quête:kit n c l a w s

Jesca Hoop returns with her sixth album, Order of Romance, a record that fortifies her position as one of the most striking and original voices in contemporary music. Order of Romance is Hoop's most intricate and finely balanced album to date, one that draws on classic song writing, recalling anything from Gershwin to Paul Simon, but creating something that is unmistakably, indelibly Jesca Hoop. It is a deep dive into craft. In the summer of 2021, Hoop once again ventured south from her adopted home of Manchester to Bristol to team up with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding), her collaborator for 2019's Stonechild. This time additional assistance came from in Jess Vernon (This is the Kit) to arrange for a four-piece horn and woodwind quintet. Legendary drummer Seb Rochford lent his skills, John Thorne plays the bass and Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer were enlisted to deliver Hoop's signature vocal arrangements. The result is a fruitful marriage of song craft and arrangement, brimming with a cinematic charm and lyrical wit that signify a new chapter full of new life for an artist who knows her mind, her heart and voice well enough to trust them in uncharted territory.

Jesca Hoop returns with her sixth album, Order of Romance, a record that fortifies her position as one of the most striking and original voices in contemporary music. Order of Romance is Hoop's most intricate and finely balanced album to date, one that draws on classic song writing, recalling anything from Gershwin to Paul Simon, but creating something that is unmistakably, indelibly Jesca Hoop. It is a deep dive into craft. In the summer of 2021, Hoop once again ventured south from her adopted home of Manchester to Bristol to team up with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding), her collaborator for 2019's Stonechild. This time additional assistance came from in Jess Vernon (This is the Kit) to arrange for a four-piece horn and woodwind quintet. Legendary drummer Seb Rochford lent his skills, John Thorne plays the bass and Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer were enlisted to deliver Hoop's signature vocal arrangements. The result is a fruitful marriage of song craft and arrangement, brimming with a cinematic charm and lyrical wit that signify a new chapter full of new life for an artist who knows her mind, her heart and voice well enough to trust them in uncharted territory.

“Good evening Black Buddha” is Black Jesus eXperience’s seventh studio album. Inspired by the land we live on and the connection to all that have gone before and will follow, inspired by the multicultural power of our community, inspired by the paradox of the story of the Black Buddha. From the perversity of the pandemic and its imposition of separation comes "Good Evening Black Buddha", celebrating togetherness. Darkness is light.

At the heart of Black Jesus eXperience’s inspiration is Ethiopian/Australian singer Enushu Taye. Enushu’s openness and poetic insight, delivered with unique beauty in her own Amharic tongue, lie at the core of "Good Evening Black Buddha" and all that Black Jesus eXperience (BJX) do. MC Mista Monk (Liam Monkhouse) compliments and contrasts with rhymes and flow born of Africa and outback Australia. BJX are joined by their great friends powerhouse singer Vida-Sunshyne, and crystalline new voice Gracie Sinclair.

The songs on “Good Evening Black Buddha” rove from the lightness of touch of a trio to BJX’s full fourteen piece polyrhythmic, polymetric, polytonal Ethiofunk juggernaut with six-piece horn arrangements. Soloists include living national treasure Bob Sedergreen on keyboards, Peter Harper on saxophone, Ian Dixon on trumpet, Zac Lister guitar, Larry Crestani guitar and his own invention ‘kraartar’, over the deep grooves of Richard Rose bass, James Davies kit, and Kahan Harper percussion. Black Jesus eXperience is also proud to be joined by our friends conga player Louis Poblete, kraar and masinko virtuoso Endalkachew Yenehun, proud Kuku Nyunkal man and master yiki yiki (dijeridu) player Sean Ryan.

Limited Edition Nora Steiner und Madlaina Pollina malen das Bild einer Welt, die wir schon lange nicht mehr so eindrücklich und reflektiert wahrgenommen haben. Aufbruch, Licht und Schatten und die Bedrängnis der Gegenwart, ausgedrückt in bezauberndem Indie-Folk-Pop, der Zähne zeigt und enorme Dynamik entwickelt. Mal erinnert ihr zweistimmiger Gesang an First Aid Kit, ihre kompositorische Zugänglichkeit lässt an den perlenden Pop von Boy denken, dann wieder geleitet uns das Duo an düstere Abgründe, wie sie auch Emily Jane White beschreibt. Allerdings sind dies nur ungefähre Orientierungspunkte. Dass die beiden aus der Schweiz kommen, ist grundlegend für deren Debütalbum "Cheers", denn "Cheers" heißt nicht nur Prost, "Cheers" kann ein Anfang und ein Ende sein, eine Begrüßung und auch ein Abschied. Dabei spielen Steiner & Madlaina gekonnt mit Ambivalenzen. Mal fließen ihre Songs lieblich daher, dann türmen sich die Instrumente walzenartig auf. Durch die analogen Sounds und teils surfigen Gitarrenklänge gewinnt "Cheers" an Wärme und transportiert einen unterschwelligen 60er-Jahre-Charme. Im Zentrum des Ganzen stehen aber immer die Stimmen von Steiner & Madlaina, die so perfekt harmonieren, dass man die Vertrautheit und langjährige Freundschaft der beiden herauszuhören meint.

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

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

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

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

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

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

.. and now out into the sun.

Lampen is Kalle Kalima and Tatu Rönkkö. Kalle plays guitar, Tatu plays percussions and sampler. Together they're Lampen, a duo making highly addictive "post jazz" with a musical heart far beyond genre. Call it what you will, but the main point is listening, and there's a high season for that coming as Lampen is set to release their debut album on We Jazz Records on "Kintsugi Gold" vinyl and digitally. Previously a CD only release (Karkia Mistika Records, 2020), "Lampen" presents two artists who have a knack at making music which opens up with each listen, pulling you deeper and deeper. Meditative passages flow by slowly as in a peaceful river stream, erupting into full rapids of sound when the time is right. This is sonic rafting for the curious listener.

Tatu Rönkkö (b.1983) is a Finnish percussionist and drummer who has been active in the experimental music scene of Helsinki and Berlin during the past ten years and has toured Europe, U.S. and Asia extensively. He is a forming member of Liima (DK/FI) and has performed with such artists as Ilpo Väisänen (Pan Sonic), Samuli Kosminen (Múm), Jimi Tenor, Nils Frahm, Efterklang, Raoul Björkenheim, Elifantree and Islaja. Rönkkö has been playing improvised solo concerts in people's kitchens ("I Play Your Kitchen") using only kitchenware found in each home as instruments.

Kalle Kalima (b. 1973 in Helsinki, Finland) has worked with trumpeters Tomasz Stanko and Wadada Leo Smith, sax players Juhani Aaltonen, Anthony Braxton, bass players Greg Cohen and Sirone, guitarist Marc Ducret, composers Michael Wertmüller and Simon Stockhausen, pianists Jason Moran and Hans Lüdemann, drummers Jim Black and Tony Allen and singers Andreas Schaerer, Linda Sharrock as well as with Ensemble Resonanz and Jazzanova. Kalima has composed orchestral music for Opera Lyon, Ensemble Resonanz (Chamber Ensemble of Elbfilharmony in Hamburg), String Trio of Munich Symphony, NDR Big Band, Umo Big Band and Jousia Ensemble among others.

Die Mitglieder des legendären Joshua Redman Quartetts des 90er-Jahre - Joshua Redman (Saxofon), Brad Mehldau (Piano), Christian McBride (Bass) und Brian Blade (Schlagzeug) - wiedervereinigten sich nach 26 Jahren für das 2020 erschienene Album "RoundAgain". Jetzt meldet sich die Band mit "LongGone" zurück, einer neuen Einspielung, die sechs Eigenkompositionen von Redman umfasst.

"RoundAgain", das Vorgänger-Album von "LongGone", belegte auf Anhieb Platz 1 der traditionellen Jazz-Album-Charts in den U.S.A ., sowie Platz 1 der Englischen Jazz & Blues-Charts . Zudem wurde die
Platte mit zwei Grammy-Nominierungen ausgezeichnet. NPR bezeichnete das Album als "makellose Leistung" , und befand, dass die vier Musiker " mit der Zeit immer besser geworden sind - heute spielt jeder einzelne von ihnen in absoluter Bestform ".

Repress of the the debut album of synth-pop pioneers La Roux.

Originally released in very limited quantities on vinyl in 2009, the album, La Roux, contains the UK No. 1 single Bulletproof as well as Top 3 smash In For The Kill. La Roux was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize and won Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.

La Roux was a refreshing addition to the world of pop. Brixton-born Elly Jackson was inspired more by the music of Nick Drake and Neil Young than synth pop, and when Ben Langmaid first heard her, she was playing her songs on an acoustic guitar. Together, they updated the template for the synth duo, Langmaid resolutely in the background, while Jackson became the face and mouthpiece for the group.

Their debut single, Quicksand, was released on Kitsune Records in December 2008, and soon after Polydor signed them, and amid a flurry of press attention, In For The Kill came out in March 2009, rising to No. 2 in the UK. In June that year, Bulletproof topped the charts, paving the way for the album, which was received warmly in the UK and made huge inroads into the US charts.

Jackson's androgyny and the duo's musical style evoked the 80s, yet this was no mere pastiche. The songs had heart and soul and were delivered with matchless panache. "People don't just want R&B girls thrusting their groins at them," she told The Guardian. "It gave me hope. People bought the record even though it was fronted by this odd boy-looking ginger girl."

La Roux is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressing and available in audiophile 180gm vinyl. Whether replacing a much-loved original copy, or adding to a collection afresh, this is a superior way to enjoy such enduring and influential music.

Born of chance meetings in Accra, the band brings together a Burundian producer and vocalist, Betina Quest; with a Ghanaian singer-songwriter, Eli A Free; and a German percussionist and multiinstrumentalist, Ma.ttic. Nyamekye Junction take their name from a bustling junction in the Ghanaian capital, where a number of major roads merge, embodying the musical approach of the band: a singular sound at the junction of their cultural heritages.

In Eli’s words, ‘Dasein’ (from the German for ‘existence’, ‘being there’), captures “the need to live in this moment here and now with a heart full of gratitude” while exploring a number of interlinked themes, including the importance of one's environment – cultural and political, as well as physical - in situating, shaping and explaining each individual’s identity.

The band adeptly channel a wide range of influences, from the Ghanaian legends Ebo Taylor and Osibisa through to US mainstays such as Nina Simone and Erykah Badu; with equal regard given to UK innovators like Benjamin Clementine and Mala. The resulting debut EP ‘Dasein’ is a stunning collage which showcases the band’s impressive range and evolving sound by traversing a diverse range of moods, rhythms and textures.

The lead single ‘GMT’ (short for ‘Ghana Man Time’) is a dancefloor-ready track that carries a deft political message. Driven by a weighty bassline alongside punching drums and percussion, for a rhythm section that would be at home in any broken-beat set, the song explores and emphasises differing conceptions of time between the West and Africa with a playful irony.

After Dinner’s Paradise of Replica is a concise nugget of tomfoolery that occupies a whimsical no man’s land between art pop, Japanese folk music and full-assed Art Zoydian avant proggery. Gentle, arcane and covertly sweeping, it typifies that friendly strain of experimentalism that Eastern music seems so predisposed towards and which curious minds find such great delight in.

Assembled by the enigmatic chanteuse and composer known simply as Haco, After Dinner was less a band and more of a loose art collective that utilized a plurality of different musical disciplines stapled together through free improvisation sessions. And some of this does come through on Paradise of Replica—the record is a scrapbook of bells, strings and koto humming under Haco’s ethereal vocals, and the effect, while perfectly tuneful, does come off more as a musical project than a conventional album.

But Paradise of Replica is far from an impenetrable scholastic endeavor—in fact, there’s something of an Elephant 6-like quality in its ability to warp conventions while still coming off more or less like pop music. Counter to the ramshackle hostility of much improvised music, After Dinner’s choices are melodious and feel deliberately sequenced. Even crescendos don’t tend to rise above a murmur, and there are even apparent hooks on tracks like “A Walnut” and “Ironclad Mermaid.”

Ultimately, there’s not much to be said about Paradise of Replica that can elucidate more than actually hearing it will be able to. Proggy, playful and lush, it’s a brief glimpse into something in the vicinity of genius, and just outside the realm of commercial music. It’s a quietly bold project that shows a softer side of the avant-garde, and makes a perfect companion to Stereolab and Magma at once.

Dubfire - Bottom Dweller

‘Bottom Dweller’ is the third of four singles for Dubfire’s debut album ‘EVOLV’. An 11-track visionary into the mind of Dubfire to be released on his long-standing label SCI+TEC. EVOLV’s concept? The journey
of the ‘hybrid’ being and its evolution since its first appearance in 2015, as part of his two-year World tour following the release of his retrospective release ‘A Decade Of Dubfire’.

With a career spanning over 3 decades, Dubfire has achieved global success as an artist with relentless drive, talent, and intuition. Pioneering commercial notoriety came initially as one half of the Grammy award (2001) winning duo Deep Dish, before embarking on a truly groundbreaking solo career in 2007.

A career filled with timeless tracks include his early works ‘Ribcage’, ‘Emissions, ‘Roadkill’ and the highly acclaimed ‘Exit’ with Kiss Kitten. Collaborative work highlights include Luke Slater, Moscoman, Oliver
Huntemann, Chris Liebing, Tiga and co-producing two tracks on the legendary Underworld’s ‘Barking’ album.

‘Bottom Dweller’ gives you two different versions, the original is straight forward, yet effective for a late-night head down cut, where the ‘Meltdown Mix’ takes a minimal path, and faster pace. ‘Swerve’ sees Dubfire return to that stripped back sound with heavy swinging percussion, a landmark and much-loved element in his music.

Back in stock !

Canadian songwriter and producer Jeremy Haywood-Smith needed an escape from his state of mourning when he began working on Slingshot, his most recent LP as JayWood. After the loss of his mother in 2019, and a global standstill with multiple social crises throughout 2020, Haywood-Smith yearned for some forward momentum. "The idea of looking back to go forward became a really big thing for me _ hence the title, Slingshot." Feeling disconnected from his past and ancestry after the death of a parent, Haywood-Smith made a conscious effort to better understand his identity and unique Black experience living in the predominantly white province of Manitoba. Merging fantasy scenarios, personal anecdotes, and infectious pop and dance instrumentals, Slingshot is a self-portrait of JayWood at his surface and his depths. Musically, Slingshot reaches into sounds and styles Haywood-Smith has continued to explore throughout his catalog. "I think I made a really big deal to not pigeonhole myself," he explains. "Whatever is inspiring me at one point will work it's way into whatever I'm creating." Slingshot is an amalgamation of Haywood-Smith's many musical sensibilities, achieved with help from a crew of talented peers. Haywood-Smith wrote and performed a bulk of the track's instrumentations, but the LP has notable appearances from Canadian contemporaries Ami Cheon (on "Just Sayin") and Mckinley Dixon (on "Shine.") The album's penultimate track, "Thank You," was co-produced with Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The song brings JayWood's sound full circle, offering something reminiscent of Haywood-Smith's earliest recordings, while flaunting that "The best is yet to come."

