quête:heavy rock

Ground Groove, the third full-length release from the LA-based, Iranian-American producer and DJ, Maral, begins with an invocation: the sprawling, achingly heavy Feedback Jam opens the floodgates of history. Conventional (linear) spacetime collapses, crushed beneath the track’s lumbering 4/4 heartbeat and successive waves of distortion. As each wave recedes, samples trickle forward in the mix — seeking, perhaps, to fill the void. Voices and instruments rise and fall in uncanny reverse. Overlapping, implied melodies flicker into focus, then flit away. Feedback Jam is at once an initiation ritual, and a thesis statement for the record that follows.

Drawing upon a vast personal archive of Iranian folk, classical, and pop recordings (some sourced from mixtapes made by her parents in the eighties/nineties), Maral presents, on Ground Groove, a further refinement of the signature “folk club” sound she developed as a live DJ— a sound she would later codify on Mahur Club (2019) and Push (2020). By collecting, dissecting, and re/presenting sonic fragments from Iran, Maral practices a kind of dance-floor ethnomusicology. The subject of her inquiry: Iranian


culture and contexts, throughout history and in the present. But, crucially, this inquiry is instantiated within and throughout the body of the listener, whether this listener is dancing in the club, or riding the train, nodding along with headphones on.

Maral speaks of being in collaboration with her samples, treating each as a distinct bandmate, often consulting with an artist’s catalog (or even a single recording) as one would a trusted creative partner. In so-doing, Maral claims to seek to transcend the self. In this regard, her output neatly triangulates contemporary dance and heavy music with much of the traditional religious music that she samples. Broadly speaking, each of these idioms addresses a desire —shared by audience and performer alike—to transcend the self through volume, repetition, and movement.

Having, in her youth, studied the Setar under Nader Majd (the founder of Virginia’s Center for Persian Classical Music), Maral cycled through various genres (ex: punk, emo, dub) in her adolescence and early twenties, all the while expanding her knowledge of, and appreciation for, Iran’s diverse musical traditions during regular summer trips to Tehran. In college, Maral taught herself to make beats with a ripped copy of Ableton (which remains her DAW of choice), eventually transitioning to playing and hosting various club nights. Forever abiding by an autodidactic, DIY impulse to create art and foster community, Maral relocated to Los Angeles in 2013, where she quickly immersed herself in the city’s numerous overlapping music scenes.

Collaboration (beyond sampling) has proven an important component of her process, with notable spoken word contributions from the likes of Lee Scratch Perry and Penny Rimbaud, as well as a 2021 Panda Bear collab track (On Your Way), which the Animal Collective founder co-produced. Maral is equally attentive to the visual components of her records (album art, music videos, etc.), drawing upon the work of peers and friends for inspiration.

Indeed, the genesis of Ground Groove can be traced back to an audio-visual collaboration between Maral and the artist Brenna Murphy, originally commissioned for the 2021 Rewire Festival — a project that would eventually serve as the album’s foundation. Tracks eight through eleven on Ground Groove comprise Maral’s half of this installation, with tracks one through seven composed afterwards, inspired by the fruits of Maral and Murphy’s collaboration. Murphy’s visuals will be released alongside Ground Groove as a visual accompaniment. Additionally, Murphy designed the album’s art, directed the video for the lead single (the aforementioned Feedback Jam), and is featured on track six, Shy Night.

Composed largely on Ableton, Ground Groove features more frequent and more prominent live recordings from Maral (guitar, bass, and vocals) than either Push or Mahar Club. The cult favorite Roland MC-909 groovebox rears its head on Mari’s Groove. Mixed by Trayer Tryon (Hundred Waters) and mastered by Daddy Kev, the attention to sonic quality on Ground Groove constitutes another significant step in Maral’s development as a studio artist.

