Buscar:her shadow

A special ‘Submerge” 12” EP featuring a bunch of reworks of this pivotal track from Apta's forthcoming ‘The Pool’ album on Castles in Space.

Kicking things off, Apta's own rework of the original sees the shadowy textures and droning wall-of-sound backdrop turned into a static-strewn dreamland of a piece, underpinned by a flickering guitar riff, cracked snare drums and fuzzed-out Odyssey strokes before launching into the euphoric half-time vocal refrain.

The follow-up sees Clay Pipe boss, illustrator and musician step into her Hardy Tree guise for a beautifully hypnotic waft of wistful folk-tinged electronics and shimmering ambient textures. It's warmly nostalgic, and packed full of all the feel of a lovely Clay Pipe release.

Following on from that, modular wizard Polypores takes pieces of the original and stretches them into an organic swell of texture and movement, warping the low basses and flickering modular plinks (and / or plonks) into a beautiful, undulating wall.

Flip over and It's none other than the brilliant Pye Corner Audio, providing an organically blooming suite of saturated percussion and woozy drifting oscillators, in peak PCA fashion. There are few artists that can do as much as with little as Martin Jenkins can, and hearing his audio sunshine underpinning the vocal line is breathtaking.

It's good to get the ears nice and soothed too before the aural assault and hypnotic spirit-cleansing heft of the legendary Gnod. Dubby throbbing bass and cavernous reverb tear the original into shards and piece it together as a churning, industrial powerhouse before shooting the rest into the endless reaches of space.

Closing things out on a space theme is the ideal way to do things too, with Field Lines Cartographer's remix taking things waaay into the outer reaches. Grounding bass churns and stellar synth sweeps float below the modulated vocal line, resulting in a perfectly crafted drone, rich in melody but untethered to the earth.

"In a reality where the sun is neon and the streets are lit with lasers...where the message of love is communicated through soaring synths and haunting vocals, you'll find the music of Causeway"

American synth-wave project, Causeway, is the brainchild of Marshall Watson and Allison Rae.
Through sophisticated downbeat melodrama, lyrical motifs of isolation, and an ultra-vivid wall of sound, the two bring a sizzling synth-laden take on the dream wave genre.

Coming to the fore with support from Italians Do It Better, Causeway released their first full length album 'We Were Never Lost' to immediate acclaim, soon landing spots in tv shows Never Have I Ever, and Riverdale.

Fast forward to the here & now and they've returned with an updated sound and a new label relationship with Manchester's Sprechen, on which their new album 'Anywhere' is welcomed to the fold.

The enigmatic duo has brought forth a reverb drenched cosmic journey across 10 tracks. Where narratives of dark & light are conveyed via emotional synthesizer soundscapes alongside captive melodies and ethereal vocals to take you on a diverse and cinematic listening experience.

Hints of post punk, new wave and 80's noir run throughout the album where influences such as The Cure, Cocteau Twins, OMD and New Order are embraced by Causeway's own unique sonic stylings of electronic music neatly wrapped around each track.

Universe Room is the eighteenth Guided By Voices album in ten years and packs a vast mix of energy levels and sounds into seventeen diverse tracks in less than forty minutes. The new record ventures into truly surprising territory, where barely any song segments and choruses are revisited and fidelity daringly shifts between lo-fi and hi-fi.

“I wanted to create, hopefully, an experience, kind of a wild ride, where the listener would want to hear it multiple times in order to grasp all the sections and fields of sound to discover something new with each listen,” says Robert Pollard. “I trimmed down the songs so that there wasn’t a lot of repetition, so you get a lot of sections that happen only once or twice.”

Universe Room embodies a realm of new horizons for Guided By Voices, who continue to redefine and expand as they blast off to unpredictable worlds.

Das aufstrebende "Death Pop"-Trio Corlyx wird sein bisher ambitioniertestes Projekt veröffentlichen: Purple Pain. Das Doppelalbum, das am 14. Februar 2025 via Out Of Line Music erscheint, ist eine tiefgreifende, 19 Tracks umfassende Erkundung von allem, was die Band an der dunklen Seite der Musik liebt. Mit Einflüssen, die von 80er Jahre Synthpop und Post-Punk bis hin zu Darkwave und Alt-Rock reichen, ist Purple Pain ein spannendes Mosaik des Goth Genres. Ursprünglich aus Los Angeles stammend, leben Corlyx heute zwischen Großbritannien und Italien und bestehen aus der Singer-Songwriterin Caitlin Stokes, dem Gitarristen/Produzenten Brandon Ashley und dem Bassisten Davide Rocco. Über Touren in Europa, Großbritannien und den USA mit Blutengel, Twin Tribes, Double Echo und Unzucht sowie die Zusammenarbeit mit Künstlern wie Lord Of The Lost, Massive Ego und Ashbury Heights haben sich Corlyx schnell eine solide Fan Base erspielt. Mit ihrem 3. Studioalbum "Purple Pain" werden Corlyx die Welt der dunklen Musik im Sturm erobern und die Band in ihrer kreativsten und gewagtesten Form präsentieren. “Purple Pain - ja, eine Anspielung auf Prince - ist der Höhepunkt jahrelanger Experimente mit den Gothic-Genres, die wir so lieben", sagt Sängerin Caitlin Stokes. "Es ist emotional, sinnlich und kreativ, aber auch ein bisschen gruselig, kitschig und lustig. Goth kann all diese Dinge auf einmal beinhalten." Das Album enthält sowohl sehr persönliche Stücke wie Death Is The Beginning - eine ergreifende Reflexion über Caitlins Verlust ihrer Mutter - als auch ansteckende Dancefloor-Hymnen und entfaltet sich wie ein Film, der den Hörer durch seine dramatischen Höhen und melancholischen Tiefen trägt. Für Gitarrist Brandon Ashley war der kreative Prozess für Purple Pain ebenso natürlich wie aufregend. "Als wir mit dem Schreiben anfingen, sprudelten die Songs einfach aus uns heraus, wir konnten nicht aufhören. Caitlin schlug vor, noch weiter zu gehen und ein Doppelalbum zu kreieren. Diesmal haben wir mehr von meinen 70er-Jahre-Rock-Einflüssen aufgenommen und unserem typischen Sound eine gewisse Blues-Note hinzugefügt." Die auf 12 Tracks limitierte Vinyl-Edition komprimiert das Album zu einem einzigartigen Meisterwerk aus Goth-Hits, während die Doppel-CD den vollständigen Umfang des Albums offenbart. Merkt Euch also den 14. Februar vor und macht Euch bereit für Purple Pain - eine genreübergreifende, dunkle und gleichzeitig unterhaltsame Reise von Corlyx; einer Band, die neu definiert, was es bedeutet, Goth zu sein.

In Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire with a habit for embracing the weird and wonderful, a burst of sunshine is a precious thing. Through the thick of Winter, through every season in fact, the town’s folk are used to the wind and rain, fog and mist. As much a part of the town as the trademark deep valley it sits in, here the lay of the land invites the weather in, just as it does the many musicians, artists, and unique characters that have come to call the place home over the centuries.
Bridget Hayden is one such soul who found a home among these hills. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in for the classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about such weather, how rare and treasured the breaks from it are. Her favourite thing to do in the valley, she says, is “to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine.”
Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via the Todmorden- based label Basin Rock. Having hired the town’s Oddfellow’s Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of 2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recording when the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time.
There’s a good chance, however, that it had to be this way. The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for the sunlight. They come, instead, wrapped in mist and coated with drizzle, those elements shaping the album as much as the voice and the instruments held within, as real but ambiguous as the ghosts that linger in the shadows. The sound of the dark valley floor.
Mostly centred around meditative and experimental improvisation, Bridget’s work to-date has seen her spend more than two decades recording and performing on the underground music scene. She’s also toured internationally both as a solo artist and as part of bands such as Schisms and The Telescopes, while working on various side-projects with the likes of Folklore Tapes.
For all of this sonic exploration, so much of her work has been formed around elements of traditional folk aesthetics and, over time, she began to piece together a collection of reinterpreted traditional songs that she absorbed as a child from her mother: through The Dubliners and Muddy Waters, to Bessie Smith and The Leadbelly Songbook. Harvesting her love for Nina Simone, Karen Dalton, Margaret Barry, and more, Bridget takes these traditional songs and transforms them into something uniquely evocative
"It goes back to the womb,” Bridget says of that connection. “I would not call it a memory as it is so deep within my blood and bones. My mum was the source, she sang all the time, as part of life. So it was a very lulling and natural introduction. It seemed common to hear her singing – unbeknownst to her – in time with a raindrop dripping at the window,” Bridget continues. “I’ve always wanted to do a folk record as I love these songs so much. It comes much more naturally to me to sing other people’s words, especially when they’re as beautiful as these old verses.”
Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, and led by Bridget’s stirring and weather-beaten voice, the songs on Cold Blows the Rain drift and crawl like low heavy clouds on flat-top hills, shaped by the land. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of The Apparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill).
“The weather speaks the most eloquently about human loss,” Bridget says, articulating such sentiments. “It’s good to feel enveloped by something so much vaster than ourselves. The rain and the tears all become one.”

Miki Yui is a musician, artist, and composer, originally from Tokyo, who has been based in Düsseldorf since 1994. Her whose work has long explored multiple forms of media, while documenting liminal zones of perception. On her latest album, As If, Yui creates a subtly connected suite of electronic music, drawn from improvisations and randomised processes that she has engaged with modular synthesis. Deeply poetic in its expression, even at its most minimal, the six pieces on As If have a curious tenor – they are, each of them, intensely sensuous, almost haptic listening experiences, as though the laser focus that Yui displays towards her compositions allows her to engage them as almost physical presences in the world.

One of the keys that unlocks the intimate complexity-in-simplicity of As If was Yui’s encounters with the Amazonian rainforest in Manaus, Brazil in 2018. Finding that the sounds in the rainforest both shadowed and echoed the music she had been making for two decades, she embraced the possibilities of modular synthesis, the sounds of which she discovered “have astonishing similarities to the sounds I experienced in the rainforest.” There is, indeed, something natural about the way these sounds bloom in real time; in their dedicated focus to the subtle development and mutation of several discrete parameters of sound, they grow slowly, gradually, their rhizomic structures suggesting that we are always situated within the middle of sound.

Sometimes, the material here has a kind of febrile energy, as on the ticking, clacking electronics of “Generativ”, a track that seems to rotate in the air in front of the listener, the light reflecting off its multiple surfaces as we catch the intricacies of its micro-patterns. Elsewhere, we slide into a cooled but welcoming environment, like the late-night fire-fly horizon of “Song 4”; there’s also the humid, dripping tropical sunset that’s documented on “Summernight”. It’s a music that’s hard to locate external coordinates for, though there are, perhaps, some parallels with the work of Laurie Spiegel, Eliane Radigue’s Vice Versa, and Pauline Oliveros’s “Roots of the Moment”. But As If is an extraordinary collection of naturally developing, rich studies for slowly mutating, enveloping, elemental electronics.

MIDLIFE CRISIS! - Something as unusual as a Swedish "supergroup" in the genre of '77 Punk Rock.

Urrke (Maryslim, Bizex-B), Dregen (Backyard Babies, The Hellacopters, Mike Monroe Band), Robban Eriksson (The Hellacopters, Strindbergs, Winnerbäck, Syl Sylvain), and Måns P Månsson (Crimson Shadows, Wrecks, Maggots).

In 2004, they first put their wild heads together and recorded three old punk classics, released on a vinyl EP. The band went on to release three more EPs (the latest one in 2018). Now, everything is being released on ONE fantastic collection via Wild Kingdom Records. By the way, Dregen is currently making waves on Swedish national TV with the popular series "Så Mycket Bättre".

Hold on to your hats folks!

Sound Like: Heartbreakers, Slaughter & The Dogs, PF Commando, early Damned, The Saints, UK Subs, Dictators, etc oldschool Punkrock.

MIDLIFE CRISIS! - Something as unusual as a Swedish "supergroup" in the genre of '77 Punk Rock.

Urrke (Maryslim, Bizex-B), Dregen (Backyard Babies, The Hellacopters, Mike Monroe Band), Robban Eriksson (The Hellacopters, Strindbergs, Winnerbäck, Syl Sylvain), and Måns P Månsson (Crimson Shadows, Wrecks, Maggots).

In 2004, they first put their wild heads together and recorded three old punk classics, released on a vinyl EP. The band went on to release three more EPs (the latest one in 2018). Now, everything is being released on ONE fantastic collection via Wild Kingdom Records. By the way, Dregen is currently making waves on Swedish national TV with the popular series "Så Mycket Bättre".

Hold on to your hats folks!

Sound Like: Heartbreakers, Slaughter & The Dogs, PF Commando, early Damned, The Saints, UK Subs, Dictators, etc oldschool Punkrock.

MIDLIFE CRISIS! - Something as unusual as a Swedish "supergroup" in the genre of '77 Punk Rock.

Urrke (Maryslim, Bizex-B), Dregen (Backyard Babies, The Hellacopters, Mike Monroe Band), Robban Eriksson (The Hellacopters, Strindbergs, Winnerbäck, Syl Sylvain), and Måns P Månsson (Crimson Shadows, Wrecks, Maggots).

In 2004, they first put their wild heads together and recorded three old punk classics, released on a vinyl EP. The band went on to release three more EPs (the latest one in 2018). Now, everything is being released on ONE fantastic collection via Wild Kingdom Records. By the way, Dregen is currently making waves on Swedish national TV with the popular series "Så Mycket Bättre".

Hold on to your hats folks!

Sound Like: Heartbreakers, Slaughter & The Dogs, PF Commando, early Damned, The Saints, UK Subs, Dictators, etc oldschool Punkrock.

Terra Utopia returns to Emotional Response with a second long-from EP / mini-LP, 10 more tracks that span the ethereal sounds of ambient, atmospheric beats and liquid drum and bass.

Originally intended as a one-off project from French producer Benoit B, Terra Utopia 1 was recorded in 2 weeks while sojourned in an Athens’ Spring. A personal dedication to a specific sound he loved.

Since the original release, a debut LP under his own name followed, before Benoit embarked on his new club orientated project Blu:sh, releasing a series of acclaimed EPs for the likes of esteemed Kalahari Oyster Club and Roza Terenzi’s Step Ball Chain label.

However, the incredibly positive feedback of the first Terra Utopia recordings led to reappraisal and return to the name and here again, a second set of 10 tracks (8 vinyl and 2 digital bonus).

Once more recorded as short pieces – cut loud for DJ play – they interconnect to feelings of intangible expanses, that embracing summer, the warmth, a latent stillness of the azure sea and sky. This invitation, a narrative forever calling, of long days, calm nights, the infinite astral plain in minds eye.

The ambience has progressed, beats crackle and snap, tracks visualise an individuality, names are anointed, with the collaboration with singer dvdv on Shadows Of Memories, a floating, mesmeric highpoint, a dreaming siren.

No fears, the children of the heat embark.

Filled with aural magic and enchanting musical spells, Sorcerer is true to its name. The third of five albums by Miles Davis’ legendary Second Great Quintet — and the second record in a still-unprecedented string of eight consecutive releases within a four-year period that forever changed the face of jazz — the 1967 effort mesmerizes with instrumental colors, subdued musings, and subtle details. These crucial characteristics blossom with vibrant realism on Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM SuperVinyl LP.

Sourced from the original master tapes and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, this numbered-edition audiophile edition of Sorcerer joins the ranks of other essential Davis records given supreme sonic and packaging treatment by Mobile Fidelity. Longtime listeners will immediately recognize a wealth of information and depth of tonality unavailable on prior versions. The myriad shadings, interwoven textures, and relaxed nuances that tie the post-bop set’s warm compositions together are rendered with utmost realism. Credit goes to MoFi’s engineers as well as the label’s groundbreaking SuperVinyl profile that features the lowest-possible noise floor as well as sublime transparency, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition.

By any measure, this is a reference reissue. You’ll hear poetic lyricism pouring out of Wayne Shorter’s horn, the breadth and definition of the notes spreading across an enormous soundstage. Never before have drummer Tony Williams’ rim shots ricocheted with such purpose or his light percussive work mirrored that of a feather touching skin. Similarly, Herbie Hancock’s piano runs occupy their own space, where their relationship to the central rhythms and front line becomes clearer.

