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ercury Rev take you on a swan dive into the mystic: a rapture of ballad-dreams and emotional memoir at the crossroads of The Dharma Bums, Pet Sounds and Side Three of Electric Ladyland. A profound, transcendant trip from the psychedelic explorers who brought you Deserter's Songs.
David Fricke In upstate New York, deep in the seam between the Catskills mountains and the Hudson Valley, a richly swelling, spellbound sound emerges, eddying and flowing like the local Esopus Creek, or in the slipstream of the grander Hudson river, carrying the flotsam and jetsam of our hopes, dreams, fears. A sound composed of organic and electronic; guitars, keys, brass, strings, woodwind, drums - and a voice of incantations, tapping streams of consciousness that similarly eddy and flow.
Spiritually, literally, psycho-geographically: where else does Mercury Rev’s ninth album Born Horses spring from? This cascade of gleaming, glistening psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient quest that searches its soul but can never truly know the answer? A sound and vision linked to their exalted past whilst quite unlike anything they have created before?
The answer is somewhere between the homes of founder members Jonathan Donahue (the hamlet of Mt Tremper) and Grasshopper (the town of Kingston), in their veins and brains of their now-legendary tapping of musical cosmology, and the vital presence of new permanent member Marion Genser (keys), plus long-term ally Jesse Chandler (keys) and guests Jeff Lipstein (drums), Martin Keith (double bass) and Jim Burgess (trumpet). A place that feeds off the levitating mood of their last album, 2019’s expansive tribute Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited, and the instrumental psych explorations under the names of Harmony Rockets and Mercury Rev’s Clear Light Ensemble, and the spiritual guidance of avant-garde artist Tony Conrad and Beat poet Robert Creeley, to whom Born Horses is
dedicated.

New Zealand indie trifecta Mermaidens, are set to make a resounding splash in the music scene yet again with the announcement of their fourth self-titled album and release of the project's first single ‘I like to be alone’. The trio, comprising of Gussie Larkin (guitar/vocals), Lily West (bass/vocals), and Abe Hollingsworth (drums), has been on an impressive journey of musical excellence, boasting three critically acclaimed albums, international tours, and a slew of accolades to their name. With a sound that is both bold and adventurous, Mermaidens' music is a testament to their unwavering creativity and relentless work ethic. Their upcoming self-titled album, a product of the band's tireless efforts between 2019 - 2022, promises to be a captivating sonic journey, delving into themes of self-awareness, introspection, long-term love, and even channelling political anger and frustration. Recorded mainly at Surgery Studios in Wellington, with the engineering prowess of Lee Prebble and produced by Samuel Flynn-Scott of The Phoenix Foundation fame, the album also saw the band stepping up their production game with Gussie and Lily working their magic with Protools in their DIY home studios, showcasing their growth and versatility as artists. “Working with Sam has really been a round-trip in our creativity,” as Lily explains, “we grew up listening to Sam’s early records and here we are getting the inside scoop on how to make that kind of magic. Listening to Pegasus today still transports me to a time when I listened to music on a Walkman. In the best possible way - sometimes it felt like we’d added an evil genius to the mix, we’d be working on a song and he’d come in like a mad scientist with fresh ideas to try.” To give fans a taste of the upcoming album's brilliance, Mermaidens have released new single 'I like to be alone.' The song has been part of the band's live repertoire for a while and explores the fulfilling contentment of being alone and the struggle to convey this sentiment to a partner. Its relatable lyrics capture the essence of cherishing solitude while navigating the complexities of human connections. Gussie's candid and honest approach to self-discovery is complemented by the song's, Michel Gondry inspired video, as Gussie explains: “The giant jean pocket and denim world were created by Hannah Webster, a textile designer and illustrator based in Wellington. Hannah took all the wild ideas for props and made them come true! I’m still in awe of how she managed to sew a 6x6 metre backdrop for the denim world out of whatever scraps she could find. The video captures our playfulness and sense of humour, and is a hint of what’s to come for the rest of the music videos. I love the way the story wraps up with the three of us together, literally playing “in the pocket”. Mermaidens' self-titled album will be released on Friday 3 November 2023 and is available for pre-order now. UK listeners will be able to pick up an exclusive Rough Trade vinyl pressing in transparent red, along with an A3 poster and jumbo bumper sticker. Having released their last two albums through iconic local label Flying Nun, Mermaidens will be released independently. Creative control is an important pillar for the band, who are hands on in every facet of their projects. Mermaidens gather their community close via their hugely popular multi-city boutique festival Mermgrown, hosting peers including Womb, Hans Pucket, Vera Ellen (Girl Friday) and Kōtiro from 2021 onwards. They've been invited to share the stage with Death Cab For Cutie, Sleater-Kinney, Gang of Four, Parquet Courts, Lorde and The Veils, and have toured extensively in Europe, the UK, and Australia.

DOG BEACH is Merryn Jeann’s first full length album, produced by Rob Ellis, comparing her directely with his previous collaborators.

Rob Ellis is a record producer, composer, arranger and musician who has been acting for about 40 years and during which he's had the honor to work with such notable artists as PJ Harvey, Marianne Faithfull, Scott Walker, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Brian Eno, Thom Yorke, Anna Calvi, ...

