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Richard Fearless follows his critically acclaimed psycho-geographical techno masterpiece ‘Deep Rave Memory’ with its companion album ‘Future Rave Memory’.

Across titanium kosmische, industrial ambience, weightless acid and dark drone, this new record is an instrument of evocative wonder and heavy emotion.

A dystopian ambient album and work of modernist meditation set firmly in an era when humanity is reckoning with its outsized place in the natural world, a process which may evoke humility, defiance, denial or despair.

When Berus debuted in January 2021 on Kommerz Records with his “Voyage EP”, he had no idea how precise the title would be for the coming months. A little over a year before the release of “Voyage” the Berlin based multi-instrumentalist and producer had taken his focus away from his, more than a decade lasting, house and techno career towards a new sound, inspired from neo soul and hip-hop. Whilst his electronic projects found home on Kerri Chandler's Madhouse Recordings and DVS1’s infamous Mistress and gained his moniker Frag Maddin worldwide attention, it was part of his progress to focus on himself and Berus, his real name. He took this step not knowing it would lead him into a dark journey of self revelation, identity finding and for the foremost new hope: blue hope.
Berus was born to a Zaza family in Kurdistan, which eventually migrated to Germany escaping prosecution and discrimination of the nationalist regime in Turkey. The family settled in Hamburg and Berus grew up to be a New Release Information
musician. He played the drums, formed teen punk bands and started producing at an early age experimenting and shaping his future as an artist.
Since the beginning of his career Berus releases can be seen like a diary, always expressing his very personal state at the time. For the work on “Blue Hope” two main topics fall into the production of the album: love relationships and seeking identity.
There is a blue melancholy and reflection leading through the album. On “Talk to Me (Karþýlýklý)” Berus opens up about his feelings of true love and the need to set free when they are not answered. Whilst the incredible Mulay who is featured on “Holy Waters” answers with her female perspective. And there is hope. The hope (“Dream On”) and fears (“Being Alive” feat. Sedric Perry) of a young migrant generation. “Blue Hope'' is a coming of age story that’s relatable and yet unique, honest but vulnerable and for the foremost: 100% Berus.
The album is a neatly curated mixtape and delivers a wide range of styles like the jiggy sounding Mike Nasa on “On Me” all the way to “Wholesome” on which Barne delivers a John Mayer-esque performance.
On “Blue Hope” Berus gathered a mixture of old friends and new talent around him to produce the record. The outcome is an LP referencing different influences without the use of any samples.

Nate Smith Recruits Special Guests Vernon Reid, Brittany Howard, Kokayi, Joel Ross, Michael Mayo, Stokley, AmmaWhatt and Regina Carter for Kinfolk 2, the successor to his Grammy-nominated debut.
Kinfolk 2: See the Birds is the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2017 Grammy-nominated album Kinfolk: Postcards From Everywhere. Featuring the diverse and all-star talents of Brittany Howard, AmmaWhatt, Joel Ross, Kokayi, Michael Mayo, Regina Carter, Stokley and Vernon Reid, Kinfolk 2: See the Birds is the inspired and emphatic album that exemplifies Nate's artistry as one of the most exciting, dynamic and innovative drummer-composers of his generation, adept across multi-genres and styles. Taking inspiration from his teenage years spent absorbing the diverse and eclectic riches of Prince, Michael Jackson and Living Colour. Kinfolk 2: See the Birds is a multi-faceted jewel and is set to be one of the most significant albums of 2021. Nate is one of the most important artists in the progressive jazz world (Kamasi Washington, Makaya McCraven, Shabaka Hutchings, Robert Glasper, and Nate Smith) He's a torchbearer of progressive music / "one of the faces of progressive jazz" His profile / reach is significantly larger than that of his peers (larger than most successful pop/mainstream artists too) Nate accesses wider audiences by seamlessly operating in the jazz and mainstream/pop worlds. Nate operates in a unique space within the progressive world because of his drumming, his collaborations with Brittany Howard and the Fearless Flyers (Vulfpeck spinoff), his recording work with famed producers Dave Cobb and Mike Elizando, and his talent as a composer/arranger/producer. He also brings a "grown" R&B element to his music the Makaya, for example, does not. Nate Smith is an icon. He represents where jazz as a genre is going and is easily one of the most important artists you can cover in 2021/2022.

