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Synthpop, minimal wave, post-punk, goth, new romantic - fans and critics alike have dug deeply into their vintage thesauruses to describe the beguiling work of Nation of Language. And if you can't precisely define the band, that's the point. Frontman Ian Richard Devaney has become prodigious in expanding what synthesizer-driven music can evoke, such that his output is as much an extrasensory journey as it is an all-too-human destination. With that experience in mind, he wrote the band's fourth album - the spectral, spacious Dance Called Memory - in the most humble of ways: chipping away at melancholia by sitting around and strumming his guitar. Nation of Language's first two albums, Introduction, Presence (2020), and A Way Forward (2021), came as pandemic godsends: gorgeous, relatable soundtracks to our collective doldrums. But it was their last LP, Strange Disciple (2023), that catapulted the group from cultural standouts to critical darlings, with the album being named Rough Trade's Album of the Year. With that release, Pitchfork wrote that the band "are learning what it means to get bigger and better." This is Devaney's calling: soulfully translating individual despair into a comforting, collective mourning. The single "Now That You're Gone," which radiates and reverberates with a devastating wistfulness, was inspired by witnessing his godfather's tragic death from ALS, and his parents' role as caretakers for this ailing friend. At its heart, the song is a reflection of how friends can be there for each other, and also highlights a theme throughout the record: the pain and lost promise of friendships that fall apart. On Dance Called Memory, the band once again collaborated with friend and Strange Disciple producer Nick Millhiser (LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost!). "What's so great about Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don't need to do what might be expected of us," says synth player Aidan Noell, who, along with bassist Alex MacKay, rounds out the Nation of Language lineup. They imbued Dance Called Memory with a shifted palette - sampling chopped-up drum breaks on "I'm Not Ready for the Change" for a touch of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine or smashing all of the percussion of "In Another Life" through a synthesizer to cast a shade of early-2000s electronic music. Ultimately, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. "There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I've been drawn to at different points. I've read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human," Devaney says. "As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators I'm focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that_ Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy."

This is that absolute stank-face filth: hard, espionage drama-soul and tough, jazzy street-funk. Hogan, The Hawk & Dirty John Crown sounds like the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie from the early 70s and, packed with funky fusion and smoother orchestral numbers, it is basically that.

Featuring a veritable who's who of killer library break snakes - Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw (under sneaky alias William Parrish), Simon Haseley, Reg Tilsley and Gordon Grant - it's not hard to see how this commands over £350 on secondary markets.

This beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with the legendary library label Music De Wolfe, is well overdue.

Recorded for De Wolfe in 1972, Hogan, The Hawk, Dirty John Crown is a fantastic start-to-finish listen. The flute-funk of Hawkshaw and Parker's opener "The Hawk" comprises driving, fuzzy, wah-wah-drizzled bell-laced breaks with synths and basslines to murder for. Up next, Haseley's "The Happening" is a carefree, rhythmic builder with strings and horns. Let's face it, it doesn't prepare us for the monster that follows...

Hawkshaw and Parker's amazing "Main Chance" is likely the reason you're here; it's a moody, beaty proto-hip-hop banger; all rolling drums and flute-laced, organ-drenched, synth-funk breaks. Just sensational - you'll want to play it again and again and again.

The cool AF "Hogan Baby" has a soft, rounded, bluesy feel - it's a lighter number and Haseley's work here sounds more than a little indebted to Burt Bacharach. It's melancholic, reflective and contains ace breaks with beautiful flutes and wistful horns. It's just gorgeous. Grant's pounding "Dirty John Crown" brilliantly conjures swirling string-swept serenity atop driving, incisive drama-funk breaks. Sublime. Hawkshaw and Parker come roaring back with the murky, creeping crime-funk of "Swarf" with killer basslines underpinning slow-mo high-class flute-funk.

Reg Tilsley enters the fray with the bright, snappy, carefree "Turnover". It's lightweight but still retains some nice orchestral movements. The brief “Tarantula” gets us back on track - from the pen and chops of Hawkshaw and Parker, are we surprised? - with the driving crime funk breaks, super clean yet brooding. Synths, sax and 'nuff guitars. YES.

Side 2 opens with the car chase swag of Haseley's dramatic, driving "Precinct". Jazzy, instrumental flute funk over great percussive breaks. We love this. Haseley's rolling "Sidewinder Version 1" is robust and exuberant with bouncy horns before a cracking Parker-Hawkshaw one-two featuring the tense "Pressure" and the deeply soulful "Call Me", a relaxed, medium-tempo organ feature. With building piano and strings Gordon Grant's excellently titled "Scorch" is as aggressive and dramatic as you'd hope. Hawkshaw and Parker's furtive flute-funk of "Digger" precede the light, melodic and romantic themes of Tilsley's "Marianne" whilst "Sidewinder Version 2", a faster iteration of Track B2 sees Haseley close out this remarkable set in bouncy, bright fashion.

The audio for Hogan, The Hawk, Dirty John Crown has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Conceived as a return to the music that shaped his formative years, the project draws its energy from late-night introspection, creative renewal, and a distinctly crepuscular sensibility. Initially conceived as a solo project, LOCUS NOIR is set to evolve into a fully-fledged band . Musically, LOCUS NOIR blends Type O Negative gloom, The Fields of the Nephilim mysticism, and Paradise Lost melancholy, all infused with a post- punk edge.

The result is a sound that feels both contemporary and timeless -- a modern interpretation of what Gothic Metal can be. On debut album 'Shadow Sun' , band main songwriter and vocalist Ben steps fully into a melodic, haunting vocal register, merging the theatrical delivery of Peter Murphy with subtle echoes of the late Peter Steele. The lyrics move between the esoteric and the intimate: love and death, desire and decay, nocturnal excess and the bitter aftertaste of parties stretching well past dawn.

