Search:friends

'Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West' will be released on CD, Silver vinyl and digitally.When Leslie West passed away in December of 2020, he left behind a towering legacy of epic recordings that few rock guitarists can match

But there was more to West than great songs (although, to be sure, he created a ton of them); there was his brilliant, idiosyncratic sound, a gargantuan earthmover that razed arenas and stadiums across the globe. More than just paralyzing tone, though, he also had a touch nobody could beat. Stinging, swooning and sensual melodies leapt from his fingertips – with a deft flick of his wrist, he sounded like a Delta bluesman had picked up a violin. These elements and more helped to make West one of the most significant, influential and
irreplaceable guitarists of the rock era.Originally, the album was intended to be a retrospective celebration of West's music on which the guitarist himself would perform some of his best-loved cuts with notable guests, along with a collection of new tracks. Two weeks before recording was set to commence, however, the guitarist passed away. While grieving the loss of her husband, Jenni was comforted by the constant stream of phone calls from famous musicians who
expressed their condolences, and without fail, each one said the same thing: "If you do any kind of tribute to Leslie, please let me know."An astonishing array of West's admirers – who also happened to be friends and peers – came together to celebrate the trailblazing musician on the aptly titled 'Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie
West'. Executive produced by Jenni West, Bob Ringe and John Lappen, the album features dizzying, heartfelt performances by Slash, Zakk Wylde, Dee Snider, Bachman & Bachman, Martin Barre, Joe Lynn Turner, Charlie Starr, Elliot Easton, Robbie Krieger, Mike Portnoy, Eddie Ojeda, George Lynch, Marty Friedman, Steve Morse and Yngwie Malmsteen, among others. Each track on its own is a corker,
but taken together the 12 cuts on 'Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West' are a stunning and heartfelt testament to the true impact the guitarist had on musicians of all stripes, and as such, it's essential listening for both longtime fans and newbies.
Print coverage in Guitar Techniques, Rock Candy, Record Collector

Charlie Parker represents the maximum authority to be
claimed one of the most popular and influencial bebop
jazz's godfathers.

This records is an academic vademecum of what must be
done to track the path in the jazz history.
Parker runned this music adventure together with the
beloved friends:

Miles Davis (Trumpet), Tommy Potter (Bass), Max Roach
(Drums), Duke Jordan (Piano), J. J. Johnson (Trombone).
In sinthesys: the record you want to listen to when back
home.

Reissue of 2018 debut on 2 colour vinyl, black & milky clear. Note includes members of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. More than anything else, Oh Boy is a celebration of teenage fandom and friendship. Each song is “about” something else, of course: a betrayal, a breakup, new love, parenthood. The usual stuff. And we’re hardly teenagers. Yet somehow Massage feels like the kind of band you were in back in high school. We were friends first. We all had other lives. We started playing music almost by accident. (Michael wanted to learn drums; Alex wanted to relearn guitar after playing bass in the Pains of Being Pure at Heart; Andrew and David invited themselves to their second practice.) We made a playlist of songs we loved hundreds of them long before we recorded anything: the Feelies, the Go-Betweens, East River Pipe, the Lemonheads, the Breeders, Flying Nun, Sarah Records. Alex and Andrew started writing songs the way kids do to sound like their heroes. No matter how we tried, though, the songs half Alex’s, half Andrew’s came out sounding like “Massage”: scrappy, catchy, minimalist, and sincere, with Gabi’s harmonies elevating each track. Every Monday after practice, we went to Jay’s Bar for beers and poutine. There was no point to any of this. We were just having fun. Then one day we realized we were a band. Oh Boy is our attempt to capture this easy alchemy on tape the strange magic of a bunch of amateurs coming together, finding their own wavelength, and making something out of nothing. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime than our pal Jason Quever of Papercuts, who recorded us on random weekends over the course of two years. We hope the result sounds as loose, low-key, idiosyncratic, and ultimately indelible as the bands that inspired us — the ones you already know, and the ones that are still just teenagers goofing off in some suburban garage.

Abrakadabra The success and acclaim of You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll inspired the band significantly and writing for the next record enthusiastically started whilst out on tour. Connecting with so many fans, old and new has helped to influence the shape and sound of the new record, with Adde commenting that the new album “feels like the record we should have released after the Black album”. Abracadabra will be released worldwide on March 25 - 2022, containing 10 hard hitting songs exploding with riffs, attitude, intensity and that magical feeling you get when work is over and the weekend is here. This is an album for the fans and best shared with great friends, cold beers and very loud speakers!! Recorded in 2020 and early 2021 at both Österlyckan and Bombastik in Musikens Hus - Gothenburg, the decision was made early on to once again work with Johan Reiven, who was responsible for production duties on the bands ‘Black Album’. Adde states “Working with Johan was like stepping back in time, there’s a shared intensity and commitment to excel that collectively drives us and ultimately brings out the best in us all… I am 100% happy with the result”. This shared intensity can be heard on every one of the tracks from the defiantly rebellious “Dream in Red” through to the bar soaked philosophy of “One For All” and the thundering powerhouse that is “Catch Me If You Can”. Abracadabra is uncomplicated, Rock N’ Roll escapism and entertainment at its best… sprinkled with a little bit of magick for good measure --

Abrakadabra The success and acclaim of You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll inspired the band significantly and writing for the next record enthusiastically started whilst out on tour. Connecting with so many fans, old and new has helped to influence the shape and sound of the new record, with Adde commenting that the new album “feels like the record we should have released after the Black album”. Abracadabra will be released worldwide on March 25 - 2022, containing 10 hard hitting songs exploding with riffs, attitude, intensity and that magical feeling you get when work is over and the weekend is here. This is an album for the fans and best shared with great friends, cold beers and very loud speakers!! Recorded in 2020 and early 2021 at both Österlyckan and Bombastik in Musikens Hus - Gothenburg, the decision was made early on to once again work with Johan Reiven, who was responsible for production duties on the bands ‘Black Album’. Adde states “Working with Johan was like stepping back in time, there’s a shared intensity and commitment to excel that collectively drives us and ultimately brings out the best in us all… I am 100% happy with the result”. This shared intensity can be heard on every one of the tracks from the defiantly rebellious “Dream in Red” through to the bar soaked philosophy of “One For All” and the thundering powerhouse that is “Catch Me If You Can”. Abracadabra is uncomplicated, Rock N’ Roll escapism and entertainment at its best… sprinkled with a little bit of magick for good measure --

Kitjen celebrates its 10th release with old and new friends to showcase the variety of artists and sounds it became well known for.
Lauer teams up with Kitjen chef Igor Tipura as Lauiggi, Kasper Bjørke contributes the second track of the A-Side while Robert Dietz and Gustaaf shape the Record’s B-Side with a deeper and more mellow mood.
Let’s Party like it’s 2019!

