Suche:escape one

The dual forces of shadow and light, despair and hope, frustration and catharsis are at play in the music of Cupid & Psyche, the Los Angeles-based indie rock duo of Michael Vidal and Juan Velasquez. First gaining recognition in the late aughts as members of the punk band Abe Vigoda, whose 2010 album Crush was named one of the "Best 50 Albums of the 2010s" by Pitchfork, the two have reunited as collaborators for the first time in a decade. Cathartic jam sessions would birth the emotionally resonant songs that appear on their debut album, Romantic Music. Though they pull from a wide array of `80s and `90s influences, Cupid & Psyche bring together these disparate moods and genres through their own esoteric lens on Romantic Music_making for a singular sound that at once feels familiar and alluringly hypnotic. Listeners will detect the gloom of post-punk and goth, the haziness of dream-pop and shoegaze, the bittersweet guitar melodies of second-wave emo, and the manic electronic rhythms of trip-hop and big beat. The immersive soundscapes on Romantic Music are sometimes agitated and driving, while other times ethereal and transcendent. This duality matches the album's lyrics of looking for a divine escape from the grim realities of existence, as well as the darkest parts of one's psyche. "The thesis of the album is trying to transcend the limits of life and the struggle therein," Vidal says. "There's a lot of lyrics about feeling trapped or frustrated, and then trying to find a way out. There's a lot of times I sing of hope and grasping towards love. But maybe in trying to escape, you take the wrong door, be it substance abuse or other vices." Now as Cupid & Psyche, Vidal and Velasquez return to a friendship that creatively feels like home_except this time, with more experience, self-knowledge, and less pressure to make anything other than the music that emerges naturally. The LP's title Romantic Music is tongue-in-cheek, since there are no love songs proper on the project, and the phrase itself can imply a kind of light listening. But it befits that deep bond that the members have, as friends who understand and empathize with each other's worst, so they're capable of bringing out each other's best.

For more than a decade, Bert Dockx has been one of the most prolific and versatile musicians in Belgium. A masterful guitarist, gifted songwriter, and innovative composer, crossing boundaries between avant-garde rock, customized blues, and instrumental jazz, with bands such as Flying Horseman, Dans Dans, and Ottla, singing in his native Dutch as Strand, or solo under his birth name, and now as the Bert Dockx Band. Ghosts is his fifteenth (!) album on the Ghent-based label Unday Records.

Two years after the crash, Bert Dockx presents his new Bert Dockx Band and Ghosts, an album of rebirth and transgression, one of many firsts. Dockx never dedicated this much time to meticulously crafting each song. For the first time, he entrusts a finished record to a complete outsider. Never before has he reached out so far into the outside world.

The relaxed and positive atmosphere during the recordings is magnified in what Dockx calls 'my best guitar playing ever', and the deep, powerful use of his voice in its natural range. 'I had fun making this album,' says Dockx, 'and I really hope it shows'.
'There's no escape now/ I'm inside of the storm', Bert Dockx sings on his new album, the first with the Bert Dockx Band. 'I smile, I cry/ I die, I'm born/ I'm in love'. Ghosts is the culmination of a two-year odyssey, from hitting rock bottom to flourishing into new heights. An album of rebirth and transgression, a record of milestones and many firsts. Never before has Dockx turned so deep inside in order to reach out to a world beyond himself.

The album is mastered by US producer Philip Weinrobe. Weinrobe previously worked with Arianne Lenker, Indigo Sparke, and Kings of Convenience, and is praised by Dockx for his 'infallible intuition and great inventiveness'. This occasion marks the first time he hands over a finished record, permitting an outsider's perspective during the final mix.

As one of Britain's finest songsmiths of the 1960s and 1970s, Peter's voice continues to convey magic and emotion with a lustre of lysergic lyrical lacquer.

His brilliant 60's group Kaleidoscope were one of the great psychedelic groups to emerge from the U.K. during those heady days.

