Suche:do easy

ENG 180 grm classic black vinyl, 2023 repress. At the risk of further labouring a rather obvious point, with Thank God for Mental Illness, their third collection of absolutely stunning music in 1996, the Brian Jonestown Massacre parallels the prolific and effortless brilliance of the Rolling Stones at their fevered late-1960s peak; the sheer scope of their achievements is stunning - rarely are bands quite so productive, or quite so consistently amazing. Thank God is the BJM's down-and-dirty country-blues outing, all 12-odd tracks supposedly recorded on a single July day at a cost of just $17.36 The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a psychedelic rock band originally from San Francisco, California, led by guitarist/singer Anton Newcombe. Since 1995 The Brian Jonestown Massacre has released numerous albums, first for Bomp! Records, the label which gave them their start, and later for TVT and Tee Pee. BJM has been essential in the development of the modern U.S. garage scene, and many LA and SF musicians got their start playing with Newcombe, including Peter Hayes of The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Originally Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase - the name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

It's full of moments that can be heartbreaking (as on the AMA UK 2023 Awardwinning single 'Car Crash'), deeply romantic and genuinely uplifting. These are songs imbued with the virtues of forerunners that inspired Hannah as both an artist and a producer, from Wanda Jackson to the Shangri-Las, and that exude the atmospheric allure of true, original Americana noir. The common link is a voice that's at times delicate and restrained, and at others powerful and stirring.

The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series Entry #3: Drummer and Producer J-Zone offers his take on The Ultimate Beats, Breaks and Funk. This is the next up in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, Karriem Riggins and more. The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

Unrelenting and direct, Bristol's Hypothetics have a sound that pushes the four to the extremes. Produced by Mercury nominated Andy Savours (Black Country, New Road, my bloody valentine), this concept EP sees the quartet escape the stereotypes of young rock musicians today and instead they introduce listeners to a world of therapeutic escapism and cinematic immersion.
Talking about the EP, the band elaborate, "by fixating on sounds and images from the seventies American cinema era, it gave us an angle we weren't getting from the reality of rural Gloucestershire. We try to limit the effect the industry has on us, as it's easy to start doing things for the wrong reasons and become disillusioned".

After 25 years of living his dream as one of hip hop’s most respected producers, Hi-Tek is digging back into his roots with a brand new trio of instrumental vinyl LPs in 2023. “Beatbox Studios (1995 MPC 60II)” is the first of the series, each featuring a selection of restored and remastered beats, carefully chosen from an archive of DAT tapes. These LPs manage to both provide a window into Tek’s development and to shine light on the work of an already enormously-talented musician whose beats would’ve sounded right at home on classic releases from the mid-1990s.

Having learned to make beats off of borrowed equipment as a teenager, the aspiring DJ/producer born as Tony Cottrell achieved a break of sorts when he was hired in 1995 to manage one of the rooms at Beatbox Studios, a sprawling complex in the Clifton neighborhood in Cincinnati. It became the go-to-spot in town for emerging talent, giving him a chance to learn about the intricacies of recording and to sharpen his communication skills with artists to maximize their performance The gig also gave Tek plenty of down time to practice on and to master the studio’s Akai MPC 60II while making his own music. It was around this time he began to collaborate with the top rap talent in Cincinnati, and he started regularly visiting New York City to plant seeds for new relationships in the industry.

Though his work eventually evolved far beyond the styles present on “Beatbox Studios,” here you’ll find many signature elements of that era’s contemporary New York sound: some snappy drums reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest or Easy Mo Bee, plenty of horn stabs a la Pete Rock or Lord Finesse, and the kind of dark pianos and filtered bass lines that producers like the Beatminerz were steadily employing. These were his biggest influences at the time, and that was the sound of 1995. As it turns out, that classic sound remains in demand today, and while Hi-Tek was not a well-known name in hip hop circles at that time, the calibre of beats on “Beatbox Studios” prove that he was a talent to be reckoned with, even then.

'Ain't Ever Easy' is the best example to date. The muscular, chooglin' beat of the country funk heater "Can't Take Back" opens Ryan Curtis' sophomore album 'Ain't Ever Easy.' Like a steam train gliding into some high desert station, it bears the strong vintage machinery of Curtis' "alt-country from the high country" sound. The song lopes in on oozing guitar and keys over a backbeat that pulses sexier than a
breakup song has the right to be. Regret has rarely sounded this happy, but Curtis is capable of turning love and loss into dripping hot, powerful songs. Over the last decade the various styles of country have become Curtis' stock-in-trade. With a gravelly growl he paints cinematic pictures of picaresque people from the Midwest and the badlands; down and out townies, bar room drifters, forlorn lovers, and resilient loners fill his visionary tales, mournful subject matter he turns into country gold.

teely Dan's gold-selling third studio album Pretzel Logic, charted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and restored the group's radio presence with the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," which became the biggest pop hit of their career and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1974 album was produced by Gary Katz and was written primarily by Walter Becker (bass) and bandleader Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards). The album marked the beginning of Becker and Fagen's roles as Steely Dan's principal members.

They enlisted prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians to record Pretzel Logic, but used them only for occasional overdubs, except for drums, where founding drummer Jim Hodder was reduced to a backing singer, replaced by Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro on the drum kit for all of the songs on the album. Steely Dan's Jeff "Skunk" Baxter played pedal steel guitar and hand drums.

Pretzel Logic has shorter songs and fewer instrumental jams than the group's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy. Steely Dan considered it the band's attempt at complete musical statements within the three-minute pop-song format. The album's music is characterized by harmonies, counter-melodies, and bop phrasing. It also relies often on straightforward pop influences. The syncopated piano line that opens "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" develops into a pop melody, and the title track transitions from a blues song to a jazzy chorus.

Other standout tracks include "Any Major Dude Will Tell You," a reflective ballad with lush harmonies, and "Parker's Band," a playful ode to the jazz great Charlie Parker.

Lyrically, the album explores themes of nostalgia, lost love, and the struggles of the creative process. In "Barrytown," the band reflects on their early days as struggling musicians, while in "Through with Buzz," they offer a biting critique of the music industry and the pressure to conform to commercial expectations.

One of the defining characteristics of Pretzel Logic is its use of unusual chord progressions and unexpected musical twists and turns. The band's intricate arrangements and skilled musicianship are on full display throughout the album.

Rolling Stone praised the album, calling Steely Dan the "most improbable hit-singles band to emerge in ages."

"When the band doesn't undulate to samba rhythms (as it did on 'Do It Again,' its first Top Ten single), it pushes itself to a full gallop (as it did on 'Reelin' in the Years,' its second). These two rhythmic preferences persist and sometimes intermingle, as on 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number,' which jumps in mid-chorus from 'Hernando's Hideaway' into 'Honky Tonk Women.' Great transition." — the review said.

AllMusic gave the album 5 stars, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noting that "instead of relying on easy hooks, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen assembled their most complex and cynical set of songs to date." Dense with harmonics, countermelodies, and bop phrasing, Pretzel Logic is vibrant with unpredictable musical juxtapositions and snide, but very funny, wordplay.

The album's cover photo featuring a New York pretzel vendor was taken by Raeanne Rubenstein, a photographer of musicians and Hollywood celebrities. She shot the photo on the west side of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street, just above the 79th Street Transverse (the road through Central Park), at the park entrance called "Miners' Gate."

After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

This stereo UHQR reissue will be limited to 20,000 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets, housed in a premium slipcase with a wooden dowel spine.

Overall, Pretzel Logic is a standout album in Steely Dan's discography. The album's blend of catchy hooks, complex arrangements, and thoughtful lyrics has made it a favorite among fans of classic rock and pop music.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Leisure Principle, a new solo LP from London-based bassist and sound artist Otto Willberg. A key player in the London underground, Willberg is often heard on acoustic and electric bass in free improv settings and bands with Laurie Tompkins (Yes Indeed) and Charles Hayward (Abstract Concrete), as well as the fractured No Wave unit Historically Fucked. His previous solo releases have ranged from extended technique double bass to explorations of the acoustics of a 19th century artillery fort. But nothing Willberg has committed to wax so far prepares a listener for The Leisure Principle, six unashamedly melodic improvisational workouts created almost entirely with heavily filtered bass harmonica and electric bass. On the opening ‘Reap What Thou Sow’, a single-note bass harmonica loop pulses along underneath a roaming bass solo, the side-chained envelope filtering (where the dynamic behaviour of the bass determines the filter for both bass and harmonica) fusing the two instruments into a single stream of burbling shifts in resonance. After several minutes of patient exploration of this low-end landscape, the music suddenly opens up in widescreen with the entrance of Sam Andreae’s graceful melodica chords, spreading out across the stereo field. From this epic opener, each of the remaining pieces goes on to explore a slightly different aspect of the terrain. On ‘Shadow Came into the Eyes as Earth Turned on its Axis’, a similarly buoyant harmonica bass line provides the foundation, but this time playing a soulful descending riff, its almost R&B feel abstracted and half-obscured by the filtering. On ‘Mollusk’, echoed bass arpeggios skitter between elegiac chords somewhat reminiscent of the opening of John Abercrombie’s ‘Timeless’, before settling into a hypnotic groove. On the record’s second half, Willberg pushes further into the possibilities of his idiosyncratic instrumentation. On ‘Wetter’, bass and harmonica come together into a monstrous, growling jaw harp; on ‘Had we but world enough and more time’, the subtly shifting pulsating patterns start to feel almost like a kind of evaporated, drum-less dub techno until an eruption of wheezing bass harmonica gives the piece a comically folkish turn. Willberg’s melodically inventive and virtuosic bass performance calls to mind any number of fusion touchstones, from Jaco Pastorius to Mark Egan’s singing tone in the early Pat Metheny Group—even Anthony Jackson’s work with Steve Kahn. But with its radically reduced instrumentation, The Leisure Principle is also an exercise in minimalism, and the absence of percussion gives even its funkiest moments a strangely abstracted quality. At times, its uncanny blend of the abstruse and the immediate suggests the fried pop experiments of David Rosenboom or the skewed but deeply musical DIY of 80s underground groups like De Fabriek. Both easy on the ear and profoundly strange, The Leisure Principle proudly takes its place among the most eccentric offerings on the Black Truffle menu.

Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, the Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the club Will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country.Immortality comes at a price and you’re about to pay for it… The beating heart of The Death Wheelers is a rumbling engine. Since their self-titled debut in 2015 and in 2020’s cinematic-storytelling breakout, Divine Filth, the Canadian outfit have tapped into wind-through-hair freedom and careened down open roads of groove, not a cop in sight. Their third record, Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness, more than lives up to its name on all fronts. With songs like “Morbid Bails” and “Lucifer’s Bend,” the in-the-know references abound, and The Death Wheelers draw from classic underground metal, scummer heavy rock and cast themselves into a cauldron of cultish biker devil worship, reveling in any and all post-apocalyptic dystopias with genuine glee at having just seen the world eat itself. You might hear some surf guitar. Crazy things can happen. A sample in “Triple D (Dead, Drunk and Depraved)” underscores the message: “We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man. And we want to get loaded.” That line, from Roger Corman’s 1966 film The Wild Angels, serves as a mission statement, and as “Lucifer’s Bend” starts by laughing about how you can’t get away from Satan, they might as well carve it into their forearms to be ready when the blast of distortion hits, as much Entombed as Motörhead, galloping and sinister, coated in road dust and blood. The band tells the story like this: “Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, the Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the club will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country. Immortality comes at a price and you’re about to pay for it…” While forging songs adherent more to ideology than style, The Death Wheelers cast their biker cult in their own image, and on Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness, they challenge death head-on as only those with no fear of it could hope to do.

warehouse find !

4th Wave appeared on the Techno scene in the mid-90’s and like a comet shone blindingly before quickly passing rarely to be seen again.

Fortunately 2 glorious EP’s were left in its trailblazing wake; the Touched EP for Carl Craig’s Planet E label in 1995 and Attention Please for Kirk Degiorgio’s Op-Art offshoot label in 1996.

This release has been approved by Steve Paton - the producer behind 4th Wave - who wasn’t easy to track down. Lovingly remastered from the original first generation DAT masters, this EP adds a bonus track “Lounge Music” previously released on the Objet’s D’Art III Compilation and never before available on vinyl.

