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Brian Borcherdt (aka Dusted) is the founding member of Holy Fuck as well as LIDS which includes members of Metz and Constantines, and has a single due out this year on Sub Pop. 

The new album is the follow up to the acclaimed 2018 release BlackOut Summer and will provide a welcome musical shot in the arm for fans who have anxiously waited three years for new music from Dusted.
‘The album's process began with Borcherdt finding a long forgotten favourite song, coming back to him in a dream. ‘’That same morning, I found a demo of it, along with countless others, on an old laptop,’’ said Borcherdt. ‘’It was a joyful moment, hearing long lost songs as if I was never part of them. I was a third-party listener thus allowing them to be innocent and unjudged. I added a handful of the favourites to a current set list, which became the inspiration to go into the studio, to lay everything down, live off the floor, simply to preserve them, to keep them from being forgotten again.'
Dusted’s 2012 album ‘’Total Dust’’ was selected for the Polaris Prize Long List in 2013. The support from filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee earned Dusted two songs in his most recent film Demolition and a cameo role in Wild. With Holy Fuck, Borcherdt has been making music for 15 years and has released 5 albums. Holy Fuck has seen their music played on major TV shows like Breaking Bad and Mr Robot as well as ranking over 200K monthly listeners on Spotify and accumulating over 5 million career streams to date. Borcherdt has been releasing solo music since 2002. Previously to Holy Fuck, he was part of By Divine Right whose past band members count Feist and Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning. 

‘’Borcherdt has found a worthy foil who can help him steer clear of sad-bastard solipsism, introducing luminous textures that lend these recordings a greater sense of space and levity.’’ - Stuart Berman, Pitchfork

Steve Vai has continually challenged notions of traditional guitar playing
and composition – and on more than one occasion even reimagined the
very instrument itself."I don't sit around and say, 'Okay, what can I do now
that pushes the boundaries?," Vai explains about his approach to the
guitar
"What I do say to myself is, 'Okay, Vai – what are you going to do now that's going
to interest you, that's going to fascinate you, and that's different than anything
you've done before?"The answer to that question comes in the form of Vai's
newest and 10th solo album, 'Inviolate', a nine-song opus that does indeed push
the boundaries of instrumental guitar music – this time out, Vai quite literally
invented not just a new guitar, but also a new guitar-playing technique. The Hydra,
the elaborate three- necked steampunk- inspired guitar that Steve holds on the
album cover, is actually played on the song 'Teeth of the Hydra'. On the other hand
(no pun intended), Steve recorded and played the song 'Knappsack' with just his
left hand, after his right arm was in a sling following shoulder surgery.
At the same time, 'Inviolate' presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps
invigorating music in years. The album features a host of esteemed musicians,
including Billy Sheehan, Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry Bozzio.
Classic Rock - Album Review Classic Rock - Soundtrack To My Life feature
Fireworks – 2-page interview Fireworks - Album Review The Guitar Mag - 8-10
page Interview Guitar Techniques - Album Review GT332 9th Feb Guitar
Techniques - Q&A 9th Feb GT332. Guitar Interactive - Front cover & substantial
feature Guitarist - Front cover/Guest Editor/8-10 page feature Guitarist - Album
Review HRH - Album Review HRH - interview Powerplay - Interview Prog - My Prog
Hero feature on John Petrucci Rock Candy - 8-Page Interview Feb/Mar iss Total
Guitar - Interview

A collection of Elvis Presley covers recorded by the duet David Fenech & Pierre Bastien. The idea of "Suspicious Moon" started at a party around the topic of blue color. David Fenech had chosen to play "Blue Moon" and Pierre Bastien asked to join in. It was a very enjoyable party and then they recorded the song and decided to plan an album exclusively based on covers of the King. Not that we were absolute fans of Elvis... but as a starting point to go somewhere else. And this is what we reached: in many aspects a premiere for the two musicians. Pierre focuses on (prepared) trumpet for the very first time, while David is heard extensively as a vocalist and is more than ever responsible for all arrangements and textures. Playing other people's material is also a premiere for both of them. 11 tracks around very well known standards. Like familiar places that are changed when seen in a different light. Please enjoy. "Our choice of the Elvis Presley song book for this record may seem strange to many. It seems strange to me as well. Not that I dislike the original music, but before our sessions it had never been a direct source of inspiration. Paradoxically, this distance gave me freedom and flowing ideas. I hear similar qualities in David's parts too. We hope that our relaxed attitude and its positive outcome will be reflected in this album" - Pierre Bastien "The strange thing about these recordings is that the creative process was so fluid and natural_ that it seems that through playing other people's music, we almost reveal something of ourselves. As if these tracks were our creation, as if they were our own children!" - David Fenech

Love Tractor's forward-sounding 1988"s "Themes From Venus" will be
treated to a remastered edition on March 18, 2022, by Propeller Sound
Recordings.

Housed in fully redesigned gatefold artwork, the band's fourth release is given a chance to spread the Art Rock pioneers' music out of this world. Considered a founder of the Athens, Georgia alternative music scene'along with The B-52"s, Pylon, and REM. After its original release, Love Tractor embarked on a healthy touring regime to promote the record, including a 60-date stint with The B-52s on
their Cosmic Thing tour. Though the band went on hiatus in the early 1990s, they would return again in 2001 and are currently working on new music.Packaging: CD Remastered & Expanded with 6 Bonus Tracks and Full-Color insert.

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros—consisting of Bobby Weir, Don Was, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti—are set to release their first ever vinyl collection of recorded material. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado is out February 18 on Third Man Records—their debut with the label. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado features a collection of songs recorded at the band’s live performances at the historic Red Rocks Park &Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado on June 8, 9, 11, 12, 2020. These shows were the group’s first live audience concerts in over a year and featured Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown. “Been too long,” Weir said of the performances, “but I can’t think of a better place to pick it back up…” Weir explains “I’ve been workin’ in my spare time on expanding the sonic coloration of the songs I do. The Wolfpack is basically a step toward full orchestration - and further, I gotta say, these guys are game. We worked on the arrangements a bit but eventually we needed to trot it all out and play it for folks - and right at that moment, the folks in Colorado reached out and told us they were gonna open up. Holy Shit, WTF? Let’s Go.” Third Man Records says “When Don approached us about this project of course we all jumped at the opportunity. The whole live music experience is so important to everyone here at Third Man Records and the chance to work with a few of the all time greats, well it seems like a miracle.”

