Following up on last year's acclaimed Integration 12", Robbert Heynen unlocks his incredible back catalogue for four acidic reinterpretations from Greek maestro Anatlolian Weapons.
Proceeds of the record will be donated to Legacy of Hope foundation, an Indigenous led charitable association which educates and raises awareness about the history and on-going impacts of Canada's residential school system.
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PYLAR, one of the best kept secret of the Spanish underground, is a collective formed in Seville (Spain) by members of Orthodox and Blooming Látigo. With an imaginary that feeds on occult sciences, the sacred (with special attention to pagan themes) or hyperstition, PYLAR navigates the depths of mysticism and cosmic horror evoking interdimensional and abyssal sonic scenarios.
An instrumental training that incorporates percussion, guitars, keyboards, horn, violin or mandolin, to which is added vocals that intone texts by the experimental writer and philosopher Francisco Jota-Pérez, fragments extracted from occult sciences and the cult vanguard grimoire Cyclonopedia. PYLAR moves between experimental doom metal, black metal and psychedelia, creating music of dense textures by superimposing elements in the styles of Blut Aus Nord, Swans or Oranssi Pazuzu. Their first work “Poderoso se alza en my” (2013) was their letter of presentation, praised by the very Julian Cope.
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Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
Polish jazz rebels sneaky jesus are back with their second studio album For Chaching Taphed.The highly imaginative quartet out of Wroclaw comprising Maciej Forreiter (Guitar), Matylda Gerber (Saxophones), Ben Łasiewick i(Bass) and Filip Baczyński (Drums) have won fans around the world for their restless, quirky brand of jazz which takes in breakbeats, twisting chord progressions and improvisation as well as a wealth of musical influences.
The band have been touring their asses off ever since they surprised the world with their debut album For Joseph Riddle in 2021. From out of nowhere their debut LP of 500 copies sold out in a month and they quickly went on to sell close to 1,000 CDs of the album. Fast-forward to 2023 and the band are sharing stages with artists such as Ill Considered and Theon Cross.
For Chaching Taphed was created in complete isolation. The group locked itself in a barn at the Museum of Agricultural Technology in Piotrowice Świdnickie. It worked on its sophomore output surrounded by machinery, trucks and carriages. These new compositions mirror the abstract conversations which the group frequently has just for fun. Contrary to For Joseph Riddle, this album is simple and does not rely on ongoing grooves. This enabled the group to be much more experimental. The band was joined by friends Flautist Mariya Mavko on Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) and her playing is sampled in Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace). Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) closes the album featuring EABS' Jakub Kurek on trumpet. His fiery solo is one of the most intense moments of the album.
Spacer Po Nadodrzu (A walk around Nadodrze) opens the album and is inspired by one of the districts of Wrocław. It is a sonic story depicting a walk through Nadodrze late at night. A steady bass rhythm imitates a careful pace and the responding sax line is a spooky theme that might pop to oneʼs head in a moment of uncertainty.
The album's first single Krztusiec (Whooping Cough) finds the group diving head first into their most recent influences. The trackstarts with drum improvisation, rolling into a solid hip-hop backbeat provided by Ben Łasiewicki on Bass and Drummer Filip Baczyński. Sax and Guitar weave steady but dissonant lines, written by Maciej Forreiter after many hours spent listening to the Ethiopian jazz greats. The track takes off right after that. Matylda Gerber delivers a fiery Sax solo, while the group picks up the tempo and quickens the groove. The essence is the middle section, a dubby collective improvisation. Forreiter, Gerber and Baczyński take turns playing both classic dub phrases and fierce avant grade lines. Łasiewicki keeps everybody in check with a steady bassline. The energy slows down until Baczyński's drum solo, which explores phrasing detached from the rest of the tune.
Second single Chiński Sprzedawca Smażonych Kasztanów (Chinese roasted chestnut seller) is a fusion of breakbeats, energized songo rhythms and motifs inspired by South African melodies. Presenting the group with spacious and rhythmic horn lines, guitarist Maciej Forreiter wrote a chord progression while Beniamin Łasiewicki and Filip Baczyński took care of the rhythm section. This first part of the track suddenly drops out and explodes into the dramatic main motif which includes double sax and fierce guitar playing in harmony, plus the rhythm section playing more and more jungle-esque. Powerful guitar and sax solos feature before we return to the main theme with a completely different rhythmic backdrop.
W Klatce z Bykiem (In a cage with a Bull), starts like a race. The music plays with an incredible nerve and when the theme is right on edge it suddenly stops. It is followed by an animalistic growl on the saxophone and a doom metal-esque bash of downtuned, distorted guitars and heavy drums. In this heavy fashion it slowly approaches the finishing line hitting one final metallic clang.
Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) features wonderful flute playing of Mariya Mavko (Kadabra Dyskety Kusaje). Her work in the opening motif evokes sounds of Polish and Ukrainian folklore. This brief mellow moment serves as a contrast to the usual frantic sounds of sneaky jesus. It is an appreciation of thepolish jazz music of the past, intrinsically-linked to folklore. The band took this idea and reworked it into their own unique style.
Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace) is built on top of a lengthy vamp in an unusual 7/8 time-signature. The bass anchors the quartet in a simple line, while the rest of the quartet share an emotional conversation. This track is the most open of the whole project and it ends accordingly. The final burst is a call back to the basics ofspiritual jazzand the whole band shows every emotion simultaneously and gracefully fades out.
Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) is For Chaching Taphed's conclusion and is a non stop assault of heavy horn lines, punk rhythms and noise. The band is joined by the extraordinary trumpeter Jakub Kurek from EABS, who blends in perfectly with sax and guitar. His exchange of solos with Maciej Forreiter is a combination of classic jazz phrasing and discordant clatter. In the same fierce manner the whole group works within the motif, switching up accents and breaks.
In the short space of two years, sneaky jesus has gone from ambitious upstart looking to break out from its home city playing spit and sawdust venues, to touring Europe as well as prestigious Jazz clubs such as Jassmine in Warsaw. In the process, it has delivered two full-length albums that don't stay in lane or pander to established jazz sub-genres as so many groups do. Some artists make the same record twice or even more than that, but not sneaky jesus. For Chaching Taphed shows the band as restless, experimental, fun, irreverent but purposeful as never before.
“A lot of over-hyped improv / jazz projects out there at the moment and Sneaky Jesus are genuinely excellent and out on their own. Drawing on the expansive atmospherics of a barn as the recording's setting, the album immediately pulls you in with the unsettling 'Spacer Po Nadodrzu' and lifts off on 'Krztusiec', effortlessly moving from angular, abrasive jazz to trippy dub and cinematic intrigue. Tempos shift and intensities shift naturally. The whole set warrants a deep listen from start to finish and watch out for two great guest features from flautist Mariya Mavko and Jakub Kurek bringing some mad fuzz licks to the boisterous closer. Brilliant album.”
Quinton Scott — Strut Records
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Last delivered 9 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
2023 VINYL REPRESS.
The third full-length release for Portland, Oregon-based LIZ HARRIS.
Harris might have achieved a significant fan base thanks to the whispering, near-ambient vocal crusades of her debut album Way Their Crept and its follow-up Wide, but those with a careful ear would have heard slightly more trapped beneath her fuzzy chain of effects.
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill marks a departure of sorts for Liz, which sees her turn down the fuzz boxes which caged (and to some degree defined) her sound and allows her voice to ring out above everything else. It is an album steeped in the world of dream-pop and far from shying away from the reference, Liz has instead grabbed on with both hands, creating an album's worth of perfect, left-field pop songs. Using delicate song structures which are at once both familiar and somehow alien, her vocals cry out hauntingly over stripped-down guitar lines and looped environmental recordings.
These are the future soundtracks to love, despair and ultimately, hope.
“This remarkable album is actually what I personally always wanted 4AD records to sound like, only they never quite delivered the hazy pleasures their beautiful sleeve art promised.”—Pitchfork (8.2)
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The long awaited official reissue of ‘She Wants’, one of the first UK Street Soul singles originally released in 1985 by The NM Band.
The NM Band was an alias for UK Lovers Rock band Natural Mystic, responsible for a number of hits in the late 70’s and early 80’s most notably ‘Runaway Love’ and ‘Groove Rocking’. They released a string of acclaimed reggae LPs and toured extensively throughout the UK, but by 1985 wanted to try something away from their trademark roots reggae sound. Influenced by the availability of affordable hardware the band set about fusing Reggae and Soul using an Akai Drum machine, Yamaha DX7 and Roland sound module. ‘She Wants’ is one of the forebearers of UK Street Soul, raw machine drums paired with an incredibly soulful vocal from Ashley Sommers. The band created their own imprint ‘Mixdown’ to release the single, but it slipped under the radar, despite strong radio play from Choice FM and the then pirate station Kiss. The 12” is backed with Dub Version ‘She Wants’ (More).
A 140gram pressing in 3mm spine black disco sleeve with metallic sticker designed by Bradley Pinkerton.
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Planet P Project is Tony Carey's pseudonym for his science-fiction themed progressive rock side venture from his more pop-oriented rock releases. Its first three albums, Planet P, Pink World, and Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) were released in 1983, 1984, and 2005, respectively, and the first two saw a fair amount of MTV video airplay. Planet P's most well known singles were Why Me?, a sweeping, energetic romp about outer space and isolation, and the downbeat Static. Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) is the first of a trilogy; part two, titled Go Out Dancing, Part II (Levittown) was released in May 2008 and Go Out Dancing Part III (Out in the Rain) was released in 2011.
Die unverwüstlichen schwedischen Doomer SORCERER werden ihr neues Album 'The Crowning Of The Fire King' am 20. Oktober veröffentlichen! Das Album wird als limitiertes Digibook mit Exklusiven Bonus Tracks und auf Doppel Vinyl erhältlich sein.
Die Band sagt dazu: "Wir haben bewusst ein intensives wie abwechslungsreiches Album geschrieben, das wir uns selbst gerne anhören würden. 'The Crowning of the Fire King' ist mit Abstand unser bestes bisher, weil alle Songs stark sind, vor Kraft und Doom nur so strotzen. Wir haben eingefangen, worum es bei Sorcerer im Kern geht, und das Niveau insgesamt deutlich gehoben. Mit der ersten Single 'Sirens' wollen wir deutlich machen, dass man weiterhin mit uns rechnen sollte!"