With infectious pop tunes laced with folk- rock jingle- jangle goodness and anapaestic lyrics that set them apart from many of their contemporaries, Kaleidoscope were vital as was too their more progressive folk early '70s incarnation as Fairfield Parlour. The band has often been spoken about with the same reverence reserved for Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett era, despite their lack of mainstream success.

This is a 50-50 collaboration with Mark Mortimer, formerly of DC Fontana and The Sorrows, who has always been a fan of Peter's work. Chelsea is more sonic expressionism from the two musicians; the songs are "psychedelic" in a sense without ever falling into the trap of being shoddy xeroxes of past glories. As Spill Magazine put it:"This is not a retro or throwback album. This is an album that may be ahead of its time." This is modern, forward-looking music that longtime Kaleidoscope fans will enjoy.

The album is produced by Julian Cope producer Donald Ross Skinner in London and Rick Reil in New York.

Bell Curve's new EP Obelisk for Berlin's SSPB provides a daring evolution of her soundworld, channeling the bristling intensity of her previous work into a more expansive headspace. Alongside six mesmerising new tracks from Bell Curve, the EP features a remix from Hessle Audio rising star Toumba. Obelisk compiles Bell Curve's most compelling and enthralling work to date. Reveling in dazzling repetition and delicate sonic nuance, it is a cathartic and defiant statement in an industry that increasingly demands hollow immediacy and caters to short attention spans - an homage to struggles and affirmation of strength and self-belief, while equally offering euphoric escape for those willing to spend time inside its mystic whorl. Club sonics are here plucked from their original contexts and expanded outwards - icy rave stabs on "Staircase" ascending into the heavens or the astral breaks and springy bass of "Hope It Gets Better".

Subtle shifts in tone and texture guide the listener through the trip, reverb tails slowly extending into lysergic drift or rippling grain and feedback rising from pulsing bass tones. Jordanian producer Toumba amps up the tempo on his remix of "Staircase" while maintaining the original's emotional core, bolstering the track's dextrous rhythms with distinctive Levantine timbres. Obelisk captures a constant push and pull between emotional states - from anxiety and melancholy to joy and euphoria, working through turmoil to find transcendence.

Tracks like "Dance Skeleton Dance" particularly invoke this duality, drawing catharsis from darker sonics, reconfiguring bass pressure and anxious percussion into a humid dancehall stepper. "Without U" contains emotional struggle as part of the very circumstances of its making - written while working through heartbreak, its delicate repetitions and searching tone reflecting the process of reconnecting with oneself. Title track "Obelisk" forms the emotional core of the EP, coalescing from weightless vapors into dramatic synthesizer motifs, evoking euphoric memories of complete immersion on the dancefloor and our ability to find ecstatic experience even in the contemporary hellscape.

As for the direction of their new album, DÉCEMBRE NOIR reveal the following: "Your Sunset | My Sunrise" is the cry for inner peace set to music. A heavy heart full of tears, which threatens to plunge its bearer into the abyss at any moment. Even if this means giving up oneself, in the end only the long-awaited silence counts. It is the escape on the wings of addiction from the battlefield of never-ending depression. The approach of the band from Thuringia, Germany also reaches deep on their fifth full-time album - both lyrically and musically. This is already known from the previous records "The Renaissance Of Hope" (2020), "Autumn Kings" (2018), "Forsaken Earth" (2016) and "A Discouraged Believer" (2014). DÉCEMBRE NOIR act consistently atmospheric, gloomily tuned and open to interpretation. The underlying thoughts, emotions and intentions of the songs of the quintet are not always clearly determinable. And they don't have to be. For the nuances and forebodings set to music have a special significance in the German band's playing. What once started between doom and death metal, has developed over the years and releases to an independent, organic gloomy sound, which achieves its ominous effect space and its captivating fascination quite independently of liking or style questions. On "Your Sunset | My Sunrise", produced by HEAVEN SHALL BURN's Alexander Dietz at his Chemical Burn Studio, DÉCEMBRE NOIR again rely on melancholic as well as melodically addressed pieces that stand completely on their own and therefore captivate because they are presented so heavy, dark and atmospheric.

