Suche:dr john

Deep spiritual jazz recorded in Germany, performed by Jamaican born saxophone player Fitz Gore and his international group The Talismen, featuring a.o. bassist Gérard Ebbo from Morocco and drummer Philippe Zobda-Quitman from Martinique. This is the first reissue of their second album, released in 1976 by the small private label GorBra from Bonn, including "Delilah" and "Requiem For Julian Cannonball Adderley". The rare LP comes in a newly mastered version with original cover design and sleeve notes. Fitz Gore's music is full of tremendous tension and movement between deep seriousness, inwardness and humility; it affects your life, it liberates and heals.

Original sleeve notes from 1976:

"Soundmagnificat" is the successor to "Soundnitia" (GorBra Records F 665 532), the first release from the Talismen, an international group with Jamaican Tenor saxophonist Fitz Gore (born1935) as founder, spiritual and musical leader, main soloist. "Soundnitia" contained concert performances of June, 1975, including compositions by John Coltrane, Horace Silver and one by Gérard "Prof. Dr. Splüm" Ebbo, bassist of the Talismen.

This second offering from the Talismen is more varied. It has four tracks recorded at four different occasions. It presents Fitz Gore as a singer, a composer, as well as, a tenor saxophonist. The opener, Requiem for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, is a moving tribute to a great American artist, the late alto saxophonist "Cannonball" Adderley. On this track, Hungarian drummer Janos Sudy is heard with the Talismen, for the first time. The playing by the quartet on this slow lament very adequately illustrates the mood of the composition

For the next piece, a concert performance, Gore selected a gem from the American Negro Song Tradition and he displays a mighty, masculine and soulful voice in Steal Away. An example of a modern artist using an old traditional to express his own inner feelings. Delilah is taken from another concert performance, the same concert as the music on "Soundnitia". It has extensive playing by Gore, a bass solo by Gérard Ebbo, leading into some exciting conga playing by Lamont Hampton.

The final track, A Sinner Kissed An Angel, was recorded by another tenor player, Wardell Gray, in 1950, but this version is all Gore's. After the piano introduction, Gore delivers the melody with authority and with an expressive use especially of the high register of his instrument. In his improvisation, Gore's playing becomes more dissonant. Some of his playing here causes me to think of the way the late Albert Ayler sounded on his first recordings done in Sweden, in the beginning of the 60s. No drums here, but nice accompaniment and solo work of Jochen Paul on vibes.

I met Fitz Gore in Copenhagen in the fall of 1975. We were both listening to the trumpet playing of Harry "Sweets" Edison at the now defunct Café Montmartre. Prior to that time, I did not know Gore and his music, but listening to his playing on this album and the earlier one, has once more widened my musical horizon. His music has struck some chords within me. "Music is communication", John Coltrane once said. I feel sure that as you listen to the music of Fitz Gore and his Talismen, you will get the message.

In these notes, I have mentioned a couple of jazz artists and another one ought to be named primarily, because he has meant a lot to Gore: Sonny Rollins. The two met in Paris in 1966. Gore says of Rollins: "He openend my eyes ...big man … phenomenon … my man". As Sonny Rollins's artistry, the music of Fitz Gore holds many aspects, some being aggressive and even hysterical, others being those of beauty and peace. As life itself … (Roland Baggenaes, June 1976)

The music of Fitz Gore, rooted in the blues, is full of tremendous tension and movement between deep seriousness, inwardness, humility and humor, hardness and tenderness; it affects your life, it liberates and heals - a hopeful, a truly groundbreaking, a timeless, a new music - Newsic!
(Gisela Braasch, 1976)

In memory of Fitz Gore.
Mastered 2020 by Roskow Kretschmann at Audiomoto,
kindly supported by Tom Sky. Vinyl cut at SST.
Producer for reissue: Ekkehart Fleischhammer,
reproduction of original cover design by Gisela Gore:
Patrick Haase aka rab.bit.

On Halloween 2014, the director and composer John Carpenter introduced the world to the next phase of his career with “Vortex,” the first single from Lost Themes, his first-ever solo record. In the months that followed, Lost Themes right-fully returned Carpenter to the forefront of the discussion of music and film’s crucial intersection. Carpenter’s foundational primacy and lasting influence on genre score work was both rediscovered and reaffirmed. So widespread was the acclaim for Lost Themes, that the composer was moved to embark on something he had never before entertained – playing his music live in front of an audience. 2016 will host the first ever John Carpenter tour and in true Carpenter spirit, a sequel to Lost Themes: Lost Themes II. The follow-up brings quite a few noticeable changes to the process, which result in an even more cohesive record.

Lost Themes’cowriters Cody Carpenter (John’s son) and Daniel Davies (John’s godson) both returned. Cody was recently also heard as a composer for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series (Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life), and NBC’s Zoo. Davies was a composer for NBC’s Zoo, as well as the motion picture Condemned. All three brought in sketches and worked together in the same city, a luxury they weren’t afforded on the first Lost Themes. The result was a more focused effort, one that was completed on a compressed schedule — not unlike Carpenter’s classic, notoriously low-budget early films. The musical world of Lost Themes II is also a wider one than that of its predecessor. More electric and acoustic guitar help flesh out the songs, still driven by Carpenter’s trademark minimal synth.Keep your eyes peeled for John and his co-writers to hit the road next year performing both lost and newly found themes, in addition to retrospective work from Mr. Carpenter’s multi-generational career. Long live the Horror Master.

Orange and black. Fire and ebony. Fury and pride. Wearing its signature colors proudly and raising its exclamation point high, Impulse! Records was the go-to label for music that harnessed the searching and political stand-taking of the Sixties. Launched in 1961, Impulse grew to become an inherent part of the era’s velocity as well as its volume, pulling jazz into the age of Black Power, Afrocentricity, and Spiritual Expansion. In its balance of tradition and transition, it bridged the golden age of jazz, that brief window from the late Fifties to the Seventies when players representing every jazz era were alive and active—from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler, from the legends of lore to a new generation of energy players. Impulse treated all its musicians as innovators, revolutionaries even—from swing and bebop, to free and Afrofuturist. The performances on Impulse Records: Music, Message and the Moment draw their staying power from a wide embrace of styles and sounds, as well as a tight focus on a historic moment when the promise of change was in the air and the message of racial harmony was in the music. Today that music has lost none of its relevance: the promise still deferred, the message still on time.

“John Andrews is picking flowers from each corner of his life and
presenting you with an unusual bouquet. His imaginary band ‘The
Yawns’ are back! Third time’s a charm. In hockey terms, they call it a
‘hat trick’ and you know who’s always wearing a ratty old hat? John
Andrews. Three years in the making and we have Cookbook, the third,
and most colorful record from your favorite New Hampshire based
craftsman.
“Unknowing folks usually assume he lives in New York City or
Los Angeles but confer with John for five minutes and if he’s in the
right mood he’ll talk your ear off about the granite state and the old,
seedy colonial barn where he’s tracked his records with his weird and
wonderful friends.
“Take a listen to his previous effort, 2017’s Bad Posture. It was the
grassroot slacker’s pie in the sky. His head was stuck in the past. He
probably excessively listened to ‘Cripple Creek Ferry’ and he most
likely wasn’t keeping up with household chores. Time moves on,
but just look at him now! All grown up yet likely still feeling those
growing pains. After a few more years of traveling we now have
Cookbook, fresh out the oven…phew! About nine or ten new tracks,
but who’s really counting?
“The lyrics are simple and endearing, inspired by mid-century love
songs. His inspirations are all across the board. If his subconscious
was a bootleg taper, life would be the show.
“At any rate, it doesn’t sound like a record made in New
Hampshire, but make no mistake, this is a dyed-in-the-wool Yawns
record, refreshingly straightforward yet full of character. It’s less of a
crowded honky tonk, and more of an empty, poignant speakeasy. You
can finally relax indoors after a weary day out in the cold. Have you
ever seen that painting of dogs playing poker? It might as well be what
they were listening to as the bulldog pushed his chips forward.”

John Carpenter, the Legendary Director and Composer behind Halloween, Escape From New York, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13 and many more announces his debut solo album ‘Lost Themes’ out February 3rd on Sacred Bones Records. In anticipation of his debut release, Carpenter shares a new track “Vortex,” a custom-designed video for “Vortex” set to clips from different Carpenter films and the full album artwork and track list.

John Carpenter has been responsible for much of the horror genre’s most striking soundtrack work in the fifteen movies he’s both directed and scored. The themes that drive them can be stripped to a few coldly repeating notes, take on the electrifying thunder of a rock concert, or submerge themselves into exotic, unholy miasmas. It’s work that instantly floods his fans’ musical memory with imagery of a menacing shape stalking a babysitter, a relentless wall of ghost-filled fog, lightning-fisted kung fufighters, or a mirror holding the gateway to hell. Lost Themes asks Carpenter’s acolytes to visualize their own nightmares.

“Lost Themes was all about having fun,” Carpenter says. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No

release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on (collaborators) Cody (Carpenter, of the band Ludrium) and Daniel (Davies, who scored I, Frankenstein) to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.”

Black heavyweight vinyl pressing The third album / first live album from the British rock band, Dr. Feelgood.
Originally released in 1976, it was the first live album to ever hit number 1 on the UK charts in its first week.
Stupidity captures the relentless, hard-driving energy of Dr. Feelgood at their peak. Comprised of recordings taken from 1975 tours, the music is presented raw and without overdubs, making it clear that the dynamic friction between guitarist Wilko Johnson and vocalist Lee Brilleaux could propel the band toward greatness

The Black Keys release their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, via Nonesuch Records. The record celebrates the band’s roots, featuring eleven Mississippi hill country blues standards that they have loved since they were teenagers, before they were a band, including songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded Delta Kream at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville; they were joined by musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time members of the bands of blues legends including R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.

Auerbach says of the album, “We made this record to honor the Mississippi hill country blues tradition that influenced us starting out. These songs are still as important to us today as they were the first day Pat and I started playing together and picked up our instruments. It was a very inspiring session with Pat and me along with Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton in a circle, playing these songs. It felt so natural.”

Carney concurs, “The session was planned only days in advance and nothing was rehearsed. We recorded the entire album in about ten hours, over two afternoons, at the end of the “Let’s Rock” tour.”

Auerbach says of Delta Kream’s first single ‘Crawling Kingsnake’: “I first heard John Lee Hooker’s version in high school. My uncle Tim would have given me that record. But our version is definitely Junior Kimbrough’s take on it. It’s almost a disco riff!” Carney adds, "We fell into this drum intro; it's kind of accidental. The ultimate goal was to highlight the interplay between the guitars. My role with Eric was to create a deeper groove."

The music from northern Mississippi, which came to life in juke joints, has long left an imprint on the band’s music, from their cover of R.L. Burnide’s ‘Busted’ and Junior Kimbrough’s ‘Do The Romp’ on their debut album, The Big Come Up; to their subsequent signing to Fat Possum Records, home to many of their musical heroes; and to their EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called ‘rock royalty’ by the Associated Press and ‘one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.

Cuernavaca / Stateville / Frankincense And Myrrh / Apsara / Ancestral / Spin / Zincali


Approaching his eighty-fifth birthday, sharp and lean, Phil Cohran lives a couple of blocks from the lake on the north side of Chicago. His modest apartment is filled with a palpable richness. His cornet and trumpets, zithers, French horn, harp and frankiphones (an electric kalimba of his own invention); his beloved telescope; African art; a mural of the Chinese monastery where Muslim monks bestowed on him the name Kelan ('holy scripture'); hand-printed posters from the culture wars of 1960s Chicago; all reflect a life dedicated not just to music, but also to science and astronomy, to history and activism. In its range of subject matter the track-list of Kelan Philip Cohran & The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble embodies this invigorating and all-embracing curiosity: a Mexican hill-town filled with perfume and flowers... an Illinois state prison where Cohran taught inmates in the 1960s... heavenly dancers in the temples of Cambodia... a tribute to a sixteenth-century Venetian musicologist. Welcome to the musical world of Kelan Philip Cohran.
Cohran was born in Mississippi and grew up in St Louis. In the immediate post-war years St Louis was a jazz heartland, home of stalwarts like Clark Terry and Oliver Nelson (both of whom he played with), not to mention a genius called Miles Davis. In 1950 Cohran moved to another heartland, Kansas City, where he played trumpet in one of the hardest swinging swing-groups, led by Jay McShann (who famously had given Charlie Parker his first job). With McShann he spent 'the best year of my life', touring as far as Mexico and playing proto-rock'n'roll in Texas with the likes of Big Mama Thornton on vocals. Back in St Louis Cohran led his own group, the Rajas Of Swing, whose show involved wearing red jackets, grey slacks, blue suede shoes and turbans.
Then in the mid-50s he moved to Chicago. He had a small group with a friend, the legendary tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, whose regular gig was to play at Sarah Vaughan's weekly 'birthday' parties, an excuse for the Sassy One to splash the cash and have some fun. ('What, Sarah Vaughan would sing with you and John Gilmore' 'No way, Sarah didn't sing, she was too busy partying.') And in 1959, through Gilmore, he was invited to join Sun Ra's Arkestra, at a crucial period in the evolution of that extraordinary group. Effortlessly wrapping traditions as divergent as boogie-woogie and electronica in an Afro-centric, intergalactic mythology of his own making, Sun Ra casts a huge shadow across conventional narratives of jazz history. 'With Sunny', Cohran simply says, 'I found my own voice'.
You can hear the emergence of this voice on the LP Angels And Demons At Play, recorded in 1960 - Sun Ra's masterpiece from the period. On the track Music From The World Tomorrow, against the urgent whipped and chopped percussion of the Arkestra, it is Cohran's zither, initially bowed and then plucked and strummed, which is the track's magic ingredient. More profoundly it was Sun Ra's example - his defiant self-confidence and sense of purpose - that set Cohran on his own (to quote another Ra composition) 'pathway to unknown worlds'. Indeed this spirit of self-belief led Cohran to turn down the invitation to accompany the Arkestra when Sun Ra moved east in 1961.
Staying in Chicago, Cohran founded the Affro-Arts Theater and performed with the Artistic Heritage Ensemble, recording the group for his own Zulu Records imprint. (Co-members went on to become Earth Wind & Fire; Cohran taught the group's leader Maurice White the mysteries of the frankiphone). The AACM, a musicians' collective of immense influence and importance, had its first meeting in Cohran's front room. With Oscar Brown Jr and Gene Page he wrote and performed in a show celebrating the nineteenth-century Afro-American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He taught music tirelessly in schools and prisons. His studies into music theory and history led him to the discovery of a key book in his life, Gioseffo Zarlino's treatise on harmony, published in Venice in1558. Astronomy is another passion and another area of expertise. One of the gems of the Cohran discography is African Skies, with its lovely harp playing, commissioned by the Chicago Planetarium in 1993.
In Chicago he also raised a large family. Many of his children have gone on to become professional musicians; eight of them are the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. For each of them, their first teacher was their father, who famously insisted on giving them music lessons not just for several hours after school, but for several hours before school as well. Their father's music was all around them as children; they all vividly remember lying in bed at night not being able to sleep because their father was rehearsing with the Jazz Workshop downstairs.
For the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the voyage to where they are now - whether tearing up festivals from Glastonbury to Melbourne, or touring with Gorillaz, or recording their first album on Honest Jon's - has involved a necessary stepping away from their father's shadow. Phil Cohran is the first to recognise this, happily allowing their sound - heavy on the funk, with the urgency of hip hop never far away - to blossom.
But likewise this album is for all of them a natural step. Recorded in Chicago in June 2011, the idea was beautifully simple - 'my music and their band' as Phil puts it, 'we don't have to rattle on more than that'. Only to point out perhaps that here - in the majestic surge of Zincali, for instance, or in the sheer verve and bounce of Cuernevaca - is music not just filled with the warmth of home. This is music that plumbs the depths and rings with joy.