For Fans of Horror, Halloween, and Haunted Attractions! Shadow’s Symphony creator Grant Smoker has loved everything to do with Halloween since he was a kid and always wanted to be able to contribute or be a part of Halloween in some way. Hearing music at Haunted Attractions inspired him to start writing and recording. He writes this instrumental music with haunted attractions, films, and gaming in mind. Since 2014 Shadow's Symphony has been played in haunts around the world. Each album that he writes has a different theme, which means different instrumentation as well as style that pertain to the theme of the album. There's a bit of everything from melancholy piano to full blown dark orchestral strings and creepy ambient synth over the course of an album. For this release, The House in the Mist was written using unpolished instruments and synthesizers to match the "look and feel" of old silent films. It was his first album written in 2011 and is still a popular choice for haunted attractions. This is a fist in a multi part series from Shadow’s Symphony
The follow-up to his acclaimed Constellation debut Third Album released in lockdown spring 2020, Markus Floats returns with Fourth Album, pushing the Montréal-based artist's distinct abstract electronic compositions into newly evocative terrain (while preserving his record-titling literalism). Faced with another couple of years spent unexpectedly, though not unfamiliarly, secluded and studio-bound, working on both paintings and music, Floats emerged by the end of 2022 with a set of tracks "about 60% finished" and a determined desire to throw off the shackles of distancing and isolation. "I had always thought about Markus Floats as a solo project but I am wrong about that. Fourth Album is about asking for help, inviting in, and making a home. It's about trust, exploration, and the effort of letting go."Sharing his in-progress recordings with a trio of close friends and collaborators from the powerhouse free music ensemble Egyptian Cotton Arkestra, each of these players then spent a day improvising to the tracks at Montréal's Hotel2Tango studio. With violin by Ari Swan, saxophone and mbira by James Goddard, and guitar and drums by Lucas Huang, Floats stitched their extemporized instruments back into his compositional process. The result is a fluid, lustrous, dynamic expansion of his sound and structure that continues to strike the ineffable balance of abstraction and soulfulness rightly highlighted and celebrated in the critical response to Third Album. Fourth Album sustains much of that previous work's enchanting equanimity, while inviting a bit more restlessness, accident and grit, with the incorporation of acoustic instruments and improvisation melding Floats' own background in Electroacoustic Studies and Jazz Performance more than ever before.Signature avant-electronic explorations of arpeggiated and timbral transformation, subtle shifts in harmonic consonance and dissonance, and a through-composed praxis that draws coterminously upon free jazz, musique concrète and modern Minimalism, all continue to shape Fourth Album to great effect. But an additional palette of sonic and gestural raw material is now also decidedly "out-of-the-box", charting a wider range of gestures, textures and temporalities. Fourth Album complexifies and intensifies across its 12 tracks, thematizing dualities and introducing new elements of play and accident, even a sort of looseness here and there, as it conjures communal expressivity within shorter, still scrupulous formal structures. Fourth Album also for the first time includes spoken word as a recorded element, previously only (and always) a feature of Markus Floats live performances. The album's final track samples the poet and activist Fred Moten, closing with these words: "What we've been trying to figure out how to get to is how we are when we get together to try to figure it out." This koan of socially-engaged process and creation/advancement of meaning through praxis and immanence reflects the unique fusion of intangible materiality and affective sensibility at work in Markus Floats music, unfolding in new depths and currents with Fourth Album.
The heralded Minneapolis-based band Barbaro forges an exhilarating
new musical path on 'About the Winter', their inaugural outing for
StorySound Records
Featuring guitarist Kyle Shelstad, bassist Jason Wells, and violinist Rachel
Calvert, the dynamic young group developed a strong following for their
modernist bluegrass sound on their 2020 debut, 'Dressed in Roses'. Their new
album, however, represents a "coming of age" for Barbaro, according to Shelstad,
as it more authentically reflects the band's adventurous musical evolution over
the past few years. All three band members point to the title tune, "Let's Talk
About the Winter" as the song that established the tone for the album. The song,
Wells explains, "fully captured the soundscape that now defines us as a band."
The ten tracks on 'About the Winter' provide a wonderful showcase for the unique
dynamic created from Shelstad's string band roots blending with Calvert's and
Wells' backgrounds in classical music. The album also finds Barbaro expanding
its sound by having Shelstad share vocal duties with Calvert for the first time,
along with weaving electric instrumentation into the group's acoustic- based
music. The bandmates all agree on the key contributions of producer Brian
Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens). "His production," Calvert revealed, "elevated
these tracks to an entirely different level." Together they have fashioned a
captivating pastoral Americana sound on 'About the Winter' that is both
traditional and progressive.
The new album adds to what has been already exciting time for Barbaro, who
were selected by the U.S. government to perform concerts and conduct music
workshops in Qatar, Turkey, and Bulgaria as part of its 2023 American Music
Abroad program.
After collaborating together for more than a decade, Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden released their first album under the Lost Girls moniker in 2021: Menneskekollektivet. The record received rave reviews, including a Best New Music mark at Pitchfork. On October 20th, 2023, the duo will release their second album Selvutsletter.
Like its predecessor, the album title is a made up Norwegian word, a word that almost exists. The band’s own translation of Selvutsletter is «self-effacer»: Someone who tries to erase themselves. Someone who is cleaning out themselves. Performing exorcism. Or perhaps just getting older, less interested in their own present self.
In 2022, Lost Girls were booked to perform a concert at Les Subsistances in Lyon, together with a few Norwegian performing arts groups performing their pieces. The band decided to use the opportunity to create all new material, and think of it as a coherent piece. Working in tandem, with Volden creating beats and wild sets of guitar chords and Hval restructuring the parts, creating melodies, words and adding more sounds, they started spiraling into unchartered territory of shorter, more concise and melodic songs than their debut LP Menneskekollektivet.
