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Seven Steps to Heaven arrived at a crucial junction in Miles Davis' career. Recorded at two separate locations in spring 1963, it served as Davis' first release in more than a year – a layoff that was then unprecedented for the jazz visionary who had issued at least one LP a year since debuting in the early '50s. Equally notable, Seven Steps to Heaven marks the point at which the core of Davis' Second Great Quintet started to assemble. The twice Grammy-nominated effort is also Davis' final studio record to blend standards with originals. And it happens to be one of the expressive, well-played albums in the jazz canon.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven adds yet another step (or more) towards the bliss suggested by the album title. Playing with standout clarity, detail, tone, and balance, this audiophile reissue pulls back the curtain on the instrumentalists. Afforded the tremendous advantages of SuperVinyl – including a nearly inaudible noise floor, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition – this numbered-edition version presents Davis and Co. amid a wide, deep soundstage whose dimensions and solidity help bring the record's historical importance and musical merit into focus. Warm, organic, and present, the SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven is what great-sounding hi-fi is all about.

And there's nary a passage on this 1963 landmark that isn't great. That Davis manages to make it feel so cohesive and seamless is a testament to the inspired performances and engaging compositions. Davis didn't draw it up the way it unfolded. No matter. He held trump cards that stayed up his sleeve for the next three decades: A drive to be nothing less than superb, a refusal to settle for mediocrity, and standards to which nearly no other composer or player could match. "The toughest critic I got, and the only one I worry about, is myself," Davis wrote in the liner notes. "The music has to get past me."

Davis' demanding approach partly explains why he switched up his band between the first and second sessions – and underscores how fast his mind was racing with new ideas. Seven Steps to Heaven acts as the stable bridge between the transitional period that followed the dissolution of his First Great Quintet and formation of the Second; without it, Davis perhaps doesn't invite then-23-year-old Herbie Hancock and a still-teenage Tony Williams into the fold. The trumpeter not only got his men – he preserved in amber for the only time (well, magnetic tape anyway) the chemistry and vibe he achieved with pianist Victor Feldman, drummer Frank Butler, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, and bassist Ron Carter.

That line-up gels for half of the six songs on Seven Steps to Heaven. Captured in Los Angeles April '63, the quintet stretches out on a luxurious reading of the late '20s New Orleans staple "Basin Street Blues"; lays on the romance for a candlelit stroll through the '40s standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily"; and explores the rounded contours and melodic crevices of the early blues "Baby Won't You Please Come Home." The performances are refined, elegant, emotional; the band lets the feelings linger and gives the listener time to absorb the colours and textures.

A month later, Davis returned to New York City with Coleman and Carter, and partnered them with Hancock and Williams. Tellingly, the quintet tried its collective hand at the title track and "Joshua" – Feldman-penned songs already recorded in Los Angeles – as well as the yearning "So Near, So Far." Those are the tunes that comprise the other piece of Seven Steps to Heaven, with the revised quintet's liquid pulse, articulate dynamics, and timing shifts a harbinger of things to come.

It's also worth mentioning that the interpretations of the bounding "Seven Steps to Heaven" – a showcase for Davis' trumpet – and interlocking "Joshua" netted considerable radio airplay and attracted the attention of other contemporaries who covered the songs. Keeping Carter and Williams as the rhythmic engine, and Hancock as the anchor between solo flights and structural motifs, Davis would soon soon welcome Wayne Shorter into the family and transform jazz. Again. The aptly – and, in hindsight, perhaps prophetically titled Seven Steps to Heaven – is how he got there.

Re-release Soul entwickelte sich gegen Ende der 1950er Jahre aus Rhythm"n"Blues, Gospel, Blues und Jazz. Im folgenden Jahrzehnt war Soul ein Synonym für schwarze Popmusik. Kennzeichnend dafür waren vor allem die Produktionen von Motown Records, zum Beispiel Diana Ross & The Supremes oder Sam Cooke. Seither sind herzergreifender Gesang und groovige Vibes die größten Stilmerkmale des Soul. Zu den weiteren Ikonen des Soul gehören Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Sam Cooke, Al Green und viele mehr. Deren Erfolg ist eng mit dem Kampf der US-amerikanischen Bürgerrechtsbewegung gegen Rassentrennung und für Gleichberechtigung verbunden. 1969 benannte man die Rhythm"n"Blues- in Soul-Charts um. Der Soul-Orkan, der während der Sechziger in den Charts tobte, ebbte jedoch wieder ab, kam aber runderneuert in den 70ern als Phillysound wieder zu erneuten Hitparadenehren. 1982 änderte man die Chart-Bezeichnung von Soul in Black Music. Die vorliegende Kompilation vereint die legendären Stimmen des Soul mit ihren unvergesslichen Hits.

