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'Universal Deluge' marks a significant shift for Ethan P. Flynn and is the by-product of an intensely fruitful creative few years. His unique songwriting craft, ear for production, and versatility have already seen him work with a diverse host of familiar names, including David Byrne, Celeste, and Black Country, New Road. He also co-wrote several songs and performed on FKA twigs' hugely acclaimed album 'Magdalene' and most recently collaborated with esteemed experimental producer Vegyn on the single 'Superstition'. Created over a three-year period, 'Universal Deluge' showcases the depth and breadth of Ethan P. Flynn's distinctive, multi-faceted production methods. Building on the success of his debut album B. Sides & Rarities Vol. 1, the Universal Deluge EP plunges into the darker side of experimental pop. Combining electronic experimentation with stripped-back acoustics, it is a further example of the swirling, psychedelic lo-fi masterpieces Flynn conjures. A sound which has seen him described "as great as Bowie, I'm just waiting for the world to see it... he's a legend in the making" by UK rapper Slowthai. Speaking on the newly released single 'Father of Nine', Ethan P. Flynn says "This song is about complex family relationships between people who haven't met each other. It isn't necessarily a love song at all. There's an urge to feel a kind of affinity with your ancestors but a lot of them were probably really terrible people. I was also thinking about how many weddings had to happen in the past for a person to exist- like an incomprehensible amount of weddings led to your birth."

Tape

Alexandre Bazin's second album for Cassauna is a compelling minimal/experimental/electronic album consisting of one piece separated into several movements for the purpose of stronger narrative and aesthetic coherence. The album explores the concept of percussion and resonance through the spectrum of electronic frequencies and densities with a plunge into the sound.

Percussion-Resonance makes use of a new alphabet, a simple vocabulary in order to create innovative and personal music, with a clear and emotional subject. Structured architectural sequences give way to the experimental. Different climaxes punctuate the work in order to keep grabbing the listener’s attention.The record title tackles the theme of musique concrète developed by French composer Pierre Schaeffer as well a nod to Bernard Parmegiani’s De Natura Sonorum

Alexandre Bazin is a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales better known as the GRM, for which he writes documentaries about music for Radio France.

He is passionate about experimental music and more specifically the electronic music created by Bernard Parmegiani, Iannis Xenakis, Pan Sonic, Fennesz, Alva Noto and Ryoji Ikeda. His music is distributed by Important Records / Cassauna, Umor Rex Records and played at the Moogfest festival in the USA.

Mattiel, the Atlanta based group made up of Mattiel Brown and Jonah Swilley, announce
the release of their third album, ‘Georgia Gothic’, on Heavenly Recordings. ‘Georgia
Gothic’, a magic third in Mattiel’s run of full-length albums, was shaped in the quiet
seclusion of a woodland cabin in the north of the Atlanta duo’s mother-state; “Some
faraway place that just Jonah and I could go where there would be no distractions,
nothing else going on, and we could turn everything off and only focus on writing songs,”
reflects Brown.
 Where 2017’s self-titled debut and its 2019 follow-up Satis Factory were written with what
Swilley refers to as a “hands-off” approach - he arranging the music and Brown the lyrics
and vocals, the two working largely separately - the making of ‘Georgia Gothic’ was, for
the first time, a truly collaborative undertaking. “This was the first time we made a point to
just be together and work out ideas in the same room. That was the initial intention... it
was about learning what each other wanted to accomplish on a sonic level, and then just
trying different things out,” Swilley continues. “Everything happened backwards. Normally,
you’d have friends that make a band... with us, we started making music from the jump,
and then became homies.”
 Cultivated by time spent together on the road touring the first two albums, it is this
newfound sense of intimacy between Mattiel’s members that enabled the writing of
‘Georgia Gothic’ not as two separate musicians, but rather as one creative entity. The
album remained within the four walls of Brown and Swilley’s private world for much of its
evolution - with recording taking place in a simple studio set up by the pair in the
borrowed room of a dialysis centre, Swilley in the producer’s seat - until, nearing
completion, it was transferred into the trusted hands of the Grammy award-winning John
Congleton (whose extensive list of credits includes artists as diverse as Angel Olsen, Earl
Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu and Sleater Kinney) for mixing.
 Not only does the affinity between its creators translate into an electric synergy between
‘Georgia Gothic’s words and music - the brine-shock of Brown’s taut lyricism cut against
the bourbon-smoothness of Swilley’s instrumentation - but here too are the palpable
spoils of experimentation, each party trustful enough of the other to trial and error their
practices into new geometries. Swilley puts this wide palate, in part, down to the place
they call home. “I definitely feel like being from Georgia allows us to have a certain way of
approaching music.” Brown chimes in: “We haven’t really highlighted where we’re from in
the past two records, even though those were also written in Georgia. There’s so much
great art and great music that’s come from Georgia, from all different types of genres and
all over the state - but take R.E.M. and OutKast: there’s this weirdness that I can’t really
put my finger on.” Swilley concurs: “It’s the same with the B-52s, the Black Lips... it
doesn’t feel like L.A., it doesn’t feel like New York, it feels like another planet. We’re not
really in a ‘scene’ here in the same way. You have to make your own sound, create your
own identity.”
 And it is precisely the forging of Mattiel’s distinct musical identity that ‘Georgia Gothic’
signals; its members guiding each other ever-homewards not just in a geographical or
sonic sense, but spiritually, too.
 Initial LP pressing on Red Hot coloured 140g vinyl with digital download code. (Once this
format has sold out, a black 140g vinyl edition with digital download - HVNLP202 - will be
made available.)

In February of 1976 Eddie Carmichael left the group “The Voshays” after catching the bandleader/manager stealing from the band. Derry Shepherd and Duncan Bethel left at that time also. About a week later I asked Derry if he would be interested in starting another band and he said sure. At that point Duncan Bethel agreed to participate and he recruited his friend Flynn Emanuel to play trombone. Derry was the manager of the cafeteria at Sears Department Stores in The Pompano Fashion Square Mall and he met Sandy Ficca who was the manager at Chess King Men’s Clothing Store in the same mall. Sandy also agreed to join the group and we auditioned bass players and chose Dave Segal and only one keyboard player auditioned and that was Bob Groszer. We now had all of the personnel for the group and we commenced rehearsing in the recreation center in Pompano Beach, FL at Westside Park. We did a few “Chitlin’ Circuit“ gigs to fine tune the band and music and then moved over to the beach circuit. While there we would perform spring and summer months at “The Ocean Mist” on the Strip in Fort Lauderdale, FL and for the fall and winter months the Big Daddy’s 8600 Club on Miami Beach. After 18 months of constant gigging I suggested that the band go into the studio and record some original music. Now all we needed was some serious financial support and songs. I met a man by the name of Jerry Bullard and convinced him to back the project. We formed our own independent label “Get Off Records” and publishing company “Situated Music”. At that point Dave Segal and Sandy Ficca left the group and Bruce Saddler who was the drummer for The Voshays joined us on the drums for the first two recordings. Sandy Ficca returned as drummer and brought in his old friend and bandmate Daryl Walker to play Bass on five of the six remaining songs. We recorded the entire album in five days at SRS Studios and Triad Studios both in Fort Lauderdale, FL in August of 1977. The first single “Give It Up (Let Yo Funk Fly Free) was a winner released only in the New York tri state area where in two weeks it reached number 16 in the top 100 and was poised to go number one nationwide on the R&B charts in the next two weeks. Henry Stone, owner of TK Records in Hialeah, FL wanted to sign the group as did many other major record labels including Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire. But the usual problems of the music business reared its ugly head and the record was pulled from all radio airplay and the group who became disenfranchised with the business of the industry decided to call it quits. Derry Shephard went into Gospel Music production, Sandy Ficca went on to become the drummer for the Pop/Rock recording artists “Firefall”. Daryl Walker is a session player and music teacher, I did studio sessions and played in several cover bands and toured internationally. Bob Groszer toured with Sly Stone and other legendary recording artists. Dave Segal went on to start New York Bass Works in New York. Flynn Manuel became a music teacher in The Broward County School District and Bruce Saddler and Duncan Bethel left the Music industry completely. We were young and not good business people at that time and did not understand the rules of do’s and don’ts of the music industry. But we had three talented songwriters, a great arranger, a killer band and all the financial support that we needed. Looking back if we only had an experienced manager I truly believe Mirror would have gone on to create some great music over the years that followed.
Peace and love all the time,

Mercurial London artist Nilüfer Yanya announces her hugely anticipated second
album, ‘PAINLESS’, for release via ATO Records.
 ‘PAINLESS’ is the follow-up to Nilüfer Yanya’s renowned 2019 debut album, ‘Miss
Universe’, which fully established her as a singular artist and a distinctive voice that
simply has to be heard.
 The critically acclaimed ‘Miss Universe’ - a widescreen concept record that took a
tongue in cheek swipe at the most self-involved corners of the health and wellness
industry - was followed last year by the three song EP ‘Feeling Lucky?’, which further
explored Yanya’s fascination with ‘90s alt-rock melodies and drew on themes of
resentment, her fear of flying, and the concept of luck. Pitchfork summed up ‘Feeling
Lucky?’ and her now peerless songwriting aptitude best: “Nilüfer Yanya’s melodies
have a pull so strong they almost necessitate their own law of physics.”
 Yanya also re-released her early EPs on vinyl for the first time this year, on the
record ‘Inside Out’. The release is a fundraiser for Artists in Transit, a collaborative
not for profit group she founded with her sister Molly that delivers art workshops to
displaced people and communities in times of hardship.
 As the daughter of two visual artists (her Irish-Barbadian mother is a textile designer
and her Turkish-born father’s work is exhibited at the British Museum), creativity was
always destined for Nilüfer Yanya’s future. Now she enters the next stage of her
creative journey - Yanya is running head first into the depths of emotional
vulnerability on her sophomore record, ‘PAINLESS’. The album was recorded
between a basement studio in Stoke Newington and Riverfish Music in Penzance
with ‘Miss Universe’ collaborator and producer Wilma Archer, DEEK Recordings
founder Bullion, Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo and musician Jazzi Bobbi.
 Where ‘Miss Universe’ stretched musical boundaries to include a litany of styles from
smooth jazz melodies to radio ready pop, ‘PAINLESS’ takes a more direct sonic
approach. By narrowing down her previously broad palette to a handful of robust
ideas that revolve around melancholy harmonies and looped industrial beats to mimic
the insular focus of the lyrics, Yanya has smoothed out the idiosyncrasies of previous
releases without losing what is essential to her.
 ‘PAINLESS’ is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that
accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship
breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. “It's a record
about emotion,” Yanya explains. “I think it's more open about that in a way that ‘Miss
Universe’ wasn't because there's so many cloaks and sleeves with the concept I built
around it.” Summing up the ethos of the new album, she adds, “I’m not as scared to
admit my feelings.”
 Should stock of ATO0594BI1 sell out, a different standard vinyl format will be made
available (ATO0594LP).
 “A distinctive new voice in indie rock, a deeply expressive singer and sharply
inventive guitarist” - Uncut
 “On a musical and human level, then, the world needs more people like Nilüfer
Yanya” - MOJO
 “A true original” - The Guardian

Our Lowriders album is an amalgam of the two “This Is Lowrider Soul” CDs. We have chosen 14 tracks that represent the sounds loved by Los Angelenos, often of Mexican descent, that emanate from their fabulously designed motors while cruising Whittier Boulevard in East LA or, say, Van Nuys Boulevard in the northwest of the city.

