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Omochi, (honorific “O” before mochi) in daily parlance is a rice cake, a dense glutinous product suited to many recipes, sweet or savoury. Stick one under the grill, watch it burst open, wrap it in crisp seaweed and dip it in soya sauce - a healthy snack, and a staple around Japanese New Year. Like everything, Omochi also has its dark side - each year it kills off a small section of the aged community, the gluey bolus a hard act to swallow - the unwary can quickly choke to death.

This Omochi is in fact Tadaki Matsunaga, of early 2000s Tokyo three piece Femini Flyers. The original Feminis were Tadaki (bass), Sachie (vocals) and Koji (drums) that was it, no guitars, no synths, Tadaki's bass being the rhythm and lead, and boy could he make it sing. Their 7” single Like You See / Masterbed was an early Ethbo release was the most requested track from Japan Blues’ Boiler Room Collections video - now pulled off the internet by The Powers That Be - since it was first aired, way back in 2014. Now the single trades for a collector's premium with those in the know. Since that recording, Omochi has built, and been working in, his home studio. The first release being his Ethbo 7” Devil, in 2019.

The follow-up is a roller-coaster ride, his own take on several genres in his forage bag, marinated to his own recipe. You'll hear his expert bass in amongst the fungii, some slick R'n'B guitar styling, several dollops of glitch-tronics, some falling-down-the-stairs drum'n'bass, a slice of kraut, Omochi's louche voice, and a spot of Sachie, the lead singer of the legendary Feminis.

This modern psychedelic omnibus, flying in the face of logic (an Ethbo template) was pressed by Omochi at Toyo Kasei, the last independent Japanese pressing plant, housed it in a tip on sleeve and shipped it to the UK, grill-ready for release. Itadakimasu!

Originally formed in 1989 by mastermind Snorre Ruch, Marius Vold, & B
Yard Faust (Emperor), Norwegian band Thorns' has inspired a great
number of acts such as Satyricon, Mayhem, Dissection, & Emperor,
mainly due to Snorre's highly influential style of playing & creating riffs on
the early Thorns' demo tapes
So impressed was Euronymous of Mayhem, that Snorre became second guitarist
in the band for a while & his riffs were used in classic Mayhem tracks. Thorns'
was the band's debut (& only, thus far) full-length studio album. It was released in
2001 & is a cult slice of highly individual Norwegian black metal, including
experimental & sometimes industrial influences along with synth passages to
create a chilling yet clinical slice of extremity. The album was notable for
featuring Satyr of Satyricon on vocals, a duty shared between songs with the
vocal talent of Aldrahn (ex-D dheimsgard) & the recording line-up also featured
Hellhammer of Mayhem on drums. The outcome was a unique & original album
which is today considered a cult classic release by critics.This edition of 'Thorns'
is presented on single black vinyl, including printed inner sleeve with lyrics.

2015 DEBUT ALBUM FROM O R K AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON
VINYL
"An electric storm that takes no prisoners but could seduce an army"
Prog"Impressive debut" Drummer
"Expertly done" Rock a Rolla
A band comprising some of contemporary music's most revered creators, O.R.K.
released their debut album 'Inflamed Rides' in 2015. The band are: accomplished
singer & composer LEF (lead vocals), Pat Mastelotto (drums, King Crimson), Colin
Edwin (bass, ex-Porcupine Tree) & Carmelo Pipitone (guitars, Marta Sui Tubi).
'Inflamed Rides' is an intriguing collaborative debut release which defies easy
categorisation. A primordial & energetic fusion of playful acoustic psychedelia,
precise math rock & intense ambient electronica, the album delivers a
soundscape rich with controlled chaos, much praised on release.
This new Kscope edition has been remastered in 2022 by Francesco Guadalupi.
Available for the first time ever on vinyl, pressed on a stunning blue edition.

"Her voice is a mesmerizing thing, deep and plummy enough to shake
trees and stir hearts" " PitchforkThis wildly acclaimed Istanbul-based
artist, delivers an unforgettable 4th album Anadolu Ejderi (Anatolian
Dragon)
Building upon her mellange of Turkish psychedelia, empowered commentary and
retro-futurist sonics, her vision is more personal and uncompromising than ever
before.Courage. Bravery. Daring. Those are the watch words that guided Turkey's
Gaye Su Akyol when she was making Anadolu Ejderi, her first full-length release in
four years. Already lauded for her startling, innovative mix of Turkish psychedelia
and folk song, surf music and E 90s Western rock, a global sweet spot where
Anatolian music heroine Selda Ba can rubbed shoulders with Kurt Cobain, Akyol
was ready to expand her vision after a relentless period on the road.
ONLINE. LondonJazz News - Album review due PRINT
Mojo magazine - Album review due (should be a half-page) + Album included with
a photo in the "Coming Next Month …" section at the end of their reviews pages
(December 2022) / Uncut magazine Album review due (January 2023 issue) +
Album mentioned in 'Coming next month' box in review section (December 2022)
+ pitched her for a 'I'm New Here' feature, is being considered / The Wire
magazine - Want her to do the 'Inner Sleeve' column + still considering her for a
feature at a later stage + might be included in a possible Istanbul feature + is
being considered for an album review / Songlines magazine - 'Spotlight' (1 page)
feature due (issue out December 2022) + album review due (issue out December
2022) / New Internationalist magazine - Considering her for a 'Spotlight' feature +
Might review the album / Hi-Fi Choice magazine Album review due (January 2023
issue, out 1 December 2022))

Exclusive to INDIE STORES: Hiss and Shake Records to release ‘Logically Yours’ – a limited edition, 5 x LP boxset of 50 essential recordings from seminal post-punk icon Lora Logic including 2 classic Essential Logic albums, early single releases, EPs, B-sides, rarities, vinyl exclusives + first new Essential Logic studio album in 43 years! Includes the classic Rough Trade Records releases ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?) + ‘Pedigree Charm’ + 2 retrospective compilations of early single releases, EPs, B-sides, rarities + vinyl exclusives ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’ + ‘No More Fiction’ + new studio album ‘Land of Kali’ (first in 43 years) + 20 page booklet with introduction from Celeste Bell + Lora Logic Q+A. Susan Whitby, aka Lora Logic was one of the most distinctive talents from the post-punk era known for her intoxicating, rough-around-the-edges, yet exhilarating sax playing and haywire vocal style. Her offbeat, occasionally arresting lyrics tackled alienation, sexism, poverty and urban isolation, and with a complete disregard for convention, she carved her own path not only in her short-lived music career but also personal life. She was still in her teens when she answered an ad in Melody Maker “Looking for young punks,” and in 1976, with her friend Marion Elliot (aka Poly Styrene), she formed the punk band X-Ray Spex and acquired the pseudonym, Lora Logic. The duo soon achieved notoriety with the irresistible feminist protest single, ‘Oh Bondage Up Yours’ (1977) – Logic arguably stealing the show with her thrilling punk sax. “X-Ray Spex was my first band, I happened to be accepted, It happened to work, I happened to get famous overnight. I’d been playing sax in a cupboard in my room; I thought I better do something.” However, just prior to recording 'Germ Free Adolescents' (1978), X-Ray Spex's debut album, she found herself unexpectedly ousted from the band. With abundant enthusiasm and encouragement from Geoff Travis, founding director of Rough Trade Records, she went on to form Essential Logic, creating some of the most liberating and exciting music of the early post-punk era, not only as Essential Logic, but also as a solo artist. Hiss and Shake Records are pleased to present a limited edition boxset of 50 essential recordings from the irresistibly engaging Lora Logic archive, allowing for a new generation to become aware of her incredible creative output. Across 5 LPs, ‘Logically Yours’ includes in their entirety, the classic Rough Trade Records releases ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?) (1979) – Essential Logic’s sole studio album, and Lora’s solo album, ‘Pedigree Charm’ (1982) – her last studio album before turning her back on the music business, sad and disillusioned and fighting drug addiction, which saw her turn to a Hare Krishna lifestyle, alongside Poly Styrene, embracing a fresh new chapter. This totally absorbing and definitive collection also includes two retrospective compilations; ‘Essential Logic – ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’, which comprises early single releases, B-sides and oddities including the gloriously chaotic ‘Aerosol Burns’, the essential punk/disco ‘Music Is A Better Noise’, and ‘Fanfare In the Garden’, showcasing Lora at her most pop. In addition, ‘Essential Logic – ‘No More Fiction’; contains 10 vinyl exclusives, including ‘Do You Believe in Christmas?’, recorded with the Krishna Kids Choir in 1985, alongside tracks recorded circa 1997, with Martin Muscatt, Dave Farren (Bad Manners) and Gary Valentine (Blondie), forming the basis of what would have been Essential Logic’s third studio album, ‘No More Fiction’. Having recently returned to the studio refreshed and rejuvenated, ‘Logically Yours’ also includes ‘The Land of Kali’ (co-produced by Youth), the first new Essential Logic studio album in 43 years, and features the forthcoming new single ‘Prayer for Peace’, a re-imagining of the X-Ray Spex track from the tragically overlooked album, ‘Conscious Consumer’ (1995) on which Lora also played sax. “Poly Styrene and I were living in a Krishna community in Worcestershire in the early 80s. We came together for the first time musically after X-Ray Spex to record the original version of this song. In 2019, I decided to record my own take as a tribute to the special times we shared. I hope Poly likes this new version too.” Further tracks penned for release from the album include the dystopian, lockdown-inspired ‘Alien Boys’ and ‘Sky Rocket’, written with daughter Malini, about the fairground of life. Despite her short-lived career in the music business, Lora still managed to perform and appear on releases with many artists including US experimental rock band Red Crayola between 1978 and 1981, and also appeared on recordings by The Stranglers, The Raincoats, Kollaa Kestää, Dennis Bovell, Swell Maps and later, Boy George. Undoubtedly an iconic figure of the UK post-punk scene, Lora Logic’s boldness, adventurousness and sense of fun can be seen as an influence on numerous female artists today including Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches and St. Vincent among others. Tracklisting: Essential Logic ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?)’ (1979). A1 ‘Quality Crayon Wax OK’ A2 ‘The Order Form’ A3 ‘Shabby Abbott’ A4 ‘World Friction’ B1 ‘Wake Up’ B2 ‘Albert’ B3 ‘Alkaline Loaf in the Area’ B4 ‘Collecting Dust’ B5 ‘Pop Corn Boy (Waddle Ya Do?)’…… Lora Logic – ‘Pedigree Charm’ (1982). A1 ‘Brute Fury’ A2 ‘Horrible Party’ A3 ‘Stop Halt’ A4 ‘Wonderful Offer’ A5 ‘Martian Man’ B1 ‘Hiss and Shake’ B2 ‘Pedigree Charm’B3 ‘Rat Allé’ B4 ‘Crystal Gazing’…..Essential Logic – ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’. A1 ‘Aerosol Burns’ (1978) – Debut single A2 ‘World Friction’ (1978) – ‘Aerosol Burns’ B-side A3 ‘Eugene’ (1981) – Single A4 ‘Tame the Neighbours’ (1981) – ‘Eugene’ B-side A5 ‘Music Is A Better Noise’ (1981) – Single A6 ‘Moontown’ (1981) – ‘Music Is A Better Noise’ B-side B1 ‘Fanfare In the Garden’ (1981) – Single B2 ‘Stereo’ (1982) – ‘Wonderful Offer’ single B-side B3 ‘Rather Than Repeat’ (1981) – ‘Wonderful Offer’ single B-side B4 ‘The Captain’ (1979) – ‘Fanfare In The Garden’ B-side B5 ‘Soul’ (1983) – Previously unreleased on vinyl B6 ‘Stay High’ – Previously unreleased on vinyl….. Essential Logic – ‘No More Fiction’. A1 ‘Essential Logic’ (1991) – Vinyl exclusive A2 ‘On The Internet’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive A3 ‘Under The Great City’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive A4 ‘No More Fiction’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive A5 ‘Love Eternal’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B1 ‘Barbie Be Happy’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive B2 ‘Not Me’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive B3 ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B4 ‘Marika’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B5 ‘Do You Believe in Christmas?’ (1985) with the Krishna Kids Choir – Vinyl exclusive……Essential Logic – ‘Land of Kali’ (2022). A1 ‘Prayer For Peace’ A2 ‘Alien Boys’ A3 ‘Mother Earth’ A4 ‘Never Know’ A5 ‘Charming Every Cupid’ B1 ‘Sky Rocket’ B2 ‘Serious’ B3 ‘Fallible Soldiers’ B4 ‘Land of Kali’ B5 ‘Beyond’

