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Kristian Craig Robinson, aka Capitol K, is a multi-instrumentalist and record producer with a long history in London’s most interesting under-the-radar music places and spaces. With a musical story like his, you can expect side streams. New record ‘Birdtrapper’ is “the sound of an initiation rave in a utopian hidden village”, and his latest exploration of Mediterranean audio mythos following from ’Goatherder’ (2018). The six track mini-album was similarly formed from ritualistic improvisations performed in Malta (where Capitol K was born), using home-made flutes, reed pipe, bamboo percussion, drum machine, bass guitar, but this time features a wider use of synthesizers, with the alternative dance floor in mind. Where ‘Goatherder’ was an awakening of genetic primitivism, ‘Birdtrapper’ is an evocation of sonic bird callers, proto-rave abandon, ambient resonance and an ecstatic captive state, along with the previous work's visions of hunters, temples and scrub land music
‘Goatherder’ caused a quiet kind of quake and was beloved by The Quietus, BBCR3 and 6Music. Vinyl Factory described it as “like a series of manipulated field recordings that have an ancient, ritualistic quality … Goatherder shimmers with Balearic strangeness, rooted in an earthy outer-national dance music tradition”. For the last seven years K has been behind the consoles at the heavily influential Total Refreshment Centre, recording and mixing records with the likes of Trash Kit, The Comet Is Coming, Rozi Plain, Alabaster DePlume, Dry Cleaning, Flamingods Cykada, Ibibio Sound Machine, BAS JAN and John Johanna. It’s not just recording. He’s also become an influential if understated mentor to a new wave of producers and bands. His experience in studio environments is long and storied, including stints at Studio Plateaux on an island in the middle of the Thames and in the Royal Symphonia’s squatted rehearsal rooms. Capitol K has released seven albums and the 'Birdtapper EP' follows a legacy of influential releases on early 2000s electronica labels including Planet Mu and XL. Aside this he also runs the record label Faith & Industry. It’s a friends and family, love not money affair and he has released music by Champagne Dub, John Johanna, Super Best Friends Club, Blue House & Clémentine March.

Red Vinyl

Directly influenced by the film noir tradition and the hardboiled detective novels of yesteryear, Aging craft gloom heavy mood music that aspires to create a cinema without image. ‘Sentenced To Love’ is the pinnacle of the band's work.

Led by David McLean, Aging’s fourth album is a direct continuation of the music he was commissioned to make during his 2017 Samarbeta Residency with The Crime Scene Ensemble, a 15 piece band of actors and jazz musicians formed to live soundtrack the short stories of pulp fiction writer and collage artist Phil Carney. Chronicling tales full of obsession, longing, double crosses and murder, the same thematic and melodic gravitas is present in ‘Sentenced To Love’, largely due to a handpicked selection of musicians from Manchester’s avant-garde and experimental music scenes being involved in both.
 Whereas previous records by the band have largely been improvised, the six brooding scenes that complete ‘Sentenced To Love’ reveal a new compositional rigour and emotional weight, whilst still retaining pockets of nocturnal improvisation, each carefully crafted to create their own distinct and filmic sound world. From the low lit, dive bar blues of ‘Nights In Amber’ to the gun out chase theme of ‘The Trapped Man’, the nameless cowboy ghost story ‘A Shadow On My Name’ and the redemptive odyssey of ‘Cursed With The Thirst’, Aging’s detailed mise-en-scene full of brass, double bass, simmering drums and reverb drenched guitars conjures the pantheon of noir cinema. This is no truer than on the album’s title track, a vampiric torch song whose crescendo soars with Ali Bell’s lamenting, tremulous vocals, which act as a midnight confession of a doomed romance.

In an age where most musicians are attempting to free themselves from limitations, Aging’s ‘Sentenced To Love’ stands proudly as a genre record, one evoking the tradition of the jazz ballad, designed to swallow the listener into the dark cascade of its drama.

blue & purple mixed vinyl

Mike Redman's Deformer project has achieved cult status throughout the years. Known for its extreme, horror infused electronic music and surprising collaborations with groundbreaking musicians, visual artists and film studios, Deformer keeps reinventing its sound while keeping its signature aesthetics. Consistent in being outrageous... with the new record "Inner-Outcast" musical boundaries are being crushed, again with a little help from some heavyweight invitees. On four of six tracks Deformer's fierce breakbeats enter into a deadly duel with the live drums of legendary ex-Suffocation drummer and blastbeat pioneer Mike Smith. Vernon Reid of Living Colour lays down some menacing guitar solos, Body Count's Ice-T provides some threatening words and many more legends are making "Inner-Outcast" an original, intense and above all, an unpolished release. A special appearance is made by iconic Hollywood actor Tony Todd, providing a haunting vocal performance as horror villain Candyman. Oh, and the cherry on top is definitely the amazing cover art by visual artist Ed Repka, known for his classic artwork for legendary bands like Death and Megadeth. With "Inner-Outcast", music journalists may have to come up with a new term for yet another genre, because Deformer's ever evolving sound is more unorthodox than ever...

Outta Sight’s collectable ‘Classics’ series continues with two real heavyweight’s of the rare soul scene, face-to-face for the very first time. Together, these two icons helped define, not only Northern Soul, but the soul music genre… and now, almost sixty years on, they go head to head.

In the blue corner is former commercial artist and amateur heavyweight boxer Mr Roy Hamilton who set the dancefloors trembling across the North of England when his 1962 “Earthquake” was finally unleashed on the Northern Soul scene. Hamilton was already a huge star in America scoring two R&B No.1’s in 1954 and ’55 with the standards “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Unchned Melody”. But, he will forever be remembered in the U.K. for his Northern anthems “Crackin’ Up Over You”, “The Panic Is On”, “You Shook Me Up” and the explosive “Earthquake”.

In the red corner is the multi-talented actor, pianist, arranger, producer, songwriter and singer Mr H. B. Barnum who’s early belter “It Hurts Too Much To Cry” belies its 1962 recording date. Barnum also scored on the rare soul scene with “Three Rooms With Running Water”, “The Record” and the awesome “Heartbreaker”.

But his contribution far exceeds his personal output with writer, producer and arranger credits on a slue of floorfillers inlcuding Judy Street’s “What”, Earl Wright’s “Thumb A Ride” and The Magnificents’ ”My Heart Is Calling You”, to name but a few.

Nina Simone was an exceptional artist. She was gifted with a precocious talent and she played music at home and in church. Nina originally counted on becoming the first black female classical pianist ; her plans were thwarted and that frustration no doubt permeated almost her entire career. Yet she became a diva capable of combining the jazz world with those of the classics and soul, and among other titles she recorded are some of the most vibrant and moving performances of Wild is the Wind or You Can Have Him, I don’t Want Him.

She was one of the greatest artists of her time, and her fervour and rigorous demands concerning the quality of her music took her to the highest summits, whether in her compositions or in her vocal and piano performances. For all that, she never forgot her condition as a black woman in the America of the Sixties, and her active commitment to defending the rights of the black minority was exemplary - and at times even excessive, for which she was often reproached.

She has left us some of the most beautiful chapters in jazz and soul music, among them the 23 titles that appear in this album.

Time to celebrate! Here we have a new installment of the Wild Series, focused on wild, untamed latin American Rock'nRoll from the sixties. This time we are lucky enough to visit the beautiful land of Chile for a rollercoaster of wild sounds and smashing and obscure hits. In Wild Chile you'll find, of course, wild Rock'n'Roll but also crazed out Twist, soul Stompers and a few fiery Instrumentals to boot. If you know the previous two volumes of this series you know what to expect... a record perfectly designed to make your next party explode, pure dynamite!

Pressed on Vinyl for the first time ‘Hi- Fi Serious’ was the third album from ‘A’ released in 2002. It includes their hit single, "Nothing", which became the band's first and only top ten hit when it reached number 9 in the UK singles chart. "Nothing" was followed by top 20 hit "Starbucks", named after the coffee chain.
The tour following Hi-Fi Serious saw the band headlining the 5,000 capacity Brixton Academy as part of their Inner-City Sumo Tour. At the end of the year they won the Kerrang! award for Best British Band.In 2004, their single "Nothing" appeared on Beyblade's Let It Rip! official soundtrack. In 2007, "Something's Going On" and "The Distance" appeared on the Surf's Up video game soundtrack.

Red Vinyl LTD

Pressed on Vinyl for the first time ‘Hi- Fi Serious’ was the third album from ‘A’ released in 2002. It includes their hit single, "Nothing", which became the band's first and only top ten hit when it reached number 9 in the UK singles chart. "Nothing" was followed by top 20 hit "Starbucks", named after the coffee chain.
The tour following Hi-Fi Serious saw the band headlining the 5,000 capacity Brixton Academy as part of their Inner-City Sumo Tour. At the end of the year they won the Kerrang! award for Best British Band.In 2004, their single "Nothing" appeared on Beyblade's Let It Rip! official soundtrack. In 2007, "Something's Going On" and "The Distance" appeared on the Surf's Up video game soundtrack.

