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Loyle Carner will release his highly anticipated sophomore record, 'Not Waving, But Drowning' on 19 April via AMF Records.

'Not Waving, But Drowning' follows Loyle's BRIT (Best Male, Best Newcomer) and Mercury Prize nominated, top 20 debut 'Yesterday's Gone'. The bedrock of honest and raw sentimentality that you heard on 'Yesterday's Gone' left an inextinguishable mark on music in general and UK Hip Hop in particular, standing out as an ageless, bulletproof debut.

'Not Waving, But Drowning', Loyle's new album, gives yet more evidence - as if it were needed - of his razor-sharp flow and his unique storytelling ability. Yes, he can rap, but he allies that with the sensitivity of a poet, the observational skills of a novelist, and warmth of your best friend. The album opens with 'Dear Jean', a letter to his mother in which he's telling her that he has found the love of his life, 'a woman from the skies', and he's moving out.

It goes without saying that Loyle's music is hard to categorise, but what is even more impressive is that for someone who grew up listening to Mos Def, Biggie Smalls, Roots Manuva, and Wu Tang Clan, he doesn't sound like any of them. Although he might from time to time give lyrical nods to them, he's no imitator.

Loyle loves cooking. There are two tracks on this album named after chefs. The British-Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi, and the now deceased Italian chef Antonio Carluccio. 'Ottolenghi' the first single from the album was featured on the BBC Radio 1 B-list, BBC 6 Music A-list and has already been streamed over 5 million times.

Loyle refers to real life for everything, the title of 'Yesterday's Gone' came from a song of his step father, the title of his new album 'Not Waving, But Drowning' comes from a poem by his grandfather, which in turn came from a Stevie Smith poem. What you hear on the track 'Krispy' is real. He is pouring his heart out to his best friend Rebel Kleff after their relationship went downhill, he invites him on the track to say his piece but he doesn't turn up, so we get a flugel solo instead.

Loyle also has his own personal black consciousness movement. When he refers to his 'fathers' in the track 'Looking Back' he really is referring to two fathers. His biological father, a black man who he knows, but knows very little of, and his step father, a poet and musician who happens to be a white man but died a sudden unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP). With no real emotional ties to his biological father, but a deep connection with a deceased step-father, where does a young child turn He succinctly captures many of the great, unspoken, cultural and historical paradoxes of multicultural Britain on 'Looking Back'.

An album like this is hard to find. It is for those who like their Hip Hop to have soul, and their soul to have spirit. This is because it works on so many levels, but it is reflecting the personality of its creator. There are a host of collaborators here, Jorja Smith, Rebel Kleff, Kiko Bun, Kwes, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Tom Misch and more, but none are overpowering. They blend righteously into place.
Loyle is not bitter with people who have let him down, or a society that lets so many down, but the combination of anger and love he has gives his voice the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability. This might be a coming of age album, but it's also a coming of ageless album. Loyle's 2019 Spring tour - which includes London's Roundhouse - sold out within 20 minutes of being on sale.

Not Waving, But Drowning



A rapper that raps about family is hard to find. The boys in the 'hood' tend not to be that interested in how much a 'brother' loves his mother, or how much he misses his dad, or even how much he misses his best friend. The boys in the 'hood' tend to be obsessed with the size of their cars, girls, bank accounts, and other personal 'possessions'. Loyle Carner's Mercury and BRIT Prize nominated debut 'Yesterday's Gone' (Released 2017), made it clear that he wasn't that kind of rapper. In fact, every time I talk to him about his work we talk about the world, and we tended to confuse ourselves by calling his work rap, poems, or songs, sometimes in the same sentence. They are in truth all of these things.



Here's some poetry.



Honestly I need them.

I hate them but I grieve them

I think I've finally found the reason

Trust

Like the fire needs the air.

I won't burn unless you're there.





'Not Waving, But Drowning', Loyle's forthcoming new album, gives us yet more evidence, (if it were needed), that he still has what rappers call, flow, but he hasn't lost any of his story telling qualities. Yes, the boy can rap, but a rapper with the sensitivity of a true poet, the observational skills of a novelist, and warmth of your best friend. The album opens with 'Dear Jean', a letter to his mother in which he's telling her that he has found the love of his life, (a woman from the skies), and he's moving out. He really loves the woman from the skies, but he still loves his mum, and so he reassures her that there is no competition, and tells her that 'She's not behind me or behind you, but beside we and beside two', his words. Or to put it another way, moving out without moving out. My words.



It goes without saying that Loyle's music is hard to categorise, but what is even more impressive is that for someone who grew up listening to Mos Def, Biggie Smalls, Roots Manuva, and Wu Tang Clan, he doesn't sound like any of them. Although he might from time to time give lyrical nods to them, he's no imitator. He says finding his own voice was something he always found easy. Although young, (in terms of a musical career), he has confidence in his own words and his own voice, and has never been tempted to sound like he's been hanging out in the USA, or rolling in 'Grime' on the mean streets of East London. And so when it comes to the creative process he doesn't simply find a beat to jump on and ride. Beats are important, but they are tenderly layered with samples, keyboards, or live drums, all imaginatively assembled for the laying on of words. Some tracks start with the idea, some with poetry, and some with a verse from a singer or some other melodic inspiration, but there is no formula.



Here's some poetry.



Don't hold any memories of us

Rather hold you everyday until the memories are dust

Yo we only caught the train

Cos you know I hate the bus





A prolific reader, who has dyslexia is hard to find. Add ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to that and life should become even more difficult. To deal with your difficulties you devise coping strategies, which can differ from person to person. Loyle loves cooking. There are two tracks on this album named after chefs. The British-Israeli chef Ottolenghi, and the now deceased Italian chef Antonio Carluccio. Loyle describes himself as 'weird' because he is happy to read a cookbook as if he was reading a novel or a book of poetry. He has opened a cookery school for young adults not just because he loves food and wants to make more of it, but because it is one of the few things that can focus the ADHD mind. And when it comes to his other love, football, his approach is the same. Focus. He wanted to be a striker he says, up front scoring goals, but found his best position was in midfield because he was able to focus, check options, and see passes ahead of time, providing passes for other players just when they needed them. He says, 'You don't grow out of ADHD, you grow into it.' Loyle is also working with Levi's® on their music project where he is mentoring young musicians over a six month period, culminating at Liverpool Sound City festival.



More poetry.



When the going is tough

I wait till it falls on deaf ears

Hearsay

Without the boundaries of love



He also said, 'Ask most people and they will say that they love their mothers, but most are not going to rap about her'. On his first album Loyle's mum Jean wrote about the 'scribble of a boy' that growing up would take things apart to see how they worked. On this album she speaks with pride about a man who has found his place in the world.



Yes, poetry.



I'm still looking for the answers

Trying to find the right questions

Still waiting for my fathers

But can't break them in to sections



This poetry is serious. Loyle has his own personal black consciousness movement. He told me that he always felt safe at home, and being the darkest one in the family never meant a thing, but then when he had to face the outside world he felt hostility. It shook him up. Now he had to start asking questions, but what were the questions. This is serious. When he refers to his 'fathers' in the verse above taken from the track 'Looking Back' he really is referring to two fathers. His biological father, a black man who he knows, but knows very little of, and his step father, a poet and musician who happens to be a white man but died a sudden unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP). So to whom would a young black (or mixed race) kid turn He succinctly captures many of the great, unspoken, cultural and historical paradoxes of multicultural Britain when he says, 'My great grandfather could of owned my other one.' We are a people descended from enslaved people on one hand, and enslavers on the other, something we are still struggling to come to terms with, and this can be apparent in one family. A big book could have told you that, but here we get it in one line on the track, Looking Back.





Loyle refers to real life for everything. The album is peppered with captured moments that he records on his phone. These moments can range from conversations with taxi drivers, to capturing the moment when England scores a goal in the world cup. The title of 'Yesterday's Gone' came from a song of his step father, the title of his new album 'Not Waving but Drowning' comes from a poem by his grandfather, which in turn came from a Stevie Smith poem. What you hear on the track 'Krispy' is real. He is pouring his heart out to his best friend after their relationship went downhill, he invites him on the track to say his piece but he doesn't turn up, so we get a flugel solo instead. Yes people, this is real.



An album like this is hard to find. It is for those who like their Hip Hop to have soul, and their soul to have spirit, this is an album for those who have, (I'm sorry, I'm going to say it), emotional intelligence. This is because it works on so many levels, but it is reflecting the personality of its creator. There are a host of collaborators here, Jorja Smith, Rebel Kleff, Kiko Bun, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Tom Misch and more, but none are overpowering. They blend righteously into place. Loyle is not bitter with people who have let him down, or the society that has let him down, but the combination of anger and love he has gives his voice the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability. This might be a coming of age album, but it's also a coming of ageless album. His first album worked, and this second album is a continuation of that work. Not creating a form, but being formless, as someone like Bruce Lee once said.

And here's some poetry from mum.



We talked long in to the darkest hours

Until we saw the burnished sky

And our eyes stung

As our words blurred and became thoughts

As we were silenced by the dawn

We clung to each other like sailors in a storm

"Love Conquers All" is a collection of deeply moving songs by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge. All written during difficult times, yet reflecting the positive way in which John sees the world. As John explored his journey of healing, he invited different musicians to collaborate with him on each song, making each song unique, yet at the same time they all carry the same message... that love does conquer all. ‘Love will Conquer All’, ‘Whispering Angels’, and 'Sunset over Cocohatchee Bay’ were all written through personal health challenges, and 'In These Crazy Times’, and ‘The Sun Will Shine’, originally written in lockdown, have been reimagined and remixed for 2024, reflecting how this time is now firmly in the past. 'Whispering Angels' was written by John and his son-in-law Jon Davison, of YES, and Jon features on all the tracks on the release. ‘Love Will Conquer All’ isan almost Christmas song full of hope, plus there are guest appearances on the album by Geoff Downes of YES, Tim Maple, Dave Colquhoun, Ray Nesbit, John’s 10,000 Light Years Band, and also John’s wife, Kirsten and son, Kristian. As you journey with John through the songs, starting with the instrumental ‘Sunset Over Cocohatchee Bay’, and ending with the more anthemic ‘Whispering Angels’, you will be moved by these beautifully crafted songs, surrounded by the incredible musicianship, and feel the love brought to each song by John and his friends and family. This release truly is a journey of love and recovery and John is delighted to be able to share it with you today.

The Official “Forever” Versions of Less Than Jake’s first full lenght album, Pezcore and Losing Streak are here! "Losing Streak" comes with reimagined artwork done by the legendary punk artist Chris Shary (Descendents, ALL, Black Flag), this special version celebrates the history of this seminal album, with a fresh new look!

The Official “Forever” Versions of Less Than Jake’s first full lenght album, Pezcore and Losing Streak are here! There have not been many pressings of "Pezcore" over the career of Less Than Jake. Now, with a fresh look to the classic "Pezcore" art, this special 30th anniversary version will celebrate the history of this seminal album for years to come.

Four years after "The Watchful Eye Of The Stars", Adrian Crowley returns with a new John Parish-produced album "Measure of Joy" to be released on the brand new label Valley of Eyes Records. This is album 10 for Crowley: an achievement number and maybe even a career high, but the music doesn"t bother with that. They are just great songs. Crowley is a songwriter and a poet. Here, also, he is in the company of John Parish, who is always more than a producer. "Measure of Joy" is a nocturnal album. Not in the usual commonplace sense of dark and moody though it can be. The night is present in the sounds that can only be noticed when most things rest. In the lost transmission and the ghost lips that talk on the phone over sleepy jazz.

Black Eyed Sons - A New Rock 'n' Roll Collective - Members of The Quireboys and Down n' Outz are joined by an amazing collection of fellow musicians for a joyous collaboration of mutual admiration and musical celebration. Enjoy the debut album 'Cowboys In Pinstriped Suits" released via Off Yer Rocka recordings 31st January 2025. Since the band announced they were working on their highly anticipated new album, "The Band Rolls On", what was already becoming a chance for a musical rebirth metamorphosized into something far bigger and more ambitious. The final cuts feature distinguished collaborations from a multitude of Rock Royalty.

The band, their management and close friends within the industry all agreed that this should be treated as a stand-alone new project, a Rock 'n' Roll Collective going under the name "Black Eyed Sons", a nod to a previous album from their extensive back catalogue. The revised album title, "Cowboys in Pinstriped Suits” is named after one of the eleven tracks and features none other than Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott alongside Alice Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie and bass grooves from Chip Z’Nuff. Guy Griffin commented "It's been nice to take a break and focus on the writing. Working with our own band as well as so many friends within the industry has done nothing but inspire us to write and create this exciting new project. We've done the hard work getting the tracks laid down, we're now looking forward to going back out on the road as Black Eyed Sons and delivering something entirely new from five musicians who've been playing together for over twenty years. Relationships break down sometimes, that’s Rock 'n' Roll, everyone does their thing, but we want to make sure there's no confusion as to what this is. Whilst we're proud of our musical history, that was then, this is now. It's onwards and upwards, so let the music do the talking. Joe Elliott added, "Having worked with these guys since 2009 in the greatest “other” band I could ever hope to work with, The Down ’n’ Outz, it just felt totally natural for me to reciprocate the love these guys have shown me by contributing to what is essentially a new beginning for them. So welcome to the mad world of Rock ’n’ Roll, you Black Eyed Sons." - Joe Elliott (Cowboys in Pinstriped Suits). Other collaborators had this to say: “This song feels so real and natural. Like a hug from an old friend. I’m proud to be a part of it.” - Charlie Starr (Autumn Reigns) - ‘’My friendship with the Quireboys started a long time ago and each time our paths have crossed, the bond has grown stronger. Therefore, I would lie if I didn’t say that in the back of my mind there always was a wish to do something together. So, I am more than thrilled when I was invited to sing on the Black Eyed Sons new album and that they also gave me a song where I could be who I am’’ ⁃ Mike Tramp (Your True Colours) - “I go back 30 years with these guys. A band that I’ve always loved and respected. To be asked to be part of this project was a great thrill, and proud moment as a guitarist.” - Scotti Hill (Dig Me out of this Hole) - “I’ve known Griff since the beginning of our respective careers…we are both from the old school baby, and Griff has always been the embodiment of rock n’ roll - genuine, classy, trashy, and an attitude that exemplifies what it is to be a rock n’ roll troubadour“ ⁃ Ryan Roxie (Cowboys in Pinstriped Suits/Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory) - “Since you graced us with your presence on the Wolves’ debut album, it’s only fair we should be a part of your debut as Black Eyed Sons. All the best!” - Kyf Brewer / Company Of Wolves (Foolin’ Yourself) - “Not only was it a pleasure to play guitar & sing on this record but it was also an honour to have Griff & the band record one of our songs! - Steve Conte / Company Of Wolves/Michael Monroe/NY Dolls (Foolin’ Yourself) - Band: Guy Griffin (lead vocals/guitar); Paul Guerin (guitar); Keith Weir (keyboards); Nick Mailing (bass); Pip Mailing (drums)

David Allred is a prolific composer and producer based in Portland, Oregon. His new album The Beautiful World captures an enriched, realised understanding of why he composes in the first place. Dedicated to the expression of existential themes such as death, grief, longing and loss, the album’s core theme centres around the suicide of a young girl Lauren, who was a family friend to Allred. For as long as he could remember, Allred always created music out of a kind of dissociative state which he finds alluringly easy to lapse into. A repetition of a motif is usually where he begins composing. But unlike his previous works, The Beautiful World firmly has one foot in reality and is deeply intertwined with Allred’s relationships, past and present. Through his correspondence with Erased Tapes label head and the album’s producer, Robert Raths, over the past year, he came to realise that everyone has a Lauren in a way – someone they’d lost. Through writing to Raths, Allred was able to draw out this thread from the work and position it more clearly as the central concept to this work. The music doesn’t reflect the chaos of trauma, instead it has a therapeutic quality. It was through this dialogue that Allred was able to create what may be his most cohesive body of work to date. The 11 track album unfolds around Oh Lauren, providing the core of the album’s sentiment – how grief returns to us throughout life over and over. Embedded more than halfway through the album, Allred allows listeners to cohabit a meditative space through ambient textures, drones and ballads echoing the vocal sincerity of Arthur Russell, Daniel Johnston and the hypnotic storytelling of Robert Ashley. To truly reckon with The Beautiful World’s emotional position, listeners must understand the importance of the figure of Lauren, and the significance she has had throughout Allred’s life. Lauren’s suicide as a child provided the catalyst for Allred’s lifelong grief. But it was death anxiety and grief itself which provided Allred a link to a universal relationship that people have with each other and the world they live in. Impermanence and loss are the driving force behind all of our connections. The trance-like nature of the album perhaps comes from David Allred’s time sense – particularly when it comes to memory and trauma. Time becomes non-linear rather than a straight line – where one can repeat or return to the same themes but older and in a different frame of mind. Grief continues to manifest itself in life and despite personal growth, there will always be moments where the same feeling will manifest itself again. The album encourages listeners to sit with the concept of grief, and Allred is hopeful they can find comfort and learn to process it in a healing way. The Beautiful World is therefore heavily influenced by Allred’s work in therapy, particularly his relationship to writing music. In the past, Allred would be composing music as a means to dissociate from his life, but the album sees him engaging and connecting more authentically than ever with others and himself. Despite his prolific previous works being made in the company of others, Allred needed to step back from the scenes that he’s worked in to discover what he really wanted to create. Allred concludes: “In the power of love, curiosity, humour, and reconciliation, we give you The Beautiful World.”

Maybe this warning is not really relevant. It doesn’t scare anyone anymore. We all know that what is actually hiding behind this green fence is a sweet doggy only waiting to happily greet you.

First there's Gabriel, who you probably already saw playing crazy drums (with Terrenoire, Cola Boyy…). And then there's Facundo, the magician on the synth and on his choice of shirts.

Together they are Chien Méchant: a duo made of two friends who met at the hairdresser (and in high school), and that makes you wonder if groove, rock, funk and synths could maybe coexist one more time.

The release of their first self titled EP Chien Méchant gave prominence to their first inspirations - as first releases usually do - and showed off their influences. They were at the same time trying to prove themselves but also preparing us for what is to come: the real journey.

A journey that will start next January with Métamorphose. A first album that will display a cast smelling like leather, like a John Carpenter movie with GrandMarnier (Yelle) directing, Ouai Stéphane on the mix and of course Gabriel & Facundo taking a twisted pleasure in deconstructing our common preconception on pop music.