NOW Music is delighted to introduce our new sub-brand ‘NOW Presents…’. This new series starts with ‘NOW Presents… The 1970s’, the first-ever NOW vinyl boxset featuring 5 LPs uniquely designed to reflect the era.

The boxset is a musical time capsule of the decade that saw so many different genres find chart success. Across its 74 tracks over 10 sides of vinyl, the massive hits sit alongside enduring classics from each year. The set not only includes 5 beautifully designed front covers on the individual albums (that slot into a rigid slip case), but also features track by track annotations with chart positions and facts about the artists and songs.

Each year, 1970-1979 is presented as 1 side of each LP… Kicking off with the iconic ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel from the biggest selling album of the year, and of the decade. 1970 also includes Motown classics from Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and the debut hit ‘I Want You Back’ from the Jackson 5.

1971 includes the seminal ‘What’s Going On’ from Marvin Gaye, alongside Elton John’s breakthrough – the timeless ‘Your Song’, Rod Stewart’s breakthrough ‘Maggie May’, and The Who’s defining rock anthem ‘Baba O’Riley’.

The charts in 1972 began to reflect the popularity of ‘Glam Rock’ – and ‘Virginia Plain’ by Roxy Music, and ‘Metal Guru’ by T. Rex are included, as is the David Bowie-produced ‘Perfect Day’ from Lou Reed.

‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ – one of the most beautiful songs, and vocals ever from Roberta Flack opens 1973’s side – and is joined by, amongst others, Billy Joel’s signature song ‘Piano Man’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’.

1974 celebrates Queen having their first Top 5 single with ‘Killer Queen’, and title tracks from two of the decades’ biggest selling albums: Paul McCartney & Wings with ‘Band On The Run’, and ‘Tubular Bells’ from Mike Oldfield.

John Lennon released ‘Imagine’ in 1971 – but it became a UK hit in 1975, and so, starts this side… and finds space for some of the year’s perfect pop from Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, David Essex, 10cc, and the biggest hit ‘Bye Bye Baby’ from Bay City Rollers, at the peak of their popularity.

ABBA enjoyed 7 UK Number 1’s in the 1970s, and their biggest was the enduringly popular ‘Dancing Queen’ which leads into 1976. Electric Light Orchestra had a huge hit with ‘Livin’ Thing’, as did Thin Lizzy with ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ – plus Joan Armatrading emerged with ‘Love And Affection’.

1977 saw Fleetwood Mac release their mega-selling album ‘Rumours’, and from it ‘Don’t Stop’ is here, as is Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ – one of the most influential dance tracks of all time – and one of 1977’s favourite TV stars, David Soul, enjoyed a #1 single with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’.

With ‘Wuthering Heights’, Kate Bush not only had 4 weeks at number 1 in 1978, but became the first female artist to achieve this with a self-written song. The Jam, The Boomtown Rats and Siouxsie And The Banshees all found consistent success as Punk & New Wave established new chart stars.

1979 concludes the set and opens with the iconic ‘London Calling’ from The Clash, and includes two of the biggest bands of the era, The Police and Blondie. A couple of years later the first video played on MTV would be ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ from The Buggles – and it’s fitting that this is the final track on the collection, a #1 in late 1979 – it signposted the synth-pop wave that would define the early 80s…. (but that’s a different box set).

**LIMITED BLACK VINYL** Rival Consoles returns with a resonant
and explorative soundscape of original
music, composed for renowned
choreographer Alexander Whitley’s
contemporary dance production
Overflow.

Exploring themes of the human and emotional
consequences of life surrounded by data, the piece
echoes the concept of social media, advertising,
marketing companies and political factions
exploiting our data to gain wealth, political
advantage and sow division. Key reading for the
project was based around the contemporary
philosophical work Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism
and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul
Han.
“The piece opens with Monster which has a kind of
drunken madness to it, highly repetitive to mirror the
repetitive nature of how we as humans engage with
technology such as social media. It’s sometimes
edging towards chaos but yet always returning back
to the same starting point, but eventually giving way
to exhaustion. I wanted to create a bold opening
piece for Overflow,” states West.

I Like features the mapping of data from dancer Tia
Hockey’s personal monologue, which allows chords
to be heard - but only based on the activity of her
voice, drawing attention to things happening behind
the curtain, invisible systems, algorithms.
The album also features the previously released
standalone slice of euphoria, Pulses of Information
— described by UK mag Clash as “typically
entrancing, Pulses of Information seems to
encourage a form of internal dialogue, between our
inner and outer selves.”

