, and O2 Shepherds Bush, around UK and international tours.

The album explores a range of profound themes including nature, travel, grief, unconditional love, separation, family dynamics, and the nuanced experience of womanhood in contemporary society. Dedications to the music, philosophy and revolutionary history of samba (‘Sambo Mesmo Sem’), everyday observations of joy (‘Guri’), and motivating generational change for the better (‘Sab Sabim’); glide across romantic harmonies and the Brazilian rhythms at the melodic heart of the album.

“I started writing whilst living in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, in February 2020”, says Inês. “I was shy and hadn't written fully composed tracks before then. During lockdown I received support from The Arts Council’s DYCP, started making demos, gained confidence and started playing them live”. In October 2022 Inês was presented with the Drake YoLanda award and went to Giant Wafer studio in Wales for three days, before recording the final vocals at her home studio and mixing and mastering in Porto, Portugal.

Inês is joined on the album by a band of close friends. Percussionist and long-time collaborator Jansen Santana from Salvador da Bahia brings the soul of the drums, the tambor. “I always have the Bahia drums present in my mind when I write a new composition. I studied Latin percussion at University and then lived in Salvador absorbing all that heritage and knowledge”. Playing four different stringed instruments on the album, Greg Sanders is a long-time friend and collaborator from London “I met him in a samba band in 2015 and he was the first person I ever showed my songs to and played with”. The band is completed by Ruta Sipola on flute, Jake Burgess on tenor sax, Peu Meurray who recorded a lot of the percussion and lead vocals, and bassist Julio de Castro from Sao Paulo. “I was blown away by his bass playing, his swing and creativity, his ton of experience and professionalism but also his voice - he's an amazing singer and I believe that adds a lot to the magic”.

Inês concludes, “Last year, I had a show in London and I asked everyone in the audience to write down what they felt when they listened to the music. These are some of the things they wrote: wholesome, refreshing, lifted, moving, joyful, happy, nostalgic, warmth, force, goosebumps, emotional, togetherness, transported, rooted”. ‘Senga’ captures all of these feelings and more in a memorable first impression from a highly talented musician.

The Samosa label gets its Re-Funk Head on once again with Part 2 of the exciting sonic laboratory project.

Opening this outrageously good EP are Samosa alumni Dirty Elements & Drunk Drivers feat E.M.E and their all-powerful and energy blasting ‘Disco Ball’ – a track that never even attempts to hide its sassiness. The brass ensemble fanfare (which is truly one of the best disco riffs in the known universe) acts as a victory parade through Samosa City – all tickertape and confetti raining down on smiling faces. A serious, serious groove which has featured in sets by Art of Tones on his Ultimate Mix Show for Glitterbox Ibiza and by Folamour in his Amsterdam gigs in March 2024.

Track 2 is respected Italian Maestro, Moplen and the wonderful ‘Ain’t No Doubt About It’. There’s an immediate dance floor lure to the disco beats and bongo rhythms here. Take a good helping of ‘pew-pew’ laser bolts, cow bells and hand claps; add a masterful bassline and you have some serious, serious disco business. You could be sipping evening cocktails in Club Coco Bongo or taking in a beach at sunrise - this track would make you want to dance regardless.

On the B-side the disco theme continues with the most aptly titled ‘Sexy Thing’ by Jazzyfunk. At 122bpm, this heads quickly into soaring, heavenly strings and punchy bassline territory, enveloping your ears like a warm duvet. The melody is a dance floor dream – it demands that you join the hands-in-the-air crowd and there really is no point in resisting. ‘Sexy Thing’ is one of those rare ‘moment in time’ tunes that could either kick a night off or act as the grandest of grand finales. Pure, unadulterated disco pleasure.

Closing the EP with Track 4 is DeGama himself and ‘Feel The Groove’. Make no mistake, this is a powerful, brooding beast of a tune that bursts out of the traps in no time at all. At a very deceptive 120bpm, ‘Feel The Groove’ starts with a warm, housey vibe that quickly breaks into a jumping, blues inspirerd guitar battle. The solid beat bounces gorgeously in tandem with the filthy rhythm guitar riffs and sultry saxophone in a knee-slapping, somersaulting, backsliding explosion. A seriously filthy tune from DeGama.

