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Ecuadorian musician, sound engineer and producer Andre Salmon collaborates with Teddy Wong, Jorge Andrade, Le Roi Carmona and Michael Joseph for their first collective release on Hot Creations. The three-track EP is a rumbling journey through club-ready tech house, shaped by glistening beats, thick basslines and groovy melodies.

The title track simmers with a chunky bassline and a giggly vocal sample, in tandem with Spanish lyrics and a catchy melody. Co-produced with Teddy Wong, The Wonx follows suit with a more laidback mood and a twinkling synthline. Snappy percussion and glitchy vocals add a clubby feel. On the flip, Andre joins forces with Le Roi Carmona and Michael Joseph on La Piel De Salmon. A weird and wonky melody ensues, aligned with Hot Creations’ signature take on house music. Ethereal Spanish vocals build tension in the breakdown before erupting into a colossal, bass-heavy groove.

This incredible trio of poets, were not only musicians but Civil Rights Activists, rising up in the early 1960’s. They formed the group whilst in prison where they began performing the “spoken word” to rhythm and percussion. The last poets where born! None of this prolific music has been issued as a 7” before, great music for all good music lovers

A - “It’s a trip” - Vocal ACID JAZZ / dance gem!
Killer Track. Percussive vocals; addictive and funky. Acid jazz club classic. Dare you to keep up. Once you start, you can’t stop dancing. Such vibes. Environmental and racism-alerts messages chorused as early as 1977. You gotta listen to the words. Zeitgeist extraordinaire.

B - “Blessed are those who struggle” - Exclusive 7” cut for this vinyl release. The super funky drums of Mr Bernard Purdie, one of the best drummers in the World, if I may say so myself. Stunning.

Back in stock!

Following in the footsteps of the landmark 1966 double-quartet recording by Joe Harriott and John Mayer, Indian born musician Amancio D'Silva produced some of the most adventurous and sophisticated recordings within the canon of 'indo-jazz', a term used to define a pioneering east meets west synthesis that reflected the shifting musical and cultural landscape of post-war Britain. An experiment which reached a pinnacle in 1972 with D'Silva's seminal recording Dream Sequence by Cosmic Eye (The Roundtable TRZY001), an adventurous fusion of modal jazz and Indian classical music viewed through the psychedelic lens of swinging London. Exotic third-stream jazz conceived by a visionary composer whose virtuosic technique and deeply emotive guitar playing defined his two earlier and now legendary 1969 UK jazz albums Integration and Hum Dono with Joe Harriott, both recorded for the much celebrated Lansdowne label.

Also recorded in 1972 although not released at the time was Konkan Dance, an unofficial sequel to Dream Sequence that further explored the unchartered possibilities of an Indian music-jazz fusion. Featuring many of the same personnel, this session also included support from Don Rendell and Alan Branscombe, two giants of the UK jazz scene who add serious credentials to D'Silva's singular and intimate compositions. For reasons unknown the album was cancelled by Lansdowne at the time and never saw the light of day until being resurrected again in the 2000s. The Roundtable are pleased to once again showcase this important artist and present a new addition of this incredible and almost forgotten piece of the Amancio D'Silva story. Pressed on 180g vinyl and packaged in a custom 1960s-style flip-back sleeve.

Unreleased British Jazz from 1972.
Sequel to Cosmic Eye - Dream Sequence
Includes liner notes and rare photos.
Custom Flipback sleeve.
180g Vinyl

(Lauer rmx)

500 copies only !

The boston duo, the mighty Soul Clap, international stars goes balearic with one of their biggest track to date, the fabulous SUENO HEBREO ! It is a great pleasure to welcome them on Skylax Records. This track is like no other, unidentified sound object in sight, imagine the happy and improbable collision of sueno latino & the ibizenco spirit & sound popularized by alfredo and you can imagine the devastating effect this 12 inch will have on the dancefloor. As a bonus, an atomic remix crafted by the master Lauer which adds an early house touch (cece peniston finally atmosphere). Close your eyes you are in 1989. No in fact you are in 2022 & these madmen compile 35 years of music in the space of 6 minutes 40 seconds. The circle is complete.

