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.
out of Stock
Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Repress of the funky instrumental 45 by The Soul Investigators featuring Jimi Tenor!
For those into sounds from the deep dungeons of the soul jazz underground, the 2nd quarter of 2015 looks promising. Out of its mist come The Soul Investigators in a slick red convertible, featuring a mean flautist riding shotgun, a position we Finns like to call the seat for those in fear. The velvet smooth winds emanate from none other than Jimi Tenor, a person some might even describe as a renaissance man.
The sufficiently psychedelic jazzier exercise "Vulture's Prayer" should get your mind wondering into a turn of the 70's London, featuring a hippie gone bad, smacked out in furs in a hedonistic basement bacchanal, just before discovering himself at the opening desert scene of the "Holy Mountain". Flipping the disc over to "Bad Vibrations" we find ourself in a more funkier urban setting, possibly at a Yusuf Lateef inspired bar session in Chicago's South Side. Don't know, why they call them bad, because they sound so good. Better get yourself a slice and why not even a second helping.
out of Stock
Last delivered 14 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
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.
out of Stock
Last delivered 5 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
A remix album of Tolerance by Osaka-based electronic musician Junya Tokuda released from remodel, a label established by Yuzuru Agi and Studio Warp.
In addition to performing live and releasing works, Junya Tokuda runs the web label Linesound and organizes the electronic music event "Line".
His previous releases include "map not seen EP" (Linesound, 2011), "A Day In The Alley" (shrine.jp, 2016), "Unleash EP" (LongLongLabel, 2018), and "No Man's Land" (shrine.jp, 2020). jp, 2020).
remodel also released solo album, "Anemic Cinema", in April 2021, prior to this work, and his track was included in a two-disc compilation, "a sign 2", released in May 2020.
This album "VANITY RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL Vol.1" is a remix album using material from the Tokyo-based project Tolerance by Junko Tange from Vanity Records.
The production was done in parallel with "Anemic Cinema" (late August 2020 to mid-December 2020), and the basic musicality, especially the brilliant treatment of sound by dub-like spatial effects, is common to both works.
However, in this album, the material of Tolerance is sometimes vague and fragmented like a torn tape swimming on the surface of the water, and at other times like a tape reel rolling down from the ocean-like sound image created by the skillful blending of pads and moving noises through the manipulation of dub effects.
The tactile sensation of poking and stroking the ears (like ASMR), which was also felt in "Anemic Cinema," is more vividly revealed by the carefully considered incorporation of a foreign object.
In addition, the instrumental aspect of Toleranece's musicianship, especially the effective use of the electric piano sound, is also impressive. Interestingly, in other tracks, the bassline exerts a strong pull and draws out the phrasing aspect of Junya Tokuda's musicianship as if in response to the electric piano.
Junya Tokuda's music, which even creates an organic feel with its deft handling of generated sounds and samples, reveals its caliber and hidden patterns through the inclusion of Tolerance voices, noises, and instruments that seem hard, rough, and axially distorted. It is an exhilarating and magical work.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
House anthem Slo Moshun “Bells Of NY” is one of the most iconic gems in the Network catalogue and gets a timely reissue.
The lovingly remastered 12” includes the epic nearly 9 minutes long “House To House Mix” which started the fuss in the first place, plus the much loved by DJs “Xen Mantra Beefy Bells Mix” which like fine wine seems to have matured with age.
It’s almost impossible to explain the hype that exploded when the first copies of this landed in 1993. Network pressed a limited run of the first copies on the Dansa label with
bogus New York producer credits in an attempt to create mystique.
The combination of that relentless uptempo house piano and the break where everythIng slows down underneath a hip hop sample hypnotic proved irresistible, and saturation radio plays from KISS in London turned the track into an instant anthem right away.
The the boss of a rival label boasted they had sourced the track and paid “a fortune” to licence it for UK release. He was making it up as a stampede by labels to locate and release the track began.
Network sensed an opportunity to create major mischief and create even more of a buzz. New York garage producer and Network ally Andrew Komis was enlisted and happily donned the bogus ID of a new kid on the block NYC producer to do phone interviews with UK dance music publications.
His pretend story that Bells Of NY was his homage to the UK House scene laced with Big Apple Hip-Hop was eagerly printed by the magazines.
They were left red faced when the truth emerged that former Nexus 21 and Altern 8 member Mark Archer and his new music making partner Danny Taurus had in fact come up with the gem in homely Staffordshire and not glamorous New York for Network.
All the PR spin in the World would not matter a not if the record didn’t live up to the hype.
Bells Of N.Y did and still does.
It gave Network a first chart hit on their six6 label and more importantly is an all time House Music Classic.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Melbourne's finest Katie Drover and Just Jack join forces for a split ep on We R The Aliens 003.
The newest aliens deliver 6 sweltering cuts ranging from delicate minimal tapestries to wonky breakbeat floor fillers and even a dnb jammer for good measure. Lock in and stay hip to the sweeping terrestrial frequencies of the underground from down under.
out of Stock
Last delivered 3 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
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.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Superb transparent record with transparent serygraphy.
Music by praised Tzii : experimental cinematic ambient, deep distortions of oriental soundscapes.
Noises surprises !
recorded from 2010 to 2012 at Venetie studio and erasmus studio by tzii himself, this record is perfectly situated in his own discography between HUMANS (TZII 2008/ARN008) and A SHOT IN DARK (TZII 2018/TS004) passing by the first TZII on NIGHT ON EARTH in 2001 or even SAND HEART RAGE (TZII 2013/TUT031 & 2nd F52) and THE GREEDY RAVEN AND THE FOUR BRANCHES (SOLAR SKELETONS 2015/ZZR054).
the central tool of this record is an electronic tabla, an MS20, voices, a shenaï, many effects and increasing the use of various samples of voices, violon etc.
mixing in side a two hits between muslimgauze and third type tapes, buddha bar as an introduction of a piece with tendency harsh surgical ethnic-breakcore noise well severe all that in frank cuts, brutal with a good toast of noise. at the end of side a we also find an enigmatic mental ketamine hole more calm and intimist sprinkled with ultra sounds.
side b as for her, is opened by an ultra violent white noise but very quickly caught up by two long ambient tracks to intensely lose the balance, very close to the door between the conscious and the unconscious with drones of shenaï and delay.
mastering & cut by angstrom mastering in 2020 kali yuga.
visual by ssm.
published during summer 2021 kali yuga in 33rpm 12" by kali nada.
