Buscar:future of the left

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.

AD 93 presents the new album from Polish composer Wojciech Rusin. Syphon is the second instalment of an ‘alchemical’ trilogy which started with The Funnel on Akashic records. The record consists of speculative medieval and renaissance music, imagined composed in the future, where it is reconstructed from the ashes of the past, via incomplete fragments.

"In a future where the old semantic systems don't apply anymore, what we are left with is some kind of delirium."

The album features 3D printed instruments, multilayered bagpipe chanters, double recorders and other hybrids. With additional voices of soprano Eden Girma and Emmy Broughton.

Artwork by Wojciech Rusin and Nicola Tirabasso. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux.

New York trio Sunflower Bean announce their second record Twentytwo in Blue. The album will be released on March 23rd when all members of the band - Julia Cumming, Jacob Faber and Nick Kivlen - will be 22 years old. The album comes almost two years and two months after the release of their critically acclaimed 2016 debut album Human Ceremony.

Co-produced by Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Jacob Portrait (who also mixed the record) and HC-producer Matt Molnar of Friends, Twentytwo in Blue shows Sunflower Bean stay true to their guitar band core and classic rock-inspired roots, while exploring new sonic textures with more direct and progressive themes. Unlike their debut, which was essentially a compilation of songs Sunflower Bean wrote while still in their teens, Twentytwo in Blue was made in the year between December 2016 and December 2017 and showcases how far the band has come since playing together in their high school days.

To celebrate the album announce, Sunflower Bean share a new single and follow up to I Was A Fool' entitled Crisis Fest.' 2017—we know/ Reality's one big sick show/ Every day's a crisis fest,' vocalist and bassist Cumming sings. This last year was extremely alarming, traumatic, and politically volatile,' explains the band about the track. While writing this album, we often reflected back on the people we met while on tour. We felt a strong kinship with the audiences that came to see us all over the country, and we wanted to write a song for them - something to capture the anxieties of an uncertain future. 'Crisis Fest' is less about politics and more about the power of us, the young people in this country.'

Sunflower Bean find a sublime maturity and progression to their sound and songwriting on Twentytwo in Blue. If there was a ragged beauty in the gauzy, groovy wall of sound of Human Ceremony, there's a new directness to these songs, a product of the band's growth and the insanity of the times we're in. Sunflower Bean have gained a newly confident voice that they bring to the second album, one that doesn't shy away from addressing the other events of those two years—political changes and cultural shifts that have left America and the world stupefied. This has been such an unbelievable time,' says Kivlen. I can't imagine any artist of our ilk making a record and not have it be seen through the lens of the political climate of 2016 and 2017. So I think there's a few songs on the record that are definitely heavily influenced by this sort of—whatever you want to say what the Trump administration has been.' A shit show,' offers a helpful Faber.

Ultimately, this record is much more than a political statement or piece of commentary on today's political climate. I think one word that always comes to mind when I think about this record is lovable,' says Cumming. We want the songs to be something that someone can get attached to, and have be a part of them. Because that's what I look for in songs myself, and that's the kind of experience we want to give to others.'

Hessle audio-inspired club weapons. burial-esque floorfillers. gully electro-dubstep grime from the future. enter the mind of tom place, the UK bass prodigy taking the golden era of UK club back 2 the forefront of modern dance music."

Support: featured on BBC introducing radio 1 dance & mixmag.
Early support from: LCY, cressida, plastician, nicola cruz, aloka, mad miran, martyn bootyspoon, DJ spit, jossy mitsu, parrish smith, harrison bdp, yazzus, ciel +more

At only eighteen years old, Paris DJ and producer u.r.trax has a C.V that would make most seasoned selectors blush. Blending the innocence of youth with a ferocious production palette, the emerging techno star has already played Concrete, Dehors Brut, and La Toilette, and has released on Hector Oaks Kaos label, having become infatuated with the sound at a young age - even visiting Tresor at just fourteen!

From death comes rebirth, and on ‘Dying Generation' u.r.trax flies the flag for future-gazing doof with its twisting, left-field turns and throbbing noise. An instant Berlin classic. The glitch and suspense of ‘What Was On Their Mind’ melts into the raver’s core; alarm bells ring, heartbeats race and eyes widen on its six-minute journey.

