Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.
quête:emo kid
Das kommende zweite Album CrazyMad, For Me führt Popstar CMAT durch eine Neufindung: Es ist das große Statement eines ehrgeizigen, reifen Sounds, eines texturierten Klangbilds und Details einer komplexen emotionalen und metaphorischen Landschaft. "Es ist etwas abstraktes, was passiert, wenn man immer noch wütend über etwas ist, das vor 10 Jahren passiert ist. "Es ist großartig, voller Hooks und malerischer Texte, die von ihrer einzigartigen Stimme projiziert werden. Es ist der Mainstream-Indie, den CMAT als Teenager liebte, gefiltert durch Country-Musik des 20.Jahrhunderts und durch die Kenntnis der Pop-Hits der 80er und 90er Jahre mit einer Slide Gitarre und einem Camp-Twist erweitert.Komplex, intim und mit Einflüssen, die weit über Zeit und Ort verstreut sind, ist CrazyMad, For Me ein sofortiges klassisches Album für ein breites Publikum.
After an incredible journey spanning 8 years and 40 releases, Marked is proud to unveil a monumental milestone - their first EP released on the timeless medium of vinyl. There is no better way to do this than with upcoming superstar Amazingblaze. His Stargaze EP is a journey of pure power and brightness -a dopamine rush- waiting to find its place of honor within your cherished wooden vinyl cabinet.
Starting with Treasures, this is one of those musical gems that keeps on overflowing with life with an almost mystical quality. A sound and melody that have emotions run deep, while the heart of the track keeps your pulse racing at its beats per minute.
The answer to a surefire way to light up the dancefloor is Quantumness. The lead synth and perc rhythm make a deadly and irresistible groove. Its notes soar and dive, creating a rhythmic anchor that holds everything together.
In Geerson's remix of Quantumness, most of the original's iconic lead synth is kept intact. In this version, the kicks fire in rhythmic drum salvos. The sonic landscape traverses peaks and valleys, sending you to both extremes in orbit.
Powerhouse Tham brings in the Club Kid remix of Pittsburgh by sending new life into one of the layers of the lead synth. Tham's signature sound is applied to turn it into a full-fledged hammer track: the sound is ruthless, the groove contagious.
To celebrate Spider-Man’s sensational 60th anniversary, Marvel Entertainment partnered with Semmel Exhibitions to launch Spider- Man: Beyond Amazing - The Exhibition, which chronicles the epic history of the ‘wall crawler’. The exhibition runs from May 26, 2023 through October 1, 2023 in Kansas City, and premiered at the Comic- Con Museum in San Diego where it ran from July 1, 2022 through January 1, 2023.
For this historical display, a soundscape was needed to reflect Spidey’s emotional ups and downs: his moments of isolation and loneliness, but also his courage, determination, and the sheer joy of web-slinging. This is where Sebastian M. Purfürst of LEM-Studios came in. To create a soundtrack that would engage visitors in every single moment of the exhibition, Sebastian employs parallel techniques in his musical compositions and productions - not only writing the notes and melodies but creating a fully realized world of sound.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing - The Exhibition is available as a strictly limited edition of 2500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl with a full-colour Spider-Man print on its side B. The package also includes a 4-page booklet and large exhibition poster.
KID FRANCESCOLI, leader of the French Riviera Touch is back with the stellar album SUNSET BLUE out Sept 22nd 2023.
After a first sold-out world tour (over 200 concerts in Europe, USA, Asia...), and successful hits such as Nopalitos, Blow Up or Moon (now certified diamond, with more than 200 millions streams), the Marseille-based producer, crooner and multi-instrumentalist, Mathieu Hocine, is eager to share his most accomplished LP ever. This fine collection of soulful songs honor his Mediterranean roots, with elegant and pop melodies. His most recent success and the creation of his first original soundtrack with AZURO, installed him as one of the best French songwriters of his generation, with a unique signature sound.
"I live in Marseille, I spent my childhood in Corsica, I have Algerian origins, my first vacations with friends were in Barcelona, vacations with my first girlfriend in Roma,... Then, I had the chance to perform in Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Egypt: each time I spent time in the Mediterranean region, the people I met there made me feel like I was part of the same country. This shared multiculturalism is really comforting, it has its own poetry and strength, bringing uniqueness and empathy to the people. It is essential for me. I love my city: it’s the perfect place to feel good with sun, sea, family, friendships, love... It gets me emotional, bringing tears with a smile".
With his new musical gem, Mathieu Hocine unveils 11 elegant tunes of his finest craft: sunbathed French Touch (Run Run, 1986), romantic chillwave (Corsica), uplifting synthpop (You Are Everywhere, Like Magic), electronic-soul (Casino Soul), cinematic disco (Solaris), cosmic R&B (Sweet and Sour, Take Time), … Everything is in this record.
For the first time ever, Kid Francescoli paid tribute to his mixed origins with his collaboration with world-renowned lute and mandolin player Hakim Hamadouche (Rachid Taha, Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Tricky...), whom added Algerian patterns to the introspectives songs Drift in Blue and The Morning After.
"My ambition is to create pictures in people's heads with music, to transport them instantly into a movie"
SUNSET BLUE is an instant-crush album: crystal-clear, strong, personal but universal at the same time.
It's an ecstatic soundtrack for this moment when time is suspended, the golden hour when everything seems possible. It feels like Love is in the air, you're living your best life and you're at the right place at the right time. This album embodies this magic moment where we would like to last forever… Like an epiphany, Kid Francescoli's new album is a moment of pure pleasure, a soothing way to escape reality.
"I see myself as a melodist.I would like my music to feel like velvet. There's something cinematic, classy about it, and yet comforting. It's very simple, popular and synonym of love and passion"
His friend French 79 co-produced the album, while the american rapper Bamby H2O brought his NYC swag (on Sweet & Sour), Stan Neff (Polo & Pan, Kungs, Christine and the Queens...) took care of the mix and Alex Gopher (Daft Punk, The Blaze, Bon Entendeur...) added a final touch of magic when mastering. Nicolas Despis (known for his work with Etienne Daho, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet... and many famous French rappers) later joined this dream-team to craft custom-made artworks. SUNSET BLUE is a deeply personal quest, a human adventure for Mathieu Hocine (whom explores his maghrebian origins, his feminine side, his subconscious space, ...). It's a male's work, but don't get it wrong, this LP would be nothing without women’s touch : Julietta (on Run Run and Take Time), Sarah Gaugler from Turbo Goth (on You Are Everywhere and Like Magic), and iOni (on Drift in Blue).
“Music has this magical power to broaden your vision of the world. It's fascinating because, like dreams, it's the kind of irrational things science can't explain and that makes life exciting."
Planets aligned perfectly on this project and thanks to this five-star cast of collaborators, Kid Francescoli achieved his personal holy grail : he orchestrated a great 21st century pop-music album.SUNSET BLUE is a new turning point between organic and electronic, both a mediterranean travel and a Californian dream, a bridge between Ennio Morriconne and modern electronic music.
Also, while it might be called SUNSET BLUE in honor of the sea and the Portuguese / Brazilian concept called “saudade”, but it is a really optimistic album, whose true colors would rather be "yellow-orange-red" in nod to the sun.
Created in the midst of the world tour, SUNSET BLUE is a direct result of the lives’ energy and fans’ joyful vibes: going back in the studio after smiling, singing and dancing with people all around the world inevitably gave Kid Francescoli the desire to retranscribe this ecstatic feeling in music. This album is a sensitive experience, from sunrise to sunset, from first track to last one. It’s an exploration of an everlasting summer, reaching its climax in the very final seconds of the track Corsica, making us want to press play and dive into this jewel all over again.
A beautiful cosmic trip, whether you like to stay in bed cocooning, to travel far, far away or to dance ‘till dawn, to catch the first rays of light.
Make sure to catch Kid Francescoli on his next world tour to have a good time.
Five years in the game marks a very special milestone for In-Reach Records, a label born from a love of drum & bass music and a passion to share that love with like-minded individuals. What better way to celebrate that milestone than a compilation of the sounds and souls that have fuelled the labels journey so far. The artists behind all nine of IRR’s past releases have combined, along with some important members of the In-Reach family, to create this exquisitely emotive VA album.
Heading up the release is a very serious piece of wax dropping in September 2023. The 12” vinyl exclusive album sampler comprises two tracks that have been causing waves in the scene for some time. Kicking off with Kid Drama’s remix of ‘Another Place’, we have an expert re-work of an already awesome track from Sam Binary and Deviant. The hissing bass joins the drum break half way through the intro while the vocal sample repeats its mantra. As expected, a gear change hits on the drop with the entry of sub bass stabs, which take on an increasingly melodic form as they evolve throughout the track.
The legendary Madcap takes on remix duties for the B-side with his take on Greekboy’s & AKA's ‘The Jungle’, which first aired on LTJ Bukem’s Radio 1 Guest Mix in 2021. The stepping drum break enters from the outset, building atmosphere alongside the pads and vocal cries in preparation for the extremely weighty running baseline.
