Поиск:ear dis

After the release of their world debut Catch A Fire, Bob Marley & The Wailers would embark on a U.S. tour supporting the legendary Sly And The Family Stone.
Yet after five dates, they were fired from the tour, supposedly for upstaging the main acts! Left with no money and nowhere to go, they performed one legendary
show at San Francisco's The Matrix!

These recordings, taken from a studio session before their legendary performance, find Bob Marley and The Wailers at their best.
Featuring the classic lineup of Bob Marley (vo/gt.), Peter Tosh (vo/gt), Joe Higgs (per.), Earl Lindo (pf.), Family Man Barrett (b.), and Carlton Barrett (ds.),
the Wailers are imbued with the kind of Rock and Roll energy that could only come from outshining Sly Stone! Even sweet rocksteady ballads such as
“Stir It Up” take on the form of a rock and roll anthem in this session.

Discovered and released on CD by P-VINE in 2005, these mythical studio recordings are finally getting a long deserved analog release!

The double LP on black vinyl comes complete with an obi-strip! Don’t miss this reggae gem from Bob Marley and The Wailers!

Enjoy The Ride Records and Enjoy The Toons Records in partnership with WaterTower Music proudly present |The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Emmy-nominated composer Joshua Moshier (Baskets, The Shrink Next Door). Pressed on limited edition colored vinyl, this pressing is limited to 1,000 copies.

That’s not all folks! From Ketchup Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, director Pete Browngardt, and the creative team behind the award-winning “Looney Tunes Cartoons” comes The Day the Earth Blew Up: Looney Tunes Movie, a brand-new buddy comedy starring one of the greatest comedic duos in history - Porky Pig and Daffy Duck! This richly crafted, hand-drawn 2D animated adventure marks the first fully animated feature-length film in Looney Tunes history, told on a scope and scale that’s truly out of this world.

Porky Pig and Daffy Duck venture to the big screen as unlikely heroes and Earth’s only hope when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot. Faced with cosmic odds, the two are determined to save their town (and the world!)... that is if they don’t drive each other totally looney in the process. Featuring the voices of acclaimed actors Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Wayne Knight, and Laraine Newman with the laugh-out-loud gags, vibrant visuals, and beloved characters that make the Looney Tunes so timeless and iconic. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie arrives in theaters on March 14, 2025.

Emotional Rescue completes the series of non-defined reissues where the label licenses an all-time favourite, remasters and then reappraised with new interpretations by contemporary producers for today’s collectors.

After the series started back in 2019 with Hawkwind’s sprawling psychedelic electronics, featuring deep drone mixes by the esteemed digger Cherrystones (ERC074), the bouncing cosmic-Balearics of Thomas Leer with wonderful reworkings by friend and producer Bullion (ERC075) and then the post punk dubs of The Embrace and Timothy J Faiplay’s brooding italo-dub excursions (ERC076), there was always one artist and producer left out. Finally, then the percussive excursion of the early 80s band The Impossible Dreamers and their cult B side jam, Spin, coming with 9 minutes percussion-dub extravaganza of an extended reversion, plus a dub heavy reprise, by label go-to Dan Tyler (Idjut Boys /Noid), under his NAD moniker.

Started by a group of friends while at Exeter University that centered around Caroline Radcliffe, James Hood, Justin Adams and Nick Waterhouse, their debut 12” record is one of just three on the 100 Things To Do label. The other two releases have already been covered with the Hamburger All Stars ‘Swinging London’ 12” (ERC114) of 2022.

Recorded before the move to West London, ‘Life On Earth’ was a raw post punk vocal pop cut, with influences of dub, funk, hip-hop and African music shining through, there were in their own words, “young music fans starting out, with no agenda”.

However, it was on the B side that things got interesting. Enamored by the growing trend of extended 12” singles, they decided, with the A side wrapped up, to have some studio experimentation by recording a drumming jam, with all the members playing percussion, followed by some overdubbing. Memories are hazy, but at the time the band was an 8-piece, so the results a chaotic explosion, capturing the essence of that time. Featuring Nick and James on 4 hand piano, plus Caroline on Oboe, with some additional hollering and wooping vocals, Spin was a 5-minute burst of energy.