The headsy vibes on ‘You Are Your Own Distraction’ is a welcome switch-up, its punchy kicks and bouncy aesthetic inviting the listener to dance as weird as they want, before the techno tradition is dropped in favour of a hefty cut of electro flavour, molding the artists own vocals with her production for a “Miss Kitten 2.0” vibe.

Galaxial atmospherics, horror-synths and anxious energy bow us out on ‘Race Against Time’, completing the package with a furious digi-only rework from MRD.

For its 20th anniversary, Keplar presents an absolute milestone in the history of IDM and ambient music for the first time in its definite form: »Together Is the New Alone« by Donnacha Costello was originally released on Mille Plateaux in 2001 as the second LP under the Irish producer’s given name and firmly established him as one of the leading artists in the field of forward-thinking electronic music after he had primarily made a name for himself with house and techno releases under the Jayrod moniker. This vinyl reissue with an entirely new artwork comprises all ten tracks originally only included on the CD version in their edited and final form in which they were last presented on the digital re-release under the name »Together,« remastered by Stephan Mathieu and self-published by Costello, in 2015.

Truly prescient artists rarely opt for introspective sounds, however that was the case when Costello set out to produce »Together Is the New Alone« during nightly session in his hometown Dublin between April and July in 2001, and it also explains the album’s enduring appeal and unwavering radiance twenty years on. While many of his contemporaries dedicated themselves to explore the musical zeitgeist and notions of the future in conceptual terms, Costello made them emotionally tangible, allowing his audience to feel their underlying ambiguity rather than just reflect on it. »Together Is the New Alone« is an album that wordlessly speaks of the paradoxical sense of social alienation and isolation expressed by its title and thus seems even more topical today than it did at the time of its release.

Working with elements from techno culture, glitch aesthetics, intricate IDM rhythms and lush ambient textures, Costello never once throughout the album adheres to tried and tested formulas and conventions, but holistically moulds complex compositions out of distinct and discrete parts. The result is a record that is at once easily accessible and deeply affecting, but also infinitely rich and stunningly sophisticated in musical terms. A personal record expressing a universal sentiment—a truly timeless statement that will reverberate for decades to come.

(Kristoffer Cornils)

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

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

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

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

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

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

On 18th April, 1980, after decades of anti colonial struggle, the Zimbabweian flag was finally raised at midnight at the Rufaro Stadium in Harare. Not long after, the words "Ladies and Gentlemen, Bob Marley and The Wailers!" rang out, and Zimbabwe's independent future began.

In the years that followed, Africa was to produce it's own reggae superstars, as the likes of Alpha Blondy, Majek Fashek and Lucky Dube swept across the continent and beyond, and there's no doubting Bob Marley's explosive impact on this particular narrative.

Marley's unswerving commitment to liberation and unity ranged from the sweeping spiritual sentiments of iconic hits such One Love and Redemption Song to the galvanising, focused tone of 1979's 'Zimbabwe', and his status as global superstar ensured that his (self funded) part in the countries' epochal celebrations meant that the history of reggae in Africa would always be viewed through the prism of his influence ( Wiki/African Reggae : "In 1980, world-famous Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley performed in Harare, Zimbabwe, and that concert is often credited as marking the beginning of reggae in Africa")

But in fact, the recorded history of reggae produced in Africa stretches back over a decade before Marley's arrival on the continent, and showcases broad pan - diasporic interflows between the Carribean and Africa, with the UK and the US communities playing influential supporting roles, all helping shape the evolution and development of the genre in Africa from late 60's inception to Marley's arrival in 1980, and then well beyond.

Reggae Africa : Roots and Culture, 1972 - 1981 tries to capture a sense of that evolution, starting in 1972 as Mebussa's ultra rare 'Good Bye Friends' effortlessly captures triangular, transatlantic cultural interflows, with the short lived Nigerian group's bitter sweet chords echoing classic US soul, but laid over a gritty, skanking Jimmy Cliff - esque proto reggae rhythm.

Trying to work out the precise provenance of Black Reggae's 'Darling I'm So Proud of You' (1975) isn't easy, but involves Paris based / African focused label Fiesta, some proper OG co-branding exercise with Bols Brandy ( "Bols Brandy presents Black Reggae") - and deeply infectious, lilting Rocksteady.

By 1976, glorious Nigerian sister duo Lijadu Sisters are echoing the chunky roots of a Dennis Brown or U Roy on 'Bobby', and in 1977, bespoke Nigerian drummer Georges Happi is introing 'Hello Friends' with the soon to be universal signature reggae tom roll intro, before veering leftfield with snatches of spoken Afro - English vocal in between the hooky choruses.