Re-Funk Head Part 2 acts as a perfect companion to its predecessor – featuring an all-star cast of some of the best talents to grace Samosa. A must for all serious record collectors.

"Recorded and produced by friend and frequent collaborator Mo Troper, Who’s A Good Boy is equal parts scrappy and starry-eyed in its sonic makeup. Album opener “The Flake” sets the stage with fuzzy guitars crashing in and Ramirez’s relaxed vocals placed front and center, as a result, the track feels like throwing on a warm blanket. And look no further than the album’s charming lead single “We Both Won,” a jangly earworm with the hypnotic refrain of “Don’t worry about me” lingering long after the track ends, serving as further proof that Bory has found the recipe for the perfect pop song and knows how to deliver it in two minutes flat. At every twist and turn of Who’s A Good Boy there’s something new to be discovered, making it one of the most exciting debuts you're likely to hear in a long time.

"Warm but guarded, intricate and muted, reminiscent of the Shins and David Bazan and especially Elliott Smith." -Pitchfork
"Whether it's the pastoral "Feel The Burn" or the splendid, reverb-drenched "Five-Course Meal", Who's A Good Boy debut full-length project shows some major potential for Bory to earn the title of Next Big Thing in the genre." - UPROXX

»All The Cowboys« war das zweite Soloalbum von Pete Townshend und wurde 1982 veröffentlicht. Es wurde von Chris Thomas in verschiedenen Aufnahmestudios in London produziert. »All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes« enthält Kompositionen, die aus späteren Alben von The Who gerettet wurden, und wurde knapp drei Monate vor ihrem Album »It's Hard« veröffentlicht. Das Album wurde gut aufgenommen und erreichte auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks die Top 50 der Charts. Diese schwarze Vinyl-Version wurde von Miles Showell in den Abbey Road Studios mit einer Half-Speed-Mastering-Technik bearbeitet, die einen hervorragenden Vinylschnitt ergibt.

White City (A Novel) wurde 1985 veröffentlicht und war das 5. Soloalbum von Pete Townshend. Das Album erzählt eine Geschichte von kulturellen Konflikten, sozio-kulturellen Spannungen und jugendlichen Hoffnungen und Träumen in den 1960er Jahren. Produziert wurde das Album von Chris Thomas und enthält Gastauftritte von David Gilmour, Clem Burke und John ’Rabbit’ Brunswick. Das Album, das die Single Face the Face and Give Blood enthält, erschien auch als Video im Langformat Diese schwarze Vinyl-Version wurde von Miles Showell in den Abbey Road Studios mit einem Half-SpeedMastering-Verfahren bearbeitet, das einen hervorragenden Vinylschnitt ergibt

180GM BLACK VINYL : 500 PRESSED WORLDWIDE.

Furthermore, Billy Mahonie now have their own label, Whistling Sam Projects, an almost sold-out London launch show at The Lexington on May 4th, and they are confirmed to play Portals Festival Saturday May 25th in East London. After nearly quarter of a century, Billy Mahonie are very much back.
Formed in the first wave of British post-rock alongside the likes of Mogwai in the late 90s, John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie are set to return with the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Whilst their debut album ‘The Big Dig’, released in 1999 on Too Pure Records, is considered a classic of the post rock genre, Billy Mahonie always crafted their intricate music with memorable hooks and melodies and performed it with energy and gusto. Theirs was not an aimless, meandering sound, instead the songs and attitude were rooted in punk rock, and still are. Billy Mahonie put the rock into post-rock.
Set for release this coming May 24th via Whistling Sam Projects, ‘Field Of Heads’ sees the band returning with their classic original line-up of Gavin Baker (guitar), Howard Monk (drums), Hywell Dinsdale (bass and guitar) and Kevin Penney (bass and guitar). Whilst this line-up has been semi active for a few years, no new material came to fruition. After their last gig in 2017, however, the band decided it was time to get back into the studio, but with two members living abroad new challenges were faced, but ideas were shared, old ones were resurrected and finally in October of 2019, Billy Mahonie were back in the studio.
Recorded over two long weekends on either side of the Covid 19 lockdowns, the band tracked at The Church studios, owned by their former collaborator and front of house engineer Paul Epworth, with senior engineer Luke Pickering at the controls, allowing ‘Field Of Heads’ to quickly take shape.
New single ‘Kaiju’ gives the music world the first taste of ‘Field Of Heads’ and right from the off, it’s classic Billy Mahonie. Immediately bursting into life with the energy and melody that is so unique to their sound, Howard’s driving drums thrust the music ahead as the guitars and synths weave their way around them. Intricate and shifting, but never at the expense of a tune that sticks in your head.
“This one came from a chord progression myself and Gav first tried out jamming in 2010,” explains drummer Howard. “Needless to say, when Hywell and Kev got their hands on it, it became something no-one ever envisaged. Kev's great title is, of course, the Japanese name for the subgenre of monster-based science fiction. A frenetic riff opens the song and for a counter guitar part only two options remain, play in the minimal gaps or find an overarching theme. We chose both. Kaiju films influence the additional Synths, echoes of those early Japanese movie themes. Some people we have played this to in advance have suggested this track is one we should lead with, as it is kind of where we left off. We agree. It rocks pretty hard. And is a bit funky too. What’s not to like?!”
 
