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Next up on BPitch sublabel UFO Inc. is an essential linkup from two rising Berlin-based talents, Linn Elisabet and Stina Francina. Bringing with them two distinct approaches to music production but a shared vision of techno's weirder corners, Linn and Stina go all in on their first joint release together, fusing sonic abstractions into a release that never loses sight of the club. With a classically trained musical background, Linn explores reverberant soundscapes and complex arrangements with a learned ear, but a firm rejection of the rigid forms that often taint formal musicality. Promoting a sense of non-compliance in their sonic palettes, they offer a contemporary and transgressive interpretation of techno that strives to reimagine reality and desire. Having fostered her passion for electronic music in intimate, underground spaces, Stina's approach to production is rooted firmly in affect; carefully weaving fragile emotional narratives with a generous sensitivity. With a particular penchant for old school trance, her sound is often coloured by a feeling of melancholy and hope.

Jonah Matranga has been making music for over 30 years. A prolific artist, he has become an enduring institution in the scene with a devoted fan base, rich lineage, and varied music career. Jonah has often straddled the line between the underground and mainstream. He’s worked with indie labels like Jade Tree and majors such as Atlantic, having fronted the bands FAR, NEW END ORIGINAL, and GRATITUDE. His music has influenced bands from Deftones to Blink-182, and he was there for emo and post-hardcore giants in their earliest beginnings–taking bands such as Thursday and Dashboard Confessional on tour. Simply put, the scene cannot be separated from Jonah’s art. Jonah has always written from the heart and performed in an intimate way that few others have accomplished. From basements to massive festivals, he brings the same energy to them all: raw honesty and an ability to make every show unique and personal. This is most apparent in Jonah’s solo and collaborative project ONELINEDRAWING. Jonah’s solo performance has always been about connecting with fans in an intimate setting, where they often perform with only a guitar and R2D2 sidekick. Sketchbook is the latest release from ONELINEDRAWING, featuring a collection of songs from Jonah’s early solo years, 1999 - 2001, completely remastered for vinyl. The album features originals and renditions of the likes of 7 Seconds and Jawbox, as well as the Sensefield split honoring the late Jon Bunch (Sense Field / Further Seems Forever). The LP also includes liner notes and zine by Norman Brannon (Texas is the Reason / New End Original). Sketchbook exists as both a time capsule and thank you letter to fans and music itself–a combination of the period in which Jonah first embarked on his solo journey and a celebration of the vitality that music and community not only affords him but all of us. Available in the EU/UK from Thirty Something Records and in the US from Iodine Recordings. Genre: Alternative / Emo

Throw the gauntlet: Fast Castle is back with Gent1e $oul’s “Shoals”-EP, our furthest excursion into the unexplored depths of mind-bending bassweight! Having perfected his build order on his recent “Block Printing'' and “Silk Armor”-EPs, Gent1e $oul continues to infuse his productions with sonic bass strategies over five versatile tracks.

“Dark Age” provides an aggressive opening, immediately applying pressure with nasty bass wobbles, dembow echoes and a 4x4 switch that might catch distracted players off guard. Tried and tested in many settings, this is an essential option for the incoming dancefloor rush!

With its heavy neo-stepper energy, ”Bad Neighbor” lays siege to dancefloor resistance with a piercing lead, breathing drums and powerful waves of sub wubs. Just like the AoE2’s legendary trebuchet of the same name, “Bad Neighbor” – paired with the right Soundsystem – will make the walls shake.

“Dusty Acer” is a homage to Gent1e $oul’s dear but aging AoE2 gaming machine, capable of producing similar noises to this dark UKG cuts’ central bassline.

Deep dubstep cut “Illumination” takes us to the for a wholesome mana refill: Mystic ambiences make you pull down your cowl, before diving into a fully blown sub massage.

The standout self-titled cut “Shoals” concludes the release: A deep-yet-powerful half-stepping perc grower at 160bpm, operating on subdued rhythmic shifts and layers.

As a special tribute to the AoE2 community, all tunes are flavored with the game's original sound effects. Thanks for keeping us inspired, Nili_Aoe for NAC5 and T90 for HC5!

repress !

Following acclaimed singles from Powell, Blood Music, Shit & Shine and Prostitutes, the next release from Diagonal is a landmark. It marks both the London label's first full-length album release, and the return of abrasive and furiously funky hip-hop deconstructionists Death Comet Crew, one of the most quietly influential underground acts to emerge from the creative melting pot of 1980s New York.

Ghost Among The Crew documents the group's return to studio operations for the first time since the 80s, as well as their first ever full-length studio album. It's a remarkable trip: a consolidation of their early feral disassemblies of hip-hop and electro, but also broader in scope, chewing up and spitting out fragments of soul, jazz fusion, punk and industrial music.
Death Comet Crew were founded in New York City in 1983 by Stuart Argabright, a founder member of post-punk/industrial mavericks Ike Yard and the mind behind Dominatrix and later Black Rain. Their sound, then as now, was a singular proposition: urban in mood, exploratory, often compellingly danceable, yet confrontational. It emerged from the interweaving talents of the group's varied members: guitarist Michael Diekmann (of Ike Yard), bassist Shinichi Shimokawa (later of Black Rain) and Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest, frequently joined by the late, great hip hop artist and graffiti writer Rammellzee. Having recorded two studio EPs - 1985's At The Marble Bar (featuring Rammellzee) and its follow-up Mystic Eyes - the group disbanded barely a year after forming. They left behind a reputation for their incendiary live performances, several recordings from which were gathered on crucial 2004 compilation This Is Riphop.
The musical climate that first birthed Death Comet Crew was one of fertile cross-pollination of styles. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the seeds of modern day urban musics - hip hop, punk and post-punk, no wave - were taking root in the streets of recession-struck New York City. Argabright recalls dancing at the downtown Mudd Club around 1980 to a bold mixture of styles, with DJs cutting from synth-pop and post-punk to funk, soul and early hip-hop: Bowie and James Brown next to Run DMC, Ultravox and Gary Numan. Indeed, the names of his New York contemporaries operating around the same time - the likes of Liquid Liquid, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Russell, ESG, Swans, Sonic Youth, Bill Laswell and more - have since been inscribed in modern music history.
With previous projects Dominatrix and Ike Yard having recently become inactive, in 1984 Argabright formed Death Comet Crew as a means of exploring new sonic avenues. He'd been experimenting with tape, recording and procesing the sounds of his surrounding environment and dialogue from films and TV. Joined by Shimokawa, Diekmann and Taylor, and using drum machines, turntables, spidery guitar and bass, the group assembled a scrambled collage of rhythms and sampled voices. Their live performances were, in Argabright's words, "aurally violent, sharp-edged, downright lacerating", hacking gleefully away at hip hop and electro's rhythmic frameworks. Rammellzee joined the group to vocal 1985 debut EP At The Marble Bar; his MC turn on highlight 'Exterior Street' is all the more remarkable for having been entirely freestyled in the studio. When Death Comet Crew reformed in 2003 for a string of live shows, he continued as an active member of the group, touring and working with them during the recording of Ghost Among The Crew, until he sadly passed away in 2010.
After reforming, Death Comet Crew began writing and recording new material. Now, following on from their just-released Galacticoast 12" through Citinite, Ghost Among The Crew - its title a homage to Rammellzee - hones the group's abrasive early experimentations while tripping into bold and astrally minded new territory. Alongside the core quartet of Argabright, Diekmann, Shimokawa and Taylor are new voices, including Rapscallion (a friend of Rammellzee's), Jessica 6/Hercules & Love Affair singer Nomi Ruiz, and Carolyn 'Honeychild' Coleman. Its eight tracks are steeped in the impulsive spirit of electric Miles and the deep space romances of Sun Ra, and possessed of an enigmatic yet undeniable pop edge. But equally they're pricked with urban paranoia and dread, traits that have long been hallmarks of Argabright's musical projects.
'Me Czar Of The Magyars' opens the album in a twist of tension like the turning of a ratchet. Its taut electroid shudder is paired with machine gunned cymbal hits and a voice telling of "wormwood and opium dens" - the sound of being teleported from everyday city streets into the astral plane, where every sensory input is heightened and the promise of danger or pleasure lurks unseen around every corner. Later, Coleman's lyrics pay tribute to Rammellzee on the sci-fi funk of 'Deep Space Woman'. 'Let The Clubs Ring' melts lounge bar organs and frazzled guitar into freakishly unstable shapes, while 'Drag Racing' matches its title, rocketing along frantically atop clattering drums. 'Moons On Titan's Seas' is halfway interlude pause for rest, like an exotic cocktail in a bar orbiting some as-yet-undiscovered new world. These varied strands are somehow all summarised in album closer 'Ignition Spark', which sets Ruiz's vocals alongside Taylor's and Argabright's. The zone the trio inhabit in this final track exists in perpetual push-pull between contemplation, memory, intrigue and violence, a decisive opening of a new chapter in Death Comet Crew's history.

