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Pressing Info: 180g 12” pink vinyl, standard sleeve, limited to 500 copies, download card included. 'Defensive Designs', the self-released 2019 cassette tape from French outfit Unschooling, is now being reissued on vinyl for the first time by London-based label and promoters Bad Vibrations. With its blend of energetic post-punk and lo-fi math-rock, the nine-song collection saw Unschooling make an instant splash in their home country's indie scene and draw comparisons to contemporaries like Omni, Women and Preoccupations. Soon becoming positioned at the forefront of the new school of post-punk revivalists, Unschooling followed the release of ‘Defensive Designs’ with their ‘Random Acts of Total Control’ EP (also being reissued by Bad Vibrations) and latest single ‘Shopping On The Left Bank’, plus heavy touring around the UK and Europe and festival appearances at Great Escape, Green Man, Wide Awake, Le Printemps De Bourges, Levitation France, Dot to Dot and more. Tracklist: 1) Wet Sidewalks 2) Pride Blues 3) Rational Freak 4) Strong Frog 5) Irony Strings 6) Hold Me 7) Nouvel Order Patriarchal 8) Long Away Jade 9) (The Second) Punk Broke

Combining elements of indie-pop, punk, emo and just a little bit of 2009 vintage math-rock for good measure, adults are four pals trying to find their way in a disintegrating world. for everything, always reflects on how we look after ourselves, one another and people in our community; it’s a riotous collision reminiscent of Johnny Foreigner, The Beths or Trust Fund, bursting with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. The first single all we’ve got // all we need is a song about individual torments: “having a breakdown on the Megabus to Bristol", and about collective support: “mutual aid, building strong networks of community resistance to the hostile environment, to food insecurity, to the homophobia and transphobia by the state and about trying to look after one another”. the secret song to end side one deals with loss, guilt, rejection and anxiety, exploring the travails of a messy breakup and the masculine urge to bury everything deep down despite the fact that that only hurts people more. tfl has a lot to answer for is a “reflection of drinking way too much in yr mid 20s, staying up too late, burning yrself out and how it impacts on yr relationships and mental health”. Recorded and produced by Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, ME REX) over a couple of weekends in the summer of 2021, for everything, always is the constantly naive, but optimistic, outlook: always striving for a better future in the face of modern society’s bullshit. lts are a noisy pop band desperately clinging on to the ghosts of 2009. Their songs are a silly, joyful, and occasionally sad, look back at the tail end of their 20s, a way to grapple with breakups, parties, alcohol and loneliness, and looking hopefully into the future. They’ve released singles with Art Is Hard and For The Sakes Of Tapes, and self released an EP (The Weekend Was Always Almost Over), which was subsequently released on vinyl by Caballito records. adults are based in south London. Faster, messier and sillier than they have any right to be, adults are hopeful and joyous, fighting through the existential angst of youth to try and find their place in a world on the brink, as grown ups, as adults. Like the octopus on the artwork says: “we're all we've got, we're all we need”. // “a cacophony of clattering drums and belt-it-out choruses Los Campesinos! or Martha would be proud of evidence that adults seem to have stumbled into something rather marvellous” For The Rabbits // “There’s an ample buoyancy from the vocal work, and the guitars are crunchy, though I like how they’re a bit tempered here; think of Martha having to play at your local library…hooks, but just a little more subdued. There’s just something about this that radiates joy” Austin Town Hall // Tracklist: A1) I Had A Little Snooze & Now I Will Probably Never Arrive At Yr House A2) Janine (JG Forever) A3) All We’ve Got // All We Need A4) Tfl Has A Lot To Answer For A5) 2 Sqs A6) The Secret Song To End Side One B1) Things We Achieve B2) The Nod B3) The Pitch And Yaw Of The 6.12 To Brighton (Plain Wrong) B4) Between Buildings B5) Killing & Dying & Something More Positive B6) The High Watermark (Thoughts Of U) B7) Wasn’t Like That

For Fans Of Garage Punk, Power Pop, Cheap Trick, Dollyrots, Suzi Moon, Pretenders, Blondie, The Muffs, 5.6.7.8’s. One part pop, one part poison, all “poolside glitter punk,” Hayley and the Crushers offer up a tsunami of bad girl power. Anointed “the naked embodiment of power pop punk” by New Wave icon Josie Cotton (who signed the band to her Kitten Robot Records in 2021), Modern Adult Kicks is their most ambitious and self-possessed album to date. Produced by legendary LA punk producer and ex-Screamer Paul Roessler (TSOL, Josie Cotton, Richie Ramone), the album conjures up the electricity of first-car freedom, the woes of suburban isolation and the lurid pleasures of Y2K chat rooms all wrapped in the warm glow of a late-night infomercial. While the content is no doubt “adult,” there’s no shortage of kicks to be had. The California-to-Detroit transplants have injected even the most bummer of subjects (addiction, heartbreak) with a potent venom of caffeine and heart. Sure, BUST Magazine once likened the band to a bag of Sour Patch Kids, but this new album reveals fresh depths of flavor. Crafted in a post-Covid world, Modern Adult Kicks is exactly what it advertises to be: a more put-together, wiser “big sister” to the band’s sunny 2020 release, Vintage Millennial. Like finally being old enough to party with the babysitter, Kicks is a shining example of how growing up can actually rule. In the Crushers’ world, growing jaded isn’t an option and there’s never a good reason to stop dancing. Tracks 1 Taboo 2 Cul de Sac 3 She Drives 4 Broken Window 5 I Fall 6 Click and 7 Act Now 8 Lost Cause 9 California 10 Sober 11 No Substitutes 12 Overexposed

City Of Light was recorded in Banaras, India, and mixed in Greenpoint, NY. It is about Banaras, a city older than history, tradition, and legends. It is Shiva's land, founded at the dawn of creation. It is India's oldest and most fabled city. The Hindus call it Kashi, the luminous... The City of Light. Music composed by Bill Laswell + Coil, Trilok Gurtu, Tetsu Inoue, and features texts and vocals from Lori Carson and an historical introduction by Hakim Bay. First time ever on vinyl, re-released in our Sub Rosa Blackcore series. City of Light is the sixth solo album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on July 29, 1997. While it may appear an anachronism in his catalog, fans of Bill Laswell will find City of Light an extension of ideas he has explored throughout his career. His strong interest in Eastern music and religion resulted in this 1997 collaboration with Janet Rienstra. Part sacred, spoken word, part meditative soundscape, City of Light takes as its inspiration the holy region of Banaras, India. Said to belong to Shiva, Banarasalso contains the Ganges river: a place sought by Hindus for their cremation. Surrounding the texts is some of the most compelling music this genre has produced featuring Trilok Gurtu on tablas, Coil (Peter Christopherson + John Balance) on electronic, Tetsu Inoue at sound collages and Lori Carson at vocals. Track Listing LP side 1 01 Nothing 13'03 02 Kashi 7'19 side 2 03 Kala 13'06 04 Above the Earth 11'19

Since first forming in 2014, New York trio THICK have triumphed at
turning the harshest truths into wildly exhilarating punk songs
On their second album Happy Now, vocalist/guitarist Nikki Sisti, vocalist/bassist
Kate Black, and vocalist/ drummer Shari Page deliver their most complex and
confessional work yet, exploring everything from self-sabotage and insecurity to
victim-blaming and destructive relationships. Raw, irreverent, and brutally honest,
Happy Now ultimately offers both joyful catharsis and much-needed instruction
for living well in turbulent times.The follow-up to 5 Years Behind (a 2020 release
praised by Under the Rader as a "dazzling debut album…laced with anger, humor,
killer guitar riffs, and soaring punk melodies"), Happy Now finds THICK working
again with producer Joel Hamilton (Iggy Pop, Juiceboxxx) and recording at Studio
G Brooklyn. In a profound evolution of their previous work, the 11- track album
encompasses sharper arrangements and stickier hooks and a more explosive
energy — an effect often achieved through the sheer force of their three voices
singing in unstoppable unison.

