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“In my category, I’m the one and only,” proclaimed Oakland legend Too $hort on his 1990 single “Short But Funky.” Few disagreed then, and even fewer would do so decades later. First appearing in the mid-1980s, slinging homemade tapes out of his car trunk, the man born Todd Shaw has always stayed true to himself. Although he is known more for the dirty side of his rap game, on “Short But Funky,” he also reminds listeners of an important fact: “There’s a serious side to everything I say.” Short Dog’s In The House, was $hort’s sixth studio album, and his second for the Jive label. By the time it hit, he was a West Coast legend, but his rep was growing Eastwards, as the rest of the country started opening its ears to new sounds. Peaking at #20 on the national Billboard 200 chart, the album was exactly what his dedicated fans expected funky, 70s drenched beats made for cars on the boulevard, and no nonsense lyrics that made more sense and dropped more knowledge than he was ever given credit for. For examples of his conscious side, look no further than the P-Funk fueled “It’s Your Life” or the album’s lead single, “The Ghetto.” The album’s second single “Short But Funky” landed somewhere in the middle of $hort and Todd Shaw, talking about where he was at as the new decade broke, and making it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere. His mortality was mainly on his mind after rumors had surfaced the year before that he had died in a crack house. He speaks directly to this crazy episode on “Dead Or Alive.” And although it’s mostly a solo affair, he brings in some heavy artillery and a lot of not for the kids profanity on “Ain’t Nothin’ But A Word To Me,” featuring none other than Ice Cube In between, $hort distributed plenty of tales and charisma for fans to eat up, continuing to build his legendary status as one of the rap trailblazers of the era. Get On Down has repressed this 1990 Bay Area classic album on Blue and Ruby Color-In-Color vinyl

Regina Spektor's 2009 follow-up to Begin to Hope, available on limited edition Velum Clear vinyl. On Far, Spektor invites four esteemed producers, Jeff Lynne, Mike Elizondo, David Kahne, and Garret "Jacknife" Lee, to collaborate on intricate and adventurous soundscapes for her songs. Includes “Two Birds”, “Eet, “Laughing With", “Dance Anthem of the 80’s,” and more

"Amazing! Like stumbling on a treasure-trove of unheard Charlie Patton and Blind Willie McTell 78s, but imbued with the spirit of Mahlathini and Ladysmith." Joe Boyd

'But for this compilation of rescued songs masterfully restored from rare 78 rpm shellacs, few could imagine the diversely beautiful roots of Zulu Guitar Music emerging during the period 1950 – 1965. Story-tellers and master musicians appropriate outlaw personae, re-purpose country and western, Hawaiian and other styles, to stretch and challenge our notion of “the Zulu guitar”.

Twenty-five songs (18 on vinyl) plunge us into the depths of the migrant experience. Translations in the liner notes offer us glimpses of pugnacity, melancholy and heartache, all coloured by the paternalism that circumscribed the singers’ apartheid-dominated lives.

The early *mbaqanga* undertow in many of the songs subverts the wanderlust of Country and Western music into a fugitivity burdened by nostalgia. Something irretrievable has been lost, prompting a blending of ideas and cultures to make sense through thankless acts of musical divination. Inadvertently they have been thrust into the role of the antihero, where outwitting competition for lovers is as important as evading the Black Jacks (apartheid’s municipal cops) and their informants.

Considering the politically repressive period that this music emerges from, we can surmise that the specificity in the storytelling went a long way towards evading censure. But even when words are absent, there is a narrative arc suggested by the musical expression.

With most of the master tapes wilfully destroyed or lost, modern transcription and restoration techniques from the original shellac discs present the original sound most likely more clearly than ever heard before.'

Produced for reissue by Chris Albertyn and Matt Temple at Matsuli Music and Siemon Allen at Flatinternational.
Artwork design by Siemon Allen.
Liner note and translations by Kwanele Sosibo.
Audio restoration and lacquers by Frank Merritt at The Carvery and pressed at Pallas, Germany.
Original 78rpm recordings sourced from the collections of Chris Albertyn at Matsuli Music, and Siemon Allen at the Flatinternational Archive.

Commemorate's self-titled debut album blends swirling guitars and dreamy vocals to create a hypnotic yet weightless sound, a longing that swells and fades gently. Emerging from Kuala Lumpur's hazy musical depths, Commemorate is a 5-piece ensemble creating their own ethereal soundscapes, while taking heavy influences from shoegaze titans and infusing modern dreampop with post-rock sensibilities. Available in clear and black vinyl.