Ground Groove’s eleven tracks are “grooves” in the obvious sense, in that they are each driven by a persistent, propulsive rhythm, but the album’s title may just as well suggest the glacial passage of time—the scope of human history, in which individual voices, like streams, carve paths (impossibly) through earth and stone, winding their way to the vast sea of the present.

Death Is Not The End's 333 sub-label follows the reissue of Devon Russell's Darker Than Blue LP late last year with a first-time reissue of a veritable reggae-dancehall holy grail - Robert Ffrench's 1985 LP 'Wondering'.

Pioneering artist and producer (and cousin of the late, great Pat Kelly) Robert Ffrench was born in central Kingston in 1962, recording his first records in 1979 at the age of 17. Coming out off the back of a slew of roots & early dancehall-style 45s cut with a wide range of producers thoughout the early '80s, the Wondering LP followed closely after two acclaimed LP sets ('Showcase' produced with Lord Koos & 'The Favourite' for Ossie Thomas' Black Solidarity label - plus a split showcase LP with Anthony "Gunshot" Johnson for Jah Thomas' Midnight Rock label).

Ffrench would write and produce the Wondering LP himself in it's entirity, laying down the tracks at Herman Chin-Loy's Aquarius & Michael Carroll's Creative Sounds studios with the help of engineer Christopher Daley. Representing the sound of an artist first confidently sriking out on his own, the album elegantly mixes a classic rub-a-dub & lovers rock-inspired sound with nascent digi-esque flourishes. It boasts an enviable list of contributors too, incl. Sly & Robbie, Dwight Pinkney, Robbie Lyn, Nelson Miller (Burning Spear) and Ronald "Nambo" Robinson among others, with Beres Hammond also providing backing vocals in places.

Following the release of Wondering, Ffrench would continue to write and produce, soon after releasing two further self-produced LPs for Edgar White's Parish label - and founded his own 'France' label in the late 80s, through which his productions would start to hit big, most notably alongside Courtney Melody on 'Modern Girl', and with US rapper Heavy D on the track 'More Love'. Robert's productions released through later label 'Ffrench' would go on to boast the cream of the crop of dancehall artists throughout the 90s and early 2000s, and he is often credited with discovering Buju Banton (producing his first single "Ruler" on the Stamina riddim). Ffrench is still actively producing music of his own to this day, having released singles 'Everyday of My Life' and 'Black Is a Colour' in late 2022 and Feb 2023 respectively, available through all digital platforms now.

333, under exclusive license from Robert Ffrench.

Black Honey's third album. Written and Directed, the bands second record (released in 2021) charted at #1 UK indies and #7 Overall, their self titled first, charted at #33. Since the end of the Written & Directed campaign the band played a sold out UK Tour including a night at Heaven, immediately followed by shows supporting IDLES, tours with Nothing But Thieves and The Vaccines across the UK and Europe. More in the touring section. The first track from this 3.0 phase of the Honeys, sees the rip roaring "Charlie Bronson", a nod to "I Like The Way You Die" and this track is the killer opener to their upcoming third record "A Fistful Of Peaches" which will be released in 2023.

"Snake Bite Love" ist das 14. Studioalbum von Motörhead und wurde am 10. März 1998 veröffentlicht. Studioalbum von Motörhead.

Das Album zeigt die weniger harte Seite der Band, mit mehreren Tracks, die langsamer sind als man es von Motörhead erwarten würde.
Dennoch hat "Snake Bite Love" immer noch die klassische Mischung aus echtem Heavy Metal und Rock n'Roll, die Motörhead so gut beherrschen.

Das Album erscheint erstmals auf transparentem, rotem Vinyl und neu als Digipak.

Japan's guitar hero Takeshi Terauchi reworks traditional songs and lets everything go wild with his magnificent and frenzied guitar sound. Enter the electrifying world of Eleki!

Gatefold 180g heavy vinyl LP, reverse board print. Comes with extensive liner notes by Japanese pop culture writer Julien Seveon (Cinexploitation)

All tracks licensed by King Record Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.

Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.

Artwork by Nker

The aftermath of World War II gave rise to a global phenomenon that saw new generations of young people rise up determined to forge new paths from their elders – culturally, politically, and musically. Japan was no exception and the recent past made the local youth angrier, hungrier and even more determined to fully experience something different from their parents. The country caught on to the early rock & roll craze almost in tandem as it was happening in the States. Teenager Chiemi Eri singing "Rock Around The Clock" and Kazuya Kosaka with "Heartbreak Hotel" were among the first to make what would soon be called Rokabiri accessible to a large audience. Teacher and parent associations showed concern regarding this new music when teenagers started missing school to attend afternoon shows – one of which most notably being the Nichigeki Western Carnival where all the top names of Rokabiri played to sold out audiences. But by the end of the 1950s, the youth of Japan had moved on to something else entirely: Eleki.

The 50s and 60s were a time of rapid change that saw trends come and go. Japan, like all other industrial countries, saw its youth move from one musical sensation to the next. And in the early 60s, there was one band in particular that created a distinct new flavor: The Ventures. Leaving behind vocals and focusing strictly on the impact of the sound of the electric guitar, The Ventures drove kids crazy all over the world. Other bands followed, most notably The Shadows, but in Japan, no other instrumental rock band managed to leave such an impact. The sound of The Ventures helped boost guitar sales in Japan and soon hundreds of cover bands were popping up all over the country. The Eleki Bumu (electric boom) was now in full effect with Takeshi Terauchi emerging as its first and greatest guitar hero.

Terauchi was born January 1939 in the prefecture of Tochigi, north of Tokyo. His mother taught music and played the shamisen – a traditional Japanese stringed instrument – while his father ran, among other things, an electronics shop. Their respective professions were to be decisive in the path that Terauchi would later take. Serendipitously, at the age of five, Takeshi was given his first instrument – a guitar. His destiny sealed, he quickly began experimenting with different tools from his father's shop to give his instrument a stronger sound. The technological approach came from his father, the technique from his mother. Terauchi's signature playing style owes a lot to his mother's instrument of choice, as he attacks the notes on his guitar as one plucks the strings of a shamisen.

This exceptional compilation you are holding in your hands explores some of the best works by Takeshi Terauchi, recorded between 1966 and 1974, where the guitar hero looks inwards to Japan for inspiration. A meeting between traditional folk songs and the unique way Terauchi and his band play: the content is explosive, inspired, and highly addictive! The 60s and 70s were undoubtedly Terauchi's finest hours, and in the late 60s, one Japanese critic said that Terauchi was not only the best guitarist in Japan, but also in the world. You can now find out why.

Freestyle puts out another reissue 12" in their drive to unearth rare and classic UK funk, soul & boogie records - this time a much needed pressing of the late Candy McKenzie's heavy boogie-funk cover of Patrice Rushen's classic Remind Me. Produced by Candy's late cousin, and seasoned session bass player, John McKenzie (and licensed from the family estate) this was originally released in 1983 - and comes with an excellent dubbed-out 'Different Style' instrumental version on the flip.

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Candy McKenzie (1953-2003) was a North West London-based vocalist from a Guyanese family heavily steeped in musicianship . She began learning the piano at a young age, picking up vocal harmony from her father, a jazz bass player. Her brothers Bunny & Binky, were also celebrated bassists. Candy would marry young in 1970 at the age of 17, though just one year later her brother Binky (who played with the likes of Cream, Alexis Korner & John Mclaughlin in the late 60s) tragically killed her mother and father, along with Candy's husband in an attack at the family home to which Candy was present. Candy was also injured but escaped with her life.

In the years that followed the tragedy Candy, regularly accompanied by her brother Bunny, would find reggae vocal session work - often at the Chalk Farm Studios frequented by many key producers & acts. She found her way onto Aswad's first album and Keith Hudson's legendary Flesh Of My Skin Blood Of My Blood LP - and a little while later on a couple of sessions with Bob Marley for Island, under the supervision of Lee Perry.