'Cuernevaca is a town in the mountains south of Mexico City. I was there in 1950 when I was on the road with Jay McShann's band. It's a place close to paradise, a city filled with the fragrance of flowers. I always wanted to go back... In 1974 I taught workshops at the prison in Stateville, the Big House where Al Capone spent time. There's a huge wall around the prison, and once I took Hypnotic there - ha - to see what the future holds for them... Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, sent a caravan of gifts to King Solomon - a caravan that took more than a day to pass one point - and the main gifts were Frankincense And Myrrh... I wrote Apsara in 1967, when Jackie Kennedy was in the news with her visit to the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Apsara were celestial beings, dancers who brought forth the civilization of ancient Cambodia, by dancing in the holy nectar called Amrita... Ancestral is a meditation drone written for my Friday-night residence at the Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant in Chicago's Rogers Park... Spin is the latest of these compositions. Everything in the cosmos spins, from the smallest objects we can see in a microscope to the largest galaxies. Spin is the motion of all things whether it looks like it or not... Zincali is a name Spanish gypsies call themselves. 'Zin', East Africa; 'cali', the people. One of the offshoots in my research into Moorish Spain has led me to Gioseffo Zarlino, the sixteenth-century master of music at St Mark's in Venice. It's said that Bach lost his sight reading Zarlino's treatise on counterpoint. His greatest composition is his setting of the Song of Songs - 'Nigra Sum', 'I am black'. This is my tribute to Zarlino and to the zincali.'

Clear / Orange Vinyl
Factory Benelux presents a remastered 2xLP coloured vinyl edition of Circuses and Bread, the seventh studio album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column. Originally released by Factory Benelux and Factory in 1986, the original 9 tracks have now been expanded with 6 bonus pieces.

The cover art retains the original design by 8vo. The remastered limited edition CLEAR+ORANGE vinyl set is housed in gatefold sleeve, with liner notes and rare band images. A CD version is also available (FBN 154 CD).

Self-produced by Vini Reilly at Strawberry and Revolution studios, the album saw Durutti playing as a quartet, with Reilly on guitar, vocals and keyboards, Bruce Mitchell in drums and percussion, John Metcalfe (viola) and Tim Kellett (trumpet).

‘The music ends up being very simple,’ Vini told NME. ‘People can dismiss it as being very simplistic, easy listening or whatever. It’s very honest, it’s very personal. People say it’s ambient, and it’s like Eno. I don’t like that, because the music’s made to be listened to, it’s not wallpaper.’

Of extended piece Blind Elevator Girl – Osaka, Vini adds: ‘The music really writes itself. For example, we’re in Osaka, in Japan, getting in this elevator. It’s very crowded with all these Japanese businessmen talking about distribution deals, and going on and on. On this lift was a beautiful Japanese girl, in an immaculate uniform. Each floor we arrived at, she’s starting talking Japanese, obviously saying what was on each floor. We went higher and higher, and finally we get to the top. And then, sort of walking out of the elevator, I suddenly realised she was blind... It got to me, this girl. It was incredible. So maybe a day later, I was thinking about that, and the whole tune came out. And every single piece of music is like that.’

Bonus tracks include Italian-only EP Greetings Three, scarce compilation track The Aftermath, and a previously unreleased working version of 1987 single Our Lady of the Angels produced by the late Stuart ‘Jammer’ James.

GREEN VINYL

The long-awaited 3rd and final part of Data 3’s ’Matter’ series is here. ‘Atomic’ contains four incredible tracks from the dynamic trio based in Manchester and it comes after the global success of their remix of arguably the biggest drum and bass tune of all time ‘Up All Night’ by John B on Metalheadz earlier this year.

Limited edition to 500 copies vinyl + 16 pages comic.

Record Kicks presents the reissue of the rare and in-demand Calibro 35 EP Dalla Bovisa a Brooklyn on vinyl. The EP includes an original Calibro 35's comic and is limited to 500 copies, which makes it an instant collector's item.

Originally recorded in 2012 in Brooklyn during the sessions for their third studio album Any Resemblance, Dalla Bovisa a Brooklyn (literally 'from Milan's district Bovisa to Brooklyn') came out in that same year as a limited edition 10". The EP contained an original comic by Italian gurus Gianfranco Enrietto and Marco Philopat that tells, between reality and fiction, the experience of Calibro 35 in the Big Apple. Rapidly gone out of stock, the original copies are rare to find and change hands for big money amongst record collectors and Calibro fans. Following the re-release of the first 3 Calibro 35 studio albums, now also Dalla Bovisa A Brooklyn sees the light again on the superior 12" format that includes a restored colored version of the original 16 pages comic. From the opening "Broccolino funk" to the last track, the 6 minutes of the afro-funk winner "Bushwick, Nigeria", on the six tracks on the EP the band sounds as groovy as ever, serving another funk-filled journey, full of fuzz guitars, distorted organs and brooding bass lines.

Active since 2008, Calibro 35 enjoy a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. During their thirteen-year career, they were sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album, Jay-Z, The Child of lov & Damon Albarn; they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat and Headhunters and as unique musicians they collaborated with, amongst others, PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish, Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionadosin every corner of the planet.

LIMITED 180GM OPAQUE ORANGE VINYL.

BUFFET LUNCH are a Scottish group who make it their mission to craft satisfyingly imperfect pop songs filled with imagery and humour.The group’s elementary parts are Perry O’Bray (Vocals/Keys/Guitar), Neil Robinson (Bass), John Muir (Lead Guitar) & Luke Moran (Drums), united by a shared love of music on the ABBA-to-Beefheart axis.

These four ricochet between Glasgow and Edinburgh, creating music that bristles with DIY spirit and upbeat wonkiness. Their tracks are vigorous excursions, meandering into clattersome terrain as often as hiking up into the breezy, melodious foothills.The desire to lead the listener along a curious tale helps tie things together, showcasing a lyrical playfulness that pins down their puzzle of sound.

Having been an active band for a few years, playing regularly north of the border with like-minds such as Irma Vep, Robert Sotelo and Kaputt, Buffet Lunch spent early 2020 working on the follow-up to their two EPs on Permanent Slump.The fruits from such labour bore out as the band’s debut album ‘ThePower of Rocks’, out may 7th on UpsetTheRhythm.

‘ThePower of Rocks’ was recorded in a Crofters cottage/studio on the banks of Upper Loch Fyne in Argyll, over four nights and five days at the beginning of March 2020, before Covid-19 made itself such an ongoing concern. Back then four people could occupy the same space and make music, lunch and dinner together. Days fell into a pattern of long sessions and long meals.The album came together as a luminous mix of Buffet Lunch’s live chestnuts, some sparky recent songs and some new material entirely written and recorded in situ. All tracks were recorded by Neil Robinson acting as the in-house engineer.

As the seriousness of the virus and talk of national lockdowns developed - there was a feeling of anticipation more than fear in the air, but being holed up in cottage in a wild corner of Scotland surrounded by snowy mountains still took on an apocalyptic feel, albeit an apocalypse where the band were safe and overdubbing vocals. After leaving the cottage, reality (as it must) set in and finishing the album became a more remote task.

Over the following months, an extended period of listening awarded the recordings a deeper realisation, as they bounced between band members computers. Perry also started writing on his Casio keyboard and collaborated on a couple of songs (‘Ten Times’ & ‘Ashley’s New Haircut’) with Jayne Dent (of electronic music project Me Lost Me), drawing on her ethereal singing voice as a counterpoint to his own more ‘spoken’ vocals on the album. These gauzy, dreamlike tracks were then sent to other members of Buffet Lunch to add their respective parts, creating evocative new dimensions to close each half ofthealbum with.

The Power of Rocks’ rattles along like a short-story collection, exploring a variety of narratives. When it comes to the music itself, Perry describes their approach as “see what happens” but admits to a preference for simple synth melodies, plenty of percussion, and prickly guitar-parts. ‘Red Apple’ opens the album with a dizzy swagger, guitars and keyboard notes swirling in forays whilst its lyric tackles notions of social bravado. ‘Orange Peel’ follows equally serpentine with its blattering tune and jagged, yet jolly melodic twists.The themes across the album are wide-ranging and personal, from irritation with out of touch politicians (‘Pebbledash’), to love letters to seaside living (‘Bladderwrack’), to even the frailty and confusion of old age (‘Said Bernie’, ‘It Helps to Know’). Title track ‘ThePower of Rocks’ is an ode to the power of nature sunk within a rolling wave of cheery jangle. “Do you believe in the power of rocks when the sun is too hot on your face?” sings Perry as the song zigzags with consequence. ‘He Wore Two Hats’ sports similarly bop-worthy riffs and addictive nods as it deals with its story of savvy man who’d bitten off more than he could chew.

Buffet Lunch’s debut album accomplishes a lot in its brief 38 minutes. It stuns and startles, intrigues and entwines, drawing the listener further into its characterful world. When asked about any intent posed with this debut record Perry confides that “we hope people can hear the joy the band had making the album and the curiosity and frustration that went into the writing. There was no process or design, but there is detail, and deliberateness in our wish to explore and create.” It’s this attentive focus alongside a keen sense of humour that really sets Buffet Lunch apart, with ideas darting wilfully to and from the poignant truths at hand.

4LP box set including Angel Olsen’s latest two albums, ‘All
Mirrors’ and ‘Whole New Mess’, as well as an LP of bonus
audio. Also includes 40-page book including photo shoot
outtakes, pictures from the recording of these albums,
handwritten lyrics and items of meaning to Angel.
Originally conceived as a double album, ‘All Mirrors’ and
‘Whole New Mess’ were distinct parts of a larger whole, twin
stars that each expressed something bigger and bolder than
Angel Olsen had ever made. Released in 2019, ‘All Mirrors’
is massive in scope and sound, tracing Olsen’s ascent into
the unknown, to a place of true self-acceptance, no matter
how dark, or difficult, or seemingly lonely. ‘All Mirrors’ is
colossal, moving, dramatic in an Old Hollywood manner.
Recorded before ‘All Mirrors’ but released after, ‘Whole New
Mess’ is the bones and beginnings of the songs that would
rewrite Olsen’s story. This is Angel Olsen in her classic style:
stark solo performances, echoes and open spaces, her voice
both whispered and enormous. ‘All Mirrors’ and ‘Whole New
Mess’ presented the two glorious extremes of an artist who,
in these songs, became new by embracing herself entirely.
Now, with ‘Song of the Lark… And Other Far Memories’,
these twin stars become a constellation with the full extent of
the songs’ iterations: all the alternate takes, B-sides, remixes
and re-imaginings are here, together. Alongside, a 40-page
book collection tells a similar story, not just through outtakes
and unseen photos but through the smaller, evocative
details: handwritten lyrics, a favourite necklace, a beaded
chandelier. As if it could be more plainly stated (there’s
nothing more), Angel adds one cover here: a loving,
assertive rendition of Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This’.
It is a definitive collection, not just of these songs but of their
revelations and their writer, from their simplest origins to their
mightiest realizations.

‘Archive Series Volume no. 5: Tallahassee Recordings’ is the lost-in-time debut
album from Iron & Wine. A collection of songs recorded three years prior to his
official Sub Pop debut, ‘The Creek Drank the Cradle’ (2002). A period before the
concept of Iron & Wine existed and principal songwriter Sam Beam was studying
at Florida State University with the intent of pursuing a career in film.
‘Archive Series Volume no. 5’ documents the very first steps on a journey that
would lead to a career as one of America’s most original and distinctive singersongwriters. ‘The Creek Drank the Cradle’ arrived like a thief in the night with its
lo-fi, hushed vocals and intimate nature, while almost inversely Tallahassee
comes with a strange sense of confidence. Perhaps an almost youthful discretion
that likely comes from being too young to know better and too naïve to give a
shit.
The recordings themselves are more polished than ‘The Creek Drank the Cradle’
and give a peak into what a studio version of that record might have offered up.
‘Archive Series Volume no. 5’ was recorded over the course of 1998-1999 when
Beam and future bandmate EJ Holowicki moved into a house together. Beam
had not been performing publicly however, he was known for playing an original
song or two in the early morning glow of a long night. Holowicki - also in the film
program and who would go onto a career as a sound designer at Skywalker
Sound - had a mobile recording device and after some prodding convinced his
friend to record these late-night meditations.
Together they would record close to twenty-four songs, ideas and sketches, with
EJ on bass and Sam on vocals, guitar, harmonica and drums. The recordings -
all captured in the house where they lived - have a ‘live in the room’ feel akin to
say Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ or Nick Drake’s ‘Five Leaves Left’, rather than the
homespun lo-fi 4-track home recording experiment taking place at the time.
These recordings, minus one track, have never been made available and were
instead left preserved on a hard drive for the last twenty years. The one track
that floated out there, called ‘In Your Own Time’ was shared without a title to
childhood friend Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses) at some point. The song became
known as the ‘Fuck Like A Dog’ song and Ben shared it with more than a few
folks during the golden era of mix CDs. Two of those folks were Jonathan
Poneman from Sub Pop and journalist Mike McGonigal, who included it on his
best songs of 2001 mix CD, passed out to friends and acquaintances. And for
many that is where the Iron & Wine story begins, until now.
‘Archive Series Volume no. 5’ is the foreword to your favourite book that you’ve
somehow skipped over time and time again. It’s an alternative history mixed with
some revisionist history told over the course of eleven songs. It’s also the debut
record by Iron & Wine some twenty years after the fact.

The most famous musical themes from Tim Burton’s movies. Most of them are composed by Tim Burton’s favourite composer (Danny Elfman), and some by Howard Shore and Stephen Sondheim.

The songs are drawn from the cult film that launched Johnny Depp’s career: “Edward Scissorhands”, to his latest masterpiece: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

The collaboration between Tim Burton and Danny Elfman is one of the most successful of Hollywood. This duo has allowed to convey this distinctive imagery created by the former Walt Disney cartoonist, who has become, today, the undisputed master of fantasy and strangeness.

Danny Elfman (also known for the famous Simpsons’ generic/film credits) remains the composer who, better than anyone, has been able to transcribe the universe both dark and fairy of his favourite director. His music draws its inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe’s novel, German expressionism and from the Hammer’s cult movies.

This vinyl offers an hour of music to immerse yourself into Tim Burton’s phantasmagoric universe: from the hypnotic and quirky theme of Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) to the disturbing atmosphere of Gotham City (Batman). This album pays tribute to both Tim Burton’s cinematographic work and Danny Elfman’s musical genius.

Daughters of Darkness is a 1971 English-language Belgian horror film. Directed by Harry Kümel this cult erotic vampire film stars Delphine Seyrig, Danielle Ouimet, John Karlen, and Andrea Rau. The film was well received, and a retrospective poll by Time Out in the early 2010s placed the film at number 90 in their top 100 horror films.

Its score was created by multiple award winning composer François de Roubaix. It has long been a much sought after title, with De Roubaix’ son Benjamin commenting that the “composer achieves a perfect balance and the result is a bleak and eerie soundtrack that stands on a par with the music of Ennio Morricone in A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin or - in a different style - that of Isaac Hayes for Shaft”. Parts of score would eventually be sampled by several hip- hop artists, including American rapper Lil Wayne on his song “President Carter”.

Basil Kirchin, a forgotten genius of post-war British music, was an influential jazz drummer, creative free-spirit and pioneer of Musique Concrète. Kirchin wrote a lot of albums, Mind on the run is one of the most representative Library record he wrote with fellow John Coleman. A milestone in british avantgarde.

If some of these titles look familiar, it’s because they’re among the most majestic roots and culture songs ever recorded, and by singers whose credentials are beyond question. All tracks feature the original artists and even the actual seventies’ vocal in some cases, but the rhythms have been recreated with today’s sound-systems in mind and are heard at their very best when roaring out of giant speaker boxes, greeted by a forest of raisedhands and with a deejay at the mic.

Producers Mafia & Fluxy include reggae legends Bunny “Striker” Lee and Fat Man among their mentors, and their mastery both in the studio and on stage is unrivalled outside of Jamaica. The way these two brothers play dub will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up whilst the messages in songs like Every Tongue Shall Tell, Declaration Of Rights, No Peace and Fittest Of The Fittest are relevant as ever but then the music on this album isn’t dated, and is reggae, roots and culture for the ages.