The classic Los Angeles vocal group the Superbs are featured here on their glorious ‘It Hurts So Much’, but it is mainly the records discovered by sweet soul collectors that dominate. The Carnival label has a great reputation on this scene; Lee Williams & the Cymbals’ ‘Please Say It Isn’t So’ and ‘Follow Your Heart’ by the Manhattans are a pair of killer ballads perfect in tempo and harmony for the cruisers. Other East Coast offerings include the Persians’ captivating ‘Here It Comes’ and two gems which were only on master tape prior to their Kent releases – Melvin Hicks & The Versatiles’ ‘I’m Just Passing Time’ and the similarly unknown outfit the Exceptions, with the wailing ‘So Much In Love’.

Chicago has always been a breeding ground for black harmony groups. The Esquires saw much success at Bunky; ‘No Doubt About It’ was their equally great first release at Wand. Little Ben & The Cheers hailed from the same city; their ‘I’m Not Ready To Settle Down’ fetches big bucks due to Lowrider demand, as does ‘What Am I Gonna Do’ by the mysterious Houston Outlaws – their origins are uncertain, but must be Midwestern. The Vanguards hailed from Indianapolis and deservedly charted with ‘Somebody Please’, licensed to LA’s Whiz label. All of their seven singles on Lamp are also fine, harmonic soul tracks. The Lovers were a Bay Area group who recorded in Los Angeles with the maestro Arthur Wright; their ‘Someone’ was tipped for the charts when licensed to Philips, but flopped, leaving it ripe for revival by the soul connoisseurs. Like the Lovers, the reputation of Reuben Bell’s ‘It’s Not That Easy’ has grown over the decades and a record once considered common can now fetch hundreds of dollars – class will out.

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros—consisting of Bobby Weir, Don Was, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti—are set to release their first ever vinyl collection of recorded material. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado is out February 18 on Third Man Records—their debut with the label. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado features a collection of songs recorded at the band’s live performances at the historic Red Rocks Park &Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado on June 8, 9, 11, 12, 2020. These shows were the group’s first live audience concerts in over a year and featured Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown. “Been too long,” Weir said of the performances, “but I can’t think of a better place to pick it back up…” Weir explains “I’ve been workin’ in my spare time on expanding the sonic coloration of the songs I do. The Wolfpack is basically a step toward full orchestration - and further, I gotta say, these guys are game. We worked on the arrangements a bit but eventually we needed to trot it all out and play it for folks - and right at that moment, the folks in Colorado reached out and told us they were gonna open up. Holy Shit, WTF? Let’s Go.” Third Man Records says “When Don approached us about this project of course we all jumped at the opportunity. The whole live music experience is so important to everyone here at Third Man Records and the chance to work with a few of the all time greats, well it seems like a miracle.”

Not to add to the deluge of artistic clichés brought on by the Global Event Which Shall Not Be Named, but spending more or less a year in the house offers plenty of time for reflection, reevaluation, and revision. Though there was a lot to process already in those months, it was an opportune time to try and get your shit together, whatever that may mean for you. For Jakob Armstrong—in addition to many other things like the rest of us—part of it meant fine- tuning a collection of songs first recorded in late 2019. A prolonged process leading to five of the seven songs on Get Yourself a Friend retooled into their better-than-even final form. Jakob Armstrong—youngest son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe—began playing guitar at seven years old and honed his craft privately until about sixteen, playing in bands in and around Oakland after meeting friends with like-minded tastes in music. Soon enough, with the memories of Ultraman action figures fighting in his mind, he and a group of friends he cultivated from those years playing around and pouring over records, formed Ultra Q (its name inspired by an Ultraman prequel series). Opening double-shot “Pupkin” and “It’s Permanent” soar to the heights of Ultra Q’s powers in much different ways; the former a black-clad romp through a rainy graveyard, the former pushing straight to the clouds with its soaring chorus. “Straight Jacket” veers pleasantly close to the jangle-pop of the Go-Betweens. “Bowman” features guitars like cats getting into a scratch-fight while an astoundingly metronomic drumbeat is played live rather than punched out on a beat pad. Closing the EP is its title track, an affecting end credits anthem full of nostalgia and a twinge of regret. As a whole, Get Yourself a Friend marks the synthesis of a songwriter’s vision and his band’s ability, forged through an invisible existential threat and an ever-changing world, eager to show what they’ve found while we were all inside

Curtis Godino’s first album producing for The Midnight Wishers. Mastered by Shimmy-Dic’s Kramer. “Golden Wish” Yellow Vinyl LP ltd edition of 500. RIYL: the Shangri-Las, the Chiffons, the Crystals, the GTOS, Ween. What if a cute girl group scored a hit song about a car crash, then actually died in a car crash, but decades later, David Lynch conjured their spirits for a beach-themed Halloween special? That’s a feeble attempt to describe the fun, spooky universe evoked by musician, songwriter and producer Curtis Godino with his latest project, Curtis Godino Presents the Midnight Wishers. “I’ve always been a fan of girl groups and old generic love songs,” says the Brooklyn-based artist, previously known around town for his psychedelic band Worthless and his ’60s-style light projection shows. “No matter how cheesy, they always get stuck in my head, so I decided I would try to make some of my own, with the help of my friends.” Chief among those friends are the Midnight Wishers: lead vocalist Jin Lee and backing singers Rachel Herman and Jessica McFarland, all of whom Godino recruited for the project. Lee also contributed lyrics, which she tends to recite as often as she sings in a dreamy, earnest voice. The trio are the perfect messengers for Godino’s tunes, visually as well as sonically. In photos, they pose before bubble-gummy backgrounds, playing with a ouija board by candlelight, elemental like a cartoon crime-fighting team with their respective black, red and blonde hair. But make no mistake: This project belongs to Godino, a musical ringmaster in the tradition of Phil Spector or more aptly Shadow Morton, whose noir sensibilities spawned such uncanny pop marvels as the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand).” In this case, Godino built the wall of sound almost entirely by himself, recording on his eight-track tape machine during the pandemic shutdown. Starting with drum tracks from Andrew Max and Adam Amram, he would add picked bass guitar in the style of L.A. studio legend Carol Kaye, then go bonkers with fuzzy guitars, Farfisa organ, mellotron, analog synthe- sizers, glockenspiel, an arsenal of other percussion instruments and an array of mysterious electronic effects. To fully realize the vision, however, Godino knew he needed more firepower. The Wishers’ multilayered harmonies and other vocal tracks were recorded and engineered by his roommate, Paul Millar, at Millar’s Bug Sound East studio. “I'm sure all those incredible old records were recorded on a four-track or whatever, but I don’t have the same discipline,” says Godino, whose stated goal was to create “songs so sweet they’ll give you a cavity

FFO: Arthur Russell, Stealing Sheep, Neu!, Agar Agar, Galaxians
Holodrum are a new disco-infused synth-pop group, who feature members of Hookworms, Yard Act, Cowtown, Virginia Wing, Drahla and more.

Maybe Holodrum were destined to start at this point. This might be the first time they’ve all officially worked together, but between Emily Garner (vocals), Matthew Benn (synth/bass/production), Jonathan Nash (drums), Jonathan Wilkinson (guitar), Sam Shjipstone (guitar/vocals), Christopher Duffin (sax/synth) and Steve Nuttall (percussion) they’ve shared bands, mixed each other’s records, promoted live shows and made music videos together in and around Leeds. As Holodrum, this is the 7 piece’s debut album, but the interlocking grooves and hot headiness of their repeato-rock-via-CBGBs dopamine hits have in one way or other been fermenting for years.

“When it comes to doing music most bands fall between two extremes of doing it for some goal or as an end to itself” says Shjipstone. “I think Holodrum is about the joy and complexity of living, and I just hope to god everyone gets to have a good time doing it.”

Ultimately the core of the group comes from Shjipstone and his former Hookworms bandmates Benn, Nash and Wilkinson. After their abrupt dissolution in late 2018, the four of them spent six months apart; Benn still had Xam Duo, his ongoing project with Virginia Wing and some-time James Holden & The Animal Spirits live member Duffin, Nash remains vocalist and guitarist of long-running DIY rockers Cowtown and helms his solo project Game_Program; and Shjipstone plays guitar with Yard Act. However, the four of them missed the sixth sense synergy they’d built-up playing together over a decade and soon enough demos were being swapped and new ideas were discussed.

The vision of a large live electronic ensemble formed quickly. Friends were added: Duffin and Nuttall – who was keen to resurrect the double percussion interplay that he and Nash had been exploring as part of motorik trio Nope joined first. Then animator and VIDE0 singer Garner crystallised the line-up by joining on vocals.

“Apart from Emily, all of us had actually played together before in a covers band at a New Year’s Eve party at the Brudenell Social Club a couple of years ago, so we knew we could have fun together” says Benn. “So we set up to be a live party band early on. We wanted lots of people on stage having fun, playing for people that also wanted to have fun. It makes sense we take inspiration from bands like Tom Tom Club and Liquid Liquid; they were trying to help people to party at a point when New York was quite a scary and dangerous place we’re doing the same, albeit in the face of a decaying world and a global pandemic.”

Covid-19 hasn’t given them much opportunity to do that yet, with two fledgling shows in late 2019 to their name before festival appearances at the likes of Bluedot, Sounds From The Other City and Gold Sounds were scuppered last year. However, the 6 tracks on Holodrum crackle with the energy of the dancefloor. Opening cut 'Lemon Chic' described by Garner as her “workout track” starts out sparsely, with tight drum claps and burbling synths holding a teetering suspense before the whole thing’s prised open, allowing beaming saxophone skronk to shine in. Garner’s vocals bob and weave around the syncopations of the track’s building cacophony.

It sets the stall for an album heavy on euphoria, built atop crisp interplaying percussion and acid-flecked grooves. At times Shjipstone provides a raw counterpoint on vocals, while elsewhere - like on the strutting, swirling disco of 'Free Advice' and 'Low Light'’s late night ping pong synths - the pair indulge in playful call and response as the instrumentation builds and contorts around them. 'Stage Echo' provides a respite of sorts halfway through, a swirling, fever dream of a track that peaks with big squelchy frequencies and cavernous reverb, before the album returns to its repetitious exercises in body-moving catharsis underpinned at all times by a relentlessly propulsive rhythm section.

The Grammy-nominated powerhouse vocalist Beth Hart takes on one of
her most profound undertakings to date by channelling the legendary
voice of Robert Plant on A Tribute To Led Zeppelin
The album will be released on CD, double black vinyl and doulbe orange vinyl via
Provogue/ Mascot Label Group. The nine- song album highlights the incredible
spectrum that Led Zeppelin operated in, from powerhouse rock to psychedelia,
folk, jazz, prog, blues, funk, soul and beyond. Rumours about the album had been
circulating for a few years. At the helm was super- producer Rob Cavallo and
engineer Doug McKean. The A-list musicians include Cavallo on guitar along with
Tim Pierce, Chris Chaney on bass, Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards, Dorian
Crozier on drums and Matt Laug, with Orchestral arrangements by David
Campbell. All that was left was the final piece of the puzzle… the voice.
Things clicked into place when Cavallo was producing Hart's previous album, War
In My Mind (2019), and she did an impromptu version of "Whole Lotta Love" in the
control room during the session. Maybe this was always in the cards. It's fitting
that the song that started it all, "Whole Lotta Love", is the opening song of the
album. From there, it's a non-stop, palpitating journey.
Talking about the music and legacy of Zeppelin, Beth says, "it's so beautifully
done, it's timeless. It will go on forever. Sometimes people come along, and
they're from another planet, and they make these pieces of art which will forever
be, like the Mona Lisa."