Métamorphose has many shapes - don’t forget a dog can have 3 heads. The track “Nuit Blanche” reminds us of our dancefloor trances. “Sens Contraire” is a drum/synth ballad that takes us by the hand and slowly whispers in our ear that it is ok to be anxious. “Point Final” is pretty self explanatory and makes us feel like we are back on the dancefloor saying “ok this is the last one”. There are ten tracks on this album that will be released alongside their label - Nowadays Records.

You will quickly understand that Chien Méchant is a live band. You will dream about these drums, these blinking synths, these psychedelic carpets, and about dancing without thinking about what’s next. But beware, Métamorphose also reminds us that they are way more than that.

John Gosling (aka Mekon) the English big beat/industrial musician and electronica producer, is set to launch his new label Hua Hua (pronounced wah wah) with an 11-track compilation album this July. A quick scan at some of the featured artists showcases a line up of legends - eighties rap sensation Schooly D sitting alongside Primal Scream mainstay Bobby Gillespie and John’s recently departed punk hero Alan Vega - even Roxy Music’s saxophonist and founder member Andy Mackay makes an appearance. And while John’s electronic alter ego Mekon is always on hand to remix and arrange, he’s far from the only producer behind the proverbial wheel.
“It’s stuff I had lying around and now I am finding ways to get it out of my system,” he says. “It’s all been brought to the world with brilliant new artwork by Isabelle de Jour, who also features on various tracks.”
Gosling is well known as a member of both Psychic TV and Coil (for the album Transparent). Gosling founded the groups Zos Kia with John Balance and Bass-o-Matic with William Orbit before recording as Mekon. He has also remixed under the name Sugar J. And that’s before we get to the fact that he has soundtracked some of the most forward-thinking fashion shows in the world - crafting the soundscapes for Alexander McQueen shows since the show Dante in 1996. Firstly working hand in hand with the late great Lee “Alexander” McQueen, then with his successor Sarah Burton. In the mid-to-late-nineties he was a core member of the group Agent Provocateur along with Matthew Ashman (originally of Bow Wow Wow), Dan Peppe, Danny Saber (of Black Grape) and Cleo Torez. He has also worked with artists such as Roxanne Shanté ('Yes Yes Y'All'), Marc Almond ('Delirious'), and Afrika Bambaataa. His third album “Something Came Up” featured artwork by Alexander McQueen.
John is as passionate about Suicide and Alan Vega and what he describes as “the new stuff”. Besides, he says, “that’s how people listen to music now. I think kids – my kids anyway – listen right across the board. People don’t see genres anymore. So it’s my definition of good music.” It’s safe to say that this is very much Volume 1. “Yes, it doesn’t cover everything and Volume 2 will be completely different.”

Diese neue (!) Compilation vereint klassische Radiosessions der TVPs, den Meistern des DIY-Post-Punk und Indie-Pop. Die Doppel-LP enthält zwei BBC-Sessions aus den 80er Jahren, die bei John Peel und Andy Kershaw aufgenommen und ausgestrahlt wurden, sowie ein sehr rares WMBR-Set von 1992 mit Coversongs von Buzzcocks, Raincoats und Daniel Johnston sowie bisher unveröffentlichten Songs (und als digitaler Bonus die WFMU-Session von 1993). "Catchy hooks and schoolboy wit are in abundant supply." Pitchfork Die großartigen DIY-Fähigkeiten der Television Personalities und ihr liebenswertes, klappriges Auftreten haben sie auf so manchen subversiven Trip geführt, sowohl auf Platte als auch bei Live-Auftritten. Aber es war das Radio, das sie zum ersten Mal der Welt vorstellte, in einem Wirbelsturm wiederholter Airplays. John Peel ließ Außenstehende überall in TVPs alternative Welt eintauchen. Und auf dem Höhepunkt des Punk parodierten sie bereits die neue Revolution, ihre Single ,Part Time Punks" wurde zu einem Peel-Hit, und die Nachfrage nach weiteren Songs führte schließlich zu einer Session im Jahr 1980. In den 80er Jahren war Daniel Treacy so zu einem begnadeten Geschichtenerzähler gereift, der die moderne Welt aus seinen eigenen, verschwommenen Blickwinkel beschrieb. Seine Songs waren liebenswert, sofort identifizierbar und witzig, klare, scharfe Beobachtungen von oft magischer Tiefe. Treacy wurde zu einer Inspiration und unverzichtbaren Alternative des üblichen (auf der Insel nicht soo schlechten) Radioprogrammes, eines Mediums, das die TVPs zum Ende der 80er Jahre so gut wie aufgegeben hatte. "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out" fängt den Weg dieses Pilgers ins Pop-Nirvana ein, ein psychedelisches Wunderland, das von dunklen und grüblerischen Momenten gezeichnet ist. Gehört wie durch ein knisterndes, Vintage-Transistorradio, welches vielleicht sogar unter dem Kopfkissen versteckt ist, so dass diese Skizzierungen der Gesellschaft ganz nah und intim Daniel Treacy's Psyche zeigen. Limitierte Doppel-LP, klassisch schwarzes Vinyl, Linernotes, gratis DLC mit Bonustracks!

This Is DJs Choice Vol. 4 brings you a great selection of Funk, Soul, Latin and Hip Hop.

Five years after the last installment of the series, Volume 4 is compiled by Gu, a long-time friend and DJ partner of Unique label founder Henry Storch, and the tracks represent the two decades they have known each other and played records together, as well as the music they enjoyed.

All choices are originally 7 Inch records from Gu's crates put together like a DJ-Set for you to enjoy: The Soul of The Sweet Vandals and Carlton Jumel Smith, the Deep Funk of Naomi Davis & The Knights Of Forty First Street, The Supersonics and Sharon Jackson & The Soul Destroyers, the Latin sounds of Diesler and Eli Goulart E Banda Do Mato and the Hip Hop grooves of Jay Are (aka J.Rawls and John Robinson), The Bamboos featuring Ohmega Watts and Daddy-O of Stetsasonic.

This compilation is a celebration of music from beginning to end.

About This Is DJs Choice:

The series started as a friendship project by Henry Storch, who wanted to immortalise friends and allies from the DJ scene, who picked vinyl as their format of choice. The genre didn't matter, as long as the vibe was right. In 2008 Vol. 1 featured a selection of organic Club Sounds and Break Beats put together by Soulinus & Pun, followed by Keb Darge & Lucinda Slim and their favorite Rhythm & Blues, Rockabilly and 60s Soul tunes on Vol. 2 in 2009. In 2019 Les Intouchables aka Marc Hype and DJ Suspect presented a variety of funky and soulful music with an addition of the occasional Boogie, Reggae and Hip Hop track.

About Gu:

Gu is a DJ, musician, label owner, producer, writer and producer from Northern Germany. His dedication to music started in his pre-teens in the late eighties and he is playing vinyl ever since. Over the years he has worked with a number of his favorite DJs and artists like Keb Darge, Andy Smith, Snowboy, The New Mastersounds, Osaka Monaurail, The Sweet Vandals, The Allergies, Andy Cooper of Ugly Duckling, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic and Chuck D of Public Enemy to name a few. His DJ career took him all over Europe again and again.

In 2005 he started Our Label Records with his brother Tom to release new Funk music on 7 Inch vinyl and added the Hip Hop 45 imprint Origu in 2015. Since 2009 and he is on air every week with his radioshow Home Diggin', which was also picked up by Chuck D's Rapstation in 2019. Additionally he is lead singer/rapper for the Songcore duo Sorry We're Closed and the Hip Hop outfit Alder Ego. He also does readings of his book of one-liners and competing on Slam Poetry stages.

Already played by the likes of Adam Beyer, John Summit and Tiesto, this massive take on Tiga and Audion’s classic does right by its title. Courtesy of Layton Giordani, ‘Let’s Go Dancing’ is deep, driving and ready to set off some sonic fireworks.

Released in October 1974, Fear is an incredibly important in the 50+ year career of John Cale - This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1974 Island Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.Fear marked Cale's return to recording in London after the best part of a decade in America. Signing to Island, he made fast friends with two key admirers, Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno, who assisted him in returning his music to the rawer sound of his earlier work, as opposed to the lush textures of his previous studio album, Paris 1919. The tense, clipped "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" harks back to the work of the Velvet Underground, as does the standout, "Gun", eight minutes of overdriven bleakness with Eno duelling with Cale's guitar solo on synthesisers. Much is rightly made of these tracks, but there is also the sweetness of the gospel of "Buffalo Ballet" and the Beach Boys homage "The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy". The pretty, semi-autobiographical "Ship Of Fools" offers listeners an opportunity to hear Cale reference the South Wales city of Swansea, its seaside suburb, Mumbles and his home village of Garnant. In its often-skeletal simplicity, the often triumphant Fear is an album that brought an angular aggression with it.

Following on quickly from Fear, and capitalising on that album's energy Slow Dazzle is another fiery release by Velvet Underground founder John Cale - This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1975 Island Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl. Released in March 1975, initially, the album offers a false sense of mellow security: "Mr Wilson", a tribute to Brian, the leader of Cale's beloved Beach Boys starts the on a much sweeter note than "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend", as does "Taking It All Away"; by "Dirty Ass Rock'n'Roll" Slow Dazzle is off to darker terrain, business as usual. Cale, however, cannot resist a pop song and a ballad "Ski Patrol" is a great two-minute vignette, and "I'm Not The Loving Kind" is soul-baring. The album's reputation, however, rests on two tracks "Guts", a bald telling of Cale's wife's infidelity and his pitch-black cover of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel". 50 years later, these songs still pack a tremendous punch.

For Greg Mendez, reflection doesnüft mean a static image in a mirror, or even a face he recognizes. Itüfs more a kaleidoscopic mirage, where paths taken shapeshift with the prospect of paths untread, and the subconscious merges with the intentional. On his self-titled new album, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isnüft a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humor. While this is technically Mendezüfs third full-length album, his back catalog boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. Heüfs a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction. 2017üfs ügüP/ _(c)_ /üPüh and 2020üfs Cherry Hell garnered acclaim for their quiet, lo-fi urgency, exploring themes of addiction and heartbreak with an intentional, authentic haze, and itüfs this approach that has solidified Mendez as a staple in the DIY community for years. Greg Mendez was written in fragments, some stretching across more than a decade, with Mendez reworking old ideas and arrangements, and others blossoming much more recently. The weight of time..and perhaps the anxiety in running out of it..clouds the album, as Mendez prods at some painful experiences from his childhood and early adulthood. The common thread connecting the characters is their evident imperfections, and the various degrees of damage they cause, both knowingly and unknowingly. But where do we draw the line between a good person and a bad person? For Mendez, itüfs never been that easy. Greg Mendez is an intimate dialogue between the chapters weüfve experienced, and how they can inform the reality we perceive. Itüfs a reminder that we are constantly shifting, ever-changing selves and that if we ruminate too long, we may find ourselves stuck in the seriousness of it all. Here, Mendez allows us to take the time to notice what happens outside of the framework we may have built for ourselves, and the beauty that can occur when we finally do.

A hugely in demand repress (the original vinyl pressing on North Country changes hands for hundreds of pounds..) now released on Shack’s newly created own label Shack Songs.

The Shack story is one of music’s greatest legends. It incorporates hardship, bereavement and chaotic misadventure, but above all it tells the tale of beautiful music triumphing over trouble and tragedy.

‘Here’s Tom with The Weather’ boasts a majestic and fresh form. These are magical songs, psychedelic folk songs of the finest Head vintage. Sleepy-eyed, wistful and mystical, yet crafted with a cunning and acute dexterity beyond just about anybody you can think of.

The two profoundly Liverpudlian brothers Mick and John Head have made several brilliant albums together , but none as quickly as ‘Here’s Tom…’ which was completed in seven weeks at Brynderwen Studios in North Wales along with drummer Iain Templeton (RIP) , bassist Guy Rigby and producer Jay Reynolds in 2003.

In the 80’s , the two brothers from the notorious Kensington estate in north Liverpool were singer and guitarist with The Pale Fountains , an effervescent pop group which imploded under the weight of two albums in 1986. The Heads returned in ‘88 as Shack and a debut album Zilch. In 1991 , Shack made ‘Waterpistol’ , an inspirational guitar jewel that would have proved just as influential as any British album in that era had the studio not burned down, taking the master tapes with it. Four more years passed , but by the time it was finally released on Marina it had developed ‘lost classic’ status.

The Heads battled on. They toured as their hero Arthur Lee (RIP) of Love’s backing band. In ‘97 , they created a new group called The Strands and recorded the delicate, dreamy masterpiece ‘The Magical World Of The Strands’ . They spent a long time making another classic ‘HMS Fable’ , and then decided that next time they wouldn’t take quite as long recording. Enter ‘Here’s Tom With The Weather’.

Showcasing John’s slow , shy emergence as a songwriter to challenge his brother (on the sparkling, heartbreaking ‘Miles Apart’ and ‘Carousel’ , and the spun-out ‘Kilburn High Road’ ) , toasting Mick’s newest confirmation as the most unrecognised genius of his or any other generation (the ode to his bro, ‘Byrds Turn To Stone’ , the mariachi horns that break open the slow folk fog of ‘Meant To Be’ , the two lullaby bookends ..and on , and on) .

“The journey we’ve had together has been beautifully turbulent”, laughs John. “But there’s times when we glide and we’re gliding forward now”

Mick agrees. “Making this album has been frantic, chaos, carnage, intense : the normal way with us. But it doesn’t sound like that. That’s all that matters. The story is what it is. But so are the songs and so are the records. Because we’re good.”

Nobody could disagree with that.

A hugely in demand repress (the original vinyl pressing on North Country changes hands for hundreds of pounds..) now released on Shack’s newly created own label Shack Songs.

The Shack story is one of music’s greatest legends. It incorporates hardship, bereavement and chaotic misadventure, but above all it tells the tale of beautiful music triumphing over trouble and tragedy.

‘Here’s Tom with The Weather’ boasts a majestic and fresh form. These are magical songs, psychedelic folk songs of the finest Head vintage. Sleepy-eyed, wistful and mystical, yet crafted with a cunning and acute dexterity beyond just about anybody you can think of.

The two profoundly Liverpudlian brothers Mick and John Head have made several brilliant albums together , but none as quickly as ‘Here’s Tom…’ which was completed in seven weeks at Brynderwen Studios in North Wales along with drummer Iain Templeton (RIP) , bassist Guy Rigby and producer Jay Reynolds in 2003.

In the 80’s , the two brothers from the notorious Kensington estate in north Liverpool were singer and guitarist with The Pale Fountains , an effervescent pop group which imploded under the weight of two albums in 1986. The Heads returned in ‘88 as Shack and a debut album Zilch. In 1991 , Shack made ‘Waterpistol’ , an inspirational guitar jewel that would have proved just as influential as any British album in that era had the studio not burned down, taking the master tapes with it. Four more years passed , but by the time it was finally released on Marina it had developed ‘lost classic’ status.

The Heads battled on. They toured as their hero Arthur Lee (RIP) of Love’s backing band. In ‘97 , they created a new group called The Strands and recorded the delicate, dreamy masterpiece ‘The Magical World Of The Strands’ . They spent a long time making another classic ‘HMS Fable’ , and then decided that next time they wouldn’t take quite as long recording. Enter ‘Here’s Tom With The Weather’.

Showcasing John’s slow , shy emergence as a songwriter to challenge his brother (on the sparkling, heartbreaking ‘Miles Apart’ and ‘Carousel’ , and the spun-out ‘Kilburn High Road’ ) , toasting Mick’s newest confirmation as the most unrecognised genius of his or any other generation (the ode to his bro, ‘Byrds Turn To Stone’ , the mariachi horns that break open the slow folk fog of ‘Meant To Be’ , the two lullaby bookends ..and on , and on) .

“The journey we’ve had together has been beautifully turbulent”, laughs John. “But there’s times when we glide and we’re gliding forward now”

Mick agrees. “Making this album has been frantic, chaos, carnage, intense : the normal way with us. But it doesn’t sound like that. That’s all that matters. The story is what it is. But so are the songs and so are the records. Because we’re good.”

Nobody could disagree with that.

"‘One of the most exciting composers alive.’ – Daily Telegraph

Nonesuch will release the original score for Ken Burns’s new two-part documentary, LEONARDO da VINCI, with new compositions by Caroline Shaw; the documentary airs on November 18 and 19 on PBS. The album features performances by the composer’s longtime collaborators Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, and Roomful of Teeth as well as John Patitucci. Shaw wrote and recorded new music for LEONARDO da VINCI, marking the first time a Ken Burns film has featured an entirely original score.

In celebration of LEONARDO da VINCI, New York City’s historic venue The Town Hall presents an evening of performances from Shaw’s score by Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, and Roomful of Teeth on October 29. The filmmakers will also preview excerpts from the four-hour film..

LEONARDO da VINCI is directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon. The film, which explores the life and work of the fifteenth century polymath Leonardo da Vinci, is Burns’s first non-American subject. It also marks a significant change in the team’s filmmaking style, which includes using split screens with images, video, and sound from different periods to further contextualize Leonardo’s art and scientific explorations. LEONARDO da VINCI looks at how the artist influenced and inspired future generations, and it finds in his soaring imagination and profound intellect the foundation for a conversation we are still having today: what is our relationship with nature and what does it mean to be human?

“No single person can speak to our collective effort to understand the world and ourselves,” said Ken Burns. “But Leonardo had a unique genius for inquiry, aided by his extraordinary skills as an artist and scientist, that helps us better understand the natural world that we are part of and to appreciate more fully what it means to be alive and human.”

“To help give depth and dimension to Leonardo’s inner life, and to carry our viewers on his personal journey, we enlisted the composer Caroline Shaw,” McMahon says in the album’s liner note. “Caroline’s existing body of music—joyful, daring, at times transcendent, and wholly unique—seemed to speak directly to Leonardo, a seeking soul who, 500 years after his death, can come across as strikingly modern. A fully original score, we believed, would add crucial connective tissue to areas where the record of Leonardo’s life is thin and it’s possible to briefly lose his trail. The music Caroline created is dynamic, enthralling and filled with wonder.