Overflow was premiered by the Alexander Whitley
Dance Company in May 2021 at the Sadler’s Wells
in London and is scheduled to tour through theatres
in Europe in spring 2022. The score will be released
by Erased Tapes on limited edition vinyl and CD as
well as digital formats on December 3.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Live Hubris, documenting the hypnotic and electrifying live performance of Oren Ambarchi’s 2016 LP Hubris by a fifteen-strong band at London’s Café Oto. Over three days in May 2019, Oto toasted Oren Ambarchi at 50/Black Truffle at 10 with Ambarchi and a large group of close friends and collaborators in a series of performances that interspersed existing projects with new collective endeavours, culminating with this: fourteen members of the extended Black Truffle family together on stage, joined by one special virtual guest, to translate the intricately studio-constructed layers of Hubris into a muscular live band workout.

Operating with only the bare minimum of pre-gig preparation after the planned afternoon rehearsal had to be wrapped up prematurely due to noise complaints, the gargantuan group lurches into motion with a 21-minute rendition of ‘Hubris Part 1’, powered by the pulsating electronics of Konrad Sprenger (the ‘ringmaster’ at the ensemble’s core) and no less than seven electric guitars spinning a web of intricately interlocking palm-muted polyrhythms. The layers of closely related but metrically distinct lines create ripples of shifting accents, flickering changes in emphasis that ricochet along the endless central pulse. Gradually building in density, this motorik continuum becomes the backdrop for the haunting tones of Eiko Ishibashi’s processed flute and an extended feature from long-distance guest Jim O’Rourke on guitar synth.

After the brief interlude of the second part, where Albert Marcoeur-esque guitar arpeggios accompany a halting attempt at phone conversation, the full ensemble gears up for the epic side-long rendition of ‘Hubris Part 3’. Now joined by the astonishing triple drum line-up of Joe Talia, Will Guthrie and Andreas Werliin, the layered pulse of the opening piece becomes a burning funk-fusion groove. Beginning on a medium simmer, the ensemble initially stick to its pulsating one-note mantra, over which Ambarchi unfurls a beautiful example of his signature shimmering Leslie-toned guitar harmonics, eventually joined by Ishibashi’s flute and some brooding, distorted dissonance from Julia Reidy’s guitar. Building steadily for the first nine minutes, the heat then rises dramatically with a first, gloriously loose chord change: with the all drummers now rolling and tumbling like a twice-cloned Jack DeJohnette circa 1970, Mats Gustafsson enters on baritone, his tortured roars and shrieks driving the band to peaks of insane intensity. Finally, the exhausted ensemble drops out, leaving only the jagged, skittering fuzz of Ambarchi’s guitar, brought to an abrupt conclusion at the command of crys cole. Arriving on hot pink vinyl with artwork by Lasse Marhaug and an extensive selection of live photos by Ivan Weiss and Fabio Lugaro, Live Hubris brings this ambitious and outrageous evening of music to the safety of the home stereo.

February 2021. During a stay in an isolated house in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, I returned to four compositions Renaud Bajeux had sent me a few months prior. I had listened intently and enjoyed them very much, but in this new setting, at this very moment, they took on another dimension. For several days, I went on long walks in the surrounding nature and this album, all in half-light, became an obsession. In sync with the perfection of this moment, with this place, it began to haunt me from dawn till long past dusk. At times calming and meditative, at times wild, rugged, and maybe even dangerous, the music seemed to mirror the mountain landscape encircling me. It became evident that Seeking a Vision would be released on Fragments.

Seeking a Vision follows Renaud Bajeux’s first album, Magnetic Voices from the Unseen (Nahal Recordings, 2019), an exploration of electromagnetic fields. In this second opus, Bajeux works with the sound palette of a Serge synthesizer, combining its polymorphic sounds with field recordings of nature. The album’s four parts can be seen as a continuous mental journey through multiple layers of consciousness. Carried by whispering winds and the cracklings of a campfire, they proceed toward meditative states and obscure inner landscapes.

Seeking a Vision was recorded during an INA GRM residency. Elevation was commissioned by the INA GRM.

Renaud Bajeux is a French composer and film sound designer. His work his primarily based on field recordings and modular synthesizers. It can be located at the crossroads of electroacoustic music, noise, and ambient. Renaud Bajeux’s most recent release is a duet with Antoine Gilloire titled Underwater Soil (Superpang, 2021).