The music is classic golden-age UK Techno. Detroit influenced with a European twist - the original copies are scarce and only available for collectors prices on the used market. This re-issue makes all four 4th Wave Op-Art tracks available to a new generation and collectors alike.

'Easy' is the debut album by the Australian rock band The Easybeats, recorded in just a few days at the EMI Studios in Sydney. The album was originally an Australian-only release but became internationally available during the '90s.

Reuniting after 35 years, multi-platinum selling artist Belinda Carlisle and iconic songwriter Diane Warren come together to release Kismet – a 5-song EP that comes out on Diane’s imprint RAF through BMG.

Discussing working with Diane Warren, Belinda Carlisle commented, “Twenty-seven years on from making my last English language pop record I really wasn’t thinking I would ever make one again...... and I was quite happy with that idea. Then a chance encounter in a coffee shop led me back to the wonderful Diane Warren and she gave me the incredible gift of this song and the other songs on my upcoming EP.”

Carlisle goes on to add, “Diane’s songwriting is both a joy and mystery to me. She makes it look so easy, where I imagine it must be unbelievably hard, to do what she does so amazingly well over so many years

The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series Entry #1: JJ Whiteeld (Poets of Rhythm/Whiteeld Brothers/Karl Hector) takes on Ethiopian Jazz and Psychedelic Funk. This is the first in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, J-Zone, and Karriem Riggins, among others. The series starts here, with JJ Whitefield’s Ethio Meditations/Drama Al Dente. The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

With I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy, Fat Tony embodies the kind of quixotic figure he would rap about; a singular entity who’s motivated, confident, and hungry; a perpetual-motion-machine locked in a staring contest with his country. It’s the latest album in his catalog produced entirely by L.A-based producer Taydex since 2020’s Wake Up. Later that same year Fat Tony released Exotica, and ever since he’s demonstrated he is in his own lane as a professional rapper with the mind of a magician, as quick to conjure an image as pull it out from under you, deftly manoeuvring through so many details and references a listener feels as if they have witnessed the work of an illusionist. He paints these canvases inside of songs that rarely spill past three minutes; they’re pocket-sized diaries replete with acute observations, character studies, microdoses of storytelling, and single-minded ruminations on a topic that bud, blossom, and fade before too long. Fat Tony & Taydex’s I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy cements Tony’s status as someone whose albums are not so much lyrically-lyrical as they are picaresque.
As with any Fat Tony project, the bars are tight as ever, but are so fluid for the 34-year-old it’s almost easy to take for granted the details, warmth, and humanity inside his free-associative tales of day-one friends who’ve passed, edgelord grifters who want to spit game, and nights on ketamine. Taydex’s production sprints through disparate yet simpatico styles, dipping its toes into Pi’erre Bourne-esque bass (see lead single “Spectacular”), house (“Loosen Up”), and even hyperpop. Meditations on loss and grief are woven throughout, but Tony throws a few curveballs as well: Consider “Alexis,” which sweetly reflects on a long-term platonic friendship. Taydex finds a Teddy Riley-indebted New Jack Swing groove just deep enough for the feeling to land and underlines the song’s sincere candor. This is the appeal of Fat Tony writ-large: his boisterous voice and genial personality invite you to the party, then you stick around to hear what he’s saying, which is frequently more introspective and complex than one assumes.
Written and recorded in Taydex’s new studio in North Hollywood, Tony says, “We had much more freedom and flexibility in making this album and you can hear it. It felt like a family project.” If the album is comfortable and loose, it is also dense and substantial. The album’s final two tracks contextualize the immediacy of what came before it—the mezcal with ices drank, Paul Wall swangin’ through to drop knowledge, the Polaris Prize-winning rapper Cadence Weapon providing a vibe check. “Make a Baby” accounts for Tony who’s seen everything, and knows he’s met the one to be a father with, and yet chooses to take his time to get it done. Taydex’s beat recalls turn-of-the-century R&B and the millennial promise of an endless good time. Sombre closer “Jasper, TX” is Tony coming to grips with the story of James Byrd, Jr., a Black man from East Texas dragged to his death by three white supremacists in 1998. These songs are not only trademarks of Tony’s fastidious rapping—they are deeply personal examples of his approach to artistry and life itself, where every decision is made in the shadow of history.
It’s here the mission statement of I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy comes into focus—you get the sense he means it, he’s ready for it, he’ll fight for it. He’s waiting to take the world at its word.

Internationally renowned singer/songwriter and folk-rock high priestess Alanis Morissette released her greatest hits album The Collection nearly twenty years ago. Now, for the first time ever on vinyl, this collection of hit records is being reissued as account exclusive double LPs in varying shades of violet, alongside a standard black version for the general market. Beautifully assembled and repackaged for vinyl, this collection spans the decade between 1995 and 2005 when the Canadian popstar first broke out in the States. It includes a number of Morissette’s well-known singles, plus a few interesting soundtrack selections, and a cover of Seal's smash single "Crazy".

Internationally renowned singer/songwriter and folk-rock high priestess Alanis Morissette released her greatest hits album The Collection nearly twenty years ago. Now, for the first time ever on vinyl, this collection of hit records is being reissued as account exclusive double LPs in varying shades of violet, alongside a standard black version for the general market. Beautifully assembled and repackaged for vinyl, this collection spans the decade between 1995 and 2005 when the Canadian popstar first broke out in the States. It includes a number of Morissette’s well-known singles, plus a few interesting soundtrack selections, and a cover of Seal's smash single "Crazy".

The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975 and released their third album ‘Positive Touch’ in 1981 which peaked at #17 in the UK Charts.

The Undertones' Positive Touch marks the departure from speedy pop-punk of their first two debut albums though the songwriting remains as tight and lively with plenty of hooks that keep you listening.

The punk-derived energy is almost entirely gone, replaced by a more varied and softer instrumental palette that features new textures like piano (courtesy of Paul Carrack, then in Squeeze) recorders and brass instrumentation.

Features the lovely "Julie Ocean" which has an undercurrent of anxiety, as well as much faster tracks like the pounding opener "Fascination" and the near-paranoid "His Goodlooking Girlfriend" are downright nerve-wracking.

This reissue is an exact replica of the embossed original sleeve and has been pressed on white colour vinyl for the first time.

Earlier this year, Subwax Bcn made an important contribution to the electronic music community by having the timeless dub techno compilation Vibrant Forms II by Fluxion remastered and reissued. First released in the year 2000 on Chain Reaction, Earlier this year, Subwax Bcn made an important contribution to the electronic music community by having the timeless dub techno compilation Vibrant Forms II by Fluxion remastered and reissued. First released in the year 2000 on Chain Reaction, Vibrant Forms II is widely considered to be one of the greatest achievements in the genre. As it turned out, Vibrant Forms II became one of the last records to be released on Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald's classic label - a suitable swan song if there ever was one. And that's it, right

Well not quite.

If one would search for Fluxion - Vibrant Forms III, Discogs would come up empty and Google would treat it as a misspelling. Until now.
Konstantinos Soublis, aka Fluxion, and Subwax Bcn have decided to pick up the banner and release Vibrant Forms III as a CD as well as four individual 12" records under 2016. It contains everything you could hope for and more: The massive, booming basses, the clicks and hisses, the atmospheric thunderstorms, the opium smoke-scented streaks of reverb and dub echoes. The warmth. Yes, above all else the warmth: Sometimes moist and dripping as in Safe Harbour, sometimes blisteringly dry as in Variant. It's no easy task, giving cold, dead machines warm breaths. And no-one quite does it like Fluxion.

The Reissue of Vibrant Forms II was an act of cultural preservation. It reminded us about the legacy of the Basic Channel label family, in which Chain Reaction played an important part. Without this legacy, the contemporary body of electronic music would look different and make very different sounds. With the Release of Vibrant Forms III, Subwax Bcn takes it one step further. Fluxion's Vibrant Forms III album remind us of the timelessness of truly great music, never mind the genre.

They drift with phantom ease from spare, intimate, literate alt-country to a nuanced, weighted music bearing the marks of rock'n'roll history..." Classic Rock 8/10 // ”...slow burning, emotional intensity" Mojo **** // ”Alluring and seductive." Uncut **** // Morton Valence’s eighth, and eponymously titled album, comes to you, courtesy of Cow Pie Recordings, featuring 11 new songs, produced by the legendary BJ Cole. Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett and Anne Gilpin, who form the nucleus of Morton Valence, effortlessly take the country music genre, which is generally considered a uniquely American musical form, and create something uniquely English, without ever compromising their authenticity. The atmosphere that BJ Cole brings to the album is palpable, in both production values, and his unmistakable pedal steel guitar performances, on songs such as the plaintive ‘Together Through the Rain’, where an estranged Anne and Hacker reunite under the shelter of an umbrella, walking through the rain and trading verses along the way. Or the more upbeat country rock of ‘I’ve Been Watching You/You’ve Been Watching Me’, which is almost as if Richard and Linda Thompson had touched down in some Nashville backbar before heading for the bright lights. And of course, the scintillatingly down-beat opener, and instant urban-country classic; ‘Summertime in London’, where Hacker reflects on his home city from afar, through simultaneously tear-stained and rose-tinted glasses. What gives the album its country hallmark, are the narratives in the songs. However, they forego the typical Americana for an altogether more kitchen-sink aesthetic. We see the return of MV alter egos Bob and Veronica in ‘Bob and Veronica’s Big Move’, as they make their way from the big city to what could only be the arcadian blue-collar tranquillity of Hastings, or Skegness perhaps? There’s the bewildered small-town homecoming of a wannabe prodigal son in ‘A Town Called Home’. And a conversation with ‘Jim’, a seemingly old-school kind of bloke, with a penchant for midday drinking and late-night city shenanigans. As well as BJ Cole’s steel guitar, there are other collaborations too. ‘Like a Face that’s Been Starved of a Kiss’, co-written with Band of Holy Joy front man, and lyrical visionary Johny Brown. Flamenco guitar genius, Amir John Haddad, sits in on the urban-cowboy ballad, ‘Me & My Old Guitar’, the skewed violin of Dylan Bates brings something of the vaudeville to songs such as ‘It Isn’t Easy Being an Angel’, Guy Jackson adds his sublime keyboards throughout, and the whole thing is held together by unsung rhythm section heroes Jamie Shaw on drums and Josh De Mita on bass. As with all Morton Valence albums, along with the shade, there is always some light, in particular the escapist cosmic romp of ‘It’s a Brand-New Morning’, or the wryly observant, ‘It Isn’t Easy Being an Angel’, where the protagonist discovers that he’s living in some weird kind of purgatory where even the late Johnny Thunders has quit smoking. This is an ambitious album, formed through a unique symbiosis of musical characters, which is ready to redefine UK country music, put ‘urban country’ centre-stage, and should be heard by everyone

Limited new repress on blue vinyl. RIYL: Sharon Van Etten, Big Thief, Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, Neko Case, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Bill Callahan, Steve Gunn, Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs, Jessica Pratt, Kevin Morby, Molly Burch Phosphorescent, Waxahatchee, boygenius. Recorded and mixed by Joshua Wells (Destroyer, Lightning Dust, ex-Black Mountain). Guest vocals from Bonnie “Prince” Billy on the “Don’t Slow Me Down” single. Guest pedal steel guitar from Paul Rigby (known mostly for his studio work with Neko Case) on 3 of the 10 tracks. Support thus far from FLOOD Mag, Stereogum, KEXP, KCRW, Popular TV (ex-Nylon writers), Pitchfork, Exclaim! & more. “Tonight” single synced for a Netflix series 13 Reasons Why in March 2017. Ashley Shadow winks at darkness, but she won’t lead you towards it. It’s easy to fall under the spell of Ashley’s haunting voice. The Vancouver, B.C. based songwriter forged her own identity as a songwriter with 2016’s eponymous self-titled debut. Her sophomore effort, Only the End, maintains the moody introspection that is ingrained in Pacific Northwest life, but now comes armed with a palpable hope complementing her signature melancholy. Ashley explains, “I wanted to make a more upbeat album, something you could play with some friends over. Some of the songs I wrote were initially bummers, but when we went to record them, we lightened them up.” Balancing a couple of jobs and navigating life and love in increasingly unstable times, the album was written over two years by Ashley at her apartment. Her confident vibrato above lightly, distorted guitars mirrors the album’s theme of resilience, if not triumph, over adversity. There is comfort in these warm songs that endorse the realism of contented acceptance, rather than the naïve search for non-existent utopias. While the songs were conceived in contemplative solitude, Ashley invited some very capable collaborators for their journey into the studio. Ashley’s first album saw her take center stage after more than a decade of gracing friends’ projects in a supporting role. The move to the front was a cautious one. “First record was, can I do a solo album? This time, I know what I’m doing. It’s way more clear.” "Don’t Slow Me Down" reunites Ashley with Bonnie “Prince” Billy for the first time on record when she sang vocals on Bonnie's Lie Down In Light album in 2018. The album also includes contributions from Paul Rigby (Neko Case), Colin Cowan (Elastic Stars), Joshua Wells (Black Mountain, Lightning Dust) and Ryan Beattie (Himalayan Bear). It’s clear to anyone listening. It’s Only the End. If only all endings were so glorious