‘The Watchful Eye Of The Stars’ is Adrian’s ninth studio album.
Produced by luminary John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ
Harvey), this sublime collection of ten songs invites us to join
Adrian at his storytelling best, regaling us with tales of travel
and wonder, by sea, by road, all quietly transfixing,
transformative and wholly captivating.
Suffused with a hazy and surreal quality, Crowley describes
‘Watchful Eye’’s poignant narratives as those which insisted
themselves upon him. After the fact, it seemed these songs
came to him more or less fully formed. “It’s a beautiful and
mysterious thing,” he says. Perhaps it is a tendency to hold onto
memories (“It’s taken me so long to write to you / Well I just
couldn’t find a pen,” he laments in ‘Bread And Wine’), that
allows him to unleash them lyrically in completion. For Crowley,
the creative process is an organic event rather than a practice
he feels compelled to regulate or control. He approaches lyrics
much like he does short story writing. “The songs straddle the
conscious and subconscious world and some are even
psychedelic in my mind, but to me they are all at once true
stories and born of another place,” he shares.
In making the album, Crowley moved between studio and at
home recording, while John Parish produced. The pair worked
from tracks made initially by Crowley on a charity shop ¾ size
nylon string guitar or Mellotron: “In this way, John wanted to
keep some of the magic of that first take,” says Crowley.
Contradictions and complexities are left intact, initial recordings
were limited to one or two takes and the songs feel more like a
dream recounted upon waking.
Jim Barr of Portishead contributed double bass and was
brought in to engineer parts of ‘Watchful Eye’ in Bristol. Nadine
Khouri and Katell Keineg were invited in as guest backing
singers.
The heavyweight vinyl includes a digital download card.

Still just shy of legal US drinking age, GRAMMY®-winning Atlanta hard rock juggernaut Mastodon turns 20 this year! Celebrating two decades together, the group will unleash a rarities collection, Medium Rarities, which includes among the many rare highlights an unreleased track “Fallen Torches,” recorded in 2019.

The band explains, “‘Fallen Torches’ is an unreleased track from Mastodon that will appear for the first time on Medium Rarities. This classic Mastodon track was recorded in Atlanta in 2019, originally planned to be released in support of a European tour, the track was delayed so the band could focus on the release of Stairway to Nick John, a tribute to their late, long time manager Nick John, with proceeds going to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research in his honour. ‘Fallen Torches’ is written by Mastodon and features guest vocals by longtime friend and collaborator Scott Kelly from the band Neurosis.”

Medium Rarities presents a bevy of classic covers, soundtrack contributions, instrumentals, B-sides, and live recordings on one complete package for the very first time. Among an eclectic array of covers, the musicians tackle “A Commotion” by Feist, “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton” by The Flaming Lips, and “Orion” by Metallica. It also features soundtrack cuts such as “White Walker” Game of Thrones and “Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife” [Aqua Teen Hunger Force]. Meanwhile, they get under the hood with instrumental versions of “Asleep in the Deep,” “Toe To Toes,” “Jaguar God,” and “Halloween.”

Another new Mastodon track “Rufus Lives” will be included in the forthcoming Orion Pictures film Bill & Ted Face The Music, expected to be released in September 2020. Written, performed and produced by the band and recorded in their hometown of Atlanta, the track will also appear exclusively on the film’s official soundtrack album. Further details to be revealed shortly.

The anniversary celebration only continues. At the moment, Mastodon are hard at work on their anxiously awaited ninth full-length and first record since the GRAMMY® Award-winning Emperor of Sand in 2017.

Legendary drummer, Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a one-of-a-kind concert honouring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder, Peter Green which was held on 25th February 2020 at the London, Palladium. The bill included Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman, Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend, Neil Finn, Kirk Hammett and Jeremy Spencer. Legendary producer Glyn Johns joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Ricky Peterson.

Fleetwood, who curated the list of artists performing, said: “The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honoured to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician. ‘Then Play On’...”

Legendary drummer, Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a one-of-a-kind concert honouring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder, Peter Green which was held on 25th February 2020 at the London, Palladium. The bill included Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman, Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend, Neil Finn, Kirk Hammett and Jeremy Spencer. Legendary producer Glyn Johns joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Ricky Peterson.

Fleetwood, who curated the list of artists performing, said: “The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honoured to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician. ‘Then Play On’...”

A trip through the productions of pioneering genius Joe Meek. Here we have a mix of hits that have appeared on comps before and real out-there obscurities. Designed to be highly listenable. Never a dull moment amongst these songs that cover subjects close to Joes' heart such as vampires, love (and the lack of it), death, outer space, the human soul, Buddy Holly, and more. Artists featured are The Blue Rondos, The Blue Men, Jason Eddie and the Centremen, The Sound Offs, The Moontrekkers, Johnny Leyton, The Cryin' Shames, Mike Berry, The Outlaws, Chick Lewis, Glenda Collins and even Joe himself warbling out a tune. One time very small pressing so please don't sleep.

Ryley Walker currently resides in New York City. But his latest LP is a Chicago record in spirit. The masterful Course In Fable, the songwriter’s fi@h solo effort,
draws from the deep well of that city’s ferCle 1990s scene, when bands like Tortoise, The Sea and Cake and Gastr del Sol were reshaping the underground,
mixing and matching indie rock, jazz, prog and beyond.
Walker spent his formaCve years in Chicago, absorbing those heady sounds and finding ways to make them his own. Even though he emerged at first in folkrock
troubadour mode, it makes sense that he’s arrived at this point; each LP has grown more intricate and assured, his influences disClling into something
original and unusual. To put it simply: Course In Fable is Walker’s best record yet, full of acCve imaginaCon and endless possibiliCes.
Last October, Ryley went straight to one of the primary architects of the Chicago sound to make the LP. John McEn:re, Course In Fable’s producer/engineer/
mixer, can rightly be called a legend for his work with Tortoise, Stereolab, The Red Krayola, Jim O’Rourke and countless others over a prolific career that now
spans more than three decades. Seeing his name in an album’s liners is preVy much a trademark of quality.
Another Windy City exile, McEnCre is based on the west coast these days, working out of the Portland, OR studio he’s dubbed Soma West. On the seven songs
here, he delivers the signature shimmering and prisCne sonics he’s become known for over the years. But McEnCre was also inCmately involved with Course
In Fable’s overall creaCve process. “I told him to take the mixes and have at it,” Walker says.
The result is a rich, immersive affair — a headphones record if ever there was one. Course In Fable’s songs are twisty, labyrinthine things, stuffed full of ideas
(Walker half-jokingly calls it his “prog record”). But no maVer how complex it gets, the album is never overwhelmingly busy. Wiry guitars melt into gorgeous
string secCons (arranged by Douglas Jenkins of the Portland Cello Project). Tricky Cme signatures abound but feel as natural as can be. Melodies o@en dri@ in
unexpected direcCons but remain downright hummable. Like Walker’s beloved Genesis, the pop element is never too far from the surface even when shit
gets weird. (And speaking of weird, Ryley says that in addiCon to Genesis, much of the album’s inspiraCon comes from “Australian extreme scooter riders on
YouTube and balding gear heads on Craigslist.” Go figure.)
To help put together these various puzzle pieces, Ryley assembled a band made up of several longCme collaborators. Bill MacKay (another Chicago mainstay)
and Walker have made two excellent instrumental duo records of interlocking guitars and warm give-and-take — a rapport very much in evidence
throughout Course In Fable. The freakishly talented drummer Ryan Jewell has performed with Walker for years now in a variety of seangs, from
straighborward song-centric sets to blown-out improv extravaganzas. Bassist Andrew ScoJ Young (Tiger Hatchery, Health&Beauty) has logged many miles on
tour with Walker; he and Jewell are frequently astonishing, a buoyant-but-always-locked-in rhythm secCon, able to navigate someCmes dizzying turnarounds
with apparent ease. Listening to the interplay between Walker and these musicians and you might be fooled into thinking they’d spent a year roadtesCng
Course In Fable’s songs. But it all came together relaCvely fast, thanks to demos, rehearsals and the kind of musical empathy that comes from years of
playing together.
Beneath the wondrous interplay, you’ll find some of Walker’s most personal – if sCll typically crypCc — lyrics, hinCng at some of the trials the songwriter has
been dealing with in recent years. Balanced with necessary doses of dark humor and oddball poetry, Course In Fable feels most of all like a life-affirming
record, fresh air in the lungs, sun on your skin. “Fuck me, I’m alive,” Ryley sings at one point, a moment of both disbelief and pure joy.
Walker has released his albums on a who’s-who of independent labels over the past decade — Tompkins Square, Dead Oceans, Thrill Jockey and Drag City
among them. This Cme around, he’s doing it DIY-style, puang Course In Fable out on his own Husky Pants imprint. You’re in good hands. This is an album that
sounds great (mastered by Greg Calbi), looks great (artwork by Jenny Nelson and design by Michael Vallera). It probably even smells great. Whether you’ve
been onboard since the beginning or are new to the Ryley Walker universe, you’re in for a treat.

Pixey grew up in the sleepy but picturesque village Parbold, Lancashire before moving to Liverpool for school and remaining there to this day. Now signed to Chess Club - a label famed for breaking new talent, where recent exciting signings include AlfieTempleman and Phoebe Green, and past successes include Jungle, Wolf Alice and Easy Life - Pixey is making more waves than ever before. ‘Just Move’ drew attention from BBC Radio 1 DJs Jack Saunders (who made Pixey one of his Next Wave artists) and Huw Stephens amongst many other admirers like Radio X’s John Kennedy who added the band to the X-Posure playlist at the station in October. Pixey has also featured as the cover artist of Spotify’s Indie Brandneu (GER) and Peach editorial playlists, and wasamongst the artists named in major annual tips lists, the Dork HYPE List and the NME 100.



New single ‘Electric Dream’ - with its accompanying video by Thomas Davies - combines cavernous drum machines and dreamy pop melodies with a signature dance stomp. Speaking about new single, Pixey explains: “‘Electric Dream’ was originally written as a piano ballad but after finishing the lyrics I felt the song worked as a dance track. I wrote it to make sense ofbeing locked in with nothing to rely on but technology. The verses are all of my anxieties that come with that - like trying to simulate humanity digitally and what kind of a future that would be - but the choruses are about the imperfections of real life that technology and AI can’t give us.”



Debut EP Free To Live In Colour was written, recorded and produced in Pixey’s bedroom in Liverpool - with additional production added by frequent Gorillaz and Jamie T collaborator James Dring - and draws inspiration from genres like hardcore breakbeat and





dream pop. Pixey says: “I wanted a collection of tracks which gave a quick snapshot into me and my brain - where I’m from, where I want to be and what I’m thinking about. I hope people can take something meaningful from it or simply have a dance.”



Pixey first discovered music as a toddler - she remembers not even being able to walk yet but desperate to sing and dance to Queen - before discovering the likes of Kate Bush, Björk, and George Harrison, whose classic songwriting struck a chord with her in her youth. The catalyst for Pixey’s musical coming of age however, was a near fatal viral illness suffered in early 2016 which hospitalised her, she says: “When I thought I was going to die I thought of all the things I wish I’d done and music was the first thing I thought of. As soon as I started recovering I started learning to record and produce.” She taught herself Ableton production software before mastering guitar and eventually drums and bass after her previous (and current) boyfriend(s) left their instruments lying around to prove she could learn it quicker and play it better.



Once able to carve out her own sound, Pixey turned to The Verve, The Prodigy and De La Soul for sonic inspiration, adding: “I particularly like the idea of using samples/making my own riffs sound like samples which was heavily inspired by the De La Soul album 3 Feet High and Rising. Starting out initially though Grimes was a huge catalyst when I realized she wrote, recorded &produced herself.” Her prolific and unusual songwriting style stems from an original riff or beat, with further layers added as she records and produces, and lyrics being added last - the process taking only a day or two.



With Free To Live In Colour and a whole arsenal of further material being readied on her new label home, Chess Club, Pixey is primed for big things in 2021 and beyond.

All music improvised by Michael Wollny, Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre
and Christian Lillinger (except ‘Nostalgia for the Light’, written and
arranged by Michael Wollny).
The music we hear doesn’t fit into any category. We’re in uncharted
territory, so a good way to capture its essence might be to break it
down into its four component parts. First there’s Michael Wollny, here
for the very first time playing only on electronic keyboard instruments.
He creates a characterful world of retro-futuristic sounds that is very
much his own. We find the occasional nod to early Jean-Michel Jarre,
references to science fiction and horror movies and also vivid
memories of the sounds of avant-garde Krautrock: Can and Irmin
Schmidt and Klaus Schulze.
As for Tim Lefebvre, here is a musician who has plied his very great
craft with stars such as David Bowie, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, John
Mayer, Knower, Steely Dan, Elvis Costello and Wayne Krantz. Here
he is like a rock in a tempestuous sea. He propels the music forward
with a combination of bass and effects. He builds structures and
tames unruly elements. The way he lays down a groove is
overwhelming.
As a counterbalance we find the explosive yet highly sensitive playing
of drummer Christian Lillin-ger. He stacks layer upon layer of rhythms
and textures.
And the melodic lines of Emile Parisien on soprano saxophone
always have an astonishing springy inventiveness. Such is Parisien’s
latent energy, it seems as if at any moment he could suddenly
become airborne.
The players’ eager curiosity as to what the next turn, the next
impulse, the next push will be is palpable to the listener. One can
sense the tension between the urge to construct forms, lines,
grooves, harmonies, textures, versus the illicit joy of tearing such
fragile structures apart before they have even been heard. There are
beats and patterns from the 90s, 80s and 70s, all coalescing into
cinematic bacchanalia of sound. These four master improvisers and
composers all have the urge to rewrite the rules of their musical world
- and to do so in real time.
LP pressed on 180g vinyl with digital download code.

A reliable traditionalist with a penchant for bittersweet songs of heartbreak and loss, Ashley Monroe pulled a complete 180 for her spectacular new album, Rosegold, riding the joyful emotional wave that followed the birth of her son to create her most ecstatic, blissed-out collection yet. Written and recorded over the past two years, the record finds the GRAMMY-nominated Nashville star pushing her sound in bold new directions, drawing on everything from Kanye West and Kid Cudi to Beck and The Beach Boys as she layers lush vocal harmonies atop dreamy, synthesized soundscapes and sensual, intoxicating beats. Monroe worked with a variety of producers on the album, letting the tracks dictate her direction rather than any arbitrary adherence to genre or tradition, and the result is a record as daring as it is rewarding, an ecstatic, revelatory meditation on happiness and gratitude that tosses expectation to the wind as it celebrates our endless capacity to love, and to be loved, even in the midst of chaos and tragedy.Born in Knoxville, TN, Monroe first began turning heads in Nashville as a teenager, when she arrived in town with a notebook full of mature, emotionally sophisticated songs that belied her young age. A jack-of-all-trades, she picked up work behind the scenes at first, singing on sessions at Jack White’s Third Man Studios and penning tunes that would appear on albums by the likes of Guy Clark, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and Miranda Lambert. Monroe and Lambert forged a close personal bond through their collaborations, and in 2011, they teamed up with fellow Nashville journey woman Angaleena Presley to launch the critically acclaimed trio Pistol Annies, which would go on to top the Country Album charts, crack the Top 5 on the Billboard 200, and earn a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album. Monroe’s solo output was equally lauded, with NPRhailing her work as “subtle and breathtaking” and Rolling Stone praising her writing as “riveting and sharp-witted.” Over the course of three studio albums, Monroe would land her own GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album, share bills with the likes of Vince Gill and John Prine, and perform everywhere from The Tonight Show and Conan to Late Night and The View.

Crammed's legendary MADE TO MEASURE Series of New Music was described at the time as the aural equivalent of a collection of art books. Charting a map of some of the most interesting instrumental music of the era, thirty-five albums came out between 1983 and 1995, including works by artists such as Hector Zazou, John Lurie (his soundtracks for the Jim Jarmusch films), Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Zelwer, Steven Brown, Peter Principle, Harold Budd, Brion Gysin, David Cunningham, Benjamin Lew, Ramuntcho Matta, Karl Biscuit, Daniel Schell, Aksak Maboul, Minimal Compact and more. The loose idea behind the title of the series was: this is music which has been or could have been "made to measure" as a soundtrack for other media (film, theatre, dance, video). We'll also be rolling out selected vinyl reissues of some of the series' classic early releases, starting with the inaugural volume, MADE TO MEASURE VOL. 1, the multi-artist album from 1984, containing music created by Minimal Compact, Benjamin Lew, Aksak Maboul and Tuxedomoon for films, theatre plays and dance performances.

"Flowers Bloom, Butterflies Come" is the result of a dialog between the stunning Japanese photographer and artist Miho Kajioka and the wonderful UK musicians and composers Ian Hawgood and Craig Tattersall (The Humble Bee), initiated by IIKKI, between August 2019 and January 2021.

