Buscar:demons

Rich in melody and instantly classic in feel, Luca dell’Orso debuts on CWPT with an extended EP of lush Italo, sensitively summoned from the Netherlands. Having impressed with previous releases on labels including Bordello A Paligiaria and Red Laser Records, these six tracks demonstrate a delicate approach to his studio, flitting between pop songwriting and analog experimentation.

From the soft fanfare that announces ‘Solitair & Solidair,’ ‘Actors’ establishes a confident groove that gently pushes an Alfa Romeo pedal toward Balearic ecstasy. On the instantaneous lead single ‘Dear Rosie,’ dell’Orso blends the signature palette of the vintage Yamaha-X7 synthesizer with longing vocals from collaborator Jolisa. A paean to a special person from a distant past, ‘Dear Rosie’ is blessed with a wistful melody befitting an Eric Rohmer classic, a musical postcard of a treasured connection. From wistful midsummer memories, dell’Orso easily transports listeners to another season entirely with ‘Winter Scent’, a deep meditation reflecting the artist’s walks in the few hours of available sunlight, thoughts beautifully vocoded beneath a heavy sonic layer.

Out of this lavish gloom blossoms the inevitable sound of spring on the driving, optimistic ‘Love by Association’; an enduring recipe of distinct drums and pitch-shifting synthesis, frozen in time for frenetic Eurodisco dancefloors. On ‘Propaganda’, dell’Orso offers a more forceful take on the same instincts, skipping inner-Schengen borders to simmer via industrially-tinted pleasures as revealed in Dusseldorf, 1984. For a sublime finale, ‘This Time (Things Will Be Different)’ takes to the piano, where Luca dell’Orso finds space to demonstrate the elegant minimalism that easily coexists alongside his timeless energy.

Singer, songwriter and composer Melike Şahin is set to releases her new album AKKOR via Gülbaba Records in partnership with Day Dreamer

An empowering assertion of survival that propels traditional Anatolian pop and folk influences into the future, AKKOR rises like a phoenix from the flames to reintroduce the Turkish superstar diva to an international audience. An expression of Şahin’s personal growth, the album is an affirmation of her growing status as the voice of a generation, and hose lyrics have been adopted as a callto rights for the women’s movement in Turkey.

Recorded live in London with producer Martin Terefe (London Brew, Buika, Jamie Cullum), AKKOR features a selection of the most talented and forward-thinking musicians on the scene, including guitarists Dave Okumu and violinist Raven Bush, as well as terling Campell (David Bowie) on drums, Glen Scott (Eric Bibb) and Nikolaj mTorp Larsen on keyboards. Bringing an international feel to her mheart-rending performances, the record represents the most focussed and complete expression of Şahin’s sound to date. Melike Şahin has made a career of facing down criticism and censorship to make sumptuous and provocative music that captures the defiant tone of progressive creativity in contemporary Turkey. Having performed around the world with Turkish psych legends BaBa ZuLa, Şahin released her debut album Merhem in 2021, gathering billions of streams and building a reputation for unforgettable live performances in the process. Influenced by the style of Sade, cutting an elegant and beguiling figure on the stage. Where Şahin describes Merhem as about healing, she says AKKOR is about survival, both on an emotional level, coming to terms with difficult relationships, childhood trauma and the pressures of newfound fame, and on a social level, in continuing the champion the rights of the oppressed in the face of state and media violence. Powerful and vulnerable in equal measure, AKKOR demonstrates an orchestral grandeur and a dramatic flair drawn from Şahin’s love for traditional Anatolian pop and folk music, injected with the urgency of contemporary production. Bound together by Şahin’s inimitable voice AKKOR skips between Middle Eastern melancholy and classic disco hedonism, for an album that is as stylistically open, pluralistic and affirmative as the messages the music carries.

Although she does not describe herself as an activist, Şahin’s poignant lyrics have come to define the women’s movement in Turkey, with the words, “I deserve each and every inch of this smile,”adorning protest banners on International Women’s Day and celebratory posters at Pride.

“This is the moment that I told myself, Yes, I am an artist,” Şahin says. “I am bearing all of the other things because of this, because I am affecting people's lives, and I am giving some power.” AKKOR – which translates as candescent – finds Melike rising again and burning brighter than ever before.

Overall though, Şahin says AKKOR is her rebirth album – a statement of self-empowerment, through which she hopes tocontinue to raise up the voices of those around her. “You are seeinga woman who falls down, but who rises again and flies,” sheexplains. “Maybe she doesn't win, maybe she doesn't lose, but she's a survivor,” Şahin concludes. “She is a phoenix.”

