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'In `All This and So Much More' Tasha is an artist flung open. For Tasha, the last few years have been propulsive, dynamic, bursting at the seams. They've included painful encounters with grief; a sudden break up; new flirtation; new hair; the glitter of world travel and not least, a role in Tony-nominated Broadway musical `Illinoise' which adapts Sufjan Steven's `Illinois' for the stage. If `Tell Me What You Miss The Most' was an introspective meditation on love with a few moments of glancing toward what's next, `All this and So Much More' is Tasha turned outward, flourishing, telling us what it's like to take life by the chin and look it in the eye. Take, for example "Eric Song." This was the first song to be written on the album, penned while Tasha grappled with the sudden, tragic death of Eric Littman, the co-producer of her last album. Though the instrumentation is a familiar 3/4 guitar strum, lulling us into a comforting waltz, Tasha's voice is breathy with grief, adding depth and dimension to the hushed sound. "No, I'm not alone after all / You must be near / Facing this soaring sprawl," she sings, transforming the experience of loss into a talisman of love and courage meant to help usher in a new self. Said a different way, `All This and So Much More' is a full-throated ode to all of the ups and downs of becoming. In the opening track, "Pretend," when Tasha sings about "feelings outgrowing this little life," we get the sense, both lyrically and sonically, of someone in the throes of growth. This is an album crafted with a big, ambitious sound (in part, thanks to the production of Gregory Uhlmann)_cinematic droning, orchestral woodwinds, dazzling arrays of jangling guitar, all lining up to capture a sweeping moment in Tasha's life. Written over the course of 2022 and 2023, right on the cusp of Tasha being cast in Illinoise, the songs in this album invoke friendship, heart ache, flirtation, doubt. From the social anxiety of "Party" ("Do they think I'm funny? / Did they like my jokes last night?") to the questing for meaning in "So Much More," Tasha brings us along on a journey of finding out that the person you wanted to be was inside of yourself, just waiting to bloom all along. She sums it up neatly in her final track, "Love's Changing," charging us with a brilliant, sweeping vision of the future, singing: "Suddenly the world is bigger than it ever felt before / Feel the weight of my future sinking in / See the joy I'm running toward." In `All This and So Much More,' Tasha asks us to consider abundance in its truest form. Our lives, a deluge of possible experience if only we will surrender to it, all the way from the citric ache of heartbreak to the chest bloom of new adventure.

'In `All This and So Much More' Tasha is an artist flung open. For Tasha, the last few years have been propulsive, dynamic, bursting at the seams. They've included painful encounters with grief; a sudden break up; new flirtation; new hair; the glitter of world travel and not least, a role in Tony-nominated Broadway musical `Illinoise' which adapts Sufjan Steven's `Illinois' for the stage. If `Tell Me What You Miss The Most' was an introspective meditation on love with a few moments of glancing toward what's next, `All this and So Much More' is Tasha turned outward, flourishing, telling us what it's like to take life by the chin and look it in the eye. Take, for example "Eric Song." This was the first song to be written on the album, penned while Tasha grappled with the sudden, tragic death of Eric Littman, the co-producer of her last album. Though the instrumentation is a familiar 3/4 guitar strum, lulling us into a comforting waltz, Tasha's voice is breathy with grief, adding depth and dimension to the hushed sound. "No, I'm not alone after all / You must be near / Facing this soaring sprawl," she sings, transforming the experience of loss into a talisman of love and courage meant to help usher in a new self. Said a different way, `All This and So Much More' is a full-throated ode to all of the ups and downs of becoming. In the opening track, "Pretend," when Tasha sings about "feelings outgrowing this little life," we get the sense, both lyrically and sonically, of someone in the throes of growth. This is an album crafted with a big, ambitious sound (in part, thanks to the production of Gregory Uhlmann)_cinematic droning, orchestral woodwinds, dazzling arrays of jangling guitar, all lining up to capture a sweeping moment in Tasha's life. Written over the course of 2022 and 2023, right on the cusp of Tasha being cast in Illinoise, the songs in this album invoke friendship, heart ache, flirtation, doubt. From the social anxiety of "Party" ("Do they think I'm funny? / Did they like my jokes last night?") to the questing for meaning in "So Much More," Tasha brings us along on a journey of finding out that the person you wanted to be was inside of yourself, just waiting to bloom all along. She sums it up neatly in her final track, "Love's Changing," charging us with a brilliant, sweeping vision of the future, singing: "Suddenly the world is bigger than it ever felt before / Feel the weight of my future sinking in / See the joy I'm running toward." In `All This and So Much More,' Tasha asks us to consider abundance in its truest form. Our lives, a deluge of possible experience if only we will surrender to it, all the way from the citric ache of heartbreak to the chest bloom of new adventure.

