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Billed as 'controversial' in its press materials for its open spiritual message, this jazz inspired record was Prince’s first fully independent release, issued without any major label backing. One of its songs 'The Work, Pt. 1' was released by Prince as a free download on the file sharing service Napster - this move, along with direct to consumer stream and download options on the NPG Music Club, made Prince a digital music pioneer. This record is a favourite among Prince’s most fervent admirers due to its complex musical narrative, its use of live drums/full horn section and the striking album art by artist Cbabi Bayoc, which still hangs in the hallowed halls of Paisley Park today. The CD has long been out of print and the original vinyl pressing was incredibly limited.

After three EP's in his own name, and one with Moreno Ácido at Holuzam, Diogo makes his debut 12” in the Discos Extendes series with “FINALMENTE!”. In a singular appropriation of the vast legacy of rave culture, Diogo crosses, along four tracks, a certain time span between the 90's and the 2020's, with all kinds of recycling and updates that the exercise entails. Syncopated rhythmic patterns, robust basses, junglist echoes, haunted voices or celestial pads make up a revivalist sound palette, here rearticulated beyond linear structures. “Até Segunda” sets the tone in territories close to Objekt's Theme from Q in a live sound design amidst sudden disturbances and rallying hooks. Tracks 2 and 3 stand out for their plot twists: “Ponto de Não Retorno” starts with a frenetic breaky maze before get immersed in a oneiric landscape, and “What?!” progresses gently within Vancouver coordinates to be opened to a schizophrenic rawness that, from there, completely remakes the track. “Errar É Ok” is an exercise of decompression, melodically woven, with a dreamy coda pointing to nostalgic horizons. Violet closes the EP with a muscular version of “Ponto de Não Retorno”. "Finalmente!" marks for this unstable balance between familiarity and strangeness, intuitiveness and disturbance, euphoria and immersion. Tracks for the dance floor, yes, with a twist, to be rediscovered as often as you like.

Big warm welcome back to DC’s James Bangura!! Solo dolo this time around, the Black Rave Culture member finds himself swimming in therapeutic & reflective waters. Stretching out into vulnerable, personal territory always makes for the best tunes. And this disc (James Bangura's "Shadow Boxing EP”) is a damn doozy!! Very excited & grateful to share this beautiful release with y'all!!
(Title is inspired by Bangura’s grandfather, Carroll Daniel Smith, who boxed for the US Army in WWII)

“When I think of ‘Shadow Boxing’ I think of practice & preparation. 2020 was a tumultuous year, this was the first time in awhile that I had a moment to reflect on the years passed. My time in military service, dealing with depression & anxiety as a veteran, the loss of loved ones, the ending of relationships, and taking unplanned life paths. This portion of my life story was about healing. This record was the silver lining & the sign of good things to come. It’s about never quitting & being kind to yourself. Loving differently & being vulnerable. These are things we have to practice (and prepare) doing everyday because we can easily let dark moments overcast the joy in our lives. Music has always been therapy for me & is even more important now through the turbulent times we are living in. So practice & prepare.”
- Timothy Smith-Bangura

Kaiserdisco return to Drumcode for their first offering since 2016, with a stellar hook-driven slice of techno inspired by a classic house record.

‘Together One Time’ fizzes and rolls, building up pace throughout, while the stirring vocal sets it up perfectly for peak-time impact.

An essential weapon as we move into the raving season.

What is probably the weirdest U-TRAX release ever, is now available again on original heavy weight vinyl and has been remastered for digital download and streaming.

Jo-I is Johan Sagel and nine of the drumtracks he made in the 90s with his quite un-hip Roland R-70 drumcomputer ended up on this heavyweight vinyl EP. Label boss DJ White Delight also abused Johan's R-70 together with DJ Zero One, adding a trancey acid re-interpretation of the Jo-I tracks to the EP.

Back in 1995, Johan was a young advertising professional, originating from the far Northern part of Holland, where only potatoes grow and very few people live. He later moved to the city of Groningen and became very active in the scene there, that included Thee J Johanz, of Bally Hoo fame. Johan teamed up with Reyer Caderius van Veen, who released a 12" as Lynx on the U-TRAX sublabel Phoq U Phonogrammen. Together they performed and recorded as Live Acid Performance (L.A.P.) 01 in the 90s.

Original release date: March 1995.
Available again on original 220 grams vinyl

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

One of the most active bebop trumpeters, Kenny Dorham started in the big bands of Mercer, Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie and eventually landed in the Charlie Parker Quintet. In addition, he was a charter member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins and replaced Clifford Brown in the Max Roach Quintet. Throughout his career he can be heard playing trumpet on various recordings with Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, Kenny Clarke, Mary Lou Williams and many more musical legends.

“Quiet Kenny” is a jazz masterpiece. Recorded by the great Rudy Van Gelder with a group of musicians playing at the top of their game, this title continues to be one of the most collectible Jazz LPs due to its high demand and short supply.


PLAYERS:

Kenny Dorham, trumpet
Tommy Flanagan, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Art Taylor, drums

 Matmos are one of the most prominent experimental electronic artists working today, crafting work by creating new conceptual frameworks and immediately testing those frameworks’ absolute limits. For ‘Regards/Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer’ they’ve focused on another artist known, in large part, for doing the same.

 Bogusław Schaeffer was one of the first Polish artists creating electronic music. In step with American contemporaries like John Cage and Morton Feldman, he worked across the boundaries of classical composition, electronic experimentation and radical theatre, in playfully form-breaking ways.

 Matmos are not the first ones to recognize the power of his catalogue, from ‘Solo’ (a 2008 documentary that garnered numerous international awards), to the annual Shaeffer’s Era Festival (most recently celebrated simultaneously in Warsaw and Los Angeles), Bogusław Schaeffer’s work continues to inspire.

 ‘Regards/Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer’, however, was not just inspired by his work. Matmos were given access to the entirety of Schaeffer’s recorded works to use as they saw fit, commissioned by the prestigious Instytutu Adama Mickiewicza. They re-assembled and re-combined these recorded works with modern instrumentations in a way that only Matmos could, and what emerged is a composite portrait of the utopian 1960s Polish avant-garde and the contemporary dystopian cultural moment regarding each other across a distance.

 Vinyl packaged with digital download card.

LIMITED release (no repress) 300 units hand numbered, stamped copies with insert.

After the first Jam experiment back in 2019 here we have the second chapter of the Bosconi Gang Band session pressed on this limited white label hand stamped & numbered waxx.
This jam was recorded in front of an actual crowd in an event held at Manifattura tabacchi Florence on the 21st February 2020 just a couple weeks before the pandemic started and the first lockdown happened in Italy.
The concept is the same as the previous one with Fabio Della Torre on the mixer conducting the gang mysitc gulf this time with: from left to right Ennio Colaci from Minimono, Dukwa, Rufus, Andrea Giachetti & Antonio Pecori from "The Clover" and Dj Rou.
As it happened with the previous release, the actual jam follows the order of the live execution which naturally developed in a crescendo of speed and intensity.
The result is a collection of 5 of the best takes slightly mixed and revisited afterwards but very much faithful to those performed live.
This is another adventurous release that goes well off grid, plays with strange temps, original textures and moods.
Bosconi Gang Band aims to be an itinerant live improvisational project open to all artists who have released on Bosconi Records that sets the goal of always being unpredictable and special, naturally affected by the artists who perform always creating something unplanned new, and unexpected.
"A very exciting blueprint for the continued evolution of modern dance music!!"

Andrew Heath describes his music as 'lower case', but although this cross-nation collaboration with Anne Chris Bakker and M Cosa de Resistance is understated, serene and slow moving, it's also capable of painting ambitiously widescreen images at the same time. The seven tracks here revolve around the UK producer's trademarks - solitary sounding piano and atmospherics both courtesy of field recordings and electronics - but with extra embellishments, most notably the eerie sound of the zither and six string experiments from Dutch guitarist Bakker. It's a horizontal listen, certainly, but one that's full of life and creativity all the same.

Évariste is one of the rare specimens of artist-cum-scientists. Among his kind stand others like Pierre Schaeffer, a Polytechnique graduate (an engineer but also the father of musique concrète) and the eccentric Boby Lapointe (graduate of the École centrale and inventor of the Bibi-binaire system, patented in 1968). Évariste's songwriting, joyful and full of energy (albeit extremely critical), shrouds an original tragedy: born in 1943 among résistants, Joël Sternheimer (aka Évariste) grew up without a father, lost to Auschwitz. Although he makes little reference to Jewish culture in his music, his origins leave their mark: in 1974, he sings a Hebrew song on television. In 1966, the young Joël sports Princeton's colourful paraphernalia - that's because he's freshly returning from the US, where he was sent to pursue his research on "particle mass and the interpretation of observed regularities, such as the effects of a wave" (will understand who may). When he gets there the country's in the midst of the Vietnam War. With McNamara keen to find an alternative to the nuclear weapon and calling upon the country's biggest brains to undertake the task, there's a "fund shift" within the university - a diplomatic way to give notice to whoever may not be disposed to follow the government's scheme. Joël, who's under the supervision of a rebellious physician, is dismissed. He regardless keeps following the prestigious seminaries of the Institute for Advanced Study, chaired by Oppenheimer, inventor of the atomic bomb. Likely inspired by the hippie movement and music, Joël buys a guitar and starts playing in Washington Square - after all, Bob Dylan himself started there. He blithely skips Oppenheimer and receives a warm (though surprised) welcome from a crowd thoroughly unfamiliar with French. When the ageing physicist questions him about his decreasing attendance, Joël explains how drawn he is to music, and how he thinks it could help him in self-financing his research. Évariste recalls seeing the sickened man, his face torn by remorse, lighten up to his words and say: "What's keeping you - go for it! If I was still young that's exactly what I'd do." The student takes these words as a testimony from his professor - and it's enough to convince him . And so he takes the leap during the Christmas vacations he spends in Paris. A journalist friend he often sees around the Sorbonne introduces him to the artistic director of Disques AZ. The latter passes the tapes on to the label's boss, Lucien Morisse, also program manager on Europe N°1. Morisse is blown away - and signs him onto the label right away. Michel Colombier, arranger for Serge Gainsbourg and co-author of "Psyché Rock", with Pierre Henry, contributes some of his original ideas to the 7 inch "E=mc2": Évariste's preoccupation with the percussion sound on the track "Le calcul intégral" is that it goes "poom poom" and not "tock tock" - Colombier is aware of the issue and records Évariste's guitar like a percussion in an isolated booth. The organist Eddy Louis, who is to participate, in 1969, to the success of Claude Nougaro's "Paris mai", also appears on the record. It's 1966 and the Antoine phenomenon (signed on Vogue) storms through France. The two singers share similarities: Antoine is an engineer of the École centrale, gifted with a great originality in his song-writing. A godsend for the two labels who turn this resemblance into a commercial strategy, setting them out as rivals. To this day though, Évariste still denies what was little more than slushy tabloïd gossip. Success comes around swiftly and in 1967 Évariste launches into a second 7 inch, "Wo I nee", again arranged by Michel Colombier. Quantum mechanics fans finally get their anthem with "La Chasse Au Boson Intermédiaire" (or the "Intermediary Boson Pursuit"). To sum up what's a boson, say he's a close pal of the meson, photon and other gluons. A few months later, it's May 68 and everything's turned upside down. Évariste writes a series of songs inspired by the events, which he immediately submits to Lucien Morisse. When the man behind "Salut les copains", once married to Dalida, hears the song "La révolution" - a father and son dialogue - he can't take any more: AZ simply cannot release this. But there and then Lucien Morisse makes a gesture which will remain engraved in French music's history: sorry to be unable to officially stand by the singer, he encourages him to self-produce the record, but with his tacit support. He calls the pressing factory and asks they apply the same rate for Évariste as they would for AZ. The singer and his musicians use the same studio as for the previous record, all of them playing for free awaiting a return on investment. Évariste keeps singing at the Sorbonne with "Jussieu's gang" and "the young Renaud" he nicknames "le p'tit gavroche" (or "street urchin"). Renaud volunteers to type the lyrics of the song "La révolution" so that the chorus can be sung and recorded. A boy in the group is related to Wolinski and introduces them. The two get along so well that Wolinski ends up drawing the cover for the record "La révolution", for free. The self-released 7 inch "La révolution / La faute à Nanterre" is sold under the table and door-to-door for half the price of a standard record, on and around the boulevard Saint-Michel; and it runs out fast. In the end, there will be 6 releases of the record, and 25000 copies sold. When the theatre director Claude Confortès decides to adapt Wolinski's drawing series titled "Je ne veux pas mourir idiot" ("I don't want to die a fool"), he asks Évariste to write the original soundtrack. His friend, now cartoonist for Hara-Kiri Hebdo, often promotes him in accordance with a principle dear to him by virtue of which he gives a special place to his friends. Dominique Grange (writer of the song "Nous sommes les nouveaux partisans") soon joins the team. After 150 performances, Évariste leaves his place to Dominique Maurin (brother of Patrick Dewaere). Évariste composes the songs for Claude Confortès' next play, "Je ne pense qu'à ça" ("That's all I think about"), co-wrote with Wolinski in 1969. The comedians of the play record the songs on a 7 inch, with a cover signed, again, by Wolinski. In 1971, French television produces the documentary "Évariste et les 7 dimensions", but doesn't air it. Indeed, the scientific sub-comity of the programming comity (sic) censors the show. The given justification is that "Évariste dangerously mixed science with science-fiction, numerology and other non-scientific disciplines". The underlying motive might have been a will to censor the singer-mathematician's political discourse. In the documentary and among other things, Évariste discusses hierarchy, alienation and revolution. Half a century later the documentary remains invisible, though some excerpts resurfaced in 1992 in the cult show "L'oeil du cyclone", on Canal +. Though flourishing, Évariste's career is nearing its end. 1970 is the beginning of a decade in the course of which he is to make a decisive discovery in the musical and scientific domains. Following this breakthrough, he moves away from self-produced music and gaucho magazines to focus on science. He keeps Oppenheimer's encouraging words in mind, now freely pursuing his research thanks to the sales of his records. Joël realises that when decoding protein sequences, one finds musical sequences recognisable to humans. He names them "proteodies". If, when listening to a proteody, one responds by being so sensitive as to finding it beautiful, then it reveals a deficiency of the related protein - and this peculiar music may be the cure. We could trace back the music history in light of proteins lacking in a given artist, or within a public's majority. You always thought these hysterical groupies who'd throw their underwear with passion and faint in the pit had miraculously appeared because they had never heard anything as wonderful as the Beatles? Make no mistake! For Évariste, it all boils down to an intro's protein content. Indeed, the beginning of their first hit "Love Me Do" corresponds to dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to compulsive buying. An intro like this could only unleash the fervour of groupies, victims of fashion and biology. Évariste's success is such that the income from his sales gives him the autonomy to which he had aspired when confiding to Oppenheimer. It made it possible for him to pursue his research without any institutional constraints. He now devotes himself to his proteodies, sat in the offices of the European University for Research, just around the corner from the Sorbonne he knew so well. Évariste is no more. Joël regained control of this strange and comical beast.

