Search:black stag

Legendary drummer, Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a one-of-a-kind concert honouring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder, Peter Green which was held on 25th February 2020 at the London, Palladium. The bill included Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman, Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend, Neil Finn, Kirk Hammett and Jeremy Spencer. Legendary producer Glyn Johns joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Ricky Peterson.

Fleetwood, who curated the list of artists performing, said: “The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honoured to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician. ‘Then Play On’...”

For volume 86 in the Brazil45 series, we return with a pair of stellar 1970s Brazilian-Funk / Black Rio nuggets by two of the greats of the genre, Toni Tornado & Zeca Do Trombone.

'Sou Negro' (I'm Black) is taken from Toni Tornado's (aka Antônio Viana Gomes) sought after 1970 four-track compacto EP on Odeon Records. Already having had some experience in show business as a dancer in the 1960s, Toni started his musical career in 1970 and adopted the stage name 'Toni Tornado'. The influence of James Brown flowed through his music, with Toni becoming one of the first Brazilian artists (alongside Tim Maia) to introduce the soul and funk sound into Brazilian music. Together with other contemporary musicians and bands such as Banda Black Rio, Gerson King Combo and Cassiano, this new sound led to DJ's throwing soul parties. This unique Brazilian take on soul and funk (and later on disco) became coined as 'Black Rio'. A movement that celebrated pride in its Black identity and consciousness.

Zeca Do Trombone has an impressive repertoire which has seen him releasing a handful of solo albums and working with some of the greats of Brazilian music, such as Tim Maia, Ivan Lins, Joyce, and Luis Vagner. The track 'Coluna Do Meio' is taken from his 1976 collaboration project 'Zé Do Trombone E Roberto Sax' with saxophonist Roberto Sax, which additionally features the heavyweight Wilson das Neves on percussion. This catchy Wah-Wah guitar-led dancer has become a favourite with DJ's over the years and will continue to be championed for years to come.

Needle Paw is the first solo album by Nai Palm, the lead singer and composer of R&B future soul outfit Hiatus Kaiyote. A two-time Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and musician from Melbourne, Australia, Nai Palm is a composer, instrumentalist, producer, vocalist and poet who approaches all of these self-taught disciplines with an intuitive, infectious grace. This gift has sent her and her band Hiatus Kaiyote on a journey to sculpt songs that have been received and treasured across the globe. Their success set the stage for Nai’s first solo effort.

Comprised almost entirely of her guitar playing and vocal arrangements, Needle Paw is Nai Palm’s self-imposed challenge to explore the potential for immortality and timelessness within her music by stripping away the produced layers to focus on the element that is closest to the source of the human soul: the voice.

Needle Paw is the rawest glimpse into Nai Palm’s musical world. It is dreamlike, honest, and beautifully transparent, revealing her musical ruminations to listeners with a courageous vulnerability and artistic generosity. Nai sees this album as a reminder to musicians that they don’t have to rely on production to expose their gifts.

Needle Paw features acoustic versions of Hiatus Kaiyote favorites “Atari,” “Mobius,” “When The Knife,” “Molasses,” and “Borderline With My Atoms”, as well as covers of songs by David Bowie (“Blackstar”), Radiohead (“Pyramid Song”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)”).

Master craftsman James Welburn’s new LP, Sleeper in the Void, marks the 50th Miasmah release.The six years after his monumental debut have bred six tracks Welburn brings to fruition with the help of past co-conspirators from the Norwegian underground scene - Tomas Järmyr (Motorpsycho, Zu, Barchan), Hilde Marie Holsen (Hubro Records), and vocal artist Juliana Venter (W/V, Phil Winter).

On Sleeper in the Void, Welburn expands the domain of his sound, unveiling surprises until the very end of the album’s 36 minute playtime. While the character of the record is unmistakably his own, the tracks veer into many different territories, including a banging foray to the dancefloor.

The LP begins slowly with Raze, where Järmyr’s ritualistic cymbals introduce layers of Welburn’s signature sculpted bass drones and noise, building into a heart-wrenching epic of a track. This is perhaps the closest we ever get to Hold - Welburn’s previous LP. Falling from Time immediately surprises with it’s subdued mechanical techno beat, stark and cold as a glacier. Welburn’s texture-work is the star of the show, creating curious nooks and crannies of drone adorned with eerie melodies straight out of oblivion. This sense of wonder shines through to the album’s title track as well, where Welburn and Järmyr build another patient, echoing, and deeply cinematic piece, the drum patterns slowly shifting around a metallic hum that evokes the vision of church bells, ringing out under tonnes of seawater.

Sleeper in the Void feels like a story in two parts, rising lethargically, but with gargantuan power. The second begins with the momentous In and out of Blue, where Juliana Venter’s disembodied, spectral dirge takes center stage among the furious drums and bassy riffs, reaching a full crescendo with seconds to go. Parallel marks a release - Hilde Marie Holsen’s nostalgic soundscapes, pristine as glass, meeting the distant thunder of Welburn’s strings on the horizon. And finally, Fast Moon ends the record in a most surprising way - a tribal industrialized banger, complete with vile distorted beats and every other spice in demand on a blackened dancefloor.

Welburn’s Sleeper in the Void is a generous shapeshifter. Every inch of its soundwave breathes emotion and imagery - an invitation to take a dive and linger.

“It was my wish to cool things down a bit,” says David Helbock. The
Austrian-born pianist has formed a new trio with guitarist Arne
Jansen and trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky and it is clear when he
talks about it how far he has already moved on since his previous
group: “In the Random Control Trio we had a lot of instruments on
the stage, there was a lot of changing from one instrument to
another… and a lot of notes.” And the new group? “It is more about
emotions. And emotions are the most important thing in music.”
There are other differences too. Whereas Helbock’s previous groups
have consisted of musicians from his native Austria, he has now lived
in Berlin for five years, and ‘The New Cool’ presents his first group
formed with players who have also adopted Berlin as their home city.
With Arne Jansen, originally from Kiel, what appeals to Helbock is
that “he is such an unselfish player, very centred and very calm - and
subtle too. With him it’s all about the music.” Studnitzky is originally
from the Black Forest and Helbock liked “his style of playing with that
very airy sound” and the fact the range of timbres and moods he
creates with just one effects device. And how does it work in the
trio? “All three of us are melody players, but we are all capable of
holding back and giving space to the others.”
It would be wrong, however, to see the elegiac feel of much of this
album as a response to the pandemic. Helbock and producer Siggi
Loch were having “a productive and fruitful discussion” about these
ideas a full year before the recording sessions took place at the Emil
Berliner studios in August 2020. Loch has a fascination for the way
cool jazz “turned the wheel around” to connect with a wide audience
and references and connections with the cool jazz movement are
scattered throughout this album. It is also the very first time that
Helbock has included a tune by his teacher for over a decade,
American pianist Peter Madsen, who toured extensively with Stan
Getz and also taught Maria Schneider.
Helbock has been inspired by the innovations and concepts of Lennie
Tristano and his sense of affinity with the Chicago-born genius runs
deep. Tristano once decreed that “the jazz musician’s function is to
feel.” Helbock, Jansen and Studnitzky have taken that maxim to their
hearts.
LP pressed on 180g vinyl with digital download included.