Strut revives a lost recording from the archives in January with a 2002 collaboration between acclaimed South African folk singer Vusi Mahlasela, singer songwriter Norman Zulu and Swedish jazz / soul collective Jive Connection. Sotho folk singer Vusi Mahlasela, dubbed "The Voice" Of South Africa, performed at Mandela"s inauguration in 1994 and has enjoyed his own long relationship with Sweden, regularly embarking on cultural exchanges and forging a strong bond with the Jive Connection band, featuring guitarist / bassist Stefan Bergman and Little Dragon drummer Erik Bodin within its line-up. Although touring regularly, the collaboration has rarely been documented beyond a lone studio album in 1994. This "lost" recording, discovered in the archives of producer Torsten Larsson, also features songwriter / vocalist Norman Zulu and showcases their natural musical chemistry together. Vusi"s songs have traditionally addressed the struggle for freedom and the need for reconciliation and, here, his lyrics are as powerful as ever, ranging from parables ("Prodigal Son") to an unflinching lament on child abuse ("Faceless People"). Jive Connection vary the soundtrack, bringing in hints of reggae, jazz and post-punk alongside traditional township arrangements.

For our 5th release we are delighted to welcome the Italian artist WarinD. Influenced by hard groove, acid and distorted sounds, WarinD started his own record label in 2015 releasing, in addition to his own productions, artists such as Thomas P.Heckmann, D.Carbone, Codex Empire, Dyen, VSK, Nico Moreno and Trym just to name a few. Giuseppe debuts on MU with a techno banger EP composed of 3 original tracks and a remix by our fellow IN/JXRX. Pure MU rave style with raw and acid influences. credits Modular Underground – MU005 All tracks written and produced by Giuseppe De Chiara, Brain OFF remix by Salvatore Fioretti. Masted by Davide Carbone at CMS, Italy. Artwork by Pasquale Ascione Executive producer: Paulina&Francesco + Giovanni Rispoli

Philly’s own Chained Bliss set tongues a-waggin’ back in 2019 with their Stained Red cassette EP, gathering more than a few comparisons to the Wipers’ early racket in the process. Well, now they’re back with a debut album that seems to have skipped right ahead from Is This Real? to Over The Edge: this self-titled LP has all the gut-punching ramalama, knockabout guts’n’glory of that first tape, with added layers. Melodic guitar lines come perilously close to jangling over crunching power chords, while furiously yelped choruses give way to sumptuously put-together breakdown sections that catch you off guard and kick you in the shins before legging it down the street. Chained Bliss clearly love scrappy, skatey garage rock (echoes of Agent Orange’s Living In Darkness abound) as much as they love pushing that raucous clatter into something spacious - the meditative sections that flow effortlessly into absolute ripper Pillars Of Abuse are as unexpected as the thoughtful but head-spinningly energetic sections that bring Creative Seizure so thrillingly to life. Other times they’re just as happy to keep you careening towards the pit with two-minute bangers, but that’s the beauty of this record: it’s never smarter than when it’s playing dumb, and the rest of the time it’s just pretty damn smart. Here’s a challenge: can you listen to Ominous Life’s gnarly pop without raising those fists of yours skywards and landing a firm thump on the air? Or Drifter’s swaggering stomp? Or, or, or… ahhh hell, you get what I’m saying here. Every single cut slays, every single hook snags itself on your brain. You’ll come back for more, and more, and more. Are Chained Bliss your new favourite band? Well, gee, we’ve never met and I don’t know what you like and it’s not for me to say… but on the other hand, yes. Yes, they are. They’re heading straight for your heart and they ain’t budging. Will Fitzpatrick

A pure journey inward into the headspace of an artist, that reveals his gaze at the earth-ly zones he walks in: “Song for Joni”, the new album by Japanese musician Shunji Mori, brings pure natural music full of artificial nuances who create in conversation with ana-logue tones a new kind of musical nature, loaded with vibrant seasons, unknown to us, the unwise humans. moreover, the album is a fine continuation of Japan’s rich ambient leaning music traditions, carrying them into Lorren Connor’s like pending guitar galaxies.

