No one has lived a life quite like Marcos Valle. He became an overnight international sensation, fled a military dictatorship, dodged the Vietnam war draft, had his music sung by Homer Simpson, made enemies with Marlon Brando, and became an unsuspecting fitness guru for multiple generations. But to truly understand the great Brazilian composer, arranger, singer and multi instrumentalist, one must listen to his music.
Lead Single (Life Is What It Is) : Between the release of his first album in 1962 and today, Marcos Valle has released twenty-two studio albums traversing definitive bossa nova, classic samba, iconic disco pop, psychedelic rock, nineties dance and orchestral music. He has also had his songs recorded by some of the all time greats, including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Sergio Mendes, Elis Regina, and (last but not least), Emma Button of the Spice Girls. He has also had his music sampled by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Pusha T and many more.
With his twenty-third studio album Túnel Acustico, Valle set out to bring it all together.
“I believe my music is many things. It goes in different directions. I have many different ways of writing music, sometimes it’s melodies and harmony, sometimes the groove is the focus. But all the music I have made over my sixty year career is unified. It is all natural and it is all sincere. And this is what I wanted to bring to my new album.”
A prominent feature of Valle’s career has been his dual residence between Brazil and the USA. Originally moving over in the mid-sixties on the back of bossa nova’s international proliferation, Valle toured with Sergio Mendes and became hugely in demand as a composer and arranger. But the Vietnam War loomed and the threat of being drafted saw him return to Brazil. He spent the following years in Rio writing music for TV and film, as well as four cult favourite albums in collaboration with some of Brazil’s most groundbreaking musicians including Milton Nascimento, Azymuth, Som Imaginario and O Terco.
By 1975, Brazil's military dictatorship was at its most oppressive, making living and working increasingly difficult. Valle moved back to the US where he would reside in LA, writing songs for, and collaborating with the likes of Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira, Chicago, Sarah Vaughn and Leon Ware, amongst others.
Túnel Acústico features two songs originally conceived during Valle’s time on the West Coast: “Feels So Good”, a stirring two-step soul triumph written in 1979 with soul icon Leon Ware, and the sublime AOR disco track “Life Is What It Is”, composed around the same time, with percussionist Laudir De Oliveira from the group Chicago.
Built around an unfinished demo Marcos found on a shelf in his house 44 years after it was made, the “Feels So Good” demo was restored with the help of producer Daniel Maunick, who also utilised AI stem-separation to remove the placeholder vocal ad-libs. Valle added Portuguese lyrics to sit alongside Ware’s vocal hook, as well as extra keyboards and percussion.
Also written in late seventies LA, “Life Is What Is It” was co-penned by Laudir De Oliveira from the band Chicago and first released on the bands’ Chicago 13 album with lyrics by Robert Lamb. Another nod to his good times in LA, Valle recorded his own version for Túnel Acústico, upping the tempo and deepening the groove for a blast of irresistible summer soul.
On Túnel Acústico, Valle's core band features two members of the renowned Brazilian jazz-funk group Azymuth: Alex Malheiros on bass and Renato Massa on drums. The rhythm section is completed by percussionist Ian Moreira, with additional contributions from guitarist Paulinho Guitarra and trumpeter Jesse Sadoc.
The contemporarily composed music on Túnel Acústico features an impressive lineup of guest lyricists, including renowned Brazilian artists: Joyce Moreno (Bora Meu Vem), Céu (Nao Sei), and Moreno Veloso (Palavras Tão Gentis) as well as Valle's brother Paulo Sergio Valle (Tem Que Ser Feliz).
The album closes with "Thank You Burt (For Bacharach)", a tribute to the legendary composer who passed away in 2023.
Túnel Acústico will be released on 20th September 2024 via Far Out Recordings. Valle is set to tour Europe and America in support of the album.
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DEFTR (pron - ‘Defuture’): The Revolutionary Collaboration Redefining Ambient and Techno Music
DEFTR, the newly formed alias of Answer Code Request and Jan Wagner, presents their debut album “Run Away” on npm, introducing a captivating fusion of ambient and techno. This collaborative project marks a departure from Answer Code Request's renowned 4/4 techno framework, venturing into expansive auditory realms enriched by Jan Wagner's classical expertise.
Spanning eight meticulously crafted tracks, DEFTR's debut album explores a spectrum of blissful and resonant soundscapes. The compositions unfold with a delicate balance of ambient textures and rhythmic innovation, punctuated by evocative vocal samples that enhance the album's atmospheric depth.
Having previously released three EPs that hinted at this innovative direction, DEFTR solidifies their unique sonic identity with this full-
length release. The interplay between Answer Code Request's intricate rhythms and Wagner's ambient sensibilities creates a dynamic tension, resulting in a listening experience that is both immersive and transformative.
DEFTR's vision extends beyond the studio, aiming to bring their sound to life on stage with a focus on live performance elements, including drum machines and synths. While details of the debut album release show are forthcoming, Berlin is anticipated to host this significant event.
With their debut album, DEFTR not only establishes a new creative path for Answer Code Request and Jan Wagner but also sets a high standard for npm's inaugural release, promising an engaging and profound auditory journey.
Limited Edition of 1000 Opaque Pink 180 Gram Vinyl LP. Kiss Each Other Clean, Iron & Wine's fourth full length record was originally released in 2011 and came three years after his biggest selling record up to that point, The Shepherd's Dog. The bands two earlier albums had been sparse, intimate solo affairs that offered no hint of the direction he would take with records three and four. Like The Shepherd's Dog, Kiss Each Other Clean is layered with textures, poly-rhythmic sounds and a more is more approach. His lyrics sprung to life in ways initially unimaginable to early fans and critics helping each song tell its story and build to climaxes thru various sounds and editing techniques. However what remained at the core of KEOC, and what fans of the band had come to love, was the song writing and singing of principle songwriter Sam Beam. Beam's ability to invite you in with his hushed singing tone and knack for a melody remained front and center even in his drive to replicate something in the vein of Waits' Swordfishtormbones Principle recording for KEOC was at home in Dripping Springs, Texas where Beam resided at the time. After laying down the bulk of the record Beam moved recording to Chicago to work with Brian Deck. A cast of musicians helped Beam find his sound and see his vision for KEOC including Joe Adamik (Califone), Jim Becker (Califone), Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), Stuart Bogie (Antibalas), Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio), Benny Massarella (Red Red Meat/Califone), Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo) and Matt Lux (Isotope 217). With KEOC Beam and company brought in soft rock smoothness, dub reggae textures, and instruments that hadn't been featured on previous records. The vintage synths on 'Monkeys Uptown', the Stevie Wonder funk on 'Big Burned Hand,', the strum and drang of 'Walking Far From Home' all give the otherwise very organic-sounding arrangements a welcome cheesy kick. The record also produced the biggest radio single of the bands career with the vintage AM friendly vibes of 'Tree by the River.' It was an adventurous period in the career in Iron & Wine and one in which Beam was defying categorization.
DREAMLESS VEIL make their debut with the new album, Every Limb of the Flood. The band, featuring members of INTER ARMA, ARTIFICIAL BRAIN, and PSYCROPTIC manifest terrifying Blackened Extreme Metal and offer one of the year's most haunting releases. Every Limb of the Flood is a concept album. Through tracks such as "A Generation of Eyes", "Saturnism", and "Cyanide Mine" Vocalist Mike Paparo and co. task the listener to consider what it would be like for an individual to fully disappear. DREAMLESS VEIL delves into this murk through 8 tracks - dramatic swells, melodic crescendos, and abrasive blast-beat poundings make way to more introspective moments ultimately resulting in pure horror. Paparo explores the concept of corporeal disintegration with pained shrieks and disembodied bellows, resulting in one of the most unchained performances of his storied career. Lyrics for the record show, but don't tell. DREAMLESS VEIL's concept alludes to misery leading to grotesquery - The opener "Dim Golden Rave" throws the listener into an ambiguous time and place: "Grief, spiritless, collapses against the filth-ridden street". The second track, "A Generation of Eyes" follows this narrative by invoking Neil Young, quoting him to the extent of "rust never sleeps." What ensues is a grief so powerful it decomposes from within. The end result manifests in the album closer "Dreamless" - the body is now fully discarded, hinting at a possible enlightenment through a horrible, gruesome process. Sonically, Every Limb of the Flood is a caustic, corrosive journey. Critically acclaimed drummer David Haley flexes some of his most creative drum work to date, dragging the listener through wild tempo changes, breakneck speeds that come to sudden halts, while guitarist Dan Gargiulo (ARTIFICIAL BRAIN) interweaves disorienting guitar madness. Recorded by Brett Bamberger (REVOCATION) Every Limb of the Flood was mixed by Gargiulo and mastered by Colin Marston (Gorguts, Krallice, and more.)
crys cole returns to Black Truffle with Making Conversation, her third solo release for the label. After the intimate song-like constructions of Other Meetings (BT096), Making Conversation documents a different facet of cole’s work, presenting three rigorously conceptualised commissioned pieces, each of which extend her signature approach to highly amplified small sounds into new directions.
The side-long title piece is a stereo version of an 8-channel sound installation exhibited in 2023 at the Tabakalera Art Center in Donostia / San Sebastian, Spain. The piece uses a multitude of instrumental, vocal, concrete and electronic sounds to evoke the soundscapes cole encountered during nocturnal listening session in Bali, Indonesia in 2018 and 2019. In this world of night sounds, she explains, she ‘observed the complex interplay between amphibian, lizard, bird and insect communication, domestic animals (roosters, dogs), man-made sounds (airplanes, vehicles, conversations and evening activities) and sounds that were difficult to place’. Drawing on field recordings as memory aids (but including none in the finished piece), cole’s piece uncannily reproduces the spatiality and pacing of environmental sound without attempting strictly to replicate it. We hear insect-like twittering and birdsong fragments, resonant thuds and distant roars, furtive crunches and taps, muffled breath and metallic scrapes. While at times it can be difficult to imagine the source of these sounds, at other points they are clearly instrumental or electronic in origin; in its placement and layering, though, the whole assemblage suggests the glorious, unthinking richness of a non-musical sound environment. Suggesting at once the electronic gardens of Rolf Julius and the little instrument expanses of classic AACM, the piece is a brilliant enactment of the Cagean drive to ‘imitate nature in her manner of operation’.
‘Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt. 1)’ began as cole’s contribution to an Issue Project Room commission to realise a score from Alison Knowles and Annea Lockwood’s Women's Work, a 1975 collection of text and conceptual scores by women artists and composers. cole’s piece begins from Beth Anderson’s Valid for Life, a complex arrangement of the letter R in various typefaces. Where the composer suggests a realisation on a trio of acoustic instruments (playing rolls with velvet beaters), cole translates the piece into her characteristic sound and object language as a trio of rolling sounds on ‘two large similar paper things and one 5-pin bowling ball’. Rolling from one side of the stereo field to the other, the bowling ball’s uneven movement is the heart of this immersive textural array, created with the simplest materials, which generates phantom sensations of pitch and phasing effects solely through amplified friction.
On ‘Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt. 2)’, cole makes a first foray in translating her signature approach into conventional instrumental sounds, here in the form of a transcription for MIDI percussion ensemble. The result is refreshingly puzzling, comparable perhaps only to the sparsest moments of Keiji Haino’s classic “C’est parfait…” Accompanied with extensive liner notes, photographic documentation and a download code, Making Conversation is an exciting next step in cole’s work, extending her signature concerns in new sonic and conceptual directions.
The unconscious and unknown must be really nice places. In any case, if you take the second album of Menelaos Tomasides under his given name as travelogue. A trip into dreamlike territory, yet concrete enough, a journey without target yet looking forward and looking back into familiar places, „dreamhike“ both continues and departs from the style Menelaos has found earlier, in “When the Moon Comes Through”, or his more conceptual-intentional “31 Minuten” works. As the album title - which roughly translates to “dream hiking” but also hints on “walkabout” and “songlines” – suggests, we are rambling between the real and the imaginary. From the bucolic border triangle of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to the buzzing streets of the capital of Cyprus, where Menelaos has lived for many years, the tracks are about real places, about real experiences and emotions yet interwoven with a dreamlike fabric. Something that is just not tangible, yet substantial and palpable. Something concrete that manifests in the genuine and special sound design of this records - basically all of Menelaos’ works - his really special treatment of dynamics and loudness. It is one of the very few records where the established language of music making, specifically Techno, House, Dub, and early 2000’ Electronica, the clicks, thumps and plops from an earlier age of electronic music, transmogrify into slow movements of something new. Something that is gentle and truly personal, looking inwards. There are four-to-the-floor beats, there is wobbly bass, and dubby chords, even sublimated clarion calls. There is an immense energy in these tracks, the sheer materiality of low frequencies of a massive sound system manifested in a tiny room. Yet it is without any aggression, stripped bare of sonic pressure. It is quiet music no matter how high you turn up the volume. A rare treat, that requires exceptional skills and exceptional restraint and control on the technical side of music making. Probably it is a result of Menelaos specific combination of instinctual, intuitive approach to making music, which meets a genuine love for sound in seemingly endless loops of refinement that can lead to such a result as „dreamhike“. The elegant floating balance of control and playful experimentation manifests for example in a track that continues the ongoing collaboration with seasoned Cologne improviser Achim Fink on bass trumpet. Not only in this respect, the album can be described as a product of openness. It comes from a lot of taking in the world, of travel, of places and people met, of friendship and conversation (not necessarily with words). The deep trip of “dreamhike” further manifests Menelaos as one of the truly independent voices of electronic Cologne and beyond. Somewhat alike in character and attitude probably to what late Pete Namlook has established for Frankfurt with his label Fax +49-69/450464 (though ultimately warmer and much less uncanny) Menelaos has found his very own sound and vision. Music that answers to no one but speaks to everyone. Uncompromising yet gentle to the core: kind sounds from a kind spirit, arguably the most extraordinary and valuable quality music can have these days.
Originally from Ireland, but now settled in the peaceful countryside of rural France, Kaz Hawkins is the epitome of musical mastery and versatility. With a soul as rich as the music that inspired her growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a voice that crosses genres with ease, Kaz stands out as a singer, songwriter and performer extraordinaire. Her musical odyssey began decades ago, shaped by a deep love of blues, soul, jazz and folk, which have become her artistic pillars.
Renowned for her spellbinding performances and heartfelt compositions, Kaz has charmed audiences the world over, weaving stories of resilience, love and the human experience through her melodies. A seasoned musician, Kaz's magnetic stage presence has graced countless venues, captivating audiences and leaving them eager for more. Her melodies transcend borders, resonating with diverse audiences and earning her a loyal fan base across continents. Beyond his musical talent, Kaz embodies authenticity, courageously sharing his past marked by domestic violence, depression, drugs and self-harm, inspiring others to find hope through his music and their own uniqueness.
In 2024 and 2025, Kaz is ready to captivate her audience once again with the release of two live albums, "Live in Brezoi (I)" and "Live in Brezoi (II)". These albums capture the raw energy and emotion of her performances, showcasing her unrivalled talent and the undeniable bond she shares with her audience. Another album, different from the blues, is also in the pipeline and is being
produced in Berlin for release in 2025. In addition, Kaz is embarking on exciting collaborations with other artists, infusing her soul essence into collaborative projects. The first is with French soul artist Thomas Kahn in a duet entitled "A Place Like Home", released on January 10, 2024. Other collaborations will be announced shortly.
As she moves forward, Kaz aims to amplify her presence on social networks, creating deeper bonds with her fans and forging a community united by the magic of her music. In a world where melodies paint emotions and lyrics engrave memories, Kaz Hawkins stands as a testament to the power of music, inviting you to embark on an unforgettable sonic journey.
Limited Gatefold LP version on 180g transparent vinyl, with 4-page lyrics booklet (777x) Tusmorke, arguably the most atavistically trollish, acid-drenched musical act ever to come out of the kingdom of Norway makes yet another eternal return, this time to take the fellow traveller on a subterranean expedition to the kingdom of the Fair Folk! Dawn of Oberon is the band's 12th album, released 12 years after their debut "Underjordisk Tusmorke" (2012). 12-12-12 - That makes this album twice as occult as 666. The band says: "This record is a testament of a tumultuous time. We had a new drummer, Kusken, and keyboard player, Herjekongen, in 2022 and immediately started working on the epic Dawn of Oberon. This behemoth had been wallowing about since the start of the millenium, never quite finding its shape and form. We thought of this as a trial by fire to galvanize the new members. During jams at rehearsals and concerts, new themes emerged, resulting in a sort of sequel in the form of Dusk of Tawblerawn part 1-5. Kusken decided to quit after just 8 months but agreed to document the time we had spent together. All the music was recorded in our rehearsal space and studio in 2022-2023. The record is a manifestation of our Peter Pan syndrome; our aesthetics and ideals remain unchanged for the last 25 years. Never grow up, just grow old. This time we go away with the fairies all together, to the far-away land of the far-out mind.
"There was a bird Matthew Ehler had seen in his backyard before, but he’d never really stopped to look at it.
A red-headed woodpecker, a strange-looking bird. After years of more self-destructive escapes from everyone’s respective demons and traumas, Ehler started to embrace the stillness of birdwatching. “It was something to occupy my mind,” he explains. His new hobby wouldn’t just lend Cliffdiver’s sophomore album its title, but signal a spiritual overhaul rippling through the band.
The origins of Cliffdiver go all the way back to 2017. By 2021, the line-up had settled into Ehler on guitar, Joey Duffy and Briana Wright on vocals, Gilbert Erickson on guitar, Tyler Rogers on bass, Eliot Cooper on drums, and Dony Nickels on sax. All of them veterans of Tulsa’s vibrant and interconnected music scene, they kicked up steam fast — over a host of EPs, singles, and their debut album, Exercise Your Demons , they went from DIY shows to selling out Tulsa’s famed Cain’s Ballroom.
Still, Birdwatching feels like the work of a whole different band: an album specifically grappling with abandoning cyclical behaviors and addictions that no longer serve you. It’s pop-punk maturing into grown-ass adult travails. Birdwatching is a very real take on life: Things get better, but they also get worse again, and better again, and worse again, and nobody will ever have it all figured out. In each snapshot, Cliffdiver offers a companion for those ups and downs.
Produced by Brett Romnes (Hot Mulligan, Mom Jeans, Dogleg)
“Cliffdiver is a set of splayed ribs, a whole lot of heart, and someone you can turn to when the lights refuse to turn on” —NPR Music"
Few bands are as primed to capture their ecstatic live energy in masterful sonic detail like Terry Gross. Composed of three renowned engineer/producers (recording artists like Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, Earthless, Big Business, and more) whose studio doubles as their jam spot and communal gathering place, the trio"s penchant for longform psychedelic escapades is able to be recorded with granular precision. The potency of the fellowship formed by drummer Phil Becker (Lower Forty-Eight, Peace Creeps, Pins of Light), bassist Donny Newenhouse, and guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am, Oneida, Life Coach) lies in their ability to utilize their prowess as both players and record engineers to translate feeling with immaculate clarity. On Huge Improvement, Terry Gross embody a complex web of emotion with songs as ferocious and precise as they are agile and care-free, delighting in the catharsis of excising tension alongside one"s most trusted peers. Huge Improvement"s tongue-in-cheek title is rightfully earned. Like their debut Soft Opening, the pieces on Huge Improvement began as improvised studio jam sessions without expectations. The trio"s ability to plug in, play and have each experiment thoroughly documented opens up unparalleled avenues for further exploration and honing. The four mammoth slabs that make up Huge Improvement are driving, unrelenting excursions into the unknown. Whether burning white-hot or smoldering in plumes of smoke, the pieces stretch as much inwardly as they do cosmically, embracing every surprising turn. Terry Gross"s Huge Improvement morphs the trio"s search for communal connection and reprieve into a transcendent respite, a burst of focused energy to be enveloped in while facing the senselessness around us with a smile.
Rhetoric & Terror is Berlin-based Hemphill’s second album since leaving Liars back in 2016.
No stranger to reinventing his approach towards composition, Rhetoric & Terror feels like we are – perhaps for the first time – opening a doorway into Hemphill’s personal life, to his disparate sonic influences, his wide-ranging journeys through philosophy, and his own reflections on his role as an artist.
Like different thoughts and feelings emerging in a state of meditation, Hemphill invites you to pause on one ‘scene’ for a moment before moving onto the next. There’s space to get lost here – both emotionally and in the colour of the album’s wide-ranging textures.
With his wife Angelika Kaswalder on vocals throughout the album and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson – a longtime friend of Hemphill’s since Henderson’s time in the post- hardcore band The Blood Brothers - adding woodwind, Nonpareils is no longer simply a solo project – and it’s apparent in this openness.
The name of the album – Rhetoric & Terror – describes this split that Hemphill is making from the conceptual nature of his first solo album (2018’s Scented Pictures), and the new direction that he – perhaps – hopes to continue taking. The title comes from a chapter in Giorgio Agamben’s book, “The Man Without Content”, where he describes the concepts of rhetoric and terror to describe two different types of writers: the rhetorician and the terrorist. The terrorist is a misologist who is only into the feeling; the rhetorician is committed to logic and form.
“With Rhetoric & Terror, I wanted to start with emotions and feeling. I was playing with my kids, listening to Cocteau Twins, I have a wonderful partner, and it seemed very contrary to any sort of growth to sequester myself from this life in order to get into character as a musician. Instead, I tried to remove the boundaries between my creative life and my. responsibilities and have it all be one fluid thing. All things at all times, and trust that this will guide my music rather than more intellectual concepts or limitations.”
Despite its catalysts being in philosophy and conceptual art, Hemphill has created an album that’s deeply “emotionally available”. It’s also helped him take a new stance on life that combines his life as a partner and parent in a kind of unity with his role as the artist. It’s plain to hear as a listener – Rhetoric & Terror, despite its intimidating name, is welcoming
and playful, even during its most intense moments.
White[36,93 €]
"They are the Finnish / Dutch / British troupe NIGHTWISH – one of the most fascinating rock bands of the last decades, whose enigmatic paths have proceeded from acoustic passages to symphonic heavy metal and from catchy folk to progressive majesty. If there is one trait the band has year after year, it might be this: expect something familiar but also expect the unexpected. NIGHTWISH has indeed broken all kinds of boundaries – never deliberately, but perfectly naturally.
Now guess what? NIGHTWISH's new studio album ""Yesterwynde"" – the band's tenth overall – is no exception to the rule. But it is more...
“""Yesterwynde"" took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album”, nods keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again envisioned most of the material. ""The new album was intensively worked on for 3,5 years. My ambition and piety really skyrocketed, and I just couldn't let go of the creative process – and didn't want to. Along the way, ""Yesterwynde"" became both an exhilarating obsession and a comforting haven for me. All aspects of the making – compositions, lyrics, arrangements, cover art, videos, mixing and so on – were given more attention than ever before.""
The result? There's a fascinating, but inexplicable feeling that NIGHTWISH has once again been able to find unprecedented nuances, spices and perspectives in their new works – exactly: after a career of nine classic albums. """"Yesterwynde"" is an experience that takes time to digest. The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features"", Holopainen describes.
""It's interesting – but not surprising – that ""Yesterwynde"" has attracted quite a variety of opinions. Some have stated that it is the most 'band' record to date. For some it appears to be the heaviest and most ominous NIGHTWISH release. It has also been called our most progressive album. And the list goes on.""
And what does Tuomas think of it himself?
""To me, ""Yesterwynde"" sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH – enriched with new moods and flavors.""
The lyrics of ""Yesterwynde"" deal with large-sized universal themes: memories, mortality, humanism, time and much more. ""The new album is the conclusion of the trilogy – textually it follows in the footsteps of its predecessors ""Endless Forms Most Beautiful"" and ""Human. :II: Nature."""", Holopainen says. ""At the same time, ""Yesterwynde"" is the band's most lyrically driven album: our music has never been so 'married' to the lyrics. So here's a tip: if something in the composition puzzles you, the words might clear it up.""
""For me, one of the key lines is 'we are because of a million loves' – taken from the song ""Perfume of the Timeless"". Each of us is part of an unbroken chain that stretches back billions of years. If even one of your ancestors had died too young – mauled by a cave bear, for example – during this incredibly long period of time, you would never have been born. In other words: our existence is such an unfathomable privilege!”
What does the term 'yesterwynde' mean?
""It describes a feeling that cannot be found in any human language. That's why we had to invent a whole new word. The album is supposed to open that feeling to the listener.""
Without taking anything away from the solid delivery of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Kai Hahto, bassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockley, it might be worth highlighting one fact: the performance of the eloquent storyteller Floor Jansen is once again unparalleled. It is simply breathtaking how the singer is able to make songs fly with her performance. ""Floor's second child was born just over a month ago, and we hadn't rehearsed together at all... So it was a little nerve-wracking to go to Floor's home studio for vocal recordings. Well, what happened? We had booked twelve working days and after six days everything was completed in style. Floor's preparedness for the sessions was something extreme!""
After the recordings and mixing process, there was one more working phase. Mastering. Could you possibly guess that no shortcuts were taken at this point either?
""The album was mastered seven times until we reached the finish line – one hundred percent satisfied!"", states Tuomas. ""When the record was eventually finished, a three-year, extremely inspiring adventure had come to an end. I felt very, very happy.""
NIGHTWISH's next steps are clear. And they are not the most common ones.
""NIGHTWISH will not go on a world tour this time. This was a decision made for personal reasons. But don't worry... Our contract with Nuclear Blast Records includes several albums, and there's plenty of motivation to create new music!""
May the dream continue...
"
Black[27,86 €]
"They are the Finnish / Dutch / British troupe NIGHTWISH – one of the most fascinating rock bands of the last decades, whose enigmatic paths have proceeded from acoustic passages to symphonic heavy metal and from catchy folk to progressive majesty. If there is one trait the band has year after year, it might be this: expect something familiar but also expect the unexpected. NIGHTWISH has indeed broken all kinds of boundaries – never deliberately, but perfectly naturally.
Now guess what? NIGHTWISH's new studio album ""Yesterwynde"" – the band's tenth overall – is no exception to the rule. But it is more...
“""Yesterwynde"" took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album”, nods keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again envisioned most of the material. ""The new album was intensively worked on for 3,5 years. My ambition and piety really skyrocketed, and I just couldn't let go of the creative process – and didn't want to. Along the way, ""Yesterwynde"" became both an exhilarating obsession and a comforting haven for me. All aspects of the making – compositions, lyrics, arrangements, cover art, videos, mixing and so on – were given more attention than ever before.""
The result? There's a fascinating, but inexplicable feeling that NIGHTWISH has once again been able to find unprecedented nuances, spices and perspectives in their new works – exactly: after a career of nine classic albums. """"Yesterwynde"" is an experience that takes time to digest. The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features"", Holopainen describes.
""It's interesting – but not surprising – that ""Yesterwynde"" has attracted quite a variety of opinions. Some have stated that it is the most 'band' record to date. For some it appears to be the heaviest and most ominous NIGHTWISH release. It has also been called our most progressive album. And the list goes on.""
And what does Tuomas think of it himself?
""To me, ""Yesterwynde"" sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH – enriched with new moods and flavors.""
The lyrics of ""Yesterwynde"" deal with large-sized universal themes: memories, mortality, humanism, time and much more. ""The new album is the conclusion of the trilogy – textually it follows in the footsteps of its predecessors ""Endless Forms Most Beautiful"" and ""Human. :II: Nature."""", Holopainen says. ""At the same time, ""Yesterwynde"" is the band's most lyrically driven album: our music has never been so 'married' to the lyrics. So here's a tip: if something in the composition puzzles you, the words might clear it up.""
""For me, one of the key lines is 'we are because of a million loves' – taken from the song ""Perfume of the Timeless"". Each of us is part of an unbroken chain that stretches back billions of years. If even one of your ancestors had died too young – mauled by a cave bear, for example – during this incredibly long period of time, you would never have been born. In other words: our existence is such an unfathomable privilege!”
What does the term 'yesterwynde' mean?
""It describes a feeling that cannot be found in any human language. That's why we had to invent a whole new word. The album is supposed to open that feeling to the listener.""
Without taking anything away from the solid delivery of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Kai Hahto, bassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockley, it might be worth highlighting one fact: the performance of the eloquent storyteller Floor Jansen is once again unparalleled. It is simply breathtaking how the singer is able to make songs fly with her performance. ""Floor's second child was born just over a month ago, and we hadn't rehearsed together at all... So it was a little nerve-wracking to go to Floor's home studio for vocal recordings. Well, what happened? We had booked twelve working days and after six days everything was completed in style. Floor's preparedness for the sessions was something extreme!""
After the recordings and mixing process, there was one more working phase. Mastering. Could you possibly guess that no shortcuts were taken at this point either?
""The album was mastered seven times until we reached the finish line – one hundred percent satisfied!"", states Tuomas. ""When the record was eventually finished, a three-year, extremely inspiring adventure had come to an end. I felt very, very happy.""
NIGHTWISH's next steps are clear. And they are not the most common ones.
""NIGHTWISH will not go on a world tour this time. This was a decision made for personal reasons. But don't worry... Our contract with Nuclear Blast Records includes several albums, and there's plenty of motivation to create new music!""
May the dream continue...