223copy.
out of Stock
Last delivered 6 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
"People Need People / The Higher Love" is an exclusive 7" containing the two singles promoting the most recent release by Nicola Conte and Gianluca Petrella, "People Need People". From Detroit future dance to afrobeat and spiritual jazz through a nu-disco sound, the unique vibe of these two songs drags us in search of deep music in a spiritual and mantric context. A collective experience wisely directed by Nicola and Gianluca, that delivers a message of Universal Love and hope, that proves to be even more essential and necessary today.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Events currently taking place throughout the world only serve to stoke a fire under the likes of Pillow Queens, who find themselves continually inspired by a Dublin that is no stranger to fighting social injustice. Street artists, fashion designers, musicians, film makers and more comprise a scene which routinely champions queerness and marginalized groups, and engages with and activates young people in response to the likes of the city’s ongoing housing and mental health crises. Pillow Queens’ songs of togetherness and unity ring out louder than ever before.
In their short lifespan as a band they've released two demo EPs, performed on a successful string of UK & Irish dates & festival appearances, had playlisting from BBC 6 Music, and found themselves opening for the likes of American Football and Pussy Riot, as well as stadium performances opening for IDLES and Future Islands.
With all this under their belt, the band began working with Mercury Prize nominated producer Tommy McLaughlin for their single 'Gay Girls' – which received a nomination for the RTE Choice Music Prize song of the year, as well as International pickup from NPR’s World Cafe and KEXP. The song also found its way into the heart of actor Cillian Murphy and his BBC6 mixtape show.
2019 saw Pillow Queens venture into mainland Europe, as they lit up the Eurosonic festival and completed a string of tour dates opening for Soak. The tour was a messy and joyous affair captured beautifully in the DIY video for the bands summer single 'HowDoILook'.
In Waiting is Pillow Queens’ debut album, the result of four years of brotherly love in a sisterly unit from Ireland’s most urgent, yearning, rock band. Crafted from our lives, and honed in a studio in rural Donegal in the northwest of Ireland, this is a record by queens in waiting and kings in the making. It’s an album about love; self-love, queer love, the anxiety-inducing fault lines of romantic love, and the love for a city and a country that simultaneously has your back and is on your back.
Rakoon, a free spirit from the French electro-dub scene, known for his heavy weighted basslines in concert, comes back this year with his new album "Something Precious".
Since his first hit "Healing Dub" viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube, the producer has pursued his quest for an ever more hybrid and unique sound, combining synths and samples from travels, within pop structures with electronic features. "Something Precious" is a true synthesis of the eagerness of his first works and the power of his previous album, and confirms an even more electronic turn in the artist's career. It’s a bundle of energy carried by bewitching melodies; the travel journal of an enthusiastic musician, strewn with samples collected on the road.
“The musical guideline of this album first came one day when I got out of my studio after working on a track, feeling some kind of ecstasy that I hadn’t felt for years. Something that I used to feel almost every time I made music back when it wasn’t my job, but that had changed afterwards. It was like finding something really precious you thought you had lost forever…” says Rakoon about the genesis of this new album.
Whether it be with the intoxicating sample of "Hoi An" brought back from a trip to Vietnam or the galvanizing synths of "Chapters", a hit cut for the dancefloor, Rakoon treats his early fans to new gems true to his carefully refined recipe. But he also doesn't hesitate to venture into more electronic territories, like on the devastating "The Great Big Elephant", with its catchy sample and its synth’s nods to trance. Or even to surprise, with the use of vocoder on "Rituals" for instance.
"Something Precious" is the result of a significant sound research and an in-depth work on emotions. Its magnificent cover is signed by the English illustrator Miles Tewson, and it can be listened to like a diary that Rakoon shares with generosity and dedication with those who follow him, on and off the stage.
VERY LIMITED COPIES OF THIS PREVIOUSLY RSD U.S. ONLY RELEASE
Engine Kid, the post hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr's Hammer) announce a special Record Store Day 6 x LP box set release Everything Left Inside, featuring the Novocaine/Astronaut 12 inch, Bear Catching Fish 2xLP, Angel Wings 2xLP and Split w/ Iceburn / Everything Left Inside 12 inch.
Almost 30 years since the inception of Engine Kid and the trio find themselves comprehending the enormity of their creation, honouring and celebrating the mountains they formed and the canyons they created.
Engine Kid was born in Seattle, WA 1991. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist/vocalist Greg Anderson (Southern Lord, Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer, Goatsnake), drummer Chris Vandebrooke & bassist Art Behrman. The three had all been in hardcore/punk bands around town and all had a burning desire to create a sound that was unlike anything they had done in the past. After just a few months of existence they quickly recorded and self-released the Novocaine 7”. Circa 92’ a close friend and bassist Brian Kraft (Krafty) replaced Behrman, and at that moment the entire aesthetic and execution of sound became heavier, darker and extremely dynamic. The power trio was picked up by local label C/Z records and set out upon recording the new music they were quickly creating. In 1993 the band had two releases on C/Z; their first offering was the Astronaut five song EP recorded by John Goodmanson. The songs were primitive and exemplified the bands worship of Slint and their loud/quiet song dynamic In the summer of 93’ the band drove all the way to Chicago to record with their hero Steve Albini in the basement of his house. They emerged with the eight song album they called: Bear Catching Fish. Albini intuitively captured the band exactly as they were at that moment: raw, vulnerable and mammoth.
Shortly after the albums’ release Jade Devitt replaced Vandebrooke on drums. This transition was extremely crucial in the “second phase” of the group. Devitt was an absolute beast and his power helped launch the band miles beyond where they had ever been before. The sound of “The Kid” started to transform into a sound much more of their own. The three dudes were hellbent on pushing the bounds of sonic exploration to its absolute fullest. Suddenly there was an abundance of depth within the sounds they were creating. Eclectic influences of punk/hardcore (Black Flag, Die Kreuzen), Metal (Entombed, Carcass) and even jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis electric era) were in a full collision course with the already dynamically heavy foundation of the band. The levee had broken and the resulting flood of sound completely saturated everything in its path.
Engine Kid toured relentlessly. They were constantly on the road playing every nook and cranny they possibly could. Any moment not spent on the road was instead spent focused on making their new material as potent as possible. Early in 94' the band decided to pay homage to their mutual love of jazz/fusion and recorded three instrumental pieces that would become a split album with like minded powerhouse Iceburn. The Engine Kid/Iceburn album showcased each group's love of jazz loosely framed by the intense enthusiasm of underground music. The album was released by Revelation records in 1994.
During the summer of 94’ the band reconvened with producer John Goodmanson at Bad Animals & AVAST! studios to record the new material that was literally bleeding out of the reinvigorated trio. These recorded songs were much more progressive, heavier, harder and more focused than past works. They even tackled John Coltranes’ “OLE” adding saxophone and trumpet from their brothers in Silkworm. In March of 1995, Revelation Records released these recordings as the Angel Wings album. Unfortunately "the Kid" flew too close to the sun and broke up very shortly after the album's release.