Eleven is a magic number in many cultures, for us maybe it is… or not, anyway our eleventh release is going to be something special with vinyl again as the main format after some only digital releases.

The man in charge of production duties is well known for crafting merciless techno exercises all over the place, RNGD is not a newcomer at all, his roots come from the late nineties and you can somehow feel that into his modern tunes.

These four cuts have a strong link with the classic Birmingham school, Regis,
Downwards, Female, Surgeon… but with a personal and unique twist.

Direct Source is a clear example of what I mentioned before, a few elements are enough to make the funk happen: a solid sequence, proper drums and a hypnotic arrangement.

Same approach on 037, proper neural funk with basic elements administered properly. B side opens with Degradation, again with the same mantra, anabolic, gymnastic and physical.

To close the release Diabólica, providing the mental slice of the pie with the
occasional pad and vocal samples but yet energetic and direct to the floor.

This is the true spirit of techno, don’t be fooled for the new trends. Timeless is the word here.

Text by Luis Rozalén / Hd Substance

Camper Van Beethoven"s groundbreaking debut album back on vinyl for the first time since the 1980s. 140g Clear + Orange Marbled Vinyl, Printed Inner, Kraftpack Disco Bag Sleeve

DJ Support: Peggy Gou, Prospa, Special Request, Annie Mac, DJ Seinfeld, Kolsch.

Pink Vinyl Limited Pressing

One of the biggest, breakbeat channelling stompers out there, courtesy of the in-demand duo Borai and Denham Audio, finally gets an official release with three fiery remixes via Room Two Records. A track that’s ripped through airwaves and club dancefloors alike, ‘Make Me’ has all the hallmarks of a future classic. Doused in Amen breaks, rattling subs, rave stabs and an instantly recognizable mid ‘80s Donna Allen sample. Together the track feels like a long forgotten rave anthem from the ‘90s with its mix of high intensity breaks and soulful vocals.

With the original sample cleared, three producers step up to remix this undeniable anthem. First Sheffield’s Big Ang with her Rave To The Grave remix, playing homage to her hometown with a bassline and bleep flavoured rework. Mani Festo then hits hyperspace with his glitched out, jungle warper, before Paul Sirrell closes out proceedings serving up a huge slice of piano house heat

Teal’s debut LP, Original Watercolour, is an album that feels like a canvas come to life. A sonic blend of street-soul, digi-dub, and downtempo. Original Watercolour explores the complexities of love, oneness, and intuition — themes that resonate deeply within the context of the history women have shared with what was once known as the “ladies’ medium.”

The bi-coastal family trio—Ashleigh and Melissa Ball, better known as the Ball Sisters, alongside producer N1_SOUND—bring a fresh, genre-defying sound to the table with their latest 6-track album. Running just under 30 minutes, this immersive collection weaves together skipping beats, addictive bass lines, three-dimensional flute textures & emotional vocal melodies. This musical portrait is as ethereal as it is powerful, inviting the listener to get lost in its depths while celebrating the beauty of self-expression.

The opening track, “Original Watercolour,” takes you on a psychedelic trip-hop journey. From the first reverberous snare hit, you’re whisked away to a sonic wetland — lush and euphoric. The soft yet poignant soundscapes set the tone for the album, inviting us into a world where the boundaries between earth and music, reality and imagination, automatically seem to blur.

“Locked In 2 Love” offers a boogie-fueled bassline that pushes Teal into dance-floor territory with soaring flutes and rhythmic intricacies that make it impossible not to move — it’s a track that exemplifies the magic of Teal’s ability to craft both intimate and expansive musical landscapes. And then, there’s the hypnotic flow of “One In The Same,” where stacked vocal harmonies and mantra-esque lyrics transport you to a place that could easily be mistaken for a lost Soulquarians demo. It’s gentle yet unrelenting in its depth.

The second side of the album opens with “Sleep on It,” a track that immediately grabs attention with its dancehall-driven rhythm. Ashleigh Ball's vocals set the stage for a song that’s both introspective and emotionally charged, yet unmistakably rooted in groove. The phased-out bassline creates an almost hypnotic atmosphere. Pulling the listener into a mood of contemplation—matching the restless, sleepless night that Ball describes. As the song progresses, this groove builds in intensity, culminating in an explosive ending that mirrors the emotional release of a long-held frustration.

