Suche:af

Barenaked Ladies return with their first new album in four years, ‘Detour de Force’. The 14-track effort is the result of both pre- and post-lockdown recording sessions. The band spent five weeks at vocalist/guitarists Ed Robertson’s cabin outside Toronto pre pandemic writing and recording in a makeshift studio. During pandemic lockdown, they decided they wanted to polish things up a bit. They returned to a Toronto studio when the lockdown lifted to rework the tracks resulting in ‘Detour de Force’. The Barenaked Ladies are Ed Robertson: Guitar, Vocals Jim Creeggan: Bass, Vocals Kevin Hearn: Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals Tyler Stewart: Drums, Vocals Over the course of their remarkable career, Barenaked Ladies have sold over 15 million albums, written multiple top 20 hits (including radio staples “One Week,” “Pinch Me,” “If I Had $1,000,000”), garnered 2 GRAMMY nominations, won 8 JUNO Awards, had Ben & Jerry’s name an ice cream after them (“If I Had 1,000,000 Flavours”), participated in the first-ever “space-to-earth musical collaboration” with astronaut Chris Hadfield, and garnered an international fan base whose members number in the millions. In 2018, the band were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Toronto Mayor John Tory declared October 1st “Barenaked Ladies Day.”

Peace of mind after the book release and the long awaited drop of the 5 tunes we were expecting from the pressing plant. While Escai is finalising the cover of Jay Nemor’s album, now it's time for me to go back to work with Yann, the London member of our Funk Investigators little patrol.
Hailin' from Houston TX, Leroy Allen started his career in ‘69 with the group “THE SYMPHONICS “, that later became GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN, which in 1972 recorded “Let Your Heart Be The Judge“, which still gets air play more than thirty years later. In the early 80’s Leroy started the group ”
The Perfect Timin' Band”, which backed BO WILLIAMS, while touring with Cameo, and Gerald Levert. Perfect Timin' also opened for New Edition, Baby Face, Roger Troutman & Zapp, just to name a few. In 2013, Leroy Allen has started a solo project with the new hit single “I WANT IT “, receiving heavy rotation in the Southern United States and European Markets. Mr. Allen recently formed “Orion The Band” which consists of top musicians from the Houston area, creating the foundation for the “I Want It” Project, of which both songs included in this release are a natural developement. Catchy, extremely soulful, just perfect for this mid summer rainy day!

MAUGLI blends vibrant sounds and driving rhythms from all over the globe. With a background as a drummer and of various styles, his genre-bending music blends sampling and recording into a lively collage. His crisp arrangements balance an electronic yet organic feeling. His debut album “Alba” (translated from Italian as “sunset“) is inspired by traditional music and the dance rituals of various Afro cultures and their diaspora such as capoeira, work songs or gnawa. While seeking to translate their spirit into the present day, MAUGLI combines these elements with electronic music, wobbling synthesizers and stomping beats. “Ladainha” is a soulful homage to the capoeira culture featuring Professor Chipreu PDM and "Baksheesh" to the rich American blues tradition, with hypnotic synth riffs and chopped up guitar licks resolving in a south african chant (recorded in the late 1950`s). “Mizan” opens with a pounding Guembri (a traditional gnawa three-stringed lute) accompanied by it’s descendant the ’banjo‘, allowing the sampled berber vocals to shine through. “Rawa’s” striking guitar riff is set up against biting synth blobs and piano chords, Nigerian fiddles and chants that swing us deeply into the groove. Get your ticket, for this album is an outernational roundtrip.

January 1969 – The Beatles planned to return to live performance, setting up in Twickenham Film Studios, London, for 21 days of rehearsals. They then decamped to their new studio in their Apple office building in Saville Row and on January 30th performed their last ever live group performance on the rooftop. All of this was filmed for a proposed documentary (eventually released in 1970). During the rehearsal process, they asked Glyn Johns, who had been hired to help with the live sound, to attempt a mix to create an album. This was never released, becoming known as one of the great ‘lost’ albums in rock history and is now included in this Super Deluxe Set. The album was delayed further and in fact became their 12th and final official album release on 8th May 1970 following additional production by American producer Phil Spector.

Tape

Marc Romboy presents his upcoming album "Voyage de la planète' his first solo full-length production in over eight years. Released on his newly launched Hyperharmonic label, Voyage de la Plantète signifies an exciting new chapter for Marc as he experiments with his sound - pushing the boundaries between classical and electronic music to create both an emotional and atmospheric experience.
The first impression of this new sound can be heard on album opener forerunner 10" "Monde futuriste" (February 17th 2017) which blends together beautiful strings and soft flittering synths. "Jules Verne" named after the French science fiction writer, combines echoing arpeggios and a subtle woodwind harmony to create a cosmic soundscape. Whilst "Atome de danse", "Symphonie oblique" and "La machine du temps" use elegant strings to further enhance an unearthly effect, title track "Voyage de la planète" mixes the two mediums together with fluttering synths and somber strings before "La lune et l'étolie" builds introduces the bustling sound of the piano to create an upbeat melody.
Whilst there is a strong classical influence, there are tracks on the album that reference Marc's electronic background. This can be heard in

"L'univers étrange", which has an ambient sound, whilst pitched-down chords take "L'universe parallèle" to a dark and moody space.
"Phénix" is a bass-driven track, layered with crashing synths, taking the journey to a high before the celestial experience draws to a close on an uplifting note with "Nocturne" a laid-back soothing track that exudes optimism and wonderment.
Inspired by a concert with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra where he performed Claude Debussy works in a contemporary way, "Voyage de la planète' signifies the start of a new chapter for Marc Romboy. Combining the strange, fascinating sounds of electronic music with the sublime beauty of classical music to create an extraordinary sonic experience for the listener.

After a first volume released in September 2020 on Hard Fist, Argentinian Balam comes with “Chants of Pachamama (Part. 2)”, including a remix by Matias Aguayo.

This time Balam focuses on the experience around the ritual of magic plants that is practiced in the deep South-American rainforest. By mixing modular synth, stromping basslines, haunting vocals and real played percussions produced in his studio “Submarea” in Buenos AIres, he recreates a psychedelic trip from beginning to end.

The opening track “Yagé” is the name for a magic plant that can be found in many places in South America. With a tight djembe, the magician comes with his chants for starting the ceremony just before the bass bursts for a pagan dance. An irresistible lead synth takes the climax higher until the break where the magician enters the void and the psychedelic trip begins.

“El Curandero” – the chaman who leads the ritual – is the second tune of a frenetic organic and modular percussion bass driven dance stomper. Blazing synthesizers create a state of confusion and hallucinations when “el curandero” chants his icaros. The djembes and shakers move behind the heavy bassline while analog ding and dongs go crazy all over.

The second last track “Golfo”, just before the remix, is an instrumental tune, the end of the experience: heavy synthetic percussion, modular ambient sounds, a modal marimba and a very present djembe jamming until it fades in the analog night.

The closing track is a great reinterpretation of “Wakax” from “Chants of Pachamama (Part 1)” by the legend Matias Aguayo. A dark and heavy bass mixed with a tricky use of lots of the original elements makes you wanna twerk all night long.

After a successful first release on his own label imprint, Kmyle decided to drive the point home with this second opus named "Catharsis EP". A concentrated energy of 3 powerful tracks who give us a hypnotic dancefloor trip and one remix from the imposing veteran Drumcell, which brings us back to the roots of techno with its own dark groove vision, made for the wet and warm atmosphere of long rave nights.

THE CHARLATANS proudly announce their (Covid) delayed release of their 30th Anniversary tour and a career spanning best of entitled “A Head Full of Ideas’ Released on Then Recordings through Republic Of Music. ‘A Head Full of Ideas’ sums up their remarkable progress from 1990 Manchester scene hopefuls to one of the UK’s most enduring and best-loved bands. The accompanying tour begins at Belfast, Limelight 22/11/21 and finishes in Aberdeen on 20/12/21.

The band have notched up 13 Top 40 studio albums - three of them number ones - alongside 22 hit singles, four of them top 10. The rollercoaster highs have been accompanied by some shattering lows, any which one of them could have felled a less resilient band, from nervous breakdowns to near bankruptcy and the deaths of two founder members.

Somehow, they have not just carried on but adapted and transformed. The classic Charlatans sound - driving Hammond organ, Northern Soul and house-influenced rhythms, swaggering guitars and Tim Burgess’s sunny yet somehow yearning vocal - is instantly recognisable. And in spite of everything they have been through their music is now more relevant than ever, The Guardian described their last album, Different Days as “one of their best ever”.

As well as a very limited 6 Vinyl box set, there will also be Limited Coloured Triple vinyl LP version and 2CD deluxe of the box set featuring the hits albums plus a bonus live album ‘Trust is For Believers’, and finally a CD or Double LP Vinyl of just the hits albums.

For all overthinkers and introverts. On their debut album "Smalltalk & DMCs", the Berlin indie-pop trio Varley finds strength in vulnerability. The result: an album like a good friend.

The indie-pop trio Varley is Dublin-born Claire-Ann and German band mates Joschka Bender and Matthias Heising. Initially influenced by Bon Iver, and citing the likes of Fleetwood Mac, The Cardigans and Phoebe Bridgers as other notable touchstones, what lies at the core of Varley’s affective, heart-on-sleeve music is its willingness to be vulnerable. Their music is an honest and raw outlet, and the cathartic nature of their songwriting is one to be championed.

Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate.

Yi Yole – recorded in 1978 – was the first time the legendary South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana had worked with the ICP. An innovator in the genre of Cape Jazz with the Blue Notes – which also featured Chris McGregor, Louis Moholo, and Johnny Dyani – who fled the apartheid regime for London in 1964, Pukwana's style is the perfect complement to ICP co-founders Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg, who round out the trio here.

Relaxed and somewhat understated for the ICP catalog, Yi Yole is the one and only time these leaders in European free improvisation would record together in a trio setting. This limited reissue marks the first time the album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release.

Since his earliest infatuations with guitar, Buffalo Nichols has asked himself the same question: How can I bring the blues of the past into the future? After cutting his teeth between a Baptist church and bars in Milwaukee, it was a globetrotting trip through West Africa and Europe during a creative down period that began to reveal the answer. “Part of my intent, making myself more comfortable with this release, is putting more Black stories into the genres of folk and blues,” guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Carl “Buffalo” Nichols explains. “Listening to this record, I want more Black people to hear themselves in this music that is truly theirs.” That desire is embodied in his self-titled debut album—Fat Possum’s first solo blues signing in nearly 20 years—composed largely of demos and studio sessions recorded between Wisconsin and Texas.

Hank May’s debut record, One More Taste of the Good Stuff, is the story of a room. To be specific: it is the story of a sound-proofed practice space that his father built for him in the garage of his childhood home in Los Angeles, where he recorded and pieced together these eight songs. It is also the story of solitude. After spending much of his 20s living in New York and working at the erstwhile DIY venue, Palisades, May moved back home both to be closer to his family, and because he felt like he was stagnating artistically. It is also the story of a loss of a close friend. May’s best music friend, and biggest supporter, passed away from an overdose back in New York. He felt he needed to make him proud, and this record is dedicated to his memory. Back home, May was able to concentrate on his craft, and was finally able to take the particles of phrases that had existed in his head and turn them into art.