As with all Diagonal releases, the initial vinyl pressing will be packaged in unique, specially designed artwork.

Following on from his atomic single release, Phonk On The Dancefloor, Sofia’s Raredub now presents his highly anticipated full EP via Mutual Pleasure Records. Rare, Raw and Ready is a high-voltage introduction to the Bulgarian bass baron, a title that is fully justified with this latest venture of sound.

Raredub wastes no time in setting the pace for this project, as we’re thrown straight into the searing furnace with opening track BAMBA. Having been road-tested by the likes of KETTAMA, KiNK, Skin On Skin and Raredub himself, BAMBA, with its infectious vocals, gut-hurdling bassline and devious rave-stab melodies, is a carefully constructed weapon of sound, with proven devastating results.

We’re then brought to Juicy Fruit, which sees both Raredub and Mutual Pleasure’s head-honcho Partiboi69 lock palms to create a deeply sensual, highly contagious dance-floor anthem that sees the producer masterfully blend hissing hi-hats and a series of infectious rising chord patterns and melodies which, when combined, are certainly set to cause nothing but dance-floor destruction.

Since being played as the opening track to Partibo69 and DJ Heartstring’s stingzone set, L.L.L is a track which, with its mind-warping bassline,euphoria ladened vocals and pad-work, has enjoyed a growing sense of anticipation from listeners, eager for its arrival.

Snappy Chulo sees Raredub again use a series of piercing rave-stabs to drive his sound, which is partnered with a plethora of electronic experimentation and instrumentation, before the seismic bassline of Break Of Dawn see Raredub bring the walls and ceiling crumbling down; presenting a suitably fitting finale to this atomic attack on the senses.
Rare, Raw and Ready brings Raredub’s prowess for production to the fore, as the Bulgarian producer conducts wild electronic experiments, bending genres and sound into form, to create a versatile, highly contagious and highly atomic serving of sound.

Warehouse Find!

With Manuel Tur's Es Cub LP just out and winning high praise from all corners of the electronic music press we present you DJ's and vinyl aficionados with the second part of the two separate 12's highlighting Manuel's brilliant third album. As RA put in their review - 'This is among the most seductive collection of house tracks so far this year.'

In 2012 Manuel spent a year living in Ibiza, the birthplace of his father and somewhere he has always felt a strong connection with despite never having lived there. This period became something of a sabbatical, a year of orientation both privately and musically and despite managing to visit not one single club in his
entire time there the esoteric and cabalistic nature of the island clearly became a big influence.
Here in Part 2 things get off to a suitably raw and bumpy ride with El Soplo where a depth and certain majestic beauty are created from the simple, stripped back, rolling beats and flowing pads. Flux takes things in a more minimal direction with echoing percussion hits and plucked synth line giving a sense of space, the driving, the single note bass reminding us of the more techno side of say Ame or Baikal. Flipping over we have Basilia which picks up the tempo and pushes a single reverberating vocal hit to the front of the mix before we are introduced to the glassy chiming arpeggiations that have become Manuel's signature sound for this LP. Finally, El Dub goes for a subaquatic vibe with a slow pace and dubby FX allowing us to get absorbed in the foggy haze Manuel creates with his thoughtfully conceived
minimalism and minute attention to detail. Expect to be hearing much more from Manuel in the coming months. He has become
in demand for his mixing skills, working regularly with Andre Hommen for Objektivity, Shit Robot for DFA and Marcus Worgull for Innervisions.

Ngwaka Son Systéme’s debut album Iboto Ngenge means “power struggle” or “seizing the opportunity” but while words can only be roughly translated, the music reaches listeners unambiguously: A potent mixture of techno, rumba, soukous, zagué and dancehall with the unique “Kinoise” brand fresh out of Kinshasa, the Congolese megacity that never stops innovating in the music landscape worldwide. Ngwaka Son Systéme is led by musicians Love Lokombe and Bom’s Bomolo, having previously founded the band KOKOKO!. This new project continues the contemporary Congolese tradition of reinventing electronic music by shaping and crafting music instruments made of household objects. As a means to continue strengthening the links between Africa and Latin America, Eck Echo has tasked Colombian dub engineer Diego Gomez with the analog mixing of the stems, originally recorded by Levy David at Timbela Ba Studio in Kinshasa. With the aim to bring the lexicon of shared Colombian and Congolese music into the next chapter, we proudly present to the world the magnificent music of Ngwaka Son Systéme. The inadvertently techno-oriented Lakala, a trance-inducing experience where listeners can quickly relish to the lyrics even without speaking Lingala, for the shapes of the words are already inviting listeners to dance, sing and smile, all the while virtuoso percussionist Steroy operates the DIY-drum kit at high-tempo. The call-and-response effect, where each musician lends their voice to the choir, is particularly felt in Bo Lobi Pe, where the vocals guide us ever so playfully to the tune of an acoustic guitar that invites us to take off our shoes, kick back and relax. Zanga Mbongo (translated as “there is no money”) is lyrically a proud anthem to celebrating life in spite of economic scarcity, and musically it is a triumphant renewal to the legendary soukous genre of the 1970s, championed by worldwide renowned stars such as Pepe Kallé and Sam Mangwana.

This live album is a recording of the last live performance by Drumwolf (Toru)'s with the band. The concert was held at W.W.W.X. in Shibuya on March 11th, 2023 and includes 13 of the songs that they played at this gig.

It is the last memorial live performance for Toru, the bedrock of Guitarwolf for many years and will be permanently etched on vinyl. This is a must record that fans need to get hold of, as it is the live recording of the band's latest performance featuring many of their classic songs.

Guitar Wolf have been expanding their horizons of their activities in recent years, including an appearance at the Shimane Jet festival, and they hope you can appreciate the pure joy of their universal rock 'n' roll vibes on vinyl that might be too hot for the whole world to handle!

And as a bonus item, you can stream the full live performance of this monumental concert of Guitarwolf in its entirety as well! It was directed by Tetsuro Takeuchi who has previously worked on Guitarwolf's music videos for many years.

This video of their live performance was edited full of tension and speed and it truly displays how much Guitarwolf deserves the title of Japan's number one rock 'n' roll band. This fact can also be relived by seeing this video included in this deluxe edition.

Guitarwolf
Members:
Seiji (Guitarwolf): Lead Vocals, Guitar
GOTZ (Basswolf): Bass, Vocals
Shingo (Drumwolf): Drum Note: Joined the band in 2022

Real-life rock 'n'roll super heroes that rock fans all over Japan continue to admire.
While creating numerous legendary myths in the 1990s, being unique beyond comparison, they continue to consistently blare out their spontaneity to the present day,

The band's unusually extreme and bombastic sound amplifies the embryonic impulses of rock 'n' roll, while Seiji's lyrics mix words that evoke the 'universe' and the 'Showa era' with his own unique sense of humor. In their relentless pursuit of a style that has remained unchanged since the band's formation, the music that the three members who don their entire bodies in black leather play, emits power that transcends time and space. While doing so, they continue to gain enthusiastic fans from all over the world.

Formed in 1987, the original members, Seiji and Billy (bass, vocals) and Toru who joined the band later, started their musical activities together and released their debut album "Wolf Rock" in 1993 from the Memphis-based Goner Records. Later, they signed to Matador Records, one of the leading indie labels in the USA. They also made their major label debut in 1997 with the album, "Wolf Planet" on Ki/oon Records/ Sony Music in Japan.

They have released 12 albums to date. The band has also continued to tour energetically around the world, not only in Japan but also in the US, EU countries, Australia and South America. Billy suddenly passed away in 2005. After having two mighty support casts, U.G. and Hikaru, GOTZ (Gotz) joined the band in 2018 as the new bass wolf. Also, Toru who had been with the band as drum wolf for many years left in 2022 and the band is now more energetically active with their new drum wolf, Shingo.

1981, the leaden years are over, the socialist left is in power in France and the first wave of punk seems a long way off. However, the youth of the day had not said its last word, and bands were springing up all over the place, free radio stations were opening up, fanzines were being published, concerts were being staged on the fly and little by little a scene was forming, a motley crew of kids in revolt, radical activists and just plain old folk passing through.

After having cut their teeth in a variety of more or less confidential bands, in which you'd come across a good number of players from this up-and-coming alternative scene, the members of Guernica moved up a gear, determined to blow on the still-glowing embers of rebel rock. With the shortage of venues the rule at the time, they began by scouring the suburban MJCs, putting on wild concerts and eventually meeting up with the squatters of the Couronnes commune and the members of V.I.S.A., with whom they played an active part in organising concerts in squatted buildings in these relegated areas of the capital.

In February 1983, the V.I.S.A. association and the Abattoir art collective (which included some members of Guernica) organised a concert at the Usine Pali-Kao. That evening, two groups took to the stage in succession: Guernica and a fledgling duo, Bérurier Noir. The evening will go down in the history of alternative rock as one of the key turning points of the period. After the departure of Loran, who played guitar with both bands, Fabrice Benoît joined Guernica on guitar, and the gang continued for a few more months, ending on a high note with a chaotic concert at the Eldorado in Paris.

Until now, it's been impossible to get your hands on any of the band's recordings unless you're lucky enough to own the Paris Mix compilation, the Guernica/Bérurier Noir split or the V.I.S.A. Usine Cascades 1982 cassette. This vinyl, a perfect record of the era, brings together the six tracks recorded by the band at the time.

Lloyd Banks is gearing up for the release of The Course Of The Inevitable, his first studio album in over a decade. Having previously set the stage with a few cinematic teaser trailers and the album cover, Banks has now come forward to confirm the official release date for the upcoming project, as well as the tracklist and guest appearances to be expected.

For the most part, Banks will be flying solo on COTI, with only five of the eighteen tracks including featured artists. On that front, we're looking at appearances from Roc Marci, Benny The Butcher, Styles P, Sy Ari Da Kid, and Vado. Other than that, however, the stage is largely set for the Punchline King, who will likely have much to say on his fourth studio album.

Although a five-piece live and with too many contributors on record to list, Serena-Maneesh nevertheless essentially remains the work of Emil Nikolaisen. Born in the remote village of Moi into a musical family (sisters Hilma and Elvira often play with the band), Emil is Norwegian rock royalty. It’s hard to find a Norwegian band that Emil hasn’t either played with or produced, and he’s also been nominated for a Spellemannsprisen, the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy. He’s not just influential in his home country either, having released a split single with Fucked Up, worked with Sufjan Stevens, and been invited to share stages with The Dandy Warhols, Nine Inch Nails and Oasis. In 2008, Smalltown Supersound originally released this glimpse of Serena-Maneesh's early days. Tweaked and all beautifully pushed to the red. Most of the material on SM-Backwards was released as two EPs prior to Serena-Maneesh's much lauded debut album; "Zurück" and "Fixxations" both on Hype City and Honeymilk Records, covering the time 1999-2003. Due to the fact that the labels didn't have international distribution, the material never got released outside of Norway. In addition to the original EP material, this vinyl reissue also contains new re-wrappings/mixes with contributions from Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kramer and others from the universe surrounding Serena-Maneesh.

GRAMMY award-winning, multi-platinum rock band Kings of Leon are coming back big with their 9th full-length studio album, Can We Please Have Fun. As the title suggests, it’s a document of one of this era’s great rock & roll bands cutting loose, trying new things, and, yes, having some fun. Recorded at Dark Horse studio and produced with new collaborator Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Florence + the Machine) the album sees a new side of Kings of Leon. On the new album, the band harkens back to their gritty origins while simultaneously finding new gears. It’s the sound of a band unified in vision and purpose, freed from any expectations, and the album the band says they’ve always wanted to make.

Originally released on tape by SicSic in 2014, Aprilnacht commemorates a decade of music from Brannten Schnüre and marked the spring in a tetralogy of albums about the four seasons when it came out. Back then the Würzburg-based project consisted solely of Christian Schoppik, who later welcomed Katie Rich to take over the vocals. He used to perform as Agnes Beil, but dropped the name when, while making this album realized his music was becoming "much gentler and more fragile". Aprilnacht already captured the particular musical ideas that Schoppik would thoroughly keep exploring, delving deeper and deeper into the use and manipulation of samplers from sources so diverging as to wander between the five continents to post-war German family television and cult cinema. Heir of the ritualistic intensity of Coil, of the intricate sampler assemblies of Ghédalia Tazartès', and of the dusty, dismal old ballads from around the world, Brannten Schnüre manages to make these paths cross in a territory that is as inherent as it is uncanny; sieged by the past and intimate as a hearth. An organic approach to folk, ambient, and sound collage, where ethereal yet thoroughly textured pieces coalesce in enthralling, delicate, and innermost musical rituals.

The album cover paintings reveal the temper: dreary old towns where shadows come to dim the slow passage of crepuscular colors, a soft area of reanimation where wind and light come close and foresee the night of spring. Aprilnacht was inspired by the stories of German philosopher and writer Friedrich Alfred Schmid Noerr, whose work exhaustively examines the conflict between paganism and Christianity, safeguarding myth in a way that Schoppik describes as boldly modern, humorous and unpredictable in its variations of the Germanic folklore motifs. "I wanted to do the same with the music," he states, and the music here could as well be suitable for a night when household deities welcome wandering will-o'-the-wisps, water nymphs, and gyrovagues to discuss Perchta's leadership of The Wild Hunt, but this album is not a folk tale, it's not an elegy to worlds already gone, hidden in years; it's an intersection of routes that open mysteriously before our ears like a congregation of vapors. Aprilnacht is a gathering of voices; "There are too many children, and none of them keeps quiet," reads the last verse of «Requiem für eine Ringelnatter.»