For this new project, Rakoon is moving towards a warm, fully-fledged electro sound. "The Ones We Love" is an ode to those we love, to those we have loved, to the way encounters, sublime moments but also wounds, shape us.

The EP opens with the electronic ballad 'Carry Me', whose intoxicating synths remind us of those who have accompanied us, with whom we have moved forward and overcome trials. It's a nostalgic escape, with a vocal sample adding a touch of melancholy. As usual with Rakoon, hope is never far away on the danceable 'Moving Strangers', an energetic, enigmatic track where glitchy vocals intertwine with unstructured synths to give us that feeling of osmosis that arises in a crowd, when you share powerful moments with strangers. We continue the artist's electronic journey with "Always", whose analogue synths contrast with the depth of the vocals, revealing something unchanging in this journey. The radiant 'Memories' brings 'The Ones We Love' to a fitting close, in a hit built like a guitar-driven song, but made for the dancefloor. It's a track as unforgettable as the memories of the shared moments that make us who we are today.

On this universally intimate EP, the French producer conveys his feelings, but also his optimism. It's all about Rakoon and the emotions you feel when you listen to him: the desire to move forward together, to dance together bound by a transcendent force. An introspective journey full of honesty that we want to share, carried by its inspiring and intoxicating melodies. A journey of hopes and encounters that we want to continue to travel with him.

La Bibliothèque De La Bergerie is the new all-star project from producer Emmanuel Mario (Astrobal). 11 evocative and exhilarating instrumental tracks, ranging from synthetic to acoustic, from detailed pop writing to sonic experimentation. He is accompanied here by his companions Julien Gasc, Nina Savary and Vincent Guyot (as Ulysses' companions were known). Each contributes to the composition, arrangement and instrumentation of this colourful and enchanting odyssey. Mario and Savary have been living for years in an isolated former sheepfold in the South of France and have gradually gathered around them a band of artists and musicians who have come to escape their daily lives. The compositions in La Bibliotheque De La Bergerie were born of this timeless space of freedom. Each musician's musical obsessions can be found on the album, as they travel from one track to the next: soundtracks like the ones of De Roubaix or Alessandroni (Le Fleuve De La Nuit), experimental and classy pop like Stereolab/High Llamas (Loterie Solaire) or primary and repetitive electronic music (Tous A Zanzibar tome 3). The choirs and mixed voices of Nina Savary and Julien Gasc add a sunny, melancholy touch to the whole (En Attendant L'Année Dernière). The name Bibliothèque De La Bergerie is a double nod to Library Music, a trend in musical illustration for TV and radio that had its heyday in the 60s, 70s and 80s. And to the aforementioned bergerie, a living space and creative studio. The more observant may also have noticed the titles of the tracks, taken from the novels of the golden age of science fiction. Emmanuel Mario and his friends invite you to escape to another time. The album will be released on vinyl on the Freaksville label on October 6, 2023.Tracklisting: 1. L'homme qui n'existait pas 2. En attendant l'année dernière 3. Tous à Zanzibar (Tome 1) 4. Loterie Solaire 5. Une porte sur l'été 6. Le fleuve de la nuit 7. Le manuscrit Hopkins 8. Tous à Zanzibar (Tome 2) 9. Le Voyageur de l'inconnu 10. Terminus Tel-Aviv 11. Tous à Zanzibar (Tome 3) freedom. Each musician's musical obsessions can be found on the album, as they travel from one track to the next: soundtracks like the ones of De Roubaix or Alessandroni (Le Fleuve De La Nuit), experimental and classy pop like Stereolab/High Llamas (Loterie Solaire) or primary and repetitive electronic music (Tous A Zanzibar tome 3). The choirs and mixed voices of Nina Savary and Julien Gasc add a sunny, melancholy touch to the whole (En Attendant L'Année Dernière). The name Bibliothèque De La Bergerie is a double nod to Library Music, a trend in musical illustration for TV and radio that had its heyday in the 60s, 70s and 80s. And to the aforementioned bergerie, a living space and creative studio. The more observant may also have noticed the titles of the tracks, taken from the novels of the golden age of science fiction. Emmanuel Mario and his friends invite you to escape to another time. The album will be released on vinyl on the Freaksville label on October 6, 2023

From the grey-skied isles and horse farms of British Columbia comes the second volume of Crystal Dorval aka White Poppy’s “Paradise Gardens” trilogy: Sound Of Blue.

