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First Word Records is extremely delighted to present 'Torn : Tonic' — the sophomore album from singer, performer, poet and producer, Allysha Joy.

Delivered unfiltered, straight from the soul, ´Torn : Tonic' pulls us into a 10 track journey that weaves through the multiplicity of letting go, standing tall, and creating space all at once. The album's expansive and vivid exploration of healing examines the power that comes with accepting the complexity of change. Allysha walks listeners through the remedy she finds in sound and emerges empowered to share this healing with others. Deeply moving and lyrically compelling, 'Torn : Tonic' hosts a stellar line-up of artists, creating a world of collective power, growth, and hope.

Allysha Joy is an integral member of the vibrant Melbourne soul & jazz scene, well known for both her solo work and as lead vocalist for 30/70. A uniquely-talented soul, her husky voice, and formidable Fender Rhodes prowess have garnered attentive audiences around the world.

Her 2018 debut album 'Acadie : Raw' was named 'Best Soul Album' at the Music Victoria Awards, featured in Bandcamp's 'Top Soul Albums' of the year and received a nomination for 'Best Jazz Album' at the Worldwide Awards. An incredibly prolific artist, Allysha has released on labels; Rhythm Section, Gondwana, Future Classic, Total Refreshment Centre and now another drop for First Word, after her acclaimed 2020 EP, 'Light It Again'.

Allysha's production on 'Torn : Tonic' effortlessly arches across a sonic palette, comprised of shuffling broken grooves and exquisite celestial melodies. There are healthy swathes of skippy neo-soul boom bap sensibilities, entwined with stark swing-laden electronic percussion, Detroit-esque sun-saturated synths, and Antipodean bruk backbeats. And whilst this project was produced entirely by Joy herself, she is far from alone, inviting in an array of female and non-binary artists to bless assorted tracks with their own unique gifts. Ego Ella May, BINA, Rara Zulu, Belle Bangard and Dancing Water all appear, expanding upon the formulaic roles of featured artists to share the creative space as equal collaborators.

'Torn : Tonic' exudes vibes, from the opening whiplash snare of 'Peace, to the rolling jazz-bruk of lead single 'Let It!', to the sweet soulful sonics of 'Still Dreaming', to the closing triumphant shout of "All Joy!!" on 'G.N.D.', this is a 40-minute opus that will definitely require repeat listening.

Allysha's poetic introspection reveals the album's intention to demand space, purpose, and pleasure. Her words are deliberate and direct to the alarm bells and messages her artistic vision carries. Fluid, cross-genre, and spirited with generational stories embodied, 'Torn : Tonic' sits at the intersection of a feminist manifesto of Joy's momentous leap as an artist, and her exploration of what it means to be human in today's capitalist-driven world.

In Allysha's words, 'Torn : Tonic' is exactly as the name describes. "It is looking directly into the shadow of pain and overcoming it with joy. No love songs! Just social, political, emotional anthems for change! It is the first record I have produced entirely on my own and it feels like that perseverance that I have consistently had to conjure up is embedded in this music, overcoming my own conditioning in a society and industry that constantly tells me I can't, so I must!"

Strictly limited to 10,000 numbered copies, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, and mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP collector's edition enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Surpassing the sonics of any prior version, it peels away any remaining limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards – including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels.

Housed in a deluxe box, the UD1S Unplugged pressing features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording and the reissue's premium quality. No expense has been spared. Aurally and visually, this UD1S reissue exists as a curatorial artifact meant to be preserved, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning listeners that prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the art – and everything involved with the album, from the images to the finishes.

Truly, everything about Unplugged matters. Having sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. and more than 26 million copies worldwide, the 1992 work resonates with listeners of all generations and speaks a universal language. Recorded for MTV before a very small audience on January 16, 1992, the 14-track set became the signpost for future acoustic-based endeavours that witnessed artists of all stripes re-examining their catalogues and, in many instances, as Clapton does here, placing familiar originals in fresh contexts and unveiling spirited versions of cover material. Needless to say, Clapton's session turned MTV's series into can't-miss programming for which the likes of Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and more would soon participate.

Kicking off his performance with a spirited instrumental to establish the mood, Clapton immediately wades into the style that originally caught his attention as a British teenager in the early 1960s: American blues. Backed by a superb band that includes guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, pianist Chuck Leavell, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Steve Ferrone, Slowhand delivers a rhythmic, toe-tapping rendition of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that announces he's come to reconnect with his muse. What follows over the course of nearly the next hour stirs the heart, shakes the soul, moves the mind, and invigorates the senses.

Of course, there's no talking about Unplugged without keying in on "Tears in Heaven," the striking ballad Clapton penned about the death of his four-year-old son. More emotional, direct, spare, and healing than the studio version released a year prior, it crackles with an intimacy, maturity, poignancy, honesty, sweetness, and integrity that inform the entire concert. Indeed, how Clapton frames other favorites here – transforming "Layla" into a relaxed, comfortable stroll and ruminating on the seasoned ripples flowing throughout "Old Love," for example – indicate both a creative rebirth and gleeful acceptance of the next phase of his career.

And that very direction (two of Clapton's next three albums would be all-blues projects) is what really makes Unplugged so indispensable. Equivalent in mastery if not in volume to the output that earned him his "God" nickname, interpretations of Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues" (complete with kazoo!), Big Bill Broonzy's "Hey Hey," Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" and "Malted Milk," and Muddy Waters' "Rollin' & Tumblin'" showcase a learned professor in his element and all the wheels turning.

In every regard, Clapton's Unplugged session was appointment listening when it came out in August 1992. With the arrival of MoFi's UD1S pressing, that sensation is more urgent than before.

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior

Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.



SACD



Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered hybrid SACD enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Peeling away remaining sonic limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards (including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song), it places Clapton and company in your room. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels. A perennial audiophile favourite, Unplugged now tosses its hat into the ring as a demonstration disc.

Repress coming in June of this sold out LP from last year. LP, 45 RPM, Limited Edition. Style: Post Rock, Downtempo, Shoegaze. The last widely available Hood album was 2005’s critically acclaimed Outside Closer on Domino Records but the Leeds post-rockers actually released a later collection of songs entitled “The Hood Tapes”. This was presented at the time as a tour-only CD available at their final burst of shows and later part of their highly sought after Recollected box set. Until now the standalone album has been impossible to find even on CD and has never been issued on vinyl. In the sleeve notes to the Recollected set, the band describe the album as ‘something made in a hurry in order to have something to sell on the road’ but “The Hood Tapes” is a lot more than that. It contains all new music that seems to straddle their career from scratchy experimental New Zealand weirdo lo-fi to the stuttery and staccato r&b influenced pop they sprinkled over that last Outside Closer missive. “The Hood Tapes” could also be seen as a series of sketches of potential future musical avenues open to the band who eventually instead chose to remain silent and although key band members still operate under such names as Bracken, The Declining Winter and A New Line (Related), there has never been any further work issued under the Hood umbrella. “The Hood Tapes” therefore is an overlooked key component to their storied history and this essential release brings it in line with their more well-known work.

The second album from Wehrmacht, “Biermächt” saw the band maturing while still retaining their Thrashcore roots. Released in mid-1988, “Biermächt” featured a slightly cleaner production than the one found on their debut album. To some fans this rendered the album with much less intensity, but to our ears the sound was still very powerful. The massive reverb used on the first album made “Shark Attack” sound like a true shark attack and only added to the overall intensity. This time around the drums are more compressed and some blast beat parts tend to get lost in the overall blur of things. But on the same token, the guitars are much sharper sounding. Marco Zorich and John Duffy were truly evolving as guitar heroes. The thing that is really great and different compared to “Shark Attack” are the funny bit songs. We love them and enjoy them. A lot of the songs on “Biermächt” were leftovers from their demo days, including the phenomenal “Night Of Pain”, one of our all time favorite Thrash songs ever, but newer stuff like “Radical Dissection” and “Balance Of Opinion” showed the band handling a more mainstream Thrash sound somewhere in the middle of a Slayer/Kreator sound and Metallica/Megadeth. There is a certain progressiveness to those songs that hint to a more elaborate musical future. “Biermächt” is a very strong Crossover/Thrash album with a laid back party vibe to it. The sound, however, is very in-your-face. This is not a subtle album by any means. It’s not that they were the funniest bunch around (their side project Spazztic Blurr went a lot further). But Wehrmacht did have their own specific sound (mostly because of the vocals and guitars). Especially after all these years it becomes obvious all Crossover lovers and Thrashers from those days do in fact have this album and hold it dearly. The album has historic importance as well as huge sentimental value. Biermächt is a landmark in eighties Crossover Thrash and should be checked out immediately by all newbies.

Satiric glam band Steel Panther are known for their ridiculous concepts and hilarious lyrics, in combination with skilful musicianship. Their dedication to the concept caught on quickly and resulted in endless sold-out shows and commercial success. In 2011 they released their second studio album Balls Out, which features guest appearances by Chad Kroeger, Nuno Bettencourt and Dane Cook. Subtlety is not what this album is about, with titles such as “Supersonic Sex Machine”, “It Won’t Suck Itself” and “Let Me Cum In”. The album was even indexed in Germany and is only allowed to be sold to adults after request.

Es gibt eine Dub-Serie die seit Jahren für Furore sorgt, und das seit der VÖ der "KING SIZE DUB 1" (damals in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kult-Magazin SPEX) im Jahre 1994! In der Serie gab es immer wieder Ausflüge zu obskursen Zählweisen (Vol.69) und Specials über bestimmte Regionen (Dub In Germany), Labels (ON-U Sound Records aus London) oder Bands (Dubmatix aus Toronto)! Wunderbar, dass nun mit KSD 25 eine weitere Compilation der Reihe Dub als vielschichtige Kunst des Klangmischens darstellt. Im Rahmen dieser Ausgabe dubben sich alte und neue Freunde des Hauses Echo Beach gegenseitig oder präsentieren eigene Versionen von Pop- und Reggae-Hits von u.a. Ramones, Bob Marley, Blondie, Robert Palmer und David Bowie. Die Musik suggeriert Sonnenschein und Sound Systems, heissen Sand und coole Drinks, der Bass schlurft gelassen aber auch aufreizend rebellisch. Dub ist die Kunst des Disk Jockeys, den sie zunächst in Jamaika zum Star erhoben haben. In den Fünfzigern waren dort Musikmobile, die "Sound Systems", der Ersatz für fehlende Radiosender. Die auf Exklusivität bedachten DJs nahmen ihre Hitsingles bald selbst auf, mit instrumentalen Rückseiten für Ulk und Ansagen. Ende der Sechziger verselbständigte sich dieser Dub durch den technischen Fortschritt. King Tubby und Lee "Scratch" Perry spielten mit Hall, Echo und rückläufigen Bändern. Dub löste sich von Jamaika, ging nach New York oder London, wo er in seiner Militanz gut zum Punk passte.

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
 ‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
 ‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl.

Imperial Tiger Orchestra's Mercato 12th years Anniversary Edition includes the best of both albums Mercato & Addis Abeba remastered with bonuses live recordings in London, Paris, Addis, Tokyo & Cape Town.

Imperial Tiger Orchestra, the finest connoisseurs and grooviest performers of Ethiopian music from the Golden Age.

Back in 2007 in underground Geneva, band leader Raphaël Anker decides to gather musicians for a one off live performance revisiting the golden age of Ethiopian music.
A memorable event that forced all the musicians to carry on.
As Imperial Tiger Orchestra.

Consisting of members with very diverse backgrounds (free jazz, noise experimentations, contemporary music, twisted pop…) the Orchestra soon travels to Addis-Abeba where they perform with local luminaries and deep learn about the large diversity of Ethiopian music.
A life-changing experience which brings them back to the studio and to a plethora of successful gigs around Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Africa.

The Tiger's unique sound is a mesmerizing re-interpretation of Ethiopian music's golden age mixed with the digitalized themes that appeared in the 80s and filtered through their eclectic influences, a sort of retro-futuristic and progressive Ethiopian rock. This Anniversary edition brings back thunderous rhythms and feverish hooks, down tempo moments and fast paced epiphanies, electronic sounds and ambient nirvanas.

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Trees Speak are back!
Speak’s new album, “Vertigo of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in
Irrational Waveforms” comes as a double-vinyl edition, single CD and digital release. The limitededition first pressing only of the vinyl includes a bonus 45 enclosed in an 8-page 7”x7” booklet
insert housed within the gatefold sleeve with cover artwork created by Soviet Union propaganda
artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky in 1911.
Trees Speak are back!
This new release is a vast leap into an ocean of space and sound, a quantum leap into cybernetics, biology, anti-gravity,
time travel, dream speech and transfiguration. A seriously next step release!
Showing no signs of slowing down their rapid creative pace – incredibly this is their fourth album in the space of just over
one year – ‘Vertigo of Flaws’ is a mighty 29 tracks, one and a half hours of music across one double album that is surely
going to be a defining point in their musical career, a giant leap into the sonic unknown, an epic exploration of intensity
and sound.
Alongside their now trademark German krautrock motoric-beat rhythms, angular New York post-punk attitude, tripped-out
60s spy soundtrack, psyche-rock, and 70s synthesizers and vocoders, here you will also hear a new cosmic spacial
awareness (both personal inner space and galactic outer space) and a truly wilful pushing of sonic boundaries - as police
sirens, static noise, alarms, radio signals, avant-garde voices, and orchestral string quartets, all collide to add beautiful
dissonance to uber-powerful, intense, addictive and propulsive rhythms - in the process creating a truly unique
soundscape that Trees Speak have made wholly their own.
If you ever wanted to hear Can, Hawkwind, Destroy All Monsters, Pere Ubu, electric eels, John Cage, Liquid Liquid,
Tangerine Dream, Suicide, Neu!, Laurie Spiegel, Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Barry, Mother Mallard’s Portable
Masterpiece Company, Sun Ra, Stockhausen, John Carpenter, Electro-Acoustic and Musique Concrete and Mars in one
band - then this is it!
Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic nighttime magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing
information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.
Special guests from the hyper-creative hub of the Tucson music scene on this release are Gabriel Sullivan, Ben Nisbet, Saul
Millan, Stephani Guilmette, and Davis Jones.
The album Vertigo of Flaws was recorded in Brooklyn, New York, and Tucson, Arizona during the plague of 2021.
Extract from Vertigo of Flaws sleevenotes:
‘As we travel through space and time, avoiding the discarded remains of the industrial period, the
deconstruction of social norms through the expression of art, music, and philosophy guide the human
experience towards the unknown.
All that remains are musical echoes scattered throughout the universe, like ancient vibrations that now
populate the cosmos. These waves now show signs of decay. Melody, beauty, tonality have all but fallen
away as dissonance blossoms. As John Cage wrote in 1937,
“Whereas, in the past, the point of disagreement has been between dissonance and consonance, it will be,
in the immediate future, between noise and so-called musical sounds. New methods will be discovered,
bearing a definite relation to Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system and present methods of writing percussion
music and any other methods which are
free from the concept of a fundamental tone”.
Similarly, George Van Tassel claimed the Integratron as capable of
rejuvenation, anti-gravity, and time travel. So, what remains of the
“people”? We have adopted from them our own Zeitgeber: their pulses
now guide our sun, our planets, our earths, and are the new circadian,
diurnal, and ultradian rhythms of the galaxy. Traumsprache, dream
speech, is now the internal language of trees.
Decaying metal and machines liberated the note unto nature’s table,
and we sip the delicious nectar of music once more irrational, elaborate,
violent, vast. The past is the future, musical disintegration its own rebirth.
We are nature, once more the computer of the Universe.’