DeYarmond Edison war der Vorläufer von Bon Iver und Megafaun. Im Sommer 2005 verließen vier Freunde Wisconsin in Richtung North Carolina mit einem einzigen Ziel: der Folk-Rock-Flaute zu entkommen. Während eines Jahres intensiver Konzentration, des Studiums und der Verletzlichkeit taten sie genau das, indem sie an den ekstatischen Rand des New Weird America vordrangen und von allem ein bisschen ausprobierten - Grindcore und Gospel, Free Jazz und Phasenstücke, Bluegrass und Blues - und es in DeYarmond Edison packten. Der Rest ist Geschichte_ Ein Mitglied ging nach Hause, um das zu gründen, was später Bon Iver werden sollte, während drei vor Ort blieben, um Megafaun zu gründen. Epoch ist die Geschichte von DeYarmond Edison: Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Justin Vernon und Joe Westerlund, erzählt wie nie zuvor. Die Sammlung umfasst fünf LPs, vier CDs, Dutzende von ungehörten Aufnahmen und ungesehene Fotos. Begleitet wird sie von einer ausführlichen Biografie des Schriftstellers Grayson Haver Currin, der auch als ausführender Produzent der Sammlung fungiert. Alles in allem fängt Epoch die Zeit ein, bevor aus diesen vier Freunden zwei andere, aufsehenerregende Bands wurden. Es ist eine Geschichte über Gemeinschaft, Visionen, Familie und ein Quartett, das zu gut sein wollte, um zu bestehen. Es gibt Momente des Experimentierens, subtile Wendungen im Fuzz von "Epoch" und eine stampfende Herangehensweise beim Covern von "All Tomorrow's Parties", die den Grundstein dafür legten, wie Bon Iver und Megafaun die akustische Musik ein wenig umkrempeln würden. Aber ein Großteil von Epoch unterstreicht die einzigartige Sichtweise der Gruppe auf amerikanisches Songwriting, auf das Nehmen von Patchworks, das Finden der Akkorde und das Singen aus vollem Herzen. "Trials, Troubles and Tribulations" ist ein Beispiel dafür. Am bekanntesten ist es als Duett von Justin Vernon und Sharon Van Etten, das hier in ausufernder Last-Waltz-Manier wieder zum Leben erweckt wird, mit Vocals von Megafaun, Justin Vernon, Frazy Ford und Fight the Big Bull. Jede Platte ist gleichermaßen ein Crash-Kurs in allem, was dieses spezielle Stück Musikgeschichte ausmacht: Fotos aus Hinterhöfen und Kellern; Essays, die bestimmte Aufnahmen beschreiben; Farbpaletten, die Zeit und Ort widerspiegeln. Mit über sieben Stunden und 55.000 Wörtern ist Epoch eine maximalistische Sammlung. Aber man muss kein Komplettist sein, um zu verstehen, was es bedeutet, sich mit seinen besten Freunden zusammenzukauern und Dinge zu erschaffen, für diese Dinge zu träumen, zu lernen, zu kämpfen und zu wachsen.

Gerade erst Grammy-nominiert als “Best New Artist” haben Tank And The Bangas ihr drittes Studioalbum aufgenommen. Zu dem vor R&B-, Hip-Hop-, Jazz-, Funk- und Soul-Grooves aus allen Nähten platzenden
Album luden sie diesmal Gäste wie Questlove, Lalah Hathaway, Big Freedia, Jacob Collier, Trombone Shorty, Jamison Ross und Wayne Brady ein.

Die in New Orleans ansässige Band mit der energiegeladenen Frontfrau Tarriona “Tank” Ball wurde 2017 durch den NPR Tiny Desk Contest auf YouTube berühmt (sensationelle 12,5 Millionen Aufrufe). „Red Balloon“ entstand jetzt in Folge der pandemiebedingten Unterbrechung des anstrengenden Tour-Pensums der Band. Die Pause gab den Musikern Raum zum Atmen und die Chance für ein kreatives Kräftesammeln. Das Werk zeigt die Band auf einem neuen künstlerischen Level, produziert wurde es von der Band selbst
und aufgenommen in New Orleans und Los Angeles.

This special vinyl box set contains all four PARTYNEXTDOOR studio albums - including the first album, Partynextdoor, never before issued on vinyl until the release of this completist collection. PARTYNEXTDOOR producer, songwriter and singer from Ontario released his self-titled, critically acclaimed mixtape in July of 2013 led by the singles “Over Here” and “Break From Toronto.” Contributions to “Own It” and “Come Through” on Drake’s Nothing Was the Same album and a deal with OVO Sound followed. He’s since written songs and/or produced cuts for Rihanna, Drake, Nipsey Hussle, Jay Electronica, Post Malone and many more

Wie Nebenflüsse, die einen mächtigen Fluss speisen, umfasst der Blues unzählige Genres und Künstler, von denen keiner dem anderen gleicht, die aber alle einen kraftvollen Strom bilden, der durch die reiche Geschichte der zeitgenössischen Musik selbst fließt. Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound), eine Zusammenstellung neuer Aufnahmen aus dem gesamten Blues Spektrum, ist eine Anerkennung und Bewunderung für die Musiker, die diese amerikanische Tradition in dieses Jahrhundert und darüber hinaustragen.

Auf dem Album sind Künstler vertreten, die alle in Dan Auerbachs Easy Eye Sound-Studio in Nashville aufgenommen wurden, darunter auch neue Aufnahmen von Auerbach selbst und den modernen Titanen The Black Keys. Von den GRAMMY®-nominierten Blueskünstlern RL Boyce und Jimmy ”Duck” Holmes über verschollene Perlen des verstorbenen Leo ”Bud” Welch und der legendären Gitarrenlegende Glenn Schwartz aus Ohio bis hin zu neuen Stimmen des Blues wie Nat Myers, Gabe Carter und Moonrisers ist diese Zusammenstellung eine bemerkenswerte Reise in 12 Songs, eine atemberaubende Perspektive auf eine Kunstform, deren Erbe in der modernen Musik lebt und atmet.

The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series Entry #2: From The Nesta Vaults: Jake Ferguson with Malcolm Catto (Heliocentrics) take on Cosmic Funk and Psychedelic Jazz. This is the next up in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, J-Zone, and Karriem Riggins, among others. The series continues with Jake Ferguson’s Emotions Run Dry featuring Malcolm Cattio. The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

When Ryan Olcott, songwriter and frontman of Twin Cities’ iconic indie rock band 12 Rods, found unfinished Rods demos during lockdown, he was surprised. When he realized they were good, he was shocked. He quickly set to finishing and recording the compositions, which became If We Stayed Alive, the first 12 Rods album in twenty-one years. “These are songs that I forgot about,” he explains, “but upon finding them, I thought, ‘Wow, these are actually okay.’” That was the easy part. Reacquainting himself with twenty-year-removed craft and technique took some getting used to -- some parts longer than others. He recorded all the instruments in a week, but vocals took a bit longer. “Oh my god!” he laughs, “it took a couple days to get my voice back with that range and that power, but I could do it.” Any cobwebs that needed dusting are long gone. If We Stayed Alive is everything longtime fans have wanted, and the perfect introduction to what some called “America’s Radiohead" and what others have called one of the best indie bands of the ‘90s.

REPRESS

Codek is the brainchild of Jean-Marie Salaun who grew up in Paris influenced by the folklore of the inner city. In 1978 he joined art rock group SpionS alongside Gregory Davidow and recorded two singles. Diving into the Paris post punk scene he met Claude Arto and designed the artwork for Claude's single on Celluloid Kwai Systeme / Betty Boop.' Robin Scott (M Pop Music') had produced the SpionS first single and wanted to collaborate further. With Claude, Jean-Marie wrote Me Me Me', intended for a choir, for M. Then SpionS split and Robin was off to Switzerland to record an album to follow-up his hit single. That left Jean-Marie alone in London, where he began working as Codek, a play on the brand name Kodak The Me Me Me' single was released by MCA Records in 1980. Back in Paris, now with some studio experience, Celluloid Records hired Jean-Marie to produce records for Artefact and Les Orphelins. Over the next 2 years he began working on ideas for the next Codek single Closer / Tam Tam'

Closer' started its life as an electric baseline played by Jean-Marie. Claude Arto sequenced the floating synthesizers. Laurent Grangier and Frédéric Lapierre of reggae band Immigration Act played the horns. The lyrics Hard to say. Easy to do. We don't need to say what we do' were a statement on creation as narration expressed Jean-Marie's ennui, I'm tired with it.' Tam Tam' was inspired by Burundi drummers playing on the plaza in front of Beaubourg where the song was recorded. Jean-Marie enlisted one of the drummers from the circle, Georges Atta Dikalo, to lay down percussion for the song. The female singers were from the French Caribbean and added falsetto tribal chants. JM was part of the the African night scene in Paris, remixing Xalam's Kanu' and Touré Kunda's Salaly Muhamed.' Claude achieved complex rhythmic patterns using a modular synthesizer and heavy processing. Jean-Marie recorded himself beating his chest for the thump noises. The recording of Tam Tam' and Closer' spanned over two years. They started on 16-track in Studio d'Auteuil, where JM blew the woofers, before resuming in Studio Centre Georges Pompidou with an added 8-track recorder. Jean-Marie was producing other bands, and a lot of this was recorded on "borrowed" studio time. The single was released in 1981 on West African Music, a tiny label from the Ivory Coast, and was re-released a year later by Island Records in the UK (where the B-side was re-named Tim Toum'). Both tracks were staples in the DJ sets of Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli, finding a spiritual home in the Cosmic scene of Italy.

Both songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is an exact replica of the 1981 edition with artwork by Angela Boy, inspired by primitive electronics and African paintings. Each copy includes an doubles-sided insert with photos and liner notes by Jean-Marie Salaun.

These days, singer-songwriter and actor David Blue tends to be remembered only in relation to Bob Dylan. A member of the supporting cast in mid-60s Greenwich Village and The Rolling Thunder Revue. Yet to categorise Blue in this way is reductionist, and does him an injustice. He was something of an archetype of the 60s generation of Greenwich Village singer-songwriters. Yet, esteemed by his peers, he was overlooked. He released seven albums in a decade, and his acting career was shaping up when he died suddenly at the age of just 41. His passing was barely noted in the rock press, and in the subsequent years Blue was all but forgotten. Of late, though, that’s changed. His albums started to reappear on CD on small labels and, in 2020, both Rolling Stone and Mojo magazines published major reappraisals. Blue – at last – was getting the attention denied him in life.



It wasn’t until 1965 that Blue, as Dave Cohen, released his first recordings – three songs on Elektra’s Singer Songwriter Project. All betrayed a debt to pre-electric Dylan. But then again, so did much else coming out of Greenwich Village at the time. Elektra contracted Blue to do his own album, and in 1966 David Blue was released – his first recording to appear under that name. Electric folk rock with a garage band attitude, somewhat in debt to Highway 61, it didn’t sell well. Shortly after the album’s release Blue formed and toured with The American Patrol, a four-piece rock band, recording an album for Elektra that was never released.



Now, for the first time, Hanky Panky and Mapache release those historical abandoned American Patrol recordings, along with the three tracks included on Elektra’s 1965 LP Singer Songwriter Project, as David Blue And The American Patrol The Lost 1967 Elektra Recordings & More and David Blue, his self-titled 1966 debut album, on two exclusive vinyl editions limited to 500 copies

Der Original Soundtrack zur Dokumentation über die Beach Boys von Brent Wilson ist erhältlich auf einer schwarzen LP mit bedruckten Innensleeve.

