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Emotional Rescue celebrates a decade of reissues by again pulling deep from the well with the first of several French avant albums over the coming year. The self-styled "Ethno-Industrial" Vox Populi! present their 1989 Aither album, remastered and repackaged with love nearly 30 years later.

Initiated by artist Axel Kyrou in 1982, Vox Populi! was soon joined by long term collaborator Pacific 231 on a series of coldwave/industrial cassette only recordings. Things changed considerably, however, with the meeting of the siblings, Mitra and Arach in 1984.

The consequential use of "traditional" instruments and, especially, his wife Mitra's Persian folklore vocals gave a specific tonality, incorporating the band's expanding passion for oriental sounds, electronics and psychedelic music.

Involving numerous musicians and friends in often-spontaneous studio sessions, the melting pot of varied cultural backgrounds added ethnic, electronic, concrete music, funk, dub and experimental flavours.

This feeling of the subjective absence of the artist was achieved via a communal way for making music, but still with an aim to entertain while leading the listener to experience something unique - mind elevating, non-egotistical, ethereal music - all pushing the intellect towards a more artistic transparency.

Welcome to Aither.

Jackie Mittoo, organ and piano maestro, was not only a founding member of the legendary Jamaican Ska group The Skatalites, but through the course of Jamaican music’s long history has produced a body of work under his own name and of that with his various group incarnations, The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and the Sound Dimension. His distinctive organ and piano sound and musical arrangements have all played a major part in Jamaica's musical history.

Jackie Mittoo (born 1948, Kingston, Jamaica) began playing musical instruments at a very early age. Taught piano by his grandmother he was performing live by the age of 10 and recording by the age of 15. Two Kingston bands that he played with the Rivals and the Sheiks brought him to the attention of Studio 1's founder Coxsone Dodd. Who at the time was putting a group of musicians together to be his studio band. Impressed by his skills on both the organ and the piano, Jackie was asked to join in what would become Jamaica's foremost band The Skatalites. The fellow band members were Lloyd Brevett (bass), Lloyd Knibbs (drums), Don Drummond (trombone), Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso and Lester Sterling (Sax), Johnny Moore (trumpet), Jah Jerry(guitar) and Mr Mittoo (piano). This line up ruled the Jamaican scene between 1964 - 1965 as well as inventing the Ska sound, they also performed the backing duties for the other top labels of the time including Duke Reid's Treasure Isle and Justin Yap's Top Deck label.

1965 saw The Skatalites disband, and Jackie Mittoo move on to his next musical project The Soul Brothers. Formed with fellow Skatalite Roland Alphonso,this band would back all the hits coming out of Studio 1 for the next three years with Jackie Mittoo working as band leader and musical arranger. Around this time Jackie also had his own single released, a Ska underground classic called 'Got My Bugaloo'. Rare, as it also features Jackie in the unusual role for him, as lead singer!!!!. 1966 saw the Ska sound evolve into Rocksteady, again with Jackie's band at the helm, and his first hit single the Rocksteady cut 'Ram Jam'. The success of which would lead to a solo career and album releases under his own name such as 'Now', 'Macka Fat', 'Evening Time', 'In London' and 'Keep on Dancing', to name but a few. In 1967 the hits at Studio 1 were still flowing when The Soul Brothers morphed into The Soul Venders and began backing such luminaries as Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Heptones, The Cables, The Wailers and many other of the label’s solo artists.

By 1968 Jamaican music was ready for another change and Rocksteady rolled into a slower groove soon to be called Reggae. Jackie Mittoo would be at the forefront with his latest band The Sound Dimension. A line-up that included Leroy Sibbles (bass),Roland Alphonso and Cedric Brooks (saxophone),Eric Frater and Ernest Ranglin (guitar) and Bunny Williams (drums). Being the house band at Studio 1 they backed all the leading names of the time, John Holt, Horace Andy and Alton Ellis, all of Studio 1's output carried his sound. Jackie Mittoo emigrated in the late 60's to Canada but travelled to Jamaica and London to record with many of the big new names, who were trying to redress Studio 1's supremacy and needed his magic touch. Such producers as Bunny Lee used Jackie Mittoo on many of his sessions,Sugar Minott among others were always glad of his services.

For this release we have put together a selection of some of his finest recordings done with legendary reggae producer Bunny Lee. 1970’s cuts that feature Jackie’s numerous talents, showing his ability to embellish tracks with a feel few could better. Musical arranger, band leader and all around studio ace.

We hope you enjoy this great set with Jackie Mittoo in fine style and his organ super powered indeed…

 With their new album, If I Never Know You Like This Again, SOAK has
finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut ‘Before We Forgot How
To Dream’, and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of
their ambitious follow up album, ‘Grim Town’.
 Having come up through BBC Introducing at the tender age of 15, before
signing to Rough Trade Records, as well as winning the RTE Choice
Music Prize and The Northern Irish Music Prize, in addition to being the
youngest ever Mercury Prize nominee, SOAK has again and again been
described as “the voice of a generation.”
 Showing, from a young age, an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry
of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly
photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the
material so it was always there for them to revisit. “I always want to
remember exactly how I felt at a certain moment.” Now, at 25, SOAK’s
third album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again', is naturally made up
of what Bridie intimately calls ‘song-memories’.
 Working closely with Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers), with whom Bridie
has been collaborating with since the age of 15, and armed with
influences from Pavement to Radiohead to Broken Social Scene, they
wrote most of the album together before recording it with the rest of the
band in Attica Studios, Donegal.
 Throughout the album SOAK pushes and pulls at melodies, but never
milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly
off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar
lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production, the
swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop edge, reflected in the
rich and robust musicality of songs like ‘Bleach’, ‘Last July’ and ‘Pretzel’.
 There’s a constant pulsating beat at the album’s centre, propelling it
towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 90s comingof-age film. Bridie’s lyrics move through the songs almost as effortlessly
and they sing them, and the songs when read, read like poetry.
 With this album Bridie is, as the title suggests, freezing time in the
pursuit of truth: capturing their life into existence. In the world of ‘If I
Never Know You Like This Again’, a life is lived only because it's
remembered.

The British composer, musician and audio engineer Daphne Oram was a pioneering figure in the use of electronic music. Coming to prominence through her work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which she co-founded, Oram was one of the first British composers to feature electronic instruments in her work and has been rightly hailed as helping musique concrete to become accepted in Britain. Born in 1925 and raised in rural Wiltshire, close to Stonehenge and the ancient stone circle at Avebury, Oram eschewed a place at the prestigious Royal College of Music to take a junior engineering role at the BBC in 1942, she was often tasked with creating sound effects, leading to cut-up experiments with tape recorders and the development of synthetic sound; her composition Still Point, involving two orchestras, two turntables and five microphones, was deemed too radical by the BBC, though she was promoted to studio manager in 1950, leading to the gradual introduction of electronic music and musique concrete techniques on BBC soundtracks. In 1957, she composed the music for the play Amphitryon 38, using a sine wave oscillator and homemade filters, and this and other subsequent works led to the establishment of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop the following year, but Oram soon tired of the conservative constraints of the BBC, leading to her resignation in 1959 to pursue her own vision at the Oramics Studios for Electronic Composition, located in Tower Folly, a former hop kiln located at Fairseat, near the village of Wrotham in rural Kent. Oramics was a radical sound composition technique that sought to transform images to music, enacted by drawing onto 35mm film, which would then be read by photo-electric cells; in addition to its use in Radiophonic Workshop material, Oramics was also employed for sound installations, theatre productions and feature films, such as The Innocents, though financial pressures forced Oram to seek a range of commercial engagements in addition to creating her own artistic works. The Listen Move And Dance series of BBC programmes were devised as a radical new technique to help British schoolchildren learn how to dance; on the LP releases, Vera Gray arranged short adaptations of classical pieces by Bartok, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and others, designed for “stamping, punching, kicking and jumping” movements, as well as “running lightly, dancing on toes” and “shaking all about,” which contrasted sharply with Oram’s electronic abstractions, which seemed to have been beamed in from outer space.