Omowale is the powerful new album from Wildchild, one third of the legendary Lootpack crew and a formidable solo artist who released many projects on the iconic Stones Throw Records. Across the 15 tracks, the Cali rapper deftly explores what it means to be a Black man in the U.S. today with timely, poignant lyrics. It’s a hard-hitting look at this country and its decades of wrongdoing, all with an air of optimism for the future. This album is Wildchild’s first solo release since 2016’s T.G.I.F., though he’s clearly kept busy in the interim by working on Omowale and making a number of standout guest appearances. Many of his past collaborators are returning the favor, as we’re treated to dope features from Posdnuos (of De La Soul), Big Daddy Kane, Guilty Simpson, Ras Kass, Murs, and more. Plus, there’s head-nodding production from Madlib, Nottz, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Mr. Brady, among others. They’re all bringing their A-game on Omowale, an impeccably produced album beyond its instrumentation and rhymes. Wildchild builds on the project’s narrative by incorporating audio from newscasts, protests, and other live events. He also brings that real-world feel to his lyrics, from joyful raps with his son (Black-ish actor/emcee Miles Brown) on the funky “G.O.A.T.” to raw rhymes about police brutality on “Breathe.”
When the album culminates with “Say Their Name”—a moving tribute to the rap legends we’ve lost over the years—Wildchild proves on Omowale that you can balance hope with the harsh, unjust realities of the world.

Ilmiliekki Quartet from Helsinki return with their new self-titled album on We Jazz Records on 11 February 2022. The group, including Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Tuomo Prättälä (piano), Antti Lötjönen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums) is a mainstay in the Finnish scene and the band has been steadily developing their sound for nearly two decades now. It could be said that the group's musicians, each also a solo artist of note these days, has grown with and through performing together with this regularly working quartet. Ilmiliekki Quartet's music has a song-like melodic quality, which pairs naturally with their often freeform search for new musical landscapes.

As testament of Ilmiliekki Quartet being a Band with a capital B, the songs on the new album come from each of the four members. As before, the band also takes a borrowed tune in for a loving rendition, this time tackling "Aila" by the Finnish dream pop group Karina. All in all, there's a deep, moody element to the music, yet at the same time, their sound flows with remarkable ease and lightness of touch. This brings out a wide range of color in their music, which is easy to fall in love with.

Ilmiliekki Quartet from Helsinki return with their new self-titled album on We Jazz Records on 11 February 2022. The group, including Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Tuomo Prättälä (piano), Antti Lötjönen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums) is a mainstay in the Finnish scene and the band has been steadily developing their sound for nearly two decades now. It could be said that the group's musicians, each also a solo artist of note these days, has grown with and through performing together with this regularly working quartet. Ilmiliekki Quartet's music has a song-like melodic quality, which pairs naturally with their often freeform search for new musical landscapes.

As testament of Ilmiliekki Quartet being a Band with a capital B, the songs on the new album come from each of the four members. As before, the band also takes a borrowed tune in for a loving rendition, this time tackling "Aila" by the Finnish dream pop group Karina. All in all, there's a deep, moody element to the music, yet at the same time, their sound flows with remarkable ease and lightness of touch. This brings out a wide range of color in their music, which is easy to fall in love with.

"Europe's greatest clarinetist and free spirit" (Jazzthetik) plays ballads and
legendary love songs on his new MPS album. In so doing, he delivers new
meaning and a fresh sound to the pieces. A sentimental look back is simply not
his thing. Together with his new quartet of pianist Frank Chastenier, bassist Lisa
Wulff, and percussionist Tupac Mantilla, Kühn contrasts his sensitive side with
his unbridled desire to experiment. "I've chosen some of my favourite ballads for
this album. These pieces have nothing to do with any sort of trend. For me, they
are poignant and beautiful; they are simply timeless," says Kühn. "I found it
especially appealing to combine these particular choices with my latest
compositions. The album opens with "Both Sides Now", a classic by Joni
Mitchell. Kühn liked the poetic text, and says that, "Somehow, in life there are
always two sides, but it's best when they enrich each other and can smoothly
merge in order to create something new."
One of five new compositions, the title song "Yellow + Blue" encapsulates the two
perspectives: the flamboyant, the impulsively vibrant yellow next to the soft,
sensitive, warm bluesy-blue tonal colour. In turn, a new musical color is created
out of the contrast.

Roaaaar time again! Delphi is one half of Tiger & Woods and back with a well-rounded solo effort. Far from unkempt or uninspired, his six efforts are sitting pleasantly between proto-house, Italo fun, new wave instrumentals and future dance. Silicone emotions meet vocodered vector graphics, handy rhythm trax that would have been hot on the mix shows of WBMX or WBLS are taking turns with neon colored leather hymns and test drive scores. All on one piece of wax. Love the past and join the future!

Ilmiliekki Quartet from Helsinki return with their new self-titled album on We Jazz Records on 11 February 2022. The group, including Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Tuomo Prättälä (piano), Antti Lötjönen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums) is a mainstay in the Finnish scene and the band has been steadily developing their sound for nearly two decades now. It could be said that the group's musicians, each also a solo artist of note these days, has grown with and through performing together with this regularly working quartet. Ilmiliekki Quartet's music has a song-like melodic quality, which pairs naturally with their often freeform search for new musical landscapes.

As testament of Ilmiliekki Quartet being a Band with a capital B, the songs on the new album come from each of the four members. As before, the band also takes a borrowed tune in for a loving rendition, this time tackling "Aila" by the Finnish dream pop group Karina. All in all, there's a deep, moody element to the music, yet at the same time, their sound flows with remarkable ease and lightness of touch. This brings out a wide range of color in their music, which is easy to fall in love with.

NEW REPRESS (SAME COLORS) - RELEASE SEPTEMBER 24th

Ninja Gaiden, of the most iconic and beloved 2D action game series ever created, was first released in the arcades in 1988, while making its console debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) later in the same year. At the time of the console release, Ninja Gaiden was renowned not only for its deep storytelling beautifully visualized by TECMO’s unique “cinema scenes,” but also through its legendary chiptune soundtrack, whose unique rock-’n’-roll sound and drum beat instantly became a formative musical experience for players who were only just getting into video games.

Ninja Gaiden: The Definitive Soundtrack is divided into volumes. The first, Ninja Gaiden Vol. 1, features the music of both the NES title and the Arcade game, both titled Ninja Gaiden. The follow-up, Ninja Gaiden Vol. 2, features the music of both Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos and Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom. This bundle includes BOTH Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 at a special price. These legendary soundtracks have been digitally restored under the supervision of Keiji Yamagishi, one of the original series composers. The booklet includes a comprehensive roundtable discussion among several members of the original development team, including the director, producers, artist and composers; an essay by game historian Ray Barnholt; and original archival artworks.