Political thriller Je Suis Karl, produced by German director Christian Schwochow, has a strong Czech connection. The soundtrack has been created by Czech musician and composer Tomáš Dvořák, a.k.a. Floex, who joined forces with British composer and pianist Tom Hodge. The soundtrack for Je Suis Karl will be released on September 16, 2021.
"In this project, Tom and I built on music that we wrote together three years ago for the album A Portrait Of John Doe. While this was the first feature film for me, Tom has extensive experience with composing music for movies and series," commented Dvořák.
Co-produced by the Czech company Negativ and filmed in part in the Czech Republic, the movie features characters played by Czech actresses Anna Fialová and Elizaveta Maximová. The picture makes use of the story of a young German girl, Maxi, and her family to draw attention to rising extremism among right-wing nationalists. Je Suis Karl was premiered during this year's Berlinale film festival in the Berlinale Special section.
At the director's initiative, music for Je Suis Karl was composed based on the script before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Christian Schwochow asked for a demo, but when Tom and I set to work in Prague, we came up with a huge amount of inspired stuff within a short time, and the music became the foundation of the soundtrack. Because of the pandemic, the music itself was created on a long-distance basis. It was a game of ping pong of sorts," Dvořák added.
The soundtrack for Je Suis Karl features a unique timbre, far from the traditional symphonic sound. Instead, the sonic design relies on a fusion of dark, discordant, dirty sounds that present the symphony orchestra in a novel fashion.
Floex and Hodge created a database of loops, sounds, soundscapes, and sonic experiments with no specific compositional context. In composing music for individual scenes, they used this musical database, remixed themes and versions of compositions, and worked with vintage equipment, such as the Yamaha MT4X cassette player. Considering the large quantity of music recorded, the album contains 14 compositions from the movie itself, plus bonus tracks that did not make it into the film.
Tomáš Dvořák, a.k.a. Floex, is a Czech clarinetist, composer, producer, and multimedia artist, the recipient of multiple Anděl Music Awards. His discography includes two long-play records, Pocustone and Zorya, soundtracks for the games Samorost 2, Machinarium, Samorost 3, Pilgrims, and Papetura, remix albums, and extended-play records. In 2018, he joined forces with Tom Hodge to release the album A Portrait Of John Doe.
British composer, pianist, and clarinetist Tom Hodge challenges the boundaries of contemporary experimental music. He composes music for film, series, documentaries, advertising, and ballet. His most recent projects include the soundtrack for Je Suis Karl and music for the movie The Mauritanian filmed by director Kevin Macdonald. He has released several solo albums, including Piano Interrupted and Second Moon of Winter, and has pursued a long-term collaborative partnership with musician Max Cooper.

Inspired by witnessing the broken tension and renewed possibilities of a laptop breaking down at a gig – not to mention the void left behind by the sudden end of a relationship – Pentu’s latest release is a jump-cut menagerie of musical moments. Sewn together into ‘And I Saw My Devil And I Saw My Deep Blue Sea’, these fifteen tracks continue the London-based producer’s active departure from the soundscapes and song structures that dominated their previous writing style. These disparate pieces slice themselves off into sudden silence, or veer into unpredictable sidebars, hopping from hyperactive instrumentals to beautifully deconstructed YouTube samples. Described by Pentu as “emotionally intuitive to write”, this is music by and for the endlessly scrolling modern mind – “navigating the world alongside the splintered, interruptive emotional hyper realities of social media.”

The sudden silences, drones, and interruptions are perhaps less surprising than the guitar-based textures of metal & shoegaze woven into several vital passages by Pentu. The result is a collage that encapsulates the erratic feeling, not only of a relationship’s end, but simply of navigating online mediascapes.”I found myself realising that my phone, the constant interrupter of nothingness and silence, was both a cause of depression (reliving memories, dating apps) and a relief from it (creating new friendships, distractions, also dating apps)”, says Pentu.

Pentu’s attempt to overcome content overload by actively curbing his setup of laptop-guitar--synth does little to reduce the scope of this album’s sonic palette. YouTube vlog samples (from videos with next-to-no views) are an attempt to recontextualise and dramatise material that “would have otherwise been throwaway moments lost in the internet”, adding staccato moments of reality to Pentu’s beautiful and jarring album-length paean to overstimulation.

Mike Mareen – “Africa” (Previously Unreleased Maxi Single) – A long-lost Italo disco gem finally sees the light of day.

In the mid-80s, Mike Mareen was at the height of his fame, setting charts and dancefloors on fire with hits like “Love Spy” and “Agent of Liberty”. Riding that wave, he began work on his second album “Let’s Start Now”, which featured socially conscious songs addressing issues like the Berlin Wall, German reunification, and famine in Africa.

One standout track, “Africa”, was inspired by movements like Band Aid and USA for Africa. Though recorded and intended as a single, it was mysteriously shelved and never released in maxi format… until now.

Thanks to Vintage Pleasure Boutique, this missing piece of Mareen’s discography is finally available on vinyl, complete with a special DJ Edit crafted for today’s retro selectors. A must-have for fans and collectors of true 80s synth-pop and Italo disco.

“The blueprint was simple: Hot Chocolate rhythms, George Murray bass lines, classical music instruments with pop sensibilities. We, the architects, however, were complicated.” Paul Simpson, 2025 Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the release of the much-mythologised ‘lost’ album by CARE – the group made up of IAN BROUDIE and PAUL SIMPSON Prior to forming Care, Ian and Paul had been very active in the Liverpool post-punk scene. Ian played alongside Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Budgie and Bill Drummond in Big In Japan, before joining the Original Mirrors. He also produced several early records by Echo and the Bunnymen, most notably the albums Crocodiles and Porcupine. Paul had played with school friend and future Bunnyman Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic and the founding line-up of The Teardrop Explodes, before going on to form The Wild Swans. CARE were brought together late in 1982 by mutual friend Will Sergeant, when Paul was looking for someone to play a guitar part for a new song he had written. Ian obliged and asked him to return the favour by singing on one of his songs Tall Ships. When Bunnymen manager Bill Drummond heard the result, now retitled My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), he secured the pair a deal with Arista on the back of it. Care would go on to release three acclaimed singles over the course of a twelve-month period between 1983 and 1984 – My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), Flaming Sword and Whatever Possessed You – before Simpson, still struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his previous band decided not to continue. Although top 40 success eluded Care in the UK, the group quickly found an adoring fanbase in the Philippines, where all three singles became huge hits. Love Crowns and Crucifies marks the first vinyl release of the previously unheard songs gathered together on 1997’s Diamonds and Emeralds CD. Working closely with Paul Simpson and with the approval of Ian Broudie, Needle Mythology has been given access to the original quarter-inch tapes which housed everything that Broudie and Simpson recorded together.

“The blueprint was simple: Hot Chocolate rhythms, George Murray bass lines, classical music instruments with pop sensibilities. We, the architects, however, were complicated.” Paul Simpson, 2025 Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the release of the much-mythologised ‘lost’ album by CARE – the group made up of IAN BROUDIE and PAUL SIMPSON Prior to forming Care, Ian and Paul had been very active in the Liverpool post-punk scene. Ian played alongside Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Budgie and Bill Drummond in Big In Japan, before joining the Original Mirrors. He also produced several early records by Echo and the Bunnymen, most notably the albums Crocodiles and Porcupine. Paul had played with school friend and future Bunnyman Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic and the founding line-up of The Teardrop Explodes, before going on to form The Wild Swans. CARE were brought together late in 1982 by mutual friend Will Sergeant, when Paul was looking for someone to play a guitar part for a new song he had written. Ian obliged and asked him to return the favour by singing on one of his songs Tall Ships. When Bunnymen manager Bill Drummond heard the result, now retitled My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), he secured the pair a deal with Arista on the back of it. Care would go on to release three acclaimed singles over the course of a twelve-month period between 1983 and 1984 – My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), Flaming Sword and Whatever Possessed You – before Simpson, still struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his previous band decided not to continue. Although top 40 success eluded Care in the UK, the group quickly found an adoring fanbase in the Philippines, where all three singles became huge hits. Love Crowns and Crucifies marks the first vinyl release of the previously unheard songs gathered together on 1997’s Diamonds and Emeralds CD. Working closely with Paul Simpson and with the approval of Ian Broudie, Needle Mythology has been given access to the original quarter-inch tapes which housed everything that Broudie and Simpson recorded together.