Stunning debut release from RAFRAM aka Irdial legend Ramjac Corporation and the Toronto legend (& honorary Glaswegian) Raf Reza.
300 copies only, full printed sleeves plus riso insert.

Orphic Apparition is a new label born out of a transatlantic meeting of minds. Facilitated by a long, hedonistic party in one of present-day London’s ‘meanwhile use’ venues Grow Tottenham, Canadian producer Raf Reza and British acid house luminary Paul Chivers spent a precious day in the studio to record a 3 hour straight to DAT session before Reza's return to Canada. The result of this spontaneous yet intuitive collaboration blurs the lines between Chiver’s long-standing Ramjac Corporation alias and Reza’s genre-spanning approach to dub, breaks and house styles. Part of the early 90s rave scene and an important member of the blueprint-setting Irdial label, Ramjac locks heads with the self-professed ‘lazy music guy from Toronto’ to adapt their studio session into five separate mixdowns.

‘In The Grow’ begins with a bouncy, cut-up sounding Errorsmith-esque rhythm, the recurring fright night melody that distinguishes the record coming in all quick and powerful. The A2 ‘Rotten Mix’ offers a more traditional house approach in its composition, with dub FX and a nice DJ friendly outro. On the final uptempo choice the pair opt for a head-scrambling electro take. Choose your fighter! The ‘Swampy Dub’ on the flip really dismantles everything we’ve heard prior, slo-mo drums allowing a much different DJ experience and altering the freaky synthetic propulsion into an almost modern classical sound. A little like Paul Dresher’s eternal ‘Channels Passing’ (tip). Combined with the other edits this version almost becomes a totally different track. The final ‘Rootless Dub’ gives its clues in the title, removing all the tough drum sounds and allowing for an ambient decompression.

Orphic Apparition will return soon.

HIGHLIGHTS Classic Brazilian soul funk from 1976 in the same vein as Tim Maia, Jorge Ben or Carlos Dafé's recordings from that period. All four tracks are stunning and feature dramatic vocals, fat drum beats and sophisticated arrangements, following the tradition of the best funk music coming from the States in the '70s. First time reissue. DESCRIPTION Tony Bizarro was a Brazilian songwriter, producer and singer who worked with most of the greatest soul and funk artists in Brazil. Boogie and disco music were making headway and soon became popular in the Brazilian market. His own discography comprises just one solo album, released at the peak of his career, a bunch of compactos and some later LPs that did not get any bigger than his best-known hit 'Estou Livre'. This 1976 EP has been a long-time dancefloor weapon for DJs in the same vein as Tim Maia, Jorge Ben or Carlos Dafé's recordings from the same period. All four tracks are stunning! The opening song 'Que Se Faz Da Vida' is a downtempo funk joint with some dramatic vocals by Tony Bizarro, fat drum beats and Isaac-Hayesque wah-wah sounds that could have easily been included in the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie_ The strings and sophisticated arrangements featured on the flipside elevate this record to the top of the best Brazilian funk ever recorded in the '70s. Very hard to find, especially in good condition, this record now gets a proper reissue for the first time.

It’s been more than a year since our last release on Suction Records, and we’re excited to be back with the introduction of a new artist to the label’s roster. In fact, this split 12” serves as an introduction to both Useless Idea, and Seven Nights Alone, two aliases from the same Italian artist and producer, Cesare Bignotti. The split also serves as a taster for two forthcoming Suction Records full-length LPs, coming soon from both aliases.

Useless Idea, with previous under-the-radar cassette album releases on WéMè Records (2018’s “Acid Hologram”) and EVES Music (2020’s “Xa Peh”), has been quietly recording his own brand of inventive, playful, and melodic IDM/braindance for more than 20 years. We’ve been slowly compiling Useless Idea’s debut vinyl full-length for several years now, and the resulting “Glitch In The Colors” will be released later this year on 2LP vinyl, covering the span of his 20+ years of recording. From “Glitch…” we’ve included standout cut “Mello Tron” alongside two tracks that are exclusive to this split 12”.

Seven Nights Alone is a more recent alias, and outside of 1 track released on a compilation, this marks the new alias’ debut release. There is an undeniable Boards Of Canada influence here, but this is a unique and sophisticated take on BOC’s woozy and melancholy electronica. Both “Soft Where” (a menacing, futuristic instrumental hip hop killer) and “Walkman” (like a BoC “Campfire Headphase” outtake but on an optimistic tip) are taken from Seven Nights Alone’s debut 2LP vinyl full-length “Another Place”, to be released on Suction Records in 2023, alongside a 3rd track that’s exclusive to this split 12”.



Vinyl is limited to 200 copies, and comes with a Bandcamp download card.

We've always done things our own way and without any outside pressure,” says Paul Isherwood of The Soundcarriers. “Making music like this keeps things fresh, you always lose something and gain something as you go along but I think of it as just another chapter.”

There have been many chapters in the life of the band to date and each one is defined by the singular approach and style of the group. Since forming in 2007 the band - comprised of Isherwood, Adam Cann, Dorian Conway and Leonore Wheatley - have released three albums that position them as a distinct and unique force in British music. Eschewing fads and trends that come and go, they have instead focused on honing their own sonic world that glides between woozy psychedelia, immersive grooves, subtle pop and rich, enveloping soundscapes. They’ve consistently moved at their own pace and on their own terms and on their fourth album, Wilds, they return after seven years since their last. “The sessions started in a cottage in the wilds so there's a literal meaning,” Isherwood says of the title. “But figuratively we've pretty much been in the wild for the last few years as far as a lot of people are concerned.”

The recording was staggered over a few different locations, from cottages to primary schools, before finishing in an art gallery. “The beauty of recording in non-studio studios is you have the time for the unexpected to happen,” says Isherwood. “Which is really what keeps you coming back for more.” As a result of the timeframe of the album, it’s one that has changed and grown a lot over the years. “The record has been through a lot of stages,” says Isherwood. “It's almost been circular. We started off wanting to do an album of more shorter, concise tracks and then sort of sidestepped into some more spacey ambient ideas so in a way the album is kind of a synthesis of the two phases, overall carrying on with many of the themes and influences of the first three but with a more focused approach.”

The opening ‘Waves’ leaps out the gate with an infectious hook kissed by a touch of French pop before leaping into a devilishly catchy chorus and into a mini prog-like flute breakdown. It sets the tone for an album that is rich in adventure and unpredictability that manages to balance experimentation with accessibility. ‘At The Time’ is almost unrelenting in its grinding charge, managing to create a groove that cracks and pulses at the same time, ‘Wilds’ is a gorgeously floating piece of music that skips along with strutting bass as Wheatley’s vocals merge melody with texture magically. The closing ‘Happens Too Soon gently stirs to life with an almost pastoral folk air to it, as it slowly builds into swirling psych pop rich in texture before reaching a rousing crescendo. “I feel this album sums up a lot of our influences,” says Isherwood. “There’s a strong folk influence in the sense of the actual songwriting but musically we wanted to create songs that were like those rare oddities you find on a bizarre charity shop record. A collection of "one offs" capturing a moment rather than trying to make a hit song.”

