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Arbes’ long-awaited debut album, "Counterways", exists on the cusp between the ethereal and the more attention-seeking concerns of pop. The record invites listeners into an unusual sonic world of atmospheric depth. Comparisons can be drawn to New York post-punk of a more colourful bent, running Blondie all the way through to Gang Gang Dance. The album's dream-pop dimension brings to mind Cocteau Twins, while its grittier, art-rock moments, coloured with ambience feels akin to Deerhunter. Glimmering flashes of psychedelia channels the likes of Melody's Echo Chamber.

The ten track album explores romantic dreaming and the struggle to (not) understand and to be understood. It memorialises glimmers of connection, discontentment and longing. Front woman Jess Zanoni’s soulful, oracular voice is anchored by the earthbound brambles of prickly guitar and brushstroke percussion, where all is tethered to a surface of unearthly detail and resonance. Written and recorded over a five year period (2017-2022), Arbes eke out every possible ounce of emotionality from their songs. Not to sedate, but to guide listeners somewhere unexpected, at the song or album's conclusion.

A Day in the Life' was released in 1967 and reached #1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

From the early 1960s to the late '80s, A&M was one of the most eclectic and powerful independent record labels in the world. The roster of artists who recorded there includes The Carpenters, Captain Beefheart, The Police, Joe Cocker, Suzanne Vega, Procol Harum and Janet Jackson, among others. Founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962, soon the label garnered interest and success, and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989. Throughout its operations, A&M housed well-known acts such as Sting, Sergio Mendes, Supertramp, Bryan Adams, Burt Bacharach, Liza Minnelli, Paul Williams, Quincy Jones, Cat Stevens, Peter Frampton, Carole King, Extreme, Joan Baez, the Human League, Soundgarden, Duffy, and Sheryl Crow, among others. Reissue of the debut album on A&M Records by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, released in 1967. It reached #1 on the Billboard Jazz album chart and #2 on the R&B chart. Considered by far the best of his three albums on A&M (in partnership with Creed Taylor’s CTI Records), A Day in the Life features a plethora of star sidemen, such as Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto and Grady Tate, among others, as well as superb arrangements by Don Sebesky.

Discovered while working as a publishing assistant at Mute Records, Nerina Pallot signed to Polydor Records and released her first album in 2001. The release of her critically acclaimed second album, Fires, drew comparisons with Joni Mitchell, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, and spawned hit singles Everybody's Gone To War and Sophia, plus Brit Award and Ivor Novello nominations.

Now two decades into her career, Pallot's rich and varied back catalogue suggests an artist determined to carve her own path. She has lent her distinctive vocals to songs like Circus from Amazon's Modern Love and her version of Love Will Tear Us Apart on BBC/RTE's Normal People.

The creation of her latest album, A Psalm for Emily Salvi, is a deeply personal endeavour. Born from an unexpected connection, the record is both a love letter to those who have supported her over the years and a tribute to the power of music in the face of adversity. One day, Pallot received a message from a woman named Emily (not her real name), who shared how Pallot's music had been a lifeline during her darkest moments. That message became the catalyst for the album, a reminder of the importance of perseverance, connection, and vulnerability. Recorded in London and featuring a stellar cast of British musicians from the jazz and soul scene, it is an album of light and dark and steeped in the classic singer-songwriter tradition.

2024 Repress

Errol and Alex Rita’s Touching Bass are proud to present Soon Come; a landmark compilation celebrating the talents of their now intercontinental musical community and an introduction to the wide-spanning sound and feeling of their growing label. 22 original tracks spread across double 12” vinyl and split between 'day' and 'night' moods, creating exciting connections between music for both the home and the eclectic sounds of their much-loved dancefloor.

Over the past six years, Touching Bass have steadily established themselves as one of London’s most important musical incubators. More than just a club night, concert series, NTS Radio mainstay and a label, Touching Bass has become something of a movement: a community meeting grounds for music lovers and some of the most exciting contemporary music-makers both in the capital and beyond.

The tracklist is a reflection of that, curated by TB’s Errol, Alex Rita and Sammseed over the course of two years. Among the list of contributors are Chicago/New York’s keiyaA, Stones Throw’s DJ Harrison, Ben Hauke, Ego Ella May, recent WARP signee Nala Sinephro, Melo-Zed, Hiatus Kaiyote’s Clever Austin and many more (see below for tracklist). Artwork for the project comes from Alex Rita, combining moments caught at Touching Bass’ own gatherings over the years.