Impex has always had a special place in their hearts for Shoji Yokouchi’s Greensleeves. Standards, original tunes, and traditional pieces (like the title track), are interpreted in unexpectedly funky, soulful ways. The master guitarist is given immeasurable support by organist Yuri Tashiro. Her playing is alternately moody and spry, fiery and funky. Impex’s vinyl reissue preserves the original’s clear, exacting sound (check out the bass on Tashiro’s organ!) while improving surface noise and presentation. This rare gem of Tee Fujii’s repertoire is yet another entertaining listen for Three Blind Mice fans from their friends at Impex Records!



"I cannot understand how Chris Bellman got 100% of the dynamics, power, subterranean deep powerful bass, delicate guitar, bass riffs, and drums all on a 33 RPM release without the instruments colliding into one another. I am shocked by the RTI pressing of such utter quiet and explosive punch... harmonics and layered realistic textures lived in the room as the needle found its groove. Imaging is pin-point stable and precise, and dynamics never overload."

"If this is not the ultimate audiophile demonstration LP released this year, then none will be released. I dare you to stop listening to this LP once the first cut has commenced! With mostly standards jazzed up for the brilliant musicians to love to play, I was constantly tapping my toes and reminiscing on when I first heard a certain melody. What great fun!"

" ...Packaged by Impex in slick classy gloss and full color, Greensleeves is a high-quality production for a top jazz collection. Prediction: this release will triple in price! For those smart enough to buy multiple copies and put extras away, a bonus awaits them! This is the best audiophile system demonstration LP I have heard in ages, and a must-own. Thank you Impex! Greensleeves receives my highest BUY recommendation!" - Robert H. Levi

**Including 12-page booklet including liner notes and artwork made by Vormlust** Lush house, electronic and italo tracks ready for club use. A beautifully produced album with absolute floor killers and emotional set-enders. FIGI's debut album, "fig.1", is a meticulously crafted compilation of 11 tracks that have been made and woven together over a span of three years. The album delves into the intriguing realm of figures, both in the context of shapes and language, where they possess the unique ability to evoke emotions and connections without being the exact representation of those sentiments. Each track on "fig.1'' originated in moments of creativity, allowing the smallest of ideas to sprout and grow into full musical compositions. Drawing inspiration from the serene landscapes of the Jura in Pays de Gex and the energy of club nights in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and The Hague. Throughout the album, FIGI skillfully captures the essence of pure bliss in some tracks, while others ignite extreme dancefloor excitement. "fig.1" marks an exciting new chapter in FIGI's musical journey, serving as a blueprint for innovative approaches to music creation. It is a demonstration of the artist's dedication to crafting a rich and diverse sonic landscape that resonates deeply with the listener.

After releasing their accomplished debut album “NEW AGE PARANOIA” in 2023, THE DSM IV are following up with this limited edition, vinyl only EP “NEGATIVE UTOPIA”. Formed by Guy McKnight of the critically acclaimed and cult favourite The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, THE DSM IV has a dark sound that blends hypnotic noise-rock with synth-pop industrial aesthetics. “NEGATIVE UTOPIA” features six more synth-pop-acid-house-goth-rock-new-wave bangers. The A-Side consists of three new songs by the band. Meanwhile on the B-Side there are remixes of two tracks from “NEW AGE PARANOIA” (‘Racist Man’ and ‘Pennywise’) plus a cover of Joy Division’s iconic ‘Isolation’. Shimmering synth lines meet heavy guitar riffs in a kaleidoscopic sonic sound space where McKnight’s shamanic vocal acts as a guiding force. This EP, like their debut album, demonstrates that THE DSM IV are a band with a social conscience and are unafraid to speak truth to power on matters of injustice. Their music is a reflection of the what is around them, it grapples with the consequences of a cruel and unjust planet with an optimism and belief that a better world is possible.

In 2016, the Norwegian pianist and composer Espen Berg was commissioned to write for the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. With the opportunity to hand-pick a line-up consisting of 14 of Scandinavia’s most creative and prolific jazz artists, Espen grasped this opportunity with both hands and a mind bursting with ideas. MAETRIX premiered at Molde Int’l Jazz Festival in 2017 to a standing ovation, making the audience shake their head in awe. However, MAETRIX isn’t just an impressive feat, it’s also incredibly beautiful music.

