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Pat Kelly possesses one of the great soul voices to come out of Jamaica. Influenced by the fantastic American singer Sam Cook, Pat Kelly could ride over any tune that came his way and with his outstanding falsetto voice always added a little magic to each recording.

Pat Kelly (born 1949,Kingston, Jamaica) began his singing career in 1967 when he replaced Slim Smith as lead singer of the Techniques, his voice working so well with the impeccable harmonies of Winston Riley and Bruce Ruffin. Their first hit for the mighty Duke Reid stable was a version of Curtis Mayfield's tune 'You'll Want Me Back' retitled 'You Don't Care' which held the Number 1 position in Jamaica for six weeks. Their next hit was another Curtis Mayfield cover of the Impressions 'Minstrel and Queen' again retitled for the Jamaican market as 'Queen Minstrel'. Further hits followed with such cuts as 'My Girl' and 'Love is Not a Gamble' before in 1968 Kelly decided to become a solo artist and hooked up with producer Bunny Lee. Bunny decided not to break the tried and tested formula and put Kelly on another Curtis Mayfield track 'Little Boy Blue' a style that
suited his voice so well. This paid dividends and was followed with 'How Long' (will I love you)' which gave them the biggest selling Jamaican hit of 1969. A track which broke the mould in that often used tradition where Jamaican tracks are sweetened
for the foreign markets by adding string arrangements. This was reversed on this occasion as the tune had already been released in the UK and dubbed over with strings so came back to the Jamaican shores and released there.
Another string to Pat Kelly's bow was his engineering skills. Having already spent a year in America studying electronics he put this to good use and became little known to many
one of the chief engineers at Channel 1 studios in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

For this release we have focused on the fabulous singing skills of Mr Kelly and have compiled some of his finest recording moments for your listening pleasure. The aforementioned timeless cuts to 'How Long ( Will I Love You )', 'Little Boy Blue'
alongside some other killer lost classics, as our set opener 'It's a Good Day', 'Somebodys Baby', 'Give Love a Try' and 'I'm In the Mood for Love'. His version of 'Twelfth Of Never' in a Rocksteady Style sounds as good now as it did then. We have
also included his interpretation of the James Carr soul hit 'Dark End of the Street' which has Pat Kelly working over the same rhythm as 'How Long' but giving it a different slant
with these fresh lyrics. A fine set from one of the Islands finest, Jamaican Soul indeed... hope you enjoy the set.

2024 Repress


Johnny Clarke stands tall as one of the great vocalists that ruled the Jamaican reggae scene from the mid 1970's to the early 1980's Dancehall period. This re-issue of his 'Don't Stay Out Late' set shows his versatility to sing any song that was put in front of him and make it his own. Under producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee's guidance, Mr Clarke produced a run of singles and albums few could match.

Johnny Clarke (b 1955, Jamaica, West Indies) cut his first record 'God Made the See and Sun', after winning a local singing contest in the Bull Bay area of Jamaica. Although the single was not a hit, it led to two follow up tracks for producer Rupie Edwards, '
Everyday Wandering' and 'Julie' that fared much better, both on the island and overseas in England and Canada. These tracks also brought the singer to the attention of producer Bunny Lee and a working relationship that would go on to produce a prolific catalogue of music.
Johnny Clarke's Dread Conscious/ Love Song style were to grace many hits around this time in 1974. Such tunes as 'None Shall Escape The Judgement' , 'Move Out Of Babylon' , 'Rock With Me Baby' , 'Enter The Gates With Praise' to name but a few. All new songs added to a host of cover tunes, recommended by Bunny Lee, many taken from singer John Holt's catalogue, that suited Clarke's vocal style.
The rhythms were cut at various studios around the Island. Randy's Studio 17, Channel I, Treasure Isle, Dynamic Sounds and Harry J's by a group of musicians loosely called The Aggravators and voiced King Tubby's studio.

All great tracks backed by great rhythms, cut by Mr Johnny Clarke with a voice that few could equal.

Four Flies keeps digging into the secret archives of Alessandro Alessandroni to bring hidden treasures back to light. After two successful releases - the EP Afro Discoteca and the compilation album Lost & Found -, it is now the turn of a new 7'' single featuring two tracks with a strong soul-funk influence, sung by the Maestro's beloved Cantori Moderni in a typically Italian harmonizing style, poised somewhere in between gospel and disco music. Both tracks are previously unreleased and were recorded in the same 1976 sessions that birthed Sangue di sbirro (Knell / Bloody Avenger), his most blaxploitation-inspired soundtrack.

Shine On, on Side A, is a disco-funk anthem driven by a killer rhythm section, with heavy drum breaks and bass lines enhanced by a powerful brass section, string interludes and Fender Rhodes phrasings with a distinctly jazz-funk flavour. In the same vein, Prohibition on Side B is a mid-tempo funk floor-filler built on a super groovy bass line on top of which are layered prominent brass and Wurlitzer passages.

This is another great find that expands the known horizons of Alessandroni's discography. And it won't be the last one…

S-Tone Inc., one of the most acclaimed artists on Schema Records, with +300.000 monthly listeners and millions of plays on Spotify, is back with a full rework of his previous full-length "Body & Soul", a homage to the late '70s / early '80s disco music that the artist used to immerse in during those adventurous years. Early '90s British acid jazz, '70s soul, Brazilian and jazz music are here reworked in a nu-disco key, with the exception of the downbeat tracks "Flying Away" and "Midnight Sun" and the 'spacey' "Odoya", rearranged by The Invisible Session without mining the overall mood of this release.

The last couple of years have seen a renaissance for West Coast singer-songwriters. LA-based youngsters such as Drugdealer and Sylvie have attracted considerable attention releasing warm and mellow records tonally reminiscent of the early 70s. Most fans of this new/old sound are unaware of Bart Davenport's early explorations in the same sonic territory. His now 20-year-old "Game Preserve"album should gain an appreciative new audience with its first ever vinyl release.

In the year 2000, Bay Area troubadour Bart Davenport and several other musicians were recruited by a major tech corporation in Seattle to work on an algorithm-based music matching/search engine. It was what looked like the beginning of a promising career. After a year, however, the project was shelved. Bart and his colleagues were laid off with a healthy severance package... on the 12th of September, 2001. Not only had the musician's life changed, so had the world. Rather than blow the money on a holiday or new car, Bart knew he had to make a record. A proper album that meant something.

Back in Oakland, he entered Wally Sound Studios with former Kinetics bandmate Jon Erickson at the controls, and a swathe of talented local musicians. "With Game Preserve," Bart explains, "Jon and I really wanted to knock it out of the park. I wanted to utilize people from my old bands like Loved Ones drummer John Kent. I also invited my newer indie-pop friends from Call & Response, and a young Nedelle Torrisi. Harmony singing by The Moore Brothers was an essential ingredient on Game Preserve as well."

Both Erickson and Davenport fondly recall growing up in households where the music of The Carpenters, Joni Mitchell and The Eagles soundtracked their young lives. By the early 00s they were ready to reconnect with what is often referred to as the "Laurel Canyon" sound. "I'd buy used tapes at garage sales and play them in the car. "Ladies Of The Canyon" by Joni and Jackson Browne's first album were both in heavy rotation. Jon Erickson was getting deeper into the Steely-Mac-Doobie yacht-rock sound in earnest. A certain amount of childhood nostalgia led a lot of us back to that part of the 70s. I'd flirted with classic soft-rock on my first album, but that record was pretty scattered esthetically. I wanted my next one to be more focused. Jon and I made some ground rules: no electric guitars (except on 'Bar-Code Trees'). No synths. Most importantly, all the songs have an air-tight, super dead, close mic'd drum sound. Putting these sorts of limitations on the sessions will give your record a specific quality. In the case of "Game Preserve"it's mostly about tight drums, acoustic instruments and analog production. We used a 24-track, two-inch tape machine for tracking, then ran the mixes through an analog board straight to a 1/4 inch master tape."

While the album's sonic palette may be firmly planted in 1970, Davenport's songwriting covers a sizable landscape of moods and reflections. From the quasi-flamenco intro of 'Sweetest Game' to the somber Wurlitzer of 'Nowhere Left To Go', to the 12-string shimmer of 'Intertwine', "Game Preserve" tells a story of young love, lost innocence and redemption, crossing borders and oceans along the way.

Released in 2003 on family-run Oakland label Antenna Farm, the ultra-analog sounding "Game Preserve" was only made available on digital formats, including CD. Copies were later pressed by labels in Germany and Spain; the latter being one country the album actually did well in, establishing Bart Davenport with a small but loyal fanbase he still enjoys today. Two European tours as support for Kings of Convenience also helped gain a foothold on the continent. Back in the US, however, Davenport and his sophomore album remained quite obscure.

Limited promotion meant it did little, but for the music lovers that heard it, the album undoubtedly remains a classic of the era, deserving far more. Twenty years on, it now finally receives its vinyl debut. "I personally think it holds up well," says Bart of the album two decades later. "The idea was to make something that could be an homage to late 60s/early 70s West Coast pop but hopefully timeless as well. Years on, I hear it as just that. It was a colorful and brief period of my life that felt at times like it could last forever. I discovered the joy of working in a proper studio with a perfect cast of characters. I'm still very close with all these people and still play music with many of them."

No prizes for guessing the motivation behind this new EP, 5 Years Of B2 Recordings. It is a tidy and tasteful celebration of half a decade of top quality deep house from a range of key players. This one opens with Frenchman Brawther getting dubbed out and deep as ever with some nice lounge chords and blissed-out pads. Bengoa's 'Neftina Dub' has a subtle US garage shuffle to it that harks back to the 90s and Lex & Locke then bring rich paint chords and withering synth motifs to 'Atenas Blues' before Zaq's 'Make A Wish' shuts down with some cosmic rays of positivity. A fantastic EP so here's to the next five years.

Who is Isabelle Lewis, anyway?

What kind of music does she make? Is she an opera singer? Does she write pop songs? Does she compose ethereal ambient soundscapes? Does she play chamber music on the violin? Is she producing dark, electronic beats?

Well… yes. But Isabelle Lewis is not so much a person as a project. Isabelle’s debut album, Greetings, credits a trio of composer–performers at its heart: producer Valgeir Sigurðsson, vocalist Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, and violinist Elisabeth Klinck. The sound of the elusive Isabelle Lewis is heard most clearly in the push and pull between them, the three-way tension that gives the album its musical and emotional drive.

Each of the three brings more to the collaboration than those epithets might imply. Elisabeth’s solo performance practice incorporates composition, improvisation, live electronics, and a close command of bowing and fingering techniques that make her fiddle sing, whisper or whistle as required. Benjamin is a self-taught countertenor - keening, crooning, and swelling to a voluptuous sensuality—but also an interdisciplinary stage director and performer. Well known for his work as a producer and studio collaborator, and as a composer of scores for film and stage, Valgeir’s solo discography interweaves meticulously crafted electronics, drones, noise, and other digital elements with acoustic instruments and vocals recorded with naked, unflinching clarity.

But the extravagant theatricality Benjamin brings to the aptly titled “Drama”—also featuring a heroic violin solo from Elisabeth—grapples against the thudding bass of the implacable digital backdrop. On “Mother, Shelter Me” Valgeir’s austere and detailed production throws the hushed violin and vocals into stark relief. The result is an exquisitely uncanny juxtaposition of past and present, human and mechanical, like a Rococo treasure viewed under cold fluorescent lights, or an 18th-century automaton slowly opening its clockwork eyes.

Even the lyrics seem somehow out of time. On “O Solitude,” Benjamin goes so far as to quote an entire song by the first great English opera composer, Henry Purcell, verbatim. No stranger to Purcell’s music, which has made its way into Benjamin’s theatrical productions as well, here Isabelle Lewis removes Purcell’s melodies and harmonies and sets the text, Katherine Phillips’s 17th century translation of a poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, to new music whose heightened, archaic character nevertheless seems haunted by Baroque ghosts.

Throughout the album, the outsized emotions and timeless archetypes of Benjamin’s lyrics feel like relics from some half-forgotten past—from the neatly rhymed couplets of “Fisherman,” a seemingly straightforward (but still somewhat askew) character study, to the abstraction of “Moonshell,” whose words seem like the fragments of some ancient, lost lament. It is just another of many ways in which Isabelle Lewis carefully distorts the listener’s notions of time. On a more micro level, time can stop for a moment of weightless, drifting ambience, and then plunge forward as the cloud of harmonies suddenly lock into tempo with the drop of the bass or the change of a chord. Or else that weightless moment is allowed to be, as in the aptly named prologue and epilogue to these Greetings (“Voicemail”/“…and farewell”), or in the interstitial tracks that bind the album together, connecting its dramatic peaks with expanses of meditative stasis.

The album as a whole is elegantly shaped, swelling from an intimate, interpersonal statement into something deeper and more spacious. The first half of the album leans slightly towards self-contained pop songcraft and ticking beats, while side B jumps off from “O Solitude” into the almost symphonic grandeur of songs like “Moonshell” or the instrumental “Not the water, air, or the dirt.”

But as it progresses, the contrasts only grow more sublime: antique and postmodern, human and machinelike. The ominous weight of the droning sub-bass and trombone (guest player Helgi Hrafn Jónsson) only makes the interplay between vocals and violins (guest player Daniel Pioro joining Elisabeth) seem more delicate and vulnerable. The ethereal string tremolos of “Moonshell” seem to pull against the heavy, shuddering electronics and layers of crooning vocals.

And that, in short, is where you will find Isabelle Lewis. Like an ancient stone archway, or a delicate house of cards, the architecture of Greetings is held together by the tension between opposing forces. Not just in Elisabeth’s playing, Benjamin’s singing, or Valgeir’s arrangements and production but in the conflict and contrast that generates the synergy between them.

Oh—Isabelle says hi, by the way. She’s looking forward to meeting you.

Housed together in a stunning 380gsm board slipcase with a matt laminate soft touch finish and a UV spot varnish on the beloved Be With logo, we proudly present the Be With 10 Years record and book package.

Record contains 10 exclusive never-before-on-vinyl tracks from 10 Be With family members. 310mm square softcover book printed on a 350gsm woodfree uncoated board. Book block printed on 120gsm Dadong Lucky Bird woodfree uncoated paper. 140gram vinyl with a 380gsm jacket. 1000 copies only for the world, no repress!

Sole Aspect takes us around the world and to the studios of artists based across Madrid, Switzerland, Los Angeles and Detroit on The Mystic Embrace EP. Opening it up is Ernes Joey & Robbin Hauz with 'U Should Know' (feat Shea Doll - Age Of Rage remix) which is a version by Dubbyman with some delightfully jazzy keeps, seductive deep house drums and aching vocals full of heart. The original is a stripped-back sound with less melodic luxuriousness but the still superb vocal front and centre. Dubbyman then mixes Klima Project's 'Sweetback' into a mid-tempo, cuddly back room deep house sound and Patrice Scott Reshapes it with some crystal-cut synth lines that bring cosmic charm.