Everything Left Inside 6xLP box set (RSD release) includes:
LORD 288.1 Engine Kid-“Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”
LORD 289 Engine Kid-Bear Catching Fish 2xLP
LORD 290 Engine Kid-Angel Wings 2xLP
LORD 288.2 Engine Kid-Split w/ Iceburn /Everything Left Inside 12”
16-page color photo/liner note booklet.
The Men’s hugely influential album Leave Home came out during an exciting time in New York City. DIY lofts and shitty bars littered downtown Manhattan and North Brooklyn. The Acheron had just opened its doors. Kill Your Idols had broken up. Toxic State Records was just getting started with Crazy Spirit, Dawn of Humans, Hank Wood and Perdition EP’s. The city was alive with punk and noise and filth. And right at that time, The Men were the show to be at.
Every gig was dripping with sweat. Hallways and sidewalks were packed between sets. Chaos reigned in the pit. The Men hit like a bag of hard cement, a hardcore band with a familiar sound but with an aura of absolute chaos and intensity, like everything was on the brink of going off the rails at every moment of their set, a downhill freight train with no brakes. During these shows one’s focus could shoot back and forth between the intimidatingly angry-eyed, bald-headed Chris Hansell (who went on to front Warthog) and the long haired hippie punks Mark Perro, Nick Chiericozzi and Rich Samis, that made up the surrounding band.
Just one of the many juxtapositions the band embraced. If The Men were a chapter in Michael Azzerad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, the early EP’s and cassettes would obviously be Minor Threat and Black Flag, while Leave Home would likely be… Sonic Youth. It was just before they made the full jump into each record being a smorgasbord of underground genres, from dream pop to folk;
before they had tracks called “Country Song,” for example. But it was a preview of what was to come. Leave Home was a pivot from pure hardcore punk (some might even call it mysterious guy hardcore), as the band got lost in the groove in a way one couldn’t on a straight up punk record. That groove was so strong on “If You Leave…,” “(),” and “Bataille,” while they spaced out on “Shitting With The Shaw,” and stayed as aggro as ever on “LADOCH.” But of course, Leave Home had a re-recording of their hardest track to date, “Think,” making it clear that they were still the moshers we all had come to know and love. If The Men raised their flag as an important New York punk band with Immaculada, they started waving it in the freakiest way with Leave Home.There is no doubt that Leave Home was one of the most influential records of the last decade.
You can hear their mark everywhere from Ty Segal and The Oh Sees to Milk Music and Hank Wood. Few bands have traversed as many genres as The Men and even fewer have done it so well. It is a testament to the band’s undying authenticity and adventurism that the record sounds as timeless and urgent now as it did when it blew the doors of New York punk off its hinges ten years ago, leaving a giant hole for bands of all kinds to come racing through.
Space Afrika follow last year's heartbreaking x perception-bending mixtape "hybtwibt?" with an anxious patchwork of drill bass, reflective musique concrete and after-hours surrealism >> singular deep headspace exploration to file alongside Mark Leckey, Perila, Burial or Klein.
Assembled to accompany a short film from Manchester-born visual artist, poet and filmmaker Tibyan Mahawah Sanoh, Joshua Inyang and Joshua Tarelle’s newest is a cinematic audit of identity and ancestry. In the film, Sanoh works hard to visually illustrate an honest and vulnerable picture of her soul. Inyang and Tarelle respond by doing the same with sound, collaging disparate elements together in a way that should be familiar to anyone who heard "hybtwibt?" or their jawdropping RA mix from earlier this year.
Warped field recordings, overdriven rhythmic pressure, syrupy pads and disorienting vocals are cut and pasted over each other, generating a living, breathing study of the duo's Northern working class Black British reality. Unlike the duo's acclaimed "Somewhere Decent To Live" full-length, elements mutate and transform: mushy noise bends into street sounds, haunted vocals into echoing drill melancholia and muffled howls into shattered digital remnants.
The main event is the full 10-minute soundtrack, that's layered with Sanoh's disorienting and deeply personal poetry and echoes Mark Leckey's recent "In This Lingering Twilight Sparkle". Then the EP is bumped up with three sketches from the same sessions, two of which never made it to the final mixdown. 'Version 3' is a particular highlight, pasting heartbreaking piano and blowtorched vocal loops over winding drill bass > sounds like Burial remixing Unknown T into pure syrup.
10 tracks of beautiful Hip Hop music produced by Vienna Producer Mez & French producer 20Syl.
"We made this album after running into each other on tour in Brazil then again in France. We kept talking about needing to do a project together then eventually met up on my homies farm in Southern Oregon in the U.S. and made this record. Being in the same space and recording in the age of sending verses back and forth seemed a bit crazy in a sense but we really wanted to catch a real vibe of 2 mc’s in sync and where a real moment and connection was captured. We spent 7 days eating bomb food, living, laughing, writing, recording, and just vibing.
We asked for beats from a bunch of folks but ended up feeling the overall vibes of Mez, a Vienna based producer who I previously worked with on my solo material and whose beats just hit us and Rita as the perfect instrumentation to the album we wanted to create. The incredibly talented homie 20Syl (Hocus Pocus, C2C, AllttA) who I also had worked with before and who Rita collaborated with on his group's (C2C) album came in with 2 joints to round it out. We also got some amazing features from our folks Destani Wolf, Wes Restless, and the ever dope Georgia Anne Muldrow."
LP Vinyl include two exclusive remixes by Moar & Mossy P
out of Stock
Last delivered 5 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
“By 1993 I was saturated in Acid. Over saturated!. Since 1987 there had been an endless explosion of records from across the planet using the 303 and it seemed like the sonic possibilities offered by this little silver box had hit a dead end.
And then in 1993, from Germany, came the Blue label with mind-blowing releases by Air Liquide and friends. It felt like a new paradigm, paying homage to Germany’s Kosmische Musik past while paying respect to the Chicago Acid House originators while simultaneously looking ahead to a new form of transcendental music.
And then – BOOM! – the H.E.A.D. “EFS” double album drops. What is this music? Was it beamed in from the future? It ticked every box I loved. Endlessly hypnotic and expertly programmed with an effortless groove that sounds as if Jaki Liebezeit’s syncopations have been absorbed by the machines. It is Acid in ways my ears hadn’t heard before, the little silver box tweaked in new, exhilarating directions.