With MAETRIX, Espen has solidified his call to explore a kind of music where complex rhythms are paired with strong, heartfelt melodies. The name itself combines the 1999 blockbuster movie title The Matrix, with metrics. Similar to the movie, the listener can choose which reality to listen to, either intellectually by diving into the mechanical and the conceptual, or emotionally by getting carried away by the melodies and the music as a whole.

The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra demonstrates yet again to inherit a flexibility and agility more commonly associated with smaller bands. Every musician add their personal rendition to the scores, transcending the music and make it come alive. MAETRIX has been performed at seven festivals and venues in Norway and Sweden, and it was recorded in Rainbow Studio, Oslo in May 2021 by Martin Abrahamsen. For Espen it has been a defining project, and many of the songs have lived on in his trio. It also laid the groundwork for Water Fabric, which was released in November 2023. As an «about time»-moment, MAETRIX will finally be available on Odin Records on Aug 30.

Six songs that are worth it. Manic electropunk that somehow - consciously or as collateral damage - manages to pack that seventies goblin horror movie vibe (on one track it's also a video game soundtrack) into catchy and contemporary songs that just move forward. Big guitars, big synthesizer, big drum beats and those nasty melodies that can still accelerate demons in 2023. A bit of VOLT could be mentioned as a reference, but the band from mighty, mighty Offenbach (for a world career I would suggest Frankfurt) clearly has its own flair and, despite the home recording, seems so powerful that it hurts. Compared to the Bandcamp stream on vinyl and a decent system, “Havana Syndrome” sounds much more powerful. The almost cheap beatbox is the real icing on the cake, because the guitar, the bass and, above all, that divinely played synthesizer are so amazing that I'm inclined to want a child from a band for the first time. I'll tell you straight away, it won't be pretty, but at least it'll be talented. Exquisite 12”, which especially calls for a second helping! Shortly before the ten points, but there is still something going on.

2025 marks the vinyl release of Changes 2, the pioneering album by legendary vocalist, keys player and composer Mike Lindup.

A remarkably engaging body of work with wide ranging elements, Changes 2 plots a course through upfront soul, deep funk, jazz riffs and disco vibes, tied together with the melodic magic and engaging vocals for which Mike Lindup is widely known.

As an internationally renowned musician with decades of achievements and accolades, Mike Lindup's outstanding career has taken him on a unique journey. With the band Level 42, he consolidated a place in music history with some of the greatest hits of the era, gaining a dedicated fanbase that see the band still touring to this day. As a soloist, the first Changes album and a notable release on Naim records, as well as his work with UK/Brazilian outfit Da Lata, have all allowed further development of a burgeoning creativity, now ultimately culminating in Changes 2 - an enthralling representation of where Mike Lindup is today.

Changes 2 features various excellent guest artists that demonstrate the diverse nature of the album, including the stellar vocals of Omar and Tony Momrelle, bass magic from Yolanda Charles and even an appearance from the comedian and impressionist Jon Culshaw! The album has also inspired two funk- fuelled dance remixes from Dave Lee and the inimitable Louis Vega. All of these talented individuals enhance the project greatly, making valuable contributions to Mike Lindup's distinguished work.

Speaking about the album, Mike Lindup says: "Changes - so many since I began recording this album, and as the saying goes, the one thing you can be sure of in this life. During the four years of making this album I've been reflecting on the world as I see it, the actors and actions on this grand stage of life, love, death, prejudice, politics, separation, longing, hopes and dreams. Musically, many of the seeds of these songs took hold a while ago and wouldn't let go, but to be fulfilled they needed input and inspiration from my producers Toni and Mike, and the talents of the singers and musicians that are featured within. My wish is that some of these themes will resonate with you."

With Gilles Peterson, undoubtedly one of the UK's most influential DJ's and tastemakers describing Mike Lindup as "one of his all-time favourite vocalists" and high praise from many other leading music broadcasters and writers, Changes 2 destined to be enjoyed by a multitude of discerning music and vinyl lovers the world over.

