quête:lo fi

Cindy Lee is the brainchild of singer/guitarist Patrick Flegel. While some may know Flegel from his time spent in Canadian experimental indie band Women, Cindy Lee has spent the past four years crafting songs that push and pull in opposing directions - from tales of tragedy laced with haywire distortion to moments of breathtaking beauty. On Malenkost, Flegel combines everything that makes Cindy Lee so essential: heart-wrenching romantic pleas, rough shards of noise and twilit ballads. Featuring the lo-fi pop single "A Message From The Aching Sky," Malenkost sounds like Deerhunter playing The Supremes or vice versa.

Cindy Lee is the diva alter-ego of singer / guitarist / drag queen Patrick Flegel, the one-time captain of heralded Canadian experimental guitar pop act, Women. In Flegel's working on / as Cindy Lee exclusively over recent years, their songwriting makes a move toward high atmospherics, often achieving a mysterious sweetness rooted equally in beauty and ache.

As Cindy Lee's first long-form statement, Act Of Tenderness makes use of antipodal themes to create a living sound: static with grace, distortion and sugar, all masterfully arranged with crooked nods toward pop classicism. The layered vocal on "Power And Possession" creates a palpable haunt, bringing historical girl-group lament to choir-esque heights. The feedback shriek and industrial grind of "Bonsai Garden" provides near-operatic damage, yet never stumbles into the irrevocably grave. These snowy pieces give the album a decidedly cinematic feel, albeit one bent more towards Eraserhead.

Originally released in a scant private edition in 2015, Superior Viaduct's imprint W.25TH is pleased to give Act Of Tenderness its deserving wide release.

Dolette Mcdonald's single has long been a sought-after keeper amongst DJs and collectors. Recorded in 1982 at Blank Tape Studios, New York, as a cover version of Atmosfear’s ‘Xtra Special’, Dolette was assigned to work with producer and label owner, Began Cekic. "He played me a tape of the original version. I hadn't heard it before and we went over it a few times until I had it down. Buster Jones played the bass. I remember it being a lot of fun," recalls Dolette. She'd first met Jones whilst singing with The Bombers. At the time, the Talking Heads were looking to expand their band and after Buster recommended Dolette's vocal talents to them, she joined as backing singer, both touring and recording. Amongst DJ's and boogie fans alike, the single has become a flagship release from Began Cekic's productions and his various Brooklyn-based labels.

Domino Records haben mit Upchuck eine rohe Punk-Wucht aus Atlanta unter Vertrag genommen. Die fünfköpfige Band um Sängerin KT entstand 2018 aus der lokalen Skater:innen-Szene – laut, wild und kompromisslos.

Mit „Plastic“ legen sie nun ihre erste Single beim neuen Label vor: ein wütender, knapp zweiminütiger Ritt durch schrammelnde Gitarren und aufgeladene Vocals. Produziert wurde der Track von Ty Segall, gemastert von Heba Kadry und visuell in Szene gesetzt von Ian Cone. Inhaltlich dreht sich alles um den verzweifelten Versuch, in einer künstlichen Welt echte Verbindungen zu finden.
Der Rolling Stone brachte ihren Sound nach einem SXSW-Gig auf den Punkt: „Everything explodes.“

In einer Welt, die von zwei Monden umkreist wird, tanzen die Mondphasen im Gleichklang und beeinflussen die Gezeiten. Unter diesen Lichtamuletten liegt die Landschaft, in der SAINTSENECAs neues Album ,Highwallow & Supermoon Songs" entstanden ist. Zac Little wirkt an der Oberfläche subtil, aber die Kunstfertigkeit in jeder seiner Phrasen ist fast überwältigend. HIGHWALLLOW & SUPERMOON SONGS findet seine Stimme in ihrer elastischsten Form, reitet auf den Hügeln seiner Heimat, schwirrt vorbei wie eine Libelle und legt sich dann ruhig wie ein alter Hofhund.

