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Plastic-free disc production: Under the Waves OST vinyl is the first of its kind Biovinyl, with all petroleum in S-PVC replaced by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gasses. Plus this vinyl comes in a nice transparent green color called "petrol"

Eco-friendly packaging: this 2xLP gatefold packaging is made of 100% recycled paper and cardboard, and printed with sustainable inks made from plant oils.

Eco-friendly design: we set up a minimalist approach throughout the whole design to save the use of paper and ink: no printed booklet, no large plain-colored full-surfaces, only 1 color used.

Under the Waves OST is a 21-track piece of art composed by Nicolas Bredin, influenced by Icelandic composers such as Valgeir Sigurdsson and Ólafur Arnalds, as well as post-rock bands like Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Radiohead. Released by Kid Katana Records, it had to be consistent with the game’s ecological commitment, especially when talking about a physical edition. That’s why Kid Katana has found the most eco-friendly solution: this OST vinyl will be manufactured in Germany using the brand new Biovinyl process developed by one of the leading manufacturers in Europe, Optimal Media.

Box Set #6 ist die neueste in einer Reihe von umfangreichen Box-Set-Neuauflagen des beliebten Backkatalogs des Afrobeat-Pioniers Fela Kuti. Nach früheren Ausgaben, die von Künstlern wie Chris Martin, Erykah Badu, Ginger Baker, Brian Eno und Questlove kuratiert wurden, wurde das neueste Box Set der Reihe von dem Schauspieler, Produzenten, DJ, Rapper und Sänger Idris Elba alias Big Driis zusammengestellt und enthält die Klassiker Open & Close (1972), Music of Many Colours (1980), Stalemate (1977), I Go Shout Plenty!!! (1977), Live in Amsterdam (1983) und Opposite People (1977).

Die auf 5.000 Exemplare limitierte Box enthält das Artwork jedes Albums, das originalgetreu von den Vinyl-Originalpressungen reproduziert wurde, sowie ein 24-seitiges Booklet mit den Songtexten, Kommentaren des bekannten Afrobeat-Historikers Chris May zu jedem Album, bisher unveröffentlichten Fotos und einer Einführung von Elba. Alle Boxen werden von einem speziellen 16" x 24" Poster begleitet, das von Lemi Ghariokwu, der kreativen Kraft hinter vielen von Felas bahnbrechenden Albumcovern, entworfen wurde.

White Vinyl. Sensing that defenses to their contagion were down, Things Viral (2003) withdrew from any familiar or friendly shapes. On their second offering, the band decelerated to its own tempo, freezing the decay of the debut in a shocking and powerful stasis. Pitchfork lauds, "Khanate have that skill for unfolding an action in such excruciating detail that you're slowly edged off your seat_ Things Viral is extreme enough to appeal to people who don't have any interest in metal; the members cross metal pedigrees with noise-drone-art-damage bands-- from Burning Witch and Old, to Sunn 0))), to Blind Idiot God's Tim Wyskida on drums. It's committed but not overbearing, too resolute and unyielding to resist; it'll grab your skull and hold you achingly still as it thrashes through the depths, then totally, quietly wears itself out."

The album was initially released by GoodVibe Records on June 19, 2001, with rights to the album eventually being acquired by Dreamworks Records. The label intended to re-release the album with five new songs, but Interscope Records consumed the label and all plans of re-releasing the album were shelved. On August 2, 2011, the album was re-released by Universal Music Group, to celebrate the album's tenth anniversary.

The album’s lead single "The Life" spent three months on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, where it reached number 9. It also peaked at number three on CMJ New Music Report's Hip-Hop airplay chart, and topped Billboard's Pacific Heatseekers chart.

Eventually, the album earned Mystic several accolades and award nominations. In 2001, Kludge magazine ranked it at number seven on their list of best albums of the year. In 2002, the album earned Mystic a nomination for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards, where she lost to Missy Elliott. That same year, the album cut "W" was nominated for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration," a new category, at the Grammy Awards; the song lost to Eve's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," a collaboration with Gwen Stefani.