Continuing the ‘first time on vinyl’ purge of the AMT archives. Here’s the band's classic 2006 album finally available on double vinyl for the first time. Housed in full colour gatefold sleeve.
‘Myth of the Love Electrique’ is another scorcher from these ridiculously prolific psych masters. This album is notable for being the debut of their newest band member: Kitagawa Hao. Kitagawa's presence doesn't dominate the recording by any means, but her contributions nicely complement the swirling chaos the group generates. Acid Mothers Temple always manages to find a breath of fresh air at the most opportune times, and this is no exception. While remaining a tight unit, bringing Kitagawa into the fold adds another dimension to their chaotic sprawl without having to sacrifice any of their strengths on this incendiary album.
“Comprised of four lengthy tracks, the album explodes with a start: "The Man from Giacobinid Meteor Comet." Kawabata Makoto's guitar quickly becomes a tangle of screams, a frenzied surge that drags the band along with it. The rhythm section is ferocious. Bassist Tsuyama Atsushi frequently ventures out to the stratosphere, but he also knows when to hold back or to provide a vaguely melodic foundation. Likewise, the amount of energy drummer Shimura Koji dedicates to his performance is a lesson in endurance. Divided into three movements, this track eventually cools down and then glides to a drone landing, alighting the listener breathlessly upon calmer ground.
Kitagawa's voice makes its first appearance on "Five Dimensional Nightmare," floating over a bouzouki arrangement that sounds like singing glass. This one is divided into three sections like the previous track, but starts airy and then goes into a drone as Tsuyama briefly takes over the vocals. From here, strings are tortured like fingernails on a blackboard before a guitar and Higashi Hiroshi’s water drop electronics restore balance.
As much as I loved the two previous tracks, the band forges ahead into something different on "Love Electrique." Kitagawa's presence is most felt on this track. Her voice streaks across the mix as blistering guitars and freaky electronics blast all over the place. Over the course of 20 minutes, it hits several different moods and textures on a truly transcendent journey.

Of the four tracks, only the live staple "Pink Lady Lemonade (May I Drink You Once Again?)" may seem a little redundant. Kitagawa, however, breathes new life into this standard by bringing her vocals to the fore over the entire track, as if restoring an element that previously had been missing. It's hard to call it a definitive version because so many other excellent versions already exist, but it is a great one in its own right. For fans who may be weary of this song after all of its appearances over the years, it is easy enough to stop the disc after gorging on the first hour of music, and it is still a welcome dessert if the mood should strike”

Over the course of the last five years, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio have established themselves as the world's premier funky organ trio. The organ trio, along with founder and manager Amy Novo, continues to devise the perfect blend of raw, passionate music and engaging industry practices. Through a firm partnership with label Colemine Records, the trio has garnered Billboard charting albums, sold out shows, tens of thousands of albums sold, and millions of streams. Lofty accomplishments for an instrumental organ trio. Now, with permanent drummer Dan Weiss behind to kit, DLO3 is proud to present Cold As Weiss, their third studio album to date that finds them tighter than ever, and continuing to push funky instrumental music to a new generation of fans.

Norwegian magic with style and enchanting voice! In 2021 LIV KRISTINE‘s EP „Have Courage Dear Heart“ was released and now the
re-release „Enter My Religion“. The album will be released for the first time as a vinyl with an extra single, as a cassette with two bonus tracks and as a double CD with unreleased tracks and demo recordings. The songs were also adorned with universal influences. Sitar sounds introduce the title track, which comfortably gets under your skin with its insinuating melody arcs and LIV KRISTINE‘s delicate voice. The opener „Over the Moon“ (PETER TÄGTGREN) hints at powerful metal, but then develops into a driving pop song. „Fake a Smile“ is an airy ballad, with LIV KRISTINE‘s voice charmingly taking center stage and setting the tone for most of the songs on the album. The title track „Enter my Religion“ is a mid-tempo anthem with a wise appeal to your inner self, your self-esteem, happiness and creativity. The pace continues with „All the Time in the World“. Straighter and more guitar-driven is „My Revelation“. Pleasing harmonies are in the foreground in the warm and soothing composition „Coming Home“. ‚Streets of Philadelphia‘ - BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN‘s theme song to the Oscar-winning movie was interpreted as a tribute. The arrangements being technically based on the original, LIV KRISTINE adds new and softer accents to the track. „You Take Me Higher“ is extraordinarily different and more dance-oriented, with a subtle drum‘n‘bass overlay. With „Trapped in Your Labyrinth“ and „Fake a Smile“ LIV KRISTINE spoils her listeners
with profoundly sensual ballads and rock songs. The fairy-like singing, accentuated by piano sounds, envelops music lovers in a web of security, melancholy and longing.

„Enter My Religion“ convinces as a spicy and varied album. The blond Norwegian succeeds in creating a fine album with romantic touches, which never slips into kitsch. Simply authentic, profoundly philosophical, surprising and absolutely LIV KRISTINE - luminous and enlightening.

Norwegian magic with style and enchanting voice! In 2021 LIV KRISTINE‘s EP „Have Courage Dear Heart“ was released and now the
re-release „Enter My Religion“. The album will be released for the first time as a vinyl with an extra single, as a cassette with two bonus tracks and as a double CD with unreleased tracks and demo recordings. The songs were also adorned with universal influences. Sitar sounds introduce the title track, which comfortably gets under your skin with its insinuating melody arcs and LIV KRISTINE‘s delicate voice. The opener „Over the Moon“ (PETER TÄGTGREN) hints at powerful metal, but then develops into a driving pop song. „Fake a Smile“ is an airy ballad, with LIV KRISTINE‘s voice charmingly taking center stage and setting the tone for most of the songs on the album. The title track „Enter my Religion“ is a mid-tempo anthem with a wise appeal to your inner self, your self-esteem, happiness and creativity. The pace continues with „All the Time in the World“. Straighter and more guitar-driven is „My Revelation“. Pleasing harmonies are in the foreground in the warm and soothing composition „Coming Home“. ‚Streets of Philadelphia‘ - BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN‘s theme song to the Oscar-winning movie was interpreted as a tribute. The arrangements being technically based on the original, LIV KRISTINE adds new and softer accents to the track. „You Take Me Higher“ is extraordinarily different and more dance-oriented, with a subtle drum‘n‘bass overlay. With „Trapped in Your Labyrinth“ and „Fake a Smile“ LIV KRISTINE spoils her listeners
with profoundly sensual ballads and rock songs. The fairy-like singing, accentuated by piano sounds, envelops music lovers in a web of security, melancholy and longing.

„Enter My Religion“ convinces as a spicy and varied album. The blond Norwegian succeeds in creating a fine album with romantic touches, which never slips into kitsch. Simply authentic, profoundly philosophical, surprising and absolutely LIV KRISTINE - luminous and enlightening.

The fourteen original compositions on "Old Love And New" were all composed by Ulita Knaus, created for poems by her favorite poets - these are timeless texts, always emotional and sometimes political. The songs already seem like rediscovered standards from the great songbook era of Cole Porter or the Gershwins, also because Ulita's band swings so fabulously. It is often downright spooky how much these lyrics and their songs fit into our time. Relaxation and evolution, rights for all and bicycles for two - the fact that these subjects are so haunting and relaxed on "Old Love And New" is of course also due to the musicians behind it. "An excellent band with sensitive arrangements accompanies Ulita in a great and sensitive way," said the European jazz legend Rolf Kühn. “Old Love and New”, an album full of poetry and swing and love - already a classic and certainly the peak so far in Ulita Knaus’ remarkable career.

2x12" 180g + Downloadcode !

With a career spanning over 3 decades, Dubfire has achieved global success as an artist with relentless drive, talent, and intuition. Pioneering commercial notoriety came initially as one half of the Grammy award (2001) winning duo Deep Dish, before embarking on a truly groundbreaking solo career in 2007. A career filled with timeless tracks include his early works ‘Ribcage’, ‘Emissions, ‘Roadkill’ and the highly acclaimed ‘Exit’ with Kiss Kitten. Collaborative work highlights include Luke Slater, Moscoman, Oliver Huntemann, Chris Liebing, Tiga and co-producing two tracks on the legendary Underworld’s ‘Barking’ album.
This year he finally releases his debut album ‘EVOLV’. An 11-track visionary into the mind of Dubfire to be released on his long-standing label SCI+TEC. EVOLV’s concept? The journey of the ‘hybrid’ being
and its evolution since its first appearance in 2015, as part of his two-year World tour following the release of his retrospective release ‘A Decade Of Dubfire’.
The second of the 4 singles is out in August. ‘Escape’, a deep, dark and pulsating track that sets the tone for the body of work on the album. Coupled with ‘Elevation’ and it’s understated arp and crisp percussion for the second single.

(feat. Claire Davis)

300 copies pressed

The A side was released back digitally in March. "Hope To See You Again" Which is an original song with Claire Davis on lead vocals

Better things is coming out digitally 15th July and it will be on a Ltd edition 45 vinyl. The Pre-Orders for the vinyl will be starting soon.

The B side is a killer version of her classic tune, "Better Things" The soulful vocals of Claire Davis are accompanied by jaunty horns and keyboards, and the cool groovebefits the positive lyrics ("I'm a better woman than I have been")

Introducing The HP's. This talent-studded Hamilton-based funk/soul collective is poised to make major moves with the release of their debut 45. The group is the brainchild of drummer/bandleader 'Parkside' Mike Renaud, the founder/owner of noted Canadian music company Hidden Pony Records & Management. A life-long fervent fan of funk and old school soul, Parkside has assembled a crack team of musicians and vocalists dedicated to his vision of breathing vibrant new life into these classic forms. Drawing inspiration from the likes of James Brown and The J.B.'s and Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings. The title pays tribute to Renaud's hometown, Hamilton, and The H.P.'s sound

honours The Hammer's core characteristics of rugged authenticity. Get ready to get Gritty!

— The HP's have partnered with UK based soul label LRK Records for the release of their latest single "Hope To See You Again", featuring Canadian soul singer and LRK alum Claire Davis

— "Hope To See You Again" arrives digitally March 31st, 2022 with the 45" expected summer 2022

— The 45" single will also include a cover of the Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings classic "Better Things"

The HP's.

To the Canadian music industry, 'Parkside' Mike Renaud is best known as the founder and owner of Hidden Pony

Records & Management, now widely recognized as one of Canada's premiere talent-development labels and artist

management companies. Past and present artists on Renaud's roster include Said The Whale, The Elwins, The Dirty

Nil, Hannah Georgas, Imaginary Cities, Jeremy Fisher, Odds, and many more.

Not many are aware that this popular industry power player actually got his start in music as a drummer in a '90s

Montreal soul/funk band called Parkside Jones (the source of his nickname). When he moved over to the business

side of music, beginning with top indie label Aquarius Records, Mike Renaud packed the kit away, launching himself

into the biz with full passion, commitment, and skill.

Mike has now resurrected his kit (after 20 years), honed his chops, and emerged as the driving force behind The

Renaud recalls the spark that reignited his love of playing drums: "The first time I played them in 20 years was at the

memorial for industry comrade Jon Box at The Opera House in Toronto. I was talked into playing with Chris Murphy

Sloan, Terra Lightfoot, and the Dirty Nil guys on a version of 'Handle With Care.'"

This renewed love affair would lead to Mike's vision for The H.P.'s. From his teenage years, his favourite musical

genre has been classic soul and funk, and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of these styles. Heartened to see the

growing international community building around these sounds, Mike decided to make his own creative contribution to

the form. He recruited musical and vocal collaborators from his hometown (plus a couple of Toronto imports) for the

project, and The H.P.'s were born.

The group name, The H.P.'s, pays homage to James Brown's legendary band, The J.B.'s, with these initials

referencing Hidden Pony. The album title is a tribute to Renaud's hometown, Hamilton, and The H.P.'s sound

honours The Hammer's core characteristics of grit and authenticity. Mike actually spent some time co-managing the

current J.B.'s.

The late Sharon Jones, a key inspiration for Renaud, is honoured via a killer version of her classic tune, "Better

Things." The soulful vocals of Claire Davis are accompanied by jaunty horns and keyboards, and the cool groove

befits the positive lyrics ("I'm a better woman than I have been").

Giving this cover extra resonance are the memorable encounters both Davis and Renaud had with Jones back in

2015. A documentary portrait of the soul great, Miss Sharon Jones!, had its world premiere at the Toronto

International Film Festival (TIFF), and Claire Davis was doing a house concert playing DapKings songs that night.

The band came across the party and jammed along, then, when one of the Dap Kings backup singers couldn't cross

the border, Claire got the call to fill in at Sharon Jones' headlining show at Hamilton's Supercrawl fest.

In a cool twist of fate, Mike Renaud was one of the organizers of that show, and was tasked with looking after

Sharon. The two bonded instantly and deeply, as Mike recalls. "While driving her to soundcheck, Sharon confided in

me that her cancer had returned. She didn't want anyone to know, as the documentary was about her conquering it,

and she didn't want people to be bummed out at the news. It was my 40th birthday that day, and Sharon actually

stopped her show to sing me Happy Birthday in a soulful way!"

Shakethehoof added "Hope To See you Again' to their playlist musicto/shake-a-hoof/the-hps-ft-claire-davis-hope-to-see-you-again-the-hoof-chats/

"BETTER THINGS" has gone straight into the UK Soul chart breakers at No 8

For their Drag City debut, the enigmatic duo expand into eight-armed wonder; all the better to reach ever-deeper into their bag o' tricks. Slinky and sliding elegantly, the kids forge tunes with a harmony of ambiguity and nostalgia, effortless yet precise, and rounded with thick bottom - a dancing clash of cognition and dissonance! Since 2015, Kamikaze Palm Tree have been a relative mystery. Now, in times no less mysterious, Drag City welcomes them, celebrating the energy of their second LP, where KPT play their offbeat strain of 21st century rock. Making MINT CHIP, Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner reach deeper into their bag of tricks than ever before, dialoguing with an absurd shared intent they haven't yet paused to question. The off-center pieces gathered together for Good Boy have given way to pulsing aquatic compositions on MINT CHIP. Cole's guitar tones, wire thin, bell-like, bluesily downtuned, slinky and sliding elegantly, arc purposeful around their peripherals. Dylan's kit work, effortless yet precise, grounded with heavy bottom, drives and interacts organically with all the emerging structure, nailing down finely detailed frames and canvases to backdrop her singing and the unremitting landing of melodies and songs. With the addition of Josh Puklavetz, things that didn't make sense before - like bass - are now on the beach, fully lotioned, essence to essence. Violin and clarinet (Laena Myers Ionita and Brad Caulkins, respectively) round out the tonal spectrum. All strung together in the foothills of Altadena's Wiggle World Studios with Hartling back in the engineer's seat and Tim Presley producing the proceedings!

