City Talk is the new self produced album from Zac Farro’s Halfnoise. City Talk arrives via Farro's Nashville artist collective Congrats Records and follows 2019’s critically acclaimed Motif LP.
Farro, perhaps best known as the drummer of Paramore, has been honing his skills outside of his main gig for years now. He’s released a steady flow of Halfnoise music, he’s produced and played with Becca Mancari and Elke, he's directed videos for Paramore, Hayley Williams, Elke and Halfnoise and he’s a consummate photographer – releasing a photo book in 2020 In Transit and shooting his bands and others, including Local Natives who are currently using Farro’s images as their promo shots.
The LP features a gatefold jacket and exclusive neon green LP.
It Records is excited to announce the forthcoming release of Reliquary of Dusk, the 4th album from Dunedin/Melbourne experimental darkwave duo Ov Pain (Tim Player/ Renee Barrance). Reliquary of Dusk is a fully electronic production. Layered synth drones bleed across minimal beats while interlocking, slow-building melodies slither, simmer & percolate around each other. Barrance's vocals float above ethereal & deceptively beautiful, a false lullaby describing terrible truths & existential dread.
After a decade-and-a-half of sustaining classic hip-hop and soul traditions and expanding them into the next generation, MMG has built a reputation as one of the last dependable bastions of quality. Its latest label compilation, Omakase, plays into the idea commonly found in the finest sushi restaurants: trust the chef. This time around Mello creates original songs across Hiphop, Jazz, RnB, and Soul featuring new songs from Kamaal Williams, Pale Jay, Chris Keys, Raheem DeVaughn, Marlowe, Apollo Brown, Fly Anakin, Denmark Vessey, Danny Brown, Stalley and more.
Rediscover all the legendary hits that shaped the sound of Funk Music on a nice double vinyl. Including such great songs as "And The Beat Goes On" by The Whispers, "A Night To Remember" by Shalamar or "Midas Touch" by Midnight Star...
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Drei Jahre nach ihrem hochgelobten Debüt "Infusion" veröffentlicht die Bremer Artrock-Band Rubber Tea nun ihr zweites Studioalbum. "From A Fading World" erzählt die bewegende Geschichte der Protagonistin Emily, die von einem bösartigen Sandsturm heimgesucht wird. Um ihre Mitmenschen vor der nahenden Gefahr zu warnen, begibt sie sich mit ihrem kleinen Flugzeug auf eine heldenhafte Mission. Das Album besteht aus insgesamt 11 Kompositionen, die eine breite Palette von explosiven Jazz-Rock-Rhythmen über filigrane psychedelische Klangsphären bis hin zu epischen Saxophon- und Gitarrensoli bieten. Rubber Tea vertont Emilys abenteuerliche Reise mit beeindruckender musikalischer Vielfalt, begleitet von ausdrucksstarkem und oft mehrstimmigem Gesang. Der LP liegt ein signiertes 24-seitiges Booklet bei, das die Geschichte des Albums mit detailreichen Illustrationen zum Leben erweckt.
Doctor Who – Revenge Of The Cybermen was the season 12 finale first broadcast on April 19th, 1975. As with so much television music of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, the original master tapes of Carey Blyton’s score for Revenge of the Cybermen were not retained. The only surviving copy is a set of four 7”, 7.5ips “composer’s copy” domestic 1/4-inch tape. It is from those digital transfers that this release is taken. Sadly, and to Carey’s obvious and understandable disappointment, the completed music did not meet with the complete approval of the production team, and much of it was not used. Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop added some electronic embellishments and arranged some additional cues for parts two and three but some of that was also left on the proverbial cutting room floor.
For this release, Carey’s original score is presented (and heard here for the first time) as written. This is followed by the additional, alternative, and “enhanced” cues, all of which were also on Carey Blyton’s tapes.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive, mysterious, misunderstood, and even controversial scores in Doctor Who history, and it delights me to finally bring it, complete, to your ears!” Mark Ayres - compiler and producer
Renowned Berlin-based music discovery platform COLORSxSTUDIOS will release their new vinyl compilation album, ‘MOVE:FEEL1’, just in time for the holidays.
