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Hildegard is the new project from experimental singer-songwriter
Helena Deland and multi-instrumentalist and producer Ouri (Ourielle
Auvé). On their self-titled debut album, Deland’s folk background
balances against Ouri’s world of electronic and dance music. Over
eight days in a studio, the Montreal-based musicians discovered an
innate creative connection, building and bouncing ideas off of one
another, developing an intuitive approach to composition and sound.
The resulting record, ‘Hildegard’, is wholly its own. Eight tracks fuse
together into a sonic sphere, named for the eight days spent together.
Deland and Ouri invoke Hildegard as a carrier of the magic they felt
working with each other, the separate entity that was born as they
blended together. Artist Melissa Matos developed a visual language
for the project that reflects this melding and switching of identities,
imagining Hildegard as both a contemporary and historic presence.
‘Hildegard’ is released on section1, the new label started earlier this
year in partnership with Partisan Records.
Deluxe LP box featuring debossed Hildegard symbol; clear vinyl,
printed vellum inner sleeve, fold-out booklet, three 300mm x 300mm
inserts featuring single artwork for ‘Jour 1’, ‘Jour 2’, ‘Jour 3’. Single
sleeve jacket featuring debossed Hildegard symbol; clear vinyl,
printed vellum inner sleeve and fold-out booklet.
Also available in a single sleeve jacket featuring debossed Hildegard
symbol; clear vinyl, printed vellum inner sleeve and fold-out booklet.
“Enrapturing... sounds like a billion tiny particles assembling
something greater than the sum of its parts” - The FADER
“Sounds like a floor-filler for the world's most haunted nightclub” -
Stereogum
“Hildegard brings the world back to life” - Les Inrockuptibles

Hildegard is the new project from experimental singer-songwriter
Helena Deland and multi-instrumentalist and producer Ouri (Ourielle
Auvé). On their self-titled debut album, Deland’s folk background
balances against Ouri’s world of electronic and dance music. Over
eight days in a studio, the Montreal-based musicians discovered an
innate creative connection, building and bouncing ideas off of one
another, developing an intuitive approach to composition and sound.
The resulting record, ‘Hildegard’, is wholly its own. Eight tracks fuse
together into a sonic sphere, named for the eight days spent together.
Deland and Ouri invoke Hildegard as a carrier of the magic they felt
working with each other, the separate entity that was born as they
blended together. Artist Melissa Matos developed a visual language
for the project that reflects this melding and switching of identities,
imagining Hildegard as both a contemporary and historic presence.
‘Hildegard’ is released on section1, the new label started earlier this
year in partnership with Partisan Records.
Deluxe LP box featuring debossed Hildegard symbol; clear vinyl,
printed vellum inner sleeve, fold-out booklet, three 300mm x 300mm
inserts featuring single artwork for ‘Jour 1’, ‘Jour 2’, ‘Jour 3’. Single
sleeve jacket featuring debossed Hildegard symbol; clear vinyl,
printed vellum inner sleeve and fold-out booklet.
Also available in a single sleeve jacket featuring debossed Hildegard
symbol; clear vinyl, printed vellum inner sleeve and fold-out booklet.
“Enrapturing... sounds like a billion tiny particles assembling
something greater than the sum of its parts” - The FADER
“Sounds like a floor-filler for the world's most haunted nightclub” -
Stereogum
“Hildegard brings the world back to life” - Les Inrockuptibles

Returning with their first new music in 8 years, Stubborn Heart have announced their anticipated new album 'Made Of Static'. Luca Santucci and Ben Fitzgerald, who have spent the last few years developing the ten brooding electro-soul tracks that make up the successor to their lauded 2012 self-titled debut, have once again struck a fine balance between ominous synth-soundscapes and introspective songwriting. Balance is the key theme here. With Fitzgerald leading the production and manning the machines, the sound is rawer than on their previous album. Left-field pop with dark, icy edges, it finds a home somewhere in between r&b and cold wave. Santucci brings the heart and with it his aching, obsessive lyrics and a desire for something grittier in its presentation. The duo's talents complement each other perfectly throughout. Santucci has amassed an impressive list of writing and vocal credits in his time, with the likes of XL and Warp signee Leila Arab, Plaid, Riton and Soulwax amongst them. Fitzgerald has also been hard at work at his home studio programming various styles of music for artists and producers from around the world. As Stubborn Heart, they come armed with some serious experience and a wealth of influences. There's an honest simplicity in the way they create, with lyrics written in an immediate, direct fashion with the aim to catch a feeling rather than emulate one. On their first album Stubborn Heart garnered praise from the likes of Pitchfork, NME and the UK broadsheets. It was named album of 2012 at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards and Rough Trade placed it in their top 20 best albums the same year. However, it's now that we're presented with an album they feel better represents their dynamic - an album born from the duos combined creative static - as such, 'Made Of Static' is the first fruit of their reunion, aiming to step on from where they left off, and with the promise of much more to follow.

Andy Gill begann mit der Planung einer Compilation zum 40-jährigen Jubiläum des stilprägenden Gang Of Four Debütalbums "Entertainment!" (1979), seine Witwe Catherine Meyer setzte nach seinem Tod 2020 die Arbeit fort und wandelte zusammen mit allen Beteiligten das Projekt in einen Tributsampler mit dem Titel "The Problem Of Leisure - A Celebration Of Andy Gill & Gang Of Four" um. Jede:r teilnehmende Künstler:in interpretierte einen Track nach Wahl aus Gang Of Four's 40-jähriger Karriere nach ihrem/seinem Gusto neu. Es beteiligten sich mehrere Protagonisten der internationalen Rock/Alternative-Szene, darunter Tom Morello & Serj Tankian (Rage Against The Machine), IDLES, Herbert Grönemeyer, Helmet, Gary Numan, Flea & John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Killing Joke, Warpaint, 3D aka Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack), La Roux, The Sounds, The Dandy Warhols, LoneLady, Hardcore Raver In Tears (aus China), Sekar Melati (aus Japan), u.v.m. Das Artwork steuerte der britische Kult-Künstler Damien Hirst bei. Das Doppelabum erscheint als 2CD Digipak, 2CD Casebound Book, 2LP Gatefold, limitierte MC.

The Temple Pillars Disappear Into the Clouds is the title of the new record from Bloody Head. Recorded mostly live at Stuck on a Name Studios by St. Ian Boult. Both wilder and more restrained than previous efforts. Punk? Noise rock? Psych? Sludge? All/none of the above, but the keen eared seeker of the weird may detect snippets of Les Rallizes Denudes, Kilslug, Brainbombs, Rudimentary Peni, Mainliner, Hawkwind, Donovan amongst the sonic morass. Lyrically it deals with big concepts, tumbling down. Dualism? Taoism? A beautiful garden or a broken jaw? Human endeavours losing track of themselves and getting lost in the clouds of their own creation. Ascend to Nirvana or fall into the Abyss. As above, so below....