The Dead 60s seminal self-titled album gets a timely Deluxe edition reissue on Vinyl for its 20th Anniversary, on Deltasonic Records



“Back in the day, punk and dub weren’t just sharing space—they were smashing into each other headfirst. Late '70s Britain was a pressure cooker, and for kids like me, growing up between Brixton’s bass bins and the chaos of King’s Road, that collision was everything. Jamaican sound system culture met punk’s raw spirit in a haze of smoke, sweat, and feedback. It wasn’t about genre—it was about energy. Identity. Defiance. so when The Dead 60s came along, post-Britpop and post-bullshit, it felt like someone had dusted off the blueprint and run it through a battered old tape echo. These weren’t just lads with good taste—they understood the assignment. They took the DNA of two rebel cultures and mutated it into something that could stand tall in the 21st century. Dub-soaked, punk-fuelled, dripping with that Liverpool attitude. I remember first hearing them and thinking—yeah, here we go again. Not in a retro way, but in a real way. Guitars that cut like sirens in the night. Basslines fat and warm, straight out the Channel One playbook. Lyrics that painted the grey corners of Britain like CCTV poetry. It was the sound of youth under pressure. The sound of not fitting in—and not wanting to.

Their debut album dropped in 2005, and it hit like a flare in the dark. “Riot Radio” was a pirate broadcast from the concrete frontlines. “Control This” swaggered with menace and reverb. It was like someone opened a time capsule from the punky-reggae party and rewired it for a new generation.

Now, with this 20th anniversary vinyl reissue—complete with the full dub companion produced by Central Nervous System—we get to hear the bones and blood of it all. The dub versions pull the tracks apart and let the ghosts speak. Reverb, delay, space—it’s not just production, it’s meditation. Revolution slowed down to a heartbeat. It’s music that makes you move and think. What they’ve done here is more than remix a record—they’ve revealed its soul. That’s what dub does when it’s done right. And The Dead 60s, they got that. They weren’t tourists in the culture—they were students of it, shaped by it, and ultimately, contributors to the legacy. Liverpool’s long had a love affair with Jamaican music—you can hear it in the streets if you’re really listening. The Dead 60s tapped into that lineage, but they brought their own thing to the table. Punk's fire. Dub’s depth. Ska’s bounce. All filtered through a Northern lens and blasted out like protest graffiti. This 20th anniversary reissue ain’t about nostalgia. It’s a reminder. A celebration. A call to arms. Music like this doesn’t belong in a museum—it belongs on a system, shaking walls and waking minds. Crate diggers, completists, young punks, old heads—this one's for all of you.

So put it on and turn it up. Let the punk edge sharpen your thoughts, and the dub shake your bones ‘cos this isn’t just a reissue - it’s resistance on wax.....”

"I live in the arcades. Reality was never an option!"

The 85-year-old video game queen and film composer pdqb (born on November 14, 1939) delivers a beautiful love letter to your boomer childhood, a wild ride through the golden age of video gaming. Hear how she dodges bullets, jumps over cosmic chasms, beats bosses, reaches bonus stages, uses cheat codes and even her last continue...just to stay in a world of pixels and vectors forever. pdqb will bring you back all those fond memories of unburdened joy that you might have lost while growing up. She could be your savior.

Synaptic Cliffs is filled with otherworldly pride to present these 14 timeless masterpieces to its beloved listeners.

Until The End (The Lost Album) features recordings made by Wil Malone throughout 1970, possibly intended as a follow-up to Wil Malone – Wil Malone, which was recorded in mid-1969 and mastered for release on Fontana Records on July 5, 1969.
Recently unearthed from the Morgan Blue Town tape vaults, these tracks offer a compelling mix of ’60s pop and bubblegum, diverging from the original album’s string-heavy, progressive-psych sound. All the material comprises either demos or finished masters, recorded over several months. With the exception of the brass parts — performed by session musicians — all instruments were played by Wil Malone himself.
It’s a shame the debut didn’t achieve greater commercial success, as it might have brought these follow-up recordings to light much earlier, back in the 1970s.