Sabine McCalla creates her own version of multi-cultural American roots music. It's a sound that crosses borderlines, pulling everything from Brazilian samba to southern soul to British rock & roll into its orbit. On Don't Call Me Baby, Sabine filters those influences through the lens of her Haitian heritage and her music community of New Orleans, creating a debut album that's every bit as multi-faceted as the woman who wrote its songs.

The daughter of first-generation Haitian immigrants, Sabine was raised in the suburbs of New York City, where she grew up alongside her sister Leyla McCalla (Sons of Our Native Daughters, Carolina Chocolate Drops). Introduced to chamber music at an early age, Sabine began playing classical violin in orchestras, music camps, and conservatory classes as an 8 year old. Back at home, she filled her head with Motown classics, girl group hits, Bob Marley albums, Beatles standards, and Haitian folk music. It was a wide constellation of sound that spanned more than a half century, and Sabine made it all her own, drawn to the connections binding everything together.

Don't Call Me Baby shines a light on those connections. The follow-up to her critically-acclaimed Folk EP, whose pre-war sound earned her a slot at the Newport Folk Festival in 2019, the album transcends genre and generation, creating a raw, rich mix of country, R&B, folk, and soul that exists on its own timeline. Co-produced by Sam Doores of the Deslondes and featuring a cast of New Orleans’ most spirited and gifted (including guest vocals from Riley Downing, Leyla McCalla, and The Lostines), Sabine McCalla reaches beyond her beloved New Orleans Americana scene with Don't Call Me Baby, building a bridge between the world-spanning sounds that have captured her attention.

The limited edition blush-and-blue 10th anniversary edition of Troye's debut album 'Blue Neighbourhood' with brand-new, reimagined art from original illustrator Hsiao-Ron Cheng. Celebrating a decade since its release, 'Blue Neighbourhood - Ten Years On' includes two tracks much loved and requested by fans “Strawberries & Cigarettes” and “Swimming Pools”.

Total abgefahrene irische Psychedelia für den Kater am Morgen nach dem "Summer of Love". Angeführt vom in Belfast geborenen Wunderkind David Lewis, verwischt Andwellas Dreams Debütalbum Love and Poetry" aus dem Jahr 1969 die Grenze zwischen Denmark Street und Cyprus Avenue. Ein 13 Songs umfassender pastoraler Fiebertraum, der im CBS-Lagerhaus verloren gegangen war, jetzt neu gemastert und in seiner ursprünglichen Pracht wiederhergestellt.

Total abgefahrene irische Psychedelia für den Kater am Morgen nach dem "Summer of Love". Angeführt vom in Belfast geborenen Wunderkind David Lewis, verwischt Andwellas Dreams Debütalbum Love and Poetry" aus dem Jahr 1969 die Grenze zwischen Denmark Street und Cyprus Avenue. Ein 13 Songs umfassender pastoraler Fiebertraum, der im CBS-Lagerhaus verloren gegangen war, neu gemastert und in seiner ursprünglichen Pracht wiederhergestellt.

Remixer extraordinaire Eric Kupper takes a set of epic, lost recordings from 1982, that feature the cream of the crop session musicians behind the soulful sound of Philadelphia - Earl Young (Drums), Ronnie Baker (Bass), Norman Harris (Guitar), Lenny Pakula (Organ), Larry Washington (Percussion), Vince Montana, Jr (Vibes, Keyboards), John Bonnie (Saxophone) - along with powerhouse vocalists Joe Freeman, David Simmons, Bobby Love and Ron Tyson, and lovingly applies his own modern sheen, spinning them into ear candy for today’s listener as well as those who were there from the very beginning. These incredible remixes, which have individually been topping the charts on Traxsource, can now be had in one place - this exclusive 3-LP vinyl collection that is not just a tribute to the past, but a vibrant continuation of the legacy these legendary musicians helped create.

This release resurrects a long-lost cornerstone of Seattle's early grunge history, showcasing Bundle of Hiss, featuring future Mudhoney and TAD guys and singer Jamie lane, one of the genre's missing links. Between 1986 and 1988, when Seattle was still a circuit of small clubs, four-track tapes and bands sharing drummers and singers, Jack Endino went in to record one of the most solid - and most unfairly invisible - outfits of that scene: BUNDLE OF HISS. Two sessions (1986 at Reciprocal and 1987/88 at Audio Design) fell into limbo, stored in the basement of Mudhoney-Drummer Dan Peters and for years they were a kind of pre-grunge legend, everyone knew they existed, but there was no record, until Loveless Records from NYC released both on CD. The second one, Audio Design Sessions, now sees the light of vinyl for the first time, just as it should have come out in the late '80s: a basement document turned into a collectible artifact. For those who want real grunge, not the domesticated version. It gathers the core of those 1987-1988 recordings done by Endino: the moment when the band is tighter, darker and closer to what the press would later call the "Seattle sound": minor-key melodies, thick fuzz, vocals on the edge, and that mix of hard rock, punk and Sabbath-like heaviness we'd later hear in Mudhoney, TAD or early Soundgarden. And Jack Endino himself summed up these sessions: "Vintage Seattle grunge from one of the original practitioners_ I always felt sad that this hard-working band never managed to get a record out and was almost lost to history. It was a pleasure -and a technical pain!- to resurrect all this." Kinda key release of the early grunge days, first-generation material, recorded by the scene's producer, at the exact moment Seattle was shifting from noisy punk to that heavy, shadowy rock that later blew up. It sounds raw, young and dangerous: this is not a polished compilation, it's a snapshot of the scene.

*13 ripping songs totalling 33 minutes from the original 20-song 65 minute master reel tapes, recorded in early February 1978 for producers Flo & Eddie, the night before DMZ (the raw-assed pre-Lyres outfit that never made it!) spent 3 days trapped by a blizzard recording their Sire album. **4 page insert with info, pics and Rick Coraccio's ultra-detailed journal on how it all went down! ***LP includes DOWNLOAD CODE Kapital Ink zine: "In the annals of R&R history, as far as local American rock'n'roll scenes go, Boston is hardly ever looked upon in the same shining light as, say, NY, Detroit, San Francisco or even Austin or Seattle. Unlike those other towns, there's never even been a definitive book about the scene. Maybe it's because Boston is a perennial hard-luck place (just witness the Red Sox) with a serious New York inferiority complex hanging over its head. Boston is ignored by the industry at large, despite the fact that the city has spawned countless heavyweights in both a commercial (Aerosmith, Boston, the Cars) and aesthetic (Modern Lovers, Real Kids, Mission Of Burma) (Crypt editor note: and DMZ!! and LYRES!!) sense. Boston was the first US city to directly reflect the influence of the Velvet Underground, as epitomized by the Modern Lovers, who've proven to be almost as influential in their own right. Fast forward to the days of hardcore, and Boston was one of the pre-eminent strongholds of shave-head mania, shoring up its rep as an angry, intolerant New England outpost. Naturally the town has produced more than its share of local legends: Willie Alexander (who actually was in the Velvet Underground, albeit when the band was on its Lou Reed-less last legs); Jonathan Richman (geekus supremus no small thing considering the subsequent indie hordes, to whom he's a savior); and most of all, the great Real Kids, (Crypt editor note: and DMZ!! and LYRES!!) who could've been the equivalent of the MC5, Stooges or Flamin' Groovies in the annals of American rock if it hadn't been for a series of bad breaks but let's not get into that because it'll only reinforce Boston's eternal self-pitying plight. The fact is, the scene in Boston was more or less built by a string of bands who are so organically-interconnected that it seems like an act of God."

