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"Ry Cooder" - Ry Cooder (voc, g, mand, b); Van Dyke Parks (p); Bobby Bruce (v); Chris Ethridge Roy Estrada, Max Bennett (b); John Barbata, Richie Hayward (dr); Milt Holland (dr, perc); Gloria Jones (backing voc)



By the time he was aged 22, Ry Cooder was already a veteran of the music business and in great demand as a studio musician and sideman. Shortly after signing a contract with Warner Music in 1969, he released his first album under his own name, placing his confidence in the musical talent he had developed since being a child and on the rare value of his favourite instrument, the steel guitar.

The present LP that carries his name is a fascinating blend of blues, folk, rock ’n’ roll and pop – a unique mixture, which combines superb songs, virtuosic playing and somewhat bizarre yet imaginative arrangements. For material, Cooder, the son of folklorist parents, dug out ten gems coming from over six decades, right back to the 1920s – by legends such as Woody Guthrie, Blind Blake, Sleepy John Estes and Leadbelly, as well as a more up-to-date Randy Newman composition. As magnificent as his choice might be, it is the exuberant charm of his own instrumental composition "Available Space" that almost steals the show here. Expansive and unbiased, Cooder plays an ironic game made up of wordless irregular phrases, which promise the listener something new and ultimately circle in an infinite loop.

Cooder’s need to prove himself, moderated by his veneration for the past, helps to create a completely original work that will prove rewarding for the adventurous listener.



This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under pure-analogue

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.



Recording: 1970 at various studios by Bob Kovacs, Doug Botnick, Rudy Hill and Jim Lowe

Production: Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Parks

This LP finally brings a Clipping fan-favorite, 2016's Wriggle, onto vinyl in an improved, expanded version that features new art, previously unreleased remixes, and a track that's exclusive to the vinyl format. The original, digital-only Wriggle EP was six tracks that weren't finished in time to make it onto the group's 2014 Sub Pop debut, CLPPNG. For "Shooter," Clipping recorded themselves firing fifteen different guns, the sounds of which exclusively constituted the beat's drums, augmented only by a synthesized tone-row. The verses referenced the well-worn technique of "hashtag rap," but instead of using it to boast about the rapper's personal wealth and masculine prowess, Clipping put forth imagistic narratives of three violent encounters. True to much of the group's music, "Shooter" was an attempt to reframe a familiar style and test the limits of its formal capabilities. "Hot Fuck No Love" contains what might be the most explicit verse to date from Clipping's favorite New Jersey rapper Cakes Da Killa. The EP's title track, "Wriggle," was built around a sample of the influential power-electronics song "Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel" by Whitehouse, transforming William Bennett's torturous imperative into a instructional dance-floor banger. "Wriggle" and "Shooter" have become classic Clipping tracks and staples of their live show. With this vinyl edition, Clipping fans old and new - and there are many new fans thanks to their breakout 2020 album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, and Daveed Diggs' thriving acting career - get the vinyl version of Wriggle they've been clamouring for.

This LP finally brings a Clipping fan-favorite, 2016's Wriggle, onto vinyl in an improved, expanded version that features new art, previously unreleased remixes, and a track that's exclusive to the vinyl format. The original, digital-only Wriggle EP was six tracks that weren't finished in time to make it onto the group's 2014 Sub Pop debut, CLPPNG. For "Shooter," Clipping recorded themselves firing fifteen different guns, the sounds of which exclusively constituted the beat's drums, augmented only by a synthesized tone-row. The verses referenced the well-worn technique of "hashtag rap," but instead of using it to boast about the rapper's personal wealth and masculine prowess, Clipping put forth imagistic narratives of three violent encounters. True to much of the group's music, "Shooter" was an attempt to reframe a familiar style and test the limits of its formal capabilities. "Hot Fuck No Love" contains what might be the most explicit verse to date from Clipping's favorite New Jersey rapper Cakes Da Killa. The EP's title track, "Wriggle," was built around a sample of the influential power-electronics song "Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel" by Whitehouse, transforming William Bennett's torturous imperative into a instructional dance-floor banger. "Wriggle" and "Shooter" have become classic Clipping tracks and staples of their live show. With this vinyl edition, Clipping fans old and new - and there are many new fans thanks to their breakout 2020 album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, and Daveed Diggs' thriving acting career - get the vinyl version of Wriggle they've been clamouring for.

Continuing our ambitious People Like Us vinyl reissue program with Welcome Aboard – a strangely relevant 10-year-old album (originally released in May 2011) when People Like Us aka Vicki Bennett became stranded in the US after the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption closed much of northern Europe’s airspace.

Volcanically marooned in Baltimore and NYC, Bennett utilized some of her “free” time to work on the album and even gained audio contributions from fellow experimental musicians Jason Willett (of Half Japanese) and M.C. Schmidt (of Matmos) via her extended stay

Bennett derived thematic material of displacement, travel, and a longing for elsewhere from the natural disaster that caused her own predicament. Now strangely echoed by the Covid-19 outbreak and the various grounding of planes and stay at home policies worldwide.

While the general mashup culture often centres on the instant gratification of seamlessly juxtaposing hooks, People Like Us tracks transform the source material into collages that are equal parts dissonance and pleasure, making artful commentaries on our culture and Bennett’s own existential amusement within such a wondrous world. No one could have predicted how relevant this album would have been 10 years later.

Volcanoes or Viruses, Welcome Abroad is what happens when you’re stranded due to a freak natural occurrence trapping people all over the world and causing mass plane cancellations.

Rico started his career in the late 1950’s playing with the likes of Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken and Max Romeo as a session musician in addition to creating his own recordings. He moved to the UK in the early 60’s and continued performing live and playing as a session musician. He signed to Island Records in the 70’s, releasing his first solo albums.
In 1979 Rico met Jerry Dammers and began playing with The Specials. He became an honorary member of the band and featured prominently on some of their most famous tracks, along with Dick Cuthell, which produced a distinctive sound. In 1980 he released his first album for the 2 Tone label, That Man is Forward.
Jama Rico was the second album released on 2 Tone Records in 1982. This album felt like a celebration of Jamaican musicians - Jama Rico was an altogether different beast. This was a more resolute statement, more African in its rhythms and a hidden treasure within the 2 Tone label.
This time the recording sessions were split between Joe Gibbs studio in Jamaica and sessions at London’s Town House Studios. The Jamaican sessions again were produced by Dick Cuthell and comprised of musician friends Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Headley Bennett, and Ansel Collins. The London sessions, produced by Dick and Jerry Dammers, featured Specials John Bradbury and Horace Panter, along with Tony Utah and Satch Dixon.
This new remaster, originally released in May 1982, is a part of the ongoing 2 Tone ‘40th Anniversary’ releases.
The package is a 3mm Spined Sleeve, 180gm Heavyweight Black Vinyl, printed inner and bellyband.

Rico started his career in the late 1950’s playing with the likes of Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken and Max Romeo as a session musician in addition to creating his own recordings. He moved to the UK in the early 60’s and continued performing live and playing as a session musician. He signed to Island Records in the 70’s, releasing his first solo albums.

In 1979 Rico met Jerry Dammers and began playing with The Specials. He became an honorary member of the band and featured prominently on some of their most famous tracks, along with Dick Cuthell, which produced a distinctive sound.

