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Collapsing new rhythms and industrial visions meet restless melodic vocals on Gateway, the debut album from San Francisco duo YANTRA on Swiss label Subject To Restrictions Discs. This isn’t dance music, but you will dance to it. It isn’t ritual music, but it will channel spirits.

The dreamer is still asleep. She awakens to heed the call. Curious downtempo drums, spartan and potent, animate the body. Running through the city, shadows dance on walls, and alluring voices, whispered, sung, and soaring, possess the mind. At the end of the path, gazing at the mirror’s edge, she finds the source of the voice—and realizes it’s her own.

YANTRA are artist-producer Yaniv de Ridder, also known by the alias YNV, and lyricist-vocalist-instrumentalist Janina Angel Bath. The pair have worked together for some time, beginning with YNV’s 2021 LP Golden Hour Ritual. On Western Paradox, a YNV EP released last year on Subject To Restrictions Discs, Bath contributed vocals—and so YANTRA, the project and the concept, was born. Working together, the pair craft new forms of transcendent sound, timeless and familiar all at once

Estelle soared to international prominence on 2008’s Shine. The lead single, “American
Boy” featuring Kanye West, won a 2009 GRAMMY in the category of “Best Rap Sung
Collaboration”. As vinyl was declining, Atlantic chose not to keep this vinyl in print. It goes
for over $100 if you can find it at all. Round Hill Records is going to reissue the vinyl and
add a new remix of “American Boy”. It is updated here with an Afro-Beat remix by up and
coming DJ NASHUP.
As a recording artist Estelle has released 5 solo albums and countless features and
collaborations that have crossed multiple genres and generations of artists. She released
the follow-up All Of Me in 2012, and the single “Thank You” received a GRAMMY®
nomination for “Best R&B Performance.” 2015’s True Romance yielded the anthem
“Conqueror”.

Rising multi-media artist Shaboozey intends to build his own world.

Determined to carve his own lane in the Alt-Country / Hip-Hop space; he crafts a sound that pays homage to a cast of traditional Western influences, such as Bob Dylan, Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen, while looking into the future of what the two genres have yet to introduce.

Remaining true to his Virginia roots, Shaboozey hopes to continue the region’s long-standing tradition of producing some of the most prolific creatives of the new millennium. This time through elevating the scope of contemporary hip-hop and introducing a modern Americana culture to a global audience.

Fresh off of his inclusion in the groundbreaking Beyonce album, Cowboy Carter, of which he was the only featured artist to appear twice, Shaboozey is set to release his own album, Where I've Been, isn't Where I'm Going. An album that has been years in the making, it includes standout singles “Let It Burn,” “Vegas,” “Anabelle,” & the infectiously fun singalong anthem “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Millions of streams later, and appearances on esteemed programs such as COLORS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Shaboozey is set to become the new face of modern American country music.

Plastic Estate is a contemporary synth-pop act from Wales, UK.

With an onus placed on atmosphere and refinement, the duo evoke a rich palette of romance and lustre with their polished marque of pop music.

They have garnered support from the likes of Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, KEXP and BBC Radio, and played sold-out shows with the likes of LA Priest, Home Counties, and Real Lies, as well as playing at large regional festivals like Ritual Union and Sŵn Festival.

Having previously released a 7” and LP with Avant! Records, they are now releasing their second album on 11th October with new tracks gaining critical acclaim being added to BBC Radio Wales’s ‘Welsh A-List’.
Their sophomore album hails a new era for the act; moving away from darker sonic roots, their sound has progressed to a brighter, more polished aesthetic with fresh influences from the ‘Hi-Fi luxury’ of West Coast Sound, and the gloss of 2010s Chillwave.

What’s more, ‘Code d’Amour’ makes you wonder: What is Pop today?

For many years it has been synonymous with melody, harmony and emotions. These days it seems to be still about emotions but not very good ones, probably because the world is as ugly as it’s ever been, have you noticed?

But what about the fundamental role of popular music which is to represent and at the same time to celebrate and enforce the ties of social living? What about the good times?

Yes, there is a lot to be changed and to fight for but good vibes are not just for recreational use, they can literally build a sense of community among people. If you are looking for that kind of sound right now, you should look no further.