The limited-edition double disc gatefold vinyl will feature 16 beloved A COLORS SHOW tracks, both recent and from the archive, including London-based rapper Kwengface’s ‘Freedom’ that was released earlier this year, critically-acclaimed Malian artist Fatoumata Diawara’s ‘Nterini’ from 2019, and Dominican-Italian star YEИDRY’s breakout 2020 hit ‘Nena’.
The album is truly international—it will feature songs sung in six different languages (including English, Swedish, German, Bambara, French, Vietnamese, and Spanish) and represent artists from 15 different countries across the world.
‘MOVE:FEEL1’ reflects and celebrates the launch of COLORS’ new ‘MOVE’ and ‘FEEL’ playlists that are now available across all DSPs. Updated monthly, these playlists will curate COLORS’ genre fluid output into cohesive listening experiences that cater for varying emotional states.
The songs on the ‘MOVE’ playlist—and hence on the ‘MOVE’ sides of the vinyl—are uptempo, bold, sexy and energetic, and aim to set the tone for daring and unapologetic enjoyment. In contrast, the tracks on the ‘FEEL’ playlist and discs are downtempo and emotive. They are for relaxation, and to help listeners contemplate their internal and external environments
Designed by COLORS’ in-house creative team, the vinyl cover is mirrored, meaning its appearance adapts depending on the light and colors it reflects. This was an important decision to ensure the cover represents all of the featured artists, who all performed their A COLORS SHOWS against different colored backdrops. The mirrored material also enables the audience to literally (and hopefully metaphorically) see themselves in the album.
Each side of the mirrored cover is adorned differently: while the “MOVE” side features embossed lines, stripes and slashes indicative of motion, the more introverted “FEEL” side is debossed with goosebump-like grooves. Even with their eyes closed, people will be able to feel which side of the album is which, adding an extra sensory layer to the listening experience.
MOVE:FEEL1’s design also prioritizes sustainability, using no single-use plastics for its packaging.
Unfiltered and raw, Basement's colourmeinkindness, cuts with the emotional honesty of a personal diary backed with a flawlessly representative soundtrack. Featuring the iconic Basement songs "Covet" and "Spoiled."
Swedish producer Max I Million is simply on another level in the world of creating lush, jazzy hip-hop instrumentals, and he proves that point over and over again on his latest album, Shine On… From one
track to the next, the immensely talented beatsmith finds new ways to dazzle the ears with layers of creatively flipped samples, earworm melodies, and innovatively created sounds from household items. From the intro to the outro, Shine On…
embodies the spirit of what makes his music so compelling. This is the type of record you could put on your turntable and relax until you’ve had your moment of zen, or dig into the details of the music, like the unreal layering of “On My Mind” or the muddy funk of “Don King.” Those choices, both big and small, exemplify the love that Max put into this record, and they’re why Shine On… is absolutely his finest work yet.
One of the very first compositions by Bruno Sanchioni (Age of Love, BBE), released in 88 just at the beginning of the New Beat phenomenon that marked the history of Belgian music.
Along with Confetti's and Amnesia, it was one of the most popular tracks of its time and marked the start of a long and promising career for Bruno Sanchioni. Just 2 years later, he composed the original bassline for the legendary track "Age of Love", which, thanks to Jam & Spoon's remix, was to stamp the electronic music scene for several generations. Based on video clash created by the visionary Lil'Louis, the original slow tempo was enhanced by the highly recognisable vocal "The Story" and a simple but highly effective melody. It was already remixed 10 years later by Viper, with a rhythmic pattern once again inspired by the Chicago pioneers.
25 years on, this track still evokes emotion and still inspires a good number of artists to want to touch it up, and for the track's 35th anniversary it seemed appropriate to pay it a vibrant tribute by offering several remixes split into two different vinyl projects. In a faster, more acid-influenced style, the first project features a remix by DJHS, Manu Kenton and Furax, emblematic artists from the north of France, and is completed by Viper's excellent 98 remix for those who haven't heard it yet. DJHS is behind the legendary acid track 'Spokesman', Manu Kenton is one of the flagship artists of the 'Ghoststyle' label and Furax is behind 'Big Orgus'.