Hominid Sounds is thrilled to be release The Temple Pillars Disappear Into the Clouds by Nottingham's finest, Bloody Head. The record will be out in Vinyl LP and digital in May 2021.

About Bloody Head
Any interpretation of these two words, collectively, leads to a singular conclusion: Something has gone wrong. This is the essence of Bloody Head; the acceptance, reflection, celebration and battle against things (mind/body/spirit) going very wrong. It is the manifestation of things getting wonky and breaking, revelry in destruction and decay. Broken (brain/dick/mind) blues. Bleak party

bangers as a soundtrack to our collective slow motion apocalypse. What does the future hold for Bloody Head? Fuck knows! Everything. Nothing. More/less of the same, whatever that is....

In the eyes of Nana Mouskouri, all these Bob Dylan songs are the stones that made his house and the roof that has sheltered it for sixty years; they were for her guides and landmarks. Each is sacred, each has its secret. That’s why Nana Mouskouri is so happy to present them to us today, brought together in this album. Timeless, they have crossed the ages and more than ever echo the problems of the young generation. The fights against violence, for peace and love are the same today as they were yesterday. Reviews in London Macadam, France in London, and L’Echo Ads London Macadam, France in London, and L’Echo

Throughout his vast career, the New York based Australian composer JG Thirlwell has adopted many masks as a means of infiltrating and subsequently subverting a wide range of pop cultural forms. His work under the Foetus moniker has taken on everything from big band to opera to noise-rock. Steroid Maximus embraced exotica and the world of soundtracks, while his Manorexia project continued his quest to the outer limits of contemporary composition and musique concrete. Thirlwell has also carved out a significant output in the field of the soundtrack via the large body of work created for the animated television shows Archer and The Venture Bros. In addition he has been commissioned to create compositions by such notables as Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, Alarm Will Sound, String Orchestra of Brooklyn and many others.

Now we have ‘Omniverse’, the second release under the moniker Xordox. Xordox is a synthesizer-based project, and on this evocative album we see the project branch into many new avenues. The science fiction element brushes up against crime noir, even veering into areas that could well fit in the video game soundtrack genre. With an audacious attitude and an arsenal of machines Thirlwell serves up a selection of thrilling retro-future mind capsules. This is music made from a life saturated in culture, both underground and mainstream, high and low. Tense sequencing and noir tinged keyboard lines invoke a powerful visual image of films and memory, of screens and speakers, of sound and space, all entering the cosmos and the subsequent galactic race. Thirlwell’s decades long exploration of sampling and sequencing, composing and ingesting a daunting amount of audio and visual artworks speaks volumes for the bold assimilations exposed here. ‘Between Dimensions’ lays out a tense theme which starts off like a score to a a crime thriller before morphing into a simulacra of Kraftwerk scoring a video game. The living ghosts of Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter haunt ‘Oil Slick’ as it permeates wormholes, updating lifeforms with its stealth sequencing and tense momentum.

‘Omniverse' is a synthesised soundtrack journey, one which embraces past forms whilst reshaping them for the new unknown. ‘Omniverse' is a thrilling liquid ride through fear and hope, and like all the best of Thirlwell’s output, is simply one hell of an enjoyable journey to take.

Four Flies is proud and excited to present the first full-album release of the long-forgotten soundtrack composed by Armando Trovajoli for Piero Vivarelli's 1964 movie Il Vuoto.

Rightly considered by many to be a key figure, if not the key figure, in the history of Italian jazz, Trovajoli was responsible for fostering an appreciation and understanding of jazz among the generation of music listeners and musicians raised under Mussolini and Fascist nationalism. His outstanding work as a pianist, composer and conductor contributed immensely to the popularization of the genre among the general public and to the reduction of institutional bias against it.

The collaboration between Trovajoli and Vivarelli did not happen by chance. The latter, now regarded as one of Italy's "kings of the B's" for his work in the 'exotic-erotic' genre (Il dio serpente, Codice d'amore orientale, etc.), was a great music expert, a skilled talent scout for the Italian music industry, and a true lover of jazz.

Most of Trovajoli's score for Il vuoto has a refined smoothness that is clearly reminiscent of cool jazz – many tracks on the soundtrack are performed by a sextet featuring Trovajoli himself on piano, Carlo Zoffoli on vibraphone, Gino Marinacci on baritone sax and flute, Enzo Grillini on electric guitar, Berto Pisano on double bass, and Sergio Conti on drums and percussion. At the same time, Trovajoli explores other jazz styles or sub-styles in faster, more rhythm-oriented tracks influenced by bossa nova, samba, and even rock'n'roll, where instruments like drums and percussion, electric guitar, or flute take center stage.

This stylistic variety demonstrates both the maestro's versatility as a composer and the fine skills of the musicians who performed on the soundtrack. Like Trovajoli, they were all pioneers of Italian jazz and played in Italy's very first 'institutional' jazz orchestra: the Orchestra di Musica Leggera of the RAI (the Italian public broadcasting company), formed under Trovajoli's leadership in 1956 and credited as "his orchestra" in public performances and in the album The Beat Generation (RCA Italiana, 1960).

By making available for the first time ever almost all of the music recorded by Trovajoli for Il vuoto, this LP fills an important gap in the maestro's discography. Most importantly, it offers further insight not only into the history of Italian jazz, but also into the penetration of the genre into Italian film music, which was possible thanks to Trovajoli's mastery as a composer and to the virtuosity of the pioneering musicians who performed in his orchestra.

In many ways, DJ Black Low's debut album, Uwami, shows the signs of an artist's first offering in any musical genre. Showcasing fluency in a broad range of styles and stuffing a number of ideas to the record's brim is the 20 year-old producer's attempt to both introduce himself to a wide listenership and stamp a recognizable sound in their minds. In other ways, somewhat out of the young South African producer's control, Uwami goes against the grain. The album comes at a time when South African electronic music is being fundamentally disrupted. Amapiano, the electronic music movement which first gained popularity with a small, core group of followers, now dominates the mainstream. Well-known and pervasive, amapiano borrows from a diverse palette of musical styles which are popular in South Africa's largely Black townshipsjazz, kwaito, dibacardi, deep and afro house among them. Instead of pandering to the seemingly insatiable local appetite and growing global penchant for amapiano though, on Uwami DJ Black Low seeks out the limits of the sound du jour and tries to stretch them. On his solo productions, he uses the samples and compositional norms that make amapiano hits the bedrock on which to experiment and improvise. With collaborators, DJ Black Low improvises within the boundaries of listener-friendly grooves. The sound he creates has foundations of what could easily have progressed into captivating amapiano songs on their own. But he uses improvised but structured electronic percussion and distortion sounds to drive the tracks in a particular direction. What remains is something like a deconstructed amapiano. For a young producer living in the townships of the greater Pitori area of South Africa's Gauteng province, there were few avenues available for Radebe to pursue a career in music. His trajectory shows the vulnerability of this pursuit. "I had started producing in 2013 and it so happened that I lost my equipment in 2014. I couldn't afford to buy equipment. In 2017, a friend of mine who had been making music found a job and decided to quit music. He gave me his equipment and I was able to start producing again. That's when I started getting back to it. I tried to pick up where I had left off, with hip hop and commercial house but I found that amapiano was the popular music. I liked it, so I started producing it."

