Cerca:lost in time

LP pressed exclusively for National Album Day 2021 on gold vinyl in
single-pocket jacket with custom dust sleeve and digital download
coupon.
 Through ‘Titanic Rising’, Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Mering, has
designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s mysteries.
Manoeuvring through a space time continuum, she plays the role of
melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist.
 Tellingly, Mering classifies ‘Titanic Rising’ - written and recorded during
the first half of 2018, after three albums and years of touring - as The
Kinks meeting WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the
album’s wilful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the
strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her
imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is
unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I
just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”
 The Weyes Blood frontwoman grew up singing in gospel and madrigal
choirs. (Listen closely to ‘Titanic Rising’ and you’ll also hear the jazz of
Hoagy Carmichael mingle with the artful mysticism of Alejandro
Jodorowsky and the monomyth of scholar Joseph Campbell.)
‘Something To Believe’, a confessional that makes judicious use of the
slide guitar, touches on that cosmological upbringing. “Belief is
something all humans need. Shared myths are part of our psychology
and survival,” she says. “Now we have a weird mishmash of capitalism
and movies and science. There have been moments where I felt very
existential and lost.”
 As a kid, she filled that void with ‘Titanic’. (Yes, the movie.) “It was
engineered for little girls and had its own mythology,” she explains.
Mering also noticed that the blockbuster romance actually offered a story
about loss born of man’s hubris. “It’s so symbolic that The Titanic would
crash into an iceberg, and now that iceberg is melting, sinking
civilization.” Today, this hubris also extends to the relentless adoption of
technology, at the expense of both happiness and attention spans.
 But Weyes Blood isn’t one to stew. Her observations play out in an
ethereal saunter: far more meditative than cynical. To Mering, listening
and thinking are concurrent experiences. “There are complicated
influences mixed in with more relatable nostalgic melodies,” she says.
“In my mind my music feels so big, a true production. I’m not a huge,
popular artist, but I feel like one when I’m in the studio. But it’s never
taking away from the music. I’m just making a bigger space for myself.”

Sony Classical release - sensational double album by one of the world’s most accomplished film composers. This stunning album sees Hans Zimmer arrange some of his most successful and recognisable compositions into electrifying concert suites for orchestra, choir and an impressive list of soloists. Recorded in the prestigious Wiener Konzerthaus, the album features the renowned Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Neue Wiener Stimmen choir under the baton of award winning conductor Martin Gellner. Included in the album are some of Zimmer’s most popular hits: The Dark Knight, Inception, Lion King, Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Da Vinci Code and many more. Specialist marketing activity. The double CD format is released March 15th and 3 LP set is released March 29th.

Keaton Henson’s ‘Fragments EP’ was made as a
companion piece to last year’s ‘Monument’ album,
written and recorded at the same time.
 ‘Monument’ is a fragile, meditative and emotional
unravelling of grief in the aftermath of losing his
father, and for all its hushed acoustics, ‘Monument’
cocooned its emotion in some beautifully tender
melodies and acute observations. It’s a warm and
relatable listen.
 On ‘Fragments EP’, whilst the lyrical themes and
subjects may stray from ‘Monument’’s poignant
subject matter, in its sound and atmosphere, it
feels suitably entwined.
 The eight tracks that form the EP orbit a sweeping
kaleidoscope of sonic shapes, shades and
textures. Keaton’s voice offers lyrics in an almost
frozen romanticism. It’s a voice that sounds rooted
in turmoil but also of strength. A happy sadness.
Bleakly beautiful.
 Julien Baker shares a mic from across the ocean
in Australia on ‘Marionette’. A songwriter of due
reverence herself, Baker and Keaton share an
affinity with the power of hushed words, fizzing
melodies and an innate wisdom.
 ‘Fragments EP’ and ‘Monument’ are two fine
bodies of work by this singular, unique British
artist, and two empathetic records of sorrow and
strength.

LA-based, vocalist, producer, and songwriter Lykke Li announces the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue of her seminal album Wounded Rhymes. The critically acclaimed album was produced by Bjorn Yttling and named one of the Best Albums of 2011 by The New York Times, Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, Clash, Paste, SPIN, and more. The album yielded singles “I Follow Rivers,” “Get Some,” “Sadness is a Blessing,” and “Youth Knows No Pain.”