Over twelve tracks performed across three sessions from 2012, 2013 & 2014 the undeniable song writing brilliance of David Gedge is clearly evident. From the bounding, propulsive recklessness of ‘Back A Bit... Stop’ (Valentina) to the harsh edges and sudden tempo changes of ‘Heather’ (Seamonsters), The Wedding Present’s bass-driven, muscular riffs are a constant theme throughout. Gedge’s bittersweet lyrics and honest take on love are highlighted in such tracks as ‘The Girl From The DDR’ (Valentina) and ‘Little Silver’ (Going, Going...). Other memorable moments include a frenzied cover of The Monkees' ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ and a rapturous performance of ‘Flying Saucer’ [both taken from the Hit Parade series of singles] along with a rousing ‘It’s A Gas’ and a heartfelt ‘Spangle’ - complete with an apologetic Gedge clearing his throat mid-verse - from the Watusi album. Tracklisting: Tracks 1-4 Recorded 19/11/12 Back A Bit… Stop (Valentina 2012) Heather (Seamonsters 1991) You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (Tommy 1987) The Girl From The DDR (Valentina 2012) Tracks 5-8 Recorded 21/10/13 Flying Saucer (Hit Parade 2 1993)

Two Bridges (Going, Going… 2016) Pleasant Valley Sunday (Hit Parade 1 1991) Montreal (Saturnalia 1996) Tracks 9-12 Recorded 3/11/14 It’s A Gas (Watusi 1994) Spangle (Watusi 1994) Birdsnest (Going, Going… 2016) Little Silver (Going, Going… 2016)

It hasn't been long since The Wedding Present released their latest LP Going, Going... but there's already another LP in the pipeline, albeit a collection of old sessions. The Marc Riley Sessions Volume 1 collection comes out on 2nd December via Hatch Records and contains tracks from three memorable studio sessions with DJ Marc Riley from 2007, 2008 and 2010. The sessions feature songs that span the entirety of the cult indie band's career and the consistency of David Gedge's songwriting.
Marc Riley himself commented on the release of the new album: The release of The Wedding Present sessions done for our 6
Music programme over the years is something of an honour. In the great tradition of the Peel/Selwood releases on the Strange Fruit label this record proves that even without John the BBC can still be a place where great bands can continue to grow and be creative... amongst friends.' Riley also commented on John Peel's love of the cult band: There were many other bands who benefitted from the 'Peel Effect'. T oo numerous to mention. But one of those was — as if you can't see this coming — The Wedding Present. The constant support. Plays. Sessions. Encouragement. Friendship. John's love of the George Best LP (which was a heroic support considering John's affiliation to Liverpool — Manchester United's most hated rival) was well known... and until John passed away he remained a firm fan of all things 'Gedge'.'

When we first heard from recent Kompakt signing Emma Kollmorgen, with 2021’s “You Are The”, she was hymning the complexity of romance: “Love is scary as fuck!”, she said. On her debut EP, “1243”, she’s built on that intensity and offered up a five-track suite of night-vision electronic pop, bristling with a stealthy sensuality. It’s a cinematic collection, building from the brooding “Escape”, through the drifting, tactile pulses of “Taciturn”, the gritty, bustling noises that run underneath the smoke-signal torch-song of “All The Wild Animals”, and the closing, tear-stained melancholy of “Home”. “You Are The” reappears here as well, settling in perfectly amongst new friends.

It’s a completely assured first EP from an artist who’s been slowly and steadily building her own sonic world. From her early days, when she busied herself by learning guitar and joining bands, Kollmorgen always had a vision of doing something “more independent”, to allow her to find her own sound and write her own songs. A brief creative alliance with the Berlin DJ duo Dole & Kom led to some recordings and live performances. All the while, Kollmorgen was carefully shaping her production and sound designing skills with Ableton Live, and exploring distinctive musical terrain in collaboration with co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Seidel (The Ocean Collective, Fern, Nightmarer). She joined the Kompakt family after a recommendation by Patrice Baumel, who also remixed her debut single with typical flair.

On “1243”, though, Kollmorgen fully inhabits her songs, gifting each of them with a sweet, subtle sway, her vocal and lyrical openheartedness balancing the bluer hues of her production. Each song is confident and poised, Kollmorgen relying on cross-thatched patterns of texture as a web to support her melodies: “I like patterns,” she says, “they give me something to hold onto, something stable in an unstable world.” The songs feel as though they’re grappling with moments of revelation and experience in Kollmorgen’s world, which makes sense, given her approach to music: “I never had a diary,” she reflects, “so writing songs is my way of expressing and dealing with life.” On 1243, you’ll catch some glimpses of life lived, made sonorous through songs beautifully sung.

Als wir das erste Mal von Emma Kollmorgen hörten, nachdem sie sich KOMPAKT angeschlossen hatte, besang sie mit "You Are The" (2021) die Komplexität von Romantik: "Liebe ist verdammt beängstigend!". Auf ihrer Debüt-EP "1243" baut sie auf dieser Intensität auf und präsentiert uns eine fünf Tracks umfassende Suite von elektronischem Pop mit ausgeprägtem Nachtsicht-Faktor, die vor verborgener Sinnlichkeit nur so strotzt. Ein geradezu cineastischer Spannungsbogen, der sich vom grüblerischen "Escape" über die treibenden, taktilen Impulse von "Taciturn", die düsteren, umtriebigen Geräusche, die den Rauchzeichen sendenden torch song "All The Wild Animals" untermalen, und die abschließende, tränenreiche Melancholie von "Home" aufbaut. Auch "You Are The" taucht hier wieder auf und fügt sich perfekt in die neue Gesellschaft ein.

Eine überzeugende erste EP von einer Künstlerin, die sich langsam und stetig ihre eigene Klangwelt aufgebaut hat. Seit ihren Anfängen, als sie Gitarre lernte und in Bands spielte, hatte Kollmorgen immer die Vision, etwas "Unabhängiges" zu machen, um ihren eigenen Sound zu finden und ihre eigenen Songs zu schreiben. Eine kurze kreative Allianz mit dem Berliner DJ-Duo Dole & Kom führte zu einigen Aufnahmen und Live-Auftritten. Währenddessen feilte Kollmorgen an ihren Produktions- und Sounddesign-Skills und erkundete gemeinsam mit dem Co-Produzenten und Multi-Instrumentalisten Paul Seidel (The Ocean Collective, Fern, Nightmarer) ihr eigenes musikalisches Terrain. Zur KOMPAKT Label-Familie kam sie auf Empfehlung von Patrice Baumel, der auch ihre Debütsingle remixte.

Auf "1243" lebt Kollmorgen ihre Songs voll und ganz aus und verleiht jedem von ihnen einen süßen, subtilen Twist, der ihre stimmliche und textliche Offenheit mit den melancholischen Tönen der Musik in Balance hält. Voller Selbstbewusstsein und Ausgeglichenheit verlässt sie sich auf durcheinander laufende Texturen und Pattern, die ihre Melodik unterstützen: "Ich mag Pattern", sagt sie, "sie geben mir etwas, woran ich mich festhalten kann, etwas Stabiles in einer instabilen Welt."

Die Songs fühlen sich an, als würden sie sich mit realen Momenten der Offenbarung und mit Erfahrungen aus Kollmorgens Lebenswelt auseinandersetzen, was angesichts ihrer Herangehensweise an Musik durchaus Sinn ergibt: "Ich hatte nie ein Tagebuch", erzählt sie, "also ist das Schreiben von Songs meine Art, mich auszudrücken und mit dem Leben umzugehen." Auf "1243" gibt sie uns einige Einblicke in dieses gelebte Leben, das durch wunderschön gesungene Lieder zum Klingen gebracht wird.

Minimal Wave presents The Complete Collection 1980-1988, a five LP box set by the highly lauded French group Martin Dupont. The band formed in Marseille in 1980 and consisted of Alain Seghir, Brigitte Balian, Beverley Jane Crew, and Catherine Loy. They were immensely talented with a rare dynamic between them that was likely inspired by a combination of their magnetic personalities, creative vision and and the home studio where they recorded. The music they made was colorful, enthusiastic and delicate, but also melancholy and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They made electronic music that incorporated guitars and clarinets and are described by many as a New Wave band yet they truly transcended genres. They had some mainstream success finding themselves opening for bands like The Lotus Eaters, The Lounge Lizards and Siouxsie and the Banshees, without any intention of ever being a commercial enterprise. In Beverley Jane Crew’s words, “the songs just tumbled out in a completely organic and spontaneous way and as soon as they were recorded on the four track, they were shared with friends on tapes, openly and excitedly.”

