Search:drag

Having passed - at least figuratively - through hundreds of years over the course of their previous two albums, the good ship High Llamas docked, fully loaded, into a congenial present moment for once in its life. O"Hagan"s continued work with Tim Gane and Stereolab caused a healthy dose of electronica to spike the Llamas" already heady brew, creating an apex of late 90s-style neo-exotica. RIYL: Mouse On Mars, Oval, Grand Royal, Dots and Loops.

The High Llamas discover America - yes, it had been done before, but not via their envisaged pilgrims" passage. Energized by the breakthroughs of Gideon Gaye, they went all-in, producing a wide-screen epic further exploring their unique agenda. The reference points multiplied, stretching through realms of classic pop and jazz, soundtrack music, exotica and neo-Americana, while charting a journey through musical landscapes of abiding lightness.

For the Llamas" 1992 debut, Sean O"Hagan, working the sextant to navigate a post-Microdisney course in the musical world, posted them up as a guitar pop band (RIYL: NRBQ, Big Star, Steely Dan), with nine exquisitely crafted examples of the oft out-of-step sound. Had there been no more after this, Santa Barbara would still be sought-after buried treasure by the perennial waves of voyagers seeking these sweet, jangling spices to this very day. 1st ever LP pressing!

After the high times and critical-mass arrangements of the previous two records, Snowbug exuded a breezy, spare, morning-after vibe. Edified by all manner of world-folk, classic Brazilian pop and the first volumes of the Ethiopiques comp, the Llamas recorded in London with Fulton Dingley and in Chicago with Bundy K. Brown and Jim O"Rourke engineering at Electrical Audio and John McEntire mixing at Soma. Snowbug is an understated, underrated gem.

Bill meets Mickey on the street of impossible, unstuck-in-time dreams - as the late Mickey sings his back in "73, while Bill sings his "today." Both these master songsters put their own inevitable brand on Mickey"s peerless original, but it"s a new thrill hearing Bill cover a tune, something he rarely does. When it comes to the great Mickey Newbury, the answer should always be "yes." Help your own heavenly inner child by picking up and playing the grooves of these two sides of the same story.

We Will Be Wherever The Fires Are Lit, a sort of sequel to Tashi"s first DC release Stateless, takes the torch and storms forward, with ten improvised acoustic guitar anthems. These musical thoughts are torn from the fabric of Tashi"s life and music. "Strumming in opposition to the towers" (as he puts it) is part of an existence that is always political, even in its most abstract iterations - a truth laid bare in these deep, raw performances.

The "Great Escape Artist" is back! No, not THAT one - dude"s dead! We"re talking about Papa M. And HE"s talking "bout Harry Houdini - in the album title, anyway, not sure about anywhere else. So, six years since his last LP, the all-acoustic A Broke Moon Rises, Papa M rolls into the shred zone, buns glazing, with his fifth full length in 25 years of Papa M-itude! Six fat-assed songs - a couple ballads, yeah, but mostly real all-out groovers here.

December 2001, Maida Vale: Bill Callahan"s "Smog" perform with demonstrative zeal for their British witness at the BBC, shimmering and hissing with a Lynchian vibe of U.S. darkness in the invariable shadows of the fallen towers. Callahan & band (Jessica Billey, Mike Saenz and Jim White) cover Stevie Nicks, Lou Reed and Smog with grey, ashen resolve and tour-torn flexibility, amassing a bruised, plaintive essence of humanity with their efforts.

we will be wherever the fires are lit, a sort of sequel to Tashi"s first DC release Stateless, takes the torch and storms forward, with ten improvised acoustic guitar anthems. These musical thoughts are torn from the fabric of Tashi"s life and music. "Strumming in opposition to the towers" (as he puts it) is part of an existence that is always political, even in its most abstract iterations - a truth laid bare in these deep, raw performances.

THE TWO CLASSIC EARLY SINGLES ORIGINALLY ON THE BLACK EYES LABEL. RE-PRESSED AND REISSUED ON RED AND BLACK SPLATTER VINYL. PLUS FIVE 1982 DEMOS FROM THE LEGENDARY PETE BURNS FRONTED BAND. CAPTURING DEAD OR ALIVE’S MUTATION FROM PROTO- GOTHIC ROCK BAND TO HI-NRG POP SUPERSTARS.

Having been ‘discovered’ working in Liverpool’s Probe Records during the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s, Pete Burns found himself fronting his own band, Nightmares In Wax who mutated into the more familiar Dead Or Alive, eventually bringing Pete into the UK pop mainstream, and a star was born.

Bringing together two-self-released 1982 singles and a collection of early versions of HiNRG tracks which would eventually find their way onto the band’s debut album, ‘Let Them Drag My Soul Away’ showcases the blossoming of one of the 80s pop scene’s most colourful characters.

Repressed on suitably atmospheric red and black vinyl and housed in a cover photograph by Dead Or Alive’s then manager Francesco Mellina, ‘Let Them Drag My Soul Away’ presents a last glimpse at a pre-stardom Pete, and a long overdue back story accompaniment for fans and collectors alike.

Anthony"s post-Slapp Happy output, for years an underrated-to-outright unknown quantity, achieves a new dimensional plane with this third archival release from his personal tape library. Home of the Demo triangulates upon the art-pop qualities found in his previously unreleased 1976 LP OUT, and "79"s new wave-adjacent Flying Doesn"t Help, finding Anthony"s early/mid-80s home recordings drifting whimsically in and out of the actual mainstream.

Mere months after inflicting a massive case of Vertigo on the world, Wand ride on, plating the pre-release digi-single "Help Desk" alongside "Goldfish", a bonus dose of oceanic luminescence from Vertigo"s Big Bang. Plus, in the name of the ever-expanding universe (and the much-needed dream-extension app!), three remixes - from Beat Detectives, Dead Rider and Dean Spunt - for good measure. Not sure where you"re at? Check in with the "Help Desk".

Demos and unreleased songs from Wand"s salad days, the time of the immortal Ganglion Reef. Available for download since 2017, this album"s at last firmly sunk into vinyl grooves that realize its fullest potential in a listener"s ears. These light, fizzy versions have distinctive gleaming magic energies all of their own and they fly thrillingly through the air. Catch a wave through beautifully-abandoned space on your turntable eternal!

25 years ago, this record sprang on the scene— a record holding a voice impossible to draw comparison to, and lyrics and stories alien to anything that resonated from The Opry’s stage beforehand. Mary was the first openly queer person to play The Opry, and for us at KRS, this record encapsulates things new, exciting, bold, while being an absolute standout to what the realm of Americana has to offer. This is an authentic American experience, cliches weren’t needed. Mary is a legend. This record will always feel new, exciting, and bold.

Axel Boman returns in defiantly good form with a brand new original EP on his very own Studio Barnhus label, blessing this fast paced world with some slow moving music inspired by the Eterna Primavera mountains outside Medellin. Specifically, this record was created during months of isolation spent on an avocado farm, with the Swedish producer letting the outside world disappear bit by bit, until only clear shapes of unclear importance remained.
Of course, this is all just an attempt to poetically describe a collection of tracks that sound exactly like the kind of disco business Axel has been meddling in for the last 15 years. Don't be fooled by the rocks that he got, he’s still, he's still Axel from the block. Viva house music!

Veteran electronic music composer Jill Fraser"s new work takes stock of generations and lifetimes of memory, speculating on how the spirit of our songs might be interpreted after we"re gone. With her 1978 Serge Modular, Prism Modular and Ableton Push 3 in the circuit path, she recomposes a stack of American revival hymns, making new creations for the future. A fluent meditation upon mortality and rebirth amid numinous infinities of dimensional sound. The sound world of Earthly Pleasures accesses a seeming infinity of dimensional sound in which the human hand is always keenly felt, no matter how deep the space. It"s a breathtakingly transcendent album that suggests inclusion within a diversity of genres: Ambient, Electronic, New Age, Modern Classical, Gospel, Healing, Sacred... . It is the work of a veteran composer and synth master at the peak of her powers, meditating upon the detritus of memory, the passage of all consciousness, and the rebirth of meaning in a new era.