The latter two parties took a keen interest in Candy, with Island wisking her away to Jamaica in 1977 to record an album at the legendary Black Ark. Her vocals found their way onto The Congos seminal Heart of the Congos LP, but the album she recorded with Perry was shelved - with just the Black Art holy grail 12" Disco Fits / Breakfast in Bed finding it's way to release at the time.

Back in London, Candy spent the early to mid 80s recording various lovers and funk/soul 12"s, including this fantastic cover of Patrice Rushen's Remind Me, produced by her cousin John. She went on to record singles for labels like Elite & Cooltempo throughout the '80s and early '90s, and appeared as backing vocalist with the likes of Leonard Cohen, Whitney Houston, Elton John and Diana Ross. She passed away in 2003, with her one and only album recorded at the Black Ark finally seeing release on Trojan in 2011.

Candy's cousin John McKenzie got his starts in the music industry in the mid 70s as part of prog group Man and communal festival rockers Global Village Trucking Co., as well as playing with the likes of Annette Peacock and Steve Hillage. His father Mike McKenzie was also a key Carribbean jazz figure in the UK throughout the early 1950s, through to the '60s and '70s. John would become a heavily in-demand session musician - playing with everyone from the Eurhythmics to Bob Dylan - while also finding time to produce this record, alongside a couple of excellent 12"s with Mel Gaynor as Finesse, between 1982 and '83. He would regularly tour the world as a live musician for a huge array of headline acts, appearing on multiple chart hits, and in his later years was a member of the excellent group Ibibio Sound Machine. He lost his battle with cancer in 2020.

This reissue is dedicated to the memory of both John & Candy McKenzie.

The Atomic Bitchwax - Live At Freak Valley Fest is the brand new album of the US rockerz The Atomic Bitchwax. Recorded live at the mighty festival FREAK VALLEY in Germany in June 2022. A psychedelic heavy rock'n'roll and stoner trip - a must have!

The Atomic Bitchwax - Live At Freak Valley Fest is the brand new album of the US rockerz The Atomic Bitchwax. Recorded live at the mighty festival FREAK VALLEY in Germany in June 2022. A psychedelic heavy rock'n'roll and stoner trip - a must have!

Duel - Live At Hellfest is the brand new album of the Texas based rockenrollerz Duel. Recorded live at the mighty festival HELLFEST in Clisson, France in June 2022. A heavy rock'n'roll trip that you must have in your record collection! Covert art made by the one and only Branca Studio.

Duel - Live At Hellfest is the brand new album of the Texas based rockenrollerz Duel. Recorded live at the mighty festival HELLFEST in Clisson, France in June 2022. A heavy rock'n'roll trip that you must have in your record collection! Covert art made by the one and only Branca Studio.

Dooley-O commands you to STICK YOURSELF! But not before stocking his new 45 please. Bankrupt Europeans (who have previously produced for RA The rugged Man, Roc Marciano, Chill Rob G, Chubb Rock, AG, Phill Most Chill, Rise and MC Juice) started a back&forth with 90s legend and Stezo cohort Dooley-O a few years ago, even recorded a couple of demos but it wasn't until 2021 that we all had a chance to do this properly! Hands down two of the hardest and snappiest Bankrupt Europeans beats to complement Dooley-O's incredible punchlines and murderous flow. Dooley-O shows that not only has he not lost a step since the days of releases on Stones Throw and Lewis Recordings, but if anything his skills have sharpened over the years!