After releasing their 'Kerrang Top 50 Album of 2020' & seething debut
album 'Paradise', Scotland's Rock'n'Roll 3-piece Cold Years were about to
reap the fruits of their labour touring the world spreading their 'fist in the
air' punk rock anthems when the world came to a holt
While for many this kind of obstacle would have stopped them in their tracks but
not Cold Years, the time for pissing & moaning is done.
With singer/guitarist Ross Gordon relocating to Glasgow, never making any secret
of his frustrations with feeling trapped in the suffocating environs of his native
Aberdeen, inspiration for album 2 'Goodbye To Misery' was born.
Written remotely throughout the first 3 months of 2021, Cold Years found a fresh
approach to create using daily Zoom sessions to write emailing ideas back and to
throughout the second lockdown. With a change of scenery and this fresh
approach to writing, 'Goodbye To Misery' is 12 tracks born out of the want for a
more positive future rather than the self-destruction & misery of 2020's 'Paradise'.
Recorded in May 2021 the band yet again travelled south to The Ranch Studios in
Southampton to work with long-time collaborator Neil Kennedy (Creeper, Boston
Manor, Milk Teeth).
"This record is us saying you can break away from those things that are bringing
you down. It's about standing up for yourself and not letting anybody tell you what
you should or shouldn't be doing. It's a defiant statement."
Press ads in Visions, Classic Rock, Piranha (POS), Start (POS), Slam, Rocks,
Eclisped Covermount tracks in Classic Rock, Visions, Rocks Press features in
Visions, Classic Rock, Piranha, Start, Slam, Rocks, Eclipsed Radio: #6 German
Rock Charts for Home (single)

RIYL: Beach House, Cocteau Twins, Cigarettes After Sex, Slowdive. Isolated from any kind of music scene and enveloped by the cold Brutalism of Preston, White Flowers are a young, enigmatic band developing their own eccentricities away from the influence of big cities. New EP ‘Are You’ is a sonic and aesthetic collage drawing deeply from their environmental and social surroundings. The songs on the EP may at first seem delicate and beautiful, but closer listening reveals dark undertones and dry humour fuelled by the frustration of feeling trapped with no way out. Driven by this sense of claustrophobia, the duo have sought to create a form of escapism outside of their physical and geographical limitations. Recorded late 2021 between Preston and Bristol, ‘Are You’ weaves together a mixture of intuitive home recordings and refined studio production aided by producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Portishead, Perfume Genius). The four songs on the EP are an intentional collection of contrasts and paradoxes - beauty and repulsion, calmness and mania, anxiety and stasis - all combined to form a balanced whole. Whilst influenced in part by the writings of the late Mark Fisher and his idea that we are haunted by futures that failed to happen, that what might have been may yet be the dream that saves us, White Flowers have also found inspiration in the Brutalist architecture that adorns their hometown - futuristic yet dated buildings that serve as an appropriate visual metaphor for Fisher’s theories. Bleakly imposing yet comfortingly familiar, the monochromatic starkness of these structures has fed into the imagery for the record, as well as the sounds found within. Not intending to wallow in cynicism, however, White Flowers’ art ultimately aims to provide a way out of these dystopian fever dreams and spiralling thoughts into a forward facing place.

A new 6-track mini album from a musician with a long list of credits including South African trumpet legend Hugh Masekela, afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen and Ethiopian jazz originator Mulatu Astatke as well as many Brit-jazz and international roots artists. "It's Time" blends spiritual Afro-jazz groove with free improv, spoken poetry and other-worldly atmosphere, with lyrics and titles hinting at unorthodox takes on reality and the times we live in.

Phil Dawson is a top London guitarist who has worked and schooled himself extensively in many different African, Latin and Brazilian music traditions together with styles that more typically cross the radar of someone with a similar British background: roots reggae, punk rock, blues, soul, R'n'B, jazz and funk. As a sideman, he's played with a host of living legends of Afro-fusion music including South African jazz trumpet giant Hugh Masekela, Nigerian afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen, Ethiojazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, the Algerian "king of rai" Khaled, and London based Ghanaian afro-rock dons Osibisa. Heavy company for sure.

Now he's releasing a new mini 6 track album of original compositions under his own name and band - Phil Dawson ٤-tet - and he's joined by a stellar cast of London's finest players who include Rowland Sutherland (flutes - Airto Moreira, David Murray, Carla Bley), Khadijatou Doyneh (spoken word - The Heliocentrics, Danny Keane), Gaspar Sena (drums - Alfa Mist, Maria Chiara Argiro), Marius Rodrigues (drums - Oriole, Hermeto Hermeto Hermeto), Lekan Babalola (percussion - Cassandra Wilson, Ali Farka Toure) and Matheus Nova (bass - Antonio Forcione, Ed Motta, Jazzinho). Phil himself features on guitars, Fender Rhodes and piano.

'This is great' - Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 6 (on 'It's Time)

'Beautiful' - Kassin (producer Caetano Veloso, Sonzeira etc) (on 'It's

Time')

'Rapid-fire guitar work with variety and energy' – The Guardian, UK

'A great guitarist' – Tony Allen

'An absolute killer - irresistible' - Snowboy (on 'Gnostic Hilife')

'Phil Dawson and his (quintet) are really smoking at the mo. No wonder the London jazz young guns are ripping it up with bands

like this leading the way. Miss them at your peril' – Russ Jones (Future World Funk)

Jazzwise Review

The British guitarist Phil Dawson is a fixture of a plethora of Brit-jazz bands and international roots outfits; his nuanced stylings have graced the work of A-listers from Ethio-jazz guru Mulatu Astatke to such late African greats as Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela. Like any an in-demand session player worth his chops Dawson also fronts his own trio/quartet/quintet, all of which allow him to stretch out and do his own thing, which – with his quintet - he does to pleasing effect here.

Buoyed by flute, bass and percussion, It's Time is a six-track brew combining free improv and spoken word with Afro-spiritual groove and a far-out esotericism befitting these strangest of times. Opener 'It's Time (Radio Edit)' is a psychedelic romp through a beneficent cosmos where ringing chords and woodwind trills underpin Khaditjatou Doyneh's pathos-laden musings on love and the universe and one of three variations on a theme. Over three minutes longer at 9:34, 'It's Time (aka Ougama)' is a freewheeling instrumental made dazzling by Dawson's silver-fingered guitar work; Doyneh resumes her pronouncing on the more dissonant but equally mind expanding 'It's Time (Fully Spoken)'. Then there's 'Gnostic Hilife', whose three interpretations each juxtapose the structures of this West African lingua franca in ways tight, spacious and inventive

Pachakuti is a musician and producer with family roots in Colombia. He plays keys, tenor saxophone and clarinet. While living and working in Berlin, he draws inspiration from the natural world, investigative travels, and ancestral traditions of Latin America and beyond. His expressive and rhythmical playing and his instantaneous compositions are directed at the human core, arousing subtle experiences. While not being conformed to one style, it always invokes a sense of liveliness and depth to be delved in. young.vishnu is a producer and DJ. He has studied philosophy and music in Hildesheim, Germany, which heavily influenced his views on meaning and mythology in music. In his DJ sets he selects and plays classic and contemporary Funk, Soul and Afrobeat. His practice as a DJ informs his work behind the boards directly, adding also more organic grooves and broader spectrum of musical styles to his in Hip-Hop based production. If you had to put one single tag on their forthcoming album Dédalo, the best choice would be Jazz. That being said, Pachakuti and young.vishnu's sound worlds might be better described in their own words: "We just make music and try to incorporate what we love about it". They are musical freethinkers with shared interests in eastern philosophy and botany who interweave Hip-Hop, Latin and Funk with musical storytelling and world mythology. Undoubtedly, their most ambitious work to date, Dédalo (Spanish synonym for labyrinth), recorded and produced over the course of a year, shows Pachakuti & young.vishnu's ambitions and growth. Where their debut work Semilla (2020) centered around the image of the seed, Dédalo takes on the entire garden. Besides playing multiple instruments by themselves, Pachakuti & young.vishnu invited a growing group of befriended musicians into the studio, including percussionist maestro Eric Owusu (Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor, Jembaa Groove) and drummer Leon Raum (Bokoya, Wyl), as well as Brazilian newcomer vocalist Laíz, and members of their former band project Soularkestra. The 16 recorded songs, ranging from 1:19 to 14:58 minutes, take you on an emotionally honest, metaphoric journey through the maze of human existence, of modern society and mythic poetry. The mostly instrumental tracks build on expressive melodies, layered rhythms, and a wide range of musical instruments, merging the sounds of Jazz with the classical word of orchestras and choirs, and urban soundscapes with traditional instruments such as the Andean Kena and Charango, the Colombian Gaita and Marimba de Chonta, and an Indian harmonium. The Album thus weaves together past and future, and diverse cultural threads, sounds and ideas in an act of cultural appreciation and global conscience. Mixed and mastered by Roe Beardie at The Brewery Studios, Berlin. The album artwork itself merges the visionary art of Mexican painter Sergio Chávez Hollar with an original artwork-inlay of Brazilian artist Laíz and the work of Carsten Pölking of the Nima Compositions Archive.

Dédalo will be available digitally and on double-vinyl with inside-out print cover and colored inlay with credits and painting by Laís De Mello Barbero.

RIYL: Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Iggy Pop, Radiohead & Tom Waits. "If you have never heard the Doctors of Madness, you should. Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original. Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius" Vic Reeves…. The DOM are “the missing link between David Bowie & The Sex Pistols” (The Guardian May 2017). Exploding onto the music scene in 1975 with their theatrical, William Burroughs-inspired Sci-fi nightmare, they were misunderstood by many, but those who knew understood the importance of the band’s dangerous, uncompromising approach to lyrics, to music and to performance. Among the many fans of the band were acts as diverse as The Damned, Vic Reeves, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Spiritualized, Julian Cope, The Adverts, The Skids and Simple Minds. The Sex Pistols supported them, so did The Jam & Joy Division. They were the first to combine the avant-garde approach of The Velvet Underground with a distinctly European aesthetic. The blue hair, exotic stage-names, the lyrical themes of urban decay, political propaganda, mind control and madness were all taken up by the punk bands who followed in their wake. The DOM were trailblazers, pioneers, adventurers…pushing the boundaries of rock music and theatre to see how far it would go before it bust. What happened after them was due, in no small part, to what they achieved in 3 short years. They may not have been Jesus Christ, but they were, arguably, John the Baptist!!! Now, 40 years after they imploded, they are back…with an album seething with lyrical anger and passion. It is the most potent and incisive musical dissection of modern life and contemporary politics released the decade. With tracks titles like “So Many ways To Hurt You”, “Sour Hour”, “Make It Stop!” and the ground-breaking sonic assault of the title track “Dark Times”, Richard “Kid” Strange proves once again that he has his finger firmly on the pulse of our times, just as he had when he founded the band in 1974. Produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses, Pink Floyd), the new album, Dark Times, features contributions from Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Sarah Jane Morris (Communards), Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave etc), Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton (The Who, Scott Walker) and the young protest singer Lily Bud, alongside the current thrilling and thunderous DOM rhythm section of Susumu Ukei (bass guitar) & Mackii Ukei (drums) of the Japanese extreme glam-metal band Sister Paul, and Dylan O Bates (violin and keyboards). Julian Cope, another rock star who, like Strange, found the confines of music too tight for his ambition, his energy and his imagination, was blown away when he first heard the songs, declaring, “These Dark Times are enormously informing: the RULES OF THE FUTURE are indeed being forged right now”. Top producer Martyn Ware (Human League/Heaven 17) said the album “…reminds me of Iggy Pop’s Kill City album – love it.” and Biba Kopf (The Wire) declared, “Still listening to new DOM album with immense interest and pleasure”. The first single, Make It Stop!, is an impassioned howl against the global drift to right wing extremism and persecution of minorities, and is already a live showstopper for the band. It features the thrilling cross-generational combination of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Lily Bud on backing vocals. In the period since the last DOM gig in 1978, Richard has written a memoir, collaborated on a cantata with internationally celebrated composer Gavin Bryars, worked as an actor on films with Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese, Harmony Korine & Jack Nicholson, toured the world in a Russian version of Hamlet with James Nesbitt as his grave-digging co-star, played Glastonbury, sung baritone in the British premiere of Frank Zappa’s200 Motels at the Royal Festival Hall, directed a multi-media evening celebrating the life and work of William Burroughs, won Best Art Film Prize at the Portobello Film Festival last year, had his own live talk show, worked with Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull on the William Burroughs/Robert Wilson stage play The Black Rider, curated events for the Tate Gallery, and sung Walt Disney songs with Jarvis Cocker.

Ex RSD LP on transparent red vinyl, gatefold sleeve with lyric inner sleeve and DL card. Final copies now reduced to £7.99. The tracks on this album have never been officially released before now. The eight songs on this album were recorded in 1978 on a 2-track stereo Revox A77 tape recorder. The recordings are unashamedly analogue, using one microphone and guitars plugged directly into the tape recorder. Bouncing down tracks irreversibly as they went on, forced to make creative decisions that could not be undone. Some hard choices had to be made with the mix, but with no record company meant no record company agenda. TV Smith & Richard Strange could write and record whatever they wanted – and did! It has been an enormous pleasure to rediscover these recordings, the result of a friendship of two artists emerging from broken bands and each about to embark on a lifelong adventure in words and music. TV SMITH - I wasn’t having a lot of fun in 1978 when Richard asked me to collaborate on a song he was writing called “Summer Fun.” I was in the final stages of songwriting for the second Adverts album “Cast Of Thousands,” a project that already seemed doomed to failure given an unenthusiastic record company, a band in the throes of falling apart, and a dwindling audience - but my creative juices were in full flow and I was ready for something different. I already knew Richard, of course, from the Doctors Of Madness, who I’d followed in the years before punk when I was still living in Devon and they were one of the few bands to come and play in the area. I considered them a warped poetic glam band with gothic leanings, and was slightly surprised when the song I’d been invited to work on turned out to be a kind of California surf pastiche. But I was game to get involved, and after we’d finished it and ventured forward with regular writing and recording sessions over the following weeks it soon became clear that “Summer Fun” was just a gateway drug, and the songs that were emerging from our combined forces were going to quickly become much deeper and much darker // RICHARD STRANGE - Watching the remnants of a musical dream being swept away by the juggernaut of corporate punk rock in 1976, I felt a combination of jealousy and resentment towards many of the key players who had been responsible for our demise. The Sex Pistols had supported my band Doctors of Madness early in their career and nicked not only our future but £12.00 from a pair of trousers in our dressing room in Middlesbrough Town Hall! The Jam, who supported us over four shows at London’s fabled Marquee Club, were how I imagined The Who would be if they’d joined the Young Conservatives. Warsaw, our go-to support band in Manchester, had just changed their name to Joy Division, and Johnny and the Self-Abusers, our Scottish flag wavers, had become Simple Minds. All were being feted by the all-powerful music press, while we were being buried. But there was one punk band for whom I never had anything but the greatest affection…The Adverts.

Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977.

Oneness had enjoyed two fruitful years with Black Fire prior to these recordings, breaking through with the African Rhythms and Space Jungle Luv albums. “When we recorded African Rhythms we didn’t use a guitar,” explains bandleader Plunky Branch. “So, when vocalist Jackie Eka-Ete and guitarist Ras Mel Glover came in in around ‘75, that moved our sound into a more soulful direction. The drummer on this album, Tony Green, was the drummer with Gil Scott Heron and he added a little more sophistication to our soulfulness. African percussionist Okyerema Asante was also fully incorporated into the band after joining in 1976. By 1977, we were in full production mode recording songs; one or two of the tracks here also feature Brian Jackson, known for his work with Gil.”

Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album is packed with landmark Oneness tracks including ‘Be About The Future’ (“possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of”) the George Clinton-influenced ‘Plastic’, an acoustic alternative version of ‘African Rhythms’ and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya’s ‘West Wind’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Breezin’’. Plunky continues,

English thrash metal outfit Xentrix is commonly referred to as one of the “big four” of English thrash metal, given their popularity in the underground metal scene of the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. The band was formed in 1984 under the name Sweet Vengeance, but after signing with Roadrunner Records they changed their name to Xentrix in 1988. Not long after, Xentrix released its debut album Shattered Existence in 1989. In support of the album, the band toured with Sabbat. The album set the tone for future works and lifted Xentrix to many metalheads’ treasured band.

Shattered Existence is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju's Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977. Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album ispacked with landmark Oneness tracks including 'Be About TheFuture' ("possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of") the George Clinton-influenced 'Plastic', an acoustic alternative version of 'African Rhythms' and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya's 'West Wind' and Bobby Womack's 'Breezin''. Plunky continues, "The album is composed of several different sessions featuring different personnel and only first came out as an album in its own right when Black Fire MD Jimmy Gray started working with P-Vine Records in Japan during the '90s. For me, it's one of the hottest periods for the band."

Cruel Summer’s sound evokes the dazed, fuzzed-out, swirling noise of the late 1980s UK sound while still sticking to their pop roots--they’ve aptly been crowned San Francisco’s “jangle darlings.” Their first full-length album “Ivy” is forthcoming from Sacramento’s art/vinyl imprint Mt. St. Mtn. Following their 2013 ST/EP (Mt. St. Mtn.,) they released the sold-out lathe-cut 7” for “Leeches,” accompanied by a video. In 2016 Cruel Summer released “Around You, Around Me,” recorded for L.A.’s Part Time Punks, the 7” B-side features a moody cover of Pylon’s “Crazy.” Mastered by Kramer (Galaxie 500 and Low). “Ivy” is the long-awaited, first full-length album from this quartet, who have become a mainstay in the San Francisco and Oakland club scene. Recorded at Santo Studio in Oakland, California by Jason Kick (Sonny & the Sunsets, Once and Future Band, Mild High Club, Maus Haus), the record is a love poem to San Francisco, with all its changes and disappointments. "Bands have begun to push the boundaries of genre in a unique and satisfying way, and San Francisco’s Cruel Summer is a prime example. They are a group of voyagers into this uncharted territory, and their album Ivy is a joyful, dreamy blend of everything you might love about shoegaze and everything you thought shoegaze could never be... Cruel Summer is proof that shoegaze is alive and well, at least in San Francisco. The band is doing some creative, compelling work with a genre that is so often elusive - besides being an interesting act of musicianship, Ivy is also simply a joy to experience from beginning to end. If you need further convincing, take a listen to Ivy and let it take you somewhere warmer."

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III). Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.
But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.
What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

Deluxe Edition / LP+Poster

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III). Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.
But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.
What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

LNDFK (aka Linda Feki) presents her ground-breaking debut album, "Kuni" on Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings. Undeniably on the rise after her 2019 breakout performance at Primavera Sound, LNDFK has already caught the attention of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine, Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan (among many others) while being championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, and Jamz Supernova & landing spots on tastemaker playlists like Spotify's "Pollen" and "Fresh Finds."

"Kuni" is a spellbinding exploration of dichotomies: Love & Death (Eros & Thanatos), Flower & Fire, Delicacy & Violence, Poetry & Realism, Purification & Destruction. These opposites are reified in the 10-track LPs multifarious and multifaceted sounds, elegantly meandering through a variety of styles and genres, spearheaded by Linda and features the production wizardry of Darrio Bassolino who co-wrote the album.

"Kuni" opens with "Hana-bi," an ambient instrumental piece that sets the tone for the album. Inspired by the Takeshi Kitano 1997 film of the same name – particularly Joe Hisaishi's stunning soundtrack, as well as Kitano's paintings which appear in the film. "Hana-bi" expresses the dialoguing opposites of flowers and fire, the first of many dichotomous representations throughout the album. "Takeshi" acts as an extension and to "Hana-bi," albeit one of opposing sound, with its driving, highly syncopated drums (which reappear throughout "Kuni") – à la Karriem Riggins, Questlove, or Yussef Dayes – frenetic bass line, and jazz chords. Linda's sultry voice is interspersed, initially jumping around in scat fashion, being triggered as if a sample, before her lyrics come in; her vocals are used like an additional instrument, adding to the song's rich texture. "Kuni" truly hits its stride with the next song, "Smoke – a moon or a button" (its title lifted from the 1959 book by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip), which is structured like a jazz standard yet flows into neo-soul territory sonically with those prodigious drums a highlight once again.

LNDFK touches on experimental hip hop in two songs on the record (both of which were released as singles in 2021): "Don't Know I'm Dead or Not (feat. Chester Watson)" – track #4 – and "How Do We Know We're Alive (feat. Pink Siifu)" – track #9. Although they embrace a more hip hop-leaning sound, these songs by no means shy away from the exploratory theme, and feature two of the alt-rap scenes rising stars with Chester Watson and Pink Siifu who offer provocatively impressing verses, combining dense word play with unconventional flows. While these tracks may first appear to be outliers on the album, they are undeniably in tune with "Kuni's" message and sonic palette, acting as testaments to LNDFK's willingness to explore and experiment.

Meanwhile, "Ku" – the third and last single before the album release – furthers the pre-established future soul sound while meandering through nu jazz and left-field electronic. Inspired by the graphic novel and film, "Sin City," and its female assassin protagonist Miho, "Ku" is a musical interpretation of Miho's story, incorporating both her beauty – the first half of the song – and murderous tendencies – the second half – to create a stunning juxtaposition, culminating in an ambient finale that suggests the character's vulnerability and inner peace. The song gracefully bridges the gap between Hiatus Kaiyote-esque songwriting, Dilla's rhythmic syncopation, and Thundercat's instrumental prowess (LNDFK has shared a stage Brainfeeder labelmate Kamasi Washington).

Mixed in throughout "Kuni" are a series of instrumental pieces that function as something akin to an interlude. The aforementioned intro, "Hana-bi," and the album closer "se mi stacco da te, mi strappo tutto:" act as bookends, while "Om" indicates the half-way mark, and "Ktm" sees Jason Lindner add his sound the album. These tracks are the ambient foundation of "Kuni," representing the thematic duality of the work. Clocking in at only 24 minutes, "Kuni" packs an astonishingly diverse array of sounds, styles, and themes, all while showcasing virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess.

Appearing on "Hana-bi" and "Ktm," renowned international artists Asa-Chang and Jason Lindner add an additional perspective to "Kuni": Asa-Chang on "Hana-bi," and Jason Lindner on "Ktm." Asa-Chang - famously of the Japanese avant-garde group Asa-Chang & Junray - provides vocals and percussion to an alternate version of the instrumental opener, while the acclaimed keyboardist Jason Lindner offers his synth expertise on "Ktm." These features highlight the spirit of collaboration found in LNDFK's music, always willing to try out new ways of working.

LNDFK is a singer and songwriter, born of two cultures – an Italian mother and Arab father. She grew up in Naples, away from her father, the Sahara, her homeland and traditions, which has helped nourish the desire to rediscover – through art – an engagement to her roots. Her music melts with jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop influences, filtered through her experiences and sensibility.

Her first EP, "Lust Blue," was composed with the artistic production of Dario Bass and released by Feelin' Music; after that she released several singles that saw international radio support (BBC, NTS, Wordwide FM) and gained a massive audience on digital platforms. Together with her band, she toured around Europe, performing alongside such notable artists as Kamasi Washington and Mndsgn, among others. Most recently she toured Italy, and performed at Primavera Sound Festival 2019 in Barcelona.

"Kuni," is due out on NYC label Bastard Jazz Recordings in February, 2022, while the vinyl LP will follow shortly after.

Until recently, it was thought that we had heard all there was to hear from Saâda Bonaire. The German studio project's 1980s recordings had been compiled on the now cult-classic double LP Saâda Bonaire, released by Captured Tracks in 2013. Though the group had continued working until 1994, founder Ralph "von" Richtoven had firmly stated that all of their post-1986 work was lost. Released now for the first time ever, 1992 compiles the band's long-lost early nineties material. Produced between Bremen and New York City, the 12 songs presented here capture the group's attempts at steering their trademark fusion sound (reggae, afro-funk, Eastern music, and sultry German female vocals) into uncharted nu jazz, trip-hop, and house territories. It's no surprise, given both the time lapse and the fluid nature of the project, that these recordings differ sonically from the 1980s material. 1992 finds Saâda Bonaire folding new influences from the time (house, hip-hop, rap) into their eclectic sonic universe. Vocalist Andrea Ebert's soulful voice -the result of a church choir background and an early love of American soul and jazz music- offset Stephanie Lange's laid-back, more German-sounding vocals. This unique interplay bolstered the band's new direction - evident in their inspired takes on James Brown's "Woman" and Syreeta Wright and Stevie Wonder's "To Know You Is To Love You". The American influence was also made literal via contributions by renowned DJ Matthias Heillbronn and rapper Jimmy Lee Patterson, both of whom lent some stardust to the tracks at François Kevorkian's Axis Studios in NYC. Unfortunately, the demo recordings were considered too bizarre for 1990s record label standards, and as a result were never published. As with all things Saâda Bonaire, the discovery of these discarded recordings feels like a sort of magical impossibility. It's been nearly ten years since the release of the last compilation, and thirty since the recordings were originally captured. That they still manage to sound fresh and avant garde is a testament to Saâda Bonaire's flair for creating pop music for past, present, and future outsiders.

, Ivor Novello award-winning band The Feeling have announced a new chapter in their career with their sixth studio album, Loss. Hope. Love - out May 6th on Island Records - back where it all started in 2006 for their Top 3 debut album Twelve Stops and Home. Self-produced, predominantly at their East London studio during lockdown, Loss. Hope. Love is the sound of a band who have reconsidered their identity, taken control of their sound and embraced the Queen-esque theatrical elements of their DNA, recently realised by the success of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The Feeling return a whole new perspective. 15 years since their multi-million selling debut record Twelve Stops and Home - the new album is bursting with joy, but with the thread of melancholy that’s always been synonymous with their flawless songwriting.

Having scooped the prestigious Record Store Day Unsigned 2020 award, her debut album 'In The Blue Corner' was released as a limited edition run on turquoise sparkle vinyl in November 2021. Now available on a full digital and physical release including a new vinyl pressing on dusk blue coloured vinyl. "Loving this. Really cool voice_ love the voice!" Craig Charles (6Music) // "The most original sound. Like Little Richard, Mark Ronson, Nina Simone and Nick Cave all got locked in a New Orleans speakeasy" Record Store Day Unsigned Panel 2020 // "Wow, I mean what's not to like about that? That is sensational! How groovy is that?! Mark Radcliffe, BBC 6Music // "What a voice!" Robert Elms, BBC London // "Her voice is stunning, powerful and unique, and her stage presence hits the back of the room at any venue she plays" DJ Anne Frankenstein, Jazz FM // Included in Craig Charles' Funk and Soul 'Ones to Watch 2022' list. From London via Lagos, charismatic chanteuse Sister Cookie will take you on an eclectic excursion into the roots & fruits of black music. Old sounds, new tricks. Sensuous, seductive and moody. As well as possessing a distinctive voice that's tender and sweet when it needs to be, she's a composer and self-taught pianist who writes honest and raw songs about pain, heartbreak, suffering - all that bad (meaning-good) stuff. A mainstay on the vintage Soul & R'n'R circuit since 2015 with slots at Wilderness, Latitude, Red Rooster, Port Elliot and more under her belt - as well as touring across Europe with her band - Sister Cookie has so far been supported by Craig Charles, Mark Radcliffe & Cerys Matthews at 6Music, Robert Elms on BBC London plus plays on Resonance, Jazz FM and Amazing Radio. Craig Charles is a big supporter on BBC 6 Music and has played current single 'Ain't No Good (But It's Good Enough For Me)' several times. Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne have also given the track multiple plays. The track has also been playlisted at Jazz FM. Singles from the album have been played many times across European radio stations including France Culture, Rock Radio (Greece), Radio Nova (Portugal), Mach 5 (Italy), HR Radio Sijeme (Croatia). She's performed at some of the UK's most esteemed venues including the 100 Club and Union Chapel, The Round Chapel and has enjoyed a number of stints as a guest vocalist with The Soulful Orchestra, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, Future Shape Of Sound & MFC Chicken. Sister Cookie Is going to be part of the judging panel for Record Store Day Unsigned competition in April, the competition she won in 2020.

What would you do if a never before released jazz funk album from 70s Yugoslavia had dropped suddenly into your arms? An album which sounds like a crate diggers holy grail!? Album full of heavy drum breaks, repetitive bass grooves, superb sax solos and world class jazz arrangements finely intertwined with Yugoslavian folk music elements?! - “PRESS IT!” ~ That’s what we said always striving to present the future of unheard sound of Yugoslavia! With the help from Mr. Cosmic himself (Željko Kerleta), Jovan Maljoković and his wife Nevenka and, of course, Radio Belgrade who provided the recordings buried deep in their library, here we present Jovan’s first vinyl release since 1989 and his album nr. zero. If this LP was released in 1976, sounding this clear and impressive as it sounds today, it would be up on the pedestal with cult Yugo jazz-funk releases such as Sećanja by Miša Blam (also released on Everland) – and believe me – it would burn a whole through your wallet. Don’t allow me to get started on the Jovan’s ensemble personnel here, represening the crème de la crème of jazz and funk instrumentalists of Yugoslavian Jazz (Goce Dimitrovski, Miloš Krstić, Kire Mitrev, Miodrag Maljoković, Aleksandar Sanja Ilić, Miša Blam, Uroš Šećerov...). The raw execution, top recording and compositions resembling but not imitating the greatest contemporary western jazz-funk ides of the time, that sound like something that could have been easily released on Mainstream, Columbia, MPS or even be an authentic Kudu hit record if it had been released at the time by Creed Taylor. Just listen to the track A1 Ponor Naviše with a whirlwind of big band arrangement turnovers or track B1- Uspomena (hint: Sećanje...) where Jovan takes on the ‘Lame donkey’ in a strong downbeat rearrangement released just two years after Volker Kriegel published it on his album Lift! (MPS/BASF 1973.). You’ll be blown away by the instrumental prowess of the ensemble and Jovan’s ideas! ~ Dr. Smeđi Šećer

Swiss musician Delia Meshlir didn’t realize what her voice could do when she started out playing music. Through such groups as the drudge-rock Cheyenne and experimental Primitive Trails, Meshlir let the music lead her singing along. It wasn’t until she began writing the songs for Calling The Unknown that she started allowing her vocals to preside. Unbounded by structure, Delia Meshlir’s first full-length under her name brings layers of beauty, intensity and strength, all coming to a head with her striking vocal delivery.

Having acquired a stocking job at Irascible, a label based in Lausanne, Switzerland, dedicated to promoting local talent, Meshlir had the ideal launching point for her music. Now, in coordination with Irascible, Ba Da Bing will be releasing Calling The Unknown in North America.

Meshlir lost her grandmother while preparing the album, and many of the tracks reflect seeking a path through grief with love. On “A River”, she explores where feelings can exist when they are for someone who has passed. She sings: “I’m calling the unknown / but no one remains.” As the first song on the album, it serves as a perfect introduction, with refined drumming, reverb-wrapped guitars and tasteful saxophone lines. At command of a full band, Meshlir never abuses the opportunity, often having members hold back in restraint and add mere touches of color to her songs. However, when more urgency is required, she adapts beautifully, as on the raw and driven track “Dirty Colors”. Ultimately, the album is an invitation to peace after suffering.

Delia Meshlir is a trained visual artist who is creating her own videos and doing her own artwork for Calling The Unknown. It is a singular artistic work with stunning breadth.