They released three studio albums: Just Because, Sleep Is A Luxury and Hot Paradox, one cassette entitled Inédits 1981-1983 and one 7” single entitled Your Passion. In 2008, Minimal Wave released a compilation of selected tracks entitled Lost And Late. Now one decade later, MW releases its first box set for this phenomenal band.

The Complete Collection 1980-1988 consists of all of Martin Dupont’s recorded material to date in the form of five 180 gram vinyl LPs and spans 60 songs recorded between 1980 and 1988. Along with the five LPs, the box contains a 12 page LP-sized full color booklet featuring previously unpublished photographs of the band, their history, and select song lyrics. The box itself is bound in platinum grey linen, with black foil type and both booklet and box are designed by NYC based artist Peter Miles. All five LPs are pressed on black 180 gram vinyl and feature the original artwork of the French artist Yves Cheynet.

Mattiel, the Atlanta based group made up of Mattiel Brown and Jonah Swilley, announce
the release of their third album, ‘Georgia Gothic’, on Heavenly Recordings. ‘Georgia
Gothic’, a magic third in Mattiel’s run of full-length albums, was shaped in the quiet
seclusion of a woodland cabin in the north of the Atlanta duo’s mother-state; “Some
faraway place that just Jonah and I could go where there would be no distractions,
nothing else going on, and we could turn everything off and only focus on writing songs,”
reflects Brown.
 Where 2017’s self-titled debut and its 2019 follow-up Satis Factory were written with what
Swilley refers to as a “hands-off” approach - he arranging the music and Brown the lyrics
and vocals, the two working largely separately - the making of ‘Georgia Gothic’ was, for
the first time, a truly collaborative undertaking. “This was the first time we made a point to
just be together and work out ideas in the same room. That was the initial intention... it
was about learning what each other wanted to accomplish on a sonic level, and then just
trying different things out,” Swilley continues. “Everything happened backwards. Normally,
you’d have friends that make a band... with us, we started making music from the jump,
and then became homies.”
 Cultivated by time spent together on the road touring the first two albums, it is this
newfound sense of intimacy between Mattiel’s members that enabled the writing of
‘Georgia Gothic’ not as two separate musicians, but rather as one creative entity. The
album remained within the four walls of Brown and Swilley’s private world for much of its
evolution - with recording taking place in a simple studio set up by the pair in the
borrowed room of a dialysis centre, Swilley in the producer’s seat - until, nearing
completion, it was transferred into the trusted hands of the Grammy award-winning John
Congleton (whose extensive list of credits includes artists as diverse as Angel Olsen, Earl
Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu and Sleater Kinney) for mixing.
 Not only does the affinity between its creators translate into an electric synergy between
‘Georgia Gothic’s words and music - the brine-shock of Brown’s taut lyricism cut against
the bourbon-smoothness of Swilley’s instrumentation - but here too are the palpable
spoils of experimentation, each party trustful enough of the other to trial and error their
practices into new geometries. Swilley puts this wide palate, in part, down to the place
they call home. “I definitely feel like being from Georgia allows us to have a certain way of
approaching music.” Brown chimes in: “We haven’t really highlighted where we’re from in
the past two records, even though those were also written in Georgia. There’s so much
great art and great music that’s come from Georgia, from all different types of genres and
all over the state - but take R.E.M. and OutKast: there’s this weirdness that I can’t really
put my finger on.” Swilley concurs: “It’s the same with the B-52s, the Black Lips... it
doesn’t feel like L.A., it doesn’t feel like New York, it feels like another planet. We’re not
really in a ‘scene’ here in the same way. You have to make your own sound, create your
own identity.”
 And it is precisely the forging of Mattiel’s distinct musical identity that ‘Georgia Gothic’
signals; its members guiding each other ever-homewards not just in a geographical or
sonic sense, but spiritually, too.
 Initial LP pressing on Red Hot coloured 140g vinyl with digital download code. (Once this
format has sold out, a black 140g vinyl edition with digital download - HVNLP202 - will be
made available.)

Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
 From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
 A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
 Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
 On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
 The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
 Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
 In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
 LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.

On the tribute album Songs for Tres, Psychic Ills band members come together to commemorate the late Tres Warren who passed away just as the world turned upside down in March of 2020. Isolated, feeling helpless and lost by the death of her musical soul mate and collaborator of 18 years, bassist Elizabeth Hart found making music to be her only outlet in a time where people were unable to be physically together to mourn. So, she reached out to Adam Amram, Jon Catfish DeLorme and Brent Cordero, the main players in the Ills line up since the release of their last full length album Inner Journey Out (2016), to ask if they would embark on this cathartic journey with her. This was a different kind of production endeavor for Hart driven solely by “the aching need and urgency” to do something to honor her friend.

Hart, Amram, DeLorme and Cordero reunited for the first time five months after losing Warren at Amram’s loft – the same spot where they’d rehearsed countless times before – although this time with a different objective. In an effort to share, support and create, the old friends joined in the painful and healing experience of making this tribute album to cope with their loss. The band members wrote, arranged, and rehearsed for months and the result of their work culminated in a weekend of recording in the southern Catskill mountains at the end of 2020. This isolated and intimate environment was a perfectly serene and fitting location to finalize their story.

Throughout the album, Hart, Amram and DeLorme take turns as the vocal lead on each of the songs while Cordero showcases his finger-picking guitar skills in addition to his piano and organ playing, which he is known for. Along with the core band members, a number of other musicians played on the album, many of whom had collaborated on prior Psychic Ills releases and wanted to be a part of this last collaboration in memory of Warren. Keeping the project in the Ills family, Hart produced the album alongside Iván Diaz Mathé, the long-time Psychic Ills sound engineer.

The album consists of five original tracks and four cover songs. Initially, learning the covers was just a method for the musicians to “break the ice” and play together again for the first time without their band leader. However, those tracks became just as important to include as the originals because of their essential role in the process of coming together to make the album. The cover songs were chosen because of their unique connections to the band’s memories of Warren. Dennis Wilson’s "Rainbows" and Fleetwood Mac’s "Station Man" come from two of Warren’s favorite albums, Pacific Ocean Blue and Kiln House. The band also recorded Blaze Foley’s "Clay Pigeons" and Powell St. John’s "Right Track Now." The idea for the latter was suggested by Amram. Warren once sent him a clip of Roky Erikson singing a moving rendition of that song in the film Demon Angel and it had stuck with him ever since.

Hart wrote "I’ll Walk With You" on the day of Warrens’ passing, at the time not knowing what it meant. When she got the call with the heartbreaking news, it became clear to her what the song was about. Relying on a gently lilting string arrangement to set the tone, this duet features Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval alongside Hart. Sandoval previously collaborated with Psychic Ills accompanying Warren on "I Don’t Mind" (2016). The ideas for "Home" and "Walk Around," two other songs on the album by Hart, started simply with an acoustic guitar and lyrics, a hopeful exercise to connect with her lost friend. Brent Cordero’s instrumental "Whole Lotta Piece of Mind" is nothing short of a transcendental experience. By running his pedal steel through a Leslie speaker, Jon Catfish DeLorme crafts the unique tone showcased on Wonderful Feeling, a moving example of studio experimentation combined with old school techniques. DeLorme describes it as “an attempt to highlight the musical experience I shared with Tres both sonically and thematically. What resulted is the unguarded exaltation I feel lucky to have shared with my fellow bandmates.” Adam Amram’s “Into the Sea” was composed spontaneously the week Warren passed. The melodic tune has a hopeful lightness and Amram describes it simply as “a song to my brother”. Their connection shines through.

In fact, the entire album is one that radiates the layers of friendship, love and music that will forever exist between this family of musicians. As the band themselves state: “This album was made out of love and a commitment to honor our dear friend and bandmate.” A portion of the proceeds from the album will be donated to RAICES, a charity who aids children who have been displaced at the Texas/Mexico border.