Nigerian giant Chrissy Essien's 'I'll Be You Man' (1979) combines floaty Lovers vibes with catchy ska shuffle, and in the same year, Cameroonian afro-funk/disco heavyweight Pasteur Lappe' drifts seamlessly into skanking, Lovers infected reggae on 'Babbette D.O. ( Rastawoman )' (before a sprawling electric guitar solo reminds us how unselfconsiously eclectic so much African music of the era was.)

And finally bookending the compilation, in chronological terms, fellow Cameroonian Tala AM also swaps his funk and soul for the rootsy and infectious 'Hop Sy Trong' (1981), again highlighting the diverse and eclectic approach to this timeless Carribean musical genre taken by African musicians in the years before that Bob Marley year zero event in Zimbabwe.

Purple Vinyl

"In this album I was trying to explore the idea of pop music on PCP. PCP has fantastic lore around it and I think the most fascinating thing about it is that it seems as if many people have had these experiences where they took PCP, it presented them with an alternative reality, and they accepted it without question. It's as if that umbilical cord of knowing that you're high is cut, and the person taking it is fully immersed in the trip. Not only that but from some of the accounts, the alternate reality seems quite twisted and perverse. There are reports of people disemboweling and eating each other, or deciding that the best course of action is self-mutilation or castration, and then emerging from the trip still convinced it was the right choice. Or even the accounts of people gaining superhuman strength and fighting off 5 or 6 cops at once. It seems like there's something quite dark on the other side of that door. So for this album I tried to write what I imagine the pop music of that alternate reality might sound like. What would happen to the sugary sweet, wet dream, corporate sponsored top 40 hits, if we dipped 'em in angel dust and got "wet". What would happen if we slopped all of those fun summer hits into the meat grinder of the PCP reality tunnel, and just pushed them through. I like to imagine an intersection under an overpass in a cyberpunk dystopian future. It's midnight and you can see the neon's from the storefronts on the other side through the thick smog. A modded AE86 Corolla pulls a left turn and you can hear the music pounding from the sound system as the rubber peels underneath it. As it's drifting through the intersection, smoke pouring out of the tiny gap at the top of the tinted windows, the music pours out of the car like a thick syrup, engulfing us as we stand frozen for a moment as they pass. This is what they were playing."

Elsa Hewitt is a London-based music producer and writer hailing from Sussex, via Yorkshire. Beginning as a young singer-songwriter producing demos on a four-track, she progressed through fronting post-punk bands and solo electronic songwriting, all the while developing a passion for album-making which would ultimately lead her to electronic production, establishing her name producing avant-garde, experimental & ambient, leftfield dance, and lo-fi, psychedelia. Since her 2017 official debut ‘Cameras From Mars’, stepping onto the scene as a Future Bubbler and Lynsey de Paul Prize winner, Hewitt has amassed a series of distinct yet interlinked philosophical worlds; each one holding its own tones of joyful beauty and abstract darkness. With a boundless approach to merging elements of dance & ambient, Hewitt’s adventurous approach remains pinned by her earthy voice, idiosyncratic songwriting style and sharply poetic lyricism.

Zenith Volt/ zēneTH vōlt: 1.Galaxy driven woke melodies for your thoughts and drive 2. Ethereal calibration against gravity burdened life

On TIMEKEEPER, Zenith Volt says: I am so inspired by the thought that at this very moment in time, our heels are stepping out of a past to be left forever in exchange for an unwritten future. The album TIMEKEEPER holds an amalgam of this heaviness and hope throughout. Each instrument, melody, and message has a self-reflective undertone. Speak from the heart, embrace the strange, and keep a clear head. While the past and future are overall inspirational waypoints, they are specifically stylistic ones as well. Timekeeper has a heavy retro/futuristic synthesizer tone and feel. Arpeggiating pulse and forward motion stitch each track together forging ahead through time itself.

Pulling sounds from retro and futuristic palates, Zenith Volt constructs an ethereal reality, attuned to the openness, enormity and unpredictability of the expanding universe; and the unknown that ever lies ahead.

A little more than 2 years ago, labelhead honchos Paul & Dave released their "Nobody is Anywhere EP" on their own imprint Dynamic Reflection. It was a statement about the status quo in the techno scene back then, where many artists didn't know which way to go. Ironically enough, the contrary is very true as we speak.