No one combines death and black metal quite like Poland’s Hate . With unflinching viciousness and a sense of atmosphere unique to the band, on Rugia, their twelfth full-length, they push the boundaries of their craft even further. Writing for Rugia commenced shortly after Auric Gates of Veles was released. However, Hate soon began to tour extensively in support of their then new opus, and the production of new music was put on the back burner. But come 2020 and the COVID pandemic, the band’s touring plans with Belphegor and Suffocation were abruptly cut short. With this unexpected infusion of free time, the band decided to buckle down and finish writing the material they were working on. .” The album title is taken from the archaic name of a German island on the Baltic Sea now called Rügen. In ancient times, Rügen or Rugia, was a site of holy pilgrimage to the pagan Slavic people. It was the very heart of the western Slavic faith, housing the fabled stronghold of Arkona. The album is at its core a tribute to Rugia and its tribes and the culture they created. The band elected to once again track the album in the Hertz Recording Studio in Poland, and it was recorded, mixed and mastered by the Wiesłaski Brothers (Behemoth, Decapitated).

Sophomore album from lauded UK, now Los Angeles-based, R&B singer and songwriter Sinéad Harnett which includes key singles Stickin’ (feat. Masego & VanJess), Take Me Away (feat. EARTHGANG), Anymore (feat. Lucky Daye), & the stunning Hard 4 Me 2 Love You. Through this cohesive body of work, Sinéad delivers uplifting anthems with messages around empowerment, individualism, unity, and community alongside more raw and vulnerable songs that explore how darker times of her past have affected who she is now as an artist. Sinéad’s hope is for fans to feel like they’re accompanying her on a journey of loving themselves.

Featuring Anthony Green of Circa Survive, Adam Lazzara and John Nolan of Taking Back Sunday and additional percussion from Benjamin Homola of Grouplove, Fuckin Whatever is a fluid project born of longtime friendships and late nights on the road, but what it could grow to become is entirely unwritten. It all started on the 2016 Taste Of Chaos tour. After Green wrapped his opening set with Saosin each night, itching to play more music, he started setting up impromptu acoustic gigs in the parking lots after his set. One night, his restless energy led to an impromptu backstage jam session with Lazzara, Nolan, Homola, and others––except there were no instruments involved. Using just their voices and a stomp or two in lieu of percussion... before they even realized it, Fuckin Whatever was born. They decided to start recording these nightly jam sessions on their phones, and by the end of the tour, there were literally dozens of recordings. There are some as long as 17-minutes, some recorded in bathrooms, and even one in the legendary tunnel between the stage and sound booth at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. What they share in common is the camaraderie of the many talented voices (and sounds) involved. Fast forward to 2020––ugh. With a creative need to continue making and releasing music, Anthony approached the group about releasing some of those recordings. Feeling a similar restlessness, Nolan suggested they try making and recording something for real instead. "I'm Waiting On You" is what came next, and it's truly the spark that led to the rest of this EP coming together. There are zero instruments on Fuckin Whatever's self-titled debut. "It's pretty much 80% mouth noises and 20% Ben slapping things around the house," Lazzara explains. Those voices, however, are among some of the most recognizable in modern rock music, yet here they take on a new life. Call it a band, or a supergroup... it's Fuckin Whatever.

Branches Of Sun by Wyndham Wallace Like every musician, Markus Sieber is used to going the extra mile to make the music he hears in his head and feels in his heart. There aren’t many, however, who would – or indeed, could – get to work in the mornings by strolling across a frozen lake before settling in a small cabin high up in the mountains located close to the Old Spanish Trail in Colorado where he had set up a home studio. For most of an entire month, though, he’d begin his day by pressing “Record’, and end it by pressing ‘Stop’. The world outside barely existed. Sieber’s no stranger to solitude and frugal living. Born near Leipzig, East Germany, 15 years before the Wall fell, his parents moved to a remote village outside Dresden when he was six, spending his free time in the summer fishing or swimming in the nearby Zschopau and Mulde rivers and, in the winter, ice skating, sledging and skiing. It’s no surprise, then, that with a background like this, and in locations such as those in which he now works and lives, Aukai’s work is imbued with a sense of peace. Even if the album took another half-year to complete, this was done in an unhurried fashion: after a month, he returned to the cabin to “shape, carve and edit” the material, inviting others to contribute along the way..

Norah Jones has been a steady voice of warmth and reassurance for nearly 20 years since her cozy 2002 debut album Come Away With Me became a familiar musical companion for millions of people around the world. Now the 9-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist has made her first-ever holiday album with I Dream Of Christmas, a delightful and comforting collection of timeless seasonal favorites and affecting new originals that explore the complicated emotions of our times and our hopes that this holiday season will be full of joy and togetherness. I Dream Of Christmas will be released October 15 on Blue Note Records and can be pre-ordered now on vinyl, CD, and digital download.

“I’ve always loved Christmas music but never had the inclination to make a holiday album until now,” Norah says. “Last year I found myself listening to James Brown’s Funky Christmas and Elvis’s Christmas Album on Sunday’s during lockdown for a sense of comfort. In January 2021, I started thinking about making a Christmas album of my own. It gave me something fun to work on and look forward to.”

The album’s opening track, Norah’s original “Christmas Calling (Jolly Jones)” is available to stream or download today. Over chiming piano chords, Norah expresses a deep desire for holiday cheer and companionship. “I wanna hear the music play / I wanna dance and laugh and sway / I wanna happy holiday for Christmas.”

“When I was trying to figure out which direction to take, the original songs started popping in my head,” Norah explains. “They were all about trying to find the joys of Christmas, catching that spark, that feeling of love and inclusion that I was longing for during the rest of the year. Then there are all the classics that have that special nostalgia that can hit you no matter who or where you are in life. It was hard to narrow down, but I picked favorite classics that I knew I could make my own.”

Among the album’s many pleasures are Norah’s playful reinvention of The Chipmunk’s “Christmas Don’t Be Late” by David Seville (aka Ross Bagdasarian), which is given a languid beat and swaggering horns. Other highlights include sublime versions of “White Christmas,” “Blue Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Christmas Time Is Here.”

I Dream Of Christmas was produced by Leon Michels, and features an excellent cast of musicians including Brian Blade on drums, Tony Scherr and Nick Movshon on bass, Russ Pahl on pedal steel guitar, Marika Hughes on cello, Dave Guy on trumpet, Raymond Mason on trombone, and Michels on saxophone, flute, percussion, and more.

Norah Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards. Since then, Jones has become a nine-time GRAMMY-winner. She has sold 50 million albums and her songs have been streamed six billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off The Floor (2020), and her first-ever live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper who released their second LP Sister in 2020. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Since 2018 Jones has been releasing a series of singles including collaborations with artists and friends such as Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy, Thomas Bartlett, Tarriona Tank Ball, Rodrigo Amarante, and Brian Blade, some of which were compiled on the 2019 singles collection Begin Again.

Making her stage debut in April 2019 and selling out her first
headline show at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre less
than a year later, A.A. Williams hit the ground running. Similarly,
the acclaim for her performances and her music has been
unanimous from the start. After one self-titled EP and a
collaboration with Japanese post-rockers MONO, the Londonbased singer songwriter signed to Bella Union and released her
stunning debut album, ‘Forever Blue’, in July 2020.
 That Southbank show would prove to be the last time she would
take to the stage for a long while as the world struggled to cope
with unforeseen and extreme challenges. Never a musician to sit
still, the classically trained multi-instrumentalist focused her
creativity on arranging - firstly, by stripping back to the most
delicate bones on her ‘Songs from Isolation’ covers record and
now with a complete reimagining of her own material as the four
songs from her debut EP become ‘arco’.
 Not many musicians have the ability - or indeed bravery - to
rework a collection of their own full band ‘rock’ songs into a stringand-voice arrangement. A.A. Williams, however, is not like many
musicians and the minimalism of Arvo Pärt and Gorecki has long
since sat beside Vaughan Williams' folk-inspired classical work as
important influences on her music. Indeed, the intention with the
EP was for Williams to challenge herself by not retaining guitars
and drums, meaning ‘arco’ had to be truly reimagined with a full
string ensemble.
 As Williams describes it: “The main focus of the arrangements is
trying to maintain the authenticity of the original songs that, whilst
embodying some of the more familiar elements of the full-band
settings, draws focus on the voice.”
 Conducting the ensemble of string musicians in the studio, A.A.
Williams has evolved her own compositions with new
instrumentation and arrangements, encapsulating the singular
vision of a unique artist.
 12” pressed on 140g ‘Galaxy White Purple’ vinyl with signed
12”x12” print and digital download code.

Keaton Henson’s ‘Fragments EP’ was made as a
companion piece to last year’s ‘Monument’ album,
written and recorded at the same time.
 ‘Monument’ is a fragile, meditative and emotional
unravelling of grief in the aftermath of losing his
father, and for all its hushed acoustics, ‘Monument’
cocooned its emotion in some beautifully tender
melodies and acute observations. It’s a warm and
relatable listen.
 On ‘Fragments EP’, whilst the lyrical themes and
subjects may stray from ‘Monument’’s poignant
subject matter, in its sound and atmosphere, it
feels suitably entwined.
 The eight tracks that form the EP orbit a sweeping
kaleidoscope of sonic shapes, shades and
textures. Keaton’s voice offers lyrics in an almost
frozen romanticism. It’s a voice that sounds rooted
in turmoil but also of strength. A happy sadness.
Bleakly beautiful.
 Julien Baker shares a mic from across the ocean
in Australia on ‘Marionette’. A songwriter of due
reverence herself, Baker and Keaton share an
affinity with the power of hushed words, fizzing
melodies and an innate wisdom.
 ‘Fragments EP’ and ‘Monument’ are two fine
bodies of work by this singular, unique British
artist, and two empathetic records of sorrow and
strength.

Spiral Grave are comprised of extraordinary
vocalist Screaming Mad Dee, Iron Louis Strachan
(bass), Mot Waldmann on drums and ex-Lord
guitarist Willy Rivera. They were formed in 2018
after the tragic death of their long-time bandmate
Alfred Morris III, founding member of the iconic
Iron Man.
 Setting the mood for classic heavy as hell and in
your face doom metal, US Maryland’s Spiral Grave
quickly carved a place for themselves in North
America’s heavy music scene, playing wellreceived sets at The New England Stoner Doom
Fest and The Maryland Doomfest.
 ‘Legacy Of The Anointed’ is not a sixth album by
Iron Man, as this up-tempo doom metal has more
speed, swagger and groove with a swampy edge.
 For fans of Iron Man, Down, Cathedral, Black
Sabbath, Earthride.
 LP pressed on clear silver vinyl.

