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Deep-listening organ piece from Malaysia-born, Berlin-based composer Rishin Singh, performed by Martin Sturm on the Lizst organ in Thuringia, Germany. RIYL: Kali Malone, Anna von-Hausswolff - "An endless and captivating exploration of one organ's timbres and tones. Both whispered and shouted, large and small, close and far, Singh's work is both unsettling and a balm, and has invited me to reconsider pitch, consonance, dissonance, tension and release." – Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) In the 1850s the influential composer Franz Liszt, who was living in Weimar, Germany at the time, carried out, with the famous cantor Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg, a series of “ländlichen Orgelexperimente” (rural organ experiments) in Thuringia – investigating various instruments and their capabilities for contemporary music. They eventually settled on the organ in Denstedt because of its high quality. Many years later, award-winning organist Martin Sturm would invite the Berlin-based composer Rishin Singh to repeat these “ländlichen Orgelexperimente” with him and they again chose the organ at Denstedt, now named in honour of Liszt, as the best instrument – the most flexible and expressive – to perform and record Singh's music for organ. mewl infans is a contemporary classical piece that invites modern listeners to ponder the enduring pull of an instrument that was first conceived more than 2,000 years ago and has, in recent years, been rediscovered by a new generation of composers and listeners. Throughout the larger architecture of the four movements, melodic motifs return over and over, fractured by noise, fragmented by carefully calibrated alternate tunings, dissolving into thin air, and generating drones which then transform into new melodic variations. Over the 44 minutes of the piece the organist at times attempts to exert complete control over the instrument, and at other times relinquishes all control entirely. Conceptually rigorous and emotionally charged, mewl infans rewards deep listening and patience. At times conjuring a sense of doom, at other times suspense, pastoral drift, or aquatic submersion, the album is a universe of tiny details comprised of noise and air, of the journey each tone takes from birth to expiration. HIGHLIGHTS: – Singh has been commissioned by the GRAMMY-nominated JACK Quartet. Premiere in NYC Spring 2023 – Collaborations between Singh and Sturm are ongoing: Sturm will premiere Singh’s concerto for organ, timpani, and string orchestra later this year – Sturm is the youngest professor of organ in German history – The debut album from Singh‘s ensemble Leider, A Fog Like Liars Loving, was released by Beacon Sound in May of 2021 Bios: Martin Sturm, born 1992 in South Germany, in an International award-winning organist (ION, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Festival St Albans, Haarlem, Bavarian Culture Prize, and Keck-Köppe Foundation). He performs regularly as an interpreter and organ improviser at festivals, churches, and concert halls around the world. In 2019 he was appointed Professor for Organ and Organ Improvisation at the University of Music “Franz Liszt” in Weimar (Germany), after teaching at the Universities of Music in Würzburg and Leipzig. Rishin Singh (b. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is a composer and trombonist living in Berlin. He has been commissioned to compose for the JACK Quartet (US), Piano+ (US), Claire Edwardes (AUS), DNK Ensemble (NL), Prof. Martin Sturm (DE), the Amsterdam Wandelweiser Festival (NL), Quiet Music Ensemble (IE), and others. Upcoming premieres include “every day” a concerto for organ, timpani, and string orchestra (Martin Sturm, Thuringia, 2022), and “melancholy objects” a string quartet (the JACK Quartet, New York, Spring 2023). He is currently working on his first chamber opera and is the composer and lyricist for the art song ensemble Leider.

Tape

The third LP from the New Zealand quartet houses 12 jewels of tight, guitar-heavy songs that worm their way into your head, an incandescent collision of power-pop and skuzz. With Expert, The Beths wanted to make an album meant to be experienced live, for both the listeners and themselves. They wanted it to be fun -- to hear, to play -- in spite of the prickling anxiety throughout the lyrics, the fear of change and struggle to cope.

Most of Expert was recorded at guitarist Jonathan Pearce’s studio on Karangahape Road in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand) -- and sometimes in the building's cavernous stairwell at 1am -- toward the end of 2021, until they were interrupted by a four-month national lockdown. They traded notes remotely for months, songwriting from afar and fleshing out the arrangements alone, the first time they’d written together in such a way. The following February, The Beths left the country for the first time in more than two years to tour across the US, and simultaneously finish mixing the album on the road. That latter half felt more collaborative, with everyone on-hand to trade notes in real time, until it all culminated in a chaotic three-day studio mad-dash in Los Angeles. There, Expert finally became the record they were hearing in their heads.

Expert is an extension of the same skuzzy palette the band has built across their catalog, pop hooks embedded in incisive indie rock. The album’s title track “Expert In A Dying Field” introduces the thesis for the record: “How does it feel to be an expert in a dying field? How do you know it’s over when you can’t let go?” Stokes asks. “Love is learned over time ‘til you’re an expert in a dying field.”

The rest is a capsule of The Beths’ most electrifying and exciting output, a sonic spectrum: “Your Side” is a forlorn and sincere love song, emotive; while “Silence is Golden,” with its propulsive drum line and stop-start staccato of a guitar line winding up and down, is one of the band’s sharpest and most driving. “When You Know You Know” skews a bit groovier, pure pop and a natural addition to the band’s live set. “Knees Deep” was written last minute, but yields one of the best guitar lines on Expert. There’s a certain chaos across the 12 tracks, the palpable joy of playing music with long-time friends colliding with the raw nerves of pain.

Stokes strings it all together through her singular songwriting lens, earnest and self-effacing, zeroing in on the granules of doubt and how they snowball. Did I do the wrong thing? Or did you? And are we still good people at the end of it? She isn’t interested in villains, but instead interested in just telling the story. That insecurity and thoughtfulness, translated into universality and understanding, has been the guiding light of The Beths’ output since 2016. In the face of pain, there’s no dwelling on internal anguish - instead, through The Beths’ musi

Dirtiness and Divergency
It's a mystery what the handwriting of an artist is made of. What are the ties between artist and art? Why do we recognize the sound of a music producer even if they suddenly create music of a differnet genre?

On his new album "Kiss Dance Kiss" F.S.Blumm remains unmistakably himself, even if he assembles dub- infected, saturated, overdriven instrumental tracks. It may be his signature guitar sound, the disarmingly straightforward melodies, or the irresistible groove: This groove is compelling but unobtrusive. Three, sometimes four notes create timeless melodies.
F.S.Blumm unleashes his love for beats and dub by allowing the bone-dry riddims to dive deeply into the genre typical echo-chamber, combined with sweet guitar arpeggios and melodic basslines. These are friendly dub monsters. It doesn’t all fit seamlessly into the homogeneous sound. Take "Nimbb" with it's angular electronic groove, devoid of any melody, or the surprising horn timbres on "Twistert".

As with all of Blumm‘s works, there is a familiar intimacy even within big echo chambers.

His music searches for the sweet spot. He waits for the right time to record a piece, allowing for the exact degree of maturity of an idea, the magical moment when guest musicians meet, the collision between a well-planned process and happy coincidence. Finding the perfect spot for microphone placement, walking the fine-line between too slow and too fast, pinpointing the right delay-time are all inherent in Blumm's craft. It is a music full of these fragile constellations, interferences and synergies.

The concept of 'composition through duplication' is repeated visually on the cover:

Repetition creates blur and noise. Patterns rub against each other. Sound waves flutter in the wind. A simultaneous sunrise and sunset indicate the search for the perfect overlap.
Each track acts like a rhythmic serving suggestion for individual dance moves. Music for the daily dance around the kitchen table. A lookbook for kraut-dub, analog-electro or adult-instrumental-pop.

.. and now out into the sun.

2022 sees Turin Brakes release their ninth studio album - Wide-Eyed Nowhere. Of Wide-Eyed Nowhere the band say "We surprised ourselves with what came out; a sweeter, groovier set of songs in no hurry to be anything but themselves. The South London 4-Piece comprising Olly Knights, Gale Paridjanian, Rob Allum and Eddie Myer recorded this new set of songs at Twin Palms - Olly"s garden studio - over the summer of 2021, choosing to let time infuse into the music and mature in a way it couldn"t in a pressurised commercial studio setting. "Friends would visit, kids would add a voice or two, bees would buzz and we"d get to sit in the South London sun while the music poured out of the speakers and floated across the lawn. Sometimes we decided it"s okay to just let it happen naturally, not to try too hard - just get out of the way let the songs take shape, and that maybe you don"t have to be in a bad place to make the deeper cuts." Turin Brakes released Mercury Prize shortlisted the Optimist Lp in March 2001 (achieving gold status in the UK), followed up by 2003"s Ether Song which featured the top 5 hit single Pain Killer (Summer Rain). The band has since moved on to rack up seven top 40 singles, seven top 40 albums and over a million record sales worldwide.