FIVE CLASSIC ARETHA ALBUMS PRESENTING AN EARLY-’70S PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN!

Also Includes A SIXTH BONUS LP of Session Alternates, Outtakes & Demos!

Original Albums Remastered From the Analog Master Tapes by Grammy® Award-Winning Engineer, Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Produced by Grammy® Award-Winner Cheryl Pawelski with Liner Notes from Billboard’s Gail Mitchell & British Ambassador of Soul, David Nathan Includes the hit Young, Gifted, & Black, released in 1972, which hit #2 on Billboard’s R&B albums survey and #11 on the Billboard Top 200 as well as being certified GOLD.

Aretha won the 1972 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance the album ranked at number 388 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Also includes This Girl’s In Love With You which features the first commercial release of “Let It Be,” and came out 2 months ahead of The Beatles. Both this album and Spirit In The Dark feature the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section and an appearance by Duane Allman. Along with production on both from Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd & Arif Mardin.

LP reissue of Collective Calls, the first duo LP from Evan Parker and percussionist Paul Lytton. Mythically alluded to as ‘An Improvised Urban Psychodrama In Eight Parts”, Collective Calls utilises electronics, pre-records and homemade instruments to wryly in/act self investigation. Having just recorded the cliff jumping Music Improvisation Company with Derek Bailey, Christine Jeffrey, Hugh Davies and Jamie Muir, Parker was at the point where he was thinking, ‘what’s the next thing?’ On Collective Calls, only the 5th release to appear on the newly minted Incus label, percussionist Paul Lytton arrives with an arsenal of sound making sources to push Parker into ever new territory. Recorded in the loft of The Standard Essenco Co on Southwark Street by Bob Woolford (Topography of the Lungs, AMM The Crypt), Collective Calls has more in common with noise or music concrete than with jazz; sitting comfortably alongside Italian messrs Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza or the husband-wife duo of Anima Sound. According to Martin Davidson, it was a Folkways record that Lytton was obsessed with around the time of this release - Sounds of the Junkyard - its track titles like “Steel Saw Cutting Channel Iron in Two Places” working to give you a good idea of the atmosphere of Collective Calls. Paul Lytton had encountered the use of electronics in music in 1968 when he was invited to play drums on the recording of An Electric Storm by White Noise (along with David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson). He had seen Hugh Davies using contact mics in the Music Improvisation Company, and soon set about assembling a Dexion frame akin to drummer John Stevens’, except that his own was armed with several single-coil electric guitar pickups, long wires and strings with connected foot-pedals to modulate pitch. Influenced as much by Stockhausen, Cage and David Tudor as he was by Max Roach and Milford Graves, Lytton’s percussion is abstract, expressionist and at times totally mutant. Sometimes rolling extremely fast, then screeching almost backwards over feedback, Lytton gives Parker room to play some of his weirdest work. Parker is listed as performing both saxophones, but also his own home made assemblages, including one dubbed the ‘Dopplerphone’ - a length of soft rubber tubing (activated by a saxophone mouthpiece and manipulated to alter the rate of airflow) attached to a longer length of clear plastic tubing (whirled around the head whilst being played) ending in a plastic funnel. Thickening the brew even more, Parker would also add a cassette recorder, on which he would play back collected sounds and previous recordings of the duo. Imagining the set up in a 70s loft, it’s an assemblage more akin to what today's free ears might see at a Sholto Dobie show, spread out on the floor of the Hundred Years Gallery, the shadow of Penultimate Press lurking in the corner. It’s a testament to Parker’s shape shifting sound - the ever present link to birdsong being at its most warped here - terrifically free and unfussy, wild and loose from any of the dogma that might come in later Brit-prov years

Temple, Bassey, MacLaine and now, Hurt; in a world of Shirleys, the name Sophia Ruby Katz has chosen for her music is perhaps prophetic as it captures her stunningly emotive vocal approach. And whilst Shirley Hurt might be the perfect nom de plume for the creative Toronto-based artist, it’s her self-titled debut album which positions her as protagonist of her own universe.