The third compilation EP to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment is Coastal Haze under the umbrella of Church,

An up-and-coming duo from New Zealand, Manuel Darquart, released on Wolf Music and others. The long-awaited first vinyl version of the popular song released digitally only in 2016.

The dense sound world with a wide range, including the impressive synth bass that penetrates the song, is unique to vinyl release. Including mastering by

Mr. KUNIYUKI, this work that realized a thick groove that is different from the time of digital sound source, there is no doubt that it will shake the entire space.

The up-and-coming French beatdown house S3A, whose long-awaited first album from Dirt Crew was well received. It's no wonder that he grew up listening to Detroit house,

and his unique sense of exquisite combination of sleezy beats, muffled texture and breathing such as disco funk is an excellent work.

The space is gradually filled with layers of euphoria that folds down, and the feeling of exhilaration and sophistication is irresistible!

The Japanese twin duo SATOSHI & MAKOTO, whose two albums released from YOUNG MARCO's label attracted a lot of attention, remixed the songs of SATOSHI FEAT and KUNIYUKI.

It is a remix of the work that was recorded in the label's 20th anniversary edition "20 YEARS SOUND OF SPEED RECORDS VOL.2" and was well received, but it seems that they were strongly influenced by early techno, and there is a melancholic synth work that drifts. The finish that is drawn into. It's a wonderful remix with respect for the original and a fusion of your own colors.

KUNIYUKI is in charge of mastering

The Seattle Times declared “On The Quarner” as one of the best albums of 2020, saying that “Stas doesn’t so much rap over beats as aerate her misty tracks with the feeling of a dream you’re certain is real.” The title is a nod to "On The Corner," the 1972 jazz classic from trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis. Stas chops up the source material, reimagining and recontextualizing it as a single 16-minute musical suite for these pandemic days indoors. Seattle radio station KEXP calls this record a “masterwork that warrants uninterrupted listens”, while describing the former THEESatisfaction member as "a sculpture artist, building statues out of every musical element possible, stacking rhyming sounds and pitch-shifted harmonies, unpacking complex thematic concepts, and rapping circles around even the best of her peers just for the hell of it.” Northwest underground hip-hop label Crane City Music is thrilled to release a deluxe vinyl edition of “On The Quarner” on red wax with an extra 22 minutes of exclusive instrumentals and bonus tracks. This deluxe edition also includes a full-color lyrics booklet and liner notes by Larry Mizell Jr. Only 500 individually numbered copies have been pressed.

The Best of Brandy was originally released on CD only in 2004. This is the first time the album will be available on vinyl, and it will be 2-LP Fruit punch colored vinyl.

It features her hit singles from each of her Atlantic Albums – Brandy, Never Say Never, Full Moon, and Afrodisiac. Notable tracks include “The Boy Is Mine” Feat. Monica, “Talk About Our Love” feat. Kanye West, and “I Wanna Be Down” (Remix) feat. Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Yo-Yo. It also includes notable covers including a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” featuring Heavy D.

Brandy is also starring in a new TV show called QUEENS on ABC which premiered in October last year and so far it has seen a lot of success.

TIME magazine counts Gifted Gab amongst the top female rappers in America. "Cause & Effect" is her vinyl debut, showing off Gab’s singular style, mixing complexity with wit, confidence with seduction, bars-upon bars of rapping with R&B melodies. Half of the album is hard-hitting gangsta murder music, while the flip side is effortlessly smooth. "It's for the after-party, the kickback. When you finally got the one you’ve been vibing with all night up close and personal,” as DJ Mike Ramos describes in the liner notes. Seattle underground hip-hop label Crane City Music is proud to release a special, limited-edition vinyl version of “Cause & Effect” on transparent red wax. The record is the color of blood and love, both appropriate analogies for its twin sides. It has been specially mastered by Adam Straney, has liner notes from DJ Mike Ramos, and is limited to 1,000 numbered copies.

Remembrance follows a similar formula found on zake's previous effort, Geneva (released on Past Inside the Present, 2020). He produced eight short phonic motifs and then invited artists to collaborate, rework, and expand upon the source material resulting in a new, unique creation. The album consists of eight short vignettes by zake, six collaborative pieces, and eight completely reworked tracks. The track titles and overall theme of these works are based off the gorgeous poetic narrative "Remembrance" written Julia Frizzell.

FlySiifu is a new collaborative project by Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin. Their debut album, ‘FlySiifu’s’, unites two prolific rappers with infectious chemistry.
The album mirrors their musical community, as they welcome guests into FlySiifu’s record store, with appearances from Liv.e, Foushe , $ILKMONEY, and producers Madlib, Jay Versace, Ohbliv, Awhlee, Budgie, Playa Haze, Animoss and more.
“Fly Siifu has all of our attention. The pair sound as soothing as a day spent sitting on the porch with your grandparents. Fly Siifu have found something special.” PITCHFORK.

The album’s lead singles have caught the attention of Vince Staples, Danger Mouse, KEXP, Hot97, Colors, Pitchfork, FADER, Hypebeast and i-D. Pink Siifu is a Baltimore based MC, singer and producer, originally from Alabama, whose diverse output ranges from soulful rap to punk.
He’s collaborated with The Avalanches, Mndsgn, Teebs, Quelle Chris, Anna Wise & Maxo. His 2018 album ‘Ensley’ featured in Pitchfork’s Album’s Of The Year list. 2019’s ‘NEGRO’ was described by Pitchfork as “intense and riotous, tapping into the anger at the heart of Black America.” “One of the most intriguing musicians in Black music.” THE FADER. Fly Anakin is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, who was described by Madlib as “one of the illest MCs”, and has previously collaborated with Freddie Gibbs. He’s co-founder of the Richmond rap collective Mutant Academy. “Anakin’s detail isn’t a skill that could just be picked up from studying the legends of the genre, it’s a gift.” PITCHFORK

As funny as it may sound, Anaïs Mitchell has spent the past 15 years in some kind of hell. OK, not actual hell, but the multi-faceted world of Hadestown, a musical project she began in Vermont in 2006 that has grown into a Tony®- and Grammy®-award-winning Broadway phenomenon with touring editions now delighting audiences as far away as South Korea.

“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.” As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s Young Man in America.

“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s Hadestown. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”

Dubbed by NPR as “one of the greatest songwriters of her generation,” Mitchell is a master of the worlds of narrative folksong, poetry and balladry. Those talents are evident from the first moments of the new album, as Mitchell narrates what she calls “an unbearably romantic” trip over the Brooklyn Bridge colored by Bon Iver member Michael Lewis’ heartstring-tugging saxophone accompaniment. “Having left New York, I was able to write a love letter to it in a way I never could when I was living there,” she says. “It was like, fuck it. This is how I feel. There is nothing more beautiful than riding over one of the New York bridges at night next to someone who inspires you.”