Limitierte creme(weiß)farbene Vinyl-LP! Seit 30 Jahren fliegen die STAGE BOTTLES nun unter dem Radar der Mainstream-Medien, sind aber in ihrer Szene längst eine feste Größe und international erfolgreich. Sie haben sieben Alben veröffentlicht, spielen weltweit live, haben mit unzähligen Bands zusammen gepunktrockt und dabei immer Haltung bewiesen. Jetzt kommt nach zehn Jahren mit "We Need Each Other" wieder ein neues Album. STAGE BOTTLES gründete sich 1993 aus einem engen Freundeskreis der antifaschistischen Skinhead-Szene. Musikalisch prägt das Saxophon den klassisch melodiös-aggressiven Punkrock, der sich stark klassischen englischen Vorbildern orientiert. Textlich liegt der Fokus klar im Aufruf zum aktiven Antifaschismus und zu einer gesellschaftskritischen und antikapitalistischen Haltung. Eine ausgeprägte Affinität zum Fußball und zu subkulturellen Themen erfolgt auf oft auch für den Punkrock nicht konventionelle und sehr offene Art und Weise. Die größten Hits der Stage Bottles sind "Sometimes Anti-Social, But Always Anti-fascist" und "Dead but not forgiven" sowie ,Russia", "All you need is hate", "Too young to die", "Come together", ,One world one crew" und der Song "Solidarity" (angelehnt an die Version der Band Angelic Upstarts"). Am 1.Dezember 2023 wird das neue Studioalbum erscheinen, zeitgleich feiert die Band ihr 30jähriges Bestehen. Seid bereit für weitere Punkrock-Hymnen wie Useless Idiots, Power-Psycho, You'll Never Stop Us (zusammen mit MOSCOW DEATH BRIGADE), She Hates The City sowie dem Titeltrack und erster Single! "We Need Each Other" soll durchaus keine Floskel sein, sondern die grundlegende Parole für das Album. "Ein Lied über Freundschaft, das Älterwerden, das Altwerden mit Menschen, die seit Jahrzehnten mit einem zusammen sind. Daneben soll es aber auch einen Hinweis auf globale Probleme geben. Wenn wir nicht versuchen, die Dinge gemeinsam zu lösen, werden wir nicht genug Kraft haben, um erfolgreich zu sein" so Olaf Rüger, Sänger, Frontmann und Kopf der Band. Aktueller kann ein Titel wohl heutzutage kaum sein, die STAGE BOTTLES sind zurück und sagen, was Sache ist. Aufklappbare Digisleeve-CD mit 16seitigem Booklet, Vinyl-LP mit bedruckter Innenhülle plus 4seitigem-12"-Booklet.

Seit 30 Jahren fliegen die STAGE BOTTLES nun unter dem Radar der Mainstream-Medien, sind aber in ihrer Szene längst eine feste Größe und international erfolgreich. Sie haben sieben Alben veröffentlicht, spielen weltweit live, haben mit unzähligen Bands zusammen gepunktrockt und dabei immer Haltung bewiesen. Jetzt kommt nach zehn Jahren mit "We Need Each Other" wieder ein neues Album. STAGE BOTTLES gründete sich 1993 aus einem engen Freundeskreis der antifaschistischen Skinhead-Szene. Musikalisch prägt das Saxophon den klassisch melodiös-aggressiven Punkrock, der sich stark klassischen englischen Vorbildern orientiert. Textlich liegt der Fokus klar im Aufruf zum aktiven Antifaschismus und zu einer gesellschaftskritischen und antikapitalistischen Haltung. Eine ausgeprägte Affinität zum Fußball und zu subkulturellen Themen erfolgt auf oft auch für den Punkrock nicht konventionelle und sehr offene Art und Weise. Die größten Hits der Stage Bottles sind "Sometimes Anti-Social, But Always Anti-fascist" und "Dead but not forgiven" sowie ,Russia", "All you need is hate", "Too young to die", "Come together", ,One world one crew" und der Song "Solidarity" (angelehnt an die Version der Band Angelic Upstarts"). Am 1.Dezember 2023 wird das neue Studioalbum erscheinen, zeitgleich feiert die Band ihr 30jähriges Bestehen. Seid bereit für weitere Punkrock-Hymnen wie Useless Idiots, Power-Psycho, You'll Never Stop Us (zusammen mit MOSCOW DEATH BRIGADE), She Hates The City sowie dem Titeltrack und erster Single! "We Need Each Other" soll durchaus keine Floskel sein, sondern die grundlegende Parole für das Album. "Ein Lied über Freundschaft, das Älterwerden, das Altwerden mit Menschen, die seit Jahrzehnten mit einem zusammen sind. Daneben soll es aber auch einen Hinweis auf globale Probleme geben. Wenn wir nicht versuchen, die Dinge gemeinsam zu lösen, werden wir nicht genug Kraft haben, um erfolgreich zu sein" so Olaf Rüger, Sänger, Frontmann und Kopf der Band. Aktueller kann ein Titel wohl heutzutage kaum sein, die STAGE BOTTLES sind zurück und sagen, was Sache ist. Aufklappbare Digisleeve-CD mit 16seitigem Booklet, klassisch schwarze Vinyl-LP mit bedruckter Innenhülle plus 4seitigem-12"-Booklet.