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl.

Singer-songwriter Bob Lind will forever be immortalized by his 1965 hit, »Elusive Butterfly«, but his career is so much more interesting than the fading wonder of that one hit. Once a hard-partying buddy of Charles Bukowski, Lind was the inspiration for the character »Dinky Summers«, a down-on-his-luck folk singer in Bukowski's 1978 novel Women. Lind also doubled as a writer, penning a number of novels and plays as well as serving as a long-time staff writer at the lowbrow tabloid Weekly World News.

If that wasn't enough, Lind is also responsible for one of the greatest major-label 'loner' albums of all time, 1971's Since There Were Circles. After several years languishing without a second hit for the World Pacific label, Lind signed to Capitol and went into the studio with some of the biggest names in the LA country-rock scene including Doug Dillard, Gene Clark, Bernie Leadon and legendary session bassist Carol Kaye. While the record was well-received critically, it sold poorly and marked Lind's bitter departure from the music business for several decades.

The intervening half-century has been incredibly kind to »Since There Were Circles«, and it is now regarded as a cult masterpiece that pairs perfectly with Gene Clark's No Other, Bobby Charles' self-titled Bearsville album and Lee Hazlewood's Cowboy in Sweden. Lind's songwriting here is vastly darker and more self-reflective than anything from his folk-pop period, and the production is simultaneously loose and rootsy, yet lushly orchestrated and occasionally bombastic. Lind somehow manages to bring it all together with wry delivery and literate detail.

Mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna enjoyed an astounding run of 14
number one singles from 1984 to 1989, ranking them as one of the most
popular country acts of the '80s
Their music combined elements of traditional country harmony singing,
bluegrass, and Appalachian folk with pop, rock, and polished contemporary
production. Moreover, Wynonna's powerful, bluesy, often sexy lead vocals
established her as one of the finest female country singers of her era. But even
more important than their widely accessible sound -- or their considerable visual
appeal -- was their sympathetic understanding of working-class and small-town
women, earned through a long, hard struggle of their own.

Repressed

It's been four-years since La Coka Nostra released their sophomore album, Masters Of The Dark Arts, (the groups first project without Everlast was also their most critically acclaimed project - featured collaborations with Vinnie Paz, Sean Price & production from DJ Premier and Statik Selektah) and the music industry has changed considerably in that time. However, a few things still remain constant; La Coka Nostra will always be as their aptly-titled 2009 debut verified, A Brand You Can Trust, and the group will continue to dazzle their rapid fan-base with sold out shows around the globe with their rau-cous live performances. Always known for tackling controversial topic matter, the group’s new album, To Thine Own Self Be True, finds them once again in torchbearing mode, addressing subjects that most artists shy away from.“This album was created during a time of unique and individual transformation for each member of the group” ILL Bill stated. “Speaking for myself, it’s been a heavy last couple of years.It’s definitely the most personal record we’ve made under the La Coka banner and while we’re still making music that’s hard as fuck, there’s a maturity to this latest batch of songs that makes it different from a lot of the older stuff. I notice the biggest reactions come from the songs our listeners can personally relate to and we needed to make a record like this right now, not only for the fans, but for ourselves. I got alot off my chest on this one. Making music can be extremely therapeutic and making To Thine Own Self Be True was a rebirth and a re-ignition for me.” Slaine had a similar take on the projects thera-peutic manifestation “You don’t put as many years in the game as we have without having ups and downs. We all have gone through struggle and adversity—personally and professionally”Slaine la-mented. “This album was recorded as I walked out of a very dark time toward a place of truth and understanding. Music has been how I feed my family, my plane ticket around the world and a place I’ve built real friendships; but at the very core it’s a tool I use to get through life.This album is a moment in time. It is visceral and real.” While DJ Lethal continues to oversee the production end ofToThine Own Self Be True, the group also enlisted Statik Selektah, Marco Polo, Salam Wreck (D-12, Obie Trice, Proof, B-Real, Tha Dogg Pound) & ChumZilla (from the Demigodz) and get vocal contributions from extended family members such as Vinnie Paz, Apathy, Q-Unique, Sick Jacken, SKAM2? & Rite Hook.

High Focus Records are excited to share a new full length offering from prolific Brighton based producer Mr Slipz, this time with a fresh label signing, Australian rapper Nelson Dialect. A landmark release and signing for High Focus with Nelson being the first international signing on the label. UK listeners might have first heard Nelson collaborating with Verbz & Mr Slipz on the song ‘Hope’ from their acclaimed LP ‘Radio Waves’ released on High Focus in 2020. Nelson has a cult following in his own right in Australia, and previously released music on the legendary U.S label Fat Beats to great acclaim. Now teaming up with one of the most exciting and respected UK producers, Nelson & Mr Slipz deliver ‘Ever Since’. A statement piece by two artists with well over a decade spent on their craft which sounds as urgent and refreshing as if it were their first time releasing music. The album’s title is a reference to the endless quest for a timeless sound, reflecting the creative partnerships which spark from a seemingly forever existing thread of music. The two artists crossed paths whilst Nelson was on tour in Brighton, and a chance introduction to Slipz made this album a reality. As fate would have it, due to a cancellation of plans and changing of schedules during Nelson’s tour, the pair ended up in the studio for 8 days straight together which is when the bulk of the album was created. They each saw this as a cosmic alignment and thus played into the albums astrological artwork themes and overarching concept. Striving to capture the lightning in a bottle moment, what resulted musically on this album was an inspired surge of energy and intense creative output that is felt across the entire LP. Equal parts personal and lyrically dextrous, Nelson explores a multitude of concepts over the hard hitting drums and jazzy samples producer Mr Slipz is renowned for through his previous work with artists including Verbz, Kofi Stone, Vitamin G & Datkid among many more. The album features a slew of impressive guest verses including label mates Vitamin G & Verbz on the emphatic ‘Oxford Scholars’. Two legends Jehst & Confucius MC combine on ‘Smooth Ride’. Bronx pioneer & D.I.T.C legend A.G delivers a show stopping verse on ‘Trembling the Marrow’. There are hypnotic singing performances by Indira May on ‘First Date’ & ‘Open Book’ as well as Hiatus Kaiyote back up vocalist Jace XL on the soul stirring anthem “Figure Out What’s Right”. U.S rappers SickInTheHead & Cazeaux O.S.L.O round out the impressive guest list on the album with their inspired verses. Listeners caught their first glimpse of the duo with their debut single ‘Only Just Begun’. A whirlwind 3 verse tune showcasing the relentless wordplay and imagery Nelson is regarded for over a moody, hard hitting Slipz production. With a buzz already around what Nelson Dialect & Mr Slipz are brewing, the duo have just released their second single ‘Oxford Scholars’ featuring label mates Vitamin G & Verbz

Three albums in the novelty has worn off, but Dengue Fever has smartly
chosen to keep evolving - Venus on Earth is at once the band's most
accessible and most varied release
A recap: when first heard from in 2003 on their self- titled debut, Dengue Fever
was like no other band, fronted by a Cambodian-born woman, Chhom Nimol, who
paid homage to that Asian nation's pre-Pol Pot cheesy psychedelic-cum-loungesurf-garage pop sound of the '60s/early '70s. For Venus on Earth, the mainstream
beckons, or comes as close to beckoning as it's ever going to for a band as nonmainstream as Dengue Fever. Nimol's vocals are as beguiling as ever, Ethan
Holtzman's Farfisa organ still swirls, Zac Holtzman's guitars still chime and chunk,
and Paul Dreux Smith's drums clang happily along. With horns provided by David
Ralicke and bass from Senon Gaius Williams, Dengue Fever has softened some
of the rougher edges, injected some serious soul, and added more swing to their
thing. "Oceans of Venus" could be an outtake from the first B-52's album, "Clipped
Wings" a lost Blondie tune, and "Woman in the Shoes" is just one of the most
cuddly pop songs in ages. The groovelicious Nimol- Zac Holtzman duet "Tiger
Phone Card," a tale of a long distance Phnom Penh- NYC romance, is the pop
smash Yoko Ono might have had in an alternate universe. Drenched in reverb,
soaked in sweat, marinated in some phantom historical moment yet tethered to
the now, Dengue Fever is more innovative and resourceful than 99-percent of the
bands that receive 99 times the publicity.

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
 ‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl.

A voice in the ether. A calm, clement drone. A gentle, pulsing throb. Like the ghost of a forgotten future as imagined by the distant past, Certain Creatures' sophomore LP Nasadiya Sukta is a study in timelessness - crystalline, heartfelt ambient music designed to push light through shadow. Nasadiya Sukta is the debut release on Mysteries of the Deep, a record label dedicated to total sensory immersion. Mysteries (as it's known colloquially and affectionately) launched in 2011 after a particularly fruitful late-night mixing session, first as a cult podcast series dedicated to narcotic music of all kinds, subsequently expanding into a series of seasonal events. Now, with the release of Nasadiya Sukta, Mysteries of the Deep becomes a full-fledged outlet for music to play in the dark. Certain Creatures is the alias of Brooklyn-based artist Oliver Chapoy, and Nasadiya Sukta was crafted especially for Mysteries of the Deep. Its genesis came when Grant Aaron, Mysteries' proprietor, tapped Chapoy to perform at Mysteries' Halloween event in 2015. His performance was the night's axis point, bridging earlier subdued sounds with late-night upbeat moods. Two years later, reworked and reconfigured, this performance is reborn as Nasadiya Sukta. Although divided into six tracks, Nasadiya coheres into a single extra-terrestrial mass, its beautiful understated elegance encouraging repeat listens. Simultaneously harking back to ambient classics from the '90s (you know who they are) while cementing Chapoy as a visionary artist with his own unique voice, Nasadiya Sukta is one for the space travellers indeed. Releases on Styles Upon Styles, Medical Records Label Promo + Tour

In the spring of 2020, Ben Cook _ a.k.a. Young Governor, Young Guv, or just Guv _ was holed up in the New Mexico high desert, his U.S. tour having been abruptly covid-cancelled during a southwest swing. He and his bandmates were living moment to moment in something called an Earthship, a solar-rigged adobe structure sustainably constructed with, among other things, recycled bottles and tires. And out there in the serene vastness, as a short ride-it-out stint turned into a nine-month sojourn, Ben was writing music, slowly, little by little, mostly at night while the others slept. By the New Year, almost in spite of himself, he had created a new album, two new albums actually, and through the ordeal he was forever changed. In a place he never expected to be, under circumstances no one could have predicted, and in the face of physical isolation, emotional desolation, and existential dread, Ben created GUV III & IV, a collection of songs dedicated and testifying to the eternal healing power of love _ how to find it in the world, in others, and most importantly, in himself. Written in the New Mexico wilderness and produced in Los Angeles, the double album will finally be available in it's entirety this summer via Run For Cover. Young Guv's talent as a songwriter has been with us for a long time. From forming iconic hardcore act No Warning in 1998 to joining Toronto legends Fucked Up, Ben Cook started writing songs as Guv in 2008 between a slew of other projects that were ambitiously working to define the genres they operated in. When he first started working with Run For Cover in 2019, the plan was to release a single record - but with too many songs to turn away, the project expanded into his first double album, GUV I & II. GUV III & IV finds the same ambition and expertise in hit-making, but this time the individual records hone into specific parts of Guv's sonic palette. GUV III is full of iconic hooks, power-pop guitar riffs and dancable-rock songs, while GUV IV takes notes from psych rock, electro pop and Laurel Canyon jangle to make something that as a whole, can only be defined as definitively GUV

Shrouded in mystery, abstracted by endearment and drenched in tone,
bigLOVE are set to make their presence known to the wider world on May
27 with their debut album, titled Crusaders of Joy, via Church Road
Records.Across the anonymous project’s four song inaugural release,
bigLOVE marries atmospheric sludge and themes of eternally
unconditional devotion in the name of all that is to be cherished in this
waking world of ours
bigLOVE establishes their vision of the genre on highlight tracks Harnessing the
Nectar from the Queen Bee and At One With - with both songs wielding Thouesque lead guitar lines and all the sonic weight of Alice In Chains’ doomier cuts.
Vocally, bigLOVE counterbalances the saccharine nature of their melodies with
corrosive and hymnal omnipotence.In an effort to eliminate unnecessary selfscrutiny and create instinctively, bigLOVE recorded Crusaders of Joy as it was
being written - with the release's final takes being recorded moments after each
part was finalised in the writing. Recorded between 2019 and 2020 before being
mastered by UK audio savant Lewis Johns at The Ranch, Crusaders of Joy
possesses a preternatural warmth in it’s production that beguiles as well as
engulfs. The debut full length is adroitly tied together thematically by Maria
Nemm’s (Holy Fawn, Slow Crush, Anthetic) album cover photography, adding
another dimension to bigLOVE’s enigma of obscurity and ubiquity.In the context
of the modern age paradox of instantaneous connection and spiritual disconnect,
Crusaders of Joy triumphs in it’s harnessing of love as philosophy, as it
spiritualizes sludge and doom metal’s sonic weight to transcendental heights.
Across the vast ocean of time, love remains at the core of all it is to be human.