La Grande Bleue - Musiques Imaginaires de la Méditerranée is a unique private press album recorded in the early 1980's in Montpellier, South of France, by a group of friends from different musical backgrounds.

Enjoy a percussive folk-jazz trip through this one-of-a-kind imaginary folklore, between the Mediterranean world (Greece, Maghreb, Balkans...), global influences (Africa, India, Middle East) and homemade instruments. Official remastered reissue.A1 - Kalamatianos

'Their Dark Dominion' charts the haunted history of Clapham Wood in Sussex, a paranormal hotspot linked with tales of UFO sightings, mysterious disappearances, unexplained deaths, and dark worship. In 1978, local investigator Charles Walker was contacted by a black magic initiate who claimed that the woods were being used for dark rituals and animal sacrifice by The Friends of Hecate - a secretive occult group whose number were said to include those at the highest levels in society. “We will stop at nothing to ensure the safety of our cult!” The soundtrack to an imaginary documentary or TV series circa 1987 - the year in which the area’s ‘demonic connection’ was severed by the great October storm - ‘Their Dark Dominion’ conjures digital synthscapes and swirling gothic guitar to invoke an ethereal atmosphere of supernatural menace.

On June 17, 2020, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the City of Los Angeles, announced that the iconic multi-million selling
soul/R&B band, THE CHI-LITES, would be honoured in their Class of 2021, by receiving a star on Hollywood Boulevard on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• On 30th September 2021, with family friends and other soul legends in attendance, including their legendary label mate, Gene
Chandler, Marshall Thompson, co-Founder and last surviving member of THE CHI-LITES, accepted the honour on behalf of the Band.
• Although they had formed nine years earlier, it was when the Band met record producer Carl Davis in 1968 that they signed a
contract with Brunswick Records. They began to achieve commercial recognition and success, with songs predominantly written and
composed by band member Eugene Record, who was also their lead singer, although their first charting song, ‘Give It Away’ (US
R&B Chart #10) was co-written by Record, with producer Carl Davis.
• THE CHI-LITES released more than 15 studio albums and registered on the UK chart on nine occasions, with five Top 10 entries, one
of them being the Double-A sided reissue ‘Have You Seen Her’/’Oh Girl’.
• In 1976, THE CHI-LITES switched labels from Brunswick to Mercury and recorded two albums ‘Happy Being Lonely’ (1976) and ‘The
Fantastic Chi-Lites’ (1977), before teaming-up again with Carl Davis on his own Chi-Sound records label, to record 1980’s ‘Heavenly
Body’ and 1981’s ‘Me And You’.
• This 12-track vinyl LP set focuses on their Brunswick Records period and includes all of their UK hits, opening with their barnstorming ‘Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)’, the intro from which, being famously and expertly sampled by Beyoncé (and featuring
Jay-Z), for her worldwide 2003 hit and Transatlantic #1,‘Crazy In Love’.

Christian Lee Hutson starts his new album Quitters with a laugh. In this follow up to his ANTI Records debut, Beginners, Hutson moves away from a focus on growing up to the dread and complications of growing older. Written under lock down, the laugh that announces Quitters is the kind you'll find at the end of John Huston films, one of resignation and release, and somehow a cosmic laugh that says "California," a place where lonely people gather together like birds. The song "Rubberneckers" follows the story a romance from beginning to break?up, with backing vocals by Phoebe Bridges, who returns as producer along with Conor Oberst. Quitters is a departure from the digital recording of his debut. Hutson shares, "With this record, Phoebe and Conor had an idea that it would be fun to make it to tape. Phoebe is my best friend and making Beginners with her was so comfortable and easy. So I wanted to work with her again and Conor is someone who I really respect as a lyricist." If every great record is a world, then this is Christian Lee Hutson's world. It's one filled with the fuzzy haze of a dream, and the half-remembered moments of a for?gotten life. It's a record brave enough to say, In the good old days, when times were bad. But beyond the songs, it is this voice. The voice of someone who was alive in 2021 and recorded a group of songs with his friends for us to hear.

In an era where technology is increasingly shaping music, 'The Garden Of Eve explores the opposite: it's an organic album, made by real musicians recording simultaneously, giving it a live mood while at the same time having wonderfully brilliant sound. It has been a long time since a contemporary artist has made such a beautiful homage to the blues.

"Blues has always been dear to my heart: it's a cathartic experience, precious and profound, whether it's playing it or listen to it on the radio. When I first heard Billie Holiday sing 'Blue Moon', I could feel it with every cell of my body. She had such a powerful effect on me. Sentimental blues, originating from tragic situations, sometimes even reflecting my own experiences... No matter how bad family, friends, politics, lovers, governments or society might be, they can never destroy the forces for good in this world. And as time passes by, I more and more find the truth that is rooted in my soul. And I finally feel mature enough to understand this wonderful musical tradition - because blues means life."

And if blues means life, Malia is the energy that allows the blues to have a soul, a voice. Characterised by her unique timbre - that doesn't need any further explaining - Malia gives us a thrill throughout the 12 tracks of this album, that has everything to become a classic.

“Out of Our Hands” brings together Alvin Lucier and Jordan Dykstra who, through the hands of Ordinary Affects, have created debut recordings of two new compositions.

These companion pieces have similar orbits as they were not only both composed in Middletown, CT (where Alvin and Jordan lived for a number of years), but are about Middletown, at least from a starting point. Alvin’s piece — a homage to the location of the house in which he recorded “I am sitting in a room” back in 1969 — continues his study into slow-moving glissandi and carefully crafted beating patters by interweaving three string players within a minor third (voiced by two vibraphonists). The result is entrancing, almost psychedelic, and opens space where one didn’t expect. Like much of his previous work, it is conceptual and process-based; once the wheels get turning they go on and on, giving the listener time to approach the piece, sit with it, and then move back inward.

On the other hand, Dykstra’s piece “32 Middle Tones” (a pun on his Middletown street address and the harmonic microtonality utilized in the composition) is a very textural work. His piece asks the cellist to sustain pitches for extended durations — at times quietly singing in close proximity to the stopped pitch coming from the cello — while the rest of the ensemble (violin, viola, and 2 percussion) voice a sequence of chords separated by notated silences. The cello voice is sometimes alone, but never for too long as it finds itself supported from both the top and bottom in a harmonic embrace. This supportive structure involves a percussion section which colors the seemingly simple chords (major 6th, inverted minor 7th, inverted minor 2nd, etc.) with a non-traditional toolkit of bowed singing bowls, stone sheets, harmonicas, and even leaves.

This is music that gently gives the listener a sense of predictability but always in an unexpected (and subtly indeterminate) shade. Speaking of shade, the album’s cover photo was taken in 2019 in Alvin’s backyard in Middletown. Alvin and Jordan sit with similar demeanors in front of his favorite tree — a crooked aspen which early on looked to be doomed — but which he would often saunter over to spend time with, giving it whispers of blessings and encouraging words.The world was blessed with Alvin’s presence and hopefully this album will whisper to you and yours.

Artist statement:
“With Alvin’s recent passing I was overwhelmed with messages and calls from friends, collaborators, and his former students. Everyone had a heavy heart, no doubt, but were grateful for the memories and their gift to be around Alvin during his lifetime of prolific dedication to the arts, his fascination with poetic storytelling through scientifically-inspired minimalism, and his calm and warmhearted spirit. In his last few years on earth, Alvin was busier than ever — brainstorming new ideas, creating new pieces, and planning big things. While he was here, he was alive, and may his music — and spirit — live on forever, spreading from his corner of Church and High (where he recorded his seminal piece I am sitting in a room) to every corner, concert hall, and loudspeaker in the world.”

Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
 From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
 A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
 Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
 On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
 The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
 Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
 In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
 LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.

A holy grail of French classic new wave! Thierry Müller, who initiated the French RUTH project, is not at his first try when the album POLAROID/ROMAN/PHOTO including the eponymous title track is released in 1985, but already a known name in underground experimental/electronic music with ARCANE, ILITCH (albums "Periodmindtrouble", "10 Suicides") as well as the more punky RUTH M.ELLIYERI (cult track "Mescalito"). Together with Philippe Doray, quite a big name of French experimental music at the times, Müller started RUTH. As early as 1982, a first instrumental version of the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo is out under the name of the project RUTH. "I wanted to write a piece to make the girls dance and make fun of the boys. I plugged a small handmade clock on my Farfisa organ as a sequencer. I had a small Roland synth-guitar, I put the organ in it and that's how it started." Next came Frédérique Lapierre, who contributed original vocals on the track in 1984 as well as wrote lyrics and sung two more album tracks. Thierry asks some friends to write texts for the album and then recording tracks with Phillipe as well as Frédérique. But when the sessions are over, both musicians are not too happy with the results of the Polaroïd/Roman/Photo version: according to them, it lacks "flamboyance". They decide then to record a new female voice with a professional singer (Frédérique Cambon), sound engineer Patrick Chevalot offers to mix the track "so that it blows out". The whole album was finally released in 1985 with Paris Album, a small independant label, barely selling 50 copies in 1985, despite its eponymous title as a potential success. A first limited CD version was issued in 2001 via Fractal, but In 2004, DJs Marc Colin and Ivan Smagghe discover the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo and decide to exhume it from oblvion. They released it on a compilation called So Young but so cold (Tigersushi) and then with Born Bad records on the BIPPP compilation in 2008. Thanks to them, the track (remixed and released via Aufnahme & Wiedergabe) and the album (reissued in 2008 (CD) via Infrastition and 2010 (LP) via Angular) started a new life, now back in print via BORN BAD RECORDS! + 12 pages booklet (Iiner notes UK + french) + Download code RIYL: Cold, Minimal & New Wave, Dark Dance, Elektro

Athlete Whippet return to Toy Tonics with an EP showcasing emotionally layered dance tracks and their refusal to stick to genre conventions. The duo are synonymous with sublime cuts that are just as suited to late nights and early mornings on the dancefloor, as they are to home-listening, this perfectly exhibited on the "Noguiera" EP.

The four-tracker is named after a remote place in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro where it was made on a creatively fruitful getaway in 2021. It's sentimental, joyful, bouncy, and futuristic, and showcases the duo’s musicality combining bass guitar and piano, with hardware synths, loops and fragmented vocal samples.

Robin explains - "Spending time in Brazil in recent years was a blessing. The nature, culture and musical heritage over there is beautiful. Mostly in solitude, as I ended up spending most of my time in a remote place in the mountains around Rio, music became the only real emotional outlet for a while. So in a way this is a record of dance music created as far away as we’ve ever been from the dance floor!"

Both from a live performance background, Robin and Avi met studying at Goldsmiths London and found their way to the dance floor via playing in bands, Robin a guitarist, Avi classically trained in trumpet and later on picking up the keys. Absorbing the community of South London, they eventually set up artist collective and record label Squareglass - a proudly established home for new artists coming out of the area. They’ve remixed for the likes of Rhythm Section, collaborated with Olugbenga, and their releases have come with reworks from Ross from Friends, Cameo Blush, Baltra and Seb Wildblood. In 2021, their hybrid sound found a new home with tastemaker German label Toy Tonics who released their "Vesta" EP in May, followed by a run of European tour dates including Funkhaus Berlin, Phonox London and Amsterdam Dance Event.

Drunk Uncle hail from Austin, TX, but their namesakes are probably drawn from someone you know. Think about your last family gettogether- Uncle Bill is halfway through a six-pack when the alien conspiracy theories start pouring out of his mouth. He starts chaotic and loud, then gets quiet and sad as he keeps drinking. His mood will swing wildly in-between emotions. His speech is raw and his vulnerability is beautiful. Bottle that energy up into music form and you have Drunk Uncle. Drunk Uncle's debut album "Look Up" draws on catharsis. Picture yourself in a grimy basement surrounded by your best friends, watching a band as music washes over you and you feel like everything is in the right place. You smile as frantic guitars fill the room and gruff vocals push out every emotion you could possibly feel. Drums and bass slow down and speed back up as the music moves from anger to regret to hope. You feel it all- every note, every hit, every strain. It feels good to feel. You open your eyes and you are in your room alone. You flip the record back over and you are back in the basement. All is right.

From the deep depths of Noord Brabant (NL), high school friends and long term collaborators Klont and Whistle aka Wessel and Luuk join forces once again. Growing up a mere few towns away from each other and even appearing in the same punk band albeit at different times, the meeting of minds occurred over their shared persuasion for absurdist humour and a fairly unconventional music taste.

They knew they had something special in their pursuit of gnarly breaks, textures and all things on the curveball spectrum, as Klont the ultra music nerd approached with a desire to sculpt sound whilst the breaks disrupter and club-goer-outer Whistle brought his all-around disruptive energy to the table. Separated by the pandemic they practiced their musical efforts away from each other with lots of late night video call jam sessions fiddling with ableton to produce a certified booty shaking masterpiece for ANUS Records.

"The Mysterines have enjoyed some incredible success to date. This includes a sold-out tour just before lockdown in February 2020 a 2nd sold out tour coming in autumn, playlists at BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music.
A note from Lia on the first single off the album:
In My Head appears to be a love song but that was not the original intention. I did want it to superficially be seen as that but in reality, it's a song about people who struggle with their mental health. Partly autobiographical it is about how sometimes life can feel like you’re being haunted by something out of your control. The song was produced and mixed by Catherine Marks. "

For their next reissue, Parisian crew Discomatin picked one of the rarest and sought-after releases of the French Boogie scene, Lot'Vie / Y'a Du Blues by Marché Noir. The original 12" from 1984 gets a proper remastering and delivers its powerful mixture of Boogie, Jazz-Funk and West Indies influences. Two amazing titles finally reissued with a loud sound!

"Lot'Vie" is a perfect blend of powerful funky rhythms with tons of percussion, second to none slap bass and dope synths leads. With its infectious chorus ("son a bip bip!"), the track seems to irresistibly make you move your feet. Sung in creole, the track speaks about everyone going their own way, knowing that past, present and future are only one.

"Y'a Du Blues (Tant Pis, C'est La Vie)" is based on a monstrous boogie bassline. the song talks about melancholy and hope, but with joy. In these troubled times, lyrics surely get a special meaning: whatever happens, keep smiling because after all "c'est la vie" ("that's life").

Marché Noir brought together friends and family around keyboardist Max Marolany living in the south of France, with the band starting in the second part of the seventies. Excited by the new funky sound coming from the USA, they wanted to create Marché Noir to compose and sing their own French songs. With a full range of references, from Zouk to Soul, from Disco to Funk, Reggae and Pop, their first goal was to have fun! The band was playing in clubs and festivals around Marseille, Nice, Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus. With this local fame, they ended up doing the first parts of Touré Kunda and french rockstar Johny Halliday. Without a doubt, their live shows were a truly funky experience.

Thanks to Discomatin, the EP is now available to the real connoisseurs with an exclusive insert that contains lyrics, again with fantastic illustrations from French artist Camille de Cussac.

Repressed !