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To Watch The Storms The next in the series of Steve Hackett vinyl editions, sees the release of his 16th studio album ‘To Watch The Storms’. Originally released in 2003, it featured his live band at the time, including Roger King, Gary O’Toole, Rob Townsend & Terry Gregory. It also features John Hackett and a guest appearance from Ian McDonald (ex-King Crimson). Available now for the first time ever on vinyl, the album has been remastered especially for the format and comes as a Gatefold 180g 2LP. Includes the bonus tracks from the 2013 digipak reissue. Wild Orchids: The next in the series of Steve Hackett vinyl editions, sees the release of his 18th studio album ‘Wild Orchids’, available on wax for the first time ever. Originally released in 2006, this album saw Steve joined by familiar faces Roger King, John Hackett, Rob Townsend, Gary O’Toole as well as The Underworld Orchestra, which added glorious string and brass flourishes to the sound. The album includes Steve’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Man In The Long Black Coat’, as well as ‘Reconditioned Nightmare’ which was a re-recording of the track ‘Air Conditioned Nightmare’ from his 1981 album ‘Cured’. Available as a Gatefold 180g 2LP.
ARTIST OVERVIEW Mixing warm acoustic tones and strong vocals with heavy emo elements, the band launched several DIY tours, quickly developing a national presence. Signing with Boston indie Topshelf Records, they released their debut album, “The Earth Pushed Back" and in 2014, Have Mercy signed with vaunted indie Hopeless Records, which released their second LP, “A Place of Our Own”, later that year. Working with producers Paul Leavitt (All Time Low) and Brian McTernan (Thrice), Swindle and a rotating crew recorded the band’s Hopeless follow-up, “Make the Best of It”, which was released in early 2017. Have Mercy returned with “The Love Life” in 2019, which charted Swindle’s tumultuous personal life over the previous three years. The band came back in August 2022 with a self-tiled EP, released via Zodhiac Records, which caught the attention of Brooklyn Vegan, FLOOD Magazine, The Noise, and more. In september 2022 they shared an unreleased B-Side from their 2012 EP, My Oldest Friend, titled "Seventeen" via Rude Records. BAND MEMBERS Andrew Johnson // Guitar, Backing Vocals Brian Swindle // Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard Nick Woolford // Bass, Backing Vocals TOURING HISTORY Since 2012, Have Mercy has toured both nationally and internationally with such acts as Taking Back Sunday, Motion City Soundtrack, Senses Fail, Mayday Parade, The Maine, The Wonder Years, Turnover, Real Friends and Neck Deep
Hey Colossus's mammoth, nearly album-length cover of 'You Laugh At My Face' from Catholic by Patrick Cowley and Jorge Socarras, was initially commissioned by The Quietus for Sound + Vision subscribers before being released as part of state51's ongoing Singularity series. Here it's presented in marbled red vinyl with a stunning Bass Clef remix on side B.
"I think the mixing and the choice of sounds in anything that Patrick Cowley did is flawless," says Chris Summerlin of Hey Colossus. "Especially the instrumentals on School Daze – you can imagine the places they're in, the planets they're on, and I think that's a good approach to mixing any type of music."
The result is the group's latest high-water mark. Over its almost 22-minute runtime, Hey Colossus make the song their own by utilising an expansive arsenal of dub-like tactics. Excepting a rough-and-ready surprise near the track's conclusion, their 'You Laugh At My Face' is a genuinely gorgeous, psychedelic exploration of the Cowley and Socarras original.
STEP INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE…
UK RAP LEGEND RAMSON BADBONEZ DELIVERS HIS UNIQUE FLOW WITH RAZOR SHARP PRECISION OVER ANOTHER CLASSIC KNOCKING BEAT FROM ACCLAIMED PRODUCER HOWARD STEVENS.
THE TRACK HAS A DEEP SINISTER FEEL YET STILL PROVIDES A CATCHY CHORUS TAKING YOU TO ANOTHER DIMENSION…
THE RECORD FEATURES CUTS FROM SCRATCH SUPREMO DJ GRAZZHOPPA. WITH A VIDEO DIRECTED BY RINGZ OF SATURN/TRIPLE DARKNESS
THE 7” IS LIMITED EDITION, SHRINKWRAPPED & AVAILABLE NOW.