LP pressed exclusively for National Album Day 2021 on gold vinyl in
single-pocket jacket with custom dust sleeve and digital download
coupon.
 Through ‘Titanic Rising’, Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Mering, has
designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s mysteries.
Manoeuvring through a space time continuum, she plays the role of
melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist.
 Tellingly, Mering classifies ‘Titanic Rising’ - written and recorded during
the first half of 2018, after three albums and years of touring - as The
Kinks meeting WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the
album’s wilful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the
strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her
imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is
unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I
just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”
 The Weyes Blood frontwoman grew up singing in gospel and madrigal
choirs. (Listen closely to ‘Titanic Rising’ and you’ll also hear the jazz of
Hoagy Carmichael mingle with the artful mysticism of Alejandro
Jodorowsky and the monomyth of scholar Joseph Campbell.)
‘Something To Believe’, a confessional that makes judicious use of the
slide guitar, touches on that cosmological upbringing. “Belief is
something all humans need. Shared myths are part of our psychology
and survival,” she says. “Now we have a weird mishmash of capitalism
and movies and science. There have been moments where I felt very
existential and lost.”
 As a kid, she filled that void with ‘Titanic’. (Yes, the movie.) “It was
engineered for little girls and had its own mythology,” she explains.
Mering also noticed that the blockbuster romance actually offered a story
about loss born of man’s hubris. “It’s so symbolic that The Titanic would
crash into an iceberg, and now that iceberg is melting, sinking
civilization.” Today, this hubris also extends to the relentless adoption of
technology, at the expense of both happiness and attention spans.
 But Weyes Blood isn’t one to stew. Her observations play out in an
ethereal saunter: far more meditative than cynical. To Mering, listening
and thinking are concurrent experiences. “There are complicated
influences mixed in with more relatable nostalgic melodies,” she says.
“In my mind my music feels so big, a true production. I’m not a huge,
popular artist, but I feel like one when I’m in the studio. But it’s never
taking away from the music. I’m just making a bigger space for myself.”

Hey!Tonal was the first album by Hey!Tonal, a project helmed by the
guitarists, multi-instrumentalists and sound designers Mitch Cheney
(Rumah Sakit, Sweep the Leg Johnny) and Alan Mills (Chiisai-oto).
Released in 2009 French label Africantape on CD only it has now been remastered by Carl Saff and pressed to vinyl for the first time. 2LP white vinyl, gatefold sleeve with poster and aluminium outer sleeve.
Cheney initially conceived it as a project to be named “Drummers’ Perspectives”, and that working title sums up its ethos. He became inspired to write
melodies based on the drumbeat being the starting point of the composition.
A fortunate meeting with Alan Mills meant collaborator was now involved with
this rhythmic and melodic building blocks.
The basic concept for their compositional process stemmed from Cheney’s experience with television editing.
They manipulated all the catalogued sounds as if they were visual elements.
The result of this unusual approach is a striking record, full of delicate incongruities hidden in the music; happy accidents were meticulously given purpose
during mixing, malleable drums and guitars intertwined with a myriad of improvised and shaped sounds.
The overall impression is of some oblique explanation to an unsolved mystery
and should be manna from heaven to anyone who dug the first Battles EP’s.

‘Sticky’, the new album from Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, is the sonic eruption
of a year-plus of suppressed energy.
While it’s an escapist experience, recent reality is never too far away. It’s there in ‘Go
Get A Tattoo’, which was inspired by Carter’s experience of having to shut his first London based tattoo parlour, Rose of Mercy, almost immediately after it opened.
It’s just as present in ‘My Town’, a suburban vignette of society’s collective mental health
quickly unravelling. Being released on October 15th it coincides with an extensive run of
dates in November with two O2 Academy Brixton shows in January 2022.

In creating Our Beautiful Baby World (May 2021), the pacing of Izzy True’s
songwriting process has slowed down since their prior Don Giovanni
releases -- Sadbad (2018) and Nope (2016).
Arranging with Curtis and Sam, Reidy says they’ve grown as musicians together, and their songs were given space to grow, too. OBBW exhibits eleven rock
songs of melded collaboration, expressing the deepness of acceptance. These
are the band’s most dynamic compositions to date. The result is, Reidy hopes,
to ‘sound like a bad drawing of a rock record.’
The inspiration for the soft-hard dynamics of OBBW may have come from Reidy
listening to Thin Lizzy, along with the bleeding of the band members’ strengths
and histories: Curtis as a courageous experimental musician in the DIY circuit,
Sam’s expertise as a hardcore drummer, one Halloween cover-set of System
of A Down in a Chicago basement from another world, and Reidy’s childhood
growing up listening to old love songs and country music.
OBBW was recorded in Rock Island, IL at Rozz-Tox, a well-loved bar and music
venue in the humble Midwest. Recorded and mixed by Ian Harris on reel-toreel, Izzy True’s tunes returned to tape after Sadbad, which was digitally produced.
The record utilizes the talents of Chicago music friends Jess Shoman (Tenci)
on backup vocals and Andrew Clinkman (Spirits Having Fun) on lead guitar on
‘Four Good Ponies’. OBBW was recorded in the months before the pandemic,
January and February 2020, which can feel obvious (‘I don’t wanna hang out
for a thousand years’) and subtle. The authentic limitations of reel-to-reel tape
recordings give this project the aura of a time when live music was possible.

The 2nd tasty release in our series ‘The Swedish Hard Rock Underground - A
Smorgasbord of Heavy Sounds!’ with the best, but previously unknown and
undocumented jaw dropping Swedish hard rock/heavy psych bands from the
totally stoned 1970s.
Let us introduce you to the tale of this unique heavy band from southern Sweden. The fierce dudes that earned the moniker: ‘Northern Europe’s most violent band!’ from their wild live shows.
The band recorded and released two private press singles in 1975 and 1976 respectively. Both were done in micro pressings of 100 copies each making them
very rare and sought after. We follow the band from their first incarnation as a
killer heavy power trio and then expanding in to a massive 5-piece powerhouse
and until the military draft put an end to their teenage hard rock dreams

First-time limited-edition reissue of this mega super-crazy rare US hard
rock/metal heavy psych private press LP from 1981, Limited deluxe
edition of 499 copies.
Includes an insert with line notes and photos. Golden Dragon were a wild Filipino-American quartet from the Bay Area lead by Freddy Mabuhay. The album
is filled with heavy blazing psyched out metallic rock, blistering guitar solos
loaded with fuzz and wah, heavy riffs and stoned vocals.
Freddy was the bass player in the legendary band Dakila who had a fantastic album out on Epic in 1972. Later in 1978, after playing the Diamond Head Crater
Festival in Hawaii, Freddy formed his own group; Golden Dragon.
In 1981 he and his band; consisting of his brother and two musicians from the
legendary Bay Area punk band VKTMS, recorded the amazing Golden Dragon
album. The album was only pressed in a few copies to be sent out as a demo to
secure a record deal. Unfortunately, the deal never happened, and the album
stayed unreleased and pretty much unobtainable for all these years.
The short lived, but lethal, Golden Dragon band performed live at the legendary venue Mabuhay Gardens, aka The Fab Mab, in San Francisco. Sadly, Freddy
passed away shortly thereafter, and the mighty Golden Dragon’s music stayed
obscure growing to mythical status among hard rock and psych rock aficionados. Subliminal Sounds has now put together this release in cooperation with
the surviving musicians. It’s finally time for the world to experience the mighty
sound of Golden Dragon!

Hailing from the United States, Haunt began as the work of modern
renaissance man Trevor William Church.
Son of Montrose / Sammy Hagar solo bassist Bill “The Electric” Church, the
California native came to prominence as the vocalist/guitarist of doom-lords
Beastmaker, who’ve released two critically acclaimed albums on Rise Above.
As Haunt, Church went solo and created a bewitching brew of classic, turn-ofthe-’80s heavy metal, drawing deeply from the momentous NWOBHM movement. He proved just how proficient and powerful his vision is with Haunt’s
2017 debut EP, ‘Luminous Eyes’, which was originally self-released but then
picked up for physical release by Shadow Kingdom not long after.
Fans and critics all agreed, and quickly: Haunt is heavy metal heaven, and
Church’s brilliance has only just begun

The brothers Jerry and Jimmy Vivino belong(ed) to sought-after session
musicians and producers in the American blues scene.
Their services have been taken by numerous blues musicians such as Son Seals,
Johnnie Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Shemekia Copeland, Aaron Neville,
Lucky Peterson, Dr. John, Buddy Guy and Odetta, among others.
However, the Vivino Brothers rarely recorded albums together. With Chitlins
Parmigiana, however, they recorded something special by fusing urban blues,
jazz funk and soul. Although the album spreads a party atmosphere, the ballad
‘Fools Gold’ is goose bumps pure.
An enjoyable album that illustrates the Vivino siblings’ diversity.
The album by the Vivino Brothers, which is still legendary today, was no longer available in mint condition for over a decade. Now Chitlins Parmigiana is
emerging again - as a Double-LP.

Exactly one year after "A Mysterious Land Of Happiness." (out on Beast in November 2020) here comes ". And Disasters". Broken Waltz is still martial, stormy and pagan, but darker. The drum'n bass duo rides on the tracks of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and even The Cramps!

British producer Patrick Tipler spent his formative years immersed in psychedelia as a bassist and guitarist in various bands and groups. The arrival of synthesizers –along with his move to Bristol– radically changed his vision of sound and impacted on his musical direction with the force of an asteroid. This shockwave subsequently saw the birth of Delay Grounds.

After releasing the outstanding 'Onomatopoeia' Pressure Dome, 2020 and 'Upcycling' Tropopause, 2021, Delay Grounds’ output has made it clear for all to see that Tipler’s sound design skills are second to none, and with just two releases to his name he has already transformed himself into an artist to watch very closely.

Today Patrick joins the Lapsus crew to present 'Genus', a five track EP that he says "is my most personal release to date, something I've always carried inside and wanted to produce, but had never managed to articulate before". On 'Genus', Delay Grounds preserves the essence of his sound but takes things a step further, with a form ofmaximalist electronica, sprouting powerful torrents of high-pitched and ruff-as-rock avant-techno, glitches and mutant sound elements, combined with sweet and delicate melodies in the purest IDM style. Polishing is provided by sound engineer Nick Earle, with whom Patrick has recorded and remarkably treated a kit of "deconstructed drums" especially for the occasion.

‘Genus’ is 30 minutes of astral travelling, an experience perhaps analogous to what we would feel if we opened a vault, containing music from a lost civilization.

Yellow Vinyl

The first release on Optimo Music founder JD Twitch’s new compilation-focused label Cease & Desist will be a collection of pioneering turn-of-the-90s British “Bleep & Bass” techno tracks curated by author and music journalist Matt Anniss.

Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 is a partner product to Anniss’s critically acclaimed book on the foundations of British dance music’s ongoing love affair with sub-bass, Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music. The book, which was published by Velocity Press in December and features a foreword by JD Twitch, documents in vivid detail the previously untold story of the Yorkshire-pioneered style and the impact it had on the development of UK dance music.

The compilation is the first to focus on Bleep & Bass since the sound’s heyday in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It features a mix of historic cuts, period classics, overlooked gems and unreleased material. It was mastered for release by Warp Records co-founder and Forgemasters member Rob Gordon, a producer, remixer and studio engineer who arguably did more than anyone else to define the sub-heavy sound of the style.

Gordon also contributed a previously unheard version of Alfanso’s “Dub Feels Nice”, a near mythical track he produced in 1991 that has never received a proper commercial release. The cut has been a secret weapon for a handful of Sheffield DJs for almost 30 years, most notably Gordon’s fellow Forgemasters member Winston Hazel. Fittingly, the compilation also includes the original unreleased instrumental version of Tuff Little Unit’s Steel City classic “Join The Future”.