“We shan't have any more trouble from that meddling Doctor!” Demon Records presents a double bill of unique full-cast BBC radio adventures for Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, based on the enduringly popular BBC TV series. The Paradise of Death reunites the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and the Brigadier for an adventure that takes them from Hampstead Heath to the far-flung planet of Parrakon, where they face dangers aplenty from the hostile Freeth and Tragan.
In The Ghosts of N-Space, which features Jon Pertwee’s final performance as the Doctor, the Time Lord is in Sicily where he discovers trouble in the form of spectral monsters from another dimension. Presented across 3LP x 12” 180g Heavyweight Blue Vinyl & 3LP x 12” 180g Heavyweight Yellow Vinyl, these two fast-paced adventures were specially written for radio by former Doctor Who
producer & writer Barry Letts. Co-starring Elisabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney, both also feature the incidental music and Doctor Who theme arrangement of Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Among the supporting cast for the stories are Maurice Denham, Sandra Dickinson, Harold Innocent, Peter Miles, Richard Pearce, Harry Towb and Stephen Thorne. Accompanying the coloured vinyl LPs are full episode billings, cast and credits, and six illustrated
sleeves that form a superb double-sided artwork montage. Dummedy-dum, Dummedy-dum, Dummedy-dum, Dum-dum…

"Art Is A Cat" is The Dining Rooms' eighth studio album - thirteenth if we also consider five remix and rework records - in over twenty years of career. It comes out five years after the fully instrumental "Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra)?", and shows itself as a new milestone in the artistic path of the Milanese duo formed by Stefano Ghittoni and Cesare Malfatti.

In fact, "Art Is A Cat" hosts every facet of The Dining Rooms' music, mostly nourishing the intuitions delivered in past albums such as "Experiments in Ambient Soul" (2005) and "Ink" (2007). It preserves all the characteristics of their typical signature: songs balanced between folk and soul, dub expansions, instrumental hip hop and cinematic atmospheres. Not to renounce to any of these aspects and given the high quality of the recorded material, Stefano and Cesare decided not to sacrifice anything, and wrote and produced a 19-song full-length for a total duration of about sixty minutes.

"Art Is A Cat" also hosts a large group of guest singers, both historical voices of the band and absolute novelties, who also co-wrote the lyrics; the vocal parts are interspersed with the group's instrumental classics, from funk-fueled visionary downtempos to more experimental micro-songs. Sean Martin and Georgeanne Kalweit therefore return with two songs each (one of the two sung by Georgeanne has its lyrics written by Jake Reid, a London-based singer who already collaborated with The Dining Rooms in "Lonesome Traveler" in 2011).

Among the new entries we have, first of all, the Italian-Tunisian Rahma Hafsi on the sensual ballad "Little Girl" sung both in English and Arabic, while the very young Italian-Salvadoran Beatrice Velasco Moreno sings, together with Sean on backing vocals, the spoken-word "Teach Me To Dance", the spiritual "Sweet Love" and the title-track, an orchestral folk moment among the most inspired ones in the entire band's history; Lola Kola, queen of Tropicantesimo, also brings an absolute novelty in the world of The Dining Rooms, presenting for the first time an Italian-sung piece: "Nella Sua Loca Realtà", a post-melodic song dedicated to the fragility of love.

The vocal parts series ends with two episodes in which Stefano resumes his past as a singer (in the '80s with Peter Sellers & The Hollywood Party) with the Indian-flavoured "Ohm And Raga" and the existentialist ballad "She Says I'm Bad".

"Art Is A Cat" is therefore a complete and very fascinating album, destined to excite and leave its mark.

Chicago-born pianist/composer Herbie Hancock had already
made his mark when, in 1962, he recorded ‘Takin’ Off’ for the
Blue Note label; it was his first under his own name. At only
twenty-two years of age, the company offered him a solo contract
which would allow him to record a number of rightly revered
albums throughout the Sixties. The release of ‘Takin’ Off’ almost
immediately singled out Hancock as one to watch, the hard-bop
message delivered in striking fashion by the leader and his
sidemen. Incidentally, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, only a couple
of years Hancock’s senior, already had a couple of albums under
his belt for Blue Note, and these were as well received as the
pianist’s own debut disc would be.

Sound is a potent force that can awaken your purpose and re-balance your spirit. It has the power to relax, as well as inspire you, through the positive therapy of sound vibrations. Elemental Resonance is a trailblazing meditation album where vibrational sound practitioner, Tracie Storey, combines the energy waves made by music, with positive words of love and harmony to produce inner peace, deep relaxation and a higher spiritual connection.

Storey explains “The idea for this album came to me 2 years ago when I was living in Montreal, Canada. I’d been learning to form shapes, textures and colour with sound and going deep within the architecture of my own inner space. These powerful compositions have really helped me on my journey. Creating transformative tools are now part of my life’s work, using the medium of vibrational sound which transcends all boundaries”.

Storey guides you through a series of mindful meditations - each connected to the seven energy chakras - and each supported by sound vibrations, colours to visualise, and positive affirmations to re-balance your entire being and bring you waves of calmness, strength, warmth and joy.

Released on Celestial Being, label boss Felix Buxton (Basement Jaxx), says “I’m thrilled to support this project, everywhere I look people are discovering more about Vibration and how it affects them.
Tracie is leading the way forward for new generations, uncovering more of our potential as humans. This is a great way to switch off the world and switch on to your deeper self.”

Storey has been active as a vibrational sound practitioner, for the past 5 years. Previous to six years training under Master Fabien Maman, who’s one of the world's leading experts on vibrational sound therapy, founder of the Tama-Do Academy.
She also travelled the globe as a DJ on the international dance scene (releasing on Ministry of Sound and producing mixes for the likes of Kiss FM).

Double cyan blue vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. Two printed inner sleeves and a six panel oversized booklet. Download card enclosed. The vinyl includes the Deluxe track listing - 17 tracks in total.

U2 return with their hotly anticipated new studio album 'Songs of Experience'. The Island Records priority release completes a stellar year for the Dublin band, following their return to stadiums with the critically acclaimed, sold out 'The Joshua Tree Tour 2017' playing to 2.4 million fans in just 51 shows across Europe and North and South America, as well as the successful 30th Anniversary re-issue of 'The Joshua Tree'.

Recorded in Dublin, New York and Los Angeles, Songs of Experience was completed earlier this year with its subject matter influenced by Brendan Kennelly's* advice to Bono, to ...write as if you're dead'. The result is a collection of songs in the form of intimate letters to places and people close to the singer's heart: family, friends, fans and indeed himself.

Songs Of Experience is the companion release to 2014's 'Songs Of Innocence', the two titles drawing inspiration from a collection of poems, Songs of Innocence and Experience, by the 18th century English mystic and poet William Blake.
Produced by Jacknife Lee and Ryan Tedder, with Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas, the album features a cover image by Anton Corbijn of band-members' teenage children Eli Hewson and Sian Evans.

'The Blackout' and 'You're The Best Thing About Me' were the first songs to be made available from the album. 'You're The Best Thing About Me' is the band's first UK Top 20 airplay record in a decade and has also been remixed by Norwegian superstar DJ and producer Kygo.

*Brendan Kennelly - Irish poet, novelist and Professor Emeritus at Trinity College, Dublin.

The modern, avant synth/dance-pop frolics of ‘Moi’ catch Steven Warwick (Heatsick) at his impish but droll best for PAN. Returning to PAN six years after his standout Re-Engineering album,
Warwick returns to similar zones of enquiry as 2016’s ‘Nadir’ - the first release under his birth name. With ‘Moi’ (which we definitely hear enunciated with a playful pucker), Warwick further emphasises the personal, playful nature of his work with 10 melodic, danceable and pop-tart arrangements accompanied by a range of vocal personas; from his naturally droll singing voice to more alien and leaned-out styles, plus a guest platitude by Turner Prize nominee, Jo Pryde.
Bubbling up with the pickled 2-step and Lolina-esque lilt of ‘Open Fire Hydrant’, Warwick clearly draws upon a UK dance music heritage - and its Afro-Caribbean and US inspirations - with the
freshest, exceptional style that percolates throughout the album, strongly informing its biggest dancefloor highlights such as the warped trancehall bumps of ‘Salvation’ and the crooked crankshaft of ‘Kaleidoscope’, along with the the brittle boned shimmy of ‘Rush’ and the hard but elegant drive of ’Silhouette.’
But they’re only half the story, which really comes together with contrasts in the fizzy downstroke of ‘Kind of Blue’, on the Black Zone Myth Chant-like psychedelic daze and blunted vocals in
‘Consolatio’, and the album’s standout ‘Danke’, which revolves around Jo Pryde’s gentle utterance of the title weft into ominous ambient clag, connoting a sort of humility that knowingly becomes
both less and more meaningful with each reiteration

The Soulpop Continuum – by Arno Raffeiner
Six songs, one sound signature, one vision. Supreme Beats Series by Drei Farben House is an album
that firmly stands in the tradition of the big records of the disco era: a vinyl disc full of kicks and licks,
just as much as two sides in amazing sound quality can hold.
The album is the latest work of Michael Siegle, the Berlin-based producer and owner of Tenderpark
Records. 13 years after Drei Farben House's first full-length on the acclaimed Force Tracks label, it
features contributions by singer and songwriter Mavin and none other than Robert Owens who's voice
shaped house music forever. The trademark sonic elegance of Drei Farben House blends perfectly
with the timbre of the man behind Fingers Inc.'s Mysteries Of Love. Siegle's work as a producer is not
so much about turning this rich heritage upside down, but about refining it and creating a space within
that realm that's very much his own.
The title of the opening song with Owens states it: I’m Remaining Here. And Supreme Beats Series
invites you to come over and stay there, too, in a refuge of class and funkiness. The record offers
dense layers of rhythm, vintage keyboard sounds, chucking guitar, and vocal samples that indulge in a
many-voiced conversation. Not to forget the prominent, singing rather than walking bass lines
performed by the hands of Michael Siegle himself with his bass guitar.