Heavy Psych trio from Portugal based in North London. Mainly influenced by 60's psychedelia and 70s Prog with hints of modern Stoner and Space Rock. They deploy their magic fog into the room to take the entire audience on a journey from the edge of a rugged desert to the outer edges of distant galaxies. The acid-doused amps of Madmess vent serpentine psych and bleed the deepest shades of violet from the electric heart of Rock & Roll. Madmess are Luis Moura (Drums), Vasco Vasconcelos (Bass) and Sam Paio (Guitar) Resident Records: "Heavy stoner riffage smashing against crashing drums is always a winner, in our book, & this one happens to be an especially yummy chunk of squealing fuzz" More Fuzz “ This Portuguese trio’s Psychedelic/Space rock conjures images in my mind of the power of a rocket launch, followed by the serenity of orbit before smashing back through the atmosphere and returning to Earth.”

2x Grammy nominated band Gojira have announced details of their long-awaited new album, FORTITUDE, which will be released April 30th via Roadrunner Records and have released the forthcoming album’s first single, “Born For One Thing”. FORTITUDE stands is Gojira’s first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016’s Grammy nominated LP MAGMA.

Recorded and Produced by Joe Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio - Gojira’s Ridgewood, Queens, headquarters – and mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine), FORTITUDE is a collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world—and then make it happen. The band initially laid the foundation for FORTITUDE last year with the surprise release of the 2020 single “Another World.” NPR hailed the track as “an apocalyptic banger,” while STEREOGUM declared, “Gojira are one of this century’s most important underground metal institutions.” Voted by fans as the #1 release on REVOLVER’s “5 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021,” FORTITUDE continues Gojira’s career-long tradition of harnessing their music as a vehicle for environmental activism with songs like “Amazonia” and “The Chant” not only surveying critical cases, but also catalyzing listeners to take action.

On 2016’s MAGMA, Gojira found strength—and crossover success—through a singular commitment to self-reflection. The intensely personal record, penned in memory of the Duplantier brothers' late mother, was a painful significant turning point for the French group. The album earned the band two GRAMMY nominations - ‘Best Metal Performance’ and ‘Best Rock Album,’ and upon release, MAGMA took the #1 spot on BILLBOARD’s ‘Hard Rock Albums’ chart, a first for a French band. MAGMA also asserted itself as one of the most acclaimed albums of 2016, earning METAL HAMMER’s coveted “Album of the Year” title while also landing on ROLLING STONE’s “Top 20 Metal Albums of 2016,”

Inspired from Romanian cultural heritage, be it film, dance or musical instruments, Folclor Abstract is a glance back to the roots in search of a meaningful future.

The first track is inspired from the soundtrack composed by Cornelia Tăutu for the Romanian historical adventure film “Buzduganul cu trei peceți” (1977). The film presents a politicized version of the events that led in 1600 to the unification of the three Romanian countries, in the aftermath of a victorious battle against the Ottoman invasion (Călugăreni, 1595). Dance your way through as the story unfolds.

Dans cu balans is the result of a personal fascination for the cimbalom, an instrument of high versatility, frequently used in the Romanian fiddle music. In contrast to orchestral performances, which adhere to the composer’s notes to reproduce a work faithfully, fiddling is also open to improvisation and tends to produce rhythms that focus on dancing, with associated quick note changes.

Searching for inspiration within Romanian folklore, I found Ivan Braga who was on his own pursuit of cultural heritage, experimenting with a variety of traditional instruments and rhythms from different regions of the country. Doba lu’ Braga is Ivan’s modern take on Romanian drum patterns performed on a traditional Moldavian drum (dobă) with an uplifting twist and arrangement for the dancefloor experience.

Reverie is an expression of the creator’s state of mind. Lost in thought, stolen by imagination, haunted by memories, liberated by dreams

PM Warson grew up in an English town, in a post 9/11 world, drifting into financial crisis, against the staple suburban musical landscape of heavy rock, the ghost of the New Wave, and the fading star of the Indie Boom of the Noughties. He found his own fit in the form of Rhythm & Blues from half-a-century before, drawn in by records in the family collection, engaging at a visceral level, abstract from any subcultural connotations. While an outlier stylistically, he found camaraderie and direction among musically inclined peers, saving up two summers straight for a Rickenbacker guitar, getting the taste for playing live with an archetypal teenage power trio. After a move to London to study, he was without a band for a while. The Rickenbacker was sold for an archtop, and he delved deeper into his musical vocabulary - delta blues, Americana, early jazz and Rock'n'Roll. Meanwhile, via the capital's blues clubs and soul nights, he discovered a new setting for the music that had enticed him the first place, existing, not in a vacuum, but alive and in the moment.

A chance audition thrust him into full-time work as a touring musician. He found himself, blissfully under-qualified, serving an apprenticeship alongside conservatoire-trained jazz musicians and session pros. Meanwhile, the inevitable downtime in new cities on the road allowed for significant crate-digging between coffee spots and sound checks, while feeding off the knowledge of the players around him. Becoming more and more interested in production, ever-drawn to the Golden Era of record-making, he befriended the proprietors of Soup Studio, then an all-analogue facility based on Cable Street. He started moonlighting on production projects and learning the inner workings of a studio environment. A network was building, and when it was time to break out on his own, everything was in place.

Shedding the construct of a 'band' or a 'singer-songwriter', and perhaps the monoculture of contemporary music-making, he started cutting sides with a band of friends and acquaintances found along the way. Without any wider ambition, it was as much about the process as the outcome, evoking the R'n'B records of the '50s and '60s in practice rather than emulation. His first effort, the ramshackle "You Gotta Tell Me" became a de facto single, and after being urged to press a few copies to vinyl by a friend, it began to cause a few ripples on the local DJ scene. Meanwhile, a wild, off-the-cuff cover of 'Hit The Road Jack' caught the attention of a London music agency, giving his lineup an outlet for playing out. This included house-band sets at London establishments such as the Blues Kitchen, Old Street Records and notably at the opening of the Mary Quant Fashion Exhibition at the V&A Museum.