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen - guitar/Ellen Brekken - bass/Ivar Loe Bjornstad - drums. Only nine months after her momentous debut solo album Ekhidna, the guitarist is back fronting her trio. With their previous album, Smells Funny, this explosive and expansive trio experienced a breakthrough of sorts, having gone from strength to strength through five albums since their 2011 debut Shoot!, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable on jazz and rock stages. Hedvig enforced this breakthrough with Ekhidna, appearing on both jazz and rock best of 2020 lists, like coming in third in Prog's "Album of the Year" poll. She was included in Downbeat's "25 for the future" and received heaps of international attention and great reviews.With the hypnotic title track, the spacious ballad Four Candles and generally a more varied mood, Ding Dong. You're Dead. is the trio's most dynamic album to date. That said there's still enough solid and creative riffing here to satisfy the headbangers, as well as the jazzheads, as they further explore the free and open landscapes most notably started with their Black Stabat Mater album and continued with Smells Funny. As Nate Chinen wrote about "Black Stabat Mater" in JazzTimes: Her trio, which has Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe Bjornstad on drums, caught my ear then with its audacious style references: the loose swagger of early Black Sabbath; the density and prowl of peak Led Zeppelin; the expeditionary urge of Jimi Hendrix; the incantatory fervor of John McLaughlin. As recent performances have shown, online and in the flesh, this trio radiates confidence and have become a surefire hit on the Norwegian live scene. Hedvig first picked up her mother's acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. Hedvig met Ellen and Ivar at the Music Academy in Oslo and asked them to join her after she received the Young Jazz Talent of the Year award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon to wide international acclaim.

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen - guitar/Ellen Brekken - bass/Ivar Loe Bjornstad - drums. Only nine months after her momentous debut solo album Ekhidna, the guitarist is back fronting her trio. With their previous album, Smells Funny, this explosive and expansive trio experienced a breakthrough of sorts, having gone from strength to strength through five albums since their 2011 debut Shoot!, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable on jazz and rock stages. Hedvig enforced this breakthrough with Ekhidna, appearing on both jazz and rock best of 2020 lists, like coming in third in Prog's "Album of the Year" poll. She was included in Downbeat's "25 for the future" and received heaps of international attention and great reviews.With the hypnotic title track, the spacious ballad Four Candles and generally a more varied mood, Ding Dong. You're Dead. is the trio's most dynamic album to date. That said there's still enough solid and creative riffing here to satisfy the headbangers, as well as the jazzheads, as they further explore the free and open landscapes most notably started with their Black Stabat Mater album and continued with Smells Funny. As Nate Chinen wrote about "Black Stabat Mater" in JazzTimes: Her trio, which has Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe Bjornstad on drums, caught my ear then with its audacious style references: the loose swagger of early Black Sabbath; the density and prowl of peak Led Zeppelin; the expeditionary urge of Jimi Hendrix; the incantatory fervor of John McLaughlin. As recent performances have shown, online and in the flesh, this trio radiates confidence and have become a surefire hit on the Norwegian live scene. Hedvig first picked up her mother's acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. Hedvig met Ellen and Ivar at the Music Academy in Oslo and asked them to join her after she received the Young Jazz Talent of the Year award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon to wide international acclaim.

Dark, psychosexual electronics lurk between the teeth of Ester Kärkkäinen, the Las Vegas based artist also known as Himukalt. For the past six years, she has tirelessly pursued an avenue of bleak industrial productions that parallel the extremist works of Genocide Organ and Atrax Morgue. She has built a considerable reputation for uncompromising, full-frontal noise, releasing albums on Total Black, Malignant Records, Found Remains, and Foul Prey, amongst others. Between My Teeth was originally a cassette which came out in 2018 as a tiny edition on the Greek imprint Several Minor Promises and sold out immediately upon release. Himukalt returns to The Helen Scarsdale Agency with the necessary reissue of Between My Teeth as a vinyl edition with expanded artwork.

The album is a maelstrom of ill-tempered noise and blackened frequencies, sutured to a foundation of primitive, raw rhythms. Kärkkäinen cuts up her own voice with the digital equivalent of a rusted razor blade through her proclamations of misery, rage, and desire. The albums' opening track "Cataclysm" a turgid industrial production with Kärkkäinen adopting two distinct voices that, while they remain mostly indecipherable in content, the context presumes an inevitable, catastrophic and emotionally violent collapse in the relationship between two people. A tense rhythm clicks below the full spectrum bursts of harsh noise on "She Went Mad" followed by the smoldering power electronic moves of "I No Longer Belong" and "Not Proper." And the death disco groove of "Mine" is far more hellish than danceable through its scalded distortion and Kärkkäinen's vocal mantras about bodily self-loathing.

Another bold, declarative album in the ever impressive Himukalt discography. Remastered by James Plotkin and features a 12 page booklet of Kärkkäinen's signature collaged xerography.

Record Kicks presents "The Black Stone Affair" the lost Italian Cinematic Masterpiece by Whatitdo Archive Group on limited edition 45.

For the first time ever, Record Kicks is pleased to announce the release of the long lost soundtrack by Whatitdo Archive Group to the Italian Cinematic Masterpiece "The Black Stone Affair''. The Soundtrack will be released on April 09 on Gatefold LP, CD and Digital Download. The first extract from the movie soundtrack is a limited edition 45 vinyl featuring "The Return of Beaumont Jenkins" on side A and the non-album bonus track "La Pietra" on side B. The 45 will be released in limited edition to 500 copies worldwide next March 05.

Long thought to be lost alongside the movie itself by the production studio, the soundtrack's master reels were recently recovered and its audio meticulously restored and remastered by J.J. Golden in Ventura, CA. The movie itself was understood to be unusual for its time: a globetrotting adventure/western-noir written and directed by aspiring visionary, Stefano Paradisi. Unfortunately for Paradisi, the tragic loss of his masterpiece also meant the end of his short lived career in movies. People who worked on the film have been cited as saying this film was going to be a turning point in Italian cinema and henceforth put Paradisi on the map alongside the likes of Fellini and Antonioni.

While the movie never saw the light of day, the soundtrack by obscure band Whatitdo Archive Group has thankfully been recovered. The music itself is staggering to hear and this limited edition ultra groovy 45 is just a little appetizer of what you'll be hearing on the LP. Rare groove and soundtrack fans don't sleep on it.

"Ultra Eczema rarely reissues records: firstly, because we believe it's hard to improve on a good original (and we would never want to republish anything that isn't); and secondly, it's called the Internet and you can find everything on it. Nonetheless, in 2015 we reissued Kraus' 'I could Destroy You With A Single Thought', a CDR from 2004, because it was camping in our all-time favourite records list for a decade and the data on this erratic medium tends to erase itself, much like a troubled past. 'A Golden Brain' was published in the first wave of the Covid pandemic via Kraus' bandcamp as a digital release. And once again we couldn't help ourselves. This is Kraus at his best: if a bedroom could be a stadium, he would play the main stage! Limited edition of 300 copies. Includes an insert, download code and a UE sticker."

Shake Your Money Maker, the classic debut album from The Black Crowes has received the super deluxe treatment for its 30th anniversary. Hours of audio from the original studio sessions and live shows have now been curated under by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and album producer George Drakoulias. The new collection features 5 unreleased songs including the should have been a single studio track “Charming Mess” along with studio recording covers of Humble Pie’s “30 Days In The Hole” and John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”. The set also includes 2 previously unreleased demos from when the band was originally called Mr. Crowe’s Garden and liner notes penned by David Fricke.

The original album has been newly remastered from the original tapes.

Also unearthed were the original multitrack tapes from the band’s homecoming concert. Recorded over two nights at Atlanta, GA’s Center Stage, the full concert is now available for the first time ever. Previously, only the live version of “She Talks To Angels” was released from this show.

Shake Your Money Maker, the classic debut album from The Black Crowes has received the super deluxe treatment for its 30th anniversary. Hours of audio from the original studio sessions and live shows have now been curated under by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and album producer George Drakoulias. The new collection features 5 unreleased songs including the should have been a single studio track “Charming Mess” along with studio recording covers of Humble Pie’s “30 Days In The Hole” and John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”. The set also includes 2 previously unreleased demos from when the band was originally called Mr. Crowe’s Garden and liner notes penned by David Fricke.

The original album has been newly remastered from the original tapes.

Also unearthed were the original multitrack tapes from the band’s homecoming concert. Recorded over two nights at Atlanta, GA’s Center Stage, the full concert is now available for the first time ever. Previously, only the live version of “She Talks To Angels” was released from this show.