Traversing sonic landscapes, Shirley Hurt’s vocals ebb and flow like lyrical Ley lines tracking the contours of her own well-travelled map. By the age of 18, Hurt had travelled extensively, having lived in upwards of 20 different apartments and houses, as a result never really feeling “at home” anywhere. At this age was when Hurt found herself in New York, dipping her toes into various scenes and musical realms. The first and only place she ever felt at home, and a partial home-base for her, she travelled between Toronto and New York until the age of 26.When the project she was working on in New York reached a dead-end she returned West, moving in with musicians Harrison Forman (Hieronymus Harry, Zones) and Patrick Lefler (Roy, Possum). Being surrounded by their improvising at all hours, a new approach emerged. “Harrison is a virtuosic guitar player, and I hadn't picked up a guitar in any serious way since I was 16,” she says, “by osmosis I started playing again for fun.” Without agenda, the process grew organically from there.

Hurt and Forman decided to travel across the US and Canada in a trailer for half a year, with the entire album written in the final months of their trip. Hurt had been writing loose ideas here and there but felt blocked creatively. When the pair reached Berkley, they wound up house-sitting for a tuned-in friend who recommended she pray, in a very direct way, to remove the block. “I took her advice and to my surprise it worked. The album was conceptualized and finished within a couple of months.” Shapeshifting in tone and phrasing, Hurt’s music alchemizes the furthest corners of experimental indie folk, pop, and country into a singular sound with elegant unpredictability.

Whilst Shirley Hurt’s lyrical and structural ideas may have emerged on the road, the album was self-produced and recorded at Joseph Shabason (The War on Drugs)’s Aytche studio in Toronto’s West End. It was engineered by Nathan Vanderwielen and Chris Shannon (Bart), and Hurt enlisted collaborators Jason Bhattacharya, Nick Dourado, Patrick Lefler, and Harrison Forman to hone her vision. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the songs until we returned to Toronto,” she recalls. “Joseph and I had been talking about working together after sending across some demos and Jason happened to recommend his studio at the exact same time, so everything came together naturally at that point.”

Whilst her most recent adventures may have seen Shirley Hurt bound for Texas as an official SXSW artist (hand-picked by Gorilla Vs Bear to perform at their own showcase), she currently resides in her native Canada, more specifically rural Ontario, close to friends and family, and is already working on her second album. The ties to lineage are interwoven in the fabric of the music. Hurt’s mother, artist Leala Hewak, instilled a lust for life and innate value of creativity in her from a young age as she explored the role of gallery owner, vintage jewellery show host, mid-century modern furniture expert, real estate agent, painter. Hurt’s father, a civil litigation lawyer and new-wave obsessed music lover with an extensive vinyl collection, introduced Hurt to a wide-range of artists at a young age such as Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson, Tom Tom Club, and endless others.

In her video for ‘Problem Child’ Hurt’s grandmother walks her through a generationally revered pie-making process. One would be tempted to hear this, and other songs, as autobiographical. Yet, Hurt’s lyrics are rarely pulled from her relationships or personal history––at least not consciously. Rather, they arise from somewhere less tangible or defined. “Lyrics tend to come to me when I am doing non-musical things - washing dishes, brushing my dogs, walking to the grocery store. I have a lot of voice memos on my phone and half-filled notebooks and when I hear something, I have to stop what I'm doing to get the idea down. Usually it’s bits and pieces. It's rare a full song comes to me in one go, but it's great when they do, and those are often my favourites.”

Carving out a space of her own in an all-encompassing universe, Shirley Hurt is the introduction to a long artistic story, and if the journey so far is anything to go by, it will be stippled with evermore unpredictable chapters.

2023 Repress

It's the quiet ones we should watch, they always say. Which is particularly astute advice right now, when loud, constant self-declaration and saturated 'brand' visibility have become the norm. But above the babble and brightness, some voices will always speak quiet volumes ­- with calm eloquence and the kind of certitude that comes from valuing the playing out, not just the prize.