Die Dokumentation über die Beach Boys wurde von der Veröffentlichung eines Soundtrack-Albums begleitet, das bisher unveröffentlichte Aufnahmen von Wilson enthielt, von denen einige aus seiner unvollendeten Zusammenarbeit mit dem Produzenten Andy Paley aus den 1990er Jahren stammten, sowie einen neuen Song, 'Right Where I Belong', den Wilson zusammen mit dem My Morning Jacket-Frontmann Jim James für den Film geschrieben hatte.

Sound Metaphors gives they keys of the label's catalogue vaults to Aggelos Baltas aka Anatolian Weapons and this is the result. 5 tracks previously released on our labels now submitted to the studio prowess of the Greek machine. Dubbed out, tripped out, slowed down, sped up, mind blown. Aggelos brings his distinctive flavor to the table and re-constructs some of our dacefloor oriented favorites from the early 90's. From California's Exist Dance label to Italian underground tracks and even a Disciples' number, Aggelos cherry picks his weapons for the most spaced out of dance floors, sounding big and effective, can't go wrong.

Recorded in 1977, James Taylor's first album JT for Columbia Records made a huge impact on the hit charts. The album itself peaked at number 4 of the Billboard 200, and the singles “Handy Man” and “Your Smiling Face” hit high on the charts as well. JT meant a new direction for the folk pop singer as he shows a newly found positive approach to his songwriting material. Gone were his 'rainy day man' sensitive croons, in comes this mainstream, sunny easy listening vibe. Taylor mixes his patented acoustic guitar-based folk sound with elements of rock, blues, and country to great effect.

Just like the original European pressings, the album is packed in a gatefold sleeve and contains a lyric sheet. JT is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red coloured vinyl.

"Live From Union Transfer" ist ein Live-Album in limitierter Auflage, dass es nur auf Vinyl gibt und das Live-Aufnahmen mit seiner langjährigen Tour-Band John Heywood (Bass/Gesang), Sam Acchione (Gitarre/Tasten/Gesang), Tom Kelly (Schlagzeug) und Molly Germer (Geige/Tasten/Gesang) enthält. Die Songs wurden auf drei ausverkauften Konzerten im Union Transfer in Philadelphia aufgenommen , die im November letzten Jahres den Abschluss seiner 2022er Herbst-Headliner-Tour bildeten; Die 14-Song-Trackliste enthält einen Großteil seines international gefeierten 2022er Albums God Save the Animals sowie eine Auswahl von Favoriten aus seinem bisherigen Katalog.

Keni Burke's seminal Changes yielded the eternal club classic "Risin' To The Top". You need this record for this iconic steppers anthem alone. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that the whole of Changes, first released in 1982 on RCA but now a tricky one to find, is something truly special. It's a masterpiece of sophisticated 80s groove, containing first class funky soul that sounds as fresh as ever. This is multi-tempo soul music conceived in heaven.

Ace bass player, songwriter, arranger and producer, Keni Burke was discovered by Curtis Mayfield and a childhood member of the Five Stairsteps. Emanating from that magical 81-83 era and pristinely recorded at Philadelphia's legendary Sigma Sound Studios, his third solo album Changes really perfected Keni's groove. It incorporated tight, snappy rhythm arrangements which, despite the era, featured *real drums* courtesy of Steve Ferrone (from Average White Band) to compliment Keni's meaty bass lines. With Dean "Sir" Gant on synths and keyboards and Ed Walsh handling the Vocoder-OBX and Prophet 5, wonderful lines from Earth, Wind & Fire's legendary horn section and hooky rhythm and lead guitar riffs courtesy of Ed "Tree" Walsh, Keni was truly spoiled for excellence. With Doc Gibbs on percussion and Vince Montana on vibes elevating the sensational writing and arrangements, Keni couldn't really go wrong.

“Risin’ To The Top” is undoubtedly the defining crown and lasting legacy of this album. Wth its instantly captivating bassline, slowly creepin' groove and uplifting lyrics, it was a favourite among both the 80s soul steppers and hip-hop crowd and remains canonical to this day. Written by Burke, Allan Felder, and former Chic member Norma Jean Wright, it incredibly failed to garner much American radio play or really trouble the soul charts. Whilst it was an instant classic in the U.K., in the States it took the hip-hop generation and later R&B and hip-hop samples of the tune to finally make it popular, many years later. Of note, Big Daddy Kane sampled it for "Smooth Operator", LL Cool J for "Around The Way Girl", Pete Rock & CL Smooth for "Take You There" and O.C. with "Born 2 Live".

But the highlights are not restricted to this one behemoth. For example, the track which precedes "Risin'" on Side B is another steppers favourite. "One Minute More" is a perfect mid-tempo ballad and the epitome of deep modern soul. A truly timeless work of genius. We, for one, struggle to think of a better song segue than the moment you're still reeling from the intense beauty of "One Minute More" and "Risin'" elegantly stirs into action. Frisson in excelsis. The propulsive, bass-heavy opener "Shakin" is an indisputable cracker and its followed by the timeless mid-tempo class of "Hang Tight". Just gorgeous. Next up, "Can't Get Enough" is another emotional, horn heavy chugger. The side closes with the sparse, tender, floating sl-o-o-w jam "Who Do You Love"; a truly divine ballad. The B-side beings with the title-track, "Changes", a squelchy, melodic boogie banger with fantastic keys, incredible vocals, ace shuffling percussion and spacey synths. It's followed by the ultimate one-two in "One Minute More" and "Risin'" before this sensational set closes with the glorious easy glide "All Night".

An absolutely essential record for fans of deeply soulful modern-funk, Changes was mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios. The artwork was restored at Be With HQ over many painstaking months so, hopefully, this fresh new edition ensures this long-lusted after album is no longer so awkward to find.

Soul Jazz Records’ new Holy Church of the Ecstatic Soul: Gospel, Funk and Soul at the Crossroads 1971-83 is a one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition coloured vinyl pressing + download code exclusively for Record Store Day 2023.

he album draws upon the extensive links between black American gospel music and soul music, showing how the sensibilities of gospel artists such as Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Andraé Crouch and others crossed over into secular soul music during this period.

Holy Church of the Ecstatic Soul shows how sacred gospel music was at home with Stevie Wonder, Blaxploitation-style funk and produced music celebrated both in New York’s underground discos (The Paradise Garage, Studio 54, etc) and later sampled by the likes of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Mary J Blige

Marc Richter aka Black To Comm released his debut record 20 years ago. In 2023 he is still busy releasing music under various disguises and is currently signed to the Thrill Jockey label. To celebrate this anniversary his own Cellule 75 label is re-releasing some classic out-of-print vinyl albums that originally came out on the defunct Type and De Stijl labels. The LP will feature a full-colour lyric sheet / poster exclusive to this edition.

After releasing the critically acclaimed Alphabet 1968 on the seminal Type label (Grouper, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Yellow Swans), Richter chose De Stijl for this 2012 album, an American label that had just put out future classics by the likes of Circuit Des Yeux, Hype Williams and Wolf Eyes.

EARTH is a 2009 silent film by Ho Tzu Nyen, one of Singapore's foremost visual artists. After hearing Black To Comm's Alphabet 1968 Ho Tzu Nyen invited Richter to accompany the film at Berlin's Asian Film Festival, Unsound in Krakow and several other art biennals and music festivals around the world.

In his own words: "Most of the music was composed under the influence of heavy pain killers while recovering from a broken leg (the recordings literally took place in bed). The music (like the film) is about slowness and decay, states of unconsciousness, sleeping and waking up, dying and being reborn. The film is a post-apocalyptic collage based on paintings by classical European painters (Caravaggio, Delacroix, Rembrandt, Gericault) -- the music translates this concept employing corresponding collage-based sampling techniques using loops made from vintage vinyl and shellac records combined with acoustic and electronic instrumentation and voice."

From the original De Stijl one-sheet:
"Richter’s already formidable expressive power stretches over all of EARTH. Reflecting the countless cyclical forces that make up, oh, more or less everything we know and are, the music on EARTH is bracing, lovely, bustling and still, and at times bittersweet, a commingling of sensations and emotions that can’t be neatly separated from one another. (EARTH is complex, as you know.) Guests on EARTH include David Aird, a.k.a Vindicatrix (on the Mordant Music label), contributing startling vocal work; Renate Nikolaus on an array of instruments and noise devices; Rutger Zuydervelt (singing bowls); and Christopher Kline (singing saw). EARTH is Black to Comm’s seventh album and his debut for De Stijl, following the acclaimed Alphabet 1968 (on Type) and last year’s vinyl-only collaboration with Mike Kelley of Destroy All Monsters (on the En/Of label)."

Alex Neilson in The Wire:
"The most marked aspect of Earth is the voice of David Aird, aka Vindicatrix. Imperious and dolorous, he has the gravity of post-Climate Of Hunter Scott Walker, David Sylvain or Klaus Nomi stripped of the pathetic ritz. This is something that's easy to do badly, but Aird pulls it off with aplomb. On "The Children" he breaks into a morose yodel, rolling the words around his palate and colouring each syllable black before gifting them to the air. The meaning isn't understood verbally as much as viscerally. Beneath Aird's ululations, Richter casts handfuls of angelic debris from keyboards and digital devices, generating a celestial electronic tapestry reminiscent of Japanese musician Nobukazu Takemura. Sounds vie and twist at frequencies you can't so much hear as feel in the bridge of your nose, and the variety and full-bloodedness of the accompaniment is what prevents Aird's vocal from occassionally lapsing into shtick."

For more than a decade, Freak Heat Waves have been steadily amassing a cult following and earning acclaim from both critics and underground aficionados alike. Their music is a heady cocktail that defies easy categorization, blending elements of post-punk, psych, dub, ambient, house, and techno.

Their eclectic sound has served as the soundtrack to countless DIY punk shows, outsider galleries and sleazy discos, establishing the duo as iconoclasts with a reputation for ignoring expectations and subverting genre conventions. While at times, the term ‘acquired taste’ may have seemed fitting, their latest release offers their most alluring output to date.

Mondo Tempo, the duo's fifth LP, released through Vancouver's Mood Hut, was primarily recorded at their home studios in Montreal and Victoria. Building upon the electronic explorations of their previous record, Zap The Planet (Telephone Explosion), they inject their signature sound with a smoother and sweeter blend of dance music. The album’s tracks feature midi smoothness, trance mantras, dancehall grooves, ambient textures and vocal samples, creating a world that is both captivating and immersive.

Notably, the lead single “In A Moment Divine” features a collaboration with Cindy Lee, resulting in a dance floor number that boldly ventures beyond the familiar wheelhouses of both acts. With Mondo Tempo Freak Heat Waves solidify their reputation as one of the most exciting and unpredictable acts around.

Fates Warning’s ninth studio album, “Disconnected,” contain recurring images of separation and incompleteness reflective of the album’s title. “To do something similar to earlier release would have been an easy way out,” says guitarist Jim Matheos of the set. “The best thing for me to do, and the biggest inspiration, is to say, ‘Let’s do something different now and stretch ourselves in the other direction.’ ” Disconnected,” sees Fates Warning collaborate with ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore, as well Armored Saint’s Joey Vera on bass and backing vocals. Vocalist Ray Alder takes a more active role in the writing process for this album. Matheos, who writes the group’s music, has served as Fates Warning’s primary lyricist for years, but on “Disconnected” Alder pens the words to two songs, including the first single, “One.” Another “Disconnected” track, “Pieces Of Me,” is the first lyrical collaboration between Alder and Matheos. Throughout the band's career, Fates Warning has always cut a clear path, remaining steadfast in their vision to create inspired progressive metal. A must have for fans!

Lost private press gem "The Swimmer" by Florida native Danny Morgan, is a cool and breezy, beguiling easy glide from 1987. It should've been huge. It still could be. It's a mellow marina masterpiece and quintessentially Balearic. Over the past few years, it's gathered a cult following yet the album from which it derives is virtually impossible to come by.

Finally available on a standalone, fully remastered 12", it's been backed by an instant classic "Seahawks Swimming Through Space Remix", courtesy of those beloved cats Jon Tye and Pete Fowler.

These won't be around for long, limited to just 500 copies for the world, so don't drown in procrastination.