Made by future Optimo ally Khan, alongside uber talent, Kerosene and recorded in a Brooklyn kitchen, this double disc set became an eternal home listening and back room favourite. It is also a club favourite too, perhaps even more so now than it was then. It is endlessly mixable and playable at multiple speeds. A genuine classic long overdue a second life”.
This fully remastered 2021 edition of this 1993 gem comes with new artwork on a super fat double vinyl pressing.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
TOTAL turns 21 this year, and Kompakt’s venerable compilation series couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious coming-of-age collection. If TOTAL 20 was consolidation against the odds, the Kompakt crew producing for a dreamt-of dancefloor in an uncertain future, then TOTAL 21 feels abuzz and alive with possibilities. Significantly, it’s the first TOTAL in some time that’s streamlined down to a single disc; this makes TOTAL 21 even punchier than usual, a joyous, reflective, and always thrilling 75-minute audio scan of the world according to Kompakt.
As with every instalment of TOTAL, there’s a deft balancing here of Kompakt regulars and new blood. Of the latter, there’s a first appearance by KOLLMORGEN, remixed by PATRICE BÄUMEL into an astral torch song; Amsterdam’s NICKY ELISABETH, offering up ROMAN FLÜGEL’s pulsating, arpeggiated remix of “Celeste”; and CAPTAIN MUSTACHE swoops down into view, PLAY PAUL in tow, with the dream-like electro lift-off that is “Everything”. JONATHAN KASPAR also drops by with a new track, “Von Draussen”, a stealthy and lethal floor-hugger with prowling bass.
Elsewhere, there’s the lead track to MICHAEL MAYER’s astonishing recent EP, “Brainwave Technology”, which not-so-gently spears the tech-futurist babble of AI, transhumanism and posthumanism, soundtracked by one of Mayer’s typically lush, glimmering soundscapes. JOHN TEJADA reaches back to the heyday of glitch and dub techno with the gorgeous “Spectral Progressions”, while the brothers VOIGT & VOIGT, on “Nicht Mein Job”, seem reinvigorated by the interwoven patterns and funky minimalism of the Profan days. Not to be outdone, JÜRGEN PAAPE kicks TOTAL 21 with “La Guittara Romantica”, a chiming and lilting lullaby for woozy late-night reflection.
Throughout, it feels as though Kompakt are taking a moment to both breathe in the dust of the past and look forward to a bright future. Perhaps that’s why, on “Fasson”, SASCHA FUNKE seems so confident, with pinprick melodies bouncing around a hall of audio mirrors, or why THE BIONAUT returns with “Blue Sky Motor Lodge”, a song so moistly melancholy, so enduringly lovely, it’ll make you weep tears of joy. ROBAG WRUHME gets a little delirious on the ticking, twisting “No”, and then GUI BORATTO mops everything up with the bubbling, bumping glam-stomp “Wake Up”.
That’s not all – spring for the digital and/or vinyl edition and you’ll get a new cut, “Happy”, from MICHAEL MAYER, and MARC ROMBOY & C.A.R.’s “I Am A Dancer”. But however you choose to play it, now TOTAL’s turned 21, it’s your duty to throw it the celebration to end all celebrations. Let the party begin, and don’t forget to bring a party favor…
out of Stock
Last delivered 20 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
"Flower Studies", the enchanting third album by Australia’s Blue Chemise, consists of eight intimate, delicate and touching ‘études’, reflecting Mark Gomes’ introspective musings on a series of floral studies by 19th-century French photographer Adolphe Braun (1812-1877).
Behold whither eventually
Imposing sounds and a grandiose bleakness
Majestic flowers in centuries-old photographs
And silences where heather grows
No story, only depictions of flowers
Nature filtered through a temperament
The suggestion of poetical ideas
Nature draws the imagination to infinity
Paysages composés
Like beautiful melodies
Nature’s great harmony
Is that of an immense and divine keyboard
The diffused freshness of budding greenery
A cult for flowers
Privately eavesdropping on nature
To hear the voices of the trees
Slam collaborate with Hector Oaks, 999999999, Keith Tucker (AKA Optic Nerve), Amelie Lens, Rebekah, AnD & Perc, for a new five part Soma Records project LOUDER THAN CHAOS.
On March 2020 the world was abruptly thrown into collective disarray. The Pandemic stopped almost everything dead in its tracks. No social gatherings, self isolation, a sense of panic and bewilderment prevailed. An industry that had become so dependent on human connection and unity, was suddenly switched off and put on pause for an unforeseeable future.
It was in this climate that The Louder Than Chaos project was born, facilitated by Soma Records head honchos and techno protagonists Slam. A collaborative project with friends, colleagues and contemporaries normally only seen at airports, or events, now brought together under a completely different set of circumstances, allowing for a purposeful connection in a time of disconnect. The focus of the project is built on a powerful mutual participation, remotely constructed over time and fully intended for holding court on peak time dance floors when they inevitably return. That time has now finally come.
The Louder Than Chaos project is a series of 5 releases, on 12 vinyl" & Digital, to be released monthly via Soma Records. Featuring collaborations between Slam & Hector Oaks, Slam & 999999999 Slam & Keith Tucker (AKA Optic Nerve), + more to follow.
Each EP features specially commissioned artwork from German based artist PPP Panic, which consolidates into one constructive piece over the 5 releases.
out of Stock
Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Beggars Arkive announce the LP reissue of Gary Numan’s
fifth album, ‘Warriors’, on orange vinyl. Originally released
in 1983 and co-produced with Bill Nelson, the album
continues Numan’s ambient-funk experimentations.
“I still like a lot of the ‘Warriors’ stuff and Bill Nelson did a
lot of very inventive things on it which, because of our
differences, I failed to appreciate at the time. I think the
Mad Max image convinced a lot of people, the press
especially, that it was a sci-fi album. Much of it though was
actually quite autobiographical. Even songs like ‘The
Iceman Comes’ and ‘This Prison Moon’ were more to do
with what I was going through than anything sci-fi. Lyrically
I was already becoming overly focused on the career
struggle. ‘Warriors’ was written, in the main, in a hotel
room in Jersey. My girlfriend had just left me, I’d been
evicted from the house I was living in and I felt pretty much
alone in more ways than one. Despite its surface gloss of
futurism it was really very inward looking. To me the image
was meant to represent someone fighting for survival as
much as anything” - Gary Numan
The achievements over his four-decade career (and
counting) are remarkable for someone who never made
any concessions to mainstream success. Seven Top 10
singles, including ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ and the debut
solo hit ‘Cars’; seven Top 10 albums, three of which
topped the charts; and huge critical acclaim, most notably
with the Inspiration Award at the prestigious Ivor Novellos.