FFO: Talk Talk, Blue Nile, Spandau Ballet, Ian Broudie’s Care, Small Black, Alan Palomo of Neon Indian, Wild Nothing.

limited edition 2xlp of 3138 copies on opaque white 180 gram vinyl LP1 original album remastered by Bob Weston LP2 full album remixed from original multi-track almasters liner notes by Steve Albini and Ethan Buckler gatefold jacket with full color inner sleeves hand numbered 1 through 3138 SLINT is a band from Louisville, Kentucky. tweez was its first recording. LP1: Originally recorded by Steve Albini and released in 1989, tweez has been remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio from the original analog master tapes. LP2: tweethan mix. Per Ethan Buckler (Slint bassist on tweez), "Finally - after thirty-five long years - the other guys in Slint decided to be nice to me and let me have my Tweez remix. I complained incessantly back in the day about how the Albini production style ruined our first recording." In 2023, Ethan took the original multi-track recordings to a local studio in Louisville. Upon handing the engineer a copy of a pre-tweez Slint practice tape, he said "Make it sound like this." LP2 of this "tweez (35th anniversary edition)" is the result. Mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio.

Emerging producer Très Mortimer dishes out eight huge heaters on the highly-anticipated ‘M1 City’ release, a dedication to the mighty Korg M1, coming to Seth Troxler’s Slacker 85 on 25th October.

Kicking off ‘M1 City’ is the simplistic, but refined and booth-rattling ‘Work That Body’. A crisp M1 stab is the main character in this, amplified by thunderous and high energy drums.

Then there’s ‘Secrets’, a house jam inspired by the likes of MK that utilises TR-909 drums, a subtle rolling bassline, intimately whispered and soulfully sung vocal shots, and, of course, classic Korg M1 synth stabs. Together with dramatic contemporary builds, a highly danceable house smasher is formed.

‘No More’ is pure gasoline for the dancefloor. Très pairs another barrage of clean M1 stabs with a rousing vocal sample that leads into, with the help of a rolling snare, another highly effective house drop. Following the extremely saucy ‘Big Daddy’ skit, we’re dropped straight into ‘One Of Those Nights’, a show-stopping track complete with cutting, sharp stabs, a bulging bassy synth and a West Coast-esque synth sound.

‘Bitch I’m From Chicago’ feat. Gleebz is, as the title suggests, a dedication to the city where house music found its name. Batting off all the poser cities like LA and Miami in the sassy lyrics, it embodies the spirit of Chicago with hefty kick drums and weighty chord stabs.

At the tail end of the release, ‘Let Me Go’ and ‘Love’ (featuring vocalist 7000 (7K)), bring things to a rousing emotive close. Both tracks see Très put clean vocals over piano riffs, giving off differing moods – the former is euphoric, the latter melancholic. Synths bubble beneath, and each track funnels their own respective house grooves, resulting in two tracks fit for both the dancefloor and headphones.

Très Mortiner explains: “The M1 sound is classic. It automatically transports you back to those timeless house songs that never get old. For me, house music is all about connection. People experiencing a little moment of euphoria together when they hear a riff that they all know on the dance floor. That’s what it’s all about. With this project I wanted to tap into that 90s rave sound and spirit. I wanted it to sound like the OG Chicago rave scene.”

“M1 City is my first project to be released on vinyl. I think vinyl is very much alive. It’s essentially for music connoisseurs now. I don’t expect people to have a vinyl collection when all music is always available to everyone on their phones. Nevertheless, I love the idea of some random DJ finding this record in a shop in 10 years. Who knows what I’ll be producing then?”

Très Mortimer is a key figure in Chicago's house scene, steadily building a strong following with his no-nonsense, dancefloor-driven sound. Drawing inspiration from his Polish roots, Trés has signed with major labels like Mad Decent, Insomniac’s IN/Rotation, and Ministry of Sound, while also launching his own imprint, Optics Records. He made his mark with a clever rework of Zombies' 1968 hit ‘Time Of The Season’ (1M+ streams). Standout releases include his downtempo collaboration with plumpy, "BAMBU," and his latest single, "At Night I Think Of You," which was recently given a remix makeover by Seth Troxler and Nick Morgan.