In 1980 he released his first album for the 2 Tone label, That Man is Forward. Produced by Dick Cuthell and recorded in Jamaica over two sessions in Joe Gibbs studio. The album is a celebration of Jamaican musicians playing together, with the likes of Jah Jerry, ‘Deadley’ Headley Bennet, Robbie Lyn, Sly & Robbie, Ansel Collins -the list goes on.

This new remaster celebrates its 40th Anniversary, originally released in March 1980, as part of the ongoing 2 Tone ‘40th Anniversary’ releases.

The package is a 3mm Spined Sleeve, 180gm Heavyweight Black Vinyl, printed inner and bellyband

Double LP of classic songs from the Kings of Jazz.

It all starts with a great song and “You Baby” has it all! Penned by husband and wife team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with the magic touch of Phil Spector – what an awesome trio – and the bedrock of a future classic.
The song was originally produced by Spector for the Ronettes, signed to his Philles label, and appeared on their 1964 breakthrough album ‘Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes’ featuring, of course, his wife to be Veronica Bennett. The song was also recorded in the U.S. by pop/rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful for their 1965 debut album ‘Do You Believe In Magic’.
However, in January 1966 Pye Records unleashed JACKIE TRENT’s epic Northern Soul version produced by her husband Tony Hatch. Heralded by a pounding drum beat and trumpet blast it is no wonder that Jackie’s definitive cover shook the walls at Wigan Casino a decade later. And its popularity has never gone away, hence its current price tag of £300-400! Check out Jackie’s performance on the Morecambe and Wise Show on YouTube, what an intro!
“You Baby” was also recorded in May ’66 by Cameo Parkway’s Lovenotes in a very similar vein and in November ’66 by the legendary Len Barry. Other notable cover’s include Sonny & Cher, the Bubblegum pop group Salt Water Taffy and, in 1975, John Holt’s reggae version.
“Lost Summer Love” was originally recorded in 1964 by U.S. actress Shelley Fabares known for her long-running role as Mary Stone in the sitcom ‘The Donna Reed Show’ and as Elvis Presley’s leading lady in ‘Girl Happy’, ‘Spinout’ and ‘Clambake’. She also scored a No.1 pop hit in 1962 with the teen anthem “Johnny Angel”. But, as with our ‘A-side’, it was reborn as a Northern Soul classic when Pye Records picked the song up in 1965 and recorded it on their latest signing, teenager LORRIANE SILVER. Once again the stomping drum track, percussion and handclaps propel you to the dancefloor where you’re greated with an unforgettably catchy tune, a bevvy of backing vocals and Lorraine’s effervescent vocal.
Two fabulous reasons to make this one of the top reissue 45s of 2020!

Backed by members of the David Nance Group, Rosali (Long Hots, Wandering Shade, Monocot) wades through the emotional mire with infectious, earworm melodies led by her luminous voice. With their rich, raw instrumentation, these rock ballads sound like the resilience discovered in facing one’s darkest moments, the assurance of the calm and clarity that comes after the storm. As she sings on the second track, “Bones,” “Through the darkness of the field / I walk through without yielding / To the rest of the feelings / I’m carrying.” With her confident song craft, Rosali illustrates the ability to push through, moving toward something greater without being destroyed by the weight of trauma.

Engineered by James Shroeder and featuring Kevin Donahue (Simon Joyner), James Shroeder (Simon Joyner, DNG, Connor Oberst), David Nance, Noah Sterba, Colin Duckworth, and Daniel Knapp, the album was recorded in ten days and the raw immediacy of the music is palpable across these ten tracks. Added adornment was contributed by Philadelphia's Robbie Bennett (War on Drugs) on organ and keys, and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen, Jonathan Fire Eater, Muzz) makes a percussion cameo on “Whisper,”which was tracked at Philly’s Silent Partner Studio, where No Medium was mixed by Quentin Stoltzfus (Mazarin, Light Heat). The open creative collaboration elevated the songs, resulting in the exciting, vibrant sound of the album.

Rosali wrote the bulk of these songs in January of 2019 while on a self-imposed two week residency in the hills of South Carolina. Alone in an old farmhouse, she experienced supernatural events and faced her own demons in the deepest darkness. Perhaps as a result, there is a boldness that permeates the album, a daring vulnerability in both the lyrical themes and their musical accompaniment. Rosali says, “I approach guitar playing the same intuitive way I sing, which is profoundly spiritual for me. Where words fail, the guitar becomes the conduit for raw feelings, providing a direct connection to them. I’m constantly working on being fearless in my work, which means showing the rough side, the mistakes along with the triumphs.”

While writing No Medium, Rosali was inspired by harmonographs—swinging pendulums that create beautiful illustrations of the mathematics of music—considering how the mind, too, creates images through song. She imagined herself as the swinging pendulum—“a body suspended from a fixed point” (Encyclopedia Britannica), governed by the forces surrounding her. She thought about the pendulum’s relationship to time, movement, and even its use in divination practices. The album’s title, lifted from Charlotte Brontë’s, Jane Eyre, resonated with this vision: “I know no medium: I never in my life have known any medium in my dealings with positive, hard characters, antagonistic to my own, between absolute submission and determined revolt. I have always faithfully observed the one, up to the very moment of bursting, sometimes with volcanic vehemence, into the other.” With the multiple meanings of “medium”—as middle ground, a term for psychics, and as the material of artistic expression—No Medium felt like the appropriate name, describing how the self is shaped by the patterns of life .

The influences for the sound of No Medium reflect this pairing of assured vulnerability, in the stylistic coherence of Bob Dylan’s Desire, the tender delivery in Iain Matthews’ Journey From Gospel Oak, the strut and swagger of Bowie’s Hunky Dory, the ambition and beauty of Gene Clark’s No Other, and the playful catharsis of Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson. The Richard and Linda Thompson-esque album opener “Mouth,” places Rosali within both a physical and emotional space. “East of the river I was travelling on / watch me lie, undone / rest me in a forest, overgrown / until I am free of all that I’ve known,” she sings. There is movement, both within a cityscape, and in her outlook on love. Speaking of her thought process when writing the song, she says, “I imagine confidently walking away from the past, toward a new approach to love and intimacy to achieve a closer relationship with myself.”

In “Pour Over Ice,” Rosali explores her relationship with alcohol and her former reliance upon it as a social lubricant to quell her social anxiety, an energizer to keep moving, a means to cope and self-medicate, and most addictively, to lure out her wild side as a free flowing, good time girl. While drinking helped her through some shitty times, it eventually got the upper hand and became an insatiable hole within. She says, “The ‘you’ in the song is really me, talking to that component of myself struggling with drinking and self-sabotage, caught up in the cycle, and all the bad choices I made.” She sings, “Maybe I didn’t care enough / or can’t remember / chasing small pleasures / making fire from embers.” Rosali wanted her lead guitar on this track to simultaneously sound like a slow motion car crash propelling her through the day, and the sound of a gnawing hunger for something more.

Rosali’s alliance with the Omaha musicians that orbit David Nance Group (including Nance himself) came about while on a Long Hots / DNG tour in the summer of 2019. Great friendships formed and one night after playing in Detroit, Dave suggested they be her backing band. The pairing was effortless and natural, and in November of the same year, they were recording No Medium in a basement in Omaha.