The Original Lineup Reunited
For the first time since their iconic run in the early 1960s, all five founding members—Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler, and John Steel—came together for a raw, soulful reunion. This is the Animals with the benefit of age, experience, and no pressure to chase hits—just great playing.
A Gritty, Understated Gem
Recorded with minimal fanfare in 1977, Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted is a return to the blues and R&B roots that shaped the band's early success. It's stripped-down, honest, and deeply musical—a perfect record for fans of The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, or Bob Dylan.
Dylan, Jimmy Reed, and the Blues Canon
The album features a standout cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", along with classics from Jimmy Reed, Joe Tex, and Gospel/Blues deep cuts, reinterpreted with grit and grace.
Cult Classic with Lasting Legacy

Peace and love in late 60s America did not come without parallel feelings of fear and confusion about the social situation – specifically about Vietnam. “Safe In My Garden” is the latest Ace compilation in an acclaimed series compiled by Bob Stanley – it’s a companion piece to the much-praised “State Of The Union (The American Dream In Crisis 1967 – 1973)” Ace CDCHD 1533/XXQLP2 057 2018).

The music on “Safe In My Garden” is harmony-laden, beautifully produced soft rock. Sunshine pop, even - a melodic, innovative style of American music that grew in the mid-60s out of the folk and surf scenes, exemplified by the Beach Boys and the Mamas and Papas. You will hear orchestral arrangements, and soft boy-girl vocals. But it wasn’t made in isolation from what was going on in the outside world. There are clouds and minor chords, plenty of melancholy in those harmonies.

“Safe In My Garden” includes songs of escape (Mark Eric’s ‘Move With The Dawn’, the Groop’s ‘A Famous Myth’), loss (the Eighth Day’s ‘How Can I Stop Loving You’, the New Colony Six’s ‘Prairie Grey’), dreamscapes (Tommy James and the Shondells’ ‘She’, Nancy Priddy’s ‘Christina’s World’), rebirth (Smokey and his Sister’s ‘Creators Of Rain’), a simpler world (the Free Design’s ‘My Brother Woody’) and a philosophically sounder future (Chad & Jeremy’s ‘The Ark’, Best of Friends’ ‘Summer Sound’).

It contains some surprisingly dark messages paired with beautiful melodies, as well as songs of hope. Thousands of young musicians in cities, suburbs and small towns across the States from the mid to late 60s spent their mornings hiding from the mailman, dreading the draft. This is the Sound of Young America in the late 60s, keeping its fingers crossed.

Two years before the legendary trumpeter mysteriously fell from the window of a Dutch hotel, he delivered this high-level live performance on a stage in Bologna, Italy, in 1985.

Accompanied by Philippe Catherine on guitar and Jean-Louis Rassinfosse on double bass, Baker drew on his natural charm, that utterly disarming magnetism which made him deeply moving, even when decline was looming. Baker carried within him that inner fracture, that haunting depth that rendered every note fragile. Released for the first time as a double 180 gram vinyl LP with HD vinyl mastering

Die in Chicago geborene Musikerin keiyaA ist bekannt für ihren eigenen Sound-Mix zwischen R&B, Jazz, Elektronik und Soul. Schon ihr Debüt "Forever, Ya Girl" (2020) wurde international gefeiert, von Pitchfork als "Best New Music" ausgezeichnet und in Bestenlisten von The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR und The Guardian geführt. Künstler:innen wie Solange, Jay-Z oder Moses Sumney lobten ihre Arbeit. Ihr neues Album "hooke"s law" entstand über fünf Jahre hinweg - in einer Zeit, in der keiyaA zwischen künstlerischem Aufbruch und persönlicher Krise oszillierte. Es ist ein Werk radikaler Selbstbefragung, das Intimität, politische Wut und künstlerische Experimentierfreude verbindet. Klanglich finden sich schillernde Synths mit Videospiel-Anklängen, kaleidoskopische Jazz-Arrangements und fragile R&B-Momente. Emotional pendelt das Album zwischen Zartheit und Widerstand, zwischen der Suche nach innerem Frieden und der Konfrontation mit einer Welt, die queere Schwarze Frauen unsichtbar macht und zugleich überwacht. Songs wie "stupid prizes" oder "get close 2 me" erzählen vom Spannungsfeld zwischen Überleben und Selbstbehauptung, während "think about it what u think" unvermittelt von Sinnlichkeit in politische Anklage kippt. Wie auch in ihrem experimentellen Theaterstück milk thot entwirft keiyaA auf "hooke"s law" Räume, in denen Identität nicht fixiert, sondern ständig neu zusammengesetzt wird. James Baldwin schrieb, die Aufgabe von Künstler:innen sei es, die verborgenen Wahrheiten einer Gesellschaft ans Licht zu bringen. Genau das gelingt keiyaA hier: Sie verwandelt Schmerz in Klang und schenkt uns das Mutigste, was Kunst geben kann - die Freiheit, Widersprüche auszuhalten.

