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Teenage Fanclub have announced news of their tenth studio album, Endless Arcade, released 5th March. Even if we weren’t living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world.

Endless Arcade follows the band’s ninth album “Here”, released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first Top 10 album since 1997; a mark of how much they’re treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heart-warming and heart-aching; guitars chime and distort; keyboard lines mesh and spiral; harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day.

In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as “Bandwagonesque” and “Grand Prix”. This century, albums such as “Shadows” and “Here” have documented a more relaxed, less ‘teenage’ Fanclub, reflecting the band’s stage in life and state of mind, which Endless Arcade slots perfectly alongside. The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts - insecurity, anxiety, loss.

Such is life. But the title track suggests, “Don’t be afraid of this endless arcade that is life.”

A preview from the album came in February 2019 with Raymond’s ‘Everything Is Falling Apart’, an online single released at the outset of a six-month tour and a highlight of Endless Arcade.

Everything is falling apart? Well, yes, but the song was written long before COVID-19 arrived. Neither was Raymond’s inspiration political or social, but more, “the entropy in the universe, the knowledge that everything eventually decays,” he explains. But Raymond says relax. Or rather, “Relax, find love, hold on to the hand of a friend”.

Fortunately, Endless Arcade was virtually finished by the time lockdown was announced, bar the odd tinker under the engine hood. It seems timely, given how everyone had to initially stay home under lockdown, that the album starts with Norman’s ‘Home’, though it was chosen in part because of its opening line: “Every morning, I open my eyes...” The album’s longest track (at seven minutes) typifies TFC’s relaxed groove, culminating in Raymond’s peach of a guitar solo.

Norman’s search for ‘home’ could be literal: after all, he’s been living in Canada for the last 10 years. But it’s also figurative. Like Norman’s other Endless Arcade songs – The Sun Won’t Shine On Me’, ‘Warm Embrace’, ‘I’m More Inclined’, ‘Back In The Day’ and ‘Living With You’ – his words on ‘Home’ are etched by loss and yearning. “Without going into too much detail, the last eighteen months have been challenging for me on an emotional level,” he admits. “But it’s been cathartic channelling some of these feelings and emotions into song.”

In contrast, Raymond’s songs – he’s also responsible for ‘Come With Me’, ‘In Our Dreams’, ‘The Future’ and ‘Silent Song’ – are philosophical and questing. As he sings in ‘The Future’: “It’s hard to walk into the future when your shoes are made of lead”, but he’s still going to try, “and see sights we’ve never seen.”

In the band’s own near future, they’re already planning another new album given they can’t yet tour the one they’re releasing now. Welcome back, Teenage Fanclub, unafraid of this endless arcade that is life.

Das neue Album der niederländischen Death/Doom Metalband knüpft nahtlos an den Sound des Vorgängers 'Mysterium I' (2022) voll düsterer Verzweiflung und schöner Melancholie an.

Known for its groundbreaking techno releases, Infrastructure New York, is relaunched! Celebrating 27 years of Function releases this year and the label's 25th anniversary, the label will serve as an outlet for his new material, reissues of out-of-print classics from Synewave, Sandwell District and Ostgut Ton (and of course, Infrastructure), as well as developing new artists. As a member of the Sandwell District collective, David Sumner aka Function, from 2007 onward was instrumental in cultivating and ushering in a new sound of dark, cerebral hypnotica - forcing the hand of change in global techno. Green EP serves as a testament to this, further exploring these depths. The EP pays homage to the day when David arrived in Berlin with his green suitcase where his record "Isolation" on Sandwell District was released, hitting the ground running and springboarding into an incredibly successful career, becoming a stalwart DJ/producer, after years as a struggling artist. Green EP encapsulates the same raw power and hypnotic energy of his genre-defining Sandwell District releases Isolation, Anticipation and Variance, updated with a modern flair. Subject f (Function) has clearly transcended, as expressed through the opening track "Initiation" arriving at his "New Designation". On the b-side Function communicates his divine alignment through the broken beat, etheric "Aeternum (Meridian)". Finally, Function closes Green EP with a live extraction of "Desire and Memory", a brooding club stormer in contrast to the more experimental leanings of the original version, which appeared on Rrose's label Eaux. One thing is clear: Function is back on track and more on form than ever!