For their Drag City debut, the enigmatic duo expand into eight-armed wonder; all the better to reach ever-deeper into their bag o' tricks. Slinky and sliding elegantly, the kids forge tunes with a harmony of ambiguity and nostalgia, effortless yet precise, and rounded with thick bottom - a dancing clash of cognition and dissonance! Since 2015, Kamikaze Palm Tree have been a relative mystery. Now, in times no less mysterious, Drag City welcomes them, celebrating the energy of their second LP, where KPT play their offbeat strain of 21st century rock. Making MINT CHIP, Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner reach deeper into their bag of tricks than ever before, dialoguing with an absurd shared intent they haven't yet paused to question. The off-center pieces gathered together for Good Boy have given way to pulsing aquatic compositions on MINT CHIP. Cole's guitar tones, wire thin, bell-like, bluesily downtuned, slinky and sliding elegantly, arc purposeful around their peripherals. Dylan's kit work, effortless yet precise, grounded with heavy bottom, drives and interacts organically with all the emerging structure, nailing down finely detailed frames and canvases to backdrop her singing and the unremitting landing of melodies and songs. With the addition of Josh Puklavetz, things that didn't make sense before - like bass - are now on the beach, fully lotioned, essence to essence. Violin and clarinet (Laena Myers Ionita and Brad Caulkins, respectively) round out the tonal spectrum. All strung together in the foothills of Altadena's Wiggle World Studios with Hartling back in the engineer's seat and Tim Presley producing the proceedings!

Following on from Le Motel’s knockout release in February, Brussel-based producer DJ JM lands on Maloca Records with a new EP ‘Squash’. The prolific producer is known for his impressive output of production-only mixes and releases on labels such as Nervous Horizon, Goon Club Allstars, and Even The Strong. The DJ JM project was first established in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2015, becoming quickly known for off-kilter club records. Heavily driven by percussion, DJ JM continues his powerful stride, this time providing six weird and wonky dancefloor anthems. With the Maloca Records ethos built upon global collaborations, on this record DJ JM teams up with Ugandan MC Swordman Kitala on ‘Funicular’. Launching Maloca Records in 2020, Le Motel aims to bring together an international network of makers which was highlighted on the label’s first compilation, Maloca Vol. 1. The release focused on a terrestrial and borderless percussive sound that has been bubbling in clubs and Le Motel’s orbit, featuring tracks from Nick León, OMAAR, DJ JM, Dengue Dengue Dengue, Coen, DJ N.K. and Tsongo. Maloca has also released solo EPs from Howie Lee, Farsight and Griffit Vigo.

New label Golden Ape Records kick off their journey with some raw Electro-Funk chic from the Funk Messiahs with their brilliant debut single, 'Save Me' Vocalist Lucy (Veeresh's Humaniversity Sound), whose deep sultry understated vocals soothe the soul; the amazing Pest trio (Ninja Tune) of Matt on guitar, Vinny on sticks and Tom on Trombone to provide the rhythm and driving funk. Super talented Kitty (Kitty, Daisy & Lewis) moving booties with the bass, and A-Lo adding Electro vibes with his vintage synths. Remixes from Crazy P's Jim Baron, who delivers a seductive percussive Disco vibe under his Ron Basejam moniker; 'Dark Wobble' (aka Michel Williams), who injects some Scouse street style flavas; and Ben Pest amps up the electro filth with a gritty electronic outing.

John Ondolo spent his life traveling between Tanzania, where he was born, and Kenya, where he recorded a string of singles for independent labels in the late 1950s and early 60s. Unlike most guitarists from the region, Ondolo used open tuning (a favorite of American blues guitarists), creating a hypnotic drone over which he laid down endless rhythmic variations on his main themes. Inspired by the exploding pop music scene in Nairobi, the newest rock and roll imports from the US, and the Abakuria tribal music of his youth, Ondolo transposed traditional instruments and rhythms to his guitar, playing it more like a traditional harp at times, and inventing a sound totally unique in the recorded history of African guitar. This album brings together John Ondolo's rare early 78rpm recordings in the first-ever overview of this innovative but overlooked artist. The music traces Ondolo's creative output, from the resonant acoustic guitar masterpiece Tumshukuru Mungu to the relentless guitar and flute (!) interplay of Kenya Style to his later electric guitar, bass, and drum recordings with the Jolly Trio, all tied together by Ondolo's unique rhythmic sense and vocal style. The breadth and variety of Ondolo's recordings may be a result of his sporadic recording history. Unlike more famous artists, Ondolo wasn't sucked into the Nairobi nightlife scene of the early 60s, instead traveling from his farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro on occasion to record. An outsider and devout Catholic whose music was sometimes at odds with the style of the times, he later left music entirely, shifting to film and driving a mobile cinema van for the Tanzanian government, introducing socialist and Pan-African films to the countryside. An accident in his mobile cinema led to the loss of his left arm, though he continued his travels. He died in 2008 in Dar Es Salaam, leaving behind two wives and 11 children. Over a decade in the works, Hypnotic Guitar of_ includes an insert with lyrics and translations, as well as notes by Tanzanian musician and historian John Kitime. Expertly restored and mastered by Michael Keiffer and pressed on 160gm black vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago. Licensed from the Ondolo family in Tanzania.

21st anniversary of Hey Tank, Miam Monster Miam's second album in limited vinyl edition. A absurd and poetic piece of music from the indie belgium lofi scene of the 90's. The Sleeve note are written by Dogbowl.

We have two versions (two different covers) - black vinyl or multicolor, limited, hand nubered (111 copies) vinyl.

Two years after the well-received compilation "Nebula," Himalaya Collective (probably the largest team of beatmakers in Poland) returns with another release. This time the Himalayan section of 24 producers (and some exceptional guests from outside the collective) will take us on a journey into the skies. On "Latawce" (which means "Kites" in English), we will hear 24 tracks with one goal in mind - to allow a maximum two-minute flight. The premiere (not accidentally) will take place on the 1st day of summer.

The sound of each Kite has been colored thanks to the excellent mastering done by Eprom. The album's vinyl version was made in two options and with two different covers. @Eloprzemi is responsible for the design of the classic version, and the cover of the limited surprise vinyl was designed by Gbur. The limited edition is hand-numbered (111 copies), and the surprise is worth emphasizing the different colors of each vinyl! Crazy Action! Great album! The perfect soundtrack for the summer holidays 2022!

In late 1961 Spector formed Philles Records with Lester Sill, buying his mentor out the
following year. The slogan was ‘Tomorrow’s sound today’, and Phil Spector proceeded to live
up to that boast. Three-track tape machines were then state of the art, and he perfected the
method of ‘bouncing’ the tracks to get the biggest possible sound. As time went by, his ‘twominute symphonies for the kids’ would be increasingly gilded by his ‘everything but the kitchen
sink’ production including Strings, Percussion and banks of Vocals. Spector gained his
second U.S. chart-topper and his first as a Producer in 1962 with the Gene Pitney penned,
He’s A Rebel. Spector became increasingly obsessed by the production process. ‘My records
are built like a Wagnerian opera. They start simply and end with dynamic force, meaning and
purpose. I dreamed it up.’ He retired from the music business, returning only sporadically to
work with first The Beatles (their Let It Be album, plus solo LPs by George Harrison and John
Lennon), plus a handful of other artists including Dion, Cher and the Ramones.

Dubfire - Dark Matter | Dust & Gas
With a career spanning over 3 decades, Dubfire has achieved global success as an artist with relentless drive, talent, and intuition. Pioneering commercial notoriety came initially as one half of the Grammy award (2001) winning duo Deep Dish, before embarking on a truly groundbreaking solo career in 2007. A career filled with timeless tracks include his early works ‘Ribcage’, ‘Emissions, ‘Roadkill’ and the highly acclaimed ‘Exit’ with Kiss Kitten. Collaborative work highlights include Luke Slater, Moscoman, Oliver Huntemann, Chris Liebing, Tiga and co-producing two tracks on the legendary Underworld’s ‘Barking’ album. This year he finally releases his debut album ‘EVOLV’. An 11-track visionary into the mind of Dubfire to be released on his long-standing label SCI+TEC. EVOLV’s concept? The journey of the ‘hybrid’ being and its evolution since its first appearance in 2015, as part of his two-year World tour following the release of his retrospective release ‘A Decade Of Dubfire’.
The first of 4 singles launch in July with ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘Dust & Gas’. Both tracks set a brooding atmosphere. The rougher percussion, and eerie lead in ‘Dark Matter’ is accompanied by a stripped back sound and glitchy vocals sitting in a spaced-out atmosphere in ‘Dust & Gas’. Its deep and minimal drum work is exceptional. The start of a sonically evolved journey for its listeners, this album is what many have waited for, with a few unexpected twists along the way.

First-ever release of this legendary Tangerine Dream score from 1981 (aka Dead Kids).

Gatefold packaging / Green (Streaked Lime Green) Color Vinyl. (

Please check allocation with your rep.

It's never been available on any format until now! For this release, we dug out the original tapes and had them digitized and they sound incredible.

Such an atmospheric masterpiece and we are honored to be releasing it. This has been on many TD fans' wish lists for years and years.

From Pacific City Discs, to you the listener, this summer, a DJ mix of fantasy and splash-energy is coming to you in a small edition of vinyl.  Fantasy writer/recording artist, Francesco Cavaliere, while visiting his seaside childhood vacation location, was extended an impromptu invitation, to DJ an 80s swimming club. He had this to say about his experience:

“I was at Shangri-La and a boy and girl from the bathhouse in silver swimsuits and sand-colored streaks waved me over with a drink and asked me if I would like to DJ the next day during my lesson on the beach at Tana del Pirata! I then and there I laughed but then I accepted (I had nothing at home just my mp3 player and a Nokia with music inside) The next day there was a little wind on the beach and the umbrellas swayed to the left. From the heat they could catch fire, white flames, instead the sea was rough and that wind with very long wrists cheered us up, blowing gaseous clouds in our faces. Perfect for the day ahead. After the first few pieces, I began to see that a group of kids jumped into the adjacent pool trying flips bombs and candle dives. Someone at the bar was playing Altered Beast .. so sipping a drink with ice I imagined DJ werewolf repeating catchy pieces while a kite half cobra half skyscraper inflated above us.”

This Impromptu Disc is fresh now, for you to frolic with this summer, while entertaining a daydream in the midst of entering a body of water while witnessing an apparition in the sky.

Selected and compiled by Francisco Cavaliere
Artwork by Spencer Clark

It is to the detriment of our understanding of musicality that we mostly measure it by the capacity to produce, and much less by the capacity to receive some sort of acoustic information or event. The virtuosity of listening, of understanding the sonic situation and its potential, is, however, that which defines one's capacity to interact – with other musicians, with the audience, and with the environment. This could also be taken to mean that an ethical act is implied in the situation of listening – the decision to relate, to be attentive to, to actively position oneself in relation to what is heard.

Rarely is this capacity so thoroughly pronounced and ethically conscious as in the case of Manja Ristić, the Belgrade-born and Royal Academy of Music-schooled musician, composer, sound and multimedia artist (the list could go on), who currently lives on the island of Korčula in the Croatian part of the Adriatic. Ristić’s recent, field recording-based work, is indeed all about attentiveness, most of all towards the environment and the acoustic traces of the endangered ecological layers of her old-new Mediterranean surroundings. With that in mind, it is indeed no wonder that her newest album draws from Milton’s Paradise Lost, which could easily be the anti-slogan of the endangered Croatian coast, eaten up by the pressures of touristification and the usurpation and privatization of once common space. More precisely, the album is inspired by one of the fifty Gustave Doré illustrations of Milton’s epic, Him, fast sleeping, soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round, self-rolled, from which it draws its title. The verses and the scene are from Book IX, and depict the moment Satan inhabits the Serpent, the beginning of his subversion of God’s autocratic rule, as some interpretations would have it.

For Ristić, the actual Paradise she introduces us to is in a state of imbalance – the idyllic soundscapes of her island surroundings overlain with sonic anxiety, such as on the album’s first track, The Flies, with its unrelenting, nervous buzzing evoking the ominous Biblical entity of Beelzebub, or The Lord of the Flies. The next track, Whales, which beautifully utilizes archival whale recordings, could also be taken to establish an intertextual relation to Milton through Melville, whose Moby Dick was strongly influenced by Paradise Lost. The middle track of the album, dedicated to the Croatian-American painter and muralist Maksimilijan Vanka, uses to great, unsettling effect what to my ears sounds like a buried hydrophone, a technique often employed by Ristić in her work, giving us a rough, grinding impression of water beating the pebbles over a high-pitched drone. But perhaps the most ominous, pessimistic image is painted in The Flag Pole, in which the symbol of revolutionary victory (I’m thinking of the Yugoslav modernist Tin Ujević and his proto-avant-garde sonnet Farewell from 1914) becomes a source of terrifying sonic unease, as we are listening to the incessant sound of its rope hitting the metal pole. However, with Dlana Night comes relief – the drones become airier, calmer; there is a distant notion of people, dogs, everyday life, all shrouded in the calming sound of the crickets on the island of Silba. Ristić, ultimately, serves us some hope on this wonderful new album, showing us that something has been lost, but that something can also be gained through the thoughtful attention with which she listens to the world around her.

„My recording techniques all boil down to one thing – intuition. I do not use expensive or highly sensitive equipment nor do I employ special techniques. On the contrary, I believe that the information regarding a space or an object can be recorded well enough on an average device. My personal guideline when recording sound is the positioning of myself as the listening medium, active and with the intention of establishing a connection that is sometimes intellectual, sometimes conceptual, and sometimes phenomenological.” - Manja Ristić, in an interview for Kulturpunkt.hr

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl.

When you drop the needle on Vocal Patterns, you are entering a world that is equal parts suave, smooth, cool, nostalgic, and kitsch. With haunting and beautiful vocals, upbeat numbers, and smooth sounds made for a late 60’s summer holiday, let this cult classic transport you back to a simpler time. Originally released in 1971, Vocal Patterns features compositions by Roger Webb and vocal performances by Barbara Moore. This powerhouse duo has their own recognition outside of library music. Roger Webb worked as a musical director alongside the likes of Rex Harrison and Bette Davis and wrote songs for Shirley Bassey and Johnny Mathis. Barbara Moore, composer of the de Wolfe cult classic “Vocal Shades and Tones”, collaborated with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Dusty Springfield, and Tom Jones.