LIMITED ONE OFF DOUBLE VINYL PRESSING (ONE RECORD SILVER VINYL, ONE RECORD BLACK VINYL TO MATCH THE SLEEVE ARTWORK) HOUSED IN A GLOSS VARNISHED GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH BLACK POLYLINED INNERS. (NON-RETURNABLE)

LIMITED ONE OFF CD PRESSING HOUSED IN A GLOSS VARNISHED CARD GATEFOLD SLEEVE TO REPLICATE THE VINYL VERSION
 
The follow up to Mainliner’s 2013 comeback album 'Revelation Space' has been rumoured for many years. I've even heard tales of several attempts being finished and scrapped in the last five years. I guess that's how hard it is to run a band when all the members are based on different continents and in other very busy bands themselves (Acid Mothers Temple & Bo Ningen notably).

But it's finally done. And if you're a fan, it's been worth the wait.

In Kawabata's own words ... "This new album is the second chapter of this present Mainliner. Finally we could open to the next stage to break old customs since 1995"

The killer trio from the 'Revelation Space' album is still intact, we have Kawabata Makoto (motorpsycho guitar), Koji Shimura (drums) and Kawabe Taigen (bass/vocals) and we're back to calling them just Mainliner once again ('Revelation Space' was issued as Kawabata Makoto's Mainliner)

Q. What does 'Dual Myths' sound like ?
A. Mainliner. Nasty!

"Liza With A 'Z'" is a multi-media production that has been showered with superlatives. It won numerous awards, including those for Choreography and Direction. However, a further award for the music composed by John Kander and Fred Ebb is probably the main reason for the show being released on a record, i.e. just for the ears. But the plan bore fruit, and the LP rocketed onto the Billboard 200. It was to be Liza Minnelli’s best chart hit ever – and it could even be called the soundtrack of her life.

Great favourites such as "Ring Them Bells" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" are set alongside sharp rhythm and blues numbers ("Son Of A Preacher Man", "I Gotcha"). Taking centre stage is a 10-minute medley from the film adaptation of the musical "Cabaret" that was shown in the cinemas also in 1972 and which brought Minnelli her international breakthrough.

All that remains of this costly and glamorous television event, which was only broadcast a few times on US television after the premiere, is the original music on record. Here it is once again in all its glory and with a new freshness.

Self-released in 1969 ‘Our Thing’ is the debut album of the performing Houston unit known as Kashmere Stage Band. The Texas student band came together at the Kashmere High School and under the direction of musical director Conrad O. Johnson, released a series of cult album on Kram Records, before disbanding in 1978. Raw funk, that’s basically what they’ve been playing and clearly there was a blacksploitation feel all over the place, but their drive was quite unique. Rediscover the myth

MSG is a legendary name. After two phenomenal records under the guise of Michael Schenker Fest, a true guitar hero is returning to his roots. By forming Michael Schenker Group (MSG) back in 1979, Michael Schenker laid the foundations for one of hard rock’s most glorious solo careers of all times. And while nobody expected anything less from a former guitarist for Scorpions and UFO, it’s close to impossible mentioning everything Michael has built over the past 50 years, or the countless people he influenced or played with. This, truly, is the stuff that hard rocking myths are made of.

“I never looked back,” is how Michael dryly sums up an extraordinary career. Due to this mindset, he only realised much later what a huge impact his playing had made on the world of metal and hard rock. Very few guitarists can be cited as a primary influence for the likes of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Dimebag Darrell, Slash or Kerry King. However, to understand Michael Schenker means to understand one primary thing: he’s not here to be worshipped or adored, he’s not here to get rich, he’s here to play. And at 65, he’s doing it with the same swagger, verve and dizzying artistry as always. “I’m still 16 in my head,” he laughs.

Right in time for his 40th anniversary as a solo artist and his 50th birthday as a musician, he resurrects the immortal Michael Schenker Group. “Immortal” is also the name of his new album, recorded by likely the strongest line-up in his long history. Its a lightning bolt of an album that sounds fresh, bloodthirsty and agile. “Immortal” showcases the gargantuan vocal talents of Chilean hard rock prodigy Ronnie Romero (Rainbow), backed by singers Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Deep Purple) as well as Schenker’s brother in arms, Michael Voss (Mad Max) who again produced the record alongside Michael Schenker – flawlessly, punchy and at full steam as if their very lives depended on it.
Next to Michael Schenker caressing his iconic black and white Dean Flying V, we hear bass player Barry Sparks (Dokken), keyboard player Steve Mann as well as the three drummers Bodo Schopf, Simon Phillips (ex-Toto) and Brian Tichy (ex-Whitesnake) pumping gallons of fresh blood through the tracks. And that’s not all, keyboard wizard extraordinaire Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Black Country Communion) gives the listener a baptism of fire in the blistering, heavy hitting opener “Drilled to Kill”, powered by Ralf Scheepers’ unbelievable vocal tornado.

Michael Schenker doesn’t live to play, he plays to live, and there’s no better way of summing up his relationship to his music than this – now for half a century and counting. The most emblematic representation of this relationship is the monumental closing track “In Search Of The Peace Of Mind”, a new recording of the very first song he ever wrote. “I composed this track in my mother’s kitchen back when I was 15,” he looks back half a century and smiles broadly: “The solo is just so perfect, I wouldn’t change a single note even today. This is the most important song of the last 50 years for me. It’s what started it all.”
When it finally got released in 1972 on the Scorpions’ debut “Lonesome Crow” Schenker had already moved on to UFO. What followed were several decades of pure hard rock ecstasy on and off stage, featuring a rotating cast of stellar players, always pressing the pedal to the metal. Now, in 2020, he reaps what he sowed. Alongside many of his peers, friends and contemporaries, he is celebrating 50 years of hard rock – fittingly with an album that is something like a zeitgeisty reminiscence of everything he’s ever done. The massive midtempo smasher “Don’t Die On Me Now” sees Joe Lynn Turner going all in, Ronnie Romero works his magic in “Knight Of The Dead” while Michael Voss cuts a grand figure before the microphone as well as behind the mixing desk on the furious second single “After The Rain”.
Towering above them all, Michael Schenker and his guitar prove they’re truly and utterly invincible. The celebrated icon pulls out all the stops – including his legendary “howler”, the fabled magnet he’s used on his fingerboard for a while now. And here’s yet another thing that’s just so archetypically Schenker, when bringing up his fiery and dedicated performance on “Immortal” he nonchalantly shrugs it off: “I simply played from the heart, as always.” This, dear Michael, is the understatement of the year – all the more so for a record that is already one of the top contenders for hard rock/metal album of the year.

MSG is a legendary name. After two phenomenal records under the guise of Michael Schenker Fest, a true guitar hero is returning to his roots. By forming Michael Schenker Group (MSG) back in 1979, Michael Schenker laid the foundations for one of hard rock’s most glorious solo careers of all times. And while nobody expected anything less from a former guitarist for Scorpions and UFO, it’s close to impossible mentioning everything Michael has built over the past 50 years, or the countless people he influenced or played with. This, truly, is the stuff that hard rocking myths are made of.

“I never looked back,” is how Michael dryly sums up an extraordinary career. Due to this mindset, he only realised much later what a huge impact his playing had made on the world of metal and hard rock. Very few guitarists can be cited as a primary influence for the likes of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Dimebag Darrell, Slash or Kerry King. However, to understand Michael Schenker means to understand one primary thing: he’s not here to be worshipped or adored, he’s not here to get rich, he’s here to play. And at 65, he’s doing it with the same swagger, verve and dizzying artistry as always. “I’m still 16 in my head,” he laughs.