Sensuality drips over the music to celebrate both the voluptuousness and tragic quality of nature; "It's raining on me, urine from your flowers," Schoppik sings in «Urin deiner Blüten» and later on, faced with a snake's erotic features, as if he wanted to be embraced by it: "Your quick, sharp tongue and your warm venom; that's what the pond is missing." Orality is where this profusion of contents thrives. When the voices get closer and condense, the words reveal the saliva employed to pronounce them; we feel the mouth and the tongue, but when breath envelops them in sorrow and softens their edges, they sound distant, diffused in the atmosphere, letting go of the body that held them. These two vocal facets oscillate permanently and interact naturally with the fertile assembly of samplers and instruments that develop throughout the album, which condense and disperse impersonating each other, interweaving to search for a specific syntax. Tangled whisperings of enigmatic phrases, timid voices that stick out to check the scene but hide away quickly, shivering trance chants and monastic ambiances, distant screams and clamors in between chaos and warfare swirl until bursting into subtle songs where even Mother Mary comes forth softly. Soothed by foggy atmospheres and crackling punctuations, these voices shape a vulnerable crowd, an occasion of fragility. Along this swarm of songs thrown into thin air, accordions sound like heavy-breathing lungs; clarinets sigh like curtains shaking; violin solos wander around like bees; Gjallarhorns cries distend like fleeing cattle; glockenspiels evoke remote music boxes and inherited toys; backward emanations emerge like slender waves retreating. On the banks of stretching loops and ember textures is where the songs slowly nest, collecting the words to find their tone.

A poem by Jorge Teillier says, "To talk with the dead you have to choose words that they recognize as easily as their hands recognized the fur of their dogs in the dark. To talk with the dead you have to know how to wait: they are fearful like the first steps of a child. But if we are patient one day they will answer us with a flame that suddenly revives in the fireplace." This may be Brannten Schnüre's main purpose: To find the voice to speak to those of whom we were a vision. Not in mourning, but acknowledging the obscure and volatile nature of spring's regenerative force, searching for the treasure of balance, as evidenced in the lyrics of «Requiem für ein Schwalbennest,» "Its nest was destroyed so many times before it was finished, and despite that, the shallow builds as if it is infatuated." The same idea is here in the words of Schmid Noerr, who made poetry an act of resistance to the horror of Nazism; "Since having seen the ability of a brilliant spirit to die, with a calm mouth that everyone saw, health is true again and we affirm it, even if rivers of blood flow." And as we call for the dusk's kindness, waiting to return home and eat with our kin by the stove, our ears become used to the games of the night. We feel like we're rowing on wetlands, while the "moon musick" keeps us vigilant against the slightest movement of water or sweet moan because eeriness here is imperative for survival. Do not succumb to the insipid howl of death, for nothing may last but mutability. You see, the rock has moved a little during the night; the rest is just wind fleeing from the void.

Inspired by Dua’s own self-discovery, Radical Optimism is an album that taps into the pure joy and happiness of having clarity in situations that once seemed impossible to face. The hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings that previously threatened to crush your soul, become milestones as you choose optimism and start to move with grace through the chaos.

Infused with the energy of Dua’s hometown, London, the attitude of the album embodies the rawness, honesty, confidence and freedom of ‘90s Britpop. Radical Optimism transports its listener to a dreamy pop world rich in musicality, lyrically unapologetic and sonically liberating.

The 3x GRAMMY and 7x Brit Award-winning global pop powerhouse worked with a team of core collaborators throughout the project including Caroline Ailin, Danny L. Harle, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Kevin Parker.

London-based four-piece Adult Jazz announce their first full-length album in a decade, So Sorry So Slow, out 26 April 2024 via Spare Thought. Alongside the announcement comes lovesick new single ‘Suffer One’ featuring Owen Pallett, a cautious excavation of self and sexuality, clambering across a gorgeously shapeshifting, filmic five-minutes.

Containing some of the band’s most abrasive but gentle, beautiful and melismatic work to date, So Sorry So Slow has many defining characteristics: romance, panic, devotion and remorse, threaded together by an intentionally laser-focused love. It’s deeply personal, bruised and candid in its expressions of tenderness, and deeply pained in its concurrent reflections of ecological regret. Across its hour-long runtime, a delicate, frenetic energy and glacial heaviness coexist, the band pitting those paces against one another. In their richly experimental timbre, dancing strings and fluttering falsettos prang against a bed of brass drones like a wounded bird.

“We started writing in 2017 and began recording in 2018,” says vocalist Harry Burgess. “We genuinely thought it might be finished in 2018! But things kept developing and, having resolutely not struck while the iron was hot, there was no real external push to rush things after that, so we just kept letting things shift and unfold until it felt right. Listening back to my voice notes it’s nice to notice that there are fragments of ideas from the whole period 2017-2023 which have shaped the record.”

Recorded in bursts at studios across London and in the band members’ flats, at Konk, on the Isle of Wight and in Sussex, So Sorry is unambiguous in its evolution. Sonically, there are sparks of the arrhythmic brightness that afforded the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Gist Is its cult adoration, for fans of Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, but with a blossoming, melancholic darkness often overhead. Piano sprees and luscious string sections appear like low-hanging stars on a night-time drive, whilst plunging vocal distortions and humming brass loops resurrect heavy limbs in a bad dream.

“I usually have objects as kind of totems for ideas,” explains Burgess. “The album initially started out to do with performance… the totem was a head mic, one of the subtle skin-tone ones, discreet on the forehead of a West End star. A number of the first songs in their original forms were almost musical theatre piano ballads. I think that was really a device to write about my life as the ‘main character’ (pre internet-speak reframing): regrets about romance, relationships - unsustainable relationships with the self and others.”

“However, once we started writing, the ideas about unsustainable personal relationships, loving unevenly and heartbreak conflated with a more expressly ecological regret. Like contending with big feelings of loss, endings, beauty, desolation, and with how much joy the earth contains in it. Feeling so much gratitude bound up in waves of sadness. Maybe witnessing a slow-motion goodbye to all that, or its last gasps. I love the earth and the life it supports so much. I love how ecosystems fit together - even the brutal stuff. It may be basic to say, but now is the time to be laser focused on that love. I was thinking about human centrality on earth, us as the ‘main character’, the way that is served by faith and romanticism, and the subsequent disingenuous understandings of our position in the ecosystem, as only stewards somehow, rather than subjects. The totems at this point: a herald’s horn, lorry inner tubes, archaeological tools. I guess from doom, industry, history respectively.”

“Now I would say the record is about gripping. Totems being: crampons, rope, drips, desalination equipment, accruing various survival tech. I think gripping sums up both of the threads. There’s the emotionally correct clinging to the earth that is the substrate of everything we value, or the delusional clinging to our imagined dominant position. But also the practical, technological aspects of creating a sustainable relationship, of remaining here. Then I think of romance again.”

So Sorry So Slow comes out 26th April 2024 on Spare Thought, mixed by Fabian Prynn at 4AD Studios and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road.

Adult Jazz is Harry Burgess, Tim Slater, Steven Wells and Tom Howe.

PM Warson returns with a brand-new 7” single - ‘Right Here, Last Night’ / ‘Retrace The Steps’ out 17 May - and the introduction of his own label marque FYND, with Acid Jazz. Both sides have a great Rhythm & Soul club feel, straddling influences from British and original American R’n’B of the mid-‘60s, with a hint of late-night jazz, characteristic of the PM Warson sound.

PM Warson is known for his breakout single ‘(Don’t) Hold Me Down’, with the original white-label pressing fetching hundreds of pounds on collector sites and eBay. After two acclaimed albums with the Légère Recordings label out of Hamburg (’True Story’ 2021 and ‘Dig Deep Repeat’ 2022), and having established himself on the European touring and and festival circuit, he returns with new music for 2024, starting with this dynamite R’n’B 45.

Warehouse Find - Test pressing!

Following the red hot Detroit Swindle release this month, Freerange continue to bring fresh talent to the fore with the introduction of Nils Penner to the label. Although not exactly a newcomer (having produced the mighty Presence Of Another Man alongside Muder on his own Wazi Wazi Music as well as several remixes and appearances on Baalsaal and Moodmusic) it's fair to say he's been flying under the radar and we think it's about time that all changed.