This sense of it being an album of unique songs is clearly apparent throughout but it also maintains a natural flow and cohesion. This is something that stems from the band’s approach to songwriting for the record. “A lot of the tracks started with a feel or groove,” says Isherwood. “Then building it into a more concise arranged piece. We were conscious that we didn't want the recording to sound too over-polished so although a lot of the tracks were quite painstaking in how they evolved we wanted the actual recording to be quite raw and not be reliant on cutting things up or overly editing things. We wanted it to sound natural rather than perfect.”

Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald's paths had crossed many times during the Thirties, Forties, and early Fifties, but no recorded trace of the two legendary musicians collaborating existed until 1957, when they would come together to produce a series of sessions which include the music on this LP.

It may seem incredible that not a single previous air shot of Ella with Ellington survives, but Duke had a tight band and didn't frequently play with musicians outside of his orchestra. Ella, on the other hand, after coming to fame with the Chick Webb orchestra in the late Thirties, was taken under the wing of Norman Granz's, from which point on she rarely recorded with anyone other than artists contracted to Granz, which included many of the greatest jazzmen of all time.
Because of Ellington's contractual commitments and incredible busy schedule, the sessions where fraught with problems and intermittent delays. Thankfully though, under Granz's supervision and stoicism, the Ella- Duke project was completed.

You probably heard it before, several times. The opening number ‘Hungry, So Angry’ is to be considered one of the most infectious white funk anthem of the era. The Glitterhouse was released in 1981 on british imprint Cherry Red and soon was hailed as an instant classic for the post-punk generation close to dancefloor. In the same league of A Certain Ratio and newyorkers Bush Tetras the band originally from Nottingham moved behind obscure numbers and twisted grooves showing a revolutionary take on the up and coming new wave scenario. Here’s an unmissable collection with tracks from their three singles, sole studio album, live recordings but also unreleased tracks from an October 1982 demo tape.

Spain’s fastest-rising band, Belako are announcing a very specialedition of their 2020 album ‘Plastic Drama’. The new, deluxe double LP will be released on 8th April via BMG and includes exclusive remixes by the likes of Wolf Alice, The Vaccines, Hinds and Crystal Fighters.

Hailing from the small town of Mungia near Bilbao, Belako have been playing non-stop in Spain and beyond these past few years, building a dedicated fanbase in their native country, which has quickly been spilling out into other parts of Europe and the US.
2020’s ‘Plastic Drama’ was the band’s fourth record, but the first since signing a major international record deal, and certainly their most ambitious to date. Self-produced by the band, ‘Plastic Drama' searches for “the real meaning of things in a world that translates everything into assembly lines, manufacturing and the exploitation of living beings,” say the band. “It’s about the harsh reality our generation is facing and the only good use of new technology, which is the ability to spread the word and call for action. The title of the album has another message, as it also reminds us the first world issues we’ve come so keen to complain about. We can only hope for a more responsible human legacy”.

They were named best new band by Rolling Stone Magazine (ES) and ‘Plastic Drama’ picked up top UK support from the likes of 6 Music, Clash, DIY, Dork, The Line Of Best and NME who hailed the record as ‘a bold next step from a band who have never been afraid of the weird or the wonderful. Belako step up and earn their place among the major players of the scene’.

Relentless in their craft and a ferocious live act at their core, Belako were the first band to tour Europe in the summer of 2020, breathing new life into old forgotten Spanish cinema drive-ins across the country for their live shows. The ‘Belako Pandemic Tour’ documentary was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and will soon arrive on digital platforms.

Having supported the likes of DMA’s, QOTSA and Liam Gallagher at Finsbury Park, and played major international festivals such as Primavera, SXSW, Rock En Seine & Benicassim, Belako’s explosive live performances have excited crowds from small dive bars in their early days to huge international festivals. Their anything-can-happen stage attitude showcases the power, electricity and punk ethos of this exciting young band, which also lead to them being the first ever Spanish act to be booked for the main stage at Reading & Leeds Festival.

Fast forward to 2022, Belako reinvigorate ‘Plastic Drama’ with a 50-date world tour to be announced shortly, kickstarted with the release of their new deluxe edition album in April, featuring remixes by some of alternative music’s biggest names. The band will also celebrate the release with an album launch party on the rooftop of Madrid’s prestigious Riu Plaza on April 6th. Details for all UK dates this summer will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Back in May 2019, Vancouver trio Corner Boys released their sole album… and promptly split a few months later. In retrospect, they couldn’t have known that the album’s title (‘Waiting For 2020’) would soon seem grimly ironic - and we all know why, right? No reason to go over all that shit again. But while the past two years have at least seen drummer/songwriter Patrick McEachnie staying active across two essential records with hardcore heroes Chain Whip, lockdown saw him switching roles. Basically, he bought a guitar and made an excellent record all on his lonesome, and as followers of his other projects will have come to expect, it’s fucking excellent. ‘Glad To Be Forgotten’ is the debut album by Pack Rat - in some ways you can see some level of crossover with Corner Boys in its manic energy and dedication to hooks (cuts like ‘Next Time Hit Me’ and ‘My Own Reality’ are so damn catchy, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve already been listening to ‘em on repeat for the past 20 years). Familiar reference points show up (the melodies of the Pointed Sticks; the garage-slanted rifferama of Rudi or The Undertones) while a tinny budget synth keeps things ticking along nicely, just to remind you that this is a homespun DIY project. But honestly, this has the feel of a fully fleshed-out project and leaves you desperate for another fix of its sweet’n’sour tang. For anyone who loves the collision point between ‘New Rose’, powerpop sunshine and sheer rock’n’roll exuberance, this is essential. For everyone else, this is surely the gateway to all of that good stuff. You want to hear the tunes that’ll star on future generations’ equivalents to the Killed By Death comps? That’ll set your pulse soaring and your pogo muscles into overdrive? That’ll remind you of why this punk rock business still feels worth dedicating your life to, even after all this time? Hey, Pack Rat’s got ‘em. Now do your part

It begins with a rustle of noise, equally reminiscent of distorted factory noise and a cassette recording of cathedral bells unspooling, before a near-robotic beat and stuttering bassline enter the fray. Initially, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across the lost tapes of Joy Division’s early Warsaw incarnation, but the atonal blast of strafing guitars fading in and out soon make you realise this is a very different proposition. This is The Drin, and ‘Engines Sing for the Pale Moon’ is their debut album. It’s also one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Helmed by Dylan McCartney, drummer of the rock band Vacation, The Drin originally released this album as a hyper-limited cassette via Future Shock. It’s as much of a departure from McCartney’s usual output as it is for Drunken Sailor Records; songs don’t so much explode out of the gate as drift towards you like a creeping fog that turns your skin inside-out and leaves you sloshing organs all across the carpet. Second track ‘Guillotine Blade’ shows the pieces all coming together, a dubbed-out riot of claustrophobic noise that feels like Pere Ubu trapped in a cupboard one minute, and ‘Warm Jets’-era Eno trying on Bauhaus’ trenchcoats the next. Meanwhile, ‘Down Her Cheek A Party Tear’ unfolds across jittering, skittering rustles of drums and an undulating bassline, making you wonder why post-millennial post-punk so often settles for dickheads shouting non-sequiturs over landfill indie, when it could be entering these dark, unsettling territories instead. The Drin like to get weird. The Drin like to get wild. The Drin rarely cut loose, but that’s because the trip is already intense and haunting enough without things getting raucous in here as well. Hey kids, turn off those shite band name redacted records and get into this; you deserve so much better, and better’s right here. Fall into it, immerse yourself and step forward into a brave new world. I love this record

At the beginning of the eighties reggae music became increasingly in tune with what was happening in Kingston’s dance halls… probably more so than at any time since the sound system operators had started to make their own shuffle and boogie recordings in the late fifties. The international audience and the critics were too busy looking for a new Bob Marley to appreciate what was happening downtown and failed to acknowledge that this was a return to the real, raw roots of the music. Brash, confident, young record producers who were totally in tune with the youth audience stepped forward and seized the moment…

Oswald ‘Ossie’ Thomas began his apprenticeship in the music business at the age of fourteen and served his time as a record salesman for Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee and Winston ‘Niney The Observer’ Holness before moving on to Miss Sonia Pottinger’s Tip Top Records.