2022 sees Turin Brakes release their ninth studio album - Wide-Eyed Nowhere. Of Wide-Eyed Nowhere the band say "We surprised ourselves with what came out; a sweeter, groovier set of songs in no hurry to be anything but themselves. The South London 4-Piece comprising Olly Knights, Gale Paridjanian, Rob Allum and Eddie Myer recorded this new set of songs at Twin Palms - Olly"s garden studio - over the summer of 2021, choosing to let time infuse into the music and mature in a way it couldn"t in a pressurised commercial studio setting. "Friends would visit, kids would add a voice or two, bees would buzz and we"d get to sit in the South London sun while the music poured out of the speakers and floated across the lawn. Sometimes we decided it"s okay to just let it happen naturally, not to try too hard - just get out of the way let the songs take shape, and that maybe you don"t have to be in a bad place to make the deeper cuts." Turin Brakes released Mercury Prize shortlisted the Optimist Lp in March 2001 (achieving gold status in the UK), followed up by 2003"s Ether Song which featured the top 5 hit single Pain Killer (Summer Rain). The band has since moved on to rack up seven top 40 singles, seven top 40 albums and over a million record sales worldwide.

Middle Eastern psych-rock collective Al-Qasar"s debut album is an explosive mix of heavy Arabian grooves, global psychedelia and North African trance music. The band calls it "Arabian fuzz." Brazenly electric yet deeply connected to their roots, guests include Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) and Alsarah (Alsarah & The Nubatones). Mixed by Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey). Al-Qasar was born in the Barbès neighbourhood of Paris," explains band leader Thomas Attar Bellier. "I"ve lived in Los Angeles, Paris, New York, Lisbon... I wanted to start a project that was in tune with the daily life of people living in these international cities, something diverse, radically colourful, with a fresh, contemporary outlook on what societies really look like today". The musicians came together from France, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and the United States. Shows followed, first in France, then in Europe and the Middle East. They put out an EP, the widely-lauded Miraj, recorded in Cairo. In the same time frame, Attar Bellier collaborated with the likes of Emel Mathlouthi and Dina El Wedidi, two of the most exciting names in contemporary Arab music. Drawing on years of experience working in Los Angeles studios, Attar Bellier produced the album. Who Are We? translates the sound that inhabited his head into something physical that stirs spirit, heart and feet. It is relentless and insistent, like a psychedelic celebration on the dancefloor, bristling with the kind of deep energy that makes Al-Qasar sound like the world"s most dangerous wedding band. During those years spent behind the control board, Attar Bellier made some good friends in the US, and they"ve been eager to help out on the project. Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey) mixed the record, and Grammy-winner Dave Collins mastered it. The Dead Kennedys" Jello Biafra was a natural addition to "Ya Malak," his inimitable voice reciting a translation of Egyptian revolutionary poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, elevating the record"s social critique while showcasing the first-ever English recording of Negm"s work. Jello Biafra is not the only punk hero to appear on Who Are We? Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth layers textured, brooding guitar over the first two cuts, "Awtar Al Sharq" and "Awal." The sweeping drones embrace the Moroccan bendir groove to magical results. "Lee sent me upwards of eighteen guitar tracks," says Attar Bellier in amazement. "It was enough for an entire EP, and all so good. The hard part was deciding what not to use. Lee"s vibe just fit perfectly with what I was trying to do with the track." Who Are We? is an exhilarating album. Its intensity never wavers, music that pulls from the hypnotic roots of North African trance and threads it into a fabric with the elaborate beauty of Arabic scales and the shock and thrill of rock"n"roll. It is modern folklore, a reflection of the cross-cultural societies we"ve become.

Anita Clark’s new Motte album, »Cold + Liquid«, builds glacial atmospheres, frozen moods and isolated impressions. Portraying New Zealand through socio-geological sound, breathing in Christchurch cultures and locales, the album embodies an artistic simulation of the Kiwi environment. Motte borrows from an array of sound sources to create an immense entity, with each piece situated precisely along the path. »Cold + Liquid« offers this rich sensory experience, transporting the listener into a world of Clark’s imagination.

As a master violinist, Clark is a favorite of the NZ music scene. She’s been employed by Nadia Reid, Marlon Williams, Lawrence Arabia and Maryrose Crook of The Renderers for her skills. Currently, she plays with The Phoenix Foundation, Luke Buda and Don McGlashan and The Others. Her skillful reach across genres fuels her popularity both with the rock under and overground, and she has also built a rich CV of film soundtracks and contemporary dance compositions.

With such a powerful musical force behind it, Cold + Liquid germinated as a result of a prolonged silence. Clark was suffering from vocal cord paralysis, leaving her with a culminating sense of frustration which could only be released through songwriting . The album’s early life was purely instrumental. But as she prepared for the studio and was searching old voice memos hoping to find vocal tracks, her voice returned. A fervent week followed, where she reimagined the entire album, now with singing. She aimed to make something colossal, and set about finding the right textures to add. A friend who works at Oamaru Freezing Works gave her field recordings of the temperature control room, a vast cold space of isolated machinery, where ice grows and dissolves in ever-evolving sculptures. Getting her hands on shortwave/longwave radios, she incorporated frequency sweeps. Another friend provided her with the mechanical drones underneath the deck of a cement cargo ship, as it lay docked in Lyttelton Harbor. Still more sources came from Sign of the Bellbird, an historic environmental site in South Christchurch, where Clark and Thomas Lambert recorded bellbirds, rolling boulders, snapping sticks, thrown dirt and the papery sound of the native harakeke plant.

While violin dominates the first Motte album, Clark sought to expand instrumentation. She was gifted a handmade Pūrerehua puoro, a traditional Māori instrument that sounds similar to the whirling and hovering of a moth (which is “motte” in German). A reacquaintance to the guitar occurred after developing an alter ego project entitled 'Sex Den,' with sleazy noir-esque guitar riffs in response to a failed rumour from a local drug-addled dive bar. Guitar and synth allowed for a broader songwriting palette along with a sometimes Dadaist approach to lyric writing. These new tools accent the extreme ambiences of »Cold + Liquid«, while additional work was provided by Ben Woods on synth and bowed guitar.

Ben Auld writes songs whose heartbreak and wonder reveal themselves
moments after the warmth of their beauty sinks in, like slipping into the
ocean on a bronzy morning
Whether he's singing about bookstores and porches or ghosts and space
stations, the Bristol, UK-based singer-songwriter imbues his straight-to-tape gems
with a radiant AM pop warmth. And on Lemongrass, due ia Earth Libraries, that
comfy songwriting crackles and pops somewhere between Roger McGuinn and
Gram Parsons. Auld's debut record brims with homespun charm, dazzling
melodies, and lyrics that burrow deep into the heart.
Throughout the album, the immaculately arranged compositions provide the
perfect frame for smooth and rosiny vocals. Utilizing a series of reel-to-reel tape
machines, Auld chose to meticulously stack his instrumentation rather than
simplify; some songs have dozens of instrumental tracks, all assembled on tape.
"I'd record three tracks, bounce that over, and then record another three. I did it
alone and it took a long time to figure out what was possible," he says. "I went
through two four- track recorders, an 8- track 1/2" reel- to- reel, and finished the
album on a TASCAM 388. One of the biggest challenges of the album was fixing
all the broken old gear."
With each new listen, Lemongrass becomes a fonder friend, Auld's heart-on-hissleeve lyricism and intimate songwriting building a deeper nest. "The time is
ours/ Our time is now," he insists on the psychedelic wonder of "Our Time Is
Now", more certain and wide-eyed than urgent. Through first love and heartbreak,
dawns and apocalypses, Lemongrass keeps turning, collecting flickers of astral
bliss with each rotation, Auld's thumping heartbeat at the core.

Tradition and experimentation are two familiar territories that C"mon Tigre, a duo who find their identity by working with musicians from all over the world, can balance between very well. As they did for their debut album (2014), they have put together a multicolored collective for their second record Racines (2019) and now their third album Scenario. Sailing from the Mediterranean basin and being guided by the fascination for Africa and the Middle East, C"mon Tigre give rise to a personal language, made up of mixtures with jazz, afrojazz, the rhythmics of hip hop, funk, club music. All without ever confining their songs to one style, but pushing the exploration as much as possible, into a dimension that every journey worthy of this name should encompass. With the musicians they work with, the exchange and experimentation continue till the end, the songs can take different directions at any time. The result is a mixed, cosmopolitan record, which escapes from any label for the affirmation of a free attitude. It led C"mon Tigre to seek a connection with dancefloor culture, even if considered only as an evocation to revisit in a personal way. This cinematic imagery pushed C"mon Tigre to translate their musical wandering into a visual form, as they already did in the past with animated videos made with the painter Gianluigi Toccafondo and 3d artist Sic Est for "Underground Lovers" and "Behold The Man", two tracks from the previous record. Now the will to merge music and images is even greater: Scenario is also released in a colored vinyl + book version, including a volume to browse through with a wide selection of photo taken by Paolo Pellegrin. Paolo has spent the last 30 years documenting the world. He lives and testifies to issues regarding living conditions, poverty, sufferance and violence, always implementing an anthropological approach. A subjective but detached gaze, which is both a reflection and an analysis, that coincides with an attitude of openness, respect, and interest in the times of history, an odyssey between human and inhuman. Scenario wants to tell about what defines us as human beings: joy, connection, anger, sense of belonging, pain, anguish, violence, dignity. These are tales of someone observing with stretched ears.