Gatefold LP on all LPs with a 4 page booklet. Clear vinyl LP comes with a slipmat (150 only), 250 on each of the other colours, 350 on black. At AMERICANAFEST in September veteran journalist Jewly Hight hosts discussion, ’Drag Queens in Limousines Forever: The Importance and Influence of Gauthier’s Songs”.⁠ Mark September 2024 on your calendars as Mary Gauthier’s sophomore release “Drag Queens In Limousines” will finally be out on vinyl. This 25th anniversary limited edition package is being put together by Cow Pie Recordings out of London and will feature four colourways, gatefold packaging, lyrics booklet with liner notes from the artist and an extra limited slip mat for those lucky enough to find the clear vinyl version. This is a truly seminal record from 1999 which provided insight to growing up queer but also a wider group with songs about true mavericks, rebels and outcasts. As Mary said in a recent interview for her book Saved By A Song, “I knew that “Drag Queens In Limousines” needed to be in there,” she said. “I needed to talk about being queer and being an outsider, but I also wanted to show how a song can even transcend the experience of the queer person in country music singing it. Suddenly, otherness becomes cool, and everyone who hears it wants to be one because the outsider experience is not unique to gay and lesbian people. I tapped into that without even knowing, and I was surprised with who related to the song.” This is the first of Gauthier’s releases that was available worldwide and put her on the map of the folk music community. Now it will be heard the way it should be for the first time!

Gatefold LP on all LPs with a 4 page booklet. Clear vinyl LP comes with a slipmat (150 only), 250 on each of the other colours, 350 on black. At AMERICANAFEST in September veteran journalist Jewly Hight hosts discussion, ’Drag Queens in Limousines Forever: The Importance and Influence of Gauthier’s Songs”.⁠ Mark September 2024 on your calendars as Mary Gauthier’s sophomore release “Drag Queens In Limousines” will finally be out on vinyl. This 25th anniversary limited edition package is being put together by Cow Pie Recordings out of London and will feature four colourways, gatefold packaging, lyrics booklet with liner notes from the artist and an extra limited slip mat for those lucky enough to find the clear vinyl version. This is a truly seminal record from 1999 which provided insight to growing up queer but also a wider group with songs about true mavericks, rebels and outcasts. As Mary said in a recent interview for her book Saved By A Song, “I knew that “Drag Queens In Limousines” needed to be in there,” she said. “I needed to talk about being queer and being an outsider, but I also wanted to show how a song can even transcend the experience of the queer person in country music singing it. Suddenly, otherness becomes cool, and everyone who hears it wants to be one because the outsider experience is not unique to gay and lesbian people. I tapped into that without even knowing, and I was surprised with who related to the song.” This is the first of Gauthier’s releases that was available worldwide and put her on the map of the folk music community. Now it will be heard the way it should be for the first time!

Gatefold LP on all LPs with a 4 page booklet. Clear vinyl LP comes with a slipmat (150 only), 250 on each of the other colours, 350 on black. At AMERICANAFEST in September veteran journalist Jewly Hight hosts discussion, ’Drag Queens in Limousines Forever: The Importance and Influence of Gauthier’s Songs”.⁠ Mark September 2024 on your calendars as Mary Gauthier’s sophomore release “Drag Queens In Limousines” will finally be out on vinyl. This 25th anniversary limited edition package is being put together by Cow Pie Recordings out of London and will feature four colourways, gatefold packaging, lyrics booklet with liner notes from the artist and an extra limited slip mat for those lucky enough to find the clear vinyl version. This is a truly seminal record from 1999 which provided insight to growing up queer but also a wider group with songs about true mavericks, rebels and outcasts. As Mary said in a recent interview for her book Saved By A Song, “I knew that “Drag Queens In Limousines” needed to be in there,” she said. “I needed to talk about being queer and being an outsider, but I also wanted to show how a song can even transcend the experience of the queer person in country music singing it. Suddenly, otherness becomes cool, and everyone who hears it wants to be one because the outsider experience is not unique to gay and lesbian people. I tapped into that without even knowing, and I was surprised with who related to the song.” This is the first of Gauthier’s releases that was available worldwide and put her on the map of the folk music community. Now it will be heard the way it should be for the first time!