Prizing inflection and nuance more so than heady solos or uptempo flights, Sorcerer mesmerizes with cerebral properties and cascades of emotional interplay. Such beauty emerges in the mellow ballad “Pee Wee,” an indelible statement of restrained authority and sophisticated expression. The swirling title track unfolds as jazz shadowplay, Hancock, Shorter, and Williams mirroring one another’s moves with guile and purpose. The opening “Prince of Darkness” showcases the ensemble’s reach and communication, every musician going in seemingly different directions yet ending up on the same page.

A lasting example of Davis’ visionary insight, Sorcerer is comprised entirely of pieces written by his band mates. Indeed, save for the closing “Nothing Like You” — a brief tribute to Davis’ eventual wife, who also graces the cover, recorded in 1962 and adorned with vocals from Bob Dorough — the album represents a further maturation and refinement of a quintet that stands as one of the finest in jazz history.

MoFi SuperVinyl
Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world’s quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are virtually indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label’s engineers hear in the mastering lab.

F.U.N. Is Now Available In A Limited Frosted Shadow Colored Vinyl Pressing!

The latest full length album from Detroit mainstays Slum Village, F.U.N., has now made its way to vinyl. The 12-track project is their first album in nearly ten years and includes fresh collaborations with Larry June, Cordae, Eric Roberson, Robert Glasper , Karriem Riggins, Abstract Orchestra, Sango, Phat Kat, Daru Jones, Earlly Mac, The Dramatics and more. 2015's critically acclaimed Yes! further cemented T3 and Young RJ's ability to effectively carry on the legacy of the seminal rap group, retaining its essence while evolving its sound with fresh new energy. However, with last year's sold out tour in Europe, and the release of the Larry June and The Dramatics-assisted "Just Like You", it was revealed that the duo was back in the lab together working on a new Slum Village album. F.U.N. finds Slum Village expanding on their signature certain sound, but still staying close to their hometown roots: Young RJ explains- “We wanted to just try something new, so we focused on making Disco-inspired music,” and T3 notes that the recording process all “began with collecting old Disco records.” For fans who wonder why the sonic shift, and why the long hiatus between proper albums, T3 says “Slum is still here. We’re still relevant and we’re still trying to push the envelope. Sometimes people put too many rules on music, and without sounding cliche, we wanted to just have fun with this album.” F.U.N., indeed.

Los Belking emerged during the British Invasion, capturing Peru’s fascination with instrumental rock. In 1966, they became Peru’s first fully instrumental band, inspired by The Ventures and The Shadows. Founding member Raúl Herrera formed the band in response to the wave of rock sweeping through Lima, blending surf and rock sounds that defied prevailing trends. Managed by disc jockey Gustavo Galliani, Los Belking secured a contract with the El Virrey label. Their unique lineup, including guitarist Willy Sandoval and bassist Jerry Lam, resonated with Peruvian youth, particularly within the Cantonese community, marking them as a revolutionary force in the history of Peruvian rock.

Unfettered by studio time limitations with their own home base of Echo Canyon, SYR 2 shows Sonic Youth chasing the shadows of predecessor SYR 1 and the series' distinct aesthetic: total exploration of freedom and further discovery. While the cover art evokes European contempo classical releases of yore, Sonic Youth distinctively reinvent their own personal output potential the way those kinds of records revolutionized a previously defined genre. Their ethos of utilizing the roots of the Ramones, Television, VU, Stooges, and No Wave to shape their first decade now find the band in later years bullet-pointing fascination in AMM, MEV, improvised music, free jazz and other outer-limit/organic refractions of traditional rock. While Sonic Youth's spontaneous-creation moments had long been showcased in their recordings, Peel Sessions, and live, SYR 2 sums up the band's state in 1997: rolling lots of tape, fine-tuning ideas and presenting great moments of exciting new directions, allowing deep-listener type fans to gain better insight into their sound process. Add to that the alchemy of Jim O'Rourke's gradual entry into the core band which would soon be fully on display for SYR 3, and this series is an X-ray of evolution, dissection and reconstruction.

The highly acclaimed U.K. post-punk band Joy Division was originally called Warsaw. Formed in Manchester, England in the late 1970s, the group consisted of Ian Curtis on vocals, Bernard Albrecht (aka Sumner, aka Dicken) on guitar, Peter Hook on bass and Stephen Morris on drums. Hook, Albrecht and Curtis hooked up at a local concert and later formed the group Warsaw. The band’s name was taken from a David Bowie-Brian Eno composition, “Warszawa”. The 5 bonus tracks on this album are demos cut by the group at Pennine Studios in Manchester on July 18, 1977 with Steve Brotherdale on drums. The first eleven tracks presented here were the result of a recording session for that album that took place in early May of1978. Rehearsals leading up to the session resulted in two new songs being added to the group’s existing repertoire: “Interzone” and “Transmission.” “Interzone” was based on the backing track of the song “Keep On Keepin’ On,” to which the band added their own lyrics. The result was a song distinctively their own. “Transmission” was written by the band during the final week of rehearsals. The first verse contains a quotation from Alistair Crowley’s The Book Of Thoth. The two recordings are interesting renditions of songs which would later became famous.

Although many a vibe has shifted since the days of dubbing NNF001 one at a time on the floor of a Koreatown bachelor apartment in February of 2004, using stolen photocopies and tie-dyeing J-cards with wine, the label’s essential premise has not. Then, as now, the vision was to elevate and enshrine outsiders, foragers, hidden gems, and hybrid sounds on cheap tapes or affordable records, to be savoured and shared in the here and now. 399 catalogue titles later, the centre still holds.

To toast the label’s 20th anniversary and 400th release, we commissioned a gold roll call of alumni and affiliates: Alley Of The Sun. Named in homage to the Malibu mystic music fountainhead, skewed through a smoggy sideways lens, the 16-song, 90-minute, double LP suite spans every shade of NNF’s Pacific palette: rainforest ceremony, skyway motorik, Tascam rapture, silhouette shoegaze, basement vapour, astral ascension, jazz shadows, 5th world tropics, lucid dream drone, desert quests, prophecy electronics, ritual wreckage.

Equal parts snapshot, tapestry, and time capsule, the compilation reflects the breadth of NNF’s two-decade exploration and evolution, from simple soil to a sea of dunes. True undergrounds have no set sound or fixed polarity, only flashes of transient magic and forking paths, to be cherished and championed for as long as the candle lasts.

20 mins+ EP on 10" vinyl (black), ltd. 400 copies. "The Underground Youth blend the sounds of shoegaze, post-punk and psychedelic rock with their own hauntingly beautiful twist." The Underground Youth is the name under which Manchester's underground poet, Craig Dyer, has produced his records since 2009. In 2011, Fuzz Club Records started putting out his prolific catalogue, bringing to light a number of LPs and singles that had only circulated virally on the Internet. Since then, The Underground Youth, with Craig and Olya Dyer as the core of the band, have expanded to a four piece, gaining a solid international fan-base and touring all around the UK and Europe. Gideon Coe has spinned their single "Juliette" on BBC6 and they took part to the "Reverb Conspiracy - Volune One", curated by Fuzz Club and Austin Psych Fest. In June, they rocked up the Eindhoven Psych Lab and they are set to headline Paris Psych Fest in July. Drown In Sound said of their Eindhoven set: "combining the mesmeric rhythms of The Velvet Underground - Olya Dyer's driving beats make her the new psych generation's Mo Tucker - with rippling feedback associated with Bad Moon Risingera Sonic Youth and a dash of the Mary Chain thrown in as well, they're a captivating force".

With his Electric Blues All-Stars, Kai Strauss has made a name for himself all over Europe with dynamic, driving live shows and award-winning CDs, featuring an individual style that’s based on the urban blues tradition, but taking in big chunks of soulful and funky grooves. And this band knows how to rock the house!
For “Wailin’ In Vienna”, Kai has realized his long-standing plan to record an old-school blues album, going back to his roots and beyond. And the results are nothing short of spectacular, with 15 self-composed songs that cover lot of traditional ground: swinging R&B, 50’s Chicago blues, instrumental shuffles, even some bluesy jazz, a minor-key cha-cha and a tribute to Bill Doggett and his guitarist Billy Butler.
Although the shadows of T-Bone, the three Kings and others loom large over the proceedings, Kai Strauss never fails being his own man. Of course it helps when you can realize such a project with a team comprising some of the best players in this style: Dani Gugolz and Peter Müller have been a steadily swinging rhythm team for 35 years. Pianists Dave Ruosch and Andreas Sobczyk combine tasteful chordal work with cascading treble runs. Sax Gordon has been a first-call R&B horn man for decades. Gerry Lülik’s is one of Austria’s foremost bluesharp players. Pianist Christian Dozzler, who came up in Vienna but has long made his home in Texas, can be heard with the likes of Anson Funderburgh when not doing his own thing. Finally, the two guitar greats heard alongside Kai hardly need much introduction: Rusty Zinn and Alex Schultz have been among the top tier of traditional blues string-benders since the 1990’s. Here, they are mostly heard in a supporting role for their friend and colleague, but ready to step out in style when called upon.

Musik ist im Grunde eine Waffe, um die Mauern, die wir um uns herum aufgebaut haben, zu zerstören - und die finnischen Metal-Melancholiker INSOMNIUM gehören zu den stärksten Waffenbesitzern. Ihr letztes Studioalbum "Anno 1696" (veröffentlicht An-fang 2023) eroberte die internationalen Albumcharts, darunter Platz 1 in Finnland und Platz 5 in Deutschland. Darauf folgte die addendumartige EP "Songs of the Dusk", die den Hörer auf eine weitere Reise in eine dunkle und neblige Vergangenheit mit-nahm.Aus dem Land der tausend Seen, das mit tausend Melodien aufwartet und tausend Emotionen hervorbringt, kam 2014 "Shadows of the Dying Sun", das sechste Studioalbum von INSOMNIUM. Ein Album, geboren aus der Melancholie, der Trauer und der Tristesse langer Winternächte, so unerbittlich und überwältigend wie ein Herbststurm und doch so erfrischend wie die ersten Sonnenstrahlen eines Frühlingsmorgens und so friedlich wie ein lauer Sommerabend. Century Media Records veröffentlicht diesen Klassiker, der Fan-Favoriten wie "While We Sleep", "Ephemeral" und "The Primeval Dark" enthält, erneut auf limitiertem, farbigem Vinyl und mit Liner Notes von Gitarrist Ville Friman für die anstehende "Beyond the Shadows of the Dying Sun"-10th Anniversary European Tour mit ihren (Label-)Kollegen OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Born in Australia and moving to the UK in her early 30s, Peggy O’Keefe became the resident pianist at the Chevalier Casino in Glasgow in 1962. Initially the residency was for six months, which then turned into six years. It was at this point she recorded her 'Mood Chevalier' LP in 1966, a collection of the band’s favourites but the gold is found in her version of 'Cubano Chant', made famous by Art Blakey and then played across jazz dances ever since.

Peggy’s playing was admired by Cleo Laine and Oscar Peterson, and once had a brief, impromptu duet with Frank Sinatra, Peggy and her band showed their true talent with these two versions of jazz favourites.

Hiding in the shadows for nearly 60 years, Now PANORAMA unearth this gem in their trademark 7 inch format, from a Glaswegian restaurant to a dancefloor near you.

PANORAMA Records is an emerging new label based in London, dedicated to rediscovering and showcasing musical gems with a fresh approach. With early support from notable DJs such as Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, Rainer Trueby, Mr Bongo DJs and Zag Erlat from My Analog Journal. Their unique take on Jazz and Funk from the further afield has shown they will become trailblazers in the reissue game for a long time.

No spot in music is immovable. No music can sit still but it’s hardly ver as true as it is for Dowdelin, a band that can’t be tied down to a single geography and genealogy. The creole language, Caribbean rhythms, urban energies, dazzling virtuosity, sensual electro: The group evolves in a unique place where genres and colors, heritage and audacity can merge.

*Avant-garde Pop. Mixing meditation, sacred-geometry, searching for meaning behind the notes, Emika lost her mind trying to escape the reality of the lock-downs. Creativity in overdrive, determined to discover new dimensions: She produced VEGA. Named after the second brightest star after the Sun, VEGA is in the northern constellation of Lyra; one of the most beautiful sounding- instruments in Greek mythology. Vocals. Electronic. Classical. Collabs with Horace Andy (Massive Attack) +more.

This is a massively awaited repress from the Hectic back catalogue. Ramos & Vinylgroover team up for the first time in this absolute classic from 1994. The A side, Phantasm, is a subliminal slice of that era showing pretty much every sound and trick in their arsenal. Then the flip is a proper slice of darkness in The Beast. No piano or cheery vocal here, just an eerie melody with melancholy samples to keep even the darkest of hardcore raver happy. An absolutely massive EP that is a must for any collector.

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Paul Bradley, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Jimmy J, Doughboy, Lowercase, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

Limitiert auf 500 Stk. – 100 Stk.


OSS! Spy vs. Spy! MI6! All operating in the shadows of darkness and danger... listen...underneath that double-trouble of uncertainty lays the groove. The exotic and the erotic sounds. 007! The music with a license to kill and thrill. When the clock strikes five and it is cocktail time, no man is a match for the soundtrack of the Femme fatale of the underworld. Shake that thing baby-don"t stir it....and the Martini too. The spy universe has been quite an inspiration for composers and orchestras. Lounge music, Exotica and symphonic, this record will have you spinning the globe hitting every longitude and latitude from Bangkok to Rio. So drop that needle and get on board this second volume as this jet is leaving the gate right on time.

“Shadow of Love“ transports echoes of your favorite 80s New Wave anthem into the here and now and refines it with a strobe light makeover. The result is a synth-heavy, digitized banger reaching out for unified dancefloor euphoria while still managing to expand the sonic spectrum of everyone involved. It’s a surprisingly joyous, ecstatic, and breezy slice of, well, state-of-the art pop that probably offers the most radio-friendly piece of music both parties ever laid their hands on.

Well-versed in vintage vernaculars, Oakland-based producer/musician Mike Walti is about to return with his sophomore offering under the Organi moniker – as new album “Babylonia” follows 2020’s “Parlez-vous Français?,” a landmark in vibe acquisition ever since.

Wyldwood Studios is a portal. It’s a secret gateway to analog spheres. Cross the threshold and you’ll feel the difference: you can pick any ol’ time, any place, any tongue or vibe, in fact. Hit the dancefloor in 1967, feel that plushy loveseat in the early 70s. It’s a welcoming place where better, saner vibes are still within reach. Fueled, at least in part, by those long-classic 12”s on the walls – just imagine the sepia-tinted countenance of Melody Nelson alongside actual Birkin sans wig, right next to Shadow’s immortal crate diggers, forever blurred –, and channeled through ancient time travel devices such as the MCI 416B only to arrive on classic 2-inch tape (MM1000 aka Ol’ Bessy), it’s a haven for all things organic, for all things imbued with that warm élan. Built and run by Oakland’s own Mike Walti, countless artists from many different genres have felt that flair, creating sonic spheres and moving back and forth along the malleable axis that is space-time. Capturing magic.

Emerging from this unique portal back in 2020, Walti’s aka Organi’s first studio album was a stunning answer to its titular question – “Parlez-vous Français?” It was a soothing, somewhat psychedelic trip so magnétique and alluring that it immediately brought back those bits of Franglais you never knew you remembered. Whereas the debut LP indeed felt like a spontané voyage to the French Riviera ca. 1968, its follow-up “Babylonia” is so much more than linguistic confusion and ancient Akkadian Rhythms. Using that hidden portal near Alameda’s finest port to access all kinds of remote regions and sonic spheres, it’s super tight and feels, well, decent, even though, just like the ol’ Babylon, it’s full of surprising tongues and dreams, schemes and melodies.

“Where do we go from here?,” someone asks in opening “Organii-“ – all majestically cinematic boom bap, buoyant bass, sick strings. A fittingly massive opener that feels like cracking open a cold one after long weeks at work (that ecstatic “ahhhh”), it perfectly sets the tone for another half hour of pure time traveling, globe-spanning bliss. Whereas that certain prédilection pour all things French makes “La Rockette” so tempting and tantalizing (think MalMalNonBien), the sophomore album’s Berlin-based guest singer Nana Lacrima soon takes us elsewhere: title track “Babylonia” spins ever so softly, like a magic lantern, with images of dreamier Stones Throw funksters or Savath y Savalas looming over the steady flow of an arrangement that washes you clean like an ancient, unpolluted River Euphrates or Brazil’s actual Amazon. A sexy Portuguese-flavored anthem, occasional guest singer Alix Koliha also enters the scene to add yet another layer of French chic to this Brazilian landscape. Next, we’re back at the Riviera, but the “Italiano” version of it, splendido sunsets and bell towers in the distance, the ragazze laughing and shaking it up, perhaps even some Portofino Gin so you can really feel that “me ne batto il belin,” as your fingers align form some half-serious “ma che vuoi?”