“I ended up working in three record stores on Orange Street from 1976 to 1981… Yeah man! Me deh ‘pon me bicycle till I buy my motorcycle! Them days records were coming out left, right and centre… every day!” Ossie Thomas

It was during his time with Miss Pottinger that Ossie began to produce records for himself and in 1979 Ossie and Phillip Morgan began the Black Solidarity label based deep in the Kingston ghetto on Delamere Avenue. Phillip initially inspired Ossie to start the label and soon Triston Palma, Phillip Frazer and “a youth named Gary Robertson” joined in although Gary later left for Canada.

The Soul Syndicate rehearsed in the Delamere Avenue area and Tony Chin gave Ossie a cut of a rhythm that he used for Triston Palma’s ‘A Class Girl’… the label’s inaugural release. The record was a sizeable success and paved the way for hit after hit after hit on Black Solidarity. Ossie worked with just about everybody who was anybody during this critical period of the music’s development including vocalists Robert Ffrench, Little John, Sugar Minott, Frankie Paul and most notably Triston Palma.

“But Delamere must be considered as a music street sheltering as it does such artists as Junior Byles, Don Angelo, Triston Palma, Phillip Frazer and producer Ossie of the Black Solidarity label…” Beth Lesser
And the man who had made his name in the business selling other people’s records now became one of the most important and influential record producers of the era.
With grateful thanks to: Paul Coote, Nick Hodgson & Hasse Huss

Originally released on CD in 2006 - Has it really been 15 years - The
Poems were Robert Hodgens, Bobby Paterson, Adrian Barry, Kerry
Polwart, Ross McFarlane and Andy May
The album also features guest contributions from the likes of Isabel Campbell,
Norman Blake and Justin Currie.Norman will also contribute the sleeve notes to
this vinyl reissue

Originally released on CD in 2006 - Has it really been 15 years - The
Poems were Robert Hodgens, Bobby Paterson, Adrian Barry, Kerry
Polwart, Ross McFarlane and Andy May.

The album also features guest contributions from the likes of Isabel Campbell, Norman Blake and Justin Currie.Norman will also contribute the sleeve notes to this vinyl reissue.

Colin Blunstone and Sundazed Music celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Colin's post Oracle opus One Year with an expanded edition! The half,
itself titled, That Same Year, gives you a deeper introspective look into
that time in his life
The album largely features Colin singing accompanied solely by his acoustic
guitar.That Same Year includes beautifully sparse demo versions of three songs
from One Year including 'Caroline Goodbye' and 'Let Me Come Closer To You'
where Colin is joined by fellow Zombie Rod Agent on piano. Three songs have
Colin joined by Zombie bassist Chris White on classical guitar. Beyond the three
familiar songs you will find Colin's familiar voice and wit come through on eleven
completely unheard compositions all penned for the One Year album; including
'Sing Your Own Song' where sings of reading about his own death in Rolling
Stone.One Year is an album that somehow manages to be both lush and sparse
at the same time and always deeply intimate. That Same Year finds a way to
bring your listening experience to a deeper level of intimacy.In addition to penning
most of the album, Colin also penned the liner notes that fill the gatefold jacket
along with unseen photos from that year. The notes go track by track through One
Year along with some background on That Same Year.

More than anyone, Blind Willie Johnson embodies the archetype of the cursed bluesman. Despite the fact that his records have sold fairly well at his time, or that one of his ballads (Dark Was The Night, Cold as the Ground - that also gives the name to this compilation) was included on the Voyager disc launched into space in 1977, the American singer/preacher has lived his whole life in total misery. However, his powerful voice fascinates. His guitar style, a mixture of picking and slide, will influence several generations of musicians. And like many of his contemporaries, it was not until the 1960s that his talent would finally be recognized at its fair value (via the work of the brilliant Reverend Gary Davis).

Heavenly Recordings announce the release of ‘Heavenly remixes 3&4 - Andrew Weatherall volume 1&2’, a brace of compilation albums collecting together some of the finest remixes from the label’s long-time friend, collaborator and go-to remixer. These compilations follow ‘Heavenly remixes 1 & 2’, which showcases some of the label’s other great remixes.

 By the time Heavenly was born in the spring of 1990, Andrew Weatherall was already an inspirational sounding board, as well as a fellow traveller on the bright new road that stretched out ahead, thanks to the massive cultural liberation of acid house. Back then every energised meeting could be turned into a fortuitous opportunity in this burgeoning new underground economy. Bored of your job? Start playing records out! Start a club night! Get in the studio!
Start a label! Just don’t stand still. Commandments Andrew would follow for the rest of his life.

 At the start of things, Andrew was a regular visitor to Capersville - the pre-Heavenly press office run by label founder Jeff Barrett (soon to become Andrew’s manager). It was there that he famously picked up a copy of Primal Scream’s unloved second album and singled out a
track that would later become ‘Loaded’, after being given an instruction to “fucking destroy” it by the band’s Andrew Innes; it was there too that the idea to remix the first Heavenly release
came about.

 Andrew’s mix of that first Heavenly record is very much a product of its time. ‘The World According To Sly and Lovechild’ is a swirling bass punch topped with a hypnotic marimba line and the kind of ecstatic diva vocal that you’d hear coming out of the speakers all night at postShoom clubs like Yellow Book.

 His take on the label’s next release - Saint Etienne’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix of Two Halves’) - would set the template for his next three decades of audio exploration. A drawn-out imperial dub, the track builds and builds with a moody intensity (partly down to the
melodica played by Weather Prophets legend Pete Astor) that’s far more Kingston JA at dusk than Kingston-upon-Thames at kicking out time. It’s both a dancefloor record to get lost in and
headphone psychedelia of the highest order - a perfect example of what he did better than anyone else.

 Between 1990 and his untimely death in 2020, Andrew fed more Heavenly bands through the mixing desk than those of any other label. Consistently, he returned visionary music to the
office, often in person for (at least) one ceremonial playback - a ritual that would involve the volume cranked up high and Andrew rocking back on his heels, eyes closed, lost in the alchemy of it all.

 Each time, he would warp and twist originals into beautiful new shapes - elasticated club records that might evoke Detroit techno one second and Throbbing Gristle the next, before wheel-spinning into something akin to The Fall produced by King Tubby.

 Andrew’s studio adventures would always be guided by that early advice to destroy the source material. It’s why he was the first name that came up when remixes were discussed; the first number on the speed dial. Listening back to these remixes now - to thirty years of glorious outsider sounds - it bangs home again just how fucking good Andrew was.