Born in the United Kingdom, Ian Hawgood spent most of his adult life living in Japan, Italy and Poland. Currently he calls Peacehaven (on the south coast, near Brighton) his home. Since 2009, he’s well-known with his work as the curator of the Home Normal label. He makes music using an array of reel-to-reel and tape machines in his studio by the sea, where he also master works for many labels and artists alike. You could often catch him on the coast with his faithful Nagra recorder, hydrophone and field microphones. These days his focus of music is on decayed ambient works using old synths and reels mostly, alongside his childhood piano. (site)

Craig Tattersall is a former member of The Remote Viewer and Famous Boyfriend bandmate Andrew Johnson. Tattersall's music can be found these days more often under his alias The Humble Bee; as a founder member of The Boats; and in his collaborative works with the likes of Bill Seaman in The Seaman And The Tattered Sail. He has run the wonderful label Cotton Goods from 2008 to 2015 and since 2009 he has recorded 12 albums on his moniker The Humble Bee.

Miho Kajioka (b. 1973, Japan, lives in Kyoto) is an artist and a photographer since 2011. Kajioka’s work has been exhibited in Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the USA, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Kajioka’s latest book ‘so it goes’ won Prix Nadar in October 2019. "Kajioka's artistic practice is in principal snapshot based; she carries her camera everywhere and intuitively takes photos of whatever she finds interesting. These collected images serve as the basic material for her work in the darkroom where she creates her poetic and suggestive image-objects through elaborate, alternative printing methods. Kajioka regards herself more as a painter/drawer than as a photographer. She feels that photographic techniques help her to create works that fully express her artistic vision. Her images evoke a sense of mystery in her constant search for beauty. The focused, creative and respectful way in which she uses the medium of photography to creating her works seems to fit in the tradition of Japanese art that is characterized by the specifically Japanese sense of beauty, wabi sabi. (…) According to her, photography captures moments and freezes them; printing impressions is like playing with the sense of time and getting lost in its timeline." (Ibasho Gallery)

Deluxe 3LP mit 34 neu gemasterten Tracks und einem 60-seitigen Buch mit ausführlichen Linernotes, Interviews, bisher ungesehenen Archivphotos und den Texten (samt Übersetzung) in einem ,Tip On"-Schuber und drei ,Tip On"-Sleeves. Linernotes von Kevin ,Sipreano" Howes. Bisher fast nicht an die Öffentlichkeit gedrungen, kaum dokumentiert, aber im Kern ungeheuer revolutionär, nehmen die Aufnahmen verschiedenster Gemeinden amerikanischer Ureinwohner endlich in Form von ,Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985" den Platz ein, den sie verdienen. Eine Anthologie von Musik, die einst fast ausgestorben, aber nun für alle zu hören, ist ohne Frage eins der ambitioniertesten Projekte in der 12-järhigen Geschichte von Light In The Attic. ,Native Norht America (Vol. 1)" versammelt Musik der eingeborenen Völker Kanadas und der nördlichen USA, die in den turbulenten Jahrzehnten zwischen 1966 und 1985 aufgenommen wurde. Die Musik spiegelt die Zusammenführung globaler Popkultur und die Neuerweckung der eingeborenen Spiritualität und Ausdruckskraft wider. Der größte Teil dieses Materials war über Jahrzehnte lang durch fehlende Distributionskanäle und wenig Präsenz in den Massenmedien in Vergessenheit geraten - bis jetzt! Hier versammelt sich Garage Rock vom Polarkreis aus der Nunavik Region des nördlichen Quebec, melancholischer Yup'ik Folk aus Alaska und flüsternder Country Blues aus dem Wagmatcook First Nation Reservat in Nova Scotia. Man vernimmt Echos von NEIL YOUNG, VELVET UNDERGROUND, LEONARD COHEN, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, JOHNNY CASH und anderen in den Songs, die jedoch mit eingeborenem Bewusstsein, Erzählkultur, Poesie, Geschichte und Zeremonie angereichert werden. Die Compilation ist gewidmet dem legendären Métis Singer/Songwriter und Dichter WILLIE DUNN, der auf der Anthologie auftritt, während der Zusammenstellung des Albums jedoch verstarb. ,Native North America (Vol. 1)" ist nur der Anfang; eine Zusammenstellung von Folk, Rock und Country aus den südlichen 48 Staaten der USA und Mexiko wird momentan in der Light In The Attic Goldmine ausgegraben.

Live At Robert Johnson welcomes Amsterdam-based DJ and Producer Alain van der Born aka Perdu to the Club, who already made his marks with Releases on DGTL Records, Heist, and Let’s Play House amongst others. His contribution is a Four Track EP called Soaring Flights, including a Digital only Bonus Track. On this EP, Perdu champions a full-on 1980s sound, which hits more than one Chord in Live At Robert Johnson’s very own set of Styles.

Dystopia (co-produced by Tjade) is a High Energy Track, in which a raw and stoic Bass Riff slowly working its way into a Break. It’s the first Break in which the Atmosphere heats up significantly and subsequently sustains for the remainder of this quite enjoyable, and not quite dystopian rush on the Dance Floor. Retrograde immediately kicks off with a South American infused Rhythm Loop, joined by a deep and analogue Bass Serpentine, with bubbly Acid sprinkled along the way. Rise Of F5 brings back those 1980s signature pumping Kick and gated reverb Snare Drums, employing melodic and slightly haunting elements, which eventually dissolve in Euphoria and a Melody to hum along with (or shout, if you prefer). Somehow It’s Different Now concludes in a slightly different and quite mellow vein, that lets you leave this EP on the easy side. Available Digital Only is the Bells Mix Version of Perdu and Tjade’s Dystopia, for those inclined to a more melodramatic Dystopia with added playfulness thanks to—you guessed it—Bells (no whistles, we promise) …

Isasa’s fourth LP is a guitar excursion from a skillful, humble guide. Minimal, contemplative songs, rich in atmosphere and warm in spirit.

Some musicians give their name to their first album, signifying introduction. Some hold it in reserve — it took Wire 39 years to get around to calling an LP Wire. But whenever they do so, they are making a statement. For Conrado Isasa, an acoustic guitarist from Madrid, Spain, the decision to call his fourth album Isasa reflects the fact that his music’s relationship to his own identity has evolved. Isasa presents an artist whose work reflects that he knows and accepts where he comes from.
Between 1993 and 2003, he played electric guitar in the hardcore metal band Down For The Count and the post rock combo, A Room With A View. These were collective statements, communications between small groups and a select underground community. After the latter group’s demise, Isasa stepped back from recording, and for a while from guitar playing as well. He spent some time learning to play the trumpet, but was inspired to return to the guitar in 2007 after he heard Geoff Farina play a Mississippi John Hurt song for the encore of a Glorytellers gig. Then came another period of learning, during which he studied the playing of Hurt, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Glenn Jones.
Performing as Isasa, he made three records, each of which can be heard as confrontation with an artistic challenge. Las Cosas (2015) is between the man and his acoustic guitar; what could he do with his fingers, a slide, six steel strings, and a box of wood? Los Días (2016) faces the broader issue of how to deal with the requirements of the American Primitive guitar style. Like Fahey, Rose, and Jones, Isasa sought to make an album that used a cohesive sequence of guitar and banjo instrumentals to express personal experiences. With its references to the sights, sounds, and tastes one might encounter in Madrid, it is like a poetic diary written with the distance that comes from having mastered a second language. After making that record, Isasa toured parts of the United States, and played at The Thousand Incarnations Of The Rose, a festival that gathered representatives of American Primitive guitar’s past, present, and future in Takoma Park, the town where the style’s original synthesist, John Fahey, was born. Insilio (2019) began to look beyond that style, dealing with Hindustani raga forms and adding other instrumental textures.
And now comes Isasa. The name suggests something very personal, and it’s true that it draws upon Isasa’s closest relationships. Two compositions are either named for or feature the voices of his children, but their presence helps this music to transcend the purely personal. For what could be more universally shared than the joy and love one feels for children? Others invoke concepts — absence, liberty, love, reunion. They may mean one thing to Isasa, and another thing to you, but by sharing his reactions to them, he invites you to recognize yours. Isasa isn’t just using his experiences to tell you about his life; he is using what he knows about life to help us know a little more about ours.

Built on a foundation of authenticity, passion and innovation, Archie Lee Hooker & The Coast to Coast Blues Band is a spearheading group that has established itself in the world of music. Formedby Archie Lee Hooker, the nephew of John Lee Hooker, Archie and his leading handpicked team arehighly recognised for creating compelling, soul-enriching productions that leave their audienceswanting more.
Archie was born on Christmas Day of 1949 in Lambert, Mississippi, just 20 miles from thecrossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil. He was the son of a sharecropper, and up until age thirteen, that was the life he was accustomed to. That all changed when he headed up north and found himself standing in the big city of Memphis,Tennessee.
The paved roads and city lights felt like a new world to Archie, one that was filled with opportunities. Inspired by the Memphis music scene, it didn’t take long for Archie to begin singing with his first gospel group called The Marvellous Five. However, December of 1989 was when hispassion for Blues started to surface. During this time, Archie lived with his uncle, John Lee (the Boogieman himself) until his death in 2001. Being surrounded by him and other committed, talented, and influencing musicians is what became the catalyst for Archie to crave sharing his own life experiences through music and leave his lasting impression.
Though Archie left for France in 2011 to join Carl Wyatt & The Delta Voodoo Kings to tour Europe, he eventually chose to seek the right musicians to have on his side. He wanted a team that resembled family, chemistry, and a bond unlike any other. Once he found them, Archie founded the Archie Lee Hooker & The Coast to Coast Blues Band, which was specially named after the late John Lee’s Coast to Coast Blues Band. Since then, the crew has done nothing but thrive and impress.
They released their first album called ‘Chilling’ under the French label Dixiefrog in 2018, which received a 5-star review in Rolling Stone Magazine. Fast forward to today, they have recorded a new 12 song CD called ‘Living in a Memory’, and this all-original playlist of storytelling art is set to be released through Dixiefrog worldwide on April 16th, 2021. In the end, every song and performance that Archie Lee Hooker & The Coast to Coast Blues Band creates paints an incredible picture that inevitably provokes uplifting emotional influences and invested attraction.
They are entirely passionate about delivering remarkable music, and continuously provide fully authentic productions that have shaped them to become what they are today. With their immense drive and determination, it is exciting to see what they will launch next.

Well known for his tight, aggressively grooving brand of rhythm playing, whether in the service of the Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy, the Fearless Flyers or on his six solo albums, guitarist Mark Lettieri has found the perfect algorithm for the funk.
Merging the influences of ‘70s and ‘80s rhythm and rock guitar icons like Prince and Eddie Van Halen, along with inspiration from George Clinton and P-Funk, Chuckii Booker, Periphery, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and others. This Fort Worth, Texas resident has been insinuating his razor-sharp licks into the consciousness of funkateers since joining Snarky Puppy in 2008. Created during the pandemic, ‘Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 2’ is a triumph of ingenuity built upon Lettieri’s life-long love of funk and rock and showcases the breadth and depth of Lettieri’s nasty, low-end brand of funk.
The guitarist’s Fearless Flyers bandmate, drummer Nate Smith, is also onboard for this cavalcade of groove, along with Bobby Sparks, Justin Stanton and such guests as vocal sensation Jacob Collier, former Prince drummer TaRon Lockett, Rascal Flatts pedal steel guitarist Travis Toy, French harmonica ace Frédéric Yonnet, Lettuce and former John Scofield drummer Adam Deitch, Ghost-Note drummer Robert “Sput” Searight, Snarky Puppy keyboardist Shaun Martin, tenor saxophonist Keith Anderson, and special guest guitar soloist Steve Lukather.

KOOL KEITH is the most legendary trailblazer of hip hop music. With characters spanning from Dr. Octagon to Tashan Dorsett to Black Elvis to Dr. Dooom, Keith is always delivering realness, spectacles in word and sound, and creating new worlds with his many auras. SCORN is the electronic beat project of acclaimed exNapalm Death drummer Mick Harris, the Dark Lord of ambient dub. Mick Harris' prolific ventures across numerous projects include Painkiller (with John Zorn and Bill Laswell), Quoit, Lull, Monrella, and many more. SUBMERGED is the King of Underground Drum n Bass DJs, having pioneered the scene for the hard sound from Astana to Sao Paulo to Kiev to Brooklyn. He is the founder of Galactic Enterprise that is Ohm Resistance. DISTORTION is a collaborative single with some of the 100% certified dopest Kool Keith verses. He is tuned into his co-authors, dropping lines about "Power sources, Mediterranean bosses", going "52 states, European, Worldwide", discussing "more power to explore", and knowing how to "stick my hand out the speaker and reach y'all". A massive energy liftoff occurs as Keith joins his multiverse with that of the Ohm Resistance artists. Mick Harris' instantly recognizable bludgeoning beat carries the weight, as he trades off bass blast duties with the organic overdriven bassline of Submerged. A warning shot fired in advance of Scorn's album, "The Only Place", this single adds the missing element to Scorn that brings out the richness and flavor of Mick Harris behind the mixing desk. "I'm so happy to be working with a great voice - I could do more of, it adds another dynamic to Scorn." says Harris. Submerged explains his usual streak of unusual luck - "I had a bassline I had written and wanted to send to Mick Harris for Scorn. When the opportunity came to work with Kool Keith, Mick made his beat, and my riff fit exactly - so we coordinated the forces to put this record together". With Kool Keith being one of the most-named influences by many of the Ohm Resistance artists, his arrival to the label couldn't have come at a better time - a integrated circuit across 4 dimensions, connecting 3 legendary musicians around the globe. Mixed by MJ Harris in the Lad's Old Room B14; Vocals by Kool Keith Recorded at Studio G Brooklyn; Engineered by Tony Maimone, Assisted by Ross Colombo; Bass Guitar by Submerged at Blue Site I, Saaremaa; Mastered by Daniele Antezza for Dadub Mastering Studio; Artwork by Sagana Squale, Layout by MachineÖ

17 Track compilation of all of their studio recordings, remastered and pressed on Electric Blue Vinyl. Presented in gatefold sleeve with never seen before photographs ,a printed lyric inner sleeve and poster.
The VIP’s were formed in 1978 while at Warwick University. Within weeks they were gigging at clubs in the Midlands, often on the same bill as THE SPECIALS in Coventry. Soon they found a manager, Clive Solomon, who with Timmy Mallet (now a TV and Radio presenter) and both students at the university, financed the group’s first single the EP ‘Music For Funsters. In the summer of 1978 they built up a loyal following in London. The single was picked up by John Peel, who played it constantly on his BBC radio show through the year. The 3 track EP, featuring ‘I’m Perfect’, ‘I Believe’ and ‘Boys of the City’ was released on Clive Solomon’s own ‘Bust’ label.
In 1979 the VIP’s could be found playing all over the country, frequently on the same bill as Squire, stablemates on Clive Solomon’s label.
In early 1980 they went into Olympic Studios in Chiswick to record some tracks with ex-THE ANIMALS bass player and SLADE/Jimi Hendrix manager Chas Chandler. The track ‘I Thought You Were My Friend’ was recorded at these sessions A few weeks later a major record deal was agreed with Gem Records/RCA and ‘Causing Complications’ came out in March. To coincide with the release the VIP’s went on tour supporting SECRET AFFAIR.
After the tour the single ‘The Quarter Moon’ was released, another track produced by Mike Leander. It received extensive airplay around the UK and beyond, and was also picked as BBC Radio 1’s Record of The Week by DJ Mike Reid on his Morning Show, as well as being Radio Luxembourg’s ‘Power Play’ for two weeks. The constant touring, recording and radio play had earned them a spot on Top of The Pops but they were suddenly told -on the afternoon that they were due to appear - that an industrial dispute at the BBC had resulted in the show being cancelled. Disappointed, they continued to record and tour, this time with MADNESS, THE BEAT and DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS amongst others. This time Bob Seargent (of The BEAT and HAIRCUT 100 fame) was recruited to give ‘Need Somebody To Love’ that sparkle and edge to capture The VIP’s live sound on vinyl. Although perhaps the most representative of the band’s sound, Top of The Pops again eluded them.
By the end of 1980 the VIP’s were selling in Spain, Germany, Italy and France through the RCA label but they seemed to be losing heart with the business. Illness -Jed had been touring with a collapsed lung - and tensions saw the band play their last concert at Leicester University. A fourth and final GEM single, ‘Things Aren’t What They Used To Be’ (a song taken from their earlier Mike Leander recording sessions) proved to be their last. With several songs still to be recorded, it was a frustrating time for all.
Paul Shurey and Guy Morley has already made alternative plans for THE NEW VIP’s and recruited Simon Smith from THE MERTON PARKAS to play drums while Paul returned to his native keyboards. With Tony Conway on guitar and Andy Godfrey on bass they became MOOD SIX.
Paul Shurey played a central part in the birth and proliferation of the Rave movement in the 80’s, 90’s and 2,000’s, initiating a great a great many DANCE RAVES all around the world. Very sadly he died in 2017. He was also a gifted artist/cartoonist, and it’s his picture which graces the album’s sleeve. He is a brother very greatly missed.
Guy Morley works in film editing and Andrew Price is involved in developing community projects in and around his native Bristol.
“We became lifelong friends and shared a great and very exciting rock and roll dream.”