"
Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’ in random-colour reground vinyl. “Lewis’s catchiest and finest album” - (Grade: A) Vice. Blang Records are thrilled to announce they’ll be bringing the wild streets of Manhattan to the UK and Europe this autumn with the vinyl re-release of Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’. The LP sold out of its first pressing and has been impossible to buy anywhere for years…until now. Out on exclusive Random Mix Colour Reground EcoVinyl in record shops from 20th September. Blang Records and Jeffrey Lewis have history: before Blang was a label, it started life as a live night at the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, hosting many a set of the NY Antifolk artists over on UK shores, including Jeffrey Lewis. Now 20+ years since Jeffrey first played Blang, it feels fitting that tour support comes from UK antifolk linchpins, Blang Records mainstay, and arguably one of the UKs most criminally underrated bands, David Cronenberg’s Wife (“A mix of 80’s fall and the Velvet Underground” - NME). Native New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book writer/artist and a musician. A cult hero birthed from the now infamous antifolk movement that sprung up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 90s, Jeffrey has released dozens of albums showcasing his unique blend of bleakly witty observations, scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky folk/anti-folk, all firmly rooted in a strong DIY sensibility. Jeffrey and his band have toured the world multiple times over, released albums on Rough Trade, Moshi Moshi and Don GIovanni Records, and have been featured by NPR, The History Channel, The NY Times and more. ‘Manhattan’ was mixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Phosphorescent, War On Drugs) and recorded by Brian Speaker at SpeakerSonic Studios NY, produced by Brian Speaker and Jeffrey Lewis. “We’ve been fans of Jeffrey Lewis since seeing him at the Sidewalk Cafe in 2001, so we’re really really pleased to be really-re-releasing the excellent album ‘Manhattan’ just in time for his September UK Tour. This all started when Jeffrey asked for help looking after his merch after his UK tour finished last year and we said we’d help him press some records in Europe from a UK address as the postage costs from the US were way too much. This ultimately led to us re-releasing his classic album (and respectful nod to Lou Reed's New York) ‘Manhattan’. It's beyond a dream come true. Blang is the home of fantastic lyricists and that's exactly what Jeffrey is - this is a perfect fit.” - Blang Records. “Jeffrey Lewis is an amazing musician, and if you don’t know his songs you probably have a hole in your heart that can only be filled by his words… I did!” – Regina Spektor. “Jeffrey is the best pure songwriter I know of… ‘Sad Screaming Old Man’… is one of my favourite songs ever written.” – David Berman, Silver Jews. Tour Dates: Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, w/ support from David Cronenberg’s Wife - Aug 29th Hertford – Corn Exchange, 30th Coventry – The Tin Music & Arts, Sept 1st Stockton-on-Tees – Georgian Theatre, 2nd York – The Crescent, 3rd Stirling, Scotland – The Tolbooth, 4th Birkenhead – Future Yard, 5th !SOLD OUT! – Halifax – The Grayston Unity, 6th Norwich – Norwich Arts Centre, 7th Northampton – The Black Prince, 8th Carmarthen – CWRW, 9th Nottingham – The Old Cold Store, 10th Southampton – The Joiners Arms, 11th Hastings – The Pig // Jeffrey Lewis solo: 12th London – West Hampstead Arts Center, 13th London – West Hampstead Arts Center
New pressing in soon, note increased price. When Jerry Fuchs joined Maserati in 2004, he initiated a complete overhaul of the group: old songs were dropped, tempos were drastically sped up, and the budding psych-rock impulses of guitarists Coley Dennis and Matt Cherry were given room to grow. Beginning with the electrifying Inventions for the New Season, Maserati were a better, faster, stronger beast. That spirit shines bright on Maserati VII, their first album conceived since Fuchs' passing. Maserati has an uncanny ability to toggle time back and forth between the past, present, and future – often in the span of one song. On Maserati VII, they're grounded and driven by new drummer Mike Albanese (Cinemechanica), whose dexterity and stamina prove a perfect fit for Maserati's trademark relentless, driving rhythms and epic song lengths, anchored by bass badass, Chris "Coach" McNeal. To celebrate Maserati's 20th anniversary, we have finally made Maserati VII available again on vinyl for the first time in over five years, packaged in the original heavyweight, full-color old-style tip-on gatefold jacket with custom matte and spot gloss varnishes
Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" erreichen HAUJOBB den beeindruckenden Meilenstein des zehnten Studioalbums. Auch ihr neuestes Werk unterscheidet sich von all seinen Vorgängern. Das derzeit in Leipzig residierende Duo verweigert sich weiterhin standhaft jeder Wiederholung. "The Machine in the Ghost" unterscheidet sich bereits durch die Verwendung von Feldaufnahmen, um die Sounds für dieses Album zu erzeugen. Um die gewünschten Effekte zu erzielen, haben HAUJOBB bewusst auf eine Mischung aus Software und Hardware gesetzt - letzteres in Form von mit Alltagsgegenständen erzeugten Tönen. Diese symbolische Anspielung auf eine Zeit, in der es weniger Software und mehr analoges Drehen an den Reglern gab, ergänzt das Thema von "The Machine in the Ghost" um einen Hauch von Retro-Feeling - ohne jede nostalgische Verklärung. Das Album dreht sich um die spannungsgeladene Beziehung zwischen analog und digital, Geist und Materie. Als sich HAUJOBB im ostwestfälischen Bielefeld zunächst zu einem Trio formierten, kamen ihre Haupteinflüsse noch aus der Vancouver-Schule des Industrial - und speziell SKINNY PUPPY sowie FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. Dies ist auf ihrem ersten Album "Homes & Gardens" (1993) noch hörbar, doch schon bald wurden HAUJOBB selbst als Aushängeschilder eines modernen elektronischen Industrial-Sounds angesehen. Auf den folgenden Alben "Freeze Frame Reality" (1995) und "Solutions for a Small Planet" (1996) entfernten sich die Deutschen zunehmend von den kanadischen Einflüssen, indem sie damit begannen, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) mit Industrial und EBM zu verschmelzen. Damit katapultierten sich die Deutschen mitten in die internationale Szene und verschafften sich sogar in den USA einen Kultstatus. Auch nachdem HAUJOBB zum Duo mutiert waren, blieben sie einflussreich und insbesondere ihr 2011 in Eigenregie veröffentlichtes Album "New World March" gilt als weitere Großtat. Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" schlagen HAUJOBB ein neues spannendes Kapitel in ihrer bemerkenswerten Karriere auf. Unmittelbar zu Beginn der nächsten industriellen und kreativen Revolution, die der rasante Aufstieg der künstlichen Intelligenz auszulösen verspricht, legen HAUJOBB ihre metaphorischen musikalischen Finger erneut direkt an den Puls der Zeit.
- 1: I'll Never Come Back
- 2: Friday Afternoon
- 3: Those Aren't Zombies
- 4: Flat Tire
- 5: Keep Evil Alive
- 6: Surveillance Tape
- 7: Job Is Done
- 8: Stolen Space
- 9: Stolen Space Pt. 2
- 10: Drug Deal
- 11: Meeting Place
- 12: Your Name Is Now 21
- 13: Cops Are Here
- 14: Looking For You
- 15: Elisabeth
- 16: Six Fucking Years
- 17: I'm Gonna Need The Keys
- 18: Bishop's Revenge
- 19: Escape From The Well
- 20: You Have To Get Out Of Here
- 21: Blood In The River
- 22: Hell On Earth
- 23: Eyeball Atmospheric Version
- 24: Survive
- 27: Bishop And Ram Fight
- 28: Batting Cages Are For Hitting
- 25: A Journey Through Hell
- 26: O Holy Night
Emmy-winning composers Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, best known as the duo behind the score for Netflix’s 'Stranger Thing', have composed the original score for 'The Retaliators' (made by Better Noise Films). The revenge-driven horror thriller is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 89% and stars Michael Lombardi (FX’s Rescue Me, the Deuce) and Marc Menchaca (Ozark, Black Mirror), alongside featured appearances from a who’s who of modern active rock chart-leading musicians including Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Ivan Moody and Zoltan Bathory (Five Finger Death Punch, plus Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach).
Mike Paradinas, veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner has written a new album called 'Grush' and it's full of weird bangers that reclaim the 'dance' part of the woeful term IDM. A back-to-first-principles record, inspired in part by the group of artists IDM was coined for; melodic dance music that didn't come out of urban scenes, but interpreted them from a distance. The tracks on 'Grush' are all road-tested live favorites developed with feedback from Mike's touring partner and visuals guy Mora (Jan Moravec). It's a detailed and energetic journey which replicates the flow of a live gig. A lot of the tracks have been made in hotel rooms in response to shows, 'Imperial Crescent' is named after a Japanese Hotel, as is 'Belvedere' in Prague, while some tracks such as 'Hyper Daddy' were created specifically to play live. Drums are confidently at the fore here and the album feels like it traces Mike's musical history and interests neatly around his sweetly nostalgic melodies, with atmospheres and structures which twist and turn with a charming softness which contrasts with the tension in the drums. Take 'Hyper Daddy's' spiralling notes and twinkling piano which remind one of early Black Dog or Omni Trio rushing alongside splashy jungle drums, or the aquatic acid footwork of the title track with its drums softly bubbling and kicking. Elsewhere there's territory which harks back to his Tusken Raiders pseudonym, like the heads down Drexciyan funk of 'Windsor Safari Park,' which transforms from moody electro into a sunny hardcore track midway. The album is interspersed with Reticulum A, B and C at the start middle and end of the album which suggest a theme which carries across the music in an effortless and joyful way. 'Grush' is a strong album that works both for listening and DJing and a great snapshot of where Mike Paradinas musical head is at in 2024.Tracklist Vinyl A: 1/Reticulum A 2/Hyper Daddy 3/Fogou B: 1/Magic Pony Ride (Pt.4) 2/Imperial Crescent 3/Reticulum B 4/Grush C: 1/Belvedere 2/Raver 3/Windsor Safari Park 4/Hastings D: 1/Manscape 2/Metaphonk 3/Reticulum C
They say you should never meet your heroes, but for Mike, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have benefited both of them.
Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by OnU Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live shows.
A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered to remix some of Mike’s music, either by his solo project @misledconvoy or our tunes, and it’s four cuts by us that grace this heavyweight platter.
From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, our originals have been re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects.
Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug Wimbish (Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version of 1000 Mile Drift, which also features the voice of the iconic Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike says, “the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos to being in the OnU studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made, something I could never have imagined happening!”
Mike isn’t the only OnU fan, as a pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tack>head at the Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.”
The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an original artwork by Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100% recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the colours subtly change across the pressing run.
- A1: Albertine Sarges - Als Ich Rief Nach Dir
- A2: Lina Maly & Moritz Krämer - Ade
- A3: Stefanie Schrank - Kalt Und Weiss
- A4: Sebastian Madsen - Wenn Ich Dich Seh
- A5: Maike Rosa Vogel - Sie
- A6: Resi Reiner - Jeden Tag Das Weckerklingeln
- A7: Paul Pötsch - Komm Und Spiel Mit Mir
- B1: Charlotte Brandi - Niemand Liebt Dich So Wie Ich
- B2: Lisa Who - Früh War Der Tag Erwacht
- B3: Das Paradies & Albrecht Schrader - Wenn's Draußen Grün
- B4: Masha Qrella - Um Die Weite Welt Zu Sehen
- B5: Philo- Frag Mich Warum
- B6: Keshavara - Ende Der Platte
Die Compilation "Das schöne Leben des Herrn K." präsentiert 13 Neuinterpretionen aus dem Manfred Krug Oeuvre. Künstlerinnen und Künstler aus allen Ecken des deutschsprachigen Pop- und Indiekosmos erklärten sich bereit, ein Krug-Stück ihrer Wahl beizusteuern. Und so wie die Zusammenstellung der Platte verlief, so klingt sie nun auch: organisch und stimmig, dabei abwechslungsreich, und, obwohl die aktive Krug-Ära nun doch schon seit Längerem in der Vergangenheit ruht, enorm zeitgemäß.
Mexican supergroup Secret Echoes releases debut single ‘Bring My Beat Back’ on Crosstown Rebels. The project combining a trio of revered talents from the Mexican electronic landscape sees Estefani Brolo, Diego Cevallos, and Marco Anaya unite to reveal a first glimpse into their forthcoming debut album, with the single remixed by Zombies In Miami focus on the song's hypnotic vocals and raw emotive energy.
Secret Echoes is a dynamic collaboration of three acclaimed artists from Mexico’s electronic music scene: Estefani Brolo (of BROLORZIO & I.M YONI), Diego Cevallos (AKA Métrika), and Marco Balcazar (AKA Balcazar of Balcazar & Sordo). With each member bringing a distinct musical background to the group, creating a unique fusion of sound set to resonate with electronic music enthusiasts worldwide, Secret Echoes creates music that blends house foundations with melodic innovation.
The origins of the project trace back to the height of the pandemic, when Cevallos and Balcazar began collaborating on an album they had always envisioned. Renting a unique studio in Jiutepec, Mexico, equipped with analogue tape machines and high-end studio gear, and inviting their talented friends to contribute, Brolo soon joined the project - adding her melodic and lyrical expertise. The result was the recording of 11 tracks that were put on hold until the time was right. After revisiting the tracks and performing them live, ‘Bring My Beat Back’ caught the attention of Crosstown Rebels founder Damian Lazarus during 2024’s Day Zero performance. Inspired by its energy and potential, Lazarus signed the entire album, and this first single provides a first glimpse of what is to come from the enigmatic trio on an imprint known for continually pushing boundaries within house music.
‘Bring My Beat Back’ showcases the group’s distinctive blend of house music foundations, guided by Brolo’s captivating vocals above shimmering synths and refined percussion grooves to deliver a silky-smooth production balancing classic nuances with contemporary touches for the dance floor. Creatures Of The Night founders and Permanent Vacation regulars Zombies In Miami provide an extra layer to the package, with the renowned duo’s remix drawing for neon-lit synths and hazy tones for a deep dive into the late-night hours.
Aniara Recordings presents the second chapter of the Genius Of Time Vocal Series, showcasing the exceptional synergy between duo Arkajo & Dorisburg, in collaboration with a range of talented vocalists. A-side 'Closer' blends intimate vocals with a hypnotic rhythm, creating an atmosphere of pure emotion. On the flip side, 'Fumana Chord' offers a bold, uplifting spirit, driven by a deep, resonant bassline, joyful beats and ecstatic vocal snippets.
Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs-Drummer Ewan Mackenzie präsentiert die fünfte LP seines Soloprojekts Dextro auf dem neuen Pigs-eigenen Label Mr Medicine. "Respire" ist eine Reise in einen versunkenen Raum, in dem sich akustische Motive mit symphonischer Elektronik zu zauberhaften Klanglandschaften verbinden. Dextro veröffentlicht u.a. bei Grönland und Border Community und war erst kürzlich an Grönlands Harmonia-Rework-Projekt beteiligt. Ihm zur Seite standen Saxofonistin Faye MacCalman (Archipelago, Me Lost Me, The Unthanks), Cellist Tom Merrit Smith und Harmonistin Kate Halsall (Galvanize Ensemble).
Lovers of Italo disco music will consider Cyber People as one of the most important acts in its scene. The Space-synth sound Cyber people brought in the mid 80’s, was highlighted by their 1985 ‘Void Vision’ release, which became a hit both in Europe, as well as in South America. On top of that, Cyber People paved the road for acts like Koto, Laserdance and Hipnosis, just to name a few. Cyber People were disbanded though in 1988, but left behind a series of most important Italo Disco records.
Now, build on the ashes of the former and legendary ‘Memory Records label from Parma – Italy, Memix International is pleased to announce its return, and the return of Cyber People. In its original form, headed again by the Maestro Giorgio “Theo” Spagna himself, as leader of the pack, with a tribute to Anfrando Maiola, the founding father of Mamory Records’ most important act, Koto, who left us in 2023.
As a tribute, Anfrando’s “Dragon’s Legend” get’s a complete new overhaul by Cyber People, respecting its original structure, concept and spirit, bringing it however into the 21st century.
Besides the almost 8-and-a-half-minute tribute of Dragon’s legend on the MEM-side, on the MIX-side you will find the DJ friendly ‘DJ DUB’, bringing you the compact essential of ‘Dragon’s Legend’ for any up-to-date Italian Disco set. (And if you want to call it Italo Disco, that’s perfectly fine with us too!)
With this release, Memix International continues where it’s predecessor stopped in 1989. Paves the road into a new era, and pays with this rerelease it’s respect to Anfrando Maiola and his Koto releases , such with full support from his heir.
With this release Memix International also brings a tribute to Alessandro Porta, the great Italian designer and visual artist, whose heirs were as kind to participate also, and made one of Alessandro’s drawings available for the sleeve of this unique release. It was Porta who was, on many occasions, responsible for the characteristic artwork of various Koto releases and, all together it will for sure make this release a well sought item which comes in a strictly limited edition of 500 units, so distributed on a ‘first to come, first to serve’ basis. Expected release and shipment: end of September/begin of October 2024.
- A1: I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump
- A2: You're No Different
- A3: You Can't Sit Here
- A4: Run Forrest Run
- A5: Pray With Me
- A6: Crimson Gump
- A7: They're Sending Me To Vietnam
- A8: I Ran And Ran
- A9: I Had A Destiny
- A10: Washington Reunion
- A11: Jesus On The Main Line
- A12: That's My Boat
- B1: I Never Thanked You
- B2: Jenny Returns
- B3: Crusade
- B4: Forrest Meets Forrest
- B5: Wedding Guest
- B6: Where Heaven Ends
- B7: Jenny's Grave
- B8: I'll Be Right Here
- B9: Suite From Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump was the surprise hit of the 1994 summer movie season. The film traces the life of a half-wit through the major historical events of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. It features Tom Hanks as the loveable Forrest Gump and Robin Wright (Claire Underwood in House Of Cards) as Forrest's insecure girlfriend Jenny.
Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
The film garnered for seven Golden Globe Award nominations, winning three of them, including Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Best Director - Motion Picture, and Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film was also nominated for six Saturn Awards and won two for Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actor (Film. The film also won the Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects award at the 1995 BAFTA Film Awards.
Forrest Gump received numerous other awards such as one win from the Screen Actors Guild Awards in its first year for Tom Hanks in a total of four nominations.
The film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry in 2011, being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'. The movie has made multiple American Film Institute lists including the quote Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.' ranking 40th on 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. The film ranked 240 on Empire's list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time. The chain of restaurants, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company opened based on the film, and has opened many locations since its founding.
The score was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri and was nominated for Best Original Score in the 67th Academy Awards.
The legendary Score is now finally available on vinyl for the first time. The first pressing of 1.500 copies are pressed on 'Chocolate' coloured vinyl. You never know what you'rei
gonna get...
- A1: I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump
- A2: You're No Different
- A3: You Can't Sit Here
- A4: Run Forrest Run
- A5: Pray With Me
- A6: Crimson Gump
- A7: They're Sending Me To Vietnam
- A8: I Ran And Ran
- A9: I Had A Destiny
- A10: Washington Reunion
- A11: Jesus On The Main Line
- A12: That's My Boat
- B1: I Never Thanked You
- B2: Jenny Returns
- B3: Crusade
- B4: Forrest Meets Forrest
- B5: Wedding Guest
- B6: Where Heaven Ends
- B7: Jenny's Grave
- B8: I'll Be Right Here
- B9: Suite From Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump was the surprise hit of the 1994 summer movie season. The film traces the life of a half-wit through the major historical events of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. It features Tom Hanks as the loveable Forrest Gump and Robin Wright (Claire Underwood in House Of Cards) as Forrest's insecure girlfriend Jenny.
Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
The film garnered for seven Golden Globe Award nominations, winning three of them, including Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Best Director - Motion Picture, and Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film was also nominated for six Saturn Awards and won two for Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actor (Film. The film also won the Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects award at the 1995 BAFTA Film Awards.
Forrest Gump received numerous other awards such as one win from the Screen Actors Guild Awards in its first year for Tom Hanks in a total of four nominations.
The film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry in 2011, being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'. The movie has made multiple American Film Institute lists including the quote Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.' ranking 40th on 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. The film ranked 240 on Empire's list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time. The chain of restaurants, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company opened based on the film, and has opened many locations since its founding.
The score was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri and was nominated for Best Original Score in the 67th Academy Awards.
The legendary Score is now finally available on vinyl for the first time. The first pressing of 1.500 copies are pressed on 'Chocolate' coloured vinyl. You never know what you'rei
gonna get...
- A1: I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump
- A2: You're No Different
- A3: You Can't Sit Here
- A4: Run Forrest Run
- A5: Pray With Me
- A6: Crimson Gump
- A7: They're Sending Me To Vietnam
- A8: I Ran And Ran
- A9: I Had A Destiny
- A10: Washington Reunion
- A11: Jesus On The Main Line
- A12: That's My Boat
- B1: I Never Thanked You
- B2: Jenny Returns
- B3: Crusade
- B4: Forrest Meets Forrest
- B5: Wedding Guest
- B6: Where Heaven Ends
- B7: Jenny's Grave
- B8: I'll Be Right Here
- B9: Suite From Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump was the surprise hit of the 1994 summer movie season. The film traces the life of a half-wit through the major historical events of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. It features Tom Hanks as the loveable Forrest Gump and Robin Wright (Claire Underwood in House Of Cards) as Forrest's insecure girlfriend Jenny.
Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
The film garnered for seven Golden Globe Award nominations, winning three of them, including Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Best Director - Motion Picture, and Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film was also nominated for six Saturn Awards and won two for Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actor (Film. The film also won the Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects award at the 1995 BAFTA Film Awards.
Forrest Gump received numerous other awards such as one win from the Screen Actors Guild Awards in its first year for Tom Hanks in a total of four nominations.
The film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry in 2011, being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'. The movie has made multiple American Film Institute lists including the quote Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.' ranking 40th on 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. The film ranked 240 on Empire's list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time. The chain of restaurants, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company opened based on the film, and has opened many locations since its founding.
The score was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri and was nominated for Best Original Score in the 67th Academy Awards.
The legendary Score is now finally available on vinyl for the first time. The first pressing of 1.500 copies are pressed on 'Chocolate' coloured vinyl. You never know what you'rei
gonna get...
"Springing from Osaka, Japan’s cultural center and historical heart, comes HYPER GAL, a two-piece band consisting of visual artist Koharu Ishida on vocals and noise artist Kurumi Kadoya on drums.
The minimalist duo make maximum impact - stripping music down beyond the bare essentials, to create shimmering, no wave pop from blast beat drums, glittery keyboard loops and ethereal bubblegum vocals - laced with velvet and firecrackers.
On “After Image” HYPER GAL hold fast to their limited palette, but expand their reach. Working with a canvas larger than ever before, the band fearlessly alternate bold, avant-garde strokes with intimate, deliberate gestures. The result is a new world awash in a sea of endless possibilities - only visible with closed eyes and open ears.
“There's something almost vapor-wave-adjacent about the glorious racket riled up by this pair. The effect of repetition throughout, the way the beat slips in and out of time, is hypnotic” - THE WIRE
“Blends elements of noise, no wave, pop and blistering punk to create something remarkable and new… Endlessly inventive and challenging” - MAXIMUMROCKNROLL
“These royalty of no-wave-pop don't blink and their delivery is absolute. An exhilarating, total experience” - NOISE-FI
""Indescribable, just listen to it for yourself. And don't take any stimulants beforehand, you could end up in the emergency room"" – OX FANZINE
“It looks like noise, but there is too much color. Pop, but unsellable. Their music goes beyond barriers, genres and boundaries, as if a virus had been injected into a video game bringing delirious ruin to a perfect world” – SODA POP
“Intensely good. A beautiful challenge, a noise, relentless, not an onslaught, always inviting, like they want to pull you in rather than chase you away. Actually, this is joyous” - THE ORGAN"
Repress! Before he developed into a star composer and arranger, Tom Scott was an ambitious 19 year-old saxophonist looking for his big break in 1967. The opportunity came when legendary jazz label Impulse paired Scott with 9-piece vocal group The California Dreamers and allowed the young musician to take the helm as a band leader, with The Honeysuckle Breeze as the spectacular result. This rare and long out-of-print album features Scott leading a stellar lineup of sessions players—Bill Plummer (sitar), Glen Campbell (guitar) and Carol Kaye (bass) among them—through warm, smooth versions of songs by The Beatles (“She’s Leaving Home”), Donovan (“Mellow Yellow”), Joan Baez (“North”) and Jefferson Airplane (“Today”), which many will recognize from it’s sampling in the Pete Rock & CL Smooth classic “T.R.O.Y.” Resurrected, refurbished and remastered by the talented folks at Get On Down, Scott’s debut record sparkles with a high quality digital audio transfer from the original master tapes and is packaged in a gatefold paste-on case with a dust sleeve and obi strip. Don’t let this “Breeze” pass you by.
Step inside the world of Ginger Root. Cameron Lew makes it easy to do so; every considered detail is his own manifestation, written, designed, and executed as an all-encompassing diorama of sound and sight. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and visual artist from Southern California, Lew has crafted his project steadily since 2017, inviting a fervent and growing legion of fans into storylines drawn across mediums: captivating albums with accompanying films and globe-spanning tours. The Ginger Root sound _ handmade yet immaculately polished synth-pop, alt-disco, boogie, and soul _ takes shape through Lew's lens as an Asian-American growing up enamored by 1970s and '80s music, specifically the creative and cultural dialogue between Japanese City Pop and its Western counterparts from French Pop to Philly Soul to Ram-era McCartney. He spins his retro-minded influences and proliferates savvily in the present, synthesizing a songwriter's wit, an editor's eye, and a producer's resource into something singular and modern. SHINBANGUMI, his long-awaited third LP, and Ghostly International debut set for physical release in 2024 with a visual album component, translates roughly to a new season of a show. It finds Lew more poised, idiosyncratic, and intentional than ever in a new chapter of life, unlocking "exactly what Ginger Root should sound and feel like," he says. "In terms of instrumentation and musicality, it's the first time that I felt very confident and comfortable with what everything should be comprised of. On the more personal side, I'm coming out of the last four years of writing, touring, and living as a different person; SHINBANGUMI is a platform to showcase my new self."
Step inside the world of Ginger Root. Cameron Lew makes it easy to do so; every considered detail is his own manifestation, written, designed, and executed as an all-encompassing diorama of sound and sight. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and visual artist from Southern California, Lew has crafted his project steadily since 2017, inviting a fervent and growing legion of fans into storylines drawn across mediums: captivating albums with accompanying films and globe-spanning tours. The Ginger Root sound _ handmade yet immaculately polished synth-pop, alt-disco, boogie, and soul _ takes shape through Lew's lens as an Asian-American growing up enamored by 1970s and '80s music, specifically the creative and cultural dialogue between Japanese City Pop and its Western counterparts from French Pop to Philly Soul to Ram-era McCartney. He spins his retro-minded influences and proliferates savvily in the present, synthesizing a songwriter's wit, an editor's eye, and a producer's resource into something singular and modern. SHINBANGUMI, his long-awaited third LP, and Ghostly International debut set for physical release in 2024 with a visual album component, translates roughly to a new season of a show. It finds Lew more poised, idiosyncratic, and intentional than ever in a new chapter of life, unlocking "exactly what Ginger Root should sound and feel like," he says. "In terms of instrumentation and musicality, it's the first time that I felt very confident and comfortable with what everything should be comprised of. On the more personal side, I'm coming out of the last four years of writing, touring, and living as a different person; SHINBANGUMI is a platform to showcase my new self."
Tip!
Polido has been fantasizing with the idea of free music throughout his artistic career. Free from restraints, logos, musical genres, but also from this modern obsession with narratives, plans, business plans, algorithms and bubble wrapped ideas for comfort of those of you that can’t breathe without everything making sense.
“Hearing Smoke” has nothing of that. It has been four years since Holuzam released the double album “A Casa e os Cães / Sabor a Terra” and for four years I have been daydreaming about what would come next. This is it, eleven new pieces about the future of the future of music. It is the result of years of study, research and sound consolidation. Sound as matter, mutating, transforming, absorbing all around, a shapeshifting entity connecting with the principles of freedom.
"Polido has been researching Portuguese contemporary composition, its very own sounds and ideas. Its origins, the web of repression, tension and censorship before the April 25th revolution in 1974; secondly, as an afterthought, freedom, equality and a unique sense of community and belonging screaming through the music. He absorbed those states of mind and made an album that listens to the current world and presents globalization as a mental trap.
If the music that inspired him somehow comes from a post-colonial world, “Hearing Smoke” questions how we can create something new in this permanent state of cultural colonization, where new trends or forms of music only thrive if they are accepted by the dominant cultures. The physical world has been transformed, but ideas like “world music” or “ghetto music” still show that dominance, the Strange can only be accepted if it incorporates the rules and codes of that dominant force. What I am saying is that it is hard for Portuguese musicians to present themselves as original. They will never have that credit unless the music relates to something that exists in another
realm. Never for their benefit, but for the power of association. I may sound arrogant here, but Polido is unique, original, one of a kind (all those words, all those redundant synonyms). I knew it four years ago when I got lost in the way “A Casa e os Cães” is assembled and how he makes something memorable out of the most commonplace conversations. “Hearing Smoke” continues the flow and puts us in the centre of these ever evolving masses of sound.
Somehow his music finds you, it starts speaking with you until it asks you to be a part of it. Polido’s beats and harmonics are combined in such a tender way that you mellow out while listening to these beats - thinking of the brilliant “Saque”. Even when he exposes you to something more harsh - “Canto D’Amorte” or the closing moments of the last track “Custa A Crer” - there’s still a cradle effect.
But what keeps me returning to this album is how it seems to transform in my ears. Not every time I listen to it, but while I am listening to it. The sound seems to move, embracing me and controlling my inner thoughts. These start to move along at the same pace, with the same feeling of cloudiness. Nothing new here, the thing is how it feels different from time to time, how the music, because of something that changes or moves, comes as a catharsis/revelation. It drives me nuts how the beats come and go in tracks like “Fogo Firme (Encomendação)” or “The More I Think, The Less I Can Speak“, leaving everything suspended and, simultaneously, relieved. When dramatic - ”Prova De Existência“ - it is sad af and gorgeously epic.
Trap, bass music, dubstep, ambient, hauntology and contemporary music flow side by side here, no pushing around, free of interpretation, and you are free to feel or listen to whatever you want in “Hearing Smoke”. That’s free music for you. Not a hard concept, something for you to enjoy, feel, reflect about. This is what the future will sound like."
André Santos // Holuzam
"Glossolalia" ist das dritte Solo-Album von Dale Crover, dem weltbekannten Schlagzeuger der Melvins, Nirvana und Redd Kross sowie Sänger und Gitarrist von Altamont. Das von Crover und Toshi Kasai produzierte Werk strotzt nur so vor Nuggets-Garagenrock, Proto-Metal-Riffs und herrlich verschwommenem Psych-Pop. Die erste Single des 11-Song-Albums ist "Doug Yuletide". Der Track ist einer von zwei "Glossolalia"-Songs, bei denen Crover mit dem Gitarristen Dan Southwick zusammenarbeitet, seinem langjährigen Freund und Altamont-Bandkollegen. Aber Southwick ist nicht der einzige Freund, der auf Glossolalia zu hören ist: Kim Thayil von Soundgarden (Leadgitarre bei "I Quit" und "Rings"), Ty Segall (Leadgitarre bei "Spoiled Daisies" und "I Waited Forever"), Rob Crow von Pinback ("Don't Worry About It", "Rings" und "I Waited Forever") und Tom Waits' ungelenkes, in Zungen gesprochenes Intro beim Titelstück. "Glossolalia" ist Crovers bisher fokussiertestes Statement als Solokünstler. In seiner Gesamtheit zeigt das neue Album, dass Crover, so wie die Melvins in ihrem vierten Jahrzehnt weiter wachsen und sich entwickeln, auch als Solokünstler neue Schritte unternimmt. Inmitten des inspirierten Geplappers von Waits, des glorreichen Schredderns von Segall und Thayil und vielem mehr, sticht vor allem die Robustheit von Crovers Vision hervor. Diese Platte zeigt, dass seine Gesamtästhetik genauso stark wie sein legendärer Schlagzeugdonner ist. ENGAs he began plotting his new solo album, Dale Crover _ world-renowned drummer for the Melvins, Nirvana and Redd Kross, and singer-guitarist for Altamont _ realized that, unlike with his prior two full-lengths, he was starting from scratch. "I didn't have any songs," he says, "so I just went on this writing spree." The result is Glossolalia, Crover's third LP under his own name and arguably his most focused statement yet as a solo artist: 11 catchy yet eccentric tracks that move from Nuggets-y garage rock to crafty proto-metal riffage and gorgeously hazy psych-pop, touching on everything from a bad teenage trip to the charms of the late, great Jane Birkin, and featuring input by illustrious guests including Ty Segall, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and none other than Tom Waits. What stands out across the record is the sturdiness of Crover's vision. He's modest about his ambitions _ "It's just kind of like extra credit," he says, about having a solo outlet apart from his main band _ but as this record shows, his overall aesthetic hits just as hard as his legendary drum thunder.
"Wir waren hier" heißt das neue Studioalbum von der Gruppe Die Nerven. Es ist das sechste Album des Trios. Die neuen Songs haben Kevin Kuhn, Julian Knoth und Max Rieger in einer vierwöchigen Session in einem ehemaligen Sterne-Restaurant am Stuttgarter Schlossplatz mit Blick auf die Oper aufgenommen. Und so nah wie auf "Wir waren hier" sind Die Nerven noch auf keinem Studioalbum der Aura ihrer Live-Auftritte gekommen - der musikalischen Spontaneität ihres Zusammenspiels auf der Bühne, dem Stop-and-Go ihrer Improvisationen, der Lust an der gegenseitigen Überraschung, und schließlich: der kollektiven Entäußerung in die Katharsis. Ihre Musik ist immer noch zornig, laut, dramatisch, vielleicht könnte man auch sagen: nihilistisch. Aber es handelt sich um einen reiferen Nihilismus, als man ihn von den Nerven bislang kannte. In ihrer Musik fliegt man immer noch über Halden voll Schrott, über dürre Heiden, wüste Länder und öde Städte. Aber es schillern nun auch schöne Klangtupfer über der Szene wie von den letzten Sonnenstrahlen vor einer ewigen Nacht oder von einem bunt schillernden Ölfilm auf einer verdreckten See.
