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When pianist Paul Bley passed away on January 3, 2016, we lost one of the most important improvisers/innovators of modern jazz. He was
instrumental in the surge of free jazz in the 60s.
He established his iconic style and remained influential throughout his life in both avant-garde and mainstream jazz.
The album here is the sequel to SteepleChase’s 1986 LP ‘Live’ from the live recording of March 26, 1986 at Copenhagen’s famous Jazzhus Montmartre.
“If you appreciate Bley’s quintessential lyricism and Lundgaard’s singing lines, this one and the other (‘Live Again’) are noteworthy albums.” - A.G., Compact
“The beautifully clear recording captures Bley’s incisive touch to perfection... recommended to both confirmed Bley addicts and anyone in need of a representative introduction to the startlingly focused genius of the most lucid of romantics.” - Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal International

KNTXT kicks off 2021 by welcoming exciting new talent ONYVAA to its ranks. The much vaunted DJ and producer debuts with her Lost Angeles EP, a superbly powerful four tracker that is perfectly at home on this agenda setting label.

ONYVAA is an LA based artist who has been on a swift rise up through the global techno ranks in the last couple of years. She brings classy Detroit, melodic and dub influences to her music, and her raw analog aesthetic always helps ensure her stylish tracks bring plenty of atmosphere to go alongside her strong modular live-sets. Now, she steps up with a much anticipated debut on Charlotte de Witte's KNTXT label having struck up a personal friendship with the influential artist.

Says ONYVAA, "Lost Angeles was inspired by my time back home in LA and things feeling a bit foreign to my everyday life pre-covid. I’m super grateful for all of Charlotte’s support and really proud to be a part of the KNTXT family. Hoping to play these tracks out on the dance floor soon!"

Opener 'The Way It Is' wastes no time in laying down a heavyweight techno groove that is run through with edgy, laser-like synth riffs. It's an all consuming wall rattler that will blow clubs away. 'Lucid' is a darkened techno roller again lit up with expertly designed synths that are bright yet menacing as distant vocal sounds add another layer of tension. It's an all out acid attack on 'LXD' which places you at the heart of a rave, strobe lights flashing, smoke in the air, darkness enveloping you. The title track closes out at hyper speed, with turbocharged drum programming, interwoven bass and clanking industrial motifs all getting you thoroughly in the zone.

Says Charlotte, "I met Shelby for the first time after a show in Athens. We visited the city the day after and instantly became friends. Whenever the opportunity would arise, we’d spend time together. I love being around the ball of energy that is Shelby and I’m beyond excited to have her and her music on my label. Expecting big things from her!”

This is a fantastic new signing for KNTXT and surely the start of even bigger things for ONYVAA.

Satomimagae is a songwriter, singer, producer and composer residing in the environs of Tokyo, Japan. Hanazano is Satomimagae's fourth album and first for RVNG Intl. Her last albums Kemri (2017), and Koko (2014), were released on Chihei Hatakeyama's White Paddy Mountain. A tribute to everyday mysticism, Hanazono (translated as "flower garden") is an ecology of simple, cyclical refrains and elegiac entreaties cross-pollinating with ludic and layered folk vibrations. Each song on Hanazono is dedicated to a simple theme, object or image, out of which grows uncomplicated melodies wrapped in layers of textural warmth, like a flower subtly moving in sway with its environment. Accompaniments of avian calls and electric guitar strata, added by Hideki Urawa, who also mixed Hanazono, suggest a spacious firmament above this burgeoning bed of earth. An ecology of simple, cyclical refrains are bathed in humming ethers, elegiac entreaties cross-pollinating with ludic and layered folk vibrations. These are songs, lyrically light footed and tunefully mellow. Every element has its place, blooming in synchronicity with its sphere. Hanazono realizes a shift in the artist's habitually intimate and introspective tendencies. Though there are perceptible shades to this space_suggestions of isolation and vulnerability_there is a balance of light which resonates outwards. There is a sense of seeing the world around with wide-eyes, and belonging to it. This way of looking and being is reflected in the folktale relief print illustration which covers the album, setting a scene of sanctuary and insight for this green, growing patch of sound.

Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore returns with Silver Ladders, the full-length follow-up to acclaimed album Hundreds of Days. Since 2018, Lattimore has toured internationally, released collaborative albums with artists such as Meg Baird and Mac McCaughan, and shared a friends-based remix album featuring artists such as Jónsi and Julianna Barwick. At one of her festival appearances, Lattimore met Slowdive’s Neil Halstead: “A friend introduced us because she knew how big of a fan I was and Neil and I had a little chat... The next day, I just thought maybe he’d be into producing my next record.” He was. Lattimore traditionally records her albums holed up by herself, so the addition of Halstead’s touches as a producer and collaborator leave a profound trace. “I flew on a little plane to Newquay in Cornwall where he lives with his lovely partner Ingrid and their baby. I didn’t know what his studio was like, he’d never recorded a harp, but somehow it really worked

Recorded over nine days at Halstead’s studio stationed on an old airfield, Silver Ladders finds Lattimore exercising command and restraint. Her signature style is refined, the sprawling layers of harp reigned in and accented by flourishes of low end synth and Halstead’s guitar. The music can feel ominous but not by compromising vivid wonder, like oceanic overtones that shift with the tides. This material is colored by specific memories for Lattimore; “Neil has this poster of a surfer in his studio and I’d look at it each day, looking at the sunlight glinting on the dark wave. In these songs I like the contrast between the dark lows and the glittering highs. The gloom and the glimmer, the opposites, a lively surfing town in the winter turned kinda rainy and empty and quiet.”

Lattimore and Halstead reformed three existing demos and improvised the remaining four songs. Among the batch she brought with her, the title track recalls a trip she took to Stari Grad, Croatia on the island of Hvar. “I spent some days there just swimming in the bay, silver ladders right into the sea.” The image stuck with her when she found herself performing at a cliffside wedding overlooking the Pacific. “Before anyone showed up, I had time to set up and play and this song came to me, ‘Silver Ladders (to the sea)’, so I made a little recording on my phone to remember it.” This sketch expanded; a delicately glittering harp melody comes over the horizon, swelling and rolling towards the shore on ebbs of synth and refractory delay.

'Without You' is the second release from Athens of the North house band, it's a lovely deep house side with obvious influences. 'Without You' came together while warming up some new gear that had landed in the studio during lockdown and as often happens when you're not trying too hard something just comes together. For the vocal we had a multitrack tape of Avelino Pitts from the band Gold (Sadly he passed a few years ago) and Edinburgh singer Lucy (more to come from her soon). While we may be known for disco and funk AOTN crew grew up in the early 90s, so house is our bread and butter, so you will be hearing more.

On the flip side is something we have been wanting to do for some time, I always loved Mary Love's 'Come Out Of The Sandbox' but felt the structure of the track was a little tricky to play out. We went ahead and restructured the track as well as adding synth parts and created a 12-inch mix that never was (but should have been). We brought to the mix to Ady Croasdell at Ace Records (who currently own the rights) and asked if he would let us release the track legitimately, thankfully Ady liked it and kindly gave us the green light, so delighted that it's not only out but licensed correctly.

Banoffee Pies Records 16th Original Series release comes via a 4 track Split EP collaboration between Kincaid, and Zenzizenz, the ambient moniker of techno producer Viers. After a long year behind us, and likely ahead, this record takes a temporary step into the calm and adds reflection to the blurred months that passed.

The release is a collection of textural bumps and melodies opening with Kincaid's 9 minute "Slow Stumble Home" - an aptly titled down tempo trip through a confused space, layered with composition, like a Playstation home screen theme on Mushrooms. Calm follows with two tracks from Zenzizenz - "Returning From Home", a steady meditation through rumbling sounds soon shift to a new mood on the B side. "Falling Off" offers a more lethargic wandering mood through the marshland before BP016 comes to it's close with "Single Cell", the 2nd Kincaid track, which concludes with a chaptered 4x4 structure and slow bursts of energy within. Time to absorb. Love BP x

Pixey grew up in the sleepy but picturesque village Parbold, Lancashire before moving to Liverpool for school and remaining there to this day. Now signed to Chess Club - a label famed for breaking new talent, where recent exciting signings include AlfieTempleman and Phoebe Green, and past successes include Jungle, Wolf Alice and Easy Life - Pixey is making more waves than ever before. ‘Just Move’ drew attention from BBC Radio 1 DJs Jack Saunders (who made Pixey one of his Next Wave artists) and Huw Stephens amongst many other admirers like Radio X’s John Kennedy who added the band to the X-Posure playlist at the station in October. Pixey has also featured as the cover artist of Spotify’s Indie Brandneu (GER) and Peach editorial playlists, and wasamongst the artists named in major annual tips lists, the Dork HYPE List and the NME 100.