New Release Information
You could think of Supreme Beats Series as a cross-section in time and space. It allows you to take a
closer look at the here and now of a much bigger picture, both aesthetically and socially. Siegle uses
the vocabulary of house music in a way that transcends its conception as merely a genre and speaks
of the historic evolution and the profound roots of this music as a movement. His record takes
inspiration from 60s Motown hits as well as the blue eyed soul of the 80s, you can discover influences
ranging from Philly's pre-disco craze to new jack swing and on to the heyday when house-pop divas
stormed the charts. By drawing these lines, Siegle deliberately opens up the space of a visionary
Soulpop Continuum.
In the 1950s, the American issue of Vogue magazine had their say about Coco Chanel's work and its
ever-lasting impression on fashion and design. They claimed it was all about “infinite variety within
narrow limits,“ and meant that as a compliment, of course. Michael Siegle likes to think about Drei
Farben House in a similar way. And you should, too.
Info about the artwork:
As far as the cover artwork of 'Supreme Beats Series‘ is concerned, the release of Drei Farben
House’s new album shows the second part of an image series which has been started with TDPR
release # 021 and which revolves around architectural photos taken by Achim Valbracht. Tenderpark
art director Till Sperrle and photographer Achim Valbracht like these pictures of various commercial
buildings erected in Berlin in the 1990s to be seen as a critique of investor-driven architecture which
has been dominating Berlin for several decades now.
The fascination of these pictures lies in their ambivalence of staging a normalised and globally
standardised kind of beauty, but at the same time revealing a strong sense of isolation - noticeable not
only but also in the absence of human beings. This new series of images is to some extent a
continuation of art director Till Sperrle's and label manager Michael Siegle’s interest in architectural
photography. However, at the same time the photo series also embodies a new angle on the subject
since all previous picture series on Tenderpark had been an affirmation of socially progressive
architecture which expressed a longing for socio-cultural utopia.

The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” The album includes the hit single ‘Lo/Hi’. The Black Keys’ touring begins in North America in September, with further international dates to be announced soon.



“Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”



The “Let’s Rock” Tour will hit cities including Chicago, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support on all dates, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour. The band also headlines 2019’s Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas on September 21.



Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’



Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.



Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:



Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.



Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

On their debut album as DOVS, Tin Man and AAAA summon the ethereal spirit of acid. Tin Man, AKA Johannes Auvinen, has been studying the emotional potential of the Roland TB-303 for 15 years now, and AAAA (Gabo Barranco), a fixture of the Mexico City underground, might as well be his acolyte. While the coincidental similarities of their studio and live approaches make this collaboration feel natural, even expected, Silent Cities is anything but. We recognize most of the elements here—the ubiquitous acid box and hardware drum machines—yet Auvinen and Barranco arrive in new, mysterious territory this time out. Lush arpeggiation, breakbeats and atmosphere imbue tracks like 'Nostalgic Oblivion' with a widescreen grandeur. 'Rene Figures' recalls Specific Momentific-era Cristian Vogel, symphonic, melodic techno with a kick heavy enough for dark, cavernous rooms. Meanwhile, beatless cuts like 'Whining Acid' are as intricately crafted as Tin Man's well-loved classical work (Vienna Blues). But as a duo, they craft a virtuosic harmonic narrative almost solely with 303s. Tin Man and Donato Dozzy's 'Nonneo' was the first release on Acid Test, setting the tone for the label and unlocking new potential for the genre. DOVS' closer on Silent Cities, 'Diazepam Blues', is the label's new melancholic acid anthem and a statement of purpose for Tin Man and AAAA, two hardware masters who have created an album of remarkable emotional depth.










[J}] D2 - Dysphoric Fix

After a long wait, Melbourne's Public Opinion Afro Orchestra (The POAO) is set to release their second album, 'Naming & Blaming', a pulsing, percussive journey into classic afrobeat. Recorded by a 17 piece ensemble, led by fierce vocals and a howling horn section, it's a fitting 21st-century response to the world-shaking music of 1970s Nigeria. The result is true to the afrobeat blueprint of hypnotic, extended songs, improvisation and political comment but adds to the formula a host of pan-African influences and hip-hop elements that reflect the deep ranging roots of the band. As the title suggests, and in true afrobeat tradition, Naming & Blaming pulls no punches. It is an outspokenly political record, a cauldron of strong opinions where indignation and optimism coexist. Led by the vocals of MC One Sixth and singer Lamine Sonko, the critique of colonialism is applied to both the African and Australian experience, the battles of many cultures informing the group's ethos as does the importance of community and staying true to one's convictions. Uplifting visions of a brighter possible future as laid out in 'No Passport,' the album's rambunctious opening song, are balanced with honest reflections on injustice like guest Robbie Thorpe's take on Australia's chequered history in the title track.For the Naming & Blaming cover, the band was honoured to have the opportunity to work with one of the originators of the Afrobeat movement Lemi Ghariokwu, the legendary collage artist and illustrator responsible for all of Fela's most famous album covers of the 1970s. This relationship is what the POAO is all about, paying respects to the culture and keeping it alive and relevant in the 21st century. Over the last decade, The POAO have established themselves as a firm festival favourites with their contemporary approach to Afrobeat.

Big John K began singing in church at age five and taught himself to play piano. His performing career actually began in Dayton, Ohio around 1957 where he played with Ray Charles and several members of Count Basie's band. In the late 1950s he recorded around twenty different songs but only six singles were released. He then changed his name to Johnny K. and was signed to Epic Records in 1969. He played shows with Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, B.J. Thomas and opened for Jimi Hendrix but left Epic Records in 1971. "Poor Souls" and "Marching Home" were both released on tiny indie labels and remained unknown even in collector circles to this day. The Tramp crew is extremely happy to finally re-release these two cuts - 110% rhythm & blues dynamite!

This was Charles Tolliver's first album as a leader. The setting is unique only because his second Freedom-Black Lion album 'The Ringer' and all of his subsequent albums on Strata-East featured his quartet Music Inc. with pianist Stanley Cowell. Here he is surrounded in quartet and quintet formats with a truly stellar cast of the leading players on the New York jazz scene.

Charles plays the role of leader, composer and trumpeter. But it is surely that last role that deserves the most attention. The trumpet is a brass instrument that leans toward a hard sound and staccato phrasing. Yet Tolliver is the quintessence of fluidity. While it may be undeniable that he has learned from his musical heritage and past trumpet masters, a trumpeter of such flow, tone, control, lyricism and creativity is, by definition, a major musician.

Charles Tolliver first came to the professional jazz scene in the mid-sixties, when he first met Jackie McLean. Under McLean's leadership, he played on a number of Blue Note record sessions, some of which have yet to be released. He contributed original tunes to many of those sessions.

Within a couple of years, Tolliver was a well known figure in New York circles, playing and/or recording with Booker Ervin, Archie Shepp, Andrew Hill, Roy Ayers, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Willie Bobo, Gerald Wilson, McCoy Tyner, Hank Mobley, and many others. His compositions were getting recorded by many artists. He gained his greatest recognition during a two year stint with the Max Roach quintet that also included Gary Bartz and Stanley Cowell.

There is also a previously unreleased bonus track of the song, "Repetition", recorded by Charles for this LP which will be included on this new release of the album. This song was originally made famous by Charlie Parker's LP With Strings.

This album is certainly an important and lasting document in light of the musicians involved and in light of its unique context for Charles Tolliver. But basically, it is just a great album to listen to. Michael Cuscuna

Introducing a new label, Koko Music, founded in West London by a long time friend of ours. Their first release:

'Allegedly Coltrane's favourite singer, Andy Bey recorded as vocalist for Max Roach ('Members, Don't Git Weary'), Horace Silver ('Won't You Open Up Your Senses'), Gary Bartz ('Celestial Blues') and Stanley Clarke in the late sixties / early seventies. He released one solo album and then disappeared from view for 20 years, resurfacing in the nineties.

This 1998 album showcases his four-octave range, the intimacy of love songs and raw power of the blues on a mixture of standards ('Pretty Girl', 'Some Other Time'), Latin ('O Cantador', 'Drume Negrita'), modern (Nick Drake's 'River Man'), and a couple of original tunes. Available for the first time on vinyl, cut at 45rpm, it features Andy on vocals and on piano, with appearances from Gary Bartz and Geri Allen.'

