After he became one of the most respected name in the global Balearic scene skipping rocks across water and moving through an amazing and different philosophy. A Vision of Panorama's latest release is an extremely well-designed album which is morphing his synth-o-logy on even more subtly and glistering shapes. With previous 12'' releases on Mellophonia, Cala Tarida Musica and Omena gave us the first sings ''Tiger'' was a matter of time. Boogie-crafted sound with squelching percussions and a touch of 'jazz in the house' which representing the charismatic sound of Larry Heard is managing not only to satisfy his already fans but to be discovered by tones of new ones who their musical references are not only the European 'state of Balearic music' but the breezy US sound too
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Be With is delighted to present Jorge López Ruiz’s El Grito (Suite Para Orquesta De Jazz), eternal Argentinian magic released on CBS in 1967 that must be one of the most sought-after South American jazz LPs.
Living in Buenos Aires in the 60s, driven by creative impulse and rage Jorge López Ruiz used music as his platform to protest the Argentine military dictatorship: “I could never stand dictatorships, to be told how you have to think, what you have to do. Nor did I endure discrimination”.
A young López Ruiz had appeared on a television panel alongside writer, politician and philosopher Arturo Jauretche, criticising the Onganía dictatorship. Jauretche told López Ruiz “Now say it with music”. This was the deep inhale that lead to El Grito, literally “The Scream”. As López Ruiz later explained “Jauretche urged me that my protests should not remain in words and acquire the consistency of a work… but it was not so much what he told me but how he told me, what prompted me to make the work take shape, first in a live concert and then in a recording”.
As the police and military began resorting to kidnapping, torture and summary executions to quiet dissent, with depressing inevitability the artist community and their work were a particular target of the increasingly brutal regime. El Grito was banned not long after it was released and the majority of original copies were unceremoniously destroyed.
The work of a genius artist living under an opressive dictatorship, erased by the government of the time, this is buried treasure in every sense and it’s been a rare record for over 50 years. But it isn’t just being hard to find that has pushed up the prices of those few original copies that survived, this is a foundational record in the development of jazz in South America.
El Grito (Suite Para Orquesta De Jazz) is a showcase for Jorge López Ruiz’s skills as a composer and arranger as he leads a virtuoso orchestra of the likes of Mario Cosentino (alto sax), Baby López Furst (piano), Pichi Mazzei (drums), Gustavo Bergalli (trumpet), Oscar López Ruiz (guitar), Arturo Schneider (flute) and Jorge López Ruiz himself plays double bass on the fourth and fifth movements.
As the album’s sub-title explains, The album is a Jazz orchestra concept suite. Five movements, to be heard as a whole, that end where they begin.
“When I wrote it there was no history of a cyclical work in jazz. But I didn't notice that, I needed to express something and I did it. At that time they told me I was crazy, that such a thing was very difficult to do. But hey, I like challenges”.
Yet this is not challenging jazz. There are certainly avant garde, free jazz flourishes, but the hard bop characteristics make this a very accessible album: easy to listen to without being easy listening. López Ruiz’s love of film brings a definite cinematic feel.
The title movement opens the album in bombastic style. “El Grito” grabs you by the lapels and refuses to let go. Raw then controlled, it’s by turns stabbing then soothing, with rage weaved in and out of the elegant styles. “M.A.B. = Amor” is our favourite here. With a tense introduction and a patient build, a gentle sax sweeps in to lift everything up to meet the serene piano and soft drums. Elegantly paced, it moves back and forth between deep contemplation and a more urgent call and response between strings and horns. A near-eight-minute, slow motion marvel.
The second side eases in with the beautifully-titled “Hasta El Cielo, Sin Nubes, Con Todas Las Estrellas” (“Up To The Sky, No Clouds, With All The Stars”) a relatively brief mid-tempo piece featuring López Ruiz’s insistent bass notes high in the mix, and again blending the sublime with the emotive with its wild horns and tight rhythm section.
It’s followed by “Tendré El Mundo” (“I Will Have The World”) which also leads with hypnotic bass, but this time swifter, driven by crashing drums, rapid horn conversations and effortlessly cool piano flourishes. Rounding out the suite, “De Nuevo El Grito” (something like “The Next Scream” or “The Scream Renewed”) is a stylish closer. Whilst López Ruiz’s bass shifts the track along, the horns and piano are more restrained, yet no less stunning.
This Be With edition of El Grito sounds sensational, if we do say so ourselves. Working with audio from the original analogue tapes, the vinyl mastering chops of Simon Francis are on full show here in what he considers to be some of his best ever work for Be With. Pete Norman’s cutting skills have made sure nothing is lost. The tortured artwork has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to helping this revered work find a rightful place in every protest art collection.
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Originally released as a 12” single in 1982, ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’ was the final record from Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist and producer Freddie Thompson’s Panaché band. Built around a fully cleared sampled bassline from ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’ plays out like a summertime stroll through New York in the early 80s. The streets are full of excitement, but as the lyrics, written by vocalist Denise Williams (not to be confused with Deniece Williams of ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’ fame) make it clear, they’re dangerous as well.
Thirty-nine years later, Isle of Jura is proud to present the first official 12” reissue of ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’. A cult classic from the disco-rap era, the reissue includes the original vocal and instrumental versions of ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’ plus a Jura Soundsystem special version with additional live percussion.
Originally made up of Freddie, his wife, the singer Debra Thompson and keyboardist Douglas Glover, Panaché formed at the behest of a local disco DJ, Carl Nelson. In the wake of Chic’s early singles, Carl felt a French name would give Freddie a competitive edge. “He explained it to us that it was a French word for style and elegance. Panaché, a step above chic,” Freddie reflects.
Business minded, Freddie formed his own label, Roché Records and joined SIRMA - The Small Independent Music Manufacturers Association. “It was very hard for the independent manufacturers to get airplay and distribution at the time, so we all came together,” he remembers. Through SIRMA, Freddie met Joe and Sylvia Robinson from Sugar Hill Records, who several years later, let him sample ‘The Message’ for ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’.
In 1979, Panaché scored some radioplay when they covered ‘Not On The Outside’ by ‘60s D.C R&B group The Moments. Emboldened, they brought onboard backing vocalists and recorded their only album. This Is Panache saw the band blurring the boundaries between soul, jazz-funk and disco and become a sought after collectible.
By 1982, Debra had stepped back, and one of Panaché’s backing singers was center stage, Denise Williams. “Denise was good with writing poetry,” says Freddie. "She had one called ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’. It was about the unrest that was going on in the city at the time. I thought I could do something with that.”
After releasing ‘Every Brother Ain’t A Brother’ in 1982, Panaché quietly moved from center stage to behind the scenes. Over the last thirty-nine years, Freddie has continued to work in the music industry as a session musician and producer. “As soon as we stopped trying to become stars as Panaché, we became busy working in the industry,” Freddie laughs.
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Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin includes pop standards penned by
America’s legendary songwriting duo George and Ira Gershwin.
As Willie tells it: “Ira and George Gershwin were just fantastic writers. They wrote some of the greatest songs ever. The Gershwin songs have been here for many, many years. When I was just a small guy, I remember hearing all these great Gershwin songs and they’ll be around forever because great music like that just does not go away.”
Among the 11 Gershwin classics recorded by Willie Nelson for the album are two duets: “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off” with Cyndi Lauper and “Embraceable You” with Sheryl Crow.
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin debuted at number one on the Traditional Jazz and Top Jazz Albums Billboard charts, becoming Nelson’s third album to top the latter. Meanwhile, it reached number fourteen in Top Album Sales and reached number forty in the Billboard 200.
Now available as a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies on transparent red vinyl, including an insert + Willie Nelson on Music On Vinyl catalogue insert.
Chris Liberator and Darc Marc with some classic Acid Techno over 3 trax, with "Acid Music Has Come To Set You Free" already causing mayhem in the acid community with it's subversive anti-system mantra. "Heart Of The Underground" is pill-popping fizzy Acid Techno, whilst "Something Dark This Way Comes" goes for a more atmospheric and menacing vibe.