2026 repress !

Nous'klaer Audio presents Martinou - Chiral, the follow full-length up to his 2021 album Rift. This time nine tracks across two vinyls. An album flowing 'in a way' like Rift, but it's different: More outspoken, heavier sound design and it peaks on a blissful note. ''Open up the blinds and take me there. We'll break the surface tension. We'll dive in. I'm locked in your devotion. You give an inclination to our demise. It will be our exit. To bliss, we'll be its guardian. Once there was love. Clear as glassy water. No ripples, no waves. I followed while you led. Our arrival was warm. Hot, even. Stunning to a startling degree. Hands intwined, frolicking towards the blue. Hours passed, and white heat cede to an orange hue. We cooled down. Red. We rallied. Black. It began. Into the deep darkness we ran. White sand, it has a tendency to get everywhere. Salt water will only dehydrate you more. Shriveled and dry. Scratchy and coarse. More. And then we were lost. Fingers once locked grew distant. Morning, dear. Where have you gone? We looked. A glimpse from afar. Red. We rallied. Shall we share a bottle of wine? Black, lost again. Afternoon, friend. Where were you? Red. Alone. Black. We rallied. Shall we try somewhere new? Sand and salt. Evening, sir. Reservation for one? Reservations a plenty, I say. Evening, miss. Dining alone? Aren't we all? Dining, miss, not dying. Oh, yes, alone. Black. Sand and salt. I found you. No. No. Wait, do I know you? You feel like a dream. Don't touch me. Move along, sir. Who are you? Leave. Who are you? Where did you go? Keep moving. I am, I will. Time to move on. I'm moving! Leave. Don't touch me. Leave. Why are you? Exit. Purple. Orange. Yellow. White. Blue. Morning, dear. Shall we have breakfast? I think I'll sleep some more. But it's our last day. I know. See you downstairs when you're ready. OK. I open up the blinds. A bird breaks the surface tension. Locked in. To Devotion? No. Demise. An inclination. Reverie. Take me there. Where? Exit (To Bliss) '' Text by Gregory Markus

2025 REPRESS ON TRANSPARENT GREEN VINYL


Compiled by Philip King “And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.” NICK KENT, NME. All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure. Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms, ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course) these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother of invention. At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records). The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased track You Will See, released April 12th 2025. There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk / underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now. Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP. Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7” and lost until now. The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the main refrain. The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive, robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner. All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

Announcing Perseverance Flow, the latest album from acclaimed Chicago-based ensemble Natural Information Society (NIS), release date 2024-10-24. After a trilogy of double LPs by expanded manifestations of the band that began in 2018 with Mandatory Reality & continued through Since Time Is Gravity (a Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Album of the Year selection & Mojo’s #1 Underground Album of 2023), NIS returns to its core formation of Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, & composer/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams on guimbri for one continuous 37 minute composition across a single LP. As the rocket boosters on spaceship earth sputter closer to burnout, lower your stylus into a soundfield that grows stronger the deeper you travel into it; a dose of the medicine many of us look to music to deliver awaits you inside.

One of the deep contemplations of this natural information (thanks Bill Callahan) is the wide range of source materials Abrams draws from over the band’s more than 15 year history: Ideas from minimalism, modal jazz & traditional musics are regularly reimagined in these compositions. The 2021 double LP descension (Out of Our Constrictions), with guest soloist Evan Parker, reflected aspects of Abrams’ love of party music, Chicago house, & John Coltrane. *But even veteran travelers with the NIS best brace themselves for the Perseverance Flow.

Speaking to the history & the inspirations behind the album, Abrams offers: “We played the piece for a year in concert before the recording. At Electrical (Audio Studios, Chicago) we went in at 11 & were done in time to pick our kids up from school.” Abrams continues: "In a reference world, I imagine Perseverance Flow like a live extended realization of a Jaylib lost instrumental as remixed by Kevin Shields. Or vice versa. I also think it has sympathies to some of the more rhythmically intricate dance musics out of Chicago & Lisbon.”

The core NIS ensemble heard on Perseverance Flow always address Abrams’ writing with the discipline of orchestra musicians & the creativity of improvisers. But this time around, instead of inviting living legend status musicians Evan or William Parker or Ari Brown as honored guests to solo freely over the composed materials, Abrams’ invited guest collaborator was the medium of the recording studio itself. Situated at the board with engineer Greg Norman, Abrams pushed post production techniques found only sporadically on earlier NIS records deep into the heart of the music, distorting & reshaping instruments to subtly &, at times, aggressively mutate timbre & texture, color & time.

Refracting the band’s signature mesmerizing chains of overlapping rhythmic patterns through the sonic funhouse of dub makes Perseverance Flow the most formally experimental NIS album to date. Now a soundworld fully unique to itself is listening to itself, consoling & humoring itself, & consoling & humoring you. A destruction myth & a creation myth of a soundworld together at once —”energetically nutritious” (October 2025 Issue 500 The Wire) supernatural information society.

“Perseverance Flow is skipping rope in slo-mo. A dance of co-operation to rally guts & humors & keep marching through pouring tears” (Abrams).

Deep Techno, Techno, House, Detroit Techno
James Baker aka ReKaB passed away very recently and so unexpectedly. He had only submitted the music for his new EP for YORE less than two weeks before his sudden passing.

The original title was meant to be "Let the Machines Talk", but we decided to change it to "The Last Talk of the Machines."

It feels not only sad but also surreal to hear music that was created only shortly before, knowing James is no longer with us in embodied existence. This is the very last talk of his loved Machines.

R.I.P James aka ReKaB- Lost but not forgotten.

Strictly limited to 200 Copies worldwide (NO REPRESS).

Planet Beyond – Selected Cuts Volume 1 marks the first release on Ruiger Records, presenting the distinctive world of ES — a Dutch producer, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist whose work flows effortlessly between live performance and studio creation.

Selected from an ever-growing archive built over the years, the music emerges from a deep vault of unreleased recordings spanning a wide range of moods and ideas. This collection offers a deeper look into a vivid creative universe of sound and feeling — a story that unfolds through rhythm, tone, and emotion. Each track adds a new shade to the journey, like a jigsaw falling into place, revealing new dimensions with every turn.