Tradition and experimentation are two familiar territories that C"mon Tigre, a duo who find their identity by working with musicians from all over the world, can balance between very well. As they did for their debut album (2014), they have put together a multicolored collective for their second record Racines (2019) and now their third album Scenario. Sailing from the Mediterranean basin and being guided by the fascination for Africa and the Middle East, C"mon Tigre give rise to a personal language, made up of mixtures with jazz, afrojazz, the rhythmics of hip hop, funk, club music. All without ever confining their songs to one style, but pushing the exploration as much as possible, into a dimension that every journey worthy of this name should encompass. With the musicians they work with, the exchange and experimentation continue till the end, the songs can take different directions at any time. The result is a mixed, cosmopolitan record, which escapes from any label for the affirmation of a free attitude. It led C"mon Tigre to seek a connection with dancefloor culture, even if considered only as an evocation to revisit in a personal way. This cinematic imagery pushed C"mon Tigre to translate their musical wandering into a visual form, as they already did in the past with animated videos made with the painter Gianluigi Toccafondo and 3d artist Sic Est for "Underground Lovers" and "Behold The Man", two tracks from the previous record. Now the will to merge music and images is even greater: Scenario is also released in a colored vinyl + book version, including a volume to browse through with a wide selection of photo taken by Paolo Pellegrin. Paolo has spent the last 30 years documenting the world. He lives and testifies to issues regarding living conditions, poverty, sufferance and violence, always implementing an anthropological approach. A subjective but detached gaze, which is both a reflection and an analysis, that coincides with an attitude of openness, respect, and interest in the times of history, an odyssey between human and inhuman. Scenario wants to tell about what defines us as human beings: joy, connection, anger, sense of belonging, pain, anguish, violence, dignity. These are tales of someone observing with stretched ears.

Gazelle Twin, Lali Puna, This Mortal Coil, Slow Walkers, Atlas Sound, Bowery Electric, Broadcast Press Release: Snakeskin is an album of visionary electronic dream pop, shapeshifting above ambient and industrial undercurrents. It is moody, unsettling, luminous – the culmination of a decade of collaboration and friendship between Lebanese producer/musician/ engineer Fadi Tabbal and singer-songwriter Julia Sabra from Beirut-based indie trio Postcards. The duo began working on Snakeskin in the aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed at least 218 people, injured 7,000, and left over 300,000 people homeless. Indeed, Julia's home was destroyed by the explosion and her partner and bandmate Pascal badly injured. The first song that they wrote together afterwards was 'Roots', which closes out the album and was composed for the Ruptured-curated series The Drone Sessions in the fall of 2020. Snakeskin utilizes tape loops, synthesizers, vocals, and drum machines, combining Julia’s pop-inspired melodies and choral roots (an echo from her religious upbringing) with Fadi’s affinity for minimalism and musique concrète. The album seamlessly incorporates the melancholy electro-pop of 'All The Birds', the quiet menace of 'In Our Garden' (long-lost treasures, ancient lies / another buried paradise), and the beat-driven 'Signs'. The title track sums up their frame of mind, beginning as a lullaby and evolving into a glittering tapestry of distortion and feedback. As the artists write, Snakeskin is a product of "the disappearance of life as we know it, and with it the decay of nature and living creatures. There is no rebirth, no renewal. It’s about what it means to feel at home in such a place." Some tracks were also inspired by events happening in the surrounding region, such as the invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan and the Palestinian uprising of May 2021 in Sheikh Jarrah - both events shedding light on relationships to home and land across the wider region. That such compelling art can emerge from unceasing tragedy may be the ultimate testament to human resilience and the pursuit of freedom and justice. "The moon speaks in tongues we can't discern / A plastic dove hangs from a cypress branch / Haven't you heard? / Nothing grows here anymore / The air is burnt / Nothing grows..." Highlights: – This is the second volume in the Corrosion Series, a collaborative effort by Beacon Sound and Ruptured, and the sixth collaboration between the two labels. – Fadi used samples of Julia's voice on his fifth solo album Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions (2020, Beacon Sound/Ruptured) – The Tunefork Studios team, led by Fadi, administered the Beirut Musician's Fund after the port explosion, as covered by Pitchfork, NME, and the Financial Times. – Julia's band Postcards released their third full-length album After The Fire, Before The End on Berlin label T3 Records in 2021 and are currently touring Europe. Credits: All music composed, performed and produced by Julia Sabra and Fadi Tabbal between November 2020 and December 2022. Lyrics by Julia Sabra. Drum samples by Pascal Semerdjian. Recorded by Fadi Tabbal, mixed by Sary Moussa and Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut. Cover photo by Lujain Jo. Design by Josette 'ZOoz' Khalil. Mastered by Rashad Becker. Bios: Julia Sabra is a Lebanese musician, songwriter and composer. She co-founded acclaimed Lebanese dream-pop outfit Postcards in 2013 and is the band’s multi-instrumentalist, lead singer and lyricist. Postcards have released two EPs (2013, 2015) and three albums (2018, 2020, 2021) and have been regularly touring Europe and the Middle East since 2015. She has been the manager of Tunefork Studios since 2017. Lebanese musician, producer, and sound engineer Fadi Tabbal’s work consist of minimalist pieces ranging from ambient and electronic to drone and contemporary classical. He has released six solo albums and has collaborated with various musicians, artists and filmmakers through the years. Often referred to as “the hardest-working person in Lebanon’s alternative music scene”, Tabbal established Tunefork Studios, a collective of producers, engineers and musicians, which has helped shape Beirut's contemporary music scene since 2006.

Finally it’s here! After many years, the repress arrived. This time how it was supposed to be. With new cover artwork and newly mixed songs. It's a rare but exhilarating occasion when you put on a new LP and are utterly blown away by what you hear. Every now and then, music makes you feel magically alive -- makes you want to jump around, pound your fist in the air, and shout "Oh, yeah!" Listening to Grand Fury, the second major release by Los Angeles quartet the Bellrays, is such an experience. Imagine the Funhouse-era Stooges fronted by a female R&B singer instead of Iggy Pop, and you'll have a vague understanding of what the Bellrays call "maximum rock 'n' soul". Although they've drawn comparisons to the Stooges or the MC5 fronted by Tina Turner, Etta James, or Aretha Franklin, the Bellrays rightly point out that soul was an important element in those Detroit-area punks' sounds. So, in some ways, the Bellrays are just bringing out an element of early punk music that was there all along. Nonetheless, the resulting sound is startlingly unique. Lead singer Lisa Kekaula has also sung jazz, and it's obvious she has technical skill, but she tears into these songs with a venom and passion that is pure rock 'n' roll. Bandmates Tony Fate, Bob Vennum, and Ray Chin provide a raw, blues-edged backing that is loose enough to allow Kekaula considerable room to go wild. And does she ever. With her raucous voice and the aggressive songs penned by guitarist Fate, Kekaula makes you believe she'd sooner spit in your face than look at you. "I'm stuck inside a moment / Can't find my way out / And time keeps draggin' on" she sings on "Fire on the Moon", but the confident way she spits out the words makes you believe she could claw her way out of anything. Likewise, Kekaula's indictment of "Stupid Fuckin' People" is so fierce it's almost scary. When she snarls, "Stupid fuckin' people always get in my way / Want to ruin my piece of the world" you know you'd better get out of her way. The only time this sonic assault slows down is on "Have a Little Faith in Me", a sexy soul number that Janis Joplin would have been proud to sing. While Kekaula's amazing voice and charisma are key to the Bellrays' sound, the rest of the band has to be commended for rocking so hard without drowning out that fierce set of pipes. With all the over-produced pap dominating the airwaves, hearing a band this raw and raucous is a dream come true.

Global techno titan Josh Wink returns to his own Ovum Recordings for big new single 'Balls Back', which comes with a remix from Marco Faraone. Philly-born DJ, legendary producer and the man behind many of techno's most iconic cuts, Josh Wink remains as prominent now as he did a quarter of a century ago. That is because of the constant sense of innovation in all he does, as well as his rare understanding of dance floor dynamics and mastery of his studio. Says Josh of his latest track, “Every time I play this people rush over asking 'what is this track that says “get your balls back”?' Its reaction after playing has been amazing and reassuring that it hits hard, works on the floor, and sticks in people's heads.“ He's not wrong: the powerful 'Balls Back' is a spatial, acid-tinged techno stormer that builds and builds until it ultimately explodes in signature Josh Wink fashion. The 303s are saturated in deep processing along with heavy 909 percussion and a ‘slap-you-in-your-face’ vocal sample that will lead to dance floor devastation. The dub version is a raw, stripped down and faster-paced bass jacker that turns up the heat, and a Balls Tool is also included for dexterous DJ deployment. Italian Marco Faraone is a fellow techno heavyweight and one of the scene’s most versatile producers. He has brought his always impactful sounds to labels like Drumcode, Rekids and Etruria Beat. His remix is typically robust: vast, rolling drums power it along while glitchy percussion peels off the groove and the percussion gets ever more wild and heavy. It's a real main room monster. This is no-nonsense techno that perfectly marries form and function into a dynamite package.