Originally conceived back in 2016, the album was then recorded, finessed, abandoned, resurrected, overdubbed, and finally mixed into nine refinements of daydream shoegaze and therapeutic pop, born from bedroom epiphanies and long winters of the heart.

From slowdive reverie (“Apathy,” “Melancholic Serenity”) and color wheel psychedelia (“Time”) to spiral chorale (“Happy”) and finger-picked drift (“Wiser”), Dorval’s songcraft moves between escape and acceptance, tracing delicate melodies from undercurrents of loss, light, and solitude. It’s music for memory gardens and pastel horizons, dreaming of bliss and distance, but bound to the here and now: “Thinking about leaving here forever / thinking about leaving here for good / but I keep holding on for something / hoping that it could get better than this / what’s one more night?”

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.

Written during a year of hedonistic isolation whilst exiled to a forgotten mining village, 'Alecs in Wonderland’ is the debut self-produced rap album by rap enigma and ‘one man band’ Alecs DeLarge.

Alecs navigates ‘Wonderland’ with a bulging backpack of references to 90’s Toonami imports, king skins and rap nerdology, multi-syllable boxing through beats in a smoked out stream-of-consciousness drawl. From the cartoonish braggadocio on ‘Scooby Snax’ and ‘AM To AM’, to proclaiming his love for his anthropomorphic MPC 2000 on ‘Girl Joint’, Alecs emphatically proving that he’s much more than just the man behind the boards.

Merging classic New York rap sensibilities with sarcastic British humour, 110’s and Berghaus coats taking the place of Timb boots and Lo sweaters.

Wonderland is Alecs’ custom built version of The Matrix, a perfect world created to escape the one outside his council flat window, idyllic living in Lynchian reality. A therapeutic outpouring of the lonely man’s psyche, or maybe just a slow descent into madness, polished and delivered to your ears in Long Play form.

C-50 Cassette Tape. 100 Copies only.

dispari introduces you to Hanoi-based Vietnamese artist Trần Uy Đức. Carried by large curiosity, urgency and delight, their sonic expression can be grasped as a self-exploration which is touchingly intimate, fragile, rebellious and cociliating. In their own words:

„It's my desire to escape into this person I don't know.
Die, orphaned kite flutes.
Watch me escape the orphaned kite flutes.
If you beat it up many times.
Don’t, don't, he predict thunder.
Who asked me tonight to explain one, two, two miracles.
Same problem.
C-c-c-fuck
I'm singing for my body.“

Trần Uy Đức

On Rock Island, their second LP, Palm produces evidence of a distinct musical language, developed over time, in isolation, and out of necessity. On the island, melodies are struck on what might be shells or spines. Rhythms are scratched out, swept over, scratched again. Individual instruments, and sometimes entire sections, skip and stutter. There is the sense of a music box with wonky tension or a warped transmission in which all the noise is taken for signal.

Like other groups so acclaimed for their compulsive live show, Palm has been burdened by the constant comparison between their recorded material and their touring set. On Rock Island, they render this tired discussion moot, using the album form to present that which could never be completely live, reserving for performance that which could never be completely reproduced.

Despite appearing behind the instruments typical of rock music, Palm trades in sounds of their own making. On these songs, one of the guitars and the drum kit are used as MIDI triggers, producing an index that can be combed through later and replaced with new information. The percussion is sometimes augmented so as to suggest a multiplication of limbs. The strings are manipulated to choke, crack, and hum like other instruments, or other bodies, might.