Transparent Blue vinyl (Limited to 500). DENT is the ­fifth LP from Cleveland, OH rock band Signals Midwest, recorded by J. Robbins (Against Me!, Jets to Brazil, The Promise Ring). Inspired by a stolen and ultimately totaled van, the album confronts the uncertainty of a world at halt, and transmits the shaken-up-soda-can energy that fueled its writing process. With a feedback squeal and a quick four-count, DENT hits the ground running, and what follows is just over a half-hour's worth of big songs about little moments, ominous futures, the lure of nostalgia, and ­finding shards of peace in an almost all-consuming wreckage. In a world up in flames, DENT is a project born from the ashes. ABOUT SIGNALS MIDWEST: Signals Midwest is a loud, smiley punk rock band, made up of Maxwell Stern on guitar and vocals, Steve Gibson on drums and backup vocals, Jeff Russell on guitar, and Ryan Williamson on bass, all (he/him). Signals Midwest has been creating punk/indie music in Cleveland, OH since 2008, and is about to release their 5th album.

Formed in Oxford where they lived, hung out and rehearsed
together on campus, eclectic group Mandrake Handshake
were christened after a song by The Brian Jonestown
Massacre, incorporating their influences of Krautrock, funk,
Japanese animation and Latin pastoral poetry to create a
unique brand of ‘Flowerkraut’ that vividly defines their sound.
 Having initially teamed up with the cult indie label for their
‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series (in partnership with RIP
Records) late last year, the creative outfit have since found
labelmates in the likes of Courting, SPRINTS and Anorak
Patch, and fast established themselves as one of the most
enticing new acts in the UK psychedelic scene.
 With widespread acclaim arriving via multiple key indie press
titans (NME, NPR, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Dork, So Young,
Clash, Loud & Quiet, Gigwise), the newcomers certainly
seem to be attracting the right kind of attention following the
release of mesmeric debut effort ‘Mandragora’ and
exhilarating follow-up ‘Gonkulator’, with their first few plays
on BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) already opening them up
to a vast new audience.
 Detailing their EP, the band explained: “‘Shake the Hand
That Feeds You’ represents the culmination of many strands
of thought over the process of several months. It is designed
to announce the coming of the Mandrake in all her forms and
the ascent into her realm; as it soundtracks the listener
coming to know what will be expected of them for all future
sonic explorations.
 “No expense has been spared to bring the listener to the
zenith of psychedelic high-fidelity and have them fully
understand what they otherwise might only hint at knowing.
This is ‘Flowerkraut’. This is the beginning. This is the
Mandrake.”
 Recorded at Press Play Studios in Bermondsey with one of
their heroes - Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay.

Die Wände. Das sind Carsten von Postel, Jann Petersen und Mathias Wolff. 2013 während des gemeinsamen Studiums an der Universität der Künste Berlin gegründet, veröffentlicht das Trio bereits im Oktober 2015 ihre erste gleichnamige EP, tourt zusammen mit Molde und spielt auf Festivals wie u.a. dem Jenseits von Millionen, c/o pop, Alinae Lumr und dem Incubate in den Niederlanden. Der Musikexpress kürt sie zu einem der besten Newcomer auf dem c/o pop Festival 2016. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichen sie eine gemeinsame Split-EP mit der Berliner Band Pigeon. Im Frühjahr 2019 erscheint endlich ihr Debütalbum "Im Flausch" bei Späti Palace. Es folgen ausgedehnte Touren und Festivalshows im In- und Ausland, während die Band parallel bereits an neuem Material arbeitet. Im Spätsommer 2021 geht es für die Band ins Studio Tutti nach Leipzig, um gemeinsam mit Alexander Günther (u.a. Mellie, Adrie, Molde, Go Lamborghini Go) ein neues Album zu produzieren und aufzunehmen.

Die Wände. Das sind Carsten von Postel, Jann Petersen und Mathias Wolff. 2013 während des gemeinsamen Studiums an der Universität der Künste Berlin gegründet, veröffentlicht das Trio bereits im Oktober 2015 ihre erste gleichnamige EP, tourt zusammen mit Molde und spielt auf Festivals wie u.a. dem Jenseits von Millionen, c/o pop, Alinae Lumr und dem Incubate in den Niederlanden. Der Musikexpress kürt sie zu einem der besten Newcomer auf dem c/o pop Festival 2016. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichen sie eine gemeinsame Split-EP mit der Berliner Band Pigeon. Im Frühjahr 2019 erscheint endlich ihr Debütalbum "Im Flausch" bei Späti Palace. Es folgen ausgedehnte Touren und Festivalshows im In- und Ausland, während die Band parallel bereits an neuem Material arbeitet. Im Spätsommer 2021 geht es für die Band ins Studio Tutti nach Leipzig, um gemeinsam mit Alexander Günther (u.a. Mellie, Adrie, Molde, Go Lamborghini Go) ein neues Album zu produzieren und aufzunehmen.

Tape

Next up on VEYL is a new face on the label but no stranger to the music world. NEVER is the project of Stefano Santi, a multi-instrumentalist and electronic music producer who has been active since the early 2000’s. After several years of working as an audio engineer and touring the globe with bands, he has
always had a parallel life as a producer with a club affinity. NEVER began in his own SPVN studio during the pandemic amidst the isolation of lockdown. His inspiration reborn after abandoning all boundaries and giving little care to traditional songwriting structures.
The result is 'JXDY', the new album which showcases the project’s diverse voice and technical prowess. Not confined to a particular genre, the release masterfully touches on everything from post-punk and shoe gaze to hints of death rock and electronica. From the opening strings of 'RXBT', we’re taken to a
relentless world of shadows and bleeding emotion, which conjures nostalgia of days long gone while maintaining an ominous sense of future. From the euphoric, pulse pounding action of 'HVRXLD' to the utter heartbreak of 'CXLE', NEVER weaves in and out of agitation, rage and regret, fueling a fire that that
continues to burn from beginning to end.
Navigating to the crushing 'HXRNE' through the menacing tones of 'BLVCKBXRN'until finishing things up with the heartbreaking, cinematic feel of the title track, 'JXDY' is nine offerings of uncompromising passion and pain, leaving a lasting imprint on both the mind and body.

Even in trying times, “there is no love without electricity.” Electricity is the fourth and most progressive album from Ibibio Sound Machine, and like all good Afrofuturist stories, it begins with an existential crisis. “It’s darker than anything we’ve done previously,” says Eno Williams, the group’s singer. “That’s because it grew out of the turbulence of the past year. It inhabits an edgier world.”

Electricity was produced by the Grammy Award and Mercury Prize nominated British synthpop group Hot Chip, a collaboration born out of mutual admiration watching each other on festival stages, as well as a shared love of Francis Bebey and Giorgio Moroder. The fruits of their labor reveal a gleaming, supercharged, Afrofuturist blinder. Electricity is the first album Ibibio Sound Machine have made with external producers since the group’s formation in London in 2013 by Williams and saxophonist Max Grunhard. True, 2017’s Uyai featured mixdown guests including Dan Leavers, aka Danalogue, the keyboard jedi in future-jazz trio The Comet Is Coming, but Hot Chip and Ibibio Sound Machine worked together more deeply throughout the process, collaborating fully. Along the way, the team conjured a kaleidoscope of delights that include resonances of Jonzun Crew, Grace Jones, William Onyeabor, Tom Tom Club, Kae Tempest, Keith LeBlanc, The J.B.’s, Jon Hassell’s “Fourth World,” and Bootsy Collins.

The hook of opener “Protection From Evil” has Williams wielding a massive synth line from Hot Chip’s Al Doyle like a spiritual shield against unspecified, malign forces unspecified because Williams is speaking in tongues. Her lyrics are onomatopoeic: their meaning is defined in her energetic delivery. As Electricity takes off, so do Williams’ words towards a brighter future, alternating between English and Ibibio, sometimes within verses, and propelled by Joseph Amoako’s unabating afrobeat. She digs into this sentiment further on single “All That You Want,” coolly assuring her romantic interest while also requesting reciprocity. Meanwhile, Scott Baylis’ playful Juno synth guides the listener’s feet along the dancefloor.

Electricity is a deep and seamless realization of Williams’ and Grunhard’s ambitious founding manifesto to combine the singularly rhythmic character of the Ibibio language which Williams spoke growing up in Nigeria with a range of traditional West African music and more modern electronic sounds. While the band enjoys veering further into electronic territory with the help of mutuals like Hot Chip, Grunhard emphasizes, “For us, it’s not just a matter of embracing new technology. What’s key is to keep the music grounded in African roots.” Ibibio Sound Machine best exemplify this on Electricity’s “Freedom.” That track was inspired by the water-drumming rhythms of Cameroon’s Baka women, which in turn fueled its lyrics, which in turn prompted Hot Chip and Ibibio Sound Machine to layer joyfully kinetic electronic counterparts on top in the studio. As the track culminates with the mantra of “rage, hope, cope, soul,” it’s clear that Ibibio Sound Machine have channelled, harnessed, and distilled these words as guiding principles, both for the album and for the turbulent world that awaits it.

FROM MUSIC COMES HARMONY
HARMONY BRINGS BALANCE
BALANCE RESTORES PEACE
Enter the heart of drums ..

With obvious intent Nui and Simon set out to create an album that encompasses all of their influences and experiences as musicians and journeymen in the world of African inspired rhythm and sound and have arrived at a work that is at once global, innovative and deeply funky !

It’s been an incredible journey that has taken them from the wilds of the northern hinterlands of New South Wales in Australia to the dreamy secret gardens of Marrakesh, from the onsite recordings of Afro-Cuban choirs of Havana, to the Gnawa street sounds of Moroccan medinas.

Nui and Simon have traversed the globe to create these recordings and have collected diverse and international group of artists to collaborate with in the making of Heart of Drums.

Artists such as Cazeaux Oslo, who is an African-American Mc and vocalist hailing from California.

Olugbade Okunade , Nigerian trumpeter and vocalist , was formerly a member of the Femi Kuti Positive Force band.

Members of Clave y Guaguanco, One of Cuba’s foremost folkloric groups, who have been around since the 60’s.

Lalita Yagnik, Portuguese Speaking Indian, vocalist and martial artist.

Radouan Naim, Traditional Moroccan vocalist and instrumentalist .

And

Close Counters, Australian Up and coming Electronic duo.

Digital Afrika is made up of two main protagonists:

Zhonu ‘Nui” Moon (Future Roots)
An African-Australian producer, percussionist and Dj that has performed and recorded all over the world.

With a strong focus on African music,He has worked with the likes of Femi Kuti , Mulatu Astake and Tony Allen.

And Simon Durrington (Si Fixion ) who is an Australian based producer, keys player and DJ. With extensive experience of working with Melanesian , Indian and world musicians.

Drawing on these influences, Si weaves these styles together seamlessly with his unique high quality electronic production.

This album ‘Heart of Drums’ is a synergy of lush analog electronica and fiery African percussion, vocals and instrumentation.

With occasional reinvented throwbacks to the Disco and Funk era as well as forward thinking Afro-futuristic Record bag essentials, Heart of Drums really brings the party!

These are constructed dance floor motivators for any environment.

The artwork for this record deserves special mention as the mask was handcrafted by the interesting and talented artist Ju Mu Monster. Based in Berlin, the studied fashion designer creates colourful, wildly dancing image-worlds, in which beings from diverse cultures are combined with shamanism and spiritual worlds. Her enchanting works of art include murals and canvases as well as magical masks.

All tracks produced and arranged by Zhonu (Nui) Moon & Simon Durrington

7 years after debut album “Universes” on Ninja Tune, Seven Davis Jr. returns with the official follow up titled “I See The Future” on his own Secret Angels imprint.

The 11 song adventure provides a fun concentrated blend of deep house, soul, disco, funk, electronica and underground textures. The album brings together Sev’s different flavors into a finely aged familiar yet new atmosphere.

First two tracks “Records” featuring L3ni (member of Natasha Diggs Soul In The Horn collective in New York) and “U Already Know” featuring bassist Neil White (half of Canadian Rock duo The Carps), were originally produced in London early 2016 at a studio provided to Jr. by Domino Publishing located in the basement of a run down home rumored to formerly belong to The Rolling Stones.

Title track “I See The Future” was produced in Houston Texas early 2017 and features fellow Texan Oye Manny (Sure Shot, Secret Angels), who co-produced the track. “Figure It Out” featuring LA soulful house DJ Juliet Mendoza (Dusk Recordings), was recorded early 2021 post-lockdown. While “Escape The Matrix” was a demo produced around 2013 then reworked in 2020.

“Share Your Toys” featuring Toribio (front man of NYC live band Conclave), “Boys & Girls” and “N’Joy” were all produced in Los Angeles late 2019 pre-covid. “Mission Completed” was produced during 2020 in Seattle Washington, where Sev spent lockdown. “Let’s Travel...” the most recent of the recordings, was produced in Houston Texas over the summer of 2021 in a hotel room during a road trip.

Closing track “New Life, Who Dis” was produced in early 2019 and has a different origin. The moody instrumental was first made for a celebrity that Sev had been invited to ghost produce for. We cannot mention said celeb (because, NDA). After many sessions it became clear the celeb only wanted criminally watered down and copy cat ideas. So Sev respectfully declined the invitation and decided to save this track for something special.

All vocals were recorded between 2020 and 2021 after Sev recovered from Covid, gratefully with no long term damage. A situation that caused him to retrain his vocals and breathing skills. An experience that he considers to have had a rejuvenating effect on his life.

Cover art by Carlos Parra (a.k.a Kako, Sure Shot, Secret Angels)

“The album’s called *I See The Future* because it’s mostly a collection of songs I’d been keeping in my vault for whatever reason. Instrumentals I’d been really sitting on, letting cook longer than usual. Songs that needed more time, in this case years, to form. Usually it hasn’t taken too long to get ideas out but for this project I wanted different results. Plus so much happened in the world it’s made me become a different person/artist. So my process is different. All in all it’s fun uplifting vibes about enjoying life and moving on to better, hope people pick up on that. ” - Sev

Dear is Pauwel's big step forward. His debut album on Unday (due April 2020) is a mature collection of songs about loss in all its different facets. Pauwel openly confronts his demons, without ever losing sight of the essence: rock-solid and captivating folk songs between hope and despair, comforting and disquieting at the same time. Dear turns out a record to cherish and completely disappear into.

Shortly after Pauwel finished his previous EP, his mother passed away. A few weeks later, Europe went into lockdown for a second time. Pauwel wanted to cope with this turbulent episode on his debut on Unday Records, but the isolation during the pandemic only cast more doubts. During the darkest winter months, the 31-year-old songwriter realized that loss comes in many guises: lovers come to leave, suddenly leave or turn out to have become strangers. "Dear" is the account of this dark period in Pauwel's life. A reckoning with all the bad that happened to him and his peers. It is also a bridge to whatever comes next, a hopeful glance at the future.

On 'Dear', Pauwel expands his musical universe considerably, without losing his characteristic melancholy and distinctive voice. With the help of musicians Sander Smeets, Koen De Gendt and David Broeders - his new backing band - the rough folk diamonds were polished into mature songs. The stunning voice of Catherine Smet (aka Bluai) serves as a comforting echo on a handful of songs.
"Dear" was recorded at three different locations by producer Bert Vliegen (Whispering Sons, Sophia). The opening track "Murderer" and the haunting "Bones" were created in a hut in Walcourt. The bulk of the record was recorded during an intense week at the GAM Studio in Waimes. While the TV news showed apocalyptic images of the floods in the province of Liège around the clock, Pauwel and his band finished the songs. Rich, spacy arrangements ("Lazy"), rambling country-rockers ("Deer" & "Sister") or a tearful one-taker on Fender Rhodes ("Mother"): during this session "Dear" finally came together.

Seabear return with a new album. After a hiatus of 12 years - the bands most 'recent' LP dates back to 2010 - the much loved Icelandic collective presents »In Another Life«, a mesmerizing collection of songs, oscillating between indie pop and classic singer-songwriter material.