Coming soon!

Alex Van Pelt writes songs for ghosts and broken hearts.

French multi-instrumentalist Alex started making music fifteen years ago when he was still a teenager, in bands such as Coming Soon, Mont Analogue, or as a guitarist for Sierra Manhattan, Norma, François Virot and Adam Green. But today he grows up and shows what he’s made of as a solo artist.

After his debut album Tum Tum (2019), in which he stated the basis of a rich and sensitive musical vocabulary made of DIY synth and post-romantic songs, he cultivates and confirms his originality with his new opus, Global Crush (out in November 2021). Words reverberates with sounds, and structures assumes ever shifting shapes : passed Global Crush’s melodic immediacy, one soon perceives a will to disrupt the conventional ground rules of pop music.

Like in a Kitano or Wong Kar Wai movie scene, Alex’s songs mix melancholy and humor. He has put together the intimate patchwork of Global Crush in a landscape painter fashion, and the result somehow works as a map to the artist's interests and influences (to name a few : the Everly Brothers’ breakup songs, Supertramp’s melodies, Daniel Clowes comics and video games ost such as Final Fantasy and the Sims).

Freestyle Records in association with Rare Sounds USA present a stellar repress of Speedometer's 2003 debut LP This Is Speedometer.

Originally released on Clive Johnson's Blow It Hard (started after the demise of the well-loved weekly Soho club night of the same name, and home to the New Mastersounds first releases alongside choice cuts from JTQ and others) This Is Speedometer showcased the sounds of one of the UK's premier acts in the deep funk scene of the early noughties for the first time on the long player format.

Starting out back in 1999, Speedometer started out as an instrumental quartet gigging in small clubs in the Southeast of England, paying homage to classic funk tunes by artists such as The Meters and The JB's. The band soon expanded and began writing original material, adding the highly regarded horn section and vocalists in 2001, which enabled them to deliver the powerhouse deep funk sound on display here. In addition to their own albums, singles and live shows, Speedometer have backed many US funk & soul legends including Sir Joe Quarterman, Eddie Bo, Marva Whitney, Sharon Jones & Lee Fields and more.

Now coming up on 20 years since it's original release, you can now marvel at Speedometer's classic, original soul-funk sound thanks to a sparkling new cut. Dig in!




d 04: Just Keep On (Doin the Do) feat. The Speedettes

Born in 1999, Charlie Hickey grew up in South Pasadena,
just minutes from Downtown Los Angeles. Raised by two
singer-songwriter parents, Charlie’s second language was
music since day one. As early as grade school, he was
making sense of the world through songwriting, and by
middle school he was writing, recording and performing
songs that attracted a community of collaborators and could
silence a room.
 A turning point for Charlie came at around the age of
thirteen, when he covered a song by then up-and-coming
artist Phoebe Bridgers, who was still in high school herself.
The two quickly became friends and collaborators, setting
Charlie on an exciting new musical path. Years later,
Bridgers introduced Charlie to songwriter, drummer, producer
and her bandmate Marshall Vore, who noticed something
special about Charlie. The two began writing and recording
songs together, and soon Charlie dropped out of school to
work on his music full-time.
 Charlie Hickey’s first proper single was ‘No Good at Lying’
and it’s the first track on ‘Count The Stairs’. The Marshall
Vore-produced track introduces us to Charlie’s evocative
storytelling and features Phoebe Bridgers on backing vocals.
“I’m no good at lying / on my back or through my teeth / but
I’m good at dreaming / I can do it in my sleep,” he sings over
hushed guitars and a whimsical banjo, searching for truth as
his unconscious mind runs wild and bleeds into reality. It’s a
slow, quiet, and understated peek to the world of Charlie
Hickey, who is barely of legal drinking age, but taps into such
universal themes that showcase a wisdom beyond his years
and exudes promise for what’s to come.

Born in 1999, Charlie Hickey grew up in South Pasadena,
just minutes from Downtown Los Angeles. Raised by two
singer-songwriter parents, Charlie’s second language was
music since day one. As early as grade school, he was
making sense of the world through songwriting, and by
middle school he was writing, recording and performing
songs that attracted a community of collaborators and could
silence a room.
 A turning point for Charlie came at around the age of
thirteen, when he covered a song by then up-and-coming
artist Phoebe Bridgers, who was still in high school herself.
The two quickly became friends and collaborators, setting
Charlie on an exciting new musical path. Years later,
Bridgers introduced Charlie to songwriter, drummer, producer
and her bandmate Marshall Vore, who noticed something
special about Charlie. The two began writing and recording
songs together, and soon Charlie dropped out of school to
work on his music full-time.
 Charlie Hickey’s first proper single was ‘No Good at Lying’
and it’s the first track on ‘Count The Stairs’. The Marshall
Vore-produced track introduces us to Charlie’s evocative
storytelling and features Phoebe Bridgers on backing vocals.
“I’m no good at lying / on my back or through my teeth / but
I’m good at dreaming / I can do it in my sleep,” he sings over
hushed guitars and a whimsical banjo, searching for truth as
his unconscious mind runs wild and bleeds into reality. It’s a
slow, quiet, and understated peek to the world of Charlie
Hickey, who is barely of legal drinking age, but taps into such
universal themes that showcase a wisdom beyond his years
and exudes promise for what’s to come.

It's back-to-back hits with the return of the Names You Can Trust split single series featuring two new emerging artists and record debuts.

After years on the local New York scene as DJs, collaborators and permanent fixtures amongst the brightest of musicians and artists, Raspadura has spent a long time brewing behind the curtain, tucked away in the musical minds of real life partners Josue Granados (Sonidero Mixteco, Los Taxis) and Dayan Silva (Dayansiiita). Their coming out party as recording artists is a perfect encapsulation of the duo's raucous but delightful energy. "Pa Que Gocen" is pure punkera, but seasoned with a deep musical appreciation that abounds in the timeless tropical music universe, and surely a precursor to further recording adventures, as this debut should warrant. The appeal is obvious as soon as the needle drops. Silva's enchanting vocals grab you immediately, with tales of sweets upon sweets. Pure visions of dulce, panela and miel are chanted over the rhythm of Granados' low down ska-beat and hypnotizing tres cubano. For Raspadura, dessert is first!

Come fly with Grupo Pernil in this ode to the timeless vibes of gypsy rumba, merengue and guaracha. Featuring an international all-star cast of musicians from travelling adventures and collaborations of recent years, "Danza de la Cabra" was originally conceived at home in the NYCT studio, and later brought to life with additional sessions inside Amsterdam's Heat Too Hot and Barcelona's Nación Funk studios. This one-off instrumental recording turned into a case of severe psicodelica, under the influence and improvisation of the group's talented players and percussion professionals, then amped and electrified for maximum effect with a touch of studio magic and a taste for local iberico. Featuring members of Greenwood Rhythm Coalition, Conjunto Papa Upa, Fundación Tony Manero and Los Fulanos.