João Almeida (trumpet) and Pedro Melo Alves (drums), two of the most creative and prolific Portuguese jazz musicians of their generation, are MOORIS. Recorded in May 2021, right after the second lockdown in Portugal, “I” shows them freely exploring their instruments of choice but also finding and creating sound with “objects”, as they describe.

Both musicians leave behind familiar ground and use their instruments to create sounds that appear ceremonial or even manifest themselves as rituals. “+” sets the tone, dark, sparse and haunting, and the next four tracks (all on the "positive" side, with “+” added to each title) make use of the freedom proposed by this experiment with the uncanny. The “objects” start appearing, creating movement, confusion and dancing around different genres, from dark metal to industrial.

Flashes of jazz can be heard throughout, particularly on the B side (the "negative" side), with all tracks following the same conceptual logic as the A Side (“-”, “- -”, etc.). The atmosphere is clearer here. João’s trumpet ascends to a new level and creates new concepts in the fourth world realm. In a matter of seconds, it shifts naturally to somewhere else, the dense/dark atmosphere experienced on the A side becomes a distant memory and we are now flowing with the sounds, not trapped in them. A beautiful release after a tense/intense beginning.

After spending the last year constantly listening to “I”, MOORIS' debut still sounds brutal and unforgiving. A rare breed.

EVERIS'S NEW ALBUM FOR THIS CHRISTMAS 2023

Everis has returned this Christmas with yet another Sell Out vinyl that will make your collection the envy of the Soul Music World!

This new offering by the soul legend Everis entitled, Everis - “Songs in The Key of E”. This limited-edition vinyl album is scheduled for a Christmas 2023 release and features some enormous brand-new tracks. This album comprises of two magnificent award-winning singers, two international rappers, from the US & UK, plus one of the UK’s Biggest Sound System Dance MC’s performing on it. This solid Holiday vinyl smash, see’s Everis deliver exciting vocal performances, with a real feel-good factor, over these tough rehashed and fresh sounding beats that are bound to make you wanna get up and dance, there are 8 solid tracks in all.

Grammy Award winning US singing sensation, Shirley Jones of The Jones Girls, best known for her numerous No:1 hit both here and, in the US, has finally jumped on a record with Everis. She last worked with him on her smash solo album entitled “Shirley” many moons ago, and of late as part of the “Soul Syndicate” crew that remixed her ‘Soul Steppin’ track. Now they have come together on a monster track entitled “This I Know - Filly B Mix (featuring Cam Jones)” which is an absolute club banger for sure, an instant underground hit!

The rest of side A called “This Side” has even more really banging tracks, a Club / House Party smasher entitled, “Come Home Tonight” and the coolest sexiest Neo Soul Vibe titled, “Just Say the Word” with Everis giving a spine-tingling vocal performance that would leave the toughest of you feeling weak. The album also features Everis’s last UK Soul Charts No.1 Christmas hit “What You Doing to Me” which totally sold out in just one day, and had Everis’s name and music heard / played everywhere in the UK, and also earned him yet another award. The album is littered with great music from Mr Smooth from start to finish, with Fresh Cuts too, just take a look.