- Rare 1987 Detroit experimental Funk/Soul album - Solo album by Tony Newton (Motown, Funk Brothers) - First ever vinyl reissue - 180g Black Vinyl Edition - Limited to 500 copies // Antonio L. Newton AKA Tony Newton (born 1948) is a multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, MI who began his professional career at the age of thirteen, playing bass guitar with blues legends like John Lee Hooker and T-Bone Walker. Discovered by Motown executive Hank Cosby while playing the Detroit blues circuit at the age of 18, he became the touring bassist with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the famed 1965 European 'Motown Review' tour. Within two years, Newton became the Miracles' musical director. Tony Newton also toured and recorded with other Motown artists such as The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5_and countless others. Earning the nickname "the Baby Funk Brother" he left his trademark of solid, hard-driving and deftly clever grooves on such timeless hits as "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," "Stop In The Name Of Love," "Nowhere to Run," "ABC," "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Don't Leave Me This Way," and many others. Next to his impressive body of work for Motown, Newton can be heard on several hit singles from labels like Invictus-Hotwax and Stax. Later, Newton gained recognition as a member of both the acclaimed jazz-rock fusion group: The New Tony Williams Lifetime (headed by Miles Davis' drummer Tony Williams) and the British hard rock group: G-Force (with veteran guitarist Gary Moore). Tony Newton also recorded several solo albums during his impressive career, including the two total classics: 'Mysticism & Romance' (1978) and 'Novaphonia' (1987). On the album, we are presenting you today (Novaphonia from 1987) the listener is treated to something UNIQUE (and this is not an overstatement). Newton really puts the 'multi' into multi-instrumentalist, playing the synthesizers, the electric bass and the drum machine. Experimental is the keyword here, sounds vary from psych/trance (almost like a soundtrack from a space movie), to funk, fusion, rock, R&B, soul and jazz. Novaphonia has both elements of Tony Newton's impressive musical past and his vision for the future. Spacious synths, unusual instruments and an all-around cosmic approach make this an 'out of this world' and VERY intriguing album. Resonant, sonically rich, sonorous, colorful, mind-expanding sounds are what one should expect from the 20th century Novaphonic sound developed to its greatest extent. These harmonies are innately pleasing to the human ear, mind and nervous system.

Conceived at the heel of Italy's boot-shaped peninsula in Apulia, Patrick Belaga's Blutt makes music for the unruly imagination. The title is an old German word for 'naked', 'bare', but it can also mean 'blood' when spelt blut. Take away another letter and it makes 'butt'. None of these definitions and adaptations were what prompted the classically-trained composer and cellist to name his second album with a word simulating the sound of a punctured artery. That came later. Blutt's nine woozy compositions are inspired by a contemplative road trip with a friend, and the mysterious muffled music heard from an unidentified source. It was a combination of jazz and classical music that haunted Belaga's wanderings through the Byzantine town Gallipoli, and soon infected his dreams of long-gone civilizations. This record is its outcome, where organic instrumentals and electronic production merge into a sound that's both contemporary and ancient. Samples of mewing incantations and tape hiss sway atop the waltzing thud of piano chords on "Sigh". Composite layers of Belaga's cello play in downcast harmony on "Rust". There's a wistful sense for the romantic, in the eerie rhythm of a piece like "Momentum". The quarter tones of an Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk scale probe a profound melancholy via Kai Knight's violin. Its notes are haunted by a field recording of running water on "Unsoft", echoes of panpipes and a Jew's harp on opener "Lilt". As a consummate composer and performer known for his work with artists Wu Tsang, boychild, Josh Johnson and Asma Maroof, Belaga's Blutt is itself marked by flawless collaborations. Vocalist and instrumentalist Jazmin Romero sings and composes the surreal melodies of "Grey Eye". Multidisciplinary dance artist and producer Riley Watts contributes to the muted, motorik movement of "The Tunnel is a Tower". Together, the record plays as a stunning soundtrack to the strangeness of sleeping, and the heartbreaking transience of time. Like an intense dream half-remembered, the emotions persist after waking but for the sharp machinations just outside of the mind's reach. The album is mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring artwork by Giovanni Furlino & design by N MRE 08.

When Nkrumah Jah Thomas hit Number 1 on the
Jamaican Charts in 1976 with his debut single
‘Midnight Rock’ on Alvin Ranglin’s GG label it gave the
new DJ a theme song and an entry into the world of
music. Within three years he had launched his
Midnight Rock label and, alongside more music under
his own name, he produced a series of classics by the
likes of Tristan Palmer, Anthony Johnson, Early B and
many more.
In 1997 he signed a deal with Acid Jazz’s Roots label
and since then his career as a producer has been
developed and anthologised; the release of a series of
archive King Tubby and Scientist mixes, the use of his
masters to be sampled by Nas (on ‘The Don’), Protoje
and others, plus reissues of his classic albums.
To celebrate 40 years of Midnight Rock, Thomas went
back into his tape archive to unearth another 10
tracks, either with original vocals or guest names
brought in.
Behind original rhythms recorded at Channel 1, Tuff
Gong and others, featuring the Roots Radics and The
Midnight Rock Band and mixed in places like King
Jammy’s and Tubby’s we are presented with a line-up
of stellar talent - Linval Thompson with the plaintive ‘I
Can Be Your Man’, the forthright Super Cat on ‘Me
Glad She Gone’ and Luciano on the rare ‘Good Thing
Goin’ On’. They are joined by Courtney Melody,
Pinchers and Joesy Wales, Daville and more. Keeping
the circle complete, Thomas appears on two tracks,
including the future classic ‘Sounds A Go Dead
Tonight’ with Junior Vibes.

Antonio L. Newton AKA Tony Newton (born 1948) is a multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, MI who began his professional career at the age of thirteen, playing bass guitar with blues legends like John Lee Hooker and T-Bone Walker. Discovered by Motown executive Hank Cosby while playing the Detroit blues circuit at the age of 18, he became the touring bassist with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the famed 1965 European ‘Motown Review’ tour. Within two years, Newton became the Miracles’ musical director.

Tony Newton also toured and recorded with other Motown artists such as The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5…and countless others. Earning the nickname “the Baby Funk Brother” he left his trademark of solid, hard-driving and deftly clever grooves on such timeless hits as “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” “Stop In The Name Of Love,” “Nowhere to Run,” “ABC,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” and many others. Next to his impressive body of work for Motown, Newton can be heard on several hit singles from labels like Invictus-Hotwax and Stax. Later, Newton gained recognition as a member of both the acclaimed jazz-rock fusion group: The New Tony Williams Lifetime (headed by Miles Davis’ drummer Tony Williams) and the British hard rock group: G-Force (with veteran guitarist Gary Moore).

Tony Newton also recorded several solo albums during his impressive career, including the two total classics: ‘Mysticism & Romance’ (1978) and ‘Novaphonia’ (1987).

On the album, we are presenting you today (Novaphonia from 1987) the listener is treated to something UNIQUE (and this is not an overstatement). Newton really puts the ‘multi’ into multi-instrumentalist, playing the synthesizers, the electric bass and the drum machine. Experimental is the keyword here, sounds vary from psych/trance (almost like a soundtrack from a space movie), to funk, fusion, rock, R&B, soul and jazz. Novaphonia has both elements of Tony Newton’s impressive musical past and his vision for the future.

Spacious synths, unusual instruments and an all-around cosmic approach make this an ‘out of this world’ and VERY intriguing album. Resonant, sonically rich, sonorous, colorful, mind-expanding sounds are what one should expect from the 20th century Novaphonic sound developed to its greatest extent. These harmonies are innately pleasing to the human ear, mind and nervous system.

Explore new musical frontiers intended to catapult the listener towards new dimensions…this is an album that just begs for a special place in your record collection!

Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the first-ever vinyl reissue of ‘Novaphonia’ since its release in 1987. This rare & private-pressed album (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited 180g vinyl edition (500 copies) complete with the original artwork.

Compilation pressed onto a collector’s LP picture disc, featuring some of the finest artists from the earlier days of jazz.

Long out of print and highly anticipated repress of the Andrew Weatherall ‘anti-produced’ long player. The Twilight Sad’s third full-length, No One Can Ever Know, marked a sonic shift for the band



'No One Can Ever Know' was released across all formats on 6th February 2012 and was the follow-up to 2009's acclaimed break-through 'Forget The Night Ahead'. Already flagged by the widely leaked 'Kill It In The Morning' and forthcoming first single proper, 'Sick', 'No One Can Ever Know' marked a sonic shift for The Twilight Sad. Freshly inspired by a listening diet of Caberet Voltaire, Liars, Magazine, Autechre, Banshees, Fad Gadget, PiL and Can, a synth-heavy sound characterizes 'No One Can Ever Know', a record thematically akin to 'Holy Bible' era Manics, 'Violator'-era Depeche Mode and 'The Downward Spiral' -era Nine Inch Nails.

"We wanted to be a lot more spontaneous, get outside our comfort zone - not to fall back into repeating what we've done previously", explains guitarist Andy MacFarlane. "So we moved to London for a month to record at The Pool and got Andrew Weatherall involved to bounce ideas off and to generally reassure us of the direction we were already progressing in - toward a sparser sound, with a colder, slightly militant feel."

Under the guidance of Weatherall the band experimented with vintage analogue synths - borrowed from Ben Hillier - to work on the core sounds they wanted, finding inspiration too in the distinctive production style of innovators like Martin Hannett and Conny Plank. For the first time the drums were also recorded separately utilising a lot of synthetic effects which allowed for the easy manipulation of the sounds and samples later in the process. Stylistically, the guitars tend to refract John McGeogh (Magazine/ Banshees) or Keith Levene (PiL) rather than the 'wall of sound' approach that defined The Twilight Sad's previous recordings.

Lyrically 'No One Can Ever Know' finds singer James Graham on typically ominous form, delivering lightning bolts of malevolent threat. "I'll find you - don't worry" he promises on forthcoming single, 'Another Bed' - The Twilight Sad's most radical and anthemic moment yet, it's driving disco motorik and glacial keys pushing a dizzy emotional uplift.

“This is the time. And this is the record of the time.”

Laurie Anderson’s 1982 debut album, Big Science, will return to vinyl for the first time in 30 years with a new red vinyl edition on Nonesuch Records. The release includes the re-mastered original album first released on CD for the 25thanniversary in 2007.

In the early 1980s, Laurie Anderson was already respected as a conceptual artist and composer, adept at employing gear both high-tech and homemade in her often violin-based pieces, and she was a familiar figure in the cross-pollinating, Lower Manhattan music-visual art-performance circles from which Philip Glass and David Byrne also emerged. While working on her now-legendary seven-hour performance art/theater piece United States, Part I–IV, she cut the spare ‘O Superman (For Massenet)’, an electronic-age update of 19th century French operatic composer Jules Massenet’s aria ‘O Souverain’, for the tiny New York City indie label 110 Records. In the UK, DJ John Peel picked up a copy of this very limited-edition 33⅓ RPM 7” and spun the eight-minute-plus track on BBC Radio 1. The exposure resulted in an unlikely #2 hit, lots of attention in the press, and a worldwide deal with Warner Bros. Records.

’Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justice is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!

At the time of its original release, the NME wrote of Big Science, ‘There’s a dream-like, subconscious quality about her songs which helps them work at deeper, secret levels of the psyche.’ With instrumentation ranging from tape loops to found sounds to bag pipes, Big Science anticipated the tech-savvy beats, anything-goes instrumentation and sample-based nature of much contemporary electronic and dance music. On the album’s 25th anniversary, Uncut noted, ‘The broader themes of alienation and disconnection still resonate, while Anderson’s use of loops and traditional/synthesized instrumentation is prescient.’

“In the ’70s I travelled a lot,” Anderson recounts. “I worked on a tobacco farm in Kentucky, hitchhiked to the North Pole, lived in a yurt in Chiapas, and worked on a media commune. I had my own romantic vision of the road. My plan was to make a portrait of the country. Big Science, the first part of the puzzle, eventually became part two of United States I–IV (Transportation, Politics, Money, Love). My goal was to be not just the narrator but also the outsider, the stranger. Although I wasfascinated by the United States, this portrait was also about how the country looked from a distance. I was performing a lot in Europe, where American culture was simultaneously booed and cheered. But the portrait was also a picture of a culture inventing a digital world and learning to live in it. Big Science was about technology, size, industrialization,shifting attitudes toward authority, and individuality. It was sometimes alarmist, picturing the country as a burning building, a plane crash. Alongside the techno was the apocalyptic. The absurd. The everyday. It was also a series of short stories about odd characters – hatcheck clerks and pilots, preachers, drifters and strangers. There was something about Massenet’s aria ‘O Souverain’ – which inspired ‘O Superman’ – that almost stopped my heart. The pauses, the melody. “O souverain, ô juge, ô père” (O Lord, o judge, o father). A prayer about empire, ambition, and loss.”

Laurie Anderson is one of America's most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for over 40 years. Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records in 2001, the critically lauded Life on a String. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002), Homeland (2010), the soundtrack to Anderson’s acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015), and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Additionally, Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date.

“A weird trip of a band…the second this was playing I was
immediately hooked. I initially dove in because their name
was attached to Mikey Young for mastering (I have a rule
with Mikey…if he had his hands on it, it’s probably worth
a listen). This band exceeds in all my trials.
“Esoteric nature, but oddly poppy and ready to prick up
any ears out there. Deconstructed, but full of hooks. If I
were a lazy man, and I am, I would say its for fans of PiL,
but they transcend that pigeon-hole.
“Wonderful production lends its self to this unique LP.
It seems as if the room expands and contracts throughout
songs. Pulling away, then blocking your field of vision entirely.
Wasteland funk. Dub from the depths. Punk from
the pit.
“Even the instrumentation is worth mentioning:
saxophone, drums (and cut-up drums), guitar, synthesizer,
vocals (poetry) and general fuckery all combine to make
this a very interesting and worthwhile escape from the
average. And thank the Gods for that right now. Inspired
and desired by the active mind. A job well done by EXEK,
and there’s new stuff brewing too...
“For fans of BEAK>, Phantom Band, PIL and general
Jah Wobbleness, Magazine, short-wave radio, ESG and
underground Kraut”. —John Dwyer

The fifth album from Oklahoma-bred singer/songwriter Parker Millsap, Be Here Instead emerged from a wild alchemy of instinct, ingenuity, and joyfully determined rule-breaking. In a departure from the guitar-and-notebook-based approach to songwriting that shaped his earlier work, the Nashville-based artist followed his curiosity to countless other modes of expression, experimenting with everything from piano to effects pedals to old-school drum machines (a fascination partly inspired by the early-’70s innovations of Sly Stone and J.J. Cale). As those explorations deepened and broadened his musical vision, Millsap soon arrived at a body of work touched with both unbridled imagination and lucid insight into the search for presence in a chaotic world. Produced by John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth, Waxahatchee) and mainly recorded live with Millsap’s full band, Be Here Instead marks a stylistic shift from the gritty and high-energy folk of his previous output, including 2018’s acclaimed Other Arrangements and 2016’s The Very Last Day (an Americana Music Association Awards nominee for Album of the Year). With its adventurous yet immaculately detailed sonic palette, the album warps genres to glorious effect, at one point offering up what Millsap aptly refers to as a “disco-Americana showtune.” In another creative breakthrough, Be Here Instead forgoes the character-driven storytelling of his past in favor of a more introspective and endlessly revelatory form of lyricism, an element he traces back to the charmed nature of his songwriting process. “Because the lyrics were appearing seemingly out of nowhere and with no prior intent, some of them started to feel like transmissions from my subconscious, rather than the preconceived linear stories or waking thoughts of my earlier songs,” says Millsap. “They feel like words I needed to hear from myself, and not just things I wanted to say to someone else.”