Ignition, Something Records lifts off 'Lost in Musik' by STL aka Stephan Laubner. An album to blow your minds, shake your bodies and touch your souls. On 17 tracks and an extended playing-time, this double vinyl comes in complete album feel, multifarious variations, and in STL's full tonal trademark fit. It will rumble dance-floors the same as moody home listening places. Here we go. STL attends the brains & ears in his magic discrete way with an unstoppable bucket-raining flow of fresh sounds, catching rhythms and aspirating music, like no one else usually does. Soon after joining these vinyl reliefs, you will be under the spellbound and enhexed beauty of these otherworldly beats and tones, which makes you feel all of the sudden, being relocated in other dimensions shrouded in new-born principles of fascinating un-shattered realities. Feel from beyond. Something Vinyl Series 31 works great with special and exceptional. From the sound creations up to the artwork. Everything follows the distinct d-i-y philosophy to what a something-records release is well known for. The Vinyls are coming in limited quantity. So you better be fast catching a copy. Now let the music do the further talking. Enjoy this seldom gem. Take the action and get lost in musik!

Forty years ago, on July 8th and 9th in 1981, a group formed by the splintering of some of Bristol’s essential post punk bands, entered the hallowed studio at Berry Street in London to record their debut single. What would emerge was not only an exuberant post funk classic on the A-side, but also a wildly influential dub workout on the flipside, whose reverberations can still be heard today. Both songs have proven essential in very different ways.

A focal point for the unique punk-funk that was coming together in Bristol as the bridge from the 70s to the 80s arrived, Maximum Joy was formed by Glaxo Babies multi-instrumentalist Tony Wrafter and 18 year old vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Janine Rainforth. Soon they drafted in additional Glaxo Babies in the form of drummer Charlie Llewellin and bassist Dan Catsis, along with guitarist John Waddington, fresh from The Pop Group. The group set about making a one-of-a-kind mix of funk, punk, pop, jazz, dub, soul, afrobeat and reggae; creating a brilliant charge of danceable tunes wrapped around elastic basslines and complex percussion, punctuated by melodic horns and stabs of guitar, all of it highlighting Rainforth’s naturally enthusiastic vocal style.

Bursting at the seams, “Stretch” feels like it can barely be contained within the studio walls. Rainforth delivers a vocal performance that can only be found within the freedom of someone recording their first ever single. I’m not lying when I say there isn’t another song that sounds quite like it. The group’s love of funk is evident on “Stretch”, but the heavy influence of dub and reggae from their surroundings shapes the moody skitter of “Silent Street”. Here, the sing song vocals seem to drift across the heavy late night air. The two songs are wildly different, yet both could only have come from this key collection of players. Paired with the likes of The Pop Group, The Slits, The Raincoats and the On-U-Sound collective, Maximum Joy still stands out as a unique voice in the movement.

Y Records head Dick O’Dell would join the sessions and give the release a warm home in the UK while legendary 99 Records in New York took on the US release since Maximum Joy made perfect sense being equal parts ESG and Liquid Liquid. This 12” has been a staple for DJ’s in the know since day one.

THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA is back! The band that formed as an idea of friends from several well known rock/metal bands (SOILWORK, ARCH ENEMY, MEAN STREAK) back almost a decade ago and has been dropping jaws ever since. With 5 albums already under their belt, 2 nominations for the Swedish Grammies, countless live shows and praises from fans and media alike, TNFO have steadily upped their game when it comes to paying tribute to a decade that influences all sorts of people and even industries to this day - the 80s. With hits like ‘Domino’, ‘Lovers In The Rain’, ‘West Ruth Ave’, ‘Divinyls’ or ‘This Time’, the band manages to maintain a variety of vibes and emotions within every album. From hard rockers, poppy digressions to progressive epics, disco-esque songs and almost cheesy yet loveable ballads.

Enter 2020, TNFO had just released their recent record, ‘Aeromantic’, and kicked off their European tour in support of it, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Björn Strid, the AOR dictator helming this exceptional collective called NFO, recalls “We made it one week into the tour after some absolutely amazing shows and then it all went south and we had to go home. Just about everyone on the tour got sick when they came home, with varied conditions.”
The band didn’t step back and accept the situation but decided to do what they do best instead: “It was pretty clear after some months into the Covid madness, that it was here to stay and that we weren’t gonna be able to tour for quite some time. So we made the best out of it. The remedy was simply to hit the studio again as soon as everybody was well again. It ended up being an incredibly creative 1,5 years and so many amazing songs came out of it.”

That being said, the second part of the ‘Aeromantic’ saga really captures what this band is all about: being in motion and romanticizing traveling, sometimes even with a broken heart - accompanied by the good things in life. Namely with songs like ‘White Jeans’, yet another jaw dropping classic rock gem about hot young love, cramped with nostalgia, or ‘Change’, which encompasses all the vibes you know from your favorite decade: Urgency, emotion, warmth and excitement. But also groovy danceable songs like ‘Chardonnay Nights’, a groovy, dreamy, yet uplifting homage to parties and hot love, or ‘Burn For Me’, a true feel good anthem for the summer - driving people to dance in the streets, all worries aside, to a brighter future.

On the other hand there are tracks like the almost progressive ‘Amber Through A Window’. A little throwback (at least titular) to the NFO’s epic 2017 album ‘Amber Galactic’: “Amber is with us wherever we go and I think she’ll keep coming back. She’s our mascot of escapism. The song was very interesting to compose. It takes you on quite a journey with key changes and goes from minor to major when you least expect it and throws you between different set of emotions. At the same time it feels pretty direct and operates like a mini epos. Really happy with how it turned out“, cites Strid.

Besides all this, the band has also stepped up their game when it comes to music videos for their timeless anthems. “White Jeans” for instance features Swedish TV personality Fredrik Lexfors and is a sweet little homage to the LGBTQIA+ community. “Fredrik is a good friend of mine and has loads of experience in the musical/theatre world and is super creative. He created this character called ”Kantorn” (The Cantor) some years ago and became a hit on YouTube. He has a very twisted and unique way of singing and acting, which is very funny. He was a part of Sweden’s Got Talent TV Show and went really far and became a crowd favorite. Fredrik has a lot of friends in the LGBTQIA+ community and I also have quite a few. We saw it as a joyful tribute and we’ve only gotten really good response. It’s of course also humorous but has a very nice balance and a very positive message.”

The bold and jovial video for “Burn For Me” on the other hand maybe among the biggest and best productions, the NFO ever recorded for the depths of the internet: “I’ve had this idea to film a ”Dancing in the Streets” video, where curious people come out of the woodworks and join the party in the streets. It’s a very classic 80’s scenario and very common in videos back then. Sort of the video to IRENE CARA’s ”Fame”. You don’t see it very often these days. We felt that it was needed and after “Burn For Me” was done I immediately envisoned it being the perfect ”post corona dancing celebration in the streets-song”.”

Those two videos are by far not everything the band will have to offer visually, but we won’t tell any more just for now. To be continued…

With all that new greatness up their sleeves, NFO are ready to take the world by storm – again! Even though coming up with a setlist for their scheduled tour starting in September may prove to become problematic according to the AOR Dictator: “Making a setlist might end up being a nightmare haha… I would be up for doing only songs off »Aeromantic I« and »Aeromantic II« since that’s really where we’re at right now, but I think most of our the Midnight Flyers would like to hear some old stuff, too. Maybe we could get away with it as long as we play “West Ruth Ave” as the ending song and create the good old conga train?”

"Best Western" ist Rudi Maiers aka Burkini Beach Nachfolger zum umjubelten 2017er-Album "Supersadness Intl.". Produziert ist das Album von Simon Frontzek aka Sir Simon, mit dem Rudi Maier in den letzten Jahren ein Produzenten-Duo bildete und am gleichen Tag sein Album "Repeat Until Funny" veröffentlichen wird. So ergibt das die völlig unerwartete und umso mehr willkommen geheißene Wiederkehr gitarrenbasierter Songs, die mit vielen befreundeten Musiker*innen wie Thees Uhlmann, Marlene Weber (Little Big Sea) Sven Regener, uvm. im gemeinsamen Kreuzberger Hinterhofstudio entstanden sind. Es klingt wie Bright Eyes mit einem zünftigen Schalk im Nacken oder Arcade Fire in ihrer Discophase, nur ohne das lästige Sendungsbewusstsein.

Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter and former frontman of The Ugly Americans and The Scabs, Bob Schneider has become one of the most celebrated musicians in the live music capital. Combined with his scruffy good looks and diverse musicals styles, Schneider's talent has defied genres. Combing elements of funk, country, rock, and folk with the more traditional singer/songwriter aesthetic, Schneider draws inspiration from the '70s with a modern twist reminiscent of Beck. His powerful lyrics tackle tough subjects about alienation, drug addiction, and lost romance. Schneider has won more than 59 Austin Music Awards including Best Album, Best Songwriter, Best Musician, and Best Male Vocals making him the most decorated artist in Austin music history. Schneider's fan base reaches far beyond the city limits of Austin. He started gaining national recognition when released 2001's Lonelyland, his major-label debut for Universal Records, followed by 2004's I'm Good Now. Since leaving Universal, Schneider went on to release more award-winning albums under Vanguard and began releasing "side projects" on his label, Shockorama Records. He has released more than a dozen albums and doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon. Schneider and his team will be releasing a new record 'In A Roomful Of Blood with A Sleeping Tiger' dropping in August 2021 as well numbers live shows all throughout Texas.

Produced by Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Gillian Welch), Ferrell's Rounder debut, Long Time Coming, due August 20, features a stellar line-up of musicians, including country royalty like Chris Scruggs, Billy Strings, and her long-time collaborator Nathan Leath (a fiddle player she first met at the American Legion Post 82's Honky-Tonk Tuesday). Growing up in West Virginia, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troop of wandering musicians. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, Ferrell moved to Nashville and started landing gigs around town. Soon enough, her magnetic live show drew the attention of Rounder Records, who signed Ferrell in 2019.

Nice Swan Records announce the release of
compilation LP ‘Nice Swan Introduces Vol.1’.
Introducing a wave of new and exciting talent
including the likes of Jelly Cleaver, Courting,
Sprints, Hallan, Malady, Mandrake Handshake and
Anorak Patch.
The upcoming compilation solidifies Nice Swan’s
growing status as one of the UK’s most reputable
indie labels, with further signings and releases set
to be announced in the coming weeks.
Launched in 2016 by North West duo Pete
Heywoode and Alex Edwards, Nice Swan’s initial
aim to become a platform for discovering and
nurturing new talent soon attracted widespread
recognition, with the subsequent success of
signees such as Sports Team, Pip Blom, FUR and
Hotel Lux building momentum at an impressive
rate.
Instilled with a passion to push emerging artists on
a monthly basis, ‘Vol.1’ marks the next stage of the
cult indie label’s development. With several acts
already becoming mainstays on the BBC Radio 1 /
6 Music airwaves and gaining extensive
tastemaker approval, the compilation could not be
arriving at a better time.

The full-length debut from Bendigo Fletcher, Fits of Laughter is a collection of moments both enchanted and mundane, sorrowful and ecstatic: basking in the beauty of a glorious lightning storm, waking with a strand of your beloved’s hair happily caught in your mouth, drinking malt liquor while bingeing “The X-Files” on a lonesome Saturday night. As lead songwriter for the Louisville, KY-based band, frontman Ryan Anderson crafts the patchwork poetry of his lyrics by serenely observing the world around him, often while working his grocery-store day job or walking aimlessly in nature (a practice partly borrowed from the late poet Mary Oliver). When matched with Bendigo Fletcher’s gorgeously jangly collision of country and folk-rock and dreamy psychedelia, the result is a batch of story-songs graced with so much raw humanity, wildly offbeat humor, and a transcendent sense of wonder.

True to its spirit of purposeful wandering, Fits of Laughter unfolds in a wayward yet lushly detailed sound, embroidered with everything from crystalline harmonies to blistering guitar riffs to heady drum-machine beats. For help in forging the album’s ragged elegance, Bendigo Fletcher worked with producer Ken Coomer (the original drummer for Wilco and Uncle Tupelo), whom Anderson met in a flash of strange serendipity. Soon after he’d connected with Coomer via phone and bonded over a shared affection for Pink Floyd’s Obscured by Clouds, the band headed to Nashville to record in Coomer’s garage studio, laying down the album’s eight songs in nine frenetic days.

In keeping with the regional perspective that defines much of folk and country music, Fits of Laughter ponders certain paradoxes inherent in the band’s homeland. “In Kentucky there’s a long-running frustration of tradition and stubbornness versus progress,” says Anderson. “On one side you’re looking at things like the coal industry or Mitch McConnell, but then there’s also a feeling of togetherness and a fuck-the-man attitude and a loving desire for everyone to be left alone.” Referring to Fits of Laughter as a coming-of-age album, Anderson also examines a more internal conflict throughout the songs, including his choice to abandon his medical-school aspirations in favor of pursuing a career in music. “The title’s really about the spectrum of emotions I’ve felt on the way to finding what makes me feel like I’m living truthfully, rather than holding onto what I think other people’s expectations are of me,” he says. “It’s a phrase that bridges all of those emotions—everything from joy to hysteria.”

"Emotional Rescue and HMV Record Shop (Japan) present the 2nd DISCO REGGAE LOVERS with the music of Haile Maskel and his 101 Band and their cult Jamaica meets America reggae disco bomb Crazy Kind Of Feeling, in it's super rare 7" Mix.

Heralding from the furtive 60's Trenchtown, Jamaica, Michael Ashley aka Haile Maskel grew up around music, recording his first sessions with friend Bob Marley, alongside the likes of Peter Tosh, Robbie Shakespeare and Carlton Barrett.

Working with Lee Perry, he joined Light Of Saba, while touring with Dennis Brown and Sugar Minott led him overseas, settling in Los Angeles in 1983 and soon launching his Opulence (Sound) label.

The label's in house project, Maskel's 101 Band mixed a conscious message in love song, crafted around a boogie discodub. Coming as 7" and 12" (ERC101) releases, here the single is presented alongside the true dub version.

Dub Take 2 was discovered when the original master tapes were recently unearthed and while the recent 12" reissue featured an "instrumental alternative mix", Dub Take 1, this 7" includes a real dub version, cutting and dropping back and forth between drums, bass, key, vocals and horns in a cool excursion for the heads."

Aye Aye Mi Mi’ is the second single from Mano Le Tough’s new album, ‘At The Moment’ which is coming soon on Pampa Records; . The single really highlights the vocal & instrumental skills of the Irish producer, resulting in an indie dance ear-worm that’s hard to shake.

“It’s the only tune on the record that survived from my original batch of demos and sketches” says Mano. “It’s a kind of reflection on narcissism, social media saturation and the ego”.