The "Anybody is Nowhere EP" responds to their previous work and reflects the uncomfortable time we are currently living in, driven by uncertainty. Even though these are not the happiest thoughts, the track titles show that there is hope left. "Emergence" is a very seductive but psychedelic trip towards "Discharge", which feels like Abstract Division discharges themselves completely. The last track, "Polarise" points out the current divided society, which sets some doubtful thoughts about the future.

Scandinavian rebel and Northern Electronics patron Anthony Linell provides his interpretation of the track "Emergence" and delivers a distinctive remix as only he can.

Close your eyes and dive deep into the rabbit hole with us.

(Deluxe Edition) (translucent tri-coloured vinyl LP + MP3 download code in spot-varnished sleeve)

LP comes in gold foil lamination jacket housing printed record sleeve with 1x translucent gold, black & white insomnia effect vinyl, marketing sticker and free digital download card. The Sharecropper's Daughter Bonus Vinyl contains six new tracks serving as a companion piece to Sa-Roc's already acclaimed Rhymesayers debut, The Sharecropper's Daughter, released in October of 2020. These new songs further showcase Sa-Roc's sharp skills as a lyricist, and her gift for captivating melodies and engaging content, featuring production from Sol Messiah and Evidence, as well as a guest verse from MF DOOM. The lead single for the bonus vinyl, "Wild Seeds" is a lyrical testament to the beauty, mysticism, and wisdom of the elders and ancestors who've guided and bolstered generations of Black women through history's assault and neglect of them. With a title inspired by the sci-fi novel Wild Seed by visionary author Octavia Butler, the song serves as a celebration of women such as Queen Nanny, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and many others, whose legacies inform future generations of their propensity to bloom under the harshest of conditions. "Just like wild seeds, we remain unfettered and unbroken, adding beauty and immeasurable value to a world that chooses not to acknowledge us," Sa-Roc states, "but our very existence is the only acknowledgement we require." Throughout the songs of The Sharecropper's Daughter Bonus Vinyl, Sa-Roc maintains a concise blend of thought provoking commentary and razor sharp lyricism. On the opening track, "Options", she delivers a raw and searing testimony of the dedicated yet, all too often, underappreciated artist, reminding us to give our flowers to the living while we're still able. "The Great Escape" examines humankind's tendency to try to mask the unsavory elements of our past we're either unwilling or unable to confront head on. Echoing both sentimentality and sorrow, "Reconstruction of the Heart" recalls some of Roc's childhood memories and muses on the many ways in which our earliest experiences can scar, strengthen, and shape the very core of who we'll become. The Sharecropper's Daughter Bonus Vinyl chapter fittingly comes to a close with "The Rebirth", which remarks on the plight of the vulnerable artist and the quest for balance between creative transparency and overexposure. Here, Sa-Roc labors through her discomfort and commits to being brutally honest about the experiences that have informed her expression and made her a better artist. Featured guest, the late MF DOOM continues this line of thinking, offering his own unique observations, "Quick as a quitter will fold, some of what glitters is gold. Same story is old, getting left in the blistering cold. Broken souls get remold with little arbitration. Fortune favors the bold as does incarceration." This bonus vinyl pulls no punches in showcasing Sa-Roc's continual growth as an artist who, as NPR recently put it, "is a modern day griot whose aura radiates calm in a world of chaos."

Avant-garde cosmic sounds from Senegal, Wau Wau Collectif's "Yaral Sa Doom" is a groundbreaking album spanning borders and musical scenes. Inspired from West African tradition, Sufi praise songs, spiritual jazz, and dub rhythms, the effect is a genre defying entry in outernational sound. Hypnotic percussion loops across sweeping pads, call and response chants echoes layer over electronic beats, and children's voices sing out to recordings of crashing waves. In 2018, Swedish music archeologist and leftfield musician Karl Jonas Winqvist traveled to Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, a small fishing village turned hub of Senegal's bohemian art scene. Over the next weeks, local musicians, percussionists, poets, and beat makers came together, sketching out ideas and recording free improvisation. Winqvist returned to Sweden, trading recordings back and forth over WhatsApp with Senegal based collaborator and studio engineer Arouna Kane. "Yaral Sa Doom" is a Wolof phrase that means "educate the young." Central to the album is this theme of education, with songs that directly address social issues facing contemporary Senegal, education, and immigration. "Today you must educate children with an instrument and art, when you teach them an instrument you teach them to use their spirit," says Djiby Ly. With over 20 contributing performers from Senegal and Sweden, Wau Wau Collectif's debut is layered and complex, yet maintains a central vision. "It's like diving into the sea," explains Kane. "There are all different species of fish swimming around, but together they make the ocean." Nonetheless, it's also a geographic anomaly, made possible only by exchange of the internet age. An exceptional recording on its own, "Yaral Sa Doom" is a visionary entry in the future of transglobal collaboration