Since launching properly in 2019, Touching Bass has quickly established itself as one of the UK’s most exciting new labels. The young imprint has championed critically respected and refreshingly innovative works with little genre restriction, receiving recognition from both musical and cultural bil. From the electrifying grooves of Danish trio, Athletic Progression, to the modern classical of South London’s CKTRL (featuring Duval Timothy).

Along the way, Errol and Alex have also been tapped up for collaborations/ commissions with some of the world’s most forward-thinking creatives and institutions; from the world-renowned White Cube gallery for Frieze Week 2021 and fashion designers Nicholas Daley and Azura Lovisa to film music supervision for Ronan McKenzie and Joy Yamasungie’s WATA and multi-award winning director, Jenn Nkiru’s (Beyonce, Kamasi Washington, Neneh Cherry) Black To Techno, the experimental documentary which premiered at Frieze Los Angeles and was nominated for ‘Best Short’ at the IDA Awards.

For newcomers, Soon Come acts as a vital introduction to the label’s wide-spanning DNA. For those already acquainted, it’s a glimpse at its exciting future.

Diving deeper into the story of Japanese reggae pop, Tokyo Riddim Vol. 2 explores an electronic, new wave and often experimental sound unlike anything Japan or Jamaica had ever heard before.

The first time Ryuichi Sakamoto left Japan, he did not go to the United States or Europe - he went to Jamaica. It was 1978, YMO were about to release their debut album, but Sakamoto was in Kingston, invited to play synths for Japanese idol singer Teresa Noda at Dynamic Sound Studios in a band alongside Neville Hinds and none other than Rita Marley. It’s not a story many know, but one which would spark Sakamoto’s fascination with dub and mark a new chapter in the ongoing Japanese love affair with reggae.

The Teresa Noda tracks they cut - ‘Tropical Love’ and ‘Yellow Moon’ - bookend this second volume of Time Capsule’s Tokyo Riddim compilation, which tells the wider story of how a fascination with Jamrock swept Japan, adding a dash of lime to that sweet city pop sound, embracing a globalised musical palette and creating a whole new genre in the process.

For some, like Sakamoto, a diversion into reggae was part of broader fascination with new sounds and styles, tipped into the global disco of homage and appropriation that made Japanese music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s some of the most creative and undefinable in the world.

You had iconic shape-shifter Yosui Inoue, who toyed with reggae, afro-beat and electro-Balearic, (and whose For Life Records released several tracks on this comp), and Kay Ishiguro, who enlisted J-reggae originator Pecker on the ambitious Stevie Wonder-esque ‘Red Drip’.

Then there were the Compass Point devotees - producers and musicians alike who were enthralled by the sound of the Bahamas studio and drew on the detached cool of Grace Jones - as heard in the music of Juicy Fruits, and the disco noir of Casablanca-signed femme fatale Yuki Nakayamate. Sometimes, as was the case with Risa Minami, the J-reggae influence said more about Japan than it did about Jamaica.

But where Tokyo Riddim Vol. 1 focused on the city pop sound, this compilation goes further, digging out the more experimental collaborations and hybrids exemplified by Tomoko Aran, who in working with Yusuaki Shimizu and Mariah emphasised just how far reggae had travelled to be recast into something entirely new on the other side of the world.

Perhaps more than anything, in connecting the dots between Tokyo and Kingston, between Jamaica and Japan, the Japanese reggae was building a musical language that existed outside of the paradigms of US and European cultural hegemony - an encounter shaped by commerce, capital and creativity that is now being recognised more broadly for the first time.

Beehive Beach sees Euros’ melodic and lyrical flair undimmed on this, his 20th solo album.
The album features a stellar band: Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo) on bass & clarinet, Stuart Kidd on drums & vocals and Georgia Ruth on vocals & recorder. Recorded at Studiowz in Pembrokeshire by Owain Fleetwood Jenkins.
Euros’ previous four albums have been wholly solo affairs, but Beehive Beach sees Euros taking a different approach - playing and singing live in the studio with a band. “There's something special about capturing a song live in the studio,” says Euros, “it sets the song in a time and place, like capturing an image. It's also a lot of fun”.
Richly melodic, with an undercurrent of melancholia running throughout, Beehive Beach features ruminations on childhood - Black & White Dinner, Ursula's Crow - an ode to 1950s T.V & radio personality Isobell Barnett - Isobell – and celebrations of music and creativity - My Companion, Elspeth on the Shore - as well as self-reflection - A Different Kind of Blue, See-Saw.