Sweden's José González is just such a voice. He first charmed his way into the UK's earshot via the murmurous and elegant, classically finger-picked folk pop of his 2005 album, Veneer, which has since sold over a staggering 430, 000 copies in UK alone. Two years later came In Our Nature, a further exploration of José's influences (Argentinian Folklore, the '60s US folk tradition and the British pastoral folk-pop style of the same era), on which he resisted the temptation to beef up his alluringly introvert aesthetic. The albums made the UK Top 10 and Top 20 respectively.

Conceived as the natural third part in an acoustic trilogy, Vestiges & Claws is a(nother) hushed and delicate solo set that forefronts the artist and guitarist's compellingly intimate vocal style and intricate playing technique, but it's often strikingly rhythmic in nature and cohere's perfectly, with hand claps and taps on the body of his instrument underlining the songs' mantric rise-and-fall pattern, while elsewhere, over-dubbed guitar parts and multi-tracked vocal harmonies entwine to sweetly immersive effect.

The title refers to both cultural practices and biological features that survive despite having lost their original function, and to currently useful tools, ie the 'claws' of modern life.

Vestiges & Claws was recorded almost entirely by José and self-produced, mostly in his Gothenburg home, using computer plug-ins to achieve a warm, analogue sound. He prefers working alone, mainly for artistic reasons. 'There were a couple of things that enabled me to complete this record: one was curiosity, to be able to play percussion and do a lot of harmonies and also to produce and mix the album; the other was aesthetics. I love to listen to Arthur Russell and Shuggie Otis, to music that has been done mostly by one person in their solitary state.'

As José sees it, the record is his personal, 'zoomed-out eye on humanity on a small, pale blue dot in a cold, sparse and unfriendly space. The amazing fact that we are all here, an attempt at encouraging us to understand ourselves and to make the best of the one life we know we have - after birth and before death.

X - Atlantic Records 75th Anniversary Edition will now be available on crystal clear vinyl.

Ed Sheeran recorded X at various locations around the globe (all the while drawing on experiences and influences encountered on his over three years of unrelenting touring) with such luminary producers as Rick Rubin (Eminem, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Pharrell Williams (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, N.E.R.D), Benny Blanco (Rhianna, Wiz Khalifa) and Jeff Bhasker (Alicia Keys, Jay-Z) adding new flavours to the classy work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Jake Gosling (who produced +).

Originally released in 2014, X features singles ‘’Don’t’’, ‘’Sing’’, ‘’Thinking Out Loud’’, ‘’Bloodstream’’ and ‘’Photograph’’.

X - Atlantic Records 75th Anniversary Edition will now be available on crystal clear vinyl.

Ed Sheeran recorded X at various locations around the globe (all the while drawing on experiences and influences encountered on his over three years of unrelenting touring) with such luminary producers as Rick Rubin (Eminem, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Pharrell Williams (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, N.E.R.D), Benny Blanco (Rhianna, Wiz Khalifa) and Jeff Bhasker (Alicia Keys, Jay-Z) adding new flavours to the classy work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Jake Gosling (who produced +).

Originally released in 2014, X features singles ‘’Don’t’’, ‘’Sing’’, ‘’Thinking Out Loud’’, ‘’Bloodstream’’ and ‘’Photograph’’.

Following up his anthemic late-summer burner, Hope, Credit 00 returns to Pinkman to deliver the album Midnightlife Crisis. Hopping between genres whilst remaining resolutely coherent, the twelve-track double LP is a showcase of the Rat Life boss' many influences. From the driving, mesmeric techno of Music Is A Spiritual Thing to the sci-fi electro on Bouncing Bell and Love Warrior's downtempo, half-time shuffle, the collection of tracks is broad and varied yet simultaneously unified by belonging to the club. Whether it's warm-up material, peaktime rollers or afterhours sludge for tired legs and scrambled heads, there's something for every scenario on Midnightlife Crisis. And with recurring themes of melancholy and anxiety throughout, the album perhaps reflects that all too familiar period for every club enthusiast when the years are ticking by and the lights are coming on. "I just hope there's hope", sings the voice on the album's lead single, before reminding us that the dancefloor's sweet release is often the best remedy to these negative thoughts - "I see you shaking on the floor, that gives me hope, gives me hope."