Watford born indie rock goddess Connie Constance announces
her new album, ‘Miss Power’, a bold collection of songs imbued
with high voltage drums, snarling guitar riffs, and anthemic feminist
rage.
 On ‘Miss Power’, Connie takes us on a joyride through dramatic,
passionate and empowering scenes with hooks aplenty and lyrics
that excitedly unpick heartbreak, Connie’s strained relationship
with her father and her struggles with mental health.
 Connie’s titular and much acclaimed first single from her new
album, ‘Miss Power’ earned itself a spot on the BBC Radio 1 C list,
as well as being named Hottest Record by Radio 1’s Clara Amfo,
with plays from Jack Saunders, Ricky, Melvin and Charlie and Vick
and Jordan.
 The album announcement comes alongside the release of a new
single, ‘Till the World’s Awake’, a life affirming indie dance track
that twinkles with bright, layered guitars atop driving basslines and
powerful drums. Connie Constance’s dynamic yet delicate vocals
swell to a thrilling, cathartic chorus: “When we are young and
when we get older / I want to feel like loving, feel like loving you.”
Connie’s venture into the world as her authentic self is palpable.
 “A strikingly effective combination of disparate strains of British
pop: the quasi spoken verses bristle with the barked beauty of
Paul Weller; the cathartic chorus reaches Florence worthy heights”
- The Guardian
 “Brand new music from the brilliant Connie Constance. She’s real
fun, I rinsed ‘Kids Like Us’ on this show, and I love this one. Just
instantly catchy and empowering. empowering.” - Clara Amfo
 “She is one of the most exciting artists around at the moment. I
saw her live and just knew she was going to be special” - Arielle
Free
 “This indie pop banger ‘Miss Power’ is an instant confidence
booster” - The Fader

As sculpted shards of guitar tumbling, tolling, squalling shower the jittery bounce of a piano on opener “Human,” it’s obvious that Reason in Decline, Archers of Loaf’s first album in 24 years, will be more than a nostalgic, low-impact reboot. When they emerged from North Carolina’s ’90s indie-punk incubator, the Archers’ hurtling, sly, gloriously dissonant roar was a mythologized touchstone of slacker-era refusal. But this, the distilled shudder of “Human” (as in “It’s hard to be human / When only death can set you free”), is an entirely different noise. In fact, it’s a startling revelation. In short, this is not your father’s Archers of Loaf, even if you’re a father now who was a fan then. (If that’s the case, congrats on surviving the Plague and getting to hear this fearlessly poignant record, you alt-geezer!) Otherwise, thank your youthful fucking lucky stars, kids! Enjoy Reason in Decline with fresh ears and do as the Archers have been doing: Stay humble, stay informed, express yourself creatively, and try not to lose your goddamned mind while the polar ice caps melt.

Released on gold vinyl, ‘The Coincidentalist’ and ‘Dust Bowl’ are two discs of Howe Gelb filled with randomness and happenstance, a typical treasure trove spanning all genres from alt country to Cohen-esque grandeur. They traverse, unflinchingly, his chameleon-like repertoire. This deluxe re-issue includes ‘Dust Bowl’ on vinyl for the very first time, with the records housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring updated artwork and liner notes. ‘The Coincidentalist’, originally released in 2013, features a raft of friends and collaborators including Bonnie Prince Billy, Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Steve Shelley, and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with John Parrish on mixing duties. Ever the focal point of Giant Sand and Gelb releases, the Arizona Desert serves as a key inspiration for the record, animating the barren landscape with stories of those that have navigated them. Praise for the release was not short, with AllMusic proclaiming that it’s “one of Gelb's most realized efforts; despite its relaxed, airy presentation, it's musically and lyrically provocative, as poetic, strange, and mysterious as the desert itself." The accompanying collection ‘Dust Bowl’ is a personal sketchbook of songs, a more stripped back set than it’s counterpart. Featuring everything from the country blues of ‘Porch Banjo’ and ‘John Deere’, to off-kilter piano ballads like ‘The Old Overrated’ and ‘Reality Or Not’ and the deconstructed desert pop on ‘Forever And A Day’ and the fragile ‘Man On A String’. ‘Dust Bowl’ is an insider’s view of Howe’s songwriting craft, a unique insight into the man himself. “‘Dust Bowl’ was primarily for fans that have followed me for a while. ‘The Coincidentalist’ is for the friends of the fans.” Howe told Under The Radar. While Nightlife magazine reported that; “Without warning, the Giant Sand frontman and polymorphous countryman dropped this compilation of house recordings via Bandcamp… At a time when so much harmless, soulless folk resonates, Howe Gelb is a mandatory point of reference for any fan of the genre.”

We love nothing more than belated success, from the Nightingales' rise to top cult band, to the string of five marvelous Blue Orchids LPs in six years (as much as Martin Bramah had managed in the previous four decades) . . . so give us more. Like David Westlake. The release of NME's C86 cassette heralded a new generation of artists who'd emerged since the preceding C81 assembled a set of acts who'd coaxed new dialects out of punk, rhythms, reggae and the avant-garde. Though variable, C86 became a phenomenon, making a bigger splash and enduring longer than anyone could have predicted. The evolution by 1986 of "independent" or "alternative" music into "indie" brought a modified focus. From C81's post-punk negotiations of politics and cross-cultural influence to C86's compact blasts of, on the one hand, effervescent melodic pop and, on the other, jagged Beefheart-esque racket. Tiny Global Productions has proudly presented already one of the best from C86. The Wolfhounds' leader David Callahan's talent evolved masterfully into Moonshake, and more recently to a strain of blistering raga-folk psychedelia which deals with sociopolitical issues in brilliantly idiosyncratic fashion. And what of another of the best from C86 - the Servants, David Westlake's band? Ambivalent about the invitation to be on C86, Westlake gave the NME a wrong-footing b-side, before keeping a distance from the noise around the compilation. Subsequent releases from Westlake and The Servants and Westlake attracted fine reviews but settled quietly into relative obscurity, despite musical involvement from various Housemartins, Go-Betweens and Triffids, a quest by Stuart from Belle & Sebastian to find Westlake and form a band; not to mention Luke Haines' own five-year presence in the Servants before forming The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Westlake went first into the law, then spent years in literary academia. Now the surprise arrival of My Beautiful England. The album is a masterpiece of concept, composition and performance, a conceptual work of truths and reflections of difficult but deft and unflinching expression. "It is not only fashionable now to denigrate England and its past; it is heresy to recognise good in it. The place that made me is disappearing. Its values and traditions. Among them: good manners, humility and clemency, resilience and perseverance, good humour. History is being refashioned – in spirit and material fact – by ideologues unshakeably certain they are in the right, and people are being distanced from their pasts. Some find themselves forced into passive acceptance of new distortions of the past, out of imitativeness or cowardice. I resist. This album is a memorial. Intentionally, a museum piece. It is a personal tribute to the England I knew."