Working again with engineer Matt Labozza, the band spent the better part of a month in a rented farmhouse in Upstate New York. With the benefits of time and space, Palm recorded the various elements piecemeal, only rarely playing together in groups larger than two or three. While some members tracked, others holed up in the next room, experimenting with quantization, beat replacement, and other methods borrowed from electronic music. Even accounting for the many labors that brought them to be, these materials seem produced by an organic logic. Their complex friction forms a habit of thought, scores a network of grooves on the floor of the mind.

This is music with dimensionality. Sonic objects are deployed, developed, and dissected in various states of mutation. The listener flits about between the field and the lab. The tone is warm in a way only the sun could make, the pace as forceful and as variable as a gale. Whether one locates Rock Island in a sea or in a refinished attic (as in Greg Burak's album cover), whether one escapes to there or is banished, its psychic environs are charted clearly enough. Only at this remove from the mainland can we sense the conditions necessary for such a strange species of sound.

"If you can imagine a love child between MAC DEMARCO and SPAR-KLEHORSE, then this would be what you're left with." - SO YOUNG MAGA-ZINE
Raised in North Queensland, Australia, Jarrod Mahon is not one to shy away from bold new endeavors. Once parting ways with his previous record label in 2019, Mahon chose to go fully independent, relocating to Berlin in 2019 (where he still resides), despite having no contacts at all in the country. What’s more, having recorded/performed under the pseudonym Emerson Snowe for over a decade - during which time he home-recorded five albums and 13 EP’s, toured with the likes of King Krule or Ariel Pink, played showcases SXSW and the Great Escape, the works - Mahon took that brave, most uncommercial decision to release under his own name and start almost totally anew.
“There was never really a concept to that name Emerson Snowe other than having some kind of separation from who I was as a person,” Mahon explains, “using a moniker gave me that confidence to push myself further mentally and to give myself some kind of a freedom”. And through the process of creating what would become his debut album, Mahon saw that he had outgrown the need for this protective persona. ‘Everything Has A Life’ was meant to be the debut Snowe album”, he admits, “but after I finished mixing it with Syd Kemp, co-producer I realized that I had actually grown a lot and was much more comfort-able with who I am and what my personal beliefs are.”
The choice of ‘Everything Has A Life’ as the album title, pulled from beauteous opening track ‘All I Know’, neatly summarizes this new outlook: moving on from ‘self-pity’ of the past-self by becoming present for the loved ones around you, improving understanding of one’s own self, via the wider world at large.
That track marks the first written during a lockdown stint in LA where Mahon wrote and recorded every day for 2 months, produced nigh on 250 demos and birthed the bulk of the record. It also brought Mahon back to his all-time favorite, Sufjan Stevens’ Ilinois and its blend of widescreen orchestral landscapes and more candid, naked acoustic-leaning variations - an important influence for the album's stylistic contrasts. Another key inspiration for the record too brought Mahon back to his roots - those full-bloom strains of his Mum’s Beloved Neil Diamond, an annual Christmas irritant to Mahon as a child, yet an artist he’s come to respect in adulthood. “Whatever the reason, with age I came to love the big show band sounds,” he says, “the idea of a performer on stage with a mas-sive orchestra with strings was amazing to me.”
With the help of producer Syd Kemp (Ulrika Spacek, Vanishing Twin), such grand designs could be met. - “When we first met, he asked me if I would like real strings on it. I said of course.” Enter Magda Mclean on violin (Caroline/the Umlauts), and Gamaliel Rendle Traynor on Cello (Sweat, Fat White Family), whose strings helped lift the record to romantic new heights.
He continues: “I said to Syd that the only thing I wanted to achieve with this rec-ord was that I wanted it to make me cry at one point. And we got there eventual-ly.” The final culmination of all these strands, ’Everything Has A Life’ is indeed a treasure trove of emotive riches. Locking into that bittersweet, quintessentially ‘pop’ combination of triumphant rhythms and confessional, stream-of-consciousness lyrics plucked straight from the heart, Mahon faces up to years of substance abuse with a series of gorgeous, blushing melodies: “I was using, I was drinking, I was lying to my friends, I was messing up again, I was hiding from myself”, he joyously chants on ‘The Growing’.
A banquet fit for an indie king, Everything Has A Life is loaded with psych-pop lusciousness (‘All I Know’) and anthemic glam fuzz (‘Death Of The Ladies Man’, ‘Deadstar’, or ‘Sonny is my Best Friend’); recalling that foundational Sufjan Ste-vens influence too with shambling flecks of country (‘Charly (Romantic Heart)’). There’s also those lo-fi crepitations of ‘My Man’ and ‘I can’t’ harking back home-recorded demos that lie at the core of Mahon’s creative process.

