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An unlikely meeting of two like-minded spirits, »First Man in the Moon« sees the former Swans guitarist and Hallow Ground regular Norman Westberg and the prolific double bass player Jacek Mazurkiewicz collaborate for five evocative tracks. The pair finds common ground beyond the boundaries of atmospheric drone, abstract jazz and experimental music and blurs the lines between the acoustic and the electronic.The two first met when the composer Mazurkiewicz supported Swans with his solo project 3FoNIA on their 2014 European tour. »I really enjoyed his approach,« says Westberg about the Polish musician’s blending of the acoustic qualities of his instrument with electronically generated sounds. A decision to collaborate was made and when the US-American musician returned to Eastern Europe to support Michael Gira on his solo tour in late 2019, Mazurkiewicz reached out to him with the idea of booking some studio time before Gira’s two concerts in Warsaw. »Recording was very fun and easy,« remembers Westberg. »It was just two people enjoying hearing and reacting to what the other is doing.« »First Man in the Moon« is not however a plain document of these improvised sessions, but also shaped by Mazurkiewicz’s approach as a composer. Once the recordings were finished, he selected and edited the recorded material, refining the peculiar dialogue between the guitarist’s meditative drones and bright chords and his own rhythmic yet subtle approach to playing the double bass, sometimes plucking the strings and occasionally using his bow to underscore
Westberg’s fleeting melodies, but also using the instrument in unconventional ways to generate sound. A feeling of weightlessness prevails throughout the aptly-titled »First Man in the Moon.« Even at their most abstract however, these five improvisations-turned-compositions remain tangible, lively, and joyfully explorative. It is a record that you wouldn’t expect from either of these musicians, but
the logical result of two idiosyncratic minds sharing not only space and time, but also their respective visions with each other. Credits:
Recorded at Studio Diamentowy Pies/ Damian Pielka, engineering/Piotr Mazurek, engineering assistance/Jacek Mazurkiewicz, mix/
Lawrence English, mastering/John Fell, photographs.

Following on from the likes of Goat, Josefin Öhrn, Hills, Flowers Must Die, Centrum and GÅS - VED continue to be among the wonderful plethora of Swedish bands to release their exploratory music on Rocket Recordings. With 3 albums, 3 EPs (including one on Rocket), a compilation on labels like Höga Nord and Adrian Recordings already behind them this Malmö 5 piece are famed for creating trance inducing, repetitive, psych. Their ever evolving sound has always taken in many global influences, from Middle Eastern to African to the monotonous explorations of composers like Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Rhythmically driven like the jittered ecstasy of a Post Punk band covering a Oriental Surf a track, “Ett visst fängelse” (translated as ‘A Certain Prison’) establishes a pulsating
clink clack shimmer that is as hyper actively addictive as CAN in full animated instrumental groove. “The Embrace Of The Oarfish” the lead track, advances the propulsive pummeling to a more aggressive sound centred around a repetitive single bass note that masquerades like an menacingly deep percussive outlaw. The looming ribbon like nature of the track slithers like the giant sea serpent the title alludes too - some say the Oarfish can forecast earthquakes themselves, maybe its the resonance of the bomb shelter in
Malmö that is the bands rehearsal space that imposes itself tremor like through their oscillating work. The firewood that is VED’s work has reminiscent echoes of the primal work of UK act Snapped Ankles, but VED’s journey is a wholly unique controlled burn where rapid oxidation devours any listener into a blaze of restorative enchantment.

Eine neu überarbeitete ”Island Years”-Auflage des klassischen Bob-Marley-Boxsets, zum ersten Mal auch auf Vinyl. Mit Marleys vielen Klassikern von ”Concrete Jungle” über ”Redemption Song” bis hin zu seltenen 12”-Mixen, B-Seiten, jamaikanischen Singles und Alternates. ”Songs Of Freedom: The Island Years” erscheint als 6LP-Set.

Das 6LP-Set auf schwarzem Standard-Vinyl (180 g) enthält ein 20-seitiges Booklet mit seltenen Fotos,
mehreren Essays und Titelinformationen.

Strut continue their in-depth archive reissues from the Black Fire label witha definitive edition of JuJu's 'Live At 131 Prince Street',recorded in 1973 atOrnette Coleman's gallery in New York and featuring a previously unheardrecording of the Pharoah Sanders composition "Thembi". After forming in San Francisco while working on the Marvin X theatre piece'The Resurrection of the Dead', JuJu began to hone their uncompromisingfusion of Afro-Latin rhythms with free and spiritual jazz before signing toStrata-East for the 'A Message From Mozambique' album in 1972. "Wemoved to New York and became part of the avant-garde community on theLower East Side and Greenwich Village," remembers bandleader PlunkyBranch. Following a high profile live show at the Lincoln Center, OrnetteColeman invited JuJu to his gallery and loft at 131 Prince Street to performthere and to stay on while he left on tour. "That was life-changing for us,"continues Plunky."It was fabulous. The recordings you hear on this albumare in close proximity to each other, maybe across one day or a weekendat the gallery."Alongside tracks written by the JuJu band members, like the5/4 tempo 'At Least We Have A Horizon Now', they play choice coversfrom their peers. Plunky explains, "'Thembi' is a Pharoah Sanders piecewhich he wrote for his wife in 1971 and it's one of my favourite pieces byhim. 'Azucar Pa Ti' was written by Eddie Palmieri; we loved him too andenjoyed Latin music in general. Here we play 'Mozambique', based on anAfro-Cuban rhythm and we regularly played that for 10 minutes beforemorphing into 'Azucar'. 'Out Of This World', written by Johnny Mercer andHarold Arlen, was inspired by John Coltrane who recorded a version of iton his 'Coltrane' album in '62." JuJu's 'Live At 131 Prince Street' is out on Strut on 12th February 2021 on2LP and 1CD. Remastered by The Carvery from the original reel to reeltapes and including full sleeve notes based around a new interview withbandleader James "Plunky" Branch.

Salgari Records strikes back with a brand new release on vinyl from East Africa: Uhuru Republic’s “Muda” EP is now available for pre order.

Electronic fat beats blended with Sigeli, Afrofuturism and Gogo Music. Mantric Mganga Mkuu sounds and organic grooves together in a journey into East African vibes featuring Msafiri Zawose, Marleen Xplastaz and Kirundo.

WRWTFWW Records is beaucoup happy to announce the official reissue of Pierre Barouh's hard-to-describe-but-easy-to-enjoy French flair meets Japanese avant-garde lost treasure of experimental-electronic-chanson-pop with a new-wave-minimal-bossa touch, Le Pollen. Originally recorded July 1982 at Nippon Columbia Studio in Tokyo and composed, arranged, and played by a who's who of Japan's most groundbreaking musicians of the 80s, the album comes as a LP with bonus 7inch, housed in a heavy sleeve displaying two immaculate photos of Barouh and holding a printed lyrics insert.

A free-spirited world traveler with an incredible ear for music, Paris-born singer and activist Pierre Barouh introduced the sounds of Brazil (and more) to Europe and pushed the envelope with his pio-neering label Saravah, home of adventurous innovators Brigitte Fontaine, Areski, Jacques Higelin, Naná Vasconcelos, and Roland Bocquet's Catharsis among many others. His bohemian border-free vision of modern chanson, blending musical tradition from various parts of the globe with forward-looking artistry, resonated particularly well in Japan, where the scene spearheaded by Yellow Magic Orchestra fell in love with everything Barouh.

And so one day in 1981, Pierre Barouh received an invitation from a Japanese label to come record an album in Tokyo. Not one to turn down an escapade around the world, the French visionary jumped on a plane and landed in a studio surrounded with a dream line-up of musicians: Yukihiro Takahashi (who had named his solo debut Saravah! after Barouh's imprint) and Ryuichi Sakamoto of YMO, Yasuaki Shimizu and his Mariah bandmates Masanori Sasaji and Hideo Yamaki, members of the Moonriders, Motohiko Hamase, Mitsuru Sawamura of Interior, Kazuhiko Katoh and the list goes on. Also participating in the making of the album were longtime collaborator Francis Laï and the mys-terious and beautiful David Sylvian.

The result is Le Pollen, a sincere and affectionate mix of nouveau chanson, techno-pop, post-punk, jazz, bossa, ambient, and minimalism. And probably something else entirely. Honestly impossible to classify in a particular genre, Pierre Barouh's fascinating cosmopolitan music melting pot is, above all, a reassuring ode to humanity, where friendship, exchange, and collaborative creativity breeze freely. Making music together. It's all love.

Pierre Barouh sadly passed away in December 2016, leaving behind a monumental legacy of music and art for us to cherish, and a life philosophy that's well worth considering:

La vie, qu'elle soit longue ou brève
Moi, tous mes rêves
Je les prends toujours au sérieux
Quand l'utopie brise les chaînes
C'est l'oxygène,
De ceux qui sont restés curieux

Life, be it long or brief
Me, all my dreams
I always take them seriously
When utopia breaks the chains
It's the oxygen,
Of those who've remained curious

From the song "L'Autre Rive" on Le Pollen.

“ABBEY ROAD’S world-renowned engineers have been cutting grooves into discs since the studios first opened their doors in 1931. This record was pressed from a master cut using a precision technique known as half-speed mastering. The procedure requires the source master and the cutting lathe to run at half speed on a specially adapted Neumann VMS-80 lathe.

This rare and specialised technique transforms difficult to cut highend frequencies into relatively easy to cut mid-range frequencies. The result is a cut with excellent high frequency response and very solid and stable stereo images. In short, half-speed mastering produces a master of the highest quality that enables the pressing plant to produce a superlative record.”

First released by Cazzo Film in 2001, ebo hill’s Bonking Berlin Bastards has long achieved the status of an underground punk porn classic. Like the Cazzo productions of director Bruce LaBruce, hill’s vision was both ahead of its time and a playful distillation of 90s and early-2000s Berlin Zeitgeist: queer, industrial, hypersexual, exhibitionist and fueled by electronic music. The story is told in large part by the soundtrack, to be released for the first time on Ostgut Ton sublabel A-TON. The music follows a group of squatters, punks and drag queens as they fuck, party and stumble their way through an empty city at the turn of the millennium. Approaching these themes more through location than plot, the film’s narrative freedom is also a narrative of freedom; between chance encounters and sex in public, atop the maze of roofs in the city’s former East, bent over bridges and moaning in ecstasy at oncoming traffic, pants down in telephone booths, packed into sex clubs, in the shadows of abandoned factories and techno clubs lost in time. Composed by improvisational techno trio AeoX and noise / industrial producer Rouage aka CNM (respectively), the music spans a broad range of appropriately pounding industrial, weird techno, noise, ultra-stoned ambient, improvised dub and electro. It’s a sonic spectrum that connects Berlin’s queer hardcore techno and squatter party scenes from which AeoX and Rouage emerged, drawing a direct line between the likes of Berghain-forerunner OstGut (a primary meeting point for the film’s cast & crew) to the more industrial, breakcore and noise- oriented independent party collectives and locations who provided multiple settings for the film, including Grüne Hölle and Stellwerk.

*Artists:* CNM / Rouage (Kathinka): Born in 1975 and raised in East Berlin. Co-organization of subcultural events since 1998 in Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig and Barcelona. Experimental music, collaborations, exhibitions and audiovisual shows since 2000.

AeoX: Active between 2001 and 2007. Originally a quartet, then a trio, the group eventually shrank to two permanent members: Alex.E and Hanno Hinkelbein. The latter founded Null Records, where AeoX released two album and numerous EPs. They also released on Mental.Ind.Records founded by former OstGut resident Cora S. Musically, the group experimented with combining improvisational hardware techno, breaks, traditional instruments (guitar, clarinet, piano) industrial and metal.