New single ‘Electric Dream’ - with its accompanying video by Thomas Davies - combines cavernous drum machines and dreamy pop melodies with a signature dance stomp. Speaking about new single, Pixey explains: “‘Electric Dream’ was originally written as a piano ballad but after finishing the lyrics I felt the song worked as a dance track. I wrote it to make sense ofbeing locked in with nothing to rely on but technology. The verses are all of my anxieties that come with that - like trying to simulate humanity digitally and what kind of a future that would be - but the choruses are about the imperfections of real life that technology and AI can’t give us.”



Debut EP Free To Live In Colour was written, recorded and produced in Pixey’s bedroom in Liverpool - with additional production added by frequent Gorillaz and Jamie T collaborator James Dring - and draws inspiration from genres like hardcore breakbeat and





dream pop. Pixey says: “I wanted a collection of tracks which gave a quick snapshot into me and my brain - where I’m from, where I want to be and what I’m thinking about. I hope people can take something meaningful from it or simply have a dance.”



Pixey first discovered music as a toddler - she remembers not even being able to walk yet but desperate to sing and dance to Queen - before discovering the likes of Kate Bush, Björk, and George Harrison, whose classic songwriting struck a chord with her in her youth. The catalyst for Pixey’s musical coming of age however, was a near fatal viral illness suffered in early 2016 which hospitalised her, she says: “When I thought I was going to die I thought of all the things I wish I’d done and music was the first thing I thought of. As soon as I started recovering I started learning to record and produce.” She taught herself Ableton production software before mastering guitar and eventually drums and bass after her previous (and current) boyfriend(s) left their instruments lying around to prove she could learn it quicker and play it better.



Once able to carve out her own sound, Pixey turned to The Verve, The Prodigy and De La Soul for sonic inspiration, adding: “I particularly like the idea of using samples/making my own riffs sound like samples which was heavily inspired by the De La Soul album 3 Feet High and Rising. Starting out initially though Grimes was a huge catalyst when I realized she wrote, recorded &produced herself.” Her prolific and unusual songwriting style stems from an original riff or beat, with further layers added as she records and produces, and lyrics being added last - the process taking only a day or two.



With Free To Live In Colour and a whole arsenal of further material being readied on her new label home, Chess Club, Pixey is primed for big things in 2021 and beyond.

“Is that what you wanted, Alfred?” we hear in Miles Davis’ unmistakable rasp at the end of “One for Daddy-O,” making it clear that the legendary (and assertive) trumpeter was not just playing the role of sideman on Somethin’ Else, the sole Blue Note album by Cannonball Adderley.

The alto saxophonist was a member of Davis’ band at the time and the depth of their musical camaraderie lifts this session up to rarefied heights throughout, from the breath-taking performance of “Autumn Leaves” that opens the album to the thrilling call-and-response theme of the title track. Pianist Hank Jones, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Art Blakey round out the quintet on this timeless classic.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

One of the most demanded vinyl from diggers, PEOPLE'S PLEASURE "Do You Hear Me Talking To You?" is still shining brightly in the rare groove scene. AP-VINE is proudAof releasing the super killer track "World Full Of People" and the instrumental version of the same song that was not released at the time in the original LP as reissue 7inch for the first time in the world!!AIn addition, this ep includes a special download code for the bonus track that is sung by the producer BILLY BROWN with the same instrumental track!A

Live At Robert Johnson introduces SIRS to its artist roster, with a two-track laid-back Balearic disco EP, reducing the tempi to bring on a nicely crafted and floating cosmic groove. Arrived EP kicks off with Keep Forgetting, a laid-back and slowly evolving cosmic vibe, which lets you forget the daily routines and hardships for a while. On the flip-side, Junee widens the Balearic panorama with added pads, uptempo beats, and a heart-warming synth line. Available digital-only, Call Me turns a notion of long-distance longing into a punchy downbeat, with floating chords and melodies building into a labour-of-love tune. Daniel Klein aka SIRS (read: Sounds In Real Stereo) has come a long way since getting acquainted with electronic sounds in the 1980s and into DJing just a decade later, inspired by the early Hamburg gay scene. His mid-Nineties relocation to Ibiza and Mallorca has clearly informed SIRS’ productions and overall style, which features on many remixes and co-productions, as well as his own tracks and label SIRSOUNDS.