In a career that spans over forty years, the music evolves
and the themes change. But fans remain fascinated by
Numan for the v
Global reggae stars SOJA are back with their first album in 4 years.
‘Beauty In The Silence’ features special guests Rebelution, UB40, Dirty
Heads, Slightly Stoopid, Collie Buddz and more. SOJA deliberately took their time in creating ‘Beauty In The Silence’ as
they explored new sonic terrain, recording in such iconic spots as
Miami’s Circle House Studios and Dave Matthews Band’s Haunted
Hollow, and teaming up with producers like Niko Marzouca (Bob Marley,
Pharrell, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky), Mariano Aponte and Johnny Cosmic.
The band eventually phased into working remotely as stay-at-home
orders set in across the country and, in that process, lead guitarist
Trevor Young (formerly SOJA’s guitar tech) took on a much greater role
in the band’s creative direction, co-producing alongside Hemphill and
carefully shaping the album’s hypnotic sound. For more than two decades, SOJA have elated audiences across the
globe with their fresh yet timeless take on roots reggae, a sound born
from their shared passion for making music that transports and inspires.
The band was originally formed by a group of friends while still in middle
school and they have since built a massive, dedicated global fanbase. In
the years following, SOJA have headlined shows in over 30 countries
around the world, received multiple GRAMMY nominations and
generated 7 million social media fans and more than 1 billion streams;
attracting an international fanbase along the way, with caravans of
diehards following them from city to city. “Charismatic bandleader Jacob Hemphill writes SOJA’s lyrics as an
attempt to find a path to unity in the world.” - NPR
“SOJA has cultivated a dedicated global fanbase with their socially
conscious lyrics, catchy sound and a ceaseless touring schedule.” - MTV
“Contemporary reggae with a forthright social conscience.” - Billboard
“Over the course of their near-20-year career, SOJA has amassed a
loyal following for their social justice-minded brand of roots reggae.” - USA Today
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
Caleb Landry Jones is a continual creator. The Texan-born star found fame as an actor - you’ll recognise him from key roles in X-Men: First Class, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, amongst others - but music is perhaps his first love, and his source of greatest comfort. A chance encounter with famed auteur Jim Jarmusch brought him into the orbit of Sacred Bones, and the stalwart independent released Caleb’s 2020 debut album The Mother Stone. Psychedelic in a defiantly non-retro way, this indulgent, freewheeling trip won critical acclaim, but masked a secret - he’d already finished another album.
Filming alongside Tom Hanks in dystopian themed Finch, Caleb found himself writing during those long evenings after the shoot in locations across New Mexico, idling away his hours by focusing on creativity. “I need it,” he says, “I’ve tried working without it. On one acting job, I intentionally didn’t bring a guitar to try and do it without music... but that didn’t last long. I need to create
something - it could be a drawing, it could be a song - because otherwise I feel like I’m wasting time. Which is something I do plenty of on my own!”
With his creative faculties burning, Caleb knew he had to get straight back into the studio when filming stopped. Linking with the same cast who formed The Mother Stone, he resumed his partnership with producer Nic Jodoin, based out of the elegant Valentine Recording Studio in Los Angeles. A studio steeped in history - everyone from Bing Crosby to Frank Zappa worked there - he interrupted mixing sessions for his own debut album in order to focus on something different.
Gadzooks Vol. 1 is unlike anything you’ve heard before - comparisons range from Skip Spence’s fractured masterpiece Oar through to skewed troubadour Robyn Hitchcock, via John Lennon’s black moods on The White Album and Frank Zappa’s caustic surrealism. Recording to tape, Caleb would hack away at each take, re-assembling the songs like Escher diagrams. “It’s like when you’re swimming in the pool,” he smiles, “and you’re doing a bit of butterfly, and then that gets old after a while. So then you start doing breaststroke, and then that gets old after a while. I think it’s just a reaction from the place where we were before.”
Part of a flood-tide of creativity - as its title suggests, a second half to this album is already on the horizon - Gadzooks Vol. 1 is thrilling, shocking, and wonderfully entertaining. Each song starts and finishes in entirely unique places, often totally divorced from each other. “I’m trying to write something very simple,” he says, “And it gets really abstract because I don’t know any other way.”
- Follow up to the critically acclaimed debut The Mother Stone
- Actor in Finch, Get Out, Twin Peaks, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Positive press for The Mother Stone ran in Pitchfork, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, FLOOD, Newsweek, The AV Club, Document Journal, The New Yorker, The FADER, NPR and others
Caleb Landry Jones is a continual creator. The Texan-born star found fame as an actor - you’ll recognise him from key roles in X-Men: First Class, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, amongst others - but music is perhaps his first love, and his source of greatest comfort. A chance encounter with famed auteur Jim Jarmusch brought him into the orbit of Sacred Bones, and the stalwart independent released Caleb’s 2020 debut album The Mother Stone. Psychedelic in a defiantly non-retro way, this indulgent, freewheeling trip won critical acclaim, but masked a secret - he’d already finished another album.
Filming alongside Tom Hanks in dystopian themed Finch, Caleb found himself writing during those long evenings after the shoot in locations across New Mexico, idling away his hours by focusing on creativity. “I need it,” he says, “I’ve tried working without it. On one acting job, I intentionally didn’t bring a guitar to try and do it without music... but that didn’t last long. I need to create
something - it could be a drawing, it could be a song - because otherwise I feel like I’m wasting time. Which is something I do plenty of on my own!”
With his creative faculties burning, Caleb knew he had to get straight back into the studio when filming stopped. Linking with the same cast who formed The Mother Stone, he resumed his partnership with producer Nic Jodoin, based out of the elegant Valentine Recording Studio in Los Angeles. A studio steeped in history - everyone from Bing Crosby to Frank Zappa worked there - he interrupted mixing sessions for his own debut album in order to focus on something different.
Gadzooks Vol. 1 is unlike anything you’ve heard before - comparisons range from Skip Spence’s fractured masterpiece Oar through to skewed troubadour Robyn Hitchcock, via John Lennon’s black moods on The White Album and Frank Zappa’s caustic surrealism. Recording to tape, Caleb would hack away at each take, re-assembling the songs like Escher diagrams. “It’s like when you’re swimming in the pool,” he smiles, “and you’re doing a bit of butterfly, and then that gets old after a while. So then you start doing breaststroke, and then that gets old after a while. I think it’s just a reaction from the place where we were before.”
Part of a flood-tide of creativity - as its title suggests, a second half to this album is already on the horizon - Gadzooks Vol. 1 is thrilling, shocking, and wonderfully entertaining. Each song starts and finishes in entirely unique places, often totally divorced from each other. “I’m trying to write something very simple,” he says, “And it gets really abstract because I don’t know any other way.”