Comet Records presents the Tony Allen & Afrika 70 reissue series with the classic late seventies first four solo albums of Tony Allen remastered and restored: Jealousy, Progress, No Accomodation for Lagos & No Discrimination, all coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket.
Tony's solo album, No Discrimination, marks an important turning point in Tony Allen's musical life. Tony had recently left Fela's band, which was clearly an emotional yet necessary change as Allen sings of love and brotherhood throughout his fourth solo album. No Discrimination, both in composition and sound, is a blueprint for the future of Afrobeat, decades ahead of its time. The songs are a mixture of old and new - fusing the classic Afrobeat compositional style with modern production and ideas. Classic tunes like "No Discrimination" and "Ariya" pushed boundaries for what Afrobeat could be, which a wave of Afrobeat bands would pick up on decades later.
With No Discrimination, Tony begins to move Afrobeat into the future, which he would continue doing for the rest of his career.
Tony Allen was a musical and compositional visionary, and this album finds him beginning to explore that vision outside of Fela's immense gravitational pull. They are the start of a new era in Tony's fruitful career as a solo artist, opening the floodgates for his distinctive Afro-Funk sound and laying the foundation for the next generation of Afrobeat musicians to come.

Michael Mayer’s latest EP, Brainwave Technology, comes at you purposeful, stealthy and sly. It’s a glorious left turn for the redoubtable producer, one that sees his typically lean and lithe productions buffed to a metallic, futurist sheen. There’s a gleam in the eyes of tracks like “Brainwave Technology” and “Alpha” that speaks of serious fun, of the intersection of the pleasure zone and the frontal lobe.

“Brainwave Technology” itself is informed by Mayer’s deep dive into the thorny terrain of artificial intelligence, transhumanism and posthumanism. Inspired by reading German philosopher Richard David Precht, Mayer found himself heading down the “proverbial rabbit hole,” as he describes it, “watching hours of YouTube material by self-proclaimed prophets of these ‘inevitable’ changes to come.” Never one to be taken in by the egotist’s dance, Mayer’s cynicism about the whole endeavour is tempered, a little, by the deeper questions that these figures gesture towards: “Is it really an evolutionary step that man and machine become one? Or is it rather a marketing plot by Silicon Valley billionaires?”

On “Brainwave Technology”, Mayer plays the charlatans at their own game, turning their logic against them by exposing the fruitiness of their ‘visions’. “I chose irony as my sword with which I chopped off some quotes from some of those batshit crazy prophets and self-promoters,” he explains of the drooling psychobabble he drops in the track’s lacuna. There’s a sense of humour here – how could you not laugh at these hungover egotists? – but there’s levity too, a sense that Mayer’s using sound to expose the contradictions and double-speak at the heart of these half-formed ideas. It’s a Burroughsian tactic, to slice into the heart of the voice to see what hidden truths surface.

It was Burroughs, too, who once said that “when you cut into the past, the future leaks out”; Brainwave Technology cuts into the logic of the futurologist to leak out the messiness of modern reality. On “Alpha” and “Gamma”, Mayer seems to conjure up the stark, ominous music that’d soundtrack a science fiction reinterpretation – or preinterpretation – of our modern malaise, all funereal wreaths of electronic noise and clatterboxing beats. As the EP resolves with “Device For The Young At Heart”, Mayer’s questions are piling up: “Do we want to become immortal and live on as a download? Do we really give up on Earth and put all our effort into colonising Mars?” There are no answers, of course, but plenty of imaginings-to-be. Brainwave Technology soundtracks both dystopian and utopian possibilities of what could come next.

This is the first official re-release on vinyl under licensed courtesy of BMG Rights Management,UK, remastered from an original master copy out of the vaults of BMG, originally released in 1972 on Bronze Records.

Co-founder of Colosseum in 1968 with Jon Hiseman, he knew from his Jazz Club years as drummer for Georgie Fame, Dick ran through this group's hectic recording and touring schedule for over 3 years until November 1971, when it disbanded.