In the 1990s Tokyo based Mori was part of the trip hop, nu-jazz, deep house, and down-tempo duo natural calamity, releasing a string of albums and EP’s on labels like legend-ary London based imprint Nuphonic, Japanese Idyllic Records or Down 2 Earth Record-ings.

In 2003 he launched the instrumental guitar duo Gabby & Lopez with his buddy Masayuki Ishii. Together they created three albums and performed live. Additionally, Mori plays improvisational concerts with Japanese musician, multi-instrumentalist, and stage direc-tor Daiho Soga and finds time to invent his very own, charismatic guitar music.

His solo work now finally gets introduced with a full-length album for Studio Mule, con-sisting of recent and a decade ago compositions, all merely recorded with the electric guitar, pedals, and field recordings.

In the center of “Song for Joni” is the guitar, spreading longing, drifting melodies. Free floating, yet deeply felt compositions, performed in an accurate journey music style. around the string notes, ambient landscapes soar and vanish.

In some moments, the guitar works like a slow-mo yacht rock lead, flying speed less over and under imaginative sonic clouds. Then, Mori’s music distributes psychedelic ef-fects in the tradition of krautrock legends like Günter Schickert, just without the echo fuzz.

Additionally, in warm vibrating seconds, his creations remind on the calm flashes in the musical work of English photographer, musician, and artist designer Steve Hiett, while Mori’s ambient spheres come close to the magic vibe of records like “Pier & Loft” by his fellow countryman Hiroshi Yoshimura.

A mixture, that transports considerate listeners into the meditative world of Shunji Mori, a calm island of bliss, made for all those that follow the heedful path of life.

For Mal-one’s sixth single he has chosen to use what he calls his Punk Art Poetry to shine a light on one of Malcolm Mclaren and Vivienne Westwood’s most controversial / stylistic garment, the ‘Anarchy Shirt’.

Vivienne had made the prototype of the ‘Anarchy Shirt’ on some stock of ‘Wemblex’ shirts that Malcolm had acquired and had shown it to Malcolm who said it needed to say more. So, he added the text and the quotes from ‘Situationist’ related saying’s ‘Try Subversion’ to quoting revolutionist Durutti ‘We are not afraid of the ruins’. The text over the shirt front, made using their kids ‘letraset stencil’ would say ‘Dangerously Close To Love’ or ‘Only Anarchists Are Pretty’…. sounds like a good chorus for a song. Only fifty of these shirts were originally made but like all design classics have been copied many times.

‘Some say Only Anarchists are Pretty… or Dangerously Close to Love’

Hope you enjoy the story told on this 500-copy single backed with a dubbed-up version on the B-Side.

After spending his debut album exploring techno and mechanical sounds in the depths of the Pas-de-Calais mines, Toh Imago looks up to the sky, with an open breeze on his face, as tree branches and canopy filter out the sun’s rays on Refuge. All the machines used during the album recording are tuned at 432hz, carrying the mystical benefits of Earth’s resonance. Spending just seconds with the opening track, the listener is drawn into the safety that Refuge was intended to provide, and each subsequent piece pulls you deeper and deeper into the album’s forest.

Textextext - (add your write up)

‘Refuge’ was recorded on the edge of the Mormal forest, in the North of France. With nature as a setting and studio accomplice, the album features synthesizers, field-recordings, as well as the acoustic qualities of reverbs from the nearby forest. As the artist’s inner world and nature converge in moments of self-reflection, so the album’s 11 recordings harmoniously unfold in a cavalcade of machines and organic sonorities.

While the first LP 'Nord Noir’ explored his family’s mining past, ‘Refuge' is about being present and the desire to re-contextualize the relationship between nature and humans. It is a record of uplifting tones that is filled with optimism, imbued with the lightness of those who finally reconnect with nature, their roots, and the feeling of groundedness.