“Arguably his generation’s best lyricist” – Mojo // “The year’s stand-out album for me” – Stewart Lee // “A sort of modern-day pastoral” – Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate // The follow-up to last year’s first volume, English Primitive II continues the themes introduced previously in a harder, more electric and psychedelic style. The songs were mostly recorded during the same sessions but, if EPII showcased the ‘songs of innocence’, this new set comprises ‘songs of experience’. Callahan's lyrical themes here are frequently the sleaze and corruption of our ‘betters’, the intentional and unintentional brutality meted out on those weaker and the sometimes perverse ways in which this happens. There are moments of reflection among the broken mirrors, but they allow scant solace or reassurance. Dressed in another of Scottish artist Pinkie McClure’s witty and detailed stained glass creations and recorded at home and under a railway arch, EPII rises above its origins and invades the wider world, in all its colour, gritand glory. Each song serves as a monument to its internal tale – in fact, the whole LP is as much a collection of musical short stories as it is an album of songs. Opening with Invisible Man, the impression of a regular person with hidden grievances, biding his time and waiting to lash out is given. Waves of distant samples ebb and fall as the warped guitars swell and crash behind the main themes. We don’t know when this explosion will happen – we only know it will. A sleazy celebration of Britain’s position as the laundering capital of the world follows in the form of Beautiful Launderette. It’s good that we keep everything nice and clean for the whole planet, isn’t it? Business as usual, keeping the globe turning – that’s our role and we love it. The Parrot rocks like only a prolonged evisceration of governmental mouthpieces and their court stenographers can. It’s a thankless task making sure that the powers that be retain their authority in all things and patrolling the borders of what is allowed to be said and believed, but somebody’s got to do it. If you’re providing a service, you’ll need to present a united front against the grievances of the public, so you’ll need The Scapegoat. Mistakes and accidents can’t be the company’s fault, so you’ll need to pay someone to be publicly and repeatedly sacked to make it appear as if you’re solving problems and getting better. Lessons will be learned, going forward. The disturbing tale of Bear Factory begins side two and is the real-life story of the murder of one of the singer’s primary-school classmates in the 1970s, and true in every detail. The victim’s body was never found but the killer justifiably imprisoned for life. A more ancient scent of death pervades The Burnet Rose. This ground-hugging plant covers the graves of the victims in a seventeenth-century plague village on the Yorkshire coast to this day, commemorating their sacrifices when all around have forgotten. It’s this particular songwriter’s favourite flower. Orgy of the Ancients describes the intimate intricacies of ageing politicians and the press as they decide whether to go to war. In grotesque scenarios worthy of Caligula, they decide the fates of our children. And it’s not even half the truth. To finish, the songwriter looks back to an admired predecessor, when he sets William Blake’s famous poem London in a groovier setting than we’re used to – in the form of London by Blakelight. If London swings, it’s from the Tyburn tree. Tracks: Invisible Man / Beautiful Launderette / The Parrot / The Scapegoat / Bear Factory / The Burnet Rose / Orgy Of The Ancients / London By Blakelight

After the relative success of The Bitter Springs' last album, The Odd Shower, Simon Rivers promptly disbanded the long-running group and began recording his first solo album, Like Yer Wounds Too, under the name Poor Performer. As Jim Wirth wrote of a recent Bitter Springs reissue, "Weaving the messy threads of suburban life into dense tapestries, he has something of the Go-Betweens' gift for melody, something of Mark E Smith’s ear for language, something of Vic Godard’s common touch, and almost none of the acclaim that should have been his due." This holds true for Poor Performer's debut album, though the songs seem based around a loose concept of issues dealing with middle-age self-reflection . . . though nothing nearly as navel-gazing as that statement might imply! Rivers: "For as long as I can remember, I've been either making records or planning to make them. But for once, this is a record I didn't really plan to make. The strange circumstances of the Covid lockdown led to its coming together. I'd lost my Dad to a demential-related death, retired from work due to mental stress, and was shielded for seven months . . . I took my banjo, my Dad's Yamaha keyboard and a few of my guitars, and booked a month of studio days at One Cat with the brilliant Jon Clayton at the controls . . . after a week or so of recording backing tracks, Jon said, "I think 57 songs is a bit ambitious, Si", so together made the decisions that shaped this record and its accompanying EP." With 7" 45s now nearly as expensive to make as a full vinyl LP, a decision was made to include likely contenders on a bonus CD EP, which certainly rivals the album in quality and perhaps generally exceeds it in immediacy, but Like Yer Wounds Too is more of a grower than anything yet released by Tiny Global Productions, and one of the releases we're most proud to present to the public. Humour, insight and brilliance abound. Album tracks: Golden London Leaves / Kempton Park / Life U Chose / Hard To Be Happy / Lil' Bro / Sleepy Little Town / No Escape From Me And You / Right As Rain / The Point / Our Souls / The Frog's Tale / Can You Whistle? / Something's Gonna Kill Ya ep tracks: The World Has Had Enough / 2 Hard 2B Happy / For A While / Get Up Them Stairs / Daylight Robbery

It's coming home, it's coming home - house music is coming home! A second instalment of the Groove Access: series Chicago Is Home offers us five fresh tracks from the windy city landing in a glorious cavalcade of razor edged snares and hypnotic jack house. Ed Nine & Kid Enigma's 'Bandleaders' opens side one in spectacular fashion with spoken mantras lying deep in the mix, distinctive phasing arpeggios, poking keyboard riffs and ringing cymbals. JSquare's 'Get Wicked' kicks with even more power, tribal rhythms bouncing of bleepy melodies, before 'Move' by Geto Mark rounds off the side with the strutting, beautifully brutal 'Move', a proper 3AM peak time pleaser. Steve Noah's 'The Hater' opens side two, a wily acid line worming its way across a raw, stripped down backing before exploding into serious gnarliness when you least expect it. AFTR's 'Undercover' rounds things off with another knuckle duster of a tune, leaving no doubt that Chicago is still the place to be when it comes to house.