Surrender is the debut full length from DJ, producer, and songwriter Endgame. Stepping out for the first time as a vocalist, and lyricist, Surrender is his most ambitious and vulnerable work to date; a striking statement of intent, with moments of beauty and brutality. Endgame has carved an iconoclastic niche in club culture. Breaking into the scene as co-founder of the legendary collective Bala Club, and resident of the radical club-night Endless. Whilst continuing almost a decade hosting his infamous NTS radio show (and now label) Precious Metals, he has forged a path against the tide of formulaic club music. A visionary DJ and producer, Surrender sees Endgame continue this trajectory, with a project that both amplifies the ferocious club constructions he's known for, whilst making space to open up wounded memories and with sombre unfeigned requiems. Having previously released records on Hyperdub, PTP, Golden Mist and Infinite Machine, Endgame's first release on his own Precious Metals imprint, is him at his most reflective. Surrender is a deeply personal record, about loss and finding meaning in despair. Death is a prevailing theme, with the passing of his father a totemic subject. The recollection of his father's torturous final moments leaves him to mournfully contemplate temporality. Using this sense of anguish, he blurs reality-creating a world where angels and demons are among us in a decaying cityscape; akin to the work of Todd McFarlane. The opener Faithless, propels us into this world, with the slow build of industrial precision amidst the sombre build of harsh melodic synths. We descend deeper into this vision with Barbed Heart, featuring a defining vocal from scene staple and long time collaborator Yayoyanoh, as 808's and skittering hi hats ricochet off one another beneath his bass driven vocal. No Heroes continues our journey into the unknown with a chaotic rush of acidic riffs, pounding percussion, and a reference to the brutalist anthem from hardcore punk band Converge (where the track borrows its name). Requiem acts as the turning point of the record as Endgame steps into the foreground as a vocalist. As the name suggests, this lament is a sombre reflection of grief; its minimalist instrumental allows Endgame's haunted verse to rise into the foreground, like an apparition amidst the smoke in the depths of a dimly lit club. The dark clouds fade into the distance in Exhumed, as the elegant melancholic vocal of Bala Club affiliate and gifted vocalist Organ Tapes reflects off Endgame's sanguine verses bringing hope into the heartfelt instrumental filled with melodic flourishes and bass-bin rattling subs. The thematic haze thickens in Abyss, as the pulsating and doom laden instrumental interweaves with Endgame's sepulchral vocal. Like a message from the void, his words act as an agnostic hymn that pulls apart his sense of self. The contrast of his plaintive verse with the intensity of the instrumental creates a contrast that is symbolic of the record itself, a duality that presents moments of soft reflection against a severe sonic palette to create moments of transcendence.

November 13, 2020 – Beneath the simplicity of the title of the latest single from HEADACHE – “mike’s back” – you can find the story of Mike Duce, putting his ghosts to rest – PRESS HERE to listen. The former frontman of Lower Than Atlantis – a band proclaimed as the future of British alternative-rock – the artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist wondered if he “might have already seen the best days of his life.” Fighting his doubts, Mike approached his new EP, Get Off The Internet, as an opportunity to create change in himself and his outlook. As a result, each song on the release leans into a more positive and imaginative aura, signaling a return of confident artistry. By taking a broader, more organic approach to songwriting, he found inspiration in his current music diet, using everything from boom bap to jazz to help curate his neo-soul sound which Mike describes as "a regurgitation of an amalgamation of music I’ve been into all my life." While Get Off The Internet’s title rallies against our overreliance on social media and online personas, its lead single, “mike’s back”, is a surefooted, motormouthed burst of positivity. “I feel like I’m back to myself,” says Mike. “I was depressed and didn’t really know what I was doing before, but now I’m back in the game and back on the form, personally and musically.” HEADACHE, who has already garnered attention from BBC Radio One, DORK Magazine, and Kerrang! with the release of his first EP Food For Thwart, is enthusiastic that his expanding audience will be drawn to his the positivity of Get Off The Internet.

Lothian Buses’ is an EP of genre collisions with Proc Fiskal amalgamating his twinkling, caffeinated grime sound with the rhythms and sounds of other genres, without ever overthinking it. To kick off, ‘Thurs Jung Yout’ is a kind of shoegaze drill with strings and gentle tones swelling and dissipating against busy drill beats. ‘Baguettes’ is a more classic Proc sound, a galloping rhythm against a sparse melody that was a quick fix up for a show that turned out well. ‘Choco Frito (Calamari)’ was influenced by the good life, DJing in Portugal in the sunshine and hearing Kuduro played out. The latticing drum patterns nod to the style, dropping into a sunny accordion chorus with a plucked guitar line. ‘Scarab Aloph’ is Proc's style compressed, full of micro-glitches, tight drum fills and incidental drop-outs across a pretty melody, while ‘HopeTak2’ is his percussive, breezy take on funky house with smiley melodic stabs. Finally, ‘Mullit Madollock’ takes the sonics of airy Bukem-style atmospheric jungle, an instantly recognisable inspiration that's not been as foregrounded in Proc’s work before, refitted and updated with grime-inspired melodic bass kicks.

Fortunately for us, Dmytro Nikolaienko agreed to open up the jewellery boxes of his tape-loop archive for his debut album on Faitiche. What came to light was a collection of dreamy glittering gems, masterfully presented using the compositional possibilities of analogue tape machines. Some may consider a tape machine to be limited as a musical instrument, but Rings makes a convincing case with its sure-handed use of the available parameters – moving tape over the tape head mechanically and manually, cutting loops, manipulating timbre and creating noise by means of saturation. The results are eleven blurred, repetitive, rhythmic patterns that can be understood as an intervention against digital precision, as mechanical irregularities and background noise become musical events.

For those familiar with Nikolaienko’s work, his nostalgic approach here will come as no surprise: born in Ukraine and now based in Estonia, he has chosen a historical medium (that has been enjoying a renaissance for some years now) to record historical-sounding sequences. The way he manages his own back catalogue is similarly archival, documenting the chronology of his tape loops in such a way as to leave no doubt as to their advanced age. And then there are his two wonderful labels Muscut and Shukai, the latter being an archival project releasing electroacoustic obscurities from the Soviet past. Which brings us back full circle …

"Terrific!"- Steve Lamacq, BBC 6 Music. Double header 7" from NY production duo The Still Brothers. 'Wake Up' Mixed by Skinshape. The Still Brothers are Andrew LeCoche (Ula Ruth) and Evan Heinze (The Shacks). 'Wake Up' was created in a New York winter on a cloudy day. The song's bones were sculpted in the classic Still Brothers' fashion making use of a collection of favourite sounds. It came to life when Brazilian friend and collaborator Marina B heard the track in her sleep and thought of the song's lyrics as she woke up. It might take you to that place in-between dreams and the waking life, where you are pulled in and out of a state of slumber. It incidentally speaks to the abrupt change that was about to fall upon the world in early 2020. Between the singing in Portuguese and the sounds of subway doors, the song is just alienating enough to make anyone these days to feel right at home. 'Wake Up' was mixed by Will Dorey aka Skinshape and mastered by Alex DeTurk. The cover art was designed by Sofia Ohanna. Inspired by subway preachers, jazz funerals and Hip-Hop 'The Deep' serves as an introduction to the dazzling skills of New York production duo The Still Brothers. Their debut track breaks open with a reverend crying out about the transgressions we have committed against each other. He then observes that so many of us are throwing up our hands in an act of surrendering. A poignant sentiment in these troubling times and one that will resonate throughout the world.