In effect, self-released in 1982, the band didn’t expect much to come of it, but the 12” acted as a calling card leading them to London and later signing for RCA. At the same time, Spin was being discovered in the early eighties alternative club world. On a trip to New York, the track was heard being played Downtown, and on enquiring it was discovered the DJ was playing a 7” that was never an official release but cut in the US solely for the club DJs there.

Its resonance extended further, to Italy and the Cosmic club of the resident, an ever-searching Danielle Baldelli, before being picked up a few years later by a young Andrew Weatherall during his pursuit of an alternative “Balearic” beat during the late eighties Summers of Love and has even recently received the Joe Clausell edit treatment back again in NYC.

For the remake to fit the label series, it was only right to ask label friend Dan Tyler to do what he does so well, putting the original through his array of dub machines and pedals, extending and cutting with aplomb to create an incendiary ‘Reversion’ that will send dancefloors literally in a spin. Teasing the percussion incandescent, looping and teasing, the piano held back before finally releasing in a haze of dub effects.

This is followed by the ‘Riddim Reprise’. Working with London based drummer Matt Bruce (Claptrap), this is the perfect DJ tool, taking the original idea of the band, to just jam see what happens, twisting it full of space echo and reverb, to offer a perfect 12” Extended Mix.

Motel d'amour - A Lost Electro-Funk Gem from the NDW Era Resurfaces

When we first collaborated with Collage member Markus Kammann on the EP project "Mit den Puppen tanzen" at the end of last year, we never imagined what would follow: Kammann approached us with a completely unreleased full-length album by his former band. Upon receiving the first three preview tracks, we were floored. One of them was "Nachtcafé" - a track that kicks off with a funky bassline layered over the punchy rhythm of a Roland TR-808. Add shimmering synths and Katrin A. Kunze's sharp, distinctive vocals, and we instantly knew we were hearing something special.

For a label dedicated to rediscovering lost treasures, this was exactly what we'd been searching for. The next two tracks - "Rendezvous" and "Casanova" - were just as compelling. When Kammann sent us the full album, we realized we were holding an electro-funk grail from the late golden days of the German Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). We were listening to "Motel d'amour".

"Motel d'amour" is a concept album, offering a sharp, vibrant perspective from a confident, intelligent, and radiant young woman eager to experience nightlife, love, and music. Kunze's lyrics paint vivid scenes of flirtation ("Nachtcafé", "Rendezvous"), encounters with men ("Casanova"), the pulse of nightlife ("Die Nacht ist noch jung"), love ("Rotes Licht für rote Liebe"), one-night stands ("Motel d'amour"), and more. Rarely has a German album from that era captured emotional nuance and social dynamics so insightfully. Without veering into the overly personal, Kunze's direct, daring lyrical style was groundbreaking at the time - and remains refreshingly bold today.

While German listeners will fully appreciate the lyrical depth, the music speaks volumes on its own. Kunze's words are masterfully complemented by the production of Markus Kammann and Jürgen Grah. As heard on the in-demand "Mit den Puppen tanzen", their creativity seemed boundless. Each track is tightly composed, catchy, and full of character. While many German bands at the time leaned into rock, Kammann drew from the deep grooves of Earth, Wind & Fire, The Isley Brothers, Brothers Johnson, The Commodores, and the electro-futurism of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat". The result: tracks with unmistakable electro-funk flair, powered by the classic 808 drum sound.

Though primarily rooted in funk and electro, the album retains flashes of NDW aesthetics - "Wir haben getanzt heut' Nacht" being a prime example. The instrumentation is a dream list for vintage gear lovers: Yamaha keyboards, Roland Juno-60, vocoder, Micromoog, Hohner D6 Clavinet, Fender bass, and a Telecaster guitar all feature prominently.
Recorded in 1985 at the high-profile Delta Studio by Richard Rossbach, the album attracted interest from Polydor. However, the label proposed using the compositions for a solo project with singer Inga Humpe (of Neonbabies), who was already signed to their roster. This would have required replacing Kunze as the vocalist, an idea the group firmly rejected. As a result, "Motel d'amour" was shelved, and Kammann, Grah, and Kunze moved on to form Cold End.
The album cover features a rare archival photo of Katrin A. Kunze - rediscovered by Kammann and now finally seeing the light of day, 40 years later.

We believe Motel d'amour deserves recognition alongside cult German classics like P!OFF?, 1. Futurologischer Congress' "Wer spricht?", Ami Marie's "Verrückt nach Glück", the funkier cuts of Cosa Rosa, or Piet Klocke's groove classic "Heute ist nicht sonst". It's a record that fits into adventurous DJ sets but also rewards a full, start-to-finish listen.

A note on audio quality: Sadly, the original master tapes were lost. The tracks were restored from a vintage TDK cassette. Thanks to modern digital tools, we were able to remaster them to a high standard - but in some songs light distortions remain. We appreciate your understanding and hope you enjoy this lost and undiscovered gem.

Motel d'amour - A Lost Electro-Funk Gem from the NDW Era Resurfaces

When we first collaborated with Collage member Markus Kammann on the EP project "Mit den Puppen tanzen" at the end of last year, we never imagined what would follow: Kammann approached us with a completely unreleased full-length album by his former band. Upon receiving the first three preview tracks, we were floored. One of them was "Nachtcafé" - a track that kicks off with a funky bassline layered over the punchy rhythm of a Roland TR-808. Add shimmering synths and Katrin A. Kunze's sharp, distinctive vocals, and we instantly knew we were hearing something special.

For a label dedicated to rediscovering lost treasures, this was exactly what we'd been searching for. The next two tracks - "Rendezvous" and "Casanova" - were just as compelling. When Kammann sent us the full album, we realized we were holding an electro-funk grail from the late golden days of the German Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). We were listening to "Motel d'amour".

"Motel d'amour" is a concept album, offering a sharp, vibrant perspective from a confident, intelligent, and radiant young woman eager to experience nightlife, love, and music. Kunze's lyrics paint vivid scenes of flirtation ("Nachtcafé", "Rendezvous"), encounters with men ("Casanova"), the pulse of nightlife ("Die Nacht ist noch jung"), love ("Rotes Licht für rote Liebe"), one-night stands ("Motel d'amour"), and more. Rarely has a German album from that era captured emotional nuance and social dynamics so insightfully. Without veering into the overly personal, Kunze's direct, daring lyrical style was groundbreaking at the time - and remains refreshingly bold today.

While German listeners will fully appreciate the lyrical depth, the music speaks volumes on its own. Kunze's words are masterfully complemented by the production of Markus Kammann and Jürgen Grah. As heard on the in-demand "Mit den Puppen tanzen", their creativity seemed boundless. Each track is tightly composed, catchy, and full of character. While many German bands at the time leaned into rock, Kammann drew from the deep grooves of Earth, Wind & Fire, The Isley Brothers, Brothers Johnson, The Commodores, and the electro-futurism of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat". The result: tracks with unmistakable electro-funk flair, powered by the classic 808 drum sound.

Though primarily rooted in funk and electro, the album retains flashes of NDW aesthetics - "Wir haben getanzt heut' Nacht" being a prime example. The instrumentation is a dream list for vintage gear lovers: Yamaha keyboards, Roland Juno-60, vocoder, Micromoog, Hohner D6 Clavinet, Fender bass, and a Telecaster guitar all feature prominently.
Recorded in 1985 at the high-profile Delta Studio by Richard Rossbach, the album attracted interest from Polydor. However, the label proposed using the compositions for a solo project with singer Inga Humpe (of Neonbabies), who was already signed to their roster. This would have required replacing Kunze as the vocalist, an idea the group firmly rejected. As a result, "Motel d'amour" was shelved, and Kammann, Grah, and Kunze moved on to form Cold End.
The album cover features a rare archival photo of Katrin A. Kunze - rediscovered by Kammann and now finally seeing the light of day, 40 years later.

We believe Motel d'amour deserves recognition alongside cult German classics like P!OFF?, 1. Futurologischer Congress' "Wer spricht?", Ami Marie's "Verrückt nach Glück", the funkier cuts of Cosa Rosa, or Piet Klocke's groove classic "Heute ist nicht sonst". It's a record that fits into adventurous DJ sets but also rewards a full, start-to-finish listen.

A note on audio quality: Sadly, the original master tapes were lost. The tracks were restored from a vintage TDK cassette. Thanks to modern digital tools, we were able to remaster them to a high standard - but in some songs light distortions remain. We appreciate your understanding and hope you enjoy this lost and undiscovered gem.

Pioneering British electronic musician Mark Van Hoen is set to release his latest solo album, The Eternal Present, on 23 May 2025 via Dell'Orso, a remarkable collection of tracks spanning nearly three decades of recordings from 1998 to 2024.
The Eternal Present embodies its philosophical title, inspired by Joseph Campbell's concept that "Eternity isn't some later time... Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." The album explores music as the ultimate expression of existing in the present moment, transcending time and creating a sonic experience that is simultaneously "spectral, ghostly, melodic, harmonic, and decayed."
An influential contemporary of Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Boards of Canada, Van Hoen is best known for his solo work as Locust in the mid-'90s, which helped push post-rave electronic music into newly challenging realms. His extensive discography spans releases on influential labels including R&S, Touch, and Editions Mego. Van Hoen has worked on numerous collaborations throughout his career, including with Nick Holton and Neil Halstead of Slowdive under the moniker Black Hearted Brother—their album Stars Are Our Home was released in 2013.
The Eternal Present continues the lineage of Van Hoen's most significant works, with artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) reflecting the album's "eternal present" concept with a mysterious visual approach, allowing listeners to form their own imaginary landscapes. The mastering by Stefan Betke (Pole) enhances this document of the evolution of the artist over the years as he continues to hone his signature sound. Using a host of instruments including analogue synthesisers and employing various recording approaches, Van Hoen's equipment changed dramatically over the years—from early DSP processing used on his first solo record on Apollo ‘Playing With Time’ to various synthesisers, modular systems, tape machines, and digital workstations—contributing to the album's rich sonic diversity.
Throughout The Eternal Present, ideas are woven together through spoken word quotations and abstract vocals featuring notable collaborations from Rachel Goswell on the Slowdive cover "Shine" (from 1998), Megan Mitchell (Cruel Diagonals) on "Somewhere", and session vocalists Clare Dove and Dorothy Takev on "No-One Leave" and "It's Not You (In A Way)" respectively. The use of cleverly assembled vocal samples from an "undisclosed but very famous female vocalist" on "Multiplex" (2016) and the indistinct vocalisations on the Cabaret Voltaire-influenced "Only Me" (2017), constantly challenges and disorientates the listener through fluctuating, ever-changing musical elements.
The album was recorded across multiple locations including Somerset, London, Los Angeles, and New York—even beginning compositions during flights and in airport lounges—reflecting Van Hoen's changing personal circumstances, environments, and situations throughout the years.
Of Indian-Jamaican descent, Van Hoen was born and raised in England, absorbing diverse musical influences from his neighbors—African-Jamaican on one side and Punjabi Indian on the other. "Each family played their own music frequently, and I absorbed it." His musical foundations include Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, OMD, Tangerine Dream, Japan, Cabaret Voltaire, and Cocteau Twins, later finding inspiration in My Bloody Valentine, LFO, and '90s producers Robert Leiner and CJ Bolland.
These eclectic influences are evident on The Eternal Present, which contains snapshots of different periods in his life, with changing circumstances across decades creating a variety of textures and sounds. As Mark explains: "It holds the same sonic signature as many of my solo releases and early Locust albums. It's a natural development that has taken place in the last few decades. It's even related to the earliest music I made as a teenager, although perhaps more sophisticated."
“What a remarkably affecting, majestically broad and captivating work it is..what strikes you most is the album’s myriad diversity. Outstanding” (Electronic Sound)

“Whether channelling mid- 70’s Eno, early Aphex Twin or Neu! his vivid sounds shimmer with emotional weight” (Mojo 4*)

"Musically, Van Hoen belongs to a distinguished family tree. Originally influenced by the likes of Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream, and later presaging both Autechre's glitch and Boards of Canada's pastoral IDM." (Pitchfork)

* Speaker distressing early 1990s UK dub from The Disciples.
* `Chant of Freedom and `Armageddon' are dubplate cuts only ever heard before in sound system dances.
* The original versions of `Chant of Freedom' tracks appeared on 10' on the Boomshackalacka label in 1995, while `Armageddon' is previously unreleased on any format.
* Disciples, along with the likes of Sound Iration, Manasseh, Alpha and Omega and Conscious Sounds are the forerunners of what became known as the UK roots/dub scene.
* Highly regarded for their custom built dubplate cuts for Jah Shaka. Disciples have a sizable following worldwide, particularly in the UK, France, Germany and Japan.

From his early-’60s days as hip shaker Twistin’ Harvey to his late-’70s nights on the light up dance floor in search of a “Disco Lady,” Harvey Scales survived scrapes with the pop charts, bankrupt record companies, walk outs, sit ins, strikes, price hikes, lay offs, and under table payoffs over a 40 year career. Compiled here for the first time are Scales’ Cuca and Magic Touch recordings, 27 slabs of cracker jack R&B, stomping northern soul, divorce-ridden deep soul, feverish funk, and hustling disco spread across 2 LPs and housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket.. Bill Dahl’s in depth notes document the entire sordid affair, with dozens of period photos and ephemeral bits illustrating the accompanying 20 page book. So necessary.

From his early-’60s days as hip shaker Twistin’ Harvey to his late-’70s nights on the light up dance floor in search of a “Disco Lady,” Harvey Scales survived scrapes with the pop charts, bankrupt record companies, walk outs, sit ins, strikes, price hikes, lay offs, and under table payoffs over a 40 year career. Compiled here for the first time are Scales’ Cuca and Magic Touch recordings, 27 slabs of cracker jack R&B, stomping northern soul, divorce-ridden deep soul, feverish funk, and hustling disco spread across 2 LPs and housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket.. Bill Dahl’s in depth notes document the entire sordid affair, with dozens of period photos and ephemeral bits illustrating the accompanying 20 page book. So necessary.

"I Became Birds feels like emo once again flipping the switch on its eternal energy source." - PITCHFORK // "One of the most arresting and interesting rock albums in recent memory." - SPIN // "Composed of self-deprecating wails, crashing guitar riffs, and a flicker of lyrical hope that almost feels naive _ in other words, the perfect foundation for classic emo catharsis." - STEREOGUM //// With I Became Birds, Florida's Home Is Where push their unique blend of whirlwind hardcore aggression and warm, open-hearted folksy melancholy to even further heights. Frontperson Brandon MacDonald's Dylan-esque eccentricities are on full display here, from the occasional blast of harmonica (like on early standout "Long Distance Conjoined Twins" or the disaffected, despondency-soaked closer "The Old Country") to their knack for abstractly evocative neurosis-as-poetry. But far from being a copycat act, Home Is Where's wearily raw-throated aesthetic and dynamically vivid compositions feel idiosyncratic and vital. The bittersweet folk melodies seep deeply into the band's DNA, adding an element of accessibility and immediate nostalgia to otherwise churning and angular song structures and sonic assaults. Vocals range from an intimate, gentle, and disarming croon to a full-bodied expectoration of the soul, oftentimes in the same song (like "Sewn Together from the Membrane of the Great Sea Cucumber," which splits the difference between mournful, gothic post-punk and staccato-heeled screamo with aplomb). A devastating rhythm section and nimble, versatile, yet powerful guitar work assist with the record's genre-bending, which ranges from maniacal chemical mixtures to gymnastic flips, twists, and turns. And yet, even amid the din, Home Is Where find ample time for hooks-- the oddball effervescence of lead single "Scientific Classification of Stingrays" and the shimmering, propulsive, delightfully off-kilter late-album stunner "Assisted Harakiri" are more than proof of that. Ultimately, I Became Birds shows Home Is Where hitting an early high-water mark. A brisk record-- six songs in roughly 17 minutes-- it never takes a dip in enthusiasm and inventiveness. Home Is Where's inexhaustible creativity and restless energy is bound to serve them well, and I Became Birds is all the proof anyone needs.

Riki is the Los Angeles based dark synth-pop outfit commandeered by the mysterious Niff Nawor, a visual artist and musician active in the deathrock / anarcho-punk scenes of the California bay area (formerly a member of Crimson Scarlet), before founding her solo endeavor as Riki in 2017. Niff's desire to explore her own sound manifested in the recording of the Hot City cassette tape in 2017, which featured Chelsey Crowley of Crimson Scarlet, Skot Brown of Phantom Limbs and Pedaof Doomed to Extinction. Released on Commodity Tapes and later reissued on vinyl by the well-regarded Symphony of Destruction label, Riki followed the release of the single with several small tours and festival dates, performing with such acts as Light Asylum, Black Marble, and Trisomie 21.For her self-titled debut album for Dais, Riki explores courage, physicality, and romance across eight timeless synth pop anthems. Produced and engineered by hardware-based synthesist Matia Simovich of INHALT, influences and ideas are worn proudly without deviating from fresh and daring electro-pop territory. Nostalgic cues can be heard ranging from Neue Deutsch Welle, early Adrian Sherwood productions, classic ZYX Italo Disco, Japanese Visual Kei and even classic new wave/pop like Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, and early Madonna.The lead single, Napoleon, contains Riki's indelible sound design, reminiscent of 80's New York dance floor electro-pop that recalls the fusion of uptown and downtown styles and culture, told through Riki's present day West Coast narrative. For contrast, the second single entitled Böse Lügen (Body Mix) was previously released in demo form and re-mixed to emphasize its commanding presence and addictive nature. Translated simply to "Wicked Lies" and sung completely in German, Böse Lügen moves away from the upbeat romanticism found throughout the album and commands serious self-reflection guised within an infectious dance floor anthem.

Despite the outright denial in its title, death is present in every one of the songs on Never Die, the collaborative album from MIDWIFE’s Madeline Johnston and Matt Jencik (of Implodes, Don Caballero, and Slint’s live band). Jencik held the tenderest thought imaginable when he came up with that phrase—Never Die—the fact that the people he loves eventually would, a certainty that feels impossible and remote, until the day it absolutely doesn’t. Never Die represents Jencik’s desperate bid to hold onto everyone he loves, to keep them on Earth so fiercely that they might enter the grave with claw marks on their skin.

Johnston, who recognizes the grace of mortality (and who, as MIDWIFE once sang: “I don’t wanna live forever,” over and over) serves as the spiritual guide for the album, transmuting the fear of death into an incentive to live more keenly and dearly. Following a number of ambient drone instrumental albums, Jencik felt the need to set himself a new creative challenge: to write vocal-heavy songs. He worked on them alone in his basement, recording directly to a four-track cassette. He sent those demos to a different collaborator to tinker with before that partnership eventually dissolved. Then, he thought of Madeline: the way her voice tended to glower in her songs, as well as her commitment to minimalism, which fell squarely within the project’s aesthetic and spiritual impulses.

“I was immediately drawn to what she was doing,” Jencik says. In both of their work, Jencik and Johnston understand minimalism as a vehicle for enormous, desperate and universal emotions. Entire worlds come in and out of existence between each of their sparse notes; a great breadth of feeling is bedded into the simple structure of their songs. Never Die offers a calm confrontation with the dour inevitability that bookends our lives. When the fact of death looms over life, it tends to denature every experience we have and every relationship we know we’ll eventually have to forfeit back to the Earth. No one, no matter how hard we love, makes it out of this alive thing. But we feel anyway. And we love anyway. And we sing anyway. Here, Jencik and Johnston have sung ‘die’ over and over, snowglobing life in the process.

2025 Repress

In an unprecedented international collaboration, Energy Exchange Records presents 'The Napoli Exchange' - the brainchild of Energy Exchange Records co-founders, Lewis and Ziggy, joining forces with producer and label boss Federico Gallotti (Tartelet / La Scimmia), the project was inspired by numerous visits to Naples, allured by the mediterranean breeze and of course the underground disco and funk forged by labels such as Early Sounds and Periodica Records. This meeting of minds created an opportunity to build bridges from the historic Italian city to the broader european scene of club crossover music.

From the depths of personal reckoning to the forefront of the UK"s alternative scene, SPLIT CHAIN have spent the past two years transmuting raw emotion into sound. Their debut album, motionblur, out soon on Epitaph Records, is a thunderous statement of intent-an electrifying fusion of shoegaze, grunge, and nu-metal that surges with both nostalgia and forward momentum. Sonically, motionblur captures a distinctive aesthetic, steeped in the melancholic haze of early 2000s alt-rock yet sharpened by the intensity of modern hardcore. Guitars drenched in chorus and distortion crash into ethereal, hook-laden vocals, forging a sound that"s at once crushingly heavy and deeply immersive. Following a string of self-released singles that organically amassed millions of streams, SPLIT CHAIN"s signing with Epitaph catapulted them further into the spotlight. Their first label-backed single pushed their streaming numbers past the 15-million mark, earning them accolades as AltPress" Breakout Artist of the Month and Revolver"s "Badass Rising Band to Know." With nods from Stereogum, The Needle Drop, BrooklynVegan, and Metal Injection, the buzz around Split Chain is undeniable. With motionblur, SPLIT CHAIN aren"t just making an album-they"re making a moment. And if their trajectory so far is any indication, this is only the beginning.

From the depths of personal reckoning to the forefront of the UK"s alternative scene, SPLIT CHAIN have spent the past two years transmuting raw emotion into sound. Their debut album, motionblur, out soon on Epitaph Records, is a thunderous statement of intent-an electrifying fusion of shoegaze, grunge, and nu-metal that surges with both nostalgia and forward momentum. Sonically, motionblur captures a distinctive aesthetic, steeped in the melancholic haze of early 2000s alt-rock yet sharpened by the intensity of modern hardcore. Guitars drenched in chorus and distortion crash into ethereal, hook-laden vocals, forging a sound that"s at once crushingly heavy and deeply immersive. Following a string of self-released singles that organically amassed millions of streams, SPLIT CHAIN"s signing with Epitaph catapulted them further into the spotlight. Their first label-backed single pushed their streaming numbers past the 15-million mark, earning them accolades as AltPress" Breakout Artist of the Month and Revolver"s "Badass Rising Band to Know." With nods from Stereogum, The Needle Drop, BrooklynVegan, and Metal Injection, the buzz around Split Chain is undeniable. With motionblur, SPLIT CHAIN aren"t just making an album-they"re making a moment. And if their trajectory so far is any indication, this is only the beginning.

Legendary artist, Raincoats co-founder, songwriter, filmmaker, and feminist icon Gina Birch has announced her eagerly awaited second solo album, Trouble, arriving via Third Man Records on Friday, July 11. Pre-orders are available now.

Trouble is heralded by today’s premiere of the album’s blistering centerpiece, “Causing Trouble Again,” available for streaming now. An official music video – directed by famed photographer/filmmaker Dean Chalkley and featuring an all-star collective of fellow female artists including Birch’s longtime friend and co-founder of The Raincoats, Ana da Silva, Neo Naturists co-founder Christine Binnie, singer-songwriter Amy Rigby, X-Ray Spex and Essential Logic co-founder Lora Logic, painter Daisy Parris, artist Georgina Starr, writer Jill Westwood, multi-disciplinary artist and activist Bobby Baker, award-winning costume designer Annie Symons, veteran photographer and Raincoats collaborator Shirley O’Loughlin, and many more – is streaming now on YouTube.

“For the ‘Causing Trouble Again’ video, after hearing Bob Dylan sing about a white ladder all covered with water, I became obsessed with white ladders,” Gina Birch says. “ I decided to use five white ladders, three with seven rungs…I realized later that this references Jacob’s Ladder and a connection from Earth to heaven, but I think I was thinking of ladders as a symbol of getting on, getting up. I wanted to have a choreographed movement with four of us with these ladders. How do we move with ladders? Do we move together, do we fight, do we dance? “I also wanted to reference the wind scene from the film, The Colour of Pomegranates, and to include as many artist women from the Women in Revolt exhibition as I could.

Habibi Funk is more than happy to announce our 31st release which happens to be our 3rd various artists compilation. The album is dedicated to the cassette tape scene in Libya from the late 80s to early 2000s, from disco to reggae to pop. All songs previously unreleased outside of Libya and not available on any DSP platforms.

The latest EP from Drab Majesty marks the start of a stirring new chapter in the band's majestic legacy. Written during a 2021 retreat to the remote coastal Oregon town of Yachats, Deb Demure leaned into the neo-psychedelic resonance of a uniquely bowl-shaped 12-string Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. After early morning hikes in the rain, Deb would record ambient guitar experiments the rest of the day, tapping into "flow states," letting the sound lead the way. These sessions were then refined or recreated, and later elevated further with key collaborations by Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Justin Meldal-Johnson (Beck, M83, Air), and Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Circular Ruin Studio). An Object In Motion is true to its title, capturing the chrysalis moment of an artist evolving, reborn and untethered, silhouetted against an open horizon."Cape Perpetua" kicks off the collection's divergent palette: sparkling acoustic finger-picking refracted through delay, equal parts raga and reverie. Melodies and moods congeal and dissipate, at the threshold of rustic American primitivism, brooding neo-folk, and pastoral melancholia. "The Skin And The Glove" deploys jangle to different effect - baggy, soaring, grey-skied kaleidoscopic pop in the spirit of Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and The Glove. Rachel Goswell lends her iconic freefall voice to The Cure-esque ballad, "Vanity," infusing poetic gravity to the doomed refrain: "If the valve breaks / then the earth quakes / and history finds a way / to put you in your place.""Yield To Force", the closing track of the EP, may be the most anomalous offering of the set. A 15-minute instrumental odyssey of cyclical strings, ominous slide guitar, and simmering synthesizer, the piece sways and spirals like a long zoom into distant storm clouds. Demure finesses the guitar with a restless but regal grandeur, unfolding a panorama of peaks, shadows, and plateaus. It's music both intuitive and prophetic, tracing the slow swing of pendulums across an endless plain. Taken as a whole, An Object In Motion presents a showcase of potential futures from Drab's evolving domain, their sound poised to bloom at the precipice of transformation.