Tribe Friday ist eine Band gitarrenschwingender Emo-Kids aus den Wäldern Schwedens, die die rauen Indie-Rock-Dancehall-Sounds der frühen 2K-Jahre mit dem Party-Feeling der Generation Z nach der Pandemie verbindet. Ihre von Sarkasmus, Witz und Charme geprägten Songs handeln von Selbstironie, Identität, Verwirrung, Liebe und Tod. Inspiriert von Künstlern wie den Strokes und My Chemical Romance schufen sie auf ihrem hochgelobten Debüt 'Bubblegum Emo' (2022) mit dem Szene-Hit 'Shut Me Up' ihren ganz eigenen Sound. Auf dem neuen Album 'Hemma' wenden Tribe Friday ihre verbesserten Songwriting- und Produktionsfähigkeiten an, um im Indie-Rock-Sound über einige der traurigsten, aber auch ehrlichsten Geschichten über das Erwachsenwerden nachzudenken.
- A1: Gentle Confrontation
- A2: 2003
- A3: Let U Go Ft. Keiyaa
- A4: Déjà Vu Ft. Ritchie
- B1: Prelude Of Tired Of Me
- B2: Glitch The System (Glitch Bitch 2)
- B3: I Dm U
- B4: One Way Ticket To The Midwest (Emo) Ft. Corey Mastrangelo
- C1: Cards With The Grandparents
- C2: While They Were Singing Ft. Marina Herlop
- C3: Try For Me Ft. Eden Samara
- C4: Tired Of Me
- D1: Speechless Ft. George Riley
- D2: Disjointed (Feeling Like A Kid Again)
- D3: I’m Trying To Love Myself
- D4: Saying Goodbye Ft. Contour
‘Gentle Confrontation’, Loraine James's third Hyperdub album, opens a new chapter of her real and sonic life in which she examines her past and present. It's a positively languid, enjoyably disjointed set made while listening to her teenage favourites; math rock and emo-electronic such as DNTEL, Lusine and Telefon Tel Aviv. The album also features an ever more diverse set of peers, placing them in her unusual musical settings and drawing out sensitive and reflexive performances. At other times the album stretches out into a drifting ambience as if seeking a sense of bliss in the everyday. ‘Gentle Confrontation’ is about relationships (especially familial), understanding, and giving back a little grace and care, while the tone of the record criss-crosses watery ambience with denatured rhythm and asmr beats. These 16 tracks are Loraine's best work yet, and a personal and musical leap forward, delivering a totally unique vision of electronic pop music.
- 01: Gentle Confrontation
- 02: 2003
- 03: Let U Go (Ft. Keiyaa)
- 04: Déjà Vu (Ft. Ritchie)
- 05: Prelude Of Tired Of Me
- 06: Glitch The System (Glitch Bitch 2)
- 07: I Dm U
- 08: One Way Ticket To The Midwest (Emo) (Ft. Corey Mastrangelo)
- 01: Cards With The Grandparents
- 02: While They Were Singing (Ft. Marina Herlop)
- 03: Try For Me Ft. Eden Samara
- 04: Tired Of Me
- 05: Speechless (Ft. George Riley)
- 06: Disjointed (Feeling Like A Kid Again)
- 07: I'm Trying To Love Myself
- 08: Saying Goodbye (Ft. Contour)
`Gentle Confrontation', Loraine James's third Hyperdub album, opens a new chapter of her real and sonic life in which she examines her past and present. It's a positively languid, enjoyably disjointed set made while listening to her teenage favourites; math rock and emo-electronic such as DNTEL, Lusine and Telefon Tel Aviv. The album also features an ever more diverse set of peers, placing them in her unusual musical settings and drawing out sensitive and reflexive performances. At other times the album stretches out into a drifting ambience as if seeking a sense of bliss in the everyday. `Gentle Confrontation' is about relationships (especially familial), understanding, and giving back a little grace and care, while the tone of the record criss-crosses watery ambience with denatured rhythm and asmr beats. These 16 tracks are Loraine's best work yet, and a personal and musical leap forward, delivering a totally unique vision of electronic pop music.
Sara Dobbs and Jenny Shore used to work summer stock theater in St. Louis, Missouri. They'd do the hand jive with TV stars past and future; they'd get coldly corrected by the ancient, legendary choreographer Gemze de Lappe. Sara went on to Broadway, including a run as Anybodys in West Side Story. Jenny went on to choreograph in the independent dance scene of early 2000s Chicago. Julie Shore is Jenny's sister. She's always made music_playing Chopin, writing songs, making bands with her friends. She's had the archetypal Millennial journey of entering adulthood in the '08 financial crisis and figuring out what stupid series of jobs you have to take to pay rent while keeping an artistic life alive. Miles Francis grew up in New York City with Backstreet Boys posters covering their walls. An extraordinary drummer since youth, Miles thrives in collaboration_ whether producing artists in their West Village studio, performing with artists like Angelique Kidjo, or powering protests with a big marching drum. These four_Miles, Julie, Jenny, and Sara_are Sister Squares. What made them a musical unit was working with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Will Butler. They've all just finished a new record together: Will Butler + Sister Squares. "After Generations, I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite," says Will. He increasingly turned to the band for feedback on lyrics and song structures. He asked Miles if they'd produce the record. The band played a run of shows in August 2022, airing out studio ideas in live rooms. After coming home, the band regrouped at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. "I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years_maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers," says Will. "But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record." The album projects widescreen emotional landscapes. Lead-off single "Long Grass" is like a Harry Styles song with 20 more years of life behind it. Standout track "Saturday Night" has a beat, according to Miles, "with that robot-alien-dancing-at-a-haunted- dive-bar feeling that we were going for." The back half of the album is a danceable, weird choral record with harmonies both beautiful and dissonant. Closing song "The Window" is the comedown after the party_Julie playing a Chopin Nocturne on a three-years-out-of-tune piano, slowed to half-speed on tape with Will singing over it in a voice exactly as tired as he was. It's a record with a warm, humane soul.
Sara Dobbs and Jenny Shore used to work summer stock theater in St. Louis, Missouri. They'd do the hand jive with TV stars past and future; they'd get coldly corrected by the ancient, legendary choreographer Gemze de Lappe. Sara went on to Broadway, including a run as Anybodys in West Side Story. Jenny went on to choreograph in the independent dance scene of early 2000s Chicago. Julie Shore is Jenny's sister. She's always made music_playing Chopin, writing songs, making bands with her friends. She's had the archetypal Millennial journey of entering adulthood in the '08 financial crisis and figuring out what stupid series of jobs you have to take to pay rent while keeping an artistic life alive. Miles Francis grew up in New York City with Backstreet Boys posters covering their walls. An extraordinary drummer since youth, Miles thrives in collaboration_ whether producing artists in their West Village studio, performing with artists like Angelique Kidjo, or powering protests with a big marching drum. These four_Miles, Julie, Jenny, and Sara_are Sister Squares. What made them a musical unit was working with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Will Butler. They've all just finished a new record together: Will Butler + Sister Squares. "After Generations, I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite," says Will. He increasingly turned to the band for feedback on lyrics and song structures. He asked Miles if they'd produce the record. The band played a run of shows in August 2022, airing out studio ideas in live rooms. After coming home, the band regrouped at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. "I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years_maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers," says Will. "But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record." The album projects widescreen emotional landscapes. Lead-off single "Long Grass" is like a Harry Styles song with 20 more years of life behind it. Standout track "Saturday Night" has a beat, according to Miles, "with that robot-alien-dancing-at-a-haunted- dive-bar feeling that we were going for." The back half of the album is a danceable, weird choral record with harmonies both beautiful and dissonant. Closing song "The Window" is the comedown after the party_Julie playing a Chopin Nocturne on a three-years-out-of-tune piano, slowed to half-speed on tape with Will singing over it in a voice exactly as tired as he was. It's a record with a warm, humane soul.
- A1: Cash And Carry– Low Down
- A2: Richard Powell– The Cisco Kid
- A3: Family Tree – Come And Get Your Love
- A4: Deep Heat– Do It Again
- A5: Mark & Suzann Farmer– Dreams
- A6: Joeven– I Am I Said
- B1: Summer Madness – Leaving On A Jet Plane
- B2: Lenny Roybal– By The Time I Get To Phoenix
- B3: Ginny Reilly– I Second That Emotion
- B4: Alejandro Bravo – Superstar
- B5: Joan Brooks – The Letter
- B6: Babalade Olamina– Pure Imagination
Heat Red Vinyl[25,63 €]
The ninth installment in Numero's Cabinet of Curiosities is 100% chart smashes. Culled from the depths of the private press, Super Hits gathers 12 magical adaptations from the Me Decade's introspective songbook. Pop this oversized 8-Track into your Fleetwood Weltron and enjoy a motley crew of lounge singers, wedding bands, synth enthusiasts, trailer park dreamers, accountants, gym teachers, and more as they bring their own unique energy to classics by Steely Dan, War, Boz Scaggs, Neil Diamond, John Denver, Smokey Robinson, The Carpenters, Redbone, The Box Tops, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Tape warble not included.