Tim Maia-penned “Padre Cicero” (1970) deals with the stunning transformation of the titular hero – “De reverendo a lutador,” and what a soaring, sensual hook –, and Organi’s take on Elephant Memory’s “Old Man Willow” (now an “Old Man Waltz”) perfectly underlines what Walti’s Wyldwood endeavor is all about: Easy-Going Experimental Dream Pop, fueled by Gainsbourg, Broadcast, Stereolab, etc.

Later on, even though something seems to be tres complique in “Remembering Anna,” it all sounds carefree like a spontaneous Friday afternoon with a bottle of fine wine. Right before the outro, key album guest Yea-Ming Chen (of Yea-Ming & The Rumors) returns to the mic, adding her dark and dusky trademark timbre to melancholy anthem “Pictures Of Your Face”. Reminiscent of Nico and Trish (rip & rip), it’s a track that’s both dark and strangely propelling, hypnotic and hip-shaking.

A third generation Bay Area native, Mike Walti aka Organi has been running Wyldwood Studios in Oakland CA for some 15+ years (recording artists like Tommy Guerrero, Spelling, Why?, Latyrx, Del, Dan The Automator, and Big Freedia, to name but a few). A multi-instrumentalist who’s obviously in love with the 60s/70s, he loves to work with analog equipment (“We just love us some analog!” “Just listen to those relays purr…”). Recorded and mixed by Mike Walti at Wyldwood, “Babylonia” will be released on vinyl/digital by Alien Transistor.

2024 Repress
Transparent Blue Vinyl

Little Dragon - die bahnbrechende schwedische Band um die rätselhafte Sängerin Yukimi Nagano, den Multiinstrumentalisten Håkan Wirenstarnd und Fredrik Wallin an Keyboard und Bass und Erik Bodin an Schlagzeug und Perkussion - kehren mit ihrem sechsten Studioalbum „New Me, Same Us“ zurück.

Für eine Band, die stolz darauf ist, abseits gängiger Hörgewohnheiten zu stehen und die sich mit aller Entschlossenheit dafür einsetzt, die Dinge zu ihren eigenen Bedingungen zu verwirklichen, haben sie bislang nicht gerade wenig Anerkennung im Mainstream bekommen. Mit dem Grammy für ihr Album „Nabuma Rubberband“ im Jahr 2014 nominiert, gelten Little Dragon seit langem als eine der gefragtesten Gruppen für Kollaborationen. Im Laufe der Jahre ist eine beneidenswerte Liste an Künstlerinnen und Künstlern zusammengekommen, mit denen sie zusammengearbeitet haben, darunter bspw. BADBADNOTGOOD, Gorillaz, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Flume, Kaytranada, Big Boi, De La Soul, DJ Shadow, Tinashe, Mac Miller, Future, Raphael Saadiq oder Faith Evans. Ihre berühmt-berüchtigte Live-Performance hat eine mittlerweile zehnjährige Tourneekarriere nach sich gezogen, in dessen Verlauf sie kürzlich gemeinsam mit Flying Lotus als Co-Headliner eine Show im Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles gespielt haben, sowie auf einigen der weltweit angesehensten Festivals wie Coachella, Glastonbury, Bestival, Lollapalooza, Melt!, Dour, Sónar und dem Festival von Tyler, The Creator, „Camp Flog Gnaw“, aufgetreten sind.

Vollkommen alleine und ohne Unterstützung von außen im langjährigen und selbstgebauten Heim-Studio in Göteborg produziert und aufgenommen, repräsentiert „New Me, Same Us“ ein weiteres Kapitel in der kontinuierlichen Entwicklung von Little Dragon. Mit ihrem einzigartigen Stil finden sie eine neue Richtung von gemächlichem, unkonventionellem R'n'B, Pop und Elektronik und klingen damit so verjüngt und energiegeladen wie eh und je. Die Platte zeugt auch von einer reflektierenden Stimmung, mit Yukimis unverwechselbarer Stimme, die von Übergängen im Leben, Sehnsüchten und Abschieden sinniert.

'If We Land On Water' is the first album from Spiral Wrack, a duo of Ali Wade (Frequency Domain) and Ralph Cumbers (Bass Clef / Myriad Myriads). Although the two have been good friends for decades and appeared on some of the same labels, this album marks their first musical collaboration, following a one-off appearance on Frequency Domain's 2023 compilation, 'Partials III'. Previous solo work from Ralph and Ali has appeared onPunch Drunk, Idle Hands, Pan, Trilogy Tapes and Werk Discs.

Here they present a full-length work of woozy, heavily processed guitar and synth duets, where beachcombed melodies wash up on unknown shores and strange flowers bloom at the high water line. Robin Guthrie meets Laurie Spiegel with Neptune at the controls. Rum and reverb, if you will.

The Invisible Road: Original Recordings, 1985–1990 compiles an unheard, previously unreleased body of recordings by Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz, dissidents from diametric backgrounds who met during the heady days of Downtown New York in the 1980s. This collection reveals the creative and life partners’ radical shared vision of avant-garde pop in all of its boundary pushing freedom, combining Deyhim’s singular approach to vocalization, Horowitz’s invention of new musical languages, and touchstones of traditional music from around the world, creating a new music that ultimately retains a voice entirely its own. Despite their difference in backgrounds and respective journeys, at the time of their meeting in the early 1980s in New York City, Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz were both products of the search for freedom and understanding (and resultant awakenings) that swept the globe and helped culturally define the late 1960s and 70s. Deyhim, born and raised in Tehran, spent her teens dancing with Iran’s Pars National Ballet company, performing weekly on Iranian national television, and travelling her home country studying with master folk musicians and dancers, before relocating to Belgium and joining Maurice Béjart’s prestigious Béjart Ballet of the 20th Century. Horowitz, born and raised in Buffalo, New York, had spent much of the decade before abroad, first departing for Paris under the shadows of the Vietnam War, where he studied piano, Eastern philosophy, and became entrenched the city’s free jazz scene, playing with the likes of Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, and Alan Silva, before embarking south to Morocco where his friendship with Paul Bowles helped cultivate a deep passion for the country’s musical traditions and a shift in his musical practice.



The pair met by chance sometime in 1981 at Noise New York, a small studio on West 34th Street founded by the musician and recording engineer, Frank Eaton, as a utopian creative laboratory that beckoned artists and bands like Arthur Russell, Christian Marclay, Liquid Liquid and Butthole Surfers into its orbit. Both artists had recently relocated to the city, Horowitz having recently released his debut album, Oblique Sequences (Solo Nai Improvisations), on the legendary Paris based imprint Shandar, and fallen in with members of New York avant-garde like La Monte Young, Jon Hassell, David Byrne, and Brian Eno, and Deyhim having begun to more actively incorporate singing into her practice, notably recording a vocal score for choreography she was doing at La MaMa Experimental Theatre.



Initially bonding over a cassette tape of field recordings made by Paul Bowles that had been given to mutual friend and writer Brian Cullman (seeking answers for Ornette Coleman’s question “what is the sound of sound”), their earliest collaboration was documented on Horowitz’s 1981 album, Eros In Arabia, with Deyhim contributing vocals to the track “Queen Of Saba.” Over the coming years, their deep connection would routinely gravitate them into the studio, culminating in the body of recordings that would appear on their 1986 album for Crammed Discs, Desert Equations: Azax Attra. Unknown to nearly all but the artists, laying in wait over the decades on numerous multi-track and stereo reels, DAT tapes, and reference cassettes, were a vast array of recordings made by Deyhim and Horowitz bookending Desert Equations. The 13 pieces represented on The Invisible Road: Original Recordings, 1985–1990 were recorded largely between Noise New York and Daylight Studio in Brussels, during a period that Deyhim describes the partnership between herself and Horowitz’s as seeking a music “free of any specific cultural reference, with a personal musical signature,” blossoming into a body of sonority that embraced the energy of contemporary boundary pushing pop and the avant garde, filtered through their mutual love and study of various musical traditions from across the globe and deep engagement with the ideas and tactics of experimental music.



Undeniably rooted in Horowitz’s study of the North Africa ney and the music of the Berber and Gnawa cultures during his time in Morocco, Deyhim’s deep engagement with the folk traditions of Iran, and the couple’s immersion in the interconnected Downtown underground music scenes, each piece on The Invisible Road offers its own vision creative and cultural hybridity. Deyhim sings in both English and Farsi, as well as a composite tongue that she developed by drawing upon numerous indigenous vocal techniques from around the world, intuitively responding to Horowitz’s simultaneous sound syntax forming and combining a wide range synthetic and acoustic instrumentation, and experimental tape techniques, within a visionary series of free-standing expressions.

Following on from the House-infused punch of her Peach Discs release in June, Bristol’s Daisy Moon treats us to a shapeshifting debut on Timedance - entering a new era with a splash sure to be felt in most abyssal zones.

‘Shadow Of Silhouettes’ showcases a singular exploration of tough yet scintillating sounds, between wiggy electro, bass-laden grooves and inspired bursts of FWD techno- pop.

In this diverse body of work, Daisy’s vocals are the glue tying things together. They appear like sonic silhouettes, abstracted through sound design and unveiling a taste for the experimental. In other moments they are stripped from their abstract form and float above the surface, revealing Daisy Moon’s blossoming talent for ear-worm melodies.

Gavin Vanaelst runs the space Aboli Bibelot in Antwerp where exhibitions and musical performances can happen side to side with dealings in centuries-old furniture and unique pieces of folk art or volkskunst. Gavin makes music under the aliases DJ Charme, Kassett and So Sorry. This is the first album under his birth name. Takeaway Loops cycles back to the days when Gavin was working as a courier for .

is a food delivery company. Their couriers - ehm, brand ambassadors, as the company prefers to call them - dressed in bright orange, they race their bikes around the city. They deliver meals and groceries for all sorts. Thanks to them, the privileged can stay tucked in their private spaces. Interaction between the two groups - the privileged and the brand ambassadors - is mostly kept to the bare minimum. And sparse communications are often driven by annoyances - “my Coke is warm because you kept it too close to the French Fries.” And on the streets the general public dis-approaches the brand ambassadors with pity. We tell our peers: “That’s not a good job,” and “stay away from the Sharing Economy.” Because, you know, in our capitalistic dollhouse we all stand our grounds and play our parts wholeheartedly.

During his shifts for , Gavin recorded location sounds on his phone at fast food restaurants while waiting on the orders he had to pick up and deliver. Later in his home studio Gavin added piano and electronics to this source material. The result: a gloomy soundtrack for a shadow world. Seven songs in evening blue with a bright orange glare.

A few years ago, our favorite Belgian publishing house Het Balanseer released Seizoenarbeid by Heike Geissler (available in English trough Semiotext(e)). Geissler writes about her job at Amazon in Leipzig. Because her writing and freelance work did not pay the bills any longer, she was forced towards this underprivileged shadow-world of unwanted jobs. Seizoenarbeid shed a light on freedom in an unfree world. A monument of ‘we are all in this, but not together’. Takeaway Loops gives us a similar peak in a world that is at the same time so visible, but then also very veiled for many. A world that we prefer to use, yet that most of us prefer not to see - a world that we don’t like to enter.

Last year at Harbourland subway station in Kobe i was mesmerized by its sound design, created by Hiroshi Yoshimura. For each part of the subway station he composed a short phrase. While walking trough the station, a full composition grows in your head. The looping melodies guide you trough a microworld. Trough a blue world of commuters, of the homeless, of the lonely, of the fast paced, of the tourist. Gavin creates a similar effect with Takeaway Loops. The tonality somehow corresponds to Yoshimura’s work. Yet instead of being guided trough a building, we are now taken to the after dark. You feel the concrete evening heat of the city. You hear the rain. Stiff fingers during cold winters’ nights. You are alone on the bike, cruising. Your maps app telling you where to go. You just left the fake leather bench of the well-lit pastiche interior of a fast food restaurant.

Next order, number ECN44! Please wait outside, sir?

Lyrical polymath and spoken-word extraordinaire Emmeline blends genres and influences on this DVDinspired mixtape, released by Lewis Recordings. Citing both the ‘dark stream of consciousness’ and ‘early
influence of film, music, and literature’ on her creativity, West-Yorkshire born Emmeline takes us
through a musical and visual journey, of navigating her early 20s and a new move to London. Made in
collaboration with a range of exciting new production talent, such as Dom Valentino (Skepta, Greentea
Peng), John Foyle (FKA Twigs, Sampha), Cameo Blush and The Still Brothers.

Robin Carolan's latest soundtrack for Robert Eggers' highly anticipated Nosferatu is a haunting, gothic-infused and meticulously crafted work that draws from a vast palette of sounds, instruments, and inspirations. Following their successful collaboration on The Northman, Carolan reunites with Eggers to bring the legendary tale of Nosferatu to life, infusing the film with a score that is as complex and nuanced as the story itself. With Daniel Pioro, one of Britain's most exciting young classical musicians, at the helm as the orchestra leader and first chair for a vast majority of the recording, the soundtrack features a vast orchestration, including 60 string players, a full choir, various horns and woodwinds, a harpist, and two percussionists. Despite the grandeur of the orchestration, one of the most challenging pieces was the music box used at the film's beginning. Carolan and Eggers struggled to perfect its sound, a process marked by their meticulous attention to detail, which Carolan describes as almost telepathic. Set in the 1800s, Nosferatu allowed Carolan to incorporate contemporary instrumentation, though he made a deliberate effort to ensure the score didn't sound overly modern. Letty Stott, who also worked on The Northman, contributed ancient horns and pipes, enhancing the soundtrack's eerie atmosphere. Additionally, percussionist Paul Clarvis custom-built a toaca-like instrument for added authenticity. Carolan's inspirations for the soundtrack were as eclectic as they were profound. He frequently drew upon the works of Bartok and Coil, while films like The Innocents, Angels and Insects, and Eyes Wide Shut provided cinematic inspiration. Additionally, he explored the more obscure side of Hammer Horror soundtracks and found a deep connection to the music of the Ukrainian film The Eve of Ivan Kupalo, which helped shape the score's otherworldly tone. Carolan intentionally moved beyond the typical horror score, focusing on capturing the tale's melancholy and tragic elements while weaving in a sense of warped romanticism. The result is a soundtrack that not only complements the film but also stands on its own as a testament to Carolan's artistry and the enduring power of collaboration.

Robin Carolan's latest soundtrack for Robert Eggers' highly anticipated Nosferatu is a haunting, gothic-infused and meticulously crafted work that draws from a vast palette of sounds, instruments, and inspirations. Following their successful collaboration on The Northman, Carolan reunites with Eggers to bring the legendary tale of Nosferatu to life, infusing the film with a score that is as complex and nuanced as the story itself. With Daniel Pioro, one of Britain's most exciting young classical musicians, at the helm as the orchestra leader and first chair for a vast majority of the recording, the soundtrack features a vast orchestration, including 60 string players, a full choir, various horns and woodwinds, a harpist, and two percussionists. Despite the grandeur of the orchestration, one of the most challenging pieces was the music box used at the film's beginning. Carolan and Eggers struggled to perfect its sound, a process marked by their meticulous attention to detail, which Carolan describes as almost telepathic. Set in the 1800s, Nosferatu allowed Carolan to incorporate contemporary instrumentation, though he made a deliberate effort to ensure the score didn't sound overly modern. Letty Stott, who also worked on The Northman, contributed ancient horns and pipes, enhancing the soundtrack's eerie atmosphere. Additionally, percussionist Paul Clarvis custom-built a toaca-like instrument for added authenticity. Carolan's inspirations for the soundtrack were as eclectic as they were profound. He frequently drew upon the works of Bartok and Coil, while films like The Innocents, Angels and Insects, and Eyes Wide Shut provided cinematic inspiration. Additionally, he explored the more obscure side of Hammer Horror soundtracks and found a deep connection to the music of the Ukrainian film The Eve of Ivan Kupalo, which helped shape the score's otherworldly tone. Carolan intentionally moved beyond the typical horror score, focusing on capturing the tale's melancholy and tragic elements while weaving in a sense of warped romanticism. The result is a soundtrack that not only complements the film but also stands on its own as a testament to Carolan's artistry and the enduring power of collaboration.

Not at all dangerous, but no less powerful and devoted to one another, the Coppola family have loomed large in film and the arts for decades.
The head of this particular family was not a Don lurking in the shadows, but a brilliant composer arranger and conductor: Carmine Coppola.
On the face of it, this album is a bit of a curiosity, though it was surely the first recording to bring together music from both Godfather films in this way.
Its original release coincided with a high-profile television event called The Godfather: A Novel for Television (also known as The Godfather Saga).