Maverick musician and artist Edvard Graham Lewis returns with ‘Alreet?’: an exciting album of majestic, experimental pop. Yet, the cheery North Eastern greeting of the album’s title belies the tension and drama that lies within. Here, you’ll find visceral rhythms, warm electronics and multiple melodic layers, with words that are sometimes sung, sometimes spoken. Lewis’s deep, distinctive voice has matured into a rich baritone: portentous yet immediate - and it serves his material exceptionally well. Although he is perhaps best known as bassist/ vocalist/lyricist with post-punk titans Wire, Lewis’s solo work is equally powerful. Lyrically he remains one of our finest wordsmiths. His desire to edit his text to its essentials is smartly counterbalanced by an ability to seed double or triple meanings in his phraseology. Consequently, the whole enterprise is studded with lines and couplets that snare our attention with unexpected hooks and barbs. The album is co produced with Swedish songwriter, producer and musician Max Lorentz, who has worked with everyone from acclaimed composer Magnus Lindberg to ABBA’s Agnetha Faltskog. As ‘Alreet?’ clearly demonstrates, Lewis is still firmly facing the future and determined to unearth new sonic treasure. Indeed, this is one of the most starkly original albums you will hear all year

Though 潘PAN is an entirely new artist - new outlook, new message, new material and name - you may have met the woman herself before. Back in the mid-‘10s, the Taipei-born rapper went by the moniker Aristophanes. After performing a career-changing feature on ‘SCREAM’, taken from Grimes’ celebrated NME Album of 2015 ‘Art Angels’, Aristophanes went on to build a cult fanbase, releasing her debut mixtape ‘Humans Become Machines’ two years later and then her distributor went bust during covid. Signed to Transgressive she re-released her mixtape followed by Reborn and Ghosts EPs earlier this year.

Across a constantly morphing sound palette that moves from metallic, apocalyptic beats to delicate nods to the traditional music of her Asian heritage, via heavy, industrial moments, spacious soundscapes and much more, the thread is Pan’s utterly mesmeric vocal. Performing in a mix of Mandarin and English, she explains that having the two languages to play with is “like featuring another artist who has a different way of describing things”.

Across the releases, confident sexual expression mixes with tenderness, empathy and a particularly feminine sort of strength to create a world that Pan hopes will transcend language and connect her audience via something more innate. “The music is a place to feel safe,” she says. “The message that I want to carry through these two EPs and the album is to demonstrate the strength of accepting your own situations. When you can’t make things right but you’ve done your best, sometimes it’s really hard to admit that to yourself. It takes strength to do that. I use lots of sexual metaphors, but I feel like it’s more about the female need to be seen and heard. I want to build something more delicate and layered and connected to our life experience - to the trauma and the pleasure and the growth.”

In the time since she last stepped into the spotlight, the musician has experienced her fair share of all these things. Now, it’s as an entirely evolved artist that she returns with a new collection of music that revels in it all: the trauma, the pleasure, the growth and the long-awaited rebirth of 潘PAN

LP limited to 500 LP copies. Nina Garcia ’s first solo record widely available via international distribution. Nina has collaborated with artists like Stephen O’Malley, Sophie Agnel, Fred Frith, Antoine Chessex, Louis Schild, Leila Bordreuil, and supported for bands like Sonic Youth, SUNN O))). After a decade of performing concerts under the Mariachi guise, Nina Garcia has finally unveiled her unique approach in Bye Bye Bird, her first album under her name. Bye Bye Bird is her second solo album. With no pretence or demonstration, the album is a captivating blend of chiaroscuro, melodies, and raw emotion. Nina Garcia’s album takes on an almost documentary-like quality by adopting a simple approach to gesture and sound recording. It offers a candid portrayal of a moment, a lack, a state, and a breathtaking energy. With ostinato as her only credo, Nina Garcia’s music is an experiment in freedom, where the peaks answer the abysses, and the power of movement and the emotion of sound serves as her compass. From very short (01:28) to never very long (07:34), the eight tracks that make up this set explore a moment, a space, a mechanism, an intention or a way of doing things. As a common feature of almost all these pieces (all but one, the last), Nina Garcia explores a new technique. She adds to her instrumentation, reduced to the essentials (a guitar, a pedal and an amp), an electromagnetic microphone which, when held in hand, makes it possible to listen in on the exact zones where the vibration of the string creates a sound amid vast spaces of silence. The guitar is unplugged, and the body/instrument relationship changes in dimension. In this series of variations, you can get caught up in masses of noise seen from very, very close up, evocations of melodies in the making, feedback on ridgelines, pulsations that hold their own, modulations weakened by exhaustion and harmonic bursts that hint at better days to come. Neither hopelessly chthonic nor beatifically ethereal, Bye Bye Bird is a sum of musical pieces that make a whole and give voice to echoes of what has been, the presence of what is and the hope of what will be, a record movement in the form of flight and salvation. Since 2015, Nina Garcia has been researching and creating around the electric guitar, halfway between improvised music and noise. On numerous stages in Europe and North America, she has played occasionally with Stephen O’Malley, Sophie Agnel, Fred Frith, Antoine Chessex, Louis Schild or with Luke Stewart and Leila Bordreuil’s Feedback Ensemble, in addition to more regular formations in which she participates, such as the ensemble Le Un, mamiedaragon, Autoreverse (with Arnaud Rivière), duets with trombonist Maria Bertel and percussionist Camille Émaille, and the installation piece De Haut En Bas, De Bas En Haut Et Latéralement (with Christophe Cardoen, Jennifer Caubet, Etienne Foyer, Anna Gaïotti and Romain Simon). “Nina Garcia has been actively moving the art of noise guitar into surprising and intriguing new spaces. She has been at it for some time now, a bit of a secret weapon all the while hiding in plain sight. As I listen to her music and ruminate upon seeing her perform it brings me to a realization which I have with very few musicians: the ego inherent in making art can be transcended through a purity of direct action. At least that’s the feeling I have when experiencing Nina’s music which comes across as serious and radical and wholly engaged in the moment of its creative impulse.