The Good Parts wurde im Dezember 2017 veröffentlicht und ist das dritte Album des gefühlvollen Pop-Sängers und Songwriters Andy Grammer. Angeführt von der beschwingten Single "Fresh Eyes", wurde das klanglich vielfältige Album von Grammer als der bisher authentischste Ausdruck seiner Musik beschrieben.

Es ist das erste Mal, dass das Album exklusiv auf blauem Vinyl veröffentlicht wird.

PRESSED ON FRUIT PUNCH COLORED VINYL WITH HAND NUMBERED OBILIMITED TO 2000 COPIES

The contemporary realm of hip hop music can be seen as polarized between two sides; mainstream versus underground, industry versus independent, at a base level boiled down to catchy sounds & infective hooks over higher quality lyrical content. These elements don’t need to be mutually exclusive, but these days it’s rare to find an act that can please all sides of the discussion. Clipse are one of the few groups that successfully and consistently caters to both sides of rap’s splintered psyche, simultaneously serving the scene with upbeat bangers that get the club poppin’ & subwoofers rattlin’ while crafting clever quotable compositions deserving of repeated headphone submersions. Though their preceding official albums Lord Willin’ (2002) & Hell Hath No Fury (2006) made bigger splashes commercially, 2009’s Til The Casket Drops is surely no slouch, a gem which deserves to be revisited with fresh ears – good thing Get On Down has given it the proper treatment it deserves with its first-ever vinyl pressing!
Til The Casket Drops was a departure from the duo of Malice & Pusha T’s previous works in that it was their first LP not completely produced by The Neptunes. However, the celebrated team who brought us ‘Grinding’ & ‘Mr. Me Too’ still helmed 8 of the album’s 13 tracks, thus dominating the soundscapes and aesthetic of the album anyway. With the remaining beats handled by Hitmen Sean C & LV (Jay-Z, Big Pun, Ghostface) and Aftermath’s DJ Khalil (Kendrick Lamar, Aloe Blacc, Eminem) clearly Clipse stock hadn’t lowered in the game. While boasting notable vocal features from Kanye West, Pharrell, Cam’ron, Keri Hilson, Yo Gotti & their Re-Up Gang affiliate Ab-Liva, Casket Drops leaves ample space for the core emcee duo of Pusha & Malice to shine in the spotlight, with verses revolving around each other succinctly in-synch and bonded by an exceptional creative rhythm only biological brothers could share.
Clipse have always delighted in dualities, juxtapositions and contradictions, unabashedly celebrating the capitalistic lifestyle and the grind as the kings of ‘coke-rap’, while taking hard looks at society’s mores and those of their own individual journeys. We hear Malice’s eventual transition to No Malice taking form on this album as he found religion, warning others who might follow in his path on ‘Footsteps’: “don’t let my wrongs give you the right of way/ to emulate my past escaping the law’s grasp” while refusing to be pinned down in one lane: “it weights on my conscience and I hate conscious rap”. Meanwhile Pusha T continues his lyrical ascent into the King Push persona with bars like “pompous motherfucker, look what them jewels made me/ I’m only finding comfort in knowing you can’t replace me/ What a thing to say, but what am I to do/ I’m role-playing a conscious nigga and true is true/ Cocaine aside, all of the bloggers behooved/ My critics finally have a verse of mine to jerk off to” decisively on album opener “Freedom”.
Since it dropped, the Clipse have stated that Casket… is their final album together while subsequently alluding to the possibility of an eventual reunion. Only time will tell, but until then it’s time to re-celebrate one of hip hop’s most dynamic duos by hearing Til The Casket Drops in a whole new light with its long-overdue, first time on vinyl pressing via Get On Down featuring all 13 original tracks on wax and cover art by the legendary KAWS! It’s kinda like a big deal…

Repress!

Released on Riverside records in 1962, "Letter from Home" was the debut album of Jazz vocalist Eddie Jefferson. Often credited as the founder of vocalese, Jefferson wrote memorable lyrics to classic jazz standards including "Parker's Mood.", "Lady Be Good," "So What," "Freedom Jazz Dance,"... Eddie Jefferson is backed here by a bunch of Jazz heavyweights, all at the top of their game. Among them: tenor sax masters Johnny Griffin and James Moody, trumpeter Clark Terry, pianists, Winton Kelly, and Joe Zawinul, bassist Sam Jones, and two hyper swinging drummers, Louis Hayes and Osie Johnson. This is an often underrated vocal Jazz album, a hidden gem ready to be unearthed. Don't miss it !!!