The Grammy-nominated powerhouse vocalist Beth Hart takes on one of
her most profound undertakings to date by channelling the legendary
voice of Robert Plant on A Tribute To Led Zeppelin
The album will be released on CD, double black vinyl and doulbe orange vinyl via
Provogue/ Mascot Label Group. The nine- song album highlights the incredible
spectrum that Led Zeppelin operated in, from powerhouse rock to psychedelia,
folk, jazz, prog, blues, funk, soul and beyond. Rumours about the album had been
circulating for a few years. At the helm was super- producer Rob Cavallo and
engineer Doug McKean. The A-list musicians include Cavallo on guitar along with
Tim Pierce, Chris Chaney on bass, Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards, Dorian
Crozier on drums and Matt Laug, with Orchestral arrangements by David
Campbell. All that was left was the final piece of the puzzle… the voice.
Things clicked into place when Cavallo was producing Hart's previous album, War
In My Mind (2019), and she did an impromptu version of "Whole Lotta Love" in the
control room during the session. Maybe this was always in the cards. It's fitting
that the song that started it all, "Whole Lotta Love", is the opening song of the
album. From there, it's a non-stop, palpitating journey.
Talking about the music and legacy of Zeppelin, Beth says, "it's so beautifully
done, it's timeless. It will go on forever. Sometimes people come along, and
they're from another planet, and they make these pieces of art which will forever
be, like the Mona Lisa."

The Grammy-nominated powerhouse vocalist Beth Hart takes on one of her most profound undertakings to date by channelling the legendary voice of Robert Plant on A Tribute To Led Zeppelin
The album will be released on CD, double black vinyl and doulbe orange vinyl via Provogue/ Mascot Label Group. The nine- song album highlights the incredible spectrum that Led Zeppelin operated in, from powerhouse rock to psychedelia, folk, jazz, prog, blues, funk, soul and beyond. Rumours about the album had been circulating for a few years. At the helm was super- producer Rob Cavallo and engineer Doug McKean. The A-list musicians include Cavallo on guitar along with Tim Pierce, Chris Chaney on bass, Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards, Dorian Crozier on drums and Matt Laug, with Orchestral arrangements by David Campbell. All that was left was the final piece of the puzzle… the voice.

Things clicked into place when Cavallo was producing Hart's previous album, War In My Mind (2019), and she did an impromptu version of "Whole Lotta Love" in the control room during the session. Maybe this was always in the cards. It's fitting that the song that started it all, "Whole Lotta Love", is the opening song of the album. From there, it's a non-stop, palpitating journey.

Talking about the music and legacy of Zeppelin, Beth says, "it's so beautifully done, it's timeless. It will go on forever. Sometimes people come along, and they're from another planet, and they make these pieces of art which will forever be, like the Mona Lisa."

Demon Records is proud to reissue this album as part of the Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s project. This Classic LP
reissue is presented on double 140g translucent blue vinyl.
Blue Rondo A La Turk were a lively 6 piece British latin/jazz/pop group, formed in 1981 by singer/lyricist Chris
Sullivan, and disbanded in 1984 when several members moved on to form the hit-making band Matt Bianco.
‘Chewing The Fat ‘ is the debut album, originally released in 1982 and includes the charting singles ‘Me And
Mr. Sanchez’ and ‘Klacto Vee Sedstein’
Included in the release is a bonus LP of official remixes on vinyl for the first time.
“If there was one band I wanted to be in back in 1982 it was Blue Rondo A La Turk. Named after the classic
Dave Brubeck song, they were a bunch of sharp suited hedonists with a philosophy straight out of Spinal Tap,
have a good time, all the time! Thinking about it though they probably would have left a lightweight like me
for dead in some Soho gutter after the first couple of drinks on a night out. Known and loved for their
infectious blend of salsa, funk, pop and cool bop and swing as well as their renowned live performances, why
they didn't break through to the nations charts remains one of pop's great conundrums. But those who
knew, knew and for energy and sonic pleasure this, their debut album "Chewing The Fat" takes some beating
and I'm thrilled it's available once again on vinyl under our GC Lost 80s moniker. It really is a wonderful
reminder of their collective talent that was sadly never given time to flourish.

The beauty of the sound: clear, transparent, precise, a work of art - and
that includes both the actual recording, and the subsequent production -
something that was already an essential difference in clarinettist,
composer and sound researcher, Rolf Kühn's musical concept
The pieces were recorded on separate sound tracks, in a stereo technique that
lends a visual sense to the music. In fact, there is a cinematic feel as sounds
project on the mind's eye. For this special, sensual production, Kühn has gathered
his Berlin trio around him - his "working band" with Christian Lillinger (drums),
Ronny Graupe (guitar) and Johannes Fink (bass). Their previous studio
recordings have had a sense of freedom about them that has indicated the
direction in which these musicians are heading. Theirs is a concentrated,
compact play that has moved further and further away from the delineation
between notated and improvised music. Duo and group improvisations flow
across the interstices between the sketched-out musical islands. On 'Stereo' Rolf
Kühn goes even one step further; he condenses the compositions, providing
accurate and concise sound ideas. The sound of 'Stereo' is reminiscent of the
Blue Note aesthetics of the 1960s, when the stereo sound was something
outrageously new and greatly enhanced the tonal possibilities of the recordings.

The second Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites, Sound Inventions from Klaus Weiss Rhythm And Sounds, originally released in 1979.

From the notoriously strong mind of Niagara drummer / library-funk overlord Klaus Weiss, Sound Inventions is loaded with tripped out studio funk-freakery, mad samples and swaggering abstract funk grooves. From dramatic deep disco with dark Italo/Moroder leanings to heavy German funk breaks, this is absolutely sensational. Absolute synth-and-string-drenched magic.

Born in 1942 in Gevelsberg, Germany, Klaus Weiss began his career as a jazz drummer at sixteen (with a group called the Jazzopators) before working with the internationally successful 60s groups the Klaus Doldinger Quartet and the Erwin Lehn Big Band. In 1965 he formed his own trio, the first of many groups to bear his name, and as his renown as a bandleader grew over the next decade it naturally lead to working in production music.

About as cult as it gets when it comes to library music legends (German or otherwise), he produced essential records on German library labels Coloursound, Selected Sound and Sonoton, as well as making two essential entries in the Conroy catalogue. Collections of music in the trademark Klaus Weiss sound of electronics unsurprisingly built on top of sometimes funky, sometimes frenetic, but always hard-hitting drums.

Sound Inventions is one of those library records with a hefty track list, 22 in total, but they’re all pretty stunning. That’s not something you can often say and picking out the highlights is almost impossible. If pushed, we’d steer you towards the tough teutonic funk of “Drumcrazy”, the by turns juddering and sweeping majesty of the title track “Sound Inventions”, the aquatic serenity of “Glide”, the elegant strut of “Greenwich Street”, the muted, eerie cosmic-funk of “Air Space”, the squelchy acid-clavs of “Rhythm Function”, the calming, melodic “Waves”, the stuttering proto-Timbaland sensation that is “Rainbows” and the percussive funk-fuelled workout of “A Few Cuts”. Phew. Heavy indeed!

Founded in the late 60s by German composer and musician Klaus Netzle, Selected Sound began as a production music company specialising in jazz, orchestral and electronic recordings. You can’t miss those early LPs in their iconic glossy metallic copper sleeves with minimal German typography. Serious, classy stuff.

This re-issue of Sound Inventions has been mastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis from audio from the original tapes. Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.

"The core of confusion and upheaval that drove some of the band's most fiery earlier work, however, is replaced by a more stabilized undercurrent, a mentality that's reflected in songs not afraid to try new things and honestly explore uncomfortable feelings. When combined with exciting production and songwriting choices, that mindset helps make Feels So Good // Feels So Bad one of the Shivas' best albums.” - AllMusic "Portland, Oregon-hailing psych-surf band The Shivas accomplish another time-traveling, reverb-ridden sound that refuses to get boring. Jared Molyneux’s guitar work knows when to be bright or bashful at the right times, breaking into guitar solos that possess a late-’60s groove… The Shivas seem to blissfully flourish” - Paste "a consistent treat for the ears” - The Vinyl District "Though the psych-tinged guitar riff that drives 'Feels So Bad' was written while The Shivas were still on the road, its lyrics didn’t fall into place until the band was well into lockdown, unsure of when they’d be able to return to their most imperative true love: Live shows... Accordingly, 'Feels So Bad' permeates with a sense of urgent desperation, building off a chugging prog-rock instrumental.” - Consequence (on “Feels So Bad”) "They hooked the audience with their throwback rock sounds. The guitar strums and rhythmic drum beats were layered atop smooth and hallucinogenic vocals. The eyes can tell the take at times and there was a sparkle there that said that the band members just love doing live performances." - California Rocker "This single layers on the fuzz but keeps it dreamy, with an especially sticky guitar riff sure to lodge itself in your brain with minimal effort." - Portland Monthly (on “If I Could Choose”) “'My Baby Don’t' translates the genuine vibrant joy