Warehouse Find! - Test Pressing!

It seems like ages since we last had Roberto Rodriguez on the label with his excellent Be Somebody back in 2008, so we're plenty happy to welcome him back for a long overdue follow up. Roberto clearly hasn't just been sitting on his arse the last 4 years however, having established the Serenades label which released his own LP Dawn last year, as well as putting out the killer Thinking Of You release on Fina plus numerous remixes for rock solid labels such as Let's Play House, On The Prowl, Moodmusic and 2020 Vision. Those familiar with Roberto's productions and credentials will know he has a fine ear for disco and 90's house born out of years collecting records and DJing in the best clubs in his native Helsinki.
Kicking off with Dance Like Nobody's Watching, we see Roberto tread confidently into pure, unadulterated retro house territory with NJ organ stabs, swinging 909 drum groove and choice vocal hits.
Oxymoron keeps things a little deeper with tracky filtering chords and driving drums resulting in a garage-influenced feel with bucket loads of raw attitude.
Finally we have The Black Madonna on board for a remix of the title track. The Chicago producer impressed us recently with her brilliant disco-infused tracks on Stripped & Chewed and Home Taping labels and thought her the perfect choice to contribute to the release. Here she delivers a lesson in stripped back Chicago warehouse vibes keeping everything to a bare minimum for maximum club bump. Kick, claps and piano stabs form the basic groove as she confidently develops the arrangement slowly and surely.

Warehouse Find! Test Pressing!

Simbad makes a welcome return to Freerange following last year’s brilliant Take My Hand EP featuring South African vocalist Brian Temba. Now based predominantly in Cape Town, the French Londoner producer and DJ is one of the most prolific artists in the scene having notched up countless EP’s, remixes and production work for labels like Apron, G.A.M.M. Faces, Hyperdub, Atjazz, BBE & Brownswood. His association with Gilles Peterson and Worldwide runs deep, hosting regular shows on WWFM as well as traversing the globe delivering his unique and eclectic sets from Africa
to Asia and beyond.

Peaceful Revolution is one of those special house tracks which transcends boundaries, encapsulating an outernational sound in a way that Simbad excels in. Featuring South African upcoming producer Zito Mowa & vocalist Lwandile Zulu who brings a raw and impassioned energy to the deep and soulful mood, this tune was recorded in support of the troubled events from the past few months (Black Lives Matter movement).

Next up we have a track entitled Let Go which could quite easily be the lead track of the EP if they weren’t all as good as each other! This is late night emotive house music at its most sublime. Drop this at the right time and watch the floor come together in collective bliss.

Flip over for SMBD’s Shaolin Dub remix of Peaceful Revolution which pushes the original to the outer limits of the audio spectrum. Sub-sonic low end rumbles sitting in contrast to the ghost like whispers, glitches and industrial noises that pierce the ethereal pads.

Closing out this special release we find the unassumingly titled Soulful Jam, a low-slung groove which sees Simbad going heavy on fizzing analogue synths with a serene synth solo takin centre stage amongst the lush chords.

The opening line of Emily Dickinson’s short poem ‘‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers’ inspired the central image of Emily Barker’s new single ‘Feathered Thing’, written while she navigated cumulative grief.

When Barker was first introduced to producer Luke Potashnick (Gabrielle Aplin, Jack Savoretti, Katie Melua) in May 2022, she brought with her a full album’s worth of songs. But after visiting Potashnick’s storied studio, The Wool Hall and hearing his ambitious production ideas, she was inspired to write one more song.

“I also needed to process some heavy news” she comments. Barker and her husband Lukas Drinkwater had been trying to start a family. Following a couple of failed IVF cycles (and other “starts that we’d lost”), they investigated adoption and had decided to relocate to Australia to be closer to Barker’s family.

“It felt like we couldn’t work out what we wanted, but we finally reached a point where we both felt at peace with not having kids,” Barker recalls. “It had been an incredibly intense time, coinciding with a house move and the pandemic.”

And then Barker found she was pregnant. “We’d done all these things to try to make it happen, and then it happened naturally (and against all biological odds). Having previously navigated losses throughout our pregnancy journey, we now had to get our heads around what having this new person in our lives might look like - emotionally and practically.”

Soon after work began on the album, Barker had a miscarriage.

“Songwriting has always been a way of processing throughout my life.” Barker reveals how the new song came quickly as she sat at her piano at home. She shared an early version with Potashnick and remembers him politely asking, “Do you mind telling me what this is about?”

“I think I’d left it too abstract, initially,” she reflects. “It was difficult to open up about the miscarriage, but Luke was very supportive and encouraged me to dig a little deeper without necessarily being specific. I revisited the lyrics, and the result is much stronger.”

“I went to the burnt-out woods/ A tourist with some damaged goods/ Remembered how the trees withstood fires before…”

“The opening line is a metaphor for knowing that I’ll get through this,” Barker clarifies. “It’s about recovery and hope, allowing yourself both the space to grieve and permission to move on”. But Barker’s optimism is never misplaced – she knows the imprint of imagined futures and lost children are carried in hearts and minds forever:

“It’s so hard to let go, wanted to know wanted to know you …”

“I think that it's important to share and normalise these stories, which are all too common, yet not openly spoken about. People hide their pain and don’t want to burden friends and family. I think behind all this anguish, there’s a deep, often untold story.”

Now that Barker is settled back in Western Australia, she’s embracing being an auntie. “I’ve got three younger siblings over here who I’m close to, and they all have kids,” she enthuses. “I look after my brother's kids, aged two and five, one morning a week.”

Recorded - along with the entirety of the new album - at The Wool Hall, ‘Feathered Thing’ begins gently, with oscillating piano and distant drums, until the arrangement gradually transforms into an instrumental dervish of vibrant strings, bass drones and cymbal crashes. Throughout, Barker’s vocals float tantalisingly like a slipstreaming feather.

Watch the video, filmed at The Wool Hall here. The Wool Hall is a studio in Beckington, Somerset, set up by Tears for Fears in the 1980s and used by artists including The Smiths, Pretenders, Joni Mitchell and many more.

Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter, best known as the writer and performer of the theme to the hugely successful BBC crime drama ‘Wallander’ starring Kenneth Branagh.

Her last album, 2020's ‘A Dark Murmuration of Words’, was produced by Greg Freeman and recorded at StudiOwz, a converted chapel in the Welsh countryside. Lyrically probing, by turns both dark and optimistic, Barker searches for meaning through the deafening clamour of fake news and algorithmically filtered conversation, delivering a timely exploration of the grand themes of our age. It garnered widespread acclaim, with Uncut calling it “…a kind of Australian equivalent of PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake”.

Barker has released music and toured as a solo artist as well as with various bands and collaborations, most notably her long association with Frank Turner, and has written for TV and film, including composing the soundtrack for Jake Gavin’s lauded debut feature ‘Hector’ starring Peter Mullan and Keith Allen.

‘Fragile as Humans’ is scheduled for release on May 3rd 2024 through Everyone Sang/Kartel Music Group. The album will also feature earlier singles: the vast, cinematic ‘Wild to be Sharing This Moment’ and the meditative, crestfallen ‘Loneliness’.

On a cold December's night, we packed the Paradiso in Amsterdam, ending our tour in glorious fashion. This night felt like a homecoming show, marking my seventh time headlining the "pop temple". The "creme de la crème" line up included one of my oldest friends Marnix. Slider returned on keys for this tour, having been a crucial member of our musical family for years. We brought out the big guns for these shows, having a crazy variety of classic keys on stage. These included an electric grand, clavinet, multiple synths and multiple electric pianos. Needless to say, the stage was pretty full! Willem being the powerhouse he is, raised the bar as usual. An amazing drummer and an amazing singer! Last but not least, returning to Paradiso with Xander felt incredible. Him and I have been doing this even before I descended down to earth and became Jett Rebel. All of us are friends and being on stage with these people is a privilege and a blessing. You'll be able to hear the crowd's excitement in the way we play. My primary goal was to make it feel like you were actually there. I live for this...