Gatefold LP on all LPs with a 4 page booklet. Clear vinyl LP comes with a slipmat (150 only), 250 on each of the other colours, 350 on black. At AMERICANAFEST in September veteran journalist Jewly Hight hosts discussion, ’Drag Queens in Limousines Forever: The Importance and Influence of Gauthier’s Songs”.⁠ Mark September 2024 on your calendars as Mary Gauthier’s sophomore release “Drag Queens In Limousines” will finally be out on vinyl. This 25th anniversary limited edition package is being put together by Cow Pie Recordings out of London and will feature four colourways, gatefold packaging, lyrics booklet with liner notes from the artist and an extra limited slip mat for those lucky enough to find the clear vinyl version. This is a truly seminal record from 1999 which provided insight to growing up queer but also a wider group with songs about true mavericks, rebels and outcasts. As Mary said in a recent interview for her book Saved By A Song, “I knew that “Drag Queens In Limousines” needed to be in there,” she said. “I needed to talk about being queer and being an outsider, but I also wanted to show how a song can even transcend the experience of the queer person in country music singing it. Suddenly, otherness becomes cool, and everyone who hears it wants to be one because the outsider experience is not unique to gay and lesbian people. I tapped into that without even knowing, and I was surprised with who related to the song.” This is the first of Gauthier’s releases that was available worldwide and put her on the map of the folk music community. Now it will be heard the way it should be for the first time!

Repress!

Leif Vollebekk, the Montreal singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist had hit a wall. In the midst of endless touring Leif found himself retreating to his lonely hotel rooms after shows and listening to Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' alone in the dark. His own songs didn't sound right and he felt the bright spots in his sets were the covers he'd end with: songs by Ray Charles or Townes Van Zandt. In this deep blue mood he booked a secret show at a Montreal dive bar, only playing covers with a band that rehearsed once.  The experience led Leif to change his approach to songwriting: explore the ideas that came spontaneously to him, and let the songs shape themselves. Soon the songs came pouring out of him. This approach is what created the lush, freewheeling and often devastating 'Twin Solitude,' out February 24 on Secret City Records.

"By the time the last notes die away, all that's left should be you," Leif says. "And I'll be somewhere else. And that's Twin Solitude.' 

Leif's third album, features 10 delicate and expansive original songs, with lyrics that pour out of this singer songwriter that are often compared to Jeff Buckley.  Leif's words lay on a bed of elastic instrumentation full of piano, synthesizer, guitar, rich electric bass and strings.

Several songs on the album came to Leif and were written in one sitting. 'Into the Ether' came to be while he was exploring a Moog synthesizer. 'Elegy' is a bedside soliloquy, of love slipping through fingers and came to Leif while he was riding his bike through Montreal.  The meditative 'Michigan' was written on a half-tuned guitar and fully written as he was about to go to sleep.  Other songs on the album capture the countless hours Leif has spent on the road, crisscrossing North America. 'Big Sky Country' recalls a trip to Vancouver with his family when he was young, never forgetting the expanse of Montana and listening to Ian Tyson's song 'The Gift' in the car over and over again.
'Twin Solitude' features Olivier Fairfield from Timber Timbre (drums), Sarah Page from the Barr Brothers (harp) on 'Rest' Shahzad Ismaily of Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and SecretCheifs3 (bass) on several tracks and the string duo Chargaux throughout the album as well.  It was engineered by Dave Smith and recorded at his Breakglass Studios in Canada.  Produced by Leif Vollebekk.

Vollebekk made his album debut in 2010 - and since then has performed at the Newport Folk Festival, and shared stages with Daniel Lanois, Beth Orton, Sinéad O'Connor, Patrick Watson, Coeur de Pirate, William Fitzsimmons and Sam Amidon. His debut 'Inland' was described as  beautiful, memorable and moving' by NPR and  timeless and monumental'  by The Independent.