For the Northern Soul collector few places rival Detroit as a source for quality, rare records. But Philadelphia comes pretty close and it is the city of brotherly love that produced America's number one independent record label... the mighty Cameo-Parkway. Here, for the first time, we present the very best that that iconic company has to offer.From the Wheel to Wigan, to the Weekender and beyond, the sound of Cameo-Parkway has packed the dance floors across the UK for over 50 years. From the opening bars of Dee Dee Sharp's driving cover of Mel Tormé's Comin' Home Baby' it's easy to see why the label is so highly prized by collectors and dancers alike and why this unique vinyl tribute will touch the hearts of the faithful! All of the classics are here: Chubby Checker, Christine Cooper, Bobby Paris, Yvonne Baker, Bunny Sigler, Jerry Jackson etc etc. The difficulty has been in deciding what to leave out, not what to include, maybe a second volume later in the year One thing is for certain, 1.2 million YouTube viewers just love Cameo-Parkway!

Belgian saxophonist, composer, and producer Mattias De Craene (Nordmann, MDCIII) announces a new solo album, ‘A House Where I Dream,’ on VIERNULVIER Records. On his second album, he delivers a highly personal and healing journey, presented as an alternative soundtrack to the 1973 cult film ‘The Holy Mountain.’

The record will be released on October 11 on vinyl LP and through all digital platforms.

"The Holy Mountain" is a surreal Mexican film from 1973 directed, written, and produced by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who also stars in the film. The film holds a prominent place in avant-garde cinema and explores themes such as spirituality, mysticism, and the quest for enlightenment. It is in this vein that ‘A House Where I Dream’ is crafted.

“My mind and soul - and thus my music - come home to this motion picture” - Mattias De Craene

The album will be presented live with the film on October 16 at Videodroom during Film Fest Gent.

ABOUT THE ALBUM
With hypnotic tape loops, grainy textures, and mesmerizing saxophone, Mattias De Craene creates possible worlds that herald a spiritual transformation. From the Scottish Highlands and desolate mountains to the deepest recesses of the soul, this music has the power to create cinematic landscapes that transcend time and space. The sound of these 8 tracks is closely related to the minimalist compositions of Terry Riley, but the work of contemporary artists like KMRU or William Basinski is also drawn from the same material.

Above all, this album is a deeply personal journey and unintentionally serves as a metaphor for De Craene's ascent of his own mountain. For the Videodroom festival by Arts Center VIERNULVIER, the saxophonist began working on a new soundtrack for the film ‘The Holy Mountain’ in 2023, but his body and mind abruptly called him to a halt, forcing him to take a professional break. However, this project never left him, leading to an honest and raw quest to find himself as both a person and an artist, with Jodorowsky as a companion de route and music as an anchor. It initiated a long process of dismantling, searching, healing and back again. The album not only provides a sanctuary for dreaming to all who listen, but for its creator it also serves as both an outcry of despair and a source of comfort during challenging times.

All the tracks on 'A House Where I Dream' share an unfiltered grain of life, as one can almost feel the damp breath of the saxophone blowing.

The album opens with the three-part strong 'Transcention,' where the hypnotic interplay between soprano sax and lo-fi tape loops leads to higher realms of the mind and soul.
Alternating between deep frequencies and farout folk modalities, this mantra-like triptych acquires an alchemical character and ultimately transcends time and space.

In the ethereal 'Away,' one can peer into an abyss of resonance while a saturated tenor sax lends guidance in the spirit of Terry Riley's productions. 'You and Me' also bathes in a similar atmosphere, albeit in the vein of healing 90s ambient as granular sax tones converge with celestial chants. 'Gazing Upwards Towards The Sky,' offers different shades of blue as a slumbering tenor sax is juxtaposed to swift sax patterns. On 'A Stranger That Moved Me,' beauty lands in a soft and subtle manner, while the closing track 'Shepherd's Glow' drifts like a mountain wind flaring up at the darkest hour of the night.