London-based Kouslin's Le Chatroom imprint presents LCR003; a percussion-heavy release of four tracks from close friends and affiliates.

Taking inspiration from rhythms around the world and the uproar within the new-gen UK Funky scene, Le Chatroom once again exhibit their ethos of eclecticism that has found them in the record bags of the likes of Ben UFO and Call Super.

Big Brothers' frontman Amor Satyr (also of Parisian collective Boukan Records), channels heavy baile funk on 'Hohohoi', with razor-sharp low-end separation and haunting harmonies.

Soreab (Baroque Sunburst/BeatMachine) serves up a hearty cut of low-slung, tribal drum funk with a groove synonymous of Hessle Audio sets.

Having recently featured on an R&S Records compilation, plus a release on More Time Records, rising artist DJ Tess presents her new “Mala Femmina” alias and offers up a triplet-based 4x4 groove with relentless icy blows and rotating polyrhythms.

Livity Sound's Cando close out with a remix of Soreab's 'Cave Walk'. Racing away with dancefloor panic, the intricacies of the remix shine through via its claustrophobic and pristine mixdown.

Today, the Toronto-born-and-raised singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Day Wilson announces her highly-anticipated sophomore album Cyan Blue out May 3rd via Stone Woman Music / XL Recordings Along with the announcement of her new album comes the release of first single, "I Don"t Love You", a stark and devastatingly beautiful confessional, highlighting Wilson"s immaculate production skills and chill inducing vocals laid atop smooth groove piano chords and soft drums. The track also arrives with a visual directed by Dani Aphrodite featuring layered low fi footage of the artist and producer performing at home, living every day life and having moments of solitude in her car, a theme that comes up throughout the album. Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven cyan tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it possesses a sense of vastness that rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she"s embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with wistfulness and yearning and a reflection on youthful innocence. "I want to look through the unjaded eyes of my younger self again," Wilson explains of making Cyan Blue. "Before there wasn"t as much baggage, before so much life was lived. But I also wish that my younger self could see where I am now. It would be nice to be able to impart some of the wisdom and clarity that I have now onto her." Working with producers like Leon Thomas (SZA, Ariana Grande, Post Malone), and Jack Rochon (HE.R, Daniel Caesar), Cyan Blue demonstrates Wilson"s sonic expertise while also showcasing the next evolution of her time-bending songwriting. Through 13 hypnotizing tracks, she continues to use music as a vessel for unpacking relationships, which in turn allows her to meet and understand herself in life-spanning, panoramic focus. But, on Cyan Blue, she challenged herself to kick her perfectionist tendencies. "Before, I was extremely intentional about creating music with a strong foundation, a bed of artistic integrity," Wilson reflects. "But that was a bit stifling, like, "Let me just make a great piece of art that will stand the test of time, no pressure." Now, I think I"m getting out of this frozen state of needing everything to be perfect. I"m more interested in capturing feelings in the moment as they happen and leaving them in that moment." While this is only her second album, Wilson"s influence in music has made a major mainstream impact. Wilson broke out in 2016 with her critically acclaimed EP, CDW, followed by 2018"s Stone Woman and made her debut studio album an official coming out moment in 2021 with the critically acclaimed, self-released Alpha. Over the past decade, she"s been sampled by Drake, John Mayer, and James Blake, while Patti Smith has recently praised and covered Wilson"s 2016 breakout single "Work." Additionally, she"s collaborated with artists like Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD, and SG Lewis, demonstrating that there"s no sound Wilson can"t adapt to and sprinkle her cyan-colored magic over.

For the second release of the Back to Back series of Stolen Goods goes for two stables of the scene: label manager and old school pillar of the Italian scene Lele Sacchi and Italo Spanish beat master Bawrut.
After B2B1 saw the funky deep sound of Rogue D feat Joe Le Groove and the raw house grooves of Ruff Stuff got played by Laurent Garnier on his show and by peeps like Jamie Jones and Oliver Dollar in their sets and chosen by Beatport in most of their weekend picks here we are ready for two bangers for clubbing prime time! Bawrut's fame goes a long way back to in the best of Europe's crossover of electronic dancefloor music and indie and urban flavours. An album on Ransome Note, hits for Life & Death, Correspondant and tracks supported by Dixon, Jennifer Cardini, Ricardo Villalobos Sven Bath and playing B2B with Kink and Skream in festival and clubs like Sonar, Nuits Sonores, Fabric, Sub Club, Nitsa, etc. and now this massive hands in the hair, goosebumps in the back monster of retro future rave piece of music!
Lele Sacchi is known to have an ear for bangers having been behind the decks all over the world for nearly 30 years, so whenever and with various aliases he turns into producer is quite normal to find his music out on labels like Snatch, Soul Clap, Nervous, Internasjonal, Crosstown Rebels, Pokerflat, Rebirth and more and more classic underground dance stables. This time he keeps his know funkier deep groove but adds a kille stab in the breakdown to represent a vein of peaktime monster attitude.
Again a message 'From Clubbers to Clubbers' as we love to say here at Stolen Goods records.

Leading Danish trombonist Lis Wessberg is grounded by the concept that a strong melody, and a rich sound are the two most important elements in composition and performance.A continuation of the refined contemporary answer to the"Cool Jazz" sound she"s been cultivating for the past 30 years, her sophomore album"Twain Walking" is set to release on April 12th onApril Records. With more than50 album credits to her name, and having performed and toured with renowned artists including Marilyn Mazur, Fredrik Lundin, Joyce Moreno, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band feat. Randy Brecker, and more, 2021 saw the release of her debut album "Yellow Maps"to critical acclaim from all around Europe. Diving deep into the personal exploration of her creative roots, "Twain Walking"hails from the warm vitality of New Orleans jazz, to the reflective hum of the ECM sound, and the boundary pushing songwriting of Radiohead. With a respectful nod to her influences such as Miles Davis, Curtis Fuller, Danish Erling Kroner, and Palle Mikkelborg, Wessberg operates within thetraditions they established. However, resisting producing a mere echo of the past, she cultivates her owndistinctaesthetic inspired in equal parts by her heroes as well as contemporary zeitgeist. Led by Wessberg"s dynamic trombone playing, her breathlike approach to the instrument mimics a lamenting human voice singing intricately lyrical melodies. Rock inspired drum grooves, thick synth timbres, and cavernous reverbs craft an expansive and dream-like contemporary soundworld in which Wessberg"s thoughtfully crafted compositions can unfold. From spacious,Nordic ballads todance floor psychedelia, the ensemble tackle all ten varied compositions with confidence, maturity, and a dedicated sense of self-expression. Featuring Estonian rising star Karmen Roivassepp on vocals, her effortless soloisticcontributions explore lyrical themes of recognising the beauty in love in life, elevating the record"s melancholic and reflective tone.

Pieces of debris washed up on a coastline shrouded in mist. Gratification comes from an eternal search for solace. Locked away at the top of a lighthouse somewhere on an unnamed isle, Grady Steele broadcasts to those within the beacon’s reach. A soundsystem built of driftwood and salvaged car stereos is pieced together with precision and laboriously dragged to the top of the obelisk. A timeless fugue state spent playing arpeggios on a Spanish guitar, the PA system ebbing out phasing loops across benevolent waters. Layering, occasionally faulting, stopping, recording, starting again. The phosphorescent glow atop the obelisk is ever-present.