Fourth studio album by the British metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon. The album features three singles, 'Shadow Moses', 'Sleepwalking' and 'And the Snakes Start to Sing'. The x11 trk album, the title of which means 'everlasting life', entered the UK Albums Chart at #3. To mark the decade of an album with a heritage and sonic veracity still firmly intact, a special 10th anniversary vinyl pressing has been carefully fashioned to emphasise the music and underline the enigmatic artwork still steeped in symbology and mystique. A picture disc edition hosts the album's opulent and iconic flower of life design, with a colour inversion of the album's original palette further accentuating the ornate beauty of this album. Stock is limited & will be allocated. Promo & marketing activity across all media outlets.
The Royal hangmen are exited to announce the release of our third full-lenght album "Paranoid Nightmares" on Foggy Notion Records. Swiss garage heroes The Royal Hangmen are back with their third album. Imagine fuzz-driven guitars, a grinding Vox organ, a stompin' backbeat and some high energy screaming vocals, mix that with some real dedicated sixties attitude and you dig what the The Royal Hangmen were all about. These swiss wildmen play vintage instruments with a sound reminiscent of The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators and Small Faces but with a style and energy all of their own."Paranoid Nightmares" is an adventurous and eclectic trip through the glorious sixties. 12 tracks that lead you fromfuzz-driven Beat to Surf, from Folk-Jangle to R'n'B and Soul. Always authentic and raw, the band's sound is a lovely combination of shredding vocals, nasty guitars and organ sounds with strong melodies and hooks on top. For fans of The Sonics, The Pretty Things, The Fuzztones, The Chesterfield Kings. The very limited coloured vinyl comes as violet/black marbled LP (DLC included)!
Coltrane, Shorter, Hubbard, Davis & Perkins from a Latin perspective! The Mantecas represent one of the finest concentrations of experience and talent in Latin and Jazz music ever to be based in the UK. A pure uplifting Latin Jazz music celebration. NOT-TO-BE-MISSED!! Recorded at different locations in London during 2022/23. Mixed at Abbey Road Studios in March 2023. The Mantecas (formerly known as "Manteca") is an eight piece, London-based, Latin Jazz, Soul and Boogaloo band well known for creating a party mood at festivals and gigs everywhere they go, from Glastonbury, Ealing Festival and Tropical Pressure Festival to The 606 Club and The Jazz Café in London. They have a particular ability for bridging the culture gap with any audience getting all crowds up hitting the dance floor in a jive. The Mantecas will blow your mind with a mesmerising mix of salsa, Cumbia, Funk, Latin jazz and Boogaloo. For this new release album, the band is exploring the legacy of some of the Jazz giants through a Latin lens, reworking timeless pieces by Coltrane, Shorter, Davis, Hubbard and Perkins, giving them the infusion of Latin rhythms while remaining true to the Jazz language. The band is made up of some of the best musicians in the Latin, Jazz and Pop scenes in London: TRYPL HORNS: Paul Booth (Incognito/Brand New Heavies), Trevor Mires (Jamiroquai/Incognito), Ryan Quigley (Gregory Porter/Beverly Knight) Dave Oliver: Keys (Lisa Stansfield/Snowboy) Satin Singh: Percussion (Jazz Jamaica/Roberto Pla/Pucho and the Latin Brothers) Javier Fioramonti: Bass and arrangements, MD (Alex Wilson/Jack Costanzo/Joe Bataan/Salsa Celtica) Flavio Correa: Vocals (Omar Puente/New Regency Orchestra) Will Fry: Percussion (Tom Misch, Tony Allen) Rob Luft: Guitar (Dave O'Higgins, Byron Wallen) "Expect loads of hard-hitting salsa, exploding drums and outrageously funky boogaloo". Time Out * "Ripping new Latin Jazz band from the finest musicians of London". Fact Magazine * "One of the best Latin Jazz-funk bands working the scene today". The Jazz Café, London Ltd Ed.
To wrap up the year, W133 has put together its second Various Artist release featuring a diverse lineup of emerging and established artists.
Kicking off the EP is the French producer Monibi, offering a groovy and bass-heavy breakbeat track titled “Mahsa Amini.” This track serves as a call to fight for women’s rights, not only in Iran but around the world.