Repress back in soon, now on black vinyl. Genre: Rock-Alternative; Dreampop, Indiepop, Lo-fi. RIYL: Jesus and Mary Chain, Galaxie 500, Belle and Sebastian, Sarah Records.

The purest a band can aim for is to present their milieu as a time capsule from the morning of. April Magazine deals deep in the hypnagogic charm of their surroundings. Since the 2018 release of “Shirley Don’t” a sneaky classic that first turned ears outside their SF Bay Area home the band has stirred out a handful of cryptic indie pop recordings nestled in warm aerosol hiss and scrappy hand-drawn cover art. Music that glints in the far back of an urban daydream where guitars could be bells, bells could be voices, and voices hardly find use in words. If The Ceiling Were A Kite is a document of things losing definition and time gone slack. The songs on If The Ceiling Were A Kite were recorded over a span of about two years, after Peter, Mike and Kati started playing together around a four track cassette player in Peter’s bedroom. Other kindred spirits like Julia Waves, Ian Collins, Anthony Comstock OBC, Zach Vito, and eventually David Diaz joined in on some of the recordings and live shows adding to the collective ‘whatever works’ ethos of April Magazine. April Magazine is Peter Hurley, Katiana Mashikian, Mike Ramos, David Diaz.

Obscura label head Fedele makes his long awaited return to the imprint for new EP ‘The Awake, Pt.1’, backed by remixes from Extrawelt and Midnight Operator aka Mathew Jonson and Nathan Jonson. Fedele’s penchant for synthesizer techniques and drum machines has caught the ear of global tastemakers, with projects released on the likes of Turbo, Afterlife, and Ellum receiving support from the likes of Maceo Plex, Tiga, Tale of Us, Dixon, John Digweed, Miss Kittin, and DJ Stingray. With sights set towards summer peak, the Italian returns to his Obscura Music imprint with his latest work, The Awake, Pt. 1.

Riot Dance leads the line with crisp kicks on a heady rise to set the groove before an analog-tinged synth line claims the hook. Acidic tones & ethereal stabs offer a generous dose of psychedelia, while the gritty groove ensures the cut’s ability to ignite dance floors. Modular Madness harnesses ominous flavors and a driving bassline that ebbs & flows to keep minds melting. The melodies open into swirling synthetics, with revolving reverberations and rich soundscapes capturing the ear from start to finish.

Storied German duo Extrawelt arrive on remix duty, taking the reins on ‘Riot Dance’ to twist a low- slung groover. They bring the bassline into the foreground, keeping a delightful vibe alive and welcoming a touch of light to the dark underbelly of the original, before diving back into the deep as the track unfolds. Obscura regular Mathew Jonson connects with a producer he knows well – his brother Nathan. Together, they remix ‘Modular Madness’ under their alias Midnight Operator. Picking up the pace, they maintain the acid-laced grit from the original arrangement, while adding serene melodies to the high-end. A balanced rework from two seasoned veterans.

Imperfect Stranger is the pseudonym of Glasgow based soundtrack composer and producer Kenny Inglis. “Everything Wrong is Right” is his debut solo album for Castles in Space.
Born in 1975, Kenny didn't listen to much music, unless it was the opening credits to a TV show or a film score that had caught his ear. "I loved the pre-title music on a lot of those 80's U.S. TV shows. From the family orientated stuff like The A-Team, to darker dramas such as The Equalizer. My mother would let me stay up to watch the opening sequence of the latter then send me to bed because the story would be too heavy for a kid. That left me with this hanging sense of ambiguity as to what would happen in that hour after the titles came up.”
Exposure to a work colleague’s tiny project studio in a kitchen cupboard was a lightbulb moment for him and the experience of utilising music technology as a way of writing and producing entire tracks stirred a wave of determination to chase a career in music using the opportunities that technology could offer. Kenny figured the best way to move forward was to start a small project studio and learn his craft as a recording engineer. "It was a bit of a shock to the system. I literally had no idea how to work any of the equipment. Kenny focused on learning as much about the craft as he could whilst winging his way through recording and mixing everyone from the likes of singer/songwriters to bands, to voiceovers artists and anything in between. "Eventually, I stopped writing the music I thought people would want to hear, and started writing the music I wanted to make. I didn't come from a music loving background, but I was always obsessed by the way music and film would interact - how music brings this atmosphere and tone to even the most mundane visual stuff. I wanted to capture that. I wanted to grab some of that ambiguity I felt from the TV shows of my childhood and make it into a project of some sort". That project was Spylab. A dark, downtempo project with a cinematic edge. The initial demo consisted of three tracks, with the melancholic 'This Utopia' leading the playlist.
"At the time you did demos on normal cassette tapes. I remember having this endless battle with the bias control to try and get the best sound I could on these little tapes. Ten went in the post one Monday morning, and the following Monday there were three offers from three different labels. Studio K7 were interested in a singles deal, as was Flying Rhino in London. But then there was an offer from a Chicago based label by the name of Guidance Recordings. They wanted an album, and were offering a $15,000 advance. It wasn't a difficult decision to make"
Writing and recording Spylab 'This Utopia' began in 1999. The album took a whole year to produce. The album was to catch the attention of Mary Anne Hobbs at Radio One. At the time Mary Anne was presenting The Breezeblock - a late Sunday night show with an eclectic playlist of alternative electronic music. Picking out the album's title track 'This Utopia', Mary Anne would go on to play it no less than 8 weeks in a row. A request for Spylab to DJ on the show was to follow. "I had never DJ'd before. I think I had a week to figure out how to do that and put a playlist together. I'm not entirely sure how I pulled that off.” In March 2001 the Spylab album was finally released to a hoard of excellent reviews. A North American live tour would follow. From the launch party in Los Angeles, to a sell out show at SXSW in Austin. "I then started a new project under the name Cinephile. It had some of the core elements of the Spylab sound but it was deeper, more cinematic.” Kenny received news that a track from the previous project Spylab had been requested by HBO for the first episode of a new TV drama called Six Feet Under. This was to become a major turning point in Kenny's career. The Spylab track 'Celluloid Hypnotic' dropped during a poignant party scene of the first Six Feet Under episode. Within a couple of days Kenny was getting requests for music from other music supervisors. "It was a chain reaction. The Six Feet Under sync was like the tip of an iceberg. One day I called CBS in America and they put me on to the CSI music supervisor and I managed to get on a call with him. I sent the Cinephile stuff out and within a few months I got this fax through from CBS - a quote request for one of the tracks for a potential use on CSI. It changed my life."
The tone and style of Kenny's music sat perfectly with the CSI score requirements. So much so he found himself part of a pool of incidental writers who worked on all three aspects of the franchise - CSI, CSI: NY, and CSI: Miami. This would continue until 2013, when the last of the series would come to an end.
"I was juggling a bunch of stuff for those ten years. Writing material for CSI, whilst releasing new Cinephile stuff and playing live. As Cinephile continued to gather pace, one of the tracks from Kenny's efforts on CSI was chosen for the Hollywood trailer for the Samuel L. Jackson film 'Lakeview Terrace'. Further trailers would follow, from Gangster Squad to Dead Man Down, Spike Lee's Undisputed Truth, to Fifty Shades Freed.
At the same time, Kenny picked up his first factual commissions in the UK, and this too would be the beginning of a regular run of fully scoring factuals and documentaries. By 2021, six of these had won BAFTAs. He also would find himself soundtracking adverts for the likes of Nike, Audi, and American AirlinesIn early 2020, Kenny made a return to focusing on his own music under the pseudonym Imperfect Stranger. A tweet from Colin Morrison from Castles In Space regarding a charity compilation album 'The Isolation Tapes' caught his eye. Kenny had made a start on his debut album as Imperfect Stranger and submitted the track 'Hymn To The Sun' (which would become the lead track on the album). Further discussions ensued, and the album found a home on CiS. "I had been doing TV and film stuff for almost ten years. It paid the bills and was as close to a 'real job' as I'd had, but I yearned to get back to writing for myself, so doing an album for Castles in Space was a joy.
“The music I write is like a diary. There's an authentic narrative to everything i do. I don't write tracks for the sake of writing. I write tracks to diarise and process the stuff that I've lived through, and the experiences that have come along with the passing years. That's what makes me tick. It's a very public and vulnerable way of expressing myself. If people want to know the real me, all they have to do is listen."

Tape

Charlemagne Palestine (born Charles Martin ni 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against audiences' expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. A composer-performer, he always performed his own works as soloist. His earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is best known for his intensely performed piano works. He also performs as a vocalist. Palestine's performance style is ritualistic; he generally surrounds himself (and his piano) with stuffed animals, smokes large numbers of kretek (Indonesian clove cigarettes) and drinks cognac.

Oren Ambarchi (born 1969 in Australia) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, "re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it's no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it's a laboratory for extended sonic investigation". (The Wire, UK).

Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal.

From the late 90's his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On releases such as Grapes From The Estate and In The Pendulum's Embrace Ambarchi has employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously coexist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar.

Ambarchi works with simple constructs and parameters; exploring one idea over an extended duration and patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture; the phenomena of sum and difference tones; carefully tended arrangements that unravel gently; unprepossessing melodies that slowly work their way through various permutations; resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.

Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji Haino, John Zorn, Rizili, Voice Crack, Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Dave Grohl, Gunter Muller, Evan Parker, z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg, Merzbow, Kassel Jaeger, Anthony Pateras, Crys Cole, Giuseppe Ielasi, Judith Hamann, Sunn 0))), James Rushford, Stephen O'Malley and many more.

For 10 years together with Robbie Avenaim, Ambarchi was the co-organiser of the What Is Music? festival, Australia's premier annual showcase of local and international experimental music. Ambarchi now curates the Maximum Arousal series at The Toff In Town in Melbourne and has recently co-produced an Australian television series on experimental music called Subsonics. Ambarchi co-curated the sound program for the 2008 Yokohama Triennale. Ambarchi has released numerous recordings for international labels such as Touch, Southern Lord, Table Of The Elements and Tzadik.

Belgian drummer Eric Thielemans is one of the most idiosyncratic figures in Belgian music, someone who not only demonstrates that special musicians always seek out (and find) their own place, but above all that they always remain students of the art of questioning and listening. No musician better illustrates the difference between playing music and playing with music than percussionist Eric Thielemans. He gets to the heart of the matter with an at times extremely minimalist approach, but on the other hand he frequently relies on a range of objects beyond the regular drum kit: a drum placed on its side, a bicycle wheel with a bow, hands and the body.

Tape

Charlemagne Palestine (born Charles Martin ni 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against audiences' expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. A composer-performer, he always performed his own works as soloist. His earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is best known for his intensely performed piano works. He also performs as a vocalist. Palestine's performance style is ritualistic; he generally surrounds himself (and his piano) with stuffed animals, smokes large numbers of kretek (Indonesian clove cigarettes) and drinks cognac.

Oren Ambarchi (born 1969 in Australia) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, "re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it's no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it's a laboratory for extended sonic investigation". (The Wire, UK).

Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal.

From the late 90's his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On releases such as Grapes From The Estate and In The Pendulum's Embrace Ambarchi has employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously coexist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar.

Ambarchi works with simple constructs and parameters; exploring one idea over an extended duration and patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture; the phenomena of sum and difference tones; carefully tended arrangements that unravel gently; unprepossessing melodies that slowly work their way through various permutations; resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.

Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji Haino, John Zorn, Rizili, Voice Crack, Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Dave Grohl, Gunter Muller, Evan Parker, z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg, Merzbow, Kassel Jaeger, Anthony Pateras, Crys Cole, Giuseppe Ielasi, Judith Hamann, Sunn 0))), James Rushford, Stephen O'Malley and many more.

For 10 years together with Robbie Avenaim, Ambarchi was the co-organiser of the What Is Music? festival, Australia's premier annual showcase of local and international experimental music. Ambarchi now curates the Maximum Arousal series at The Toff In Town in Melbourne and has recently co-produced an Australian television series on experimental music called Subsonics. Ambarchi co-curated the sound program for the 2008 Yokohama Triennale. Ambarchi has released numerous recordings for international labels such as Touch, Southern Lord, Table Of The Elements and Tzadik.

Belgian drummer Eric Thielemans is one of the most idiosyncratic figures in Belgian music, someone who not only demonstrates that special musicians always seek out (and find) their own place, but above all that they always remain students of the art of questioning and listening. No musician better illustrates the difference between playing music and playing with music than percussionist Eric Thielemans. He gets to the heart of the matter with an at times extremely minimalist approach, but on the other hand he frequently relies on a range of objects beyond the regular drum kit: a drum placed on its side, a bicycle wheel with a bow, hands and the body.

A collection of brilliant modern electronica scores inspired by the Bedfordshire countryside by Jodey Kendrick. Some of the historical landmarks in this historic UK midlands county, several dating back from before the 9th century, are the sceneries for this collection of eerie soundscapes punctuated by clangy metallic beats and brutal bass. Alienating old landscapes clashing with rapidly changing modern technologies is the playground for Jodey Kendrick's musical adventures.

Petter Eldh's explosive ensemble Koma Saxo continues their adventures with a new album "Koma West", out on We Jazz Records, 18 March 2022. The album sees Koma Saxo expand on their previous sound with the addition of vocalist Sofia Jernberg and a strong cast of featured artists, including cellist Lucy Railton, violinist Maria Reich, pianist Kit Downes and accordionist Kiki Eldh (Petter's mom!). The hard-hitting key quintet remains, including Eldh on bass and assorted instruments, Christian Lillinger on drums, plus saxophonists Otis Sandsjö (of Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen bringing the SAXO to the KOMA operation.

At 14 tracks, "Koma West" is a full menu of monumental compositional ideas that could spawn entire albums. True to his chop & go production style, Eldh relies on continuous movement while presenting another all killer no filler program taking Koma Saxo on a sonic outing not quite like anything that had previously appeared under the band's name. That being said, there's very much the Petter Eldh touch here, one which might be hard to pinpoint and verbalise, but nevertheless a recognisable style of composing, producing and arranging.

Thematically, the album is rooted in the West Coast of Sweden, where Eldh grew up – he's from a tiny town called Lysekil. There's a thread of Swedish folk song tradition that has been part of the Koma Saxo DNA from the get-go and you can hear that here as well, especially on cuts such as "Närhet", beautifully sung by Sofia Jernberg.