Original Watercolour is more than just an album — it’s a meditation on the interconnectedness of life and art. “Frog Kingdom,” the longest and only instrumental track creates a contemplative space that builds upon the themes introduced earlier. It feels like a sequel to their earlier work, Frog Legacy from their debut Bluish Green 2024 12”, expanding on the familiar sound with even more complex layers.

Yet the real emotional power of the record lies in its closing track, “Can’t Shake the Feeling.” Simple in structure but profound in impact, this song captures a deep yearning and understanding — that everything, from the ecosystems we inhabit to the relationships we nurture and the art we create, is fundamentally interconnected. As the track crescendos in a falsetto peak, it becomes clear that the album is a reflection of both the world around us and the personal journey each member of the band has embarked upon to get to this point.

Just as the medium of watercolor has been traditionally linked to women artists, Teal carries this legacy into the modern musical landscape, blending the richness of history with a unique forward-thinking perspective. The album feels like both a celebration of the past and a bold declaration of a path forward — one that welcomes anyone ready to join in and shape the future of the art form.

The beauty of Teal’s work is that it feels familiar, while simultaneously offering something new and refreshing. Original Watercolour doesn’t just push musical boundaries; it redefines them, offering a lush and textured soundtrack for those willing to listen closely.

In a world that often feels over-saturated, Original Watercolour stands as a reminder of the power of simplicity, intuition, and connection. Teal’s debut album invites you to experience something both deeply personal and universally understood. The landscapes they create are vivid, yet soft, grounding yet expansive. With each track, Teal’s music reflects the interconnectedness of all things — a truly unique piece of work in the world of experimental soul and dub adjacent electronic music.

Rising and falling. We all live in the same pond. Peace to all.

La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata was the Mexican psychedelic rock band that achieved the most commercial success internationally in the early 70s. Their self-titled and much sought-after debut LP (1971) is considered one of the best acid rock albums in Mexico, recorded under the influence of groups like Credence Clearwater Revival or the Who but also adding their own style featuring an original and stunning guitar sound. Remastered from the original tapes. Includes poster. 180g vinyl. Despite not participating in the legendary Avándaro festival, La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata was the Mexican psychedelic rock band that achieved the most commercial success internationally in the early 70s. Their fantastic 'Nasty Sex', along with other songs like 'If You Want It' or 'Melynda' boosted their first album at the top of the sales charts worldwide. Although their sound changed over time, their debut LP (1971) is considered one of the best acid rock albums in Mexico, recorded under the influence of groups like Credence Clearwater Revival or the Who but also adding their own style featuring an original and stunning guitar sound. Sadly, Mexican record labels lost interest in local rock bands due to the repression of La Onda movement by the Mexican Government, resulting in rock bands being banned. This, in addition to internal disagreements between members of the group, eventually led to the end of their relationship with Polydor in 1973. La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata entered a new artistic phase in their career, focusing on ballads and adopting different new musical trends over the years.

Clear Vinyl

Underground hip-hop icon and Miami rapper Pouya kicks off 2025 with his seventh studio album, Suicidal Thoughts in the Back of the Cadillac, Pt. 3 - serving as an unofficial spiritual successor to his 2024 album, THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU. After a successful run as direct support to $uicideboy$’ Grey Day 2024 Arena Tour, it’s clear that Pouya has cemented himself among the top artists from the alternative / cloud-rap scene from the mid 2010s. With a rabid fan base primarily built from the ground up, and without the flashy mainstream features or press looks, Pouya has established himself as a staying power in a lane that typically sees artists rise and fall in accordance with today's modern attention span. Continuing to super-serve his fans, Pouya will be embarking on a nationwide tour in North America in 2025.

Es ist ein unwahrscheinlicher Eindruck, den Xmal Deutschland in den frühen Achtzigern nicht nur auf das hiesige, sondern auch auf ihr britisches Publikum gemacht haben. Es war wie gebannt von den unvermittelten Stakkato-Rhythmen, der mysteriösen (also: deutschen) Sprache und der Kraft und Vision der beteiligten Musikerinnen. 40 Jahre später, genauer am 9. Mai 2025, erscheint nun "Gift: The 4AD Years", mit dem das Londoner Label die Jahre 1983/1984 wieder aufleben lässt. Die 3xLP führt das fiebrige "Fetisch", das mächtige "Tocsin" und die korrespondierenden EP-Tracks zu einem Ganzen zusammen, das pulsiert vor Energie und Haltung. Enthalten sind auch die Bandklassiker "Incubus Succubus II" und "Qual". Das Coverartwork mit einer Fotoarbeit von Peter Schulte wurde auf Grundlage von 23 Envelope-Originalarbeiten von Timothy O"Donnell designt. Es kommt begleitend zu den originalen Sleeve-Fotografien von Nigel Grierson. Hinzu kommt ein Fotobuch mit Bildern von Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery, Sheila Rock und weiteren sowie einem Text von Chris Roberts. "Gift: The 4AD Years" erscheint am 9 Mai digital, auf Doppel-CD sowie als 3xLP auf transparentem, rotem Vinyl sowie exklusiv in Deutschland als Crystal Clear Vinyl.