The artwork is created by Gent-based artist Sam Timmerman, who portrays the world of 'A House Where I Dream' with playful repetition and mystique.

Anna McClellan's childhood summers were spent in front of the TV, cementing a love of narrative that would later reveal itself through songwriting. By seventeen, Anna was performing original songs in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Her debut album, Fire Flames, garnered attention and earned her an opening slot on a Frankie Cosmos tour, setting the stage for her subsequently adored albums, 2018's Yes and No and / saw first light, released in late 2020. Now, with her forthcoming fourth album Electric Bouquet, out October 25, 2024 via Father/Daughter Records, McClellan crafts a musical journey that unfolds like one of her cherished television series. Each track is an episode, chronicling the past four years of her life - navigating a career change, a cross-country move, and relationships gone sour. Electric Bouquet is a narrative tour de force showcasing McClellan's remarkable ability to transform life's myriad of messy experiences into captivating musical stories. While writing the album, Anna attended trade school, apprenticing to become an electrician to escape the service industry grind and secure a foundational career alongside music. Eager to break free from Omaha, she decided to take her newfound electrical skills to pursue a career in the film industry in Los Angeles, CA where she's now based. Recorded in multiple sessions in Baltimore, MD and Omaha and co-produced with long-time collaborator Ryan McKeever and Another Recording Company Studios engineer Adam Roberts, Electric Bouquet shifts seamlessly between piano-driven melodies and guitar-anchored anthems, each song a miniature universe slowly opening unto itself.

Love Is A Flame In The Dark is the debut album by experimental songwriter Karl D’Silva. A raw labour of love, a towering spire of twisted steel, tenderness and becoming, it’s a body of songs that belies the virtuoso talents of an artist whose reputation has been built on collaborating with various avant garde underground luminaries. Self-recorded at home in Rotherham and pulsing with the conviction of a true believer, these songs burst out of their self-consciousness to meet life head on, bristling with energy, 10 glimpses of the human spirit in the darkness.
Recorded throughout 2021 - 2023 and mixed in Leeds with engineer Ross Halden, D’Silva has constructed a Pop language for himself. Mutated songs that owe a small debt to the post-Industrial music of Cabaret Voltaire, Nine Inch Nails and Coil, they’re nonetheless powered by a vigorous tenderness, earnestness and D’Silva’s knack for melody. Each song is meticulously sound-designed, using synthesised sounds created from scratch married with D’Silva’s virtuoso playing on saxophone and guitar. The songs on Love Is A Flame In The Dark are unabashed, earnest love letters to living, requiems for a world fading away and small gestures of solidarity in the face of entropy.
Until now, D’Silva’s fingerprints could be found on live dates with Thurston Moore, Oren Ambarchi, Hardcore pioneers Siege and Rian Treanor as well as recordings by previous groups Trumpets Of Death and Drunk In Hell. Primarily associated with the alto saxophone in his improvisation work, Love Is A Flame In The Dark features a dizzying array of instrumentation, all played by D’Silva. D’Silva’s current membership of the group Vanishing may be a good touchstone for the dense, sonically thrilling world-building on the album but the most
striking instrument, perhaps, is D’Silva’s voice. With a soulful, rasping timbre resulting from prolonged intubation as a new-born, his vocal is both fearless and tender. On the soaring, electronic body mover Wild Kiss, thundering percussion is in service to Karl’s voice full of desire, arching up into a flayed falsetto. It’s a trick repeated on Flowers Start To Cry, where it’s deployed against the backdrop of layers of ripping alto and thudding drum programming that recall Nine Inch Nails’ visceral production, if they were covering a Prince hit. These songs capture the essence of 2024’s Karl D’Silva music; pure physicality
breaking down to reveal a shining, compassionate vulnerability.
The full breadth of Karl D’Silva’s instrumental prowess is in evidence from the off. On The Outside imagines blooming out of personal apocalypse with a soundscape of synth, saxophone worthy of any late 60s Free Jazz blower and crushing sound design. Entropy is planet-sized synth pop, Nowhere Left To Run uses midi-string orchestration to tell a story of light emerging from the dark. It’s a theme picked up
throughout the album: The Butcher is a political parable, the narrator holding power to account with grotesque, brutal imagery. It’s on a track
like Real Life that the true message emerges, however. D’Silva is peering through the layers of artifice, struggle and the fog of daily
living to find a life full of energy, connection and light. Each song here is a route into this light, out of the darkness.