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On 16th April 2021, three years to the day since producer Tim Larcombe and I began work in the studio, my debut album will be
released independently on our label EKT Records.
spell_hope is about finding the hope, the way forward, the light in dark places, the order in chaos, the things that are most
important. It is about creative freedom. Not compromising on integrity and originality, and resisting the shortcuts, the temptation of
an easier road. It is about reaching that end goal, that unstoppable ambition. The power we all have within us to change things, to
make things happen. To keep running even after our legs tell us to “stop!”.
The track list adventures from realms of the organic to the electronic, modern to classic, the understated to the overtly dynamic.
Brimming with an inadvertent frankness which I realised more fully after the event of recording (much of the time when I write I let
my subconscious do the talking), these songs comprise a journal, in words and melodies, of my life up to this point…
“Towers” was written at the piano back in 2013, in the moment I resolved to leave my university course behind in favour of the path
that has led me to writing this now - a song I have since been determined would end up on my first record. “Stronger Heart” at the
first sense of heart-break. “Plans” at my first sense of true partnership. “Stones”. “Big Bad Thoughts”, “Small Things” and “Spell
Hope” reactions at various points to the difficulties and destitution of my chosen career piling on top of other issues (- we all have
‘em right?), over time challenging my determination and mental stability.
Pioneers of the British music scene, ‘Blackest Blue’ will be the band's 10th studio album in a discography that spans three decades. 2020 saw Morcheeba unable to tour or perform live, which gave Skye Edwards & Ross Godfrey “time to write songs and really get to hone them,” as Godfrey puts it. “There weren’t so many pressures so we could really take our time getting the songs right,” adds Edwards.
The result of this time is a refined 10 track album that fuses previous incarnations and sound of the band - such as downbeat, chill, electro-pop & soul - into one cohesive record that dives deep into the soul of the band’s genre-mashing musical heritage. As usual, the band didn’t approach the album with any pre-conceptions, and instead created an organic journey that represents everything great about Morcheeba.
Edwards’ lyrics are primarily focused on positivity and overcoming personal adversity that lies within. ‘Sounds Of Blue’, is a stunning cut that puts Skye Edward's sultry vocals to the forefront, floating high above an ethereal backdrop.
The album includes features with Duke Garwood (known for his work with Mark Lanegan, amongst others) and Brad Barr (The Slip, The Barr Brothers). “
Morcheeba’s global reach is impressive, taking them to every corner of the world . Their signature chilled electronic/organic sound has been border-hopping ever since the London-based band emerged as a household name. The past year has been one of introspection for the duo, as they take stock of their renewed global fan base and look forward to being able to play the new album live in the not too distant future. “This was the first time since I was a teenager that I’d spent a year off the road and I enjoyed the tranquility, although I missed playing my guitar in far off lands,” says Godfrey.
Backed by members of the David Nance Group, Rosali (Long Hots, Wandering Shade, Monocot) wades through the emotional mire with infectious, earworm melodies led by her luminous voice. With their rich, raw instrumentation, these rock ballads sound like the resilience discovered in facing one’s darkest moments, the assurance of the calm and clarity that comes after the storm. As she sings on the second track, “Bones,” “Through the darkness of the field / I walk through without yielding / To the rest of the feelings / I’m carrying.” With her confident song craft, Rosali illustrates the ability to push through, moving toward something greater without being destroyed by the weight of trauma.
Engineered by James Shroeder and featuring Kevin Donahue (Simon Joyner), James Shroeder (Simon Joyner, DNG, Connor Oberst), David Nance, Noah Sterba, Colin Duckworth, and Daniel Knapp, the album was recorded in ten days and the raw immediacy of the music is palpable across these ten tracks. Added adornment was contributed by Philadelphia's Robbie Bennett (War on Drugs) on organ and keys, and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen, Jonathan Fire Eater, Muzz) makes a percussion cameo on “Whisper,”which was tracked at Philly’s Silent Partner Studio, where No Medium was mixed by Quentin Stoltzfus (Mazarin, Light Heat). The open creative collaboration elevated the songs, resulting in the exciting, vibrant sound of the album.
Rosali wrote the bulk of these songs in January of 2019 while on a self-imposed two week residency in the hills of South Carolina. Alone in an old farmhouse, she experienced supernatural events and faced her own demons in the deepest darkness. Perhaps as a result, there is a boldness that permeates the album, a daring vulnerability in both the lyrical themes and their musical accompaniment. Rosali says, “I approach guitar playing the same intuitive way I sing, which is profoundly spiritual for me. Where words fail, the guitar becomes the conduit for raw feelings, providing a direct connection to them. I’m constantly working on being fearless in my work, which means showing the rough side, the mistakes along with the triumphs.”
While writing No Medium, Rosali was inspired by harmonographs—swinging pendulums that create beautiful illustrations of the mathematics of music—considering how the mind, too, creates images through song. She imagined herself as the swinging pendulum—“a body suspended from a fixed point” (Encyclopedia Britannica), governed by the forces surrounding her. She thought about the pendulum’s relationship to time, movement, and even its use in divination practices. The album’s title, lifted from Charlotte Brontë’s, Jane Eyre, resonated with this vision: “I know no medium: I never in my life have known any medium in my dealings with positive, hard characters, antagonistic to my own, between absolute submission and determined revolt. I have always faithfully observed the one, up to the very moment of bursting, sometimes with volcanic vehemence, into the other.” With the multiple meanings of “medium”—as middle ground, a term for psychics, and as the material of artistic expression—No Medium felt like the appropriate name, describing how the self is shaped by the patterns of life .
The influences for the sound of No Medium reflect this pairing of assured vulnerability, in the stylistic coherence of Bob Dylan’s Desire, the tender delivery in Iain Matthews’ Journey From Gospel Oak, the strut and swagger of Bowie’s Hunky Dory, the ambition and beauty of Gene Clark’s No Other, and the playful catharsis of Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson. The Richard and Linda Thompson-esque album opener “Mouth,” places Rosali within both a physical and emotional space. “East of the river I was travelling on / watch me lie, undone / rest me in a forest, overgrown / until I am free of all that I’ve known,” she sings. There is movement, both within a cityscape, and in her outlook on love. Speaking of her thought process when writing the song, she says, “I imagine confidently walking away from the past, toward a new approach to love and intimacy to achieve a closer relationship with myself.”
In “Pour Over Ice,” Rosali explores her relationship with alcohol and her former reliance upon it as a social lubricant to quell her social anxiety, an energizer to keep moving, a means to cope and self-medicate, and most addictively, to lure out her wild side as a free flowing, good time girl. While drinking helped her through some shitty times, it eventually got the upper hand and became an insatiable hole within. She says, “The ‘you’ in the song is really me, talking to that component of myself struggling with drinking and self-sabotage, caught up in the cycle, and all the bad choices I made.” She sings, “Maybe I didn’t care enough / or can’t remember / chasing small pleasures / making fire from embers.” Rosali wanted her lead guitar on this track to simultaneously sound like a slow motion car crash propelling her through the day, and the sound of a gnawing hunger for something more.
Rosali’s alliance with the Omaha musicians that orbit David Nance Group (including Nance himself) came about while on a Long Hots / DNG tour in the summer of 2019. Great friendships formed and one night after playing in Detroit, Dave suggested they be her backing band. The pairing was effortless and natural, and in November of the same year, they were recording No Medium in a basement in Omaha.
Demon Records is proud to present a new series of vinyl reissues from American singer-songwriter Black Francis / Frank Black
• First released in 2005, Honeycomb is the tenth studio album by Frank Black. For almost a decade, Frank Black discussed
making a “Black On Blonde” album with producer Jon Tiven. In 2005, Black travelled to Nashville and recorded with legendary
local session musicians including Steve Cropper, Reggie Young, Anton Fig and Spooner Oldham.
• Now available on vinyl for the very first time, this reissue features the complete album pressed on 140g translucent-honey vinyl,
housed in a printed inner sleeve featuring photographs by Michael Halsband.
• Stand out tracks include ‘I Burn Today’, ‘Lone Child’ and the title song ‘Honeycomb’.
The Black Keys release their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, via Nonesuch Records. The record celebrates the band’s roots, featuring eleven Mississippi hill country blues standards that they have loved since they were teenagers, before they were a band, including songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded Delta Kream at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville; they were joined by musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time members of the bands of blues legends including R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.
Auerbach says of the album, “We made this record to honor the Mississippi hill country blues tradition that influenced us starting out. These songs are still as important to us today as they were the first day Pat and I started playing together and picked up our instruments. It was a very inspiring session with Pat and me along with Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton in a circle, playing these songs. It felt so natural.”
Carney concurs, “The session was planned only days in advance and nothing was rehearsed. We recorded the entire album in about ten hours, over two afternoons, at the end of the “Let’s Rock” tour.”
Auerbach says of Delta Kream’s first single ‘Crawling Kingsnake’: “I first heard John Lee Hooker’s version in high school. My uncle Tim would have given me that record. But our version is definitely Junior Kimbrough’s take on it. It’s almost a disco riff!” Carney adds, "We fell into this drum intro; it's kind of accidental. The ultimate goal was to highlight the interplay between the guitars. My role with Eric was to create a deeper groove."
The music from northern Mississippi, which came to life in juke joints, has long left an imprint on the band’s music, from their cover of R.L. Burnide’s ‘Busted’ and Junior Kimbrough’s ‘Do The Romp’ on their debut album, The Big Come Up; to their subsequent signing to Fat Possum Records, home to many of their musical heroes; and to their EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma.
Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called ‘rock royalty’ by the Associated Press and ‘one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.
‘Voyager’, the seventh album from Current Joys, rattles with the
live-wire feeling that’s thrummed through all of Rattigan’s previous
releases: quavering, scream-itself-hoarse vocals and selfinterrogation via song. But here, that bristling, sentimental rock ‘n’
roll cacophony is overlaid with a soundtrack orchestra guiding it
along. It’s an odyssey, a grand-sounding journey of self-discovery
spread across sixteen tracks.
Part ekphrasis, part personal, it’s Rattigan learning new ways to
understand his own feelings and identity while inspired by the
highly-stylized, striking storytelling of filmmakers like Alfred
Hitchcock, Terrence Malick, Agnès Varda and Andrei Tarkovsky.
‘Voyager’ is unlike anything Current Joys has released before.
On his new album, Rattigan eschews lo-fi home recordings for a
full band and recording sessions at Stinson Beach Studios. As a
vocalist/drummer in his other band Surf Curse, Rattigan had finally
opened up to the possibility of working in a professional studio.
It’s all held together by the fervour of Rattigan’s creative process.
He believes in the premonitory power of music and he latches onto
the song ideas that strike him in the moment, propelled by an
abstract existentialism or burst of feeling more than anything else.
It imbues ‘Voyager’ with an intensity and intimacy - with the sense
that you’re getting to hear, all at once, the disparate parts that
make a project - or person - into a sprawling, cinematic whole.
Similar to Tame Impala or Mac Demarco in their early days,
Current Joys is singular and with a fanbase that extends far
outside of traditional indie fans. The band managed to establish an
indie and mainstream audience while flying under the radar of
DSPs and nearly all other industry levers. They are one of the first
indie bands to have their place fully created and cemented by
TikTok.
Double LP packaged in a gatefold sleeve
Buzzing new Glasgow five-piece VLURE release their hotly anticipated
debut 7” ‘Shattered Faith’ via London-based label Permanent Creeps
Records.
Bursting onto the scene at the dawn of 2020, VLURE introduced
themselves to the world with a live audio/visual performance of their
phenomenal track ‘Desire’, captured in beautiful cinematography from
the loading bay of their Glasgow studio space. Blurring the lines between
live electronics, jarring guitars and the performance sensibilities of their
post-punk contemporaries, the video offered a keyhole view into their
captivating live shows.
Combining synth laden hooks, heavy club influenced rhythms and
emotionally confronting lyrics, VLURE have already seen support from
the likes of So Young and Wax Music praising their life affirming, intense
and enigmatic live performances.
Recorded between the halls of a deconsecrated church in the heart of
the Scottish Borders, the self-produced ‘Shattered Faith’ is an indulgent,
genre bending coming of age anthem influenced by the rhythms,
repetitions and euphoric hooks of Glasgow’s thriving afterparty and club
scene with an angular post-punk foundation. Speaking on the track the
band explain: “We wanted to create something that felt at home on the
dancefloors that we all found ourselves on growing up, yet still equally at
home in the sweat-filled venues that the band was conceived in. At its
crux, ‘Shattered Faith’ is about self-empowerment. It’s the
disillusionment with where you are and what you’ve been given. It’s lying
on your kitchen floor at 3am realising who you truly are and finding
power in that - it’s a new lease of life. We believe that, if they want to find
it, there is something for everyone in this song.”
“There is nothing comparable - this is a new era of musically skeletal
human showmanship” - So Young Magazine
“Urgent, destructive and completely absorbing. Brutalist in form -
unyielding, massive-sounding, distinctive - their atmospheric, yearning
mood is overflowing with inclination and exposed tenderness -
vulnerable and exasperated. They pound the door down with every inch
of blood, sweat and tears in their vessels” - Wax Music
“This is post-punk, but not as you might familiarly expect” - Little Indie
Blogs
“One of Scotland’s most exciting new bands” - Tenement TV
“My vision was big,” says Brighton-based singer Macve of the road to her second album. “I knew I wanted to do something more expansive than my first record.” With reach, feeling, storytelling power and a stop-you-dead voice, Macve sizes up to that mission boldly on Not The Girl. Following on from the rootsy saloon-noir conviction of her 2017 debut, Golden Eagle, Holly sets out for
deeper, often darker territory with a firm, unhurried sense of direction on her second record: on all fronts, it’s an album that looks its upscaled ambitions in the eye fearlessly.
For Macve, the combination of influences such as Nancy & Lee with time spent touring helped widen her horizons. “I wasn’t afraid of trying new things, and I wanted to explore sounds and develop my skills in production, composing and engineering. When I wrote the songs on Golden Eagle I had never toured, it was just me in my bedroom playing acoustic guitar. I then got the chance to tour the world with a band and sing with a symphony orchestra with Mercury Rev in 2017. My little world grew and I realised there was so much for me to learn about how I can use my skills as a singer and writer. I didn’t want to limit myself – I wanted to push my boundaries.”
At every turn, Macve’s powers of evocation are matched by the depth and strength in her voice. Witness the meeting of a plangent pedal-steel with her elastic vocal on the atmospheric “Be My Friend”, or the sultry verses and soaring chorus of “You Can Do Better”, which bring to mind a prairie-sized Mazzy Star. Guest guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones’ spacious contributions help enhance its sense of space. “Bill was an important part of the story of this record,” says Holly. “I love his playing – it helped create that kind of heavy, lazy, dreamy sound I’m such a fan of.”
Elsewhere, rich seams of contrast and counterpoint emerge. The Velvet Underground-ish “Sweet Marie” is epic drone-country, “Little, Lonely Heart” a symphonic waltz around the rootsy stuff of bad love, jealousy, and guilt. “Who Am I” merges a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound with a grunge-y melodic insouciance, while “Daddy’s Gone” finds Macve reflecting on the death of her father over Memphis soul-style backing, rendering complex emotions with controlled reserves of detail and drama before a roistering climax.
“My vision was big,” says Brighton-based singer Macve of the road to her second album. “I knew I wanted to do something more expansive than my first record.” With reach, feeling, storytelling power and a stop-you-dead voice, Macve sizes up to that mission boldly on Not The Girl. Following on from the rootsy saloon-noir conviction of her 2017 debut, Golden Eagle, Holly sets out for
deeper, often darker territory with a firm, unhurried sense of direction on her second record: on all fronts, it’s an album that looks its upscaled ambitions in the eye fearlessly.