Produced by Mitchell’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate Josh Kaufman, the album proceeds to chronicle Mitchell’s reconnection with the Vermont roots that have been so formative in her life and music. “Bright Star” finds her making peace with the idea of being at peace in the familiar setting of her grandparents’ house, while “Revenant” was inspired by paging through a box of journals and letters belonging to herself and her grandmother — “a very pandemic activity,” she says. “That house is literally my happy place. I can picture myself as a kid, in this house, laying on the carpet with a sunbeam coming through the sliding glass door. There’s something about it that is really connected in my mind to my childhood and a very free, imaginative, creative time. “Revenant” has a lot to do with that house and reconnecting with my childhood self.”

Mitchell concedes that she tends “to be someone who thinks it has to be hard in order for it to be good or beautiful,” but that feeling has changed, partly thanks to her deep connection with musicians she’s met through the 37d03d collective established by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. During the pandemic, some of those artists participated in a “song a day” writing group — an idea Mitchell says is usually “totally opposite of how I roll. But it really helped me to gain access to some kind of trust and intuition and flow. I began a bunch of these songs while doing that.”

“It unlocked something that allowed me to finish a bunch of songs I’d been sitting on, and feeling a bit paralyzed about how to finish them,” she continues. “Because no one was touring, it’s not like I was playing them for anyone before we were in the studio. In other times, I’ve trotted things out in advance. Here, it was like, here’s all these brand new songs. Let’s discover what they can be. That was really exciting.”

That discovery process took flight at Dreamland Recording Studios outside Woodstock, N.Y., which Mitchell describes as “this weird, janky, beautiful church - it’s my favorite studio in the world.” Kaufman, Lewis and Big Red Machine drummer JT Bates formed a core band around Mitchell, while Aaron Dessner and Thomas Bartlett joined the sessions mid-week on guitar and piano, respectively.

After the appropriate COVID tests came back negative, “it was a pretty extraordinary feeling to hug, kiss and share the same space playing together,” Mitchell says. “We went into that world for a week and didn’t leave the studio for any reason. I felt very safe with all those guys. It was warm and joyful.”

Mitchell says this environment brought out unexpected details in the material, which was recorded almost entirely live together in the room. “Sometimes we tried separating things out, like vocals, but we always ended up back in the room together,” she says. Indeed, after spending the better part of a day recording overdubbed versions of “Little Big Girl” that nobody loved, the musicians gave up and tracked it again live. “We got so frustrated that we went in and I was like, I’m just going to sing this as hard as I fucking can. It felt like that’s what the song wanted to be,” Mitchell says. “It felt like all those songs wanted to be recorded as live as possible.” The exception to the rule was Nico Muhly's arrangements for strings and flute, which were added from New York City afterward.

Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022, at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”

As funny as it may sound, Anaïs Mitchell has spent the past 15 years in some kind of hell. OK, not actual hell, but the multi-faceted world of Hadestown, a musical project she began in Vermont in 2006 that has grown into a Tony®- and Grammy®-award-winning Broadway phenomenon with touring editions now delighting audiences as far away as South Korea.

“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.” As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s Young Man in America.

“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s Hadestown. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”

Dubbed by NPR as “one of the greatest songwriters of her generation,” Mitchell is a master of the worlds of narrative folksong, poetry and balladry. Those talents are evident from the first moments of the new album, as Mitchell narrates what she calls “an unbearably romantic” trip over the Brooklyn Bridge colored by Bon Iver member Michael Lewis’ heartstring-tugging saxophone accompaniment. “Having left New York, I was able to write a love letter to it in a way I never could when I was living there,” she says. “It was like, fuck it. This is how I feel. There is nothing more beautiful than riding over one of the New York bridges at night next to someone who inspires you.”

Produced by Mitchell’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate Josh Kaufman, the album proceeds to chronicle Mitchell’s reconnection with the Vermont roots that have been so formative in her life and music. “Bright Star” finds her making peace with the idea of being at peace in the familiar setting of her grandparents’ house, while “Revenant” was inspired by paging through a box of journals and letters belonging to herself and her grandmother — “a very pandemic activity,” she says. “That house is literally my happy place. I can picture myself as a kid, in this house, laying on the carpet with a sunbeam coming through the sliding glass door. There’s something about it that is really connected in my mind to my childhood and a very free, imaginative, creative time. “Revenant” has a lot to do with that house and reconnecting with my childhood self.”

Mitchell concedes that she tends “to be someone who thinks it has to be hard in order for it to be good or beautiful,” but that feeling has changed, partly thanks to her deep connection with musicians she’s met through the 37d03d collective established by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. During the pandemic, some of those artists participated in a “song a day” writing group — an idea Mitchell says is usually “totally opposite of how I roll. But it really helped me to gain access to some kind of trust and intuition and flow. I began a bunch of these songs while doing that.”

“It unlocked something that allowed me to finish a bunch of songs I’d been sitting on, and feeling a bit paralyzed about how to finish them,” she continues. “Because no one was touring, it’s not like I was playing them for anyone before we were in the studio. In other times, I’ve trotted things out in advance. Here, it was like, here’s all these brand new songs. Let’s discover what they can be. That was really exciting.”

That discovery process took flight at Dreamland Recording Studios outside Woodstock, N.Y., which Mitchell describes as “this weird, janky, beautiful church - it’s my favorite studio in the world.” Kaufman, Lewis and Big Red Machine drummer JT Bates formed a core band around Mitchell, while Aaron Dessner and Thomas Bartlett joined the sessions mid-week on guitar and piano, respectively.

After the appropriate COVID tests came back negative, “it was a pretty extraordinary feeling to hug, kiss and share the same space playing together,” Mitchell says. “We went into that world for a week and didn’t leave the studio for any reason. I felt very safe with all those guys. It was warm and joyful.”

Mitchell says this environment brought out unexpected details in the material, which was recorded almost entirely live together in the room. “Sometimes we tried separating things out, like vocals, but we always ended up back in the room together,” she says. Indeed, after spending the better part of a day recording overdubbed versions of “Little Big Girl” that nobody loved, the musicians gave up and tracked it again live. “We got so frustrated that we went in and I was like, I’m just going to sing this as hard as I fucking can. It felt like that’s what the song wanted to be,” Mitchell says. “It felt like all those songs wanted to be recorded as live as possible.” The exception to the rule was Nico Muhly's arrangements for strings and flute, which were added from New York City afterward.

Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022, at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”

After the recent reissue of their first eponymous album, Favorite Recordings proudly presents Vegas, the second LP from Venezuelan band Esperanto. Rare and sought-after for many collectors, it was recorded in between Las Vegas and Caracas and originally released in 1981. Following bandleader Jorge Aguilar in his musical trip to the infamous American city bathing into flashing lights and vivid colors, we're invited to an excursion in Disco, Boogie and Jazz-Funk territories. Finally reissued, fully remastered, Vegas will be available as Gatefold Tip-On Vinyl LP.

With great care and attention to details, Esperanto managed to create a very convincing sequel to their Jazz-Funk debuts. Vegas keeps indeed a perfect balance between various influences. Through energic disco beats with intense funky solos, catchy AOR-influenced songs, where Jorge delivers convincing vocal performance, or sunny jazz-funk slow jams, the album still reveals something quite authentic. And this feeling echoes surely the one that could have been felt by Jorge Aguilar while discovering USA on a trip - where it all started for the music he loves. Like sometimes a foreigner's enriching view on some local specialty, he surely brought with the band all his authenticity and young but vibrant experience while convincing at the same time major labels for distribution.

With certain notoriety coming with the release of their first album, Jorge Aguilar and his drummer Pablo Matarazzo planned to go to Los Angeles for a few gigs. But once there, they realized their contact had to leave for Tina Turner's tour in Europe. Before that, he invited them to come along to Las Vegas and eventually meet musicians there. Luckily, the plan worked perfectly: Jorge came back to Los Angeles with a lot of contacts then moved to Boston and NYC before finally coming back to Caracas. He told: "I was so impressed with this trip that I told myself that one day I would return to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The first tracks I did them in Los Angeles with Kenny More, James Gadson and other session musicians from that city. Later, I took the tracks to Caracas where the musicians of the band recorded overdubs. After that, I returned to Los Angeles to master with Bernie Grundman who was still working in his small studio at A & M records studios in Hollywood. As can be seen in the title of some of the songs like "Hollywood", "Vegas", "Kenny's Place", were only the translation of my experiences at the time."

A LOST RECORDING OF UNTAMED APPALACHIAN MUSIC.
160 gram black vinyl LP in gold & black color reverse-board jacket. Co-release with Jalopy Records.
In 1972, the renowned and singular folk musician Roscoe Holcomb left his home in rural Daisy, Kentucky and embarked on a west coast tour with Mike Seeger in 1972, which included a performance at The Old Church in Portland, Oregon - a beautiful Carpenter Gothic church built in 1882. Decades later, two particular reels were discovered deep within a pile of 1/4” tape in a shadowy corner of the KBOO Community Radio archives in Portland. Incredibly, those tapes contained the sole surviving evidence of a strikingly intimate and raw performance by Roscoe Holcomb, whose cascading and haunting banjo, guitar and voice echoed and saturated the room and hushed audience.
In contrast to Roscoe’s rarely documented (and at times restrained) live performances at folk festivals and television programs, Roscoe seems to have felt more familiar and spiritually moved in the old church that night. Heard here are standout versions of Appalachian folk-blues classics such as Single Girl, John Henry, East Virginia Blues, Swanno Mountain and more. Once cited as Bob Dylan’s favorite singer, Roscoe Holcomb appears at the peak of his powers here, showcasing his immense vocal talents on an extended acapella version of “The Village Churchyard”. The recording itself is warm and mysterious, sounding like the room itself is alive with the spirit, while the rumbles of trucks and hints of city sounds peek through the walls from the outside streets.

There’s an element of emotional abstraction and also something very intimate simultaneously on ‘Break into Blossom’. The stories find characters experiencing (and trying to make sense of) certain circumstances, but there’s at the same time a kind of distance from those experiences — a kind of cognitive reckoning that eventually gives way to understanding and actually feeling them.
Like picking up a tiny stone from the bottom of a riverbed. Turning it over in your hand. Holding it up to the sun. Inspecting it from every angle. But instead of a rock, it’s memories, dreams, relationships, losses, desires, anxieties, triumphs.
I took the title of the record from a poem called “A Blessing” by James Wright (1927-1980).
In the poem, the narrator is experiencing a moment of sublime beauty that’s also colored with a tinge of loss and of loneliness. The poem ends with, “Suddenly I realize That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom.”
When you’re wading in the river, it may be gold… or it may just be a plain old rock. And that’s okay. Sometimes the loss itself creates a space for something profoundly beautiful.
So you keep going out and digging around, nonetheless. That’s the important thing.

Out Of Print On Vinyl For A Decade And A Half Mobb Deep’s “Free Agents” Hits For RSD Black Friday In A Never Seen, Never To Be Repeated Colored Vinyl Pressing. 5000 pressed worldwide. First released in 2003 on CD and LP. Out of print on vinyl since the mid-2000s. Mobb Deep redefined East Coast hip hop in the early 90s with their release “Juvenile Hell” and the break-out follow up “The Infamous.” As the group moved into the 2000s and parted ways with their long-time label, Loud, they released “Free Agents” as a celebration of their moving on to … well, free agent status. With Havoc handling production on all but 3 cuts and only two guest appearances (one being from long-time Queensbridge associate Big Noyd) “Free Agents” is uncut, undiluted Mobb Deep all the way through. The reaction from fans was solid catapulting the record to peak at number 21 on the Top 200 with a top 5 position on the R&B/Hip Hop charts. Out of print for well over a decade, this chapter in Mobb Deep’s legacy is back in effect for RSD Black Friday

LIMITED-EDITION SANDS OF TIME COLOR VINYL VERSION Open The Gates is Philadelphia-based free jazz collective IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS's third full length album (and first double LP length album). Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia, across 73 minutes of music the band - featuring Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro & drummer Tcheser Holmes (who released their duo debut Heritage of the Invisible II on International Anthem last year), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and bassist Luke Stewart - supplement their raw, organic punk-jazz sound with firsttime experiments with electronics and synthesizers.

Narrow Head’s debut full-length record Satisfac- tion is available once again on vinyl for the first time since its initial release in 2016. Reissued by Run For Cover, this version of the album includes updated album art and a limited color vinyl release. While the band offered a handful of one-off sin- gles and demos prior to Satisfaction’s release, this record offers a perfect introduction to the Houston band’s world.