Surfacing from ethereal and dreamier planes, UK shoegaze and
dreampop act GRAYWAVE are one of the latest additions to the Church
Road Records roster
Following on from their 2021 debut EP proper, Planetary Shift, GRAYWAVE is set
to release their second extended play, Rebirth, on June 24.Formed in Birmingham,
UK in 2019 as a solo venture and creative outlet for Jess Webberley, GRAYWAVE
has already amassed a steady stream of singles and qualitative short form
releases - drip feeding fans a highly ambitious and modern take on dreampop and
shoegaze’s storied sonic spectrum. Returning in 2022, Rebirth is the most
revealing and entrancing look into GRAYWAVE’s evolution as an artist. Trading in
some of the lo- fi tendencies of her earlier output, Rebirth sees Webberley
embrace darker soundscapes and sonic weight across the release’s five
tracks.GRAYWAVE’s latest effort is a confident seizing of identity and assured
meeting point for the project’s initial potential and newfound blossoming. Opener,
Build, and Rebirth’s title track rattle with rhythmic unease and confrontation, as
Webberley’s voice drifts between somnolent hypnosis and arresting command.
Elsewhere, Closer and Exoplanet effortlessly tie together 90s influence in the vein
of Cocteau Twins and Drop Nineteens with a modern touch similar to US
contemporaries Citizen.Following their recent union with Church Road Records,
2022 will see GRAYWAVE continue to shine across the UK live circuit. Having
already sold out hometown shows, as well as getting through to the latter stages
of the Isle of Wight Festival’s ongoing musical showcase that offers a spot on the
festival’s New Blood stage, and performing with UK hardcore upstarts Cruelty.
Living up to its name, Rebirth is already proving to be a fruitful time of growth for
Webberley and GRAYWAVE’s creative self- actualisation - offering fans new and
old the most conceptually realised iteration of the project’s limitless avenues of
artistic promise yet.

* Comes with the original 1985 artworks & obi strip. * All-star line-up featuring Herbie Hancock, Mory Kante & Bernie Worrell. * 180g blue Vinyl repress. Manu Dibango needs little introduction, born in Cameroon in 1933, Manu developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. He's definitely among the best known African artists outside of Africa. Collaborations were numerous and include top acts like Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Sly & Robbie, Don Cherry and Bernie Worrell. In addition to selling hundreds of thousands of copies of the albums he recorded, he played such huge venues as Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. In 1972, at 40 years of age, Manu Dibango did something almost unheard of for an African artist - he had a pop hit. His song "Soul Makossa" became an enormous hit which influenced popular music for decades to follow. First picked up by David Mancuso (The Loft), "Soul Makossa" took New York dance floors by storm & in July 1973 it became the first disco record to enter the Billboard Top 40_an early instance of Western pop experiencing a paradigm shift thanks to Africa. The song's chant of "ma-mako ma-ma-sa mako-mako sa" echoes through the greatest-selling pop album of all-time, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and it's in the DNA of the music of Kanye West, Rihanna, A Tribe Called Quest, Akon and The Fugees. By 1985, Dibango was back in Paris, one of the most successful African artists in the world, to start on the recordings for the Electric Africa album. This album hooked Manu and the Soul Makossa Gang up with New York avant garde producer Bill Laswell, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Parliament-Funkadelic keyboard player Bernie Worrell, Pan African synthesist Wally Badarou, New York guitarist Nicky Scopelitis, African drummer Aiyb Dieng and Malian kora virtuoso Mory Kante. This means of working gave Manu and Laswell license to fuse synthesizers and kora, talking drums and samples, ngoni and electric guitar. What it all boils down to is world beat in its truest sense. Electric Africa remains one of Manu's strongest albums. His deep growl of a honey and sandpaper voice and the energetic honk of his saxophone merge with the seamless samples and the myriad hand percussion and overt funkiness of his band. Herbie Hancock plays on three tracks, contributing an amazing electric piano solo on the title track and interacting with Manu's sax while weaving to the warp of Mory Kante's kora during "L'arbre a Palabres." Similarly but more subtly, Laswell, Badarou and Worrell play dueling synthesizers in and around the band throughout "Pata Piya." All of this makes the album an hypnotic & upbeat Afro-Funk classic that will rock every part your body (and mind). Now finally back available as a limited vinyl edition (Blue vinyl, limited to 500 copies) for the first time since 1985.

Tape

Mexican sound artist Concepción Huerta is also a skilled photographer and video artist, and all of these aptitudes come together in the kinematic elements of her musical thesis. Her narrative seems to be an uninterrupted communication with movement as an axis: it pauses and falls with cadence at some moments; it agitates in disturbance at some others. But one movement perpetually crosses the other, even if sometimes imperceptibly.

Her sound work evokes displacements similar to what we could understand as a force of zero gravity. Taking this criterion as a backbone of her most recent work, the idea behind Harmonies from Betelgeuse focuses on the transmission of electricity between body and machine, between the organic and the inorganic. ––Strong loads of sound pulses move away from Earth's gravity through tape-manipulation. Betelgeuse is a star that belongs to the Orion constellation, but, since it has been expelled from its stellar association, it is considered a fugitive ––An exile. Harmonies from Betelgeuse is composed of eight pieces built as a whole, accompanying and destroying each other like theatrical parts of a cosmic tragedy. A beautiful analogy about impending extinction and exile.

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri
Photos by Mateo Barbuzzi, design by Daniel Castrejón

DENGUE FEVER's debut album was all covers of the cute, romantic
Cambodian pop of the 1960s - Having gotten that out of their systems,
they've followed it with an album of original material that shatters the
language barrier with mildly psychedelic, blissed out pop
On "Tip My Canoe", Zac Holtzman takes a stab at singing in Khmer, laying those
long, mellifluous syllables over a tweaky vamp, as Nimol uses her imposing pipes
to trace accents so dynamic that they sound almost vocodered as she leaps
around her impressive range. "Sni Bong" channels Dick Dale through its verses
and explodes into crunchy garage rock choruses, with a– wait for it– Cambodian
rap bridge. "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" pairs sun- baked spaghetti
western guitars with Nimol's clipped, forceful singing, and acoustic ballad
"Hummingbird" closes the album on a quiet note, with Nimol sliding between
English and Khmer. If that fact that Dengue Fever's music has been used in films
as diverse as Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers and the John Cusack vehicle Must
Love Dogs isn't proof enough of its potent versatility, then the ease and unity with
which the band conflates idioms should be.

ALL THEIR LEGENDARY RECORDINGS, PLUS LOADS OF UNRELEASED STUFF!

“The Lipstick Killers were easily one of the greatest live bands I've witnessed in my 65 yrs. on this planet” – Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks/Off!!)

HINDU GODS ARE CALLING YOU!!! Grown Up Wrong! Records is thrilled beyond belief to present the LONG-AWAITED anthology of material by the legendary Lipstick Killers, who blazed a trail in late ‘70s post-Radio Birdman Sydney before gigging with the likes of the Gun Club and the Flesh Eaters in Los Angeles where they crashed and burned in 1981.

The Lipstick Killers released just one single in their life time – the perfect ’79 Deniz Tek-produced pairing of “Hindu Gods of Love” and ”Shakedown USA” on their own Lost in Space Records and Greg Shaw’s Voxx Records - but a posthumous live album and a couple of archival releases followed. It was all incredible. All that material is included here, as is a plethora of additional stuff, all from the best-available sources (mostly original tapes).

The Lipstick Killers’ enigmatic and high-energy sound – heavily inspired by the Stooges and the ‘60s psychedelic punk sounds of bands like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and the Chocolate Watchband – bridged the gap between Radio Birdman and subsequent Sydney groups like the Sunnyboys (whose first-ever show was opening for the Lipstick Killers), Lime Spiders, Hoodoo Gurus, the Screaming Tribesmen and the Psychotic Turnbuckles. And of course they anticipated generation after generation of other bands with similar things in mind, right up to today’s ‘60s-inspired freaks like The Straight Arrows, The Living Eyes and Thee Oh Sees.

Y U QT are back on Time Is Now, and with them they're bringing the sun. "Sweet Fantasy" EP sees the Leicester duo return to what they do best: capturing UKG at its least po-faced, and most energetic.

And who better to help kick off proceedings than the one of the most recognisable voices in today's UKG revival? Ell Murphy's smooth-as-syrup vocals add another level of dynamism to the already-buoyant 4x4 garage banger "Fantasy", coming complete with a hook just as irresistible as the ones which shot their previous releases to success. "Buss Down" picks up the energy with propulsive kickdrums and old school MC vocal chops before "Leaving All Your Cares Behind" follows suit, adding a feel-good vocal melody for an extra serotonin hit. It's up to the more light-footed "Just Be Friends" to leave a sweet taste in our mouths. Euphoric Korg organ stabs give a sense of nostalgia whilst a meandering bassline lends it plenty of swing.

In the late 90’s and early aughts, internet video capabilities like Real Video and Quicktime were expanding, proving the early prophecy that ‘anyone would be able to have their own television channel on the internet’ was indeed coming true. After the critical success of Mulholland Drive, director David Lynch doubled down on the medium, funneling virtually all of his time into personally animating, filming, and scoring content for his own internet destination: davidlynch.cm. It was fertile and limitless ground for a creative like Lynch, allowing him to return to the days of his experimental film roots, where it was actually possible for him to have his hands on every element of the process.

It was out of this newfound digital freedom that the early seeds of Inland Empire were born, evolving and fissuring from an internet-bound experiment itself, into something much more expansive. The film collated a variety of ideas and working methods that the recent web paradigm had nurtured in Lynch, one of which was an increased frequency of his own solo music productions. Having finished constructing his own personal recording studio in 1998, he was no longer tethered to the scheduling and high premiums of rented studio time and was free to accelerate his musical experimentation without constraint. As a direct result of this was a unique shift in Lynch’s musical trajectory; a shift that would eventually bear multiple albums and a short film featuring a lounge-crooning monkey. In the first weeks of 2005, Lynch would record a blues instrumental and instead of getting someone else to sing on the song, he would sing, via a formant and pitch-altering piece of equipment known as the Boss VT-1. It was because of the davidlynch animated series “Dumbland” that the director had discovered the device that would enable him to be ‘any character he needed.’ With “Ghost of Love,” Lynch was experimenting with bringing those ‘characters’ into his own musical compositions. Intrue Lynch fashion, it’s difficult to know which inspired which: did “Ghost of Love” birth a scene in Inland Empire, or did the film’s ideas birth the song? Just as “In Heaven” had served to encapsulate Eraserhead, “Ghost of Love” managed to encapsulate Inland Empire allowing its listener to close their eyes and immediately channel the film’s images and mood onto the screen of the mind.

“Ghost of Love” is backed with “Imaginary Girl,” originally released via CD single in 2006 are now finally seeing their vinyl and digital release for the first time in celebration of Inland Empire’s 2022 theatrical re-release. Both are signature cinematic Lynchian classics that feature Lynch on guitar and vocals, accompanied by his long-time collaborator and Sacred Bones staple Dean Hurley on bass.

Tape

On her second album (first one on Umor Rex), the Minsk born / Paris based artist Lina Filipovich continues her experiments on deconstruction and re-appropriation of classical pieces. BFHC includes seven electronic interpretations of the works of Baroque composers such as Bach, Handel, Frescobaldi, Carleton and Couperin. Inspired by memories of her experience of interpreting Bach's pieces in early childhood, Filipovich explores the desire to push the limits of performing classical music in the traditional way. Her baroque compositions are manipulated, modified, transformed into loops, cut, slowed down and recycled like any content could be, becoming a raw material for new compositions accompanied by electronic sequences, rhythms and basslines. Through the recycling, sampling and reassembly, Lina creates new listening experiences. And if BFHC can be interpreted as a tribute to baroque music, it can also be understood as a call to action to the work of contemporary artists like Oval, and to all the boom of clicks and cuts at the beginning of this millennium.

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri
Artwork by Daniel Castrejón

"From the time they were formed, Set It Off have never been your standard emo band. Or pop group. Or pop-punk band. They are all of those things and more. Just listen to the lead single “Skeleton” from their new album Elsewhere – moody, melodious pop-rock with fast rapping tearing up the break. The song is about embracing who you are unapologetically and without filters. “Skeleton” epitomizes Set It Off now – a group both fully committed to its roots and diving into its future by embracing inevitable change.
While the band’s full-length debut album ‘Cinematic’s in 2012 embraced their moodier rock side, later efforts took on an upbeat pop twist that culminated in a darker synergy of those styles on their last album Midnight. ‘Elsewhere’ is a transitional, moody, and forward thinking release, one in which they have faced their demons and come out happier and more full of life than ever before."

* 25th anniversary of DCLXVI To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak The Truth

* Finally reissued/released packaged as the band originally intended it.

* Vinyl comes in Gatefold sleeve.

* CD version has the classic poster booklet.

* Newly remastered by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios (Hellacopters, Alcest, Cult of Luna, Imperial State Electric, Misery loves Co, Lucifer, Dool, Refused and more…)

* Swedish Music Hall Of Fame inductees

* Long time out of print, now available again

* High class re-release that the fans waited for!

* Entombed are one of the originators of Scandinavian death metal

Red Vinyl

That we live in a world changed is beyond question. Since 2015's Zenith, Berlin-based songwriter Molly Nilsson has surrendered to the world, traveling from Mexico to Glasgow, observing the changing socio-political landscape and imagining a better world. For an artist who has so successfully created her own environment and gradually let others in, her 8th studio album Imaginations sees Nilsson directly engaging with her surroundings, engendering change and allowing love in. Imaginations dreams big, recasting storming, stadium-sized pop into the internal language of the solo auteur. Imaginations is not escapism, it's a kaleidoscope and an alternative view, an agent of change.Opener Tender Surrender encapsulates Imaginations, a tango on the ruins of the past, like many of Nilsson's best songs a collision between the political and personal. Though potentially a love song, there's a glowing anger in the lines I want your ruin, I want destruction, I won't be through until we mend this...' this is rapturous transformation, order and chaos. Molly has built an almost 10 year career on perfectly summing up how we feel and this is no different... Who else could write a song about privilege (Let's Talk About Privileges) and make a heart-rending chorus of It's never being afraid of the police, it's expecting every thank you, every please.' The artist's vision on this album is perhaps more forceful than the emotionally fragile moments of previous album Zenith, at times exemplified on songs like Memory Foam, a bright, driving pop song that belies themes of nostalgia and the past, reminding us that Molly alone can make us feel so welcome in loneliness. If there's overt anger in songs like Money Never Sleeps, an anthem for a post-capitalist utopia if ever there was one, there's also seams of optimism sewn into the album's genetic code. Any revolutionary will tell you that anger alone achieves nothing - Nilsson's mission on Imaginations is to offer some alternatives we can hold close. Not Today Satan is a song about accepting love as the agent of change, Don't be sad, but do get mad at all the small men who act so tall, in the end they always fall, there ain't no sin in giving in to love, that's just how we're winning the fight.' Love can be visceral, a weapon with which to fight the power.On Imaginations Molly is recasting her interior monologue as a prism through which to see the world, a means to live differently and to reject the status quo. We can Think Pink, change our destiny together. This is an optimism about the future when we need it the most. New boys, new girls.. give me your smile and I'll give you mine' Clearly, we are living through a transformation but with alchemists like Molly Nilsson, we're never alone in the process.