"Wir waren hier" heißt das neue Studioalbum von der Gruppe Die Nerven. Es ist das sechste Album des Trios. Die neuen Songs haben Kevin Kuhn, Julian Knoth und Max Rieger in einer vierwöchigen Session in einem ehemaligen Sterne-Restaurant am Stuttgarter Schlossplatz mit Blick auf die Oper aufgenommen. Und so nah wie auf "Wir waren hier" sind Die Nerven noch auf keinem Studioalbum der Aura ihrer Live-Auftritte gekommen - der musikalischen Spontaneität ihres Zusammenspiels auf der Bühne, dem Stop-and-Go ihrer Improvisationen, der Lust an der gegenseitigen Überraschung, und schließlich: der kollektiven Entäußerung in die Katharsis. Ihre Musik ist immer noch zornig, laut, dramatisch, vielleicht könnte man auch sagen: nihilistisch. Aber es handelt sich um einen reiferen Nihilismus, als man ihn von den Nerven bislang kannte. In ihrer Musik fliegt man immer noch über Halden voll Schrott, über dürre Heiden, wüste Länder und öde Städte. Aber es schillern nun auch schöne Klangtupfer über der Szene wie von den letzten Sonnenstrahlen vor einer ewigen Nacht oder von einem bunt schillernden Ölfilm auf einer verdreckten See.
Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica
The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.
The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.
“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont
The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.
The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.
More shows will be announced soon.
A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.
On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.
"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"
If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?
In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.
WE ARE WINTER'S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN (WAWBARC) is the new quartet of Mat Ball (BIG|BRAVE), Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion), and Jonathan Downs and Patch (both Ada). On "NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER" they present six modal lullabies drenched in seared distortion, slathered across striding electronic pulses. Ball and Menuck began creating music in and for the bleakest moments of Montréal winters: "We're honoring that idea of winter, when you come inside and your house is warm, a place that only exists because of how cold it is outside," says Menuck. They later recruited Downs and Patch to flesh out their initial ideas. Menuck met them in 2015 when recording Ada's final album at Montréal's Hotel2Tango _ where they reconvened to make this record. "NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER" is an album about witnessing bleakness from a place of safety. Carrying newfound descriptive depth, thanks to the quartet's open-ended songs freeing him from writing in meter, Menuck likens his lyrics to photorealism. On opener `Rats and Roses' he sings of an unnamed city struck by an unknown cataclysm, but the details are local: specifically, his neighbors inadvertently poisoning birds when tackling a rat infestation. It's backed by blown out synths and guitars reaching a soaring crescendo. "Seeing things from a distance and not being able to intervene happens a lot on the record," Menuck explains. "If you're a feeling and thinking person, that's just part of the human condition. We watch horror unfolding from afar, unable to do anything concrete to change it." A powerless witness, able to describe but not intervene. `Dangling Blanket From A Balcony (White Phosphorous)' references Michael Jackson holding his child over a hotel balcony in 2002_the bizarre media spectacle still lodged in Menuck's psyche. This and the album's closing track also elegize white phosphorous, a technology of war designed to light up battlefields but capable of inflicting horrific burns on those it touches. Illumination and horror in one, here underpinning scenes picturesque and terrifying. "The last song `(Goodnight) White Phosphorous' is deliberately like a lullaby," says Menuck. "Written from the viewpoint of watching white phosphorous falling outside your window." Scorched and tarnished and laden with harrowing imagery, "NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER" is also a record bathed in light: the bewilderment of hopeful spirits witnessing despair, watching a blizzard of distress unfold outside from a place of relative shelter and comfort. You could call that emotional ambivalence, maybe numbness. But those words are too passive for the weight of conflicted feeling resonating through the album. "I never know how I feel on an overcast day when the sun is still bright despite the grayness and the light is very flat. The colours become more saturated, and you see a single flower, say a morning glory, whose colour is so vibrant beneath the gray, I don't know if that's a lovely sensation or a terrible sensation. It's both," says Menuck.
Ltd Edition!
The Mystery Lights return with their most ambitious offering to date. With Wayne Gordon back in the producer's chair, the group delivers an eclectic mix of real-deal psychedelia, punk, art rock, and even a splash of country via the Kinks(y) pop earworm "I'm Sorry I Forgot Your Name". The psychedelic highlights of the album, "Purgatory", "Cerebral Crack" and "Can't Sleep Through the Silence", are dark and trippy, landing somewhere between the guitar-driven, lysergic mayhem of the 13th Floor Elevators and the punked-up, tongue-in-cheek insanity of The Monks. But throughout there's a cohesiveness threaded by the elevated musicianship, earnest lyrics and attention to detail that make for a fiercely raw, yet unabashedly catchy album-dripping with all of the sing along hooks that have made Mystery Lights one of the most exciting live bands on the scene.
Ltd Edition!
The Mystery Lights return with their most ambitious offering to date. With Wayne Gordon back in the producer's chair, the group delivers an eclectic mix of real-deal psychedelia, punk, art rock, and even a splash of country via the Kinks(y) pop earworm "I'm Sorry I Forgot Your Name". The psychedelic highlights of the album, "Purgatory", "Cerebral Crack" and "Can't Sleep Through the Silence", are dark and trippy, landing somewhere between the guitar-driven, lysergic mayhem of the 13th Floor Elevators and the punked-up, tongue-in-cheek insanity of The Monks. But throughout there's a cohesiveness threaded by the elevated musicianship, earnest lyrics and attention to detail that make for a fiercely raw, yet unabashedly catchy album-dripping with all of the sing along hooks that have made Mystery Lights one of the most exciting live bands on the scene.
- A1: Primordial Forest (The Lost World Jurassic Park)
- A2: Medal Of Honor
- A3: Bristow And Bristow (Alias)
- A4: Secret Weapons Over Normandy
- A5: The Incredibles Suite
- A6: Take A Hike (Lost)
- B1: Life And Death (Lost)
- B2: Sky High
- B3: Space Mountain
- B4: The Family Stone Waltz (The Family Stone)
- B5: Le Festin (Ratatouille)
- B6: Ratatouille
- B7: Roar! (Cloverfield)
- C1: Casa Cristo (Speed Racer)
- C2: Land Of The Lost
- C3: Enterprising Young Men (Star Trek)
- C4: Married Life (Up)
- C5: Let Me In
- C6: Lax (Lost)
- D1: The Turbomater (Cars 2)
- D2: A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)
- D3: Monte Carlo
- D4: Super 8 Suite
Mutant is proud to present Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino's latest album, Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1, featuring iconic scores from Giacchino's extensive portfolio rendered in the retro lounge style of Exotica from the 1950s.
“It's no secret that we at Mutant are huge fans of Michael Giacchino,” says Spencer Hickman, Co-Founder of Mutant. “We're excited to release a retrospective of his astonishing three decades as a composer. Rather than just curating a simple compilation of his previous works, Michael went back into the studio, rearranged and re-recorded every major theme from his career. These tracks have been recorded in an Easy Listening style inspired by such greats as Martin Denny and Les Baxter, creating not just a unique and incredible look back at some of the most beloved movie and television themes of the modern age, but also bringing a fresh, exciting take to the beautiful journey he has taken us all on with him. It feels like you are discovering these songs for the very first time: timeless, beautiful, and a joy to listen to. These newly recorded themes transport you to a far-off sunset, looking out at the ocean, complete with a cocktail in hand, providing a much-needed escape from the stress of modern times, and we can all agree that is something we all crave right now.”
Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 spans nearly two decades of Michael Giacchino’s music, from his early video game scores to his television hits and blockbuster films. The album transforms these works through the lens of Exotica, replacing epic strings and thundering drums with vibraphones and marimbas.
“This album was inspired by the work of Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny,” says Giacchino. “What would they do with the Star Trek theme? Or video games like Medal of Honor? It was a way for me to play in that world I loved so much growing up. I thought it would be fun to create a fantasy world, where this album was recorded back in 1967 and then lost, only to resurface today.”
The album showcases Giacchino’s unerring talent for melody, stripping down grand symphonies to their essential elements while retaining their aesthetic and emotional core.
“So much was rooted in the big orchestral sound, so it was really about scaling it back. The real trick is figuring out the little fun hooks and things you can add along the way. There were no rules; I was up for anything. It was a way to re-engage with the material and be creative in a new way.”
Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 includes an array of reinterpreted pieces from Michael Giacchino’s career. Highlights include ‘Primordial Forest’ from the 1997 video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, ‘Life and Death’ from Lost, the theme from Ratatouille, ‘Roar!’ from Cloverfield, ‘Enterprising Young Men’ from Star Trek (2009), ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’ from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and a Super 8 suite.
Featuring package design by Luke Insect, and liner notes by Charlie Brigden.
TRELLDOM sind das geistige Kind von Kristian Eivind Espedal - besser bekannt unter seinem Künstlernamen Gaahl. Der Norweger wurde zu einem der führenden Köpfe der nordischen Black Metal Szene, nachdem er sich im Jahr 1998 der berüchtigten Bergener Band GORGOROTH angeschlossen hatte. Sowohl aufgrund seines extremen Gesangs als auch zahlreicher finsterer Gerüchte über seine Person wurde der Frontmann oft in eine besonders schmale Schublade gesteckt. Doch wenn eine Aussage über Espedal wahr ist, dann ist es die gegenteilige, nämlich dass von ihm meist das Unerwartete kommt. Auch mit TRELLDOM hat er bereits Black Metal Geschichte geschrieben. Die im Jahr 1992 von Gaahl in Sunnfjord im Distrikt Vestland, gegründete Band veröffentlichte drei Jahre später ihr Debütalbum "Til evighet..." (1995), das in Underground Black Metal Kreisen großen Anklang fand. Das Nachfolgeralbum "Til et annet..." (1999) präsentierte den Gitarristen Valgard sowie Stian "Sir" Kårstad am Bass als Neuzugänge bei TRELLDOM und erreichte auch die "Mainstream-Medien" im Metal. Als Produzent zeichnete der legendäre Toningenieur Pytten in den Grieghallen Studios in Bergen verantwortlich. Pytten nahm ebenfalls den dritten Meilenstein "Til minne..." (2007) auf, der sowohl von Kritikern als auch von Fans hoch gelobt wurde. Einer der Schlüsselaspekte dieser ersten TRELLDOM-Trilogie lag darin, dass Gaahl in seiner eigenen Band die Möglichkeiten seiner Stimme frei von den strengen Regeln erforschen konnte, unter denen GORGOROTH operierte. Danach wurde es still um die Band, da sich alle beteiligten Musiker auf zahlreiche andere Projekte konzentrierten. Bei der Rückkehr bleibt die wichtige Zusammenarbeit mit Stian Kårstad das musikalische Herzstück der Band. Der größte Teil des Materials auf "...by the shadows..." stammt aus der Feder des Gitarristen. Andere Aspekte von TRELLDOM hat Espedal bewusst verändert. Die daraus resultierenden Effekte haben zu faszinierenden Resultaten geführt. Auf dem Hocker thront nun der renommierte Schlagzeuger Kenneth Kapstad, der neun Jahre lang bei MOTORPSYCHO war und aktuell auch bei SPIDERGAWD, MØSTER! und THORNS für den Rhythmus sorgt. Mit Kapstad stieß auch der international gefeierte Jazzmusiker und Saxophonist Kjetil Møster (MØSTER!, RÖYKSOPP, THE END) zur Besetzung. Die Einbeziehung von Møsters unorthodoxen Saxophon-Klängen ist ein erstes Indiz dafür, dass sich TRELLDOM nicht mehr durch eine enge Definition von Black Metal gebunden fühlen. Die Musik auf "...by the shadows..." ist zwar nach wie vor dunkel und harsch, und auch ihre Wurzeln in der schwarzen Vergangenheit bleiben erkennbar. Doch Espedal hat seine Band in eine weitaus komplexere Kreatur verwandelt und sie in einer avantgardistischen Dimension losgelassen - mit einem Sound, der manchmal sogar ins Experimentelle reicht. TRELLDOM sind erwacht und liefern mit "...by the shadows..." ein beherztes Manifest der künstlerischen Freiheit als starke Kampfansage an jegliche nostalgische Stagnation ab. Dieses Album fordert heraus: Love it or leave it!
TRELLDOM sind das geistige Kind von Kristian Eivind Espedal - besser bekannt unter seinem Künstlernamen Gaahl. Der Norweger wurde zu einem der führenden Köpfe der nordischen Black Metal Szene, nachdem er sich im Jahr 1998 der berüchtigten Bergener Band GORGOROTH angeschlossen hatte. Sowohl aufgrund seines extremen Gesangs als auch zahlreicher finsterer Gerüchte über seine Person wurde der Frontmann oft in eine besonders schmale Schublade gesteckt. Doch wenn eine Aussage über Espedal wahr ist, dann ist es die gegenteilige, nämlich dass von ihm meist das Unerwartete kommt. Auch mit TRELLDOM hat er bereits Black Metal Geschichte geschrieben. Die im Jahr 1992 von Gaahl in Sunnfjord im Distrikt Vestland, gegründete Band veröffentlichte drei Jahre später ihr Debütalbum "Til evighet..." (1995), das in Underground Black Metal Kreisen großen Anklang fand. Das Nachfolgeralbum "Til et annet..." (1999) präsentierte den Gitarristen Valgard sowie Stian "Sir" Kårstad am Bass als Neuzugänge bei TRELLDOM und erreichte auch die "Mainstream-Medien" im Metal. Als Produzent zeichnete der legendäre Toningenieur Pytten in den Grieghallen Studios in Bergen verantwortlich. Pytten nahm ebenfalls den dritten Meilenstein "Til minne..." (2007) auf, der sowohl von Kritikern als auch von Fans hoch gelobt wurde. Einer der Schlüsselaspekte dieser ersten TRELLDOM-Trilogie lag darin, dass Gaahl in seiner eigenen Band die Möglichkeiten seiner Stimme frei von den strengen Regeln erforschen konnte, unter denen GORGOROTH operierte. Danach wurde es still um die Band, da sich alle beteiligten Musiker auf zahlreiche andere Projekte konzentrierten. Bei der Rückkehr bleibt die wichtige Zusammenarbeit mit Stian Kårstad das musikalische Herzstück der Band. Der größte Teil des Materials auf "...by the shadows..." stammt aus der Feder des Gitarristen. Andere Aspekte von TRELLDOM hat Espedal bewusst verändert. Die daraus resultierenden Effekte haben zu faszinierenden Resultaten geführt. Auf dem Hocker thront nun der renommierte Schlagzeuger Kenneth Kapstad, der neun Jahre lang bei MOTORPSYCHO war und aktuell auch bei SPIDERGAWD, MØSTER! und THORNS für den Rhythmus sorgt. Mit Kapstad stieß auch der international gefeierte Jazzmusiker und Saxophonist Kjetil Møster (MØSTER!, RÖYKSOPP, THE END) zur Besetzung. Die Einbeziehung von Møsters unorthodoxen Saxophon-Klängen ist ein erstes Indiz dafür, dass sich TRELLDOM nicht mehr durch eine enge Definition von Black Metal gebunden fühlen. Die Musik auf "...by the shadows..." ist zwar nach wie vor dunkel und harsch, und auch ihre Wurzeln in der schwarzen Vergangenheit bleiben erkennbar. Doch Espedal hat seine Band in eine weitaus komplexere Kreatur verwandelt und sie in einer avantgardistischen Dimension losgelassen - mit einem Sound, der manchmal sogar ins Experimentelle reicht. TRELLDOM sind erwacht und liefern mit "...by the shadows..." ein beherztes Manifest der künstlerischen Freiheit als starke Kampfansage an jegliche nostalgische Stagnation ab. Dieses Album fordert heraus: Love it or leave it!
Imaginative re-workings and improvisations by Andrew Tuttle of the late great Michael Chapman's unfinished instrumental album. Sonic explorations that bridge the Southern and Northern Hemisphere via the Caribbean, remote Northumberland and sub-tropical Australia. Navigating calm seas and turbulent waters of ambient corals, new-age pirates, waves of lapping banjos and drifting eroding guitars.
When Michael Chapman passed away in September of 2021, at the age of 80, he did so – as he spent much of his life – as both a pioneer and a legend. A veteran of the British blues/folk/jazz scene, Chapman emerged in 1966 and continued working throughout his life, always pushing the boundaries of his creations while collaborating with a slew of similarly heralded musicians along the way: Bert Jansch, Mick Ronson, Elton John, Thurston Moore, Steve Gunn; to name just a smattering of those he worked alongside over the years.
It's the latter of those – Brooklyn guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn – who Chapman flourished alongside in recent years, the two collaborating on 50 and True North, two of Chapman’s final and finest records. It was through that friendship that Chapman’s music found Andrew Tuttle, the Brisbane-based multi-instrumentalist who has toured Australia several times alongside Gunn.
In the aftermath of Chapman’s passing, his partner Andru discovered Tuttle’s Fleeting Adventure LP, describing it as “one of the albums that kept me sane during that first brutal winter on my own.” The pair met in Australia shortly after, and before Andru had even made it back home to the north of England, Tuttle had begun working on the recordings she shared with him at that time. Those recordings were part of a project Chapman was working on at the time of his death, called Another Fish – what would have been a companion piece to his previously-released LP, simply called Fish.
Though Chapman had spent time in his local studio playing all the guitars, layering the different sounds and effects, he’d always intended to do much more work on the songs, however fate had its way and he never got to ribbon-bow those ideas and bring the album to its conclusion.
Though there was little intention in terms of how to finalise the project, Tuttle spent valuable time with those recordings. What materialised, eventually - with time, care, and diligent attention - is a two-disc set Another Tide, Another Fish, something both unusual and completely distinctive. The first disc, Another Tide is centred around Tuttle’s own work, which shaped all seven of Michael’s songs and ideas into new songs of their own, and the second disc which simply incorporates the recordings that Michael left behind.
“On all of the tracks I also ‘played along’ on banjo to the originals several times until I learned an approximation,” Tuttle continues. “This ended up resulting in a ‘hybrid’, where some works are easily identifiable to those who know Michael’s originals, and some took that inspiration to head altogether elsewhere. Each of the tracks, even where not obvious, does have at the very least a trace element sample of the original recordings so that it’s a true collaboration.”
What we’re left with is indeed a hybrid: part remix album, part cover album, both a solo work and a collaboration, of sorts. Inspired by Chapman’s original ideas and with new track titles directly referencing the numbered but otherwise untitled source material, Tuttle adds his own flashes of colours throughout, including editing, sampling, MIDI transposing and signal processing that twists these songs into beautiful new shapes. Perhaps Tuttle’s greatest achievement here then is that Another Tide sounds so effortlessly free of all this context.
Whether you know Michael’s, Andrew’s or even Andru’s story or not, these recordings will bristle with enchantment and intrigue, worlds are built, and while some thrive and grow, others fizzle out in a burst of light, such is the way. “It's been a long, long road but we got there and I think it's been more than worth it,” Andru says in the record’s liner notes. “I really hope you think the journey was worth it too.”
Guitars and effects by Michael Chapman recorded by Alex Warnes at Phoenix Studio, Brampton, Cumbria, 2017 Banjo, effects and edits by Andrew Tuttle at Bella Vista, Brisbane / Meanjin, 2023-2024
On Chastity’s upcoming, self-titled fourth record, Williams decided to write a fully non-fiction work. Out Friday, September 13 2024 on Deathwish (US), Dine Alone (Canada), and Big Scary Monsters (UK/E) ‘Chastity’ is a 13-track record about the things that have always run through the band’s records—struggle, death, despair, redemption, darkness, and light—but this time, the songs ascend to new depths of intensity and desperation, new heights of resolution and power. “It’s really about the first nosedive that I did as a young person,” says Williams. “It’s a record about struggle, about the missing years. It’s also a thank you to some people in my life.” The record hurtles through melodic hardcore, shoegaze, and emo, all magnificently and enormously rendered thanks to slick work from John Paul Peters (Propagandhi, Comeback Kid), who engineered and mixed the record. Chastity’s first three full-length records—2018’s Death Lust, 2019’s Home Made Satan, and 2022’s Suffer Summer—formed a trilogy that defined a 4-year arc of the band’s contribution to outsider music. Each record was informed by Williams’ life, but each was also conceptual and interpretive, refracting his experiences through a level of remove. On the self-titled record there’s a beautiful and affirming ending to it’s closer, centered on the band’s first and enduring idea: life is less shitty if we live it together.
Ginger Root ist das Projekt von Cameron Lew aus Südkalifornien. Seit seiner ersten Veröffentlichung 2017 vermischt der Multi-Instrumentalist, Produzent, Songwriter und visuelle Künstler handgemachten, aber makellos polierten Synth-Pop, Alt-Disco, Boogie und Soul zu einem Sound, den er selbst als "aggressiven Fahrstuhl-Soul" beschreibt. Durch seine Linse als asiatischer Amerikaner, der mit der Musik der 1970er und 80er Jahre aufgewachsen ist, nimmt eine Musik Gestalt an, die insbesondere den kreativen und kulturellen Dialog zwischen japanischem City Pop und seinen westlichen Gegenstücken von French Pop über Philly Soul bis hin zu McCartney der Ram-Ära hervorhebt. SHINBANGUMI ist seine dritte LP und die erste für sein neues Label Ghostly International. Lew zeigt sich auf SHINBANGUMI gelassener, eigenwilliger und bewusster denn je und bringt genau das zum Vorschein, wonach sich Ginger Root anhören und anfühlen sollte. Die Leadsingle "No Problems" fungiert mit singbaren Basslines, schwungvollen Gitarrenriffs und cleveren Keyboard-Hooks als Eröffnungssequenz und als Brücke zu neuem Terrain. Für Fans von L'Imperatrice, Toro y Moi, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Thundercat, Crumb, Khruangbin. ENGStep inside the world of Ginger Root. Cameron Lew makes it easy to do so; every considered detail is his own manifestation, written, designed, and executed as an all-encompassing diorama of sound and sight. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and visual artist from Southern California, Lew has crafted his project steadily since 2017, inviting a fervent and growing legion of fans into storylines drawn across mediums: captivating albums with accompanying films and globe-spanning tours. The Ginger Root sound _ handmade yet immaculately polished synth-pop, alt-disco, boogie, and soul _ takes shape through Lew's lens as an Asian-American growing up enamored by 1970s and '80s music, specifically the creative and cultural dialogue between Japanese City Pop and its Western counterparts from French Pop to Philly Soul to Ram-era McCartney. He spins his retro-minded influences and proliferates savvily in the present, synthesizing a songwriter's wit, an editor's eye, and a producer's resource into something singular and modern. SHINBANGUMI, his long-awaited third LP, and Ghostly International debut set for physical release in 2024 with a visual album component, translates roughly to a new season of a show. It finds Lew more poised, idiosyncratic, and intentional than ever in a new chapter of life, unlocking "exactly what Ginger Root should sound and feel like," he says. "In terms of instrumentation and musicality, it's the first time that I felt very confident and comfortable with what everything should be comprised of. On the more personal side, I'm coming out of the last four years of writing, touring, and living as a different person; SHINBANGUMI is a platform to showcase my new self."
Larry Mullins, langjähriger Mitarbeiter von Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Swans & The Residents, hat mit "Camissonia" ein einzigartiges und persönliches Soloalbum aus minimalen elektronischen Sci-Fi-Vignetten geschaffen, das lose auf den Schriften und dem Leben des deutschen Schriftstellers und Botanikers Adelbert von Chamisso basiert. Das Album ist nach der von Chamisso benannten Pflanzenart benannt, die von seinem Kollegen, dem Botaniker Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz, erstmals beschrieben wurde. Es ist größtenteils ein instrumentaler Soundtrack, der mehrere bemerkenswerte Ereignisse aus Chamissos Buch "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (Der Mann, der seinen Schatten verkaufte, 1814)" sowie seine tatsächliche Überseereise an Bord von Otto von Kotzebues Schiff, der "Rurik", während der Jahre 1815-1818, als Botaniker, musikalisch illustriert. Das Artwork zum Album besteht überwiegend aus drei Holzschnitten, die zwischen 1915 und 1919 von Ernst Ludwig Kirchner geschaffen wurden. Kirchner hegte Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, also ca. 100 Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung von Chamissos Buch, eine ähnliche Faszination für das Werk wie Larry Mullins weitere 100 Jahre nach Erstellung von Kirchners expressionistischem Meisterwerkes - dem "Peter Schlemihl-Zyklus". Diesmal erweitert "Camissonia" das Chamisso-Erbe als Interpretation in Musik. Camissonia wurde 2020 während der Lockdown-Periode in Wien, Österreich, aufgenommen, die das belebte Zentrum Wiens in einen Zustand einer evakuierten Sci-Fi-Dystopie versetzte. Während Mullins als Musiker im Burgtheater arbeitete, fand er seine Sammlung von Instrumenten plötzlich für die kommenden Monate im Orchestergraben eingeschlossen. Er hatte jedoch eine kleine Auswahl an Elektronik in seiner Wohnung und hatte auch die Möglichkeit, sie aufzunehmen. Außerdem hatte er einen Stapel Bücher zum Lesen, und ganz oben lag - "Der Mann, der seinen Schatten verkaufte". "Die Bilder dieser Geschichte verließen meinen Geist weder bei Tag noch bei Nacht. Ich begann, Chamissos echtes Leben zu erforschen und fand ein wildes Abenteuer rund um die Welt auf einem Schiff! Eine parallele nächtliche Obsession mit den Sci-Fi-Filmen von Rainer Werner Fassbinder verschmolz schließlich zu einem bizarren Moment der Klarheit. Ich richtete mein karges Equipment ein, um zu sehen, welche Klänge ich erzeugen konnte, um die Bilder in meinem Kopf zu interpretieren. Ich entdeckte, dass die mir auferlegten Einschränkungen eine eigene Atmosphäre schufen, und so entstand jeden Tag ein neues Musikstück. Nach meiner Rückkehr nach Berlin wollte ich das Projekt so schnell wie möglich abschließen und keine weiteren Instrumente hinzufügen, um die seltsame Qualität zu bewahren. Ich lud zwei Sängerinnen ein, die ich in Berlin kannte, um bei zwei Stücken einen Chor zu singen, und ich fügte bei einem weiteren Stück selber einen Chor hinzu. Dann schloss ich die Tür und warf den Schlüssel weg."
Debut album from Los Angeles duo Los Yesterdays - Sweet Soul music meets Mexican Folklorico
"Sweet soul music - also known as lowrider oldies on the West Coast, rolas and souldies - are typically early 60s-style tunes that emphasize vocal harmonies. Most songs are slow-to-midtempo, many are ballads, and the sub-genre is generally stripped down compared to the highly produced Motown hits of the time....there is a generations-long appreciation for sweet soul music among California’s Latino communities. Eastern Los Angeles teens.... helped foster a love of sweet soul in the early 60s by covering soulful ballads by artists like James Brown... Those sounds....were kept alive by record collectors and people who spent evenings cruising along East Los boulevards." - Los Yesterdays are a Chicano soul band from Los Angeles based around the creative collaboration between Gabriel Rowland and Victor Benavides. They began working together when Rowland - a drummer by trade, then creaky and exhausted from waking up at dawn to work construction - decided to channel those struggles into song. He contacted Benavides, a former bandmate of Rowland’s deceased brother, to record the soul ballads that Southland Chicanos call “oldies.” Los Yesterdays filter love-struck R&B crooning through guitar-strumming Mexican balladeering; the result is something that sounds like the Los Angeles of yesterday and today - the indelible, immovable Los Angeles of cruising Whittier Boulevard, of cold drinks on the porch on blazing summer nights, of watching a blue-orange toxic sunset and wondering if they are thinking about you. Los Angeles changes; Los Angeles stays the same. Los Yesterdays have changed, outgrown their childhood barrios and the bands of their early 20s and their private garage hermitude; Los Yesterdays are Frozen In Time.
Almost exactly one year after their debut album on Sdban Ultra (2023), the pan-European trio KAU continues their energetic trip with a double single release. This release, packed with intricate synthesizer arrangements, rapid drum patterns, and deep resonant basslines, is once again focused on capturing and translating their infectious live sound to tape.
Fully playing off their energetic band dynamics, the trio draws on elements of jazztronica, combined with familiar jam sounds from acts such as Yussef Dayes and corto.alto, transitioning into a groove atmosphere reminiscent of Flying Lotus. Imagine the fusion of British jazz with the innovative, vibrant 'Brussels sound'-that's where KAU sits.
"Kaugummi" (chewing gum) is the latest original track produced by the trio. The idea evolved by combining a 'dub' bassline with an intricate drum pattern. The melody is reminiscent of the EP's other side, "Mad Kau," as it uses similar unapologetic, richly diverse, and grooving elements. Both tracks culminate in highly energetic moments distinguished by aggressive arpeggiators and synths.
"Mad Kau" is a present-day remake of their previous 2022 release "Mad Max." It's a true representation of how the track is played by the trio on stage, with its iconic melody as the heartbeat of the song. It evokes moments of madness both within the musicians and the listener, hence the title.
INDIAN lets loose a glorious, down-tempo din on Guiltless, their third full-length and first for Relapse. The band's droning-doom demolishes listeners with colossal riffs, drums that pounds like hammers and blackened and absolutely tortured vocals. INDIAN's brand of doom is severe, and Guiltless offers no respite.
Born in Los Angeles in the early 1990s via a residency of week after week jam sessions at a dive club called Raji’s—then relocating to New Orleans—the band’s trajectory lasted about a decade and ended when Hurricane Katrina demolished their homes and the band members scattered. Key members included Vicki Peterson (Bangles), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Peter Holsapple (The dBs, R.E.M.), and many more—including the only member who has been with them from the beginning, Mark Walton (Giant Sand, The Dream Syndicate). However, there were also several singer/songwriters (Carlo Nuccio, Gary Eaton, Ray Ganucheau) without an impressive pedigree that shine as brightly as their slightly more famous bandmates. The best possible comparison that we can make is that the Continental Drifters had a similar vibe to the classic roots combo Delaney & Bonnie & Friends—more of a “collective’ than a band—in which there were several distinctly original lead singers, blistering sidemen instrumentalists and an inspiring blend of both original and seminal cover songs with a southern fried blue-eyed soul approach that couldn’t be beat.
Breaking new ground at The Third Room, we are introducing our first full EP by a guest artist, setting the stage for more to come.
Since quantum mechanics arose from classical physics' failure to explain microscopic phenomena, Berlin's exceptional creative mind Arthur Robert pays tribute to the interaction of little entities that can result in the release of colossal power and provide answers for questions older than the universe itself with his Particle Accelerator EP on The Third Room.
Genuine, dynamic techno that defines itself through crisp sound design, memorable textures, and highly compressed, sometimes distorted drum arrangements makes this piece of music a profoundly soundscaped lecture in four classes that gets its final, emotional touch from either melodic compositions or disruptive beeps. Creating those fascinating pieces within fast-paced and hard-hitting club sounds is one of Robert's trademarks, making him a hugely exciting producer.
Out from September 6th and available on all platforms and always remember - the whole is more than the accumulation of its units.
2024 The Third Room
Mastering by Ahmet Sisman (The Third Room Studios)
Artwork by Daniel Bornmann & Lennard Makosch (STUEDIO.XYZ)
2024 repress
Rush Hour’s RSS series excels in unearthing buried treasure, offering a second chance for artists and releases that have long been overlooked. That’s certainly the case with ‘Witches’, the superb sole single by British 1980s wave trio Zenana.
Originally released on seven-inch by the tiny PRM label in 1986, ‘Witches’ was the product of a sister-brother songwriting team whose music was mostly recorded in the front room of a terraced house in Nanpean, a small industrial village in Cornwall, England’s most south-westerly county. While the single was infectious, impeccably produced and dancefloor-ready, it sold in limited quantities at the time.
Zenana’s story can be traced back to the early 1980s, when singer-songwriter Anita Tedder founded the all-female trio as a vehicle for her musical ambitions. To bring her songs to life, she joined voices with her brother Mike, an early adopter of electronic music who had built a studio – nicknamed MFR, short for ‘Mike’s Front Room’ – in his Cornish home.
Countless Zenana tracks were recorded at ‘MFR’ between 1984 and ’86, with the resultant demo cassette securing the band a management contract, a slew of live bookings, a video shoot and even a television appearance. Buoyed by this underground success, they headed to the remote Sawmills Studio in Cornwall – famously only accessible by boat – to re-record ‘Witches’, a song inspired by local folk tales of witches gathering near Mike’s home.