Recorded live in 10 days, with minimal overdubs, Shuttered Dreams is a blast of uncompromising truth reminding us to stay awake when the vultures are circling. The album was mixed by Sean Genockey (Shame, Richard Ashcroft, The Who, Black Crowes).

Margate in March 2021 was a time to test your resolve. If the wind howling round the closed down shops and cafes didn’t send you spinning out of control the out of season coastal melancholy could drag you down as surely as any dead eye mermaid. Add in a murderous virus and a frozen gig scene and it was a time to stay frosty and fight off the demons. Dan had some experience to draw on.

“Instead of baking banana bread or knitting, I decided to upgrade my home studio but after a couple of months of writing it was obvious that the songs needed to breathe as much as I did. They’re all about real people and raw feelings and I felt they wouldn’t get justice by being turned into zeroes and ones so early in life “.

It was decided to record the masters live with his new band featuring Dom Hall (drums), Henry Gabbott (bass) and Freya Warsi (vocals) and engineer friend, Harry Armstrong. Armed only with a Vox Marauder, a skeleton recording studio, and a pad of lyrics, Dan moved in with The Tenants to The Tom Thumb Theatre which like everywhere was closed for business but had just received Arts Council recovery funding and was offering residencies for artists.

“Musically I wanted to try to work within a strict palette of sound, using the same acoustic and electric guitars for every song, and Henry’s Wurlitzer and Mellotron to flesh things out a bit.” Dan explains, “We played all of the songs live, sometimes up to sixty or seventy times until we were happy with a take, we might then add a bit of extra electric, percussion or backing vocals, but what you hear on the record is pretty much what was happening in the room. That makes me feel proud, as all the records I love listening to were made in that way.”

Arma X burst onto the hardcore scene in 2019 with a demo that made people take notice from day one, seemingly coming out of nowhere, along with a whole host of new bands from Madrid. Taking the best of heavy hardcore styles, whether it’s Cleveland Straight Edge or NYHC Beatdown, Arma X are making it their own with tunes breathing new life into the genre in their debut album, Violento Ritual. Not for the faint of heart, the band are also redefining just how many dive bombs and breakdowns you can have in one song thanks to guitarists Yoshi and Rodri, and we are here for it! Vocalist Leo sings in Spanish, because there will be no appeasing to the English speaking hardcore masses here and rightly so. The result is vocals that just get taken to another level, delivered with Leo’s huge rasping voice not too dissimilar to Integrity’s Dwid, commanding over what sounds like a straight up war zone. Lyrically Arma X rock about the Straight Edge, naturally, as a true form of outsider behaviour within punk and also dark moments of anger in one’s personal life through occult imagery. Meanwhile drummer Tania and bassist Iker waste no time in pummelling out beats you want to smash heads to in the pit. The group are all hard working members of the Madrid hardcore community keeping their local scene vibrant and inclusive for all, reflected in the band themselves. Thanks to that hard work, along with many others from this new generation, the Madrid scene has been growing from strength to strength for the past 3 years. Arma X are part of this new wave of bands and DIY ethic that is selling out local only shows and making a community that stands strong. XXX. For Fans of Bulldoze, Confront, Integrity, Merauder. Genre: Alternative / Punk & Hardcore

It’s been ten years since No Trigger gifted the world a full length. TEN GODDAMN YEARS. But all that is about to change with the release of 2022’s Dr. Album. They’re the first sextet on Red Scare (we think?) and the biggest thing to come outta Worcester, MA since Bob Cousy. These guys have played all over the world (Europe, Japan, South America, Austra1lia, etc.) and made their name perfecting melodic hardcore, but this new 13-song record has something for everyone. Dynamic indie-punk of all stripes can be heard on Dr. Album, and this doctor has an IV bag of hooks, choruses, melodies, and ferocious lyrics that you’ll wanna inject straight into your veins. Side note: Did you know that Emma Goldman opened an ice cream shop in Worcester (AKA Wormtown) back in the 1800’s? It’s true, and Saint Emma would be proud of these scrappy punks and this Left-Wing masterpiece. It may have taken a decade, but No Trigger is relentless, and the band is playing Riot Fest, Punk In Drublic Festival, and shows with The Lawrence Arms in support of these new songs. Onward and upward!

Tracks: 01. Antifantasy 02. Take Your Time 03. Acid Lord 04. Coffee From A Microwave 05. Too High To Die 06. No Tattoos 07. Brainwashed 08. Water By The Beer Can 09. Foggy Mountain Bus Stop 10. Northern Corner 11. Euro Coke 12. Best Friend Stuff 13. Totally Digital

"Train of Thought, the third full length release by Kamloops, British
Columbia based psych quartet Mother Sun is a 12 song day trip through
an overstimulated frame of mind
Using 60's and 70's psych pop, garage rock, jazz and soul as a jumping off point,
the band refines their modern eclectic storytelling through lush and adventurous
arrangements, highlighted by abstract hooks, velvety strings and triumphant
horns."
"Train of Thought captures the moment as it happened, as natural as possible,"
explains drummer Jared Wilman. But judging from the way the ribbony loops of
Alex Ward's bass weave through the crystal shards of Jared Doherty's and Emilio
Pagnotta's guitars, the in-the-room reality experienced by Mother Sun may be a bit
more warped than average. "Posing a question, falling asleep/ Glued to a fish eye,
blind in the ocean/ Water resistance, growing webbed feet," Doherty sings on
"Webbed Feet", as a pulse of retro soundtrack horns and bombast drums propel
his bleary-eyed vocals into an endless psychedelic expanse.
That track's blend of riotous complexity and souped up devolution digs at the
thesis of the album as it teeters at the edge. "It's all about the way our thoughts
control us and we control them," Doherty says. "Being anxious about mind control,
noticing your surroundings, caring for your mental health, being mindful of others,
and not letting your train of thought run away due to complacency."

Repress!

Note - Sleeve says contains a bonus CD, these represses do not have a bonus CD, they have a download card.

Fire Records will be reissuing the first 3 albums by the Lemonheads, Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988) and Lick (1989), featuring copious bonus tracks and many never-before released rarities and live recordings on the download card. Together, these seminal albums showcase the band's early punk rock roots and trace the Lemonheads’ transformation towards becoming one of the most successful and influential bands in indie rock. Before the 90s. Before the internet. Before Nevermind. Back when something called “independent music” first began reaching a wider audience, through college radio, word-of-mouth, and that small “underground” record store you seem to find in every town…there was a band from Boston called Lemonheads. High school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando, Lemonheads’ primary songwriters, co-guitarists and co-vocalists, first recorded together on 4-track cassette in the spring of 1985; by the end of the decade they—together with bass player Jesse Peretz, sometimes-guitarist Corey Brennan, and successive drummers Doug Trachten and John P. Strohm—had created a body of recordings which would see them on MTV’s fledgling “120 Minutes,” beating out the Grateful Dead on college radio charts, and entering the consciousness of a generation of music fans. Cited as influences by artists as varied as Billie Joe Armstrong and Ryan Adams, these fledgling Lemonheads recordings—part rock, part pop, part unique hybrid of the 80s punk styles beloved by the band members—mark the start of the trajectory that would eventually lead to “mainstream” success and stardom for a later version of the band. But they also represent a distinct, never-repeated phase of the band’s history: one that is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Lick is the third full-length album by the Lemonheads, and the last to feature founding member Ben Deily. It was the group's last independent label-released album before signing to major label Atlantic. An odd mixture of brand-new, and considerably older, sounds, 1989’s Lick brings together the output of several distinct recording sources: six brand new songs recorded with Minneapolis-based band friend and producer Terry Katzman, and a collection of older, B-side and never-released material originally overseen by producer and engineer Tom Hamilton. The difficulties of writing and creating a new full-length album every year (Hate Your Friends and Creator were released in 1987 and 1988, respectively) are clearly in evidence on Lick. While the newest material (“Mallo Cup,” “A Circle of One,” “7 Powers,” “Anyway”) hints at promising new song writing directions for both Deily and Dando, there’s an almost valedictory sense of the past in the inclusion of versions of “Glad I Don’t Know” and “I Am a Rabbit” (from the band’s first-ever, self-released EP), and the now-classic track “Ever,” a previously-unreleased tune from the original 1986 Hate Your Friends sessions. At moments, Lick almost sounds like an elegy for itself—or an elegy for a band that has reached the end of the beginning. Also audible in the heterogeneous songs are the tensions of line-up changes—and inchoate, growing frustrations. After various band break-ups or threatened break ups (such as Dando’s brief departure to play bass for Boston band the Blake Babies), the Lemonheads convened to record new material for Lick now featured Dando on drums, Peretz on bass, Deily on guitar (and “piano,” according to the album credits) along with the addition of long-time band friend—and former member of TAANG! labelmates Bullet LaVolta—Corey Loog Brennan on lead guitar. And yet the frenzied, quasi-ironic hammer-ons of Corey’s axe provide some of Lick’s most entertaining moments—like the unaccountably-translated-into-Italian paen to 70s detective Ironside, “Cazzo Di Ferro.” (The song’s music was originally composed by Brennan for his Italian punk band, Superfetazione.) After the album’s completion, Deily opted out of the subsequent European tour, before leaving the band permanently. Jesse Peretz stayed on to record their Atlantic records debut Lovey, but left after the supporting tour in '91. Since then, Dando has been the Lemonheads' sole permanent member. BONUS TRACKS: Features bonus tracks including several never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, live tracks and an interview from the 1989 European tour, and the 4 tracks of the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners.