Following the recently released and highly praised Trees 50th Anniversary box set on Earth Recordings, Trees reissue their second album as a standalone release. “A beautiful hybrid, Trees found a unique space between intimate folk and freewheeling psychedelia. Musically ambitious yet brilliantly balanced, they have left an enduring legacy for those lucky enough to be in on the secret” Edd Gibson, Friendly Fires. It’s now over fifty years since Trees’ formation, a band who helped define ‘Acid Folk’, creating a sub-category in the lexicon of record dealers and music critics alike. Released just months after their debut second album, ‘On The Shore’ sees a shift from the first record into something darker and more ambivalent with an arcane Englishness. The product of an era characterised by clunky polemic, arcadian sentimentality or English fuzzy-felt surrealism, the album, like all classic records, is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Opening with ‘Soldiers Three’, learned from Dave Swarbrick, the album includes another traditional tune and one of the definitive moments in English folk rock ‘Polly On The Shore’ alongside ’Sally Free and Easy’ and ‘Streets of Derry’. // “The music’s arcane power remains intact” Mojo // “A fantastic band” Record Collector. // “Spectacular” Uncut. // “Sublime” Shindig. // “Timeless” Prog. // “It’s these two original albums that stand as pinnacles of form” The Wire. // Track listing: A1. Soldiers Three A2. Murdoch A3. Streets Of Derry A4. Sally Free And Easy B1. Fool B2. Adam's Toon B3. Geordie B4. While The Iron Is Hot B5. Little Sadie B6. Polly On The Shore

LP colour is Transparent Blue. Stu Spasm (Lubricated Goat) + Russell Simins (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) + Kate Bjelland (Babes In Toyland). One off garage-sleaze rock masterpiece. Remastered. Crunt began in 1993 as a kind of indie rock supergroup and had their 1994 debut album touted by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Crunt's members included guitarist/vocalist Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm) and bassist/vocalist Kat Bjelland. Gray was well-known in Australia by the start of Crunt for his past involvement in the bands Salamander Jim and the horn/guitar punk rock of Lubricated Goat, which included drummer Martin Bland who went on to play in the Monkeywrench. As for Bjelland, she was the frontwoman/guitarist for the Minnesota-based Babes in Toyland. Crunt was rounded out by drummer Russell Simins, who was the full-time sticksman for New York City's Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Each of Crunt's members were temporarily residing in Seattle when Gray conjured up the idea of starting a new group. After writing almost a dozen songs, the trio entered Seattle's Ranch studio in February of 1993 with Simins and Gray acting as the producers, and their friend John Dunleavy -- known for his work with the Supersuckers -- filling the role of engineer. A year passed before the group's self-titled album was released on February 15, 1994, on Austin, TX label Trance Syndicate, owned by Butthole Surfers' drummer King Coffey. The record was the imprint's first release from a non-Texas group. The debut of the full-length album coincided with the "Swine"/"Sexy" single on Australia's Insipid label, which was known for releasing singles by other bands such as the Cows, Urge Overkill, and the Jesus Lizard. Prior to the releases, there had been talk that the band was not going to just be a side project, but a full-time band in the same tradition as Babes in Toyland and the Blues Explosion. The trio had even planned a full-scale tour. By January of 1995, however, Crunt came to an end.

Remastered reissue of the eponymous debut album by legendary genre scramblers, Cerberus Shoal. Available on vinyl for the first time in over 25 years. Limited edition Toasted Peach colored vinyl, 500 only pressed. The long out-of-print, eponymous debut album by the prescient, genre-scrambling collective, Cerberus Shoal, showcases their humble beginnings as a progressive punk band with extraordinary promise. Recorded in 1994 and originally released the following year, Cerberus Shoal distilled the band’s earliest creative and philosophical influences – the rhythmic post-hardcore of Dischord Records; the disarming histrionics of Ebullition and Gravity Records; and the ominous, patient dynamics of Slint and Moss Icon – into a concise six-song document that is as much a snapshot of an era as a blueprint for much that followed. Cerberus Shoal Anniversary Edition is packaged in restored artwork with extensive new liner notes and newly uncovered photos from the earliest era of the band. The record has been newly mastered for vinyl by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and pressed onto audiophile-grade vinyl. The enclosed digital download coupon includes a massive 30-minute instrumental bonus track not available on the LP. Track Listing 1. Rain (2:44) 2. Daddy As Seen From Bar Harbor (11:25) 3. Elena (4:56) 4. Change (7:31) 5. Breakaway Terminal Cable (6:24) 6. Rain (Reprise) (5:34)

Experimental black metal from Brooklyn featuring the conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble. For fans of Krallice, Mizmor, Liturgy. Also featuring member of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus. There’s a real sense of loss on Brooklyn experimental black metalists Scarcity’s debut album Aveilut, an inescapable presence of the realities of death. Multi-instrumentalist Brendon Randall-Myers (conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble since Branca’s passing) wrote Aveilut while processing the sudden deaths of two people close to him, tracked it while caught in Beijing’s first lockdown of 2020, and finished it while surrounded by the overwhelming plague visuals of New York’s early COVID peak. Back in Brooklyn, vocalist Doug Moore (of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus) soon found himself in the midst of an equally bleak lockdown experience—living next to a funeral home when New York City was America’s COVID epicenter. From conception through development, tangible death surrounded Aveilut. The result of such a profound closeness with death is this grief-stricken release, which takes its name from the Hebrew word for mourning. 72-note octaves, alternate tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena and macro-phrases embody the hugeness of loss, the inexplicable space of death’s void that Randall-Myers faced both on a personal and existential scale. Together with Moore’s gripping vocal delivery and stark lyrics, the album takes the form of a hyperobject, an entity with such vastness and reach that it’s difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Consisting of one 45-minute composition, the music is black metal roughly in the vein of Jute Gyte, Krallice, Mare Cognitum, and Enhare—with hefty doses of post-Branca microtonal guitar abuse, and a cinematic scope that draws on Randall-Myers’ work with orchestras. Aveilut’s mathematical abstraction and lyrical focus on the greatness of the void breed raw emotion, attempting to represent a catastrophe, the vastness and inevitability of things outside one’s control, as well as a direct expression of grief, a kind of requiem. Though born of Randall-Myers and Moore’s intense intimacy with absence, Aveilut is an attempt to present a harrowing universal representation of death’s true form. Tracklist: 1 I 2 II 3 III 4 IV 5 V

Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones on the first instalment of the long awaited ‘Plastic Legacy pt II’ from transcontinental punk trash band Pale Angels. The album boasts soaring melodies and tortured guitar tones anchored by a fuzz bass guitar that sings uniquely yet thumps rhythmically. ‘Plastic Legacy pt II’ sees Pale Angels’ Jamie Morrison and Michael Santostefano joined by Jerome Westerkamp (songwriter for Cincinnati, Ohio’s Vacation) on drums. Returning after 6 years to longtime friend and producer Benjamin Greenberg (uniform, Christfucker, danny elfman) to create a masterpiece of gut-wrenching sincerity and sensitivity. Track listing: Killer; Casper; 21 Days; Must Be Love; Halloween; Thorn; Little Lover; Rahway

On a first, careless, listen, Stockholm four-piece Melby might seem like a
charming, fun little jangle-pop band - Pay a little more attention however,
and you'll find their waters run a lot deeper than that
The band have all the flash and sparkle of your favourite indie band, but add an
ability to touch moods and feelings with a meaning beyond most of their peers.
Their guitars, drums and synths rattle, roll and flicker around each other, all held
together by the soul-shiver in Wiezell's vocals, to make immaculate little guitarpop gems, equally dusted with sadness and sugar.Finding comfort in a sea of
uncertainty might be a good way to describe Looks Like A Map, the bands second
album. The record captures Melby at a moment where they're growing as people
and as a band, expanding the reach of their sonic horizons, and taking in deeper
and heavier themes, trying to find a home in an often-alienating world. The music
they made around that has a little touch of sorcery around it, sometimes soft as
smoke, sometimes woozy and dream-blurred, sometimes crashing and explosive.
But even through all that evolution, the heart and the soul have remained the
same, and Looks Like A Map still has that Melby-feeling, of a band who put all of
themselves into everything they make and their own blend of indie, psych, pop,
rock and folk. It's a new high for the band that have toured Scandinavia, Germany
and the UK and have played festivals such as Eurosonic, Reeperbahn and
By:Larm, and one that hints at even bigger things to come.