Having previously graced the label with IFSDIGI002 and as part of the IFSDIGIV001 record which landed earlier this year, Kodama marks his return to Infernal Sounds with a 4 track solo EP on their main catalogue. As to be expected from the producer he showcases his musical and melodic prowess throughout, touching on darker tones whilst displaying the lighter, nibble notes we've all come to expect to hear from him.

'Gekko' opens up the EP, beautifully constructing a kaleidoscope of emotion and spanning textures, whilst 'Fijit' hits a little differently, layering daunting droplets of reverb, revealing a sinister underbelly to the overall vibe.

The B-side opener, 'Sneakers' leads with drawing melodies, before breaking into a bass-infused medley. 'Wiretap' finishes the EP with accurate precision, again providing an example of Kodama's use of melodic structures, whilst drawing you down a spectrum of sound and feeling.

It's one of those EP's which isn't particularly packed with out-right bangers for the dancefloor, but more of a display of the newer 140 sound, and a selection of tunes which cohesively gel into a neat little package. For the DJ's who love to build, these are dying to be part of your collection and are perfect to get the crowd on the correct vibe.

Melbourne artist Angel Wash delivers his debut release and sixth disc for the Felt Sense imprint in ‘Under Silver Cloud’, channeling the visual inspiration of Shin'ya Tsukamoto’s ‘A Snake of June’ (and other turn of the millennium Japanese Cinema) into ominous DnB soundscapes across 6 tracks.

Cavernous synth reflections & translucent textures meld intermittently with expertly chopped breaks, sharp, sinister lead synthesis & sub aquatic bass, drawing from an eerie, yet euphoric sonic palette.

Igziabeher Yi mas gan (Let Jah be Praised!) - as we follow up with the next release forwarding from Ashanti Selah Music; we are proud to present a fresh combination to the label with Iqulah Rastafari who is a true ambassador and master of his faith as well as being a high-caliber artist in his own right; this release delivers the whole roots and nothing but the roots in its full entirety. Hailing from Jamaica and toured the 4 corners of the world with his band 'Giddeon Family' as well as performing many shows in Africa with the 'Azania Band' - Iqulah always brings the spiritual power and most honourable Rasta energy in connection with the music; making it a such an engaging experience when being among the vibration.

The Maxi-single offers two original vocals and two dub mixes per side with strong lyrics and heavy riddims to accompany!

Being somewhat of a conceptual experiment. All the artists on this album were asked to imagine fusing Acid and House with the Virtualsex LP which was released on Buzz in 1993. A 303 sound would be welcomed but not essential with an emphasis on soulful emotion and melody.

Each record comes with a individual digital download code

If it's really a post-genre world, why does everything sound the same? The two halves of Tampa rap duo They Hate Change_Dre (he/him) and Vonne (they/them)_first came together in front of the apartment complex where they both lived as teens. Dre had just moved down from Rochester, NY; Vonne was trying to sell him bad weed. It was clear from the start that the two listen to music differently from most people_they're sonic omnivores, obsessive deep-divers, lovers of rare and radical sounds. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, they've been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it _ not just the East Coast hip-hop that Dre grew up on, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook (the Gulf Coast's twerkably raunchy answer to house) and crank (think "Miami bass meets NOLA bounce"), but also drum `n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map. Once they graduated to DJs on the Tampa DIY scene _ which includes everything from punk rock house parties to the black "teen nights" that pop up in rec centers and ballrooms _ they figured out how to pull all these disparate sounds together into a cohesive style. More importantly, they figured out how to make it something people will actually move to. When they made the transition to rapping and making beats, they brought that pleasure-seeking approach to sonic experimentation with them. "With this album, Vonne says, "it's really like, okay, you know how you talk about the internet breaking down borders? Here's what that actually sounds like. It's not just a hip-hop record with a couple more weird sounds. You want homegrown DIY? This is a record that was written, produced, and recorded in a 150-squarefoot bedroom from the least cool city you could think of." Finally, New is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks. Let the rest of them keep playing by the old rules_They Hate Change will keep changing the game.

Hailing from Bristol and based in London, Ashley Thomas routinely passes the storied music heritage of both cities through his own singular, prismatic filter. As Otik he produces brilliant and complex hues, forming compositions from weightless neon-tinged trails, richly layered melodic webs and inky, subaqueous bass lines.

The prolific artist recently created his own imprint, Solar Body, to accommodate the expanse and volume of his unfettered productions; now with his !K7 Record debut, Otik deepens his sonic explorations for the label he credits as a crucial discovery portal.

“CRYSTAL CLEAR” is inspired by a personal epiphany, and it shines through with sparkling clarity. With the unmistakable signifiers of dancehall in its bassline and drum programming, Thomas turns these references outwards and upwards, finding a new expression with glistening drops of cosmic colour, gauzy pads, and soft crescendos of cymbals.

Despite coming in hard and fast with a bruising 130BPM bass rhythm “RAINBOW RHYTHM'' evokes a positively disorienting kaleidoscope for Thomas, courtesy of its sugary, euphoric synth sounds. It is a balance of hard and soft, leading heavily with drums throughout, contrasted with the track’s delicate and sweetly warped melody.

Wah Wah 45s are proud to present a new set of remixes, as well as originals released on vinyl for the very first time, from Afrobeat supergroupEparapo. Having come togetherduring the unprecedented events of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, and despite being a project born from the privations of lockdown, their music is ultimately an expression of hope, resilience & resurgence.

The word "eparapo" means "join forces" in Yoruba, the language of Afrobeat. It's also the title of a track by the late, greatTony Allen- drummer for Afrobeat legendFela Kutiand lifelong friend and mentor of our very own "Afrobeat Ambassador",Dele Sosimi. Not only did Tony help to invent Afrobeat, he always looked for ways to push the boundaries, never content with recreating what had gone before but constantly expanding and developing the genre. This project hopes to pay homage to his legacy, and that of Fela Kuti himself. Its aim is to innovate, fuse and diversify while still retaining the essence of the music.

The force behind Eparapo is bassist, composer & producerSuman Joshi.He has been a member of Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra for nearly a decade and has performed on stage with the likes of Tony Allen, Seun Kuti, Ginger Baker & Laura Mvula. He is also bassist with UK jazz ensemble Collocutor and fusion project Cubafrobeat.

Featured vocalist on both original tracks, and remixes, is the aforementioned Dele Sosimi - keyboard player and musical director for Fela's Egypt 80 as well as Wah Wah 45s recording artist on both his solo material and the recent collaboration with house music producer, Medlar.

The rest of the group comprises of bandleader ofAfrik Bawantuand percussionist for Ibibio Sound Machine and Keleketla,Afla Sackey; highly rated UK jazz vocalistSahra Gure; saxophonist, composer, producer and bandleader of the renowned forward thinking jazz outfit Collocutor,Tamar Obsorn; keyboard player, producer and front man for Lokkhi Terra and Cubafrobeat,Kishon Khan; one of the UK's finest and most in demand trumpeters,Graeme Flowers, who has played with Quincy Jones, Gregory Porter and many more; trombonist for Bellowhead and mainstay of Dele's Afrobeat Orchestra,Justin Thurgur; and finally drummer for Steamdown and Sons of Kemet, as well as the man behind the Nache project,Eddie Wakili Hick.

From London To Lagoswas inspired by a talk given by writerRoberto Savianoat the Hay Book Festival in 2016, just before the Brexit referendum. In it he described the UK as the "most corrupt country in the world". This was a reminder of how the leaders of so-called developed countries, conveniently suffering from colonial amnesia, still point disparagingly at the rest of the world and talk of "endemic corruption" and "Banana Republics". All the while the ill-gotten gains of organised crime syndicates, corrupt multinationals and military juntas across the globe are funnelled through financial centres such as London. Same trouble, different methods, greater scale. Of course the best way to divert the population from all this is to find distractions such as populist leaders who declare their countries "world beating" and scapegoats such as refugees, immigrants and other members of the underclasses. It has always been thus but it doesn't always have to be so.

This track was once more recorded remotely during lockdown and features an all star lineup of world class musicians from the UK Afrobeat and jazz scenes. Members of the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, Keleketla, Sons of Kemet and beyond have come together to create this powerhouse of a band. They encapsulate the meaning of "eparapo" and "join forces'' to fight a common enemy in the shape of corrupt and divisive ideologies.

Its remix comes fromWheelUP- the moniker of West London broken beat revivalist Danny Wheeler, who here delivers something of a smoother straight up Afro flavoured house workout that's sure to be heard across dance floors and festivals this summer. The Tru Thoughts signed artist adds gliding synths and tight drums that ride the original's hypnotic melody perfectly and make for a future club classic.

Black Lives Matterwas obviously inspired by the movement of the same name and was the first track to be released by Eparapo in late 2020. Dele's voice tell the story slave ships leaving West Africa in the fifteenth century, the brutal conditions that were experienced on board, and the continued suffering of the African diaspora today. As always, half of the artist's income for this song will be donated to the NAACP - a civil rights organisation in the United States, created for the advancement of black people by means of following judicial policies.