"After Georgio Moroder, Dieter Moebius or Jeff Mills, it is Joakim’s turn to get inspired by one of the greatest masterpieces of Cinema - actually the first movie to enter UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

It's a dark journey into the depths of Metropolis, its industrial noises but also its moments of light through Maria’s character and Freder. Quite a change of scenery, from the exploration of the living realm on Joakim’s previous album Second Nature to the quintessential dystopian human-built city !"r.

Over the last few years, Bristol born, London based artist LCY has become one of the guiding lights in a scene of fans who like their club music deep, dark and with a heavy dose of rhythm. Releasing predominantly on their own label SZNS7N, LCY has transcended musical boundaries, taking from a wide range of musical influences to create their own fluid hybrid style that indulges the deepest desires of those who chase a visceral dancefloor response - uplifting a huge amount of unconventional producers alongside them in the process. Today marks the announcement of their first release on fabric Originals, the flagship label from global club imprint fabric, alongside a new single, ‘Bad Blood’.

Opening to a stark cascade of sonic shards and mechanised vocal chops, ‘Bad Blood’ descends into a sparse percussive workout. The track expertly makes use of space in its composition, stripping down its raw elements to reveal a beat that’s purpose built for sweat. Using glitching elements to find new elements of intricacy within its drum programming, LCY inexplicably creates a composition that’s wholly inviting despite its ominous sound - with even the track’s more human elements twisted to sound like they’re from an outer realm.

XLR8R: "great release as one would expect"
Hunee: "everything is going up in smoke and descending lightly and gently like black feathers falling on snow"
Sven Vath: "catches my heart"
Ame: "great”
Esther Duijn: "outstanding”
Darko Esser: "mindboggling EP”
Pitchfork: "nice apocalyptic vibes”

Black smoke coming from the chimney; we have a blast off! Intergalactic Gary launches massive 4 tracker from his his lab.

Such Ferocious Beauty is vintage Cowboy Junkies and another dimension from the lo-fi Canadian band comprised of, well, family. A tangle of sonic textures, Beauty is a rumination on aging, losing parents, facing mortality and creating space for one"s life in the midst of the ruin that comes from merely living. "Mike has never shied away from the darker, harder and sometimes uglier realities of our human condition," Margo Timmins explains of the band"s singular focus, "nor has he shied from its beauty. Thankfully, with one comes the other." Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The band gained wide recognition with their second studio album, The Trinity Session (1988), recorded in 1987 at Toronto"s Church of the Holy Trinity. Their sound, again using the ambisonic microphone, and their mix of blues, country, folk, rock and jazz earned them both critical attention and a strong fan base. Cowboy Junkies have gone on to record 16 studio albums and five live albums.

Neue Picture Disc-Auflage des zweiten Albums der US-Künstlerin Indigo De Souza, Any Shape You Take (2021), co-produziert von Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee, The War On Drugs). Ihr neues, drittes Werk, All Of This Will End (Mai 2023), stösst derzeit in der einschlägigen Musikpresse auf einhellige Begeisterung.

Sorry Girls have danced out of the darkness into the light. Since forming in 2015, the Montreal duo of Heather Foster Kirkpatrick and Dylan KonradObront have transformed an eerie, dream like sound into lush, pleasure seeking pop. Expanding upon their debut album, Deborah, the band’s deftly arranged sophomore LP, Bravo!, sings to the back rows of the stadium, drawing listeners inward with a newfound focus on personal lyrics. “These songs are all about self-acceptance, self-affrmation, personal freedom, and letting go,” says Kirkpatrick. “There are a lot of lyrics about the creative process itself, identity shaping, and how those things intertwine.”

Tigercub return with their highly anticipated new album The Perfume Of Decay via Loosegroove Records (the label co-founded by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard). With The Perfume of Decay — Tigercub' third record of nocturnal, hard-hitting rock, as well as their first full-length release for Loosegroove Records — frontman Jamie Hall draws the curtains shut and embraces a moody, melancholic sound that's every bit as cinematic as Hollywood itself. It's an album about counterpoint and opposites, stacked with songs that contrast overdriven guitars with whispered vocals, tight grooves with shoegazing swells of noise, sonic experimentation with sharp songwriting. For a band that's always trafficked in drama and dynamics, The Perfume of Decay marks Tigercub's strongest release to date.