Releasing 15th October 2021, ahead of National Album Day in the UK on 16th October celebrating women in music, the album will be reissued on 2LP 180g black vinyl. The first LP will feature the original album, along with a bonus LP featuring unreleased demo versions of “Youth Knows No Pain,” “Jerome,” “I Follow Rivers” and remixes by The Magician and Tyler, The Creator. The vinyl release features the original artwork on the sleeve, & an o card wrapping the release with the brand new anniversary artwork.

SHY, LOW are true masters of the exquisite craft of stark contrasts and broad dynamics, from delicate crescendos to the grandiose power of the riff_ a craft that lies at the heart of every outstanding instrumental rock record. The Richmond, Virginia based four-piece has made an absolutely incredible and epic album brimming with creativity, groove, heaviness and truly outstanding songwriting- a record that is intricate and mature, yet gloriously anthemic at the same time. The fantastic cinematic and (surprisingly, so) entirely self-produced first music video for the track ,Helioentropy", premiered at Roadburn Redux this year, was only a tastemaker for the 5th studio album and Pelagic debut, Snake Behind The Sun. Recorded, mixed and produced at Vudu Studios in Long Island, NY by Mike Watts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, GlassJaw, Hopesfall, Tides of Man), the album pulls from elements from previous eras of the band, but also pushes into new territory. The result is a slicker, more modern, layered and 3-dimensional sound. The album title is a metaphor for the notion that darkness and negativity can remain hidden even among seemingly positive forces and positive beings in one's life. As a matter of fact, the snake crawled out from behind the sun, while the band was in the studio recording the album: ,By week 3, there were talks of NY state locking down due to the rapid rise in Covid cases; with one day left before the lock down was alleged to go into effect, it became a mad dash to finish tracking the record so we could book it home to Richmond, Virginia", says bass player Drew Storcks. Though entirely instrumental, reducing the band's contemporary sound to the term ,post-rock" wouldn't do this record justice: there is much more to it than lengthy dramatic build-ups and bittersweet melodies played by delay-drenched guitars. Snake Behind the Sun is an astounding and immensely diverse record that will appeal to fans sitting on all ends of the broad spectrum of modern heavy rock music. Limited 2LP red single colour edition! FOR FANS OF PG.LOST, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, CASPIAN, AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, THRICE

No less than 12 months later arrives ‘Deep Blue View’ – not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea.
“I originally had AM Jazz down as walking around some New York backstreet at 4am, smoking in a fedora, looking for crimes to solve but it now ends as night begins,” reveals Al, of his latest tale’s gradual evolution. “Deep Blue View is the night-time album now… like losing yourself deeper in the fog, or disappearing in the sea… would someone, or some 'thing' come to save you or would they , or it , come along for the ride?”
Usually by now, Daveyhulme’s own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business - and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is 6 brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra’s Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al’s now revered repertoire. “I had the urge to create something new and started playing around with different EPs and pseudonyms but when I sequenced these tracks, I was really happy how smoothly they flowed; it just needed an opener. I quickly wrote ‘Deep Blue View’ and it fell into place. It’s great, so I carried on, knowing it was time to save the best stuff for myself,” Al grins.
Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al’s love of finding the ‘right’ in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. “In the studio it’s tempting to turn everything up loud but I’ve got bad tinnitus and don’t want to write anything else in a Beatles style. I have done all that now… at home I have a computer, a microphone and just go crazy and lose myself staring at the screen. Then suddenly loads of music is written.”
Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, ‘Peppergone’ adds to the tracks’ nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz’s initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks', written in the middle of a tough night. “I have no idea why or how the song came about because I was so upset to do anything, let alone record any music. But there you go. Somehow I did and it’s a really special thing. I know he would have dug me using his chords; growing up we’d both try to create the perfect chord sequence. This is his idea of that. I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests.
Also revived from AM Jazz’s archive is the simmering groove of ‘Night Talk Late Street’ and instrumental ‘Star Six Seven’, whilst ‘Have Another Cigar’ weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. “I’m sure it’s about not wanting the musical party to stop and having to get on with real life,” Al says.
‘String Beat’ meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme (whose real-life origins reside with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), introduced to him by Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran. “I’ve never created anything this moody before and have always threatened to do something John Barry-esque with some slightly dark and spooky musical changes.”