Producer extraordinaire John Morales returns to BBE Music, celebrating the life and work of R&B / soul legend Teena Marie with a double album full of brand new remixes, lovingly crafted from the original studio tapes, entitled ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’. “Teena is somewhat underrated, and people don't really know much about her.” Says Morales. “I set out to immerse people in her music and represent what she really did. That meant for me a dive into more than her R&B hits, to dig into her ballads and dance cuts. People know she was talented. I don't really think they really knew the depth of her abilities, her complete confidence to take it upon herself to do everything – singing, producing, arranging, songwriting. Teena Marie was the total package.” John Morales had the pleasure of mixing many of Teena Marie’s original records over the years, so it felt natural to dig into the archives and select his favourite cuts to rework, extend and subtly update in his own distinctive style. While by no means a definitive collection of Lady Tee’s expansive musical catalogue, ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’ represents a fitting tribute to a multifaceted and important voice in popular music, by one of the most storied mix engineers and remixers of our age. Jumping into the music industry deep end in 1979 with a three-year mentorship from Berry Gordy & Rick James at Motown, Teena Marie then spent seven fertile years with Epic, which yielded her greatest commercial successes (including the classic album 'Starchild'). After founding an independent label ‘Sarai’, Marie took a ten-year hiatus which ended in 2004 in a deal with hip hop label Cash Money Records; a less unlikely partnership than some might assume, given that Teena was one of the first ‘mainstream’ artists to perform a rap verse, on 1981’s ‘Square Biz’. Teena Marie Brockert forged a unique path through the industry, an artist in-charge of her own destiny, influencing (and heavily sampled by) both the hip hop and R&B sounds of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Her 1982 lawsuit against Motown records resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which has benefitted literally thousands of other artists by making it illegal for record companies to ‘shelve’ artists by keeping them under contract without releasing their material. She continued to tour regularly and deliver commercially successful, expertly sculpted music, right up until her untimely passing in 2010.

Lunar Tredd – Fimber Bravo’s first album on Moshi Moshi since the much acclaimed Con-Fusion – tells the tale. The highlife fusion of You Can’t Control Me resonates in the wake of the global Black Lives Matters protests. There is fire in these impactful clarion calls to resist oppression, recognise strength in resilience and fight against the corruption of power.

Bravo’s been a constant collaborative force - as his time as leader of 20th Century Steel Band, as musical director of Steel ‘n’ Skin, and appearances with everyone from Sun Ra Arkestra to Hot Chip, shows. Lunar Tredd reflects the influence of the music handed down to him by “ancestors” . Helped by an enviable cast of friends and collaborators, Fimber has shifted those touchstones to create something that sounds resolutely like the here and now.

Those friends that appear on Lunar Tredd, include Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and The Horrors’ Tom Furse; The Invisible drummer Leo Taylor and Senegalese percussionist, Mamadou Sarr dropping in on rhythm duties, while there are also appearances from Susumu Mukai aka Zongamin, the brilliant Kora player Kadialy Kouyate, vocalist Cottie Williams, Vanishing Twin’s Catherine Lucas, and production from Lapo Frost and Ghostpoet producer Shuta Shinoda. Some, like Zongamin and Williams go way back with Fimber, other connections are newer, but all have quickly become part of the London-based musician’s musical family.

Indeed, Fimber never loses sight of where he’s come from on LUNAR TREDD - even as he looks to where he might go next. As a musician, he’s still finding new creative peaks nearly 50 years after he began.

Mondo, in collaboration with Back Lot Music, is proud to present a vinyl pressing of James Newton Howard's Golden Globe Nominated score to Universal Pictures’ powerful new film from acclaimed filmmaker Paul Greengrass, News of The World.

Set five years after the end of the Civil War, News of the World follows Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a veteran of three wars, who now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe.

In the plains of Texas, Kidd crosses paths with Cicada, aka Johanna Leonberger (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will. Kidd reluctantly agrees to deliver the child to where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.

The film is a moving exploration of our present through the lens of our past, and the music by eight-time Academy Award® nominee James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games, The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Fugitive) is innovative, emotional, and beautiful, as it follows Captain Kidd’s journey from regret to redemption. A haunted, and healing sound of vintage Americana floods from your speakers as the tender strings and piano guide you over gorgeous landscapes.

Be assured that even dawning on sixty and with a career spanning more than 30 years, Popa Chubby continues to fight against the injustices of this world !
And the least we can say about 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic is that it offered him the “magnificent” inspiration that fed into the creation of his new album “Tinfoil Hat”! As he writes himself, this record’s creation was self-evident from the beginning of the first lockdown in March.
Back at his base in the Hudson Valley and following his last show played in Florida, our man immediately wanted to send a message of empathy and support to his fans, and that’s how the song “Can I Call You My Friends?” was conceived. The reaction was so sudden, warm, and intense that he found there was enough material for continuing this “dialogue” by composing other songs that today form the framework for “Tinfoil Hat.”
The whole thing was entirely “homemade,” recorded and played by Popa Chubby with the extra Guts and Soul that great causes often bring to life. “Tinfoil Hat” and the 11 songs that make it up were born from a mixture of love, despair, fear, frustration, pain, joy, sorrow, resolution and the leap into the great unknown imposed by the coronavirus that has been with all of us all since last
March. The Trump administration’s chaotic and reckless management of the crisis provided Popa Chubby with the inspiration for uncompromising lyrics. Like those of the title song (supported by, to say the least, an explicit clip) or themes such as “You Ain’t Said Shit,” “No Justice, No Peace,” or “Another Day In Hell.”
Without forgetting to pass on messages of hope (“Someday Soon, Change Is Gonna Come”) or even for good behavior in the face of the virus with “Baby Put On Your Mask.” In the album notes, he writes, “Like all of you, this pandemic has pushed me to the very edge of my humanity. But the music, the sweet music, has put me back on the right path once again. So I offer this work with humility and the deep devotion I have for you!”. That says it all!

First pressing of 400 units comes as yellow vinyl! "I was guzzling wine at my favorite bar in San Francisco, the Rite Spot, and the entertainment that night was some local opera singers singing along with a big video screen showing a collage of various operatic moments with subtitles. One particular subtitle, 'Ah!-(etc)' made me laugh, I thought it was a perfect description of life - the joy of existence against the etcetera of it all, the struggle. With a heavy head of rose' it seemed like ecstatic poetry! I scribbled it on a napkin and thought it might make a good title for something" And so the mystery behind the title of Kelley Stoltz new record is solved. Less of a mystery is the quality contained therein_ after 12 self-titled releases and a several more under pseudonyms, Stoltz is the word for "one-man-band-home-recording-pop-songs of idiosyncratic character." A quick follow up to his more power pop and pub rock LP only "Hard Feelings" offering in the summer, "Ah-(etc)" finds Stoltz returning to his sweet spot, writing songs that never were, but should have been in the 60's and 80's. As with other LPs Stoltz makes virtually every noise on the album which was written and recorded in 2019 at his Electric Duck Studio in. San Francisco. A few friends popped in to play along_ Stoltz former bandmate, Echo & the Bunnymen's Will Sergeant adds electric guitar to "The Quiet Ones" a sort of Scott Walker lyrical take on strangers and neighbors. Karina Denike formerly of Dance Hall Crashers adds gorgeous vocals on the bossanova groover "Moon Shy", where Sergeant pops up again in a spoken word role on the outro. Allyson Baker of SF's Dirty Ghosts sings on "She Like Noise", a song Stoltz wrote for her in celebration of her love of seeing live bands. The album was mastered by Mikey Young in Australia.

As a prelude to the singles LP we drop a 45 reissue of Brief Encounters most popular modern / disco side against possibly their best ballad / deep soul spin. Stone cold classic all the way. Licenced direct from the band.

Hot Creations continues its 2021 release schedule this February with a four-track EP from Josh Hvaal. Getting Better sees the UK talent return to the label, fresh from releasing his maiden EP, The Sound, on the imprint in March last year.

Basic leads the charge and takes no prisoners as it goes, pairing rapid kick-hat combos against layered vocal tones to create Josh’s signature late-night sound. Getting Better comes next, blending a retro acid vibe with an up-tempo lead bassline before the near six-
minute Oi takes the form of a heavyweight techno number. Tiptoe brings things to an emotive close, showcasing Josh’s eclectic style with drawn-out chords and percussion- laden breaks.

Josh Hvaal has become a household name in the contemporary house sphere in recent times. It was in March that the young UK-native achieved a remarkable feat: releasing his debut EP on Hot Creations. Such an achievement didn’t go unnoticed, with industry heavyweights soon playing his music in the form of Joseph Capriati, Andrea Oliva and many more. Releases have since followed on Yousef’s Circus Recordings, Malgado’s Distortion and Hot Creations’ offshoot Hottrax, standing him in good stead for another successful year in 2021.

Legendary Welsh anarchist punk band Icons of Filth was formed in Cardiff at the end of the 70s, having been known as Mock Death and Atomic Filth in earlier line-ups. This blistering debut, culled from demos laid in September 1982, was a cassette-only release—the first issue on the Mortorhate label, run by fellow political punks, Conflict. Over clamorous drumrolls, jagged guitar and super-charged bass, frontman Stiggy Smeg spits lyrics fighting against the system, championing animal welfare and a vegetarian lifestyle. This is the band at their rawest and most unfiltered—required listening for punk diehards. Limited vinyl reissue, comes with folded poster with exclusive unpublished photo by Robert Revill.

Originally released on Celluloid Lunch (Canada), really excited to do the Euro edition. Drawing influence from the looser end of the Ork records catalogue, the sensitive side of Ohio’s proto-punk scene and the grittiest and most sluggish tangent of 70’s power pop, Itchy Self’s debut 12” is an exploration of fully formed songs treated with spontaneous delivery. The group got together in early 2020 for 3 practices and a recording session and here are the results, laid out in their raw form. This is cross-generational racket n roll music that wears its heart on its loosey goosey sleeve. ‘B what you B’ is a life affirming testament to living against the grain that calls to mind the Modern Lovers’ aggressive positivity. Title track ‘Here’s the Rub’ is a barrage of abstract lyrics and skronky shred. ‘God Bless the Ego’ is an ode to the looseness and blurry eyed lucidity of indie rock’s forbearers such as Chilton, Kilgour, Pollard and Malkmus. ‘Reprobate’ is a Stones style ballad that channels the Saints and Johnny Thunders in equal measures. ‘Playing MTV’ is an audacious end remark to the record, that rips on classic Velvets strut and testifies it’s own ridiculous merit through boastful and catty lyrics. All in all, of course, it’s only Rock n Roll. This record is 1 part follow up to the Protruders “Poison Future” 12” on Feel It records (2019) and 1 part the first chapter of a new and exciting group formed in Canada’s capital of de-proffessionalized rock music. Recorded to 1/4 inch tape by Scott Munro (Preoccupations) and mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control), this record should provide a concise opening statement to anyone with the least bit of concern about Itchy Self. You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion. Sorry State Records

As Dense & Pika, Alex Jones and Chris Spero have garnered an enviable reputation for making devastating club ordnance that finds the sweet spot between dark, mysterious house and roaring, brawny techno. With over a decade of material under their belt, Jones and Spero are set to release their first studio length debut album, ‘Colour Burn’ via London major imprint BMG on 4th December, home to the likes of Leftfield, The Prodigy, Holy Ghost and Faithless.

‘Colour Burn’ is a 13-track composition crossing through downtempo house and electronica, built as a conceptual sonic representation of the pair’s live audio and visual set up. The album is a step away from harder and faster material and a move towards a more leftfield sonic trajectory, featuring a handful of impressive heavyweight features of Jones & Spero’s musical heroes who have informed the Dense & Pika output.

Released today, album moment ‘Honey’ features the master of sensual, slow-burn techno, Matthew Dear whose contribution to ‘Honey’ arrives in vocal form – a breathy, brooding ensemble of spoken word that glues perfectly with the duo’s trademark rough and textured sound palette. It helps turn what Alex calls “a headsy, dusty piece of housey tech” into something sensual and otherworldly.

Dark and smouldering, it seems to the suck the air out of the room like a tightly packed subterranean dancefloor deep in the throes of night. Glitched out percussion and fizzling hi-hats feel caustic against the track’s low-end frequencies. The thumping bassline and kick drum combination delivers punch and pressure to the mix in a true Dense & Pika format. Matthew’s sauntering vocal contribution guides the track into a deep and hypnotic groove well equipped for any late-night excursion. “The boys sent over a lengthy jam, but there was that simple loop that stood out and had me hooked. I put it on repeat and let the mind and pen wander. It’s a bit of cosmic abandonment, brazenly sung by a professional of the night.” Matthew Dear

Elsewhere on the LP, standout track ‘Hidden’ features the drums of Sepultura’s legendary metal icon Igor Cavalera resulting in a fabulous frenzy of percussion and driving rhythm. The equally momentous and unforgettable ‘Control’ features the heavily robotic vocoder of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes aiding and abetting in its quest to be a high-octane, twisted rave jam.

The impressive features on ‘Colour Burn’ are an insight into the hugely artistic and visionary A&R skills of Alex and Chris and the start of a new chapter for Dense & Pika kicking off with the long-awaited release of their first studio length album.