RIYL: Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, Bark Psychosis, Caspian, Mogwai, This Will Destroy You. Exclusive vinyl colour (Opaque Mix Hellfire), limited to 1000 copies, and features a gatefold jacket, printed two-sided Euro sleeves, four art prints, and download code. Breaking from the strange monotony and abnormal norms that took hold during two years of pandemic life, Hammock returns with Love in the Void, an album that looks to the future, seizes the present, and unabashedly relishes the experiences and bonds that bring meaning to our days. Known for crafting orchestral works of stirring cinematic ambience, on Love in the Void the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson bring guitar-forward, heart-pounding urgency to songs that shout through and shatter the static of complacency. Since forming as Hammock in 2003, Byrd and Thompson have released 14 critically-acclaimed albums and are renowned for their unique talent for bringing inexpressible emotion to life. The Covid-19 pandemic followed closely after one of Hammock’s career-defining works, the Mysterium, Universalis, and Silencia trilogy that chronicled the incomprehensible loss of Byrd’s 20-year old nephew. At their homes and apart, Byrd and Thompson then recorded Elsewhere, an album of shimmering ambience that channelled alienated longing and displacement into avenues that gave way to worlds and possibilities yet realized. Shaken awake and needing to break free of frustrations and longings, Love in the Void pulses with an unbridled spirit for action and experience and a burning desire for connection. Across songs that hammer home the keenly felt emotions of life’s highs and lows, Byrd and Thompson crest soaring crescendos awash in reverb and delve to keenly felt moments of quiet introspection, with unflinching lyrics on tracks like “Undoing” and “Denial of Endings’’ that weigh choices made and circumstances that can’t be changed. Lush and dramatic string orchestration from Matt Kidd (Slow Meadow) and emphatic drumming from Jake Finch heighten the stakes in play, and Christine Byrd’s (Lumenette) ethereal vocals leave mysteries lingering in the haze. Love in the Void is Hammock’s loudest album to date, embracing daring and vulnerability with palpable vitality at its core, and moving into an unknown future without fear.
If you've seen David Lynch's classic film Mulholland Dr, you might
recognize the title of Paerish's third full-length, You're In Both Dreams
(And You're Scared) - It's a line spoken by one of the two men having a
conversation in that movie's incongruous diner scene - Paerish vocalist/
guitarist Mathias Court was watching the film for maybe the tenth time
last year, and, given the insecurity of being a musician during the COVID
pandemic, that line stood out to him like never before
Given that Paerish was formed when Court was at film school with bassist Martin
Dupraz, it's little surprise that the band--now completed by guitarist Frederic Wah
and drummer Loic Fouquet--would use a cinematic reference for its title. The first
two records were peppered with them, and many of their songs started with Court
fiddling with his guitar while watching something in the hopes that he'd capture
the emotion of whatever was onscreen. This time around, the title is the only
thing directly inspired by the moving image. Whereas on 2016's Semi Finalists
and 2021's Fixed It All, Court would utilize other people's art to draw parallels to
how he was feeling, this time it was his own internal wranglings that influenced
his songwriting.
By December 2021, Court had demoed the album. A year later, Paerish flew to
Philadelphia to record with Will Yip. The band's familiarity with Yip lends a natural
confidence to this album that disproves the very insecurities that inspired it. It
turned into the album Paerish have always wanted to make.
"When I listen to these songs," says Court, "I almost don't realize this is our album.
I feel like we got even closer to our final form. This is the one we've been wanting
since we were kids. I'm so proud of it.
Werewolves formed in 2019 and have proceeded to release an album a year to increasing acclaim and global calamity. Three full lengths and one EP later, the band performs an act of creative peristalsis with album four “My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me” due out 11th August 2023. Bassist/vocalist Sam (The Antichrist Imperium, The Berzerker) says: “Here it finally is, the recording that will cement our place in the technical death metal world as some of the greatest soloists and most thought-provoking lyricists working in music today. Our ability to shape raw art from ethereal nuance is second only to our famously slow craftmanship.” He continues “Of course I’m fucking kidding. This album is as idiotic as the rest, if not more. CAVEMAN RIFFS. Blasting. Screaming. Bowing to a shrine with pictures of Mortician, Marduk, and Angelcorpse. This isn’t going to be the album that brings people together and catalyses world peace. Apparently it has greater emotional reach than our earlier work but we haven’t noticed that ourselves, we’re morons. I can confirm that there is more swearing on this album than all the others, it’s positively Australian-esque”.
Analogue is the genre-bending debut album from ODIE. Originally released in April 2018. Analogue takes us through a range of emotions and explores themes such as growing up, figuring oneself out and striving for creative dreams as an analogue artist in a digital world. Channeling some of his key musical influences, such as Kid Cudi & Fela Kuti, the album acts as a coming of age story and introduces fans to who ODIE really is as a human and artist, "flaws and all." Singles from the album include "Little Lies," "Faith," "North Face," & "Night Terrific!" The second pressing of the album includes a gatefold jacket and 24x36 poster, and is pressed on Sky Blue Galaxy Vinyl.
- A1: Humanity – Cedric Myton
- A2: Tonight – Keith &Tex
- A3: Baltimore – Winston Mcanuff & Johnny Osbourne
- B1: Down The Street – Keith &Tex
- B2: Truth&Right – Johnny Osbourne
- B3: Fire Burn – Kiddus I
- B4: Touch Me – Steve Newland
- C1: Africa - Derajah
- C2: Days Chasing Days – Cedric Myton
- C3: Stop That Train – Keith &Tex
- D1: Sun Is Setting In The Sea – Winston Mcanuff
- D2: Come Away Jah Jahchildren - Kush Mcanuff
- D3: Groovy Situation – Keith Rowe
Red Vinyl[36,35 €]
Often dubbed reggae's answer to the Buena Vista Social Club, the notorious Jamaican collective prove that they are still on top of their game with a new album, which journalist David Katz already declaring it was "their best one yet".
In addition to the usual cast of Inna de Yard legends, this new album features the pristine vocals of '70s icon Johnny Osbourne and '60s memorable duo Keith & Tex. Thirteen songs of pure emotions, exceptional musicality and authenticity gathered on a riveting album which promises to be a firm favourite amongst reggae lovers and general music fans alike.
- A1: Humanity – Cedric Myton
- A2: Tonight – Keith &Tex
- A3: Baltimore – Winston Mcanuff & Johnny Osbourne
- B1: Down The Street – Keith &Tex
- B2: Truth&Right – Johnny Osbourne
- B3: Fire Burn – Kiddus I
- B4: Touch Me – Steve Newland
- C1: Africa - Derajah
- C2: Days Chasing Days – Cedric Myton
- C3: Stop That Train – Keith &Tex
- D1: Sun Is Setting In The Sea – Winston Mcanuff
- D2: Come Away Jah Jahchildren - Kush Mcanuff
- D3: Groovy Situation – Keith Rowe
Black Vinyl[36,35 €]
Often dubbed reggae's answer to the Buena Vista Social Club, the notorious Jamaican collective prove that they are still on top of their game with a new album, which journalist David Katz already declaring it was "their best one yet".
In addition to the usual cast of Inna de Yard legends, this new album features the pristine vocals of '70s icon Johnny Osbourne and '60s memorable duo Keith & Tex. Thirteen songs of pure emotions, exceptional musicality and authenticity gathered on a riveting album which promises to be a firm favourite amongst reggae lovers and general music fans alike.
- Humanity - Cedric Myton
- Tonight - Keith & Tex
- Baltimore - Winston Mcanuff & Johnny Osbourne
- Down The Street - Keith & Tex
- Truth & Rights - Johnny Osbourne
- Fire Burn - Kiddus I
- Touch Me - Steve Newland
- Africa - Derajah
- Days Chasing Days - Cedric Myton
- Stop That Train - Keith & Tex
- Sun Is Setting In The Sea - Winston Mcanuff
- Come Away Jah Jah Children - Kush Mcanuff
- Groovy Situation - Keith Rowe
red vinyl edition[31,72 €]
Das berühmt-berüchtigte jamaikanische Kollektiv, das oft als die
Antwort des Reggae auf den Buena Vista Social Club bezeichnet
wird, beweist mit seinem neuen Album, das der Journalist David
Katz bereits als "ihr bisher bestes" bezeichnet hat, dass es
immer noch auf der Höhe der Zeit ist. Neben der üblichen
Besetzung von Inna de Yard-Legenden sind auf dem neuen
Album auch die unverfälschten Vocals der 70er-Jahre-Ikone
Johnny Osbourne und des unvergesslichen 60er-Jahre-Duos
Keith & Tex zu hören. Dreizehn Songs voller purer Emotionen,
außergewöhnlicher Musikalität und Authentizität sind auf einem
fesselnden Album versammelt, das sowohl bei ReggaeLiebhabern als auch bei Musikfans im Allgemeinen zu einem
festen Favoriten zu werden verspricht.