The “Vince Montana Tribute” (Louie Vega and Rick Wilhite from Detroit Rework) is a heartfelt and masterful production in which 2021 Grammy Award Nominee Louie demonstrates his appreciation for the disco sounds that he grew up on in the iconic borough of Bronx, NYC. The inspiration came about through an edit Rick sent to Louie. Louie added some of his own editing touches, and the resulting track got big response whenever Louie played it at his headlining sets. Given Louie’s longtime love and respect for Vince Montana, he decided to create an even bigger musical project. Bringing in Elements of Life band members Gene Perez (Bass), Axel Tosca (Fender Rhodes) and Luisito Quintero (Congas), and then adding a piano line himself, Louie was able to bring out the most authentic disco elements of this superlative groove but rework them so they are exactly in the pocket for today’s dancefloors worldwide.

Power pop legends 20/20 return with their first album for the 21st Century, demonstrating why they belong in the top tier of guitar pop bands and bringing their classic hooks and harmonies sound to a whole new generation.

Today, the Toronto-born-and-raised singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Day Wilson announces her highly-anticipated sophomore album Cyan Blue out May 3rd via Stone Woman Music / XL Recordings

Along with the announcement of her new album comes the release of first single, "I Don"t Love You", a stark and devastatingly beautiful confessional, highlighting Wilson"s immaculate production skills and chill inducing vocals laid atop smooth groove piano chords and soft drums. The track also arrives with a visual directed by Dani Aphrodite featuring layered low fi footage of the artist and producer performing at home, living every day life and having moments of solitude in her car, a theme that comes up throughout the album. Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven cyan tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it possesses a sense of vastness that rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she"s embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with wistfulness and yearning and a reflection on youthful innocence. "I want to look through the unjaded eyes of my younger self again," Wilson explains of making Cyan Blue. "Before there wasn"t as much baggage, before so much life was lived. But I also wish that my younger self could see where I am now. It would be nice to be able to impart some of the wisdom and clarity that I have now onto her.

" Working with producers like Leon Thomas (SZA, Ariana Grande, Post Malone), and Jack Rochon (HE.R, Daniel Caesar), Cyan Blue demonstrates Wilson´s sonic expertise while also showcasing the next evolution of her time-bending songwriting. Through 13 hypnotizing tracks, she continues to use music as a vessel for unpacking relationships, which in turn allows her to meet and understand herself in life-spanning, panoramic focus.

But, on Cyan Blue, she challenged herself to kick her perfectionist tendencies. "Before, I was extremely intentional about creating music with a strong foundation, a bed of artistic integrity," Wilson reflects. "But that was a bit stifling, like, "Let me just make a great piece of art that will stand the test of time, no pressure." Now, I think I"m getting out of this frozen state of needing everything to be perfect. I"m more interested in capturing feelings in the moment as they happen and leaving them in that moment."

While this is only her second album, Wilson"s influence in music has made a major mainstream impact. Wilson broke out in 2016 with her critically acclaimed EP, CDW, followed by 2018"s Stone Woman and made her debut studio album an official coming out moment in 2021 with the critically acclaimed, self-released Alpha.