Many of the other tracks on the compilation are rare, hard to find or have not been issued on vinyl or digital since their initial release. It opens with Unique 3 and the Mad Musician’s “Only The Beginning” – the 1988 A-side of the first ever Bleep record – and also includes tracks and remixes from fellow scene pioneers Ital Rockers (an early alias of dub hero Iration Steppas), Nightmares on Wax, Cabaret Voltaire and DJ Martin and DJ Homes, the previously unheralded Chapeltown duo behind the influential Leeds-based studio and record label BASSIC.

Elsewhere on the compilation you’ll find Birmingham producer Demonik’s sought-after debut single “Layrinthe”, a hard-to-find cut from Bedford-based men of mystery Original Clique, two classic cuts from the vaults of influential Midlands label Network Records and a glassy-eyed slab of Bleep/deep house fusion from 100 Hz.

Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 will be released on double vinyl and digital download. The 10-track vinyl version features an insert with extensive liner notes by Matt Anniss. It also comes with a code to download the 12-track digital download version. The compilation will be released by Cease & Desist on March 25th 2020.

After his debut LP ‘Temmuz’, released at the beginning of last year, Houschyar is back on Macadam Mambo with his new album: a less danceable but more personal opus. Being locked up on the rooftops of Istanbul, Houschyar repurposed a satellite dish, making use of its perfectly round and concave shape to create strange metallic-sounding percussive loops which he painted with sonic atmospheres that contained diverse shades of blue. ‘Mavi’ is an introspective pallet of emotions condensed into 7 hybrid compositions highly improvised which divagate into a very jazzy modern state of mind, jamming with pianos, electronic organs and rhythm boxes to produce another type of spiritual music that sounds absolutely timeless. In a very prolific year - with his release with DJ Sofa and Okay Temiz on Music from Memory and the initial EP of Raphael Kosmos’ newborn label Späti Records -, Marius Houschyar leaves no doubt about the level of his talent and him being part of a new generation of artists to keep a close eye on. To discover as soon as possible!

1976 Space jazz-folk masterpiece infused with prog scents from one of the true legends of Argentinian music, latin rock pioneer Litto Nebbia. Floating electric piano, acoustic guitar, female choirs and moog sounds combine with Litto's own voice and create a unique blend of delicate beauty. The use of analogue synthesizers in this conceptual album was a turn in Nebbia's work at the time. A long 7-minute suite opens the album, mixing acoustic textures with synth sounds, setting the grounds for the entire LP. Songs of introspective darkness alternate with other tracks influenced by sunny bossanova, musical passages fueled with epic energy where the voice of Mirtha Defilpo accompanies Nebbia along with the intricate and enveloping instrumental work driven by Daniel Homer's guitars and Litto Nebbia's keyboards. The album draws a complex soundscape made up of an almost infinite number of musical pieces, rich in layers and textures, that - decades after its original release - still stands out for their modernity. "Bazar de los milagros" is undoubtedly one of the most advanced recordings of those

that appeared in Latin America at the end of the 70s. Includes the song 'La Caída', as recently sampled on Jay Electronica/Jay Z's hip-hop hit 'The Neverending Story'. "Bazar de los milagros" has also been listed on Japanese DJ and music expert Chee Shimizu's Obscure Sound guidebook, a must for record collectors.

First vinyl reissue, including a facsimile version of the 32-page booklet that accompanied the original 1976 release, and remastered sound.

Peter Sagar — also known as HOMESHAKE wrote the majority of his fifth studio album, Under the Weather, in 2019, when he was going through a long, unrelenting period of sadness. “I was in a deep, deep depression,” he recalls of that time period now. Sagar and his partner were living in Montreal, and while everyone was out being social, he was inside listening to ambient music, binging Star Trek, and writing songs. (Sound familiar?) “It was a bit of a dark pit,” he says. “That’s kind of what the whole album is about.”

Under the Weather is hazy and moody, the pace slow as syrup, and from beginning to end, a fog falls over every synth and guitar line. “Oftentimes when you’re in a dark place, you’re supposed to journal and that helps release the pressure,” Sagar says. “For me, it always found its way into the music.”

Capturing the cloudy sound of a depressive funk was no simple feat, especially in the headspace Sagar was in for over a year. For that reason, he decided to enlist his friend, Jerry Paper ’s Lucas Nathan, to help with production on the record. Having Nathan contribute helped Sagar dial back some of the “dry, pristine digital sound” that defined his fourth studio album, Helium , and add back personal analog touches that drew people to the HOMESHAKE project in the first place.

As Sagar readies for the album’s release this September, the record he wrote about feeling isolated, alone, and despondent has begun to seem eerily prescient. “I’ve been writing about feeling isolated my whole life,” he says — but with age, he has come to understand them better. “I had a fairly clear idea what the album was going to be like based on where I was emotionally at the time,” he says about Under the Weather . “I just try to make music that is honest about how I’m feeling.”

Techno can be happy, techno can be sad, techno can be fast, techno can be slow, it can be deep or banging, it can be straightforward as well as abstract. It might be the soundtrack of hell but may bring you to paradise. Techno has many faces and this compilation shows but some of them.
STAUB has always been about the unknown and about diversity: newcomers come on stage after old-timers, peak time happens anytime. Line-ups are not announced. The rules of the game are blurred.

STAUB 006 will be released this September. A record that embraces the very idea of various with 5 tracks and 5 shades of a genre we love and sometimes live for.

Promising/Youngstar debuts on AF with a release that hits every corner. Four stellar tracks that dabble in familiar styles without a single concern for tradition. Enjoy the ride!

After a first album released in 2019 on the labels Stereophonk (France) and P-Vine Records (Japan), The Selenites Band are back with a new recording, Behind The Mask.
The Selenites Band is a French music group created in 2018 around the artist and musician Obi Riddim. Drawing the sources of its music from the Ethiopian music of “Swinging Addis”, Ethio-jazz, but also rock, Afro-jazz or psychedelic grooves.
After playing the “classics” of Mulatu Astatke or Girma Bèyènè, the band offers us nine new songs. Original compositions where we find the melodies and rhythms of the Ethiopian music of “Swinging Addis” mixed with their kraütrock influences, psychedelic music and afro jazz. An atmosphere of trance on bewitching Ethiopian scales, tracks that invite you to travel and explore.
Recorded during the pandemic, between two confinements and successive curfews, in a vital impetus, this album sounds like the big need to create.

For his MPS album ‘Rass’, Monty returned to Jamaica to turn out a jazz-funk groover. Recorded in Kingston in 1974, the date assembled some of the island’s most in-demand sessions musicians, including Ernest Ranglin and Jackie Jackson. Sort after for Alexander’s heavily sampled Al Greene cover, ‘Love and Happiness’, forming the backdrop to productions by Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip and The Beatnuts. The session has remained unissued on vinyl since the 70s and is presented here on 45 for the first time, cut directly from the master tape. On side B we find ‘Yellow Bird’, a traditional Caribbean melody played with funky calypso-reggae-ska inflections.

The Override Switch combines the talent of two Detroit natives: Jeff Mills and Rafael Leafar. The latter is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong affiliation to jazz music. Through Mike Banks, he was introduced to Jeff Mills, where the idea for The Override Switch began to manifest. The album is a homage to artists like John Coltrane, J Dilla, Kraftwerk and those who inspire experimentation with what can be evoked through music.

For our 4th original release we have a meeting of minds between two of our very close friends, Subb-an and Thoma Bulwer!

Made deep in the green countryside of Devon’s hills, before being adeptly finished off at TB Studios in Hackney Wick, the Devon Hills EP pulls together influences from 90’s tech house and early breaks to bring four driving and groove-laden tracks, functional but with heaps of soul.

The A side comprises two late night Autobahn bangers, rubbery misbehaved basslines and precise chord rhythms made to hypnotise the dance. Devon Hills is the most outspoken of the pair, with a loud chiming hook and an earwigging bleep melody, while DV-07 prefers to remain composed in its rolling bassline and sharp drum programming.

On the flip things go a little deeper with DV8, a padded out and chunky tribal breakbeat track with a deliciously crunchy snare. Closing out the four-track EP, East Wick lightens the mood with a sporadic break and bouncy synth melody, great afters tackle.

Toolroom founder and Grammy-nominated producer Mark Knight announces his new album Untold Business: 13-track collection of vocal house music which aims to inject a much-needed dose of meaning and longevity into the world of dance music.

Mark Knight has gone back to his roots on his new album Untold Business, reprising the sounds and records that made him the artist he is today. Diving through his extensive collection of classic Funk, House, Soul and Disco records from the 1970s and 80s has provided the bedrock for the album, which is an homage to the soulful, vocal-led house music that Mark first fell in love with in the 90s.

Step forward Mark Knight with a collection of meticulously crafted, positive, life-affirming records with a focus on real instrumentation and properly crafted songs that will stand the test of time. Untold Business is the antithesis of the functional, cookie-cutter dance music that has become increasingly ubiquitous over the years, and it sounds absolutely glorious.

Lead single ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ features vocals from Beverley Knight as well as the London Community Gospel Choir, who together bring a powerful message of positivity, solidarity and hope: themes that echo throughout the rest of the album.

“I wanted to write a song of hope as we come out of this incredibly tough time. I feel that musicians and producers have a responsibility to provide the soundtrack to people’s lives, and with this glimmer of hope on the horizon, I wanted this song to be a moment of positivity for the future ahead.” Mark Knight

From the string section, to the 14-piece London Community Gospel Choir, to the incomparably brilliant Beverley Knight on lead vocals – Mark worked with some incredible musicians on the single: an approach that informs his approach for the entire album. Untold Business features further collaborations with the likes of Shingai (Noisettes), Michael Gray, Robert Owens and many more.

In addition to the 10 new tracks recorded especially for the album, Untold Business also includes three of Mark’s singles from 2020, including one of the biggest releases of his career to date. All 4 Love was a collaboration with Rene Amesz and Tasty Lopez which became firmly lodged on the Radio 1 A list for six weeks with worldwide success following soon after. Picking up more than 10 million streams on Spotify it was without doubt one of the biggest house records of the year. Also included here are ‘If It’s Love’ - a joyous celebration of a soulful house sound that came to prominence in the 90s – and ‘Tonight’, which took inspiration from the brisk, looping, filtered house music of the early 00s.

In contrast, the Resident Evil 2 Original Soundtrack conveys fundamental themes of panic and desperation via varying musical styles. Featuring ambient horror, industrial pieces and rousing militaristic anthems you’ll experience classic orchestral compositions alongside ominous piano underscores, taking you back to Raccoon City’s iconic Police Station, Sewer and Underground Laboratory.

Each soundtrack has been remastered specifically for this release and will be pressed onto audiophile heavyweight, deluxe double-vinyl 180g LPs, on black vinyl.

Over the course of five records to date, JUNO Award-winning Toronto rapper Shad has used an array of old-school tools to tackle modern problems, addressing the indignities and absurdities of our world through a shapeshfiting melange of boom-bap breaks, dusty soul samples, jazzy improvisation, and 10 dollar words rolled into thousand-dollar rhymes. But after weaving his myriad musical and philosophical interests into a narrative socio-political song cycle—2018’s A Short Story About a War—Shad began building his sixth record, TAO, from a much simpler concept: an image of a circle. Though, in true Shad fashion, he saw something much more profound within its basic round boundaries.