Petter Eldh says:

"In a way, it's a concept album and a celebration of the Swedish West Coast. The first single is called 'Koma Kaprifol', and kaprifol is the landscape flower of Bohuslän on the West coast, where I grew up. I'm not too wild about attaching strong narratives to my music but there's no way around it this time. The oysters, a common snack around the coast, are a strong conceptual presence here. Anyway, they seem to pop up here and there quite often already thus far in the Koma Saxo narrative, even though it's not always so obvious. Koma Vocals! Koma Strings! I love the presence of Sofia Jernberg here and I love writing string arrangements, too, although I never thought I would do it for Koma, but of course, Koma should have some strings, why not?. Koma Saxo should and can become anything."

“I’ve been playing since I was 11 years old,” says Charlie Gabriel, the most
senior member of the legendary Preservation Hall Band. “I never did anything in
my life but play music. I’ve been blessed with that gift that God gave me, and I’ve
tried to nurse it the best way I knew how.”
 While he’s faced plenty of challenges nursing that gift for more than 78 years,
none likely rank with last winter’s passing of his brother and last living sibling,
Leonard, lost to COVID-19. For the first time ever, Gabriel put down his horn,
filling his days and weeks instead with dark reflection, a stubborn despondency
broken now and then by regular chess matches in the studio kitchen of Hall
leader Ben Jaffe, working overtime to bring his friend some light.
 One such afternoon also included Joshua Starkman, sitting off in a corner
playing his guitar and half-watching the chess from a distance. When Charlie
returned the next day, he brought his saxophone. “I was just inspired to try it, to
play again. It had been a long time, and a guitar makes me feel free. I do love the
sound of a piano, but it takes up a lot of a space, keeps me kind of boxed in.”
That day was to be the first session for ‘Eighty Nine’, almost entirely the work of
Gabriel, Jaffe and Starkman, recorded mostly right there, in the kitchen, by Matt
Aguiluz.
 Charlie Gabriel’s first professional gig dates to 1943, sitting in for his father in
New Orleans’ Eureka Brass Band. As a teenager living in Detroit, Charlie played
with Lionel Hampton, whose band then included a young Charles Mingus, later
spending nine years with a group led by Cab Calloway drummer J.C. Heard.
While he’s also fronted a bebop quintet, played and/or toured with Ella
Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, Aretha Franklin and many more, this is the first time his
name appears on the front of a record, as a bandleader.
 Since 2006, Gabriel has been a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band,
featuring prominently on ‘That’s It, So It Is’, and ‘Tuba to Cuba’. ‘Eighty Nine’ was
different, and not simply due to a smaller ensemble. “We had no particular plan,
or any particular insight on what we were gonna do. But we were enjoying what
we were doing, jamming, having a musical conversation,” Charlie says, further
musing, “Musical conversations cancel out complications.”
 The album includes six standards and three newer pieces on which Gabriel is a
writer: ‘Yellow Moon’, ‘The Darker It Gets’ and ‘I Get Jealous’. The record also
marks Charlie’s return to his first instrument, clarinet, on many of the tracks. “The
clarinet is the mother of the saxophone,” he says. “I started playing clarinet early
in life, and this taught me the saxophone.”
 Finally, ‘Eighty Nine’ includes three tracks of Charlie singing. “I always sung, but
it wasn’t my forte to become a singer,” he says. “The truth is, people often
develop a real relationship with a song once they hear the words. Sometimes I
enjoy singing them.”
 First pressing on translucent gold Loser Edition coloured vinyl

Last Night From Glasgow is thrilled to bring you the majestic "Mother
Natures Kitchen" from Kevin McDermott Orchestra on vinyl
Following his solo album, Suffocation Blues, Kevin McDermott formed the Kevin
McDermott Orchestra and began performing the material that would become
Mother Nature's Kitchen. McDermott distributed KMO demos to record
companies and they were soon signed to Island RecordsThe album - which
followed in 1989 was named byThe Sun Newspaper as being number 37 in the
list of "The best Scottish albums..ever"

“I’m closing a chapter in my life,” Barbie Bertisch says to me from a park bench in Greenpoint, “I spent the last four years working towards gaining confidence around my ideas and my creative perspective. This feels like a culmination of that process” The “this,” in question is Bertisch’s debut record Prelude, a collection of eleven songs that chronicle 5 years of Bertisch’s life. The legendary musician Anna Domino describes the record best: “Prelude is a record of layers and depths. The melting phases and soaring distances.”


Raised in Buenos Aires and Miami, Bertisch has called New York home for most of her adult life. When she started piecing together Prelude, she was in her Brooklyn kitchen. It was early quarantine. Stuck at home instead of DJing at clubs, she found the space to parse through the archives. What she previously considered unworthy of attention in the era of distractions, finally made sense as a whole once all the noise was turned down. Compiling a list of songs in various states of completion, Bertisch dreamed up an album, a chronicle in growth and healing frustrations of the past, an honest account of someone trying to find her own voice. That in and of itself was a journey. It took years for Bertisch to accept that she was an artist. “I felt like I was surrounded by men who ruled every space. I constantly felt like I had to ask permission to enter, always around bands but never the girl in the band” she says.


Prelude is an introspective record. It explores all of the valences of being and feeling. Some songs are chaotic and choppy. Others are soft and searching. There is rage and innocence, and moments of forced stillness, like capturing the aftermath of panic attacks, as in “After The Storm”. Bertisch also focuses on rhythm, bass guitar being her main instrument, and no stranger to the power of the beat. The record also draws on influences as varied as Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Cocteau Twins, Berlin School, and pioneering producer François Kevorkian. Both sonically and conceptually, Prelude is a portrait of who Bertisch is as a person.“Is This What You Wanted?” is fiery, a pointed provocation to domineering figures from her past. It’s full of strobing, strident synths, and heady lines of bass. It gives off the same vibe as a fire alarm, as a big room dance track that subverts your expectations of what it means to dance in a sea of bodies. “28,” the record’s opening track is more peaceful. It’s all languid keyboard arpeggios with the occasional flourish of a cascading synth effect.


Since most of the songs already existed in some form or another, Bertisch’s job on Prelude was to refine and reimagine music that had previously been private. She spent time rearranging, rewriting, adding elements newly available to her, such as the saxophone, and pushing the limits of the rough mixes to mold the universe she envisioned. Along the way, Bertisch grew more excited about her abilities as a musician. The resulting record is one that is inherently confident.


Prelude is also a homespun release. It’s coming out on Bertisch’s own label, Love Injection Records, which she runs with her partner Paul Raffaele. The two also DJ and make zines under the name, which started in 2015. Love Injection is a love letter to New York. Prelude is a word of encouragement to those struggling with self-actualization. The record was mixed by Justin Van Der Volgen and mastered by Walter Coelho. Love Injection Records holds the remix tradition in high regard, and they’ve enlisted reworks by some of Barbie’s favorite producers. It’s all a labor of love for Bertisch. Prelude is her: Barbie the musician.
©℗ Love Injection Records 2022

Vinyl is limited to 500 copies on black vinyl, no download card. Sunzoom have been making a stir from their Liverpool base and this highly anticipated debut is not to be missed. Lo-fi and DIY in equal measure, the record was only conceived of 4 weeks into the first lockdown when songwriter Greg McVeigh decided that recording music was the only way to stay sane. Building a makeshift studio in the kitchen of his North Liverpool home (and deciding to name the new project SUNZOOM after a favourite Captain Beefheart track) Greg set about learning the processes of home recording from the ground up. The album theme draws upon the peculiar aspects of lockdown; isolation, spiritual introspection, longing to be somewhere else, weird dreams, drinking too much and takes the listener on a journey of escape. The songs move the record through fields, countries, time, space, memories and longings to finally end back at home in the reality of the four walls. Digging into some past unreleased recordings, poems, unfinished snippets of tunes and writing new songs (usually sung into his phone during months of daily beach walks with his dog) Greg began to build a record within the claustrophobic environment of summer 2020. Friends were able to collaborate (by the magic of old recordings and new parts sent via email) and in early 2021 Sunzoom entered ARK Recording Studios in Liverpool to add live drums and vocal parts subsequently spending a month mixing the record back home in the familiar surroundings of the kitchen where the concept first began. The result is a snapshot of the period that magically transforms personal and public strife into glorious pop-folk psychedelia.

Canadian songwriter and producer Jeremy Haywood-Smith needed an escape from his state of mourning when he began working on Slingshot, his most recent LP as JayWood. After the loss of his mother in 2019, and a global standstill with multiple social crises throughout 2020, Haywood-Smith yearned for some forward momentum. "The idea of looking back to go forward became a really big thing for me _ hence the title, Slingshot." Feeling disconnected from his past and ancestry after the death of a parent, Haywood-Smith made a conscious effort to better understand his identity and unique Black experience living in the predominantly white province of Manitoba. Merging fantasy scenarios, personal anecdotes, and infectious pop and dance instrumentals, Slingshot is a self-portrait of JayWood at his surface and his depths. Musically, Slingshot reaches into sounds and styles Haywood-Smith has continued to explore throughout his catalog. "I think I made a really big deal to not pigeonhole myself," he explains. "Whatever is inspiring me at one point will work it's way into whatever I'm creating." Slingshot is an amalgamation of Haywood-Smith's many musical sensibilities, achieved with help from a crew of talented peers. Haywood-Smith wrote and performed a bulk of the track's instrumentations, but the LP has notable appearances from Canadian contemporaries Ami Cheon (on "Just Sayin") and Mckinley Dixon (on "Shine.") The album's penultimate track, "Thank You," was co-produced with Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The song brings JayWood's sound full circle, offering something reminiscent of Haywood-Smith's earliest recordings, while flaunting that "The best is yet to come."

Busy is Good is an assemblage of rare-groove and jazz-funk cuts pulled from 45s of the 70s and 80s. A project that celebrates pure creative expression, these under-appreciated tracks reflect the individual efforts of artists both of their time and ahead of it; local legends who challenged convention and produced work steeped in ambition.

From the seductively smooth “Twilight,” by New York’s own Febop, to the blistering key breaks and infectious funk of Bob Payne’s “Side By Side”, this anthology highlights the fusions and crossovers that occurred in jazz, rock, funk and soul at the time. Buddy Emmer’s jazz-kissed breezer “That Summer Nite” and Forest’s synth-pumped AOR cut “Crazy Days” further traverse the many styles that bloomed in the 70s and 80s.

The (seventh) new Half-handed Cloud album, ‘Flutterama’, is
a record of 18 jubilant indie-pop songs by John Ringhofer
that investigate spiritual incompetence with lively
arrangements and radiant melodies that skilfully dissolve into
deterioration using herky-jerky tape manipulation, analogue
wow-and-flutter, and an animated orchestra of homerecorded sound effects.
 Ringhofer’s work on ‘Flutterama’ was inspired by Frances
Mary Hunter Gordon’s adolescent liturgies (recorded at
Abbey Road during The Beatles era), turbid sights and
sounds in Guy Maddin films, audaciously bold forms in Sister
Corita Kent’s devotional printmaking, the exquisite brittleness
of Elizabeth Cotten’s voice, Alberto Burri’s stitched wound
burlap assemblages, Alvar Aalto church design, Andrea
Büttner’s poverty-informed artwork, Lou Barlow/Dinosaur Jr’s
lo-fi ‘Poledo’ sound collage (which namechecks Jesus), Julie
Canlis book ‘A Theology of the Ordinary’, Wallace Berman’s
visual collage, and The Raincoats’ magnificently shaky DIY
aesthetic.
 The album’s tape-fiddled tunes - recorded on the very same
16-track recorder last serviced by a sound technician who
also worked with The Beach Boys in their home studio -
employ surprisingly little synthesizer (“it felt like cheating,”
says Ringhofer) - he preferred to craft most of the album’s
effects the long way, frequently going behind the back of rock
instrumentation by hand-feeding ½” magnetic reel recordings
of chord organs, deflating balloons, some guitars, piano
(occasionally tracked with a baby on his lap), brass,
tablecloth swipes, and a quickly-cranked half-speed music
box. He was assisted by long-time Half-handed Cloud
contributor Brandon Buckner on drums, and single song
backing vocals from Anacortes, WA songsmith John Van
Deusen.
 LP pressed on Opaque Brown vinyl

''The acts Mermaid Chunky call to mind here tend to lean on a blithe naivete: Animal Collective, Peaking Lights, youthful Norfolkians Let’s Eat Grandma and fuckwitted freak-folkers Cocorosie. This isn’t a fashionable sound in 2020 – venture your own sociopolitical reasoning – and I reckon I’ve found the one record of its type I want to hear this year.''
Mermaid Chunky are an audiovisual duo made up of artists Freya Tate and Moina Moin. Bathing in milkmaid serenity and improvised chaos, the duo boast of pumping trance rhythms, sad Easter time chicks and seriously arousing sax solos. Much of their cultivation has come out of the mossy club culture of Stroud's SVA and London's Total Refreshment Centre, collaborating with the likes of Alabaster DePlume, Danalogue, Donna Thompson, Grove, Snapped Ankles (UK tour support) and Yama Warashi.

Their debut Faith and Industry album VEST (produced by Capitol K at Total Refreshment Centre), was birthed last year out of a history of improvised cheek and club dexterity forefronting their live shows and audiovisual solstice celebrations, recently captured by British Vogue's 2021 PRIDE series. Championing this action is the Mermaid Chunky Mothership, a gang of fellow artists and performers, often clad in nauseous satin frills, swamping the stage with french mime and slut drops (Roundhouse 2021, End Of the Road 2021, SVA Solstice always.) The MC gang just scoured their PRS Woman Make Music funding so who knows what they will be stirring up in the heat of summer soup 2022 (the most ducks in a year we will ever experience.) The only way for you to find out is to join the chunklett buffet and dip your wicked, webbed fingers into something mega.

Mermaid Chunky will perform Camp Bestival (Shropshire), Kite Festival (Oxford) and at Orbury Common’s PrahEP launch (a collaborative audiovisual May Day celebration) at the Brunel Goods Shed, SVA, Stroud 30th April - 1st May.
They will aslo be collaborating with Percolate Music on a series of London based audiovisual events this year focused on experimental, electronic womxn performers, visual artists and DJs. More special announcements to be revealed in the present future of your past.