In his late 30s at that time, on top of his musical shape, he moved on to start recording on his first solo project, with material left over from Colosseum days (written by D. H.-S., Clem Clempson and Jon Hisemann) and new material jointly composed with well-known lyricist Pete Brown. He recruited the help of Colosseum mates, Hiseman, keyboardist Dave Greenslade and vocalist/bass player Mark Clarke, plus the brilliant ex-Elton John group Caleb Quaye (Hookfoot) on guitars and Rob Tait (ARC, Battered Ornaments) on drums; old pal G. Bond is featured providing remarkable moog work on 'Pirate's Dream', funky organ on 'Moses In The Bullrushourses' and sharing piano duties with Gordon Beck (G.B. Trio, Nucleus) on 'What The Morning Was After'; Paul Williams (Juicy Lucy) gets the lion share of vocal duties, and Chris Farlowe and Chris Spedding (Nucleus, Battered Ornaments) have respectively a sole vocal and a guitar spot on 'Pirate's Dream'.

The album track by track:
Side one starts with 'Future Song', the track that really rises above the other tracks here. The guitar, vocals (by Mark Carke) and sax are great on this one. Killer sax 2 minutes during an excellent instrumental interlude. H.-S. sounds slightly eastern-influenced on his outstanding sax lines. Such an uplifting track with it's repetitive riff and hard, driving sound! Next is 'Crabs', starting off in a mellow way with Greenslade's piano and reserved vocals as the sax joins in followed by guitar and drums as it builds. Irresistable! Great vocals by Paul Williams. One could easily imagine both tracks on a Colosseum album. 'Moses In The Bullrushourses' is uptempo, owing just as much to jazz, blues and hard rock. Great groove! Lots of organ here to send shivers down your spine and perfect guitar playing. 'What The Morning Was After' opens with some sax excursions as the drums help out. Acoustic guitar by Quaye and powerful vocals by Paul Williams take over as the piano joins in. Our second favourite tune on here after the opener. A folky song really until it picks up half-way through.

Side 2 opens with the 11 minutes 'Pirate's Dream', with Farlowe on vocals and Spedding's initial rock blues riff, but soon evolving to a complex multi parted composition in the best spirit of Valentyne Suite, driven by Hiseman multi faceted drumming. D. H.-S. twin saxes soar on a calmer mid section with Spedding doubling the licks and the bass grumbling relentlessly behind; it slowly gains speed with moog, sax and vocalizations duelling and answering each others with dazzling, demanding and inspired phrasings on top a thundering rhythm section; after the lyrics resume it evolves into a majestic, grandiose finale. A bluesy clean guitar lick opens 'Same Old Thing', a swinging, calm heavily modulated twisted blues, with a punchy rhythm section, a soulful Williams on vocal, Quaye delivering an inspired sparkling solo and D. H.-S.'s sensitive fat sax enhanced with some double tracking on the solo part. A great ending to a great album.

Album comes with the reproduction of original gatefold cover sleeve, additional cover-sized insert with band story, lyrics and photos. A highlight! Highly recommended!