Naoki Zushi. Perhaps best known for his stellar guitar contributions to psych folk group, Nagisa Ni Te, Zushi has had a parallel career, for several decades, slowly releasing solo albums that spotlight his exultant guitar playing. Originally released to CD only by Shinji Shibayama of Nagisa Ni Te’s Org imprint in 2018, IV has Zushi playing and writing at a peak, its six songs slowly unfurling with a kind of paradoxical understated grandeur. This is psychedelic guitar music at its most paced and considered, yet given to flights of inspiration, and in this respect, Zushi sits within a lineage of guitarists who’ve used their instrument both as textural anchor and improvisatory tool – think of figures like Phil Manzanera and Robert Fripp, but also Roy Montgomery, Liz Harris of Grouper, even Tom Verlaine on his instrumental solo albums. Like those artists, Zushi locates moments of deep emotional resonance amidst luxuriant textural and melodic exploration. Zushi’s history stretches back to the mid 1970s. While for many, he first appeared on the scene as a founding member of noise legends Hijokaidan, alongside Jojo Hiroshige, his musical contributions predate that encounter. He started out playing progressive rock and improvised music, making home recordings of when he was in high school. He was a member of Rasenkaidan (Spiral Staircase) alongside Hiroshige and Idiot (Kenichi Takayama), the group that soon mutated into Hijokaidan (Emergency Staircase). Zushi and Takayama would soon form Idiot O’Clock, in 1982; Zushi also led his own Naoki Zushi Unit, starting in 1983. But for many, Zushi’s first significant appearance on record was as a member of Shinji Shibayama’s mid-eighties psych-pop group, Hallelujahs, whose sole album was recently reissued on vinyl. That group mutated into Nagisa Ni Te, and Zushi has played a significant role as their lead guitarist for several decades. His own solo music has appeared sporadically – Paradise (1987), Phenomenal Luciferin (1998), III (2005) and IV, with a few recent, meditative offerings, For My Friends’ Sleep (2021) and Nocturnes (2022). With IV, though, Zushi achieved something remarkable, a kind of extended exploration of the time-altering properties of echoplexed, hypnotically spiralling guitar interplay. The opening ‘Mirror’, “a song about the mirror inside me,” Zushi explains, starts out as a lush psych-folk song, slow and gentle, but soon takes to the skies with a cat’s cradle of Fripp-esque guitars, before thick, droning chords sweep the song to a drowsy coda. ‘Nocturne’ weaves silver skeins of guitar melody around a cyclical chord pattern; it gathers energy and quiet intensity through insistent repetition. The rest of the album explores the nuance Zushi can draw out of simple elements, building on what ‘Mirror’ and ‘Nocturne’ offer – the profundity of a chord change; the melancholy of a few quietly sighed words; the exhilaration of a guitar solo bursting out of the speakers; the subtle shifts in emotional register offered by tone and touch. Throughout, there’s something quiet, yet ineffable, shading the contours of the songs, such that it makes perfect sense when Zushi says, “What I want to express through music may be ‘sense of mystery’.” A few of the songs had their basic parts recorded at LM Studio and Studio Nemu with Shibayama and Masako Takeda joining on bass and drums, respectively; much of the album, however, was tracked at Zushi’s home studio. That seems appropriate for a collection of songs that are expansive in their intimacy. Asked what drove the sessions, Zushi answers, “I thought I’d make IV an album that particularly focuses on the guitar play.” And focus it does, as Zushi’s sky-scraping, soaring, elemental tone is front and centre throughout. But these are no guitar heroics; rather, Zushi uses the guitar as conduit and diviner, a tool for spirit location, and IV is his most eloquent expression yet of such singular magic.

Ye (Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign‘s 2024 album VULTURES 1 (as the supergroup, ¥$) is Ye‘s first collaborative album since his 2018 album with Kid Cudi, KIDS SEE GHOSTS, and as such, delivers celebratory, reunion-like energy. Bridging R&B, classic soul-sample rap, and the lo-fifi electro stylings of late-era Ye, VULTURES 1 manages to fuse Ye‘s go-to productions methods with Ty Dolla‘s efortlessly smooth vocals. This results in an unpredictable and dynamic listening experience.

Frenchie King is a veteran artist and producer from the world of Reggae music. He was born in Jamaica and moved to the UK at the age of 12, where he began singing in a church choir. In the late 1960s he formed a church band with two friends called "The Ressurectors". Their music caught the attention of Reggae star Alton Ellis. After meeting Alton a new band formed called "Black Stallion" and their first song on Venture Records was released entitled - "Love Power". Alton was mentor and guiding light for Frenchie and crew; enabling them to jam with a host of Studio One artists.

Frenchie went on to work with noteworthy Reggae arists like: Alton Ellis, Dennis Brown, Dennis Alcapone, Ken Parker, Tito Simon, Dave Barker, Bobby Davis (The Sensations), Ruff Cutt, Owen Gray and Akabu.We didn't tour with Dennis or John Holt but Alton would always call them to the stage to jam, but we did a few shows with Alton sister Hortense Ellis and few other too much to mention...

Moving into the 1980s, Frenchie started a solo career and switched to the label "M1" where he released projects like "Your Entitled" and "Poor Me Natty Dread". During this time he also worked with renowned producer Sid Buckner (Studio One), before taking a brief hiatus; returning to help produce artist Owen Gray. He also wrote the song "Blackbird" for the band Akabu which was released in 1995 on U-Sound. M1 recording produce yours truly under name countryman linkup with the man Ezekiel in Luton hence M1

Moving forward into the 2000s, along with other musical adventures the iconic album "People Had Enough" was released in 2017, along with singles, "Let Us Do Something" and "Dance Cork". On let us do something and dance (kark) is produce by Michael McNeil aka the original jah son , a good musical sou-jah.

Which brings us up to date. In 2023 Frenchie hooked up with The Blackstones. Through this came the opportunity to work with Iron Sound Records and producer Alien Dread. This is the first single on ISR, with a solid Roots vocal track backed by studio band: Alvin Davis, Asha B and Steven Wright. More to follow!

DJ Support: Kevin Reynolds, James Baron, Hot Toddy, Pablo Valentino, Colin Dale

Suite For Chick is a heartfelt Homage to the late Jazz Maestro Chick Corea.

This collection features reinterpretations of City Gate, Rumble, Time Track, and Hymn of the Heart from the Chick Corea Elektric Band, as well as Return to Forever’s classic Romantic Warrior. These vibrant renditions celebrate Corea's enduring legacy in the jazz world.

Chick Corea played a crucial role in shaping Miles Davis's electric fusion era and was a key member of his Lost Quintet. He was also a founding force behind Return to Forever and many other influential groups.

Bangkok-based Maarten Goetheer collaborates with top Thai drummer Pong Nakornchai, blending Wurlitzer chords, Moog basslines, ARP leads, and signature Rhodes phasings. Nakornchai, a Master’s graduate in Jazz Studies from Mahidol University, leads his own quartet and embodies the progressive spirit of modern jazz in Thailand.

Maarten's inspiration stems from his musical upbringing; his father, Gerard Goetheer, was a jazz pianist. This environment fostered his deep appreciation for music. A pivotal moment came when he heard Masters at Work remixing Tania Maria, igniting his vision to merge genres and create something new.

With Suite for Chick Maarten wanted to incorporate a wider range of Modern influences that he became infatuated with throughout his Musical career such as Techno, Italo, Cosmic Disco, Dub, Acid, Boogie, Proto-House & Ambient Music.

To Maarten bringing these genres together is his current and unique interpretation of the JAZZ FUSION moniker.

Radio Support: Kev Beadle Radio support, Colin Curtis Radio support, RINSE FM mini album mix & interview on Tim Garcia show, BBC6 RADIO New Music Fix 16th Oct 2024

DJ Feedback:

DJ Harvey - Very cool collection of reworks

Terry Farley - so fucking good - house heads will be lovin’ this

Laurent Garnier / FG Radio France: Whaouuuu. That’s brilliant. Great album!

Lars Behrenroth / Deeper Shades Of House: This is so cool. Love the dub of City Gate, too. Great music

Jimpster / Freerange: Great idea to work up some contemporary interpretations of Chick classics! Was always a fan of Time Track so nice to hear this one included. These tracks strike a really nice balance of electronic/sequenced elements and live recording. I’m into it!

Tim Garcia / Rinse FM: I think this whole release is excellent and inspired, nice to see a tribute to one of my favourites work so well.

a A1: City Gate Rumble Original
[b] A2: City Gate Rumble [Reprise Dub]
[c] A3: Romantic Warrior [Original]
[d] B1: Time Track [Original]
[e] B2: Time Track [Reprise]
[Original]

You could call Wishy's story a lucky one. After prior monikers and iterations, Wishy was born as a kaleidoscope of alternative music's semi-recent history, with traces of shoegaze, grunge and power-pop swirling together. On Triple Seven, Indiana songwriters Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites' musical synergy proves itself to be a rare one-the kind that sounds like someone striking gold. Part sly wink and part warm gratitude, it's only fitting their much anticipated full length debut is titled Triple Seven, where Wishy's penchant for indelible hooks is couched equally in pillowy atmospherics and scathing distortion. By day Krauter works as a music teacher, giving drum and guitar lessons to students, while Pitchkites is a seamstress by trade and often makes embroidered merch for the band. Coming up in a scene defined by hardcore and emo, Krauter and Pitchkites instead found themselves writing melodies in their heads while driving to work, pulling music from the air and arriving at a blearier, more ethereal interpretation of Midwest expanse. Initially, their music oscillated between hazy dream-pop and heavier alt-rock. The subject of their songs create a loose web of vignettes and snapshots, capturing Krauter and Pitchkites in a whirlwind couple of years _ exiting the pandemic, embarking on an embryonic project, making sense of their musical pasts while forging a musical future alongside one another, each of them on a journey of self-acceptance and self-understanding. Sometimes gorgeous, sometimes festering, and always cathartic, Triple Seven is a vibrant and exhilarating document of self-discovery with the scope and heft of the bygone big-budget rock albums that inspired it.

Coming off a successful transatlantic exchange, Brian Kage and his Michigander label keep the momentum, and the collaborative spirit, moving with an EP that hits closer to home. For any Detroit artist, working with Delano Smith would be on the bucket list, as one of the city's original, more influential DJs — before the D developed any of its "waves" — who would come into his own as a producer later to, once again, help mold the Techno City's sound. Make no mistakes about it, this tastemaker had a ripple effect back before techno even had a name, when it was just "progressive" music and mixing. The thing is, the feeling of admiration and respect here is mutual, from the moment Smith first stumbled across one of Kage's records and had to know who was making these sounds. This meeting of the minds happened organically and timely, with Keep 'em Movin’ as the result.

Opening the release is the title track, a driving number with pulsating synth tones and deep, call and response piano stabs. The ever so slightly pitched down vocals are modern and effortlessly cool, a style that resonates with today's dancefloors, but done tastefully, and with lyrical content that sets the record straight about what it really means to represent Detroit.

"D Spirit" takes an ancestral turn. This is spaced-out Detroit techno meets afro deep at its finest. Forward moving keys are bathed in deep, celestial pads as shuffling hats accented by light hand percussion beckon the body to move. Lively marimbas cut through the hypnotic undertones and awaken the senses with soulful appeal. A fluid bassline rumbles beneath while baroque pianos add tension and heighten the atmosphere.

The final track rounds the release out with an exclamation mark. For lovers of Delano Smith's infamous remix of "A

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a pioneering rock & roll figure, blending gospel and blues, influencing artists like Elvis, Aretha, and James Brown.

Cal Tjader Jr. was a key figure in Latin Jazz, blending Latin, African, and Caribbean rhythms. A music prodigy, he influenced the genre profoundly.

Bebo Valdés, born in Cuba in 1918, was a key figure in Afro-Cuban jazz, blending traditional rhythms and collaborating with legends like Nat King Cole.

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.

For Quiet Town, her first album of new material in 12 years, Smith called on producer and musician Neilson Hubbard, alongside engineer Dylan Alldredge. Hubbard enlisted guitarists Will Kimbrough, Megan McCormick, and Juan Solorzano, bassist Lex Price, Danny Mitchell on keys and horns, and a host of acclaimed vocalists for the background vocals, including Maureen Murphy, Nickie Conley, Jodi Seyfried, Matraca Berg, Kate York, and Park Chisolm.

Smith’s talent for expressing the most human of vulnerabilities is on full display on the new album. Beyond the title track, other album highlights include “Jericho,” co-written with esteemed artist and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame songwriter Matraca Berg, which gives voice to anticipation of impending life changes of monumental import; “I’d Rather Be a Bridge,” a plea for compassion and connection; and “Farther Than We Should Have,” co-written with Natalie Hemby and K.S. Rhoads. The latter is a song about overcoming the deck stacked against kindred spirits who together trek through a difficult journey and find footing beyond beating the odds.

Moondog's jovial H'art Songs was the first release not to incorporate his name in the title, but the record that forever proved his genius. A rare vocal album recorded by Moondog when he was in his sixties, these ten art songs blur the boundaries between classical and pop music. Moondog called this series of art songs "H'art songs" - Hardin's art songs. The musical content is on a higher level than most popular music, but has an appeal to a wide range of tastes, from the pop to the classical listener. This collection of piano pop songs written and recorded in 1977 made Moondogs' stunningly eclectic discography even more chaotic musically. It also featured some of his most mesmerizing wordplay. Telling tales that can be interpreted as metaphors for how to live - sometimes political, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes nature loving - they are always intriguingly poetic, and helped push this album to the very top of all Moondog'sreleases. "My singing style is without vibrato, as is the singing style of most of the people in the world. The voice part I have kept simple, intentionally, so that I and many others who like to sing such songs, including the barbershop quartet people, would be able to sing them. As I did on the record, the voice part should be sung by one voice or in unison, but not in harmony, because the harmony is exclusively in the piano parts, which are more complicated than the voice parts, especially in the canons and the obligati, which carry the main melodic burden." "Moondog singing Moondog? Really! even goodness knows, Moondog doesn't sing a song; he shows you how it goes." - Louis T Hardin aka Moondog. First time on Vinyl since 1978. Inner sleeve with lyrics to sing along to. Album liner notes by Moondog.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Jesus And Mary Chain’s debut single ‘Upside Down’ is being reissued on 7” vinyl which - as per the original pressing of the release - comes with a colour variation of the original artwork design. To be released on 6 December 2024.

Originally released in November 1984, it put the band on the map selling 50,000 copies and subsequently became one of the first major successes for the now iconic British independent label Creation.

The b-side is a cover of the Syd Barrett written ‘Vegetable Man’, a track not officially released on a Pink Floyd album until 2016’s The Early Years 1965–1972 box set, but a track that caught the imagination of the band in the early-mid 80’s and their cover is an unmistakable and celebrated version.

The single topped the UK Indie Chart twice, once in February 1985 and then again in the March. It stayed in the Indie charts for a huge 76 weeks making it one of the biggest selling indie singles of the 1980s.

Hailing from East Kilbride in Scotland, The Jesus And Mary Chain revolves around brothers Jim and William Reid, the bands founders and only consistent members. The band are recognised as being key to the development of the shoegaze scene and have remained uncompromising in their sound releasing eight albums, most recently ‘Glasgow Eyes’ released earlier this year.