The remix here comes from Birmingham based producer signed to Jalapeno Records,Sam Redmore. Sam's love for breaks and beats comes into play well here, subtly chopping up the original to create a bass worrying version that still sends that very important message of justice and equality - Black Lives Matter!

a 01: From London to Lagos (WheelUP Remix) feat. Dele Sosimi

[c] 03: Black Lives Matter (Sam Redmore Remix) [feat. Dele Sosimi]

The Mannheim-based event series "Intermission" launches its record label with this 12" designed by Adrian Zorzano. IR001 is a split EP by Cuthead (Uncanny Valley, Dresden), who also played the first Intermission night in 2017, and LSW (Intermission, Mannheim). You can expect six tracks from Disco to (Acid) House – we hope you love this music as much as we do!


URBAN WARFARE

Music has always been a common means to deal with global events – so does this new release on Snork Enterprises by Lee Holman. Having actually performed in Ukraine shortly before the war, Lee Holman clearly has chosen the title of his new release by purpose. “Urban Warfare” dedicates for titles, all of them bearing names with military connotation, to the recent events in Ukraine and beyond.
The musical means of his choice to process the happenings are raw, straight forward electronic sounds echoing from the underground. His combination of beeping, roaring and crooked tunes creates a dystopian atmosphere in each track – yet, each in its unique way. This makes the release a diverse collection of four tracks of unadorned urban club sounds dashing through present day history.

LEE HOLMAN

An uncompromising underground ethos, Lee Holman has garnered support from a host of Techno's brightest names.
Performing in clubs since the late nineties, he has travelled throughout Europe, North America, South America, Asia and everywhere inbetween, compounding a reputation for his unique vision on Techno. Playing a fusion of deep, raw and energetic electronics, his sound creates a myriad of tension, constructing the perfect combination of musicality for club appearances.
Performances both as a live act and as a DJ have unlocked opportunities to share hallowed ground with Techno’s elite, appearing in prestigious underground venues such as TRESOR Berlin, Corsica Studios London, 8Bahn Arnhem, Sub-Scape Antwerp, Move Medellin, Tag Chengdu, Arkham Shanghai, Nechto events Kyiv + many more.
Production has earned him international recognition, leaving his mark at the forefront, building a reputation for consistency, originality and delivering his dynamic sound on both cutting edge and classic Techno Labels. Generating consistent support, he has remixed for high profile artists such as Aubrey and Gary Beck and has himself been remixed by leading Techno mainstays ranging from Orlando Voorn to Mike Dehnert.
Founding the Kawl Imprint, the label’s aim was to provide diversity in Techno and this formula was immediately picked up on and amounted to rave reviews and impressive charts and plays by leading connoisseurs of the underground.
This year, his releases have been frequent and in demand, with his production skills confirmed for Knotweed Records, Science Cult, Shaded Music, Nechto and more, adding to an already excellent discography.
With an ever expanding release schedule, combining remixes and a new label project called Demarcation, Lee Holman promises to be unrelenting in his definition of essential timeless Techno.

Bad Colours is back with his sophomore album, "Always With U," out on Bastard Jazz Recordings in November, 2022. The London-born, Maryland-raised, Brooklyn-based DJ, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist - aka Ibe Soliman - continues to build on the well-deserved acclaim from his 2021 debut LP, "PINK," as well as a slew of standalone singles and collaborations with the likes of Shabazz Palaces, Jarv Dee, and Stas THEE Boss.

"Always With U" sees Ibe further develop his talents as a songwriter and producer, while maintaining the signature balance of banging dance music and dense bars that he's quickly becoming known for. The album expands Ibe's role to a collaborator, band leader, and all-around star-of-the-show; it's certainly still a dance record, but there's also so much more. Live instrumentation accompanies every track, with the notable contributions of Nigerian bassist Akin-Alade Ogo heard across the album, as well as the NY-based saxophonist Carras Paton on the jazzy, upbeat house number, "Heartache + U."

The lead single, "Maybe I Should Move to LA," sees the proudly Brooklyn-based Bad Colours contemplate a move out West – an idea that came about following a trip to LA for the 20 Years of Bastard Jazz anniversary party (which he DJed) in November last year. Bright pads, a thumping four-on-the-floor beat, and a catchy vocal line make it the perfect accompaniment to a top-down joy-ride up PCH. The album's second single, "You Don't Know," features frequent collaborator and PNW darling Jarv Dee, as well as KAS and JVDE who have both been making waves in the Brooklyn scene (KAS for his work with Grammy- nominated producer Harmony Samuels featured on BET, and JVDE as the lead-singer of alternative band Blind Benny). "You Don't Know" turns up the heat with Jarv and KAS trading dense, rapid-fire verses over a high-tempo beat and detuned vocal; the kick cuts out for the bridge, replaced by syncopated keyboard stabs and JVDE's stacked vocals. "You Don't Know" is high-energy hip house at its finest: Super catchy and irresistibly dancey.

The two singles are emblematic of the rest of the album, which largely alternates between vocal and hip house, sometimes jazzy, other times touching on R&B or dancefloor influenced pop. Dave Giles II and Cor.Ece (who recently both contributed to Beyoncé's chart-topping "Renaissance" LP and Honey Dijon's "Work" single) feature on "Flow," while Toribio (of the acclaimed Brooklyn band Conclaves) provides vocals for "Do Better;" both tracks are on the mellower side, reminiscent of late-90s New York mid-tempo garage. Rising artist N.O.V. features on the second track, "Ready," rapping over a bass-heavy beat; MarcusHarmon makes a return after appearing on "PINK," with smooth vocals on the romantic "Come Closer." Aforementioned JVDE can be heard throughout the album, contributing to "You Don't Know," "Flirtation Avenue," and "Easy Come, Easy Go."

While Ibe's career has spanned nearly two decades - as both a DJ (alongside the likes of James Murphy, Mark Ronson, and Q-Tip) and producer (for Kendrick Lamar, Faith Evans, Keyshia Cole, and Rick Ross, among others) - the Bad Colours name only came into being in early 2020, with the debut LP, "PINK," being released in February, 2021 on the Brooklyn tastemaker label Bastard Jazz. By tapping into his deep network of artist friends, Ibe compiled a treasure-trove of vocal samples, snippets, sketches, and fresh instrumental loops into a beautiful debut record that touches on hip-hop, house, and left-field electronic, while remaining danceable.

A slew of singles throughout 2020 and 2021 included "Feelin' Like," featuring the Seattle rapper Jarv Dee, has become an underground hit, popping up everywhere from Best Buy ads, Hulu's "Woke," celebrity Peloton instructor Emma Lovewell's playlist, and even as a soundtrack to the Mayor of Madrid's TikTok video. Most recently, "Feelin' Like" had a prominent placement in the #1 Netflix film "Spiderhead," directed by Joseph Kosinski ("Tron: Legacy;" "Top Gun: Maverick") and starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett. The breakout success of "Feelin' Like" further led to a collaborative EP with Jarv Dee, titled "BLAKHOUSE," which saw additional features from fellow PNW natives Shabazz Palaces ("Clouds," featured in Hulu's "Shoresy") and Stas THEE Boss ("Black Skin"). This year, Bad Colours dropped the early Summer banger "Hit The Breaks," and served as the musical director for the influential MADE New York festival, a two-day fashion, music, and arts event presented by Public School NYC and Paypal, that saw performances by Nas, Heron Preston, and Bearcat among others.

"Always With U" is a testament to Bad Colours' versatility as a producer and artist, which has allowed him to bring together such a diverse group of friends and collaborators. Yes, the house and hip-hop roots remain, but "Always With U" shows an evolution of the Bad Colours sound into masterfully crafted dancefloor sounds. It's a truly stunning follow-up from an artist undoubtedly on the rise. The album is out on all platforms, via Bastard Jazz Recordings, November 11th, 2022.

Heralding the release of Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz, the forthcoming album by Detroit-born-and-based artist, Waajeed, the 12” features further examinations of the track’s motifs by the vaunted Detroit collective, Underground Resistance, Zambian producer SHE Spells Doom, and a special reimagining by Waajeed himself featuring live drums.

Alongside the LP version the three remixes further explore the links between Techno and Jazz, styles both founded on African traditions that make commentary on the present but are always oriented to potential hereafter.

On the People Mover Remix, Waajeed enlists the talents of Zo!, Tall Black Guy, Michele Manzo, and more to explore one extreme of the track’s musical heritage. Syncopated drums, driven by a full and bright snare drum, firmly place this version in the sphere of contemporary Jazz emanating from Detroit and cities across the US.

Coming from an album inspired by revolutionary efforts against oppression in Detroit and in Black locales around the world it is entirely fitting that Underground Resistance should provide their take on Motor City Madness. UR’s Mike Banks follows the lead of the original’s melange of genres. By thickening the bassline, peppering the mix with extra brass from the Mad Brass Horn Section, and adding strings courtesy of Six Mile Strings, UR further explore the dynamic intersection of music, history, and geography.

SHE Spells Doom closes the remix package with his second release on Tresor after his contribution to 2021’s Tresor30 compilation. The Zambian artist trims Motor City Madness down to the bones of the brass section and infuses them with a gqom beat, simultaneously referring to Jazz and Techno’s deepest roots in Africa, as well as suggesting where they might be headed in the future.