of the live experience into the studio, bringing the band’s ‘60s garage rock roots, sharp pop vocal harmonies, and fervent performances along for the ride." - Under The Radar "Perfectly straddling the line between a solid-head bopping track and an introspective deep cut, The Shivas’ 'Undone' is a rock & roll gem. The track sounds straight out of the late 60s and fits seamlessly in the Portland band’s electrifying catalog." - The Luna Collective "The first time I clicked play on this track, I knew it was a yes for me." - Ear To The Ground Music (on “If I Could Choose”) "The harmonies would make the “Happy Together” Turtles blush, but the unsettling guitar doesn’t shy away from the woollier implications of the ’60s." - Willamette Week (on “If I Could Choose”) "'Undone' is just the perfect song for the good days and the bad ones." - GlamGlare "another hit" - Austin Town Hall (on “Undone”) "one of the best forthcoming albums of the year" - Austin Town Hall RADIO: #3 Most Added @ NACC - 50 official adds BIO Every working musician has had their life turned upside down by Covid-19. For The Shivas, who had recently released a new LP and normally keep a rigorous touring schedule, it was a particularly screeching halt. “We were about to go to SXSW, the following weekend was Treefort in Boise, and then we were going to open for our friends’ band on tour in the US before going to Europe,” Jared Molyneux remembers. Then everything just stopped. They were faced with a dilemma. “It forced us to adapt or just quit,” Molyneux says. “The reality is that shows are our job.” In truth, live shows aren’t just The Shivas job: they are the band’s greatest love. Shivas shows are bombastic, explosive and thoroughly communal live rock and roll experiences where barriers between the performers and their audience seem to dissolve into the sweat and sound. The stage—or the basement, or the living room—that’s The Shivas’ true element. It’s their raison d’etre. It’s their religion. The band’s live urgency may have been born in 2006, when the band’s young members—who began booking West Coast tours while still in high school—waited without fanfare on sidewalks or in parking lots, before being rushed onstage for their sets at 21-and-up clubs. Maybe it developed a little later, as The Shivas blasted their way through Portland’s storied and unsanctioned mid-aughts house show scene. Whatever the origin of their famously kinetic live experience, it’s the show that keeps them coming back after over 1,000 performances spread over 25 countries in 15 years. In those 15 years, The Shivas have grown tight-knit as a group. Guitarist/singer Jared Molyneux, bassist Eric Shanafelt and drummer/singer Kristin Leonard have all been with the band since its earliest days; guitarist Jeff City, another high school friend, joined in 2017. Together they’ve learned to thread a seemingly impossible needle: They’ve honed and tightened their performances without sacrificing the element of surprise that makes each show special. And despite touring and recording for most of their lives, they speak about their project with humility, in the DIY vernacular of their Pacific Northwest upbringing. They talk up their own favorite bands, play all-ages shows as much as possible, and bring a sort of blue-collar humanism to the live performances they relish so much. “We just want to make people feel good,” Molyneux says. “We want them to forget they have to work tomorrow.” Kristin Leonard elaborates, “The live show is all about that feeling of catharsis—in ourselves and in everyone who comes out. We’re creating this safe space where we can all let go. Where we can exhale. And it feels really good when we are able to facilitate that.” So when Covid hit, the band knew it was time for transformation. After a settling realization that live music would be grounded for the foreseeable future, The Shivas booked significant studio time with Cameron Spies, who also produced the 2019 Dark Thoughts LP. They also transformed their lives: three of the band’s four members found work with a local nonprofit serving unhoused Portland residents. They became engaged in protests and fundraisers for social justice. They spent a whole summer actually living in Portland, settling into the city they had always called home, but that sometimes felt like a temporary stop between tours. “We got into a more community-minded headspace,” Leonard says. “And that did give us some purpose. It felt cool to see everybody come together to stick up for what they believe in. It feels like an incredibly formative last twelve months.” The album that emerged from this new moment finds The Shivas reborn as a band that seems seasoned and perfectly at home with itself. There is a calm, even a hopefulness, to Feels So Good // Feels So Bad that sounds new. The Shivas didn’t write or record the album with a particular theme in mind, but one seems to have emerged: where Dark Thoughts was about confronting your demons with fearless self-examination, much of Feels So Good // Feels So Bad is about what happens once you find that peace: how being honest with yourself changes your relationships and your priorities. “I do think it’s about acceptance,” Leonard says. “There’s a weird relaxation that comes with being at peace with things you can’t control or have regrets about.” Maybe that’s why the squealing, riff-laden break-up song opener, “Feels So Bad,” is such a shock to the system. But it’s more of an exorcism than a melodrama: more a song about not being able to do the thing you love (in


this case, playing live shows) than splitting with a partner. “It’s like part of you goes to sleep,” Leonard says. As bandmates who are also in a long-term relationship, Molyneux and Leonard know that their songs might be seen as glimpses into their personal lives, but their songwriting is rarely autobiography. Leonard compares their process to something more akin to screenwriting. “There’s bound to be some autobiographical material in there,” she says. “But the common denominator is the exploration of universal feelings: ones that everyone experiences or can relate to.” The goal is to use the music to drill down into something genuine and sincere, beyond genre or stylistic affectation. That’s where The Shivas have arrived. Whatever growth led the band to Feels So Good // Feels So Bad, plenty of their fascinations remain. They’re still turning love songs into psychedelic, transcendent epics. “Tell Me That You Love Me” subverts doo-wop extravagance and dabbles in Flamenco rhythms. “Rock Me Baby” is a bubblegum anthem soaked in so much reverb that we might just be hearing it from the stadium nosebleeds. “Sometimes” is almost impossibly huge, like a witchy outtake from the Brill Building era. Those songs feel like logical expansions from a band that has always excelled at a timeless sort of rock and roll that tinkers with and explodes elements from every era. But on the towering and mournful “You Wanna Be My Man,” a slow-burning six-minute shoegaze prayer for a higher sort of love, there is a level of emotional nuance that feels like something altogether revolutionary. It’s there again in the stripped-down vulnerability of the album-closing elegy “Please Don’t Go.” Yes, Feels So Good // Feels So Bad is an album about acceptance. Sometimes that acceptance feels enlightened and sometimes it feels like the end result of a lot of kicking and screaming. The Shivas have adapted in both of those ways. With new tours scheduled and a new album on the way, they’re still hoping--like all of us--for a new era of vibrant, cathartic live music. The lessons they learned from having their normal upended, though, have only helped them grow

São Paulo-based carnival collective and brass band combine retro horns with cumbia, baile funk, jazz, Michael Jackson & more

A Espetacular Charanga do França started as a political act, part of a recent movement which has seen the people of São Paulo reclaim their streets, turning their city into a revelation of Brazilian carnival. The group takes equal inspiration from the powerful charanga horn and percussion bands that stir the crowds at Brazilian football matches, and the expertly-arranged sounds of 60s

samba, finding that sweet spot between musicianship and music that makes you lose your shit. And they do it with humour, clear as day in their covers of Michael Jackson and pagode pop hits, and the baile funk and Balkan rhythms that sneak their way in to the tunes.

Since forming in 2013 the group have become an iconic staple of São Paulo’s revived carnival, generating crowds 15,000 strong. Though COVID-19 put a stop to them hitting the streets this year, in 2020 they made their way to carnival with over 60 brass players and 30 percussionists, declaring their bloco an anti-fascist zone, their reply to a political climate in Brazil that is suffocating human rights, culture and any hope for equality.

“I like to think that Charanga is an oasis in the middle of all the shit that we live, where you don't have to be worried about who you are, what are your preferences, whether you can be comfortable. If you want to parade with us wearing a tea towel you can, you won't be harassed. And it's also about music, it's about listening to music. We do this thing the whole year, we rehearse all year, we do too much so that people can just get crazy and not care about the music.” Thiago França

The group is the brainchild of saxophonist Thiago França, best known as a founding member of Afro-punk explorers Metá-Metá, and one of São Paulo’s most in-demand horn men, with credits on influential albums by Criolo, Elza Soares, Céu and Lucas Santtana. A

Kapingbdi came together in Liberia, West Africa, during the late 1970’s and had their own unique style. This six to seven-piece band played original compositions in a vibrant mix of African Rhythms, Soul, Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Rock. Led by Kojo Samuels on sax, flute and vocals “Born in The Night” presents the essential tracks from their rare studio LPs produced between 1978-1981. The work has been carefully edited and remastered in 2019 for vinyl LP and a 6-Page Digipack CD, which includes two additional recordings. Kapingbdi toured through Europe and the U.S. and were the only Afro funk band to ever come out of Liberia.

Kapingbdi hail from Liberia, West Africa and have their own imitable style. They effortlessly combine traditional African music in a modern mix of Jazz, Funk, Soul and Rock. The band is a fusion of the old and the new.

The word "Kapingbdi" is taken from the Sierra Leone language Mende and means "born in the night". Kojo Samuels was given the name by his Latin teacher whilst attending high school in Freetown, They often meet and debate at night in the city and soon after Kojo is called Kapingbdi. The name serves as a description of his origin. Born In Lagos, Nigeria in 1943. The son of slave children. His mother from Nigeria and father from Sierra Leone who moved the family to Liberia, during the 1950’s.

Kojo has played music for as long as he can remember. He starts with the harmonica and later becomes a drummer and percussionist in his first band at school. During his art studies 1965-1972, he tours Germany and works as an art teacher in the USA. His band Kapingbdi is reorganized five times and consists of up to seven musicians. In a VW-Bulli he drives the group from concert to concert and if the drummer fails, he jumps in himself. Between 1978 and 1981 three Kapingbdi LPs are produced for the independent label Trikont, recorded in Hamburg and Munich. During this creative period, the band plays at festivals in Africa and Europe. In 1984, the band tours the United States and shortly after, they came to an end.

At their best, Kapingbdi would rouse the audience with original compositions like "Human Rights", justice for all, especially for South Africans, and "You Go Go You Go Come". The officials and employees in the government departments have no time for the common man, for any questions such as job search, scholarship or similar, he receives the answer "go, come back tomorrow" and the same thing the following day. Or "Now Is The Time For Cry For Love." Now it is time to scream for love and finally, time for humanity and justice. Despite immense difficulties, the musicians consciously live and work in Africa and are at home in Liberia.

On April 12, 1980, ordinary soldiers and non-commissioned officers organize a coup against the government. This is an attempt to put an end to a policy of exploitation of the Liberian people. Whilst efforts to eradicate poverty, lawlessness and illiteracy are obvious throughout the country, Liberia is still Americanized to a high degree. This is evident, as the radio programs of that time almost exclusively played American disco music. Under these conditions, the people seek a reconnection to their folk music, and Kapingbdi were aware of this. Kojo tried many times to come together with traditional Liberian musicians. This passion takes him north of the country. Meeting and playing with the old hornblowers and playing music on traditional instruments, such as the elephant tusk.

Kapingbdi make high quality tape copies of their own vinyl LPs and patiently try to displace all unauthorized tapes from the domestic "market". Nevertheless, it is hard to make a living through music in Liberia. Kapingbdi, is now celebrated. The radio plays are in abundance, but royalties are not forthcoming. Their musical link is the feeling of Afrobeat and Highlife, which is found in each of the many Kapingbdi pieces. They embody Jazz, which is understood to be the most refined example of black music outside of Africa. In Liberia, Jazz is virtually impossible to hear. Bright shining names such as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker or Miles Davis were widely unknown. Thus, the Black Jazz, including its Back-To-Africa movement of the 60’s and 70‘s, passes by without leaving a trace in Africa itself.

Kojo's claim at the time, was to make African music with the depth, sensitivity and the freedom of the technical level of Jazz. This makes Kapingbdi the torchbeares. The underpaid prophets in small Liberia. It is the passion with which the founder of the band continues to work on their music for years. Tirelessly, stimulating and encouraging his fellow musicians. This is ultimately responsible for the success of Kapingbdi in Liberia itself. The local audience seems to listen to the band in fascinated astonishment. One wonders about the ability to develop as demonstrated by Kapingbdi on the basis of their music. It is African and unusually jazzy, danceable and better than the American disco music heard on the radio.

Rather than chase the money and the job opportunities in Europe, Kapingbdi are firmly rooted in Africa. The musicians live in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, at the Kabingbdi workshop, located in the Congotown area on the eastern edge of the sprawling city. Kojo works here as a sculptor, painter, batik artist and musician. The sales revenue that his activities generate, gives him the opportunity to support the development of African Jazz music. The highest percentage of funds are from Germany and Kojo’s work ethic is “to work on your own thing“. The stance taken aims to support the welfare of Liberians and Africans. The other musicians of the group live in a second house that is nearby.

For the sake of consistency, Kapingbdi is a full-time band. However, the revenue, from all of the sources, could not keep them afloat. Equally, as important to the group are Kojos's knowledge of traditional African music and his sculpting skills. His knowledge is shared with others at the afternoon workshops. It is here that they discuss new lyrics, engage in political debate and the self-imposed task of improving conditions in Africa. At times the debate became heated, especially during rehearsals. This was regarded as good and integrative, sowing the seeds of innitiative to keep the band together.