The extended cut necessarily featured additional music and arrangements, which were overseen by Carmine Coppola.
We can safely assume that at least some of that forms part of what is included in The Godfather Suite. For it, Coppola selected and re-arranged musical highlights from the two films,
including all of Rota’s main themes and his own source music pieces, creating what is essentially a 14-part symphonic suite.

It’s all rather beautifully executed, with great romantic flourishes, and it’s a fitting tribute to Carmine Coppola’s talent, not to mention his contribution to two legendary films.
Carmine Coppola himself passed away just months after the release of The Godfather Part III. A highlight of that final score is the ‘Love Theme’,
which was the basis of Carmine Coppola and lyricist John Bettis’s Oscar-nominated original song ‘Promise Me You’ll Remember’. The instrumental arrangement is included here in addition to the Suite.

imited White Vinyl

Norwegian post punk duo Mayflower Madame return with their 3rd Studio album and we are delighted to welcome them to the Up In Her Room Family!

Norwegian band Mayflower Madame is set to release their highly anticipated third LP Insighton 1st November 2024. The lead singles, "A Foretold Ecstasy" and "Paint It All in Blue," have garnered widespread acclaim and extensive radio support, including airtime on BBC 6 Music. These tracks offer just a glimpse of what the album delivers—an expansive canvas of pulsating post-punk, shimmering shoegaze, and atmospheric psych-noir, masterfully blended with delicate sonic nuances.
Mixed and mastered by Maurizio Baggio (known for his work with The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher, and The Vacant Lots),Insightshowcases the band refining their sound into a sharper and more expansive sonic landscape than ever before. This album sees them exploring greater depths and heights, delivering a hypnotic journey through the shadows, filled with haunting melodies and dreamy melancholia. At the same time, it remains catchy and dynamic, with moments of vibrant brightness.
Insightis dedicated to frontman Trond Fagernes' stillborn daughter and is bookended by two songs—"Ocean of Bitterness" and "Insightfor the Mourning Hours"—that directly address this profound sorrow. Between these somber pieces, the album delves into a wide range of emotions, from nostalgic reflections on lost loves to feverish depictions of escapism and catharsis.
Over the past years, Mayflower Madame have gained a reputation far beyond their hometown of Oslo, Norway. They made their debut with the album ‘Observed in a Dream’ in 2016, which created a buzz in the indie music press and earned them tours across Europe and North America, while 2020s long-awaited sequel ‘Prepared for a Nightmare’ firmly established their position as one of the continent’s leading purveyors of cinematic shoegaze psychedelia swathed in 1980s post-punk and dark romanticism.

Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her second solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr—plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt’s quartet—the guitarist’s name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar’s possibilities. Along the way, from 2007 to 2023, Mendoza was writing these slow-burning, incandescent songs. The Circular Train is comprised solely of her single-tracked guitar playing and, on two songs, her corporeal singing. Her first solo LP of original material since relocating from California to New York City a decade ago, much of The Circular Train was honed amid pandemic years that clarified the virtues of slowing down. This expressive avant-rock is a definitive introduction to one of the most uncompromising and inquisitive visions in creative music. Mendoza’s thrilling melange of free jazz, blues, noise, classical training, and blazing experimental rock’n’roll all coheres with ecstatic feedback, with picking and solos that crest with shimmer. Sometimes she sounds like a one-woman Sonic Youth with guttural and poised vocals that equally evoke Patti Smith and blues greats like Jessie Mae Hemphill. Conceptually, The Circular Train is presented as a psychogeographical train ride through certain of Mendoza’s musical homelands. The songs draw on ancestral and recent familial memories, notably of her parents’ roots in mining towns—in her father’s home country of Bolivia and mother’s hometown of Butte, Montana, each country with its own history of colonialism, racism, forced labor, the eradication of culture and the subsequent excavation of it. These adventurous songs were composed in cars and planes, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in Los Angeles and upstate New York—which is to say in motion. “Ride to Cerro Rico,” named for the mountain and silver mine at the center of Potosi, Bolivia, was inspired by Mendoza’s great grandmother’s life there in a Quechua mining family. “Dust From the Mines” drew from that history as well as Mendoza’s familial lineage of miners in Montana, building up to stunning swaths of shredded iridescence. “Pink River Dolphins” was inspired by a visit to the Amazon rainforest, swimming with dolphins alongside her father—the pink bufeos that inhabit both Bolivia and Columbia—and the song is dedicated to the memory of Mendoza’s late friend, the Colombian-American trumpeter jaimie branch. They shared a fascination with those intelligent and agile creatures who often communicate by echolocation. “Make a sound, it comes back around,” Mendoza sings, and later, “Echo, echo/The answer in a sound,” evoking what branch knew well: through music we navigate life. The Circular Train contains one cover, “Irene, Goodnight,” composed by Gussie Lord Davis and popularized by Leadbelly; Mendoza has been performing it for over 20 years. Almost as deeply embedded in her repertoire is the penultimate track, “The Shadow Song.” “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you good,” Mendoza sings on this song that she’s been reworking for over a decade, an emblem of devotion. “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you right,” she repeats, becoming a blues mantra. What is a shadow self if not one’s secret world, which, once laid bare, awaits an echo, a return?

In 2019 the debut album “Attitude” by Lonerider was released, a band that not only features Steve Overland (FM, Solo, Shadowman), Steve Morris (Heartland, Shadowman) and Chris Childs (Thunder) but legendary drummer Simon Kirke of Free and Bad Company fame. The band come across like Bad Company mixed with Shadowman and their debut “Attitude” was loved by many. Lonerider have the feel of that classic Bad Company that we know and love, yet the songs are modern, fresh and vibrant. In 2022, the follow up album titled “Sundown” was released boasting 12 new tracks of classic rock in the same vein as “Attitude”, well why change a winning formula? The band have continued to attract new fans and they have all been eagerly awaiting a third outing and it’s due for release in November, 2024. The album “Down in the Dust is released on 15th November in both CD and limited edition (500 all numbered) double vinyl. The Vinyl will have 3 bonus tracks. This is an extension of what this exciting band have already given us, and it just keeps getting better. The addition of Steve Mann (Lionheart / MSG) adds so much with that Hammond organ vibe, giving it an “old school” feel and yet the band continues to expand on fresh ideas and melodies. There are no fillers here. Once again, the Lonerider lineup excel themselves in giving us another fine release.

After the split of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lydia Lunch reinvented her solo career with the cinematic jazz gem "Smoke In The Shadows.

Here we have the third LP by the excellent Guy Hamper Trio, featuring James Taylor on Hamond organ, and Guy Hamper on guitar (sometimes called Childish) and what a first-class LP this is! 'Instrument of Evil' in particular has a very eerie vibe. We asked the man himself what was the inspiration for it? G.H. The track is the sequel to '7% Solution', which featured on the last Guy Hamper Trio LP (with Thee Headcoats standing in as rhythm section). A 7% Solution being the amount of morphine Dr Watson administered to Sherlock Holmes. For 'Instrument of Evil' I took Sherlock Holmes' later designation of his syringe as "an Instrument of Evil". This is originally a quote from the bible- "Wicked men do at times reject God's purpose for the state, transforming the good of civil government into an instrument of evil." Point of interest: Morphine addiction happens to tie in with another aspect of the song. In the section that nods to Elmer Bernstein's main title theme to the film of the book The Man With the Golden Arm, in which the main character is also a morphine addict. Another ingredient - we added six-string bass to that section in tribute to Jet Harris - he formerly of top group The Shadows, who recorded a great version of Bernstein's classic. To top it all off the record sleeve references the fine graphics of the great Saul Bass. The track also features contributions from Tom Morley (trumpet) and Anna Jordanous (sax) . Both Were a pleasure to work with. My job at the wheel is to basically make a playground and let Jamie, Anna and Tom loose in it with very little direction, apart from pointing out the swings and location of the roundabout. I told Tom "you're a Spanish trumpeter stood on a hill in Spain." For Anna, I think we said "go low and nasty." Other titles are taken from early poetry chapbooks I made in my youth. 'The First Creature is Jealousy' and 'Dog Jaw Woman' being examples. The title 'Incense Rising From a Censer' comes from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, a book I really recommend. Prayer rises to God on the smoke of the incense burning in the censer. I imagine this track being some kind of antidote to 'Instrument of Evil'. They are all excellent tracks. I imagine film companies will be queuing up to use many of them.

1985 war das Jahr, in dem der Grundstein für die Karriere einer Band gelegt wurde, die auch fast 35 Jahre danach noch genau so aktiv ist,
wie am ersten Tag. Die Rede ist natürlich von RAGE, die zunächst als AVENGER gestartet sind, bevor es dann zur Umbenennung kam.
Nun werden die legendären Alben der Herner Metal-Legende mit Bonus-Material mit etlichen Demoversionen (inkl. bisher
unveröffentlichten Titeln) auf Doppel-Vinyls neu veröffentlicht.
„10 Years In Rage“ (1994) enthält neben dem Album etliche Bonus-Titel auf einer Doppel-Vinyl. Ein absolutes Muss für alle RAGE-Heads!

1985 war das Jahr, in dem der Grundstein für die Karriere einer Band gelegt wurde, die auch fast 35 Jahre danach noch genau so aktiv ist,
wie am ersten Tag. Die Rede ist natürlich von RAGE, die zunächst als AVENGER gestartet sind, bevor es dann zur Umbenennung kam.
Nun werden die Alben der Herner Metal-Legende mit Bonus-Material mit etlichen Demoversionen (inkl. bisher unveröffentlichten Titeln) auf
Doppel-Vinyls neu veröffentlicht.
Ein absolutes Muss für alle RAGE-Heads!

Just a little over two years since the release of his debut album Opening the Door, Jack re-emgerges with a new full length album. On Blue Desert, the Australian-born Vancouver-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer wades deeper into the stylistically prismatic pool of his own creation: melancholy dub-funk, jangling psychedelia, moon-burnt sophisti-pop and stained glass folk mutations float freely together.

Just a little over two years since the release of his debut album Opening the Door, Jack re-emgerges with a new full length album. On Blue Desert, the Australian-born Vancouver-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer wades deeper into the stylistically prismatic pool of his own creation: melancholy dub-funk, jangling psychedelia, moon-burnt sophisti-pop and stained glass folk mutations float freely together.

Entirely self-produced at Mood Hut Studios in Chinatown, Vancouver between 2022 and 2024, the album picks up where Opening the Door left off; the songwriting concise and refined, the voice front and centre on almost every song, the pensive mood irresistible and dense.

The apparently effortless melodic interplay of voice, guitar, synthesizers and bass that Jack is well known for is ever present but despite the clear-eyed harmonies and energetic rhythms there is a shadow that quietly haunts the album. The lyrical buoyancy of his early EPs and even some of the more explicitly sunburnt instrumental moments of his last record have continued to fade and peel like paint. Regret, remorse and melancholy are woven into almost every turn of phrase; the self-deprecating longing of Tracey Thorn and Sade Adu can be heard alongside the plaintive echos of Mark Hollis and Arthur Russell. The Mood Hut Records founder and NTS host digs deeper in all the directions that he only brushed upon on Opening the Door, creating a kaleidoscopic index of his omnivorous listening habits: from Underworld to Kate Bush, Disco Inferno to Bryan Ferry, Julian Cope to Arthur Verocai.

The LP will be released on Jack’s own Mood Hut Records on November 1st and will be followed by a live tour in the UK and Europe in November and December, featuring a string of dates opening for revered Los Angeles artist Jessica Pratt.
- Mood Hut Records, Vancouver

Produced by Jack Jutson at Mood Hut Studios, Chinatown Vancouver
Mixed by Jack Jutson and CZ Wang
Saxophone by Linda Fox
Strings on Falling Down a Well by Aiden Ayers
Bass on Down the Line by Diego Herrera
Additional synth on Red Cloud by Liam Butler
Artwork by Mela Melania + Jack Jutson






e A5. Pink Shoes Part I





Part II

When Bob Vylan won the first MOBO award for Best Alternative Music Act in 2022, the punk-grime duo took to the stage and used the platform to speak about how they managed to achieve the impossible as independent artists in a genre-defying space. “We released an album this year that we produced entirely, mixed entirely, recorded entirely, all from my bedroom…so everybody that’s here, bigging up Atlantic and bigging up Warner, fuck that, us man did it ourselves”.

It was an acceptance speech that rattled the room and built anticipation for their next projects.

Humble as the Sun, the forthcoming album from Bob Vylan continues with much of the rage and urgency that they have come to be known and loved for, but this latest project shows that they are now stronger and wiser, bolstered by the wins and learnings that they have fought hard for along the way. The resulting tracklist aims to leave the listener feeling power alongside their anger, and brings a fresh and compelling blend of punk, rock, grime and rap together in an experimental way.

Following on from the last album, Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life, the message woven throughout Humble as the Sun remains dark in places but is high-energy, defiant and unapologetic in its critique of a broken social and political system that so many have fallen victim to, but feel powerless against.

This album is for the underdogs, the ones who come out swinging and those who refuse to be defeated in the face of injustice, and aims to remind listeners that anger is a fire that can be harnessed and put to use. The album creation started from a conversation with the sun, which is, after all, a big ball of fire that sustains life.

From masculinity to myths about the G Spot, the themes and topics explored on Humble As The Sun make for an often humorously empowering celebration of the peoples ability to endure, overcome and bring about change.

The lyricism on this album is even more layered than their previous projects, still darkly humorous, anti-establishment and unforgiving but at times pauses to deliver much-needed words of afrmation to listeners, “You are loved. You are not alone. You are going through hell but keep going.” Bobby assures the listener, ofering an antidote to the state of the world, aiming to give some power and agency to those who hear it. At a time when so little trust or faith exists between the people and the powers that be, Bob Vylan ofers out a hand in the despondent darkness that has overwhelmed so many in the shadow of a burning planet. They guides the listener to a place where they can see some light and feel empowered to do something, to fight back, to continue pushing forwards despite the challenges faced along the way.

Mixing all of the best quintessentially British - and Jamaican - musical elements from punk to drum and bass, grime and rock, Bob Vylan creates a sound that reflects the state of the nation, at once voicing the frustrations that normal people have, while also highlighting one’s ability to persevere, overcome hardship and to change.

Peni Candra Rini (she/her), the Indonesian composer and performer whose musical practice encompasses a wide range of traditional and experimental Javanese styles, announces her new album Wulansih (July 12, 2024) via New Amsterdam Records. Kronos Quartet's David Harrington, a frequent collaborator of Rini, recently called her “one of the world's greatest singers”, and on Wulansih she places her voice in conversation with a wide array of experimental and traditional musicians, including Andy McGraw, Lester St. Louis, Shahzad Ismaily, John Priestley, Curt Sydnor, and many others. Produced by Ismaily at New York's Figure 8 Recording, Wulansih creates a world all its own.

The 8 songs on Wulansih exert a deep sense of spiritual calm and act as, in Rini’s words, “a reminder that you are still human, listening to expressions of other humans.” Her music is deeply inspired by the poetry of Rumi and Hafez, Wayang Kulit (Indonesian shadow play), and Serat, the tradition of Sufi thought in Central Javanese court poetry. Rini says that Wulansih aims to “express my inner feelings, my soul, to provide inspiration to younger Indonesian composers, and to introduce Indonesian new compositions to new global audiences.”

Wulansih is a small encyclopedia of Indonesian music. Rini explains: “The album mixes a wide range of materials, including traditional Javanese gamelan singing, Balinese chant, stringband music of the 1960s, and intercultural improvisations, bringing them all together through my contemporary compositional approach. We created experimental ensembles, and even experimental instruments and tunings to create an album that, whatever you think of it, sounds like nothing else.”

Rini’s lyrics are poems, strongly inspired by Javanese Sufism, with a deep emphasis on love and the inner self. Estu explores the idea of “love as a sacrifice; it takes a commitment to put one’s heart in the right place. It requires the seriousness of an artist,” while Warahsih explores how “always through understanding and sincerity, teaching Love to those who study the ways of life, through the ages.”

The music on Wulansih transforms these poems of love and compassion into open and lush sonic spaces that are crafted using synthesizers, traditional Indonesian instruments, Rini’s wide vocal range, guitars, and Ismaily’s production.