2021 sees the release of the long-awaited third album from Pola & Bryson - ‘Beneath the Surface’. Since their debut release in 2015, Pola & Bryson have transitioned from the exciting ones to watch to the unquestionable leaders of new school liquid drum and bass, grabbing the attention of the scene's greats in the process.

“Masterful production and musicality throughout, I love that the album has been made just as much for the home listener as for the clubs. For me, these guys are leading the new wave of liquid drum & bass.” Sub Focus

As digital streaming services continue to dominate as the primary source of music consumption, the wildly contested ‘death of the album’ debate continues to burn throughout the industry. To counteract the current trend of single tracks and playlist placements, Pola & Bryson wanted to experiment with a concept album.

“We envisioned a landscape to act as inspiration to us whilst writing this album. The landscape is made up of 4 distinct sections, each representing a different emotional state. The first being Shinrinyoku (a Japanese term for forest bathing), represented by a dense, peaceful forest environment. Mangata (loosely translates to moon river) takes you to the edges of a cold, misty lake which eventually leads you to Toska, representing a dark and endless cave. All transpiring with Yuugen, a vast and epic mountain range. The album, paired with bespoke animated visuals, paints the perfect reflection of the journey.” - Pola & Bryson

‘Beneath the Surface’ features collaborations with the drum and bass scene's hottest vocal talents, with each being selected to effortlessly meld with the respective soundscapes. After previously working with both Lauren Archer and Ruth Royall with beguiling success, Pola & Bryson knew that they wanted to send some ideas to both artists. This resulted in the creation of two beautifully blissful tracks ‘Under’ and ‘Friend’, which became the first two singles to be released from the album. While Solah and Kojo were specifically picked with their tracks in mind, Manchester favourite Strategy’s appearance on the release was an altogether more organic stroke of serendipity. The duo were unsure whether 'Anaesthetist' was going to make the cut as an instrumental, and were floating the idea of working with a vocalist when Strategy messaged them seemingly out of the blue. They knew in an instant that his sound was the perfect fit for the track.

Over the last five years, Pola & Bryson have steadily ascended from promising newcomers to well-respected leaders of the next liquid generation. The London based pair’s production credentials are now so well-respected that they have recently been commissioned for huge remix projects for Sub Focus x Wilkinson and Camo & Krooked and released a collaborative EP with Brazil’s legendary DJ Marky. Since their debut album ‘This Time Last Year’ on Soulvent Records and then 2018’s award-nominated Shogun Audio LP “Lost in Thought'', punters and peers have been on tenterhooks, anticipating what the duo would bring to the plate next. Effortlessly living up to its hype, anyone who journeys through the ever-changing soundscapes of ‘Beneath the Surface’ will be immersed into a new world of sonic expression.

The Zru-esque adventure takes its suite with a full-length LP recorded in adventurous (avant) times. No time left for the deliverance of these melodious flights, playful tribalistic cadences and surrealistic lyrics. Art-Funk duo Zru Vogue tackles avec grand-chic inner themes in order to let the listener get lost in the domain of dreams and spirituality. Surfing on Californian rocks, Andrew L. Jackson & Rick Cuevas affirm here their heretic talent in an non-angular form. Zru is a (post) 'beat' poet.

D’CRUZE ‘WATCH OUT’ The lost dubplates from rare DAT studio tapes that have been saved!

The Legend of The Lost Dubplates...

Prior to the original 1994 release of the D'Cruze classic 'Watch Out' our good friend and rave headliner Micky Finn requested a special version for his DJ sets, he went to the studio with D'Cruze and created a VIP dubplate special in the truest sense. Only held on dubplate by Micky himself and only ever heard in his sets it became stuff of legend. Fast Forward many years later a clip of it emerged on Soundcloud from a Micky Finn mixtape and the buzz for it started again. In 2021 Micky found the original DAT masters and supplied them to us for some restoration and remastering.