3xLP Boxset mit den remasterten 4AD-Alben Fetisch und Tocsin und den EPs Incubus Succubus II und Qual Es ist ein unwahrscheinlicher Eindruck, den Xmal Deutschland in den frühen Achtzigern nicht nur auf das hiesige, sondern auch auf ihr britisches Publikum gemacht haben. Es war wie gebannt von den unvermittelten Stakkato-Rhythmen, der mysteriösen (also: deutschen) Sprache und der Kraft und Vision der beteiligten Musikerinnen. 40 Jahre später, genauer am 9. Mai 2025, erscheint nun "Gift: The 4AD Years", mit dem das Londoner Label die Jahre 1983/1984 wieder aufleben lässt. Die 3xLP führt das fiebrige "Fetisch", das mächtige "Tocsin" und die korrespondierenden EP-Tracks zu einem Ganzen zusammen, das pulsiert vor Energie und Haltung. Enthalten sind auch die Bandklassiker "Incubus Succubus II" und "Qual". Das Coverartwork mit einer Fotoarbeit von Peter Schulte wurde auf Grundlage von 23 Envelope-Originalarbeiten von Timothy O"Donnell designt. Es kommt begleitend zu den originalen Sleeve-Fotografien von Nigel Grierson. Hinzu kommt ein Fotobuch mit Bildern von Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery, Sheila Rock und weiteren sowie einem Text von Chris Roberts. "Gift: The 4AD Years" erscheint am 9 Mai digital, auf Doppel-CD sowie als 3xLP auf transparentem, rotem Vinyl sowie exklusiv in Deutschland als Crystal Clear Vinyl.

Europe's first lady of House is back on Heist with a massive new EP and a Demi Riquísimo remix.

Cinthie’s 2023 Piano Heaven EP on Heist was a big release for both her and the label, getting tons of airplay and support from the likes of Pete Tong, Danny Howard, Chloe Caillet and Blessed Madonna. The Dam Swindle remix of ‘Won’t u take me’ that followed on that year’s Round Up is still among her top tracks on any platform. Cinthie now returns to Heist with an EP full of dancefloor weapons that range from classic grooving house to quirky rave.

With her frequent plays at renowned clubs all over the world, as well as spots in her Berlin back yard like Panorama bar, Cinthie has the ideal testing grounds for new peak-time material. And that’s exactly what the A1 ‘Deep inside love’ is: an epic peaktime weapon. With a stomping beat and signature uplifting keys, she serves up themes of classic 80s and 90s house music with a modern aesthetic. With that, Deep inside love has all the ingredients to become an instant Heist classic.

The A2 shows us Cinthie’s rave side, where we see her inspiration from the current dancefloor high octane energy. Or maybe it’s just her early rave days that are finally back in the limelight after her well received ‘Rave Baby’ release on Aus Music. Either way, ‘Higher’ is a fun tune with an infectious beat, classic rave stabs and a female vocal telling us to take her higher. We’re sure that this won’t be a problem, cause this track is built for those clubby highs.

‘Get up’ is a lovely organ-led track with long ethereal strings and dubby vocal chops. The breakdown deepens the mood with some heavy chords tuned in true house style before a free-flowing drum roll (crashes and claps included) catapult you into back into the full groove.

We asked close friend Demi Riquísimo, a man not unfamiliar with dancefloor wizardry himself as head honcho of Semi Delicious records, for a remix on ‘Higher’. His version is exactly what you’d expect from a class producer like him: it’s a breezy, effortless, mildly throwbacky and most definitely fun remix to conclude an EP that navigates through all kinds of moods with one clear goal in mind: Make people dance.

Enjoy the music and as always, play it loud!

Lars & Maarten

Originally released on Ben Chasny's own Pavilion imprint in 2011.