For Macve, the combination of influences such as Nancy & Lee with time spent touring helped widen her horizons. “I wasn’t afraid of trying new things, and I wanted to explore sounds and develop my skills in production, composing and engineering. When I wrote the songs on Golden Eagle I had never toured, it was just me in my bedroom playing acoustic guitar. I then got the chance to tour the world with a band and sing with a symphony orchestra with Mercury Rev in 2017. My little world grew and I realised there was so much for me to learn about how I can use my skills as a singer and writer. I didn’t want to limit myself – I wanted to push my boundaries.”
At every turn, Macve’s powers of evocation are matched by the depth and strength in her voice. Witness the meeting of a plangent pedal-steel with her elastic vocal on the atmospheric “Be My Friend”, or the sultry verses and soaring chorus of “You Can Do Better”, which bring to mind a prairie-sized Mazzy Star. Guest guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones’ spacious contributions help enhance its sense of space. “Bill was an important part of the story of this record,” says Holly. “I love his playing – it helped create that kind of heavy, lazy, dreamy sound I’m such a fan of.”
Elsewhere, rich seams of contrast and counterpoint emerge. The Velvet Underground-ish “Sweet Marie” is epic drone-country, “Little, Lonely Heart” a symphonic waltz around the rootsy stuff of bad love, jealousy, and guilt. “Who Am I” merges a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound with a grunge-y melodic insouciance, while “Daddy’s Gone” finds Macve reflecting on the death of her father over Memphis soul-style backing, rendering complex emotions with controlled reserves of detail and drama before a roistering climax.
On Halloween 2014, the director and composer John Carpenter introduced the world to the next phase of his career with “Vortex,” the first single from Lost Themes, his first-ever solo record. In the months that followed, Lost Themes right-fully returned Carpenter to the forefront of the discussion of music and film’s crucial intersection. Carpenter’s foundational primacy and lasting influence on genre score work was both rediscovered and reaffirmed. So widespread was the acclaim for Lost Themes, that the composer was moved to embark on something he had never before entertained – playing his music live in front of an audience. 2016 will host the first ever John Carpenter tour and in true Carpenter spirit, a sequel to Lost Themes: Lost Themes II. The follow-up brings quite a few noticeable changes to the process, which result in an even more cohesive record.
Lost Themes’cowriters Cody Carpenter (John’s son) and Daniel Davies (John’s godson) both returned. Cody was recently also heard as a composer for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series (Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life), and NBC’s Zoo. Davies was a composer for NBC’s Zoo, as well as the motion picture Condemned. All three brought in sketches and worked together in the same city, a luxury they weren’t afforded on the first Lost Themes. The result was a more focused effort, one that was completed on a compressed schedule — not unlike Carpenter’s classic, notoriously low-budget early films. The musical world of Lost Themes II is also a wider one than that of its predecessor. More electric and acoustic guitar help flesh out the songs, still driven by Carpenter’s trademark minimal synth.Keep your eyes peeled for John and his co-writers to hit the road next year performing both lost and newly found themes, in addition to retrospective work from Mr. Carpenter’s multi-generational career. Long live the Horror Master.
The third installment of Numero’s ode to lowrider souldies, Rust Side Story compiles highly sought after sweet soul singles from the Buck Eye State. Prepare for a low and slow ride from Youngstown to Dayton, Cleveland to Columbus, Toledo to Cincinnati, all soundtracked with silky falsettos and dreamy harmonies
After a year of sadness comes an album fit to resist it. Detritus, the third solo LP by violinist/composer Sarah Neufeld, confronts anguish with beauty, turmoil with grace, gliding through the present like a dancer mid-motion, reaching through space 'til she's caught. Detritus originated with a collaboration: in 2015, Neufeld was invited to appear on stage with the legendary dancer/choreographer Peggy Baker. Baker had prepared a solo piece based on work from Neufeld's second album, The Ridge, to which Neufeld added an original lyrical prelude. The live result was an incendiary duet, almost a sort of face-off, which left each artist unsated. They agreed to reunite for a more extended collaboration - a full-length show with Baker's company, where Neufeld would write to (and perform music alongside) Baker's choreography. It was a fertile partnership, uniting the two women's intense, curious, ferocious sensibilities across an age difference of 29 years. Baker had conceived the show around the title of Neufeld's prelude, "Who We Are In The Dark," exploring themes of loss, betrayal and the emptiness of space; Neufeld was herself in crisis mode, reacting to a specific, earthbound kind of grief (including the end of a relationship). Making work together, they drew on these raw feelings - insistent, urgent darkness but also something that was, for Neufeld at least, much more unexpected: a romantic, tender-hearted love, inspired by the movements of the dancers before her. The work premiered in February 2019. Even before Neufeld and Peggy Baker Dance Projects set off on tour, she had the intuition that this music might take another form: as a distilled set of songs, refined and developed beyond the versions performed on stage. Starting that summer, she began arranging this lush and soloistic material - work that eventually became Detritus - and performed some of these experiments at her own solo gigs. Neufeld worked throughout the process with her Arcade Fire bandmate Jeremy Gara, whose drums, synths and ambient electronics co-anchored the Peggy Baker shows and helped shape the reimagined album versions. She would go on to add foot-pedal bass synth, wordless vocals and swells of French horn courtesy of Bell Orchestre compatriot Pietro, bringing in woodwind wizard Stuart Bogie as a one-man flute ensemble, layering clusters of chords atop Neufeld's luminous compositions.
Available on CD and DVD or LP and DVD.
Doris Wishman was one of the most prolific female filmmakers that most
people have never heard of.
The pint-size sleaze queen helmed a variety of oddball exploitation classics that
featured unique gimmicks and unusual, sometimes shocking subject matter.
The Best Of Doris Wishman features audio from theatrical trailers, original
theme songs, as well as some jazzy incidental library music from legendary
exploiteers in the Something Weird world that are cherished and adored for
the body of work they created, plus a booklet insert and a DVD filled with Doris’
outrageous oeuvre!
The arcane enigma from the caucasian mountains that is Natalie Beridze, treats us with a reflective concept album, her 9th solo album, focussing on buried chapters in her own work history.
“I sought after material, piled up on my old hard drives; - various sound debris, recorded and produced in the past. I recycled them beyond recognition and fudged them together into new samples to compose this album.
Mapping Debris is a term used during an investigation of a plane crash. Special agency collects millions of infinite small pieces of shattered metal and wiring from the crash site. They later try to reconstruct an original fuselage of the plane from assembled debris, in order to recreate its story and reveal the reason that lead up to the catastrophe.
Mapping Debris is a manifestation of dematerialization in physical domain and time: shedding skin turning into dust, decaying objects, corrosion, atrophy, rot, nonsense and factual forgetfulness, which mirrors chilling fear of perishing, losing integrity, memory of events, images, smells and sensation of touch of those, who have already perished in their earthly archetype. Yet in the aftermath of realization, one no longer dwells in colossal dead weight of inevitability of the end. The pattern perishing has a golden thread on one end - the one that makes us dwell in ceaseless possibility of rebirth, translation and remembrance. This album is a continuation of series of works I have dedicated to my parents lives, as well as their death...”
It is an intricate poetic net one enters while surrendering to Natalies music. The spiky grit and her heartwarming, harmonic swashes that touch you like a hug, belong inseparably together and spread that multilayerd consolation, manifesting the force of music in its most glistening form. (Thomas Fehlmann/ Natalie Beridze)
Die zweite Veröffentlichung von Traffic im Oktober 1968, ihr selbstbetiteltes Album mit einer starken
Balance zwischen Dave Masons einfachen und unkomplizierten Folk-Rock-Songs und Steve Winwoods
komplexen und oft eindringlichen Rock-Jams, erreichte Platz 9 der UK Charts und Platz 16 der US Billboard Charts.
Nun erscheint das Album als individuelles Re-Issue aus dem phänomenalen ”Traffic 2019 - The Studio
Albums 1967-74 Boxset.” Aus den Originalaufnahmen remastered und auf 180 g schweres Vinyl gepresst,
ist es ein Muss für jeden neuen oder erfahrenen Traffic-Fan.