“The thing that inspired this record was this image in my mind of a circle, but it’s getting fragmented, and then the pieces start floating away from each other,” he explains. “And that felt to me like a picture of ourselves as individuals. If you think of our humanity as one whole, there’s all these different aspects of that, whether that’s work, or our relationship to the land, or our relationship to the transcendent, or our relationship to our bodies, or to our inner child?”

We're heading deep into the bowels of the cosmic basements with our latest vinyl release which is headed up by those 2 lovely souls from Leeds, PBR Streetgang.

From rocking it all over the globe to releasing a plethora of absolute yesmate bangers & a long player too, we're pretty thrilled that they have joined our family of music makers with their double A side E.P. 'Transpennine Express'.
GCP gets the party started and instantly takes you to 4am at Barbarellas Discotheque with stacks of throbbing-ness & pumping, laser reaching vibes whilst the boys take you down a wormhole of electronic music pleasure.

Condor jumps ships from Barbarellas & hot foots it over to Berlin to sweat it out in basement with only a smoke machine for company and tons of ravers. Pulsating synth surfs across a chubby bass with some slick as heck cosmic stabs making this a multitude of all that is good in proper dance music.

If the originals are on the dance floor then we made sure to go full on weirded-out on the remixes and crikey they don't disappoint!
ELLES totally flips the script on GCP and turns in a hazy, broken beat style electro groover with a full vocal giving it the sound of a lost track by A Certain Ratio.

Psychederek takes the 'make sure to go really wonky!' advice we gave when sending the parts to Condor and matches ELLES with his full on acid tinged psych wig-out rework. The beat sure is broken, the bass guitar punches, the old school piano thumps and the whole thing sounds like an amazing Andrew Weatherall remix from the mid 90's you never knew existed.

Something for everyone.from clubs to shebeens to after parties & beyond...

Horace Tapscott's Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (P.A.P.A.) was one of the most transformative, forward-thinking and straight-up heavy big bands to have played jazz in the 1960s and 1970s. If P.A.P.A. doesn't have the interstellar rep of that other famous Arkestra, and if the name Tapscott doesn't ring bells like Monk or Tyner, there's a reason why: in an industry dominated by record labels, a band that doesn't record doesn't count. And the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra didn't record for nearly twenty years. But recording success was never their concern -- they weren't about that. First formed as the Underground Musicians Association in the early 1960s, Tapscott always wanted his group to be a community project.

From their base in Watts, UGMA got down at the grassroots. The group was renamed the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1971, and soon after they established a monthly residency at the Immanuel United Church of Christ which ran for over a decade, while still playing all over LA and beyond. But they never released a note of music. It was the intervention of fan Tom Albach that finally got them on wax. Determined that their work should be documented, Albach founded Nimbus Records specifically to release the music of Tapscott, the Arkestra, and the individuals that comprised it. The first recording sessions in early 1978 yielded enough material for two albums, and the first release was Flight 17. The album commences with the magnificent title track. It is effectively in three parts. It begins with unaccompanied pianos. Then the ensemble embark on a dense, circular and mechanical movement, a platform for horns and pianos to swoop and dive. We return to Earth with a beautiful solitary flute. The second track, the piano-centric, ‘Breeze’ is different to ‘Flight 17’ in intensity and also brevity but it is quietly as daring as the title track. It concludes with a moving lush wash from the full Arkestra, which sound almost like strings only more substantial. These first two tracks take full advantage of the texture of the unusual mix of the various instruments. Next though, it’s a significant change with ‘Horacio’, which is an exuberant Latin infused jingle. It’s unlike anything else on the album. I like to think it was named after the conductor’s Cuban alter-ego! ‘Clarisse’ gracefully switches between slow blues and bop and is bookended with a grand vaguely East Asian theme. The busy bass line introduces ‘Maui’. As with the previous track, it moves between a number of contrasting melody lines and rhythms but there’s still space for a tuneful sax solo.

This is a must-have album. I think the first two tracks on their own make this release essential. Kevin Ward/UK Vibe/Boomkat

MLD (Minimal Lethal Dose) was a Japanese project lead by Takayuki Shiraishi after his first mythical release with BGM on Vanity Records in 1980. Made with the help of Jun Sonohara it was active between 1983 and 1986 in Tokyo. This compilation collects nine unpublished tracks from the original tapes and confirms his unique offbeat style ranging from Post-Punk, Dub, and Industrial.

MLD (Minimal Lethal Dose) was a Japanese project lead by Takayuki Shiraishi after his first mythical release with BGM on Vanity Records in 1980.

Made with the help of Jun Sonohara it was active between 1983 and 1986 in Tokyo.

This compilation collects nine unpublished tracks from the original tapes and confirms his unique offbeat style ranging from Post-Punk, Dub, and Industrial.

It's completed by "Perpetual Motion" and "Dynamo" previously released in 1983.

With his quirky approach, this record unveils another piece of Japanese experimental music history.

All these tracks have been carefully remastered by Krikor Kouchian.

Saxophonist Wendell Harrison has lived by a standard philosophy for his 50-plus-year career: One must have complete self-autonomy. Both his music and business dealings reflect this. Besides being a legend on the Detroit jazz scene and mentoring up-and-coming musicians through his non-profit organization Rebirth Inc., he co-founded the Tribe Records label in the 1970s, which produced a magazine and many classic albums.

Harrison is continuing Tribe’s legacy—this time around with a group of rising jazz musicians from the Motor City such as drummer Louis M. Jones III, trumpeter Trunino Lowe, and guitarist Jacob Schwantz—on his new recording Get Up Off Your Knees.

There’s a lot to digest here because the original compositions encompass R&B, soul, spoken word, and “world” music, all seen through the lens of jazz. Harrison tends to weave elements of African music into many of his compositions. On “Siera” and “Samoulén Khalé Yi,” both written by vocalist and bassist Pathe Jassi, he pays tribute to Guinea-Bissau and Senegalese culture. “Educators” also has African nuances in its hardcore drumming and Harrison’s sublime blowing on bass clarinet and clarinet.

Any discriminating jazz listener will be consumed by Get Up Off Your Knees, but it seems Harrison’s primary purpose for making this album is to encourage the current generation to put education first and build social awareness. On the title track, vocalist Miche Braden pushes the self-determination angle, which is again highlighted on “Revolution,” a reimagined take on Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” delivered with an adherence to contemporary events by the poet Rev. Mbiyu Chui. By Veronica Johnson from Jazz Times.

Through his dedication to the Los Angeles grassroots projects that gave so much stability and focus to many younger musicians, artists and the community, Horace Tapscott became a neighbourhood hero at a time when the world wanted his presence. He stayed in Los Angeles and focused instead on building a community, rarely giving interviews and instead focusing on passing on the message from his mentors. He shaped a unique sound with his arkestra and community minded musicians. It was a close-knit family that emanated a sound that was deep and unique, flowing with a creative spirit that definitely comes through on this album.

In 1961 he founded the Pan-African Peoples Arkestra, which aimed to preserve, develop and publicise African-American music through the ever-growing family that emanated within many of the deprived areas of Los Angeles. Through his subsequent collaboration with Bruce Albach, a producer and founder of Nimbus West Records, they sought to document the importance of this music alongside many artists who were energetically linked to the ethos and understanding which came from the collective dialogue.

Here the composer leads four extensive arrangements through his 16 piece orchestra, featuring many of the Nimbus West artists including Adele Sebastian, Jesse Sharps and Linda Hill. The music weaves the sound of afro-futuristic music through changing tempos and a relentless dynamic expressive sound that is complex and beguiling with a deep spiritual sound throughout all four tracks.

The ceremonial ‘Peyete Song no. III’ is a great swirling evocative piece from the large collective, with amazing solos from especially Horace Tapscott who seems to find a sound from the piano that is from another dimension. The arrangement airs an important message of a people and their rituals.

Horace Tapscott gives Cal Massey’s composition ‘Nakatini Suite’ a splendid futuristic big band interpretation. The composition had been earlier illuminated by both Lee Morgan on his ‘Lee-Way’ album and John Coltrane on his ‘Believer’ album titled ‘Nakatini Serenade’. Through the more expansive soundscape, the interpretation allows for some great interplay between saxophonist Jesse Sharps and drummer Everett Brown Jr. with the whole orchestra led by Horace Tapscott capturing the essence of Cal Massey’s message.

Vocalist Adele Sebastian opens up the free probing arrangement ‘Quagmire Manor at 5am’ composition with a similar delivery as with her ‘Day Dream’ from the classic ‘Desert Fairy Princess’ album before the music takes off onto the mothership adding a sense of what time and space within the manner was about amongst many great musicians and artists. Their journey and moments encapsulated within the music.

There are certain albums you hear something new every time you revisit the music and this is one of those albums. An important part of Afro-American history; the politics and art which surrounded the album. If you get a chance check out the film ‘Horace Tapscott, Musical Griot’, by filmmaker Barbara McCullough, or buy the book ‘Songs Of The Unsung’: The Musical & Social Journey of Horace Tapscott’. Mark Jones/UK Vibe

"Pianist Nate Morgan (1964-2013) was a central figure on the Los Angeles jazz undergound. A core member of the circle around the legendary bandleader, pianist and community organiser Horace Tapscott, Morgan had been part of Tapscott’s U.G.M.A.A. (Union Of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension) since he was just a teenager, and was a key member of the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, known as ‘The Ark’. Through the 1980s and 1990s he kept the PAPA flame alive, organising the Ark’s sprawling songbook, running legendary jam sessions, and keeping LA’s deep jazz roots well watered. By the early 2000s he was bringing hard won knowledge to a new generation as part of the Build The Ark collective. He was a musician’s musician, at the beating heart of the radical, community-minded Los Angeles jazz network that Tapscott and his associates had first put together in the early 1960s.

Retribution, Reparation was the second of the two LPs Morgan recorded for Tom Albach’s storied Nimbus West imprint. His first, Journey Into Nigritia had been a declaration of arrival laced with energies drawn from Cecil Taylor and Coltrane. One year later, with nods to Herbie Hancock (‘One Finger Snap’) and Ellington (‘Come Sunday’), Retribution, Reparation was a confident statement of purpose. Politically charged with pan-Africanist and Black nationalist sentiments inspired by Marcus Garvey, and titled with uncompromising directness, the album focusses the sound world of the Ark into a surging, restless masterpiece of spiritualised modal jazz. With Danny Cortez on trumpet and Ark stalwart Jesse Sharps on saxophones the frontline is explosive (this set is also one of the few places the extraordinary Sharps can be heard in a small group setting), while Fritz Wise and Ark regular Joel Ector hold down the rhythm section. Morgan’s forceful, Tyner-like chords and virtuosic solos and bind the music together. From the poised drama of the opening dedication to Tapscott’s U.G.M.A.A. (‘U.G.M.A.A.GER’) to the propulsive militancy of the title track, Retribution, Reparation spreads the word: ‘Advance to Victory, Let Nigritia Be Free!’"