From 1980 to 1985 Kojo also opened and ran the club "Panjebota", located on the grounds of the U.S. Consulate in Monrovia. Almost every evening Kapingbdi perform the song "Wrong Curfew Walk", whose lyrics lament the killing of citizens during the curfew imposed by the Liberian government. When the head of state Samuel Doe hears the song, he behaves agressively and forces Kojo to close the "Panjebota". Kojo had already moved on. Soonafter he meets Fela Kuti at the Africa-Festival and plays concerts in Germany with Cecil Taylor's workshop band.

Kapingbdi is for thinking, dreaming, dancing. What they sing about is what they have experienced. Kojo Samuels is 76 years old today and still follows his vocation as a critical musician, artist and activist.

Ekkehart Fleischhammer / Sonorama 2019 (with the help of original press sheets and the memories of Kojo Samuels)

The Zephyr Bones’ psychedelic rock expands in a precise and determined sophomore album. A warm and accessible record that speaks about love, self-affirmation, loss and hope.

A quicksilver track that glides on a buoyant bassline and glistening melodic interplay, “No One” is the sound of joy. While it’s easy to pigeonhole it as a dreampop track, there’s undoubtedly hints of psych, funk and Kraut all nestled in there, The Zephyr Bones blurring the lines with ease in this intoxicating track that shows growth in their sonic heft without losing their feathery lightness.
Beats per Minute
"No One" opens up like a traditional indie dance track, with sparkling guitars and a vibrant synth lead reminiscent of a cut from The Strokes or Tame Impala. But it progresses in a fascinating way, bringing in a crunchy psychedelic guitar solo and a funky instrumental breakdown at the end. This track has a variety of sounds, but it's prog rock more than anything, as the dynamic instrumentation sticks out the most. Every layer here is not only an excellent piece to the larger puzzle while also being technically impressive on its own. Despite these nods to the more experienced rock nerd, what's the most fascinating is how accessible the tune really is. The wild drum beats, dense synth layers, and lightning-quick guitars demonstrate the true cerebral chemistry of the group. The sheer musical talent doesn't hurt either.
Earmilk
When The Zephyr Bones first burst into the scene they crushed everything that got in their way. Their music slapped us like a wave when it reaches shore. It took us by surprise and left us asking yearning for more. They coined their style “beach wave”. All this became a first album titled Secret Place, something like the sonic coordinates of a sunny place with a soundtrack of guitars with reverb and intoxicating melodies. You can’t tell whether you’ve been there or not, but you definitely want to go back.
In Neon Body they are the same people, but it hits differently. Their melodies and suggestive guitar riffs are on point. They are able to take you back to places. You will never finish these 10 tracks in the same place where you were when you first hit play. Speaking of The Zephyr Bones is speaking of pure freedom. And yet, in this second album we get to know them in a different way, more determined and with a renewed intensity. The landscape has also changed and now the tone reminds us of the twilight, and in some songs you can even feel the reflection of neon light on your skin.
But let’s not lose the point. What matters here are the songs, and in this album you can find pretty damn good ones. “No One”, the first single, is an excellent entry into the universe created in Neon Body. Addictive and irresistible, it will instantly get you dancing and singing along. “So High” is a dizzying and fast-paced first track. By the time “Verneda Lights” arrives, you have fully surrendered to Brian Silva (vocals, guitar and synthesizers), Jossip Tkalcic (guitar and vocals), Marc López (drums) and Carlos Ramos (bass). “Sparks” shines with its own light: it is a controlled fire until the final part of the song makes everything burn again. “Plastic Freedom” goes all-in with an infallible riff. “Velvet” is as elegant as its title suggests, and “Rocksteady” hits the bullseye again with a chorus that hits like a poisonous dart. “Neon Eyes’’ lifts you up with heavenly back up vocals and “Afterglow” keeps you with your feet on the ground – Why? Because begs you to dance. And then comes “Celeste V”, a song that speaks about loss that puts an end to the recording.

Neon Yellow
The Zephyr Bones’ psychedelic rock expands in a precise and determined sophomore album. A warm and accessible record that speaks about love, self-affirmation, loss and hope.

A quicksilver track that glides on a buoyant bassline and glistening melodic interplay, “No One” is the sound of joy. While it’s easy to pigeonhole it as a dreampop track, there’s undoubtedly hints of psych, funk and Kraut all nestled in there, The Zephyr Bones blurring the lines with ease in this intoxicating track that shows growth in their sonic heft without losing their feathery lightness.
Beats per Minute
"No One" opens up like a traditional indie dance track, with sparkling guitars and a vibrant synth lead reminiscent of a cut from The Strokes or Tame Impala. But it progresses in a fascinating way, bringing in a crunchy psychedelic guitar solo and a funky instrumental breakdown at the end. This track has a variety of sounds, but it's prog rock more than anything, as the dynamic instrumentation sticks out the most. Every layer here is not only an excellent piece to the larger puzzle while also being technically impressive on its own. Despite these nods to the more experienced rock nerd, what's the most fascinating is how accessible the tune really is. The wild drum beats, dense synth layers, and lightning-quick guitars demonstrate the true cerebral chemistry of the group. The sheer musical talent doesn't hurt either.
Earmilk
When The Zephyr Bones first burst into the scene they crushed everything that got in their way. Their music slapped us like a wave when it reaches shore. It took us by surprise and left us asking yearning for more. They coined their style “beach wave”. All this became a first album titled Secret Place, something like the sonic coordinates of a sunny place with a soundtrack of guitars with reverb and intoxicating melodies. You can’t tell whether you’ve been there or not, but you definitely want to go back.
In Neon Body they are the same people, but it hits differently. Their melodies and suggestive guitar riffs are on point. They are able to take you back to places. You will never finish these 10 tracks in the same place where you were when you first hit play. Speaking of The Zephyr Bones is speaking of pure freedom. And yet, in this second album we get to know them in a different way, more determined and with a renewed intensity. The landscape has also changed and now the tone reminds us of the twilight, and in some songs you can even feel the reflection of neon light on your skin.
But let’s not lose the point. What matters here are the songs, and in this album you can find pretty damn good ones. “No One”, the first single, is an excellent entry into the universe created in Neon Body. Addictive and irresistible, it will instantly get you dancing and singing along. “So High” is a dizzying and fast-paced first track. By the time “Verneda Lights” arrives, you have fully surrendered to Brian Silva (vocals, guitar and synthesizers), Jossip Tkalcic (guitar and vocals), Marc López (drums) and Carlos Ramos (bass). “Sparks” shines with its own light: it is a controlled fire until the final part of the song makes everything burn again. “Plastic Freedom” goes all-in with an infallible riff. “Velvet” is as elegant as its title suggests, and “Rocksteady” hits the bullseye again with a chorus that hits like a poisonous dart. “Neon Eyes’’ lifts you up with heavenly back up vocals and “Afterglow” keeps you with your feet on the ground – Why? Because begs you to dance. And then comes “Celeste V”, a song that speaks about loss that puts an end to the recording.

Tape

The Zephyr Bones’ psychedelic rock expands in a precise and determined sophomore album. A warm and accessible record that speaks about love, self-affirmation, loss and hope.

A quicksilver track that glides on a buoyant bassline and glistening melodic interplay, “No One” is the sound of joy. While it’s easy to pigeonhole it as a dreampop track, there’s undoubtedly hints of psych, funk and Kraut all nestled in there, The Zephyr Bones blurring the lines with ease in this intoxicating track that shows growth in their sonic heft without losing their feathery lightness.
Beats per Minute
"No One" opens up like a traditional indie dance track, with sparkling guitars and a vibrant synth lead reminiscent of a cut from The Strokes or Tame Impala. But it progresses in a fascinating way, bringing in a crunchy psychedelic guitar solo and a funky instrumental breakdown at the end. This track has a variety of sounds, but it's prog rock more than anything, as the dynamic instrumentation sticks out the most. Every layer here is not only an excellent piece to the larger puzzle while also being technically impressive on its own. Despite these nods to the more experienced rock nerd, what's the most fascinating is how accessible the tune really is. The wild drum beats, dense synth layers, and lightning-quick guitars demonstrate the true cerebral chemistry of the group. The sheer musical talent doesn't hurt either.
Earmilk
When The Zephyr Bones first burst into the scene they crushed everything that got in their way. Their music slapped us like a wave when it reaches shore. It took us by surprise and left us asking yearning for more. They coined their style “beach wave”. All this became a first album titled Secret Place, something like the sonic coordinates of a sunny place with a soundtrack of guitars with reverb and intoxicating melodies. You can’t tell whether you’ve been there or not, but you definitely want to go back.
In Neon Body they are the same people, but it hits differently. Their melodies and suggestive guitar riffs are on point. They are able to take you back to places. You will never finish these 10 tracks in the same place where you were when you first hit play. Speaking of The Zephyr Bones is speaking of pure freedom. And yet, in this second album we get to know them in a different way, more determined and with a renewed intensity. The landscape has also changed and now the tone reminds us of the twilight, and in some songs you can even feel the reflection of neon light on your skin.
But let’s not lose the point. What matters here are the songs, and in this album you can find pretty damn good ones. “No One”, the first single, is an excellent entry into the universe created in Neon Body. Addictive and irresistible, it will instantly get you dancing and singing along. “So High” is a dizzying and fast-paced first track. By the time “Verneda Lights” arrives, you have fully surrendered to Brian Silva (vocals, guitar and synthesizers), Jossip Tkalcic (guitar and vocals), Marc López (drums) and Carlos Ramos (bass). “Sparks” shines with its own light: it is a controlled fire until the final part of the song makes everything burn again. “Plastic Freedom” goes all-in with an infallible riff. “Velvet” is as elegant as its title suggests, and “Rocksteady” hits the bullseye again with a chorus that hits like a poisonous dart. “Neon Eyes’’ lifts you up with heavenly back up vocals and “Afterglow” keeps you with your feet on the ground – Why? Because begs you to dance. And then comes “Celeste V”, a song that speaks about loss that puts an end to the recording.

In over thirty years of regularly meeting with reggae artists and musicians in the UK and Kingston, I never encountered anything like the feeling of being around the Xterminator camp during the nineties. It wasn’t just the depth of talent that owner Philip “Fatis” Burrell could call upon or even the quality of his productions, but the sense of purpose he instilled in people. At times, it felt as if he and his group of largely Rasta artists had aligned themselves with a higher power - not just in their reasoning sessions, but when someone stepped to the mic and opened their heart, as well as their mouth. If you recorded for Fatis, you went into the studio empty-handed - no lyrics - and put your trust in the Almighty. That was the rule and the artists who passed through Xterminator had to really feel what they were singing or deejaying about.

"Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads Amorphis have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On “Halo”, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Fins underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today’s pop culture: Stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos “Kalevala” into their songs and interpreting them in a timeless way, Amorphis combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. The vibrant, lively, and touching beauty that is “Halo” highlights their musical and storytelling mastership on a once again soaring level: It’s a progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy metal masterwork plucked from the fickle void of inspiration by original guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, drummer Jan Rechberger, longtime keyboardist Santeri Kallio and vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the band’s long-standing lyrical consciousness Pekka Kainulainen and a selected group of world class audio professionals led by
renowned Swedish producer Jens Bogren. Considering the band’s prolonged journey in the forefront of innovative metal music, it’s difficult to grasp how Amorphis manages to raise the proverbial bar time and time again, presenting a more than worthy finale to the trilogy begun with 2015’s “Under the Red Cloud” followed by 2018’s “Queen of Time.” “It really is a great feeling that we can still produce very decent music as a band,” says Holopainen, a founding member of the band. “Perhaps a certain kind of self-criticism and long experience culminate in these latest albums.” To the songwriter himself, “Halo” sounds both familiar and different. “It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor,” he elaborates. Tomi Joutsen, the man with vocal cords capable of unleashing colossal, bear-like growls as well as singing soothing, mesmerising lullabies, adds, “To me, ‘Halo’ sounds a little more stripped down compared to ‘Queen Of Time’ and ‘Under The Red Cloud.’ However, don’t get me wrong: when a certain song needs to sound big, then it sounds very big.” He’s right, of course: By stripping down some of the arrangements, the monumental moments become even more monumental. That’s of course also thanks to producing renaissance man Jens Bogren who harvested the thirteen final tracks from a batch of thirty songs Amorphis offered him. “Jens is very demanding, but I really like to work with him,” says Holopainen. “He takes care of the whole project from start to finish, and he allows the musician to focus on just playing. I may not be able to thank Jens enough. Everything we’ve done together has been really great, and this co-operation has carried Amorphis significantly forward.” Indeed. Setting off with the stormy grandeur of opener “Northwards,” Amorphis take us on an epic journey through the lands of the north, their rich cultural and historical heritage and musical traditions. This is not only an album for fans or metal connoisseurs. It’s a must for every imaginative mind out there with a soft spot for cinematic soundscapes, triumphant melodies and breathtaking dynamics measuring the borderlands of light and dark. However, no Amorphis album would be complete without the imaginative and poetic storytelling of renowned lyricist and “Kalevala” expert Pekka Kainulainen. “From day one, Pekka has always been an enthusiastic and prolific lyricist for Amorphis,” says Joutsen. “It is a slow process of translating archaic Finnish poetry into English and adapting it our progressive rhythms. Fortunately, Pekka does everything on time and with great care.” Since 2007’s “Silent Waters,” Kainulainen has been navigating the mythological waters of his homeland with great skill and respect. For “Halo,” he outdid himself once again. “‘Halo’ is a loose themed record filled with adventurous tales about the mythical North tens of thousands of years ago,” he explains. “The lyrics tell of an ancient time when man wandered to these abandoned boreal frontiers after the ice age. While describing the revival of a seminal culture in a world of new opportunities, I also try to reach the sempiternal forces of the human mind.” Thirty-one years after their inception, with uncounted global tours under their belt and fourteen albums deep in their career, Amorphis still proves to be the musical fountain of youth, an extraordinary band constantly reinventing itself without abandoning its mystical roots. With “Halo”, they deliver an astonishing album that deserves to be played everywhere, transcending the realms of metal and rock by its sheer profoundness and musicality."

"Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads Amorphis have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On “Halo”, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Fins underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today’s pop culture: Stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos “Kalevala” into their songs and interpreting them in a timeless way, Amorphis combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. The vibrant, lively, and touching beauty that is “Halo” highlights their musical and storytelling mastership on a once again soaring level: It’s a progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy metal masterwork plucked from the fickle void of inspiration by original guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, drummer Jan Rechberger, longtime keyboardist Santeri Kallio and vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the band’s long-standing lyrical consciousness Pekka Kainulainen and a selected group of world class audio professionals led by
renowned Swedish producer Jens Bogren. Considering the band’s prolonged journey in the forefront of innovative metal music, it’s difficult to grasp how Amorphis manages to raise the proverbial bar time and time again, presenting a more than worthy finale to the trilogy begun with 2015’s “Under the Red Cloud” followed by 2018’s “Queen of Time.” “It really is a great feeling that we can still produce very decent music as a band,” says Holopainen, a founding member of the band. “Perhaps a certain kind of self-criticism and long experience culminate in these latest albums.” To the songwriter himself, “Halo” sounds both familiar and different. “It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor,” he elaborates. Tomi Joutsen, the man with vocal cords capable of unleashing colossal, bear-like growls as well as singing soothing, mesmerising lullabies, adds, “To me, ‘Halo’ sounds a little more stripped down compared to ‘Queen Of Time’ and ‘Under The Red Cloud.’ However, don’t get me wrong: when a certain song needs to sound big, then it sounds very big.” He’s right, of course: By stripping down some of the arrangements, the monumental moments become even more monumental. That’s of course also thanks to producing renaissance man Jens Bogren who harvested the thirteen final tracks from a batch of thirty songs Amorphis offered him. “Jens is very demanding, but I really like to work with him,” says Holopainen. “He takes care of the whole project from start to finish, and he allows the musician to focus on just playing. I may not be able to thank Jens enough. Everything we’ve done together has been really great, and this co-operation has carried Amorphis significantly forward.” Indeed. Setting off with the stormy grandeur of opener “Northwards,” Amorphis take us on an epic journey through the lands of the north, their rich cultural and historical heritage and musical traditions. This is not only an album for fans or metal connoisseurs. It’s a must for every imaginative mind out there with a soft spot for cinematic soundscapes, triumphant melodies and breathtaking dynamics measuring the borderlands of light and dark. However, no Amorphis album would be complete without the imaginative and poetic storytelling of renowned lyricist and “Kalevala” expert Pekka Kainulainen. “From day one, Pekka has always been an enthusiastic and prolific lyricist for Amorphis,” says Joutsen. “It is a slow process of translating archaic Finnish poetry into English and adapting it our progressive rhythms. Fortunately, Pekka does everything on time and with great care.” Since 2007’s “Silent Waters,” Kainulainen has been navigating the mythological waters of his homeland with great skill and respect. For “Halo,” he outdid himself once again. “‘Halo’ is a loose themed record filled with adventurous tales about the mythical North tens of thousands of years ago,” he explains. “The lyrics tell of an ancient time when man wandered to these abandoned boreal frontiers after the ice age. While describing the revival of a seminal culture in a world of new opportunities, I also try to reach the sempiternal forces of the human mind.” Thirty-one years after their inception, with uncounted global tours under their belt and fourteen albums deep in their career, Amorphis still proves to be the musical fountain of youth, an extraordinary band constantly reinventing itself without abandoning its mystical roots. With “Halo”, they deliver an astonishing album that deserves to be played everywhere, transcending the realms of metal and rock by its sheer profoundness and musicality."

Hangman's Chair, formed in 2005 in Paris, are one of the most unique sounding doom rock bands currently active. Through the years, they have found and fine-tuned their own sonic brand, somewhere at the crossroads between Type O Negative, Alice In Chains and Sisters of Mercy, to name a few, mixed with a certain street credibility connected to the group’s roots in hardcore, and even tinges of shoegaze. ‘Cold Doom’ as the band likes to call it.

Each album takes its strength and essence from the band members’s life experiences, which they portrait with unflinching honesty. Whether it is the loss of band members, drug overdoses or the hardships of living in suburban Paris, all those human emotions resonate within each of their songs as they embrace the darkness and transform it into something beautiful, heavy and melancholic.

After five studio albums and a handful of splits / EPs, Hangman's Chair is releasing their sixth studio album, "A Loner", their first record on Germany based, worldwide leading metal label Nuclear Blast. Telling tales about loneliness in all its forms, this record has all the trademarks that makes Hangman's Chair’s music so visceral, and will keep you in its tight grip from the very first listen.

Not much is known about the German session musician ensemble Studiogruppe 1 from the ‘70s and ‘80s. It’s believed that the grandfather of one member, known only as V.S., originally soundtracked silent films in theatres - although that hasn’t been proved. Studiogruppe1 never rose to prominence in the heyday of studio groups and library records, but it certainly wasn’t due to lack of trying.

Although it’s unknown who the individual members of Studiogruppe1 were, it’s clear they could find a groove within the machines. It appears the sessions were also engineered by V.S., and there’s plenty of space between the notes, which lends a heady atmosphere of anticipation to the music. Just close your eyes and you will find that the music triggers many scenes from the movies in your mind.

Take the opener Dunkler Sonnenaufgang, for example. Waves lap on the shore line of an alternate Coney Island, while the sound system of an abandoned amusement park plays arpeggios in the distance. Errinungen could complement expansive panoramic time-lapses of natural cycles and rolling clouds. The track Wenn Der Tiefe Schlaf Kommt, might accompany a documentary on REM dream cycles and flotation tanks. Sonnentanz raises the temperature, as act III in every movie narrative should, as protagonists rush to overcome their challenges. Ein Neuer Anfang would perfectly soundtrack the plot twist of any number of thrillers, film noirs, or sci-fi mysteries. Album closer War Alles Nur Ein Traum could supplement slow-motion shots of dawning realization, foreshadowing a betrayal or a cliffhanger.

V.S. and Studiogruppe1 have condensed the evocative sounds of the ’80s into something of an art form. Bringing to mind the lilting melodies and melancholy chord movements of Tangerine Dream, Vangelis or Manuel Göttsching, Studiogruppe1 manage to capture widescreen emotional flash points without the need for celluloid, or barely any visual aid, for that matter. These tracks work just as well in the furnace of your imagination or a dark room filled with dry ice and lasers.

"A split-screen maelstrom of Fela Kuti, Led Zep, Morricone, psych and dub" The Budos Band - MOJO - Rising - August 2019

Celebrating 15 years from the release of their debut album, Daptone's Royal Court from Staten Island delivers a truly epic collection of new material that finds the group further bridging the gap between the farfisa-fueled Ethio-Funk stylings of their early recordings, with the psychedelic, Sabbath-inspired hellfire of late.

“In some ways, itʼs reminiscent of our first two albums The Budos Band and Budos II,” says Tom Brenneck. “We branched off on Burnt Offering and Budos V. Now, weʼre still moving forward. You can play these songs on the dance-floor. We knew the horns had to stand out too. Thinking about hip-hop allowed us to put the bounce back into The Budos.”

This is evident from needle drop to final rotation. Heavy drum breaks, reminiscent of the B-Boy approved grooves of their early output reign supreme, setting the stage for the pulsating, hallucinatory wall of organ, menacing horns, and rugged guitar riffs to permeate your soul - leaving the listener in a rhythmic wash of Budonian rapture.

Long in the Tooth represents the culmination of a 15-year journey by a band that has consistently carved its own distinct path through the grooves of history.

Panthers prowling through a desert. Cowgirls swaggering into a saloon and kicking up dust. Riding shotgun with a Tarantino heroine. Having the fiesta of your lives under a giant piñata with all your friends. Los Bitchos’ hallucinatory surf-exotica is as evocative as it is playful: the London-based pan-continental group could well be your new favourite party band with their instrumental voyages that are the soundtrack to setting alight to a row of flaming sambucas and losing yourself to the night. They’ve got a bun-tight knack for a groove – and they’ve got the best fringes in rock’n’roll too.

Serra Petale (guitar), Agustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass) and Nic Crawshaw (drums) hail from different parts of the world but met via all-night house parties, or through friends, in London. Their unique sound binds them together, though, taking in a

retrofuturistic blend of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych and surf guitars. They are London’s answer to Khruangbin, if Khruangbin spent all weekend getting slammed on cheap tequila in
a Dalston dive bar.

Its not often that we have a conversation with Jordan where we don’t come away feeling like we have been through a whirlwind of inspiration and ideas. One particular conversation led to a discussion about new tapes he had acquired and one in particular from the Wishbone production company.

Wishbone was the name of a production company and studio owned by Terry Woodford and Clayton Ivey. These guys worked at Muscle Shoals and went on to be snapped up by Motown as writers and producers before moving on to start their own studio.