“Some of the most extraordinary songs I’ve heard in years.” Brian Eno
Les Disques du Crepuscule presents The Salt Garden (Landscaped), an album of extended pieces by acclaimed quiet music ensemble Fovea Hex, featuring longform remixes by British songwriter and producer Steven Wilson and Serbian soundscape artist Abul Mogard, as well as a previously unreleased mix by Peter Chilvers.
Formed in 2005 by Irish musician Clodagh Simonds, Fovea Hex have since released 3 albums (Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent, Here Is Where We Used to Sing and The Salt Garden), drawing favourable comparisons with Nico, This Mortal Coil, Ligeti and even Schubert.
The Salt Garden (Landscaped) is pressed on crystal clear vinyl, and comes packaged with a CD version featuring 4 tracks in total. The outer sleeve is printed in white reverse board and features an image taken by Crepuscule designer Joel Van Audenhaege during a recent trip to Greenland. The inner bag offers detailed liner notes as well as an interview with Clodagh.
As well as Steven Wilson and Abul Mogard, other high-profile admirers include film director David Lynch, who invited the group to play at his Cartier Foundation exhibition in Paris in 2007, and Brian Eno, who has described Clodagh’s work as “some of the most extraordinary songs I’ve heard in years.”
The Salt Garden (Landscaped) gathers together 3 long ambient remixes of tracks from the Salt Garden EP trilogy, originally released between 2016 and 2019. The core album is pressed on crystal clear vinyl and showcases ‘Solace’ and ‘Is Lanza Light & Given’, both re-worked by musical polymath Steven Wilson. “I’ve long been a fan of Fovea Hex,” explains Steven, “which for me is some of the most sublimely beautiful music ever recorded. It’s a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds played on instruments ranging from state-of-the-art to ancient and arcane.”
As well as the two tracks reworked by Steven, the bonus CD enclosed with the vinyl album also finds room for ‘We Dream All the Dark Away’, the widely-acclaimed re-interpretation by Abul Mogard of ‘All Those Signs’ from the Salt Garden II EP. By turns haunting and sinister, but always beautiful, the piece features vocals by both Clodagh and Brian Eno, as well as cello by Kate Ellis, and modular synth and effects by mysterious soundscaper Mogard.
An additional special bonus track on the CD is an unreleased remix of lesser -known 2015 digital single ‘By the Glacial Lake’ made by musician Peter Chilvers, best known for his collaborations with Brian Eno, Karl Hyde, Chris Martin and Tim Bowness.
“I feel truly honoured!” says Clodagh Simons, who began her career in cult folk-psyche band Mellow Candle, and since then has guested on albums by Mike Oldfield, Thin Lizzy, Russell Mills, Matmos, Current 93 and Steven Wilson. “It’s been fascinating to witness how these pieces have been so imaginatively and skilfully revisioned in the hands of Steven, Abul and Peter. Each piece has emerged into a completely fresh new light, with a different vibrancy, yet remains grounded in what was there before.”
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Bristol hip hop duo release their debut 12” ahead of an album in July featuring a thumping electro remix by SURGEON (Dynamic Tension/ Tresor Records) and an extended remix by Ree-Vo themselves.
The lp ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ due for release in July could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol’s decades of less conventional hip hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk.
T. Relly is pure Bristol hip hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 lp with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’
Andy Spaceland (AKA Andy Jenks) got involved in Bristol bass music as soon as he moved to the city with Static Sound System and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (AR Kane ) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi, before his band Alpha were signed to Massive Attack ’s label Melankolic, whilst he also became one of their tour DJ’s. His CV of collaborations range from Smith and Mighty to Madonna, and he is currently releasing music with US producer Butch Vig in the band 5 Billion in Diamonds , and working on new tracks with Mark Stewart (The Pop Group). His signature can be heard on this remix for Elizabeth Fraser
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Soundtrack for the critically acclaimed Jim Jarmusch film Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton. The score for Only Lovers Left Alive - a collaboration between SQÜRL (Jim Jarmusch, Carter Logan and Shane Stoneback) and Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem - serves as a reflection of the distinct textures of Detroit and Tangier, bridging ancient and modern sounds, entangled and timeless. Avant-Baroque lute weaves through twenty-first century guitar grit, heavy back beats, Moroccan percussion, synth bass, field recordings, and numerous sonic effects to create a cinematic tapestry. Guest vocalist Madeline Follin (Cults) appears on SQÜRL's syrup soaked re-interpretation of the Wanda Jackson hit "Funnel of Love". Zola Jesus' commanding vocal soars through Van Wissem's "In Templum Dei". And Yasmine Hamdan's intimate and evocative "Hal", recorded on the set of the film and mixed by SQÜRL. The film and soundtrack album were released worldwide in 2014, and quickly earned the group the Cannes Soundtrack Award from a consortium of film and music critics. In the years that have followed it has remained a favorite of critics and fans alike, who have continued to hunt down the limited vinyl copies in existence.
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Belgian underground DJ/producer Red D continues his solo Red Basics quest with the second release in this series in which he explores a variety of sounds that make him tick, always drawing inspiration from his favourite city: Detroit. The A-side travels to the heartland of classic Detroit deep house, taking in deep chords, a pitched-down vocal sample and the subbest of bass antics making for a groove that can be enjoyed both on and off the dancefloor. On the B-side the melancholy of the continued longing for better days prevails, delivering a cut to make you think and sway at the same time. Electronic music for your mind, heart, body and soul.
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Mother Freedom Band’s Cutting The Chord is a funky modern soul classic. It’s both a criminally under-appreciated album and a hard-to-find record so we’re delighted to be giving this sweet disco-funk groover the reissue treatment it deserves.
Produced by the great Al Goodman from The Moments and originally released in 1977, Cutting The Chord seems to be one of the lesser known releases on the curious, and often great “All Platinum” label. Other than a 7" of a couple of these tracks, the only thing that the band seem to have released is this album, and what an album it is. Unbeatable soul-funk of the highest quality.
The album bursts open with “Love Will Stay In Your Corner”. It’s a soulful dancer that reliably slays any funk set you care to drop it in. It’s followed by the lithe disco funk “Flick Of The Wrist” that’s all bubbling baselines and elegant horns. The groovy, horn-enhanced sweet soul of “Gotta Get It Back” is equal parts heartbreaker/hip-shaker and the acidic organs on “Mr Brother” are an experiment in synth soul.
Perhaps the group’s best known track, “Beautiful Summer’s Day” might well be worth the price of an original copy alone. It’s pure piano-driven paradise soul. A tropical birdsong intro sets the scene of a warm, perfect sunshine day and the lead vocal soars over the lush, clean production. The tempo oscillates between contemplative and stomping. Essential.
The brilliantly-named “(Assistants Rag) When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” opens side two. Another huge highlight, its title refrain repeated over this laid-back, power-funk workout. It still sounds incredibly modern, like something off the last D’Angelo record, and if Public Enemy and Diamond D both sampled it you know it knocks hard.
The horn-heavy, clav-stabbing-stomper “We Like To Boogie” keeps things fast and funky before the airy, heavenly harmony soul of “Come On Home” mellows us all out. Things pick up again with “Touch Me”, and you might recognise its addictive elements sampled in Jay-Z’s Kanye West-produced “A Star Was Born”. The magical, reggae-tinged, gospel-influenced “Sweet Love” closes out this assured, classy set.
We dare to say that Cutting The Chord is a rare example of a funk-soul LP which is killer from start-to-finish. Sure, there are the stand-out bombs, but the whole thing is a complete and varied album of feel-good vibes held together by its fluid horns, tight, tight rhythm section and beautiful vocals.
Mastered for vinyl from the original analogue tapes by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and artwork restored at Be With HQ, this new edition should hopefully stop this album slipping any further into obscurity. It’s just too good to be forgotten.
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For a good number of Spanish musicians, attracting attention from somewhere outside of Madrid was a mission impossible for several decades. While the Movida Madrileña, commonly referred to as the “Madrid scene” in English, stirred things up and made front page news on the basis of new wave music, musicians that were on the fringe or directly beyond it had few platforms from which to be heard.
