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Ambient Music? Oh yes! Number two in the Frank Music tape series comes from the city of Leipzig yet again. Mary Yalex is a mainstay in various genres of dance music. Better go and check her records on KANN & Dial for instance if you haven't already. We are delighted to give you around 39 minutes of textures, sketches, warmth, weirdness and kindness. In other words: welcome to "Sentimental Journey". Mary guides us through a 10 tracks trip over calm pads ("November Strings"), steady bubbles ("Coral Reef"), postponed dreams ("Broken Café Blues"), ascending melodies ("Moonlight") and bitter realities ("Social Distance"). Tape format for the enthusiast, digital formats for all of us. Artwork by beloved illustrator Jana Marei.

"These Exit Times" is the name of a newsletter sent by an environmental organisation advocating the extinction of the human race as a solution to save the planet. When Victor Ramirez first came across the group on the internet a couple of years ago, it brought a smile to his face. But after some pondering on the subject, he decided that "Exit Times" would be the name of his sensational third album as Ramirez Exposure.

The record started to take shape in early 2020, after a musical hiatus that had lasted a year. It had been somewhat of a dark period, and Victor felt it was time to go back to recording songs. It would be the first time he would be doing so at home. He had managed to set up a small studio that would allow him to make some proper recordings, and without having to use a computer. He'd also started a new job, as an orderly in a hospital, which gave him time to record and cash to pay the rent.

Victor was ready to take on the task of making the album with the help—albeit from a distance, this time—of Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star) and Brian Young (Jesus & Mary Chain, Ivy, Fountains of Wayne), both regular accomplices of the Valencian in production and instrumentation. Working with the two of them feels very natural for him, even though they are in three different countries.

Looking back, it seemed as if he'd prepared himself for what was coming.

And so, the pandemic happened, and Victor found himself turning the ideas he had outlined on his phone into the songs for Exit Times. He was in a good place, personally and, despite the situation, he was happy to be able to contribute to society through his job at the hospital and, after coming home, to concentrate on his music and isolate himself from everything else.

Gradually, the sketches turned into luminous songs, with bright harmonies and lyrics that exude a fine irony. Victor admits that he strives to be a good pessimist every day, and the songs reveal a way of understanding life that relativises almost everything in order to stick with what's really important. This subtle sense of humour in the lyrics, like the luminosity of his music, is vintage Ramirez, and is present throughout the album, and even on the cover. The artwork is a painting by German painter Angela Dalinger, depicting Victor himself, their dog, Colombo, and some meaningful objects. The vinyl record featured is George Harrison's Brainwashed.

Exit Times is a shiny collection of songs with a universal vocation, bathed in sunshine pop with touches of new psychedelia. All simmered under the Mediterranean sun—the same sun that illuminates the entire planet.

You may know Rodrigo Amarante already. You may have heard "Tuyo," his theme tune to the Netflix drama Narcos, or the Little Joy album, recorded with Fab Moretti and Binki Shapiro, you might have noted his name among the credits on songs by Gal Costa, Norah Jones and Gilberto Gil; or perhaps you saw him play live with Brazilian samba big band Orquestra Imperial, or with Rio rockers Los Hermanos; you really should have heard his debut album, Cavalo, released in 2014. You may think you know Rodrigo Amarante already, but Drama, his second solo album, is going to introduce a whole new level of confusion to the mix.

Drama is purposefully caricatural, cinematic; "As biased as memory". It flows as an arch, playfully deceiving, like a tale. The ominous opening number gives you a hint that things might not be what they appear, and clues are hiding in plain sight. "Projection,

attachment, deception: that is Drama." The sunny upbeat start of "Maré", with a nearly childish opening melody, echoes something less naïf: "The tide will fetch what the ebb brings". The beat helps you move past. "Tango" sounds like falling in love on the dance floor, warm and tropical, it celebrates companionship, while perhaps pleading for it, yearning. "Tara," meanwhile, feels like something Astrud Gilberto might have sung at the height of bossa nova’s global popularity, with the twist of the big-band-era muted horns on the chorus, nearly self-deprecating, as if mocking such idealized infatuation.

Drama closes with the piano on "The End." To live is to fall. After all the emotional upheavals the singer has put his cast through, is this some kind of farewell to this mortal coil? "Everything Furthers." says Amarante. "Whispering, you get louder like that, people respond better to an invitation," and adds: "Staring at the absurd while remaining kind, being open to the gifts of confusion; that's why we create these tools that are stories and songs, to help us see each other."