Right in time for his 40th anniversary as a solo artist and his 50th birthday as a musician, he resurrects the immortal Michael Schenker Group. “Immortal” is also the name of his new album, recorded by likely the strongest line-up in his long history. Its a lightning bolt of an album that sounds fresh, bloodthirsty and agile. “Immortal” showcases the gargantuan vocal talents of Chilean hard rock prodigy Ronnie Romero (Rainbow), backed by singers Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Deep Purple) as well as Schenker’s brother in arms, Michael Voss (Mad Max) who again produced the record alongside Michael Schenker – flawlessly, punchy and at full steam as if their very lives depended on it.
Next to Michael Schenker caressing his iconic black and white Dean Flying V, we hear bass player Barry Sparks (Dokken), keyboard player Steve Mann as well as the three drummers Bodo Schopf, Simon Phillips (ex-Toto) and Brian Tichy (ex-Whitesnake) pumping gallons of fresh blood through the tracks. And that’s not all, keyboard wizard extraordinaire Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Black Country Communion) gives the listener a baptism of fire in the blistering, heavy hitting opener “Drilled to Kill”, powered by Ralf Scheepers’ unbelievable vocal tornado.

Michael Schenker doesn’t live to play, he plays to live, and there’s no better way of summing up his relationship to his music than this – now for half a century and counting. The most emblematic representation of this relationship is the monumental closing track “In Search Of The Peace Of Mind”, a new recording of the very first song he ever wrote. “I composed this track in my mother’s kitchen back when I was 15,” he looks back half a century and smiles broadly: “The solo is just so perfect, I wouldn’t change a single note even today. This is the most important song of the last 50 years for me. It’s what started it all.”
When it finally got released in 1972 on the Scorpions’ debut “Lonesome Crow” Schenker had already moved on to UFO. What followed were several decades of pure hard rock ecstasy on and off stage, featuring a rotating cast of stellar players, always pressing the pedal to the metal. Now, in 2020, he reaps what he sowed. Alongside many of his peers, friends and contemporaries, he is celebrating 50 years of hard rock – fittingly with an album that is something like a zeitgeisty reminiscence of everything he’s ever done. The massive midtempo smasher “Don’t Die On Me Now” sees Joe Lynn Turner going all in, Ronnie Romero works his magic in “Knight Of The Dead” while Michael Voss cuts a grand figure before the microphone as well as behind the mixing desk on the furious second single “After The Rain”.
Towering above them all, Michael Schenker and his guitar prove they’re truly and utterly invincible. The celebrated icon pulls out all the stops – including his legendary “howler”, the fabled magnet he’s used on his fingerboard for a while now. And here’s yet another thing that’s just so archetypically Schenker, when bringing up his fiery and dedicated performance on “Immortal” he nonchalantly shrugs it off: “I simply played from the heart, as always.” This, dear Michael, is the understatement of the year – all the more so for a record that is already one of the top contenders for hard rock/metal album of the year.

MSG is a legendary name. After two phenomenal records under the guise of Michael Schenker Fest, a true guitar hero is returning to his roots. By forming Michael Schenker Group (MSG) back in 1979, Michael Schenker laid the foundations for one of hard rock’s most glorious solo careers of all times. And while nobody expected anything less from a former guitarist for Scorpions and UFO, it’s close to impossible mentioning everything Michael has built over the past 50 years, or the countless people he influenced or played with. This, truly, is the stuff that hard rocking myths are made of.

“I never looked back,” is how Michael dryly sums up an extraordinary career. Due to this mindset, he only realised much later what a huge impact his playing had made on the world of metal and hard rock. Very few guitarists can be cited as a primary influence for the likes of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Dimebag Darrell, Slash or Kerry King. However, to understand Michael Schenker means to understand one primary thing: he’s not here to be worshipped or adored, he’s not here to get rich, he’s here to play. And at 65, he’s doing it with the same swagger, verve and dizzying artistry as always. “I’m still 16 in my head,” he laughs.

Right in time for his 40th anniversary as a solo artist and his 50th birthday as a musician, he resurrects the immortal Michael Schenker Group. “Immortal” is also the name of his new album, recorded by likely the strongest line-up in his long history. Its a lightning bolt of an album that sounds fresh, bloodthirsty and agile. “Immortal” showcases the gargantuan vocal talents of Chilean hard rock prodigy Ronnie Romero (Rainbow), backed by singers Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Deep Purple) as well as Schenker’s brother in arms, Michael Voss (Mad Max) who again produced the record alongside Michael Schenker – flawlessly, punchy and at full steam as if their very lives depended on it.
Next to Michael Schenker caressing his iconic black and white Dean Flying V, we hear bass player Barry Sparks (Dokken), keyboard player Steve Mann as well as the three drummers Bodo Schopf, Simon Phillips (ex-Toto) and Brian Tichy (ex-Whitesnake) pumping gallons of fresh blood through the tracks. And that’s not all, keyboard wizard extraordinaire Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Black Country Communion) gives the listener a baptism of fire in the blistering, heavy hitting opener “Drilled to Kill”, powered by Ralf Scheepers’ unbelievable vocal tornado.

Michael Schenker doesn’t live to play, he plays to live, and there’s no better way of summing up his relationship to his music than this – now for half a century and counting. The most emblematic representation of this relationship is the monumental closing track “In Search Of The Peace Of Mind”, a new recording of the very first song he ever wrote. “I composed this track in my mother’s kitchen back when I was 15,” he looks back half a century and smiles broadly: “The solo is just so perfect, I wouldn’t change a single note even today. This is the most important song of the last 50 years for me. It’s what started it all.”
When it finally got released in 1972 on the Scorpions’ debut “Lonesome Crow” Schenker had already moved on to UFO. What followed were several decades of pure hard rock ecstasy on and off stage, featuring a rotating cast of stellar players, always pressing the pedal to the metal. Now, in 2020, he reaps what he sowed. Alongside many of his peers, friends and contemporaries, he is celebrating 50 years of hard rock – fittingly with an album that is something like a zeitgeisty reminiscence of everything he’s ever done. The massive midtempo smasher “Don’t Die On Me Now” sees Joe Lynn Turner going all in, Ronnie Romero works his magic in “Knight Of The Dead” while Michael Voss cuts a grand figure before the microphone as well as behind the mixing desk on the furious second single “After The Rain”.
Towering above them all, Michael Schenker and his guitar prove they’re truly and utterly invincible. The celebrated icon pulls out all the stops – including his legendary “howler”, the fabled magnet he’s used on his fingerboard for a while now. And here’s yet another thing that’s just so archetypically Schenker, when bringing up his fiery and dedicated performance on “Immortal” he nonchalantly shrugs it off: “I simply played from the heart, as always.” This, dear Michael, is the understatement of the year – all the more so for a record that is already one of the top contenders for hard rock/metal album of the year.

First drop of 2021 from AE Productions is from New York legend Emskee. From solo releases to group projects with The Good People alongside Saint, plus a slew of guest features far and wide his catalogue is staggering! Emskee previously appeared on guest spots with AE Productions for the Cut Beetlez ‘What Beetlez?’ album in 2020 and Oxygen’s ‘Age Appropriate’ album from 2019 but AE and Emskee go way back to 2012 thanks to an introduction via mutual friends Diggers With Gratitude at their Marisco event.

Both tracks here are produced by AE boss Mr Fantastic but for this one turntable duties were shared between Emskee who is one of those rare creatures – a highly skilled MC and DJ, and supplied the timeless scratched in vocal chorus feel from a legendary old school gem for 'Wall To Wall', and Mr Fantastic who supplies the question and answer style cuts for ‘Supernatural Force’ utilizing a couple of Emskee's prior releases as the source.

This is a heavyweight release - 12" black vinyl complete with Main Version, Instrumental and Radio Edit of both tracks - just how Hip Hop singles should be. We all love 45's but a big 12" with space for longer tracks and extra versions is historically where it's at for DJ's and with precious few released now it is a shame so we aim to remedy that here with at least one more new 12” release.

The full sleeve artwork adds to the class of this release with a huge nod back to the style of Blue Note Records’ heyday of the 50’s and 60’s thanks to Nick at Fine Print who has perfectly recreated the feel of those classic sleeve designs.