Slacker 85, launched in 2023, is the record label behind ‘M1 City’. Founded by Seth Troxler, it aims to give a platform to "oddball, esoteric and diverse sounds," positioning itself as a counter to the polished, refined dance artists dominating the scene. Troxler, upon the label’s launch, declared that he wanted to create something for "the anti-hero, the kids who could have done it but didn’t care to try”—essentially, "the slacker." So far, it’s delivered a range of releases from artists like Jackmaster, Danny Daze, Dan McKie, and Andre Salmon, offering tracks rooted in house music's past but evolving within its present boundaries.

‘M1 City’, this ode to a piece of gear that consistently finds itself at the heart of house music history, highlights Très Mortimer’s respect for and knowledge of the scene and its key gear. Trè combines this admiration and inspiration of house music’s greats with a modern sensibility, resulting in eight tracks worthy of today’s dancefloors and today’s ravers.

Red Vinyl. Remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio from the original analog master tapes. "Slint formed in 1986 as an outlet and pastime for four friends from Louisville, Kentucky. Their music was strange, wholly their own, sparse and tight. What immediately set them apart was their economy and precision. Slint were that rare band willing to play just one or two notes at a time and sometimes nothing at all. 1989's "Tweez" LP hints at their genius." - Steve Albini (Melody Maker, 1991). From the original bio: It's almost always muddy in the lousy little shanty town by the river. All the children's toys are old and rusty, even the plastic ones. Jimmy and Mel fashioned their own toy out of a live chicken that they stole. A knot was tied around the bird's feet with a shoe lace. The two boys painted their plaything yellow and silver and swung it around like a lasso, screaming gibberish and laughing the whole time. Mel got so excited that he wet himself. So, Jimmy slugged him square in the eye. About five or eight miles south east of the shanty town all the fellows in SLINT were suffering from headaches, except the drummer, who only got them when the others didn't. SLINT is a band from Louisville, Kentucky. tweez was its first recording.

"Die Puhdys liebten die (West-)Berliner Waldbühne und die Fans liebten es, uns auf der Waldbühne zu erleben" erinnert sich Puhdys Gitarrist und Sänger Dieter "Maschine" Birr an die Auftritte der Band in der Berliner Open-Air Arena. Allein Anfang der 1980-er Jahre waren sie dreimal in der Waldbühne zu Gast. Dann gönnten sie sich eine kleine Waldbühnen-Auszeit von 13 Jahren und als sie1996 in das Rund im Berliner Westend zurückkehrten, hatte sich das Rad der Geschichte zwischenzeitlich gehörig gedreht. Sieben Jahre nach dem Mauerfall lud der WDR-Rockpalast zu einem Open-Air mit insgesamt acht Bands aus beiden Teilen Deutschlands ein. Neben den Puhdys standen noch Stern Combo Meissen, Karat, Die Zöllner, City, Die Prinzen, Extrabreit sowie Selig auf der Bühne. Alan Bangs vom "Rockpalast" und Ingo Dubinski von "Elf 99" moderierten. Die Stimmung war von Anfang an grandios, die Puhdys kamen als vorletzter Act auf die Bühne. Die Band lieferte eine großartige Show, mit den großen Hits wie z. B. "Wenn ein Mensch lebt", "Alt wie ein Baum" oder als Abschluss die "Rockerrente" wurden die Fans voll bedient. Da in der Waldbühne immer um 23 Uhr Feierabend sein musste, konnten die Puhdys leider keine Zugabe mehr spielen damit die Prinzen auch noch ihr Set abliefern konnten. Vor genau 50 Jahren veröffentlichten die Puhdys bei Amiga ihr erstes Album auf Vinyl, dieser Mitschnitt aus dem Jahr 1996 wird das letzte Puhdys Album. Der Kreis hat sich jetzt geschlossen, ein würdiger Abschluss.