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Bangalore-based brotherly duo Ashwin and Ashrith Baburao combine as Audio Units on a potent new EP for Lady Tazz's Mind Medizin, featuring remixes from Ben Sims and Temudo.

Obsessed with quality, soul and futurism, Audio Units have vast experience of DJing worldwide and real studio know-how. Each of their tracks is a perfect blend of intricacy and experimentation, and they have turned the heads of tastemakers on labels like Dutchie Music, Deep Edition Recordings and Sinnmusik.

They open this high-octane EP with the raw and unrelenting drum funk of 'Aristotelian Tradition', which is run through with warped synths and carefully layered up with gritty percussion and FX. Vocal snippets and smeared pads further flesh out the groove, making for an uplifting sound. Machine party and label head Ben Sims is a UK techno heavyweight at the forefront of the scene. His remix shows that as it ups the percussive energy and allows the synths and vocals more prominence with hypnotic effects.

The second original, 'I'm Just All You Need,' is a twisted and intense mix of fragmented vocals and pulsing synths over vast rock-solid kick drums. It's an urgent track that cannot fail to sweep the floor off its feet and keep it locked for the ride. Next is a remix from new school tastemaker Temudo, who has already put out outstanding records on labels like Klockworks, Soma and Modularz. His version of 'I'm Just All You Need' strips it back to icy hi-hat loops and buffed metal synth lines that weave in and out of the minimal yet tribal techno drums

The ‘Aristotelian Tradition’ EP is another superb release from Mind Medizin that combines the dark and kinky allure of techno with all-out dance floor dynamics.

Tha God Fahim has carved out a unique place in the hip-hop firmament, fashioning street-level morality tales set to mesmerizing soundscapes. Depicting an ongoing battle between good and evil, these rap fables find Fahim slaying demons, surviving betrayal, learning lessons, outmaneuvering obstacles, and ultimately realizing his limitless potential. Now, the Atlanta emcee is back with "Tha Supreme Hoarder Of All Pristine Wealth", a new album entirely produced by Camoflauge Monk. Tha God Fahim’s compelling lyricism entwines perfectly with the soundtrack provided by Monk, an acclaimed beatsmith who has crafted tracks for Westside Gunn, Mach-Hommy, Conway, Benny The Butcher, Boldy James, Mayhem Lauren, Rome Streetz, and more. Capturing the essence of Fahim’s artistry, The Supreme Hoarder Of All Pristine Wealth celebrates living life to the fullest, where luxury and abundance are hard-earned rewards for dedication, sacrifice, wisdom, and righteousness.

Limited edition 300 copies all pressed on mandarin orange coloured vinyl, and housed in a gloss finished full colour outer sleeve with insert, polylined inner bag and download code. Non-Returnable.

Recorded in Finland & the United Kingdom. Winter/Spring 2023

Finnish space travellers Nolla join forces with psychedelic guitar maestro Mike Vest (Bong, Blown Out, Modoki, Artifacts & Uranium, Drunk In Hell)

Inspired by classic space rock, driving hypnotic krautrock and bleak synth soundscapes, the Kaliyuga Express debut album is a story of ends and beginnings, light and darkness, dystopian worlds beyond and their warriors and masters.

Prepare to be blasted into endless black space!

‘Ultra Delays & Octave Hawkwind Guitar Compositions. At the Edge Of Time & The Universe.’

For fans of: Hawkwind, Can, Sun Dial, Bevis Frond, Space Rock, Kosmische Musik etc

"North London’s midnight man tumbles out his treehouse to deliver twelve potions of minor healing in “Iron Day”, his questing, soul-salvaging songbook. Brimming with majesty and maraud in equal parts, Genghis Cohn synthesises trad. English folk and woe with surrealist dream sequences on this debut long-player. A romance of two hedgehogs, devotional bone temples, broken shadows and sausage kings, GC conjures Brent Hayward strolling through the silver birch and presents to us, in a warmly recognisable form, a grand slab of folk music that challenges its ancient rewards.