Opaque yellow vinyl in reverse board jacket.
A full four years after Chicago organ maestro Jimmy Lacy’s legendary maiden voyage as SiP, Leos Naturals, he returns with its lush, layered, long-awaited sequel: Leos Ultras.

Conceived and recorded in a corner of a large floorplan warehouse-turned-sound lab called Homan Gardens, the album radiates a rare joy and colour, projected through a technicolor slideshow of cosmic keys, clarinet, kalimba, sax, melodica, flute, tambourine, and drumbox. The songs feel warm and weathered, like familiar garments treasured through passing seasons.

Many seasons did pass while these songs took shape, spiked with seismic changes – Lacy’s first daughter was born, followed 17 months by a second. Daily routines grew denser, but he never lost faith in the melodies simmering in the periphery of his thoughts: “I knew the music would be there whenever I had the time. It felt good to stay calm about it.” Patience paid off; Leos Ultras is indeed the ultimate SiP statement to date, rich with detail, discovery, beauty, lofted improvisation, and shades of spiritual jazz. It’s music both casual and cosmic, playful and poignant, channelled from long shadows and wordless hours in celebration of life, love, and Leo.

Die neue EP der Melodic Synth Metal-Pioniere - mit zwei brandneuen Tracks und weiteren spannenden Überraschungen!
Nach ihrem Erfolgsalbum Dark Waters (2023, #9 der offiziellen deutschen Albumcharts) veröffentlichen die Melodic Synth Metal-Pioniere DELAIN
diesen Herbst ihre neue EP, Dance with the Devil.
Die Platte erscheint über Napalm Records und enthält neben zwei brandneuen Songs weitere spannende Überraschungen, die kein Fan verpassen
sollte! Dance with the Devil vereint Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft und präsentiert die Kraft des neu formierten Lineups in einem vollen,
modernen Sound, der die Vorfreude auf all das schürt, was von der Band um Gründer und Mastermind Martijn Westerholt zu erwarten sein wird.

Camelot, the legendary seat of King Arthur's court in Early Middle Ages Britain, was probably not a real place. A corruption of the name of a real Romano-Briton city, the word "Camelot" accumulated symbolic, mythic resonances over centuries, until achieving its present usage as a near-synonym of "utopia." In the mid-20th century alone, Camelot inspired an explosion of representations and appropriations, among them the violent, affectless Arthurian court of Robert Bresson's 1974 film Lancelot du Lac and the absurdist iteration of Monty Python's 1975 Holy Grail, both of which feature armored knights erupting into fountains of blood; the mystical Welsh world of novelist John Cowper Powys's profoundly weird 1951 novel Porius, with its Roman cults, wizards and witches, and wanton giants; and the nationalist nostalgia of President John F. Kennedy's White House. Unsurprisingly there are fewer Camelots in more recent memory. Camelot, Canadian songwriter Jennifer Castle's extraordinary, moving 2024 chronicle of the artist in early middle age, charts a realer, more rooted, and more metaphorical place than the fabled Camelot of the Early Middle Ages (or its myriad depictions), but it too is a space more psychic than physical. In Castle's Camelot, the fantastic interpenetrates the mundane, and the Grail, if there is one, distills everyday experience into art and art into faith, subliming terrestrial concerns into sublime celestial prayers to Mother Nature, and to the unfolding process of perfecting imperfection in one's own nature. Co-produced by Jennifer and longtime collaborator Jeff McMurrich, her seventh record is at once her most monumental and unguarded to date, demonstrating a mastery of rendering her verse and melodies alike with crisply poignant economy. For all their pointedly plainspoken lyrical detail and exhilarating full-band musical flourishes, these songs sound inevitable, eternal as morning devotions. "Back in Camelot," she sings on the lilting, vulnerable title track, "I really learned a lot / circles in the crops and / sky-high geometry." The album opens with a candid admission of sleeping "in the unfinished basement," an embarrassing joke that comes true. But the dreamer is redeemed by dreaming, setting sail in her airborne bed above "sirens and desert deities." If she questions her own agency_whether she is "wishing stones were standing" or just "pissing in the wind"_it does not diminish the ineffable existential jolt of such signs and wonders. This abiding tension between belief and doubt, magic and pragmatism, self and other, sacred and profane, and even, arguably, paganism and monotheism, suffuses these ten songs, which limn an interior landscape shot through with sunstriped shadows of "multi-felt dimensions" both mystical and quotidian. The epic scale and transport of "Camelot," with its swooning strings, gives way dramatically to "Some Friends," an acoustic-guitar-and-vocals meditation in miniature on Janus-faced friends and the lunar and solar temperatures of their promises_"bright and beaming verses" versus hot curses_which recalls her minimalist last album, 2020's achingly intimate Monarch Season. (In a symmetrical sequencing gesture, the penultimate track, the incantatory "Earthsong," bookends the central six with a similarly spare solo performance and coiled chord progression, this time an ambiguous appeal to _ a wounded lover? a wounded saint? our wounded planet?) Those whom "Trust" accuses of treacherous oaths spit through "gilded and golden tooth"_cynics, critics, hypocrites, gurus, scientists, doctors, lovers, government, the so-called entertainment industry_sow uncertainty that can infect the artist, as in "Louis": "What's that dance / and can it be done? What's that song / and can it be sung?" Answering affirmatively are "Lucky #8," an irrepressible ode to dancing as a bulwark against the "tidal pools of pain" and the "theory of collapse," and "Full Moon in Leo," which finds the narrator dancing around the house with a broom, wearing nothing but her underwear and "big hair." But the central question remains: who can we trust, and at what cost faith, in art or angels or otherwise? Castle's confidence in her collaborators is the cornerstone of Camelot. Carl Didur (piano and keys), Evan Cartwright (drums and percussion), and steadfast sideman Mike Smith (bass) comprise a rhythm section of exquisite delicacy and depth. This fundamental trio anchors the airiness of regular backing vocalists Victoria Cheong and Isla Craig and frames the guitars of Castle, McMurrich, and Paul Mortimer (and on "Lucky #8," special guest Cass McCombs). Reprising his decennial role on Castle's beloved 2014 Pink City, Owen Pallett arranged the strings for Estonia's FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra. On the ravishing country-soul ballad "Blowing Kisses"_Pallett's crowning achievement here, which can be heard in its entirety in the penultimate episode of the third season of FX's The Bear_Jennifer contemplates time and presence, love and prayer_and how songwriting and poetry both manifest and limit all four dimensions: "No words to fumble with / I'm not a beggar to language any longer." Such rare moments of speechlessness_"I'm so fucking honoured," she bluntly proclaims_suggest a state "only a god could come up with." (If Camelot affirms Castle as one of the great song-poets of her generation, she is not immune to the despairing linguistic beggary that plagues all writers.) Camelot evinces a thoroughgoing faith not only in the natural world_including human bodies, which can, miraculously, dance and swim and bleed and embrace and birth_but also in our interpretations of and interventions in it: the "charts and diagrams" of "Lucky #8," a daydreamt billboard on Fairfax Ave. in LA in "Full Moon in Leo," the bloody invocations of the organ-stained "Mary Miracle," and all manner of water worship, rivers in particular. (Notably, Jennifer has worked as a farmer and a doula.) The album ends with "Fractal Canyon"'s repeated, exalted insistence that she's "not alone here." But where is here? The word "utopia" itself constitutes a pun, indicating in its ambiguous first syllable both the Greek "eutopia," or "good-place"_the facet most remembered today_and "outopia," or "no-place," a negative, impossible geography of the mind. Utopia, like its metonym Camelot, is imaginary. Or as fellow Canadian songwriter Neil Young once sang, "Everyone knows this is nowhere." "Can you see how I'd be tempted," Castle asks out of nowhere, held in the mystery, "to pretend I'm not alone and let the memory bend?"

. For Fans Of: The Weather Station, Weyes Blood, Adrianne Lenker, Phoebe Bridgers, Joan Shelley, Lana Del Rey, Cass McCombs, Angel Olsen & Neil Young. Camelot, the legendary seat of King Arthur’s court in Early Middle Ages Britain, was probably not a real place. A corruption of the name of a real Romano-Briton city, the word “Camelot” accumulated symbolic, mythic resonances over centuries, until achieving its present usage as a near-synonym of “utopia.” In the mid-20th century alone, Camelot inspired an explosion of representations and appropriations, among them the violent, affectless Arthurian court of Robert Bresson’s 1974 film Lancelot du Lac and the absurdist iteration of Monty Python’s 1975 Holy Grail, both of which feature armoured knights erupting into fountains of blood; the mystical Welsh world of novelist John Cowper Powys’s profoundly weird 1951 novel Porius, with its Roman cults, wizards and witches, and wanton giants; and the nationalist nostalgia of President John F. Kennedy’s White House. Unsurprisingly there are fewer Camelots in more recent memory. Camelot, Canadian songwriter Jennifer Castle’s extraordinary, moving 2024 chronicle of the artist in early middle age, charts a realer, more rooted, and more metaphorical place than the fabled Camelot of the Early Middle Ages (or its myriad depictions), but it too is a space more psychic than physical. In Castle’s Camelot, the fantastic interpenetrates the mundane, and the Grail, if there is one, distills everyday experience into art and art into faith, subliming terrestrial concerns into sublime celestial prayers to Mother Nature, and to the unfolding process of perfecting imperfection in one’s own nature. Co-produced by Jennifer and longtime collaborator Jeff McMurrich, her seventh record is at once her most monumental and unguarded to date, demonstrating a mastery of rendering her verse and melodies alike with crisply poignant economy. For all their pointedly plainspoken lyrical detail and exhilarating full-band musical flourishes, these songs sound inevitable, eternal as morning devotions. “Back in Camelot,” she sings on the lilting, vulnerable title track, “I really learned a lot / circles in the crops and / sky-high geometry.” The album opens with a candid admission of sleeping “in the unfinished basement,” an embarrassing joke that comes true. But the dreamer is redeemed by dreaming, setting sail in her airborne bed above “sirens and desert deities.” If she questions her own agency whether she is “wishing stones were standing” or just “pissing in the wind” it does not diminish the ineffable existential jolt of such signs and wonders. This abiding tension between belief and doubt, magic and pragmatism, self and other, sacred and profane, and even, arguably, paganism and monotheism, suffuses these ten songs, which limn an interior landscape shot through with sunstriped shadows of “multi-felt dimensions” both mystical and quotidian. The epic scale and transport of “Camelot,” with its swooning strings, gives way dramatically to “Some Friends,” an acoustic-guitar-and-vocals meditation in miniature on Janus-faced friends and the lunar and solar temperatures of their promises—“bright and beaming verses” versus hot curses which recalls her minimalist last album, 2020’s achingly intimate Monarch Season. (In a symmetrical sequencing gesture, the penultimate track, the incantatory “Earthsong,” bookends the central six with a similarly spare solo performance and coiled chord progression, this time an ambiguous appeal to … a wounded lover? a wounded saint? our wounded planet?). Those whom “Trust” accuses of treacherous oaths spit through “gilded and golden tooth” cynics, critics, hypocrites, gurus, scientists, doctors, lovers, government, the so-called entertainment industry sow uncertainty that can infect the artist, as in “Louis”: “What’s that dance / and can it be done? What’s that song / and can it be sung?” Answering affirmatively are “Lucky #8,” an irrepressible ode to dancing as a bulwark against the “tidal pools of pain” and the “theory of collapse,” and “Full Moon in Leo,” which finds the narrator dancing around the house with a broom, wearing nothing but her underwear and “big hair.” But the central question remains: who can we trust, and at what cost faith, in art or angels or otherwise? Castle’s confidence in her collaborators is the cornerstone of Camelot. Carl Didur (piano and keys), Evan Cartwright (drums and percussion), and steadfast sideman Mike Smith (bass) comprise a rhythm section of exquisite delicacy and depth. This fundamental trio anchors the airiness of regular backing vocalists Victoria Cheong and Isla Craig and frames the guitars of Castle, McMurrich, and Paul Mortimer (and on “Lucky #8,” special guest Cass McCombs). Reprising his decennial role on Castle’s beloved 2014 Pink City, Owen Pallett arranged the strings for Estonia’s FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra. On the ravishing country-soul ballad “Blowing Kisses” Pallett’s crowning achievement here, which can be heard in its entirety in the penultimate episode of the third season of FX’s The Bear Jennifer contemplates time and presence, love and prayer and how songwriting and poetry both manifest and limit all four dimensions: “No words to fumble with / I’m not a beggar to language any longer.” Such rare moments of speechlessness “I’m so fucking honoured,” she bluntly proclaims suggest a state “only a god could come up with.” (If Camelot affirms Castle as one of the great song-poets of her generation, she is not immune to the despairing linguistic beggary that plagues all writers.) Camelot evinces a thoroughgoing faith not only in the natural world including human bodies, which can, miraculously, dance and swim and bleed and embrace and birth but also in our interpretations of and interventions in it: the “charts and diagrams” of “Lucky #8,” a daydreamt billboard on Fairfax Ave. in LA in “Full Moon in Leo,” the bloody invocations of the organ-stained “Mary Miracle,” and all manner of water worship, rivers in particular. (Notably, Jennifer has worked as a farmer and a doula.) The album ends with “Fractal Canyon”s repeated, exalted insistence that she’s “not alone here.” But where is here? The word “utopia” itself constitutes a pun, indicating in its ambiguous first syllable both the Greek “eutopia,” or “good-place” the facet most remembered today and “outopia,” or “no-place,” a negative, impossible geography of the mind. Utopia, like its metonym Camelot, is imaginary

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

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

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

Geboren aus dem elementaren Urgrund der Wurzeln des Heavy Metals, von den vom Krieg gezeichneten Industrielandschaften Birminghams bis zu den heruntergekommenen Bars und Kellern Brooklyns, erscheinen Neon Nightmare wie ein Geist in der Nacht, um die Tradition fortzuführen. Beunruhigende Musik für beunruhigte Menschen. Und obwohl es nichts Neues unter der Sonne gibt, gibt es in den Schatten vielleicht doch eine Chance - es sind eben diese Schatten, aus denen "Faded Dream" aus schimmerndem Stahl geformt wurde.

Der Titel sagt alles: "Faded Dream", das Debütalbum von Neon Nightmare, ist eine Synthese aus emotionalen Höhen und Tiefen und einer düsteren, grüblerischen Atmosphäre, die die Sehnsucht nach Vergangenheit weckt, die einst von jugendlichem Drang und Neugier geprägt war. Mit einem Fundament aus großen Riffs, einer erdrückenden Studioproduktion, die in Fantasie und psychedelische Ornamente getaucht ist, und einem dramatischen Sänger, der in der Lage ist, nahtlos zwischen gespenstischen Gothic-Bariton und klassischem Heavy Metal zu wechseln, ist "Faded Dream" ein Mix, in dem sich Doom, Psych, Shoegaze und Alternative Metal auf eine Weise kreuzen, wie man es seit Jahren nicht mehr gehört hat.

"Faded Dream" hat einen unverkennbar satirischen Zug, denn Neon Nightmare vermeiden geschickt die offenkundige Traurigkeit und das selbsternannte ‚Metalband mit Gothic-Tendenzen'-Milieu. Bei aller echten Vorahnung und Konfrontation mit echter Depression verliert sich "Faded Dream" nie im Sumpf oder gibt seine Vorliebe für spannungsgeladene Vergnügungen und heitere Faszination auf. Die heraufbeschworenen Klänge haben im Laufe der Jahrzehnte der Heavy-Metal-Geschichte viele bedeutsame Formen angenommen, und Neon Nightmare sind hier, um diesen Zyklus fortzusetzen.

Geboren aus dem elementaren Urgrund der Wurzeln des Heavy Metals, von den vom Krieg gezeichneten Industrielandschaften Birminghams bis zu den heruntergekommenen Bars und Kellern Brooklyns, erscheinen Neon Nightmare wie ein Geist in der Nacht, um die Tradition fortzuführen. Beunruhigende Musik für beunruhigte Menschen. Und obwohl es nichts Neues unter der Sonne gibt, gibt es in den Schatten vielleicht doch eine Chance - es sind eben diese Schatten, aus denen "Faded Dream" aus schimmerndem Stahl geformt wurde.

Der Titel sagt alles: "Faded Dream", das Debütalbum von Neon Nightmare, ist eine Synthese aus emotionalen Höhen und Tiefen und einer düsteren, grüblerischen Atmosphäre, die die Sehnsucht nach Vergangenheit weckt, die einst von jugendlichem Drang und Neugier geprägt war. Mit einem Fundament aus großen Riffs, einer erdrückenden Studioproduktion, die in Fantasie und psychedelische Ornamente getaucht ist, und einem dramatischen Sänger, der in der Lage ist, nahtlos zwischen gespenstischen Gothic-Bariton und klassischem Heavy Metal zu wechseln, ist "Faded Dream" ein Mix, in dem sich Doom, Psych, Shoegaze und Alternative Metal auf eine Weise kreuzen, wie man es seit Jahren nicht mehr gehört hat.