- Daniel O'Donnell's recording career has now spanned almost 35 years and he continues to delight fans around the world by his
recording and touring activities.
- Daniel is the UK chart's most prolific and one of the most successful recording Artists. In 2018, he broke his own world record, by
becoming the first recording artist to chart at least one new album every year in the Artist Albums Chart for 31 consecutive years.
- During his career, in the United Kingdom Daniel has amassed thirty-seven Top 40 albums, including sixteen Top 10 albums, with
fourteen of them this Century, a feat not achieved by any other recording Artist.
- 'The Gold Collection' is a heavyweight 180g Gold-colour vinyl LP, featuring duets with his long-term singing partner Mary Duff his best
known hits, including twelve Top 40 hits, in this 16-track set.

The story of Seattle's rise to global rock supremacy in the late 80s and early 90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar) and Alex Shumway (drums), the
quintet put out three 12's and a 7' single during its brief existence.
Green River's influence on Seattle's music scene spread far and wide thanks to the members' dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and Love Battery, as well as the punk glam sludge rock songs they left behind. 'By '83, '84, there was
definitely a movement that was happening within hardcore, like Black Flag slowing down for My War,' says Arm. 'The Replacements and Butthole Surfers were rearing
their heads, and they're very different bands, but they're not hardcore - the Replacements are pretty much straight-up rock, and Butthole Surfers were God knows what. Sonic Youth's Bad Moon Rising was around, and a lot of really
interesting post-hardcore things were happening.'
Green River, formed in 1984, were part of that evolution, with a sound that straddled a lot of different genres - blues, punk, bloozy straight-ahead rock. The mini-LP 'Dry As A Bone' - which came out in 1987 - and the band's lone full-length
'Rehab Doll' - which came out in 1988 - were released as a single CD with a few bonus cuts, including their sneering cover of David Bowie's 'Queen Bitch' and their marauding version of Dead Boys' 'Ain't Nothin' to Do', in 1990 - but they've been
unavailable on vinyl for years.
Now, these slices of Seattle music history are not only back in print, they're accompanied by items from the vaults that had been forgotten about for decades.
'Dry As A Bone' was recorded at Jack Endino's Reciprocal Recording in 1986 and it shows the band in furious form, with Arm's yowl battling Fairweather and Gossard's
ferocious guitar playing on 'This Town' and 'Unwind' opening as a slow bluesy grind then jump-starting itself into a hyperactive chase. The deluxe edition includes Green
River's cuts from the crucial Seattle-scene compilation 'Deep Six', as well as long-lost songs that were recorded to the now-archaic format Betamax.
'Rehab Doll', recorded largely at Seattle's Steve Lawson Studios., bridges the gap between the taut, punky energy of 'Dry As A Bone' and the bigger drums and thicker
riffs that were coming to dominate rock in the late 80s. This new edition of 'Rehab Doll' includes a version of 'Swallow My Pride' recorded to 8-track at Endino's Reciprocal Recording, which features a more accurate depiction of how the band
sounded when they played live. 'When I listen to these mixes, I think, 'This is how we actually sounded - this is the kind of energy we had,'' says Shumway.
Green River's place in American music history is without question but these recordings paint a more complete picture of the band - and of rock in the mid to late 80s, when punk's faster-and-louder ideals had begun shape-shifting into other ideas.
CDs in digipack with 12-page booklet. 2LP formats in gatefold jacket with custom dust sleeve and digital download code.

This collection brings together rarities from well-known artists like Abstract Truth, Suck, Otis Waygood, Freedom's Children, John & Philipa Cooper, McCully Workshop and Hawk, as well as lesser known acts like Buzzard, The Fireflies, The Idiots, Tidal Wave, and The Invaders. Although the South African rock movement of the late sixties and early seventies was not a major commercial success, its participants heralded an exciting new age in South African rock and started a movement aimed at changing the musical tastes of fans in a spectacular way. Stadium concerts became the vehicle for feeding the youth with heavier rock sounds, and behind studio glass were producers like Clive Calder, Billy Forrest, Graham Beggs and Selwyn Miller who acted as change agents to transform conventional pop into heavier 4 to 5 minute songs. The movement's struggle for recognition through airplay remained unanswered and only the true fans of rock knew about their existence. Licensed by the Fresh Music label in South Africa and available on vinyl for the first time, complete with insert and liner notes.

Bendik HK is now launching his debut EP “Depot” via Oslo based label Mutual Intentions. The EP boasts Bendik HK’s futuristic approach in the realm of techno, house and ambient. His progressive production revolves around melodic structures, rhythm and soundscapes. On all four tracks Bendik HK uses an atonal percussion instrument called “Sixxen”, brought to life by the Greek contemporary composer and architect Iannis Xenakis. On “Depot”, this instrument is fused with more classic synths, in an attempt to “challenge” the club genre and invite something new; not only through rhythm and production, but tonality as well.
Vital sales points:
Bendik HK (Bendik Hovik Kjeldsberg) is best known for being one of Norway's most skilled and sought after drummers, playing alongside acts such as Charlotte Dos Santos, Ivan Ave & Gundelach.
He also works regularly with the internationally renowned composer/producer Pantha Du Prince, touring the world and playing events and venues such as Berghain, Sonar, Mutek, and Boiler Room.

LMYE first came to light in 2016 on Funkineven's Apron imprint with the LMYE EP, which quickly became a regular fixture at the London label's infamous parties and bbqs as well as with house DJs worldwide. Since then the pair have been relatively quiet, only appearing once on record, with a release for Bristol's Idle Hands in 2016.

The paucity of their output though belies a busy production schedule behind the scenes. Tracks from those sessions have surfaced occasionally in the sets of DJs like Shanti Celeste and Ben UFO but they have never seen the light of day on a full release until now.

As you would expect from their first releases, the self-titled LP treads a line between classic house and UK garage with a nod here and there to boogie and Latin freestyle, genres which have inspired their production techniques.

From barnstorming new jack house cut 'The Gift' to the classic UK funky sound of 'Hypnotized', LMYE have selected only the most weighty numbers at their disposal, with the aim of offering an LP that will catch the ear of those at every end of the house spectrum.

That's not to say that this is an LP of dancefloor-only cuts though. 'Long Island at Night', which features Bristol's Typesun and Adam Davies live in session, shows the softer, more musical side of LMYE's output. Meanwhile 'XTC Rising' is a uk garage cut with a classic edge which nevertheless still feels modern and up to date in its outlook.

In short, 'LMYE' collects the highlights of a number of years' work, with the aim of finding a home in the boxes of the most discerning and listeners for years to come.

By now, the story of how Jlin went from working in a steel factory in Gary, Indiana to being one of the most widely appreciated electronic musicians is well known. 'Black Origami' was one of the most reviewed and lauded albums last year. Seriously prolific and seriously hard-working, she has toured constantly since its May 2017 release and despite being involved in a wide range of projects, still manages to find a balance and 'do some personal healing and growing.'

Here we are over a year later with 'Autobiography,' the score for her collaboration with renowned British choreographer Wayne McGregor arranged by Unsound. This isn't technically her third album (that's due to arrive in 2019 or 2020), but the soundtrack stands up on its own with all the emotional peaks and troughs of a well-sequenced longplayer.

For Jlin, making music for dance is the fulfillment of one of her lifelong dreams - and remarkably, Company Wayne McGregor's performance was the first show she'd ever seen. She describes the process of working with Wayne: 'We first met face to face in October 2016 in a downtown Chicago hotel, talking for about a solid two hours. Immediately, I saw Wayne was very friendly and energetic. He's brilliant, witty, and knows exactly what he wants; an absolute gem to work with. Before I even started composing for Autobiography, Wayne told me so gently that he trusts me completely with my direction of creating the score. That was the best feeling in the world. I would wake up at two in the morning and work until six in the evening until I completed all the pieces. We were both very happy with the outcome. Creating the score for an impeccable piece of work such as Autobiography changed my life as an artist.'

'Autobiography' is a highlight in an evolving and growing career. During the last year, Jlin has also become an in-demand remixer, securing her place among a roster of music heavyweights. Unsurprisingly, given her positive and outgoing nature, she also developed friendships with the artists she has remixed such as Björk, Max Richter and Ben Frost.

Jlin will be touring with Company Wayne McGregor performing 'Autobiography' this year in addition to completing a commission for the Kronos Quartet titled 'Little Black Book.' She still approaches every performance 'with the same attitude of doing my best to execute a good show, no more, no less. Doing my best is what's most important to me.' She also still lives in Gary, Indiana, which keeps her grounded. She notes with her typical humility, 'The local community is a little more knowledgeable of me now. But I don't mind my community taking its time.'

If you check the credits of The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup LP from 1973 you'll find a certain "Pascal" listed on the percussion section. That is none other than Los Angeles based artist Nicolas Pascal Raicevik (1933-1994), aka 107-34-8933, aka Head, aka Nik Pascal, aka Nik Raicevic. Besides his hitting the bongoes on the Stones album, Nik was a great artist on his own, both as a painter and as a musician. As a musician, he was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers, preceeding the Berlin school by some years when his Head LP was released on on Buddah in 1970. Buddah probably saw in Head the opportunity to cash in some money from the remains of the psychedelic scene - the three tracks on the LP are named after drugs used in the late sixties. The sounds, however, are accomplished works that show Raicevic as one of the most interesting pioneers in the use of synths. The album probably didn't do too well, since Buddah didn't renew the contract with Raicevic, who instead took his own way releasing his works on his very own Narco Records and Tapes label. Between 1968 and 1975 Narco would issue 4 LPs credited either to Nik Raicevic (Beyond The End... Eternity) or Nik Pascal (The Sixth Ear, Magnetic Web and Zero Gravity) plus one credited to 107-34-8933 (Numbers, which is in fact the same LP as Buddah's Head, albeit with different cover art). Copies of these LPs came with an ironic sticker over the shrinkwrap that read "Do not listen to this LP if you are stoned".