"• 25th Anniversary expanded edition available on CD and for the first time on vinyl. • Contains five previously unissued tracks recorded live, November 14, 1999 on Mountain Stage. • Packaging contains lyrics, photos, and liner notes from Peter Blackstock (No Depression, Austin American-Statesman) While gigging in Austin, Texas, in the late 1980s, Kelly Willis developed a strong fan base. Among her fans were other Texas musicians like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Griffith introduced her to producer Tony Brown who signed Willis to MCA Records. Soon, she would find herself in the films Thelma And Louise and Bob Roberts, as well as receiving a nomination as Top New Female Vocalist at 1993’s Academy of Country Music Awards. After three records on MCA, and an EP on A&M, Willis finished her fifth release and signed with Rykodisc, who released What I Deserve in 1999. Featuring originals by Willis, three co-writes with The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, and songs by Paul Kelly, Paul Westerberg, Nick Drake, Dan Penn, and more—What I Deserve became her highest charting album to date, hitting #30 on the Country charts and #24 on Heatseekers Albums. It is also now revered as a landmark release in Alternative Country and Americana circles—with good reason. To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, What I Deserve returns—expanded with five previously unissued live performances of songs from the album recorded November 14, 1999 on Mountain Stage. In addition to an expanded CD reissue, the release sees its first appearance on vinyl as a double-LP! In addition to the 17 tracks (appearing on both formats), the packaging contains lyrics and new liner notes from Peter Blackstock (No Depression, Austin American-Statesman), all done with Kelly’s approval. What I Deserve has always deserved another look and listen for those who may have missed it the first time—what you deserve is to lose yourself in Kelly Willis’ incredible What I Deserve and celebrate 25 years of this landmark album.
"

Upper Space is the new album from beloved Hip Hop DJ/Producer/turntablist, Rude One. Upper Space was sparked when Rude suffered a serious burn out from his day job in NYC's ultra high-end interior design world. Moonwalking out of that life, and away from a $250k income, he retreated to a small apartment in downtown Cincinnati where he attended every Cincinnati Reds home game for a full baseball season. The remainder of his time was spent utilizing hallucinogens, running long distances, talking to his cats, writing short stories, and making beats that would ultimately pave the foundation for this project. Upper Space is comprised of 9 songs featuring Rude's hand-crafted production specifically tailored for a select list of collaborators such as Valee, Stove God Cooks, Jeremiah Jae, Roc Marciano, RXKNephew, YNOT DUSABLE and more. Upper Space is the official follow-up to Rude’s 2016 LP, ONEderful, which featured Your Old Droog, Westside Gunn, Roc Marciano, and Conway The Machine ahead of their stints as leaders of a stylistic shift in Hip Hop. Upper Space will be out via Closed Sessions on October 18th, 2024.

Originally hailing from The Isle of Wight but now based in West Norwood, South London, Vertical Cat has been releasing tunes since 2001 on imprints like Smallfish, Vice and his own rather wonderfully named Achingly Responsive, but now finds himself delivering seven varied creations for Chicago's Kimochi Sound to issue via the kind of hand-numbered, limited edition run that's sure to get trainspotters salivating like Pavlov's dogs. From the jazz-inflected phrasing, subtle phasing and jiggly sub-bass of 'Go Willy-nilly' to the Mills-esque thumpfunk of 'Oh You Mucky Bugger!', there's a bit of everything here, but every last moment is delivered with quality and clearly perceptible personality. You've also got to love outro track 'I'm Leaving', which soundtracks an awkward call to HR with some nicely cheeky, perky exotica.

Daniel Monaco returns on the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with another disco heavy two tracker, with vocals from TK daMonza. Two feel good songs, to calm and comfort your soul...

Written by Daniele Labbate aka Daniel Monaco, additional production and Mixing by Whodamanny
Voice and Lyrics by TK daMonza
Alessandro Cinelli: Drums
Yannick van ter Beek: Percussion
Sergio Dileo: Saxophone
Simone Cesarini: Guitar
Alberto Melloni: Additional Guitars
Daniele Labbate: Bass, Synths, Backing Vocals
Recorded at Daniel Monaco Studio in Amsterdam
Mixed at West Hill Studio Napoli

The success of the 1962 Modern Sounds in Country And Western Music albums paved the way for Charles’ creative freedom as an artist. Throughout the rest of his career, he continued to show his deep affinity for country music. 1965’s Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues (aka Together Again) features Ray’s timeless version of the Buck Owens country standard “Together Again.” It also holds the distinction of being the first album Charles recorded in his own RPM International recording studio. While on 1996’s Crying Time album Ray delivers the definitive version of that Owens song and earned Ray the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance Male and recognition as Producer of Best Rhythm & Blues Recording by The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. As if that weren’t enough, the album also boasts Charles #1 Billboard smash “Let’s Go Get Stoned.”