"Faded Dream" hat einen unverkennbar satirischen Zug, denn Neon Nightmare vermeiden geschickt die offenkundige Traurigkeit und das selbsternannte ‚Metalband mit Gothic-Tendenzen'-Milieu. Bei aller echten Vorahnung und Konfrontation mit echter Depression verliert sich "Faded Dream" nie im Sumpf oder gibt seine Vorliebe für spannungsgeladene Vergnügungen und heitere Faszination auf. Die heraufbeschworenen Klänge haben im Laufe der Jahrzehnte der Heavy-Metal-Geschichte viele bedeutsame Formen angenommen, und Neon Nightmare sind hier, um diesen Zyklus fortzusetzen.

The wait is over, Return To The 37th Chamber is El Michels Affair's highly anticipated follow up to 2009's underground cult classic Enter the 37th Chamber. Churning out classic records since then for the likes of Lee Fields, The Arcs, The Shacks, and tons more, it is clear that EMA's signature sound is stronger & sharper than ever. This time, in addition to re-interpreting the Wu compositions for a live band, EMA pays homage to the production and sonic fog that makes a RZA beat so recognizable. Producer and bandleader Leon Michels recorded the album completely analog, sometimes hitting 6 generations of tape before it was ready for mixing, giving the Return to The 37th Chamber it's own hazy sound. Adding to the unique fidelity, the record is laced with psychedelic flourishes, John Carpenter' synths, heavy metal guitars, triumpha0nt horns, and traditional Chinese instruments that make up for the lack of the Wu's superlative vocals. From start to finish it's a dark trip that walks the line between RZA's timeless hip-hop aesthetic and the cinematic soul EMA has become known for. El Michels Affair tackles some classics like 4th Chamber and Wu Tang Aint Nuthin to Fuck Wit, as well as some deeper cuts like Ol Dirty Bastard's Snakes, Raekwon's Verbal Intercourse, and Shaolin Brew, Wu-Tang's contribution to the St. Ide's Hip Hop endorsement campaign from 1994. This time El Michels brings some of the Big Crown family along for the ride. Lee Fields handles vocal duties on Snakes and is joined by Shannon Wise of The Shacks for their version of Tearz, which pays as much homage to the Wendy Rene sample as it does to the Wu-Tang Clan. Lady Wray makes an appearance on the cover of Method Man's hit, All I Need, lending her vocal prowess to what gave the Wu one of their biggest hits of all time. Interspersed throughout the record are some original interludes that are like the rug that ties the room together,' giving Return To The 37th Chamber a cinematic narrative that makes it a proper El Michels Affair record and not just a collection of covers. From the music to the presentation, this album is a perfect example of what can only be achieved through diversity. The end result is as much a kaleidoscope of influences and multiculturalism as the city it was recorded in. El Michels Affair is once again, sounding out the city' that raised them, pulling elements of art and culture from across the country and around the globe to create an album truly unique in it's own right.

Using a variety of tape stocks, Black Swan creates a haunting atmosphere that evokes the sensation of uncovering long-lost, sacred recordings hidden in time on his ninth album, Ghost.

The New York-based artist reveals that he was inspired by musique concrete and ambient while making the record, which is made up of 20 pieces that all form a continuous suite. Each track varies in length and complexity from short and sweet sketches to more elongated studies and that are made from intense layering and harmonic surges using an array of tape stocks.

The result is a haunting, unearthly atmosphere that sounds perfect in this cassette format.

Strange Power!, the fifth record from Durham, NC-based songwriter and poet Anne Malin Ringwalt, emerges from the darkest waters of the self into a world remade. Releasing in conjunction with her second book of poetry, What Floods (Inside the Castle, Oct. 2024), Strange Power! overflows with Ringwalt's teeming and sensuous personal symbolry: glowing lilacs and gentle queens, dolphins wild and girls who grew up brave _ T.S. Eliot sung by Cat Power, backed by Mount Eerie. She sings: "I rose up from water." Ringwalt writes and performs with the authority of a lifetime spent harnessing the alchemy of storytelling; her belief in the power of words to heal and transform is palpable in each achingly- delivered lyric. Made amidst profound inner and outer change, Strange Power! also sees Ringwalt taking up the role of self-producer for the first time, mirroring and supporting the record's Orphic quest by gathering contributions from a coterie of friends wielding an electric range of American instruments. Violins, vibraphones, drum machines, electric guitars dappled with spring reverb, wind-blown shells, and a host of other numinous sounds form an unfurling and shadowy world which was then carefully honed during the mixing process (shepherded by Michael Cormier-O'Leary and Lucas Knapp) _ settling the final record in an eerie meridian between spareness and verdancy. The result is a beguiling and darkly blooming realm: the sound of a personal cosmos being remade, piece by piece. Ringwalt is at the height of her spirit as both songwriter-poet and singer, her willowy voice by turns conjuring and keening as she reckons with her deep past and the stories told since. Opening track "The Pines" sets the stage for a record of truly life-long scope: "I was a child, now I hold her / I was asleep for many years." Some songs, like the gorgeous "North Carolina" and "The Saint," were written as early as 2013 but, Ringwalt says, "insisted upon being remembered" as the record took shape; in its final form, they serve as inciting moments of self-discovery before the journey to come. "The Visionary" recalls one of Ringwalt's earliest musical breakthroughs _ her re-rendering of an Emily Brontë poem into a song at age 15 _ and, she says, "`cites' the melody of that song in the context of this new one _ a holding of the past and present and every layer in between/beyond, in utter solitude _ a solitude that reflects certain aspects of abandon as a child and an adult..." This unusually lengthy time-scale lends Strange Power! a deeply moving sense of narrative fullness. Stretches of the record _ particularly the "Judgment Day" ? "River" ? "Lilac Bloom" trifecta that form the black heart of Side 1 _ may recall familiar wanderings of personal underworlds such as Mount Eerie's Lost Wisdom Pt. 2 or Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy. Yet this hollowed landscape is in turn exorcized by the a capella "I Know," in which Ringwalt sings "I won't be gutted by you / For giving and trying to heal / I won't be gutted, I am not a fool / I deserve a love that is new" before the song concludes with a piano passage that recalls hymnal music _ suggesting a faith in life itself to offer new beginnings. Side 2 features some of Ringwalt's most powerfully introspective writing to date, as the songwriter casts off myth after myth in her search for personal transformation. By the final song, "Stories," the energy that has been gathering all throughout the record breaks loose as Ringwalt reflects: "I wrote so many stories, not knowing what the end was." But at this stage in the journey, we know there is no such thing as an ending; if the healing process is never complete, the storyteller's strange power is what finally offers liberation.

The French group consolidates its soul, rock and Americana roots in a liberating and timeless second album.

In 2021, Lowland Brothers, the first self-titled album from the group led by Nico Duportal (vocals, guitars, lyrics), Hugo Deviers (percussion, guitar, lyrics) and Max Genouel (bass, keyboards) built an unprecedented transatlantic bridge between soul, rock and the woody sounds of Americana. " We have some

African-American, but our desire is to transport this baggage and take it elsewhere,” specifies the group from the West and North of France.

Pøltergeist haben bei Bad Omen Records (Watch Hazel, Satan's Satyrs) unterschrieben, und die Kanadier veröffentlichen ihr Debütalbum. Pøltergeist wird als eine Mischung aus Post-Punk, traditionellem Metal und Shoegaze aus den frostigen Ebenen beschrieben und spielt treibenden Coldwave, der einen Weg von den Katakomben in den Kosmos zeichnet. Die vielleicht prägenste Destillation des Pøltergeist-Stils kommt mit der Vorab-Single 'Children Of The Dark', einem eingängigen, stürmischen Rocksong, der auch thematisch auf einer doppelten Ebene funktioniert. Sänger Kalen Baker hegt seit langem eine Vorliebe für die mystischen Metal-Klänge von Angel Witch, Cauldron oder Blue Öyster Cult und war sowohl von der zeitgenössischen Post-Punk-Band Spectres als auch von der britischen Melancholie von 'Script From The Bridge' der Chameleons berührt. Ganz zu schweigen von Gothic- und Post-Punk-Legenden wie Sisters Of Mercy, The Sound und Paradigmen des Himmlischen wie Cocteau Twins, Slowdive und My Bloody Valentine. Gestärkt durch den lyrischen Einfluss spiritueller Vorläufer wie Moorcock, Lovecraft, Poe und David Lynch von Twin Peaks wurde der Sound von Pøltergeist geboren; ein düsteres, aber magisches Reich, in dem dämmrige Intensität in einem psychischen Kampf mit metallischer Stärke verbunden wird. 'Nachtmusik' bleibt Bakers Vision eines "Kaleidoskops aus Emotionen, Klängen und Ideen" treu. Dies ist eine Platte, die sich im Herzen nach dem spirituellen Reich der 1980er Jahre sehnt, aber mit den Füßen fest im Hier und Jetzt des 21. Jahrhunderts steht. Während sich am Himmel Gewitterwolken zusammenbrauen, beginnt Pøltergeists Reise in die Dunkelheit gerade erst.

Deaf Forever
8/10
"'Nachtmusik' alles mit, was eine gute Postpunk-Platte braucht: eingängige, gekonnt komponierte Songs, schwermütige Atmosphäre, guten Gesang mit klassisch monoton-melodischer Stimme und einen Spritzer Shoegaze"

Metal Hammer
5.5 / 7
"NACHTMUSIK fa?ngt die Sehn- sucht und dunkle A?sthetik des Achtziger Jahre-Deathrock fu?r die Gegenwart ein - ohne zu kopieren. Ganz ohne Zwang, dafu?r mit jeder Menge emotionalem Tiefgang und einem gewissen Gruselfaktor. Ein starker Auftakt und definitiv ein of- fenes Ohr wert - nicht nur an regne- rischen, euphorieberaubten Herbsttagen".

Rock Hard
8/10
"Wer auf Unto Others, In Solitude, Lunar Shadow oder Tribulation steht, wird mit ziemlicher Sicherheit auch Gefallen an der Musik von PØLTERGEIST finden, die für ihr Debütalbum "Nachtmusik" Elemente aus Gothic Rock, Heavy Metal, Post-Punk und Hardrock in einen Hexenkessel schmeißen, einmal kräftig durchrühren und die Suppe mit einer kräftigen Geisterbahn-Lyric-Würzmischung (in Anlehnung an weltbekannte Horror-Autoren wie Edgar Allan Poe und H.P. Lovecraft) abschmecken".

Orkus
"Dieses Debütalbum wartet auf mit charmanter Dunkelheit, gehüllt in einen intensiven Sound, der über Post-Punk-, Metal- und Death-Rock-Ein-Aüsse hinausgeht. Stimmungsvolle Vocals, starke Atmosphären und eingängige Dynamiken tragen Arrangements, in die man nur zu gerne versinkt".

UK supergroup Flock return with their anticipated sophomore album "Flock II". Comprising an exceptional line-up featuring Bex Burch (fresh from her debut solo album on International Anthem), Sarathy Korwar, Tamar Osborn (Collocutor, Dele Sosimi, Unknown To Known), Danalogue (The Comet Is Coming / Soccer96) and Al MacSween (Kefaya), the new recordings showcase Flock"s ability to push the boundaries of the composition process and craft unique tracks based on their collective spirit.

HOO - master builders of woozy dynamics, songs unfurl with a mysterious, hooky logic all their own to create deeply emotive, chaotic, cinematic and - surprisingly, with this album ‘III’ - indie pop tunes! Songs clocking in just over 2 or 3 minutes, driven by heavy grunge guitars & potty Moog magic, opening out at times during the breathtaking prog Ov Violence/ Evil Weeks and the epic gothy final track Method Papers. ‘III’ has been 10 years in the making and features friends Simon Rowe (Chapterhouse, Mojave 3), Ian McCutcheon (Mojave 3, Slowdive), Paul Blewett (Moon Attendant), Lee Lavender & long-time collaborator & award-winning folk artist Jackie Oates. The themes and feel of the songs meant they had to lay in wait in HOO’s church-like studio, patiently growing & spawning like a 70's Dr WHO monster. Newer songs like the almost indie disco Snake & Myself When I Am Real finally gave the album foundation. HOO songwriter Nick Holton explains “All my music, including stuff in the past with Coley Park & Neil Halstead (Slowdive), is made at home in my own studio ‘Oaki Room’, so they blend into one another and my broader life. This is why musicians like Paul Blewett, Ian McCutcheon and Simon Rowe are always in the band or on my records - because they are part of my life. I have always made music this way and intended to. Jackie’s beautiful lead on England Theme, a high for me, was a simple idea. A mirror, as is so much of what I write about, here pride and disappointment in your world. Politics, religion, conflict, human frailty & alien tentacles, the collapsing environment all feature heavily and inspire. Despite this, we aim to make these dark songs engaging & endearing, skipping about you at volume in a psychedelic fug.” “I cannot and will not explain what is going on, but ‘III’ definitely closes a door and feels the most complete work of my life” Holton concludes. ’III’ is playful, eccentric, explosive and shamelessly takes itself seriously. Finished and mastered by Heba Kadry (Beach House, Bjork, Slowdive). We hope you now enjoy HOO’s third album. “Highly recommended to those who dig cinematic dream pop & Krautrock.” Echoes & Dust “50s sci-fi meets peak Reading shoegaze. It’s an ideal soundtrack for the new normal” Mojo “Shoegaze guitars, space-folk synths, otherworldly drones & krautrock drums into soundscapes immersive, possibly hallucinogenic.” Uncut “Textural & cinematic guitar driven epic” Shindig “A place where you see shadows of ghosts and echoes of your imagination” HiFi World Highlights “50s sci-fi meets peak Reading shoegaze. It’s an ideal soundtrack for the new normal” Mojo feat ex-Slowdive & Coley Park

HOO - master builders of woozy dynamics, songs unfurl with a mysterious, hooky logic all their own to create deeply emotive, chaotic, cinematic and - surprisingly, with this album ‘III’ - indie pop tunes! Songs clocking in just over 2 or 3 minutes, driven by heavy grunge guitars & potty Moog magic, opening out at times during the breathtaking prog Ov Violence/ Evil Weeks and the epic gothy final track Method Papers. ‘III’ has been 10 years in the making and features friends Simon Rowe (Chapterhouse, Mojave 3), Ian McCutcheon (Mojave 3, Slowdive), Paul Blewett (Moon Attendant), Lee Lavender & long-time collaborator & award-winning folk artist Jackie Oates. The themes and feel of the songs meant they had to lay in wait in HOO’s church-like studio, patiently growing & spawning like a 70's Dr WHO monster. Newer songs like the almost indie disco Snake & Myself When I Am Real finally gave the album foundation. HOO songwriter Nick Holton explains “All my music, including stuff in the past with Coley Park & Neil Halstead (Slowdive), is made at home in my own studio ‘Oaki Room’, so they blend into one another and my broader life. This is why musicians like Paul Blewett, Ian McCutcheon and Simon Rowe are always in the band or on my records - because they are part of my life. I have always made music this way and intended to. Jackie’s beautiful lead on England Theme, a high for me, was a simple idea. A mirror, as is so much of what I write about, here pride and disappointment in your world. Politics, religion, conflict, human frailty & alien tentacles, the collapsing environment all feature heavily and inspire. Despite this, we aim to make these dark songs engaging & endearing, skipping about you at volume in a psychedelic fug.” “I cannot and will not explain what is going on, but ‘III’ definitely closes a door and feels the most complete work of my life” Holton concludes. ’III’ is playful, eccentric, explosive and shamelessly takes itself seriously. Finished and mastered by Heba Kadry (Beach House, Bjork, Slowdive). We hope you now enjoy HOO’s third album. “Highly recommended to those who dig cinematic dream pop & Krautrock.” Echoes & Dust “50s sci-fi meets peak Reading shoegaze. It’s an ideal soundtrack for the new normal” Mojo “Shoegaze guitars, space-folk synths, otherworldly drones & krautrock drums into soundscapes immersive, possibly hallucinogenic.” Uncut “Textural & cinematic guitar driven epic” Shindig “A place where you see shadows of ghosts and echoes of your imagination” HiFi World Highlights “50s sci-fi meets peak Reading shoegaze. It’s an ideal soundtrack for the new normal” Mojo feat ex-Slowdive & Coley Park

Fables of the future fuel the present. Lisel (Eliza Bagg) draws from this tradition on The Vanishing Point, a daring musical odyssey of altered singing, experimental pop, broken melodies, and striking electronics. A culmination of her continual dissemblance of genre, Lisel’s new album is an epic composed of allegorical tales, forming a dystopian storybook of life in the shadow of impending catastrophe. It’s a high-concept work of contemporary pop sounds, hyperpop motifs and tropes. Every song reflects the shared psycho-emotional experience of moving towards unsettling futures and looking beyond these outcomes, to the point where the horizons vanish. Evolving the sonic toolkit she employed on Patterns For Autotuned Voices And Delay (2023), Lisel transforms pop into a canvas for operatic storytelling. Along with making her own work, Bagg is a classical singer working in baroque and contemporary experimental opera, and with her project Lisel, she seeks to develop new, expressive qualities out of ancient vocal techniques from the Baroque and Renaissance periods. Her opera experience has infused her with a desire for a big, cinematic sound and holistic world-building, creating a “total artwork,” and she fits that medium into the form of a solo project. From haunting whispers to soaring melodies, she reaches back towards ancient musical traditions while incorporating futuristic sounds in order to imagine how a possible future might look back at contemporary existence. Dystopic stories melt into pop songs, hammered to ruin. Both through sonics and lyrics, the album recounts urgent narratives as ancient mythological fables, chronicling in operatic density the deepening awareness of the world’s looming, inevitable vanishing point. Photographer Carla Rossi further builds Lisel’s world through a series of photographs that similarly draw on Renaissance and Medieval painting, while placing them aesthetically in a digital realm. In these dramatic, hyper-stylized photos, Lisel takes up classical poses and yields iconographic symbols, further exploring the dissonance in her work as these manufactured “paintings” recall storytelling of the past while depicting images from an imagined future.