Hear & Now's Story Is One Of Friendship And A Shared Passion For Music. It Began With A Chance Meeting On The Dancefoor At Red Zone In Perugia, One Of Italy's Most Legendary Clubs
Of The 1990s. Nearly Three Decades On, These Glassy-eyed Clubbers Have Joined Forces To Deliver One Of The Most Magical And Sun-kissed Albums That Claremont 56 Has Ever Released. By The Time Ricky L And Marcoradi Frst Joined Forces In The Studio In 2016, Both Had Become Established Producers Within Italy's Vibrant Deep House Scene. Between Them, They'd Released Records And Remixes On Such Labels As Ibadan, Uomo, Reincarnation, Top Tracks, Restricted
Tracks And Vega. Keen To Step Away From The Dancefoor, They Decided To Simply Create Beautiful Music For Bleary-eyed After-hours Sofa Sessions, Lazy Summer Afternoons And Early
Mornings Spent Blinking At The Rising Sun.
Aurora Baleare, Their Debut Album, Follows On From A Fantastic Double A-side 12' For Claremont 56 In February 2017. Those Two Tracks Take Pride Of Place Amongst An Eight-track Selection Simply Brimming With Evocative Workouts, Gentle Soundscapes And Noon-bright Sonic Bliss. While You'll Fnd Luscious Instrumental Cuts Designed To Inspire Baggy, Glassy-eyed Shuffing - See The Mid-tempo, Spine-tingling Brilliance Of salsedine', Mind-massaging hirundo' And Dreamy Slow-house Treat sabbia Magica' - It's The Effortless Brilliance Of Marcoradi's Improvised Guitar Playing And The Duo's tmospheric Approach That Really Catches The Ear.
Check, For Example, The Heady Horizontal Shuffe Of trasimeno', Where Poignant Ambient Chords, Jazzy Electric Guitar Solos And Deep Space Electronics Tumble Down Over Shuffing Beats And A Squeezable Synthesizer Bassline, And The Sun-down Adriatic Wonder Of stella Dei Venti', A Track So Effortlessly Loved-up And Blissful That You Might Be Overcome By Emotion (it Certainly Had Us Daydreaming Of Days Spent Exploring The Intense Natural Beauty Of Italy's Adriatic Coast).
Moments Like This, Where The Duo's Dreamy Electronics And Smile-inducing Melodies Seemingly Shimmer Across The Sound Spectrum, Can Be Found Dotted Throughout Aurora Baleare. There's The Darting Digital Synthesizer Motifs, Sparse Hand Percussion And Ricocheting Solos Of airone', The Italo-disco-inspired Chugging Positivity Of la Marsa' And The Title Track's Humid Beachside Breeze, Where Intertwined Electronic And Acoustic Lead Lines Seemingly Glimmer Like Rays Of Sunshine Bouncing Off The Surface Of A Becalmed, Crystal Clear Ocean. Their Roots May Be On The Dancefoor, But Hear & Now Are Fast Becoming Down Tempo Masters. You Can Dance If You Want To, But You May Just Want To Hug A Stranger Instead.

Lorca joins the Shall Not Fade family with a debut LP consisting of 8 melodic tracks with richly-layered soundscapes made up of samples and field recordings taken from his hometown, Brighton.

His first full-length album as Lorca, the Saudade LP sees Sam Cassman return to a melancholic and experimental sound for which he originally made a name for himself since his first release in 2012. The album's title, written in Portuguese - the language native to his current residence, Madeira - translates to English as "a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia". With stripped-back percussion and plaintive
atmospherics, it's clear to see why. We are soothed into things with the soft melody of "Lullabies" before being transported to Brighton Beach via field recordings of seagulls and the whisper of pebbles on the second track. The driving pulse of deep house track "Are You Gonna Love Me" picks up the pace whilst maintaining a sense of minimalism before the shimmering lull of "Two Pianos" brings things right back with
formless sonic collages and drifting atmospherics.

Flip the record over and the rolling beats are back. "Colraine" and "uTube" see the return of clever use of sampling, the latter including mobile phone recordings of live piano playing by friends, sampled from social media. "Colraine" offers up pulsating jazz rhythms, oozing with groove, before the aptly-named "Polly" ushers in a change of course with a razor-sharp polyrhythmic melody and acid undertones which are more suited to the club. On "Rock Paper", it's sound design that takes centre stage. To close the LP, Lorca manipulates field recordings taken from inside his studio to incorporate abstract, sample-based percussion, making for a truly unique take on techno and synthesis.

Reissue of a 1969 trio recording by American guitarist Jim Hall, who
resides at the top of the jazz guitar pantheon
At the time of his death in 2013 at the age of 83, he had long been considered
one of the jazz greats, a major influence on generations of jazz guitarists. It
seems that virtually every major musician wanted to play with Hall. His work as a
sideman ranged from swing era giant Ben Webster to new music pioneer Ornette
Coleman. HIs recording credits include a series of classic albums with groups
headed by Jimmy Guiffre, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Evans; Hall often spoke of
Rollins and Evans as two of his major influences.
This intimate June 1969 musical get-together was due in large extent to the close
friendship between the Hall and legendary German writer/ critic and producer
Joachim-Ernst Berendt. As Hall, his wife and daughter were visiting him in Berlin,
Berendt noticed that, although he had been recording extensively with a number
of major jazz figures over the last years, including several collaborative gettogethers, Hall had not recorded an album solely under his own name in over a
decade. Berendt immediately set up a trio recording for Hall that included two
internationally renowned musicians with whom Hall had previously worked, the
American expatriate bassist Jimmy Woode and Swiss- French drummer Daniel
Humair.
In such a transparent setting, Hall unfurled his finest qualities. Humair
perceptively summed it up: Hall played with "more clarity, more purity, more
sensitivity" than any other guitarist of the period. It resulted in an album of
intensely introspective music.

Introducing Skygirl, with their 4-track debut release.

Skygirl is Eva and Hanna. The two got together by chance, but definitely not by accident. After they were introduced at a festival through mutual friends and danced the night away, it became clear that both have musical ambitions and their artistic vision aligns. The band was formed before the hangover was gone, and songs were written before the weekend ended.

The kind of “after-party-Monday-mood” also functions as an entry to the band’s lyrical and musical cosmos. Rest assured, this is not your mundane headache, but rather a working class meets art school kind of philosophical approach. Sparse instrumentation meets two voices. Life-affirming, yet informed by a somber future.

Reference points may be groups like Young Marble Giants or Shakespears Sister. Brittle but strong voices, molded by urban decay.

Not to add to the deluge of artistic clichés brought on by the Global Event Which Shall Not Be Named, but spending more or less a year in the house offers plenty of time for reflection, reevaluation, and revision. Though there was a lot to process already in those months, it was an opportune time to try and get your shit together, whatever that may mean for you. For Jakob Armstrong—in addition to many other things like the rest of us—part of it meant fine- tuning a collection of songs first recorded in late 2019. A prolonged process leading to five of the seven songs on Get Yourself a Friend retooled into their better-than-even final form. Jakob Armstrong—youngest son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe—began playing guitar at seven years old and honed his craft privately until about sixteen, playing in bands in and around Oakland after meeting friends with like-minded tastes in music. Soon enough, with the memories of Ultraman action figures fighting in his mind, he and a group of friends he cultivated from those years playing around and pouring over records, formed Ultra Q (its name inspired by an Ultraman prequel series). Opening double-shot “Pupkin” and “It’s Permanent” soar to the heights of Ultra Q’s powers in much different ways; the former a black-clad romp through a rainy graveyard, the former pushing straight to the clouds with its soaring chorus. “Straight Jacket” veers pleasantly close to the jangle-pop of the Go-Betweens. “Bowman” features guitars like cats getting into a scratch-fight while an astoundingly metronomic drumbeat is played live rather than punched out on a beat pad. Closing the EP is its title track, an affecting end credits anthem full of nostalgia and a twinge of regret. As a whole, Get Yourself a Friend marks the synthesis of a songwriter’s vision and his band’s ability, forged through an invisible existential threat and an ever-changing world, eager to show what they’ve found while we were all inside