Although Javier Segura has been recording music in his studio almost continuously since the 70's, his relevance and recognition as a musician has been limited to underground music circles. The fact
that he worked outside of the country's spotlight of power kept his name relatively unknown for years, something which even the arrival of the internet could not illuminate. Only the appreciation of a few collectors and disc jockeys kept the light on.
Passat Continu delivers here the first ever compilation by the spanish musician Javier Segura (born 1955), who worked as an isolated cell from his home studio in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, in the Canary Islands. Working for decades from the underground, Segura build up some brilliant ideas producing dozens of richly textured songs, stretching borders on ambient, experimental rock, dreamy folk or concrete music. Using guitars, rhythm boxes, trumpets synths or simply pedals, Segura managed his own career and produced while published a handful of albums by himself: El ser y el tiempo (1976), No mires atrás (1983), Nostalgia de lo humano (1986), Lamento bereber (1989), El ángel caído vol I, la lluvia azul (2004), Levántate (2005) and El orden y el caos (2006).
He also teamed up with Juan Belda on only impro project Arte Moderno (1981-1982), using the Roland TR-808 rhythm box as a main actor for the first time in the post-Franco’s Spain era.
'El sol desde oriente' uses three of that songs and add six more previously unreleased productions from 1980 to 1990, probably his most active period of time. Available on vinyl and digital through
Bandcamp. Digital version includes two extra tracks. Vinyl comes with insert with unseen photos and liner notes by Javier Segura and Passat Continu’s curator David G. Balasch.
All music written by Javier Segura except Jardín marroquí, written by Javier Segura and Juan Belda
under the name of Arte Moderno.
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After spending some time on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, Fred wrote his 2018 album Long Way Home. Barbarella was one of the songs on the album. It was inspired by a morning set he did at Barbarellas, the infamous outdoor venue in Tisno. The kitsch disco vibes are also a wink to the cult B-movie of the same name. But it was the 7am in Tisno mix, featured on the alternate version of the album No Way Home that made the song popular.
While there was no plan to release it as a single, Fred had the idea to contact I:Cube, one of his all-time favourite producers, to see If he would be interested in remixing it. The process took a little while but thanks to confinement, with more available time in the studio, the I:Cube Parisian Sleeze Version was born. Taking only a few elements from the original, he completely rearranged the track into a modern disco classic as only the Cube can do. This is one of those cuts that gets better every time you hear it.
On the B-side, Fred’s Slow Down 2021 Version expands on the Balearic vibe at a slower tempo. Sounding a little bit like Sade on acid, with added samples from the 1968 Jane Fonda movie.
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10Questions is a record label by Dam Swindle's Lars Dales and graphic designer Bas Koopmans. After an amazing first release, 10Questions ventures deeper into Italo territory with signing one of the scene's longest running duo's: 'PBR Streetgang'. PBR has been known for big dancefloor tracks, whether it's house or disco, they always deliver. This EP will surely add to this legacy.
The title track 'Dayskipper' sets the mood with it's 707 drum programming and rolling Italo bassline. The track slowly progresses to show it's dancefloor pedigree. A catchy synth hook combined with synth choir stabs drives the theme home. What makes this a standout track is that the hook is not an obvious one. The ominous chords are very well crafted and will cut through you like a knife through butter.
'Dayskipper' shares the A side with 'Knockout'; a track that is both a tribute to the early history of house and a contemporary piece of music in one. The 'Moog' style bassline sets the mood for a playful approach but it's the addition of the vocal hits and the piano hook that drives that theme home. Add a pinch of hip-house and you have the recipe for a good time.
On the third track (and a full side on the record) 'Chi-Lite' you can hear that PBR still knows how to get the most out of a house beat. The theme however is more a dreamy proto house track than anything else. The syncopated synth stabs set the perfect mood for the DX7 style bells that are played on top. PBR masterfully shift from floating moments to dancefloor energy within a matter of minutes.
10Questions is a label build on the concept that the record and record sleeve are an integral part of the full experience of an EP. The artist is given a questionnaire and depending on his/her answers the artwork is made. This way the music and art co-exist in the same creative universe, that of the artist and the label alike.
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Once upon a time Mr. Tomato made his way to Brazil. Surprisingly it was the time of the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, and he was drawn right into the heart of it. He was so overwhelmed by the joyful celebration that he ended up partying without sleeping for 3 days. Just before this “love” experience came to an end he was attracted by a bunch of people singing in the street: “Tudo que eles querem, é ver o povo daqui sofrer Retidos na miséria e a elite no poder
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Liverpool’s legendary Death Metal pioneers Carcass (who still tour
extensively to this day) are often credited with shaping the entire
death metal genre.
Pushing boundaries with their shocking imagery whilst evolving and innovating with each new album. Heartwork is widely renowned as the best Carcass album with its melodic intricacies.
These albums have been specially recreated using ‘FDR’ - full dynamic range mastering - pressed from the original master tapes, allowing the music’s nuance to shine through and giving these classic albums a more ferocious and dynamic sound, enabling the listener to immerse themselves in the full audio heaviness
Dakar, Senegal. From this hostile land Midnight Menace is the latest KAOS assigned and one of its kind. You all with your support to the label via bandcamp fixed his computer so he can deliver this first one as an introduction. His Schranz/hard techno beat dives into a trance-mission direct to your brain in order to make your body shake.
Moving on to France JKS is half of Jawbreakers his techno rave music is really influenced by iconic figures from the 90's rave culture (Dave the Drummer/ Stay up Forever) name track is a retrotesque beat with a powerful bass-line moving between trance, body music and electro clash. With a ton of class.
Next one on the list delivering one of those weirdo tracks that from time to time we love to showcase on our compilations. DJDJ debuts with a darkroom alike anthem. Job Sifre and DJ Dorien punishing with a high intensity Body music song, taste their Bloody Mary.
Closing this record P.E.A.R.L goes pure HEARTCORE, with his already known Spanish primitivism, a gabber kick and a dismounted amen break dissolves into a mood melody to chill a floor at the peak ready for the next explosion.
This are HEARTCORE ESSENTIALS pls use them responsibly.
#oftenplusneverminus8
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Two bodies dancing hot in the New York City winter before being pushed inside for the rest of 2020. Two hearts that, in the span of 6 months, faced the loss of both of their mothers, the matriarchs that bore them to this planet full of wonder. They held on tight to the beauty of living, together. With this shared language and the confines of quarantine they lost and loved even harder. Battling packed boxes and lost jobs, the two celebrated their tragic journey with broad shoulders forcing power chords and the harmonized chants of utter release. They huddled together for the future while leaking their hearts into pop melodies that collide effortlessly with both a shared melancholy and simultaneous hope. MAN ON MAN (also M.O.M.) is a new gay lover band made up of Joey Holman (HOLMAN) and Roddy Bottum (Faith No More, Imperial Teen, CRICKETS, Nastie Band). Their upcoming self-titled record, MAN ON MAN, is infused with indie-rock distortion and soaked in gay pop confidence while still maintaining the dry acerbic sense of humor they both share. M.O.M.'s music videos take their magical collaboration to another level with otherworldly cinematographic dimension, and of course, the subversive playfulness of two gay lovers unmistakably flirting with their audience and each other. Upon the release of their debut single, “Daddy”, their video (chock full of the pair dancing seductively in their white briefs) was removed from YouTube for violating their “sex and nudity policy.” At this moment, the band solidified their political visibility as queer artists who are not ok with being silenced or removed from history because of their age or size. Bottum told Rolling Stone, “There’s enough representation in the gay community of young, hairless pretty men." Roddy and Joey’s love for each other and their own bodies, histories, and truths are what make this project so tender and lovable. MAN ON MAN’s music transcends both genre or decade, creating a timeless appeal for so many kinds of listening. The varied influences and textures of the record are a meditation on the myriad of emotions of lockdown, as well as this particular moment in their own lives, collectively and independently. The shoegaze whirlpools of “Stohner” transition into the square wave synths of “1983” with ease, while tracks like “It’s So Fun (To Be Gay)” open us up to a new type of queer anthem for the 2020s.