Watch The Sun is the next studio album from the acclaimed musician, PJ Morton. Following a prolific and remarkable creative run that saw 5 consecutive years of GRAMMY Nominations and 6 LPs since 2017, Watch The Sun aims to take a step back from it all. Looking to escape from outside noises and influences, PJ Morton chose to record in the secluded and storied Studio In The Country, where Stevie Wonder worked on 1979’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, and artists like Allen Toussaint, Betty Davis and Dr. John have all recorded. Featuring the previously released “Please Don’t Walk Away,” & “My Peace,” the album is set to be his biggest and most anticipated release to date, delivering one of the most expansive sonic palettes he has ever developed as producer. Watch The Sun includes appearances from JoJo, Mr. Talkbox, Chronixx, Stevie Wonder, Nas, Wale, Jill Scott, Alex Isley, El Debarge, Zacardi Cortez, Gene Moore, Samoht, Tim Rogers & Darrel 'MusiqCity' Walls.

ltd 700 copies on black vinyl housed in reverseboard printed sleave with printed inner sleave. Comes with lyric booklet, poster and postcard inserts ** Formed in 1968, The Plastic People Of The Universe – named after a Mothers of Invention song and heavily influenced by Frank Zappa and The Velvet Underground – were iconic figureheads of the Prague Underground, a loose collective of Czech poets, philosophers and artists considered a threat by the Communist government. Banned and jailed under Czech communism The Plastic People Of The Universe are a true story of artistic perseverance, Authorities claimed their music would have a "negative social impact", and they were banned from playing for the public, having to play secret shows in remote locations. The raw DIY sound of their recordings escaped to Europe on tape and was released without the band's knowledge, their first album being a document of artistic defiance against the control of a stringent political environment they lived under.

Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned, PPU's debut LP, was recorded in 1973-74, but not released until 1978 (and even then, only in France). A beguiling album of lo-fi experimental rock that falls somewhere between Can, The Fall and Canterbury psych-folk with Ayler-esque sax solos. First-time vinyl reissue and it is limited. Essential.

One of the best band you never heard of

ltd 700 copies on black vinyl housed in reverseboard printed sleave with printed inner sleave. Comes with lyric booklet, poster and postcard inserts ** Formed in 1968, The Plastic People Of The Universe – named after a Mothers of Invention song and heavily influenced by Frank Zappa and The Velvet Underground – were iconic figureheads of the Prague Underground, a loose collective of Czech poets, philosophers and artists considered a threat by the Communist government. Banned and jailed under Czech communism The Plastic People Of The Universe are a true story of artistic perseverance, Authorities claimed their music would have a "negative social impact", and they were banned from playing for the public, having to play secret shows in remote locations. The raw DIY sound of their recordings escaped to Europe on tape and was released without the band's knowledge, their first album being a document of artistic defiance against the control of a stringent political environment they lived under.

Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned, PPU's debut LP, was recorded in 1973-74, but not released until 1978 (and even then, only in France). A beguiling album of lo-fi experimental rock that falls somewhere between Can, The Fall and Canterbury psych-folk with Ayler-esque sax solos. First-time vinyl reissue and it is limited. Essential.

