quête:ha lo

"Ry Cooder" - Ry Cooder (voc, g, mand, b); Van Dyke Parks (p); Bobby Bruce (v); Chris Ethridge Roy Estrada, Max Bennett (b); John Barbata, Richie Hayward (dr); Milt Holland (dr, perc); Gloria Jones (backing voc)



By the time he was aged 22, Ry Cooder was already a veteran of the music business and in great demand as a studio musician and sideman. Shortly after signing a contract with Warner Music in 1969, he released his first album under his own name, placing his confidence in the musical talent he had developed since being a child and on the rare value of his favourite instrument, the steel guitar.

The present LP that carries his name is a fascinating blend of blues, folk, rock ’n’ roll and pop – a unique mixture, which combines superb songs, virtuosic playing and somewhat bizarre yet imaginative arrangements. For material, Cooder, the son of folklorist parents, dug out ten gems coming from over six decades, right back to the 1920s – by legends such as Woody Guthrie, Blind Blake, Sleepy John Estes and Leadbelly, as well as a more up-to-date Randy Newman composition. As magnificent as his choice might be, it is the exuberant charm of his own instrumental composition "Available Space" that almost steals the show here. Expansive and unbiased, Cooder plays an ironic game made up of wordless irregular phrases, which promise the listener something new and ultimately circle in an infinite loop.

Cooder’s need to prove himself, moderated by his veneration for the past, helps to create a completely original work that will prove rewarding for the adventurous listener.



This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under pure-analogue

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.



Recording: 1970 at various studios by Bob Kovacs, Doug Botnick, Rudy Hill and Jim Lowe

Production: Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Parks

Featuring Mike Taylor (piano), Dave Tomlin (soprano saxophone), Tony Reeves (double bass) and Jon Hiseman (drums), this is the first ever release of a newly discovered tape of this legendary British jazz quartet’s final rehearsal before going into the studio to make their fabled Pendulum album in October 1965. Recorded in Taylor’s grandparents’ London living room by Reeves, it’s has striking presence and immediacy, and will fascinate all admirers of this most enigmatic of composers and musicians. It comes in a gatefold sleeve, with a large-format booklet describing Taylor’s life and work, full of rare images and memorabilia.

Swiftly recorded by an independent production company and licensed to Decca for a tiny pressing in September 1970, this London quintet’s superb collection of bluesy progressive rock has become one of the rarest and most sought-after LPs of the period.

70s Soul perfection, both previously unreleased on 45 so should keep collectors and DJs smiling as we head back into the clubs. We released the crazy rare Rivage LP last year, but felt it was time to drop them on our favourite format for the first time.

'I Need You Baby' was my go to spin on the LP (apart from 'Strung Out' Obviously) A positive 70s floater with a vocal that just holds it together.

On the flip 'Answer' It's Mid-tempo Jam time, kind of has a feel it out as you go vibe which I like, the backing holds it together and love the guitar solo.

Motörhead are the true embodiment of rock n’roll excess. A hybrid of punk, rock and heavy metal played with relentless, ear-curdling power. They were a force of nature and nothing short of life-changing for millions, their approach to life and music; there was no “off” switch and they became legends as a result. Fronted for their entirety of their career by Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, they released twenty two studio albums over their 40 years together. Amassing chart topping records, a Grammy award and racking up 15 million worldwide sales. Their signature song, Ace Of Spades perfectly captured everything great about hard rock, heavy metal, and punk, amped it all up to 11, and came racing out of the gates at what felt like a million miles an hour, pushing at every musical boundary. Nothing was harder. Nothing was faster. And certainly nothing was louder. Anyone disputing this fact need look no further than any heavy metal gig and play ‘spot the Motörhead T-shirt and jacket’, they still outnumber anyone else, hands down. Motörhead has truly become a lifestyle for several generations of rockers, metalheads, punks, bikers, athletes, rebels, outcasts, and freethinkers all around the world. Few bands in modern history can instantly ignite the adrenaline of music fans the way they can, they changed the course of hard rock…forever. This Very Best Of compilation is the very first, spanning their entire career.

Though most debuts are the culmination of a lifetime of influences
and experiences, few artists succeed in mapping their musical
journey quite as vividly as Baba Ali has on ‘Memory Device’.
Tracing his Nigerian heritage, an adolescence absorbing No Wave
and the hip-hop on NYC’s Hot 97, time immersed in the techno
scene in Berlin, and the experimental punk spirit of his current
base in London, ‘Memory Device’ is an enthralling introduction to a
musician who resolutely defies pigeonholing.
Written during lockdown and recorded with Al Doyle (LCD
Soundsystem, Hot Chip) in East London, ‘Memory Device’ is both
a dizzyingly inventive exploration of Baba’s complex musical DNA,
and a thought-provoking treatise on the collective angst of modern
existence; a dance record dealing in small ‘p’ politics that,
spiritually, has been three decades in the making.
It was after moving to London that he began writing new music as
a solo artist, with his debut EP, ‘Nomad’, released in 2017. Soon
after he met British guitarist Nik Balchin while they were working
together at a bar in Whitechapel. Nik brought with him an entirely
new set of references, ranging from LCD Soundsystem and the
Pixies to Suicide and Iggy Pop. The new collaboration resulted in
the February 2020 release, ‘This House’, an eclectic four-track
collection fusing funk, blues and soul and featuring production
from Jamie Hince of The Kills. In July the same year the duo
released an unofficial mixtape, ‘Rethinking Sensual Pleasure’,
which they wrote while locked down together at Baba’s parents’
house in New Jersey, having been temporarily stranded in the US
following their New York shows.
Today Baba describes this process of producing a longer body of
work as being akin to “ripping a Band-Aid off,” giving them the
confidence to begin writing their debut. Work on ‘Memory Device’
began shortly afterwards, culminating in the pair recording the
album between November 2020 and February 2021 with Al Doyle,
who was chosen for his vast experience operating at the
intersection between dance and rock music. There’s no question
that Baba is leading by example with ‘Memory Device’.

Though most debuts are the culmination of a lifetime of influences
and experiences, few artists succeed in mapping their musical
journey quite as vividly as Baba Ali has on ‘Memory Device’.
Tracing his Nigerian heritage, an adolescence absorbing No Wave
and the hip-hop on NYC’s Hot 97, time immersed in the techno
scene in Berlin, and the experimental punk spirit of his current
base in London, ‘Memory Device’ is an enthralling introduction to a
musician who resolutely defies pigeonholing.
Written during lockdown and recorded with Al Doyle (LCD
Soundsystem, Hot Chip) in East London, ‘Memory Device’ is both
a dizzyingly inventive exploration of Baba’s complex musical DNA,
and a thought-provoking treatise on the collective angst of modern
existence; a dance record dealing in small ‘p’ politics that,
spiritually, has been three decades in the making.
It was after moving to London that he began writing new music as
a solo artist, with his debut EP, ‘Nomad’, released in 2017. Soon
after he met British guitarist Nik Balchin while they were working
together at a bar in Whitechapel. Nik brought with him an entirely
new set of references, ranging from LCD Soundsystem and the
Pixies to Suicide and Iggy Pop. The new collaboration resulted in
the February 2020 release, ‘This House’, an eclectic four-track
collection fusing funk, blues and soul and featuring production
from Jamie Hince of The Kills. In July the same year the duo
released an unofficial mixtape, ‘Rethinking Sensual Pleasure’,
which they wrote while locked down together at Baba’s parents’
house in New Jersey, having been temporarily stranded in the US
following their New York shows.
Today Baba describes this process of producing a longer body of
work as being akin to “ripping a Band-Aid off,” giving them the
confidence to begin writing their debut. Work on ‘Memory Device’
began shortly afterwards, culminating in the pair recording the
album between November 2020 and February 2021 with Al Doyle,
who was chosen for his vast experience operating at the
intersection between dance and rock music. There’s no question
that Baba is leading by example with ‘Memory Device’.

In the early months of 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak ravaged his home country of Italy, prolific composer Bruno Bavota did what we all would eventually do: isolated and waited. What followed was a year of fear, anxiety, and dread. Eventually, fear gave way to fatigue, and the anxiety metamorphosized into nervous energy. The compulsion to create became more powerful than the compression and weight. And so were born Apartment Songs and Apartment Loops. Representing two separate but intersecting paths of Bavota's creative journey, Apartment Songs is a suite of sparse solo acoustic piano works, while Apartment Loops are expansive explorations for synthesizers and outboard effects processors. Though in theory the two sets should sound disconnected and unrelated - given their disparate creative approaches and instrumentation - it's Bavota's uncanny sense of melody and space that easily unites them as two halves of a singular vision.

After the release of ‘Kuarahy’ concurred with the blast of the worldwide pandemic and all the consequences it has generated, WHITE STONES - Martín Mendez’s project (OPETH’s bass player) - are ready to launch their second record.

When WHITE STONES released ‘Kuarahy’ they became the first Spanish band signed to Nuclear Blast Records, cementing their first album as an unprecedented milestone. Now, with ‘Dancing Into Oblivion’, the band returns with a more compact sound, having been hard at work ensuring the utmost attention to every detail for a result that is even better than the first record.

The topics covered on this second album draw on the feelings that Martín himself affirms he has lived through during the lockdown imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. “I started it very calmed in March when »Kuarahy« was released and the lockdown started. I wrote the new record and it just flowed so well. It’s my point of view, of the feelings I had during the lockdown period, in this weird year. I took advantage of the moment and I feel excited about it”, reveals the musician.

The most outstanding musical elements on this new record are the disparate genres that manage to co-exist. There is an element of aggression, that can be seen rearing its head in an instrumental frenzy, as well as soft and delicate intricacies that develop an atmosphere which surrounds the listener. There are distinct dynamics among the songs, with interludes allowing the listening to take a breath and appreciate what they’re hearing.

The writing process of ‘Dancing Into Oblivion’ has been pretty similar to the previous ‘Kuarahy’ but with some clear changes. Martín composed all of the instrumentals for the album but, as he says, “I’ve left sections open to the interpretation of each of the other musicians, both in the drums and in the vocals. Eloi wrote the lyrics this time and we then workshopped them together whilst working out the vocal parts to get the final result in the studio”.

WHITE STONES once again recorded at Farm Of Sounds Studios (Barcelona), owned by their singer Eloi. They were satisfied with the sound of ‘Kuarahy’ and the experience of the recording of that album and the comfort of making everything with their own tools made it all easier. “Everything has been ‘homemade’ because it’s a way of working and a philosophy I like. You have more control and you can better enforce your ideas”, Méndez explains -who also created the cover for ‘Dancing Into Oblivion’ together with Sandra, his partner for many years.

The final mix and mastering of this second album was done by Jaime Gómez Arellano at Orgone Studios (UK) because the band were more than satisfied with the work he did on ‘Kuarahy’ and they wanted to repeat that great experience. Eloi, as the singer and also the guy who recorded the music sent to Orgone Studios, acknowledges “the recording had more experience and a better sound quality because we made better decisions during the pre-production thanks to a higher level of self-awareness of ourselves as a band. Jaime knew us better too, so that simplified the process and in turn helped to make »Dancing Into Oblivion« as good as it can be”.

The line-up has been enhanced with the participation of the multifaceted Joan Carles Marí Tur on drums (who also plays in other bands like FACE THE MAYBE). The guitar solos were the job of Joao Sassetti (who was already a member of the touring line-up of WHITE STONES). Sassetti lives in Portugal and he couldn’t be in the studio in Barcelona, so he recorded his solos and digitally sent them over for integration into the final songs. The recording of the instruments has been more organic and as Boucherie says. “The original sound has been retained as much as posible in each and every element” and it has brought a natural/raw touch for ‘Dancing Into Oblivion’ just as the band had hoped and expected.

Born in Naples, educated in New York and now residing in Paris, drummer Francesco Ciniglio combines spotless drumming facility with substantial compositional flair, and has the capacity to move, reflect and express through his music. An in-demand sideman, Ciniglio has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Shai Maestro, Aaron Parks, Dayna Stephens, Seamus Blake and Tony Tixier. Following his debut solo solo release ('Wood', with Parks and Joe Sanders), Ciniglio returns as leader for his Whirlwind debut, 'The Locomotive Suite', a set of compositions for sextet that combine a personal metaphor of resilience with snapshots of his formative familial influences. Barcelona-based Raynald Colom (trumpet), fellow Paris emigrée Matt Chalk (alto) and Matteo Pastorino (bass clarinet) take the frontline duties, with Frenchman Alexis Valet on vibraphone and rising star Felix Moseholm on double bass.