2024 Repress

Pitch Black’s “Electronomicon”, a landmark album in New Zealand’s electronica scene, finally gets pressed on vinyl.First released in 2000, “Electronomicon” shows Pitch Black developing their deep dubby sound further by creating long and involved song structures that traverse a range of sonic experiences. The resultant album journeys from organic ambience and layered soundscapes to skanking keyboards, cutting acid riffs and thumping rhythmic grooves, with dub being the glue that holds it all together.

“Electronomicon” reached 28 in the New Zealand album charts and led to a sell-out 30-date tour of New Zealand and Australia. It has since gone on to become one of the duo’s most popular albums, regularly finding new fans around the world.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release, the band dug out the original audio files and Angus McNaughton has remastered them for this vinyl release. Hamish Macaulay has also adapted the original artwork, creating a brand new collage for the centerfold out of pictures taken at the time.

What an unbelievable record. From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots from Ian Carr’s Nucleus is one of the dopest albums we know. This is seriously thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, other than a couple of versions at the time for other territories, Roots was never re-pressed since so it’s gone on to become another one of those impossible to find records.

Maybe it was a little too out there for the time, but it’s aged very, very well indeed and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.

Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.

Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels.

Working together with producer Fritz Fryer and engineer Roger Wake, the seven compositions by Carr, Brian Smith and Dave MacRae that make up Roots flirt with perfection, and Nucleus at that time made up of the cream of 1970s UK jazz with Brian Smith on tenor saxophones and flutes, Dave MacRae on piano and electric piano, Jocelyn Pitchen on guitar, Roger Sutton on bass, both Clive Thacker and Aureo De Souza on drums and percussion, Joy Yates delivering the vocals and of course Carr on trumpet.

The spellbinding title track immediately renders the album indispensable. Riding the illest of loping breakbeats, “Roots” is low-slung, doped-out heist-funk. An absolute monster. If it sounds familiar then that’s likely down to it being sampled by Madlib for Lootpack and Quasimoto’s “Loop Digga”, as well as by a whole host of beat manipulators. “Roots” conjures prime instrumental hip-hop / beat music, only 20 years ahead of its time. Truly, these are the roots. Through sinuous bass, twinkling keys and a hypnotic guitar riff, a smoky brass motif weaves its way into a gloriously deep haze around Carr’s solos. “Roots” is over 9 minutes long, but there’s not a single wasted second, not surprising given that this is a condensed version of an originally 40 minute long commissioned composition.

The soothing vocal fusion delight of “Images” follows. Meticulously constructed, with gorgeous flute work from Brian Smith, with Joy Yates’ silky vocals and Dave MacRae’s Rhodes never sounding better. The cool, driving “Caliban” closes out the first side. Originally the third movement in a four part commission to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday it stands up on its own, all robust rhythms and blended brass. Keyboard colour and Carr’s trumpet are splashed across the funk drums and basslines (and there’s even some bamboo flute). This really is fusion: the elements of jazz and rock coming together in beautifully synthesis.

Side two opens in riotous fashion with the short, thrilling samba of “Wapatiti”. Next up, “Capricorn” forms a smoothed-out, jazzy constellation. Mellow and dreamy, its twinkling percussion and languid horns slowly build the vibe before head-nod drums and a killer bassline enter the fray. With a distinct heaviness that Black Sabbath would’ve envied, “Odokamona” is a venomous slice of riff-soaked jazz metal (yes, you read that right), elevated by Carr’s wah-wah horns.

The album closes with MacRae’s exceptionally cosmic “Southern Roots and Celebration”. Very much in conversation with Weather Report, it opens as a languorous, spiritual jazz of chiming keys and serene guitar that turns slowly, gorgeously into a mid-paced, brass-laced banger. It’s another sure-fire party starter and the sound of the band having a righteous blast, building an ecstatic chaos that ends with Yates screaming.

And of course we need to talk about Keith Davis’ cover for Roots. Perhaps the coolest record cover of all time? Certainly one of the most bonkers. Just your run-of-the-mill high-gloss, acid-tinged airbrush dystopian/utopian living-room party scene. Consider this your chemical flashback trigger warning.