About working with Merryn : "In every instrumental phrase that she arrived at and each line of her vocal delivery Merryn's enthusiasm and very individual creativity comes across brilliantly I think... whilst still managing to retain an expression of deeply felt heart and soul... a rare combination in my experience, and a match for any of my aforementionel, much admired collaborators."

"The days in the studio were endlessly creative and playful... and subsequently very exhilarating... by the end it felt like we had really gone through something extremely special, and I believe the resulting LP strongly reflects that." Rob Ellis

Album was recorded over 5 weeks in England, including musicians such as Jim Barr (Portishead), Ben Christophers (Bat For Lashes) or Patrick J. Pearson (Daughter, LYR) but also Christelle Canot aka Confuse, half of IN CASE OF FIRE recently signed to Steve Budd’s prestigious record producer agency.

Merryn Jeann is a Naarm/Melbourne and Bundjalung Country/Byron Bay Shire based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has crafted a genre-bending, dreamy world of soundscapes that bear an enticing musical wisdom.

Sitting somewhere between Caroline Polachek, Cat Power, Weyes Blood, Feist, and Kelsey Lu, Merryn Jeann’s sound is fueled by authenticity. Her raw and honest self packaged into intricate and reflective morsels, many of which are yet to be revealed.

She played Glastonburry at the beginning of her career with the band TORA.

UK and international promo by Whiteboard PR.

A second LP will be recorded in 2025 again with Rob Ellis at the production.

Side projects : OSOO with Kyson & Chris Hill, IN CASE OF FIRE

First released by Extreme in the massive, infamous 'Merzbox,' "Red Magnesia Pink" is extracted and recontextualized as a standalone release for the first time. Recorded in 1995, "Red Magnesia Pink" sees Merzbow in peak form. A psychedelic whirlwind of synthetic transmissions; harsh, wet, screeching sounds that could only be produced by Masami Akita. Featuring two previously unreleased bonus tracks from the same era.

On their first official collaboration, Japanese noise pioneer Masami Akita aka Merzbow and Australian sound sculptor Lawrence English present a harrowing, surrealist portrait of nocturnal industrial activity, spawned by field recordings made in a sprawling factory complex seven hours north of English's home in Brisbane. He characterizes the area as "uneasy and unsettling," awash in the sickly glow of smelters and refinement machinery, somehow not of this world - a liminal quality vividly captured in Andrei Tarkovsky's sprawling purgatorial opus, Stalker, to which the title alludes. Akita, too, described early drafts of Eternal Stalker as feeling "like the soundtrack to a dystopian science fiction opera." A mood of mechanical dread and ruined futures permeates each of the album's seven potent compositions. Opener "The Long Dream" sets the stage with steady rain on sheet metal, punctured by thunder and metallic echoes, reverberating to the rafters in a collapsing warehouse. Quickly the tempest rises. "A Gate Of Light" and "Magnetic Traps" both convulse in churning furies of electric demolition and rattling chains, roaring and relentless. "The Visit" and "Black Thicket" operate more at a distance, surveying the topography of steam, rust, and liquid metal from above, their flickers of violence swallowed by blankets of darkness. This is noise at its most elemental and unknowable: brooding, bristling, and opaque, stalking forbidden peripheries of chaos and creation. Discussing Akita's music, English refers to its "intense substrata that is purely psychedelic; it consumes and confounds." The seasick swells of friction and fracture subsume the listener, forcing an auditory surrender: "this saturation of the senses can be a euphoria." Proof comes halfway through "The Golden Sphere," when the howling mayhem subtly recedes, revealing an eerie siren drone hovering in the void, like the resonance of a dead star galaxies away. Slowly a seething, venomous wall of volume returns, shredding the signal until its frequencies fray, whipping away into the eye of the storm. The combined effect merges obliteration and liberation, rapture and ravagement; it's the sound of dissolution as resolution, uprooted and unmoored, finally freed from form.

Formed in 1987 in Umeå, Sweden, Meshuggah has been called "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands" by Rolling Stone and enjoys the respect and admiration of fans and musicians alike. It is impossible to talk about experimental or avant-garde metal without mentioning this truly groundbreaking band: MESHUGGAH mix ultra-complicated rhythmic patterns with massive riffs and aggressive growls, combining death metal, mathcore, thrash and progressive metal to create their unique style. The year 2023 now marks the 25th anniversary of one of the band's first milestones, "Chaosphere".

Originally released on November 9, 1998, Meshuggah's third studio album shows the band toning down some of the thrashier sounds of earlier releases in favor of the more technical, polyrhythmic and groove-oriented sound they would explore on subsequent albums.

The album includes the songs "New Millennium Cyanide Christ", "Corridor of Chameleons" and "Neurotica", among others, which are some of the band's most streamed tracks.