As the material developed, words already embedded in the chords, guitar sounds and rhythms began to dance around. Lyrics about cities after dark, music rituals and band practices of the 90s, and the early days of the internet began to take shape. These were Hval's own memories of her hometown and her obsession with creating music as a way of leaving it behind or even setting it on fire. Selvutsletter is, in that sense, about retracing Hval and Volden's steps back to how it felt to discover music, the intensely physical and communal experience of creating something. Certain tracks even go back further, to discover possible happenings in Norwegian towns and cities before any of us were born, using elements of faux folk singing.
Where Menneskekollektivet was about exploring club beats, and expanding and trying out structures, Selvutsletter is about disappearing in experiences. It combines the intuitive, late night feel of Lost Girls’ previous work with experimental rock music as its object. The result is more adventurous than nostalgic: A fiery, bilingual whirl of colors, words, vegetation and electricity.
Dieses Album vermittelt Geschichten über eine komplexe Figur. Er ist selbstbewusst, emotional, unsicher, neugierig, liebevoll und auf der Suche nach Verbindungen. Er sucht nach jemandem. Aber auch nach sich selbst. Er sehnt sich nach echten Verbindungen.
Verbindung zur Welt. Aber auch Verbindung zu seinem wahren Selbst. Er zeigt einen Hauch von Selbstbewusstsein und Verspieltheit. Er ist mutig. Aber auch unsicher und nicht immer präsent in der Welt, in die er eintaucht.
'I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album 'Jazz, Jazz Jazz' ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction with the bids eventually rising daily up to a staggering 1000$. The music is a unique combination of incredible horn arrangements powerfully performed, a vigorous drummer contributing a funky backbone and Seif's vocals uniting those elements. The results range from instrumental tracks awaking memories of 1970s crime thriller soundtracks to more Sudanese-rooted tracks, a lot of them modernized versions traditional rhythms of the diverse regions of Sudan and even an excursion into Colgolese Soukouss.
I went for my second trip to Sudan in December 2018 and after doing some research on the first trip my local colleagues Larissa and Yassir had managed to reach Amir, The Scorpions band leader and he was happy to meet. We got together with him in a Cafe right at the Nile in Omdurman. It was a happy occasion for everyone. He told us stories about him meeting Jimmy Cliff and Lewis Armstrong when they visited Sudan and how he and his band mates from The Scorpions played extensively in Kuwait, both in club residencies as well as for television. Amir brought tons of incredible photos illustrating not only the bands history but the vivid cultural live in the many music clubs in Khartoum of the 1970s. During this decade up until 1983 the capital was home to a huge number of clubs, bards and concert halls. This scene started to perish after president Nimeiry's turn away from his socialist policies, that he was widely associated with in the first decade of his rule, towards the implementation of Sharia law in 1983. During the first decade of his rule he had actively supported various artists of the Jazz scene, taking some of them on trips throughout Africa. The 1989 coup of Bashir and his generals then caused the final blow to a once thriving scene. Both of these political events within 6 years lead to significant drawbacks for the Sudanese jazz scene resulting into hardly no gig opportunities left and parties and concerts being critically observed. A number of musicians faced prosecution, most of the time for their political views; some left Sudan for good. Music never completely vanished from public life and even the regime kept selected artists close, but for a majority of those bands affiliated to the jazz scene life and making ends became a lot harder. The Scorpions dissolved as a group around the same time.
The re-release was produced with a clean copy of the vinyl version as a source. The original reel tape of the album stayed with Saif Abu Bakr along with another reel with other recordings that were never released. Unfortunately it was lost when Saif Abu Bakr had to flee to Kuwait temporarily during the second gulf war when Iraq raided Kuwait. Vinyl version comes with extensive booklets with photos, interviews, liner notes. The vinyl version also has a DLL code.
AN ABRASIVE POST-PUNK WITH A HINT OF PSYCHE GARAGE, PRODUCED BY SYD KEMP. After a short briefing on the steps of the Saint-Etienne Cathedral of Toulouse, the band chose the name Cathedrale. A simplicity that can also be found in their sound: sharp and abrasive guitars, nervous rhythm and a touch of pop in the vocals. Cathedrale draw their influences mostly from British punk and American power pop, bands such as the Buzzcocks, Wire, Parquet Courts or Protomartyr. To follow up their two previous EPs, recorded locally at Swamp Land Studios, the quartet chose to cross the channel to record their third album in London at Haha Sound Studios. Under the supervision of producer Syd Kemp, their sound gained both in clarity and scale, whithout losing any of the urgency that made their previous recordings so endearing. The 13 tracks of Houses Are Built The Same will undoubtedly confirm Cathedrale as one of the most exciting rock bands in the French indie scene.
As a follow-up to the debut EP; Anaesthesia, Avilynn is back with another dynamic four track EP; Five Million Sunsets, which is accompanied by a remix from Ostgut Ton’s Answer Code Request.
‘Why So Serious’ opens the project and focuses on dynamically evolving and unfurling drums, plucked synths and modulating percussion while expansive reverberations and nuanced echoes further instil dynamism throughout. Answer Code Request steps up next, shifting the focus to an aesthetically industrial feel, twisting elements of the original’s synthesis and high-octane drums into an ominous, subtly unfolding take on things.