Nik's last album, Zero Gravity (Narco NR123) came under the Nik Pascal name and had a fantastic side long piece on the title track which reminisces of the works of Cluster. B side features four tracks that also bear some Conrad Schnitzler reminiscences. This was to be Nik's last LP before he would sell all his synths to ex car racer and future electronic/ambient music star Steve Roach.

Besides his musical explorations, Nik was also an interesting painter. His paintings are auctioned from time to time, and are consciousness expanding works influenced by abstract cubism and surrealism, some kind of Salvador Dalí on drugs exploring the outter and inner space. All the artwork on the sleeves of his LPs is done by himself. Spacey landscapes and psychedelic colours that fit perfectly to the music they contain.

"Nik Raicevic's music is at the intersection of radical psycho-electronic weirdness and kraut kosmische music (in particular the scifi-hypno-minimal modules of Conrad Schnitzler in Grun, Rot and Blau). It presents mega epic & tripped out electronic improvisations.

"This is an absolute must for collectors and fans of visceral, neurotic soundscapes."

"As far as late-60s / early-70s American Bedroom' Electronic Music goes, these LPS have to be among the first transmissions from this sector, made all the more attractive when coupled with Raicevic's alien topographIes - the covers are high-color portrayals of Venusian lanes, knotted growths, & future-past architecture in a style you might equate with Vintage' sci-fi pulp-novel covers - & copious Downer' sentiment. This music is imbued with a sort of lonely, anti-social sensibility that's about as far as you can get from the Academic' Early Electronic vector. I will say that if the Steve Birchall, Cellutron & the Invisible, and/or Pythagoron™ seed your garden, this will likely do the same."

Never reissued before on vinyl format, the Wah Wah reissue features original sleeve artwork made of paintings and drawings by Nik himself, and reproduction of the famous ironic "Do not listen if you are stoned" sticker. Limited edition, 500 copies only.

The 2nd Release On 823, A Creative Project Founded By Ta-ku, Is Featuring The Label Debut Of Portland Wunderkind Quickly, Quickly.

823 Is Also The Numerical Representation Of The Phrase 'thinking Of You'. It Represents The Appreciation For The People/ideas/places That Inspire Us And Push Us Forward. As A Label We Are Proud To Present A Series Of Musical Releases That Showcase The Artists Musical & Visual Endeavors. The Artwork Is Shot By The Artist Themselves & Each Release Has An Accompanying Photo Zine That Acts As A Visual Story That Compliments The Music They Wrote At That Time.

There's A Maturity To The Sound Of Portland, Oregon-based Producer Quickly, Quickly That Makes It Difficult To Believe He's Just 17 Years Old. Using Elements Of Jazz, Hip Hop, And R&b, Quickly, Quickly Weaves A Tapestry Of Wispy Productions That Feel Equally Inspired By The Dusty Drums Of Early '90s Boom Bap As They Do By The Whimsical Electronics Of Head-turning Contemporaries Like Tennyson. Taking Over On Vocals, Bass, Drums, And Piano, He Offers Insight Into A Greater Understanding Of Musicality, There's Time Devoted To Each Audible Layer And It Shows.

Ta-ku:
graham First Caught My Eye With His Film Photography - It Was Only Co-incidental That He Also Made World Class Sounds & Made Me Ever So Jealous With His Musical Talent At Such A Young Age. Graham Is One Of Those Wunderkinds That Have Managed To Create Such A Strong Musical Identity For Himself And Makes It Look So Effortless. Graham Is The Reason Why I Started 823. He Is The Epitome Of Someone Who Embodies That Free Flowing Creative Energy That Needs To Be Showcased To The World!

Music Has Always Been A Part Of Quickly, Quickly's Life, As He Started Playing Piano When He Was Two Years Old. This Love Of Music Shaped His Young Life And Created A Solid Musical Foundation For Future Efforts. In 5th Grade Quickly, Quickly Found Hip-hop, Citing Common Market, J Dilla, Blue Scholars, And The Pharcyde As Early Influences. With His Love Of Hip-hop And Early Musical Background, It Seemed Only Right That Quickly Would Begin To Produce His Own Music.
Having Now Made Beats For Around Six Years, Quickly, Quickly Is Producing At The Top Of His Game. The Production On His Debut Ep over Skies' Is As Easy-going As It Is Complex, And The Fact That There Are No Samples On The Ep Makes It All The More Impressive. Inspired Heavily By The Sky And The Many Forms It Takes, This Ep Blends Genres And Crosses Musical Borders With Ease.

Salvador Font studied violin, clarinet, composition and harmony at the Conservatori Municipal de Barcelona, but very soon started to gain notoriety as a saxophonist in the rich jazz scene of 1940s Barcelona. Font would soon be playing tenor sax and clarinet in the Orquesta Gran Casino. He was in his early twenties and his hot swing technique was already praised through the citiy's scene, he would grow to be considered the best saxophonist in Spain by playing in many orchestras and combos, among them: José Puertas', Antonio Vilá's Virgina, Bonet de San Pedro's band, Pierre Michel, El Lirio Campestre, Los Marios, Luis Rovira y su orquesta, Orquesta brasileña Fon-Fon, Jaime Camino, Los Embajadores, Italo Leone's... With these and others, Font toured constantly, visiting many countries and even staying on some for long seasons: Mexico, Morocco, Switzerland, Egypt... Hungarian violinst of Turkish ancestry Kurt Dogan gave him the "Mantequilla" surname - he felt "Mantequilla" (which means "butter") fit Font's mellow yet swinging improvisation style.

Mantequilla y su conjunto

In the early sixties, "Mantequilla" had the chance to lead his own combo, Mantequilla y su conjunto, with which he was to record the three splendid EPs that are compiled on the present album. All these 7" have become elusive collector pieces in the record market, with sellers demanding from 200 to as much as 950 euros per copy.

In 1961 "Mantequilla" was at his best moment, his gigs at the Jamboree Jazz Cava had brought him back to the first line of Barcelona's jazzmen after he had been working abroad for a long time, and was approached by the Belter label to record an EP. On the sessions he was accompanied by Manolo Mercedes on trumpet, Pedro Ferré on piano, Rafael Lizandra on double bass and Rafael Verdura on Drums. The material chosen for the disc were four original compositions by Salvador Font which had a high West Coast flavour all over: "La Tuna Club", "Whisky Jazz" and "Jamboree" named after famous jazz clubs and "Azul Trompeta", dedicated to Manolo Mercedes.

In late 1962, after spending some time in Madrid working as members of the Italo Leone combo, "Mantequilla" and pianist Manuel Gas came back to Barcelona for the recording of the second "Mantequilla" EP, also on Belter. We find again Manolo Mercedes on trumpet, Pedro Ferré on piano and Rafael Lizandra on double bass, the drummer this time was José Farreras. Another news is that Manuel Gas also sat on piano and vibraphone. The songs chosen for the occasion were two tunes from the Art Blakey Jazz Messengers repertoire: Bobby Timmons' classic "Moanin'" and the Jacques Marray track "No Problem" from the soundtrack of the Les liaisons dangereuses film (mispelled "Not Problem" on the sleeve and label), plus the Salvador Font penned "Blue Note" and "Full de ases" - on "Full de ases" "Mantequilla" trades his sax for the violin, which he also mastered under high influence from Stephane Grapelli. The record was released on Belter in early 1963 and showed "Mantequilla" adding a certain aggressivity to his sound, in a soloist style which has been compared to that of tenor saxophonists Barney Wilen or Benny Golson.

1965 was the year of release of Mantequilla y su conjunto's third EP, now on the Discophon label. Mercedes and Farreras are again present in the recording sessions, joined by Ricardo Miralles on piano and Enrique Ponsa on double bass. Four original Font compositions make up the fantastic EP: "Blues 3/4", "Atmósfera", "Vat 69" and "Balada".

There would be a further EP on Belter, released in 1971 as Mantequilla Group it was a cash-in operation to take some redits of the ye-yé discothèque phenomenon, it gets quite afar in style from the jazz works of Mantequilla y su conjunto, so we just left it aside for the present edition.

"Mantequilla"'s career would continue, in 1968 he would settle in Majorca and form a swing band with Bonet de San Pedro and Manuel Bolao. He played in local orquestras and also with first class world acts like Gerry Mulligan, Tete Montoliu, Errol Gardner, a.o. He was even approached by Henry Mancini to play sax on The Pink Panther Theme in a gig Mancini did with his orchestra in Palma de Mallorca in 1975, He also joined his son Salvador Font (a demanded drummer himself who has played with Máquina!, Orquestra Mirasol, Música Urbana, Gary Burton Quartet, Georgie Fame, and many others) and his peers Carles Benavent, Emili Baleriola, Josep Mas 'Kitflus' and Jordi Bonell with whom he recorded his acclaimed "Mantequilla" album in 1987.