Ziad Rahbani’s cult album, “Bennesbeh Labokra...Chou?” originally
released in Lebanon only and mixing arabic music with Jazz, Bossa Nova and other western influences, is hailed as an absolute classic.
The album is the soundtrack to his eponymous play and has been highly soughtafter by DJs and collectors around the world. Curated by Lebanese-born music
expert Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the album is
reissued on vinyl for the first time since 1978, featuring original gatefold sleeve,
remastered audio and a 2 page insert with a new introduction by Choueiry.
“Bennesbeh Labokra... Chou?” is a skilful blend of Arabic music and Bossa-nova
- “First Introduction” - the recurring theme of the album, groove - the funky
beat of “Second Introduction” and the jazz vibe of “Variation’s 3 and 4.” It’s also
interesting to hear an early version of “Al Bosta” which would grace Fairuz’s
1979 album “Wahdon” in a faster, funkier version.
With a knack for cinematic orchestrations reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin, Ziad
Rahbani also brings more complex arrangements to the album on such tracks
as “Variation 5” making the album such a rich listening. Undoubtedly one of
the most important albums recorded in the Middle East

They Say: “Contemporary scores for visual effect”.

We say: Synth-heavy, low-slung space-funk masterpiece.

The creator of the romping tunes that became the iconic themes to the BBC’s Grandstand programme and their televised Wimbledon Tennis Championship coverage, Keith Mansfield was perhaps KPM’s most prolific artist from the mid 1960s right the way through the 1980s. As well as the sort of pop orchestral sound that is all over these classic library records, he could also turn his hand to raw, edgy rock and funk. Quentin Tarantino is a big fan, going as far as including some of Keith’s work on the soundtracks to Kill Bill and Grindhouse.

This is it. This is THE ONE for us: Keith “The Man” Mansfield’s Vivid Underscores from 1977. A sample freak’s wet dream and one of Be With Rob’s favourite ever KPM records. A must for fans of Brian Bennett’s Voyage (yes, THAT good). And no, we’ve no idea either why it took us this long to get round to tackling this monster of a record. But then again some things are worth waiting for.

Attention! Calling all crate diggers, DJs, beat heads, Hip Hop junkies, MF DOOM fans! Behold! Vivid Underscores makes sampling easy. Prepare to be up all night, every night, chopping, looping and splicing these endless grooves and spacey synths. The highlights are too many and too mind-blowing so we’ll pull out a few particular highlights. Trust us, this library LP is just jaw-dropping.

“High Velocity” sets the tone with its aggressive horns, wah-wah guitars, funky baseline and wobbly synth refrain. So good and so hypnotic that Memphis Bleek just had to swipe the ominous, frazzled intro for “What You Think of That” featuring Jay-Z. Also, for real drama, the 1985 Lakers retrospective “Return to Glory” used it to soundtrack the footage from the legendary game five of the NBA finals at the Forum. Heady days. “Crash Course” - Stetsasonic horn refrain? Beautiful - jazzy chase-funk, amazing warm keys, percussion and funky horns - all action.

The more restrained “Matter Of Urgency” is an utterly amazing, brass-heavy underscore. The grandiose, uplifting “Dawn Of Aquarius” still sounds like the future with its tense, thundering drums, killer bassline and swirling synths. Version II loses the drums and percussion but is no less startling. “Staying Power” closes the first side with a relentless, pounding groove which *will* snap your neck. Be warned.

“Trucking Company” is a pacey, synth-and-string masterpiece and its accompanying parts (a–c) mess with the formula to great effect. Part (a) adds echo delay to really dazzle and part (c) plays the breezy, beautiful middle section without the tension. “Hot Cargo” and “Espionage” are both tense spy-funk themes par excellence. “Interplay” is a quiet killer, with flutes over a glistening piano refrain just waiting to be looped. The intro to the menacing “Omen” might’ve been sampled by 7L & Esoteric for their classic “So Glorious” but the entire 5 minute track is a mini-drama masterpiece, one only Mansfield could create.

Even though its a mix of short themes in-and-amongst longer, full-length tracks, Vivid Underscores is still thoroughly listenable from start to finish. That’s not something that can be said of all library records and it still manages to serve as rich resource to keep even the keenest samplers busy for a while.

As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Vivid Underscores comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand ident

*** UNRELEASED AOR / YACHT ROCK FROM 1979 AS FEATURED ON PRAISE POEMS 7***

It is a rare occurrence, especially when you consider that we are writing this in the year 2020, that an unreleased AOR/Yacht Rock album surfaces after 40 years. The Tramp crew first heard about it while discussing Penn Central's inclusion of their song "Sometimes" on "Praise Poems Vol.7".

The band Penn Central was formed about 1978 by Gary Phelps and his younger brother Shawn Phelps. They had been playing together in a few different groups in the Erie, Pennsylvania area since Gary returned there from Penn State in 1974. In 1978 Shawn was going to college at Edinboro State University, just south of Erie, where he met Curt Salvador, a student from the Pittsburgh area. They began playing together in a local Edinboro group when Shawn introduced Curt to Gary. Gary, Shawn, and Curt began to collaborate and soon Gary brought in friend and former high school bandmate Allen Bennett who was an accomplished musician on trumpet and percussion. Shawn then found Dave Lindgren who was playing drums in various bands locally and Penn Central was formed.

The group began rehearsing and playing small venues together. Soon, they began to work on original songs that Gary and the band were writing. They decided in 1979 to record some of the original music at a small independent studio in Erie that was owned and operated in by Keith Veshecco and John Mazza. Soon after recording 7 songs there, a large FM radio station, WDVE, in Pittsburgh sponsored a contest for local bands for a compilation album of local groups. Because of Curt's roots in Pittsburgh, he entered the Penn Central song "Sometimes" in the contest and it earned a spot on the 10 track album that was released in 1980. The band subsequently played in the area for the next few years before drifting apart as the members left college, began new careers, and started raising families. Gary, his brother Shawn, and Curt continued playing together and with other group configurations and as solo artists off and on since that time. They remain friends and share musical ideas to this day.

Key selling points:

- previously unreleased album from 1979
- all songs taken from the original reel-to-reel master tapes
- including full album download code

When a synth master like Steve Moore joins forces with the legendary KPM, magic must materialise. And so it does with Analog Sensitivity: cinematic, enigmatic synthscapes to both haunt and heal.

New York-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/film composer Steve Moore is probably best known for his synthesizer and bass guitar work as Zombi, together with Anthony Paterra. But he is also part of Miracle and Titan as well as being a prolific solo artist releasing music as Gianni Rossi, Lovelock and under his own name. Steve’s music has found a home across labels like Future Times, Mexican Summer, LIES, Static Caravan, Relapse, Kompakt, Spectrum Spools, Death Waltz and Ghost Box, and much of his recent work has been scoring films like The Guest and Cub. Prolific indeed.

The story of Analog Sensitivity starts with those soundtracks, or more specifically the time in between them. Rather than being commissioned by KPM, this LP comes from music Steve was recording sporadically and tinkering with for over three years during the downtime between his film projects. There were no ideas about what it was nor a plan for how it would be released, or even if it was going to be released at all.

However, after Jon Tye invited him to play on the Ocean Moon project for KPM Steve realised that the hallowed library label might be the perfect home for what he had been working on. The people at KPM agreed. Finishing production in late 2019 in Albany, NY, he came up with the track sequencing and suddenly, he had an album: Analog Sensitivity.

