Cerca:incendiary

Founded in the late 1960s by record store owner Seidou
Adissa, Albarika Store is one of the most important
independent record labels on the African continent. That
it was founded in the relatively small ex-French colony
of Benin (then still called Dahomey), is a testament to its
founder’s musical taste and vision for what the local
musical scene had to offer.
This September, Acid Jazz releases the first ever vinyl
and CD overview of the label and its music, compiled by
David Hill of The Soul Revivers and West African
musical expert Florent Mazzoleni, who also wrote the indepth notes.
The compilation provides a look into what was a
developing and then thriving post-colonial music scene.
It focuses on the label’s biggest and most prolific act
Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo and its founder Melome
Clement – who released under a variety of names often
spotlighting on the musicians’ key to their sound. It also
looks at the other established artists on the label such
as the incendiary Les Sympathics De Porto Novo and
Les Volcans. All of these artists create a unique mix of
Westernised Funk, Soul and Latin sounds crosspollinated with the traditional music of the region.

Brighton based three-piece Jopy, led by songwriter Jo Parnell, release their debut EP on Goo Records. Featuring six tracks including recent singles Head Hunters Pub & Grub and Graveyard Romance, the Planet Zombie EP showcases the band's B52s/Cramps influenced glam punk sound chocker with incendiary punk riffs and frantically infectious choruses.

Full of macabre joy, the EP sees Parnell celebrate her queerness through fantastical camp-horror fictions via Marc Bolan-esque vocals rolled into one blood-curdlingly gleeful package. Tracing these songs' deeply personal origins, Parnell says: “I want to write songs that people can relate to and feel seen by without having to relive the more difficult aspects of their journeys. This is why I chose to convey my experiences in the form of fun, campy horror stories.”

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

Over a catalog of six albums, Native Harrow have produced a discography of “rich, engrossing records” and “instant classics” while single-mindedly following their own artistic code, acquiescing only to the exigence of the song: each song its own world with its own rules.

Formed a decade ago, Native Harrow spent their first five or six years crisscrossing the United States and Canada on numerous tours, averaging more than 150 concerts per year in 47 states and 4 provinces, on the back of two self-released albums, Ghost (2015) and Sorores (2017). In 2019, they released Happier Now, partnering with London alt-country stalwarts Loose Records. The record garnered glowing reviews, with Rough Trade selecting it for its album of the month, writing “Beautifully soaring... rolling grooves ground languid and dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound.” The critical acclaim and Americana chart success of the album prompted three back-to-back UK tours in 2019 and early 2020, ultimately leading to a three-year stint living and touring in the UK and Europe. In this time, Native Harrow released two more critically acclaimed records with Loose; Closeness (2020) and Old Kind of Magic (2022), playing for audiences ranging from rock clubs in Norway and Sweden to opera halls in Portugal, and every stop in-between, as well as performing at festivals such as BST Hyde Park (supporting the Eagles and Robert Plant & Alison Kraus), Greenman Festival, Black Deer Festival, The Great Escape, Celtic Connections, Moseley Folk Festival, SXSW, and many more.

Following the eruption of its title track, Side A of “Divided Kind” transitions nimbly through hazy tremolo-laden dusty canyons, past an intimate soulful love letter, and towards a moody anthem of devotion buoyed by propulsive grooves, before ultimately settling on a gentle bird’s-eye-view of love and transcendence. Side B opens with the debut single, “Goin’ Nowhere” a soul transmission over incendiary bass and undulating layers of guiro, congas, tambourines, shakers, and handclaps that sidesteps into moments of infinite dial-toned burnished, Rhodes-propelled soul-jazz and self-assured blues rock à gogo before ending in a spectral folk reading on celestial meditation.

“Divided Kind” was produced and recorded by the pair, in their home studio surrounded by the vintage acoustic and electric guitars, dusty semi-functional amplifiers, and out-of-date Rhodes, B3, piano, and assorted percussion they’ve grown accustomed to. Chicago-based Alex Hall was again drafted to add drums and to mix, and Philadelphia drummer and engineer Joshua Friedman mastered the record. London-based musician Joe Harvey-Whyte added the pedal steel to “Borrowing Time”, with all other voices and instruments being performed by Tuel and Harms.