Originally released in 2014, 'For You The Wild' is Camilla Sparksss' first
studio album
Camilla Sparksss is an indie rock project carried by canadian- swiss singer
Barbara Lehnhoff. This LP is a ten- track dirty and distorted electronic storm
written without any rules, its central theme is the struggle between acting softly
and dancing like crazy. It's about life, wild life.

Improvisation, composition, language and culture meet, merge and
influence each other
Under The Surface knows no boundaries. On their extraordinary third album, the
group reflects on their own background and finds their own "folk".After the
group's first two completely free-improvisation albums, Under The Surface (2017)
and Trinity(2019), both nominated for an Edison, the nextstep for Under The
Surface is a fully composed album: Miin Triuwa.
Under The Surface was formed in 2015 and since then the band has enjoyed a
great deal of international success. Drummer Joost Lijbaart recognised the
group's potential early on and organized more than 200 concerts in 25 countries
on 4 continents: from Africa to South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Inspired by their many travels and the cultures they encountered, the group
developed a unique improvisation language thatcombines jazz, folk, ethnic and
electronic music.
With Miin Triuwa, Under The Surface embarks on a new musical journey with
compositions by guitarist Bram Stadhouders. He wrote a suite of eightpieces in
which the characters and qualities of the band members are transcendent. The
constantly changing improvisations that are so characteristic of the band are now
captured in a powerful musical statement that showcases what the band stands
for. Instead of traveling to other worlds, in this project the group looks inward and
explores how their own roots influence their music.
Under The Surface has a common drive to find the universal essence of different
cultures. Thus, for this album the connection was made with theband's own
"forgotten" language, Old Dutch. With the help of historical linguist PeterAlexander Kerkhof and the Dutch Language Institute, Sanne Rambags carried out
research and wrote beautiful lyrics for the album in Old Dutch. This is the
language that was spoken in the Netherlands from circa 600 to 1150 CE and
sounds similar to Gaelic and Icelandic. Below is a short excerpt from Track 3,
"Fear and Trembling," from the album Miin Triuwa.

Nashville-based instrumental rock combo Los Straitjackets have been
proving for years that rock & roll is a truly universal language by doing
away with vocals, but for this album the masked guitar manglers have
decided to focus on a more specific tongue - namely Spanish
For Rock en Español, Vol. 1, Los Straitjackets have recruited three talented friends
to perform a set of rock & roll classics in Spanish -- Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos,
Big Sandy of retro-country kings Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, and Little Willie G.,
lead singer with legendary East L.A. soul-rockers Thee Midnighters. While most
folks will be familiar with these tunes in their English-language originals, many of
the versions that appear on this album were taken from Spanish rewrites
recorded in the '60s by Mexican teen groups such as Los Teen Tops, Los Locos
del Ritmo and Los Rebeldes del Rock. This 15th anniversary edition LP is the first
ever reissue of Los Straitjackets' 2007 classic album and is pressed on purple
vinyl.

Throughout the last decade, Strange Ranger have been crafting seamless
indie music that feels both already classic and precisely of its time
From Daymoon's strains of the Microphones by way of the Pacific Northwest-era
indie scene to the dark elation and Cure-reminiscent stylings of Remembering the
Rockets' they've become one of the rare standouts of a crop of bands that have
managed to grow up with us. More than just a stopgap along that progression,
the new mixtape entitled No Light In Heaven holds some of the band's most
experimental and ambitious work yet. Stitched together through a series of
sessions at both a house in rural NY and Strange Ranger's home studios in both
Philadelphia and NYC (where Eiger and Woodman moved in 2021, the mixtape
possesses something both abstract and astute; the product of a band in
transition and a group of people making something effortlessly transcendental
out of their new surroundings. Heralded as unpredictable and expansive, a
thrilling document of a band with an ever- changing muse,with songs that are
packed with hooks and an abundance of feeling (Stereogum). This outpouring of
evocative emotion makes the band's more traditional song structures read like a
new breed of pop music in its purest form. From Needing You 's effervescent
euphoria to string- laden album close It's You, the record seamlessly fuses
together a multitude of genres, where the industrial punch of In Hell sits
alongside the chopped up vocals and melodic keys of Get Right Up to the Mic.
"No Light in Heaven" marks the beginning of a bold new era for the band & the
groups first release with Fire Talk.

From their new millennium rise to MTV superstardom through pop-punk’s modern resurgence that has introduced their iconic, multi-platinum sound to new audiences around the world, SIMPLE PLAN have been an indelible part of pop culture for more than two decades because they’ve never lost sight of what got them there in the first place: their fans.It’s this same sense of mutual respect that’s fully on display on “The Antidote,” the first single from their sixth studio album, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS., their first new music since 2016’s Taking One For The Team, and the most authentically Simple Plan album since 2004’s Still Not Getting Any. Free agents for the first time in their storied career, the band kept their circle tight during the recording process, enlisting longtime songwriting partners like We The Kings’ Travis Clark and producers Brian Howes and Jason Van Poederooyen (who worked on the band’s 2011’s album Get Your Heart On!) and Zakk Cervini (blink-182, Good Charlotte). From the skyscraping choruses of “Congratulations” and “Ruin My Life” (ft. Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley) to the unflinching poignancy of the album-closing “Two,” which instantly ranks alongside “Perfect” and “Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me?)” as one of the band’s best closers ever, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS certainly respects Simple Plan’s storied career – and the same spirit that helped the band sell 10 million albums worldwide – without being overtly reverent. The album-opening “Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)” is a cathartic rush of familiarity and freshness – not to mention a bit lyrically prescient, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after the band wrapped the album. (“We certainly didn’t set out to write a pandemic album,” Bouvier says with a laugh. “It’s funny how some of the songs might seem like that, though.”) There are even spiritual successors to early material, like the glass-half-full skate-punk-leaning “Best Day Of My Life,” quite a 180 for a band who put a song called “The Worst Day Ever” on their genre-defining, Platinum-selling 2002 debut No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls. But you won’t find an ounce of fat on the 10-song album, no obvious plays to recapture the radio waves they claimed in the early aughts with smash hits like “I’d Do Anything,” “I’m Just A Kid” and “Addicted.”

• DELUXE HEAVYWEIGHT SLEEVE WITH SPOT-VARNISH AND ALTERNATIVE ARTWORK
• INCLUDING INSERT WITH LINER NOTES
• PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
• 1994 BANK HEIST MOVIE PRODUCED BY ROGER AVARY & QUENTIN TARANTINO
• SCORE BY TOMANDANDY (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE STRANGERS)
• AVAILABLE ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME

Killing Zoe is a 1994 crime / bank heist film written, directed and produced by Roger Avary and co-produced by Quentin Tarantino. Killing Zoe follows the story of a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist. The film was labeled by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert as “Generation X’s first bank caper movie”. After the production of Killing Zoe, Avary and Tarantino continued their collaboration and produced both the iconic award winning movie Pulp Fiction and several radio dialogues in Reservoir Dogs.

The score to Killing Zoe was produced by Tomandandy, aka Thomas Hajdu and Andy Milburn. This duo is best known for their horror scores like The Hills Have Eyes and The Strangers amongst others and many collaborations with great artists such as Lou Reed, David Byrne, U2 and Laurie Anderson.

Killing Zoe is available on vinyl for the first time as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on flaming coloured vinyl and includes an insert with liner notes.

Sasu Ripatti, now sporting the new "Ripatti Deluxe" moniker, presents his very own abstract take on early rave and happy hardcore. "Speed Demon" marks the first release on Ripatti's newly launched label "Rajaton".