Reissue of the 2011 album Tao of the Dead by American alternative rock band ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead. First time available on vinyl since its release year. Features a replica of the original comic book insert. Tao of the Dead is their seventh album. The band stripped down to its core four-piece lineup for the record, deviating from the past two records that featured a filled-out six-piece band. This resulted in a stripped-down record with heavy emphasis on guitar. It’s a two-part record, each side with a specific musical tuning; Part One in D and Part Two in F. The album can be listened to as 16 different movements or two lengthy tracks. Part One: Tao Of The Dead is split into eleven tracks, whereas Part Two: Strange News From Another Planet is five songs combined into one. Lead singer Conrad Keely described the album's composition; "It's the way I listened to albums when I was a kid, seeing as some of my favorite records were Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Yes' Relayer and Close to the Edge... I always liked listening to records that were just a continuous piece, like an orchestra or a symphony."

The fact that ATLASES from Finland sound different has its reasons. Besides the "normal instrumentation" of a metal band, the musicians from Pori also work with electronic drum pads and keyboards. Both are not just additional accessories, but an integral part of the musical self-image of this Nordic group. In addition, there is the creative demand to go further aesthetically and sonically than is usual in modern post-metal. In the cinematic soundscapes ATLASES are creating you can lose yourself completely. The third album "Between The Day & I" pushes this approach to the extreme. The dualism of beautiful, atmospheric euphony and abrupt brute force works fantastically and provides lasting impressions. The sextet from Pori sets tension arcs time and again, which lead deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of rapture, melancholy and emotional discharge. On the follow-up to their 2020 LIFEFORCE RECORDS debut, "Woe Portrait", ATLASES present themselves as resourceful songwriters who cultivate powerful contrasts beyond the usual conventions of post-metal and thus stand out. With "Between The Day & I", the Finns prove that modern post-metal can still be developed further, if the right attitude and the necessary daring meet forward-thinking creativity and an elevated level of ambition. The fact that the cover motif of the new ATLASES album evokes associations in the direction of the Mastodon classic "Remission" or "White Pony" of the mighty Deftones is a coincidence, but on closer reflection it fits pretty well.

Old school down Dark tempo Techno hardcore.

Windowseeker is Lukas Oppenheimer and ‘Spiral 2 Success’ is his Transatlantic debut. It revels in the transcendent power of pure ¦lth. It’s a yellow-eyed union of decadence and depravity and a corrupted testament to pure, oppressive darkness. This is music designed to make you the bad person you need to be to get to where you’re going. ‘Aspire+’ casts a smeared, neon pall over everything it touches, like a
dirt-caked strobelight §ickering in the void. It drives and propels relentlessly, a pacemaker for cold hearts. Flipside ‘Play With Me’ is a work of teeth-grinding hyperfocus, an ouroborosian bass buster that guides its listener further and further away from the comforting glow of virtue. ‘Spiral 2 Success’ contains reckless music for goal-oriented
hedonism: the sound of vicious circles that wind their way ever and in¦nitely higher. Embrace the downward ascent

Dark and deep Doom old school sound... The Hardcore Blues.

Miners riots failed and dropped them into the most dark depressive hardcore ever... Big !

DARKTHRONE'S LEGENDARY 1989 DEMO, INCLUDING ADDITIONAL
TRACKS FROM BOOTLEG TV 1989, PLUS ADDITIONAL RARE REHEARSAL
TRACKS FROM 1990 - PRESENTED ON BLACK VINYL.
Longstanding Norwegian band Darkthrone started in 1986, originally
under the name of 'Black Death', before their final infamous moniker was introduced Although becoming known the world over as a black metal band crucial to the legacy of the genre, Darkthrone began more as an extreme metal band utilising element of thrash, death & doom metal into their early compositions.

'Cromlech' was Darkthrone's final demo release before a deal was inked with Peaceville Records. The demo was recorded in 1989 with the line- up of Gylve Nagell (Drums), Ted Skjellum (Guitars/vocals), Ivar Enger (Guitars) & Dag Nilsen (Bass); a line-up which would remain in place for the revered 'Soulside Journey' & 'A Blaze
In The Northern Sky' albums.As well as the iconic 'Cromlech' demo itself containing tracks which would go on to form part of the 'Soulside Journey' debut - this release also contains additional tracks from the Bootleg TV Oslo recordings in 1989, including a cover of Celtic Frost's 'Visual Aggression'.