As the grandson of the late trumpeter Doc Cheatham, and former student of legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, trumpeter Theo Croker is an artist steeped in jazz tradition and he is rapidly becoming one of the hottest jazz artists of this era.

Croker's own music reveals a love of organic funk, soul, and groove-oriented hip-hop. Helping to raise Croker's musical vibrations is his ensemble, featuring saxophonist Anthony Ware, keyboardist Michael King, guitarist Ben Eunson, bassist Eric Wheeler, and drummer Kassa Overall. Also adding color to the proceedings are guitarist Femi Temowo and saxophonist Irwin Hall. Dee Dee Bridgewater appears on the classic tune 'Love From The Sun'. Croker proves he's got deep ideas about life, spirituality, and how music connects us all. It's an ebullient, groove-conscious message perhaps best expressed on the bass-heavy 'It's Gonna Be Alright.' Trading the song's title phrase back and forth like old friends high-fiving on the street, you can hear Croker and his band smiling.

Guitarists Marisa Anderson and William Tyler distil deeply
rooted and varied traditions into distinctive voices all their own.
Anderson and Tyler are each unyielding in their desire to extend
through those traditions and the confines of ‘guitar music’ to
craft music at once intimate and expansive, conversational and
transcendent.
The duo’s debut collaborative album tethers together their
singular voices into unified narratives that glisten, drive and
sway. On ‘Lost Futures’, Anderson and Tyler’s guitars dance
through lush arrangements and pastoral duets serpentine and
reverent.
‘Lost Futures’ takes its name from writer Mark Fisher’s cultural
theory of the loss of potential futures, the hopes and ideals
which once felt inevitable but have since been interrupted.
Anderson and Tyler’s use of textural drones, rhythmic repetition
and harmonic shifts embody the building tensions of uncertainty
created by profound loss: loss of life, experience,
companionship, compassion. Across ‘Lost Futures’, Anderson
and Tyler mold their instruments into breathtaking panoramas of
blight and bliss. Each movement contains a dense biome of
transportive sound.
The duo’s music together reckons with mounting pressures as
well as the joy of newfound friendship and gratitude for being
able to play together. In tandem, Marisa Anderson and William
Tyler have composed a work of remarkable breadth, brimming
with resplendent odes of solace.
Marisa Anderson and William Tyler are both prolific solo artists.
Tyler has also toured with groups including Lambchop and
Silver Jews and Marisa has contributed to recordings by Beth
Ditto, Sharon Van Etten and Circuit Des Yeux among others.
‘Lost Futures’ features guests Gisela Rodriguez Fernandez on
violin and Patricia Vázquez Gómez playing quijada.
Package features artwork by Sam Smith. LPs include artworked
inner-sleeve featuring photography by Marisa Anderson.

JACKIE WILSON – aka “Mister Hitmaker” – scored Brunswick Records 50 chart singles during his 20 year solo career. “I Get The Sweetest Feeling” is both one of his best known and most loved recordings, originally taken from his 1968 album of the same name. Coupled with “Nothing But Blue Skies” it only managed to reach #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time of release and a more respectable #9 in the UK some four years later in 1972. Ironically it was your very own Passion Music who achieved the most success with the song just missing the top spot, stalling at #3, in 1987. It was also Passion Music that gave Jackie, posthumously, his only #1 pop hit with a reissue of “Reet Petite” in 1986.
“IT ONLY HAPPENS WHEN I LOOK AT YOU” is the perfect feel-good floorfiller from the perfect soul vocalist. The song was originally recorded by Aretha Franklin in 1975 for her Atlantic album ‘You’, but it is Jackie’s more upbeat version that captured the Northern Soul hearts. It was released on UK Brunswick in 1977 and was to be Jackie’s final 45. It eluded a US release and appears here – for the very first time – on the official American Brunswiuck label design.

Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter and former frontman of The Ugly Americans and The Scabs, Bob Schneider has become one of the most celebrated musicians in the live music capital. Combined with his scruffy good looks and diverse musicals styles, Schneider's talent has defied genres. Combing elements of funk, country, rock, and folk with the more traditional singer/songwriter aesthetic, Schneider draws inspiration from the '70s with a modern twist reminiscent of Beck. His powerful lyrics tackle tough subjects about alienation, drug addiction, and lost romance. Schneider has won more than 59 Austin Music Awards including Best Album, Best Songwriter, Best Musician, and Best Male Vocals making him the most decorated artist in Austin music history. Schneider's fan base reaches far beyond the city limits of Austin. He started gaining national recognition when released 2001's Lonelyland, his major-label debut for Universal Records, followed by 2004's I'm Good Now. Since leaving Universal, Schneider went on to release more award-winning albums under Vanguard and began releasing "side projects" on his label, Shockorama Records. He has released more than a dozen albums and doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon. Schneider and his team will be releasing a new record 'In A Roomful Of Blood with A Sleeping Tiger' dropping in August 2021 as well numbers live shows all throughout Texas.

Repress


Nina Kraviz launches her (pronounced 'trip') label with a double-EP compilation entitled 'The Deviant Octopus', featuring a pair of brand new productions from Kraviz alongside material from Terrence Dixon, emerging talent Parrish Smith & Bjarki, and veteran producers Exos & Steve Stoll.

The idea for has been gestating for some time with Nina Kraviz, an avid crate-digger and frequenter of numerous second-hand record stores, who has long wanted to begin a label of her own which would build on some of the principles of her beloved 90s techno labels in terms of attitude and aesthetics, whilst looking for forward-thinking modern productions that reflect her core tastes for idiosyncratic electronic music.

The art and title of 'The Deviant Octopus' comes from a single-sentence scenario dreamt up by Kraviz: 'Without a moment's notice an Octopus appeared and devoured everyone in sight'. Supplied with this scenario, artist Tombo rendered his own unique visualization for the artwork that adorns the release sleeve. It's Kraviz's own nod to the labels that inspire her and grab her attention while digging through second hand records, the best of which were imbued with the unique personality of the people behind them. This extends to the sound Kraviz intends for : dusky, divergent and trippy music to stimulate brains, dreams and fantasies.

In this respect 'The Deviant Octopus' is a perfect introduction: Kraviz herself is represented on the tracklist by two new tracks that take up the mantle of last year's Mr Jones EP by returning to the vocal-flecked hypnotic techno that marked out that release. Complimenting those are two new cuts from a true master of hallucinatory off-kilter techno, Terrence Dixon in his Population One guise.

Joining them will be a pair of names from the techno pantheon who have been huge influences on Kraviz: with a career that's taken in releases on Synewave, Trax, Novamute and Richie Hawtin's early-90s Probe Records, Steve Stoll has been mining his own variant on techno and acid minimalism for over twenty years, heading up the Proper NYC label and releasing under various pseudonyms, such as Cobalt, of which Kraviz has been a long-term fan. His counterintuitively titled 'Pop Song' sits alongside a 13-minute 90s techno excursion from Reykjavik's Exos - the only previously-released cut (originally appearing on Thule Records sub-label Plast Trax in 1998) - together illustrating that will also live up to its name in the geographical sense: showcasing great music from historically vibrant electronic music scenes outside of the usual Detroit-Berlin axis.

With Kraviz looking to build a small repertory of talent around , this first release also makes room for two newer names: Bjarki is an Icelandic talent to keep a firm eye on, who drew Kraviz's attention in a chance meeting after a gig at Copenhagen's Culturebox club, after which he passed her a collection of mind-bendingly odd demos; while Parrish Smith is a talented Netherlands-based producer whose short yet impactful sketch '1.0 / 8.0 Afrika Genocide' brings the second 12' to a bewitching close.

NIGHTMARE VACATION vinyl will be released on 27th August via Atlantic Records/Sugar Trap. The genre-defying album features 16 captivating tracks, each showcasing Rico’s out-of-this-world energy and rockstar delivery, complimented by production from the likes of CashMoneyAP, Buddah Bless, Dylan Brady (100 Gecs) and more.

“I feel like this album proved to me that no matter what I’m going through, I can still make powerful music. All of these songs that I ever made were always about power, always about making you feel powerful. Sometimes you give so much power you feel powerless…I just tried to put all the emotions, and the happiness, and the crazy feelings y’all make me feel in this music and give it right back to you to consume and get your power up. So this is a soundtrack to getting back on your shit!” – Rico Nasty

NIGHTMARE VACATION has already drawn early acclaim via a number of international and domestic press looks, ranging from NME, WAVE and CRACK to Rolling Stone, The New York Times, W Mag and more. The album – which includes features from such luminaries as Trippie Redd and Aminé and production also by Take A Daytrip (Lil Nas X, Sheck Wes, Kid Cudi), Avedon (Roddy Ricch, Chloe x Halle), GRAMMY® Award-nominee Tay Keith (Travis Scott, BlocBoy JB, Drake) and longtime collaborator Kenny Beats – is highlighted by the singles, “IPHONE,” “Own It,” “Don’t Like Me (Feat. Don Toliver & Gucci Mane),” and “OHFR?,”.

NIGHMARE VACTION further follows the release of ANGER MANAGEMENT, a collaborative project with longtime producer Kenny Beats which followed the duo’s work together on Rico’s breakthrough 2018 Atlantic Records/Sugar Trap label debut, NASTY.















[o] 15. Smack A Bitch (feat. ppcocaine, Sukihana & Rubi Rose) [Remix]

Having taken a break from music for a few years, South London’s ME REX began life in 2018 in the home of songwriter Myles McCabe experimenting with shouty, electronic bedroom pop. Armed with a slew of “surging gargantuan hooks” and themes of friendship, forgiveness, joy and dinosaurs, McCabe was quickly joined by longtime friends Kathryn Woods (guitar/vocals), Phoebe Cross (drums/vocals) and Rich Mandell (bass/keys/vocals). Now, graduated from producing songs at home to recording at Resident Studios in North London with Mandell behind the mixing desk: ME REX spent the latter half of 2020 bashing down the doors to the indie world with double EP ‘Triceratops/Stegosuarus’. Finding their penchant for constructing delicate threads of vocal layering to convey feelings of calm while building on luscious swathes of reverberated guitar and keys on single ‘Rites’, the band are not afraid to explore different musical concepts: shaping material that strays from traditional album and single structures that results in a sound that could easily find a home on the big screen as they do behind closed doors. Described as “making for both a potent and cathartic listen all round” by DIY magazine — as well as seeing praise from Stereogum, BBC 6Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio, For The Rabbits and Circuit Sweet — ME REX are back with a new and ambitious project ‘Megabear’, an album made up of 52 tracks that has no beginning or end but exists as a cyclical body of work.

AUGUSTANA-LIVE (RECORDED FROM A LIVESTREAM EVENT) was recorded live in December of 2020. The concert recording was a long awaited arrival for fans of the band, who’d never released a live album until that point. In a solo performance setting, Dan Layus plays through some of the most well loved music from the groups catalogue in a chronological order. The concert is intimate and authentic, nuanced and powerful. He makes the songs feel experienced and lived in, and cements a moment into a recording that mirrors what he’s done on stages across the world for so many years. This LP marks Augustana's first vinyl release in over 10 years.



Dan Layus has fronted Augustana as it’s singer and primary songwriter since its formation in 2002. Building a dedicated following of fans off the backbone of hits like “Boston”, “Sweet and Low” and “Steal Your Heart”, Augustana have gone on to release 5 Full Length LP’s and multiple singles and EP’s. As a touring artist for over 16 years, Augustana have performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia and have opened for artists across multiple genres, including One Direction, The Chicks, Snow Patrol, OneRepublic and Counting Crows.

The most recent LP release AUGUSTANA-LIVE (RECORDED FROM A LIVESTREAM EVENT) was recorded live in December of 2020. The concert recording was a long awaited arrival for fans of the band, who’d never released a live album until that point. In a solo performance setting, Dan Layus plays through some of the most well loved music from the groups catalogue in a chronological order. The concert is intimate and authentic, nuanced and powerful. He makes the songs feel experienced and lived in, and cements a moment into a recording that mirrors what he’s done on stages across the world for so many years.