Best Record Italy presents a reissue of Model 11-29's "Wot Times," a particularly inspired work by the legendary Sangy that transforms "Rapper's Delight" into a slice of Italo-balearic ecstasy. On the vocal version, drums sit between disco and electro as they boogie down to a breakdance beat, with greasy funk basslines slapping and sliding in support. Solar dub chords pulsate through anthemic pattens, pads blow across the mix like a warming ocean breeze, synth leads sparkle in coral colorations, and those classic Sugar Hill Gang lyrical flows are reconfigured into an ebullient spoken word rap, which is then morphed by futuristic fx and interspersed with shouts, grunts, and call-and-response chants. On the flip, the instrumental version walks with more of a sexual disco strut, resulting in a summertime seaside cruiser overflowing with dazzling synthesizer displays, as organ chords generate mirage visions, gemstone leads shimmer through swells of tropical mist, and acid-laced Italo pulsations work the spirit into euphoric beach dance hypnosis.

LP+Buch

Limited Edition Deluxe Version comes with 50 page children's book inspired by the album. Written by Francine Prose and illustrated by Omar "El Oms" Juarez. The colored vinyl is red. Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we've come to expect from EMA's patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time_with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you've been following along, this shouldn't be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair. The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled "Unathi," is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formally of 79.5_another Big Crown artist. Singing in Hindi, Piya's ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress. Even if you don't understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: "When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together." And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: "Zaharila," "Murkit Gem," and "Dhuaan." Each providing particular signatures to the album. "Zaharila" is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya's pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat "Murkit Gem" opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya's stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya's changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed "Dhuaan" on to the second single from Yeti Season. There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called "Sha Na Na," lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon's airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It's a heavy album_as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it's also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better_or fuller_coming our way. You hear it in songs like "Ala Vida," with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA's bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in "Fazed Out," which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army. This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season_a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that's where we are.

By now you’re probably familiar with our wildly popular Brown Acid series of rare, lost and unreleased proto-metal and stoner rock singles from the 60s-70s. In the endless pursuit of those glorious gems, we often uncover equally brilliant rarities from the late-70s to late-80s Golden Age of Heavy Metal that also just must be heard, but they don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Scrap Metal, Volume 1 collects some of the greatest unknown and lost Heavy Metal tracks, long buried beneath the avalanche of the era’s classic output.
We all know the old adage that history is told by the winners. But sometimes the losers tell the best stories. And while none of these bands found fame and fortune, this artifact and the volumes to come are testament to the enduring power of heavy music. You can hear the blood, sweat and beers that went into each of these singles. The recordings may be low budget, but the inspiration and talent is immutable. Not only are the amps turned up to 11, the boyish sexual innuendo is cranked to 69. You can hear the convergence of influences — NWOBHM, thrash, glam metal, doom, etc — colliding at once as the era birthed a wellspring of subgenres.
Many of these singles are self-released and were thus limited to a small run of copies. Those that remain are hoarded by collectors and sold for exorbitant amounts. We’ve collected the best of the best for you here. As with Brown Acid, all of these tracks are licensed legitimately and the artists all get paid. Because it’s the right thing to do.
LINER NOTES:
Rapid Tears launch this series with the perfect christening. The Toronto, ON quintet’s 1981 single “Headbang” is such the pinnacle of heavy metal madness that it almost sounds like a spoof. There’s also enough of the rapid-fire sputum that inspired Metallica to bang the head that doesn’t, as such, engage in said practice, to be found on the band’s sole full length Honestly. But “Headbang” is a straightforward glammy anthem for the ages.
Air Raid’s “69 In A 55” may be lyrically so sophomoric that it’s actually pretty clever, but this 1983 Bay Area power metal single is loaded with sleek Judas Priest riffs and interwoven melodies that are downright sublime. The band’s sole release, the 2-song Rock Force 7” features a curious band photo in which 3 band members — dolled up in Crüe makeup and leather — are sexually menacing the lead singer/guitarist tied to a bed. Another low budget highlight is when singer/guitarist Tommy “Thrasher” Merry imitates a delay effect on his vocals as he sings, “tonight!...tonight...night.”
Hades’ “Girls Will Be Girls” has a real demo cassette feel to its vastly uneven mix, but the energy to the performance makes this an undeniable keeper. The long running Paramus, NJ quintet’s 1982 2- song debut 7” titled Deliver Us From Evil features this blistering thrasher dominated by shimmering leads and confident vocals that show why the band went on to near-fame on Metal Blade Records.
Resless don’t need no T to prove that they’ve got “The Power” with this 1984 driving mid-tempo rocker in the vein of Mötley Crüe and Ratt. The River Vale, NJ quartet’s tight crunch wails all over Bon Jovi posers but it’s the band’s unique and subtle deployment of background vocals that gives this rager its staying power.
Pittsburgh, the Steel City, is home to Don Cappa, a band that pays tribute to the burgh, the metal, and the awesomeness of both with “Steel City Metal.” Their lone single, issued in 1987 with only 300 copies released, sounds like the work of some serious steel driving men, with a drummer who might’ve forgotten to wear a hard hat one too many times on the construction site.
The Beast has more of a punk feel to their aggressive “Enemy Ace” track from the 4-song Power Metal EP from 1983 — something like Dr. Know meets D.O.A. But their look, artwork and lyrics all prove that Heavy Metal is where their hearts lie. And this hook filled monster delivers repeated lines like, “I command them all in my lofty realm,” with commendable conviction.
Dead Silence from Denver, Colorado, debuting in 1984 is not to be confused with Dead Silence from Denver, Colorado, who also debuted in 1984. The former a workman’s hard rock bar band, the latter a political peace punk band and neither knowing of the other’s existence throughout their tenure. The pre-internet days were a marvel, indeed.This Dead Silence spits out a slick, Nugent tinged rocker called “Can’t Stop” about life on the road.
The Danger Zone is, by all accounts, not the place to be. And, Hazardous Waste of Boston, MA saw fit to add their two cents on the matter with this 1986 single that combines Van Halen’s flashy musicianship with NWOBHM aggression that sounds so awesome it teeters on itself entering the “Danger Zone.”
Czar’s heavy, doomy “Iron Curtain” single from 1982 hearkens to the sleazy sounds of Saint Vitus and Pentagram with its cranked up DOD Distortion pedal in a Peavey combo amp guitar tone and meaty, barking vocals. The upstate NY quintet only issued this 2-song single, but its driving rhythm, nosedive whammy-bar guitar solos and comparatively mature Cold War subject matter show they had real potential.
Not much is known about Real Steel’s majestic “Viking Queen” from 1987, other than it rocks hard and the 7” 45 sells for upwards of a grand on the collectors market. The Flint, Michigan band recorded at the home studio of local radio personality Bill Lamb, who primarily released Christian Gospel recordings. So, perhaps the band was struck down by a bolt of lightning shortly after this rare single’s release. Whatever the case may be, it’s a must have for fans of classic metal mayhem.