The music moves through eras and atmospheres — carrying echoes of ’90s electronic music and shaped by the spirit of ’70s jazz & funk. It’s expressive, natural, and percussive, full of motion and detail, where live playing, studio craft, and imagination merge into one seamless flow. The sound drifts from deep, funky electronic grooves to spacious, cinematic, and cosmic landscapes — music that invites you deeper with every listen. It sounds both new and familiar — as if rediscovering something ageless, still unfolding.

The Germany-based band Rikas' new album, "Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet," promises to be their most cohesive and contemplative project to date

Comprising 11 brisk yet beautiful tracks, the album showcases the band's tight tempos and mellow delivery. "We started this record just to have fun. It's not been that easy, because so much change has happened," guitarist and keyboardist Sascha Scherer reflects. "We've had to learn to adapt... This record is more inward-looking. We were reflecting. " Scherer further explains, "I think a lot of bands have trouble staying still. When you stop touring and moving to a new city each day, you feel lost. I feel like our new album is capturing that feeling of go, go, go." This feeling of inertia contains layers: there's a sense of restlessness, but also brotherhood and camaraderie-- feelings Rikas aim to depict in each of the album's videos. "For our sophomore album, we wanted to create a very homogeneous one," Scherer continues. "Which was not easy to achieve because we have made the experience that throughout all of our records every song differs from each other. We have four songwriters who happen to be also multi-instrumentalists in our band, and that's why we don't have to put much effort into diverse record making. Instead, we had to put pressure on ourselves to make something consistent. But we also didn't want to make every song sound the same. So the concept of the album lays in its topics."The songs for "Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet" were written over the past year, adapting and shaping old snippets and ideas, as well as creating songs completely from scratch. "For some reason, when we started writing and listening back to the songs, they all shared a similar feeling of cruising, traveling, being in motion," Scherer says. "This wasn't intentional at first, but felt more and more suiting as we proceeded with the writing. We found we'd enjoy the songs most while driving in our van, looking out the window, seeing the landscapes passing by. This has something very meditating to itself already, amplified even more by a suiting soundtrack. This is the soundtrack we tried to write. The album in its entirety is supposed to feel warm, hugging, like 'being bedded in cotton.'" For the visual content of the album, the band decided to travel to San Remo, northern Italy, to capture some of the late November sun. "In a way, you could say we tried to film the first part of the movie whose soundtrack we had just written," Scherer concludes. "Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet" is a testament to Rikas' ability to adapt and reflect on their journey, offering listeners a meditative and immersive experience that captures the essence of being in motion.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated album featuring the No. 1 smash title track! Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing Female R&B singers were expected to be forceful, big-voiced divas (like Aretha Franklin) or come-hither seductresses (like Diana Ross), but, as AllMusic says, Roberta Flack had her own unique approach. Flack's voice is vast, deep, and stately — where some singers confuse frenzy with passion, she is confident, majestic, and unhurried, intense in a profound yet reserved manner.

The title song of this 1973 masterful eight track album, "Killing Me Softly," was her second No. 1 hit, establishing her as a major modern R&B stylist. Killing Me Softly reached No. 3 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape and No. 2 on the Soul LPs chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album gold on August 27, 1973, and double platinum on January 30, 2006, denoting shipments of 2 million copies in the United States. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which it lost to Stevie Wonder's 1973 album Innervisions. The album's title track was released as a single and topped the Billboard Hot 100. The title track won the 1974 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. This deluxe 180-gram 45 RPM 2LP Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Killing Me Softly is a true audiophile gem and a worthy addition to your music collection.

Astropolis Records — the label born from the legendary electronic French festival — celebrates a decade of electronic devotion with a generous and deeply emotional anniversary compilation - a bit late, but never short on flair.

This double vinyl gathers the many faces of the Astropolis galaxy: in-house artists, long-time companions of the festival, and rising voices from a perpetually vibrant French scene. Across 18 artists, listeners are invited on a sonic journey where rave legacy, electronic dreamscapes, and collective fervor intertwine — true to the DNA of a festival that’s never known boundaries.



The record opens with grace and wonder courtesy of Rone, whose electronic touch channels both the intimate and the infinite. Between electronica and downtempo, The Dolphin Ambassador bathes in luminous melancholy, offering a moment of calm before the storm. In the same contemplative vein, we’re proud to unveil one of the first productions from Célélé alongside Théo Muller: Drum and Drift, a subtle blend of dubby vibrations and sunlit textures.


Astropolis has always thrived on happy collisions — and this compilation is proof of it. The unlikely meeting between Mézigue and Swooh sends house spiraling into a g-tech vortex on Broken Roll To Venice, a playful burst of groove, hybrid energy, and cheeky mischief. The same spirit of alchemy fuels Belaria & Madben, whose Into The Void burns bright as a 90s rave-meets-EBM anthem wrapped in hypnotic trance. Zaatar & Trunkline bring raw intensity to Come Into The Light, a sweaty, visceral banger at the crossroads of techno, dark disco, and EBM.


French techno pillars Scan X & Electric Rescue deliver a masterclass in elegant machine soul on Lost In Time. When Manu Le Malin teams up with Kmyle, the result is as sharp as it is cinematic: Little Big Man pulses with dramatic tension, balancing raw emotion and restrained fury. Elsewhere, Oniris & Benjamin Rippert reconnect with the melodic techno spirit of the label’s early days on Sonate, guided by a craftsman’s sense of harmony.
For the machine lovers, Legowelt & Cuften resurrect the spirit of early electroclash on Liar, a carnal fusion of analog synths and DIY attitude. And for the diehard dancefloor devotees, KiNK finally releases a cult track from his live sets: Give Me, a breakbeat-meets-vintage-house stormer tailor-made for those late-night sweats.

This anniversary compilation reaffirms the label’s openness to new generations and hybrid sounds, while paying tribute to the techno roots that shaped its foundation. Like the festival itself, it embodies sincerity and collective energy — a small manifesto linking generations, aesthetics, and territories, celebrating roots without nostalgia and the future without bending to trends.

Bone w/ black splatter vinyl. NYC ska/reggae legends The Slackers are back with a new collection of rarities - or as they put it, "Tales of Mirth, Heartbreak, and Woe!" - from their extensive catalog with the release of Lost & Found Vol 2 on Pirates Press Records. In their well over 30-year career, The Slackers have been one of the most consistently prolific artists in the game. While that means their legions of worldwide fans are never wanting for new material, it can also mean that once in a while, even dedicated fans can miss a new song here or there. Thus, it's helpful that the band periodically collects some of these lesser known and sought-after gems for wide release under the Lost & Found banner! Lost & Found Vol 2 includes some of the rarest Slackers tunes of them all. Live versions of several songs as well as the studio track "Diskambobulated" come from ultra-rare lathe cut singles. Still others come from limited one-time-only single pressings on PPR, including two 12" singles and one collaborative 7" which features vocals by Japanese dancehall sensation Papa B. Finally, it includes a dub mix of "Time Won't Set You Free" that is previously unreleased.