Now, for the first time ever, the legendary three ultra rare and imposible to find EPs by Mantequilla y su conjunto are compiled in a lavish vinyl LP with remastered sound, featuring liner notes and photos and a fantastic period inspired, three backflaped, front laminated sleeve. It is a stricly limited edition of only 500 copies and they are expected to sell out very soon, do not miss your chance of getting yours - it may be the last chance of chasing the Mantequilla sound on vinyl at a reasonable price!














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MotorCity Wine Recordings returns in fine style with its second EP featuring a swashbuckling blend of house and jazz sounds from Detroiters and their compatriots. Rising live techno star Haz Mat leads this 12' with a house-tinged boogie funk cover of Blue Six's Music & Wine', complete with vocoder and massive drums. Kuumba Reunion Band slides through next with the Afro-Jazz number 3 Fingered Fist (Jabbar)', a cut loaded with hand drums and chunky saxophone solos for the jazzdancers and listeners alike. MotorCity Wine guest and London native Aroop Roy kicks off the flip with a dubbed out beatdown house joint, a brilliant midtempo track perfect for the dread moments of the night. Last but certainly not least, The Hughes/Smith Quintet finish the release with an uptempo Jazz-Funk piece, with generous amounts of Fender Rhodes and call-and-response melodies. Only 500 vinyl pressed— enjoy the soulful sounds of Detroit.

Way back in 1967, an animated superhero cartoon was released into the world. It was created by Grantray-Lawrence Animation and was based on a web-spinning, crime fighting blue and red dressed character that had originated in1962, in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This amazing series (that we're not allowed to mention the name of for legal reasons) ran on ABC TV in the USA, then Canada, then a few years later started to spread its web further, running here in the UK throughout summer holidays, after school and possibly early mornings at weekends in the late 1970s. The series then got released on VHS video (and probably Betamax too) in the mid 1980s and still continues to spin its animated magic around the world through further broadcasts, YouTube and DVDs.

The series was notoriously low budget, with animated errors everywhere and numerous scenes, sequences and backgrounds being re-used all the time, often across the same episode. Even a certain spider logo on a costume would appear with six legs, then eight legs later on, then back to six again in the same show.

Series One opened with a newly written spider theme, a classic, hooky song all about doing whatever spiders can, and had, as Big George (RIP) once pointed out to me, a set of session singers falling slightly out of time with the backing track after the first verse. Series One also featured background music by jobbing composers Bob Harris and Ray Ellis but these cues and master tapes are now believed to be lost.

After Series One the company Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, so the amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) was taken on by producer Steve Krantz. He brought in new talent, including animation director Ralph Bakshi who later went on to turn a Robert Crumb strip cartoon into the feature Fritz The Cat. Krantz also slashed the already cripplingly small spider budget, and brought in the idea of using economic library music. Here, thanks possibly to an independent sync agent (it has been suggested that a company called Music Sound Track Services may have been the one) production turned to the KPM catalogue. This was one of the few really established library catalogues around at the time with a modern edge, it was full of fabulous, modern dramatic music tracks - often all on the same LP. But more importantly all the tracks were far longer than the one minute musical cuts that many of the fledgling USA library companies were issuing at the time. Not only would this KPM music be efficient, affordable and very easy to use, it would also mean syndication worldwide would not be held up by any future musical issues. Krantz produced two amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons), and both were smothered with KPM music. In fact barely a spider second goes by without music playing in either the background or foreground.

For many years I - and many nostalgic others - have been thinking about putting this vinyl album together. For many enthusiasts this really is formative music - a junior foray into hip swinging crime jazz and esoteric musical grooviness. I've also read on line accounts by DJs from WFMU on the trail of original spider master tapes, and there's even a whole forum dedicated to Spidey-Jazz'. Then recently I was looking at an old spider tracklist and realized that several of my favourite KPM cues were there including Syd Dale's Hell Raisers' and Walk And Talk', both from one of the most elusive and desirable KPM albums of all time (yes, you just try and find yourself a copy of KPM 1002 right now), so I decided to push on and get the album made.

So, what features on this Spider-Jazz Lp Well it's music from the amazing TV series we are not allowed to mention for legal reasons, BUT, not music from Series One. No, but it is all from Series Two and Series Three. From looking at archival cue sheets, over 50 tracks from various early KPM 1000 series albums were used across episodes. I've distilled this down into one exciting and enthralling LP, and if this works a further Spider Jazz album may well swing in to production. If you're interested (and I'm sure you may well be) cues here came from KPM1001, KPM1002, KPM1015, KPM1017, KPM1018 and KPM1043 and were composed by master library composers of the era - Dale, Hawkshaw, Hawksworth, Mansfield etc.

And if you are listening over there in the USA, you may well recognize many of the cues here not just from the amazing TV series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) but also from classic 1960s and 1970s NFL highlight shows that we are allowed to mention.

Twenty-eight Years Ago, Pissed-off Twelve-year-olds Around The Universe Discovered A New Planet, A Black Planet. Public Enemy's Aggressive, Benihana Beats And Incendiary Lyrics Instilled Fear Among Parents And Teachers Everywhere, Even In The Border Town Of Laredo, Texas, Home Of The Future Founders Of The Latin-funk-soul-breaks Super Group, Brownout. The Band's Sixth Full-length Album (out May 25th) Fear Of A Brown Planet Is A Musical Manifesto Inspired By Public Enemy's Music And Revolutionary Spirit.

Chuck D., The Bomb Squad, Flava Flav And The Rest Of The P.e. Posse Couldn't Possibly Have Expected That Their Golden-era Hip Hop Albums Would Sow The Seeds For Countless Public Enemy Sleeper Cells, One That Would Emerge Nearly Three Decades Later In Austin, Texas. Greg Gonzalez (bass) Remembers A Kid Back In Junior High Hipped Him To The Fact That Public Enemy's bring The Noise' Is Built On James Brown Samples, While A Teenaged Beto Martinez (guitar) Alternated Between Metal And Hip-hop In His Walk-man, And Adrian Quesada (guitar/keys) Remembers Falling In Love With Public Enemy's Sound At An Early Age. when I Got Into Hip Hop, I Was Looking For This Aggressive Outlet . . . And I Didn't Even Understand What They Were Pissed Off About, Because I Was Twelve And Lived In Laredo . . . But I Loved It And I Felt Angry Along With Them.'

Joseph Abajian (fat Beats' Owner) Must Have Sensed The Deep Hip-hop Well Lying Beneath The Versatile Band's Latin-funk Veneer. i Thought Their Sound Would Work Covering Public Enemy Songs,' Abajian Says, And, it Was Good To Know They Were P.e. Fans . . . We Came Up With A Track Listing And They Went To Work.' Despite The Band's Eagerness To Work On New Original Material (an Album Of Original Songs Is Slated For Next Year), They Couldn't Pass Up The Opportunity To Pay Homage To This Iconic And Influential Posse.

Translating Sample-based Music To A Live Band Turned Out To Be More Of A Challenge Than They Anticipated. Adrian Tried To Get Inside The Bomb Squad's (public Enemy's Producers/beat-making Team) Head In Order To Find The Inspiration To Reinterpret P.e.'s Songs: imagine The Bomb Squad Going Back In Time And Getting The J.b.s (james Brown's Funky Backing Band) In The Studio And Setting Up A Couple Analog Synths And Then Playing Those Songs.' While Some Songs Closely Follow The Original Musical Blueprint, Others Use The Source Breakbeats As Jumping-off Points Later Sweetened By Trombonist Mark speedy' Gonzales' Horn Arrangements, Synth Wizardry Courtesy Of Friend-of-the-band Peter Stopschinski, And Dj Trackstar's Turntable Scratches. But Don't Listen Expecting To Hear Paint-by-numbers Recreations Of Classic Public Enemy Jams. our Approach Is Never In The Tribute Sense,' Adrian Explains. we've Always Taken It And Made It Our Own, Whether It's The Brown Sabbath Thing Or This Public Enemy Thing.' Coming Off Numerous Tours As Brown Sabbath And Even A Stint Backing The Late Legend Prince, Brownout Is Arguably The Tightest And Funkiest Band On The Road Today And They're Psyched To Bring This Revolutionary Music To The People. For A Band Without An Overt Political Agenda, They Collectively Couldn't Resist The Opportunity To Play This Music Live, Especially Now. if There's Any Way That We Can Use The Already Political And Protest Nature (of P.e.'s Music), We Would Like To Try,' Beto Says. the Album's Title, Fear Of Brown Planet Is Definitely A Relevant Idea Today And We're Not Afraid To Put It Out There, Because We Want To Speak Out.' By Reinterpreting These Hip Hop Classics In Their Unique Style And Channeling The Spirit Of Public Enemy That First Echoed Around The World And Captured Their Imaginations All Those Years Ago, Brownout Is Doing Exactly That.

Electronic duo Spring Heel Jack return with a collaboration with the legendary American trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize nominee Wadada Leo Smith.Wadada was born in the Mississippi Delta and became immersed in the music of the great blues masters as a young musician. He then moved to Chicago and became an early member of the AACM alongside the likes of Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors and Roscoe Mitchell. Recorded last year in London, this LP sees Smith's authoritative trumpet joined by Steve Noble's drums and Pat Thomas' piano, to make a stunning piece of aural theatre in six acts.