The impact, influence, and importance of Run-D.M.C.'s self-titled debut – the album that invented hardcore hip-hop and bridged rap, rock, and funk in then-unparalleled ways – cannot be measured. The first full-length record released by Profile Records, the 1984 set permanently changed the sound of music, broadcast streetwise wisdom to every corner of the country, and made the notion of a one-man band a distinct reality. Bolstered by an incendiary blend of staccato deliveries, stark beats, aggressive exchanges, evocative hooks, and socially conscious messages, Run-D.M.C. still hits listeners in the jaw with the same intensity it did nearly 40 years ago when it could be heard booming from ghetto blasters carried around city blocks nationwide.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl 33RPM LP is the definitive-sounding version of the groundbreaking work cited by Rolling Stone as the 378th Greatest Album of All Time. This reissue also represents the first time this gold-certified effort has been presented in audiophile quality. Benefitting from the ultra-low noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces of SuperVinyl, Run-D.M.C. now plays with a clarity, immediacy, punchiness, and directness worthy of the artistry, urgency, and intellect of the trio's material.

The brilliance of Russell Simmons and Larry Smith's production comes into view as if the music is being broadcast on a giant system in a small club — only more focused, lively, and unlimited. Free of dynamic constraints and fatiguing harshness, this LP invites you to turn up the volume and experience the raw, rough, invigorating songs that changed the look, sound, and feel of hip-hop overnight. Think the trio’s sparse framework of drum machines, tag-team rhymes, keyboard accents, and turntable scratches is stuck in the mid-80s? Spin MoFi’s SuperVinyl LP and gain new appreciation for the music, messages, and production on display on Run-D.M.C.

Recorded in the wake of two successful and pioneering singles, both included on the album, Run-D.M.C. effectively took a sheet of coarse-grit sandpaper to the polish, sheen, and linear presentation of all the hip-hop that preceded it. Stripped to bare-bones foundations, the songs grab your attention and shake you by the collar with a combination of industrial-leaning rhythms, staggered deliveries, dance drama, and hard, minimalist percussion. Then there are the lyrics.

The LP broadcasts a smart mix of boots-on-the-ground reports, uplifting advice, and then-nascent b-boy culture. In one fell swoop, its narratives and music rendered the scene’s proclivity toward glamor and softness passé. Run-D.M.C.’s tough, cool-minded fashion sense showed the trio walked its talk and gave fans — particularly those living in long-ignored urban areas — heroes which with they could identify. Kangol hats, black jeans, leather jackets, Adidas sneaks, and gold chains were the new currency.

In every regard, Run-D.M.C. signifies the birth of modern hip-hop. Never more obviously than on the groundbreaking “Rock Box,” where rap and rock were first fused. As the first hip-hop video to receive regular rotation on MTV, the track eviscerated racial and social boundaries, awakened musicians and listeners to new possibilities, and redefined both popular music and, ultimately, popular culture. As the Roots’ Questlove has stated, it “ knocked down many obstacles, enabling hip-hop to become the new gospel."

Such teaching includes the real-world scripture of “Hard Times,” utopian hopefulness of “Wake Up,” and observational truths of “It’s Like That.” Released as the group’s debut single well before its eponymous album, the latter tune established themes and outlooks Run-D.M.C. would embrace during its career. Namely, the keen awareness of various prejudices, economic ills, and disruptive violence as well as the knowledge that education, self-motivation, and hard work were the ways to escape disadvantages and disillusionment.

Inspired and inspirational, the song reflects the spirit and shrewdness that courses throughout Run-D.M.C. That includes a detailed account of the trio’s not-so secret weapon (“Jam-Master Jay”), purpose statement (“Hollis Crew (Krush-Groove 2)”), and a revolutionary hybrid autobiographical narrative-dis track (“Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1)”) widely regarded as one of the best hip-hop songs ever created. The same can be said for every moment on Run-D.M.C.