The A-Side is Stick Yourself and sees Bankrupt Europeans bring this absolute head nodder of a beat, heavy but very funky and laced with modular synth sounds and cuts from DJ Grazzhoppa throughout. Dooley-O’s tongue-in-cheek rap style is sharper than Rambo’s knife as he proceeds to encourage you to Stick Yourself or risk being taken out by himself. There is this comedic bravado here that has Dooley-O displaying just how good his rap style is, while between the lines he saying ‘I’m that good, I shouldn’t have to take you out, that’s your job But, If I have to do it, it ain’t gonna be pretty.’ Flipping it to the B-Side for track 2 we have Death Blow that hits hard with a brooding intro before the heavy bass and eastern sounds inject more adrenaline into your veins! Dooley-O continues the lyrical assault he began in Stick Yourself. Here he delivers a cold and calculated volley of witty punchlines with ease. His plan here is plain and simple, which is to deliver a brutal Death Blow to all those suckers left walking and talking

Available in black wax in 250 hand numbered copies in a company sleeve with a sticker.

JET is very popular among Italian music collectors because from their
ashes came the commercial pop group Matia Bazar, and also among prog collectors because of their rarity.
Jet (or J.E.T. as their name was usually written) were formed in Genova at the beginning of the 70's from a previous band of the same name that also included later members of another pop band, Ricchi e Poveri. Their first album, "Fede speranza carità", released in 1972, derives from a radical turn in their musical style, to popular progressive rock. Its hard rock with falsetto vocals but in a
ProgRock style with heavy use of organ and a solid rhythm section, as in the long "Sinfonia per un re".

In 1974 the band added a female voice (Antonella Ruggiero)
and a new drummer (Giancarlo Golzi from Museo Rosenbach) and changed their name to Matia Bazar and started a long and successful career that still lasts today.

Rereleased in Purple Ltd Edition 180g vinyl.

THE SUBWAYS remain one of the most exciting live bands on the current touring circuit, thrilling crowds with their explosive rock sound and wild stage performances.

Back in 2005, with an average age of just 18, Billy, Charlotte and Josh crashed onto the international music scene with their debut album ‘YOUNG FOR ETERNITY’, and their rock-club floor-filling single ‘ROCK & ROLL QUEEN’. The NME proclaimed them “The sexiest thing to sweep rock n roll off its feet in years!”. An appearance on American smash teen drama THE OC and in Guy Ritchie’s London Gangster flick ‘RocknRolla’ has helped make the track a Spotify Rock Playlist mainstay.

The band have released four albums to date. Their sophomore, ‘ALL OR NOTHING’ (2008), was recorded in LA with heavyweight producer Butch Vig and, is “Buoyed with emotional heft and supernova guitar riffs, wired around a maturing song craft” (MOJO). The tracks were written at a time when Billy was battling to save his voice following surgery to remove nodules from his vocal cords. ‘MONEY AND CELEBRITY’ followed in 2011, filled with “brilliantly anarchic punk-pop vignettes; each being a big musical finger that sticks it to financial greed, the mediocre mainstream and the fame fetishists” (ROCKSOUND) and included the Radio 1 A-listed single ‘WE DON’T NEED MONEY TO HAVE A GOOD TIME’. Their self-titled 4th album saw the emergence of singer and songwriter Billy Lunn as a producer, as he took control of engineering and mixing duties and is "On Par with the best things they have ever written... and finds the band energized, focused and battle-ready" Q Magazine.

The global pandemic, though cutting short their 40+ date international ‘Young For Eternity Anniversary Tour’, has kept Billy busy in his newly-established Hertfordshire studio, with Charlotte and Josh in their respective homes focused on remotely recording Album 5. Makeshift under-stair vocal booths were constructed, and the album is now ready for a summer, 2022 release alongside a full European Tour

In April 2021 the band signed to ‘Alcopop’ and released the politically-charged, Black-Lives-Matter-inspired single “Fight”, which they describe as “a letter in two parts: a gesture of solidarity with the Black community and communities of colour as they face their daily oppression at the hands of systemic racism, and a wake-up-call to the white community that such oppressions do in fact exist, and that we must acknowledge these oppressions and fight alongside marginalised communities as allies.”

WITCH RIPPER haben eine liebevolle Hommage an die legendären Pulp-Science-Fiction-Storys aus der "Goldenen Zeit" des Genres erschaffen. Auf ihrem zweiten Album "The Flight After the Fall" erzählen die Amerikaner eine durchgehende Geschichte, die aus all den schmackhaften Zutaten besteht: Ein verrückter Professor, seine sterbende Frau, Kryo-Kammern und ein Schwarzes Loch dürfen dabei nicht fehlen. Garniert wird das Konzert von universell wichtigen Themen wie Liebe, Angst, Verlust und Akzeptanz. Musikalisch haben WITCH RIPPER ebenfalls das passende Rezept für "The Flight After the Fall" gefunden. Das Album steckt nicht nur erwartungsgemäß voller Vorwärtsdrang und ungezähmter Energie, sondern es finden sich ebenso flinke wie vertrackte Gitarren-Attacken, ein subtiler Hauch von Synthesizer-Sounds und kosmischer Atmosphäre sowie unverschämt eingängige Clean-Vocal-Hooks. Kurz gesagt, WITCH RIPPER bleiben ihren knorrigen Wurzeln treu, während sie sich gleichzeitig den Arena-Rock-Bombast von QUEEN und DAVID BOWIE sowie den überschwänglichen modernen Prog von COHEED AND CAMBRIA und MUSE zu eigen machen. Geboren und aufgewachsen in der Stadt des grauen Himmels und der lauten Musik, Seattle im Jahr 2012, haben WITCH RIPPER aus Washington von Anfang an die zeitgenössische Härte von Acts wie MASTODON, GOJIRA und BARONESS nahtlos mit der hymnischen Qualität des klassischen Rock verschweißt. WITCH RIPPER gehen ihre Musik auf typisch amerikanische Weise an: Fette Riffs, große Hooks und verdammt sei dieser Schlagzeuger! Mit "The Flight After the Fall" meldet sich die Heavy-Truppe aus Seattle mit einem kühnen musikalischen Statement in der US-Metal-Szene zurück.

Ravenstine wurde von Martin Sosna in Zeiten der weltweiten Pandemie mit seinem langjährigen Freund John A.B.C. Smith von God's Army und ihrem Freund Hanno Kerstan (Mystic Prophecy)
gegründet. Die selbstgepresste CD-Single "Ravenstine" wurde auf 500 Exemplare gepresst und war sofort ausverkauft. Ravenstine sind eine Gruppe von Freunden. Martin und John kennen sich seit mehr als 30 Jahren und Ian und Zak sind seit mehr als 20 Jahren mit ihnen befreundet. Auch Hanno ist ein sehr langjähriger Freund von Martin und John, auch wenn sie alle in verschiedenen Teilen Europas leben. Zuerst sang John auf den Tracks, weil es nicht einfach war, einen guten Sänger für eine Band zu finden. Eines Tages fragte Martin John, was mit Zanil Zak Tataji passiert sei und schon kurz darauf war mit an Bord. Ravenstine sind eine Band mit 4 Sängern (John, Ian, Zak und Martin) mit Zak in der Hauptrolle. Er hat die perfekte Stimme für die Ravenstine Songs und Ideen.Mit Gastauftrit von Frank Blackfire (Sodom). Ravenstine sind Heavy Steam Rock mit Einflüssen von ua. Def Leppard und AC DC. Ihre Releaseshow wird im Oberhausener Kulttempel stattfinden und sie sind auch für das Baltic Open Air in Norddeutschland gebucht.