Ursprünglich 2001 von Cazzo Film veröffentlicht, hat Bonking Berlin Bastards von ebo hill längst den Status eines Underground-Punk-Pornoklassikers erreicht. Wie die Cazzo- Produktionen von Regisseur Bruce LaBruce, war auch hills Vision seiner Zeit voraus und ein spielerisches Destillat des 90er- und Anfang-2000er Berlin-Zeitgeists: queer, industriell, hypersexuell, exhibitionistisch, angetrieben von elektronischer Musik. Die Geschichte wird größtenteils über den Soundtrack erzählt, der auf Ostgut Tons Sublabel A-TON zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht wird. Die Musik folgt einer Gruppe von Hausbesetzern, Punks und Drags, die ficken, feiern und durch die leere Stadt um die Jahrtausendwende streifen. Bonking Berlin Bastards erzählt diese Themen mehr über die Drehorte als über die Handlung. Die erzählerische Freiheit des filmischen Narrativs ist gleichzeitig eine Erzählung von Freiheit: Von zufälligen Begegnungen bis hin zu Sex in der Öffentlichkeit, auf Dächern im früheren Osten Berlins, sich über die Brüstungen von Straßenbrücken beugen, trotz und wegen des Verkehrs stöhnen, mit heruntergelassenen Hosen in Telefonzellen, in überfüllten Sexclubs, im Schatten aufgegebener Fabriken, zeitverloren in Technoclubs. Der Soundtrack wurde sowohl vom Improvisationstechnotrio AeoX als auch von Noise-/Industrial-Producer Rouage aka CNM komponiert und spannt einen weiten Bogen von explizit pumpendem Industrial, schräg klingendem Techno, Noise, ultra-stoned Ambient, improvisiertem Dub und Electro. Das musikalische Spektrum verbindet Berlins queere Hardcore-, Techno- und Hausbesetzer-Party-Szenen, aus denen AeoX und Rouage selbst hervorgingen und zieht dabei eine direkte Linie zwischen dem Berghain- Vorgängerclub OstGut (ein wichtiger Treffpunkt für die Darsteller und Crew des Films) und den eher Industrial-, Breakcore- und Noise-orientierten Independent-Partykollektiven und -Locations wie Grüne Hölle und Stellwerk, welche mehrfach als Drehort und Kulisse des Films auftauchen.

CNM / Rouage (Kathinka): 1975 geboren nd aufgewachsen in Ost- Berlin. Co-Organisation subkultureller Events seit 1998 in Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig und Barcelona. Experimentelle Musik, Kollaborationen, Ausstellungen und audiovisuelle Shows seit 2000.

AeoX: Aktiv zwischen 2001 und 2007. Ursprünglich ein Quartett, dann ein Trio, dann verkleinerte sich die Gruppe auf zwei permanente Mitglieder: Alex.E und Hanno Hinkelbein. Letzterer gründete Null Records, auf dem AeoX zwei Alben und zahlreiche EPs veröffentlichte. Ebenfalls Veröffentlichungen auf Mental.Ind.Records, welches von der ehemaligen OstGut resident Cora S. gegründet wurde. Musikalisch kombiniert die Gruppe improvisierten Hardware- Techno mit Breaks, traditionellen Instrumenten (Gitarre, Klarinette, Klavier), Industrial und Metal.

Jesse James rides again! Rejoining the Soul Junction label to bring you his previously unreleased original version of the song “(The Girl In) Clinton Park”

The song is more widely known through the version recorded by the group Masterplan in 1974 as part of their trilogy of 45 releases on the West Coast Fos-Glo label, with this particular release being later picked up and released on The East Coast Delite label.

The story behind Jess’s solo version began 3 years earlier when following his first spell with the 20th Century label Jesse found himself without a label feeling a little disillusioned with major labels but undeterred in his own ability he decided to finance and record his own masters. Hence on 29th of April 1971, Jesse entered the Searra Sound Studio in Berkley C.A under the direction of producer and friend Willie Hoskins (Wilhos Productions, and the man who gave the world the Natural Four on Boola, Boola and ABC, prior to them joining Curtis Mayfield at Curtom). Jesse recorded a five song session, with one particular song being the Stanley Lippett composition “(The Girl In) Clinton Park”. Lippett who prior to becoming part of the Wilhos Productions team sang with the early 60’s group The Five Brooks before recording two very sought after Northern Soul 45’s “The Stran” and “Outta Sight Loving” for Dick Vance’s Out Of Site Label. Stanley later joined Marvin Holmes & The Uptights Band. It had been Marvin Holmes (he of Brown Door Records fame) who introduced Stanley to Willie Hoskins with Stanley subsequently joining Boola Boola Records and Wilhos Productions. Stanley repaid Marvin for this introduction by composing a song based on Marvin’s 3 year daughter, she being the actual girl from Clinton Park!

Returning to Jesse James, two other songs from this session, a cover version of Etta James “At Last” and “I Know I’ll Never Find Another” did gain a release at the time on the Zay label.

We’ve known about Jesse’s version of this song for many years now but the tape was nowhere to be found and even without hearing it, just knowing the song and that Jesse was a great singer I always promised him that one day I’d put it out. But if there is some good to come out of this pandemic then it was during Jesse’s lock down in Richmond and while browsing through his possessions he luckily found the missing tape, bingo we’re in business!

For this release we have coupled “(The Girl In) Clinton Park” with Jesse’s oh so soulful cover version of the Terry Callier/Larry Wade composition “ Just As Long As We’re In Love” (also recorded by Callier himself and The Mighty Dells), previously issued by Soul Junction on Jesse’s 2012 album “Let Me Show You” (SJLP 5005), enjoy.

The mystifying 9th album in the Field Works series, Cedars combines cosmic Americana with Western ambient and Middle Eastern influences. Delicate layers of pedal steel, banjo, oud, and hurdy-gurdy float atop looping guitar drones to create a soothing, atmospheric chamber where folk and electronic music coalesce. Set to Arabic and English poetry, the song cycle examines some of Earth's most iconic and ancient forests, revealing our complicated relationship with the natural world. For this special dual-language release, Field Works producer Stuart Hyatt has assembled a supergroup of musicians, poets, and artists. The album is narrated by Youmna Saba and H.C. McEntire. Instrumentalists include Marisa Anderson, Fadi Tabbal, Dena El Saffar, Danny Paul Grody, Bob Hoffnar, Tomás Lozano, Nathan Bowles, Alex Roldan, Youmna Saba, and Stuart Hyatt. Renowned illustrator María Medem brings poems by Todd Fleming Davis and Youmna Saba to life in the accompanying full-color Risograph comic book; and longtime Field Works collaborators PRINTtEXT design the packaging.

Barbarossa, AKA British singer songwriter and producer
James Mathé, releases his new album ‘Love Here Listen’
via Memphis Industries.
For this latest batch of songs James Mathé collaborated
with producer du jour Ghost Culture (Daniel Avery, Kelly
Lee Owens, Falle Nioke) at his studio in Margate, Kent in
the South East of England. The pair worked with a
limited range of vintage synths - a Mono Poly, Korg MS-
20 a Roland SH-101 and a Juno 108 borrowed from the
local skate store Palm Bay Skates - with the recordings
bounced down to Mathé’s Fostex R8 reel to reel to give
it that undeniable warmth.
Mathé says of the recording process: “It was probably
the most stress-free record to date and so much fun just
messing around with synth arps. It’s easy with James as
we really understand each other and I trust him totally.
He lives five minutes’ walk along the seafront from me.
We even jumped in the sea a couple times after lunch.”
‘Love Here Listen’ is Mathé’s sixth album since his debut,
‘Sea Like Blood’, released on the Fence Collective back in
2006, since which time he’s joined the Jose Gonzales
live show, become a member of Junip, toured with
Poliça and This Is The Kit and morphed from acoustic
troubadoury to electronic song smithery all the while
seemingly searching for an elusive balance between
hopefulness and melancholy. On ‘Love Here Listen’,
thanks to a reconnecting with the visceral forces of nature, it feels like he’s found it.
Yellow vinyl LP.

‘PEACEMEAL’ is yet another reinvention for Ron
Gallo - a human being on a lifelong chase of
himself and using music as the main vehicle.
On his third LP, he exits the noisy confines of the
garage and goes outside where there’s no limit to
embracing all aspects of himself.
The result is a colourful hodgepodge of 90’s hiphop, r&b, weirdo pop, jazz and punk. The sounds
change but the sense of humanity, humour and a
truly eccentric worldview is the common thread in
all of Gallo’s music.
Mostly written and recorded during a period of
self-isolation in summer 2019, it’s an uncanny
foreshadowing of the global situation that was to
come and give all the songs a new meaning. This
is feel-good music that attempts to confront and
understand human existence.
Ron Gallo just wants to be himself, destroy
expectations and encourage you to do the same in
a world that does just about everything to try and
box us in - not to mention, this is his best most
fun one yet.

I’ve known Alex Bleeker my entire life. Well, okay, maybe not since I was born, but there’s no doubt that I’ve shared a fair bit of memories with him over the years. We’ve acted in high school productions of Shakespeare together, gone on late-night diner runs, argued about which Weezer album is the band’s best, and swapped mutual appreciation for the music of Yo La Tengo on car rides careening around the snaky suburbia of our hometown. Just like his Real Estate bandmates Martin Courtney and Julian Lynch, we attended high school in the New Jersey enclave of Ridgewood, a place where sticky summer days yielded cool nights with a glow so nocturnal that you can practically hear the fireflies buzzing off of this sentence alone.

Indie rock—a type of music that can easily be made or listened to in someone’s garage—often dominates teenage suburban preoccupations, and both Alex and I were no exception. You can hear this legacy of listening on his new album Heaven on the Faultline, which departs from his last full-band outing as Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, 2015’s Country Agenda. Whereas that album had a more full-bodied explicitly folk-y feel, Heaven on the Faultline finds Bleeker getting back to his homespun roots over the course of its 13 songs, from the jangly guitar pop of New Jersey heroes the Feelies and YLT’s hushed, acoustic reveries to the open-hearted folk rock that marks so much of the Grateful Dead’s early catalog.

Written and recorded over the last several years, Heaven on the Faultline’s songs were initially recorded straight to GarageBand in Bleeker’s bedroom before receiving further studio refinement in co-producer Phil Hartunian’s Tropico Beauty space in Los Angeles. With contributions from Confusing Mix of Nations’ Josh Da Costa, Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw, singer-songwriter Kacey Johansing, and Parting Lines’ Tim Ramsey, Heaven on the Faultline achieves a warm and intimate feel that defines Bleeker’s mission for the album: “I wanted to capture the moment in which I fell in love with making music to begin with. This is music for myself—me getting back to music for music’s sake.”

The unsteady times we live in certainly creep into view on Heaven on the Faultline. The deceptively easygoing “D Plus” was written on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration with the cursed event in mind, while the anxiety of climate change hovers just above the lovely guitar loops of “Felty Feel.” “The album is very much about dealing with the anxiety of a sense of impending doom,” Bleeker states while discussing the album’s portentous vibes. “When is the hammer going to fall? How do we go forward in the face of such anxiety and experience the complexity of life?”

Tough questions with few answers, but try not to stress too much. It’s possible to experience such existential doubt while also enjoying the simple pleasures that life has to offer, and that ethos is square at the heart of Heaven on the Faultline. It defines who Alex Bleeker is, too, and is one of many reasons why I’m proud to have known this special person and artist for so long.

Larry Fitzmaurice

William The Conqueror have paid their damn dues.
Like the sportsman cutting chipped teeth in the
lower leagues before shooting to the very top, this
band have lugged all the amps, placated the inhouse sound guy for an easier life, their nails dirty,
their hair unkempt. Enough.
Except it’s never enough, because despite their
slinky, swampy, razor-sharp, blues-drenched, guitar
thrashed alt. rock songs that form new album
‘Maverick Thinker’ and suggest that the door is
opening for bigger rooms and broader audiences,
it’s those sticky basement bar stages where the
songs have always shed a skin and come alive.
The record put the three piece behind the glass at
Sound City Studios in LA, treading the same carpet
as the likes of Nirvana, Johnny Cash, Neil Young,
and Fleetwood Mac and they might well have
inhaled the spirit of them all.
William The Conqueror’s protagonist is Ruarri
Joseph who knows his way around a melody and a
verse. Joseph’s wryness suggests life just ain’t
plain sailin’ and he fizzes that sigh and lament into
something that breathes heavy with heart and with
soul.
Vinyl format comes in a gatefold sleeve with
printed inner sleeve and digital download card.

Green Man Rising 2020 winner, Nuha Ruby Ra, announces her debut EP ‘How To Move’ out on Brace Yourself Records on 5th March 2021. A visceral and striking debut from the East London avant-punk, Nuha delivers frenzied poetic energy across the seven tracks bearing comparisons to Lydia Lunch and Sonic Youth.

Nuha Ruby Ra has spent the last few months cultivating a dedicated following and racking up an impressive catalogue of collaborators from around the world. Nuha has performed alongside the likes of Bo Ningen, Uncanny Valley, Charlie Boyer and more, and appeared on recordings by Flamingods and Warmduscher. In the short time she’s been playing these tracks she’s amassed support slots with Fat White Family, Surfbort, Amyl and the Sniffers, Bambara, Japanese Television.

The EP 'How To Move' began as bedroom projects, before Nuha developed the tracks in the actual vintage synth cave of the Psychedelic Furs, joined by members of Liars and Insecure Men. It was produced by Tony Visconti protégé Erin Tonkin (David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’) and mastered by Pete Maher (Patti Smith, Lana Del Ray etc.)

Conscious early 90s tune by King Shark. Self-produced and released on his own label Green Farm in 1991. Easy-going rhythm, horns and bass and fantastic conscious lyrics.

The music on Dance Nos. 1-5 was originally conceived as a three-way collaboration between composer Philip Glass, choreographer Lucinda Childs and artist Sol LeWitt. Dance received its world premiere in Amsterdam on October 19, 1979 and its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 29, 1979.

Post-dating Einstein on the Beach - Glass’s 1975-76 collaboration with director Robert Wilson - Dance was another Glass collaboration, this time with choreographer Lucinda Childs, known for her austere, athematically exact dances, and artist Sol LeWitt, who provided a ghostly, gigantic black- and-white film for several of the piece’s five sections.














RELEASE: 5-3-2021





• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• DELUXE HEAVYWEIGHT SLEEVE WITH GLOSS LAMINATE
• PVC JACKET
• THE COMPLETE ALBUM, AVAILABLE ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS ENTIRETY ON A 3LP-SET
WITH FIVE SIDES OF MUSIC
• INCLUDES PHILIP GLASS CATALOGUE WITH INFO ON THE PHILIP GLASS SERIES ON MOV


SIDE A

Dance has an abstract purity that easily earned it the label “minimalist,” a term that Glass himself disavows but that seems appropriate, at least in this case. After Dance, Glass’s music took several turns, not so much in style as in the various new contexts in which it was presented: major opera commissions and film scores led him to write for forces other than those of the Philip Glass Ensemble. At the same time, an attempt to reach a wide audience resulted in some shorter, perhaps more accessible, narrative pieces. Dance marked the blossoming of the composer’s experimental work. Here, though, the music - particularly Dance Nos. “1”, “3” and “5”, all written for the Ensemble— has an unforgettable exuberance that somehow speaks all at once of joyful innocence, intense erotic desire, tenderness, regret and, finally, acceptance. On the other hand, Dance Nos. “2” and “4” see Glass composing several large-scale works for solo organ; for instance, Dance No. 2 originated as a 1978 work entitled Fourth Series Part Two. This piece, later incorporated into Dance, and Dance No. “4” as well, have a more subdued, more darkly romantic quality than the work’s other sections and are quite unlike anything Glass had previously written. Still, they too, with their mysterious tilts of time and key signatures, continue the exploration of polyrhythms and harmonic complexities within the context of Glass’s repetitive, “minimalist” style.

The complete Dance Nos. 1-5 album is now available on vinyl for the first time in its entirety on a 3LP-set with five sides of music. The 3 LP’s are housed in a heavyweight sleeve.

Clock, featuring two extraordinary songs written and performed by Arden herself. A vinyl-only edition of 250 copies, with fold-out poster and insert containing sleevenotes by Jack Bond, Sam Dunn, Charlotte Procter and Sebastian Saville. Arden and Bond’s collaborative career gave Britain some of the most extraordinary films it ever produced. Their filmography is woefully short - but it’s full to the brim of incredible, daring ideas and completely unfettered imagination. It’s packed, too, with pain and a disconcerting honesty about the human condition; challenging commonly-held ideas about madness and positing ideas which are far less easy to categorise or control. Anti-Clock, their final work together - Arden took her own life three years after its release - is a complex, contemplative piece, and Arden’s apparently comforting delivery of her self-penned songs and the see-saw flow of Mihai Dragutescu’s delicate instrumentation act only as a means to lure us in; to begin the de-programming. In Arden's book You Don’t Know What You Want, Do You?, the basis for the network of ideas at play in Anti-Clock – the motif of the rat is used as a metaphor for the rational mind. The lyrics to ‘Sleepwalking’ (living in a daze, wandering in a maze) also conjure up images of lab rats, of unthinking beings adhering to rules and systems, never questioning what is beyond what they think they know to be true. At the close of Anti-Clock, the central character, Sapha, simply says, ‘It has been my whole life's will to decode this puzzle, as though inside the answer to this equation was the insurance of that peace of mind that had eluded me. But there is no puzzle. And the mind is never peaceful. And dawn’s already here as the stars appear.’

Following the reissue of Marta Ren "Stop Look Listen" album, Record Kicks is proud to present the reissue of another mega rare and super in-demand vinyl from its vaults: Sydney soul/funk outfit DOJO CUTS' second legendary album "Take From Me". The second studio album from the Aussie band will be finally back available on vinyl on a classy limited edition clear LP on March 12th.

"Take From Me" was originally released in 2012 and once again features the sizzling, smoky vocals of Miss Roxie Ray. This much anticipated follow-up to their 2009 debut on Record Kicks, has rapidly became a "classic" in the deep funk and soul scene with millions of streamings on the digital platforms. The originally LP has never been repressed and the few available copies change hands for crazy money on Discogs.


This is the album where all of Dojo Cuts' experience and hard work reaches its deeply soulful zenith, with tracks such as in "Easy to come home", "Sometimes it hurts" and title track "Take From Me". With the liner notes written by dj and collector Russ Dewbury (Jazz Rooms) and the support of the entire Daptone Records family aka Gabriel Roth, Neal Sugarman and Homer Steinwess, this is a must have for all the funk & soul lovers. Watch out the repress is limited to 500 copies worldwide.

Previously unreleased recordings by various lineups drawn from Derek Bailey, Tristan Honsinger, Christine Jeffrey, Toshinori Kondo, Charlie Morrow, David Toop, Maarten Altena, Georgie Born, Lindsay Cooper, Steve Lacy, Radu Malfatti and Jamie Muir.

Journalists often make the brief history of Free Improvisation conform to the idea that the history of music is a nice straight line from past to present: Beethoven… Brahms… Boulez. Thus Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and John Stevens — together with Brötzmann and co across the Channel — were the trailblazing ‘first generation’, forging a wholly new language alongside contemporary avant-garde and free jazz. Figures like Toshinori Kondo and David Toop, willing as they were to incorporate snippets of all kinds of music, were the pesky ‘second generation’, happily cocking a snook at the ‘ideological purity’ of Bailey’s non-idiomatic improvisation.
‘Company 1981’ shows up the foolishness — the wrongness — of such storylines. Check the eclectic collection of guests Bailey invited to Company Weeks over the years. He had clear ideas about the music, but he was no ideological purist.

One of the founders of Fluxus, Charlie Morrow injects blasts of Cageian fun into half the recordings here, whether blurting military fanfares from his trumpet, or intoning far-flung scraps of speech. Cellist Tristan Honsinger and vocalist Christine Jeffrey join in the joyful glossolalia, while Bailey, Toop and Kondo contribute delicious, delicate, hooligan arabesques, by turns.
The remainder are performed by a different ensemble: Bailey, bassist Maarten Altena, former Henry Cow members Georgie Born and Lindsay Cooper on cello and bassoon, the insanely inventive Jamie Muir on percussion, and trombonist Radu Malfatti, showing his mastery of extended technique. Were that not enough, there’s the inimitable purity of Steve Lacy’s soprano ringing high and clear above the melee. Glorious!

There’s always been this idea that Free Improvisation is somehow Difficult Listening, but when the doors of perception are thrown open and prejudice cast aside, you realise that it’s not difficult at all. “Is it that easy?” chirps Morrow, at one point. Indeed it is.
Enjoy yourself.

Kuldaboli returns to bbbbbb records, this time with a 6-track EP on which his idiosyncratic sound of icy, cryptic electro fully emerges. BBB015 being the second release of Kuldaboli on bbbbbb records is destined to be a historical release for the Icelandic dance music scene and a very important one for Kuldaboli’s legacy. The EP title ‘Ekkert nema ískaldur veruleikinn’ roughly translates to “nothing but the ice cold reality” and that is exactly what is delivered across the six tracks laden with poetic lyrics and spoken word.

In the opening track ‘Ég er bara ég’ Kuldaboli’s signature sound of uncompromising electro is overlaid with haunting vocals recited in Icelandic saying “I am only me and you are only you, people exchange words measuring each other out, trying their best at discerning life’s riddles’’. It is easy to say that Kuldaboli knows how to capture the listeners with deep reflections on subjects that most people are aware of but hardly ever speak of.

A2 ‘Ískaldur veruleikinn’ or ‘the ice cold reality’ is the most bouncy dancefloor track of the EP with the openings lyrics saying ‘’Are you telling me the truth? If I were to guess you are lying cold to my face’. The power of word play in this release is by far the most interesting poetic turn for Kuldaboli to date, where he shows great insight to the subconscious and human behaviour.

The smooth sounds of possessed Italo disco on A3 ‘Finn innri frið’, along with the funky bassline and trance like synths has perhaps the most positive vibe to it if you are not familiar to Kuldaboli, along with the playful opener of B-side ‘Afi kenndi mér íslensku’.

Following B2 no-bullshit-electro-track ‘Kuklari’, the final track B3 ‘Fönix úr ösku’ shows the haunting dark depth of depressurisation that vocal and electronics can create, where melancholic lyrics convey images of lost dreams of former lives.

Funkiwala Records presents the third in the series of "Lokkhi Terra meets"albums, with the London fusionistas creating another unique sound-clash, this time with ex-Fela Kuti keyboardist and legendary UK Afro-beat ambassador Dele Sosimi, and members of his critically acclaimed Afro-beat Orchestra.

This particular collaboration has been bubbling away for a few years now, teasing audience expectations with a handful of sold out shows each year in between both bands busy schedules.
Featuring the two pianos of Kishon Khan and Dele Sosimi – Cuban percussionists/vocalists Geraldo De Armas (Yoruba Andabo), Oreste Noda (Ariwo), Javier Camilo (Ibrahim Ferrer) - a horn section led by Justin Thurgur (Bellowhead) featuring Yelfris Valdes (Sierra Maestra) and Graeme Flowers (Kyle Eastwood) to name a few – this is an All-star cast.

Kishon Khan's Lokkhi Terra have over a number of years now been quietly establishing themselves as one of London's more unusual heavyweight outfits, described as "Stunning Headliners… A majestic multi-cultural blend of sounds… effortlessly builds bridges between rolling Indian raga rhythms, Afro-Cuban grooves, Acid Jazz/funk and free flowing improvisation" (Timeout London). Included amongst the band members are London's top Cuban musicians, adding their infectious rich musical history to the city's melting pot.
When the band wanted to explore Cuban links with another of their favourite traditions, Afrobeat, who better to bring in then one of the Afrobeat originators – maestro Dele Sosimi – "Sosimi creates some of the most bewitching grooves in modern African music" E Jazz News.
Bringing together two Yoruba speaking musics - with different accents, from different sides of the Atlantic - Havana meets Lagos in London – A Cuban-Afrobeat-Experience. CUBAFROBEAT.

Definite reissue of this No Wave classic, originally issued in 1979. Previous reissues of the Contortions and James White albums on Infinite Zero have been deleted for the better part of a decade. These are all officially sanctioned by the originating label, Ze Records; packaged in fold out digipaks, with deluxe 20 page booklets. The 21st century has produced a new generation of young contenders of all kinds, who have, within months, spread a new string of names across the planet such as The Rapture, Playgroup, LCD Sound system, Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Radio 4 and the likes, just to name a few. Once again the heat was initiated in NYC, even though its Lower East Side epicenter 'cleaned up' by Giuliani and Bloomberg, has moved a few blocks east and across the river to Brooklyn and Williamsburg. It might be wise to remind the younger ones among us that the origins of this new musical cycle is for the most part rooted in the No Wave movement of which James Siegfried aka James White, aka James Chance is undoubtedly one of its most prominent figures. New York City was hands down the artistic telluric center of the second half of the 20th century, especially from the 70's, on. Rising from the ashes of the Velvet Underground, a slew of local bands redefined the aesthetics of rock'n'roll which the merchants of the temple hastened to rename under various designations, such as punk, new wave, no wave, jazz-funk or even disco and disco-punk without forgetting to mention the original Electro designation pioneered by the band Suicide. One of the indispensable and emblematic figures of the mid-'70s is of course James Chance.

Listening to Magic Sam playing and singing from a twenty first
century perspective shows distinctly how he was pushing the
blues in a rockier direction and influencing many subsequent
players. During the sixties he attracted many new fans with two
fine albums on Delmark Records that have remained very
collectable. This fine album represents the first phase of his
career and captures his distinct guitar playing with its crisp and
sometimes choppy attack. He was very much a second-wave
bluesman on the Chicago scene, but obviously had so much to
offer in terms of taking the blues in new and exciting directions.

Sealed original copies of the Horace Tapscott's 'The Tapscott Sessions' solo piano series, released on Nimbus West Records ‎from 1982 to 1984. Horace Tapscott has been one of the top "unknown" jazz pianists in the Los Angeles area since the 1960s, recording far too few sessions which has led to him being continually overlooked by jazz fans from outside L.A. During 1982-84 he recorded seven solo piano albums for the tiny Nimbus label, playing unaccompanied solos, his improvisations consist of deeply emotional exploration of his music. Tapscott has always had a strikingly original sound that, despite occasional hints at other pianists, is quite distinctive, falling between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde. Totally Essential.




Jazz, with its many iterations and forms, has always been a music on the move - its own changes and evolutions mirroring a flux in the perception of what is and was. This is all too evident when addressing its avant-garde realisations, particularly those rising across the 1960s and 70s - free and spiritual - musics which were both of their moment and beyond them - of a specific people, culture, social reality, philosophy, and political position, while transcending each. These radical sounds have rarely received the wide understanding, recognition, and appreciation in their own time. Thankfully, we have have hindsight. Historical Avant-garde jazz, springing from African American communities and taking seed in every corner of the globe, is increasingly celebrated for the seminal music is was and remains, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, especially when addressing the long standing rift in the United States which favours the east coast over the west.

Driving anywhere in Texas can cost you half a day, easy. For example, it’ll take you over four hours just to get from R&B singer Leon Bridges’ hometown of Fort Worth down to Houston, where the psychedelic wanderers in Khruangbin hail from. The state is vast, crisscrossed with rugged expanses of road flanked by limestone cliffs and granite mountains, forests of pine and mesquite, miles of desert or acres of sprawling grassland, all depending on what part you’re in. And it’s all baking under the Texas Sun that lends its name to Bridges and Khruangbin’s new collaborative release. “Big sky country, that’s what they call Texas,” Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says. “The horizon line goes all the way from one side to another without interruption. There’s something really comforting about that.” On ‘Texas Sun’, these two members of the state’s musical vanguard meet up somewhere in the middle of that scene, in the mythical nexus of Texas’ past, present, and future - a dreamy badlands where genres blur as seamlessly as the terrain. It calls equally to the cowboys bootscooting at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, the chopped-andscrewed hip hop fans rattling slabs on the southside of Houston, the art-school kids dropping acid in Austin, the cross-cultural progeny who grew up on listening to both mariachi and post-hardcore out on the Mexican borders of El Paso. All of these things, overlapping in a multi-coloured melange, purple hues as vivid and unpredictable as one of the state’s rightfully celebrated sunsets. A journey through homesick reminiscences, backseat romances and late night contemplations, the kind of record made for listening with the windows down and the road humming softly beneath you. Like the highways that inspired it, ‘Texas Sun’ is guaranteed to get you where you’re going - especially if you’re in no particular hurry to get there. Khruangbin and Leon Bridges are critically acclaimed artists with extensive coverage in print and online, including the New York Times, NPR, FADER, four Grammy nominations (Leon Bridges), The New Yorker, Washington Post and Pitchfork, among many others.

LIMITED TRANSPARENT RED WITH BLACK SWIRLS DOUBLE VINYL

Nine years after it’s initial release, 'The Ripper At The Heaven's Gates Of Dark' is back. The original black vinyl and CD editions sold out pretty quick, and have been a constant source of repress requests ever since. So, at Makoto’s personal request here it is. And I agree with him that it’s definitely the best AMT studio album from that short lived four piece line up.

With the exception of the album's opener 'Chinese Flying Saucer' and it's unashamedly obvious musical references to Led Zeppelin II (hello 1969!) the rest of the album locks into a much more laid-back groove than on recent AMT releases. This dynamic shift is best displayed on the 22 minute jam, 'Shine On You Crazy Dynamite' and also the album's closer 'Electric Death Mantra'. The band opt for less frantic explosions of electric guitar overload and fuzz, replacing those elements with a more epic, blissed-out and at times brooding Japanese psychedelia, with more emphasis on acoustic guitars, sitar, organ, synthesiser and at times, really trippy vocals (most prevalent on 'Back Door Man Of Ghost Rails Inn'), recalling the twisted psychedelics of early Pink Floyd. Yet still, their sound remains so expansive that it is easy to become totally immersed in this album.

Epic in proportions, cloaked in a cosmic haze and shimmering in a synth utopia. 'The Ripper At Heaven's Gates Of Dark' maintains AMT's status as masters of out-of-this-world music and reveals their darker side of the moon.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. at the time of this recording were :Tsuyama Atsushi : monster bass, voice, soprano sax, cimpo flute, soprano recorder, acoustic guitar, cosmic joker Higashi Hiroshi : synthesizer, dancin'king Shimura Koji : drums, latino cool Kawabata Makoto : electric guitar, electric bouzouki, sitar, organ, percussion, electronics, speed guru

Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple, Japan Produced & engineered by Kawabata Makoto
Digital mastered by Yoshida Tatsuya.

LIMITED TRANSPARENT BLUE WITH BLACK SWIRLS DOUBLE VINYL HOUSED IN A NEWLY REDESIGNED FULL COLOUR GATEFOLD SLEEVE/JACKET.

Nine years after it’s initial release, 'The Ripper At The Heaven's Gates Of Dark' is back. The original black vinyl and CD editions sold out pretty quick, and have been a constant source of repress requests ever since. So, at Makoto’s personal request here it is. And I agree with him that it’s definitely the best AMT studio album from that short lived four piece line up.

With the exception of the album's opener 'Chinese Flying Saucer' and it's unashamedly obvious musical references to Led Zeppelin II (hello 1969!) the rest of the album locks into a much more laid-back groove than on recent AMT releases. This dynamic shift is best displayed on the 22 minute jam, 'Shine On You Crazy Dynamite' and also the album's closer 'Electric Death Mantra'. The band opt for less frantic explosions of electric guitar overload and fuzz, replacing those elements with a more epic, blissed-out and at times brooding Japanese psychedelia, with more emphasis on acoustic guitars, sitar, organ, synthesiser and at times, really trippy vocals (most prevalent on 'Back Door Man Of Ghost Rails Inn'), recalling the twisted psychedelics of early Pink Floyd. Yet still, their sound remains so expansive that it is easy to become totally immersed in this album.

Epic in proportions, cloaked in a cosmic haze and shimmering in a synth utopia. 'The Ripper At Heaven's Gates Of Dark' maintains AMT's status as masters of out-of-this-world music and reveals their darker side of the moon.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. at the time of this recording were :Tsuyama Atsushi : monster bass, voice, soprano sax, cimpo flute, soprano recorder, acoustic guitar, cosmic joker Higashi Hiroshi : synthesizer, dancin'king Shimura Koji : drums, latino cool Kawabata Makoto : electric guitar, electric bouzouki, sitar, organ, percussion, electronics, speed guru

Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple, Japan Produced & engineered by Kawabata Makoto
Digital mastered by Yoshida Tatsuya.

Remastered Limited Blue Vinyl with Gatefold Sleeve.
Includes A2 poster and 3 art prints of each individual band member.

Way back in 1982, Battersea based mod heroes The Direct Hits had released one single on Dan Treacy’s Whamm! record label, ‘Modesty Blaise’ earlier in the year. This was singled out in the music press as not just one of your average Jam crash / bang /wallop mod revivalist tunes.
Live gigs showed they had a mighty powerful set of catchy mod / pop tunes in the back pocket. Whamm! were struggling to provide the funds to record an album, the songs were too good not to commit to a full 12’ set, so the Direct Hits pooled their limited resources and self financed a very cheap one day recording session in a tiny studio in Tooting, South London called Broadway Sound.
Early on the morning of August 12th 1982 the band, comprising of Colin Swan, Geno Buckmaster, Brian Grover and their trusty roadie ‘Robbo’ assembled at the tiny studio to begin recording as many of their songs as they could get down on tape for the tiny budget they had scraped together. As most of the songs were already well rehearsed thanks to the band’s busy live schedule, the recording of the first nine songs on this disc were finished by mid afternoon without any problems. Throughout the late afternoon and early evening the band toiled over scant overdubs with limited keyboard facilities and a distinct lack of musical ability. The recordings immediately came to life however, when Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster’s stage-honed tight harmonies were added, there was no time for vocal overdubs, and the mixing was completed by midnight. Tired and worn out, the band ventured out into the cold night air happy with the days work, clutching the precious reel to reel tape.
Two weeks later the band came back with a friend producing, and recorded the three final tracks featured on this album which have a more rounded slightly less raw sound. All three were completed in an afternoon. Almost two years later they re-recorded some of these songs, and along with a handful of new songs from the pen of Buckmaster and Swan, recorded their ‘Blow Up’ debut album at Rendezvous Studios in Sydenham, South East London, released on Whaam! Records in August 1984.
So what you have here are the roots of some of these great songs. A few didn’t make it to the first album those that did, as you will hear, stayed reasonably faithful to the original arrangements.
The Broadway Recording Sessions take you right back to where it all started!

Lancaster had initially cut his musical teeth with the avant-garde on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1960s (famously on sessions with pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Sunny Murray) and in Paris during the ‘70s after an appearance at the Actuel festival but, throughout his career, his path was built around community engagement, positivity and “the Philly jazz sound, Germantown style.” He became an ambassador for the music of the City Of Brotherly Love, starting his own Dogtown label, helping launch the Philly Jazz imprint and campaigning tirelessly to improve the circumstances of the city’s street musicians. Lancaster’s sessions for Black Fire were planned following a gig at Caverns Jazz Club in Washington DC. “Jimmy Gray of Black Fire and I originally met during the ‘riotous blisters’ of the late Sixties there,” explained Lancaster. “We became the best of friends.” Backed by a band of Philly musicians including percussionist Keno Speller and Baba Robert Crowder (drummer for Olatunji and Art Blakey), the album also featured the Drummers From Ibadan led by Tunde Kuboye, another influential figure dedicated to community jazz with whom Lancaster had bonded while teaching in Lagos. The result was a free-flowing set of spirituality and positivity, built around full band groove workouts, solo pieces and heavy African roots. “We had big fun documenting this music,” remembered Lancaster. The message of the album remains as relevant today as ever, “I dedicate this album to all African Americans in the USA. To the youth, I ask ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’”

Ultra rare 1979 KBD-style punk rock from Piteå – a small town situated in the very north of Sweden. Rock Set are buzzing of small town boredom and fuck authority attitude. The name Rock Set was inspired by UK pubrockers Dr Feelgood’s Roxette -a few years before Per Gessle took the Roxette moniker to the top of the Billboard chart. “Piteå Kommun” never reached the Billboard chart but over time it has generated a cult following amongst punk rock aficionados all over the world. Original copies are nowadays changing hands for hundreds of dollars. A fact easily understood when hearing Rock Set’s perfect mixture of punk-, mod- and garage-rock.
In the late fall of 2020 OTD traveled to Piteå in order to find the members of Rock Set. A license deal was made and in true OTD fashion the sound recordings were remastered and carefully restored. Many photos from the band members’ private photo albums are seen on the printed inner sleeve. Liner notes by Peter Kagerland. Turquoise vinyl.
File under: ”beyond essential to any serious rock’n’roll fan”.

‘Working With God’ is the new studio album from Melvins, featuring the 1983 line-up of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and Mike Dillard. This is the first time the trio have recorded together since ‘Tres Cabrones’.
‘Working With God’ is Melvins’ 28th (yes, 28th) full-length studio release and their first since 2018’s ‘Pinkus Abortion Technician’.
The band have been one of the most lauded hard rock bands to have helped develop the Grunge and Sludge scenes.
The new album is one of their most melodic and playful records - not just another ‘metal’ record, this will translate easily to hard rock and even mainstream rock fans as well.
The songs on the album are originals except for their take on Harry Nilsson’s classic ‘Fuck You’ and the well-known ‘Good Night Sweetheart’ that finishes off the album.
Released alongside the reissue of two classic Melvins albums on coloured vinyl.

Mats Gustafsson - Flute, baritone sax, live electronics, Johan Berthling - Electric bass, Andreas Werliin - Drums with Goran Kajfes - Quartertone trumpet, Mats Aleklint - Trombone, sousaphone, horn arrangements. Fire! tracking new paths and reaching new levels of excellence, still honoring their 12 year old vow of presenting a fresh approach to improvised music. Their debut album, You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago, was released in 2009 to wide international acclaim. "The basic strategy of pairing the expressive energy of free jazz with a sturdy sense of groove has yielded something potent and self-contained" (New York Times). Between this and Defeat there's been five albums, including collaborations with Jim O'Rourke (Unreleased?, 2011) and Oren Ambarchi (In The Mouth A Hand, 2012). No two Fire! records sound the same, but with Defeat they have taken their biggest leap so far, with Gustafsson giving the flute a prominent place in the sound image, a surprising and most successful move, his both expressive and ornamental approach given ample room to breathe, especially on the two long tracks bookending the album. In places more subdued than on previous efforts, but with the distinctive bass figures and hypnotic mood fully intact. There are some lively stretches with guests Goran Kajfes and Mats Aleklint, bringing to mind their big band offshoot Fire! Orchestra, albeit on a smaller scale. For over 20 years we have made a habit of releasing music that is beyond easy classification, in later years typified by Hedvig Mollestad, Elephant9 and Krokofant, but cemented by Fire! and their exploratory curiosity and deep love of music in general. We, and many others, have tried to compare the trio to other groups, but listening to Defeat we realize how futile this is. Given the above there's no doubt there are many influences at play, but the resulting brew is in a class by itself.

It has been twelve months since singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan chose to go sober, and life has changed a lot. In fact, the present day Lucy Spraggan is, in a multitude of ways, unrecognisable from the person of yesteryear. Control - both relinquishing it and taking it back - plus rediscovering oneself, is a recurring theme of the past year and Spraggan’s forthcoming album Choices. Aptly named, the songs that comprise the collection offer insight and introspection that saw her let go of alcohol, embrace exercise and a healthier lifestyle, move onwards through a divorce and find solace in its wake. Needless to say, it may have been necessary, but it was by no means easy. In conclusion, “it’s really just been an enlightening thing.”

“I was born here” said Alice Cooper, “and so was the sound and spirit of Alice Cooper.” Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group, “Detroit Stories” followslast year’s “Breadcrumbs” EP as a modern-day homage to the toughest and craziest Rock n Roll scene there ever was. Alice Cooper and Bob Ezrin gathered some legendary Detroit musicians (Wayne Kramer, Johnny “Bee” Badanjek, Paul Randolph and many more) in a Detroit studio to record “Detroit Stories”, Alice Cooper’s new album that celebrates that spirit for a new era. Finally, it would not be a proper collection of Detroit tales if it didn’t include a few songs featuring the Original Band members, Mike Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal. Joe Bonamassa also makes an appearance on the intro track “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. If 2019’s “Breadcrumbs” EP laid down the trail to the city, “Detroit Stories” drives like a muscle car right down Woodward Ave. Discover Detroit Stories as they were meant to be told. Available across 5 formats: CD / CD+DVD / 2LP Black, Boxset. Boxset inclues CD, T-shirt, Face Mask, Torch Light, 3 Stickers. Expected reviews across the broadsheets and tabloids. Daily Mail already picked this album as one of their 2021 albums to look out for! Current single playlisted at BCR2.

Brainstory is back with a pairing of tunes that the world's top sommelier couldn't hold a candle to. This gorgeous two-sider features the two vocal songs from their otherwise instrumental forthcoming EP, Ripe. On Side A, Seasons showcase Brainstory's sunny California soul and mixes in a touch of Roy Ayers east coast energy. The result is an infectious and uplifting tune penned at the beginning of quarantine with the hope of finding a brightside in the trouble the world is facing. Sibe B, Bye Bye, is another stone cold B side ballad from the group that gave us Dead End. The Darling Dears of Rialto have recorded what is sure to become another staple in sweet soul sets around the globe. But, in true Brainstory fashion this tune is uniquely theirs. Elements of psych, hip hop and jazz distance it from their soul-loving peers.

Polydans“, Roosevelts drittes Album, erscheint am 26.02.2021 und ist ein Liebesbrief an die Clubmusik als Ganzes, ein Blick zurück auf seine eigene musikalische Sozialisation und Faszination für die facettenreiche Natur des Genres aber auch ein Blick nach vorne. Inspiriert und begeistert von Musik, egal ob Yacht-Rock, Balearic, House-Euphorie oder unterkühltem Techno, setzt Marius Lauber seine Fähigkeiten und sein musikalisches Wissen ein, um als Roosevelt elektronische Musik zu schaffen, die Menschen weltweit bewegt, sowohl emotional als auch physisch. Und das ist auch das Geheimnis all seiner Veröffentlichungen, seit den ersten Singles, später dann auf dem Debütalbum „Roosevelt" (2016) und dem Nachfolger "Young Romance" (2018) ist es immer diese warme Emotionalität, die seine Musik antreibt und die Menschen auf aller Welt in seine Melodien verlieben lässt.

“Balances '80s-inspired synth, disco, driving beats and cinematic textures into a musical amalgamation that simultaneously manages effervescence and heft.” - Billboard on “Sign”

“Strobe-lit and expansive cut that locks into an insistent groove and periodically explodes into bright colors.” - Stereogum on “Echoes”

LTD Transparent Red LP

Polydans“, Roosevelts drittes Album, erscheint am 26.02.2021 und ist ein Liebesbrief an die Clubmusik als Ganzes, ein Blick zurück auf seine eigene musikalische Sozialisation und Faszination für die facettenreiche Natur des Genres aber auch ein Blick nach vorne. Inspiriert und begeistert von Musik, egal ob Yacht-Rock, Balearic, House-Euphorie oder unterkühltem Techno, setzt Marius Lauber seine Fähigkeiten und sein musikalisches Wissen ein, um als Roosevelt elektronische Musik zu schaffen, die Menschen weltweit bewegt, sowohl emotional als auch physisch. Und das ist auch das Geheimnis all seiner Veröffentlichungen, seit den ersten Singles, später dann auf dem Debütalbum „Roosevelt" (2016) und dem Nachfolger "Young Romance" (2018) ist es immer diese warme Emotionalität, die seine Musik antreibt und die Menschen auf aller Welt in seine Melodien verlieben lässt.

“Balances '80s-inspired synth, disco, driving beats and cinematic textures into a musical amalgamation that simultaneously manages effervescence and heft.” - Billboard on “Sign”

“Strobe-lit and expansive cut that locks into an insistent groove and periodically explodes into bright colors.” - Stereogum on “Echoes”

LTD Edition!

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Handscapes is a double live album by The Piano Choir featuring Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, and Sonelius Smith recorded in 1972.

At the time of release Ebony reviewer Phyl Garland said "One needn't be a "piano freak" to appreciate a truly new recording. First of all imagine seven gifted and talented pianists sitting down to seven grand pianos (with electric piano, organ, harpsichord, a few tambourines for spice) and proceeding to tear up these instruments - musically, that is. ...the torrrent of sound springing from their 70 fingers is so powerful and majestic as to be unlike anything one has ever heard."

In his review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos simply states "Brilliant"

In collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist RDO/ATK, Sophia Saze makes her long-awaited return to her Dusk & Haze imprint with four slamming cuts on a release entitled ‘Stalker’.

Born in Tbilisi and now residing in Philadelphia after years living a nomadic lifestyle, Sophia Saze began her creative journey in her formative years with classical music and dance training. With a solid and natural musical foundation, Sophia became engulfed by electronic music leading to the launch of her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017, before dropping a remix of Heathered Pearls on Ghostly International and the release of her much lauded debut album on Kingdoms. ‘Stalker’ sees her team up with old friend RDO/ATK who has been soaking up the dancefloor since the early 90s. With much of his influence stemming from the early east coast rave and club scene, his sound maintains a homage to the past without getting stuck in it. A sucker for a dirty 303, a breakneck amen, or a crushed 909, RDO/ATK’s style spans across genres from jungle to acid to broken beat and everything in-between.

The EP kicks off with a dynamic, jungle roller entitled ‘Stalker’ featuring old-school, amen breaks, stirring yet intriguing synths and hefty bass shatters balancing styles of glitch and funk together with pure class whilst ‘Fucking Crazy B’ lays focus on cold, syncopated grooves, chopped up shrieks and screams from a video of a traumatic personal incident and shimmering pads moving into ominous territories.

On the flip, ‘Talk To You In Your Brain’ delivers relentless kicks and spiralling acid squelches peppered with chilling vocal samples and frazzled fx that pulsates strikingly throughout until ‘Acid B’ rounds off proceedings with an effervescent, warehouse techno cut as the electrifying modulations bounce gracefully off the menacing percussion and slashing, 303 tones.

Whitesnake celebrates the blues sound that helped inspire its multi-platinum career on a new collection that features remixed and remastered versions of the group’s best blues-rock songs. The Blues Album is the third and final release in the band’s Red, White and Blues Trilogy, a series of compilations organised by musical themes that began earlier in 2020 with Love Songs (red) and The Rock Album (white). The new compilation delivers a potent mix of hits and deep tracks that originally appeared between 1984 and 2011 on six Whitesnake studio albums and Coverdale’s solo album, Into the Light.

Whitesnake’s singer-songwriter David Coverdale says, the music reflects how blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the three Kings (Albert, B.B. and Freddie) continue to inspire him. In the album’s liner notes, he writes: “It’s hard to find the words to show how profoundly they connected with my soul. But ‘blues’ to me is a beautiful word that describes emotional expression… feelings, be it feelings of sadness, loneliness, emptiness… but, also those that express great joy, celebration and dance, sexiness and love!!!”

The Blues Album showcases two of the band’s biggest songs: “Slow An’ Easy,” a big hit in 1984 from Whitesnake’s massive album Slide It In, and the smash “Give Me All Your Love” from the band’s 1987 self-titled globally successful album. Other choice tracks from Whitesnake are also featured: “Looking For Love” and “Crying In The Rain,” and “Steal Your Heart Away.” The collection also includes “If You Want Me,” a studio recording released in 2006 as a bonus track on the live album, Live…in the Shadows of the Blues. Coverdale also taps his 2000 solo album, Into the Light, for “The River Song.”

Old Dark House: Suspenseful cinematic ambience and subliminal rhythmic sorcery by Andrew Crawshaw and Corey J. Brewer. Andrew Crawshaw (aka Meridian Arc) and Corey J. Brewer have come together to make music as Old Dark House. This is great news, as these Seattle musicians have proved themselves to be masters of suspenseful cinematic ambience and subliminal rhythmic sorcery. Crawshaw has hosted the Depths night at Substation, at which he and other musicians create new soundtracks for cult-classic films. Brewer famously crafted an alternate score for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, which he performed at Northwest Film Forum in 2017. As Old Dark House, the duo have recorded their debut album, Welcome Home, with another excellent film-music head, Erik Blood, mixing. Welcome Home's 11 tracks combine Crawshaw's penchant for expansive yet intimate synthscapes and Brewer's mastery of morose songcraft. The latter's voice pitches somewhere between Nick Cave and Edwyn Collins, adding a lugubrious luster to Old Dark House's midnight-blue atmospheres and tension-building rhythms. "Through the Trees" is perhaps the record's most chilling and dramatic moment. The song at once drifts and stomps ominously, as Brewer sings like an opiated Chris Isaak, haloed by a synth motif of vaguely Eastern-sounding grandeur. _ Dave Segal

‘Stay Sane’ is the hotly-anticipated new album from London based artist Ocean Wisdom out now on his own label Beyond Measure Records.

Widely considered to be one the most technical rappers alive, his first release from the album campaign ‘Drilly Rucksack’ is a stellar offering, showcasing Ocean’s rapid-fire flow as he takes on political themes relevant in Britain today. Speaking on the track Ocean said “‘Drilly Rucksack’ is a fictional tale of a magical rucksack that protects its owner from evil Tories whilst also offering consolation and reassurance to the daughters whose lives they have presumably made miserable.”

Given the name Ocean Wisdom at birth, Ocean grew up immersed in hop-hop and reggae and began beatboxing aged seven. His homelife was what he describes as ‘hectic’, as his mum worked as an emergency foster carer. Years of writing lyrics and practicing followed and his uncompromising work ethic drove him to leave home at 17 and start working on his craft daily, never missing a single day. He used his passion for music as a way of channeling his anger and controlling his mental health, in addition to avoiding the fate of some of his friends. His meticulous attention to detail and hardwork paid off and over the past 5 years has seen Ocean’s meteoric rise lead to a quarter billion streams across all platforms and collaborations with legendary artists including Method Man, Dizzee Rascal, Fatboy Slim, Akala, Roots Manuva, Ghetts and Foreign Beggars.

Famed for his technical abilities, Ocean broke numerous records at a young age, including beating the standing Guinness World Record for most words per minute in a hit song, dethroning Eminem’s "Rap God". He remains one of the few UK rappers that can tour worldwide, headlining arenas across Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and the Middle East. Since then he has gone on to set up his own label to release his music as well as building his own studio and creating a platform for future artist to thrive.

Hunter And The Dog Star is the band’s fifth studio album and their first since 2018’s Rocket—a record that marked a major return for the group following a twelve-year hiatus and was released to widespread critical acclaim. Of the album, Associated Press declared, “a triumphant return…their joy in recording together again is clear on Rocket, a record that touches on a variety of musical styles with ease,” while NPR’s World Café proclaimed, “explosively joyful” and the Austin American Statesman praised, “a beautiful, inspiring, sensational album.” Since forming in Dallas in the mid-1980s, the band has toured extensively across the country and had their music featured in several hit shows including Miami Vice, Girls, Cold Case, Ugly Betty, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, American Dad! and more. Since the release of their 1988 debut, the 2x platinum-certified, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the band has continued to earn their reputation as an unclassifiable, genre-blending force. Returning to Arlyn Studios in Austin, TX to record with producer Kyle Crusham, Brickell and the New Bohemians—Brandon Aly (drums), John Bush (drums, percussion), Brad Houser (bass, synthesizer) and Kenny Withrow (bass, guitars, synthesizer)—once again put forth a collection of diverse musical ideas and styles on Hunter And The Dog Star, as they have continuously done for the past three decades. Reflecting on the album, Brickell shares, “Hunter And The Dog Star is a collection of songs reflecting the mystery of self-expression, loyalty, companionship and love in the darkest sky just before dawn.” In addition to Brickell (vocals, guitars), Crusham (background vocals, mellotron, piano, Rhodes, synthesizer) and the New Bohemians, the album also features Matt Hubbard (background vocals, organ, piano, synthesizer, wurlitzer), Burton Lee (pedal steel) and background vocals from Kelly Micwee and Alice Spencer.

Now available in a limited vinyl edition of 1000 copies, singer Petra Haden excels in this beautiful and unique program of songs penned by the
songwriting team of Zorn and Harris.
Friends for many years, they began working together on The Song Project in 2012, and eight years later this LP presents the full fruits of their collaboration: thirteen Zorn compositions with original lyrics by Jesse Harris. Including selections from a wide variety of Zorn projects (and one original that has never appeared before), the melodies are catchy, the lyrics heartfelt, the grooves deep and the solos profound and exhilarating.
Backed by the amazing Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder and Kenny Wollesen and produced by Jesse Harris, this is a LP that you will listen to again and again.

Distressed of sound and disturbed of subject matter, “Down-Faced Doll” sees the classic indie outfit connect with their dark-sides to deliver a cacophonous alt/folk stomp unlike anything they’ve released before. Based on a chilling true story told through the eyes of a discarded toy, its lyrics like clues, begin to lay evidence to a scene enough to turn anyone’s blood blue.

As vocalist Ian H. says:

“By far the most disturbing song I’ve ever written. Some songs seem to have a strange compelling energy which no one can rightly claim authorship to. They ‘write themselves’ but of course a great deal of working and shaping occurs too… A true story - well the first two verses are. The last two verses are my attempt to imagine “how did it ever get to this”…”
Customised with discomposing Eastern-inspired guitar riffs and clamouring percussive rhythms, “Down-Faced Doll” instils an unshakable feeling of paranoia, pursuit and unsease to match its haunting storyline. “Ewan and Stephen immediately tuned into its unsettling vibrations to create sounds and dark corners as you are unwillingly dragged through the scenario.” Ian adds.

Created & produced by Bradford (Ian Hodgson, Ewan Butler & Stephen Street), “Down-Faced Doll” was mixed by Stephen Street (Blur/New Order/ Kaiser Chiefs) and mastered by John Davies. It is taken from what will be Bradford’s first new studio album in over three decades: ‘Bright Hours’ - set for release early-on in 2021.

Bradford are a revered indie band formed in Blackburn in 1988. Championed by Morrissey, the band earned a cult status with their acclaimed debut album 'Shouting Quietly' in 1990, a record as-produced at the time by Stephen Street. Touring with the likes of Joe Strummer, The Sugarcubes, Morrissey and more, the band burned brightly and brilliantly. Fading away against the neon glow of the Madchester era, the band split in 1991.

Fast forward to 2018 and a re-mastered 30 song collection entitled ‘Thirty Years Of Shouting Quietly’ was released on Turntable Friend Records. The album was re-appraised as a 'lost English classic'. This rekindling of belief slowly re-ignited the magic and chemistry that always existed between the band now Ian H and Ewan Butler and Stephen Street. So much so, that Stephen decided to join forces with them and become a fully fledged member of the band.

With a new look line-up on illuminating form, as a trio Bradford have lovingly crafted a jewel of a new album: ‘Bright Hours’ to be released early in 2021.

Directly following “Like Water”, their latest single “Down-Faced Doll” is a definitive signal that ‘Bright Hours’ will be every bit worth the long wait...

Just before the end of the year 2020, a mere 12 months, after the release of their celebrated record “No Treasure But Hope”, Tindersticks surprised everyone with mentioning a new album to be released in 2021.

Stuart Staples was already nurturing seeds for a different kind of Tindersticks album before lockdown halted their tour in early 2020, singer. If 2019’s “No Treasure but Hope” saw the band rediscovering themselves as a unit, the follow-up reconfigures that unit so that everything familiar about Tindersticks sounds fresh again. “Distractions” is an album of subtle realignments and connections from a restless, intuitive band: rich in texture and atmosphere, it lives between its open spaces and details, always finding new ways to connect with a song.

If it’s an album that resists easy summation, at least one thing is clear: though it isn’t untouched by the lockdown, “Distractions” is not ‘a lockdown album’. As Staples says, “I think the confinement provided an opportunity for something that was already happening. It is definitely a part of the album, but not a reaction to it.”

Peter Green’s genius has its main roots in musical influences from a chidlhood spent in London’s working class East End.

This intense collection features several of his best successes with the 1968-70 Fleetwood Mac — before their move torwards pop stardom – and some interesting

tunes from his tormented solo career throughout the 70s and the 80s.

Culminating at 430m of altitude, mount Aïdour has been looking over the city of Oran for centuries. Legendary tales and myths are born in this place that have been inspiring writers through generations. It is there that the seeds and the roots of this record were planted, inspiring me to tell a story as well. 4 tracks about 4 destinations through a country of splendor. From North to South, East to West, from one century to another.Based on local field recordings associated with modern machines, this is the continuation of the legends started generations ago.

Bab is a member of French collectives 404 and Pardonnez Nous. He's currently making a documentary about Algerian Raï music which led him to visit the country multiple times recently and inspired him to do this dark and haunted EP, reminiscing of Muslimgauze.

Black vinyl pressing of the now sold out RSD 2020 reissue.

The Amorphous Androgynous unite their award winning psychedelic compilation series ‘ A MONSTROUS PSYCHEDELIC BUBBLE ( Exploding In Your Mind ) ‘ with their symphonic new single ‘ We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’ ( taken from the forthcoming album ‘ LISTENING BEYOND THE HEAD CHAKRA ‘ ) to create this latest installment of the Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble series . Featuring a host of luminaries such as Peter Hammill -vocals ( Van Der Graaf Generator ) Paul Weller -piano and guitar and erstwhile members of the SPENCER DAVIS GROUP/ Ian Gillan Band AND SOFT MACHINE on lead guitar and sax among a plethora of other musicians ( including the Chesterfield Philharmonic choir and a full string section ! ) alongside collaboration & remixes with a host of bands ( ATOMIC SIMAO / HIGHER PEAKS / REGAL WORM / COBALT CHAPEL plus others ) to create one helluva progtronic psychedelic trip through the Amorphous Androgynous samplerdelic multiverse.

Following on from a series of singles, 'Runnin' Wild', 'Confliction' and 'Jump The Line', First Word Records is very pleased to present a full-length EP from alt-soul artist Olivier St.Louis, produced by Oddisee - 'M.O.T.H. (Matters Of The Heartless)'

Olivier was born in Washington DC of Haitian and Cameroon heritage, but spent his teens studying in the UK. As a teenager, his CD and tape collection would encompass a wide range of genres, from hip hop and r&b to garage and British alternative rock. A bio-science student, Olivier couldn't suppress his true passion of music. After graduating, he took on a "Jekyll and Hyde" lifestyle; working as a scientist in the day, and a musician at night.

His work as a recording artist eventually lead to his debut release in 2011, 'The Mr. Saint Louis EP', released under the moniker Olivier Daysoul and produced by longtime collaborator and fellow Washingtonian, Oddisee, a revered hip hop producer / artist in his own right. From here on, Olivier began laying down vocals, collaborating and touring with a wide-range of artists over the following years, including Hudson Mohawke, C2C, Laura Mvula and German rockers, AnnenMayKantereit.

After taking a hiatus from feature work, Olivier decided to concentrate on nurturing his own sound. Embracing a newfound love for blues, rock and funk, a series of late night sessions saw him engulfed in new soundscapes, and reverting back to his birth name, Olivier St.Louis. This saw him release two critically-acclaimed EPs with Berlin-based label, Jakarta, and the release of 'The Serious EP' with Bibio on Warp Records.

Following world tours with many of the afore-mentioned, Olivier has been working on all-new material, which is now set to be unleashed upon the world via Worldwide Award-winning London label, First Word Records.

The 'M.O.T.H.' EP begins with the downtempo bump of 'Jump The Line' before the adrenaline-racing rhythm of 'Runnin Wild' steps up the pace. Next is second single 'Confliction'; a considerably moodier affair, with Oddisee on assist on the bars as well as on the boards. The flipside begins on a similar vein as the first with the smoothed-out soul of 'All In Love', before we head into the slightly jazzier tinged 'Quit'. 'Serotonin' follows next with a groove and bassline reminiscent of Sly Stone, before we close out with the feel-good uptempo boogie stepper, 'Steady'. With Oddisee on the boards throughout, this EP exemplifies Olivier's unique take on alternative soul.

Comparisons have already been made to something between D'Angelo and Shuggie Otis - big boots to fill, though easy to believe once you've seen and heard this man do his thing. This EP is essentially a classically-structured selection of soul-funk with a rock edge, and a touch of jazz. Each track is laced with Olivier's sweet harmonies and fuzzed-out guitar licks throughout, and mixed down with a little 2020 boom bap thump. A prime example of Olivier's unique talents and a set of quality contemporary alt-soul.

When asked his thoughts on his artistry, Olivier St. Louis simply states "no punches pulled, no compromises, just me".

'M.O.T.H. (Matters Of The Heartless)' is released via First Word Records in January 2021.

Most listeners only became aware of Billy Preston as a solo artist after he signed to Apple Records in the late 1960s. But he'd been recording for a long time prior to that, dating back to when he was a teenager. This instrumental album for Sam Cooke's SAR label (issued on its sister Derby imprint) was cut in March 1963, when Preston was still going to high school in Los Angeles. The very fact that it's wholly instrumental indicates that it's pretty early in Preston's evolution, and though he does play some piano, it's really on the more uptempo, organ-dominated tunes where he hits the best groove. In truth, these aren't any great shakes even when it comes to soul organ instrumentals, but they have a nice swinging bounce that places them a cut above period background music, though they fall a good ways short of being spellbinding. The slower numbers (including covers of hits by Sam Cooke and Ray Charles) verge on easy listening; in contrast, the more urgent cuts are cookin', with bop, jazz, and gospel influences spicing up the soul/R&B recipe. (allmusic)

Following on from a sell-out first release, Serenity Records returns with a four track double-header from Thoma Bulwer & Anna Wall. In alignment with the label's policy of allowing the artists commissioned to choose a mental-health charity of their choice, 002 dedicates all its proceeds to Centrepoint - an organisation which seeks to combat the ever-growing problem of homelessness. The EP spans across the full spectrum of Techno, with the cuts varying from soft melodic textures, floaty synth work and a B1 that wouldn't stand at all out of place in a peak-time club setting - a nice surprise from this exciting new not-for-profit label...

Ethno-alternative lo-fi absurdism from the mind of London based multi-instrumentalist & Primordial Soup member, Samuel Huxley. Expect everything from Hindu ceremonial music to dark lounge, post-punk & avant-garde, to Kabuki theatre score & world electronica, any number of which can be found within a single track.

The Romance of Baba Loco is the union of wisdom & madness, eastern mysticism & western folly, absurdism to catch you with yer pantaloons down… Bang bang smash to perennial illumination. Cling clang for funk monkeys. The bejewelled vistas beyond, nihilism be gone… The donkey was not ill-tempered after many blows, on the ass, from the stick. He smiled like a gentleman, and kept on clip cloppin’ towards the promised land…

The Romance of Baba Loco is the latest iteration of a recording project by Samuel Huxley that originally made ambient soundscapes for psychotropics (Paradise Dose). In 2017 Samuel was curating infamous venue and scene of a multitude of glories & horrors, The Five Bells in New Cross, SE London. One of his first acts to play was Primordial Soup, at that time a 3 piece absurdist art rock band. They quickly became friends & began performing semi-improv shows as a 5 piece, and later went on to form Primordial Soup Collective who’s main focus was esoteric experimental theatre & film, and rare multidisciplinary exhibitions.

This changing focus of Soup away from sound provoked Samuel to channel his musical compulsions in to his solo project which had by then ventured far away from ambient soundscapes to shrieking Indian and Moroccan oboes over African & Indian tribal rhythms, with the desire to create the raw lo-fi atmospheres of street music. Gradually guitar styles of South East Asia & Latin America were introduced, leading to backing track solo performances & outrageous live improv freakouts with Craig Deporto (ex-Flamingods) & Luke Bell (Ex-Wild Birds of Britain).

Finally two days before the glorious pandemic lock down, Samuel signed to Faith & Industry, which birthed new moniker “The Romance of Baba Loco” and 3 months worth of ceaseless creation. From the Hindu Ceremonial music of the Shehnai & Nadaswaram to post-punk, absurdism & experimental art, The Romance of Baba Loco finally united two seemingly dissonant sides of his personality in a manner he had not previously achieved. The old material was cast off, and these peculiar fruits of imprisonment, can be found on his first release, “Cling Clang For Funk Monkeys”.

‘Pacific Kiss’ is the fourth album from Australian musician David West’s underground pop band, Rat Columns. It was engineered by Griffin Harrison and DW in New York City and Perth, and mixed by Mikey Young in Victoria. ‘Pacific Kiss’ sees Rat Columns plunging headfirst into an azure sea of power pop, rock’n’roll and indie. The tones are bright and optimistic, though fans of confusion and gloom will still find solace in the album’s darker moments, of which there are a few. Rat Columns emerged from San Francisco via Perth, Western Australia in the late 2000’s with the mope ’n’ jangle of their first self-titled cassette release, from which several tracks were drawn for their first vinyl release, a four-song 7” on the San Francisco based indie label, Smartguy Records. From that moment, DW and a constantly evolving troupe of friends and co-conspirators have forged a persistent trail of albums and EP’s on a number of interesting small labels such as RIP Society, Upset The Rhythm, Blackest Ever Black, Syncro-System, Adagio 830 and now the London-based Tough Love Records, who have also released many of David’s eponymous pop records. DW has also found time to play in a number of other interesting outfits, such as Rank/Xerox, Lace Curtain, Liberation, Scythe, Total Control and Burning Sensation over the years. ‘Pacific Kiss’ was primarily recorded in a dingy but comfortable practice space in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The core of the record is DW, bassist Max Schneider-Schumacher, drummer Dylan Stjepovic and keyboard wiz Joey Fishman. Additional fairy dust was sprinkled by Amber Gempton and Raven Mahon (vocals), Jef Brown (saxophone) and Mikey Young, who found time to contribute some off the wall guitar solos during the mixing process. ‘Pacific Kiss’ is a record for those astral voyages into the spheres conducted from bedrooms, kitchens, grassy fields and open car windows.

‘Pacific Kiss’ is the fourth album from Australian musician David West’s underground pop band, Rat Columns. It was engineered by Griffin Harrison and DW in New York City and Perth, and mixed by Mikey Young in Victoria. ‘Pacific Kiss’ sees Rat Columns plunging headfirst into an azure sea of power pop, rock’n’roll and indie. The tones are bright and optimistic, though fans of confusion and gloom will still find solace in the album’s darker moments, of which there are a few. Rat Columns emerged from San Francisco via Perth, Western Australia in the late 2000’s with the mope ’n’ jangle of their first self-titled cassette release, from which several tracks were drawn for their first vinyl release, a four-song 7” on the San Francisco based indie label, Smartguy Records. From that moment, DW and a constantly evolving troupe of friends and co-conspirators have forged a persistent trail of albums and EP’s on a number of interesting small labels such as RIP Society, Upset The Rhythm, Blackest Ever Black, Syncro-System, Adagio 830 and now the London-based Tough Love Records, who have also released many of David’s eponymous pop records. DW has also found time to play in a number of other interesting outfits, such as Rank/Xerox, Lace Curtain, Liberation, Scythe, Total Control and Burning Sensation over the years. ‘Pacific Kiss’ was primarily recorded in a dingy but comfortable practice space in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The core of the record is DW, bassist Max Schneider-Schumacher, drummer Dylan Stjepovic and keyboard wiz Joey Fishman. Additional fairy dust was sprinkled by Amber Gempton and Raven Mahon (vocals), Jef Brown (saxophone) and Mikey Young, who found time to contribute some off the wall guitar solos during the mixing process. ‘Pacific Kiss’ is a record for those astral voyages into the spheres conducted from bedrooms, kitchens, grassy fields and open car windows.

Marika “Politissa” Frantzeskopoulou was a Greek singer from Constantinople, renowned for her precise, fluid and graceful performances and depth of feeling.
Backed by some of the best musicians of the era on lyra, violin, oud, kanonaki and guitar, Marika’s repertoire and techniques drew from Byzantine and Ottoman musical traditions.
She possessed an ability to devastate her audience through her expressions of grief, exile, and tragic love, running the gamut of cafe aman, torch songs, lilting and fragile odes to heartache, heavy Piraeus style rebetika, and ecstatic Near-Eastern climaxes, all with a visceral sense of atmosphere, emotion, and fatalism.
Marika’s voice is complimented beautifully by her backing musicians, creating a pulsing acoustic foundation over which her voice soars with clarity and purpose.

An obscure and deep acoustic jazz-funk LP from 1974, remastered and repressed in an edition of only 300 copies !

“Profile” is the first and only Ken Rhodes LP as a leader. This intimate and rare recording captures an explosive concoction between blues, jazz and a touch of funky swing. Though an acoustic performance, this LP offers overwhelming grooves, breaks as well as introspective moments .
The upbeat and funky titile track “The Profile” forshadows the raw grooves of the session.The composition is driven by Rhode’s very soulful and bluesy improvasitions in a colorful dialogue with Joachim Knauer’s percussive and obsessive bassline which embraces the funky rhymthms of George Greene. However, this raw “in-your-face” formula is beautifully constrated in “Nothing New” and the piano solo “Robyn’s Lullaby” where the trio slows down to play deep, dreamy and hazy tunes.

Biography
Ken Rhodes was born August 14, 1945 in Memphis, USA and grew up in a family of excellent musicians. He attended the American Convervatorium of Music in Chicago, studied classical music and received Bachelors and Masters Degree. At the age of 16 he toured with his own jazzband throughout the eastern states. During this time he wrote classical compositions for symphony orchestras and organ-music. Gerry Mulligan called him for an extended tour. Studying at the University of Cincinnatti he received the Down-Beat Prize in 1970 as “Best Arranger”. In August 1970 he came to Germany and worked four years as writer, arranger and conductor at the theatres in Augsburg and Nürnberg. Besides that he played with wellknown european musicians at the famous “Domicle” club in Munich, he founded his own group and performed in Germany and Austria. Since July 1975 he works as a professional jazzmusician travelling Europe.

Brilliant ISotonic Ci=urves are back with a new EP !

Superb killaz from Outtaspace...

ENJOY !

Nicewon kicks off 2021, with the 'Tribute EP' from Christian James. Five new cuts, long-side a phenomenal remix, from 'Sweet Fruity Brunch'. Thiswon's got some phat-n-driving drums, crunchy hats, warm textures, sweet licks and some proper- all around dusty vibes. Enjoy the sounds on NCWN06!

It is our distinct pleasure to present Penrose, a new imprint poised to usher in a whole new era of soulful sounds.

Founded by Daptone Records' own Bosco Mann after building a new recording studio in his hometown of Riverside, California, Penrose will showcase the most exciting acts emerging on the blossoming SoCal souldies scene today.

For its inaugural release, the label offers up five singles by five exciting new artists: Thee Sacred Souls from San Diego; Jason Joshua from Miami; East L.A. mainstays Thee Sinseers, and The Altons; and Altadena veterans, Los Yesterdays.

It was a solid bet that Skratchorama Records would release a 7” DJ tool specifically crafted for the international portable turntable scene. DJ Chmielix is known as a perfectionist when it comes to music production, turntable music, DJ battles and a rubix cube… he’s as hard on the cut as they come and the Mighty Wicked 7” embodies these vibrations.

The A & B side of this record both include 6 original skipless acapella scratch loops with a variety of laser samples, aaaahhhs and fressshhhhes. Side A has 4 tracks arranged in 100BPM and 2 tracks in 133.33BPM. Side B is all arranged at 83.33 BPM for use at regular speed on a turntable. This offers the ideal track size for a 7” battle record. The tracks are large enough to easily cue the needed loop on the fly, and small enough that the maximum amount of samples can be put on the record… needle dropping made easy! Each side’s tracks are separated by hidden samples which inject creativity into performances using this record. At the end of each side a single rotation of each skipless loop has been arranged twice back to back giving DJ’s two full sample banks to get dirty on the cut with.

The record has a secret theme, but we’ll leave it to you to figure it out!

Pressed on blue vinyl, artwork by Maciej Kwietnicki, and mastered by the legendary D. Perez, you are in for one of 2020’s finest scratch records… it’s time to take it to the next level!!

In February 2018, Roy Ayers performed four sold out shows in Los Angeles as part of the Jazz Is Dead Black History Month series. It wasn"t until 2020 that fans of Ayers discovered that in addition to those shows, the legendary vibraphone player had also recorded an entire album of new material with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

Marc Bolan’s passions included the blues, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, hard rock and disco-soul, and his intent to explore these genres are all visited on this collection of classic album tracks and singles. His influences – Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton/Cream and Bob Dylan are all apparent amongst the material on Shadowhead, but the music here is unique.
Bolan’s creative fire produced a phenomenal catalogue of work: the material on this album was recorded over five
years (1972 – 1976), in seven studios, in five countries.
This record provides insights into Bolan’s creative process whilst keeping the essence of the music in its classic
form. Shadowhead showcases the development of tracks such as Precious Star and Groove A Little, and a track that
made its public debut on the CD release, Blues Jam (Dreamy Lady Session). Other tracks reveal many of the
instruments and sounds from the master tapes to enable the working processes to be more clearly understood.
This release marks the first time that this collection has been issued on vinyl.

a 1. Midnight [master version]
[b] 2. Rapids [working version]
[c] 3. Hang-Ups [master version]
[d] 4. Do You Wanna Dance [master version]
[e] 5. Baby Boomerang [master version]
[f] 6. Truck On (Tyke) [master version]
[g] 7. Blues Jam [Dreamy Lady Session] [jam]
[h] 8. London Boys [master version]
[i] 1. Lady [master version]
[j] 2. Buick Mackane [master version]
[k] 3. Stand By Me [working version]
[l] 4. Precious Star [working version]
[m] 5. Fast Blues (Easy Action) [master version]
[n] 6. Dreamy Lady [master version]
[working version]

Much has changed in the musical life of renowned composer and director John Carpenter since 2016's Lost Themes II. Following the release of that album, he went on his first-ever concert tour, performing material from the Lost Themes albums, as well as music from his classic film scores. He re-recorded many of those classic movie themes for 2017's Anthology album, working alongside son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies. The following year, he was asked to executive produce and compose the music for the new Halloween movie directed by David Gordon Green, which promptly became the highest-grossing installment in the series. Now, he returns with his first album of non-soundtrack music in nearly five years, Lost Themes III: Alive After Death. Underpinning Carpenter's renaissance as a musician has been his collaboration with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. They've composed and performed as a trio throughout this entire run, on studio albums, on soundtracks, and onstage. Here, the trio reaches a new level of creative mind meld. Richly rendered worlds are built in the interplay between Davies's guitar and the dueling synthesizers played by the Carpenters. "We begin with a theme, a bass line, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer," John says of the trio's process. "We then just keep adding on from there. We understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning. We've matured." Whereas the original Lost Themes album came as a pleasant surprise after years of relative silence from Carpenter, the third installment sees him in the midst of a resurgent moment as a cultural force. The 2018 Halloween score gave his music its biggest audience in decades, and the world he releases his new album into is one that has, at long last, given him the credit he deserves as a founding father of modern electronic music.

Much has changed in the musical life of renowned composer and director John Carpenter since 2016's Lost Themes II. Following the release of that album, he went on his first-ever concert tour, performing material from the Lost Themes albums, as well as music from his classic film scores. He re-recorded many of those classic movie themes for 2017's Anthology album, working alongside son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies. The following year, he was asked to executive produce and compose the music for the new Halloween movie directed by David Gordon Green, which promptly became the highest-grossing installment in the series. Now, he returns with his first album of non-soundtrack music in nearly five years, Lost Themes III: Alive After Death. Underpinning Carpenter's renaissance as a musician has been his collaboration with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. They've composed and performed as a trio throughout this entire run, on studio albums, on soundtracks, and onstage. Here, the trio reaches a new level of creative mind meld. Richly rendered worlds are built in the interplay between Davies's guitar and the dueling synthesizers played by the Carpenters. "We begin with a theme, a bass line, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer," John says of the trio's process. "We then just keep adding on from there. We understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning. We've matured." Whereas the original Lost Themes album came as a pleasant surprise after years of relative silence from Carpenter, the third installment sees him in the midst of a resurgent moment as a cultural force. The 2018 Halloween score gave his music its biggest audience in decades, and the world he releases his new album into is one that has, at long last, given him the credit he deserves as a founding father of modern electronic music.

You could think of the collection of tracks here as a library record of sorts, and each track inhabits its own universe. Tropical fits various moods and situations, and it could soundtrack any number of activities at home or on a dancefloor - whether real, imaginary, or hallucinated. Strangely enough, it sounds like it could have been constructed from obscure Italian library breaks, when instead every instrument has been played and panned, several times over, across magnetic tape.

The genesis of many of these tracks began when CV Vision moved to Berlin in 2014. His flat had a small chamber where he could fit a drum set, so he treated the walls with foam, and in true DIY style, dived headfirst into recording these tracks. It was the natural next step on an audio adventure that first began when CV Vision picked up the guitar in his teens, and a couple years later started recording with friends in his home town of Bayreuth. Fast forward ten years and here is his debut - a culmination of practising chops and learning instruments, mastering recording techniques and fine-tuning the CV Vision sound.

It’s a sound that condenses elements of acid rock, psych soul, library funk and new wave oddities into a movie soundtrack for your mind. It’s a journey from ‘60s west coast LSD-drenched excursions to ‘80s synth and post-punk mutations. Tropical is a plunge into another time, another music you can simply swim around in and explore.

Side A opens up with Tropical Tune In, which rides in on a clave and a warm wind, blowing a distinctly herbal aroma and recalling exotica dons like Les Baxter and Martin Denny. Following on with the aural equivalent of a sea breeze through your mind, Spaziergang am Meer blows away the cobwebs and conjures some nice library moments like Stringtronics or F eelings . Next, Ba_c_k(Lava) bounces out of a cold wave post-punk melting pot and crashes through the speakers like a blazed Zebedee, with some sweet eastern synths for added flavour, before the rolling bass licks of Der Böse Schamane take us into another dimension, landing somewhere between a psych rock freak out and a Black Ark dub session. Mr Maze channels the arpeggiators of synth outsiders like Mort Garson and Bruce Haack, creating a glorious interlock of robotic electronics and freakbeat vocals. The side comes to a close with the guitars of Der Strand (außer Rand und Band) letting loose like syrupy springs, and setting a languid mood like the bedroom scene in Bedazzled (1967 version). Side B kicks off with Parallel Universum, which comes through like a woozy krautrock workout, all ducking synths with big chord shifts to create an epic deranged beehive of a soundtrack. Im Land der Ameisen evokes the spirit if not the sound of White Rabbit, when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, before waking up and wandering through the side alleys of Marrakech with the West Coast Pop Art Ensemble and the Electric Prunes, as Ritual (No. 4) blares out the speakers of passing tuk tuks. Ein Wasserfall plumbs the deep synth depths, like Raymond Scott in scuba gear, modular rack strapped to his back delivering oxygen as he swims between connector cables and seaweed forests through a watery underworld. Banana King sounds like a lost soundtrack to Donkey Kong or Mario Cart, if the cart radio was tuned into a synth

documentary hosted by James Pants, while Das Kloster am Berg takes the baton from Brenda Ray and her Naffi cohorts, all dubbed-out niceness and post punk swagger. The LP closes out with Tropical Drop Out, a dreamscape rather than a wake up call, coaxing you deeper into the trek across the desert of your mind.

And that’s Tropical in its essence: capsules from another time, snapshots of another sound, messages from another mind - all in the service of inducing the visions in your head.

written by Max Cole

Grace Ferguson is a Pianist, Composer and Sound Designer based at Eastmint Studios, Melbourne, whose works seek to position the audience in a space conducive to subjective inflections, inarticulate knowledge and felt encounters.

Her debut LP release 'Voler' (out on Music Company) was met critical acclaim and reached number #4 on the Australian Independent Record (AIR) charts. The album now gets a limited vinyl pressing in a custom die cut sleeve.

The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick's 'Song to Song', the pair were immediately taken by the city's bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside. Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city's esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term 'regret pop' to describe the music they made on the 'Years' LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach. Sun June returns with Somewhere, a brand new album, out February 2021. It's a record that feels distinctly more present than its predecessor. In the time since, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it's had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. "We explore a lot of the same themes across it," Colwell says, "but I think there's a lot more love here." Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing. Throughout Somewhere you can hear Sun June blossom into a living-and-breathing five-piece, the album formed from an exploratory track building process which results in a more formidable version of the band we once knew. 'Real Thing' is most indicative of this, a fully collaborative effort which encompasses all of the nuances that come to define the album. "Are you the real thing?" Laura Colwell questions in the song's repeated refrain. "Honey I'm the real thing," she answers back. They've called this one their 'prom' record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. "The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn't done before," the band explains. " Prom isn't all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom,, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss - all the highs and all the lows." It's in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell's voice is mesmerising throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there's still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track 'Bad With Time' sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. "I didn't mean what I said," Colwell sings. "But I wanted you to think I did." Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June's sound, a second record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward from the band that created that debut record, but also one that once again is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.

Alkisah is the new album by Indonesian duo Senyawa. Alkisah is co-released by a multitude of independent record labels from all over the globe each with different packaging and design, with multiple version of remixes by various artists.

Senyawa is an experimental music duo made up of Rully Shabara (extended vocal technique) and Wukir Suryadi (homemade instrument). The music that they create is a combination of extended vocal technique and a homemade instrument. The instrument was handcrafted by master instrument builder Wukir out of one long piece of bamboo, it is a string instrument with guitar pick-ups—it is amplified and processed through several effects pedals but at times is played as an acoustic instrument, percussion and string instrument.

They are located in the ancient city of Jogjakarta, Central Java, Indonesia and their music is a reflection of their traditional Javanese heritage filtered through a framework of contemporary experimental music practices. Senyawa try to push the boundaries of both traditions in an attempt to mix the musics’ of the east and the west to create a new sound.

As a duo they have been performing and playing together extensively for the last 3 years and we have toured Indonesia several times over. Last year they were invited to perform internationally for the first time at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival sharing the stage with many great musicians such as Faust, Yoshida Tatsuya, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine.

DeWolff return with their new album, Wolffpack, released on 5th February 2021 via Mascot Records.

DeWolff, the kaleidoscopic warriors were not long into their 2019 Tascam Tapes European Tour when the Covid19 pandemic broke and they, like so many others, had to turn back and head home. They started working on the new album Wolffpack.

The album kicks off with the first song they finished, the soulful psychedelic funk of "Yes You Do," featuring Ian Peres and longtime friend of the band, Judy Blank. "We wrote it in a Zoom meeting!" Pablo says. "Treasure City Moonchild," struts in with a funky swagger and Piso's trademark swirling Hammond, with Dawn Brothers' Levis Vis providing some Bass juice. "Do Me," includes Theo Lawrence on vocals and is through the eyes of an anti-hero who realizes he isn't worthy of the woman of his dreams, and dates back to 2019 and the Next of Kin live show. "I consider this the best song I ever wrote, so I couldn't stand the idea that it was only used for those Next of Kin shows and then never again! That's why I brought it to DeWolff, but it needed some rearranging," he says. Another song from the Next of Kin sessions was "Sweet Loretta" and features Dawn Brothers' Stefan Wolfs and Darilyn's Diwa Meijman. "Loretta is the protagonist's childhood sweetheart. She has a rich dad, but he's really conservative, and so she can only inherit his money if she marries a man. But she's lesbian. So, the protagonist, who's also out for this old guy's money, suggests they play pretend and marry so they can split the money."

They sweep through disco on "Half Your Love," swamp rock on "Bona Fide" and take on sci-fi and the Old Testament on "RU My Savior." Their tour buddies The Grand East show up on "Roll Up the Rise." Written in the first days of quarantine, it's about the end of the quarantine - told from a future perspective. "Lady J," came after Pablo watched the documentary "13th." "I was quite shaken up by it," he admits. "The lyrics are based on the idea that Lady Justice seems to have a scale that doesn't measure the "weight" of your crime but the tone of your skin. She is supposed to be blindfolded, but the people who act in "her" name aren't blind at all: they discriminate between white and black."

The album ends with the forlorn "Hope Train." Based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead about two slaves in the US during the 19th century, who make a bid for freedom from their Georgia plantation. "I found it really hard to envision the world in which it takes place," he says. The band used a 1970s Fisher-Price Toy cassette recorder in the intro, "We wanted to see if we could somehow approach the sound of those very early country blues recordings, like the ones by Blind Willie Johnson.”

Originally released in November 1982, ‘Sound of Music’ was the second album from ‘Clockwork punks’ the ADICTS. Preceded by the release of the three track “Chinese Takeaway” EP, which also featured “Too Young” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” - both included here as bonus tracks along with their subsequent hits ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Tokyo’ and an unreleased version of Ramones’ classic ‘I wanna be sedated’ - the album was widely praised in the music press of the day with ‘Sounds’ saying “thank Christ for The Adicts. In this often grey and depressing world they entertain us, uplift us and unify us”.

Thirteen slices of punk/Oi! fun that made history, in a luxurious one-time GATEFOLD edition with poster, including liner notes by Mark Brennan and a total of 5 bonus tracks!

Beautiful mix of eastern sounds and western rhythms, with haunting melodies, nice drum breaks and using traditional Arabian instruments alongside organs and drums.

Considered by many to be one of the best live albums of all time, this classic album by The Allman Brothers Band, recorded at the pinnacle of their success, was a huge hit for the band. In 1971 The Allman Brothers Band was already one of the most popular groups in America, but by the time this album hit the streets their brand of Southern rock had become a national obsession. One of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time," it was the band's last with guitar hero Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident later that year. Two 180-gram LPs with two bonus tracks.