Two years after the release of 'Kreise' Selm have once again peered out from the torture racked enclave they call a studio. Originally conceived as two separate EP's and later stacked into an all-consuming album over 44 minutes 'TiiiER / Post-Adrenaline' pushes Selm's agenda of black dwarf techno and physically exhausting industrial churning to new levels. The opening salvo of tracks that form the 'TiiiER' disc (tracks 1-5) posit a techno minimalism coated in the incredible, almost edible crust of controlled distortion and flaking edges garnered through masterful gain staging. Opener 'Sin' accrues greater density with each iteration and pass. 'Kreise' is classic DBX style beep ran into manic filters and weight gain classes.'Moger' is a truly sinister and clinical piece of industrial sound design raising blood pressure with its stainless steel poise. 'Laus' is a real percy, syncopated just the right side of falling over and baked into the toughest compression throbs. It closes the first 'disc' and perhaps what could be considered the more straight forward tracks of the album. 'Post-Adrenaline' the second disc of the set is where Selm's love of intensely textural sound design work can be best felt. 'Nineteen Voices' opens with its disembodied conversations utterly smothered by the roiling mass of bass synth which surrounds on all sides. 'Irr' terrifies the young with it's truly OTT undulance of seismic tone, as reverential to death industrial as it is to guitar music, the riff laid bare. 'Brett' is a damp, warm environment of intelligent growth. Fermenting itself again in a stew of gnashing bass heaviness now crowned with glowing bowed metal and tuned feedback. 'Sommeil' closes the second disc with not a single positive note played, it's a dreary escalation of all the albums previous incarnations, flickering noise shaped rhythm, serpentine bass formations and no rush to please or to entertain. At just under 6 minutes, it and the album are over. Selm do not hold up on this follow up to Kreise. While the albums share ideas they are refined to a point of punishment here. 'TiiiER / Post-Adrenaline' is hyper-modern music that sounds like it's made from air, stone and rust.

Nach Crazy Rhythms Of Mata Hari, Shake Your Bones, dem Cool Cat Club und Born To Hula! Folgt nun der 5. Teil der DJ-Set Serie auf Stag-O-Lee. Wie auch bei den Vorgängern handelt es sich hier um einen auf 80 Minuten eingedampftes DJ-Set von einem verdienten Recken der Zunft - Keb Darge. Gaz Mayall folgt direkt mit Volume 6. Linernotes: Rockabilly didn't cross my world until the early nineteen eighties at a Dirtbox weekender in Bournemouth, until then I was a pure northern soul boy. I didn't really get stuck into collecting the stuff until a decade later, but when I did what a wonderful world of tunes opened up to me, and I went wild on it. I was very lucky to be doing a record stall in Camden market at the time just across from Boz Boorer and Neil Scott's stall. They along with other serious collectors Dave Vickers, Barney Koumis, Cosmic Keith, Jim Fox, Dave Crozier, and many others taught me all I needed to know. I only ever made one great rockabilly discovery which none of them knew, "Little Bit Lonesome" by Charles Ross, but I was happy enough buying all their recommendations as they were all new and exciting for me. I have done several rockabilly comps before, but sadly the Philippines typhoon in 2013 destroyed my village and forced me to sell the bulk of my collection. Here are some of my favourites that I never got round to putting out before that happened. Two of the aforementioned collectors are no longer with us. I therefore dedicate this comp to Dave Vickers and Cosmic Keith who both had a huge influence on my life and my musical taste.

Kurt Vile’s ‘Speed, Sound, Lonely KV (ep)’ was recorded and mixed in sporadic sessions that spanned four years at The Butcher Shoppe studio in Nashville, TN. It includes five songs - covers of John Prine and “Cowboy” Jack Clement as well as two originals - and was recorded alongside a cast of local heavies like Bobby Wood, Dave Roe and Kenny Malone, with Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Superwolf) tossed into the mix as well.

Most importantly, it features what KV has called “Probably the single most special musical moment in my life” - a duet with the late John Prine on the songwriter’s well-loved tune, ‘How Lucky’. “The truth is John was my hero for a long time when he came into The Butcher Shoppe to recut one of his deepest classics with me. And, man, I was floating and flying and I couldn’t hear anything he told me while he was there till after he was gone for the night,” notes Vile in a personal statement that accompanies the record. “A couple nights later we were playing ‘How Lucky’ together again; this time onstage at the Grand Ole Opry on New Year's Eve at the turn of 2020. Nothing like seeing John and his band of musical brothers and family and friends playing into the new decade in front of an adoring audience on that stage in Nashville, TN... and, yup, that’s just how lucky we all got that night."

Tappa Zukie (David Sinclair) born 1955 Kingston,Jamaica actually cut his first record in England,after being sent there aged 17.
He was breaking from his troublesome past that found him running with the rough crowd on the streets of Kingston. On his arrival in sunny Ladbroke Grove London, producer Bunny Lee called him up on stage at a local dance to sing a tune. Impressed with the results fellow producer Larry Lawrence got the young Tappa in the studio the very next day and cyt 'Jump and Twist'.
This led to cutting his 'Man I Warrior' album,but somewhat disillusioned and homesick he returned to Jmaica shortly afterwards.
But this venture in the Uk was to pay dividends,seeing his 'I Man Warrior' album receive great reviews on its release.
We have collected together some great lost treasures and some alternative cuts to some of Tappa'sbetter known releases.
Mr Zukie, DJ/Toaster/Producer Roll the tape one more time if you please.......

On December 26th, 2018, Emily Cross received an excited email from a friend: Brian Eno was talking about her band on BBC radio. “At first I didn’t think it was real,” she admits. But then she heard a recording: Eno was praising ‘Black Willow’ from Loma’s self-titled debut. He said he’d had it on repeat.
At the time, a second Loma album seemed unlikely. The band began as a serendipitous collaboration between Cross, the multi-talented musician and recording engineer Dan Duszynski and Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg, who wanted to play a supporting role after years at the microphone. They’d capped a gruelling tour
with a standout performance on a packed beach at Sub Pop’s SPF 30 festival, in which Cross leapt into the crowd and then into the sea, while the band carried on from the stage - an emotional peak that also felt like a natural ending. “It was the biggest audience we’d ever had,” she says. “We thought, why not stop here?” Following the tour, Cross went to rural Mexico to work on visual art and a solo record, while Meiburg began a new Shearwater effort. But after a few months apart
(and Eno’s encouraging words), the trio changed their minds and reconvened at Duszynski’s home in rural Texas, where they began to develop songs that would become ‘Don’t Shy Away’. Loma writes by consensus and, though Cross is always the singer, she, Duszynski and Meiburg often trade instruments. Meiburg compares their process to using an Ouija Board and says the songs revealed themselves slowly, over many months. “Each of us is a very strong flavor,” he says, “but in Loma, nobody wears the crown, so we have to trust each other - and we end up in places none of us would have gone on our own. I think we all wanted to experience that again.” The album that emerged is gently spectacular - a vivid work whose light touch belies
its timely themes of solitude, impermanence and finding light in deep darkness. “Stuck / beneath / a rock,” Cross begins, as if noticing her predicament for the first time. Then she adds: “I begin to see / the beauty in it.” A series of guests contributed to the absorbing soundscapes of ‘Don’t Shy Away’, including touring members Emily Lee (piano, violin) and Matt Schuessler (bass), Flock of Dimes/Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and a surprisingly bass-heavy horn section.
And then there’s Brian Eno. Loma invited him to participate in the mantra-like ‘Homing’, which concludes the album and sent him stems to interact with in any way he liked. He never spoke directly with the band but his completed mix arrived via email late one night, without warning and they gathered to listen in the converted bedroom Duszynski uses as a control room. “I was a little worried,” says Cross.
“What if we didn’t like it?” But it was all they’d hoped for: minimal but enveloping, friendly but enigmatic, as much Loma as Eno - a perfect ending to an album about finding a new home inside an old one. “I am somewhere that you know,” Cross sings, above a chorus of her bandmates’ blended voices. “I am right behind your eyes.”
First LP pressing on dark green vinyl.