This is one of Ray Pérez’s most highly sought-after albums, not only for its strong salsa dura anthems and funky boogaloo numbers but also for its brave, quirky eclecticism and youthful, rebellious spirit, all of which are reflections of “El Loco” Ray’s unique genius, making him a beloved figure in rare record collector circles everywhere.

The original is not that easy to find today and carries a hefty price. Thankfully, it has been remastered from the original tapes, fully licensed, with the original artwork, preserving and presenting the legacy of this great Venezuelan music for today’s generation.


DESCRIPTION
The late 1960s was a very busy time when Pérez was juggling several different studio bands: Los Dementes, Los Calvos and Los Kenya.

The daring experiment Pérez created with Los Calvos laid the basis for Los Kenya, an actual working band that released six albums between 1968 and 1972. Despite being titled “Los Kenya, Vol. 2” because it was the second released by Discomoda, the record actually represents Los Kenya’s third album, and is perhaps the most mature, well-rounded venture in the lot.

In February 1969, on Discomoda, came “Los Kenya, Vol. 2” focused on the upcoming carnival season and was calculated to compete with rival bands Federico Y Su Combo Latino and Sexteto Juventud for the plethora of gigs offered at that time of year.

The album, like all Ray Pérez releases of the time, is short and powerful, with five tracks per side, showcasing a variety of singers, genres, rhythms, influences and arrangements, making this one of his more eccentric and interesting efforts. 1960s California “sunshine pop” rock (often referred to as ‘surf’ on Los Kenya records), guajiras, boogaloos, descargas and even Mexican mariachi corridos are all added to the pot of salsa cooked up by “El Loco Ray” and his band.

The album has been rescued from obscurity and lovingly restored, remastered from the original tapes, fully licensed, with its original artwork intact, preserving and presenting the legacy of this great Venezuelan music for today’s generation of global salsa dura fans.

2025 Repress
Key Vinyl welcomes on board Turkish born and Amsterdam based Beste Hira, delivering an EP that brings together funky rhythms and soulful vocals. Known for her versatile style and vibrant approach to production, Beste Hiras new offering is an uplifting blend of loopy material, infused with percussive
elements and emotive atmospheres perfect for different moments across the night.

The A-side, Remember Me, opens the EP with a groovy, vocal driven track that sets the tone with its infectious energy. The funky vocal line is layered over a well structured rhythmic base, creating an upbeat, driving experience that feels both positive and dance floor ready. The track maintains a balance of groove and flow, offering a feel good excitement thats certain to resonate with diverse crowds. On the B side, Observe follows with yet another example of the producers inclination for blending vocals with polished production. This track leans on textured soundscapes, while percussive elements and subtle
layers bring depth and sophistication. Its a charming cut that works well in the mix, providing DJs with material thats both dynamic and versatile. Rounding out the EP is Flew of Cliffs, characterized by a thick bassline, while delicate atmospheres give it a sort of ethereal edge.

This ones for the diggers, the dancers, and those who appreciate a sound thats as uplifting as it is refined.

To give you an idea of what the New Jersey, USA band Cowardice sound like, “Atavist” exists somewhere on the spectrum between the sombre strains of Bell Witch and the tormented tones of Body Void, with the first half of the album (“Suzerain”) erring more towards the bleakly melodic style of the former, while part two (“Sentinel”) shifts the focus towards a darker, dirgier approach; somewhere on the edges between melancholic doom and experimental sludge metal. Perhaps inevitably, it’s not quite that cut and dry - the gut-churning grind of “Unforgeable Key” for example, is just as nasty and gnarly as anything found on “Sentinel”, while the desolate disharmonies of “The Diminutive Principle” channel a similarly angst-ridden aura as much of “Suzerain” - but this distinction between the two halves, subtle as it may be, plays a big role in giving the whole album its sense of direction and progression.

And while it is always recommended to listen to the totality of “Atavist” so as to get the most out of it - especially if you’re a fan of the likes of Cavernlight and/or Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean, both of whom also serve as useful touchstones for any prospective listener - also pay extra attention to the gorgeously gloomy slow-burn of opener “To The Hilt Of Humanity”, the haunting melodies and heaving grooves of the sludge-soaked “Clairvoyance Anxiety” and the morbid majesty of “Hall Of Mages”, as some of the record’s major highlights. Indeed, it’s this last track which will both test your resolve and prove, once and for all, that “Atavist” is more than worth every second you’ve invested into listening to it so far, with every crushing, cathartic chord and ringing, harmonic note… every tortured, suffering snarl and trembling, melancholy melody… coming together over the course of seventeen absolutely massive minutes to demonstrate that, despite its imposing size and intense sound, “Atavist” is nothing to be afraid of. Green and red coloured double vinyl edition.

Stalwarts of the London music scene The Boom Yeh are at the forefront of redefining British Jazz-Funk with the release of their new album Near-Earth Objects. Featuring a host of musicians that have worked with Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Alice Russell and Leroy Hutson.

Keep Right On
A blistering syncopated jazz-funk assault reminiscent of The Brecker Brother and Tower Of Power. Featuring solos from trombone player Tom White and sax player/horn arranger Ian Bailey, followed by a virtuosic drum solo courtesy of Alessio Barelli.

Chronic Tonic
A smooth jazz-funker with hip-hop undertones, echoing early Prince with a boogie funk outro in the vein of George Duke, propelled by bass player Matteo Grassi.

Hot Tamale
If Jimi Hendrix was stuck in a Mexican traffic jam, it would probably sound like this. An abrasive funk-rock stomper featuring a heavy duty guitar solo from band leader Jon Speedy.

Pocket Rocket
Deep pocket funk in tribute to George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic with be-bop infused horn riffs. Featuring solos by Paul Silver on baritone sax and guest keyboard player Carl Hudson on Oberheim synth.

Near-Earth Objects
High energy jazz-fusion exploring the universe of Herbie Hancock and The headhunters with an afrobeat inspired horn outro. Featuring guest keyboard Carl Hudson on Fender Rhodes and synth.

Othership
Bombastic big band jazz-funk with a rare groove flavoured mid section. Composed by band leader/guitarist Jon Speedy as a nod to his father Dave Speedy - a jazz trumpet player and big band leader.

Mind's Eye
Laid back Ibiza chill out mixtape vibes meets Donald Byrd and the Mizell Brothers. Featuring blissful Fender Rhodes and synth by guest keyboard player Carl Hudson.

Possibilities
A slow burner in the spirit of Roy Hargrove's RH Factor and early neo-soul with a gospel flavoured outro.

Die Regierung war die Band, auf die sich 1994 alle einigen konnten. Und womit? Mit Recht! Die Regierung stach aus den anderen Bands der damaligen Indie-Szene heraus, weil Pop. Gitarren-Indie in Deutschland neigte Anfang der 90er zu einem, vorsichtig formuliert, eher sperrigen, um nicht zu sagen, etwas anstrengenden Sound. Das Leben war hart und schwer - Irrungen hier, Wirrungen da und das sollte sich auch in der Musik widerspiegeln. Blaupause Sonic Youth et al. Für musikalische Leichtigkeit und solchen Tand hatte man eher nicht so viel übrig in Indiehausen. "Unten" enthält 14, zumeist quecksilbrige, Folk-Pop-Songs für moderne Liebende. Cool, realistisch und doch überromantisch vorgetragen mit so einer Art gainsbourgischer Distanziertheit. Die Texte sind natürlich spitze. Den Alltag adelnde Skizzen. Mit so wenigen Worten so viel sagen, das kann nicht jeder! Kann eigentlich keiner oder macht(e) keiner. Vielleicht noch die Ramones. Das Besondere an den Texten ist vermutlich auch diese Beiläufigkeit. Oft hat man ja bei deutschen Texten, auch von guten Textern und Texterinnen, das Gefühl, dass die einem da was einhämmern oder einen überzeugen wollen, das hatte man bei Der Regierung nicht, das war (und ist) anders.

Fresh Selects presents the 5 year anniversary re-issue of the underground classic debut LP from one of R&B's most promising stars, SiR. Now a member of Top Dawg Entertainment (alongside Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and more) and signed to RCA, SiR's independent debut features early appearances from both Anderson. Paak and SiR's brother D Smoke (now the winner of Netflix's hit show Rhythm & Flow), as well as production from Knxwledge, Iman Omari, Chris "Daddy" Dave, Tiffany Gouché and more. Long since out-of-print, this 2020 edition of the LP includes new artwork and a fold-out poster, including the original photo that was used for the album cover.

Hailing from the West side of St. Louis, Missouri, Mikahl Anthony’s sonic roots spread far across the global Alt-Soul / Hip-Hop scene. A highly soughtafter multidisciplinary artist (who has collaborated with the likes of Mick Jenkins, Chance The Rapper, Joey Purp, Smino and more), as well as being a founding member of Chicago’s THEMpeople collective, he now prepares to unveil his masterful full-length debut Muse via R&S Records.

Accompanied by several beautiful, self-directed film pieces, Muse is a record with storytelling at its core. Interspersed with commentary from a range of sources telling their stories to Mikhal, whilst collaboratively analysing their personal experiences, it speaks a candid and honest narrative, which reinforce the heartfelt lyrics within. With the project’s name anchored around a dual meaning acronym (1. Ms. Using sensual energy and 2. Making use of seclusion every day). The record is an audio version of docufilm, that creatively interprets the idea of self-therapy, an internal/interpersonal reflection of life experiences that serendipitously connect to Mikahl’s personal romantic relationships. Mikahl explains: ‘I wanted to use a unique style of songwriting, arrangement and filming with the intention of soundtracking my self-development/maturation process’.

On the project’s lasting impression on the listener, Mikahl elaborates ’The exploration of inner truth and vulnerability is key to the future of good music. I want this project to act as symbolism that highlights the mantra that honest approaches and authenticity still has the most value. I also want people to see how important the use of community is when you can connect them to your subject matter...I'd like my audience to observe and engage in their own self-reflections, approaches by way of listening or interacting with the story.’

Drifting to an elevated state of consciousness, Muse is a deeply intoxicating and engrossing listening experience from front to back. From the sliding, kaleidoscopic shadows of opening track ‘La Flare’, via the trepidation-laced atmosphere of ‘Polyamorous’ and the hazy, reverb drenched saxophone notes of LP closer ‘Eddie Kane’ - Mikahl channels moments of joy and pain, infused with spirit enriching instrumentation and gritty textures.

Visual stimuli play an integral role within Mikahl’s music. His songs represent transparency and openness dipped in funk. Layers of soft velvety vocals emerge from jazz harmonies, trap rhythms, and social commentary sourced from voiceovers/excerpts. His creations are the musical representation of documentary films. His art is imagery embodied.

Wo endet The Skull und wo beginnt Legions of Doom? Die Antwort könnte "genau hier" sein. Willkommen bei 'The Skull 3'. Der Tod des Sängers Eric Wagner (The Skull, Ex-Trouble, Blackfinger usw.) im Jahr 2021 überschattete das Debüt von Legions Of Doom, da The Skull-Gitarrist Lothar Keller und Bassist Ron Holzner (ebenfalls Ex-Trouble) Song-Material bearbeiteten, das auf dem dritten Album dieser Band zu finden gewesen wäre. Mit Wagners Beteiligung an der Komposition und dem Segen der Familie des Sängers bewegen sich Legions Of Doom weiter in Richtung Supergroup-Territorium, indem sie Drummer Henry Vasquez (Saint Vitus, Blood Of The Sun) und Sänger Karl Agell (u.a. Corrosion Of Conformity aus der 'Blind'-Ära) sowie Scott Reagers (ursprünglicher Frontmann von Saint Vitus) in die Gruppe aufnahmen. Wagners Geist ist Teil dieser Platte, ganz zu schweigen von seinem Gesang auf 'Heaven' - aber Legions of Doom sind mehr als eine Hommage. Am Ende wird die Platte ebenso sehr zu einem Debüt, wie sie es je als drittes Album für The Skull hätte sein können, und die Persönlichkeit von Legions Of Doom wird sofort durch die Gesangseinlagen von Reagers und Agell unterstrichen. Ja, es ist klassischer Doom von Veteranen, die diese Musikform mitgeprägt haben. Translucent Green Haze Vinyl-LP mit Foldout-Cover und bedrucktem Inner Sleeve; Jewel-Case-CD mit 12-seitigem Booklet.

Jess Holt aka. total tommy veröffentlicht ihr mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum 'bruises' (= blaue Flecken, Prellungen). Mit auf dem Album sind ihre bisherigen Singles 'microdose', 'REAL', 'Adeline' und 'Losing Out', die in den britischen und australischen Medien bereits auf sehr viel Gegenliebe gestoßen sind. Die letzten Jahre waren für die in Sydney lebende Künstlerin Jess Holt, besser bekannt als total tommy, eine Zeit der radikalen Veränderungen: Die Songs entstanden während einer Phase , in der sie eine Trennung durchlebte, die Stadt wechselte, sich als queer outete und ihre jetzige Ehefrau kennenlernte. Aus diesen Erfahrungen entstand das dementsprechend mehr als passend betitelte Debütalbum 'bruises': Eine Sammlung von rohen, energiegeladenen Bedroom-Rockhymnen, die Holts mutige, ungeschönte und scharfzüngige Stimme in ihrer vollen Pracht zeigen. Auf 'bruises' zeigt sich total tommy von vielen Seiten: romantisch, hedonistisch, verloren, weise, manchmal als Arschloch, manchmal liebenswert. Was alles zusammenhält, ist ein neu gefundenes Selbstbewusstsein und die Gewissheit, zu wissen, wer sie wirklich ist.

Emilia Sisco returns with a stunning new vinyl single, "Your Girl" b/w "Too Late" featuring two captivating tracks written by Sisco herself and performed by the exceptional Cold Diamond & Mink studio band. On the A side, "Your Girl" introduces listeners to a breezy and mellow soul ballad that radiates warmth and optimism. This track showcases Sisco's ability to craft heartfelt lyrics paired with a soothing melody that effortlessly captures the essence of a perfect soul record. Flipping to the B side, "Too Late" offers a more somber and introspective ballad, characterized by its minor key mood. This track continues Sisco's tradition of delivering emotionally resonant music that speaks to the complexities of love and heartache. The subtle yet powerful arrangement by Cold Diamond & Mink provides the perfect backdrop for Sisco's poignant vocals, making it a standout addition to her growing discography on Timmion Records. With these two new songs, Emilia Sisco solidifies her place as a forceful creator in the contemporary soul scene. "Your Girl" and "Too Late" highlight her ability to convey deep emotion through her music and pave the way for more upcoming work together with the Timmion crew. Sisco's voice alone is starting to signify a stamp of quality that makes this record an essential addition to any soul buffs collection.