Jorja Smith returns to announce a new 8-track project. ‘Be Right Back’ is due May 14th and is the first body of work from Jorja since her 2019 critically-acclaimed, Mercury Prize nominated debut album ‘Lost & Found’, for which she won her second BRIT Award for ‘Best
Female’ and earned herself a nomination for ‘New Artist’ at the GRAMMY Awards.
The project finds Jorja delivering some of the most emotive and imaginative songs of her career. Over string-heavy production, she unveils a collection of songs that are diverse in their range but still extremely cohesive as a body of work - “It’s called be right back because it’s just something I want my fans to have right now, this isn’t an album and these songs wouldn’t have made it. If I needed to make these songs, then someone needs to hear them too.” - Jorja says of the project.
To coincide with the announcement, Jorja is sharing new single ‘Gone.’ Highly anticipated,
Smith states that “There’s something about being able to write about one thing and for it to mean so many different things to others. I love that this song, well any of my songs really, will be interpreted in different ways, depending on the experiences of the people listening.
This one is just me asking why people have to be taken from us.”
‘Gone’ follows in the footsteps of Jorja’s stunning March release ‘Addicted’, which also appears on ‘Be Right Back’, alongside 6 additional unheard tracks including a feature from
rising South London rapper, Shaybo on track 3, ‘Bussdown’.
Over the past three years, Smith has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through the world. Smith has graced multiple magazine covers,
performed at awards ceremonies and on late night TV, and sold out shows across the globe, now surpassing over one billion global streams. Her 2019 hit single ‘Be Honest’ featuring Burna Boy has become her biggest song to date at almost 250M streams worldwide. Smith continues to hone her craft and ‘Gone’ serves as a much-anticipated prelude for the release of ‘Be Right Back’ on May 14th.

The magnificent and incomparable Marianne Faithfull has performed five legendary concerts at the Montreux Jazz Festival between 1995 and 2009. Each of these historic concerts were recorded.
Marianne Faithfull’s name is synonymous with the authenticity, artistry and individuality of the festival and this collection is a celebration of her unique talent.

The Montreux Years collection will bring together, for the first time, some of the finest moments from Marianne’s most celebrated performances.

Expertly curated by the Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG, restored and remastered in superlative HD audio; The Montreux Years is released on superior audiophile heavy weight vinyl, MQA quality CD and in HD digital.


Montreux Media Ventures (MMV) in partnership with BMG are working together to produce and release a premium series of albums and activities, curated from the unique Montreux Jazz festival archive; one of the finest music collections in the world. As part of this exciting new joint venture MMV and BMG have commenced work to establish a new series of deluxe artist collections under the new official Montreux Jazz records imprint. These initial collections; The Montreux Years will bring together the most iconic performances from the most significant artists to perform in the festival’s impressive five decade history.

The collaboration is an unprecedented curation project. The most extensive exploration of the official archive in the festival’s history. Expertly curated by the MJF and BMG teams and overseen by Claude Nobs’ partner and president of the Claude Nobs foundation, Thierry Amsallem, who will act as executive producer across the series.

The Montreux Years series is a celebration of Claude’s love of the artists and passion for the festival and are a fitting tribute to his legacy.

The BMG and Montreux Jazz music festival design teams will work in partnership to produce new and authentic creative, faithful to the festival’s reputation for iconic artwork.

'Deutsche Krimi passionnel' oder 'Ostalgie fuer begeisterte Kranken'? Well, this album may very well have been the perfect soundtrack of some very obscured 5-year-planned and very mentally disturbing, for truly some very fucked-up alienating D.D.R. / East German Democratic People's Republic remake of Tarkovski's old sci-fi classic 'Stalker' and that somehow, thank God, never made it to the Elevated Socialist Working Masses, for otherwise that 'Berliner Mauer' would have collapsed much earlier and certainly with a hell lot of more drastic damage! I mean, ''Mein Selbstmord! Im Monschein hinter dem Baum!'', now, what psychotic poetry of Goethean-Nietzschean 'Faustian' 'Sturm und Drang Tragoedie' and Romantic Mass-Industrial 'Todestrieb' Mantra is that? 'Das Ewig Weibliche (oder gibt's vielleicht auch Das Ewig Maennliche?) des alten Werthers Leiden in Teutobuerger Schwarz-und-buchenwaldklinik?' For this dark synth-guided croonin' could have turned into the ultimate 'Alan Vega Suicide' Project of the Soviet Bloc, its bloody very last Collective Act! Mastered by Guy Tavares.

Maisie Peters treated fans to their first taste of ‘You Signed Up For This’ earlier this year with ‘John Hughes Movie’. The track soared to No. 1 on iTunes the weekend of release, was playlisted across BBC Radio 1 and 2, and has been streamed over 11.5 million times globally to date.

Revered for her songwriting, Maisie has spent the past three years honing her craft in sessions across London, LA and Nashville, creating songs for ‘You Signed Up For This’ alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Fred again.., Johnny McDaid, Miranda Cooper, and producers Joe Rubel (Tom Grennan, Benjamin Francis Leftwich), Afterhrs (Niall Horan, GRACEY), Rob Milton (Easy Life, Holly Humberstone) and Brad Ellis (Jorja Smith, Little Mix).

Impressively, ‘You Signed Up For This’ is Maisie’s second full length release in the space of three months, as she recently became one of the youngest musicians in history to write and curate a soundtrack for the second season of Apple TV+ Original Series, ‘Trying’, at only 20 years old. Written in just two months last winter, the stunning body of work includes duets with her friends and favourites, including Griff, James Bay and Bear’s Den.

With her knack for transforming everyday experiences in to vividly written diary-style songs, ‘You Signed Up For This’ is both Maisie’s coming of age story and a love letter to girlhood; penned with the wit, charm and quiet confidence that has seen her ascend from busking on the streets of Brighton, to recently making her US TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Transporting us directly in to her world as she navigates from small town teenager to adulthood, there’s a universal sense of familiarity and nostalgia as she shares memories of blossoming relationships (‘Outdoor Pool’, ‘My Elvis Song’), being played (‘Boys’, ‘Volcano’), heartbreak (‘Tough Act’, ‘Villain’), and first holidays with her twin sister (‘Brooklyn’).

New Kscope CD Edition Of 1997 Top 30 Album This Strange Engine
“Atmospheric, melodic music that played to all of that band’s strengths... Marillion’s finest album of the last 15 years” - Classic Rock Marillion formed in 1979 and have sold over 15 million albums worldwide.
Rightly regarded as legends of progressive rock, the band have continued to evolve and have been keen to embrace the possibilities of the internet, using innovative ways to interact with listeners resulting in an incredibly loyal legion of fans around the world.
Originally released in 1997, ‘This Strange Engine’ was a top 30 hit in the UK and reached #10 in the NL album charts. The album features the singles “Man Of A Thousand Faces” and “80 Days” and shows the band exploring a revitalized sound featuring more acoustic elements.
‘This Strange Engine’ is the first of three recordings that Marillion made on a contract with Castle between departing EMI in 1995 and eventually going independent in 2000. Widely regarded as one of the most well produced Marillion albums, it finds the band in transition, ditching some of the lengthier compositions of previous albums in favour of a more succinct, commercial sound.

Birgit Minichmayr captures the imagination and holds centre-stage on
‘As An Unperfect Actor: Nine Sonnets by William Shakespeare’. This
won’t come as a surprise to people in the German-speaking world,
where the Austrian actor is well-known from countless appearances on
TV and a substantial filmography. Perhaps equally unsurprising is the
deep experience she can bring to Shakespeare: as an ensemble
member of the Burgtheater company in Vienna, she has repeatedly lived
out the searingly dramatic lives of the Bard’s characters, notably the
daemonic anger of Lady Macbeth, the sadness of Ophelia and even the
uncomfortable truths of the Fool in King Lear.
What might be more of a surprise, however, is the exhilarating musicality
she shows on this, her first complete album as a vocalist. One could
have predicted the crystal clarity, meaning and intent in her words - the
desolation in her voice in “the very birds are mute... the leaves look pale”
in Sonnet 97, for example. And yet there is more, much more, not least
Minichmayr’s uncannily instinct to find artful and felicitous ways to shape
musical phrases.
Composer/ pianist Bernd Lhotzky has provided a wonderful array of
musical contexts. As Minichmayr says: “He got so deep into the meaning
of each sonnet, his music made it different every time. And we talked a
lot about the colour, the meaning of each poem.” The opening track, ‘My
Mistress’ Eyes (Sonnet 130)’ is a masterfully deft piece of gender-fluid
irony. In the poem, a man is describing possibly the ugliest woman he
has ever seen - while also declaring that she is the one he loves.
Lhotzky gives us an acerbic version in that most male-led of dances, the
tango, complete with bandoneon, in which the words are sung by... a
woman. Minichmayr then gives a masterclass in how to end a song as
she hits, holds and nails the words “false compare” with triumphant
fearlessness.
Throughout the course of the album, we are magically transported to
new musical and emotional places. As Minichmayr says: “Through
singing, through just doing it, I was able to find deep love, or deep
sadness. I was really touched by it.”
One of the secrets to this album’s success is Lhotzky’s wish to find
melodies which have a certain ease and straightforwardness about
them. He says that he approaches all music - whether he is listening to it
or writing it - with one simple and direct question: “What story is this
telling me?” Lhotzky is known for his work in the field of early jazz, but
the range here is far broader, with allusions to such examples of fine
songwriting as Brassens, Robert Plant and James Taylor.
LP pressed on 140g black vinyl.

repress

Mono Junk's cult label DUM Records is back with a new five track Various Artists EP that again packs a vital punch. He appears himself along with some fellow legends of the scene.
First up, Morpholgy is a consistent performer who has continued to serve up quality electro since 2009 and here serves up a hot new piece. 'Vector Plant' is busy and industrial, slick and metallic as it unfolds and burrows deep into your veins. Then comes the A2, Irwin Berg featuring Freestyle Man (aka Finnish Moodmusic boss Sasse aka Klas Lindblad) with a track made in 1995 and never released before. This pair worked together and made a cult electro record for Sähkö Recordigs in 1998 and this one is just as impactful. It is frosty and frazzled, slow motion but high impact and full of distorted lines and heavy drums.

Next is Mr Velcro Fastener who were the first kings of electro to come out of Finland and between 1999 and 2006 were famous all over the world. Their brand new cut 'Almost There' is a deep one that is riddled with bleeping melodies and has smeared chords bringing a sci-fi feel. Then it is Mono Junk's turn to dive into the vaults with an unreleased track from 2005. 'Feeling or Destroy' is a physical number with crashing hits and snaking, gurgling bass that is dark and dystopian. Last of all comes Irwin Berg with Mono Junk as New York City Survivors. Says the DUM boss, Our unreleased track here was made after the New York City Survivors - Static Light CD 2002' and it is a turbo charged track with screwed up grinding bass, icy hi hat rhythms and menace in its grooves.

Bouquet Records features Olive T. for their sixth EP release on vinyl to infuse their 2021 roster with the desired verve and energy that dormant club kids are thirsting for.

Releasing in early summer, the energetic dance tracks herald a return to the dance floor, uplifted by soul-stirring synthesiser orchestral strings.
The native New Yorker and scene fixture was influenced by 90's house, inspired by Raze, Deee-lite, Green Velvet, and smooth disco flows.
The ascension sensation of 'Goin' Up' builds on familiar house grooves with digital synths and a thoughtful utilisation of today's technology.

Known to play a range spanning hip hop to club, jazz to funk, disco to garage, and more, Olive T has DJ'd countless venues and over international airwaves.
An early exposure to house and techno, combined with a wide span of diverse musical taste, shaped her unique style. In 2020 she started her own 2 hour radio show on The Lot Radio.

Olive T worked with Tiro! due to her admiration of his use of traditional sounds of the 90's era, sensing he also listened prolifically to 90's house and techno. Tiro!'s remix of 'This Is A Bop' adds organic flare to the original.
A long-time fan of Matt Karmil, she invited him to remix 'Opaque' - He flips the track upside down to reveal a different, but still vibrant interpretation, with his technical approach to remixing.

Olive T has released singles and remixes on Nervous records, 2MR, and on her own. The four track record 'Goin' Up' marks Olive T's first label-released EP, and first release on San Diego-based Bouquet Records.