The live reunion of Bob Dylan and The Band during 1973-74 yielded one of the decade's most celebrated, dynamic, and astonishing tours. Captured on Before the Flood, the results portray the two artists' shared chemistry as well as Dylan's instinctive ability to challenge audiences, his group, and himself via inventive rearrangements of classics that simultaneously ward off nostalgia and renew with meaning. Said by noted critic Robert Christgau to be "at its best, the craziest and strongest rock and roll ever recorded," Before the Flood crackles with intensity, relevance, and unhinged performances.

Arriving at a crucial time for both Dylan and The Band, Before the Flood is the furthest thing possible from a nostalgia trip. It's where Dylan begins his now-trademark feat of turning songs upside-down, taking risks, challenging expectations, and leaving audiences riveted to the edge of their seats in anticipation of what might come next. He sings with unabated passion, the moods spanning bitterness to jubilation. And his willingness to play fast and loose with the music gives way to compelling shifts, under-the-surface textures, complementary intricacies, and a sense of newness and discovery on par with that of an adventurer embracing total freedom.

Before the Flood buries any notion of limits, safeguards, or borders. It is an open map, each song a route begging for exploration without need or concern for exactness or an appointed leader. Collaborative in every sense, it's a portrait of six inimitable musicians feeding off one another, trusting in their past history as they hurdle towards uncharted territory, using soulfulness as a compass and opportunity as their vehicle.

Wholly different than the live episodes heard on Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, Before the Flood is equally seminal and, from the perspective of witnessing an artist dare not only his audience but himself to break through to a new plane, even better. Utterly astounding.

Hot off of the success of their multi-platinum self-titled debut, The Youngbloods shuffled their line-up (with the departure of co-founder Jerry Corbitt) and used their heightened caché to go big on their follow up, the Charlie Daniels-produced Elephant Mountain. Over multi-layered acoustic-folk and electric-rock instruments, Jesse Colin Young, Banana Levinger, and Joe Bauer create a free-feeling set of tunes that playfully careen between front-porch folk and stadium rock (best exemplified in the classic single "Darkness, Darkness"). That this diverse set of musical influences remained cohesive and artistically daring makes it an underground classic whose admiration continues to grow today. Impex is proud to bring it to you in pristine all-analogue glory!

Kastil, aka of the spanish Mario Castillo, is well known and especially for his role as a producer of furious and intricate techno works with a high industrial influence. But at 30D we like that our close people (and Kastil is very close, since he is responsible for the mastering of all our label's releases) have absolute freedom to release what they consider appropriate, here is a clear example: Mario leaves aside his usual four-to-the-floor vision to immerse himself -completely on purpose- into classic IDM and into the most beautiful, musical and even epic electronica. Only one of the four tracks that conform the EP ('Polymorphic') clearly looks to the dance floor although it shares, along with the three remaining tracks, the artist's passion for the timeless sound of the 90's. QuadroQuill EP will be released on 30D Records' sub-label ExoPlanets, in both, vinyl (strictly limited edition) and digital format.