Mess Esque is an Australian duo who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, made up of Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Tren Brothers). The two enjoy moving at an unhurried pace, but what: here"s their third album in less than five years! "Jay Marie, Comfort Me" feels a hemisphere away from Mess Esque"s first efforts, and a whole new atmospheric level above. The duo began as a correspondence course in 2020, swapping tracks remotely between Melbourne and Brisbane to experiment with pairing Mick"s guitar, keys and loops with Helen"s ruminative vocals. Their third effort arrives after the two actualised into the same space - that is, touring and performing together! - but they"ve continued the absentee ballot as before, collaborating from some 800 miles apart to write another great album. One with an edge... rocking, we daresay! Along with Keeley Young and Kishore Ryan from the live band, the album features cellist Stephanie Arnold and a couple of Australia"s living legends of percussion: Bree van Reyk and Mick"s ol" Dirty Three partner-in-crime, Jim White.

Svart Records to release new album by rising stars of eclectic heavy rock, Messa on the 11th of March 2022. Messa’s rising trajectory hits the stratosphere on their immense new album “Close”. Soaring up out of the Italian Doom Rock underground in 2014, Messa have been rapidly garnering a frenzied throng of devotees, in thrall to their monumental and broad-ranging sound craft. Releasing two widely celebrated cult records, the latest of which “Feast For Water” in 2018 was a critical breakthrough success, with Rolling Stone calling the whole album “captivating, wringing maximum drama out of its savvy stylistic clash,” Messa have had everyone on tenterhooks, waiting for what was next. New album “Close” draws us further into Messa’s spellbinding textures and immersive dynamics. Described as “Stevie Nicks fronting Black Sabbath,” singer Sara’s colossal voice omnipotently carries the listener on an emotional rollercoaster ride where the sonic cauldron of Iommi guitars gives way to Arabian oudh and progressive solos in a masterful style-clash that well befits Messa’s incendiary reputation.

Svart Records to release new album by rising stars of eclectic heavy rock, Messa on the 11th of March 2022. Messa’s rising trajectory hits the stratosphere on their immense new album “Close”. Soaring up out of the Italian Doom Rock underground in 2014, Messa have been rapidly garnering a frenzied throng of devotees, in thrall to their monumental and broad-ranging sound craft. Releasing two widely celebrated cult records, the latest of which “Feast For Water” in 2018 was a critical breakthrough success, with Rolling Stone calling the whole album “captivating, wringing maximum drama out of its savvy stylistic clash,” Messa have had everyone on tenterhooks, waiting for what was next. New album “Close” draws us further into Messa’s spellbinding textures and immersive dynamics. Described as “Stevie Nicks fronting Black Sabbath,” singer Sara’s colossal voice omnipotently carries the listener on an emotional rollercoaster ride where the sonic cauldron of Iommi guitars gives way to Arabian oudh and progressive solos in a masterful style-clash that well befits Messa’s incendiary reputation.

The vinyl artwork for Metric’s new album, Formentera, includes a motto that sums up the past few years: This Is What Happened. It’s an understatement that manages to say everything. Even real places become imaginary when they are so far out of reach. Named for an idyllic island near Ibiza off the coast of Spain, Formentera is a place that, for Metric, only existed on a page in a “dream destinations” travel book that lay open on a desk in the new recording studio that guitarist Jimmy Shaw built in 2020, in a rural hamlet north of Toronto. This is the setting where the band’s eighth album took shape. Metric’s sound is both genre-defying and genre-defining. Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott Key started playing together in NYC in 2001. They are just getting started.

Formentera II ist die überraschende Fortsetzung der Geschichte, die die Band im letzten Jahr mit ihrem von der Kritik gefeierten Album begonnen haben.

Zwei Seiten der gleichen Medaille, sie leben in der gleichen Klangwelt - aber wenn Formentera die dunkle, insulare Besessenheit war, die aus der Abriegelung resultierte, ist Formentera II die helle Seite der Möglichkeit wieder erkunden zu können.

Metric’s relentless pursuit of timeless songwriting and fiercely independent ethos have cemented their place as one of the most essential and ahead-of-the-curve bands of the last two decades. The trailblazing Toronto outfit was founded by songwriting and production partners Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, along with bandmates Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott Key. Though both were also founding members of the influential and sprawling Canadian indie rock outfit Broken Social Scene, Metric was always the top priority, and shortly after they met and cemented their mission, they left Toronto for New York in search of like-minded artists. There, they found themselves at the center of the city’s burgeoning indie sleaze scene alongside bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol.

Their 10th studio album Romanticize The Dive harkens back to the free spirit of that era, kicking off with Haines nostalgically imploring the listener to “let me take you back, it was the start of something...” before pulling back the curtain on a band that has consistently stayed true to each other and their ethics for decades. In a tribute to lifelong friendship, the album also reunites the dream team behind their 2009 breakout album Fantasies at Electric Lady Studios in New York. All at once a heartfelt reflection on their history, a celebratory gift to those who have been along for the ride, and an outstretched hand to new fans, Romanticize The Dive is another testament to the band’s unwavering love for each other and their insatiable desire to push themselves as artists.