Perhaps the first release on Archaic Vaults to feature (at least prominent) use of the guitar, these six compositions feel sketch-like and yet burned into the retina, like that of a passing car’s headlights leaving an impressionistic imprint of the source material. To mention this is Grady Steele’s debut release is not to imply he is new to working with sound, having been the proprietor of one of London’s most important soundsystems for the last decade. An obsession with fidelity can be heard and and at times deliberately perverted amongst the body of work. The warm and melancholic tones of the Spanish guitar evident in almost all songs are juxtaposed with various collaged material, including what sounds like hastily captured iPhone recordings and drum machines neglected at the back of the studio, dragged out for one or two stubborn, lurching takes and then once more committed to storage. The 90s voice-imitator pads glowing with undulance are reminiscent of John T. Gast’s early studio takes, and the synergy and precision in guitar layering could lend a clue as to what Fuck Buttons would have sounded like had they sold off their studio equipment for a couple of wooden 12-stringers. Stare long enough at those Windows 95 screensaver-esque rolling hills, and one might witness some miniscule movement in the growth.

Music composed and arranged by Grady Steele Painting by Antoine Larrera Mastered by Owen Pratt Design by Severin Black

The music of Large Plants could be characterised as psych rock, with this outing having a folkier, proggier and more fantastic feel than the heavier biker-rock of the 2022 debut, The Carrier. The tracks on The Thorn also weave synths into the traditional four-piece sound palette.

The Thorn was partly recorded at the same time as the The Carrier, with more songs added subsequently. However, all tracks for both albums were recorded and performed entirely by Jack Sharp in a barn, since demolished. “It was a dirty, rusty, metal shack with no insulation or sound treatment, and it was full of junk, but it sounded weirdly great, and I loved it.” Sharp told Shindig magazine.

Explore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection. With this new volume 100% italian, discover rare gems from soundtracks of erotic and detective movies as well as more confidential music libraries. With Ennio Morricone, Goblin, Piero Piccioni, Guido e Maurizio De Angelis, Armando Trovajoli, Alessandro Alessandri, Toto Cutugno...

Getting into an album by Cyril Cyril is being invited to a party where you thought you didn't know anyone, only to realize that this chap's gal is your bro's cuz, and leave with everyone's cell. Their music seems familiar because it's not deaf to its neighbors, in the broadest sense : Geneva, their lair, Europe, their playground as a duo, and the world, their grocery store. There's plenty in those two heads, but just the two of them on stage. For their third Born Bad album, they have invited two lads from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Ines Mouzoune, multi-instrumentalist from Amami, and Violeta Garcia's cello on Le Futur ca marche pas. On the ruins of Switzerland, people dance hard but consciously, and won't complain about them having a go at the homeland - notably in " Sweetzerland Bunker Love ", where they claim it's time to "free the money from the banks". There's something rotten in the state, wherever it may be, and they prefer to put its fall to music. And they're not shy about it, either: this album features heavy guitar/drums text-driven ballads (beautiful "Mensonge" opens the album with a certain gravitas), polyrhythmic noisy drum splatter with crafty vocal knitting ("Plus rien a? faire"), deconstructed and harmonically ambitious compositions ("Les Phoenix de l'amour"), and latino frogs croaks, because yes, why not. Since their previous efforts "Certaine Ruines" and "Yallah Mickey Mouse", it turns out that the future isn't working out so badly for the two Cyrils. (Not so) Quietly sitting on crates of records, they patiently build their sound. Never tired of sick networks and never-ending struggles, Cyril Cyril is a rousing mess, shouting out the common spleen while still managing to have a good laugh.

Hit and Run is the second studio album by the British heavy metal band Girlschool, released in 1981. It is their most successful album, having reached No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. The band appeared on Top of the Pops in 1981, miming to the hit song of the title track. Lead track „C‘mon Let‘s Go“ was featured in the Gemini Award winning 2005 documentary film „Metal: A Headbanger‘s Journey“.

Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 years. During their career they travelled the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining with or supporting important hard rock and heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following, and are an inspiration for many female rock musicians.

Hit and Run is the second studio album by the British heavy metal band Girlschool, released in 1981. It is their most successful album, having reached No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. The band appeared on Top of the Pops in 1981, miming to the hit song of the title track. Lead track „C‘mon Let‘s Go“ was featured in the Gemini Award winning 2005 documentary film „Metal: A Headbanger‘s Journey“.

Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 years. During their career they travelled the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining with or supporting important hard rock and heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following, and are an inspiration for many female rock musicians.

Based in Paris, exciting producer and live act Vitess is part of the new generation of house talent emerging from France, gaining support from global heavyweights while establishing and shaping his take on the genre. Having released his breakthrough ‘Red World’ EP via Chris Stussy’s Up The Stuss imprint in 2022 alongside further material via the likes of LOCUS, Shall Not Fade, and Phonogramme, to name just a few, plus his own Retro Futura imprint, he now becomes the second guest invited to Rossi.’surgeoning HOMEGROWN. imprint as he unveils his five-track ‘Visions’ EP.

A staple of label boss Rossi.’s sets, with additional heavy support from Enzo Siragusa and Chris Stussy, A1 ‘Blue Vision’ has quickly become one of the scene’s most-requested track IDs of late, bringing a slice of synth-fuelled house music to kick off proceedings.

Fusing resonant leads and skippy percussion with the track’s warped vocals, it’s a perfect peak-time anthem set for big moments in the months ahead. Next, ‘Drive Me Crazy’ ups the tempo and launches into playful, driving realms, while B1 ‘First Night’ opens the flip of the record with a sun-soaked slice of electronic funk.

Vinyl exclusive ‘Jammi Rocaille’ strips things back and tumbles into a classy, jazz and disco-tinged journey, before the all-action and zipping ‘Big Sound’ ups the energy levels as the Frenchman launches back into the peak time and beyond to close the show with authority.

Following a 2021-2022 global tour that reaffirmed St. Vincent’s status as one of live music's preeminent forces with headline appearances at the likes of the Hollywood Bowl and Radio City Music Hall, Clark would begin work on album number seven: Her first fully self-produced album (having co-produced every one of her previous efforts), All Born Screaming is St. Vincent at her most primal. Featuring Clark leading “a curated group of rippers” through the brawny “Broken Man,” the mordant catwalk sashay through the deafening assault of self-loathing that is “Big Time Nothing,” the sublime, elegiac earworm “Sweetest Fruit," All Born Screaming is equal parts spiritual desolation and rapturous acceptance. ‘Sublime seventh album’ - Uncut ‘Emotionally lacerating’ - Guardian Culture ‘A voracious, visceral seventh record fuelled by the colours and sounds of fire and fervour’ - DIY

Hybrid sounds are offered up by Sunderland born producer Dharma on his Lone Romantic debut. His ‘Clear Glass’ EP lands on Maceo Plex’s left of centre imprint, offering up four tracks of futuristic garage and electro-tinged sounds.

Having previously released on esteemed labels such as R&S Records, Man Power’s Me Me Me imprint and Permanent Vacation, Dharma readies a bustling EP for Lone Romantic that showcases the young producer’s deft capabilities at working through various shades and rhythms with ease.

From the shuffling beats and choppy vox of EP opener ‘Clear Glass’, to the low-slung hip hop meets IDM influences of ‘Work Over’, Dharma serves up a highly accomplished release that effortlessly traverses genres.

‘Clear Glass’ EP by Dharma is available on Lone Romantic from 26th April 2024.