Furthermore, Billy Mahonie now have their own label, Whistling Sam Projects, set up for global distribution through SRD, an almost sold-out London launch show at The Lexington on May 4th, and they are confirmed to play Portals Festival Saturday May 25th in East London. After nearly quarter of a century, Billy Mahonie are very much back.

Deluxe 180g vinyl. Art Edition LP includes set of six 12”x12” art cards.



The follow-up to Kee Avil's acclaimed 2022 debut Crease: "A stunning debut" (The Quietus); "A whiplash style of uninhibited exploration" (The Wire); "Kee Avil's debut is a force" (Foxy Digitalis); "A work of Frankensteinian wonder" (Electronic Sound); "A tightly coiled, finely wrought vision of avant-pop" (Exclaim); "A debut of fiendish creativity" (Bandcamp Album Of The Day / Albums Of The Year) Kee Avil's music is both adventurous and intimate, intellectually challenging and emotionally resonant. The Montréal guitarist and producer's 2022 debut LP Crease garnered plaudits from outlets like The Wire, The Quietus, Mojo and Foxy Digitalis, picking up a Canadian Juno Award nomination and Bandcamp Album Of The Day and Albums Of The Year along the way. Its intricate construction, unnerving atmospheres, and knife-edge take on avant-pop prompted comparisons to early PJ Harvey, This Heat, and Gazelle Twin. A remix EP with work by claire rousay, Ami Dang, Cecile Believe, and Pelada brought collaborative perspectives to four Crease tracks, offering new pathways within those songs. With Spine, Kee Avil strips back her heavily textured compositions, opening up a much rawer sound. She calls it folk… and while traditionalists might scoff, this is urgent music that reflects the precarity of modern life, as well as the jarring mixture of electronic and real-world interactions that have become the fabric of our day-to-day experiences. There's a hypnotic post-punk somnambulance to it all, using the repetition and fracturing of melodic phrases interwoven with delicate electronics to create curious and persistent hooks. While not a concept album, themes of time's passage, remembrance, and decay crop up across multiple tracks. Each track intentionally only has four elements - guitar, electronics, and two other instruments, with Kee's voice and guitar pushed to the front. Within this minimalist framework, the juxtaposition of beauty and discomfort that is key to the Kee Avil sound stands out in skin-prickling relief. "We're shaped by many versions of ourselves," says Avil. "I was looking back at these versions of myself and what could have been, what didn't end up being and what did end up being, and going back like that through time. Seeing the future, the past." Spine was written in Kee Avil's home studio after a lapse in writing while touring Crease and working on other projects. She is a well-known and respected member of the Montréal experimental scene, and formerly ran Concrete Sound Studio with Zach Scholes, who continues to work with her as a producer on Spine. Compared to the three years that went into making her debut, Spine emerged in a matter of months - a process that may also be a factor in its intensity and sharpness: "This record was much harder, like it was really discovering everything from scratch." In her desire to not simply replicate or extend the sound of Crease, she felt she had to rip up the rule book, write in a different way, and pare back songs against her usual instincts. Sometimes, when we work against our ingrained habits, we get to the core of who we really are. Spine is an exercise in that process. Without over-intellectualizing or being didactic, it hits immediately and emotionally, especially if you are a person who has spent much time in the process of self-examination. Kee's voice hisses, whispers, and chants; her guitar bends and rings; electronics skitter and crackle; violin creaks like a door in the wind. There is something so evocative about the atmospheres she creates that it's easy to overlay one's own feelings onto her work, but to do that wholly would be to overlook one of the most important things about Spine: Kee Avil's clear and thoughtful vision. This isn't just the next step forward in her artistic trajectory; it's a stunner of a record that stands on its own, a bracing and thrilling listen that has much to reveal about the contradictions inherent in being human. - jj skolnik