Returning to Opal Tapes after the highly lauded ‘Royal Dungeon EP’, Medellin, Colombia’s Filmmaker issues a damned statement in the form of ‘Late Stage Earth’ a 4-tracker of scorched electro and slamming EBM. Perfectly poised and composed dance music formed over pointillist electro melody and swung out druggy drum programming replete with wheezing pained pads. Filmmaker continues a tear through 2020 with some of the most tuneful and memorable song writing in electronics

A 38 minutes exorcism, dionysac sexyness fueled with romanticism, made of mechanical incantations mixed with spectral vocals of forgotten imaginary tribes, words from a physicist (Incomprehensible Image), and mystical breathings… To remind you that music is demanding your soul and body, fully.

A master irritator, disclosing this talent all the way, down to every chosen title, for the album itself and all of its components (would you put Milk in Water ?). As repetitive or minimalist music may already make some of you feel nervous, it seems more accurate to talk here about primitive music – notwithstanding a non violent anarchism. But those are only words and vain attempts to attach TLT to a region or a family. Neither the burden of classical European music legacy, which eventually lead to pop music, seemed to interfere with his wild mind, and if it is no surprising to hear Bach in German electronic music, there is here a clear statement that you are out of this sirupy prison…

For D.W. is a sorcerer. He’s been empirically learning the speaking of trance with years of touring and experimenting with all kinds of audience and venues, from clubs to museums, from Mongolia to Brazil, from his performances with his bands Kreidler or Toresch to solo ones, sustained by a steady limited set up, as the one used when he’s recording : one MPC, rudimentary synths, few effects and a mixer. No sound engineer on stage as only he knows his secret language… Raw dubmaking, leaning towards hip hop, indubitably underlining here a significant distanciation from his previous industrial inspirations. The bewitchment of this record is operating with no warning from the very first seconds until the last epiphany of Sales Pitch.

He is using his knowledge of techno, psychedelism (Inverted Sea), UK bass (Jumping Dead Leafs), only to bring you out of it. We all tend to be slaves, without even being conscious about it, and a balance must be existing between being a slave and showing off. Mr. Weinrich’s answer is unsettling because it is an utter call to this balance, in our world of black and white and political correctness. There is no morality in music… Don’t expect anything else than an unaccountable liberating immediate experience. Don’t expect any kind of music because you are already in the past or the future… From his recording technique mainly relying on one takes, his adoration of mistakes and jeopardy, to the core essence of repetitive music, it is all here about being in the present. No ears no glasses.

Hypnoskull is part of the global anti-music conspiracy networkTM (since 1992). Hypnoskull was created in 1992 as a solo project in order to experiment in the area of electronic noise combined with rhythmical structures. In the first years of its existence, Hypnoskull was releasing cassettes and tracks on international labels in the so-called cassette network, a widely spread network of independent and experimental musicians and artists who expressed themselves throughout limited tape releases often including artworks, ideas, texts. In 1998, hypnoskull signed to the German label ant-zen and up to today he is still releasing his albums on this highly influential record label. That is not a coincidence: ant-zen stands for ‘anti-zensur’ (anti-censorship), one of the main starting points of the provocative hypnoskull project. Patrick Stevens does not limit himself to just producing music as such, albums always include a severe message, a thought-provoking underlying concept text, questions. The main philosophy: ‘the dance floors, the clubs, the festivals,… are staged warzones with a different set of rules – a therapeutic zone where hidden anger and even aggression of both the artists as well as the spectators can be released in a proper, human way. Music as a means to open up the deepest anger inside human beings, letting it out in a way which is not harmful to others. A strange symbiosis between the two worlds Patrick Stevens is a part of: the techno and the industrial scene. Techno being a genre promoting a peaceful yet hedonistic way of life, industrial on the other hand being a highly nihilistic, philosophic but pitch black reflection on society. The mix of both musical as well as content wise elements of these genres result in what hypnoskull is all about. Added to this an explosive mixture of post-war and contemporary western subversive philosophy – in a rather impulsive manner – makes the project what it is today, after 30 years of existence.

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles announces details of his highly anticipated new album Articulation, released on Erased Tapes on 31 July 2020.
‘Articulation’, the lead track and album centrepiece, links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s Night Melody. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy motorik energy. Ryan Lee West explains, "The title track is about articulation and playfulness with shape and time. Its structure is very machine-like, but I was really interested in how melody and sense of story could develop out of this, and it became an exploration of mathematical structures - patterns and shapes having a conversation. I love that something on paper can appear rigid and calculated, but then take on new meaning based on the context that surrounds it, or how it changes over time."
Articulation (which follows 2018’s Persona) was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it.
“I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.” - Ryan Lee West
The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. While the anthemic rise and fall of ‘Still Here’ and the beatless ambient meditation ‘Melodica’ evoke a certain nostalgia, ‘Forwardism’ achieves the very opposite by burying its melody within the fast-paced rhythm of its pulsating synths.
Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’ has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey, Lee West explains; “I like the fact that if you say something over and over again in music, then over time it can become something else, something reflective.”
Since the release of Persona, Ryan Lee West has taken his captivating live A/V set to all corners of the world. Last seen live on stage with 17 players of the London Contemporary Orchestra for a sold-out orchestral performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2020.
Meanwhile Lee West has kept busy. After contributing an exclusive track titled ‘Them Is Us’ to Adult Swim’s coveted Singles series, he recently shared the beautifully textured solo piano piece Winter’s Lament on this year’s Piano Day. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, composing original music for Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things as well as renowned choreographer Alexander’s Whitley’s groundbreaking new work Overflow which was set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this spring.
Articulation will be available worldwide on 31 July, with live activities to be announced as soon as the situation allows safe event planning

The second release from Wax Ninja, a Moscow-based record-shop-turned-record-label, is the longed-for gem cut by Artem Xio, the humble leading light of the local underground scene. Can't Stop Now EP is a universal musical weapon, perfect for a DJ bag in which a variety of genres - from hip-hop and jungle to garage house and techno - coexist peacefully. Each side reflects Xio's stages of formation: not only as a collector, DJ and artist, but primarily as a an educated listener with a sensitive ear. The title track Can't Stop Now was written in 2010 to be rethought 10 years after and become a house banger powered by emotionally charged vocals. The dramatic opus that is Crucial Moment pleases with its Detroit-style anguish, while the U Took My Love, an ode to electric organ, gives out some proper Jersey house vibe. Raw and heavy, True School was born out of an unreleased remix for the local rap group, and finally Now U Know takes you back to the beginning of 00s thanks to Cream Soda d'n'b rework. In other words, this "unstoppable" EP is a true delight both for nostalgic old school heads and for those who expect some quality time on the dancefloor.

DJ Feedbacks: (please find all feedbacks in the pdf sheet)
Laurent Garnier: “GREAT EP -- Love the whole thing”
Tensnake: “can't stop now is big thanks”
Robert Owens: ''cool tracks!"
Ka§par: "“For me the house tracks are fun and all, but it's the
Cream Soda jungle mix that's got me into this release,
thanks!”
Anja Schneider: “Great thx .”
Portable: “Wonderful summer vibes post lockdown!”
Black Madonna: “Nice!”
Moodsetter: “Damn Yeaaah !!!
This is classic New York underground sound...
what a vibe !!!
I just L. O. V. E. I. T !!!