PUBLISHED: 6TH OCTOBER 2022

TAUMEL - the third studio album by the internationally acclaimed brass techno phenomenon MEUTE: Hamburg-based techno marching band MEUTE will release their third studio album: TAUMEL will be out on Friday, 18 November 2022 on the band's own label TUMULT. With their unique blend of hypnotic techno and energetic live performance, the 11-member band has made a globally acclaimed career start.
Tracklisting

Inspired by revolutionary efforts against oppressive hegemonies in Detroit, and in Black locales around the world, Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz is a sound score evocative of that resistance. It is also a reminder that although violence and injustice looms, it is not the only story: we are much more than what oppresses us. The album celebrates Black leisure and play; the mundane joys that persist in spite of the depleting realities of the world.

Movement, and the very mobility of the car specifically is integral to Memoirs of Hi Tech Jazz. Timed perfectly to match the duration of a round trip drive from Underground Music Academy in the North End, to Detroit’s island park, Belle Isle - the album is undoubtedly best experienced while driving.

That journey signifies the transition from labor to pleasure: from the neighborhood of the Techno Museum in North End to an outdoor park that has long been a destination for Black Detroiters to cookout, park their boats, play spades, and listen to local music.

Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz embodies the feeling this place engenders—a reprieve from the midwestern work ethic, and a reminder to ground in the pleasures of your body and the land.

Emanating from a ‘prehistoric’ existence near the end of the last millennium, Andy Votel and his slightly older college mates were once best recognised in Mancunian clubs and bars as teenage vinyl nerds and bum-fluffed battle rappers under the collective name Violators Of The English Language (which in acronymic form explains Andy’s own exotic pen-name).

As steadfast supporters of the 1980s / 90s Brit-core rap scene coming out of London, the multicultural Violators’ Mancunian accents were perhaps a bridge-too-far to secure dream job contracts for humble labels like Kold Sweat and Music Of Life. An unlikely constructive meeting with Gang Starr’s DJ Premier (while Andy helped out at a radio station), plus playing warm up DJ sets for countless US rap heroes might have temporarily added inspirational fuel to the fire, but after an active period combining graffiti, rapping, scratching, obsessive record digging and beat making into their daily operations, adulthood eventually began to rear its unwelcome head.

A decade later, Andy Votel and his digging skills would begin to provide direct sample material for the likes of Madlib, Mos Def, Jay Z, Nas, Dr Dre, Ghostface Killa and Action Bronson, amongst others, and the Violators’ black book of breakbeats and catalogue numbers soon began to feed a same-butdifferent rap beast.

For a project that has taken thirty years, it would be totally inadequate to call the formation of Hypocritical Beatdown Records a lockdown-project. There’s a deep history and psychology in these records by Violators Of The English Language and their spin-off groups Magnets (Rap Group) and ProVerbs, that combines stage-fright, loss, pride, creative-schizophrenia, racial inequality, surrealism, personal politics, brotherhood, artistic-constipation, better judgment, love, anti-love, soul searching and much more.

As well as Andy Votel taking care of both production and part of the microphone duties, some might recognise fellow MC and solo recording artist Figure Of Speech as a prominent voice here. The trio of Magnets (Rap Group) sees Andy also joined by local B-Girl legend Jeni Chan aka Penny Chew, and rapper and DJ Benjamin Hatton who has previously recorded with Kid Acne, The Mongrels and Sheffield’s Invisible Spies’ long-running squadron. Widely respected visual artist Rick Myers (now living in Massachusetts) also contributed scratches for many of these recordings via file sharing and custom dub-plates to keep the Violators’ authentic line-up intact, as well as galvanising the crew’s semi-reluctant art-school roots.

Extra production credits for the label also go to Sean Canty from Demdike Stare, and the late great Dan Dwayre aka Black Lodge (Mo Wax) who sadly passed away during the completion of these recordings. The members of Violators Of The English Language who you’ve not yet heard of will quickly make themselves known as the needle drops on this long-mooted debut vinyl release.

Lotus Eater is a duo consisting of Luca Mortellaro (Lucy) and Seth Horvitz (Rrose), techno artists just as comfortable operating in the uncharted area of experimental music who have gained a cult following, both influencing and challenging the direction of contemporary electronic music.

Eschewing the typical instrumentation of techno but still inhabiting its archetypes, Lotus Eater uses synthesised sound and feedback as fundamental sources to generate both textural and percussive elements. A sense of tension and weight emerge from sources that cannot be easily pinpointed. Each release forms a complex narrative from a paradoxically simple and restrained set of sound sources.
Officially formed in 2017, Lotus Eater came to life through several collaborations over a number of years, and finally blossomed with the release of its critically acclaimed debut album "Desatura," which Lotus Eater toured live in 2018 - 2019.

2022 sees the release of the second Lotus Eater album "Plasma" and a new audiovisual live project to accompany it. "Plasma" unfolds with exacting precision by exhibiting a point of focus and expanding on it. It uses a single, throbbing pulse to generate a constellation of sounds and rhythms that form around it like a volcanic eruption in slow motion. Playing with our sense of time and weight, "Plasma" feels simultaneously slow and urgent, spacious and immense. Lotus Eater zooms into the infinite abyss and finds not just light, but fire at the end of the tunnel. Will we be saved, or will we burn?

Special 10th Anniversary Edition In Brown Card Artboard Sleeve With Additional Lyric Print Insert

Slowdive singer and songwriter’s third solo album, which was originally released in November 2012. It is a stunning record and one which, upon its release, underlined the claims that Neil was one of the finest and most underrated British songwriters of recent times. It’s also a very special release in the Sonic Cathedral catalogue; the shoegaze label licensed the record from Jack Johnson’s Brushfire imprint for the UK and Europe and it was the start of a relationship that also gave us the Black Hearted Brother album in 2013 and, ultimately, brought about the reformation of Slowdive in 2014. But Palindrome Hunches is a very different beast. Both stately and understated, this moody and mesmerising collection of peculiarly British folk songs was made with the Band of Hope, a Wallingford, Oxfordshire based collective consisting of Ben Smith (violin), Drew Milloy (double bass), Paul Whitty (piano) and Tom Crook (guitar). Together with producer Nick Holton, banjo player Kevin Wells and backing singer Aimee Craddock, they recorded the album to tape over a few weekends in the music room of their local junior school. “At first we were going to record in a studio, but everything seemed too clean,” said Neil at the time. “We just went through the songs and recorded them live without very much rehearsal. We wanted to be spontaneous and simple and to keep the little mistakes that sneaked in.” This goes a long way to explaining the album’s humanity and intimacy, and also why it has had a quiet life of its own over the past decade, gradually growing in stature alongside Neil’s more high-profile activities with Slowdive; copies of the 2012 original and even the 2017 repress currently fetch up to triple figures on Discogs. The stunning opener ‘Digging Shelters’ was used to devastating effect in the posthumously released James Gandolfini movie Enough Said – a fitting home for a song that rubs shoulders here with ruminations about love and loss such as ‘Tied To You’ and ‘Spin The Bottle’ and, on ‘Wittgenstein’s Arm’, an Austrian pianist who had his right arm amputated in World War I and lost three of his brothers to suicide. The wordplay of the title track is almost light-hearted in comparison; “I wanted to write a song that was the same forwards and backwards, but it didn’t quite work out,” explained Neil, adding that he also chose ‘Palindrome Hunches’ for the album’s title because “I like the idea of things being reversible”. A couple years later, by reforming his old band, he proved that. And now, ten years on, it’s the perfect time to rewind to this understated, underrated classic. Side A 1 Digging Shelters 2 Bad Drugs and Minor Chords 3 Wittgenstein’s Arm 4 Spin The Bottle 5 Tied to You Side B 1 Love Is a Beast 2 Palindrome Hunches 3 Full Moon Rising 4 Sandy 5 Hey Daydreamer 6 Loose Change. Praise for Palindrome Hunches on its original release: ““Nope, it ain’t shoegaze as it's been codified and re-codified. But why be disappointed in someone following his muse to a logical conclusion when that path was always the one he walked on?” – Pitchfork An exquisite set of dark folk music” – The Times “Draws from the same understated, reflective well as John Martyn” – MOJO “‘Tied To You’ doesn’t merely evoke Nick Drake but withstands the comparison – evidence of the songs’ quality” – Financial Times “Halstead’s songs breathe the sort of honesty and goodness that’s harder and harder to find in the iTunes age” – The Independent “Given the chance, they could be songs that continue to enchant for many years to come” – The Line Of Best Fit

ONE OF THE BIGGEST JUNGLE TRACKS OF ALL TIME GETS NEW REMIXES & A PICTURE DISC!

Does this track need any introduction? Since the original release on London’s Dee Jay Recordings way back in 1995 Babylon is one of those rare tracks that doesn’t seem to date.

Andy C, founder of the iconic Ram Records & arguably the worlds most in demand drum & bass DJ, sighted Babylon as one of his favourite ever D&B tracks. The track still regularly features in his
sets some 27 years after its initial release!!

Over the years this genre defining track has been reworked by some of the scenes all-time greats; Dillinja, Trace, Bladerunner, DJ SS & Ray Keith, the latter two names featuring on this visually
stunning repressing with carefully remastered inclusions of their versions.