Following on from the success of ‘Greg Belson’s Divine Disco’ series Greg Belson and Cultures of Soul team up again to explore the world of Gospel Funk. Belson, one of the world's leading collectors and DJs of gospel music, has assembled a collection of some of the rarest Gospel funk records for “Greg Belson’s Devine Funk.”

In addition to the full-length, available on CD and LP, choice selections from the compilation will be released on 7 inch singles in limited quantities. Third in the Devine Funk 7 inch series, includes the laid back breakbeat laced “I Don’t Want to Be Alone" by Allen Gauff Jr.,

Following on from the success of ‘Greg Belson’s Divine Disco’ series Greg Belson and Cultures of Soul team up again to explore the world of Gospel Funk. Belson, one of the world's leading collectors and DJs of gospel music, has assembled a collection of some of the rarest Gospel funk records for “Greg Belson’s Devine Funk.”

In addition to the full-length, available on CD and LP, choice selections from the compilation will be released on 7 inch singles in limited quantities. Fourth in the Devine Funk 7 inch series, includes socially-on-point take of the Gospel classic ‘This Little Light Of Mine’ by the
Gospel Ambassadors

Ryley Walker currently resides in New York City. But his latest LP is a Chicago record in spirit. The masterful Course In Fable, the songwriter’s fi@h solo effort,
draws from the deep well of that city’s ferCle 1990s scene, when bands like Tortoise, The Sea and Cake and Gastr del Sol were reshaping the underground,
mixing and matching indie rock, jazz, prog and beyond.
Walker spent his formaCve years in Chicago, absorbing those heady sounds and finding ways to make them his own. Even though he emerged at first in folkrock
troubadour mode, it makes sense that he’s arrived at this point; each LP has grown more intricate and assured, his influences disClling into something
original and unusual. To put it simply: Course In Fable is Walker’s best record yet, full of acCve imaginaCon and endless possibiliCes.
Last October, Ryley went straight to one of the primary architects of the Chicago sound to make the LP. John McEn:re, Course In Fable’s producer/engineer/
mixer, can rightly be called a legend for his work with Tortoise, Stereolab, The Red Krayola, Jim O’Rourke and countless others over a prolific career that now
spans more than three decades. Seeing his name in an album’s liners is preVy much a trademark of quality.
Another Windy City exile, McEnCre is based on the west coast these days, working out of the Portland, OR studio he’s dubbed Soma West. On the seven songs
here, he delivers the signature shimmering and prisCne sonics he’s become known for over the years. But McEnCre was also inCmately involved with Course
In Fable’s overall creaCve process. “I told him to take the mixes and have at it,” Walker says.
The result is a rich, immersive affair — a headphones record if ever there was one. Course In Fable’s songs are twisty, labyrinthine things, stuffed full of ideas
(Walker half-jokingly calls it his “prog record”). But no maVer how complex it gets, the album is never overwhelmingly busy. Wiry guitars melt into gorgeous
string secCons (arranged by Douglas Jenkins of the Portland Cello Project). Tricky Cme signatures abound but feel as natural as can be. Melodies o@en dri@ in
unexpected direcCons but remain downright hummable. Like Walker’s beloved Genesis, the pop element is never too far from the surface even when shit
gets weird. (And speaking of weird, Ryley says that in addiCon to Genesis, much of the album’s inspiraCon comes from “Australian extreme scooter riders on
YouTube and balding gear heads on Craigslist.” Go figure.)
To help put together these various puzzle pieces, Ryley assembled a band made up of several longCme collaborators. Bill MacKay (another Chicago mainstay)
and Walker have made two excellent instrumental duo records of interlocking guitars and warm give-and-take — a rapport very much in evidence
throughout Course In Fable. The freakishly talented drummer Ryan Jewell has performed with Walker for years now in a variety of seangs, from
straighborward song-centric sets to blown-out improv extravaganzas. Bassist Andrew ScoJ Young (Tiger Hatchery, Health&Beauty) has logged many miles on
tour with Walker; he and Jewell are frequently astonishing, a buoyant-but-always-locked-in rhythm secCon, able to navigate someCmes dizzying turnarounds
with apparent ease. Listening to the interplay between Walker and these musicians and you might be fooled into thinking they’d spent a year roadtesCng
Course In Fable’s songs. But it all came together relaCvely fast, thanks to demos, rehearsals and the kind of musical empathy that comes from years of
playing together.
Beneath the wondrous interplay, you’ll find some of Walker’s most personal – if sCll typically crypCc — lyrics, hinCng at some of the trials the songwriter has
been dealing with in recent years. Balanced with necessary doses of dark humor and oddball poetry, Course In Fable feels most of all like a life-affirming
record, fresh air in the lungs, sun on your skin. “Fuck me, I’m alive,” Ryley sings at one point, a moment of both disbelief and pure joy.
Walker has released his albums on a who’s-who of independent labels over the past decade — Tompkins Square, Dead Oceans, Thrill Jockey and Drag City
among them. This Cme around, he’s doing it DIY-style, puang Course In Fable out on his own Husky Pants imprint. You’re in good hands. This is an album that
sounds great (mastered by Greg Calbi), looks great (artwork by Jenny Nelson and design by Michael Vallera). It probably even smells great. Whether you’ve
been onboard since the beginning or are new to the Ryley Walker universe, you’re in for a treat.