Opening the flip-side is title-cut ‘Five Million Sunsets’ which sees Avilynn explore a more textural landscape, dropping the tempo significantly and introducing circling dub chords, earthy sub tones and menacing bass swells throughout. Last up to round out the release is ‘Your Eye Was Bigger Than The Other One’, here Avilynn focuses her musical theme around “a trippy experience where the person has a distorted reality’’, the composition laid out across three and a half minutes melds together choppy broken drums, eerie tones and bubbling synths alongside gritty distorted moments and metallic chimes.
About the label:
Life experiences in macro and micro; daily reveries and introspections; byproducts of clubbing and city life…converted into sonic frequencies.
The focus of the label is on releasing physical products and the use of the cityscape as the primary interface between artist and music listener. Access to Avilynn’s music and multimedia output is made possible through stickers scattered about different cityscapes which feature personal quotes and QR codes. You can find sticker locations via insta’s highlights at instagram.
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Emerging from the heart of Brussels, the captivating five-piece Azmari is set to release "Maëlström" on October 20. For Maelström, the follow up to their acclaimed debut album Sam?'? (with raving reviews in Uncut, Songlines, Uk Vibe and Electronic Sound), the group has delved into uncharted musical territories creating a mesmerizing "azmarian" identity and melding intricate jazz textures with intoxicating oriental influences, otherworldly ethio grooves, enigmatic dark funk, and the pulsating beats of dub music,
For the creation of "Maëlström," Azmari embarked on an intensive one-week recording journey. During this time, they meticulously honed the sound of their instruments, blending the nostalgic notes of old-school clavinet keyboards with cutting-edge synth sounds, resulting in a distinct and alluring atmosphere. Enriching their traditional instruments with balanced pedal effects and special amplification, the band added new flavours to their sound.
Founded in the vibrant musical haven of Brussels in 2015, Azmari have been crafting a truly unique tapestry of musical exploration. Azmari defies conventional labels to weave a narrative of sonic innovation and artistic liberation. Influences range from an eclectic array of artists, including Okay Temiz, Heliocentrics, Whitefield Brothers, Surprise Chef, Antibalas and Sons of Kemet.
From the band: "For the third part of our musical journey, we dug into a deeper creative process. We literally immersed ourselves in deep waters during a unique two-week aquatic residency. The tracks on this album are thus directly imbued with distinctive underwater frequencies, the sounds of abyssal creatures, and the beauty of the seabed. Convinced by this creative experience, and guided by captain (and producer) Frederik Segers, we brought this album back to the surface and reveal a resolutely scaly, sandy, and deep soundscape."
Santa Chiara is the solo project of Italian musician, Chiara D’Anzieri, who officially moved to the United States in January 2020. Born in Turin, Italy she began her career as a classical cellist at the age of 10. After years spent touring with various orchestras throughout Europe she decided to explore other instruments, songwriting and producing and began working in recording studios near her hometown in Italy.
“IMPORTED” is her first collection of songs written in English and will come out on legendary indie label, Kill Rock Stars in the fall of 2023. The record talks about her experience becoming an immigrant, leaving her home country, adapting to her new country, discovering her new life in Nashville, growing and asking herself questions about her existence and the meaning of life. She plays most of the instruments on the record herself with guests Ron Gallo, Dominic Billett (Courtney Marie Andrews, Julia Jacklin, Faye Webster), Jerry Bernhardt (Courtney Marie Andrews) and Eric Slick (Dr. Dog).
Limited to 300 copies, this 2x12" double vinyl VA is the third physical release of the industrial techno label, Askorn Records. Including 8 tracks ranging from dark and tortured slow beats to hard and industrial techno bangers, this release brings together 9 producers from Belgium, UK, Poland, Australia and France: Twan, Dahryl, Mickey Nox, Tripped, 14anger, Draugr, Hel.IV, Ogmah and Hatelove.
A1: Twan & Dahryl - Ammunition
Pure industrial techno banger. 142bpm bomb full of fast rolling drums and screaming synths, this collaboration between
Belgium based artist TWAN and Dahryl from United Kingdom, is a furious dancefloor destroyer.
A2: Mickey Nox - Switching Horsepower
Classic industrial hammer by Mickey Nox from Australia. A crazy 4-4 techno track with his famous stomping kick, strange FX sounds, chopped with some glitchy voices. Sounds like an unstoppable engine.
B1: Tripped - Fat Load
Tripped demonstrates the perfect mix between hardcore and techno into this track, using his famous and indescribable style. Industrial hardcore and destroyed 909 gabber kickdrums, scary synths, amen breaks and terror atmosphere.
B2: 14anger - Bachman
Heavily distorted bass-line, overdrived kickdrum, an acid break and some electrical noises: Bachman is the latest 14anger
banging track. This raw industrial techno track definitely brings some oldschool rave vibes to this project.
C1: Draugr - Discipline
A dark and groovy track by Draugr. He brings his famous threatening atmospheres, spooky bass and catchy drums on
this one. Crunchy kickdrum, radar noises and a perfectly chosen speech about order and discipline.
C2: Hel.IV - Brave & Thick
Hard, dark and punchy as usual, let's introduce Hel.IV from Paris. Deep and hard kickdrum with catchy drums patterns
surrounded by a screaming distorted vocal sample, and an epic and menacing synth.
D1: Ogmah - No Feelings, Pure Wrath
New harsh and scary bomb by Askorn's founder, Ogmah. A slashing and industrial beast with some shrill highs drums,
creaky and industrial FX sounds, and a long break with scary vocals about sins.