With time, we come to understand the way the joy of connection is mirrored by the void of loss, how the constancy of love is matched only by the impermanence of life, the simple idea that we could not create light if we did not risk the dark - we'd never need to. So it is with METZ, a band once known for blowing out eardrums with songs of joyous rage who have, over their past few records, begun exploring ways to turn abrasiveness into atmospherics, the evolution of their sound not only a reflection of the maturing of the band themselves but also of a changed world that demands nuance and compassion to comprehend and to survive. It was a journey already underway on 2020's Atlas Vending, but one that reaches new heights on Up On Gravity Hill, where the Canadian trio creates a kaleidoscopic sonic world as tender as it is dark, aided once again by engineer Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Lingua Ignota, Battles, The Body). Deep, detailed, and unyieldingly personal, it is not only METZ's most powerful record to date but also their most beautiful. Still three punks from Ontario at heart, guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, drummer Hayden Menzies, and bassist Chris Slorach waste no time as opener "No Reservation/Love Comes Crashing" sweeps in like a wave, sonically and thematically setting the scene for the record to come. A dynamic song about feeling suspended in stasis, layers of dissonance melt into a restlessly heady outro marked by escalating crescendos of shimmering noise that reach for the stars - and is that a violin quivering brightly beneath those elegant swells of guitar, those charging drum fills, those intricate bass lines? It is indeed, courtesy of composer Owen Pallett; his presence an immediate indicator that METZ are thinking more cinematically than ever before. The change is partially inspired by Edkins' work as a scorer for film and television and his pop-leaning solo project, Weird Nightmare, where, he says, he learned to write more intuitively, letting his emotions lead the way. But make no mistake: Up On Gravity Hill is a total band effort, the work of three musicians who have been playing together for over a decade, with all the trust that entails. For those who believe in the power of the rock band to exemplify the highest resonance of human connection, there is much on Up On Gravity Hill to lift the spirit, a puzzle worth repeated listening to unlock or just to get lost in again and again. Rather than the music being flattened into a single plane, the band explores "the space above the cymbals," resulting in some of the most spacious, sympathetic, and accessible songs - could we call them pop? - of their career. If this seems contradictory, well, METZ has always been something of a contradiction. "We've never been heavy enough for metal or hardcore purists, but we're way too heavy for indie rock. We just don't have a lane - and that's okay. We exist outside the lines of delineation. I think this record is even more like that," says Edkins.

In the spring of 2011, MGMT was approached by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York to create a wholly unique live music experience in conjunction with the Maurizio Cattelan retrospective All, which opened that autumn. The group performed the original music at the Nov. 10, 2011 private opening, and again the following night for the public debut. Titled 11- 11-11 in honor of that date, the music will finally be released on all streaming platforms on 11- 11-22, the 11th anniversary of the hour-long, one-off concerts.

Mica Levi is a musician and composer living in
South East London who uses programming
software, written notation and improvisation to
produce music. They are currently a member of
the groups CURL, Good Sad Happy Bad and
Tirzah and have composed scores for a number of
films including Under The Skin, Jackie, Monos,
Zola and Mangrove (part of the Small Axe series).
‘Blue Alibi’ is the second album Mica has released
under their own name. Vinyl edition released
concurrently alongside first album ‘Ruff Dog’.
‘Blue Alibi’ is available on black vinyl in uncoated
printed inner sleeve in printed reverse board 3mm
spine outer sleeve, with retail sticker and digital
download card.
‘Ruff Dog’ is the first album Mica has released
under their own name. Vinyl edition released
concurrently alongside second album ‘Blue Alibi’.
‘Ruff Dog’ is available on black vinyl in white paper
inner bag in printed reverse board 3mm spine
outer sleeve, with retail sticker and digital
download card

London based Multi National noiseniks ‘Michael’ return with their second album ‘Nite Salad’, released on Crackedankles Records on October 18th.Nite Salad, the second offering...One studio fire, several collapsed spinal discs, two swapped out axemen and a couple o’ kids, all dragged through a taste-battering pandemic. A seriously good bedrock recipe primed for the unwanted A-road that is Nite Salad, Michael’s second full lengther. Another helping of thuggy dirt, funky hurt, baggy spunk and general malaise confronting the state of shitlife in the 2020s.Look elsewhere for optimism but sneak onto the good ship Mike for a destinationless, ill-prepared voyage into the deep,dark ocean of H E A V Y F U T U R E S.