Singer-songwriter Tim Dawn’s debut-album includes the hits ““To Love Somebody” and “Walking On A Wire”. The inspiration for Everyday Magic came after a trip to Los Angeles, where he worked with several songwriters and producers. Tim writes deep and sensitive songs which are, at the same time, modern and fresh. His breakthrough single “Walking On Wire”, became NPO Radio 2 TopSong in 2018. The Bee Gees cover “To Love Somebody” was featured as the song for the PLUS supermarkets Christmas commercial.

Crepuscule presents a brand new collaborative project by Julie Campbell (aka LoneLady), Stephen Mallinder (Wrangler, Cabaret Voltaire) and Benge (Wrangler, John Foxx). Titled Clinker, the first 800 copies of the 6 track mini album have been pressed in turquoise vinyl.

‘The project began a couple of years ago,’ explains Julie. ‘Benge had these great sketches that were beats and synth patterns, so those were the starting point. I really went to town adding lots of guitar layers and experimenting with different sounds. On some tracks the guitar is deft and rhythmic, as if mimicking sequencer patterns. On others it’s a deconstructed noise-based approach - scratching strings, making fitful, heavy chunks, howls and scrapings of noise and texture.’

Due to competing solo commitments for all 3 members the tracks disappeared into hard drive exile for a couple of years. Julie continues: ‘Last year we revisited the mixes and Stephen added his trademark mysterious and menacing vocals. Now we find ourselves with a finished piece of work. I thought of the name Clinker as I love its meaning: 'stony residue from burnt coal'. This seemed liked an apt description of both industrial and creative processes, and a nice nod to the industrial North of England.’

Stand-out tracks include Camouflage and Condition Collapsing. ‘I’d forgotten how liberating it is to play bass guitar on something,’ enthuses Mal. ‘It compliments Julie’s beautifully angular guitar, and Benge and me ripping up live percussion onto the sound of machines… As a collection of tracks these benefited from a lengthy gestation, as they follow no particular trend and were allowed to twist and turn to develop a life of their own. After successive cycles we suddenly drew it all together so the tracks have a sense of completion and identity.’

‘The real fun for me was during the mixing process when Mal and I looked at each other as the rawness of the tracks hit us on the big studio monitors,’ adds Benge. ‘We knew we had something untameable, and wanted to preserve that feeling of edgy rawness in the mixes.’

The cover image is by Julie Campbell, with overall design by Twilight. The vinyl edition comes with a digital copy (MP3).

Founded by saxophonist Vincent Brijs, BRZZVLL have been a household name in Antwerp and the Belgian jazz scene since 2008 but after a fifteen-year period, the sextet has decided to embark on a new chapter in their story with a name change and new line-up. Enter Lucid Lucia.

A jazz musician’s vision of hip-hop’ – The Times

NYC-based rap lyricist and jazz trumpeter Pan Amsterdam returns on Def Pressé with a distinctly fresh sonic swagger on single RETAIL, announcing the P.A.&JSammich EP 4-track EP.

RETAIL exemplifies perfectly the mood of the EP (which sees a very limited vinyl release), four tracks of cheerily ominous storytelling set to synth stabs and trumpet flourishes, with a smattering of personality disorder.
The release follows up BBC 6Music favourite, the GUTS-produced single Carrot Cake, and its mother album, HA Chu.
Carving his own niche of a jazz-rap very different to and darker than its Golden Age cousin, Pan Am’s sophomore LP (“one of the strangest rap works of recent times”, thanks, The Independent) saw him hit the buttons of leftfield hip hop fans and word association enthusiasts.

Ha Chu saw Pan Am reflect on his touring life over the years, from his jazz scene displacement in NYC to becoming a songwriter and bandleader for Iggy Pop under his real life pseudonym, Leron Thomas. HA Chu featured collabs with the aforementioned GUTS, Jason Williams of Sleaford Mods, Malik Crumpler of Madison Washington (and Def Pressé) and Coup Diablo - aka Jimi Goodwin of Doves.
Pan Am’s first album, The Pocket Watch, saw him tour with DJ/producer Mr.Shn and rapper-wrestler/‘What Had Happened Was’ podcast host Open Mike Eagle.

After two years in the making, Tambour Battant delivers its new album "Galore", 13 tracks that outline the contours of genres and reinvent them. Very eclectic sounds makes this new album: from Brazilian-flavored tracks with the artists Flavia Coelho and Faktiss to heavy-weighted Trap beats with Miscellaneous (of Chill Bump) and Jman. On the other tracks, the duo takes us on an electrifying ride that will pleased all the lovers of heavy bass and powerful kicks. As its name suggests, this new album "Galore" is distinguished by its profusion of styles and influences.

For the original artwork of this new album "Galore", the duo appealed to Pablito Zago, a famous street artist / illustrator who brings his style rich in colors and collages to this album more than explosive!

This Is How The World Ends is the second offering from LA rock band Badflower. Following the release of their debut album OK, I’M SICK which featured the iHeart Award winning single Ghost, their latest album demonstrates how Badflower aren’t afraid of making anybody uncomfortable and they continue to commit body, blood, mind, and soul to their art. LIVE: Performed on The Pit stage at Reading and Leeds Festival 2021, UK support tour with Palaye Royale in March 2022. RADIO: BBC Radio 1, Kerrang, Planet Rock, Metal Meyhem, Primordial Radio. PRESS: Kerrang, Rock Sound, NME, Classic Rock, Darkus, EMP. Socials: TW: 37K, FB: 113.5K, IG: 87.5K, TikTok: 13.5K. Available as a 1 disc CD. 2LP set will be released on 08/10/21.

Due for release October 8th on Fuzz Club Records, 'Ungrateful Heart' is the fourth album from Milan-based group The Gluts. Whilst their previous releases traded in an explosive psychedelic noise-rock, 'Ungrateful Heart' sees the Italian four-piece hone in a more post-punk-indebted sound. Although no less abrasive and confrontational in its utlising of ear-piercing feedback and hard-hitting riffs, the band say that the songs here primarily take cues from the likes of Fugazi, Gang of Four, the PiL-Pistols canon and the Campana brothers' long adoration of Italian and American hardcore punk. The album arrives off the back of 2019's 'Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip' LP and tours and festival dates around the UK, Europe and South Africa. Laid down over a tireless week living side by side and working in the studio around the clock, The Gluts - comprised of Claudia Cesana (bass/vocals), Dario Bassi (drums) and Nicolò and Marco Campana (vocals/synths and guitar, respectively) - recorded 'Ungrateful Heart' with Dutch producer and close collaborator Bob de Wit (A Place To Bury Strangers, Gnod, The Sonics). On the sessions, the intensity of which is mirrored in the fierce uncompromising attitude of the music itself, the band said: "Bob's contribution to this album was essential. He pushed us beyond our limits. It was difficult, we can't hide it, but it really was worth it." Although the album is still shot through with moments of lacerating noise-rock ('Mashilla' and 'Eat Acid See God'), songs like 'Love Me Do Again' and 'Bye Bye Boy' deal in a timeless hedonistic punk sound. Elsewhere, the politically charged 'Breath' and 'FYBBD' see The Gluts turn their sonic belligerence towards fascists and systemic racial violence to rallying effect. Standard LP is on Ultra-clear vinyl, standard sleeve

In the beginning, there was chaos_ A while later in the Heavens, where angels reigned, there was once held a great symposium, a glorious feast. Everyone was happy and having a great time, until Lucifer, fairest and mightiest of all the angels, brought in suspicious and strange substances, offering them freely with both hands for everyone to take. All were fooled by the Ancient Serpent, starting to misbehave and act in contradiction to the Heavenly Laws. The Almighty God, enraged upon learning about the mutiny, threw everyone down on earth to suffer eternally in hunger, ugliness and desperation. Vulnerable now to each and every temptation, they are ready to perpetuate Good and Evil, while building their new earthly Kingdom in any way they can. Angelic chants, Demon's screams, witches dancing and woeful mortal suffering are recounted in this album's songs, embellished with mesmerising hymns and sharp riffs. Chaos is always close and all that remains is the human revolution against the forces of evil. "Battlefields of Satan's servants, witch-hunt for our ways, face off reality and eat TV today. Lucifer, Forever Grey". - Bill Politis - "The Unknown Secretary" comes to further unsettle the turbulent waves of music and burn its own mark in history. Today, five years after its original release, Heavy Psych Sounds reissues this retro gem, serving it once again straight into your record case.

SHY, LOW are true masters of the exquisite craft of stark contrasts and broad dynamics, from delicate crescendos to the grandiose power of the riff_ a craft that lies at the heart of every outstanding instrumental rock record. The Richmond, Virginia based four-piece has made an absolutely incredible and epic album brimming with creativity, groove, heaviness and truly outstanding songwriting- a record that is intricate and mature, yet gloriously anthemic at the same time. The fantastic cinematic and (surprisingly, so) entirely self-produced first music video for the track ,Helioentropy", premiered at Roadburn Redux this year, was only a tastemaker for the 5th studio album and Pelagic debut, Snake Behind The Sun. Recorded, mixed and produced at Vudu Studios in Long Island, NY by Mike Watts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, GlassJaw, Hopesfall, Tides of Man), the album pulls from elements from previous eras of the band, but also pushes into new territory. The result is a slicker, more modern, layered and 3-dimensional sound. The album title is a metaphor for the notion that darkness and negativity can remain hidden even among seemingly positive forces and positive beings in one's life. As a matter of fact, the snake crawled out from behind the sun, while the band was in the studio recording the album: ,By week 3, there were talks of NY state locking down due to the rapid rise in Covid cases; with one day left before the lock down was alleged to go into effect, it became a mad dash to finish tracking the record so we could book it home to Richmond, Virginia", says bass player Drew Storcks. Though entirely instrumental, reducing the band's contemporary sound to the term ,post-rock" wouldn't do this record justice: there is much more to it than lengthy dramatic build-ups and bittersweet melodies played by delay-drenched guitars. Snake Behind the Sun is an astounding and immensely diverse record that will appeal to fans sitting on all ends of the broad spectrum of modern heavy rock music. Limited 2LP red single colour edition! FOR FANS OF PG.LOST, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, CASPIAN, AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, THRICE

Joan Baez – a singer, activist and pacificist committed to the struggle against all segregation – recorded her first album in 1959 at the age of eighteen. The titles on these four sides are taken from the first four records she made, and they all reflected the position she took in the folk movement that was then emerging, together with her militant support of minority groups.

It would be sixty years before she said farewell to the stage, in July 2019 at the Montreux jazz Festival, after a sixty-year career of unrivalled quality that actively showed her sincere commitment to social and political causes. The grace in her exceptional voice, her kindness and admirable personality – and her determination – earned her an exceptional place in the history of popular music, as well as in the hearts of an ever-increasing audience.

Summer was conceived as an entry point for Sonae to access and wrestle with difficult themes, to engage with them authentically, artfully, personally. It was also the starting point for a collaborative audio-visual project with video artist Jennifer Trees (the confronting multimedia installation that premiers in September 2021 at Stadtgarten, Cologne).