“One of the vital pieces in the jigsaw puzzle of ’90s British rock music.” Pat Gilbert, Mojo magazine While his own name has yet to grace an album front cover, for more than a twenty years Gem Archer has been a key contributor to some of the UK’s highest profile guitar bands, beginning with Oasis in 2000, Beady Eye in 2009 and the touring version of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds since 2015.
Before all that there was Heavy Stereo, caught up in the mid ‘90s music maelstrom where their only album ‘Déjà Voodoo’ took its place alongside Paul Weller’s ‘Stanley Road’, The Charlatans’ ‘Telling Stories’, Super Furry Animals’ ‘Fuzzy Logic’, Supergrass’s ‘I Should Coco’, The Boo Radley’s ‘Giant Steps’, Ride’s ‘Carnival Of Light’ – and, of course, ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ by Oasis. It is easy to understand why any album could get overlooked in such exalted company. ‘Déjà Voodoo’ and the four singles – ‘Sleep Freak’, ‘Smiler’, ‘Chinese Burn’ and ‘Mouse In A Hole’ – all display Gem’s deeply held affection for old-school rock’n’roll values. In 1994/95, the outside world came into sync with his fondness for The Jam, Sly Stone, Hendrix, The Beatles, the Stones, The Small Faces, Motown, Stax, glam rock, punk rock and all other points on the compass of rock’n’roll cool, which coalesced into what became known as Britpop. And while those influences are in ‘Déjà Voodoo’ for all to hear, the album is far from derivative; this is a collection of well-constructed pop songs that still retain their swagger and zest.
Unavailable since it was first released on Creation Records in 1996, this new 25th anniversary 180g clear vinyl edition is a faithful recreation of the original 12-track LP.

Southern Avenue Announces New Album, ‘Be The Love You Want’. Out August 27 via Renew Records/BMG, produced by Multi-Grammy Winner Steve Berlin

(Memphis, TN) – Memphis soul powerhouse Southern Avenue has announced the release of their third full-length album. BE THE LOVE YOU WANT was produced by multi-GRAMMY® winner, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Deer Tick, Susan Tedeschi, Jackie Greene), and co-produced by Ori Naftaly. The album, arriving via Renew Records/BMG on August 27, 2021, is preceded by today’s release of the sultry first single, “Push Now,” available at all DSPs and streaming services.
BE THE LOVE YOU WANT is Southern Avenue’s most ingenious and personal effort thus far. Since their inception, the band has produced a wide-ranging collection of original music – predominantly co-written by Israeli-born guitarist Ori Naftaly and powerhouse lead vocalist Tierinii Jackson – that links them to their home city’s glorious past while at the same time, demonstrates their ambitious intent to evolve Memphis music to contemporary effect.

BE THE LOVE YOU WANT sees Southern Avenue teaming up with artists like multi-GRAMMY® award-winning pop superstar Jason Mraz and certified Platinum producer Michael Goldwasser from Easy Star All-Stars on “Move Into The Light” for a churning, funk-blasted burner. Besides writing with him on the first single, the band also collaborated with Cody Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars for the song “Heathen Hearts.” The songwriting core grew within the band as well, as drummer Tikyra Jackson and bassist Evan Sarver collaborated to co-write “Let’s Get It Together” and “Pressure.”

The band brilliantly bridges the power of Memphis soul with jamband liberation, gospel blues, and R&B to craft their own timeless brand of American music. The ambitious sonic approach expertly complements BE THE LOVE YOU WANT’s rich themes of self-love, self-empowerment, personal accountability and the desire to push through towards something greater in life.

LA-based rockers The Bronx return for their sixth studio album 'Bronx VI' which comes out worldwide on Cooking Vinyl August 27th. Bronx VI builds on the legacy The Bronx has established in its near two-decade existence, but which definitely proves the door to what’s next has not just been kicked down, but chopped up and burned to a cinder. Yes, the first four tracks – “White Shadow”, “Superbloom”, “Watering The Well” and “Curb Feelers” – bristles with the wild and untamed energy that’s defined the band from the off, but then – all of a sudden, as “Peace Pipe” kicks in – the pace and mood shifts to something a little less aggressive. Elsewhere, “Mexican Summer” and its (relatively) chilled-out mariachi vibes serve as an homage to the band’s alter-ego, Mariachi El Bronx (and was written while that incarnation of the band was on tour), while fatalistic closer “Participation Trophy” masks the Caughthran’s existential dread behind searing riffs and a catchy, defiant and exuberant melody. “The feelings I got when writing for this sixth record is the same type of feeling I got writing “Heart Attack American”. It all comes from the same place and it’s all still 100% genuine and real. Believe me – I’m still feeling the raw emotion that I felt when this band first started. That’s just who I am, that’s who we are as people. You can’t fake stuff like that when it comes to music or art. You have to stay connected. You’ve just got to be real” - Matt Caughthran, vocalist. Bronx VI was produced by Joe Baressi (Melvins, Tool, Bad Religion).

Only Up is the second Breeze album by producer and artist Josh Korody
(Nailbiter, Beliefs).
Enlisting a whirlwind of performances from Tess Parks, Cadence Weapon and
an array of the Toronto music scene, including members of Orville Peck, Tallies,
Vallens, Zoon, Sauna, Fake Palms, Rapport, Praises, Civic TV, Moon King, Blonde
Elvis, For Jane, Ducks Ltd, TOPS and Broken Social Scene. Only Up sees Korody
digging through and channelling three decades of anthemic British bands.
From the angular guitars of late 70”s post-punk (Gang Of Four, Wire), to the
lush gloom of 80’s electro-pop (Tears for Fears, OMD), with the dance floor
psychedelia of the Manchester sound (Primal Scream, Happy Mondays), and
through the late ‘90s and early 2000s post-punk / new wave revivalists.
When originally tasked with making this album, Korody and his long time music collaborator Kyle Connolly (Orville Peck, The Seams) quickly threw down
ideas in a session, however with Connolly embarking on a world tour, and with
Korody’s demanding schedule at his Candle Recording Studio, the project sat
unattended.
Somehow, by the time of the album’s delivery deadline, Korody not only orchestrated a creative ensemble of friends and collaborators, he wrote, recorded and mixed the entirety of the album in two weeks without a single regret
or compromise.
“It was the best way I could have done it. A strict deadline to make decisions,
move on and focus on things that matter the most. Every decision was made in
that headspace. The ease of technology to endlessly tweak with, it sometimes
can end up destroying records until there is no soul in it, no happy accidents
and it’s completely sterile. You can have a well produced record without going
down that dark rabbit hole.” Only Up is out via Hand Drawn Dracula.

Canadian collective The Hello Darlins, dubbed “the Broken Social Scene of
Americana”, release their first full-length LP Go By Feel on June 11, 2021.
With over 500,000 combined Spotify streams for their initial three singles, it’s
safe to say there’s a lot of anticipation for their debut album. The buzz began
building almost immediately after the Calgary, Alberta-based Americana collective debuted on the scene in early 2020, with American Songwriter calling the
group “the product of a talented pool of session musicians craving more,” while
Americana UK stated, “It’s great to see a band put together by the talented
folks who would usually be ‘behind the scenes.’”
So, who exactly are The Hello Darlins? The seeds of the band took root in 2016
when vocalist/producer Candace Lacina crossed paths again with keyboardist/
producer Mike Little after first meeting at a recording studio years earlier. Once
reconnected, they soon found themselves making music together in between
their work with other artists, an impressive list that ranges from Shania Twain
to Charlie Major, The Road Hammers to George Canyon as well as the late B.B.
King.
In short order, the couple began inviting others within their circle to participate, including Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies), Clay- ton Bellamy (The
Road Hammers), Matt Andersen, Dave and Joey Landreth (aka The Bros. Landreth), Russell Broom (Jann Arden), and ace fiddler Shane Guse.
On Go By Feel, this incredible collection of talent has forged a hybrid of country,
gospel and blues like no other, from the heart-wrenching ballads “Aberdeen”
and “Prayer For A Sparrow” to the classic country-rocker “Mountain Time” and
the album’s soulful title track.
Making music influenced by times of joy and sorrow is natural for Candace and
Mike, as both come from families with long musical traditions within Canada.
It all adds up to The Hello Darlins preferring to add “North” to the Americana
genre, a more than symbolic gesture that’s in line with a musical vision that will
continue to evolve as soon as the band gets a chance to play live with a lineup that could potentially consist of anywhere between five to nine players on
stage.
Until then, audiences will now be able to fully savour the tunes, musicianship
and production of Go By Feel, proof positive that teamwork ultimately leads to
exceptional results.

The product of their fading seaside-resort hometown of Littlehampton, Gloo speak for the timeless day to day drudgery and angst; a rhapsody to lives gone stale, the band's pop laced punk rock is the perfect soundtrack to those in need of a little 21st Century escapism. 'Ride' and 'Down' are the latest tracks taken from Gloo's upcoming second album 'How Not To Be Happy', recorded with Jag Jago (The Maccabees, Jamie T, Max Raptor) across the summer of 2020, in-between local lockdowns.

2021 newly re-pressed color vinyl of LIZZY BORDEN's 1987 third album, featuring the hit track "Me Against the World". "Me Against the World" was also featured in the heavy-metal horror film Black Roses, which remains a cult classic. The album was produced by Max Norman, who produced Ozzy's debut "Blizzard of Oz", Y&T's "Black Tiger" and many other famous metal albums. Lizzy Borden has spent over 30 years creating some of the most theatrical metal in existence and in the process has become nothing short of a metal icon. Releasing classics such as Love You to Pieces (1985) and Master of Disguise (1989) and obliterating audiences worldwide with a stage show that rivals that of Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper.

Newly re-pressed colored vinyl of Lizzy Borden's 1984 debut EP "Give 'Em the Axe. Lizzy Borden has spent over 30 years creating some of the most theatrical metal in existence and in the process has become nothing short of a metal icon. Releasing classics such as Love You to Pieces (1985) and Master of Disguise (1989) and obliterating audiences worldwide with a stage show that rivals that of Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper.

Produced by and featuring Aesop Rock. “I wrote half of these songs when my energy was either headed in the wrong direction or already there. I wrote the other half while my energy was moving in a direction I’m more excited about, that I find to be more enriching. They’re all still my songs though. My mother, and lots of my relatives, used to call me “Angelito.” Little Angel. The taijitu is the symbol for yin and yang. Opposites that make a whole. Given the dualistic/duelistic nature of the songs on the record, put it all together and what do you get, Anjelitu.” - Homeboy Sandman

WSTR were born from the belly of Liverpool in
2014 and had a swift rise as a part of the
burgeoning UK pop punk scene alongside bands
like Neck Deep, Boston Manor and As It Is.
Originally released on No Sleep Records, where
they signed before they had even played a show,
the band's debut EP ‘SKWRD’ and debut album
‘Red, Green Or Inbetween’ cemented them as one
of the favourites of the scene and saw them tour
the world multiple times over.
Now on Hopeless Records, who are reissuing
these titles on coloured vinyl (‘Red, Green Or
Inbetween’ on purple & bone split and ‘SKRWD’ on
red & bone split coloured vinyl) after having been
out of print for years.
For fans of Neck Deep, As It Is, Boston Manor.

From the cosmos of Stretford on the outer realms of Manchester comes the kaleidoscope view of the world according to Psychederek and it's an explosive trip of shoe gaze soaked balearica.

Lead track Screamadereka heads straight into orbit from the get go with a stop off to thank the likes of The Cocteau Twins & Death In Vegas for their influence along the way. Huge drums, spaced out synths, warped guitars & a fully charged love in style vocal all wrapped up in a mushroom flavoured microdot with a pretty empowering finale.

I'm Alright steps up the ante a bit more and goes all Tomorrow Never Knows on us but with added warehouse acid squelch & rasps throbbing out from a beat that is broken (but not break beat!) whilst still retaining the psychedelic tendencies of its predecessor.

Sean Johnston steps off the ALFOS rocket ship and joins forces with Duncan Gray for their Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Disco Dub take of Screamadereka and the result is a hive of cosmic mutant disco brilliance whilst Manchester's finest 6 piece See Thru Hands turn I'm Alright into bombastic focused UKG style wig out duet complete with new vocal takes by DNCN for seriously wonky floors & like minded souls.


Includes beautiful insert artwork by Emma Evans

Get on Down is proud to present A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, the debut album by Black Sheep, available for the first time ever as double vinyl release. On the initial release of this classic it was 'The Choice Is Yours' that blew the roof off with even the most of novice rap fans gravitating to the song's energy. The cut has gone on to be featured in a long list of films and commercials (including the KIA campaign with the hip hop hamsters). Singles like 'The Choice Is Yours' and 'Flavor of the Month' made a perfect landing strip for those to delve deeper into the duo's debut. Often humorous ('Strobelite Honey'), often serious ('Black with No N.V (No Vision)', Black Sheep were able to craft an album that displayed their witty sensibilities while also staying conscious in true Native Tongue form. From the moment the album starts with Prince Paul introducing the 'lowlifes of the family tree' you know you are in for something special....and different. Mista Lawnge's production is every bit as textured as fellow counter parts Tribe or De La, while standing out as being completely original and fresh. Tracks like 'Butt in the Meantime', 'Try Counting Sheep' and 'La Menage (Featuring Q Tip)' are great examples of the duo's original style - complex layered beats (everything from Jazz, Soul and Rock all meshed together perfectly) to compliment Dres' distinct voice and word play. With other standout album cuts like 'For Those That Slept' and 'To Who It May Concern' it seemed as if they had an endless bag of treats, each offering something different while preserving the groups style. Polar opposite to what other groups at the time were doing, Black Sheep hit a homerun with their debut that few hip hop acts would ever reach. VH1 called 'The Choice Is Yours' one of the Top 100 Hip Hop tracks of all time and with not one bad or filler track, this full album certainly ranks as one of the best hip hop releases of the 90s.