While searching for the lost classic we came across a DAT with the writing Watch Out - Flex, a remix by Cool Hand Flex that didn't make it in time for the original release and has remained on DAT since 1994! So now, together with the original version and a totally unique 2021 take on this classic from Chimpo, finally we are able to bring this lost treasure to you!

Grab yourself a piece of future history now whilst we have these available in stock, because these will never be repressed.

Fans have been waiting eight long years for this new album from Ishi that
is expected to drop under Swedish Indie Label Icons Creating Evil Art, the
home of Flora Cash, Summer Heart, and Glamour Hammer.
It will be titled ‘Sweet Gold’ and feature the hit singles ‘Not My Girl’ and ‘LoFi Love Affair’ and the new single ‘Fly Away’. Ishi’s ability to successfully walk
the line between an ambitious studio act and a multi-sensory live experience
allows him to engage the audience in an uplifting celebration of life. His subtle
undertones of inner exploration combine to create a concert experience that is
unequivocally one-of-a-kind.
Each night, Ishi intends to create an entirely unique environment of mysticism,
awareness, love and acceptance. Adored by fans and critics alike, there is no
denying that Ishi is an immersive experience that everyone should discover.
Following the successful release of the Yuksek remix of ‘Not My Girl’ (supported by the likes of A-Trak, Kiss FM, Ministry of Sound, Amazing Radio etc.) and
a remix collaboration with the internationally acclaimed EDM-producer Oliver
Nelson, and his Goody Goody collab with fellow Texans CAPYAC; Ishi now line
up some new original music and the new album dropping early fall.

John Prine’s Grammy Award-winning album, Fair & Square, is available on vinyl for the first time in over sixteen years. There are three special double LPs: standard black, opaque green and a limited amount of “Irish Edition”—green and orange vinyl with a matte jacket featuring embossed lettering.
Originally released in 2005, Fair & Square won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 48th Grammy Awards and achieved the fastest rise to number one in the history of Americana radio. The record marked Prine’s first album in nine years, following 1995’s Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. Rolling Stone declared Fair & Square “an excellent set of songs full of rootsy warmth and unpretentious wit,” while The Washington Post praised its relatability: “this low-key masterpiece arrives not just as a reminder of Prine’s cleverness and mischievous wit but also as a confirmation of his deeply human values. These are values rooted in the enduring mystery and majesty of everyday, ordinary lives.”
Prine is a four-time Grammy winner and Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, a seven-time Americana Music Award-winner, a PEN New England Lyrics Award recipient and member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Since his debut in 1971, Prine released over 18 albums and has had his songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and many others, while drawing effusive praise from Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Waters, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and more.

Dans le Sable is the first new album in over 40 years by composer, pianist, and digital audio pioneer Loren Rush (b. 1935). Active in the Bay Area new music scene since the late 1950s alongside composers such as Robert Erickson and Pauline Oliveros, he also co-founded the Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics in 1975. His music has been performed by the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra amongst others.

The title piece "Dans le Sable" (1967-68, 70) covers the first side of the record, of which Charles Shere in the Oakland Tribune (1972) writes: “A surreal opera scene. A narrator dwells on the significance of passing time. A soprano sings Barbarina's cabaletta from Figaro, which describes her distraught search in the sand for a lost pin. The chamber orchestra—mostly solo instruments—plays soft, half-forgotten tunes reminiscent of the Parisian music hall. If Marcel Duchamp wanted to put painting once more at the service of the mind, so did Rush seem to want to make a composition that speaks directly to that thing behind the mind—the point where it connects with the soul. And he succeeded. But only because the work is so brilliantly constructed, so careful in its structure and the timing of its phrases, so well balanced in the disposition of its parts that it quite overcomes the audience.”

The second piece on the album “Song and Dance” begins with the watery held tones of “Song.” Melancholy phrases are deconstructed and stretched in different retellings, invoking a harmonic fog. We are then thrust into “Dance,” one of the first orchestral pieces to employ computer-generated digital synthesis. A hypnotic and percussive march is propelled into a storm of early computer-processed cannonades.

Recital is proud to now illuminate the deeply overlooked composer Loren Rush, whose meticulous attention to detail has perhaps kept his toiled-upon works in the shadows these past decades. Dans le Sable is among the most gorgeous records I have heard.