Larry de Kat joins Alexis Raphael’s recently launched Paella Hair Sex imprint with his debut EP on the label entitled ‘Radio K-Nip 4.20 FM’.

Utrecht-based DJ and producer Larry de Kat is a rising talent with releases on Slapfunk Records, Lazare Hoche, Ruff and his own Katnip imprint. The artist has built a diverse underground following with his eclectic but distinctive sound gaining support from the likes of Bicep, Mark Farina, Ben UFO and Subb-An. 'Radio K-Nip 4.20FM' explores Jazz, Hip-Hop, House and Funk, adding another impressive release to his growing catalogue.

Alexis has established himself as a critical figure within the house scene since rising through the ranks in 2011. His illustrious career has seen his material land on prestigious labels like Hot Creations, Mad Tech, Moda Black, Get Physical and Nervous, whilst remixing Disciples, Kim English, Tiger Stripes and Miguel Campbell. The recently launched Paella Hair Sex imprint is the beginning of a new chapter in the long-standing Deep House artist’s musical story. A return to vinyl in 2016 sparked the inspiration behind the vinyl-only label, now welcoming a heavyweight release from Larry de Kat this coming March.
Brief ‘cut and paste’ opener 'Tune In Turn On' features immersive drum loops, spoken word vocals and a classic flute sample, laying the way for the rest of the package. The sensational ‘J’ provides a feel-good Deep House affair, as a slick bassline sequence fuses with rising synth lines and soulful vocals to guide listeners on a hypnotic journey. The charming vibe continues on interludes - ‘The Spoiler’, ‘LoPass’ and ‘Zoned Out’ which showcase another side to the artists’ unique style, providing three stripped-back modern jazz affairs.

On the flip, Larry de Kat’s rework of Vanity 6’s ‘Nxsty Girl’ combines funk-infused melodies with taut bass guitar-riffs and loose percussion arrangements to keep the energy flowing. ‘Criminally Understated’ is a harmonic slice of old skool gospel and soul - sensual chords, soft keys and fluttering modulations rise through the cosmos, whilst the B-side interludes 'Lonnies Tune', 'Interloot' and Tribulations round out proceedings in style.

After years of performing live together and appearing on each other's solo albums, critically acclaimed mc's/producers Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic, along with DJ Big Wiz, come together as Hail Mary Mallon and deliver their Rhymesayers debut Are You Gonna Eat That?. The name and album title are inspired by Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary, the first person in the U.S. identified as a healthy carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. Mary Mallon was presumed to have infected 53 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. She spent three years in quarantine, which is where she died. Are You Gonna Eat That? is full of powerful dense production and witty word play courtesy of Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic. Add some turntable wizardry from DJ Big Wiz and this trio is destined to be as infectious as Typhoid Mary herself.