2024 Repress

“Live at Sound City” is an instrumental collaboration between bassist Pino Palladino, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Blake Mills, and LA-based saxophonist Sam Gendel. Recorded in one day at the legendary Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, the EP presents new versions of compositions from Palladino & Mills’ Grammy-nominated 2021 album “Notes with Attachments” in an intimate chamber trio setting. Across four tracks, the accomplished trio explores common musical vocabularies, then goes about the work of defamiliarizing them in search of something new, blending the sounds of West African and Cuban music, jazz, R&B, English folk, pop, and beyond.

Pino Palladino is a Grammy Award winning songwriter, producer and bassist who helped create the rhythm-section sound of D’Angelo’s Voodoo and Black Messiah, and over a four-decade career has worked with artists including Keith Richards, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Nine Inch Nails, Questlove, John Mayer, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock and Adele.

Blake Mills is a two-time Grammy Awards Producer of the Year nominee. He has released four solo albums and produced and recorded with artists such as Alabama Shakes, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, John Legend, Perfume Genius, Jim James, Moses Sumney, Laura Marling, Phoebe Bridgers, Cass McCombs, The Killers, Sara Bareilles, Weyes Blood and Randy Newman. His most recent album Mutable Set, released last year, was praised by Pitchfork as “a hushed collection that floats through the subconscious like a tender dream,” and earned their Best New Music title.

Sam Gendel is a musician living in Los Angeles, CA. He is most known for his work with the saxophone, though he is proficient on multiple instruments. His work is diverse and includes collaborations with a wide range of artists including Ry Cooder, Laurie Anderson, Mach-Hommy, Sam Amidon, Perfume Genius, Moses Sumney, Knower, Vampire Weekend, and inc. no world.

FERMA third vinyl release lands just before the close of the year and it is a special one. Petros Spatharos leads with a set of bangers distilling perfectly the sound of the label. Athens-based artist is widely known for his dark, immersive industrial sound, so yeah expect nothing less.

Side A starts with ”Datura”, layering heavy drums with dark reeses and syncopations – solid stuff. ”Xorkia” is an eyes-down track which will keep you in the zone with stellar percussion and atmosphere. ”Vultures” closes the first side with higher energy levels and more distinct breakbeat elements.

On Side B, Randstad remixes ”Datura” and pumps up the tempo to create a mind-bending industrial electro track with aggressive synths. Boris Barksdale wrap-ups the physical release by remixing ”Xorkia” and changing the core to techno and reworking percussion to create an industrial heavy-hitter track.

Erstmals als Vinyl,2015

Johannes Oerding ist kein Künstler von der Stange. Er ist nicht gern im Studio und konzentriert sich lieber auf das, was ihm Spaß macht: seine Konzerte und das Schreiben von Songs
Die Musik auf "Alles brennt" hat Oerding erneut im Team mit Sven Bünger und Mark Smith produziert. Innerhalb von vier Wochen wird "Alles brennt" am Meer produziert. Es folgen Overdubs in Kiel, Drums in Hamburg und nach insgesamt zwei Jahren besteht das Album aus 12 Songs, die den verschiedenen Facetten des Johannes Oerding so nah kommen wie nie.
Angefangen mit dem bewusst poppigen Titelsong, der mit dem 700 Mann starken Chor Hamburg Singt im Refrain überrascht, und "Wenn du lebst", das uns mit offenen Armen empfängt, über "Turbulenzen", einer Art Selbsttherapie gegen seine Flugangst und das Problem Kontrollverlust, mit dem er sogar an roten Ampeln zu kämpfen hat, und "Nie wieder Alkohol", einer spontanen, übermütigen Rock'n'Roll-Momentaufnahme, bis hin zu "Zweites Gesicht", seinem bis dato wohl persönlichsten Song.

Lithuanian DJ and producer Somniac One returns to her own imprint Somniverse with a techno 4-tracker designed to keep you up at night.

This EP showcases her signature blend of dark and intense techno, highlighting the creative freedom that comes with running her own label. With carefully crafted synth lines, dramatic pads, and hard-hitting drums, the record draws from a wide range of influences, including classic hard trance, UK rave, speedcore, and even actual techno! Perfect for a sweaty night out or a tearful night in.

Die skandinavischen Death-Metal-Meister Konkhra werden mit „Sad Plight of Lucifer“ alle umhauen! Das neue Album „Sad Plight of Lucifer“ von
Konkhra liefert ihren klassischen skandinavischen Death Metal-Sound mit neuer Intensität. Das von Tue Madsen abgemischte Album markiert die
Rückkehr der Band zu ihren Wurzeln und bietet eine kraftvolle Fortsetzung ihres Vermächtnisses.Schwierigkeiten beim Touren und ein instabiles
Lineup führten dazu, dass sich die Band erneut in der klassischen Besetzung für eine Tour mit Behemoth in Südafrika, eine einmalige Show mit
Volbeat vor 37000 Menschen und eine Show im Copenhell vor dem Album Alpha and the Omega im Jahr 2019 in Zusammenarbeit mit Hammerheart
reformierte. Dieses Album schaffte es in Meral Hammers „Top Ten dänischer Bands“ neben Volbeat, Mercyful Fate und anderen. In der Zwischenzeit
beschuldigte eine christliche Sekte die Band, 500.000 Dollar von einem YouTube-Konto gestohlen zu haben! Die Tourneen beinhalteten eine Reihe
von Headlinershows sowie Touren mit Batushka und Malevolent Creation.

'We are thrilled to be able to bring you Yara Asmar's first two cassette releases in a deluxe remastered double vinyl gatefold package featuring all new art and design from Yara herself.

Both albums were originally released on Hive Mind Records in 2022 and 2023 and received critical acclaim around the world':

“Melancholic drifts sound through the overcast skies of synth waltzes and accordion laments, infusing ageless melodies with a sense of falling backward through time. History is stitched through gilded aural silhouettes and elegiac drones. Asmar’s music is visceral. While electronics beckon beyond the sunrise stretched through a metallic shimmer, synth waltzes and accordion laments sticks with us while we remain lost in the hazy doldrums, always crawling forward tethered to our past lives. Highest recommendation.”
Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis

"...these tracks are a cushion against reality. Asmar creates music that unfurls in evanescent bliss, an invitation to a safe space both isolated and welcoming."
Daryl Worthington, The Quietus

"...a set that transmutes the instrument’s droning tones into a sweep of introspective, breath-catching moments of beauty"
Eric Torres, Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Albums of 2023

"The combination and contrast of highly familiar and highly alien elements give Asmar's music a quality not quite like anything else I can name. The way she channels found voices into her surreal mix of sounds is particularly striking."
Byron Coley, The Wire

In den späten 1960er Jahren erlebte Kanadas größte Stadt einen musikalischen Aufschwung, als karibische Einwanderer Toronto zu ihrer neuen Heimat machten. Die besten Ska-, Rocksteady- und Reggae-Aufnahmekünstler jener Zeit - die Gründer von Studio One, Treasure Isle und Trojan Records - taten einfach das, was ihnen in den Sinn kam. Einer nach dem anderen gingen sie ins Studio und nahmen einige der härtesten Songs diesseits von Kingston auf. Gemeinsam überwanden sie die rassischen und kulturellen Barrieren und bildeten eine beispiellose und wenig bekannte kanadische Soul & Reggae-Community. "Jamaika to Toronto: Soul, Funk & Reggae 1967-1974" beschreibt diese entscheidende klangliche Migration im Detail. // Mit Jackie Mittoo, Johnnie Osbourne, Wayne McGhie, Lloyd Delpratt, The Mighty Pope, Jo-Jo Bennett, Eddie Spencer, Noel Ellis und mehr_ // 2024 erweiterte Ausgabe mit 20-seitigem Deluxe-Booklet mit Archivbildern, Künstlerbiografien und Essays // 2xLP-Set, läuft mit 45 rpm, in einem luxuriösen Klappcover // Zusammengestellt, und kommentiert von dem GRAMMY-nominierten Produzenten, DJ und Journalisten Kevin Howes (alias Sipreano, Voluntary In Nature) in Zusammenarbeit mit Light in the Attic // Yellow & Green ReVinyl, eine nachhaltige Alternative aus 100% recycelten Materialien //

Die Goldenen Zitronen sind seit mehr als drei Dekaden eine der prägenden Bands in der deutschen Independent-Szene. Seit ihrer Gründung 1984 in Hamburg haben sie 13 reguläre Alben veröffentlicht. Anfangs als Teil der Funpunk-Szene, erweiterten sie ihr musikalisches Spektrum von einfachen, schnellen Punk- und Rockabilly Songs zu komplexeren und experimentellen Songstrukturen. In ihrer Musik finden sich sowohl Verbindungen zu New Wave Bands der 80er und zum Krautrock der 70er-Jahre, als auch zu zeitgenössischen Formen elektronischer Musik. In ihren Texten wurden die Goldenen Zitronen seit den 90er-Jahren immer mehr zu scharfsinnigen Beobachtern gesellschaftlicher Zustände und entwickelten einen ganz eigenen Stil, mit der deutschen Sprache umzugehen. 2024 feiern sie ihr 40. Jubiläum mit einer Best Of Zusammenstellung auf 3 Vinylen inkl. 24 Tourplakaten aus allen Dekaden.

Als Malédiction 2001 ihr Album „Condamnés“ bei Brennus Music herausbrachte (damals ausschließlich auf CD), waren die Reaktionen der Medien und des harten Kerns der Fans begeistert. Da jedoch der traditionelle Heavy Metal zu Beginn des neuen Jahrtausends eine schwierige Phase durchlief, erhielt die Band nie die Anerkennung, die sie verdient hätte, und löste sich einige Jahre später nach dem zweiten Album „Esclave Du Vice“ (2004) auf. Die aus dem nordfranzösischen Laon stammenden Sylvain Mollard (Gitarre/Gesang), Mathieu Poulain (Gitarre), Olivier Messaoui (Bass) und Nicolas Mollard (Schlagzeug) fanden sich ursprünglich im September 1997 zusammen. Anfangs mit einem Repertoire von Coverversionen von Megadeth, Judas Priest und Iron Maiden, konzentrierten sie sich bald auf das Schreiben von eigenem Material (gesungen auf Französisch). Im November desselben Jahres nahmen die vier in aller Eile (während einer zweitägigen Session) ihr erstes Demotape auf, das aus fünf Titeln bestand. Angespornt durch die positiven Reaktionen der Musikpresse beschlossen Malédiction, die fünf Songs des Demotapes zwischen dem 15. und 24. Januar 2021 im Studio Val D'Orge neu aufzunehmen. Zwei brandneue Eigenkompositionen sowie eine Coverversion von „Les Enfants De L'Ombre“ (von ADX) wurden hinzugefügt, und das französische Label Brennus Music entschied sich folgerichtig, das Album auf Compact Disc zu veröffentlichen. Musikalisch stehen Songs wie „Le Fils De Satan“, „Le Masque De Fer“ oder „L'Ange Noir“ in der Tradition von Blasphème, Sortilège oder eben ADX. Das Material fällt in die Kategorie Mid-Tempo Heavy Metal, mit galoppierenden Riffs und eingängigen Melodien. Sänger Sylvain Mollard macht mit seinem melodischen Gesangsstil einen wirklich guten Job, ebenso wie Lead-Gitarrist Mathieu Poulain, der ganz offensichtlich viel Randy Rhoads gehört hatte, bevor er das Aufnahmestudio betrat. Leider löste sich die vielversprechende Band irgendwann in der zweiten Hälfte der 2000er Jahre aus Frustration über die mangelnde öffentliche Unterstützung und die fehlende Unterstützung durch das Label auf. Nun ist High Roller stolz darauf, die ultimative Ausgabe dieses unentdeckten französischen Metal-Juwels zu präsentieren. „Condamnés“ steht sicherlich auf einer Stufe mit den besten Werken von Bands wie Sortilège, Killers, Attentat Rock oder High Power.

Als Malédiction 2001 ihr Album „Condamnés“ bei Brennus Music herausbrachte (damals ausschließlich auf CD), waren die Reaktionen der Medien und des harten Kerns der Fans begeistert. Da jedoch der traditionelle Heavy Metal zu Beginn des neuen Jahrtausends eine schwierige Phase durchlief, erhielt die Band nie die Anerkennung, die sie verdient hätte, und löste sich einige Jahre später nach dem zweiten Album „Esclave Du Vice“ (2004) auf. Die aus dem nordfranzösischen Laon stammenden Sylvain Mollard (Gitarre/Gesang), Mathieu Poulain (Gitarre), Olivier Messaoui (Bass) und Nicolas Mollard (Schlagzeug) fanden sich ursprünglich im September 1997 zusammen. Anfangs mit einem Repertoire von Coverversionen von Megadeth, Judas Priest und Iron Maiden, konzentrierten sie sich bald auf das Schreiben von eigenem Material (gesungen auf Französisch). Im November desselben Jahres nahmen die vier in aller Eile (während einer zweitägigen Session) ihr erstes Demotape auf, das aus fünf Titeln bestand. Angespornt durch die positiven Reaktionen der Musikpresse beschlossen Malédiction, die fünf Songs des Demotapes zwischen dem 15. und 24. Januar 2021 im Studio Val D'Orge neu aufzunehmen. Zwei brandneue Eigenkompositionen sowie eine Coverversion von „Les Enfants De L'Ombre“ (von ADX) wurden hinzugefügt, und das französische Label Brennus Music entschied sich folgerichtig, das Album auf Compact Disc zu veröffentlichen. Musikalisch stehen Songs wie „Le Fils De Satan“, „Le Masque De Fer“ oder „L'Ange Noir“ in der Tradition von Blasphème, Sortilège oder eben ADX. Das Material fällt in die Kategorie Mid-Tempo Heavy Metal, mit galoppierenden Riffs und eingängigen Melodien. Sänger Sylvain Mollard macht mit seinem melodischen Gesangsstil einen wirklich guten Job, ebenso wie Lead-Gitarrist Mathieu Poulain, der ganz offensichtlich viel Randy Rhoads gehört hatte, bevor er das Aufnahmestudio betrat. Leider löste sich die vielversprechende Band irgendwann in der zweiten Hälfte der 2000er Jahre aus Frustration über die mangelnde öffentliche Unterstützung und die fehlende Unterstützung durch das Label auf. Nun ist High Roller stolz darauf, die ultimative Ausgabe dieses unentdeckten französischen Metal-Juwels zu präsentieren. „Condamnés“ steht sicherlich auf einer Stufe mit den besten Werken von Bands wie Sortilège, Killers, Attentat Rock oder High Power.