- Humanity - Cedric Myton
- Tonight - Keith & Tex
- Baltimore - Winston Mcanuff & Johnny Osbourne
- Down The Street - Keith & Tex
- Truth & Rights - Johnny Osbourne
- Fire Burn - Kiddus I
- Touch Me - Steve Newland
- Africa - Derajah
- Days Chasing Days - Cedric Myton
- Stop That Train - Keith & Tex
- Sun Is Setting In The Sea - Winston Mcanuff
- Come Away Jah Jah Children - Kush Mcanuff
- Groovy Situation - Keith Rowe
black vinyl edition[29,79 €]
Das berühmt-berüchtigte jamaikanische Kollektiv, das oft als die
Antwort des Reggae auf den Buena Vista Social Club bezeichnet
wird, beweist mit seinem neuen Album, das der Journalist David
Katz bereits als "ihr bisher bestes" bezeichnet hat, dass es
immer noch auf der Höhe der Zeit ist. Neben der üblichen
Besetzung von Inna de Yard-Legenden sind auf dem neuen
Album auch die unverfälschten Vocals der 70er-Jahre-Ikone
Johnny Osbourne und des unvergesslichen 60er-Jahre-Duos
Keith & Tex zu hören. Dreizehn Songs voller purer Emotionen,
außergewöhnlicher Musikalität und Authentizität sind auf einem
fesselnden Album versammelt, das sowohl bei ReggaeLiebhabern als auch bei Musikfans im Allgemeinen zu einem
festen Favoriten zu werden verspricht.
Ghosts of Princes in Towers is the only studio album by British band Rich Kids, founded in 1977 by Glen Matlock (ex Sex Pistols) and Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Rusty Egan released in August 1978 and produced by ex-Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson. Exclusive for RSD 2023, the original album will be newly remastered. Release overseen by Rich Kids Rusty Egan. Tracklisting: Side A - Strange One, Hung on You, Ghosts of Princes in Towers, Cheap Emotions, Marching Men, Side B - Put You in the Picture, Young Girls, Bullet-Proof Lover, Rich Kids, Lovers and Fools, Burning Sounds
Eric D. Johnson rarely lingers at one location too long. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Johnson's family moved around a lot, but it wasn't until he became a touring musician years later that motion became a central part of his identity. That transient lifestyle stoked an enduring reverence for the world he watched pass by through a van window. A sense of place is a unifying theme he's revisited with Fruit Bats throughout its many lives. From the project's origins in the late '90s as a vehicle for Johnson's lo-fi tinkering to the more sonically ambitious work of recent years, Fruit Bats has often showcased love songs where people and locations meld into one. It's a loose song structure that navigates what he calls "the geography of the heart." "The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another," says Johnson. "There are roads and rivers between these songs." Those pathways extend straight through the newest Fruit Bats album, aptly titled A River Running to Your Heart . Self-produced by Johnson_a first for Fruit Bats_with Jeremy Harris at Panoramic House just north of San Francisco, it's Fruit Bats' tenth full-length release and one that finds the project in the middle of a creative resurgence. After two decades of making music, hard-earned emotional maturity has seeped into Johnson's songs, resulting in a more complex sound that's connected with audiences like no other previous version of Fruit Bats. A River Running to Your Heart represents the fullest realization of that creative vision to date. It's a sonically diverse effort that largely explores the importance of what it means to be home, both physically and spiritually. And while that might seem like a peculiar focus for an artist who's constantly in motion, for Fruit Bats, home can take many forms_from the obvious to the obscure. Lead single "Rushin' River Valley" is a self-propelled love song written about Johnson's wife that clings to the borrowed imagery of the place where she grew up in northern California. Then, there's the gentle and unfussy acoustic ballad "We Used to Live Here," which looks back to a time of youthful promise and cheap rent. But the wistful "It All Comes Back" is perhaps the most stunning and surprising track on the album, Johnson's production skills on full display. Built upon intricate layers of synths, keyboards, and guitars, it's a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life. "We lost some time / But we can make it back / Let's take it easy on ourselves, okay?" sings a world-weary but ultimately reassuring Johnson in the song's opening lines. It's the kind of performance that makes you hope Fruit Bats stays in this one place, at least for a little while longer.
BLUE & BONE VINYL
Eric D. Johnson rarely lingers at one location too long. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Johnson's family moved around a lot, but it wasn't until he became a touring musician years later that motion became a central part of his identity. That transient lifestyle stoked an enduring reverence for the world he watched pass by through a van window. A sense of place is a unifying theme he's revisited with Fruit Bats throughout its many lives. From the project's origins in the late '90s as a vehicle for Johnson's lo-fi tinkering to the more sonically ambitious work of recent years, Fruit Bats has often showcased love songs where people and locations meld into one. It's a loose song structure that navigates what he calls "the geography of the heart." "The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another," says Johnson. "There are roads and rivers between these songs." Those pathways extend straight through the newest Fruit Bats album, aptly titled A River Running to Your Heart . Self-produced by Johnson_a first for Fruit Bats_with Jeremy Harris at Panoramic House just north of San Francisco, it's Fruit Bats' tenth full-length release and one that finds the project in the middle of a creative resurgence. After two decades of making music, hard-earned emotional maturity has seeped into Johnson's songs, resulting in a more complex sound that's connected with audiences like no other previous version of Fruit Bats. A River Running to Your Heart represents the fullest realization of that creative vision to date. It's a sonically diverse effort that largely explores the importance of what it means to be home, both physically and spiritually. And while that might seem like a peculiar focus for an artist who's constantly in motion, for Fruit Bats, home can take many forms_from the obvious to the obscure. Lead single "Rushin' River Valley" is a self-propelled love song written about Johnson's wife that clings to the borrowed imagery of the place where she grew up in northern California. Then, there's the gentle and unfussy acoustic ballad "We Used to Live Here," which looks back to a time of youthful promise and cheap rent. But the wistful "It All Comes Back" is perhaps the most stunning and surprising track on the album, Johnson's production skills on full display. Built upon intricate layers of synths, keyboards, and guitars, it's a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life. "We lost some time / But we can make it back / Let's take it easy on ourselves, okay?" sings a world-weary but ultimately reassuring Johnson in the song's opening lines. It's the kind of performance that makes you hope Fruit Bats stays in this one place, at least for a little while longer.
- A1: Tolouse Low Trax - Sketches Of A Destroyed Meadow
- A2: Infuso Giallo - Torus
- A3: Claude De Tapol - Du Train Jaune
- B1: Puma & The Dolphin - The Grass Drum
- B2: T-Woc - Marty Eek
- B3: Houschyar - Intercontinental
- C1: Lamusa Ii - Artificiale
- C2: Ynv - Dw3
- C3: Bolva - Rite Ii
- D1: Anatolian Weapons - Float
- D2: Urverhext - Ubertan
- D3: Velvet C - Exalt Cut
Emotional Response is delighted to present elsewhere LVI. The 4th of soFa's compilation series, this double LP takes us to the darker side of the elsewhere ouvre, via another 12 artist / 12 track travelogue.
With certain future-retro feelings, this is club music for the open minded. An album that roams from dreamy ambient territories to rhythmic patterns - internationalism for the adventurous DJ.
Rusty slow-mo bangers and post-industrial synth-wave kidnap the listener to a dystopic and shady wasteland. Elements of ethnic folk, vintage vocoders and Gamelan samples all united on one homogeneous selection.
With artists now known to welcoming new brethren, this is an audio trip to leave reality behind. Exotic, hypnotic, tactile, trance-inducing meditations, washed down with a spoonful of magick.
- 1: Intro
- 1: 2 Become The Warm Jets
- 1: 3 Desire
- 1: 4 My Spotless Mind
- 1: 5 Don't Hurt Anyone (Interlude)
- 1: 6 Blondie
- 1: 7 The Breakfast Club (I'm Feeling Wild With You)
- 1: 8 Neon Hell
- 1: 9 Symphonia Ix
- 1: 0 The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
- 2: 1 Broke A String On That One (Interlude)
- 2: New Flesh
- 2: 3 One Minute (Interlude)
- 2: 4 Kids
- 2: 5 My Legs (Interlude)
- 2: 6 In A Year Of 13 Moons
- 2: 7 My Motorcycle
- 2: 8 A Different Age
- 2: 9 One More Song (Interlude)
- 2: 10 Altered States
Back in print for the first time since its initial release during lockdown in 2020!
The music of Current Joys has captured the imagination of millions through headphones and laptop speakers across the world. Rattigan's deeply emotive and commanding songwriting feels built for solitary walks or contemplative nights in one's bedroom, and that is why a Current Joys live performance is a whole different experience altogether. On Live At Kilby Court, the band rips through a stacked setlist of fan-favorites transforming these bedroom ballads into adrenaline-pumping anthems, creating an overwhelming feeling of togetherness.
YUNGBLUD ist zurück und vielfältiger denn je, so ließ der Upcoming-Superstar sich zur Ankündigung seines neuen Albums „YUNGBLUD“ sein Manifesto auf die Rippen tätowieren. Selbst-betitelt, nahezu
schmerzhaft, voller Ehrlichkeit und heiß erwartet: „YUNGBLUD“ erscheint endlich am 2. September!