Previous acquaintance with GC's lean, amorphous strain of experimental home recordings may encounter a menacing apprehension whilst trying to settle in the splendour of "Iron Day", unnerved by it's posture and the anticipation of songs dissolving or amalgamating in rust and gob at any moment. Still minimalist and direct, but delivered by an altogether different jester, songwriting that has featured in many previous works is smithed into fine, well-wrought suites that build and blend through paced, tempered sequencing and playful, intricate storytelling.

Amidst cavernous inner-dialogue and brilliant, contorted pastoral sequences, GC’s guitar (reported to be over 100 years old!?) laps and thrashes alongside accompaniments of Lauren Collier’s aching violin, a lethargic harmonica and emphatic hand-percussion that drifts in and then out. A dynamic, earthy collection that places future barn-stormers like “Underneath The Oak” and the gentle blaze of “Onion” in cadence with the doom-stricken, ghostly slides as on “Misunderstood” and “Secrets”, all recorded in dazzling clarity that captures the cascading instrumentation as clearly as the settled, tormented humour of GC’s blues. Indispensable candlemeat and essential, joyous listening for fans of; Davy Graham, The Godz, Leonara Carrington, Smelly Feet, Martin Carthy..."

Pink Vinyl. The title of the most recent Atmosphere album, May 2023's So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, evokes the multiversal storytelling that's recently vaulted into the mainstream consciousness. With their latest effort, the irrepressible Talk Talk EP, the Minneapolis legends dart across threads of space-time to grab hold of the one where Slug and Ant became titans of the electro-rap that was foundational to their youths. By evoking acts like Kraftwerk and Egyptian Lover, Atmosphere makes visions of the future from four decades ago seem new once again, the relentless forward churn of technological optimism reimagined as an endless loop with irresistible drums. The genesis of the Talk Talk EP was the session for a song of the same name that appeared on So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously. A collaboration with Lifter Puller alum Bat Flower, the song "Talk Talk" exists alongside electro classics in an uncanny valley that's been warped into a sweaty nightclub, at once vaguely alien and deeply human. Enamored with the song's outcome, Slug and Ant returned for a longer exploration of the sound, to mesmeric results. The pulsing "Rotary Telephone," where the TV antennas seem tuned to a world just slightly askew from ours, thrives on the tension between Slug's careening vocals and the song's taught structure_form matched perfectly with content. And on "Hear Hear," the struggle to make human connections is revealed as a beautiful one. For all its well-documented roots in disco and R&B, rap's connection to the electronic music of the 1970s and `80s is a core part of its DNA. The Talk Talk EP is one of the clearest articulations of this truth to emerge in many years, a testament to the communal power of programmed sound. For proof, look no further than "Traveling Forever," the haunting missive that closes out the record. Images flash: of police knees on necks, of prying cameraphones, another empty hotel room indistinguishable from the last. "I never got to learn how to dance for you," Slug raps, pointedly. "I don't know whether or not that's an attribute." A chill runs down your spine but the skull at its top keeps nodding.