Introducing - The Mellons finds that balance somewhere in pages of the
Beach Boys book of psych pop.Jepson and Beck unlocked the expansive
potential of their songwriting when they found their match in another pair
of collaborators
Multi- instrumentalist and producer Dennis Fuller and percussionist Ian Francis
had worked together in a handful of bands, and Jepson and Beck enlisted them to
join The Mellons and round out their sound. "All of these pieces of songs that Rob
and I had swirling around in our heads started to magically come together," Beck
says. Though the resultant tracks are jampacked with everything from clarinets
and violins to sleigh bells and trumpets, the layers never overpower the intimate
harmonies and honeyed lyrical emotionality at the songs' core. "I wanna get
closer/ I wanna go deeper/ I wanna know it all," they sigh on opener "So Much to
Say", surrounded by twirling guitar riffs and glimmering bells. The Mellons play a
symphony's worth of instruments, and self-producing the record largely at Fuller's
No. 9 Studios in Salt Lake City allowed them to chase that stratified sweetness to
its heartfelt extreme. "Writing, arranging, and composing everything ourselves
gives us the freedom to really get the exact sound we're all interested in," Fuller
says. Always focused on the power of a taut hook, The Mellons made sure that
freedom was used for a purpose. "We stay true to the musical stylings of the midto late-'60s while still creating room for the vogue," Francis says. "It's all about
finding that balance." The nostalgic vibe to the psychedelia doesn't end at the
music, as the quartet opt for paisley or matching turtlenecks as well as vintage
collage. A trained illustrator and designer, Beck funnels visual influences into The
Mellons' vibe. Pressed on Yellow color vinyl.

LOCUS launches VA series ‘LOCUS Trax’, with the first volume welcoming Stephan Bazbaz, Julian Anthony, Sucasa and Ben Jones.

Since launching in summer 2020, FUSE’s sister imprint LOCUS has quickly become a go-to outlet for quality house material from emerging and established talent, welcoming releases from Chris Stussy, Sidney Charles, Lauren Lo
Sung, Rossi. and Casey Spillman amongst many. A new addition for 2022, the imprint now unveils its various artist series LOCUS Trax, with Volume 1 welcoming the return of Tel Aviv’s Stephan Bazbaz, alongside label debuts from
bubbling Dutchman Julian Anthony, London-based pairing Sucasa and Liverpool’s Ben Jones.

Stephan Bazbaz’s ‘Dars’ showcases a lively effort as swinging drums work beneath resonant chords and meandering basslines, while Julian Anthony lays the focus on cosmic pads, vibrant organ bass and shuffling percussion across
‘It’s Showtime’. On the flip, Sucasa dive into deeper spheres with the blissful yet impactful sonics of ‘Time Travel’, before handing over to Ben Jones for the peppy sounds and slinking grooves of ‘Get To Know’.

Once more we’ve balanced old and new school producers into a limited 150 copies 12"….Thrilled to have legendary Shaka opening the EP, followed by Barcelona’s esteemed producers Jorge Gamarra and D-Ufo under their JGRE moniker, South Italy's rising machines overlord Filippo Bologna and to close it all another producer who needs no introduction, Tommy Vicar Jnr.

Highlighting the continuing evolution of Durban's globally influential gqom sound, this special trilogy of releases showcases three separate artists from South Africa's fertile musical landscape. The set captures a fresh wave of gqom innovation from veteran producer DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn, DJ Scriby, and 20-year-old DJ MaRiiO. DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn has been a key figure in Durban's underground scene for many years, producing alongside Phelimuncasi, Bhejani, Tweeyking, Lafaristo, MaRiiO and DJ MP3. His gqom and house tracks have quietly provided a rumbling engine for the city's scene, and "Nevegation" is his debut full-length, providing a complex diagram of his dancefloor versatility. This isn't the gqom you might expect to hear: immediately on opener 'The Gringo' familiar sounds - shovel kicks, chopped vocals, sampled gasps, horror movie strings - are shuffled into atypical patterns, creating jerky soundscapes rather than the expected four-on-the-floor bump. 'Salut to DJ Lag' pays respect to Durban's Beyoncé-approved pioneer, but twists the template into a propulsive new form, adding rolling and evolving percussion that teases fractal shapes each bar. But the album's most unexpected and forward-thinking moment arrives with the aptly titled 'The King of Gqom', a track that simmers the genre's percussive sounds into limber sci-fi club futurism, tweaking the bass sounds into patterns that nod to dubstep, Jersey club and ballroom. 25-year-old DJ Scriby has been working behind the scenes since 2013, assisting the first wave of gqom innovators promote their sound both inside Durban and beyond. In 2017 he joined London's Trax Couture to release "The Clermont EP", and here he introduces his long-awaited follow-up "Izingoma zeGqomu". Scriby's approach to gqom is well-studied and self-aware, which gives him the ability to stretch the sound's scope across the diaspora: just peep the Atlanta trap synths on the dynamic 'Friday 13th', or the absorption of tight grime snares on opening track 'Goi'. Scriby's engineering skill pushes his productions to the next level, lending slithering downtempo tracks like 'Ouuu1' and 'Igqom Libuye' a widescreen, big-room punch without losing the genre's undulating funk. And the producer even eyes the EDM mainstage with 'Qumqum!!', balancing saccharine synths with jerky kicks, claps and rolling toms. The youngest artist featured in the collection, DJ MaRiiO started producing when he was just 12 years old, watching YouTube production videos. "No one told me how to use FL Studio," he admits, "and no one helped me doing different genres." This might be why his music sounds so completely unique; the basic structure of gqom is still present, but MaRiiO augments these elements with youthful energy and carefree use of unusual sounds and production methods. "Zulu Man" opener 'GQom NyeGe' manages to mash together trance synths, DMZ bass and a driving woodblock rhythm that reminds you of its Durban roots, while the bizarre 'Ngom ya Phesh', featuring MaRiiO's regular collaborator Hot Chicks on vocals, pushes the gqom template into the red, with overdriven kicks and disorienting environmental sounds. All three records provide a 360 degree view of Durban's contemporary underground, nodding to the past, present and future of gqom. It's a genre that's constantly in flux as it moves from South Africa's bedrooms and basements to main stages and movie screens across the globe.

The members of Szun Waves may not have been collectively in the same country, let alone room, for over two years, but that hasn't prevented them from realising their third album, Earth Patterns. The trio - comprised of producer Luke Abbott, saxophonist Jack Wyllie (Portico Quartet) and drummer Laurence Pike (Triosk/PVT/Liars) - recorded the album sessions together at the tail end of their 2019 European tour, locking themselves away in the studio for three days of improvisation. They emerged with hours of music, some inspired by their live shows, most born fresh in the studio itself, ready to be moulded into the group's third album in five years.

Pretty Girl is in some sort of purple patch. Storming off the back of stellar releases ‘Arc’ and ‘Sun Phase’, the Naarm neophyte has officially arrived with her debut EP ‘Middle Ground’. What is now becoming somewhat of a signature, the artist lathers the debut in her very own saintly vocals. This is a four-track exposé of emotive dance music. 


The A1 ‘Arc’ sets the tone. Flexing her muscles in sound design, PG pieces together a shimmering house runner. Featuring laser-like chords and delectable drum patterns, ‘Arc’ sends you skyward. Racking up giant streaming numbers and snaring features on more than 20 Spotify Editorial playlists, this one’s an underground bullseye. 


'Empathy’ is the next to arrive. A call and response record that walks a lovely tightrope, perfectly balanced in both vocals and production. As the name suggests, the piece is stacked with deep motif’s that act as a window into Pretty Girl’s day-to-day. Her standout vocal production to date is met with her distinctive driving percussion and melancholic chord progressions. 


'Lavender’ is a sharp percussive creation and a fitting welcome to the B-side. A one-line affair that burrows deeper and deeper. Once again, showing off her prowess in production, PG plays masterfully with sub-bass and glitchy drums resulting in a stellar display of late-night audio. 