A vibrant electronic fusion of lounge, jazz, and disco is maybe not the first (or fifth) thing you would expect to hear from one of the world’s most renowned modern composers and ambient tape loop pioneers, but upon first listen, it makes so much sense that one wonders why it didn’t happen sooner.

After years of producing and mentoring slews of young artists in 1990s Williamsburg, Brooklyn, William Basinski moved to Los Angeles. There he hired a young studio assistant, Preston Wendel, who eventually introduced his own works to the curious composer. That spawned a creative partnership that inspired Wendel to persuade Basinski to haul out his saxophone. Five years later, SPARKLE DIVISION has arrived with their enchanting debut album, To Feel Embraced.

Produced by SPARKLE DIVISION at Basinski’s Musex International in Los Angeles, the duo were joined by a few notable friends: Mrs. Leonora Russo (who Basinski affectionately calls “the true Sicilian Sparkle Division, my Brooklyn Mom, the Queen of Williamsburg”) offers her sparkling voice to “Queenie Got Her Blues”; fabled free-jazz icon and genuine bodhisattva, the late Henry Grimes, contributed upright bass and violin to the aptly-named “Oh Henry!” (“Lotta babies gonna be born from this one,” Henry and Margaret Davis Grimes playfully declared); and London vocalist Xeli Grana offers her ethereal voice to the album’s meditative title track.

'A Mythology of Circles' is the new album from Brooklyn-based composer and musical artist Faten Kanaan, her first to be released on Fire Records. Cyclical patterns and 'variation through repetition' are central to Faten's music. Harmony and counterpoint are composed intuitively and treated as narrative tools- with sound, silence, and the resulting mystical relationship between notes used as gestures to tell a wordless story. The album is separated into a 'dusk to evening' side, and an 'underworld/dream-state' side; highlighting the myths of Ishtar, Inanna, Orpheus, Persephone, and others. Inspired by cinematic forms and mythological story structures: from sweeping landscapes and quiet romances, to patterned tensions and dream sequences; Faten brings an earthy, visceral touch to electronic music. In symbiosis with technology is an appreciation for the vulnerability of human limitations and nuances. All the sections are played in real time, neither looped nor sequenced- allowing for subtle changes to unfold. The use of VST sampled choral voices in this album embodies the forlorn state of technological acceleration, and the desire to return to a vulnerable human sound. The album art also explores a complicated relationship with technology: the statue comes from a series of digital replicas, returning in its last stage to a more intimate and handmade feel. Composed, produced and mixed by Faten Kanaan, the album was mastered by Heba Kadry (Bjork, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Julianna Barwick). "Strangely haunting yet beautiful bouquet of nocturnal, electronic blooms ranging from poignant ambient vignettes to chamber-like pop, from Brooklyn's Faten Kanaan- a gifted musical story-teller" Boomkat

Dynamite Cuts 45s series is proud to release another double-pack; loaded with jazz funk 7” wonders. F.B.I. (Funk Band Inc) was the UK’s original Jazz-funk band. Four tracks from this timeless LP are now on 7” for the first time. Originally released in 1977, this LP is now massive with the collectors, and is in the ‘must-have’ category. The incredible ‘Bad Deal’ (my personal favorite), and, yes, the outstanding, “Talkin about love”, are both on there. This Dynamite Cuts release is a gatefold edition; with some previously unseen photos of the band. Unmissable

There is a moment near the top of jaimie branch's FLY or DIE LIVE, the new album recorded by the trumpeter's quartet at in Zurich, Switzerland on January 23rd, 2020, which feels like it bears the weight of both that specific pocket of time, and a prophecy for all that was soon to come. branch and her Fly or Die crew - cellist Lester St. Louis, bassist Jason Ajemian, and drummer Chad Taylor - had just kicked off the concert at Moods, with the opening tracks off their then-new studio album FLY or DIE II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, the second of which, "Prayer for Amerikkka" is among the best political songs written during the Tr*mp Era, and when the moment in question pops off.

Runnner's Always Repeating yearns for a sense of place. The project of the now LA-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Noah Weinman, Runnner's poignant reflections on the isolation and anxiety caused by a sense of rootlessness radiate with wit and charm. Self-produced and recorded wherever he called home at the time, Always Repeating documents this cycle of looking back and moving forward, of alienation changing to reconciliation. For Weinman, Runnner is primarily a solo endeavor with an ever - expanding musical community of musicians collaborating on his albums and shows, which at times have been known to feature up to a 7-piece live band (he also has a burgeoning career as a producer, notably working on Skullcrusher's critically-acclaimed debut EP for Secretly Canadian). Weinman completed Always Repeating last fall in Western Massachusetts and Woodstock using a mobile studio set-up. He played the majority of the instruments himself, including guitar, bass, trumpet, banjo, piano and synth. The goal was to create the perfect balance of intimate and melancholy songwriting through the lens of hi-fi/lo-fi dynamics, inspired by his favorite artists like Bon Iver, the Microphones, and Julien Baker. The 10-track collection is composed of five re-recorded versions of songs that appeared on Runnner's 2017 debut, Awash, and 2020's One of One EP. Although the songs were written over the course of three years, all find Weinman grappling with the same thing: feelings of uncertainty about his life. Always Repeating ultimately tells the start of Weinman's journey as Runnner, and his cyclical feelings of being connected and then disconnected from the world over and over again.

The latest entry in the ongoing series of exciting collaborations sees the Turkish free form ensemble KONSTRUKT live on stage with THURSTON MOORE.

# 5 in the continuing series of KONSTRUKT collaborations on KARL is a live document of the concert by the Turkish freeform group with THURSTON MOORE. KONSTRUKT, the Istanbul based free jazz / freeform group founded and led by UMUT ÇAĞLAR and KORHAN FUTACI, are known for their openness to and interest in collaborations – and regularly meet up and perform with new partners that range from JOE McPHEE, WILLIAM PARKER, AKIRA SAKATA, MARSHALL ALLEN, EVAN PARKER, ALEXANDER HAWKINS, KEN VANDERMARK or OTOMO YOSHIHIDE. This latest release sees the quartet join forces with one of the indie rock icons: THURSTON MOORE, who besides his decade-long main band SONIC YOUTH always found time and inspiration for solo projects and collaborations of different kinds.

"Turkish Belly", recorded live at SalonIKSV in Istanbul in february last year, is as adventurous and daring as one will expect from such a pairing and a highly rewarding experience for the fans of KONSTRUKT and those of MOORE alike.

[a] 01: Yapayalnız (Gezerler Sokaklarda) [Live] [feat. Thurston Moore]
[b] 02: Sis (Live) [feat. Thurston Moore]
[c] 03: Kurtadam, Pt. I (Live) [feat. Thurston Moore]
[d] 04: Kurtadam, Pt. II (Live) [feat. Thurston Moore]
[e] 05: Zor (Live) [feat. Thurston Moore]
[f] 06: Uğultular (Live) [feat. Thurston Moore]

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Parampara Festival 13.3.1992, a stunning performance by Amelia Cuni captured live in Berlin almost thirty years ago. Milanese by birth and resident in Berlin for many years, Cuni lived in India for over a decade, studying the classical vocal style of dhrupad under masters of the form. Though perhaps known to many listeners primarily through her performances of the vocal music of John Cage and collaborations with Werner Durand and Terry Riley, she is recognised internationally as one of the great contemporary proponents of traditional dhrupad singing. These recordings document her performance at the 1992 Parampara Festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, a landmark event celebrating the global spread of Indian classical music, bringing together Indian teachers with their international students.

Accompanied by Gianni Ricchizzi on vichitra vina (a plucked zither played with a glass ball slide) and her own tanpura, Cuni stretches out for a languorous side-long performance of the late night Raag Bageshri, the limpid tones of her vocal improvisations illuminating the droning strings like flashes of the moon revealed by rushing clouds. Initially working patiently through a series of subtle dialogues between Cuni’s melodic extemporisations and phrases in response from Richizzi’s vichitra vina, the performance builds to a series of strikingly beautiful, virtuosic held notes from Cuni at the beginning of its second half, before picking up some brisker rhythmic articulation on the way to its conclusion.

On Devino Amor, Cuni presents her own composition, a setting of mystical texts by the 13th century Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi, elaborated through various traditional raags. Like the words used for most dhrupad compositions, the text Cuni has selected from da Todi praises divine love, thus linking her otherwise unorthodox use of Italian text to the dhrupad tradition. The result is a performance of a yearning intensity that communicates across any language barrier. On the final performance, Cuni and Ricchizzi are joined by Helmut Waibl on the two-headed pakhawaj drum for a piece using a 14 beat rhythmic pattern that sets in motion a cycle of tension and release, metrical dissolution and resolution, possessing a subtle grandeur.

Illustrated with archival images of the performance and accompanied by new liner notes from Peter Pannke and Lars-Christian Koch, Parampara Festival 13.3.1992 invites listeners to lose themselves in Amelia Cuni’s unique approach to ancient tradition.

Cole Pulice is a saxophone player from Minneapolis. An improviser of Ambient Jazz who earned his merits touring with Bon Iver, working with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and releasing wonderful electroacoustic gems with the groups Iceblink (Moon Glyph) and LCM (Orange Milk). With Gloam - his solo debut - Cole Pulice offers us six spacious audio holograms, one-take recordings of his saxophone entangled with live electronic hardware. We hear undulating pitch shifters, ring modulations and spectrally rich harmonizers. Cole applies all signal processing live, augmenting the calm, serene melodies Cole plays on his saxophone. The electronics never serve as a mere effect here. Instead, Cole’s fine-tuned setup functions as one whole instrument with which he effortlessly morphs shapes and colors, like fractals within a kaleidoscope or fragments of stained glass in a rock tumbler. Cole mentions the Synchromism visual art movement as an influence for this record, an American avantgarde style of the early 20th century in which colour and sound were treated as equivalents. It’s a spot-on analogy for these musical gems which serve to immerse us in imaginatory prisms. Cole’s sessions conjoin artificial processes with the vibrations of his breath to create electro-acoustic lullabies which reveal ever more timbral layers with each listen. Gloam was released on tape by the Moon Glyph imprint from Portland during the first lockdown in 2020 and has been licensed to Pingipung for this vinyl edition.

Freiburg based Italian stallion Enea releases his 2nd longplayer "Overview" on his own, soulful South-German imprint, Beatalistics Records.

The 10 track album once again showcases the versatile background of the former Bass-Player, who grew up on the picturesque Lake Constance. Having been a familiar name in the international Drum'n Bass scene for more than a decade, Enea now also takes us beyond the classic 170+ bpm rhythm structures to give us a proper "Overview" of his musical philosophy.

Comprising his typical softer rolling, Liquid based tunes like "Wonders" featuring label partner MC Fava, "Earthrise" with "Freebird" or "Moon" alongside the vocal talent Vavunettha, he additionally presents various influential styles throughout the album. "Interstellar Dub" and the dub remix of "Nuh Smile" featuring Kyrad from Switzerland lead us off the beat on dubby paths, whereas the title track "Overview", "Clouds" or the remix of "Fly High" with Meks Sample & El Tronic show his affinity for smoother Trip-HipHop grooves. By the way, you might recognize an organic and pulsating bass here and there, of course played by the maestro himself! This is warm and beautiful music for sophisticated and open minded souls. Enea!