For more than five decades, John McLaughlin has deployed his peerless guitar technique, compositional gifts, and imagination in service of a deeply personal higher calling, forging a vast legacy unmatched in improvised music. Now as the world reels from the toll of the ongoing viral-induced global lockdown, McLaughlin reflects on both the perils and potential of this challenging moment with ‘Liberation Time’. Characterised by both joy and reflection, ‘Liberation Time’ finds McLaughlin harnessing his frustrations and redirecting that energy. “The result,” he explains in a candid liner note, “was an explosion of music in my mind.”. Unusual for McLaughlin’s recent projects, ‘Liberation Time’ is not the work of one fixed ensemble. With physical proximity no longer a prerequisite, McLaughlin drew upon decades of experience as a bandleader to select musicians best suited to each composition. “That is a choice that can only be made correctly if you know how the musicians play,” he explains. “Not just how well they play technically, but how they play intuitively. Only then can you make the right decisions.” “As the Spirit Sings” introduces the album by contrasting churning rhythmic tension (stoked by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Sam Burgess) with McLaughlin’s soaring guitar figure - all underpinned by Gary Husband’s subtle,expansive piano. Knotty post-bop figures form the basis of “Right Here, Right Now, Right On,” one of the most jazz-inflected performances McLaughlin has laid down in some time, featuring Nicolas Viccaro (drums), Jerome Regard (bass), Julian Siegel (tenor saxophone), and Oz Ezzeldin (piano). It is impossible to ignore the profound brotherhood that exists between the members of 4th Dimension - McLaughlin’s current ensemble, which includes Husband along with Etienne Mbappe (bass) and Ranjit Barot (drums). They are featured on the soulful “Lockdown Blues,” a playful refraction examination of blues tropes first released last summer to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America.

Sam Prekop's eponymously titled LP is a study in pop nuances. Simultaneously transporting the listener from mild climes and swinging palms to darkened skies and wind blown steppes, the record will be easily recognized by fans of The Sea and Cake. Known to many as the singer and main songwriter for said group, Mr. Prekop is assisted on this release by Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo), Josh Abrams (ex-Roots, Town and Country), Jim O'Rourke (Gastr del Sol) and Archer Prewitt (The Sea and Cake). Those expecting to find more of the computer beats and trickery found on The Fawn and Two Gentlemen are in for a surprise. Whilst prevalent on "Faces and People" - (a lucious groove overlayed by cornet and guitar), the computer takes a back seat to real strings, drums, piano, electric piano and organ as well as electric and acoustic bass. The subtle grooves, a trademark of The Sea and Cake records, are still present here as Sam and his band blend West African rhythms with a bit of soul, jazz and pop. The resulting record is something wholly original, elegant and earthy. A cauldren, if you will, of sweet smelling and enlightening stew. So line up, grab a spoon, and dig in. All the ingredients and intoxicating aromas necessary for an auditory feast are contained within.

• Within a year of her ground-breaking Double-Album “Bad Girls”, Donna Summer left Casablanca
Records to become the first Artist signed to the new Geffen Records label.
• Donna’s ‘80s close-out album was 1989’s “ANOTHER PLACE AND TIME”, which paired her with multihit making, multi-million-selling UK producers Stock Aitken Waterman.
• The album’s lead single ‘This Time I Know It’s For Real’ was an uplifting, club floorfiller and radiofriendly hit, peaking at #3 in the UK (#7 on the US Billboard Hot 100), giving Donna her highest
charting single for more than a decade.
• Four further singles were released from the album including the two Top 20 hits, ‘I Don’t Wanna Get
Hurt’ and ‘Love’s About To Change My Heart’, giving Donna back-to-back UK Top 10 hits for the first
time since 1977, as well as remixed versions of ‘When Love Takes Over You’ and ‘Breakaway’.
• “ANOTHER PLACE AND TIME” spent 28 weeks on the UK Artist Albums Chart.
• This special edition revisits the original album on 180g Red Colour vinyl.