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.

Rising Japanese duo SUDO debut on Drumcode with the inspired ‘Real World’ EP.
The brothers Isao and Takashi – the former based in Berlin, while the other holds forte in their hometown of Kansai, Japan – have been grafting away at their craft for many years, never compromising on quality, while eschewing trends. Instead, patiently creating and waiting for their opportunity.

The duo remembers their first vinyl purchase from back in the ‘90s – a white label they’d later find out to be Underworld’s legendary ‘Rez’. It’s from these incendiary roots that ‘Real World’ takes inspiration. A trio of tracks imbued with depth, subtly and impact.

The title track is a deep barrelling trancey composition and is trippy in nature, conjuring visions of the Underworld classic, while never losing a future-minded ethos. ‘Construction’ starts as a chunky slice of percussive techno, before a mesmerizing ambient interlude takes the track to another realm. ‘Mercury’ is a transcendental slice of tech-trance that’s timeless in every sense. Bliss.

Mike Mooney presents his debut solo album The Cthulu Mythos via Nine X Nine Records. Mike Mooney has had a storied career in the music business, over the years he has had stints in Echo & The Bunnymen, The Psychedellic Furs, Spiritualized and The Wild Swans to name a few. Reknowned for his incendiary guitar work and distinctive style it seems incredible that only now are we seeing a solo debut proper. This record is inspired by the work of American authour and the godfather of the cosmic-horror genre H.P. Lovecraft. Mooney had long been a fan of Lovecraft’s work but through rereading much of his work during the coronavirus lockdown an idea for an album was planted. Using the titles of Lovecraft’s work as a springboard, Mike started recording. The songs came easily, almost as if being channeled via a conduit from some unknowable dimension of Old Gods and unspeakable horrors. The Cthulu Mythos is a larger-than-life, rock n’ roll affair. Purposefully distorted guitars are layered to a create a caucophonous effect that immerses you in Mike Mooney’s world populated by the creatures, characters and cosmic forces of H.P. Lovecraft’s mind.

Marking 40 years of The Jesus And Mary Chain, "Glasgow Eyes" was recorded at Mogwai"s Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow, where Jim and William continued the creative process that resulted in their previous album, 2017"s "Damage and Joy", becoming their highest charting album in over twenty years. What emerged is a record that finds one of the UK"s most influential groups embracing a productive second chapter, their maelstrom of melody, feedback and controlled chaos now informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and Kraftwerk and a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz. "Glasgow Eyes" not only extends The Jesus and Mary Chain"s story, but feels simultaneously like a return to roots. From the incendiary "Psychocandy" debut and its classic "Just Like Honey" onwards, the Reid brothers steadily became the misfits who made good without compromise.

Returning to Ransom Note Records sub-label, Insult to Injury, Timothy Clerkin is back with incendiary new record, Fading EP. An overt, Acid-Techno analogue assault on the senses, all tracks were performed live in Clerkin's vintage synthesiser recording facility. Backed with a vinyl exclusive remix from the mighty Posthuman (not available digitally) and limited to a run of 100, hand stamped 12”s, you’ll need to be fleet of foot to get your hands on it!

Titular track, Fading, features the inimitable vocal talents of Brighton based Shoegazers HANYA’s front person Heather Sheret, whose heavenly articulation offsets the high voltage, rhythmic battering that opens the record. Booming 909’s propel us forward as we’re launched headlong into the rave maelstrom where squelchy bass lines and breakbeats grapple with trancelike strings for dominance.

Next out of the gate, Sigma hurls itself from the cocoon and slaps us around the face, hugging it tightly like an Acid-Techno Xenomorph. A face melting melange of retro sounds & futurism, it’s underpinned by the nihilistic vocal sample that belies Clerkin’s antiestablishment Punk musical past. Hold onto your hats and remember to BREATHE!