Starting life in the early 1970's, US legends Pentagram is one of the most
enduring underground bands in heavy metal history - Influenced by
British bands 'The Groundhogs' & 'Black Sabbath', their own take on Doom
Metal has subsequently influenced everyone from 'Paradise Lost' to
'Cathedral' - Though the band line-up has changed many times over the
years, enigmatic vocalist Bobby Liebling remains at the helm, with
Pentagram now widely-regarded as a true cult band with a fanbase
transcending whole generations
'Relentless' was the band's debut album & was originally self-released in 1985 as
'Pentagram' - later to be renamed & released by Peaceville in 1993, after a long
search for a suitable record label. With its numerous timeless heavy metal
anthems & the distinguishable voice of Bobby Liebling eerily ringing out,
'Relentless' remains the most iconic release of the band's studio output & a staple
of the entire heavy doom genre.

On new record For The Birds, Atlanta-based Neighbor Lady expand the
boundaries of their country-kissed indie rock sound to encompass an
elegant style of lush and textural guitar pop sprinkled with, as songwriter
and vocalist Emily Braden puts it, with "reverb and magic
" Full of gorgeous top- line melodies, spirited rock hooks, and Braden's richly
emotive vocals (and plenty of twang), For The Birds takes a kaleidoscopic
approach to genre. The record features everything from catchy alternative
("Penny Pick It Up") and starry- eyed country ("I'm With You") to straightforward
indie rock ("Scared") and ambient- indebted otherworldly pop ("Haunted").
Neighbor Lady began as Braden's solo project, but is now a four-piece consisting
of Braden, guitarist Jack Blauvelt, bassist Payton Collier, and drummer Andrew
McFarland. The band recorded For The Birds with Jason Kingsland (Kaiser Chiefs,
Band of Horses, Belle & Sebastian) at Diamond Street Studios in Atlanta and it
was mixed by Noah Georgeson (Andy Shauf, Cate Le Bon, Devendra Banhart,
Joanna Newsom.) Though For The Birds is hallmarked by big sonic flourishes
and brave moments of experimentation, the overall feeling is one of intimacy —
four people in a room, making music together; fitting for a group of musicians
who say they feel less like a band and more like a family. "This record came out of
a lot of love and hard work and us caring so much about the music and each
other," says Braden. "And that's pretty much what we're about."

Classic Double Black Vinyl, DL card. The Nightingales' last original full-length for two decades stands as the final masterpiece postpunk album released before the C86 era. Back on vinyl for the first time in over 3 decades, the reissue is updated to include the whole of the 1985's 7" single "It's A Cracker" and "What A Carry On" 12" EP, plus a clutch of rare tracks never before released on vinyl and a bit of history from Robert Lloyd. Despondently anti-Thatcher and with an air of hopelessness, In The Good Old Country Way has the sense that time was allowed for experimentation and reflection during its creation. Expectations were high as The Nightingales released their sole Vindaloo album and possibly the most underrated album of the postpunk era. The opening number is heavy on the hoedown, not unlike records their pals The Mekons would release around the same time - a rootsy underlayment to songs of wit, energy and observation, adaptable both to lengthy groove-based observation and high-octane rants alike. Maria Smith's violin weaves in and out of songs, while the rhythm section of Pete Jenner (bass) and Ron Collins (drums) hold what might have been a disjointed mess, but it's multi-instrumentalist / arranger Pete Byrchmore who shares the spotlight with Lloyd. "It's A Cracker" stuns, not stylistically dissimilar to their recent records for the first ninety seconds, though featuring a bridge hinting at new developments in their sound which could be heard on the next Nightingales release, ‘What A Carry On’. A sublime record, it features the powerful title track in two version, one of the band's best songs, "Comfort And Joy", and the tenderly alienating "First My Job". "Lloyd's cracked it. A fucking good album." Mark E. Smith, The Fall.

Translucent purple 180 Gram vinyl with Download card including all 12
tracks that appear on the CD
Over a 45-year career as one of the world's top blues musicians, Ronnie Earl has
transfixed audiences with his distinct sound of emotion-laden blues. On his own
and with his band The Broadcasters, Ronnie is a four- time Blues Music Award
winner as "Guitar Player of the Year," with 28 albums and multiple chart-topping
compositions in his catalogue.
Ronnie sets the songs of this album into context with a quote from Rev Dr Martin
Luther King Jr prominently placed in the album art: "The Blues tell the story of
life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the
hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new
hope or sense of triumph."
These songs present triumphant Blues - uplifting and hopeful songs that point to
a better tomorrow, including "Soul Searching," "A Prayer for Tomorrow," "The Sun
Shines Brightly" and "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher And Higher." Celebrating
artists who have contributed to the theme of hope, Mercy Me includes "Blues for
Ruthie Foster," "Blues for Duke Robillard" and "Dave's Groove" (co- written with
Dave Limina).

BLACK Vinyl + DOWNLOAD
Emerging as one of the most vital producers from South America to Europe, Filmmaker is back on Veyl with the new album, Fictional Portrayals. Recorded in his home country in Envigado, Colombia, the
release delivers 8 tracks of raw, body pursuits proving yet again that he remains at the forefront of EBM, industrial, wave and beyond. While always carrying the producer’s soundtrack influenced sound, the LP kicks offwith the haunting 'All About That Pyramid' moving next to the title track’s driving energy while then shifting to the more cerebral programming of 'Possession' ft. Bad Faith Actor.
Things are just picking up with club decimators like 'Splitter' and 'Immune to Propaganda' while also switching moods with the more sinister 'Orphic Eggs' and the mesmerizing 'Continuity'. Rounding out
the release is the cold, emotional ride of 'Far From Prospect', leaving us with a sense of dread while simultaneously questioning just what is fact and what is fiction - something we never quite know in today’s multi-dimensional existence.

Debut full-length collaboration from Jack Burton and Rory Glacken (Tourist Kid)
Follows Jack Burton's solo LP on Analogue Attic and Tourist Kid's solo LP on Melody As Truth
Early support from Ben Fester, Best Effort/DJ Earl Grey, Biscuit (Good Morning Tapes), Brian Not Brian, Ewan Jansen, Kato, Merve, Sleep D & Wax'o Paradiso
Dentistry is the dual energies of Rory Glacken and Jack Burton, Boorloo originals now living in Naarm. The pair have previously released an EP, "Ribbons," on their own Deep Water label, and a track on its local showcase comp "Greenhouse Vol. I" at the end of 2021. This transmission is their debut full length offering, channeled through hometown beacon Good Company Records.

"LP1" was created in unusual conditions between September and December of 2020, when the duo's shared Northcote studio became a site of remote collaboration. One person would start working on a track and leave the session open for the other, with no overlap of physical space shared. Responding to an invitation from GCR to make a record, the initial impulse was to write dance music. But what dance floor were these incorporeal partners writing for?

The album takes a spectral approach to the dance space, wrapping up air in a strata of textural tech, pulsing dub house and fractal illbience. Drawing on dub production techniques, "LP1" combines the structure of an ambient record with intricate percussive elements. Results are both atmospheric and material, abstract and palpable: a synthesis which expresses sonic relations of surface and depth, with the correlating mirage of light and shadow.

At times tinkering methodically and others in mercurial lurch, there is an immediacy to this album that stems from the way it was produced, using a mixing desk and outboard gear to rich and living effect. When we listen, we commune with the artists in the heat of working out of an otherworldly space, and feel every tweak and and turn. "LP1" is a current which carries the substance of process in communicable form. Intuitive and moving, breathing, dancing.

“Total Terror” is the second of two self-released cassette tapes by EBM-industrial act Front Line Assembly. At this point, Bill Leeb was the band's only dedicated member, with some help from Rhys Fulber. Most of the original cassette was remixed and remastered to be commercially released on CD in 1993 as “Total Terror 1”. This edition added three previously-unreleased bonus tracks from other old sessions: "Freedom", "Distorted Vision" and "Cleanser”. The original recordings of these songs were done in 1986 using nothing more than a four track recording system. This would be quite primitive for today's standards and sound quality will not be so effective, however the ideas are all there letting us enjoy some of the first songs created by Front Line Assembly.

Deluxe re-release including all tracks from “Total Terror 1” plus the rare song “Eternal” and some bonus taken from old compilations. Limited pressing of 500 copies with double vinyl record, deluxe gatefold sleeve and new vintage artwork.

Provogue / Mascot Label Group announce this special vinyl reissue of
blues-titan Joe Bonamassa's back catalogue
'Blues Deluxe' is one of the most popular releases of Joe Bonamassa and this
new re-issue has been expanded to 2 discs to ensure optimal audio quality.
Blues Deluxe is the third studio album by Joe Bonamassa and originally released
on August 26, 2003. Recorded at Unique Recording Studios in New York City, it
was produced by Bob Held and features nine cover versions of songs by classic
blues artists, such as BB King, Jeff Beck, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson,
Elmore James and more. The album is completed with three original tracks,
including the fan favorite Woke Up Dreaming.
With 25 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises,
he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a
toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can
experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.

This LP repress is on black vinyl, includes A3 Theatrical Poster, Booklet + DL Card. Following the huge recent success of ‘King Rocker’, spotlighting The Nightingales as one of the best band’s in Britain, comes the soundtrack. Comedian Stewart Lee and director Michael Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast Of London) investigate a missing piece of punk history. Robert Lloyd, best known for fronting cult Birmingham bands The Prefects and The Nightingales, has survived under the radar for over four decades. But how, if at all, does Robert want to be remembered? The anti-rockumentary ‘King Rocker’ weaves the story of Birmingham’s undervalued underdog autodidact into that of the city’s forgotten public sculpture of King Kong, eschewing the celebrity interview and archive-raid approach for a free-associating bricolage of Indian food, bewildered chefs, vegetable gardening, prescription medicines, pop stardom and pop art. All of the highlights from the film are here, along with rarities which won’t appear on any of the deluxe reissues of the Nightingales’ catalogue, among them 7″ versions of “Use Your Loaf”, the Bob Luman hit “Let’s Think About Living” and “Black Country”, a glam remix of crowd favourite “Thick And Thin” and a version of Christy & Emily’s “Ghost” which rivals the Nightingales’ take on TLC’s “Unpretty” for sheer beauty. The only act with roots in the punk era that have gone on to make records more captivating, cutting and entertaining today than at any point in their past; 2022 will be a busy year for the Nightingales, with months of live dates planned, a limited edition remix 12″, deluxe reissues of both ‘Hysterics’ and ‘In The Good Old Country Way’, and a hardcover book collecting Robert’s lyrics. “An inspiring comeback story that feels profoundly necessary” The Quietus // “Lee tells Lloyd’s story with skill, passion and verve” The Times // Track listing: A1 Use Your Loaf

Members of Island of Love, Imposter, Lawful Killing, Antag-onizm, Powerplant. For Fans of Sheer Terror, Crumbsuckers, Cro-Mags, Slayer. Quality Control HQ proudly releases The Masters' Orders, the new LP from South London UK hardcore band Mastermind, the jewel in the crown of UKHC. This is the band's third release after 2019's Bad Reaction EP and comes on the heels of recently released single "Price You Pay". The new release, which was recorded at East London's most vibrant independent music hub, Fuzzbrain Studios, finds Mastermind continue to walk a well crafted line between almost jazz like song writing wrapped in the meat and potatoes sound of 80s NYHC, but this time amping up the rabid dog energy to another level. Having played with a range of punk and hardcore bands from Judge to Chubby and the Gang on their home turf, this summer sees Mastermind, with members of Island of Love, touring with NYHC upstarts Combust across Europe and playing Fluff Fest, equally comfortable playing to punks, metalheads and everyone in between. If one proposes that the classic late eighties NYHC sound owed a chunk of its identity to blue collar meat heads from Queens, then the same can be said for London hardcore’s meatiest riffs coming from Croydon cousins who work construction, built their own instruments and met their lead guitarist on the tram. This band reminds me of Rest in Pieces, Breakdown, Sick of it All, Sheer Terror, Inside Out NYC, and a touch of Cleveland’s Die Hard with a healthy dose of crossover picking and a heap of sick guitar solos. Something all of the above bands had in common was the ability to blur the fine line between great genius and great stupidity. It's a delicate natural balance reached only by bands that don’t take themselves too seriously but would kick your ass if you called them a joke. There is a clearly defined love of hardcore, in its many forms, behind the songwriting in Mastermind – a band of young heads and scene mainstays who intend to have fun playing hardcore the way they like it. After a four year run with a solid demo and a crushing EP, Mastermind are ready to present you with their masterpiece – The Masters’ Orders

Celebrating 10 years in the game this year and after a slight covid-induced pause, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams are back with fresh new summer heat straight from the depths of the colosseum on their Neutralizer sub-label. Longtime friend of the DABJ crew Delphi (who is also one half of Tiger & Woods alongside Marco Passarani) joins up with four shining examples of forward thinking machine driven funk, the type you can only expect to hear from the eternal city of Rome.

Strictly limited hand stamped edition on Carmine Red vinyl. Don't Sleep on this one, people.