KingUnderground releases Other Mirror’s debut record. The album is mixed by legendary engineer ‘No Sleep’ Nigel, who has worked with a plethora of the UK Hip-Hop scene since the late ‘80s.
Other Mirror are James Tilley, Amelie Chevalier and Jonny Cuba. The 3 formed the band in 2018. They had talked for many years about starting a project together and after several years of pursuing their own creative endeavors, the school friends found themselves reunited and finally creating music with one another. Although the Self Titled LP is Other Mirror’s band debut, they’re far from newcomers. Jonny Cuba has been an active musician since the late 90s, with other collaborative highlights including The Herbaliser, Mike James Kirkland, and production for legendary British Library labels KPM, Bruton, and Cavendish. Tilley has had multiple releases with his first band, Fabric, from the early, to late 90s, and has collaborations with DJ Food, and recording sessions with John Peel. Chevalier is an accomplished vocal coach, dancer, and choreographer with various session work, including live shows at Glastonbury Festival, and Bestival. Rounding out the trio with her mystical vocal delivery and groovy bass lines.

The results of the band’s initial collaborations feel reminiscent of a Quintin Taratino movie, cinematic and groovy in nature. Other Mirror are particularly drawn to the power of music within film and TV. It’s ability to support and affect the narrative is similar to how the band taps into direct emotions.

“The music can be partially improvised with unexpected sections. Like films are made in the edit, we follow a similar approach when we are composing.” - Amelie Chevalier

The Other Mirror debut reflects the bands long standing rapport together. It often feels like there is a conversation happening within the music between the old friends. Their unconventional approach to composing adds a familiar flavor in each track on their self-titled LP.

Verisimilitude’ continues drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey’s effort to shatter the jazz piano trio tradition by extending the form to encompass the influence of the likes of Feldman, Debussy and Xenakis.
Now available on vinyl for the first time.
One of the most in-demand drummers in improvised music - he has collaborated extensively with the likes of John Zorn, Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, Claire Chase, George Lewis, and Roscoe Mitchell, among myriad others - Sorey is also in the vanguard of artists working in that liminal space between spontaneous composition and notated music.
The New Yorker calls Sorey “among the most formidable denizens of that inbetween zone,” while The Wall Street Journal has called him “a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas.”
Featuring Cory Smythe on piano and Chris Tordini on bass, the trio’s first release, ‘Alloy’ (Pi 2014), was described as “shadowy and elegant” by The New York Times. His 2015 release, ‘The Inner Spectrum of Variables’, which also features the same group joined by a string trio, was called “devastatingly gorgeous” by The Chicago Reader and “a genuine masterwork” by Stereogum.
The new work utilizes a wide array of percussion, along with judicious use of electronics to explore a wider textural soundscape. The result is a far-reaching and intensely beautiful work that daringly blurs the boundaries between composition and improvisation.
Personnel: Tyshawn Sorey (drums, percussion), Corey Smythe (piano, toy piano, electronics), Chris Tordini (bass)

Absolutely stunning second album from Trees Speak new on Soul Jazz Records. Trees Speak's new album 'Shadow Forms' is a blend of 1970s German electronic and 'motorik' Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s & 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York no wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz's New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)! Trees Speak' segue together all these elements into 'Shadow Forms,' which follows on from their critically-acclaimed debut LP 'Ohms,' released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago. Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona's natural desert landscapes. 'Trees Speak' relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively. The album includes an exclusive bonus 45 single 'Outtake' and 'Transmitter' that will only be available with the first order of this amazing and ground-breaking new album.

Superb unreleased soundtrack from British 1972 sex comedy starring Gabrielle Drake (Nick Drake’s sister) and Rchard O’Sullivan (Gilbert O’Sullivan’s brother!). Brilliant music on many levels, 17 sexy tracks of swinging jet-set jazz, groovy scatty vocals, hell it must be good because it’s on Trunk Records.

Take yourself back to the fleapit cinemas of the early 1970s. My home town of Aldershot had two - the ABC/123 (with three screens) and The Palace (just one screen, and anything but palatial). Au Pair Girls, released in 1972, was exactly the kind of soft porn “comedy” flick with a vague plot that would, without doubt, have been playing as part of a double bill to the regular “dirty mac brigade”. Such films and such establishments guaranteed the small crowd regular titillating wide screen visions of nude women in preposterous situations and fulfilling preposterous fantasies.
The title of Au Pair Girls suggests it all of course; yes, four young women fly into London from Europe and Asia, are sent to their new employers and find themselves in unexpected and unusual situations pretty fast. There is of course full nudity, crudity and a large slab of cheese on the menu.There is also no real comedy, a sprinkling of infamous character actors (Richard O’Sullivan, John Le Mesurier), and “UFO” actress Gabrielle Drake (sister of Nick Drake) wearing nothing at all. If anything, the film has maintained a vague middle aged male following because of Gabrielle.
But there’s little to save this film from contemporary criticism - its outdated view of life, rights, sex and taste sit uncomfortably today. But the jet set soundtrack by Roger Webb was worth saving.
By 1972 Roger Webb’s career in film and TV music was taking off. He was an established songwriter and live pianist with a jazz trio. He’d already penned a few British scores and was just starting on a formidable future with library companies including Chappell, de Wolfe and Capitol. His route to Au Pair Girls was accidentally through Norman Newell, one of the giants of the post war music industry.Actress and performer Dee / Deanne Shenderry had asked Newell to recommend an artist to arrange her up and coming album. New;ee recommended Roger Webb.The two worked together and some music was produced, but to my knowledge only got to acetate stage (possibly for Apple Records). Dee husband was Kenneth Shipman, a co-owner ofTwickenham film studios.And so when Kenneth Shipman started pre
production of Au Pair Girls, Roger Webb was an easy go-to for film music composition.
Many years ago there was an original reel / master for Au Pair Girls. It was transferred to CD, DAT and cassette circa 1990 and the rapidly degrading tape was subsequently misplaced, lost or just binned. So all we had to work with was a rather shaky transfer from nearly 30 years ago, one which included numerous wobbles as well as speeding up and slowing down moments.The job of rescuing all this was left to Jon Brooks, my hero for all such musical problems. The end result is what you hear on this album. It is by no means sonically perfect but it is all we will ever have.
It’s certainly not Roger Webb’s best ever score (I have more of his ace work coming) but it has a certain charm and relentlessness.The lyrics were written by Norman Newell, and I can imagine the pair having a huge amount of fun putting the score together and recording it, with - as you’d expect - a pretty tight band and lively vocal group.The main theme does, as one reviewer state, “go on a bit”, but there’s enough musically here for me to get excited about and really want to “stick it out”. So I have.

There’s something new under the sun. If you look at it closely,
something new is only (and always) created at crossroads –
when different and signi¦cant traditions are connected and
combined. On their own, these traditions have often existed
for a while. However, in this new form they have never
appeared together. The latest manifestation of something
new can now be found on the album “No Future Dubs”, the
interpretations of “No Future Days” – the most recent album
by German band Messer – by Finnish producer and old
friend of the group Kimmo Saastamoinen aka Toto Belmont.
The intentional traditions that merge on this grand and
digni¦ed album are post-punk, dub and techno. A new
chapter in the culturally constant narrative of dub is written
here. Through their past and parallel activities in hardcore
and post-punk bands, Messer drummer Philipp Wulf met and
befriended Kimmo, originally a drummer too. In their
continuous dialogue discussing their musical journey, Philipp
and Kimmo over the years more and more immersed
themselves in the aesthetic possibilities of dub and reggae.
Indeed, lots of musicians do not listen to the type of music at
home that they write and play in their respective projects
(Take me as an example: House is the music that I produce
and put on as a DJ. On my own, I listen to various stuff,
music by Monk and Messer for example). The same applies
to the protagonists involved here. By discussing dub und
through Toto Belmont’s steadily increasing producingexpertise, the idea of creating dub versions of selected
Messer tracks was born. The Messer album “No Future
Days”, released in 2020, proved to contain the perfect raw
material as the songs on this album are already produced in
a much more transparent way than on previous LPs – and
are hence more suitable for dub. Still, it’s a giant leap from
the originals to the dubs. These add a third dimension to the
described character of the post-punk/dub amalgam: techno.
The result is a sound that hasn’t existed before, especially
not with German lyrics (which scarcely, however, carry
meaning or messages here. Hendrik Otremba’s voice is used
more like an instrument, as if he was the ghostly ¦gure which
he often sings about and which now §oats and screams
through the sound space). The history of mutual contact and
in§uence of (post-)punk and dub (reggae), which Messer
have kept on writing, is glorious and reaches back far in
musical history. Still, it has always been a rather marginal
chapter not only in punk but also in dub history. But already
in the beginnings of punk (the British version, less the
American one), the presence and in§uence of reggae was
obvious in many places as both are united in their resolute
attitude as rebel music. This is how the two genres
recognized each other – especially the punks regarded
reggae as rebellious. As is known, already Johnny Rotten
mainly listened to dub in private. By using the name John
Lydon, he then – together with bass player Jah Wobble –
established the group PiL as one of the most exemplary
bands at the crossroads of dub and punk. The Slits, Pop
Group, Killing Joke, The Ruts and last but not least The Clash
along with the Mick Jones offshoot Big Audio Dynamite –
the thriving British music scene in the early 80s was full of
dub-in§uenced acts. The echoes meandered everywhere. In
the USA, it took longer until the in§uence of dub became
noticeable and it has never been as distinctive as in the UK.
The history of US hardcore, however, cannot be told without
bands like Bad Brains from Washington D.C. who on their
albums occasionally inserted conscious reggae and dub
tracks between breakneck hardcore tracks. Another
important group is Blind Idiot God who similarly included
dub tracks on their LPs – the contrast between densely
droning rock tunes and widely breathing dub versions can be
experienced very vividly here. In the 90s, dub’s in§uence on
post-punk decreased while turning up even more distinctively
somewhere else: Techno was in many respects susceptible
to dub, to say nothing of the music from the so-called British
hardcore continuum (jungle, drum & bass etc.), which directlydeveloped from dub and reggae. But also “pure” techno –
meaning techno without breakbeats – discovered its a¨nity
for the possibilities of dub at an early stage, in England for
instance in projects like Left¦eld or The Orb. In addition, the
project Rhythm & Sound was established in Berlin with close
ties to the Hardwax record store. With regard to this project,
you can’t really say where dub ends and where techno begins
(or vice versa) because of the interconnection of the two
genres here – everything is based on the steppers pulse
which links the two styles like a common DNA. With dub
techno a new genre was created. Until the present day, there
are producers who don’t produce anything else and DJs who
don’t put on any other music. The Messer dubs are
characterized by a grand majestic manner and force that
presumably someone like Mad Professor is able to produce
and that is also inherent in many Scandinavian productions
of the last 15 years; a crystal-clear aesthetic which locates
itself far away from Kingston or Brixton, but features a pulse
referring clearly to Berlin and Helsinki. The songs appear in a
completely new and deconstructed form, the instruments are
exclusively used as particles and raw material, not as riffs;
merely glaring guitar textures ¦ll the wide dub space. There
are many new elements that were added by Toto Belmont,
especially synthesizer sounds and drums. The ¦nal result
creates an enormous aesthetic power and dignity, and an
atmosphere you don’t want to leave anymore. “No Future” is
a well-chosen title as a reference to the protagonists’ punk
association; as a main thrust of the album, however, a
comma between these two words is imaginable as well.

Controversial glam act New York Dolls were the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll excess, prefacing
the rough edges of punk. Formed in late 1971 and initially known as Actress, the earliest
incarnation featured bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist Rick Rivets and the guitarist that would
become Johnny Thunders, with drummer Billy Murcia and singer David Johansen; soon,
Rivets was replaced by Egyptian-born Sylvain Sylvain. Decked out in androgynous clothing,
including platform boots, lipstick and body stockings, The Dolls toured England in 1972,
which was ruptured by Murcia’s tragic alcohol-and-drugs-related death, bringing Jerry Nolan
into the group. Signing to Mercury, they issued a self-titled debut, followed by Too Much Too
Soon, but disappointing sales saw Mercury drop them. Live At Radio Luxembourg was
recorded in December 1973 and features hot live versions of songs from these two seminal
studio albums; with plenty of banter delivered in cod-French accents between the tracks, the
set reveals the group in their prime, their no-limits attitude taking the form of raucous guitar
riffs, shouted vocals, crashing drums and driving bass, and in addition to classic Dolls like
“Puss N Boots” and “Jet Boy,” there are some blues references too.

Total Control is the debut solo album by John Norum, known for being the guitarist and one of the founding members of the Swedish rock band Europe. Originally released in 1987, Total Control was dedicated to Tommy Östervik, one of Norum’s friends and heroes, who had recently passed away in a drowning accident. It was produced by Thomas Witt, who was Norum’s stepfather. The album features nine original songs, including the singles “Let Me Love You” and “Love Is Meant to Last Forever”. Norum recorded two cover songs as well: the Vinnie Vincent Invasion cover “Back on the Streets”, which was also released as a single, and Thin Lizzy’s “Wild One”, a bonus track that also appears on this LP. The album is available on coloured vinyl for the first time; it’s a limited edition of 1500 copies on silver marbled vinyl.

Zwerm is a Belgian-Dutch electric guitar quartet (with a backyard rehearsal shed located in Antwerp) that operates along the borders between styles and traverses traditions that are typically not convergent. Zwerm rhymes Larry Polansky with Nadah El Shazly and are galvanized by the likes of guitars pioneers like The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, the microtonal DYI-er Harry Partch, Middle Eastern sonorities and the prog-madness of Kind Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. ‘Musical adventure’ is not just a hollow cliché for this quartet, but a genuine commitment. Zwerm calls itself a ‘guitar quartet’, but that can be interpreted broadly as well as with a pinch of salt: “If we want to do something on instruments we don’t really master, we’ll just figure out a way to make it work.”
Toon Callier, Johannes Westendorp, Kobe van Cauwenberghe and Bruno Nelissen all met in 2007 while working on a project with Glenn Branca. A new guitar quartet was born and it became clear rather quickly that staying in the strictly contemporary compositions lane was not for this quartet-with-five-to-six-members (an organizational chart is available upon request).
An appetite for new and lasting collaborations has been a constant theme throughout their artistic parcours. The group has shared stages with theatrical producers like Walpurgis and Post uit Hessdalen, dancers such as Ecce and with the musicians Fred Frith, Stephen O’Malley, Shiva Feshareki, Rudy Trouvé, Mauro Pawlowski, Larry Polansky, Eric Thielemans, Yannis Kyriakides, François Sarhan, Serge Verstockt and Stefan Prins. These projects have not always translated into records, but they have been decisive in creating a unique musical approach. In 2015, when Zwerm was asked by De Handelsbeurs to collaborate with Fred Frith, they proceeded to pen a few new musical sketches over which Firth sublimely improvised. In 2018 ‘Badminton in Tehran’ was released, their first record that was made up completely of only the group’s compositions.
“a basket full of buttons here
and if you push the wrong one: fear
and if you push the right one: love
or maybe none of the above”
The route that Zwerm has taken is often defined by the question “What if... ?” - like a dart thrown at a musical map, not quite blindly, but naive enough to lead to unexpected endings.
“What if we play Renaissance pieces written by John Dowland, but instead of playing lutes we play these tunes with a Telecaster – and then jam it through effect pedals and an amplifier?”
“What if we connect one hundred guitar pedals and just leave our guitars at home?”
“What if we record a record with ten different one-page-pieces that we found on the Internet?”
In 2020 our metaphorical dart landed on “What if we tried microtonality?”.
‘Microtonality’ sounds a bit creepy, but actually there is nothing to be afraid of: there are no out-of- tune notes, just alternate notes. On the continents where Western musical theory is less stringently applied, microtonality is the rule, and has become the subject of many deep and thoughtfully written theories. However for Zwerm, this phenomenon occurs in many, often surprisingly lighthearted forms. A dilapidated piano that has settled into a beautiful microtonal tuning of its own accord, enthusiastic choral singing, a guitar whose three strings are tuned a quarter-tone higher, a saz (Turkishquarter-tone lute), a maddening guitar pedal, ...
"the dreams they were convicted for telling only lies reality came after for claiming to be wise what you don’t see is what you get just never light a spark I’m a crow in the dark”
“And… what if we work with a drummer?” Enter Karen Willems - dummer, extraordinaire, and ardent player in groups, projects and collaborations galore. One chance meeting and the deal was done. It was obvious before the start that Willems was the versatile and creative percussionist-in-a-toy-store necessary for this project. And in the studio, to our delight, she demonstrated an easy dexterity when switching quickly from one idea to the next.
At the reins behind the scenes was producer Rudy Trouvé, who – during previous sessions for ‘Badminton in Terhran’, when the classically trained guitarists went completely off the rails, staring deeply and forlornly into their scores, looking for answers – was able to pinpoint the problem and get the wagons rolling in the right direction again. Completing the team were Mark Dedecker (recording)and Joris Calluwaerts (mixing).
The results are in and it’s called ‘ Great Expectations’ – a title that, in several ways, fits perfectly with these strange times.‘Great Expectations’ goes wide! Zwerm is at its best when it can run along the borders between style and across traditions that otherwise would not necessarily intersect. The most straightforward rockers have a proggy tinge while the dreamy psychedelic songs lean more toward Richard Youngs. And if a nice melody dared come to close to becoming a ‘Kit-Katjingle’, then barbs-a-la-Pere-Ubu were trailed, tracked, found and promptly embedded. ‘Heavy Machinery’ sits neatly somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Richard Wagner, and ‘On My Way To Aguno’, set to an Iranian folk song chord progression, grew into a hyper-personal lullaby. Zwerm used the saz (Turkish lute) and the sinter (Moroccan gnawa bass instrument) without falling into pastiche psychedelia, but you can still sense the orient.