Limited Edition Clear Vinyl

Includes 12' Vinyl and Deluxe CD album, 30 page hard back book

Now that I've been to Nashville,' Kylie Minogue says with audible affection, I understand. It's like some sort of musical ley-line...'

Golden, Kylie's fourteenth studio album, is the result of an intensive working trip to the home of Country music, a city whose influence lingered on long after the pop legend and her team returned to London to finish the record: We definitely brought a bit of Nashville back with us,' she states. The album is a vibrant hybrid, blending Kylie's familiar pop-dance sound with an unmistakeable Tennessee twang. It was Jamie Nelson, Kylie's long-serving A&R man, who first came up with the concept of incorporating a Country element' into Kylie's tried-and-trusted style. That idea sat there for a little while, with Minogue and her team initially unsure about how to bring it to life. Then, when Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge's publisher suggested Kylie should come over to collaborate in Nashville, a city Kylie had previously never visited, something clicked. You know when you're so excited about something,' she recalls, that you repeat it an octave higher and double the decibels I was like that. 'Nashville! Yes! Of course I would!'. I hoped it would help the album to reveal itself. I thought 'If I don't get it in Nashville, I'm not going to get it anywhere.''

Kylie's Nashville trip involved working alongside two key writers, both with homes in the city. One was British-born songwriter Steve McEwan (whose credits include huge Country hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood), and the other was the aforementioned Amy Wadge, another Brit (best known for her mega-selling work with Ed Sheeran). It was then a truly international project: Golden was mainly created with African-German producer Sky Adams and a list of contributors including Jesse Frasure, Eg White, Jon Green, Biff Stannard, Samuel Dixon, Danny Shah and Lindsay Rimes, and there's a duet with English singer Jack Savoretti.

However, the album's agenda-setting lead single Dancing was, significantly, first demoed with Nathan Chapman, the man who guided Taylor Swift's transition from Country starlet to Pop megastar. If anyone knows how to mix those two genres, Chapman does. Nathan was the only actual Nashvillean I worked with. He's got a huge studio in his house, which is probably due to his success with Taylor... there's plenty of platinum discs of her, and others on his walls.' There's something of the spirit of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is, of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, even of Liza Minnelli's Cabaret about Dancing, a song which not only opens the album but sets out its stall, providing a microcosm of what is to come. You've got the lyrical edge, that Country feel, mixed with some sampling of the voice and electronic elements, so it does what it says on the label. And I love that it's called 'Dancing', it's immediately accessible and seemingly so obvious, but there's depth within the song.'

The experience of simply being in Nashville was an overwhelming one, before Kylie had even arrived. Once I knew I was going to Nashville, people talked about the place with such enthusiasm. They said without doubt I would love it and, I would come back with songs. They were sending lists of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. It really was a beautiful and genuine response and it felt like I was about to have a life changing experience and in a way, I did.' The reality came as something of a surprise, when she found a far more modern metropolis than the vintage one she'd envisaged. I thought it would be like New Orleans: little houses and bars, with music spilling out onto the street. It reminded me more of Melbourne: apartment blocks going up everywhere! The main strip, Broadway, where the honky tonk bars are, that's where the street was filled with music and it was just amazing.' Mainly, Minogue remembers the heat and humidity. It was 100 degrees. It was like it was raining with no rain.' She also relished the chance to wander around unrecognised, visit a few venerable music bars and soak in the atmosphere. I didn't get to the Grand Ole Opry or the music museums but I managed to go to a couple of the institutions there like The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room, and just by being there, through some kind of osmosis, you get this rejuvenated respect for The Song, and the writing of The Song. There's no hoo-hah around it. There's a singer-songwriter there, talking about the song and singing the song, to an audience who are there to listen. Although, I have to confess I was guilty of starting to clap too soon during a long pause at the end of one of the songs. The guy made a bit of a joke out of it and got a laugh from it, but I thought 'Of all people in the audience, no...''

It's probably no coincidence, therefore, that every track on Golden is a Kylie co-write, making it arguably her most personal album to date. The end of 2016 was not a good time for me,' she says, referring to well-documented personal upheavals, so when I started working on the album in 2017, it was, in many ways, a great escape. Making this album was a kind of saviour. I'd been through some turmoil and was quite fragile when I started work on it, but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self. Writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth. And irony. And joy!'

The songwriting process allowed Kylie to get a few things out of her system. Initially, she admits, it was cathartic, but it also wasn't very good. I think I was writing too literally. But I reached a point where I was writing about the bigger-picture, and that was a breakthrough. It made way for songs like Stop Me From Falling and One Last Kiss. It also meant I had enough distance to write an autobiographical song, like A Lifetime To Repair, with a certain amount of humour. The countdown in that song: 'Six-five-four-three, too many times...'. I don't know if that will be a single, but I can just imagine a girl with framed pictures of past boyfriends, and kind of going 'Oh god, when am I going to get this right'' When she listens back to Golden, Kylie can vividly hear the Nashville in it. It is, she'll agree, probably the first time that a Kylie album has sounded like the place it was made. You wouldn't normally relate my songs to the cities. Can't Get You Out Of My Head sounds more like Outer Space than London. But Shelby '68, for example, was written in London but it was done with Nashville in mind. It's about my Dad's car, and my brother recorded Dad driving it! I don't think I'd have written a number of the songs, including Shelby '68 and Radio On without having had that Nashville experience.'

The latter, she says, is about music being the one to save you.' Throwing herself into the making of the record, she says, crystallised that idea. If there's one love that will always be there for you, it's music. Well, it is for me, anyway.' That song, in particular, carries nostalgic echoes of the golden age of Country, as heard through Medium Wave transistors and tinny home stereos in the distant past. Like any child of the Seventies, Kylie had a basic grounding in Country music, mainly absorbed from older family members. My Step-Grandfather was born in Kentucky and though he lived most of his adult life in Australia, he never stopped listening to his beloved Country artists.' If there's any classic Country singer whose imprint can be heard on Golden, it's Dolly Parton.

Kylie saw Dolly live for the first time at the end of 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl. It was like seeing the light,' she beams. It was incredible. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is a Dolly Parton fan. When I was in Nashville, I did pick up a T-shirt that said 'What Would Dolly Do' Maybe that should be my mantra.' And, whether consciously or otherwise, there's a timbre and trill to Kylie's vocals on Radio On that is distinctly Parton-esque. My delivery is quite different on this album,' she says. A lot of things are 'sung' less. The first time I did that was with Where The Wild Roses Grow. On the day I met Nick Cave, when I recorded my vocals, he said 'Just sing it less. Talk it through, tell the story.' This album wasn't quite to that extreme, but a lot of the songs were done in fewer takes, to just capture the moment and keep imperfections that add to the song. I remember on my last album, a lot of producers were trying to take out literally every vibrato they heard. And that's not natural to my voice. I mean, I can make myself sound like a robot, but it's nice to sound like a human!' Working within the Country genre also gave Kylie permission to write in the Nashville vernacular. Because we were going there, I wasn't afraid to have lines like 'When he's fallen off the wagon we'd still dance to our favourite slow song', 'Ten sheets to the wind, I was all confused', 'I'll take the ride if it's your rodeo'. The challenge of bringing a Country element to the album made the process feel very fresh to me, kind of like starting over. I started to look at writing a different way, singing a different way.'

If ever Kylie lost confidence in the Country-Pop concept, and found herself pondering This is great, but back in the real world - my real world - how will this work', Jamie Nelson was there to badger her into sticking to the path. We found a way to make it a hybrid with what we'll call my 'usual' sound. It had to stay 'pop' enough to stay authentic to me, but country enough to be a new sound for this album. The closer we zoomed in, and the more we honed it, I knew Jamie was right. We sacrificed good songs that weren't right for this album, because we wanted it to be as cohesive as possible. The songs that were hitting the mark were these ones, so we decided to be strong, and that's how we wrapped up the album. What he said, that stuck with me, was that 'I'd hate to get to the end of this and really wish we'd gone for it.'' Having worked with Kylie for so long, Nelson was able to put this latest shift of direction into perspective. He said 'You've traditionally done it throughout your career. You had your PWL time, then you did a complete turn when you went to deConstruction, then another complete turn with Spinning Around, and R&B dance-pop, and then another turn with Can't Get You Out Of My Head, icy synth-pop, and this is another one.' He was right. It felt like the right time to have a change sonically. New label, new stories to tell, and a new decade almost upon me.'

Kylie Minogue will, it's scarcely believable, turn 50 this year. This looming milestone is partly behind the album's title, and title track. I had this line that I wanted to use: 'We're not young, we're not old, we're golden' because I'm asked so often about being my age in this industry. This year, I'll be 50. And I get it, I get the interest, but I don't know how to answer it. And that line, for my personal satisfaction, says it as succinctly as possible. We can't be anyone else, we can't be younger or older than we are, we can only be ourselves. We're golden. And the album title, Golden, reflects all of this. I liked the idea of everyone being golden, shining in their own way. The sun shines in daylight, the moon shines in darkness. Wherever we are in life, we are still golden.' One of the album's shiniest moments is Raining Glitter, an exuberant banger which ventures closest to Kylie's traditional dance-pop comfort zone. Eg White, who is one of the producers and writers and a great character, was talking about disco one day. I said 'I love disco, but you know the brief.' We needed to be going down the Country lane, so to speak. But we managed to bring them both together. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the Jacksons video for Can You Feel It where they're sprinkling glitter over everyone. And I think there's a Donna Summer record that's got that feel to it. I think that's my job: I basically leave a trail of glitter after every show I do anyway.'