'Whiplash' is the first album recorded by bôa in over twenty years, following the incredible reemergence of 'Duvet'. The album is a collection of melody-driven narratives, leaning into the emotive and relatable lyricism which resonates so well with fans. “Whiplash” is very human and uniquely universal — reflecting on the tides of time and relationships, which can refer to past entanglements, deep-rooted friendships, or even the abruptness of social change around us today. Newer fans craving more of the timeless warmth that has made “Duvet” an enduring hit will find that in abundance here, while decades-long fans will feel as if they’re welcoming an old friend back into the fold.

Forgetting You Is Like Breathing Water, the self-titled debut from the duo of trumpeter Will Evans and guitarist, synthesist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Theo Trump, arrives like a vault revelation. It feels like a decades-old yet newly unearthed masterwork of gorgeous ambient improvisation, the sort of thing scholars live to research and shepherd into deluxe reissue.

The patient, crystalline chords that swell and resonate like a series of confessions; the textured brass murmurs that suggest a ’60s or ’70s Fire Music master at their most poignant. Provocative found-sound experiments threading arcane religious recordings through dystopian soundscapes. Ear-shattering free-noise tumult. Where and when did this music come from? Who are these voices?

As it turns out, Forgetting You Is Like Breathing Water springs from an engrossing human story, though it isn’t necessarily the one you’d expect. This work of stunning maturity is in fact an entrance by two little-known explorers in their early 20s, who grew up together in Virginia, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It documents one of those perfect, sparkling moments in post-adolescence when big decisions and responsibilities are right around the corner, but for a spell, two young artists are able to create among the comforts and nostalgia of their shared past.

It also represents a reunion of sorts, as Evans and Trump connected as toddlers, became inseparable as boys, then pursued independent lives and creative paths as young adults. “Theo is my oldest friend,” Evans says, “and I feel like that’s what this band is — us meeting right in the middle of our interests.”

Now, having conjured this magic, they’ve detached once again: Evans, whose other works include the indie/avant-jazz unit Angelica X, is currently based in New York City. Trump recently moved to England, where he’d participated in his family’s theatre company, to go to school and further his solo ambient project. “This album didn’t start out as something super ambitious,” Evans explains. “It was more just an excuse to spend time together again and make music.”

***

In conversation, Evans and Trump are a delight, especially for cynics who might think that Gen-Z is only capable of doomscrolling. They come across as kindly young intellectuals who grew up using the internet as it was intended, for exposure to ideas and art across genres and generations. Trump points to indie-folk and the oracular post-rock of late Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis and Gastr del Sol. Pressed for his guitar heroes, he cites Bill Orcutt, Mary Halvorson and Marc Ribot, and mentions his devotion to alt-country. Heyday electro-industrial stuff like Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails also meant a lot to him.

Evans is equally intrepid, though his background has a greater jazz focus. Ambrose Akinmusire, among today’s most thoughtfully commanding trumpeters, is a favorite. As for the soulful murmur he offers throughout Forgetting You, Pharoah Sanders’ wistful and lyrical contributions to Floating Points’ work is a touchstone.

The two grew up down the street from each other in the northern Piedmont town of Batesville, Virginia. Their families were friends, holidays were celebrated together and they became the most loyal of pals. As children they had a pretend band.

Then life unfolded, they attended different schools and their paths diverged. Evans discovered John Coltrane and became a jazz obsessive, as Trump found punk and hardcore and later began making ambient music. As a dedicated jazz trumpeter, Evans studied formally and widely; Trump was an autodidact, teaching himself guitar and absorbing synthesis and production techniques. The late teens and very early 20s brought moves away from home and back to home, as well as plenty of listening and learning. The Covid pandemic meant an opportunity to reconnect on long walks. Through it all, together and apart, they remained reverent of each other.

By early 2023, they found themselves living again among the Blue Ridge Mountains. In the evening, after giving trumpet lessons in Charlottesville, Evans would make the eerily beautiful trek “over the mountain” to Trump’s home in Staunton, Virginia. They’d talk and eat and begin to improvise, deep into the night. Evans played trumpet and sometimes drums. (Given the wee-hours recording schedule, the neighbors didn’t appreciate the latter.) Trump plugged a rickety, junk-store Telecaster-style guitar into a cheap solid-state amp and explored open tunings; he also layered on lap steel, electric bass, synths and electronics.

They locked in and relished each other’s gifts. In Trump, those include patience and intentionality and sonic decision-making; for Evans, a distinctive trumpet sound that both musicians think of as a singer’s voice. “Will’s playing is so thoughtful and well placed,” Trump says. “My goal from a producer’s mindset is that the trumpet will occupy the space that vocals would take.”

Often, they got lost in the best way. “The thing I look for most when I’m playing is that feeling of disappearing into what you’re doing,” Evans says. “Usually when that happens, the music is good.”

By the same token, they didn’t pursue free improvisation as an ethic, or as a pure process. Their goal was something closer to spontaneous composition. “We were trying to make good songs,” Evans says simply. Later, Trump did brilliant post-production work, expanding a modest setup into an enthralling soundworld. Under his judicious editorship, music that was wholly improvised sounds at times like a carefully composed new-music commission.

The results speak for themselves. “A Happy Death” summons up a swath of American desolation through the viewfinder of Wim Wenders. “Flesh of Lost Summers” and “Partings” are highlights from an essential ECM LP that never was. “A Collapse of Horses” infuses those seminal post-rock influences with the plod of doom metal or slowcore. The album’s final track, “The Mountains Are a Dream That Calls to Me,” was in fact the first thing the duo recorded, as an evocation of those twilit drives across the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Looking back at what we chose to name the songs,” Evans says, “and some of the sounds and how they make me feel, there is an air of impermanence and loss to this album.”

“I’m excited for everything that’s to come,” he adds, “but I recently thought, ‘Damn — that’s not going to happen again.’ It was a privilege for us to have that time together.”

2024 Repress

'Solar Nights' is the long awaited second album from German nu-disco star Tim Bernhardt, aka Satin Jackets. Released on Eskimo Recordings this April, 'Solar Nights' follows on from Bernhardt's critically acclaimed, and Gold certified, debut LP 'Panorama Pacifico' and features 14 tracks of smooth disco and leftfield pop sounds with guest appearances from the likes of Future Classic's Panama, David Harks, Niya Wells, Emma Brammer and Anduze.

The global success of 'Panorama Pacifico' has seen Bernhardt coaxed out from his remote studio in one of Germany's ancient forests to play to fans across the world, from South Korea to Mexico and beyond, experiences that inspired both the album itself and its title, 'Solar Nights'.

"In recent years the world's become smaller, a more inter-connected place. It can be dark and cold here, with snow all around, and the next day I can be playing to people on a beach. Somewhere on the planet it's always daytime or summer, but beyond that day and night just blend into each other these days," Tim explains. "We have daytime discos so you can go and party while the sun is still high in the sky, and you can go and hit the gym at night. Beit day or night, Satin Jackets is your soundtrack."

And what a soundtrack it is, from the first chords of opening 'Welcome Back' it's clear we're in safe hands here, the warm pads, delicate guitars and pianos providing the perfect introduction to the album. Whether it's the slow burning seductive pop of tracks like 'Just Like You', piano led house tracks like 'String It Again', the Balearic haze of 'All For You' or bonafide hits like the Nordic inspired 'Northern Lights' and 'Mirage' that between them have already scored well over 10 million streams across streaming platforms, 'Solar Nights' takes everything we loved from 'Panorama Pacifico' and polishes it to an ultra high sheen.

And in an age when rough and raw production is seen as an easy shorthand for authenticity, Tim's love of über-smooth production has made him an unlikely iconoclast, "I had always been fascinated by how glossy people like Nile Rodgers made their music," he reveals. "It always sounded like the musical equivalent of a fashion magazine's cover. I'd been making more underground music for a while but really wanted to go in totally the other direction and instead create a really smooth, polished sound."

That obsession with sonic fidelity shines through across every track on 'Solar Nights', and the years since his debut was released have been well spent perfecting his craft. "Even in just the last couple of years I've made some big changes in how I produce music. Compared to my debut, everything under the hood has changed here," he explains. "Every day, with every production, I'm learning new things and when I listen to these new tracks, the depth in the mixes, the clarity, I like to think of 'Solar Nights' as Satin Jackets but in 3D."

From wanting to recreate the sound of magazine covers to appearing on them, the past few years has been quite some journey for the still enigmatic producer. The man behind the golden mask may prefer to stay out of sight but 'Solar Nights' reveals him to be fully in control, producing music that reflects the glamour and glitz of 70s Manhattan, artfully updated for the 21st century.

(Physical release only, Limited edition of 300 hand numbered copies + insert) Psyched Out Grooves from Hungary compiles ten of the most outstanding singles recorded by the underdogs of this period.



The psychedelic scene that never was – the perfect subtitle to this compilation. There were barely any drugs in Hungary to begin with. In this era, alcohol, music, and imagination have served as the primary means of mind alteration among the youth. The Communist party had a firm grip on culture through monopole control over venues, the media, and the recording industry, western records were not available, clubs enforced a strict dress code of suits, shirts, and longer skirts, and the police harassed young men for not more than having long hair or wearing blue jeans.



There was, however, an undercurrent of smaller semi-professional bands striving to succeed in the shadow of the very few stars privileged by the sole state owned record company. Given their chances to release music were at best limited to a few 7“ singles at the mercy of said record company powers. Psyched Out Grooves from Hungary compiles ten of the most outstanding singles recorded by the underdogs of this period. Some of the bands featured on here have eventually reached wider success by switching to more commercial styles, like Bergendy, Neoton, and Apostol. Most, like Echo, Meteor, Kék Csillag, Non-Stop, were temporal formations that dissolved after a few years due to personal conflicts, lack of success, or both. Others, like Scampolo or Juventus, lasted a longer time without an actual break through. Most of these bands never had a consistent, lasting ’psychedelic’ repertoire or identity at any point. These tracks were the exception, not the norm. That coherence - the illusion of a scene - comes from the curation and sequencing of Budabeats head honchos Von Yodi and Gandharva. It is the arrangement of these puzzle pieces that makes them fit together.



Limited edition of 300 hand numbered copies. Edited excerpt from the liner notes written by Gábor Vályi (Dj Shuriken)

Features Unreleased Studio Sessions, Alternate Versions, Live Recordings, Rarities, And 36-Page Book With New Photos & An Extensive Conversation Between Joni & Cameron Crowe

Sourced From Original Stereo Reels, Nagra Film Recordings, Multi-track Tapes, Radio Airchecks & Cassette Tapes

Throughout the latter half of the seventies, Joni continued to creatively break ground with her fearless and fluid exploration of jazz. Rather than tread the same path, she challenged and reinvented her style with a folk fusion like no other. Ascending to an unrivaled sonic peak, this innovative sound took shape across the gold-certified HEJIRA 1976, the gold-certified double-LP DON JUAN’S RECKLESS DAUGHTER [1977], her collaboration with Charles Mingus entitled MINGUS [1979], and live album SHADOWS AND LIGHT [1980]. Channeling the thrill and excitement of these records, she delves even further into this season on JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES, VOL. 4: THE ASYLUM YEARS (1976-1980), due October 4th.

Available as a 6CD, 4LP (featuring Joni's personal favorites from the 6CD set), and digitally, this comprehensive and essential set spans one of the most prolific periods of her storied career. It boasts powerful live tracks from her time in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue during 1975 and 1976 Tour of the United States. It pulls back the curtain on the music by showcasing early recordings and alternate takes from the respective sessions for HEJIRA, DON JUAN’S RECKLESS DAUGHTER, and MINGUS. It covers the Bread & Roses Festival as well as the Anti-Nuclear Rally. Finally, VOL. 4 chronicles her 1979 tour, even showcasing two tracks from that year’s Tour Rehearsals. Not to mention, it showcases her versatility and adaptability, housing collaborations with everyone from Herbie Hancock and Jaco Pastorious to Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny.

Vol. 4 culls the previously-unissued material from original stereo reels, cassette tapes, CD-Rs, and even a radio broadcast. Newly mixed tracks came from multi-track tapes, while a handful of hi-res digital tracks have been sourced from the Bob Dylan Archives.

Each version includes a book with never-before-seen photos and liner notes comprising a deep dive discussion between Mitchell and longtime friend Cameron Crowe. As part of their candid conversation, she shares intimate anecdotes, memories, and stories from that five-year creative run.

Following the recent vinyl reissue of Manuel Tur's cinematic downtempo album "Intertextural", originally self-released during the Covid 19 pandemic, comes this package of fresh remixes featuring interpretations of four standout tracks from the record by DJ Counselling, All Is Well and Yuu Udagawa.

London-based DJ Counselling opens the EP with his energetic version of "Omina", raising tempo and hands with an expertly executed arrangement, while the newly added filtered synth chords echo some of Tur's best-known releases of the late noughties. Next up is Montreal's Frédéric Blais aka All Is Well, who after his recent LP success on Drumpoet and another brand-new album under his main moniker Fred Everything just released, turns "Flakon" into a head-nodding groove masterpiece that recalls the subtle 90s trip-hop flavor of the original version. On the B-side, Tokyo native Yuu Udagawa, who has collaborated with Tur on several occasions, unleashes two beautiful and ethereal remixes of "Slow White" and "Shadowgraph" that let us float through her signature sparkling sound.

Die aus den eisigen Landschaften Norwegens stammenden 1349 haben dem Black Metal ihren Stempel aufgedrückt, indem sie ihre Instrumente wie Kriegsäxte in der Vorhut des unerbittlichen Angriffs des Genres schwangen. Mit einem Vermächtnis, das mit dem Blut der akustischen Extreme getränkt ist, sind sie zu den Vorreitern der unerbittlichen akustischen Kriegsführung geworden, unermüdlich in ihrem Streben nach den dunklen Künsten.

"The Wolf and The King" - der neueste Kataklysmus, den 1349 entfesseln. Eine stürmische Odyssee durch acht Tracks reinen, unverfälschten Black Metals, der die Fähigkeiten der Band in Sachen Chaos und Gemetzel makellos unter Beweis stellt. Vom unersättlichen Ansturm von The God Devourer bis zu den düsteren Tiefen von Fatalist ist jeder Track ein Portal in ein Reich, in dem Schatten regieren und die Luft dick ist vom Gestank des Verfalls. Ash of Ages vermischt Thrash-Einflüsse mit extremen Black-Metal-Elementen zu einer Reise durch das Herz der Finsternis, während Shadow Point und Inferior Pathways ein eisernes Rückgrat aus klassischen Headbanger-Riffs und unerbittlichem Groove formen. Mit The Wolf and The King erweitern 1349 die Grenzen des Genres, indem sie ihre unerbittlichen Blastbeats und sengenden Gitarren mit einer Atmosphäre apokalyptischer Eleganz versehen.