D2: Hatelove - Snakebyte
A slow and dark track with a deep as hell atmosphere, produced by the one and only Hatelove from Poland. Full of filters
automations, psycho and spooky noises, banging drums and crazy sound design. Angering af.
The artwork is an engraving by the artist Daniel Girault from Brittany in France. This is the result of a dark and disturbing
abstract design engraved on a hard metal surface, made by cutting grooves into it with differents sharp tools. After being
drowned into an acid bath, this metal plate is finally pressed with black ink on a thick paper sheet.
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Caleb Nichols put himself on the map with Ramon, a critically acclaimed
queer Beatles rock opera
Now, he's tackling something of a more radical proposition -- just 11 great songs,
full stop.
Nichols is out with his new album, Let's Look Back -- his second full-length album
on the hallowed indie label Kill Rock Stars.
"It's about the idea that you have to look back and confront stuff before you can
move forward," Nichols says. "It's about vindication, and reintegration, and
trusting yourself."
Produced by Zach Rogue, Let's Look Back's highlights are everywhere -- from the
unstoppable power-pop rocket that is "Demon Twink" to the luminous pop of "J'ai
Vu La Lune!" to the bold and brassy "Wicked."
"I'm not the good witch/ I'm the bad one!" goes Nichols' infectiously catchy
refrain. But Let's Look Back is most definitely a good one -- one that will send fans
of early 2000s indie rock, from the Shins to the Decemberists to Belle and
Sebastian, to heaven.
The Pretty Things Classic Album S.F. Sorrow re-issued with original UK artwork on Madfish. This vinyl edition of the album re-mastered from the original analogue tapes. It is pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl and packaged with the original UK artwork gatefold sleeve, with cover art from Phil May.
The Pretty Things created some of the most exciting and innovative records of the late sixties and early seventies. Winners of the Hero award at the 2009 Mojo Honours, the band have been name checked over the years by an array of artists ranging from The Clash, David Bowie and Aerosmith through to The Libertines and Kasabian.
'SF Sorrow' is one of the great classics of the psychedelic era. The album stands favourable comparison with 'Sgt Pepper' and 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' as one of the defining records of the time. Originally recorded at Abbey Road in 1967 and 1968 it was the first and the most complete rock-opera to be recorded and released, pre-dating 'Tommy' by a full year.
The Pretty Things are active today and still play live regularly.
USA Nails veröffentlichen ihr fünftes Album Character Stop über Bigout Records. Die Platte wurde über 4 Tage im Londoner Bear Bites Horse mit Produzent Wayne Adams live eingespielt. Obwohl "Character Stop" immer noch den peitschenden Noise-Punk enthält, für den USA Nails bekannt geworden ist, ist es ausgewogen mit nüchterneren, niedergeschlageneren Momenten. Auf ihm erforschen sie Identität - wie die Online-Personen aggressiver Twitter-Nutzer, Beeinflusser und Vlogger, aber auch eher introspektive Einstellungen zur psychischen Gesundheit, das Aufgeben von Träumen, die Freude (und Verzweiflung), ein Teilzeitnutzer zu sein, und die Überlegung, wer sie wären, wenn sie beschließen würden, ihre Gitarren für immer an den Nagel zu hängen. In den letzten Jahren sind USA Nails mit den Sub-Pop-Lieblingen Metz, Mission Of Burma, John, Future Of The Left, Mclusky*, Cocaine Piss, Viagra Boys, Murder Capital und Unsane auf Tour gewesen.
Collaboration between French writer Ingrid Astier, actor Pierre Richard and JB Hanak from the band dDamage (Planet Mu, Tsunami-addiction).
JB Hanak is on guitar, bass, synth and rhythmic programming, consumed with a desire to reveal with each changing track a different facet of this imagined nocturnal universe. Ingrid Astier directs the actors as well as the writing of the lyrics, very much as would be found in the cinema.
And then, there is Pierre Richard. At one moment a dreamer, the next a cowboy, suddenly Mafioso and then a nocturnal animal. Thinker, lover, philosopher, astronaut or sandman. Pierre Richard is an actor, an actor of immense presence confined too often to comic roles. “Nuit Jour” offers him roles he has not had in the movies ... And it is breath-taking, both in its register and in a sense of deep renewal.
Kalipo prepares to launch his new album Happy Little Accidents, which counts with twelve electro-focused tracks as well as the participation of feature artists Rampue, Ira Atari, Oberst & Buchner and subkutan. Iconic 80s painter and TV host, Bob Ross is celebrated for his thirty-minute landscapes, recognizably soothing voice as well as the 'happy little quotes' he imprinted on pop culture. One of Ross' most memorable turns of phrase, "We don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents," went on to encourage thousands worldwide. And not just painters. "For me, this album was about letting the songs develop very quickly and not evaluating them too much, or trying to avoid mistakes," says German electronic music producer, Kalipo (Jakob Häglsperger) who named his latest release Happy Little Accidents after Ross' signature phrase. "Bob Ross really impressed me as a child, he was always so accessible to everyone and demonstrated how easy it was for anyone to work creatively," says Kalipo, who translated Ross' fast and instinctive wet-on-wet painting technique to music-making on Happy Little Accidents. The 12 tracks that make up PART I and PART II of the album are a celebration of the method - sometimes it's a floaty journey with tinkering sounds, at other times dark fast beats create the core of the music, but there's always a sense of intuition and heart driving Kalipo's productions.