Voivod wurde 1982 in Jonquière, Quebec, von Sänger Denis „Snake“ Belanger, Gitarrist Denis „Piggy“ D'Amour, Bassist Jean-Yves „Blacky“ Thériault und Schlagzeuger Michael „Away“ Langevin gegründet und nahm eine Reihe von Demos auf, bevor Brian Slagel auf die Band aufmerksam wurde und einen Vertrag mit Metal Blade Records unterzeichnete. Das Ergebnis war das Debütalbum „War And Pain“, das im August 1984 veröffentlicht wurde. Zu dieser Zeit teilten sich alle vier Mitglieder eine Wohnung in Montreal und lebten von 150 Dollar Sozialhilfe pro Woche. Da sie die Schule bereits hinter sich hatten, konnten sie fast jeden Tag proben, was zur Entstehung ihres zweiten Albums „Rrröööaaarrr“ führte. Während der Aufnahme des Albums wurde fast die gesamte Ausrüstung aus dem Proberaum gestohlen. Um Geld aufzutreiben, organisierte die Band zusammen mit ihrem Manager Maurice Richard das legendäre „World War III“-Festival. Dort lernten sie Karl-Ulrich Walterbach kennen, der Voivod davon überzeugte, bei seinem Label Noise Records zu unterschreiben. „Rrröööaaarrr“ erblickte schließlich im März 1986 das Licht der Welt. Mit Songs wie „Ripping Headaches“, „Thrashing Rage“ oder dem ultimativen „To The Death!“ bleibt es bis heute eines der extremsten Alben von Voivod. Nachdem diese ultimative Ausgabe des zweiten Voivod-Albums lange Zeit nicht erhältlich war, habt ihr nun die Möglichkeit, selbst zu beurteilen, ob „Rrröööaaarrr“ wirklich das beste Werk der Kanadier ist oder nicht.

Voivod wurde 1982 in Jonquière, Quebec, von Sänger Denis „Snake“ Belanger, Gitarrist Denis „Piggy“ D'Amour, Bassist Jean-Yves „Blacky“ Thériault und Schlagzeuger Michael „Away“ Langevin gegründet und nahm eine Reihe von Demos auf, bevor Brian Slagel auf die Band aufmerksam wurde und einen Vertrag mit Metal Blade Records unterzeichnete. Das Ergebnis war das furiose Debütalbum „War And Pain“, das im August 1984 veröffentlicht wurde. Zu dieser Zeit teilten sich alle vier Mitglieder eine Wohnung in Montreal und lebten von 150 Dollar Sozialhilfe pro Woche. Da sie die Schule bereits hinter sich hatten, konnten sie fast jeden Tag proben, was zur Entstehung ihres zweiten Albums „Rrröööaaarrr“ führte. Während der Aufnahme des Albums wurde fast die gesamte Ausrüstung aus dem Proberaum gestohlen. Um Geld aufzutreiben, organisierte die Band zusammen mit ihrem Manager Maurice Richard das legendäre „World War III“-Festival. Dort lernten sie Karl-Ulrich Walterbach kennen, der Voivod davon überzeugte, bei seinem Label Noise Records zu unterschreiben. Nach „Rrröööaaarrr“ von 1986 hieß Voivods zweites Album für Noise „Killing Technology“ und gilt weithin als der größte kreative und klangliche Sprung der Band. Es wurde in West-Berlin unter den wachsamen Augen von Harris Johns aufgenommen und kam 1987 auf den Markt. Weniger hektische Kompositionen wie „Tornado“, „Ravenous Medicine“ oder „Killing Technology“ hoben die Kanadier schnell von ihren Thrash-Zeitgenossen ab. „Rrröööaaarrr„ haben wir mit unserem Tontechniker in einer heruntergekommenen Schule ohne Geld selbst produziert“, erklärt Michael Langevin in dem Buch „Damn The Machine. The Story Of Noise Records“ des amerikanischen Autors David E. Gehlke. „Plötzlich hatten wir ein professionelles Umfeld, ein richtiges Studio mit einem richtigen Produzenten und ein Label, das die Finanzierung sicherstellte. Es ging Schritt für Schritt. Für „Killing Technology“ haben wir vielleicht ein bisschen langsamer gemacht. Wir konnten die Rollen spielen, und es hat viel Abwechslung. Es ist mein Lieblingsalbum und in meinen Ohren die perfekte Mischung aus Thrash, Prog und Hardcore. Es ist definitiv ein entscheidendes Album.“

DERO GOI kehrt mit einem Paukenschlag zurück! Der ehemalige OOMPH!-Frontmann liefert mit "1984" ein bis zum Rand mit Synthie-Hits vollgepacktes Doppelalbum ab. Das Debüt seiner Solo-Karriere ist zugleich sowohl in musikalischer als auch lyrischer Hinsicht ein starkes Statement zu seiner künftigen Ausrichtung als Künstler. "1984" bietet eine faszinierende Verschmelzung von feinen Retro-Synth-Sounds, EBM und Synth-Wave mit zeitgenössischen elektronischen Elementen, die sogar mit einer Prise seines früheren Lebens als Rock- und Metal-Musiker gewürzt ist. DERO GOI, der schon immer als herausragender Songwriter gefeiert wurde, hat sein musikalisches Handwerk noch weiter verfeinert. Die Songs dieses umfangreichen Werks werden ihre Hörer zum Tanzen und Mitsingen bringen und sich als Ohrwürmer in den Köpfen festsetzen, wo sie noch jahrelang feiern. DERO GOI bleibt dabei seinem unbeugsamen Willen treu, als nonkonformistischer Künstler zu arbeiten. Sein Coming-out als wiedergeborener Christ, der jeder organisierten Religion nach wie vor kritisch gegenübersteht, und seine libertäre politische Einstellung haben ein breites Spektrum von Reaktionen hervorgerufen. Dazu gehören leider auch massive Hindernisse bei der Suche nach einem Label und einem Booking-Agenten. Zudem musste der Künstler erleben, dass bereits bestätigte Konzerte nur aufgrund seiner Meinung wieder abgesagt wurden. Das wirft die unbequeme Frage auf: Wie tolerant ist eigentlich eine Szene, die sich rühmt, für jede Gesellschaftsschicht und jeden Lebensstil offen zu sein, wenn diese Werte einer kritischen Probe unterzogen werden? Natürlich haben auch Worte Konsequenzen und jede Freiheit hat ihre Grenzen, aber was ist mit einem Künstler, der fest auf dem Boden der Verfassung seines Landes steht und keine Gesetze bricht? Beinhaltet Freiheit nicht auch das Recht auf Widerspruch gegen den Zeitgeist? Dass DERO GOI bei Themen eine andere Meinung vertritt, ist kein Verbrechen. Bevor der Musiker, der am 16. April 1970 als Stephan Musiol in Wolfsburg geboren wurde, im Jahr 1989 OOMPH! gründete, spielte er bereits im Alter von 15 Jahren in einer Band mit seinem Freund Thomas Döppner (alias OOMH!-Gitarrist und Mitbegründer Crap), als beide noch Gymnasiasten waren. Seine musikalischen Einflüsse zeigen einen offenen Geist für stilistische Vielfalt. DERO GOI zählt unter anderem D.A.F., NITZER EBB, FRONT 242, THE CURE, FAITH NO MORE, KILLING JOKE, EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, AC/DC, DEPECHE MODE, EXTRABREIT, KRAFTWERK, THE BEATLES, ELVIS PRESLEY und ABBA zu seinen musikalischen Vorbildern. DERO GOI hat mit seinem neuen Werk einen Weg eingeschlagen, der elektronischer ist als die meisten seiner bisherigen Songs. "1984" ist das Zeugnis eines Künstlers, der sich einer breiten Palette diverser Einflüsse bedient, der aber zugleich auch seine weithin respektierte Fähigkeit, äußerst eingängige Melodien zu schreiben, noch weiterentwickelt hat. Was auch immer die Hörer von diesem massiven Beitrag zur elektronischen Szene halten werden, DERO GOI wird sich als Sänger und Künstler nie den Mund verbieten lassen. Liebt oder hasst "1984" - aber was auf diesem Album zu hören ist, wird immer zu 100% DERO GOI bleiben!

Oaagaada hail from the town of Hämeenlinna in Finland. The quartet includes Tuure Tammi (trumpet), Sami Pekkola (sax), Tero Kemppainen (bass) and Simo Laihonen (drums). Laihonen has recently appeared on We Jazz Records with Stanley J. Zappa and previously with Black Motor, and more Oaagaada can be heard on the recent "We Jazz Live Plates" album "Lonna 2019" and on the 2020 7" single release "Oag-Ada".

'Mei Semones' sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is not only a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means of catharsis. "Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new - that's what feels most natural to me," says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singersongwriter and guitarist. "It's what feels most true to who I am as an artist." `Tsukino', Mei's debut, self-released EP, is being released physically for the first time ever on Bayonet Records! The EP will be released by itself on CD & Tape formats, and will be included in a vinyl pressing on the B-side of Semones' landmark EP, `Kebutomushi'! Plinking guitar tones and asymmetrical time signatures exemplify Semones' forays into angular indie rock more now than ever before. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age, starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. After playing jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazz focus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates, including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola and violin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei's intricate guitar work. After releasing a slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei and her band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboro and embark on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Raavi. Semones chronicles infatuation, devotion, and vulnerability in her songs, complete with sweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English and Japanese, that have all become part of her sonic trademark: ornately catchy, genrefusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on the universalities of human emotion.

Canadian band the Holiday Crowd as part of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, it was a match too good to not be made. The Toronto, Ontario-based indie rockers formed in 2010 and released a mini-album, a full-length and a 7" between 2012 and 2016. In 2022, the group returned with a new single, 'Party Favours', like their other records released by Portland, Oregon label Shelflife Records. Despite being Canadian, the band's sound is heavily influenced by British indie rock of the 1980s and early 1990s. For their Snowflakes Christmas single, the original four members of the band, lead vocalist Imran Hanniff, guitarist Colin Bowers, British-born bassist Alex Roberts and drummer David George Barnes, reunited to write the original 'Winterland'.

Winterland' takes you right back to the 1980s with its jangly guitar, rolling bass, pounding drums and Imran's warm vocals. The song seems to look back on childhood memories, but the parts about the heart that turned to coal, the last-minute shoppers and the 'graveyard malls' show that there is a deeper meaning to the lyrics. The single's B-side 'Hard Candy Christmas' was written by Carol Hall for the 1978 musical 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'. The song became a hit for Dolly Parton in 1982 when it was featured in the movie version of the musical in which she starred. The Holiday Crowd's reworking of the song perfectly captures the melancholy of the original, with its message of focusing on the sweet things in life, even when times are hard. The single is released on snow-white bio-vinyl in a sleeve with a playful design by Kenichi Ueda and limited to 300 copies.

Hello Everybody,

In recent years, the introductory texts for the Pop Ambient compilation series, which is released every year on Kompakt as the last release before the Christmas break, often began with the sentence "Every year again...".

“Every year again”, a quiet, almost unnoticed maxim of self-evidentness. Because this is already the 25th issue to be published this year.

25 years in increasingly fast-moving times in the even faster-moving music business is an eternity that doesn't just feel like it. It is all the more remarkable how I, as someone who is always restless and often driven by this fast pace himself, pleasantly almost haven’t realised how - in pop-ambient contexts - time does not pass (or passes differently) in the best sense.

When compiling the 25th edition I was asked, among other things, what it was like that I was still doing this and whether I had a favorite track. In the spirit of bringing all the tracks together I don't have a favorite track, or all of them. But I have a favorite part (moment) that I played. In this case it was a broad chord in a change of key at minute 2:55 in the piece Circles by Max Würden. A moment of majesty and familiarity that, at that moment, contains the entire Pop Ambient cosmos, that just works and doesn't explain anything - and I said: “...that's the reason why I'm still doing this.. .”

Pop Ambient is a statement without demands. Is promise without expectation. Is a path without a destination. Every year again.

Wolfgang Voigt, October 2024

And so to the facts:

01. Leandro Fresco / Thore Pfeiffer – Goldwasserfluss

The intercontinental collaboration between the two long-standing Pop Ambient artists Leandro Fresco from Argentina and Thore Pfeiffer from Mainz is a regular part of the series. They open this year's anniversary edition with the usual filigree.

02. Pass Into Silence – Mirage

The Japanese artist Tetsuo Sakae aka Pass into Silence returns to Kompakt 20 years after his legendary album “Calm Like A Millpond”. A master of tones that are as fine as they are stoic and crystal clear.

03. Tamarma & Sebastian Mullaert – Follow Me

For the first time, the well-known Swedish producer and DJ Sebastian Mullaert will be performing on Pop Ambient in cooperation with the Georgian sound artist Tamara Davitashvili. Their piece “Follow Me” fits confidently into the intimate, familiar sound cosmos.

04. Sono Kollektiv feat. Nathalie Brum – Periadriatische Naht

Sono Kollektiv is now a fixture on Pop Ambient, this time with Nathalie Brum. In particular, Luis Reich's characteristic flugelhorn always gives their sound that special jazzy touch.

05. Thore Pfeiffer – Phase Locked Loop 1

Thore Pfeiffer is a master of shimmering surfaces and hypnotically meandering loops.

06. Andrew Thomas feat. Julia Parr – Sunshine Night

An old friend from New Zealand is back with spherical sounds. Andrew Thomas, in collaboration with Julia Parr, sprinkles finely placed piano tones into distant soundscapes and even more distant voices.

07. Segensklang – Artifacts of Synthesis

We are pleased that Segensklang will be there again this year after his brilliant Pop Ambient debut last year. Deep and beautiful.

08. Ümit Han – Im Delirium

The Cologne producer Ümit Han is back for the third time. While he has so far explored the more emotional, soundscape aspects of the Pop Ambient universe, this year's piece "Im Delirium" rises to a pulsating mountain of sound with pearly, clear, effervescent sound crystals.

09. Würden & Schäfer – Analysis Of Variance II

In their track Analysis Of Variance II, Max Würden and Lukas Schäfer embed a finely placed beat impulse in a soft bed of modulating soundscapes and pleasant psychedelic spaceyness.

10. Max Würden– Circles

Max Würden once again shows his special feeling for one of the core statements of the Pop Ambient style spectrum. The abstract chord and soundscape movement between formal construction and emotional touchability, which seems like “pop music” under the microscope.

11. Blank Gloss – Jennifer’s Convertible

The Californian guitar-ambient duo takes us into their sublimely beautiful sound cosmos with their usual aplomb. Maximum condensed transparency. Lightness - heavy as gold.

12. Hendrik Meyer – Grün War Die Klamm

Another new addition is Hendrik Meyer. The versatile musician, also known for his MYR project distributed by Kompakt, leads us with a glistening, beautiful “wall of sound” determination into the eternity of a sunset that is only ended by the following track. Filmy Music.

13. Triola – Zum Renngraben

Jörg Burger aka Triola combines his typical “handmade” impulses and accents with a multi-dimensional, digital sound scenario in a pleasantly smoky, blurred stonewashed aesthetic.

As always, the indispensable final mastering by Jörg Burger ensures that everything is brought together and the sound is fine-tuned.

And like every year, the 25th edition is of course wrapped in an abstract, floral magic creation by Veronika Unland. Over the years, the grace of her imagery has increasingly merged with the musical aura to form an unmistakable magical symbiosis.

Hallo Leute,

In den vergangenen Jahren begannen die Anmoderationstexte zur Pop Ambient Kompilation-Reihe, die jedes Jahr als letzte Veröffentlichung vor der Weihnachtspause auf Kompakt erscheint, sinnigerweise immer mal wieder mit dem Satz “Alle Jahre wieder...".