This band is known, has some great tracks but never got the backing it deserved to go the distance. With only a handful of released tracks to their name Motown didn’t get behind them. Imagine our excitement when Jordan starts to play the tracks from the tape and there are 2 unreleased tracks on it. Following a quick chat and verification that they were unreleased; we started to hunt down the rights.

Following an intensive week or so of conversations, Terry not only agreed to work with us but then proceeded to share his knowledge and catalogue with us to see what else might make it to vinyl for the first time.

This is a great double sider with the A side being a fabulous 70s/modern version of a classic track that was also sung by Bobby Sheen and Bobby Womack. There is every possibility that this is the first recorded version of this masterpiece of 70s soul.

Flip it over and the skilful writing of JJ Boyce is delivered through a soulful group harmony track that is a fabulous balance to the powerful A side.

A musical journey with Emile Parisien is an adventure, something way out of the
ordinary. The soprano saxophonist’s sound is instantly recognisable - as is the way
with the greats - and you know that you are in the best possible company to set off
for a destination shrouded in uncertainty.
 For the past twenty years, the one-time child prodigy of Marciac has found ways to
astonish, to shake up and to enchant listeners with colourful and productive
experiments. His driving force is a passion which seems physically to take hold of
him as he plays.
 Anyone who has seen his development as a performer knows what he’s about; there
is an element of the dance but also the tension of a coiled spring. And among the
musicians who seek him out are not only the very best of his own generation but also
the jazz masters, such is his reputation both as a leader and as an inspirational
partner.
 As a musician he is one of a kind, with a power to be evocative and to bring
convincing shape to the unpredictable. His musical language can express sudden
frenzy, keeping the listener completely on tenterhooks, but there are also outbursts of
tenderness and a palpable emotional honesty.
 ‘Louise’ takes its title from Louise Bourgeois and more specifically her sculpture of a
spider, ‘Maman’. Her monumental work has motherhood as its theme, also conveyed
through the metaphor of weaving, an underlying thread that runs through Emile
Parisien’s creation.
 He has assembled a group of musicians who bridge the two sides of the Atlantic. The
saxophonist has set out to combine the essence of jazz with his own purposes; so,
what shines through here are both his kaleidoscopic imagination and his appetite for
breaking down barriers. Three American musicians are in the group, all of them
friends whom he has got to know over time.
 Their eagerness to engage in fruitful conversations with a trio consisting of Parisien
himself and two of his closest colleagues from France is miraculous. All kinds of
nuances and a confluence of influences are to be heard here. We find variations of
pace from skittering syncopations to the softly majestic.
 Textures are meticulously calibrated, with a broad palette of instrumental colours
both in the original compositions and in a burning cover of Joe Zawinul’s
‘Madagascar’. This collective endeavour leaves plenty of room for individual
inventiveness, yet there is a happy balance between the different personalities as
well. Emile Parisien, always hyperalert, knows when to step back and to leave the
initiative to his partners, but will then re-enter authoritatively and be the catalyst who
completely re-energise them.
 ‘Louise’ is just magnificent in its twists and turns, and in the way it celebrates the
sheer joy of the groove. ACT have taken a path towards intoxicating freedom with a
team of artists in complete balance both individually and collectively. Through its
subtle amalgamation of diffidence and affirmation, this pellucid music tells us the
truth about life.

Gonzalo Benitez and Luis Alberto Valencia were kingpins of the musica nacional movement in Ecuador. Check them out on the cover, on a rooftop in Quito’s Old Town, surveying their dominion. In 1970, when Valencia collapsed onstage during a performance of the yaravi Desesperacion — ‘My heart is already in ashes’ — and died four days later, aged 52, his coffin was carried through those city streets on the shoulders of his fans.

They began singing as a duo in their mid-teens. During twenty-eight years together they recorded more than six hundred songs, for Discos Ecuador, Nacional, Granja, Ortiz, Rondador, Onix, Fuente, Real, Tropical, Fadisa, RCA Victor — and of course CAIFE.

Their exquisitely romantic harmonising is a sublime blend of collected forbearance and abject self-annihilation, underpinned and elaborated by the heart-piercing, improvisatory guitar-playing of Bolivar Ortiz. Effectively the third member of the group. ‘El Pollo’ sets the tone and intensity for everything that follows: listen to his soloing at the start of our opener, Lamparilla.

Musically a pasillo — a cross between a Viennese waltz and the indigenous yaravi rhythm — Lamparilla draws its verses from a poem by Luz Martinez from Riobamba, written in 1918 when she was 15, under the influence of Baudelaire and Mallarme. Another pasillo here, Sombras is one of the best-loved songs in the musica nacional canon, setting lines about undercover sex and loss by the Mexican poet Maria Pren, which were considered pornographic on publication in 1911.

And Benitez & Valencia looked back still further, to the indigenous roots of Ecuadorian music, as the key to its future. Carnaval de Guaranda is their take on a song dating back to the era of the Mitimaes, a broad group of Bolivian tribes conquered by the Incas and displaced to Ecuador. ‘Impossible love of mine / I love you for being impossible / Who loves what is impossible / Is the truest lover.’

Lovingly presented in a gatefold sleeve with spot-gloss, and printed inners, with stunning photos and expert notes. Excellent sound, drawn from original tapes, by way of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas.

As funny as it may sound, Anaïs Mitchell has spent the past 15 years in some kind of hell. OK, not actual hell, but the multi-faceted world of Hadestown, a musical project she began in Vermont in 2006 that has grown into a Tony®- and Grammy®-award-winning Broadway phenomenon with touring editions now delighting audiences as far away as South Korea.

“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.” As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s Young Man in America.

“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s Hadestown. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”

Dubbed by NPR as “one of the greatest songwriters of her generation,” Mitchell is a master of the worlds of narrative folksong, poetry and balladry. Those talents are evident from the first moments of the new album, as Mitchell narrates what she calls “an unbearably romantic” trip over the Brooklyn Bridge colored by Bon Iver member Michael Lewis’ heartstring-tugging saxophone accompaniment. “Having left New York, I was able to write a love letter to it in a way I never could when I was living there,” she says. “It was like, fuck it. This is how I feel. There is nothing more beautiful than riding over one of the New York bridges at night next to someone who inspires you.”

Produced by Mitchell’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate Josh Kaufman, the album proceeds to chronicle Mitchell’s reconnection with the Vermont roots that have been so formative in her life and music. “Bright Star” finds her making peace with the idea of being at peace in the familiar setting of her grandparents’ house, while “Revenant” was inspired by paging through a box of journals and letters belonging to herself and her grandmother — “a very pandemic activity,” she says. “That house is literally my happy place. I can picture myself as a kid, in this house, laying on the carpet with a sunbeam coming through the sliding glass door. There’s something about it that is really connected in my mind to my childhood and a very free, imaginative, creative time. “Revenant” has a lot to do with that house and reconnecting with my childhood self.”

Mitchell concedes that she tends “to be someone who thinks it has to be hard in order for it to be good or beautiful,” but that feeling has changed, partly thanks to her deep connection with musicians she’s met through the 37d03d collective established by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. During the pandemic, some of those artists participated in a “song a day” writing group — an idea Mitchell says is usually “totally opposite of how I roll. But it really helped me to gain access to some kind of trust and intuition and flow. I began a bunch of these songs while doing that.”

“It unlocked something that allowed me to finish a bunch of songs I’d been sitting on, and feeling a bit paralyzed about how to finish them,” she continues. “Because no one was touring, it’s not like I was playing them for anyone before we were in the studio. In other times, I’ve trotted things out in advance. Here, it was like, here’s all these brand new songs. Let’s discover what they can be. That was really exciting.”

That discovery process took flight at Dreamland Recording Studios outside Woodstock, N.Y., which Mitchell describes as “this weird, janky, beautiful church - it’s my favorite studio in the world.” Kaufman, Lewis and Big Red Machine drummer JT Bates formed a core band around Mitchell, while Aaron Dessner and Thomas Bartlett joined the sessions mid-week on guitar and piano, respectively.

After the appropriate COVID tests came back negative, “it was a pretty extraordinary feeling to hug, kiss and share the same space playing together,” Mitchell says. “We went into that world for a week and didn’t leave the studio for any reason. I felt very safe with all those guys. It was warm and joyful.”

Mitchell says this environment brought out unexpected details in the material, which was recorded almost entirely live together in the room. “Sometimes we tried separating things out, like vocals, but we always ended up back in the room together,” she says. Indeed, after spending the better part of a day recording overdubbed versions of “Little Big Girl” that nobody loved, the musicians gave up and tracked it again live. “We got so frustrated that we went in and I was like, I’m just going to sing this as hard as I fucking can. It felt like that’s what the song wanted to be,” Mitchell says. “It felt like all those songs wanted to be recorded as live as possible.” The exception to the rule was Nico Muhly's arrangements for strings and flute, which were added from New York City afterward.

Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022, at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”

As funny as it may sound, Anaïs Mitchell has spent the past 15 years in some kind of hell. OK, not actual hell, but the multi-faceted world of Hadestown, a musical project she began in Vermont in 2006 that has grown into a Tony®- and Grammy®-award-winning Broadway phenomenon with touring editions now delighting audiences as far away as South Korea.

“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.” As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s Young Man in America.

“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s Hadestown. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”

Dubbed by NPR as “one of the greatest songwriters of her generation,” Mitchell is a master of the worlds of narrative folksong, poetry and balladry. Those talents are evident from the first moments of the new album, as Mitchell narrates what she calls “an unbearably romantic” trip over the Brooklyn Bridge colored by Bon Iver member Michael Lewis’ heartstring-tugging saxophone accompaniment. “Having left New York, I was able to write a love letter to it in a way I never could when I was living there,” she says. “It was like, fuck it. This is how I feel. There is nothing more beautiful than riding over one of the New York bridges at night next to someone who inspires you.”

Produced by Mitchell’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate Josh Kaufman, the album proceeds to chronicle Mitchell’s reconnection with the Vermont roots that have been so formative in her life and music. “Bright Star” finds her making peace with the idea of being at peace in the familiar setting of her grandparents’ house, while “Revenant” was inspired by paging through a box of journals and letters belonging to herself and her grandmother — “a very pandemic activity,” she says. “That house is literally my happy place. I can picture myself as a kid, in this house, laying on the carpet with a sunbeam coming through the sliding glass door. There’s something about it that is really connected in my mind to my childhood and a very free, imaginative, creative time. “Revenant” has a lot to do with that house and reconnecting with my childhood self.”

Mitchell concedes that she tends “to be someone who thinks it has to be hard in order for it to be good or beautiful,” but that feeling has changed, partly thanks to her deep connection with musicians she’s met through the 37d03d collective established by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. During the pandemic, some of those artists participated in a “song a day” writing group — an idea Mitchell says is usually “totally opposite of how I roll. But it really helped me to gain access to some kind of trust and intuition and flow. I began a bunch of these songs while doing that.”

“It unlocked something that allowed me to finish a bunch of songs I’d been sitting on, and feeling a bit paralyzed about how to finish them,” she continues. “Because no one was touring, it’s not like I was playing them for anyone before we were in the studio. In other times, I’ve trotted things out in advance. Here, it was like, here’s all these brand new songs. Let’s discover what they can be. That was really exciting.”