"Big Time" entstand mit einem Peitschenhieb in den seltenen, fruchtbaren Momenten, in denen sowohl frische Trauer als auch frische Liebe gleichzeitig auftreten, in denen sich Kummer und Verliebtheit gegenseitig verstärken, verkomplizieren und erklären. Verlust ist schon immer ein Thema in Olsens Songs gewesen, aber nur wenige können Elegien mit einer derart rücksichtslosen Energie schreiben, wie sie. Wenn diese aus allen Nähten platzende, bergab rasende Energie für ihre Arbeit unüberwindbar schien, beweist "Big Time", dass Olsen jetzt von einem verwurzelteren Ort der Klarheit aus schreibt. Dabei arbeitet sie mit einer elastischen Beherrschung ihrer Stimme - sowohl klanglich als auch künstlerisch. In diesen Liedern geht es nicht nur um die Transformation von Trauer, sondern auch darum, Freiheit und Freude in den Entbehrungen zu finden, die diese mit sich bringen. "Big Time" ist ein Album über die expansive Kraft der neuen Liebe, geschrieben in der Zeit, als Angel Olsen sich als queer outete und ihre ersten Erfahrungen mit queerer Liebe und Herzschmerz machte. Aber dieser Glanz und Optimismus wird durch ein tiefes und vielschichtiges Gefühl von Verlust gemildert. Während Olsens Prozess der Auseinandersetzung mit ihrem Queer-Sein und der Konfrontation mit den Traumata, die sie davon abgehalten hatten, sich selbst voll und ganz zu akzeptieren, fühlte sie, dass es an der Zeit war, sich ihren Eltern gegenüber zu outen - eine Hürde, die sie eine Zeit lang vermieden hatte. "Some experiences just make you feel as though you're five years old, no matter how wise or adult you think you are", schreibt sie über diese Zeit. Nach diesem tränenreichen, aber erleichternden Gespräch feierte sie mit ihrem/ihrer Partner*in, ihren Freund*innen, mit Austern und Wein. "Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me." Drei Tage später starb ihr Vater, dessen Beerdigung Olsen zum Anlass nahm, den/die Partner*in ihrer Familie vorzustellen. Nur zwei Wochen später erhielt Olsen den Anruf, dass ihre Mutter in der Notaufnahme lag. Eine Zeit im Hospiz kam bald darauf, und eine zweite Beerdigung folgte kurz nach der ersten. Eine weitere Reise zurück nach St. Louis, eine weitere Trauerbewältigung, eine weitere Vertiefung und Intensivierung dieser noch jungen Liebe. Drei Wochen nach der Beerdigung ihrer Mutter war Olsen im Studio, um dieses unglaublich weise und zärtliche neue Album "Big Time" aufzunehmen. Ausgelassene Anspielungen an Tammy Wynette und Kitty Wells tauchen auf "Big Time" ebenso auf wie die komplexen Orchestrationen ihres genreübergreifenden 2019er Albums "All Mirrors". Während jenes Album voller dramatischer Veränderungen und Wendungen war, liegen die Überraschungen hier in ihrer Einfachheit - ein langsames Anschwellen der Streicher, eine Instrumentierung, die wie ein Sturm zyklisch ist, oder funkelnde Hörner in einer lichtdurchfluteten Break-up-Ballade, während kaum ein Synthesizer in Sicht ist. "Big Time" wurde zusammen mit dem Co-Produzenten Jonathan Wilson in seinen Fivestar Studios in Topanga, Kalifornien, aufgenommen und gemischt. Drew Erickson spielte Klavier, Orgel und kümmerte sich um die Streicherarrangements. Olsens langjährige Bandkollegin Emily Elhaj spielte durchgehend den Bass.

"Big Time" entstand mit einem Peitschenhieb in den seltenen, fruchtbaren Momenten, in denen sowohl frische Trauer als auch frische Liebe gleichzeitig auftreten, in denen sich Kummer und Verliebtheit gegenseitig verstärken, verkomplizieren und erklären. Verlust ist schon immer ein Thema in Olsens Songs gewesen, aber nur wenige können Elegien mit einer derart rücksichtslosen Energie schreiben, wie sie. Wenn diese aus allen Nähten platzende, bergab rasende Energie für ihre Arbeit unüberwindbar schien, beweist "Big Time", dass Olsen jetzt von einem verwurzelteren Ort der Klarheit aus schreibt. Dabei arbeitet sie mit einer elastischen Beherrschung ihrer Stimme - sowohl klanglich als auch künstlerisch. In diesen Liedern geht es nicht nur um die Transformation von Trauer, sondern auch darum, Freiheit und Freude in den Entbehrungen zu finden, die diese mit sich bringen. "Big Time" ist ein Album über die expansive Kraft der neuen Liebe, geschrieben in der Zeit, als Angel Olsen sich als queer outete und ihre ersten Erfahrungen mit queerer Liebe und Herzschmerz machte. Aber dieser Glanz und Optimismus wird durch ein tiefes und vielschichtiges Gefühl von Verlust gemildert. Während Olsens Prozess der Auseinandersetzung mit ihrem Queer-Sein und der Konfrontation mit den Traumata, die sie davon abgehalten hatten, sich selbst voll und ganz zu akzeptieren, fühlte sie, dass es an der Zeit war, sich ihren Eltern gegenüber zu outen - eine Hürde, die sie eine Zeit lang vermieden hatte. "Some experiences just make you feel as though you're five years old, no matter how wise or adult you think you are", schreibt sie über diese Zeit. Nach diesem tränenreichen, aber erleichternden Gespräch feierte sie mit ihrem/ihrer Partner*in, ihren Freund*innen, mit Austern und Wein. "Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me." Drei Tage später starb ihr Vater, dessen Beerdigung Olsen zum Anlass nahm, den/die Partner*in ihrer Familie vorzustellen. Nur zwei Wochen später erhielt Olsen den Anruf, dass ihre Mutter in der Notaufnahme lag. Eine Zeit im Hospiz kam bald darauf, und eine zweite Beerdigung folgte kurz nach der ersten. Eine weitere Reise zurück nach St. Louis, eine weitere Trauerbewältigung, eine weitere Vertiefung und Intensivierung dieser noch jungen Liebe. Drei Wochen nach der Beerdigung ihrer Mutter war Olsen im Studio, um dieses unglaublich weise und zärtliche neue Album "Big Time" aufzunehmen. Ausgelassene Anspielungen an Tammy Wynette und Kitty Wells tauchen auf "Big Time" ebenso auf wie die komplexen Orchestrationen ihres genreübergreifenden 2019er Albums "All Mirrors". Während jenes Album voller dramatischer Veränderungen und Wendungen war, liegen die Überraschungen hier in ihrer Einfachheit - ein langsames Anschwellen der Streicher, eine Instrumentierung, die wie ein Sturm zyklisch ist, oder funkelnde Hörner in einer lichtdurchfluteten Break-up-Ballade, während kaum ein Synthesizer in Sicht ist. "Big Time" wurde zusammen mit dem Co-Produzenten Jonathan Wilson in seinen Fivestar Studios in Topanga, Kalifornien, aufgenommen und gemischt. Drew Erickson spielte Klavier, Orgel und kümmerte sich um die Streicherarrangements. Olsens langjährige Bandkollegin Emily Elhaj spielte durchgehend den Bass.

"Big Time" entstand mit einem Peitschenhieb in den seltenen, fruchtbaren Momenten, in denen sowohl frische Trauer als auch frische Liebe gleichzeitig auftreten, in denen sich Kummer und Verliebtheit gegenseitig verstärken, verkomplizieren und erklären. Verlust ist schon immer ein Thema in Olsens Songs gewesen, aber nur wenige können Elegien mit einer derart rücksichtslosen Energie schreiben, wie sie. Wenn diese aus allen Nähten platzende, bergab rasende Energie für ihre Arbeit unüberwindbar schien, beweist "Big Time", dass Olsen jetzt von einem verwurzelteren Ort der Klarheit aus schreibt. Dabei arbeitet sie mit einer elastischen Beherrschung ihrer Stimme - sowohl klanglich als auch künstlerisch. In diesen Liedern geht es nicht nur um die Transformation von Trauer, sondern auch darum, Freiheit und Freude in den Entbehrungen zu finden, die diese mit sich bringen. "Big Time" ist ein Album über die expansive Kraft der neuen Liebe, geschrieben in der Zeit, als Angel Olsen sich als queer outete und ihre ersten Erfahrungen mit queerer Liebe und Herzschmerz machte. Aber dieser Glanz und Optimismus wird durch ein tiefes und vielschichtiges Gefühl von Verlust gemildert. Während Olsens Prozess der Auseinandersetzung mit ihrem Queer-Sein und der Konfrontation mit den Traumata, die sie davon abgehalten hatten, sich selbst voll und ganz zu akzeptieren, fühlte sie, dass es an der Zeit war, sich ihren Eltern gegenüber zu outen - eine Hürde, die sie eine Zeit lang vermieden hatte. "Some experiences just make you feel as though you're five years old, no matter how wise or adult you think you are", schreibt sie über diese Zeit. Nach diesem tränenreichen, aber erleichternden Gespräch feierte sie mit ihrem/ihrer Partner*in, ihren Freund*innen, mit Austern und Wein. "Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me." Drei Tage später starb ihr Vater, dessen Beerdigung Olsen zum Anlass nahm, den/die Partner*in ihrer Familie vorzustellen. Nur zwei Wochen später erhielt Olsen den Anruf, dass ihre Mutter in der Notaufnahme lag. Eine Zeit im Hospiz kam bald darauf, und eine zweite Beerdigung folgte kurz nach der ersten. Eine weitere Reise zurück nach St. Louis, eine weitere Trauerbewältigung, eine weitere Vertiefung und Intensivierung dieser noch jungen Liebe. Drei Wochen nach der Beerdigung ihrer Mutter war Olsen im Studio, um dieses unglaublich weise und zärtliche neue Album "Big Time" aufzunehmen. Ausgelassene Anspielungen an Tammy Wynette und Kitty Wells tauchen auf "Big Time" ebenso auf wie die komplexen Orchestrationen ihres genreübergreifenden 2019er Albums "All Mirrors". Während jenes Album voller dramatischer Veränderungen und Wendungen war, liegen die Überraschungen hier in ihrer Einfachheit - ein langsames Anschwellen der Streicher, eine Instrumentierung, die wie ein Sturm zyklisch ist, oder funkelnde Hörner in einer lichtdurchfluteten Break-up-Ballade, während kaum ein Synthesizer in Sicht ist. "Big Time" wurde zusammen mit dem Co-Produzenten Jonathan Wilson in seinen Fivestar Studios in Topanga, Kalifornien, aufgenommen und gemischt. Drew Erickson spielte Klavier, Orgel und kümmerte sich um die Streicherarrangements. Olsens langjährige Bandkollegin Emily Elhaj spielte durchgehend den Bass.

Keb’ Mo’s Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues is the 2003 blues album, part of Martin Scorsese’s The Blues documentary series. The series is dedicated to the history of blues music, which provided the ultimate opportunity for Keb’ Mo’ to compile the highlights of his career thus far. Keb’ Mo’ had only released four albums up until that moment, but those four had already attracted a wide audience amongst blues fans and included many defining and impressive tracks. So in occasion of the release of Martin Scorsese’s documentary series, Scorsese selected the very best 16 tracks to feature on this 2LP, including “Come On In My Kitchen”, “Am I Wrong” and “Peace Of Mind”.

Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues is available as a limited edition of
1500 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

Rubicon marks the first physical edition of Galcher Lustwerk's driving-themed alias, Road Hog. Collecting tracks from seven releases spanning from 2014 to 2021, Rubicon serves as the project's Greatest Hits (for now). Including tracks from the Cleveland-dedicated album 'Tour De Hog' as well as the sharp toothed 'Spares' and 'More Spares' the pithy 'Haul Ass' plus some cinematic favorites from 'DWB' and 'On The Lam'. Originally meant to be digital only and listened to while driving, demand for certain tunes to be pressed to vinyl has risen with each release. From the Road to the Club, Lustwerk's got you covered.

It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
 ‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl

Best known to funk / groove collectors for his 70's library efforts (Freezing Point, The Pop World Of Yann Tregger, Schifters, Catchy, Ducks & Drakes) on such cult labels as L'Illustration Musicale, MTS or Montparnasse 2000 or his late funky disco output via projects like Major Symphony or M.B.T. Soul; french trumpet player / composer /arranger Yann Tregger also devoted time and efforts to delve into electronic sound abstraction when needed.

Based around the possibilities of the legendary ARP 2600 synthesizer, To The Land Of No Return was an outrageous and nightmarish collection of sound vignettes that pushed the instrument's capabilities to the limit. Thrilling, uneasy, surreal, spellbinding or just plain spaced out - an album "whose theme is the departure of a psychedelic train on a trip with no return to a lost world, leading its only passenger to unreal adventures" according to composer's words.

An essential slice of musical lunacy coming from the most experimental fringes of the french library world!

Repress

Microfunk EP Volume 3 takes minimal drum n bass to a whole new level. While the starting track by Subwave and Bop has a strong summer flavor that's perfect for meeting the sunrise, the second one by Abstract Elements & Electrosoul System takes you on a spacey journey and drops you into its clean, minimalistic groove. On the flipside we have deep, smooth vibes by Dissident (aka Kontext) and a trippy IDM track by Microfunk Crew. You can easily drop the A-side to impress a party with the deeper side of drum n bass, whereas the B-side is well suited to home listening and chill-out rooms.

With some of the best DJs and selectors there is a certain mysterious sound or underlying feeling which unites the music they play, regardless of genre, year or tempo Luke Una is a master of telling a story through music and this compilation is a perfect example of his musical alchemy in action. Featuring tracks from Yusef Lateef, Airto Moreira, Crooked Man, Henri Texier and many more, it is a collection of new, old, rare and under-discovered music from around the world, all united by Luke under the banner of "E-Soul Cultura".It's best described by Luke himself, who writes: "As the 5AM city sleeps and the strobe lights are slowly turned off, we gather on the wrong side of town in a transcendental journey alone together. We are the late night disenfranchised holding on in various after parties, flats, lofts, random kitchens and basements into the outer cosmos with É Soul Cultura.

Music from exotic tear jerkers, Afro- spiritual jazz, cosmic Brazilian celestial grooves, machine street soul, dark horses, lost B- sides, £1 bargain- bin bombs, hidden gems, late night Italo dubbing, deep velvet N.Y.C garage, bass buggin sonic futurism, wrong speed 33BPM pitched up +8 new beat, majestic sunset strings, sweet vocals from heaven, no half steppin jazz dancing in outer- space and odd numbers. Yes… magical moments, together, holding on in witness protection suburban cul- de- sacs and Castle Court flats. Cosmic É high, 3000ft above the city getting evangelical to murky, wonky timeless beautiful music. This thing of ours dreaming of better days. Fail we may, sail we must, the sun will come up again."