CLEARxCUT is out there to spread the message of total liberation. (Former) Members of HEAVEN SHALL BURN, IMPLORE, and KING APATHY/THRÄNENKIND started this collective, because they are dedicated to the vegan straight edge (XVX) and want to confront listeners with inconvenient thruths and todays harsh reality. The German band addresses their songs and convictions to all people who are prepared to stand up for a better, fairer future - but especially to all anarchists, anti-fascists, feminists, primitivists and indigenous peoples of the world. Or to put it brief: to all defenders of our earth. The stylistic choice of means falls on metallic hardcore, which is rooted in a strong DIY ethic. Having released their first two albums "For The Wild At Heart Kept In Cages" (2019) and "Songs of Desire Armed" (2022) for Catalyst X Records (Gather, Nueva Ethica, Abnegation, Birthright, Maroon, Point Of No Return, Forward To Eden), "Age Of Grief" now marks CLEARxCUTs debut for LIFEFORCE RECORDS. Started in the mid-1990ies as label with mainly vegan and straight edge bands, the German Label has an impressive history with XVX bands such as ARKANGEL, DAY OF SUFFERING, RANCOR, UNCONQUERED, UNBORN, FAULT, or DEADLOCK. Being a collective that is outspoken in its message and keeps the vegan straight edge banner high, CLEARxCUT continue this tradition. Also besides having switched their label, "Age Of Grief" marks a fresh start for CLEARxCUT. After a big shift in their ranks, before the global pandemic hit, the band moved from two (female) vocalists to one (male) frontman. This is accompanyed by a change of sound. On their third full lenght album, the German band is diving into the realms of metallic hardcore, leaving behind their early hardcore punk influences. Noone should be surprised by this move, as CLEARxCUT was conceived as a collective where members, names, or styles wouldn’t matter, but one and only the final goal of spreading a positive message in defense of animal rights and sober living. "Age Of Grief", in this respect, is extremely consistent.

‘Landmass’ Turtle’s first artist album since 2017’s ‘Human’. To be released on 24 March 2023, it is his third official album having also released the acclaimed ‘Who Knows’ EP in 2013.

‘Landmass’ is a beautiful body of work that flows naturally as one piece of music and is inspired by the sparse surroundings of Jon’s studio in Argyll, Scotland, an area he moved to to try and escape the noise of the city and a move that has directly impacted on his creative process.

Jon Cooper… “Since I started producing music I have never gone into a track with any preconceived ideas, I let the music develop in its own way so my direct surroundings have always played a huge part in how it sounds and the hustle of the city was something I felt I needed to get away from. This was a cathartic experience in making it - it's a real outpouring of love for the Scottish countryside and the beauty I’m lucky enough to live in and see every day!”

Jon’s musical journey is one of experimentation and passion. A regular of the electronic scene in Glasgow in the late 90's/early 2000’s, he started to experiment with DJing and music production more for his mates entertainment than with any aspiration of a career as one of the most understated electronic artists Scotland has produced.

You get older, you have a family, and you start to slow down-that's how things are supposed to go, right? Not for Montreal band Corridor, who have returned on their fourth album, Mimi, with a sound and style that's more widescreen and expansive than anything that's preceded it. The follow-up to 2019's Junior is a huge step forward for the band, as the members themselves have undergone the type of personal changes that accompany the passage of time; even as these eight songs reflect a newfound and contemplative maturity, however, Corridor are branching out more than ever with richly detailed music, resulting in a record that feels like a fresh break for a band that's already established themselves as forward-thinkers. Mimi immediately recalls the best of the best when it comes to indie rock-Deerhunter's silvery atmospherics immediately come to mind, as well as the spiky effervescence of classic post-punk-but despite these easy comparisons, Corridor remain impossible to pin down from song to song, which makes Mimi all the more thrilling as a listen. "The goal was to work differently, which is the goal we have every time we work on a new album-to build something in a new way," Robert explains. "This time, we took our time." And so in the summer of 2020, Corridor's members-Robert, vocalist/bassist Dominic Berthiaume, drummer Julien Bakvis, and multi-instrumentalist Samuel Gougoux-holed away in a cottage to engage in the sort of creative experimentation that would lead to Mimi's ultimate creation. Corridor tinkered with the songs' raw parts digitally and remotely over the next few years, with co-producer Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) lending their own specific talents in the theoretical booth. The process was a byproduct of not having access to their rehearsal space due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a result of the four-piece leaning harder into incorporating electronic textures than on previous records. "For a long time, we identified as a guitar-oriented band, and the goal of making this whole record was trying to get away from that," Berthiaume states. Berthiaume also describes Mimi as a record about "getting older" and "figuring out new parts of life"-but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is a record bursting with new energy and life, a vibrance that's owed in no small part to Gougoux joining the band full-time after pitching in on live performances in the past. "I come more from a background of electronic music, so it was nice to involve that with the band more," he explains, and Mimi contains a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of classic era-post-punk's own melding of dance and rock textures. Over bright, chiming guitars and ascending synths, Robert addresses his looming mortality on "Mourir Demain": "I wrote it when my girlfriend and I were shopping for life insurance," he laughs. With our little daughter growing up, we also considered making our will. I said to myself, 'Oh shit, from now on I'm slowly starting to plan my death." Don't mistake this as music about dead ends, though, as Mimi embraces and champions unfettered creativity while paving a way for Corridor's own bright future. "We just focused on making a record that sounded the way we wanted," Gougoux exclaims while discussing the band's aims. "There were no limitations when it came to what was possible."

Having flown in from Tbilisi, Anushka Chkheidze found herself completely alone inside the empty and as yet unoccupied University of Basel's Biozentrum: just her, a piano, and the surrounding spaces. Over a two-week period the young Georgian musician and composer was able to explore the building, designed by Ilg Santer architects, with the piano, microphones, a mixing deck, a computer, and her voice. She also assembled a small choir from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis music academy in Basel, who performed in an auditorium in the basement.

Anushka used her field recordings and compositional ideas from her on-site sessions to create the music for this album in the studio in Tbilisi, Georgia. The eight tracks are an acoustic and associative journey through the Biozentrum with a nonvisual form of perception: she encountered eight very different places in the building, and the spatial acoustics and nonvisible interior spaces all play their part.

'Clean Clear White' was mixed by Taylor Deupree (Pound Ridge, New York), mastered by Christoph Stickel (Vienna), cut by Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios (Berlin), and pressed on 180 gram black vinyl by Optimal Media (Röbel/Müritz) with love and care to audiophile standards.

"This album is about influence, inspiration, perception & reality. Every song was written in an outside environment, so that I could observe the subjects that would become my subject matter. All too often in Hip Hop, reality is limited to that of the artists own, actual experiences. People Hear What They See is my attempt to liberate the MC from those constraints & allow reality to be penned other than my own. Listening to congressmen & lawyers converse on the steps of the supreme court inspired 'American Greed', Watching a couple argue over the phone in a bar inspired 'Maybes'. By having a visual representation of my subject matter, my hopes are that the listener will see them through the worlds & melodies of my songs."

The upcoming album, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is a project doused in personal conflict, but simultaneously a love letter to the normal and how beauty can be found in just being. Charged with references to literature, philosophy and film, as well as first hand experiences, the band explore thoughts of what it means to find purpose when everything feels purposeless, all whilst ultimately instructing themselves to find “small joys in the face of cosmic indifference”. Produced by George Perks (Enter Shikari, The Doves, You Me At Six), How to Build an Ocean: Instructions marks an exciting new development for Bears in Trees, being the first album they’ve recorded with the help of consultants outside of the band themselves, having previously relied on drummer George’s expertise, who outside of the band, works as an engineer at Subfrantic Studios. Tenderness, triumph, and a totally unashamed feeling of enjoying the ride whilst they're on it, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is their definitive statement. Though no matter how far this record takes them, the most important thing is that they are together and doing what they love. Because when all is said and done, that's the connection that will last a lifetime. "We started the band because we loved hanging out with our friends and wanted to make stupid music together"; Iain concludes. "That's always been the reason, and it hasn't changed. All we want to do is make what we do as honest and authentic as possible. That's what it means to be in the Bears in Trees business."