ITI Records are very excited to have head honcho of the I Love Acid parties, Balkan Vinyl and record producer extraordinaire, Posthuman on remix duties. Never one to disappoint, he ‘breaks’ Fading down into tiny pieces and rebuilds it in his own image. Taking inspiration from early Hardcore and Acid aesthetics, we’re treated to a proper dance floor workout of 808s, Rave Hoovers and breakbeats.

Rounding off, Collapsed Lung is a slightly more introspective affair. Jam packed with glitched drums and sequenced, mechanical tones, it builds towards an etherial climax. This slightly distant, intangible and dreamlike number glides out of view just as quickly arrived, leaving us feelin incongruously all warm and fuzzy, after the absolute clobbering that opened the record.

Sugaray Rayford is a man with a message and a larger than life personality and voice to deliver it

Working with producer, songwriter Eric Corne for the past 3 albums, the soul-blues powerhouse has crafted an incendiary sound and narrative, combining classic soul melodies and funky R & B grooves with raw blues power.

The pair's first collaboration, 'Somebody Save Me', earned Rayford a 2020 Grammy nomination. Later that year he took home Blues Music Awards for 'Soul Blues Male Artist' and 'B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.' Rayford's follow up In Too Deep won a plethora of awards including the Blues Music Award for 'Soul Blues Album of the Year'.

His new release is entitled 'Human Decency'. The title track is a simple reminder that our similarities are stronger than our differences and in the end, there is no black or white or left or right, there are only hearts and minds.

About the leadoff single, "Run For Cover" a song that takes no prisoners, Q Magazine declares, "The bluesey soul of Rayford comes on full steam with this powerhouse single."

"We're calling people on their bullshit but we're having fun with them. That's my way. I'm gonna tell it to you straight but with love in my heart. I always bring some suga with the salt!" says Sugaray, bellowing with laughter.

An all-star cast lent their talents to the album, including guitarist Rick Holmstrom and singer Saundra Williams who are both from Mavis Staples's band, along with bassist Taras Prodaniuk (Lucinda Williams, Merle Haggard).

Are you ready to hear the best live band of the early ‘70s? We at Real Gone Music have been privileged and proud to release Fanny’s four classic Reprise albums, each a tuneful testament as to why they were the first all- female band signed to a major label. But there has always been a piece missing from the Fanny fable; for while the band hooked up with big-time producers and engineers like Richard Perry, Todd Rundgren, and Geoff Emerick, their studio albums never really were able to capture the sheer excitement they could generate in concert. However, buried away in a vault thousands of miles away from their Los Angeles base there long lay a recording that could make the Fanny myth a reality, one that could provide the emphatic answer as to why these four ladies were the hottest ticket on the Sunset Strip during the early ‘70s. Now, over 50 years later, its time—and their time—has come. Live on Beat-Club ’71-’72 presents the two sets Fanny recorded for the German TV show, mastered by Mike Milchner of Sonic Vision from hi-res mono files taken from the original videotape. Aside from the incendiary and incredibly tight performances, what immediately becomes apparent is that all four of these women were powerhouses in her own right. June Millington’s stringbending Les Paul wizardry, her sister Jean’s driving, melodic bass lines and Janis Joplin-esque vocals, Nickey Barclay’s intricate yet somehow rocking keyboard work, and Alice de Buhr’s precise, piston-like drumming punctuated by ferocious fills—put together Fanny was an overwhelming display of talent, Yet somehow, as these shows reveal, live they were greater than the sum of their parts. That’s why getting these recordings released has long been a crusade for Alice, and why June tells the story in the accompanying liner notes (which feature contributions from June, Jean, and Alice) that the engineer who was assigned to do the transfers of all the Beat-Club material told her that their material was the best in the vault, better even than Hendrix. We are releasing this invaluable archival recording on juicy peach vinyl and on CD with a bonus track of the soundcheck to boot. Essential for a full understanding of ‘70s rock!