That discovery process took flight at Dreamland Recording Studios outside Woodstock, N.Y., which Mitchell describes as “this weird, janky, beautiful church - it’s my favorite studio in the world.” Kaufman, Lewis and Big Red Machine drummer JT Bates formed a core band around Mitchell, while Aaron Dessner and Thomas Bartlett joined the sessions mid-week on guitar and piano, respectively.

After the appropriate COVID tests came back negative, “it was a pretty extraordinary feeling to hug, kiss and share the same space playing together,” Mitchell says. “We went into that world for a week and didn’t leave the studio for any reason. I felt very safe with all those guys. It was warm and joyful.”

Mitchell says this environment brought out unexpected details in the material, which was recorded almost entirely live together in the room. “Sometimes we tried separating things out, like vocals, but we always ended up back in the room together,” she says. Indeed, after spending the better part of a day recording overdubbed versions of “Little Big Girl” that nobody loved, the musicians gave up and tracked it again live. “We got so frustrated that we went in and I was like, I’m just going to sing this as hard as I fucking can. It felt like that’s what the song wanted to be,” Mitchell says. “It felt like all those songs wanted to be recorded as live as possible.” The exception to the rule was Nico Muhly's arrangements for strings and flute, which were added from New York City afterward.

Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022, at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”

Beyond their highly sought after 1978 album Festa Para Um Novo Rei­ - home to the mystical jazz-funk classic ‘Vidigal’ and released on Philips’ iconic Musica Popular Brasileira Contemporanea series (MPBC) - little is known about Marcos Resende & Index, even to aficionados of obscure Brazilian music. Far Out Recordings is immensely proud to present their previously unreleased self-titled debut album from 1976, contributing a crucial missing work from the glory days of progressive Brazilian instrumental music.

Born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Brazil in 1947, Marcos Resende was a prodigious child who learned to play the accordion at the age of two, and the piano aged six. In spite of his immense musical potential, he travelled to Lisbon in the 60s to study medicine. Yet continuing to explore his musical passion on the side, he formed a trio which went on to open for Dexter Gordon at the Cascais Jazz Festival in 1971. From here he formed the electronic oriented prog-jazz group Status, who opened shows for the likes of Elton John, Phil Woods, Stan Getz, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, but in spite of their relative live success they have no known recordings.

Now established as a highly regarded keyboardist, composer, and innovative electronic musician, Resende returned home to Brazil following Portugal’s Revolução dos Cravos in 1974. Inspired by US jazz and British progressive rock he’d experienced while residing in Europe, Resende went all out acquiring a keyboard arsenal to be reckoned with, which included the Prophet 5, Yamaha CP-708 and Mini Moog. Determined to integrate his newfound inspirations with Brazilian rhythms and jazz traditions, he formed a new quartet with Rubão Sabino (bass), Claudio Caribé (drums) and the late great Oberdan Magalhães, of Banda Black Rio and Cry Babies fame. Marcos Resende & Index recorded their self-titled debut at Sonoviso Studios with the legendary sound engineer Toninho Barbosa, known as the ‘Brazilian Rudy Van Gelder’ whose impressive resumé includes the era defining classics Light As A Feather by Azymuth, Previsão Do Tempo by Marcos Valle, and Quem É Quem by João Donato. Marcos Resende & Index fits perfectly amongst these masterpieces, sharing both the timeless ethereal qualities as well as the progressive and futuristic ideals of Light As A Feather in particular.

Eric Gales is a blues frebrand
Over 30 years and 18 albums, his passion for the music and his boundless desire
to keep it vital has never waned, even when his own light dimmed due to his
substance struggles. Throughout it all, he continued to reinvigorate the art form
with personal revelation in his lyrics and bold stylistic twists in his guitar playing
and songwriting. Five years sober, creatively rejuvenated, and sagely insightful,
Eric is ready for the fght of his career. Aptly, he calls his masterful new album,
'Crown', out January 28th, 2022, on Provogue/ Mascot label Group. Here, Eric
opens like never before, sharing his struggles with substance abuse, his hopes
about a new era of sobriety and unbridled creativity, and his personal refections
on racism. The songs are delivered with clarity and feature Eric's personal
experiences and hope for positive change. In addition, the 16- track collection
boasts his fnest singing, songwriting, and his signature guitar playing that burns
throughout. Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, this is Eric at his most
boldly vulnerable, uncompromisingly political, and unfinchingly confdent.
The 'Crown' album journey is exhilarating, and, much like Eric's life, winds through
moments of victory and vulnera-bility. Along the way, Eric shares his story and his
feelings through the majesty of the blues. He says: "When I play, the core is
always the blues, and on this album, we go through a theme park of the blues,
exploring all kinds of blues. We visit the carousel, the bumper cars, the water
rides, the concession stands, and we all come out with smiles."
• 'Crown' was produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, and features
contributions from ace songwriters Keb Mo, Tom Hambridge and James House •
Eric Gales' most recent album, 2019's 'The Bookends', debuted #1 on the
Billboard Blues Album chart and that year Eric won a Blues Music Award for Blues
Rock Artist Of The Year • Extensive social media and lifestyle campaigns on
Facebook, Google, YouTube, along with online adverts on key websites • Reviews,
consumer ads and interviews in a wide range of media including Blues, Rock,
Mainstream, Lifestyle and newspapers

Deluxe LP features 140g virgin vinyl; heavy-duty board jacket, artwork by Art Rosenbaum + DL. RIYL: Bob Dylan, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Ry Cooder, Michael Chapman, Michael Hurley, The Youngbloods & Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Jake Xerxes Fussell’s 4th album finds the acclaimed folksong interpreter, guitarist, and singer navigating fresh sonic and compositional landscapes on the most conceptually focused, breathtakingly rendered, and enigmatically poignant record of his wondrous catalog. Produced by James Elkington and featuring formidable players both familiar (Casey Toll, Libby Rodenbough) and new (Joe Westerlund, Bonnie “Prince” Billy), it includes Jake’s first original compositions; atmospheric arrangements with pedal steel, horns, and strings. One of the most striking and strangely moving moments on Jake Xerxes Fussell’s gorgeous Good and Green Again an album, his fourth and most recent, replete with such dazzling moments arrives at its very end, with the brief words to the final song “Washington.” “General Washington/Noblest of men/His house, his horse, his cherry tree, and him,” Fussell sings, after a hushed introductory passage in which his trademark percussively fingerpicked Telecaster converses lacily with James Elkington’s parlor piano. That’s the entire lyrical content of the song, which proceeds to float away on orchestral clouds of French horn, trumpet, and strings, until it simply stops, suddenly evaporating, vanishing with no fade or trace, no resolution to its sorrowful minor-key chord progression, just silence and stillness and stark presidential absence. It feels like the end of a film, or the cold departure of a ghost, and is unlike anything else Jake has recorded. In all his work Jake humanizes his material with his own profound curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways. The robust burr of his voice, which periodically melts and catches at a particularly tender turn of phrase, and the swung rhythmic undertow of exquisite, seemingly effortless guitar-playing here he plays more acoustic than ever before pull new valences of meaning from ostensibly antique songs and subjects. On Good and Green Again, Jake not only ventures beyond his established mastery of songcatching and songmaking into songwriting, but likewise navigates fresh sonic and compositional landscapes, going green with lusher, more atmospheric and ambitious arrangements. The result is the most conceptually focused, breathtakingly rendered, and enigmatically poignant record of his wondrous catalog. It’s also his most deliberately premeditated album, representing his fruitful return to a producer partnership after two self-produced projects, What in the Natural World (2017) and Out of Sight (2019) (William Tyler produced his friend’s self-titled 2015 debut.) This time James Elkington produced and played a panoply of instruments, bringing to Jake’s arcane song choices his own peerless sense of harmony and orchestration, balance and dramatic tension. The pair enlisted a group of formidable players including regular bandmembers Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah, Nathan Bowles) on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) on strings, and Nathan Golub on pedal steel. They were joined by welcome newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and veteran collaborator and avowed Fussell fan Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who contributes additional vocals. Album opener “Love Farewell” (featuring some beautiful singing by Bonnie “Prince” Billy), an elliptical tale of the folly of war, set to the world’s most heartbreaking goodbye march for a lover left behind. “Carriebelle” and “Breast of Glass” each similarly concerns, in its own way, romantic love and leavings. All three songs highlight Jacobson’s diaphanous, understated brass parts, tying them together in a true lover’s knot. “Rolling Mills Are Burning Down,” with its distant keening strings and capacious sense of space, observes and mourns the loss of work and community in the wake of elemental disaster. Nine-minute tour de force “The Golden Willow Tree,” the sole explicitly narrative song herein, is a hypnotic, minimalist rendering of a tragic maritime ballad about scuttling an enemy ship in exchange for wealth and glory and a captain’s inevitable betrayal. “Fussell is creating his own legacy within the long lineage of traditional folk musicians and storytellers that have come before him.” The New York Times // “So elegant … It’s relaxing in the way that pondering a Zen koan is relaxing, and sweet in the way that the wounded, honey-voiced blues of Mississippi John Hurt are sweet.” Pitchfork // “Music that resides at the seams of Appalachia and the cosmos.”

24 Songs. A new project from The Wedding Present. A new 7” single every month throughout 2022. 24 Songs sees David Gedge writing with legendary Sleeper guitarist Jon Stewart for the first time, and a more perfect union could not have been predicted. The first release includes a gorgeous duet featuring David and Louise Wener also from Sleeper on ‘We Should Be Together’, and it’s coupled with a rousing new track called ‘Don’t Give Up Without A Fight’ which combines classic Wedding Present feistiness with a Krautrock finale. The notion of a monthly 7” single is not new to The Wedding Present, but 24 Songs shows us that even classic concepts can be reinvented. The series also continues the band’s association with photographer Jessica McMillan, who has created stunning images and films as a visual accompaniment to the recordings.‘We Should Be Together’ will be available to listen to at The Wedding Present’s official YouTube channel from Tuesday 19 October at 12 noon. Subscription details with an early bird incentive can be found at 24songs.scopitones Individual singles and a collector’s box can be ordered from the same site or via all participating record shops. Explaining 24 Songs, David Gedge said: “In 1991, The Wedding Present were rehearsing in a studio in Yorkshire when we hit upon an idea that immediately thrilled us all. Our bass player Keith Gregory had been a member of the ‘Sub Pop Singles Club’ - a service that allowed subscribers to receive 7”s released by that Seattle label on a monthly basis. Keith wondered if we, as a band, could attempt a similar thing. In that instant, The Wedding Present’s Hit Parade series was born and, during 1992, we managed to release a brand new 7” single each and every month. “The Hit Parade went on to become something of a significant milestone in the history of the band and it’s a project about which I’m often asked. As its thirtieth anniversary approached, I began to wonder if we should celebrate it in some way. A ‘Hit Parade Part 2’ didn’t feel quite right, though. Then, someone said to me: “Other bands have released music in similar ways but there has been nothing like the Hit Parade.” And they were right! A 7” single a month seems, somehow, very ‘Wedding Present’. So, inspired by that little idea from three decades ago, we’ve embarked on this new project, 24 Songs. “Even though The Wedding Present have never been known for taking the easy route, the idea of recording 24 tracks and releasing them in this way could seem daunting to any band. However, I’ve been inspired by the music that has been written since Jon and Melanie joined the group. The thought of celebrating this exciting new line-up with an exciting new series has motivated us all… and I suppose we also didn’t want any of these songs to be hidden away in the middle of an album!”