Razorbats unleash their fifth studio album, "Anthems of a Lost Century" - a sonic blast that throws you straight into the golden age of rock, while pushing the genre forward with power and attitude. This is not just another record - it's a statement. Recorded at Velvet Recordings in Spydeberg with producer Eiliv Sagrusten, and released by the renowned label Voices of Wonder, "Anthems of a Lost Century" is a tribute to the era 1974-1994 - packed with massive production, unforgettable hooks, and a sound that demands attention.

Slinging back on the electric guitar, ditching the job, upping the BPMs, and falling in love again has resulted in Pete embracing his fuzzed up dream- pop past but also throwing in elements of pop and electronica.

The first fruits of this new-found labour is a brand new single "LOVE'S COMING BACK" which sums up the ethos for his new project all squeezed into 136 amp-frying seconds. Pete first burst onto the scene in the early 90s as the frontman and guitarist of postshoegaze / pre- Britpop band Adorable, whose 1993 album Against Perfection, released on Creation Records, is regularly referred to as a lost indie classic, with the band picking up multiple 'Single of the Week' awards in the NME, and topping the Indie charts. Noel Gallagher once told Creation Records' Alan McGhee that dropping Adorable from the label was one of his biggest mistakes, whilst other artists such as Ash, Slowdive and Brian Jonestown Massacre amongst others have all expressed their admiration for the band. Following this he joined up with his brother Krzys to form One Little Indian band Polak (Swansongs 2000 / Rubbernecking 2002) which took in influences from the likes of Sparklehorse, Radiohead and dEUS, and led The Independent to call him "the most gifted lyricist since Jarvis Cocker last put pen to paper".

There then followed a musical exile, after having what Pete now describes as 'a musical breakdown' before re-emerging alongside celebrated House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers to release two critically acclaimed albums as Pete Fij / Terry Bickers on 2014's Broken Heart Surgery, and 2017's We Are Millionaires, winning the Roundtable 'Single of The Week' on Steve Lamacq's BBC 6Music show - "Beautiful" (MOJO) "Unfailingly lovely" (UNCUT) "Stunning" (OHM) "Beautifully constructed" (Q). Adorable then reformed for a few weeks in 2019 for a series of one off dates that sold out in record time, playing bigger venues than they did in their heyday - and then broke up again.

Rot/Schwarzes Ink-Spot Vinyl, limitiert auf 300 Exemplare. Drei Buchstaben. Drei Musiker. Drei Instrumente. Drei Jahre. Graf Zahl hätte seine Freude an diesem Album_ HUM loten ihre dunklen Stoner-Klangwelten weiter aus. ,three" bringt sowohl druckvolle Post-Rock-Songs als auch psychedelische Klangexperimente. Jeder Track scheint eine Idee zu verfolgen; jeder eine 4-Minuten-Reise. Die Themen drehen sich um Umweltzerstörung, gesellschaftliche Irrwege und Spacetrips. ,three" ist das Album für die Apokalypse oder für einen Abend im Weltraum. Der Spaß kommt dabei nicht zu kurz: Die Dunkelheit wird auf fetten, langsamen Grooves präsentiert. Die Stücke sind kompakt und melodisch. Katharsis ist das Ziel: Wer mit offenen Ohren hört, dem könnte es nach den 11 Tracks und 41 min besser gehen_ Eine aufregende Reise durch musikalische Klangwelten (Surf, Gothic/Dark Wave, Kraut und Prog-Rock) mehrerer Jahrzehnte. Die HUM-typischen schweren Riffs (im Schatten von Godzilla) mit komplexen Rhythmen und Breaks werden erweitert durch neue Elemente wie Surfgitarre, Synthiesounds und gesangliche Experimente. Der meist mit Effekten verfremdete Gesang wird spärlich und gezielt eingesetzt mit oft kurzen Textfragmenten, welche die Stimmung der Songs textlich untermalen. Dazu kommen drei instrumentale Soundcollagen, die als düstere Überleitung zwischen den Songs dienen. Ein gewisser roter Faden scheint sich thematisch durch das Album zu ziehen. Red/black ink spot vinyl. Limited to 300 copies. Three letters. Three musicians. Three instruments. Three years. The Count would have loved this album...HUM continue to explore their dark stoner soundscapes. "three" features both powerful post-rock songs andpsychedelic sound experiments. Each track seems to pursue an idea; each one a 4-minute journey. The themesrevolve around environmental destruction, social aberrations, and space trips."three" is the album for the apocalypse or for an evening in space. But there's no shortage of fun: thedarkness is presented on fat, slow grooves. The pieces are compact and melodic. Catharsis is thegoal: if you listen with open ears, you might feel better after the 11 tracks and 41 minutes...An exciting journey through musical soundscapes (surf, gothic/dark wave, kraut and prog rock) spanning severaldecades. The heavy riffs typical of HUM (in the shadow of Godzilla) with complex rhythms and breaksare expanded by new elements such as surf guitar, synth sounds and vocal experiments. The vocals, mostlydistorted with effects, are used sparingly and purposefully, often with short text fragments that underscore the moodof the songs lyrically. In addition, there are three instrumental sound collages that serve as dark transitions betweenthe songs. A certain common thread seems to run through the album thematically.

Shogun Audio is extremely proud to present GLXY's second album, 'Form, Focus'. Unequivocally the most refined body of work to date from the ever-evolving drum & bass duo, this LP showcases GLXY at their irresistible best.
A decade on from the release of their debut single 'Small Talk/Trinity', GLXY have cemented themselves as one of liquid drum and bass’ most respected and prolific acts. With twelve EPs, a debut album in 2020, and collaborations with the likes of Alix Perez, Halogenix, Lenzman, Unglued, and Catching Cairo under their belt, 'Form, Focus' represents the next definitive milestone in an already heavyweight catalogue.
From beginning to end, the record distils everything that makes GLXY so special. Abundant with luscious sound design, soulful vocal features, and an unmistakable sense of groove and musicality. Featuring Charli Brix, DRS, Duskee, Eljé, Jords, Salo, and Verbz, the tracks flow seamlessly between deep, introspective liquid cuts and vibrant, club-ready rollers, painting a full picture of their artistry while pushing their sound into fresh, exciting spaces.
More than just a continuation, 'Form, Focus' feels like a statement: a decade of honing their craft distilled into a singular vision. It’s an album that reaffirms GLXY’s position at the cutting edge of the genre, while at the same time carving out their own unmistakable lane within it.

Score composed by Emmy Award-winning composer Bear McCreary

The soundtrack to the first season of Outlander: Blood of my Blood, serving as a prequel to the long-running fantasy TV series Outlander

Limited edition on translucent red coloured vinyl

Emmy Award-winning composer Bear McCreary returns to the Outlander universe for another score, this time for the spin-off Blood of my Blood.

This next chapter in the time traveller’s saga premiered in August 2025 and serves as a prequel to the critically acclaimed Outlander series.