“This soundtrack is a testament to the inspired efforts of Jennifer Dunnington, who marshaled it into being, the brilliant musicians and vocalists who, with the help of Alex Venguer, Neal Shaw, Colton Dodd and Tim Marchiafava, made it soar, and most of all Caroline Shaw, who might be Leonardo’s soulmate from across time,” he continues. “With her help, the Leonardo who emerges is no wizard shrouded in mystery, but a prideful, obsessive, at times lonely or flustered, occasionally ecstatic, and, in the end, content man who is in ways both modern and thoroughly of his time.”

“As we set out to explore Leonardo’s life, we realized that while he was very much a man of his time, he was also interested in something more universal,” said Sarah Burns. “Leonardo was uniquely focused on finding connections throughout nature, something that strikes us as very modern today, but which of course has a long history.”

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and TV series including Fleishman Is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming. In addition to three albums with Sō Percussion, Narrow Sea, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and Rectangles and Circumstance, Nonesuch has released her two Grammy-winning albums Orange and Evergreen, both of which feature Attacca Quartet. “Two-Step” and “Ghost,” Shaw’s songs with Ringdown, her duo with Danni Lee Parpan, are available now on Nonesuch. Caroline Shaw is Wigmore Hall’s 2024-25 Composer in Residence."

lim. to 200 180Gr Vinyl!

Schnieke is rich and fruitful, yet carries a sadness within. A 5-string violin charts its melodious journey from Istanbul to Belin, accompanied by electronics, breakbeats, live drums and percussions. An authentic oriental funky mood keeps you in a trance or gets your body moving tribally…

This is Schnieke, a.k.a. Özgür Akgül, with his first studio album Hediye, or Gift. The album is intended as a gift to Özgür's grandmother, Hadiye, who was very important to him and to whom he dedicates a song. But his debut album will also come as a gift to anyone interested in how a sophisticated musical sensibility brings together electronic elements with stringed instruments of all kinds. Özgür plays the violins himself, as well as the analogue synths and drum machines. Guest musicians include Hasan Gözetlik (trumpet and trombone), Göksun Çavdar (saxophone), Korhan Erol (electric guitar and bass), Burhan Hasdemir and Baris Güney (live percussion), Zafer Tunç Resuloglu (live drums), John Gürtler (church organ) and the Istanbul Strings, Turkey’s most vibrant string ensemble.

Their diverse influences create a wide emotional range on Hediye - sometimes dark and melancholic, sometimes wild, groovy and danceable, somewhere between jazz, dub and electro, each song surprising in its own way. Despite the variety of the individual songs, a captivating pulse runs like a thread through Schnieke's first album. Incidentally, Özgür came up with the band name during a night out in a bar, when a friend explained to him what Berlin slang he absolutely had to know. He liked the sound of the word ‘schnieke’ – it means something approximating ‘snazzy’ - and perhaps he secretly also wanted to flatter himself a little! Well, shouldn't we all do that much more often?

Hediye consists of eight tracks, three of which are traditional: Aman Doktor comes from Istanbul, Özgür's birthplace, and is a homage to his own origins. Kadioglu comes from the Aegean region and features the zeybek dance form which, despite its ‘standardisation’ in recent times, still summons up the ecstasy, inspired improvisation and musical finesse of its historical roots. The other five tracks are Özgür's own compositions, with Pasali providing the soundtrack for the 2010 Turkish feature film Memleket Meselesi. Creating compositions for film has been Özgür’s primary passion since his time as a student at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. You can hear that in his music, because on his debut album Özgür does completely without vocal support, the instrumental depth stands for itself, and, in the style of The Cinematic Orchestra, space is created for us to develop our own images while listening – it is a soundtrack for the film we want to make of it.

How could this album, one of the biggest crossover country smashes of the ‘90s and a complete artistic triumph, remain a vinyl wallflower at this late date?! Well, we at Real Gone Music are pleased and proud to take this classic Mary Chapin Carpenter release to the dance with a special 2-LP expanded highlighter yellow vinyl edition that includes an entire bonus side featuring a live performance from 1994, the same year Stones in the Road was released! The accolades and accomplishments of this record are almost too numerous to list here: #1 on the Country charts, Top 10 on the Billboard 200 Pop charts, a number 1 Country hit with “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” other charting singles like “Tender When I Want to Be,” “House of Cards,” and “Why Walk When You Can Fly?”, and Grammies for Best Country Album and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. But hits and awards aside, what makes this album so special is that every song packs its own unique emotional punch, starting with the title tune that was first covered by Joan Baez; you could also point to the transcendent “John Doe No. 24” and the brilliant “End of My Pirate Days” as firsts among equals on this amazingly consistent and rewarding album (which Country Universe called the best Contemporary Country album of all time!).

Some credit must be given to the band that producer John Jennings assembled, including drummer Kenny Aronoff, keyboardist Benmont Tench, guitarists Lee Roy Parnell and Steuart Smith, and backing vocalists Trisha Yearwood, Shawn Colvin, and Linda Williams. But, as always with a Mary Chapin Carpenter album, it’s the songwriting that’s the real star: witty, wistful, personal, and REAL. With gorgeous hooks to boot! Side D includes the four tracks that came out on the Live at “Her Majesty’s Theatre” EP recorded in London, featuring a version of “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” and it all comes with two printed inner sleeves boasting lyrics. Released on its 30th anniversary with the full consent and support of the artist herself!

12” paddling pool blue vinyl, is an edition of 500. CD Digifile. Following the runaway success of their critically acclaimed 2021 second album Contender, the question for fast-rising London four-piece Fightmilk was always going to be “what next?” With a tight indie-pop sound that defined their early recordings, the answer was obvious to a band who seem hellbent on the notion of evolve or die… The band originally formed in 2015 in a Brixton pub garden by Lily and Alex, who had both, separately, just been dumped and thought being in an angry punk band would cheer them up. Then they found Nick and Healey to hold the rhythm down and make them sound good. With three albums under their belt, they’ve perfected their chaotic, melodic brand of joy and rage-filled pop with full-throated yelling and sparkling guitar riffs as their trademark. They’ve graduated from angsty whippersnappers in their mid-twenties to overgrown teenage 30-somethings with mild ongoing back and shoulder pain. Their previous 2 albums Not With That Attitude (2018) & Contender (2021) marked them out as an ambitious and rising prospect, and now on their forthcoming new album No Souvenirs the band eschew their former Britpop ties and edge further into DIY punk and heavier rock influences to reveal a leaner, meaner, more abrasive side to their cathartic lo-fi anthems. Whilst collectively diving into their passion for Jimmy Eat World, frontwoman Lily Rae made a conscious decision to strengthen her “big loud yell” with influence from Alicia Bognanno (Bully), Nat Foster (Press Club), and Missy Dabice (Mannequin Pussy). “My voice is the biggest it’s ever been and I’m constantly thrilled when people are surprised at how loud I am, considering I’m so small in stature,” she grins. “Lyrically I always look to Bruce Springsteen for inspiration but I also really enjoyed the angsty candour of Sour by Olivia Rodrigo, and Kacey Musgraves’ impeccable one-liners.” There are a few genre experiments on the record—Yo La Tengo in ‘Paddling Pool’, ‘Canines’ is part The Strokes and part Neu!, and ‘Back From Tour’ was heavily influenced by long term friends Johnny Foreigner. “You could probably make a case for ‘Inferno’ having a bit of Counting Crows to it, but we were never writing to emulate,” explains guitarist Alex. “The references and touchstones just happened along the way. As far as we’re concerned, they just sound like Fightmilk - and that’s a really nice place to be nearly a decade in.” “That said, we’ve also been REALLY picky with the songs that made it onto the album - there’s probably an-other album’s worth of songs that didn’t feel right, even if we loved them. We got really good at finding the “magic thing” in each song that made it work.” Spilling over with candid lyrics about death, doomed love, and dog bites, framed by endless punk energy and the kind of full-throated riff-rock that sounds just at home in a giant stadium as it does in a sticky-floored toilet bar, No Souvenirs is a triumphant return from the band, who are equally enthused by the album. “I only realised after we put the songs together how personal to me this album was,” explains Lily. “Not just because I’m writing about extremely specific sitcom episodes in my life (getting fired from bridesmaid duty, being bitten on the arse by a dog, being relentlessly asked when I’m going to have kids), but because whilst we were making it, I turned 30. It’s a significant age for women, especially in music, because aside from being something called a ‘geriatric millennial’, there’s an unspoken rule that there’s a cut-off point for you to have ‘made it’ and after that you have to settle down and be normal.” For Lily, writing for the album also aligned with the 10th anniversary of the death of a close friend, with the resulting track ‘No Souvenirs’ lending its title to the album as a whole. “It had taken me that long to write about it in a way I felt ok with. But I realised that I couldn’t have written it before,” she explains. “I needed that distance, and that maturity, to be able to articulate those feelings. It feels to me now like the album is about scorched earth, moving on, taking nothing with you for the next ‘thing’ - and realising that getting older is a privilege.” Bringing a huge amount of energy and joy with them whenever and wherever they hit a stage, interacting with the audience is a vital part of the Fightmilk live experience. “Without people singing and dancing at us we wouldn’t have gigs at all, so we want everyone to get involved!” says Lily of the band’s future tour plans

In the heart of Offenbach, where the city's pulse synchronizes with the beat of the night, stands the illustrious Robert Johnson Club. For a quarter of a century, it has stood as a bastion of sonic exploration, a sanctuary for those who seek solace in the rhythm, and a beacon of inspiration for the global electronic music community. As it proudly raises its glass to toast 25 years of unrivaled musical excellence, the echoes of countless memories reverberate through its storied halls. To honor this landmark anniversary, „Live at Robert Johnson“ presents a kinda like masters blueprint of sound: "Tell Me Something Good - 25 Years of Famous When Dead!" This compilation, aptly named after the club's mantra, serves not only as a celebration of its rich history but also as a testament to the enduring legacy of the artists who have graced its stage. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, each track on the compilation is a sonic journey unto itself—a symphony of beats and melodies that weave together to tell the story of Robert Johnson's evolution over the past quarter-century. From the pulsating rhythms of underground techno to the ethereal melodies of deep house, the compilation encapsulates the club's eclectic spirit and unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of electronic music. But beyond the music lies something deeper—an intangible energy that permeates every aspect of Robert Johnson's existence. It's the sense of camaraderie that binds together the club's patrons and artists alike, the shared experience of losing oneself in the music, and the profound sense of belonging that transcends language and culture. As the compilation reverberates through the speakers, it serves as a rallying cry—a call to arms for all who have ever felt the transformative power of music. It's a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, there is beauty to be found in the simple act of coming together and losing oneself in the rhythm of the night. So let us raise our voices in celebration of Robert Johnson Club and the indelible mark it has left on the world of electronic music. Here's to 25 years of passion, of creativity, and of "something good" that will echo through the ages for generations to come.

Fashion icon, catwalker, curator, historian, commentator, activist, Grammy winner and - damn right - DJ, there ain"t much these days that Ms. Honey Dijon doesn"t do with aplomb. Most of her achievements thus far came via her passion for clubbing and the art of DJing, from those early Chicago parties to her role as a de facto ambassador for world dancefloors. This compilation is a pan-global, multi-era waltz through house music"s storied past. Repping Chicago, there"s Dance Mania"s Dance Kings, Blackjoy and Art Of Tones carrying the flag for Paris and even Shaboom"s Blackpool gets a nod. Some of these are forgotten classics, some are dollar bin finds, and there"s also a brand new Dijon track, sprinkled with her usual mustard-hot flourishes and lightly seasoned with some more recent efforts by Waajeed and Kiko Navarro. This can be consumed on a dancefloor, in the back of a cab or relaxing at home with a glass of something cold (or, if you must, hot).

Two-Piers bringt mit "Come To My World" eine kurze Geschichte und Tauchgang in die Welt des Indie-Pop, von seinen bescheidenen Anfängen in den 1980ern bis zu den vielen grossartigen Bands, die heute die Flagge hochhalten.

"Come To My World" beginnt mit coolen Bands wie Talulah Gosh, The Flatmates, Blueboy, Primal Scream, McCarthy, 14 Iced Bears und The Springfields auf bahnbrechenden DIY-Labels wie Sarah Records, The Subway Organization und Creation. Über die einflussreichen C86-Kassettenjahre gelangen wir zu den kommerzielleren Spät-1980er-Sounds von The Primitives, The Soup Dragons und The Darling Buds. Wir navigieren durch die 1990er mit der unterschätzten Brillianz von Heavenly, der florierenden schottischen Szene mit Acts wie BMX Bandits und The Vaselines, bis zum Durchbruch der Indie-Pop-Sounds von Velocity Girl und Blake Babies in den USA. In den 2000ern brachte die US-Szene exzellente Bands wie Dum Dum Girls und The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart hervor, neben Underground-Acts wie Joanna Gruesome, The Spook School und Veronica Falls. Die Zusammenstellung endet mit einem Blick in die glänzende Zukunft des Indie-Pop mit Künstlern wie The Goon Sax, The Lost Days und Ribbon Stage.

Für Indie-Pop-Liebhaber ist diese Underground-Musik seit fast 40 Jahren eine ständige Quelle der Freude. 2LP mit 34 Tracks. 2CD mit 40 Tracks.

Two-Piers bringt mit "Come To My World" eine kurze Geschichte und Tauchgang in die Welt des Indie-Pop, von seinen bescheidenen Anfängen in den 1980ern bis zu den vielen grossartigen Bands, die heute die Flagge hochhalten.

"Come To My World" beginnt mit coolen Bands wie Talulah Gosh, The Flatmates, Blueboy, Primal Scream, McCarthy, 14 Iced Bears und The Springfields auf bahnbrechenden DIY-Labels wie Sarah Records, The Subway Organization und Creation. Über die einflussreichen C86-Kassettenjahre gelangen wir zu den kommerzielleren Spät-1980er-Sounds von The Primitives, The Soup Dragons und The Darling Buds. Wir navigieren durch die 1990er mit der unterschätzten Brillianz von Heavenly, der florierenden schottischen Szene mit Acts wie BMX Bandits und The Vaselines, bis zum Durchbruch der Indie-Pop-Sounds von Velocity Girl und Blake Babies in den USA. In den 2000ern brachte die US-Szene exzellente Bands wie Dum Dum Girls und The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart hervor, neben Underground-Acts wie Joanna Gruesome, The Spook School und Veronica Falls. Die Zusammenstellung endet mit einem Blick in die glänzende Zukunft des Indie-Pop mit Künstlern wie The Goon Sax, The Lost Days und Ribbon Stage.

Für Indie-Pop-Liebhaber ist diese Underground-Musik seit fast 40 Jahren eine ständige Quelle der Freude. 2LP mit 34 Tracks. 2CD mit 40 Tracks.

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

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

Songs of Joy and Peace is a Christmas music album by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, originally released in 2008. The album features collaborations with many other artists, including vocalists Diana Krall & Alison Krauss, James Taylor, Dave Brubeck, Chris Botti a.o. This holiday disc doesn't exclusively stick to traditional Christmas songs, but covers a wide scope of material in a very ambitious manner. Ma opens with a lovely take of the traditional favorite “Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace)”, playing both the melody and counterpoint via overdubbing. Jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall is superb in a swinging rendition of Jerome Kern's unjustly obscure ""You Couldn't Be Cuter"", adding bassist John Clayton. An arrangement of “Joy To The World” features pianist Dave Brubeck and cellist Matt Brubeck (his son). Chris Botti has never sounded better in the warm arrangement of “My Favorite Things”, playing both open and muted trumpet. James Taylor is featured on vocals on the Beatles cover “Here Comes The Sun”. Songs of Joy & Peace is a limited edition of 500 copies on translucent green coloured vinyl.

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

NOW Music is proud to present the newest addition to the ‘Yearbook’ series: NOW – Yearbook 1981. NOW – Yearbook 1981; a celebration of the eclectic and creative brilliance of the year in pop. 4 CDs of 85 tracks that defined the charts in 1981. Available on a 4CD special edition which is housed in ‘hard-back book’ packaging, including a 28-page booklet with a summary of the year, a track-by-track guide, a quiz, and original singles artwork, and as a standard 4-CD package. A limited edition 3LP set pressed in translucent red vinyl, limited to 3,000 units and a 4CD set

One of London’s most loved underground parties, Tangent, celebrates its 10th birthday this year with a new compilation on Mr Bongo. Its residents, John Gómez and Nick the Record, have curated a selection of prized, rare and dancefloor-ready tracks that have soundtracked the past decade of their parties. Alongside remastered reissues of these original cuts, the CD version of the compilation also houses three incredible edits from Nick, John and Dan Tyler of the Idjut Boys. These were too good not to press onto vinyl, so we’ve given them the standalone 12" they deserve.

Contextualising their edits Nick states, “Tangent was not only the place for us to play the music we love the most, it also became the testing ground for our edits. It was really helpful being able to see the effect each of these had on a dancefloor before the records were released and many of them also became firm Tangent classics.”

Up first, Nick is joined by Dan Tyler (Idjut Boys), who he runs the edit label Record Mission with, for a furiously feel-good re-edit of Leo Basel’s ‘Quelle Drôle De Vie’. Basing their edit on the 1987 ‘Special Remix’, it does what any great re-work does, dropping the sections from the original that don’t quite hit the mark, whilst focussing on the gold in amongst it all. The result is a slice of peak-time, French boogie joy, that will warm even the coldest hearts.

John then joins Dan at the dials for a cosmic revamp of Love Isaacs 'Surprise Surprise'. A serving of ‘80s electro-funk, dripping in swagger with a highlife tinge. John and Dan extended the grooves for maximum dancefloor power, space echoing it into the stratosphere at all the juiciest points.

Lastly, Nick takes on Rick Asikpo and Afro Fusion 'Let's Get High' from the super sought-after 1980 album, Got To Be Me. Celestial, gospel-infused soul from Nigeria, Nick homes in on the energetic last 2 minutes of the original as the building block of his 12-minute edit. A completely reworked, feverishly paced creation, Nick switches the sections around, saving the slow, soulful segment for a brilliant cosmic breakdown before the track erupts back into its full flow. Synthesised, jazz-funk elation from start to finish!

Hugo Race (Dirtmusic, Fatalists, ex-Bad Seeds) and Michelangelo Russo (True Spirit), fuse rock, blues, ambient and electronic sounds on their raw, compelling new album "100 Years".
In 2017, the duo released John Lee Hooker's World Today (Glitterhouse/Gusstaff Records), a tribute to the blues legend's delta blues legacy reinvented in a swirling mix of analog grit and deep trance pulses.