Kylie is looking forward to the challenge of incorporating the Golden material into her live shows. Mixing these songs in with my existing catalogue is going to be fun. And it could be fun to do some of those songs with just a guitar. It'll make my acoustic set interesting...'Her incredibly loyal fans - to whom one Golden song, Sincerely Yours, is intended as a love letter' - will, she believes, have no problem with her latest stylistic shift. My audience have been with me on the journey, so I shouldn't be afraid that they won't come with me on this part. I've had fun with it, and I'm sure they will too.'

The time spent making Golden has, Kylie says, been a time of creative and personal renewal. I've met some amazing people, truly inspiring writers and musicians. My passion for music has never gone away, but it's got bigger and stronger.' And if there's an overriding theme to the record, it is one of acceptance. We're all human and it's OK to make mistakes, get it wrong, to want to run, to want to belong, to love, to dream. To be ourselves.'

I was able to both lose and find myself whilst making this album.'

Selection of obscure and underrated Country-Funk, Blue-Eyed-Soul, and other swinging Rhythm & Blues oddities from the Sixties and Seventies. The tunes on this album are as good as those by famous artists like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Jones, or Jack Hammer.

Most of the musicians who gathered to record this fantastic spiritual jazz record for the Strata-East label on May 24th, 1974 had crossed each other's paths in various musical pairings over the preceding few years. Husband and wife team Dee Dee Bridgewater (vocals) and Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet) had been working together on albums like Frank Foster's "Loud Minority", and Roy Ayers' "Coffy" and "Virgo Red". Ten weeks before the "Freedom Of Speech" session, the couple had been joined in Tokyo by Cecil's brother Ronald Bridgewater (tenor saxaphone) to record Dee Dee's debut album, the beautiful "Afro Blue". Also in the studio on May 24th, 1974 was Donald Smith, (piano, vocals), fresh from recording on his older brother Lonnie Liston Smith's "Cosmic Funk" - on which Ronald Bridgewater had also played percussion. Cecil McBee (bass) was also there - just two weeks before, he'd completed his own Strata East date "Mutima", and in February he'd played on Mtume's "Rebirth Cycle" - with both albums also featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals. He'd also played on Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Travelling".

So 1974 was a huge year for all five of these people. Donald Smith and Cecil McBee were six months away from recording on Lonnie Liston Smith's massive "Expansions", with McBee fitting in a few Pharoah Sanders albums in between.

AND THEN, THE MYSTERY ... So with all this fervent activity, the question has to be asked ...Who was Billy Earl Parker Jr (drums), the leader of this session

Billy Parker remains unlisted as a musician on all major jazz sites. His only other recording appears to be as a percussionist on Charles Tolliver's "Impact" in 1975. Then there's nothing.

Finally, by backtracking one of those Zoom info pages, I found a summary of a "SUNY Rockland Community College" 2002 press release that no longer exists :

"Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy Concert ...The concert, Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy, is the eighth annual tribute honouring the late percussionist and RCC educator, Billy Parker. A long-time Rockland County resident, Parker began his affiliation with RCC in 1987, building its jazz program and maintaining his life-long tradition of teaching and inspiring others. A lifelong student himself, Parker was near completion of his doctorate in music education at New York University when he died in 1996.

But then people began to read this blog post, and in the comments, Aaron Fuller said :

"Billy Parker was my uncle. He was an incredibly talented, smart, and kind man. I'm very happy to see that folks are still enjoying his masterpiece. Just to give you a bit more information about him... He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and then attended college at Michigan State University. He met my aunt in Lansing. They lived in NY and toured in Europe for quite a while. Sometime later they relocated to Nyack, NY and he ended up on the faculty of the community college while he pursued advanced degrees from NYU. He was an Ellington scholar. Although his name isn't well-known even among the most avid jazz fans, I think that if you were to talk to some of the great NY musicians that were around in the late 60s and 70s you would find that most knew him. He also had a huge impact as a music educator and I have no doubt that his former students are all over the place, continuing to put his love of the art into practice."

- This four LP box set features some of the best studio recordings by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, the ten-piece band that Bill
put together after leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992. Whilst the band features guest appearances by all-star musicians (including
Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, Chris Rea, George Harrison,Gary Brooker and Peter Frampton on these recordings), it has an all-
star core line-up that features Georgie Fame, Beverley Skeete, Albert Lee, Terry Taylor and Bill Wyman himself of course.
- For this compilation, Bill Wyman has chosen forty three tracks that showcase the fantastic lead vocals of both Beverley
Skeete, perhaps the UK's busiest session singer, and Georgie Fame, a star (and legend) in his own right since 1964 of course.
- Each singer has two LPs: Georgie's features his renditions of songs by the likes of J.J. Cale, Mose Allison, Dan Hicks, and Bill
Wyman & Terry Taylor, while Beverley's features her take on songs by Nellie Lutcher, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, J.B. Lenoir and
The Rascals.
- This box set marks the first appearance of any Rhythm Kings recordings on vinyl. The four LPs are housed in an attractive rigid
outer slipcase and the inner sleeves feature all themusician credits.

Grammy-winning singing sensation Gregory Porter - one of the most successful jazz artists of his generation - is back with a new album, 'Nat King Cole & Me', to be released on Decca/Blue Note on 27th October. It is a deeply personal tribute to Nat King Cole - the legendary crooner who ignited Gregory's love of music. It's only natural that I go to the root of my inspiration and where I come from. And that root would be my mother and gospel music and Nat King Cole,' he says.

Recorded at London's AIR Studios, the 12-track album features some of Gregory's favourite Nat King Cole tunes including 'Smile', 'L-O-V-E' and 'Nature Boy'. There is also a Nat-inspired arrangement of Gregory's own song 'When Love Was King', originally released on his million-selling hit album, 'Liquid Spirit'.

For Gregory Porter, the influence of Nat King Cole on his life and music runs deep, a through-line that reaches back into some of his earliest childhood memories, and culminates in the release of his new album 'Nat King Cole & Me'. Gregory explains, At five or six years old, Nat's music filled a void in me. My father wasn't in my life and wasn't showing interest in me or raising me and Nat's words were the life lessons, words of wisdom and fatherly advice I needed.'

Gregory's love for Nat's music blossomed so much that he wrote a semi-autobiographical musical, also called 'Nat King Cole & Me', which premiered in 2004. After the play, I felt a lighter feeling about my father and a deeper appreciation for both my mother and the great music of Nat King Cole,' says Gregory. He also found his voice through his own songwriting - It wasn't until I wrote the musical that I was fit to call myself a songwriter. Before that, I would write different poems but they had no music.'

'Nat King Cole & Me' is the follow-up to his Grammy-winning albums 'Liquid Spirit' (2013) and 'Take Me to the Alley' (2016). 'Liquid Spirit' took Gregory from being the biggest name on the jazz scene to being one of the most sought-after singers around today, performing sell-out shows across the UK and being invited to perform on high profile TV programmes including The Graham Norton Show, Strictly Come Dancing and the BBC Music Awards. He has become an adopted national treasure in the UK, having sung for the Queen multiple times, as well as major music festivals including Glastonbury, where he performed on the Pyramid Stage alongside the likes of Muse, Adele and Coldplay. Gregory's ability to transcend genres even extends to his surprise dance hit 'Liquid Spirit Claptone Remix' which became one of the most popular tracks in Ibiza.

After winning over audiences with his rich and soulful voice, there can be no better time for Gregory to return to the music which first inspired him to become a singer. On Nat's legacy and influence Gregory affirms, He was one of a kind. He left such great music - such beautiful things to listen to that you can't help but be influenced by that extraordinary timbre, style, and ultimate cool.'

No-one else makes music like this: devilishly complex but warm and intuitive, stirring together a dizzying assembly of outernational and outerspace influences, whilst retaining the subby funk-and-hot-breath pressure of Shackleton's soundboy, club roots.The result is an evolutionary, truly alchemical music — great shifting tides of dub, minimalist composition and choral song (Five Demiurgic Options), ritual spells to ward off the darkness (Before The Dam Broke, The Prophet Sequence), radiophonia and zoned-out guitar improv (Seven Virgins), even the febrile, freeform psychedelia of eighties noise rock (Sferic Ghost Transmits / Fear The Crown). Over the five years since Music For The Quiet Hour, Vengeance's vocal and lyrical range has rolled out across this new terrain. Throughout these six transmissions he's hoarse preacher, sage scholar and ravaged bluesman, blind man marching off to war, and exhausted time-traveller warning of impending socio-ecological catastrophe. Six dialogic accounts of our conflicted times, then, expanding beyond the treacly unease of the duo's early collaborative work into something subtler and more emotionally shattering — its shades of brightness more dazzling, and its darkness even murkier. "We almost didn't hear it when the foundations went."