While this version of ‘Witches’ failed to make an impact at the time, it has become something of a cult classic following its’ rediscovery by crate digger Kiernan Abbott – and subsequent championing by other dusty-fingered DJs including Antal, Skyrager, Trevor Jackson and Luke Una – in early 2023. The buzz inspired Zenana to perform live again for the first time in decades, with the story of their surprise comeback being covered by British media outlets including the BBC and (more surprisingly) the Daily Mail.
Now presented in re-mastered form, ‘Witches’ is a genuinely slept-on gem. Propelled forwards by punchy drum machine beats, a killer synth bassline and fizzing keyboard sounds, the song benefits greatly from strong vocals and an extra-percussive middle eight layered with vocalisations, cosmic spoken word sections and swirling noises.
It comes backed by a brand-new extended ‘spell of love’ courtesy of Bristol duo Bedmo Disco, AKA music journalist Matt Anniss (author of Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music) and DJ/production partner Gareth Morgan. Anniss is a long-time friend of Mike and Anita Tedder who has fond memories of visiting Mike’s home studio with his family around the time that ‘Witches’ was recorded.
Working from Zenana’s original MFR eight-track recording (tapes of the single version were lost years ago), Anniss and Morgan have turned in the extended ‘dance mix’ the track never had first time around. More atmospheric, clandestine and dancefloor-focused, it offers authentic nods to New York proto-house, mid-80s Shep Pettibone dubs, and the pioneering synth-pop productions and dub mixes of Factory Records regular Martin Rushent.
The debut album from Paris Paloma, 'Cacophony' follows (and includes) her breakthrough single 'labour'. Written around themes of feminine rage, societal expectations on women and deeply embedded misogyny, the album continues the deep consideration and dissection of Paris' own experiences and observations as a woman. 'labour', and subsequent singles including 'as good a reason', have seen her lyrics and music resonate deeply with an every growing fanbase. The 700+ fans at her sold out London show were termed a 'politely loving coven', capturing the sense of community and female energy which Paris inspires. Unheard tracks such as 'his land' are emotive and cinematic, while the gloriously climactic 'the last woman on earth' has become a fan favourite already via TikTok.
Every Trick in the Book' is the new single from Bristol-based beat makers, The Allergies. True to form, they've whipped up a sun-kissed groove that'll add a splash of colour to your day, whatever the weather. This A-side takes a vintage vocal sample from the 'Queen of Rock n Roll' herself – none other than Tina Turner! Yeah, you know 'Private Dancer', 'What's Love Got To Do With It', 'We Don't Need Another hero' etc. That Tina Turner! Jeez Louise!
Well the guys have supplemented her pipes with loops from a long-forgotten Latin boogie 12", and layers of live horns, cuts, drums, and FX, to give us a joyous mid-tempo groove that you'll be humming for weeks. While the flipside takes it back to '91, as long-time Allergies collaborator, Andy Cooper, reworks his hero Big Daddy Kane's classic 'Nuff Respect'.
This cover version takes the fast raps of the original, tweaks them, and fires them back over an explosive backdrop of scratches and b-boy beats.
Limited Gray Marble Vinyl. This vinyl edition includes two EPs, one on each side: 'By the Ash Tree' and 'Upstream Dream', originally recorded and released in 2020 and 2021 respectively. To connect these compositions, Matt Kidd (Slow Meadow) composed new segues/crossfades from song to song, allowing the pieces to be experienced in one cohesive and harmonious flow. From Marc Weidenbaum's 'Disquiet' review: "Slow Meadow's new album, 'By the Ash Tree', opens with cascades of delays and proceeds through three tracks of reflective piano". The title track of 'By the Ash Tree' is one of Slow Meadow's most popular and enduring compositions. 'Upstream Dream' was composed around the time of 2019's Happy Occident. Soft electronics, bearing otherworldly tones and, at times, a sense of playful mischief, subtly shift expectations and bring discovery and wonder at every turn. It bookends a period of creative output that introduced Kidd's vision of calming and meditative ambient music. With a foundation of piano, string orchestration, and an ever-evolving electronic palette, Slow Meadow traverses the borders of neoclassical and minimalist electronics and delivers a deeply personal and transportive experience that speaks directly to the ebbs and flows and mundanity and marvels of life.
- A1: Calequi Y Las Panteras Sandía
- A2: El Sr. Rojo Dos Gatos
- A3: Astrid Jones & The Blue Flaps Shine
- A4: Chacho Brodas Sta. Mandanga
- A5: Lalo López Limited Orchestra Contradicciones (Ft. Brigitte Emaga Y Kapi One)
- B1: Julia Martín Low
- B2: Donny´s Black Shoes Why?!
- B3: Drunk In Palace Hardfunk
- B4: Juli Giuliani On My Way
- B5: Javier Simón Las Paro Todas
Spanish new grooves for the new era! The latest sample of some of the best tracks from the effervescent and creative new scene of funk, soul and R&B produced in Spain!
For the first time on vinyl! We present the fourth volume of the SAMPLADELIA series. After the resounding success of the previous volume, Enlace Funk magazine has selected sounds from funk, soul and R&B made in Spain 2023 and which are published for the first time on vinyl format.
The fourth installment of Sampladelia opens with an infectious tribute to Prince by Calequi, El Sr. Rojo brings then a bomb of raw hip hop and funk. Astrid Jones & The Blue Flaps delights us with their luxury soul and Chacho Brodas with the production by Griffi, surrounded by an all-star of names, offers solid R&B.
Lalo López ends the side A with his Limited Orchestra with the best electro funk hit. The B side starts with Julia Martín´s modern soul anthem with a positive message for the dance floor. The second track, the debut of Donny's Black Shoes, is a shocking declaration of principles that will give a lot to talk about.
Drunk In Palace updates the sound of the 80s in a personal way and Juli Giuliani brings the groove to the dancers. The last track, “Las paro todas” by Javier Simón offers R&B loaded with a message. This volume of Sampladelia presents the effervescent and creative new scene of proposals based on funk, soul and R&B made here in Spain and never before published in physical format.
Tracklist Side A A1. Calequi Y Las Panteras: Sandía A2. El Sr. Rojo: Dos Gatos A3. Astrid Jones & The Blue Flaps: Shine A4. Chacho Brodas: Sta. Mandanga A5. Lalo López Limited Orchestra: Contradicciones (Ft. Brigitte Emaga Y Kapi One) Side B B1. Julia Martín: Low B2. Donny´S Black Shoes: Why?! B3. Drunk In Palace: Hardfunk B4. Juli Giuliani: On My Way B5. Javier Simón: Las Paro Todas
Suburban Base legend Mark XTC is back! Starting out at The Hacienda, and working in the mighty Eastern Bloc record store at the height of the rave scene, DJ XTC was on every major Rave flyer nationwide throughout the period. Going on to form Da Intalex with partner Marcus Intalex, releasing incredibly influential Drum & Bass during the earliest stages of its evolution. Mark XTC is currently a resident on Kool FM continuing to bring cutting edge music to a worldwide audience.
Collectors that have his Subbase releases Intalex Productions presents The X, and Ill Figure can now grab the next instalment! A four track EP of banging tunes celebrating the golden eras of Rave and Drum & Bass!
Genuine uncovered unreleased DATs from the period, Mark breaks down some info on these hidden gems!
'Unite' - Mark made this in the mid/ late 90s after working with vocalist Charmaine. Big distorted bass, 'Amen' drums and his trusty EMU sampler.
'To The Beginning' - Another late 90s creation, adding some P-Funk to the Amen drums with a Sub Bass filling the tune with heavy vibes.
'Oldskool Massive' - A more recently made dedication to the classic Belgium techno of early rave, with heavy 4/4, acid riffs and of course those distorted stabs and hoovers.
'Taking It Back' - Mark made this in 1998, and even then was taking you back to that classic 94 Jungle sound and loops.
The duo Acid Mondays have brought their quirky forms of house and techno to a wealth of respected labels over the years - Warp, Circus and 2020 Vision to name but a few. Now, Negghead and Lex Wolf can add Guy Gerber's forward-thinking RUMORS to that list, with their humorously-titled 'Tacos Per Minute' EP which looks set to add to the imprint's hard-earned reputation as a breeding ground for innovative techno.
The eponymous lead track features skittering metallic echoes, a pulsing sub-bass, distorted vocals and futuristic synth chords for an atmospheric opener.
The first of the B-sides, 'Mezcalid' takes things darker and deeper. Rattling, mechanical percussion combines with a satisfyingly heavy, rhythmic bass-line before joining skipping riders for an irresistible groove.
That characteristic sub-bass makes a reappearance in 'Techno Wellies', a track whose driving drums and up-tempo claps set the scene for a multitude of echoing effects and shimmying percussion eventually developing into a samba-esque piece of techno.
The 'Tacos Per Minute' EP is a danceable yet quirky techno release, whose attention to percussive detail and slightly dusty feel mark it out as a characteristic Acid Mondays production, sitting comfortably amongst the high-calibre catalogue of RUMORS releases.
Warehouse Find!
Swedish DJ/Producer Christian Nielsen debuts on Maceo Plex's Ellum imprint with the ‘Love Struck’ EP this May.
The four track EP continues a strong start to 2020 with releases from Raxon and Avision and, true to the label’s form, is all about weighty, characterful cuts from Nielsen, an artist who has previously chalked up releases for the likes of Kompakt, Of Unsound Mind and Play it Down.
The titular opener of ‘Love Struck’ is a swaggering, low slung affair with a growling bassline underpinning a pitch shifted vocal refrain and piercing rave stabs - a mutant beast which fuses techno, Garage and rave aesthetics in anthemic style. The skeletal rhythms and gritty acid flair of ‘For Myself’ follow in a track that, through some nifty builds, manages to pull off a big room energy as much as it does a basement vibe. ’Switch’ is next up and, with a rock solid groove, vocal sample and subaquatic tones, displays just how well Nielsen can create a monster with few elements. The heaviest track, ‘Pulse’, rounds off ‘Love Struck’ with a huge, padding kick drum and resonant percussive lead doing the heavy lifting while counterpointed by judiciously employed warm, cossetting jazz flute licks
The Petersons’ were a vocal trio from Waycross, GA, their performing name came from their founder, lead vocalist and drummer Kenneth Peterson, along with Keyboard player Salem Chatman and vocalist/bassist Johnny Members. The trio regularly performed shows along America’s East Coast, and it was while working in Philadelphia during early 1973 that the group answered an advertisement in Billboard Magazine quote “Masters Turned Down? We Are Looking for New Acts to Sign, Contact Omega Sound Productions, Philadelphia, PA”.
Omega Sound was a fledgling independent Recording Company formed by Frank Fioravanti a budding songwriter and former Encyclopedia Britannica Salesman for the initial purpose of find some extra work for the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra who were looking to earn some side money. As a result of answering the Billboard advertisement ‘The Petersons’ found themselves booked into Frank Virtue’s recording studio to record two Fioravanti and the late Alan Felder penned songs, the up-tempo “What’s It Gonna Be” backed by the melodic “Just What I’ve Been Looking For” Mel Omega (1833). With the release failing to make much noise, The Petersons returned to their native Georgia where they continuing to perform and record but under the group name of ‘Toll Darkness’. Fast forward circa 30 years and a couple of copies of this obscure Mel Omega 45 was introduced into the UK by Soul Bowl’s John Anderson where they gained belated recognition initially at the Soul Essence Weekenders through resident DJ Steve Guarnori with “Just What I’ve Been Looking For” being his chosen side. These initial copies had a paper sticker on them crediting the Artist as ‘Toll Darkness’ but the subsequent find of further copies with no sticker coverings, revealed the real artist to be ‘The Petersons’, intriguing? The reason behind the differing artist names is reputedly assumed to be that Ken Peterson took some copies of the Mel Omega 45 back to Georgia and pasted the ‘Toll Darkness’ group name stickers over the Petersons label credits to enable him to sell them at shows with his other ‘Toll Darkness’ 45 “Party/Love Makes Me Do Foolish Things on Alpha Records. The up-tempo backing track of The Peterson’s “What’s It Gonna Be” was a Frank Virtue arrangement that he had great faith in, hence it’s usage on plethora of other Philly artists recordings, i.e. Fred Mark, Liza Mae, Michael Christian, Cody Michaels etc over different record labels, Melomega, Concept, Fox Century Plaza and Merben.
Frank Fioravanti also founded the Sound Gems label which brought us the timeless classic “Your My Main Squeeze” recorded on the New Beford, MA group ‘Crystal Motion’. Omega Sound’s most notable achievement would be William DeVaughn’s 1974 hit “Be Thankful For What You Got”.
- A1: Hosanna (Meridian)
- A2: First Born (Redeemed)
- A3: When Angels Speak Of Love
- A4: Doubleupptown (Larocque)
- A5: W-I-S (Above Every Other)
- A6: Pistol Poem (Leadbelly)
- A7: Whip Appeal (Pipn8Ez)
- A8: Seven Trumpets
- A9: Giz'aard ($Uckets)
- A10: Helpmeet (Iyadunni)
- B1: Flir2A
- B2: U&Me (Decemberseventeen)
- B3: Illbethere, 4Everandever
- B4: Alàáfía (Cita's World)
Original Cover[27,52 €]
Honour's debut album is a ligament stretching from Lagos to London and to New York, curling across the diaspora and brushing the darker hues of blues, hip-hop, free jazz, ambient, gospel with Christian mythology and Yoruba folklore. As cinematic as it is painterly, Alàáfíà is a meditation on themes of life, death and love that pulls inspiration from the unexpected poetic profundity of casual conversations, field recordings, literature, ephemera, or personal archives. The result is an impressionistic vision in Black and Blur that both exhausts and implicates language_substantiating a mythos proposed by Fred Moten that sublimates boundaries between everywhere and nowhere; history and the present; the individual and the universal. Alàáfíà delineates a gothic landscape cut by overdriven beats, swooping orchestral blasts, choral bursts and ear- splitting fuzz, where the fleshly and spiritual realms commune. Dedicated to Honour's late grandmother, the title track began to take form after their last embrace and remains steeped in her influence and spirit_a tape-saturated composition that starts in Lagos and ends in London's smoke-stained cityscape, the song's dream-like quality developed out of the artist's grief and PTSD coping with this loss. Beneath the stretched guitar drones and stuttering loops, their grandmother's shared faith bubbles to the surface. "When Angels Speak of Love," borrows its title from two works by Sun Ra and bell hooks, respectively. Sculpting echoes of praise music into disorienting spirals perforated with syrupy DJ Screw-inspired breaks and sharp splinters of melancholic guitar, "When Angels Speak of Love" engages a conceptual dialogue with the spirits of both late thinkers, folding them into Honour's pantheon of ancestral guides. The album's ninth track, "Giz Aard ($uckets)," is a dirge of regimented drums which anchor this somber melody as it whirls into a blizzard of heartache, uncertain if its consequence will be death or eternal joy. The album's sole lyrical offering, "Pistol Poem (Lead Belly)," begins with a darkly humorous bar, "He went thru hell and back/ came back/ 2 get the strap," that swells into a haunting allegory based on the life of Philip "Hot Sauce" Champion. A modern take on the Blues, Honour's lyrics reify the artist's status as a student of both literature and popular culture, crossbreeding the artist's clever wordplay with additional references to Richard Pryor, Robert Johnson, Kelly Rowland & Bryon Gysin. Setting core principles of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and gospel music to atemporal soundscapes and compositions, Honour crafts a record that marinates in its own knotty contradictions. The ghosts that sit on the artist's shoulders have never been more tangible than with this emotive debut.
DDS presents the debut EP from unknown entity NZO, whomever she may be, dancing in the gaps between amapiano, Afrobeats, broken beat and R&B with a rare guile and flavour.
The 4th in the DDS 12” series, NZO helps stake the label’s 15th year of operations with a typically Janus-faced approach to classic >< contemporary club ruffage. Tune to tune, she decimates and distills familiar tropes in singular, whirring syncopations designed to prompt bodies to move in fresh new ways. It’s all primed for proper animist magick, bound to snag rhythm fiends with its shape-cutting manoeuvres.
Working deep in the hardcore ’nuum’s 30 odd year tradition of concrète sampler chicanery, the four tracks find fractured vocals and echoes of club classics revitalised and reset with advanced drum ingenuity. 160BPM opener ‘Concentrate’ appears like Hessle Audio’s Joe stripped for parts, whilst ‘Mallet’ swivels like SND remodelling Afrobeats’ palette of tuned percussions, next to what could almost be a lost Various Production edit in the sublime tension of syrupy R&B and frothing drums on ‘Come Alive’.
The EP ends with its standout, ‘Body & Soul’, an undulating ama simmer punctuated by dub chords like some lost Basic Channel production re-cast for the lovers.
- A1: Blunt Later For It (Stephen Brown Remix)
- B1: Vincent Desmont Thrust It (Markus Suckut Remix)
- B2: The Cruiser The Venue (Sawlin Remix)
- C1: B+A+D Moon, Sea And Waves (Alek S Remix)
- C2: B+A+D Moon, Sea And Waves (Alek S D-Town Edit)
- D1: Blunt 1Non1 (Joe Metzenmacher Remix)
- D2: Vincent Desmont Archensweet (Ashcaa Remix)
- E1: Ashppe Flexit (Drexl Remix)
- E2: Ashppe Fudge It (Simon Ferdinand Remix)
- F1: Ashppe Let's Do It (Alpha Gpc Remix Dub Mix)
- F2: Ashppe Let's Do It (Redrop Remix)
VDR Remixes: Beyond Music
The concept for this remix album evolved gradually through various encounters and exchanges. Despite its complexity, the project would not have come to fruition without the firm dedication of each artist involved.
Artists were given the freedom to select any track from my discography for their remix. With no directives, the LP's magic emerged from their unique styles and creative visions, resulting in a diverse palette of tones and rhythms.
The first record opens with Stephen Brown's electrifying remix of Blunt's "Later For It," originally released on Bright Sounds. Stephen's reinterpretation infuses the track with dark, captivating techno.
On the B-side, Markus Suckut presents his masterful adaptation of "Thrust It," a track marking my first release. Following this, Sawlin transforms "The Venue" from The Cruiser series, infusing it with his signature 'Made by Sawlin' style.
The second record continues with two compelling versions of "Moon, Sea and Waves" by Alek S. These reinterpretations—one dub techno and the other Detroit-oriented—offer a unique and immersive vision of the B+A+D tracks, originally released on Newmont.
On the flip side, Joe Metzenmacher delivers a daring electro remix of "1NON1" on D1, followed by Sicaa's bass music rendition of "Archensweet" on D2.
The third record is entirely dedicated to remixes of the Ashppe series, which I hold dear. Drexl provides a powerful breakbeat cut of "Flexit," a true bomb. Simon Ferdinand from Polycarp Records, with whom I had the pleasure of working, captures the punch and melancholy of "Fudge It". The LP concludes with two Dub 3.0 adaptations of "Let's do it" by Anthony Cacharron, using the aliases Alpha GPC and Redrop, ending on an exploratory high note.
A heartfelt thank you to all the remixers for their boundless creativity and commitment to this project
Lukas de Clerck brings us the ancient greek instrument, the aulos, of which his new interpretation of long form expression is coaxed forth on this tremendous recording. Lukas de Clerck explores a niche of archaeological research in music; the aulos is a historical Greek instrument that Lukas analyzed and reinterpreted by a luthier in modern times_navigating this impression as an artwork or living sculptural object, as there is an absence of historical partitions or written information about how to recreate technique on the instrument. Lukas de Clerck has interpreted information from the rare archaeological resources and visual art of the classical Greek period to recreate both playing technique and possible sound timbres with the instrument. With his contemporary approach to drone, post-minimalist music, and contemporary folk, we find a deeply satisfying and compelling, even playful set of songs, timbral exercises and compositions. An important document of new music meets contemporary archaemusicological research via Stephen O'Malley of SUNN O)))'s label Ideologic Organ. _ The telescopic aulos is speculative: might it have existed? It takes on features from the historical aulos, a double-reed instrument of which we know how it looked but little about what music was played on it or how it would have really sounded. It's an instrument without the limitations of canon or manual, providing creative freedom and awakening curiosity. The new instrument featured on this album is ancient and futuristic at once. The aulos has no tone holes; instead, each of the two tubes consists of three parts that can slide into each other. In this sense, the metal pipes bear a certain resemblance to the principle of a trombone. However, since both hands are already in use to hold both tubes, the sliding has to be done by way of gravity and the help of a «phorbeia», a leather mask which helps keep the reeds in place. The aulos's material is metal (instead of wood), which gives it a certain electronic allure and intensity, as well as a variety of sonic possibilities and textures. It produces overtones efficiently and allows them to play with their microtonality. The aulos Lukas plays on this recording was developed at Brasserie Atlas, a temporary occupation of a former brewery in the heart of Brussels where Lukas lives. It is quite a poetic coincidence that the birthplace of the instrument is named after the Greek titan condemned to carry the sky, while this instrument needs to be turned skywards to lower its pitch with the help of gravity. At Brasserie Atlas, Lukas has found collaborators who have shared in the process of building this new instrument: the collective Noir Métal has constructed the tubes, in this way becoming instrument builders; the phorbeia has been manufactured by Jot Fau; a former water reservoir in the vast cellar of the building carried the instruments' resonance for its first sounds. The place has left an imprint on this new instrument. With all of the telescopic aulos' layers, its sonic, musical and extra-musical components are still unfolding their potential as a medium for discovery and research, next to being an instrument of great musical potential. The music on The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas reflects this spirit. In several miniature pieces, it presents an encyclopaedia of musical possibilities that the instrument offers while keeping an intense and corporeal sonic specificity. The short pieces are studies that reflect on the sonic possibilities of this instrument that are yet to be explored. It meanders, searches and interacts with itself and the space. It needs to answer common expectations of old instruments being harmonious or pleasing. It transports a kind of experimental archaeology that, by formulating hypotheses in the present, allows us to reflect on what might have been in the past and simultaneously questions concepts of beauty, harmony or virtuosity. However, in the end, this instrument might have never existed before. -Julia Eckhardt
Crime In Australia follows 2022's The Real Work, the first Party Dozen record that (some) people were actually waiting for; the one that Nick Cave sang on; the one that had a track that billy woods jumped on for a rework; the one that took them to the USA, Europe (twice), Japan, China and New Zealand; the one that saw Party Dozen hook up with a cool US label (Temporary Residence Ltd.); the one that made Bandcamp, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan and a whole swathe of Australian radio stations declare it their Album of the Day/Week/Epoch; and the one that made KEXP invite the band in for a live session, and made Sub Pop add to their hallowed Singles Club. The Real Work was not the first Party Dozen record, but it was in many ways where Party Dozen really started to put it all together. Crime In Australia continues to build on their arc, and elevates their ascent with a slew of new songs that are simultaneously more focused and more feral than anything they've ever done. And there are no guests on this one.
Crime In Australia follows 2022's The Real Work, the first Party Dozen record that (some) people were actually waiting for; the one that Nick Cave sang on; the one that had a track that billy woods jumped on for a rework; the one that took them to the USA, Europe (twice), Japan, China and New Zealand; the one that saw Party Dozen hook up with a cool US label (Temporary Residence Ltd.); the one that made Bandcamp, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan and a whole swathe of Australian radio stations declare it their Album of the Day/Week/Epoch; and the one that made KEXP invite the band in for a live session, and made Sub Pop add to their hallowed Singles Club. The Real Work was not the first Party Dozen record, but it was in many ways where Party Dozen really started to put it all together. Crime In Australia continues to build on their arc, and elevates their ascent with a slew of new songs that are simultaneously more focused and more feral than anything they've ever done. And there are no guests on this one.
Isik Kural returns with Moon in Gemini, a luminous scrapbook of slow-flowing narratives couched in intuitive and symbolic storytelling. Bending a playful take on environmental music to the folk song form, Isik's vocals coo atop pastoral field notes, airy chamber instrumentation and archival recordings culled from a curious musical life. A tender pastiche coalesces across the suite of Moon in Gemini's fourteen pieces, and Isik invites the listener to daydream as-deep-as-possible. "The songs on Moon in Gemini don't mind being slower or taking their time to reach the listener," says Isik, who wanted the title to speak to the album's dreamy, liminal nature. "I enjoyed how the phrase could be used to describe an object, a time or a place simultaneously," he explains. Similarly and subsequently, these songs contain a multiplicity of sonic artifacts, moments and spaces that span Isik's rich musical career to date. With the bulk of the album realized between Amasya, Turkey and Isik's current home in Glasgow, in both domestic and studio recording environments, additional tracks unearthed from his personal recording archive lend their lush patina. The record emerged as a fertile space to reimagine a handful of previously unreleased songs and unfinished ideas spanning the past fifteen years of his life and work, including streetside sounds documented while growing up in Turkey and recordings made while studying music engineering in Miami, Helsinki and Glasgow. Looking to the more recent past, Isik found himself wanting to build upon some of the methodologies and textures explored on his 2022 album in february, seeking a newly intimate, vocal-forward sound. He points to the track "film festival" from that album as a door through which to enter Moon in Gemini, where sample-based arrangements are presented in the context of asymmetrical "build ups and progressions" and ambience and vocals intertwine. Inspired in part by listening to iconic, if not sometimes misunderstood, singers such as Nina Simone, Aldous Harding and Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, Isik aimed to carve out a new space for his voice on Moon in Gemini, experimenting with novel recording and mixing techniques. Captured at his aunt's farmhouse in Amasya during an extended three week recording session, we find Isik's vocal high in the mix, front-and-center and on newly expressive terms. As a songwriter, Isik is an intuitive and playful lyricist who allows his deep love of literature to flow through his off-kilter texts. Here, echoes of Silvina Ocampo's poem "Dialogues of the Silence" reverberate from the margins of "Most Beautiful Imaginary Dialogues". Likewise, Elliott Smith and Virgina Astley shapeshift through "Behind the Flowerpots," some lines of which were based on misheard lyrics from Smith's "Stickman" and Astley's "Some Small Hope." Attuned to the magic of happy coincidences, other unexpected "themes and connections between tracks flourished" during the recording process, resulting in some songs being more "thematically and lyrically connected to each other compared to previous records." The duos "Prelude" and "Interlude" as well as "Grown One Iota" and "After a Rain" explore connected stories, while "Almost a Ghost" and "Behind the Flowerpots" serendipitously emerged out of a conversation with Stephanie "Spefy" Roxanne Ward, whose balmy vocals heard highlighting in february return and call out to Isik's in sweet dialogue. Plumbing these new potentials of structure and songwriting, Isik also developed a taste for an expanded sonic palette, one enriched by the lulling undertones of live woodwinds and strings. The resulting collaborations with flutist Tenzin Stephen, harpist Kirstin McCarlie and clarinet player Giulia Tamborino envelop the record in an altogether "dreamier sound," swaying pastel and awash in lunar light. Moon in Gemini, brimming with natural imagery and lullaby-inflected tones, tunes into states of being where the wonder filled sound of everyday is heard and felt, perfectly imperfect in its poetry; where the invisible steps forward; where dauntless ghosts wait around every corner and play enriches the soul; where bird song fills sun-soaked afternoons and carries us on its wings into each enchanted evening. Isik Kural's Moon in Gemini will be released on vinyl, Japanese import CD, and digital editions on September 6, 2024. On behalf of Isik and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Mor Çaty Women's Shelter Foundation, whose social work at their solidarity centers and shelters supports women building lives unhindered by gender-based discrimination and male violence under free and equal conditions.
Geschrieben wurden die Hauptteile der Songs auf 'Fever Dreams' im Laufe von zwei Jahren, aufgenommen wurden sie in einer Reihe von Full-Band-Studio-Sessions Ende 2019 und Anfang 2020. Während der langen, entschleunigten Pandemie-Tage verfeinerte O'Brien sie in seinem winzigen Heimstudio in Dublin. Gemischt wurde das Album von David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The XX, FKA Twigs). Ursprünglich erschien das Album im August 2021.
Format: Orangene Vinyl inkl. Downloadkarte
BASIC is a mind-meld between Chris Forsyth, his frequent running partner (and formidable 6-string thinker) Nick Millevoi, and Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society). "This Is BASIC", their debut album, is a complex and entrancing instrumental LP recasting forgotten scraps of guitar history into a moving mosaic of strings, skins and electronics. Taking inspiration (and their name) from the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album ("Basic"), Forsyth and Millevoi got together for a run of low-key jam sessions using an Alesis drum machine for rhythm tracks and forging a collaborative language from angular polyrhythms, pulsing baritone-guitar lines, and shimmering chorus-pedal washes (another stylistic nod, this time to the glistening post-punk of the Durutti Column and numerous 4AD bands). Avery was soon enlisted on drum kit_a setup that quickly morphed into a single drum, bell, and a bespoke electronics rig of his own creation. The trio quickly flowered into an improvisational swirl of disorienting electronics, hypnotic throb, and dense flanged-guitar harmonics: three unique voices spinning a complex conversation of textures and rhythms.
Dutch artist LEYO delivers his debut album via Cécille Records this September, comprised of eight originals and featuring collabs with Toman and Thierry Ganz.
LEYO is a project based out of Amersfoort in the Netherlands, marking its beginnings here with an LP composed utilising a
full band set up, vocals from Thierry Ganz and a singular collaborative appearance from fellow Dutch artist, Toman. The debut album showcases LEYO’s depth of influences, straddling the lines throughout between soulful electro-pop and funkinfused disco jams through to more raw house and sun drenched lounge cuts.
Opener ‘Hello (Intro)’ sets the tone with bumpy drums, psychedelic guitar tones and a dreamy phone call voice before
‘Don’t Do It’ picks up the pace, blending funky guitar lick, organic percussion and resonant synth leads with sporadic vocal
chants. Thierry Ganz first appearance on the album follows with ‘Know Your Name’, merging together Ganz hypnotic vocal
stylings with choppy bass stabs, cinematic strings and crisp disco drums. ‘Open Up The Trunk Do It’ then shifts gears into
jazz-tinged raw house territory via twinkling keys, saturated drums and a vacillating low-end drive.
Up next LEYO welcomes both Toman and Thierry Ganz into the mix for ‘That Booty’, a high octane disco house jam fuelled
by swinging drums, soulful vocals and tension building atmospherics. ‘That’s Why’ then brings down the pace to a more
dreamy aesthetic with fluttering keys and wandering synths intertwined with congas and breathy vocals. The final full
length track ‘Without You’ then lays down a shuffled rhythm section and plucked guitar lines with hypnotic chords and
filtered vocals throughout its six and a half minute duration before ‘On My Mind ft. Thierry Ganz (Outro)’ concludes the
package in a fully- fledged funk fashion, Ganz lays down his signature vocal style uttering the tracks title while underpinned
by wandering bass notes, bouncy drums, wandering guitar notes and Moog style synth licks.
Air, Nico, St Etienne, Kid Loco, Young Marble Giants, Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan, Andrew Weatherall, Robert Wyatt and Serge Gainsbourg. Limited edition first pressing of 500 copies on "Mock Turtle" Blue. International collaboration between artists in Glasgow, London, Paris & New York. Mastered by Shimmy-Disc founder Kramer. Accompanying visual art work by Film and art director Tim Saccenti. Inspired by the intensity of lockdown, the self-titled debut album by electro-pop project Gates of Light, is the result of a collaboration between five artists across four cities, three time zones and two continents. Hailing from Glasgow, singer-songwriter Louise Quinn and producer Bal Cooke teamed up with London-based DJ and producer Scott Fraser; Parisian musician, DJ and producer Kid Loco; and film director and photographer, New York’s Tim Saccenti - who has previously worked with Run The Jewels and Pharell- to create a sublime, electro-pop reflection on the grief, insularity and peculiar highs of lockdown. Immediately after hearing the album, revered post-punk musician and producer Kramer offered to release the vinyl edition on his iconic cult label Shimmy-Disc, which boasts an impressive back catalogue of artists including Daniel Johnson, Low and Galaxie 500. A project grounded on collaboration - born from a period of disconnect - Gates Of Light perfectly amplifies the longing, confusion, lucid dreams and appreciation of the outdoors that the pandemic ignited in so many over the last couple of years. Originally written and recorded by Louise and Bal from their bedroom studio in Glasgow whilst their one-year-old twins slept, the tracks were then sent to Scott and Kid Loco who remixed the tracks from home studios in London and Paris before Tim created the artwork and a video for the track ‘When The Leaf Falls’. Gates Of Light is the latest project from Louise and Bal who have released music in the past as A Band Called Quinn and DAWNINGS. Louise and Scott Fraser have also previously collaborated following a chance encounter at a nightclub in Glasgow. Their single ‘Together More’ was released on Andrew Weatherall’s renowned Birdscarer vinyl imprint in 2019 and featured a remix by the Guv’nor himself who described the track as “sublime magik”.