Claire Rousay"s music cascades from a well of documented experience, reflections of the past that compose the present. A prolific multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer, Rousay gracefully crafts boundaryless music. From her frequent and acclaimed collaborations with artists like M. Sage, more eaze, Gretchen Korsmo, Andrew Weathers, LEYA, and Alex Cunningham, to her film scoring like on The Bloody Lady. From her own compositions to her solo pop work, Rousay"s music is delicate yet powerful, carefully constructed with a casual intimacy. Rousay collages a wealth of found sounds and field recordings with earthy strings, stately piano, and processed instrumentation, all of which trace the outlines of memories and distinct impressions and create a complex constellation of feeling. Her music has evolved from confessional to conversational and excavates the rich emotional essence of each passage. Her work as both archivist and adept arranger and orchestrator merge sublimely into deeply honest and engrossing music. On a little death, Rousay"s blend of pop sensibility and compositional acumen turn abstracted sounds into tangible feelings, its warm, glimmering glow coalescing sensually with the darkness.

To some extent, this album arriving at INDEX:Records has been over 3 years in the making: we were first introduced to Beau’s work at GLOB in Denver (during our USA tour in 2023), at an event hosted by a dear friend, filled with lovely peeps. We were totally blown away by Beau’s performance and knew within a few minutes of their set starting that we wanted to release an album with them someday. Now, here it is: Subterra. Featuring tasty collaborations with iii, Uza A'amo and Yau Hei ASJ.

Holy Sons is the largely solo project of Emil Amos (Grails, Om, Lilacs & Champagne). Puritan Themes is his 17th album and his 4th for Thrill Jockey Records and a tentpole album in his wide-ranging output, including myriad private press LPs, collections of oddities, and conceptual series". Puritan Themes" relaxed vibes are influenced by the laid-back west coast rock sound of mid-period Fleetwood Mac, blended with a dose of psych distortion and imbued with the breeziness and ease of yacht rock. Puritan Themes is a record that knowingly, barely fits into the modern world. When mixing the record in Chicago, everyday Amos skated through Douglass Park listening to podcasts about the inner workings of The Band, listened to 70"s AM radio while washing dishes and went to sleep at night to early Bee Gees interviews. The earliest concept of the record was based around the track "Chain Gang" which was an imaginary take on if Cat Stevens had smoked a ton of salvia and taken a much darker route within that world of dense, story-telling/message-based songwriting. The track "Raw & Disfigured" borrows its name from the last Thrill Jockey Holy Sons record, in a referential move that"s stolen from the way Led Zeppelin separated the track "Houses of the Holy" from the record of the same name (once again harkening back to 70"s lore).

Claire Rousay"s music cascades from a well of documented experience, reflections of the past that compose the present. A prolific multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer, Rousay gracefully crafts boundaryless music. From her frequent and acclaimed collaborations with artists like M. Sage, more eaze, Gretchen Korsmo, Andrew Weathers, LEYA, and Alex Cunningham, to her film scoring like on The Bloody Lady. From her own compositions to her solo pop work, Rousay"s music is delicate yet powerful, carefully constructed with a casual intimacy. Rousay collages a wealth of found sounds and field recordings with earthy strings, stately piano, and processed instrumentation, all of which trace the outlines of memories and distinct impressions and create a complex constellation of feeling. Her music has evolved from confessional to conversational and excavates the rich emotional essence of each passage. Her work as both archivist and adept arranger and orchestrator merge sublimely into deeply honest and engrossing music. On a little death, Rousay"s blend of pop sensibility and compositional acumen turn abstracted sounds into tangible feelings, its warm, glimmering glow coalescing sensually with the darkness.