Mit seinen gerade ein mal 25 Jahren ist der talentierte Brite bereits unbestreitbar zum Rock’n’RollAushängeschild der Generation Z geworden ist. Auch seine gänzlich ausverkaufte LIFE ON MARS Tournee durch gesamt Europa und weltweit über 500 Millionen Streams auf seinen Songs sprechen wortlos für ihn und seinen Erfolg. YUNGBLUD hat inzwischen eine treue Fangemeinde auf der ganzen Welt, die zu seinen imposanten Shows strömen und jedes Wort seiner Songs mitschreien, als hinge ihr Leben davon ab.
Über sein neues Album sagt YUNGBLUD: “I have thought and felt this record so deeply. I went to a part of myself that I didn’t know was there.”. Er widmete seinem neusten Werk vollste Aufmerksamkeit und begab sich auf die Suche nach seinen tiefsten Emotionen: “ I studied it, I bathed in the emotion, tried to solve the equation and come up with an answer (at least for now) from love to pain, adoration to abandonment, laughter to betrayal.”
Das Album erschein als Standard CD und 12” Vinyl.
- A1: Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song) (Feat. The Mediaeval Baebes)
- A2: Day One (Feat. Dina Ipavic)
- A3: Are You Alive? (Feat. Penelope Isles)
- B1: You Are The Frequency (Feat. The Little Pest)
- B2: The New Abnormal
- C1: Home (Feat. Anna B Savage)
- C2: Dirty Rat
- C3: Requiem For The Pre-Apocalypse
- D1: What A Surprise (Feat. The Little Pest)
- D2: Moon Princess (Feat. Coppe)
White Vinyl[33,24 €]
DOUBLE BLACK LP : 2 x 140 G Black Vinyl , Sleeve & 2 x Heavy Weight Printed Inner with UV Gloss Finish
Legendary electronic music duo Orbital return Early 2023 with new album “Optical Delusion”, the Hartnoll brothers first studio album since 2018’s Monster’s Exist. Recorded in Orbital’s Brighton studio, “Optical Delusion” includes contributions from Sleaford Mods, Penelope Isles, Anna B Savage, The Little Pest, Dina Ipavic, Coppe, and perhaps most surprisingly, The Medieval Baebes.
Earlier this year, Orbital celebrated their storied history with “30 Something” which, unlike other Best Of’s, contains reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of landmark Orbital tracks including “Chime”, “Belfast”, “Halcyon”, “Satan”, and “The Box”
SHORT BIOG:
“A human being experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest of humanity – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison…”
You many have seen this quote attributed to Albert Einstein on social media, the archetypal Smartest Guy Ever apparently having an out-of-character religious epiphany. It certainly leapt out at Paul Hartnoll of Orbital who spotted it in Michael Pollan’s 2018 book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence.
“As soon as I saw ‘optical delusion’ I thought Oh hey, that’s the album title,” says Paul. “It just seemed to say so much about how people construct their own realities, how we see patterns that aren’t there, how we see what we want to see.
“But it’s actually a misquote. He never quite said that. In the German original what he’s really saying is that human experience is as relative as physics. Wouldn’t it be good if we could accept that, and find a kind of universal theory of everything for the human race? Then you look at everything from history to art to your Twitter feed and you think yeah, that’s what we’re all trying to do all of the time…”
Hence ‘Optical Delusion’, the tenth original Orbital album and the latest in a burst of renewed post-pandemic creativity for two brothers who’ve stayed at the top of their game longer than anyone from the post-1988 Class of Acid House.
Now with ‘Optical Delusion’ the Hartnolls dig deeper into the unquiet psyche of our increasingly surreal and disordered world. Sketched out partly during lockdown but fully recorded in the uncertain After Times, the album summons up conflicting emotions and sometimes beguiling images from years when the science fiction doomsdays that the Hartnolls watched on TV as kids finally came true. There are mesmeric tracks with names like ‘The New Abnormal’ and ‘Requiem For The Pre-Apocalypse’ and ‘Day One’. But there are also straight-up bangers and ethereal cosmic dreams, abstract sound wars and deeply human songs of separation and loss.
And it all starts with a bang. Lead single ‘Dirty Rat’, an outright Fall-meets-Front-242 class rant with vocals by Sleaford Mods mob orator Jason Williamson, harks right back to the Hartnolls’ days of politicised anarcho-squatpunk. It began as a remix swap (Orbital did the Sleafords’ ‘I Don’t Rate You’) and morphed into a comic, brutal, bass-driven harangue not so much against our rulers but at the petty, mean-spirited, frightened, Mail-reading voters who put them there: the people who are “blaming everyone in hospital/blaming everyone at the bottom of the English Channel/blaming everyone who doesn’t look like a fried animal.”
Also key to the album is opening track ‘Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song)’ which returns to an Orbital truism, that time always becomes a loop. This chugging, cyclical Orbital groove gives way to an unnerving past-meets-present timeslip fit for ‘Sapphire And Steel’ as goth maenads The Mediaeval Baebes materialise to sing ‘Ring O’Roses’ – the innocent nursery rhyme whose roots are in the Black Death.
“I’ve always liked folk music and mediaeval sounds,” says Paul, himself an occasional Morris dancer. “I had the basis of that track and I wanted to spin it off somehow.” Trawling his archives he stumbled on The Mediaeval Baebes’ version of ‘Ring O’Roses’ “and my hackles just went up. I was like, my God, this is the original pandemic folk song.”
?his being Orbital, there are collaborations galore on the album, the roles once played by Alison Goldfrapp, Lady Leshurr or David Gray now filled by new talents. London singer-songwriter Anna B Savage contributes a compellingly fragile, Anohni-like vocal to ‘Home’, in which nature reclaims the scorched and vacant mega-cities. ‘Day One’ is a pulsing techno track featuring the singer Dina Ipavic. Paul got in touch with her after working on a score for a sculpture show of giant robotic installations by his friend Giles Walker during the pandemic. First Paul cut up his own score and Ipavic’s vocals on the track The Crane, which appears on the deluxe version of the album. Then he thought, Why not work with her for real? The result is school of ‘Belfast’, a bassy dreamscape with vocalised clouds billowing above.
The pensive ‘Are You ?live?’ adds to the Orbital product range of existential questions (‘Are We Here?’, ‘Where Is It Going?’) in collaboration Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, AKA brother and sister act Lily and Jack Wolter. “They’re our studio mates, they work upstairs!” says Paul happily. “And they’ve both got amazing voices.”
But Orbital are Orbital and never far from the dancefloor. “Eventually the more abrasive bits came back into the fold…” ‘You Are The Frequency’, first of two tracks to feature mysterious vocalist The Little Pest, surrounds the listener with warped voices ordering you to the dancefloor (Phil: “we wanted the idea that the music is kind of absorbing you”). And the second, the sinister ‘What A Surprise’, traps you in a paranoid electronic hall of mirrors.
In another nod to Orbital’s resurgent past the cover artwork once again comes from fine art painter John Greenwood, creator of fantastical grotesques for the covers of ‘Snivilisation’, ‘In Sides’ and Orbital’s most recent album, 2018’s ‘Monsters Exist’. Orbital had just had a slick Mark Farrow cover for ‘30 Something’ – this is a return to the overripe and bulbous techno-organic constructions that somehow express Orbital’s own uncontrollably fertile sound.
There are gaps in the future that Orbital are desperate to fill too; there will be tours and festivals and rooms and fields full of people. Those long paralysed months when we had little to look forward to but a Zoom DJ set made Paul and Phil appreciate the things that make life worth living.
- A1: Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song) (Feat. The Mediaeval Baebes)
- A2: Day One (Feat. Dina Ipavic)
- A3: Are You Alive? (Feat. Penelope Isles)
- B1: You Are The Frequency (Feat. The Little Pest)
- B2: The New Abnormal
- C1: Home (Feat. Anna B Savage)
- C2: Dirty Rat
- C3: Requiem For The Pre-Apocalypse
- D1: What A Surprise (Feat. The Little Pest)
- D2: Moon Princess (Feat. Coppe)
Black Vinyl[31,05 €]
2 x Solid White LP, 5mm spine Sleeve UV Gloss Finish, 2x Heavy Weight Printed Inner Sleeve UV Gloss finish, marketing sticker.
Legendary electronic music duo Orbital return Early 2023 with new album “Optical Delusion”, the Hartnoll brothers first studio album since 2018’s Monster’s Exist. Recorded in Orbital’s Brighton studio, “Optical Delusion” includes contributions from Sleaford Mods, Penelope Isles, Anna B Savage, The Little Pest, Dina Ipavic, Coppe, and perhaps most surprisingly, The Medieval Baebes.
Earlier this year, Orbital celebrated their storied history with “30 Something” which, unlike other Best Of’s, contains reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of landmark Orbital tracks including “Chime”, “Belfast”, “Halcyon”, “Satan”, and “The Box”
SHORT BIOG:
“A human being experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest of humanity – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison…”
You many have seen this quote attributed to Albert Einstein on social media, the archetypal Smartest Guy Ever apparently having an out-of-character religious epiphany. It certainly leapt out at Paul Hartnoll of Orbital who spotted it in Michael Pollan’s 2018 book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence.
“As soon as I saw ‘optical delusion’ I thought Oh hey, that’s the album title,” says Paul. “It just seemed to say so much about how people construct their own realities, how we see patterns that aren’t there, how we see what we want to see.