Color Vinyl

'This is the story of a man, marked by an image from his
childhood.' Thus begins, with deceptive simplicity, Chris
Marker's La Jetée (1962). The film, by far Marker's bestknown
work, synthesizes many of the elusive filmmaker's
central preoccupations - time and memory, power and resistance,
the ephemerality and resilience of love - yet it also
undermines the very idea of film. Composed almost entirely
of still photographs, La Jetée quite literally pieces together
the tale of an unnamed, forsaken protagonist, drafted into a
series of time travel experiments in post-apocalyptic Paris.
While Marker creates some of the most hauntingly beautiful
imagery in cinema, what animates La Jetée's frozen
pictures is its sparse and unsettling soundscape. Whispers,
breaths and heartbeats offer an unnerving reminder of
bodily rhythms that, inside the film and out, will inevitably
cease. Fragments of symphonic music at once capture a
love affair and underscore the tragedy awaiting it. The poetic
momentum of the narrator's voice, our only guide: 'On
the tenth day, images begin to ooze, like confessions.'
Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time release
of the soundtrack from La Jetée. This vinyl album
features both French and English voiceover narrations,
along with organic textures and Trevor Duncan's impressionistic
score. More than half a century has passed since
La Jetée's theatrical release - now is the time to travel back
to the 'sudden roar' of this masterpiece in a completely
different light.

A true psychedelic masterpiece!
Black vinyl LP in black and white jacket with miniature two color booklet. Limited second pressing.
Blind Owl Wilson was a truly great guitarist and vocalist whose deep well of psychedelic blues songs were buried amongst the catalog of major label rockin’ blues band Canned Heat. Blind Owl served as Canned Heat’s guitarist and would chip in a song here and there as a front man. A couple of those songs became huge hits in the 60’s – “Going Up The Country” and “On The Road Again”.
Blind Owl’s songs for Canned Heat stood in stark contrast to the bands blustery blues rock – his was a gentle and nuanced voice and the themes of his song were all about personal heartbreak, grasp- ing for cosmic understanding, and ecological justice.
Here we have an LP of Blind Owl’s songs from Canned Heat’s records – left to sit alone and take you somewhere unexpected. Blind Owl’s personal vision quest can be heard throughout these songs. “Poor Moon’ tells the tale of Alan’s heartbreak as he watches the moon being misguidedly bombed by man, ‘My time ain’t long’ confronts death, “Parthenogen in 3 Blind Owls’ and ‘Parthenogen childs end’ take you to the psychedelic limits, and oh yes, we have the hit tunes on here too. Co-release with Sutro Park records.

Flashes of light rarely burn for long. Bush Tetras exploded into
New York in 1979 and flamed out just a few years later. Yet
somehow this lightning-quick band have risen from their own
ashes again and again for four decades. The spark that ignited
Bush Tetras tapped into a deep grid of power, fuelled by
guitarist Pat Place, singer Cynthia Sley and drummer Dee Pop.
 That chemistry is palpable on ‘Rhythm and Paranoia: The Best
of Bush Tetras’, which features 30 tracks across 2CDs in a 4-
panel digipack / 29 songs across 3LPs pressed onto 180gram
vinyl in a rigid lift-off box with lift ribbon, remastered by Carl
Saff, plus a 40-page (2CD) / 46-page (3LP) book with neverbefore-seen photos, an original essay on the band by Marc
Masters and micro essays by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore,
R&B legend Nona Hendryx, The Clash’s Topper Headon and
more.
 From the band’s earliest recordings to their current, vital-asever incarnation, ‘Rhythm and Paranoia’ - for the first time ever
- showcases their unique, influential and body-shaking meld of
rock, punk, funk, reggae and more in one cohesive, immersive
and meticulously constructed box set.
 “Coupled with ‘Too Many Creeps’’ dancey arrangement, Sley’s
monotonous tone signaled that within the Tetras’ newly staked
safe space, misogyny wasn’t a threat: it was just a boring,
predictable damper on the party. Like the rest of their peers, this
band was over it.” - Pitchfork (The History of Feminist Punk in
33 Songs)
 “The Bush Tetras are a national treasure” - VICE
 “Renowned at the dawn of the eighties for pairing the disjoined
guitar skronk of the inaccessible No Wave scene with
irrepressible, funk-infused rhythms, the Bush Tetras were
remarkably influential without ever really receiving their due” -
The New Yorker
 “Bush Tetras bridge the gap between the Ramones and Sonic
Youth.” - NY Post





[e] 5 Cold Turkey [Live in London]










[p] 16 Mr. Lovesong [Alternate Version]













[xd] 30 Run Run Run [Live in San Francisco]

Superb little pearl of an oldschool Italian tribe !
A big project... taking it's time to come...

Little jewel.

IMPORTANT NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY THE SIDES ARE REVERSED ON THE VINYL, I.E. THE A-SIDE IS THE B-SIDE AND VICE VERSA. WITH THE PURCHASE OF THE VINYL OR THE CD YOU WILL GET THE SINGLE MP3 FILES AS WELL AS A CONTINOUS MIX VIA E-MAIL.

With the cover artwork for Pop Ambient 2022, longtime KOMPAKT graphic artist Veronika Unland has once again outdone herself. Following the almost baroque, blood-red and jet-black, extremely physical sculptures of Pop Ambient 2021, which emerged from a dark, floral sea like bodies erect for dancing, the front of 2022 is adorned with a pastel-white form, intertwined, folded many times and crisscrossed with delicate shading, which seems to float on a pale pink background; soft, gentle waves woven from Venetian colors that leave the viewer puzzled: Is it a flower, a coral, a mollusk?

Again, the current edition of the tradition-steeped compilation series curated by Wolfgang Voigt is about the persistent and ever-necessary definition of beauty, of reduction, of electronic music of heavy lightness and light heaviness, of ambient's eternal promise of a state of physical and acoustic weightlessness and Pop's of redemption. And about the question why a never arbitrary combination of soundscape, drones, samples and loops, put together in a certain way, can create this feeling of warmth, depth and space, - something three-dimensional, where the imagination feels at home as a fish in the water or a bird in the sky. A key aesthetic stimulus that sends all the senses into a slow glide and drift, after which your synapses feel like they've been bathed in essential oil. Next to Soul, Ambient is probably the most effective musical healing plant of mankind.