Vinyl is limited to 500 copies on black vinyl, no download card. Sunzoom have been making a stir from their Liverpool base and this highly anticipated debut is not to be missed. Lo-fi and DIY in equal measure, the record was only conceived of 4 weeks into the first lockdown when songwriter Greg McVeigh decided that recording music was the only way to stay sane. Building a makeshift studio in the kitchen of his North Liverpool home (and deciding to name the new project SUNZOOM after a favourite Captain Beefheart track) Greg set about learning the processes of home recording from the ground up. The album theme draws upon the peculiar aspects of lockdown; isolation, spiritual introspection, longing to be somewhere else, weird dreams, drinking too much and takes the listener on a journey of escape. The songs move the record through fields, countries, time, space, memories and longings to finally end back at home in the reality of the four walls. Digging into some past unreleased recordings, poems, unfinished snippets of tunes and writing new songs (usually sung into his phone during months of daily beach walks with his dog) Greg began to build a record within the claustrophobic environment of summer 2020. Friends were able to collaborate (by the magic of old recordings and new parts sent via email) and in early 2021 Sunzoom entered ARK Recording Studios in Liverpool to add live drums and vocal parts subsequently spending a month mixing the record back home in the familiar surroundings of the kitchen where the concept first began. The result is a snapshot of the period that magically transforms personal and public strife into glorious pop-folk psychedelia.

"This Is A Photograph", MORBYs siebtes Album, ist ein Loblied auf die Americana, das Leben und Tod und Blut auf der Leinwand zum Ausdruck bringt. Der kreativ gestärkte Songwriter hat es geschafft, seine besten Songs, seine besten Gesangsleistungen, seine prägnantesten Texte und seine üppigsten Arrangements auf "This Is A Photograph" zu vereinen. Dies ist zweifellos sein bisheriges Hauptwerk. Die Geschichte beginnt im Januar 2020, als MORBY im Keller seines Elternhauses in Kansas City geistesabwesend in einer Kiste mit alten Familienfotos blättert. Nur Stunden zuvor war sein Vater bei einem Familienessen vor seinen Augen zusammengebrochen und musste ins Krankenhaus gebracht werden. In dieser Nacht spürte MORBY noch immer den Schock und die Angst, die ihm in den Knochen steckten. Also sah er sich die Bilder an, bis ihm eines davon ins Auge sprang: sein Vater als junger Mann, stolz und stark und voller Selbstvertrauen, der mit freiem Oberkörper auf einer Wiese posiert. "In the photo he looks young and full of confidence, puffing his chest out at the camera as if he were looking for a fight," erklärt MORBY. "It was not lost on me that this was the same chest, just hours before, I had seen the ambulance put a stethoscope against as he lay on the kitchen floor of my sisters house." Während sein Vater wieder zu Kräften kam, grübelte er über diese Gedanken nach. Und dann machte er sich auf den Weg nach Memphis. Er zog in das Peabody Hotel und verbrachte seine Tage damit, den Träumern, die er bewunderte, Tribut zu zollen und sich vor ihnen zu verneigen; er ging hinunter zum Ufer des Mississippi, zu der Stelle, an der JEFF BUCKLEY sein Ende fand. Er schlenderte durch das Viertel, in dem JAY REATARD seinen letzten Tag verbrachte, und fuhr dann am Stax-Zelt vorbei, um seine Stimmung kurz aufzuheitern. Dann fuhr er an Graceland vorbei, bevor er den Highway 61 überquerte und die Geister zu sich rufen ließ, um seine eigenen Träume zu gestalten. Abends kehrte er in sein Zimmer zurück und hielt seine Ideen auf einem behelfsmäßigen Aufnahmegerät fest, das nur aus seiner Gitarre und einem Mikrofon bestand. Die schwermütigen Songs, die zu all dem passen, was er gesehen hatte, sprudelten nur so aus ihm heraus. Wiederum leitete Sam Cohen (der "Singing Saw" und "Oh My God" produziert hatte) das Projekt. Sie begannen in Cohens Studio im Bundesstaat New York, das sich noch im Bau befand, zusammen mit dem Schlagzeuger Nick Kinsey, und arbeiteten langsam an den Songs, da die Reise der Aufnahme der Start-Stopp-Qualität von 2021 selbst entsprach, mit magischen Momenten, die in die prekären Navigationen eingestreut waren. Mit der Zeit füllte sich die Besetzung. Der ehemalige Tournee-Pianist Oliver Hill sowie seine Mutter Meg und seine Schwester Charlotte sorgten für die Streicher. Die Tourneeleute Cochemea Gastelum (Saxophon), Jared Samuel (Orgel) und Alecia Chakour (Gesang, Tamburin) stießen zu den Sessions hinzu, ebenso wie Eric Johnson (Banjo). Und neue Mitstreiter*innen wie Schlagzeuger Josh Jaeger (Schlagzeug, Perkussion), Brandee Younger (Harfe), Makaya McCraven (Schlagzeug), Cassandra Jenkins (Gesang) und sogar Tim Heidecker und Alia Shawkat (die schrägen Lacher auf "Rock Bottom") fügten sich in das entstehende Bild ein. Und passenderweise fanden die letzten Sessions live in Memphis in Sam Philips Recording Co. statt, das von seinem Sohn Jerry Philips geleitet wird und das Erbe des ursprünglichen Sun Records Studios fortführt.

"This Is A Photograph", MORBYs siebtes Album, ist ein Loblied auf die Americana, das Leben und Tod und Blut auf der Leinwand zum Ausdruck bringt. Der kreativ gestärkte Songwriter hat es geschafft, seine besten Songs, seine besten Gesangsleistungen, seine prägnantesten Texte und seine üppigsten Arrangements auf "This Is A Photograph" zu vereinen. Dies ist zweifellos sein bisheriges Hauptwerk. Die Geschichte beginnt im Januar 2020, als MORBY im Keller seines Elternhauses in Kansas City geistesabwesend in einer Kiste mit alten Familienfotos blättert. Nur Stunden zuvor war sein Vater bei einem Familienessen vor seinen Augen zusammengebrochen und musste ins Krankenhaus gebracht werden. In dieser Nacht spürte MORBY noch immer den Schock und die Angst, die ihm in den Knochen steckten. Also sah er sich die Bilder an, bis ihm eines davon ins Auge sprang: sein Vater als junger Mann, stolz und stark und voller Selbstvertrauen, der mit freiem Oberkörper auf einer Wiese posiert. "In the photo he looks young and full of confidence, puffing his chest out at the camera as if he were looking for a fight," erklärt MORBY. "It was not lost on me that this was the same chest, just hours before, I had seen the ambulance put a stethoscope against as he lay on the kitchen floor of my sisters house." Während sein Vater wieder zu Kräften kam, grübelte er über diese Gedanken nach. Und dann machte er sich auf den Weg nach Memphis. Er zog in das Peabody Hotel und verbrachte seine Tage damit, den Träumern, die er bewunderte, Tribut zu zollen und sich vor ihnen zu verneigen; er ging hinunter zum Ufer des Mississippi, zu der Stelle, an der JEFF BUCKLEY sein Ende fand. Er schlenderte durch das Viertel, in dem JAY REATARD seinen letzten Tag verbrachte, und fuhr dann am Stax-Zelt vorbei, um seine Stimmung kurz aufzuheitern. Dann fuhr er an Graceland vorbei, bevor er den Highway 61 überquerte und die Geister zu sich rufen ließ, um seine eigenen Träume zu gestalten. Abends kehrte er in sein Zimmer zurück und hielt seine Ideen auf einem behelfsmäßigen Aufnahmegerät fest, das nur aus seiner Gitarre und einem Mikrofon bestand. Die schwermütigen Songs, die zu all dem passen, was er gesehen hatte, sprudelten nur so aus ihm heraus. Wiederum leitete Sam Cohen (der "Singing Saw" und "Oh My God" produziert hatte) das Projekt. Sie begannen in Cohens Studio im Bundesstaat New York, das sich noch im Bau befand, zusammen mit dem Schlagzeuger Nick Kinsey, und arbeiteten langsam an den Songs, da die Reise der Aufnahme der Start-Stopp-Qualität von 2021 selbst entsprach, mit magischen Momenten, die in die prekären Navigationen eingestreut waren. Mit der Zeit füllte sich die Besetzung. Der ehemalige Tournee-Pianist Oliver Hill sowie seine Mutter Meg und seine Schwester Charlotte sorgten für die Streicher. Die Tourneeleute Cochemea Gastelum (Saxophon), Jared Samuel (Orgel) und Alecia Chakour (Gesang, Tamburin) stießen zu den Sessions hinzu, ebenso wie Eric Johnson (Banjo). Und neue Mitstreiter*innen wie Schlagzeuger Josh Jaeger (Schlagzeug, Perkussion), Brandee Younger (Harfe), Makaya McCraven (Schlagzeug), Cassandra Jenkins (Gesang) und sogar Tim Heidecker und Alia Shawkat (die schrägen Lacher auf "Rock Bottom") fügten sich in das entstehende Bild ein. Und passenderweise fanden die letzten Sessions live in Memphis in Sam Philips Recording Co. statt, das von seinem Sohn Jerry Philips geleitet wird und das Erbe des ursprünglichen Sun Records Studios fortführt.

Tinnitus Tonight is the latest & sneakiest full-measure serving from LARS FINBERG, world-class bon vivant and prolific Panic Rock artiste. Why so sneaky? Here’s the dirt: Finberg developed a nerve rash leading up his 2017 tootle, the TY SEGALL-assisted Moonlight Over Bakersfield. Rather than blindly leap from the comfy zone, he tip-toed in secret to a friendly but far-flung (cough*Sacramento*cough) studio to capture a reserve of slanted tunes with a proven-effective team of buds. Those comrades – the glorious LAUREN MARIE MIKUS on keys, frequent collaborator & forever-gent KAANAN TUPPER on drums and, at the controls and elsewhere, the indestructible CHRIS WOODHOUSE – all fostered a supportive framework that first allowed Finberg to “think” beyond THE INTELLIGENCE, gearing him up for a life in the spotlight (or moonlight, as it were). So yes indeed: what appears to be an adventurous follow-up also doubles as a prequel. Keep accurate score or you’re dusted. The core of Tinnitus Tonight centers on an assemblage of Finberg’s most golden riffs – trash-coustic but driftwood-smooth, naughty and infinite, all of ‘em bangers and/or buggers. Tunes sprout and move matador-like until an inevitable goring. The past-it grunt that kicks off “Burger Queen” prompts a mimed chef’s kiss. “My Prison” and “The Doors” are quintessential, truly distilled Finberg moments, compounding his trademark acerbic, out-for-blood wit with these absurdly cool, whip-crack guitars. The massively impressive “Public Admirer” is unequivocally the loudest, most damaged blurt from this doggie in at least a decade. In total, Tinnitus Tonight is a wonderful and welcome reminder that our guy is a very real rouser and a vital, unique purveyor of artful aggression, playful and powerful. Finberg beams really fuckin’ brightly under his own name, perhaps more so than with any group orchestration he happens to be braising with. Do these higher personal stakes call for a dastardlier delivery? Maybe this permeating 2020 End Times feeling prohibits the normal corralling of the subconscious mind? Whatever the answers are, you will find them here.
"The gift Lars Finberg has to disfigure rock riffs into minor chord marvels should serve as a glowing example for those who feel the need to pick up a guitar and make some noise to share with the world. Using the conventional tools of rock and roll flavored with a mix of garage punk, post punk, synth punk and mutant surf, Mr. Finberg, with seemingly effortless cool, has crafted or contributed to countless albums with bands like The Intelligence, Puberty, Rubber Blanket, A Frames and more, all with a magnetic pull and genius lyrics that stand out from the indie rock heap and reveal an exceptionally creative mind that’s actually done its homework." - Noise For Zeros

Giacomo D’Attorre – lead singer of Clever Square – has been through a lot of late. With his band. In his personal life. Even just with the state of the world. This fire has fuelled Clever Square’s new record Secret Alliance, eleven tracks that explore feelings of frustration, disillusionment, and disconnection, and chronicle what it’s like to be swept along by a world that “gets noisier everyday”. The record was inspired by a creeping realisation; of coming change, and a sense that D’Attorre was “losing contact with who I was before, for the good and the bad.” New needs and desires surfaced; old ones disappeared. Thus he began writing around ideas of rethinking yourself, and “acquiring a new conscience of mutation”. The darker realms of science fiction informed much of D’Attorre’s thinking here; Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury – ‘Mr. & Mrs. K’ was inspired by The Martian Chronicles – and Flannery O’Connor, whose The Violent Bear It Away proved particularly inspiring. All of this is perfectly framed by Clever Square’s shuffling, quirky indie, and cute melodies. Soft and worn around the edges, like the perfect flannel shirt, there’s a gentle, shambling quality to the music; “blue collar”, D’Attorre calls it. Guitar lines gently bloom, Fender Rhodes organ is sprinkled throughout, and the acoustic strumming sounds easy and unhurried. From the relaxed bustle and acoustic picking of ‘Hail The Proper Karl’, to the joyous, bouncy ‘Little Flaws’; from the stripped back melancholy of ‘Obsolete Epsilons’ to the arena-ready vibes of indie classic ‘Golden Wires’, D’Attorre has crafted a spell-binding, mesmerizing set of songs that delight on first listen and reward deeper inspection. “It’s a hymn to privacy, to the joys of secrecy, and solitude,” he says of Secret Alliance. That he wraps such heartfelt, profound topics in gloriously laid-back indie adds to the charm, and cements Clever Square’s status as one of Italy’s finest contemporary bands. The world might seem increasingly complex and be spinning ever faster, but Secret Alliance slows it down just enough to savour the scenery and think about charting a path back to something a little more manageable.

LNDFK (aka Linda Feki) presents her ground-breaking debut album, "Kuni" on Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings. Undeniably on the rise after her 2019 breakout performance at Primavera Sound, LNDFK has already caught the attention of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine, Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan (among many others) while being championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, and Jamz Supernova & landing spots on tastemaker playlists like Spotify's "Pollen" and "Fresh Finds."

"Kuni" is a spellbinding exploration of dichotomies: Love & Death (Eros & Thanatos), Flower & Fire, Delicacy & Violence, Poetry & Realism, Purification & Destruction. These opposites are reified in the 10-track LPs multifarious and multifaceted sounds, elegantly meandering through a variety of styles and genres, spearheaded by Linda and features the production wizardry of Darrio Bassolino who co-wrote the album.

"Kuni" opens with "Hana-bi," an ambient instrumental piece that sets the tone for the album. Inspired by the Takeshi Kitano 1997 film of the same name – particularly Joe Hisaishi's stunning soundtrack, as well as Kitano's paintings which appear in the film. "Hana-bi" expresses the dialoguing opposites of flowers and fire, the first of many dichotomous representations throughout the album. "Takeshi" acts as an extension and to "Hana-bi," albeit one of opposing sound, with its driving, highly syncopated drums (which reappear throughout "Kuni") – à la Karriem Riggins, Questlove, or Yussef Dayes – frenetic bass line, and jazz chords. Linda's sultry voice is interspersed, initially jumping around in scat fashion, being triggered as if a sample, before her lyrics come in; her vocals are used like an additional instrument, adding to the song's rich texture. "Kuni" truly hits its stride with the next song, "Smoke – a moon or a button" (its title lifted from the 1959 book by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip), which is structured like a jazz standard yet flows into neo-soul territory sonically with those prodigious drums a highlight once again.