Summer articulates these ideas using the unique musical and sonic language that Sonae has been developing across previous releases. The expressive textures and tender melodics of 2015’s Far Away is Right Around the Corner; the atmospheric noise and brute unease of 2018’s I Started Wearing Black; the vicious edges of her 2019 remix-tape Music For People Who Shave Their Heads. Summer is haunted by blistered cellos and spectral string drones, the elegant and emotive movement around diatonic harmonies that echo the classicism and bucolic themes of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (1775). Like Vivaldi, Sonae’s work is programmatic, presenting a progressive, intensifying narrative and suggesting aural phenomena of the natural world - buzzing insects, breaking rocks, waves crashing, dust and heat rising - and characterising the seasonal spirit as capricious, volatile and punishing. In these ways, Summer is related to pastoral traditions of European classicism, evoking the aura of doomed and dust-blown gothic grandiosity. It also has feet firmly planted within the lean, sound worlds of underground techno - pulsating four-on-the-floor beats with deep, vibrational sine-wave sub kicks; elegantly bleak, distorted atmospherics that straddle the uncanny space between corrosion and euphoria. The result is a visceral and poetic listening experience. Original, highly affecting, fully engaging body, mind and soul. (…)

Sonae’s music evokes imagination, provokes emotion, and disrupts and defies expectations. She explores the edges and intensities of experience, creating audible and embodied sensations that suggest the physical, atmospheric, and psychological effects of global warming on a living organism. We feel the fatigue, the slowness, sweatiness, dizziness, the sensations of uncomfortable warmth and burning; the atmospheres are hazy, dark and heavy, articulations are brutish and tactile, crunchy and sharp; there is restlessness and resignation, desolation and awe.

Summer is not a warning. It is not an explanation or an argument. It offers no answers. Summer simply holds up a mirror and asks us to experience and behold both the beauty and the brutality of our present reality. It is a work of protest, grief and hope, and it functions as a space for the listener to reckon with these truths and sensations for themselves. (Leah Kardos, London, June 2021)

Sonae (Sonia Güttler) is a German electronic producer and DJ, based in Cologne. Her acclaimed debut album was released in 2015 with Monika Enterprise (Berlin) followed on the same label with her second album in 2018 : ‘’I Started Wearing Black’’. Her Third album ‘’Music For People Who Shave Their Heads’’ has been released in 2019 with bit-phalanx (London).
Sonae plays live solo and with the label collective Monika Werkstatt at places like Institut Für Zukunft (Leipzig), Meakusma Festival (Eupen), Ausland (Berlin), Pop Kultur Festival (Berlin), Fusion Festival (Germany), Uh-Fest (Budapest), Cafe Oto (London), 23rpm Festival (London) The Cube (Bristol) and more on the same bill with Squarepusher, Plaid, Darkstar, Kyoka, Frank Bretschneider, Tim Exile.

After 10 years from its origial release RADIO DAYS' 1st EP "Midnight Cemetery Rendezvous" is finally available again for the 1st time on vinyl! The records includes also all the tracks from their previous 7"s and an exclusive track!

After spending 6 years on a shitty pop-punk train, and releasing tons of records, THE VAPIDS bunkered down and emerged with CHARM SCHOOL DROPOUTS. A giant kick in the ass to everything that was going on at the time. Originally released on CD in 2001, SKR pressed the first (terrible looking) vinyl version in 2008, and now, a proper and sonically ferocious repress in 2020!

If you went down the wrong alleyway, took a shortcut through the park or crossed the wrong open space after dark in the UK in the 1970s, you stood a fair chance of being accosted by someone with a big mouth, low morals and some gurning mates to impress, usually reeking of fags and cheap booze and always ready to put the boot in. And, before you could say, “sickening violence”, a short but chaotic scuffle would ensue and a winner eventually emerge, battle scarred and bruised. The boot boy was the worst kind of hooligan. There wasn’t anything you could do or say to appease him. You had the same chance as a fly caught up in a spider’s web. Zero. Your best bet was to run. His intent was always to give you, and vicariously the rest of the world, a good kicking. Thugs, long-haired louts, short-haired louts; the anti-hippy. Birds, booze, bovver and football on their criminal minds. So fasten your braces for a white knuckle-duster ride. 14 bovver rock bruisers for all of you peace-loving losers. Somebody’s going to get their head kicked in tonight... Put the boot in.

Maxed out and burning hot nasty, Electric Rag brings together the electric organs, electronics and alto sax of Jean-Luc Guionnet, with the closely amplified drums and percussion of Will Guthrie. After years of playing together in the minimalist pointillist free jazz noise core trio ‘The Ames Room’ (with Clayton Thomas on bass) Electric Rag offers up another point of view on a musical history of nearly 15 years of playing together. The 8 titles of Electric Rag draw on their various experience in electronic music, free improvisation and experimental sound research, however the music is deeply rooted in their love of jazz, in its most potent, aggressive and antisocial form.

Truly, the luscious, soulful new album from Manchester singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose (pronounced Keelin) moves through a tapestry of curious musical inflections; nods towards folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even a subtle influence of psychedelia, it never stands still to take a breath, despite its ethereal and delicate core. Out April 9th on Gondwana Records (Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet, Matthew Halsall, Hania Rani), in Truly, the young singer-songwriter has accomplished a body of work that is both sonically and lyrically wise beyond her years.

Co-produced by Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column following Rose's collaborative endeavours with them on their album Chronicle LX:XL, the musician's song writing draws from a diverse palette of influences, including Building Instrument, Rachel Sermanni, Alabaster dePlume and Broadcast. Rose also professes to a love for beautiful, stripped back, piano based music, such as Dustin O'Halloran and label mate Hania Rani.

Truly came to exist due to a deep-routed need to create – even though its conception was interrupted as Caoilfhionn Rose recovered in hospital from an illness, she found strength within writing music. "In Spring 2019 I took part in a gig swap with my good friend and fellow musician Kristian Harting who is from Denmark. We played several gigs in the UK but unfortunately the Denmark part of the tour was cut short as I was taken ill. I was hospitalised for several weeks and have taken the last year out to recover" says Rose. "I gradually returned to finishing my second album" she continues. "Coming back to creating after being unwell was challenging but also therapeutic. This record marks a difficult time of my life and writing it helped get me through that. I am really grateful to have music as an outlet." It may be this tremendously challenging period that has abetted its characterising qualities.

Rose's beautifully restrained vocal is all at once soothing yet mesmerising. She demands and holds attention through her evident talent yet hypnotises the listener into a trance with her experimental tendencies. "After being unwell, getting back to recording helped me recover my voice after not singing for so long. Finishing bits of songs, writing lyrics and recording vocals helped me get back on my feet and get better."

Lead single from the album – 'Flourish' – is an intoxicating song that meditates on being present in the moment, allowing peace to come to you. "The song 'Flourish' is about looking forwards with hope and possibility, 'let it flow away, let it turn around and flourish'. It's about finding peace and feeling wonder again" says Rose about the track. "'Flourish' hints at the ideas of what could be, how things can unfold if you let go 'and just be here'."

A message of hope is instilled throughout the record, echoed again in 'Fireflies', a song inspired by a campsite in France, which became filled with fireflies at night. "To me 'Fireflies' has a nostalgic and comforting feel. It's about feeling hopeful about the future 'though there may be dark clouds the sun will always come'. There are references to older lyrics I have written. The line 'free from all the chaos' is a nod to a song I collaborated on with The Durutti Column. The song is about acknowledging the past and moving on as 'time is always healing'."

A recurring theme of reflection and being grounded in the present, acknowledging the past and looking forwards with courage is one that envelopes 'Truly', and is something that is echoed in its beautiful swelling flourishes and its tranquillity – resonating with atmosphere, the album all at once sounds so large and yet so subdued. "The line on Every Waking Minute; 'we forget what lies behind the eyes' is about remembering that everyone has their own things going on and challenges to face but we should 'feel every waking minute', become aware of what's unfolding around us outside of our own stories. It's a self-reflective song really, reminding myself that 'life can take you bysurprise', there are going to be ups and downs along the way"

Elsewhere on the album, Rose explores the connection between nature and life on single To Me. "I love going on long walks and the healing power of nature is a recurring theme in a lot of my lyrics. I have a very optimistic outlook and I find solace in the small things like being outdoors."

Caoilfhionn's debut Awaken, co-produced with label mate Matthew Halsall, saw the singer, songwriter and producer tie together remnants of Manchester's musical past with its evolving present. Prior to this, the artist collaborated with one of her biggest musical influences, Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. The musician worked with the Manchester band on four songs on their album Chronicle LX:XL. "I've learnt a lot from collaborating with musicians like Vini Reilly, Matthew Halsall and my bandmates" says Rose. "This is reflected in my current style and approach to making music. I no longer just write as a therapeutic or reflective process; I can write more abstractly and outwardly."

Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column co-produced her latest offering, Truly, following his band's collaborations with Rose. "I befriended Kier after we worked together. Collaborating with The Durutti Column was my first experience of recording music with other people in a studio." Together, the pair have created something expansive yet fragile – and altogether unique. "He's brought so much to this project" she says. "I feel Keir has brought out the best in the songs, adding really intricate and subtle details and effects. It was inspiring getting to work with Keir and I've learnt a lot from his approach of just experimenting and seeing what works."

• Long lost 1968 album from visionary South African jazz composer incorporating traditional African music sources and instruments.

• Officially licensed from the Nxumalo family and reissued with inner sleeve containing archival photographs and new liner notes by Francis Gooding.

Gideon Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays might just be the most mythologised and sought-after LP in the whole South African canon. A sophisticated bop excursion with a distinctive African edge, it was only Nxumalo’s second LP as leader, despite his crucial place in South African jazz history. Pianist Nxumalo was a visionary jazz composer who had recorded regularly during the 1950s, and his 1962 Jazz Fantasia album was the first South African jazz recording to incorporate traditional African musical sources and instruments. But he was also the country’s most significant radio presenter and jazz tastemaker – from 1954 onwards, he had worn the nickname ‘Mgibe’ to introduce ‘This Is Bantu Jazz’, South African radio’s premier jazz show.

But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1961, Nxumalo had been side-lined from radio play, and was eventually sacked for playing records with political meanings. By 1968, he had not been heard on record or airwave for several years. Gideon Plays was a celebrated return to the studio for one of South Africa’s best loved and most forward-thinking jazzmen, and it showcases Nxumalo’s deep understanding of jazz, his brilliant touch as a composer, and his commitment to bringing South Africa’s indigenous sound into the music.

However, it was released on the tiny JAS Pride label owned by production impresario Ray Nkwe, and after one pressing in 1968, Gideon Plays fell into the undeserved silence that has obscured so much of the South African jazz discography. It has since become a legend: hardly more than a rumour, it has been bootlegged by the unscrupulous, changed hands for eye-watering sums, and has scarcely been heard outside the circles of the most committed South African jazz devotees. It goes without saying that it has never been released outside South Africa, and even now only a handful of original copies are known to have survived.

Over the last ten years, Matsuli Music has been proud to present some of the greatest lost and found jazz recordings in South African history – but we have never presented a rarer, lesser known album than the mighty Gideon ‘Mgibe’ Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays.

After humble lo-fi beginnings in the Australian Art-Pop Underground, Donny Benet has expanded his cult-like following across the Globe with a resonant Array of danceable Repertoire dealing with Love- and Affection. New album "Mr Experience" marks a new chapter, informed by a wealth of musical- and personal development.