The Baby Seals debut album, "Chaos," is a sonic exploration that blends heavy guitars, a pop edge, and a punk rock garage spirit with a heavy attack. The band, comprised of Amy "Amos" Devine on drums and backing vocals, Kate Shore on bass and backing vocals, and Kerry Devine on guitar and lead vocals, delivers a raw and energetic collection that captures the essence of their live performances. Recorded in March 2023 in Thaxted, just outside of Essex, "Chaos" embodies the DIY ethos that has defined The Baby Seals' approach to music. The decision to minimise post-production sets "Chaos" apart from previous recordings, reflecting the band's commitment to authenticity and a desire to showcase their growth and maturity. The album definitely is about how we feel and experience the world around us in our 30s and 40s. The Baby Seals have grown up? Does not mean sonically lame for sure. The album definitely has themes: inclusivity, gender inequality, the mental load, the motherload, power, body positivity, challenging taboos, liberation. The importance of what to take seriously and what not to take seriously. Title track, Chaos is one of the songs on the album written after a series of events including watching an interview with the late writer Benjamin Zephaniah who said the only way to liberation for all was to tear big governments down and to believe in your community. Further stand-outs are the funny "ID'd At Aldi" and the just classy "Vibrator" The cover artwork sums us up and hopefully gives you a feeling of what the album sounds like.

Vier Jahre ist es her, dass die amerikanische Thrash-Metal-Band EvilDead ihr Comeback-Album ‚United States Of Anarchy‘ veröffentlicht hat und damit Fans wie Medien gleichermaßen begeisterte. Vier Jahre, in denen sich die Welt stärker denn je verändert hat, während EvilDead – wie ein Fels in der Brandung – an ihren charakteristischen Stärken festgehalten und ihren dynamischen Stil zwar kontrolliert, aber gezielt weiterentwickelt haben. Das Ergebnis nennt sich ‚Toxic Grace‘ und wird am 24. Mai 2024 über Steamhammer/SPV als CD, LP und digitaler Download veröffentlicht. Um die Zeit bis zum Album-Release für die Fans erträglicher zu gestalten, werden bereits vorab mit ‚Raising Fresh Hell‘ und "Subjugated Souls" zwei Singles inklusive Videos ausgekoppelt. Es sind die schwermetallischen Statements einer Band, die über große Erfahrungen verfügt und zugleich den Enthusiasmus und die Energie ihrer Anfangsjahre nie eingebüßt hat. Sänger Phil Flores beschreibt ‚Toxic Grace‘ als ein „Album mit einer Vielzahl verschiedener Stile und Sounds, von Doom bis Melodic Metal, von traditionellem Heavy Metal bis zu unserem signifikanten Old-School-Thrash-Stil.“ Gitarrist Juan Garcia fügt hinzu: „Wir haben uns bewusst auf die Tempi und den durchgängigen Fluss aller Parts und Riffs konzentriert. Wir wollten,
dass die neuen Songs kraftvoll sind, und schnell nicht nur der Schnelligkeit wegen. Ich bin sehr stolz auf das neue Material.“

The relatively short life of San Francisco's Aluminum has so far yielded a single (Spinning Backwards, 2020) and an EP (Windowpane, 2022), but their debut LP, Fully Beat, overflows with tenured confidence and a singular style that deftly comprises shoegaze, big beat, and jangle pop. With influences ranging from Orbital, to Wipers, to The Avalanches and Sly and the Family Stone, theirs is a multifaceted take on established forms, fed through fuzz and led by honeyed, male-female vocal harmonies from Bay Area post-punk veterans Marc Leyda (of Wild Moth) and Ryann Gonsalves (of Torrey). "Smile" begins with deceptive sparseness, adding neon swirls of stacked tremolo over a mesmerizing lyrical refrain, and hinting at the dynamism to come with understated grace and grit. "Always Here, Never There" is Fully Beat's first pure hit of melodic pop: its liquid bass groove winds beneath a melancholy-sweet synth hook and Leyda's plaintive vocals, while drummer Chris Natividad's deep, pillowy snare and propulsive style maintain a driving pace. Lead single, "Behind My Mouth", shifts gears into a big beat shuffle and howl of overdriven guitars, which relent to Gonsalves' rolling bassline and playful, snarky vocal. Composed across several weeks of experimentation, it is a prime iteration of Aluminum's meticulous world of sound, which nevertheless carries an air of wry nonchalance. Asking, "Do you ever see behind my mouth?", Gonsalves notes that the song "comes from a place of wanting to be understood authentically, and to communicate intentionally." This approach speaks to the album's broader theme of exhaustion amid the demands of the modern grind: working unfulfilling jobs to pay exorbitant rent, feeling society break at the seams, and trying to maintain a meaningful personal life with the remaining scraps of morale. The response, then, must be to find joy. These songs were crafted over a half-dozen months in basements and practice spaces, creating an abundance of authentic passion and catharsis that's as nostalgic and comforting as a cherished, tattered band t-shirt. The closer, "Upside Down", is a full-throttle blare of joyous release - "a straight-up love song," according to Leyda. The deliberate choice to end it with a gradual fade, rather than a dramatic climax, smartly suggests the ambivalence of acceptance - perhaps fitting, when considering the immensity of the album's subject matter. It also hints that there is much more to be said, and as such a rich and compelling debut, Fully Beat shows that Aluminum are only getting started.

"The outsized sounds emerging from the Excelsior Mill organ captured here constitute a unique chapter in the Sun Ra story, a dizzying phantasmagoria that offers a whole new view on what Ra could do. It might thrill you; it might unnerve you; it might strum your heartstrings; it might spook the living daylights out of you. Most likely you’ll experience all of the above before the jolting musical jeremiad is done. The CD includes the full uncut show with music not featured on the LP version!

When you’re Sun Ra, you don’t need synthesizers to evoke apocalyptic visions and interstellar excursions. You don’t even need a band.

Ra is most widely known for working with various iterations of his Arkestra, but he was no stranger to unaccompanied keyboard expeditions. His discography contains solo piano albums, solo Fender Rhodes records, and solo recordings on conventional organ, the latter going as far back as his home recordings from the 1940s. But none of those instruments ever offered Sun Ra the kind of sonic artillery that waited beneath his fingers and feet when he sat before the keyboards, pedals, and multicolored constellation of tabs controlling the Wurlitzer pipe organ.

Mystic and magisterial, Ra comes off here like a cross between a demonically riffing ‘50s horror movie villain and a futuristic congregation leader delivering the interplanetary gospel. Brassy stabs provide the kind of punctuation that could be graphically rendered as an endless string of exclamation marks in 500-point font. String-like swoops and swirls dance across the top of the carnage, cooling the flames just enough to keep the whole thing from combusting (for a while at least) but never dousing the fiery fury that Ra draws forth from the instrument.

Dexys are back! 11 years since the release of their last album of original music, the acclaimed One Day I'm Going to Soar, the band return with a stunning new record, The Feminine Divine, out July 28th on 100% Records.

The Feminine Divine’s arrival is heralded by today’s release of the glorious first single ‘I’m Going To Get Free’, soaked in horns and with a heavy dance-hall feel. "The character is optimistically breaking free from internalised trauma, depression and guilt," Kevin Rowland said of the track.

The Feminine Divine is Dexys’ fifth album of original material produced once again by Pete Schwier, along with acclaimed session musician and producer Toby Chapman. After taking some time out to refocus his energy, Kevin Rowland came back to music with a fresh perspective and new-found positivity. A personal, if not strictly autobiographical, record portraying a man whose views have evolved over time. Not just on women, but the whole concept of masculinity he had been raised with: an education and an un-learning that is traced across the arc of The Feminine Divine with dizzying effect.

With two tracks on the album with Goddess in the title in ‘My Goddess Is’ and ‘Goddess Rules’, it’s no surprise Kevin chose to use a painting inspired by Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, for the artwork.

Dipping into the archives for a song he’d originally written in 1991, the album’s opener, ‘The One That Loves You’, is a tough-guy feint before he lifts the curtain on “what I really feel”, as announced by a classic bit of Kevin spoken word that leads into the second track, ‘It’s Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023)’.

The record’s first half is full of music hall-esque swagger, much of it written with original Dexys’ trombonist Big Jim Paterson. The second side of the record is like nothing Dexys have done before. A saucy, synth-heavy cabaret, written in collaboration with Sean Read and Mike Timothy. It’s steamy, fizzing and sultry, at times doom-laden and heavy and at other times raunchy and funky. Quite a heady mix.

Today the band is more of an “organic” assemblage – Kevin, Jim (a non-touring band member), Sean Read and Mike Timothy. “It’s always just natural with me,” says Kevin. “The inspiration comes first, I think about what I can do, what songs I’ve got, then approach the band.” He describes their current lineup as “very much the nucleus, these days.”

With over a billion worldwide streams, three top 10 albums in the UK, two number 1 singles, a Brit Award and a multi-platinum selling album with their sophomore release Too-Rye-Ay (as Dexys Midnight Runners), Dexys are as vital and exciting today as ever. With live shows set to be announced shortly in support of the record, The Feminine Divine marks a new chapter in a book that just keeps getting better and better.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” says Kevin. “But I feel I’ve got to it now.”

Dexys are back! 11 years since the release of their last album of original music, the acclaimed One Day I'm Going to Soar, the band return with a stunning new record, The Feminine Divine, out July 28th on 100% Records.

The Feminine Divine’s arrival is heralded by today’s release of the glorious first single ‘I’m Going To Get Free’, soaked in horns and with a heavy dance-hall feel. "The character is optimistically breaking free from internalised trauma, depression and guilt," Kevin Rowland said of the track.

The Feminine Divine is Dexys’ fifth album of original material produced once again by Pete Schwier, along with acclaimed session musician and producer Toby Chapman. After taking some time out to refocus his energy, Kevin Rowland came back to music with a fresh perspective and new-found positivity. A personal, if not strictly autobiographical, record portraying a man whose views have evolved over time. Not just on women, but the whole concept of masculinity he had been raised with: an education and an un-learning that is traced across the arc of The Feminine Divine with dizzying effect.

With two tracks on the album with Goddess in the title in ‘My Goddess Is’ and ‘Goddess Rules’, it’s no surprise Kevin chose to use a painting inspired by Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, for the artwork.

Dipping into the archives for a song he’d originally written in 1991, the album’s opener, ‘The One That Loves You’, is a tough-guy feint before he lifts the curtain on “what I really feel”, as announced by a classic bit of Kevin spoken word that leads into the second track, ‘It’s Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023)’.

The record’s first half is full of music hall-esque swagger, much of it written with original Dexys’ trombonist Big Jim Paterson. The second side of the record is like nothing Dexys have done before. A saucy, synth-heavy cabaret, written in collaboration with Sean Read and Mike Timothy. It’s steamy, fizzing and sultry, at times doom-laden and heavy and at other times raunchy and funky. Quite a heady mix.

Today the band is more of an “organic” assemblage – Kevin, Jim (a non-touring band member), Sean Read and Mike Timothy. “It’s always just natural with me,” says Kevin. “The inspiration comes first, I think about what I can do, what songs I’ve got, then approach the band.” He describes their current lineup as “very much the nucleus, these days.”

With over a billion worldwide streams, three top 10 albums in the UK, two number 1 singles, a Brit Award and a multi-platinum selling album with their sophomore release Too-Rye-Ay (as Dexys Midnight Runners), Dexys are as vital and exciting today as ever. With live shows set to be announced shortly in support of the record, The Feminine Divine marks a new chapter in a book that just keeps getting better and better.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” says Kevin. “But I feel I’ve got to it now.”

After her success with The Mamas & The Papas and two albums under the Mama Cass alias, the 1972 album Cass Elliot was her first record under her real name. After her success with The Mamas & The Papas and two albums under the Mama Cass alias, the 1972 album Cass Elliot was her first record under her real name. The album created the atmosphere of 1930’s Hollywood with a beautiful cover shot by George Hurrell. The music consisted of great songs written by Judee Sill, Bobby Darin, and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. These perfectly showcase the amazing vocalist that Cass was.
Cass Elliot is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on silver coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.