Ravenstine wurde von Martin Sosna in Zeiten der weltweiten Pandemie mit seinem langjährigen Freund John A.B.C. Smith von God's Army und ihrem Freund Hanno Kerstan (Mystic Prophecy)
gegründet. Die selbstgepresste CD-Single "Ravenstine" wurde auf 500 Exemplare gepresst und war sofort ausverkauft. Ravenstine sind eine Gruppe von Freunden. Martin und John kennen sich seit mehr als 30 Jahren und Ian und Zak sind seit mehr als 20 Jahren mit ihnen befreundet. Auch Hanno ist ein sehr langjähriger Freund von Martin und John, auch wenn sie alle in verschiedenen Teilen Europas leben. Zuerst sang John auf den Tracks, weil es nicht einfach war, einen guten Sänger für eine Band zu finden. Eines Tages fragte Martin John, was mit Zanil Zak Tataji passiert sei und schon kurz darauf war mit an Bord. Ravenstine sind eine Band mit 4 Sängern (John, Ian, Zak und Martin) mit Zak in der Hauptrolle. Er hat die perfekte Stimme für die Ravenstine Songs und Ideen.Mit Gastauftrit von Frank Blackfire (Sodom). Ravenstine sind Heavy Steam Rock mit Einflüssen von ua. Def Leppard und AC DC. Ihre Releaseshow wird im Oberhausener Kulttempel stattfinden und sie sind auch für das Baltic Open Air in Norddeutschland gebucht.

TRAGEDY veröffentlichen 2023 ihr brandneues Album I Am Woman!

Auf I Am Woman, schreiben TRAGEDY das Drehbuch des Sleaze Rocks neu, und zollen ihr Tribut an die Weiblichkeit in allen Formen: Auf dem Album erwarten den Hörer 14 neue, vor Kraft- strotzende Hymnen und, eine gehörige Portion Spass!

Nachdem sie bereits mehrfach in den USA, Großbritannien, Deutschland, Frankreich, der Schweiz und darüber hinaus tourten, mehrere Alben mit metallischen Disco-, Soft-Rock- und Pop-Covern
veröffentlichten bevor sie überhaupt ihren ersten viralen Hit feierten, haben TRAGEDY schon früh bewiesen, dass sie nie nur die typische, satirische Coverband sein werden. Dieses verrückte Sextett verkörpert die Seele des Originals und erfindet sie von Grund auf neu, indem sie die Songs mit einer unbestreitbar ansteckenden Energie erfüllt, sowohl auf der Bühne als auch auf Platte.

Mit I Am Woman verkörpern TRAGEDY den Geist von Heavy Metal und bieten gleichzeitig eine frische Interpretation einiger der weltweit zeitlosesten Klassiker über Unabhängigkeit und Selbstliebe – wichtige
Botschaften, die heute mehr denn je nachhallen!

Seit 2009 ist Stoned Jesus aus der eine der führenden Kräfte im ukrainischen Heavy Rock. Fuzzige Riffs, treibende Basslinien und maximaler Groove sind die Grundelemente des Sounds von Stoned Jesus, die durch die Kombination von sanftem Clean-Gesang, einprägsamen Refrains sowie einer Reihe von dekorativen Gitarrenmelodien ergänzt werden. Die Stücke auf "Father Light" sind vielseitig und abwechslungsreich, wobei die für die Band typische Härte stets als Leitfaden dient.

FFV: Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Brant Bjork, The Sword

Seit 2009 ist Stoned Jesus aus der eine der führenden Kräfte im ukrainischen Heavy Rock. Fuzzige Riffs, treibende Basslinien und maximaler Groove sind die Grundelemente des Sounds von Stoned Jesus, die durch die Kombination von sanftem Clean-Gesang, einprägsamen Refrains sowie einer Reihe von dekorativen Gitarrenmelodien ergänzt werden. Die Stücke auf "Father Light" sind vielseitig und abwechslungsreich, wobei die für die Band typische Härte stets als Leitfaden dient.

FFV: Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Brant Bjork, The Sword

If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album shapes & colors is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town.
In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.”
When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth.
The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color.
Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.”
Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals).
NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down.