Contains new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide To Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by Paris’ prestigious Jazz Magazine.
6 bonus tracks (Green Vinyl) “The question of whether Etta James became a pop singer, a jazz singer, or a blues singer needn’t detain you long. She was all of those, as At Last bears out, and more besides. James touched on gospel, doo-wop and rhythm’n’blues
with equal facility. “Dance With Me, Henry” was a hit, but renamed “The Wallflower” and covered by Georgia Gibbs. Because James had a composition credit, it made her some money, but she didn’t like to be bested. She made sure that the next time it would be her name on the label.“ Penguin Guide to Jazz “At Last!, her debut LP, made for the celebrated Chicago label Chess, certainly is one of her most memorable. It’s impossible to not be moved by the power of her voice, beginning with the opening notes of “Anything to Say You’re Mine”.
Every phrase, every word is attacked with an energy that commands respect. But beware, this young woman (she was only 22 at the time) could also take on the sweetest forms of a melancholy ballad, such as “Stormy Weather”, and manage to achieve tenderness. At Last! is one of the key soul music albums of the early 1960’s.” Jazz Magazine ETTA JAMES, lead vocals; The Riley Hampton Orchestra. Arranged and conducted by Riley Hampton. Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, 1960 and 1961. Original sessions produced by Phil and Leonard Chess.

Countless incredible records were made in Kingston between 1968 and 1971 that has never been able to lose the stigma of being described as 'Skinhead Reggae' but in Jamaica the term never meant anything. However Bunny Lee's Aggro Sound's both at home and away.
They were tougher then tough ,rougher then rough ,kicked like a 'bovver' boot and were sharper then a razor cut trim.
Raw, pure and undiluted every time...some even troubled the UK national charts..
To say the man and his music dominated at the time would be a complete understatement.
'Striker' was everywhere...travelling between Kingston, where he opened his Agro Sounds record shop at 101 Orange Street and London where he set up his Unity label with the Palmer Brothers for the exclusive release of his productions and his Jackpot subsidiaries with both Trojan and Pama records.
Ubiquitous does not start to come into it.
We sincerely hope that this compilation helps to point you in the direction of some of the best music from this often overlooked period from one of the greatest producers EVER!
'The Aggro Man' himself Bunny Lee

An actor, musician, visual artist and unyielding creative spirit, Dreaming of You (1971-1976) gathers for the first time the best of Karen Black’s studio and demo recordings. Produced by Cass McCombs and meticulously restored from the original tapes, the collection’s fifteen tracks are a holistic depiction of Black’s dreamy, introspective and earnest musical identity. Cass McCombs and Karen Black became fast friends. They collaborated again on “Brighter!” from McCombs’ 2013 album Big Wheel and Others, and also wrote toward a solo album for Black. “She’d given me all of her poetry and I was trying to work them into some kind of meter that would work as songs,” McCombs says. They were able to record two of them before she died, “I Wish I Knew The Man I Thought You Were” and “Royal Jelly.” See EPK for full description

guccihighwaters is the artistic persona of 21 year -old artist/producer Morgan Murphy. Since his debut single in 2017, Murphy has exploded in the cloud rap community and his music has been streamed over 200 Million times. His new album, joke's on you, is his debut for Epitaph Records and will be his first available on vinyl. guccihighwaters is the keystone to the label's dedication to this sound that we feel is the future of Alternative music. Spending his formative years growing up in rural Ireland, Murphy was shy and when his family returned to their native New York, that shy 15 year-old turned to bedroom production and starting making his own beats. He began to indulge his musical vision by exploring community on the internet, finding a place to belong that he had not found prior. As a singer, Murphy was a bit of an outsider to the Soundcloud rap world he'd begun to orbit. "I was grouped in because of the time and place and platform," he says. His use of original piano with a classic touch and his angelic singing gave him an original voice with?in the scene's crowded world. Even if he wanted to blend in, he didn't know how. With Jokes On You, he says, "basically my goal was to make it sound like me." Some members of that community, like Powfu and nothing,nowhere, feature on the album, adding their voices to Murphy's signature sound. guccihighwaters is a top digital artist in the Indie Pop/Cloud Rap space, releasing his music on vinyl for the first time. Album features include lo-fi sensation powfu, top emo-rapper Convolk and popular alt-hip-hop artist nothing, nowhere. For Fans of powfu, Lil Peep, nothing, nowhere and Lund.