The Finnish word ”raja” has multiple meanings. It could refer to a ”border”, ”limit”, ”boundary”, or even ”capacity” if understood broadly. It feels that ”border” is the first interpretation that comes to mind when the word is met in isolation of additional context. It often includes political energy of some sort. Or perhaps it’s just this particular point in time that leads the mind into such field of thought.

As the Dutch author Rutger Bregman notes in his book Human Kind – A Hopeful History, the real trouble with people began when the first person had the idea of drawing a line on sand and claiming ownership of the area on their side. The concept of physical borders was born.

Naturally, there are mental borders, as well. Think about all the things you shut out because they’re ”not for you”. They are numerous and we do it all the time. The issue is not to stop that, but to recognize when to let new things in, even if they’re not commonplace. Mental borders might often be easier to rewrite than physical ones, but the challenge remains a real one.

That’s where the derivative form ”rajaton” comes to play. By simply adding the ”-ton”, all borders, limits, boundaries and capacities are lifted in an instant. We have something ”borderless” instead, and are thus free to expand our thinking.

One could argue that the word ”rajaton” implies not the removal of borders but instead their very non-existence at large. How will our mind work when the concept of borders doesn’t even enter the conscious thought?

Mental borderlessness is a truly fascinating concept. A maximalist array of opportunities and potential ideas enters the picture – one which is also limitless, unlimited, sans boundaries, and also without a danger of being depleted. It’s an all-existence of multitudes where hierarchy also starts to deteriorate, giving way to a new form of full understanding without judgement.

Music is one fine place for such thinking, especially when thinking about the role of the listener. Occupying a much more active position than is generally recognized, the listener can greatly benefit from borderless thinking, and thus help to enhance the collective perceived significance of any given body of work. When there are no boundaries, the interpretation remains unchained and honest.

Basically it was all already said by the late revolutionary jazz pianist Burton Greene: ”Borders are boring!”

On the 28th October, Come Home The Kids Miss You, the hit sophomore album from Jack Harlow will be available on Vinyl. The record features the massive singles, ‘Nail Tech’, ‘Dua Lipa’ & the infectious global hit ‘First Class’ alongside album features Drake, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake & Pharrell.

Hailed as the “hitmaker of tomorrow” by Variety, Jack Harlow is one of music’s greatest new stars. The Louisville, KY native boasts three GRAMMY Award nominations, two #1 singles, 12 RIAA platinum certifications, and over 5 billion career streams to date. Harlow released his critically acclaimed, RIAA platinum certified debut album, THATS WHAT THEY ALL SAY in December 2020, which featured the 7x Platinum worldwide hit, “WHATS POPPIN,” which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned the 24-year-old his first GRAMMY nomination for “Best Rap Performance,” along with a wide array of other award nominations.

The Generation Now/Atlantic Records star has graced the covers of Rolling Stone, Forbes, Variety, Complex, SPIN, Footwear News and XXL’s coveted Freshman Class Issue, and brought his captivating live show to TV with performances on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, and the 2022 Kids Choice Awards, to name a few.

Commissioned for Fela Day in Amsterdam Paradiso Noord, Raul Monsalve y Los Forajidos celebrates the legacy of the father of Afrobeat, Fela Anikolapu Kuti, with this new 10’’ vinyl on Super Sonic Jazz Records, where Nigerians rhythms travel the Atlantic ocean to meet Venezuelan Calipso , sangueos, and more.

First in Venezuela, Monsalve played with a number of bands before forming the first incarnation of his Forajidos band. A move to Paris, via London, led to opportunities to share stages with a vast array of musical giants, not least of all the legendary Nigerian saxophonist Orlando Julius, as well as the Heliocentrics, Venezuelan master percussionist Orlando Poleo and members of Fela Kuti’s legendary bands, Afrika 70 and Egypt 80.

“Calipso Time” is none other than a cover of Fela’s Koola Lobitos’ “Highlife Time. Taking the original track to the region of El Callao in Venezuela, where the population from Trinidad & Tobago and other islands in the Caribbean settled themselves at the end of the 19th century when they started to work in mineral exploitation. As a result, this region of Venezuela has a particular language, mixing English and Spanish elements, and of course the celebration of the Carnival and the birth of Venezuelan calipso .
Side B brings the Afrobeat madness of “Deo e’ Mono”, the very first track Monsalve did for the project back in the day. As Raul says “I just took the opportunity to celebrate Fela’s anniversary by recording this track as I dreamed it should sound when I was starting the project, learning Afrobeat only through records” . For this Monsalve called Chief Uduh Essiet, the original percussionist of the Egypt 80 and with the Forajidos’ Mario Orsinet on drums the rhythm section was without doubt cooking immediately. As on their last record, “Bichos” on Olindo Records, these two tracks are full of psychedelia, rough electronics, powerful vocals and tons of traditional Venezuelan percussion.

Gondwana Records announces Horizons the debut album from Jasmine Myra, produced by Matthew Halsall, it's an elevating debut record of understated beauty

Jasmine Myra is a Leeds-based saxophonist, composer and band leader Her original instrumental music has a euphoric and uplifting sound, influenced by artists as diverse as Kenny Wheeler, Bonobo and Olafur Arnalds and like Mammal Hands and Hania Rani her music has a special, emotive quality that draws the listener into her world. Matthew Halsall first heard Myra's music in 2019 shortly before the pandemic hit, signing her to Gondwana Records and producing her beautiful debut album, Horizons.

"I was immediately drawn to Jasmine's music. I could hear jazz, electronica in her music but with a deep, honest, emotional quality. I was really impressed with her skills as a composer and bandleader, that she is open and intelligent enough to bring all those influences together, to make something fresh and original. We were also delighted to work with a young artist from the North of England. London is often seen as the place to be, but cities like Manchester and Leeds are full of creative musicians too, and that sense of local community is at the heart of our values as a label."

Myra came-up through the bustling, creative Leeds music scene and her music draws on the sense of community that permeates life in the city and which is notable for a strong DIY ethos in its musical community. She attended Leeds Conservatoire and played with the Leeds based Abstract Orchestra, a jazz big-band, led by tutor Rob Mitchell that explores the synergy between jazz and hip-hop found in the recordings of Madlib, MF Doom of J Dilla. Indeed, Myra cites MF Doom and Soweto Kinch as early influences on her own music. It was in her last year at the conservatoire that Myra started to consider leading her own group and started to really think about what her own music might sound like and her first band featured guitarist Ben Haskins and drummer George Hall who both feature on Horizons and her band draws heavily on the Leeds community featuring rising stars such as pianist Jasper Green and harpist Alice Roberts.

Myra also mentions local legend, Dave Walker, who owns an instrument repair shop called 'All Brass and Woodwind' which is right next to the music college. She worked there while studying and he introduced her to a lot of local musicians. Walker also has his own line of saxophones (played by Shabaka Hutchins, Pete Wareham and Nubya Garcia), and gifted Myra the saxophone she plays on Horizons. It was Walker who encouraged Myra to apply for Jazz North Introduces, a scheme that supports emerging jazz artists in the North of England and Myra credits her winning a place, in 2018,with helping her grow in confidence.

" It gave me the opportunity to start gigging outside of Leeds, which I was very keen to do. I was quite surprised by people's reaction to the project and the support I was being shown, which helped me gain a lot of confidence. It became clear to me very quickly that being a solo artist was what I wanted to do and it was also apparent to me that mine was one of the only female-led instrumental bands on the Leeds scene, which encouraged me even more, as I wanted my project to inspire younger female musicians".