One of the best band you never heard of

Dirg Gerner's debut album "Simple Man" is a soulful masterpiece and an essential addition to your collection, offering a much-needed introspective escape in these trying times. It’s timeless music, but with an old school feel and an eye on the sonic potentials of tomorrow. The elusive maverick, of Chilean and German descent, has previously gained recognition and support from renowned figures such as Benji B, The XX, Gilles Peterson and Ommas Keith. This new body of work, featuring jazz trumpeter Theo Croker, is serving jewel after jewel of silky harmonies and plain-spoken wisdom, which makes it a must-listen for anyone seeking authentic and soul- nourishing music.

The record is both a wonderful evolution in Tom's songwriting, and perhaps his most personal, heartfelt work so far. Inspired by pivotal moments, the album examines everything from family strife to heartbreak and abandonment, and exhibits some of the most confident, refined songwriting of his career. Set against lush soundscapes of beautifully textured guitars, agile strings and bright piano notes, these songs delve into the wonders of new love; reach out to a beloved sister; celebrate a close friend's good news. "I've touched on things in this record that I've never spoken about before," he says. "It's without doubt my most personal to date."Title track 'Love & Light' is dedicated to Speight's older sister, Cathy. Like "Tomorrow", it reaches out to a loved one with an emotional acuity that is startling for its candour. "My sister was the one who gave me my first guitar," he explains. "She used to pick me up from school... sometimes she'd forget and be a bit late, but I didn't mind." The song (like the album) is full of unconditional love, powerful enough that it stays with you long after the final note.

The Bad Guys is a 2022 animation feature film by DreamWorks Animation. Directed by Pierre Perifel, the film stars Sam Rockwell, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein and Awkwafina amongst others. The story follows a notorious fun-loving criminal animal crew. After a heist has gone wrong, the pack agree to become model citizens - or at least try to.

The score was composed by Daniel Pemberton who is known for composing the score to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). He has also composed the soundtrack for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015). Besides the original score, this soundtrack also features the songs "Good Tonight" feat. Anthony Ramos, "Feelin' Alright" by Elle King and "Brand New Day" by The Heavy.

The Bad Guys is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on yellow & orange marbled vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet with liner notes by Daniel Pemberton and Pierre Perifel.

"Featuring Nate Morgan on piano, Jesse Sharps on reeds, Danny Cortez on trumpet, Rickey Kelly on vibes, Joel Ector on bass and Derek Roberts on drums. This music was recorded in Santa Barbara in July of 1987. Since the passing of the great pianist /composer / bandleader Horace Tapscott, the Nimbus West label has continued to document the underground L.A. jazz scene that Mr. Tapscott was once at the center of. A number of great musicians who once collaborated
with Tapscott, like Jesse Sharps & Nate Morgan, have recorded albums as leaders on Nimbus West. The short liner notes state that "trying to play serious music in an area as shallow & fad-driven as Los Angeles, were too much for this band to deal with..." so they didn't last too long. No doubt. This LP is proof that this collective's music was strong, spirited, original and had a great deal to offer. I
can't say that I've heard of any of the rhythm section players but all six members of the collective are excellent musicians nonetheless.
Nate Morgan's "Retribution, Reparation" is first and it has one of those McCoy Tyner-like 70's ensemble vibes with spirited piano and Trane-ish tenor sax sailing on top. The entire sextet is in great form with impressive solos from trumpeter Danny Cortez, vibist Rickey Kelly and pianist Nate Morgan. How musicians as incredible as this escaped notice, I will never understand. The sextet is ultra-tight and swings furiously throughout. Bassist John Ector's "Big Spliff" has a most memorable theme that had me smiling all the way through. The long & inspired soprano solo by Jesse Sharps and that great piano interplay & solo makes this piece even more special. The only cover on this LP is Monk's "Well You Needn't" and it too is done exuberantly. There are over 100 minutes of outstanding music on this wonderful release. Another buried treasure to add to your collection of great gifts from the gods." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery