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lim. two color Vinyl. Gatefold Cover with sticker and download code on postcard.

Welcome Back, friends, to the Yacht Soul cruise that never ends!
This theme, explored at length in the previous installment of this series, is a fertile one that just keeps on giving, and give it certainly does on the tracks we have dug up for your perusal, enlightenment, edification and enjoyment on Yacht Soul 2.
For those just joining us, the concept here concerns R&B and soul artists mining the songbooks of their white contemporaries for cover versions that serve the dual purposes of potentially garnering some crossover radio airplay as well as introducing great songs to segments of the listening public who might otherwise miss them. Some of these versions might have come about because they were personal favorites of the artist in question, others might have been strongly suggested by their labels or by the publishing company, but all of them provide an entirely new perspective on what were already fantastic songs to begin with.
So there you have it--a further dig into this nebulous concept that reveals more unexpected connections and crossed paths. Understanding the hows and whys of the way these particular covers and collaborations came to be is as fascinating as just enjoying the music itself, and there really is a lot of great music to dig into this time around! We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.

VITAL SALES POINTS:

- Second volume from the YACHT SOUL series. First volume is the second best selling "Too Slow To Disco" compilation so far.…
- Extensive Global Promo by Tobias Kirsch/Germany and Special Requests UK
- Record Relase Parties planned.

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

Night Crowned, das schwedische Blacked Death Metal Powerhouse, hat sich zu einer Kraft entwickelt, mit der man in der Heavy-Musik-Szene rechnen muss. Ihr Debütalbum "Impius Viam", das am 28. Februar 2020 via Noble Demon veröffentlicht wurde, fesselte sofort sowohl Kritiker als auch Fans und festigte seinen Platz als eine der außergewöhnlichsten Veröffentlichungen des Jahres.

Night Crowned besteht aus ehemaligen und aktuellen Mitgliedern renommierter Bands wie Dark Funeral, Nightrage und Cipher System und besitzt eine ebenso eindringliche wie klare musikalische Vision. Mit "Impius Viam" haben sie ein Kunstwerk geschaffen, das Wut, Melancholie und pure Zerstörung ausstrahlt und die schlummernden Klänge der einflussreichen skandinavischen Acts und Meisterwerke der 90er Jahre wiederbelebt.

Dieser moderne melodische Death/Black Metal-Klassiker verbindet Aggression, Atmosphäre und fesselnde Melodien und lässt den Hörer von seiner makellosen und unerbittlichen Mischung beeindruckt. Night Crowned's beständiges Streben nach musikalischer Exzellenz kennt keine Grenzen, denn sie verschwendeten keine Zeit mit der Veröffentlichung ihres mit Spannung erwarteten Nachfolges "Hädanfärd" am 9. Juli 2021.

Inspiriert von einer Geschichte des Sängers K. Romlin, taucht "Hädanfärd" in Begegnungen mit dem Tod ein weitreichendes Konzept ein, das während des intensiven Demo-Prozesses akribisch entwickelt wurde. Die neun atmosphärischen Tracks des Albums, begleitet von K. Romlins schriftlichen Interpretationen und Erklärungen, bilden einen höllischen und düsteren Monolith, der Night Crowned als eines von Schwedens bestgehüteten schwarzen Death Metal-Geheimnissen festigt.
Mit "Hädanfärd" hat Night Crowned nicht nur Lob von Fans und Kritikern erntet, sondern auch neue Höhen auf ihrer musikalischen Reise erreicht.

Am 11. Oktober 2023 erscheint das mit Spannung erwartete dritte Album der Band, erneut über das renommierte Label Noble Demon. Mit "Tales" beginnt Night Crowned ein neues Kapitel, das die Grenzen des geschwärzten Death Metal auf ein noch nie dagewesenes Niveau treibt. Bereiten Sie sich auf einen auditiven Angriff vor, der Konventionen trotzt und die Grenzen des Genres neu definiert. Night Crowned ist eine Kraft, mit der man rechnen muss, und ihr unerbittliches Streben nach musikalischer Exzellenz zeigt keine Anzeichen eines Nachlassens. Mit Texten auf Englisch und Schwedisch bringt Jonathan Thorpenbergs Mixing-Fähigkeiten den Sound der Band zur Geltung, während Jani Stefanovics Mastering dafür sorgt, dass jede Note mit Präzision getroffen wird. Ergebt euch also der Dunkelheit und lasst euch von Night Crowned durch ihre fesselnden Erzählungen führen!

- Band mit (Ex-)Mitgliedern von DARK FUNERAL, CIPHER SYSTEM, NIGHTRAGE, THE UNGUIDED u. a.
- Die ersten beiden Alben und die vorherigen Musikvideos haben bisher nur sehr positive Resonanz in der Szene und in den Medien bekommen und die meisten Videos erreichten 6-stellige Ansichten auf YT
- Playlisting in eigenen und 3rd Party Playlists

Night Crowned, das schwedische Blacked Death Metal Powerhouse, hat sich zu einer Kraft entwickelt, mit der man in der Heavy-Musik-Szene rechnen muss. Ihr Debütalbum "Impius Viam", das am 28. Februar 2020 via Noble Demon veröffentlicht wurde, fesselte sofort sowohl Kritiker als auch Fans und festigte seinen Platz als eine der außergewöhnlichsten Veröffentlichungen des Jahres.

Night Crowned besteht aus ehemaligen und aktuellen Mitgliedern renommierter Bands wie Dark Funeral, Nightrage und Cipher System und besitzt eine ebenso eindringliche wie klare musikalische Vision. Mit "Impius Viam" haben sie ein Kunstwerk geschaffen, das Wut, Melancholie und pure Zerstörung ausstrahlt und die schlummernden Klänge der einflussreichen skandinavischen Acts und Meisterwerke der 90er Jahre wiederbelebt.

Dieser moderne melodische Death/Black Metal-Klassiker verbindet Aggression, Atmosphäre und fesselnde Melodien und lässt den Hörer von seiner makellosen und unerbittlichen Mischung beeindruckt. Night Crowned's beständiges Streben nach musikalischer Exzellenz kennt keine Grenzen, denn sie verschwendeten keine Zeit mit der Veröffentlichung ihres mit Spannung erwarteten Nachfolges "Hädanfärd" am 9. Juli 2021.

Inspiriert von einer Geschichte des Sängers K. Romlin, taucht "Hädanfärd" in Begegnungen mit dem Tod ein weitreichendes Konzept ein, das während des intensiven Demo-Prozesses akribisch entwickelt wurde. Die neun atmosphärischen Tracks des Albums, begleitet von K. Romlins schriftlichen Interpretationen und Erklärungen, bilden einen höllischen und düsteren Monolith, der Night Crowned als eines von Schwedens bestgehüteten schwarzen Death Metal-Geheimnissen festigt.
Mit "Hädanfärd" hat Night Crowned nicht nur Lob von Fans und Kritikern erntet, sondern auch neue Höhen auf ihrer musikalischen Reise erreicht.

Am 11. Oktober 2023 erscheint das mit Spannung erwartete dritte Album der Band, erneut über das renommierte Label Noble Demon. Mit "Tales" beginnt Night Crowned ein neues Kapitel, das die Grenzen des geschwärzten Death Metal auf ein noch nie dagewesenes Niveau treibt. Bereiten Sie sich auf einen auditiven Angriff vor, der Konventionen trotzt und die Grenzen des Genres neu definiert. Night Crowned ist eine Kraft, mit der man rechnen muss, und ihr unerbittliches Streben nach musikalischer Exzellenz zeigt keine Anzeichen eines Nachlassens. Mit Texten auf Englisch und Schwedisch bringt Jonathan Thorpenbergs Mixing-Fähigkeiten den Sound der Band zur Geltung, während Jani Stefanovics Mastering dafür sorgt, dass jede Note mit Präzision getroffen wird. Ergebt euch also der Dunkelheit und lasst euch von Night Crowned durch ihre fesselnden Erzählungen führen!

- Band mit (Ex-)Mitgliedern von DARK FUNERAL, CIPHER SYSTEM, NIGHTRAGE, THE UNGUIDED u. a.
- Die ersten beiden Alben und die vorherigen Musikvideos haben bisher nur sehr positive Resonanz in der Szene und in den Medien bekommen und die meisten Videos erreichten 6-stellige Ansichten auf YT
- Playlisting in eigenen und 3rd Party Playlists

and Sebastian Kokus and the prolific Ulf Schütte, the Hamburg-based trio has tirelessly expanded upon its sound and extended its musical style. After 2022’s »S/T« documented the results of their first jam sessions as a newly-founded group, »V.A.« started even more modestly and became an even bigger undertaking. Originally conceived as a small one-off release, it grew into a full record which sees the group embracing dub music, collaborating with Peaking Lights’ Aaron Coyes and inviting other artists—No UFO’s, Seekers International, Coco Em—who reworked select tracks in true dub style. »V.A.« is marked by inconsistency, openness, and heterogeneity in the best sense of those words: ever-changing, constantly surprising and consistently in motion.

The starting point for »V.A.« was a Hamburg concert in December 2022 together with Coyes, who played a solo set as Peaking Lights. On the request of the event organiser, Cloud Management teamed up with him for a jam session after the gig, laying the foundation for a track that the group took to the studio before sending it to Coyes to record vocals for it. Another song quickly followed and even though the band initially intended to release »PST« and »0rten Pitch« as standalone 7” single, they soon decided to have others create versions of the two tunes to round them off in the form of a 12” EP. Once more though, one thing led to another and now »V.A.« collects five original pieces by Cloud Management as well as three—four on the digital version—remixes by other artists.

Collaborating with Leipzig-based Canadian producer No UFO’s, the Canadian Seekers International collective, and Kenyan multi-disciplinary artist Coco Em came about organically. As fans of their friend Konrad Jandavs’ work for labels such as Spectrum Spools, Root Strata and his own Nice Up International, Korf, Kokus and Schütte asked him for a remix and granted him full creative freedom for his take on »PST«. Jandavs also connected them with the prolific Richmond-based soundsystem worshippers, who present their take on the same track on this record as well as a version of »Electric CD.« Also this track appears three times on the record, having been re-rubbed by Emma Mbeki Nzioka, who was introduced to the the trio by its label Altin Village & Mine.

There isn’t really a common thread running through the rough digi-dub of No UFO’s take on »PST«, Seekers International’s traditionally-minded yet infinitely playful dub-psychedelia and Coco Em’s bass-heavy, percussive, pulsating take on »Electric CD.« However, as a group dedicated to staying in flux at all times, Cloud Management ended up embracing the creative differences between their own work and those of their respective collaborators. In calling it »V.A.,« they paid tribute to their somewhat loose, but conceptually consistent concept of giving various artists full creative licence over their own work. Neither a true album in the strict sense of the world nor just a compilation, »V.A.« is actually the essential Cloud Management record: ever-changing, constantly surprising, consistently in motion.

Those Days Are Gone is Nashville’s emo-punk band Free Throw’s debut, most popular, and fan-beloved album. Free Throw have been making music together for 10 years, and on Oct 13th, 2023, are releasing their fifth studio album to much fan and critical excitement. Those Days Are Gone was the last record that singer Cory Castro and drummer Zach Hall played on together before reuniting for the 2023 record. This 2023 release will surely drive fan excitement for Free Throw’s entire discography, particularly favorite Those Days Are Gone. Free Throw is embarking on a full 30-date US tour in fall 2023, co-headline with Prince Daddy & The Hyena. They are also supporting Hot Mulligan on a 6-date Australia tour in early 2024.

DEVO’s Hardcore documents the group’s beginning as pre-punk outcasts in the fertile Akron, Ohio, underground rock scene. Spawned at the nearby college of Kent State, site of the infamous May 4 Massacre, DEVO formed as a conceptual art project armed with the radical philosophy of de-evolution. Brothers Mothersbaugh (Mark, Bob and Jim) and Brothers Casale (Jerry and Bob) along with drummer Alan Myers soon whipped up an otherworldly brand of “devolved blues” that could hold its own alongside the beatnik groove of 15-60-75 (a.k.a. The Numbers Band) or the primal rock poetry of The Bizarros. Recorded on various four-track machines and in tiny studios, basements and garages between 1974-1977, Hardcore reveals their strikingly clear vision: rock ’n’ roll stripped bare of its collective cool and jerked back into propaganda fit for post-modern man. It’s no surprise that these transmissions would soon catch the eye and ear of Brian Eno, who later produced their landmark 1978 debut album. Noisy synth, strangled guitar chops and a primitive rhythmic thud power the early DEVO sound. Threaded beneath it all are lyrical themes of post-McCarthy paranoia, middle-class ephemera and DEVO’s long-running topic of choice: sex, or lack thereof. Few moments in pop music history can match the grinding, pent-up energy of “Mongoloid” and the spastic bounce and sputter of “Jocko Homo” (two anthems presented in their earlier and superior versions here). Cult favorites like “Mechanical Man” and “Auto-Modown” make Volume 1 essential listening. Superior Viaduct and Booji Boy Records are proud to present DEVO’s Hardcore to a new generation of spuds, lovingly packaged with Moshe Brakha’s stunning cover photography. As David Bowie said in 1977, DEVO is indeed “the band of the future.”

Cooltempo Records launches the first in a series of compilations and reissues starting with brit-soul
icon Kenny Thomas. Containing the biggest hits, fan favourites, and previously unreleased material.
Twice Brit-Award nominated Kenny Thomas is one of the UK's most successful Soul singers of his
generation, having had two Top 10 albums and numerous Top 40 singles over his illustrious thirty-year
career. His debut album Voices, released in 1991, sold over a million copies worldwide, going double
platinum in the UK alone and features the top 5 hit 'Thinking About Your Love'. Most recently, Kenny
appeared on the Top of the Pops BBC series to discuss his hits, having performed on the show no
less than 9 times. During lockdown, Take That's Gary Barlow invited him to sing for his Crooner
Sessions with the video garnering over 4 million views. Kenny is set to embark on a UK theatre tour in
support of the Best Of throughout November and December. The Best Of Kenny Thomas features his
'90s chart hits along with rare mixes and two previously unreleased tracks. The legendary UK radio
presenter Tony Blackburn has contributed a foreword to this stylish package.

Sven Torstenson's notorious Drugs is a loopdigga's fever dream, bursting with breaks for days and featuring possibly the most iconic cover of all library music's cult classics. First released in 1980, it's now a hyper-rare and seriously sought-after electronic album full of experimental soundscapes and samples just waiting to be flipped. It's both terrifying and terrifyingly good. So much so, it's been brilliantly sampled by Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper.

The sleeve describes Drugs as containing "the newest dimensions of electronic sounds. Dramatic underscores for all problems of today's life and society, at the border between reality and delusion." That's pretty spot-on. The fast moving "Euphoria" is an incredible, unignorable opener. It's loaded with disorientating effects and really needs to be heard to be believed. It's followed by the gorgeous "Soft Hallucinations", containing quiet, meditative and beautiful sounds - as the title suggests. One listen and you'll want to live in the warm embrace of this beatless, harmonic gem. Sinister squelchy synth stabs don't distract from the sheer beauty of the track's main (gentle) thrust. They only serve to elevate its trippy magic.

Next up, "Sky Move"'s agitated and repetitive rhythm makes it an intense listen but with a broad melody that will appeal to many. "Destroyed Dreams" utilises a muffled church organ and it sounds heavenly to begin with but it gradually invites increasingly distorted elements. Yes, you've had trips like this, we're pretty certain. Mental! Talking of bad trips, never have they sounded so good as "Horror Trip"; this fractured drama-synth just needs some some dusty beats to hold it up - get involved.

"Floating Illusions" almost sounds like a beatless Spiritualized bomb from the early-mid 90s; melodic, synthy, church organ-drenched. The mournful, dramatic "Lost Chance" pulses along on a bed of acidy synths whilst "The Morning After" is the sonic equivalent of the extreme fear and doom experienced in the aftermath of the previous night's carnage. Whilst somewhat uncomfortable listening, again, it's pretty compelling thanks to the myriad effects being expertly utilised. Fascinating. The sprawling, fragmented "Random Thoughts" is described as containing "confused melody phrases" - yeah, pretty much sums this one up.

The B-Side is ushered in by "Heroin" and it's as sketchy as you might think, all mysterious minor chords with a dominating - but not overbearing - bass refrain. Next up, the dream-like synthy fanfare of "Night Trip" climaxes after a few minutes of dramatic, ecclesiastical sounds whilst "Day Trip" layers its melody over a repetitive rhythmic base.

Next up, one of the *REAL* highlights makes itself known. Absolutely not to be missed, "Dealer's Corner" is all shifting tenors from quiet to hectic and back around again. The hectic parts are like a totally synthed-out-the-eyeballs jazz-funk collective wigging out with the latest electronic toys from 1980. This one totally SMOKES.

The dramatic "Sad And Hopeless" is appositely replete with dissonant, minor church-organ chords whilst "Riding Pegasus" uses a creepy ostinato bass melody to create irrational bleepy menace that's ripe for sampling. The penultimate track, "Hopeless Chaos" is another disorientating trip, a bleepy confection of sounds and phrases whilst closer "Goin' Mad" is all electronic percussion with an unpleasant rhthymic feel and irritating melody. Music to annoy your partner with!

Established in Munich in 1965 by Gerard and Rotheide Narholz, Sonoton introduced library music to Germany. Initially intended to cater to the country's new TV market, the library also provided an avenue for Gerhard Narholz's astonishing musical prolificacy, and soon became a haven for a wide range of European composers and musicians. In 1969, Sonoton struck a deal with the British label Berry Music for international publishing rights, exposing its catalog to a worldwide audience; when Berry was bought out by EMI in 1973, Sonoton transitioned into a full-fledged international label, with successes in the library and commercial fields and many innovations to its credit. Now a worldwide operation with hundreds of producers and composers under its employ, Sonoton nonetheless remains an independently run business still helmed by its founders - a remarkable achievement in an era when nearly every other major library has been absorbed by a multinational conglomerate.

The audio for Drugs has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Es heißt, lang lebe der König und so weiter, aber nichts ist jemals in Stein gemeißelt. Ein Vierteljahrhundert nach seiner selbstverschuldeten Krönung und seinem selbstveröffentlichten Debüt-Soloalbum hat Kenny Anderson - DIY-Pop-Reisender, Restaurator eines angestammten Hauses am Meer, Squeezebox-Lothario, Fife for life, Diamantenschürfer, Herzensbrecher, und der Mann, der auch als King Creosote bekannt ist - über 100 Platten veröffentlicht (wenn man relativ konservativ schätzt), mit Künstlern wie Jon Hopkins, KT Tunstall und Lone Pigeon von Beta Band zusammengearbeitet und seine Songs von Künstlern wie Patti Smith und Simple Minds covern und aufführen lassen. Jetzt hat er trotz oder vielleicht gerade wegen all dem eine neue LP angekündigt. Sie heißt I DES und wird am 3. November veröffentlicht.
Und nein, es ist nicht an ihm, der so sehr von spielerischer Lyrik beseelt ist, vorbeigegangen, dass der Titel seiner neuesten Veröffentlichung ein einfaches Anagramm von "Dies" ist. Aber man sollte sich ein paar Dinge vor Augen halten: 1) I DES ist eine Anspielung auf KCs wichtigsten Kollaborateur dieses Mal - Multiinstrumentalist und Co-Produzent Derek O'Neill alias Des Lawson of Blantyre (From Scotland With Love von 2014, Astronaut Meets Appleman von 2016); und 2) HRH King Creosote hat sein ganzes musikalisches Leben lang um sein Ende gerungen.

Das Album wurde größtenteils zwischen 2016 und 2020 geschrieben, aber nichts ist jemals so einfach: Es gibt etwas Altes (Bäume), etwas Blaues (ebenfalls Bäume), etwas Geliehenes (Heimkassetten und Gesang aus allen Epochen; Texte aus der fernen Vergangenheit) und etwas Neues (KC scherzt, dass ein möglicher Titel für dieses Album We All Got Synths for Christmas war).

Und hier ist King Creosote: Sänger, Songwriter, rosaroter Schwindler, Vater dreier wunderschöner Töchter. Er wurde im Winter 1967 geboren. In jenem Jahr wüteten Überschwemmungen und Schneestürme, aber alles wuchs und überstand den Sturm.

It's been a little over ten years since Hailu Mergia reemerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing his flavor of Ethiopian jazz all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival. Finally, we have a recorded document of the keyboard player's powerful DC-based trio _ which practices each weekend in his basement _ featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass. Beautifully captured at one of their fiery live shows at the venerable Brooklyn non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works on July 1, 2016, the concert was recorded by PW staff and mixed by Ted Young with mastering by ATFA's expert audio extraction collaborator Jessica Thompson. The performance clarifies what many people across the globe already know: in his fifth decade of music-making Hailu Mergia continues to push the boundaries of his remarkable abilities. Mergia and his veteran band energetically and playfully unpeel layer after layer of harmonic and rhythmic interest out of a spectrum of Ethiopian repertoire. Modern jazz demands constant reinvention and improvisation, night after night creating new works out of known modes and classic standards. This band is unstoppable when it comes to turning age-old melodies (like "Tizita" or "Anchihoye Lene") upside down and inside out until they emerge as molten new works, often spontaneously. Mergia's original compositions (like "Yegle Nesh") shine brighter than ever here as well. Moving from keyboard to organ to accordion to melodica, he deftly switches instruments _ often during the same song. Mergia at 77 years old seems to be working harder than musicians half his age. "Pioneer Works Swing (Live)" brings into focus the kind of onstage group improvisation and deadly solo passages that reach for places Mergia and the band have never gone, on festival and club stages across four continents. Now that Mergia has released two new recordings along with four classic reissues, he is eager to let everyone hear what he's been doing on the road since he re-took the global stage for his victory laps. So much more than an old act from yesteryear, Mergia balances his legendary Ethiopian recordings with good old fashioned sweat-soaked live concert triumphs such as the one we have here.

It's been a little over ten years since Hailu Mergia reemerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing his flavor of Ethiopian jazz all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival. Finally, we have a recorded document of the keyboard player's powerful DC-based trio _ which practices each weekend in his basement _ featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass. Beautifully captured at one of their fiery live shows at the venerable Brooklyn non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works on July 1, 2016, the concert was recorded by PW staff and mixed by Ted Young with mastering by ATFA's expert audio extraction collaborator Jessica Thompson. The performance clarifies what many people across the globe already know: in his fifth decade of music-making Hailu Mergia continues to push the boundaries of his remarkable abilities. Mergia and his veteran band energetically and playfully unpeel layer after layer of harmonic and rhythmic interest out of a spectrum of Ethiopian repertoire. Modern jazz demands constant reinvention and improvisation, night after night creating new works out of known modes and classic standards. This band is unstoppable when it comes to turning age-old melodies (like "Tizita" or "Anchihoye Lene") upside down and inside out until they emerge as molten new works, often spontaneously. Mergia's original compositions (like "Yegle Nesh") shine brighter than ever here as well. Moving from keyboard to organ to accordion to melodica, he deftly switches instruments _ often during the same song. Mergia at 77 years old seems to be working harder than musicians half his age. "Pioneer Works Swing (Live)" brings into focus the kind of onstage group improvisation and deadly solo passages that reach for places Mergia and the band have never gone, on festival and club stages across four continents. Now that Mergia has released two new recordings along with four classic reissues, he is eager to let everyone hear what he's been doing on the road since he re-took the global stage for his victory laps. So much more than an old act from yesteryear, Mergia balances his legendary Ethiopian recordings with good old fashioned sweat-soaked live concert triumphs such as the one we have here.

Wenn man vier US-Top-Ten-Alben (darunter zwei Nummer-Eins-Alben) veröffentlicht hat, die allesamt mit Gold- und Platin-Award ausgezeichnet wurden, dann kann man sich einen derartigen Move wohl erlauben: nur wenige Tage Vorbereitungszeit ließ US-Superstar Future seinen Fans und Fachpublikum, um sich auf den Release seines fünften Albums "FUTURE" einzustimmen. "FUTURE" ist der Follow-Up zu "EVOL" udn brachte die Hitsingle "Mask Off" hervor, die in Deutschland mit GOLD ausgezeichnet wurde und über 40 Millionen mal gestreamt wurde.

Hermano's debut album is being reissued having been completely remixed by David Barrick (Nashville
Pussy, Kentucky Headhunters) and remastered by Ty Tabor (King's X) under the watchful eyes and
ears of the band to produce the sound they always wanted the album to have. Completely redesigned
art with new cover design and first ever gatefold, loaded with period pictures.

Adroit jazz guitar, prog rock fantasia, and Japanese environmental music all rest comfortably behind Leo Takami's Next Door. The follow up to the acclaimed Felis Catus & Silence, Next Door finds Takami ruminating on passages—of time, seasons, consciousness. Through music, Leo contemplates daily events and finds beauty in ordinary moments. He also seems to be questioning the value of being stuck in the world, allowing his mind to wander towards something beyond it. His music is earnest, deeply personal and introspective, and is sort of akin to Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker or Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railroad. On “As If Listening” Takami takes inspiration from a Van Gogh art show organized chronologically, articulating the sense of “enlightened resignation” that is intrinsic in the act of creativity. “Beyond” is a dream of otherworldly nostalgia, a watercolor of past lives. His music is a hazy cinema of memory, the soundtrack to a cherished memory that may have never really happened, but still radiates in the mind like the sun on an unusually warm winter day.

If there’s anything that defines SUDS, it’s friendship. Meeting through their love of the DIY scene currently emerging in Norwich, the band quickly found themselves gravitating towards writing songs together, and by Autumn 2021, Jack Ames (drums/vocals) joined Maisie Cater (vocals/guitar) and Dan Godfrey (guitar/vocals) to form a line-up that felt inherently natural. Stepping in on bass duties came Harry Mitchell, and things seemed to click instantaneously. Driven to keep the spark going they all upped sticks from their far flung edges of the county, pooled together to get a touring van and set to work. Just like their 2022 debut EP, In The Undergrowth, SUDS ventured down to Kent to record with producer Ian Sadler (Roam, Anavae), ready to explore the next chapter of their story. Step forth debut album The Great Overgrowth, a record brimming with addictive melodies and gorgeous moments of optimism. Their evocative and sometimes literary approach to lyrics takes inspiration from midwest emo and the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene - Cater and Ames would regularly distract themselves while writing, gazing between the pages of books by Woody Guthrie, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan and Brontez Purnell - which appears across their songwriting and would quickly become the foundation for their sound. Finding a delicate balance of sensitive lyricism dripping in warmth and killer guitar hooks, The Great Overgrowth follows on from the EP, telling the next part of the tale, as a tight knit group of twenty-something year old friends struggling and floating through life, to becoming more confident in their everyday lives and friendships while embracing change. The band are already off to a flying start, conquering sets at 2000 Trees Festival, The Great Escape and Truck Festival, as well as sold out shows with Spanish Love Songs, Pool Kids and Martha. Their talent for achingly intelligent, relatable lyricism and a heft for devil-may-care creative output already puts them heads above the rest. SUDS might be fresh faced but have the maturity and drive to become one of the most exciting emerging artists of 2023.

Am 03.11. erscheint mit „Therapy“ das heißersehnte Debütalbum der jungen Ausnahmekünstlerin Zoe Wees. Mit Hits wie den Mehrfach Platin ausgezeichneten Singles „Girls Like Us“ und „Control“, hat das Album schon vor Release über 3 Milliarden Streams generiert. Die gebürtige Hamburgerin Zoe Wees hat ein Händchen dafür, ihre komplexen und emotionalen Geschichten so zu erzählen, dass sie für jeden nachvollziehbar sind. Und so entführt sie ihre Fans auch mit „Therapy“ wieder auf eine musikalische Entdeckungsreise, auf der sie persönliche Kämpfe und Triumphe, die wir alle aus unseren Leben kennen, thematisiert.

Mit ihrer gewohnt kraftvollen und einzigartigen Stimme singt sie von dem Weg sich selbst zu finden und zu akzeptieren. So sagt Zoe über die neuste Single ihres Albums ”Für mich geht es in Lightning darum, all die Zweifel zu überwinden, die anderen einem einzureden versuchen, weil sie dich unterschätzen und nicht an dich glauben. Als ich das alles durchgestanden habe, habe ich eine Motivation gefunden, die mich noch stärker gemacht hat. Zweifle deshalb nie daran, wie stark du sein kannst.“

„Therapy“ erscheint am 03.11.2023 und vereint alle bereits bekannten Hits des Breakout Stars mit brandneuen Songs.

It’s been a little over ten years since Hailu Mergia re- emerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the

New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing his flavor of Ethiopian jazz all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival.

Finally, we have a recorded document of the keyboard player’s powerful DC-based trio—which practices each weekend in his basement—featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass. Beautifully captured at one of their fiery live shows at the venerable Brooklyn non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works on July 1, 2016, the concert was recorded by PW staff and mixed by Ted Young with mastering by ATFA’s expert audio extraction collaborator Jessica Thompson. The performance clarifies what many people across the globe already know: in his fifth decade of music-making Hailu Mergia continues to push the boundaries of his remarkable abilities.

Mergia and his veteran band energetically and playfully unpeel layer after layer of harmonic and rhythmic interest out of a spectrum of Ethiopian repertoire. Modern jazz demands constant reinvention and improvisation, night after night creating new works out of known modes and classic standards. This band is unstoppable when it comes to turning age-old melodies (like “Tizita” or “Anchihoye Lene”) upside down and inside out until they emerge as molten new works, often spontaneously. Mergia’s original compositions (like “Yegle Nesh”) shine brighter than ever here as well. Moving from keyboard to organ to accordion to melodica, he deftly switches instruments—often during the same song. Mergia at 77 years old seems to be working harder than musicians half his age.

Pioneer Works Swing (Live) brings into focus the kind of onstage group improvisation and deadly solo passages that reach for places Mergia and the band have never gone, on festival and club stages across four continents.

Now that Mergia has released two new recordings along with four classic reissues, he is eager to let everyone hear what he’s been doing on the road since he re-took the global stage for his victory laps. So much more than an old act from yesteryear, Mergia balances his legendary Ethiopian recordings with good old fashioned sweat-soaked live concert triumphs such as the one we have here.

Wer kennt sie nicht, die Berliner Ska-Matadoren? Denn für viele gelten BLECHREIZ immer noch als die beste Live-Band Berlins! Sind sie nicht "ein Gemisch wie Nitro & Glycerin, das jeden Saal zum Kochen bringt"? - diese geballte Power macht jedenfalls das neue Album deutlich, dass jetzt von Smith & Miller Records auf Vinyl veröffentlicht wird. Gleich nach erstem Reinhören in den Tonträger wird klar, hier ist ein Ska-Dauerfeuer-Dampfhammer aufgelegt, bei dem man Gefahr läuft, sich die DocMartens-Sohlen durchzutanzen. Die ersten sechs Titel sind ein furioser Ritt auf dem Offbeat, bei dem die enorme Energie der Band deutlich wird. Neben ganz neu aufgenommenen Krachern, wie beispielsweise ihrem Ska-Hit "Bumble Bee" oder der legendären Arbeiter-Hymne "Which Side Are You On?" sind auch viele markante Blechreiz-Songs der Bandgeschichte auf dem neuen Album versammelt. Bei den ersten drei Titeln wurden BLECHREIZ von der Brass-Section der befreundeten Ska-Band "Memoria Insuficiente Ska" aus Bogotá in Kolumbien unterstützt. Ansonsten sind noch einige weitere Gäste bei den Aufnahmen mit dabei. Den Abschluss des Albums bildet mit dem Live-Song "Gewalt regiert" ein deutliches Statement gegen Nazi-Glatzen.