One listen and you'll want to dive in.

Fans of the deeply entrancing, nautically and narcotically-enhanced cuts of Dennis Wilson or Michael Nesmith’s The Prison will be instantly mesmerised by the sheer beauty of "The Swimmer". After tracking Danny down, we wanted to know more. How does something so magical come about? The man himself answered thusly:

"At the time I was running many miles on the Sanibel Island beach and doing a bit of swimming in the Gulf Of Mexico. Keeping my mind busy on a long run, I imagined a “what if” movie scene. Almost every run or swim someone is sitting there on the beach watching what goes by. Back at my desk I started finger picking some chords and the picture in my head showed up. I punched in a rhythm loop and the song was on its way.

Adrian Belew and I had the same manager Stan Hertzman so I was listening to some of Adrian’s work. I was a huge fan of Joni Mitchel and the unusual chord changes and melodies in some of her songs. All of this influenced the sound on “The Swimmer”

I had a support band at the time living in my house on Sanibel Island so we practiced a lot. We came up with an arrangement of the song and we took across the bridge to John McLane’s Important Studios and recorded it. I played finger picking acoustic guitar and sang, Tim Miller played drums, Jeff Holck played fretless bass, Dave Dust played lead guitar and John McLane played keyboards and sang harmony."

Our deep thanks must go out to Jon Tye (MLO / Seahawks / Ocean Moon) for first hipping Be With to this stunner. We returned the favour by giving him the keys to the stems and requesting a strung out remix to go on the flip - he returned having conspired with Pete Fowler to conjure a cosmically copacetic rerub with the subtropical chug of the "Seahawks Swimming Through Space Remix".

Putting together the artwork for this 12" release was an enjoyable process. It was nice to be able to flip the original sleeve for the Beach Life album by using previously unseen photos, sent to us by Danny. We wanted to create something that looks like it would've gone with the LP sleeve. We think we've cracked it. Simon Francis remastered Danny's original audio and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 12" sounds appropriately outstanding. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this previously lost masterpiece stays forever found.

Die Berliner Künstlerin THALA findet auf ihrer neuen EP In Theory Depression Stärke in der Verletzlichkeit. Nachdem sie sich einen Weg durch unscharfen Lo-Fi-Indie auf ihrem Debutalbum 2021 gebahnt hat, ist diese kommende Veröffentlichung die Heimat ihres bisher schärfsten und kühnsten Songwritings, welches diese tief persönlichen Erkundungen des Selbst in lebhaftem, 90er-Jahre-beeinflusstem Indie-Rock und drohenden, Psych-inspirierten Klangwänden wiedergibt. Die Songs, die an den verworrenen Indie-Rock von Holly Humberstone, Soccer Mommy und Phoebe Bridgers erinnern und von stacheligen, wogenden Gitarren untermauert werden, zeigen Zärtlichkeit, auch wenn sie wütend sind. In Theory Depression ist das bisher introspektivste Werk der Künstlerin, aber so sehr die Texte auch aus verborgenen Tiefen schöpfen, so sehr sind sie doch oft gepaart mit Breitwand-Melodien, die nach Kino klingen. Das erinnert an die schillernden Klanglandschaften von Mazzy Star, den witzigen Biss von Liz Phair und die subtilen Punk-Einflüsse von Juliana Hatfield, die auch die unerbittlicheren Züge des Genres in knurrenden und bittersüßen Alternative Pop verwandelt. Fire Records sieht noch weitere Großtaten kommen und nachdem sie bereits die Unterstützung von Jack Saunders von BBC Radio 1, dem Wonderland Magazine und Clash gewonnen hat, wird der Aufstieg von THALA nur noch weitergehen. Limitiertes, weißes Vinyl mit DLC!

Die Berliner Künstlerin THALA findet auf ihrer neuen EP In Theory Depression Stärke in der Verletzlichkeit. Nachdem sie sich einen Weg durch unscharfen Lo-Fi-Indie auf ihrem Debutalbum 2021 gebahnt hat, ist diese kommende Veröffentlichung die Heimat ihres bisher schärfsten und kühnsten Songwritings, welches diese tief persönlichen Erkundungen des Selbst in lebhaftem, 90er-Jahre-beeinflusstem Indie-Rock und drohenden, Psych-inspirierten Klangwänden wiedergibt. Die Songs, die an den verworrenen Indie-Rock von Holly Humberstone, Soccer Mommy und Phoebe Bridgers erinnern und von stacheligen, wogenden Gitarren untermauert werden, zeigen Zärtlichkeit, auch wenn sie wütend sind. In Theory Depression ist das bisher introspektivste Werk der Künstlerin, aber so sehr die Texte auch aus verborgenen Tiefen schöpfen, so sehr sind sie doch oft gepaart mit Breitwand-Melodien, die nach Kino klingen. Das erinnert an die schillernden Klanglandschaften von Mazzy Star, den witzigen Biss von Liz Phair und die subtilen Punk-Einflüsse von Juliana Hatfield, die auch die unerbittlicheren Züge des Genres in knurrenden und bittersüßen Alternative Pop verwandelt. Fire Records sieht noch weitere Großtaten kommen und nachdem sie bereits die Unterstützung von Jack Saunders von BBC Radio 1, dem Wonderland Magazine und Clash gewonnen hat, wird der Aufstieg von THALA nur noch weitergehen. Limitiertes, weißes Vinyl mit DLC!

In 2019, Snorkel Records had the pleasure of sharing their lost classic "Riders". And now, finally, all planets are aligned for what will become dibidim's future album classic "Superheaven". Soon it will be visible to the naked eye, starting on the western horizon and moving upward and eastward, in the form of a limited-edition 180-gram vinyl record.

Amsterdam based musician/producer Djosa (long time band member of Arp Frique & The Family) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with two uplifting songs. The legendary Ronald Snijders is featured on ''Vampiro" with whom he (together with Arp Frique) made the documentary Easy Man and the album The Nelson & Djosa Sessions. TIP!

Please note: Due to an unfortunate production mistake, the tracklisting on the labels and sleeve are in the wrong order. The correct order is: A. Botanica Obscura and B: Vampiro (feat. Ronald Snijders).

The fourth release in Fu Manchu's 30th Anniversary vinyl reissue series, No One Rides For Free, is a new vinyl specific remaster of the band's debut album. These songs are the only recordings of the band's line-up of Scott Hill (vocals/guitar), Mark Abshire (bass), Eddie Glass (guitar) and Ruben Romano (drums). The 8 song collection was recorded on April 16 and 17, 1993 at Sandbox Studios in LA, produced by the band along with Brant Bjork. This reissue was remastered by Carl Saff for optimum fidelity. This limited edition 2,000 unit LP run is pressed on red vinyl with white splatter and the newly designed gatefold package includes never before seen photos of the band and flyers from the shows of the era. The limited edition 1,000 unit CD run also features the updated art and a digital specific remaster.

Wie 'Strange Weather' von 1987 ist 'Easy Come Easy Go' eine Cover-Sammlung, die Faithfull in verschiedenen musikalischen Settings präsentiert und dabei Songy von Merle Haggard, Smokey Robinson, Duke Ellington, Randy Newman, den Decemberists und Morrissey interpretiert. Mit einer umwerfenden Gästeliste, darunter Antony Hegarty , Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Jarvis Cocker, Jenni Muldaur, Sean Lennon, Warren Ellis, Nick Cave und Keith Richards. Zur Stammband dieses Sets gehören Marc Ribot, Greg Cohen, Jim White, Rob Burger, Doug Weiselman, Steve Weisberg, Barry Reynolds u.a. Das stilistische Ausufern dieser 12 Songs ist unglaublich. Zum Beispiel ist der Album-Opener, ein Cover von Dolly Partons 'Down From Dover', mit der kompletten Band und 18 Gästen vertreten! Faithfulls charakteristische, tiefe Stimme zeigt sich in hervorragender Form und nimmt einen mit auf Reisen durch Liebe, Lust, Tragödie und Sehnsucht. Gatefold 180 Gr. Doppel-LP (Weißes Vinyl)!

Auf dem 19. Studioalbum von Marianne Faithfull, das von ihrem langjährigen Partner Hal Willner produziert wurde, greift die 60s Ikone und großartige Sängerin nach 'Easy Come Easy Go' aus dem Jahr 2009 auf ihrem zweiten Cover-Album in Folge acht klassische Songs auf. Zu den insgesamt 13 Titeln gehören Neubearbeitungen von 'Past, Present And Future' (Shangri-Las), 'Love Song' (Lesley Duncan), 'Goin' Back' (Dusty Springfield) sowie mehrere Neu-Kompositionen. Dazu Gastauftritte von Lou Reed, Dr. John und Wayne Kramer (ehemals MC5). Gatefold 180Gr. Doppel-LP (Yellow Vinyl)!

When Chet Baker lit up the West-Coast scene during the 1950s, he became a Jazz idol who
appealed to a younger generation and impressed even the most acerbic critics. He jammed
alongside Tenor Sax stars Vido Musso and Stan Getz, and joined Alto Sax legend Charlie
Parker on various West-Coast gigs. Hailed as the Prince of Cool, Chet caused a sensation
when his mellifluous Trumpet tones were first heard blending with Gerry Mulligan's deep
toned Baritone Saxophone in the famous Mulligan Quartet . It was in 1952 when they joined
forces on tunes like Walking Shoes and Line For Lyons. It wasn't long before they departed
ways with Chet establishing his own Quartet that launched a recording career blessed by
the plethora of performances gathered on this triple LP set. He plays his distinctive style of
trumpet along with presenting Chet the singer. Our collection opens with Let's Get Lost and
My Funny Valentine before advancing to include I Fall In Love Too Easy, The Thrill Is Gone,
That Old Feeling and Chetty's Lullaby. So, let's get lost in the eternally cool world of Chet
Baker.

Before there was Saturday Night Fever there was underground disco. DJs across America went out and found the music to play; dancers went out and found the clubs. At this point, in the early seventies, the disco was the venue and not a genre of music.

By the time Nik Cohn’s short story Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night was published by New York magazine in June 1976, disco was the biggest genre of music on the charts and was about to get bigger still, becoming an all-enveloping cultural phenomenon. Cohn sold the film rights to Robert Stigwood, and his classic club yarn became Saturday Night Fever.

“Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night” is the soundtrack to Cohn’s story, where disco began; a 1975 score for the underground clubs of Brooklyn and Queens that played R&B, soul and Latin beats to people who lived for the weekend.

Bob Stanley has put this collection together, sourcing what was actually played in Brooklyn discos in 1974 and 1975. Only a few specific records were mentioned in Cohn’s feature, but two of them – Ben E King’s ‘Supernatural Thing Part 1’ and Harold Melvin’s ‘Wake Up Everybody’ - were cosmically great and both are included here, alongside underground favourites like Moment Of Truth’s Four Tops-like ‘Helplessly’ and Gloria Scott’s Barry White-produced modern soul classic ‘Just As Long As We’re Together’. Ivano Fossati’s incredible ‘Night Of The Wolf’ has fans in northern soul, disco and prog circles.

Without Cohn’s original story, it’s quite possible that disco would have remained an underground phenomenon – “Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night” paints a scene in full flower. Saturday Night Fever would eventually, if unintentionally, wreck the underground nature of this scene, and clubs like Studio 54 would destroy the democracy of the party, but for two or three years the scene was largely undocumented and magical. This album is the sound of disco before it was captured.

Glitching through pop music, cruising around the borders of the avant garde, passing by the edge of coldwave and tumbling into dance and club vibes: after her debut Bad Woman Céline Gillain is back with her second album: 'Mind is Mud'.

On Mind is Mud' Gillain let herself sink in the swamp of emotional confusion, the perpetual brain fog caused by a post Covid-world asking herself: do we have to get used to paradox as a way of life from now on?*

A musical dissection in nine songs of the mudflow, a flow which reveals its rich complexity the more Gillain dived into it: from the demanding intro 'Together' Céline opens up her highly personal and unique vision, shifting between high definition lost dimensions and emotionsthe mud slowly transfers in a crackling and sparkling stream of consciousness.

The mud is well alive in all its weirdness and unclarity. At times, it even glows in the dark.