Scandinavian jawbreakers Harmagedon offer up a nightmare future on their debut album Dystopian Dreams, with a refreshingly modern concoction of melodic death metal and crust punk. Three piece riff machine from Stockholm Sweden, Harmagedon is a raw festering carcass of dynamic grind and roll. Featuring members of Martyrdöd and Freedom raising hell once again, Harmagedon’s debut record Dystopian Dreams is a fusion of heaviness that is difficult to pin down but makes all the damn sense in the world! With focus on primal minimalism but maximum animalism, Dystopian Dreams is the ground zero of an explosive power trio summoning raw energy into being. With no frills and no gimmicks, just relentless heaviness, Harmagedon is a matured brew of “crust punk” or “d-beat” (“kängpunk” for the diehards) infused with ravishing death-metal. Dystopian Dreams is made by adepts of distortion and grime to be imbibed by connoisseurs of rage and chord-fury. Recorded live at their own studio, Dystopian Dreams was conjured with the help of Fred Forsberg of Mass Worship at the controls, capturing Harmagedon’s wildfire and blending this dense stew together. With the addition of Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna mastering it, Dystopian Dreams has that exceptional flavour of a future classic, where all the cogs and wheels of this merciless weapon fire on all cylinders. Black Sabbath, Entombed, Neurosis & High on Fire spring to mind, as the calibre of Harmadgedon’s riff whirlwind is of the finest quality, the antithesis of royalty but epic and majestic in delivery. Dystopian Dreams’ hulking magnetism leads you expertly to headbang and worship at the altar of timeless metal, without the slightest remnant of doubt. Songs like Reptilian and Controlled Chaos groove and churn, but pack a hell of a concrete punch, with nihilistic, gravelled guitars and spewing vocals of molten brimstone. Guitarist and vocalist Tim Rosenquist says: “Controlled Chaos is about propaganda actions and distractions but Reptilian is about how hard work makes you into this emotionless beast of a being. That song is best served blasting on the factory floor or in the car on your way to the office! Reptilian’s themes are at the core of what Harmagedon is about”. Look to the masters to deliver true heavyweight metal when the current scene lacks enough muscle and teeth. From a band made up of underground titans, Harmagedon is drawn from the well of eternal heaviness, living in death forever, what nightmares are made of. Harmagedon is: Tim Rosenquist - Guitars & Vocals Magnus Berglund - Bass Jens Bäckelin - Drums

Scandinavian jawbreakers Harmagedon offer up a nightmare future on their debut album Dystopian Dreams, with a refreshingly modern concoction of melodic death metal and crust punk. Three piece riff machine from Stockholm Sweden, Harmagedon is a raw festering carcass of dynamic grind and roll. Featuring members of Martyrdöd and Freedom raising hell once again, Harmagedon’s debut record Dystopian Dreams is a fusion of heaviness that is difficult to pin down but makes all the damn sense in the world! With focus on primal minimalism but maximum animalism, Dystopian Dreams is the ground zero of an explosive power trio summoning raw energy into being. With no frills and no gimmicks, just relentless heaviness, Harmagedon is a matured brew of “crust punk” or “d-beat” (“kängpunk” for the diehards) infused with ravishing death-metal. Dystopian Dreams is made by adepts of distortion and grime to be imbibed by connoisseurs of rage and chord-fury. Recorded live at their own studio, Dystopian Dreams was conjured with the help of Fred Forsberg of Mass Worship at the controls, capturing Harmagedon’s wildfire and blending this dense stew together. With the addition of Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna mastering it, Dystopian Dreams has that exceptional flavour of a future classic, where all the cogs and wheels of this merciless weapon fire on all cylinders. Black Sabbath, Entombed, Neurosis & High on Fire spring to mind, as the calibre of Harmadgedon’s riff whirlwind is of the finest quality, the antithesis of royalty but epic and majestic in delivery. Dystopian Dreams’ hulking magnetism leads you expertly to headbang and worship at the altar of timeless metal, without the slightest remnant of doubt. Songs like Reptilian and Controlled Chaos groove and churn, but pack a hell of a concrete punch, with nihilistic, gravelled guitars and spewing vocals of molten brimstone. Guitarist and vocalist Tim Rosenquist says: “Controlled Chaos is about propaganda actions and distractions but Reptilian is about how hard work makes you into this emotionless beast of a being. That song is best served blasting on the factory floor or in the car on your way to the office! Reptilian’s themes are at the core of what Harmagedon is about”. Look to the masters to deliver true heavyweight metal when the current scene lacks enough muscle and teeth. From a band made up of underground titans, Harmagedon is drawn from the well of eternal heaviness, living in death forever, what nightmares are made of. Harmagedon is: Tim Rosenquist - Guitars & Vocals Magnus Berglund - Bass Jens Bäckelin - Drums