On A2, San Francisco-based Kudeki showcases her love for tripped-out Techno with “Cursive.” This mesmerizing track, featuring a relentless bassline and a 4/4 kick, creates a spooky atmosphere.
On the flip side, label head Pino Peña teams up with samwho from Rotterdam to deliver a percussive power workout. “Jacarandas,” named after the purple trees in CDMX, definitely has those Latin American vibes and rhythms that will get you moving.
For the closer of the EP, speed dembow heavyweight Siu Mata delivers a fast-hitting tribal bomb called “Dubiquity,” which takes you on a journey through dramatic pads and spaced-out percussions.
The release is, as always, complemented by pictures taken by analogue photographer Freya Gerz and is available on vinyl with fully printed cover sleeves.
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Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
The Royal hangmen are exited to announce the release of our third full-lenght album "Paranoid Nightmares" on Foggy Notion Records. Swiss garage heroes The Royal Hangmen are back with their third album. Imagine fuzz-driven guitars, a grinding Vox organ, a stompin' backbeat and some high energy screaming vocals, mix that with some real dedicated sixties attitude and you dig what the The Royal Hangmen were all about. These swiss wildmen play vintage instruments with a sound reminiscent of The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators and Small Faces but with a style and energy all of their own."Paranoid Nightmares" is an adventurous and eclectic trip through the glorious sixties. 12 tracks that lead you fromfuzz-driven Beat to Surf, from Folk-Jangle to R'n'B and Soul. Always authentic and raw, the band's sound is a lovely combination of shredding vocals, nasty guitars and organ sounds with strong melodies and hooks on top. For fans of The Sonics, The Pretty Things, The Fuzztones, The Chesterfield Kings. The very limited coloured vinyl comes as violet/black marbled LP (DLC included)!
Los Angeles-based visual artist and musician Lionel Williams was born and raised in a family of musicians - he is the grandson of soundtrack composer John Williams. Since 2010, he has been releasing music as Vinyl Williams. After three albums released on No Pain In Pop (Lemniscate, 2012) and Chaz Bundick's Company (Into, 2015 and Brunei, 2016), Vinyl Williams joined French label Requiem Pour Un Twister for his fourth album Opal released in 2018. Throughout his art, both musical and visual, Lionel Williams explores the syncretistic territory between reality and dreams, between earth and space. "Music is a chance to transmute qualitative opposites into the center, to dissolve all illusions of duality", he says. Since chaos and disorder are an illusion, Vinyl Williams is trying to reach a new state of celestial harmony on Opal. The result is an album fueled with mysticism and space age utopia, ten kaleidoscopic lush pop songs that takes you into a transcendental journey on an opal marbled vinyl limited to 500 copies.
Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.
At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.
Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.
And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.
The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.
The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.
For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room
Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.
At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.
Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.
And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.
The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.
The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.
For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room
Javier Jiménez Rolo surprises with Saint Malo, a project that explores the intersections of neoclassicism, folk, ambient and electronic textures.
That Saint-Malo is a town in Brittany is the least of it. Even the fact that it exists is unimportant. Javier has never been there. Similarly, his album takes us to remote or not so remote places without moving from where we are. Javier composed these twelve songs between 2019 and 2021 from his room: "One of the problems with recording at home rather than in a studio is that when you move, your recording space changes too. In the case of this album, I was involved in three moves during its whole process. Trying to see the positive side of this situation, I realised that, as well as a collection of songs, it was a testimonial to the different places where I had lived during those years and their respective views: 'Promenade' is an imagined walk from an interior flat; 'Picture In A Frame' is a sunny afternoon in a park in Ciudad Lineal, Madrid, and 'Bells Of Nowhere' is a stroll through the neighbourhood that was once my grandparents' and is now mine."
It's an eminently evocative album but also powerfully narrative, which moves through different emotional states. Along the way, references as heterogeneous as Javier's own tastes come up. From the inevitable Arvo Pärt, Max Richter and Steve Reich to the more unsuspected Thom Yorke, Burial, Caribou, Vulfpeck or even Dua Lipa. Stéphane Grappelli, Andrew Bird, Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds or Rene Aubry are other names Javier mentions when he talks about something similar to influences.