"I was invited by the Incubate Festival and the city of Tilburg to participate in an artist residency where I would explore the region’s unique chapels built for the Virgin Mary. After writing the music for about six months by drawing on memories of the encounters with the chapels and using techniques inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics Of Reverie, I flew back to Tilburg to perform the music at the Incubate Festival. We recorded the evening and I released the result on my Pavilion label. Each cover was hand painted white on white in the old Pavilion style. I created a stencil and used graphite powder to make the design that is inspired by the sun imagery in Athanasius Kircher diagrams."

Roadside chapels express the identity of the inhabitants of North Brabant, a Dutch province, bordering on Belgium. Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion in this southern part of the Netherlands since the eighth century. For about a century and a half this religion was strongly suppressed. Only when the French revolutionaries preached freedom of belief around 1800 could the people of North Brabant exercise their faith again. This was the start of a very strong emancipatory development from which a special form of the Roman Catholic faith arose that fully determined everyday life of the people here. This faith was the determining factor in life and the measure of all things. After the second Vatican Council (1962-1965) the reins of the catholic faith in Brabant were loosened as well. This was the start of a revolutionary process of secularisation. Within a decade hardly anything was left of the almighty influence of the Roman Catholic Church and this situation has lasted up to the present day.

In spite of the almightiness of the official, Vatican ruled, Roman Catholic faith, North Brabant has always and perhaps notoriously fostered an undercurrent of popular belief as well. This is a kind of belief in which elements of the official faith and age-old pre-Christian traditions are combined. Worshipping relics, holding pilgrimages and processions, the use of water from holy wells, popular art, recitations and songs, festivals, rituals, folk traditions, superstition and the like are all examples of popular devotion. These matters have strongly influenced and formed the identity of the present-day population of North Brabant. It is part of their immaterial heritage.

An obvious and still very much visible form of popular devotion are the roadside chapels. In Brabant some 400 can be found, most of which have been devoted to Mary. Chapels are small buildings in which Mary or other saints are worshipped. They can be found within villages or towns or in natural surroundings. Always at the finest spots! The beauty of the environment adds a primary religious or mystical feeling to the visitor. Local people attach great value to their chapels. In spite of the overall secularisation in society they are still at the centre of cultural and social life. Where people in North Brabant can hardly be found in the churches nowadays, this doesn’t mean at all they are no longer religious. On the contrary, religious feelings are perhaps stronger than ever, but now people have to find their own expression of them. That’s why they fall back on the age-old popular belief in which chapels play an important role. We can even witness new forms of popular belief with chapels as their focal point. An example of this is the scattering of ashes of people who have been cremated. Chapels clearly also play a role in the lives of young people. On an average five new chapels are added every year.

I have studied the popular culture and belief and the identity of the inhabitants of North Brabant for over thirty years. I have published over forty books on these subjects. In 2010 I was approached by the organisation of the Incubate Festival in the North Brabant town of Tilburg. Their request was for me to lead the American composer and guitarist Ben Chasny around a number of chapels in the province devoted to Mary. He had been invited to North Brabant to write some new compositions. Ben Chasny then chose to be inspired by these chapels and that’s how we met. I was especially curious how an American would react to something as specific and small as a roadside chapel in North Brabant, since we tend to think here of (people in) America in terms of ‘big-bigger-biggest’. Would an inhabitant of this enormous country with this prevailing culture be able to grasp and respect the identity of some 2.5 million people in North Brabant with their chapels? The answer to this question lies hidden in the compositions he made and that can be listened to on this album. Yes, Ben Chasny has been able to convert the phenomenon of a simple chapel devoted to Mary into music. The physical and the spiritual have found each other. What a beautiful world…just listen! - Paul Spapens