100 Years showcases the duo's sonic chemistry against Race's stark songwriting. Inspired by the raw majesty of early blues recordings, the album was recorded in two days in a non-stop live Hugo Race & Michelangelo Russo - 100 Years session. Amplified harmonica, open-tuned guitars, smoky vocals and primal foot beat walk us through a landscape of dreamlike devastation, a hypnotic wall of sound suspended in time and space celebrating endurance and redemption, hand-made from ancient roots. "Tradition does not mean passing the ashes, but the fire."

100 Years. Recorded November 1 & 2, 2023.
Engineered by Andrew 'Idge' Hehir at Soundpark Studios, Melbourne.
Mastered by Giovanni Versari at La Maesta, Milano.
Published by Peermusic.

PRESS about former album:
Rock'n'Roll Monuments, Greece:
"Race and Russo's pioneering electronic atmospheres give the historical Blues something you never imagined possible."

Rolling Stone, Germany: 'Dark Eros and transcendental blues…'
Musikreviews.de, Germany: "A psychedelic ghost blues of a profound sort, a mature, sensitive interpretation of the music and lyrics of John Lee Hooker. (Race and Russo) have blown us away in slow motion, economically instrumented and with painfully beautiful intensity. "

Q, London: "A darkly singular experience then, and one of the best records (Race) has ever made..."

The Music, Australia: "A collection of bluesy, brooding songs from a talented singer-songwriter with three decades of musicianship under his belt."

Eclipsed, Germany: "Hypnotic rhythms and haunting guitars, this album tingles under your skin..."
Focus Kultur, Germany: "No one else makes music like this, and that in itself is an achievement..."

Rock and Folk, Paris: 'This traveler without borders advances through a menacing atmosphere of no-wave electro-acoustics. Here is the spirit, and he does not forget
the body and the soul ... '
Tom Tom Rock, Italy: "An almost epic attack, worthy of the soundtrack of an apocalyptic post-nuclear catastrophe film… a talking blues of the third millennium, filtered by years of psychedelia and industrial music - and the Berlin years of Hugo Race can certainly be felt - hypnotic and dark, but precisely for this reason enveloping and fascinating. A record in which the music of the legendary bluesman is completely transfigured, without, however, the fidelity to his "spirit" and his "message" being questioned in the slightest. In short, JLH is alive and fighting with us, if we find the strength to follow him."

Hugo Race (Dirtmusic, Fatalists, ex-Bad Seeds) and Michelangelo Russo (True Spirit), fuse rock, blues, ambient and electronic sounds on their raw, compelling new album "100 Years".
In 2017, the duo released John Lee Hooker's World Today (Glitterhouse/Gusstaff Records), a tribute to the blues legend's delta blues legacy reinvented in a swirling mix of analog grit and deep trance pulses.

100 Years showcases the duo's sonic chemistry against Race's stark songwriting. Inspired by the raw majesty of early blues recordings, the album was recorded in two days in a non-stop live Hugo Race & Michelangelo Russo - 100 Years session. Amplified harmonica, open-tuned guitars, smoky vocals and primal foot beat walk us through a landscape of dreamlike devastation, a hypnotic wall of sound suspended in time and space celebrating endurance and redemption, hand-made from ancient roots. "Tradition does not mean passing the ashes, but the fire."

100 Years. Recorded November 1 & 2, 2023.
Engineered by Andrew 'Idge' Hehir at Soundpark Studios, Melbourne.
Mastered by Giovanni Versari at La Maesta, Milano.
Published by Peermusic.

PRESS about former album:
Rock'n'Roll Monuments, Greece:
"Race and Russo's pioneering electronic atmospheres give the historical Blues something you never imagined possible."

Rolling Stone, Germany: 'Dark Eros and transcendental blues…'
Musikreviews.de, Germany: "A psychedelic ghost blues of a profound sort, a mature, sensitive interpretation of the music and lyrics of John Lee Hooker. (Race and Russo) have blown us away in slow motion, economically instrumented and with painfully beautiful intensity. "

Q, London: "A darkly singular experience then, and one of the best records (Race) has ever made..."

The Music, Australia: "A collection of bluesy, brooding songs from a talented singer-songwriter with three decades of musicianship under his belt."

Eclipsed, Germany: "Hypnotic rhythms and haunting guitars, this album tingles under your skin..."
Focus Kultur, Germany: "No one else makes music like this, and that in itself is an achievement..."

Rock and Folk, Paris: 'This traveler without borders advances through a menacing atmosphere of no-wave electro-acoustics. Here is the spirit, and he does not forget
the body and the soul ... '
Tom Tom Rock, Italy: "An almost epic attack, worthy of the soundtrack of an apocalyptic post-nuclear catastrophe film… a talking blues of the third millennium, filtered by years of psychedelia and industrial music - and the Berlin years of Hugo Race can certainly be felt - hypnotic and dark, but precisely for this reason enveloping and fascinating. A record in which the music of the legendary bluesman is completely transfigured, without, however, the fidelity to his "spirit" and his "message" being questioned in the slightest. In short, JLH is alive and fighting with us, if we find the strength to follow him."

Mighty Vertebrate is the International Anthem debut from Anna Butterss. The Adelaide born bassist / composer has been a first call for LA tour and studio work since relocating there in 2014 – racking up credits with notables across the experimental, jazz, and pop worlds alike – but their most notable contributions to the burgeoning LA scene have been as a member of both Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet and rising proto-trance supergroup SML, who Pitchfork says “represents the thrilling next phase of a vibrant L.A. community.”

“I had just gotten off of a bunch of touring at the end of 2022 and just wanted to write music,” says Butterss. “The best way for me to do that, I’ve found, is to set myself a discreet and focused task."

I’m going to make a song where the bass doesn’t function in the role of a bass.
I’m going to work on this for an hour and then I’m going to stop.
I’m going to make a song that uses groups of three-bar phrasing.
I want to sample something and make it into a song.
I’m going to start with a drum machine.

The music itself reflects that structure beautifully, with the material being tightly
composed and melodically realized by Butterss well in advance of production concerns. Here they reconvene a group of trusted longtime collaborators to bring their compositions to fruition: Ben Lumsdaine (drums, guitar, production), Josh Johnson (sax), and Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), plus a smoking guest appearance from Jeff Parker. The breadth and scope of the results might have been difficult to achieve otherwise. From the Robbie-Shakespeare-in-groove-mode intro to the album opener “Bishop” to the spacious cinematic doom of “Seeing You”, there is a lot to wrangle into one cohesive concept. On Mighty Vertebrate, Butterss and crew do just that.

The Congos were formed by Cedric Myton (born 1947 St Catherine, Jamaica) and Roydel ‘Roy’ Johnson (born 1943 Hanover, Jamaica), around the mid-seventies, a time when the Rasta message coming out of Kingston and other pockets of the Jamaican Island was at its most prominent. Cedric Myton’s singing career began back in the rocksteady era in Reggae’s musical story.

He formed the ‘Tartans’ group taking lead vocal duties alongside Devon Russell, Prince Lincoln Thompson and Lindbergh Lewis. They cut ‘Dance All Night’ (1967) and ‘Coming On Strong’ (1968). The line-up reduced to a two piece, Cedric and Devon Russell, when tracks like ‘What a Sin Thing’ and ‘Short Up Dress’ were cut. This line-up became the Royal Rasses, Cedric formed The Congos, on meeting Roydel Johnson. Roydel previously sang as a member of Ras Michael and the Sons of Negas, cutting such tracks as ’Go To Zion’ (1973). As we can see Cedric’s and Roydel’s Rasta roots were firmly in place by the time they had formed The Congos sometimes called ‘The Congoes’.

The Congos possess what all bands look for,that unique sound that draws the listener to them.Lead singer Cedric Myton’s style and phasing, with his distinctive Falsetto voice makes this just the case.Built on a foundation of classic rhythms and with the aid of then Producer, Lee Perry, the groups statement of intent was laid down with one succinct message. The Congos mighty 1977 ‘Heart of the Congos’ album, is quite simply one of the best reggae albums ever recorded.

Producer Lee Perry had wanted to record a classic Jamaican vocal group in his newly built Black Ark Studio. The voice of Watty Burnett was added at the time to cover baritone vocal duties. The studio after various changes in equipment etc. was finally finding its way. A sound built in Lee Perry’s back yard in Cardiff Crescent, Washington Gardens, Kingston, but existing until then in Mr Lee Perry’s mind. The album they cut would be the defining group release to come out of The Black Ark studios, when the vital elements, vibes, musicians, songs and singing would gel to form ‘Heart Of The Congos’. Come the time of it’s release 1977, Lee Perry was in dispute with Island Records and opted to release the record on his own ‘Black Art’ label. Without the high-profile push of a major label, the record undersold and caused a split between producer and band. Under different circumstances maybe this album would be sitting in thousands of homes alongside the Bob Marley, Culture, Burning Spear releases. Cedric Myton went on to release albums with the French arm of the CBS label and Roy Johnson records and tours as Congo Ashanti Roy.

Cedric Myton the central force carries on the mantle of the Congos and we at Kingston Sounds are proud to pick up the story with another set of vocal statements, which sees Cedric cut some of his finest tunes. Helped along by another reggae legend Brent Dowe, lead singer of the Melodians (Rivers of Babylon), over some classic 1970’s rhythms. Yet again we find that magic formula of strong statements working alongside classic rhythms making the balance work. The Rasta message is still strong on modern classics like ‘King Rastafari Is His Name’, ‘Rasta Congo Man’ and the injustices of the world dissected in tunes ‘Some A Thief’, ‘Watch & Pray’ and the prophetical, ‘Citizen Of The World’.

Once touched by magic it does not fade away, but resurfaces as it has with what we believe to be some of the Congos most heartfelt and meaningful set of songs ...... Let the feast begin.

Clear Vinyl. For the first time ever released on vinyl, this brilliant 2012 LP features an all-star cast of musicians and actors lead by Tim Robbins, Dr. John, Bill Frisell, Ralph Steadman, Annie Ross, John Joyce III and Will Forte. Hunter S. Thompson's classic Gonzo reportage on the 1970 Kentucky Derby is summoned brilliantly to life through spoken word and musical composition. Conceived by executive producer Michael Minzer for his Paris Records label, the project was produced by Hal Willner, who brought Bill Frisell in as composer/arranger/conductor. Bill then asesmbled a stellar group of musicians including Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Ron Miles (trumpet), Eyvind Kang (viola), Doug Weiselman (woodwinds), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Hank Roberts (cello) and Kenny Wolleson (drums, percussion). Ralph Steadman does double duty portraying himself in the narration and contributing original artwork for the project. In 2021, Kramer re-Mastered the original audio for this historic re-release on limited-edition 'Horse-Shit Brown' vinyl for his Shimmy-Disc label.

As the 21st century was born, so Kreator underwent what was nothing less than a seismic creative rebirth. By this time, the iconic German band had released nine studio albums in the 1980s and '90s, which had established them as one of the most important metal names of these decades.In the first period, they had helped to shape and pioneer the thrash scene through such releases as 'Pleasure To Kill' (1986), 'Terrible Certainty' ('87) and 'Extreme Aggression' ('89). During the following decade, the band had opened up exciting horizons of experimentation on albums like 'Coma Of Souls' (1990), 'Renewal' ('92) and 'Endorama' ('99).
Now, though, it was time to move into a fresh era, as vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza explains.
“During the 1990s, we were definitely experimenting with what the band were doing. But (drummer) Ventor and I decided that for this album – our first of the new millennium – we wanted to go back to the sort of sound that we had at the start of Kreator. In other words, to get back to the reason why we began the band in the first place.”

There was also new guitarist introduced, as Sami Yli-Sirniö (who had made his reputation with Finnish band Waltari) took over from Tommy Vetterli. The latter (also known as Tommy T. Baron) had joined in 1996 and played on the 'Oucast' (1997) and 'Endorama' albums.

The producer for this album was Andy Sneap, who was now making a name for himself as one of the pre-eminent masters of this art in the modern metal world.“I had known and liked Andy since the days he had been the guitarist in Sabbat, as they were signed to Noise Records as Kreator were on that label. He was our first choice to work on this new project. I liked what he'd done for Testament on their album 'The Gathering' (released in 1999). He had given them a sound they'd never had before, and that really was what we were after. It was natural and organic, and also very modern. I remember phoning him at his Backstage Studios in England (Ripley in Derbyshire). And Warrel Dane, the vocalist in Nevermore, answered. Andy was producing their new album at the time ('Dead Heart In A Dead World', 2000). And when I heard this, again I was very impressed. So, I was delighted when he agreed to produce the new Kreator album.”

The album title came from something Petrozza had read. “In a book I came across a comment that John F. Kennedy said (in 1962). This was: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”. I thought 'Violent Revolution' would make a good title for an album. So, I kept it in my mind for this record. I think 'Violent Revolution' is a title that makes a real impact.”

One interesting aspect of the track listing was that the 52 second instrumental 'The Patriarch' actually came after the opening song 'Reconquering The Throne'. Fans might have been expected that it would have opened the album. But for Petrozza, there was a logical reason for this not to happen. “We really wanted to lead off with a thrashing track, to show everyone what we were now doing musically. After 'Endorama', it was important that everyone should recognise this was a new era for Kreator.”

'Violent Revolution' is without question an excellent album. While in some ways it does hark back to the glories of the band's earlier days, nonetheless it does not sound at all nostalgic. The performances and production values are very much part of the contemporary era, and the strength of the compositions themselves are of the highest values. Rising to the challenge offered by a new generation of ambitious metal bands, Kreator proved they were far from being a spent force. Unlike so many of their peers, here was a band who still had so much creativity to offer, and were also clearly excited themselves by what they were doing. And when you hear the band themselves enjoying the entire process, then you know this is a bona fide revitalisation.

Mutant, in partnership with Hollywood Records and 20th Century Studios are proud to present the premiere physical release of John Paesano's score to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.



Paying homage to Jerry Goldsmith's iconic original Planet of the Apes score, while embarking on a wholly original sonic journey into this unexplored era of the series chronology. Paesano has crafted an incredible musical odyssey, full of wonder and powerful emotional passages.



Paesano has been quietly producing some of the best genre scores of the last decade. His music for the Daredevil TV series, Marvel's Spider-Man video games and The Maze Runner trilogy if films have all led to this in some way. With Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, he has crafted a beautiful and sweeping score for a massive dystopian world inhabited with nuanced and delicate characters. And he does so while respecting the source material and the legacy of the franchises that loom large. It's a tightrope that Paesano deftly walks with well-earned confidence.

Imaginative re-workings and improvisations by Andrew Tuttle of the late great Michael Chapman's unfinished instrumental album. Sonic explorations that bridge the Southern and Northern Hemisphere via the Caribbean, remote Northumberland and sub-tropical Australia. Navigating calm seas and turbulent waters of ambient corals, new-age pirates, waves of lapping banjos and drifting eroding guitars.
When Michael Chapman passed away in September of 2021, at the age of 80, he did so – as he spent much of his life – as both a pioneer and a legend. A veteran of the British blues/folk/jazz scene, Chapman emerged in 1966 and continued working throughout his life, always pushing the boundaries of his creations while collaborating with a slew of similarly heralded musicians along the way: Bert Jansch, Mick Ronson, Elton John, Thurston Moore, Steve Gunn; to name just a smattering of those he worked alongside over the years.
It's the latter of those – Brooklyn guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn – who Chapman flourished alongside in recent years, the two collaborating on 50 and True North, two of Chapman’s final and finest records. It was through that friendship that Chapman’s music found Andrew Tuttle, the Brisbane-based multi-instrumentalist who has toured Australia several times alongside Gunn.
In the aftermath of Chapman’s passing, his partner Andru discovered Tuttle’s Fleeting Adventure LP, describing it as “one of the albums that kept me sane during that first brutal winter on my own.” The pair met in Australia shortly after, and before Andru had even made it back home to the north of England, Tuttle had begun working on the recordings she shared with him at that time. Those recordings were part of a project Chapman was working on at the time of his death, called Another Fish – what would have been a companion piece to his previously-released LP, simply called Fish.
Though Chapman had spent time in his local studio playing all the guitars, layering the different sounds and effects, he’d always intended to do much more work on the songs, however fate had its way and he never got to ribbon-bow those ideas and bring the album to its conclusion.
Though there was little intention in terms of how to finalise the project, Tuttle spent valuable time with those recordings. What materialised, eventually - with time, care, and diligent attention - is a two-disc set Another Tide, Another Fish, something both unusual and completely distinctive. The first disc, Another Tide is centred around Tuttle’s own work, which shaped all seven of Michael’s songs and ideas into new songs of their own, and the second disc which simply incorporates the recordings that Michael left behind.
“On all of the tracks I also ‘played along’ on banjo to the originals several times until I learned an approximation,” Tuttle continues. “This ended up resulting in a ‘hybrid’, where some works are easily identifiable to those who know Michael’s originals, and some took that inspiration to head altogether elsewhere. Each of the tracks, even where not obvious, does have at the very least a trace element sample of the original recordings so that it’s a true collaboration.”
What we’re left with is indeed a hybrid: part remix album, part cover album, both a solo work and a collaboration, of sorts. Inspired by Chapman’s original ideas and with new track titles directly referencing the numbered but otherwise untitled source material, Tuttle adds his own flashes of colours throughout, including editing, sampling, MIDI transposing and signal processing that twists these songs into beautiful new shapes. Perhaps Tuttle’s greatest achievement here then is that Another Tide sounds so effortlessly free of all this context.
Whether you know Michael’s, Andrew’s or even Andru’s story or not, these recordings will bristle with enchantment and intrigue, worlds are built, and while some thrive and grow, others fizzle out in a burst of light, such is the way. “It's been a long, long road but we got there and I think it's been more than worth it,” Andru says in the record’s liner notes. “I really hope you think the journey was worth it too.”
Guitars and effects by Michael Chapman recorded by Alex Warnes at Phoenix Studio, Brampton, Cumbria, 2017 Banjo, effects and edits by Andrew Tuttle at Bella Vista, Brisbane / Meanjin, 2023-2024

This year's compilation is once again dedicated to the Bärenherz children's hospice here in Leipzig.
The people in this organization do such incredibly important work, but unfortunately it is all too often "invisible" - because if we're honest, it's not a topic you like to deal with unless you are directly or indirectly affected yourself. And then you realize that the costs of care, accommodation, supplies and psychosocial therapies are only partially covered by health insurance. The children's hospice does not receive any state subsidies, and that's why it is dependent on private donations.