Limited Coke Bottle Green vinyl, 250 copies only for the UK. Any future pressing will be on black vinyl. Massage feature Alex Naidus from Pains At Being Pure At Heart. Recorded by Lewis Pesacov (Fool’s Gold, Foreign Born, Peel’d). Massage was supposed to be low-stakes, no big deal "anti-ambition," as Andrew Romano, guitarist and vocalist, put it. The L.A.based jangle-pop group's first album, 2018's Oh Boy, was a sweet and simple weekend warrior's affair, or more specifically, an every-other-Monday one, as the band members gathered to bash out songs that offered messy but heartfelt tribute to their chosen heroes: The Feelies, the Go-Betweens, Twerps, Flying Nun. For Romano, not taking things too seriously is a dead-serious affair: “Nothing kills the kind of music we want to make faster than the sense that a band is trying too hard,” he says. The kind of music Massage makes sunny, bittersweet, tender is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little "There She Goes" by the La's, some "If You Need Someone" by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love," a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you're almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles. Still, on their sophomore effort, Still Life, they manage to take a quantum leap forward in songwriting, production, and depth, all somehow without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. Still Life resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-'80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit. When Andrew Romano and Alex Naidus first met in 2007, Naidus had just joined a band with his friends Kip Berman and Peggy Wang that was about to stumble into many of them. When Naidus finally left Pains for L.A. in 2013, two hit albums and a few world tours later, he started playing with Romano to recapture the no-stakes, suburban-garage joy of making music for its own sake. It was "friendship incarnate," Naidus remembers. The other members came from within the friend circle Gabrielle Ferrer (keyboard/vocals) is Romano's sister-in-law, Michael Felix (drums) is one of Naidus’ best friends, and David Rager (bass) is a childhood friend of Felix’s. When Felix moved to Mexico City in early 2020, Naidus’ wife, Natalie de Almeida, stepped in. The result is the finest batch of songs they've ever produced. From Naidus' velvet-lined JAMC tribute "Half A Feeling" to Ferrer's Let It Be-era Replacements-tinged lament "The Double" to Romano's "In Gray & Blue," these are gold-standard indie-pop gems from emerging masters of the form. Still Life glows with the sincerity and unfakeable warmth of the era they so lovingly channel. Like the best Gin Blossoms chorus you still remember, the songs on Still Life stir big, pure emotions, but beneath them, uneasy truths about adulthood linger, just below the surface. Maybe the exact mix of ringing guitars and two-part harmonies can chase those feelings away, or redeem them, for at least a minute or three. Massage won't stop trying.

After two stellar Split EPs with Das Komplex, Brazilian sound wizard ROTCIV delivers his first Solo EP on Luv Shack Records. With 4 intricate original cuts and a Massimiliano Pagliara remix, the Elev8tion EP is a bold testament to modern EBM.

The titular track sets the stage with a firework of dramatic synths, brash elektro beats and a fluttering acid line, finding a perfect balance between dancefloor appeal and leftfield quirkiness.

Italian maestro Massimiliano Pagliara remixes "Elev8tion" in a straightforward fashion, opting for a percussion heavy drummachine pattern, a driving bassline and additional synth melodies, yet incorporating the original 303 to great effect.

On "Unbelievable", ROTCIV lays out a complex carpet of alternating arpeggios, heavily automated synth melodies and an array of weird vocal snippets, atop a minimalistic electronic drum track. "Muquifo", which literally translates to flophouse or dump (or shack?), is a slow burning breakbeat track with eerie strings and tripped out acid melodics, making it a hot contender for future afterhours.

"The Morning After" is a similarly low slung track, with a broken beat and a distinct industrial flair, yet the synth melodies strike a more hopeful chord and have an almost

Heavenly Recordings announce the debut solo album from
acclaimed Bay Area multi-instrumentalist, producer and
composer Dougie Stu.
Dougie grew up outside of Chicago and his early education
began in jazz clubs and festivals as a teenager - frequenting
sessions with Jeff Parker, Fred Anderson, Nicole Mitchell and
other members of the AACM. Left exceedingly inspired, he
continued on to the University of Michigan, studying bass
under Detroit jazz royalty Robert Hurst and Geri Allen, where
he deepened his practice in Jazz and Contemplative
Studies.
Now, based out of Oakland and Los Angeles, Stuart
collaborates within many Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Experimental
music scenes. His works include compositions for the NPR
podcast Snap Judgement, along with co-writes and
production with various groups including: Brijean, Bells Atlas,
Meernaa, Luke Temple and Jay Stone.
Dougie Stu’s ‘Familiar Future’ is a uniquely jazz-attuned
album that is soulful and ethereal. It draws inspiration from
artists and producers like Lonnie Liston Smith, Charles
Stepney, David Axelrod and Alice Coltrane. Stuart has
arrived at a sound that harkens back to the golden era of
soul jazz and R&B, while still sounding contemporary.
The band feature the immediately recognizable guitar
stylings of Jeff Parker (Tortoise), who was one of Stuart’s
biggest influences growing up in Chicago, Maya Kronfeld
(Georgia Anne Muldrow, NYEUSI) on Fender Rhodes, Steve
Blum (Bells Atlas) on synthesizer, percussionists Brijean
Murphy (Toro Y Moi, Poolside), John Santos (Tito Puente,
Dizzy Gillespie) and drummer Hamir Atwal (tune-yards).
Special guests include Marcus Stephans on flute, Shaina
Evoniuk on violin and Crystal Pascucci on cello. The album
was engineered and mixed by Rob Shelton at Tiny
Telephone and he also appears on synthesizer on one song.