The Body and BIG|BRAVE are both bands possessed with an
unequalled ability to convey overwhelming weight with
simplicity, repetition and detailed sonic atmospheres; artists who
continue to alter the definition of what it means to be a heavy
band.
The Body are consistently prolific while increasingly ambitious
as untethered producers and collaborators. BIG|BRAVE shape
sound with dense waves of guitar and feedback, minimalist and
hypnotic crashes and emotionally exacting vocal melodies. In
collaboration, The Body and BIG|BRAVE shift the gravity of
their compositions to woven layers of percussion and
unspooling guitars that sprawl through stark frameworks of
earthy folk.
Their debut collaborative album, ‘Leaving None But Small Birds’
distils the two ensembles’ pioneering approach to heavy music
into psalms for the forgotten, threnodies of lost love and odes to
vengeance.
Recorded, mixed and produced by Seth Manchester at
Machines With Magnets (Liturgy, Battles, Mdou Moctar) and
mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, David Bowie).
“Emotionally coherent but tricky to categorize. BIG|BRAVE are
the sound of the raw unconscious, turned up loud.” - Pitchfork
“The Body have become one of the most interesting and difficult
to pin down groups in extreme music.” - Rolling Stone
CD in gatefold packaging with lyrics.
LP packaged with digital download card and inner sleeve with
lyrics.
Available to independent retailers on ‘LEVON’ (greenish clear)
coloured vinyl.
Cover features artwork by Bo Orr (also created artwork and
videos for Full of Hell and The Body).

Since 2005, under the moniker Sonmi451 (a character from David Mitchell's novel "Cloud Atlas"), Bernard Zwijzen is creating his own blend of minimal, soundscape-laden atmospheric electronics in Hasselt, Belgium.

He has been previously released on labels such as: Astral Industries, U-Cover, Slaapwel Records, Time Released Sounds, Eilean Rec. "Seven Signals In The Sky" is his twelfth releases.

Lost Tapes is a monthly release of rare B-sides, exclusives - & even some previously unreleased tracks. Now the first 10 tracks from the series are released on limited heavyweight + numbered vinyl, CD and cassette for the first time. Röyksopp on the Lost Tapes series: Upon renovating our arctic chateau here in the desolate north, we came across an old sea chest containing an abundance of rare B-sides, exclusives - & even some previously unreleased tracks. We thought the only right thing would be to make these «hard-to-find» tracks available for those of you who prefer to stream music. So therefore we’ve created a playlist called ‘Lost Tapes’. The Playlist will be updated as we go, make sure you subscribe. All obscure tracks will eventually see the light of day.

During the production of two singles (This being the first) unfortunately William Stuckey passed away, below are some words from my partner in the project Brian Sears regarding our work with him pm his LP.

Brian Sears - I'm not one that likes to write but I wanted to say a few things about William Stuckey. William Stuckey passed away last in August 2021 at age 73, and is an artist that I've been working with since last summer. He was a key fixture in the Little Rock music scene and most notably was one of the driving forces behind the legendary True Soul label. Lee Anthony, the owner of True Soul Records, once told me that William Stuckey was the most talented musician he had ever worked with, and if you know anything about that label or Lee Anthony, that's quite a compliment.


When I reached out to William last summer about re-releasing his material, he ignored my calls and messages. Fortunately, I was able to reach his son, Erreyon who was kind enough to listen to me. I've worked a lot of terrible sales gigs in my past and "getting to the point" is sometimes a hard thing to achieve, especially when you're trying to talk about the music business and music that's 50 years old. But the point was simple, his music matters and deserved to be preserved. This resonated with William and Erreyon and they gave Euan Fryer and myself a chance.There was a memorable handoff of the master tapes in a parking lot and from that point forward I knew William Stuckey trusted me. Trust is something he had to do a lot in his life due to the fact that he was visually impaired and I'm thankful he trusted us. As I wrote before, there was a long process of transferring the tapes, but it was successful, and the album has never sounded so good. William had incredible hearing and was able to pick out details most might not detect. He was gifted and that shined through his own playing and voice through copious recordings. Speaking with him after he finally heard the newly remastered album, the way he had intended for it to sound, is something I'll never forget. Moments like that are really the reason why I feel so compelled to work with older musicians that didn't get a fair shake the first time.

Meeting William Stuckey face to face earlier this summer was one of the highlights of my year. We laughed and hung out at his place where he had lived for the past 50 years. I told him his music was internationally known and the re-release was well received. He was humble and felt like a long lost friend that I hadn't seen in a long time. I'll never forget that. I told him I wanted to take some photos, and I'm so glad I did.We had a good time and it was a beautiful summer night and as I left his place his neighbours noticed me walking to my car and wanted to chat, so we talked briefly and it ultimately lead to one of them getting into their car and cranking "The First Time" on the stereo system in their driveway. I wasn't sure if Stuckey could hear it from his house, but part of me knew he probably could and hearing his song echo in the background as I drove off and thinking about Stuckey and the time we shared and his music being appreciated by so many, even in that moment, is a wonderful memory. I'd like to think he was smiling.His music and legacy will live on forever.
Rest in peace to a great one.

Dark Star Safari is a musical entity comprised of Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset, Samuel Rohrer and John Derek Bishop. Their second fulllength offering Walk Through Lightly is the first to feature all five musicians together in the studio from the outset, making for a more organic refinement upon their already established methodology: gradually sculpting distinct songs out of collective improvisations, or using the raw material from initial recordings as the basis for more carefully articulated compositions. The final mix is one that invites few stylistic comparisons to other musical peers, and in fact few comparisons to existing genres. Though this second offering from the project is frosted over with a Scandinavian sense of spatiality and
melancholy, it’s best listened to without considering any origin points, geographic or otherwise: from the opening moments of “Walk Through Lightly,” listeners will feel as if teleported directly into the middle of an enigmatic film-in-progress.
The album opener immediately and successfully sets the table for what is to follow. The electronic and acoustic instrumentation is pensive, but not passive, with restrained scrapes and stridulations in the background combining with backwards-looped passages and perlescent or granulated sound effects to better emphasize the carefully arranged latticework of guitar, percussion, strings, and bass. In some places, such as on “Father’s Day” and “Measured Response,” the silences or breaths between passages are pronounced enough to be an instrument in their own right (and an elegant confirmation of the fact that silence is also a conveyor of information). This nuanced production, which wisely opts for intimacy instead of relying on overdone "instant atmosphere generators" like lengthy reverb, provides just enough tension to contrast with the sense of elevation provided by Bang’s vocal contributions: smoky, evanescent, and impressionistic recitations offering not snapshots of specific events, but rather complete emotional environments for the listener to hover through and explore.
Within these environments, the lyrical imagery focuses upon coming to grips with sudden transformations on both micro and macro levels (the opening “this was a perfect place / till we lost our way” from “Patria” or the foreboding “Poems that explore / Their silence / Crush their violence / Now their time ends” from “Measured Response.”) It focuses as well upon coming to thresholds or crossings, be they physical crossroads or internal states of mind, or both (see especially the striking turns of phrase from “Murmuration.”) With such things in mind, it’s only natural that there would be consideration of dreaming as well, and indeed four different titles on the LP make different reference to a dream or dream state, seemingly valuing dreams as part of the continuum of consciousness rather than something totally cut off from waking experience.
Given the sense of foreboding, anticipation, and even unease that these kinds of subjects often bring with them, the spare and un-hurried music is all the more intriguing, especially when the eponymous finale arrives and the percolating sound bed seems to hint at a coming resolution, but then leaves the listener with more questions than answers. By competently fusing a mature, economical approach to sincerely romantic lyrical themes, Walk Through Lightly is a rare accomplishment.

The Allergies are back with a new album – Rejoice! And the feel-good funk, hip-hop swagger, and dusty vintage loops, is everything you need right now.

Across the 13 tracks, producers Rackabeat and DJ Moneyshot dig deep into their souls, as well as their record collections, serving up a day-glo blast of super positive sampledelia that'll have you smiling from ear to ear.

Built from scratch during lockdown, each song offers up a world to lose yourself in, free from any and all dark clouds. It's their Promised Land, and everyone is welcome to bask in the sunshine.