R'n'Cs is the contraction of "Rem and the Courbarians". made up of Rem (drums - Vox) and the Courbarians brothers, Saïd (Guitar - Vox) and Gui (Bass Guitar - Vox). they were formed in the Orléans region at the dawn of the second millennium, combining Punk / Hard Core with overdriven Garage Punk'n'Roll. giving birth to a Rock'n'Roll speed all their own! The years go by. but the cadence remains the same. they are and remain definitively addicted to feedback and BPMs. Their Rock'n'Roll remains fast and furious. You'd think the teats they feasted on from an early age were loaded with nitroglycerine! And these R'n'R aficionados never tire of it! Class, delicacy and refinement have nothing to do with it. even if some music lovers will enjoy it! Their music isn't a poem, it's an ode to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. all at breakneck speed! Hang on to the handlebars, because no one escapes this infernal spiral that grabs you and sends you straight to the devil's entrails! They became a national benchmark for speed rock'n'roll. and were repeatedly asked to play with bands such as Nashville Pussy, Supersuckers, Discharge, GBH, Unseen, Guitar Wolf, New Bomb Turks, The Cellophane Suckers, The Butchers, Burning Heads, Etc.. Over the years, R'n'Cs has always been backed, produced and supported by labels such as 442ème Rue, Beast Records, Guerilla Vinyl and of course Trauma Social. Their 7th Opus "Flytrap in the Murderhouse" released on Beast Records / Fly House Records (Trauma Social for the CD) saw the light of day in Spring 2024 and still remains in the tradition of Zeke, Peter Pan Speedrock, Mötorhead. This incendiary bomb will not differ from previous productions. Still in sweat, flames and Rock'n'Roll!!!! Hell Yeah!

The debut 6 track 7” from Fulmine - an international skinhead masterclass from some global drinking buddies. The five piece band featuring Luca, Sarny, Alex, Chubby Charles and Joe went into Fuzzbrain studio and cranked out 6 tracks in as many hours without a single rehearsal. The sound is very basic, rough and intense with lyrics that are very incendiary. This is proper old school mid paced Italian Oi! with the crunching bass and a vocalist who chews glass for that authentic gravel tone. Think BASTA, NABAT, DECIBELIOS and OCHO BOLAS. It’s so good it could have been released C.A.S Records in the 80’s.

Originally released in 2000, this album is where it all began for Decapitated, and remains their most incendiary and focused record. Taking influence from Morbid Angel, Slayer (check out that raging ‘Mandatory Suicide’ cover!) and fellow countrymen Vader, ‘Winds Of Creation’ straddles the line between pure energy and technical precision – even more impressive considering the band were barely out of school when recording it

A very welcome return to the Bitter Ends with an incendiary new 4 dimensional sonic assault !
Genre-wrecking, Unique, top spec modern funk as always !

repress !

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

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

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

MISSILES fire off their debut album "Weaponize Tomorrow" on Svart Records Malmö’s MISSILES are set to release their inaugural album, "Weaponize Tomorrow", on May 10, 2024, under the banner of Svart Records. The members of MISSILES are no new kids on the block. Coming from punk, rock, and metal, as well as surf and rather diverse backgrounds, they all answered to the call of their good friend Gabriel Forslund - sincerely interested in doing something new and exciting together. The band's trajectory began with a 7" single released by the Swedish label Fetish in 2016. Initially viewed as a project, MISSILES have organically evolved into a fully dedicated band with a laser-guided focus, causing shock waves in the underground with their jet-fuel genre-clash. Combining abandoned sounds with new inventions on “Weaponize Tomorrow”, MISSILES promises to both pat you on the head and stab you in the back, delivering a unique blend of post-punk with a touch of goth rock. The band’s lineup consists of: Gabriel Forslund (vocals and guitar) Jens Rasmussen (drums) Tobias Augustsson (synthesizers) Sebastian Gadd (guitar) Linus Larsson (bass) MISSILES claim their debut is a one-of-a-kind album, truly a loved bastard. ”Weaponize Tomorrow” will appeal to those who enjoyed the certain “je ne sais quoi” found in the New Wave movement, a line of thought that is liberating to hear today when artists go to the bank with a genre description. MISSILES couldn’t be bothered; it’s rock, it’s pop, its punk, it’s je ne sais quoi. Hard to pin down, but undeniable to freak out to, "Weaponize Tomorrow" is a high yield blast wave that will leave MISSILES hot on the tongues of those looking for a sudden and dramatic, incendiary kick. A gut smashing future shock that will resonate across diverse musical landscapes, “Weaponize Tomorrow” will be the perfect atomic cocktail for fans of Wipers, Dead Moon, The Birthday Party, The Gun Club and even modern iconoclasts Molchat Doma and Beastmilk. Keep your finger on the button for MISSILES‘ explosive debut out on May 10, 2024.