Although devoid of lyrics ‘The Only Way Is Through’, brims with feeling and is the perfect climax. Here’s a record full of hope and promise. Manipulating an array of judiciously chosen synths, PG shapes a vast interstellar space. Over the 8 minute trip, a palette of tight drum patterns come knocking, pleasantly surprising you with each visit. With time on her side, the producer gives each sonic element its moment in the spotlight. And girl do they shine! Where there is light, there is darkness and PG plays with both moods to perfection. Listen closely and you can almost hear the concentration involved in piecing this moving galaxy together. 


With staggering streaming numbers across multiple platforms along with additions to some of the world’s most sought-after playlists, the time is now for Pretty Girl and the release of ‘Middle Ground’.

repress

"The haunting ambience of Beat fit somewhat with the then-popular Massive Attack and Portishead, but the album's subsonic drone made it more of a minimal mood piece than a collection of songs." MAGNET

The second in a trio of albums released by the core duo of Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener, Beat is without doubt their definitive artistic statement.

Coming 20 years to the day of its original release, this is the first time this album has been available on vinyl in almost two decades, and the first ever U.S. vinyl release. (Was released here on Beggars Banquet, original copies very hard to find..)

The second album from New York City's Bowery Electric was released in late 1996, less than 15 months after their self-titled debut, but it found them having traveled light years musically in the interim, the group having seemingly decided to see how far they could take the guitar/ bass/ drums/ vocal setup into the atmosphere.

Every aspect of their approach had been refined and focused: squalling, distorted guitars had been transformed into hazy, sensual sheets; the live drums transmuted to sampled rhythms more in debt to the blossoming downtempo sound of the day; bass lines reduced to their most basic diagrams; vocals submerged to become one with the narcotized fog of the instruments; even the lyrics were reduced to a few minimal lines used sparingly so as not to overshadow the dynamic.

Beat is a lush and dense mantra of shadowy percussion, barely-there vocals and immersive drones that envelops the listener in an opiated blanket of sound.

quotes:

"Bowery Electric have made something utterly astonishing here. So deep, so wide, and somehow as intimate as a train crash. The first six tracks are just the most crushingly beautiful thing I've heard in 1997; the last five are even better. Good god, THIS IS IT." Melody Maker

"While cymbals shower down over the songs like a torrent of shattered glass, their austere beauty is never static. Ambience has rarely sounded so messy." Exclaim

A near-perfect mix of shifting dance beats, menacing electronic drones, analogue bleeps,
syncopated rhythms and ethereal vocals." Now UK

A stellar piece of ambient jazz finally getting the vinyl treatment. 'Green' was Robohands (aka Andy Baxter) debut LP that combines ambient, jungle and hip-hop sensibilities into a relaxing jazz package that rightfully earned its popularity on YouTube. Described as a future classic, 'Green' is an effortless and high quality piece of jazz coming direct from the underground with zero promotion - the talent speaks for itself. 'Lost' is an immediate favourite, a lowkey drum breakbeat over soulfull piano lends itself to a near tropical vibe. 'Dream' is a cozy banger, reminiscent of the instrumentation from Solange in her more recent works, while 'Ascend' feels like an extract from a Studio Ghibli movie - Baxter's concept of setting and atmosphere are perfect. Fans of lo-fi hip-hop and ambient as a genre need to know the name Robohands.

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) and together with “Seven Up” (MG.ART613) we proudly announce “JOIN INN” as Part3 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series.
“JOIN INN” is the fourth album by Ash Ra Tempel. It was recorded at Studio Dierks and originally released on LP by Ohr Musik-Produktion, catalogue number OMM 556032. Each side of the LP comprises one long track.
In 1972 ASH RA TEMPEL teamed up again with Klaus Schulze during the recording of Walter Wegmüller's Tarot album, and after one of the recording sessions, ASH RA TEMPEL members: Enke, Göttsching and Rosi, together with Klaus decided to "play it again" in a late night session. This recording led to the birth of the “JOIN INN” album, as well as two legendary last concerts in February 1973 in Paris and Cologne.
Manuel Göttsching recalls Hartmut Enke on bass and Klaus Schulze on drums being a dream-team rhythm section for him to play his guitar, especially here to hear on “Freak'n' Roll”, that was ingenious and not to replace ever since.
It was the last recording ever where Klaus Schulze (who sadly passed away this Year) played the Drums and also Hartmut (the Hawk) Enke soon after quit the Bass and music forever.
Join Inn marks the end of the collaboration with Klaus Schulze.
However, together with Ash Ra Tempel, their eponymous first album, which will be released in 2023 as the final edition of our Series, it is considered a highlight of the Krautrock movement.
As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review from his book “Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995):
""Freak’n’roll” fades in like it never started - just was always there from the beginning of time, a dry wah-guitar freerock riff-out unlike any of the other Ash Ra Tempel LPs, and not much like any other music. Yes, there are bluesy riff but none of them have a blues context. Manuel Gottsching’s guitar is so confident that he sometimes drops down to a simple major chord groove, whilst the Hawk pushes that round woody bass into strange overlapping rumbling melody. And ... it’s the return of Klaus Schulze on drums which propels “Freak’n’roll” to its height. No-one but Klaus has the ability to
transcend rock’n’roll in such an on-the-beat non-groove-y way and still send sparks of light into the cosmos as he does it.
-> continued on page 2“Freak’n’roll” is so egoless that it even works at a quiet volume as meditational music. Themes rise from the high tempo pulse beat, then are carried along the muscles of the song into the main area where the riff actually becomes real and expressionist for just long enough before slipping back into the musical fabric of the song.
As usual with Ash Ra Tempel, the other side is an enormous drift piece called “Jenseits (The Next World)”, a beautiful Klaus Schultze meditation of haunting synthesizer chords over which Rosi Muller tells the story of the Cosmic Couriers’ meeting with Timothy Leary. Gradually, the pulsing guitar becomes increasingly intense and turbulent, but Rosi never sounds less than freaked out. Essentially, “Jenseits” is a precursor to Klaus Schulze’s later spacey minor-key grooves.
Unfortunately, this was the last Ash Ra Tempel album in its particular ‘series.
(…) After “JOIN INN”, Manuel Gottsching took over the Ash Ra Tempel mantle alone.”

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) we proudly announce “Seven Up” as Part 2 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series.
“Seven Up” is the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel and their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology, Dr. Timothy Leary. The Coverart for “Seven Up” was designed by famous Swiss Artist Walter Wegmüller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany. First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik - the first release on the new sub-label "Kosmische Kuriere", Kat-Nr. KK 58001.
We release “Seven Up” in a Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself, on September 9th 2022, also being Manuel Göttsching´s 70th Birthday. Our Edition features the full original text for the “7 levels of consciousness” by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. “Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel” plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts incl. notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session. ->continued on page 2->continued on page 2 As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review and remarks from his book "Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995):
“When the Leary Mob met the Kaiser Gang, the sparks flew ever Up-wards... 7up is a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues !
Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke had begun their careers in The Steeple Chase Blues Band back in the mid-'60ies, and they quickly felt their way through what Barritt and Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unreal Pere Ubu/early Roxy Music quality.
The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on 7Up that there is really nothing else like it. Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And with Dierks at the controls, even the New Kids on the Block would have sounded psychedelic.
7Up is like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers.
The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk Technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions.
In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, “Space” and "Time”. Within this, though,
Timothy Leary’s ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together. The highlight of Side 1 is “Power Drive”, a West Coast burn-up that transcends any W.
Coast music I ever did hear. Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on like Jagger and Morrison but too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away.
In chaos it was conceived and in chaos it was recorded. Yet Dieter Dierks, the great Aural Architect of the Cosmic Couriers, turned 7Up into a personal triumph and a Kosmische dream.”

Ash Ra Tempel – “Seven Up”
TIMOTHY LEARY - voice
BRIAN BARRITT - voice
MICKY DUWE - voice & flute
LIZ ELLIOTT - voice
BETTINA HOHLS - voice
PORTIA NKOMO - voice
HARTMUT "HAWK" ENKE - bass, guitar & electronics
MANUEL GÖTTSCHING - guitar & electronics
STEVE A. - organ & electronics
DIETMAR BURMEISTER - drums
TOMMY ENGEL - drums
DIETER DIERKS - synthesizer & Radio Downtown

Tape



Over the course of two nights, a few weeks before the pandemic arrived in Portugal, André Gonçalves (ADDAC System) and Casper Clausen (Efterklang) recorded music from another realm, dreamy and scary at the same time, sounds complete but it seems to be falling apart at any moment. It is like an alien language or a way to process sound that sounds foreign because it is different from everything else, formally, and aesthetically. This is “Aether”, 37 minutes of constant take-off. A departure from what both musicians have done in the past.