Old school friends and long-time collaborators, Mark Rowland and Paul Webber formed The Volunteered at the tail end of 2019 when they started working on new songs channeling old indie rock heroes such as Built to Spill, Guided By Voices, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Belle and Sebastian. They put out the ‘We Fall Apart’ EP in 2020 as a modest self-release and now, what started as a way to keep busy during lockdown has been expanded into a full-length vinyl and digital album, out on Scratchy Records next February. “We had the vague notion of recording an album at some point in 2020” says Mark “and we definitely intended to play more shows. We were talking to people about joining the band. It was supposed to be a big year for us.” Then the pandemic happened. Mark got COVID and was sick for more than a month, leaving him with breathing issues and a fear that he may not sing again. Stuck indoors with all plans put on ice, Mark and Paul went through their demo recordings to see what they had to work with. They took elements of those recordings, added to them, and started working on some new songs. The process was challenging as Mark was still building up his vocal strength, but they muddled through, working on each song remotely. Along the way, they recruited some friends to guest on the record, including future Volunteered member Elizabeth Sadzik, Detroit-based singer-songwriter Cody Ketchum, René Methner of German indie rock band Para Lia, solo artist Ritch Spence and Simon Bromide. It was Simon, Scratchy Records founder, who persuaded the band to make the new material into a full album having fallen head over heels for the song he guests on, Going to Amsterdam, which is released as a single on January 14th 2022. “I thought Going to Amsterdam would make a great single on Scratchy” he says. "But the more songs I heard, the more I liked, and after talking to Mark it was clear that we could make it into a full album” Mark and Paul recorded three additional songs for the album in 2021. At the same time, the full Volunteered line-up was completed with Sadzik on piano, her husband Jake on bass and Paul Douglas on drums. The sound too was broadening, with more piano being incorporated into its newest songs. The final version of We Fall Apart was completed in Autumn 2021. It’s a varied listen, from the pounding, tuneful fuzz of lead single Going to Amsterdam to the atmospheric heart-string puller The Lights. Everywhere you look there are hooks waiting to pull you in and some great pop songwriting recalling everyone from Buddy Holly and Weezer to The Triffids and Pearl Jam. For fans of: Sparklehorse, Built To Spill, Guided by Voices, Big Star, REM and Neil Young.

Curtis Godino’s first album producing for The Midnight Wishers. Mastered by Shimmy-Dic’s Kramer. “Golden Wish” Yellow Vinyl LP ltd edition of 500. RIYL: the Shangri-Las, the Chiffons, the Crystals, the GTOS, Ween. What if a cute girl group scored a hit song about a car crash, then actually died in a car crash, but decades later, David Lynch conjured their spirits for a beach-themed Halloween special? That’s a feeble attempt to describe the fun, spooky universe evoked by musician, songwriter and producer Curtis Godino with his latest project, Curtis Godino Presents the Midnight Wishers. “I’ve always been a fan of girl groups and old generic love songs,” says the Brooklyn-based artist, previously known around town for his psychedelic band Worthless and his ’60s-style light projection shows. “No matter how cheesy, they always get stuck in my head, so I decided I would try to make some of my own, with the help of my friends.” Chief among those friends are the Midnight Wishers: lead vocalist Jin Lee and backing singers Rachel Herman and Jessica McFarland, all of whom Godino recruited for the project. Lee also contributed lyrics, which she tends to recite as often as she sings in a dreamy, earnest voice. The trio are the perfect messengers for Godino’s tunes, visually as well as sonically. In photos, they pose before bubble-gummy backgrounds, playing with a ouija board by candlelight, elemental like a cartoon crime-fighting team with their respective black, red and blonde hair. But make no mistake: This project belongs to Godino, a musical ringmaster in the tradition of Phil Spector or more aptly Shadow Morton, whose noir sensibilities spawned such uncanny pop marvels as the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand).” In this case, Godino built the wall of sound almost entirely by himself, recording on his eight-track tape machine during the pandemic shutdown. Starting with drum tracks from Andrew Max and Adam Amram, he would add picked bass guitar in the style of L.A. studio legend Carol Kaye, then go bonkers with fuzzy guitars, Farfisa organ, mellotron, analog synthe- sizers, glockenspiel, an arsenal of other percussion instruments and an array of mysterious electronic effects. To fully realize the vision, however, Godino knew he needed more firepower. The Wishers’ multilayered harmonies and other vocal tracks were recorded and engineered by his roommate, Paul Millar, at Millar’s Bug Sound East studio. “I'm sure all those incredible old records were recorded on a four-track or whatever, but I don’t have the same discipline,” says Godino, whose stated goal was to create “songs so sweet they’ll give you a cavity

Upcoming new album release from JD Simo entitled 'Mind Control' will be released at the end of October while JD is on tour (9/28 - 11/21 & 1/7/2022 - 1/29/2022 JD Simo... The Chicago-born, now Nashville transplant is like a one-man crusade dedicated to keeping music real, raw, and honest. No matter the setting and no matter his role (whether it’s wingman or bandleader) J.D.’s presence infuses the situation of the moment with the music that’s been fueling him pretty much his whole life, spiced with influences that straddle both decades and dimensions. As a songwriter, guitarist, and producer, he has worked with Jack White, Tommy Emmanuel, Luther Dickinson, Dave Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and even been a member of Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh' "Phil & Friends." Now he comes forth with his most unique, original, and rawest effort yet… “Mind Control,” which drops November 5th, 2021. During lockdown in '20, he started cutting tracks in his makeshift studio weekly. Joined by longtime collaborator Adam Abrashoff on drums and longtime friend bassist-producer-engineer Adam Bednarik (Justin Townes Earle), they mused a proverbial soup of shared influences - Hill country trance blues of Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside, and Asie Payton, hypnotic Afro Beat of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, psychedelic warps of Captain Beefheart, Funkadelic, and Jimi Hendrix, the old school blues of John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker, and Lightnin Hopkins and the raw, fuzzy rock of The Stooges and Nirvana. 'Mind Control' is the product of 3 like-minded buddies huddled in a humble setting, making music to make them feel good. The songs' stark, revealing nature is the product of them using the creative process for therapy and enjoyment. Because they had to, for no other reason than they couldn’t not! They love it too much. A positive theme of growth, self-help, and struggles with addiction and mental health lay alongside a haunting, low-down musical landscape. It's raw, funky, and real. Such is life.

Straight from the fertile imagination of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs guitarist Sam Grant comes Rubber Oh - a place where an irreverent magpie spirit has its way with the eternal psych-pop continuum. ‘Little Demon’ is the first sample of this fresh foray - a bass-driven, blissed out mantra that sets out its stall where the travails of the everyday fade into the transcendental realm of the astral plane. A whole new box of sonic delights from a curious and artful talent, this track maps out a refreshing new landscape on which shameless melodic suss and wayward aural eccentricity lock horns. Some may be reminded of the likes of Air’s ‘10000Hz Legend’ and Super Furry Animals ‘Radiator’ by the montage of 60s-tinged mind-melt and sleek futurism here, but the truth is that Rubber Oh is a manifestation of a very personal vision. Alchemically assembled in his own Blank studios in Newcastle, ‘Little Demon’ - in all its thundering, earcandy glory, and accompanied by a Faustian, abstraction-embracing remix by friends and cohorts Richard Dawson and Circle’s Jussi Lehtisalo - is merely a first step into the unknown. “It’s a reference to when you’re lying in bed and your thoughts sabotage you” reasons Grant of ‘Little Demon’ - “It’s all meant to be this fixed loop - the lyrics, the riff, the drums - a constant repetition that keeps going round, maybe like a fever dream. The little demons that when you’re in bed suddenly start in your psyche, opening a door that just leads to another door” Wherever this door leads, ‘Little Demon’ is a psychic journey to be returned to on repeat.A. Little Demon B. Little Demon (Richard Dawson’s Haunted Wine-Cellar Version – Feat: Jussi Lehtisalo

In 2006, Jimmy Hunt (then a proverbial punk-troubadour usually found in bars) and Ysael Pepin (bassist for Demon's Claws) started to jam here and there in one of the rooms of an apartment located above the late Zoobizarre in Montreal. Brian, Martin, and Dale eventually joined and the quintet recorded their first garage EP in two winter afternoons. Going against the ebb and flow of indie-pop, receiving praise in both languages all over Canada (La Presse, Exclaim!, Voir), Chocolat participated in the Francofolies de Montréal in 2007 and, in 2008, they were one of the first bands signed on a new label named Grosse Boîte, the French section of Dare To Care Records. They went on to release their first album, Piano élégant, which was met with great acclaim. It featured Beatle- esque melodies, a clearer sound and an addictive chanson side. During the two years that followed, between disheveled yet jolly efficient performances, Chocolat strung together shows and insolence, and even performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Then, wanting to try something new, the band decided to take a break in the middle of 2010 and Jimmy Hunt eventually released his first solo album. Jimmy and Ysael kept contact and kept playing together, laying the foundations of an abstract project named Fantôme. Then, at the end of 2013, during the Holidays, while on a break from the tour promoting his second solo album, Maladie d'amour, Jimmy Hunt pitched some ideas on his tablet. The few demos he recorded consisted of linear sequences with drawling riffs interspersed with rhythmic breaks and rudimentary electronic effects. Realizing that Chocolat represented the ideal band to play these, Jimmy got the members together and invited his close friend Emmanuel Ethier (Jimmy Hunt, Cour de pirate) to replace Dale who had left for Europe. After only 3 practices, Jimmy booked the Victor studio in January 2014. For a few days, the guys recorded live and full band. In general, they stuck to the second or third take for each of the tracks. This allowed them to take advantage of the spontaneity of Ysael and Brian's garage games played on the mechanical tracks composed by Jimmy. As spring blossomed and schedules filled up, the guys managed to remotely mix what would become Tss tss, an album recorded between friends, a pop dump of white heat, a discharge of hypnotic rock, and, still under the Grosse Boîte label, an essential tool to hit the roads and travel across Quebec again.

Flashback to 2008. Barack Obama is in charge of the US, China is hosting the Summer Olympics and Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' is ruling the charts. In Belgium - more specifically in Aalst - four friends of friends decide to make music together. A year or so later, Intergalactic Lovers achieves its first successes and in 2011, with 'Greetings and Salutations', the band records its first album. The press is wildly enthusiastic, the gigs are piling up, the train is rolling...

13 years and two more successful albums ('Little Heavy Burdens' (2014) and 'Exhale' (2017)) later, singer Lara Chedraoui, guitarist Maarten Huygens, bassist Raf De Mey and drummer Brendan Corbey know each other like the back of their hands as they have navigated many waters together, both professionally and privately. The unbreakable foursome is ready to start the next chapter in the career of Intergalactic Lovers. "We kept a low profile the last two years" Brendan admits, "but we always have to disappear for a while after a tour. From the stage and from each other. Otherwise, you couldn't keep doing this for 13 years alongside a job, a family..."

Recorded at the famous Paradiso in Amsterdam, “Live In The Lowlands” catches Willy DeVille and his band, Mink DeVille, at their very best during the tour in support of his album ‘Crow Jane Alley’.
This record features classic tracks such as ‘Cadillac Walk’, ‘Savoir Faire’, ‘Come A Little Bit Closer’, ‘Slave To Love’ and ‘Spanish Stroll’, all delivered in Willy DeVille’s unique musical style and in front of an enraptured full house. For the first time ever, this concert will be made available on vinyl and truly be a wonderful gem in every fan’s music collection.

Durutti Column are still one of the most sought after band of the English post-punk. Since their first album 'The Return Of Durutti Column' (released on Factory in 1980), the guitarist, pianist and composer Vini Reilly has published a series of remarkable albums that filled the gap between new wave and ambient music. Reilly and Bruce Mitchell (who’s been working with such major artists like Simply Red and Rod Stewart) represented the future of the Manchester scene moving forward from the forerunners (Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, etc.) to the new musical heroes (Happy Monday, Stone Roses and the likes).

MATERIALI SONORI invited The Durutti Colurnnat for the first edition of the Greetings Festival in San Giovanni Valdarno in 1985, and build since then a steady relationship with the band. It was precisely Vini Reilly that started the record series 'Greetings' (dedicating to the Belpaese tracks like 'Florence Sunset", "San Giovanni Dawn", 'For Friends In Italy"). Subsequently MATERIALI SONORI dedicated the first cover of the magazine Sonora to Reilly and Mitchell (including a previously unreleased track on the magazine's compact disc)

'Dry' is conceived as a new journey among Vini inventions, through rarefied moods and subterranean streams of sound. The fifteen songs (lasting fifty-five minutes) have been recorded in Manchester in 1990, Vini sits in on guitar and piano, while Mitchell is on electronic and acoustic percussion, other instruments such as the clarinet (played by Zinnia Mitchell-Williams, Bruce's daughter), harmonica, viola and keyboards are also featured on the session. Here, once again, Durutti Column 's music could be defined as half-way between melancholy rock and 'progressive' New Age.

As the tides change and the majesty of the moon once more begins to illuminate our forgotten domain, the hotly-tipped Incus has made the jump to hyperspace and determined that now is the time to unleash his neoteric creation into the macrocosm of music. At the behest of the sonic social masters, "INC.AUDIO" will be deemed a passion project, but in reality it will rip the very fabric of what it means to have a personal creative outlet, curtailing boundaries and expectations alike. Based on the creed of freedom of experimentation, the label will allow Incus and close friends within the industry to share their creative expressions within a familial and contemporary framework free from third-party limitation.

For now we start at the first chapter of the INC.AUDIO narrative, and the inaugural release which comes from the architect himself. His first solo EP contains 4 tracks conceived at home during lockdown, combining new sound design techniques developed through the mediums of trusty Korg Hardware and Ableton live. The end product is a consummate representation of the benefits of free time, reckless abandon and zero red tape.

Kicking off with "Design Your Mind", Incus draws on his longstanding influences collected via years of crate-digging and supporting underground idols in the UK and Ibiza. Shuffling percussion, jittering stabs and percolatin' chords wax and wane, submitting us to the will of its deep, minimal groove with a sultry sensibility. Next is "New Dog Old Tricks", the one with "that" bassline. No holding back from the get-go, the punching percussion is waylaid sporadically by erratic tones and steadied by placid, ambient chords. The charming breakdowns are peculiarized by a haunting saxophone sample, firmly establishing the clear-cut level of advancement and attention to detail achieved by the creator.

"Calm in the Chaos" steps back from straight-up grooving, inviting an equatorial temperature to come and play. Tantalising acid-inclined bass notes perforate the horizon, aiding the insistent percussion and creating a sunny, party-ready disposition infectious as they come. Feel like you're on a beach or in a rainforest? Snap. After the party we finish in the "Morning Haze". Alien-like frequencies and UFO bleepology steer the good ship Incus on this extra-terrestrial journey through the tech-house heavens to its final resting point. The seductive vocal cut adds a beautiful edge to the track, creating a minimal yet also expansive soundscape perfect for disembarkment. So, now you see what INC.AUDIO is all about, why wouldn't you stick around? Fight the bureaucracy and become who you need to be today, not tomorrow.