The answer to that question is yes. The story of Mind is Mud by Céline Gillain: "Music is a place where intuiting is a work in itself. For me, it's the one place where I'm in charge, free to think and do what I want. Mind is Mud is the fruit of a collaborative practice with a DAW, a research around the palliative power of rhythm and the dancefloor, music as a space where emotions and ideas merge, storytelling, the comic potential and imaginative nature of sound. I don't really write, I copy paste and then I arrange and rearrange. Every sound I use comes from software, field recording, Instagram, movies and midi scores I collect here and there. In the hierarchy of sounds, you might call them cheap sounds. The lyrics are collages as well, made of pieces of texts from various contradictory sources. In addition to using the voice as a vehicle for ideas, I investigate its percussive and polyphonic potentialities, the possibility to have more than one voice/mouth."

Little Feat is the quintessential “cult” band. Started by Lowell George, 1972’s Sailin’ Shoes captures these musical rebels at one of their early peaks. The songs on Sailin’ Shoes are a masterful collage of inventive narrative, resplendent in countercultural irony and romance. Featuring the classic tracks “Willin’” (covered by Linda Rondstadt and many others), “Easy to Slip” (originally written for the Doobie Brothers) and the title track, it’s an album whose status has grown immeasurably, making it one of the most acclaimed releases of its era. With 1973’s Dixie Chicken, Little Feat found its signature sound as a band, producing a seductive, laid-back, funky record made up of what is arguably Lowell George's best-ever set of songs. With tracks that sound easy but are quite sophisticated, fans will enjoy hits like the rolling "Two Trains," the deeply soulful and funny "Fat Man in the Bathtub" and the country-funkified title track (which was covered nearly as frequently as "Willin'"). These deluxe editions include the original albums remastered and recut from the original tapes, alongside previously unreleased studio outtakes and demos, and complete unreleased live shows. It’s a treasure trove of material for their feverish fan base, and the first ever deep dive into one of the most influential bands from the 70’s Warner catalog.

[a] A1. EASY TO SLIP (2023 REMASTER) [3:19]
[b] A2. COLD, COLD COLD (2023 REMASTER) [3:58]
[c] A3. TROUBLE (2023 REMASTER) [2:15]
[d] A4. TRIPE FACE BOOGIE (2023 REMASTER) [3:14]
[e] A5. WILLIN’ (2023 REMASTER) [2:54]
[f] A6. A APOLITICAL BLUES (2023 REMASTER) [3:25]
[g] B1. SAILIN’ SHOES (2023 REMASTER) [2:49]
[h] B2. TEENAGE NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (2023 REMASTER) [2:10]
[i] B3. GOT NO SHADOW (2023 REMASTER) [5:05]
[j] B4. CAT FEVER (2023 REMASTER) [4:35]
[k] B5. TEXAS ROSE CAFE (2023 REMASTER) [3:43]
[l] C1. SAILIN’ SHOES (DEMO)* [2:57]
[m] C2. EASY TO FALL (EASY TO SLIP) [DEMO FOR DOOBIE BROS.] [2:41]
[n] C3. TEXAS ROSE CAFÉ (DEMO FOR DOOBIE BROS.) [3:24]
[o] C4. COLD, COLD, COLD (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [4:17]
[p] C5. ROTO/TONE [4:07]
[q] D1. A APOLITICAL BLUES (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [3:46]
[r] D2. BOOGIE – TRIPE FACE BOOGIE [3:58]
[s] D3. TROUBLE (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [2:23]
[t] D4. DORIVILLE [2:44]
[u] D5. WILLIN’ (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [3:00]

[w] E1. TRIPE FACE BOOGIE (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [4:30]
[x] E2. HAMBURGER MIDNIGHT (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [3:41]
[y] E3. CAT FEVER (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)*[5:19]
[z] E4. WILLIN’ (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [4:06]
[xa] E5. STRAWBERRY FLATS (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [3:11]
[xb] F1. GOT NO SHADOW (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [5:08]
[xc] F2. TEXAS ROSE CAFÉ (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [4:05]
[xd] F3. SNAKES ON EVERYTHING (LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71)* [4:18]
[xe] F4. HOT ROD (ELDORADO SLIM) [LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CA 8/28/71]* [5:08]

Little Feat is the quintessential “cult” band. Started by Lowell George, 1972’s Sailin’ Shoes captures these musical rebels at one of their early peaks. The songs on Sailin’ Shoes are a masterful collage of inventive narrative, resplendent in countercultural irony and romance. Featuring the classic tracks “Willin’” (covered by Linda Rondstadt and many others), “Easy to Slip” (originally written for the Doobie Brothers) and the title track, it’s an album whose status has grown immeasurably, making it one of the most acclaimed releases of its era. With 1973’s Dixie Chicken, Little Feat found its signature sound as a band, producing a seductive, laid-back, funky record made up of what is arguably Lowell George's best-ever set of songs. With tracks that sound easy but are quite sophisticated, fans will enjoy hits like the rolling "Two Trains," the deeply soulful and funny "Fat Man in the Bathtub" and the country-funkified title track (which was covered nearly as frequently as "Willin'"). These deluxe editions include the original albums remastered and recut from the original tapes, alongside previously unreleased studio outtakes and demos, and complete unreleased live shows. It’s a treasure trove of material for their feverish fan base, and the first ever deep dive into one of the most influential bands from the 70’s Warner catalog.

[a] A1. DIXIE CHICKEN (2023 REMASTER) [3:55]
[b] A2. TWO TRAINS (2023 REMASTER) [3:06]
[c] A3. ROLL UM EASY (2023 REMASTER) [2:30]
[d] A4. ON YOUR WAY DOWN (2023 REMASTER) [5:31]
[e] A5. KISS IT OFF (2023 REMASTER) [2:56]
[f] B1. FOOL YOURSELF (2023 REMASTER) [3:10]
[g] B2. WALKIN’ ALL NIGHT (2023 REMASTER) [3:35]
[h] B3. FAT MAN IN THE BATHTUB (2023 REMASTER) [4:29]
[i] B4. JULIETTE (2023 REMASTER) [3:20]
[j] B5. LAFAYETTE RAILROAD (2023 REMASTER) [3:40]
[k] C1. TWO TRAINS (DEMO) [3:19]
[l] C2. FAT MAN IN THE BATHTUB (DEMO) [3:56]
[m] C3. WALKIN’ ALL NIGHT (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [3:40]
[n] C4. ROLL UM EASY (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [2:36]
[o] C5. ON YOUR WAY DOWN (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [5:57]
[p] D1. ELDORADO SLIM [4:42]
[q] D2. JULIETTE (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [3:34]
[r] D3. HI ROLLER (ACE IN THE HOLE) [3:27]
[s] D4. DIXIE CHICKEN (ALTERNATE VERSION)* [4:06]
[t] E1. TWO TRAINS (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [3:23]
[u] E2. GOT NO SHADOW (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [6:35]
[v] E3. ON YOUR WAY DOWN (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [6:26]
[w] F1. WALKIN’ ALL NIGHT (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)*[3:34]
[x] F2. FAT MAN IN THE BATHTUB (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [5:31]
[y] F3. WILLIN’ (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [4:31]
[z] F4. A APOLITICAL BLUES (LIVE AT PAUL’S MALL, BOSTON, MA 4/1/73)* [3:33]

The Search for God is a wake-up call for a troubled world that’s still worth saving, animated by a belief in the power of small connections to add up to big changes. At 10 songs delivered in a brief 15 minutes, Jimmy Whispers’ long-awaited sophomore album feels present in a way that feels brand new for the cult auteur. Like many of us, Jimmy has been affected by the pressure of the past few years. After embracing sobriety in 2019, and now as a filmmaker sharing the stories of lesser known Los Angeles community members, he’s brought his dreaming down to earth, while turning its direction even further out.

Recorded with his longtime friend Ziyad Asrar of the band Whitney (and re-recorded after a hard drive incident destroyed the original files), The Search for God was created in the wake of Jimmy’s COVID isolation, and returns to some teen influences that are out of step with the chill/lo-fi LA indie rock scene he’s found himself lumped in with. Created mostly with two vintage synths, a single Roland CR5000 drum machine, and a busted karaoke machine, it channels Midwestern emo, the Beach Boys’ Smile, subtle nods at hyper-pop production, and forgotten jewel-box era college radio of the early aughts into a pure pop sound that transcends easy categorization.

The album’s standout single—and its statement of purpose—is “Hellscape,” which packs more into a minute and 40 seconds than you’d think possible: multiple immediately-unforgettable hooks, kaleidoscopic keyboards, and a bracing reminder that even the most transcendent moments are rooted in a world full of suffering. “This is a fucking hellscape,” Jimmy sings. “This is real life / this is happening.”

That may sound like punk nihilism, but The Search for God is anything but. Every lyrical acknowledgment of how fucked things are right now comes with a promise that we can still make positive changes. Jimmy calls it “God”; you might call it Love or Peace or A Place In the Universe That Makes Some Kind of Sense.

Will The Search for God deliver whatever that is to you? Of course not. At its heart, it’s still just a really good pop album. But maybe that’s enough. For a minute or two at a time, Jimmy’s music cracks open a space where the divine can enter our lives. The utopia we’ve all been dreaming of is already here if we’re just willing to build it. Jimmy Whispers is there, ready to add his voice, whenever we want to reach out.

First single to be taken from Skinshape’s ‘Nostalgia’ album. For fans of Khruangbin, El Michels Affair, Tame Impala and Bonobo. Despite the drama insinuated on ‘High Tide, Storm Rising’, Skinshape aka Will Dorey takes it easy with one of his signature laid back lolls featuring tenderly strummed guitar. “The strings in unison, arranged by Jon Moody, almost have a 'Bollywood' feel” says Dorey, completing the contentment with brass melodies that truly set the track adrift on memory bliss. ‘Theme for Lazarus’ is the album’s opener expressing wide-eyed wonderment; expanding upon the delicate, folk-edged setting in which the track sits, his vocals echoing in the distance like somebody you used to know, Dorey offers that “you often get themes for characters in film soundtracks. For the music, I wanted to create something that had elements of classic Skinshape, but also to add some new ideas that I hadn't used before such as the pizzicato strings”.

Music follows strange paths, goes where it wants, always. This is how music created for use only as a background for adult films in the 70s today sounds so current, sophisticated, groovy and cool.

In this new chapter of Sexopolis "Beyond The Valley Of The Beats" ( Pornobeats ), we will in fact find songs "for adult listeners" who have made non-trivial musical research their final destination. 23 soul, funk, jazz, lounge and more songs that are not so easy to label with a musical genre, believe me.

18 of the songs in this selection have never been made on phonographic support before, a real "first time" that you can discover with all the taste, curiosity and kindness due, please.

The fourth chapter of the Sexopolis series is certainly the most alternative and ambitious, the result of an accurate and difficult musical research that will satisfy listeners at all times. The turquoise double vinyl is as always a limited edition. Then, all that remains is to add it to your collection and ... make your own mental private film.

Enjoy!

Bruce Falkian is a world famous contemporary artist who exhibits at the world's most prestigious art galleries and fairs. Bruce Falkian moonlights as an agent of espionage against the Terrorism Industrial Complex. Wait... what?

To understand Bruce Falkian we first must understand the link between image and war. In the late 1800s the precursor to the video camera was invented. It was directly inspired by guns, specifically, Samuel Colt's Revolver. It borrowed not only its barrel mechanics, swapping bullets for exposures, but its terminology too. Load, point, scope, aim, shoot, flash. The camera and the gun, united by cordite, would go on to prove the most efficacious tools in shaping the modern world.

The 20th century was a laboratory when it comes to killing and image making, glorified through Hollywood and the Western genre. Propaganda would prove highly effective in creating and sustaining support for militaries fighting for ideological global control. Devised first in the aptly title 'Propaganda' (1928) by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, Advertising and Public Relations became the leading media industries, learning how to control the population through images, usually just to buy random crap they didn't need, but other times to overthrow democratically elected politicians in foreign countries. Eventually Western Liberal Democracy assumed domination, built of course on the enslavement of all peoples and nations who didn't fall in line with its specific ideas of living. The Red Scare inspired countless anti-leftist, anti-communist works of art throughout the Cold War, notably and most bizarre, funding the abstract expressionist movement as a non-ideological alternative to socialist realism art. When the Soviet Union fell, Western Liberal Democracy was able to promulgate its unhindered views around the world through its various media empires and actor states. Is it a coincidence that a third of the almost $85 billion dollar global camera equipment market is represented by the greatest propaganda beast the world has ever seen, the USA?