The success of this track made Splash aka Undercover Agent one of the most sought-after names in jungle / drum & bass and was the launchpad from which he instigated his own Juice & Splash label imprints.

The artwork for this picture disc has been reproduced with kind permission from the original Dee Jay Recording sleeve artwork for Babylon and proudly features both the Dee Jay Recordings and Juice Recordings logos.

Alongside those very high value classic Ray Keith & DJ SS remixes come two brand new remixes!

Ego Trippin, is both a popular DJ on today’s D&B circuit, and under previous guises was one of the original artist signings to the Juice / Splash labels… Who better to breathe new life into this classic track? This 2022 Remix brings all the flavours of the original & injects a new energy for today’s audiences.

Deadly Silence is a new artist head hunted by Splash himself and entrusted to bring a new take on his legacy music, providing yet another exclusive unreleased version to this incredible package.

This picture disc is extremely limited. We’re expecting this to sell out as soon as it goes on sale. Act fast to be one of the few to own this exquisite collector’s item.

The essential series from the ’80s has been rebuilt, remastered, and carefully portioned onto a five disc set of 7-inch singles, including all the classic vocal bits that became iconic samples, and more than a few new additions to bring things up to date.

Where would dance music be without Acapellas Anonymous? Although many records claim to have changed the game, the arrival of the Acapellas Anonymous series in the mid/late ’80s actually did just that. A hugely popular, multi-volume set of vocal tracks sourced from a wide variety of dance classics, AA was used extensively at the dawn of sampled music to provide hooks for numerous hits. “I’ve Got the Power,” “Ride On Time,” multiple Clivillés and Cole tracks, Pal Joey’s “Party Time,” ’90s Italo house and rave cuts, and untold others all found their choruses among the many acapellas collected on the series. As Ultimate Breaks & Beats was for funk and hip-hop sampling, so was AA for dance music, both for producers and as a must-have for the creative DJ. Sure, before these records came along, DJs had their own choice vocal bits that they used in sets or layered into edits. But suddenly, much like Ultimate Breaks, these carefully guarded secret sources were available easily, and in convenient form, for the first time. And the response, from DJs and a new generation of producers, was immediate.

That part of the story is widely known, and indeed, was widely experienced by anyone paying attention to music of the time. But the questions linger: who was it that found these acapellas, many of them only existing on promo singles, or as tiny fragments buried on obscure B-sides? Who edited and put them together? By now, you may have guessed that once again we owe an enormous debt to the maestro of edits and our hometown hero, Danny Krivit. And it’s to him we must tip our collective caps for this latest release, a carefully revised, fully remastered, and immaculately executed update to the series — this time on 7-inch.

All of the classics are here, rinsed but still powerful: “Let No Man Put Asunder,” “Weekend,” “Don’t Make Me Wait,” “You Don’t Know,” and dozens more. New additions make a few clever appearances as well, with Roland Clark’s “I Get Deep” (used for Fatboy Slim’s “Star 69”), and Rickie Lee Jones’s stoned rambling known as “Little Fluffy Clouds” showing up for the first time. This is no nostalgia trip — Acapellas Anonymous was recently tapped for a Cardi B megahit, and naturally you’ll find that source, Frank-Ski’s “Whores In This House,” included. All in all, an astounding 80 high-quality acapellas and vocal hooks are spread across the five 7-inch, 33RPM singles, which have each been sequenced thematically with attention paid to timings and tempos to provide maximum utility for the working DJ. And if the past is any indicator, we will likely see a new crop of tracks spring up as these find their way into the production toolkits of the world’s track-makers.

Originally released in 2006 as a mini-CDr in a limited edition of 300
signed and numbered copies, this immersive selection of solo recordings
by Savage Republic, Scenic and Independent Project Records founder
Bruce Licher finally gets the expanded reissue treatment
Newly packaged in oversized die cut pocket folders complete with various inserts
to give a more complete artistic presence to the unique and special music that is
being shared. CD packaging is designed by world-renowned graphic design artist
Bruce Licher.
The three original tracks "recorded in the summer of '97 on a cassette 4-track" are
now accompanied by a fourth instrumental that ventures into atmospheric
electronic territory. The bonus track was composed on an old Roland SH-2000
synthesizer Licher found while living in Arizona; it is, rather fittingly, named
"Number 09" "an homage to the Beatles' most adventurous piece of
experimentation. 'Exploratorium' reclaims equal fondness for the natural and the
industrial. This inquisitive approach is made clearer "and intriguing" by the
unexpected pairing of the original three tracks with "Number 09". Whereas "Peak",
"Going Home" and "The Penstemon Field" eagerly play with stretching the role of
guitars and bass, "Number 09" takes its cue from the hypnotic synths of the
Human League's 12" from 1979 'The Dignity of Labour' and sets off for an
unconstrained sonic trip that goes from the jarring to the meditative. It's a
mesmerizing blend of ambient and post- rock, noisy shoegaze and pastoral
melodic structures, droning avant-garde and soundtracks at their most.

Over the better half of a decade, Time is Away, the London-based duo of Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney, have made tender and heartfelt transmissions through countless mixes, sound works and radio. Exploring deeply human themes of memory, persistence and resistance using an assemblage of source material, the duo's unique mode of storytelling culminates in Ballads, a new suite of songs and, significantly, their first officially licensed compilation.

From the opening notes of Horvitz Morris Previte Trio's jazz romanticism to Gilles Chabenat and Frédéric Paris's lively reimagined standard, the haunting vocal seance of Tanto Pressanto and the mesmerising swirls of The Unthanks, Yuko Kono and Rachel Bonch-Bruevich, the spirit of Ballads roams through generations of affectionate songwriting and conjures images both candid and surreal. The voice of poet and longtime collaborator Christina Petrie appears briefly and contemplates the "sighs and replies… the space between verses" of the Ballad, its beauty, its place in our lives. What is the Ballad but a reflection of our soul? "Perhaps I'll wander in search of it", she bittersweetly concedes.

At the suite's cusp is an alternate version of David Lang's 'Just (After Song of Songs)', a thirteen-minute meditation on devotion which featured in Paolo Sorrentino's Youth (2015). The track's universal themes of faith and desire radiate throughout and elucidate Time is Away's peerlessly precise yet gossamer touch.

The ECM New Series debut of Evgueni Galperin is one of the most
strikingly original and evocative albums of the year
A composer of Russian and Ukrainian heritage, currently based in France,
Galperin is working with sound, texture and dynamics in new and powerfully
expressive ways. As he explains, the sound world of Theory of Becoming
represents an "augmented reality of acoustic instruments, created from
recordings made with real and virtual instruments. The numerous
transformations the instruments undergo allow me to capture their acoustic
nature while also adding techniques and colours impossible to produce in
reality..."
Galperin's compositions address wide ranging subjects: from the resilience of
hope in the face of destruction to meditations on the journey of the soul, as well
as travels through space and through the magical forests of Max Ernst's
paintings.
Theory of Becoming was recorded and mixed 2020-21 in Paris, at Studio EPG and
Studios de la Seine and was produced by Manfred Eicher.
Evgueni Galperine: composition
Maria Vasyukova: voice
Sergei Nakariakov: trumpet
Sebastien Hurtaud: cello