- Follow up to the critically acclaimed debut The Mother Stone
- Actor in Finch, Get Out, Twin Peaks, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Positive press for The Mother Stone ran in Pitchfork, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, FLOOD, Newsweek, The AV Club, Document Journal, The New Yorker, The FADER, NPR and others
Forming off the back of contemporary jazz outfit Zeitgeist, Voronoi take the power and rhythmic complexity of heavier prog-metal and fuse it with the sophistication of classical music and jazz. A passion for science fiction thematically drives the band’s heaving and
chopping style, whereas artists such as Autechre, Car Bomb, Tigran Hamasyan and J.S. Bach help shape the rigid, experimental structure of The Last Three Seconds.
“Compositionally and stylistically we have moved into much heavier territory than our contemporary jazz foundations,” says Keyboardist Aleks Podraza. “It really shows. If you were to put this record against the first tunes we played together as Zeitgeist, it would be like introducing a much capable Thelonious Monk to a less hectic Dillinger Escape Plan.”
As the first single off The Last Three Seconds, Gamma Signals serves as a toe in the water for the depth of things to come. The full-bodied riffwork captures the stop-start format of prog-metal heavyweights without being explicitly metal. Yet beyond this, glitchy, experimental electronics cut through the composition like a knife. The final product is something that captures the magic of the cosmos – a place where worlds orbit worlds, genres orbit genres. Each element remains different and unique, but still intrinsically tied to the other.
“Gamma Signals is about pulsars and how when Jocelyn Bell-Burnell first discovered them, the media thought they were aliens trying to contact us,” says Podraza. “Broadly, this song is about my love for and fascination with cosmology as a whole. That's a theme that runs through the veins of most of the album.”
Those following Vorono’s career will need little convincing on the quality of The Last Three Seconds. Collectively, band members have performed and recorded with groups like The Cinematic Orchestra, KOYO, NJYO, Jenova Collective, The Often Herd, Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, Wandering Monster and more. This in turn has garnered sizable attention at festivals such as Leeds and Reading Festival, Download Festival, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club - not to mention Voronoi’s thrashing set at 2019’s ArcTanGent.
The cool and collected chaos of The Last Three Seconds serves as a snapshot of this live energy, as passion and fury hum at the end of every complex composition. From start to finish, the record is nothing less than executed perfectly, undoubtedly appealing to even the most seasoned of prog-lovers
Robbie Williams will be reissuing his first two multi-million selling solo albums ‘Life Thru A Lens’ and ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’ on vinyl for the very first time. To be released on 24 September, both titles have been newly mastered at Abbey Road Studios, are pressed on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl and housed in gatefold sleeves, reproducing the original distinctive artwork. Both titles come with Download codes. Originally released in October 1997, ‘Life Thru A Lens’ was Robbie’s debut solo album. It entered the chart at number 11 but had to wait almost six months before it reached number one. It eventually spent 147 weeks on the Top 100 and has been certified 8x Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 2 million copies. It includes the hit singles ‘Old Before I Die’ (No. 2), ‘Lazy Days’ (No. 8), ‘South Of The Border’ (No. 14), ‘Let Me Entertain You’ (No. 3) and ‘Angels’ (No. 4), the latter his biggest selling single to date, and voted the best song of the last twenty-five years at the 2005 BRIT Awards. Now certified 10 x Platinum by the BPI, with UK sales in excess of 2.5 million, ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’ was originally released in October 1998 when it entered the chart at number one. It returned to the summit the following January and once again a month later. It includes the hit singles ‘Millennium’ (No. 1), ‘No Regrets’ (No. 4), ‘Strong’ (No. 4) and ‘She’s The One’ (No. 1). ‘No Regrets’ features backing vocals from Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, while album track ‘Win Some Lose Some’ includes the ‘Telephone Voice’ of All Saints’ Nicole Appleton.
Robbie Williams will be reissuing his first two multi-million selling solo albums ‘Life Thru A Lens’ and ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’ on vinyl for the very first time. To be released on 24 September, both titles have been newly mastered at Abbey Road Studios, are pressed on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl and housed in gatefold sleeves, reproducing the original distinctive artwork. Both titles come with Download codes. Originally released in October 1997, ‘Life Thru A Lens’ was Robbie’s debut solo album. It entered the chart at number 11 but had to wait almost six months before it reached number one. It eventually spent 147 weeks on the Top 100 and has been certified 8x Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 2 million copies. It includes the hit singles ‘Old Before I Die’ (No. 2), ‘Lazy Days’ (No. 8), ‘South Of The Border’ (No. 14), ‘Let Me Entertain You’ (No. 3) and ‘Angels’ (No. 4), the latter his biggest selling single to date, and voted the best song of the last twenty-five years at the 2005 BRIT Awards. Now certified 10 x Platinum by the BPI, with UK sales in excess of 2.5 million, ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’ was originally released in October 1998 when it entered the chart at number one. It returned to the summit the following January and once again a month later. It includes the hit singles ‘Millennium’ (No. 1), ‘No Regrets’ (No. 4), ‘Strong’ (No. 4) and ‘She’s The One’ (No. 1). ‘No Regrets’ features backing vocals from Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, while album track ‘Win Some Lose Some’ includes the ‘Telephone Voice’ of All Saints’ Nicole Appleton.
Tchamantché, meaning “point of equilibrium” in Bambara, is the fourth album of Mali singer Rokia Traoré. Released in 2008, and dedicated to her fellow countryman Ali Farka Touré, one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians, the album is a turning point in the singer’s career after she has spent a large part of it revisiting the Malian musical tradition. Tchamantché reveals a unique sound in which electric Gretsch guitar riffs come to mingle with the ancestral sounds of Malian instruments, offering a new setting to her crystalline voice. If Traoré favors minimalist and emotional acoustic ballads, she clearly assumes her blues and even rock influences, signing an intimate and voluptuous album of artistic maturity.
Black Country Communion the rock supergroup comprised of vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa.
Their second album, simply called "2" was originally released by Mascot Records in Europe in 2011. Three Black Country Communion albums will be re-issued as part of the Black Country Communion Glow In The Dark Vinyl Series: On September 24, "Black Country Communion" and "2", and on October 22, 2021 their latest studio album "BCCIV".
Producer Kevin Shirley explains "On '2', you can hear the band own their music, own their sound, and it is an astonishing musical group unlike any other and they are absolutely the kings of their genre." He continues sstating, "I wanted to explore more of the Bonham sound and more importantly each member of the band gets a unique opportunity to shine, but the music always has the distinct sound that is BCC." Black Country Communion initially came to fruition when Kevin Shirley saw Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa join forces on stage in Los Angeles in November 2009 for an explosive performance at Guitar Center’s King of the Blues event. Shirley then recruited powerhouse drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. The band is named after the industrial area in the British Midlands where both Hughes and Bonham were born and raised.