CYPRESS HILL - 30th ANNIVERSARY CASE BOOK
To commemorate the 30 year Anniversary of Cypress Hill’s debut album Get On Down is proud to present the complete album on 7 inch vinyl singles for the rst time ever housed in a deluxe casebook. LIMITED TO 2000 UNITS WORLDWIDE! The debut album is presented as a set of six 7-Inch vinyl records presented in a Hardcover Casebook which holds all six records in built-in sleeves Full-color 80 page booklet with liner notes by journalist Chris Faraone, complete with photos and lyrics, and more Housed in a premium outer slipcase, debossed with the iconic Cypress Hill logo in metallic red foil. When Cypress Hill came with their debut self-titled album 30 years ago, they made an immediate spark that captivated the Hip Hop audience, critics, and then the world. Led by B-Real with his nasal, singsong delivery, and Sen Dog to play the perfect hypeman, Cypress’ debut fueled tales of revenge, revolution, recreational drug use, gangbanging, and cultural pride. Like Public Enemy before them, the production was also a key factor in what made this debut so groundbreaking. DJ Muggs was able to craft a blueprint that would change Hip Hop production with his innovative stoned-out beats. Records like "How I Could Just Kill a Man", "Pigs", "Stoned is the Way of the Walk" and "Hand on the Pump" made this album an instant classic. Since its release, the album has won acclaim as one of Rolling Stone's Essential Recordings of the 90s and Top 100 Best Rap Albums by The Source Magazine. Journalist and author Chris Faraone highlights the group's relationship in the reissue's liner notes saying, "By the late 80s the undisputed Cypress unit finally formed. B and Sen realized that their diametric styles - the latter's deep wrangle, the formers inimitable high notes - complemented one another righteously. By then Muggs had bangers in the bag, as well as industry experience from a jaunt with the New York duo 7A3. B and Sen waited while Muggs messed with 7A3, and in that time began to build the blueprint for their raucous and weeded no-holds-barred style. Besides getting schooled on industry pitfalls, Muggs had also grown into hip-hop's most formidable young producer, while straddling the bi-coastal gap." Faraone was able to dive in deep with the band for the liner notes, hearing story after story, including the particularly interesting tale of their unlikely 91 radio hit, "How I Could Just Kill A Man". In the B Side wins again story, the group recalls receiving resistance from the label in regards to which single should hit radio first. Initially, the label thought "How I Could Just Kill A Man" was too risky, and even though the single initially "The Phuncky Feel One", one of the album's strongest cuts, as the A-Side, college and commercial mix-show radio couldn't resist the dusted, heavy groove of Kill A Man. The song – which included a catchy, LA drive-by-inspired chorus – ended up as an unlikely, but powerful double A-sided single that even topped the Billboard Rap charts. More singles would follow, including "Hand On The Pump"; "Pigs"; and "Latin Lingo". And by the fall of 1991, the album was a full-blown critics darling. If you are a Cypress Hill fan and 45 collector this limited edition 30 year Anniversary 7” boxset is a must have!

We’re stoked to welcome back Medlar to Delusions for his third EP on the label and you’re in for a proper treat! One of the unsung heroes of UK underground house music, Medlar has released on Wolf Music, Wah Wah 45’s and West Friends. His remixes and edits for the likes of West End, Kon, Dele Sosimi, Glenn Astro, Disclosure and Billy Cobham always hit the spot with an authentic, raw and crunchy sound that work magic on the dance floor.

Here on his Interruptor EP we have 4 tracks which show off his range as a producer, taking in percussive tools, deep and dusty basement jams and blissful late night atmospherics. Lead track Interruptor is deceptively simple but devastating on a big system. Chopped up percussion, speaker wobbling bass and a heavy kick lay the foundation for crazy timbales and filtering syn-toms, all topped off with a familiar sample from back in the rave days.

Next up we have I Wish which features Kim Anh who delivers a brilliant vocal complimenting the low-slung disco drums, 808 percussion and fat bassline perfectly. This is our idea of what a modern day house hit should sound like. Raw and unpolished with a loose, un-quantized groove so you can feel the funk and a dynamic arrangement which keeps the energy high throughout.

Flipping over we have Cable Street which cranks things up with a techy house jam perfect for more peaks time sets. Once again, Medlar knows ex- actly how to make more with less and keeps the shuffling drums stripped back and simple stabs and modulating FX front and centre for maximum im- pact.

Finally, Turn Things Around brings a more 90’s deep NYC feel to the EP with floating pads, bouncing bassline, piano stabs and organ riff. Subtley epic and grandiose without being showy, this is a slow-burner that could just be one of those B2 tracks which become your favourite of the release.

Back In Stock!

‘Cranes In The Sky,’ was originally written by Beyonce’s baby sister Solange alongside Raphael Saadiq, for her album back in 2016 that was cited by Rolling Stone as one of the most important 500 records of all time. The words exploring a fearless journey inward, pulling up the root of a problem, and the first glimpse of blue sky after the storm has passed.

Fast forward to 2022 - Ross Allen and Andy Thompson’s Foundation Music Productions enlist the expertise of Baltimore club legend, Dj Oji, together with Tracy Hamlin (Pieces Of A Dream), to take Solange’s breakout delivery to the dancefloor. Soulful vocals will heal you, while the mid-tempo moments will mellow the masses, and UK Funky grooves will keep the shuffle moving along way into the early hours. Three remixes come in the form of the ethereal DJ Pope Funkhut Reprise, a signature Joe Goddard groover and the Star One. KDA. Meltdown Dub.

DJ Feedback:

FRANCOIS K
Yes! I played the vocal version the other day again.

KAI ALCE
Dope re-interpretation from Baltimore stalwarts OJI, POPE & Tracy!

GREG WILSON
What's not to like? Love the orig Solange jam!

DANNY KRIVIT
Nice, I like a lot of DJ Oji.

SOUL CLAP/ ELI GOLDSTEIN
Fire right here

DAZ I KUE/ BUGZ IN THE ATTIC
Yea I love this one…cool vibes.

THATMANMONKZ
Oh yeah, love the Solange original, and I’m a big Oji fan! That reprise version might come in very useful for the right set!

TERRY FARLEY/ FAITH
Got to be contender for single of the month with that story x

HOT TODDY
Simply beautiful.

CRAIG SMITH/ 6TH BOROUGH PROJECT
Loved the original of this from Solange a few years back, this is a real nice interpretation of it. Liking the reprise and Dub, handy tools

CHARLES WEBSTER
Nice soulful groover. Like this.

FISH GOO DEEP/ GREG DOWLING
Lovely re imagining of one of my favourite tracks of all time

FRANK BOOKER
Love this package. Reprise mix is the one for me. Very cool!

NICK V/ LA MONA
Thanks a lot I actually prefer the dub version :)

JIMPSTER/ FREERANGE
Killer groove on this and really nice to hear a housed up version of Cranes which is such a stunning song in it’s OG form. Def something I’d like to play out.

FELIX JOY/ SWU.FM
Yes ! I flippin love a good reprise mix and this one is doing it for me. Love the original version by Solange and this is a really great rework!

STEVE PARRY / FOR SASHA
Really Smoove love it.

GROOVE ARMADA/ TOM FINDLAY
THIS IS LOVELY!!

RALPH SESSION/ HALF ASSED RECORDS
Wow the dubstrumental really gives it new life.

QUENTIN HARRIS
I love this package.

GRAME PARK/ THE HACIENDA
This is tremendous

HECTOR ROMERO/ DEF MIX
Good to see this one got picked up. I’ve played this a few times since 2018 but will get it back in rotation. Glad to see this song is getting some traction. I look forward to the unreleased versions.

ANDY BUCHAN
What a sun-dappled slice of beauty! Full support on this, what a gorgeous EP. And those drums are ace, really propulsive.

DANIELLE MOORE/ CRAZY P
Yeah I really like this. I mean I love the original but theres something quite interesting about this. Nice yeah x

MARC MEISNERE/ SOL POWER SOUND
Yes please! Can’t wait to play this one!

STEFANO TUCCI/ HELL YEAH
This is one of the best best vocal of recent times, I love It, the crescendo towards half of the track is nothing but gorgeous!

TREVOR FING/ GRAFITTI KINGS
Love these remixes.

MAX P/ HELL YEAH
Yeah, full pack is what I needed !

HORSE MEAT DISCO/ SEVERINO
Really into this!

SEAN JOHNSTON/ ALFOS
I wouldn't play it, but it's a beautiful piece of work

GRAEME PARK/ THE HACIENDA
I’m gonna enjoy playing this its lovely.

NICK V/ LA MONA
Thanks a lot I actually prefer the dub version :)

TREVOR FUNG/ GRAFITTI KINGS
Love this !!

QUENTIN HARRIS
Being a fan of the Original I love everything about this.

ALAN DIXON/ MIDNIGHT MAGIC
Killer!!!!

DAVE JARVIS/ FAITH
This is amazing! Absolutely love xx

NICK V/ LA MONA
This is a fantastic track!

MAX P/ HELL YEAH
Oh yeaahhhh

RICK GILL/ OUTLAWS YACHT CLUB
Beautiful soulful house. Quality production and top draw vocals.

MICKEY JUKES/ 1BTN
Ooof! Such a strong record to step to but i love this. Classy production, vocals are killer. All round winner!

TOMMY TURBO JAZZ/ JAXX MEDICINE
I was a fan of the OG but I really needed this cut!!

RUSSELL FORMAN/ PIKES/ HARRYS KEBABS
This is great .... I'm writing an article on the Coney Island Boardwalk house parties atm.

JIM LISTER/ 1BTN
Loving the reprise and the dub!I'm a big fan of the Solange original, so it's nice to hear a new angle on it

CHRIS DE BEURRE/ THE EAGLE
Gorgeous vocal! And such a deep production - really like this! Infectious x

DAIRMONT/ ROOM WITH A VIEW
Amazing track. Loving it!

STEVE PARRY/ FOR SASHA
Beautiful super smooth.

LES CROASDAILE/ FREIGHT ISLAND
Tune this, reminds of Southport weekender!

Groove Armada’s iconic Back To Mine compilation from the Millennium gets a long-awaited re-issue 22 years after its original release. As Groove Armada celebrate 25 years of touring with their final ever world live tour, which includes nine huge dates across the UK, it’s a chance to relive Groove Armada’s eclectic and expert curation.

The album, which was one of the biggest ever selling editions of the Back To Mine Series, will be available on double heavyweight vinyl for the first timers well as a limited collectors edition in Pumpkin orange. This release marks the first of many reissues of iconic Back To Mine titles.

The Groove Armada special edition package features 12 tracks featured on the seminal album in one of the best loved compilation series’. Despite the length in time since its original release, the album remains timeless with an inspired selection ranging from A Tribe Called Quest, Barry White, Tears For Fears to the compilers themselves.

For nearly two decades, Groove Armada have been established as one of the planet's best loved and biggest selling dance acts. As comfortable on the big stages as they are in sweat soaked basements, the boys cross genres and styles with ease. This translates perfectly into their addition of Back To Mine which boldly, yet effortlessly traverses a multitude of sounds that you wouldn’t imagine could be the perfect match. Collectively, the album is colorfully funky, soulful, and incredibly smooth.


From their house to yours, listening pleasure is guaranteed.

· One of the biggest ever selling editions of the Back ToMine series repressed for the first time.

· Groove Armada will be embarking on their final live tour around some of the UK’s most iconic venues in 2022 & several festival appearances.

· Marketing campaign celebrating 25 years of the Back To Mine series and the start of back catalog reissues

· Available on heavyweight double vinyl only, Including collectors coloured orange vinyl edition.

· Features legends such as Barry White, A Tribe Called Quest, Tears For Fears and Groove Armada themselves.

It’s going off and The Chisel are back to cause a bit of bovver. Following a trio of explosive singles, the band finally bring us their debut full-length album, Retaliation, on the London-based punk institution La Vida Es Un Mus. Having formed in early 2020 and featuring a crew of members with long-term associations to the London punk scene, The Chisel quickly secured a reputation as one of the most exciting bands from a pool of contemporaries that includes Chubby & The Gang, Stingray and Big Cheese. Their sound is rooted firmly in Punk but with influences that run across the board to create a distinctive blend of Oi!, anarcho, UK-82 and hardcore. Retaliation is an unmistakably British record that draws a line from 1982 up to the present day, pushing its way into your collection and torching your stereo. Opening with the agitated force of ‘Unlawful Execution’, the tone is firmly set by a song that addresses the brutality of the Met Police (“Tell me what’s the difference between right or wrong / When a copper gets to blast a lad who did nothing wrong”). ‘Come See Me’ is a ferocious ode to camaraderie in the face of mouthy boneheads and bellends. ‘Shit Life Syndrome’ is a poisoned reference to the same cynical phrase used by physicians to describe the effects of people living under poverty and in the grips of substance abuse (“How can you expect people to act nicely, they’ve all been left on the edge of society”). It’s one of many songs influenced by singer Cal’s experiences of growing up in the working-class town of Blackpool. Cal states: “Blackpool as a town is often overlooked or even looked down upon, I wanted to write lyrics which gave the people of my town a voice”. With tunes like these The Chisel show that they’ll never pull any punches. However, beyond the fury and the swagger there’s another side that plays to an additional strength; the ability to write a memorable hook. Songs like ‘Retaliation’, ‘Tooth & Nail’ and ‘Not The Only One’ could be described as modern day anthems (the latter has become a fan favourite since the arrival of their first live shows) and cement their identity as a band not to be defined by their influences. Recorded by Jonah Falco at Total Refreshment Centre, London, March 2021.
Mixed by James Atkinson at the Stationhouse in Leeds. Mastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory. Cover painting by Tara Atefi.

First ever repress of the sought after psychedelic tinged funk rock private press album 'Eclipse of the City' from 1980 New York. Originally recorded between 1975 and 1977 in Manhattan's garment district. Eclipse of the City lay dormant on a reel to reel player whilst frontman Carlos Fire Aguasvivas muddled through life working as a data entry clerk away from his fellow band members. It wasn't till he rediscovered the tapes that a sudden life affirming moment drove him to get the music pressed. Putting pen to paper Carlos created the artwork as a homage to his love of comic art and brought the band to life on the reverse with his spindly characters engrossed in the jam. Only 300 copies were pressed at the time leading to eye-watering prices for a copy. with a recent digital re-release from Indian Summer's Anthology Records, Sticky Buttons stepped up to repress the record with a limited run of 500, lovingly manufactured in the UK in all its vinyl glory.