Das mit Spannung erwartete Soloprojekt von Michael Clifford von 5 Seconds Of Summer ist da - inklusive der Hitsingle "Cool" und Kollaborationen mit Waterparks, DJ/Produzent Porter Robinson (Virtual Self) und Indie-Hyperpopper Ryan Hall! Der Gitarrist und Sänger der rekordverdächtigen australischen Alternative Rock-Band 5 Seconds Of Summer Michael Clifford ist bereit sich mit seinem monumentalen Solo-Debütalbum "Sidequest" zu präsentieren. Die vielfältigen persönlichen und menschlichen Verbindungen sind das Thema - für seine treuen Fans und alle weiteren, die ihn bislang noch nicht wahrgenommen haben. Michael liefert auf "Sidequest" die beste Gesangsleistung seiner Karriere ab. "Nach 12 Jahren 5SOS haben die Leute meine Stimme immer noch nicht richtig gehört", sagt er. Jetzt kann er endlich alles rauslassen. "Sidequest" entzieht sich jeder Kategorisierung - von den verspielten Pop-Punk- und Alternative-Sounds seiner Jugend zu zukunftsweisenden, schwungvollen Synthies, flirrenden elektronischen Rhythmen und asymmetrischen Arrangements. Hier gibt es keine eindeutigen Bezugspunkte, keine einfallslosen Nostalgiespiele. Michael hat einen ganz eigenen Sound kreiert, bei dem sich das Durcharbeiten von Selbstzweifeln wie Euphorie anfühlt und seelentragende Offenbarungen über Powerchords offenbart werden, die den Hörer dazu verleiten, tiefer einzutauchen. Michaels Band 5 Seconds of Summer lernte sich 2011 in der Highschool kennen, startete einen YouTube-Kanal und wurde von Rolling Stone mit fünf von der Kritik gefeierten Studioalben, darunter ihr jüngstes, von Michael selbst produziertes Album "5SOS5", schnell zum "größten neuen Rock-Act der Welt" gekürt. Bis heute sind 5SOS die einzige australische Band in der Geschichte, deren erste drei Studioalben in voller Länge auf Platz 1 der Billboard 200 eingestiegen sind. Außerdem haben sie über 18 Millionen Alben verkauft plus 6 Millionen Konzerttickets. Als CD & transparente Vinyl LP

For nearly two decades, four-time GRAMMY® Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, producer, arranger, and songwriter Michael League has been an innovative force in modern music, whose grass-roots approach to the industry has made an imprint across multiple continents and genres. Known best as the leader of the instrumental ensemble Snarky Puppy, League has performed thousands of shows, released dozens of studio and live albums, and garnered accolades from the New York Times, Downbeat, Jazz Times, and Rolling Stone, among many others. The busy artist is also a founding member of the GRAMMY®-nominated supergroup Bokanté and oversees GroundUP Music—a fiercely independent label which he established in 2012. As a versatile producer and songwriter, League has collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists, including David Crosby, Esperanza Spaulding, Kirk Franklin, Joe Walsh, Daedelus, and Terence Blanchard. Throughout his many ventures, however, League has always felt most comfortable within a collaborative setting, whether he’s bringing musicians together from across the globe, planning the latest edition of the GroundUP Music Festival, or writing one-on-one with a partner. While the notion of a solo record first took shape in 2015, League’s demanding schedule always prevented him from pursuing it in earnest. And then, in March 2020, the world went into lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With tours canceled, studios shuttered, and projects on hold indefinitely, League finally had the time to make this record—titled So Many Me. Yet, lyrically and musically, his first solo album was a very different project—and process—than what he had initially envisioned five years earlier.

Michael Nau's solo career began with songs crafted and composed in private moments, later to be shared with musical compatriots and reimagined with auxiliary input on records like Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread, Mowing, The Load EP, and Some Twist. These early drafts were stashed away in the vault as Nau strode forward, but after a taxing spring of touring in support of his latest album Less Ready to Go, and recording and self-releasing the stripped-down informal release So On So On, Nau found himself hunkering down at home and rediscovering old gems in his archives. The search yielded a new digital collection of Nau's initial forays into solo work, bundled together as Demo Versions, 2014 to 2017. In their initial incarnations, these songs were less about the end result and more about the discovery. "They're the seed," Nau says of the material. "These recordings are essentially the writing of the songs_ written and recorded at the same time. There's something exciting about them for that reason. It feels magical any time the start of a song arrives, let alone gets `finished.'" These early drafts don't just serve to shed light on the creative process or expose the malleability of Nau's songwriting approach; they often frame the material in an entirely new context. Demo Versions' opening track "The Glass" is a bare-bones affair of acoustic guitar, bass, and vocals_a breezy Sunday morning song that sounds markedly different than the layered lounge-rock approach that later appeared on Mowing. "Light That Ever," with its wall-of-sound production, serves as a climax to Some Twist, but in its infant stage on this collection, it's a beautiful, intimate folk song. Ultimately, all ten songs off Demo Versions, 2014 to 2017 reveal a new side to these fan favorites, with Nau's lush arrangements and unorthodox accompaniments largely absent, and the simple beauty and grace at the heart of the material at front and center.

Michael Schulte beherrscht das filigrane Spiel aus leisen Tönen und großen Gesten, aus Kraft und Zerbrechlichkeit, aus poppiger Eingängigkeit und rockiger Energie. Ein sofort unter die Haut gehender Hit-Mix, mit dem er sich den Status als einer der beliebtesten Sänger und Musiker der Republik erarbeitet hat.

Im Spätsommer erscheint nun das lang ersehnte Michael Schulte Album „Remember Me“, welches insgesamt 14 Songs umfasst. Neben der gleichnamigen neuen Single „Remember Me“ befinden sich darauf auch die Radiohits wie die berührende Midtempo-Ballade „Stay“ oder der positive Uptempo- Song „Here Goes Nothing“. Obendrein darf die dancige Kollaboration „Bye Bye Bye“ mit You Not Us darauf natürlich
nicht fehlen.

Das neue Album „Remember Me“ von Michael Schulte erscheint am 29.09. als limitierte Box, limitierte Color-Vinyl, und als CD.