Ephat Mujuru exemplifies a unique generation of traditional musicians in Zimbabwe. Born under an oppressive colonial regime in Southern Rhodesia, his generation witnessed the brutality of the 1970s liberation struggle, and then the dawn of independent Zimbabwe, a time in which African music culture - long stigmatized by Rhodesian educators and religious authorities - experienced a thrilling renaissance. Under the tutelage of his grandfather, who was a respected spirit mediumand mbira master, Ephat showed an early talent for the rigors of mbiratraining, playing his first possession ceremony when he was just ten years old. By then, guerilla war was engulfing the country and his grandfather Muchatera tragically became a victim of the violence, a devastating blow to the young musician. In the midst of the liberation struggle, mbira music became political. Eventually, the Rhodesians were defeated, but rather than return to the past, the nation of Zimbabwe was born and a new future unfolded. Ephat threw himself into the spirit of independence, singing of brotherhood, healing, and unity: crucial themes during a time when the nation's two dominant ethnic groups, the Shona and the Ndebele, were struggling to reconcile differences. Ephat's band would eventually follow the popular trend and add electric instruments. But before that, he and Spirit of the People released two all-acoustic albums, and they may well be the most exciting and beautiful recordings he made in his career. Mbavaira, the second of these albums, was released in 1983. As the independence years moved on, there would be fewer and fewer commercial mbira releases. But for the moment, Ephat had the required stature and reputation. Also, with the energy and drive we hear in these recordings, the album could easily rival the pop music of its day. Within a few years after the release of Mbavaira, it and albums like it became harder to find in Zimbabwean record stores. Ephat adapted to the times and formed an electric band. They recorded more albums over the years but none of them have the particularly delicious energy of Spirit of the People in the first years of Zimbabwe's independence.

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.

The magnificent and incomparable Muddy Waters performed 3 legendary concerts at the Montreux Jazz Festival throughout the 1970s. Each of these historic concerts were recorded. Muddy Waters name is synonymous with the authenticity, excellence and individuality of the festival and this collection is a celebration of his unique talent.

The Montreux Years collection will bring together for the first time, some of the finest moments from Muddy Waters’ celebrated performances alongside rare material, unheard since the original recording.

Expertly curated by the Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG, restored and remastered in superlative HD audio; The Montreux Years is released on superior audiophile heavy weight vinyl, MQA quality CD and in HD digital.


Montreux Media Ventures (MMV) in partnership with BMG are working together to produce and release a premium series of albums and activities, curated from the unique Montreux Jazz festival archive; one of the finest music collections in the world.

As part of this exciting new joint venture MMV and BMG have commenced work to establish a new series of deluxe artist collections under the new official Montreux Jazz records imprint. These initial collections; The Montreux Years will bring together the most iconic performances from the most significant artists to perform in the festival’s impressive five decade history.

The collaboration is an unprecedented curation project. The most extensive exploration of the official archive in the festival’s history. Expertly curated by the MJF and BMG teams and overseen by Claude Nobs’ partner and president of the Claude Nobs foundation, Thierry Amsallem, who will act as executive producer across the series.

The Montreux Years series is a celebration of Claude’s love of the artists and passion for the festival and are a fitting tribute to his legacy.

The BMG and Montreux Jazz music festival design teams will work in partnership to produce new and authentic creative, faithful to the festival’s reputation for iconic artwork.

New York City 4-piece deliver a modern blues rock masterclass on their feisty debut album.

“A timeless classic rock sound that revels in lean riffs and raw emotion.” – Afropunk

In an age where artistic merit is awarded to those who shout the loudest, Dakota Jones pride themselves on an unwavering ability to leave a lasting impression. Spearheaded by Tristan Carter-Jones fierce and unashamedly uncensored songwriting, the band’s fast-growing reputation as formidable live act has stamped Dakota Jones with the hell-hath-no-fury power of Chaka Khan, the wild spontaneity of Janis Joplin, and the honey-dripping sensuality of Marvin Gaye. Their debut album’s message of proud black heritage and triumphant queerness manifests itself in Carter-Jones’ ability to challenge norms of adulthood and femininity as she takes a deep dive into some of life’s most visceral emotions.

Tristan Carter-Jones: “I’m a black, queer woman expressing myself through love and music. Some folks still find that to be a transgressive act in and of itself. I work to fight that idea. I write a lot about my
Continued over…
sexuality and the ways in which I express it. Songs about sex and love bounce back and forth between songs about heartache, hangovers and self-medication, and the pleasure and pain of truly finding yourself. I don’t think we get to hear these things from a woman’s mouth as often as we should.”

Serving as an instant tone setter, the album opens with the line "Stretch marks from growing pains" with Carter-Jones lamenting the woes of adjusting to adulthood on lead single ‘Did It To Myself’ - her husky and commanding vocal instantly asserting its place in the spotlight. The atmosphere soon turns steamy on the flirtatious title track ‘Blacklight,’ whilst fantasising over a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde love affair the funk-laden ‘We Playin Bad Games’ packs a punch with its tale of free spirits entwined in a haze of late-night revelry.

Elsewhere, stories of caustic heartache twist the knife into wounded blues guitar riffs on ‘Like That’ and ‘Black Magic (That Power)’, in which Carter-Jones’s stoical voice never once faulters as she mourns the memories of a previous flame. Personal prayer ‘Lord Please’ recites empowered words of reassurance, and solidarity in the face of injustice erupts into a rallying cry for change on the classic sounding ‘Noise’ – written as a reaction to the 2016 US election. “I woke up after the election feeling pure panic and fear in my body,” remembers Tristan. “I wanted people in a place of privilege to stand up for what I was feeling, stand up for injustice, stand up for all of the things we need to change as a country. I wanted their rage, and I wanted their noise.”

Finally, the band’s tender tropes of togetherness eventually boil into gritty, guitar-slung balladry on hidden bonus track, ‘California,’ where, knees buckling under the weight of past trials and tribulations, Carter-Jones sets out on one final journey of self-discovery, hastily pulling out from reality and leaving only a dust cloud in her wake.

Production comes courtesy of the Grammy-winning John Wooler, ex Virgin Records A+R and founder of the Blues label Pointblank who has worked with everyone from John Lee Hooker and John Hammond to Isaac Hayes and Van Morrison. The album also features a wealth of hugely talented and accomplished musicians, including backing vocalist Kudisan Kai, former backing vocalist for the likes of Elton John, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Beck, Sting, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott. Also present; Grammy winning keyboardist Jon Gilutin, who has spent years working with some of the industry’s most respected and iconic artists including Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Jackson Browne, Celine Dion, Bonnie Rait and Carole King. You’ll also hear the talents of acclaimed guitarist Michael Toles. Most well-known for being a part of the Stax Records group The Bar Kays, and for his contributions on famous records by Issac Hayes, Al Green, BB King, Johnny Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Albert King to name just a few.

Dakota Jones are a rising funk, soul and blues rock band from Brooklyn, New York City. Comprising of Tristan Carter-Jones (vocals), Scott Kramp (bass) Steve Ross (drums), and acclaimed musician Randy Jacobs (guitar) - former member of Was(Not Was) who has recorded for Seal, Bonnie Raitt, Tears for Fears, Elton John and many others. Though Carter-Jones and Ross first met in 1999 whilst at primary school, the band formed years later following a series of home jam sessions in 2016. The band’s collective alias originates from Carter-Jones’s middle name, ‘Dakota’. Dakota Jones have since released a string of acclaimed singles and EPs as well as received international attention for their track, ‘Have Mercy’ after it featured on Netflix’s 2019 film, Always Be My Maybe starring Ali Wong and Randall Park – and now after years of hard work and determination, the band are finally set to reveal their long awaited debut album. “We’d been regularly releasing EPs, waiting for our chance to come, and wondering what that would look like,” says Carter-Jones. “We didn’t realise until we started making this record that we needed to stop waiting for some break to come along, and just do it ourselves, independently.”

“Black Light really dives into a place of funk soul and everything that comes with it. There’s joy and dancing, sleek guitar licks and funky bass slaps. There’s pain and longing, and there’s the feeling of relief when you come out of that place and find your joy and purpose again. Black Light is my story.”

For over a year one of the most watched ‘YouTubers’ and internet sensations has been Toyah Willcox. Toyah’s ‘Sunday Lunch’ performances with Robert Fripp and weekend broadcasts have been seen by 38 million. Simultaneous to creating consistently unique online videos, Toyah made the album Posh Pop with her long-term songwriting partner Simon Darlow. Posh Pop is a strong collection of infectious and affirmative pop songs that are as joyous as they are
reflective, from the cosmic groove of “Space Dance”, to the sun kissed anthem of unity “Summer Of Love”. The album is crafted with evocative storytelling and musicianship from Toyah, Simon Darlow
(guitars, keyboards, cello), Bobby Willcox (guitar) and Jeremy Stacey (drums). Posh Pop opens with the energy-burst of “Levitate” and leads the listener on a journey that climaxes in the soaring, intergalactic-tinged “Take Me Home”. The album was inspired by the world we find ourselves in today and touches on the ever-present desire to be ‘famous for fifteen minutes’ a la Andy Warhol, escaping the everyday, but above all staying connected to humankind beyond computer screens and geography. Produced by Simon Darlow, Posh Pop is Toyah’s first brand new studio solo album since 2008 and twenty-fifth album since 1979.

Must have rare groove classic from Hawaii.
Original tracklisting includes full version of “Powerslide”.
Meticulously restored and remastered by Jessica Thompson.
First official reissue outside of Japan.
Highly coveted Hawaiian jazz/soul album. The debut album from Mackey Feary’s solo band after departing seminal contemporary Hawaiian group, Kalapana.

This LP reads like a who’s who in the local 70s music scene: Nohelani Cypriano (of “Lihue” cult fame), Azure McCall (of Lemuria), Jimmy Funai (who produced Hal Bradbury’s debut), and Gaylord Holomalia (who now runs the island studio where stars record, incl. Kanye West, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey).

Unlike other reissues, this Aloha Got Soul pressing includes the full version of “Powerslide” in all its 7-minute glory. An all-time classic must-have record from the Hawaiian Islands.

Things become intangible. On his 3d album "Take Care Of Me", Murena Murena does an about-turn: his new songs are silhouette vehicles in the reverse of all traffic formulas that strive for speed and progress. You can also do it with your back on the floor, you can also go backwards! In Murena Murena's Augmented Reality Roll, language, rhythm and harmony always turn and expand in the opposite direction. The direction we / they came from. If the idea of a monoposto was to replace the front passenger with a rear-view mirror, and from then on to let the driver run the distance forwards and backwards in the driver's eye, then you can also carry out a U-turn while sitting on a chair with eyes painted on the lids. A mandrill will quickly become the Sphinx. And a hawk moth sees just as much as a fire bug. Dry sump lubrication in the box: camshafts driven by a spur gear cascade ensure additional turbulence of the helium mist in the crankcase through their rotary motion. Of course, that's hard to believe. Gone, the wet sump lubrication of ,Shame Over,! You, listener, now have to grab the ropes yourself and perform wave-like movements, pull the ropes and let them pop. If your eyes go black, you have both hands free again.

Repressed !

Luca Cazal & Josh Baker kickstart Richy Ahmed’s new vinyl focused imprint, Back 2 Black, with a brace of intergalactic tracks. The new label’s first release also features a remix from British electronic stalwart, Radioactive Man.

Cazal remains a central figure within the house & techno community; his DJ residency at Circoloco is longstanding and releases for labels like Crosstown Rebels, Classic Music Company, his own See Double label, and Richy Ahmed’s Four Thirty Two imprint have marked out his production prowess and ear for a good groove. Josh Baker has been rising up the ranks over the last few years, with releases for Ben Rau’s META label, Locus and his own You&Me label.

On ‘Organ Nuke’, Cazal & Baker dip into the kind of spacey techno house that was forged by Detroit pioneers Underground Resistance, as funky percussion and organ stabs are coupled with dreamy pads and cosmic tones. ‘Rocket Ship’ continues these themes, with heavy 909 drums anchoring a cheeky acid bassline and flashes of cosmogonic sound.

British DJ & producer, Radioactive Man, has long since been at the coalface of electronic music’s leftfield. As one half of Two Lone Swordsman (with the late, great Andrew Weatherall), and multiple aliases for his industrious flow of releases, the revered producer injects a heavy dose of classy electro and Drexciyan vibes into ‘Rocket Ship’. Rolling breaks unfurl in the electro beats as head scrambling keys and rasping bass stimulate the senses for a funkin’ body poppin’ workout.

German DJ and producer Marc Brauner returns to the Killer Cuts series which he kicked off for Shall Not Fade back in February, sharing five tracks of hard pumping house to lose yourself in.

Patience EP starts as it means to go on with "Your Heart"; a hot cut of anthemic earworm organ house that doesn't hold back on the summertime rave nostalgia. Brauner explores 2-step on searing A2 "Optimist" which is riddled with deep house energy and a syncopated bassline that'll put a swing in your step.