We asked a few old friends from our new hood (now that we are no longer just mentally but also physically located in Leipzig) for tracks, as well as new ones - from Connewitz to Chicago - bridging the gap between Neo-Soul, good old Boom Bap, Modern Funk, Electro, Synthiepop, Breaks and of course, House Music in all its shades.

One love goes out to all artists and supporters!

Typically, a band's big indie label debut doesn't come 15 albums into its career, but with Constant Smiles' Paragons, here we are. Primary songwriter and sole "constant" member Ben Jones_who considers Constant Smiles a collective_sees its impressive output as a way to document the group's evolution. Since its live debut as a noise duo on Ben's home of Martha's Vineyard in 2009, Constant Smiles has grown to include contributions from 50 other members, all of whom have personal connections to the group's extended family. And while the collective has indulged an array of musical whims along the way - including Ben's penchant for penning a new set's worth of material for each live performance - Constant Smiles' sound has tightened up considerably over their past couple of albums, in large part as a result of Ben's working relationship with Mike Mackey, who has become his main creative partner. This increased focus manifests on Paragons in the band's most cohesive batch of songs to date, ranging from shimmering psych-pop excursions to bittersweet, piano and string-accented strummers, and an execution that feels like a massive step forward for the band. Through its recent forays into dream pop and shoegaze (Control) and synth-pop (John Waters), Constant Smiles has learned how to incorporate its experimental inclinations more fluidly into the mix. Artists like Yo La Tengo, and the more recent Rat Columns, are good touchstones for Constant Smiles' musical approach - tethering to an indie-pop core while perennially mining genres, always finding new ways to intrigue listeners and pursue a unique vision. Paragons was produced and engineered by Ben Greenberg in the last two weeks of December 2020 at Gary's Electric, with additional recording done by Ben Jones at his home studio, The Void, and his Aunt Leanne's house. The album was mixed at Circular Ruin Studio and mastered by Josh Bonati. The band on Paragons consists of Jai Berger (who performed "Introduction"), Spike Currier (bass and synth), Matthew Addison (drums), Emma Conley (violin), Nicky Wetherell (cello), Adam Lipsky (piano), and Ben Greenberg (guitar and Mellotron).

UNSURPASSED SPACIOUSNESS, IMAGING, AND TRANSPARENCY: MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES, MUSIC EMERGES WITH NEW DETAILS AND TONES
1/2" / 30 IPS analogue master - Plangent Processed - to DXD to analogue console to lathe

Love Over Gold is all about contrast, tension, and crafty composition. Dire Straits' fourth album finds the band continuing to evolve by welcoming increasingly bold arrangements and exploring moody variations. Parts edgy and sharp, and part seductive and relaxed, the five lengthy songs on Love Over Gold sprawl out like a long, winding road cutting through a pastoral landscape. The addition of a new rhythm guitarist, Hal Lindes, encourages deeper atmospheric interplay while the presence of engineer Neil Dorfsman – his first appearance in what would be a long string of collaborations with Mark Knopfler – ensures stunning sonic properties that now come to life like never before.

Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP version of Love Over Gold teems with superb balances, front-to-back soundstages, and crystalline purity. The dead-quiet surfaces and extra-wide grooves bring forward previously obscured details, extra information, and mastering-studio-quality transients. The distinctive textures of a host of instruments – marimbas, acoustic and electric guitars, vibes, synthesizers – further enhance the ambitiousness of the 1982 album.

On this audiophile pressing, everything Knopfler does seemingly turn to gold. Gearheads will hear the unique characteristics afforded by his use of a Mesa Boogie Mark II guitar amplifier (soon again employed on Brothers in Arms) and carefully chosen selection of Schecter Stratocasters, 1937 National steel guitar, and Ovation six- and twelve-string models. Reference-level separation and lifelike imaging place Knopfler and company in your room, while tube-like warmth, spaciousness, and airiness causes the music to breathe anew. This LP will be in your rotation for months.

It doesn't take long to realize Love Over Gold is like no other Dire Straits album – and a staunch proclamation of independence from a band that continued to take longer creative strides with each successive project. Fearlessly extending over metaphoric hills, valleys, and plains for nearly 14-and-a-half minutes, the opening "Telegraph Road" is a guitar hero's dream and exhilarating showcase for Lindes' give-and-take capabilities. In tandem with keyboardist Alan Clark, Lindes provides the ideal foil for not only Knopfler but the long-time rhythm section of bassist John Illsley and drummer Pick Withers.

Taking its time to arrive at destinations, the quintet paints evocative musical and lyrical portraits steeped in patience, drama, and, often times, sadness. Desolate emotions colour the sweeping "Telegraph Road" and barren "Private Investigations," which finds Knopfler in the role of a tired private eye contemplating the emptiness and scars of his profession. Vocally, the Dire Straits leader remains in top form throughout, his whiskey-coated rasp conveying romantic ache, ongoing frustration, and what Rolling Stone beautifully deemed "wracking schizophrenia between the heart and the heartless, the loving and the pain."

Called Dire Straits' prog-rock statement, Love Over Gold is a classic that defies labelling and avoids ageing.

From 2019 to 2023 Lindsay Reamer worked as a field scientist. With a guitar and a bag of books in tow, she would leave her home in Philadelphia for the postcard scenes of the American landscape to gather data on visitation in National Parks. She counted cars and RVs, surveyed visitors, and made a temporary home for a few weeks at a time wherever she landed. All the while, she collected her own observations like specimens and slowly weaved the songs that would form her debut full-length, `Natural Science.' Recorded throughout 2023 by Lucas Knapp, `Natural Science' paints with a full spectrum. Humor rubs elbows with heartbreak. Acoustic guitars brush up against synthesizers, cradling Reamer as she sings about the American Chestnut tree extinction, employee gossip at a Day's Inn, fishing beside a power plant, turf grass farms, and waking up next to day-old take-out. The indifferent beauty of nature is held up next to the everyday as Reamer does her very best to find clues for navigating the latter by musing upon both. Following the release of her self-produced EP `Lucky' (Dear Life Records) in 2021, Reamer assembled a band with musicians from Philadelphia's vibrant music community and began working her once solo-acoustic songs into full band arrangements. After a brief flirtation with dance music which led to 2022's viral single "Touch Tank," Reamer settled into a sound that lies somewhere in the folkrock-pop matrix, explored with the humor and lightness of songwriters like Sheryl Crow or Melanie. Reamer reflects: "When I heard the songs with the band, I knew it was time to make the record. It felt like something I had been working towards my whole life. I grew up around musicians but I never thought I was good enough to be in a band or even to make my own music. My grandmother Joan gave me voice lessons after school, my mom was an opera singer, and my dad a guitar player. But it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized I could do it. It didn't matter if I could shred on the guitar or something. It was like some illusion shattered." Reamer is a sincere storyteller. The self-doubt and heartbreak expressed in songs like "Spring Song," "Sugar," or "Red Flowers" give way to the triumphant moments of self-acceptance and love in "Lucky," "Necessary," and "Figs and Peaches." `Natural Science' chronicles a path to confidence, an honest reflection of someone with the capacity to hold a deep well of emotion who also makes sure to not take it all too seriously. "Gardens on the land / Castles on the beaches / I trust my hand and / Pluck my figs and peaches," Reamer sings, as she works to reconcile the strange difficulty we have at finding happiness despite the obvious beauty all around us.

Are you a mannequin in the eyes of your beloved? Does your partner compare your relationship to a factory that emits plumes of smoke? Are you in love with a seductive and destructive Credit Default Swap? Someone who sucks you in with skyrocketing short term erotic returns - only to ghost you until you crash so hard that you end up broke(n) in your own bed? Do you pay $300 an hour out of pocket to a psychiatrist who promises to help you strike a deal with a difcult parent - one that will produce more stable long term returns on your psychic investments? If so, then you, my friend, may be drowning in the sea of Love in the Time of Capital. It's where everyone would love to drown. It's a new album from John Davis of The Folk Implosion that fnds him backed with confdence by Eli Moore and Andrew Dorsett of the indie pop band Lake. It was recorded by Nich Wilbur at the Unknown, a cavernous recording studio in Anacortes, WA that has been a favorite destination for indie rockers around the nation. Ben Brodin recorded Megan Siebe playing strings on two tracks at his Hidden Branch studio in Omaha, and the album was mixed by Scott Solter in Durham NC. Arrangements are based on the classic power pop trio of drums, bass and electric guitar. Those elements are tastefully embellished with organs and pianos that call to mind records by classic rock bands like Tom Petty's Heartbreakers. That is, if the Heartbreakers were fltered through the Northwestern International Pop Underground tradition, and cast a critical eye on how commodity culture shapes the way we think of ourselves and our intimate relationships. The album also features four ballads, three drum and electric guitar free, for all you late night introspective heads.

Filipovich is one of a kind. The Belarus-born, Paris-based artist works in a multitude of media - found footage films, painting, silkscreening and performance to name a few. It's her musical output that has caught the attention of late, though, with Filipovich dropping a run of releases in recent years which began with 2021's Magnificat on Time Released Sound. Filipovich takes as much of a novel approach to her music-making as she does with her other artistic endeavours - Magnificat was centred around treated samples of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil, and she's also combined classical composition with contemporary electronic techniques on her subsequent drops.

For Idealized, Filipovich's debut on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit, she maintains the gothic air which characterised her previous releases and applies it to a record of widescreen contemporary techno joints. These tracks represent something of a gear shift for CPU, a label which has long made its name by delivering top-quality electro and machine-funk jams, but such is the quality of Idealized that these superbly-executed techno productions are sure to win over label fans both old and new.

Idealized is very much schooled in the German tradition of minimal/dub techno. Tracks like 'Physical', 'Wave' and 'Dance Minor' all anchor themselves on single, steady drum pulses and delay-drenched single-chord loops. Filipovich generally lets the central idea of these tracks play out across several minutes while introducing increasingly disorientating elements into the rest of the mix - wiccan atmospherics, clashing chords, spiralling delays and so forth. It's an approach at once respectful of Filipovich's predecessors - Basic Channel, Deepchord, Ellen Allien and so on - but also full of idiosyncrasies and individuality.

Many of the club cuts here hardwire us into the moody, murky environs of the darkest Berlin Basements. 'Ultra Red' rides forward on a crisp drum machine snap, a menacing burble of bassline and an eerie single-note synth whistle in the upper end of the mix; 'Dance Minor' shows off a bit of KiNK in the brain-bending modular loop that waxes and wanes at its centre; the second-half run from 'Wave' to closer 'Small Cave' travels ever-further out into deep space - the kick drums remain insistent, yet the textural elements are delivered with an edge and flair that evidences Filipovich's ability to think outside the box.

Filipovich's unusual methods, and the influence of sound art and electroacoustic composition on her music, are drawn out further when Idealized steps away from the dancefloor. 'Hydra' comes off like a more gothic version of Pole - its central pulse draws from dub techno but never quite settles into a danceable groove, and this beat is combined with the kind of unnerving keyboard work that would make John Carpenter proud. Although closer 'Small Cave' eventually locks into another dark-room techno roller, the opening section of the track delivers a weightless soundscape of bright, tinny chords and a scene-setting field recording.

Idealized, the first drop on Central Processing Unit from Paris-based Belarusian Lina Filpovich, broadens the label's horizons with a selection of finely crafted minimal/dub techno joints.

RIYL: Andy Stott, Deepchord, Ellen Allien, Moritz von Oswald

There is propably no single event that has as potent of an
effect on the german Techno- scene as the fall of the Berlin
Wall. A city divided suddenly, in one single night, became
uni¦ed, opening up both sides for the new experiences and
ways to view life the other might have. Berlin’s eastside with
it’s empty, unused warehouses proved to be a fertile breeding
ground for free spirits and those carrying a newfound ¦re in
their eyes. This was the zero hour. The Consolidation. And it
is this mindset, spirit and ¦re of Consolidation that Shaleen
conjures on her debut EP of the same name. The title track
opens up by sampling John F. Kennedy’s legendary “Berlin”
speech from 1964, before absolutely caving in the concrete
with a beyond-heavy kickdrum and a very stripped down but
effective 909-percussion section. Spursed in along the track’s
runtime are droning sirens and JFK continuing to beckon you
to lose yourself in the metropolitan bowels. This is the
anthem of a past revolution. On Deconstruction, Shaleen
goes down a slightly more basement oriented route. The
Percussion shares the title track’s stripped down
effectiveness, but the Groove is more rolling, the Vocal
samples are more distorted and there are sharp synths
cutting through the beats like shards of broken glass. Of
course, a revolution wouldn’t be complete without a mob so
both Cadency aka Hector Oaks and New Frames have put
their spin on the EP’s title track. Mr. Cadeny is up ¦rst and,
being no stranger to revolutionary anthems, has given
Consolidation an almost contemplative mood in his Remix,by adding a very subtle melody. This doesn’t mean it hits any
less hard, mind you, there is an incredibly strong drive to the
track, paired with an almost constantly looping vocal and the
sirens going into overdrive, this would be the track to drive
crowds into a frenzy. Meanwhile New Frames’ track is the
kind of thing you wouldn’t want to encounter alone in a dark
alleyway. The sub-basses are heavy enough to terraform
Mars, the Jungle-esque Synthlines roar and snarl at the
listener and every drop feels like a right hook to the chin. The
original’s vocal is cut in a way that it only adds to the
stomping rhythm, putting you in a mood to throw bricks. So
while this record showcases an aggressive sound and a
mood for revolution, it is important to remember it’s title.
Consolidation. It echoes a message of uni¦cation. Of
standing together. Because together we are, have been and
will always be stronger than by ourselves.

It's already hard to describe what Deerhoof sounds like. So we'll skip that part and say this sounds a lot like Deerhoof with a different singer. And in keeping with 30-year Hoofian tradition, melodies soar, big hit earwigs abound, harmonies are complex, and keys change frequently and unexpectedly. Arrangements are in a constant state of impatient agitation. Emotions run high but delivery is usually a falsetto deadpan. We Sang, Therefore We Were is grief delivered in code. Greg plays everything save for a few birds who join in singing now and again. He keeps the instrumentarium severely limited, the sound shambling and anti-slick. It turns out Greg is a really good bass player and guitar player, if a bit more rudimentary and slicing compared to his Deerhoof bandmates. He does play more angry guitar solos. But don't expect another Chippendale/Saunier speed-drum freakout; the songwriting is gorgeous and sophisticated, and drums are almost an afterthought. Here, song is Queen. The singing is high and whispery, tending towards the three-part harmony. What we're saying is: We Sang, Therefore We Were sounds a bit like Deerhoof fronted by The Andrews Sisters. This is a peek inside the mind of one of indie rock's most celebrated drummers, many of whose fans may not even realize the relentlessness of his musicianship and compositional prolificacy. Mozartian chords and sounds insinuate themselves here and there on this record, finally taking over in a big climax at the end, when the drums break off unexpectedly into a laugh-or-cry orchestral outpouring that ironically may be the rawest part of a very raw album. "Satomi, Ed, John and I were chatting between shows in Austin in early December. They encouraged me to make a record on my own. With no one to please but myself, it came together way faster than usual. It was basically done by the holidays. I had been excited by the announcement that the new Rolling Stones record was going to sound 'angry.' I thought, 'Yes, I'm angry too.' But Hackney Diamonds turned out more like cotton candy than punk rock. So I went back to Nirvana. I always loved the catchy melody over massive distortion, the way their songs refused to conform to simple major or minor scales, the dark sarcasm which still resonates in this age of phony blue-check-washing of fascism." The album cover is all text, penned by Greg on the familiar topic of interspecies absurdist operatic anti-Cartesian revolution. The songs' lyrics are all drawn from this epic poem. White House spokespersons are recast as The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute, The Queen of the Night is recast as a mockingbird singing all night in a battle for survival, and ultimately the mockingbird is recast as a campy drag artist taking pleasure in her own aggressive, tireless music-making.

Chris Cohen was always a quiet kid. In fact, this introversion was one reason he began playing music as a toddler-to communicate without speaking, to identify with others without the direct representation of words. It has worked, too, with Cohen's terrific stint in the mighty Deerhoof and his own captivating art-rock act The Curtains, preceding production and session work for the likes of Weyes Blood, Kurt Vile, Le Ren, and Marina Allen. Somewhere along that long way, Cohen started writing lyrics. He found that, though it didn't come naturally, the process offered a new sense of self-discovery and reckoning, a way to see himself and the world from unexpected angles. His three twilit albums of casually complicated pop during the last decade radiated these epiphanies: handling family strife, navigating advancing age, and understanding social woes. But Cohen has never had as much to sing so directly as he does on Paint a Room, his first album in five years and his debut for Hardly Art. If Cohen's meanings have previously lurked inside the tessellated musical layers he built alone, they are newly clear and resonant here, animated and underscored for the first time by a band playing in real time. There is the endless miasma of state violence on the subversively melodious opener "Damage," the existential exhaustion of modernity on the horn-traced jangle "Laughing": this is Cohen communicating with friends not only through his deep understanding of groove, harmony, and hook but also with his listeners through songs that croon of our uneasy little era. On Paint a Room, Cohen's music feels like a warm spring breeze, easy to love and gentle to feel. But it's often carrying something heavy, as if blowing in from some unseen storm cloud. Paint a Room both reckons with reality and conjures an alternate one, where nighttime walks and a neighbor's wind chimes offer endless escapes for the imagination, space for the mind to roam. Sublime and sun-lit, these 10 songs consider dreamy new ways out of old predicaments, clearly stating the problem and dancing and singing their way somewhere new. Paint a Room features Jeff Parker contributing the fluttering horn arrangement on "Damage," and Parker collaborator Josh Johnson (who produced Meshell Ndegeocello's Grammy-Award-winning album The Omnichord Real Book) supplying flute, sax, and clarinet arrangements throughout the record.