Double LP, Gatefold sleeve, DL card with Bonus tracks. 2CD Gatefold wallet + booklet. Remastered and re-appraised 31-track collection of Pearls Before Swine rarities from the private tape collection of the late, great Tom Rapp. Also available as an expanded 45 track double CD collection. For the first time on vinyl, this beautiful collection brings together alternate versions of Rapp originals ‘The Jeweler’, ‘Translucent Carriages’ and ‘Rocket Man’. It also includes jaw-dropping covers of Rapp’s contemporaries Cohen, Dylan and Joni Mitchell, with bonus download material featuring seven amazing live versions plus a never before released intimate show at The Other End circa 1976. A goldmine of possibilities from a prospector with a silver tongue and stories to tell. ‘The Wizard Of Is’ is a weird and wonderful trip inside its creator’s mind, from sonnets and space hymns to stories of revolution and the war. It’s an American Gothic fantasy that straddles old tyme America and the outer edges of an imagined stratosphere. “Extremely influential.” Rolling Stone. // “A more intoxicating version of folk psychedelia.” Wire magazine. // “Shimmering folk hymns.” Spin magazine. // “Unabashedly poetic.” Crawdaddy. // Track listings: VINYL Side A A1 Where Is Love? A2 Butterflies (Alternate Version) A3 Love, You Are Not Alone A4 Grace Street A5 Translucent Carriages (Alternate Version) A6 Space. Side B B1 Rocket Man (Alternate Version) B2 City Of Gold (Alternate Version) B3 For Free B4 Wizard Of Is (Alternate Version) B5 Riegal (Alternate Version) B6 Sail Away (Alternate Version) B7 Footnote/When The War Began. Side C C1 Everybody's Got Pain (Alternate Version) C2 Crawling Towards Bethlehem C3 I'm Going To The City (Alternate Version) C4 Can't Go Back C5 Prisoner Of War C6 Another Time (Alternate Version) C7 If You Don't Want To (I Don't Mind) (Alternate Version) C8 (Oh Dear) Miss Morse (Alternate Version). Side D D1 The Jeweler (Alternate Version) D2 The Lincoln Dream D3 There's No Other (Like My Baby) D4 Roadside Hotel D5 Song About A Rose (Alternate Version) D6 Mary Mary D7 Crew Man D8 Suzanne D9 Oh Sister D10 Full Fathom Five/I Shall Not Care. Bonus download tracks: 1 Translucent Carriages (Live) 2 Island Lady (Live) 3 Morning Song (Live) 4 Marshall (Live) 5 Ballad to An Amber Lady / I Saw the World (Live) 6 Prayers Of Action / Candle (Live) 7 Rocket Man (Live)……. CD. Disc One: 1 Where Is The Love? 2 Butterflies (Alternate Version) 3 Love, You Are Not Alone 4 Grace Street 5 Translucent Carriages (Alternate Version) 6 Space 7 Rocket Man (Alternate Version) 8 City Of Gold (Alternate Version) 9 For Free 10 Wizard Of Is (Alternate Version) 11 Riegal (Alternate Version) 12 Sail Away (Alternate Version) 13 Footnote / When The War Began 14 Translucent Carriages (Live) 15 Island Lady (Live) 16 Morning Song (Live) 17 Marshall (Live) 18 Ballad to An Amber Lady / I Saw the World (Live) 19 Prayers Of Action / Candle (Live) 20 Rocket Man (Live)… Disc Two: 1 Everybody's Got Pain (Alternate Version) 2 Crawling Towards Bethlehem 3 I'm Going To The City (Alternate Version) 4 Can't Go Back 5 Prisoner Of War 6 Another Time (Alternate Version) 7 If You Don't Want To (I Don't Mind) (Alternate Version) 8 (Oh Dear) Miss Morse (Alternate Version) 9 The Jeweler (Alternate Version) 10 The Lincoln Dream 11 There's No Other (Like My Baby) 12 Roadside Hotel 13 Song About A Rose (Alternate Version) 14 Mary Mary 15 Crew Man 16 Suzanne (Alternate Version) 17 Oh Sister 18 Full Fathom Five / I Shall Not Care 19 Frog In The Window (Live at The Other End, 1972) 20 There Was A Man (Live at The Other End, 1972) 21 The Jeweler (Live at The Other End, 1972) 22 Another Time (Live at The Other End, 1972) 23 Every Change Is A Release (Live at The Other End, 1972) 24 Rocket Man (Live at The Other End, 1972) 25 Love/Sex (Live at The Other End, 1972)

Three-time Grammy nominees, the San Antonio, Texas-based quartet NOTHING MORE return with their highly awaited seventh album, 'SPIRITS'. It features thirteen focused, adventurous and intense songs, uniting introspective philosophical lyrics with unapologetically massive anthems, including the in-your-face 'TURN IT UP LIKE (Stand In The Fire)', their most recent Top 10 Billboard Active Rock radio single 'TIRED OF WINNING'. Since emerging in 2003, NOTHING MORE has made rock radio chart history with no. 1 singles for both 'This is the Time (Ballast)' and 'Go To War', while they also have seven Active Rock Radio Top 10 singles in their repertoire. 'SPIRITS' further proves their expertise in the rock genre and beyond. It documents the tumultuous time the world experienced over the past two years capturing the desperation and isolation of lockdown, the spiral of substance abuse, the pain of broken relationships and survival in self-reliance while summarizing the overall story and mission of NOTHING MORE: Reflect, Provoke, Inspire.

Three-time Grammy nominees, the San Antonio, Texas-based quartet NOTHING MORE return with their highly awaited seventh album, 'SPIRITS'. It features thirteen focused, adventurous and intense songs, uniting introspective philosophical lyrics with unapologetically massive anthems, including the in-your-face 'TURN IT UP LIKE (Stand In The Fire)', their most recent Top 10 Billboard Active Rock radio single 'TIRED OF WINNING'. Since emerging in 2003, NOTHING MORE has made rock radio chart history with no. 1 singles for both 'This is the Time (Ballast)' and 'Go To War', while they also have seven Active Rock Radio Top 10 singles in their repertoire. 'SPIRITS' further proves their expertise in the rock genre and beyond. It documents the tumultuous time the world experienced over the past two years capturing the desperation and isolation of lockdown, the spiral of substance abuse, the pain of broken relationships and survival in self-reliance while summarizing the overall story and mission of NOTHING MORE: Reflect, Provoke, Inspire.

Rastafarianism came to prominence in the late 1960's/ 1970's and had a huge influence on the musical culture in Jamaica. The sentiments of the songs reflected the struggles of life, as reggae music always did but now with an added spiritual/conscious element to the lyrics. By the mid 1970's most, if not all the top flight singers were following the doctrine and growing their har to dreadlocks.
Everything was truly 'Dread'.
At the heart of this musical explosion was again Bunny 'Striker' Lee a man who was always at the heart of the action and many times in his career ahead of the musical game. As Bunny Lee's stable of singers were at this time nearly all Rasta's and with the worldwide acceptance of Bob Marley, in especially the foreign territories, this musical style was the way forward for reggae music in the mid 1970's. The visual focal point of this new turn in reggae music would be a call to all things 'Dread'. Add to the mix Bunny Lee's close working relationship with studio wizard King Tubby, again not a Rasta himself, but someone who could sonically bring what was needed to the table and enable the whole musical chemistry to fall into place.
Heavy rhythms were created to match the heavy and serious lyrics and 'Versions Galore' as they say were coming out fast and furious.
We have compiled a set of conscious tunes that not only match the 'Dread' criteria, but also are just great tunes. The great Jacob Miller's 'Zion Gates', Cornell Campbells 'Two Faced Rasta', Horace Andy's 'It's Gonna Be Dread' alongside Linval Thompson's 'Never Conquer Jah'. Two timeless cuts from the 'The Abyssinians' get a fresh outing by two great singers, firstly Don Carlos' cut to 'Satta Massaganna' and the prince of reggae himself, Dennis Brown works 'Declaration of Rights' in fine style. Johnny Clarke's 'Man like Me' and 'Dem Say Rasta' still sound as fresh today as when they were first laid down and Wayne Jarrett's 'Live On Jah' and Frankie Jones 'Satta and Praise Jah' add to this great selection. All great 'Dread' tunes that were cut or voiced at King Tubby's giving them that extra shine.
So if you are Rasta or not this is a great set of tunes to make you move and also like all of the best things in life, make you think.........

















Track 14 WICKED BABYLON - LINVAL THOMPSON

True concept albums are actually few and far between. While it can be said that The Who’s Tommy and Quadrophenia, or Pink Floyd’s The Wall were designed from the ground up, that’s not necessarily the case for equally mythical, yet composite, albums such as Bowie’s The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust…, or Lou Reed’s Berlin. In France, the genre established its pedigree in the 1970s with Serge Gainsbourg, then in the early 1980s with Léo Ferré. Cri d'amour by Mélanie Chédeville adds to this list of albums that tell a story through characters.

Cri d'amour was produced in a seaside setting, which may explain its flowing, organic character. It is all by herself that the violinist-by-training composed, wrote and arranged this collection of string-drenched songs that recall Jean-Claude Vannier’s work for Serge Gainsbourg. The latter would undoubtedly have been impressed by Mélanie’s fine-cut lyrics and melodies that are as raw as they are sophisticated, vocalized in a sprechgesang recalling his own. The deliberately retro palette, up to the bass sound so typical of 1960s English rock, betrays an artist indebted to the creator of Bonnie & Clyde and Initials B.B. through a sensual, clear tonality. Yet, polyrhythms borrowed from the late afro-beat legend Tony Allen, and the touches of guitar, piano, percussion and synthesizers distilled here and there by Éric and Mélanie, end up giving the whole affair a resolutely atemporal color.

Mélanie was sixteen with a head full of Beethoven and Brahms when she succumbed to an unexpected fascination for the world of Éric, a pianist, composer and sound engineer, who regularly delivered scores for Marc Dorcel’s X-rated films. She evokes him in L'Alpha-bêta and Le Pornographe, through whispered choruses that would suit the late Julee Cruise or Vanessa Daou to a tee, and explicit allusions to a “sword of Damocles” of “XXL” dimensions.

These are not the only texts on this album that remind us of the Franco-American author Anaïn Nin’s erotic poems, a model that Mélanie willingly takes on, adding to the list of her literary influences alongside Apollinaire and his Debauched Hospodar:

Some may find this album old-fashioned, which, far from being a flaw, is a credit to the fine musician that Mélanie is. Others will call it a charming album, which is not a bad way to describe it, provided that it is a powerfully relentless charm.