PRESSED ON FRUIT PUNCH COLORED VINYL WITH HAND NUMBERED OBILIMITED TO 2000 COPIES

The contemporary realm of hip hop music can be seen as polarized between two sides; mainstream versus underground, industry versus independent, at a base level boiled down to catchy sounds & infective hooks over higher quality lyrical content. These elements don’t need to be mutually exclusive, but these days it’s rare to find an act that can please all sides of the discussion. Clipse are one of the few groups that successfully and consistently caters to both sides of rap’s splintered psyche, simultaneously serving the scene with upbeat bangers that get the club poppin’ & subwoofers rattlin’ while crafting clever quotable compositions deserving of repeated headphone submersions. Though their preceding official albums Lord Willin’ (2002) & Hell Hath No Fury (2006) made bigger splashes commercially, 2009’s Til The Casket Drops is surely no slouch, a gem which deserves to be revisited with fresh ears – good thing Get On Down has given it the proper treatment it deserves with its first-ever vinyl pressing!
Til The Casket Drops was a departure from the duo of Malice & Pusha T’s previous works in that it was their first LP not completely produced by The Neptunes. However, the celebrated team who brought us ‘Grinding’ & ‘Mr. Me Too’ still helmed 8 of the album’s 13 tracks, thus dominating the soundscapes and aesthetic of the album anyway. With the remaining beats handled by Hitmen Sean C & LV (Jay-Z, Big Pun, Ghostface) and Aftermath’s DJ Khalil (Kendrick Lamar, Aloe Blacc, Eminem) clearly Clipse stock hadn’t lowered in the game. While boasting notable vocal features from Kanye West, Pharrell, Cam’ron, Keri Hilson, Yo Gotti & their Re-Up Gang affiliate Ab-Liva, Casket Drops leaves ample space for the core emcee duo of Pusha & Malice to shine in the spotlight, with verses revolving around each other succinctly in-synch and bonded by an exceptional creative rhythm only biological brothers could share.
Clipse have always delighted in dualities, juxtapositions and contradictions, unabashedly celebrating the capitalistic lifestyle and the grind as the kings of ‘coke-rap’, while taking hard looks at society’s mores and those of their own individual journeys. We hear Malice’s eventual transition to No Malice taking form on this album as he found religion, warning others who might follow in his path on ‘Footsteps’: “don’t let my wrongs give you the right of way/ to emulate my past escaping the law’s grasp” while refusing to be pinned down in one lane: “it weights on my conscience and I hate conscious rap”. Meanwhile Pusha T continues his lyrical ascent into the King Push persona with bars like “pompous motherfucker, look what them jewels made me/ I’m only finding comfort in knowing you can’t replace me/ What a thing to say, but what am I to do/ I’m role-playing a conscious nigga and true is true/ Cocaine aside, all of the bloggers behooved/ My critics finally have a verse of mine to jerk off to” decisively on album opener “Freedom”.
Since it dropped, the Clipse have stated that Casket… is their final album together while subsequently alluding to the possibility of an eventual reunion. Only time will tell, but until then it’s time to re-celebrate one of hip hop’s most dynamic duos by hearing Til The Casket Drops in a whole new light with its long-overdue, first time on vinyl pressing via Get On Down featuring all 13 original tracks on wax and cover art by the legendary KAWS! It’s kinda like a big deal…

Meteora - a chain of Greek-Byzantine monasteries was built around the 14th century on top of sandstone rock formations in the fading range of the Pindus Mountains, in the Thessalian lowlands of Greece At an over 600 meters high, some of them were only accessible by rope ladders or winches for hundreds of years. Makiko Hirabayashi learned of this place during a concert tour to Athens and was immediately captivated by its symbolic power: the isolated units which nevertheless exist in a larger context; fragile and floating, but at the same time firmly grounded. The opening title of the new, fifth album of her trio seems to have been perfectly chosen; "Warp", relating to the space above the early monasteries on the rock formations, as well as connecting the album to her previous release Weavers, in which much was woven with warp threads. A high-pitched bass, the subtle use of electronics, like everything else that follows, seem to emerge somehow from outer space. These are seemingly simple structures that only reveal themselves as complex architecture upon repeated listening - meditative and fleeting, but at the same time permanently carved into the rock. Minimalistic piano figures from which melodic fragments emerge, in their very clarity offer ample material for improvisation. With onomatopoeic percussion, an impressionistic and scenic painting is sketched in "Birds Ascending", whereas enthralling rhythms lead the way in "Chestnut Alley" or the sky-racing "Meteor". In between those, you find the improvised miniatures like "The Door" or "Slip", aspherical connections between worlds: imaginary doors, rope ladders or hinges. After the lockdown album Weavers, Makiko Hirabayashi is back in the piano trio setting with Klavs Hovman on bass and the legendary percussionist/ drummer Marilyn Mazur, reclaiming her space and time. Some of the material produced here has been part of their live repertoire for some years and gone through a maturing process, becoming an integral part of the whole album put together in the spirit of Meteora.

Paul Anka, born in Canada of Syrian parents in 1941, carved out a
career that’s so far spanned six decades, metamorphosing on the
way from teen heart-throb to seasoned performer. He enjoyed
success both as a singer and a songwriter, penning Put Your Head
On My Shoulder, You Are My Destiny, Diana and Puppy Love
along with the English lyrics to My Way, the signature song of
Frank Sinatra, as well as Tom Jones’ classic She’s A Lady. Enjoy
a touch of ‘Puppy Love’ and more from this master balladeer.