“But it’s actually a misquote. He never quite said that. In the German original what he’s really saying is that human experience is as relative as physics. Wouldn’t it be good if we could accept that, and find a kind of universal theory of everything for the human race? Then you look at everything from history to art to your Twitter feed and you think yeah, that’s what we’re all trying to do all of the time…”
Hence ‘Optical Delusion’, the tenth original Orbital album and the latest in a burst of renewed post-pandemic creativity for two brothers who’ve stayed at the top of their game longer than anyone from the post-1988 Class of Acid House.
Now with ‘Optical Delusion’ the Hartnolls dig deeper into the unquiet psyche of our increasingly surreal and disordered world. Sketched out partly during lockdown but fully recorded in the uncertain After Times, the album summons up conflicting emotions and sometimes beguiling images from years when the science fiction doomsdays that the Hartnolls watched on TV as kids finally came true. There are mesmeric tracks with names like ‘The New Abnormal’ and ‘Requiem For The Pre-Apocalypse’ and ‘Day One’. But there are also straight-up bangers and ethereal cosmic dreams, abstract sound wars and deeply human songs of separation and loss.
And it all starts with a bang. Lead single ‘Dirty Rat’, an outright Fall-meets-Front-242 class rant with vocals by Sleaford Mods mob orator Jason Williamson, harks right back to the Hartnolls’ days of politicised anarcho-squatpunk. It began as a remix swap (Orbital did the Sleafords’ ‘I Don’t Rate You’) and morphed into a comic, brutal, bass-driven harangue not so much against our rulers but at the petty, mean-spirited, frightened, Mail-reading voters who put them there: the people who are “blaming everyone in hospital/blaming everyone at the bottom of the English Channel/blaming everyone who doesn’t look like a fried animal.”
Also key to the album is opening track ‘Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song)’ which returns to an Orbital truism, that time always becomes a loop. This chugging, cyclical Orbital groove gives way to an unnerving past-meets-present timeslip fit for ‘Sapphire And Steel’ as goth maenads The Mediaeval Baebes materialise to sing ‘Ring O’Roses’ – the innocent nursery rhyme whose roots are in the Black Death.
“I’ve always liked folk music and mediaeval sounds,” says Paul, himself an occasional Morris dancer. “I had the basis of that track and I wanted to spin it off somehow.” Trawling his archives he stumbled on The Mediaeval Baebes’ version of ‘Ring O’Roses’ “and my hackles just went up. I was like, my God, this is the original pandemic folk song.”
?his being Orbital, there are collaborations galore on the album, the roles once played by Alison Goldfrapp, Lady Leshurr or David Gray now filled by new talents. London singer-songwriter Anna B Savage contributes a compellingly fragile, Anohni-like vocal to ‘Home’, in which nature reclaims the scorched and vacant mega-cities. ‘Day One’ is a pulsing techno track featuring the singer Dina Ipavic. Paul got in touch with her after working on a score for a sculpture show of giant robotic installations by his friend Giles Walker during the pandemic. First Paul cut up his own score and Ipavic’s vocals on the track The Crane, which appears on the deluxe version of the album. Then he thought, Why not work with her for real? The result is school of ‘Belfast’, a bassy dreamscape with vocalised clouds billowing above.
The pensive ‘Are You ?live?’ adds to the Orbital product range of existential questions (‘Are We Here?’, ‘Where Is It Going?’) in collaboration Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, AKA brother and sister act Lily and Jack Wolter. “They’re our studio mates, they work upstairs!” says Paul happily. “And they’ve both got amazing voices.”
But Orbital are Orbital and never far from the dancefloor. “Eventually the more abrasive bits came back into the fold…” ‘You Are The Frequency’, first of two tracks to feature mysterious vocalist The Little Pest, surrounds the listener with warped voices ordering you to the dancefloor (Phil: “we wanted the idea that the music is kind of absorbing you”). And the second, the sinister ‘What A Surprise’, traps you in a paranoid electronic hall of mirrors.
In another nod to Orbital’s resurgent past the cover artwork once again comes from fine art painter John Greenwood, creator of fantastical grotesques for the covers of ‘Snivilisation’, ‘In Sides’ and Orbital’s most recent album, 2018’s ‘Monsters Exist’. Orbital had just had a slick Mark Farrow cover for ‘30 Something’ – this is a return to the overripe and bulbous techno-organic constructions that somehow express Orbital’s own uncontrollably fertile sound.
There are gaps in the future that Orbital are desperate to fill too; there will be tours and festivals and rooms and fields full of people. Those long paralysed months when we had little to look forward to but a Zoom DJ set made Paul and Phil appreciate the things that make life worth living.
Ever dream you're in a spaceship on a never-ending journey to an unknowable destination? That's how Nyles Lannon often thought of life in the early part of the pandemic, when time seemed to stand still, before the vaccines or even knowing when there might be any. But whether that spaceship is a desolate prison or a vessel for escaping to a better world depends on how you use it. With literally nowhere to go, the Film School guitarist and his then-12-year-old son Skye, on drums and modular synths, would jam most evenings in Nyles's home studio, just to have something to focus their minds on and counter the tedium of "remote learning." What started out as a way to keep his talented kid busy became a means to process the anxiety and disorientation of that strange, scary stretch of time. The result is Vanishing, a ten-song album of moody melodies, new wave beats, droney rock, and even an electrogroove instrumental interlude, by the father-son project they named Nyte Skye.
The emotional toll of lockdown, our collective grief, the literal darkness that engulfed the sky thanks to devastating wildfires brought on by climate crisis—these are heavy subjects, but the songs also convey how we managed to keep each other sane, and inspired, through it all. Film School devotees will find plenty to love; so will fans of the Police (Stewart Copeland being one of Skye's major
influences), the Cure, Spiritualized, and Elliott Smith. The album's opener, "Dream State (I'm Vanishing)," is a wistful synth-driven indie gem about disappearing into an alternate universe where worries don't exist. "Doing Time," with its massive washes of 12-string guitar and sophisticated syncopated beat, is a shoegazey meditation on holding onto a child's sanguine outlook in the face of adversity. If dream pop track "Take Me Up Again" is the album's bounciest, its counterpoint is "Faded," whose bittersweet melody and gentle rhythm bely themes of physical and emotional frailty.
Ultimately, not only did working on Vanishing help the duo cope with a uniquely challenging situation, but just being stuck at home helped stoke their creativity. "Music was the only thing I did during the pandemic, besides online school," Skye says. "It gave us all this time we didn't have before to make the album." For Nyles—knowing they might never have that kind of time again—to be able to put out a record with his son is, simply, "a dream come true."
Vanishing was written, recorded, and produced by Nyles Lannon and Skye Lannon and mixed by Dan Long, with additional contributions from Zach Rogue (Rogue Wave), Nichole Kreglow (backup vocals), lyricist Neil Rodenmeyer (Lupa Rosa), and Ian McDonald (FUTRVST).
The venerable Philip Lauer (aka “Lauer”) makes his debut on Public Release this Fall with his latest EP Otto Zero. One half of T&P, another half of Tuff City Kids, and a full two halves of Lauer, we're thrilled to welcome him to the Public Release family. I’ve been rinsing his tracks in my sets over the years; a sound so recognizably his, warm and fleeting emotions — yet simultaneously cold and rigid— he masterfully toes this line. The EP is serious party music for any room, whether it be the dance floor or the kitchen... It hits wherever, whenever.
- A1: Procession
- A2: Love In The Void
- B1: Untruth
- B2: It's Ok To Be Afraid Of The Universe
- B3: Release
- B4: Gods Becoming Memories
- C1: It's In This Lie
- C2: I Would Stare Into The Sun With You Forever
- C3: Undoing
- C4: Absorbed In Light
- D1: Will We Ever Be Ourselves Again?
- D2: Denial Of Endings
- D3: The End Is The Beginning
Red Vinyl
Breaking from the strange monotony and abnormal norms that took hold during two years of pandemic life, Hammock returns with Love in the Void , an album that looks to the future, seizes the present, and unabashedly relishes the experiences and bonds that bring meaning to our days. Known for crafting orchestral works of stirring cinematic ambience, on Love in the Void the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson bring guitar-forward, heart-pounding urgency to songs that shout through and shatter the static of complacency. Since forming as Hammock in 2003, Byrd and Thompson have released 14 critically-acclaimed albums, and are renowned for their unique talent for bringing inexpressible emotion to life. The Covid-19 pandemic followed closely after one of Hammock's career-defining works, the Mysterium, Universalis, and Silencia trilogy that chronicled the incomprehensible loss of Byrd's 20-year- old nephew. At their homes and apart, Byrd and Thompson then recorded Elsewhere, an album of shimmering ambience that channeled alienated longing and displacement into avenues that gave way to worlds and possibilities yet realized. Shaken awake and needing to break free of frustrations and longings, Love in the Void pulses with an unbridled spirit for action and experience and a burning desire for connection Across songs that hammer home the keenly felt emotions of life's highs and lows, Byrd and Thompson crest soaring crescendos awash in reverb and delve to keenly felt moments of quiet introspection, with unflinching lyrics on tracks like "Undoing" and "Denial of Endings'' that weigh choices made and circumstances that can't be changed. Lush and dramatic string orchestration from Matt Kidd (Slow Meadow) and emphatic drumming from Jake Finch heighten the stakes in play, and Christine Byrd's (Lumenette) ethereal vocals leave mysteries lingering in the haze. Love in the Void is Hammock's loudest album to date, embracing daring and vulnerability with palpable vitality at its core, and moving into an unknown future without fear.