This album is a sequel to trumpeter/bandleader Red Rodney’s ‘One For Bird’ recorded live at the Tivoli Gardens 1988. The band he brought from USA includes then up-and-coming young players: Dick Oats (alto saxophone), Garry Dial (piano), Jay Anderson (bass) and John Riley (drums), musicians that have become regular SteepleChase recording artists. Red Rodney (1927-1994) succeeded Miles Davis’ post in the Charlie Parker Quintet from 1949 to 51. This indelible experience enabled him to be an adviser on Clint Eastwood’s 1988 Golden Glove awarded film “Bird”, which featured Red’s character extensively. The publicity that came with the film seemed to have given a boost to his career. Red started to play professional at the age 15 but slowed down during early and mid- 70s due to his addiction. He made a successful come back later and toured the world with his band. “Rodney rockets through most of his solos here, ascending into high-register terrain with the audacity if youth. At 62, he plays with the ebullient spirit more typical of men half his age.” - Mark Stryker, Cadence

Three years ago Danish guitar player and highly acclaimed session musician Jacob Gurevitsch made his solo debut with 'Lovers In Paris', a sweetly melancholic single which conquered sunsets worldwide and earned a place in many quality compilations and has over 10 million views on Youtube. Roll forward to 2018 and this stunning track now heads up the Danish guitarist's first vinyl album, on Kenneth Bager's renowned Music For Dreams label. The original album of 'Lovers In Paris' album entered the iTunes chart at #1 position in Denmark and was (back then) being hailed as one of the Records of the Year by the Balearic Community. And the success story continues. With over 2 million monthly streams Jacob Gurevitsch is a name to watch.

This vinyl debut album 'An Introduction' consists of selected works from the 'Lovers In Paris album, a few from his 'Cinematica' Ep and some from his forthcoming album 'In Search Of Lost Time.'

One could say A kind of Greatest Hits.!

10 melodic and beautiful originals.

'Mexican Margarita' is a truly impressive piece of guitar work with superb bongos and bass - already an essential tune for any Balearic collector - and the recently released single 'Spanish Inquisition' a current DJ Harvey fave, shows his technical and compositional ante into the world of Flamenco. 'Mapa De Soledad' and 'Poesia Del Mar' both gorgeous and moving Mediterranean-flavoured ballads full of emotional keyboards, soulful strings and accordions. The indelible upbeat of 'Motive Loco' and elegiac cinematic 'In Search Of Lost Time' remains memorable long after listening and this hits the nail on the head.

Jacob Gurevitsch the guitar player and composer has a unique sensibility to write themes and melodies that transcend time and sound like divine interventions.

Detroit Parties Rock like This......................another repressed Detroit stomper from the Duo Keith Tucker and Blak Tony. Equipped and programmed for the dance floor, K1 and Blak Tony’s acapella is sure to start any set off if you bold enough to do it. “Rock Like this” is A electro rap assault into the Detroit parties of the past. This track is a anthem from the city that gave you some of the funkiest electro ever created. This ep never disappoints a favorite of Dj Stingray.

Director David Lynch once said "I long for a kind of quiet where I can just drift and dream. I always say getting inspiration is like fishing. If you're quiet and sitting there and you have the right bait, you're going to catch a fish eventually. Ideas are sort of like that. You never know when they're going to hit you." Inspired by this quote in both name and spirit, Hollie Kenniff's The Quiet Drift is an ambient gallery of cloudlike synths, seraphic strings, echoing guitars, and other celestial textures guided to cohesion by Hollie's own wordless singing. Though the album certainly creates (and originates from) the kind of space where Lynch's proverbial "fish" can be caught, The Quiet Drift is a fitting title for Hollie's own history, both recent and distant. During the course of the album's creation, Hollie and her family moved cross-country from an island in Washington state, to an island in Maine before ultimately relocating to Canada. "As a child I visited Ontario year-round," she explains in her own words. She continues "More than any other landscape, I think the lake, rivers, and woods there left the most enduring impression on me. The landscape and pace of life of these places will always stay with me." But the reverberant spaces Hollie crafts need no physical headquarters. Instead of conjuring views of nature at the ground level, her sound more readily evokes a top-down perspective, with the distinct features of the land shrinking underfoot as the listener becomes untethered from geography altogether. The Quiet Drift belongs more to the liminal spaces between life and afterlife, memory and fantasy, landscape and dreamscape, than any mappable locale. Describing her formative years, Hollie says "As a dual US/Canadian citizen who spent my childhood in a rural town-- one that I haven't returned to in many years - I have a sense of not entirely belonging anywhere. When I was a teenager my close friends were male musicians, so I was also an outsider to the degree that they were wild and anarchic in a way that I wasn't. I was a quiet book reader and avid music listener who enjoyed being around a creative group. I was also a radio DJ for alternative and punk music throughout high school." In this light, The Quiet Drift attests that creativity is placeless, and calls into question the stereotype of artists as scene-centric city dwellers. Having come of age in the absence of metropolitan sensory overload, Hollie learned to spot the muse in nature, and within herself, instead of the echo chamber of a frenzied peer group. On The Quiet Drift Hollie Kenniff wholly escapes from such pop-culture feedback loops into transcendent, shimmering realms, and she brings the listener along with her. In this age in which we have all been called to reevaluate our relationship to indoor spaces, and seek refuge in the great outdoors, The Quiet Drift provides an apt soundtrack for such rebalancing.