Reissue des zweiten James Holden-Albums von 2013, das zum ersten Mal seit 7 Jahren wieder auf Vinyl erhältlich wird. Im Gegensatz zu seinem Debütalbum "The Idiots Are Winning" (2006) erforscht Holden auf der Triple-LP "The Inheritors" die (Un-)Tiefen der elektronischen Musik und liefert eine ausgewogene Balance zwischen brachialen Experimenten und transformativen Trips. "The Inheritors" wurde von Resident Advisor zum Album des Jahres gekürt und schaffte es in die Jahresbestenlisten von The Quietus, The Wire, Drowned In Sound und Bleep.
Over 20 years of friendship and Reggie Dokes and Red D are still at it. Their first joint E.P. was released on Red D’s We Play House Recordings label and kicked off the label’s much-lauded U.S. Series. Moving back across the pond we now find Reggie and Bart sharing a release on Reggie’s legendary Psychostasia imprint.
On the A-side Reggie is bringing his trademark sound and taking it deeper than ever. Moody melancholy paired with solid beats and drums to take you into deep house heaven. On the flip Red D brings his Detroit inspiration into deep and swinging techno territory reminding us of Scan 7 and the likes with a vocal that gives a respectful nod to an Underground Resistance classic. Can you get into the sound?
On their seventh long player The Breaks - their second for Joyful Noise Recordings - SUUNS are lost in limbo. For some artists, being caught in flux may result in songs that are either naive, out of touch or both, simply as a consequence of being cut off from human civilization. But for SUUNS, a band who have grown more than comfortable in the oblique and the intermediate, it actually had the opposite effect. The Breaks marks the Montreal experimental rock outfit's most emotionally resonant and tonally rich collection of music to date. The trio of Ben Shemie, Joseph Yarmush and Liam O' Neill leans more zealously than ever into their pop instincts. Yet remarkably enough, with that same dauntless abandon, SUUNS have mined a more extreme sonic palette this time around, one that stretches far beyond their core fundamentals as a band. The Breaks finds Shemie, O'Neill and Yarmush gleefully experimenting with loops, synths, samples and MIDI-instruments like a post-millennial Tangerine Dream messing with downtempo triphop beats. O' Neill took point in the producer's chair for The Breaks, arranging, structuring and editing many of Shemie and Yarmush's ideas from sporadic rehearsal sessions into Pro Tools, reimagining the songs over and over during a two-year time frame. Forged between countless plane rides, road trips, van tours and text threads, The Breaks became a product of endurance and a lot of trial-and-error. It's a record forged in tight fissions of freedom, where spells of whispered intimacy - like on the stunning ballad "Doreen" - are allowed to branch out into the vast glacial dreamscapes of the album's majestic title track. It captures SUUNS at their most panoramic, curious and exuberant: a constant relay of being adrift and enlightened anew, geared up to eleven. And guess what: the wheels keep on spinning.
A new album by Medway's premier alt-folk outfit The Singing Loins! Yes indeed. We caught up with Rob Shepherd to find out more about their brilliant new LP Twelve_ Q: "The new album is called Twelve. Could you settle an office debate - is it your 12th album or have you called it that because it has twelve songs on it? (We thought Here On Earth was your 12th but not according to Discogs. Also, our ability to count accurately has diminished over the years!)" A: "A bit of both. Course, there's the 12 songs, but then, depending on how you count, it's also our 12th album (from 91-98, there's the 1st 4 LPs that Damaged Goods collected together on The Complete & Utter - that's a comp though, so we can't count that eh - then there's At The Bridge with Billy, so that's 5_..we can skip Alive In Dunkerque as well cos it's a live album....then there was 2004-13 where we made four more with you, then in 2019 we got back together and made 13 Moon Songs From Merry Hell, released on the Vacilando 68 label...so that's 10_and then we did another record with Billy, The Fighting Temeraire_ so yeah, that makes this one number 12)." Q: "The album has features newly recorded versions of several Loins classics. Was it a difficult decision deciding which back catalogue songs to record?" A: "No, pretty easy - it's basically the 12 songs we enjoy playing the most with the current lineup. Saying that, it's been a bit of a meandering road getting to this point. Since Brod passed away, Arf & me have done few nights of Loins songs - and it's felt good - celebrating the songs we all wrote together - so that started the selection process. Oli, Arf's lad, joined us on percussion and then Rich, who Billy had introduced to us, joined on violin - then Chris came along to play the drums, so Oli switched to guitar - and through all that we were refining the set of songs, and we got a point where we felt that, yeah, we've sort of worked out how to do this (you know, respecting and celebrating our past, without coming on like a tribute band to ourselves), so it made sense to make the album - just to reflect where we'd arrived at....so we went into Jim's Ranscombe Studios and bashed them all out live in a couple of hours....no overdubs, no fussing over mistakes....just sing and play the songs as if it was a gig." Q: "It's been 33 years since the debut Loins' LP - How does it feel to be the elder statemen of Kent's alt-folk scene?" A: "Ha ha, are we? We don't know any other folk bands, alt or not, so it doesn't feel as though we're qualified to be the statesmen of anything! Elder, certainly, but statesmen? Nope." Q: "There's been plenty of gigs recently with more to come around the album's release, including some European dates. For people who've not seen you before what can they expect from a Loins gig?" A: "Yeah, as I said, now that we've worked out how to do this, and as we're having so much fun with it, we thought we'd get out & about. We're off to Serbia immediately after the album's release, so that'll be an adventure - Serbia was always special for us (Aleks, the promotor, took us out there to play seven or eight times in all) and we've stayed in touch over the years, so it'll be lovely to see everyone out there again. As for what can anyone expect when they see us? "Riotous fun filled joy" I've just been told, but best let everyone else be the judge of that!" Q: "The Singing Loins wouldn't have existed of course if it wasn't for Chris Broderick. Chris sadly passed in 2022. What would he have thought about the fact you're carrying on with the band and recording new music?" A: "Yeah_ he'd be happy. In the week before he passed away, he asked Arf & me over, basically to say goodbye and tie up any loose ends. And he told Arf that we should carry the Loins on. So yeah, I think he'd be pleased and proud that we're keeping the songs, and his words, alive."
Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.
In 2019, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyōgo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as shō and saxophone to its soundscapes. Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish shō player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.
In 2019, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyōgo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as shō and saxophone to its soundscapes. Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish shō player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Aki is an emerging jazz collective led by drummer Anke Verslype. The core of the group consists of guitarist Willem Heylen, bassist Ruben De Maesschalck and harpist Marjolein Vernimmen. They perform atmospheric jazz with at its base uncomplicated, restrained melodies whose boundaries are pushed during improvisations.
With two previous EPs, "Warm Days" and "Niobe," aki has already impressed. In the fall of 2022, they surprised their audience with the debut of their first full-length album,
titled "Nader," released under W.E.R.F. records. This album featured an exciting collaboration with Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet, who added a new dimension to their sound.
For theirlatest album and upcoming tour, aki once again joins forces with Joachim Badenhorst and asked Niels Van Heertum (euphonium) as a guest. This expansion enriches the color palette of their music and brings out a new depth. Together they create a unique sound that takes listeners on a journey of warmth and melancholy, somewhere between cinematic landscapes, jazz and minimalism.
Almost 3 years after the release of "Mathusalem", François Ier reveals his fiery successor, "Incendie". In keeping with his previous releases, this new opus has been conceived on the basis of enveloping layers, deep bass and harmonies that are always very rich. The melancholy dimension characteristic of his music is also omnipresent, although it sometimes asserts itself with a form of violence.
Like its abundant cover, this new opus deploys an extremely varied range of sounds, most often evoking strong English influences, with breakbeat, jungle, drum'n'bass and new-wave rhythms, all supported by vocal samples with dancehall, reggae, r'n'b, reggaeton and hip-hop accents, resulting in a hybrid sound to say the least. "Incendie" is marked by the systematic use of the Prophet 8 synthesizer, whose wild, constantly shifting sound underlines the fiery character of this new opus.
- 01: Johnny April - She Had A Pikanese (Feat. Mat Matthews Quartet)
- 02: Lu Elliott - Common Sense
- 03: Lloyd Fatman - No Big Thing (Pt.1&Amp;2)
- 04: Billy J - Teacher Teach Me
- 05: Wayne Johnson - Scram Gravy Ain&Apos;T Wavy (Feat. Brigade)
- 06: 4 Dimensions - Hipper Snapper
- 07: The Villagers - Funky Broadway
- 08: The Rippers - Honesty
- 09: Exceptional Citizens Band - Proud Mary
- 10: Gus Brendel - Sax On The Rocks
- 11: The Hornets - Seven Days To Tahiti
- 12: Bret Breitinger - Jive Samba
- 13: Downtown Trio - Summertime
- 14: Onyx - Break It Loose (Pt.1)
- 15: The Shake And Bake Band - Shake And Bake (Pt.1&Amp;2)
- 16: Lou Jackson - Outside Looking In
- 17: Energy Crisis - Tough Times Blues
- 18: Soul Unlimited - Do It
- 19: Soul Unlimited - Darkside Of Town
** INITIAL 400 LPs CONTAIN A BONUS 7" SINGLE **
MOVEMENTS Vol.12 – A bag full of rare rhythm & blues, mod-jazz, and mid 70s funk.
Side A starts with rhythm & blues from the 1960s. Most of the tracks were pulled from hopelessly obscure 7" singles. The only names of which some of you might be familiar with are most likely Mat Mathews and Lu Elliott. However, both original 45 RPM singles are pretty hard to find these days, especially in playable condition.
Side B is all about deepfunk this time. "Hipper Snapper " is a prime example of that genre. Some say its groove is reminiscent of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself. Agreed! The Villagers are responsible for the first 'aha' moment. Their (previously unreleased!) version of "Funky Broadway" would have certainly astounded even Dyke & The Blazers. Representing Germany on this volume: The Rippers, also called the "Offenburg Beatles"! Back in the USA, John Fogerty has probably never heard of this heavy school-funk cover of "Proud Mary". Drum breaks galore!
Side C begins with another German contribution. Saxophonist Gus Brendel delivers a mod-jazz belter of the highest order as do The Hornets. Definitely sure-shots for any dance floors! High time for 'aha' moment #2. Many bands have tried their hands on a cover version of the Nat Adderley jazz classic, incl. vibraphone player Bret Breitinger! The perfect choice to finish this side is Downtown Trio's smooth and groovy cover of Gershwin's "Summertime ".
Side D is reserved for proper 1970s funk. ONYX's "Break It Loose " has become a certified Rare Groove classic. Here you can enjoy it for the first time with the blessing of the band! Glenn Doughty and his Baltimore Colts Shake and Bake Band of the 70's is the first musical group consisting of former NFL All-Pro players that Tramp Records has partnered with in its history! Watch out, "Shake and Bake " will be re-released on a good old 45 RPM single, too!
Those of you who have been enjoying the detective work of the people behind the label over the past 21 years know that the Movements series can be easily considered as the flagship compilation series on Tramp. So, after having listened to the entire selection of this brand new volume we sincerely hope that we will have achieved our aim to surprise, delight, and enlighten you once again!
Key selling points:
- initial 400 LPs contain a bonus 7" of a SUPERRARE funk 45
- incl. full album download code
- deluxe double-gatefold LP with detailed liner notes & unseen photographs
- ALL but three songs appear on CD, LP & digital for the very first-time
Ltd Edition - 200 copies**
Canadian-currently-residing-in-Berlin and multi intstrumentalist Aidan Baker teamed up with Dutch demolition duo Dead Neanderthals late 2023 to work on the collaborative album entitled Cast Down and Hunted.
Cast Down and Hunted is an abstract affair. Angular and dark, droney and lush. Two lengthy tracks, Subterfuge and Paranoia, each fill one side of the LP, which will be released by the Dutch label Moving Furniture Records.
The artwork was made by Steven Kenny and the album layout was done by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek).
The album was mixed and mastered by Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio.
ABOUT AIDEN BAKER
Aidan Baker is a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist focusing on the electric guitar as his primary instrument. Using prepared and alternate methods of playing the guitar, along with various electronic effects, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genre but draws on influences from post-rock, shoegaze, electronica, neo-classical, and jazz.
A highly prolific artist, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with various group projects—most notably his dreamsludge duo, Nadja—and including collaborations with Tim Hecker, Carla Bozulich, Jussi Lehtisalo, and Andrea Belfi, among others—on such independent labels as Karlrecords, Gizeh Records, Important Records, and his own imprint, Broken Spine Productions. A frequent live performer, Baker has toured extensively around the world, including appearances at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, Unsound, Roadburn, and Mutek.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Baker currently resides in Berlin, Germany.
ABOUT DEAD NEANDERTHALS
Dead Neanderthals have spent more than a decade putting together an eclectic and envious back catalogue that spans multiple genres – from free-jazz to grindcore to doom drone by way of psychedelia – and continuously throwing curve balls that defy expectations. You never know what you’ll get, but you know it’ll be heavy.
ABOUT MOVING FURNITURE RECORDS
Moving Furniture Records is a label based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands specialized in releasing experimental electronic music, run by Sietse van Erve, started in October 2008. We are mostly interested in drones, minimalist, microtonal and field-recordings music.
Moving Furniture Records has released music by both renowned, musicians such as Richard Chartier, BJNilsen, Jos Smolders, Gareth Davis & Merzbow and Machinefabriek, as (young) new talent such as Gagi Petrovic, Fani Konstantinidou, and Ryan van Haesendonck.
Aside from the regular releases Moving Furniture Records has two special series: Eliane Tapes: music inspired by and dedicated to the work of Éliane Radigue. Contemporary Series: contemporary music written for acoustic and electro-acoustic ensembles and solo artists.
Moving Furniture Records also organizes concerts in various venues in Amsterdam. For all our releases and more information
PM Warson returns with the new album "A Little More Time". Having established himself as "one of the leading lights on the modern-day R&B scene" (Shindig! magazine UK), his third long-player represents an expansion of his mid-century vision. Less a departure, more an arrival, the album moves beyond the R&B revivalism of his previous work, taking in a breadth of styles and moods within its distinctly '60s sonics.
Recorded at Lightship 95, London's floating analogue studio, the 10 original tracks combine the direct feel of live performance, alongside a developed songwriting and production approach. The album is led by the second single (following "Right Here, Last night") and title track "A Little More Time" setting the tone with a dose of sweeping vintage pop and uptown soul. "For this record I wanted to channel the sound I'd developed playing live with a band, while at the same time further exploring my songwriting. I allowed my wider influences to permeate a bit more and placed the vocal and lyric more forward in the songs" PM Warson says.
PM Warson is a UK musician, songwriter and producer. He emerged in 2021 with the album "True Story", after a series of DIY vinyl releases. Breakout single "(Don't) Hold Me Down" surfaced initially among soul collectors (with the original release clocking in at over $200 on collector sites), before finding a wider audience on European radio and streaming platforms.
With touring opportunities limited due to the ongoing pandemic travel restrictions, he turned his attention to a quick-fire follow-up. The lean, brooding "Dig Deep Repeat" was released in May 2022, led by the single "Leaving Here". Extensive tour and festival dates throughout Europe followed, where he gained a reputation as an impressive live act, performing alongside the likes of Cedric Burnside, Robert Finley, Nick Waterhouse and GA20.
After a run of dates in France, and an appearance at the legendary 100 Club in London, he set about working on new music during 2023. Having released the single "Right Here, Last Night" as a 7inch vinyl on his own Acid Jazz-distributed FYND marque, he teams up again with Légère Recordings for his third album, the expansive "A Little More Time".
Black Truffle is thrilled to present a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX the first ever solo release from Laetitia Sonami. Born in France in 1957, Sonami studied with Éliane Radigue in Paris before moving to California in 1978 to study electronic music at Mills College, going on to make important innovations in the field of live electronics interfaces and multi-media performance. Sonami is perhaps most closely associated with one of her inventions, the Lady’s Glove, an arm-length tailored glove fitted with movement sensors allowing the performer fluidly to control digital sound parameters and processing, as well as motors, lights and video playback. Having performed with the Lady’s Glove for 25 years, Sonami retired it in 2016, turning her attention to the interface/instrument heard and pictured here, the Spring Sprye.
In Sonami’s own description, “The Spring Spyre is composed of three thin springs that are attached to reverb tank pickups, mounted on a metal ring. The audio generated when the springs are touched, rubbed or struck is analyzed in Max/MSP. The extracted features are then used to train machine learning models in Wekinator and Rapidmax and control the audio synthesis in real time. We never actually hear the springs.” After decades of aversion to documenting her work on recordings, a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX treats listeners to two side-long performances with the Spring Spyre: the very first piece developed for the instrument and the most recent, the two contrasting remarkably in sound palette, energy and form. A Song for two Mothers (2023) spins an intricate web of rippling synthetic burbles, rapid sweeps and fizzing textures. Performed in real time with the sensitive and partly uncontrollable Spring Sprye ("a bit tyrannical," Sonami calls it), the music is delicate yet chaotic. Abrupt gestures hover against a backdrop of silence, "devoid of spatial or temporal direction". After several minutes, the sound-world becomes metallic and percussive, tapping and ticking in pointillistic flurries before a wavering harmonic cloud emerges, sprinkled with resonant drips and pops.
Occam IX is a radically different proposition. At the outset of Sonami’s exploration of the Spring Sprye, she asked her former teacher Éliane Radigue to compose a piece for it—and her: like all of Radigue’s work since she ceased working with analogue electronics at the beginning of the 21st century, Occam IX is written not only for an instrument but also for a particular performer. These scores are developed verbally, through meetings and conversations between performer and composer; each is grounded in an image (usually kept from listeners, to avoid influencing their experience); all magnify the subtlest acoustic phenomena and require great commitment and patience from the performer. Sonami’s is one of the few Occam pieces to make use of electronics, bringing it closer to Radigue’s famous longform pieces for ARP 2500. Beginning from a rumbling low tone, the listener is gradually immersed in slowly lapping waves of synthetic tones, eventually thinning out into delicate bell-like pings against a background of white noise, reminiscent of one of the most beautiful sections of Kyema from the Trilogie de la Morte.
Accompanied by notes from Sonami, her longtime collaborator Paul DeMarinis, and Radigue, and illustrated with scores, photographs and images of the Spring Spyre, a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX is an essential document celebrating an under-recognised pioneer of electronic music and performance.
Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.
The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”
Dawson’s latest offering, The Tinnitus Chorus, is an album of wide-eyed collaborations. He is joined by an inspired cast of revered friends and kindred strangers including Suso Saiz, M. Sage (Fuubutsushi), Eli Winter, K. Freund, (Trouble Books / Lemon Quartet), Dasom Baek, Lina Langendorf (Langendorf United), Vumbi Dekula, Jairus Sharif, Yutaka Hirasaka, and his bandmates in Peace Flag Ensemble. The collection is bookended by two pieces with Michael Grigoni. From birdsong and decaying tape to Western sprawl, each of Dawson’s previous solo records have moved in a singular direction but here he approaches things through a kaleidoscopic lens. While his weathered ambient sketches serve as a through line, they are woven with all manner of instrumentation from clarinet and modular synth to steel guitars and flugelhorn. Improvised Congolese guitar nuzzles next to American experimental folk. Handmade electronics give way to spiritual sax. M. Sage contributes something referred to as a “mystic music box”. The result is a strange and beautiful journey that feels lost between genres and yet wholly unified. Dawson reflects on the genesis of album with a smirk and a shrug. He has been marred by ear troubles in recent years and had been struggling to complete an album of solo material. The clicks, ringing tones, and hiss in his ears had been drowning out the ringing tones, clicks, and hiss in his studio. When he reached out to We Are Busy Bodies to provide an update on the record he was met with an unsuspecting proposal that perhaps he shift focus to an album of collaborations. The truth is he had been ruminating on the idea for years and the nudge from WABB proved to be the motivation he needed to shelve his insecurities and invite artists he admires to join him for The Tinnitus Chorus.
Between December 2022 and January 2024, the collective De Niemanders (producer Rick Wiegerinck joined the team) visited asylum seekers' centers in the Netherlands with a mobile studio, searching for singers, musicians, and their music and stories. The music sessions were mostly filled with pure joy, while the conversations were heavy, hopeless, hopeful, cheerful, and everything in between. The collective connected with creative individuals from all over the world, who in turn introduced them to even more artists, writers, and storytellers. Rocco, Wout, and Rick quickly realized that they needed to offer more than ‘just’ the music album as a platform, so a completely unique Niemanders newspaper was born, and journalist Christianne Alvarado joined for a six-part podcast series.
Following their instincts, they created a new Niemanders album that became a genuine collaboration between the people they met and themselves. A significant difference from the prisons was that this time, the singers and musicians could be recorded in a mobile studio. As a result, the album is a mix of many singers and languages, telling the stories of their journeys, dreams, families, past lives ‘back home,’ and their current situation as refugees. There are songs inspired by the stories that residents of asylum seekers' centers told or wrote down, sung by Rocco, while other tracks emerged from writing sessions with singers Isma IP, Guy-El Mabiala, Q-Mars, and Hamid Reza Behzadian, and are also sung by them. The song material is a creative melting pot of colorful music that ranges from swinging afrobeat, highlife, desert rock, and rootsy psychedelia, but the alternative rock for which Ostermann and Kemkens are known also seeps through. You could say that, with few exceptions, each song is a film soundtrack for the text.
Unfortunately, the harsh reality of asylum procedures also intruded into some of the blossoming musical friendships. Due to a negative decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), one of the great singers was forced to leave the Netherlands. This is just one example of the lack of control over—and the nerve-wracking wait for—an IND decision, which unfortunately seems to be something every person in an asylum procedure must endure. The asylum process can bring years and years of uncertainty and waiting, or sudden deportation.
„Unrepentant Geraldines“ markierte 2014 Tori Amos’ Rückkehr zur Pop- und Rockmusik, nach einem
Ausflug in eher klassische Gefilde. Aufgenommen in ihren eigenen Studios, und von ihrem Ehemann
Mark Hawley sowie Marcel van Limbeek produziert, besticht das Album durch seine Reduktion auf das
Wesentliche: Toris Stimme und ein Klavier. Bei den Texten ließ sich Amos von Gemälde und Fotografien
inspirieren. Der Rest ist Geschichte: Das von den Kritikern gefeierte Album wurde ein voller Erfolg! Diese
Deluxe Version ist als schwarze 180g Doppel Vinyl erhältlich und umfasst alle 17 Tracks des Albums,
einschließlich drei Bonus-Tracks, die zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht werden.
- A01: Spindyrella - Sinnlös
- A02: Imaginary Friend Feat. Riah - Knight Sugar
- A03: Karya Zevas - Cosmos
- A04: High Park Funk - Shades On
- A05: Ranko - Escalator Eyes (Cuts By Dj Juicy)
- A06: Brett Eclectic - Keep Goin' (Don't U Ever Stop)
- A07: Marcel Vogel & Tim Jules Feat. Mey - Reset Your Heart
- A08: Duktus Feat. Host Junior - Music
- A09: Illwig - Together
- A10: George John - A Passing Storm
- A11: Drunkenstein- Hollywood Boulevard
- A12: Sempra - Clairvoyant Dub
- B01: Filburt - Under 1000 Plays
- B02: Real Velour - Who You Are
- B03: The Chord Memory Club X Heron - L.t.g.o
- B04: Moff & Tarkin - Halifax
- B05: Lavan - Bring It Back
- B06: Jetson G - Bleep Express
- B07: Zacharias - Pretend To Be Active
- B08: Shesokey - Close Your Eyes
- B09: Jana Falcon - Cum Over
- B10: Dj Detox & Robyrt Hecht - Mi Casa
- B11: Marco Lazovic - I Never Forget U
- B12: Hearts - Elotranc (Rebirth)
This year's compilation is once again dedicated to the Bärenherz children's hospice here in Leipzig.
The people in this organization do such incredibly important work, but unfortunately it is all too often "invisible" - because if we're honest, it's not a topic you like to deal with unless you are directly or indirectly affected yourself. And then you realize that the costs of care, accommodation, supplies and psychosocial therapies are only partially covered by health insurance. The children's hospice does not receive any state subsidies, and that's why it is dependent on private donations.
We asked a few old friends from our new hood (now that we are no longer just mentally but also physically located in Leipzig) for tracks, as well as new ones - from Connewitz to Chicago - bridging the gap between Neo-Soul, good old Boom Bap, Modern Funk, Electro, Synthiepop, Breaks and of course, House Music in all its shades.
One love goes out to all artists and supporters!
LTD COL. VINYL[33,40 €]
Returning from time apart to a world forever changed, dread-fuelled duo A SWARM OF THE SUN bring with them their fourth studio album, `An Empire'; its brooding, yet beautiful, melancholic narrative arc allows the band to dig ever deeper into desolation whilst a newfound lyrical focus adds a tenderness that is both harrowing and heartwarming at once. With the early bones of forthcoming `An Empire' tabled by events beyond their control in 2019, Erik and Jakob came together years later and scrapped them in favour of creating something entirely new; something distinctly different to break the cycle, defy categorisation and reflect the uncomfortable uncertainties of the times we now live in. The result is astounding; continuing the thread of narrative composition seen on `The Woods', `An Empire' is a six-track tale told in four distinct movements that are nothing short of devastating, from plaintive piano ballads to raw, full-band fury. For instance, taken from the album's third side, lead single `The Burning Wall' embodies this sprawling compositional feat perfectly, with the painfully frank opening couplet of "I know I fail you / I know that I run" establishing a gripping narrative trajectory backed by a simmering, impatient pulse that slowly and inevitably rises to an inescapable crescendo of cymbal chaos and wall-of-sound guitar drone. Elsewhere, 18-minute epic `The Pyre' represents Side B of `An Empire' with the confessional intimacy of a waltz-time ballad; the raw, wavering emotion of Jakob's words accompanied only by a haunting, lilting piano refrain before it too is consumed by the bittersweet might of post-rock euphoria to leave only embers of the apocalyptic lyrics in its wake_ `An Empire' marks a significant evolution of A Swarm of the Sun's already indelible post-metal sound. With increasingly bleak times forcing the band to reassess their relationship with creativity and suffering, this new body of work captures all the anthemic, intimate highs and crushing, debilitating lows of modern life on a knife edge.
Black Vinyl[30,04 €]
Returning from time apart to a world forever changed, dread-fuelled duo A SWARM OF THE SUN bring with them their fourth studio album, `An Empire'; its brooding, yet beautiful, melancholic narrative arc allows the band to dig ever deeper into desolation whilst a newfound lyrical focus adds a tenderness that is both harrowing and heartwarming at once. With the early bones of forthcoming `An Empire' tabled by events beyond their control in 2019, Erik and Jakob came together years later and scrapped them in favour of creating something entirely new; something distinctly different to break the cycle, defy categorisation and reflect the uncomfortable uncertainties of the times we now live in. The result is astounding; continuing the thread of narrative composition seen on `The Woods', `An Empire' is a six-track tale told in four distinct movements that are nothing short of devastating, from plaintive piano ballads to raw, full-band fury. For instance, taken from the album's third side, lead single `The Burning Wall' embodies this sprawling compositional feat perfectly, with the painfully frank opening couplet of "I know I fail you / I know that I run" establishing a gripping narrative trajectory backed by a simmering, impatient pulse that slowly and inevitably rises to an inescapable crescendo of cymbal chaos and wall-of-sound guitar drone. Elsewhere, 18-minute epic `The Pyre' represents Side B of `An Empire' with the confessional intimacy of a waltz-time ballad; the raw, wavering emotion of Jakob's words accompanied only by a haunting, lilting piano refrain before it too is consumed by the bittersweet might of post-rock euphoria to leave only embers of the apocalyptic lyrics in its wake_ `An Empire' marks a significant evolution of A Swarm of the Sun's already indelible post-metal sound. With increasingly bleak times forcing the band to reassess their relationship with creativity and suffering, this new body of work captures all the anthemic, intimate highs and crushing, debilitating lows of modern life on a knife edge.
- Ocean Motion Mildew Mind
- Yes Sir Ree
- I Can’t Stand It
- Country Time
- If I Were A Poet
- Torero Piece
- Peachy Keen-O
Carving an unlikely and elaborate niche in the stoney academic landscape
which she once shared with the likes of Phill Niblock, John Cage and Sorel
Hayes, the excitable proto-punk poèmes sonores of the linguistic loose
cannon known as Beth Anderson first rolled through New York in the mid-
1970s (from Kentucky via San Francisco) like a jumbled tumbleweed of lost
Letterism, face paint and threadbare drummy funk to astonish gallery floors,
lecture theatres and loft apartment stages.
One thousand leagues under the radar of the commercial music industry,
with a sense of humour that elevated way above her highbrow peer group,
the music of Beth Anderson has successfully evaded the pressing plant for
most of her creative career, and not unlike fellow New York gallery actionist
Suzanne Ciani, it has taken decades to successfully collect and contextualise
these early recordings - expanding her elusive discography beyond the rare
and mysterious solo single entry in the process.
When uttered amongst the type of vinyl vampires that haplessly gravitate
between both art school vintage vanity pressings and family funded plunder
funk, there’s an outside chance that the name Beth Anderson might muster
some vague recognition on account of her one and only solo wax sojourn
into the expansive DIY market. In 1980 the 45rpm single, ‘I Can’t Stand It’,
combusted into the consciousness of adventurous participants with its deep
rhythmic backbeat (courtesy of future Sonic Youth / Dinosaur Jr producer
Wharton Tiers, member of the new wave band Theoretical Girls), climaxing
with two colourful and commanding linguistic tantrums before disappearing in
a puff of smoke leaving would-be fans dumbstruck without so much as a
label name or distribution contact to explain what they had just heard.
For those who have spent the subsequent years on the edge of that same
seat, it might come as some comfort knowing that somewhere out there,
there is also a contrasting world of gallery patrons and experimental sound
poetry enthusiasts that similarly didn’t know that their regular performance
poet Beth Anderson even made the ambitious pop record. For the uninitiated,
the enigmatic Beth Anderson has straddled both sides of the art / rock fence
placed between two equally niche pastures.
Hopefully this first ever vinyl compendium will succeed in joining the dots,
loops, yelps, squeaks, beats and repeats. Let us follow Beth’s lineage, along
her magnetic tape highways crossing multiple boundaries in a hope to bridge
unlikely anti-genres like ‘yoga punk’, ‘ramble rap’, ‘combustion pop’ and
‘formroom funk’… all of which were officially neatly bracketed under the
curious Text-Sound movement where Beth garnered utmost respect as a key
practitioner.
Welcome to the fascinating musical universe of EXOTIC ROOSTERS! It emerges as a burst of freshness and originality, blending an eclectic variety of musical influences to create a truly unique and exciting auditory experience. Comprised of experienced and virtuosic musicians on their respective instruments, the group captivates audiences of all ages with its energy and unmistakable style. Exploring the intersection between tradition and modernity, EXOTIC ROOSTERS combines the rich soundscapes of marimba, vibraphone, double bass, percussion, and drums to create an expansive and nuanced musical landscape. From frenetic rhythms that invite dancing to captivating melodies that transport the listener on an emotional journey, each performance aims to be a celebration of cultural diversity and artistic expression.