The success of the 1962 Modern Sounds in Country And Western Music albums paved the way for Charles’ creative freedom as an artist. Throughout the rest of his career, he continued to show his deep affinity for country music. 1965’s Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues (aka Together Again) features Ray’s timeless version of the Buck Owens country standard “Together Again.” It also holds the distinction of being the first album Charles recorded in his own RPM International recording studio. While on 1996’s Crying Time album Ray delivers the definitive version of that Owens song and earned Ray the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance Male and recognition as Producer of Best Rhythm & Blues Recording by The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. As if that weren’t enough, the album also boasts Charles #1 Billboard smash “Let’s Go Get Stoned.”

Nour Mobarak’s Dafne Phono is an adaptation of the first opera, Dafne, composed and written by Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini in 1598. Drawing on the myth of Daphne and Apollo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses—a story of unrequited love, patriarchal possession, conquest, and transformation—Mobarak’s multimedia and multispecies reimagining splinters the opera’s Italian libretto. Alongside English and Greek versions, it is translated into some of the world’s most phonetically complex languages—Abkhaz, San Juan Quiahije Eastern Chatino, Silbo Gomero, and !Xoon. In this process, the narrative—and an artifact of Western culture—is dismantled, metabolized, and rendered into unruly utterances that shape the sensorium as much as they do the capacity for sense-making. These voices are given material form by a cast of mycelium sonic sculptures whose rhizomatic compositions and broadcasted recordings resemble the formation and mutation of language over time, reconstituting speech into a new, polyphonic body politic, composed of voices whose striking, poetic utterances transfix and transcend meaning.

The A-Side of the record presents a stereo version of Mobarak’s 15-channel sound installation, Dafne Phono. The B-Side uses a recording of a portion of the translation process the libretto underwent in Namibia, live-processed by the artist.

The LP is published on the occasion of Nour Mobarak’s exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 26, 2024–January 12, 2025), with support from Sylvia Kouvali.

Artist Bio:
Nour Pamela Mobarak (Lebanese-American, b. 1985, Cairo, Egypt) lives and works between Los Angeles; Bainbridge Island; and Athens, Greece. Her works have been shown at Sylvia Kouvali (formerly Rodeo), London/Paris; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA; Amant, Brooklyn; JOAN, Los Angeles; Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Hakuna Matata, Los Angeles; and Cubitt Gallery, London. Exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Castello di Tivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, are forthcoming. She has performed at Western Front, Vancouver; 2220, the Hammer Museum, and LAXART, Los Angeles; Cafe OTO, London; Renaissance Society, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and elsewhere. Her music has been released by Recital (Los Angeles), Cafe OTO’s TakuRoku (London), and Ultra Eczema (Antwerp), and she has had sessions on BBC Radio 3, NTS Radio, and Dublab Radio. Mobarak’s writing has been published in Triple Canopy, F.R. David, The Claudius App, and the Salzburg Review, and her first catalog, Sphere Studies and Subterranean Bounce was published by Recital (2021). She received a BA in English and Media Studies from Sussex University and did further studies at Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV. She has held residencies at Denniston Hill, New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and was the recipient of the 2023 FOCA fellowship award. Mobarak was a 2024 faculty at Bard College MFA program.

Dafne Phono Vocalists:
Apollo: Renato Grieco (Italian)
Cupid: Arnou Argun (Abkhaz)
Dafne: Agnes | xaye (!Xoon)
Ovid: Olivia O’Dwyer (Latin)
Venus: Don Eugenio Darias (Silbo Gomero)
Abkhaz Chorus: Liana Ebzhnou, Murman Guaramia, Fatima Kharzalia, and Gunda Osia
Chatino Chorus: Felix Daniel Peña Mendes, José Vasquez Canseco, Catalina Candelario Matias, and Claudia Garcia Baltazar
!Xoon Chorus: Franco Tsame, John Djujui Klosi Barase, and Charity Tsame
Clarinet: Steve Kado

The 25th anniversary edition of Mariah Carey’s multi-platinum selling record, Rainbow has been pressed on rainbow vinyl and includes rare photos from the era. Rainbow is Mariah’s seventh studio album, with #1 hits, “Heartbreaker” (ft. Jay-Z), “Thank God I Found You” (ft. Joe & 98 Degrees), the globally successful cover of "Against All Odds" plus more fan favorites. This deluxe album also features several bonus tracks including, ‘Rainbow’s End,’ a brand-new recording.