Black Country Communion the rock supergroup comprised of vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa.
Their debut album “Black Country Communion” was originally released by Mascot Records in Europe in 2010. Three Black Country Communion albums will be re-issued as part of the Black Country Communion Glow In The Dark Vinyl Series: On September 24, "Black Country Communion" and "2", and on October 22, 2021 their latest studio album "BCCIV".
On "Black Country Communion" most songs are sung by Glenn Hughes, with the exception of 'Song Of Yesterday' and 'The Revolution In Me' which are both sung by Joe Bonamassa. Hughes and Bonamassa share lead vocals on the songs 'Sista Jane' and 'Too Late For The Sun'. Also included on the album is a new version of Medusa, the classic rock song that Hughes originally recorded with his first band Trapeze. Black Country Communion initially came to fruition when Kevin Shirley saw Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa join forces on stage in Los Angeles in November 2009 for an explosive performance at Guitar Center’s King of the Blues event. Shirley then recruited powerhouse drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. The band is named after the industrial area in the British Midlands where both Hughes and Bonham were born and raised.
Elite Beat is a musical collective from Portland, Oregon with a history spanning back to 2006.
'Selected Rhythms' captures the finest moments from all three of their ultra limited cassette series 'Casual Rhythms'.
Packed full of DIY dub mixing, cosmic orchestration and raw, percussion driven polyrhythms, the recordings have been remastered and put to vinyl for the first time with sections from Casual Rhythms Vol. 1 being re-shaped into previously unavailable single tracks.
Recording plays a big role in the Elite Beat creative process. The studio as an instrument. Much of the Elite Beat music is mixed in an all-hands-on-deck dub style approach - live with an analog mixer and loads of FX being thrown and dubbed in real time. The sound is genre-less rhythm music with an emphasis on live playing, free form expression and technique that borrows from soundsystem culture. Inspiration can be heard from all parts of time and place. Some Ethio Jazz, Black Ark psychedelia, Exotica, Malian blues, even Haight-Ashbury in the summer of love. Each member an accomplished musician in their own right, Elite Beat thrive on collaboration. 2018 saw the release of their astral-Saharan jams with celebrated Taureg guitarist Mdou Moctar.
The players get together every Wednesday evening, sometimes to chat, sometimes to play. The 'record' button gets pressed when they find what they are searching for. For this crew it's all about 'Casual Rhythms / Harmonious Lifestyles' - if things don't fall under that mantra, then it's got to go. 'Less is more' for Elite Beat and their cosmic sounds.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Around the year, the sturdy red brick walls of an old Cable Factory stand there like a mountain, facing weathers of all kinds rising from the Gulf of Finland. It might be freezing winter winds whipping the whole shore line into submission, fog heavy as concrete, or the relentless sun of the summer months, softening the asphalt to a boiling point. Whatever the weather may be, the narrow courtyard of the old factory embraces those musicians, who are looking to get down. They gather from all directions, making their way towards a pair of doors that lead towards a flight of stairs, again through a few doors all the way to the last portal, where an open padlock and a loosely hangin crossbar signal that Cold Diamond & Mink are inside, locked in a groove.
Who could it be with them this time, perhaps the jazz prophet Jimi Tenor beaming out of his space ship, maybe it's the golden voiced knight of soul Tuomo "Pratt" Prättälä, the number one trumpet wielding dandy Jukka Eskola or the saxman Pope Puolitaival, who loses nothing in coolness compared to the former? The reel to reel is always there in the monitoring room, catching each analog layer of sound, even the silences and banter between takes. Seppo lays down the guitar and tries to catch the riff on organ instead, Jukka throws a rare tune on the turntable, hoping to guide their unit through that wobbly chorus, Sami waits there bass in hand, maybe already thinking about the next production.
After a whole lot of playing instruments, arranging and taking care of business, after the moon has travelled around the old industrial building for some rotations, Carlton Jumel Smith comes waltzing through those same doors. There's a handful of unnamed tracks waiting for him. He sits there listening and then starts writing, maybe echoes of soul classics from his own record collection in New York projecting inside his mind. Then the tape is rolling again. Starting with a short intro rap Carlton lets it out, singing on the edge of shouting "Woman you made me...". After the vocals are in the can, Carlton ascends out of the basement and heads out to entertain an audience somewhere. Some months later, after the mix is said and done, there's the question of the instrumentals. It seems they're pretty good as they are. And here they are.
d 04: Help Me (Save Me From Myself) Instrumental
out of Stock
Last delivered 5 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
This time you'll find the Wax's #plectrum with the vinyl; a little gadget to stimulate your musical fantasies. (only for the first 200 orders!)
Four years and ten releases later we can say that Apparel Wax -the vinyl-faced hero- has been able to always renew itself and its sound because, as our manifesto says, we try not to submit to any genre. We wanted every release to be the outcome of a long research through uncommon sounds and APLWAX010, yet again, is an unidentified sonic object picked up by our radar. The last one though! We didn't plan it, we just felt like the time has come -eventually- to close this beautiful chapter. More than one factor led us to take this decision: the progressive concern about the planet (therefore the impossibility to keep producing plastic bags and gadgets), the desire to leave at our peak and to invent something new are just two of them. The constant process behind the renewal of our sound -which we embraced ten years ago with the birth of Apparel Music- sometimes passes through hard choices and we need to feel again that sensation of 'void' in order to create something fresh, different, as we did when we started Apparel Wax. We won't drag our masked hero to a point of sonic stagnation. We'd like to send you all a big greeting and a heartfelt thanks for every second of your time spent listening to Apparel Wax, it literally meant the world to us. What was initially just a bold idea became a musical reference point for many people around the world, and we will be forever grateful to y'all because, without you, it would have never been possible. Finally, a huge thanks to all the artists involved in the project. They contributed with their art to a bigger cause, the biggest: music. YOU are the true masked heroes, you are Apparel Wax. As for us, we'll live on and our sound too. Our ideas, our passion and dedication for the one and only thing that really makes us happy will never die. Something new will always come on our end because that's our purpose, our philosophy. Manman, what a journey has been, now on to the next one!
out of Stock
Last delivered 3 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Arkham are an early historic Belgian 70's prog-fusion outfit that played eclectic jazz and rock mixtures in the 'Canterbury' vein, inspired by Soft Machine and Egg. Featuring keyboard player Jean-Luc Manderlier who would later join Magma, drummer Daniel Denis who would also move on to Magma as well as Univers Zero, and drummer Patrick Cogneaux.