LUMBEROB has always strived for maximalist sonic vaudeville, always hoped for real electro gabber hardcore noise art, always grabbed for frenzied illegibility, always lurched loosely improvised from a psych-swamp of love. On the new album, HUNTER GATHER, LUMBEROB swings swanky as proper pop deviance. Built from the same loopy logic which drives the stomping slaphappy force of his live show, these tunes are crafted out of lovely and weirdly thunk out loud and large soundscapes. Mixed and mastered by Shimmy-Disc founder Kramer (Daniel Johnston, JD Pinkus, Pan American), the album surprises, estranged from obvious categorization. These slippery little bouncy bangers are bold exercises in genre discovery. It sounds like nothing and it goes with everything. LUMBEROB is a tough act to follow, a surreally inventive performer who spins giddy with excitement, dancing dumb and banging hard. That's just what he does, and HUNTER GATHER is a refined encapsulation of that energy. There's truly a beautiful stupidity to be found here. HUNTER GATHER is noise-pop, art-rock, psych-primitive, dumb-dance. The album teams with bright sounds, spinning visions, and brut poetics. It curves furiously like a naughty noodle and, yes, it spins you dizzy at times. Nothing is old in that feeling ever. Listen loudly.

Lenticular Sleeve / White Vinyl. When Jack Tatum began work on Life of Pause, his third full-length to date, he had lofty ambitions: Don't just write another album; create another world. One with enough detail and texture and dimension that a listener could step inside, explore, and inhabit it as they see fit. "I desperately wanted for this to be the kind of record that would displace me," he says. "I'm terrified by the idea of being any one thing, or being of any one genre. And whether or not I accomplish that, I know that my only hope of getting there is to constantly reinvent. That reinvention doesn't need to be drastic, but every new record has to have its own identity, and it has to have a separate set of goals from what came before." What came before: a rightfully acclaimed, much beloved display of singular pop craftsmanship. Tatum's dreamy, unexpected 2010 debut, Gemini, was written while he was still a student at Virginia Tech University. Its equally disarming follow-up, 2012's Nocturne, marked the first time he'd been able to bring his bedroom recordings into a studio, to be performed and fully realized with the help of other musicians. There has been a set of wonderfully expansive EPs in between_each hinting at new directions and punctuating previous ideas_but with Life of Pause, Tatum delivers what he describes as his most "honest" and "mature" work yet, an exquisitely arranged and beautifully recorded collection of songs that marry the immediate with the indefinable. "I allowed myself to go down every route I could imagine even if it ended up not working for me," he says. "I owe it to myself to take as many risks as possible. Songs are songs and you have to allow yourself to be open to everything." After a prolonged period of writing and experimentation, recording took place over several weeks in both Los Angeles and Stockholm, with producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Beachwood Sparks) helping Tatum in his search for a more natural and organically textured sound. In Sweden, in a studio once owned by ABBA, they enlisted Peter, Bjorn and John drummer John Ericsson and fellow Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra veteran Pelle Jacobsson, to contribute drums and marimba. In California, at Monahan's home, Tatum collaborated with Medicine guitarist Brad Laner and a crew of saxophonists. From the hypnotic polyrhythms of "Reichpop" to the sugary howl of "Japanese Alice" to the hallucinogenic R&B of "A Woman's Wisdom," the result is a complete, fully immersive listening environment. "I just kept things really simple, writing as ideas came to me," he says. "There's definitely a different kind of `self' in the picture this time around. There's no real love lost, it's much more a record of coming to terms and defining what it is that you have_your place, your relationships. I view every record as an opportunity to write better songs. At the end of the day it still sounds like me, just new."

"Multiplatinum hitmakers Fastball are remembering it's okay to have hits. Reflecting on their meteoric rise with chart-topping debut “The Way,” guitarist/vocalist Miles Zuniga wryly remarks, “I like to say that ‘The Way’ gave us the freedom to continue doing what we do.”

And what Fastball does is write hits. Their latest, Sonic Ranch, produced by David Garza (Fiona Apple) and John Fields (Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus), is ten sing-along gems, combining pop smarts & the wisdom of 30 years together."

Leicester punk sextet Jools have today released their new single ‘97%’, a provocative track spotlighting the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the lives of women. This comes alongside the band’s announcement of signing to UK indie label Hassle Records (Brutus, The Used, Casey), and the release of an upcoming double A-side 7” single in June.

‘97%’ draws on vocalist Kate Price’s own personal experiences and those of the women in her life. “The point of the song, however, is not to explore my experience as an isolated incident, but instead to force people to confront such commonplace experiences in a manner in which they can’t look away,” Price says. “Everybody knows a woman that has been harassed or assaulted, but nobody seems to know an abuser. That simply doesn’t add up. I want that song to feel uncomfortable because I want everyone who hears it to realise that just because they are not an abuser, that doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible for changing the culture and experiences of every woman. It’s a cry for justice in the world.”

To experience Jools in their most chaotic and unpredictable full flight is, the band were once told, to not know whether you are about to be kicked in the face or kissed on the cheek. Even that, however, feels like an understatement.

At any moment the Jools experience, on stage and on record, can turn on a sixpence from that of unbridled rage at the world to a celebration of the beauty that can still be found hidden in its murky corners. The punk rock of Jools is at once visceral and violent, cathartic and confrontational, and at the next exultant and exhilarating. Jools is duality by design, where contradiction is empowerment harnessed as a force for progress, sonically and societally.

A collective of musicians – Mitch Gordon and Kate Price on vocals, Chris Johnston and Callum Connachie on guitar, Joe Dodd on bass, and Chelsea Wrones on drums – spread between London and Leicester, Jools found each other as much by accident as design in the

earliest days of 2023. Together, they serve as a creative confluence for inspirations that move from the punk and post-punk of The Smiths, Fontaines DC, Iggy Pop, Amyl & The Sniffers and PJ Harvey, through the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, and into territories marked metal, rap and pop.

Wiederveröffentlichung der audiophilen 180-Gramm-Vinyl-Doppel-LP mit dem neuen Artwork-Layout von 2019 in kräftigem Grün. Neu gemastert von John Rivers im Woodbine Street Studio speziell für die Vinyl-Veröffentlichung. Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs? ist nicht nur eine Frage, die eine Antwort verdient, sondern auch der Titel von Acid Mother Temples allererster Veröffentlichung auf Space Age Recordings. Als japanisches Soul-Kollektiv sind Acid Mothers Temple und The Melting Paraiso UFO so etwas wie ein Rätsel für die westliche Welt, und wahrscheinlich auch für östliche Ohren. Ihre Musik kann als Acid-Rock, experimentell, psychedelisch oder eine ganze Reihe von Genres beschrieben werden, je nach Stimmung des Hörers. Die lange erwartete Wiederveröffentlichung dieses wilden Angebots von AMT ist seit einiger Zeit vergriffen und kommt als solides grünes Doppelvinyl mit dem verführerischen, unzensierten Artwork der Originalhülle. Limitiert auf 500 Exemplare weltweit.

Kein Zweifel: Ohne Axel Rudi Pell wäre diese Welt um vieles ärmer. Der Bochumer Gitarrist und Songschreiber hält auch auf seinem 22. (!)
Studioalbum ‚Risen Symbol‘ die Fahne des melodischen Hard Rock hoch, ohne sie mit pseudo-modernen Stilvarianten oder effektheischenden Studiogimmicks zu verwässern. Gleichzeitig sucht er ständig nach neuen Einflüssen, spannenden Inspirationen und griffigen Hooks. Das Beste an den ARP-Hymnen: Sie sind treffgenau auf die charismatische Stimme von Frontmann Johnny Gioeli zugeschnitten. Der Amerikaner gehört zu den besten Rocksängern der Welt und bildet gemeinsam mit Pell, dem früheren Rainbow-Schlagzeuger Bobby Rondinelli und den beiden ARP-Langzeitmitgliedern Ferdy Doernberg (Keyboards) und Volker Krawczak (Bass) ein seit mehr als zehn Jahren perfekt eingespieltes Team, das Fans wie Medien gleichermaßen überzeugt. Veröffentlicht wird ‚Risen Symbol‘ am 14. Juni 2024 über Steamhammer/SPV. Für Ungeduldige gibt es am 3. April 2024 mit der ersten Single ‚Guardian Angel‘ und am 22. Mai 2024 mit dem Nachfolger ‚Darkest Hour‘ zwei Vorabsongs, die Pell treffend mit den Worten beschreibt: „Sowohl ‚Guardian Angel‘ als auch ‚Darkest Hour‘ sind typische-ARP-Songs, aber nicht unbedingt repräsentativ für ‚Risen Symbol‘.“

Tangential Music is pleased to present the new album from veteran Spanish DJ and producer, Dj Toner (aka Antonio Herrera). Alongside his co-writer/arranger Daniel Molina and with guests that include the legendary Blue Note Records innovator Erik Truffaz and Grammy winning flautist and saxophonist Jorge Pardo, he has created a 10 track collection of slow-burning instrumentals that straddle the worlds of hip hop, jazz and electronica.

With a personal, precision tooled approach to his craft, the Andalusian has offered up an album of finely modelled downbeat moods.

At first glance, ‘Out Side’ is made up of recognisably superior hip hop instrumentals but if you listen carefully, and with patience, one can hear a craftsman at work. A wooden box is just a box until you look closer. The hidden joints, the perfect lining up of the grain, the years of artisanal graft and laser-focussed attention to detail that go into making something that has nothing present, that doesn’t deserve to be there. This is how Dj Toner operates.

The two singles that preempt the album’s release reveal different sides of his craft. ‘Camina’ struts with tough intentions. Soundtrack-y in an exploitation police drama manner, the get-out-of-my-way drum break and tension-filled chords suggest the bad cop, Erik Truffaz’s piercing lyrical trumpet lines, the good. The Afro-jazz horns led second release ‘Surprise’ is an altogether more playful, sunbaked affair. Sensual and slow-burning, there’s still an edge but it’s too hot to quarrel.

Dj Toner’s minimalist attitude to creation is shared with his co-composer Molina - an individual’s contribution may be cut to the bone, leaving just its aura or tone. The echo of a piano, a single blast of tuneful wind from a flute, a perfectly positioned drum hit.

Since the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA began applying his beatmaking prowess to movie soundtracks, the hip hop instrumental has been acknowledged as something to listen to, as much as being used as a DJ tool or backing for an MC. Dj Toner’s instrumentals can, therefore, be seen as soundtracks. Soundtracks to his life and craft, vignettes of his environment in both the urban sprawl and the wider and slower spaces of “el campo”.

The sweet-tempered jazz-blues of ‘La Rimosa’ is a gentle welcome to the album. A simple, laid back groove with the most romantic of piano hooks that one could imagine Common dropping rhymes on. You’re kept on your toes with the odd purposeful moment of discordant interruption but the tender heart of the composition is never far away.

‘O’Beat’ hints at John Coltrane with the sparse but full-sounding upright bass before a head-snap break leads into a curious piano groove, a vintage organ swirls into a psychedelic fractal, whilst the bluesy female vocal snippets add the spice, that zing in the Granadan gazpacho.

The flamenco guitar driven ‘Flama’ is an excellent example of intricate sample placement and musicality. Old school (school yard) scratch interludes, sweet piano hooks, a minimalist but knife sharp flute contribution from Jorge Pardo, and the crunchiest of drums taking us for an intriguing walk round the corner.

We’ve mentioned them before but it’s on ‘Sweetband’ that we can feel that Wu-Tang dread hanging off its shoulders. A brooding orchestral number with powerful horns and a cavernous piano hit. The title of the piece is in stark contrast to the dark shadows of the tune.

Erik Truffaz returns in fine form on the super lethargic jazz-funk-hop of ‘The Day’. His instantly identifiable muted trumpet sound paints dazzling colours over the more earthy tones of the filtered down keys as a rubbery upright bass keeps the forward momentum. Dj Toner’s ‘Blessed Are The Weird People’ album, was rated in Jazz Magazine as one of the 20 jazz albums of 2021, so he isn’t some dilettante when it comes to playing with the complex hues of jazz but he does like to strip it to its bare essentials.

‘Fanega’ sees a gorgeous flute contribution from Jorge Pardo. An eerie boom-bap groove with sprinkles of electronic pulses and washed out chords is the canvas on which the award-winning multi-instrumentalist evokes the heat shimmer of the savannah.


‘Esperanza’ translates as ‘hope’ in English and this lovely slow, swinging jazzy groove really does provoke feelings of positivity and belief. Sublime vibraphone and another stunning trumpet offering from Erik Truffaz, take us on a journey of warm days and possibilities, the shuffling drums and sweet chord patterns are nicely finished off by a tranquil horn chorus towards its unhurried end.

‘Under Beat’ ends on a beefy boom-bap groove with a liquid funk bassline, elegant synth strings and old school scratching. Again, there’s that undisputable soundtrack edge, action and motion, the smell of the city.

There you have it, 10 tracks that go beyond the surface, deep into the dedicated craft of Dj Toner. Decades of experience and collaboration purified and refined into beat-heavy emotions, listen closely or crank it up, it’s down to you!

3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by hip-hop trio De La Soul, and was released on March 3, 1989. It marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. It contains the singles, “Me Myself and I”, “The Magic Number,” “Buddy,” and “Eye Know”. The album title came from the Johnny Cash song “Five Feet High and Rising”. It is listed on both Rolling Stone’s 200 Essential Rock Records and The Source’s 100 Best Rap Albums. When Village Voice held its annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked #1. It was also listed on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Released amid the 1989 boom in gangsta rap, which gravitated towards hardcore, confrontational, violent lyrics, De La Soul's uniquely positive style made them an oddity beginning with the first single, “Me, Myself and I.” Their positivity meant many observers labeled them a “hippie” group, based on their declaration of the “D.A.I.S.Y. Age” (Da. Inner. Soul. Yall). Sampling artists as diverse as Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap). 3 Feet High & Rising was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry for its cultural significance and general excellence.

This special boxset release of De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising includes twelve 7” custom singles pressed on splatter vinyl and housed in custom sleeves, housed in a box that includes a 7” pinup and a double-sided 7” slipmat, and is available first at record stores as part of RSD Black Friday. "

THE 1968 ALBUM ON WHICH JOHNNY CASH BECAME A LEGEND: AT FOLSOM PRISON AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AND POTENT STATEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY


Johnny Cash already knew his way around Folsom Prison when he and his band stepped inside the institution’s forbidding walls on the morning of January 13, 1968 to record At Folsom Prison. He’d played there two years prior. But this time was different.

Cash took the stage that day for two shows amid a darkening sociopolitical atmosphere and a raging war in Vietnam, as well as the knowledge his career and health hung on by a thread. The Arkansas native shared many of the long odds and abject failures of the inmates for which he performed. The songs he chose, and the conviction with which he delivered them, say as much. The point at which Cash transformed from a country star into a legendary artist, and a bold statement about the American prison state and its commitment to rehabilitation, the triple-platinum At Folsom Prison remains one the most important, potent, and fabled records of the 20th century.

You can hear it echo off the walls of the room; pulse through the itchiness of the Tennessee Three’s acoustic-based boom-chick rhythms; crackle in the announcements conveyed over the intercom; ring in the comedy of the off-cuff remarks and pair of novelty tunes; sense it in palpable energy that wells up within Cash and his audience. And you can experience it like never before via Cash’s knockout singing. The bedrock foundation of all his music, the singer’s baritone resonates with profound degrees of depth, pliability, and passion that underscore how much this appearance meant to him — and the extent he was living the narratives.

Indeed, every song on At Folsom Prison serves a purpose and speaks to the conditions — mental, emotional, physical, geographical, legal, social — the inmates confronted on a daily basis. Beginning with the explicit messages of the opening “Folsom Prison Blues,” Cash makes it clear he understands and shares many of their plights. Not for nothing did the myth of Cash having done hard time persist for decades once this record hit the streets. That’s how real it is, and how dedicated Cash remains to conveying every note with the same truth he invests in the impromptu comments he makes between and amid songs.

Listen to the sorrow, regret, pity, and loneliness of Merle Travis’ “Dark as the Dungeon,” Cash pulling syllables til they threaten to break and inhabiting the mood of bleak phrases such as “pleasures are few” and “the sun never shines.” Witness the isolation, dejection, and sadness punctuating the walking-blues “I Still Miss Someone,” matched in gravity by a solemn reading of “The Long Black Veil” — a traditional dirge that involves murder, cheating, and deception. Cash cuts even deeper on a heartbreaking solo rendition of “Send a Picture of Mother” and plainspoken version of Harlan Howard’s “The Wall,” detailing a suicide disguised as jailbreak through cliched-jaw deliveries that softly curse the impossible situation.

In chronicling temptations, mistakes, mortality, punishment, and life “inside” — for better or worse, the stories of the disenfranchised, forgotten, written-off, and unrepentant — At Folsom Prison also has a blast playing the outlaw role. Cash captures wild-eyed craziness and out-of-control mayhem on a revved-up take of “Cocaine Blues,” taking extra satisfaction in its dastardly tales by way of voice that shifts into character for the sheriff and judge. The gallows humor and racing drama of “25 Minutes to Go”; quicksilver accents and resigned acceptance of “I Got Stripes”; train-whistle blare and twangy locomotion of “Folsom Prison Blues” — all fight the law only to see the law win.

Cash remains deeply committed at every moment, and inseparably connected with the tortured souls removed from the goings-on of the outside world. No wonder all but two songs here stem from the day’s first performance that saw Cash, Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant, and company give everything. As does the Man in Black’s soon-to-be-wife, June Carter. The couple’s fiery duet on “Jackson” scorches; their combination of surrender and fortitude “Give My Love to Rose” puts us in the dying protagonist’s shoes.

And with the closing “Greystone Chapel,” famously penned by convict Glen Sherley, who watched it all happen under the watchful eye of guards, Cash separates the corporeal from the spiritual, relaying lessons about salvation and survival. Heady themes to which he’d return for the remainder of his illustrious career.