Arriving in the Bronx from the civil unrest of Santo Domingo in the early 60's Aguasvivas was surrounded by the raucous sounds of rock, jazz and prog. Absorbing the humdrum atmosphere of life in New York, Eclipse of the City came from the minds of close friends Carlos Aguasvivas, Steve Garcia and Eddy Garcia. Meeting at Monroe High School the three of them quickly formed a strong bond over their shared interest in music. It wasn't long after that they began rehearsing in a basement under a neighbourhood cleaners and in the attic of Steve and Eddy's family home piecing together their extended sessions of tripped out cinematic psychedelia.

Recording got off to a rocky start as a car accident left the three band members in A&E after taking an early morning cab ride through Manhattan to watch the sunrise on their way into the studio (a theatrical artistic statement of intent conceived by Steve Garcia) - as Eddy mentioned "Eclipse was forged from a lot of pain". Their recording sessions were postponed but a few weeks later they were back and with the added energy of John Ortega on Bass and Vincent Anderson on electric piano and organ - with just a few microphones and a reel to reel recorder, Eclipse of the City was laid down as the stark bold homage to New York's downtown.

Influences ranged from the cinematic behemoth Jaws to the UK prog rock bands of Genesis, Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer but only could Eclipse of the City take its unique form in the attics and basements of New York with the full band adding their Puerto Rican and Dominican slanted New York energy. Side one includes 3 fully formed tracks breaking out into eerie moments of calm before diving into well timed jolts of reprise as each element weaves over the top of one another whilst side two presents a 30 minute narrative work following the night adventures of a young group of friends exploring the vibrant nightlife of downtown New York. A rumbling half hour of wobbling guitar, tight drumming and synth organ licks jutting out from the glistening lights of the night before the sun rises down Manhattan's East-West axis as the lilt changes and the organ lulls the friends back home. A truly idiosyncratic take on the heady world of New York in the 70's and one that still resonates with our urban landscapes and love for the nights they bring today.

a 01: Think Positive (Live) feat. Steve Garcia, Edward Garcia & John Ortega
b 02: Jennifer (Live) feat. Steve Garcia, Edward Garcia, Vincent Anderson & John Ortega
c 03: Try It All Again (Live) [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Edward Garcia & Steve Garcia]
[d] 04: Eclipse A (Beginnings) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Edward Garcia & Steve Garcia]
[e] 05: Eclipse B (First Movement) [Live] [feat. John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[f] 06: Eclipse C (Hustle Bustle) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[g] 07: Eclipse D (Funky Side of Town) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[h] 08: Eclipse E (Midnight) [Live] [feat. John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[i] 09: Eclipse F (First Movement Continued) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[j] 10: Eclipse G (Home) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]

He might be vocalist in bands such as Brighton-based progressive act Diagonal and psychedelic outfit Baron, but when it comes to his solo work Alex Crispin has typically worked in more wordless fields. Last year the songwriter, vocalist and producer released a triptych of ambient albums, consisting of two older albums in 'Idle Worship' and 'Open Submission', as well as new meditative work in 'Resubmergency'. On his new self-titled album, however, Crispin re-emerges from the cavernous soundscapes to – for the first time – put his vocal and song writing stamp on a record under his own name. “I personally find it easier to create more guarded, moody music, but I was at a point where I wanted to embrace a more universal, intimate and open side to what I might say” Crispin says. “Over time I’d got over certain blocks or preoccupations and so wanted to create something accessible and open hearted, which became a big driver for this record.” Pointedly self-titled to reflect the newfound confidence in his song writing away from the collective of a band, the album’s nine tracks are a warm embrace amidst troubled times. Musically there’s nods to everything from tropicalia and Brazilian MPB, to 80’s dusk pop balladeers The Blue Nile and Paul Simon’s explorations into African music. Lyrically aware of the snowballing turbulence that surrounds us, Crispin in reaction tries to see hope and looks around at the relationships and connections in his life that provide him strength. He opens 'Invisible (To Us)' with the words “Before the world did end, there was just one moment when, everybody thought there might be time, to look around again, to laugh to cry to sing.” Elsewhere, 'Listen & Learn' strikes at the heart of other underlying themes of the record, of the rarity of people opening up, taking on new ideas and allowing change. It’s accompanied with a rich, maximal sound palette of flute and sax that play around each other as Crispin’s vocal chips in with gentle encouragement. “One of the main markers on the album that I was aware of from the start, was to let myself express joy and positivity in the music” he says. “I have come to greatly prize the power of accessibility and universality over artistic 'coolness or trend', much in the same way that so often for me, the greatest pieces of art humans make nowadays are things like Pixar movies, with their combination of undeniable human talent and craft, alongside genuinely moving and accessible themes.” Indeed, there is a cinematic feel to much of Crispin’s own music, something brought over from his ambient creations – although his self-titled album possesses a panorama all of its own. Something like 'When I Reach The Ocean' has a hazy, pastoral feel to it like something out of the Canterbury Folk scene; there’s space between the notes though, which in turn pushes the track out to a greater expanse than the comparatively soft-edged and modest sound palette used to create it. Similarly, the likes of 'Effert' revel in the space afforded to them - in the case of the aforementioned in particular, Crispin lets his voice take a back seat and creates an open wash of sound that he allows the guitar to probe and explore within. “In making any music I am definitely conscious of trying to put in only what is effective” Crispin says. “It is so easy to clutter tracks without realising it, just having the ability to add stuff can just become addictive as it’s so easy to do with recording setups now.” The album started coming together at the end of 2020, with Crispin getting most of the songs to a concrete state, before starting recording in May 2021 with Diagonal bandmates Luke Foster (drums) and Daniel Pomlett (Bass), who put down rhythm tracks. Jazz saxophonist Rob Milne then added parts which would become the glue that held the whole organic aesthetic of the album together. There’s no doubt that lockdown played a part in proceedings, with a kind of forced focus resulting in a need for joyful expression. However, Crispin and his partner also suffered a bereavement which led to her travelling for large periods of time. “It was a very intense and difficult time and I think some of the intensity of emotion of that situation coupled with being alone must have inevitably contributed to the work itself” he says. It's perhaps why when even in moments of sheer happiness, such as the 'Sabu’s' breezily euphoric opener, Crispin ponders: “No-one really cares beyond this moment, and even when it's here, it's never here”. It’s the first of several bittersweet moments on the record that give the album its weight. On this new LP, Crispin recognises that sadness doesn’t mean throwing out hope, and that even in moments of joy there’s still a path ahead of you to take.

Giallo is the fourth in a series of five double vinyl releases that bring together some of Ennio Morricone’s greatest soundtrack music. Each collection centres on a different movie genre, together they allow the listener to rediscover the unmatched genius of the greatest movie composer of all time. The Maestro. This collection was announced before Ennio Morricone passed away on July 6, 2020. We’ll continue to release the series to honour this great composer.

When we think of 1960’s Italian pulp cinema, the spaghetti western is the genre that comes to mind. However, Italy was responsible for another classic cinematic exploitation movement around the same time, one that is equally as compelling, but less widely recognised. Giallo…

Giallo, meaning ‘yellow’, is the Italian term for crime fiction, it was named after the bright yellow colours of early pulp fiction paperbacks. Film audiences adopted it as the name for a peculiarly Italian sub-genre of thriller cinema that had its heyday in the 1970’s - just as the Spaghetti Western movement was waning. The Giallo can be difficult to define, but essentially it is an Italian crime film that draws from a pool of common themes: stylized murders, amateur sleuths, sleazy glamour, psychological crimes, enigmatic titles and all these themes are underpinned by creepily atmospheric Ennio Morricone music scores. Starting 70 years ago as an arranger for the piece Mamma Bianca, Ennio Morricone is the emperor of scores and soundtracks. Morricone has always been a huge influence for the likes of Hans Zimmer, Danger Mouse, Muse, Metallica and many more musicians. He was one of the most successful composers of all-time, selling over 70 million records and winning dozens of awards.

Giallo is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies on “giallo and black marbled” (clear, yellow and black mixed) vinyl. The package includes a 4-page insert with liner notes written by Claudio Fuiano. The gatefold sleeve contains a silver foil spot varnish on the outside and images of iconic movie posters on the inside.

"It's a wonderfully uplifting album
As invigorating as a cold, sunny, Swedish morning, Kolonien have the freshness
of The Cardigans' early albums while at the same time sounding something like a
Nordic Fleet Foxes." - SonglinesKolonien is a four- member family band from
Sweden that has been one of the leading voices of the Swedish folk revival for
over a decade. With a sound that blends acoustic roots music with anthemic,
sing- along pop, Kolonien has a fresh, appealing sound that brings multiple
musical worlds together.Kolonien's lush vocal harmonies are reminiscent of Fleet
Foxes, their Nordic folk-pop sound might remind some listeners of Of Monsters
and Men, and their hipsters with strings vibe makes them Sweden's answer to
Mumford & Sons. At the same time, Kolonien's music and inspirations are deeply
rooted in the Swedish folk tradition as well as the natural environment and
progressive philosophies of the alternative-lifestyle community where they were
raised.Kolonien is made up of brothers Erik and Arvid Rask, their cousin Anna
Möller and their childhood neighbor, and "brother from another mother," Mischa
Grind. The members of the band were raised in and around Järna, a community
south of Stockholm that is known as a back-to-the-land destination for hippies,
progressives and people seeking an alternative lifestyle. While they had been
making music together since childhood, the band formally came together during
a music festival in Tanzania in 2010. Since then, they have toured extensively
across the world and released a number of well-received albums and EPs.

Reissue of 1995 low-fi folk debut of band
featuring Geoff Farina (Karate)

The Secret Stars debut was a cassette-only release issued
by Shrimper Records in 1995. Geoff Farina and Jodi Leo
would record two more full length releases on Shrimper in
the mid to late ’90s along with some seven-inch singles and
scattered tracks.
Geoff Farina would continue to write and record both
solo and in the band Karate. Leo has recorded some solo
records in the years since The Secret Stars disbanded.
This reissue of the first cassette has never sounded so
good. It has been painstakingly mastered from the original
cassette by Carl Saff. The vinyl pressed at Smashed Plastic
Pressing, the CD and digital taken from this mastering.
Attention has been paid to detail, making the experience
of listening analog or digitally reminiscent of the cassette
experience. The tracks are banded as two tracks, side one
and side two on the LP and as track one and two on the CD.
The first press of the LP is on limited edition clear vinyl
with a tour poster reproduction insert. The CD press is in a
digipack. Both include new liner notes by Dennis Callaci.

Since forming on O'ahu, Hawai'i, in 2009, The Green has become one of
the most successful and beloved bands in the reggae genre
During their relatively short career, the band has been awarded a "Best Reggae
Album" nod from iTunes (2010, for their self-titled debut), four coveted Na Hoku
Hanohano awards in their native Hawai'i (2014, including Group of the Year, two
time Reggae Album of the Year and Entertainer of the Year), and two #1 Billboard
Reggae chart debuts, along with charting on the Billboard Top 200. Not bad for a
band that was formed by six members of Hawai'i's tight- knit music scene to
record a few songs and have some fun. The Green was one of the first Hawaiian
reggae bands to tour extensively on the mainland, as well as going further afield
to New Zealand, Japan, and other locales. Before becoming a headliner on their
own, the band supported bands like Bruno Mars, Rebelution, Iration, Soja, and
Damian Marley. The Green's fourth studio album, 'Marching Orders' continues the
group's steady march to the top ranks of their genre and beyond, with early
reviews already calling it "innovative" and "imaginative."

On July 1st Ploy's ascendance continues with 'Unit 18' – a new EP dedicated to his record label and club night Deaf Test's spiritual home – Venue MOT Unit 18 in Bermondsey, South London. With an already loyal following and fabled atmosphere, the parties inform Ploy's productions and vice versa. "These are three rave tracks, all influenced by sound system culture, with my take on different styles, made for various times of the early hours in our sweaty venue", he comments. Maintaining the floor-focused approach of his previous, acclaimed 'Rayhana' EP, here Ploy brings more organized chaos. Sound waves blast away cobwebs with gale-force power, and jolt you awake, like an intravenous shot from the mains. These forthright, no-nonsense workouts appear simple, but are incredibly well-made, revealing discreetly clever touches likely to provoke 'how did he do that?’ scrutiny from other producers. With ten-ton-kick-drum pressure, snares like booted dustbins and an intense build of energy, on 'Stinky' a soundclash turns into a back alley brawl... with lazers. Influenced by drill bass lines, UK bass music and soundsystem culture, the 'stink and perspiration’ lyric will be surely be apt, especially with a July release date. Imagine the scene: whilst a deranged, malfunctioning robot MC yaps and undulates, vampires chase their victim through a packed rave, before feasting on flesh. Ravey and riotous, with horror flick tropes and a touch of electro, the 138bpm wallop of 'Ninety One' is an ode to his year of birth, when magpie like, sample heavy tracks made for innocent, non-overthought, but compelling anthems. Grimey like the dance after which it's named, title track ‘Unit 18’ is a 155bpm half-time stomper, with nods to bounce, 00s hip hop, UK drill and dubstep. Combining flying congas, wookie moans and a classic DMZ stye flute line, this low slung, personality filled throbber will stand out and turn heads.

Hailing from Portugal, PHENOCRYST was formed in early 2020 by D.S. (Archaic Tomb, Summon) and P. Tosher (Extreme Unction, Scum Liquor, ex-A Tree of Sign), with N. (Summon, Sepulcros, Concilium) and V.M. (Systemik Violence, Necrobode) joining later on, during the recording of their debut EP. The band is based in the outskirts of Lisbon, and the origin of such conjuration is a rigorous consequence of a vibrant underground activity in the city. D.S. and P. Tosher wanted to create the foundation of a death metal act crossing other influences like doom and some psychedelic vibes, to illustrate soundscapes of disastrous, catastrophic, and annihilating volcanic and natural events. There are not many artists actually singing about this specific topic, if any, and therefore, the lyrical content is also something to explore. As such, the moniker PHENOCRYST is fitting. Aptly titled Explosions, PHENOCRYST now reveal their debut recording. Totaling five tracks (one instrumental) over 23 minutes, Explosions unsettles with preternatural ease, reeking of death stench and obscure delirium. PHENOCRYST are proudly and purely death metal, but are emboldened in their liberation to explore within this rich language: Only Death is Realer. Indeed, Explosions is an explosive event, and one which marks PHENOCRYST's forthcoming debut album, which is currently being prepared. Take the first step into their burnt lands...

The multiple award winning action-adventure game God Of War was first released in 2005, but became such an instant hit, that Santa Monica Studio created seven more versions of the game. The most recent one, released in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, focusses on main character Kratos' journey in the Greek world together with his son Atreus, following a path of vengeance as a result of being tricked into killing his family by Olympian gods.

God of War received universal acclaim for its story, design, graphics, combat system, characters and music. It was awarded 'Game of the Year' by numerous media outlets and award shows. God Of War (2018) performed well commercially, selling over five million copies within a month of its release. It became one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games.

The official soundtrack won a BAFTA Award and is composed by Bear McCreary. It is set up around themes he created around primary characters in the game. Inspired by Viking folk music, McCreary used exotic instrumentation and languages from various Northern European folk traditions. It resulted in a score featuring deep choirs, pounding drums, shrieking brass and features Faroese singer-songwriter Eivør (Pálsdóttir). The American composer Bear McCreary is best known for his work on TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Outlander, The Walking Dead and won an Emmy Award for the main title of Da Vinci's Demons.

This is the 3rd pressing of the standard black vinyl.

This next chapter of Timmion's talent scouting in the US will land home with the Purple Heart of Soul, and turn even the coldest of us to the love side. No prisoners taken. It's time for Jonny Benavidez to lay his falsetto over the ever smooth backing of Cold Diamond & Mink. With the sweet as candy mid-pacer "Tell Me That You Love Me" he should go the whole mile.

Those, who have an insatiable thirst for crossover soul sounds by groups such as The Commands and TSU Toronadoes, should snatch up this piece of wax without haste. Texas made and California raised, Jonny has polished his teeth for years in doo wop groups and sung backing harmonies for big names such as Archie Bell and Eugene Pitt from The Jive Five. Currently residing in Austin, Texas he's forming and coating even more sweet tracks for Timmion.

It might not break the charts, but for some with the proper ear for beauty, this will undoubtedly be the new soul record of the year. Have a listen, if you are one of those privileged people.

Hailing from Adelaide, Australia's CHARNEL ALTAR formed in late 2018. Not long after, the band's self-titled debut demo followed in January 2019. Originally self-released digitally, a cassette version was soon released by Desert Wastelands Productions and a 12" vinyl version by Seed of Doom Records and Impure Sounds; a tape re-release then came in mid-2020 via Blood Moon Productions. With this underground momentum building, CHARNEL ALTAR released a split EP with fellow Aussies CARCINOID, which was released on tape by Headsplit Records and on 10" vinyl once again by Seed of Doom. During all this, CHARNEL ALTAR became a prolific force on the live front. Their first show was supporting Uada, and they went on to play with the likes of Incantation, Krisiun, Integrity, Primitive Man, Faceless Burial, Gutless, Ignivomous, and Vile Apparition. A tour with CARCINOID was planned for 2020, but was unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, CHARNEL ALTAR make their full-length debut with the slimy 'n' stultifying Abatement of the Sun. Horrific and harrowing, churning and gestating with utter dread and doom, CHARNEL ALTAR's death metal is like a slo-mo melting of mind and matter. One could arguably qualify it as death-doom, but the band's version of such evades easy categorization and aims more for hovering tension and paradoxically spacious density - indeed, like old(er)-school death metal dragged through tar but trudging forward like a tank. That all three members previously played together in the cult Tombsealer - who toured nationally in support of Mournful Congregation and played with such acts as Dead Congregation, Portal, Fetid, Windhand, Cough, Inverloch, and Nocturnal Graves to name a few - shows in their seemingly effortless execution, that these dreadful 'n' doomed-out ruminations have been simmering in their hearts for time eternal. Or, put another way, Abatement of the Sun is all-too-perfectly titled: the end is not just nigh; it's NULL.

Stockholm post-punk band V**gra Boys (**= "ia" because spam FILTERS) are announcing a new album Cave World due out July 8th via YEAR0001 Produced by past collaborators Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, The Knife, etc.) and DJ Haydn, the album is inspired by current events, and aims to tear through the insanity and confusion the world currently finds itself in. Like sin- eaters if sins had to be ingested from a very small spoon, V**gra Boys have consumed the utterly incomprehensible chaos of our era and distilled it into the 12 immaculate tracks that make up Cave World.

As 2021’s Welfare Jazz was earning rave reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR, GQ, NME, Stereogum, Fader, and more, Viagra Boys were in the midst of rerecording what would become their followup. After putting together an entire album at the legendary Silence Studio in the town of Koppom, the band decided they could push harder. "We let it marinate for a while and then rerecorded absolutely everything," Murphy explains. S

ome of the music made it through to what would become Cave World, but replacing the lyrics. In that iterative process,
Murphy found himself returning time and again to a misconception with deeper roots: the idea that humanity is moving forward. After watching a video late one evening about a theory that suggests evolution involved trading in some cognitive
abilities for others, Murphy began stewing on the fact that the result was mass shootings and science denial. "I just wrote down, 'Who is the true ape?'" he says.

"People look down at apes as primitive life forms, but we're just this horrible, lazy society killing each other and starting wars, while they’re able to love and feel.
Does that make them the true ape or us?"

Wormrot return with their most stunning work to date! Following on from
2016's critically acclaimed album 'Voices', Wormrot's 4th studio album
'Hiss' is released 24th June 2022 on Earache Records
The Singaporean trio features the same line up as 2016's Voices with Arif
(Vocals) Rasyid (Guitar) and Vijesh (Drums) and is without doubt their most
ambitious and creative work to date. Having already made their mark as one of
Grindcore's biggest names, Wormrot are intent on bringing Grindcore back to the
masses with a sonically stunning record of wildly unhinged and downright feral
noise..

Under the name Delicate Steve, guitarist extrodinaire Steve Marion has
spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as one of the
most wildly innovative and widely revered players in the game.He's
recorded with Paul Simon, been sampled by Kanye West, toured in the
Black Keys, and released four critically acclaimed albums of genrebending instrumental music
He's your favorite musician's favorite musician, a virtuoso songwriter, producer,
and performer who occupies a lane entirely his own in the modern indie
landscape, but he's never liked the sound of the electric guitar? "I've tried
everything under the sun to get away from it," he explains. "Until now."Written and
recorded on a white 1966 Fender Stratocaster that reignited his love for the
instrument, Delicate Steve's warm and captivating new album, After Hours, marks
a first for Marion, an earnest, easygoing collection that revels in the simple joys of
plugging in and playing. The songs are sweet and breezy here, pairing vintage
soul grooves with mesmerizing, wordless melodies, and Marion's production work
is subtle and restrained, stepping back in all the right places to let the album's
masterful performances speak for themselves. In another first, Marion teamed up
with outside musicians on the record, bringing in renowned bassist Shahzad
Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Marc Ribot) and famed Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco
(David Byrne, Atoms For Peace) to help flesh out the arrangements and stretch
his sonic boundaries.
The result is a dreamy, introspective album built for late night comedowns and
deep dive soul searching, a cinematic, escapist fantasy for the wee hours of the
morning that draws on everything from Bill Withers and Sly Stone to Pharoah
Sanders and Salvador Dali as it explores memory and nostalgia, instinct and
intuition, serenity and transcendence.

Lolina project emerged at a time when CDJs became standard in clubs and artists from many disciplines began exploring their possibilities. In Lolina’s records and performances, they are used as a live sampling tool allowing her to move between composition and improvisation. On “Fast Fashion”, discarded vocal takes and phone recordings made while watching videos online or walking down the street are re-sampled across long-form collages. “Mark Ronson’s TED Talk Intro (Using Computer Remix)”, restyles a lecture about sampling and constructed of samples into a track that can’t be contained by any of its elements. Relaxed beats break down into stuttering, jokes turn into abstract situations, and meaning is altered through repetition. With transitions between different parts defining the listening experience, “Fast Fashion” reveals a process by which one thing can be changed into another. “Fast Fashion” is Lolina’s fifth album and first working with Deathbomb Arc. Digital to be released on Oct 27th with vinyl to follow in early 2022 ~ both on pre-sale now. Lolina previously released music as Inga Copeland and was a member of the band Hype Williams between 2009 — 2013.

restock!

Written and recorded during 2020, a year marked by forced quarantine with in turn proved to be a prolific time for musical composition. It is an album about change, aging and the fading memories one has, often more of a product of the current state of a person than an accurate description of those remembered moments. With age we tend to forget or lose contact with particular moments and parts of our own story and context become erased forever, as though they never happened. With this album, peter bjärgö takes the first steps into something new, bringing along his signature sound from past projects into a slowly evolving transition to a sonic world beyond his previous achievements. Leaning towards a more ethnic, rhythmic sound, integrated with his now trademark melancholic guitar work and deep solemn vocals, these are the first steps to a new horizon he’s ceaselessly crafting for our listening pleasure.

The Sky Is Crying was released after SRV's 1990 helicopter crash that took his life. The posthumously assembled 10-track outtakes collection actually proves to be one of Vaughan's most consistent albums, rivaling In Step as the best outside of the Greatest Hits collection. These songs were recorded in sessions spanning from 1984's Couldn't Stand the Weather to 1989's In Step and were left off of the LPs for whatever reason (or, in the case of Soul to Soul's "Empty Arms," a different version was used).

First Word Records is pleased to welcome back Souleance with a brand new single for Summer 2022!

'GUILI GUILI' is a double AA side 7" single, with an additional remix by Art Of Tones on the digital version.

French slang for "tickle", 'GUILI' is an epic disco-funk piece inspired by the likes of Azymuth, Herbie Hancock and Marcos Valle, but incorporated with Souleance's trademark sounds of fuzzy bass-heavy electronica, synths and samples, giving the track a fresh contemporary twist. Meanwhile, the (digital only) Art Of Tones mix ramps up the disco elements heavily, incorporating some vocals, strings and horn stabs to create some sure fire heat for the summertime. The flipside 'TORO' is a much more tweaked-out, synth-heavy bomb, influenced by artists such as Prince, Parliament and French electronic club music. All tracks mark the evolution of the duo into a full live band, whilst remaining true to their sonic mission of producing music crafted especially for the dancefloor.

The band have been performing live at various festivals and venues across Europe, with upcoming appearances scheduled at the Pura Vida Festival, Greece in August and Jazz à Vienne in July.

This two-track vinyl 7" / three-track digi-single is released on First Word Records, worldwide on May 27th 2022. Another essential one for your record bags.

Credits:

Bass guitar, synths and programming by Fulgeance.

Scratches and programming by Soulist.

Wurlitzer, Moog grandmother, ASM Hydra synth & Roland Juno 60 by Vincent Choquet.

Mastered by DJ VAS.

During the summer of 2020, SACRILEGA burst from the void with their debut EP, Rites of Macabre. Although a brand-new entity, the Californian power-trio features members currently aligned with Rites of Thy Degringolade, Impure Consecration, and Invocation War among others. As such, it was not surprising that that their Impious Death Metal worship was so powerful and punishing this early on. However, SACRILEGA are set to eclipse those not-inconsiderable expectations with their full-length debut, The Arcana Spear. Recorded at Ramona Studio with Charlie Koryn, SACRILEGA's debut album is a veritable firestorm of finessed fury - malice, malevolence, and mesmerizing visions writ large across throttling death metal songwriting both classic and contemporary. Driving that propulsion is underground drum-god Paulus Kressman, whose veritable eight octopus arms create a dizzying, dread-inducing landscape for his bandmates to slay with their razor-wire strings. Their songwriting always pushes forward with a near-bestial pulse that cannot be denied; still, attention is duly paid to detail within riffing and atmosphere alike, elevating The Arcane Spear beyond a mere exercise in ultraviolence. SACRILEGA thus locate that elusive balance between the cunningly precise and rabidly maximal, placing due emphasis on the songwriting itself and allowing the execution to tell the grandiose-yet-doomed tales it so requires. Featuring suitably stark-yet-grandiose artwork courtesy of Artem Grigoryev, SACRILEGA deliver one of death metal's most stunning debuts with The Arcana Spear. Embrace the grand tyranny!

3 Electro Knights are cybernetic synthesizer group from London playing science fiction music for the 21st century. The 4 track Red Admiral EP is their first proper release following a very limited lathe cut single which was available through Norman Records and Rough Trade in very small quantities and sold out immediately, and a limited cassette album, Sketches For Another Future. The single I Move In Another Dimension was described by Rough Trade as “Electro sqwonk and clatter meet Patti Smith style beat poetry on this unbelievably scarce 7”. Destroy/Exist wrote of their cassette album Sketches For Another Future: “Through krautrock, psychedelic, synthpunk, and modern electronica passages, 3 Electro Knights fully realize their analog electronic sound, exposing their warm connection with their synths.”