"Be Patient" channels how we have all been feeling this past year waiting for the return of the dance; it carries Strictly Rhythm influence and a prescient vocal motif. The record closes but doesn't fade away, ending with "Faster", where momentous uplifting synth stable tumble forwards to great effect. The digital bonus track is "In Love", another playful, hypnotic bassline complimenting the consistent feel good vibes.

Two powerduos in charge for SPT005: Norwegian artist Filip Storsveen alias Oprofessionell teamed up with local buddy Mikkel Rev - as Omformer - and Vienna based producer Alpha Tracks - as Kineta - to deliver four cosmic Trance tunes for intense dancefloor moments.

The trackname B2 Kineta - Clone Drone has been changed to Carbon Based - Cyclone (Kineta Remix) for copyright reasons.

Though most debuts are the culmination of a lifetime of influences and experiences, few artists succeed in mapping their musical journey quite as vividly as Baba Ali has on Memory Device. Tracing his Nigerian heritage, an adolescence absorbing No Wave and the hip hop on NYC's Hot 97, time immersed in the techno scene in Berlin, and the experimental punk spirit of his current base in London, Memory Device is an enthralling introduction to a musician who resolutely defies pigeonholing.

‘Falling From Fame’ is Takida’s follow album to the hugely successful ‘Sju’, which has become a milestone album in Takida’s over two decades long career, as ‘Sju’ broke the band outside of Sweden, and specifically in Germany, with tracks like ‘Master’ and ‘What About Me’. ‘Falling From Fame’ could be Takida’s most solid album, 11 newly composed tracks with a range of strong singles such as the introducing track- ‘Goodbye’.

New Yorker Singer-Songwriter entdeckt den Westcoast-Sound. Das 2019 erschienene Album "The Unseen In Between" etablierte den amerikanischen Musiker Steve Gunn als einen Großmeister des US-Songwritings - mit seinem neuen Album "Other You" unterstreicht er nun diesen Anspruch. Gunn, der ursprünglich aus Pennsylvania stammt und mittlerweile in Brooklyn lebt, ist für die Aufnahmen zu seinem neuen Album an die Westküste gereist. Das passt perfekt, denn seine Musik ist der ideale Soundtrack für Roadtrips von der Ostküste an die Westküste des Landes. Sein fein destillierter Sound lässt sich dabei zwischen Roots Rock, Americana, Folk und Jazz treiben. Steve Gunn ist Traditionalist und Suchender zugleich. Zumeist geht er nur mit losen Ideen ins Studio, bei denen er am Anfang nie so genau weiß, wo sie ihn am Ende hinführen werden. Ähnlich gestaltete sich das auch dieses Mal. Sein sechstes Studioalbum "Other You" nahm Steve Gunn zusammen mit Produzentenlegende Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile) in dessen Mant Studios in Los Angeles Ende 2020 und Anfang 2021 auf. Schnapf hat großen Anteil an der Entstehung dieses Albums. Er schüttelte nicht nur das Soundbett auf, sondern mischte auch Steve Gunns Stimme in den Vordergrund, um den poetischen Lyrics des Songwriters die richtige Bühne zu bieten. Mit Hilfe von befreundeten Musikern wie Juliana Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Bridget St. John, Jeff Parker, Bill MacKay, Ben Bertrand und dem Schlagzeuger Ryan Sawyer (TV On The Radio, Thurston Moore, Gang Gang Dance) entstand mit "Other You" ein Album, mit dem Steve Gunn nicht nur die Grenzen von Genres auslotet, sondern auch seine eigenen.

This very one Lost Boy from Brazil washed ashore the Lowlands' 'Finis Terrae', a produce of first-generation 'Shock Doctrine' and a real 'carioca' borne on the New World's 'Bossa Nova' and 'Esplendor Geometrico' of old 'Ancien Regime' para-military junta hat delivers quite some maximally dark and manic minimal wave of late, at times even slightly reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees and of Joy Division, and all sung through old and charming, slightly dissonant 'Samba' melody lines vaguely hailing from certain sinister up-hill 'Cicade de Deus' margins of a distinctly distant 'Vagamundo' Purgatory past in either the Portuguese, the English or the Spanish tongues, rendering the paranoia 'facsimile in Limbo' of the coming Futurist Global Orderly State, this deep-state 'Novo Estado Novo' within the current 'Nova Bossa Nova', this 'Guerra Nova Prometheida por uma Terra Nova Prometida', the World's Electronic New Wave 'Fado' of Digital Panopticon and similar forms of purely A.I.-bot-generated (nothing personal!) Totalitarian Torture 'Technique du coup d'Etat' in genuine random numbers as already foreseen and shown to all some long time before in the Magic Green on that 'Funky Dollar Bill', 'Novus Ordo Seclorum'... Mastered by Guy Tavares

Demon Records presents the narrated TV soundtrack of a ‘lost’ four-part adventure set in ancient
Greece, starring William Hartnell as the Doctor.
When the TARDIS lands on the plains of Asia Minor, not far from the walled city of Troy, the
Doctor is hailed as the great god Zeus. He’s enlisted by the Greek army – led by Odysseus and
Agamemnon – to come up with a strategy for defeating the Trojans. With his companions already
prisoners of the opposing side, the Doctor draws his inspiration from the legend of a certain
wooden horse…
Presented across two 140g vinyl Trojan Sunset splatter discs, this 1965 TV soundtrack – no
episodes of which survive as film recordings - is narrated by Peter Purves, who co-stars as the
Doctor’s companion Steven, with Maureen O’Brien making her final appearance as Vicki. The
guest cast includes Max Adrian as King Priam, Barrie Ingham as Paris, Frances White as Cassandra
and Ivor Salter as Odysseus. Incidental music is by Humphrey Searle, and the familiar strains of
the Doctor Who theme are courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
The coloured LPs are presented in a gatefold sleeve with fully illustrated inner sleeves. Original
episode billings, and full cast and credits, are included.
Dummedy-dum, Dummedy-dum, Dummedy-dum, Dum-dum…

Double Ultra Clear LP, Gatefold Jacket, Insert, Printed Inner Sleeves
A graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Ashe has been lauded by the likes of The FADER who raved about her ‘effortless voice’; People called her music, ‘deeply emotional yet so fun,’ Consequence of Sound
described her songs as, ‘accessible yet emotional’ and NME declared she’s ‘a
formidable new force in the pop world,’ among other accolades. Ashe’s touring resume includes performances at Coachella with Big Gigantic, and opening
slots for The Chainsmokers, LAUV, Louis The Child, Lewis Capaldi and more.
On TikTok Ashe gained 1 million followers, hitting over 2.5 billion video views
and 2.5 million videos created. On Instagram she has over 950K followers and
growing, approaching 520K followers on Twitter, and over 7.3 million monthly
listeners on Spotify. Her double EP Moral of the Story Chapters 1 & 2 is out now.
In 2020, Ashe also released the single ‘Save Myself,’ which garnered over a
million streams a week last summer, while the official music video saw #SaveMyselfMV trend on Twitter worldwide after its debut, including the U.S. at #5.
She recently contributed an original song, ‘The Same,’ to the new film and
soundtrack, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, her second placement in the
wildly popular Netflix franchise.
Ashe made her stunning late-night TV debut alongside Niall Horan on The Late
Late Show with James Corden, taped at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall and
her daytime debut on Ellen at the top of 2021. ‘Till Forever Falls Apart’ is the
first hint of more exciting new music which Ashe and FINNEAS recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Ashe’s debut album Ashlyn includes 14 songs
which she describes as ‘...deeply reflective and honest, full of stories of my
experiences with fear and pain and turning those hard things into joy and independence.
I’m an experiential writer and there was no way I was going to make an album
that didn’t address my personal journey, from my brother’s death this last year
to my own experiences with emotional abuse. I think you have to be vulnerable
to create something really great and I believe I did that. Writing this album was
also an opportunity to show that I’m not just a songwriter and a singer but a
producer and a musician with a very clear vision for my art.
Joni Mitchell refers to herself like a bee, gathering stories like pollen and trying
to make honey from it, ‘whether or not the flavor suits people is something
beyond my control.’ I really tried to take that approach to writing this album,
making something I loved above everything else. I couldn’t be more proud of
Ashlyn and I hope many people happen to love it too.”

As GospelbeacH continues to work on the follow-up to their third and most successful studio album LET IT BURN (2019) they are back to raise the vibrations and celebrate the good times with a little
detour through the past.
With the founding of CURATION RECORDS Chief Curator and GospelbeacH leader Brent Rademaker found himself surrounded by a room of over 1,200 60s/70s Glam Rock/Bubble Gum/Sunshine and Power Pop 45s owned by his record label partners.
Back in Mono Deluxe studios with his GospelbeacH brother Jonny Niemann
at the production controls they enlisted the well-seasoned and in-demand
rhythm section of Bob Glaub and Don Heffington that had worked with their
dear departed guitarist Neal Casal on his solo albums as well as Los Angeles
heroes Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Lone Justice and even
Sprinsgteen and Dylan.
Adding the Sunshine harmonies once again Nelson Bragg from the Brian Wilson/BeacH Boys Band.

An Aural & Visual Cinematic Live Experience
“Everything from the stage to the sound to the visuals were killer... a
beautiful two-hour venture. TesseracT should be very proud of themselves
for delivering such an immense quality of work for their fans during these
unfortunate times” - Metal Insider
Following on from 2018’s critically acclaimed studio album, Sonder, the band,
in the midst of a global pandemic decided to come together to present P O R T
A L S - a cinematic live experience like no other. The band took livestreams to a
new level by interspersing a conceptual storyline with their live performances
that featured a colossal and highly spectacular arena-style light show.
TesseracT are a band that sit outside the bounds of any genre specificity, pioneers of the ever-evolving rock and metal scene, with an unstoppable force of
off-kilter riffs, soaring melodies and disorientating atmospherics.
They put all of this into the December 2020 event that featured the band
performing songs spanning their entire catalogue. Highlights included “Nocturne” off their 2010 debut EP, Concealing Fate and continued with “Eden”
(One, 2011), “Of Matter” (Altered State, 2013), “Tourniquet” (Polaris, 2015),
and “King” (Sonder, 2018), with the whole performance capturing 14 songs
over 2+ hours.
Bass player Amos Williams explains more about the event and the concept
behind it: “P O R T A L S is a celebration of our love of performing. Each act is a
still from an ever-evolving musical personality. Each song is the conversations
you have with old friends when you meet up for the first time in ages and you
pick up exactly where you left off.”
Along with the release of the livestream event, the band will be playing their
first live shows in almost two years this November and December supporting
Trivium in the UK and Europe, as well as returning to North American shores
in 2022.
“The quality of the audio and visuals provide testament to TesseracT’s statement that the performance represents their biggest production to date” - Prog
/ Louder Sound

Shadow Kingdom Records is proud to present Hour of 13’s long-awaited
fourth album, ‘Black Magick Rites’, on CD and vinyl LP.
‘Black Magick Rites’ is the sweet sound of salvation...through damnation.
Hour of 13’s first full-length offering in over eight years, ‘Black Magick Rites’
was available digitally on the first of November 2020 for only 24 hours. Just as
uniquely, ‘Black Magick Rites’ also marks the first Hour of 13 album where he
handles not only all instruments, but also all vocals.
Indeed, Davis’ vocals evoke an ancient nostalgia, of doom metal before it was
“”doom metal”” - of the days when bands like Black Sabbath, Pagan Altar, and
Witchfinder General simply followed their respective muses wherever it took
them. And for Davis, ‘Black Magick Rites’ sees him taking his Hour of 13 muse
toward a rougher, more rock ‘n’ roll expression and yet tinged with an emotive
melancholy that resonates deeply within the soul.
No, no flavor-of-the-week “”occult rock”” cliches here, for Davis still prizes
blue-collared authenticity in his doom, but he likewise never lets it hamper his
immediately recognizable songwriting, which here ever so subtly inches closer
to classic deathrock territory (think the likes of early Christan Death and Voodoo Church).
Naturally, with a title like ‘Black Magick Rites’, an indulgence in occultism is expected, and you can literally feel the fingers of the black beyond reaching out
to you across every electric minute of this 44-minute monolith.