An 18 track double black vinyl LP compilation featuring many of the beloved singer’s hits including "I Don’t Love You Anymore", "Close the Door", “Turn Off the Lights,”Lights“, "Love TKO", “Come Go With Me”, “Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose” and his classics with Harold Melvin the Blue Notes such as “If You Don’t Know Me by Now".

Clear Vinyl

Eugene Synegal's early career as a teenager was the guitarist of Sam & The Soul Machine before moving to Los Angeles to join the group Sage and later in the 1970s recording on Lee Dorsey's Night People and The Neville Brothers records.

These previously unreleased recordings were birthed in the early 1970s, sometime during Eugene's trips back and forth between Los Angeles and New Orleans. A couple years after these recordings were immortalized onto 1/4" reel-to-reel tape an unusual crime scene involving Eugene and his girlfriend reads as if it was a chapter taken directly out of a pulp fiction novel. An Australian socialite named Patrica Galea, remained unsolved for 30 years. The robbers took $400, two diamond rings, a $1,400 cigarette lighter and two mink coats. They failed to collect Galea's $6,402 which was hidden in her freezer. This money was sent from Australia and was being used to fund Eugene's album as well as starting a new music publishing company in Hollywood. This was the life of Eugene. Playboy extraordinaire, jet-setter and guitar chops that would turn the head of Hendrix!! Around 2006 the owner of the West Hollywood apartment expressed a desire to learn more about its history and met with detectives who were unable to locate the file since it was buried in the cold cases section. The files were found, the case was reopened, solved and two men were arrested in 2007.

These recently unearthed 1970s recordings by Eugene are a reflection of his pure soul as well as a blend of psychedelia and funk that the band Sage was experimenting with in Los Angeles during that time period.

From a historical sense, these two recordings are significant because it bridges the historical and influential New Orleans music scene during the early 70's with the psychedelic rock and folk scene that was emerging just walking distance from the West Hollywood apartment that Eugene was living in with Galea during that time.

Eugene's unique guitar style paired with a deep-rooted gospel sensibility is a window into the artistry and songwriting capability of this incredibly talented man.

Joey Negro! Michael Gray! Moplen! Massivedrum! David Penn! Mighty Mouse! Ben Liebrand! They are all there!

Thirty-Five years after the release of Volume 4, High Fashion Music are back with the aptly named – Vol 5! And Ben Liebrand returns once again to flawlessly mix these remixed pieces together in one continues mix.

“High Fashion Dance Music” mix-albums were incredibly popular in the during the ’80s, showcasing essential cuts from legendary dance artists from the time.

Volume 5 is back pumping and loaded with the recent remixed and timeless cuts from Blueboy (David Penn remix), T-Connection (Moplen remix), Karen Young (Joey Negro remix), Disco Dandies, Ashford & Simpson (Joey Negro remixes) and Johnny Guitar Watson (Ben Liebrand remix) are joined on the Dancefloor by hot new versions of classics like Bucketheads’ “The Bomb” and is the at the same time presenting the new and upcoming singles from contemporary artists including S.O.S Band (remixed by Ben Liebrand), Bucketheads (Remixed by Massivedrum) HP Vince, and Who’s Who (remixed by Mighty Mouse).

Volume 5 also has the eye-catching retro styling with detail from OG’s in the scene. Curated by experts, Volume 5 will also be available on various music formats, each having it’s unique playing-time, including Vinyl LP, Compact Disc, the good old MusiCassette and even on DCC! (Such in close cooperation with the DCC Museum in Los Angeles)