Outlander: Blood of my Blood is available as a limited edition on translucent red coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Transparent Purple vinyl. Sometime in 2005, a lone box of master tapes escaped an estate sale and made its way through a network of collectors, record dealers, and "junkers" into the hands of leading Ohio soul expert Dante Carfagna, who linked them to Columbus, Ohio's mysterious Prix label (See: Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label). A bit of research turned up Prix proprietor George Beter, who identified most of the unlabeled material. All it took was an endless series of phone calls and letters and two fields trips in Columbus. But one complete mystery wended its way onto our final Prix compilation. "You and Me," a simple but irrepressible demo credited only to Penny & the Quarters, was found tacked onto a mixed studio reel. Our survey of every willing lifer left on the Columbus soul scene, including retired DJs, producers, and important local artists, produced not so much as a glimmer of recognition at the name Penny & the Quarters. Though we loved the song from the first play, it may've ended up a bit buried on our original compilation, as #18 of 19 tracks.Four years later, Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label hadn't exactly become a huge seller, although listeners had repeatedly told us that the unfiltered studio demos that fill out the record's back half were true diamonds in the rough. But neither Penny nor her Quarters had appeared to claim credit for their efforts. Then, completely out of left field, we heard from respected screen actor and avowed Numero fan Ryan Gosling that Penny's piercing bit of stripped down doo-wop was being considered for inclusion in Derek Cianfrance's indie-weeper film Blue Valentine. What we didn't know was that "You and Me" had won a major role in what became an indie circuit hit, and that Penny & the Quarters would instantly assume the role of world's most famous unknown doo-wop group.Every week is a slow news week in Columbus, Ohio, and early January 2011 found the city recovering from the thrill of elevating Ted Williams_the formerly homeless guy with the awesome voice for radio_into a national news sensation. But both major daily newspapers in town, as well as the city's alternative weekly, also ran stories about how a lost and unknown Columbus soul group had become the musical centerpiece of a film already garnering Oscar buzz. That mainstream spotlight aimed at Blue Valentine and Penny & the Quarters did the trick: we finally made contact with the widow of Jay Robinson, lead Quarters' singer and songwriter. Robinson, it turned out, had also been the leader of Columbus doo-wop pioneers The Supremes (later known as "The Columbus Supremes," for reasons which should be obvious). Jay Robinson never did give up on the dream of writing a hit record; even so, the posthumous realization of his dream is cold comfort for his widow and daughter. With their blessings, we returned to those estate sale masters and pulled down another neglected track ("You Are Giving Me Some Other Love") from the still-unknown Penny and her now-partly-known Quarters. "You and Me" is a song that could not be suppressed: not when Prix failed to release it; not when Penny & the Quarters were forgotten; not when Numero stuck it at the bitter end of a much overlooked compilation. Its evolution from estate sale trash to silver-screen gold has finally returned it to big-hole 45, where it probably should have lived all along.

From 1968 through to the mid 1970’s the reggae beat began to slow down,some say due to the extreme heat hitting down onto Kingston Town and its surrounding enclaves. People needed something less strenuous to dance to. The Ska and Rocksteady Sounds (see 101 Orange Street KS007) that rocked Jamaica previously, had now found a slower tempo and become more ‘Dread’ lyrically to suit the times. Reggae music has always moved within the social climate it found itself in and this set here, as we ‘Return To Orange Street’ was ROOTS ROCK REGGAE TIME....

The Rastafarian message that runs through this collection of ‘Reality’, sometimes labelled ‘Sufferers’ music,is strong and works on many levels. It can come across on a heavy rhythm and vocal cut. Its example represented here by Prince Jazzbo’s ‘Dread in a Earth’ and ‘I Roy’s ‘Roots Man Time’, moving through to the popular new sounds of the DJ’s working over an old rhythm and alongside its existing vocal. As with Busty Brown working with Delroy Wilson's ‘Know Your Friend’ and Mr Jah Stitch working over Johnny Clarke’s ‘Roots Natty Roots’ to produce an even more dreader ‘True Born African’. The heartfelt lyric can also convey this message as we can see when Horace Andy laments ‘Where is the Love’ and Delroy Wilson again shows us on his ‘Who Cares’ cut. The great Twinkle Brothers also put the message across on their two cuts we have here, ’Too Late’ one of their lost classics if ever there was one and the thoughtful ‘It’s Not Who You Know’,being another prime example.

Orange Street itself is always at the heart of all reggae's musical changes and some singers also ride these waves as Mr Cornell Campbell shows us here with two cuts. The mournful ‘Too Be Loved’ and his uplifting ‘Girl of My Dreams’, which uses the same rhythm as our previously mentioned Prince Jazzbo’s 'Dread in a Earth’. Showing us that firstly you can’t keep a good rhythm down and secondly that two if not more great songs can work from the same source point. The light hearted ‘Vengeful’ lyric also worked in this period when artists spared off to each other on records to vent their frustrations. As we can hear here with Mr Lee Perry’s ‘You Funny Boy’. The song snipping back at a previous employer over what he felt were his misdoings to an under appreciated Mr Perry. We have culled these tracks together to show that the Dread Roots feel of the 1970’s came across in many guises and even in earlier songs these sentiments were also prevalent. As represented in Slim Smith’s almost bluesy feel in ‘Trying To Find a Home’, never a truer statement in Kingston's ghetto areas.

Well we hope you enjoy this musical journey and make a connection with messages portrayed here, as Mr Monty Morris points out on his contribution to this collection ‘Times Are Dread’.... Dread indeed.....

US Black Friday 2025 Release. There are very few albums in the psych/punk/hard rock/private presses strata that garner the sort of universal awe and accolades that Fraction’s almighty Moonblood LP does, and even fewer records in the world that could be dubbed ‘Christian Rock’ incur such fierce devotion. Indeed some records just meteorically lift themselves out any genre tag with brilliance and sheer defiance--and Moonblood is surely one of them. Based in LA, Fraction was a ragged collection of working-class musicians--the line-up was ringleader Jim Beach--vocals; Don Swanson--lead guitar, Curt Swanson--drums, Victor Hemme--bass, and Robert Meinel--rhythm guitar. Beach himself describes those early days: “The guys met through various acquaintances that we had in LA. All of us had been in bands before, but were seeking something with more teeth. We had a small studio in an industrial complex in North Hollywood and started practicing sometimes as early as 4:30 AM. We all had day jobs, so we did what we could.”

Amazingly the recording sessions for the album were recorded similarly on the fly, as Beach further states: “The Moonblood recording took place at Whitney’s Studio in Glendale, CA, early in 1971. On a strict budget, these songs were recorded in less than three hours—all of them “one takes.” We played, all 5 of us, simultaneously-- there were no studio effects, no overdubbing or any additional sound effects added. Basically what you hear is considered ‘old school’ recording.”