Horizons was produced by Matthew Halsall and mixed by Portico Quartet collaborator Greg Freeman, and much of the music was written during lockdown. It was a hard time for a lot of people, and initially Myra struggled mentally, deprived of shows and the connections of making music with her band and friends, but she also realised what she wanted as an artist and the result is heard on Horizons.

"I realised that my aim was to start writing music that made people feel happy and uplifted. Writing is one of my biggest passions, but I also love performing. Playing live and seeing the audience connect with my music and have a positive experience brings me so much joy".

This sense of elevation is at the heart of Horizons, together with the feeling of a journey, of reaching new ground. Prologue and Horizons were originally composed as one piece as they encapsulate Myra's own personal development as she worked on the album - taking the listener on a journey, especially Prologue; and then Horizons is that moment of release when you've reached the end goal. 1000 Miles takes inspiration from the music of Shabaka and the Ancestors. Whereas Words Left Unspoken was written after Myra's grandmother unexpectedly passed away in June, and due to Covid restrictions she was unable to visit her before she passed and say how much she loved her. Morningtide is a nod to Kenny Wheeler, particularly the track Opening from Sweet Time Suite on Music for Large and Small Ensembles but Myra also puts her own spin on it as she also does with Promise, another track influenced by Wheeler. Awakening has a calm and euphoric quality and represents that sense of problems lifting, or of reaching the other side, and New Beginnings finishes the album with a positive vibe and a sense of moving forward from darkness

This then is Horizons. A soulful, emotional and up-lifting debut from a major new voice. A snapshot of a young artist at the beginning of her journey - drawing on jazz and electronica influences to create something fresh and new. But also a celebration of her home town Leeds, and a record built on a sense of support and community before looking out to wider Horizons.

Jamie Cullum on BBC Radio 2 "...That's Jasmine Myra and 'New Beginnings', wonderful to hear new music from a new artists i've not heard before, a great new artist!"

Tom Ravenscroft on BBC 6 Music "Leeds-based saxophonist, composer and band leader Jasmine Myra. 'New Beginnings' on Gondwana Records. Compositions drawing influence by Kenny Wheeler, Bonobo, Ólafur Arnalds. Produced by Matthew Halsall"

The renowned trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke and Oren Ambarchi return to Black Truffle with their 11th release, “Caught in the dilemma of being made to choose” This makes the modesty which should never been closed off itself Continue to ask itself: “Ready or not?” Demonstrating once again their commitment to continual experimentation in instrumentation and approach, the record begins with a long-distance collaboration made in response to a commission from New York’s Issue Project Room in 2021 during widespread lockdowns and travel limitations. A unique piece in the trio’s extensive body of work, this side-long epic finds Haino performing on metal percussion, O’Rourke on electronics and Ambarchi on gongs and bells. Initially dominated by rapid patterns on resonant, high-pitched tuned percussion, the piece sets Haino’s dynamic and dramatic performance against a calm backdrop of cycling electronics, thrumming gong strikes and hanging bell tones. The performance develops a heightened, intensely concentrated atmosphere reminiscent of Haino’s classic Tenshi No Ginjinka or his Nijiumu project; when Haino moves to clashing hand cymbals in its second half, the piece’s ritualistic energy suggests aspects of the music of Tibetan Buddhism.

The remainder of the double LP documents the trio live at Tokyo’s SuperDeluxe (the location of all but their very first recording) in a wide-ranging set recorded in December 2017. The concert opens, in another first for the trio, with Haino on drums, O’Rourke on Hammond organ and Ambarchi on his signature Leslie cabinet guitar tones. Haino’s explosively untutored approach to the drumkit will be familiar to some listeners from the radical duo iteration of Fushitsusha heard on Origin’s Hesitation. Setting flurries of rapid activity against moments of silence, his drumming here at times suggests Milford Graves in its tumbling toms and thudding kick-drum propulsion. Accompanied by O’Rourke’s organ and Ambarchi’s guitar, which in their shared use of long tones and shifting modulation speeds almost blend into a single voice, the opening sections of this performance are some of the most magical music the trio has committed to tape thus far.

After an interlude of spoken vocals in both Japanese and English, Haino makes a dramatic entrance on guitar. Against O’Rourke and Ambarchi’s increasingly intense electronic backdrop, Haino unleashes a stunning passage of slowly moving chromatic melodies and sudden shrieking explosions bathed in distortion and reverb. By the time we reach the third side, the guitar/bass/drums power trio is established and lurches into a passage of massive, lumbering rock that threatens to fall apart at every beat, O’Rourke’s strummed chordal work on six string bass creating a harmonic density equivalent to a second guitar. An abrupt edit throws the listener in media res into a frantic locked groove grounded by fuzzed out bass patterns and caveman drums. As Haino moves through a variety of approaches, from massive edifices of stuttering fuzz to ominous swarms of feedback, the trio eventually stumble into a kind of Harmolodic military tattoo, Haino’s guitar weaving and slashing across the rhythm section’s irregular accents. Moving through an epic opening duet for O’Rourke on Hammond and Haino’s wailing guitar, the fourth side eventually ramps up into a frenetic finale of mad bass riffing, crackling snare hits and guitar squall.“Caught in the dilemma of being made to choose” This makes the modesty which should never been closed off itself Continue to ask itself: “Ready or not?” is a testament to the continuing power and invention of this trio, who continue to seek out new terrain after over a decade working together. 2LP set presented in a lavish gatefold sleeve on heavy stock along with inner sleeves containing live pics by Tsuyoshi Kamaike. Photography by Jim O’Rourke, design by Lasse Marhaug and translation by Alan Cummings.

"The LP "World of Blue" features Merlo Podlewski on guitar. I first met Merlo in 1994. My sister Rachel Haden, who had been working with him at the Rhino Records store in Westwood, knew I was looking for a new guitarist for my band, and introduced us. Merlo is one of those guitarists whose playing is so smooth and effortless he makes anyone feel like they can play. He had an instinctual grasp of harmony and theory, which brought a great counterpoint to the technical knowledge and finesse of lead guitarist Ken. At a certain point that year we were ready to record our first 7" single, and I reserved some time at Poop Alley. Tom Grimley converted an auto-repair shop into Poop Alley Studio. The walls and floors were made of concrete, and there was no soundproofing. The mixing board was in a loft up this steep staircase with no guard rails. But it worked somehow. On the particular day we recorded basics there was a rain storm which you can clearly hear in the background. We set up and it started raining. Tom put a microphone outside. After tracking was finished, Petra came over and overdubbed violin. There was a cushioned area where I remember sitting during mixdown. There were little stacks of Aphex 16-track tape everywhere. We stayed good friends with Tom. We recorded a couple more songs with him the following year. Luckily for us, the tapes still exist. On those tapes are five songs, all of which are represented here. "I Lied" and "Her Used-To-Been" were released on the 7", the remaining three have never been released before now." - Josh Haden

Well known as the Deep’a half of Deep’a & Biri, and a huge influential source of energy and innovation in Tel Aviv’s house and techno community, Yaron Amor goes solo for the very first time with an incredibly personal project. Introducing Zeena…
“The decision about the solo project was made during a visit to Morocco, in the main city square of Marrakesh I came across an improvised jam of 20 drummers from all over the country, the crazy rhythms they played together spontaneously amazed me and made me realize that the perfect beat I've been looking for, for so many years, was under my nose. In Arabic and Moroccan music that was constantly played in the house where I grew up…”
Home is where the soul is… Zeena translates to beauty in Moroccan and this label exists wholly to celebrate and push cutting edge Arab electronic music. It starts here with Yaron’s first solo EP. The result of an inspired creative series of recordings with drummers and musicians from Israel, Algiers, Morocco, and Berlin, across three tracks we’re taken on a beautiful excursion of emotions, tension and introspective places.
“I tried to merge together influences from the world of techno which I have been active in for almost 20 years along with the rhythms of Arabic music while paying respect to each of the genres.”
From the tension and powerful emotion of ‘The Pain Body’ (a mesmerising kick-less tableaux that would work perfectly for an intro or mid-set game-changer) to the powerful synth-laced Detroitian drive and thump of title track ‘Zeena’ via the wild rolling toms of ‘Omipresence’, this is Yaron Amor as we’ve never heard him before… Raw, honest, direct and totally at home. The middle east has played a huge role in so many inspirations, influences and sample sources since the very start of electronic music. Now its time to bring that to the fore and celebrate it on a whole new level. Zeena is that level. Stay tuned…