Mix Tracklist:
A-1 The S.O.S. Band – Just Get Ready (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 4:29
A-2 Delia Renee – You're Gonna Want Me Back (Remix – Joey Negro) 5 :49
A-3 Disco Dandies – Inside Your Love 1:36
A-4 Johnny Guitar Watson – Real Mother For 'Ya (Go To A Disco) (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 3:30
A-5 Advance – Take Me To The Top (Remix – Michael Gray) 3:28
A-6 T-Connection – Do What You Wanna Do (Remix – Moplen) 5:16
A-7 Ashford & Simpson – Over & Over (Remix – Joey Negro) 3:34
A-8 Roog – If Everything Went My Way (Remix – Earth N Days) 2:52
A-9 Blue Boy – Remember Me (Remix – David Penn) 3:49
A-10 Ashford & Simpson – Found A Cure (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:29
B-1 Brooklyn Express – Sixty-Nine (Remix – H.P. Vince) 3:17
B-2 Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind (Remix – Massivedrum) 5:43
B-3 Karen Young – Hot Shot (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:10
B-4 Michael Gray – The Weekend (Remix – Michael Gray) 5:28
B-5 Ashford & Simpson – Love Will Make It Right (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:25
B-6 Johnny Hammond – Los Conquistadores Chocolates (Remix – Moplen) 4:02
B-7 The Bucketheads – The Bomb (Remix – Massivedrum) 3:19
B-8 Who's Who – Palace Palace (Remix – Mighty Mouse) 3:25
B-9 H.P. Vince – We Came Here To Party 2:47
B-10 Delia Renee– You're Gonna Want Me Back (Reprise) (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 1:40

Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these
fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying,
you know it when you hear it. And you always hear it with
The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylanled act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and
purposeful bands - a unit dedicated to and continually
honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and
storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern
musical attack.
That signature style has been present through the
decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s
‘Bringing Down the Horse’ as well as more recent and
exploratory fare like 2012’s ‘Glad All Over’.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from
the group with whom he first made his mark, The
Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew
they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,”
he says simply. That life’s work continues with ‘Exit
Wounds’, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The
collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since
‘Glad All Over’.
‘Exit Wounds’ is an ode to people - individual and
collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some
stuff. “I think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle
you’re on - wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a
lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the
same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what
‘Exit Wounds’ signifies. And it’s not meant to be negative at
all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s
to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and
you think about those people and those things and you
carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right
now, we’re all swimming in them.”

The infamous MAYHEM return this year with an EP called “Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando” that presents the band in a way that has never been heared before! The lords of darkness have dug deep and reflected their influences to create a musical odyssey that shows them multifaceted in several ways. For this goal, cover versions of bands like Discharge, Dead Kennedys, Rudimentary Peni and Ramones were chosen, which in typical MAYHEM manner impressively fit into their bursting and darkenened sound. Nevertheless, MAYHEM would not be MAYHEM, if this musical creation would do without own composed songs. In addition to named cover versions, a brand new track called “Voces Ab Alta” was recorded to continue the musical journey alongside previously released tracks “Black Glass Communion” and “Everlasting Dying Flame”, which were used as bonus tracks for the 2019 album “Daemon”. The EP comes as a 180g LP format which features a two-sided cover artwork and two-page insert, as well as a Ltd. CD Digipak with sleeve and 12-page booklet.

Repress

Calibre's mighty wind has blown through the drum 'n' bass scene ever since his first tentative forays into production in 1998. As a trained musician and student of the genre, he quickly developed a unique sound that was warm, orchestral and hypnotic. Attracting the attention of tastemakers like Fabio, the Belfast-born producer and DJ was encouraged to work harder and faster on this liquid funk, resulting in what would become his signature sound. By the time his sophomore album, "Second Sun", came into orbit, Calibre was recognised as a shining star of the scene.

One of the few who had realised the potential of the album format, he crafted dubbed out house grooves, jazzier downtempo numbers, and introspective vocal-led tracks amongst the more trad tempos the largely dancefloor single-based genre was known for.

The album is awash with high points, from the anthemic "Drop It Down", to the more reflective MC tracks like "Timeout" and "Blink Of An Eye". Most producers would labour over such delicately balanced arrangements for weeks, but the fact that Calibre can knock such masterworks out in a matter of hours tells you how effortlessly and naturally his music comes to him.

"Working quickly gives me a unique and personal sound," says Calibre. "It also helps that I like to sample my own playing. Any type of instrument I could get my hands on, I'd record it live. Maybe quite badly, but I still did it. It helped create my own sound. If you can play an instrument, and you can play it with a little bit of passion and a little bit of love, it'll give you something back."

In the fourteen years that have passed (Second Sun dropped in October, 2005) Calibre has written more material than quite possibly anyone else in the scene, and this year shows no sign of him slowing up. Besides the usual wealth of remixes in the pipeline, and a forthcoming techno album on Craig Richards' label, a sixth Shelflife compilation of unreleased Calibre material will be dropping on his own Signature Records label. But for now, let's rewind the story, as the man himself takes us, track by track, through Second Sun.