Zwischen alternativem, modernem Metal und spürbarem Zeitgeist haben sich die US-amerikanischen Durchstarter TETRARCH in den letzten Jahren mehr als nur einen Namen in der Szene gemacht und sind längst über den Status eines Insider Tipps hinausgewachsen. Bereits das 2017 erschienene Debüt Freak wurde von der internationalen Presse und der Musikindustrie, als auch von Künstlern der Szene hoch gelobt und sicherte der Band eine einzigartige Position innerhalb des Genres.
Das 2021 erscheinende 10-Tracks starke Album Unstable manifestiert den Kometen-Status der Band und beweist deren musikalische Wandelbarkeit auf höchstem Niveau.
Der kommende Longplayer verliert keine Zeit, um die unkonventionelle, enorme Schlagkraft der Band unter
Beweis zu stellen und statuiert bereits mit dem Intro-Track „I’m not right“ ein explosives Exempel für neuartige Spielarten des modernen Metal. Die Zahlen sprechen für sich - die erste Single erreichte inzwischen über eine Millionen Streams auf YouTube - Tendenz steigend. Getragen von der beeindruckenden stimmlichen Varianz von Front-Shouter Josh Fore und den rasenden Riffs der Ausnahme-Gitarristin Diamond Rowe, bricht der Track zwischen puren Emotionen und einer beeindruckenden, neu-gedachten Hommage
an Genre-Größe der frühen 2000er.
Insgesamt liefern TETRARCH mit ihrer 2021er Veröffentlichung Unstable auf 10 Tracks und 37 Minuten
Spielzeit ein Paradebeispiel für starke Attitüde, pures Talent und triumphalen Modern Metal!

2021 Reissue of the classic Junior Kimbrough "First Recordings" release from Big Legal Mess / Fat Possum. First time on 12" vinyl with two additional takes from the original sessions.

A. Smyth debut album, Last Animals, will be released early next year on 19th February. The album was produced by Darragh Nolan (Asta Kalapa) and mastered by JJ Golden. “…we made Last Animals in January of this year, moments before the world was to change forever. Throughout the record I reflect on the effect we as humans are having on our home, little did I know what was to come.... Last Animals is made up of 10 songs, some big, some small, but all with something to say”.

The forthcoming album’s first taster ’Hero’ (Oct 2019) racked up 338k streams with inclusion on Easy, Your Coffee Break and Breath of Fresh Eire Spotify playlists. It followed a series of equally well-received early singles released by A. Smyth over the last two years, including ‘Second Moon’, another add to Your Coffee Break playlist (alongside many other discovery playlists) with 642k Spotify streams to date, ‘Coming Back To You’ and ‘Fever’, both of which featured in ‘Made In Chelsea.’ With the singles gaining early support by major Irish radio stations RTE Radio 1 and Today FM.

A. Smyth has sold out Whelans in his hometown Dublin, and performed at Ireland Music Week and Other Voices festivals - with an appearance also on Other Voices TV show which aired this Spring. As well as performing UK/international showcases at Primavera Pro, Eastbound Festival and All Together Now (among others).

Our new release features the debut of mysterious producer Bosquemar from Chile.

On his self-titled EP, he blends percussive grooves with gritty synths and field recordings.

In sophisticated soundscapes of concrete sounds, crunchy flutes, and conjuring vocals, Bosquemar creates a psychedelic South-American downbeat far from any stereotypes.

For 'Animales' we have Matanza's Rodrigo Gallardo on remix duty, who increases the tempo and adds a dubby flavour with bouncy beats and a calling flute theme.

Recorded sporadically over five years from 2015 to 2019, Sixty Summers was shaped profoundly by Stone’s key collaborators on the album: Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, and Annie Clark, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer known as St. Vincent. Bartlett and Clark were the symbiotic pair Stone needed to realise her first pop vision. A wizard of production and songwriting, Bartlett helped coax Sixty Summers’ independent, elemental spirit from Stone, writing and recording over 50 demos with her at his studio in New York. Itself a thoroughfare for indie rock luminaries, some of whom, such as The National’s Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner, ended up on the album, Bartlett’s studio was perfect fertile ground for Stone’s growth.
Clark was the incisive yang to Bartlett’s yin, a sharp musical polymath who, when presented with the work Bartlett and Stone had made together, quickly helped fashion Sixty Summers into the album it was destined to be. Contributing vocals and guitar in addition to production, Clark’s revered acidic touch ignited the sparks of Stone’s creations.
The scope of Sixty Summers is dizzyingly vast; miles away from Stone’s past work, it is a world unto itself, a surreal and breathtaking new landscape. Where Stone’s previous solo records, 2010’s The Memory Machine and 2014’s By The Horns, found her grappling with the natural darkness that comes with loving too much, Sixty Summers finds Stone claiming every part of herself: fire, fury, love, lust, longing. Touching on reference points as disparate as the avant-funk of Talking Heads (on ‘Break’) the romantic 2am musings of Serge Gainsbourg (‘Free’, ‘Dance’) and the sleek, ecstatic synth work of Lorde’s Melodrama (‘Substance’), Sixty Summers is an album you can dance to and one you can lose yourself in completely.