The Telescopes Radio Sessions collects together the essence of three live session recordings in 3 different countries over a three year period between 2016-2019. This is the third in a series of radio session releases from Tapete Records that have so far included The Monochrome Set and Comet Gain. More session releases are being lined up for the rest of the year and beyond - enjoy the sonics and stay tuned. Over the years I have read a lot on people’s impressions of The Telescopes. Some folk think it’s a collective, others imagine it used to be a band and feel nostalgia towards what they consider to be the original line-up (even though many had come before, during and since) and some people refer to it as currently a solo career. In a way this is all true and none of it is. When faced with these kind of questions, along with questions about the style of music that The Telescopes make I often say The Telescopes house has many rooms, which explains things perfectly for me but for people on the outside looking in it only serves to increase their confusion. For me, confusion isn’t such a bad thing. Everything is born into confusion, the sense we try and make of that chaos is interesting and excites me. The universe often disorientates, it sends me a jumble of thoughts and impressions coupled with a feeling of something I need to express… if I could only decipher the encryption. This is how The Telescopes music comes to be and it is also how The Telescopes came to me. I regard The Telescopes as an entity of it’s own that introduced itself in my darkest hour and I was chosen as its vessel. From the second it arrived I was obsessed to the point where there was nothing else. A bit like having an imaginary friend. As the obsession grew it began to infect others, everybody loved my imaginary friend and wanted a piece of it. As its success grew however, so did the corruption, until one day the entity fell silent. The silence lasted for years, I tried everything to reconnect but it was having none of it. I had been a bad caretaker, I had let the house become infested and I had lost my way. This epiphany served to remind me of simpler times when anything felt possible with this entity by my side. It had trusted me with something so simplistically profound and I had let it down. The realisation of this was a eureka moment. I am not The Telescopes, I never was and never will be, I am the caretaker, the lighthouse keeper and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. With this dawning, I felt a crack open up in the cosmic egg and a familiar confusion in my head. The entity had returned. It was time to start untangling its tangled threads once more, to make sense of what it was saying, this time without corruption. It’s all about listening. I listen to what my cosmic friend sends me and channel this expression into what you hear through your speakers. It may take one person to achieve this, it may take more. There is no set line up or instrumentation that can hold The Telescopes. Whatever it takes to hit the zone, whatever is available, absolute focus is imperative. Sometimes it takes sabotage to keep that line of vision intact, there is no room for preconceptions or complacency in making the music. The Telescopes music is the now

incarnate and a state of total being is necessary to achieve. From the outside looking in... again, it’s all about listening. What comes through your speakers is the only thing that matters. The music either reaches you or it doesn’t. Everything else may seem interesting or confusing but ultimately it is corruption. So if you’ve bought the record, read the sleeve notes and bought a ticket to see a live show, don’t be surprised if the line-up is or isn’t the same as the recording. The only thing that is for sure is that The Telescopes as an entity is speaking to you in its own voice in every scenario.
Of course the difference between albums and live shows is that you can play the record over and over again to the point where you know every line and every note that was played. Whereas with live events you are left with an impression that can only be replayed in your mind. It can be frustrating at times. When you are touring with a great line-up and feel like something exciting is happening, you want everyone to hear it, not just the people at the shows but the people that couldn’t make it on the night as well. There is no guarantee that there will be the same line-up at a live show as there is on the album. This is why live sessions are important, they document a side of things that is often fleeting. Here we have three sessions, all different people transmitting The Telescopes sound on each. Some are regulars, some dip in and out and some were just passing through. In each case The Telescopes chose them as their vessel and as the lighthouse keeper I did everything I could to help them on that journey while trying to be a good caretaker to the house of many rooms. The Telescopes have been invited in for many sessions over the years, the first two were for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. We also recorded a session for Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe before their
celebrity when they had a show on BBC Radio Manchester. We could have compiled this album from those sessions, it was certainly considered but Tapete and myself believe this selection gives an exciting glimpse into that fleeting side of The Telescopes in a constant state of flux that is left mostly to myth and imagination. For those who listen to the records but have never had the chance to take in the live experience, welcome to the other side. For those that follow us live, here’s a little reminder and a keepsake. Infinite suns. Stephen Lawrie February 2024.

Strawberry Wind, produced by Richard Swift (Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Foxygen, The Shins) not only delivers on a promise to create an honest album for kids and parents but it represents what Baylin calls the “beautiful divide,” of juggling family life with her creative life, a difficult task by any measure. “The divide in me is easy to feel because I invest 100% of myself into my family and often the creative gets put to the side,” she explained, “so when I decided to begin writing for this album it just poured out of me.” Now singer / songwriter Jessie Baylin shares that creative outpouring on her debut children’s album, ‘Strawberry Wind’. Throughout the album, Baylin doesn’t hold back on telling it like it is. Weaving through lyrical themes of dream life, supermoons and summertime vibes are some gentle doses of reality. “I don’t want to lie to my kids. Life is hard sometimes and you need to find a way to deal with it... there will always be things in life you can’t control. But, you can dream of a better world and make your own refuge,” says Baylin, who is mom to 4-year-old Violet and is expecting her second child with her husband. Baylin, who’s released four critically-acclaimed albums over the years, says the seed was planted for this album after recording a cover of Harry Nilsson’s He Needs Me from the kids’ film Popeye. “The song has a childlike sense, but the message is very deep. It’s magical, it’s dark, and it hit all the right notes. I wanted to do an album that feels like that” she says. “Since becoming a mother, I found myself being around the house a lot and I started gravitating to these wonderful albums I remembered from my own childhood - The Beatles, Harry Nilsson’s The Point!, John Lennon, Roger Miller’s Robin Hood and Carole King’s Really Rosie." The magic of those iconic 1970s records she mentions is that they’re all grounded in solid songwriting and were never dumbed down for the audience. “Those records felt very honest and that was my mission here. I also wanted it to feel magical and remind people of the child inside of all of us that is filled with a sense of wonder and pure joy and hope.”

Jackpot Records is proud to reissue what many call arguably the greatest album of the punk rock era: The Flesh Eaters’ 1981 punk-noir masterpiece, ‘ A Minute To Pray A Second To Die. Once referred to as an all-star roots/voodoo combo, The Flesh Eaters could only have crawled out of the myst of the late L.A. 70s punk scene. Fronted by punk poet/composer Chris D. (Desjardins), the band was a satellite for exquisite collaborators that allowed him to bring the full force of his dark, messed-up lyrical nightmares. Members of X, Wall Of Voodoo, Los Lobos, The Blasters, and The Plugz all hopped into his unmarked car to take a drive with Chris D. Its grabbed-by-the-throat vocals are powerfully buoyed by the tight melodicism emanating from the players on this record (John Doe andDJ Bonebrake from X, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Dave Alvin & Bill Bateman of The Blasters). Hell, we even get the perfectly executed John Doe original, “Cyrano de Berger’s Back,” which was re-recorded by X in 1987. The creators of this record made a pulp novel for your ears with an equal chance to scar your heart. Do not miss out this is punk noir at its greatest.

Mammoth Penguins are a 3-piece indie powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa (Standard Fare) backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop. May 2024 sees the release of their fourth album Here on Fika Recordings. After 2019’s big, bold and confident There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, and the initial shock of the global pandemic cancelling a trip to SXSW in 2020, the band returned to the studio in the summer of 2021 to start recording. The new record leans into a raw pop-punk power-trio sound more than ever, with a deep growl in layered guitars and bursts of percussion and harmony. The songs and artwork explore themes about finding a place for yourself and familiarity with people and places. Although it turns back towards a classic three-piece sound, the band weren’t restricted by that palette, adding finishing touches of percussion, extra guitars and backing vocals in short bursts in a garden shed, and also bringing in gorgeous strings to sweeten the title track. The sound builds on the band’s first album, Hide and Seek, which was released with the much-loved and sorely missed Fortuna POP! in 2015. The follow-up LP John Doe in 2017 was an ambitious concept album, exploring the feelings of loss and anger at a man who fakes his own death only to return years later, expanding well beyond the 3-piece rock‘n’roll template, with washes of strings, synths and samples. The ‘Penguins have been smashing it at some high-profile support slots in the lead up to this album release, including at Allo Darlin’s joyous reunion at Islington Assembly Hall (Oct 2023) and Muncie Girls last ever London show (Dec 2023). They play the Leicester Indiepop all-dayer and Wales Goes Pop in March, before heading out on tour in support of the new album in May. Those big singalong choruses need your voice shouting back from the crowd with joy and defiance. Mammoth Penguins are Emma Kupa (guitar, vocals), Mark Boxall (bass, vocals) and Tom Barden (drums, vocals). Reminiscent of the pop melodies of The Beths, the indie dissonance of Land of Talk, and the guitar forward slacker rock of Weezer, Mammoth Penguins marry heart-ache indiepop with spiky guitars and Emma’s frank confessional songwriting. “wonderfully awkward indie pop with a literate flair, sounding a lot like a Weezer record or even a more feminine Wedding Present” Clash // “eminently relatable earworms” Brooklyn Vegan // “one of the finest examples of simple and true indie rock around” All Music // “her characterful voice still carrying masses of charm and the messier, grungey approach bringing a strength all of its own, aided by a clutch of cheerful hooks and riffs that contrast nicely with lyrics dealing mostly with heartbreak and misery” Drowned In Sound

The definitive vinyl reissue of the Nancy's 1966 sophomore album contains the hits "Bang, Bang". "Sand" and "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?". This special Record Store Day Exclusive is pressed on Orange Cream vinyl and features audio freshly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin. It also includes two bonus tracks: "The Last Of The Secret Agents?" and the previously unreleased "If Things Don't Start Picking Up". This beautifully packaged and expanded gatefold LP with 20-page booklet featuring Q&A with Nancy & GRAMMYr-nominated co-producer Hunter Lea also includes never-before-seen photos from Nancy Sinatra's personal archive. Less than two weeks after "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" made it to the top of the charts, Nancy was back in the studio working on the follow-up. With a newfound confidence and a fresh batch of songs, How Does That Grab You? is a snapshot that captures the fun, creativity, and genius of an artist embracing her moment. The album includes the sparse masterpiece "Bang, Bang," the Boots-esque "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" and Nancy & Lee Hazlewood's very first duet, the proto-psychedelic "Sand." Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time_both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come_all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture.

Jon Langford's been in more bands than you have digits and that's true even if you were born with a few extras! From his early days in Mekons, Delta 5, Three Johns and even Sisters Of Mercy (booted for not wearing black) to a veritable explosion of one-off recordings and performances with more names than we could ever hope to list in full. A Wikipedia description for this group, The Bright Shiners (described therein as 'circa 2022 through at least 2023, in Northern California') provides some sense of the complex taxonomy needed just to keep track of Jon's massive oeuvre. Happily, that's an understated description of a serious new outlet for his endless creativity, and The Bright Shiners' recording activities have produced a full album, Where It Really Starts, the first recording in a collaboration with Tamineh Gueramy, Alice Spencer, and Jon's frequent musical partner, John Szymanski. Jon's never sung or written better, and the sense that the band realised they were onto something great is palpable in an instant. Each song is a minimalistic jewel - there's nothing here that doesn't need to be - yet the album is unsparing of aptly astonishing adornment - wonderful harmonies, horns, mellotron, bowed guitar, piano. looped percussion and more), by our reckoning this is one of Jon's finest works of art and his best outfit outside The Mekons themselves Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners will tour mercilessly throughout 2024.

Recorded by award-winning mastering engineer Kevin Gray's record label, Anthony Wilson's Hackensack West is Cohearent Records' follow-up to Kirsten Edkins' Shapes & Sound album. Produced by Joe Harley and recorded all-analogue/all-tube at Gray's studio, Cohearent Recording, the AAA vinyl release is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI and housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.

From the liner notes:

The week before these sessions in the summer of 2023, I sat down each morning with the goal of composing one new song by day's end. I knew I'd soon be in the room with my dear friends Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, and Jeff Hamilton, three musicians whom I trust the most, and with whom I've played the most over the last couple of decades. I tried to imagine themes that would feel natural to us, the kinds of songs we could simply dive into without much thinking. When we headed to Kevin Gray's studio to record, I brought seven new songs along with me. Five are included on this album.

"Daido" is dedicated to Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, who became known in the late 1960s for his grainy, sometimes blurry, high-contrast black and white images made throughout Japan. I love his pictures taken on the streets of various Tokyo neighbourhoods such as Shinjuku. His portrait of a menacing stray dong, from his series "A Hunter," is the kind of picture that, seen just once, is unforgettable. These days Daido is still out on the street making pictures, at the ripe young age of 85.

"Verdesse" has a sinuous, chorinho-like melody and rhythmic feel. The tune seems to weave and bob playfully in a space of brightness the way a grapevine seems to curl towards the sunlight. So I named it after a wine grape native to the pre-Alpine region of Isère, near Grenoble in eastern France, that makes a particularly delicious and drinkable white wine.

I wrote "Sunday," well...on Sunday. It unfolds slowly, like a good Sunday does when there's nothing to do, you can sleep in, you've got your person beside you, and you just relax into the day.

"The Lands" is dedicated to a family very dear to my heart: that of tenor saxophonist Harold Land. My mother met Harold when they were both teenagers growing up in San Diego, California. The two of them became lifelong friends, and a little later, Harold enjoyed a fruitful musical association and close friendship with my father, Gerald Wilson. Harold, his lovely wife Lydia, and their son Harold Jr. were extended family for us; they looked after me with love and care. Some of my first gigs ever as a young guitarist were with Harold's incredible band that included Oscar Brashear, Billy Higgins, Richard Reid, and Harold Land Jr.

I've loved Todd Rundgren's "Marlene" since I first heard it on his epic double-album Something/Anything. With its tender, well-contoured melody buoyed by a few special harmonic surprises, it almost seems like something from the pen of Burt Bacharach. It tells such a complete musical story. Rundgren's recorded version has a beautiful endlessly repeating tag. So we played the melody simply, and used the tag as a small staging area for a bit of improvising.

Hackensack West is our alias for engineer Kevin Gray's studio Cohearent Recording, a place inspired by Rudy Van Gelder's first studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. Located inside Van Gelder's parents' home, the musicians played in the living room! It was there, in 1954, that Thelonious Monk recorded his classic tune "Hackensack," a "contrafact" melody over the chord changes to the Gershwins' "Oh, Lady Be Good!" In contrafact-like fashion, my own bebop-spirited melody "Hackensack West" seems to nod toward the changes of a few recognizable standards, without corresponding to any particular one.

« Lush Life » (1958) is among John Coltrane’s best endeavours on the Prestige (and Music) label. One reason can easily be attributed to the interesting personnel and the

subsequent lack of a keyboard player for the August 16, 1957, session that yielded the majority of the material. Coltrane (tenor sax) had to essentially lead the compact trio of himself,

Earl May (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). The intimate setting is perfect for ballads such as the opener ‘Like Someone in Love ». John Coltrane doesn’t have to supplement the frequent

redundancy inherent in pianists, so he has plenty of room to express himself through simple and ornate passages.

May provides a platform for Coltrane’s even keeled runs before the tenor drops out, allowing both Earl May and then Art Taylor a chance to shine.

The fun cat-and-mouse-like antics continue as Taylor can be heard encouraging the tenor player to raise the stakes and the tempo – which he does to great effect.

2024 Repress

Queeste emerges with the nocturnal sounds of Haron's Wandelaar, an album exploring his long-term interest in music's talent for inducing and affecting dreams, successfully turning listening into an act of transport, leaving you in the midst of falling asleep, at a junction of dislocation, hazily arriving in a liminal world. In Wandelaar we hear Haron's playful reaction against the confines of dance music, gathering energy from his estrangement from the scene and using it as a means to reorder and interrogate sound. The modest piano takes centre stage, allowing each solo note to becoming fertile and full, suspended and considered, guided by the principles of minimal composers such as John Cage and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Haron delicately translates sparse chords into a cinematic narrative of ascension, conjuring up a 'moony landscape,' grey and desolate from afar, intricately detailed on approach. Haron's Wandelaar is available 6 July 2018 on LP. The vinyl release includes an art print by Fallon Does, who is also responsible for the graphic design of Wandelaar. All tracks written and produced by Haron Aumaj, mastered by Wouter for Brandenburg Mastering. Words by Jo Kali.

Early support by Ben UFO, Call Super, Beatrice Dillon, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Matt Werth (RVNG), Blowing Up The Workshop, Oceanic, Khotin.

Dire Straits never made a big to-do about its final run. In classic understated British fashion, the band simply let its music speak for itself. And how. Originally released in September 1991, On Every Street became the group's swan song – a lasting testament to the influence, musicianship, and integrity of an ensemble whose merit has never been tainted by cash-grab reunions or farewell treks. It remains an essential part of the Dire Straits catalog and a blueprint of the distinctive U.K. roots rock the collective played for its 15-year career.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in gatefold packaging, and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP set of On Every Street presents the album like it has always been meant to be experienced: in reference-grade audiophile sound. Recorded at AIR Studios in London and produced by Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, it features all of the band's sonic hallmarks – wide instrumental separation, visceral textures, seemingly limitless air, broad soundstages, atmospherics that you can almost reach out and feel. Each element is made more vibrant, physical, and lifelike on this collectible reissue, which marks the first time this 60-minute work has been available at 45RPM speed.

Afforded generous groove space and black backgrounds, the songs from On Every Street burst with nuanced details and vibrant colors. Dire Straits' playing appears to float, their intricate performances organized amid hypnotic, fluid, three-dimensional arrangements. Mobile Fidelity's definitive-sounding set also brings into transparent view Knopfler's finely sculpted guitar lines, expressive tones, and laid-back vocals – as well as the balanced accompaniment from his band mates. Here's a record on which you can hear the full blossom and decay of individual notes, and imagine the size and shape of the studio. It is in every regard a demonstration disc. And it happens to be filled with timeless fare.

Remarkably, On Every Street almost never came to light. Dire Straits initially dissolved in September 1988 after touring behind its blockbuster Brothers in Arms and suffering the departure of two members. At the time, Knopfler professed his desire to work on solo material; bassist John Illsley also explored side projects. But Knopfler's decision in 1989 to form the country-leaning Notting Hillbillies reignited a spark to reconvene his primary band and craft a fresh batch of songs. Six years removed from Brothers in Arms, Knopfler, Illsley, keyboardist Alan Clark, and keyboardist Guy Fletcher teamed with A-list session pros – steel guitarist Paul Franklin, percussionist Danny Cummings, saxophonist Chris White, guitarist Phil Palmer included – to create what still stands as an unforgettable farewell.

The platinum record brings the band full circle in that it returns Dire Straits to a quartet formation; finds the group refreshingly out of step with the era's prevailing trends; and sees Knopfler and Co. knocking out song after song with the deceptive ease of a punter tossing back a pint at a pub. That subtle cool, clever poise, and innate control – signature traits that no other band ever matched – dominate On Every Street. Knopfler's clean, virtuosic six-string escapades unfurl with dizzying melodicism and economical efficiency. Led by his winding fills and focused solos, Dire Straits traverse a hybrid landscape of rock, jazz, country, boogie, blues, and pop strains with near-faultless prowess.