All tracks performed and composed by Renaud Bajeux. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu. Artwork by Morgan Cuinet. Layout by Romain Barbot.

The Blind Date Party hosted by Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
and featuring AZITA, Matt Sweeney, Alasdair Roberts, Matt Kinsey,
Sean O’Hagan, Bill MacKay, George Xylouris, Dead Rider, David Pajo,
Mick Turner, Meg Baird, Ty Segall, Emmett Kelly, Cory Hanson, Six
Organs of Admittance, David Grubbs, Cassie Berman, Cooper Crain and
Sir Richard Bishop happened online in the autumn and winter of 2020 -
2021 but the party planning dated back to the spring of 2020.
 Stuck at home, with no gigs in the foreseeable future, Bill, Bonnie and
Drag City needed an outreach program to keep themselves busy, not to
mention sane. In the absence of any company or anything on the
calendar, playing songs they loved was an idea; playing with people they
loved, the desire. And making it fun - so pairing someone with someone
else having no say in the matter, the essence of the blind date, was the
plan. Favourite songs were chosen; players from around the Drag City
galaxy were messaged. Pretty soon, songs were flying back and forth -
music in the air.
 By autumn, the songs started to appear online: Bill and Bonnie singing a
song by someone they loved and admired; each song cut by another
artist they loved and admired, then sent to Bill and Bonnie to provide the
finishing touches. The spotlight pointed in every direction each week:
toward the singers and writers who’d originally played the songs (Yusuf
Islam, Hank Williams Jr., Dave Rich, The Other Years, Billie Eilish,
Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Bill Callahan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Wyatt,
Lowell George, Johnnie Frierson, Air Supply, Will Oldham, Leonard
Cohen, David Berman, Iggy Pop and John Prine), toward their featured
collaborators, the artists whose artwork adorned each digital single and
videos made by still more collaborators.
 Like the best parties, it turned out to be everything and more than they’d
even hoped for. So many more people were involved in the process that
would on the page here. Suffice to say, making records over the years
has required a broad sense of community and an always-surprising mix
of independence and unity, inspiration and utility. Some of the best
memories are those where as many of our folks as possible were
together in one place at one time. The Blind Date Party was one of
these, maybe the most improbable one yet. It’s for everyone who’s here
and it’s in the name of everyone who’s gone but will never go and will
always live with us here. This album will too.

The Blind Date Party hosted by Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
and featuring AZITA, Matt Sweeney, Alasdair Roberts, Matt Kinsey,
Sean O’Hagan, Bill MacKay, George Xylouris, Dead Rider, David Pajo,
Mick Turner, Meg Baird, Ty Segall, Emmett Kelly, Cory Hanson, Six
Organs of Admittance, David Grubbs, Cassie Berman, Cooper Crain and
Sir Richard Bishop happened online in the autumn and winter of 2020 -
2021 but the party planning dated back to the spring of 2020.
 Stuck at home, with no gigs in the foreseeable future, Bill, Bonnie and
Drag City needed an outreach program to keep themselves busy, not to
mention sane. In the absence of any company or anything on the
calendar, playing songs they loved was an idea; playing with people they
loved, the desire. And making it fun - so pairing someone with someone
else having no say in the matter, the essence of the blind date, was the
plan. Favourite songs were chosen; players from around the Drag City
galaxy were messaged. Pretty soon, songs were flying back and forth -
music in the air.
 By autumn, the songs started to appear online: Bill and Bonnie singing a
song by someone they loved and admired; each song cut by another
artist they loved and admired, then sent to Bill and Bonnie to provide the
finishing touches. The spotlight pointed in every direction each week:
toward the singers and writers who’d originally played the songs (Yusuf
Islam, Hank Williams Jr., Dave Rich, The Other Years, Billie Eilish,
Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Bill Callahan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Wyatt,
Lowell George, Johnnie Frierson, Air Supply, Will Oldham, Leonard
Cohen, David Berman, Iggy Pop and John Prine), toward their featured
collaborators, the artists whose artwork adorned each digital single and
videos made by still more collaborators.
 Like the best parties, it turned out to be everything and more than they’d
even hoped for. So many more people were involved in the process that
would on the page here. Suffice to say, making records over the years
has required a broad sense of community and an always-surprising mix
of independence and unity, inspiration and utility. Some of the best
memories are those where as many of our folks as possible were
together in one place at one time. The Blind Date Party was one of
these, maybe the most improbable one yet. It’s for everyone who’s here
and it’s in the name of everyone who’s gone but will never go and will
always live with us here. This album will too.