Something wicked this way comes. Following singles 'Know The Future' b/w 'Digital Warfare' in 2019 and 'Hypersocial' b/w 'Safety Test' in 2020, ESP’s own Patrick Conway has now teamed up with the illustrious Appleblim (of Skull Disco and Apple Pips fame) for a meaty self-titled debut 2xLP under the new collaborative moniker, Trinity Carbon. There is something to be said for art created in the face of global unraveling, while mass transgression and the friction of culture shifting produce poignant commentary, but more often than not, it’s the personal coping mechanisms within our work that have the power to speak directly to the receiver. After a number of sessions resulting in wild imaginative beginnings, it was the untimely passing of Andrew Weatherall and a coming to terms with that loss that moved the two Brits-via-Berlin to herd their roaming sketches into a more narrative statement. In the uphill struggle to retain some sense of individualism, it’s always outsiders like Weatherall whose risks illuminate the roads of creativity less traveled, and when those beacons go dark there is a disorientation felt far and wide. Conway and Blim concede to the internal inquiry, “What would Weatherall do?” bringing to mind the man’s pervading morale, always soldiering onward through mediocrity, as it was undoubtedly an impetus for the duo growing steadfast and chiseling 'Trinity Carbon' into completion. While employing trusted machines in the bass department, they established a warm euphonic home base from which they could stray in a variety of tonal and rhythmic directions without straining a tether to the album’s core. However, as soon as any hint of familiarity may arise, or listeners begin to mentally assign stylistic epithets, the duo boldly change course to remind us that while the banal stay safely defined, it’s the iconoclasts, the outsiders who make us feel.

Beautiful orange & yellow sunburst vinyl - Solstice '21 sees twelve bright lights of independent electronic music mark the coming Summer Solstice. In such dark days, the age-old practice of celebrating the move from shadow to light, feels steeped in a renewed symbolic power. Solstice '21 marks this significant moment with a rich array of musical offerings. Reflective, lively, and always powerful, this collection is spun with modern twists of an ancient thread. Rotator - This is the first outing under this moniker from Justin Owen, also known under the alias Licit, as well as being a protagonist in the world of modular synthesis as the man behind the Abstract Data modules; Letters from Mouse - "Bubbling analogue synthesis from Scotland." This analogue synth maestro and inimitable broadcaster (aka The Magic Window), boasts a string of quality releases, including the recent highly acclaimed album An gàrradh, also on Subexotic; Cub/cub - "Cub/cub explores the world in-between nostalgia and nihilism, analogue and digital, real and false; creating evocative and mournful musical collages." First discovered on Boards of Canada forum Twoism, Cub/cub's two debut releases with Subexotic demonstrated his considerable talent to mix fascinating texture with beguiling melody. With an astonishing follow-up album coming soon, his rising star feels unstoppable; Orbury Common - "aural ephemera from the home of the orbs." This mysterious duo from the West of England are blessed with delightful musical cunning; their brilliant debut on Subexotic lifted the lid, and this offering reaffirms exciting times lie ahead; Onepointwo - "Minimal electronics, abstract radio signals and dystopian soundscapes are proceeded from both digital and analogue sources." A creator of intricate yet powerful collage, with finely wrought motifs that repeat and build to create a shimmering psychedelic impact. This is Onepointwo's glorious trademark. Spell-binding releases already exist on Woodford Halse, Poeta Negra, Lotus, as well as an imminent powerhouse album forthcoming on Subexotic; Giants of Discovery - "Experimental electronica with the occasional noisy guitar thrown in." Giants of Discovery's ability to get to grips with the musicality of his subject, has lead to previous exquisite sojourns into realms such as Victorian cosmic horror and Greek mythology, as well as an equally fantastical, towering follow up album on Woodford Halse; Wonderful Beasts - "A Wonderful collaboration between boycalledcrow and Xqui." Their playful interaction finds ways of crafting acoustic fragments into unexpected kaleidoscopes of sound. With beguiling debuts on cult label Wormhole World (soon to be followed up by an extraordinary new album on Subexotic), there is a kind of breathless magic about everything they do; Dogs versus Shadows - Electronic Sound Magazine says "A rare example of gamekeeper turned poacher...a welter of impressive electronica." Lee Pylon's ability to straddle a wealth of uncompromisingly inventive creations, and his broadcasting prowess as the much loved Kites & Pylons, is already the stuff of legend. A multitude of releases across many labels including Subexotic, Woodford Halse, Miracle Pond, Third Kind, Submarine Broadcasting, Sensory Leakage, provide a glittering treasure trove of work; Counter Silence - A stalwart of Subexotic, Counter Silence's sparkling and wistful musical work very much stands alone in temperament and style. 2020's Pathways EP on Subexotic remains a precious oasis, imbued with a haunting solitude that lives on in the memory; Transient Visitor - "All music unlocked by Alex Cargill (C.O.I. Central Office of Information) and Martin Jensen (The Home Current)." These two intercontinental maestros (well Sidcup & Luxembourg) boast impressive solo back catalogues across many labels (including Castles in Space, Polytechnic Youth, Woodford Halse). Their newly conceived collaborative Transient Visitor project, brought about the superb TV1 album in 2020 - we can see the sparks fly again in this welcome 2021 return; Simon Klee - "Natural, Electric, Organic Psychedelic - Sounds, noise and psychedelic beats." Klee's playful alchemy engages the mind and spirit, as witnessed in a flurry of top quality releases in recent times (e.g. Subexotic, ANR, Woodford Halse), and there is a visceral joy in his work that is perfectly placed for a midsummer celebration. Klee also produces a truly excellent mixcast and increasingly essential tape label, both under the guise of Anticipating Nowhere; Rupert Lally - "Hailing originally from England but now based in Switzerland, Guitarist, Percussionist and Electronic Musician Rupert Lally began his career as a Sound Designer and Composer for Theatre and TV, before launching his solo career in 2005. Since then his releases have blurred the boundaries between electronic and acoustic music." Lally's consistently brilliant work is always a highlight of the electronic music calendar, including recent stellar works across many labels such as Spun Out Of Control, Third Kind, Woodford Halse, and Modern Aviation.

Melbourne-via-Tasmanian four-piece Quivers first released
their 2018 debut We’ll Go Riding On The Hearses as hand-made
cassettes. The album dealt with singer Sam Nicholson’s loss
of his brother in a freediving accident, and “trying to not think
about that, and often coming back to ghosts, benders, water,
and pissing in the snow.” When demand for the album grew,
it received a vinyl release and led Quivers to tour the US, film
a KEXP session, and be selected by NPR Music for both the
Austin 100 SXSW preview and as a “Slingshot” artist to watch.
Their life-damaged but hopeful jangle pop has only sharpened
since then, and while 2021 follow-up Golden Doubt conjures
up REM or The Clean, there is a lyrical directness that sets this
record apart as always its own.
Golden Doubt is carried by shimmering guitars and the
harmonizing vocals of members Holly Thomas and Bella
Quinlan. Elevated by the production of Matthew Redlich
(Holy Holy, Husky, Ainslie Wills), the record explores what
comes after grief, and how one throws oneself back into love. As
Nicholson explains, the album tries to bottle “the rush of feelings
and fears when you give in to falling for someone. It’s also an
album in love with other albums, and the other bands around
us.” Before each take at Woodstock and The Aviary studios in
Melbourne, Australia, the band would imagine a scene together
(a waterhole for “Laughing Waters”, an overgrown carpark for
“Videostores”) and then dive in to capture live group takes.
Quivers need to get words on the page and sounds out to keep
moving on. Both Nicholson and Thomas lost their brothers in the
same year, and through that shared vulnerability they all have
together that runs deep. Golden Doubt is also a love letter to
playing music as a band and processing it all together rather than
just carrying it as a weight. The cancellation of a 21-date US
tour they had slated for 2020 has left them undeterred; Quivers
plans to continue being a band and get back out into the world
as soon as it’s possible.