This workmanlike description in no way prepares one for the pure tortured genius the session wrought. Particularly noteworthy is Beach’s vocals—as commonly stated, the spirit of Jim Morrison is conjured in his deep baritone, which gives way to unparalleled pained howls, at times bathed in delay which trails into the abyss. Fascinatingly enough, Beach cites the much punker Love as his fave LA band over the Doors, and also gives influence-nods to proto-everything rockers The Yardbirds and to Dylan, whose dark word tapestries surely inspired Beach’s lyrics (though lines from The Doors’ “L’America” pop up on the LP) Whatever the case, the man clearly has a vision, as even the stark sleeve concept is Beach’s own. Equally as integral to the Fraction sound is lead guitarist Don Swanson—his blown-out fuzz riffs set a template for what is now commonly known as “stoner rock” or “acid punk,” and his solos consist of jagged, wah-wah-ed shards of notes, with his amplifier clearly pushed to the limit.

Beach says: “Don’s guitar was always my driving force and he did everything he could to keep it over the top. You’d never know that (his sound) was coming from an old, broken down Esquire. Don kept it alive!” The other members contributions shouldn’t be underappreciated though-- drummer Curt Swanson keeps things at a constant simmer, and then boils over when the whole band launches into snarling glory. The band and LP as a whole equals something indescribably intense from start to finish—comparisons to the Detroit late 60s high-energy bands like The Stooges and MC5 abound, as well as the sort of late 60s damaged spirit lurking in biker clubs and disgruntled Vietnam vets. The song cycle on side 1 of the LP in particular cuts to the emotional core, with severely charged dark lyrics like “Extend your thumbs and burn the darkness out of her.” Which brings us to the Christian aspect--it often can confuse listeners. The Fraction/Beach world of religion is complex and perhaps a bit pagan/sinister than most---fire and brimstone, temptation, and the truth-seeker being burned by this hell on earth—or perhaps as Beach himself best put it: “Speaking for myself, as a believer, it’s been a progressive experience since my childhood.

I think we’re all basically driven to live more than religion.” The album was pressed in a run of but a few hundred to little attention in the day, but now inferior bootlegs flood the marketplace, and originals of Moonblood command thousands of dollars. So enjoy this all-inclusive reissue, which also features for the first time on vinyl, 3 lost tracks-- like the more acoustic-minded “prisms” and “dawning light,” as well as the proto-metal choogle of “Intercessor’s Blues.”

Ralph Rodriguez aka Ralph Session is a Barcelona-based NYC-born house artist who kicks off this lush new Silver Walker 12" with 'Voices Rising', a smooth and song-driven deep house cut with a summery soul and stylish female vocals that hark back to the earliest soulful OGs. DFRA & MissFly combine then for 'Thinking', which is a more percussive and steamy, intense house sound with jazzy chords. Session's 'Love's Dance Floor' (instrumental mix) then taps into smoky late-night soul vibes with meandering leads allowing your mind to get lost in the moment and DFRA's 'Kiss My Soul' closes with a more playful and jazzy sound thanks to the charming flute leads and nimble, dancing keys.

Tre Turner bounces back on Belters4u with two unashamedly old-school Scottish club cuts alongside two remixes from London prog trance upstarts Close Proximity.

With shared spiritual roots in the West of Scotland early 90s rave scene, Belters4U and Tre Turner realise their adolescent dream in releasing this love letter to a decadent lost reality. Title track ”Scottish Piano” amalgamates a million shared moments on Scottish dance-floors and living room afterparties. On the flip, Ultra-Free samples the vocal hook from the ultimate Scottish old skool rave anthem ”Obsession” by legends ‘Ultra-Sonic.’ Hardcore pianos meet gated synths and thumping solid bass, the sound of many a misspent youth.

Through the haze of smoke and strobes, the Close Proximity Trance Mix recalls the wildest, most ecstatic, face-melting moments from the legendary Metro and Hangar 13 clubs. Close Proximity round things off by taking you further into euphoric dreamland with their ever-evolving Paradise Mix of Ultra-Free.

Unreleased 80s psychedelic funk rock out of Boston, MA. Influenced by Funkadelic, Sly Stone and James Brown, to name a few.

Sherman Williams Started playing and writing music at age seven, he played through middle school.

Travelled with a group, called Total Eclipse, throughout the East Coast during his high school years.

He was on a mission to be a professional musician/singer/songwriter, of a band – he wanted heavy rhythms to match his huge guitar action, this is how Black Axess came about.

"I badly wanted to record the music that I helped to create with the Black Axess so paid out of pocket for the studio time." - Sherman Williams

From that session one single, "Tonight" was released on 7" but the lost album "The Golden Seal" sat on tape almost lost to time. That was until Robert Garcia and Daniel Mathis spoke to Sherman while tracking the "Tonight" Single, and discovered the lost LP we have here, credit to them both for sorting out and hooking us up and special thanks to Daniel for saving the tapes when UPS almost lost them, which might have been the end of it!

Lay back, light one up, and listen on loop.

Previously we’ve mentioned influences from the 1970s self-reflective work of Nick Drake & John Martyn to the lovelorn tragedy of troubadours such as Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley creating a fusion of 1960s/70s folk and blues.

Now Cardiff-based indie folk singer-songwriter Ivan Moult returns with his most personal work to date, Stood Out In The Storm, due to be released on November 7th through Bubblewrap (home to The Gentle Good). The album follows the acclaimed Songs From Severn Grove (2023), which drew praise for its warmth, intricacy and timeless songwriting, cementing Ivan’s reputation as one of Wales’ most compelling contemporary voices.

While Songs From Severn Grove captured moments of renewal and joy - written in lockdown and
during the early days of fatherhood - its follow-up takes a braver, more vulnerable step. Stood Out
In The Storm was written in the aftermath of a personal crisis and charts Ivan’s gradual process of
healing and recovery. The record traverses darkness and light, despair and resilience, offering a
deeply honest exploration of fragility, survival and hope.

Ivan’s signature sound remains at the core: a seamless blend of 1960s/70s folk and blues infused
with modern textures, drawing influence from John Martyn, the late great Terry Reid and Ry
Cooder. On Stood Out In The Storm, that familiar intimacy is expanded with a greater presence
of guitars and organs, adding new depth and urgency to the sound. As with his previous records,
Ivan wrote, played, recorded and mixed the album at his Cardiff home studio, and the record sits
as a companion piece to Songs From Severn Grove.

Over the years, Ivan has gained support from BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio Wales and KLOF
(Formerly Folk Radio UK), earned festival slots at Cornbury Festival, Festival of Voice and Sŵn,
and shared stages with the likes of This Is The Kit, Becca Mancari and Willy Mason. Now, with
Stood Out In The Storm (out November 7th), he offers his most powerful and affecting work yet –
an album born of struggle, but defined by resilience.

“Exquisite”- Folk Radio UK 

“Beautiful” - Huw Stephens, BBC Radio

“Utterly wonderful” - Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales

”There is a wonderful delicateness that resonates through Ivan’s heartfelt lyrics, deamy music and vocals. Ivan is able to take listeners on their own journey of growth through his soft melodies and blissful atmosphere”
- Amplify The Noise