First ever re-issue on vinyl. Red Shoes includes eight new recordings (dated early 1992), five unreleased tracks, a new version of When The World and more sophisticated rendition of For Madeleine and For Zinni. Vini develops his musical journey using fascinating licks for guitar, steeped in New Age, minimalism, soft electric folk and ambient music (we stressed to remind you that Vini’s style has been long informed by kosmische heroes such as Manuel Göttsching or Günter Schickert and even John Martyn). The album offers even the re-issue of the mini album Greetings Three, a very important goal for the band and the label Materiali Sonori. In fact, the four tracks included on this record - released in 1985 - have been explicitly dedicated to Italy, Tuscany and to new Italian friends. Along with Vini Reilly you will find the talent of Bruce Mitchell (drums) and John Metcalfe (violin) on display.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the theatrical release of Universal Pictures’ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The film adaptation by director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver) of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kieran Culkin and has since become a cult classic due in no small part to the use of music in its storytelling. The soundtrack album and score were originally released in 2010 by ABKCO Records.

Each side of each LP is graced with an image of one of the “Seven Evil Exes” characters from the film, with an image of Scott Pilgrim with Ramona Flowers on the eighth side. This marks the first time ever that Godrich’s score will get a vinyl release, which will also be available separately on a blue vinyl 2-LP set, also on March 26. On the same day, the original single LP version of the soundtrack will be reissued as the Ramona Flowers Edition on blue, green and magenta vinyl, representing the colors of the character’s hair throughout the film.

Now ABKCO, with Edgar Wright and Nigel Godrich’s oversight, has curated an expanded, four LP picture disc Seven Evil Exes Edition offering of the soundtrack/score, including more performances by Sex Bob-Omb and demos from Beck, as well as fan favourite “Black Sheep” by Metric and sung by actress Brie Larson.

Since its release, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) has received many accolades. UK’s The Independent ranked it at number 4 out of “the 40 greatest film soundtracks of all time,” declaring that Wright “found a way to seamlessly integrate his soundtrack into Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’s narrative.” It was also included on Alternative Press’ list of “16 Fantastic Movie Soundtracks You Need To Hear.” “We Are Sex Bob-Omb” won the 2010 Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Song.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Seven Evil Exes Limited Edition)
• 4x LP picture discs
• Limited Edition Set
• Exclusive bonus tracks not included on original soundtrack by Sex Bob-omb, Beck, plus highly sought- after Brie Larson w/ Metric
• Social support from Edgar Wright + Beck
Bonus ephemera: 
 • Full colour film poster
 • Exclusive Colouring Page by Bryan O’Malley
• Printed note from Edgar Wright, Director

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the theatrical release of Universal Pictures’ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The film adaptation by director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver) of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kieran Culkin and has since become a cult classic due in no small part to the use of music in its storytelling. The soundtrack album and score were originally released in 2010 by ABKCO Records.

Each side of each LP is graced with an image of one of the “Seven Evil Exes” characters from the film, with an image of Scott Pilgrim with Ramona Flowers on the eighth side. This marks the first time ever that Godrich’s score will get a vinyl release, which will also be available separately on a blue vinyl 2-LP set, also on March 26. On the same day, the original single LP version of the soundtrack will be reissued as the Ramona Flowers Edition on blue, green and magenta vinyl, representing the colors of the character’s hair throughout the film.

Now ABKCO, with Edgar Wright and Nigel Godrich’s oversight, has curated an expanded, four LP picture disc Seven Evil Exes Edition offering of the soundtrack/score, including more performances by Sex Bob-Omb and demos from Beck, as well as fan favourite “Black Sheep” by Metric and sung by actress Brie Larson.

Since its release, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) has received many accolades. UK’s The Independent ranked it at number 4 out of “the 40 greatest film soundtracks of all time,” declaring that Wright “found a way to seamlessly integrate his soundtrack into Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’s narrative.” It was also included on Alternative Press’ list of “16 Fantastic Movie Soundtracks You Need To Hear.” “We Are Sex Bob-Omb” won the 2010 Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Song.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Original Score Composed By Nigel Godrich)
• 2xLP
• First time released on vinyl
• Blue colour vinyl
• Social Support from Edgar Wright (Director) & Beck

Adult Books is the brainchild of Los Angeles-based writer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Winfrey. With the help of childhood friends Sina Salessi (drums) and Alex Galindo (guitar/synth), Winfrey crafts lyric-driven dark pop gems that recall the hook-heavy guitar work of Johnny Marr, the just-below-the-collar angst of Mission of Burma, and the doomsday bellow of early Echo and the Bunnymen.
After a well-received string of bedroom demos and cassettes, Adult Books released their first full-length album, Running from the Blows , in 2016, trading in their previous home-recorded sounds for a cleaned-up act that allowed Winfrey’s pop savvy and understated lyrical wit to shine through. Two years of heavy touring followed, after which Winfrey found himself both burned out and uninspired by the business of music.
Following a much-needed hiatus, Adult Books is finally ready to share their sophomore LP, Grecian Urn . Recorded with Jonny Bell (Crystal Antlers) and mastered by Dave Cooley (Animal Collective, J Dilla) , Grecian Urn was crafted over the course of nearly two years; however, the seeds of the album were sown more than a decade earlier. When sitting down to write Grecian Urn , Winfrey revisited old demos, forgotten voice memos and unfinished fragments of songs to create something wholly new.
The end result is a self-assured and intensely personal album that places Winfrey’s evocative images and economic storytelling approach front and center. A loose concept album of sorts, Grecian Urn draws on classical Mediterranean imagery and mythos as a means of exploring Winfrey’s past traumas and struggles with chronic anxiety.

Over the course of four albums, Manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and band-leader Matthew Halsall has carved out a niche for himself on the UK music scene as one of it's brightest talents. His languid, soulful music has won friends from Jamie Cullum and Gilles Peterson to Jazz FM and Mojo as well as an ever-growing international following. His label Gondwana Records is home to GoGo Penguin and his own albums have found Halsall exploring the modal jazz of John and Alice Coltrane, paying tribute to the hard bop of the late '50s and early '60s or most recently on Fletcher Moss Park drawing on Eastern influences in his most personal statement yet. His latest album When The World Was One is something of a companion piece to Fletcher Moss Park (much of the music was written at the same time) but draws more explicitly on Halsall's love of spiritual jazz and Eastern music as well as his own studies in meditation and travels in Japan. Beautifully recorded at Hasall's favourite studio, 80 Hertz in Manchester, and engineered by Brendan Williams and George Atkins it features the recording debut of Halsall's large ensemble, The Gondwana Orchestra, which utilises the exotic flavours of harp, koto and bansuri flute and Eastern scales to create a global palate for Halsall's life-affirming sounds.

The Gondwana Orchestra features long time collaborators Nat Birchall, saxophone, Gavin Barras, bass and Rachael Gladwin, harp as well as Taz Modi on piano. Modi who also plays with Halsall in their more electronic trio shares his passion for spiritual jazz and plays the music with real feeling while the role of the harp here is to bring a touch of 'magical reality' a floating dreaminess that is a vital part of Halsall's elegiac and beautiful music. The drummer Luke Flowers is perhaps best known as part of Cinematic Orchestra, and Halsall describes him as 'one of the best drummers in the world' and hails him for 'playing the music exactly as I heard it in my head', Keiko Kitamura is a Japanese Koto player who is becoming an increasingly important part of the Gondwana Orchestra, her role is similar to Gladwin's in that the koto helps free up the music while also bringing a real sound of the East. Finally, flautist Lisa Mallett brings a love of Indian music to the orchestra, much travelled on the continent she brings all of her knowledge and experience to play offering a unique texture to Halsall's dreamy melodies.

The album opens with the title track, When The World Was One, an expansive ascending tune that nods to Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner and draws the listener in before giving way to the dreamy, meditative A Far Away Place which features great work from Gladwin on harp and draws on Eastern influences alongside the music of Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef. Falling Water which features the beautiful soprano of Nat Birchall nods to classic spiritual jazz as well, but mixes in the more contemporary influences of Nostalgia 77 and Cinematic Orchestra, while the hard-driving Patterns conjures an up-lifting celebratory vibe with fine work from pianist Modi to set the mood. The beautiful Kiyomizu-Dera is inspired by Halsall's travels in Japan and in particular his visit to the Buddhist temple of the same name. Likewise Sagano Bamboo Forest is named for another place that left a deep imprint on Halsall and aims to capture his feelings as he worked through the vast maze of bamboo trees. Finally the album closes with the self-explanatory Tribute To Alice Coltrane a grooving tribute to one of Halsall's key influences. Driven by a powerful bass line and featuring wonderful work from Mallet on bansuri flute and harpist Gladwin, the band all really find their way into Halsall's groove before the leader plays a beautiful wistful solo of his own and it is the oneness of the Gondwana Orchestra that makes it such a powerful vehicle for Halsall's music as the leader takes you on his very own journey through his musical and spiritual world.

18 track vinyl album recorded live at at Brighton Concorde 2,
15th December 2003, and featuring Wurzel from Motorhead on Guitar.
Band Line-up: Sir Max Splodge OBE - Vocals Mat Sargent - Bass Harry Monk -
Drums Johnny Chunders - Guitar Wurzel (Motorhead) - Guitar
Also Available on CD+DVD Cat No. SECDP216 ‘Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet
Of Crisps Please’.
Full mailout to relevant music press and radio.
Full promotion across social media platforms Advertising in Record Collector,
Viva le Rock, Shindig

The Muskrats first formed in 1993. There’s been a few line-up changes on
bass and drums over the years, always fronted by Steve N meth on vocals
and guitar and recorded the debut album for Nervous records in 1998.
As their main influences the band recognizes Eddie Cochran, Benny Joy, John
Lee Hooker... judge yourself!

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen - guitar/Ellen Brekken - bass/Ivar Loe Bjornstad - drums. Only nine months after her momentous debut solo album Ekhidna, the guitarist is back fronting her trio. With their previous album, Smells Funny, this explosive and expansive trio experienced a breakthrough of sorts, having gone from strength to strength through five albums since their 2011 debut Shoot!, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable on jazz and rock stages. Hedvig enforced this breakthrough with Ekhidna, appearing on both jazz and rock best of 2020 lists, like coming in third in Prog's "Album of the Year" poll. She was included in Downbeat's "25 for the future" and received heaps of international attention and great reviews.With the hypnotic title track, the spacious ballad Four Candles and generally a more varied mood, Ding Dong. You're Dead. is the trio's most dynamic album to date. That said there's still enough solid and creative riffing here to satisfy the headbangers, as well as the jazzheads, as they further explore the free and open landscapes most notably started with their Black Stabat Mater album and continued with Smells Funny. As Nate Chinen wrote about "Black Stabat Mater" in JazzTimes: Her trio, which has Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe Bjornstad on drums, caught my ear then with its audacious style references: the loose swagger of early Black Sabbath; the density and prowl of peak Led Zeppelin; the expeditionary urge of Jimi Hendrix; the incantatory fervor of John McLaughlin. As recent performances have shown, online and in the flesh, this trio radiates confidence and have become a surefire hit on the Norwegian live scene. Hedvig first picked up her mother's acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. Hedvig met Ellen and Ivar at the Music Academy in Oslo and asked them to join her after she received the Young Jazz Talent of the Year award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon to wide international acclaim.

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen - guitar/Ellen Brekken - bass/Ivar Loe Bjornstad - drums. Only nine months after her momentous debut solo album Ekhidna, the guitarist is back fronting her trio. With their previous album, Smells Funny, this explosive and expansive trio experienced a breakthrough of sorts, having gone from strength to strength through five albums since their 2011 debut Shoot!, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable on jazz and rock stages. Hedvig enforced this breakthrough with Ekhidna, appearing on both jazz and rock best of 2020 lists, like coming in third in Prog's "Album of the Year" poll. She was included in Downbeat's "25 for the future" and received heaps of international attention and great reviews.With the hypnotic title track, the spacious ballad Four Candles and generally a more varied mood, Ding Dong. You're Dead. is the trio's most dynamic album to date. That said there's still enough solid and creative riffing here to satisfy the headbangers, as well as the jazzheads, as they further explore the free and open landscapes most notably started with their Black Stabat Mater album and continued with Smells Funny. As Nate Chinen wrote about "Black Stabat Mater" in JazzTimes: Her trio, which has Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe Bjornstad on drums, caught my ear then with its audacious style references: the loose swagger of early Black Sabbath; the density and prowl of peak Led Zeppelin; the expeditionary urge of Jimi Hendrix; the incantatory fervor of John McLaughlin. As recent performances have shown, online and in the flesh, this trio radiates confidence and have become a surefire hit on the Norwegian live scene. Hedvig first picked up her mother's acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. Hedvig met Ellen and Ivar at the Music Academy in Oslo and asked them to join her after she received the Young Jazz Talent of the Year award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon to wide international acclaim.

“Walk the dog. Exercise. Make art.’The mind is happy when the body
is.’ Things I can potentially fill my days with if I am stuck at home
for months on end…Then, one day, I hear a frenetic, free drummer
playing in his garage a few blocks from me. And I think ‘interesting’.
I stand outside his garage staring at the wall, like a fool, for a minute,
then decide to leave a note on the car parked there. This is how I ended
up meeting and working with Ted Byrnes. He wasn’t creeped out, and
he ended up sending me a pile of truly spontaneous drums recordings
from the carport to work with. I decided to have every musician
come in one at at time and just take a wild pass at their track over the
drums. None of these people had ever met or played together. I was
the connecting thread. I scratched the surface initially with electric
bass, saxophone, guitars, cuica, synthesizers, flute and effects, but
soon realized I would need heavy hitters to make this place habitable.
“Greg Coates, upright bass expressionist extraordinaire, hacked
through the dense weeds, vines and frayed cabling. He lays the map
out and makes breathing room. Space to swing a cat. Tom Dolas
(keys), my often foil, came in and began tip-toeing through the rubble
and refuse. Dotting the layout with flecks of light, flights of fancy and
potential tangential trajectories. Then the finisher, Brad Caulkins on
horns. As always, Brad came in like grace itself, scanned the floor
for food, and huffed and puffed and blew the house down. He takes a
bruiser situation and lends it some warmth and hospitality, old school.
“After I spent a bit of time mixing and editing this down to a
palatable offering I couldn’t help but think about human consumption.
...Endless Garbage seemed a fitting title. A cacophonous and glorious
sketch of ourselves. For fans of Albert Ayler, ECM records, Gong,
improvisation, sustainability and consumption” —John Dwyer

Back in 2015, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BBC broadcast of Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange’s “Inventions For Radio: The Dreams”, The Eccentronic Research Council released their own super-limited edition cassette soundtracking the recalled dreams (and nightmares) of friends, artists, actors, musicians, scientists, poets and filmmakers. The release was called “The Dreamcatcher Tapes Volume 1”. Five years on, and with a large part of the planet under lockdown and with nowhere to go but within their imagination, the ERC put a call out once again to music collaborators, nurses, teachers, truck drivers, writers, journalists and shop workers to upon waking, record their dreams straight into their phones and to then send them to the ERC to soundtrack. And thus, Volume 2 of The Dreamcatcher Tapes was born!