Front-and-centre the hip-to-death green robot holds court with their giant ball of yellow barbwire wool, hooked up to… something(?) being teased out from under the stairs (probably best not to ask). A thoroughly zoned-out, long-legged Pop Art party-goer lounges half-plugged in to the painting behind her as a pair of legs flail into shot from the the top of the stairs opposite. We won’t even begin to guess what the chap’s up to in the middle, but the view out of the windows is rather nice, and someone’s already got the hoover out ready to tidy up. All of the Nucleus sleeves are something special, but this particular one? Crikey.

This Be With edition of Roots has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The crazy cover has been restored at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

The debut Creation Rebel album, originally released on pre-On-U Sound label Hitrun in 1978. The original band, featuring the drummer Eric "Fish" Clarke, had been a studio outfit known as the Arabs, now primarily remembered for their work with Prince Far I, including the classic dub set "Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1". The rhythm tracks for this album had been laid in Jamaica but the overdubs were worked up at Gooseberry Studios in London. The experienced Dennis Bovell was the engineer, with the young Adrian Sherwood on his very first production assignment encouraging him to make it “madder” and add more and more effects.

" The myths of our Western tradition have often captivated me, whether they be Greek, Roman, or Judeo-Christian. Myths are a transcendent collective narrative; a buried memory, not intellectual but spiritual, alive to all the senses of another world. These stories often describe forbidding passages guarded by terrifying monster-like creatures, which, if conquered, give access to other planes. 'Door 1 - Door 2' are two of these planes, opening to prophecy and kingship." (Christopher Chaplin)

Following the release of his powerful and dark album trilogy "Je suis le Ténébreux", "Paradise Lost" and "M", British avant-garde composer Christopher James Chaplin has unveiled his latest project in 2021: "Patriarchs", released to critical acclaim. This project is a musical exploration of the Antediluvian patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, and is another captivating and daring work of art that straddles experimental electronic music and the avant-garde. Chaplin has also been wowing audiences with his live performances, releasing the concert album "Patriarchs Live" to shorten the wait for his new studio album "Door 1 Door 2", which will be released on September 20, 2024.

It is another powerful work of art, located between electronic music and avant-garde. Once again, Christopher Chaplin breaks genre boundaries and manages to condense experimental and colorful electronics in chamber music in a unique way, transporting the listener into mental and spatiotemporal intermediate states. A completely unique musical microcosm that can also be experienced in his impressive solo live performances.

Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music. But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t t.

Garcia’s sophomore album Odyssey, out in September 2024 via Concord Jazz, is a majestic feat on which she blends orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, broken beat and dub, resulting in a grand, nuanced record that feels airy and celestial without sacricing the groove. It’s a deeply personal oering about her trek to falling back in love with musical composition over the past four years.

Source, her 2020 debut album, was released via Concord Jazz to massive critical acclaim, an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, a Pitchfork “Best New Music” review and a Rolling Stone “Album of the Month” mention. In a prole, The New York Times called Source “a sweeping set of jazz with Afro-Caribbean inuences that funnels a life’s worth of experiences into an hourlong listen.” Also upon release, the album entered the UK charts in the Top 30, and she was just one of three artists selected to perform live at Glastonbury’s 2020 Experience, which aired on the BBC to thousands of viewers. Source was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, a prestigious award given to the best albums from the UK or Ireland.

In 2022, Garcia toured the US in support of Khruangbin, performing in sold-out venues including Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Ryman in Nashville and the Met in Philadelphia. She then headlined her own tour in the UK and US, performing at various festivals including Glastonbury, Love Supreme, Pickathon and Newport Jazz.

Garcia continues to tour worldwide while also collaborating with major brands like Lululemon, Paul Smith, Labrum, Nicholas Daley and Burberry. She was one of three creatives selected for Fossil’s “Moment In Time” campaign, which was published globally in VOGUE, GQ, and GLAMOUR magazines. Elsewhere, Garcia has been featured in numerous print publications, including Mojo, Vogue and Ebony.

As a composer, Garcia’s original music has been placed with Apple TV (Ted Lasso); OWN Network (Cherish The Day); FX TV (Atlanta); EPIC GAMES (Fortnite); and on multiple podcasts (including the theme tune for Anika Noni Rose’s Clio award-winning podcast Being Seen).

Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music. But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t t.

Garcia’s sophomore album Odyssey, out in September 2024 via Concord Jazz, is a majestic feat on which she blends orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, broken beat and dub, resulting in a grand, nuanced record that feels airy and celestial without sacricing the groove. It’s a deeply personal oering about her trek to falling back in love with musical composition over the past four years.

Source, her 2020 debut album, was released via Concord Jazz to massive critical acclaim, an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, a Pitchfork “Best New Music” review and a Rolling Stone “Album of the Month” mention. In a prole, The New York Times called Source “a sweeping set of jazz with Afro-Caribbean inuences that funnels a life’s worth of experiences into an hourlong listen.” Also upon release, the album entered the UK charts in the Top 30, and she was just one of three artists selected to perform live at Glastonbury’s 2020 Experience, which aired on the BBC to thousands of viewers. Source was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, a prestigious award given to the best albums from the UK or Ireland.

In 2022, Garcia toured the US in support of Khruangbin, performing in sold-out venues including Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Ryman in Nashville and the Met in Philadelphia. She then headlined her own tour in the UK and US, performing at various festivals including Glastonbury, Love Supreme, Pickathon and Newport Jazz.

Garcia continues to tour worldwide while also collaborating with major brands like Lululemon, Paul Smith, Labrum, Nicholas Daley and Burberry. She was one of three creatives selected for Fossil’s “Moment In Time” campaign, which was published globally in VOGUE, GQ, and GLAMOUR magazines. Elsewhere, Garcia has been featured in numerous print publications, including Mojo, Vogue and Ebony.

As a composer, Garcia’s original music has been placed with Apple TV (Ted Lasso); OWN Network (Cherish The Day); FX TV (Atlanta); EPIC GAMES (Fortnite); and on multiple podcasts (including the theme tune for Anika Noni Rose’s Clio award-winning podcast Being Seen).

Aesthetically, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won’t force their songs to fit a preconceived style. “The next album’s always gotta be different from the last one. We’re different people from record to record. So, writing authentically to ourselves will always bring our work to a place that we haven’t been to yet,” Rice said. Schrader added, “We’re terrified of turning into AC/DC. We never want to be married to one scene or time or sound. We want to be the Boba Fett of bands! Constantly altering the way in which we make records has been pretty key in that process.”
For Orchestra Hits, the band’s latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe.
“Dylan came to every show we’ve ever played in New York—no matter how weird it was,” Schrader said. “He’d be standing there ready to move an amp or feed us barbecued cactus after the gig and toss on some Golden Girls so we could decompress. It felt like family as soon as we began working, but I honestly had no idea how damn good he was at tossing out these hooks.”
According to Schrader, the songs “just poured out of us” over the course of a highly caffeinated three-day weekend in a tiny room in Devlin’s house while his cat, Sandy Goose, screamed continually. “It was like three kids hiding from the world to get into some lovely mischief,” they said. The lack of external pressure in the process gives Orchestra Hits an almost paradoxical vibe. For all of the album’s layers, that mix live and sequenced instruments, it never loses the raw energy of a small handful of friends in the same room plugging in, cranking up, and playing until they pass out.
Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. “We are not into the garden,” Schrader wails on the relentless “Roman Candle,” a song about the sad debacle of Woodstock ’99, and a direct response to Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” a utopian ode to hippie idealism. A 19-year-old Schrader, having snuck into Woodstock ’99 through a hole in the fence, was there the night members of the crowd used candles intended for a vigil for victims of the Columbine High School massacre to set fires all over the grounds. Even before the fires, Schrader remembered feeling disconnected from the music, the nostalgic cash grab, and the meatheads in the crowd. After watching a press tower collapse, they boarded a random shuttle bus and were dropped off near a Denny’s. “It was a far cry from the Garden of Eden,” Schrader said. “That experience defined what I didn’t want to be a part of, and yet America is more like Woodstock ’99 than ever.”
With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, “IDKS” is the album’s dance-floor slapper. “’IDKS’ is a funny one,” Schrader said. “We already had a pretty satisfying suite of songs when Dylan was packing up to head back to New York, but he missed the train because of a freak snowstorm. Realizing he’d be stuck in town another day, he says to me, ‘Here’s this other weird thing I have.’ It was ‘IDKS.’ The hooks were so good I felt like Homer Simpson at a free donut convention. I just dove right in, and we cranked that baby out in like 20 minutes.”
Lyrically, “IDKS” is a letter from the true self to public-facing self. “It’s an angry song,” Schrader said. “Because the public-facing self is always looking for an easy escape, but it forces the true self into a cage. I honestly thought my lyrics were corny and was about to change them, but Dylan was digging it just the way it was. So that’s what you hear.”
With the soaring “Daylight Commander,” the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. “I went full High School Musical with the vocals,” Schrader said. “At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that’s what we did here.” The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. “If ever we had a ‘Shiny Happy People’ moment, I guess this is it,” Schrader said.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