For Mr Experience, Donny envisioned a Soundtrack to a Dinner-Party- Set in the late 1980's. While his earlier Recordings drew Inspiration from DIY Pop Conspirators such as Ariel Pink & John Maus, Donny channelled the Stylings of Bryan Ferry & Hiroshi Yoshimura as the Impetus for new Material, evident on the Intimacy found on ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ and it's lush production- with a soothing whistle-along Chorus for good Measure!

Sincerity has been a key component of Donny Benet’s output since the beginning. His songs deal with genuine Emotion served on a kitsch Platter. An alter-ego manifested in the beginning of the 2010's, Donny has blurred the Lines of Artifice to create a back- Catalogue that can embrace- and challenge, often simultaneously, - the notion of Irony in Art.

"Mr Experience" moves further away from ironic Notions as Donny explores lyrical- and musical themes which embody Observations of Maturation in his audience, his tightknit musical Community- and himself. While ‘mature’ is a term that often rings hollow as an album descriptor, the term couldn’t be more apt for Mr Experience.

Previous album The Don was created with the luxury of time. The phenomenal Response to that Album across Europe- and the United States - fuelled by accompanying Music Videos clocking in Views in the Millions- meant that there were scant Windows of Opportunity to write- and record a follow-up.

With a legacy in Sydney’s music community, working with Sarah Blasko, and tightknik collaborators Jack Ladder & Kirin J Callinan, Donny Benet is accustomed to collaboration on the Stage- and in the Studio, mostnotably on the 2014 full-length release Weekend At Donny’s.



“There is such immense talent evident in every aspect of the Donny Bene experience - the vision of the character, the steadfast adherence his narrative and the musicality of Benet himself all combine to makesomething truly genius.” - Double J, Australin.

“Donny Benet makes feminine music for everybody” - Vice, Netherlands.

“The Don does not sound like amusical copying machine”. - 3voor12 National, Netherlands.

“The set was punctuated with virtuosic solos and exquisite harmonies, and added another layer of genius to the show.
We almost couldn’t handle it... Donny for president!" - Indie Berlin.

“Everyone loves Donny Benet” - Feature in Gonzai, France.

“Phenomenal Australian Showman... Offers Top-Class Dance Music with Virtuose-Bass Guitar- and Keyboard Parts & incredible Sound-Colour feel.” - Podujatie.sk, Slovakia.

Donny has toured Europe five times since the start of 2018 and has played in the UK, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, France, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece and Sweden. The Don will revisit Europe twice in 2020, once for his own headline shows in May then back again in August for festivals!

No less than 12 months later arrives ‘Deep Blue View’ – not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea.
“I originally had AM Jazz down as walking around some New York backstreet at 4am, smoking in a fedora, looking for crimes to solve but it now ends as night begins,” reveals Al, of his latest tale’s gradual evolution. “Deep Blue View is the night-time album now… like losing yourself deeper in the fog, or disappearing in the sea… would someone, or some 'thing' come to save you or would they , or it , come along for the ride?”
Usually by now, Daveyhulme’s own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business - and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is 6 brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra’s Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al’s now revered repertoire. “I had the urge to create something new and started playing around with different EPs and pseudonyms but when I sequenced these tracks, I was really happy how smoothly they flowed; it just needed an opener. I quickly wrote ‘Deep Blue View’ and it fell into place. It’s great, so I carried on, knowing it was time to save the best stuff for myself,” Al grins.
Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al’s love of finding the ‘right’ in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. “In the studio it’s tempting to turn everything up loud but I’ve got bad tinnitus and don’t want to write anything else in a Beatles style. I have done all that now… at home I have a computer, a microphone and just go crazy and lose myself staring at the screen. Then suddenly loads of music is written.”
Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, ‘Peppergone’ adds to the tracks’ nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz’s initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks', written in the middle of a tough night. “I have no idea why or how the song came about because I was so upset to do anything, let alone record any music. But there you go. Somehow I did and it’s a really special thing. I know he would have dug me using his chords; growing up we’d both try to create the perfect chord sequence. This is his idea of that. I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests.
Also revived from AM Jazz’s archive is the simmering groove of ‘Night Talk Late Street’ and instrumental ‘Star Six Seven’, whilst ‘Have Another Cigar’ weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. “I’m sure it’s about not wanting the musical party to stop and having to get on with real life,” Al says.
‘String Beat’ meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme (whose real-life origins reside with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), introduced to him by Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran. “I’ve never created anything this moody before and have always threatened to do something John Barry-esque with some slightly dark and spooky musical changes.”

2021 sees the release of the long-awaited third album from Pola & Bryson - ‘Beneath the Surface’. Since their debut release in 2015, Pola & Bryson have transitioned from the exciting ones to watch to the unquestionable leaders of new school liquid drum and bass, grabbing the attention of the scene's greats in the process.

“Masterful production and musicality throughout, I love that the album has been made just as much for the home listener as for the clubs. For me, these guys are leading the new wave of liquid drum & bass.” Sub Focus

As digital streaming services continue to dominate as the primary source of music consumption, the wildly contested ‘death of the album’ debate continues to burn throughout the industry. To counteract the current trend of single tracks and playlist placements, Pola & Bryson wanted to experiment with a concept album.

“We envisioned a landscape to act as inspiration to us whilst writing this album. The landscape is made up of 4 distinct sections, each representing a different emotional state. The first being Shinrinyoku (a Japanese term for forest bathing), represented by a dense, peaceful forest environment. Mangata (loosely translates to moon river) takes you to the edges of a cold, misty lake which eventually leads you to Toska, representing a dark and endless cave. All transpiring with Yuugen, a vast and epic mountain range. The album, paired with bespoke animated visuals, paints the perfect reflection of the journey.” - Pola & Bryson

‘Beneath the Surface’ features collaborations with the drum and bass scene's hottest vocal talents, with each being selected to effortlessly meld with the respective soundscapes. After previously working with both Lauren Archer and Ruth Royall with beguiling success, Pola & Bryson knew that they wanted to send some ideas to both artists. This resulted in the creation of two beautifully blissful tracks ‘Under’ and ‘Friend’, which became the first two singles to be released from the album. While Solah and Kojo were specifically picked with their tracks in mind, Manchester favourite Strategy’s appearance on the release was an altogether more organic stroke of serendipity. The duo were unsure whether 'Anaesthetist' was going to make the cut as an instrumental, and were floating the idea of working with a vocalist when Strategy messaged them seemingly out of the blue. They knew in an instant that his sound was the perfect fit for the track.

Over the last five years, Pola & Bryson have steadily ascended from promising newcomers to well-respected leaders of the next liquid generation. The London based pair’s production credentials are now so well-respected that they have recently been commissioned for huge remix projects for Sub Focus x Wilkinson and Camo & Krooked and released a collaborative EP with Brazil’s legendary DJ Marky. Since their debut album ‘This Time Last Year’ on Soulvent Records and then 2018’s award-nominated Shogun Audio LP “Lost in Thought'', punters and peers have been on tenterhooks, anticipating what the duo would bring to the plate next. Effortlessly living up to its hype, anyone who journeys through the ever-changing soundscapes of ‘Beneath the Surface’ will be immersed into a new world of sonic expression.

Strut return to the rich archives of Black Fire Records for the Drum Message album by Ghanaian master percussionist Okyerema Asante from1977. After playing a short spell early in his career with Ebo Taylor's Blue Monksband at Tip Toe's in Accra, Asante joined the fledgling Hedzoleh Soundz during the early '70s at their Napoleon Club residency in the city. After playing Fela's Shrine, Fela recommended them to Hugh Masekela as an ideal backing band and Hedzoleh joined Masekela on a US tour in December 1973. Sharing the same management company, Charisma, Asante first met Plunky and Oneness Of Juju during an East coast tou rwith Masekela, starting a relationship with the band that has endured until today. Recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington D.C. in October 1977 and featuring musicians from Oneness alongside Gil Scott Heron cohort Brian Jackson on piano, Drum Message represents an important milestone fo rAsante: "This album really came from my heart. I wanted to project the African spirit in the music and come out with some unique African jazz. To be able to record it on Black Fire was extra special." The album also involved some serious physical graft: "The studio was up on the 14th Floor and the elevator was often broken down. I showed up with a van full of African drums and Jimmy Gray from Black Fire and myself had to carry them all the way up there, each day!" The resultant album was well worth the sweat. 'Adowa' adds jazz arrangements to a traditional Asante rhythm and Oneness classic 'FollowMe' is skilfully re-worked ("I used the bass drum in place of the bass guitar so it was all based on rhythms."). New versions of Asante dancefloor favourite 'Sabi' sit alongside the mellow groove of 'Asante Sana' ("I wantedsomething cool like reggae or highlife on that track, a similar vibe. So, Iwent inbetween.").

The Zru-esque adventure takes its suite with a full-length LP recorded in adventurous (avant) times. No time left for the deliverance of these melodious flights, playful tribalistic cadences and surrealistic lyrics. Art-Funk duo Zru Vogue tackles avec grand-chic inner themes in order to let the listener get lost in the domain of dreams and spirituality. Surfing on Californian rocks, Andrew L. Jackson & Rick Cuevas affirm here their heretic talent in an non-angular form. Zru is a (post) 'beat' poet.

1st October sees the release of the Neil Young ‘Carnegie Hall 1970’. Young has selected this concert he played at New York’s Carnegie Hall on December 4th, 1970 as the inaugural release from his Official Bootleg series.

The show rounded off a seminal year for Young who had released the ‘After The Gold Rush’ record just 3 months earlier in September which followed on from the ‘Déjà Vu’ album he recorded as part of Crosby, Still, Nash & Young in March of the same year.

This show is a never before heard recording with Young playing solo on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano and harmonica. Young played two solo acoustic shows at Carnegie Hall that week. “Listening to existing bootlegs, it seems that all the bootleggers got the second Carnegie Hall show,” Young writes on the Neil Young Archives. “There was one at 8:00 pm and one at midnight about 27 hours later. No one got that first one — the first time I walked onstage at Carnegie Hall, blowing my own 25-year-old mind.”

Change happens fast. At Carnegie Hall, I hear myself doing a new song, one about my ranch I had just moved to – ‘Old Man.’ Time flies.

Fans have been waiting eight long years for this new album from Ishi that
is expected to drop under Swedish Indie Label Icons Creating Evil Art, the
home of Flora Cash, Summer Heart, and Glamour Hammer.
It will be titled ‘Sweet Gold’ and feature the hit singles ‘Not My Girl’ and ‘LoFi Love Affair’ and the new single ‘Fly Away’. Ishi’s ability to successfully walk
the line between an ambitious studio act and a multi-sensory live experience
allows him to engage the audience in an uplifting celebration of life. His subtle
undertones of inner exploration combine to create a concert experience that is
unequivocally one-of-a-kind.
Each night, Ishi intends to create an entirely unique environment of mysticism,
awareness, love and acceptance. Adored by fans and critics alike, there is no
denying that Ishi is an immersive experience that everyone should discover.
Following the successful release of the Yuksek remix of ‘Not My Girl’ (supported by the likes of A-Trak, Kiss FM, Ministry of Sound, Amazing Radio etc.) and
a remix collaboration with the internationally acclaimed EDM-producer Oliver
Nelson, and his Goody Goody collab with fellow Texans CAPYAC; Ishi now line
up some new original music and the new album dropping early fall.