In the relentless musical era of the late 90s, two passionate souls, Eugeni Camacho and Rafa Navarro, embarked on a unique sonic odyssey by blending the melodious marimba with the pulsating drums. Together, they successfully created STAMINA PERCUSSIO in their concerts. However, life composed its own score, separating Rafa, who was abducted by the Canary Islands, and Eugeni, who was drawn to vibrant New York. Upon their return, after years of musical exploration in different projects with the Oscars (Oscar Cuchillo and Oscar Rocher), their hearts aligned with a new melody. In the loom of destiny, they discovered the emerging talent of Bernat Cucarella. A prodigy with drumsticks and a 4.0 brain. By uniting Rafa's island experiences, Eugeni's resonant jazz from the Brooklyn alleys, and the rich musical diversity harvested in life's journeys by each of the members, they gave birth to a magical musical tale: EXOTIC ROOSTERS
The legendary UK Thrash Band Solitary mark three decades of metal, with the release of a brand new album " Embrace The Darkness" which is the fifth of their thirty year career - and not only is it their heaviest, hardest, most confrontational release to date, it's undoubtedly their best yet, following on from the highly acclaimed "The Truth Behind The Lies" (Metalville Records 2020).
The UK's resolute and relentless kings of thrash, Solitary, have tapped into the thick, black blood that pulses sluggishly through the fat and filth congested veins of society. It is fact that we live in dark times; alongside war, pandemics, grief and horror. These are the days of division, where we turn against each other in politically driven hatred and against ourselves, choking on a social media diet of self-loathing and isolation.
Through our ever-glowing screens we watch the crumbling of virtue and the slow, agonised death of decency and honour. Solitary have stared into the alleyways, the cellars and the broken minds of our youth and forged their most unflinching album yet. This is their hymn to a dying world, their soundtrack to the end of days it's time to "Embrace The Darkness"
- A1: Brownswood Rockers / Golden Shovel (Somebody Else’s Idea)
- A2: Dancin' Your Own Time
- A3: Limebike Getaway
- A4: General Rubbish Vs The Sportswear Mystics
- A5: Tottenham
- B1: Crow Foot Hustling
- B2: Numbers Click
- B3: Circles Going Round The Sun
- B4: Golden Shovel 2 (Somebody Else's Idea)
- C1: Jazz
- C2: Halfway Somewhere
- C3: Of Peace
- C4: Move As One
- C5: In The Brakes
- D1: 57Th Min / Power And Glory
- D2: Kingsland Road
- D3: Cabin Fever Dub
- D4: Euston Warehouse
- D5: Pleasure, Joy & Happiness
Original 2LP[30,88 €]
Almost three decades on from their last release, Acid Jazz forefathers Galliano are back with news of their new LP ‘Halfway Somewhere’ which is being released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings on 30 August.
Born out of London’s underground clubs and warehouse parties of the mid to late eighties, with the debut single on the Acid Jazz label in 1988, Galliano came out of a culture that spanned music, dance, fashion, art, design, and the written word.
When they arrived as the first act on Gilles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud label in 1990 with ‘Welcome to the Story’ (produced by Chris Bangs who invented the term Acid Jazz) dressed in Gabicci sweaters, beads and skullcaps they captured a scene built on re-invention. “We were all playing around with what we could get our hands on whether that was a seventies book on Jamaican style or old Last Poets and Watts Prophets records,” says Gallagher. “We’d been recycling things for a few years but suddenly everything had coalesced and you’ve got an amalgam that seemed quite solid.”
For their first album since 1997, Rob Gallagher and his partner, vocalist Valerie Etienne, are joined by Galliano stalwarts Ernie McKone on bass, Crispin Taylor on drums, and Ski Oakenfull on keys (with guests including saxophonist Jason Yarde and percussionist Crispin ‘Spry’ Robinson).
Where the old Galliano recycled records they heard at clubs, today they are responding to the kaleidoscopic global jazz scene - from Total Refreshment Centre in London to International Anthem in Chicago. More than forty years since they came together, Galliano are still only ‘Halfway Somewhere’, but listening to the album they are obviously having fun getting there. “I think the stars have to be aligned when you redo things,” says Gallagher. “Coming at it from this door is very different to the door we came into back then. But once it's existing it is something. But I’m still not sure what that something is.”
- A1: Kotms Ii (Feat Kingpin Skinny Pimp - Intro)
- A2: Ultra Shxt (Feat Key Nyata)
- A3: Set It (Feat Maxo Kream)
- A4: Hot One (Feat Tiacorine & Asap Ferg)
- A5: Black Flag Freestyle (Feat That Mexican Ot)
- A6: Headcrack (Feat Kingpin Skinny Pimp - Interlude)
- A7: G'z Up (Feat 2 Chainz & Mike Dimes)
- A8: Lunatic (Interlude)
- B1: Sked (Feat Kenny Mason & Project Pat)
- B2: Choose Wisely (Feat Kingpin Skinny Pimp - Interlude)
- B3: Cole Pimp (Feat Ty Dolla Sign & Juicy J)
- B4: Wishlist (Feat Armani White)
- B5: Hit The Floor (Feat Ski Mask The Slump God)
- B6: Hoodlumz (A$Ap Rocky & Playthatboizay)
- B7: Kotms Ii (Feat Kingpin Skinny Pimp - Outro)
Black Vinyl[32,98 €]
Denzel Curry's forthcoming King Of The Mischievous South Volume 2 finds him presenting a sequel to the project, and bringing back the sound, that helped launch his career. While the first installment of King Of The Mischievous South was performed from the perspective of his Raven Miyagi persona, a name bestowed upon him by Raider Klan founder SpaceGhostPurrp, Volume 2 finds Curry operating under his Big Ultra persona -- an elevated version of Raven Miyagi that is bragadocious and revels in the success that Curry has seen over the last decade of his career. Creating King Of The Mischievous South Volume 2 has been a goal of Curry's for some time, though his earliest attempts to do so ultimately morphed into other projects, namely his 2016 album Imperial and 2020's 13LOOD 1N + 13LOOD OUT. It wasn't until he stopped overly attempting to create Volume 2 that its songs started to emerge naturally.
Given the project's sound, which pays homage to the great musical heritages of the South -- from Memphis to Houston and Curry's own South Florida -- its features include the region's greats, both old and new, as well as others whose style is indebted to the South's musical legacy. Features include fellow former Raider Klan member Key Nyata, Memphis stalwarts Juicy J and Project Pat, Texas' Maxo Kream, That Mexican OT and Mike Dimes, North Carolina’s TiaCorine, Atlanta's 2 Chainz and Kenny Mason and South Florida's Ski Mask The Slump God and PlayThatBoiZay, as well as ASAP Ferg and ASAP Rocky, among others. The project more broadly and the intentional inclusion of Rocky and Ferg is Curry's attempt to show what could have been had relationships not soured with SpaceGhostPurrp, fulfilling the promise that existed at the rise of their respective careers in the early 2010s.
With all of the otherworldly adventures Denzel has taken listeners on over the course of his last few conceptually-driven albums, this project serves as a showcase for the fun, spontaneity and technical mastery that has made him one of rap's most in-demand talents over the course of the last decade.
„Infinite Health“ ist das fesselnde sechste Album von Tycho, dem zweifach GRAMMY-nominierten Projekt des gefeierten Songwriters, Musikers und Produzenten Scott Hansen aus San Francisco.
In ‚Infinite Health‘ geht es darum, einen Raum für Heilung und Reflexion zu schaffen, ein Mantra für geistige, emotionale und körperliche Heilung. Klanglich kehrt er mit dem Album zu seinem eher elektronisch geprägten Produktionsstil zurück und konzentriert sich auf Breaks, Drums und rhythmische Elemente. Seit den Anfängen des Projekts im Jahr 2001 hat Scott Hansen den Tycho-Sound kontinuierlich weiterentwickelt und sich als Vorreiter in der elektronischen Szene etabliert. Auf dem Weg dorthin haben Tycho zwei GRAMMY-Nominierungen erhalten, Remixe produziert und mit unzähligen namhaften Künstler:innen wie ODESZA, Maggie Rogers, Little Dragon, Leon Bridges und Death Cab For Cutie zusammengearbeitet.
Jetzt haben Tycho nach „Simulcast“ (2020) - einem Schwesteralbum zu „Weather“ (2019) - dieses fesselnde neue Werk vorgelegt. Obwohl es das Personal der letzten Werke beibehält - wie üblich mit Zac Brown an der Gitarre und Rory O'Connor hinter dem Schlagzeug - sieht Hansen „Infinite Health“ als eine vierte Ära für Tycho an: er stürzte sich in den Aufnahmeprozess mit dem Ziel, den Sound unverwechselbar und prägnant zu gestalten.
Norwegian talent Meera makes her Crosstown Rebelsdebut with the atmospheric ‘Stikk’. Landing on 30th August, the EP sees the young artist flex her production prowess with remixes from Dennis Cruz and Tripolism.
Riding the success of her debut single ‘Music For Humans’ in 2023, Norway’s Meera was swiftly recruited by Damian Lazarus, joining him at his Hï Ibiza residency before heading to Rebellion for the release of the resonant ‘Teflon’. The sought-after artist has shown no signs of slowing, releasing a series of remixes this year amongst European shows, festival appearances, and Ibiza
pit stops. Continuing this momentum, she now makes her label debut on Lazarus’ renowned Crosstown Rebels with ‘Stikk’, with imprint regular Dennis Cruz joining on remix duties alongside melodic Danish trio and former collaborators Tripolism, who also make their first outing on Crosstown.
Landing in realms of afro-house, Meera’s production is cool, confident, and creative. With eclectic influences audible throughout her standout sound, her ‘Stikk’ EP proves why she first garnered the attention of artists such as Jimi Jules and John Digweed. The title track leads with minimal climbing percussion, introspective piano melodies and delicate, dreamlike vocals. In contrast, Tripolism’s remix turns up the intensity to a biting crescendo, adding sharp synths for a more dancefloor-focused feeling. ‘Sykkelkurv’ reaches for higher planes of emotion with its atmospheric soundscape, moody chords and driving drums, toeing the line between light and dark. Next, Dennis Cruz’s interpretation drives the track off the line and into deeper rhythms with chunky low-ends, picking up the pace for peak time. Digital purchasers are treated to a bonus track titled ‘Stikk Reprise’, a pulsating trip back into the lead single, with a heightened focus on the song's hypnotic vocals and raw emotive energy.
Alliyah Enyo’s genius 2022 ‘Echo's Disintegration’ album infused William Basinski's "Disintegration Loops" with choral smoke, and she now returns with an even more immersive followup alongside ambient enigma and Kelela producer Florian T M Zeisig, making heady and translucent loop-finding vocal soundscapes.
In 2022, Enyo worked with the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop on an epic two-hour composition made from tape loops inspired by selkies, mythical creatures in Celtic folklore. Contemplating memory, grief and time itself, Enyo devised a "sonorous myth" installation and performance that drowned her voice in the deep sea, using echo to help parallel the communication of humpback whales. It was powerful enough for her to net the award for Sonic Arts at the Scottish Awards for New Music last year, and it's this material that she revisits here, entering into a dialog with Berlin-based producer Florian T M Zeisig, here adopting a new avatar - Angel R.
On the A-side, Enyo distills two hours of the original composition into 11 haunted fragments that ooze in and out of each other like a dream. Reworked at Glasgow's Green Door studio, she sculpts her voice into weightless Radigue-style incantations, leaning into the tape loops' corroded inconsistencies. Enyo's voice becomes the selkie's song: wordless echoes that sound as if they're being dragged slowly towards the sea bed. There are remnants of folk forms in there; we hear traces of church music and Celtic ballads - but she obscures her influences with dubbed reverb, distortion and repetition. Phrases disappear and re-appear, time becomes a loop, best absorbed in a single sitting to properly perceive its graceful, sinking bliss. By the end of the side, Enyo’s vocals are completely waterlogged, dimmed against Robin Guthrie-like shimmers, all brassy, blurred incantations emanating from the depths of a floatation tank.
Florian T M Zeisig responds on the B-side with three flooded, longer-form pieces that will appeal to anyone who devoured his album of corroded Enya loops a couple of years ago. Enyo's voice is now reduced to a whisper, blistered and gauzy expressions that float over dense pads on 'Untitled I' before getting lost in the weeds completely on the muggy 'Untitled II'. On the closing 'Gates of Heaven', he sculpts Enyo's voice until it's just an illusory, hypnotic reflection, slow-fading into the aether.
This is the quartet's second LP, recorded in 1971, and contains mostly Peruvian songs with a strong Cuban flavor where Pancho Acosta’s electric guitar reaches vertiginous heights and is combined with outstanding conga and timbales playing. Extremely rare and hard to find in its original issue, this is the first-time reissue. Remastered from the original tapes. The guitarist Francisco "Pancho" Acosta Angeles (1946) played a significant role in spreading love for Cuban rhythms across Peru, those sunshine beats breaking through the cloudiness that hangs over Lima most of the year, as the city bears a closer resemblance weather wise to London than to Havana. In 1967, after making a name for himself with his six-stringed skill, he made his vinyl debut with Compay Quinto. Shortly after Pancho left Company Quinto, he joined Los Kintos. When Los Kintos disbanded, Pancho Acosta swiftly moved on to his next project for MAG: the Cuarteto Yemayá, formed by tumba drummer and singer Miguel Montoya, bassist Máximo Pecho and timba drummer José Luis Fiallega, all under Pancho's direction and arrangements. The quartet's debut album, "Ecos del Trio Matamoros", was a tribute to the Cuban trio of the title and comprised cover versions as well as a couple of their own songs. This is the quartet's second LP, recorded between July and August 1971. "El Tic Tac" contains mostly Peruvian songs. The foreign versions on the album include the classic 'Compay Gallo', written by Miguel Matamoros; 'Toribio carambola' and 'El Tic Tac', from the repertoire of the Cuban Trio Servando Diaz; and 'Sandunguéate', best known in Celia Cruz’s version. ‘Oye Mi Son' and 'Oye Mi Guitarra' were composed by the album's lead vocalist, Miguel Montoya. Percussionist Jorge Mariazza (Los Pachas, Manzanita y su Conjunto) co-wrote 'Descarga Yemayá' with Pancho, which features outstanding conga and timbales playing. Pancho also composed tracks on his own: 'Me Voy a Monsefú', 'Mi Provinciana', 'Yo Me Voy de Aquí' and 'Flaca y Fea', the latter
with a Beatle-like intro where his Japanese electric guitar reaches vertiginous heights (he never used sound effects in his recordings). Cuarteto Yemayá released one more album for MAG. In 1973 Los Kintos reformed, with the addition of the bass, percussionist and guitarist from Cuarteto Yemayá. Pancho Acosta has continued his career as a composer and arranger to this day
- A1: Moon's Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull (Part One)
- A2: Moon's Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull (Part Two)
- B1: Bee Stings
- B2: Glowworms/Waveforms
- B3: Summer Substructures
- B4: A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)
- C1: Regel
- C2: Rosa Decidua
- C3: Switches
- C4: The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant
- C5: Amethyst Deceivers
- D1: A White Rainbow
- D2: North
- D3: Magnetic North
- D4: Christmas Is Now Drawing Near * Featuring – Robert Lee, Rose Mcdowall
- E1: Copal
- E2: Bankside
- F1: The Coppice Meat
- F2: Ü Pel (Insense Offering)
Black Vinyl[54,58 €]
Red in Clear Vinyl. First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (in Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness.Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)").Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance's oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future."The album's final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall's doomed, beautiful voice.The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation - both sonic and bodily. From post-industrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own design.
2024 Repress
Alleviated Records presents the first-time vinyl reissue of Larry Heard's mid-90's gem ''Sceneries Not Songs, Volume 1''. The album stems from a time when the tempo slowed down and Heard reached a perfect synthesis of jazz influences, deep electronic ambiance and the house sound he was known for. The result is a brilliant album that should cater to both house and R&B heads alike. Now for the first time released as a 2x12''
Typically, a band's big indie label debut doesn't come 15 albums into its career, but with Constant Smiles' Paragons, here we are. Primary songwriter and sole "constant" member Ben Jones_who considers Constant Smiles a collective_sees its impressive output as a way to document the group's evolution. Since its live debut as a noise duo on Ben's home of Martha's Vineyard in 2009, Constant Smiles has grown to include contributions from 50 other members, all of whom have personal connections to the group's extended family. And while the collective has indulged an array of musical whims along the way - including Ben's penchant for penning a new set's worth of material for each live performance - Constant Smiles' sound has tightened up considerably over their past couple of albums, in large part as a result of Ben's working relationship with Mike Mackey, who has become his main creative partner. This increased focus manifests on Paragons in the band's most cohesive batch of songs to date, ranging from shimmering psych-pop excursions to bittersweet, piano and string-accented strummers, and an execution that feels like a massive step forward for the band. Through its recent forays into dream pop and shoegaze (Control) and synth-pop (John Waters), Constant Smiles has learned how to incorporate its experimental inclinations more fluidly into the mix. Artists like Yo La Tengo, and the more recent Rat Columns, are good touchstones for Constant Smiles' musical approach - tethering to an indie-pop core while perennially mining genres, always finding new ways to intrigue listeners and pursue a unique vision. Paragons was produced and engineered by Ben Greenberg in the last two weeks of December 2020 at Gary's Electric, with additional recording done by Ben Jones at his home studio, The Void, and his Aunt Leanne's house. The album was mixed at Circular Ruin Studio and mastered by Josh Bonati. The band on Paragons consists of Jai Berger (who performed "Introduction"), Spike Currier (bass and synth), Matthew Addison (drums), Emma Conley (violin), Nicky Wetherell (cello), Adam Lipsky (piano), and Ben Greenberg (guitar and Mellotron).
At once a spiritually-charged journey and a shit-kicking party record, American Cream Band comes to Quindi covering all the bases.
American Cream Band was formed by Twin-Cities musician Nathan Nelson around 10 years ago, taking the form of improvised live shows and albums Frankensteined from these sessions into exultant, fully-formed records you can sink your teeth into. The trick with improvised music is to start with intentions, however abstract they might be, and Nelson leads his rolling cast of collaborators into the creative fray with subtle guidance which drives the impulsive musical moment forward.
The band's previous records have manifested on labels like Moon Glyph and Medium Sound, and now Presents arrives in a freewheeling flash of snappy new wave, skronky sax, call and response sass and some krautrock-minded sonic cosmology. The album came together in December 2021, when Nelson took ten musicians to legendary studio Pachyderm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Living together, eating together, and with Nelson quietly setting up his low-key magick intentions around Jupiter's planetary frequency and the studio's abundance of elephant statues and carpets, they laid down some drum-heavy sessions that became the building blocks of the record.
'Taste What We Taste' is the perfect example of an exuberant groove pounded on skins as a vessel for a joyous get-down, with the singers and players free to freak out on top. Nelson remains at the centre of the melee, throwing half-sardonic, half-heartfelt calls out for connection. 'Banana' celebrates nonsense and holds down the most serious of beats - a disco-not-disco deadeye dripping in late night sleaze and lysergic potential. On 'Royal Tears', the jagged guitar chops call back to Gang Of Four, while the hot n' heavy sax from Cole Pulice baits James Chance and all the other angular New York un-jazz misfits.
Amongst his other implied intentions for the recordings, Nelson wanted to channel opposites, not least the distinct male-female energies in his vocal sparring with the girls on assistance duties. It wouldn't be right to call them backing singers as they shoot back at his punchy mantras, bringing a certain fierce femininity that tips its hat to The B-52's Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson, not to mention iconic post-punk bands like Au Pairs, Delta 5 and Bush Tetras.
There's space for the dreamier kosmische which has crept into the American Cream oeuvre in the past, as 'Sirens' opens the album up in a swirling pond of rag tag percussion and molten synths. 'Words Would Handcuff Us' cools the whole riotous assembly down in unmoored perfection, a strung-out Bossa nova seance dusted with celestial drips from analogue spaceships.
Equally treading the line between light and dark, conscious and unconscious, the sacred and profane, Presents is a life-affirming, creep-under-the-skin listening experience - a joyously transient chapter in the evolution of American Cream Band.
- A1: Brownswood Rockers / Golden Shovel (Somebody Else’s Idea)
- A2: Dancin' Your Own Time
- A3: Limebike Getaway
- A4: General Rubbish Vs The Sportswear Mystics
- A5: Tottenham
- B1: Crow Foot Hustling
- B2: Numbers Click
- B3: Circles Going Round The Sun
- B4: Golden Shovel 2 (Somebody Else's Idea)
- C1: Jazz
- C2: Halfway Somewhere
- C3: Of Peace
- C4: Move As One
- C5: In The Brakes
- D1: 57Th Min / Power And Glory
- D2: Kingsland Road
- D3: Cabin Fever Dub
- D4: Euston Warehouse
- D5: Pleasure, Joy & Happiness
Blue 2LP[34,87 €]
Almost three decades on from their last release, Acid Jazz forefathers Galliano are back with news of their new LP ‘Halfway Somewhere’ which is being released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings on 30 August.
Born out of London’s underground clubs and warehouse parties of the mid to late eighties, with the debut single on the Acid Jazz label in 1988, Galliano came out of a culture that spanned music, dance, fashion, art, design, and the written word.
When they arrived as the first act on Gilles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud label in 1990 with ‘Welcome to the Story’ (produced by Chris Bangs who invented the term Acid Jazz) dressed in Gabicci sweaters, beads and skullcaps they captured a scene built on re-invention. “We were all playing around with what we could get our hands on whether that was a seventies book on Jamaican style or old Last Poets and Watts Prophets records,” says Gallagher. “We’d been recycling things for a few years but suddenly everything had coalesced and you’ve got an amalgam that seemed quite solid.”
For their first album since 1997, Rob Gallagher and his partner, vocalist Valerie Etienne, are joined by Galliano stalwarts Ernie McKone on bass, Crispin Taylor on drums, and Ski Oakenfull on keys (with guests including saxophonist Jason Yarde and percussionist Crispin ‘Spry’ Robinson).
Where the old Galliano recycled records they heard at clubs, today they are responding to the kaleidoscopic global jazz scene - from Total Refreshment Centre in London to International Anthem in Chicago. More than forty years since they came together, Galliano are still only ‘Halfway Somewhere’, but listening to the album they are obviously having fun getting there. “I think the stars have to be aligned when you redo things,” says Gallagher. “Coming at it from this door is very different to the door we came into back then. But once it's existing it is something. But I’m still not sure what that something is.”
Kwench Records is synonymous with homage-driven house and techno. Cassy's guilefully-curated selection of releasing DJs and producers is to be admired yet again with the arrival of heritage artists Jesper Dahlbäck and Alexi Delano under their respective aliases The Persuader and AD. Together they collaborate on a deftly-cut four-tracker with artist and writer Bella Hardcover adding her touch in spoken word.
After releasing my album 'ÖÐRUVÍSI,' which was a very personal and emotionally challenging project, I felt the need to make something weird and energetic for the club. I’m really into tunes that feel both slow and fast simultaneously.
The first track on the EP, 'Let’s be Havin u,' was initially hard to place genre-wise, i ended up sending it to Darren, who loved it and wanted to sign it. Releasing on Exit kinda feels like earning a black belt as a producer hah. I never imagined that a decade after buying Exit 12”s in 2014, I’d be releasing my own music on the label.
When I started making the EP, I had just begun performing again. I often saw people on the dance floor, too out of it to enjoy the music and often some of them having to be carried by their friends to backstage. This made me wanna make tunes for the dance floor as a bit of a statement on this. I first tested 'Let’s be Havin u' at Prikið in Reykjavik, sounded mad on the little old funktion one. The moment I knew that I was onto something with the EP was when I was Performing in Bristol at Thekla for my friend Boofy. It was wild, the ceiling started leaking during the show. I Love Bristol, feels like home to me.
Most of the percussion and hats on the EP are made with an Elektron Model Cycles, and the synths and pads are from a 80s Yamaha hybrid FM/sample synth I found at a thrift store. It doesn’t have MIDI, so I have to record perfect takes for chords and melodies. I often use pedals afterwards or resample the sounds for more tonal control.
I enjoy digging for records with unique breaks to sample, as I feel this is lacking nowadays. I usually make all my drums from scratch but when I use breaks I like it to be something I haven’t heard before. The alien percussion sound in the last track is actually me biting my teeth together, resampled repeatedly and ran through pedals and interfaces. I also recorded myself chewing gum for the second track to give it that hand on the hip feel. Most of the EP is made with hardware, outboard gear, or real-life recordings.
I’m not concerned about the EP fitting a specific genre or playlist. Too many artists play it safe by focusing on their Spotify stats and abandoning projects that don’t work instantly. I think also Obsessive nostalgia stifles innovation, keeping things stuck in a loop by replicating to the tee, tunes from 2 decades ago. I get it, but there has to be a middle ground sometimes.
The notion of house music as a form of uptempo soul music is intrinsic evidence with a record like the one on hand. Professor Supercool’s If You Love Somebody is many things at once: an example of a special brand of British pop music, influenced by US-American soul more or less from the get-go, the Second Summer of Love, the conception of Balearic as a music genre, the cultural interchange of European dance floors and DJs from across the pond and underground music marketing through the vessel of special one-time pressings. The mysterious Professor Supercool is actually a moniker for Dr. Rob of The Blow Monkeys’s fame, who produced the song with a veteran and legendary DJ of the Northern Soul scene „The Real Hector“ – a resident at the famous Wag Club.
Originally a part of the band’s Album Spring Time For The World, it appeared first as a special For-Promotion-Only-12“ in 1989 with limited information as a trial ballon to „avoid preconceptions“. The fear was without reason. Like the band’s other big dance floor record and Balearic fave LA Passionara a year later, it got played and supported by the DJs of its time. Next to Graeme Park at the Hacienda or Paul Oakenfold, it also got picked up by Mastermixer Tony
Humphries and became a staple at his radio and club sets for KissFm respectively Club Zanzibar. While the vocal mix found its way on said album, the preferred 12“ instrumental version has never been released anywhere else up until now and made the record go for a substantial amount of Discogs dollars.
Expanded with an edit by the label’s in-house DJ Gerd Janson that is supposed to work as a dub alternative to the vocal mix, the 12-inch and bundle download contain the original plus a faithfully restored and remastered version of the instrumental in demand. If you love this record it is impossible to let it go.
DJ Support: Sidney Charles Chris Stussy, Archie Hamilton, Toni Varga, Catz 'n dogz, Tough Love, Neverdogs, De La Swing, Marco Carola, REBOOT, Rich NxT, Steve Lawler, Josh Butler, Okain, Ilario Alicante, Joseph Capriati, Leon, Marco Faraone, Riva Starr, Hector Couto, Archie Hamilton
Feel the infectious beats and raw energy of Sidney Charles' latest EP, 'Reso Riddim', which is dropping on his very own Heavy House Society imprint. Renowned for his distinct take on house music, Sidney Charles delivers a powerhouse two tracker that embodies his signature sound and energy for the dancefloor. As a DJ and producer, Sidney Charles has carved out a unique niche in the electronic music scene with what fans affectionately refer to as 'The Sidney Sound.' This signature style is built on heavy low ends, chunky drums, and cavernous low frequencies that connect directly with the body. With tracks like 'House Lessons' and 'Warehouse Romance,' and more recent 'Space Bass' and 'No Way Out,' Sidney established himself as a force to be reckoned with, showcasing his affinity for rough, dirty sounds with a modern twist. 'Reso Riddim' kicks off with the title track, a driving and edgy peak time weapon that boasts a stripped-back groove and an infectious bassline. Breakbeat elements add depth and dimension in the break, creating a track that is guaranteed to get the dancefloor moving and jumping. With its pulsating energy and relentless rhythm, 'Reso Riddim' sets a strong tone for the EP's journey. On 'Rawline 98,' Sidney Charles channels the spirit of the '90s with pumpin' jackin' beats, garage-inspired chords, and an old-school bassline that harkens back to the golden era of house music. The track exudes a bouncing energy and infectious swing that transports clubbers to a bygone era while keeping the dancefloor firmly rooted in the present. The 'Reso Riddim EP,' is also available on Vinyl which will include two extra tracks 'Objection' and 'Charles’ List,' for those who love the feel of wax both in their hands and on the decks
Calm's superb Before album is the gift that keeps on giving as Hell Yeah serves up a collection of the best remixes from it. Willie Graff, Gallo and Aura Safari all step up on a fresh 12" that lands this summer.
Before arrived on double vinyl in 2022 after a CD-only release in Japan in 2021. Since then it has become a Balearic mainstay and go-to record for lovers of lavish downtempo sounds. Now, remixes of three tracks from it all appear on this one record with Ibirican-American Willie Graff going first. He is a deep house don who has held several key residencies around the world while dropping his sublime sounds on the likes of Leng, Music For Dreams and many more. His remix of 'I Love You' is a gloriously horizontal one with blissful piano keys rippling over the bubbly drums and bass. Yearning reed melodies add an emotional romantic edge to make this a standout in any setting. Then comes Gallo, the Balearic Gabba Sound System member and resident at Berlin Balearic nightspot Buena Onda. His 'Tropical Hinterhof' remix of 'I Love You' is expertly exotic and soothing as mellifluous keys rain down over a groove as smooth as silk. It's a heart-achingly beautiful sound that will make for truly special moments on the dance floor.
Italian collective Aura Safari then offers two different remixes. They are master musicians who have served up a superb double album Islands Dreams here in late 2023 where they showcased their escapist blend of dub, jazz, Afro-cosmic, Balearica and boogie. First up, 'Feel It' (Aura Safari Desert mix) is six minutes of oriental melody over loose drums. There's a playful feel to the dancing piano keys and richness in the percussion that makes this one a sophisticated sound for both early evening warm-ups or moments of late-night reflection. 'Kunpoo' (Aura Safari Daydream mix) has a nineties feel with its gentle breaks, hypnotic string loops, and sustained chords. They break over you in gentle rays of earth and euphoria to ensure utterly blissed-out results.
These four versions all bring sophisticated dance floor energy to the timeless originals.
Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records have teamed up once more to release the final volume of gay porn soundtracks by San Francisco-based musician and producer, Patrick Cowley. One of the most revolutionary and influential figures in the canon of disco, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music, The San Francisco Sound.' Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco in 1971 to study at the City College of San Francisco. He founded the Electronic Music Lab at the school, where he would make experimental soundtracks by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer.
By the mid-70's, Patrick's synthesis techniques landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco superstar Sylvester, including hits like You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)', Dance Disco Heat' and Stars.' This helped Patrick obtain more work as a remixer and producer. His 18-minute long remix of Donna Summer's I Feel Love' and his production work with edgy New Wave band Indoor Life were both of particular note. By 1981, Patrick had released a string of dance 12 singles, like Menergy' and Megatron Man'. He also had founded Megatone Records, the label upon which he released his debut album, Menergy'. Around this time Patrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with an unknown illness: that which would later be called AIDS. Throughout 1982, he recorded two more Hi-NRG hits, Do You Wanna Funk' for Sylvester, and Right On Target' for Paul Parker, as well as a second solo album Mind Warp'. On November 12, 1982, he passed away.
In 1979 Patrick was contacted by John Coletti, owner of famed gay porn company Fox Studio in Los Angeles. Patrick jumped on this offer and sent reels of his college compositions from the 70s to John in LA. Coletti then used a variable speed oscillator to adjust the pitch and speed of Patrick's songs in-sync with the film scenes. The result was the VHS collections Muscle Up' and School Daze' released in 1979 and 1980. Afternooners' is the third collection of Cowley's instrumental songs, recorded in May 1982. These recordings were culled from two 23-minute reels in the Fox Studio vaults. All songs were originally untitled, so we've used the titles from Fox Studio's 8mm film loops. This compilation also includes three bonus tracks found in the archives of fellow Megatone Records recording artist Paul Parker and the attic of teenage friend Lily Bartels. Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos, and Giorgio Moroder, Patrick crafted a singular sound from his collection of synthesizers, percussion, modified guitars, and hand-built equipment. The listener enters a world of forbidden vices, evocative of Patrick's time spent in the bathhouses of San Francisco. The songs on Afternooners' reflect the advances of the equipment available at the onset of the 1980s. Cowley's unadulterated electronic forms are stripped down and dubbed up. Lush electronic percussion, soaring synthesizer riffs and low slung funk grooves comingle on these magnificent soundscapes.