Guns are dangerous because of the obvious. Images are dangerous because we are bad at perceiving what is real (as any jump scare, deepfake, newsreel will attest to.) Videos aren't technically real, they are only a collection of rapidly changing static images which give the illusion of movement. It's easy for us to collectively decide that a video is real, because that's the way our brains perceive reality. People who lead the world of media understand this, which is how they are able to control us, make us invade foreign countries, vote for specific politicians, feel ugly or fat etc. However, ubiquitous as they are, it seems that the image is in crisis. It seems that we've run out of them. Or perhaps our understanding of an image is changing, with the aid of near instantaneous text-to-image AI technology. So what does this mean for guns? What does this mean for war? How will images be used as an aid to war in the 21st century? It remains to be seen, but Bruce Falkian will be a useful agent.

Hailing from the south of Italy, Nico Lahs is a man of many tasks. Besides running the great „Cosmic Rhythm“ label, Nico has more than a decade of quality house music releases on labels like Moods & Grooves, Local Talk, Omena, Delusions of Grandeur or Josh Wink’s Ovum under his belt! „Easy loving you“ shows his diverse skills: proper club trax („Keep on groovin’“), freaky yet groovy stuff (well… “Freakin’“), emotional deep house („Come get me“) and raw and deep tunes („Easy loving you“), Nico Lahs can do it all!

Stoned Part I was the first self-released album from lost soul phenomenon Lewis Taylor. His third album proper, it was initially released on his own label Slow Reality in 2002 and it's been licensed to Be With for this long-awaited double LP release, its first ever vinyl edition. The songs are varied, hook filled and outstanding. Beloved by his legions of diehard fans, it's nothing short of a masterpiece.

After parting ways with Island, and without a label deal, Lewis went back to his home studio and began to record Stoned Part I in 2001. Co-written and co-produced with longtime collaborator Sabina Smyth, Lewis sings and plays all the instruments on this beautiful, emotional and very human album. It represents Lewis at his most accessible and finds him in the middle ground between his two Island releases. In some ways, Stoned Part I distills the best of his musical sensibilities. The flawless production is dense, layered and very early-2000s slick. The bottom end is thick, funky and sexy.

The complex, proggy-soul of title track "Stoned" opens the album and instantly captivates. Deep swinging funk with truly sweet soulful vocals, complemented by wah-wah guitar and swelling acidic synths. As Lewis himself told us, the ad libs at the end of the track were a nod to Paul McCartney at the end of "Hey Jude". Fan favourite "Positively Beautiful" has shades of Curtis and Marvin; its richly layered harmonies propelled by a simple, metronomic click-track that gives way to a more fully fleshed beat for the magnificent coda.

The slow, sweeping majesty of "Lewis IV" is all moody atmosphere, featuring dense, richly textured music and heavenly multi-tracked harmonies. The stop-you-in-your-tracks incredible "Send Me An Angel" could have been a huge AM radio hit, beautifully crafted sophisticated soul-pop songwriting in the vein of the very best Sade records. Yep! *That good* The smooth, psychedelia-lite "Til The Morning Light" is a gorgeous, sun-dappled love song, layered with Lewis' distinctive honey drenched vocals and, again, the type of record you could've easily heard all over the radio at the time of initial release.

The remarkable, wide-eyed "Shame" packs so many shifting styles into one song, it has to be heard to be believed. Opening in a laconic, breezy style, not unlike a Dallas Austin or Rodney Jerkins produced R&B hit of the day, it morphs into a heavy psych-soul Soulaquarians wig-out (the solo bearing an uncanny resemblance to Carlos Santana’s on "She’s Not There") before elegantly sliding into string-assisted symphonic soul and then back around again. And again. Sheer brilliance. The sublime, gentle head-nod funk-soul of "When Will I Ever Learn" (Part 1) is a strikingly well-turned-out tune, a neat, sweet bass-driven guitar-soul jam that ensures our jaw won't be leaving the floor anytime soon. "Lovin’ U More" sounds like a classic turn-of-the-century Neptunes production, the likes of which they'd lay on for JT BITD. A Latin-tinged groover with more than a little Nile Rodgers-driven slick funk stylings, it's yet another instant Lewis bomb with those gorgeous harmonies and chart-friendly irresistible key-changes to boot. Another indisputable (non-)HIT!

The funky seductive swagger of "From The Day We Met - Part II" opens the final side of wax, giving way to the gigantic buzzing synth-funk beast "Lovelight", a track so insouciantly mighty it should have been a massive hit for someone. Wait, what's that? Robbie Williams covered it? Ah, OK, well, I guess that says something about the effortless pop genius contained within. Containing a seemingly unnoticed nod to Kraftwerk’s "Computer World", it's Lewis's favourite song on the album. It's easy to hear why: "Sabina’s production totally nails it. I love the restraint and the subtlety, and that mixture of warmth and sweetness from the singing against the slightly cold, yet beautiful airy-ness of the backing track." To close this phenomenal album, the twisted electronic soul of "Sheneverdid" marries Lewis's beautiful falsetto to his virtuoso playing and an easy-cum-ominous musical backdrop. Stunning.

Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering, approved by Lewis himself, presents the eleven tracks over a double LP so, as ever, it sounds sensational. The records have been cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios and pressed at Record Industry. Allow Lewis Taylor to get you Stoned.

The leader of the European Dancehall/Shatta scene is still as productive as ever after his latest project Mad Ting 2 and a Europe/Latin America tour in 2022. By delivering multiple hits and appearing at major festivals, Blaiz Fayah is starting 2023 the same way he ended the previous year. The hit maker confirms his notoriety through his appearance in mixes played in clubs by the best DJs of the moment. His exponential growth on social networks, especially Tiktok, is also noteworthy.

A few digits: Blaiz Fayah has 850k monthly listeners on Spotify, 36M Spotify listens and 56M views YouTube for his hit "Bad", more than 9 million TikTok videos under the #blaizfayah.

For his upcoming project "Mad Ting 3" scheduled for June 2, 2023, which concludes the "Mad Ting" series, Blaiz Fayah highlights the vast range of his musical references by bringing in Dancehall, Kompa, Moombahton, Reggae, Shatta and Zouk influences.

For the occasion, some of the most renowned artists of their genre have been invited, such as Busy Signal, Jahyanai King and Nesly.

More than a mere sensation, the artist has seduced Dancehall fans all over the world with hits powered by a dancing energy that only he knows the formula. A unique energy that he was able to spread on some of the best European stages in 2022 (Solidays, Garorock) and that he will be able to continue to broadcast during some fifteen European dates in 2023 (Dour Festival, Reggae Sunska, No Logo...).

By collaborating with international DJs for the production of the tracks on his album (Netherlands, United Kingdom, Mauritius, West Indies...), the artist from the Parisian suburbs extends his influence across different international music stages, as shown by the success of his tour in Latin America (Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile...) and in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles...).

Donovan Woods was curious: What if he re-recorded Both Ways, his acclaimed 2018 record that won him a Juno Award for contemporary roots album, and distilled its 12 songs to their bare essence? An “acoustic reimagining,” if you will. “We started from scratch,” he says, from the instrumentation to his vocals to a fresh understanding of the heartache and regret that underpinned those songs. “There are no recording elements carried over from that album. It’s all brand-new.” Woods ended up with The Other Way, his album that brims with inspired interpretations of Both Ways that are intimate yet startling in their urgency. Released on May 3, 2019 on Meant Well, this release is a reminder of why the Canadian artist has become such a sought-after songwriter whose work has been recorded by Tim McGraw (“Portland, Maine”) and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley (“Leaving Nashville”), with Spotify streams approaching nearly 90 million. You’ve always been able to hear and connect with Woods’ words. But an odd sensation washes over you when the varnish is wiped off of Woods’ songs. Somehow the lyrics burrow with even greater resonance and then linger like little smoke rings. For a producer, Woods enlisted ace guitarist Todd Lombardo, who produced Woods’ song “Portland, Maine” in 2015 and wrote and played most of the guitar parts on Kacey Musgraves’ Grammy-winning Golden Hour. Woods gave Lombardo artistic license not only to change the chords and song structures but to overhaul the arrangements with acoustic instruments and Lombardo’s luminous guitar work as the centerpiece. “I think this album draws out the pain and the darkness of these songs,” Lombardo says. “The record is about loss and failure and feeling like you fucked it up, and there’s no mistaking that. You hear every single word – and feel it, too.” Coming on the heels of “Go to Her,” Woods’ first song of 2019, The Other Way is so revelatory that it makes you wonder why he didn’t try this approach sooner. “It’s always been an interesting idea to me, especially when you’re an artist like me who inherently disappoints some people anytime your sound gets bigger,” Woods says. “But a really good song is a good song in any arrangement. It’s like a beautiful hardwood floor. You can put any furniture in there, and it’s going to look good.”

Donovan Woods’ album is a study in contrasts, as one would expect from its name: Both Ways. That push-and-pull, especially in relationships, has long been Woods’ stock in trade. As the lead track of Both Ways, “Good Lover” unfolds with acoustic instruments and Woods’ quietly compelling delivery -- not what a listener might expect from the title alone. That masterful perspective has led to nominations for the Polaris Prize and the Juno Awards. In addition, his single “What Kind of Love Is That?” climbed to No. 1 on the CBC Top 20 Chart, while his catalog has accrued over 45 million streams. Woods is also a notable songwriter in Nashville with credits by Billy Currington, Charles Kelley, Tim McGraw and Charlie Worsham. NPR Music stated, "There are very few writers who can make you laugh and break your heart in the same song.” No Depression noted that Woods’ style is “as fresh and captivating as any out there.” Asked if he writes differently for himself than he does for other artists, Woods replies, “I used to think that there was a difference. I know now there's no difference. You just try to write the best thing. Everything I wrote where I said, ‘This is mine and I’m going to put it out’ – every song like that gets recorded by somebody else. I know now that I just try and write a song that I would want to do.”

A pivotal record for contemporary times; bright, free, adamant, optimistic. Brain Worms is RVG's fullest, most pristine album yet. All throughout Brain Worms, it's apparent that this is a band in very fine form. Album opener 'Common Ground' sets the tone for what's to come; a shiny, thrilling, punch of an album, with all the beloved RVG hallmarks. Vager's voice is unfiltered and commanding as ever when delivering her clever, not-quite-ironic lyrics. Here, though, those lyrics feel so much less resigned to yearning, and so much more defiant and joyous. 'Tambourine' is the only Covid song Vager wrote when "trying not to write Covid songs", and it's a painfully honest portrait of grieving mid-isolation. 'Brain Worms' tells the all-too-familiar story of a person falling down the internet rabbit hole and finding comfort in conspiracies. 'Nothing Really Changes' is a keys-heavy new wave-ish thing, while closer 'Tropic of Cancer' sparkles with Vager's self-assured new manifesto: I know what I'm like, and I know how I get. If you think I'm strange, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Bloxham, Nolte, and Wallace are flawlessly adept in bringing Vager's songwriting to life. Recorded in London at Snap Studios with James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, PJ Harvey), all ten tracks surge with lush sounds and clear intentions and the magic of an acoustic guitar once owned by Kate Bush, given to her by Tears for Fears (who, legend has it, wrote 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' on it). Between the four bandmates lead singer and guitarist Vager, guitarist Reuben Bloxham, drummer Marc Nolte and bassist Isabele Wallace this is the most confident they've ever felt in RVG. They've moved past their influences, pushed themselves, and tried new things. And they have made a record they can, by all accounts, call their best. "Brain Worms feels like the antithesis to what a post-pandemic record could easily be. For a band who were already writing music about being reclusive "we were depressed and not going outside on our first two albums" the enforced isolation and time to think gave Vager space to write about anything she wanted. And, it turned out, she was ready to write about acceptance. "If we could only make one more album, it would be this one," says Vager. "Easily one of the most vital bands on the Aussie scene today" Rolling Stone "A calling card for outsiders... dynamic and vital post-punk" The Guardian

Vinyl is available in two versions - classic black or various color limited "Indie Shop Edition".

Both versions have 180g record and printed inner sleeve.