More than any other entry in the group's oeuvre, On Every Street welcomes quick detours down back alleys and into the depths of human souls. What makes it more brilliant is its staunch refusal to cater to commercial expectations or take advantage of prior successes; every passage feels true, every measure echoed in the service of song. It's evident in the humorous satire of "Heavy Fuel," closeted desperation of the witty "Calling Elvis," and shake-and-bake bounce of "The Bug." It pours from the album's darker corners, as on the high-and-lonesome melancholy of the title track and bruised emotionalism of "When It Comes to You."

Hinting at the open-minded approaches and boundless curiosity he'd embrace as a solo artist, Knopfler doesn't limit himself when it comes to style or subject matter. Look no further than "You and Your Friend," a shuffle whose all-inclusive lyrics encourage an array of interpretative meanings. Another of the album's deep cuts, "Iron Hand," comes on as one of the band's most memorable moments – the narrative addressing the abuses of power at the 1984 Battle of Orgreave during the U.K. miners' strike. Given cinematic heft by the expert production, the true-fiction account puts into perspective the richness, poetry, and depth of On Every Street.

"Every victory has a taste that's bittersweet," sings Knopfler on the title track. At least that bittersweetness seldom sounded so damn good on record.

Introducing, the experimental violinist and performer Vanessa Bedoret.

The London-based French musician today announces that she’ll be joining, Scenic Route, a label renowned for selecting and nourishing rising stars for the release of her debut album, Eyes, due out on 8th of March 2024. Launching with a taste of what’s to come, today she also shares single “1/2”, a textural track that tells of the dichotomy between those who are selfless and those who are self-centred, and their need to merge as one. This duality is reflected in the industrial metallic echoes under Vanessa’s soaring vocals and the piercing strings of her chosen instrument, the violin.

Treating songwriting as an instinctive process, Bedoret transforms her deeply personal experiences into pure emotion. Not following any set narrative, Eyes takes the listener on a journey via their own experiences, prompting introspection through Bedoret’s hypnotic melodies.

Through the album, she awakens the audience's imagination, to open up their emotional response. On “Ballad”, a vague, loving lyrical letter to someone close, Bedoret’s heartbreakingly soft lament is barely audible over the dramatic atonal strings. She flips her narrative again in the titular track, “Eyes”, so the listener empathises through her isolated violin, and takes on her anguish, not needing to understand the full story.

Bedoret began her classical training at age 6 and on completion at 18 she embraced the thrill of playing guitar in punk bands, and like many at the turn of adulthood, was quickly captured by the allure of the dancefloor. Her far-reaching taste doesn’t stop there, she also counts black metal to opera and from eurodance to IDM as inspiration. Her deep understanding of musical form elevates her experimentation to a truly unique sonic experience, one that never strays too far from her original love of classical music.

With only a string of releases under her belt via independent labels like Laura Lies In and Archaic Vaults, her refined skillset has meant she’s been in high demand for both solo shows and collaborations. These accolades include playing violin with New York avant garde collective Standing On The Corner at The Serpentine, as well as a part of Kahil El’Zabar conducts MOKI at the ICA, and Linder: Another Music in a Different Arcadia at the Design Museum alongside artist Linder Sterling, Naima Cherry, Maxwell Sterling, Kenichi Iwasa & Ella Frears.

For her solo performances, she’s shared stages with Standing on the Corner, Ekaterina Bazhenova-Yamasaki, Philomème Pirecki, John T. Gast and Nexcyia to name a few. She’s also performed as a duo alongside musician Severin Black in support of their collaborative EP release, First Passage / Excommunicated.

Through the lens of a life lived to it’s fullest and one that does not shy from experiencing the rawest of emotions, it’s clear that Bedoret has a nack for translating personal observations into cinematic crescendoes. The field recordings throughout only heighten this feeling adding both a grounding and other worldy sensibility. Lyrically, she allows you to peek into her private world and for a fleeting moment letting you lock eyes with hers, asking what do you see?

This debut is a glowing experimental work that purrs with a distinctive narrative. Vanessa Bedoret is a promising new act, ready to take 2024 by storm.

Most audiophiles know Alan Parsons Project's I Robot by heart. Engineered by Parsons after he performed the same duties on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the 1977 record reigns as a disc whose taut bass, crisp highs, clean production, and seemingly limitless dynamic range are matched only by the sensational prog-rock fare helmed by the keyboardist and his creative partner, Eric Woolfson. Not surprisingly, it's been issued myriad times. Can it be improved? Relish Mobile Fidelity's stupendous UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM box set and the question becomes moot.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, I Robot comes to life with reference-setting realism on this numbered, limited-edition reissue. Boasting immaculate highs and lows, generous spaciousness, and see-through transparency that takes you into the studio with Parsons and Woolfson at Abbey Road, this definitive edition is designed to demonstrate the full-range capabilities of the world's best stereo systems while offering listeners the convenience of having all the music on one LP.

Featuring a nearly inaudible noise floor, this transcendent UD1S edition functions as a repeat invitation to savor reference-grade soundstages, immersive smoothness, sought-after instrumental separation, three-dimensional imaging, and consummate tonal balances. Able to be played back at high volumes without compromise or fatigue, it is a demonstration record for the ages – the likes of which are no longer being made. This is the very reason you own and invest in high-end audio gear.

The special characteristics of this UD1S version extend to the premium packaging. Housed in an elegant slipcase, the reissue features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, it is made for discerning listeners who prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in everything about this conceptual landmark. The Alan Parsons Project's most famous record deserves nothing less.

Inspired by and loosely based around the Isaac Asimov stories of the same name, I Robot delves into themes of artificial intelligence and technological dominance that make the record extremely relevant in the 21st century. Indeed, Parsons and Woolfson's pinnacle creation dovetailed with the ascendency of Star Wars, which itself is experiencing a rebirth in an age of self-driving cars, smart devices, and mindless automation. Lyrically, songs such as "The Voice" call into question human behavior – and their relationship to increasing robotic supremacy – in everyday life. Parsons and Woolfson reflect the associated paranoia, dichotomy, and transformation via shifting sci-fi arrangements steeped in drama and moodiness.

The absorbing tunes on I Robot also continue to fascinate due to their perfectionism and innovation. Borrowing from Pink Floyd's strategies, Parsons and Woolfson utilize a looped sequence on the title track to create new downbeats. "Some Other Time" employs two different lead vocalists and yet gives the illusion that only one is involved. Captivating strings, a piccolo trumpet, and bona fide pipe organ grace "Don't Let It Show." The origins of "Nucleus" stem from a unique analog keyboard concoction dubbed "the Projectron," devised by Parsons and electronic engineer Keith Johnson. Andrew Powell's orchestral and choral arrangements top it all off, with "Total Eclipse" arriving as a frightening track that presages the climactic "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32."

Does man or machine win in the end? Decide as you get lost in Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc 180g 33RPM LP pressing. Secure your numbered copy today!

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called "converts") are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

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

After humble lo-fi beginnings in the Australian Art-Pop Underground, Donny Benet has expanded his cult-like following across the Globe with a resonant Array of danceable Repertoire dealing with Love- and Affection. New album "Mr Experience" marks a new chapter, informed by a wealth of musical- and personal development.

For Mr Experience, Donny envisioned a Soundtrack to a Dinner-Party- Set in the late 1980's. While his earlier Recordings drew Inspiration from DIY Pop Conspirators such as Ariel Pink & John Maus, Donny channelled the Stylings of Bryan Ferry & Hiroshi Yoshimura as the Impetus for new Material, evident on the Intimacy found on ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ and it's lush production- with a soothing whistle-along Chorus for good Measure!

Sincerity has been a key component of Donny Benet’s output since the beginning. His songs deal with genuine Emotion served on a kitsch Platter. An alter-ego manifested in the beginning of the 2010's, Donny has blurred the Lines of Artifice to create a back- Catalogue that can embrace- and challenge, often simultaneously, - the notion of Irony in Art.

"Mr Experience" moves further away from ironic Notions as Donny explores lyrical- and musical themes which embody Observations of Maturation in his audience, his tightknit musical Community- and himself. While ‘mature’ is a term that often rings hollow as an album descriptor, the term couldn’t be more apt for Mr Experience.

Previous album The Don was created with the luxury of time. The phenomenal Response to that Album across Europe- and the United States - fuelled by accompanying Music Videos clocking in Views in the Millions- meant that there were scant Windows of Opportunity to write- and record a follow-up.

With a legacy in Sydney’s music community, working with Sarah Blasko, and tightknik collaborators Jack Ladder & Kirin J Callinan, Donny Benet is accustomed to collaboration on the Stage- and in the Studio, mostnotably on the 2014 full-length release Weekend At Donny’s.



“There is such immense talent evident in every aspect of the Donny Bene experience - the vision of the character, the steadfast adherence his narrative and the musicality of Benet himself all combine to makesomething truly genius.” - Double J, Australin.

“Donny Benet makes feminine music for everybody” - Vice, Netherlands.

“The Don does not sound like amusical copying machine”. - 3voor12 National, Netherlands.

“The set was punctuated with virtuosic solos and exquisite harmonies, and added another layer of genius to the show.
We almost couldn’t handle it... Donny for president!" - Indie Berlin.

“Everyone loves Donny Benet” - Feature in Gonzai, France.

“Phenomenal Australian Showman... Offers Top-Class Dance Music with Virtuose-Bass Guitar- and Keyboard Parts & incredible Sound-Colour feel.” - Podujatie.sk, Slovakia.

Donny has toured Europe five times since the start of 2018 and has played in the UK, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, France, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece and Sweden. The Don will revisit Europe twice in 2020, once for his own headline shows in May then back again in August for festivals!

Brooklyn-based artist Jonah Parzen-Johnson returns with the new album You're Never Really Alone, out on We Jazz Records, March 8. If you look at the label on the LP containing eight intimate compositions for baritone sax & flute, you will find the words, “we made this together”. At first thought, this simple phrase may seem out of place on a solo record, but just like the compositions on this album, it was carefully crafted to cut to the core of what this music is all about.
In Jonah’s words: “It’s pretty hard to end up at a solo saxophone concert by accident. Odds are pretty good, if you are there, it is because you light up when you experience something new, something experimental. That shared desire connects us, and suddenly, for a night, we are a community. For me, being connected to those spontaneous communities is the best part of being an experimental artist. Everything I make is in service to the cultivation of that community, our community. Without it my music doesn’t exist and because of that I can joyfully say to each person, at every concert, that we made this together.
”You’re Never Really Alone arrives in stark contrast to Parzen-Johnson’s 2020 We Jazz Records solo debut, Imagine Giving Up. Where Imagine Giving Up was celebrated for Parzen-Johnson’s ability to assemble deeply evocative electr acoustic sound worlds, “filling the landscape in one element at a time until a picture emerges that could almost be a full band,” (Wire Magazine, March 2020) You’re Never Really Alone shows us that Jonah can look you in the eye and say “my voice alone is enough”.
Across eight tracks, Parzen-Johnson, a Chicago native, explores the technical limits of his baritone saxophone and flute without ever making the listener feel like he has something to prove. You will find circular breathing, multiphonics, and explosive levels of sound, but more importantly, you will enjoy every moment of musical storytelling and compositional skill. This album is made for repeat listening.
The opening track, “When I Feel Like Myself” is a meditative invocation of self realization. Parzen-Johnson summons three and four note harmonies from his saxophone with deep control, as he gently explores how tension can become its own release. An unadorned melodic thread gently weaves each musical expression to the last, guiding us deeper into an album that simultaneously celebrates the power of one, and the yearning for exploration that unites us all.

Donovan’s Original
A Gift From a Flower to a Garden made for a few firsts: the first double LP of Donovan’s
career, one of the first box sets in pop and, most importantly for Donovan himself; the first
pop album for the children of tomorrow.

He resolved to make A Gift From a Flower to a Garden an album of two halves. The first,
Wear Your Love Like Heaven, was intended for his own generation as they started to think
about the kind of world they wanted to leave behind. The second, For Little Ones, was for
the children they had or would have in the years to come. The result was a kaleidoscopic
folk-jazz suite on the power of love, imbued with all the romance and mystery of an Arthur
Rackham illustration for an ancient English fairy tale. The songs, remarkably adventurous
given Donovan was a globally famous singer at his commercial height, combined the
influences he had amassed so far.

There is something about A Gift From a Flower to a Garden that could never be repeated,
though. It is such an innocent evocation of the childlike imagination, so redolent of its time,
yet set apart from it too. All these years later, the peaceful qualities of this pioneering,
enchanting, deeply unusual album feel more valuable than ever.

The state51 Box Set
With authenticity core to the project, The state51 Conspiracy engaged one of the UK’s
leading experts in box set design, Daniel Mason at Something Else, to painstakingly recreate
the box, records and accompanying ephemera. The first challenge was to find the deep blue
leatherette paper the original box set was covered in; a problem since it was no longer in
production. “I knew people who had stacks of it, gathering dust on top shelves, so I bought it
up wherever I could find it,” says Mason. Then came the reproduction of 12 loose leaf lyric
sheets on fine art watercolour paper, each of them featuring a watermark and a fairytale-like
illustration by Donovan’s artist friends Sheena McCall and Mick Taylor. Where, though, to
find the same paper stock? “I found out that it was made at a paper mill in North Wales
called Abbey Mills. Unfortunately the mill dissolved in the early 70s and very little of the
paper remained. However enough paper remained to allow us to produce the numbered
certificate also signed by Donovan that sits within the box.”

Then to the iconic cover image. Donovan and Jimi Hendrix’s personal photographer Karl
Ferris, used infra-red film to achieve the psychedelic effect on the cover, but the original
negatives couldn’t be found. Mason then used digital technology to ramp up the colour levels
on a reproduction from an original copy of the album while allowing it to remain a little bit
faded, as it would be after half a century. The same labour of love and care has gone into
producing all elements of the box; from the rebuilding of the famous front cover font to the
hand-numbered and signed certificate; letterpress printed on the original paper stock of the
1968 UK release lyric sheets.

To cap it all off the original mono master tapes were waiting safely in the EMI Donovan
Archive and transferred from tape to digital by Abbey Road Studios where new lacquers
were cut, ensuring Donovan's favoured mono version of the album would be presented both
physically (and digitally for the very first time) in striking audiophile quality. The final touch to

First ever vinyl release of the album recorded in 1969/70 by UK prog-psych band Misty. Including their terrific mod-psych “Hot Cinnamon” 45.

A dazzling fusion of classically-inspired progressive rock and song-based psychedelic pop with an organ-based sound, in the vein of Procol Harum and The Nice.

“In October 1969, King Crimson released their debut, In The Court Of The Crimson King, Pink Floyd unleashed Ummagumma and Led Zeppelin put out their second LP. At the same time, Misty were in London’s Regent Sound Studios recording what turned out to be the only album of their career with producer, Adrian Ibbetson, who had cut his teeth as an engineer working with everyone from the Beatles to the Equals.

After only a handful of gigs, Misty signed a deal with Parlophone and began to gather momentum with the release of Hot Cinnamon. Although they received a lot of airplay, the single failed to chart and the band’s hopes of releasing their debut album were dashed. Reluctantly, Misty went their separate ways and the Here Again master tapes sat gathering dust on a shelf until Gelardi came across the original acetate and decided it was time for the album to finally see the light of day.

Bridging late psych and early prog, songs like Life Has Just Begun, Witness For The Resurrection and the title track were played with a perfect mix of high-flying experimentation and virtuosic musicianship. Blurring the fine lines between rock, jazz, classical and chamber pop, Here Again is a transcendent kaleidoscope of colour that is beyond definition.

Maybe you can tell an album is truly timeless when it takes half a century for it to be properly appreciated. Misty were a rare bird, a brilliant, truly original band who should have left an indelible mark instead of joining what now seems like the never-ending line of half-remembered and long-forgotten flotsam and jetsam of the psychedelic era.

Both the first and the final statement from a group who never really got their chance to be heard, Here Again is a slice of pristine psychedelic pop that so embodies the dizzying energy and the progressive spirit of the time, it’s astonishing that it stays afloat under the weight of its own intentions. But float it does, like mist in the air - a half-forgotten diaphanous dream slowly coming back to you after 50 years of silence.” – Jonathan Wingate

Soul Jazz Records’ 200% Dynamite! set the benchmark for reggae meets funk compilations that has never been bettered. Out of print for over 15 years this new 2023 edition with new tracks and is being released in a one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition coloured vinyl pressing + download code exclusively for Record Store Day 2023.
Jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed-over to become dancefloor hits such as Tenor Saw’s sound boy anthem ‘Ring the Alarm,’ K.C. White’s classic cut of the seminal ‘No, No, No’ and Augustus Pablo’s ‘Rockers Rock’, 200% Dynamite explores the links between reggae, jazz, funk and soul.
Carrying on perfectly from 100% Dynamite, this second compilation continues to trace the history of Jamaican reggae and the influence of American styles such as funk and jazz had on this music.
Featured here are serious funk and rocksteady tunes from the likes of The Skatalites and Johnny Osbourne through to Jamaican jazz from masters such as Tommy McCook and Byron Lee, as well as some serious dub from the likes of Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Jackie Mittoo.
New bonus tracks on this new 2023 edition include seminal dancehall party cuts Sister Nancy’s ‘One Two’ and Chaka Demus and Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote’, alongside classic soul to reggae covers including cuts of Marlena Shaw’s ‘Women of the Ghetto’ and Odyssey’s ‘Don’t Tell Me Tell Her’.






‘Once again, Soul Jazz goes digging through the reggae vaults and produces another sterling compilation. If you’re looking for a primer on the music of the island, you could do worse than buying every one of the records in this superb compilation series.’ All Music
‘In Soul Jazz’s outstanding Dynamite! series 200% is the head-turner. The label has its finger on the pulse of the now just as surely as it does on that of the past.’ Pitchfork
‘Soul Jazz Records ‘Dynamite’ series has quickly become a
rewarding guide to reggae’s most infectious back pages. Every home
needs some Dynamite.’ Irish Times
‘Soul Jazz Records’ long-running series
of highly-regarded reggae albums.’
Rough Trade

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).