 The seven-headed Aussie rock beast King Gizzard & The Lizard
Wizard return with a new vinyl edition of ‘Fishing For Fishies’,
perhaps their most perfectly-realised album to date.
 The Eco Edition has been pressed on Eco-Mix vinyl and is housed
in a brown paper bag after previous pressings quickly sold out.
 Released on the band’s own Flightless Records, here is a world
where the organic meets the automated; where the rustic meets
the robotic. Where the past and future collide in the beautiful
present.
 ‘Fishing For Fishies’ is a blues-infused blast of sonic boogie that
struts and shimmies through several moods and terrains. From the
soft shuffle Outback country of the opening title track through the
sunny easy listening of ‘The Bird Song’ (think a lysergically-soaked
Laurel Canyon circa 1973) and on through the party funk of
‘Plastic Boogie’ (which somehow summons the spirit of Stevie
Wonder’s ‘Innervisions’) the road-trucking, Doors-like highway
rock of ‘The Cruel Millennial’ and ‘Real’s Not Real’ - what
Carpenters might have sounded like had they existed entirely on
vegemite and weed - it’s a dizzying, dazzling display which
addresses a number of pertinent environmental issues along the
way.
 “We tried to make a blues record,” says frontman Stu Mackenzie.
“A blues-boogie-shuffle-kinda-thing, but the songs kept fighting it -
or maybe it was us fighting them. Ultimately though we let the
songs guide us this time; we let them have their own personalities
and forge their own path. Paths of light, paths of darkness. This is
a collection of songs that went on wild journeys of transformation.”
 Quiet though it was on the record front, 2018 was hardly a year of
rest for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. In almost perpetual
motion, the band continued their unstoppable rise as their
juggernaut of a live show grew and grew and grew, with a mindblowing headline slot at Green Man Festival, a massive sold-out
US tour in the summer which saw them play their biggest venues
to date, a brain-frying sold out Brixton Academy show, two gigs in
Russia and Istanbul where they played in front of over 15,000
people and putting on the fourth edition of their annual Gizzfest in
Melbourne amongst the highlights.

We are extremely excited to announce that Licorice Pizza: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released on Friday 10rd December 2021 on both CD + Vinyl. Licorice Pizza is the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) & Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) who grow up & fall in love in San Fernando Valley (1973). Written & directed by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits & Benny Safdi also star. Limited movie release in the U.S. Nov 26 and goes wide in US on Dec 25. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood composed the film's score & Paul Thomas Anderson curated the soundtrack also features songs by David Bowie, Paul McCartney and many more to be revealed. The title pays homage to the California record store, Licorice Pizza.





[d] 4 Ac–Cent–Tchuate The Positive (Single Version) [feat. Vic Schoen & His Orchestra] – Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters
[e] 5 Blue Sands [feat. Buddy Collette] – Chico Hamilton Quintet

[g] 7 My Ding-A-Ling (Live At Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA/1967) [feat. Steve Miller Band] – Chuck Berry

"UMC celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Band’s classic fourth album, Cahoots, with an assembly of newly remixed, remastered and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages, including a multi-format Super Deluxe 2CD/Blu-ray/1LP/7-inch vinyl box set along with a 2CD and 180-gram half-speed-mastered black vinyl. All the Anniversary Edition releases were overseen by principal songwriter Robbie Robertson and sport a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain from the original multi-track masters. The box set and CD configurations boast a bevy of unreleased recordings, including Live at the Olympia Theatre, Paris, May 1971, a rousing bootleg partial concert consisting of 11 tracks culled from the initial throes of a European tour that found The Band perched at the top of their live game; and early and alternate versions of “Endless Highway” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece” along with six other early takes, outtakes, instrumentals, and stripped-down mixes.
Exclusively for this box set, Clearmountain has also created new Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround-sound mixes of both the album and four bonus tracks, presented in high resolution on Blu-ray, alongside the new stereo mix. Every new audio mix has been mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering. The lift-top box set also includes an exclusive reproduction of the Japanese pressing of The Band’s 1971 7-inch vinyl single for “Life Is A Carnival” b/w “The Moon Struck One” in their new stereo mixes; a 20-page booklet with new notes by Robbie Robertson and extensive insider liner notes by Rob Bowman; three classic photo lithographs, one each by Barry Feinstein, Richard Avedon (his infamous eyes-closed group portrait from the back cover) and noted New York artist/illustrator Gilbert Stone (who painted the still stunning stretched-out portrait of The Band on the album’s front cover); plus a wealth of additional material and other historical data from the original recordings sessions. The limited-edition 180-gram black vinyl release that features a tip-on jacket also contains a photo lithograph by Barrie Wentzell that’s unique to the package."