The journey, during which the songs miraculously fit with magical precision to the landscapes we are travelling through, begins with the promising 'Beware Of The Dogs' and 'Maltravieso'. It is followed by the obsessive arpeggios of 'Le Havre' that give way to the luminous 'Fields Of Gold', the emotion of 'Cais do Sodré' and the passionate 'Le pont roulant', reminiscent of a restrained Alexandre Desplat. Along the way, dogs will bark, rain will fall on the 'Promenade' and the sun will come out with the perfectly playful 'Dolce Far Niente' ("a mix between elevator music and a song announcing the arrival of summer" according to Javier) in which echoes of Isao Tomita and Raymond Scott resound.
The result of this captivating, unexpected and suggestive mixture is Saint Malo, Javier Jiménez's first album and the empirical demonstration that he does not have, despite his classical training, any red lines. "I've always flirted with jazz, with swing... Then I moved on to messing around with loops, to doing more ambient and experimental things. I also had my folkie phase with the klezmer group Barrunto Bellota Band..."
In Saint Malo the melodies grow, become small, return and intertwine with loops and improbable aromas, to form an album that describes a journey through emotions. From melancholy to joy and the surprise of first discoveries.
Some of the earliest works by American composer Phill Niblock, including three never before released pieces: "Index" (1969), "Tenor," and "Boston III" (both from 1972). Until now, it's been impossible to encounter Niblock's compositions from earlier than the 1960s, a reality thankfully rectified by the long overdue publication of this Boston/Tenor/Index LP on Alga Marghen.
"Tenor" (1972) represents the first evolution of Niblock's musical thought towards the aesthetics of microtones, overtones, and drones which the composer would develop in following decades. The piece was recorded by the photographer Martin Bough on tenor saxophone and gradually dubbed back and forth by the composer in his New York studio. "Boston III" (1972) was recorded at the Intermedia Sound studio in Boston with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice); the composer himself also contributed with his voice. The LP also includes "Index" (1969), an improvised sound performance by the composer himself. Guitar (both its body and strings), fingers and fingering fuse in a vehement action around which barely listenable sounds and resonances vibrate. Considering the extended pulsation as an organic blend of impulse, rhythm, drive, strength, vitality and passion, the end of this sole solo in Niblock's complete oeuvre is not defined by the fixed duration of the piece but as the consequence of the tiredness of the performer. The music changes according to the loudness of playback. The interaction of the upper harmonics changes especially, with much richer overtone patterns being produced at louder levels.
X - Atlantic Records 75th Anniversary Edition will now be available on crystal clear vinyl.
Ed Sheeran recorded X at various locations around the globe (all the while drawing on experiences and influences encountered on his over three years of unrelenting touring) with such luminary producers as Rick Rubin (Eminem, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Pharrell Williams (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, N.E.R.D), Benny Blanco (Rhianna, Wiz Khalifa) and Jeff Bhasker (Alicia Keys, Jay-Z) adding new flavours to the classy work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Jake Gosling (who produced +).
Originally released in 2014, X features singles ‘’Don’t’’, ‘’Sing’’, ‘’Thinking Out Loud’’, ‘’Bloodstream’’ and ‘’Photograph’’.
After "Il Mare Di Fronte", Flankup Recordings returns with its second album release “Sidi Bou Said” which presents another substantial 5-track EP composed and produced by Paolo Russi (Discojuice) and Marco Lanfranchi (Indy).
Harnessing both disco and Afro Balearic beats, the record will be released both on vinyl and in digital versions and will feature a dynamic remix of the track El Haouharia by none other than Byron The Aquarius titled “Late nite Dub”.
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Last delivered 15 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Roy Porter's classic 1975 album Inner Feelings has long been a treasure trove of sample sources for hip-hop artists over the years. DJ Spine is one of those who made use of parts of the album's opener 'Party Time' in his own tune 'Rock.'
Now for the first time that single gets reissued on 7" along with DJ Spinna's edited version on the flip. The original is a real funk classic with fat bass grooves and hefty drum breaks. This track was once released on the famous tax scam label with the artwork which is presented here. It makes for a package with a great backstory and an even better sound for lovers of rare grooves and hip-hop.