"My Last Star" began as a dream that Greg Lee of Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and now the world can hear this truly one of a kind collaboration. In Greg's dream, an old neighbor picked him up in a classic car, turned on the stereo, and played a Slackers song that - at the time - did not exist on our plane of reality. It sounds like the stuff of myth, but the song was so crystal clear in the dream that when he awoke around 2 or 3 in the morning, he immediately wrote down the lyrics he had heard, still humming the tune. "I hadn't seen Greg so excited about a new song in a very long time," says Lee's longtime partner, Mandie Becker. "I found the lyrics when I was organizing his things. I knew he had a voice recording on his phone, too. I decided the best situation was to offer it to The Slackers so we could all hear the song on the stereo from Greg's dream." "I was floored when I received Greg's vocal demo with the lyrics and I vowed to finish the song and make the dream a reality," says Slackers saxophonist Dave Hillyard. "I took the vocal demo to The Slackers, Vic Ruggiero harmonized it, and we wrote music around the words. With this song we came full circle. Greg had given us a gift and we needed to give it back to his family, friends, and musical community. We are the medium for his message." The longer history behind this collaboration is a story of decades of friendship, collaboration, artistry, and mutual respect between LA's Hepcat and NYC's The Slackers, who although from opposite coasts, have both been leading lights and creative forces in the underground ska scene since the early 1990s. Both Hepcat and The Slackers concerned themselves with timeless songwriting that paid homage to the longstanding roots of the music. It is an extraordinary final work envisioned by a beloved and thoughtful musician of the highest caliber and completed by longtime friends and collaborators he knew from the moment of inspiration were the ones that would play it. It is literally a dream come true. "My Last Star" is available as a 12" UV Printed Vinyl Single from Pirates Press Records, with art by The Slackers' in-house artist Catt Gould. The 12" also includes instrumental and dub versions of the song. As a matter of fact, snippets of Greg's original vocal demo from his phone are subtly mixed in toward the end of the instrumental version, underscoring his posthumous presence on the record. Greg's songwriting royalties, as well as a portion of the proceeds from the sales of "My Last Star," will be passed on to his four daughters.

Scorpion Child wields a sound that hearkens back to when guitar rock ruled the airwaves and going to concerts was the ultimate main event. The Austin, TX quintet released its self-titled debut in 2013 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album landed at #26 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and #99 on the Billboard Hard Music Albums chart. Following its premiere by Eddie Trunk, iTunes named "Polygon Of Eyes" its "Single of the Week," and Scorpion Child earned a nomination for "Best New Band" at the Classic Rock Magazine presented "Classic Rock Awards." The group's second album, 2016's 'Acid Roulette' was recorded with GRAMMYr Award-nominated producer Chris "Frenchie" Smith Meat Puppets, _And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and featured the fan-favourite tracks "Reaper's Danse", and "My Woman in Black". The band's new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', is set for release on February 14 '25. Austin, Texas band, Scorpion Child, plays dark rock and roll that blends haunting themes and atmospheric melodies; the group's unique fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and brooding aesthetic has garnered it a dedicated fanbase. On the heels of a multi-year reinvigoration, the unit returns in 2024, galvanized with a fortified lineup and renewed dedication. The first taste of what the strengthened Scorpion Child delivers lies in wait with the new single, "Outliers", a powerful punch of a song, filled with introspective lyrics, that perfectly encapsulates the band's distinct style. "Outliers" was recorded at Austin's Point West Recording with Charles Godfrey (Black Angels, The Mountain Goats) and represents the first official new music from Scorpion Child since the 2016 release of its full-length LP, 'Acid Roulette' (Nuclear Blast Records). "Outliers" will appear on Scorpion Child's impending new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', slated for an early 2025 release date via Noize In The Attic. With the drop of "Outliers" comes the track's accompanying music video; stream Scorpion Child's "Outliers" now at this location. "Outliers" deep dives into the organizational use of fear tactics and the related, unknown forces that we are supposed to run from, or conform to," offers Scorpion Child vocalist Aryn Jonathan Black. "The song is a look into the thought that "they" are always watching us and that we should play the same game from our POV in the shadows." The vinyl LP is milky clear.

The Scream, Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only a minor traces of 'punk' (one lingering early song, "Carcass" comes to mind) and enough hints of what had come even earlier, Andy MacKay-like saxophone flourishes - to feel utterly new. Not to mention the effort producer Steve Lillywhite must have put into the album, his first fully-credited major label production. Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, with her unique vocal style and lyrics, but the real star, we've always known, was John McKay, who wrote most of the album's music (as well as singles like "Hong Kong Garden"), creating a wholly new guitar sound - harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating . . . best articulated by a somewhat confounded Steve Albini years later ". . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs". McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees. McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom now all sadly deceased. Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself.

The Scream, Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only a minor traces of 'punk' (one lingering early song, "Carcass" comes to mind) and enough hints of what had come even earlier, Andy MacKay-like saxophone flourishes - to feel utterly new. Not to mention the effort producer Steve Lillywhite must have put into the album, his first fully-credited major label production.
Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, with her unique vocal style and lyrics, but the real star, we've always known, was John McKay, who wrote most of the album's music (as well as singles like "Hong Kong Garden"), creating a wholly new guitar sound - harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating . . . best articulated by a somewhat confounded Steve Albini years later ". . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs". McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees.
McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom now all sadly deceased.
Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself. John McKay will be made available for a limited number of interviews . . . and yes, there are surprises in store.