Featuring 70 minutes of music never before released on vinyl. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. The vinyl is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Berlin-based artist Gwenael Rattke, featuring black and white photos of Patrick in his studio that opens to a full color array of x-rated scenes from the Fox Studio vaults. Included is a fold-out poster featuring a handmade collage using photography and xeroxed graphics of classic gay porn imagery and an essay from Drew Daniel of Matmos. For Patrick's 67th birthday, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records present a glimpse into the futuristic world of a young genius. These recordings shed a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon.
La Sonora Mazuren is the latest addition to the already rich indie-tropical scene out of Bogotá, Colombia. Deeply rooted in the popular sounds and rhythms of South America, the group draws from cumbia, chicha, guaracha, champeta and other styles mostly from Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.
Far from being revivalists or folklorists, the group combines synthesizers and electric guitars with accordion and percussion to create a style indebted to early pioneers such as Polibio Mayorga or Bogota’s own Eblis Alvarez, of Meridian Brothers fame, who also produced their new album. The result is a psychedelic feast reminiscent of the golden years of tropicalia.
ESCHR001 marks the debut vinyl release from eschr, featuring a collection of four tracks, resonating with aficionados of minimal, house, and techno. "routine" offers a hypnotic minimal house groove with a captivating pad hook, engineered to ignite dance floors.
"recall" stands out with its emphasis on syncopated rhythm, gradually constructing an intricate bassline that embodies the essence of the track. "breathe" transitions into techno, with meticulously sequenced hi-hats and a sharp electronic precision against the backdrop of raw textures of natural sound.
"Ki" pays homage to a cherished friend, uniting the EP with simple yet evocative melodies and a drum treatment that adds an organic texture to the structured canvas."eschr 001" is a testament to authenticity in the domain of electronic music.
With extensive practical and academic understanding of the ‘remix’ process, Stian Balducci takes on the role of audio architect in this refined and redesigned remix album.
His meticulous approach has not replaced, but built upon Kjetil Jerve’s piano material and boasts a thorough dedication to mood and timbre through-out. The outcome combines new strokes of colour and delicately layered textures, offering fresh perspectives to an old canvas. The aural landscape takes shape in progressive, parabolic pulsations, coupled with sparse, rhythmic heart-throbs that embody the faint silhouettes of drum reverberations. This atmospheric landscape is complimented with subtle, pensive keys from Kjetil’s piano recordings that add emotional depth to the work and pay diligent tribute to the free structures of jazz.
The final project may be understood as a window, giving view to life’s sentient and evocative themes, without ever infringing on their delicacy. The sonic progressions tap into nature’s cycles through meditative repetition and offer the listener some brief respite from innate human habits of over-thinking.
As the contents of the album unfold, we are taken reassuringly by the hand to familiar, foreign lands, filled with curious sonorous tales and subtle insights that shed light on a world of deeper perception.
In keeping with the communal ethos of Dugnad Rec, ‘Tokyo Tapes: Piano Recycle’ reflects a thoughtful exchange between Stian and Kjetil. Stian professed that the project went ahead with just one rule: “to work only with the original source material, no external samples or sound sources”. This puritan approach spotlights a shared characteristic between them; namely, a unified desire to explore vibrations and a wholistic dedication to sound experimentation.
Lemonheads’ seminal album ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’, lovingly reissued for it’s 30th Anniversary. The long overdue reissue includes a slew of extra material, including an unreleased ‘My Drug Buddy’ KCRW session track from 1992 featuring Juliana Hatfield, B-sides from singles ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ and ‘Confetti’, a track from the ‘Mrs. Robinson/Being Round’ EP, alongside demos that will be released for the first time on vinyl. This reissue celebrates their prestigious fifth album, these deluxe bookback editions feature new liner notes and unseen photos.
Described by music journalist and author Everett True as “A 30-minute insight into what it’s like to live hard and fast and loose and happy with like-minded buddies, fuelled by a shared love for similar bands and drugs and booze and freedom.”. ‘It's A Shame About Ray’ had a considerable impact back in those heady, carefree days of '92, the record perfectly captures Dando’s ability to effortlessly encapsulate teenage longing and lust over the course of a two-minute pop song.
Singles such as 'My Drug Buddy' and the breezy perfect pop of the title track might stand out (plus the add-on of 'Mrs. Robinson' which later copies included), but the album's real strength lies in the tracks in-between; the truly fantastic 'Confetti' (written about Evan's parents' divorce), and the eye-wateringly casual acoustic cover of 'Frank Mills' (from the "hippie" musical Hair), a version that seems to resonate with every ounce of pathos and emotion felt for the lost 1960s generation. To hear Evan Dando sing lines like 'I love him/but it embarrasses me/To walk down the street with him/He lives in Brooklyn somewhere/And he wears his white crash helmet' is to truly appreciate how wonderful and tantalising pop music can be. Then, there's the rush of insurgency and brattishness on the wonderfully truncated 'Bit Part'; the topsy-turvy 'Ceiling Fan In My Spoon'... this was male teenage skinny-tie pop music on a level of brilliance with The Kinks, early Undertones, Wipers.
Two years after the stunning AFRICA OSCURA, Four Flies Records is back with another gem from Giuliano Sorgini's secret archives, this time one which unearths some of his darkest, eeriest music – that is, pieces he composed in the mid-70s for some of the most infamous, low-budget horror movies ever made in Italy.
This collection brings together a selection of original recordings from those movies, which were directed by "Italian Kings of the B's" Angelo Pannacciò, Salvatore Bugnatelli, Luigi Batzella, and Guido Zurli, with whom the Roman composer worked intensively throughout the 70s. Due to the very low-budget nature of the films, Sorgini recorded the soundtracks entirely on his own, in his Cat & Fox Studio in Rome. He played drums and percussions and added overlapping layers of analogue synths to create a superbly sinister soundscape, thus turning a constraint into an opportunity.
The result is a journey into the mysterious atmospheres of the Italian occult-sounding music of the time, something very close to the dark electronic masterpieces that made Sorgini famous, such as ZOO FOLLE or THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE.
OCCULTO features ten previously unreleased tracks characterized by enigmatic moods, obscure beats and esoteric themes. All tracks are taken from original master tapes that remained buried in the composer's archives for decades.
The LP comes in a deluxe jacket and inner sleeve designed by Luca Barcellona. Also available in digital format with three previously unreleased bonus tracks.
Repress!
Condition is the 2019 debut, full-length album from Natty Reeves. 11 tracks painting internal monologues and complex feelings across mesmerising groove-driven melodies and brightly coloured guitar soundscapes.
“I wanted to create an honest musical reflection of my past year. Condition is an attempt to balance my perfectionist approach and the imperfections in day-to-day life. The album was made in my bedroom with some help from close friends.”
All music throughout is written, performed, mixed and mastered by Natty, with the exception of Living Lonely & Living Lonely (Reprise) in which he brought in his good friend and long-time collaborator, Simon Jefferis. As well as being an expression of himself as a musician, it was also an opportunity for Natty to show off his artistic side with a paintbrush – Using paintings he has created himself as the artworks throughout.
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Natty Reeves is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter currently residing in Brighton, UK. Taking inspiration from the likes of Chet Baker, Blake Mills and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Natty produces music riddled with charm and honesty that blurs the lines between Soul, Jazz and Hip-Hop. Drawing from real-life events and human interactions, Natty's song-writing is simple but potent, often cutting straight to the core of an emotion with a single turn of phrase.
After The Velvet Underground cut three albums for the jazz-oriented Verve label that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970. Label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead focus on making an album "loaded with hits." Loaded was the result. It was the group's swan song, with Reed leaving the group shortly before its release. With John Cale long gone from the band, Doug Yule highly prominent (he sings lead on four of the ten tracks), and Maureen Tucker absent on maternity leave, this is hardly a purist's Velvet Underground album. Still, AllMusic gives the album 5 Stars and Pitchfork calls it a "perfect rock 'n' roll record — 40 minutes long, five songs to a side, and not a single wasted note." Loaded is the sort of proper album that feels like a greatest hits collection, with each track thoroughly inhabiting and mastering a dominant rock archetype. Although the songs "Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll" distinguished the band as a "seminal proto-punk" act, "The trifecta of 'Who Loves the Sun,' 'Sweet Jane' and 'Rock & Roll' is among the best three-song openings on any rock and roll record," wrote Paste contributor Jeff Gonick Analogue Productions has given Loaded the deserving full reissue treatment: Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing.
Trying to define what it is that makes Dr. John special is much like trying to define the word "soul'—you can surround it. But nailing it down is a whole ‘nother smoke. You can point to his sense of history, how he's never forgotten from whence he came, how his music always returns to his roots, even honoring the proud heritage of his native New Orleans. You can dissect his technique, marveling at the adroitness of the hands right and left; admiring the strong second line; respecting the tributes to his inspiration, Professor Longhair, apparent at every turn. And you can note how his peers consider his presence at a session as lending instant credibility to that particular project. "Upon the release of The Brightest Smile in Town, the reviews were effusive. Chicago critic Bill Knight’s comparisons to Fats Waller and James P. Johnson were high compliments indeed. Downbeat’s Jim Roberts called the playing 'graceful'; noting that the LP had a broader scope than its predecessor. Jazz Times’ Rhodes Spedale summarized: 'He’s never been in better form than here.' We kept in touch over the years. Mac was always generous and encouraging. Little did we know when The Brightest Smile in Town was released, what accolades lay ahead for Mac Rebennack and Dr. John. From the innovative guitar triumph 'Storm Warning' on the Rex label in 1959, to his 2012 Grammy-winning Locked Down album, Mac’s musical light shone brightly for seven decades. We were fortunate he chose to play for us. I’m sure he’d say that he was lucky too." - Jack Heyrman, Clean Cuts Producer
- A1: Sekiro, The One-Armed Wolf
- A2: Rebellion
- A3: Emma The Physician
- A4: Ashina Reservoir
- A5: Divine Heir Of The Dragon's Heritag
- A6: Knife's Edge
- B1: Ashina's Crisis
- B2: Sculptor Of The Dilapidated Temple
- B3: Ashina Outskirts
- B4: A Shinobi's War
- B5: Strength And Discipline
- B6: Serpent Valley
- C1: Great Serpent
- C2: Gyoubu Oniwa
- C3: Hirata Estate, Dragonspring River
- C4: Approaching Forces
- C5: Up In Flames
- C6: The Phantom Lady Butterfly
- C7: Ashina Castle
- D1: The Ashina Clan
- D2: Genichiro Ashina
- D3: Sunken Valley
- D4: Snake Eyes
- D5: Guardian Ape
- E1: Altered Form
- E2: Folding Screen Monkeys
- E3: Children Of Rejuvenation
- E4: Mibu Village
- E5: Thirsting Horde
- E6: Apparitions
- E7: Corrupted Monk
- F1: Incursion
- F2: Lone Shadow
- F3: Gentle Blade
- F4: Isshin Ashina
- F5: Great Shinobi
- F6: Fountainhead Palace
- F7: Okami Lineage
- G1: Great Colored Carp
- G2: Old Dragons Of The Tree
- G3: Divine Dragon
- G4: Overrun
- G5: The Red Guard
- G6: Demon Of Hatred
- H1: Conspiracy
- H2: The Owl
- H3: Sword Saint
- H4: Hend Of A Vicious Struggle
- D6: Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo
- D7: Seekers
The clans of Activision, FromSoftware, and Laced Records have come together to release the majestic music of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice on deluxe quadruple vinyl.
Set in a fictionalised 16th Century Japan, players take on the role of the shinobi Wolf in trying to protect the young Divine Heir Kuro from the remnants of the Ashina clan. Progression requires a mastery of stealth combat and extreme precision while battling some of From’s most iconic boss encounters to date. No one forgets the first time they bested Genichiro atop Ashina Castle...
The vinyl sets feature 50 tracks by lead composer Yuka Kitamura (Bloodborne, Dark Souls III) and co-composer Noriyuki "α" Asakura (Tenchu series.) The dramatic score features traditional Japanese instruments, orchestral and choral elements, and outlandish, mysterious sounds that transport listeners to a war-ravaged Japan during an alternative history Sengoku period.
repress !
“Tubby did three original dub albums, ‘Dub From The Roots’. ‘The Roots of Dub’ and the third is ‘Brass Rockers’ with Tommy McCook ‘pon the flying cymbals. Where he mixed it with the horn going in and out in a dub way and one named ‘Shalom Dub’ you can call Tubby’s too because he mixed the versions as they were off forty fives’’
Bunny ‘Striker‘ Lee
King Tubby and Producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee are intertwined in the birth of Dub Music. After discovering a mistake that made a ‘serious joke’ ( more of which later...) they went on to release the first pressings of this new musical genre namely ‘Dub Music’. Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the Remix / Version cuts to an existing vocal tune.
Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 28th January 1941 and grew up in the High Holborn Street area of downtown Kingston. He studied electronics at Kingston’s National Technical College and also on two correspondence courses from the U.S.A... When he had qualified Tubby began repairing radios and other electrical appliances in a shack in the back yard of his mother’s home. His work in the early days included winding transformers and building amplifiers for Kingston’s Sound Systems. Tubby built his first Sound System in 1957 playing jazz and Rhythm & Blues at local weddings and birthday parties. His reputation as a man who knew and understood both electronics and music grew steadily and as the sixties drew to a close. Tubby purchased his own basic two track equipment. He installed this alongside his dub cutting machine, a home made mixing console and his impressive collection of Jazz albums in the back bedroom of his home at 18 Dromilly Avenue which he christened his music room.
Tubby and Striker were at Treasure Isle Studio’s one day while Ruddy from Spanish Town was working with the engineer Byron Smith....
“Tubby and myself was talking when Ruddy was cutting some dub but Smithy (engineer) made a mistake through we were talking and forgot to put in the voice. It was two track recording in those days. Ruddy said ‘No Man! Make it stay! and so they cut the rhythm. When I went over to Ruddy’s that Saturday night a dance was in progress and when they played the vocal to the tune... then he said we’re going to play ‘Part Two’. They never called it ‘Version’..and then he played the rhythm track. The song was a catchy song and everybody started to sing along and the deejay started to toast so everything went down well. On Monday morning I went up and I said ‘Tubbs the mistake we made was a serious joke.It mash up Spanish Town! The people went wild. So you have to start to do that now ‘cause when the man put on the ‘Part Two’ everyone start singing this song. It played about twenty times. I said you try Tubbs!’...Well the next Saturday night now when Tubby strung up down the farm U Roy said he’s going to play ‘Part Two’ but Tubby did it different now. He started with the voice then dropped it out and let the rhythm run and then he brought in the voice in the middle and from there Tubby started to get really popular.’’
Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee
Dynamic Sounds upgraded to sixteen track recording in 1972 and Tubby purchased, again with the help of a deal brokered by Bunny Lee. The old four track equipment and the MCI console from their Studio B. The four tracks now gave him far wider scope to work with and he began to create a new musical form where the bass and drum parts were brought up while the faders allowed Tubby to ease the vocal and rhythm in and out of the mix. It was only a matter of time before Tubby’s dub plate experiments began to make it on to vinyl and the first ever long playing King Tubby releases would feature a collection of his mixes to a selection of Strikers rhythms. So please sit back and enjoy this historic set of sounds. Lovingly restored and with a few extra gems added to the CD Editions. These releases were the first to carry the name of King Tubby and the first to credit the great musicians that contributed so much to the rhythms that made these albums possible.
Acid-washed motorik drone with buried vocals from experimental duo.
Follows up, thirteen years later, from critically acclaimed album Common Era.
Realistic IX, the third full-length by the duo of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich aka Belong, is both an expansion and excavation of their signature acid-washed songcraft.
Bleached guitars, metronomic drums, and buried voices rev, swirl, and seethe across shifting gradients of haze and hypnosis, alternately driving and diffuse. Melodies surge closer to the surface, flexing their form before resubmerging into quickening currents of feedback. Elsewhere the elements dissipate into a dusk of murk and microtonalities, electricity liberated back into infinite night.
Although it’s been thirteen years since Belong’s prior Kranky offering, Common Era, none of the duo’s rare synergy has decayed in the interim. Jones and Dietrich’s commitment to oblique states of motorik drone and liminal emotion continues to evolve and unfold, increasingly tactile and unreal, an alluring glow glimpsed through fogged windows at witching hours.
"WINDSWEPT is yet another creative vehicle for the esteemed Roman Saenko, known worldwide for his pioneering work in Drudkh, Precambrian and Hate Forest among others. While most of his musical creations stem from black metal, thankfully, WINDSWEPT is consistent in this regard and unapologetically restrictive, retaining Saenko's characteristically hypnotic riffing coasting atop a wintry atmosphere.
Now, after a couple albums with Season of Mist, WINDSWEPT join forces with PRIMITIVE REACTION, who released the debut album of his PRECAMBRIAN project in 2020, with the brand-new mini-album "Der eine, wahre König". Uniquely, this four-song / 28-minute recording features two equally esteemed vocalists - Winterherr of Paysage D' Hiver, and Meilenwald of Ruins of Beverast - with both men splitting duties evenly.
Indeed, with such a structure, "Der eine, wahre König" is a portrait of evenness: unwavering, unflinching, immovable, engrossing. Movement manifests in subtlety, as is Saenko's stock in trade; further and deeper listens reveal a wealth of nuance even if it's not always apparent. All four tracks comprising the record feature all-German lyrics, evoking a different-yet-related sense of austerity from the mainman's proudly Ukrainian ruminations, and both vocalists rise to the challenge of pushing their respective throats to the limit whilst remaining rooted to WINDSWEPT's core consistency. That "Der eine, wahre König" attacks from the very first second and successively expands, concluding with the near-11-minute "Jedes Todes Lohn", and retains its a stute balance of urgency and epicness speaks to Saenko's never-faltering mastery.
- Touch Y&Apos;All (Remix)
- Amazin&Apos; (Kakalak Remix)
- Nuff Love
- Raw Factor
- This Year (Feat. Big Kap)
- If You Got Beef
- My Main Man
- Represent (Feat. Lil Kalef)
- When I Make Parole (Feat. Rock Of Brick Flava)
- I&Apos;M On Mine
- Was It Just You
- We Lust For The Papes
- I Gotta Maintain
- Touch Y&Apos;All
- Wrecognize
- Freestyle After A Philly
- Stage Presence (Feat. Toz Torcha)
- Rap Vs Crack
- Turn The Party Out
- We Live That Shit
Originally scheduled for release way back in March 1996, "The Raw Factor" by North Carolina native Omniscence is one of the last of the unreleased mid-90's albums to see the light of day. Despite being awarded The Source's coveted "Hip Hop Quotable" and dropping two well-received singles ("Amazin" and "Touch Y'all"), record label politics meant the full-length "The Raw Factor" album was never released and fans were left wondering what might have been.
28 years later, "The Raw Factor" is finally being released on vinyl, CD and digital stores. Featuring punchline-driven lyrics from Omniscence delivered in his unmistakable cadence, and backed by head-nodding production from Fanatic, the album is a must-own for fans of 90's Hip Hop.
Omniscence haunted the same early 90's cyphers and stages that many lyrical greats from the era had to cross. With a gruff delivery and equal adeptness with punchlines and metaphors, his high finish at the 1994 edition Battle For World Supremacy at the New Music Seminar assured heads across the culture were watching. After this, Omniscence locked in with producer Fanatic (who also laced tracks for Notorious B.I.G., Ma$e and Michael Jackson). The result was "The Raw Factor" album, fifteen plus tracks of jazzed out boom-bap, replete with crackin' drums.
Now Below System Records has not only given the album its first deluxe physical release (including 2xLP, CD and digital) as well as a slew of bonus/unreleased tracks.
p Touch Y'all (Remix) feat. Sadat X
p Touch Y'all (Remix) [feat. Sadat X]
[p] Touch Y'all (Remix) [feat. Sadat X]
[p] Touch Y'all (Remix) [feat. Sadat X]
More than two years after the release of 'Impressões de Outra Ilha', Discrepant's head honcho returns home under his birth name with the appropriately titled 'Exotic Immensity'. Conjured from the seeds of an exhibition of dioramas at Le Bon Accueil in Rennes, this double LP feels quietly epic in scope, a sprawling travelogue through imagined scenarios and what if possibilities. Discarding the more rough around the edges collages of previous works under a myriad of aliases - Discogs it, if you will -, Cardoso's approach here is more meticulously composed, with seamless transitions within his own personal soundworld giving way to this hallucinated landscape of field recordings, subtle electronic tweaks, cascading patterns, queasy ambiences and kösmiche-like synth harmonies.
Perfectly embodied in Evan Crankshaw's cut up poem, filled with occult and sci-fi references such as Agrippa's Book of the Occult, William Blake's Book of Urizen, Dr. Moreau or 50's pop-science books, the music on 'Exotic Immensity' transverses time and cartography in a deeply personal matter, from the cricket-like textures and reverse loops of 'Réplica(s)' until the closing moments with the touching chord progression and mangled voices of 'Pó Nuno'. In-between, the foghorn meets bass clarinet melody of 'Ossos' recalls the unassuming but essential harmonic patterns of Laurence Crane, surrounded by an almost percussive sheet of field recordings that drift into the gliding synth tones of 'Desumanização (I & II)' until tape orchestral swells carry us into the aether. 'Aquário Novo Mundo' brims in an undisplaced cartography, from electronic marimba stabs to synth choirs, the call of the loom to labyrinthine keyboard harmonies and underwater radiance. Are we still here? Somewhere? The muffled looped rhythmic sequence of 'Imagem/Miragem', cut by the glow of cascading synths doesn't offer a reply. Nor does it need to.
'Exotic Immensity' exists on the perpetual outside. Blessed be Cardoso for showing us a way in.
Black Bile compiles some of Umberto"s most resplendent, sanguine music to date The solo work of LA composer Matt Hill draws heavily from the world of cinema, spinning immersive narratives and rich atmospheres using sound alone. Hill, an active composer for film and television, recently scored the 2022 Jerry Pyle film Loveseat (soundtrack was released in 2023). Other recent scores include the 2020 thriller Archenemy, from the producers of cult classic Mandy. Inspired by the ancient Greek theory of the "four humors," an early medical theory linking the inner workings of the human body to the elements. "Black bile" specifically links the feelings of melancholy with autumn. Hill"s celestial compositions are an autumnal soundtrack conveying beauty, yearning, reflection and comfort. Many of the album"s phrases are constructed from just two notes or sounds, arranged by Hill into complex patterns that undulate with an organic pulse. The spare melodic structure holds a myriad of small and beautiful details. The songs began with Hill improvising on the piano, to find the notes and patterns that created the musical and emotional structure from which he could expand with textural detail. Hill then would often remove the initial structure leaving a sparer and more skeletal one which he could again expand upon to create a full piece. The careful attention to each detail gives his minimal compositions emotional heft. The album masterfully stakes Umberto"s claim among other avant-ambient boundary pushers such as Lawrence English or Laurel Halo.
The way you're saying it, "prolific" isn't the right word for The Bug Club. You've got to say it with the trademark Welsh lilt and pay due homage to this inimitable band's origins in the renowned hit factory of Caldicot, South Wales. Do that, and you're about right with how to summarize a group who've released ten singles, two albums, two EPs, three things nobody knew how to describe, and an album under a different band's name, all since 2021, and while playing 200+ gigs a year. Initially comprising the songwriting core of Sam Willmett (vocals/guitar) and Tilly Harris (vocals/bass) with Dan Matthew (drums), The Bug Club started plying their trade in 2016. They were signed by UK label Bingo Records in Autumn of 2020. BBC 6 Music's Marc Riley was an early champion, hammering the single, booking the band in for a session as soon as it was allowed, and rightfully praising songwriters capable of singing the whole alphabet in a two-minute song and making it work. Third LP On The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System - their first for Sub Pop - sees the band serve up a beefy slab of their speciality Modern-Lovers-meets-Nuggets garage rock. There's B-52's call-and-response fun mixed with AC/DC power chord grunt. Leaning towards fast-paced punk, opening double salvo "War Movies" and "Quality Pints" sets out the stall: duel vocal piss-taking, surreal takes on everyday topics that go full circle and become profound, riffs all day long and then all the next day too. "Quality Pints" deals with the pressing concerns of any conscientious touring outfit, taking to heart the rule of the three R's as penned by renowned fellow pints fan Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Repetition, repetition, repetition. If it's that important, which it is, it's worth saying again. "War Movies" dresses distorted chugging with a comprehensive 'best of' list for the genre, with Sam Willmett offering a solo casually chucked out in a way that will make your dad promptly give up any resurgent guitar playing ambitions. And "A Bit Like James Bond" tackles the UK's sleaziest undercover export at the same time as the embarrassing ego problem that besets much of its population - but it's only heavy(ish) in the fun, loads-of-riffs sense. So, that's what they've been finishing up during their massive month-long break from gigs. In a bid to avoid being branded layabouts, The Bug Club will support their upcoming Sub Pop release with a springtime tour of the UK and Europe beginning May 10, before heading out to the US in September.
- A1: In The Name Of Love - 2024 Remaster
- A2: Cry For Help - 2024 Remaster
- A3: Move Right Out - 2024 Remaster
- A4: Be With You - 2024 Remaster
- A5: Really Got A Problem - 2024 Remaster
- A6: Is This Really Love – 2024 Remaster
- B1: This Must Be Heaven - 2024 Remaster
- B2: Never Knew Love - 2024 Remaster
- B3: The Bottom Line - 2024 Remaster
- B4: Wonderful You - 2024 Remaster
- B5: Behind The Smile - 2024 Remaste
‘Rick Astley's 1991 album 'FREE' marked a significant departure from his previous pop-driven sound, showcasing a more mature and introspective side. The album, which featured a blend of pop, soul, and R&B influences, and a star-studded list of collaborators, including Elton John, Michael McDonald and Mark King, presented Rick in a new light, exploring themes of love, loss, and personal growth. Singles like ‘Cry for Help’ and ‘Move Right Out’ displayed Astley's emotive vocals and soulful delivery.
'Free' received critical acclaim for its musical diversity and Astley's vocal prowess, earning praise for its mature songwriting and emotional depth. 'Free' remains a standout moment in his career, demonstrating his artistic evolution and versatility as a musician. With its heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies, 'Free' continues to resonate with listeners, offering a timeless exploration of love, freedom, and self-discovery.
The LP format is available for the first time featuring the full 11-track album (originally released with just 10 tracks) and comes in a highly desirable gold mirrorboard sleeve. The double CD format features 18 bonus tracks, 7 of which are previously unreleased, including studio track ‘Call Me’.
Current 93’s first and last album, NATURE UNVEILED dragged together my obsessions, as I had decided to make a pop album that dealt with my (then—as now!) primary fascinations: Christian apocalyptic and eschatological Christian texts.
In my Speed-Ridden Soul and Mind, I thought I was reinventing The Ronettes, and that the 2 long sides of NATURE UNVEILED were A- and B- Sides of a Wall Of Soundhogs HIT! But the reality is that I was sharing a squat in Vauxhall with Little Annie Anxiety, and hanging out with Youth in The BatCave, with chickens rescued by The Animal Liberation Front in our backyard. Or did that come soon after, soon later? The album was recorded at The Roundhouse Studios in London’s Chalk Farm, home of Bronze Records, the label of my heroes (then—as now!) Uriah Heep, and Motörhead too, for whom I had moved stage-gear on their tour promoting their debut single on Chiswick Records.
Anyway, anyway—I had not reinvented The Ronettes, though every time, every place, I listen to NATURE UNVEILED it Hits Me, And Feels Like A Judas Kiss. There has been NOTHING UNVEILED like NATURE UNVEILED, Before, Since, Or After.
Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12” vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-colour die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside.
This is one of the first 4 reissues of the entire back catalogue of C93 on picture-disc and standard vinyl, in the lead-up to the publication of my autobiography at the end of 2025, whilst I also work on many other recording, publishing, and painting projects, and Watch And Pray! Each release in the picture-disc vinyl reissues series is limited to 1,000 copies, and the titles will not be repressed as picture-discs once they have sold out.
This is the repeated call and the rallying chorus of the nearly 40-minute centerpiece to composer and percussionist Asher Gamedze’s new album Constitution. The expansive double album, a minoritarian fellowship in breath, is Gamedze’s follow-up to 2023’s Turbulence and Pulse (IARC0057), and his first with The Black Lungs. The album – recorded in one day at Cape Town’s Sound and Motion Studios – is an elaboration of the possibilities of autonomous constitution in and through polyrhythmic, modal, large ensemble music.
On Constitution, the power of the question, the possibility of an improvised answer and the celebration of being together exists not in the solo but in the group, the ensemble. Here The Black Lungs collectively explore and deconstruct the conceptual, tonal, and atonal possibilities of themes which are at once of old and new dreams - curious and instantiative, melancholic and emergent.
“The Black Lungs is inspired by the revolutionary thought and practice of the Black Consciousness Movement. In particular, the relationship between antagonism – constituting a united front of all the oppressed against white supremacy and racial capitalism – and the possibilities for resistance and elaboration - the creative militant capacities of those assembled – enabled and unleashed by that process of constitution.”
Formed in 2007, The Boxmasters have recorded an impressive and diverse catalogue of music that touches on their love of a wide array of influences, but most importantly, the rock and roll of the 1960’s. Love & Hate In Desperate Places is their 17th album and the ten songs evince a wry perspective on human nature and love. The lively melodic rock cloaks the wry wit of the lyrics. The album was produced by The Boxmasters, Billy Bob Thornton and J.D. Andrew, who also wrote every song. Listening to The Boxmasters, one can hear obvious odes to the Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys, but also important to The Boxmasters are The Mothers of Invention, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine and Big Star. Since forming The Boxmasters, several long-time friends have contributed to the sound of the band, but the core of The Boxmasters has always been Andrew and Thornton. As primary songwriters, the sound of the Boxmasters has been an evolution as the duo constantly strive to find new inspiration, new sounds and new ways of expressing what is in their hearts and on their minds. But at the core, there is a backbeat, a lyric with meaning and music played with emotion. As a touring band, The Boxmasters have cultivated a rabid cult fanbase across the United States and Canada. Opening for the likes of ZZ Top, Steve Miller, George Thorogood and Kid Rock The Boxmasters have proven to win over large audiences. As a headliner, frequent stops in Kansas City at “Knuckleheads”, Springfield, Illinois at “Boondocks” and “Merrimack Hall” in Huntsville, Alabama have shown dedicated yet still growing audiences. Two appearances at Levon Helm’s “Midnight Ramble” in Woodstock, New York were highlight performances for the band, as well as the “Ramble at The Ryman” that Levon hosted in 2008. The Boxmasters performed on “The Grand Ole Opry” in 2015, another in a growing resume of must-play venues.
GOLD VINYL[24,79 €]
A formidable power trio, hailing in parts from the icy Swedish northlands and the glacial expanse of the Swiss Alps, named after the three Norse goddesses of fate who wove the very tapestry of fate underneath the mythical World Tree, Norna aren't messing around. Their debut album, 2021's `Star is way way is Eye' was saturated filth; uncompromising, unrelenting ugliness. This though, their eponymous sophomore offering, digs its claws deeper into the dirt. Sharpened, hungry and desperate, born of the moment and yet years in the making; `Norna' liberates a primal rage that has been suppressed for far too long. Rather than defining their music around needlessly complex riffs or trapping themselves in established song structures, the band instead built colossal walls of crushing guitar noise before carving away at the chaos to form the bones of each piece. The results are hypnotic, looping dirges; apocalyptic mantras that take on their own shapes and stories, coming to life with each excruciating reprise_ Sculpted the same way as their debut album, with ideas and hooks hewn from a mass of noise held quite literally in the clouds (Dropbox being the band's platform of choice), Norna this time entered the process with a vision; a final, horrific form in mind. As such, the eponymous record pushes their boundaries even further beyond the extreme, with even the briefest moments of calm quickly curdled by the band's use of insidious ambient synthesisers, manipulated samples and even more distortion. Despite only forming in 2020, the three pillars of Norna bring decades of heaviness with them. Consisting of Swedish post-hardcore pioneer Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Swiss stalwarts Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (both of instrumental juggernaut Olten), Norna came together as a perfect storm of abrasive influences, harnessed by friend and producer Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), to create something new, limitless and terrifying.
BLACK VINYL[20,38 €]
A formidable power trio, hailing in parts from the icy Swedish northlands and the glacial expanse of the Swiss Alps, named after the three Norse goddesses of fate who wove the very tapestry of fate underneath the mythical World Tree, Norna aren't messing around. Their debut album, 2021's `Star is way way is Eye' was saturated filth; uncompromising, unrelenting ugliness. This though, their eponymous sophomore offering, digs its claws deeper into the dirt. Sharpened, hungry and desperate, born of the moment and yet years in the making; `Norna' liberates a primal rage that has been suppressed for far too long. Rather than defining their music around needlessly complex riffs or trapping themselves in established song structures, the band instead built colossal walls of crushing guitar noise before carving away at the chaos to form the bones of each piece. The results are hypnotic, looping dirges; apocalyptic mantras that take on their own shapes and stories, coming to life with each excruciating reprise_ Sculpted the same way as their debut album, with ideas and hooks hewn from a mass of noise held quite literally in the clouds (Dropbox being the band's platform of choice), Norna this time entered the process with a vision; a final, horrific form in mind. As such, the eponymous record pushes their boundaries even further beyond the extreme, with even the briefest moments of calm quickly curdled by the band's use of insidious ambient synthesisers, manipulated samples and even more distortion. Despite only forming in 2020, the three pillars of Norna bring decades of heaviness with them. Consisting of Swedish post-hardcore pioneer Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Swiss stalwarts Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (both of instrumental juggernaut Olten), Norna came together as a perfect storm of abrasive influences, harnessed by friend and producer Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), to create something new, limitless and terrifying.
Purple[29,83 €]
Southern California shoegaze squad Cold Gawd return to Dais for their second and most supreme suite yet of crushing downer bliss: I’ll Drown On This Earth. From the defiant scream that kicks off opening cut “Gorgeous,” the album rips in what singer and principal songwriter Matthew Wainwright describes as “go for it” mode: holding back nothing, wasting no time. Although the bulk of the songs were written in 2022, recording sessions weren’t booked until March of 2024, which allowed ample time to refine and distill the music’s hooks, heaviness, and haze. The result is a perfect storm of distortion and dream pop, cracked love songs cloaked in swooning walls of noise.
Recorded at Paradise Recorders in Anaheim, California with Colin Knight (of post-punk unit Object of Affection), Wainwright tracked the strings while Cameron Fonacier handled drums. The process was efficient and effective, sharpened by years of performance. Anthemic headbangers like “Portland,” “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned For A Thing I Cannot Name,” and “Malibu Beach House” sound as dynamic as they do dialled-in, soaked into the bones of the players. The lyrics camelast, written by Wainwright a week before recording. Moods of surreality (“I can hear the blood in my fingers / nothing tunes out / the world’s too loud”), infatuation (“I will follow / everywhere you go / any way to feel / how you glow”), and melancholy (“God kept me around / for no good reason”) flicker and fade within a fog of memory and reverb.
Southern California shoegaze squad Cold Gawd return to Dais for their second and most supreme suite yet of crushing downer bliss: I’ll Drown On This Earth. From the defiant scream that kicks off opening cut “Gorgeous,” the album rips in what singer and principal songwriter Matthew Wainwright describes as “go for it” mode: holding back nothing, wasting no time. Although the bulk of the songs were written in 2022, recording sessions weren’t booked until March of 2024, which allowed ample time to refine and distill the music’s hooks, heaviness, and haze. The result is a perfect storm of distortion and dream pop, cracked love songs cloaked in swooning walls of noise.
Recorded at Paradise Recorders in Anaheim, California with Colin Knight (of post-punk unit Object of Affection), Wainwright tracked the strings while Cameron Fonacier handled drums. The process was efficient and effective, sharpened by years of performance. Anthemic headbangers like “Portland,” “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned For A Thing I Cannot Name,” and “Malibu Beach House” sound as dynamic as they do dialled-in, soaked into the bones of the players. The lyrics camelast, written by Wainwright a week before recording. Moods of surreality (“I can hear the blood in my fingers / nothing tunes out / the world’s too loud”), infatuation (“I will follow / everywhere you go / any way to feel / how you glow”), and melancholy (“God kept me around / for no good reason”) flicker and fade within a fog of memory and reverb.
Human Worth are proud to present the stunning new full-length from the ferocious noise rock duo Modern Technology, with a portion of proceeds donated to charity. How two players can make this much racket just has to be heard to be believed. The bass guitar and drums duo Modern Technology sound deceptively larger, louder and noisier than one could expect. The duo of Chris Clarke and Owen Gildersleeve (Old Mayor) present their second full length album 'Conditions of Worth' through rising leftfield heavy label Human Worth. Encapsulating influences of ‘90s Touch & Go era noise rock, the grubby grit of sludge metal, and the ferociousness of post-hardcore, Modern Technology hit you with the same energy and volume as their lauded live shows – which for those who caught them on their recent UK tour with Chat Pile will be able to attest to!
Marching forwards as thoughtful as they are sonically unhinged, ‘Conditions Of Worth’ takes the duo’s voiced concerns and socially conscious outlooks further and louder, tackling issues including mental health, the effects of austerity, societal degradation, and the ever increasing climate emergency. ‘Conditions Of Worth’ is available as a limited edition heavyweight 180g Transparent “Utility Yellow” Vinyl in a stunning package designed by Chris Clarke. 10% of all sales proceeds will be donated to charity Choose Love, helping to provide humanitarian aid, search, rescue and legal advice to refugees and displaced people across the globe.
It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia. After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think” Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception. And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes. Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself. On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over. He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”
It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia. After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think” Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception. And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes. Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself. On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over. He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”
*BLACK VINYL*Asher White's third album in two years (and fifteenth overall), Home Constellation Study is less a refinement of last year’s sly, quaint New Excellent Woman and more an explosion of it. Her meticulous chamber pop has given way to resplendent swells of horns and squeals of noise, throbbing bass and queasy orchestral loops. The cover, painted by White, frames a burst of flowers against a dark blue abyss, mimicking the music: over frenzied sambas, bleary slacker rock, hushed ambient meditations, and surprisingly slick disco. The past year has found the prolific Providence-based singer-songwriter ascending through her city’s fertile experimental rock scene alongside the breakout synth-punk act BabyBaby_explores and her labelmates Or Best Offer. Live, White’s band plays riotous, unpredictable noise rock that nods to their city’s storied DIY scene; on Home Constellation Study, mid-album highlights like “Downstate Prairie” and “Hymn” nod to Providence’s bands of yore with their blistering sheets of feedback and pummeling drums, placing White, improbably, within the lineage of local heroes Les Savy Fav or the broken pop dispatches of Black Pus. At its core, however, Home Constellation Study is the product of studied, monastic auteurism. Like New Excellent Woman, it was arranged, performed, recorded and mixed by White alone in her basement studio in Providence. “Happy Birthday” is an earnest psalm, a paean of devotion and remorse to God a la Beverly Glenn-Copeland that drifts along with Panda Bear haziness. White’s concept of “toxic femininity” undergoes further investigation on “Good luck!” and “Runes,” both with Elliott Smith-like chord changes and the barbs of cynical romantics like Aimee Mann. Asher White’s vision has never been so expansive and unpredictable.
The world of ENDON is one of constant evolution and revolution. The Tokyo-based ensemble of Taichi Nagura, Koki Miyabe, and Taro Aiko have made a name for themselves with their relentless exploration of sonic extremes in the vein of artists such as the Boredoms and Merzbow. The resulting music is a powerful emotional release for both artist and listener. Their commitment to evolution and dystopian noise as a playground for exploration and pure expression carried them through the recent departure of their drummer Shin Yokota and the tragic death of brother and band member Etsuo Nagura in 2020. Where some might have tried to replace members, ENDON"s core pressed forward with an autobiographical work exploring these changes and the shifts in their lives. Honest and raw emotions delivered with uncompromising sonic intensity, Fall of Spring is a thrilling tidal wave of sound and raw emotions born of the psyche of three individuals musically congregating into one tumultuous voice. Fall of Spring captures the electricity and unpredictability of ENDON"s live performances in vivid detail. The album harnesses the power of their storied performances through unpredictable movements, deft arrangements and an exhilarating textural palette. By imbuing their sound with raw feeling at every edge of obliteration, the trio are able to create what they call "organic music with inorganic material." For ENDON, those moments of suspense and surprise are the core of their music. As with their shows, Fall of Spring is a vessel for band and audience to share moments, to suspend time and move through grief and pain, and to bask in catharsis and resilience. ENDON continues to be a mercurial force in the world of extreme music.
Thrasher is the soundtrack to a virtual reality video game about a creature that has a life cycle that traverses different psychedelic realities. Thrasher was composed and performed by Brian Gibson, bassist of Lightning Bolt. It is the follow up to the acclaimed best-selling game and soundtrack Thumper. The central character in Thrasher is a giant centipede like creature, so Gibson employed a lot of melodic sequences that resonated well with its segments moving through space. The soundtrack has the drive you might expect knowing Gibson"s work in Lightning Bolt combined with complex melodic structures that are absolutely irresistible. In addition to bucking the hyperreality trend in gameplay, Gibson"s DIY ethos and warehouse culture roots permeate the entire soundtrack. He says it best: "Thumper has that combination of psychedelic and iconic that takes me back to the Fort Thunder days. Thrasher is a further exploration into some of those motifs." We recommend that you play this record VERY loudly.
Tuk Smith is the kind of rock'n'roll ambassador you didn't think existed anymore. Punk maverick from rural Georgia, Biters frontman, producer and solo artist, he's seen the best and worst of a music industry in constant flux. By turns it's left him critically acclaimed, poised for stadiums, dropped, burned out, back in the game and beloved by those for whom rock is still everything. Now based in Nashville, and with his own label Gypsy Rose Records, he creates from a more real place than most. The result is Rogue To Redemption, Tuk's second album with solo project The Restless Hearts. The sonic lovechild of Thin Lizzy, 90s power pop and melody-driven punk, it shows an artistic peak born from adversity. The sound of a man bottling a lifetime of experiences, stories and characters from working class America. Produced by Tuk and mixed by Chris Dugan (Green Day, Iggy Pop, U2), Rogue To Redemption was written over the last three years but recorded down to the wire - right up to the summer of 2024. Joined by long-term Restless Hearts compadres, drummer Nigel Dupree and bassist Matthew 'Ponyboy' Curtis, he cut the bulk of it at home. So if any of this resonates with you - if you crave rock'n'roll with substance, an edge, 21st century eyes and an old soul's heart - you've come to the right place.
Tuk Smith is the kind of rock'n'roll ambassador you didn't think existed anymore. Punk maverick from rural Georgia, Biters frontman, producer and solo artist, he's seen the best and worst of a music industry in constant flux. By turns it's left him critically acclaimed, poised for stadiums, dropped, burned out, back in the game and beloved by those for whom rock is still everything. Now based in Nashville, and with his own label Gypsy Rose Records, he creates from a more real place than most. The result is Rogue To Redemption, Tuk's second album with solo project The Restless Hearts. The sonic lovechild of Thin Lizzy, 90s power pop and melody-driven punk, it shows an artistic peak born from adversity. The sound of a man bottling a lifetime of experiences, stories and characters from working class America. Produced by Tuk and mixed by Chris Dugan (Green Day, Iggy Pop, U2), Rogue To Redemption was written over the last three years but recorded down to the wire - right up to the summer of 2024. Joined by long-term Restless Hearts compadres, drummer Nigel Dupree and bassist Matthew 'Ponyboy' Curtis, he cut the bulk of it at home. So if any of this resonates with you - if you crave rock'n'roll with substance, an edge, 21st century eyes and an old soul's heart - you've come to the right place.
The onus of proof regarding deepness is a rather peculiar one. Even if one presses all the right buttons, quotes the correct sources and applies the textbook techniques, often something seems to be amiss. The elusive producer Mute never had that problem. Blessed with a a sound of his own, that seems to stem from within and can be called deep house without the genre’s strait-laced demeanor, his aesthetic includes a distinct feel for boogie and disco tropes. Case in point: Lost. Placed as a B2 it is the secret start of Direct Cuts II and more
prominent on this new edition of a classic Running Back record. Molded into an extended disco version by Gerd Janson with unused parts of the original recording session, it something like a curveball deep house disco song, according to the motto: you and me, we can be like a whole universe! Hard to resist and even harder not to like if you have the slightest interest in Prelude records, Diana Ross songs or Tee Scott mix techniques. Basics, Vibes and Driver’s License push further into the world and musical mindset of Mute.
Originally released in 2006 as the the fourth outing of the label and the second (and his last one to date) of the elusive artist, it is still as remarkable as on its first release. Carefully rescued from the original DAT tapes, all re-edited by Gerd Janson and remastered by Lopazz, it’s available again in a clear and present portraiture of its original intent. Early adopters like Danny Krivit and the Idjut Boys can’t be wrong.
The learning process is just as much an act of healing as betterment. The enabling of solutions through sheer willpower and openness to discovery, or a noble mission, never completed. In that spirit, the latest album by Berlin-based Slovak duo Päfgens – comprising Jana Drábeková Kočišová and Filip Drábek – represents a pensive development for the project.
Drifting from their lo-fi shoegaze beginnings, Päfgens drone-infused soundscapes have become increasingly immersive and expressive “framed improvisations,” where spontaneous passages are captured, then revisited with fresh layers upon layers over the course of months, breathing and evolving naturally, mirroring the unpredictability of nature. Songforms have all but melted away, with ethereal guitars and bass nestling up against field-recorded sounds, synth beds, percussion, and singing bowl tones.
The framed improvisation on ‘Aspect of What’ explores love and loss, relishing both the joy and melancholy of paying tribute to Filip’s late ethnologist grandmother, Božena Filová (1926-2020). Her voice opens track 2, ‘Particles’, speaking of the humble desire to “help the people in the rural environment”, and the goal of “uplifting people to better living through education”. The album’s emotionally charged approach to improvisation is suitably uplifting and seemingly made without ego, the couple melting away into the flitting wall of rustling drones and heavenly fuzz. Even at their most serrated (the groaning guitar amp squall underpinning ‘Journey’) or when surrounded by chiming bells, clocks and bowls (‘Around the Clock’), Päfgens is ready to listen, rest, learn, and improve, extracting and nurturing hidden abstract emotion in every piece, plundering something universal and teachable from very personal depths.
Evening Air is the result Loren Connors and David Grubbs’s first trip to the recording studio in the two decades since their first duo album, Arborvitae (Häpna). Arborvitae stood out for its spellbinding, utterly unhurried meshing of electric guitar (Connors) and piano (Grubbs).
With this long-awaited return, Connors and Grubbs take turns trading off on piano and guitar, with Grubbs at the keyboard for the two gently expansive pieces on the first side and Connors taking over the instrument for three gorgeous miniatures on the flip, including an album-closing and perfectly heart-stopping version of Connors’s and Suzanne Langille’s “Child.” The album’s wildcard is “It’s Snowing Onstage,” which finds the two locking horns with two electric guitars before Loren blew the minds of all present in the studio by unexpectedly switching to drums.
Loren Connors is one-of-a-kind, one of a handful of deservedly storied musical greats gracing us with their presence, and with Evening Air David Grubbs again demonstrates that he’s a stellar musician who also ranks among the most simpatico of collaborators.
A cover painting by Connors — another wordless signalling — sets the tone for this most beguiling of seances.
Tuk Smith is the kind of rock'n'roll ambassador you didn't think existed anymore. Punk maverick from rural Georgia, Biters frontman, producer and solo artist, he's seen the best and worst of a music industry in constant flux. By turns it's left him critically acclaimed, poised for stadiums, dropped, burned out, back in the game and beloved by those for whom rock is still everything. Now based in Nashville, and with his own label Gypsy Rose Records, he creates from a more real place than most. The result is Rogue To Redemption, Tuk's second album with solo project The Restless Hearts. The sonic lovechild of Thin Lizzy, 90s power pop and melody-driven punk, it shows an artistic peak born from adversity. The sound of a man bottling a lifetime of experiences, stories and characters from working class America. Produced by Tuk and mixed by Chris Dugan (Green Day, Iggy Pop, U2), Rogue To Redemption was written over the last three years but recorded down to the wire - right up to the summer of 2024. Joined by long-term Restless Hearts compadres, drummer Nigel Dupree and bassist Matthew 'Ponyboy' Curtis, he cut the bulk of it at home. So if any of this resonates with you - if you crave rock'n'roll with substance, an edge, 21st century eyes and an old soul's heart - you've come to the right place.
"Dance With Me Volume 4" is the fourth compilation record from Salon Recordings’ artists and affiliates. Features thirteen tracks from twelve artists including label founder Damar Davis, residents Sevyn, Oye Manny, Grandfather, and Bobby Cabbagestalk. Salon’s yearly compilations are a showcase of musicians across the globe who understand the unique elements that make up the Salon sound. From the most atmospheric corners of house music to up-tempo beats designed for the dance floor, Salon Volume 4 stays true to the signature soulfulness of the independent label. Featuring a tight line-up of new and familiar producers from all the US and beyond the compilation is a sampling of the best that the label has to offer. The tracks range in tone from hypnotically entrancing to beautifully ruminative, each an offering from artists shaping the dance music scene as it navigates the post-lockdown age.
OVERVIEW KEEP OF KALESSIN - KATHARSIS is set to be released in March 2023! via Morningstar Music & Back On Black Records, Distributed by PlasticHead Distribution. KEEP OF KALESSIN return with their most epic work to date! The pioneers of Epic Extreme Metal have crafted an album that will hit both hard and direct as well as challenge the listeners with its rich detail and enormous atmosphere. Epic and melodic. Extreme, yet diverse. Intense, captivating and simply grand in every form! KATHARSIS marks a new era for a band that has proven to continue to make metal of the highest quality despite facing many challenges and lineup changes along the way. 2017 would leave the band without a drummer and it would take KEEP OF KALESSIN a few years to get the new lineup together, but these changes have given the band renewed energy and main man Arnt Obsidian now leads what is probably one of the most powerful bands in Norwegian metal. And together they have crafted an album that is so epic and so diverse that it has the potential to capture listeners from the entire spectrum of the metal genre. KEEP OF KALESSIN longtime bass player Wizziac and one of the most well known YouTube metal drummers, Wanja "Nechtan" Groeger, complete the lineup for KATHARSIS and the band sounds more mature and powerful than ever. As EPISTEMOLOGY was Arnt Obsidian's first take on vocals and frontman of the band, KATHARSIS proves that he is not only one of the fiercest riffers out there, but now also one of the most diverse singers. KATHARSIS is simply an amazing journey exploring everything from the most empowering emotions to the deepest fears and darkest thoughts. It is a life journey explained, battling both outside challenges and inner emotions. All this set in epic otherworldly surroundings. It is the rebirth. The resurrection. The purgation. The battle of leaving the old and embracing the new. It is the musical embodiment of you against you!
KEEP OF KALESSIN return with their most epic work to date! The pioneers of Epic Extreme Metal have crafted an album that will hit both hard and direct as well as challenge the listeners with its rich detail and enormous atmosphere. Epic and melodic. Extreme, yet diverse. Intense, captivating and simply grand in every form! KATHARSIS marks a new era for a band that has proven to continue to make metal of the highest quality despite facing many challenges and lineup changes along the way. 2017 would leave the band without a drummer and it would take KEEP OF KALESSIN a few years to get the new lineup together, but these changes have given the band renewed energy and main man Arnt Obsidian now leads what is probably one of the most powerful bands in Norwegian metal. And together they have crafted an album that is so epic and so diverse that it has the potential to capture listeners from the entire spectrum of the metal genre. KEEP OF KALESSIN longtime bass player Wizziac and one of the most well known YouTube metal drummers, Wanja "Nechtan" Groeger, complete the lineup for KATHARSIS and the band sounds more mature and powerful than ever. As EPISTEMOLOGY was Arnt Obsidian's first take on vocals and frontman of the band, KATHARSIS proves that he is not only one of the fiercest riffers out there, but now also one of the most diverse singers. KATHARSIS is simply an amazing journey exploring everything from the most empowering emotions to the deepest fears and darkest thoughts. It is a life journey explained, battling both outside challenges and inner emotions. All this set in epic otherworldly surroundings. It is the rebirth. The resurrection. The purgation. The battle of leaving the old and embracing the new. It is the musical embodiment of you against you!
Few bands have as enduring a legacy in the acoustic/newgrass/jam band
scene as Colorado-based Leftover Salmon
Carrying the torch passed down by the progressive bluegrass pioneers, The
Seldom Scene and Newgrass Revival, Leftover Salmon are true architects of the
contemporary jam grass scene, inspiring the careers of a generation of artists
ncluding Billy Strings, Greensky Bluegrass and Yonder Mountain String Band.
On 'Grass Roots', Leftover Salmon reflect on its bluegrass and festival
campground origins with a set of songs that draws from the repertoires that The
Salmon Heads and The Left Hand String Band played when they first jammed in a
Telluride Bluegrass Festival campground. Collaborating with jam scene icons
Billy Strings, Oliver Wood, and Darol Anger, and with the recent addition of Jay
Starling on resophonic guitar, lap steel and keys to the band's official line, Leftover
Salmon have all the instrumental firepower needed to deliver hard driving
versions of bluegrass standards and grassed- up versions of songs from Bob
Dylan, David Bromberg, and The Grateful Dead. Now available on Limited Edition
Banana Yellow Vinyl
Now available on Limited Edition Banana Yellow Vinyl
The EP lands hot on the heels of her relocating to London after selling out three
Australian headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane and a packed out
summer of touring across the UK/ EU festival circuit. The multi- hyphenate has
been releasing left- leaning house & techno over the last few years which has
been causing a stir on dancefloors worldwide alongside playing dozens of
festivals across the UK, Europe & Australia (Glastonbury, Lost Village, AVA,
Parklife, Gottwood & more) With DJ support from Bonobo, Fred Again.., Barry
Can't Swim, George Fitzgerald, Romy (from The xx), Confidence Man alongside
international media support from Resident Advisor, Mixmag, BBC Radio 1, DJ
Mag, Triple J, Dazed & more.
Enveloping the space between all-out bangers and bittersweet love songs, Pretty
Girl's new EP is a six- track missive that demonstrates her ability to balance
romantic mood pieces with euphoric club moments. Glittering vocals, high-energy
drums and masterful production provide the musical backdrop for the new EP,
which is laced with symbols of transformation and personal development.
David Gray's tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his phenomenally
successful 'White Ladder' album proved to be a life-affirming celebration
of a record that forever changed his future and which has soundtracked
fans' lives ever since
The rapturously received tour was comprised of 54 shows across four continents
- and after playing to a total of 130,000 people just during the tour's initial UK /
Ireland arena run, it's evident that 'White Ladder' still means so much to so many
people. This unforgettable tour is documented with the release of 'White Ladder
Live' out on November 24 as a double gatefold vinyl package. As with the rest of
the tour, the show features the original 'White Ladder' band line-up.
A roar of approval greets 'Please Forgive Me' as David performs 'White Ladder' in
the original album's running order, taking in its many other hits ('Babylon', 'This
Year's Love', 'Sail Away') and fan favourite deeper cuts ('My Oh My', 'Silver Lining')
before closing the main set with his emotionally charged take on the Soft Cell
classic 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye'. The encore is full of surprises: a performance
of 'Tainted Love' which is closer in spirit to Gloria Jones' original, and a climactic
reprise of 'Please Forgive Me' which builds dramatically to bring the curtain down
in style. It also includes a spoken word piece 'Bowie, Babylon, Glastonbury 2000'
in which David shares the stranger- than- fiction story of his experience at
Glastonbury.
There is something simultaneously both brand-new and retro about 'All News Is Good News’ - the debut album from Melbourne's instrumental soul group Surprise Chef. It sounds like something dreamt up by lo-fi cousins of David Axelrod and Janko Nilovic, with dramatic Library-music-eqsue cinematic arrangements echoing both light and dark, delving into moments of dissonance and positivity.
There is a meticulous education of 1970’s soul on display that touches on the legacies of the great composer / producers, yet at the same time this is a truly contemporary record that could have only been made now. The first limited pressing of 'All News Is Good News’ was released on the band's own 'College Of Knowledge' imprint in November 2019. It slipped rapidly into the collective consciousness of underground music lovers around the world, with all copies selling out within a week and becoming a firm favourite at Mr Bongo HQ in the process.
We felt Surprise Chef had made something very special, a future-classic, and that needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to have bagged those limited first copies. Formed at the end of 2017, Surprise Chef have grown within the fertile, creative, and supportive Melbourne music scene. Whilst the band is comprised of four core members, the album features friends and family as guest instrumentalists on flute, saxophone, vibraphone, congas, and assorted percussion; all adeptly recorded by engineer Henry Jenkins from the band Karate Boogaloo. The warm-raw-authenticity of the album was captured in the recordings live to tape over a handful of sessions in the band’s home studio in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg. As band member Lachlan Stuckey explains “All of the music we record is tracked live to tape, simply because so many of the records we love most were made that way".
The results are a captivating journey of instrumental cinematic-soul that will connect with the hardened Axelrod, Truth & Soul, El Michels Affair, and Daptone's fans, as well as the open-minded first-time listener. We are very excited to share this first slice of Surprise Chef’s world, with plenty more magic from these guys coming around the corner very soon.
Also available on Red Vinyl - Limited Edition of 200 Copies.
"Still", eine Kollaboration der beiden Pianisten The Vernon Spring und Gwilym Gold, besteht aus vier meditativen Werken, die aus dreieinhalb Stunden kollektiver Klavierimprovisationen nach einem Trauerfall entstanden sind. Die Aufführung erfolgte am präparierten Klavier und Flügel, die beide mit dem Mechanical Resonator Piano (einer Andrew McPherson-Erfindung) ausgestattet sind. Das Ergebnis ist gekennzeichnet von Freundschaft und Grosszügigkeit in einer Zeit der Verletzlichkeit und unterstreicht die Schönheit sowohl der reinen menschlichen Interaktion als auch der modernen technologischen Instrumentierung.
We interrupt our regular Drum Chums programming to bring you a little V/A tackle via the 'Percussion Pals' project.
These razor sharp cuts come from friends near and far, old and new, each one primed to upgrade your record collection.
Debuts abound on the A-side, first via international man of mystery DJ Poufsouffle and his Balea-rock disco stomper "Totally Manic". Brimming with Flash & The Pan style pub-rock wonk this one boasts a growling vocal, sparkling keys and an uplifting chorus which doesn't quite break the spell of extreme silliness.
On the A2, Bristol's Spice Route rescue a nebulous reggae gem from Library obscurity, swinging the scalpel and working the desk to turn out an unstoppable groover.
Built around an irresistible rhythm section, "Gruler Dub" keeps on getting higher as the space-based vocals and trilling synths turn your brain inside out.
The B1 brings the return of Drum Chum extraordinaire Neil Diablo, who follows the Balearic brilliance of his last label outing with a cosmic caper into pure oddball pop. "Starry Night" slinks along in a chromed out catsuit, purring weirdo vocals over robo-chug and mechanical drums before indulging in a catchy chorus packed with addled innuendo. Not only is this as arch as Gina X doing a forward fold, but it also boasts some serious bass weight in the later stages - you have been warned.
We're delighted to finally feature a little magic from Australian Italo wizard Hysteric, who brings the curtain down in utterly emotional fashion via AOR disco dream "Pinball". A steady beat, infectious bassline and glistening chords play host to a swooning vocal, which reminds us to go with the flow and follow fun at all times.
100% Drum Fun Guaranteed.
The weather might never be hot in the UK but the 7th release from Regulate Recordings is an absolute scorcher! Coming hot on the heels of the “The Rhythm / Make Em Bounce” going to the top of the Juno charts and doing serious dance floor damage the North West imprint have gone even bigger for the next release with a daisy age inspired transatlantic cross over.
Manchester producer Atomphunk has teamed up with Seattle Duo Mugs and Pockets with turntablist extraordinaire DJ Deviant on the cuts. The results are without doubt the jams of the summer, which is handy because the A side is called “Summer Jam”. With a popping funk bass line and rhymes dancing over the top that immediately evoke the spirit of the Native Tongues, but added into the mix is that Grand Central / Fat City groove and the West Coast USA bounce of Jurassic 5 and their collaborators, (Chali2Na is a big supporter of Mugs & Pockets). In a packed field “Summer Jam” might just be Regulate’s biggest release yet.
Things don’t let up on the flip “Back For More” sees Atomphunk go for the hotter stickier side of the season, with a more laid back synth driven groove evoking Roy Ayers and Quincy Jones, but with crisp beats and Mugs and Pockets bringing it once more. Don’t sleep on this one.
Konerytmi's upcoming release is a captivating blend of retro charm and futuristic allure. Each track resonates with the spirit of the 80s, where the pulsating rhythms of old-school drum machines intertwine with the evocative tones of vintage synthesizers.
Drawing inspiration from the hooks and melodies that defined a generation, Konerytmi skillfully weaves a tapestry of sound that is both timeless and contemporary. These tracks are not just made for dancefloors, they are crafted to evoke emotions and stir memories, inviting listeners into a realm where past and present converge seamlessly.
Much time has passed since the Queer Australian/Italian-Armenian, multifaceted artist, Kristian Bahoudian aka Kris Baha, swapped the parched red earth and searing midday sun of the Australian landscape for the brutalist communist-era apartment blocks and slate-grey skies of former East Berlin. Kris is now a fixture in Berlin’s club scene and has toured most of the world as a DJ & live artist with his own unique production style of cyber industrial, EBM, wave, post punk, and early ‘90s IDM mutations. Remixing some of the scene’s most notable artists such as Boy Harsher and techno pop lord Boys Noize, Kris has garnered respect and trust in the electronic music scene for the last 13 years. To respond to the current AI revolution, Kris uploads himself to the cyber ether through his latest project: GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE.
Across Dual Timelines —
” GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE ” unfolds as a sci-fi cyberpunk concept project inhabiting dual timelines. In one, we glimpse a trans-humanist future where human consciousness exists as intricate sequences of binary code, entwined and controlled by omnipresent AI systems. In this coded future, a profound awakening stirs among a select few who manage to mutate the code they were governed by, unlocking memories of their history that was erased by the AI. Through this discovery they realize they can traverse temporal boundaries and utilize this power to send warning messages back in time to their former fully human selves. These eerie missives carry a dire warning for humanity, urging them to rectify the course of society before the relentless march of artificial intelligence deprives humanity of its essence. In this terrifying future, humans are rendered mere specters within the digital expanse, stripped of their souls, to become Ghosts In The Machine.
Collaboration with the future self —
The cyber odyssey unfolds from a unique perspective— Kris’s very own future self (his future ghost): a spectral entity endeavoring to caution its present incarnation against the ominous path it treads, attempting to avert a dystopian future.Sonic Alchemy —
A fuse of cybernetic synth waves, hyper-punk, and pulsating drum and bass laid out against the dystopian, industrial sonic landscape of this grim future “civilization”. Each track recounts a new chapter in the gripping narrative, drawing listeners deeper into their own story and the role we all play as a collective society with the future possibilities of unregulated AI.Recorded in Berlin with software and hardware synthesisers. AI was used to assist me with lyric themes, concepts and ideas. I also used a trained AI model of my own voice as backing vocals in ‘Haunting Me’.ll music, words & concepts by Kristian Bahoudian aka Kris Baha and his future ghost,
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