Produced by Laurel Halo and released via Norway's respected Smalltown Supersound label, Anja Lauvdal's first solo release, From a Story Now Lost, is a gorgeous musical essay reflecting on time, its perception, and lost histories rediscovered. Finally exploring her own voice after more than a decade of collaborative improvisational playing - starting at her time in jazz conservatory in Trondheim - the album is a jewel of subtle beauty and innovative detail. A freeform musician on piano, synthesizers, and electronics, Lauvdal's discography stretches back to 2013 and includes her participation in a myriad of ensembles and collaborations exploring the limits of sound and music in many forms, including noise, jazz, and more. Following her move to Oslo after graduation, she became deeply embedded in the music community there, touring with Jenny Hval as well as playing on her records. When pandemic hit and isolation was the norm, Lauvdal began working on her own, recording her improvisations in an attempt to capture something new for herself. Connecting to Laurel Halo via Smalltown's founder Joakim Haugland, the acclaimed American artist agreed to work with Lauvdal in shaping her solo record, becoming integral to its creation through all of its stages. Lauvdal credits Halo as a deep listener and gentle "thought-provoker", who contributed ideas as well as helping to shape the finished versions (Halo also worked alongside Rashad Becker on the final mix of the album). Together, they found a method of recording Lauvdal's improvisations, making small loops from those, feeding them back into the synthesizers, and making synthesizers out of the improvisations, which Lauvdal would then re-improvise with. She describes the end result, "like seeing different pieces of time around in the universe." While the record is based on Lauvdal's improvisations, some tracks were inspired Agathe Backer Grondahl, a Norwegian classical pianist and composer from the latter half of the 19th century. Lauvdal notes that Grondahl is not widely known, although her best friend Edvard Grieg is still considered Norway's most famous composer. Yet now, partly through Lauvdal, her story resurfaces and persists. "From a Story Now Lost means the story is still there," Lauvdal explains. "It hasn't gone anywhere even though nobody heard it, or maybe you're hearing it for the first time. And actually it was told a long time ago - maybe you weren't ready to hear that story at the time." This hints at the limitless nature of her music, as well as its new emotional texture. Direct in its vulnerability, immediate in its tenderness, From a Story Now Lost is a sophisticated evocation over restrained artistry spilling over with meaning.

The legendary Brownsville duo of Lil Fame and Billy Danze followed up their first group single "How About Some Hardcore" with their first full-length studio album, To The Death, in the Spring of 1994, and they haven’t let up the pressure since. While some solo offerings came earlier - most notably Fame’s appearance on The Hill That’s Real compilation- the classic aggressive energy the two emcees exhibit while trading rhymes back and forth is what street-rap fans have come to know and love from the group. If you are not into the that smash-ya-face-in style, then simply put, the Mash Out Posse is not for you. The album was produced entirely by DR Period, except for track "Guns N' Roses" (produced by Silver D), and it solidified what has become a successful 30 year career for M.O.P. Fame and Danze haven’t waivered from their grimy, crimey, high-energy boom bap style to this day, and the songs on this album established that fact early on. Tracks like "Rugged Neva Smoove", “Blue Steel”, “Guns N’ Roses”, and the robbery-story driven "Heistmasters" are early indicators of the ruckus they would later bring on anthems like “Stick To Ya Gunz” and “Ante Up”.

Vinyl reissue of the absolutely brilliant fourth full length album from the pop-punk / melodic hardcore legends Four Year Strong.

This album is now getting pressed onto vinyl for the first since it's original release in 2010, as the band's first major-label released studio album. Album features the huge singles 'It Must Really Suck To Be In Four Year Strong Right Now' and 'Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)', amongst an album filled with fan-favourites.

Vinyl reissue of the absolutely brilliant fourth full length album from the pop-punk / melodic hardcore legends Four Year Strong.

This album is now getting pressed onto vinyl for the first since it's original release in 2010, as the band's first major-label released studio album. Album features the huge singles 'It Must Really Suck To Be In Four Year Strong Right Now' and 'Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)', amongst an album filled with fan-favourites.

Before the very popular thrashy death metal band Legion Of The Damned was formed, with albums out on Massacre and Napalm Records, vocalist Maurice Swinkels and drummer Erik Fleuren played in the more brutal extreme blackened death metal band Occult.

 Hailing from Geldrop, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands, the already very extreme barking voice of Swinkels was supported by female vocalist Rachel with an even more brutal grunt. After two studio albums on the Dutch label Foundation 2000 they were on the search for an international record deal and they recorded two demos to achieve that goal.

The first four songs on this album come from a rehearsal room session in 1997, and the last five songs were recorded in the small Harrow Studios in 1998. It resulted in a deal with the German Massacre Records label, and Occult’s third studioalbum, ‘Of Flesh And Blood’, saw the light in 1999.

Now you can finally hear, for the first time, most of these songs in their original, raw and rough demoversions.
For fans of Desaster, Absu, Deicide, Usurper, Vader, Sinister, Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Destroyer 666.

Before the very popular thrashy death metal band Legion Of The Damned was formed, with albums out on Massacre and Napalm Records, vocalist Maurice Swinkels and drummer Erik Fleuren played in the more brutal extreme blackened death metal band Occult.

 Hailing from Geldrop, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands, the already very extreme barking voice of Swinkels was supported by female vocalist Rachel with an even more brutal grunt. After two studio albums on the Dutch label Foundation 2000 they were on the search for an international record deal and they recorded two demos to achieve that goal.

The first four songs on this album come from a rehearsal room session in 1997, and the last five songs were recorded in the small Harrow Studios in 1998. It resulted in a deal with the German Massacre Records label, and Occult’s third studioalbum, ‘Of Flesh And Blood’, saw the light in 1999.

Now you can finally hear, for the first time, most of these songs in their original, raw and rough demoversions.
For fans of Desaster, Absu, Deicide, Usurper, Vader, Sinister, Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Destroyer 666.

The killer debut by Belgium’s best kept secret: Slaughter the Giant. Intense melodic Death Metal for those who slaughter the soul! Slaughter The Giant ready to release their debut album “Depravity” in October 2022. A melodic intense Death Metal attack not hear before from Belgian soil. Slaughter The Giant was formed in 2018 and released their 5-track debut EP “Asylum of the Damned” in 2019 and it received good reviews worldwide. The year 2022 marks a new post-Covid start with the release of their first full-length album entitled “Depravity”, on Hammerheart Records. Slaughter the Giant performs intense melodic Death Metal that will appeal to fans of The Black Dahlia Murder and At The Gates. Hammerheart Records heard the album and was convinced of its quality and a deal was made. “Depravity” is a giant leap when compared to their EP, and acts on a whole different level. The brutality and melodic side have been pushed to new boundaries, while not losing the “good song” idea as a first must. The influences are still heard, but are now just that; influences. In the track “Co-ed Butcher” we find a kind of Obscura-esque approch that clashes into Flesh God Apocalypse alike symphony sounds, and album highlight “The Undead” is not a single and video without a reason, featuring excellent solo work on the guitar. The over all level is high and consistent throughout the album, and makes one replay after finishing.