Like the steps taken on a walk in the woods, the 11 tracks sonically tell the story of an inner journey divided in three chapters. "Asile sauvage", "Sylve barbare" and “Avril Mormal" take the listener into a fast-paced progression of rhythms. When the heart of the forest is reached, the journey becomes intimate, revealing a sacred space where breathing becomes the leading tempo ("Locus Neminis") and the traveller becomes a spirit lost in space ("Cosmos Intra”). The journey's climax is reached with "Monde intérieur". The album closes with "Chiff Chaff" which accompanies the listener back to a reality, hopefully a more reassuring one.

Across the album, Toh Imago finds inventive ways of opening a dialogue between nature and machine, both literally and metaphorically, creating a soundscape that both feels like and was created by the natural world that surrounds him.

The album offers a shelter from a predetermined world. It’s a story told through ambience, racy and subtle electronics, and the memories of lichens clinging to shoes.

Next up, a luscious cut from two of London's freshest producers, Ollie Rant and Malaika. Dreaming EP capers gleefully between buoyant garage house, old school jungle, soulful deep house and undulating electro. Each track offers a fresh take on a holistic mood, warmth and playfulness radiate from every corner. This one is perfect for almost any situation whether it be a sweaty dancefloor or a solo bedroom rave.

Thy Socialite!, the first release from Field Music"s new record label Daylight Saving Records, is not the sound of Lloyd Webber quivering and sweating in a rotting Berlin flat but instead, a fun, joyous, audacious record of hard rock, glam, and pop that ranges from arena to art school. "I wanted to include a more rockist palette," Black says. "My last album, Higgledypiggledy, had influences including The Cardiacs, Prince and The Residents. For this one I wanted to see what I could get out of less indie audience friendly artists such as Toto, Sweet, Wings, Def Leppard and ZZ Top and merge it with a SLUG sensibility. Due to the more rock approach, I was happy for the album to become a big classic rock unit - pompous even." However, simply a pastiche and nostalgic throwback this isn"t. Despite the playful nods to some of the more grandiose, theatrical and overblown elements of the aforementioned genre, it"s also an album with a contemporary pop edge, slick production and a tangible connection to SLUG"s previous deft mix of indie, rock and art pop. The result of all of this is an album that is fun and unpredictable but also conceptually smart, ambitious and adventurous. A place where classic hard rock and smart art-pop are treated equal, and where taking the piss doesn"t have to equate to being novelty or disposable. It was all part of the challenge that Black set himself from the off when he asked himself "how could I challenge the SLUG listener but bring them on a new fresh journey which will confuse them at first but they will ultimately love?"

Barely heard in his lifetime (1961-2002) but hailed as an outsider hero of ur-punk since 2009’s ‘Cosmic Lightning’ compilation, J.T. IV strikes back!

15 unheard-of tracks found on an obscure cassette tape make the schizo split in his music - rabid rock & roll fantasy and cold-eyed acoustic introspection - an epic. ‘The Future’ is J.T. IV’s mad magnum opus.

The 2009 comp LP, ‘Cosmic Lightning’, cast his tragic silhouette up on the big screen
for all to see: the lost boy, alone in the world, standing before the mic and releasing
his inner star with glee and vengeance, his antisocial visions flying high atop a raging
funnel of distorted guitars and blunt rhythms. Or couched, childlike, within a heart
breaking billow of acoustic guitars - a schizophrenic split that only magnifies the
display of his deep emotions.
‘The Future’ goes even further, excavating fifteen recordings from a previously
unheard-of cassette entitled ‘The Best Of Johnny Zhivago Retrospective 1979–1993’,
and adding four more uncollected tracks from his slim (and impossible to find
anyway) discography.
Of these nineteen tracks, eight are covers - and J.T. IV’s picks, from Velvets to Mott
the Hoople, Roxy Music, Lee Hazlewood, The Kinks, Eno and Stephen Sondheim,
sharpen our image of the misfit adrift; on the outside looking in, but maybe just a few
steps away from his goal.
‘The Future’ unfolds like an epic, as both sides of J.T.’s persona - the street-smart,
damaged rocker and the heart struck poet of the scene - live on together in the best
performances of his short career.
A punk of the old order, John Henry Timmis IV was born in 1961 into a dysfunctional,
abusive and eventually broken family. By the mid-70s, he was desperate to get out,
running away from his mother’s home several times while still a teenager living in the
greater Chicagoland area. At wit’s end, she had him committed to the Menninger
Clinic for a year or so. Released on his own reconnaissance, he began his meteoric
ascent to the mythic level of self-aggrandizement in which he appears here. Inspired
by the underground, proto-punk sounds in the air (the likes of which any sharp-eyed
young thing might chance upon in the back pages of Creem, Crawdaddy, Trouser
Press, etc.) and desperate to be heard himself, J.T. presented like the scabby
younger brother of Bangs and Laughner: born only to rock, his musical conception a
rabid personality crisis of proselyte elitism and nihilist excess.
Now, 20 years on from his passing, ‘The Future’ is ever farther away from the world
in which he struggled so mightily - but his stinging iconoclasm, whether screamed
from Marshall amps or mic-ed up close, feels ever more powerfully infused with his
unique breadth of illness and essence.
These songs represent the two sides of J.T. - and while they emanate from the 80s,
they find themselves potently renewed in the polarized world of today, making ‘The
Future’ a worthwhile destination for everyone who ever had a heart touched by the
transgression and freedom promised by rock & roll.

Regarded by many as the greatest funk album of all time, ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ was recorded at United Sound in Detroit & included a live track from their concert appearance at the Monroe Civic Center in Louisiana in April 1978. The band’s tenth studio album released during September 1978 was also their most commercial & gave the band their first platinum disc. The iconic title track was an international hit and a US R&B No.1. With lead guitarists Michael Hampton & Eddie Hazel dazzling, the personification of funk Bootsy Collins on bass, Bernie Worrell & Walter “Junie” Morrison’s keyboard wizardry & many more, the album was produced by the genius of George Clinton. Regularly ranked at or near the top of various “best album” lists, ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ is mastered for vinyl in a deluxe facsimile gatefold sleeve with booklet & lyric inner sleeves, all housed in a protective PVC sleeve. The albums’ original bonus songs are now included on a second 12-inch “Special EP” which adds the rare 11-minute “Disco Mix” of ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ to replicate the original first UK pressing from 1978. FUNKADELIC Masterminded by the larger-than-life figure of George Clinton, Funkadelic was a key component of his influential P-Funk empire. Funkadelic’s unique combination of Rock, Psychedelia, R&B & Soul led to the band crossing over to the pop mainstream & gaining a vast international following, becoming one of the most important & influential groups in music. On 6 May 1997, Parliament / Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame by Prince. To commemorate six decades of thrilling & delighting fans, George Clinton returned to the stage in 2022 for a series of concerts. To celebrate, Charly have reissued Funkadelic’s classic four albums ‘Hardcore Jollies’; ‘One Nation Under A Groove’; ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’; & ‘The Electric Spanking Of War Babies’ (originally released by Warner Bros during a golden period for the band between 1976-1981). Each album will be available as deluxe gatefold Digi-Sleeve CDs in PVC wallets + obi-strip & facsimile-edition gatefold LPs on 180-gram black vinyl & limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl + 1970s-style obi-strip in a protective PVC sleeve. “They played a HUGE role in creating the future of music.” PRINCE

CUSTARD VINYL PRESSING.

The Beths' Warm Blood is a strong contender for the catchiest record you've never heard. Formed when four jazz students at the University of Auckland bonded over their shared love of the pop-punk sounds of their youth, The Beths bring new energy to the genre. This 5-song debut EP, a deliriously pleasurable statement of purpose, comes crammed with enough blissful hooks to carry through most bands' careers.

Listeners for whom the tag 'New Zealand indie rock' brings to mind the Flying Nun sound of bands like The Clean and The Chills may be surprised to find Warm Blood's five unstoppable tunes landing closer to artists like Slant 6 and The Breeders. The nimble guitar work here moves from heavy riffing reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney to hazily bending lines that would make Stephen Malkmus and Mary Timony beam, while the joyous vocal harmonies from all four members bubble and swell to ecstatic crescendos that channel The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle.