Along for the ride is LA rap legend, Andy Cooper Ugly Duckling, soul sensation Marietta Smith, dance music heavyweight, Dynamite MC, and the unmistakable voice of hip-hop royalty, Lyrics Born.

Everyone got the memo, as career-best performances roll one after the other. And each singer, rapper, scratcher, and sampler, unites through the power of good good music.

Highlights on the LP include the swamp blues meets half-time hip-hop monster, 'Lean On You'. The Latin funk bomb, 'Move On Baby'. Soul rollers 'New Thing' and 'Are You Ready', and the show-stopping and stirring Moby-ish beat banger, 'Promised Land'.

Almost a concept album, the idea of fresh starts, strange new worlds, loss, solidarity, freedom, and the communities we find in clubs, festivals, and making and sharing music, began to come out, organically, through the song-writing process.

"In a weird way the album wrote itself," says DJ Moneyshot. "We'd be lost in our own little world of hypnotic loops as days passed, and samples jumped out of the shelves, and just started to make sense as they got chopped and layered into these tracks."

Early support for the singles, and response from fans across the globe, suggests that this, their fifth album, really could be something special. Come on in…

Blind, Chicago soul singer Willie Williams was first discovered performing in clubs in and around the Windy City. He was signed to ABC records by their A&R Director for the Midwest Johnny Pate a former Jazz bassist, independent producer, arranger and songwriter in his own right. Pate was a friend and colleague of fellow musician, songwriter and founding member of one of ABC’s prolific vocal groups The Trends, Tom Dorsey. Pate and Dorsey would contribute heavily as writers and producer throughout Willie’s recording career, beginning with his first ABC 45 release in 1966 “Have You Ever Been Played For A Fool/With All My Soul”. The release’s b-side became a popular radio play at the time with Willie becoming known as Willie “Soul” Williams for a while. Two further ABC releases were to follow “It Doesn’t Pay/Just Because” (1967) and “I’m Through With You/Strung Out” (1968).

Willie’s next 45 release although recorded in Chicago under Johnny Pate’s supervision found it’s way to another major label, RCA, although credited as a GWP Production (Gerrard W. Purcell). The 45 in question being the excellent Tom Dorsey penned songs “Just To Be Loved By You/Name It” released during 1969.

Two Willie Williams 45 releases did appear on the Gamma label but I’m unsure if one or both of these are by the same Willie Williams in question.

Throughout his recording career Willie continued to work the clubs with his own band which was led by his bass guitarist and confidant Bradley (Brad) Bobo a man who featured as a session musician on many recording sessions including the creation of The Notation’s album of the same name for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom subsidiary label Gemigo.

On the 22nd of December 1970 a recording session was held in RCA’s Studio B, on North Wacker Drive, Chicago with sound engineer Russ Vestuto. The session was financed by Tom Dorsey who amongst other song writing gratuities had been paid handsomely for the 3 songs “Love Machine”, “My Baby’s Love” and “How Are You Fixed For Love” which he had wrote and contributed to the blue-eyed hit group, The O’Kaysion’s “Girl Watcher” ABC album. The result of this session yielded four Willie Williams tracks. Brad Bobo played bass guitar on the session, the composer of the four songs Tom Dorsey supplied the arrangements and Tom’s wife Carolyn (also a former group members of The Trends) joined both he and Brad on backing vocals.

The four songs were then offered to Eddie Thomas who chose two of them to release on a 45 single. The two songs being “Must Mean Love” which was later renamed “The Baa Baa Song “and “Psyched Out” which Eddie then released on his own Lakeside label, thus leaving the two other songs to remain unissued in the can.

Willie has now sadly passed away but in his later life once the opportunity’s for performing artists began to dwindle he chose a different path in his life, gaining a Doctors degree, he went on to become a College Lecturer. Tom Dorsey too turned his back on the music industry apart from his publishing company to concentrate on his family life as well as founding a very successful business involving one of his other great life passions, photography. Luckily for us he never lost the master tape of Willie’s sessions and after several years of tentative enquiries he graciously relented to my request to put them out. So now before you we have the two excellent previously unissued Willie Williams songs that Eddie Thomas passed on, the delightfully soulful “Give It All I Got” backed with the funky, social conscience themed “Do You Understand”, lost early 1970’s Chicago Soul at its finest.