Behind the aural test tubes, the who's who of Pop Ambient is once again at work, led for the first time by the highly trafficked Californian duo Blank Gloss, whose debut album "Melt" this year was certified by The Guardian as nothing less than "heartaching beauty". Yui Onodera's "Chrome" as well as "Kari", a cooperation of Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth, could also be imagined in the score of Denis Villeneuve's new film version of DUNE - however, colleague Hans Zimmer managed that quite well without the three. After such wonderful and stylish contributions by Reich & Würden, Triola and Thomas Fehlmann, the ear then lingers a bit longer on the ghostly "Weiht" by Morgen Wurde feat. Maria Estrella, a track like a temple of sound, a deep electronic immersion in a Japanese onsen. In this sea of unnameable time you could sink forever, but with the tracks of Andrew Thomas, Thore Pfeiffer and Max Würden & Pepo Galán the journey slowly comes to an end.

Mit dem Cover-Artwork für Pop Ambient 2022 hat sich die langjährige KOMPAKT-Grafikerin Veronika Unland einmal mehr selbst übertroffen. Nach den geradezu barocken, in blutrot und tiefschwarz gehaltenen, äußerst physischen Formationen von Pop Ambient 2021, die wie zum Tanz aufgerichtete Körper aus einem dunklen, floralen Meer auftauchten, ziert die Vorderseite von 2022 eine pastell-weiße Skulptur, in sich verschlungen, vielfach gefaltet und von zarten Schattierungen durchzogen, die auf einem blass-rosa Hintergrund zu schweben scheint; weiche, sanfte Wellen aus venezianischen Farben gewebt, die dem Betrachter Rätsel aufgeben: Ist es eine Blüte, eine Koralle, eine Molluske?

Natürlich geht es auch in der aktuellen Ausgabe der traditionsreichen, von Wolfgang Voigt kuratierten Compilation-Reihe um die beharrliche und immer wieder notwendige Definition von Schönheit, von Reduktion, um elektronische Musik von schwerer Leichtigkeit und leichter Schwere, vom ewigen Versprechen des Ambient auf einen Zustand körperlicher und akustischer Schwerelosigkeit und dem von Pop auf Erlösung. Und um die Frage, warum eine nie beliebige Kombination aus Klangfläche, Drones, Samples und Loops, auf eine bestimmte Art zusammengefügt, dieses Gefühl von Wärme, Tiefe und Raum entstehen lassen kann, - etwas dreidimensionales, in dem die Fantasie sich so zuhause fühlt wie ein Fisch im Wasser oder ein Vogel in der Luft. Ein ästhetischer Schlüsselreiz, der alle Sinne in ein langsames Gleiten und Driften versetzt, wonach sich deine Synapsen wieder anfühlen, als habe man sie in ätherischem Öl gebadet. Neben Soul ist Ambient die wahrscheinlich wirksamste musikalische Heilpflanze der Menschheit.

Hinter den auralen Reagenzgläsern hantiert einmal mehr das Who-is-Who der kompaktschen Pop Ambient-Riege, erstmals angeführt vom hoch gehandelten kalifornischen Duo Blank Gloss, deren diesjähriges Debüt-Album “Melt” der englische Guardian nichts weniger als “herzergreifende Schönheit” bescheinigte. Yui Onodera’s “Chrome” sowie “Kari”, eine Kooperation von Markus Guentner und Joachim Spieth, könnte man sich auch gut im Score von Denis Villeneuve’s Neuverfilmung von DUNE vorstellen, - das hat der Kollege Hans Zimmer allerdings auch ohne die drei ganz gut hinbekommen. Nach so wundervollen wie stilsicheren Beiträgen von Reich & Würden, Triola und Thomas Fehlmann verharrt das Ohr dann etwas länger beim geisterhaften “Weiht” von Morgen Wurde feat. Maria Estrella-Weiht, ein Track wie ein Tempel aus Klang, ein tiefes elektronisches Eintauchen in einen japanischen Onsen. In diesem Meer aus unnennbarer Zeit könnte man ewig versinken, doch mit den Tracks von Andrew Thomas, Thore Pfeiffer und Max Würden & Pepo Galán geht die Reise langsam zu Ende.

LIMITED-EDITION SANDS OF TIME COLOR VINYL VERSION Open The Gates is Philadelphia-based free jazz collective IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS's third full length album (and first double LP length album). Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia, across 73 minutes of music the band - featuring Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro & drummer Tcheser Holmes (who released their duo debut Heritage of the Invisible II on International Anthem last year), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and bassist Luke Stewart - supplement their raw, organic punk-jazz sound with firsttime experiments with electronics and synthesizers.

LTD. COLORED VINYL

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

Lucid Express is five young dreamers who create a stunning airy blend of shoegaze and indie pop amongst the skyscrapers, mountains, and packed alleyways of Hong Kong. The name itself a modest mission statement of the band's intent: lucid in the poetic sense of something bright and radiant. The group formed as teens in the winter of 2014 in the turbulent weeks just prior to the Umbrella Movement. Vocalist/synth player Kim says "at that time it felt like we have a need to hold on to something more beautiful than before. Like close friendships, the band, our creation." Listening to their blissful, dreamy compositions, it may come as no surprise that these songs carry the mood of their times of inception. With all members of the band working late-night shifts, this led to a rehearsal and recording schedule that found the band playing between midnight and 4am and then crashing together on the studio floor before returning to work early in the AM. Debut album Lucid Express was given an extra sparkle thanks to the creative mixing of Max Bloom (Yuck), operates as the service to take the listener on a journey through the band's color-soaked sounds.

Xenia Rubinos, is a New York City based artist who's been revered for her innovative voice and maze-like knack for melody. Una Rosa is Rubinos' third album , her second on Anti- Records, following up her critically acclaimed Black Terry Cat (2016). Xenia Rubinos dips in and out of genre and structure to create movingly powerful songs. Her powerhouse vocals stem from a combination of R&B, Hip-Hop and Jazz influences, all delivered with a soulful punk aura. Pitchfork has lauded the radiant singer as "a unique new pop personality" while The New Yorker described her work as "rhythmically fierce, vocally generous music that slips through the net of any known genre." Having previously collaborated and toured with acts as diverse as Battles, Deerhoof, Man Man and Tune-Yards, Rubinos' energetic live show echoes some of the larger than life icons she admired as a child like Nina Simone and Erykah Badu, while wielding a space in music that is utterly her own. "I think my sound is a collage of different music coming together on a visceral level, connecting the dots with my voice and imagination," she said. Una Rosa is produced by Rubinos along with her longtime collaborator and drummer Marco Buccelli, and is full of color- drawing much of its multichromatic sound from the bright colors of pop art, which Xenia was immersed in during the writing process.