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Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Golden Retriever returns to Omena with a release that is adventurous, pleasing and ethereal.
There's never been a more ideal time to revisit this artist and Nafasam is a testament to their enduring, transparent & unique compositions.
Six moving and ambitious songs. Absorbing, beatless rhythms blended with a beautiful light-touch and free-flowing feel for harmony, revealing true craftsmanship and a singular sound.
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With Scream If You Don’t Exist, Richie Culver metamorphoses from outsider musician to underground fixture, feeling his way from the fringes towards a growing community of musicians that have gravitated towards his singular sound world. Building upon the stark catharsis of his previous dispatches, on his sophomore album the artist draws from grimdark drone, industrial noise, experimental hip-hop and UK rave to map out a space for himself, caught between genre and discipline. While on his debut, I Was Born By The Sea, Culver took a last glimpse back at his grey, salt-flecked past while struggling towards somewhere brighter, here, he documents the process of finding fresh waters, parsing through the complexity of inhabiting a more open and optimistic place while contending with the weight of his resolve, staring hard won self-acceptance in the face. The album’s title speaks to this creative and emotional work, serving both as the foundational paradox from which the artist’s new discordant sound emerges and as a call to action, a defiant cry in the face of existential angst.
Part of this process involves visiting familiar territory with renewed focus. Macabre opener ‘Hottest Day Of The Year’ signals an unpleasant memory with crow caw, queasy, gas leak ambience and dental drill whir as Culver recalls a life lived in nihilism: “Everything is just something that happened / Reductionism, muscles spasms, a mother’s first contraction.” Yet, on Scream If You Don’t Exist, Culver’s irresistible formula for ragged machine poetry is shot through with palpable urgency. No longer listless and despairing, he finds new intricacies for these compositions, tracing a stark interplay between crushing bass excavations and penetrating vocal clarity, a contrast picked out in the delicate threads of rhythmic pulse suggesting themselves in the blunt pressure and skittering creep of ‘Weakness’, on which Culver offers up vulnerability as a tentative solution to self-described emotional constipation: “Please do / Do take my kindness for weakness / For I am weak / And that is ok.” The amniotic soundscape of ‘YOLO (then u die)’ gives way to depth charge drone and unnerving machinic improvisations, like a noise show heard from deep in the Mariana trench, while on ‘Underground Flower’ the low-end fog lifts to reveal a brighter, colder scene. “Love me for who I could be / Not who I am,” he pleads, tending gently to his own tenacious bud.
Scream If You Don’t Exist gives us a glimpse of this flower in bloom. On the album’s cursed self-help tape title track stuttering loops of off-kilter keys and childlike repetition make light of the very real risk of disappearing all-together, a nervous breakdown rendered as a malfunctioning nursery rhyme. Paranoiac anthem ‘Say 4 Sure’ introduces bit-crushed boom-bap stomp, as though hammered out on a water-logged Game Boy, swarms of loose-wire noise sparking up against guttural grunts and ragged exhalations, while ‘On The Top’ enacts a seance for the hardcore spirit, with loops of rave piano and hiccuping vocal chops pirouetting through knackered samples, air raid sirens and the ghostly crash of breakbeat cymbals. As though in response to the solitary nature of much of his musical exploration, this time, the artist invites other voices into the world of Scream If You Don’t Exist. On ‘Swollen’, the unflinching, brimstone prophecy of Billy Woods sounds clear through an expanse of spirallic bass, preaching the same frayed gospel as Culver when he issues the quietly devastating contemporary diagnosis: “Computer broke but it still works for now / That’s the best you can say for most of us anyhow,” while another fearless correspondent from the fringes, Moor Mother, brings earthbound heft to the ambient drift and obliterating barrage of ‘Restaurants,’ teasing out meaning with elongated intonation and pitch-shifted intensity.