The 25th anniversary edition of Mariah Carey’s multi-platinum selling record, Rainbow has been pressed on rainbow vinyl and includes rare photos from the era. Rainbow is Mariah’s seventh studio album, with #1 hits, “Heartbreaker” (ft. Jay-Z), “Thank God I Found You” (ft. Joe & 98 Degrees), the globally successful cover of "Against All Odds" plus more fan favorites. This deluxe album also features several bonus tracks including, ‘Rainbow’s End,’ a brand-new recording.

Fohn brings connection, displacement and new identities into the moment, on pastoral debut album Seanteach - informed by island life, marine folklore and musical tradition.

Connection to the land, the severing of earthly ties, explorations of environment, mythos and generational memory: under the moniker of Fohn, English violinist and producer Tom Connolly (Quade, AD93) takes to the fiddle on which he learned his craft as a child. Forging new bonds with his family’s island home off the coastal west of Ireland, their story is retold in Seanteach (Irish for ‘old house’), released on Odda Recordings.

“Seanteach explores the nature of my relationship with Ireland, and Connemara in particular, where my dad’s family is from,” explains Connolly, speaking on a long-form work that blends new compositions on traditional Irish fiddle with ambient electronics and evocative field recordings.

“It explores how the island of Maighinis became an almost mythological space for me, growing up in England - we would spend every summer there, but it felt equally present for me when we were back in the UK, a sort of mental solace that I found through music especially.”

Each track on the album is a reflection of aspects of that relationship to island life - where physical features intersect with mythology. Such as, ‘Boreen’, named after a colloquial term for rural byroads sometimes shared with otherworldly neighbours. ‘Aisling at Sea’ draws on the primal, unstoppable momentum of the water, while the folklore of ‘Immram’ reflects on generationally-kept tales of marine bravery and supernatural accomplishment.

“The compositions often sit at the fraying edges of memories I’ve inherited from my own experiences, that of family lore, or from stories that I have come across. I wanted the compositions to tread the space between documentation and fantasy that feels so reflective of my relationship with this place.”

Tying these worlds together is the presence and memory of Connolly’s ‘Mamó’ (Irish for grandmother), Bríd. Despite passing during Connolly’s childhood, this “larger-than-life character” shaped his imagination with anecdotes and stories, representing both a familiar figure, and the poignancies of potential and regret.

“Even at a young age I sensed a sadness emanating from her. Through a series of unfortunate and fortunate circumstances, she found herself leaving Ireland and settling in Boston like so many others. Under the impression she was an illegal immigrant in the US she didn’t return to Ireland for decades.”

‘Between the Shoreline and the Gorse’ channels her early childhood, born to a large Catholic family in the island’s ‘Seanteach’, and cast adrift from her old life - a severance of ties that Connolly attempts to make ethereal amends for, with the album named for her family home.

“It’s something that feels so visibly prominent in Connemara with its landscapes charcoaled with deserted ruins. It’s a feeling I also experience, despite never having lived in Ireland, which prompted me to want to explore the idea of longing for something/somewhere ‘un-experienced’, and to a certain extent, fictionalised.”

Chinese American Bear ist ein C-Pop-Duo, derzeit in Seattle ansässig, das eklektischen zweisprachigen (Englisch/Chinesisch) Ohrenschmaus kreiert. Das Ehepaar Bryce Barsten und Anne Tong, macht Musik, die chinesischen Mando-Pop und westlichen Indie-Pop-Kanon vermischt. Sie schreiben Songs, die zwischen Englisch und Mandarin wechseln und einen Geist der interkulturellen Freude und Sehnsucht erfasst, die oft ergreifend ist und nie den Spaß verliert. Man hat sie als eine Mischung aus The Flaming Lips, Dusty Springfield und als wenn die Beach Boys ein Baby mit Care Bear hätten beschrieben. Das Album ist voll von Komik, Groove, Schrulligkeit und Niedlichkeit mit melodisch reicher Instrumentierung, ein bisschen Psychedelik, einer Dosis Funk und einer Menge Texte über das Füllen des Bauches mit Essen.