LNDFK touches on experimental hip hop in two songs on the record (both of which were released as singles in 2021): "Don't Know I'm Dead or Not (feat. Chester Watson)" – track #4 – and "How Do We Know We're Alive (feat. Pink Siifu)" – track #9. Although they embrace a more hip hop-leaning sound, these songs by no means shy away from the exploratory theme, and feature two of the alt-rap scenes rising stars with Chester Watson and Pink Siifu who offer provocatively impressing verses, combining dense word play with unconventional flows. While these tracks may first appear to be outliers on the album, they are undeniably in tune with "Kuni's" message and sonic palette, acting as testaments to LNDFK's willingness to explore and experiment.

Meanwhile, "Ku" – the third and last single before the album release – furthers the pre-established future soul sound while meandering through nu jazz and left-field electronic. Inspired by the graphic novel and film, "Sin City," and its female assassin protagonist Miho, "Ku" is a musical interpretation of Miho's story, incorporating both her beauty – the first half of the song – and murderous tendencies – the second half – to create a stunning juxtaposition, culminating in an ambient finale that suggests the character's vulnerability and inner peace. The song gracefully bridges the gap between Hiatus Kaiyote-esque songwriting, Dilla's rhythmic syncopation, and Thundercat's instrumental prowess (LNDFK has shared a stage Brainfeeder labelmate Kamasi Washington).

Mixed in throughout "Kuni" are a series of instrumental pieces that function as something akin to an interlude. The aforementioned intro, "Hana-bi," and the album closer "se mi stacco da te, mi strappo tutto:" act as bookends, while "Om" indicates the half-way mark, and "Ktm" sees Jason Lindner add his sound the album. These tracks are the ambient foundation of "Kuni," representing the thematic duality of the work. Clocking in at only 24 minutes, "Kuni" packs an astonishingly diverse array of sounds, styles, and themes, all while showcasing virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess.

Appearing on "Hana-bi" and "Ktm," renowned international artists Asa-Chang and Jason Lindner add an additional perspective to "Kuni": Asa-Chang on "Hana-bi," and Jason Lindner on "Ktm." Asa-Chang - famously of the Japanese avant-garde group Asa-Chang & Junray - provides vocals and percussion to an alternate version of the instrumental opener, while the acclaimed keyboardist Jason Lindner offers his synth expertise on "Ktm." These features highlight the spirit of collaboration found in LNDFK's music, always willing to try out new ways of working.

LNDFK is a singer and songwriter, born of two cultures – an Italian mother and Arab father. She grew up in Naples, away from her father, the Sahara, her homeland and traditions, which has helped nourish the desire to rediscover – through art – an engagement to her roots. Her music melts with jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop influences, filtered through her experiences and sensibility.

Her first EP, "Lust Blue," was composed with the artistic production of Dario Bass and released by Feelin' Music; after that she released several singles that saw international radio support (BBC, NTS, Wordwide FM) and gained a massive audience on digital platforms. Together with her band, she toured around Europe, performing alongside such notable artists as Kamasi Washington and Mndsgn, among others. Most recently she toured Italy, and performed at Primavera Sound Festival 2019 in Barcelona.

"Kuni," is due out on NYC label Bastard Jazz Recordings in February, 2022, while the vinyl LP will follow shortly after.

20 Jahre nach Erscheinen ihrer Debütsingle 'Very Loud', wendet sich das sechste Album der in Stockholm ansässigen Band bestehend aus Sänger Adam Olenius, Gitarrist Carl von Arbin, Bassist Ted Malmros und Keyboarderin Bebban Stenborg Themen wie seelischer Unruhe und Älterwerden sowie der Zerbrechlichkeit der Liebe mit einem unerschrockenen Realismus zu, der nur erhellt werden kann von den himmlischen Melodien und einem Sound, der wärmer nicht sein könnte.

Produziert von Peter Bjorn und Johns Björn Yttling (Lykke Li, Franz Ferdinand, Primal Scream usw.), der auch die Produktion ihres gefeierten zweiten Albums 'Our Ill Wills' mit Indie-Hits wie 'Tonight I Have To Leave It' und 'Impossible' übersah, markiert House eine bewusste Abkehr von der gewaltigen und üppigen Atmosphäre von Ease My Mind aus dem Jahr 2017. So entschied sich die Band, die Songs diesmal live aufzunehmen und machte sich dabei einen Post-Punk-inspirierten Minimalismus zu eigen, der die rohen Emotionen eines jeden Songs noch verstärkte. Die überschwängliche Energie, für die sich die Band bei Headliner-Tourneen rund um die Welt, als Support von The Strokes und Depeche Mode und auf großen Festivals wie Coachella einen Namen gemacht hat, bleibt so auch auf Band greifbar.

Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.

The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”.

In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity.

But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection.

“La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development.

The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff.

New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end.

However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record.

It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.

Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings.

Following hot on the heels of the first, mid-sixties generation of Japanese free jazz players like Kaoru Abe, Masayuki Takayanagi, Yōsuke Yamashita, Motoharu Yoshizawa, etc., an exciting second wave of younger players began to emerge in the seventies. Two of its leading members were the saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu and multi-instrumentalist Yoriyuki Harada. Both were post-war babies and immigrants to the city, Umezu from Sendai in the north and Harada from Shimane in the west. They first met as students in the clarinet department at the Kunitachi College of Music, a well-known conservatory in western Tokyo. Harada was already securing sideman gigs on bass with professional jazz groups and was active in student politics, making good use of his connections to set up jazz concerts on campus. It was around this time that the two began to play together in an improvised duo, with Umezu on clarinet and bass clarinet and Harada on piano. They also experimented with graphic scores and prepared piano.

These experiments eventually led to the creation of a trio, with a high-school student called Tetsuya Morimura on drums, that they decided to name Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai (Lifestyle Improvement Committee) in joking reference to the Marxist discourse of the student radicals of the time. Around 1973, Umezu and Harada decided to call it a day and go their separate ways. Umezu began playing with the Toshinori Kondo Unit and Harada with the Tadashi Yoshida Quintet. In 1974 Harada formed his own trio and began to play at jazz coffeehouses across Japan.

Then, in September 1974 Umezu travelled alone to New York, where he set about building connections with the loft jazz scene in the city. It was a fortuitous moment to arrive in New York. Rents were cheap in the Lower East Side, possibilities for squatting existed, so many musicians and artists had moved to the area. Umezu soon became known on the scene as Kappo and he started to make connections with some of the young musicians like David Murray, Arthur Blythe, and Oliver Lake. He recalls making the rounds of the lofts every evening, checking out the performances, and getting the chance to sit in with many groups including Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society and trumpeter Ted Daniel’s orchestra.

Things were going so well that Umezu wrote to Harada and invited him to come to New York. He accepted and arrived in the city in July 1975. Harada and Umezu took the opportunity to resume their artistic collaboration. Their first concert together in over two years took place on July 20th at another loft, Sunrise Studios at 122 2nd Avenue. Umezu remembers Sunrise as an unusually sunny loft with the rarest of things, a grand piano. He invited along Ahmed Abdullah, a trumpeter he had got to know while playing with Ted Daniel. Abdullah led his own group and was a long-term Sun Ra sideman. William Parker, one of the key figures in the loft jazz scene of the period, was on bass. Abdullah also brought along Rashid Sinan on drums. Sinan drummed in Abdullah’s units throughout the seventies, but he had also played on Frank Lowe’s immortal Black Beings album and collaborated with Arthur Doyle, playing on Doyle’s Alabama Feeling album. By all accounts the evening was a huge success, with speed and dynamism of Harada’s piano playing gaining him lots of support.

Since they had managed to save some money from their day jobs, Umezu and Harada decided to set up a recording session with the same line-up on August 11 at Studio We, where there was a well-equipped studio on the third floor. Umezu recalls the session as follows, Of course, we recorded our performances in one take, with zero retakes as far as I remember. On all the tracks we recorded, we moved as one unit, sharp and fast. That was the nature of Lifestyle Improvement Committee, New York Branch.

Umezu and Harada would later become known for the elements of parody and entertainment that they brought to their music, a freewheeling blend of pastiche, humour and on-stage performativity that paralleled the approaches of the Art Ensemble, Sun Ra, and Holland’s ICP. But here, on their first recordings, the humour element is not yet present. Instead, there is a febrile sense of joy in creation and connection. On the Umezu-penned “Kim”, for example, Harada opens the piece with a speedy exploration of the full-range of the keyboard, hitting hard on the bass keys to create a rhythmic bed out of which patterns begin to emerge. Umezu enters at a much slower pace, longer held notes that at first float weightlessly over the urgency of the piano before they begin in splinter and accelerate. When Parker and Sinan kick in, it’s a rollicking tempo with Parker plucking deep and hard and the left-handed Sinan skittering hard across the topside of his kit. Abdullah kicks in a glorious solo twelve minutes in, bright and breathy at once. The piece slows and grows more spacious towards the end, giving Parker a chance to showcase some arco work that shades beautifully into the air against Abdullah’s trumpet.

To celebrate tthe 60 years of the release of the first 7 inch of the greatest rock band of all time, rediscover all the tracks that influenced the sound of the Beatles in a double vinyl. With : Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Bill Haley, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, The Isley Brothers, Peggy Lee...

After a series of self-released vinyl singles, PM Warson emerged in 2021 with the album "True Story", combing elements of vintage R'n'B and Soul with an authenticity and energy that appealed fans and critics alike. Breakout single "(Don't) Hold Me Down" had surfaced initially among soul collectors, before finding a wider audience, first on a Fred Perry editorial, and then on mainstream European radio. Having tipped the album on his Funk & Soul Show, the BBC's Craig Charles also included the single on his popular "Trunk of Funk" compilation series. Not one to wait around, despite the various challenges of the pandemic, Warson returns, just over a year on, with his second offering: "Dig Deep Repeat".

While his debut record waited in line at the pressing plant, he began trying out ideas at a makeshift studio in an industrial storage space in Stoke Newington. As lockdown was lifted enough to bring in his rhythm section, a new set of tunes started to emerge. Despite a growing thirst following his first release, there was little opportunity to play live, with social and travel restrictions remaining in place on-and-off throughout the year. It became clear that his best way through was to make another LP. He expanded the operation, bringing in players, working to an 8-track recorder to forge a new record. Subsequent sessions at Gizzard Recording also produced a direct-to-tape session for Blues Kitchen.

On "Dig Deep Repeat" he further explores his vocabulary, with elements of 60s rock and soul, shades of New Wave, and some cosmic colors beneath the moody blues. It's a direct and focused LP, presenting an artist on the move, two albums deep, with time to make up for.

Elders is the debut release from Ensemble Nist-Nah, a nine-piece percussion group led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The diverse group of French musicians that make up Ensemble Nist-Nah – whose collective experience encompasses traditional Gamelan performance, contemporary composition, noise, jazz, and everything in between – perform on drum kits, traditional and junk percussion, and a complete set of Javanese Gamelan instruments. Though building on the foundations of Guthrie’s solo work with Gamelan instruments (Nist-Nah, BT057) and primarily performing his compositions, Ensemble Nist-Nah is a collective endeavour, propelled by a breathtaking enthusiasm that has seen the ensemble manage to rehearse, perform, and even tour Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From the first seconds of opening track ‘Geni / Tirta’, it becomes immediately obvious that this is no dry academic exercise or exotic indulgence. Rapid arpeggiated figures are propelled by manically busy kit drumming while slow-motion melodic lines float above. After a series of abrupt tempo changes and fragmented unison passages that crossbreed the rhythmic intensity of the Balinese Kecak with the joyride of an Ornette Coleman head, the music slows to a monumental groove, equal parts Javanese court music and Dark Magus. Another sequence of thrilling divagations leads us to the unexpected guest appearance of acclaimed vocalist Jessica Kenney, who elaborates a haunting Javanese Bedhaya across a spacious backdrop of massive gong hits, shimmering cymbals, rustling bells, and gritty textures.

The remaining pieces that make up Elders explore a dizzying variety of approaches, from the shifting rapid-fire muted textures of ‘Overtime’ to the ghostly bowed tones and ominous swells of the title piece (developed from a track on Guthrie’s solo Nist-Nah release), which gradually builds into waves of shuddering low resonance and asynchronous percussive clicks like a haunted clock mechanism. On the aptly titled ‘Rollin’, virtuosic twin drum kits criss-cross errant metallophone patterns in propulsive polyrhythms, while ‘Planeker’ manages to achieve a bizarrely effective fusion of Harry Partch and Autechre. Arriving bedecked in beautiful monochrome images of gongs drawn by ensemble member Charles Dubois, Elders is a feast for the ears: music that burrows deep into timbral and rhythmic possibility while possessing an intoxicating physicality and revelling in the joy of collective performance.

Gunship Gold vinyl 6th Anniversary Edition Double LP
2 x 180g heavyweight gold vinyl inspired by the legendary GOLD Nintendo World Championship cartridges.
Features handwritten liner notes and doodles by the band, detailing the cinematic influences that inspired the creation of the album.

According to the band, GUNSHIP is a neon soaked, late night, sonic getaway drive, dripping with luscious analog synthesizers, cinematic vocals and cyberpunk values, exploding from the front cover of a dusty plastic VHS case which has lain forgotten since 1984. The band's debut album ‘GUNSHIP’ received outstanding reviews from both electronic and rock press earning a place in synthwave history as one of the first crossover albums. After being available only as a direct to fan purchase the LP is now being released across the world for the first time.

The GUNSHIP album has 25 million streams on Spotify alone. The band have 100k subscribers on YouTube. Views on the music videos from this album: Fly For Your Life: 4,243,244; The Mountain: 1,624,513; Revel In Your Time: 1,230,947; Tech Noir 4,211,296.

Hello Young Lovers is the 20th studio album by Sparks and was originally released on 6th February 2005. The album was the most commercially popular Sparks album since the 1970s.

Hello Young Lovers has been newly remastered for this LP reissue, which will be released on heavyweight vinyl.

This album will be launched alongside a comprehensive Marketing campaign, including brand new assets, as well as archival material from the time of the original launch. We have access to the Sparks socials, which we will utilise for boosted posts, ads and organic posts. The release will also be launched alongside a PR campaign, which should secure coverage across digital and print media.