"On May 15th 2021 Paul Weller performed an exceptional concert with the hugely talented BBC Symphony Orchestra and award winning arranger Jules Buckley.

This extraordinary performance was a first for Paul, performing with a full orchestra, and saw a quintessential selection of his vast catalogue exquisitely reworked and updated into 75 minutes of breath-taking music that was broadcast across the BBC.

We are extremely excited to announce that Licorice Pizza: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released on Friday 10rd December 2021 on both CD + Vinyl. Licorice Pizza is the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) & Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) who grow up & fall in love in San Fernando Valley (1973). Written & directed by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits & Benny Safdi also star. Limited movie release in the U.S. Nov 26 and goes wide in US on Dec 25. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood composed the film's score & Paul Thomas Anderson curated the soundtrack also features songs by David Bowie, Paul McCartney and many more to be revealed. The title pays homage to the California record store, Licorice Pizza.





d 4 Ac–Cent–Tchuate The Positive (Single Version) [feat. Vic Schoen & His Orchestra] – Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters
[e] 5 Blue Sands [feat. Buddy Collette] – Chico Hamilton Quintet

[g] 7 My Ding-A-Ling (Live At Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA/1967) [feat. Steve Miller Band] – Chuck Berry

Interiors, the title of this new release from Ultramarine, may have a topical resonance for many listeners who have found themselves in involuntary confinement during the past year, but the five tracks on this EP were actually recorded in 2011, and they represent a significant opening out of the duo's evolving musical perspective.

Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond, who had become friends while growing up together in the Essex countryside, formed Ultramarine in 1989. Throughout the 90s their distinctive music, an enticing blending of acoustic with electronic instruments, secured a loyal following and won critical acclaim. Then, throughout the whole of the next decade, Ultramarine lay dormant. Interiors documents their reawakening, with Cooper and Hammond exploring approaches to music-making made possible by recently developed software, designed specifically with live performance in mind.

Four of the five tracks to be heard here were issued digitally last year. But as Paul Hammond has pointed out, "with Ultramarine the whole point is to create an artefact, so the form and the look of the finished product is central." That's an outlook shared passionately by Simon Lewin's label Blackford Hill, and the music now available on this vinyl record is appropriately enhanced with cover art by printmaker Katherine Jones. Her imagery matches the music neatly in its nuanced interplay of solidity and shadow, line and colour, geometric form and organic growth.

Ultramarine returned refreshed in October 2011, bursting back into public awareness with "Find A Way," issued as a 7" single on their own label, Real Soon. Clive Bell, writing in The Wire, extolled its engaging mix of electronic beats with cool vocals and tropical percussion. More generally Bell embraced Ultramarine's thoughtful hybrid electronica as "music you could enjoy at home without feeling your intelligence was being scorned, or that if you were not physically in a club, you were wasting your time."

On Interiors, the roots of that slinky single are laid bare on the purely instrumental track "Find A Way Back." Its two distinct parts stretch out the beats and flaunt those tropical flourishes, shuffling and flexing, vibrant and heady, languid and sultry. This is techno filtered through the fabric of magic realism, an exotically spiced concoction, chilled and ready to be savoured at home.

With the diagrammatic clarity of its punchy thrust and spooling loops "Even When" distils the essence of Cooper and Hammond's way of working with their musical material: layering and shaping, nurturing textures, plaiting rhythms and juggling accents. The cumulative impact is almost sculptural in its physical immediacy and looming presence. In contrast, on "By Return" the duo skew the outcome, projecting a selection of limber figures into dub's auditory hall of mirrors. They are clearly revelling in the reverb, relishing the recoil and decay.

Interiors ultimately opens out onto "Decoy Point (Version)." With its ozone saturated ambience, this closing track evokes marshland and mudflat soundscapes, seabird mews, maritime signals and tidal wash. Cooper and Hammond feel deep attachment to the Essex landscape and, in particular, to the local history and physical features of the Blackwater estuary. Blackford Hill provides an accommodating home for Ultramarine's ongoing project Blackwaterside, which has featured to date a 7" vinyl record plus 28-page booklet, and a photo film with soundtrack. Now, delving into the Ultramarine archive, this welcome incarnation of Interiors offers a fascinating glimpse of the duo finding their bearings, at a vital stage along the way.