Glasgow's First Lady of Jazz Carol Kidd, whose string of successful Linn recordings in the 1980's have made her a staple of international audiophile artists, returns with an all-new collection of delectable jazz and pop standards delivered in her inimitably smooth and heartfelt style.
Kidd has always been an artist celebrated for her cool, controlled phrasing and easy-going balladry, and her lovely new recording, BOTH SIDES NOW, is replete with her trademark inflection and warmth spread over classic songs by everyone from Rodgers & Hammerstein, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, and Richard Thompson. A songwriter of note, Kidd herself contributes two new tracks co-authored with Chris Anthony.
Impex's exclusive 180-gram 33 rpm LP, mastered by the superlative Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, features brilliantly detailed mid-tones, effortlessly stable bottom end, and crisp overtones. RTI's peerless pressing brings it all together for your listening pleasure.
Carol Kidd is an international award winning singer. She has been named 'Best Vocalist' at the British Jazz Awards on four occasions and was appointed MBE for Services to Jazz. In 2006, Carol was a winner of the prestigious Nordoff-Robbins Tartan Clef Music Award and in 2017 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Scottish Jazz Awards. Renowned for her impeccable phrasing and delivery along with an unforgettable ability to breathe fresh life into any jazz standard, Carol has cut a distinctive path through the Great American Songbook throughout her career with orchestral and trio backing, as well as performing as a unique and intimate duo with guitarist Nigel Clark.
A long line of admirers has included Tony Bennett, Vic Damone and Frank Sinatra, who invited her to open for him at a stadium concert where he remarked that, "Carol Kidd is the best kept secret of British jazz." After a sensational performance at the Tribute to Johnny Mercer show at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Sir Michael Parkinson observed from the stage that "If there is a better jazz singer out there I have yet to hear them!" Luminaries who have performed alongside Carol as her guests include George Shearing, Georgie Fame, Annie Ross, Benny Carter, Joe Temperley, Bobby Watson and Martin Taylor.
Following a battle with cancer, Carol returned to the stage triumphant in the summer of 2013 to give a powerful, emotional performance at the Glasgow Jazz Festival. In the wake of this homecoming, it is impossible to deny that Kidd is one of the most remarkable artists and performers of our time.
If it's really a post-genre world, why does everything sound the same? The two halves of Tampa rap duo They Hate Change_Dre (he/him) and Vonne (they/them)_first came together in front of the apartment complex where they both lived as teens. Dre had just moved down from Rochester, NY; Vonne was trying to sell him bad weed. It was clear from the start that the two listen to music differently from most people_they're sonic omnivores, obsessive deep-divers, lovers of rare and radical sounds. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, they've been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it _ not just the East Coast hip-hop that Dre grew up on, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook (the Gulf Coast's twerkably raunchy answer to house) and crank (think "Miami bass meets NOLA bounce"), but also drum `n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map. Once they graduated to DJs on the Tampa DIY scene _ which includes everything from punk rock house parties to the black "teen nights" that pop up in rec centers and ballrooms _ they figured out how to pull all these disparate sounds together into a cohesive style. More importantly, they figured out how to make it something people will actually move to. When they made the transition to rapping and making beats, they brought that pleasure-seeking approach to sonic experimentation with them. "With this album, Vonne says, "it's really like, okay, you know how you talk about the internet breaking down borders? Here's what that actually sounds like. It's not just a hip-hop record with a couple more weird sounds. You want homegrown DIY? This is a record that was written, produced, and recorded in a 150-squarefoot bedroom from the least cool city you could think of." Finally, New is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks. Let the rest of them keep playing by the old rules_They Hate Change will keep changing the game.
- 1: Haywood Ranch
- 2: The Muybridge Clip
- 3: La Vie C'est Chouette
- 4: Jupiter's Claim
- 5: Brother Sister Walk
- 6: Walk On By
- 7: Not Good
- 8: What's A Bad Miracle
- 9: The Oprah Shot
- 10: Ancient Aliens
- 11: Park Kids Prank Haywood
- 12: It's In The Cloud
- 13: Holy Sh*T It's Real
- 14: Progressive Anxiety
- 15: The Star Lasso Expeeerrriii
- 16: Arena Attack
- 17: Sunglasses At Night (Jean Jacket Mix)
- 18: Blood Rain
- 19: The Unaccounted For
- 20: Preparing The Trap
- 21: Purple People Reader
- 22: Exuma
- 23: The Obeah Man
- 24: Man Down
- 27: Abduction
- 28: Havoc
- 29: Em & Angel Fly
- 30: A Hero Falls
- 31: Pursuit
- 32: Winkin' Well
- 33: Nope
- 25: The Run (Urban Legends)
- 26: Wtf Is That
Waxwork Records in partnership with Back Lot Music is honored to release NOPE Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Michael Abels. Oscarr winner Jordan Peele disrupted and redefined modern horror with Get Out and then Us, he reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic, Nope. The film reunites Peele with Oscarr winner Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah), who is joined by Keke Palmer and Oscarr nominee Steven Yeun as residents in a lonely gulch of inland California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. NOPE marks Abels' third feature film score with director Jordan Peele, having previously scored Peele's GET OUT and US. The album also features songs from the film, including a new version of Corey Hart's classic "Sunglasses at Night (Jean Jacket Mix)", Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By", The Lost Generation's "This is the Lost Generation", Exuma's "Exuma, the Obeah Man", and a never-before-released gem by a young Jodie Foster, "La Vie C'est Chouette" from the 1977 film MOI, FLEUR BLEUE. "NOPE is my most ambitious score to date," says Abels. "There are elements from the genres of sci-fi, action, horror, and westerns, but always through the tonal palette of Jordan Peele's unique vision. The lines between source music and score are blurred, as a good part of the score seems to be playing at the theme park, which is a key location in the story. The score is at times terrifying, yet also invokes the sense of awe and wonder that the characters feel as they realize what they are seeing. The film eventually becomes a grand adventure, and so the music expands into the larger-than-life scale we expect of a summer blockbuster." He goes on to say, "it was a joy to compose a score that encompassed such a broad range of genres and emotions, and I'm thrilled to have audiences experience all of them through this album." "Michael is one the most exciting composers working today - he has this amazing ability to create new sounds which was important for this film," Jordan Peele says. "He's able to play in the familiar and in the unfamiliar at the same time, so that helps give every film its own character, and he has an incredible mastery of so many different music genres." Abels is known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films GET OUT and US, for which Abels won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and multiple critics' awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for an Academy Awardr and was named "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. Abels is also co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, gaming and streaming media. Waxwork Records is thrilled to present the official NOPE deluxe double LP soundtrack album. The package comes complete with 180-gram colored vinyl, quality packaging, original artwork by Ethan Mesa, heavyweight gatefold jacket with matte coating, a multi-page 12" x 12" booklet, liner notes, & more!
If it's really a post-genre world, why does everything sound the same? The two halves of Tampa rap duo They Hate Change_Dre (he/him) and Vonne (they/them)_first came together in front of the apartment complex where they both lived as teens. Dre had just moved down from Rochester, NY; Vonne was trying to sell him bad weed. It was clear from the start that the two listen to music differently from most people_they're sonic omnivores, obsessive deep-divers, lovers of rare and radical sounds. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, they've been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it _ not just the East Coast hip-hop that Dre grew up on, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook (the Gulf Coast's twerkably raunchy answer to house) and crank (think "Miami bass meets NOLA bounce"), but also drum `n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map. Once they graduated to DJs on the Tampa DIY scene _ which includes everything from punk rock house parties to the black "teen nights" that pop up in rec centers and ballrooms _ they figured out how to pull all these disparate sounds together into a cohesive style. More importantly, they figured out how to make it something people will actually move to. When they made the transition to rapping and making beats, they brought that pleasure-seeking approach to sonic experimentation with them. "With this album, Vonne says, "it's really like, okay, you know how you talk about the internet breaking down borders? Here's what that actually sounds like. It's not just a hip-hop record with a couple more weird sounds. You want homegrown DIY? This is a record that was written, produced, and recorded in a 150-squarefoot bedroom from the least cool city you could think of." Finally, New is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks. Let the rest of them keep playing by the old rules_They Hate Change will keep changing the game.