The idea for "PORTRETY" was simple - to invite esteemed drummers to record a song that will be signed with their name. There was no musical framework - they could invite guests or record everything themselves - no need to necessarily use drums. This is how the first PORTRAITS in 2019 were created, and now we present their next installment.


" 'Part two' seems to suggest a series, so just as with the bad joke from four years ago, I'll lead with the short, age old adage: "10 musicians and a drummer". Admittedly, it is rudimentary and unfunny, however, it is significant: It's easy to forget an instrumentalist's other specialities, but here, the drummers don't let themselves to be forgotten.

This series - the brainchild of Marcin "Groh" Grośkiewicz - is composed of up-close portraits. A task which not only shifts accents, but also changes the lives of those normally considered the unsung heroes of the background. One of the tracks from "Portraits" was picked for an advertising campaign for a well known smartphone producer, others topped industry charts and inspired new bands where drums were in the spotlight.

Part two brings us eight drummers who are among the most multifaceted musicians on the Polish music scene. What are they doing here? Teo Olter tells a complex story, asking in the very title, where he is going? Wiktoria Jakubowska, known for backing big stars, shines through with her own composition. Miłosz Pękala - an interpreter of avant-garde composers and an academic lecturer - thoroughly entertains. Famous from Immortal Onion, Wojtek Warmijak energetically explores high tempos, while Wojtek Sobura - those slower, patiently sculpting a club beat with sonoristic* abstraction. Macio Moretti surprises, as expected, stylistically moving towards his hero: Zappa. Tymoteusz Papior impresses, effortlessly juggling accents and chopping time signatures. And Inferno, despite being associated with the group Behemoth, shows he can do it… drum-less. Some invite other musicians, but they always remain - as their studies or professional experience taught them to be - the musician with the widest set (be it drums or skills) on the team.

So, how does the second part of the series compliment the first? It further completes the gallery of collector's cards with Polish Percussion's superheroes and heroines. Each a different personality and an individual set of features. But does it satisfy? Strikingly.

Enough, I won't drum it into you."

Vinyl is available in two versions - classic black or various color limited "Indie Shop Edition".

Both versions have 180g record and printed inner sleeve.

The idea for "PORTRETY" was simple - to invite esteemed drummers to record a song that will be signed with their name. There was no musical framework - they could invite guests or record everything themselves - no need to necessarily use drums. This is how the first PORTRAITS in 2019 were created, and now we present their next installment.


" 'Part two' seems to suggest a series, so just as with the bad joke from four years ago, I'll lead with the short, age old adage: "10 musicians and a drummer". Admittedly, it is rudimentary and unfunny, however, it is significant: It's easy to forget an instrumentalist's other specialities, but here, the drummers don't let themselves to be forgotten.

This series - the brainchild of Marcin "Groh" Grośkiewicz - is composed of up-close portraits. A task which not only shifts accents, but also changes the lives of those normally considered the unsung heroes of the background. One of the tracks from "Portraits" was picked for an advertising campaign for a well known smartphone producer, others topped industry charts and inspired new bands where drums were in the spotlight.

Part two brings us eight drummers who are among the most multifaceted musicians on the Polish music scene. What are they doing here? Teo Olter tells a complex story, asking in the very title, where he is going? Wiktoria Jakubowska, known for backing big stars, shines through with her own composition. Miłosz Pękala - an interpreter of avant-garde composers and an academic lecturer - thoroughly entertains. Famous from Immortal Onion, Wojtek Warmijak energetically explores high tempos, while Wojtek Sobura - those slower, patiently sculpting a club beat with sonoristic* abstraction. Macio Moretti surprises, as expected, stylistically moving towards his hero: Zappa. Tymoteusz Papior impresses, effortlessly juggling accents and chopping time signatures. And Inferno, despite being associated with the group Behemoth, shows he can do it… drum-less. Some invite other musicians, but they always remain - as their studies or professional experience taught them to be - the musician with the widest set (be it drums or skills) on the team.

So, how does the second part of the series compliment the first? It further completes the gallery of collector's cards with Polish Percussion's superheroes and heroines. Each a different personality and an individual set of features. But does it satisfy? Strikingly.

Enough, I won't drum it into you."

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.

Dire Straits' arresting self-titled debut arrived in the midst of punk's reign but couldn't have been further removed from the era's slash-and-burn style. Recorded in West London in February 1978, the band's tasteful, jazz-inflected set embraces folk, blues, and pub rock while also tracing a direct line back to the beat-oriented sound of early rock n' roll. Country and roots accents further distinguish the British quartet's stripped-down music from any 1970s peers, as does the transparent production, which has remained revered among audiophiles the world over – and which has never been better than on this meticulous pressing.

Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP version of Dire Straits features natural tonalities, superb balances, you-are-there imaging, deep-black backgrounds, and pristine clarity. Even if you've heard this album hundreds of times before, you've never experienced it with such lifelike sonics and premium richness. This numbered-edition collector's set immerses you within the smoky, laidback atmospherics of every song. This is how all vinyl should sound.

Crucial to every arrangement, Mark Knopfler's winding guitar lines emerge with supreme transparency and multi-hued textural detail. His intricate playing comes across as if it's being transmitted via his 60s-era Fender Vibrolux amplifier placed right before you. The cleanliness, dimensions, and live feel are that good. His bandmates, too, benefit from the extra groove space afforded by this 45RPM edition. Rhythms skate and swirl; percussive effects resonate with crispness and attack; the leading edges of notes naturally decay.

Dire Straits' strong, well-edited batch of original material further enhances the overall enjoyment and makes the record one whose pleasures go far beyond the organic sonics. Just as Knopfler's narratives pour forth with poetic and surrealist texts, the musical settings – an intoxicating combination of easygoing shuffles, back-hall boogies, and pop-honed ballads – mirror the old-fashioned soulfulness inherent in the classic recordings of the late 50s and early 60s. The lyrics are equally captivating.

Drawing from his time as a youth in Newcastle, Leeds, and London, Knopfler invests tunes with an autobiographical slant and emotional connectivity that become obvious the moment he opens his mouth to sing. "Down to the Waterline," "Wild West End," and "Lions" all feature colloquial touches that add to their reach. By extension, "In the Gallery" functions as a tribute to Leeds sculptor Harry Phillips (father of future Knoplfer collaborator, Steve Phillips) while the record's breakout smash, "Sultans of Swing," pays homage to struggling bar bands.


Through it all, Dire Straits performs with a subtle cool and clever poise that no band ever matched. Just how good is the chemistry? Bob Dylan heard the quartet and invited Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on Slow Train Coming. But even Dylan himself didn't hear Dire Straits sound this magnetic back in its original heyday. Now, everyone can.

DIE LEGENDÄREN ALBEN DER INTERNATIONALEN POP-IKONE BRITNEY SPEARS AUF FARBIGEM VINYL ERHÄLTLICH! Zusammengenommen stellen diese Alben einen beeindruckenden Wandel in der Popmusik dar, vom Ende eines Jahrtausends zum Beginn eines neuen. Britneys avantgardistische Pop-Kollaborationen und ihr sich ständig weiterentwickelnder Musikstil haben sie zu einer kulturellen Ikone gemacht, die Generationen beeinflusst hat. Insgesamt erreichten alle ihre Alben die Top 5 der Billboard 200 - fünf davon den ersten Platz. Mit weltweit fast 150 Millionen verkauften Tonträgern ist Britney Spears eine der erfolgreichsten Künstlerinnen in der Geschichte der Popmusik und hat mehrere Platinauszeichnungen und Grammy Awards gewonnen

First release of this label featuring Gehlektek, Pozek and SPK

A1 "Gruntler" from Gehlektek with a long 9 minutes track at 45rpm, mega bomb at 150 bpm! Super HQ sound, stompy kick, melodic themes and delicious ear candy. Proper crowd control tool !

B1 "MR.Kubickeh" is a track from the super talented Pozek 33rpm this side with a very easy but super effective Acidcore tune at 150 bpm! Clean mix and driving atmosphere with a very important kick! The track was composed to support the victims of Redon party in 2021, parts of the revenues will go to the crews involved in that party. Massive support to Pozek for this pearl track!

B2 "We Are The Resistance" is a driving nu school Tribecore banger! It starts with a long monologue with a very well done crescendo bringing to a massive sentimental and impressing drop. Synths arrangements drive you dancing crazy with a very persistent, solid distorted kick. 165 bpm. Amazing production from the notoriously skilled SPK.

Hania Rani announces "On Giacometti" a tender meditation on the life and art of Alberto Giacometti and family. "On Giacometti" is a collection of beautiful recordings inspired by the renowned artist and family and features some of Rani's most profoundly delicate compositions to date. Invited by film director Susanna Fanzun, to score her forthcoming documentary on the legendary artist Alberto Giacometti, Hania Rani took herself to the Swiss mountains to compose in blissful isolation. As Rani explains eloquently below the compositions are based on improvised melodies, simple harmonies and structures and inspired by the silence of the mountains as Rani returns to her main instrument, the piano. The results are beguilingly reminiscent of her beloved debut album Esja, but with subtle extra layers of synthesiser, and on two tracks cello from friend and long-running collaborator Dobrawa Czocher.

'On Giacometti' is presented as a limited edition LP with bespoke packaging featuring Les Naturals - Chocolat (Gmund) sustainable recycled paperboard made from 100 % recovered paper with Foil Artwork by Łukasz Pałczyński. Plus Double sided printed insert and download code inside.

Hania Rani "On Giacometti":
‘When I was asked to compose a soundtrack for a movie about the family of Giacometti I didn't think twice.

Alberto Giacometti, a Swiss artist, who worked mainly as painter and sculptor has been one of my favourite artists for a long time. His individual style, aesthetics and the character of his creative process is still fascinating to me on many levels, so being able to dive even deeper into his universe, getting to know not only him but also his family was an opportunity that I couldn't miss. Little did I know how far this "yes" will take me - not only mentally and on a creative level but also physically. Thanks to the director of the documentary - Susanna Fanzun and by a stroke of luck and a couple of extra questions I decided to move for a couple of months to the Swiss mountains, not far away from the place where Giacometti was born and where the place he called home was, although he didn't live there. Susanna showed me a place close to her hometown where I could rent a studio and work on the soundtrack but also for my other projects. It was the middle of a winter, the area was full of ice and snow, just like only it can happen still in the mountains. The residency house was located in a valley surrounded by high mountains and the sun in the winter season was not coming up for too long during the day. I remember she told me about it and added "that not everyone is feeling well there, but I hope you will". I did.

Being almost separated from reality, the city and its entertainments, people rushing and everything that usually takes my attention I could fully concentrate on the music and soundtrack, spending most of the day with my own thoughts and having enough space to experiment and be free in a creative process. This soundtrack would probably be a very different thing if composed in a place that I am usually living in. I took this a chance to explore something new about myself as a composer and human being, taking the opposite direction that I would usually choose for myself.

The album "On Giacometti" includes the excerpts from the soundtrack, the most representative tracks and those which became a strong voice itself. Based a lot on improvised melodies, simple harmonies, structures and silence it reminds me of my debut album "Esja" which was partly composed and recorded in another chilly place - Iceland. All these components, both mental and physical, guided me back to my main instrument - piano, which I tried to redefine again with a language of the space that I was working in. The space is usually the key element that gives me the answer about the arrangement or character of the project. Space seems to be the first to appear and music is the invisible power which is changing its angels.’ Living surrounded by mountains makes you change the perspective and understanding of scale as Alberto Giacometti once famously wrote in a letter: It gives an impression that things that are actually far away, like mountains, are close and the other ones that are not so far away, like people, seem small, watched from a distance. You feel like touching the mountain top with your finger could be as easy as touching the tip of your nose. The snow additionally protects the whole area from the noise, each sound lands softly on the ground accompanied by echoes of immeasurable space. Each scratch or whisper is becoming an autonomic entity, opening the gate to the world of ghosts and lost spirits. It's easy to think that time stands still there, while nothing is moving and changing at the first sight. But the ubiquitous ice and snow reveal the passage of time, transforming frozen paysage into the wild stream of water - each day, hour and second. Melting and vanishing, clearing the space from white powder and noise consuming surface. Invisible process for a one night traveller, becomes painfully real for longer time settlers. Time flows with each new wave of sound coming through the river, reminding us that we are part of the cycle, which endlessly repeats itself.