Finally, this edition of 'Cromlech' also includes a trio of instrumental tracks from a rehearsal tape originally made for Peaceville founder Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw, sent to him in 1990.
This edition of 'Cromlech' is presented on vinyl format with printed inner sleeve & includes the original 'Cromlech' art/logo

Wirski’s debut on MISBHV Recordings offers a nuanced narrative operating in its own genre of Eastern European rough-edged club melancholy.

MISBHV004 opens with Inside The Dark Echo – a claustrophobic, stifling, relentless, sensual dance with desire. Darkroom complexity with heavy surface tension built on an EBM undercurrent flirt with subtle psychedelia and traces of acid that slowly firm up their multi-layered grip through its running time of six and a half minutes.

Warszawa paints a stripped-back, tantalizing picture. Opening with a brutalist, militant drum programming and surprisingly spacious, warm bassline, its rigid rhythm, tightened up by a repetitive, cold breath mantra eventually opens up to bright, shimmering synth flickers evoking olibanum – the sacred scent of altar candles. Warszawa is looking at the multilayered melody of its landscape – from eerie Soc-realist blockhouses, through neon-lit, seedy strip clubs of the 90s to opulent sacral architecture.

Warm Waters Of Eternity subtly weave a cinematic, Carpenteresque soundscape with a sense of overpowering, ecstatic innocent euphoria that invokes a dream of an early 1990s rave deep in the dark woods of Poland.

Ygrok brings a long-awaited fourth release to its catalog. René Audiard's Sakhalin' takes things a step away from traditional club music.
The A side, Vox Out' opens with the skeleton of a rhythm. Scattered tom drums and barely detectable whirs, fading and reeling in the background. When the distorted voices begin their story behind a hissing, grinding off-shaker, you know this will not be your traditional club track. A story develops. The barest hint of a shuffling beat, a subtle reminder of Soren's previous work, pins down the journey into the darkest psychic territory. The title track Sakhalin steps even further into darkness. Crackling electrics and disjointed atmospheres change at a glacial pace over a submerged hydraulic beat. Sakhalin Audiard experimental territory.

Bound To Rise is the quietly impressive debut album from Yorkshireman Chris Brain. His songs have a gentleness and ethereality, enhanced by his softly husky, smoky vocals coupled with delicate finger-picked guitar patterns based around his alternate tunings.

The self-composed songs draw on the pastoral and the traditional, heavily centred in natural imagery featuring both as itself and as allegory. A misty ambiguity, suggestions of layered meaning and hints of multiple interpretations permeate the lyrics. And darker moods throw long shadows across this landscape.

A pre-dawn longing for the sun in title track ‘Bound To Rise’ seems to obliquely evoke springtime, primitive beliefs and lifting mood. ‘Bird Count’ is another daybreak song hinting at other, more intimate, preoccupations, “calling out your name / never to be tame”.

‘Chance To See’ celebrates the emotional significance of a relationship, and it’s easy to interpret ‘Golden Eagle’ as its flipside partner, “but you can’t choose her, she chooses you” – or maybe it’s simply a song about birdwatching. ‘Flying On Time’ continues with rare sightings paired with impressions of human air travel and distance, “she’s due tonight / just for one night / to visit our skies”.

Non-specific doubt and uncertainty edgily patrol ‘If I Could’, whilst the cheerfully pattering guitar motif of ‘Peace And Quiet’ belies an inner melancholy, and ‘Rare Find’ charmingly bookends Mary Jane Walker’s plangent violin and Simeon Walker’s subtle piano.

‘Sunday Morn’ “lays the week to rest” amongst other things but, despite the laid-back vibe, all is not sunny and “melancholy calls to greet us once more”. Brain’s songs are intriguing shifts of light and shade, and the details improve with each listen.

Coming full circle thematically, the joyous simplicity of expression in ‘Sun Song’ makes it close kin to the mighty Bright Phoebus, “the sun was born and she’s beautiful / the sun was born from the ground”. It’s an optimistic ending to an emotionally ambiguous album.

Influenced by, among others, Nick Drake, John Martyn and Joni Mitchell, it’s not hard to see where Chris Brain is coming from. More interesting is where he’s going to. Bound To Rise makes a very promising start.