We welcome Torn back to Samurai Music for a full length return trip.
Immortal ventures back into the abyssal realms that Ivans music inhabits with 13 meticulously crafted solo works. Meditative, brooding and hypnotic, it's a hauntingly immersive journey that shines a light on his singular vision and artistry.
From the outset, Torn descends into the subterranean with unmatched precision. Each track on Immortal is an intricate colage of raw, sinewy textures and eerie melodies,meticulously woven to create an intensely intoxicating experience.
Standout pieces like the title track 'Immortal', 'Into The Abyss', Unending Rails' and'Glacier' display the inimitable Torn style in its full glory. Immaculate rhythms and layered atmospherics, forever evoking a sense of inexorable momentum
What sets Immortal apart is its ability to maintain a cohesive narrative while exploring diverse sonic and rhythmic territories. Torn seamlessly transitions from the minimalist, almost meditative ambience of tracks like Reckless and I Dare to the more aggressive, beat-driven attacks of Inner Battle and Invisible Turmoil. Each piece contributes to the overarching foreboding atmospheric journey.
For aficionados of deep, shadowy atmospheric drum and bass, Torn's Immortal is indispensable, a tenebrous soundscape that is equal parts innovative, disquieting and enthralling.

Brighton based three-piece Jopy, led by songwriter Jo Parnell, release their debut EP on Goo Records. Featuring six tracks including recent singles Head Hunters Pub & Grub and Graveyard Romance, the Planet Zombie EP showcases the band's B52s/Cramps influenced glam punk sound chocker with incendiary punk riffs and frantically infectious choruses.

Full of macabre joy, the EP sees Parnell celebrate her queerness through fantastical camp-horror fictions via Marc Bolan-esque vocals rolled into one blood-curdlingly gleeful package. Tracing these songs' deeply personal origins, Parnell says: “I want to write songs that people can relate to and feel seen by without having to relive the more difficult aspects of their journeys. This is why I chose to convey my experiences in the form of fun, campy horror stories.”

DEFTR (pron - ‘Defuture’): The Revolutionary Collaboration Redefining Ambient and Techno Music

DEFTR, the newly formed alias of Answer Code Request and Jan Wagner, presents their debut album “Run Away” on npm, introducing a captivating fusion of ambient and techno. This collaborative project marks a departure from Answer Code Request's renowned 4/4 techno framework, venturing into expansive auditory realms enriched by Jan Wagner's classical expertise.

Spanning eight meticulously crafted tracks, DEFTR's debut album explores a spectrum of blissful and resonant soundscapes. The compositions unfold with a delicate balance of ambient textures and rhythmic innovation, punctuated by evocative vocal samples that enhance the album's atmospheric depth.

Having previously released three EPs that hinted at this innovative direction, DEFTR solidifies their unique sonic identity with this full-
length release. The interplay between Answer Code Request's intricate rhythms and Wagner's ambient sensibilities creates a dynamic tension, resulting in a listening experience that is both immersive and transformative.

DEFTR's vision extends beyond the studio, aiming to bring their sound to life on stage with a focus on live performance elements, including drum machines and synths. While details of the debut album release show are forthcoming, Berlin is anticipated to host this significant event.

With their debut album, DEFTR not only establishes a new creative path for Answer Code Request and Jan Wagner but also sets a high standard for npm's inaugural release, promising an engaging and profound auditory journey.