„Alle Jahre wieder”, eine leise, fast unbemerkt zur Formel gewordene Maxime der Selbstverständlichkeit. Denn in diesem Jahr erscheint bereits die 25ste Ausgabe.

25 Jahre in zunehmend schnelllebigen Zeiten im noch schnelllebigeren Musikgeschäft, sind gerne mal eine nicht nur gefühlte Ewigkeit. Umso bemerkenswerter wie mir, als ewig Rastlosem und oft selbst von dieser Schnelllebigkeit Getriebenem, auf angenehme Weise fast entgangen ist wie sehr, in pop ambienten Zusammenhängen (gedacht), die Zeit im besten Sinne nicht (oder anders) vergeht.

Beim Kompilieren der 25sten Ausgabe wurde ich u.a. gefragt, wie es ist, dass ich das immer noch mache und ob ich ein Lieblingsstück hätte. Im Sinne des Zusammenbringens von allen Stücken habe ich kein Lieblingsstück, oder alle. Aber ich habe eine Lieblingsstelle, die ich dann gespielt habe. In dem Fall war es ein breit gesetzter Akkord in einen Tonartwechsel bei Minute 2:55 im Stück Circles von Max Würden. Ein Moment der Erhabenheit und Vertrautheit, der in diesem Moment den gesamten Pop Ambient Kosmos in sich trägt, der einfach nur wirkt und nichts erklärt - und ich habe gesagt: „...das ist der Grund, warum ich das immer noch mache...“

Pop Ambient ist Statement ohne Forderung. Ist Verheißung ohne Erwartung. Ist Weg ohne Ziel. Alle Jahre wieder.

Wolfgang Voigt, Oktober 2024

Und damit zu den Fakten:

01. Leandro Fresco / Thore Pfeiffer – Goldwasserfluss

Die interkontinentale Kollaboration der beiden langjährigen Pop Ambient Stamm-Künstler Leandro Fresco aus Argentinien und Thore Pfeiffer aus Mainz, ist regelmäßiger Bestandteil der Serie. Gewohnt filigran eröffnen sie die diesjährige Jubiläumsausgabe.

02. Pass Into Silence – Mirage

Der japanische Künstler Tetsuo Sakae aka Pass into Silence meldet sich 20 Jahre nach seinem sagenhaften Album „Calm Like A Millpond“ auf Kompakt zurück. Ein Meister der ebenso feinen wie stoisch-glasklaren Töne.

03. Tamarma & Sebastian Mullaert – Follow Me

Zum ersten Mal gibt sich der bekannte, schwedische Produzent und DJ Sebastian Mullaert in Kooperation mit der georgischen Klangkünstlerin Tamara Davitashvili auf Pop Ambient die Ehre. Ihr Stück „Follow Me“ fügt sich souverän in den intim-vertrauten Klangkosmos ein.

04. Sono Kollektiv feat. Nathalie Brum – Periadriatische Naht

Mittlerweile eine feste Größe auf Pop Ambient ist das Sono Kollektiv, diesmal mit Nathalie Brum. Insbesondere das charakteristische Flügelhorn von Luis Reich gibt ihrem Sound immer wieder diesen besonderen jazzigen Touch.

05. Thore Pfeiffer – Phase Locked Loop 1 Thore Pfeiffer ist ein Meister der flirrenden Flächen und hypnotisch mäandernden Loops.

06. Andrew Thomas feat. Julia Parr – Sunshine Night

Ein alter Bekannter aus Neuseeland meldet sich mit sphärischen Klängen zurück. Andrew Thomas, in Kooperation mit Julia Parr, sprenkelt fein gesetzte Klaviertöne in weit entfernte Flächen und noch entferntere Stimmen.

07. Segensklang – Artifacts of Synthese

Wir freuen uns, dass auch Segensklang nach seinem fulminanten Pop Ambient Debut im letzten Jahr auch dieses Jahr wieder mit dabei ist. Deep and beautiful.

08. Ümit Han – Im Delirium

Zum dritten Mal dabei ist der Kölner Produzent Ümit Han. Hat er bisher eher die emotional-flächigen Aspekte des Pop Ambienten Universums ausgelotet, schwingt sich sein diesjähriges Stück „Im Delirium“ mit perlend-klaren, sprudelnden Soundkristallen zu einem pulsierenden Klanggebirge auf.

09. Würden & Schäfer – Analysis Of Variance II

Max Würden und Lukas Schäfer betten in ihrem Stück Analysis Of Variance II einen fein gesetzten Beat-Impuls in ein weiches Bett aus modulierenden Flächen und angenehmer psychedelischer Spaceyness.

10. Max Würden – Circles

Max Würden zeigt einmal mehr sein besonderes Gefühl für eine der Kernaussagen des Pop Ambient Stilspektrums. Die wie „Popmusik“ unter dem Mikroskop anmutende, abstrakte Akkord- und Flächenbewegung zwischen formaler Konstruktion und emotionaler Berührbarkeit.

11. Blank Gloss – Jennifer’s Convertible

Das kalifornische Gitarren-Ambient Duo entführt uns mit gewohnter Souveränität in ihren erhaben-schönen Soundkosmos. Maximal verdichtete Transparenz. Leichtigkeit - schwer wie Gold.

12. Hendrik Meyer – Grün War Die Klamm

Ein weiterer Neuzugang ist Hendrik Meyer. Der vielseitige Musiker, u.a. auch bekannt durch sein über Kompakt vertriebenes MYR Projekt, führt uns mit gleißend-schöner „wall of sound“ Entschlossenheit in die Ewigkeit eines nur vom nachfolgenden Stück beendeten Sonnenuntergang. Film(Musik)reif.

13. Triola – Zum Renngraben

Jörg Burger aka Triola kombiniert die für ihn typischen „handmade“ Impulse und Akzente mit mehrdimensionalem, digitalen Soundszenario in angenehm rauchig-verwischter Stonewashed Ästhetik.

Für den alles zusammenführenden, klanglichen Feinschliff sorgt, wie immer, das unverzichtbare, finale Mastering von Jörg Burger.

Und wie in jedem Jahr ist auch die 25ste Ausgabe natürlich in ein abstrakt-florales Zaubergebilde von Veronika Unland gehüllt. Die Anmut ihrer Bildsprache ist über die Jahre immer mehr mit der musikalischen Aura zu einer unverkennbaren magischen Symbiose verschmolzen.

Remastered Reissue des 1995er Israel Vibration-Albums "On The Rock", produziert von Doctor Dread unter Beteiligung der Roots Radics in Originalbesetzung. Mitte der 1990er klang der Israel Vibration-Sound härter und grösser und war besser produziert, was der Band die Türen zum internationalen Erfolg öffnete, die sich auf Marathontour durch Europa, die USA und Südamerika begab. Die LP enthält das kraftvolle "Rudeboy Shufflin", das kultige "On The Rock", beides Meilensteine ..der Bandhistorie, sowie die Beatles-Interpretation "Love Is All You Need". Um die Soundqualität weiter zu verbessern, wurde die ursprüngliche Einfach-LP auf ein Doppelformat erweitert.

Miles Away are thrilled to present the first-ever 7-inch vinyl reissue of the modern-soul classic "Yes It's You" now backed with the original A-Side "We're Lovers Day & Night". Officially licensed from the Smiley estate and presented in brand new picture sleeve designed by the talented Jeremy Zombie.

Eugene Smiley had soul music running through his veins. His career began with The Mists (later to be known as The Visitors), who signed to Dakar Records in the late '60s. Under the mentorship of one Carl Davis, Eugene grew into a powerful musician, who would go on to tour with the likes Rufus Thomas, Bobby Womack, Al Green, the Stylistics, Eddy Kendricks and The Chi-lites.

Released in 1978, "Yes It's You" is a three-minute, up-tempo modern soul gem that draws from the decades Eugene spent spreading quality soul music performing across America, with some of the finest cats the soul music world has ever seen. A track that wouldn't have been out of place had it been found on the Brunswick catalogue.

Operating since the late 2010s, Vienna-based sound artist the concept horse has quietly amassed a distinctive and diverse discography, drawing inspiration from the rich traditions of musique concrète, noise, plunderphonics, microsound, and free improvisation. “Public Detail” follows releases on labels such as FALT and czaszka rec., as well as the artist’s own eë editions, and neatly encapsulates the polyglottic breadth of the project. Patinaed piano loops and wistful ambience give way to chance percussion environments, beat research, and treated location recordings, resulting in a suite of evasive and diffuse music informed by dialectics such as repetition/unrepeatability and formal rigor/chaos.

“A door space to further diagrams, white on blue, a window.”

recorded and arranged in vienna, austria between 2021-2023.
35mm photograph taken by the concept horse.
risograph print and cover design by marie vermont.
mastered by angelo harmsworth.

Mit ihrer EP "Hand Of Blood" legten die Bullet For My Valentine einen Senkrechtstart hin: In Großbritannien verkauften sie aus dem Stand gleich über 20.000 CDs, und auch in Deutschland mischten sie die Singlecharts kräftig auf. Am 30. September erscheint endlich der heiß ersehnte Longplayer "The Poison". Das Ergebnis klingt gleichzeitig eingängig und brutal, was wütenden Songtiteln wie "Suffocating Under The Words Of Sorrow" oder "Hit The Floor" den passenden musikalischen Rahmen liefert. Nach einem Cello-Intro, das die finnischen Klassik-Metaller Apocalyptica eingespielt haben, bricht mit dem eigentlichen Opener "Her Voice Resides" die Hölle los. Danach folgen Metalcore Hymnen der extraklasse wie z.B. "All These Things I Hate" oder "The End". Die Kult Single "Hand Of Blood" darf natürlich auf diesem Album auch nicht fehlen. Das Album "The Poison" erscheint in einer Jewelcase Version und in einer streng limitierten Digipak Edition mit Bonustrack und Enhanced Video Part (inkl. Videos "Hand Of Blood" & "4 Words"). Doch damit nicht genug - nachdem das Quartett den Welsh Music Award gewonnen hat, folgt nun auch noch eine Nominierung von Englands führendem Rockmagazin Kerrang!

Original Sun Sound wurde erst 1964 veröffentlicht, sechs Jahre nach Johnny Cashs Wechsel von Sun zu Columbia Records im Jahr 1958, und enthält sowohl seine ersten als auch seine letzten Aufnahmen für das Label. Das frühe 'Wide Open Road' zeigt den Sänger noch unter dem Einfluss von Hank Williams (und ist auch deshalb eine Rarität, weil es die Steel-Gitarre von A.W. "Red" Kernodle enthält, der die Gruppe kurz darauf verließ), aber das sardonische, von Charlie Rich geschriebene 'Thanks a Lot' aus einer seiner letzten Sun-Sessions zeigt, dass Cash niemandem außer sich selbst verpflichtet ist. Auch Cashs eigener Gospelsong 'Belshazah' ist hier zu hören, eine ungewöhnliche Aufnahme, da sein Produzent Sam Phillips normalerweise nur das weltliche Material des Künstlers aufnahm.

- Remastered von den Originalbändern
- Neuauflage zum 60sten Jubiläum
- Enthält Hits wie 'Big River', 'Country Boy', 'Born To Lose' und mehr

- Ltd. Col. LP: (Violett-transparentes Vinyl)

High Roller Records, 2nd pressing, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, black vinyl, ltd 200, 4 page insert, download code, poster

High Roller Records, 2nd pressing, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, black vinyl, ltd 200, 4 page insert, download code, poster

Foreigner Classics ist eine Best-of-Zusammenstellung, die keine Wünsche offen lässt. Erstmals 2012 veröffentlicht enthält sie eine Auswahl ihrer größten Hits aus den 1970er und 1980er Jahren, die die Band zu internationalen Stars machten. Zu den bekanntesten Tracks auf dem Album zählen „Cold as Ice“, „I Want to Know What Love Is“, „Urgent“ und „Juke Box Hero“.
Das Album bietet einen umfassenden Überblick über Foreigners erfolgreichste Phase und zeigt ihren charakteristischen Mix aus Rock, Hard Rock und melodischen Balladen. Ein Muss für Fans, die die Klassiker der Band in einer einzigen Sammlung erleben möchten. Erstmals auf farbigem (rotem) 180g Vinyl erhältlich, streng limitiert und nummeriert.

All Traps on Earth is the name chosen by Änglagård’s founding member and bassist Johan Brand for this project of his, involving keyboard player Thomas Johnson and drummer / percussionist Erik Hammarström from the same ‘source band’.

They are joined by Johan’s talented daughter, Miranda Brand on vocals, as well as a plethora of guests from the Swedish scene.

Fans of King Crimson, Goblin, Magma, the Canterbury scene and even of Ennio Morricone, whose sounds are frequently recalled during the record, will enjoy this album for sure, but we have no doubt that any prog-lover will appreciate this unexpected, fantastic album.

AFTER OVER 50 YEARS SINCE THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST LP “DEDICATO A FRAZZ” THE SECOND AND HIGHLY SEMIRAMIS’ ALBUM “LA FINE NON ESISTE” IS FINALLY RELEASED!

Thanks to the determination of founder Paolo Faenza, intent on continuing the reunion experience already shared since 2014 with his lifelong companions, in particular Maurizio Zarrillo and Giampiero Artegiani, the new work was recorded by a renewed lineup, made up of talented musicians coming from Rome’s progressive rock scene.

“La fine non esiste” (The End Does Not Exist) consists of 6 unreleased tracks, sung in Italian, characterized by a modern sound but still in continuity with the debut album. In fact, all the instruments that characterize Semiramis’ background are present, such as keyboards, moog, flute, acoustic and electric guitars, vibraphone, leading to wide-ranging compositions, supported by rich and lively arrangements, definitely “prog rock”.