‘Expressions of Interest’ is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group screensaver.

Sonically, the 10 track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late 70s-mid 80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021

The album opens with the ominously titled ‘Body Parts’, an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr.

Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, ‘No Movement’. Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. Additional textures and sound effects are used percussively to embellish the dynamics, creating a feverish atmosphere with some Martin Hannett like flourishes.

The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with 'Buy, Sell, Trade' - a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. Chris Stephenson's masterful guitar work begins with Greg Sage-esque determination before a crescendo into a lush Frippertronics outro.

'MEDS' transports us back to the foundation established on 'Body Parts', a gothy piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. Industrial punk rock nearly swallowed whole by the keys in the middle and slowly building back to complimentary guitar and vocal hooks.

It's from this point in the album that the band let's their other influences rise to the surface, as they explore touches of EDM on 'Static State' - a brutal, death-disco style track, Krystal Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line culminating in a track worthy of the dancefloor.


Opening side two we have 'Skin', beginning with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck’s post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to colour in with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke’s bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Chris Stephenson’s guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself.

In ‘Attention Economy’, Krystal Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. ‘Attention Economy’ has an almost Kraftwerkian structure - repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones.

Just when you thought things had slowed down, screensaver ramp things right back up again with ‘Overnight Low’ - a no holds barred thumper. Giles Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL’s ‘Annalisa’ and Wire’s ‘Two People In a Room.’

Before you can catch your breath, we have ‘Regular Hours’ - another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to ‘Static State’ heard earlier on side one. Seething electronic drum samples cut through an abyss of growling synths, Giles Fielke hanging up the bass temporarily to accompany Krystal Maynard on synth duties.

The album closes with the fittingly titled ‘Soft Landing’, literally bringing the listener back down...softly. The song is heavy on atmos, and resembles the aesthetics previously encountered on ‘Attention Economy’ a few tracks earlier.

‘Expressions of Interest” was recorded at various locations across Melbourne, with a handful of songs being captured before the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020. With the recording timeline being drastically altered, the band shifted focus to work on what would become their first single ‘Strange Anxiety’, throughout the first months of the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.

Maenad Veyl returns to his namesake label along with The Sarcasm Ensemble for the new album, 'Comfort in Misery'. Made up of ten compositions exploring sparse beats, cinematic textures and mind altering experimentations, this is an offering of thought provoking pieces which perhaps make the perfect accompaniment to the modern world. As the name implies, 'Comfort in Misery' seeks to find ways of dealing with perpetual shifts and agonizing circumstances.
The opener, 'Weak & Weary', acts an almost rude awakening, while simultaneously cleansing the palette for the forthcoming journey. 'Harsh Whispers' quickly takes hold and feels like a fragmented dream you may or may not remember while then moving to the more minous, 'Life Expectancy'. From the sparkling tones of 'Deep Ruby' to the uncomfortable bliss of 'Always Worse', the project touches on the most known yet unknown of moods, emotions and states of being.
Winding down with 'Irreconcilable Differences' before concluding with the satisfying chaos of 'Shred', 'Comfort in Misery' cannot be pinpointed or married to any one sound or status. While tackling a seeming insurmountable subject, Veyl & The Sarcasm Ensemble provide a perfect solution for the everlasting pain.
Or do they?

Sun Rafs disciple and multiface artist Jamal Moss is back to Modern Obscure Musicafter his debut on the label with the "The Anticipatory Organization" under The SunGod alias back in 2018.
J. Moss more known as Hieroglyphic Being is back to the Barcelona based recordlabel with a new aka, OUR SOULS ARE IN THE HANDS OF THE TRANSALOR. Threeyears after "s..kr.t.z.m", released on Warpfs sublabel Arcola, the chicago electronic-wizar signs "An Era of Spiritual Tenebraeh. The new EP is composed by two 18minutes long freejazz-psycodelic improvisations. A trip to the dark holes of the spaceeternity.
"Continue to see yourself shining your light, brighter and brighter with every breathout as you hear yourself silently say these words. May love heal our world. May we allchoose kindness and compassion" - Our Souls Are In The Hands Of The Translator