Green Vinyl

Föllakzoid are nearly unparalleled in the hypnotic lysergic drenched neo-psychedelic experience. On their debut it is mostly a rather bulky one, determined by the downright dirty, distorted electric guitar, which is also usually accompanied by a spacey, howling and herbaceous howling one. In addition, there is fat bass and powerful drums. During the prolific post-napster musical era dominated by myspace, the Chilean musical field opened up so that many bands could broaden their creative spectrum by taking global and timeless references as an aesthetic holy grail. This experimentation had the internet and specialized forums as a search engine, which not only provided the world parameters in trends, but also allowed to find true hidden gems, bands that were adored by a few connoisseurs of the real quality left behind by the record labels. In this context, a group of university students who have known each other from school began to rehearse in the Caracol Vip underground (Santiago, Chile), in a room owned by a local heavy-metal legend, Juanzer. Equipped with tube amplifiers, Marshall and other custom made, the members of that time: Gonzalo Laguna on vocals, Juan Pablo Rodriguez on bass, Domingo García-Huidobro on guitar, Diego Lorca on drums and Francisco Zenteno on second guitar, they began to play endless jams without a strict sense of songs or directed compositional notion. The rule was to follow the noise in a journey through valleys and peaks that allowed the spontaneous appearance of textures, lyrics, phrases and some invented chords that did not resemble anything that had been heard at that time. The rehearsals were transformed into true live performances without an audience, which were only seen by a few curious, among alcohol, smoke and deafening noise, which could only end when the owner of the room (Juanzer) entered to turn off the equipment. Over time he himself stayed as an auditor, witnessing how the musicians stripped themselves in their rehearsals. Considered at that time as play or fun, the idea of forming a band with a name came with the real live performances to which they were invited, without yet having songs made, at the end of 2006. The myth of their first live performance alludes to a numerical superstition, on July 7, 2007, in a small bar in Providencia (Santiago), which also provided the band with an upward recognition for the psychedelic-punk music they were doing, with a voracious vocalist who destroyed everything on stage and a band that stood firm on the endless songs they built. The name that was invented for that occasion was the result of a nonsense about the German word feuerzeug brought to the group by their close friend Alfredo Thiermann (who would later make the cover of the first album and become keyboardist), which the members of that time took and Spanishized at will. This neologism represents the second founding myth of the band since the interest in bands like Can, Neu! and AMON DUUL II and the characteristic motorik rhythm would soon arrive, in the form of kosmische musik. By 2008 the band had already added several live performances and some songs appeared, among which were Directo al Sol and Loop (nod to the English band), which allowed a greater deployment of ambient-noise resources, almost close to the 'concrete' music. The deconstructed rock of Spacemen 3 was also present in the form of repeated sequences on the bass and drums, as the layers of shrill guitars formed the foam of the tide bursting in the darkness of space. With the ideas and general feeling of the sound that they already had, the band made the decision to record their first album with the sound engineer and Juan Pablo's brother, Ignacio 'Nes' Rodríguez, who later together with JP would form the BYM label to make the first CDs of the forthcoming debut of Föllakzoid and other bands that Nes was recording. Sheltered that winter in the studio that Nes had built in an old house in Recoleta, the band recorded the bulk of the songs on the album with a new jam that emerged in that room composed of 1 note and moments of rising intensity: Sky Input I and II appeared to complete a set of songs that came from rock but were slowly passing to a level of trance and cacophony typical of orchestrated and atonal music. With three takes per song but only one take of the jam, the album was finished with a few extra takes and overdubs, some made in the house of Nes himself, who contributed a guitar to Loop, although it does not appear in the credits, and additional takes of "Pelao" Zenteno with delay and reverse for almost all songs. The names of the songs came from the lyrics that Laguna had worked from the live versions to the studio finals, except for Loop, Sky Input and El Humo. The cover of the album, which as mentioned was made by Thiermann, represents well the spirit of those days, when creative magma looked for an outlet through the instruments without any restriction or explicit direction from any of the members of the group. The image of the tree towards the sky speaks of the roots that rise towards the immensity, the nature projected towards the stratosphere. Ideas that the neo-psychedelia of those years seemed to capture well, echoing in the Chilean bands that at that time were gathering around the BYM label. Both the creative fluency and the lack of a musical director ensured that Föllakzoid was an original band that did not impose themselves a way of doing things or sounding, collective music took shape in the most wonderful way, without characters, without a record name, without faces. Just an instant in space. 2022 GALAXY GREEN coloured vinyl

Wau Wau Collectif's second album, Mariage, is instilled with a newfound sense of purpose. Expanding upon the inspirational themes of their acclaimed 2021 debut, Yaral Sa Doom (Educate The Young), this long distance collaboration from musicians in Senegal and Sweden's Karl Jonas Winqvist is an even more stylistically expansive affair. Joyful children's songs collide with fuzzy guitar solos and thumping hip-hop beats. Shimmering synths lift off from the plunky percussion of the balafon and versatile sounds of the 22-string kora. Familiar voices from the first album return with more explicitly political lyrics, while the music feels both rhythmically dense and sonically weightless, flowing from one spellbinding moment to the next. For Mariage, band members from each country were inspired to include a wider array of instrumental flourishes unique to their cross-continental collaboration. "Yay Balma" revolves around the cycling riffs of Jango Diabaté's xalam guitar, as this song's fuzzy tones and soaring sax solos open side two with a bang. "Pitchi Goubidi" provides a stark contrast, with the kora played like a harp and Gilbert Badji's gravelly lyrics about "the bird of the night" disappearing into dubbed-out chamber pop. Winqvist's omnichord hovers back into focus on "Yonou Natangue," a free-floating jam that maintains the messages of Wau Wau Collectif's debut, promoting youth education to address the social issues facing contemporary Senegal: "Peace is the better wealth / The way to wander."

Before he co-founded the legendary Sunday afternoon event Body & Soul with fellow New York DJs Danny Krivit and Francois Kevorkian in 1996, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell was the driving force behind Instant House, an eclectic production outift who released a series of uplifting deep house records, several of which were spun by David Mancuso at the 90s iteration of his influential Loft parties.

In 1993, Instant House released their deepest single, Lost Horizons, through Jungle Sounds Recordings. The A-side, ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’ is a seventeen-minute and twenty-second sojourn into the vibrant club sounds of early 90s NYC. Driven by a Latin-accented man-machine beat that marches into infinity, it comes backed by two shorter mixes, ‘Lost Horizons’ and ‘Lost Horizons (Percussion Bonus)’. Twenty-nine years later, Isle of Jura presents an official vinyl and digital reissue of this slow-burning deep cut.

The Instant House story begins in the late 80s at Dance Tracks, an East Village record store established by the businessman, DJ, and graphic designer Stan Hatzakis. Patronised by New York trendsetters like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, Dance Tracks was considered one of the world's best underground dance music retailers.

During the winter of 1991, Stan got together with one of his best customers, Tony Confusione, to make music. A wall street guy by day and a keyboardist by night, Tony was also a serious DJ. Not long after their first recording sessions, they invited another Dance Tracks fixture, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, to join them in Tony’s state-of-the-art home studio in Long Island. He brought a vibrant, percussive edge to the sample-based tracks Stan and Tony were cooking up. Emboldened, the three DJs began recording together as Instant House. That year, they released the Dance Trax EP.

In 1992, after Instant House had dropped two certified classics, 'Over' and 'Awade', for Jungle Sounds Records, Stan exited the group and sold Dance Tracks to Joe and his business partner, Stefan Prescott. Following Stan's departure, Joe and Tony headed into the studio for a special recording session. “I just remember how powerful the connection was while we were making that record,” explains Joe, recalling the creation of ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’. “It was a very spiritual encounter in the studio.”

While laying out the drum patterns, sound effects, and arrangement, Joe explained the vibe to Tony, who played the lush cosmic chords and an effortless keyboard saxophone line over the top. “That was Tony completely feeling himself,” Joe reflects. “He performed majestically.”

After the release of the Lost Horizons 12”, Joe received a phone call from Cisco International Corp. A plane flight later, he was sitting in their label offices in Tokyo, talking to a senior record executive who wanted to introduce Lost Horizons to Japan. “What they were primarily doing at the time was pressing classical records - we’re talking thousand dollar plus classical reissues - and they wanted to license and distribute Lost Horizons,” Joe remembers. Three years later, Joe and Tony released 'Asking Forgiveness', their final 12” as Instant House, before parting ways with full hearts.

In the context of his career as a DJ, remixer, and producer, Joe is known for long songs and compositions. As Lost Horizons illustrates, he’s carried that impulse with him since his foundational days. “When I produce, I don’t believe in the beginning or endpoint of anything,” Joe explains. “I really despise the rules. To me, that’s not true to the art of creation. I just believe there is a flow in creation. When we were making music in the 90s, we were restricted by format, but that record could have gone on forever.”

The 12” is housed in a full sleeve jacket by Bradley Pinkerton based on the original release design.

White Vinyl

Technological agitation. Narcissism fatigue. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The celestial-influenced folk album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, and The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019's best.) While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. "We're in a fully functional shit show," Mering says. "My heart is a glow stick that's been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness." And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody," a song about the interconnectivity of all beings, despite the fraying of society around us. "I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up," Mering says. "Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal." Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like "Grapevine" chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge "God Turn Me into a Flower" serves as allegory about our collective hubris. "The Worst Is Done" is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. "Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order," she says. "These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment."

Technological agitation. Narcissism fatigue. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The celestial-influenced folk album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, and The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019's best.) While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. "We're in a fully functional shit show," Mering says. "My heart is a glow stick that's been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness." And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody," a song about the interconnectivity of all beings, despite the fraying of society around us. "I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up," Mering says. "Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal." Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like "Grapevine" chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge "God Turn Me into a Flower" serves as allegory about our collective hubris. "The Worst Is Done" is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. "Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order," she says. "These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment."