Buscar:electric 6
Am 17. Mai begrüßt die Band die Veröffentlichung ihres zweiten vollständigen Albums Under The Crooked Claw über Nuclear Blast Records.
Vollgepackt mit straffen, präzisen Songs, die mit schlagkräftigen Refrains und blitzdurchzogenen Leads geladen sind, bietet jeder der 13 Tracks eine neue Horrorkurzgeschichte, die die perfekte Mischung aus Heavy Metal, Punk und Rock'nRoll oder, wie Waste es nennt, "primitiver Heavy Speed" mischt. Die Band präsentiert die erste Single mit dem Titel "Rite For Exorcism" zusammen mit einem brillant augenzwinkernden Videoclip, der von Norman Cabrera inszeniert, von Maya Kay produziert und von Rob Lucas bei Wolfpack Studios gefilmt wurde. Das Powertrio, vervollständigt durch Schlagzeuger Chris Marshall, zog im Juni 2021 nach Philadelphia, wo Arthur Rizk die Grundtracks für Under The Crooked Claw aufnahm.
Yavé Rust nahm später in Richmond Lead-Gitarren und Gesang auf, um schließlich von Rizk gemischt und von Joel Grind gemastert zu werden.
Die Kunstwerke für das Album wurden von Brandon Holt gezeichnet und von Margaret Rolicki koloriert
NAKID presents the first album in years from Max Loderbauer (Sun Electric) and Tobias Freund’s cult Non Standard Institute. Delving deep into the aether with a double LP - almost an hour and a half in length - featuring ruined, vaporous and engrossing ambient variations on a theme.
Planing axes between iridescent new age ambient, sublime folk and avant-classical, to miasmic drone and plangent shoegaze; ‘A Day or Two’ charts the Non Standard Institute’s first actions in 6 years and serves as a compelling reminder of their intuitive work in abundance. Expanding and contracting their sound across 18 parts, they arc from heaving, oddly-tuned drones to smoggy, surreal soundscapes, bringing a wealth of fine-tuned instincts to the table. With Max Loderbauer’s 35+ years as Berlin ambient pioneer with Sun Electric, jams with Villalobos, and roles in Vladislav Delay Quintet and the Moritz von Oswald Trio, he’s matched by Freund’s 40 years of deep engineering expertise embedded in the experimental industrial and techno trenches.
The melancholy, Satie-laced piano meditations that grounded 2018's '5863' are gone, and the human touch that's been present since their very first collaborations is placed under the microscope, enhanced by their use of the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, a gestural synth that was developed to open up new modes of playing. Loderbauer's experience with the piano helps him make the most of the instrument's touch-sensitive 3D surface, while Freund uses two multi-channel loopers, piping the sounds through his arsenal of pedals.
The 18 tracks are billed as "unplanned atmospheres" that arc from sombre, drone-heavy material to humid, tape-saturated imaginary-island jams such as 'Listening To Cells' and 'Are You One Of Them'. On the latter, the duo work patiently, letting dusted string plucks tumble across each other while warbling pads hum below, bending like flutes. On 'Unlikely Events', anxious didgeridoo-like wails are ruptured by environmental rattles, before ominous voices lead us into a pocket of industrialised resonance. In time, the skies open up and the sounds morph into pastoral song, the drone blurring into hopeful pads almost as lucid and eloquent as AFX's 'SAW Vol. II', with sonorous synths that float over formless strings. Reflective, cinematic arrangements for flute and silvery ambient give way to diffusions of denser, resonant polychromatics and pucker up in outernational, alien ambient impulses recalling Connor Camburn jamming with dirashe folk pipes.
Freedom is deeply rooted in the working-class rock of the 70's and 80's, giving us a sound like no other. With meaningful lyrics, power chords and mighty choruses, they're inevitably creating a soundtrack to the journey of life itself. Nicke Andersson once described Freedom as a "bargain basement Springsteen" - a band making music meant to follow you through thick and thin, far into those never-ending summer nights.
Since Freedom first started in 2019, they've established themselves as an amazing live act, filling clubs throughout Sweden with both energy and audience. In 2022 they were honorably chosen to play at the official release party of The Helicopters at the notorious Hamburger Börs in Stockholm.
The band recently added two new members to the crew: Ola Göransson (Heavy Feather, Stacie Collins) and Matte Gustafsson (In Solitude, Siena Root, Heavy Feather). Their combined experience of heavy roots-rock and sense of stage presence, makes Freedom one of Swedens strongest live bands - guaranteed.
Their self-titled debut album from 2021 became a great topic of conversation, leaving a permanent mark in the rock-world of Sweden. Finally, it's time for the awaited second album to be released - once again produced by Martin "Konie" Ehrencrona (Viagra Boys, Håkan Hellström and Les Big Byrd).
Fucked Up are one of the most prolific hardcore punk bands of our generation. Since their 2001 inception, they’ve challenged listeners with thoughtful artful chaos and a seemingly limitless drive for musical experimentation. Because of this, they’ve also become a record collectors worst nightmare; releasing over 80 recordings and collaborations on countless labels that include Arts & Crafts, Matador, Jade Tree, and more. Fucked Up “Year of the Hare” is the latest installment of their Zodiac themed releases. Over a two year period, it was recorded and constructed at Electrical Audio, Key Club Studios, and Candle Studios. Title track “Year of the Hare” is a 21 minute epic that frantically mixes traditional instrumentation, piano/synths, flutes and sax, experimental editing/soundscapes, and guest vocals from great Isla Craig into one dizzying experience. While B-Side “California Cold” slowly builds and deconstructs over an 8 and a half minute stretch. Organically shifting from jangly melodic-punk anthem into a fuzzed out psychedelic jam session. Eclectically blending musical styles and voices in the most, well, Fucked Up way possible.
- A1: Hifi (True Light) 3:22
- A2: Rainbow 3:15
- A3: Neon Pill 3:21
- A4: Float Into The Sky 3:58
- A5: Metaverse 2:14
- A6: Out Loud 3:20
- B1: Ball And Chain 2:46
- B2: Good Time 3:06
- B3: Shy Eyes 3:12
- B4: Silent Picture 3:45
- B5: Same 2:58
- B6: Over Your Shoulder 3:17
Milky Clear Vinyl[27,52 €]
Die mit dem GRAMMY® Award ausgezeichnete Rockband Cage The Elephant meldet sich mit ihrem kommenden sechsten Studioalbums Neon Pill (17. Mai, RCA Records) zurück. Mit dem neuen Album beschreitet die aus Kentucky stammende sechsköpfige Band - die Brüder Matthew Shultz Gesang und Brad Shultz Gitarre, Daniel Tichenor Bass, Jared Champion Schlagzeug, Nick Bockrath Leadgitarre und Matthan Minster [Gitarre, Keyboards, Backing Vocals] - musikalisches Neuland, wobei sie ihre kompromisslose Kreativität und ihre wilden, kathartischen Performances beibehalten. "Neon Pill", produziert von John Hill, entstand bei Sessions auf der Sonic Ranch in El Paso, im Electric Lady in New York, im Sound Emporium in Nashville, im Echo Mountain in North Carolina und in Hills eigenem Studio in Los Angeles
December 2012 I showed up totally exhausted in Vancouver BC after touring stupidly and relentlessly for however many straight months and got a job at a call centre raising money for the Red Cross. It was a scent free office but one time this woman cooked a piece of fish in the microwave for 10 minutes on low and hot boxed the whole office - we got sent home early no pay. There was the other woman I named the Call Centre Coltrane because her pitch and routine usually involved improvised flights of fancy that went off in both directions at once somehow landing back down with a credit card number and a donation. I used to sleep under the desk. I was there a few months and at the time I reconnected with John Brennan who I had played with briefly in Montreal at the Mutek Festival. In Montreal John was running an experimental music night at a burrito shop downtown called Garbage Night. While in Vancouver I began connecting with the music scene there and would go hang out with the Shearing Pinx lads who I think lived with Sydney the bass player at the time. I knew Nic and Jer from an AIDS Wolf Tour and was so stoked to get to know them both better. I really fell in love with that era of Vancouver's music scene.
Fast Forward to today. 2024
Actually it was the dying days of 2023 but you get it and John asks if I'll sit in with Earth Ball and I keep thinking about Earth Balance, the vegan butter everyone eats here. I brought my aching bones and my ipads on the beautiful ferry named the Queen of Oak Bay and out to Nanaimo BC, home of the nanaimo bar (a dessert treat - special to this region - that seems to be more popularly found under the weird glass sneeze guards in office building deli's out east in Ontario.... anyhoops ). No one in Nanaimo wants to talk to me about the famous treat. I asked a couple of people. Silence. Nanaimo is like London, Ontario but more fried and by the sea. The town is filled with blown out old sea dawgs with tin coffee pots and loose leaf tobacco, then there's the usual streetfolk you find in this part of the Canadian Pacific Northwest and a bunch of bohemians who I guess have left Vancouver behind - that fine city having become uninhabitable for those not making over 100k a year. And then up the way are all the retirees.
Yup Nanaimo is a strange one. They mined the shit out of this region and Nanaimo is surely haunted by those buried in mining shafts or maimed by the heavy machinery or blown up by accident in the explosives store house. And when Earth Ball fire up the amps in Izzy and Jer's basement you can hear the voices of the ghosts hum through electrical lines and out the speakers, Kellen's hued feedback, Izy's sturdy basslines, Jer's paperbag guitar tone and rumble pack zaps, Liam's (aka the Kid) sheets of sound and Brennen's multidirectional drums.
You wouldn't guess Earth Ball was auto-composing and from what my rat brain can tell - the lyrics are improvised too...Improvising lyrics and singing them is the hardest thing to do in all of music.. Izzy and Jer are pros. And their attitudes are pro too.
The live show is scorched and without naming names they've been known to make headliners nervous. Lucky ones will get to see them live as they tour this beast of a record entitled ‘It’s Yours’ (out May 17th on Upset The Rhythm) and I hope I'm one of them.
But now you, fan of fun but totally fucked up music, have the opportunity to Ball with them thanks to Upset The Rhythm. Enjoy
-Alex Moskos, Montreal QC, Feb 2024
Inspired by the Buddhist sutras, Blitzen Trapper’s radiant new album, 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions, offers a captivating take on rebirth and transcendence, navigating its way through the space beyond dreams and reality, beyond gods and mortals, beyond life and death. The songs here are as sincere as they are surreal, rooted in rich character studies and deep reflection, and the production is intoxicating to match, blending lo-fi intimacy and trippy psychedelia into a mesmerizing swirl of analog and electronic sounds. Add it all together and you’ve got a gorgeous collection of stripped-down bedroom folk wrapped in lush layers of synthesizers and washed out electric guitars, a poignant, expansive exploration of perception and purpose that manages to look both forwards and backwards all at once. This LP is pressed on clear blue vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Launched roughly two decades ago in Portland, OR, Blitzen Trapper broke out internationally with 2008’s Furr, which cemented their status at the forefront of the modern indie folk revival. Rolling Stone hailed the band’s “hazy, psychedelic Americana,” while NPR praised their “explosive live performances and infectious roots-rock swagger.” Dates with Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and Dawes followed, as did festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, and Coachella, among others. The band would go on to release six more similarly lauded studio albums, culminating with 2020’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes, which Mojo proclaimed “sounds like the Beatles at Big Pink.”
100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions by Blitzen Trapper, released 17 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Cosmic Backseat Education", "Cheap Fantastical Takedown", "Planetarium", "Long Game" and more.
"Miranda Winters, as the voice of Chicago’s much-loved noisemakers Melkbelly, has spent the past few years happily in her own shadow. While she has quietly written and occasionally released her own music for 15 years, Winters finally steps out into the bright light with the release of Lawn Girl, the debut album under her Mandy moniker.
The album, a combination of older songs and newer creations, feels positively and endearingly alive–like a freeing of pent-up energy, an intimate rebuilding of the self. While Winters recorded and produced a number of the songs herself, she worked with Taylor Hales at Electrical Audio to feed those songs back into the studio, where they were re-recorded with room mics and worked back into the original versions. “I see it like photocopying,” she says of the process. “I’ve always loved working with photocopying and related printing techniques in my visual art because of the way everything decays and falls apart. It was nice to honor that on the record.”
Performed by an all-women band–Linda Sherman (guitar), Lizz Smith (bass) and Wendy Zeldin (drums)–the songs on Lawn Girl suitably find Winters ruminating on the idea of femininity; about her mom (who graces the album cover) and being a mother herself; her female friends; and what it means and what is required to make art and music in a female space intentionally."
- 1: Born To Boogie 2:3
- 2: Easy Action :13
- 3: Country Honey 1:54
- 4: Broken Hearted Blues 2:09
- 5: Rapids 3:02
- 6: Tenement Lady 1:28
- 7: Darling (Mellotron Version) 1:4
- 8: Electric Slim & The Factory Hen 3:17
- 9: Shock Rock 2:38
- 10: Mister Mister 2:48
- 11: The Street & Babe Shadow 2:21
- 12: Highway Knees 2:35
- 13: Mad Donna 2:12
- 14: Free Angel 2:24
- 15: Life Is Strange 2:32
- 16: Left Hand Luke (Piano & Backing Vocals)
All different alternate versions of songs featured on 1973’s Tanx album. • Many appear on vinyl for the first time. • Limited edition of 400 copies on Pink Vinyl with printed inner bags. All royalties go to Light of Love Foundation for the Marc Bolan School of Music & Film
Inspired by the Buddhist sutras, Blitzen Trapper’s radiant new album, 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions, offers a captivating take on rebirth and transcendence, navigating its way through the space beyond dreams and reality, beyond gods and mortals, beyond life and death. The songs here are as sincere as they are surreal, rooted in rich character studies and deep reflection, and the production is intoxicating to match, blending lo-fi intimacy and trippy psychedelia into a mesmerizing swirl of analog and electronic sounds. Add it all together and you’ve got a gorgeous collection of stripped-down bedroom folk wrapped in lush layers of synthesizers and washed out electric guitars, a poignant, expansive exploration of perception and purpose that manages to look both forwards and backwards all at once. This LP is pressed on clear blue vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Launched roughly two decades ago in Portland, OR, Blitzen Trapper broke out internationally with 2008’s Furr, which cemented their status at the forefront of the modern indie folk revival. Rolling Stone hailed the band’s “hazy, psychedelic Americana,” while NPR praised their “explosive live performances and infectious roots-rock swagger.” Dates with Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and Dawes followed, as did festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, and Coachella, among others. The band would go on to release six more similarly lauded studio albums, culminating with 2020’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes, which Mojo proclaimed “sounds like the Beatles at Big Pink.”
100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions by Blitzen Trapper, released 17 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Cosmic Backseat Education", "Cheap Fantastical Takedown", "Planetarium", "Long Game" and more.
By now one of our most cherished and respected portuguese songwriters, Maria Reis has been steadily creating a legacy that will undoubtedly endure in the portuguese songwriting canon for years to come. Co-founder of the Lisbon based Cafetra label- collective, Reis spent her teenage years honing her craft, particularly with her co- leading role on Pega Monstro with her sister Júlia Reis, with albums like 'Alfarroba' and 'Casa de Cima' on Upset !the Rhythm and whose indefinite hiatus since 2018 opened the gateway for a prolific solo venture. After a raw debut EP released in 2017 – Maria -, 2019 saw the release of the celebrated 'Chove na Sala, Água nos Olhos', a definitive statement of Reis' almost casual gift of painting vivid and impressionistic portraits of everyday life, conveying all the anger, resignation and melancholic joy of moving on. Two years later, following a string of widely praised live appearances, Reis records the 'Flor da Urtiga' EP with musical production of Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear, a sweeter affair, crossed by a witty irony that tackles such subjects as family, love and toxic masculinity, through layered acoustic guitars, lightweight percussion and joyful harmonies. 'Benefício da Dúvida' from 2022, strips back most of the production to rely on simple but affirmative arrangements assembled with the help of her sister Júlia and longtime collaborator Leonardo Bindilatti.
And now, almost two years on the clock after 'Benefício da Dúvida', Maria Reis returns with a newfound maturity with 'Suspiro...' - Portuguese for sigh. Created in close collaboration with Tomé Silva - a young and versatile musician and producer who's been recently leaving a mark on the portuguese scene - and recorded in the intimacy of the latter's bedroom, 'Suspiro...' doesn't cut ties with that recent past but reflects the learning process embedded in previous ventures in its lyrics and arrangements, towards song's eternity. A projection of different emotional states and physical spaces throughout these years, 'Suspiro...' carries in the apparent simplicity of its title the plurality of meanings found in such a natural act, from anger to being in love, from resignation to resilience. Life in a sigh? We've been further from that.
An attentive and sensitive observer of both intimate and surrounding spaces, Maria Reis continues to explore wordplay in her very personal manner, a poetic act as brutally honest as filled with imagery allusions, enchanting the mundane with lyricism. Touched by a resigned and dreamy melancholy, 'Suspiro...' settles, for the most part, on electric and acoustic guitar lines, simple but expressive rhythms, floating vocal harmonies and a voice almost tangible in the way it conveys memorable hooks without fear of appearing both fragile and tenacious. 'Amor Serpente's low key tragedy turned mantra for life, the blissed pop of 'Estagnação' or 'T-shirt', 'Holofote's flailing rawness, the mesmerizing sparkle of 'Pico', 'Meta Data's electrified energy or the playful keyboards and sound effects of 'Coisas do Passado' composing a lively portrait of reality and expectations where we can all see ourselves reflected in. For Maria, almost a second nature, that through all her honesty, know how and imagination, reaches a new life with 'Suspiro...'.
Die mit dem GRAMMY® Award ausgezeichnete Rockband Cage The Elephant meldet sich mit ihrem kommenden sechsten Studioalbums Neon Pill (17. Mai, RCA Records) zurück. Mit dem neuen Album beschreitet die aus Kentucky stammende sechsköpfige Band - die Brüder Matthew Shultz Gesang und Brad Shultz Gitarre, Daniel Tichenor Bass, Jared Champion Schlagzeug, Nick Bockrath Leadgitarre und Matthan Minster Gitarre, Keyboards, Backing Vocals - musikalisches Neuland, wobei sie ihre kompromisslose Kreativität und ihre wilden, kathartischen Performances beibehalten. "Neon Pill", produziert von John Hill, entstand bei Sessions auf der Sonic Ranch in El Paso, im Electric Lady in New York, im Sound Emporium in Nashville, im Echo Mountain in North Carolina und in Hills eigenem Studio in Los Angeles
The legend continues. The pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album, Strepitus Rhythmicus, of machine-like and futuristic post-industrial music. The new album includes 9 tracks on a limited-edition vinyl LP and 11 tracks on the CD digipack version. After recording an album of the amazing new project ASA together with Uwe Schmidt/ATOM TM (Raster 2023), the pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album. Electric pulse of mechanical rhythms, hidden voices, and factory noises. E.G. reinvent themselves again and again without losing their unique essence. Based now in Islamabad and Rome, Arturo Lanz & Saverio Evangelista have not stopped their live performances all over the world in the last years with great success. Born in 1980 as a trio, and currently a duo formed by Arturo Lanz (founding member) and Saverio Evangelista (member since 1991), Esplendor Geométrico is an influential and international electronic cult band and also a rare case in the Spanish music scene, as they have developed their own independent path aside from tags, fashion or trends, in spite of being often classified as industrial music. Their career during this four decades hasn't had interruptions. They haven't stopped composing, releasing albums or playing live (with more intensity since the nineties), and they have continued for the simple pleasure of making music. Esplendor Geométrico has achieved a personal and distinct style that can be appreciated from their 80's albums, when they used analog synthesizers and primitive electronic percussion, to the present time with new digital tools. Their influence has marked many later artists, usually classified in the so-called industrial music or rhythm & noise, as well as artists from current techno and certain types of experimental noise music.
- A1: The Urinals - I'm A Bug (1.11)
- A2: The Normals - Almost Ready (2.20)
- A3: The Angry Samoans - Right Side Of My Mind (2.08)
- A4: Nervous Eaters - Just Head (1.59)
- A5: The Nubs - Job (1.48)
- A6: The Controllers - Neutron Bomb (2.05)
- A7: Electric Eels - Agitated (2.10)
- B1: The Randoms - Let's Get Rid Of New York (2.43)
- B2: The Bizarros - Ice Age (5.03)
- B3: Iggy Pop And The Stooges - Gimme Some Skin (2.44)
- B4: Tuxedomoon - Joeboy The Electronic Ghost (2.58)
- C1: X_X - You're Full Of Shit (2.02)
- C2: Flamin' Groovies - Dog Meat (4.04)
- C3: The Deadbeats - Kill The Hippies (2.04)
- C4: Theoretical Girls - U.s. Millie (3.03)
- C5: The Skunks - Earthquake Shake (2.48)
- D1: Crash Course In Science - Cakes In The Home (1.31)
- D2: The Pagans - Not Now No Way (2.44)
- D3: Pastiche - Flash Of The Moment (3.54)
- D4: The Lewd - Kill Yourself (2.07)
- D5: The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks (2.55)
Soul Jazz Records’ new 10th anniversary one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition orange coloured vinyl pressing (+ download code) exclusively for Record Store Day 2024 of their long out of print Punk 45: Kill the Hippies! Kill Yourself! Soul Jazz Records’ debut Punk 45 album charts the rise of underground punk across the United States of America in the years 1973-1980. This album is fully remastered, relicensed with new tracks exclusively for RSD 24 and includes new tracks from Iggy & The Stooges, Nervous Eaters, The Angry Samoans and more!
The Punk 45 album features a collection of seminal, classic, obscure and rare punk and proto-punk 45 singles from the likes of Electric Eels, The Pagans, The Deadbeats, The Randoms, The Lewd and many more - a lightning-rod journey across the states of America - Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Akron, New Orleans, Philadelphia – tracing the rise of punk music in these various towns and cities. The album comes complete with extensive text, biographies on each of the bands, exclusive photos and original record artwork.
repress !
Following acclaimed singles from Powell, Blood Music, Shit & Shine and Prostitutes, the next release from Diagonal is a landmark. It marks both the London label's first full-length album release, and the return of abrasive and furiously funky hip-hop deconstructionists Death Comet Crew, one of the most quietly influential underground acts to emerge from the creative melting pot of 1980s New York.
Ghost Among The Crew documents the group's return to studio operations for the first time since the 80s, as well as their first ever full-length studio album. It's a remarkable trip: a consolidation of their early feral disassemblies of hip-hop and electro, but also broader in scope, chewing up and spitting out fragments of soul, jazz fusion, punk and industrial music.
Death Comet Crew were founded in New York City in 1983 by Stuart Argabright, a founder member of post-punk/industrial mavericks Ike Yard and the mind behind Dominatrix and later Black Rain. Their sound, then as now, was a singular proposition: urban in mood, exploratory, often compellingly danceable, yet confrontational. It emerged from the interweaving talents of the group's varied members: guitarist Michael Diekmann (of Ike Yard), bassist Shinichi Shimokawa (later of Black Rain) and Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest, frequently joined by the late, great hip hop artist and graffiti writer Rammellzee. Having recorded two studio EPs - 1985's At The Marble Bar (featuring Rammellzee) and its follow-up Mystic Eyes - the group disbanded barely a year after forming. They left behind a reputation for their incendiary live performances, several recordings from which were gathered on crucial 2004 compilation This Is Riphop.
The musical climate that first birthed Death Comet Crew was one of fertile cross-pollination of styles. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the seeds of modern day urban musics - hip hop, punk and post-punk, no wave - were taking root in the streets of recession-struck New York City. Argabright recalls dancing at the downtown Mudd Club around 1980 to a bold mixture of styles, with DJs cutting from synth-pop and post-punk to funk, soul and early hip-hop: Bowie and James Brown next to Run DMC, Ultravox and Gary Numan. Indeed, the names of his New York contemporaries operating around the same time - the likes of Liquid Liquid, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Russell, ESG, Swans, Sonic Youth, Bill Laswell and more - have since been inscribed in modern music history.
With previous projects Dominatrix and Ike Yard having recently become inactive, in 1984 Argabright formed Death Comet Crew as a means of exploring new sonic avenues. He'd been experimenting with tape, recording and procesing the sounds of his surrounding environment and dialogue from films and TV. Joined by Shimokawa, Diekmann and Taylor, and using drum machines, turntables, spidery guitar and bass, the group assembled a scrambled collage of rhythms and sampled voices. Their live performances were, in Argabright's words, "aurally violent, sharp-edged, downright lacerating", hacking gleefully away at hip hop and electro's rhythmic frameworks. Rammellzee joined the group to vocal 1985 debut EP At The Marble Bar; his MC turn on highlight 'Exterior Street' is all the more remarkable for having been entirely freestyled in the studio. When Death Comet Crew reformed in 2003 for a string of live shows, he continued as an active member of the group, touring and working with them during the recording of Ghost Among The Crew, until he sadly passed away in 2010.
After reforming, Death Comet Crew began writing and recording new material. Now, following on from their just-released Galacticoast 12" through Citinite, Ghost Among The Crew - its title a homage to Rammellzee - hones the group's abrasive early experimentations while tripping into bold and astrally minded new territory. Alongside the core quartet of Argabright, Diekmann, Shimokawa and Taylor are new voices, including Rapscallion (a friend of Rammellzee's), Jessica 6/Hercules & Love Affair singer Nomi Ruiz, and Carolyn 'Honeychild' Coleman. Its eight tracks are steeped in the impulsive spirit of electric Miles and the deep space romances of Sun Ra, and possessed of an enigmatic yet undeniable pop edge. But equally they're pricked with urban paranoia and dread, traits that have long been hallmarks of Argabright's musical projects.
'Me Czar Of The Magyars' opens the album in a twist of tension like the turning of a ratchet. Its taut electroid shudder is paired with machine gunned cymbal hits and a voice telling of "wormwood and opium dens" - the sound of being teleported from everyday city streets into the astral plane, where every sensory input is heightened and the promise of danger or pleasure lurks unseen around every corner. Later, Coleman's lyrics pay tribute to Rammellzee on the sci-fi funk of 'Deep Space Woman'. 'Let The Clubs Ring' melts lounge bar organs and frazzled guitar into freakishly unstable shapes, while 'Drag Racing' matches its title, rocketing along frantically atop clattering drums. 'Moons On Titan's Seas' is halfway interlude pause for rest, like an exotic cocktail in a bar orbiting some as-yet-undiscovered new world. These varied strands are somehow all summarised in album closer 'Ignition Spark', which sets Ruiz's vocals alongside Taylor's and Argabright's. The zone the trio inhabit in this final track exists in perpetual push-pull between contemplation, memory, intrigue and violence, a decisive opening of a new chapter in Death Comet Crew's history.
As with all Diagonal releases, the initial vinyl pressing will be packaged in unique, specially designed artwork.
Fünf Jahre nach Jessica Pratt's 2019 erschienenen Durchbruch-Album "Quiet Signs", taucht sie mit neuen Ambitionen und neuen Parametern für ihre Musik wieder auf. Für ihr neues, viertes Album "Here in the Pitch" arbeitete sie erneut in Gary's Electric Studio in Brooklyn und mit ihrem bewährten Team: Multi-Instrumentalist/Engineer Al Carlson und Keyboarder Matt McDermott.
Zusätzlich holte sie sich das Rhythmus-Duo Spencer Zahn und Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace) an die Seite, weitere Beiträge auf dem Album kommen von Ryley Walker, Peter Mudge (Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar) und Alex Goldberg. Die Musik ist intim und emotional, wie es die Fans erwarten und die Texte sind ein impressionistischer Lobgesang auf die Unwägbarkeiten des Ehrgeizes. In den letzten 12 Jahren hat sich die verehrte Künstlerin aus Los Angeles zu einer der einzigartigsten Songwriterinnen ihrer Generation entwickelt. Vor allem durch die mystische, schwer fassbare Mischung aus ihrer zarten Akustikgitarre und ihrem atemberaubenden Gesang. Für "Here in the Pitch" schwebte Jessica Pratt eine größere Bandbreite an Einflüssen vor - große Panoramaklänge, die an den Ozean und Kalifornien denken lassen - und in diesen neun Songs werden Pauken, Glockenspiel, Baritonsaxophon und Flöte mit robusten Gesangsarrangements überlagert, die eine triumphale Stimmung erzeugen, selbst wenn die Texte auf Verwüstung hindeuten. Diese breitere Produktionspalette wird sofort beim eindringlichen Album-Opener und der ersten Single "Life Is" deutlich. Ein Schlagzeugwirbel erinnert an den großen, orchestralen Stil von 60er-Jahre-Pop-Hits wie "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" von den Walker Brothers.
- A1: Pacho Galán Y Su Orquesta - Funeral Del Labrador
- B1: Orquesta José Ramón Herrera - Cumbia Sabanera
- C1: Super Combo Los Platinos - La Reina Y La Cumbia
- D1: Cuarteto Del Mónaco - Cumbia Gua Gua
- E1: Andrés Landero Y Su Conjunto - El Nacimiento De La Cumbia
- F1: Andrés Landero Y Su Conjunto - Sabor De Gaita
With this new three 45 set, the second in our "Cumbia Sabrosa" series, Rocafort digs deep into the vaults of Discos Tropical to bring you six more vintage cumbia sound system bangers. Each 45 showcases a different type of flavor with the emphasis on big band brass (Pacho Galán, José Ramón Herrera), electric guitar (Super Combo Los Platinos, Cuarteto Del Mónaco), and accordion (Andrés Landero). Like its larger rivals Discos Fuentes and Sonolux, Tropical was one of the most influential in the development of cumbia as an important genre not only in its home country of Colombia, but also in Mexico (and beyond), participating in a cross-cultural exchange that would spawn Mexico's own domestic musical artists, sonidero DJs and sound systems, record collectors and a dance scene devoted to tropical music with Colombian roots.
Where stars drench the sky in hues of infinity, amidst the chaotic waves of supernovas, Sleem Gleam emerges from the abyss to debut a fusion of electronic rhythms and reverberated riffs that crash against the shores of reality.
Riding on a hot acid groove and descending into an electric whirlpool, “Lava Barrels at High Tide” is a stripped-back oceanside bop that epitomizes the swell. Up next, “Totally Pitted” hits maximum wetness with an iconic bass line and blazing flanged-out hats guaranteed to jostle a noggin.
On the flip side, the upbeat electro jam “Cosmic Rip Current” presents a hazard to beach-goers in the form of a thick and psychedelic stellar blip-swirl. Lobotomy Party sends it home at high speed with twacked-out vocal samples and surreal pulsating bass.
Sleem Gleam is the new surf-inspired alias of Minneapolis-based Kajunga co-founder Ry Johnson, aka Ryote. He has been making and releasing electronic music since 2007 and DJing since 2011.
Nachpressung 2024 - Cold Day In Hell Edition, blau-schwarzes Vinyl mit Mamor-Effekt! Songs for Satan ist ein ikonoklastischer Meilenstein, der die Erde zum Beben bringt und unsere bildlichen Fundamente erschüttert - ein fuzz-getränkter Knall verstärkter Ketzerei!Songs for Satan ist ein Moment der kritischen Masse für DOPELORD aus Warschau, Polen. Ein Hauch von Teufelsanbetung in den Riffing-Gefilden ist nichts Neues, und obwohl sie nicht die erste Band sind, die sich offen zu diesem Motiv bekennt, ist ihre verstärkte Ketzerei einzigartig triumphal, ihre von Fuzz durchtränkte Apostasie echt und glorreich. Songs for Satan zeigt, dass die Band die schwerfällige Schwerfälligkeit und die silbernen Hooks gleichermaßen beherrscht und die jahrzehntelange Unterdrückung des polnischen Katholizismus als lyrischen Treibstoff nutzt. Tracks wie "Satan's Call", "The Chosen One", "One Billion Skulls" und "Worms" widersetzen sich der kulturellen Vorherrschaft der Kirche und schaffen es gleichzeitig, ansteckend singbar zu sein. Songs for Satan, das an Electric Wizard, Windhand, Beelzebong und Acid King erinnert, ist DOPELORDs Höhepunkt, ein ikonoklastischer Meilenstein, der die Erde erschüttert und unsere bildlichen Grundlagen erschüttert. DOPELORD ist das Pendant zu ELECTRIC WIZARD und bietet massiven, mitreißenden Stoner Doom für Fans von ACID KING, MONOLORD und BONGZILLA.
The title of the Lau Nau's 10th album, Aphrilis, derives from the Latin word aperire, meaning "to open." A fitting verb for the month of the year it is closely associated with — April. And while the images of plants and blossoms coming back to colorful life after a long, cold winter feels appropriate when listening to the rich and lustrous bloom of music on Aphrilis, another definition of open feels even more apt. For under the abundance lies the memory of times of austerity, the friction of hard choices, the acceptance that nothing is fixed and the future is unknown. This literal and metaphorical exploration of complexity and contradiction makes Aphrilis a multi-dimensional antidote for our troubled times, one that emphasizes the quiet and communal over noise and spectacle. Laura Naukkarinen, the Finnish artist behind this project, has long kept her mind and spirit open to whatever sounds and creative ideas felt appropriate for the moment. For the past six years that has meant primarily working with modular synthesis — learning how to build modules and releasing acclaimed work centered on its sounds like 5x4 (2023) or Puutarhassa (2022). Running parallel to this work, however, has been a continued exploration of acoustic instruments and group performances with her trio Lau Nau ja Seitsemäs Taivas. Aphrilis arrives then like fresh growth in a creative season cycle. A companion to her brilliant 2017 release Poseidon, the album, says Naukkarinen, "felt like a needed moment to embrace songs with lyrics again." And through the creation of this work, she remained open not only to her own creative muse, but also the input of her chosen collaborators. Each player on Aphrilis — Matti Bye on celesta and synths, Pekko Käppi on jouhikko, Hermanni Yli-Tepsa on violin and contrabass, Topias Tiheäsalo on electric guitar, Samuli Kosminen (Múm) on various instruments — was given free reign to arrange their own parts to accompany Naukkarinen's compositions. Kosminen’s lush fingerprint can also be heard in the mixing and production of the album, as with Poseidon six years ago. The moniker of this project may be taken from Naukkarinen’s own name, but Lau Nau feels more like a band than ever before. The delicacy and softness of the music is reflected in Naukkarinen’s lyrics. Each song is rife with imagery and creatures from the natural world. The spiders in the forest. The animals that keep a young woman company in her refuge in the woods. Wet grass. The feeling of the music is almost tactile, as if listening to the album will leave a bit of dew or sap on your fingers. The theme of this material, says Naukkarinen, runs even deeper. “The songs tell about cracks and changes of direction in different histories: personal, societal, planetary,” she says. “About moments when a yes can become a no and vice versa. The album wants to propose that at the moment of a crisis there is a possibility to influence the histories by our choices.” That may feel like a lot for such a fragile sounding collection of songs to bear. But Aphrilis is an album of surprising strength and resilience
Our 20th celebration year continues with a very special comeback! It’s exactly ten years now since the last Ben La Desh release on our label, his sublime “Stellar Talk EP” hit big waves and together with the “Midnight Rendez-Vous EP” from 2012 he cemented himself in the lo-fi deep space house scene as an artist to look out for, no one produced deep house like he did back then. After a longer break from releasing music he is back and we think stronger as ever, with analogue gear and well curated sampling and live field recording we present you his “Fine Rise EP”.
The opener “Heel Goed” is an amazing track with that distinctive 909 beat and DX bass driven “La Desh” flavour and a truly wonderful vocal sample from a 90s TV commercial, hilariously funny and brilliant at the same time! We can’t wait to see the faces of people, especially on the Dutch dancefloors, when they try to figure out and discover what the ladies are talking about! Second A side track is the super funky “Lift Adrift” that flanges itself to outer space, etherical with chopped break beats and various percussive and rhythmic Pearl Syncussion layers running through effect pedals, Lift Adrift!
On the other side we start out with the deep title track “Fine Rise”. Here Ben treats us again to his trademark spaced out effects driven sound and on top a killer bass line and synth lead melody, reminiscent of the golden age of (good) trance music. Followed by the break beat gem that is “Asanti”, cautiously cut up breaks and layered machine drums with bubbly Syncussion sounds, rain drops falling down on different surfaces recorded in a garden in the French Drôme and processed African Kalimba. Did we already say Etherical? It is!
Closing out this great new record is the ambient piece “Expanding Signal”, an analogue tune that consists of field recordings and deep dubby chords, a building Juno pulse, swooshes and again a profound DX bassline, think of “Sun Electric” or “The Orb”.
Enjoy this one and play it loud on the dance floors or silently in your bedroom, it works everywhere as far as we are concerned!
All tracks mastered by Salz Mastering in Cologne. Photography & Art by Break 3000.
Lapell's deft lyrics jostle with love song tropes, grappling with love's finitude and the irony of how codependency and longing are revered in popular music. A ghost story is woven through the album: waltzing in the dusty barroom country of "Blue Blaze," buried in the superstitious lyrical streak of "Rattlesnake" and audible in a wheezing organ as it shuts down at the end of "Footsteps."
Still, "Anniversary" emerges as an earnest celebration of commitment. Earworms like "Anniversary Song" and "Someone Like You" showcase intricately layered harmonies, while closer "Stars" affirms that there's no place the speaker would rather be than with the one she loves. Dekker and Lapell assembled a stellar cast of musicians to support Lapell's powerhouse vocals, piano, harmonica and signature fingerstyle guitar.
The core band includes Dan Fortin on bass, Jake Oelrichs on drums, and Tania Gill on the church's piano, harpsichord and organ. Rounding out the ensemble's sensitive orchestral arrangements are Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet), Rachael Cardiello (viola), Michael Davidson (marimba and vibraphone) and Joe Lapinsky (pedal steel), who also engineered and mixed the record. Abigail Lapell has garnered three Canadian Folk Music Awards, hit number one on Canadian folk radio and reached a staggering 40 million + streams across digital services. She has toured widely across Canada and the U.S, and will be touring internationally (UK, EU, AUS and more) in 2024.
"Named for the band’s third lease on life, Third Wind finds Gulfer at a unique moment in their ten-plus year career. When they started in 2011, Gulfer played scrappy, complex math rock influenced by the emo revival. But in 2024 they’ve emerged almost unrecognizable, while still retaining the spirit of what made them all fall in love with Gulfer in the first place.
Third Wind’s stylistic turns are emphasized by deeper texture and simpler songwriting, influenced by the reemergence of 90s alternative and shoegaze. With a new emphasis on atmosphere and more straightforward composition, Gulfer give themselves space to explore audaciously.
Album opener “Clean” gets as close to pop as the band has ever been, where “No Brainer” dabbles deftly in downer rock that asks “what even is my fucking place in the world? "Bold juxtapositions feature elsewhere on Third Wind: pop-punk bruiser “Too Slow” stops on a dime before evolving into a slow burning drum n bass passage, all within two minutes. And then there’s “Heartshape”, a downright love song shrouded in virtuosic performance and electric-acoustic counterpoint. Although these contrasts could be construed as aimless fiddling, their seamlessness is the true essence of Third Wind, indicative of a sage band with a renewed love for what they do."
Das dritte Album der britischen Jazz-Formation Emperor's New Clothes wurde 1996 von Trevor Jackson produziert, aber von Acid Jazz Records abgelehnt. Es blieb jahrezehntelang ungehört und erscheint jetzt, nach der Einigung alle Parteien, erstmals als Tonträger. SURREAL ESTATE, ein herrlich verdrehter Mix aus Jazz, Post-Rock, Dub, No Wave, Noise und abstrakten Beats, gespielt von einer fünfköpfigen Live-Band, klingt heute ebenso seltsam relevant, wie es 1996 seiner Zeit weit voraus war. Streng limitierte 180g Vinyl-Auflage im Gatefold, deren Gewinne an die Organisation mind.org.uk gespendet werden.
Alex Andrikopolous AKA Lex (Athens) released his brilliant debut album Waving in 2022 on Leng and he now returns with an EP combining fine remixes of tracks from Waving alongside two new previously unheard cuts.
The remixes are undeniably special. Fittingly, the EP begins with the first of these, a sensationally sun-soaked revision of one of Andrikopolous’s most Balearic moments – previous single ‘Punta Allen’ – by former Nuphonic fusionists and FAR label founders Faze Action. The Lee brothers’ take is one of those sunset-friendly workouts that wraps glistening guitar licks, steel pan style motifs, Lex’s gorgeous lead lines, hazy electric piano solos and life-affirming keyboard riffs around rolling nu-disco beats and a new rubbery bassline courtesy of Robin Lee himself. It has the feel of a pool-side anthem in the making.
Just as potent is the typically quirky and hard-to-pigeonhole revision of ‘Prezend’ by Manchester maverick Ruf Dug. Here he offers up a genuinely revolutionary rework, re-imaging the track as a sparse-but-colourful fusion of vintage acid house bass, saucer-eyed piano riffs, dubbed-out synth sounds, jacking lo-fi drum machine beats and squelchy TB-303 tweaks. While fresh and undeniably contemporary, the remix has an alluringly nostalgic, retro-futurist vibe.
Clustered around these two top-notch revisions is a pair of previously unreleased Lex originals. He joins forces with regular collaborator Locke once more on ‘Libre De Amor’, an infectious chunk of, low-slung dub disco marked out by weighty bass, jammed-out electric piano motifs, spacey pads, intergalactic effects and mazy synth solos. Dotted with additional percussion hits and echoing female vocal snippets, it’s one of the pair’s most potent dancefloor workouts of recent times.
To round off a rock-solid EP, the Athens-based veteran blurs the boundaries between stripped-back, late-80s house nostalgia and nu-disco. ‘Super Awake’ boasts cowbell-sporting Chicago house beats and acid house inspired bass, on to which he’s layered all manner of colourful synth sounds, jangly piano stabs and spacey electronics. Throw in some typically immersive chords and progressively more psychedelic TB-303 motifs, and you have a genuinely triumphant conclusion to a formidably floor-focused EP.
2024 Repress
Imagine a held-up-in-traffic Wayne Shorter arriving late to a Weather Report studio session and Joe Zawinul, Victor Bailey, and Omar Hakim filling in the time by jamming on a grooving house cut. Had that happened, it might have sounded a little bit like “It Never Stops,” one of two ultra-fresh tracks on Kaidi Tatham's Yore debut. Jazz and house are obviously distinct genres, yet as this irresistible cut makes clear swing is common to both. The other track, the cerebrally titled “One for the Brain,” locates itself closer to house music proper but is no less appealing for doing so.
Given the jazzy vibe of “It Never Stops,” it's fitting that Benji B once deemed Tatham the "Herbie Hancock of the United Kingdom.” Regarded as one of the originators of the Broken Beat sound, the UK-based multi-instrumentalist has worked with many an artist, from Bugz In The Attic and The Herbaliser to DJ Jazzy Jeff, and his session work credits list Slum Village, Amy Winehouse, Soul II Soul, and others. His own discography includes EPs and releases for labels such as 2000 Black, First World Records, Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, Eglo Records, and now, of course, Yore.
“It Never Stops” rolls in on a wave of silky synthesizer textures and percolating precision with a tight, funky groove that instantly pulls you into its velvety world. Triangles, electric bass, and clavinet add collective radiance to the material as the tune struts its way into your psyche. As if to make the jazz connection even more explicit, Tatham works an acoustic piano solo into the cut's second half before shifting focus back to the groove for the coda. “One for the Brain,” by comparison, digs into its chugging house pulse with fervour whilst also sweetening the arrangement with painterly synth flourishes. This one charges with breathless determination and like “It Never Stops” nods in jazz's direction with the inclusion of a freewheeling piano solo. Every minute and second on this strictly limited 12“ release seem's meaningful. No Represses / Limited 200 Copies.
The Space Lady began her odyssey on the streets of San Francisco in the late 70s, playing versions of contemporary pop music an accordion and dressed flamboyantly, transmitting messages of peace and harmony.
Following the theft of her accordion, The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its lead exponents ever since, with the likes of John Maus, Erol Alkan and Kutmah being devotees.
Of her early street sets, only one recording was made, self-released originally on cassette and then transferred to a home-made CD. "The Space Lady's Greatest Hits"(LSSN021) features the best of these recordings - mostly covers but with some originals - pressed on vinyl for the first time and features archival photographs and liner notes from The Space Lady herself. 'Greatest Hits' contains The Space Lady's personal favourites; her haunting take on The Electric Prunes' 'I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night),' a frantic 'Ballroom Blitz' amidst other reconstructed pop music. Included are also 4 originals that easily match for the Pop canon. Following the release of this archive, The Space Lady will be issuing new material and travelling the world to present her message outside the United States for the first time.
In the mid 90s The Space Lady packed away her Casio synth and silenced her distinctive voice, retiring from the streets of San Francisco. Now, more than 30 years after her initial forays on Haight Ashbury, she has surfaced with the first ever official release of her timeless, startling music and, even more remarkably, has re-started her live career. Now in Colorado, The Space Lady continues to spread her message of peace, harmony and love.
VINYL LP: Edition of 500, black Vinyl. Gatfold Poster and printed insert with Download Card.
Clock DVA is one of the pivotal groups of industrial music. Founded more than forty years ago, the instrumental outfit has seen a contemporary partnership of electronic experimentation forged between Adi Newton and Maurizio Martinucci since 2010. It is their source material that proves fertile ground for two remixes, remixes by two heavyweights of electronic music. Atom™ delivers his re-imagining of “De-Konstructor.” A lone string is met by snapping snares as an alluring, yet cold, melody unfolds. Newton’s raspy throaty words rise, a stark prescient poetry countered by angular acid-twisted keys before samples buckle and loop. The second stalwart of electronics drafted in is Scanner for his reframing of “Rayonist Refraction #1.” A ghostly female voice haunts a backdrop of electrical fizz and voluminous cracks of shuddering thunder. Guitar strings tremble in this eerie landscape with a smattering of spoken text bringing solace to this hostile environment. Music for an all to immediate reality.
On a cold December's night, we packed the Paradiso in Amsterdam, ending our tour in glorious fashion. This night felt like a homecoming show, marking my seventh time headlining the "pop temple". The "creme de la crème" line up included one of my oldest friends Marnix. Slider returned on keys for this tour, having been a crucial member of our musical family for years. We brought out the big guns for these shows, having a crazy variety of classic keys on stage. These included an electric grand, clavinet, multiple synths and multiple electric pianos. Needless to say, the stage was pretty full! Willem being the powerhouse he is, raised the bar as usual. An amazing drummer and an amazing singer! Last but not least, returning to Paradiso with Xander felt incredible. Him and I have been doing this even before I descended down to earth and became Jett Rebel. All of us are friends and being on stage with these people is a privilege and a blessing. You'll be able to hear the crowd's excitement in the way we play. My primary goal was to make it feel like you were actually there. I live for this...
Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.
Ice Cream Vinyl
Since the release of their debut studio album Do Hollywood (on 4AD) in 2016, The Lemon Twigs_the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian (27) and Michael D'Addario (25)_have waved the same revivalist torch as Alex Chilton and his Big Star crew, working to prove that archaic music from the `60s and `70s can still be relevant in digital world. Alongside peers like Foxygen and Drugdealer, The Lemon Twigs have explicitly documented a synchronistic blend of contemporary narrative motifs, old-school recording techniques, and flawless, consistent attitudes collaged from various crucial stages of rock 'n' roll. After a whirlwind 2023, the D'Addarios are continuing the momentum of their own evolving vision and voice, distilling a history lesson of baroque and power pop into A Dream Is All We Know (out May 3 on Captured Tracks). Garnering the top-to-bottom critical acclaim the brothers have long deserved, their 2023 LP Everything Harmony was spearheaded by an impressive string of singles, including "Corner Of My Eye" and "Any Time of Day." It was the kind of record that put all of Brian and Michael's talents on display, be it the former's multi-instrumentalist gifts or the latter's boyish, explosive pop-rock charisma and eye for engineering and vocal layering. But A Dream Is All We Know is not the acoustic, nylon string-based project that Everything Harmony was. Instead, it's a return to the form the Lemon Twigs first introduced on Do Hollywood_an electric guitar-centric, anthemic assemblage of, really, everything the band does great. These two companion records are an immediate example of a band capitalizing on their fire-in-the-belly appetite to make tunes that boast ubiquitous chemistry. A Dream Is All We Know is grandiose yet grounded; meticulous, yet wild and glowing. Made with analog precision, the album was finished in the immediate months after the band completed Everything Harmony during a vibrant, prolific period split between three studios on separate coasts. A Dream Is All We Know is a profoundly dense and charged album, rife with string arrangements and a sonic thesis statement that has quaked through phases of glam, conceptualism, baroque, and Mustang-loud, stone-cold rock `n' roll for more than half-a-century. A Dream Is All We Know sounds like it's lived a thousand lives already.
Fünf Jahre nach Jessica Pratt's 2019 erschienenen Durchbruch-Album "Quiet Signs", taucht sie mit neuen Ambitionen und neuen Parametern für ihre Musik wieder auf. Für ihr neues, viertes Album "Here in the Pitch" arbeitete sie erneut in Gary's Electric Studio in Brooklyn und mit ihrem bewährten Team: Multi-Instrumentalist/Engineer Al Carlson und Keyboarder Matt McDermott.
Zusätzlich holte sie sich das Rhythmus-Duo Spencer Zahn und Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace) an die Seite, weitere Beiträge auf dem Album kommen von Ryley Walker, Peter Mudge (Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar) und Alex Goldberg. Die Musik ist intim und emotional, wie es die Fans erwarten und die Texte sind ein impressionistischer Lobgesang auf die Unwägbarkeiten des Ehrgeizes. In den letzten 12 Jahren hat sich die verehrte Künstlerin aus Los Angeles zu einer der einzigartigsten Songwriterinnen ihrer Generation entwickelt. Vor allem durch die mystische, schwer fassbare Mischung aus ihrer zarten Akustikgitarre und ihrem atemberaubenden Gesang. Für "Here in the Pitch" schwebte Jessica Pratt eine größere Bandbreite an Einflüssen vor - große Panoramaklänge, die an den Ozean und Kalifornien denken lassen - und in diesen neun Songs werden Pauken, Glockenspiel, Baritonsaxophon und Flöte mit robusten Gesangsarrangements überlagert, die eine triumphale Stimmung erzeugen, selbst wenn die Texte auf Verwüstung hindeuten. Diese breitere Produktionspalette wird sofort beim eindringlichen Album-Opener und der ersten Single "Life Is" deutlich. Ein Schlagzeugwirbel erinnert an den großen, orchestralen Stil von 60er-Jahre-Pop-Hits wie "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" von den Walker Brothers.
"Pull The Rope", das neue Album von IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE, rückt die von Eno Williams und Max Grunhard geleitete Band in ein neues Licht. Die Hoffnung, die Freude und der Sexappeal ihrer Musik sind geblieben, aber die Verbindung, die sie mit ihrem hochgelobten Album "Electricity" (2022) herstellen wollen, hat den Schauplatz gewechselt, von der sonnigen Beschwingtheit eines sonnenbeschienenen Festivals zu einem schweißgetränkten, nächtelangen Tanzclub. Die Atmosphäre hat sich geändert, aber man hat immer noch die beste Zeit seines Lebens. Williams und Grunhard führen diese Veränderung auf die Zusammenarbeit mit dem in Sheffield ansässigen Produzenten Ross Orton (ARCTIC MONKEYS, M.I.A.) zurück, mit dem sie "Pull The Rope" innerhalb von zwei Wochen aufnahmen. Die Art und Weise, wie die beiden Songs schrieben, änderte sich erheblich - anstatt dass Eno die Texte zu der Musik schrieb, die Max und Co. beim Jammen kreierten, begann Orton damit, dass Eno und Max gemeinsam schrieben, bevor sie die Band hinzufügten. Mit weniger Zeit im Studio und einer neuen Art, über die Entstehung von Songs nachzudenken, gelang es dem Duo, Entscheidungen über den Sound von "Pull The Rope" schneller und instinktiv zu treffen als zuvor. Bei der Verschmelzung ihres Songwriting-Prozesses haben Grunhard und Williams das Kunststück vollbracht, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE zu einer strafferen Band als je zuvor zu machen, die sich von ihrem Kern aus in einer Weise entwickelt, die die elektrisierende Gruppe von Musikern, mit denen sie spielen, hervorhebt. Anstatt mit der gesamten Band im Raum aufzunehmen, wurde "Pull The Rope" von Grunhard, Williams und Orton geformt, Elemente hinzugefügt und während des Prozesses endgültig gestaltet. Die Botschaft ihres fantastischen neuen Albums "Pull The Rope" ist Hoffnung in der Dunkelheit, Glückseligkeit trotz Tristesse. Wieder einmal sind IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE hier, um den Soundtrack für die beste Nacht deines Lebens und die bessere Welt zu liefern.
Third Child album Soul Murder released for the first time on vinyl and digipak. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.
Blood red vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Third Child album Soul Murder released for the first time on vinyl and digipak. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.
- Submerge
- Dead Molly
- Brand New Vein
- Off To One Side
- Bell
- William
- Sad Eyes
- Power Failure
- Orbit
- Fast Piss Blues(Bonus 7")
- I Got The Blues (Bonus 7")
1000 copies worldwide. Deluxe 30th anniversary re-issue of cult Boston band's 1992 debut. Featuring the intense guitar interplay of Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw. Acclaimed by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis, Husker Du's Bob Mould and Kurt Cobain. An awe-inspiring collision of noise via American blues-rock with thunderous rhythms holding together every six-string duel. A cathartic and euphoric hail of noise that's succinctly tailored for maximum effect. An album that defined Zadek and Brokaw's songwriting partnerships as one of the most original bands of the 90s, tirelessly meshing their blues-infected ballads with feedback and epic instrumental breakdowns. "A uniquely sludgy, electric, and strong fusion of sounds and styles, combining extreme angst and commanding power." AllMusic // In addition, the nine original tracks are extended with the 'Fast Piss Blues' single and its flipside, a cover of The Rolling Stones' 'I Got the Blues'. The re-issue package also includes a download link to 'Live At Vermonstress Festival' recorded on the 10th on November 1992. "Like watching someone howl into a rainstorm."" Entertainment Weekly // "A suitably visceral live recording." Record Collector
The Path is the latest album from Belbury Poly (aka Ghost Box records founder Jim Jupp). This time round Jupp has recruited a full band roster to expand his own unique electronica. He is joined by occasional Belbury Poly collaborator Christopher Budd on Bass and Guitar, Jesse Chandler (of Midlake, Mercury Rev & Pneumatic Tubes) on flute, clarinet and keyboards, Max Saidi on drums plus narration from author and poet, Justin Hopper.
Musically it takes as its starting point a particular moment of early 1970s British film soundtracks by the likes of Roy Budd and Roger Webb; a soundworld of easy-going jazz and funky rhythms gently coloured with pastoral strings and flutes. The Path, however, is unmoored from time or place thanks to Hopper’s narrative style, Chandler’s rustic flutes and keys, Budd’s soulful psychedelic guitars and Jupp’s production and electronics. The co-writers were all chosen for their unique abilities and an
intuitive understanding of the ongoing Belbury Poly project. The spoken word elements form a loose, open-ended narrative; very much an album with spoken word rather than a spoken word album.
The Band and Album Recording:
Christopher Budd: Electric Bass, Double Bass, Guitars, Electric Sitar
Jesse Chandler: Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Flute, Clarinet
Justin Hopper: Narration
Jim Jupp: Electric Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Percussion, Sound Effects
Max Saidi: Drums, Percussion
The project came together over two years, beginning with a conversation between Hopper and Jupp during a walk on the Sussex South Downs. Originally, it was to tell the tale of an American academic unravelling while adrift in an alienating English landscape. From the beginning, the pair wanted on a narration integrated lyrically into the piece, rather than dropped on top. The words gradually became more film-noir and open to interpretation; occasionally a little tongue-in-cheek. The final
texts explore a folklore of alienation; the way we impact the landscape and it impacts us.
Belbury Poly:
Jim Jupp has released EPs, singles and seven albums on Ghost Box as Belbury Poly. It’s generally a solo project, but he calls on a floating roster of like-minded musicians to extend the sound beyond studio based electronica. He is also one half of The Belbury Circle along with Cate Brooks (of The Advisory Circle) - occasional collaborators with John Foxx. He has recorded library tracks for KPM, BMG and Lo-Editions. He’s remixed tracks for several artists including Beautify Junkyards,
John Foxx and Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral) and co-written a song with Paul Weller for his 2020 album On Sunset.
Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.
In the dimly lit corners of a nondescript basement party, amidst the cacophony of laughter and clinking glasses, a pulsating beat cuts through the haze of alcohol-induced euphoria. It's a track that none have heard before, yet it feels instantly familiar, echoing the electrifying energy of Underworld's iconic 'Born Slippy'. The song, discovered by accident during a drunken deep-dive into the depths of an online music platform, becomes the unexpected anthem of the night. Titled "Macht over het Stuur", this track is an odyssey of sound, blending relentless techno rhythms with haunting, ethereal vocals that seem to drift in from another world. The opening notes are a siren call, drawing listeners into a whirlpool of synths and beats that mimic the heartbeat of the city at night. It's music that doesn't just want to be heard; it demands to be felt, pulsating through the veins and igniting a fire in the soul. As "Macht over het Stuur" unfolds, it weaves a narrative without words, telling tales of fleeting connections, electric glances, and the raw, unfiltered essence of human emotion. It captures the spirit of those who chase the dawn, those who find beauty in the blur of lights as they speed past on their way to nowhere. The track is a paradox, both a celebration of the present moment and a longing for something just out of reach, a sound that encapsulates the feeling of being utterly lost yet exactly where you're supposed to be. The discovery of "Macht over het Stuur" on that drunken night feels like unearthing a treasure, a secret shared among friends that would soon ripple out to captivate a wider audience. As word of the track spreads, it becomes more than just a song; it's a movement, a collective memory etched into the minds of those who experienced it firsthand. It stands as a testament to the power of music to unite, to transform an ordinary night into something magical, a reminder that sometimes, the most unforgettable moments are those we never see coming.
- A1: Moanin’ At Midnight 2:54
- A2: How Many More Years 2:41
- A3: Smokestack Lightnin’ 3:07
- A4: Baby, How Long 2:53
- 5: No Place To Go (You Gonna Break My Life) 2:4
- A6: All Night Boogie 2:13
- A7: Mama’s Baby 2:08*
- A8: Sittin’ On Top Of The World 2:33*
- A9: I Better Go Now 2:43
- B1: Evil (Is Goin’ On) 2:54
- B2: I’m Leavin’ You 2:57
- B3: Moanin’ For My Baby 2:47
- B4: I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) 2:50
- B5: Forty-Four 2:47
- B6: Somebody In My Home 2:25
- B7: Hidden Charms 2:22*
- B8: Don’t Mess With My Baby 2:38*
- B9: Just Like I Treat You 2:56*
Howlin’ Wolf was the primal force of blues music spun out to its ultimate conclusion. He was an imposing presence, blessed with a thunderous voice and enormous physical strength. Like his friend and rival Muddy Waters, Wolf transformed Mississippi’s archaic country blues into the electric urban blues of Chicago, his adopted home. Presented here is his outstanding debut album for Chess Records, Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) – one of the alltime cornerstones of the genre.
Repress!
‘Hardcore Jollies’ was Funkadelic’s ninth studio album and their debut on Warner Bros Records. Released in October 1976 and dedicated to “the guitar players of the world”, it showed Funkadelic was the heaviest black rock band since Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsies (even featuring Buddy Miles on one track). With lead guitarists Michael Hampton and Eddie Hazel dazzling, the personification of funk Bootsy Collins on bass, Bernie Worrell’s keyboard wizardry and many more, the album was helmed by the genius of George Clinton. Reaching no.12 on the US R&B chart, the album spawned singles ‘Comin’ Round The Mountain’ (US R&B No.54) and ‘Smokey’ (US R&B No.96) and a live remake of 1973’s ‘Cosmic Slop’ from the album of the same name. Recorded during rehearsals for 1976’s P-Funk Earth Tour, this version features a vocal introduction dropped from the 1973 studio cut. Over 45 years since its original release, ‘Hardcore Jollies’ is among Funkadelic and George Clinton’s best-ever albums and remains a masterful example of their creative genius. FUNKADELIC Masterminded by the larger-than-life figure of George Clinton, Funkadelic was a key component of his influential P-Funk empire. Funkadelic’s unique combination of Rock, Psychedelia, R&B & Soul led to the band crossing over to the pop mainstream & gaining a vast international following, becoming one of the most important & influential groups in music. On 6 May 1997, Parliament / Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame by Prince. To commemorate six decades of thrilling & delighting fans, George Clinton returned to the stage in 2022 for a series of concerts. To celebrate, Charly have reissued Funkadelic’s classic four albums ‘Hardcore Jollies’; ‘One Nation Under A Groove’; ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’; & ‘The Electric Spanking Of War Babies’ (originally released by Warner Bros during a golden period for the band between 1976-1981). Each album will be available as deluxe gatefold Digi-Sleeve CDs in PVC wallets + obi-strip & facsimile-edition gatefold LPs on 180-gram black vinyl & limited edition 180-gram coloured vinyl + 1970s-style obi-strip in a protective PVC sleeve. “They played a HUGE role in creating the future of music.” PRINCE
Brainwave Research Center returns with their 3rd Electronic music LP. Their DIY approach to creating music has forged a unique sound that is not experimental music, but music born out of experimentations with analog synthesizers. Feel Free is the third installment of their first four part series and captures the feelings and emotions of a summer season.
The A-side begins with a soundtrack to a daydream; imagining the life of a earthworm. Followed by a teeth-grinding drive through the grime of Brooklyn streets in Interceptor iii. Side A finishes out with that summer euphoria that comes from laying in the grass under the sun through dusk and watching the moon rise.
The B-side begins in a startling manner; an attempt to capture the feeling of falling in your dreams. The music continues down a darker path that reminds us of their second LP, Mosaic, with electronic experiments mixed with acoustic elements. The side concludes with two songs that capture the nostalgic feelings of summer.
Feel Free offers you a glimpse into the musings of everyday life for brainwave research center. Recommended if you like analog / digital synthesizers, sequencers, hand-played melodies, simplistic clock-like rhythms
It’s been over seven years since The Rifles released their previous record, but now the east Londoners are set to return with their new album ‘Love Your Neighbour’ on April 26 which they today preview with the new single ‘The Kids Won’t Stop’. Their previous two albums - ‘Big Life’ and ‘None The Wiser’ - achieved the highest chart positions of their career to date, while their cult-like popularity has continued in the intervening years with countless sold-out London shows at venues including the Roundhouse, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, O2 Kentish Forum, KOKO, Electric Ballroom and Electric Brixton. The triumphant reaction and electrifying energy of those shows inspired The Rifles as they sent about writing ‘Love Your Neighbour’. It’s a record which bursts with the traits that have inspired such devotion amongst fans: songs as gritty as they are anthemic, and full of lyrics which capture broadly relatable experiences and provide evocative snapshots of modern British life. The overriding message of the album is a plea to embrace the power of your local community
- A1: Act Of Innocence 3:03
- A2: Get On My Love 2:55
- A3: The One You Call 2:49
- A4: Lion's Den 3:24
- B1: Parked Car Conversations 3:11
- B2: Last Kiss Last's The Longest 3:07
- B3: Call It Love 2:55
- B4: Tell My Heart 3:01
- C1: Song To Myself 3:07
- C2: Oh My Love 2:57
- C3: On Your Side 2:57
- C4: Gorgeous 2:41
- D1: Best Thing 3:03
- D2: Safely Home 3:13
- D3: Leftover Love 2:57
Die irische Pop-Rockband Picture This kündigt ihr lang erwartetes viertes Studioalbum "Parked Car Conversations" an, das am 26. April 2024 (via Hansa Records, Deutschland) erscheinen wird. "Parked Car Conversations" wird als Picture This' ehrgeizigstes Werk bezeichnet, das bisher veröffentlicht wurde. Das Album besteht aus 15 Tracks, die die Band in den letzten drei Jahren geschrieben hat. Viele von ihnen, wie z.B. "Song To Myself", beleuchten eine emotionale Tiefe, die auf früheren Alben unberührt blieb, und zeigen die Band - insbesondere Texter und Sänger Ryan Hennessy - von ihrer verletzlichsten Seite. Das Album ist ein Einblick in Hennessys persönliche Hürden, die damals unüberwindbar schienen. Die Stärke, solche Situationen zu überwinden, und das daraus resultierende Wachstum stehen im Mittelpunkt von "Parked Car Conversations". "Parked Car Conversations" wird als CD, LP und limitierte Fotobuch Edition erhältlich sein. Letzteres bietet einen ebenso intimen wie einzigartigen Einblick in den Alltag der Band. Vom ersten kleinen Gig bis zur Headline-Show beim Electric Picnic, Irlands größtem Musikevent mit über 70.000 Besuchern. Aber auch durch die Studioaufnahmen und Videodrehs entsteht hier zum ersten Mal ein komplettes Bild der Band und zeigt die Band persönlicher denn je.
If the Chateau Marmont could sing. This would be it. Loren Kramar's voice vibrates with the shameless hum of a room after a celebrity exits Ecstatic aspiration. Doubt. Proximity. Desire. The album "Glovemaker" is about the skins we craft to be seen by the world, and Loren reminds us that we are all in drag. All exposed. No matter what gloves we slip on. "I'm a slut for all my dreams", Loren Kramar sings with Patti Smith brashness, "I'm a whore for them, I've got more of them". Loren's lyrics move like tinsel, shimmering bravely, then just as quickly, curling, fragile under the spotlight. Loren has always been obsessed with fame. Not with famous people, but with the electricity that perverts attention - the crushing desire to be truly seen. And all of Loren, and this obsession, is in this album. He grew up in the Valley, forced to hide his Barbies from his father, so the closet was a gorgeous Spanish ranch house on a gilded cul-de-sac crawling with celebrities. Naturally this gay boy wanted to be a child star so his mother secretly shuttled him to tap and jazz and figure skating lessons. "I've got hands and feet to put in the concrete", Loren croons, in "Hollywood Blvd", a song which clangs with brawny bravado. But "Gay Angels" reminds us that Loren's infatuation with stardom is inextricably linked with his queerness and his own desire to live outside of fear. To be famous is to be out. To be known. To be himself. "Glovemaker has become a kind of code for art making itself. A glove as a covering or mask that follows the contours of the life beneath it. As a song and a symbol, this is an album about studying and tracing a life - and then sharing what's there," Loren says. And his desire to share truth feels urgent. To listen to Loren is to understand there is no choice; the songs must tear through the air right now. This very second. "I see myself tearing and splitting and becoming a trampoline", he belts in "No Man," breaking our hearts right alongside his. Part poet, part theatrical diva, Loren loops together the tragedy of breathing on this planet, because like Eartha Kitt or Cat Stevens, Loren is at his core - an incredible story teller. This whole album is a shrine, a mantle atop a blazing fire of life, spread with the memorabilia of Loren; all of the pain and lust dazzling on unabashed view. This is a songwriter's album. Loren's lyrics are all his, and you feel it with every bright, Maraschino-cherry-like word that falls from his lips. "Like a lover, You scream and I shatter, I hit like a hammer" Loren sings. And we get to feel what Loren feels We live in his brain, riding his genre bending emotions, on a wave of modern pop. And the songs lift, they are anthems of belief, "Hollywood Blvd", "I'm a Slut", "Euphemism", "Gay Angels", are all odes to triumphing over the corroding powers of fear and doubt. And on this ride, Loren's voice is the guard rail, ever eager to stretch and transform, belting, talk-singing, multiplying, keeping us safe. "Glovemaker" slaps and soars. The album is an ecstatic overture to love and loneliness, to dreams and promises, to everything Los Angeles dangles. Buckle up. Loren knows how to craft space, how to move us through darkened bars, strobing arenas, beige carpeted bungalows and yellow lit highways. "How do you like LA?" Loren asks. I hope you love it.
Red Vinyl
If the Chateau Marmont could sing. This would be it. Loren Kramar's voice vibrates with the shameless hum of a room after a celebrity exits Ecstatic aspiration. Doubt. Proximity. Desire. The album "Glovemaker" is about the skins we craft to be seen by the world, and Loren reminds us that we are all in drag. All exposed. No matter what gloves we slip on. "I'm a slut for all my dreams", Loren Kramar sings with Patti Smith brashness, "I'm a whore for them, I've got more of them". Loren's lyrics move like tinsel, shimmering bravely, then just as quickly, curling, fragile under the spotlight. Loren has always been obsessed with fame. Not with famous people, but with the electricity that perverts attention - the crushing desire to be truly seen. And all of Loren, and this obsession, is in this album. He grew up in the Valley, forced to hide his Barbies from his father, so the closet was a gorgeous Spanish ranch house on a gilded cul-de-sac crawling with celebrities. Naturally this gay boy wanted to be a child star so his mother secretly shuttled him to tap and jazz and figure skating lessons. "I've got hands and feet to put in the concrete", Loren croons, in "Hollywood Blvd", a song which clangs with brawny bravado. But "Gay Angels" reminds us that Loren's infatuation with stardom is inextricably linked with his queerness and his own desire to live outside of fear. To be famous is to be out. To be known. To be himself. "Glovemaker has become a kind of code for art making itself. A glove as a covering or mask that follows the contours of the life beneath it. As a song and a symbol, this is an album about studying and tracing a life - and then sharing what's there," Loren says. And his desire to share truth feels urgent. To listen to Loren is to understand there is no choice; the songs must tear through the air right now. This very second. "I see myself tearing and splitting and becoming a trampoline", he belts in "No Man," breaking our hearts right alongside his. Part poet, part theatrical diva, Loren loops together the tragedy of breathing on this planet, because like Eartha Kitt or Cat Stevens, Loren is at his core - an incredible story teller. This whole album is a shrine, a mantle atop a blazing fire of life, spread with the memorabilia of Loren; all of the pain and lust dazzling on unabashed view. This is a songwriter's album. Loren's lyrics are all his, and you feel it with every bright, Maraschino-cherry-like word that falls from his lips. "Like a lover, You scream and I shatter, I hit like a hammer" Loren sings. And we get to feel what Loren feels We live in his brain, riding his genre bending emotions, on a wave of modern pop. And the songs lift, they are anthems of belief, "Hollywood Blvd", "I'm a Slut", "Euphemism", "Gay Angels", are all odes to triumphing over the corroding powers of fear and doubt. And on this ride, Loren's voice is the guard rail, ever eager to stretch and transform, belting, talk-singing, multiplying, keeping us safe. "Glovemaker" slaps and soars. The album is an ecstatic overture to love and loneliness, to dreams and promises, to everything Los Angeles dangles. Buckle up. Loren knows how to craft space, how to move us through darkened bars, strobing arenas, beige carpeted bungalows and yellow lit highways. "How do you like LA?" Loren asks. I hope you love it.
Green Vinyl[22,06 €]
In many ways, the music of Writhing Squares could have only originated in Philadelphia; the city itself a microcosm of creatives, go-getters, freaks & weirdos that have coalesced into a supportive & boundary-pushing crew. Former Purling Hiss bassist Daniel Provenzano & Ecstatic Vision sax-player & vocalist Kevin Nickles' first musical missive was shot forth in 2013 (the self-released CDR "Live In Space") & various singles, split releases, albums (and a double-album) later we arrive at the duo's fourth full-length "Mythology", their third for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records. "Mythology" picks up the pieces left shattered by their previous double-album "Chart For The Solution" and reconnects the broken shards together like Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique for mending broken ceramics, infusing the breaks with powdered gold. The Squares themselves are like mad-scientists, taking the ruined detritus populating junk shops & surplus outlets & constructing their own sonic laboratories in their New Jersey basements to record, mix & tweak "Mythology"s eight tracks. Their new location allowed the band to regroup, reassess & reconstruct their sound from the ground up, shearing away the cosmic excess of 2021's "Chart For The Solution" to a sharper point. Tracks like `Barbarians' & `LEM' are classic Squares; brutal, aggressive, unwavering assault of Motorhead/Stooges-inflected sci-fi punk scree, while others like `Chromatophage's mutant funk & `Cerberus's techno-slink owe a serious debt to electric-era Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock & show that the group has more to offer than bludgeoning you with sonic force. Provenzano's bass & electronics are like a tank rolling across the terrain - a gnarly construct of Hawkwind-ian headiness & `Vincebus Eruptum's snarl - uncaring of what gets in the way. Nickles' brass vacillates between Stooges-influenced sleaze, jazzy no-wave stabs, & cacophonous sonic storms, strafing the listener into oblivion. The duo are joined on "Mythology" by drummer John Schoemaker - who contributed drums to "Chart For The Solution"s epic closing track `Epilogue' - whose percussive pulse adds an organic swing to The Square's sonics, particularly on album closer "The Damned Thing"s cosmic strut. "Mythology" tackles a multitude of themes, from fantastical tales of hellhound `Cerberus' or the comic-inspired "Eternity " to `Chromatophage's colorful/evil yarn about animals that eat colors (or a Magic: The Gathering card) to the true-life influenced `Acid Rain' that deals with the uncertainty of consuming drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. Elsewhere, `Ferrell' is an homage to the late, great Ferrell "Pharaoh" Sanders & `The Damned Thing' by a short horror story penned by Ambrose Bierce about an animal whose coloring is invisible to the naked eye. Writhing Squares are in a transitional phase, mapping out a new sonic mythology for themselves after crossing the event horizon into unknown space. "Mythology" is streaming on most DSPs & released on black vinyl & limited fluorescent green vinyl (while supplies last) on April 26th, 2024.
Black Vinyl[21,22 €]
In many ways, the music of Writhing Squares could have only originated in Philadelphia; the city itself a microcosm of creatives, go-getters, freaks & weirdos that have coalesced into a supportive & boundary-pushing crew. Former Purling Hiss bassist Daniel Provenzano & Ecstatic Vision sax-player & vocalist Kevin Nickles' first musical missive was shot forth in 2013 (the self-released CDR "Live In Space") & various singles, split releases, albums (and a double-album) later we arrive at the duo's fourth full-length "Mythology", their third for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records. "Mythology" picks up the pieces left shattered by their previous double-album "Chart For The Solution" and reconnects the broken shards together like Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique for mending broken ceramics, infusing the breaks with powdered gold. The Squares themselves are like mad-scientists, taking the ruined detritus populating junk shops & surplus outlets & constructing their own sonic laboratories in their New Jersey basements to record, mix & tweak "Mythology"s eight tracks. Their new location allowed the band to regroup, reassess & reconstruct their sound from the ground up, shearing away the cosmic excess of 2021's "Chart For The Solution" to a sharper point. Tracks like `Barbarians' & `LEM' are classic Squares; brutal, aggressive, unwavering assault of Motorhead/Stooges-inflected sci-fi punk scree, while others like `Chromatophage's mutant funk & `Cerberus's techno-slink owe a serious debt to electric-era Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock & show that the group has more to offer than bludgeoning you with sonic force. Provenzano's bass & electronics are like a tank rolling across the terrain - a gnarly construct of Hawkwind-ian headiness & `Vincebus Eruptum's snarl - uncaring of what gets in the way. Nickles' brass vacillates between Stooges-influenced sleaze, jazzy no-wave stabs, & cacophonous sonic storms, strafing the listener into oblivion. The duo are joined on "Mythology" by drummer John Schoemaker - who contributed drums to "Chart For The Solution"s epic closing track `Epilogue' - whose percussive pulse adds an organic swing to The Square's sonics, particularly on album closer "The Damned Thing"s cosmic strut. "Mythology" tackles a multitude of themes, from fantastical tales of hellhound `Cerberus' or the comic-inspired "Eternity " to `Chromatophage's colorful/evil yarn about animals that eat colors (or a Magic: The Gathering card) to the true-life influenced `Acid Rain' that deals with the uncertainty of consuming drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. Elsewhere, `Ferrell' is an homage to the late, great Ferrell "Pharaoh" Sanders & `The Damned Thing' by a short horror story penned by Ambrose Bierce about an animal whose coloring is invisible to the naked eye. Writhing Squares are in a transitional phase, mapping out a new sonic mythology for themselves after crossing the event horizon into unknown space. "Mythology" is streaming on most DSPs & released on black vinyl & limited fluorescent green vinyl (while supplies last) on April 26th, 2024.
Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Mountains Pass, a major new work from Olivia Block. A key player in Chicago’s vibrant experimental music scene since the late 1990s, Block has developed an extensive body of work grounded in a personalised, at times emotive approach to the studio-based practices of the musique concrète tradition, while also encompassing improvisation, orchestral pieces, sound installations, and a sustained engagement with the piano. On The Mountains Pass, recorded by Greg Norman at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and meticulously edited and constructed over the course of three years, Block pushes into new terrain, introducing her singing voice and drums played by Jon Mueller into flowing assemblages that move seamlessly from ruminative organ tones and fragmented piano airs to explosions of sizzling synths and thundering percussion. Like many of Block’s past works, which include, for example, a sculptural installation using the sound of oyster beds, The Mountains Pass draws inspiration from nature and the animal world. Time spent in a particular mountain range in Northern New Mexico informs this suite of pieces, whose lyrics and titles refer particularly to animal life in the area. Beginning with bursts of white noise and delicate synthetic pops and squeaks, opener ‘Northward’ very soon reveals the special direction the album will take, as lyrical piano lines are joined by Block’s fragile voice, singing words written from the perspective of f2754, an endangered Mexican gray wolf who wandered more than five hundred miles from Arizona to New Mexico in 2022. The fragment of song quickly breaks off, leaving us with a ghostly electronic hum. ‘The Hermit’s Peak’ follows, one of two epic pieces at the album’s core. Beginning with chiming, almost harpsichord-like tones, it moves through episodes of spacious, ruminative piano, Jon Mueller’s sparkling cymbals, stuttering cut-up piano sounds, and a climax of keening organ and trumpet tones (performed by Thomas Madeja). Continuing the exploration of vintage keyboard and synth tones heard on Block’s Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (Room 40, 2021), the music sometimes suggests the great outer-limits works of 70s Italian prog figures like Franco Battiato or Arturo Stalteri in the languorous drift of synthesizer, organ, and piano tones and the meticulous yet organic flow of its construction. ‘Violet-Green’ opens the second side with another epic journey, its lyrical content concerning ‘a mysterious bird die-off and a forest fire’. Block’s crystalline voice and rich piano chords at times call up the restrained chamber songs of Janet Sherbourne, but fragmented and threaded through passages of woozy pitch-bent keyboards, hypnotic distant thuds, tinkling bells, and searing distorted synth tones. On ‘f2754’, the freedom of the roaming wolf surges through dense layers of rapid keyboard attacks and long organ tones over a propulsive drum performance straight out of Animal Magnetism-era Arnold Dreyblatt. This distinctive sound world is then reencountered in a darkened mirror image in the uneasy, metallic shimmer of the closing ‘Ungulates’, named in reference to a heard of elk roaming through the mountains. Like Battiato’s Clic or Gastr del Sol’s Upgrade & Afterlife, The Mountains Pass inhabits the underexplored terrain where the beauty of song coexists with a radical formal openness, illuminating the deep musicality and warmth that have been present in Block’s work all along.
Christina Kubisch’s Stromsänger finds this legendary sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results. Stromsänger is based on a collaboration with the Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices and on a special experience while researching and recording electromagnetic waves in the city of Trondheim.
“The general theme of the composition is the idea of sounds which travel. During a tram ride from the city up to the hills with an old tram I discovered not only stunning views of the surrounding landscape but as well a special soundscape. Wearing a custom made induction headphones, I could hear the normally hidden electromagnetic fields of the tram, which were so impressive and musical to me that I immediately decided to base my piece for Trondheim Voices on this discovery.
As a start, a series of pure vocal recordings were produced by Trondheim Voices while listening to a choice of electromagnetic tram sounds and following score instructions. This material was mixed in my Berlin studio and afterward was played back through a multi-loudspeaker setup into the room of the Elisabeth Church in Berlin and was instantaneously recorded. The emerged recording was played back and recorded again. The process of playing back the previous recording was repeated numerous times, generating numerous “re-recordings”, until the voices sounded aethereal and abstract. The last one of these recordings became the very beginning of the Stromsänger piece.
Part A is based on the electromagnetic sounds of the waiting tram and previously recorded voices. The singers come on stage and start to sing together with their recorded part which slowly fades out while the live singing takes over: a kind of choral for electrical tram waves and voices.
Part B is based on the actual tram ride with strong and intense electromagnetic sounds. The single recordings were treated electronically and were divided into six channels. Each singer has chosen one of these files and improvises with the magnetic sounds as a soloist or in duos or trios.
Part C is based on the itinerary of the tram ride to Lian, where a pilgrim's path starts. The names of the single stops, which have very beautiful and poetic names, are performed together as a kind of "sound poetry". The singers walk around on stage and/or can choose special positions for their performance. The recording of the word "Lian", the final stop, was recorded beforehand and played back and re-recorded several times in the open Norwegian landscape near the final tram stop. The voices slowly disappear and fade out.”
Christina Kubisch, 2024
Repress of Child's self-titled debut album. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.
Blue vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Repress of Child's self-titled debut album. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.
Endlich die Wiederveröffentlichung dieses High-Energy-Punkrock Klassikers, der internationalen Band, die aus Scott Morgan (Sonic's Rendezvous Band, Solution...), Nicke Royale (The Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric, Entombed...) und Tony Slug (Loveslug) besteht. Mit Scott Morgan von Sonic's Rendezvous Band (neben Fred "Sonic" Smith von den MC5) haben die Hydromatics eine echte Detroiter Legende in ihren Reihen. Morgan gründete die BAND 1998 zusammen mit Nicke Royale (The Hellacopters) und dem Gitarristen Tony Slug (Loveslug) und veröffentlichte '99 dieses großartiges Debütalbum mit dem Titel Parts Unknown, das den Motor City-Rock-Sound vergangener Tage in Form eines modernen Power-Punk-Rawk-Outfits wieder aufleben ließ und nun endlich wiederveröffentlicht wird. Das Album beginnt mit einem kräftigen Remake von "Earthy" von der Sonic's Rendezvous Band und rauscht die ganze Zeit über weiter, keine Balladen. Morgan singt sich den Arsch ab, und die Band unterstützt seine Stimmgewalt mit furiosen Sound, indem sie mühelos zwischen knallhartem Rock und rauchigem Soul hin und her schaltet. Eine Mischung, die sich Fans der Garage nicht entgehen lassen sollten. Für alle eingefleischte Punk- oder Hardrock-Fans, und alle, die gernn deftig rocken und ebenso auf den swingenden Sound der 60er Jahre stehen, wenn auch durch Wände aus Marshals und einen dicken Vorhang aus Bläsern und Lärm ergänzt. Ein absolutes Muss für Fans von Sonic's Rendezvous Band, MC5, Stooges, The Hellacopters, Bored!...
Feines Tier is entering its 60s together with Lithuanian lad Liudas Lazauskas aka Roe Deers and his „Landscape“ EP. We’re not exactly sure if those titular landscapes are to be understood literally, figuratively, metaphorically or all at once, nevertheless they are fascinating and a marvel to take in. Where and how do we start? With an (un)healthy dose of acid of course! „I’m very sorry (Acid)“ takes care of that, with the tune delivering everything the title promises, experience report included. Better make sure set and setting are right for this one! After that we’re taking a thrilling „Helicopter“ ride to „Glory“ and try not to loose our „Shoes“. Ok, that was a little cheap, I’m Very Sorry (Acid)! (Sorry again!) Anyway, to speak in strictly musical terms, „Helicopter“ is a banger. And „Glory“ is just beautiful with its gorgeous addictive swirling arps, while „Shoes“ keeps it cool tempo-wise and also mood-wise, creeping through some dark back-alleys with moody breakbeat drums and brooding synth chords. The penultimate „Silent Stories“ picks up the pace again a little bit, but gets even more grubby, hypnotic and seductive vocals included, before we get another face-melter with the closer „Sash“, which goes hard on the electric bass in your face, pitched-down vocals and some cowbells for good measure. Thank you Roe Deers for guiding us through these Landscapes for our 60th, the fresh air makes us feel like teenagers again.
Surface Noise, a brand new LP of well-turned guitar pop, complete with roaring chords and propulsive rhythms behind Dunlap's clever and cultured lyrics. Austin, Texas quartet Gentlemen Rogues celebrate aggressive guitar pop anthems _ bearing the influences of The Replacements, Superdrag, Jawbreaker, and similar visionaries _ and have been gaining momentum and increased attention. Since their debut in 2011, the band _ Danny Dunlap (guitar/vocals), Josh Power (drums), John Christoffel (guitar), and Dave Hawkins (bass, vocals) _ have honed their hooks over numerous singles, EPs, and the 2022 full-length collection, A History of Fatalism. Gentlemen Rogues have supported diverse acts like the Lemonheads, Smoking Popes, the Dandy Warhols, Mrs Magician, and Riverboat Gamblers on stages across the U.S. and the UK. In 2021 Gentlemen Rogues opened for both indie-punk icons Superchunk and Bob Mould, who personally selected the band to provide sole support on the Texas leg of his Distortion and Blue Hearts tour. Little Steve Van Zandt, Springsteen's steady side-kick, has been strong supporter, Pressed on Transparent Electric Blue vinyl! Includes hand-numbered obi-strip and download card.
If blue is the color of sadness, or the best color to reach authenticity, R.Y.F. – the project of the Italian singer-songwriter and musician Francesca Morello, based in Ravenna – goes even further with the new album Deep Dark Blue. Deep Dark Blue is an underwater album, maybe it is even a deep-sea album. The sound is dark and muffled, as if we were in a sort of cradle, a blue bubble, a sea cocoon in which to wrap ourself ves to regenerate and achieve peace, but whose casing also conveys energy. Born following a dazzling baptism in the mesmerizing sea of Stromboli, in Sicily, Deep Dark Blue is an album of suffering and healing which confirms R.Y.F.‘s destabilizing power. According to her: ”Sometimes I experience moments of great suffering, in the last two years caused by my wife’s health problems. I was “broken inside” and I didn’t know if I would be able to go back to the way I was before. Deep Dark Blue tells how I felt and how I would like to rebuild myself. I still talk about the freedom to love, but I also felt the need to talk about suffering, and I tried to do all this with irony, in the most joyful way possible. And it worked. That’s why this is also a healing album”. In Deep Dark Blue there are also some important guests, underlining R.Y.F.’s rise in her international career. They are Moor Mother, Skin (Skunk Anansie) and Alos (aka Stefania Pedretti, formerly OvO and Allun), united by feminism, queerness and political activism, to get precious artistic affinities stronger in these hard times of new repression that we are experiencing. Deep Dark Blue arose from software and analog instruments and was then developed with Maurizio “Icio” Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher), who also took care of recording, production, mixing and mastering at the music studio La Distilleria in Bassano del Grappa. Matteo Vallicelli (The Soft Moon, Death Index) participated in the production of some tracks. Although it flows with compact fluidity, the album highlights R.Y.F.‘s mastery in expressing herself through different stylistic genres. There is a dark electro-punk common thread, but there are also blackness (Run Run Run), alt-metal guitars on dance house structures (Can I Can U feat. Skin), industrial doom (Deep Dark feat. Alos) and other experiments (the instrumental interludes Droplets and Sirene). The variety of sounds corresponds to a spontaneous variety of topics. The theme of suffering opens and closes the tracklist with Blue and Deep Dark feat. Alos, almost as if to represent a first contact with the water and the culmination reaching the bottom of the abyss, and is approached both with a smile on the lips in the sexy Lies and from a more authorial perspective in the heartfelt Violent Hopes and December 25th, the first songs on the album to have been written. Deep Dark Blue by R.Y.F. is an immersion from which you emerge different from your old self, some kind of magical creature in a new form, but it is first of all an electric shock from which one is violently happy to be struck.
The legendary Horsepower Productions return to Sneaker for a thematically charged trip into future zones, driven by dexterous breakbeat science and ruffneck soundboy wisdom.
The UK dubplate heavyweights are no stranger to a loaded sample, and they’ve got a message to impart on this double-edged record. They kick off with a rumination on the planet’s fragile ecosystem on ‘Tropic’, which looks to a possible future with an ominous fate for the foliage we hold dear. Production-wise, Horsepower set electric drum loops off against lurid daubs of synth without derailing the motion, but a huge amount of the track’s impact arrives in the sampling from a cult classic slice of sci-fi. The premise is that the last remaining trees and plants from earth are adrift in space in a bio-dome, and have been condemned for demolition - a depressingly feasible scenario with an aggravated soundtrack to boot.
On the flip, ‘Computer Rock’ rides a tough break slow and hard and injects dystopian electro synth licks into the mix for a darkside roller that celebrates the visionary talent of Jeff Brown, aka Kase 2. Brown pioneered graffiti in the 70s with futuristic styles that still hold sway today, leaning into his own sci-fi imaginings about computer worlds inhabited by extra-terrestrial beings, Brown passed away in 2011, and this track and the attendant B2 cut ‘Kase - Reprise’ pay tribute to a forefather of hip-hop culture by channeling the future shock styles of Bambaataa et al without ever sounding throwback.
The concept on this record gets taken out further with the additional digi-only tracks, which take in the low-slung, skunked up funk of ‘Blaque Gras’ and the amped up rave damage of ‘Kase 2-Part 2’. Throughout, on-point samples and a clear-eyed focus bring out the best in the Horsepower approach, offering up next level dance wreckers with something to say.
Repress
CRG020V1 and CRG020V2 are the vinyl samplers of the mix Cleric made for its 20th release.
To celebrate hitting their 20th release, Cleric's imprint pulls together 23 talents for a various artist mix compilation including tracks from the likes of Rebekah, Cleric, Stef Mendesidis, Remco Beekwilder & Stranger, Endlec, Kwartz, Setaoc Mass, Roman Poncet, Slam and many more.
Clergy has become synonymous with a balance of atmospheric and hard hitting brand of techno ever since 2014. The boss's own music has been key to that, with carefully curated releases from guests such as Dax J, Kwartz, Reflec and Cleric himself. Helping to make the label an underground favourite. "Clergy Visions 01" sees Cleric invite an array on techno heavyweights to contribute to this compilation that's mixed by the label boss himself.
The mix opens up with the bleak ambience and fizzing electric cables of Jokasti & Nek's "Grained" then Sept's "Artifical" lays down a tunnelling techno groove that immediately locks you in. The mysterious alias, Reizemann heads off to a cosmic realm with its deep space pads slowly building the momentum throughout the drums. The energy levels then stay high throughout tracks from Roman Poncet, Kwartz and Setaoc Mass, then leading onto the groove of Stef Mendesidis.
Testament to Cleric's skills as a DJ and sequencer is the fact this journey is constantly evolving while remaining coherent. A mid-section featuring the likes of Endlec, Sleeparchive and EAS keeps you on your toes with perfectly stripped back but hard dynamic drum programming and intense melody work. Remco Beekwilder & Stranger bring a more hard hitting and industrial style before Slam calm the fires once more allowing you to sink into a smooth, elongated roller. It's left to the dystopian darkness of Rebekah and atmospheric techno brilliance of Lerias to close out this most adventurous mix in real style
2024 Repress
CRG020V1 and CRG020V2 are the vinyl samplers of the mix Cleric made for its 20th release.
To celebrate hitting their 20th release, Cleric's imprint pulls together 23 talents for a various artist mix compilation including tracks from the likes of Rebekah, Cleric, Stef Mendesidis, Remco Beekwilder & Stranger, Endlec, Kwartz, Setaoc Mass, Roman Poncet, Slam and many more.
Clergy has become synonymous with a balance of atmospheric and hard hitting brand of techno ever since 2014. The boss's own music has been key to that, with carefully curated releases from guests such as Dax J, Kwartz, Reflec and Cleric himself. Helping to make the label an underground favourite. "Clergy Visions 01" sees Cleric invite an array on techno heavyweights to contribute to this compilation that's mixed by the label boss himself.
The mix opens up with the bleak ambience and fizzing electric cables of Jokasti & Nek's "Grained" then Sept's "Artifical" lays down a tunnelling techno groove that immediately locks you in. The mysterious alias, Reizemann heads off to a cosmic realm with its deep space pads slowly building the momentum throughout the drums. The energy levels then stay high throughout tracks from Roman Poncet, Kwartz and Setaoc Mass, then leading onto the groove of Stef Mendesidis.
Testament to Cleric's skills as a DJ and sequencer is the fact this journey is constantly evolving while remaining coherent. A mid-section featuring the likes of Endlec, Sleeparchive and EAS keeps you on your toes with perfectly stripped back but hard dynamic drum programming and intense melody work. Remco Beekwilder & Stranger bring a more hard hitting and industrial style before Slam calm the fires once more allowing you to sink into a smooth, elongated roller. It's left to the dystopian darkness of Rebekah and atmospheric techno brilliance of Lerias to close out this most adventurous mix in real style.
Don't judge a book by its cover. Judge a record by its cover.
And, perhaps, its title.
Cedar Walton's Mobius is as outrageously, disorientatingly brilliant as the stunning jacket design, featuring the legendary jazz pianist morphing into a mobius strip, set against a beautiful sky filled with cumulus clouds. A proper jazz-funk fusion slapfest, Mobius is a stellar electric set from - essentially - one *hell* of a SUPERBAND.
Yes, in addition to Walton's Fender Rhodes wizardry, Mobius is elevated by Ryo Kawasaki's stinging electric guitar, pristinely clear vocals by Adrienne Albert and Lani Groves, rootsy percussion by Ray Mantilla and Omar Clay, alto and baritone from Charles Davis, trumpet from Roy Burrowes, Gordon Edwards on bass and Frank Foster's tenor sax. Oh and did we mention STEVE GADD ON DRUMS?!?!
Gem after gem of looping, bliss-inducing gold, it's an incredibly revelatory album. It presents a thrilling synthesis of R&B, funk, blues and hard bop (with a hint of rock), all driven by an idiosyncratic electronic keyboard. Walton, a giant in the jazz world, got quite the workout every time he played, from piano to arp synthesizer to clarinet to electric piano to mini-moog and back again.
Mobius was Cedar Walton's debut for RCA in 1975. The versatile artist confirmed his abilities as a player, composer, interpreter and arranger with this stunning record, and his own bright compositions offered a springboard for the improvisations of the different soloists. Coltrane's "Blue Trane" is the first classic to be given the funkafied Mobius treatment, Ryo Kawasaki let loose all over neck-snapping Gadd-drum gold before the horns take a fiery turn and subsequently give way to Cedar's virtuosity. A sparkling b-boy break version of Thelonious Monk's "Off Minor" (featuring an absolutely *fire* solo from Walton) really sets proceedings alight. Of the three original pieces, the shuffling, percussive power of "Soho" is just absolutely mind bending Latin-influenced jazzy soul whilst the mellow vibes of "The Maestro" bring elegant, sumptuous soul. And then there's the effortlessly funky "Road Island Red". Just too, too good.
Cedar Walton was born in Dallas, Texas, on January 17, 1934 and began his professional career in 1959 when he began touring for several years with the J.J. Johnson Quintet. He later joined the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet and then Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Pretty solid credentials, right? While based in New York City, Cedar played with such luminaries as Donald Byrd, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath and Milt Jackson. Without question, he was one of the most complete and gifted musicians of his time and Mobius provides proof of that. The fresh, danceable tracks, all firmly rooted in the living tradition of blues and gospel, are skilfully presented by a master who enjoyed keeping abreast of contemporary tastes and was always keen to renew his language.
As the album notes state: “Mobius, which is the theoretical shape of the infinite universe, makes use of the most modern recording techniques and synthesizers. We mastered and mixed so that it’s hotter than the competition, which should help radio play and in-store demonstration.” Indeed. Mobius is really gorgeous mid-70s fusion, ranging from the funky to the ecstatic. It's an absolute MONSTER that will completely blow you away; and, yes, it's as wild and hypnotic as the cover. The audio for Mobius has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.
Toe is a Japanese music group long revered in post-rock circles, while their song structures and dynamics have taken on elements from all styles of music, ranging from math-rock, jazz, pop, and R&B. toe is composed of Kashikura Takashi on drums, Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass guitar, and Yamazaki Hirokazu on guitar. The band has formally played with this lineup since their inception in 1998. The vast majority of the music is instrumental and features the swift, agile drumming of Takashi. The band is also known for melodic, clean guitar, often employing the juxtaposition of electric and acoustic. While the compositions feature the repetition of typical rock motifs, the subtle changes in beat and rhythm form a unique rhythmic dialect. The band has consistently expanded their sound throughout their musical tenure by incorporating singing, rhodes piano, mallet percussion, and electronic production elements.
Factor City kicks off its third decade in full swing, led by Undo solo and accompanied by its usual partners Casiowaves and Vicknoise.
It all began in 2003 when Undo & Vicknoise laid the foundation for the label with "Noctámbula," and over the years, they continued to collaborate closely, managing the label and producing "hits" such as "Orca" or "Happy Monday." From 2011 onward, following an amicable parting, Undo began to run the label solo while maintaining the same spirit and distinctive sound of the Barcelona-based label, always at the forefront of dance music produced in Spain.
Now, in 2024, in a "digital” world where fewer and fewer things can be touched with our fingers and where 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify every day, Factor City is charting a different course and starts a new decade on the dance floors by returning to vinyl releases and persisting in their low key and relaxed approach, releasing few and carefully curated records from their artists each year.
“Ciudad Futura” opens with "Good Times," a track by Undo that radiates joy and positivity. An euphoric ride through landscapes of analog synthesizers and drum machines. The second track on side A is signed by Undo & Vicknoise, who hadn't produced together in 15 years. And we hope they won't take as long to get back in the studio together after hearing the fantastic track "Electric Rainbow." A delightful slice of electro-disco. The B side is signed by the recent combo of Undo and Casiowaves. The first track, "Secret Worlds," follows in the wake of their recent releases on Factor City and Melodize with that winning combination of retro 80s and 90s synths with vocoders and a more contemporary production. Closing out the record is "Astralia," a vibrant "power synth pop" anthem adorned with FM synths and acid-tinged melodies. Thanks for listening!
FUJI||||||||||TA returns to Hallow Ground with his second full-length for the label after we had released his international breakthrough album »iki« in early 2020. Active since 2006, the Japanese composer and sound artist has become prolific since the release of »iki,« releasing a slew of records while also touring the world. His new album »MMM« is Yosuke Fujita’s most complex so far. Changing the set-up of his pipe organ by switching to an electric air pump allowed him to activate new sonic and compositional potentials of the instrument, while he also expanded upon his experiments with his own voice. »MMM« is a masterpiece of conceptual and formal rigour—a testament to how multi-layered and versatile the music of FUJI||||||||||TA can be.
Previous releases had already showcased Fujita's interest in working with the rhythmic potentials of the organ he built himself in 2009. Replacing its hand-operated air pump with an electric one allowed him to work with it more freely and simultaneously record its sounds. This marked the starting point for the opener »M-1,« for which he recorded the pipes by waving a gun microphone close to it, thus creating shifting rhythmic patterns. The piece engages in a perpetual play of repetition and difference, balancing sonic intensity with compositional dramaturgy. For »M-2,« the artist uses his voice and works with a singing technique he has developed over more than a decade: constantly exhaling and inhaling, he puts a strain on his internal organs in order to create what he calls a »third voice.« The resulting piece is built on a throbbing rhythmic foundation topped by wordless melodies.
»M-3« closes the album as a synthesis of these two pieces, but is far more than the mere sum of its parts. The subtle tonal shifts of the organ take on a more subdued role this time, and Fujita’s scat growling and singing reappears in processed form. »M-3« combines the rhythms and melodies of the previous pieces to let something entirely new emerge out of them, much like the album is based on perpetual changes and recombinatory strategies. In fact, Fujita explains, the acronymic title can be read in many ways: this album is minimalistic, but freely mixes and mingles different materials in magical and even metaphorical ways while also paying its dues to his wife and daughter—M. and M. Just like its title can mean a lot of different things, »MMM« itself is ever-evolving, traversing different moods and opening itself up to a plethora of interpretations at each of its many turns.
Ein bahnbrechendes Amalgam aus aufzugfreundlichem R&B und Synthesizer-lastigem Smooth Jazz. Tony Palkovics Debüt aus dem Jahr 1986 geht so leicht runter wie ein Hauch von zahnärztlichem Lachgas. Die seidigen Grooves und Ausbrüche der Drum Machine 1.0 auf "Born With A Desire" bleiben als 80er-Jahre-Vision einer zukünftigen Erde bestehen, mit 8-Bit-Grafiken und pastellfarbene Paletten in einem Synthesizer-Shangri-La.
Ein bahnbrechendes Amalgam aus aufzugfreundlichem R&B und Synthesizer-lastigem Smooth Jazz. Tony Palkovics Debüt aus dem Jahr 1986 geht so leicht runter wie ein Hauch von zahnärztlichem Lachgas. Die seidigen Grooves und Ausbrüche der Drum Machine 1.0 auf "Born With A Desire" bleiben als 80er-Jahre-Vision einer zukünftigen Erde bestehen, mit 8-Bit-Grafiken und pastellfarbene Paletten in einem Synthesizer-Shangri-La.
toe is a Japanese music group long revered in post-rock circles, while their song structures and dynamics have taken on elements from all styles of music, ranging from math-rock, jazz, pop, and R&B. toe is composed of Kashikura Takashi on drums, Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass guitar, and Yamazaki Hirokazu on guitar. The band has formally played with this lineup since their inception in 1998. The vast majority of the music is instrumental and features the swift, agile drumming of Takashi. The band is also known for melodic, clean guitar, often employing the juxtaposition of electric and acoustic. While the compositions feature the repetition of typical rock motifs, the subtle changes in beat and rhythm form a unique rhythmic dialect. The band has consistently expanded their sound throughout their musical tenure by incorporating singing, rhodes piano, mallet percussion, and electronic production elements.
This release comes with a Poster & Insert & Sticker & Download Code.
The vinyl is pressed as a colour in colour, green & yellow disc.
toe is a Japanese music group long revered in post-rock circles, while their song structures and dynamics have taken on elements from all styles of music, ranging from math-rock, jazz, pop, and R&B. toe is composed of Kashikura Takashi on drums, Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass guitar, and Yamazaki Hirokazu on guitar. The band has formally played with this lineup since their inception in 1998. The vast majority of the music is instrumental and features the swift, agile drumming of Takashi. The band is also known for melodic, clean guitar, often employing the juxtaposition of electric and acoustic. While the compositions feature the repetition of typical rock motifs, the subtle changes in beat and rhythm form a unique rhythmic dialect. The band has consistently expanded their sound throughout their musical tenure by incorporating singing, rhodes piano, mallet percussion, and electronic production elements.
Growing up on the outskirts of Manchester, Daniella Lubasu feels that the city's strong indie rock legacy has had an "inevitable" impact on her Equally significant was the music of her Congolese heritage - with its upbeat rhythms, driving bass and intricate electric guitar riffs a constant presence in her childhood. It's in this intersection between the genres where Daniella grounds her sonic identity as DellaXOZ - one which has already garnered extensive love from Clara Amfo at Radio 1, early nods from The Guardian, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash and many more, and support slots with the likes of Beabadoobee, Spill Tab, Wallice, Two Door Cinema Club and Connie Constance. At age 13, armed with a cheap mic and free software from the internet, Daniella wrote and produced her first song, using music as an emotional outlet throughout her teenage years. The potential for music to shape mood is a recurring trait of Daniella's idols too. The clever wordplay and bravado of Nicki Minaj have emboldened her to channel her own "irreverent villain energy", the untethered chaos of La Tigre and Bikini Kill directly influenced her single 'AHH!!', and she is in awe of pop stars like Lana Del Rey and Lorde's ability to seamlessly shift emotions en masse. DellaXOZ is Daniella's real-time chronicle of expression and introspection, manifested via her own brand of glitchy, alt-pop-fecked indie rock. With her formative teenage years navigated during a global pandemic, it's little wonder that Daniella sets classic coming-of-age concerns to the backdrop of wider social issues and commentary. Her current ethos as DellaXOZ is to capture "the fleeting emotions and multi-dimensionality of the teenage experience", and she rejects the narrative of apathy and distraction misassigned to her generation, explaining "I think it's necessary to know what's going on in the world to not become distanced or ignorant. Current world issues like hate crimes, bans on safe abortion and poor gun control are things that I feel personally provoked to shed light on, and have already written some rage- y unreleased songs about." Currently studying for her A-levels, her lessons too expand the narratives within her songwriting. Drama classes led her to include references to Greek mythology in her tracks, where sociology galvanised her to pen her own "riot girl feminist song". It's exactly this kind of boldness and conviction to play with sounds and ideas that mark DellaXOZ as a key young creator in the next chapter of Manchester's musical tradition.
Total Reality is the sound of a group in constant forward motion, finding new sounds and new ways to express their joy and catharsis in making music together. On album opener 'Slug' the band sing ‘I’m feeling like a slug so I gotta visit the doctor’, and though reliably tongue-in-cheek you get the feeling they mean it - the members using Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice as a vessel to lift each other up while unpacking the collective fatigue of life in late-capitalist society. “A mood like that, you're apt to stay in it, not dial your way out. Despair like that, about total reality, is self-perpetuating." - Philip K Dick On their third LP Total Reality - a title ripped from the classic sci-fi novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ - Dr Sure's Unusual Practice tackle lofty issues through a hopeful lense, avoiding the often cynical pastiche of modern punk music. Total Reality touches on varied influences - proto-punk to post-punk, new wave to no wave, krautrock to trip-hop - to concieve something fresh and inspired. Beginning in 2018 as a solo project, here Dougal Shaw is joined by an ever-expanding collective. In addition to a core band (Jake Suriano, Miranda Holt, Tali Harding-Hone, Mathias Dowle) the new record features contributions from Jack McCullagh (Cracodile), Stu Patterson (The Empty Threats/Placement), Alannah Sawyer (Babyccino/Mouseatouille), as well as Shaw’s partner Alivia Lester, and baby Blue - who also adorns the album cover. An almost polar approach to the band’s acclaimed second LP ‘Remember The Future? Vol. 2 & 1’, which was tracked live in a recording studio, Shaw refers to Total Reality as a ‘collage album’. There are pieces of pandemic-era demo’s; drum machines coexisting with a live-tracked rhythm section; fresh collaborations; layers of guitars, synths, horns and percussion; collected field recordings and samples - all cut and glued in Shaw’s home studio to realise an expansive and colourful record.
Daga Voladora's last album came out in 2016. To alleviate such a long wait, only a couple of celebrated singles. Now, finally, Cristina Plaza (identity gracefully hidden under the Daga Voladora name that was before Gran Aparato Eléctrico and also a quarter of Los Eterno and half of Clovis) releases an album and does it, for the first time, in vinyl format. "Los manantiales" is the title of the happy and long-awaited return of an artist that never completely left.
"Los manantiales" ("The Springs") refers to all those sources from which I drink to make my songs: Stereolab, Broadcast, Galaxie 500, Cate Le Bon... And also some of the flamenco language. Flamenco in my own way, of course," explains Plaza. "Los manantiales" will also bring echoes of acts that the artist has not practiced as much such as Esclarecidos, Vainica Doble, Ana D or Kikí d'Akí. Deep voices for songs with substance.
But there is also that other idea of the spring that gushes forth when it can no longer be contained. "It has taken me so many years to make this album because I had a prejudice related to the previous one "Primer segundo" in which there was a coherence. Not finding that concept or thinking that this or that wasn't Daga Voladora, I couldn't get into it. Until I decided that maybe I didn't have to impose such a rigid direction on myself..."
Sketched in a town bordering Ávila where Plaza decided to get lost in the summer of 2022 and then finished off in a basement in Madrid for several months, the nine songs of "Los manantiales" make up a short album, premeditatedly short ("I don't like the songs to be longer than 2:50") but, above all, varied. Because, as can be sensed in the song Quise ser ( "I wanted to be a fictional hero, an expressionist painter, a promising actress"), here are all the imagined Cristinas and their different lives ("The song Lejos de la multitud is that longing of mine to be a vagabond"), an unmistakable sign that, as the artist confesses, "I am my own spring". And all this joyful dispersion comes from the premise with which Plaza approached the album: "I said to myself: 'Let's play'. I set out to have a good time. Suddenly, I wanted to do a dub track and I came up with Fosforito or a rock song like Lou Reed in the 80s and there was 'Me vi penando'. I wanted a rock record, an experimental record, something like Broadcast, and a musical! I wanted to do a thousand things!"
The result is a playful album, very enjoyable; but above all elegant and extremely precise. In both form and substance. Thus, the melodies are so rounded at first listen; the music would work perfectly on its own, stripped of lyrics that respond to the maxim, so often ignored, that there is really only one way to say things. "I have tried to refine the texts a lot. There are some phrases taken from Steinbeck, other things that emerge in a somewhat magical way. There's also Gary Snyder, Kerouac and his Dharma Bums, echoes of California..."
It's an album made, as usual with her, in the most absolute solitude (except for the collaboration of Andrés Arregui on sax and the final mix by Fino Oyonarte). Bareback. "I recorded everything with my computer, with my instruments, my analog keyboards, my rhythm boxes, little noises I make around... I don't make demos. I just do it. In a rough way. What I do do is repeat. The good thing about this method is that many things happen spontaneously and that's where they stay".
An album that, for all of the above, responds to the best notion of caprice. A whimsical whim, signed and finished off by the splendid cover designed by Beatriz Lobo, which feartures a painting ('La chica del King Creole') by the legendary artist Javier de Juan.
In "Los manantiales" there are many possible worlds, as many dreamed ones. Of course, those of Daga Voladora (not in vain, the album opens with a song titled Cristinópolis), but also those of any curious and sensitive listener who, by the way, will find more than one musical wink along the way. You just have to be attentive.
Genesis' album Nursery Cryme, released in November 1971, marked a significant moment in the band's evolution and showcased the burgeoning talents of their new drummer and vocalist, Phil Collins, plus guitarist Steve Hackett.
Nursery Cryme saw the band take a more aggressive direction of some songs, with substantially improved drumming. The opening piece, "The Musical Box" combined the band's trademark mix of twelve-string guitars with harsh electric guitars and keyboards. The song, a macabre fairy story set in Victorian Britain, became the inspiration for the album cover, and went on to be a live favorite.
This album played a pivotal role in establishing the band's progressive rock sound and laid the foundation for their future success.
Although Peter Gabriel remained the band's primary vocalist, Collins' distinctive voice began to shine through on tracks like "For Absent Friends" and "Harlequin." Collins' vocals added a new dimension to the band's sound, blending seamlessly with Gabriel's, and hinting at the vocal prowess that would later define his solo career. His emotive and versatile singing style contributed to the album's overall charm.
Nursery Cryme is regarded as a crucial stepping stone in Genesis' discography, and with time, became recognized as a progressive rock classic. The album received acclaim for its adventurous and intricate compositions, combining elements of folk, rock, and classical music. Genesis' signature storytelling lyrics, often filled with surreal and whimsical imagery, captivated listeners and added depth to the music.
Critics praised the band's musicianship, with particular attention to the intricate guitar work of Steve Hackett and the melodic basslines of Mike Rutherford.
All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savor: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.
Fast ein halbes Jahr ist es her, seitdem Kanadas Rüpelrocker DANKO JONES das letzte Studioalbum „Electric Sounds“ auf die Menschheit losgelassen hat. Songs wie „Guess Who's Back“, „Get High?“ oder „Good Time“ haben sich seither als Ohrwürmer etabliert und die Band konnte mit Platz 18 in den deutschen Albumcharts sowie mit der Spitzenposition der deutschen Rockradiocharts mit „Guess Who's Back“ einige Erfolge feiern.
Beste Voraussetzung, um nochmal in der Kiste zu wühlen und weitere Schmankerl für die Fans aufzubereiten. So dachten es sich auch DANKO JONES und hauen mit „4x10“ eine streng limitierte 10“ Vinyl raus, die das Sammlerherz höherschlagen lässt. Gemeinsam mit „Electric Sounds“ ist dies die beste Vorbereitung für einen unvergesslichen Festivalsommer 2024.
Die Vinyl beinhaltet zwei unveröffentlichte Bonustracks „Waiting for You“ & „Haunting Me“, sowie zwei Live-Versionen der Songs „Lipstick City“ und „My Little RNR“. So wird nicht nur der knackige Sound von Electric Sounds zurück in die Kompaktanlage geholt, sondern auch die Nostalgie!
Mehr als 500 Stück gibt es nicht – bestellt also jetzt das Dingen vor! Nur solange der Vorrat reicht!
I love these musicians Sam Amidon, Karl Blau, Charlotte Greve, Shahzad Ismaily. I’ve played with some of them for two years and some for over twenty. We met up last spring at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and rehearsed for one day before recording this album at the nearby Owl Parlor on March 29 and 30, 2023. It fills me with joy to hear my songs reinterpreted through the spirits of these masterful musicians (who are also my dear friends). I hope you enjoy this document, too. Thank you to Oren Bloedow at The Owl Parlor for creating a beautiful space for us to perform and record this music.” Sam Amidon – fiddle, electric guitar and vocals Karl Blau – bass and vocals Charlotte Greve – sax, synths and vocals Shahzad Ismaily – drums, piano and vocals Laura Veirs – nylon guitar, electric guitar, piano and vocals Recorded and mixed by Lily Wen Mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering NYC Produced by Laura Veirs
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2024 Repress
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones
"Message From The Country was the fourth and final studio album by The Move, a British rock band that consisted of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan. After the release of this final studio album, the trio went on and founded Electric Light Orchestra. The influence of The Beatles runs through most of the songs stylistically, while still sounding like the first ELO album, which was recorded during the same lengthy recording sessions as Message From The Country. The Move generated what was, song for song, their most complex and challenging album. Message From The Country is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on white coloured vinyl. "
Message From The Country by The Move, released 12 April 2024, includes the following tracks: "No Time", "Until Your Moma's Gone", "The Minister", "The Words Of Aaron" and more.
This version of Message From The Country comes as a 1xLP.
The vinyl is pressed as a white disc.
To record "Ease the Work", Hour traveled via ferry with an entire studio’s worth of equipment to an old off-Broadway theater on Peaks Island in Maine, months before the first tourists would show up. The week-long session started with an island-wide power outage that halted recording on the first day, and ended with twelve songs that walk steadily between longing and contentment, sentimentality and subtlety, the lift of harmony and the compulsion of a melody you wish would play forever. Hour’s music cuts a broad pathway, and remains hard to classify or compare. Perhaps most at home beside work from Bill Frisell, Eiko Ishibashi, ECM Records, or the Louisville experimental chamber group Rachel’s, Ease the Work shows us life on the boundary of composition and improvisation. It reaches for the sweeping gestures and inspired pacing of classic film scores, Frank Sinatra ballads, and Scott Walker’s pop orchestra. It also retains the arresting intimacy of the band’s early work. Strings swell and harmonize in counterpoint with electric guitar, clarinet, and piano, while drums, synth pads, and field recordings complete the aural world.
"Ease the Work" by Hour includes the following tracks: "Stoner", "Brain Scrub", "Dying of Laughter", "The Most Gorgeous Day in History" and more.
This release comes with a Download Code.
Rachika Nayar's fragments is a collection of sonic miniatures constructed from guitar loops and in the familiar comforts of her own bedroom. First released as a limited edition cassette by RVNG Intl's Commend THERE imprint in 2021, fragments (expanded) adds an entire new side of previously unreleased music to the collection, which has been newly mastered by Rafael Anton Irrisari. While growing up and developing a relationship with the instrument and her capabilities, using delay pedals to improvise layered guitar pieces evolved from a practice into a deep source of self-exploration and restoration for Nayar. On Our Hands Against the Dusk, Nayar's debut album released earlier this year, the guitar is present but processed, synthesizing with the surrounding instruments and often transforming beyond recognition. Like Our Hands, the form of fragments remains complex, informed by virtuosic, dexterous guitar playing, but the collection of sound retains a sense of primitivism, and represents a new experience for Nayar in sharing such an intimate part of her creative practice. Nayar views this practice as a constant companion. The cyclical, meditative quality of exploring loop-based expression is a means for Nayar to cleanse her creative space, and provide a psychological architecture in her home where she can "access my heart and cultivate some kind of internal movement in times of stasis." The pieces on fragments also pay homage to influences on Nayar's guitar technique, ranging from Pat Metheny's interpretations of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint to emotive Post/Math-Rock crossovers like Don Caballero and Toe. fragments is not only a document of Nayar's domesticity and the preliminary writing processes that evolve into song, but also a measurement of memory and spiritual realignment. Much like the metaphorical models of past homes through which Ted Kooser wanders in his essay Small Rooms in Time, Nayar uses fragments to preserve the moment, both fleeting and indelible, through its connection to place, in unchanging, raw detail. fragments provides an intimacy between Nayar and those listening in parallel spaces, activating our collective past and shared unconscious experience. Rachika Nayar's fragments (expanded) will be available in LP and digital formats from RVNG Intl. on April 7th, 2023.
If The Druids are named after a quiet pond lost in the heart of Brittany, their music is more inspired by the stories the elders tell in a low voice, and the secrets of those roads where it's forbbiden to go by yourself at night. The Druids are hidden behind their hoods so they can scramble the tracks, melting their garage-rock with stoner-metal and post-punk, but also shoegazing and acid-rock. In their fuzzy and reverberated black masses, they invoke at the same time Black Sabbath, The Stooges, Bauhaus and The 13th Floor Elevators.
- 01: E Nun Ce Voio Sta
- 02: Squadra Antifurto (Suspense)
- 03: Squadra Antifurto (Azione E Mistero)
- 04: Squadra Antifurto (Azione)
- 05: Squadra Antifurto (Nico A New York)
- 06: E Nun Ce Voio Sta (Versione Fisarmonica E Chitarra)
- 07: Squadra Antifurto (Nico A New York #2)
- 08: Squadra Antifurto (Azione #2)
- 09: Squadra Antifurto (Suspense #2)
- 10: Squadra Antifurto (Azione #3)
- 11: E Nun Ce Voio Sta (Versione Chitarra)
- 12: Squadra Antifurto (Azione E Mistero #2)
- 13: Squadra Antifurto (Azione E Mistero #3)
- 14: E Nun Ce Voio Sta (Titoli Di Coda)
Black Vinyl[33,19 €]
Here at Four Flies, we kind of feel we need a bigger word than 'proud', this time, to present, in collaboration with Beat Records, the first-ever release of the original soundtrack written in 1976 by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis for the legendary Squadra Antifurto, the second chapter of the comedy-infused crime saga directed by Bruno Corbucci and starring Tomas Milian as the iconic Italian Police Marshal Nico Giraldi.
The excitement in this case is nothing short of gigantic, difficult to rein in for those who, like ourselves, grew up adoring the character played by Milian as one of our cult heroes, and dreaming that the soundtracks of the first three films in the saga – the only ones composed by the De Angelis brothers – would one day be released.
Since the launch of our label, Squadra Antifurto has been at the top of the list of film scores we most wanted to release. Until a few months ago, this dream of ours seemed destined to remain just that, so strong was the conviction in all of us that the master tapes were definitively lost, that they had forever vanished into thin air. That's why their recovery, made possible by Maurizio De Angelis himself and the persistence of our friends at Beat Records, is an extraordinary feat.
Nearly 50 years after it was first heard in cinemas, the soundtrack penned by the De Angelis brothers is resurrected in its entirety and can finally shine its incredible power all over us.
Beautifully seeping through this score – like many others composed by the golden duo in the 1970s – are elements from the Italian, and especially Roman, folk tradition, for instance in the warm, heartfelt ballad sung by Alberto Griso, "E nun ce voio sta," which first plays in the opening credit sequence and is then reprised in various forms throughout the film, culminating with the soul-stirring orchestral version that closes the album's tracklist.
But as in any Italian crime film worthy of that name, a different soundscapetakes centre stage: it's the music that accompanies the countless scenes of tension, action, and pursuit that punctuate the film, and which has made us fall madly in love with this score.
The main theme is a prog-funk joyride, drawing inspiration from the traditional tarantella but elevated to irresistible energy thanks to a rock orchestration featuring psychedelic flutes, wild percussion, distorted electric guitars, piano chords, and various feedback and delay effects.
The resulting groove is just mind-blowing, and we almost can't believe it's finally available on a record, completely remastered for vinyl.
We really couldn't be prouder, and dedicate this release to all passionate fans of Italian crime films, the De Angelis brothers, and Tomas Milian aka Nico Giraldi.
Available starting April 12th on standard black vinyl and limited coloured vinyl (transparent amber, limited to 300 copies).
"The soundtrack of a sunny day at the Eden Beach Club.
After the commercial and critical success of the album 'Hymne au soleil', Laurent Bardainne and Tigre d'Eau Douce defy the laws of attraction, aiming beyond the sun with Eden as their target in their third album 'EDEN BEACH CLUB.' A return to their successful uninhibited formula, blending lingering groove, luxurious soul, flamboyant jazz, and electronic spirals. Geographically or musically, no map can locate this place of eclecticism anymore, with each track leading to an invitation to dance and celebrate a moment. That of an eternal sunset, striped with electricity by Laurent Bardainne and Tigre d'Eau Douce."
tapetopia 006 In 1983, some more subdued sounds began to waft from the GDR punk underground into the second half of the ’80s. At five to the end of time, it was perpetually striking midnight and the occasional punk band would mix a little laudanum into their potential for aggression. Portents in this vein preceded a dark wave whose foamy crest would break on fog walls of dry ice. Especially in Leipzig and East Berlin, a chain-rattling zeitgeist produced bands that drew from a dark well. Many of these bands arose from the still hot or already cold ashes of punk. The two founding fathers of Neuntage Alt, René Glofke and Taymur Streng (nicknamed “Strangler”), knew each other from the East Berlin punk scene. The third man aboard, Mike Sauer, played drums in the early 1980s for Sendeschluß, a punk band that, lost in thought somewhere in the no-man’s land between punk and post-punk, faded away in 1984. Punk was no longer the order of the day, but it was a form of expression among many and easy to combine. Glofke and Streng found common ground in experimental set-ups with such otherworldly names as Medusa Brahma or Die zeitweilige Erscheinung.
From this far-flung point of departure, a short tunnel led straight into the black light of Neuntage Alt, the coldest star in the low-hanging sky above East Berlin. Neuntage Alt appeared at the end of 1986, during the last blackout phase of the GDR, on the threshold between the underground and the so-called “other bands” – a scene that used the non-socio-critical approach of German Wutwave (“anger wave”) in order to be allowed to perform publicly. In the context of this scene, Neuntage Alt did not belong to the inner circle. Moreover, the band’s subcultural base was initially in Mahlsdorf, on the south-eastern edge of East Berlin. This was where the DIY sound studio of amplitude apostle and great modulator Taymur Streng was situated. Strangler held the position of house electrician and keyboard god in various projects. One of them had the bland alias Mahlsdorfer Wohnstuben Orchester, behind which the avant-garde court chapel of the bungalow studio was concealed. There Taymur also conspired with the East Berlin underground band Ornament & Verbrechen (tapetopia #001). Ronald Lippok of Ornament & Verbrechen remembers how once, at the opening of a joint session, he and his brother Robert attended Taymur’s engaging slide show of his collection of test patterns. Afterwards, they created a piece with the psychedelic title “Das sentimentale UfO”, which sheds an iridescent light on the bizarre atmosphere in the studio. Taymur’s obsession with technology was legendary. The home studio was also his living space; a circuit, a machine park of screwed and soldered equipment, a single keyboard orgy. His own creations were also based on circuit diagrams found in the radio amateur magazine “Funkamateur”. Its somewhat clueless subtitle “Praktische Elektronik Für Alle” (Practical Electronics for All)
Obscure digi dub gem from 2010 by French one-of-a-kind vocal scientist Pupa Jim, available on wax for the first time since its initial short run 14 years ago.
Programmed by the Maffi crew, the Copenhagen riddim experts of the myspace era, this relentless 7″ module aged oddly well, with its futuristic AI-theme and timeless simplicity.
Jahtari main electrician disrupt is taking a closer look into the strippped down riddim schematics on the flip side, kicking it with a minimum set of transistors to wreak maximum havoc dubwise.
Emotional Rescue dives back into one of its specialties, the formative years of Post Punk and Dub influenced music, presenting the, to date, unheralded Skinbat Scramble. The rarity of the unknown, the discovery of rich, lost music, it is a delight to release a compilation of the band's previously unreleased recordings. A snapshot of time, a journey that covers several decades of friendship but is concentrated here on the fertile 80's scene.
Forged around the friendship of Mark Eason and Fergus Crockford, but with ever changing line-ups, flowing in and out during misspent youths, self-taught playing, falling in and out of bands, travelling that well-worn journey from Home Counties boredom to the excitement of a rough edged London, taking in as music as possible, from Motown on to the The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones, Bowie, Pink Floyd, Gong and Fripp & Eno, before Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hotrods and a dose of John Peel led to discovering Dub and Punk and witnessing that short-lived burst of creativity at the Roxy Club, Marquee or Vortex and exploring back to early Rock'n'Roll, Rockabilly and old Surf'n'Soul, alongside the likes of Wire and Suicide.
As the Post-Punk sounds mixed simultaneously with Two-Tone, local Art College gave way to university and the early struggles of finding a way in the late 70s / early 80s of Thatcher's Britain. Music was central, Skinbat Scramble finally appearing, morphing from numerous teen bands, early studio excursions of tape loops and effects leading to the first recording sessions in 1981.
The slower tempos, introspection, open structures, and shimmering experimentation of Post Punk were pivotal. John Foxx's early Ultravox, Siouxsies' "Lord's Prayer" period and The Electric Chairs seminal "So Many Ways", influenced to a freer future. PIL, ACR, Section 25 and Pink Military let imaginations briefly roam.
'Far out and weird', those first recordings made at Leeds Uni's Fine Arts Dept utilized Revoxes, Tandberg, MiniMoog and even a borrowed drummer. This was followed up with completed sessions at Elephant Studios in London, forming the basis of this compilation.
The tight scattergun rhythms on opener Submit, in both Vocal and short Dub mix, bely an unreleased band. Taught and crisp, it's like a song you've heard propelling open-minded, leftfield dancefloors for years.
The writing, musicianship and studio mastery displayed on North By Northwest and Skiddadle should not be music unreleased for almost 40 years. In North Dub and closer, Pixie Boot Dub their understanding of the opportunities of dub Reggae are clearly apparent, ethereal music wormholes for late night smokers.
However, it is in Basement Voltaire that the band step out time. Recorded in 1986 this is a 9-minute proto-techno wonder that mixes all their psychedelic meets punk youth in a crescendo of crashing claps and rolling toms that is of a time and so far ahead of its time.
And that was that, after 6 gigs, including a couple at the infamous St Martins, to an audience total you can fit on one hand, the band's first incantation closed and the master tapes were stored for several decades, waiting for "The Psychedelic Pirates" to finally surface.
'Mei Semones' sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is notonly a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means ofcatharsis. "Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new -that's what feels most natural to me," says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. "It's what feels most true to who I am as an artist." Plinking guitar tones and asymmetrical time signatures exemplify her forays intoangular indie rock more now than ever before, especially on her debut Bayonet Recordssingle "Wakare no Kotoba"_its wide-interval arpeggios in odd meters being some ofthe most technically difficult guitar work Mei has ever implemented in her songwriting.Translated to "parting words'' in English, the self-described "anti-love song" serves as afarewell to a toxic friendship, complete with orchestral swells and crashing guitars. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age,starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. Afterplaying jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazzfocus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates,including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola andviolin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei's intricate guitar work. After releasinga slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei andher band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboroand embark on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Raavi. Semones chronicles infatuation, devotion, and vulnerability in her songs, complete withsweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English andJapanese, that have all become part of her sonic trademark: ornately catchy, genre-fusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on theuniversalities of human emotion.
Original[31,89 €]
Midwestless is the fifth and newest album from St. Louis, Missouri rock failures The Conformists. Once again recorded with Steve Albini at the majestic Electrical Audio, this album marks their first recorded output as a trio. Formed in November of 1996 deep within a basement bedroom somewhere between the corn fields and strip malls of Southern Illinois, The Conformists began as four teenagers with a desire to create Ugly Rock Music. Eventually, they grew up and now dabble in moments which could even be described as quite beautiful and melodic. Elsewhere, elements of insistent repetition with an initial appearance of stasis reveal — with multiple listens — intricate details under the surface.
Nachdem sein drittes Studioalbum “The Show“ im Jahr 2023 in zahlreichen Ländern die Charts anführte, kehrt Niall Horan mit “The Show: The Encore“ zurück - einer Deluxe-Edition mit neun Bonustracks. Horan arbeitete mit Lizzy McAlpine an der neuen Version von ”You Could Start A Cult” und mit John Legend an einer neuen Interpretation des Titelsongs “The Show“. Neben diesen beiden Neuauflagen enthält die Deluxe Version außerdem neue Live-Aufnahmen vom Electric Picnic Festival und den Spotify Studios sowie alternative Versionen von ”Meltdown” und ”On A Night Like Tonight” aus Horans Vevo Extended Play Session.
Second studio album from this Doom metal supergroup! Steeped in purest old school metal and the dirtiest doom. Featuring members of Impaled Nazarene, Nifelheim, Electric Wizard and Mystifier.
Heavy metal has a long history and profound connection with devilry, deviance and the dark side. The ignominious return of Friends Of Hell can only strengthen that bond.Are you ready to feel the flames?
The long-awaited follow-up to Friends Of Hell’s demonically thrilling debut, God Damned You To Hell is a scorched earth campaign against all that is holy. Even more defiantly old school and obnoxious than its predecessor, its primitive barrage of horrified heaviness owes a ghoulish debt to the greats of heavy metal and doom, while summoning some abominable demons of its own.
Now joined by Hellbutcher (Nifelheim) on vocals and bassist Beelzeebubth (Mystifier), Friends Of Hell are ready to take this rotting world into even lower depths of hell than previously imagined
- A1: I Am Missing You
- A2: Kahān Gayelavā Shyām Saloné
- A3: Supané Mé Āyé Preetam Sainyā
- A4: I Am Missing You (Reprise)
- A5: Jaya Jagadish Haré
- B1: Overture
- B2: Festivity & Joy
- B3: Love - Dance Ecstasy
- B4: Lust (Rāga Chandrakauns)
- B5: Dispute & Violence
- B6: Disillusionment & Frustration
- B7: Despair & Sorrow (Rāga Marwā)
- B8: Awakening
- B9: Peace & Hope (Rāga Bhatiyār)
Purple Vinyl[27,52 €]
Out of print as a stand-alone release for decades since its original 1974 issue. Produced by George Harrison, Shankar Family & Friends is an almost-forgotten masterwork – an emotional and sonic pact between two like-minded souls to both advance their spiritually minded bond and unite musical styles, cultures, and sounds in wondrous fashion Contributions from Ringo Starr, David Bromberg, Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman, and a host of virtuosic Indian musicians add to a diverse album that melds Eastern and Western traditions; encompasses jazz, funk, bhajan, Indian, and pop; and represents the spirit and breadth of Harrison's Dark Horse Records imprint.
Memorable contributions from an A-list of American and English musicians — Ringo Starr (drums), David Bromberg (electric guitar), Billy Preston (organ), Nicky Hopkins (piano), Jim Keltner (drums), Klaus Voorman (bass), Robert Margouleff (Moog), Malcolm Cecil (Moog), Tom Scott (saxophone) included — add to the richness of a set that melds Eastern and Western traditions. These “names” mesh with a host of Indian virtuosos — Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Kamala Chakravarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia included — who turn Shankar Family & Friends into a journey laced with percussive, string, and vocal components that aren’t soon forgotten.
Throughout, Shankar Family & Friends remains true to its title — a mesmerizing record named to reflect the group participation approach of its creators. The idea started when Shankar told Harrison about a ballet he wrote. The Beatle, who first met Shankar in June 1966 — roughly a year after Harrison became interested in Indian music after overhearing it in a restaurant while filming Help! — immediately was convinced they needed to record it. Harrison’s staunch admiration of Shankar and serious approach to Eastern styles are reflected throughout the album.
Indeed, for Harrison, Shankar Family & Friends marks the culmination of a years-long effort to master the sitar, study Hinduism, and incorporate elements such as drones, unusual chords, and expressive picking into his own songs. The seeds of this unique collaboration can be heard in Beatles works such as “Norwegian Wood,” “Love to You,” and “Within You Without You.” Both musicians were also fresh from performing at the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh shows. Yet Shankar Family & Friends remains entirely unique in each visionary artist’s history — and ultimately, led to a collaborative tour Harrison and Shankar staged across North America.
Encompassing jazz, funk, bhajan, Indian, and pop, Shankar Family & Friends is thematically split into halves. Side One reveals Shankar’s uncanny ear for melody — even when applied to Western forms. The lead-off “I Am Missing You,” the first single ever released by Dark Horse Records and reportedly the first pop composition Shankar completed, underscores his skills as a composer and global ambassador. Beautifully sung across three octaves by his sister-in-law, Lakshmi Shankar, the devotional song features multiple drummers and production that mirrors Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound approach. Harrison plays autoharp and guitar; Starr sits in on drums; Scott handles flute and soprano saxophone. It’s the inviting start of a musical adventure teeming with color, majesty, and mysticism.
A second version of the track — designated with a “(Reprise)” tag — appears minutes later. Unfolding in different ways, it follows a folk ballad structure stitched together with Indian instrumentation. Here, according to Shankar, the musicians “attempted to convey the sounds and atmosphere of Vrindavan, the ancient holy place where Krishna grew up.” Both renditions speak to the cross-continental fusion that came so naturally to Harrison and Shankar, whose oversight on the side’s other vocal tracks ensures listeners familiar with Western methods gain easy access to the hypnotic allure of his native country’s music.
Nowhere is this more evident than on Dream, Nightmare & Dawn (Music for a Ballet), the side-long piece that served as the genesis for Shankar Family & Friends. Launched with an airy overture and unfolding across three movements, the mostly wordless suite features everything from call-and-response interplay and classical lyricism to uptempo dance figures, stacked rhythms, and intoxicating grooves. Blurring the lines between contemporary and traditional, and Western and Eastern, the inspirational work is the exclamation point on a record that defined “world music” well before the term became co-opted as a catch-all genre.
Seth Price’s suite “Coinos Driftos“ announces itself with the sound of a rolling coin – a punctuation that repeats throughout the record – before dropping the listener into a storm of harsh winds and far-away bells. When the storm abates we find ourselves in a desolate field of stuttering electric harp and electronic sub-bass. Side B emerges from a mist of gentle tones that soon give way to a juddering contraption of dropped coins and clacking noises, which itself seems to summon the arrival of a war machine – a glorious squall of high tones, bristling with Helmholtz inner-ear sensations, all just barely kept in line by a loping, irregular bassline – that resolves into a final, more personal, piece of field recording. Seth Price made the music in 2023 by improvising three straight-through takes on Arp synthesizer, bells, and electric Nagoya harp, often playing two instruments at once, with all signals routed through pedals and processors; these tracks were sequenced before the addition of overdubbed bass guitar and field recordings.
The Loch Ness Mouse was started in 1992 by the brothers Ole Johannes and Jørn Åleskjær and has since the beginning been a band constantly moving forward with radically changing style expression from record to record. From the 60's jangly psychedelic debut "Flair for Darjeeling" via the more classic pop oriented "Key West" to the more soul, R&B and jazz inspired expression that characterized their album "11-22". "New Graffiti", is probably The Loch Ness Mouse's sharpest and softest record at the same time. It swings in moods and incorporates everything from organic band-played R&B to electric jazz, pop soul and rock. The band also has some strong guest appearances on the record, including soul singer Myrna Braza and rapper Stella Mwangi who contribute on the album's title track, which also was a single heavily rotated on Norwegian radio. The album is now beautifully remastered and available on vinyl for the first time,
Organic, electric, freeform. Pete Jolly's Seasons is comprised of melodies and textures composed live and without pretense—its grooves contain a complete and divine listening experience that surpasses all others of the era in which it was originally released, coming as close to transcendent musical meditation incarnate as one could possibly imagine. Seasons is an unsung masterpiece of ensemble groove and stellar musicianship, equally unsurpassed and inspired in its quiet excellence
While Seasons never had significant commercial success upon its release, it has since amassed a cult following, leading collectors to pay top dollar for copies of the rare record. Out of print since 1971, it has only been reissued once on CD.
In his liner notes accompanying this release, Dave Segal puts the album’s massive demand in perspective: “British label owner Jonny Trunk put up an original pressing of the LP for sale for an undisclosed but large sum on Instagram in January 2023, and it sold in five minutes. With Seasons back in circulation, maybe Pete Jolly will finally gain the broader audience that his phenomenal skills merit,” writes Segal. “If nothing else, it serves as a valuable lesson to artists: venturing outside of your comfort zone can bring the most interesting, enduring results.”
Remastered from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Coherent Mastering, this record not only foreshadows the roots of hip-hop but manages to embody the richness of a full album listening experience that few records can offer. Its timeless appeal is rare—and its dynamic range sets it apart as an album that straddles both the jazz and pop worlds in a way that almost no others can. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the changing and complex colors of Seasons for the first time ever since its initial release.
Organic, electric, freeform. Pete Jolly's Seasons is comprised of melodies and textures composed live and without pretense—its grooves contain a complete and divine listening experience that surpasses all others of the era in which it was originally released, coming as close to transcendent musical meditation incarnate as one could possibly imagine. Seasons is an unsung masterpiece of ensemble groove and stellar musicianship, equally unsurpassed and inspired in its quiet excellence
While Seasons never had significant commercial success upon its release, it has since amassed a cult following, leading collectors to pay top dollar for copies of the rare record. Out of print since 1971, it has only been reissued once on CD.
In his liner notes accompanying this release, Dave Segal puts the album’s massive demand in perspective: “British label owner Jonny Trunk put up an original pressing of the LP for sale for an undisclosed but large sum on Instagram in January 2023, and it sold in five minutes. With Seasons back in circulation, maybe Pete Jolly will finally gain the broader audience that his phenomenal skills merit,” writes Segal. “If nothing else, it serves as a valuable lesson to artists: venturing outside of your comfort zone can bring the most interesting, enduring results.”
Remastered from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Coherent Mastering, this record not only foreshadows the roots of hip-hop but manages to embody the richness of a full album listening experience that few records can offer. Its timeless appeal is rare—and its dynamic range sets it apart as an album that straddles both the jazz and pop worlds in a way that almost no others can. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the changing and complex colors of Seasons for the first time ever since its initial release.
High-level reissue of one of the legendary and world-renowned bands that emerged in Australia, essential for any lover and collector of Australian Rock and Punk Rock / High Energy. "Spaceman In a Satin Suit' was released in 1994 and it is one of the best and most mature works in Celibate Rifles' discography, and now for the first time on vinyl since its initial release. This great LP reflects the simple spirit of the Rifles' rock'n'roll with catchy choruses and signature guitars, with another part that they began to play with after this album, a more experimental and introspective side. The 14 songs of the Celibate Rifles introduce you with an electric storm, oppressively dense, hard and heavy, which then become faster, sharper and stronger, where they overflow Punk, which remains their hallmark, with sharp guitars, wounded and full of fury, until they reach a kind of breaking point towards a more experimental part, together generating an interesting sonic boom (The Ramones team up with Blue Oyster Cult in a particularly gloomy alley). Lovelock's lyrics exude more optimism than on previous LPs and this peaks with 'Big World', a declaration of love to his beloved planet Earth. There is also room for his usual biting social commentary. On the album we also find a tribute to one of its musical influences, 'Let's Do It Again' by Sonic's Rendezvous Band (with the participation of Fred 'Sonic' Smith, ex-MC5).
'Lost In The Night' is Palace's debut EP originally released in 2014. Now on Lewis Recordings the vinyl has been remastered and the CD comes as a gatefold. Whilst not a blues band in the traditional sense their blend of blues space rock is undeniably British with bluesy and soulful vintage overtones. Leo's sublime voice perfectly complements the dreamy ambient electric guitars creating a timeless sound, drawing comparisons to early Kings of Leon, Foals and past greats like Buffalo Springfield. Now signed to Fiction Records the band released two albums both critically and commercially acclaimed. Bassist William Dorey left Palace after their first album and now records under the name Skinshape. "It's darkly beautiful, with twilight seeming to break through every note." CLASH. // "It's a romance-bloomed introduction of the highest order." DIY // "Londoners Palace riff on Local Natives and Grizzly Bear's spacious, swooning sound."
Taken from from Skinshape’s 8th studio album ‘Craterellus Tubaeformis’. For fans of Khruangbin, El Michels Affair, Madlib, Bonobo. Will Dorey aka Skinshape has proven himself time and again a connoisseur for the cosmopolitan, across a prolific career expertly exploring understated sounds and theatrical textures. Taking his place alongside the likes of Khruangbin, Tame Impala, Bonobo and Madlib, Skinshape’s global kaleidoscopes are loaded with warmth and wisdom created on vintage analogue equipment applying a perfectionist’s touch. As a former member of indie band Palace, he has played everywhere from Glastonbury and BBC Maida Vale to headlining Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Skinshape’s words on the tracks. The Ocean: “This one is dedicated to all the surfers out there. Following the theme of 1960s rock and combining it with subtle elements of 90s beats (that you may not be able to hear).” The Longest Shadow (feat. Andy Platts): “This song takes a more experimental route than some of the more 'psych' tracks on the album. The hot vocals of Mamas Gun frontman Andy Platts lends the track a deep soul vibe, whilst Jon Moody (of the band Franc Moody) lends his piano skills for an electric solo in the latter part of the track.” Support from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, Jazz FM, Soho Radio, MOJO, Uncut, Shindig etc.
Loup Vert is the first jazz album of French pianist Julien Grassen Barbe, joined for the occasion by double bassist Sébastien Bacquias and drummer Fabien Duscombs. Conceived and composed in the Pyrenees mountains, recorded around Paris, it is an album of twelve tracks that came as a response to the proposal of Julien Galner (producer, founder of HIDD label). Loup Vert is the name of a fetish, a creature that breathes inspiration. Informed by many influences, from Frédéric Chopin to Morton Feldman, from Erik Satie to Herbie Hancock, through Keith Jarrett, Madlib and Naftule Brandwein, Julien Grassen Barbe's music opens a space dedicated to improvisation, melody, and the exploration of textures. Trained in classical music, graduate of the conservatory of the Hautes-Pyrénées region, where he is originally from, Julien Grassen Barbe is a songwriter and a musician, but also an ethnomusicologist, specialist in Jewish music, and a published author. A trip to New-York, land of Thelonious Monk, had a deep impact on him. He used it as a time for jam sessions, lessons with some of his favorite musicians, Aaron Parks, Aaron Goldberg, Barry Harris. Between 2014 and 2016, he explored pop, invited by Chateau-Marmont and Exotica to collaborate on two records as a keyboardist. It is on this occasion that he got closer to Julien Galner, producer, founder of the HIDD record label who asked him to record a jazz record. They entered the studio to record Loup Vert, a project that is a cross between impressionism, cinema, be-bop, mathematics and improvised music. Most of the pieces were written by Julien Grassen Barbe, mixing acoustic and electric/electronic worlds.
- Gomp 02:23
- DD 01: 37
- Burnley Road 02:42
- Ewan 01:18
Prangers’ sound is unprisable, perhaps impossible to uproot from the landscape that spawns it.
On Gomp, the Rochdale trio forge and graft a kind of sonic semblance of wire, flesh and bracken - a misshapen organism that scuttles across the damp amber of the pennines. Collected from their environment, collages of local field recordings and tape-jammed voices hang over the trio's mill-gamelan of scrap percussion, with the whole thing force-fed back on itself through a neat duality of blunt electronics and sharp sample processing.
Although the form of its language feels human, the rhythm and definition is stretched to a point of almost attractive grotesque: de-elasticated and drubbed into a curiously unrecognisable state by the busted motor speeds and over-voltaged electrics that power it.
Through the electric static of Prangers' transmit, the outline of an awesomely unsettling shape comes into focus.
Toki Fuko – Hues Of Movement After his notable debut on
Submersive’s VA Osmotic Particles in 2021, Toki Fuko makes a
captivating return with his first solo release on the label. ‘Hues of
Movement’ comprises three original tracks and two remixes by Anthony Linell and Artefakt, embodying Submersive’s ethos of a deep, hypnotic journey into organic yet dancefloor-ready Techno. In the three original tracks, Toki Fuko once again mesmerizes with his evolving soundscapes. Electrical pulses are enhanced with expansive reverbs and woven into groovy drum sequences. The tracks gradually evolve, reminiscent of a drop of ink dispersing in water, inviting listeners to immerse themselves in the sound and lose control as they become one with the music. Anthony Linell, who performed at Submersive’s inaugural party in Paris in 2017, offers a Train remix that seamlessly bridges his signature style with Toki Fuko’s sound. The track emerges like a living entity, combining dub-influenced meditative atmospheres with ecstatic elements, growing into a full-length auditory experience.
Artefakt rounds off the release with their ‘Warble’ remix, taking listeners into depths where light cannot penetrate. The Dutch duo presents a darker take, subtly manipulating elements and maintaining high tension, keeping the end of this sonic adventure tantalizingly out of sight. Accompanying the EP is artwork by Swiss-Moroccan artist Zineb Mezzour, offering a fresh interpretation of the concepts of surface and water that Submersive explores in each release. Known for her intricate work on paper and ceramics that evoke a microscopic, organic, and spiritual world, Zineb has performed a unique visual for this vinyl. She began by drawing invisible shapes in water, then brought them to life by adding ink that transformed into unpredictable fractal shapes. This artistic process was captured to create both the cover and the video teaser for the EP.
“An uplifting, tender, fun and imaginative music journey”
Warren Ellis, musician/composer (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dirty Three, Blonde)
“Carly’s score brings together both humour and haunting emotion, well crafted for this unique story”.
Martin Phipps, composer (The Crown, Napoleon)
Hear the soundtrack to British filmmaker Carol Morley’s spellbinding Typist Artist Pirate King by BAFTA nominated composer Carly Paradis.
Carly scores BBC’s Line of Duty and since 2022 plays live keyboards for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
The atmospheric score beautifully balances witty percussion and angelic voice for a road journey that Audrey Amiss, the typist, artist, pirate king herself, takes in the film, elegantly reflecting her expanded sense of reality and the uncanny delights of her abstract art.
The music features the experimental vocal group SHARDS led by Kieran Brunt, percussion extraordinaire Joby Burgess and Anna Drysdale on other-worldly horn alongside prepared piano and a one-holed flute.
Paying homage to the yellow electric car at the centre of the film, it’s pressed onto transparent yellow vinyl, with art design by Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth (20,000 Days on Earth) and examples of Audrey’s art on the label and sleeve.
With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Elétrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.
At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana’s sophomore Little Electric Chicken Heart was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME ‘Best Music Producer’ Award, recognising Ana’s deep passion for music production – a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo’s 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album Sim Sim Sim.
The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener “Electric Fish”, with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. “Boy of Stranger Things” is its bombastic counterpart. It’s the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright – lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.
“I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,” the non-binary artist states – before qualifying that though “feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.”
“There’s so many references to different decades,” Ana explains. “Seventies drums with eighties processing … Going back, getting beyond … Testing the limits of organic sounds”. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B (“Dela”) and art pop (“Dr. Sabe Tudo”). “Nuvem Vermelha” is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, “Coisa Maluca” loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, “Let's Go Before Again”, is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.
“Even if people don't find my own references here, they'll find theirs,” observes Ana. “Maybe that’s this record’s biggest goal.”
“My heart is loud,” Julia Holter sings on her sixth album Something in the Room She Moves, following an inner pulse. The Los Angeles songwriter’s past work has often explored memory and dreamlike future, but her latest album resides more in presence: “There’s a corporeal focus, inspired by the complexity and transformability of our bodies,” Holter says. Her production choices and arrangements form a continuum of fretless electric bass pitches in counterpoint with gliding vocal melodies, while glissing Yamaha CS-60 lines entwine warm winds and reeds. “I was trying to create a world that’s fluid-sounding, waterlike, evoking the body’s internal sound world,” Holter says of her flowing harmonic universe.
“What is delicious and what is omniscient?” she sings on “Spinning”, the album’s incantatory centerpiece. “What is the circular magic I’m visiting?” Or as Holter put it: “It’s about being in the passionate state of making something: being in that moment, and what is that moment?” She found it anew on Something in the Room She Moves, singing in somatic frequencies.
“My heart is loud,” Julia Holter sings on her sixth album Something in the Room She Moves, following an inner pulse. The Los Angeles songwriter’s past work has often explored memory and dreamlike future, but her latest album resides more in presence: “There’s a corporeal focus, inspired by the complexity and transformability of our bodies,” Holter says. Her production choices and arrangements form a continuum of fretless electric bass pitches in counterpoint with gliding vocal melodies, while glissing Yamaha CS-60 lines entwine warm winds and reeds. “I was trying to create a world that’s fluid-sounding, waterlike, evoking the body’s internal sound world,” Holter says of her flowing harmonic universe.
“What is delicious and what is omniscient?” she sings on “Spinning”, the album’s incantatory centerpiece. “What is the circular magic I’m visiting?” Or as Holter put it: “It’s about being in the passionate state of making something: being in that moment, and what is that moment?” She found it anew on Something in the Room She Moves, singing in somatic frequencies.
Eddie Harris was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. During his career he recorded over 50 albums, mixing jazz with funk which resulted in Grammy Award nominations for two of his albums. The 1983 People Get Funny... recording contains the title track "People Get Funny When They Get a Little Money" and "La Carnival", which are sublime examples of his jazz-funk style accompanied by vocals and scatting. "Silver Plated" and the other tracks are more in the jazz-hard-bop style. Featured on the album are drummer Carl Burnett, electric pianist William S. Henderson III and bass-player Larry Gales.
- Rip Wizard
- Cough It Up
- Carcinogen
- Dead Cloud
- Hex
- Lung Ruiner
- Dweller
- Marsquake
- Blast Off
WEED GREEN RIPPLE EFFECT Vinyl[21,43 €]
A resiny slab in the grand tradition of weed-fiend odysseys from Sleep, Weedeater and Bongzilla, ready to inebriate the riff-obsessed masses. Red-eyed at the crossroads of thunderous stoner sludge and towering doom, Hashtronaut are ready to daze and inebriate the riff-obsessed masses on this planet and beyond. No Return is a resiny slab In the grand tradition of weed-fiend odysseys from Sleep, Weedeater and Bongzilla, an intoxicating and pummeling journey through time and space infused with a lungful of potent hook-doom. Pummeling and intoxcating stoner metal for fans of Sleep, Bongzilla, Electric Wizard and Monolord LP pressed on sleek transparent yellow vinyl!
Was soll man machen, wenn einem die berühmte Muse mit einem ausgeprägten Gespür für Songwriting geküsst hat, die bloße Anzahl an Songs dann aber einfach zu viel für nur ein Projekt ist? Ähnlich dachte auch Matthias Schwettmann, Kopf der Hamburger Band Palila, die mit "Mind My Mind" im Mai ein neues Album veröffentlicht hatten, und startete einfach ein Solo-Projekt, das er mit dem recht viel Interpretationsspielraum lassenden Namen WOULD bedachte und sich nun entsprechend auszutoben gedenkt. Natürlich gibt es hier Parallelen zur Hauptband, ist er da doch auch der Hauptsongschreiber, aber aus zeitlichen und musikalischen Gründen ist WOULD das weitaus offenere, auch mal Grenzen sprengende Projekt.
What Do We Do Now is the fifth solo studio LP recorded by J Mascis since 1996. This is obviously not a very aggressive release schedule, but when you figure in the live albums, guest spots, and records done with his various other bands (Dinosaur Jr., The Fog, Heavy Blanket, Witch, Sweet Apple, and so on), well, to paraphrase Lou Reed, "J's week beats your year." What Do We Do Now began to come together during the waning days of the Pandemic. Utilizing his own Bisquiteen Studio, J started working on writing a series of tunes on acoustic with a different dynamic than the stuff he creates for Dino. "When I'm writing for the band," he says, "I'm always trying to think of doing things Lou and Murph would fit into. For myself, I'm thinking more about what I can do with just an acoustic guitar, even for the leads. Of course, this time, I added full drums and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic. Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it's just what happened." Two guest musicians are playing this time out; Western Mass local Ken Mauri (of the B52s) plays piano on several tracks. Since J himself has some experience with keys, when asked why he needed a hired gun, he says, "Ken is great, and he plays all the keys. I tried playing some keyboards on the first Fog album, but I'm really only comfortable playing the white notes, so it's kind of limiting. laughs Nowadays, I could just turn the pitch on a mini Mellotron to play different sounds, but black keys just seem hard. For whatever reason, I just like banging on the white ones. Seems like it's harder to figure out how to stretch your fingers around the other ones." Mauri has no such qualms and plays all the keys very damn well. He sounds especially great on "I Can't Find You," where he is Jack Nitzsche to J's Neil Young, creating one of the album's loveliest tunes. The other guest musician, Matthew "Doc" Dunn, is also prominent on this track. Dunn's steel guitar manages to both widen and soften the musical edges of the music, giving it a full classicist profile. Dunn is an Ontario-based polymath who J met through Matt Valentine. After J played on Doc's great 2022 Sub Pop single, "Your Feel," he figured it was time for payback. Both Dunn and Mauri add beautifully to the songs here, helping to transform them from acoustic sketches into full-blown post-core power ballads. What Do We Do Now is the finest set of solo tunes J has yet penned, and the way they're presented is just about perfect. Asked if he would be touring to support the album, J says he'll be doing some weekend dates, but he probably won't be putting a band together. And I'm sure these songs will sound great solo and acoustic, but the arrangements on this album are truly great and put a cool, different spin on Mascis' instantly Recognizable approach to making music. So, what do we do now? Not sure. But apparently, what J does is to make one of his most killer records ever. Hats off to him. - Byron Coley
WAREHOUSE FIND! INSTOCK NOW Long overdue restock of this Kelley Stotlz staple! Pressed up on his own label, CHUFFED! And we’re chuffed as ever to have more Kelley on our racks.. 17 Incredible tracks! This time Kelley genre plays in the POWER-PUB world, with dashes of Undertones, Stiff Records, 80's Iggy evenly applied. A chance buy of a $75 Japanese Electric Guitar conducive only to power chords, and repeated spins of the Mick Trouble LP made for a wild week of recording this edgy delight. Recorded Fall 2019 at Electric Duck Studios SF, CA. Mastered by Sir Mikey Young. Brought to you by Chuffed Records, a Puzzling Records Company. 250 pressed on split black and white vinyl.. a beauty mate!
Lisbet Fritze and Louise Foo have shared artistic trajectories for half of their lives, having been two thirds of pop noir purveyors Giana Factory. As Glas, the duo reveals a patchwork of everyday observations rooted in significant life changes: moving countries, becoming a mother, keeping sane with and without a significant other. The music conveys a quest for balance, riding the line between doomy drama and playing it cool.
Their 10 song, self-produced debut, Kisses Like Feathers, will be released, worldwide in March 2023, through Hamburg’s hfn music. All lyrics, vocals and instruments were performed by Glas, and recorded in their studio. The album was mixed by Anders Trentemøller, with artwork by Brunswicker studio The Copenhagen-based duo have never been short on inspiration. Lisbet has lent her vocal and guitar talents to Trentemøller, in both the studio and on stage. Louise has explored immersive music with avant-pop project SØSTR, along with her sister, Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes. Lisbet’s other life involves architectural design. Louise works with sound installations in a visual arts context. The musical ideas of these two polymaths find coherence in the newly-formed Glas.
Kisses Like Feathers embody Nordic duality. Dark at times, it also presents with an open ethereality. Some songs feel tailor-made for a club’s sound system. Others lend themselves to intimate, headphone moments. While Lisbet and Louise’s harmonious vocal stack is the common thread throughout the album, the musical fabric is interlaced with acoustic, electric, and electronic instruments. Lo-fi piano and acoustic guitars share a reciprocal space with rich, synthetic orchestration. Galloping, modern rhythms and folk arrangements are often featured in the same song. These elements, and so many others, buttress the pair’s hymns.
Miles Davis' A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the best jazz-rock record ever made. Equally inspired by the leader's desire to assemble the "greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard,” his adoration of Johnson, and Black Power politics, Davis created a hard-hitting set that surges with excitement, intensity, majesty, and power. Bridging the electric fusion he'd pursued on earlier efforts with a funkier, dirtier rhythmic approach, Davis zeroes in on concepts of spontaneity, freedom, and identity seldom achieved in the studio — and just as infrequently accepted by the mainstream.
Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and housed in a Stoughton jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g LP reissue brings it all to fore with startling realism. Benefitting from SuperVinyl’s nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and clean, ultra-quiet surfaces, this 180g LP showcases everything — from the bold tonality of the headliner's white-hot trumpet solos to the decay of crashing cymbals, carry of wiry guitar notes, and echoes of the studio — in reference fashion.
Bristling with exuberance, Davis' high-register passages explode with authority and commanding presence. Around him, a barrage of urgent backbeats, knifing riffs, and supple bass lines emerge amidst black backgrounds. One of the most prominent differences long-time fans will notice is how much more aggressive, immediate, and vibrant the music sounds, with those aspects central to the composer's original desires.
Utilizing wah-wah and distortion, the go-to instrumentalist of the performances— guitarist John McLaughlin — attacks with a nasty edge, slashing style, and vicious streak that allows A Tribute to Jack Johnson< cross the until-then-impenetrable divide between rock and jazz. Davis puts both feet in the former camp and erases any gap. The stories of the record’s creation are nearly as legendary as the sounds within: Two sessions, multiple jams, different sets of musicians (several uncredited), and near-miraculous production perfectionism that made it all appear cohesive.
The least-well-known masterpiece of Davis' career, the 1971 record — seamlessly assembled and spliced together by producer Teo Macero — was a victim of limited record-label promotion. Audiences also didn’t immediately know what to make of its original cover art — faithfully replicated here. In addition, the powers that be at Columbia Records were directing the public’s attention to Miles at Fillmore, a completely different kind of album guided by two keyboardists. A Tribute to Jack Johnson practically lives in a different universe, one from the future. To many listeners who did manage to hear it — among them critic/musician Robert Quine, Stooges leader Iggy Pop, and renowned critic Robert Christgau — it surpassed everything that came before.
Indeed, Davis treated it as a personal manifesto: An opportunity to salute the Black championship boxer admired for his threatening image to the establishment and impeccable taste in clothes, cars, women and music. Davis explains in the liner notes his affinity for Johnson — a stance mirrored by the defiant music, which hits with a prize fighter's force and reflects the graceful elegance with which a pugilist navigates the ring — and closes the album with a Johnson quote read by Brock Peters.
Inspired not only by Johnson but by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, Davis changed his approach and his band. He surrounds himself with a cadre of musicians in their 20s and, in the case of bassist Michael Henderson, a 19-year-old fresh from touring with Stevie Wonder. Henderson gives Davis what he requested: boogie-based grooves that don’t lose shape or direction. Soprano saxophonist Steve Grossman, drummer Billy Cobham, and organist Herbie Hancock adhere to a similar aesthetic that prizes brazenness, innovation, and energy.
In that vein, during a portion of “Yesternow,” Davis segues into a separate performance (which became known in its entirety as “Willie Nelson”) played by guitarists McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, bass clarinetist Bernie Maupin, keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Dig it!
Talking with jazz scholar Bill Milkowski — who himself noted how McLaughlin’s unrestrained style, decibel-forward volumes, and rapid-fire power chords engendered himself to the rock crowd at the same time that his harmonics and syncopation still definitely made him a jazz player — guitarist Henry Kaiser summed up part of the appeal of A Tribute to Jack Johnson as well as anyone, saying: “It’s a jazz record that way way more open than other jazz records at the time, but still not free jazz. McLaughlin’s rhythm guitar playing on ‘Right Off’ — the use of different chords in a rock shuffle than what anybody had used before — was revolutionary.”
And to think that’s just one aspect of a record that contains multitudes. “Never let them forget it.” Indeed.
Sitar-laden raga rock-xotica! Light the incense, turn on and tune out to this acid folk blend of electric oud, minitar and melodica - its genuine organic blend of both Eastern and Western sounds make this band truly sound like no other. Pressed on seaglass blue vinyl!
Ltd. Seaglass Blue Coloured Vinyl ( )
In 2005, an 18-year-old Raphael Gimenes left the sunny shores of Brazil behind, embarking on a journey to a distant and wintry land. "Dinamarca," the Portuguese name for Denmark, became his new home, where he has lived for almost two decades. Today, he presents his third album, a deep exploration of his life in Scandinavia. Rather than being a nationalistic tribute, "DINAMARCA" tells chapters from Gimenes" life story as a Brazilian living in the northern corners of the world. It guides us through the enchanting nordic woods, the vast fields stretching to the horizon, and the timeless sea resting beneath an endless sky. The melodies of blackbirds, the dances of red deer, and the whispers of ancient oaks form the backdrop for his musical stories. Within his songs, we experience moments of deep solitude and boundless inspiration, moments where reflection and creative passion intertwine. Gimenes skillfully turns the power of love into harmonies, dedicating songs to both his companion and his closest friends. Beyond these experiences, he leads us on journeys to Denmark"s neighboring lands, Norway and Sweden, where revelations and encounters with the mystical found their way into the lyrical fabric of his songs. The album"s orchestration includes Gimenes" vocals and the resonant chords of his classical guitar. Accompanying him throughout the album are Jan Kadereit"s multilayered percussion, and Lucas Delacroix"s bass synth, who also plays the electric guitar at times. The music further unfolds with the nuances of a string quartet, and a brass quintet, both recorded in the tropical highlands of Minas Gerais. Other guest musicians feature on individual songs, such as pianist Sebastian Macchi, flautist Flavia Huarachi, cellist Lucas Almeida, and singers Gaby Echevarria, Cecilia Pahl, and Cris Ferro. Gimenes has garnered acclaim and accolades across continents. His debut release, "Raphael Gimenes & As Montanhas de Som," delved deep into the rhythms and traditions of Brazil. It rose to prominence as the top Brazilian release in 2016 in Holland and was hailed as a "conceptual masterpiece" in Japan. His second album, "A Tongue Full of Suns," co-produced with Faroese multi-artist Teitur, ventured into the English language, blending Gimenes" inspirations from the world of prog-rock. Danish rock legend TimChristensen praised it as "top-shelf neo-folk," while Brazilian website80minutos described it as "hypnotizing." The music within "DINAMARCA" delves deep into the soul of a man who embraced a new land with open arms, while staying true to his roots. It unites elements from both of Gimenes" prior works, embarking on a journey across new musical horizons. The result is music that transcends borders, weaving itself into an intricately beautiful tapestry - a soul that has learned to harmonize with two worlds.
Embark on a sonic odyssey with "Between Poetry and Catastrophe," a 15-year labor of love by Norwegian electronic artist Ars Dada. The title draws inspiration from the poignant words "Music lives in the span between poetry and catastrophe", of the late Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim.
In this album, Ars Dada delves into the extremes—where chaos intertwines with serenity, and violence meets the poetic. Every track is a meticulously crafted journey, featuring real instrumentation such as vocals, piano, and strings, including a grand collaboration with the chamber orchestra of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. From intense breakbeat chaos to delicate neoclassical string pieces, Ars Dada invites you to experience the visceral beauty of this musical tapestry.
This isn't just an album; it's an exploration of the human condition at its most extreme.
Thank you to the performers and Arctic Philharmonic
Written and recorded with support from Fund for Performing Artists
All music written, arranged and produced by Erlend Bilsbak/Ars Dada
All strings recorded in Kysten studio by Sivert Henriksen
Violin on all tracks except Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Brynjar Lien Schulerud
Violin on Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Sander Tingstad
Viola on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Heidi Schulerud Bilsbak
Cello on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Håvard Bilsbak
Grand Piano on Fjordyp and Skyggespill performed by Yegor Shevtsov
Alto soprano on Fjordyp, End of September, Sub Luna Saltamus, Du Må Ikke Sove, and Grief performed by Marika Schultze
All strings on Tjernet by performed by Arktisk Filharmoni (Arctic Philharmonic)
Mastered by Julien Guillot at Electric Voyage Studio
Album photo and design by Erlend Bilsbak
- A1: Rizla Skank
- A2: Spike Heel Shoes
- A3: Natty Dread Ah Carry The Swing
- A4: Natty Dread On The Ball
- A5: Jamaican Dollars
- A6: Shelly With The Electric Belly
- Side Two
- B1: Step It Brother Clem
- B2: Stumbling Block
- B3: Cricket Loving Cricket
- B4: Natty Passing Through A Curfew
- B5: Natty Dread Is Not The Prodigal Son
- B6: Starsky And Hutch
The album features the offbeat unworldliness of the single, My Tentacles and the mesmeric standout track, Think Like a Swarm, reminiscent of Laurie Anderson's art meets pop music sensibilities. The album bristles with quirky, dysfunctional beats and chimeric fusions. Her Tentacles are truly her own, for this free-spirited
champion of outsider art pop.
The album features bass by Teitur Arnason & Renell Shaw, acoustic guitar & backing vocals Sam Carter, electric guitar by David Cunningham, Viola by Ella Burch, Cello by Francesca Ter-Berg & Lucinda Skinner, Trumpet by Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton.
Recorded / Mixed / Produced by Mieko Shimizu & Peter Morris at Street Furniture Studios, Soho, London. Mastered by Keith Tenniswood at Curve Pusher My Tentacles by Mieko Shimizu will be re- released on 13th March 2024 on Street Furniture Records.
It was originally released in 2011. This digitally remastered version has been repackaged with new designs by We Are Noisy.
During the late 1970s, after No Wave pioneer Lydia Lunch met saxophonist James Chance, she began setting her angry and disjointed poetry to anti-music, founding her ground-breaking band Teenage Jesus and The Jerks with Lunch’s shouted lyrics matched by her non-conventional use of electric guitar. The group’s self-titled debut EP is a fast and furious affair, produced by Robert Quine of the Voidoids/Lou Reed, with future Nick Cave drummer Jim Sclavunos on bass and Bradley Field on minimalist percussion; steeped in aggression and audacity, it’s an awesome disc that rebuffs punk’s easy cliches and refuses to be categorized. This reissue also includes the ‘Pre’ EP and the tracks from the legendary No New York compilation.
The fresh-faced folk pop band Stornoway seem promising: They play with guileless vigor, have a light-stepping chemistry as a unit, harmonize well. Their lead singer Brian Briggs has a lovely, pure high tenor, the kind of voice that effortlessly conveys simple longing. And yet, on their second album, Tales from Terra Firma, they continue to be almost crushingly dull, making well-appointed and cheerfully empty music that successfully communicates next to nothing.
Their Achilles Heel is a simple and unfortunate one, the same on Tales as it was on 2010's Beachcombers Windowsill. Stornoway are clearly in love with Celtic and British folk, and yet they can't write a memorable melody to save their lives. Try to sing along to the verse melody of "Zorbing", their most well-known tune, and pay attention to what your face muscles are doing; most likely furrowing with the effort of recall. Each of Tales' painstakingly arranged nine songs sinks underneath the weight of this insurmountable problem, which is a shame.
If you're making folk-pop, an inability to write a catchy melody is a difficult deficiency to overcome. Stornoway try valiantly with their complex arrangements, which quickly grow exhausting. “You Take Me as I Am” is cluttered with horn charts and pointlessly banging piano. “(A Belated) Invite to Eternity” builds to a full Explosions in the Sky crescendo, with glimmering tremolo guitar and a “Tonight, Tonight”-style sweeping string section, but having built zero momentum and generated zero heat until that point, their planned fireworks display fizzles.
“Farewell Appalachia” follows the same pattern, with celesta, finger-picked acoustic and electric guitar all tracing an emptily pretty circle with nothing in the center. The melody of "The Great Procrastinator" is almost cleanly written enough to be memorable-- and then the ersatz Dixieland jazz interlude crashes in. Stornoway are deft players, and the transitions are tightly managed, but this is praise on the same order as praising the brushwork in a hotel-room painting.
Briggs’ lyrics are filled with uncomplicated images of the good old British countryside, but his lyrics trample over all these dew-covered fields with wordy, awkward phrasing: "And in the gathering dew, I was lucid as a floodlight,” goes a line from “(A Belated) Invitation to Eternity”. “There's a hunger in the air/ A lemon swollen in the trees" he bleats on “Knock Me on the Head”. On “The Great Procrastinator”, he sings that he is “a scientist with far too many metaphors and far too little data to conclude in time.” They don’t read particularly well, and they don’t sound much more natural when sung.
Tales From Terra Firma is a peculiar record-- carefree music that feels leaden; tuneful-sounding songs that offer no tunes to hold onto. They seem an odd fit for 4AD, a label mostly home to singular voices. They may be a mercenary signing, an attempt to ride the coattails of Mumford and Sons' success. But Mumford and Sons, as head-smack simple and pandering as they are, have a pretty crucial ingredient in their arsenal: they write anthems. In that regard, they have Stornoway pretty thoroughly beat.
- A1: Diane Charlemagne (Feat Iman Houssein)
- A2: Love Supreme (Part 1 And 2)
- A3: The Elegance Of A Dancing Body
- A4: The Birth Of A New You (Feat Pierre Spataro)
- A5: Electric (Feat Aint About Me)
- B1: I Sing To Find Peace Of Mind (Feat Simbad)
- B2: Live In Darkness And Wait For Brighter Days
- B3: I Feel The Pain But Can't Describe It (Feat Aint About Me)
- B4: One Day You Smile, One Day You Cry (Feat Pierre Spataro)
- B5: The Soundtrack To A Beautiful Sunset On Your Way Home
Revered DJ and radio veteran Lefto Early bird has announced his album Motherless Father which will be released on 8th March.
Your favourite DJ’s favourite DJ presents his 10-track album; "This record feels like the starting point of a new era, which I’m sure a lot of people can relate to what I mean; the tracks I recorded, the ones I’m singing over and the guests i invited have been my way to deal with the pandemic, the motherless child that I am and the father that I am. I call this record a deep pre-club record, one that will give you the energy to go out there and party but with a feeling of letting go of everything."
Produced by Henry Jenkins (Surprised Chef), cinematic funk combo The Diasonics are back with a limited edition 45 feat. an explosive version of soul stormer "Beggin'. Limited to 500 copies worldwide.
Produced and mixed by Henry Jenkins (Surprised Chef), Russian cinematic funk combo The Diasonics unleash a limited edition 45 featuring an explosive version of soul classic "Beggin'. Composed by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina and initially brought to success by the Four Seasons of Frankie Valli in 1967, "Beggin" became a classic of the Northern soul scene in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. With a tight rhythm section, a super funky bassline and heavy wah-wah guitars The Diasonics version is an instant floorfiller. On the flip side the brand new track "Take One", an irresistible hammond-funk mover, full of heavy breaks and eastern spices.
Active since 2019 The Diasonics are five young and seriously talented Muscovite musicians: Anton Moskvin (drums), Maxim Brusov (bass guitar), Anton Katyrin (percussions), Daniil Lutsenko (electric guitar) and Kamil Gzizov (keyboards). In just a few years the band has amassed a cult following, releasing collectable and in-demand 45s on labels such as Funk Night Records and Mocambo Records. In 2021 they released their debut album "Origin of Forms" on Record Kicks produced by Henry Jenkins, producer amongst the others of the Australian cult instrumental band Surprise Chef. Thanks to the Diasonics's unique style that blends infectious Funk Instrumentals, East European flavours, abstract hip-hop and psychedelia, the album rapidly went sold out on vinyl and it's heavily praised on the international cinematic-funk scene.
Tucked away in a corner of northwestern Europe and so small you could drive through it in minutes without noticing you were ever there, Luxembourg is often overlooked. This is also true for Luxembourg’s music scene, and even more so in the early 1980s. Aside from a string of victories at the annual Eurovision song contest or the mighty Radio Luxembourg that had for decades been blasting jazz, rock and other modern music into stolid Western European ears, very little else seemed to be going on. But even in a country of barely 350,000 people, musical adventurers had picked up on the spaced-out jazz-funk of bands like Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, Weather Report, George Duke, and the electric Miles Davis. Under the leadership of trumpet player Gast Waltzing, a handful of them put together a band called “Atmosphere” and used the sound of their inspirations as a launchpad for their own musical exploration.
What you hold in your hands is a “best of” the Atmosphere band, which released two albums and a 7” single between 1981 and 1986. Privately pressed and long out of print, with original copies very hard to come by even in their country of origin, these records have for years been unheard by anyone outside hardcore collector circles. With no master tapes available, it was a real labor of love to track down the best quality vinyl copies and to reissue a selection of our favorite tracks in professionally remastered form.
Editions de Lux is a new label dedicated to unearthing and releasing records we love and believe deserve more attention, with a focus on Luxembourg and the surrounding countries. We are just the latest in a long line of immigrants who have come to work in Luxembourg and who are trying to find our own path into the heart of this mysterious little country that has much more to it than dark forests, medieval castles, rusting steel mills, and shadowy banks.
Marry Waterson – an essential part of the fabric of folk history in England – and Adrian Crowley– one of Ireland’s most acclaimed talents – collaborate for the first time on ‘Cuckoo Storm,’ a distinctive and powerfully lyrical album of 11 original songs produced with Jim Barr (Portishead).
The ‘Cuckoo Storm’ might never have been, were it not for a social media post Crowley wrote on a wintery late-night walk in a quiet neighbourhood of Dublin during lockdown. Struck by Waterson’s previous album ‘Death Had Quicker Wings Than Love’ (co-written with David A Jaycock), he wanted to mark the moment and pressed ‘send’ into the ether with no way of knowing what would follow. Drawn to his voice and seeing a kindred spirit in his poetic lyrics, Waterson was touched by his message and responded by asking if he would be interested in working together. His answer was a resounding ‘yes.’
‘Cuckoo Storm’ is a deeply compelling album. A serendipitous collaboration that has resulted in a collection of 11 beautifully crafted songs, sung by two voices that are a powerful match. Waterson’s brilliantly distinctive voice is underpinned by Crowley’s rich baritone and together it’s an intoxicating mix.
Joining Marry Waterson (vocals) and Adrian Crowley (vocals, piano, electric guitar, mellotron, harmonium, music box clarinet, marxophone, synth) on Cuckoo Storm are Jim Barr (Portishead) bass, lap-steel guitar;Pete Judge (Get The Blessing) trumpet, flugelhorn; Jake McMurchie (Get The Blessing) sax; James Gow, cello; Seán Mac Erlaine bass clarinet; Lisa Dowdall viola d’amore and Rob Pemberton on drums.
Marry Waterson – an essential part of the fabric of folk history in England – and Adrian Crowley– one of Ireland’s most acclaimed talents – collaborate for the first time on ‘Cuckoo Storm,’ a distinctive and powerfully lyrical album of 11 original songs produced with Jim Barr (Portishead).
The ‘Cuckoo Storm’ might never have been, were it not for a social media post Crowley wrote on a wintery late-night walk in a quiet neighbourhood of Dublin during lockdown. Struck by Waterson’s previous album ‘Death Had Quicker Wings Than Love’ (co-written with David A Jaycock), he wanted to mark the moment and pressed ‘send’ into the ether with no way of knowing what would follow. Drawn to his voice and seeing a kindred spirit in his poetic lyrics, Waterson was touched by his message and responded by asking if he would be interested in working together. His answer was a resounding ‘yes.’
‘Cuckoo Storm’ is a deeply compelling album. A serendipitous collaboration that has resulted in a collection of 11 beautifully crafted songs, sung by two voices that are a powerful match. Waterson’s brilliantly distinctive voice is underpinned by Crowley’s rich baritone and together it’s an intoxicating mix.
Joining Marry Waterson (vocals) and Adrian Crowley (vocals, piano, electric guitar, mellotron, harmonium, music box clarinet, marxophone, synth) on Cuckoo Storm are Jim Barr (Portishead) bass, lap-steel guitar;Pete Judge (Get The Blessing) trumpet, flugelhorn; Jake McMurchie (Get The Blessing) sax; James Gow, cello; Seán Mac Erlaine bass clarinet; Lisa Dowdall viola d’amore and Rob Pemberton on drums.
Oxblood & Blood Red[42,82 €]
Full of collaborations with fellow artists, incl. Thor Harris, Meredith Yayanos, Matt Lebofsky, Dominique Leroni Persi, & members of Kitka Eastern European Women’s Choir. RIYL: Primus, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Mastodon, Bauhaus. After thirteen years of hibernation, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the most gloriously uncategorizable American band in existence, has emerged from stasis to proudly announce the imminent release of their fourth studio album, of the Last Human Being. The album marks the first release of AVANT NIGHT - a new imprint headed by Nick Ohler and facilitated by Joyful Noise Recordings. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, comprised of multi-instrumentalists and rotating vocalists Nils Frykdahl, Carla Kihlstedt, Michael "Iago" Mellender, Matthias Bossi, and Dan Rathbun, plays an arsenal of instruments ranging from the somewhat standard (drums, electric guitars, bass, electric violin) to the rare (bass harmonica, nyckelharpa, marxophone) to the homemade (Slide-Piano Log, Electric Pancreas, Pedal-Action Wiggler). The group has consistently evaded easy categorization, garnering accolades from across the aisles of contemporary classical music, prog rock, industrial music, metal, avant-garde improv, and more. Their music, in turns bashing and bucolic, enveloping and unsettling, tends towards long-form epics interspersed with mysterious field recordings. "As this slow-rolling planetwide Anthropocene Extinction event deepens, Sleepytime's work has only grown more resonant, more prescient," offers Mer Yayanos, current symposiarch and secretary of the Museum's long standing social math club, the John Kane Society. "What better time for them to Bring Back the Apocalypse than right now, with a new full-length record that integrates the past and the future?" "SGM creates a cohesive statement of virtuoso metal musicianship with the avant garde focus of an art-rock collective." Pitchfork // “I love this style of music –it has great power, great musicianship and great bass playing by Dan Rathbun, sometimes on instruments he built himself. One thing you gotta love about music: this band may have been influenced a bit by King Crimson, but then I, a member of King Crimson, was very much influenced by them” Tony Levin (bassist, King Crimson
Gold Nugget[42,82 €]
Full of collaborations with fellow artists, incl. Thor Harris, Meredith Yayanos, Matt Lebofsky, Dominique Leroni Persi, & members of Kitka Eastern European Women’s Choir. RIYL: Primus, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Mastodon, Bauhaus. After thirteen years of hibernation, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the most gloriously uncategorizable American band in existence, has emerged from stasis to proudly announce the imminent release of their fourth studio album, of the Last Human Being. The album marks the first release of AVANT NIGHT - a new imprint headed by Nick Ohler and facilitated by Joyful Noise Recordings. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, comprised of multi-instrumentalists and rotating vocalists Nils Frykdahl, Carla Kihlstedt, Michael "Iago" Mellender, Matthias Bossi, and Dan Rathbun, plays an arsenal of instruments ranging from the somewhat standard (drums, electric guitars, bass, electric violin) to the rare (bass harmonica, nyckelharpa, marxophone) to the homemade (Slide-Piano Log, Electric Pancreas, Pedal-Action Wiggler). The group has consistently evaded easy categorization, garnering accolades from across the aisles of contemporary classical music, prog rock, industrial music, metal, avant-garde improv, and more. Their music, in turns bashing and bucolic, enveloping and unsettling, tends towards long-form epics interspersed with mysterious field recordings. "As this slow-rolling planetwide Anthropocene Extinction event deepens, Sleepytime's work has only grown more resonant, more prescient," offers Mer Yayanos, current symposiarch and secretary of the Museum's long standing social math club, the John Kane Society. "What better time for them to Bring Back the Apocalypse than right now, with a new full-length record that integrates the past and the future?" "SGM creates a cohesive statement of virtuoso metal musicianship with the avant garde focus of an art-rock collective." Pitchfork // “I love this style of music –it has great power, great musicianship and great bass playing by Dan Rathbun, sometimes on instruments he built himself. One thing you gotta love about music: this band may have been influenced a bit by King Crimson, but then I, a member of King Crimson, was very much influenced by them” Tony Levin (bassist, King Crimson
Fire! have always been about finding the essence by getting to the core of the music. Their 8th album sees the trio - for the first time on record - stripped down to the bare-bones essentials; with no flutes, no electronics, no guests and no extras, recorded live in the studio to analogue tape - the Steve Albini way - with the master himself at the controls in Electrical Audio in Chicago. Thus, this album stands as a true testament to the group's expressive power and glowing intimacy. Musically, Testament can be seen as an extension of their previous full length album Defeat, released two years ago, to the month. A solitary bass figure from Johan Berthling, quickly joined by a stout drum groove, gets it all going in a familiar fashion before Gustafsson adds desolate cries and whispers from his baritone sax. This approach is even more honed on the second track, with the most simplistic groove you're likely to hear in jazz and Gustafsson shifting between extended, lonely, tortured lines, only once abrupted by a series of short bursts. The third track starts with loose and relatively lively drums that continue throughout, but the mournful saxophone maintains a subdued atmosphere. Track four is a real beauty with the trio slipping into a trance-like dream state before shifting gear halfway into its nine minutes. The final track is the most dynamic of the lot, shifting between bursts of energy and lyrical beauty. Fire's 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 Testament there's been six albums, including collaborations with Jim O'Rourke (Unreleased?) and Oren Ambarchi (In The Mouth A Hand), as well as the Requies EP with Stephen O'Malley and David Sandström in 2022. Testament was recorded and mixed during a three-day stint at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago in December 2022. Mats Gustafsson - baritone sax Johan Berthling - bass Andreas Werliin - drums.
Fire! have always been about finding the essence by getting to the core of the music. Their 8th album sees the trio - for the first time on record - stripped down to the bare-bones essentials; with no flutes, no electronics, no guests and no extras, recorded live in the studio to analogue tape - the Steve Albini way - with the master himself at the controls in Electrical Audio in Chicago. Thus, this album stands as a true testament to the group's expressive power and glowing intimacy. Musically, Testament can be seen as an extension of their previous full length album Defeat, released two years ago, to the month. A solitary bass figure from Johan Berthling, quickly joined by a stout drum groove, gets it all going in a familiar fashion before Gustafsson adds desolate cries and whispers from his baritone sax. This approach is even more honed on the second track, with the most simplistic groove you're likely to hear in jazz and Gustafsson shifting between extended, lonely, tortured lines, only once abrupted by a series of short bursts. The third track starts with loose and relatively lively drums that continue throughout, but the mournful saxophone maintains a subdued atmosphere. Track four is a real beauty with the trio slipping into a trance-like dream state before shifting gear halfway into its nine minutes. The final track is the most dynamic of the lot, shifting between bursts of energy and lyrical beauty. Fire's 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 Testament there's been six albums, including collaborations with Jim O'Rourke (Unreleased?) and Oren Ambarchi (In The Mouth A Hand), as well as the Requies EP with Stephen O'Malley and David Sandström in 2022. Testament was recorded and mixed during a three-day stint at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago in December 2022. Mats Gustafsson - baritone sax Johan Berthling - bass Andreas Werliin - drums.
Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der berühmtesten Vier aus Birmingham werden die "Erfinder" des Heavy Metal von dem prominent besetzten Tribute-Trio um Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" erneut geehrt. Mit dieser liebevolle Hommage liefern die Amerikaner brillante Interpretationen von BLACK SABBATHs zweitem und drittem Album ab, also die klassischen Heavy Metal-Meisterwerken "Paranoid" (1970) und "Master of Reality" (1971).
ZAKK SABBATH wurden von BLACK LABEL SOCIETY-Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde gegründet, der auch als langjähriger Lead-Gitarrist von OZZY OSBOURNE und inzwischen auch noch von PANTERA bekannt ist. Nachdem ZAKK SABBATH anfangs mit wechselnden Mitgliedern nur live auftraten, fand die Band schließlich mit dem OZZY OSBOURNE- und ROB ZOMBIE-Bassisten Blasko und Joey Castillo am Schlagzeug (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) eine stabile Besetzung. Inspiriert durch das 50-jährige Jubiläum von BLACK SABBATHs selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, veröffentlichte ZAKK SABBATH im Jahr 2020 eine Hommage an diesen monumentalen Heavy Metal-Meilenstein unter dem Titel "Vertigo". Das Album wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen mit Lob überhäuft. Das Trio feierte einen weltweiten Erfolg, der sich in beeindruckenden Platzierungen in diversen Charts widerspiegelt: Das Album stieg auf Platz 5 in den US Hard Music Charts, Platz 7 in den Current Rock Albums Charts und Platz 27 in den Billboard Top Album Charts ein. In Frankreich gelang sogar ein Platz 1 in den Metal Album Charts und neben einem Platz 3 in den deutschen Album Charts sowie Platz 9 in den UK Top 40 Rock/Metal Charts finden sich weitere Einträge in anderen Ländern.
Die glühende Leidenschaft für Heavy Metal hat ZAKK SABBATH dazu getrieben, BLACK SABBATH mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" ein noch monolithischeres Denkmal zu errichten. Nicht allein Headbanger dürfen sich über fantastische Interpretationen dieser klassischen Songs freuen, die sicherlich zu den einflussreichsten und folgenreichsten zählen, die je von Menschenhand komponiert wurden!
Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der berühmtesten Vier aus Birmingham werden die "Erfinder" des Heavy Metal von dem prominent besetzten Tribute-Trio um Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" erneut geehrt. Mit dieser liebevolle Hommage liefern die Amerikaner brillante Interpretationen von BLACK SABBATHs zweitem und drittem Album ab, also die klassischen Heavy Metal-Meisterwerken "Paranoid" (1970) und "Master of Reality" (1971).
ZAKK SABBATH wurden von BLACK LABEL SOCIETY-Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde gegründet, der auch als langjähriger Lead-Gitarrist von OZZY OSBOURNE und inzwischen auch noch von PANTERA bekannt ist. Nachdem ZAKK SABBATH anfangs mit wechselnden Mitgliedern nur live auftraten, fand die Band schließlich mit dem OZZY OSBOURNE- und ROB ZOMBIE-Bassisten Blasko und Joey Castillo am Schlagzeug (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) eine stabile Besetzung. Inspiriert durch das 50-jährige Jubiläum von BLACK SABBATHs selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, veröffentlichte ZAKK SABBATH im Jahr 2020 eine Hommage an diesen monumentalen Heavy Metal-Meilenstein unter dem Titel "Vertigo". Das Album wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen mit Lob überhäuft. Das Trio feierte einen weltweiten Erfolg, der sich in beeindruckenden Platzierungen in diversen Charts widerspiegelt: Das Album stieg auf Platz 5 in den US Hard Music Charts, Platz 7 in den Current Rock Albums Charts und Platz 27 in den Billboard Top Album Charts ein. In Frankreich gelang sogar ein Platz 1 in den Metal Album Charts und neben einem Platz 3 in den deutschen Album Charts sowie Platz 9 in den UK Top 40 Rock/Metal Charts finden sich weitere Einträge in anderen Ländern.
Die glühende Leidenschaft für Heavy Metal hat ZAKK SABBATH dazu getrieben, BLACK SABBATH mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" ein noch monolithischeres Denkmal zu errichten. Nicht allein Headbanger dürfen sich über fantastische Interpretationen dieser klassischen Songs freuen, die sicherlich zu den einflussreichsten und folgenreichsten zählen, die je von Menschenhand komponiert wurden!
Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der berühmtesten Vier aus Birmingham werden die "Erfinder" des Heavy Metal von dem prominent besetzten Tribute-Trio um Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" erneut geehrt. Mit dieser liebevolle Hommage liefern die Amerikaner brillante Interpretationen von BLACK SABBATHs zweitem und drittem Album ab, also die klassischen Heavy Metal-Meisterwerken "Paranoid" (1970) und "Master of Reality" (1971).
ZAKK SABBATH wurden von BLACK LABEL SOCIETY-Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde gegründet, der auch als langjähriger Lead-Gitarrist von OZZY OSBOURNE und inzwischen auch noch von PANTERA bekannt ist. Nachdem ZAKK SABBATH anfangs mit wechselnden Mitgliedern nur live auftraten, fand die Band schließlich mit dem OZZY OSBOURNE- und ROB ZOMBIE-Bassisten Blasko und Joey Castillo am Schlagzeug (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) eine stabile Besetzung. Inspiriert durch das 50-jährige Jubiläum von BLACK SABBATHs selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, veröffentlichte ZAKK SABBATH im Jahr 2020 eine Hommage an diesen monumentalen Heavy Metal-Meilenstein unter dem Titel "Vertigo". Das Album wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen mit Lob überhäuft. Das Trio feierte einen weltweiten Erfolg, der sich in beeindruckenden Platzierungen in diversen Charts widerspiegelt: Das Album stieg auf Platz 5 in den US Hard Music Charts, Platz 7 in den Current Rock Albums Charts und Platz 27 in den Billboard Top Album Charts ein. In Frankreich gelang sogar ein Platz 1 in den Metal Album Charts und neben einem Platz 3 in den deutschen Album Charts sowie Platz 9 in den UK Top 40 Rock/Metal Charts finden sich weitere Einträge in anderen Ländern.
Die glühende Leidenschaft für Heavy Metal hat ZAKK SABBATH dazu getrieben, BLACK SABBATH mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" ein noch monolithischeres Denkmal zu errichten. Nicht allein Headbanger dürfen sich über fantastische Interpretationen dieser klassischen Songs freuen, die sicherlich zu den einflussreichsten und folgenreichsten zählen, die je von Menschenhand komponiert wurden!
Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der berühmtesten Vier aus Birmingham werden die "Erfinder" des Heavy Metal von dem prominent besetzten Tribute-Trio um Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" erneut geehrt. Mit dieser liebevolle Hommage liefern die Amerikaner brillante Interpretationen von BLACK SABBATHs zweitem und drittem Album ab, also die klassischen Heavy Metal-Meisterwerken "Paranoid" (1970) und "Master of Reality" (1971).
ZAKK SABBATH wurden von BLACK LABEL SOCIETY-Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde gegründet, der auch als langjähriger Lead-Gitarrist von OZZY OSBOURNE und inzwischen auch noch von PANTERA bekannt ist. Nachdem ZAKK SABBATH anfangs mit wechselnden Mitgliedern nur live auftraten, fand die Band schließlich mit dem OZZY OSBOURNE- und ROB ZOMBIE-Bassisten Blasko und Joey Castillo am Schlagzeug (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) eine stabile Besetzung. Inspiriert durch das 50-jährige Jubiläum von BLACK SABBATHs selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, veröffentlichte ZAKK SABBATH im Jahr 2020 eine Hommage an diesen monumentalen Heavy Metal-Meilenstein unter dem Titel "Vertigo". Das Album wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen mit Lob überhäuft. Das Trio feierte einen weltweiten Erfolg, der sich in beeindruckenden Platzierungen in diversen Charts widerspiegelt: Das Album stieg auf Platz 5 in den US Hard Music Charts, Platz 7 in den Current Rock Albums Charts und Platz 27 in den Billboard Top Album Charts ein. In Frankreich gelang sogar ein Platz 1 in den Metal Album Charts und neben einem Platz 3 in den deutschen Album Charts sowie Platz 9 in den UK Top 40 Rock/Metal Charts finden sich weitere Einträge in anderen Ländern.
Die glühende Leidenschaft für Heavy Metal hat ZAKK SABBATH dazu getrieben, BLACK SABBATH mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" ein noch monolithischeres Denkmal zu errichten. Nicht allein Headbanger dürfen sich über fantastische Interpretationen dieser klassischen Songs freuen, die sicherlich zu den einflussreichsten und folgenreichsten zählen, die je von Menschenhand komponiert wurden!
Albert Hammond is one of the most prolific, versatile songwriters and performers of his or any generation. His earliest solo hits include “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “The Free Electric Band.” His contributions to popular music (writing and and/or contributing to hit songs by Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias, Diana Ross, Starship, The Hollies, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin) cross genres and generations. Body of Work is an all-new, original, and essential addition to this iconic canon. Written during a time of tumultuous change, Body of Work is the moment a master songsmith takes a step back to reflect on the world, “This is the first step I had to take and the album is what I discovered about me and all of us once I started here,” says Albert. “I can feel the discomfort and impatience in it. That’s just the honest feeling when the world changes for you from oasis to desert, from beauty to chaos… freedom to fences.” From gutsy opener “Don’t Bother Me Babe” through the wistful “Looking Back” and closing with the reflective “Goodbye LA,” Body of Work is an album for the ages, crafted with 50 years of words, experience, and wisdom.
First official vinyl reissue of this sought-after psychedelic folk-rock / Americana / SSW album from 1976.
Major Arcana was a group led by counter-culture Milwaukee icon JIM Spencer, featuring a revolving cast of musicians / collaborators. The core of the band was Jim Spencer (guitar, vocals); Randall Dubis (electric guitar); Michael Burdecki (bass, slide guitar) and Jim Kitchen (percussion, harmonica). They were helped in the studio by some friends / musicians like Sigmund Snopek III and Barry Patton among many others.
Released on Jim Spencer’s own private label (A Major Label, home also to Anonymous of “Inside The Shadow” fame), the album opens with the terrific psych-folk of “Western Wind” and closes with an acid-folk rendition of “Greensleeves”. In between, you’ll also find some blues rock, SSW ballads, jazzy bits…
File next to groups like Pearls Before Swine or Bermuda Triangle.
Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der berühmtesten Vier aus Birmingham werden die "Erfinder" des Heavy Metal von dem prominent besetzten Tribute-Trio um Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" erneut geehrt. Mit dieser liebevolle Hommage liefern die Amerikaner brillante Interpretationen von BLACK SABBATHs zweitem und drittem Album ab, also die klassischen Heavy Metal-Meisterwerken "Paranoid" (1970) und "Master of Reality" (1971).
ZAKK SABBATH wurden von BLACK LABEL SOCIETY-Gitarrist und Sänger Zakk Wylde gegründet, der auch als langjähriger Lead-Gitarrist von OZZY OSBOURNE und inzwischen auch noch von PANTERA bekannt ist. Nachdem ZAKK SABBATH anfangs mit wechselnden Mitgliedern nur live auftraten, fand die Band schließlich mit dem OZZY OSBOURNE- und ROB ZOMBIE-Bassisten Blasko und Joey Castillo am Schlagzeug (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) eine stabile Besetzung. Inspiriert durch das 50-jährige Jubiläum von BLACK SABBATHs selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, veröffentlichte ZAKK SABBATH im Jahr 2020 eine Hommage an diesen monumentalen Heavy Metal-Meilenstein unter dem Titel "Vertigo". Das Album wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen mit Lob überhäuft. Das Trio feierte einen weltweiten Erfolg, der sich in beeindruckenden Platzierungen in diversen Charts widerspiegelt: Das Album stieg auf Platz 5 in den US Hard Music Charts, Platz 7 in den Current Rock Albums Charts und Platz 27 in den Billboard Top Album Charts ein. In Frankreich gelang sogar ein Platz 1 in den Metal Album Charts und neben einem Platz 3 in den deutschen Album Charts sowie Platz 9 in den UK Top 40 Rock/Metal Charts finden sich weitere Einträge in anderen Ländern.
Die glühende Leidenschaft für Heavy Metal hat ZAKK SABBATH dazu getrieben, BLACK SABBATH mit dem Doppelalbum "Doomed Forever Forever Doomed" ein noch monolithischeres Denkmal zu errichten. Nicht allein Headbanger dürfen sich über fantastische Interpretationen dieser klassischen Songs freuen, die sicherlich zu den einflussreichsten und folgenreichsten zählen, die je von Menschenhand komponiert wurden!
A Colourful Storm begins 2024 with a luxurious suite of daydreaming introspection courtesy of Unchained, the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis who was last seen on vinyl in the final Blackest Ever Black release. Recorded at home between 2020 and 2023, Gabbeh is the latest expression of Davis's guitar-based instrumental musings and represents a stylistic evolution of his self-released noise tapes and CD-Rs into romantic, bossa nova-influenced melody-making. He wrote the tracks sporadically, with minimal instrumentation and intervention. Electric guitar, bass improvisations and rhythms from an old drum machine are layered and given new life, the space between them softly breathing with minutiae of the everyday: the buzz of cicadas, the passing of cars, the whistling of passersby. The psychogeography of Grenoble, Davis' home since 2018, played a conscious role in the weaving of Gabbeh's fabric: "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city… 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix". Opener 'Largo' sets the mood, its primitive samba rhythm concealed by a cloud of saudade. The bebop sensibility follows suit, the tension between its angular picks and percussive shuffle a wondrous balancing act, while the intoxicating sway of 'Rambler' is perhaps the most poignant expression of longing and loss we've heard in recent years. Highly recommended for fans of Durutti Column, Maurice Feebank, Toninho Horta.
By welcoming the beauty of imperfection and simplicity, Sven Wunder applies the timeless wisdom of wabi sabi on this musical journey. What you can hear is filtered through Ukiyo-e (which translates as “pictures of the floating world”), which illustrates everyday life, as well as through Japonism, the study of Japanese art, and more specifically its influence on European works. The result is a surface that creates an illusion by sound. The infusion of Min’yō with jazz rock, this hazy scene evokes the landscape of Monet’s ”The Water Lily Pond”, which depicts the painter’s Giverny garden, with a Japanese bridge, bamboo, ginkgo trees and the reflection of the sky in the pond. This illusion constructs both time and space.
The surface of the music, like the canvas of the painting, invents a journey between now and then by interpreting the idiom of folkloric and western art instruments. In this composition, the sound of the Western concert flute, which stretches back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, evokes the sound of the bamboo-flute (”shakuchachi”), which reached its peak during the Edo period. The guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, with a more than 2,500 year history, joins traditional Japanese folk melodies with modern pop percussion and 20th century electronic instruments such as the Moog synthesizer, Wurlitzer electric piano and electric bass.
This is the illusion that celebrates the fleeting nature of all things. A journey. A deep inhale and a slow exhale. It has a mix of jazz (both funky and progressive), East Asian and South Asian sounds. The idea of fusing these styles and reframing them with the aesthetic of wabi sabi is to reconnect with nature and concentrate on asymmetries and emphasize ornamentation to generate new ways of looking at the world, here and now.
Warehouse Find!
A true studio visionary and son of Incognito's Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, Daniel Maunick virtually grew up behind the mixing desk and worked his way through the scenes of drum n' bass, acid-jazz, disco, samba, deep house and beyond. As Far Out's in-house producer his work is a key component in the consistency and transience of the label's sound, with key albums include Azymuth's Fênix, Marcos Valle's Estatica, Sabrina Malheiros' Dreaming and Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra. His latest credit on the catalogue is the next chapter of his Dokta Venom alias, Moodswings.Each track brings you a visceral dancefloor experience both sonically and structurally. Opener 'See the Sun' evokes an elevated, cloudy ether, with each kick drum another step up to the sky. Title track 'Mood Swings' deploys components of broken beat, garage, house, IDM and boogie, but shrouds them into a hazy deepness, like a dream through Maunick's musical memories. Whilst keeping the same intensity, 'I Owe u Something' ups the tempo and swings the mood. Propulsive percussion blurs the acoustic with the electric, glowing synths and anguished vocals formulate this eruptive full-floor belter that lodges somewhere in between early Pepe Bradock and Azymuth.With a solo album from Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, a collaboration between Sean Khan and Hermeto Pascoal, along with a long awaited new record from Sabrina Malheiros, 2017 is set to be an exceptional year for Maunick and Mood Swings is an inspired prelude of things to come.
- A1: Amazon Adventure (Jazzanova Remix)
- A2: Woodland Warrior (Roc Hunter Remix)
- B1: Laranjeiras (Orange Grove) (Orange Grove)
- B2: Xingo (Dan Jones Remix)
- C1: Chameleon (Offworld Remix)
- C2: The Quest (Electric Soul Remix)
- D1: That's Today (London Electricity Remix)
- D2: Laranjeiras (Orange Grove) (Orange Grove)
Warehouse Find!
Garrett T Capps is one bad mofo. GTC is a real hombre. He makes cowboy kraut with his band NASA Country & also lots of Tex-Mex rock n' roll. He is San Antonio's resident cosmic country gonzo honky tonk weirdo freak! And he is a national treasure in Holland. He can usually be found at The Lonesome Rose, the bar he owns in the city he was born in. And now you can hear his iconic debut album, Y Los Lonely Hipsters, on vinyl on Cow Pie Recordings. Garrett T. Capps and his band, The Only Hipsters, recorded and released the nine-track L.P back in 2016. Now, for the first time ever on vinyl, this album can be heard on our limited edition queso splatter and nacho orange colorways. “It’s good to change up the diet here and there, but I felt strongly that sticking to menudo in the studio would help us achieve the acoustic terroir we were after,” said Capps. “The Only Hipsters and I are all San Antonio guys, and I wanted the music to reflect that. Tex-Mex in the left ear and T-bone steaks in the right ear.” With Songs like “Born in San Antone,” Capps and The Only Hipsters hope to serve up a solid portion of South Texas timbre, complete with heavy steel guitar, accordion, violin, acoustic and electric guitars, organ, bass and drums in various arrangements. This record holds an esteemed spot in Texas cosmic-country releases
After Mischpoke #1 with BKGD Audio, Gras, Sonae and Lucrecia Dalt, this time Clark, Oval, Electric Indigo and Gudrun Gut are at the controls for #2. The Düsseldorf/Brisbane underdogs Tidy Kid, Pondskater, Ai and The Visitor provide the source material for their remixes. The music ranges from the living room to the club.
'And Also The Trees' compelling new album, 'Mother-of-Pearl Moon', was born from a series of extraordinary electric guitar improvisations created by guitarist Justin Jones in the pre- and postdawn hours during a month of solitude in 2020. Each piece then developed in its own way - the guitar, often left in its raw, unaltered form, is accompanied by the voice of his brother Simon, bringing imagery and narrative, Colin Ozanne's clarinet and piano adding poise, colour and harmony, Paul Hill's percussion creating depth_ on occasion an autoharp, a Moog_ all leading the listener from the depths of the English countryside far out in all directions of the compass. The music is often filmic, reminiscent of various film genres from the '50s to the '70s. This is most apparent in 'This path through the meadow', a song that explores the intertwining of human nature and nature in its animal and botanic form, and in its video where the band appear to be performing to an imaginary screening. Elsewhere, the album title track transports the listener across the oceans to the Far East...and to its exotic gardens, still waters and the 'Mother-of-pearl moon'. And Also The Trees (AATT) formed during the original post-punk era in rural Worcestershire, an environment that has provided a constant inspiration to a group whose music has often explored the dark underbelly as well as the beauty of the British countryside. They are renowned for their captivating live performances, a unique style of mandolin-like electric guitar, evocative lyrics and dark jazz rhythms - not to mention a creative independence fiercely preserved for over four decades. Founded by singer Simon Jones and his guitarist brother Justin, AATT have maintained a continuous presence on the post-punk, alternative rock and Gothic scenes worldwide. They have released fifteen studio albums.
Six years ago, Oum Shatt released a critically acclaimed debut album that led to Song of the Year awards from Berlin Radio Eins ("Gold To Straw") and TAZ Popblog ("Power To The Women Of The Morning Shift"), as well as BBC and Arte features and appearances at SXSW, Transmusicales in France and Electric Picnic in Ireland. Now, the Berlin-based band, whose members are otherwise known from bands such as Kissogram, Fenster, Die Türen, Golden Showers and Peaches, consisting of singer and songwriter Jonas Poppe, founding member Chris Imler on drums, guitarist Richard Murphy, and Rémi Letournelle on bass and synthesizer – return with a second effort that even surpasses their debut. Building on the minimal-rock style of their debut album (Vogue Magazine), OUM SHATT weaves a mystic, at times psychedelic soundscape with meandering guitars, a wild percussive aesthetic, and Jonas Poppe’s evocative, mantra-like baritone. "Opt Out" also stands as a thematic concept album, delving into the individual's various forms of resistance against societal expectations. While drawing from obscure influences, the album remains unmistakably unique.
Opt Out by Oum Shatt, released 26 January 2024, includes the following tracks: "Love the Way She Stands", "Madame LeSoleil LeVant", "Over the World and Out", "Investors" and more.
This version of Opt Out comes as a 1xLP.
The vinyl is pressed as a blue disc.
A very "MGMT MGMT album" which the band describes as "a group of songs about love and change, first and foremost." Descriptors from the band include: bold, flavorful, playful, sincere, optimistic, perceptive. Loss Of Life was produced by MGMT and Patrick Wimberly (Solange, Lil Yachty, MGMT), with mixing and additional production by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Interpol, Spoon). The album includes the first ever MGMT song with a feature, courtesy Christine and the Queens. The album artwork has been licensed from John Baldessari's estate and is an artwork titled Noses & Ears, Etc. (Part Two). Formed in 2002, MGMT released their era-defining debut album Oracular Spectacular in 2007. One of the most influential albums of the '00’s - it went on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide and was certified Gold or Platinum in over 10 major territories, including double platinum in UK, Platinum in Australia, Gold in France and Platinum in the USA. It gave the world evergreen hits such as “Kids”, “Electric Feel” and “Time to Pretend” which have inspired, and continue to inspire new generations of artists and music fans alike to this day - those three songs combined have been streamed over 2 billion times on audio streaming platforms since released. Always taking an unexpected creative turn at every new record, but always maintaining their cultural and commercial relevance over the subsequent 15 years, MGMT later released three further studio albums: “Congratulations” (2010), “MGMT” (2013) and “Little Dark Age” (2018).
“I’ve been wanting to make a record like this for a long time. The band, Franny and I produced it ourselves in my living room with no adults present. It’s all acoustic, not an electric lick on the album…banjos and mandos and string basses and stripped-down drums. I put a ton of work into the tunes and I’m pretty proud of this batch. Had a little help from my old co-writing pal Jaida Dreyer on a couple, also wrote a good one with my screenwriter buddy, Brian Koppelman. Lots of gambling songs and lots of minor keys. And my band guys absolutely killed it too, they’re all badasses. I’m dedicating the record to my old compadre, Ian Tyson, who passed away a few months back. I’ve named the album for him as well. ‘El Viejo’, or ‘the old one’ is what our mutual friend Tom Russell took to calling him in later years. The title track is a pretty special one for us. We had a blast making this thing, and we hope you enjoy it too.” - Corb Lund
The iconic Is It Balearic heads to the slightly less iconic - in Balearic terms - West Midlands to retrieve this great EP of electric dance effort gems from Wrekin Havoc. 'Camino' is a loose, melody-rich sound with silvery drums and real nostalgia, then 'Moon Dance' it's a more laidback and zoned out sonic daydream for lazy and sunny afternoons by the pool. There is an electro vibe to 'RLTW' which is a reworking of a Christopher Cross Yacht classic then a T Kurt Remix reworks it into a boogie banger. Another varied and vital EP of grown up dance sounds.
From the straight-edge allure of 'Dime' to the enigmatic charm of 'Stranger' and the jazzy sophistication of the title track, ending with the deep electro funk tune 'Easy Virtue,' Lok44's 'Late Reaction' is a captivating exploration of divergent forms of electric sweat music. Out on Pomelo, one of the longest running techno label out there.
Dean McPhee’s fifth full length album 'Astral Gold' sees the Yorkshire-based electric guitarist's music continue to evolve beyond the spacious folk-inspired fingerpicking that typified his earlier releases into a heavier sound combining deep bass, textured reverbs and waves of saturated delay. 'Astral Gold' brings together several now out-of-print tracks that were originally released on the Reverb Worship and Folklore Tapes labels, along with two brand new pieces – all recorded live in single takes. There is a cosmic theme throughout, including a track based on the local lore of The Ilkley Alien (The Second Message), a trance-inducing drone piece inspired by the orbit of the 'doomed moon' Triton (Neptune) and a meditation on lunar volcanism combining baroque melodies, EBow bass and found recordings of a crackling fire played through guitar pickups (Lunar Fire). Throughout this intricately layered and beautifully crafted album McPhee draws on a wide range of influences from Kosmische Muzik and Dub to Stoner/Doom Rock, British Folk and underground electronic music, and the result is both intoxicatingly atmospheric and sonically inventive. ‘Astral Gold’ was mastered and cut by Anne Taegert at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin and is pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl. ‘Astral Gold’ follows Dean McPhee’s recent appearances this year on several well received compilation albums ‘I Thought I Told You: A Yorkshire Tribute to Michael Chapman’ on the Tompkins Square label, ‘Ballads of Seduction, Fertility & Ritual Slaughter’ released by Wasistdas, and Folklore Tapes’ limited edition cassette ‘A Web of Braided Willow (The Folklore of the Wickerman)’. "His take on the late folk guitarist’s ‘Caddo Lake’ could have you believing the pinch of callous on string was birdsong – a meditative gem" (Noel Gardner, The Quietus) "Magpahi's synth-drizzled Maypole, Dean McPhee's Sunset and Meg Baird's Willow's Song are particularly gorgeous" (Jude Rogers. The Guardian) "An excellent new single from UK guitarist Dean McPhee...the A-side is an echo-laden slice of smoldering instrumental guitar, pulling at the mind like taffy and living up to its cosmic title" (Raven Sings the Blues) "Absolutely lovely stuff; shimmering, gorgeous, delicate electric guitar playing of the very highest quality
Arketip Discs is a Barcelona-based vinyl and digital imprint co-founded by Spear and Makuto that has featured music by Reeko, Truncate, Temudo, ORBE and Eduardo De La Calle.
Makuto is the label head from Spain with a growing reputation and who has kept his productions exclusively to Arketip Discs so far. ''Sfera'' is a hypnotic and atmospheric cut with modular accents and tones that morph and expand in sleek style.
A. Morgan is from Manchester, UK and has been establishing his productions with revered releases on the likes of Jay Clarke's Blackaxon, Joton's New rhythmic, Hans Bouffmyhre's Sleaze and Berlin's BCCO. ''Vogue One'' has a stripped-back style and groove focused rhythm with creative sound design and precise percussion highlights.
VIL is known as a core member of the Portuguese outfit HAYES, and has released music on Ben Klock's Klockworks, Ben Sims' Hardgroove, Shlomi Aber's Be As One, and TWR72's Float amongst others. ''The Reaction'' has a shuffling and quirky rhythm with deep, floating chords and electric elements creating a unique vibe.
Also from Spain, Psyk is the Non Series label owner whose back catalogue includes Tresor, Luke Slater's Mote Evolver, Scuba's Hotflush, Reeko's Mental Disorder and Chris Liebing's CLR to name only a few. Psyk's impressive remix of ''The Reaction'' succeeds in expanding distinct electric fragments from the original into a tapestry of organic, modular soundscapes
Extra Characteristics
Printed Sleeve
Sublime Christian folk jazz from 1970s Norway. In the '60s and '70s churches throughout Europe had serious competition for the attention of its younger members. The ecclesiastical establishment was shocked to hear teenagers expressing 'Sympathy for the Devil' rather than sympathy for Christ and his teachings. In Norway at this time the same situation was prevalent as was happening across Europe; teenagers were turning their back on the church and embracing the temptations and pleasures of the flourishing new pop culture. Priest Olaf Hillestad was all to aware of what was going on, and instead of relying on the floundering traditional methods of rounding up his flock, he embraced the musical aspirations of his younger followers. In so doing he founded the Forum Experimentale in Oslo, an organisation that promised in its statutes to "boldly work for a renewal in service life, church music and church art". It was here in the late '60s where That's Why founder members Jan Simonsen and Per Arne Løvold became responsible for the jazz masses at Forum Experimentale's chapel. Together with some top-notch musicians from other Christian music centres around the Oslo district, they recorded two albums in 1970 and 1971 under the moniker That's Why. That's Why blended deep acoustic and electric jazz with elements of Norwegian folklore and Christianity. They also included interpretations of young and old transcendental Norwegian poets such as Sidsel Mørck Krogdahl, Alfred Hauge and Aslaug Vaa, as well as introducing English and Swedish songwriters such as Åke Rosenstrøm and Charles Wesley and even William Blake's "Children of the Future Age" into the mix. This highly original fusion of secular rhythmic music, jazz improvisation and a distinguished selection of transcendental lyrics is one of the standout qualities of That's Why, separating them from more programme-orientated Christian music. The unique mix leads the listener to think they are hearing among the record grooves the tightness of grey, sober Protestantism along with the ecstasy of a lay preacher. This listener, for one, has never heard anything quite like it.
Repress!