The LP opens with the dystopian electronic minimalism of “Eldborg”, its dark synth bass unfolding to ominous synth pads, shadowy sustains and glistening arpeggios. “At The Edge Of Perception” brings an unsettling retro-future of edgy analogue leads and desolate FX. The sound of a robotic core tears through the sparse textures of the enigmatic “Rose Of Charon”. A chilling breeze blows through a persistent, hypnotic synth sequence on “Time Freeze”. Title track “Analog Sensitivity” is a sparkling transcendental synthscape of melody, drones and celestial synth. The brooding “Behind The Waterfall” winds down the first side, building subtle strings and a desolate sound beneath its haunting organ.

“Mirror Mountain” ushers in side two, its woozy bass and arpeggio unfolding to envelop the muffled, muted echos of its organic leads. "Syzygy" emerges you in bubbling sequences, airiness and ambient electric guitar tones. It’s followed by the cinematic minimalism of “Pentagram Of Venus” and its trickling FX. The wind swirls through the otherworldly “Of Dust Thou Art” kicking up clouds of unsettling, plodding synth sequences leading to the uneasy atmosphere of “Message From The Beast” which builds to the echo of the last refrain of some choral incantation. Closing track “Urge Surfing” is as cool a climax as you’d hope from something so brilliantly titled, riding along hushed waves of brooding electronics.

With the clue right there in the title, Analog Sensitivity is built up from the quieter aspects of the sound Steve has been exploring and evolving for over 20 years. It’s a layering of ambivalently dense and airy, muffled and echoing sounds from his collection of synthesizers and other electronic music hardware. And whilst some of Steve’s other work uses this vintage equipment to conjure the past, that wasn’t his intention here. Steve explains “I wanted Analog Sensitivity to feel atemporal, as though it could have been released any time over the past 30 or 40 years. While not specifically in the spirit of any particular album, I’m really into old KPM artists like Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett”.

Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalogue – ambient, spacey, pastoral and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Fran-cis Monkman, Brian Bennett and more – all total masters of the scene. All very cool. All very now. All will sell very fast.

Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he’s never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalogue. By this he means that he’s never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing –that’s the kind of thing that used to happen in the 1990s and the early noughties if you were out there looking hard for library music. But he did manage to get about 25 in one hit about 20 years ago when the BBC shut down their “TV Training Department” near Lime Grove and also when a box of Brutons ended up being dumped at a hospital radio, and they didn’t want the records, so Jonny got a call.

There are lots of Bruton albums in existence – over 330 LPs in the vinyl catalogue, issued between 1978 and 1985. That’s a lot of music to wade through if you are looking for sublime modern day sounds. For many years now the “trophies” from the Bruton catalogue have been the beat or action driven LPs – the two Drama Montage albums (BRJ2 and BRJ8) have always been the big hitters, and others such as High Adventure (BRK2) too.

But Jonny has always found himself drawn to the lime green LPs, the pastoral, peaceful albums (The BRDs), which were full of the kind of gentle, lovely music that would turn up in Take Hart as Tony was paint-ing a woodpecker or a badger or an Autumn tree. The other Brutons he likes are the orange ones (The BRIs) simply because they are full of ex-perimental futuristic electronics and would remind him of 1980s ITV backgrounds. This LP series includes Brian Bennett’s cosmic classic Fantasia (BRI 10). Jonny has been knows to refer to this style of library music as “Krypton Factor library”, because it’s exactly what that strange but successful 1980s TV quiz show sounded like.

In recent years as interest in library music has expanded, we’ve watched
the price of a handful of Brutons really going through the roof - not the just the action and drama ones, but the more esoteric and experimental LPs too – like the BRDs and the BRIs. Jonny gets the vibe that people fi-nally want to hear this other more interesting and experimental side of the Bruton catalogue. So what better time than now to put together a compilation of such sublime period sounds.

Not only does this album bring together a set of fabulous cues that would cost the average man in the street a month’s wages (if the origi-nals were all wanted and if you could even track them all down), but it also chops out the need to listen to other tracks on library albums that are nowhere near as good.

The cues here all date from between 1978 and 1984. They come from the BRD, BRI, BRH, BRJ, BRM, BRR and BRs catalogues.

The composers are all legends within the genre, and here, were doing what great library composers do best – fulfilling a brief and utilising modern studio equipment to both commercial and beguiling effect.

Demon Records presents The Final Tour from legendary guitar band The Shadows performing their greatest hits live on this 2LP set made available for the first time. Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett together on-stage June 5th 2004 at Cardiff Arena.
It was during a hot summer day in June 1960 that The Shadows entered Abbey Road's Studio 2 to record Apache, the track that was to become the instrumental hit of the decade. It shot to No.1, became an instant classic and saw the start of a string of over thirty hits that included another four No.1’s - Wonderful Land, Kon-Tiki, Dance On! and Foot Tapper.

31 tracks including four No1's are featured on this double LP pressed on red vinyl with printed inner sleeves

Grammy-nominated artist and musician Stuart Hyatt returns with another sonic wonder in the Field Works series, bringing the listener into truly uncharted acoustic territory. Ultrasonic is perhaps the first-ever album to use the echolocations of bats as compositional source material. For this special album, Hyatt has assembled an extraordinary group of contributors: Eluvium, Christina Vantzou, Sarah Davachi, Ben Lukas Boysen, Machinefabriek, Mary Lattimore, Felicia Atkinson, Noveller, Chihei Hatakeyama, John Also Bennett, Kelly Moran, Taylor Deupree, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julien Marchal, and Player Piano. Ultrasonic is part of a broader storytelling project about the federally endangered Indiana bat. Generously funded by the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute and the National Geographic Society, each album contains an official printed booklet of The Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Jon Tye and Pete Fowler have been making music as Seahawks for a decade now. Given the sounds they’ve been exploring over those ten years it was a cosmic inevitability that they would be asked to contribute to the catalogue of the legendary library label KPM.

They replied with Island Visions, an exploration of sound for vision where they construct “audio micro-worlds to explore and inhabit”. A way to transport the listener away from the everyday without the bother of getting on an aeroplane. Mind travel is space travel after all, and much better for the environment.

Mostly recorded at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with additional recording at Studio 34 in London, Jon and Pete’s travelling companions on this particular trip were boogie wunderkind Sven Atterton on fretless bass and keys, Nick Mackrory on percussion and the Seahawks live team of Dan Hillman and Alik Peters-Deacon.

From the grooves of Brian Bennett to the moog vibrations of Mike Vickers, the lush textures of Les Baxter to the experimental sounds of Delia Deryshire and David Vorhaus, this new music channels sounds and moods from across the KPM universe.

The spacious “Hot Sand Shuffle” opens the record with some of Seahawks’ familiar “deck-shoegaze”. The slinky digi-dub of “Sky Blue Sky” follows, gently encouraging us to lay back and relax. “Mystic Beach” is a refreshing ocean spray of a synthetic groove that clears the head, priming a pathway to receive “Crystal Forest”, a new age house groove of birds and flutes.

Dense, deep and dreamlike, “Distant Shore” is ambient rainforest house with a 90s vibe, its dense foliage clearing to let us bask in the shimmer and shine of “River Run”. Hang drum, electric gamelan, flute and loon close side A.

Side B bounces into being with “Catch A Wave”, an upbeat beach groover of synthetic guitar, effervescent synth and snappy drums. Equatorial bubbler “Paradise Bird Bath” soon glides in with marimba, crisp beats and fat synth bass. Fender rhodes, space echo and fretless bass make “Smooth Runnings” a laid-back poolside groove.