With impeccable production from guitarist Jonathan Pearce and stellar musicianship across the board, Warm Blood is a non-stop delight. Tracks like leadoff track and first single 'Whatever,' the ridiculously addictive standout 'Idea/Intent,' and 'Rush Hour 3,' a playful ode to romance in this era of download-and-chill franchise films, take delight in the challenge of breathing new energy into the limitations of the 3-minute pop song. 

Released in partnership with SEGA of Japan and composer Tomoya Ohtani, The Music of Starfall Islands is a collection of beautiful instrumental and classical-inspired tracks which are used as the background music for the various islands in Sonic Frontiers. The music for each island is presented as a suite, containing several movements that layer upon one another and build up to a climax, each with its own distinctive tone and feel, much like the islands themselves, which range from green meadows, to arid deserts, volcanoes and beyond. The music, composed solely by Tomoya Ohtani, is often stripped down, melancholic, and unexpectedly experimental, featuring an array of unusual sound sources (including Iranian percussion, Celtic vocal samples and Armenian folk instruments). In other moments, it is often rhythmic and emotive, with the addition of subtle electronics and the grandiose strings of The Nashville Scoring Orchestra.

While this release is by no means the complete soundtrack to Sonic Frontiers, we are thrilled to be able to present these beautiful and intriguing tracks as a collection on their own. With its downbeat tone and new compositional approaches, this music is unlike any Sonic soundtrack that has come before and may well subvert the expectations of some long-term fans, but should also surprise and delight audiences both new and old.

As Tomoya Ohtani explains in his liner notes for this release: “I wanted to create an atmosphere for each song that, despite the sadness it carries, also has a glimmer of hope. I do not believe there are many other pieces of Sonic game music that focus so much on the atmosphere as the tracks on Sonic Frontiers do.”

Melanie Martinez’s debut album “Cry Baby” has remarkably kept growing in stature since its 2015 release, now approaching its high-water mark of 1 BILLION global audio streams for the second consecutive year. The RIAA recently re-certified the record at 2x platinum, in large part due to TikTok trending moments for several of the album’s tracks. These trending moments, occurring over the course of 2020-1, most notably included the digital bonus cut “Play Date,” which became a TikTok phenomenon and is now Melanie’s most popular song with over 700M streams.
On this expanded deluxe edition, “Play Date” and 2 additional digital bonus tracks (“Teddy Bear” and “Cake”) are – for the first time – added to the original, standard vinyl album. These songs were only previously available on vinyl on the now out-of-print, limited edition Extra Clutter EP from 2016.
With an expanded booklet featuring 3 new illustrations for the 3 bonus tracks, this deluxe edition will be the one, primary Cry Baby vinyl product moving forward.

Composed of rhyme-vets Pawz One and Evolve are Random Act Of Violence! The duo's self-titled release is chock-full of grimy bars over bangin' beats for the head-nodders.

Lead single "Sixteen Shots" is a boom-bap bar-brawl set to a crackin' instrumental (produced by EQ) with DJ Eyeball adds cuts to and featuring additional lyrical firepower from none other than Copywrite.

Another track from the project is "Vaultures". Speaking on that track Pawz revealed "the concept of that one was inspired by seeing a lot of these types in the game. The hook was inspired by Mobb Deep, these half-way-crooks bunched up to make each other feel tough and validate themselves."

Hailing from Los Angeles Pawz One has been repping the real and releasing music for the past decade. Most recently he teamed up with 90's West Coast vet Mykill Miers for the aptly named "Double Homicide" album and has also appeared on tracks with such notables as Ruste Juxx, Sadat X, Percee P, Shabaam Sahdeeq and DJ Rhettmatic.

Based out of Donna, Texas, Evolve has released over twenty albums through his Boom Bap Masterpiece Records label. He has collaborated on tracks with such notables as Chino XL, Fatlip (of the Pharcyde), Esoteric, Mickey Factz, Blueprint and many more. Touring the country over the past decade he has also shared stages with the likes of Raekwon, Murs, R.A. The Rugged Man, Masta Ace and Immortal Technique among others.

Red Vinyl

Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey might be better known as members of legendary post-punk group The Sound, but the two were childhood friends and had been playing together even earlier in The Outsiders, and continued their deep musical rapport as a duo, creating these intense and engaging songs as Second Layer at the same time as their higher profile band output.