Sometimes, a long break is all it takes. Seabear, the band featuring the talents of Guðbjörg Hlín Guðmundsdóttir, Halldór Ragnarsson, Kjartan Bragi Bjarnason, Örn Ingi Ágústsson, Sindri Már Sigfússon (aka Sin Fang) and Sóley Stefánsdóttir (aka Sóley), did exactly that. Producing an album takes up a lot of energy. You do promotion, you tour quite a bit and afterwards you... well, you just do different things. "We had all focussed on other projects", Kjartan Bragi explains. "Solo careers, playing with other projects, other forms of art, working 'normal' jobs to make a living etc. It's nice to finally come together again with old friends and make music." During the break, music has been an integral part of the members’ daily lives. Sóley started a remarkable solo career (she just released her fourth solo-album), as did Sindri, under the name of Sin Fang, while Guðbjörg worked with Sigur Rós. However, all this was made possible by the disarming folk music of their 2007 debut LP »The Ghost That Carried Us Away«.

"We stayed in touch all along", adds Sindri. "During dinners etc. one question came up again and again: What would Seabear sound like today? After accomplishing so much together, we were indeed thinking a lot about the past, how it all began. This is what sparked the reunion and is also reflected in the lyrics, resurrecting our youth, hopes and dreams."

Now, in 2022, the band is ready to set a mark in the musical landscape once again – with 11 new songs coming straight from the heart, aimed at all who value emotions, the warmth and intimacy of songwriting, big yet subtle soundscapes, capturing the smallest tones and feelings.

"We have all matured on our different paths apart. It's exciting to make something new", says Kjartan. "We are 6 friends coming together again 10 years later to make songs and have fun doing it. We are now in a more relaxed environment to compose the music."

The songs on »In Another Life« sound and come across like a musical diary of sorts. A diary found by accident, split across 11 records, without any further info and all details scratched out. There is just the music to speak for itself. Even if you are familiar with Seabear's previous music: the opener »Parade« will make you wonder who came up with this wonderful tune, full of assuring harmonies, delicate melodies and compositional surprises. Seabear once more are delivering the perfect soundtrack for all kinds of emotional states. With driving yet subtle drums, intimate, yet fleeting vocals and lyrics, an orchestral sense of production, emphasizing small details rather than counting on the big "studio bang". An approach which came naturally: "The album reflects our relaxed attitude when it comes to recording and exchanging ideas."

»In Another Life« indeed feels like the start of a new chapter. Full of hope. And hopefully, all Seabear fans won't have to wait as long anymore in the future.

Diskotopia is ecstatic to launch our 11th year with a bombastic new LP from label co-founder BD1982. Initiation Insight follows 2021's seminal Distance Vision LP - which garnered inclusion in Bandcamp's Best Electronic Music, JunoDaily's Best New Albums, and coverage in The Wire, RA, and Louder Than War - surveying the previously-plotted sonic ley lines and expanding upon them in drastically robust and kaleidoscopic directions.

Musically, the tracks across Initiation Insight have been composed with an ear towards ritualistic structures, with the album's themes touching upon spirituality, hermetic philosophy, dreams, and human evolution in the face of impending natural destruction.

On this release, BD1982 favors stylistically nomadic production and a drive for emotion over genre constraints to explore further depths of songwriting and structures not yet heard in his previous material. Tribal-informed industrial and molten-electro styles coalesce with both future-facing and ancient-rooted textures – spread across an underlying current of soundsystem-savvy sonics.

Initiation Insight proves to be another major step in the evolution of BD1982's sound, a caustic yet covalent natural mutation that will appeal to fans of Killing Joke, My Bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey, Cabaret Voltaire, Samhain, and Tricky alike.

Mastered by Dominic Clare at Declared Sound.

Available as a limited-edition cassette.

7" Black Vinyl limited to 1000 copies.

Teenagehood, brotherhood and a genuine love for alternative music has united THE GOA EXPRESS from the off. Hailing from the industrial town of Burnley and adopted by the Manchester culture carriers, their teenage years can be viewed as something of a hedonistic pilgrimage into the underbelly of suburban rock and roll- their first gig having been 3 songs blasted out their mates garage, the next on top of a local vintage shop where the floor nearly caved in: “when there’s fuck all, you make do with what you got”. The intensity of this friendship has resulted in the occasional bust up along the way, yet it only adds to the burning chemistry that the band offer on record and on stage. Together, brothers James Douglas Clarke (Guitar + Vocals) and Joe Clarke (Keys), along with Joey Stein (Lead Guitar), Naham Muzaffar (Bass) and Sam Launder (Drums) all contribute to a fuzzy wall of diverse sound, becoming harder to pin down with their constantly evolving, psych-umbrella’d, rock and roll. What sets THE GOA EXPRESS apart from other musicians who sit comfortably within scenes is that their identity as a band has been growing organically long before the 5 of them decided to pick up instruments and teach themselves art of killing time. Their genuine joy in the everyday; their attitude and antics seem to hark back to the glory days of the NME- if they talk about a night out, you want to be there because these lads ooze charm and wreak havoc. This purist, old school approach to creating music through unified experiences and stimulated good times is married with the plain fact that they are very much young people of this generation, and while they see its flaws its hyperreality, its sheep-like tendencies, they still understand the importance in the immediacy of pop music: of a banging riff, or a glorious chorus and how effective this can truly be, and they want everyone along for the ride. With influences ranging from Spacemen 3 and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to French existentialism, from Beat Literature to long hours working at the Bookies to the journey into the sunrise on the night bus home, it is their ability to be all these things at once which makes THE GOA EXPRESS a guitar band for the 21st Century. Nothing is ever a compromise because they are so unapologetically themselves in everything they do- proud Northerners with a DIY foundation that aren’t afraid to look into the often dim future and see themselves shining brightly in it, unforgiving and unpretentious. So far, the band have released 3 singles with great success. The first: ‘Be My Friend’, produced by Ross Orton right next Sheffield’s famous ‘City Sauna’ brothel, presents itself to us as a cheeky, snarling pop song, holding undertones of raw cynicism laden with psychedelic sunshine. Ross Orton’s studio was also right next door to where the band recorded their last single ‘The Day’ with Nathan Saoudi of Fat White Family at ‘Champ Zone.’ Both these producers have been able to give these instant pop classics a grittier feel, capturing the essence of the unfettered lifestyle the band were living at the time that they were able to capture themselves in the music video for ‘Be My Friend’. After signing with Ra-Ra Rok, (WU-LU/Bingo Fury) the band released anthemic summer hit ‘Second Time’, that went straight to the 6 music B-List before quickly heading up to the A-List 2 for 2 weeks. This was followed by the release of its B-Side ‘Overpass’ that almost immediately caught the eyes and ears of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, who had the band on his ‘Next Wave’ Segment. Closing the year that saw them play to 1000 strong crowds at festivals like Latitude & End of the Road, the band headlined their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s Gorilla. Its fair to say that this really is only the beginning.

During 1978 to 1980, Fashion released one album and a handful of indie club hit singles mixing Punk & Reggae vibes. They toured the US extensively supporting The Police in 1979. Limited Edition of 800 copies 2LP set with printed inner bags. All tracks completely remastered. Contains every studio recording of the first lineup of Fashion including US singles. Includes unreleased tracks. Liner notes from lead singer & Guitarist Luke Sky. Fashion went through several line-up overhauls during its initial existence between 1978 and 1984. John Mulligan (synthesiser, bass) and Dik Davis' (drums) were constants, but the band's frontman changed with each of the band's three albums. Post-punk years: Fàshiön Music Fashion was formed originally as Fàshiön Music, in Birmingham, England, in 1978, and consisted of John Mulligan (bass, synthesizer), Dik Davis (drums), and Al James (vocals, guitar). James became known as Luke Sky, or simply Luke or Lûke (short for "Luke Skyscraper" - a reference to the Star Wars character Luke Skywalker and the fact that James was tall and thin), while John Mulligan was known simply as Mulligan and Dik Davis simply as Dïk (or "Dik Mamba" on their debut single). In 1978, they also founded their own Fàshiön Music label; from this point forward, the band was generally (though not completely consistently) identified as Fashion, as distinct from the name of their self-owned label. Fashion released their first two singles ("Steady Eddie Steady" and "Citinite") as independent issues on the UK in November 1978 and June 1979 respectively. The group was quickly picked up by I.R.S., who put out a third single in the US in September 1979, "The Innocent". Their sound was varied, playing punk, post-punk and indie repertoire, although Mulligan at that time also had a synthesizer which later characterized the future synthpop years of the band. Still signed to I.R.S., in 1979 they recorded and released their first album, Product Perfect. All three members were credited as having written the songs collectively. Between 1978 and 1980, Fashion played shows with performers such as Toyah Willcox, UB40, Hazel O'Connor, & Billy Idol, who later became well known. A then-recently formed Duran Duran opened their shows; they toured the UK with U2, both the UK and US with The Police, and opened for The B-52's on their first British tour. In March 1980, no longer associated with I.R.S., Fashion released their "Silver Blades" single, again on their own Fàshiön Music label. Later in 1980 they also released one more song, "Let Go", on a Birmingham bands compilation called Bouncing in the Red (EMI). In June 1980, after a last gig in London with U2, Luke James left the band, and later moved to the United States.

It begins with a rustle of noise, equally reminiscent of distorted factory noise and a cassette recording of cathedral bells unspooling, before a near-robotic beat and stuttering bassline enter the fray. Initially, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across the lost tapes of Joy Division’s early Warsaw incarnation, but the atonal blast of strafing guitars fading in and out soon make you realise this is a very different proposition. This is The Drin, and ‘Engines Sing for the Pale Moon’ is their debut album. It’s also one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Helmed by Dylan McCartney, drummer of the rock band Vacation, The Drin originally released this album as a hyper-limited cassette via Future Shock. It’s as much of a departure from McCartney’s usual output as it is for Drunken Sailor Records; songs don’t so much explode out of the gate as drift towards you like a creeping fog that turns your skin inside-out and leaves you sloshing organs all across the carpet. Second track ‘Guillotine Blade’ shows the pieces all coming together, a dubbed-out riot of claustrophobic noise that feels like Pere Ubu trapped in a cupboard one minute, and ‘Warm Jets’-era Eno trying on Bauhaus’ trenchcoats the next. Meanwhile, ‘Down Her Cheek A Party Tear’ unfolds across jittering, skittering rustles of drums and an undulating bassline, making you wonder why post-millennial post-punk so often settles for dickheads shouting non-sequiturs over landfill indie, when it could be entering these dark, unsettling territories instead. The Drin like to get weird. The Drin like to get wild. The Drin rarely cut loose, but that’s because the trip is already intense and haunting enough without things getting raucous in here as well. Hey kids, turn off those shite band name redacted records and get into this; you deserve so much better, and better’s right here. Fall into it, immerse yourself and step forward into a brave new world. I love this record

Die Debüt-EP des jungen Quintetts Priestgate auf Lucky Number wurde von Nick Hodgson (Alfie Templeman) produziert und Caesar Edmunds (Foals, The Killers, PJ Harvey) abgemischt. Die Band entstand als Kampfansage an die Rastlosigkeit und Eintönigkeit des Landlebens und war eine Reaktion auf die spärliche lokale Musikszene um sie herum, die es ihnen ermöglichte, ihren eigenen, einzigartigen Sound ohne zusätzlichen Druck der Konformität zu entwickeln. Priestgate kombinieren helle Gitarren-Pop-Hooks mit dunklen Texten und erschaffen so ihre eigene angstgeladene Mischung aus Hypnose und Euphorie, die zu Vergleichen mit The Cure und The Maccabees führt.

'Priestgate: gothic dream pop to crush small-town boredom.' - NME Radar 2022
'Already sounds like a future indie classic in waiting, quite honestly, and might be one of the best singles by a new band this year.' - DORK
'The five-piece open in shimmering guitar pop landscapes, before 'Bedtime Story' is transformed into something rather more surreal, barbed, and creative.' - CLASH

"_Acid blues punk meets freeform drone raag transcendentalism" JONNY HALIFAX is an untutored aleatoric free blues outsider. His new collection of sound is an instrumental departure into godless raag brut improvisations, layered, manipulated and sculpted into heavily immersive feral sonic collages. Invocations of an hallucinatory apocalyptic near future. Previously the creator of junkshop blues skronk one man band HONKEYFINGER, which then mutated into the gospel fuzz psych of Julian Cope endorsed JONNY HALIFAX & THE HOWLING TRUTH with their ""slitherin' electro -programmed slide guitar driven mung worship", alongside the ambient drone metal noisescapes of DEATHENTEREDINERROR, now THE JONNY HALIFAX INVOCATION channel heavy meditations on the present into an uncompromising free blues transcendentalism that burn raga-shaped holes into your chakra with searing psychedelic intensity. Inspired by Henry Flynt's avant bluegrass experiments fusing country blues with eastern acoustic musical stylings, Spacemen 3's contemporary sitar music, and the monolithic drone doom immersion of Sunn 0))), THE JONNY HALIFAX INVOCATION build hypnotic instrumental soundscapes using lap steel and homemade slide guitars, harmonica and alto sax. Underpinned by layers of acoustic and electronic drone instruments and fed through an arsenal of pedalboard electronics that would make Dave Gilmour weep. The blues are transmogrified, unhinged, reduced and re-imagined as intoxicating, trance-inducing, feedback-drenched noise paintings. AÇID BLÜÜS RÄÄGS Volume 1 plays like a psychedelic western movie soundtrack, frenzied electric lap steel guitar suites play to melting cowboy minds. Flaming tumbleweeds blow in slow motion across wide open concrete vistas. Jodorowsky's El Topo meets Ballard's High Rise in an apocalyptic knife edge disintegrating urban landscape. Shut your eyes and conjure the best nightmares you've never had. The JONNY HALIFAX musical CV also includes studio contributions to releases by Andrew Weatherall's TWO LONE SWORDSMEN, UK metal behemoths ORANGE GOBLIN, hardcore thrash upstarts HECK (formerly BABY GODZILLA), and pan european psych noise titans MELTING HAND.

They say the best thing for a new band to really find out who they are is to go out and play as much as possible. They see what works and what doesn’t with the crowd as well as watch their peers perform and can learn from the best. For the past 2 years, WORMWITCH, has done just that. Having toured North America with The Black Dahlia Murder, Numenorean and appeared at last year’s prestigious Psycho Las Vegas Festival with Danzig, Dimmu Borgir and many more, the Vancouver 3-piece took it all in and regrouped in the Fall of 2018 to start writing their new album. Heaven That Dwells Within is the follow up to 2016’s Decibel Magazine Year End charting, Strike Mortal Soil. The riffs are stronger, the overall feel the album darker and their love of black metal dimly shines through much more on their past release. The album was mixed and mastered by V. Santura (Triptykon, Schammasch), giving it that much of a gloomier touch. With a tour right out of the gate with Cloak and Uada followed by a European run, the future, though dark in music, can only be bright.

Elektro Guzzi from Vienna are back with their new, their ninth album »Triangle«. Since their first, self-titled album in 2010, Elektro Guzzi have been working on a variety of techno that is not programmed on a computer or sequencer, but rather analogously performed by using
electric bass (Jakob Schneidewind), drums (Bernhard Breuer) and electric guitar (Bernhard Hammer) and it is techno-music, that arises in the moment of interaction - a music that often develops in the direction of cosmic music. On »Triangle«, Elektro Guzzi overcame the
natural, »learned« sound of their instruments. The futuristic concept of techno shines through all the more as a role model - that there is precisely this clear idea of transcending the present by playing a hypnotic, interlocking music of the future. »Triangle« is the logical
next step for a band that is always looking for »more«, for departure, for consistency. The forced break of the lockdowns 2020/2021 and the restrictions in the context of the crisis made the band move closer together; on »Triangle«, Elektro Guzzi increased their efficiency to the unbelievable.