Dawson’s latest offering, The Tinnitus Chorus, is an album of wide-eyed collaborations. He is joined by an inspired cast of revered friends and kindred strangers including Suso Saiz, M. Sage (Fuubutsushi), Eli Winter, K. Freund, (Trouble Books / Lemon Quartet), Dasom Baek, Lina Langendorf (Langendorf United), Vumbi Dekula, Jairus Sharif, Yutaka Hirasaka, and his bandmates in Peace Flag Ensemble. The collection is bookended by two pieces with Michael Grigoni. From birdsong and decaying tape to Western sprawl, each of Dawson’s previous solo records have moved in a singular direction but here he approaches things through a kaleidoscopic lens. While his weathered ambient sketches serve as a through line, they are woven with all manner of instrumentation from clarinet and modular synth to steel guitars and flugelhorn. Improvised Congolese guitar nuzzles next to American experimental folk. Handmade electronics give way to spiritual sax. M. Sage contributes something referred to as a “mystic music box”. The result is a strange and beautiful journey that feels lost between genres and yet wholly unified. Dawson reflects on the genesis of album with a smirk and a shrug. He has been marred by ear troubles in recent years and had been struggling to complete an album of solo material. The clicks, ringing tones, and hiss in his ears had been drowning out the ringing tones, clicks, and hiss in his studio. When he reached out to We Are Busy Bodies to provide an update on the record he was met with an unsuspecting proposal that perhaps he shift focus to an album of collaborations. The truth is he had been ruminating on the idea for years and the nudge from WABB proved to be the motivation he needed to shelve his insecurities and invite artists he admires to join him for The Tinnitus Chorus.

Kitsune No Yomeiri, which translates to the fox’s wedding, is an endearing expression used to describe sunshowers. Dawson returned home from a recent tour of Japan with a collection of field recordings documenting the spring rain he encountered throughout his travels. These curious sounds, stretching from peaceful shrines to clattering city streets, underpin the material.

Dawson also credits the wonderful folks he met on that tour with profoundly shaping the direction of the album. After each show he found himself immersed in inspiring conversations about the guitar. Through navigating the language barrier, he discovered he was communicating with an immense sincerity that he would ordinarily avoid at all costs. “I’ve always just made records at home in a vortex, but this time it felt like those conversations were there with me in the studio.”

Musically the album has a slight western slant. It’s not country, but it does see Dawson lean softly into his prairie past. Constellations of stray notes and rusted tones form nostalgic melodies, like chance encounters between old friends. Dawson allows phrases and gestures to repeat across the record, resulting in a collection that’s more akin to turning the pages of a novel than a series of vignettes vying for attention.

But, in the summer of 2024, a personal tragedy changed everything. Michael and Lou lost their six-year-old granddaughter, Bebe, in the Southport attacks in July that year, and, as much as they tried to carry on and make a My Darling Clementine album, with the weight of so much sadness and grief bearing down on them, it just didn't feel the right thing to do. The tragic events of summer 2024 not only changed the music they were making and the songs they were writing, it also altered their outlook on life. Recognising that everyone's grief is individual even that of a husband and wife Michael and Lou needed to channel their suffering via their own individual creativity and in their own way, rather than in collaboration, so they worked on two solo albums. Michael's "Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore" is the first of the two to be released.

An album the defies genre, it is simply his instinctive musical reaction to the events of summer 2024. Michael writes "To be honest, it was impossible to write about anything else. It overwhelmed everything. I hope I am now creatively exhausted on the subject, but I think it will affect my writing forever, just as indeed, the loss of Bebe will". It features eleven brand new MWK songs Partly recorded in rural Wales and partly in not so rural Sheffield, "Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore"was produced by Michael, along with wunderkind Clovis Phillips, and the brilliant Colin Elliot, who also mixed the album.

2026 LP Pressung auf weißem Vinyl. Ursprünglich 1968 aufgenommen und für eine Veröffentlichung bei Sire Records vorgesehen, blieb Microminiature Love von Michael Yonkers, der Ikone des Outsider-Folk und Psych-Rock, unveröffentlicht, bis es 2002 von De Stijl Records wiederentdeckt und als limitierte, ausschließlich auf Vinyl erhältliche Auflage herausgebracht wurde. Damals hat die San-Francisco-Institution Aquarius Records es besser beschrieben, als wir es je könnten: ,Ein obskurer Visionär der späten Sechziger, der seiner Zeit weit voraus war, bekommt mit dieser LP-Neuauflage endlich die Anerkennung, die er verdient. Yonkers' Sachen waren anders als alles, was man damals (oder eigentlich auch heute noch) gehört hatte: abgedrehter Garage-Psych mit wahnsinnig genialen Texten und verrückter, von Acid durchdrungener Gitarre. Yonkers, eine legendäre Figur aus der Gegend um Minneapolis, baute seine eigenen Effektpedale, sägte seine Fender Telecaster auf die Breite eines Bretts herunter und spielte wie niemand sonst je zuvor. Mir fehlen die Worte, um das zu beschreiben. Es ist irgendwie eine Mischung aus reduzierten Black Sabbath, The Troggs, Pere Ubu und The Cramps??" Sub Pop veröffentlichte das Album anschließend auf CD und brachte 2011 eine limitierte Vinyl-Auflage heraus, die seit vielen Jahren vergriffen ist. Leider verstarb Michael Yonkers 2026 während der Planung dieser Neuauflage. Er war ein unglaublicher, wahrhaft einzigartiger Künstler und einer der liebenswertesten Menschen.