Over the past decade, she´s been sampled by Drake, John Mayer, and James Blake, while Patti Smith has recently praised and covered Wilson´s 2016 breakout single "Work." Additionally, she´s collaborated with artists like Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD, and SG Lewis, demonstrating that there´s no sound Wilson can´t adapt to and sprinkle her cyan-colored magic over.

Experience the unfiltered essence of Carín León with the Latin GRAMMY-nominated album, Boca Chueca, Vol. 1. The chart-topping album dives into the artist's struggles and personal demons, offering raw, street-inspired lyrics and bold storytelling. It's a powerful journey of self-reconciliation and reinvention, set to captivate and resonate deeply. The album includes 19 tracks and showcases Carín experimenting with a variety of genres such as rock, country and pop.

The Ghentian skyline has low peaks and hides its horrors in full view ~ walk streamside and you’ll quickly be confronted with façades that leer with their tales and secrets, the angels and demons that built this city holding up its mortar and stone in an inextricable embrace. It is within this incongruous backdrop that Benoît Monsieurs has fostered the Venediktos Tempelboom persona. Using the 12-string guitar as his main instrument, the self-taught musician creates passages that take fingerpicking Americana and Eastern transcendence into the Flanders fields, with winding compositions that distill the essence of giants like John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Jack Rose and folds them into the dark drone melancholia of Funeral Folk/KRAAK stalwarts like Silvester Anfang, Helvete and Ignatz. The results are ringing meditations of awe and terror, flamboyant and grotesque yet utterly mesmerizing in their unrooted sonic imagery.

In his debut LP, Syne Vuyle Hoeck, the Tempelboom amalgamates his influences - East, West and deep Flanders alike - into a flurry of acid-drenched tracks that spread out into a distinctive musical iconography. Each composition carries a facet, highlighting angel and demon in equal measure: the solemn opener “De woelige rit op een roze wolkje” is a threading of melodies that carry pensive heft and hopeful asides, as hints of ragtime buoyancy lead into sullen ruminations in a fully lucid change of course; “Ocharme Ochgod” is a sober penitence, slowly and almost imperceptibly building up into a tangle of lines that inexorably coil back into their brooding backbone; the echoing tape loop of “In Flock” reverberates and torments, steel sharpness and frayed magnetic disintegration finding improbable common ground; “El Contrario” swerves unforgivingly in an Eastern-infused openness reminiscent of Six Organs’ rawer days and unnervingly giving way to a forceful - dare we say upbeat - conclusion. And so one treks into the depths of the Tempelboomian universe, a place of high drama and low morals inhabited by a prankster creator who deploys euphoria and distress in equal measure. Just as the strings of his guitar are left to echo like sparkles in the dark, so his music lingers in the soil of our humanity, redolent of the kind of peace one can only make with the demons of the self.

Before dropping their debut album, "Exercise Your Demons" (SideOneDummy, 2022), Cliffdiver launched out of the Tusla, OK alt music scene with their mix of indie, emo, and ska elements via the release of their first 2 EPs. For its third pressing, "At Your Own Risk // Small Hours" finds its way into retail stores for the first time on Hot Pink vinyl via Refresh Records & Chillwavve Records.

Fang Island's debut record, long out of print and back in stock as daisy pink splatter coloured vinyl in gatefold jacket LP via Joyful Noise, defined the sound of danc-y/math-y indie rock of the early 2010s alongside contemporaries Lightning Bolt, Titus Andronicus, and Japandroids. Fang Island described their music as the sound of "everyone high fiving everyone." No matter where they went, Fang Island's up-with-people approach made them a subversive art project by default. At a time when the belligerent noise-rock of Lightning Bolt and The Body defined Providence, Fang Island played major-key guitar harmonies and flashy tapping riffs. When people tried to call them "math-rock," they thought of themselves as "recess rock." Fang Island shared bills with uber-buzzy bands like Yeasayer and Chairlift at Cake Shop and Santos Party House, crucibles for Brooklyn hype at the turn of the aughts; but their most impactful co-sign came from Andrew WK. At least until Fang Island earned an unexpected Best New Music review at Pitchfork; in the style of the time, the group - now including drummer Marc St. Sauver and guitarist Nick Sadler - were thrust from playing "literally empty shows" at hot dog stands in Ohio to becoming the toast of SXSW and starting their North American tour with psych-rock idols the Flaming Lips in an Atlantic City casino. They would later play sprawling amphitheaters with Stone Temple Pilots, and in perhaps the best demonstration of their ability to wield pop smarts to guitar pyrotechnics, both Matt & Kim and Coheed & Cambria.