NEW LIVE ALBUM RECORDED DURING GONG'S 2019 TOUR - DUE FOR RELEASE ON KSCOPE - 2LP 140Gram Gatefold Sleeve

Formed in 1969 by Daevid Allen, one of the founding members of Soft
Machine, classic albums such as 'Camembert Electrique', 'Flying Teapot' & 'You' established Gong as one of the most unique, innovative & experimental rock groups of the Seventies. Before he sadly passed away in 2015, founding Gong member, Daevid Allen, laid
out his hopes for a future Gong, that it should be uplifting, exploratory & a positive force. Kavus Torabi, Fabio Golfetti, Ian East, Dave Sturt & Cheb Nettles, chosen by him, continue his vision.

'Pulsing Signals', recorded live at The Wardrobe in Leeds, The Cluny in Newcastle & Rescue Rooms in Nottingham in 2019 during 'The Universe Also Collapses' tour finds the group in spirited form, unbeknownst to them, it being their final tour before the global pandemic took charge.

Owing to Gong being an international band, lockdown & restrictions on travel made it impossible to convene & work on new music. The band received many requests by fans to release a live album & fortunately enough, the band had multitrack recordings of several shows from the 2019 tour. Bassist Dave Sturt went through all the master tapes & selected the best performances which
became 'Pulsing Signals'.

The album was recorded by Pete Wibrew & mixed by Frank Byng, while mastering was handled by Andy Jackson. The stylish artwork was designed by Steve Mitchell, who has worked closely with the band since 2016's 'Rejoice I'm Dead'.

With touring now set to recommence & bookings going long into 2022 & beyond, Daevid Allen's vision for the future looks set to be fulfilled. 'Pulsing Signals' will be released as a 9-track gatefold double LP on 140g black vinyl.

Another new colour pressing we have 200 only white vinyl coming in Mrch. Single LPs w/ printed inner sleeve + lyric insert and Download card. The Armed return with their first new album in over three years and Sargent House debut, ULTRAPOP. The album reaches the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise "heavy" counterculture music subgenres but finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. As is always The Armed's mission, it seeks only to create the most intense experience possible, a magnification of all culture, beauty, and things. The band goes on to explain, "crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective and they become expectations. The concept of "subgenre" becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art itself a fetishization of expectation. ULTRAPOP seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in "heavy" music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It's the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make." ULTRAPOP follows their recent contribution to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack “Night City Aliens” and 2018’s critically acclaimed album Only Love, which landed on ‘Album of the Year’ lists from The Atlantic, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Vice, Stereogum, and many more. The album was co-produced by the band's own Dan Greene in collaboration with Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe) and features contributions from Mark Lanegan, Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, A Perfect Circle), Ben Koller (Converge, Killer Be Killed, Mutoid Man) and many more. Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Russian Circles) remains at the helm as executive producer. An interactive ARG campaign with numerous stages of engagement is underway and will continue through release. A website, media mailings and various social media interactions are leading fans to find easter eggs including songs, album info, videos and much more. A livestream performance confirmed for same day. Videos for all three focus tracks (“All Futures”, “Average Death” + “An Iteration” are completed and will be released along with each song.

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.

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.

With the world in chaos, exhilarating new music has become more
important than ever before.

As a re-sult, the emergence of French tech-metal mavericks Stengah could hardly be better timed. One of the most exciting new bands on the planet, the French quintet have spent the last few years in a state of per-petual evolution, armed with some of the most visceral and forward- thinking riffs and refrains in recent memory. Now, the band are ready to introduce themselves to the world. Founded by drummer Eliott Williame in 2013, Stengah have the sound, the smarts and the
ambition to push heavy music ever further into the future. After years of steady evolution and meticulous attention to detail, the band – completed by bassist Benoit Creteur, lead guitarist Maxime Delassus, rhythm guitarist Alex Orta and powerhouse frontman Nicolas Queste - have honed their sound to a state of cutting- edge perfection, as showcased on their formidable, forthcoming debut album SOMA SEMA."The music is about (re)connecting with yourself," says Eliott.
"It's about people, their fears, their faiths and their philosophies. How sometimes those things can guide them, and how sometimes they can blind them. It asks, with no judgement, about how odd and how strange the social and emotional behaviors of human beings are. It's all about the power to believe, in creativity, and in consciousness. Our music is technical but fun to play," adds Eliott. "People often become surprisingly transfixed by our energy, espe-cially when they haven't
seen us before. We love being on stage, we are truly passionate and that is what you see and feel during our live performances, from the first to the last song."

The history of metal is littered with the burnt-out shells of bands that lacked the vision and the vivacity to make things happen. For Stengah, the sheer power and fury of their music drives them forward. Mean- while, the sheer quality and ingenuity of Soma/ Sema looks certain to propel the band swiftly up the heavy music ladder and into the spotlight. Newly signed to Mascot Label Group, they're just getting start-ed and the sky's the limit!

Jerry Leger follows up his critically acclaimed 'Time Out For Tomorrow' with 'Nothing Pressing'; produced by Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies).Jerry's last self released album 'Songs from the Apartment' was a stripped-down lo-fi affair recorded in Leger's home using a cheap tape recorder with an internal microphone
This lead to two songs from Nothing Pressing, "Underground Blues" and "Sinking In," to be also recorded in Leger's home.The remaining nine tracks included on 'Nothing Pressing' present Leger's work in two starkly contrasting soundscapes.

"Nothing Pressing," "Protector," and "Still Patience," are soloacoustic recordings cut live in the studio with little embellishment. The other six tracks are prime roots rock and roll featuring his long-time band The Situation. Among the latter songs, "Kill It With Kindness" and "Have You Ever Been Happy?" have the kind of drive, energy and spirit that are sure to make them highlights of his future live shows.

Leger often times finds himself at a loss as to explain the source of his songs. He feels his songwriting, while clearly drawing on experiences filtered through a panoply of influences,often verges on being a supernatural experience. Over the course of the eleven songs on Nothing Pressing, the songwriter's songwriter engages with questions of existence, mortality,hope, trust and heartbreak while
simultaneously conjuring feelings of isolation, reflection, longing and gratitude.

Paired with such evocative lyrics are wonderfully crafted melodies, soulful vocals and the spirit and energy of a mature songwriter, comfortable in his skin and growing as an artist withevery release. Nothing Pressing serves a wonderfully refreshing tonic in troubling times

Tropicantesimo is a music ritual extended over time and a celebration of sound and dance. It all started 10 years ago at the Fanfulla club in Rome. Nothing more than a party that over the years has transformed into a collective listening experience out of time and space. Meanwhile the collective animated by DJ Hugo Sanchez, Lola Kola, Rocco Bartucci, Gabor and Egeeno moved to a new club called Pescheria, and opened up to spontaneous live jams and collaborations with musicians and DJs from various backgrounds. Rhythms are incessant while the BPM is slow and hypnotic. Vocals flow between songs, messages and pure sound, while music is an organism which produces energy. The fruit of all this lives through extensive production work based on recordings collected over the years.

"Tropicantesimo Session 2" is the second of a series of three EPs presented as anticipations of the Tropicantesimo Gitania album release.

Like the first EP, this new chapter contains three songs recorded and mixed at Pescheria, the Tropicantesimo laboratory. "Perfidia" is a jazz and easy listening "classic" from the 1940s, re-sung on a recent techno dub track produced by Donato Dozzy and slowed down to become a new, sexy and enchanting tune. Egeeno's fluidity gives new soul to the piece and projects it right into the future. This is one of those pieces born during live sessions, even though the recorded version reflects the truth of the moment in which it was recorded. An Instant classic! ‘Oro Rosso’ comes from a summer session in which we decided to work on a song by a raw garage band called Gli Offesi. This is a song about submission, sexism, racism and eventually revenge, even though Lola Kola's singing opens up further interpreta ve scenarios. As for most of Pescheria sessions, guests can be very unpredictable, and here we have Maria Violenza the Punk queen. 'Bolla Napoli' is a journey through timeless sounds and feelings. From Neapolitan storytellers to the sublime world of Erik Satie with Lola Kola and Egeeno joining in a jam inspired by two classic songs "Maruzzella" and "Anema e core" both combined with the unpredictable sound texture of the backing track.

Norwegian musician and novelist Jenny Hval
announces her new album, ‘Classic Objects’.
 ‘Classic Objects’ is a map of places; past places,
like the old empty Melbourne pubs Hval’s band
used to play in, public places Hval missed
throughout lockdown, imagined, future places, and
impossible places where dreams, hallucinations,
death and art can take you. It is interested in
combining heavenly things and plain things.
 ‘Classic Objects’ is Hval’s version of a pop album.
Every song has a verse and a chorus. There are
interchangeable moments of complexity,
interesting melodies throughout, and a feeling of
elevation and clarity in the choruses. Heba Kadry
mixed it to sound as though it’s played through “a
stereo in a mysterious room.”
 Since 2019’s ‘The Practice of Love’, Hval
published the English translation of her third novel,
‘Girls Against God’, and released an album under
the name Lost Girls.
 Hval will play London’s EartH venue on 11th April,
2022.

Sprints unveil details of their ‘A Modern Job’ EP, out on Nice Swan
Records.
 Lyrically, ‘Modern Job’ finds singer Karla Chubb at her sardonic and
angry best, detailing her own personal wish list: “I wish I had the guts / I
wish I had the gall / I wish I had a girl,” all set to cascading guitars and a
formidable rhythm section; working in unison to create unrelenting
tension, all the while echoing the subject matter Chubb explores in her
lyrics.
 On the new single, Karla offers the following: “‘Modern Job’ is a critique
of modern existence but also an exploration of growing up queer. In your
formative years, you are bombarded with media, books, news that depict
what a ‘normal’ life should be. Grow up, fall in love, get married… long
live the nuclear family.
 “By contrast when you grow up queer all these ordinary things can seem
extraordinary, out of reach and in some parts of the world, illegal. It
leaves you feeling lost, excluded and confused. I wanted ‘Modern Job’ to
capture those feelings; chaotic energy, loneliness and longing of
normality while trying to find acceptance within yourself.”
 Sprints have received support from the likes The Guardian, Clash, NME,
DIY and Dork, as well as love at Radio 1 and Radio 6 Music. Recent
single ‘How Does The Story Go?’ (also on the EP) was premiered by
Steve Lamacq, who praised it as “their best song yet! These guys are
going to be something,” The single was also leading in playlists from
NME, Loud & Quiet and others.
 Sprints combine guitar-driven hooks, motoric rhythm and emotive
lyricism to create a unique sound that pulls from garage, grunge, punk
and beyond. Like the Irish guitar acts who have paved the way for them -
Fontaines D.C., Silverbacks and Girl Band - the sound of Sprints is
urgent and vital at every turn.
 Sprints have hit a nerve. Driven by experience, tough political climates
and social and economic uncertainty - their music is honest, often
politically charged and authentic.
 “On course towards future raucous, beer-soaked headline festival sets.” -
NME
 “Screw-you power, relentless motorik rhythms and impressively large
choruses.” - The Guardian
 "Sprints may be the latest to emerge from Dublin’s fertile stable of guitarwielding new heroes, but their two-fingers-up, no-nonsense rattle ‘n’ roll
arrives as the natural heir to Amyl and the Sniffers’ grot punk” - DIY

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.

As a confluence of ideas and methods, WILD ROCKET endeavour to interpret the subtle signals of the universe - the interplanetary vibrations - and present them as brash manifestations of sound. Scientists and Shaman alike have endeavoured to interpret the universal whispers, to elucidate meaning from the measurable and the sensible. It is known that to measure and interpret is to alter and colour those signals and this is what drives the development of WILD ROCKET's sound and interpretation.
FORMLESS ABYSS showcases the band's unflinching pummelling style, drifting from repetitive blows to unhinged swirls of din yet always remaining innately infectious and perhaps surprisingly danceable. The record is presented as a continuous piece in three parts.
The title track A FORMLESS ABYSS appears here for the first time in recorded form – a behemoth of a tune which builds around a drone, joined by dual drums and minimal bass locked into a repetitive groove. A groove that is slowly expanded via multiple guitars and synthesis. Vocals eventually join at just the right moment imploring the listener to “leave your criticisms down” and realise “we're all equal now” in the formless abyss or the place between worlds where our earthly preoccupation with human differences are meaningless. We're all in it together, whether we realise it or not.
The second track INTERPLANETARY VIBRATIONS may seem familiar to some in a simpler form. The expanded line up and extended development of the core theme brings a new interpretation and experience that is more than worthwhile. The track's vocals juxtapose the hybrid Germanic language of English with the ancient native Irish language of Gaeilge. Both used to promote meaning and interpretation of the interplanetary vibrations felt by all. The track features large dynamic shifts and changes of pace as the message that “it's time to leave” propagated by the Earth itself becomes more frantic and more desperate. The track culminates in a wash of smashed gongs and distorted guitars, leaving the listener to interpret the message for themselves. Should we leave, to protect ourselves or the Earth itself?
The final track FUTURE ECHOES is a doom/kraut juggernaut coming in at just under twenty minutes. Only one question is asked and none answered, are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of previous civilisations over and over, or can we find the cracks of light that echo through and show us a new way forward? We're left in a swirling formless abyss to consider who we are and where we're headed. Will we ever reach the cosmic truth? Or will we be continuously mocked by the cosmic trout?
WILD ROCKET have proven themselves on the live circuit, playing with such visionaries as Ufomammut, Slomatics, Earth, Boris, The Cosmic Dead and old school rock legends Girlschool. One of the heaviest bands to emerge from the melting pot of talent in the Irish music scene, WILD ROCKET's reputation precedes them wherever they travel and audiences and venues alike are left to piece themselves together in the discombobulation.

It works in clubs. it works at after hours. Also, small bars vibrate meaningful on it: the music of Kuniyuki Takahashi enthralls everywhere and is made for heedful listeners, that love the thrill of little musical nuances, shifting in a deeply composed ocean of sound.

In terms of composition, melodic sensitivity, and subtle progression the music of japanese producer, Sound designer and dj stands out. Ambient, Future-Jazz, Deep House, Leftfield Elec-tronics: since more then 25 years the man from Sapporo expresses his emotions with a wide stylistic range.

As Kuniyuki or under pseudonyms like Koss or Newwave project, he released a body of work consisting of numerous albums and EP’s, that display his deep musical consciousness pro-foundly. Now his home label Mule Musiq drops “Remix Works “, an eighth tune strong compila-tion featuring for the second time since 2013 Kuniyuki Takahashi’s very own virtuosity of re-mixing.

A double vinyl that carries the full pallet of his skills – from yacht rock leaning synth-pop and balearic dreams to sweet wave signals and soulful Pop House.

It all starts with Kuniyuki’s Remix of “Plateau”, a tune by japanese Nu-Jazz / Post‐Rock band mouse on the keys, released in 2013 on the short living japanese retalk label. An epic, almost ten-minute-long house voyage, full of discreet acid shades and enlightening Jazz chords, that play spirited tricks on each other’s manic musical preaching.

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.

Jimpster’s lockdown LP was made throughout 2020 and finally sees the light of day at the end of February 2022 having been delayed around 6 months due to the ongoing vinyl pressing hold ups. Birdhouse is the revered producers seventh full length LP and can be considered a full circle as he takes a step away from the dance floor to revisit his early inspirations of jazz, 70’s fusion, library music, ambient and sample-based downtempo electronica. With its soulful touches, vocal and live musician features and trademark warm Jimpster production, we also think it could be his most accomplished and accessible yet.

The opening title track sets the tone for what’s to come with rustling percussion, widescreen choral samples, dub FX and drifting pads all coming together to create a sense of optimism. The first of six vocal features comes next. Ascension with UK vocalist Oliver Night (featured on IG Culture’s recent Earthbound LP) is a simple soul jam with live bass from Nick Cohen and Jimpster’s beloved Fender Rhodes joining the lo-fi drum groove.

Next up we’re treated to Voodoo featuring brilliant young NYC MC/poet/producer who first grabbed Jimpster’s attention with his mind-melting track Signs, released in 2020 on Youngbloods. Yoh’s sung (not sung) vocal flow adds a new dimension to the Jimpster sound and is hopefully the first of many more collaborations to come with this perfect pairing. Still Believe takes us on a tripped-out journey into slo-mo, lopsided MPC beats punctuated with otherworldly vocal samples, live bass and Rhodes making for an immersive late night mood.

The first of two tracks on the LP featuring London vocalist and songwriter Cairo drops next entitled Beautiful Day. Another incredibly talented young artist introduced to Jimpster through a mutual friend, Cairo adds a deep and uplifting vibe making for a track you’ll come back to time and time again. A slow-burning nu-soul groove which will draw you in with its warm glow. Lazarusman is a Johannesburg-native poet and vocalist known for his collaborations with Stimming, Joris Voorn and Booka Shade. Here he delivers a poem called Heavy, perfectly punctuating the haunting reverb-drenched horn, Detroit-esque chord stabs and filtered drums.

Future Paradise drops the BPM's further still for a slow-stepping synth ride mixing up rising arpeggios, dubby flugel horn FX and the lushest of strings. It’s been 15 years since Jimpster and Capitol A last joined forces on Left n Right from Jimpster’s Amour LP. Known for his work with Jazzanova, King Britt, Mark De Clive-Lowe and 2008 club anthem Serve It Up on Mantis, the San Francisco native MC delivers his inimitable flow to a blunted jazzy hip hop groove making for one of the LP highlights.

Up next, Rain is an intimate and understated slice of contemporary soul music which pushes another spellbinding Cairo vocal front and centre, underpinned by loose, crunchy beats, dusty keys and moogy flourishes. Picking up the pace, Doors Of Your Heart sees Jimpster get busy chopping up a funk groove whilst Nick Cohen lays down another killer live bass line. Lush keys, modular synths and some crazy FX processing take this into the stratosphere and call to mind some of his earliest productions in the late 90’s on his seminal LP Messages From The Hub.

Winding things down, Jimpster continues to revisit some of the sounds and flavours of his earliest work on Tell You, which goes seriously deep with touches of cinematic big band horns and a looped up vocal sample. Closing out the LP we have the aptly titled Full Circle complete with sublime Metheny/Mays-style pads, muted synth arps and subtle FX to drift away to.

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.

‘Flicker’ is the second album from Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell. Written almost as a conversation with his teenage self, it follows the triumphant solo debut that was 2020’s ‘The View From Halfway Down’. This 18-track double album finds Andy moving towards classic songwriting, notably on the reflective lead single ‘Something Like Love’, the strident harmonies of ‘World of Echo’, the joyous refracted loops of ‘Jenny Holzer B. Goode’ and the fuzz-laden late-’60s balladeering of ‘Love Is The Frequency’. Stylistically, the four sides of ‘Flicker’ take in everything from modern psychedelia to fingerpicked folk, whimsical baroque pop, and Byrdsian 12-string beauty. It’s a breathtaking array and makes it even more abundantly clear that Andy has entered a purple patch in his songwriting, hitting a new velocity in contrast to his initial inhibitions about becoming a solo artist. He gradually overcame these after the passing of David Bowie in 2016, with the Thin White Duke’s bountiful 50 years of music providing inspiration from beyond the grave. ‘Flicker’ is also an apt description for the genesis of the album. At the start of 2021, Andy returned to the stems of the recording sessions he made at Beady Eye and Oasis bandmate Gem Archer’s North London studio and added fuel to the fire, writing melodies and lyrics and turning them into fully formed songs. The same sessions were also the starting point for ‘The View From Halfway Down’ and this album picks up where that one left off, quite literally, with the very first words being “I was halfway down…”. This is the first of several playful, possibly intentional, references to albums and song titles that litter the record like a musical breadcrumb trail. As much as this is a modern sounding and forward-looking record, it’s also very much about looking back, something that is clear from the first glimpse of the front cover – a previously unseen outtake from Joe Dilworth’s photo sessions for the inner sleeve of Ride’s debut album, ‘Nowhere’. “When I think about ‘Flicker’, I see it as closure,” explains Andy. “Most literally, on a half-finished project from over six years ago, but also on a much bigger timescale. Some of these songs date back to the ’90s and the cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self.” This conversation takes place across ‘Flicker’’s 18 tracks. Essentially it advises us to stop worrying about the future and enjoy each day as it comes, embracing the crushing, unpredictable lows of life as much as the almighty highs of being in love. Some of it remains unspoken, taking place sonically rather than verbally: the album has a reflective, meditative feeling throughout, exploring many aspects of mental health, and the beautiful stillness of first single ‘Something Like Love’ could almost be a musical salve to the heartache 19-year-old Andy poured into ‘Vapour Trail’ in 1990. “The ‘Flicker’ I’m talking about in the lyrics is that flame that makes a person who they are,” explains Andy. “I wanted to find that in myself, so I went back to the teenage me – a technique I learned in therapy and have been doing ever since – and got some advice on how to live and be happy in the 2020s.“‘The View From Halfway Down’ was about turning 50 in a very weird time of introspection. ‘Flicker’ is about gathering the tools to equip myself mentally for life in 2022 and beyond – post-pandemic, post-Brexit, post-truth.”

High Roller Records, Red/Yellow w Orange Splatter vinyl, ltd 300, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet printed on uncoated paper, A5 photo card, finally available on vinyl, Kanadas Thrash-Metal-Pioniere Razor waren einigermaßen überrascht, als nach der Veröffentlichung der selbstproduzierten Debüt-EP »Armed And Dangerous« aus dem Jahre 1984 auf einmal das Majorlabel Attic Records bei ihnen anklopfte. Die Band unterschrieb wenig später einen Vertrag bei Viper Records, einem neu gegründeten Sublabel von Attic. »Escape The Fire« sollte ursprünglich der Nachfolger von »Armed And Dangerous« werden, aber Attic hatten ihre eigenen Pläne für die Zukunft von Razor und setzten die unerfahrene Band unter Druck. Als Resultat erschien anstatt »Escape The Fire« letztendlich »Executioner?s Song«. Der originale Bassist Mike Campagnolo erklärt, warum dies der Fall war: ?Wenn man der Realität ins Auge blickt, dann zieht eine junge Band doch immer den Kürzeren, wenn sie den ersten Plattenvertrag unterzeichnet. Das war bei Razor nicht anders. Wir sind ins kalte Wasser gesprungen, aber das galt letztendlich für die Plattenfirma genauso, denn Viper Records war ein völlig neues Unterlabel. Am Ende gab es also auf beiden Seiten nur Verlierer. Das grundsätzliche Problem war, dass Attic einfach nur alles auszuschlachten suchten, was wir veröffentlichten. Sie haben schlicht und ergreifend nicht verstanden, dass die damalige Szene sich gerade neu erfand, schneller und härter wurde. Diese Welle hat das Label komplett verpasst. Attic hatten ein festgefahrenes Schema, wie sie Bands vermarkteten, sie konnten nicht verstehen, dass Thrash Metal kein kurzlebiger Trend war, sondern auf Nachhaltigkeit aufbaute. Diese Kurzsichtigkeit zeigte sich darin, dass sie darauf abzielten, ein paar Stücke von »Armed And Dangerous« noch einmal zu verwerten, um diese Songs mit Material von »Escape The Fire« zu kombinieren. Am Ende wurde daraus »Executioner?s Song«. Wir waren einfach noch zu jung und unerfahren, um dem Label in dieser Frage zu widersprechen.? Die jetzt vorliegende Originalversion von »Escape The Fire« wurde am 1. Dezember 1984 in Torontos Future Sound Studios aufgenommen und von Terry Morostega zusammen mit Dave Carlo produziert.

High Roller Records, Red/Yellow w Orange Splatter vinyl, ltd 300, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet printed on uncoated paper, A5 photo card, finally available on vinyl, Kanadas Thrash-Metal-Pioniere Razor waren einigermaßen überrascht, als nach der Veröffentlichung der selbstproduzierten Debüt-EP »Armed And Dangerous« aus dem Jahre 1984 auf einmal das Majorlabel Attic Records bei ihnen anklopfte. Die Band unterschrieb wenig später einen Vertrag bei Viper Records, einem neu gegründeten Sublabel von Attic. »Escape The Fire« sollte ursprünglich der Nachfolger von »Armed And Dangerous« werden, aber Attic hatten ihre eigenen Pläne für die Zukunft von Razor und setzten die unerfahrene Band unter Druck. Als Resultat erschien anstatt »Escape The Fire« letztendlich »Executioner?s Song«. Der originale Bassist Mike Campagnolo erklärt, warum dies der Fall war: ?Wenn man der Realität ins Auge blickt, dann zieht eine junge Band doch immer den Kürzeren, wenn sie den ersten Plattenvertrag unterzeichnet. Das war bei Razor nicht anders. Wir sind ins kalte Wasser gesprungen, aber das galt letztendlich für die Plattenfirma genauso, denn Viper Records war ein völlig neues Unterlabel. Am Ende gab es also auf beiden Seiten nur Verlierer. Das grundsätzliche Problem war, dass Attic einfach nur alles auszuschlachten suchten, was wir veröffentlichten. Sie haben schlicht und ergreifend nicht verstanden, dass die damalige Szene sich gerade neu erfand, schneller und härter wurde. Diese Welle hat das Label komplett verpasst. Attic hatten ein festgefahrenes Schema, wie sie Bands vermarkteten, sie konnten nicht verstehen, dass Thrash Metal kein kurzlebiger Trend war, sondern auf Nachhaltigkeit aufbaute. Diese Kurzsichtigkeit zeigte sich darin, dass sie darauf abzielten, ein paar Stücke von »Armed And Dangerous« noch einmal zu verwerten, um diese Songs mit Material von »Escape The Fire« zu kombinieren. Am Ende wurde daraus »Executioner?s Song«. Wir waren einfach noch zu jung und unerfahren, um dem Label in dieser Frage zu widersprechen.? Die jetzt vorliegende Originalversion von »Escape The Fire« wurde am 1. Dezember 1984 in Torontos Future Sound Studios aufgenommen und von Terry Morostega zusammen mit Dave Carlo produziert.

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.

But like a sunbeam peering through a haze of wildfire smoke, Early Eyes have
somehow persevered through dashed dreams, fractured relationships, historic
social justice uprisings in their own hometown, and a society tearing apart at the
seams to make an album that is both responsive to the chaos and wearily
optimistic."It almost feels like Look Alive! is a direct response to the pandemic,"
bandleader Jake Berglove reflects. "It was like, oh, my goodness, all of our
capitalist anxieties just came true! We took all of that anxiety and angry energy
and put it into making a really f***ed up album." Look Alive! vibrates with angst,
punctuated by computerized glitches and disintegrating threads of abandoned
melodies that echo in the distance before roaring back to life. With the assistance
of producers Caleb Hinz and Jake Luppen (of the band Hippo Campus), Early
Eyes felt more liberated stylistically, and Look Alive! looks ahead to a post-genre
future where emo, post- hardcore, Japanese city pop, and musical theater can
coexist peacefully on one album. "We ran with so many different influences," John
says. "I mean, like, half the songs on the album just sound like a completely
different band. We were just more unafraid to commit — like, alright, we're just
going to make a punk song right now."

"The core of confusion and upheaval that drove some of the band's most fiery earlier work, however, is replaced by a more stabilized undercurrent, a mentality that's reflected in songs not afraid to try new things and honestly explore uncomfortable feelings. When combined with exciting production and songwriting choices, that mindset helps make Feels So Good // Feels So Bad one of the Shivas' best albums.” - AllMusic "Portland, Oregon-hailing psych-surf band The Shivas accomplish another time-traveling, reverb-ridden sound that refuses to get boring. Jared Molyneux’s guitar work knows when to be bright or bashful at the right times, breaking into guitar solos that possess a late-’60s groove… The Shivas seem to blissfully flourish” - Paste "a consistent treat for the ears” - The Vinyl District "Though the psych-tinged guitar riff that drives 'Feels So Bad' was written while The Shivas were still on the road, its lyrics didn’t fall into place until the band was well into lockdown, unsure of when they’d be able to return to their most imperative true love: Live shows... Accordingly, 'Feels So Bad' permeates with a sense of urgent desperation, building off a chugging prog-rock instrumental.” - Consequence (on “Feels So Bad”) "They hooked the audience with their throwback rock sounds. The guitar strums and rhythmic drum beats were layered atop smooth and hallucinogenic vocals. The eyes can tell the take at times and there was a sparkle there that said that the band members just love doing live performances." - California Rocker "This single layers on the fuzz but keeps it dreamy, with an especially sticky guitar riff sure to lodge itself in your brain with minimal effort." - Portland Monthly (on “If I Could Choose”) “'My Baby Don’t' translates the genuine vibrant joy


of the live experience into the studio, bringing the band’s ‘60s garage rock roots, sharp pop vocal harmonies, and fervent performances along for the ride." - Under The Radar "Perfectly straddling the line between a solid-head bopping track and an introspective deep cut, The Shivas’ 'Undone' is a rock & roll gem. The track sounds straight out of the late 60s and fits seamlessly in the Portland band’s electrifying catalog." - The Luna Collective "The first time I clicked play on this track, I knew it was a yes for me." - Ear To The Ground Music (on “If I Could Choose”) "The harmonies would make the “Happy Together” Turtles blush, but the unsettling guitar doesn’t shy away from the woollier implications of the ’60s." - Willamette Week (on “If I Could Choose”) "'Undone' is just the perfect song for the good days and the bad ones." - GlamGlare "another hit" - Austin Town Hall (on “Undone”) "one of the best forthcoming albums of the year" - Austin Town Hall RADIO: #3 Most Added @ NACC - 50 official adds BIO Every working musician has had their life turned upside down by Covid-19. For The Shivas, who had recently released a new LP and normally keep a rigorous touring schedule, it was a particularly screeching halt. “We were about to go to SXSW, the following weekend was Treefort in Boise, and then we were going to open for our friends’ band on tour in the US before going to Europe,” Jared Molyneux remembers. Then everything just stopped. They were faced with a dilemma. “It forced us to adapt or just quit,” Molyneux says. “The reality is that shows are our job.” In truth, live shows aren’t just The Shivas job: they are the band’s greatest love. Shivas shows are bombastic, explosive and thoroughly communal live rock and roll experiences where barriers between the performers and their audience seem to dissolve into the sweat and sound. The stage—or the basement, or the living room—that’s The Shivas’ true element. It’s their raison d’etre. It’s their religion. The band’s live urgency may have been born in 2006, when the band’s young members—who began booking West Coast tours while still in high school—waited without fanfare on sidewalks or in parking lots, before being rushed onstage for their sets at 21-and-up clubs. Maybe it developed a little later, as The Shivas blasted their way through Portland’s storied and unsanctioned mid-aughts house show scene. Whatever the origin of their famously kinetic live experience, it’s the show that keeps them coming back after over 1,000 performances spread over 25 countries in 15 years. In those 15 years, The Shivas have grown tight-knit as a group. Guitarist/singer Jared Molyneux, bassist Eric Shanafelt and drummer/singer Kristin Leonard have all been with the band since its earliest days; guitarist Jeff City, another high school friend, joined in 2017. Together they’ve learned to thread a seemingly impossible needle: They’ve honed and tightened their performances without sacrificing the element of surprise that makes each show special. And despite touring and recording for most of their lives, they speak about their project with humility, in the DIY vernacular of their Pacific Northwest upbringing. They talk up their own favorite bands, play all-ages shows as much as possible, and bring a sort of blue-collar humanism to the live performances they relish so much. “We just want to make people feel good,” Molyneux says. “We want them to forget they have to work tomorrow.” Kristin Leonard elaborates, “The live show is all about that feeling of catharsis—in ourselves and in everyone who comes out. We’re creating this safe space where we can all let go. Where we can exhale. And it feels really good when we are able to facilitate that.” So when Covid hit, the band knew it was time for transformation. After a settling realization that live music would be grounded for the foreseeable future, The Shivas booked significant studio time with Cameron Spies, who also produced the 2019 Dark Thoughts LP. They also transformed their lives: three of the band’s four members found work with a local nonprofit serving unhoused Portland residents. They became engaged in protests and fundraisers for social justice. They spent a whole summer actually living in Portland, settling into the city they had always called home, but that sometimes felt like a temporary stop between tours. “We got into a more community-minded headspace,” Leonard says. “And that did give us some purpose. It felt cool to see everybody come together to stick up for what they believe in. It feels like an incredibly formative last twelve months.” The album that emerged from this new moment finds The Shivas reborn as a band that seems seasoned and perfectly at home with itself. There is a calm, even a hopefulness, to Feels So Good // Feels So Bad that sounds new. The Shivas didn’t write or record the album with a particular theme in mind, but one seems to have emerged: where Dark Thoughts was about confronting your demons with fearless self-examination, much of Feels So Good // Feels So Bad is about what happens once you find that peace: how being honest with yourself changes your relationships and your priorities. “I do think it’s about acceptance,” Leonard says. “There’s a weird relaxation that comes with being at peace with things you can’t control or have regrets about.” Maybe that’s why the squealing, riff-laden break-up song opener, “Feels So Bad,” is such a shock to the system. But it’s more of an exorcism than a melodrama: more a song about not being able to do the thing you love (in


this case, playing live shows) than splitting with a partner. “It’s like part of you goes to sleep,” Leonard says. As bandmates who are also in a long-term relationship, Molyneux and Leonard know that their songs might be seen as glimpses into their personal lives, but their songwriting is rarely autobiography. Leonard compares their process to something more akin to screenwriting. “There’s bound to be some autobiographical material in there,” she says. “But the common denominator is the exploration of universal feelings: ones that everyone experiences or can relate to.” The goal is to use the music to drill down into something genuine and sincere, beyond genre or stylistic affectation. That’s where The Shivas have arrived. Whatever growth led the band to Feels So Good // Feels So Bad, plenty of their fascinations remain. They’re still turning love songs into psychedelic, transcendent epics. “Tell Me That You Love Me” subverts doo-wop extravagance and dabbles in Flamenco rhythms. “Rock Me Baby” is a bubblegum anthem soaked in so much reverb that we might just be hearing it from the stadium nosebleeds. “Sometimes” is almost impossibly huge, like a witchy outtake from the Brill Building era. Those songs feel like logical expansions from a band that has always excelled at a timeless sort of rock and roll that tinkers with and explodes elements from every era. But on the towering and mournful “You Wanna Be My Man,” a slow-burning six-minute shoegaze prayer for a higher sort of love, there is a level of emotional nuance that feels like something altogether revolutionary. It’s there again in the stripped-down vulnerability of the album-closing elegy “Please Don’t Go.” Yes, Feels So Good // Feels So Bad is an album about acceptance. Sometimes that acceptance feels enlightened and sometimes it feels like the end result of a lot of kicking and screaming. The Shivas have adapted in both of those ways. With new tours scheduled and a new album on the way, they’re still hoping--like all of us--for a new era of vibrant, cathartic live music. The lessons they learned from having their normal upended, though, have only helped them grow

The Nonesuch debut of Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), LIFE ON EARTH, is a departure for the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Its eleven new “nature punk” tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux – songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening. Hurray for the Riff Raff tours North America this spring, beginning March 19 in Atlanta and continuing through April 20 in Nashville, with stops in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, among others. International tour dates will be announced shortly.

For her eighth full-length album, Segarra (they/she) drew inspiration from The Clash, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bad Bunny, and the author of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown. Recorded during the pandemic, Life on Earth was produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby).

Life on Earth’s first single, ‘RHODODENDRON’, is about “finding rebellion in plant life. Being called by the natural world and seeing the life that surrounds you in a way you never have. A mind expansion. A psychedelic trip. A spiritual breakthrough. Learning to adapt, and being open to the wisdom of your landscape. Being called to fix things in your own backyard, your own community,” says Segarra.

Of the ‘Rhododendron’ video, which was directed by New Orleans-based artist Lucia Honey, Segarra says: “It is really far out and fun. I got this bodysuit that just looks like the inside of the human body. It looks like you’re skinless. It’s in a scene where I’m playing to an audience of plants. Just really absurd, but I put that suit on and I was like man, this feels really good. It feels like, ‘This is who I am. Let’s just take the skin off.’

“It reminds me a little bit of Kids in the Hall,” they continue. “With this ‘Rhododendron’ shoot, something clicked in me where I was like, ‘All I have to do is be myself.’ I had been thinking that I had to be something bigger than myself. I felt like I was just never quite making the mark and then something clicked where I was like, ‘I just gotta be me. I could do that. I could show up and be me. And if people don’t like it, then I don’t know what to fucking tell them.’ It was like a brain shift of, ‘Oh, this can be fun. It doesn’t have to be suffering.’ With so many videos and photo shoots before, it really felt like suffering. I felt so uncomfortable being perceived. I didn’t know who I was.”

Honey adds: “We wanted to create something surreal, playful, and saturated that indulged heavily in the aesthetic of the early ‘90s. Alynda and I had many overlapping visual and philosophical references which sparked the initial collaboration. We wanted to make this video an homage to Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse trilogy but as a nature documentary crossover. I came across Araki’s work as a queer teenager, and he’s always been a big inspiration. Sex, blood, punk rock, camp, etc.

“We live in a moment where the future is bleaker and more unknown than ever, so there becomes a deep comfort in nostalgia and reliving the past. Through our talks, I realised Alynda’s new album touches on many of these same subjects, but perhaps in reverse; running from a past that is always haunting you. Shifting into a more refined self/identity through confronting one’s trauma and baggage. It was easy to reach collaborative synergy for this video project because we’re both interested in tackling similar issues.”

Alynda Segarra was born and raised in the Bronx, which they left at the age of seventeen, running away from everything and everyone they knew, hopping freight trains or hitchhiking across the country in the company of a band of street urchins. Segarra moved to New Orleans in 2007 and formed two bands: Dead Man’s Street Orchestra and Hurray for the Riff Raff. In 2015, Segarra decamped to Nashville, then to New York, to make her most recent album, 2016’s critically praised The Navigator, an ambitious and fully realized concept album that was her quest to reclaim her Puerto Rican identity. Segarra’s previous records as Hurray for the Riff Raff are Crossing the Rubicon (EP, 2007), It Don’t Mean I Don’t Love You (2008), Young Blood Blues (2010), Hurray for the Riff Raff (2011), Look Out Mama (2012), My Dearest Darkest Neighbor (2013), and Small Town Heroes (2014).

Fast fünfzehn unerträglich lange Jahre ließ Grammy-Preisträger D'Angelo seine Millionen Fans auf ein neues Album warten - am 15. Dezember 2014 überrascht er die Welt mit der Veröffentlichung des Longplayers "Black Messiah", der AB SOFORT erhältlich ist. Die erste Single aus "Black Messiah" trägt den Titel "Really Love".

Die Aufnahmen zum dritten Longplayer des 40-jährigen US-Amerikaners fanden in den vergangenen fünfzehn Jahren in Zusammenarbeit mit seiner Band The Vanguard statt. Darüber hinaus waren Pino Palladino, James Gadson and Questlove an einigen der zwölf Songs beteiligt. An den Texten schrieben neben D'Angelo auch Q-Tip und Kendra Foster mit. Aufgrund der Qualität der Musiker konnte im Studio komplett auf digitale Plug-Ins verzichtet werden. Die Aufnahmen, Bearbeitung, Effekte und Abmischen erfolgten analog auf Band, zum größten Teil wurde altes (Vintage) Equipment verwendet.

Tripe. It’s what graces the cover of Cassels’ third album, A Gut Feeling. It looks gross. And Cassels are a rock band who’ve often sounded gross. You know the adjectives. ‘Discordant’. ‘Angular’. ‘Cynical’. Shellac quickly mentioned. I’ve done it already, see?Listening to A Gut Feeling, though, Cassels sound different. Not too different – the molten riff of advance single ‘Mr Henderson Coughs’ puts paid to the idea that the London-based duo have taken a hard 180. But instead of writing as quickly as possible, riding the churn forced on DIY bands by an indifferent ecosystem, the Covid-19 pandemic gave the brothers Beck (Jim, guitar/vocals, and Loz, drums/BVs) some time to mull things over. Instead of sticking with the stripped-back recording approach of previous LPs, Jim and Loz spent time at Tom Hill’s Bookhouse Studios in South London, considering tone, layering tracks, and bringing new instruments into the fold. Lyrically, the approach has changed too. Rather than presented as personal experience, Jim notes that his words this time around “are an intentionally muddy mix of experience, opinion, red herrings and fiction,” adding, “I found that setting myself the brief of writing character pieces offered a nice way of sneaking quite personal things into the songs without being explicitly autobiographical.” The result is the most satisfying and unexpected collection of songs in the Cassels catalogue. Instruments at turns razor-sharp and bludgeon-blunt provide the backing track to a savage, hilarious, and tender collection of short stories. Jim notes that “writing can be a great way of unearthing hang-ups and becoming acquainted with your own anxieties”. Hardly new ground for a rock band, but presented in this third person format – unbiased and filled to the brim with human warmth – these songs are more empathetic than anything the band have written before. You might have been Michael on his daily commute. Perhaps you’re Sarah, or have a mum like her. And many of us will recognise ourselves in the heart-breaking ‘Family Visits Relative’. It’s clear that the band still aren’t afraid to tackle weighty subjects too, with A Gut Feeling picking up where their previous album, The Perfect Ending, left off. ‘Charlie Goes Skiing’ pulls a similar trick to Future of the Left’s ‘Goals in Slow Motion’ – setting a screed against consumerism to one of the most propulsive, catchy tracks on the record. It’s followed by ‘Dog Drops Bone’, a rustling loop overlaid with sad, simple chords reminiscent of a Sparklehorse tune, which uses the internal monologue of a beloved canine companion to question the true depth and sincerity of human relationships. This kicks into the breakneck ‘Beth’s Recurring Dream’ – a track exploring a sexual identity crisis which owes as much to early Los Campesinos! as it does Steve Albini. Of ‘Your Humble Narrator’, the album’s punishing, pulsing opener and A Gut Feeling’s thematic frame, Jim explains: “I liked the idea of introducing an unreliable narrator who frames the album as an exercise in manipulation for personal gain. When a person engages with a piece of art they are invariably being manipulated by the artist to some degree – that’s part of the fun. The artist aims to elicit some sort of emotional response, the audience buys into the conceit at the promise of experiencing some form of escape.” as listeners, we experience that manipulation first-hand on A Gut Feeling. But the fact Cassels have packaged it up as offal feels like another bleak wink. This is far from a stinking by-product, salvaged and sold to maximise profit. It’s nothing less than the most complete, relatable, and fully realised piece of art the duo has produced to date. Emotional response elicited. Conceit embraced.

Staking their claim as the new heavyweights of rock & roll's modern-day renaissance, the Tennessee quartet Naked Gypsy Queens have
announced 'Georgiana,' their debut EP, out February 11th via Mascot
Records/Mascot Label Group.

Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, the 5 tracks will be on one side of the vinyl, and the B-side will be etched.Rooted in amplifed blues, hard-charging grooves, and dual lead guitars, the band builds upon the larger- than- life sound of their
heroes from the 1960s and '70s, keeping the fame burning for old-school hard
rock while using their own 21st century fuel. Formed while all four members were
still in high school, Naked Gypsy Queens built their audience the blue-collar way:
by plugging in, turning up, and playing out. They cut their teeth on the classics —
the Rolling Stones, MC5, the Allman Brothers — and funneled those infuences
into their own songs, creating an original sound that was loud, aggressive, and
flled with supersized hooks.With 'Georgiana,' the band confdently steps into the
international spotlight. These songs mix southern- fried swagger, electrifed
stomp, and sharp songwriting into fve unique anthems. With a sound that
reaches across generations, Naked Gypsy Queens bridge the divide between the
genre's past and future, creating timeless rock & roll for the modern world. Naked
Gypsy Queens are Rock Royalty in the making.

Following the release of their latest single ‘Animal’ Brighton 4-piece Will & The People have announced details of their new album and subsequent tour this November/ December; following recent sold out shows in London and Brighton, as well as festival plays at the likes of Boardmasters and Green Man, where they headlined the Chai Wallahs stage on closing day.

Recorded at The Libertines’ The Albion Rooms over the course of a week, the band say of the album:
‘It represents a journey of the soul; from the darkness and depression of a lost and seemingly hopeless position - to a realisation and acknowledgment of needing to change, needing to empower oneself and then finally to a more joyous, un-shakeable happiness towards all aspects of life. Life is beautiful and can be lived with joy and grace. Through staying true to your passions and beliefs and finding, new chapters, happiness is there. The album, “Past the point of no return”, is the meeting of the past and present on our journey into the future. It's a four-way diary entry for life as we currently know it.’

You can tell from the way they play, talk and live that Will and The People aren’t following a formula or trying to follow the pack. They play music because it makes them feel good, feel free and feel whole.

It was obvious from the first riff on the first song from their very first album: MASS WORSHIP were born fully-fledged, utterly unique and magnificently destructive. Emerging from Scandinavian shadows like an unstoppable, shape-shifting bulldozer, they have swiftly become one of the most praised and talked-about bands in the metal underground. Despite spending a big part of 2020-2021 locked inside, writing and recording new material, MASS WORSHIP did complete a highly successful tour in support of Polish death metal legends Vader. Meanwhile, MASS WORSHIP are primed and ready to unleash their second full-length assault. Due for release in 2022, “Portal Tombs” is a terrifying but electrifying exploration of the gloomy depths of human nature: a monolithic manifestation of the musical force that is MASS WORSHIP. Drawing inspiration from bands such as At The Gates, Mastodon and Meshuggah, MASS WORSHIP could be likened to many bands, but somehow forge their musical identity into something exceptionally distinctive and transcendent, and with enough confidence and conviction to win over even the most orthodox fans of the genre. “Portal Tombs” will once again proclaim MASS WORSHIP’s one-of-a-kind potency with maximum force. A triumph for both style and substance, “Portal Tombs” is the kind of metal record that shatters epochs, audaciously redefining what it means to be heavy. MASS WORSHIP continue to lead the charge for individuality and verve, while still delivering a never-ending tsunami of life-affirming, spine-shattering riffs. Lyrically, too, “Portal Tombs” takes the path less trodden, exploring the dark recesses of humanity’s past, its present and, darkest of all, its future. As we spiral towards an abyss of our own making, MASS WORSHIP’s soundtrack will resonate loudest of all. “Portal Tombs” is available as: Ltd. CD Digipak, Gatefold LP, Digital Album

Former New York club CBGB’s soundman Tommy Victor founded Prong in 1987 as his outlet for sonic fury. Having their roots in the thrash metal and hardcore scenes, Prong carved a niche for themselves - groovy, angry, massive; just perfect mosh music. The trio wrecked stages and impressed audiences all over the world. Their first album on a major label, Beg To Differ, promised a bright future for industrial New York hardcore metal band Prong. Beg To Differ contains 10 hard-hitting tracks, of which the video for “Beg To Differ” got heavy rotation on MTV. The single “Lost And Found” was even used for commercial breaks of MTV’s Headbangers Ball in the early Nineties.