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Nach dem letzten Album "Pale Horse" 2021 sowie dem Re-Release bzw. Best-of Album "Looking Back" (2022), veröffentlicht das Projekt Winter mit "Fire Rider"den nächsten Longplayer. Bewegte sich "Pale Horse" noch im vornehmlich düsteren Gothic-Rock Bereich, tritt Winter mit den neuen Songs deutlich auf das kreative Gaspedal und überrascht mit einer überaus spannenden Mischung zwischen besagtem Goth-Sound ("Unholy Blood", "Into The Void" feat. Florian Grey) und fast schon klassischem Rock im Stile der 80er Jahre, wie der Titel Song "Fire Rider", das sprichwörtliche "Children Of The 80s" oder auch die erste Single "Pray" zeigen. Fast schon stilbeschreibend für die Mischung auf dem Album ist hier die Cover Version des Sisters Of Mercy Songs "Under The Gun", der sich auch in der Original-Version zwischen den unterschiedlichen Stilrichtungen bewegt. Musikalisch ist "Fire Rider" insgesamt mutiger, zuweilen etwas aggressiver als der Vorgänger aber auch wiederum extrem eingängig. Symptomatisch kann hier der Song "When All Is Said And Done" erwähnt werden, der einen wunderbaren "Chris Isaak" Vibe in der Strophe sowie fetzigen Up-Tempo Rock-Sound im Refrain perfekt kombiniert.
Der gefeierte Künstler Israel Nash aus Texas und Missouri wird sein mit Spannung erwartetes neues Album 'Ozarker' am Freitag, den 20. Oktober veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen mit dem Produzenten Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), ist Nashs mitreißendes neues Werk eine Ode an seine Wurzeln. Aber mehr als das, es ist eine Meditation über Liebe und Familie, über die Schönheit und den Schmerz, den wir über Generationen hinweg weitergeben, über die Bande, die uns in guten und in schlechten Zeiten verbinden.
Israel Nash, der vom Rolling Stone als "master of sonic textures" und vom britischen Uncut Magazin als "folk-rock visionary" bezeichnet wurde, wurde zunächst in Europa bekannt, wo er sich mit einer Reihe von der Kritik gefeierten Alben eine treue Fangemeinde aufbaute, die ihm einen Vertrag mit dem renommierten Londoner Label Loose Music einbrachte. Als das amerikanische Publikum auf den Geschmack kam, zog der aus Missouri stammende Musiker nach Dripping Springs, Texas, wo er sein eigenes Aufnahmestudio auf einer Ranch baute und einen etwas psychedelischeren Sound entwickelte, der irgendwo zwischen Neil Young und Pink Floyd angesiedelt ist. Produziert von Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), kehrt Nash mit seinem neuesten Werk, dem mitreißenden 'Ozarker', zu seinen Wurzeln im Mittleren Westen zurück und macht sich den Heartland-Rock zu eigen, mit dem er aufgewachsen ist - mit überlebensgroßen Gitarren, hymnischen Melodien und reichhaltigen Charakterstudien. Tipp!
Der gefeierte Künstler Israel Nash aus Texas und Missouri wird sein mit Spannung erwartetes neues Album 'Ozarker' am Freitag, den 20. Oktober veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen mit dem Produzenten Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), ist Nashs mitreißendes neues Werk eine Ode an seine Wurzeln. Aber mehr als das, es ist eine Meditation über Liebe und Familie, über die Schönheit und den Schmerz, den wir über Generationen hinweg weitergeben, über die Bande, die uns in guten und in schlechten Zeiten verbinden.
Israel Nash, der vom Rolling Stone als "master of sonic textures" und vom britischen Uncut Magazin als "folk-rock visionary" bezeichnet wurde, wurde zunächst in Europa bekannt, wo er sich mit einer Reihe von der Kritik gefeierten Alben eine treue Fangemeinde aufbaute, die ihm einen Vertrag mit dem renommierten Londoner Label Loose Music einbrachte. Als das amerikanische Publikum auf den Geschmack kam, zog der aus Missouri stammende Musiker nach Dripping Springs, Texas, wo er sein eigenes Aufnahmestudio auf einer Ranch baute und einen etwas psychedelischeren Sound entwickelte, der irgendwo zwischen Neil Young und Pink Floyd angesiedelt ist. Produziert von Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), kehrt Nash mit seinem neuesten Werk, dem mitreißenden 'Ozarker', zu seinen Wurzeln im Mittleren Westen zurück und macht sich den Heartland-Rock zu eigen, mit dem er aufgewachsen ist - mit überlebensgroßen Gitarren, hymnischen Melodien und reichhaltigen Charakterstudien. Tipp!
Fünf Jahre nach dem Polaris Music Prize für sein bahnbrechendes Debüt meldet sich Jeremy Dutcher zurück. In der Wolasotqey-Sprache seines Volkes, aber auch erstmals auf Englisch vorgetragen, ist der Nachfolger intimer, persönlicher, inspiriert von einem wachsenden Verständnis seiner Identität – indigen und queer. Mit traditionellen Wolastoqey-Songs, Gedichte des Cherokee-Dichters Qwo-li Driskill, sternenklaren Balladen und atemberaubenden Orchestrierungen (in Kooperation mit Owen Pallett) geht 'Motewolonuwok' über alles hinaus, was der kanadische Singer/Songwriter bisher gemacht hat.