NYC-based collective MICHELLE release their debut album,
‘AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS’, via Transgressive
Records.
 MICHELLE recently announced new 2022 US tour dates with
Mitski. The band also toured with Arlo Parks and followed with a
string of dates with Gus Dapperton in November and a UK and
European headline tour in February.
 Born-and-bred New Yorkers, MICHELLE formed in 2018 and
are comprised of Sofia D’Angelo, Julian Kaufman, Charlie
Kilgore, Layla Ku, Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard. The
predominantly POC and queer collective mix and match the
writing and production groups amongst the six of them.
 The hallmarks of MICHELLE’s music - layered vocal harmonies,
analogue synthesizers, vibrant percussion, smouldering hooks -
dominate the sonic landscape of their upcoming album, with the
four female vocalists pushing the boundaries of their
considerable singing talents while Charlie and Julian fine tune
the production. Despite all the tinkering elsewhere, it is
important to note that the vocals remain largely untouched and
appear in their organic state.
 Songs hop across genres, from funky R&B to bedroom slow
jams to amped-upbeat-heavy anthems and more. The
songwriting on ‘AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS’ has been
elevated, as there is a depth and prowess at work that makes
good on the promise of the band’s early songs, something they
admit was learned by reflecting and allowing room for artistic
growth.
 “crisp R&B with a bright indie flourish… musical serotonin you’ll
want to bathe in for hours” - NME
 “A formidable new collective with a genre-bending approach to
songwriting” - The Line of Best Fit
 “like an aural hit of Vitamin D” - DIY
 “we can’t get enough” - Gay Times
 LP pressed on Ocean Blue vinyl.

Die ersten beiden Solo-Alben von Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) zusammen in einer limtierter Auflage als Doppel-LP auf farbigem Vinyl.

Mick Harveys 'Delirium Tremens', der dritte Teil seines Serge-Gainsbourg-Übersetzungsprojekts, erscheint in limitierter Auflage auf transparent-gelbem Vinyl.

Ursprünglich am 24. Juni 2016 veröffentlicht, war Delirium Tremens Mick Harveys Wiederaufnahme des Projekts, in dem er Serge Gainsbourgs ins Englische übersetzte. Sowohl Teil 1 (Intoxicated Man) als auch Teil 2 (Pink Elephants) sind geschätzte Klassiker und machten englischsprachige Hörer mit einem der legendärsten Songwriter des 20. Jahrhunderts bekannt. Das Album deckt einen breiten Querschnitt des Gainsbourg-Materials ab, von 'The Man With The Cabbage Head' (L'homme à Tête De Chou) von 1976 bis zu 'Deadly Tedium' (Ce Mortel Ennui) und 'Coffee Colour' (Couleur Cafe) aus den späten 50er und frühen 60er Jahren.

Mick Harveys 'Intoxicated Women', der vierte Teil seines Serge-Gainsbourg-Übersetzungsprojekts, gepresst auf transparentem roten Vinyl in limitierter Auflage. Sie wird zusammen mit der Neuauflage von 'Delirium Tremens' veröffentlicht.

'Intoxicated Women' aus dem Jahr 2017 ist der letzte Teil von Mick Harveys Reihe, die Serge Gainsbourgs Lieder ins Englische übersetzt, die 1995 mit 'Intoxicated Man' begann. 'Intoxicated Women' enthält viele Duette und Lieder, die Gainsbourg vor allem in den 60er Jahren schrieb, in einer Zeit, in der er sich als Songwriter auf Sängerinnen wie France Galle, Juliette Greco und vor allem Brigitte Bardot konzentrierte. Für dieses Album hat Harvey die Gastsängerin Channthy Kak (Cambodian Space Project), die australischen Sängerinnen Xanthe Waite (Terry, Primo!), Sophia Brous, Lyndelle-Jayne Spruyt und Jess Ribeiro sowie die deutsche Chanteuse Andrea Schröder eingeladen, und auch Harveys Sohn Solomon ist zu hören.

A special limited edition pressing on 180g splatter vinyl. Micky Dolenz travelled to Japan in early 1982 to give his first ever tour as a solo performer, towards the end of a massive Monkees resurgence that had sparked there in the fall of 1980. Dolenz’s Japanese concerts marked the closest thing he had ever done (up to that point) to a solo concert tour. While he had toured extensively in 1975 and 1976 with Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, he had seldom set foot on the concert stage post-Monkees ‘on his own’. Dolenz employed a Japanese group of musicians for his backup band, hiring an outfit called Marlboro. The tour provides a revealing look into what he himself, only fifteen years removed from the original Monkees phenomenon, may have considered the crème-de-la-crème of their catalogue. While the practice of playing deep cuts for diehard fans has become more common in recent years, at this early juncture Dolenz makes some captivating choices, including: 1969’s “Pillow Time”, written by his mother Janelle Scott and two killer Nesmith compositions from Headquarters, “Sunny Girlfriend” and “You Just May Be The One”. Also included are the Davy Jones staple “I Wanna Be Free”, “Shades Of Gray” and what might be the first ever concert performance of “Zor And Zam”.