Kardashev (Car-duh-shev) is a self described “Deathgaze” group blending themes of Death Metal with Shoegaze. Their mission statement could be described as, “Attempting to create the most beautiful, heavy music through themes of love, loss and altruism in the Metal spectrum.” Much of their content is written about science, space and the human condition. For Fans of: The Contortionist, Rivers of Nihil, Devin Townsend and Alcest
Aged only 15, Lulu burst onto the pop scene in May 1964 with “Shout”, her unforgettable cover of the Isley Brothers’ timeless favourite. On EMI’s Columbia label she enjoyed a string of hits produced by Mickie Most, including US # 1 “To Sir With Love”, “The Boat That I Row”, “Me, The Peaceful Heart”, “I’m A Tiger”, and the joint winner of 1969’s Eurovision Song Contest, “Boom Bang-A-Bang”.
After Lulu recorded the title song for James Bond film “The Man With the Golden Gun”, David Bowie produced her versions of his songs “Watch That Man” and “The Man Who Sold The World”, the latter a UK # 3 hit. And in 1993 collaboration with Take That on “Relight My Fire” reached # 1.
Pressed on 140g vinyl, this 13-track set contains her best-loved hits.
Global pop sensation Ava Max—who has already accumulated more than 4 billion career streams—has released her highly-anticipated debut album Heaven & Hell. The record features eight new tracks alongside her previously released hit singles “Sweet But Psycho,” “Who’s Laughing Now,” “So Am I,” “Salt” and “Kings & Queens,” the latter of which spent five weeks at #1 on European airplay and is currently #21 on Top 40 radio.
“Heaven & Hell represents light and dark, good and evil, and the devil and angel on your shoulder,” said Ava on the meaning behind the album. “I’m discussing the dualities of the challenges we face each day. Some songs have darkness; other songs are more positive. Heaven & Hell is the middle ground.”
Ava has also revealed the video for her track “Naked,” which was directed by Hannah Lux Davis (Ariana Grande, Halsey, Doja Cat).
“It’s about the real emotions we go through,” said Ava on the meaning behind the track. “If you don’t know my mind, soul, and heart, you’ll never know me by seeing me naked. We are more than our physical bodies. That’s what I wanted to show.”
A truly international artist, Ava sealed her pop superstar status with the blockbuster success of the RIAA 3x-platinum certified hit, “Sweet but Psycho.” Currently boasting over 2 billion global streams and counting, “Sweet But Psycho” was named among the New York Times’ “54 Best Songs of 2019,” spent three weeks in the top 10 of Billboard’s “Hot 100,” peaked at #3 at US Pop Radio and earned Ava her first-ever Teen Choice Awards nomination for “Choice Pop Song.” The song was joined by an official video that has more than 600 million views on YouTube.
Produced by GRAMMY® Award-winning super-producer Cirkut (Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd) and co-written with Madison Love (Camila Cabello), “Sweet But Psycho” hit #1 on both Spotify’s “United States Viral 50” and Billboard’s “Dance Club Songs” while becoming one of “The Top Most-Shazamed Songs of 2019.” The song’s stateside success followed the track’s remarkable popularity abroad, including four consecutive weeks atop the UK Singles Chart and #1 rankings on charts in nearly 20 countries.
Dubbed an “Artist You Need to Know” by Rolling Stone, Ava has been feted with a wide range of media attention including high profile features in Vanity Fair, Billboard, FORBES, PAPER, and more. The pop star first took over TV with performances of “Sweet but Psycho” on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden, NBC’s TODAY, and the Ellen DeGeneres Show, as well as a summer performance of her RIAA-certified gold single “So Am I,” on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. Ava became one of 2019’s most honored performers, including “Best New Artist” nominations at both the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards. The latter was highlighted by both Ava’s first-ever win for “Best Push Artist” and show-stopping live performances of both “Torn” and “Sweet But Psycho,” streaming now.
BUFFET LUNCH are a Scottish group who make it their mission to craft satisfyingly imperfect pop songs filled with imagery and humour.The group’s elementary parts are Perry O’Bray (Vocals/Keys/Guitar), Neil Robinson (Bass), John Muir (Lead Guitar) & Luke Moran (Drums), united by a shared love of music on the ABBA-to-Beefheart axis.
These four ricochet between Glasgow and Edinburgh, creating music that bristles with DIY spirit and upbeat wonkiness. Their tracks are vigorous excursions, meandering into clattersome terrain as often as hiking up into the breezy, melodious foothills.The desire to lead the listener along a curious tale helps tie things together, showcasing a lyrical playfulness that pins down their puzzle of sound.
Having been an active band for a few years, playing regularly north of the border with like-minds such as Irma Vep, Robert Sotelo and Kaputt, Buffet Lunch spent early 2020 working on the follow-up to their two EPs on Permanent Slump.The fruits from such labour bore out as the band’s debut album ‘ThePower of Rocks’, out may 7th on UpsetTheRhythm.
‘ThePower of Rocks’ was recorded in a Crofters cottage/studio on the banks of Upper Loch Fyne in Argyll, over four nights and five days at the beginning of March 2020, before Covid-19 made itself such an ongoing concern. Back then four people could occupy the same space and make music, lunch and dinner together. Days fell into a pattern of long sessions and long meals.The album came together as a luminous mix of Buffet Lunch’s live chestnuts, some sparky recent songs and some new material entirely written and recorded in situ. All tracks were recorded by Neil Robinson acting as the in-house engineer.
As the seriousness of the virus and talk of national lockdowns developed - there was a feeling of anticipation more than fear in the air, but being holed up in cottage in a wild corner of Scotland surrounded by snowy mountains still took on an apocalyptic feel, albeit an apocalypse where the band were safe and overdubbing vocals. After leaving the cottage, reality (as it must) set in and finishing the album became a more remote task.
Over the following months, an extended period of listening awarded the recordings a deeper realisation, as they bounced between band members computers. Perry also started writing on his Casio keyboard and collaborated on a couple of songs (‘Ten Times’ & ‘Ashley’s New Haircut’) with Jayne Dent (of electronic music project Me Lost Me), drawing on her ethereal singing voice as a counterpoint to his own more ‘spoken’ vocals on the album. These gauzy, dreamlike tracks were then sent to other members of Buffet Lunch to add their respective parts, creating evocative new dimensions to close each half ofthealbum with.
The Power of Rocks’ rattles along like a short-story collection, exploring a variety of narratives. When it comes to the music itself, Perry describes their approach as “see what happens” but admits to a preference for simple synth melodies, plenty of percussion, and prickly guitar-parts. ‘Red Apple’ opens the album with a dizzy swagger, guitars and keyboard notes swirling in forays whilst its lyric tackles notions of social bravado. ‘Orange Peel’ follows equally serpentine with its blattering tune and jagged, yet jolly melodic twists.The themes across the album are wide-ranging and personal, from irritation with out of touch politicians (‘Pebbledash’), to love letters to seaside living (‘Bladderwrack’), to even the frailty and confusion of old age (‘Said Bernie’, ‘It Helps to Know’). Title track ‘ThePower of Rocks’ is an ode to the power of nature sunk within a rolling wave of cheery jangle. “Do you believe in the power of rocks when the sun is too hot on your face?” sings Perry as the song zigzags with consequence. ‘He Wore Two Hats’ sports similarly bop-worthy riffs and addictive nods as it deals with its story of savvy man who’d bitten off more than he could chew.
Buffet Lunch’s debut album accomplishes a lot in its brief 38 minutes. It stuns and startles, intrigues and entwines, drawing the listener further into its characterful world. When asked about any intent posed with this debut record Perry confides that “we hope people can hear the joy the band had making the album and the curiosity and frustration that went into the writing. There was no process or design, but there is detail, and deliberateness in our wish to explore and create.” It’s this attentive focus alongside a keen sense of humour that really sets Buffet Lunch apart, with ideas darting wilfully to and from the poignant truths at hand.