More than 90 years after their creation, THE RED ARMY CHOIR – still today one of Russia’s pure artistic gems – have become universal and their reputation cannot be ignored! Inseparable from the revolution that would give birth to the Soviet Empire. The Ensemble was originally dedicated to celebrating the founding father of Bolshevism, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, says Lenin… Even though they were, in fact, founded four years after his death! Lenin as well as the The Red Army Choir, remain two symbols of the Russian revolution, even if the tyrannical period of Stalin and the Soviet purges have passed, the Ensemble distances itself from any political representation by being consecrated as an international icon and today the most famous choir in the world.



This album takes us back to the origins of sedition and revolutionary songs, even before the Red Army Choir also became the heroes of the great patriotic war against the Nazis.

For the first time, far from the folk songs often associated with their repertoire, this album offers an anthology of the most famous Russian revolutionary songs. A disc completely remastered, original recordings to collect… Like an artistic bridge linking the history of music and the great history of the world.

Wyvern Lingo are ready to reveal another taste of their highly-anticipated second album ‘Awake You Lie’, in the shape of record opener ‘Only Love, Only Light’. “This album is so much about us comforting each other. It’s about being in your late-twenties, when all the pieces are starting to settle into place and you worry whether or not you’ve made the right moves” - Wyvern Lingo, October 2020. ‘Awake You Lie’ will be released on Friday 26th February. Recorded in JRS studios in Berlin pre-COVID, with the final tweaks managed in lockdown Ireland, ‘Awake You Lie’ comes almost two years to the day after their widely acclaimed, Choice Music Prize-nominated, debut album. The tracks released thus far, accompanied by videos filmed in both Berlin and Bray, show a band brimming with confidence in their sound, relaxed in their environment, but still ready to ask hard questions about their place in the world. To describe Wyvern Lingo as ‘tight-knit’ wouldn’t even cover it - they have long debunked the myth that you can’t choose your family. After all, the band was formed in Bray in a teenage world of self-discovery, soundtracked by the 60's/70's music of their parents, and the 90's/00's R'n'B of their childhood. If anything, the band - Caoimhe Barry, Karen Cowley and Saoirse Duane - are closer than ever two years on from their first album, a steely, us-against-the-world determination that has its roots in their origin story. If the self-titled first album caught the band on the cusp of transitioning from folky songstresses to R’n’B/alt-pop influenced players, then ‘Awake You Lie’ sees Wyvern Lingo fully immersed in who they are as a band - superb musicians and supernatural harmonisers with a gimlet eye to spear the ever shifting mores of modern relationships, both intimate and platonic. The album title - ‘Awake You Lie’ - is taken from a line in the new song ‘Aurora’, the phones-aloft, showstopper that closes side 1 of the record. The band add: “A recurring image during this album writing process was light, the lack thereof, and wanting to see things more clearly, for ourselves and others. We called the album "Awake You Lie" because it evokes an image of night-time when someone should be sleeping but can’t, due to restlessness or worry..

TERMINAL BLISS makes their Relapse Records debut with the unrelenting album Brute Err/atta! A veritable who’s who of Virginia punk, the band features vocalist Chris and guitarist Mike Taylor (Pg. 99 and Pygmy Lush), drummer Ryan Parrish (Darkest Hour, Iron Reagan, City of Caterpillar) and bassist Adam Juresko (City of Caterpillar). Inspired by the likes of Born Against, Gauze and Void—not to mention Black Flag, Crass, Negative Approach, Disrupt, Necros, Crossed Out and Disclose—TERMINAL BLISS conducted their first band practice on January 14 th, 2020. Just six weeks and five practices later, they were recording their full-length debut with Majority Rule frontman Matt Michel in the engineer’s chair. The name TERMINAL BLISS was born out of the merciless consumerism and environmental destruction that are America’s enduring legacy. From dystopian, sci-fi themes in tracks such as “March of the Grieving Droid”, to the apathy of the checked-out masses on “Small One Time Fee” and the personal recount of loss and the inefficacy of our healthcare system in "Clean Bill of Wealth", it’s the merging of personal experience and social critique that has informed the punk edge behind the members of TERMINAL BLISS for decades now. For TERMINAL BLISS, it’s become a crucial combination born of decades of playing live. (Unfortunately, the band’s first show was cancelled when the US began its COVID-19 lockdown.) “I realized early on that if you don’t write something that resonates with yourself on a fundamental level, it’s going to get trite when you’re performing night after night,” Chris Taylor says. “So, with the idea in mind that we’ll eventually play shows, I always try to write something that will resonate.”

Those Once Loyal is the eighth and final album by the British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was released on 11 November 2005 in Germany, 14 November 2005 in the rest of Europe and 15 November 2005 in the United States by Metal Blade Records. It was recorded and mixed at Sable Rose Studios in Coventry, England. It is produced by the band and Andy Faulkner. With Bolt Thrower deciding against releasing a follow-up to Those Once Loyal, it was Bolt Thrower's final studio album before breaking up a year after drummer Martin Kearns' death in September 2015. Like all of Bolt Thrower's albums, Those Once Loyal deals with war, specifically World War I. The cover shows a World War 1 QF 18 pounder field gun and its crew in action and is based on an original WW1 photograph. The picture is also found on the back side of the Guards Memorial in St James's Park in London.

First reissue of this long out-of-print and sought after release. Back in October 2009, Strut's Inspiration Information series was in full swing. Following an acclaimed collaboration between Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics, Finnish maverick Jimi Tenor hit the studio for a mouth-watering head to head with Afrobeat drumming legend, Tony Allen.

It is the simple thing that is so hard to do. This is the paradox that musician Lael
Neale has lived within throughout her development as an artist. It is the reason she
became enthralled with poetry. Poems are a distillation. Lael says, “this challenge to
winnow away what is unessential is the most maddening and, ultimately, rewarding
part of writing a song.”
Lael’s new album ‘Acquainted With Night’ is a testament to this poetic devotion.
Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline
voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord. The collection touches on themes that
have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning and reaching
ever toward the transcendent experience.
Lael grew up on a farm in rural Virginia but for nearly 10 years called Los Angeles
home. Those years were spent developing her songwriting and performing in venues
across the city but the right way to record the songs proved more elusive. She says,
“Every time I reached the end of recording, I felt the songs had been stripped of
their vitality in the process of layering drums, bass, guitar, violin, and organ over
them. They felt weighed down.”
In a moment of illumination, the solution presented itself: do the simple thing. In
early 2019, in the midst of major transition, she acquired a new instrument - the
Omnichord - and began recording a deluge of songs. Guy Blakeslee, who had been
an advocate for years, set up a cassette recorder in her bedroom and provided
empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess.
Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her
perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence.
The first song she recorded was ‘For No One For Now’, which calls to mind the
agitated beat of driving fast on the freeway against the backdrop of the San
Fernando Valley’s bent palms. The song contrasts romantic idealizations with the
banality of folding sheets and toasting bread. It highlights her oft-thwarted attempts
to enjoy the day to day while her mind wanders off toward the dream, the ideal.
While Lael returned to her family farm in April 2020, Los Angeles is a player on this
album and ‘Every Star Shivers in the Dark’ is an ode to the sprawling city, the
outskirts of Eden. One can envision her walking from Dodgers Stadium to downtown,
observing strangers and her own strangeness but determined to find communion
with others. ‘Blue Vein’ is her personal anthem, a Paul Revere piece that gallops
through the town as a strident declamation. It is an amalgam of thoughts, concerns
and lessons as she nearly speaks the words, unmasked by flourishes, ensuring the
meaning cuts through.
Normally a morning person, Lael recorded most of these songs in the darkening of
the early evening, and so became ‘Acquainted With Night’.
CD in gatefold altpack.
LP first pressing on white vinyl.
Cassette with three-panel J-card in clear case.