FFO: Marduk, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Immortal

Die aus den eisigen Landschaften Norwegens stammenden 1349 haben dem Black Metal ihren Stempel aufgedrückt, indem sie ihre Instrumente wie Kriegsäxte in der Vorhut des unerbittlichen Angriffs des Genres schwangen. Mit einem Vermächtnis, das mit dem Blut der akustischen Extreme getränkt ist, sind sie zu den Vorreitern der unerbittlichen akustischen Kriegsführung geworden, unermüdlich in ihrem Streben nach den dunklen Künsten.

"The Wolf and The King" - der neueste Kataklysmus, den 1349 entfesseln. Eine stürmische Odyssee durch acht Tracks reinen, unverfälschten Black Metals, der die Fähigkeiten der Band in Sachen Chaos und Gemetzel makellos unter Beweis stellt. Vom unersättlichen Ansturm von The God Devourer bis zu den düsteren Tiefen von Fatalist ist jeder Track ein Portal in ein Reich, in dem Schatten regieren und die Luft dick ist vom Gestank des Verfalls. Ash of Ages vermischt Thrash-Einflüsse mit extremen Black-Metal-Elementen zu einer Reise durch das Herz der Finsternis, während Shadow Point und Inferior Pathways ein eisernes Rückgrat aus klassischen Headbanger-Riffs und unerbittlichem Groove formen. Mit The Wolf and The King erweitern 1349 die Grenzen des Genres, indem sie ihre unerbittlichen Blastbeats und sengenden Gitarren mit einer Atmosphäre apokalyptischer Eleganz versehen.

FFO: Marduk, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Immortal

MR TOUT LE MONDE presents “YOU”, the final part of his SUN-HER-YOU albums trilogy, releasing September 13th.

This album marks a key moment for the French producer, blending indie pop and EDM styles. Following successful tours in Canada and Germany, he’s set for a 9-date US tour in September and his Paris headline debut at Le Trianon on November 15th, sold out 4 months in advance.

“YOU” showcases MR TOUT LE MONDE’s versatility across genres. The lead single “Before You Go” (featuring Oaks) deliver infectious electronic energy when “I Don’t Know” offers introspective indie pop. Fan favorites “Thinking Of” and “Wonderful World” reinforce the unique aesthetic that has become the artist’s signature.

The album’s concept revolves around fan experiences, with each track inspired by listener stories, reflected in the album’s striking cover art. Inspired by fan stories, the album resonates with MR TOUT LE MONDE’s core 18-35 demographic.

Amputechture Beneath the technical flash, the fury, the fearless creative brinkmanship of the first two Mars Volta albums lay a potent seam of the blues, an existential vexation that powered every twist and turn of Omar and Cedric’s imaginations. That mournful vibe would come to the surface of the group’s third full-length Amputechture, a simmering/blistering set that was unquestionably the group’s darkest yet. There was no overarching theme here, no interlinking concept binding the songs together, though Cedric concedes that, lyrically, the album was influenced “by a lot of stuff I was going through, a really bad break-up and a lot of other crazy stuff, and trying to put that feeling into the record.” But Amputechture – its name another of the late Jeremy Michael Ward’s invented words – was no downbeat bummer. Opener Vicarious Atonement might’ve been a deliciously gloomy, slow-burning thing, capturing Cedric in delirious duet with Omar’s swooning guitar lines, accompanied by squalling saxophone by Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales and dream-frequency fuckery by the group’s new sonic manipulator, former At The Drive- In member Paul Hinojos. But second track Tetragrammaton swiftly set pulses racing, an epic-in-miniature and containing more ideas within its 16 minutes than most bands manage over an entire career, its proggy, complex guitar figures tessellating in infinite configurations and converging as if conforming to mathematical formulae from another reality. The raw material Amputechture was hewn from started life on the road. Omar now travelled with his own mobile recording studio – a little Neve ten-channel tape recorder and an array of microphones – and was able to work on new ideas on tourbuses, in hotel rooms and during soundcheck (and, occasionally, after the show was done). After touring for Frances The Mute was complete, Omar relocated to Amsterdam, staying with his photographer friend Danielle Van Ark and her partner, Nils Post. It’s here that he demoed Amputechture, flying in engineer Jon DeBaun, drummer Jon Theodore and his brother, Chino, to work on these raw sketches. He later returned to Los Angeles, where the album was finally recorded. Omar ceded guitar duties to his dear friend and kindred spirit John Frusciante, instead assuming the role of musical director. “I wanted to hear the sound of the band,” he says. “I thought, I’ll be able to sit at the console, feel the air of the speakers moving, the unified sound of everything, and not feel distant from it. It was fun, but it was also challenging.” Part of Omar’s new method was to teach the musicians their parts only moments before the tapes rolled. “To keep things fresh, and to keep everyone on edge,” he says, before chuckling. “No, not on edge – on their toes. Amputechture would prove The Mars Volta’s most diverse set yet, drawing into the group’s tornado of influences moments of fiery jazz spirituality and esoteric folk introspection, finding space for passages of devastating subtlety and also their most fierce and full-on moments to date. The aforementioned Vicarious Atonement found its meditative mood echoed by Asilos Magdalena, an intimate, acoustic piece that invoked traditional Latin folk music, as Cedric sang in Spanish a sorrowful tale of a lost soul’s quest for sanctuary within a Magdalen Asylum, a refuge set up by the Catholic church for “fallen women”. The shadowy, sinister closer El Ciervo Vulnerado, meanwhile, tapped into the darker side of spiritual jazz to further explore the album’s themes of redemption and religious myth and magick. Elsewhere, the interplay between guitar and clarinet on Viscera Eyes created complex, unsettling counter-melodies, while the coiling, ornate Meccamputechture – Cedric’s wild fusion of sacred texts, occultism and dystopian science fiction – proved a great showcase for Ikey Owens’ swarming, infernal organ runs, in concert with Frusciante’s arcane guitar-play. But it was Day Of The Baphomets that would prove Amputechture’s most ambitious and most defining epic. Cedric’s lyrics tore into the hypocrisy of religious cant and myths of sin and punishment. “I wanted to make a song that was like the movie The Believers, where this cabal stole kids and did some occult shit with them,” he explains. “But I wanted it to be like, ‘What if the people you hire to do jobs you don’t wanna do rise up one day and then pull some shit like that?’ Like it was the guerrilla warfare, them taking over – wouldn’t that be some fucked up shit? And the music just lent itself to that – the big intro, the bass solo, and all of the ruckus that occurs.” That ruckus was some of the most thrilling Mars Volta music yet, as Omar directed his musicians to rumble through fiery modes of wild tribal groove, ransack-the-palaces riot- rock and supreme progressive experimentalism. Amputechture, then, is the sound of The Mars Volta in imperial mode: fearless, insatiable, unstoppable.

Black Vinyl. In Rumi's poem A Great Wagon he writes of a place of total acceptance. "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," It is a boundless, liminal space where we can release the judgments we make and carry of ourselves, and the comparisons to others. When we think of this field, there is a sense of tranquility that only comes when we are undisturbed by the shadow self and see existence as neither bright nor dim, white nor black. But as lead singer Greg Bertens explains, arriving there is a whole different story. "This is a poem I've returned to over the years, and I love the idea of this place, but getting there is life's journey." Bertens adds "I think the longing for and elusiveness of this field is a recurring theme in our music." Field is enveloped by themes of regret, disconnection and frustration but with the space to understand that these feelings are a natural part of the struggle between reconciling the inner and outer self. The Los Angeles/San Francisco-based group have been indie shoegaze stalwarts since their formation in 2001. After two decades and a handful of line-up changes, their extensive discography presents a dynamically textural, lush psychedelic rock that has featured guest appearances by members of Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, and Snow Patrol, among others. 2021's LP We Weren't Here (Sonic Ritual) was hailed for its dense instrumental blanket, where unrelenting hi-hats and heavy kicks exist alongside dreamy drone guitar. This propulsive nature permeates Field, as members Bertens, Noël Brydebell (vocals), Nyles Lannon (guitar), Jason Ruck (synths), Justin LaBo (bass), and Adam Wade (drums) produce a kaleidoscopic sonic landscape. Patient, sprawling instrumentation builds a foundation in which Bertens' themes of endurance, perseverance and clarity can bloom with a considered poise. As a lyricist who writes in response to the instrumental arrangements, rather than a focus on a specific theme or person, Field is a testament to Film School's ability to create in the moment, and to showcase the magic that stems from when we are truly present. With over two decades in the industry, Field cements Film School as a distinct, dominant force in the shoegaze scene. Soaked in an emotionally open, imaginative atmosphere, the album is both singular and expansive, and leaves the door open for a constantly evolving interpretation. Film School have never confined themselves to the rigidity of specifics, and it's on Field that they urge us to look beyond the binary of certainty, and to take a second look.

The concept for and palette of Crystal Dorval aka White Poppy’s ‘Paradise Gardens’ trilogy first germinated in 2016 as a notion of “paradise music” combining new age, bedroom shoegaze, and bossa nova into “transcendental Tropicalia.” As she filled tapes of recordings exploring the idea, many of the songs gradually gravitated towards the hermetic dream pop her project is best known for, becoming the albums Paradise Gardens (2020) and Sound Of Blue (2023). Dorval describes these collections as a sort of “emotional purging or shadow work,” before arriving at “the state of inner paradise:” Ataraxia.

As the third, final, and most purist realisation of the original ‘Paradise Gardens’ vision, Ataraxia delivers. Nine instrumentals of nimble guitar, elevated bass, clean rhythm, and clear light, gliding like swans on a shimmering pond. There’s a sense throughout of playful tranquillity, of serenades at sunset, of kisses of blissful Muzak wafting along a boardwalk.

But behind the music is a patience, grace, and levity born of Dorval’s personal journey with spiritual healing that paralleled the trilogy. A process of transmuting pain into beauty, day by day, melody by melody, cleaving the darkness from the soul and re-entering one’s rightful home in the Garden.

Crispy Jason is a moniker of Rian Trench. Trench, once half of Solar Bears (Planet Mu, Sunday Best, Warp), branches out here into acid-focused IDM. Shadowcon One explores spaced out 303s via retro arcade against furious breaks and ambiguous moodscapes with an offset of introspective disco

This year marks 25 years since Oasis’ two iconic record breaking live concerts at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire on the 10th and 11th August 1996. The shows were both the pinnacle of the band’s success and a landmark gathering for a generation of young people. Released alongside the cinema debut of the feature length documentary film of the event, ‘Oasis Knebworth 1996’ is the definitive live recording featuring a setlist packed with stone cold classics album taken from across both nights of the concert, from the opening salvoes of ‘Columbia’ and ‘Acquiesce’, to ‘Champagne Supernova’, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Live Forever’, an orchestra backed ‘I Am The Walrus’, and ‘Wonderwall’ the first song from the 1990’s to reach over one billion streams on Spotify and universally loved anthem.

Boxset contains:

3 x Vinyl, LP, Album
2 x CD, Album
2 x Cassette, Album
3 x DVD, Multichannel, Stereo

Die neueste Veröffentlichung der US-Thrash-Legenden FLOTSAM AND JETSAM steht in den Startlöchern. Unter Beibehaltung ihres typischen schnellen und aggressiven Stils präsentiert „I Am the Weapon“ noch mehr musikalisches Können und Komplexität als zuvor.

Am the Weapon“ knüpft nicht nur nahtlos an die beiden herausragenden Vorgänger an, sondern geht auch in Sachen musikalisches Können und Komposition einen Schritt weiter. Während FLOTSAM AND JETSAM ihre Kernkompetenzen wie ihren aggressiven Stil kombiniert mit schnellen Tempi voll ausleben, gibt es auf „I Am the Weapon“ mehr überraschende Momente als je zuvor.
Von brutalen high-speed Tracks wie „I Am the Weapon“ hin zum atmosphärischen, aber nicht superschnellen „Burned My Bridges“ überzeugt jeder Track des Albums auf seine eigene Weise.

Die neueste Veröffentlichung der US-Thrash-Legenden FLOTSAM AND JETSAM steht in den Startlöchern. Unter Beibehaltung ihres typischen schnellen und aggressiven Stils präsentiert „I Am the Weapon“ noch mehr musikalisches Können und Komplexität als zuvor.

Am the Weapon“ knüpft nicht nur nahtlos an die beiden herausragenden Vorgänger an, sondern geht auch in Sachen musikalisches Können und Komposition einen Schritt weiter. Während FLOTSAM AND JETSAM ihre Kernkompetenzen wie ihren aggressiven Stil kombiniert mit schnellen Tempi voll ausleben, gibt es auf „I Am the Weapon“ mehr überraschende Momente als je zuvor.
Von brutalen high-speed Tracks wie „I Am the Weapon“ hin zum atmosphärischen, aber nicht superschnellen „Burned My Bridges“ überzeugt jeder Track des Albums auf seine eigene Weise.

TRELLDOM sind das geistige Kind von Kristian Eivind Espedal - besser bekannt unter seinem Künstlernamen Gaahl. Der Norweger wurde zu einem der führenden Köpfe der nordischen Black Metal Szene, nachdem er sich im Jahr 1998 der berüchtigten Bergener Band GORGOROTH angeschlossen hatte. Sowohl aufgrund seines extremen Gesangs als auch zahlreicher finsterer Gerüchte über seine Person wurde der Frontmann oft in eine besonders schmale Schublade gesteckt. Doch wenn eine Aussage über Espedal wahr ist, dann ist es die gegenteilige, nämlich dass von ihm meist das Unerwartete kommt. Auch mit TRELLDOM hat er bereits Black Metal Geschichte geschrieben. Die im Jahr 1992 von Gaahl in Sunnfjord im Distrikt Vestland, gegründete Band veröffentlichte drei Jahre später ihr Debütalbum "Til evighet..." (1995), das in Underground Black Metal Kreisen großen Anklang fand. Das Nachfolgeralbum "Til et annet..." (1999) präsentierte den Gitarristen Valgard sowie Stian "Sir" Kårstad am Bass als Neuzugänge bei TRELLDOM und erreichte auch die "Mainstream-Medien" im Metal. Als Produzent zeichnete der legendäre Toningenieur Pytten in den Grieghallen Studios in Bergen verantwortlich. Pytten nahm ebenfalls den dritten Meilenstein "Til minne..." (2007) auf, der sowohl von Kritikern als auch von Fans hoch gelobt wurde. Einer der Schlüsselaspekte dieser ersten TRELLDOM-Trilogie lag darin, dass Gaahl in seiner eigenen Band die Möglichkeiten seiner Stimme frei von den strengen Regeln erforschen konnte, unter denen GORGOROTH operierte. Danach wurde es still um die Band, da sich alle beteiligten Musiker auf zahlreiche andere Projekte konzentrierten. Bei der Rückkehr bleibt die wichtige Zusammenarbeit mit Stian Kårstad das musikalische Herzstück der Band. Der größte Teil des Materials auf "...by the shadows..." stammt aus der Feder des Gitarristen. Andere Aspekte von TRELLDOM hat Espedal bewusst verändert. Die daraus resultierenden Effekte haben zu faszinierenden Resultaten geführt. Auf dem Hocker thront nun der renommierte Schlagzeuger Kenneth Kapstad, der neun Jahre lang bei MOTORPSYCHO war und aktuell auch bei SPIDERGAWD, MØSTER! und THORNS für den Rhythmus sorgt. Mit Kapstad stieß auch der international gefeierte Jazzmusiker und Saxophonist Kjetil Møster (MØSTER!, RÖYKSOPP, THE END) zur Besetzung. Die Einbeziehung von Møsters unorthodoxen Saxophon-Klängen ist ein erstes Indiz dafür, dass sich TRELLDOM nicht mehr durch eine enge Definition von Black Metal gebunden fühlen. Die Musik auf "...by the shadows..." ist zwar nach wie vor dunkel und harsch, und auch ihre Wurzeln in der schwarzen Vergangenheit bleiben erkennbar. Doch Espedal hat seine Band in eine weitaus komplexere Kreatur verwandelt und sie in einer avantgardistischen Dimension losgelassen - mit einem Sound, der manchmal sogar ins Experimentelle reicht. TRELLDOM sind erwacht und liefern mit "...by the shadows..." ein beherztes Manifest der künstlerischen Freiheit als starke Kampfansage an jegliche nostalgische Stagnation ab. Dieses Album fordert heraus: Love it or leave it!