Of course, Dubblestandart have been keeping a version of the dub flame alive for the last two decades. Formed in 1988 as a reaction to the stagnant Austrian pop scene, the group was heavily inspired by the Black Ark, On-U Sound and Jah Shaka, infusing such dub influences within their heady blend of hardcore reggae and new wave, which soon brought them into the European public's consciousness and as a kind of "European" version of the famous DUB SYNDICATE. Soon, they were so in demand as to be backing Lee Scratch Perry, dub poet Lilian Allen, Dillinger, Ari Up, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Chezere and orthers. Well, Austria's / Viennas's finest moments in dub working and collaborating with the new technological dimension of modern dub : Paolo Baldini from Italy. Baldini's stunning excursion into deep dub, chilling dub and dubble-tough dub will reach the DubFiles into perfection @ DUB ME CRAZY. Paolo Baldini's handling of this mission has been exemplary: his production and remixing skills are pleasingly individualistic, retaining plenty of originality and professionalism without seeming stoic, dull or contrived. His collaborations with Mellow Mood, Hempress Sativa, Dub Fx and others are showing faith of what DUB is living for. Since 2007 Paolo Baldini works under the top level name "Alambic Conspiracy" and became world class dub extraordinary performer, bass player, mixologist, producer and provocateur!

Amnesia Scanner announces Tearless, the Berlin-based duo’s second LP. As Amnesia Scanner founders, Ville Haimala and Martti Kalliala watch their icy home country of Finland thaw, the staggering scale of political recalibration and the worldwide climate crisis to come blows open old norms. This album reflects what it feels to experience Earth at a time when collapse is emerging as the prevailing narrative.


The musical scope of the record is expansive, with guest vocalists—the Peruvian artist Lalita and the Brazillian DJ/producer LYZZA—descending into a vast uncanny valley of sound. Tearless follows the 2014 AS Live [][] mixtape, 2015 audio play Angels Rig Hook, two EP’s for Young Turks, and their 2018 debut album, Another Life (PAN).



“There’s a looming sense of radical change,” they note, connecting the present to a fin de siecle horror and curiosity regarding what new world is being ushered in. Someone called Tearless a “breakup album with the planet.” To which Amnesia Scanner responds, on the LP’s closing track: “Youwill be fine, if we can help you lose your mind.”


With the crossfader on Tearless sitting closer to pop than abstraction, so too does the audience for this record widen in scope. Listening through: Opener “AS Enter” sets a sombre tone until the fucking riffs of the second track(the titular, Lalita-helmed “Tearless”) make clear there’s plenty of roaring to come. A feature from metalcore band Code Orange on “AS Flat” follows, along with “AS Trouble” (feat. Oracle, the third, machinic ghost-member of Amnesia Scanner) and together they hit as black-metal-gaze dirges. At the album’s midpoint, Lalita returns for the beautiful, operatic breakdown of “AS Acá” (released as a single in 2019), before “Call of the Center” guides listeners through three club ready tracks—the grain-processed dembow of “AS Too Late” and “AS Going” with LYZZA, and then the ambientheadbanger “AS Labyrinth.” Closing “Tearless” is the sadboy grunge of “AS U Will Be Fine” with a clear statement of intent: doom, despair, insanity, absurdity, it’s all natural, all cathartic, and all OK. Refuse like the ‘90s and party like the ‘20s—if that seems senseless, you are doing it right.

Reemerging from the threshold of the cosmic vortex, Black Lodge returns with another sonic artifact that is charged with vigorous chaotic energy, known as EXPERIMENT_ZERO. Accounts of the radiant object's origin are as mysterious as the raw energy that utters from its core. Following a close study, the guardians of the portal suspect that "Experiment Zero" was a primordial experiment rooted in the slam jack pits and DIY warehouse rituals of ages passed. A sonic dialog constructed of various languages, spanning from roots-house jak to bare-knuckled electro are revealed across the artifact - a revolutionary tale that surpasses the constructs of ephemerality, with a refusal to be ignored. Across the release the listener is confronted with fearless acid lines that are underscored by a tone of revolution, and sets the stage for a human voice that switches between modes of a sharp and mutated presence. The power of such sonic objects are both celebrated and rejected by various tribal societies. It is all dependent on the belief structures and traditional histories of its members. Those that belong to the cult of Ron Hardy, Mad Mike Banks, Traxx, and JTC will welcomingly be drenched in its riotous energies. It is for the dedicated, not the light-hearted. After further research it has been discovered that, Experiment Zero is the product of Dona, aka Dj Plant Texture and Mike Tansella Jr. of Son of Traders, both products of the ancient mercantile city of Bari in Southern Italy. Previous works from these artists have been featured on Creme Organization, Gravitational Waves, Unknown to Unknown, and Illian Tapes. All sonic experimentation was recorded in one take to capture the raw energy of instantaneous collaborative sound craft operating in flux. Black Lodge's 4th release is sure to find a space in the music collections of those seeking to travel within the uncanny portals that unforgivingly defy the status quo. Mastered by: Alex J Michalski Label design: Kosmik Pressing: Deepgrooves (NL)

“All heads realize, recognize. Real heads on the rise, recognize. You better recognize”. Another milestone of Hip Hop's Golden Era gets an official 45 rpm on 7" vinyl release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Smif-N-Wessun's debut album "Dah' Shinin”.

Representing Brownsville & Bed Stuy Brooklyn, rap duo Smif-N-Wessun, Tek and Steele, first appeared on Black Moon’s debut album Enta Da Stage in 1993. Adding relentless rhymes to tracks "U da Man" and "Black Smif N' Wessun," the pair paved the way for the Brooklyn Supergroup Boot Camp Clik.

25 years later, the raw and gritty sound of Da Beatminerz productions cut through the noise that is often found in the present day music industry, and was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums of all time.

Volker.live ’s debut and final release
“My Love Will Set You Free” Final release? We see the question mark popping up over your head. Well yes, these four tracks are a time capsule, a historic cache which takes you back to one hot summer of 2019. When this care-free boy band formed and made it their goal to climb up the world’s stages to play an all-hardware live set & have f.u.n. while doing so. This endeavor went swimmingly. Festival gigs were pocketed and crowds intrigued. The stand-out track of their gigs was always “My Love Will Set You Free”, an acid-house stomper with uplifting, yet melancholic vocals from their friend ÆN.
Friends and neighbors were quick to re-interpret the song and the idea of a record took shape.
Lehult’s Lucky Charmz propels the listener into the void by upping the acidity. Closing in on a playtime of 10 minutes, we’re readily giving up our sense for time and space. Whirring drum hits meet feedbacking tape delay while riding the rock solid bass line.
Erobique liked the song so much, he quickly drew up two versions of his own. His “Disko Mix” oozes that saccharine, danceable magic mélange of days past. Warm keys, hand claps, and Aen’s intimate voice are stirred into an exquisite cocktail. You know that Carsten Meyer would never forget the umbrella on top. He’ll keep the cherry though.
The “Black Velvet Mix” closes the curtains for a slow dance. This is personal, it’s just between you and the song. Sub rosa.
In the meantime, Volker.live decided to follow separate paths of their adventure, but everyone agreed to release these songs into the world. May they serve as a reminder of what can be created out of care-free energy that’s driven by a deep connection to music. Please check out their other musical undertakings as Echoel and Goodmemory.live .

One thing‘s for sure: There aren‘t many bands with a history as long and eventful as Kreator‘s, who fascinatingly succeed in exploring new horizons while challenging and reinventing themselves time and again.That was perfectly illustrated by their latest record ‘Gods Of Violence’ in 2017. With this 14th studio album of their impressive career, the thrashers from Essen, Germany crafted a work of art of utmost vigor, drawing its unfailing power from the pounding heart of one of the greatest, most versatile metal bands of all time.

Mainman Mille Petrozza’s influences range from Hannah Arendt, Pink Floyd and Tocotronic to Slayer, even though he was born and bred in the metal scene. Nevertheless, he is and always has been open to inspiration from various sources, which is why his lyrics are by no means merely based on corny genre templates but offer trenchant observations of our time combined with a witty aside to long-standing cliches: One of the best songs on ‘Gods Of Violence’ is really called ‘Satan Is Real’.