For Fans Of... Magic Sam, Otis Rush, GA-20, Albert King, Elmore James. Never before heard blues from 1969! The 2023 RSD release is now also available on black vinyl and CD! Pressed right in Cleveland, Ohio at Gotta Groove Records. On Remined Records, Colemine's re-issue imprint. Produced by Eli 'Paperboy' Reed. Recorded by Eli's father in 1969. Tapes have been hidden for over 50 years, now being released for the first time ever. "Fred Davis was a legend, but only in my living room. As a teenager, I started digging deeper and deeper into the blues records in my Dad’s collection. That was when I started to get the Fred Davis story in fits and starts. Fred could play like T-Bone Walker and had a keen voice like J.B. Lenoir, he said. He used to front a jump band in Kansas City, before something went down that sent him to prison at Leavenworth. In the summer of 1967, he ended up working alongside my Dad at Harco, the Cleveland factory where my grandfather was an executive. They became friends, bonding over the B.B. King and Bobby Bland records blaring from the AM radio on the factory floor. Fred taught my Dad the rudiments of blues guitar, but his style. Instead of barring with his first finger, he wrapped his thumb around the back of the neck. That left his other fingers free to create big, ringing voicings that imitated the Kansas City horn sections he heard in his youth. Fred could play up and down the neck and, even when he played and sang just by himself, he sounded like a full band. Or, at least, so the legend went. These were only foggy memories from thirty years previous, passed down from a father to a son. But then we found the tape. A quarter inch reel in a plain white cardboard box, hiding on a shelf in the attic. My Dad explained how it came to exist: He found some friends (acquaintances really) who had a band and some equipment. They setup in my grandparents living room where the upright piano was, and he invited Fred over to record some of his songs with the band backing him up. We found a place nearby that could dub the tape and put it on a CD for us. When we finally got the transfer back, the legend became real. With this music now professionally transferred and remastered, I can only hope that Fred Davis can finally receive the acclaim that he deserves; that he never received in his lifetime. The legend can finally go behind the confines of my living room and, with any luck, to the whole world." Eli 'Paperboy'

Leatherette’s 2022 debut album Fiesta offered an intense, inspired and individualist take on post-punk, their caustic riffs, fevered saxophone blasts and impassioned vocals revealing the five-piece skilled purveyors of the form.

The group's second album Small Talk, however, is clearly the work of a group ready to take flight in a new direction all their own. As they toured Fiesta across Italy and Europe, Leatherette grew tired of the genre's constrictions and yearned to spread their wings. Small Talk transcends all the group have done before and coins a voice uniquely their own, driven by the same furies that propelled Fiesta, but finding fresh new forms for expression.

The album boasts some of Leatherette's most unabashed pop-songs to date – albeit pop that's deftly twisted, pointedly perverse and ready to explode when you least expect it.

It also contains some of the group's most challenging and uncompromising noise yet, the violent swinging back-and-forth between ugly din and nagging tunefulness a (molotov) cocktail that grows only more addictive with each listen. Where Fiesta saw the group enter the studio with a batch of anthems they'd honed on the road, their approach for Small Talk was very different, leaving the sessions open to moments of on-the-fly invention and sparks of mad genius. The interplay between the five musicians is so much stronger this time around, the group say, a result of the months of touring the band put in following the release of Fiesta.

Living out of rucksacks and spending hours on the motorway in a tour van might not be everyone's idea of a good time, but that's what Leatherette credit with sharpening their intra-group bond, their almost telepathic feel for the sounds that will complement what their bandmates are playing. “We were more free to play and to rearrange, because we knew each other better now,” says guitarist Andrea Gerardi, “and the interplay is more focused on this album as a result.” The sessions for Fiesta were frustrating, Andrea says, because “we were playing the same songs over and over”.

Their approach was radically different for Small Talk, however, which saw the group file into Bronson, a local club where they've often played before, and record the album on the premises. After the sessions, the album was mixed in Bristol by Chris Fullard (Idles) and mastered in Portland at the legendary Telegraph Audio Mastering by Adam Gonsalves. "We recorded live, all playing together at the same time, rather than overdubbing the instruments," says Michele. The process, he says, "made us more coherent, and the songs more spontaneous." "Our strength is live performance," adds Andrea, "so we tried to capture that interplay. Sometimes we made errors, but we didn't care, because it sounded great. This music is our lives - it doesn't need correction. We were free for the two weeks we recorded the album, and the ideas soared in the most amazing way." Indeed they did. The album's see-saw between angular noise and pop coherence is very much its strength, and very much the sonic identity of this singular group