For Volker Bertelmann, aka HAUSCHKA, music is not solely about its sound, but also a means to facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster meaningful interactions between individuals, revealing his fascination with human connection and engagement. Despite being known for his distinctive prepared piano sound, the Academy Award-winning composer intentionally named his 15th solo studio album PHILANTHROPY to express his compassion and openness. The album's song titles, such as "Diversity," "Nature," "Loved Ones," and "Altruism," perfectly align with their respective musical compositions. HAUSCHKA's albums often serve as a platform to provoke dialogue on specific themes, and PHILANTHROPY follows this pattern, aiming to offer optimism and energy in response to the challenges of recent years. The album combines upbeat and pensive pieces, featuring moments of joy, introspection, and peaceful interludes. Overall, PHILANTHROPY showcases HAUSCHKA's compositional prowess and serves as a gift that sparks reflection and celebration.
Not many heroes of indie folk have won an Oscar or created the basis of a successful stage musical, but Glen Hansard is an artist who can wear both of those feathers in his cap. As a member of the Frames and the Swell Season, Hansard won acclaim for his literate, intelligent, and passionate songwriting and his nuanced vocals, and he"s gone on to win similar accolades as a solo artist. Hansard first gained an audience for the limber but emphatic indie rock he created as a member of The Frames, then gained international fame with fellow singer and songwriter Markéta Irglová in the duo The Swell Season, whose emotionally open, primarily acoustic indie folk became the centerpiece of the award-winning independent romantic drama Once. After going out on his own with his 2012 solo debut, Rhythm and Repose, Hansard has shown a stylistic diversity as he embraced the sound of "70s singer/songwriters on 2015"s Didn"t He Ramble, vintage soul on 2018"s Between Two Shores, and an eclectic swing between subtle folk and noisy indie rock on 2019"s This Wild Willing. Glen Hansard now presents All That Was East Is West Of Me Now, his first solo album in 5 years. The album demonstrates the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter"s unique ability to blend Irish folk with modern rock & the punch of his storied live shows.
Not many heroes of indie folk have won an Oscar or created the basis of a successful stage musical, but Glen Hansard is an artist who can wear both of those feathers in his cap. As a member of the Frames and the Swell Season, Hansard won acclaim for his literate, intelligent, and passionate songwriting and his nuanced vocals, and he"s gone on to win similar accolades as a solo artist. Hansard first gained an audience for the limber but emphatic indie rock he created as a member of The Frames, then gained international fame with fellow singer and songwriter Markéta Irglová in the duo The Swell Season, whose emotionally open, primarily acoustic indie folk became the centerpiece of the award-winning independent romantic drama Once. After going out on his own with his 2012 solo debut, Rhythm and Repose, Hansard has shown a stylistic diversity as he embraced the sound of "70s singer/songwriters on 2015"s Didn"t He Ramble, vintage soul on 2018"s Between Two Shores, and an eclectic swing between subtle folk and noisy indie rock on 2019"s This Wild Willing. Glen Hansard now presents All That Was East Is West Of Me Now, his first solo album in 5 years. The album demonstrates the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter"s unique ability to blend Irish folk with modern rock & the punch of his storied live shows.
Auf „Blame It All On Love“, Poolsides viertem Studioalbum, verlässt Jeffrey Paradise (aka Poolside) seine eigene Komfortzone und taucht in die Tiefen seiner eigenen kreativen Stimme ein. Die elf Tracks sind funky, gefühlvoll, entspannt und voller Hooks, die Poolsides Sound zu ergreifenden Pop-Höhen erheben. Anstatt erneut seine elektronischen Fähigkeiten zu demonstrieren, markiert die aalglatte Produktion eine Rückkehr zu seinen Live-Musik-Wurzeln und findet Leichtigkeit in einfachen und strahlenden Klangschichten. Es ist ein wahres Produkt all der Orte, an denen er war, und der langen und abenteuerlichen Reise, die er unternommen hat, um zu diesem Moment zu gelangen, an dem es nichts mehr zu kämpfen oder zu beweisen, sondern es nur noch perfekte Grooves gibt.
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Mit elf bisher unveröffentlichten BBC-Session-Aufnahmen und allen fünf Songs der ersten beiden Creation Records-Singles fängt 'Reverberations (Travelling In Time)' perfekt ein, was viele für eine entscheidende Ära einer der wichtigsten britischen Gruppen halten, die eine ganze Reihe von aufstrebenden Bands beeinflusste, allen voran The Stone Roses. Es ist eine Sammlung, die einen Schnappschuss der jugendlichen Unschuld und ungezügelten Leidenschaft bietet, die ihre frühen zweiminütigen Indie-Pop-Abenteuer kennzeichneten.
Two hidden gems from the P&P vaults courtesy of a scarcely known talent from Georgia, Florence Miller get an official reissue 'I'm Just A Lonely Girl' and 'The Groove I'm In'. With only two releases to her name, both of which came on Peter Brown’s P&P Records, ‘The Groove I'm In’ released around 1975 got the attention of the Northern and Modern Soul scenes in the mid ‘90s becoming a real star of the show. Since then, it’s maintained consistent demand on the second-hand market with originals selling for over £200.
As with most of Peter Brown's artists, they briefly emerged on the sparsely distributed P&P label, for a brief stab at stardom only to disappear when Peter's attentions moved on to the next releases. Consequently, very little is known about the multi-talented and sadly ignored Florence Miller following her two releases on the Harlem label. Clearly though, the music speaks for itself with the quality of the P&P catalogue and this Florence Miller slice of magic shining through to this day.
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Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.
Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.