Combining their early recordings, including the 1979 Flesh As Property EP and 1980 State Of Emergency EP, Courts Or Wars takes its title from the first song that served as the pair’s introduction to listeners. Right from the beginning you are enveloped in what The Quietus described as, “a monochrome worldview morbidly obsessed with the dehumanizing effect of war, nuclear weapon annihilation, and the fracturing and negation of the self within an increasingly distorted and technologically mediated society.” Where The Sound fit snugly next to Echo And The Bunnymen, Second Layer had far more in common with the pulsing menace of Suicide.

Borland’s familiar vocals and sense of melody hold a connection to his other songwriting, but within these songs he takes far more risks in his guitar work to suit the subject matter. What really drives everything is Bailey’s propulsive bedrock, formed by his homemade pre-drum machine rhythm generators, creating an innovative mechanical approach that somehow inserts a jittery neurotic touch that merges perfectly with his electronic layers driven by the wasp synth, various unique effects boxes or tape loops. Adding in Bailey’s own distinctive bass playing, the results feel personal and experimental, pointed and harsh, while also bracingly accessible and covered in dark manic energy.

Over forty years later, these recordings feel shockingly appropriate. In painting a bleak reality and frightening future, there is real desperate beauty here.

CHRISTIAN DEATH was formed by Rozz Williams in Los Angeles, California in 1979. Williams was eventually joined by guitarist/songwriter Rikk Agnew of ADOLESCENTS, James McGearty on bass and George Belanger on drums. This CHRISTIAN DEATH line-up was responsible for recording the band's iconic 1982 debut, ONLY THEATRE OF PAIN, widely regarded as the #1 American goth album of all-time. This exclusive double-LP version of OTOP commemorates its 40th anniversary- the first disc is the digitally remastered, original version of the album while the second disc is comprised of "Dogs" from HELL COMES TO YOUR HOUSE, four pre-Frontier demos, two studio demos made for a second Frontier Records' LP that never happened and two alternate studio mixes from OTOP. The gatefold LP jacket is printed in its original its black and metallic gold, includes a Colver collage poster and a hardcover copy of the photo book, ONLY THEATRE OF PAIN and all come in a hard slipcase. The oversized 12" x 12" book features rare and never-before-seen photos of CHRISTIAN DEATH as well as new interviews with photographer Edward C. Colver, the surviving band members, Frontier's Lisa Fancher and others. Colver befriended the band and followed them around in late 1981 and early 1982 at more than a dozen concerts as well as photo shoots in Rozz Williams' family home (used on the back cover and insert of ONLY THEATRE OF PAIN) and a session of now famous images at a Pomona CA cemetery. Info: Just as the theatrically-minded LA punk scene was beginning to give rise to such morbidly themed outfits as 45 Grave and the Flesh Eaters, an androgynous teenaged street performer named Rozz Williams (né Roger Painter) founded CHRISTIAN DEATH, one of the most prolific, enduring, and beloved gothic acts of all time. Williams' otherworldly groan can make "Only Theatre of Pain" difficult going for those that aren't the gothic faithful, but the loud/not-too-fast music (courtesy of ex-ADOLESCENTS guitarist Rikk Agnew and the walking-dead rhythm section of bassist James McGearty and drummer George Belanger) is appropriately doom 'n' gloomy, with inventive arrangements and clear sound - thanks to Frontier Records' go-to punk production legend, Thom Wilson- capturing the mood in full B-movie fidelity. The lyrics sacriligiously address horror topics and religion: they're overwrought (the backwards masking of 'Mysterium Iniquitatis' being one clever exception) but easy to overlook in the wash of inspired rock noise. The original lineup's recorded debut is a gem. Artists inspired by CHRISTIAN DEATH include Danzig, Craddle of Filth, Paradise Lost, Korn, Type O Negative, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Jane's Addiction. Press: "A depraved masterpiece, this was punk rock made poetic, subversive, and gracefully savage."- AV Club "The Gothic album to out-gothic all others" - Melody Maker "Only Theatre of Pain's influence should not be underestimated" - Record Collector Limited availability!