Formed in 1982, Petrozza and ‘Ventor’ – the only two remaining founding members – have come a long way from playing in a small-scale student band. “In my history book, Kreator didn‘t really exist until 1985“, says Petrozza, laughing. “Although we had already started jamming together in `82, we only entered the stage two or three times up until `85. Back then, our set list consisted of five original tracks and five heavy metal cover songs, we went through several line-up changes and didn‘t really find ourselves until ‘Endless Pain’.Over the years, Kreator, the leaders of the German ‘Big Four’ of thrash, have sold more than two million albums worldwide and have played countless shows all around the globe. It is one of these shows that is captured on ‘London Apocalypticon’. Recorded in December 2018 at London’s legendary Roundhouse venue, headlining a bill with US hardcore pacesetters Hatebreed and Norwegian Black Metal legends Dimmu Borgir. Kreator’s explosive set was quite rightly heralded as “a demonstration of consummate musicianship and stagecraft” by Metal Hammer magazine.

2x12"

Originally recorded in 1994 and released in 1995, Home is characterized by MASSAKER's ultra-refined riffs of shrieking, screeching feedback, and rattling machine gun staccatos.

Exuding confidence, authority and a natural rapport that the musicians clearly had with one another. Certain songs from earlier records were revisited on Home including "The Tribe" and "Massaker" from The Tribe, and "Templehof," "Hunter Song," and "Böhmen" from Black Axis. These pieces had evolved following years of rethinking, rehearsing and reshaping them on stage, as well as playing with Danny Lommen, who had replaced Frank Neumeier on drums after Black Axis.

These refined versions on Home raise the level of density and tension, the ominous evocations of impending doom, booming threat, and the grim determination that's always driven MASSAKER.

Brave Wave’s first 3-LP vinyls colored (Red, Black and White) set , Samurai Shodown The Definitive Soundtrack will come in a box set featuring three LP sleeves decorated with artwork from the game, with the box set featuring the original iconic Japanese cover drawn by famed illustrator Shinkiro. Both 3LP and 2CD version includes booklet.

SNK and Brave Wave Productions are proud to reveal their fourth collaboration, Generation Series 010: Samurai Shodown for both CD and vinyl.

Known as Samurai Spirits in Japan and originally released for NEOGEO in 1993, Samurai Shodown is one of SNK’s most classic and timeless 2D fighting games, featuring fast-paced gameplay, beautiful graphics and catchy music.

The soundtrack, composed by Norio Tate, achieves the difficult task of producing traditional Japanese sound comprised of instruments such as the shamisen and shachihata while maintaining a distinct NEOGEO vibe. The result is a beloved soundtrack that is simultaneous timeless, yet historical.

There are two variations of the soundtrack: an AES version and a NEOGEO CD arranged version. Samurai Shodown The Definitive Soundtrack will include both versions, featuring the entirety of the original soundtracks remastered and restored to the highest possible quality, in collaboration and consultation with SNK.

The CD and vinyl editions will feature a booklet containing artwork from the SNK archives, in addition to in-depth liner notes written by some of the original creators of the game, including series creator Yasushi Adachi, as well as Tate. In addition, the booklet will feature an in-depth essay by Greg Kasavin of Supergiant Games on the impact of Samurai Shodown on video game culture and history.

“All heads realize, recognize. Real heads on the rise, recognize. You better recognize”.

Another milestone of Hip Hop's Golden Era gets an official 45 rpm on 7" vinyl release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Smif-N-Wessun's debut album "Dah' Shinin” .

Representing Brownsville & Bed Stuy Brooklyn, rap duo Smif-N-Wessun, Tek and Steele, first appeared on Black Moon’s debut album Enta Da Stage in 1993. Adding relentless rhymes to tracks "U da Man" and "Black Smif N' Wessun," the pair paved the way for the Brooklyn Supergroup Boot Camp Clik.

25 years later, the raw and gritty sound of Da Beatminerz productions cut through the noise that is often found in the present day music industry, and was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums of all time.

Wah Wah 45's are proud to present "Cages", the third album from southern soul boys The Milk. Having released "Favourite Worry", their critically acclaimed sophomore album and first for independent label Wah Wah 45's, in 2015, the band are able to trace the seeds of the latest LP back to their recording sessions with producer Paul Butler (Andrew Bird, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Waterhouse) almost five years ago, blending elements of soul, funk and rock together to create their own unique sound, inspired by some of their favourite artists such as Bill Withers, Traffic and the Isley Brothers.

"I can't wait to hear you write songs that look outward" - these words from Paul subconsciously had a lasting impression on the band. To atone for more inward-looking sentiments on "Favourite Worry", there had to be a shift in perspective. During the formative stages of the new album The Milk started pursuing a Nichiren Buddhist practice. The values and principles they discovered during this have informed every aspect of the record.

"We wanted to write an album that looked outside of the walls, to people, society and the environment - embracing real freedom in musical expression by utilising more complex rhythmic structures, extended harmony and dissonance to paint an original and authentic-sounding record" explains If their debut, "Tales from the Thames Delta", was inspired by hedonism and "Favourite Worry" by introspection, "Cages" is an impassioned conversation with the world. Racism and division are all on the rise. British society is being pulled apart by forces that seek to divide us and rip the compassion and empathy from our minds and hearts. We have become distracted from the more urgent challenges of boundless consumerism, climate change, and the mental health emergency reeking havoc on our streets.

We are the birds in the cage, tied by cheap thrills and fake news to a limited world vision that is no longer fit for purpose. The good news? We can all choose to challenge this view. "Cages" is equal parts the dark black shadow of how far we've fallen and the blazing sunlight whose rays of hope can still change the world. Four life-long friends, Ricky Nunn (vocals), Mitch Ayling (drums) Luke Ayling (bass) and Dan Le Gresley (guitar) formed their first band when they were still at school in Essex, playing countless working men's clubs, and finally became The Milk.

The band have built up a following of dedicated fans around the UK, which has resulted in them selling out venues such as Scala, Koko and Shepherds Bush Empire. Keen to get back on the road where they feel most at home and where the guys really shine, the band offer up a compelling set of diverse styles, matched with an ability to effortlessly intertwine songs together, gives their music a continuous feel to it. Since signing to Wah Wah 45's, the band released their second album "Favourite Worry", which became one of BBC 6 Music's albums of the year, sold out London's Union Chapel, toured with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and completed a sell-out UK tour climaxing at London's KOKO in Camden town. ... More live dates coming very soon!

Concealed within the eclipse, Overdue presents a new black-label 12" series - symbolic of its sinister auditory contents.

Further proof of their unbridled dedication to sound system music and commitment to quality, the Belgian Dubstep imprint unravels
it's fifth physical release. Based in Denver, its newest signee by the name of Ghast returns to the spotlight, following up on heavyweight releases on prominent labels such as Encrypted and Gradient Audio.

The talented American artist sets the stage with two unruly armaments, alongside murderous remixes by Denmark's bass music stalwart RDG as well as the label operators themselves, Substrada & Caba.

Starting the engines, 'Mothership' immerses the stage in flickering echoes and haunting wails - the air bustling with anticipation. Eerily disfigured, granular reverberations materialize amid a pressurized and truly outlandish soundscape, barren at its core. Heading into the second section with renewed vigour, no dance floor remains unscathed in the ensuing aftermath.

The subsequent doomsday scenario, as engineered by Substrada & Caba, strips the ship to its bare essentials - laced with trippy drum instrumentations and the psychedelic foley samples. The meticulous flow presents itself in a bleak dungeon style - hoodlum vocal fragments rounding off the resulting low-frequency inferno.

Flipping the record to its equally profound B-Side, 'Vehement Mess' unhinges another portal into madness - dance floor upheaval guaranteed. Showing no signs of mercy, the infernal armagedon proves to be emblematic for Ghast's dystopian sound design. Profusely industrial and with clinical efficiency, hitting all the right frequencies as the second wave ignites but all available power reserves.

Finishing off any remaining survivors with his irreproachable signature style, RDG's remix marches onwards with unrestrained might in a four-to-the-floor fashion - super-charged, galvanizing the rave in a no-holds-barred shutdown.