8/10 FULL-PAGE LEAD REVIEW IN UNCUT: “TALENTED ARTISTS SUCH AS ALDOUS HARDING , DELANEY DAVIDSON, IVY ROSSITER AND MARLON WILLIAMS REPRESENT A FRESH COUNTRY-FOLK/AMERICANA MOVEMENT IN AND AROUND CHRISTCHURCH AND DUNEDIN. NADIA REID'S IMPECCABLE DEBUT WILL MAYBE SET A WIDER ORBIT IN MOTION.”
4/5 LEAD REVIEW IN MOJO: “INSPIRED DEBUT BY A YOUNG NEW ZEALAND SINGER-SONGWRITER YOU'LL FEEL YOU'VE KNOWN FOREVER. A WONDERFUL ALBUM"

SUNDAY TIMES DEBUT OF THE WEEK: "SHE RANKS ALONGSIDE LOW AND THE COWBOY JUNKIES FOR DELIVERING SLOW-BURN EMOTION"
"It has all that well-smoked wisdom, that mingling of strength and yearning that seems to charge the work of all my favourite female artists – Laura Marling, The Weather Station, Sharon Van Etten and Tift Merritt, to name but four. Reid is just 23, and since I am loathe to run that “old beyond her years” line, let us simply say that when I hear a young artist making an album as soulful and rich and self-possessed as Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs, I feel so thrilled not only for the existence of that record but for all the music they will make over all the years to come.” THE GUARDIAN PLAYLIST
6MUSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
A richness of voice; a depth of emotion; and wise beyond her years; with Listen To Formation, Look For the Signs, 23-year-old New Zealand native Nadia Reid has claimed her place as one of the country’s most evocative and profound young songwriters. Her music traces the sharp mountain peaks, azure coastline, and mirrored images of the land and sky that pinpoint her home country’s vast open landscapes.
Whether nerding about with friends, stunning audiences into silence with her spellbinding live shows or unwinding in the tranquillity of her favourite hometown spot overlooking Port Chalmers’ harbour through her large-rimmed spectacles, Nadia Reid has achieved a gloriously fresh and eloquent new folk sound. “I’ve been in New Zealand my whole life and guess at times I take for granted the serene beauty that I live so closely with,” she says of her music’s majestic affiliation with nature. Mapping out tales of change and loss, whilst drawing inspiration from reading, writing, the human condition, falling in and out of love, death, and birth - it all lends to a superbly balanced album that moves surreptitiously between sparse and fragile melancholia to beautifully brutal lyricism with a philosophical maturity that bellies her years.
Born in Auckland, Nadia’s acoustic roots stem from an upbringing in a musical household where attending folk clubs and festivals were regular occurrences on the family calendar. “I was lucky to witness a lot of live music and theatre performances because my mum was an actress. I was encouraged to learn piano and guitar, and attended a Steiner school where we spent a lot of time in nature, singing songs.” Before long Nadia was listening to The Be Good Tanyas with friend and fellow recording artist Aldous Harding, which spurred her chosen career path. “There was something spiritual about the Tanyas’ records - I vividly remember the goose-bump feelings up my arms, a true connection to the lyrics and vocals,” she recalls. “Aldous was the first person who told me I had a good voice and I thank her for that. I admire her as an artist and writer, and we like to keep up with what each other is up to.”
Creating her own enchanting wonderworld, each of Nadia’s songs explores the elements; truly organic, her vocals ebb, flow and soar but are always ignited with fire from the gut. Her lyrics clearly reference lush landscapes but equally reflect alienation provided by the surrounding Pacific Ocean and mortality of living in such close proximity to Mother Nature’s wrath, as experienced whilst living in Christchurch at the time of 2011’s devastating earthquake. “It shook the city to its core,” Nadia recalls. “I’m sure living through it has shaped my personality and writing. My first EP was recorded just months afterwards, it was a strange time. We were all quite fragile, but I was braver somehow.”
Boldly infusing folk with full flavour, Listen To Formation, Look For The Signs was produced by Ben Edwards, owner of Lyttelton Records in his Sitting Room studios with Nadia’s band consisting bassist Richie Pickard, guitarist Sam Taylor and percussionist Joe McCallum. Whilst 'Reaching Through’s rich but unhurried nature evokes She Hangs Brightly -era Mazzy Star and intricate nuances of Beth Orton are recalled on lead single ‘Call The Days’ which talks of moving to a new town and was the first song penned after Nadia moved from Christchurch to Wellington; spurred on by a “panic attack” and being “worried about making the right choices in life”. Elsewhere ‘Runway’ and ‘Some Are Lucky’ immediately channel Nadia’s love of TBGT’s Jolie Holland and appreciation for New Zealand’s Maori music by Maisey Rika and Anika Moa, plus the inspirational narratives of Kenyan-born Somali poet Warsan Shire.

Der in Bristol ansässige irische Produzent Seamus Malliagh kreiert unter dem Namen Iglooghost ungezwungen-detailreiche, elektronische Musik, indem er Juke, Footwork, Punk, Electronica, Hip-Hop und Pop in einen Mixer wirft und ins Unendliche geht. Inspiriert von den alten Frontmännern von Factory Records, Flying Lotus, ARCA und den Metalbands seiner Jugend, entstand sein neues Album in einer alten Werkstatt an der Küste von Kent neben einer Kläranlage, umgeben von alten Stämmen, Abgasen, bedecktem Wetter und rauer See. Sein Ziel war ein Sound, der mehrere Genres miteinander vermischt und aus einer Art Küstenradiosendung aus einer fiktiven Zeitlinie strömt.

- "In jede Ecke und jeden Winkel von Tidal Memory Exos 43-minütiger Laufzeit sind so viele verrückte Ideen, Texturen und Rhythmen gestopft, dass es bemerkenswert ist, dass die Platte ihre thematische Stoßrichtung mit solcher Überzeugung beibehält. Dies ist ein dichtes, langes Stück Science-Fiction der nahen Zukunft, das abstraktes Geschichtenerzählen in gefühlsbetonte, Gänsehaut verursachende Clubmusik kleidet." - Resident Advisor

- "Iglooghosts Tidal Memory Exo ist ein Meisterwerk des Weltenbaus – denken Sie an geomagnetische Stürme, prähistorische Kreaturen, erfundene Mikro-Genres wie 'Foamtek' und 'Sporestyle'." – Dazed

Formed in 2019, Lawne is the result of a meeting of minds between old friends and self confessed music nerds Joe Nicklin and Joe Martin. Their sound draws upon myriad influences with dub, electronics, hip hop, psych, jazz, post-punk and Afrobeat all somehow ingrained within the mix.

It's something that evolved during at a time of change for both of them, as Joe Nicklin explains:

"The start of this project coincided with me moving onto a canal boat, which was a hugely rewarding time of my life but not without its challenges. You can hear some of my boating vents coming through in the lyrics of Beta Pan and Ame Tova.

Another challenge during this time was trying to figure out a way of still playing and recording drums that wasn't going to break the bank. I decided to start renting a tiny storage space near Caledonian Road in North London, that I would convert into a makeshift studio and soon learned that corrugated iron sheets aren't the best walls for a drum booth. My friend cut me some curtains and a few egg boxes later we were able to insulate the thing, sort of.

These limitations meant that we had to keep recordings pretty simple and I feel like this set the tone for the whole record. Whether it was digging out my childhood bass guitar for Joe to play, squeezing every last drop out of Logic presets or mumbling into a SM57 for the first time, we made do with what we had and I'm proud of the charming thing we were able to create. I felt like I was learning on the job at times for this album and I'm grateful for what it has taught me, whilst being excited for what we can do next. As I was moving off the water and out of my lockup, the album masters were also starting to trickle through. A fitting close to that chapter of my life and the making of our first album."

Joe Martin reflects more on how their unique sound came about:

"It's interesting thinking back to the sound we were exploring when we first started writing together, and how different much of the record is to that original sound. We didn't set out a clear musical direction and that meant we were rarely constrained stylistically, we could shift between genres and feels and grooves, take inspiration from the new and the old and it still sat comfortably with what we were trying to do. I think the eight tracks we landed on illustrates that nicely.

The record's named after the self storage unit we used as a studio for many years, there's something quite poetic about parting ways with the space within weeks of the album coming out; a final homage to the place it all started."

Washington, DC’s DES DEMONAS have been hailed as a favorite of Henry Rollins (KCRW FM/Black Flag), Marc Riley (BBC6 Music/The Fall), and Iggy Pop (BBC6 Music/The Stooges) since the release of their debut LP on In The Red Records and their subsequent singles and EP. DES DEMONAS’ much anticipated follow-up LP “APOCALYPTIC BOOM! BOOM!” is out this fall on In The Red Records. The group is made up of some familiar names from the DC punk, garage, and indie scenes. A Kenyan punk-poet-politique Jacky “Cougar” Abok (Foul Swoops, Thee Lolitas) is on vocals & percussion, Mark Cisneros (Hammered Hulls, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, The Make-Up) is on guitar, Paul Vivari (Benjy Ferree, DJ Soul Call Paul) is on Farfisa organ and bass machine, and Matt Gatwood (Two Inch Astronaut) is on drums. Des Demonas’ music is a melding of disparate sounds and influences, hitting with a driving pulse and fiery intent. “The sonic fuel of the band is a blend of post punk, punk, funk, blues, psych rock, Afro beat, even bubble gum but the noise you hear is pure Des Demonas.” - Kim Salmon / The Scientists “Dig the Des Demonas. Play it loud. Twist your wig.” - Kid Congo Powers

Presented for RSD Black Friday as a double lp in a color in color pressing - record one in ultra clear w/ tangerine & record two in ultra clear w/ blue jay - housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket with a full-color OBI strip. Keith Murray first came up in the world of Hip Hop as a part of the group Def Squad. Other Squad members were Redman and Erick Sermon (from EPMD). On The Most Beautifullest Thing In The World Sermon serves as the main producer, with a contribution from Redman also in the mix as well as a contribution from Busta Rhymes. Murray’s debut tore right up to the number 34 slot on Billboard’s Top 200 and a Top 10 position on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of this stellar recording Get On Down presents The Most Beautifullest Thing in the most beautifullest fashion yet seen - as a double LP in a Black Friday exclusive colored pressing housed in a gatefold jacket with an OBI. To keep things more beautiful, the reissue closes out with selections previously issued only on 12 inches.

Viva Ngozi sees its first ever vinyl reissue for RSD Black Friday. Presented in an opaque orange pressing with an oversized 8 page booklet. Hard rock meets funk on this essential entry from Zambian guitarist and bandleader Paul Ngozi’s catalog. Featuring drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo. A keystone release of the 1970s Zamrock movement, Viva Ngozi was first issued in 1976 on the Chris Editions imprint, and only in Zambia. The recording has never seen a reissue. Now-Again Records presents Viva Ngozi in an opaque orange colored vinyl pressing exclusively for RSD Black Friday. The set also includes an oversized 8 page booklet that details Paul Ngozi and the Ngozi Family's Arc, including rare photographs, discography and annotation.

"New Modern Homes" is the first album by The Chesterfields since nearly 40 years and was produced by John Parish.

The Chesterfields came to prominence in 1986 as part of a thriving UK underground scene that had turned its back on bland over-produced 1980s chart music and was looking for back to basics pop music. Bands, independent record labels, gig promoters and fanzine editors were making their own entertainment, with The June Brides, The Wedding Present, Primal Scream and The Loft leading the way, supported by Radio One's John Peel and Janice Long. They released 3 albums ('Kettle' getting to number 2 in the independent charts), 5 singles ('Ask Johnny Dee' reaching number 3), and toured the UK and Europe non-stop before splitting in 1989.

They reformed briefly in 1993 to tour Japan and release a fourth album and sixth single, and then returned to action 23 years later when they were asked to play New York Pop Fest in 2016. The current line-up features Simon Barber on bass and vocals, Rob Parry on drums, Helen Stickland on guitar and vocals, and Andy Strickland (of The Loft and The Caretaker Race) on guitar and vocals.

In 2012, Army of God released a cult cut of cold wave: “Salvation”. This was the only EP by the partnership of Aroy Dee and Miss Jagroe, the only EP until now that is.

Army of God are back, after more than a decade the duo return with Endless Skies. Analogue warmth is sliced by surgical synth stabs and bittersweet strings, Jagroe’s unmistakable voice echoes into the distance with the beseeching mantra of “until the music dies”. Aroy Dee’s edit of the title piece fortifies drums for the floor, emotion is further stripped from the already deadpan lyrics as melodies bleed into distorted wonder. The black streak that characterises Army of God turns a shade darker for the flip. A throbbing bass is inked by off-kilter keys, clusters of claps piercing the thicket of static and chilling chorus of “Fear the Night”. Venturing ever deeper into the night, the darker version will set speaker cones shaking and shivering.

Juddering and trembling, basslines are bolstered with vocals invoking the very darkest regions of the dancefloor.

In 2002, Regina Spektor was in the midst of a creative explosion. She found herself writing so many songs that she was unable to keep track of them. Her friend Joe Mendelson noticed she was forgetting some entirely, and offered to archive everything she had written that year. After Regina recorded dozens of songs, one take each, they decided to pick twelve and make them into an album. And so, Songs was born. The record includes the original versions of “Samson” and “Ne Me Quitte Pas”, later re-recorded on Begin to Hope and What We Saw From The Cheap Seats, respectively. These early recordings have now been expertly remastered by Bob Ludwig right in time for their 22nd birthday, playable for the time ever outside of a handmade CD-R.

"Bora Rokovic's MPS album, Ultra Native, is one of the most elusive titles in the catalogue and, until now, remained unissued since its original release in 1971. Inzalaco's 'J.B.W.' is a hard-grooving fusion piece with dark minor chords, opening with an almighty drum break – found here in a new all-analogue mastertape edit for this 45 release. 'Soft Hands Had the Rain' features Trunk strutting his stuff on Fender bass, as well as cello overdubs, with Rokovic's brooding improvisations on electric keys."


First vinyl release since 1971 and never before released on 7” single.
AAA Transfers from analogue mastertapes.
Audiophile-grade vinyl – limited-edition pressing of 500 copies.
New artwork authentically recreated on heavyweight gloss sleeves.
Cut at Abbey Road Studios by Grammy award-winning engineer, Sean Magee.

The No End In Suffering EP is a compilation of songs that are a bit more outside the box of traditional HAGGUS material. On this record HAGGUS experiments with brand new riff territories, added previously unused tempos and left no stone unturned when it came to delivering this slab of horror-inducing sonic butchery. Production-wise the band purposely went for a more raw 90’s goregrind sound while still adhering to the downtuned, heavy theme of the Three Cadavers EP. Limited Blood Red Vinyl for retail. Haggus was formed in 2014 by guitarist / vocalist, Hambone, as an outlet to merge the traditional sound and politics of Mincecore with the sonic barbarity of old school Goregrind. Obsessed with pitch shifters but finding a lack of bands using them that were not labeled misogynistic porno-grind, Hambone set out on an unstoppable quest to put his brand of “Mincegore” on the map. Solely influenced by the mighty Agathocles, Hambone was determined to keep the spirit of true Mincecore alive (encompassing everything from their relentless release schedule to their uncompromising political agenda speaking out against misogyny, sexism and homophobia in the scene) while adding his own style of gore infused vocals into the mix. Coming from a purely crust and punk background, Hambone has taken a strictly DIY approach with Haggus since inception. With a tireless work ethic, the band dropped close to 100 songs within the first 6 months of existence followed by self-releasing over 60 splits, 10 EPs and 3 full length albums while touring over 20 countries since 2014. In traditional Mincecore fashion (just like Jan is to Agathocles), Hambone is the sole founder and only remaining original member of the band. After a decade of DIY, Hambone is proud to announce the partnership with the now legendary Bay Area label, Tankcrimes, and wants any Haggus fans to know that this is only the beginning… gore freaks and mince mongers commence - for worldwide Mincecore domination is upon us!!!