Thyrfing emerged from the ever-growing underground scene in Sweden
back in 1995.
After seven full-length albums and numerous live performances all over the
world, the band have gained a strong following over the years and an exquisite
standing within the metal scene.
They are considered one of the top bands within the so-called Viking/pagan
metal genre - but on the other hand, Thyrfing are so much more with their truly
outstanding and self-contained musical offering.
The name of the band is taken from the sword “Tyrfing” in Norse mythology - a
cursed blade that appears in several tales and myths. Ever since the start, the
mythology has played a huge part in the scenery and imagery of the band’s
music and lyrics, something which is still intact today.
‘Vanagandr’ (an alternate name for the wolf creature known by the more familiar Fenrir) is a celebration of the tales and stories of Scandinavia - the track
‘Undergangens lankar’ is a conceptual piece focusing on Vanagandr/Fenrir and
a track that carries the spirit and hallmarks that make Thyrfing so unique.
‘Dop dem i eld’ is both the opening song on the album and the first video, one
of two produced for the band by Patric Ullaeus (Dimmu Borgir, Europe, Arch
Enemy). A powerful, heavy, and aggressive track packed with groove and melody. Elsewhere ‘Tr ldomsord’ is regarded as possibly the band’s most intense
song to date, whereas ‘Jordaf rd’ closes the album in epic fashion - a mournful
and moody longing for the end to come. The perfect way to end the album!
Co-recorded and co-produced by Jakob Herrmann (In Flames, Machine Head,
Evergrey) in Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, with the renowned Jacob Hansen
(Volbeat, U.D.O., Katatonia) looking after the mix and mastering, all of which
ensures at ‘Vanagandr’ sounds massive!
The art concept was executed perfectly by Niklas Sundin of Cabin Fever Media
(ex-Dark Tranquillity) who reconnects with the band once again (he also did
the “Vansinnesvisor” album back in 2002.)
‘Vanagandr’ is the first release via the band’s new record label, Despotz Records. Who recently also signed over the rights to the band’s first four albums
Thyrfing (1998), Valdr Galga (1999), Urkraft (2000), Vansinnesvisor (2002) and
have announced exclusive physical re-issues are in the making.
“... a successful voyage into an oaken woods where death metal, traditional
thrash, and Scandinavian folk commingle harmoniously” // John Serba, Allmusic
“This album gives you an epic feel, and that’s the big strength of Thyrfing,
their music can do something like that to you.” // folk-metal.nl

Thyrfing emerged from the ever-growing underground scene in Sweden
back in 1995.
After seven full-length albums and numerous live performances all over the
world, the band have gained a strong following over the years and an exquisite
standing within the metal scene.
They are considered one of the top bands within the so-called Viking/pagan
metal genre - but on the other hand, Thyrfing are so much more with their truly
outstanding and self-contained musical offering.
The name of the band is taken from the sword “Tyrfing” in Norse mythology - a
cursed blade that appears in several tales and myths. Ever since the start, the
mythology has played a huge part in the scenery and imagery of the band’s
music and lyrics, something which is still intact today.
‘Vanagandr’ (an alternate name for the wolf creature known by the more familiar Fenrir) is a celebration of the tales and stories of Scandinavia - the track
‘Undergangens lankar’ is a conceptual piece focusing on Vanagandr/Fenrir and
a track that carries the spirit and hallmarks that make Thyrfing so unique.
‘Dop dem i eld’ is both the opening song on the album and the first video, one
of two produced for the band by Patric Ullaeus (Dimmu Borgir, Europe, Arch
Enemy). A powerful, heavy, and aggressive track packed with groove and melody. Elsewhere ‘Tr ldomsord’ is regarded as possibly the band’s most intense
song to date, whereas ‘Jordaf rd’ closes the album in epic fashion - a mournful
and moody longing for the end to come. The perfect way to end the album!
Co-recorded and co-produced by Jakob Herrmann (In Flames, Machine Head,
Evergrey) in Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, with the renowned Jacob Hansen
(Volbeat, U.D.O., Katatonia) looking after the mix and mastering, all of which
ensures at ‘Vanagandr’ sounds massive!
The art concept was executed perfectly by Niklas Sundin of Cabin Fever Media
(ex-Dark Tranquillity) who reconnects with the band once again (he also did
the “Vansinnesvisor” album back in 2002.)
‘Vanagandr’ is the first release via the band’s new record label, Despotz Records. Who recently also signed over the rights to the band’s first four albums
Thyrfing (1998), Valdr Galga (1999), Urkraft (2000), Vansinnesvisor (2002) and
have announced exclusive physical re-issues are in the making.
“... a successful voyage into an oaken woods where death metal, traditional
thrash, and Scandinavian folk commingle harmoniously” // John Serba, Allmusic
“This album gives you an epic feel, and that’s the big strength of Thyrfing,
their music can do something like that to you.” // folk-metal.nl

Rage, confusion, despair, self-deception, and introspection Madi Diaz cycles
through the full spectrum of emotions on History Of A Feeling,
her debut on ANTI-.
It’s an album that undeniably marks Diaz’s status as a first-rate songwriter, a
craft she’s spent years refining, and one wherein Diaz establishes herself as an
artist capable of distilling profound feelings with ease.
Diaz pulls from a range of folk, country, and pop leanings she is as much influenced by Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna as she is the sonics of PJ Harvey
and directness of Kathleen Hanna. On History Of A Feeling, the Nashville based
songwriter comes to terms with the dissolution of a meaningful relationship.
By the end of it, she wills herself into a self-reflective state where she doesn’t
hate herself for being so heartbroken.
The songs on History Of A Feeling, are the most direct and introspective songs
Diaz has ever written. In the few times she’s gotten to perform them live in
front of an audience, Diaz describes the experience as one where she feels
acutely present even though she’s singing about emotions that started to take
root years ago.
It’s relatable to anyone who has experienced heartbreak and great change in
some manner, and this profound sense of intimacy and camaraderie she seamlessly weaves into the songs was important to her.
“I wanted it to sound conversational, like I had just walked over to your house
and we’re sitting and at the end of your driveway talking just like we’re hashing it out in the same way that you’d call a best friend at one in the morning
because you needed to talk about what just happened.”

Responding to a comment that the foreground of his Western photographs
feels like a stage set, the photographer and auteur Wim Wenders suggests,
‘that impression is basic to the American West and everything people have
built there has a highly theatrical air.
This animates Places of Consequence, the second album and first solo LP
from Cameron Knowler, which deploys guitar and banjo as cinematic tools to
soundtrack and investigate the region.
‘Despite the fact that the lightheartedness of youth lifts and the problematic
components of the West reveal themselves over time,’ Knowler says, ‘there are
still ways of harnessing the space to richly creative ends.’
Single ‘Puerto Suelo,’ which features acoustic and electric guitars playing in unison and a small orchestra of kitchen utensils, shows Knowler’s knack for gorgeous melodies, and nods to LA session wizards like Blake Mills or Sam Gendel.
Places of Consequence is testament to making the effort, and a document of
Knowler’s clear talent.

A modern and powerful interpretation of traditional Italian Pizzica.
The Pugliese group Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is known for its powerful
rhythms, vocal harmonies and constant groove. Canzoniere has a knack for
bringing together all their references, ancient and contemporary, into a coherent narrative, both hybrid and fluid.
Their new album Meridiana (Italian for “sundial”) contains twelve tracks like
the twelve hours of the sundial and tells the story of each of the seven band
members’ relationship with time. It is co-produced by guitarist Justin Adams,
long-time collaborator of Robert Plant, and producer of some of Tinariwen and
Rachid Taha’s cult albums.
The production and instrumentation, combining synth, electric bass and loops
with traditional folk instruments, give a modern and powerful reading to this
age-old music.

ADAM’S APPLES – hailed, rather appropriately, from Brunswick, New Jersey, and cut two singles for Brunswick Records in the late Sixties. “Don’t Take It Out On This World” was released in 1967 and despite positive reviews in Cash Box it failed to hit Stateside. But, almost a decade on, it was reborn in the UK where it dominated the Northern Soul scene in 1976. It was almost purpose-made for Wigan Casino where it echoed around the cavenous ballroom with its chugging beat and haunting harmonies. It is the perfect spine-tingling, All-Nighter sound that has never diminshed in popularity.
THE COOPERETTES – were a girl group from Philadelphia comprising of the four Cooper sisters. They signed a contract with Brunswick Records in 1966 and scored a local hit with their first single “Goodbye School”. Their second disc “Everything’s Wrong” was also a strong seller in Philly and, as is so often the case, their final 45 for Brunswick – the Northern Soul anthem – “Shing-A-Ling” failed Stateside. It was perfect for the adrenalin-fueled all-nighter scene and was adopted by The Torch in Stoke-on-Trent. It became so popular that Brunswick reissued the track in 1975 to fulfill UK demand!

Hassle Hindsight if a new sub label of Hassle Records, created to facilitate the occasional one off re-issues of releases and records from the past that the people at the label have loved and still love. Having already reissued Reef's debut 'Replenish', Kerbdog's self titled and the critically acclaimed 'On The Turn', and Skindred's much loved 2007 album 'Roots Rock Riot' - the latest release comes from UK industrial rockers Pitchshifter, with their fan favourite album 'dot, originally released in 1998.

Norway’s inventive Rock mavericks LEPROUS return with their seventh studio album, “Aphelion”. Although unmistakably the work of the same band that made “Pitfalls” in 2019, “Aphelion” immediately stands out as a radical statement: Veering from some of the most intense material of their career to some of the most delicate music in the LEPROUS career, “Aphelion” is an album of beautifully crafted and meticulously arranged mini-masterworks. Recorded at three different studios (Ghost Ward / Sweden, Ocean Sound Recordings / Norway and and Cederberg Studios / Norway), mixed by Adam Noble (Placebo, Biffy Clyro, Nothing But Thieves) and mastered by Robin Schmidt (The 1975, Placebo, The Gaslight Anthem, etc.), “Aphelion” is available from InsideOutMusic as limited Mediabook CD with two bonus tracks, as Standard Jewelcase CD and as Gatefold 2LP on 180gr. vinyl with two bonus tracks and the entire album on CD as bonus.

Through their relentless hard work, non-stop touring and critically acclaimed/chart-topping releases gaining them over 250 million cross-platform streams/views – JINJER are inarguably one of modern metal's hottest and most exciting bands active today. The band has become synonymous with doing things their own way and breaking every rule in the heavy metal handbook, which is keenly evident on their highly anticipated fourth studio album and follow up to the groundbreaking Macro album, Wallflowers. The new album not only presents a methodical and premeditated next step in the band's already imposing career, but moreover, it mirrors the personal adversities they’ve faced due to the worldwide events over the last year. Wallflowers is not only an upgrade to the progressive groove metal sound that all JINJER fans crave, but also a sonic pressure cooker of technical musicianship, emotional fury and an intense soundtrack befitting the harrowing state of the world today. Hailing from the conflict-ridden Ukrainian region of Donetsk but now calling Kiev their home base, JINJER truly do not mince words – or riffs – on Wallflowers. Their exceptional precision of modern metal paired with tough as nails attitude has earned them a fiercely loyal, rabid fanbase and massive critical acclaim, making JINJER one of the most talked about bands today and garnering them many sold out performances across the globe. With nearly all of JINJER’s releases composed between vans, backstage rooms and constant touring, Wallflowers continues where its predecessor Macro left off, only this time with less distraction and more time to focus on songwriting.

Runnner’s Always Repeating yearns for a sense of place. The project of the now LA-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Noah Weinman, Runnner’s poignant reflections on the isolation and anxiety caused by a sense of rootlessness radiate with wit and charm. Self-produced and recorded wherever he called home at the time, Always Repeating documents this cycle of looking back and moving forward, of alienation changing to reconciliation.

For Weinman, Runnner is primarily a solo endeavor with an ever-expanding musical community of musicians collaborating on his albums and shows, which at times have been known to feature up to a 7-piece live band (he also has a burgeoning career as a

producer, notably working on Skullcrusher’s critically-acclaimed debut EP for Secretly Canadian). Weinman completed Always Repeating last fall in Western Massachusetts and Woodstock using a mobile studio set-up. He played the majority of the instruments himself, including guitar, bass, trumpet, banjo, piano and synth. The goal was to create the perfect balance of intimate and melancholy songwriting through the lens of hi-fi/lo-fi dynamics, inspired by his favorite artists like Bon Iver, the Microphones, and Julien Baker.

The 10-track collection is composed of five re-recorded versions of songs that appeared on Runnner’s 2017 debut, Awash, and 2020’s One of One EP. Although the songs were written over the course of three years, all find Weinman grappling with the same thing: feelings of uncertainty about his life. Always Repeating ultimately tells the start of Weinman’s journey as Runnner, and his cyclical feelings of being connected and then disconnected from the world over and over again.