That’s the beauty of these collaborations. You don’t know exactly the point of departure and where it leads. “Aether” masters that feeling throughout seven parts. The synthesized sounds hang in the air like clouds slowly moving, transforming into something else. Sometimes they touch each other and form something else. Or they just hang in there, waiting, just waiting. And then Casper Clausen’s voice shows up and offers a “Twin Peaks” feeling to everything, transforming that sound mass into ethereal melodies that become too overwhelming.

We think about all those Popol Vuh soundtracks from the Werner Herzog films, the fog that never goes away. The constant ecstasy of creating something magical or achieving the impossible. Or even Vangelis and his ability to elevate simple sounds into something beautiful and glorious. Both share this element of the unexpected, you’ll never know what you’ll listen to or feel during the process of active listening. It is a bizarre but comforting experience, a synthetic dream you want to be part of. Music to be touched and felt.

Primetime Entertainment’ is PET NEEDS’ second studio album and is produced by friend and fan Frank Turner. Simultaneously loud and quiet, raucous party anthems sit alongside thought-provoking personal songs; it’s the sound of a band stepping up a gear to match their catapult on the big stages across the world. Having already toured Europe supporting Frank Turner in the first half of 2022, including Germany, Netherlands, France and more – the touring continues joining Frank on his mammoth 50 States in 50 Days tour of the US throughout June and July and then finally across the UK in September and October. ‘Primetime Entertainment’ is released on 9th September and will be available on CD, LP, digital and cassette. Timeline: Track 1 – ‘Get On The Roof’ – released as a single on 24th June ‘22 "After a gruelling 8 hour drive from a gig in South Devon back to Essex, I was reunited with my wonderful partner Lorna. We threw an old mattress out of our bedroom window onto our roof and clambered out, armed with a rucksack full of the remainder of last night's rider. We listened to cinematic theme tunes as the sun set over the chimneys on the horizon. Come early morning, we rolled back into the house. I grabbed my acoustic guitar, pressed "record" on my phone and sung a dizzy, euphoric stream of consciousness to my voice notes. It felt good, but they always do at that time of night, haha. On second listen in the morning, I felt excited about the tune and started to refine it. As soon as it hit the practice room we turned it into a party banger!"

"My debut album "Leidenzwang" is the consequence of boundless obsession" apostrophizes Kenji Araki with stoic calm. An obsession in the most positive as well as in the most negative of all senses, involving a wide variety of media. Kenji, in his early 20s, is known to be a digital and interdisciplinary artist from Austria with roots in Japan whose work is primarily influenced by the deconstruction of music and contemporary art.

"Leidenzwang" (in English: Suffering compulsion) is confrontation. Confrontation with the world. Confrontation with oneself. A confrontation that can be productive and cathartic. However, until Kenji Araki was able to get into this pattern of thinking, it was necessary in the process of creation to leave his very own sanctuary which he cultivated over the years. Escapism in the rear-view mirror of the past. "Leidenzwang" as a natural hybrid of passion (probably the most beautiful feeling a creatively active person can experience) and dangerous self-flagellation plus constant unrest. The result and musical core of Kenji Araki's debut album is an experimental, emotional post-club exploration with pop sensibility that deliberately ignores genre boundaries.

12 tracks spread over 50 minutes in fast forward: It starts with the adequate intro "Avant" - a primal scream. Next with "Matter" where Kenji collaborates with Thomas Mertlseder and constructs the sound world of a dark fashion film. Emotional highlights for the vividly vibrating club floor as well as for the digital terminals of Planet Earth delivers "Nabelschnurtanz" with its amalgamation of human sound waves. Followed by "Gel & Gewalt" - a combination of 90s Grunge, IDM and exponential rhythms - the fierce "SINEW" with its distorted double bass recordings and "Monomythz" which is Kenji's interpretation of a club banger with a combination of 2000s Eurodance aesthetic and hypermodern off kilter beats.

A moment to take a breath is offered by the spherical track "Milieu" which was written during an emotional low and thus naturally has a dark note. At position 8 is "lluviácida" - inspired by the "rave scene" observed from afar. Closely followed by the album's title number "Leidenzwang" with its granularized piano melodies while nature sounds can be heard in the background.

The album finale is formed by the polyrhythmic fireworks "Deathless Mess", the piece "Isan 世襲" (in Japanese heritage) which symbolizes the own inner turmoil and at the same time acoustically illustrates the relationship to his origin. And the conclusion is marked by the heartbreaking "Au-Dèla" as the epitome of a closer. Kenji Araki: The time is now.

As a collective thought, Spice's Self-Titled debut album offers a deliberate isolation of pain as interpreted through different vehicles. Less than 30-minutes in length, the record diverts from a singular mood, tempo, or delivery, instead focusing on orchestrating emotional drain as single impulses_fast, slow, driving, simple, and layered_that coalesce in their machinations. At its core, Spice's SelfTitled album is wired together by brawny and brittle guitars, lock-groove rhythms, and vocals announce each moment and mood. Formed in 2018 and based across California, each members' roots are in the North Bay of San Francisco. Comprised of Ross Farrar (vocals) and Jake Casarotti (drums), both of Ceremony, along with Cody Sullivan (bass), Ian Simpson (guitar), and Victoria Skudlarek (violin), Spice's sound pulls from the sense of melody and drive inherent to Bay Area pedigree, peppered with modernity and awash with an anthemic haze. The hook is in the connection as much as melody, with each song building its inner narrative and exploration of affliction. Traversing guitar-driven indie-pop and call-to-action impulse, Spice balances their urgency by interspersing violin melodies and layers, creating depth without oversaturating the heart of each song. Building complexity with laser focus, Spice shares the authoritative drive of Jawbreaker, J Church, The Horrors, and Fugazi, set in their own world of unrest. The treatment of each song is a statement that informs the whole - anecdotes that can bleed slowly or swirl quickly. In a sense, the Self-Titled album itself is an entire song, with each track becoming the verses, choruses, and interludes that narrate its intent. Ending with the final track they workshopped for the album titled "I Don't Wanna Die in New York," the album ends with a punch before winding back into meditation. Honed over late nights at Panda Studios in Fremont, California with producer Sam Pura (Basement, The Story So Far, Self Defense Family), Spice spent hours tweaking it until it became a little world formed by what they refer to as "the power of groupthink." Sprinkled with field recordings_audio snapshots from the member's every-day-lives_the record offers an intimate twist that builds on its theme of a single thread that connects everything with continuity, making it a single organism with as many depths as questions.

As a collective thought, Spice's Self-Titled debut album offers a deliberate isolation of pain as interpreted through different vehicles. Less than 30-minutes in length, the record diverts from a singular mood, tempo, or delivery, instead focusing on orchestrating emotional drain as single impulses_fast, slow, driving, simple, and layered_that coalesce in their machinations. At its core, Spice's SelfTitled album is wired together by brawny and brittle guitars, lock-groove rhythms, and vocals announce each moment and mood. Formed in 2018 and based across California, each members' roots are in the North Bay of San Francisco. Comprised of Ross Farrar (vocals) and Jake Casarotti (drums), both of Ceremony, along with Cody Sullivan (bass), Ian Simpson (guitar), and Victoria Skudlarek (violin), Spice's sound pulls from the sense of melody and drive inherent to Bay Area pedigree, peppered with modernity and awash with an anthemic haze. The hook is in the connection as much as melody, with each song building its inner narrative and exploration of affliction. Traversing guitar-driven indie-pop and call-to-action impulse, Spice balances their urgency by interspersing violin melodies and layers, creating depth without oversaturating the heart of each song. Building complexity with laser focus, Spice shares the authoritative drive of Jawbreaker, J Church, The Horrors, and Fugazi, set in their own world of unrest. The treatment of each song is a statement that informs the whole - anecdotes that can bleed slowly or swirl quickly. In a sense, the Self-Titled album itself is an entire song, with each track becoming the verses, choruses, and interludes that narrate its intent. Ending with the final track they workshopped for the album titled "I Don't Wanna Die in New York," the album ends with a punch before winding back into meditation. Honed over late nights at Panda Studios in Fremont, California with producer Sam Pura (Basement, The Story So Far, Self Defense Family), Spice spent hours tweaking it until it became a little world formed by what they refer to as "the power of groupthink." Sprinkled with field recordings_audio snapshots from the member's every-day-lives_the record offers an intimate twist that builds on its theme of a single thread that connects everything with continuity, making it a single organism with as many depths as questions.

Demian Sky is a meticulous beatmaker, experienced musician, committed record store
manager, passionate DJ as well as excessive record collector and music enthusiast. His instrumental hip-hop debut »A Kraut Tale« is a narrative sound journey on 18 tracks. The song structures, the musical concept and the overall atmosphere of the record show very clearly that his influences are not only in hip-hop, but also in psychedelic and prog rock of the 60s and 70s. There are also some references to works of DJ Shadow, Dan The Automator, Cut Chemist, Gaslamp Killer and such. It is all the more astonishing that, contrary to possible expectations, all samples come from old German Schlager and Folk music records. The result is not a loose collection of individual pieces of music, but rather a coherent album with its own dramaturgy in two chapters.