Dua releases the deluxe Future Nostalgia album ‘The Moonlight Edition’ on 11th Feb at 11pm GMT. The Moonlight Edition is a celebration of what can only be described as the album of a generation. Future Nostalgia was the most streamed album in a day by a British female artist globally, in the UK & UK. Dua spent more weeks at the top of the album and radio chart than any other artist last year. Future Nostalgia will go platinum in the UK at the end of Feb, just ahead of its first birthday at the end of March.
Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) features four previously unheard tracks ‘We’re Good’, ‘If It Ain’t Me’. ‘That Kind of Woman’ and ‘Not My Problem (feat. JID)’ and will include the top 10 smash hit single from Miley Cyrus Feat Dua Lipa ‘Prisoner’ which has reached 250m streams worldwide. Also on the album is ‘Fever’ with Angèle, which spent three weeks at #1 in France and 11 weeks at #1 in Belgium and J Balvin, & Bad Bunny ‘UN DIA (ONE DAY) (Feat. Tainy)
We’re Good is the incredible lead single from the deluxe album and both creatively and sonically pushes boundaries of what people expect from Dua. The official video, released on 12th Feb at 5am GMT with a huge global promotion confirmed, follows the story of a lobster in a tank on the Titanic, escaping when the ship sinks. We’re Good is the focus release.
Since the release of her first single in 2015, Dua Lipa has become one of the music world’s hottest young artists. Her eponymous debut album has eclipsed 6 million sales worldwide, with single sales reaching 80 million and the video for her break-out hit “New Rules” (“the song that changed my life,” she says), made her the youngest female solo artist to reach one billion views on YouTube. She made BRIT Award history in 2018 as the first female artist to pick up five nominations, with two wins for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist. She then went on to receive two Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording for “Electricity,” her collaboration with Silk City the following year. At the end of 2019, Dua performed her Number 1 global hit single ‘Don’t Start Now’ at the MTV EMAs, ARIAs and AMA’s in the lead up to the release of her latest album, Future Nostalgia. Her sophomore record was released in March 2020 and surpassed 294 million streams in its first week and has now exceeded 6 billion streams across all of its tracks. The platinum selling album Future Nostalgia has been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year & Best Pop Vocal and also holds the record for the most streamed album in a single day by any British female artist. Dua has also had the longest run of 3 tracks in the top 10 by a female artist since 1955 and spend more weeks at #1 in the UK than any other artist in 2020.
2021 is shaping up to be another huge year for Dua Lipa, with a 12 date UK Tour, the Grammys and Brit awards in May. Get ready to hear the name Dua Lipa on everyone’s lips.
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Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) - the latest offering of Tom Petty music, curated with help from his loving family, bandmates and collaborators - will be released on April 16 via Warner Records. The tracks, which were previously released on the limited-edition Super Deluxe version of 2020’s Wildflowers & All The Rest, will now be available on standalone CD & vinyl and digitally for the first time.
The first track to be released is “You Saw Me Comin’,” a previously unreleased song and recording from 1992 and the final track on the collection, which will be premiering alongside a video directed by Joel Kazuo Knoernschild and Katie Malia. Reflecting upon recording “You Saw Me Comin’” for Wildflowers, Heartbreaker Benmont Tench notes, “There’s this kind of longing in the song, in the way that he wrote the chord structure, the melody and the lyrics. It’s wistful, and it would have been the perfect way to end the disc.”
Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) follows Wildflowers & All The Rest which was hailed by Rolling Stone as “the definitive artistic statement that newly illuminates one of the most fruitful, inspired periods of the American legend’s career,” and by Variety, who called it “the best and most justified boxed set of this kind since the Beatles’ White Album compendium.” In fact, the songs on Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) first initiated the estate’s discovery and curation process for the larger project.
Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) features 16 studio recordings of alternate takes, long cuts and jam versions of Wildflowers songs as Tom, band members and co-producer Rick Rubin worked to finalize the album in 1994. The release offers fans further deep access into the writing and recording of Wildflowers, as well as realizing the full vision of the project as Tom had always intended.
The collection was produced by Tom’s longtime engineer and co-producer Ryan Ulyate who listened to 245 reels of 24-track tape, revealing Tom and his collaborators’ evolutionary process and finding the group willing to do whatever it took to discover the essence and magic in the material.
Straight Outta Caledonia is the first commercially available “Greatest Hits” of the outsider songwriter Jackie Leven, an artist
who has largely remained in obscurity in his native Scotland despite being one of the greatest wordsmiths – and singers – it ever
produced. A well-travelled musician who began making psychedelic, progressive music in the late 60s before emerging as an
epic storyteller full of pathos, humour and humanity in the 90s, Leven lived and wrote like many of the fragile, gregarious
characters of his songs; large, full of life and empathy. Leven passed away in 2011 after recording 30+ albums under different
guises or with his briefly successful New Wave band Doll by Doll. Straight Outta Caledonia is a compilation collated by Night
School Records on its Archival label School Daze that seeks to introduce Leven’s music to new generations.
In an age of isolation, alienation and loss of visceral experience, Jackie Leven’s music can be massive and welcoming. It feels
connected to some universal humanity and vibrates with vitality. His songs are often full of tragedy and comedy simultaneously,
cutting straight to the heart, often plugging directly into the nervous system of the listener. His lyrics are rich, dense with imagery
that can veer from apocalyptic to the comically banal in a sentence, with a songwriting panache that can be heavy handed to
almost bursting point before skewering the song with a clownish, warm punchline. His productions ranged from Bob Dylan’s
Rolling Thunder Revue style rock band orchestrations with strings and organ as on the epic Ancient Misty Morning or they could
be pared down to the purest form of folk song as on Poortoun: Leven on stage alone with an acoustic guitar, albeit played with a
mastery of the instrument that he often only hinted at. Musically his sound can bend traditional structures or stay completely
confined within them yet still forever push towards an ecstatic release, as on the cinematic Snow In Central Park.
The most exciting, jaw-droppingly effective tool at Leven’s disposal was his voice. A multi-octave instrument that, though
damaged during a savage assault in Fife, he used with flair; he had both a brazen disregard for the rules and a deep humility, all
of which is evidenced with every phrasing. A baritone that could flit up through the register – always touched by his gentle
Kirkcaldy accent – it’s the prime delivery method for his songs. Leven’s voice enabled him to inhabit the characters in his songs to
an uncanny degree, a skill that in turn enables the listener to empathise with them and, subsequently, the singer. It’s most evident
in stand out song The Sexual Loneliness Of Jesus Christ, a breathtaking re-telling of the life of its protagonist, not as a pure,
sinless messiah but as a sexually frustrated, solitary man condemned to an existential loneliness no one else will ever feel. In
many ways the track is the archetypal Jackie Leven song. Produced by Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, what strikes the ear first –
after the samples of unemployed workers in Glasgow following the closing of the Clyde shipyards – is the audacious, rhythmic
tremolo effect Leven employs through the verses before the production opens up to allow Leven’s vocal to lift into a soar, a
freeing glide powered both by the force of the singer’s chutzpah and the inherent, doomed destiny of the protagonist. With any
other singer such subject matter could come across as gauche or worse, pretentiously sonorous, but Jackie Leven’s genius was
such that he could be this cinematic and brazen while touching something elemental and true in the beholder. It’s a skill evident in
every song on Straight Outta Caledonia, the trademark of a songwriter who revelled and excelled in intensity with a lightness of
touch.
In his lifetime, Jackie Leven toured, wrote and recorded at a ferocious rate. He recorded under aliases to avoid record contract
restrictions, played house shows in Europe after or instead of official concerts, events which were often spoken word story telling
masterclasses as well as performances of his often bewilderingly dense songbook. His music has traditionally been catalogued
as “folk” music and has been largely banished to a small, dedicated group of international fans and apostles both private and well
known, like author Ian Rankin or Glenn Matlock. Since his passing in 2011 however, there has been a growing recognition
amongst a newer generation, with artists like James Yorkston or Molly Nilsson publicly stating the influence of the unsung
troubadour on their own craft. Jackie Leven’s fairytales for hard men are often forensic deconstructions of masculinity, sad and
ecstatic, light and shadow, always endlessly rich, a resource as bountiful as Leven himself’s human spirit undoubtedly was.