“Spirits Have Flown” conjures a hazy vibe with marimba, sax, synth funk bass and chilled beats before “Rolling Deep” serves up a light cocktail of sultry rhythms, refreshing textures, cooling sax and fretless bass. Almost-title track “Island Blues” brings the horizontal poolside feels with melodic chimes, oboe and more fretless bass for maximum vibrations. The marina drone of modular electronics, celestial trumpet and jungle ambience pay the album’s final respects to the cosmos on “Sun Salute”.

Like many KPM suites, this is a record of two distinct sides. The sunrise of side A brings a deep meditation, a journey within to renew the jaded self. Side B refreshes with cocktails by the pool and a chance to groove away the evening at some sunset beach party before dancing under the stars in the house of dreams.

Pete’s front cover for the LP is part map, part postcard: “the record has five different sections and I wanted to reference those in the worlds they created, musically and physically. From beach campfire, to poolside hanging and nighttime dancing. A kind of portal to those places and the pictures they inspired in my mind. All places we’d like to be in this turbulent year”. The track descriptions on the back help guide the way.

2020 marks 10 years since Ocean Trippin’, the first Seahawks release, and Island Visions is the perfect distillation of the sounds, sights, textures and moods that Jon and Pete have been exploring over the last decade. Sunrise to sunset condensed to two sides of an LP. The normal rules of space and time don’t apply here.

This is the first time Be With has worked with Seahawks, but individually Jon and Pete have been members of the extended Be With family since forever (Pete did those posters for our Ned Doheny tour and we worked with Jon on the vinyl version of Hatchback’s Colors Of The Sun). Of course we were going to put this out on vinyl.

Mastered by balearic engineer of choice (and Be With’s regular audio co-pilot) Simon Francis, cut by the legendary Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, the sonic frequencies of these Island Visions have been precision tuned and encoded for optimum travelling conditions. Take the trip.

Still deeper forays into the musical landscape of the Windrush generation. A dazzling range of calypso, mento, joropo, steelband, palm-wine and r’n'b. Expert revivals of stringband music, from way back, alongside proto-Afro-funk. An uproarious selection of songs about the H-Bomb and modern phones, prostitution and Haile Selassie, mid-life crisis and the London Underground, racism and solidarity, the Highway Code and a 100% West Indian Royal Wedding.
For example some frantic British-Guianan joropo music-hall about Eatwell Brown from Clapham, who starts out biting off a piece of his mother-in-law’s face at a party, then devours everything in his path… a chunk of Brixton Prison, a Union Jack, a policeman’s uniform. Or Marie Bryant — collaborator of Lester Young and Duke Ellington — taking time off from skewering the South African PM Daniel Malan at her West End revue, to contribute some arch, swinging filth about uber-genitalia. Superior sound, courtesy of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas; lovely gatefold sleeve; full-size booklet, with full notes, and fabulous previously-unseen photographs, including a set from the family archive of Russ Henderson (who led the first, impromptu Notting Hill Carnival march, in 1966).

The 36 track 2CD album comes with 50-page book featuring text, biographies and photography. It also comes in a limited run two volume double-vinyl super-loud super-heavy gatefold sleeve editions. Compiled by Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) and sleevenotes biographies by Jonny Trunk (Trunk Records).

TV Sound and Image features British composers who worked in television, film and music libraries the second half of the 20th century.

Aside from John Barry, whose work on the James Bond films made him a household name, or Tony Hatch and Laurie Johnson, the majority of composers featured here - Simon Park, Keith Mansfield, Reg Tilsley, Syd Dale, Keith Papworth – remain relatively unknown. And yet ironically they have created some of the most recognisable songs in British popular culture, their music widely disseminated on television.

A quick role call of these would include Neil Richardson (who composed the theme tune to Mastermind) and Barry Stoller (who wrote Match of the Day). The Simon Park Orchestra’s Eye Level, theme song to the BBC series Van der Valk, reached number one in 1973. CCS’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love was the theme tune to Top of the Pops. And so on.

This album is not however a stroll through the TV memories of the mind, but an exploration of the serious contribution that these creative musicians have on the landscape of popular music in Britain.

Here then is a guide to the amazing music of many of the composers (both well-known and obscure) responsible for some of the most widely known music ever to come out of Britain in the second-half of the 20th century.

Reviews:

Quietus

Der Spiegel: "spannende Klänge ... die oft funky und immer lässig klingen"

"thrilling sounds.... often funky and always chilled"

New Zealand Herald: ***** "Every track is a killer... This is more than just music to mooch too."

Irish Times: **** "downright funky"

Volkskrant: "Ze leverden spanning op maat, die onbekende makers van fenomenale Britse film en tv-muziek. Door de cd TV Sound and Image opnieuw in de aandacht"

Evening Standard: "deeply funky"

Uncut Magazine "excellent 36 track set ... welcome additions to your collection"

Q Magazine: ****

They Say: “Descriptive scores for scenes of visual impact”.

We say: Arguably the single greatest album in KPM history. An ensemble piece of staggeringly heavy works from none other than Brian Bennett, John Scott, Steve Gray, Jim Lawless and Johnny Pearson.

For our immense pleasure, Visual Impact includes the insanely ace “Nuplex” by Brian Bennett, a nagging, sweeping, punchy funk piece that exists in a world of its own. If you don’t know, get to know - the record’s worth getting for this track alone. The same goes for the beautifully paced, string-drenched, horn-fed LP opener “Canaveral Scape”, courtesy of John Scott. Truly sublime. Other highlights on the A-side include Bennett’s easy, bass-heavy jazz groover “Sequence Of Events” and the spare, building, undercover funk of Steve Gray’s aptly-named “Low Profile”.

The B-side is straight-up fantastic. The percussive, vibey exotica of Jim Lawless’s “Keeping Pace” is followed by five tracks of slick, weighty funk breaks from Johnny Pearson. Check the pure groove of “Jaguar” with its head-nod drum break intro, the creeping piano-strings combo and… er… giant neck-snapping breaks of “Giant’s Causeway”, the speaker-smashing progressive bass groove of “Fugitive”, the tense "Rock Climb" and the sheer heft of "Heavy Load". Library largeness. If that isn’t enough, John Scott’s incessant “Flight Of The Phoenix” ends the session, brilliantly pilfered by M.O.P. for their much-loved “We Run New York”.

Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, Visual Impact is a rare example of a library record that’s genuinely great listen from start to finish. Just too good…

As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Visual Impact comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

And don’t worry! Those KPM stickers aren’t stuck directly on the sleeves!

They Say: “Composite themes and incidental cues for dramatic application”.

We say: Well, it’s definitely dramatic. No wonder this LP was mined by a multitude of 70s and 80s crime shows. Much like Beat Incidental, this true gem includes a raft of enjoyable sub-ten second incidental cues alongside satisfyingly stretched out, hard-knocking sleuth-funk.

The Hunter (Drama Suite) / Adventure Story is a real library-head’s library album. We’re treated to some of the best works of no less than five different heavyweights of the genre: drummer Brian Bennett, guitarist Clive Hicks (of The Gentle Rain), saxophonist Duncan Lamont, rock bassist Dave Richmond and keyboard session giant Steve Gary! Something of a dream line-up, they each contributed stellar efforts to create one of the most sought-after of the legendary KPM albums.

Both sides of this LP are dripping with insidious grooves and dramatic spy-score themes, bursting with heavy guitars, swirling flutes, creeping piano-funk and drum breaks galore. Originally released in 1975, it’s clear that these library heroes were heavily influenced by the tough funk and street soul sonics emerging from the cutting edge Blaxploitation soundtracks.

Dave Richmond’s taut swagger and wah-wah guitar licks of “Nightwatch”, Steve Gray’s sleazy horn and clav-funk on the A-side opener “Theme For A Hunter” and Brian Bennett’s rolling strut of “The Investigator” are just three of the highlights here. That last one being sampled by Jeff Jank under his Captain Funkaho guise on “My 2600” for Stones Throw back in 1999.

As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for The Hunter (Drama Suite) / Adventure Story comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

And don’t worry! Those KPM stickers aren’t stuck directly on the sleeves!

They Say: “A selection of suspense underscores and drama blackcloths which vary in intensity and cover a wide range of suspense and drama situations”.

We say: A breaky, funky library great masquerading as a horror score. Oh, and the cover art is amazing.

Breath Of Danger was originally released in 1974, and rounded up a killer ensemble cast of library legends including Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett, Alan Parker, David Lindup, Kenny Salmon, Barry Morgan and Ray Cooper.

Lindup’s opener “Cold Sweat” sounds like hip-hop-friendly mode Axelrod and, indeed, was brilliantly sampled by Kool Keith for his Dr. Dooom project. Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett’s “The Manipulator” sounds like it arrived straight out of the same sessions as their legendary Synthesizer & Percussion LP from the same year.

Over on the B-side Alan Parker’s “Psychosis” is a moving and beautifully restrained funk-guitar/cello/harp workout. Stunning. Kenny Salmon’s “Flying Squad” is a sleazy, flute-enhanced gem and the album closes with “Voodoo”, a seventy second riot of sound and colour from the dynamic drumming-percussion duo of Barry Morgan and Ray Cooper.

Sonically, there’s a widescreen vitality in all these tracks thanks to the driving rhythms, vibrant horn sections and blazing guitar work. It renders Breath Of Danger - 45 years old - truly ageless. The Themes series is known for having particularly striking sleeves, which was unusual for library records at the time, and Breath Of Danger’s scraps of comic-book crazy make for one of the most eye-catching.

As with all of our other Themes re-issues, the audio for Breath Of Danger comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

Previously released on CD accompanied by “Gone, Gone Beyond”, “The Mirror” is the
dreamy soundtrack of an a/v project from collage artist extraordinaire Vicki Bennett aka
People Like Us.

With ‘’The Mirror’’ Bennett continues her eternal disassembling of popular music by
exploring how the narrative of familiar sounds/songs can change dramatically under a
new context, with that context always changing, in a never-ending flow.

Each song is singular. And each song is a collage of and undefined number of other
songs from other artists. It sounds familiar because that has been the modus operandi of
People Like Us since the early 1990s. But “The Mirror” plays with the notion of familiar,
driving around a collection of famous pop songs/artists, messing around with the memory
of the listener and, of course, his unique comprehension of those specific songs applied
in a new context.

Because of the use of familiar pop sounds, “The Mirror” is often grandiose. Like an epic
film only with highs, never letting the listener down or letting him doubt the power of pop.
Even, of course, when the coordinates are twisted, mixed, over or underrepresented.
Each moment feels like something that could only happen in a parallel universe.

Although that may sound naïve, it’s just a lost thought of reaction to the beautiful collages
of People Like Us in “The Mirror”. This mirror doesn’t reflect an image of ourselves or an
image of pop. But an image on the way memories drift and are being constant rebuilt. An
unfinished collage.

Mastered by Mark Gergis
Vinyl Cut by Rashad Becker

“Sol LeWitt is an artist whose work I’ve admired since I was a child — my mom took me to several exhibitions growing up and there are a couple LeWitts in the Nelson Art Museum in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.

In 2012 I was invited to perform at M-Museum in Leuven, Belgium, and was asked to pick the room where the performance would happen. There was a large Sol LeWitt exhibition up at the time of the performance with around 20 wall drawings. I visited the exhibition, chose a gallery of large black and white stripes and invited 6 cellists to perform in this room.

To prepare for the performance I revisited Sol LeWitt’s artist books, many of which contain the diagrams and lists of instructions that are used to execute the wall drawings. I made a score in photoshop: a tower of black lines, some broken, some continuous, extended across a sheet of A4 paper. I indicated that the lines are in the key of F. The 6 cellists performed this score reading left to right, top to bottom. There was a live audience. The cello ensemble performed the graphic score twice of the course of the evening. These are the 2 pieces on this record.”
– Christina Vantzou

Performed by Nelle Bogaerts, Mauro Sarachian, Anne Van Os, Lieselot Watté, Jasmijn Lootens, Tine Hubrechts. Recorded, edited and mixed by Christina Vantzou - Spatial sound design by John Also Bennett.

Only 2 more pieces to come to conclude this 7 x 7" series.

LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART

Hot Wax is an assured KPM masterclass from a dream team line-up of Brian Bennett, Alan Hawkshaw and John Fiddy. Here we're treated to what happens when all three decide to explore the latest trends in production music'. The latest as of 1976, of course.John Fiddy's numbers are sumptuous, string-led and light. Floaty soft-psych underpinned by a solid groove, particularly on Taste For Living' and "Fresh Start". If you're into Koushik and those early Manitoba/Caribou records - and you should be - you'll appreciate these.
For us, the Bennett and Bennett/Hawkshaw stuf is on another level. Capitol City' oscillates between driving funk and downbeat sentiment. Name Of The Game' is tough, smokin' funk, famously sampled in 2007 by Madlib for Percee P's Who With Me'. Bop On The Rocks' knocks hard and Full Throttle' features a guitar solo with some of the nastiest, about-to-explode fuzz you're ever likely to hear.
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Hot Wax comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We've taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's brand identity.

Ella's 1960 Christmas album is a sultry, swinging holiday classic. Originally released on Verve and her only full length Christmas album for the label, it features arrangements by the great Frank DeVol who worked with a who's who of 50s/60s pop and jazz vocalists from Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan to Tony Bennett and Dinah Shore. A beautiful collection from one of jazz music's finest all-time vocalists. Perfect for that swinging holiday party!

LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART

Released in the same year as Synthesis over on KPM, 1974's Synthesizer and Percussion is its essential companion piece. 'This record features the many distinctive sounds of the ARP Synthesizer plus percussion in various moods and tempos' is the even more underwhelming than usual library record sales pitch for
Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett's second collection of what is basically minimal G-funk, with overtones of primitive acid house. This is ridiculously good.
This is one of Hawkshaw and Bennett's wilder joints and aeons ahead of its time.
Bennett's tough drums provide the underpinnings for the prominent bass, keys and bubbling synths high up in the mix, alongside Hawkshaw's deranged clavinet-funk-rock. There are heavenly break loops galore.
Opener "Mon Amour" is ultra-smooth funk, all inter-weaving melodic lines whilst the seminal "Oddball" is an incredible hard electro strut with a knocking break.
"Mile High Swinger" is a tranquil Spaghetti Western whistling theme over double tempo rhythmic movement and the pulsating "Auto Pilot" has a percussive groove elevated by electric piano and synthesizer. Check "Driving Force', 'Home Run' and "Pacesetter" for electroid prog-funk dripped in acid squelch.
All fve fnal tracks are beatless synth workouts, because they can.
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Synthesizer and Percussion comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We've taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's brand identity.

LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART

Alan Hawkshaw (piano/Hammond) and Shadow's drummer Brian Bennett are responsible for some of the slickest, funkiest and most sought-after library records ever made in the UK, particularly ones recorded on the legendary KPM label. Their work has now become the go-to place for sampling in music today.
Artists such as Dilla, Nas, and the xx, right through to the billion selling Kanye & Drake have taken Hawkshaw's and Bennett's immaculate beat-driven soundscapes for their own usage.
Their new album, in full, iconic KPM cover is a return to the laidback jazz-funk that helped Alan and Brian demonstrate their library chops. The album is classic Hawkshaw/Bennett. It swings, it grooves, moves and thrills with a fair these two have perfected over years.
Standout tracks such as "Hole In One", "In The Clouds", "Interchange", "Oasis", "On The Nile" and "Corcovado" are no mere excursions in nostalgia, for they carrylots of deft studio work that many a producer would give their right arm for.
Hawkshaw's arrangements allow the drums, guitar, bass, strings, Hammond, fute and brass to swirl elegantly around the 12 original tracks; a masterclass in recording.
Cut by Pete Norman, housed in a beautifully designed Richard Robinson sleeve and pressed at 180g by Record Industry in Holland, this release has been aforded the care and attention it rightly deserves. Essential.

LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART

The 'vivid contemporary sounds for a fresh visual image' make up the now canonised Synthesis from Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett. These two greats go deeper than usual on this collection, and the end result is a synth concept record of sorts. Released in 1974, it's an essential companion piece to
their Synthesizer and Percussion LP, released on Themes International Music in the same year.
Like most of our favourite library records, Synthesis has that gloriously funky, 'weird electronic music' vibe without ever being inaccessible. With the awesome ARP Odyssey at the fore, Hawkshaw and Bennett have created a blissed-out soundscape that, whilst laid back in all the right places, somehow remains heavy on the funk. It's a sort of throbbing, proto-G Funk sound and you can fnd it on many of these low-lit basement workouts.
Take the ice-cool 'Alto Glide'. It's a sunset-funk highlight with an electro-fute refrain that conjures those dreamier Dre / DJ Quick instrumentals from '91 to '92.
Stereolab, Koushik (again) and all those Ghost Box artists were clearly listening very closely in the years since. The equally relaxed 'Mermaid' glides efortlessly with soft, shimmering piano, understated percussion and kaleidoscopic synths.
It's a really beautiful piece.With these two soft-focus closing tracks allowing the LP to foat away over the horizon, the preceding ten tracks have a more insistent, neck-snapping rhythm
section to back the synth overload. Highlights include the head-nod funk of 'Getting It Together' and the synth break in 'The Executive', which informed classic video game soundtracks.
For once Be With really is stuck for words to describe just how good this record is.
Best just to listen. As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Synthesis comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We've taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's brand identity.

The final single in a series featuring regular Ghost Box artists, special guests and one-off projects. This time our guest artist is folk singer, Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side.

'Something Out of Nothing' is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising: Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Sharron Kraus is a singer of folk songs, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo work and collaborations offer a dark and subversive take on traditional music. As well as drawing on the folk traditions of England and Appalachia, her music is influenced by gothic literature, surrealism, myth and magick.

In addition to eight solo albums, Kraus has recorded an album of traditional songs 'Leaves From Off The Tree' with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall (Espers, Beautify Junkyards) written an album of songs to celebrate the seasons of the year, 'Right Wantonly A-Mumming', which was recorded with some of England's finest traditional folk singers including Jon Boden, Fay Hield and Ian Giles. She has also recorded and performed with Ex Reverie's Gillian Chadwick as Rusalnaia, with Tara Burke (Fursaxa) as Tau Emerald and with Irish free-folk collective United Bible Studies.

Jim Jupp, co-founder of the Ghost Box label, records as Belbury Poly. His melodic, folk inflected electronica references 70s library music & TV soundtracks. It's music that's both light and weirdly unsettling.

Brooklyn trio Forma's latest LP continues their mission to 'broaden the idea of what an electronic music ensemble can sound like.' Semblance emerged from exploratory sessions at The Schoolhouse, the Bushwick loft where members Mark Dwinell and John Also Bennett live, then was tracked at Gary's Electric studios, where their previous album Physicalist was also recorded.
Inspired by polyrhythmic composition, the human voice, and conceptual improvisation strategies, the songs are striking in their textural detail and emotional nuance, alternately synthetic and sentient, futuristic and intuitive. Incorporating flute, piano, guitar, saxophone, acoustic drums and cymbals alongside an array of synthesizers, the record persuasively demonstrates the group's unique playing abilities and fluid chemistry - attributes they credit to 'techniques we've developed to trick our electronic machines into mimicking the spontaneous character of live instruments.'
Members George and John Also Bennett also cite as an influence their recent stint in minimalist composer Jon Gibson's ensemble, performing his 1973 proto-ambient masterwork Visitations. The long- form modal piece requires restraint and deep listening to execute, qualities especially apparent in the more muted moments of Semblance, such as 'Rebreather' and 'New City.'
The group states the intent of the new album as 'to be more direct and exacting', which it is. Over half a decade spent writing and recording together has distilled Forma's hybrid electro-acoustic interplay into an attuned and astounding language, capable of articulating impossible symmetries and reflective states.
The stunning visuals of the artwork are by frequent collaborator of the group Peter Burr.

The War On Drugs announce their fourth full-length album, A Deeper Understanding, out August 25th on Atlantic Records. A Deeper Understanding is the band's first album since 2014's universally acclaimed Lost In The Dream, and their debut album with Atlantic. Following the Record Store Day release of the 11-minute Thinking of a Place,' The War On Drugs present the album's lead single, Holding On.'

For much of the three and a half year period since the release of Lost In The Dream, The War On Drugs' frontman, Adam Granduciel, led the charge for his Philadelphia-based sextet as he holed up in studios in New York and Los Angeles to write, record, edit, and tinker—but, above all, to busy himself in work. Teaming up with engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Weezer), Granduciel challenged the notion of what it means to create a fully realized piece of music in today's modern landscape. Calling on his bandmates - bassist Dave Hartley, keyboarding Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez -- continuously throughout the process, the result is a band record' in the noblest sense, featuring collaboration, coordination, and confidence at every turn. Through those years of relocation, the revisiting and reexamining of endless hours of recordings, unbridled exploration and exuberance, Granduciel's gritty love of his craft succeeded in pushing the band to great heights.

AB SYNDROM, the Berlin Duo, is coming with their third album. PLASTIK is a bit like the coming of age album of the band. It tells stories of growing up emotionally and being played into a hard and post capitalistic environment. Nevertheless you will find some quite romantic lyrics and songs between lyrical metaphors and a rough and urban reality in Berlin Neukölln, their neighborhood. The music on PLASTIK is mainly a percussion driven and electronic laden journey. Not your average pop arrangements but subtle compositions and laid back vocals with a certain chopped and screw twist. The bands musical projection is a most consequent advancement of their three albums and their body of work so far. Bennet Seuss, singer and composer is defining his own style in writing autobiographic lyrics with a certain twist to the obscure and umtransparent. A great album for sure. Tracklist LP A Seite Keine Geister Feng Shui Patchwork Waterboarding U8 B Seite FFM Fake Starring Contest 2009 Hattori Hanzo Schwert Deephouse und Tiefenrausch

Belgium-based Composer Christina Vantzou's Fourth Full-length For Kranky Ventures Further Into The Uniquely Elusive And Evocative Mode Of Ambient Classical Minimalism Which Has Become Her Signature: A Fragile Synthesis Of Contemplative Drift, Heady Silences, And Muted Dissonance. In Regards To The New Album She Speaks Of Focusing Particular Attention On The Effects Of The Recordings On The Body, And Of 'directing Sound Perception Into An Inner Space.'
No. 4 Took Shape Across Roughly Two Years, Incorporating A Diverse Array Of Musical And Conceptual Collaborators, Including Fellow Kranky Artists Steve Hauschildt And John Also Bennett (of Forma) As Well As Angel Deradoorian (ex-dirty Projectors), Clarice Jensen, Beatrijs De Klerck, And Members Of Belgium's Echo Collective. During The Creation Process Vantzou Wanted To 'blur Lines Of Hierarchy,' And Thus Allowed All Ensemble Members And Technical Assistants To Add Or Delete Elements. Despite Such A Spectrum Of Input The Eleven Tracks Feel Distinctly Cohesive, Weaving Elegant Textures And Resonant Open Spaces Within A Twilit Landscape Of Eclectic Instrumentation: Piano, Harp, Vibraphone, Voice, Strings, Marimba, Synthesizers, Gong, And Bells.
Vantzou Describes The Recording Process As One Of Prepared Spontaneity: That Is, 'having Plenty Of Ideas Ready To Explore Going Into The Session, But With Enough Time To Depart From Those Ideas And See What Happens.' This Mindset Of Premeditated Exploration Informs The Album's Emotive Textural Intuition, With Hushed Drones And Delicate Gestures Eliding In The Periphery Of The Mix. She Cites Sleep And 'the Loosening Of Time' As Two Formative Practices In Her Private And Professional Life, Which Manifests In The Quietly Hallucinatory Properties Of Vantzou's Music. No. 4 Feels Both Endless And Ephemeral, Immersive And Immaterial. It's A Music Of Horizon Lines And Half-light, Mapped With Feeling And Foresight.
Recorded In New York City And Brussels. Mixed In Berlin.
A Portion Of This Work Was Funded By A Generous Grant From The Flemish Community In Belgium.

Offical reissue of this super rare, modern soul boogie 45 originally released in the early 80s - pressed in a loud 7" with lovely picture sleeve!

(Disclaimer: release notes refer to the combined CD double-album release "Hot Flash: Best of The Voltags" on which all tracks appear together. "Electric Nightmare" and "Danger High Voltag" are released separately on vinyl format)

It does not happen that often any more that unreleased music from 40 years ago surfaces. Even more unlikely it is that the songs put on tape are such treasures. The Voltags were right at the forefront of the local Washington DC New Wave/Punk scene of the late 1970s. Influenced by Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, The Clash, and The B-52's, they have released only one 45rpm single during their existence. But during the time span of not even 18 months, they had recorded enough material for an entire album - but the songs remained in the can.

This is the story of The Voltags, a short-lived band which could have become famous and mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned music legends of that era - if their songs had been released back in the day. Dive in and enjoy the sound of The Voltags, it is truly special. We here at Perfect Toy are thrilled to be label to finally release their work and we sincerely hope that they are finally getting the appreciation they so richly deserve.

Detailed information:
Dave Bennett and Hangnail Phillips grew up in Brookside Park, Newark, Delaware, USA, a small suburban college town nestled midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their first band project evolved into Pump Productions (Pump) under which they released their only 45rpm single in 1970 (one of the two songs, "Pappy's Rug", can be heard on "Down & Wired 3", Perfect Toy Rec.). Soon after the recording of the single the two graduated from High School and disbanded Pump. Both moved on to form two new Newark bands. Dave was a founding member of "Snake Grinder & The Shredded Fieldmice" and Hangnail co-founded "Rudy Baker & The Vegetables".

In early 1979, two friends of Dave's, Nick Norris and Mike Fisher, became partners in a music production company, White Clay Productions. One of White Clay's first artists was Dave Bennett who had just written two excellent songs: "Electric Jungle" and "Son Of Sam". White Clay set up a recording session and Dave assembled a group of friends to record the songs. Before the recordings were even mixed, Dave asked Hangnail if he would join in a band to support the single and other songs he had written. When James Keesey (drums) and Rick Reid (bass) were added the line-up was complete. For a while they didn't have a name and then one day Nick Norris was looking at a photo of Dave standing next to a "Danger High Voltage" sign. Dave's head was in front of the E in Voltage and Nick laughed "Danger High Voltag" and so it was soon suggested that the band should be called "The Voltags" (pronounced Vol'-togs). After months of preparing a repertoire they were ready to play out. Their first gig was (October 20, 1979) at a gay disco in nearby Wilmington called The Backstage. On December 30, 1979, White Clay decided to put on a big show at the State Theater to celebrate the end of the Seventies ("The End Of The Decade Bash").

For the next year, with the help of White Clay, they recorded 19 songs, both studio and live recordings with White Clay's mobile unit. If not for these "off the board" recordings, many of their songs would have never been recorded. There was always talk of a second Voltags single but the strains of working so closely together were taking their toll on them and Dave decided to leave the group in December of 1980. The Voltags couldn't be The Voltags without Dave, and by the end of 1981, Hangnail, James and Rick, too, were ready to disband.


- all songs previously unreleased
- mastered from the original reel-to-reel tapes
- limited vinyl release

Born in London, 1945, Labi Siffre's recording career has spanned over 30 years and produced a body of work that has attained anthemic status across the world. He has had two number one hits (directly and indirectly) and is considered by those in the know to be one of Britain's most important musicians of the past fifty years. So it's a strange modern quirk that his actual voice is rarely heard, as it is from covers and samples of his work that he is best known. You may recognise his genius being sampled by Eminen for 'My Name Is' or the Madness cover of his song 'It Must Be Love' that was a huge pop hit across the world.

For his release on Mr Bongo we have gone back to the original source - his classic 1975 release 'Remember My Song'. This is his fifth album and features 'The Vulture', 'Sadie and the Devil' and 'I Got The', sampled by Eminem, Jay-Z, Wu-tang Clan, Atmosphere, The Beatnuts and Frankenstein, amongst others. Co-produced by Derek Lawrence and Big Jim Sullivan - a prolific session musician, artist and producer - who also worked with artists such as David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg (on 'Histoire De Melody Nelson') and Frank Zappa. Brian Bennett of The Shadows, Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock aka Chas 'n' Dave also feature on this funk masterpiece from 1975.

This LP is reissued in new and improved sleeves (made in Japan) and features label designs as per the original 1975 release.

Susso, aka bassist / producer Huw Bennet, creates music inspired by, and directly sampling, the magnifcent sounds of the Mandinka people, recorded during a recent trip to Gambia.
Initally travelling with the aim of gaining perspectve as a musician and to discover a new world of music frst hand, Huw found himself humbled by such a welcoming community of artsts, mostly belonging to the celebrated Suso and Kuyateh griot families.
The tracks are composed entrely from original source material, feld recordings and Huw's talents as a mult-instrumentalist; performing tuned percussion from the region including
the Mandinka Balafon, Kutringding drum, aswell drawing on his skill as a professional upright / electric bassist. The music produced has a contemporary electronic sound, whilst
stll paying homage to a traditonal Gambian aesthetc. Keira (meaning peace) guides the listener through Huw's journey up the River Gambia, being welcomed into remote dusty villages, where your people are the most important thing in life.