How did you make the album during lockdown?
“We got around 26 dreams sent to us via email over the space of a couple of weeks then Dean Honer my partner in The ERC and I revved up the old analogue equipment and would record music and collage sounds to the dreams (remotely) from our home recording studios and bounce them back and forth to each other till they were done. It was a really good way to work actually, sometimes I didn’t even have to put on any trousers!” says ERC/ Moonlandingz founder Adrian Flanagan. Why a second volume of The Dreamcatcher Tapes? “I was really interested to see how the enforced lockdown and the removal of people’s basic needs such as human contact and hanging out in close proximity to friends was affecting the dreams of my friends, peers and those at the very front line of this horrible pandemic”, Adrian continues. “The Important shared experiences for people’s mental health such as going out to gigs, the pub, the cinema etc. ”It was an interesting experiment. Nurses dreaming of inadequate PPE and having to use blow up Elvis costumes to protect themselves. Teachers dreaming of zombies and lots of people dreaming about sex - where the hair of Greek sorceress’s Circe meets bouncy castle breasts and where other dreamers dream of serial killers or seeing dead family members, or taking baby elephants for a walk, or having discos for one in the middle of the ocean and so much more. I’m really proud of this record. It’s psychedelic in its truest most cerebral form”

Who’s on “The Dreamcatcher Tapes Volumes 1 & 2”? Who are the dreamers?
“Although our long time collaborator Maxine Peake wasn’t on the very first tape (her dream ended up on LTD edition split 7” ERC single we did with Pye Corner Audio) - she was the first dream that we soundtracked when I came up with the idea of doing the concept record. However, on the new vinyl and tape box set - she opens volume 1. Across the 2 volumes there’s film maker Carol Morley, Andy Votel from Finders Keepers records, John Doran from The Quietus (who also wrote the albums brilliant sleeve notes), acclaimed writers Benjamin Myers & Adelle Stripe, musicians such as Evangeline Ling from the group Audiobooks, Lias Saoudi from my ‘semi fictional band’, The Moonlandingz and fat white family, Sidonie from The Orielles, journalists /writers Wyndham Wallace (he wrote lee Hazelwood’s brilliant biography) and Daniel Dylan Wray amongst a whole array of musician friends, eccentrics and people with actual proper jobs!”

Why did you chose Castles in Space for this release?
“Jim Jupp at Ghost Box records suggested them to me so I looked into them and saw they were doing loads of really great strange little bespoke electronic record releases. I think that because this is a very niche limited run release, it required a label that was willing to treat it like a piece of art and not a throwaway mass produced commodity. So making sure the packaging was special, the artwork was bang on point and the sleeve notes were written by a writer we like all were very important to us. “It was also important that we could turn it around from the finished recording to being in people’s hands really quickly as Dean and I have another ten projects between us on the boil - and so far, Castles in Space have been true to their word. It’s an artists label done with love and there’s not many of them about anymore - believe it or not.“

“The Dreamcatcher Tapes Volumes 1 & 2” is an immense collaborative achievement which makes for a thoroughly compelling, and gloriously disorientating listening experience.

It is released as a double coloured vinyl LP in deluxe gatefold sleeve w/insert and a highly limited deluxe double cassette box set. The album is released on March 19th, 2021.

Seven years and a handful of lifetimes ago, New Bums came
out of nowhere with their debut album, ‘Voices In a Rented
Room’ - a record the New York Times described as “feeling like
it’s falling apart.” New Bums took this as a compliment and,
thus emboldened, they toured relentlessly in support of the
release: criss-crossing the USA in the spring of 2014, with a
European run that summer. Then, silence descended, as the
Bums withdrew to the place from which they’d mysteriously
emerged.
Now, the Bums are back. 2021 finds them with a new album in
hand. Following a West Coast US tour in late 2019 it’s clear that
the duo of Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) and Ben
Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Rangda, etc) are fully
reanimated, as evidenced by the songs and sounds of ‘Last
Time I Saw Grace’.
Retaining the drunk-dog-locomotion of their debut, New Bums
sprinkle a bit of fresh fancy into their signature twin guitarsand-vocals sound, with cleaner recording techniques, further
developments in harmonies and a new appreciation for a song
with more than two parts, making ‘Last Time I Saw Grace’
nothing less than the perfect progression from the purposefully
murky mixes of their debut.
Continuing to embrace an acoustic rock ’n’ roll sound, inspired
by artists such as Jacobites, Robyn Hitchcock, Johnny
Thunders, Replacements and such, New Bums push the words
and the stories to the front of the line, crafting tales with satiric
glee on ‘Last Time I Saw Grace’. However, this world of empty
perfume bottles, bodies tied to masts and moving onward to
devastation (after the bottle on the table pulls out a gun) feels
much more Gombrowiczian dreamscape than drunken night on
the town. Yes, everything is wasted but this is an existential
wasteland rather than a substance-laden one. This combination
of arch Californian post-aristocratic melodrama with torn and
frayed acoustic guitars opens up a new genre entirely, one
those at Drag City are tempted to call Rent Control Romantic.

It’s nearly a decade since William Doyle handed a CD-R demo to the Quietus co-founder John Doran at a gig, who loved it so much he set up a label to release Doyle’s debut EP (as East India Youth). Doyle’s debut album, Total Strife Forever, followed in 2014, as did a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. A year later, he was signed to XL, touring the world and about to release his second album – all by the age of 25.

After self-releasing four ambient and instrumental albums, Doyle’s third full-length record – and the first under his own name – Your Wilderness Revisited arrived to ecstatic reviews in 2019: Line of Best Fit described it as “a dazzlingly beautiful triumph of intention” and Metro declared it an album not only of the year, but “of the century”. Just over a year later, as he turns 30, Doyle is back with Great Spans of Muddy Time.

Born from accident but driven forward by instinct, Great Spans was built from the remnants of a catastrophic hard-drive failure. With his work saved only to cassette tape, Doyle was forced to accept the recordings as they were – a sharp departure from his process on Your Wilderness Revisited, which took four long years to craft toward perfection. “Instead of feeling a loss that I could no longer craft these pieces into flawless ‘Works of Art’, I felt intensely liberated that they had been set free from my ceaseless tinkering,” Doyle says.

“The album this turned out to be – and that I’ve wanted to make for ages – is a kind of Englishman-gone-mad, scrambling around the verdancy of the country’s pastures looking for some sense,” says Doyle. “It has its seeds in Robert Wyatt, early Eno, Robyn Hitchcock, and Syd Barrett.” Doyle credits Bowie’s ever-influential Berlin trilogy, but also highlights a much less expected muse: Monty Don, presenter of the BBC programme Gardener’s World, Doyle’s lockdown addiction.

“I became obsessed with Monty Don. I like his manner and there's something about him I relate to. He once described periods of depression in his life as consisting of ‘nothing but great spans of muddy time’. When I read that quote I knew it would be the title of this record,” Doyle says. “Something about the sludgy mulch of the album’s darker moments, and its feel of perpetual autumnal evening, seemed to fit so well with those words. I would also be lying if I said it didn’t chime with my mental health experiences as well.”

Lead single “And Everything Changed (But I Feel Alright)” is representative of the album as a whole: eclectic and unpredictable, but also playful and properly danceable. On top of the gently pulsing electronics, soothing harmonies and glowing melodies, there’s a ripping guitar solo that ricochets around the song like a pinball. “I wanted to get back into the craft of writing individual songs rather than being concerned with overarching concepts,” Doyle says. Elsewhere there’s the synth pop strut of “Nothing At All”, pulsating static on “Semi-Bionic”, incandescent synths and enveloping soundscapes in “Who Cares”, and the ambient glitch groove of “New Uncertainties”.

Great Spans of Muddy Time is a beautiful ode to the power of accident, instinct and intuition. The result, however, is far from an anomaly: this celebration of the imperfect album is one that required years of honed craft and dedicated focus to achieve, “For the first time in my career, the distance between what I hear and what the listener hears is paper-thin,” Doyle says. “Perhaps therein reveals a deeper truth that the perfectionist brain can often dissolve.”













m 13. [a sea of thoughts behind it]

Dream Violence, Michael Beach’s fourth full-length, is an epic album that explores the duality of the human condition. Or, as Beach himself puts it, the album is about “human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration, and the struggle to maintain hope in a somewhat hopeless time.” Dream Violence, then, addresses the existential crisis of being an artist in 2020.

Known for his work touring with the Australian guitar pop band Thigh Master and the late, brilliantly eccentric Israeli guitarist Charlie Megira, currently the focus of a number of reissues by the Numero Group, Beach is the architect of a sound that is both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways.

Dream Violence unfolds like a revelation, filled with sonic tumbleweeds that reference Neil Young’s On the Beach, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and the Go Betweens’ Before Hollywood. Influences ranging from the enigmatic outlier Megira to Glenn Branca to the Oblivians are combined to create a new, exhilarating sound, part of the path that Beach has been on since 2008’s Blood Courses. A veteran of year-end indie rock round ups beginning with Golden Theft in 2013 and continuing with Gravity/Repulsion, released in 2017, Beach distills the best of those early albums and adds sharpened intent.

Dream Violence works beautifully as a start-to-finish album. There are magnificent stand-alone moments: “Spring,” a raggedly building ballad that perfectly captures the ennui attached to new beginnings; “De Facto Blues,” a born-to-lose anthem that, says Beach, “is the sound of people totally at their wits end;” “Curtain of Night,” a simultaneously derelict and bright tribute to the late Megira, which sounds like it could’ve been cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio after the Rolling Stones wrapped up sessions for Sticky Fingers; and the delicately vulnerable “You Found Me Out,” which evokes equal parts Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell. On the latter, the lyrics “You found me out, on a ship at sea, you pulled me in, made a wreck of me,” encapsulate “the aimless of a modern world view in a future without hope and the draw/dependence of love in those times,” Beach explains.

Through music, Beach strives to convey both passion and compassion, energy and action. “My hope is that something gets communicated that makes people think outside of themselves or their surroundings,” he says. “To ask questions, and consider the effects of their decisions. To communicate some essential part of the human spirit that understands intuitively how to feel connected to each other rather than divide, exploit, separate, ignore, and all the other heinous shit we have the ability to do with each other.”

Recorded on two continents, Dream Violence documents Beach’s move from Oakland, California to Melbourne, Australia as he navigated a new music scene, plenty of bureaucratic red tape, and, ultimately, citizenship. Parts of the album were recorded and mixed at Tiny Telephone Recording in Oakland, at the end of a 2019 tour with Kelley Stoltz producing. Other tracks were recorded at Beach’s new home in Melbourne, where he could be “relaxed and sloppy in all the right ways,” and partially remixed at Phaedra Studios.

At the Memphis-based Goner label, Beach joins an increasingly unique roster of international musicians that reaches far beyond garage or indie rock to encompass artists like gospel singer Rev. John Wilkins, Kentucky rockers Archaeas, New Orleans iconoclasts Quintron and Miss Pussycat, and no-wavers Optic Sink.

Veronica Swift flips the script on This Bitter Earth, the captivating follow-up to her 2019 Mack Avenue Records debut, Confessions. Whereas Confessions played out like pages from her personal diary, on the new album, the 27-year-old singer and master song interpreter looks outward while addressing social ills that plague the world today.
This Bitter Earth takes on the song-cycle characteristics of such classic LPs as Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, and Mary J. Blige’s My Life. For her album, Swift tackles sexism “How Lovely to Be a Woman”, domestic abuse [“He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)”], racism/ xenophobia [“You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”] and the dangers of fake news [“The Sports Page”].
Accompanied by a team of kindred spirts that includes pianist Emmet Cohen, guitarist Armand Hirsch and flutist Aaron Johnson, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Bryan Carter, Swift curates material that covers multiple genres, including jazz, American musicals, vintage R&B and contemporary rock.

Back in 2019, Ravioli Me Away debuted their hyper-surreal operatic work 'The View From Behind The Futuristic Rose Tellis' across the UK, including two sold-out shows in London. Difficult to contain, and wound-up with a truant's sense of narrative, it presented a wondrous cacophony of erupting media and performances patched together with wit and existential alarm. A suite of songs circling themes of aspiration and the everyday run through the opera, and these were released in parallel by Wysing Polyphonic, one of the commissioning institutions. A selection of these songs were then reinterpreted and reshaped into forms that befit a club setting, debuting at Supernormal festival in the same year. Entitled 'Naughty Cool,' Alter now presents these collective club reworkings by HMS RMA for the first time on vinyl and digital formats. Uplifting and delightfully crooked throughout, the tracks are shuffled together and stitched as a 'DJ mix.' In six segments of vocal-led missives and soft drops, the sunniest hooks of early Chicago house are recalled, all cross-pollinated with the collective rhythms and tones of the UK's rave subconscious. A freeform, DIY rowdiness lurks around every corner, equally evoking punk's flings with disco. The familiar sound and presence of Ravioli Me Away's Alice Theobald, Rosie Ridgway, and Sian Dorrer aren't lost in the edits and adaptations, and they come backed-up with Tom Hirst (Design A Wave), opera singer and artist Siobhan Mooney, and Dean Rodney Jnr (The Fish Police), all of whom took part in the original opera itself. "Naughty Cool" was engineered by John Hannon at No Recording Studios and mixed and mastered by Amir Shoat in London. This record is dedicated to the memory of Donna Lynas.

- The definitive overview of one of Canada's unsung musical heroes - Rare/previously unreleased recordings, photos, and interviews - Lyrics, discography, and filmography - Audio re-mastered by John Baldwin Mastering - Artwork by Christi Belcourt and Alanna Edwards - Liner notes by Kevin Howes (Voluntary In Nature) - Contributions from the Dunn family, Bob Robb, and Alanis Obomsawin (OC) // How did you first experience the poetry, music, and film of Willie Dunn? In a Montreal coffeehouse during the mid-1960s? On a CBC Indian Magazine broadcast with host Johnny Yesno? At a Toronto record store or Native Friendship Centre at the turn of the 1970s? Waiting outside of the Mohawk Nation Longhouse? Maybe in your parent's record collection on the Rez? A White Roots of Peace gathering? Pow wow? The Mariposa Folk Festival? Or was it that Save James Bay Benefit back in '73? On a good friend's stereo? Sitting around a crackling campfire? How about an old NFB film reel or VHS tape in high school? Or while attending Manitou College? A German concert hall in the 1980s? Maybe a direct action protest on the colonial streets of Canada? Busking in Ottawa during the 1990s? College radio? At Willie's celebration of life service in 2013 alongside Alanis Obomsawin and Willy Mitchell? LITA's Grammy-nominated Native North America (Vol. 1) compilation or the very anthology you hold in your hands? There should be no judgment for coming to things when you do. All that's important is remaining open to life-changing messages such as these_ Willie Dunn shared truth through song and celluloid. His original composition, "I Pity the Country," is an unparalleled statement on the greed and hate created by humankind, recorded in 1971 and still unfortunately needed today. "It's like the reason you're supposed to make music," said Kurt Vile about the song to MOJO Magazine in 2015. With "Charlie," Willie was the first to deliver the devastating story of Chanie Wenjack and the Canadian residential school system to the music community, nearly 50 years before the much-celebrated Secret Path, yet ignored outside of Indian Country and the folk festival circuit. Dunn's film technique, featured in 1968's The Ballad of Crowfoot (NFB), predates the "Ken Burns effect" to great effect. Are you catching the drift? Willie Dunn was not only a trailblazing leader in his time, but well ahead of the curve, simply without the PR push and big money backing of major label players. "He was our Leonard Cohen," said singer-songwriter Eric Landry about his musical hero. The only difference is that Willie refused to play the Hollywood showbiz game. In talent, he is Cohen, Dylan, and Cash rolled into one and along with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and A. Paul Ortega, brought a new set of perspectives and realities to the folk music tradition. Willie spoke directly to his people and Mother Earth through his creations, not only from experience but by examining his roots and connecting with the world in which he lived. We are humbled to help honor Willie Dunn. May he never be forgotten_ PEACE

A brand new 20 track album released via Sony Music Masterworks. A unique celebration of immigrants around the world, showcasing works inspired and contributed to by artists who either identify themselves as immigrants, are from immigrant heritage or wish to express support for those international immigrants who have found themselves judged or disadvantaged by pure accident of birth - Nitin's sequel to his 1999 seminal album 'Beyond Skin'. Jools Holland TV performance plus other promo/marketing activity.