The Wild Classical Music Ensemble is a Belgian experimental rock band formed in 2007 by artists with mental disability within the social-artistic non-profit organisation Wit.h in Kortrijk. Their unique sound is a blend of punk/rock riffs, fanatical rhythms and soaring flutes and fiery synths, over which gravitate multiple, multilingual voices that scratch harshly as much as they comfort. There's something very Belgian about this harshness and noisiness. We often think of compadre Arno, from the TC Matic era. During the Covid crisis, the disabled members of the Wild Classical Music Ensemble were undoubtedly subjected more than others to the harsh conditions of confinement, alone in their rooms. Damien Magnette was still able to visit them with sound equipment. This was one of their all-too-few windows onto the world. Forbidden to meet, let alone play together, the members of Wild were nevertheless able to compose songs in tandem with Damien. The tracks were then sent to musician friends - Fabrice Gilbert, Ava Carrère, Wim Opbrouck, Shht, Arthur Satàn, Nathan Roche and Julien ZLDR - who added their artistic touch. Jean Lamoot and Carl Roosens joined the adventure, one as mixer, the other as video director. It's a result of the conditions under which it was created, this is the band's most highly-produced album, and perhaps its most accessible: frankly rock, with a great deal of freedom in production, and sometimes with a certain pop allure. Jean Lamoot's contribution to the mix had a lot to do with it. In addition, the forced slowdown allowed us to devote much more time and attention to writing the lyrics. Leader Damien Magnette says: "For over a year, we were all confined. But what about when you're a mentally handicapped person? Well, it's very different from you and me... We have the right to choose, the luxury of deciding for ourselves what rules we want to follow or not. We have free will. They don't. This series of confined songs is dedicated to all the people who have gone through this crisis, deprived of their free will. We send them our thoughts, hugs and kisses full of true love! The songs respond to a deep desire to look out for each other in adversity (the so obvious "Comment ça va?" by Johan Geenens and Wim Opbrouck, or "Waarom ben je boos" by Sébastien Faidherbe with Wim Decoene, the latter full of empathy). A sense of loneliness is logically present on the album ("Dat is mijn verdriet" by Linh Pham, a very real, very concrete and particularly touching poem, or "Loneliness", whose text was improvised by Wim), if not an understandable rage ("Je ne veux pas" and "My Frustrations"). It worth noting that on "On reste heureux", Sébastien Faidherbe composed all the parts in one go, with an optimism that stands out from the anger expressed in his other songs. Let's make no mistake: none of this is really over. All these emotions, suffering, pain and hope, speak to us far beyond this grim story of covid.

Another sad example of how unfair the music business can be. According to some sources, in June 1990, just a few weeks before Enigma's hugely successful track "Sadeness (Part I)" was released, Hartmut Gawehn (one half of Sloopey G.) brought a demo tape of „Domine“ to Virgin Records in Munich. The demo was quite well received, generating a great deal of interest on behalf of Virgin's A&R department. Interestingly enough, Michael Cretu of Enigma happened to have a music publishing company in the same building, just one floor above Virgin. Shortly thereafter, Enigma's "Sadeness (Part I)" was released, bearing a shamelessly striking resemblance. This "coincidence" led the production team at FURORE Studio in Düsseldorf into a long and complicated legal battle over their intellectual property, which dragged on for years — but with little success for the pioneers of this sound.
Here you can listen to the original tracks of the DOMINE production, along with a previously unreleased track from the same era. Downtempo breakbeat/house rhythms combined with religious samples and vocals — a sound that was very much ahead of its time. Get closer to God and to the truth behind the sound that helped sell so much perfume during the 90s. Must have for any true early house aficionado.

Recorded in Memphis, 1960-62 by Home of the Blues Record Company – sixteen tracks of vintage rocking Memphis blues that went unissued at the label’s demise and were lost in a warehouse, ultimately rediscovered and released by Acoustic Archives.

All now remastered to perfection by Oz Fritz and a team of A&R experts working with the original masters, including ones made by Sam Phillips Recording Studios in Memphis.