Arkham aren't nearly as dark as Magma or Univers Zero, their jazzy overtones placing them a little closer to Soft Machine. The three musicians, who show some maturity, are obviously pouring their hearts out through out the album, which exudes an intensity that can't be ignored.
Never released before on vinyl, the recordings reproduced on this album come from magnetic tapes of some of Arkham's concerts and rehearsals, recorded at various times.
Essential Aliensis the 10th Helvetia album. Helvetia is the solo project of Jason Albertini from Duster. Helvetia resides in Portland, Oregon but was formed in Seattle, Washington in 2005 after Duster first went on hiatus. The songs onEssential Aliens were recorded over the last year, in Jason's basement. Since the band's inception, Jason has continued to employ a rotating cast of band members and collaborators, which now includes Steve Gere and Samantha Stidham. Steve and Jason also played in Built To Spill together from 2012 until 2018. In 2019 Duster started playing shows and recording again. During this time Jason started writing what would becomeThis Devastating Map. Released at the beginning of August last year, Post-Trash called it"a constantly shifting project that takes experimental lo-fi into brilliantly colored psych directions with a concise glow."Then the pandemic took hold. With normal life at a standstill and unable to hang with his bandmates, Jason focused his energy on his daughter's homeschooling schedule, and recording. He focused on finishing one song a day and was soon honing in on a new album. Essential Aliensdistills and simplifies the Helvetia sound. Reverb and delay are absent, replaced by warm fuzz and intimate room sounds. Progressions morph with stoner repetition and end in head scratch. Drums distort, muted bass lines prop up acoustic guitars blown out on a cassette four-track. Cheap electric guitars are barely in tune and recorded direct, almost painfully in your face. The songs are short blasts of psychedelic chill, unrooted by genre, a rummage around an alien radio dial. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart, to remind you that you can be strong. The visual elements for the album come from a recurring dream, which centers around a period in Jason's childhood when he lived in Basel, Switzerland, and believed that he lived with a ghost. In the dream, Jason's life becomes turned upside down because of a series of unexplainable events that turn out to be orchestrated by the ghost, and he wakes up convinced that he is a ghost as well. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart. To remind you that you can be strong. This is a weird blues.
Take One is the cinematic debut release from the minds of Hampshire born emcee Deeflux and seminal producer Kraze. Created through a chaotic and turbulent life journey, the project was born out of the collective need to change direction musically by both artists.
The results are an accomplished and often brutally honest prose, overlaid across a wide range of soundscapes sca-ling the spectrum of alternative rap music. Themed around cinema, each track tells a story like a window into the ar-tists lives covering a range of topics and emotions with Deeflux’s trademark labyrinthine wordplay weaving effortlessly over Kraze’s diverse production.
The LP, originally intended as a mixtape and picked up and pressed by Broke Records was fraught with tragedy. From faulty metal work, lost livelihoods and the eventual loss of all stock it sadly never saw the proposed release until now. Certain Sound received a phone call out of the blue after the stock was
re discovered and have re packaged with the full intended “Directors Cut” as downloadable content in a limited run of coloured and heavy weight black vinyl.
Take your seats and enjoy the show! Artist Bio - Deeflux
Deeflux comes from a diverse musical background. After falling in love with heavy metal at 6 years old he spent his early years as a song writer and guitarist in ska, punk and metal bands before re discovering hip-hop in college where he used the college computers to start his journey beat making.
Finding his voice at 18 he began to craft his style. Influenced by his home town stable of graffiti writers, MCs and beatmakers. he went from working with Reklews (BLAH) to collaborating worldwide on projects such as Oddio Kin.
He has a number of physical releases with his group C O R N E R S (Deeflux, Beit Nun and Benny Diction), live group Natural Selection and last year released 52 singles with his long running DJ Miracle (Boot Records).
Kraze is somewhat of a musical prodigy. In his early teens he was at the epicentre of the first wave of grime and Began DJing on pirate radio & producing music. He eventually landed an artist development deal with EMI & later Sony/ATV.
He was responsible for Devlin’s standout London City and earned two cuts on
his Bud, Sweat and Beers album. During his time with EMI & Sony, he worked with producers such as Naughty-boy, Mojam & Stargate and a variety of artists before eventually leaving the industry to pursue other opportuni-ties. Take One will be his first solo release.
UMAN is the project of French musicians and sibling duo Danielle and Didier Jean. "Chaleur Humaine" is their debut album, resurfacing for the first time on vinyl and remastered CD since its original release in 1992. UMAN experienced varying degrees of recognition with Chaleur Humaine at the time of its release, specifically around tracks plucked for various New Age / Chillout compilations, but ultimately the album defies genre in its exploration of voice and sampling / synthesizer technology and places it alongside the futurist works of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nuno Canvarro, and even Enya. UMAN resembles human' in many Romance languages but signals a spirit from a deeper earth force that the duo channel throughout Chaleur Humaine, manifesting in a mantra found throughout the album reimagined in various languages across different tracks: "It's this force, almost animal, warm, like a kiss, fresh like the morning dew, that we call human warmth.ü" Chaleur Humaine has become a leftfield classic since its initial release, and long sought after on vinyl (the album was only available on CD until now). RIYL: Nuno Canavarro's Plux Quba, Piero Milesi and Daniel Bacalov's La Camera Astratta, Cocteau Twins and Enya
Originally released in the US on 17th July 2021 as part of RSD, now available to all. Black Vinyl with a poster included. Recorded Live At Grimey's Record Store in East Nashville, TN, Kip Moore performs new takes on tracks from his critically-praised album Wild World. “There is nothing like that feeling of going to your local record store and hand-picking out vinyls for your collection,” shared Moore. “It’s really important that we preserve the local independent record stores in our communities and Record Store Day is a really great way to help continue to raise awareness, even more so during these times. Grimey’s is a Nashville staple and to get to perform some songs from the new record there is something I’m looking forward to sharing.”
Limited Edition cassette …. 100 copies ‘Your Job Is To Make Art’ is built for the floor, four slamming techno takes, plus remixes from labelmate Swarm Intelligence and Manchester’s Kander. Drawing influence from the Manchester scene, but written in the isolation of rural, north-west England, Kontain’s debut EP is rhythmically relentless, buoyed by trippy vocals and distorted percussion, each track lands hard. From the artist: “Training and competing in BJJ, this EP is almost a soundtrack to the constant mental & physical assault. High energy, constant tension.” “It’s better to be stomped by the bull than up in the stands” Mastering by Joe Farr