Daniel Barenboim will turn 80 on November 15th. Warner Classics are celebrating the great musician, who has had tremendous success since the ‘60s both at the piano or conducting, with an album made in the mid-90s that is close to his heart and Argentinian origins, though aside of the classical repertoire. Tangos Among Friends - Mi Buenos Aires Querido (named after a tango by Carlos Gardel) proves again all the talent and swing Daniel Barenboim has, and has been a huge success since released by Teldec on CD in 1996.

“I spent the first nine years of my life in Argentina and only in Argentina. The rest of the world was far away. Everything Argentinian was close to my heart. The concepts of cosmopolitan existence or international thinking were not yet awakened. The air that I breathed was Buenos Aires, the language that I spoke was Spanish porteño and the rhythm to which I danced (figuratively speaking…) was the tango! My idol was Carlos Gardel. Nearly half a century later I came back not only to Argentina, not only to my childhood but especially to my Buenos Aires querido and many other wonderful melodies that make up this sentimental record.”
Daniel Barenboim – from album booklet


In an interview made in the 90s, Daniel Barenboim added: “In Argentina during the late 1940s there was no chasm between classical music and the tango, in the way there was a chasm between classical music and jazz. The tango is a basic part of Argentine popular culture; when you went to a restaurant or a party, that was the music you would hear. (…) Already as a child I was crazy about the tango. I still am.”

“The young Daniel found himself drawn to the bittersweet tales of passion, tragedy and nostalgia sung by Gardel, the tango singer and songwriter who exerted a major influence in popularizing the tango throughout the Western hemisphere and Europe. (…) Over the following decades Barenboim would regale friends at home or at parties with piano arrangements of tangos he heard in his youth. (…) Barenboim never thought of sharing his passion for tangos with the public until last year when he had returned to Buenos Aires for concerts with his Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra. At a reception he found himself talking tangos with a young Argentine. Learning of Barenboim’s interest in performing them, he offered to drum up a few local musicians with whom Barenboim could play tangos at home. That’s how he met Mederos and Console. “The first day we just played for fun,” Barenboim says. “Then we decided to make a recording. So we rehearsed for two days and made the record in one afternoon.” (…) Once he, Mederos and Console set out to record their tango program, Barenboim was surprised at how much of the characteristic tango rubato – a subtle alteration of rhythmic weight and accent – he still had at his fingertips, more than four decades after leaving Buenos Aires. That said, he insists on sharing credit for the success of the disc with his Argentine colleagues. “What they gave me was a pure sense of the tango, especially in the melodic freedom over a very strict rhythmic foundation. Performing tangos, you are constantly anticipating the downbeat or coming after it; this is part of the tradition. What I gave them was the necessity to rethink certain aspects – say, the volume and transparency of sound – so that playing tangos didn’t sound routine.”
– The Chicago Tribune, Oct. 1996

THERION have always been a band that have challenged themselves to explore new paths, while remaining true to their musical core values. For their 17th studio album, mastermind Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator Thomas Vikström have created something that has been previously unthinkable to the guitarist and the singer. "We have done the only thing that was left of all the different angles to explore", explains Christofer. "We have decided to give the people what they kept asking for. 'Leviathan' is the first album that we have deliberately packed with THERION hit songs."

True to the Swede's words, the album opens with the catchy and swift tune 'The Leaf Of The Oak Of Far' featuring female and male antiphonal singing as well as a choir that seems to have evolved straight out of THERION's breakthrough full-length "Theli" (1996). This is immediately followed by the obvious highlight 'Tuonela', in which Christofer cleverly underscores this hit-track's Finnish vibe by employing NIGHTWISH’s "metal voice" Marko Hietala. Next up in this parade of future fan-favourites is the title track 'Leviathan' that offers classic THERION material with operatic female vocals and a massive choir.

Christofer Johnsson's passion for classic voices, choirs, and orchestral elements as well as his penchant for epic melodies in combination with rock and metal shines clearly through the following sing-along ballad 'Die Wellen Der Zeit', which indicates another nod to German romantic composer Richard Wagner. "Ever since 'Theli', Wagner has been and will always be at the core of THERION", emphasises Christofer. "When we started to combine metal and opera, it was something new and original. Today, symphonic metal has long been a firmly established genre." When THERION came into being in 1988 by changing name from the already existing band BLITZKRIEG, which was founded a year earlier, Christofer had rather taken inspiration from SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" among other classic metal albums.

At the beginning, the Swedes were firmly rooted in death metal, a genre which they helped to define, as witnessed by their debut album "Of Darkness...." (1991). Yet even back then, there were hints of "something else" lurking beneath the rough surface. The use of female vocals is another core ingredient of THERION today, which developed gradually. CELTIC FROST had basically introduced the female element to extreme metal on "To Mega Therion" in 1985. THERION began with both a female and male vocalist emulating a church like choir already in their sophomore full-length 'Beyond Sanctorum' (1992). With Symphony "Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (1993) and "Lepaca Kliffoth" (1995), Christofer continued to developed his trademark sound by gradually drifting towards cleaner vocals and more keyboards.

With "Theli", the Swedes had firmly established a reputation of pushing the boundaries of metal in the 90s –among such acts as their compatriots TIAMAT, THE GATHERING, and MOONSPELL that were often referred to as "gothic metal" at the time. THERION continued to break new ground leaving inspiration for others to follow in their wake: On "A'arab Zaraq -Lucid Dreaming" (1997), Christofer further explored the use of Near Eastern music in metal which he had already begun in 1992, while "Secret Of The Runes" (2001) dared to have Swedish lyrics in some songs.

While critics were left confused and fans challenged, THERION were often ahead of their times and vindicated in hindsight. Even the band's 25th anniversary excursion "Les Fleurs Du Mal" has by now overcome the initial shock the album caused and is only beaten in terms of streaming by the classic "Vovin" (1998). When Christofer faced the question of where to go next after the dramatic "Beloved Antichrist" (2018) had finally fulfilled his musical mission, his answer is "Leviathan" named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore: THERION have created a giant hit album –and for the first time in the history of the Swedes, their fans are not asked to explore something new, but simply to lean back and enjoy the best from their band!

BROWN VINYL VARIANT

"Flight of the Behemoth" is the third album by sunn O))).

The band collaborated with legendary Japanese noise artist Merzbow, who mixed tracks 3 and 4. The first ever use of a drum machine on a sunn O))) track is heard on "F.W.T.B.T.", a deconstructive interpretation of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

This punisher also features the first ever vocals heard as evoked from the band themselves.

Contains full color 24”x36” folded poster and all this grimness is housed in a glorious case-wrapped gatefold jacket. Also contains the vinyl only bonus track: "Grimm & Bear It”.

Vinyl/metal cut by Matt Colton (Alchemy Mastering) who also cut the vinyl for the bands 2019 releases: “Life Metal” & “Pyroclasts.

Public Possession proudly presents Aiden Ayers debut album „Venus Copper Rose“. A few words by the artist himself: „ Venus Copper Rose came to me in a dream. The three words are all the same thing, symbols of beauty and material formations of love. Together they are a VCR (videocassette recorder) - a memory machine, a portal into fantasy and myth + a transcriber of dreams. The songs on the album represent the past five years of my life. The oldest of them were written and first recorded in 2017 and the youngest barely made it to the mastering session on time. I am always writing and recording, travelling to and fro, on little islands off the coast of BC, down to the California desert, or in makeshift basement studios throughout Vancouver. Every song has grown up and been captured in a different way - the album is a wild garden of misfits, flowers and weeds. I hope that people feel nourished by this album - I believe that is the ultimate role of music, like another kind of food, light, or love. I hope these songs and this album can help people see the beauty and poetry that flows through their own lives.“