Pelican has always been a band that's not just from Chicago, but distinctly of Chicago. Formed in 2000 by guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec alongside brothers Bryan and Larry Herweg on bass and drums respectively, Pelican's foundation was built upon the rule-free, genre-agnostic scene synonymous with the Fireside Bowl. "The `90s in Chicago was a free-for-all. Everyone was just coming from a place of pure creativity," says Shelley de Brauw. With Schroeder-Lebec returning to the band following Dallas Thomas' departure in 2022, this reunified version of Pelican allowed the band to tap back into the spirit of their formative era and build something distinctly new with Flickering Resonance. While longtime Pelican fans will recognize the album as an update to the band's ethos_one that's been constantly evolving since their very first EP_their new partnership with Run For Cover Records emphasizes something that's always been implicit to the Pelican formula. These songs take as much inspiration from titanic `90s post-hardcore, space-rock, and emo as they do traditional metal, showing that though Godflesh and Goatsnake records occupied the shelves of Pelican's songwriters, so too did Quicksand, Christie Front Drive, and Hum. "A lot of people didn't hear it at first," says Schroeder-Lebec. "I was like, well, I guess the metal world is where we fit. But now, we're more willing to acknowledge all the suits we're wearing."On Flickering Resonance, Pelican doesn't attempt to reinvent itself as much as emphasize the elements that were so often overlooked. Though Pelican's thick sonic backbone remains intact, the songs on Flickering Resonance show a more humanistic side of the band. Tracks like "Evergreen" and "Indelible" tease Pelican's doom-metal roots, but these songs feel equally, ebullient and truthful, playing like Texas Is The Reason songs transmuted into a post-rock landscape. Recorded with longtime musical compatriot Sanford Parker, who recorded their first EP, Pelican begins this new chapter of their career with an album that's neither full reinvention nor back-to-roots revivalism. After so much time apart, and with so much life having been lived between the original Pelican lineup's last recording sessions together, the band approached it with renewed vigor and a more communal spirit."There was more room for openness and critique with the understanding that we're all trying to craft the best song possible and that every suggestion is valid until it's proven invalid," says Shelley de Brauw. That process allowed everyone to embrace the material with a shared vision. "We didn't move forward unless we all wanted to move forward, and that felt like real community building," says Schroeder-Lebec of this unified approach. "I went from seeing it as my art and my craft to our craft that we were shaping together."In doing so, Pelican allowed themselves to look at their music less as a means of hard-earned catharsis and more as an appreciation for the glimmers of joy that occur even in the bleakest landscapes. Songs like "Cascading Crescent" and "Indelible" don't languish in what's been lost, these tracks see the band embracing what remains in their hands instead of lamenting what's slipped through their fingers. It's a concept that's mirrored in the artwork of Christian Degn that graces the cover of Flickering Resonance. It's a piece built off the concept of flame meditation, and how the smallest flames can often bring about the biggest transformations. A song like "Flickering Stillness" exemplifies this feeling through its sonic expanse, putting the band's sonic density and hyper-focused clarity on display, but with an emphasis on the profound human connections that have kept Pelican going all these years. "When Laurent left and we were able to carry it through, there became a real sense of gratitude for the fact we still have this artistic outlet and a community of people who want to be a part of it" That feeling of deep, grounded appreciation isn't just one that's within the band members, it's expressed in every track on Flickering Resonance. Because at the very core of Pelican, are four individuals who have grown both separately and together, and always will.Like a distant light faintly glowing in the darkest night, Flickering Resonance is a reminder of all that has passed us by, but also all that is still to come.