Live recording of the final show of SANAM's debut European 2023 tour at London's home for experiemntal music, Cafe Oto.

Beirut's SANAM burst on the scene in 2023 with their debut album Aykathani Malakon, chosen by The Guardian as one of their 5-star albums from 2023: "Aykathani Malakon thoroughly embodies their originating influences, whipping up kosmische, post-punk, psych rock, free jazz and Levantine folklore into an alchemical tour de force delivered with a defiant, DIY disposition".

Under difficult conditions, the band took to the road for a European tour in November 2023 with the final show at Café Oto. From their incendiary European debut earlier that month at LeGuessWho then rapturous, sold out shows in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and the UK, spirits for the Cafe Oto gig were high and it was destined to be a tour highlight. 'Live at Café Oto' captures the intensity of the shows, a ritual where improvised rock, free jazz and noise underscored an exorcism of traditional Egyptian song and Arabic poetry.

Drummer Pascal Semerdjian adds: "On this tour, I felt the album evolve from being a set of improvised tracks captured spontaneously, into ripe solid songs. Playing these shows back-to-back, our chemistry kept growing, we got closer, and our live sets, at least to me, were an embodiment of this evolution. In a way, this was the real birth of the band"

Vocalist Sandy Chamoun: "We started the tour with a great push at LeGuessWho, and we kept this energy throughout the whole tour. Every gig felt like I was playing the songs for the first time, providing a new and fresh experience for me. We finished the tour with an emotionally intense gig at Cafe Oto, a dream venue. The audience was incredible, as if we had known each other for a long time and the energy was intense and intimate at the same time; it felt like we were in a small circle of fire together, both us and the audience."

"There was definitely magic in the air for our show at cafe oto - an iconic, humble and warm venue and the last show of the tour – it felt like everything was in the right place. It was my favourite show by far, specially that we were also comfortably able to talk about Palestine, the atrocity we have to live with and can't ignore." Pascal Semerdjian

Returning after three years with their second studio album, Double Dog Dare, WHITE DOG have been revelling in a state of creative flux and are poised to share their revelations with the world. Formed in 2015 in Austin, Texas, White Dog began with a shared vision of blazing, fuzzed-out rock that drew gleefully from their home city's rich cultural melting pot. Emboldened by an us-against-the-world gang mentality and inspired by everything from dusty roots rock to explosive old school prog, the band's self-titled album emerged in 2021, courtesy of natural home Rise Above Records, and immediately stood out as a sophisticated, earthy and characterful new strain of retro rambunctiousness.
Recorded over a period of eight days at Stuart Sikes Audio (with engineer Andrew McCalla) in Austin, Double Dog Dare takes all of the debut album's deftly assembled ingredients and allows them to fly free, liberated from expectation. At times mellower than its predecessor, at others strident and ferocious, these new songs showcase White Dog's organic development, with elements of everything from wistful southern rock to crusty-eyed jazz rock finding a place. Somehow even more fluid and fiery than before, this band are growing and expanding before our ears.
Now free to peddle their incendiary wares, they return to the stage with their strongest material to date, and a newfound enthusiasm for giving The Riff the respect and imagination it deserves.