It’s during the album’s most meditative moments that we might recognise this space Culver has found for himself for what it really is. ‘OMG They’re Gone’ follows a chopped and slowed monologue from Culver’s wife, who works as a death doula, reflecting on her own experiences with grief and the reality of living within a culture both terrified and ignorant of the process. Floating over glistening ebb, etherised croons and luminous chimes, her words stand as a prescient reminder of the power of ephemerality. Just as Culver flourishes in imperfection, here we can find enormous strength in transcience. But it’s with ‘Just Jump In,’ which unfurls like a buoyant counterpart to the sparkling oil rigs of ‘I was born by the sea’, that Culver illuminates the hopeful waters we realise we’ve been making our steady way towards. “I know now / That you loved me,” he admits, a revelation a lifetime in the making. Through the rawest reflection Culver has found a way forward, driven by an optimism drawn from a resolve to be better, to love and be loved, an admission to weakness and the discovery of a new kind of strength. “Don’t test the water,” he reassures us and himself, “just jump in.”
Scream If You Don’t Exist will be released in November 2023 by Participant, on limited edition vinyl, and digital download . The release will be accompanied by a series of films directed by Mau Morgo, Josiane M.H Pozi, William Markarian-Martin, Simon Bus, and Bruxism.
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Introducing HUUUM, a new group comprising of Tehran born/Vienna-based artist Rojin Sharafi, working with Iranian singer Omid Darvish and Austrian saxophone artist Astrid Wiesinger on their debut album.
It's hard to know where to start with this, it's dark, beautiful, haunting, challenging & dreamlike throughout. The unexpected arrangement creates a mood that fluctuates constantly, scythed by Darvish's vocals and Wiesinger's Saxophone - all orchestrated by the mastermind of Rojin Sharafi. It's forward thinking music at it's finest, experimental music that is fascinating to get engrossed by.
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Official reissue from the catalog of legendary UMM Records. Sub Authority Records is back with a true anthem of all House music lovers: ""Desafinado"" from Rhythm 3 Request.
This project draws on their unwavering knowledge of dancefloor culture and the quality of individual sounds. An ode to the legendary imprint of old school and house music, that builds infectious arrangements with ease before falling into an irresistible four-on-the-floor club sensation.
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Time To Play is happy to announce “First Step”, a collection of five tracks from Various Artists showcasing the eclectic and forward-thinking nature of the label.
A1 is the jazzy house workout “Recognizing Strenght in Healing” by Meftah, an uprising talent from the Detroit scene who already had a few releases under his belt and was featured on the Theo Parrish Dj Kicks comp; A2 marks the return of label regular Colosimo with the acidic cut “It Works” featuring Alessandro Barbieri on percussions.
On the flip side, B1 the trippy jam “Hyper Dino + -“ by another label affiliate – Phonorem, featuring Stefano Nardon on Wurlitzer, followed by LSZ’s sunrise dancefloor burner called “21 – 12 – 21”. The closing track is Dj Dreamboy’s “Sunset Groove”, an old-school Chicago reminiscent track that keeps what is promised by the title.
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The first album release on Sprechen is a trip across the astral planes of electronica and through the neon soaked streets of South Manchester, where genres cross & styles meet on the creative peripherals away from the dance floor.
A life lived through clubs, comic books, cult movies, cosmic adventures & electronic musical endeavours have all played a role in the creation of 'Where Do I Belong?', the debut long player by The Thief Of Time, a new studio project from Sprechen founder Chris Massey.
What started as just very loose ideas and half started projects during lockdown resulted in a semi autobiographical collection of songs that draw on a lifetime love of electronic artists & synth heavy movie scores.
Nods are given, toes are dipped & caps are doffed in various sonic directions whilst still treading a truly unique path of its own making.
As Chris says: "it started really with me being in a headspace I've never really had in the studio. There was no pre-conceived ideas or agenda of what I wanted to achieve other than just going with what felt right and pursuing sounds & style I favour away from a smokey basement of ravers. Being a child of the 80's gave me a wealth of ever-evolving influences of sounds, styles, imagery, fashion, literature & art which all somehow seemed to direct this project.
It's the first time I've ever created something that contains personal reflections of my own life. Good & bad alongside the high & low points have all driven this creative process which reflects my own headspace will hopefully speak to everyone on some sort of level".
The album also features a host of Manchester artists including A Certain Ratio, Bay Bryan, Psychederek, NIIX & Love Letters From Space as well as Allison Rae from Causeway (Italians Do It Better) who were all instrumental in realising Chris' vision and bringing this exciting project into existence.
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