EERIE WANDA ist das Projekt der niederländisch-kroatischen Musikerin Marina Tadic, die mit ,Internal Radio" ihr drittes Album veröffentlicht. Die bildende Künstlerin und Musikerin wird auf dem neuen Album von ihrem Partner Adam Harding (DUMB NUMBERS, KIDBUG) und der Produzenten-Legende Kramer (GALAXIE 500, UNREST, WEEN, DANIEL JOHNSTON) unterstützt. Auf diesen elf Songs wird deutlich, dass Tadic zu der Künstlerin wird, die sie gerne sein möchte und nebenbei noch einige Dämonen austreibt: ,This album is different than anything else I've made. I think I have entered a new chapter. Hope you enjoy." Während ihre früheren Alben eher auf beschwingten, gitarrenbetonten Indie-Pop ausgerichtet waren, klingt ,Internal Radio" wie eine experimentellere, jenseitige, ernsthafte, erwachsene Angelegenheit, die sich in sensibles, emotionales Terrain wagt. Die intimen, persönlichen Songs spiegeln die Einsamkeit wider, die viele von uns in den letzten Jahren empfunden haben, und erinnern an Künstler wie LIDA HUSIK und EDITH FROST.
dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.
Laila Sakini's new album 'Paloma' arrives via Modern Love and is her most striking and ambiguous to date - a pointed and timely meditation on hope and hierarchies that riffs on Zbigniew Preisner's magical "The Double Life of Veronique" score and enduring outsider music tome "The Langley Schools Music Project". Subtly transcendent, fathoms-deep music.
When Laila Sakini's debut album ‘Vivienne’ arrived in 2020, it felt like the record we were waiting for to map out our tangled reactions to an uninvited reality. Never self-consciously strange, it revealed itself slowly and cautiously, like a shadow in the corner of the eye, or an alchemical symbol in a bowl of alphabet spaghetti. This time around Sakini has worked her unique world-building to an even finer point, forming six tracks around a theme that's so close to our heart it's almost beating in time. Initially inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1991 arthouse classic "The Double Life of Veronique", the cult Polish director's enduring modern fairytale that serves as a cosmic rumination on identity and choice. Detailing two identical women - both singers, both in love - the film lets one live as the other dies, forcing us to consider the implications of art and endurance in the face of life's myriad challenges.
Sakini takes Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner's influential score for the film and uses it as a jumping-off point for ‘Paloma’, bending the more grandiose moments into baroque awkwardness on opening track 'Fluer D'Oranger' and evoking the mood of scene-setting cues 'Weronika' and 'Véronique' on the recorder-led 'The Light That Flickers In The Mirror'. And while Preisner's score zeroed in on the musical virtuosity of the film's lead characters, Sakini reinterprets that as a metaphor for self-discovery. Playing piano, violin, glockenspiel, timbale, recorder, and occasionally singing, Sakini captures a mood of innocence that immediately transports the listener back to simpler times. Her music isn't self-consciously simplistic, but forcing herself to interface with instruments impulsively rather than studiously, her sounds are all heart, no filigree.
In spirit, it reminds us of cult Canadian album "The Langley Schools Music Project", a collection of 1970s recordings of school kids singing rudimentary renditions of pop songs in a school gymnasium. That album's genius was in the bottling of hope and innocence: the feeling of joy from hearing and wholesomely interacting with music that's known and loved without a sense of hierarchy or desire for cultural clout. Sakini subtly subverts this by evoking the amateur spirit in the most bewitching way; instead of sourcing her ideas from Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys, her stock is the established art canon, and by reforming those sounds she makes an insightful comment on intellectualism and access. European classical music is all too often trapped behind the frosted glass of respectability and assumed skill - craft replaces spirit, and technique replaces soul. By approaching these gestures from a different angle, Sakini softens the edges sonically and intellectually, finding music that bubbles with emotion, and most strikingly - hope.
Her choice of instruments and the way she interacts with them allows us to feel as if we're not only listening but contributing. It's a bottom-up way of absorbing art that's traditionally been top-down, and a reminder that we're all part of the experience, whether we're humming along to the remnants of a theme as it dribbles out of an ear in the shower, or dreaming of spotlights in a parallel life that may or may not be real. Sakini's music is nostalgic in a sense, but nowhere near the buttered popcorn and high-fructose candy migraine of the Netflix/Spotify algorithm generation of regurgitated churn. She makes sounds that remind us of what time and experience may have stolen from us, and how we might recover it.
Paving the way for independent artists with songs about love, loss and life, Low Island release their highly anticipated sophomore album, Life In Miniature, promising more ‘delicious alt pop’ (Clash) as the group follow in the footsteps of fellow ‘Oxford bands Glass Animals, Radiohead and Foals’ (Rolling Stone Germany).
It comes fresh off the back of their debut album, If You Could Have It All Again, which placed #17 in the Official UK Album Sales Chart and won them plaudits from Gigwise (‘truly engrossing’), Line of Best Fit (‘arena ready’), Double J, KCRW, Radio1, 6music and Zane Lowe, who described the bands ‘intellectual, soulful creativity.’ Their second album, Life In Miniature, sees Low Island continue to broaden the scope of their ambition, with a record that exquisitely balances stirring electronics, euphoric indie and infectious pop. It’s a record described by the band as a ‘timecapsule, a sonic photo album that captures three years of accelerated change that felt like a lifetime. Leaving home, falling in love, losing loved ones, trying to capture full complexity of emotion that all of those experiences engender.’
Setting that heartfelt lyricism against such a diverse range of sonic backdrops is something that Low Island have been devotedly fine-tuning over the years, firmly rooted in an independence that extends to everything from managing themselves and releasing their music on their own label, Emotional Interference. Its lead to an electrifying live show, which has seen them play festivals from Glastonbury to Lollapalooza Berlin, support synthpop legends Hot Chip and pack out their own shows everywhere from London to Berlin, Prague and Paris, prompting 6music’s Tom Robinson to prophesise that ‘we’ll have them rocking the Pyramid Stage yet, mark my words’.
The Older I Get, the Funnier I Was, which follows Thomas’ brilliant 2020 HBO special The Golden One and his Can't Believe You're Happy Here EP released earlier this year, surveys a range of emotion and offers a broad sonic palette, moving between pop punk, electro, and the obvious influence of the singer-songwriters he grew up listening to in early childhood. It conjures the ennui of Bright Eyes alongside the barefaced storytelling of John Prine, the overstuffed lists of Fred Thomas with the lackadaisical humor of Colleen Green, among many others.
Thomas attributes the dexterity of the record to Duterte, who recorded and engineered most of it in addition to serving up plenty of encouragement when Thomas got down on the process. “As a comic, I used to test out new songs during sets to see if the funny bits were hitting, but since I wrote this in isolation I ended up writing lyrics and worrying less about making jokes,” Thomas says. That said, the album’s plenty funny. Stand-out and lead single “Rigamarole” opens with a Thomas-voiced infomercial that recalls his oft-cited lookalike Jim Carrey as the Grinch, before launching into a buoyant pop song about being depressed.
Whitmer Thomas will admit that when he traveled home to small town Gulf Shores, Alabama to record his HBO stand-up special, The Golden One, he expected to be greeted as a returning hero, a conquering king, or at minimum, a guy with a moderately successful career as an entertainer in Los Angeles. “I expected a big welcome home, open arms, but when I went back I realized: nobody fucking knows me. Nobody remembers me,” Thomas says. “In the years I’d been performing that show, I’d been romanticizing my childhood in this mythologized place, but the visit made me see that I’m not really from there anymore.”
The sense of alienation compounded when Thomas recognized how few people in town remembered his mom, to whom The Golden One is dedicated and largely about. Thomas grew up watching her perform with her twin sister at the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge, where he set the special, and still counts her as one of his musical influences. His new album, The Older I Get, the Funnier I Was, isn’t overtly about his mom, her presence is deeply felt throughout. While in Gulf Shores, Thomas discovered dozens of her old recordings, all of which had been wrecked by Katrina, but upon returning to LA, Thomas paid “a fancy place in Hollywood” to fix the tapes and hired Melina Duterte (Jay Som, Bachelor, Routine) to mix them. The two struck up a collaborative friendship, and Thomas had the sound of his mom’s voice back. “I was listening to songs she recorded when she was about my age, just these heartfelt, sweet Americana songs,” he says. “I decided then that I wanted to lose the Ian Curtis voice I always sing with; I wanted to do what came naturally, because my mom always sounded like herself, even when she was singing some cheesy reggae song about, like, Jamaica.”
Thus he went into The Older I Get, the Funnier I Was knowing it was time to retire his darkwave persona, and leaning into his natural, chirpier voice, which he says sounds “like a 12-year-old’s.” It makes sense: much of the album chronicles what Thomas calls “being a kid and feeling like you have no control and overcompensating by being annoying.” “So much of the album is about witnessing drug and alcohol addiction as a kid and seeing what it does to people, but also realizing that there's nothing you can do about it,” Thomas says. It’s familiar territory (see: “Partied to Death”) but the methodology is different this time around; true to its title, The Older I Get, the Funnier I Was isn’t always looking for laughs. Thomas might’ve left his hometown behind, but his kid self is still tagging along, a Peter Pan shadow he can’t untether himself from. The first line he sings on The Older I Get, the Funnier I Was is: “There should be a room at every party where you can just sit and watch a movie.” Find a 12-year-old who wouldn’t say the same.








