The trio meld the ‘live-improvisation allied with editing approach’ of Krautrock legends Can to contemporary outboard synth music. Influences and inspiration include Tangerine Dream, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Derrick May, Vangelis, Craven Faults. 3 Electro Knights are Daren Pickles (Supercharger, bushpilot), Nik Clifford (Jesus Licks, bushpilot) and Ross Holloway (bushpilot). The next EP will follow soon and is called Rave One. Red Admiral EP 1. Red Admiral 2. Hidden Intent 2 3. Why Don't You Cry For Me 4. Apparently Peaceful

Swedish progg is not to be confused with "prog" as in progressive rock music. When we are talking about progg, we are referring to the Swedish music movement influenced by the political climate of the late 60's, to some extent the hippie movement and in many cases also Swedish folk music. Music highly driven by a political agenda. Blod's Knutna Nävar, originally released in an edition of 150 copies on Förlag För Fri Musik in 2018 and later a small cassette run, is pretty much a lost progg classic from the 70's. This is not a case of copying a certain sound though, far from it, neither are ideas really rehashed nor does the album feel nostalgic in that sense. Rather it feels like if someone has read about the progg movement and all the records but never actually heard it, yet decided to do an album and somehow managed to succeed big time. Further developing the sound palette and ambience initiated with parts of the Leendet Från Helvetet recording, the music feels slightly louder and more in your face. It's like it's more of everything. The melodies are immediate and it's quite impossible to resist the brash catchiness of it all. Albeit mentioning progg music and its importance for this recording, the actual musical side of Knutna Nävar has in reality more in common with soundtrack/library music and Swedish composers like the late Björn Isfält when you attempt to break it down. The crude DIY approach and anything-goes mentality just adds an extra dimension to it all and ultimately places the music somewhere else. There's a rather blunt use of samples throughout the record (sources probably best to leave out, though you don't have to be a Einstein to figure these out), but then again this is made by the same guy that gave the world the ABBA album. Those samples has managed to become an integral part of the music through the few years that has passed and though well familiar with the records those snippets are now to me genuinely Blod and nothing else. It seems like everyone has their own favourite but Knutna Nävar is the Blod album I have returned to the most. It has that extra something that sets it apart and if I would have to pick up a few records that sums up why Gothenburg has been a pretty damn awesome place to be in the last 10 years or so, this would definitely be one of the top picks.

Finally the 4th volume of "The Encyclopedia of Civilizations" is here! This time it is not a split LP, but a collaboration. Modular synth maestro M. Geddes Gengras and left-field pop priestess Leyna Noel aka Psychic Reality join forces to compose together their new project inspired by Zoroaster: M.Goddess. An exquisite modern ambient record mixing leftfield, kosmische, new age, dub vibes... Very original and rich compositions with genius arrangements combining spacey synth sequences, dreamy guitars, modular sounds, weird rhythms... Along the lines of Craig Leon, Conrad Schnitzler, or the Mecánica Clásica's contemporary approach to the kosmische masters. "Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that is still actively practiced today by a small population of people worldwide and has had a massive influence on western culture. Many things that appear to be integral to western thinking (and thus “wholesome”) indeed have their roots in ancient Iran. Dualities such as good and evil, light and dark, heaven and hell—even paradise is an old Persian word. For this project, we are exploring this Zoroaster moment—set in the bread basket of the Iranian plateau, six to seven millennia before the Common Era—that’s like a cross-fade. The fading of goddess worship and the first strains of the patriarchy. Not the -ism of today’s still-living religion, but the moment when this man Zoroaster came along and created a new religion that centred one god instead of the many. Forcing the divine feminine underground, if not fully occulted, obscured and engulfed into the mainstream enough to be forgotten. Goddesses that before had their own dedicated cults were converted into lesser players. We’re reviving those flames too."

Imperfect Stranger is the pseudonym of Glasgow based soundtrack composer and producer Kenny Inglis. “Everything Wrong is Right” is his debut solo album for Castles in Space.
Born in 1975, Kenny didn't listen to much music, unless it was the opening credits to a TV show or a film score that had caught his ear. "I loved the pre-title music on a lot of those 80's U.S. TV shows. From the family orientated stuff like The A-Team, to darker dramas such as The Equalizer. My mother would let me stay up to watch the opening sequence of the latter then send me to bed because the story would be too heavy for a kid. That left me with this hanging sense of ambiguity as to what would happen in that hour after the titles came up.”
Exposure to a work colleague’s tiny project studio in a kitchen cupboard was a lightbulb moment for him and the experience of utilising music technology as a way of writing and producing entire tracks stirred a wave of determination to chase a career in music using the opportunities that technology could offer. Kenny figured the best way to move forward was to start a small project studio and learn his craft as a recording engineer. "It was a bit of a shock to the system. I literally had no idea how to work any of the equipment. Kenny focused on learning as much about the craft as he could whilst winging his way through recording and mixing everyone from the likes of singer/songwriters to bands, to voiceovers artists and anything in between. "Eventually, I stopped writing the music I thought people would want to hear, and started writing the music I wanted to make. I didn't come from a music loving background, but I was always obsessed by the way music and film would interact - how music brings this atmosphere and tone to even the most mundane visual stuff. I wanted to capture that. I wanted to grab some of that ambiguity I felt from the TV shows of my childhood and make it into a project of some sort". That project was Spylab. A dark, downtempo project with a cinematic edge. The initial demo consisted of three tracks, with the melancholic 'This Utopia' leading the playlist.
"At the time you did demos on normal cassette tapes. I remember having this endless battle with the bias control to try and get the best sound I could on these little tapes. Ten went in the post one Monday morning, and the following Monday there were three offers from three different labels. Studio K7 were interested in a singles deal, as was Flying Rhino in London. But then there was an offer from a Chicago based label by the name of Guidance Recordings. They wanted an album, and were offering a $15,000 advance. It wasn't a difficult decision to make"
Writing and recording Spylab 'This Utopia' began in 1999. The album took a whole year to produce. The album was to catch the attention of Mary Anne Hobbs at Radio One. At the time Mary Anne was presenting The Breezeblock - a late Sunday night show with an eclectic playlist of alternative electronic music. Picking out the album's title track 'This Utopia', Mary Anne would go on to play it no less than 8 weeks in a row. A request for Spylab to DJ on the show was to follow. "I had never DJ'd before. I think I had a week to figure out how to do that and put a playlist together. I'm not entirely sure how I pulled that off.” In March 2001 the Spylab album was finally released to a hoard of excellent reviews. A North American live tour would follow. From the launch party in Los Angeles, to a sell out show at SXSW in Austin. "I then started a new project under the name Cinephile. It had some of the core elements of the Spylab sound but it was deeper, more cinematic.” Kenny received news that a track from the previous project Spylab had been requested by HBO for the first episode of a new TV drama called Six Feet Under. This was to become a major turning point in Kenny's career. The Spylab track 'Celluloid Hypnotic' dropped during a poignant party scene of the first Six Feet Under episode. Within a couple of days Kenny was getting requests for music from other music supervisors. "It was a chain reaction. The Six Feet Under sync was like the tip of an iceberg. One day I called CBS in America and they put me on to the CSI music supervisor and I managed to get on a call with him. I sent the Cinephile stuff out and within a few months I got this fax through from CBS - a quote request for one of the tracks for a potential use on CSI. It changed my life."
The tone and style of Kenny's music sat perfectly with the CSI score requirements. So much so he found himself part of a pool of incidental writers who worked on all three aspects of the franchise - CSI, CSI: NY, and CSI: Miami. This would continue until 2013, when the last of the series would come to an end.
"I was juggling a bunch of stuff for those ten years. Writing material for CSI, whilst releasing new Cinephile stuff and playing live. As Cinephile continued to gather pace, one of the tracks from Kenny's efforts on CSI was chosen for the Hollywood trailer for the Samuel L. Jackson film 'Lakeview Terrace'. Further trailers would follow, from Gangster Squad to Dead Man Down, Spike Lee's Undisputed Truth, to Fifty Shades Freed.
At the same time, Kenny picked up his first factual commissions in the UK, and this too would be the beginning of a regular run of fully scoring factuals and documentaries. By 2021, six of these had won BAFTAs. He also would find himself soundtracking adverts for the likes of Nike, Audi, and American AirlinesIn early 2020, Kenny made a return to focusing on his own music under the pseudonym Imperfect Stranger. A tweet from Colin Morrison from Castles In Space regarding a charity compilation album 'The Isolation Tapes' caught his eye. Kenny had made a start on his debut album as Imperfect Stranger and submitted the track 'Hymn To The Sun' (which would become the lead track on the album). Further discussions ensued, and the album found a home on CiS. "I had been doing TV and film stuff for almost ten years. It paid the bills and was as close to a 'real job' as I'd had, but I yearned to get back to writing for myself, so doing an album for Castles in Space was a joy.
“The music I write is like a diary. There's an authentic narrative to everything i do. I don't write tracks for the sake of writing. I write tracks to diarise and process the stuff that I've lived through, and the experiences that have come along with the passing years. That's what makes me tick. It's a very public and vulnerable way of expressing myself. If people want to know the real me, all they have to do is listen."

Produced by Heidecker, Drew Erickson, Eric D. Johnson and Mac DeMarco, High School sees Heidecker emerging as an increasingly playful and poignant story teller, infusing childhood tales with new gravity. In conjunction, he announces Tim Heidecker Live! Featuring Tim Heidecker and The Very Good Band, his first two-act tour of comedy and music. Since 2016, Tim Heidecker has chronicled the annals of adulthood on a series of supreme singer-songwriter albums. The crushing devastation of divorce and the existential malaise of middle-age, the minutiae of home ownership and the ritual of family vacation, child rearing and global warming: Heidecker has handled it all with humor and heart. But, there’s one pivotal lodestar of human development he has yet to mine that’s right, High School. First single “Buddy” is a composite of a few woebegone friends, which finds Heidecker reminiscing on the familiar tragedy of the adolescent stoner, manifesting the destiny of undiagnosed depression and parents who didn’t care much. The song itself is a jangly delight, but it’s hard not to mourn for “Buddy,” then re-count whatever blessings you may have. After initial and fruitful sessions with Jonathan Rado, Heidecker started recording tunes with DeMarco and Erickson, who had also worked on 2020’s collaboration with Weyes Blood, Fear of Death. At DeMarco’s studio, they added drum machines and synths and sidewinding solos to Heidecker’s big strummed chords. Johnson (Bonny Light Horseman, Fruit Bats) helped Heidecker finesse the tunes even more, making the music as rich as the feelings. Kurt Vile contributed to one song, as well. Through all those sessions, it slowly became clear: Heidecker was writing not only about the adventures and misadventures of life as a Pennsylvania teen in the early ’90s, but also how it felt to lose a juvenile sense of mystery and possibility as an adult. He was writing about high school and, really, the way it helped shape everything else. Back at Pennsylvania’s Allentown Central Catholic High School, Heidecker dreamed of making it with one of his many rock bands — Time and Other Things, Shaggy’s Beltbuckle, and (incredibly) The Pulsating Libidos. Two years shy of his graduating class’ 30th anniversary, Heidecker admits he had little of substance to say when he was 17, like all but the rarest of precocious minds. In college, though, he found the friends with whom he built his comedy career, largely apart from music and without much thought for his time back at Central Catholic. He was focused on his future. It is fitting, then, that as Heidecker has become such a delightful singer-songwriter and collaborator, he returns to the first scene of his time as a musician. Maybe he’s right — he didn’t have anything to say or sing about life back then. But across the earnest and amusing High School, he finds plenty to say about those weird and wonderful and ordinary times.

100 copies only

Apron Records has been instrumental in shaping the current landscape of contemporary electronic music coming out of the U.K. since 2014. After almost a decade of pushing their unique vision has made the Apron Records imprint one of the most in-demand labels in most independent record stores. Now more than 45 releases deep in their journey, Apron Records have teamed up with Patta Soundsystem to work on their first various artists release and to celebrate this monumental milestone, both camps have collaborated to create a clothing capsule to accompany this release. After working with the artist formerly known as Funkineven on ‘The Wave’ late last year, it was only right to showcase the diverse talents behind this movement.

Sharing a drawing board with Patta for the first time with Apron Records, together they have created a Trucker Cap and a Graphic T-Shirt that echo the racing theme of the whole project. Better Together is the slogan that runs throughout the entire collaboration, stressing how unity makes us stronger as individuals. Artwork for the record has been provided by Amsterdam based artist Jim Klok. His unique Acetone printing technique has now been immortalised on this LP, juxtaposing vintage cars with checkered racing flags to create a dynamic cover that would be right at home in a picture frame as well as a record bin.

System Olympia’s ‘Passi Mai’ is a beautiful 80’s inspired driving riddim layered with her own vocals that wouldn’t be out of place in an arcade or a sticky nightclub floor. Followed up by ‘Leven’ by Brassfoot, we get a wobbler from the NTS regular. Layed with Jamaican vocal samples and audacious arpeggiated bleeps, Leven is a soulful approach to techno tropes that have been bouncing around Brassfoot’s head. Shamos’ 737363 is a cryptic masterpiece. With dreamy pads as a backdrop for shuffling drum beats, euphoric sweeps and dynamically designed synthesis, this closes off the themes explored in the first half of the record.

Side B kicks off with J M S Khosah’s contribution to the record titled ‘Lessons’ which is a dancefloor filler, adorned with glamorous percussion, vocal samples and syncopated stabs ontop of a driving 4x4 kick pattern. Kicking things into 6th gear is a club-ready production from London's most soulful selector Shy One. Groovy basslines and a 2-step riddim make ‘Candy Floss’ an ode to the grimey and the glittery sides of London nightlife. This project champions one of the people that have been pivotal in the success of the label, Steven Julien whose track E46 is an emotional journey through his synth-laden East London studio. Bookending the project are two compositions from Compton’s-own AshTreJinkins. Showcasing his abilities to approach the project from both an ambient and a pure beat-making perspective in order to hold the whole project together.

Relentless techno powerhouses Octave One stride in 2022 with a brand new release that re-affirms their status across two essential tracks. 2021 was another busy year for the Burden Brothers, who re-introduced the world to their Never On Sunday alias. The project first started in the 90s as an outlet for deeper, more introspective sounds and was fittingly brought back last year to great acclaim. The Detroit duo’s Locus of Control series also hit volume number three and the iconic Octave One live show continued to light up clubs everywhere from Barcelona, Paris and Geneva to LA and New York. Despite that, they still had time to cook up more of their famously soulful techno in the studio, the first two tracks of which are presented here.Opener ‘The Blue Drift’ surges ahead on waves of rattling metallic synths. Well swung claps bring that irresistible sense of groove, while twisted melodies add raw dynamics. Add in the heavy underlying bass and you have a classic Octave One track that is both physical yet emotional. On the flip side is ‘It-Just-Is’ a powerful statement of intent. It’s a stripped back track where house and techno meet - there is a seductive slide to the drums and potency in the turbulent synths which bring the energy. The melody is melancholic and as the emotive pads ring out they lodge deep in your brain to make for another standout cut. This vital new release proves Octave One remains right at the forefront of underground music more than 30 years after they started out.