"A gang of stylish demons discover a wild animal pacing around a Berlin cellar, wearing only a hawaiian shirt and someone else’s blood. He doesn’t know what day it is, just that he went to a party several months ago and hasn’t been to sleep since. They lovingly rescue and rehouse the wretched creature in a glaas box where he’s content to howl his paranoid chants all day for their entertainment and now ours. This debut lays out a mangled inventory of fractured memories, haunted visions of broken people and places making a sacred ritual out of ruining themselves. These are hymns to so many nights gone so far wrong, from the graveyard sex to the extra bump you might have resisted had the urge to feel something not overtaken you… Employing an elevated and reinvigorated version of the ‘modern post punk with anarcho flourishes’ mode, with whirring synthesisers and creepy keys signpost into even more disorienting territory, GLAAS create a creepy and compelling soundtrack to the romantic nihilism of urban decay: disturbing lifestyle choices but make it sexy." - Bryony Beynon Featuring members of Clock Of Time, Exit Group, Cage Kicker, Idiota Civlizzatto, Lacquer and more. This is the debut LP from GLAAS. The LP comes housed in a sleeve with linocut artwork as well as an additional A2 poster from Raquel Torre and an additional lyric sheet.

"The prolific band returns with a brief and seething left-turn: a furious homage to the scummiest, crustiest hardcore of the early ’80s". (Pitchfork)

"Brain stem cracking scum-punk recorded tersely in the basement of my home. After a notoriously frustrating eon, the knee-jerk song path was aggressive and hooky. This is an homage to the punk bands we grew up on—the weirdos and art freaks that piqued our interests and pointed us on the trail head to here / now. Bad times make for strong music is something I agree with. I would say that is evident by the past few years of output from the underground. Transmissions have been all over the map: scanning…searching...sweeping out in the darkness looking for a foot hold.

OSEES A Foul From represents some of our most savage and primal instincts. Fight or flight. And the importance of a sense of humor in the darkest hour. Nothing wrong with keeping it snappy in the meantime. For fans of Rudimentary Peni, Crass, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Screamers, Abwärts, Stooges and all things aggressively tilted towards your face. You can lean back but don’t flinch…it’s a brief foray into the exhausting pogo pit, so stiffen your back and jerk with your knees. Enjoy." - John Dwyer

The band describe the EP:

“This EP is definitely bigger, having more time in the studio definitely meant we got to experiment more and layer more into each track so there’s an overall bigger sound! The main themes of this EP are restlessness and anxiety, during lockdown that’s how myself and most people were feeling so that’s what inspired a lot of the writing.”

Opening with the buzz of a smartphone on vibrate, First Hate’s sophomore album Cotton Candy launches to life with “Someone New,” a synth-driven statement of intent. The Danish duo’s charged songs are rooted in a recognizable universe, but traverse a wide array of genre experiments and pop detours. Cotton Candy follows the quest of its protagonist stumbling through a crumbling world, winning and losing lovers, swinging from extreme highs to hopeless lows. The title alludes to transience and ecstasy, the surge of a sugar rush before nausea sets in, the way cotton candy dissolves into nothingness leaving only sticky fingers. Throughout, the productions glitter with synthetic detail and hypermodern finesse, effervescent but elusive. “Life is a rollercoaster and we’ve ridden the ups and downs.” During the recording sessions, a collage of Copenhagen musicians flowed through the studio. First Hate is a fixture of the city’s creative community, but ultimately exists in their own sphere, carving a niche as parallel universe pop stars, embracing sweet and bitter, risk and reward: “Sometimes the ones who love you most are the ones who hold you back.” Anton and Joakim grew up in Copenhagen and met when they were 15 through common friends on the street where they lived. “I didn’t enjoy being home so I used to stay at my friend Jakob's basement in an old church on Willemoesgade street,” says Wei. “His mom was the priest. She baptized Anton at age eight during his Jesus phase when he demanded a late baptism from his atheist parents. Jakob was friends with Elias who lived up in Anton’s end and they introduced us to each other. One summer my parents finally married after 20 years of dating. Joakim moved in for two weeks and we accidentally trashed the apartment while they were on their honeymoon. Later on Jakob, Elias, and two other friends, Dan and Johan, formed the band Iceage. Watching our friends’ growing success was a catalyst in creating our own project. At that point everybody in our friend group was making punk music, so the most punk thing we could think to do was start a pop duo.” The First Hate catalog comprises more than nine years of work, including their 2017 cult classic, A Prayer For The Unemployed, a collaborative album Dittes Bog, two EPs and several singles. All of the recordings are self-produced, until they are ready to be finished in the studio. “We have sort of a twin alliance. Like couples finishing each other’s spaghetti at restaurants, we finish each other’s music. Having people enter this sacred mix has been such a pleasure.” On stage Anton and Joakim embody the contrasting yet complimentary energies of yin and yang: Joakim pushing buttons, steering the ship, working synths and samplers with harmonious calm, while Anton’s body bullets around the stage, pounding out his kinetic dance moves. The name Anton means fragile flower, an apt metaphor for his stage presence. A fragile flower shooting through concrete. To behold a performer who consistently delivers such intense live performances is a rare pleasure. “Live means love. When everything is right. When we meet the audience heart to heart. Then the planet spins even faster.” First Hate has performed over a hundred shows across Europe, Asia, the U.S., and Russia, both as headliners and alongside fellow Copenhagen acts Iceage, Lust For Youth, Communions, Soho Rezanejad, Trentemøller and Grand Prix. “We are on a quest of love, yes it’s as cheesy as that.”

Charley Crockett will release his latest album The Man From Waco on September 9th via Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers. Crockett wrote or co-wrote all 14 songs on the album, and in many ways The Man From Waco is the purest distillation of his artistry to date. What started as a demo session with producer Bruce Robison at Robison’s studio The Bunker outside Austin, TX turned into the first album Crockett has ever made with his band The Blue Drifters backing him from start to finish. Mostly first takes with only a handful of overdubs, The Man From Waco finds Crockett refining his singular “Gulf & Western” sound which continues to captivate an ever-growing legion of fans. “I just wanted an honest partnership: do it at your place, live to tape, everybody in the room,” Crockett says of the recording experience, and Robison was happy to accommodate. “The magic is in the performances on that tape. That’s what Bruce wanted to do, that’s what I wanted to do. When we were done, I said ‘these are masters, not demos.’” Crockett won “Emerging Act of the Year” at the 2021 Americana Honors & Awards and made his Austin City Limits TV debut a month later. He received billboards in Times Square from Spotify and CMT, performed at several top tier festivals including Austin City Limits and Merlefest, and was featured in an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 'Music City USA' released in Sept 2021, stayed at #1 on the Americana radio charts for six straight weeks and the album debuted on 14 different Billboard charts. Globally, Crockett’s music has been streamed over 190 million times, with 93 million streams coming in the past year. 'Lil' G.L. Presents Jukebox Charley', released in April 2022, was celebrated by press outlets such as Holler, Billboard, The Tennessean, Saving Country Music, Rolling Stone and more. Charley's success has caught the attention of CBS' Anthony Mason, who produced a CBS Mornings segment that was televised April '22.

An iconic landmark album within Death Metal. “Testinomy of the Ancients” gets the well-deserved reissue! Two years after releasing one of the best death metal albums ever to surface from The Netherlands, Pestilence hit jackpot again with their 1991 album “Testimony Of The Ancients”. The biggest differences with their previous effort “Consuming Impulse” are simple: The production is more clean, short intermezzos between all the songs, the average pace is lower and Patrick Mameli has taken over lead vocals. Pestilence has had a well-deserved place in the first wave death metal elite, mentioned in one breath with the likes of Death, Sepultura, Cynic, Atheist and the likes. Rightly so, because their progression up untill this album is comparable to, say, Carcass. With every album they developed their sound so no release sounds alike but still stays Pestilence undeniably. Their previous album “Consuming Impulse” was unprecedented in brutality and morbidness. ‘Testimony of the Ancients” is less relentless, but it makes up for that with an onimous dose of morbid melodies, great lyrics and an all out Lovecraftian atmosphere. The highlight of this album is definately the guitars. Patrick Mameli and Patrick Uterwijk are a great tandem, combining melodic (twin) soloing with screeches and crashes of tremolo filled chaos. Take for example the song “Land Of Tears”. The guitar solo starts out very emotional, almost ballad like and then switches into high gear, so that all listeners who were dreaming away immediately abbandon all hope for solution of the saddening first guitar part. Noteworthy also are the supportive keyboard samples, never obnoxious, always morbid. Other album highlights are the title track (with truly frightening and insane lyrics), ‘Twisted Truth’ with its catchy dynamics, ‘Profetic Revelations’ (excellent chorus) and basically the whole album is perfect. Special attention to the final track (the album sticks together with samples, which are all great by the way) ‘Stigmatized’. This is death metal perfection, combining Slayer, Death and even Iron Maiden to create a masterpiece of metal.