When Network Records originally issued “Innovator” in 1991 we knew that the music contained within was timeless. At that time, of course, we had no grasp of how well Derrick’s epic soundscapes would time travel. We christened the collection - “Soundtrack For The Tenth Planet” - because it seemed like the music (and Derrick) had indeed arrived from another world.
The release has been acclaimed as iconic because Derrick, the madcap and maverick philosopher of Detroit Techno, introduced the concept of dance music with a musical and emotional agenda way beyond anything that had come before. Beats with beauty. Literally the strings of life. Where fellow musical geniuses Chic had previously urged everybody to simply "Dance, Dance, Dance" mood alchemist Mayday merged simple yet cerebral dreamscapes with strange and urgent complex dance rhythms and invited us all to Dance And Dream. And in a strange juxtaposed way helped birth the hedonistic Acid House scene with classics “Nude Photo” and “Strings Of Life”
The energy is frenetic, but merged with a new age ambience. The gems collected on this offering were iconic in 1991, now they cause mass hysteria when Derrick turns his one time musical experiments, created in a tiny room in Detroit, and turns them into epic concerts with orchestras and musicians across the globe. “Hand In Hand” existed in 1991 and we wanted to release it then, but it’s taken until now for the complete 13 minute recording to finally meet the world.
It will be revered, because like all of Derrick May’s music it is life affirming. Emotions Electric indeed.
The original “Innovator” release was housed on one single slab of wax. This time around we have expanded it to two discs to make space for “Hand Over Hand” and also so everything elsewhere - masterpieces remastered - can be presented in a complete and superior fashion. Whatever the tweaks, changes and updates etc all these years on, this music still sounds gloriously alien and groundbreaking. But there’s still no Tenth Planet.
"Innovator" remastered by Curvepusher, London 2019. Re-presented by Network Records in conjunction with Derrick May.
2023 Repress
Frank Maston’s Tulips is a sample-ready film score to the best 70s movie never made. Originally a super-limited self-release on his Phonoscope label in late 2017, Tulips has already become incredibly sought-after. Be With were introduced to Maston by mutual friends Aquarium Drunkard and it didn’t take long before we decided this modern classic deserved a reissue.
Inspired by the deep-grooving soundtracks of Italian cinema - think Morricone, Umiliani and Alessandroni - Maston conceived the entire Tulips project as a continuation of these revered works. Frank designed the artwork and made two 16mm films to accompany the music: “It wasn’t just the LP… it was kind of a whole vibe I was trying to create. Not really trying to emulate the things that influenced me but more trying to make something that could sit alongside those records on a shelf. I’m still very proud of the project.”
There’s a distinct library music feel too, with wiry organ, spacey keyboards and loping 60s guitar hinting at KPM and DeWolfe. Like the best library music, Tulips creates a cinematic universe through sound alone, evoking moving images in the listener’s technicolour imagination. It turns out that was accidentally on purpose: “I was discovering a lot of library music for the first time… listening to a composer’s entire catalog or finding all this obscure stuff. I wasn’t entirely conscious of the influence until I started making this music and realized I was channeling the vibe. That’s when I began focusing more on weaving melodic themes throughout the record to make it function more like a soundtrack”.
Tulips was recorded between 2015 and 2017 in a small studio in a village called Zwaag in Holland, during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. “Tulips” comes from the title of the very first demo he made in Holland, it was the first thing that came to mind. Makes sense.
Recording in Europe with some very European influences in mind, Frank wanted to eschew any American influences. But we can still feel the studio wizardry of the likes of Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson in there somewhere. A psychedelic bedroom-pop song-cycle, full of hypnotic hooks and dusty drums, Tulips manages to sound charmingly homemade yet wholly widescreen.
Dreamy opener “Swans” is an exquisite soul instrumental and recalls the soft-psych of Koushik, which Be With loves of course. Tropicalia influences abound in the cool and breezy “New Danger” and the KPM-references are loud and proud on the lush organ pop of “Old Habits”. Fast-paced “Chase Theme No. 1” manages to be both tense and laid back, decorated by acid-drenched spaghetti Western guitars. The glorious Gainsbourg-esque melancholia of “Infinite Bliss” is all gauzy flutes and happy-sad vocalizing and the title is almost perfect: it’s bliss, no question; *if only* it went on forever. Side A closes with “Evening”, a subtle bossa nova beat thing. Gorgeous.
Side B opens with the heat-shimmer guitars of “Rain Dance”, evoking an unreleased Byrds or Buffalo Springfield backing track. Yes, it’s that good. “Sure Thing” is music to accompany an elevator ride you never want to end, but in a good way! The ornate “Garçon Manqué” is as beautiful as the instrumentals on Pet Sounds (think “Let’s Go Away For A While”) and the wistful “Turning In” starts like a stroll in the park before Maston introduces a scorched-Earth guitar solo that would startle if it wasn’t so pitch-perfect. “Chase Theme No. 2” is a briefer, more keening counterpart to what we hear on side A. The head-nod bass-drums-keys funk of “Hues” rounds out this staggeringly assured set; still opening each phrase with a plaintive strum, but using vibrato and heavy reverb to accent the electric organ melody. Sublime.
All these top drawer musical references might sound like just more of the usual release notes hyperbole, but there’s a reason that this still-young LP already changes hands for big money. It really is that good. Of course that first pressing didn’t hang around for long and Frank’s regularly been asked about a re-press pretty much ever since.
Re-issuing Tulips on Be With made sense to Frank “because the record would fit in so well with the catalogue”. Having already delved into the archives of KPM and Themes, and beginning to do the same with Coloursound and Selected Sounds, the collaboration “just makes sense and seems inevitable”. We agree.
Frank wasn’t sure a record of instrumentals with obscure soundtrack references would be an easy sell when it was originally released, and was surprised when Tulips turned out to be exactly what some people wanted to hear. We reckon its timeless beauty ensures that it’ll *always* have an audience.
The record was originally cut to be played at 45rpm, a technical quirk that grants the home listener the opportunity to go deeper, for longer. Played at 33rpm, the more languid unfurling of the tracks proves just as wonderful a trip. As a psilocybin-soaked case study from Aquarium Drunkard back in January of 2019 describes, some of the songs sound as if they were intended to be heard that way. The slower speed allowing the listener to step inside and perhaps even “crack the code” of the music’s meaning.
Mastered for this vinyl reissue by Simon Francis and featuring alternative burnt orange artwork from Maston himself, this Be With pressing is limited to just 500 copies. Hypnagogic it may be, but please don’t sleep.
- A1: Darkland (00:39)
- A2: Tulips (02:55)
- A3: Immaculate Conception (00:46)
- A4: Love Theme No 3 (01:23)
- A5: The Owl In Daylight (00:51)
- A6: Innovative Patterns (02:24)
- A7: Osiris (00:58)
- A8: Groove Experiment No 3 (01:49)
- B1: Raincloud (03:57)
- B2: Phonic (00:48)
- B3: Love Theme No 2 (01:58)
- B4: Italian Summer (00:52)
- B5: Endless (02:11)
- B6: Wonder Theme (01:09)
- B7: Willow (01:06)
2023 Repress
Maston’s Darkland is a breezy collection of the material from the Tulips sessions that didn’t make it on to the original LP. Originally a digital-only release for those in the know in the autumn of 2018, after re-issuing Tulips in 2020 it made too much sense for Be With to give Darkland a vinyl release.
Like Tulips, Darkland was recorded mostly in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, between 2015-2017 during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. Bits were also done in Los Angeles on some extended trips back home.
The collection plays like an alternate view of Maston’s instant modern classic Tulips; a companion piece to the LP proper with similar mixture of shorter themes and more full length tracks. As Frank Maston explains: “I think Darkland is the shadow of Tulips in a way… what it might’ve been in a different universe. But the heart of Tulips beats in these songs as well and they evoke the same memories and feelings for me. I see my process playing out across these songs - lots of experimentation and trying out new techniques and sounds and just sort of going for it.”
Frank goes on: “It was all from the same pool of material, like 30+ ideas. I was making a lot of little demos… some would be more fleshed out and become songs and others would just be a cool riff and not go anywhere. When I started trying to form it all into an LP I went through all the sessions and ideas and collected the ones I thought were the most fleshed out and cohesive together as a whole. There were a fair amount of songs that were finished and in hindsight really should have been on Tulips (like what would’ve been the title track). And the rest of these songs are either very early versions of tunes that ended up on Tulips or some cool ideas that just ended up being dead ends. It definitely shows how wide my net was in the beginning before I narrowed the record down stylistically.”
Darkland opens with its ornate 39 second title-track before striding into “Tulips”, that full-length title-track that never was. It’s a real head-nod, percussive-rich electric piano stunner that would’ve been a comfortable standout on the album proper. But now this “downlifting” gem is given ample room to shine on this record.
The funky organ-led bass and drums workout “Immaculate Conception” will keep your neck gently snapping while MPC fiends go reaching for their sampler. And that’s gospel. “Love Theme No 3” cuts a breathtakingly stylish vibra-slapped swathe through the middle of the opening side before we’re startled by the pronounced bass and twinkling percussion of “The Owl In Daylight”. Charming digi-drums underpin the wonky synth (quiet-)banger “Innovative Patterns” which has a lovely melodic switch-up in the final third before the tempo (and hairs on your neck) rise on the faintly creepy yet imminently groovy “Osiris”. The gorgeously soft-focus “Groove Experiment No 3” closes out the first half in slow-mo wonderment.
The lushly melancholic “Raincloud” ushers in side B before the emotionally-stirring “Phonic” taps at the door, coming on like the long lost sister to Pet Sounds’ “Let’s Go Away For A While”. Next up, the swooning beauty “Love Theme No 2” keenly sways in front of you, growing ever more insistent and hypnotic. The too-short “Italian Summer” conjures the same flirtatious imagery as the title hints at whilst “Endless” is a fascinating “piano-pella” alternative version to “Rain Dance” from Tulips. “Wonder Theme” has a nostalgic, exotic 60s swing and album closer “Willow” is a hushed, campfire folk gem. The gently circular strumming is just magical.
Speaking to Aquarium Drunkard back in 2019 about the sessions that became Tulips, Frank noted: “I was really surprised by the lack of sunlight during my first winter in Holland, so I would call it Darkland which then became the name of the first demo I wrote during that time. It was also the working title of the record when I first started writing. Some are full songs that didn’t make the cut (including what would have been the title track), some are just ideas that I never finished.”
Whilst we were working on Darkland’s vinyl release Frank explained more specifically about the music that didn’t make it on to Tulips: “When I was putting together the tracklisting for Tulips I was already thinking that whatever didn’t make it onto the LP would be cool to release eventually somehow. The response to Tulips has been so passionate over the years that it’s nice to be able to offer another piece of that world. And for me personally it’s amazing to have more of my work out there in the world. Most common bit of feedback was that many of these songs should have been on Tulips. The odd friend says it’s much better than Tulips.”
Just like Tulips before it, Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering for Darkland has been cut at 45rpm so you can trip out to this as well at a woozy 33 1/3. The artwork too has been designed by Frank himself as a literal visual continuation of the Tulips cover.
We couldn’t possibly say whether Darkland is better than Tulips, and luckily we don’t have to decide.
Psychedelic Anxiety, as a mood, goes something like this: overwhelming, existential, vertigoic, arising when we stare into the void. This metaphysical unease also serves as the title for Brooklyn-based musician Frances Chang’s second album, and as a feeling it’s present throughout, charged by all things occultish. Recorded by Chang and engineer Andrea Schiavelli, featuring a cast of revered NYC DIY players, including Schiavelli (Eyes of Love) and Liza Winter (Birthing Hips), Psychedelic Anxiety relishes in the refining of aesthetic, in the electricity of improvisation, in balancing bleakness with humor. It embodies an idiosyncratic genre Chang calls slacker prog — offbeat, but brimming with spiritual and emotional resonance. The record infuses artifacts of the mundane with otherworldliness— even the love songs live more in the realm of fantasy (or horror) than the romantic. The psychic twin and mirror image of Chang’s 2022 debut full-length Support Your Local Nihilist, Psychedelic Anxiety by comparison is less urgent, leaving space for more nuance and storytelling. Together, these albums represent a new cycle of creativity for Chang, a reset to zero. “Eye Land,” captures Chang on a tour around the Irish and English countryside, in a moment of major life change. “Lying around your spare room,” she sings, “Sky is cloudy here in June.” Around her, guitar sputters and stops. Vocals branch off like vines on the side of an old house. It is a profoundly lovely song, a freaky miniature in the way that a Broadcast song is a freaky miniature. “Darkside” opens up with a particularly memorable narrative moment. “Last night I saw Parasite,” sings Chang, describing how she saw it alone, how regular life that week was acute, weird, intense. How she found comfort in resignation. After all: Psychedelic Anxiety is a serene, bizarre record full of alien sounds and big introspection.
Doppel-Vinyl inklusive CD-Kopie! 2019 waren DESTINATION LONELY unermüdlich und schamlos kreativ, getrieben von vielen Shows und die durchgedrehte Situationen, welche derzeit auf unserem Planeten passierten. Sie buchten das Studio für zwei Wochen, nahmen 17 Songs auf, alles Killertracks, hauptsächlich Originale gespickt mit einigen Coverversionen u.a. von THE TROGGS (I Want You), THE STOOGES (Ann). Arthur Larregle (JC SATAN) und Stefano Isaia (MOVIE STAR JUNKIES) steuerten auch noch Songs bei. VVR/Beat-Man: "Ich könnte einige Track wegschneiden, um ein normales Album zu veröffentlichen, aber was solls !! Sie sind alle so verdammt gut !!! Deshalb haben wir beschlossen, dieses Doppelalbum heraus zu bringen, und du wirst nicht enttäuscht sein und es lieben, wie wir es auch Lieben. Das ist Raw Super Filthy Garage Noise Trash Rock'n'Roll in seiner besten Tradition, und für alle Gitarren-Wichser gibt es einen 13-minütigen Gitarren-Orgasmus (Nervous Breakdown). Und für alle ELECTRO- und SYNTH-Nerds haben wir hier den Re-Mix von Schizo MF !!! DESTINATION LONELY, drei Agressiv-Negativ Junge Männer aus Toulouse/Bordeaux, entsprungen einer reichen ROCK'N'ROLL GARAGE NOISE TRASH-Kultur in Südfrankreich. Sie spielten und formierten legendäre Bands wie "Blew Up", "THE FATALS", "Space Beatnicks", "Jerry Spider Gang", "Beach Bitches" oder "Kung Fu Escaelators", um nur einige zu nennen, im In- und Ausland tourten sie und veröffentlichen Schallplatten auf unzähligen Labels und sind jetzt auf dem Weg ins Nirgendwo als DESTINATION LONELY. Lo Spider hat sein eigenes Aufnahmestudio "Swampland", in dem er Bands wie THE SPITS, THE MONSTERS, MAGNETIX, BAD MOJOS oder DEAD GHOSTS aufnimmt, um nur einige zu nennen.
Egil Kalman has levelled up on this one; we were stunned by his last solo opus, and on ‘Forest of Tines’, the bassist/synthesist has traded the EMS Synthi 100 for the Buchla Series 200, recording at Stockholm’s illustrious Elektronmusikstudion (EMS). Here, he builds on themes he explored on his debut with a generous 20 track double album that marks firmer lines between Scandinavian folk music and contemporary electro- acoustic minimalism.
Using woody, synthesised tones that gradually open into sawing wails, Kalman suggests harmonies that lie between the 17th century polska and earlier, pre-Renaissance sounds, mimicking the tonal and textural fluctuations of strings with advanced tuning and sequencing techniques. There are plenty of artists delving into the past to unravel their identity, but Kalman’s approach is refreshingly unadulterated. He recorded the entire set on the fly, using just spring reverb to add extra texture, without overdubs or modern DAW-style layering, the Buchla 200 played almost like an acoustic instrument.
There’s a glimmer of vintage acid on the lithe ‘Dub One’, a complex, rhythmic experiment that lashes its pulses together with willowy portamento slides. And on ‘Klystron’, he absorbs warehouse techno’s architectural oomph, splaying psychedelic, reverberating ascending sequences over jagged kicks; listen carefully, and there’s something else going on in the background too, as Kalman meets his stabs with flute-like echoes. It’s a peculiar cocktail of ideas and provocations: ‘Mbira’ finds the composer shaping his synth into dusty, fluttering hits that resemble the titular Zimbabwean finger harp, and on ‘Drums’, he pipes pre-recorded percussion through the system, triggering its oscillators and helping shape its rhythmic patterns. He’s most comfortable when he’s mines a hazier past, ‘Autumn Leaves’ is a mystickal, just intoned droner that harmonises with Mattias Petersson’s awesome ‘Triangular Progressions’, and ‘Subtines’ sounds as if Kalman has deployed his instrument in a subterranean crevice, resonating his rumbles around synthetic water droplets.
If it’s uncanny court music you’re particularly interested in, there’s plenty of that too. ‘Polska’ is another sublimely hauntological Swedish folk interpolation, while closing track ‘Ocquet’ appears to blur Kalman’s ideas more thoroughly, melting folk phrasing and peaceful, uneasy drones to draw us to a neat conclusion. Soft-hearted but animated, it’s modern electronic music that isn’t afraid of employing vintage techniques to suggest new directions.
Warehouse find!
While the German producer Martin Matiske averages a new release under his given name every few years, there was a long stretch of time in which sightings of his Blackploid alias were much more rare. After dropping an EP for Frustrated Funk in 2006, fans found further material hard to come by over the next decade or so. However, Matiske has reinvigorated Blackploid in recent times, with the project making a few compilation appearances and dropping a couple of EPs across 2020.
That run now culminates inCosmic Traveler, a four-track affair which marks Matiske's debut appearance on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit. Given the long wait, it's great just to see Blackploid back among the fray once again. But for the project's CPU curtain-raiser to be an EP of such high-quality techno jams? Now that really is spoiling us.
Cosmic Traveler's title nods towards the sort of stargazing aesthetics one finds in classic Detroit techno. However, while there are undoubtedly ties to the Motor City in this music, the record ultimately steers less towards spacious atmospherics and more towards the taut, lean machine-funk of seminal practitioners like Dopplereffekt.
Matiske sets his stall out from the off. Opener 'Electric Engine' begins with a run of stiff-necked 808 kicks before hissing hi-hats, a grizzly bassline and all manner of futuristic sounds enter to warp the tune into hyperspace. Following cut 'Night Drive' repeats the trick of 'Electric Engine' but adds a pleasingly dinky synth lead in order to nudge itself slightly towards bleep-techno territory.
The two cuts on Cosmic Traveler's B-side are pure late-night goodness, a pair of mid-set heaters primed for dark basements. 'Pleasure Activism' delivers on the promise of its title and then some, pushing the Kraftwerk template to extremes by bringing a load of gnarly synth lines into play over a wobbling acidic chug. Finally, EP closer 'The Race' is reminiscent of both the twisted machine-funk of Gerald Donald's Japanese Telecom project and the playful modern evolutions of artists like fellow CPU high-flyer Jensen Interceptor.
The resurgence of Martin Matiske's Blackploid project continues withCosmic Traveller, an EP of timeless electro-funk and techno.
FFO: Dopplereffekt, Japanese Telecom, Jensen Interceptor, Cardopusher
When Paul Murphy released his critically acclaimed debut solo album, Claremont 56, in 2006, many thought it would be the first of many. In a way, it was, as in the years since he’s released a string of collaborative sets alongside Benjamin J Smith (as Smith & Mudd), and as part of underground ‘supergroups’ Paqua, Bison and Hillside. But that second solo album? Well, it just had to wait. In early 2023, Murphy finally decided to scratch that itch, roping in some of his most trusted collaborators (keyboardist and bassist Michele Chiavarini, percussionist Patrick Dawes, guitarist Dave Noble and HF International’s Kashif included) to lay down a sumptuous set of tracks that not only showcases his now familiar (bit hard to pigeonhole) neo-Balearic sound, but also proves how much he has matured as a writer and producer since 2006.
In The Garden of Mindfulness is richly musically detailed, expertly arranged and full to bursting with fluid instrumental solos, with Murphy and his collaborators serving up tracks that brilliantly blur the boundaries between languid jazz-funk, downtempo, vintage synth-laden krautrock, dubby grooves and sun-splashed soundscapes. It simply sparkles from the moment that opener ‘Eighty Three’ slowly rises like the morning sun, with gentle, undulating synth sounds ushering in a slow-motion jazz-funk excursion rich in twinkling electronics, spacey pads and warming bass. Recent single ‘Katanaboy’, a lusciously layered dub disco-infused dancefloor excursion in Murphy’s familiar style, raises the temperature a touch, before ‘Bonne Anse’ and the sublime ‘Unka Paw’ (whose combination of evocative fretless bass, extended electric piano solos, Clavinet licks and acoustic guitars is genuinely spellbinding) invite a combination of wavy shuffling and flat-on-the-back, eyes-closed appreciation.
And so it continues, with gorgeous title track ‘In The Garden of Mindfulness’ making way for the boogie-influenced, Japanese-British brilliance of ‘Hangsang’ (check the jaunty pianos, yearning breakdown and exotic melodies). Murphy’s long held love of warm, weighty bass, hypnotic disco grooves, colourful analogue synth sounds and jazzy guitars once again comes to the fore on ‘Way Of The Hollow’ before the album reaches a fittingly triumphant conclusion with ‘Late In March’.
A neat sonic summary of all that makes the set such a rewarding and entertaining experience, repeat listens reveals a wealth of musical details, from off-kilter triple-time drums and surprise bass guitar solos, to impeccable piano solos (provided by the immensely talented Chiavarini), fizzing jazz-funk synth doodles and stirring synth-strings. It’s a breathlessly brilliant way to end an album that was genuinely worth waiting for.
“I like to work with a variety of instruments and set ups,” says Mark Van Hoen, sometimes known as Locust or Autocreation but here working under his own name on the excellent Plan For A Miracle, his first physical release of solo music since 2018’s Invisible Threads. ”Sometimes it’s literally in my studio, with all the hardware electronics available. Sometimes the laptop, using software instruments. Some of the tracks on this record were recorded in the desert (Joshua Tree) using a 4-track tape machine and small modular synthesiser set up. Each track was recorded in different location using different instruments, which accounts for the distinction between each piece. It’s also about my own reaction to my environment, and what’s going on in my life at the time.”
The Croydon-born Van Hoen started musical life in the early 1990s, signing for R&S records in 1993 but developing his own, myriad and distinctive style across a range of releases on Touch, Editions Mego and other labels, using a battery of instruments, including analogue synthesizers and taking a number of different approaches to recording, rather than ploughing a single sonic furrow. He has worked on a number of collaborations, including with Nick Holton and Neil Halstead of Slowdive, under the moniker of Black Hearted Brother - their Stars Are Our Home was released in 2013. “I have known Neil Halstead since 1992,” says Van Hoen. “He shared a house with me for a couple of years, and the music I was making and listening to along with clubs I was attending had an influence particularly on Pygmalion, the final Slowdive album on Creation.”
Each track on Plan For A Miracle does indeed sound like a world unto itself, a mini-environment, a weather condition, an ecosystem created for the moment. It’s a collection of tracks recorded over the past few years, released on Bandcamp - despite his apparent absence, Van Hoen works constantly. Opener “Climates”, in its exquisite limpidity, feels like a homage to Brian Eno, one of his most formative influences in his teen years, commencing with Music For Films, which he bought in 1979. “This Is For Them”, feels like a ghostlike throwback to early drum & bass or electronica, reminiscent of his own, earliest outings. “There have been a number of requests from labels to make some more music like my very early releases on R&S,” says Van Hoen. “This is part of ‘letting go’ and realising that there’s nothing less creative about going back to those styles again.”
“Pencil Of Spheres” is something else again, a magnificent, imaginary glass structure, shimmering, refracting, without visible means of suspension, a thing of impossible beauty. “Electric Lights” evokes an abandoned fairground, its lights still pulsating, its music lingering. “The Underpass”, meanwhile, insofar as it reminds of anything at all, is faintly reminiscent of Cluster or Neu’s! West German ambience, the urban mundane rendered magical, the sodium lights, the whitewashed walls. The reverberant, faintly oriental chimes of “Insight” transport us yet again, burgeoning and intensifying.
The landscapes, the skyscapes rendered on Plan For A Miracle feel unpopulated as a rule - but when he does introduce vocal elements, Van Hoen has a history of doing so to spectacular effect - think of “Real Love” from 1998’s Playing With Time, the seductive intonation of its title recurring throughout like a series of massive holograms, echoing, stuttering, breaking up, surging. Here, there are just the faintest of vocals, barely distinct, disquieting. “There’s been a bit of a game changer in recent times,” explains Van Hoen. “AI software that enables you to extract vocals and instrument parts from virtually any recording. That means sampling individual parts from existing sources is no longer limited to the original mix exposing certain parts soloed. The vocal parts I use are from multiple sources and often pitch shifted altered rhythmically and melodically.“ There’s further vocal chatter on “I Really Do”, proceeding at a faster pace as if giving chase, or being pursued - distant, enigmatic. “The Music”, meanwhile, its beat tolling, lost in its own fog of static, features a curious intonation, like the ghost of a lost Walker Brother.
Sadly, the album’s title is in reference to a personal tragedy on Van Hoen’s part - the loss of his wife. Titles such as “I Won’t Give Up”, which faintly reminds of another Eno masterpiece, Another Green World, in its nautical hurly-bury, or the pastoral strains of “Mrs Who”, heavily clouded with sadness, seem to allude to this. “In fact the record was recorded entirely before she passed away,” says Van Hoen, “most of it before she even became very ill. The title was given to the album when it started to look like she wasn’t going to make it beyond a few months. It was something Osho said - “plan for a miracle” - so it was a statement of hope. Unfortunately it was not to be.” Although the album is non-thematic, non-specific in its atmospheres, sound paintings, elegant structures it most certainly stands as a magnificent monument to Osho’s memory.
-David Stubbs.
Harm’s Way is Duck Ltd.’s most intuitive and organic album yet, the result of keen observation, self-possessed songwriting, and a collaborative spirit. Building on the successes of their previous releases, the deeply relatable album displays a band operating at a nuanced, lyrical and musical best.
Ducks Ltd. make inviting and frenetic guitar pop for when life feels overwhelming. While the band’s songs are ostensibly breezy, a palpable anxiety boils underneath that communicates something deeper about everyday existence. On their latest album Harm’s Way, the Toronto duo of Tom McGreevy and Evan Lewis hones in on interpersonal and societal collapses, urban decay, and the near-impossibility of keeping a level head when everything around you seems to be falling apart.
“They’re songs about struggling,” says singer and lyricist McGreevy (who also plays bass and rhythm guitar). “About watching people I care for suffer, and trying to figure out how to be there for them. And about the strain of living in the world when it feels like it's ready to collapse.”
Even with its often dark subject matter, Harm’s Way is Ducks Ltd.’s most vividly rendered and collaborative collection yet. It’s an undeniable evolution for the band, not just in how these songs soar, but in their entire writing and recording processes. Composed on tour while supporting acts like Nation of Language, Illuminati Hotties, and Archers of Loaf, the album displays the band’s finely tuned songcraft and well-earned, road-tested confidence. “When we got signed, we had played maybe five or six shows ever. After last year, it’s in the hundreds. That experience can change your perception of your own music and songwriting,” says McGreevy. “In the past when we got stuck on a song we had a tendency to look at our favourite records to see how they tackled it. But now, instead of asking ‘what would Orange Juice do?’, we’d ask, ‘what would we do?’.” Lewis adds, “We have this really great thing where every decision with the band is filtered through both of us. Here especially, we really figured out how to make something that truly sounds like us.”
The band, fortified by this strong sense of sonic identity and a self-assurance in their new material—and in contrast to their critically acclaimed 2021 debut Modern Fiction and 2019 EP Get Bleak, both self-recorded and self-produced in a Toronto basement—wanted to bring Harm’s Way to life in a new city, with an outside producer, and with some of their favourite musicians. “We realised that so many of our favourite bands who are making guitar music right now are from Chicago,” says McGreevy. Working with producer Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper, Lala Lala), they enlisted a marquee cast of Windy City collaborators to round out the tracks on Harm’s Way, including: Finom’s Macie Stewart (violin, string arrangements); Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio (drums on most tracks); Dehd’s Jason Balla (who helped arrange the backing vocals, to which he also contributed); and backing vocals from Julia Steiner (Ratboys), Nathan O’Dell (Dummy), Margaret McCarthy (Moontype), Rui De Magalhaes (Lawn), and Lindsey-Paige McCloy (Patio). The band’s touring drummer, Jonathan Pappo, and bassist Julia Wittman also appear on the LP.
Ducks Ltd. are a band that already thrives on skirting the edges of buoyant jangle pop and driving power pop, and the duo credits these collaborators with helping to push their sound even further. “Historically our process has been really tightly controlled and insular. On this record, we worked with people who we trusted with a pretty wide range of musical backgrounds and they had approaches and ideas that helped open up the record's sonic palette,” explains McGreevy. “Jason thinks about backing vocals in a totally different way than I do and is super intuitive with melodic ideas. Julia and Margaret have a really deeo understanding of harmony. Macie and Dave were comfortable with the idea of improvising string parts which took some of those layers in some surprising directions. Dave also has an amazing ability to create atmosphere on a recording, and encouraged us to use a bunch of different techniques, tones, and processes to achieve that.”
Harm’s Way’s lush, melodic swagger is clear from the first notes of opener “Hollowed Out.” A song about living with decline (inspired by a Toronto sinkhole), its bright, indelible catchiness serves in contrast to its lyrical unease. Anchored by Lewis’ shimmering electric guitar, “The Main Thing” laments growing apart from a person whose views you once shared while managing to toss in references to both the unglamorous lives of middle relief baseball pitchers and the occult. Other songs split the difference between country and krautrock, like the rollicking “Train Full of Gasoline,” which uses the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Quebec as a metaphor for self-destructive patterns. Meanwhile, “Deleted Scenes” mourns the absence of someone no longer in your life (even if for very good reasons) and recalls The Cure at their most direct, and closer “Heavy Bag” employs enveloping, mournful strings to evoke a sense of how misery frequently loves company.



























































































































