Featuring the superb arrangements of trumpeter Willie Mitchell, accompanying some of the best singers of the day, with guitar by Sammy Lawhorn, bass by Lewi Steinberg and drums by AI Jackson Jr. Recorded in glorious mono by Scotty Moore at Sam Phillips Recording Service.

Each artist bio had been thoroughly researched under the guidance of Acoustic Archives producer Marc Ryan with the assistance of Dr. Dave Evans, head musicologist at Memphis State U. The story provided in the 12-page booklet includes how these cuts eventually surfaced from the early 1960s and features the photos and commentary on the recording artists, with how the original owners of the Home of The Blues Record Shop, once at 107 Beale Street, worked at the recordings.

Mystic Bill’s deep house favourite ‘U Won’t C Me’ receives a four-track vinyl package on Nu Groove, including the latest remix from German electronic innovator Stefan Braatz. Originally released on the legendary Strictly Rhythm and acquired by Luke Solomon’s Classic Music Company in 2015, this seminal deep house record remains a firm favourite of house heads in the know and is a shining example of the genre. This four-track wax features the original ‘U Won’t C Me’ alongside Jake’s Savage Acid Re-Dub from the mind of NYC’s Jake Reif, as well as the original B-Side ‘Like A Dream In The Night’. Joining these seminal tracks is the new Panic Remix from Stefan Braatz, incorporating his reverence for the deep house genre into a striking club-ready remix that ups the tempo and bewilders with thoughtful synthwork at every turn.

In demand record on Discogs, with an original copy setting you back at least £30+. Reissued and remastered for the first time since 2015 with brand new remixes. Killer package!

The 1980 space disco hit you probably never heard of. Now officially remastered including new stunning edits by Peaking Lights and Korkut Elbay. Picture sleeve with an outstanding painting by Antonia Freisburger.

'Inside' with loads of synths and some vocoder on top is a wild jam that is propelling more and more into a frenzy during its course.

Following the orginal is a dancefloor-edit by Korkut Elbay which puts the vocal part into focus. Korkut Elbay, part of the Cómeme camp and an integral part of Cologne's electronic music scene for over 20 years, crafted an edit in its purest form.

On the flipside Aaron Coyes of the California-based duo Peaking Lights stretches out the original and reaches higher grounds with his stomping rework. He gently adds some more keys and puts you into a trance with his soothing melodies. Now dance!

But what's the story behind this unearthed gem stone? In the late 1970s a marketing company owner faced an increasing competitve market and wanted to work indepently from the professional studios which were charging high rates for commercials back then. The solution was to build his own sound studio. So he set one up in the basement of his company in Saarbrücken, Germany. He hired a studio operator and a composer that got quite a reputation in the local scence back then and besides daily job routines 'Inside' was created.

NEW 2024 ALBUM, LP, 180G, HiGH QUALITY VINYL HAND MADE IN DENMARK IN AN ARTISANAL PROCESS (in a an Audiophile Quality approach where EVERY 75th COPY IS QUALITY CHECKED IN FULL).

For their 45th Band Anniversary the Iconic duo is still grooving and back with FOREVERGREEN
With Laid Back's 12 favourite songs of all time in a brand new recorded Laid Back cover version,
incl. "All You Need is Love", "House of The Rising Sun", "My Generation", "Gloria". "Whiter Shade Of Pale"
and so many more.
HQ Vinyl LP Handmade in Denmark in Artisanal Process


Formed in the 1979, the duo is still grooving at their studio in Vesterbro, Copenhagen.
Laid Back gained their first international major break through in the 80's with Sunshine Reggae and White Horse. The dualism and originality of the two songs has left a worldwide and everlasting reputation of their music. The 3rd evergreen from their hand was made in 1990 named Bakerman altogether with a music video by Lars Von Trier.
More recently, the two members have co-founded their own record company, Brother Music, which has released Laid Back Albums "Cosyland", the chill out album "Cosmic Vibes" and the recent two Studio Albums "Uptimistic Music" and "Road to Fame".

For their 45th Band Anniversary the Iconic duo is back with FOREVERGREEN! A stunning, simply Irresistable album meeting again the Band and (more than) 45 Year of music history. With Laid Back's favourite songs of all time in a Laid Back cover version!!


GENRE/S: Cover songs, reggae, Pop, chill out, classic, evergreens

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.