It is the simple thing that is so hard to do. This is the paradox that musician Lael
Neale has lived within throughout her development as an artist. It is the reason she
became enthralled with poetry. Poems are a distillation. Lael says, “this challenge to
winnow away what is unessential is the most maddening and, ultimately, rewarding
part of writing a song.”
Lael’s new album ‘Acquainted With Night’ is a testament to this poetic devotion.
Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline
voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord. The collection touches on themes that
have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning and reaching
ever toward the transcendent experience.
Lael grew up on a farm in rural Virginia but for nearly 10 years called Los Angeles
home. Those years were spent developing her songwriting and performing in venues
across the city but the right way to record the songs proved more elusive. She says,
“Every time I reached the end of recording, I felt the songs had been stripped of
their vitality in the process of layering drums, bass, guitar, violin, and organ over
them. They felt weighed down.”
In a moment of illumination, the solution presented itself: do the simple thing. In
early 2019, in the midst of major transition, she acquired a new instrument - the
Omnichord - and began recording a deluge of songs. Guy Blakeslee, who had been
an advocate for years, set up a cassette recorder in her bedroom and provided
empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess.
Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her
perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence.
The first song she recorded was ‘For No One For Now’, which calls to mind the
agitated beat of driving fast on the freeway against the backdrop of the San
Fernando Valley’s bent palms. The song contrasts romantic idealizations with the
banality of folding sheets and toasting bread. It highlights her oft-thwarted attempts
to enjoy the day to day while her mind wanders off toward the dream, the ideal.
While Lael returned to her family farm in April 2020, Los Angeles is a player on this
album and ‘Every Star Shivers in the Dark’ is an ode to the sprawling city, the
outskirts of Eden. One can envision her walking from Dodgers Stadium to downtown,
observing strangers and her own strangeness but determined to find communion
with others. ‘Blue Vein’ is her personal anthem, a Paul Revere piece that gallops
through the town as a strident declamation. It is an amalgam of thoughts, concerns
and lessons as she nearly speaks the words, unmasked by flourishes, ensuring the
meaning cuts through.
Normally a morning person, Lael recorded most of these songs in the darkening of
the early evening, and so became ‘Acquainted With Night’.
CD in gatefold altpack.
LP first pressing on white vinyl.
Cassette with three-panel J-card in clear case.

Distressed of sound and disturbed of subject matter, “Down-Faced Doll” sees the classic indie outfit connect with their dark-sides to deliver a cacophonous alt/folk stomp unlike anything they’ve released before. Based on a chilling true story told through the eyes of a discarded toy, its lyrics like clues, begin to lay evidence to a scene enough to turn anyone’s blood blue.

As vocalist Ian H. says:

“By far the most disturbing song I’ve ever written. Some songs seem to have a strange compelling energy which no one can rightly claim authorship to. They ‘write themselves’ but of course a great deal of working and shaping occurs too… A true story - well the first two verses are. The last two verses are my attempt to imagine “how did it ever get to this”…”
Customised with discomposing Eastern-inspired guitar riffs and clamouring percussive rhythms, “Down-Faced Doll” instils an unshakable feeling of paranoia, pursuit and unsease to match its haunting storyline. “Ewan and Stephen immediately tuned into its unsettling vibrations to create sounds and dark corners as you are unwillingly dragged through the scenario.” Ian adds.

Created & produced by Bradford (Ian Hodgson, Ewan Butler & Stephen Street), “Down-Faced Doll” was mixed by Stephen Street (Blur/New Order/ Kaiser Chiefs) and mastered by John Davies. It is taken from what will be Bradford’s first new studio album in over three decades: ‘Bright Hours’ - set for release early-on in 2021.

Bradford are a revered indie band formed in Blackburn in 1988. Championed by Morrissey, the band earned a cult status with their acclaimed debut album 'Shouting Quietly' in 1990, a record as-produced at the time by Stephen Street. Touring with the likes of Joe Strummer, The Sugarcubes, Morrissey and more, the band burned brightly and brilliantly. Fading away against the neon glow of the Madchester era, the band split in 1991.

Fast forward to 2018 and a re-mastered 30 song collection entitled ‘Thirty Years Of Shouting Quietly’ was released on Turntable Friend Records. The album was re-appraised as a 'lost English classic'. This rekindling of belief slowly re-ignited the magic and chemistry that always existed between the band now Ian H and Ewan Butler and Stephen Street. So much so, that Stephen decided to join forces with them and become a fully fledged member of the band.

With a new look line-up on illuminating form, as a trio Bradford have lovingly crafted a jewel of a new album: ‘Bright Hours’ to be released early in 2021.

Directly following “Like Water”, their latest single “Down-Faced Doll” is a definitive signal that ‘Bright Hours’ will be every bit worth the long wait...

Liquid Drops proudly presents the first vinyl release of AgainstMe called "Inequalities". The A-Side includes original mixes of two melancholic breakbeat tracks and the B side has two amazing DnB Remixes by Syban aka Myselor and label's boss mSdoS. "Inequalities" is a personal and self-discovering trip that came to life during the hard times of the first lockdown in Athens. AgainstMe's vision for these tracks was to release his inner pressure during the quarantine, feel again the vibe of Germany's countryside and dive to the cold sea of Eressos Lesvos Island.

One of the most striking documents of Italy’s Minimalist movement, Giusto Pio’s "Motore Immobile" is a work with few equivalents. Produced by Franco Battiato in 1979, at the outset of a long and fruitful period of collaboration between the two composers, and issued by the legendary Cramps Records, its triumphs were met by silence, before falling from view.

"Motore Immobile" now sits within a reappraisal of a large neglected body of efforts made by the Italian avant-garde during the second half of the 1970’s and early 80’s. It is singular, but not alone. It resonates within a collective world of shimmering sound, one familiar to fans of Battiato, Lino Capra Vaccina, Luciano Cilio, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Francesco Messina and Raul Lovisoni.

An exercise in elegant restraint - note and resonance held to the most implicit need. Where everything between root and embellishment has been stripped away. A sublime organ drone, against interventions of deceptively simple structural complexity - executed by Piano, Violin, and Voice. A sonic sculpture reaching heights which few have touched. A thing of beauty and an album as perfect as they come.