The Three Corpses EP is a heavier, fresh take on HAGGUS traditional brand of mincegore, debuting their new drummer and lowest tuning yet (drop G) to the world. Expanding on the classic HAGGUS approach, they’ve made it the heaviest and nastiest it’s ever been without straying too far from the traditional HAGGUS sound. In traditional fashion this was recorded in the HAGGUS practice space by Hambone but professionally mixed and mastered by Chris Revill of the now defunct band Shitlife. Limited Neon Green Vinyl for retail. Haggus was formed in 2014 by guitarist / vocalist, Hambone, as an outlet to merge the traditional sound and politics of Mincecore with the sonic barbarity of old school Goregrind. Obsessed with pitch shifters but finding a lack of bands using them that were not labeled misogynistic porno-grind, Hambone set out on an unstoppable quest to put his brand of “Mincegore” on the map. Solely influenced by the mighty Agathocles, Hambone was determined to keep the spirit of true Mincecore alive (encompassing everything from their relentless release schedule to their uncompromising political agenda speaking out against misogyny, sexism and homophobia in the scene) while adding his own style of gore infused vocals into the mix. Coming from a purely crust and punk background, Hambone has taken a strictly DIY approach with Haggus since inception. With a tireless work ethic, the band dropped close to 100 songs within the first 6 months of existence followed by self-releasing over 60 splits, 10 EPs and 3 full length albums while touring over 20 countries since 2014. In traditional Mincecore fashion (just like Jan is to Agathocles), Hambone is the sole founder and only remaining original member of the band. After a decade of DIY, Hambone is proud to announce the partnership with the now legendary Bay Area label, Tankcrimes, and wants any Haggus fans to know that this is only the beginning… gore freaks and mince mongers commence - for worldwide Mincecore domination is upon us!!!

BRUJERIA is an extreme Mexican-American metal band founded in 1989 in Los Angeles. Under cover of pseudonyms, its original members were the guitarist Dino Cazares ( FEAR FACTORY ), Jello Biafra ( DEAD KENNEDYS ), the drummer Pat Hoed, bassist Billy Gould ( FAITH NO MORE ) and singer Juan Bruno. BRUJERIA first appears as a terrorist group having kidnapped the bosses of Roadrunner Records in order to be able to release a record. This joke having been denied, the group appears as a parallel project that is characterized by the themes of satanism, terrorism, sex, rebellion, and politics. The group forges a reputation of psychopaths by playing on stage , with hooded or masked with scarves, titles called "Marijuana" or "Brujerizmo ( the word "Brujeria" which means "witchcraft" ). BRUJERIA is Mexican hence the name and lyrics in Spanish. Dino Cazares ( exFEAR FACTORY ) was the guitarist. The musicians of BRUJERIA keep their identities secret but it is known that ex-FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares, FEAR FACTORY's Asesino and Raymond Herrera, as well as Billy Gould, ex-FAITH NO MORE, have worked on guitar, drums and bass, Nicolas Barker ( ex-CRADLE OF FILTH etc ) takes also part of the butchery, just to name a few...

BRUJERIA is an extreme Mexican-American metal band founded in 1989 in Los Angeles. Under cover of pseudonyms, its original members were the guitarist Dino Cazares ( FEAR FACTORY ), Jello Biafra ( DEAD KENNEDYS ), the drummer Pat Hoed, bassist Billy Gould ( FAITH NO MORE ) and singer Juan Bruno. BRUJERIA first appears as a terrorist group having kidnapped the bosses of Roadrunner Records in order to be able to release a record. This joke having been denied, the group appears as a parallel project that is characterized by the themes of satanism, terrorism, sex, rebellion, and politics. The group forges a reputation of psychopaths by playing on stage , with hooded or masked with scarves, titles called "Marijuana" or "Brujerizmo ( the word "Brujeria" which means "witchcraft" ). BRUJERIA is Mexican hence the name and lyrics in Spanish. Dino Cazares ( exFEAR FACTORY ) was the guitarist. The musicians of BRUJERIA keep their identities secret but it is known that ex-FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares, FEAR FACTORY's Asesino and Raymond Herrera, as well as Billy Gould, ex-FAITH NO MORE, have worked on guitar, drums and bass, Nicolas Barker ( ex-CRADLE OF FILTH etc ) takes also part of the butchery, just to name a few...

BRUJERIA is an extreme Mexican-American metal band founded in 1989 in Los Angeles. Under cover of pseudonyms, its original members were the guitarist Dino Cazares ( FEAR FACTORY ), Jello Biafra ( DEAD KENNEDYS ), the drummer Pat Hoed, bassist Billy Gould ( FAITH NO MORE ) and singer Juan Bruno. BRUJERIA first appears as a terrorist group having kidnapped the bosses of Roadrunner Records in order to be able to release a record. This joke having been denied, the group appears as a parallel project that is characterized by the themes of satanism, terrorism, sex, rebellion, and politics. The group forges a reputation of psychopaths by playing on stage , with hooded or masked with scarves, titles called "Marijuana" or "Brujerizmo ( the word "Brujeria" which means "witchcraft" ). BRUJERIA is Mexican hence the name and lyrics in Spanish. Dino Cazares ( exFEAR FACTORY ) was the guitarist. The musicians of BRUJERIA keep their identities secret but it is known that ex-FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares, FEAR FACTORY's Asesino and Raymond Herrera, as well as Billy Gould, ex-FAITH NO MORE, have worked on guitar, drums and bass, Nicolas Barker ( ex-CRADLE OF FILTH etc ) takes also part of the butchery, just to name a few...

Over three years in the making, Needle Mythology Records is delighted to announce a super deluxe, expanded remastered reissue of The Lilac Time’s 1991 masterpiece, Astronauts. Released as a triple vinyl, triple CD or single vinyl, only 1000 copies of each format will be produced, there will be no further pressings. Both the 3LP and 3CD editions will come with an extensive 11,000 word oral history of Astronauts and liner notes by Needle Mythology co-founder and longtime Stephen Duffy fan, Pete Paphides.

All three albums including a 2024 remaster, a collection of works in progress entitled‘Softened By Rain The Making Of Astronauts’ and a live compilation ‘Any Road Up The Lilac Time Live 1990/91’ have been mastered for vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Roadand will be housed in a triple gatefold sleeve with a colour inner sleeve and new artwork for each disc, which has been especially created by designer Mike Storey. The main sleeve for Astronauts itself will replicate the original artwork but with the four distinctive “blobs” rendered in a red “foil” texture. In addition to these three disc sets, 1000 single vinyl remastered copies of Astronauts will also be made available, in a cherry red vinyl edition to match the outer sleeve.

With the shoegaze and baggy movements at their zenith, The Lilac Time’s fourth album was released at a moment when the left-field music zeitgeist was shaped by the nascent shoegaze, baggy and grunge movements. Whilst Astronauts conformed to none of those trends, neither was it the record Stephen had in his head when he finally finished working on it. We’ll never know how that record would have sounded, but it’s hard to imagine a better version of the album he did end up making. The songwriter who brought ‘A Taste of Honey’ and ‘Hats Off, Here Comes The Girl’ into the world envisaged the sort of choruses that would jump from the single speaker of your favourite transistor and lodge themselves into the collective memory bank.

But while he really was writing some of his most beautiful melodies, Astronauts is a family of songs that demands to be kept together in the sundazed cloud of inspiration that created it. It constitutes a partial retreat from the outwardfacing utopianism of its predecessors, choosing instead to dwell on the journey taken to get to this point. That this is an audibly different band to the pastoral expeditionaries of the group’s previous releases is almost entirely down to the departure of Nick Duffy and the arrival of Sagat Guirey. Suddenly, accordions, banjos and mandolins are out; jazz guitar is in. Sagat’s filigree work on the outro of ‘A Taste for Honey’ acts as a sublime parting shot to a lyric which acts as a wiser, wistful companion piece to Stephen’s 1985 solo hit ‘Kiss Me’, something tantamount to the camera retreating to reveal the years elapsed between the time depicted and the present day. The distance between the carefree youth of pop stardom and the first intimations of mortality can be measured between the first and second verses of the quietly devastating ‘Madresfield’; from the depiction of the deserted cricket pavilion obscured by fresh snowfall to the sudden shift in perspective from subject to protagonist: ‘No one ever told me/That killing time is harmful/For time cannot recover/What soon the ground will offer.’ For all of that, however, the resulting album didn’t correspond to the vision its creator had for it. At a loss as to what to do with it, Stephen surrendered Astronauts to Creation with no plans to promote or draw attention to it. The consciousness shift of which Stephen had hoped The Lilac Time might be a precursor hadn’t happened. Or, rather, it had – but it had happened elsewhere, in the Haçienda and Shoom and in Ibiza. Not on the hills of Herefordshire. In a nod to that sea change, Stephen handed over one song, ‘Dreaming’ to Hypnotone, who

Probably in another life David Edren (DSR Lines) was a visionary biologist or chemist. In this new sound adventure, he becomes the narrator of anatomical and cellular symphonies, catharsis of invisible biochemical processes, painting the micro-dimensional flows of the subtle body or imaginary geographies of hidden micro-bodies. Here, his organic electronic music is enriched with new lymphs that also vaguely recall the influences of non-European music, especially Chinese and Japanese music (stick and chimes percussions) in an intimate and twilight dimension, poised between exotic ambient and cinematic suggestions. A miniaturistic description of liquid currents, labyrinthine veins, weaving streams, molecules and particles in multi-orbital dances, muscular chords, drowning bubbles, light waves; all in a confident compositional overview that is absolutely unique and fascinating.

Pushmaster Discs Sales Pack including:

PMD029 - Scenery - The Remixes Part 1 (printed sleeve)
PMD030 - Scenery - The Remixes Part 2 (printed sleeve)

Vor zwanzig Jahren veröffentlichte Matt Elliott (auch Third Eye Foundation) Drinking Songs, den ersten Teil einer bedeutenden Trilogie düsterer Folk-Alben mit acht Songs, die bis heute die meistgehörten auf Streaming-Plattformen sind und von den Fans des aus Bristol stammenden Musikers hoch gelobt werden. Drinking Songs ist eine tiefgründige Erkundung des menschlichen Zustands und eine Reise durch die unzugänglichsten Ecken der Seele. Zur Feier des 20-jährigen Jubiläums des ikonischen Werks präsentiert Matt Elliott nun Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On, eine Sammlung alternativer Versionen, die er als Trio live aufgenommen hat.Was Matt Elliott auszeichnet, ist seine Fähigkeit, verschiedene Stile miteinander zu verschmelzen, indem er kammermusikalischen Folk mit osteuropäischer Kabarettmusik mischt und gleichzeitig seinen Hintergrund in der elektronischen Musik, insbesondere seine Beherrschung von Sampling und Effekten, in den Dienst des Songs stellt. Nach mehreren hundert Konzerten in ganz Europa und sieben Alben präsentiert Matt Elliott nun Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On und lässt dieses bahnbrechende Album wieder aufleben. Aufgenommen im L'Autre Canal in Nancy, wo der Engländer seit einigen Jahren lebt, enthält dieses Album bisher unveröffentlichte Trio-Versionen, mit Musikern, die ihn regelmäßig auf der Bühne begleiten: Anne-Elisabeth de Cologne (Kontrabass) und Barbara Dang (Klavier). Jeder, der ihn schon einmal solo oder mit diesem Trio erlebt hat, weiß, wie gerne Matt Elliott auf die Stücke von Drinking Songs zurückgegriffen hat. Diese Zusammenarbeit geht über die Studioversion hinaus und fängt die rohen Emotionen eines Matt Elliott ein, der mit 50 Jahren auf dem Höhepunkt seiner Kunst zu sein scheint. Unabhängig davon, ob man die Studioversionen kennt oder nicht, muss man vom ersten Track an gefesselt sein, einer Verflechtung, einer Überlagerung der ersten beiden Tracks des Originalalbums: ,CF Bundy / Trying to Explain". Siebzehn Minuten, größtenteils instrumental, wunderbar zu Tränen rührend, vor Milz und Absinth triefend. Indem er seinen Drinking Songs zwanzig Jahre später neues Leben einhaucht, hat Matt Elliott uns ein kostbares Geschenk gemacht: die Möglichkeit, Drinking Songs zum ersten Mal wieder zu hören. Erhältlich als 2LP sowie CD!

4LP Vinyl-Box oder Doppel-CD-Set!

Vor zwanzig Jahren veröffentlichte Matt Elliott (auch Third Eye Foundation) Drinking Songs, den ersten Teil einer bedeutenden Trilogie düsterer Folk-Alben mit acht Songs, die bis heute die meistgehörten auf Streaming-Plattformen sind und von den Fans des aus Bristol stammenden Musikers hoch gelobt werden. Drinking Songs ist eine tiefgründige Erkundung des menschlichen Zustands und eine Reise durch die unzugänglichsten Ecken der Seele. Zur Feier des 20-jährigen Jubiläums des ikonischen Werks präsentiert Matt Elliott nun Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On, eine Sammlung alternativer Versionen, die er als Trio live aufgenommen hat.Was Matt Elliott auszeichnet, ist seine Fähigkeit, verschiedene Stile miteinander zu verschmelzen, indem er kammermusikalischen Folk mit osteuropäischer Kabarettmusik mischt und gleichzeitig seinen Hintergrund in der elektronischen Musik, insbesondere seine Beherrschung von Sampling und Effekten, in den Dienst des Songs stellt. Nach mehreren hundert Konzerten in ganz Europa und sieben Alben präsentiert Matt Elliott nun Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On und lässt dieses bahnbrechende Album wieder aufleben. Aufgenommen im L'Autre Canal in Nancy, wo der Engländer seit einigen Jahren lebt, enthält dieses Album bisher unveröffentlichte Trio-Versionen, mit Musikern, die ihn regelmäßig auf der Bühne begleiten: Anne-Elisabeth de Cologne (Kontrabass) und Barbara Dang (Klavier). Jeder, der ihn schon einmal solo oder mit diesem Trio erlebt hat, weiß, wie gerne Matt Elliott auf die Stücke von Drinking Songs zurückgegriffen hat. Diese Zusammenarbeit geht über die Studioversion hinaus und fängt die rohen Emotionen eines Matt Elliott ein, der mit 50 Jahren auf dem Höhepunkt seiner Kunst zu sein scheint. Unabhängig davon, ob man die Studioversionen kennt oder nicht, muss man vom ersten Track an gefesselt sein, einer Verflechtung, einer Überlagerung der ersten beiden Tracks des Originalalbums: ,CF Bundy / Trying to Explain". Siebzehn Minuten, größtenteils instrumental, wunderbar zu Tränen rührend, vor Milz und Absinth triefend. Indem er seinen Drinking Songs zwanzig Jahre später neues Leben einhaucht, hat Matt Elliott uns ein kostbares Geschenk gemacht: die Möglichkeit, Drinking Songs zum ersten Mal wieder zu hören.

Ltd. to 500 colored copies worldwide. The band's first album from 1993, lovingly remastered by Johannes Scheibenreif. A classic of German progressive rock. The band's only English-language album. In 1973 the band signed a contract with Brain Records and Jochen Petersen (later keyboarder with Randy Pie) produced their debut album "Banished Bridge" at the Chameleon Studios in Hamburg. The album was recorded completely without electric guitars, the centerpiece being the 17-minute title track "Banished Bridge". The music is slightly fragile, flowing, almost lyrical. The floating synthesizer and keyboard passages are reminiscent of the early works of Pink Floyd and Genesis. A debut album that already showed where the band would later go. "Banished Bridge" remained Novalis' only English-language record, but for many it is still considered a classic of German progressive rock.