Microwave is celebrating 10 years of their beloved debut album Stovall, released August 2014, with this special
anniversary vinyl. Atlanta-based Microwave are strongholds in the emo/post-hardcore scene, releasing four full-length albums over the last 10 years including 2024's Let's Start Degeneracy.

Scottish alt/post/progressive-rock outfit Midas Fall release their Fifth studio album, ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ on March 8th, 2024 worldwide on Monotreme Records. Michael Hamilton joins founding members Elizabeth Heaton and Rowan Burn for the follow-up to their 2018 Prog Magazine Awards ‘Limelight Award’ winning album, ‘Evaporate’. ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ sees Midas Fall at their most confidently visceral, each song moving beautifully between quiet and loud, gentle and crushing. “This album is a heavier and bigger experience than the last album”, says Heaton. “We kept the atmospheric strings and 80s synths of Evaporate but wanted to add heavier layered elements, to represent more what we sound like live.” Opener ‘In the Morning We’ll Be Someone Else’ starts quietly with serene piano and vocals, ominously ratcheting up the tension to walls of crashing guitars and Heaton’s soaring vocals. ‘I Am Wrong’ thunders along on pounding rhythmic drums swirling around heavy swathes of low and delicate melodic highs. On ‘Monsters’, the band are more contemplative, with an ethereal beginning making way for gorgeously syncopated guitar and drums, whilst ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ builds slower, allowing Heaton’s voice to gracefully float over the growing force beneath it. ‘Avalanche’ is a bittersweet lullaby showcasing Heaton’s heart-rending vocals in one of the quieter moments on the album. ‘Point of Diminishing Return’ sees a more electronic influence, with glittering shimmered synths taking the space where guitar melodies were, but with all of the Post Rock beauty that the duo are known for, something ‘Little Wooden Boxes’ showcases perfectly, expertly hovering between gentle clean guitar and piano, and exhilarating, uplifting full-band, full-bore epic. Credits: Elizabeth Heaton - vocals, guitars, strings, synths, piano, drums // Rowan Burn - guitars, synths, piano, drums // Michael Hamilton - bass, synths, drums // Music by Elizabeth Heaton and Rowan Burn/Lyrics by Elizabeth Heaton

. The idea for the band was originally conceived by singer-guitarist Joe Woodward whilst writing and recording songs in his kitchen on a 4-track recorder, and over time eventually found help from like-minded friends, Elliot Roberts and Cam Wheeler. The three of them would spend their nights experimenting with cassette recording with the admirable if not challenging aim to recreate the symphonic sounds of Phil Spector on a DIY budget. With growing confidence and having amassed a small catalogue of songs, a few aborted attempts were made to get a live band together before they found help from a second guitarist, Eli Allison, who had recently relocated from Cornwall. As necessity would dictate, the first shows as a quartet made use of a drum machine, but the ideal formation for the band wasn’t truly complete until meeting Nia Abraham, whose live drumming would add a more physical quality to the band’s sound. At the beginning of 2024, they began working more purposefully towards an end goal with the writing and recording of the five-song Nowhere Near Today EP. Though retaining some of their home recording practices, they also made use of a studio facility based in a disused shopping centre basement that was made available through SHIFT, a local artist collective connected to the band. The acquisition of an 8-track Tascam 488MKII, along with the natural reverb of SHIFT’s empty concrete space allowed for further opportunity to experiment with both cassette recording techniques and their still developing live sound, the two environments permitting an all-too-rare creative freedom. The process was transformative for the group, their Spector-inspired ambitions now taking on a more defined shape that skirted around the edges of psych, noise-rock and industrial-pop in a way that increasingly became their own. For a debut EP, the results are impressively realised, a confluence of expansive tremolo guitars, a deliberately primordial rhythm section and a contrasting vulnerable vocal performance that’s both melodic and bracing. It’s a record born both of private experimentation and public performance, who they are on stage and what they express on record informing the other but still distinctly each their own thing, shifting then dovetailing like the waves of feedback that wash through Nowhere Near Today. Still a young band, it’s tomorrow they feel a lot closer to.

Australian trio Middle Kids (Hannah Joy, Harry Day and Tim Fitz) announce that they will release a six-track mini-album entitled New Songs For Old Problems on May 24th, 2019, through Lucky Number. To celebrate the announcement, the band have shared a new single and video Real Thing. A soaring anthemic track, “Real Thing” ruminates on our “lifelong quest for meaning”, says Hannah. “It’s the quiet, persistent voice in the stillness that constantly checks to see if you truly think you’ve found the thing you’re looking for.” Watch the Marie Pangaud directed clip now.

The mini-album, recorded at the band’s own studio in Sydney and produced by Tim Fitz, follows hot on the heels of what was a massive 2018 for Middle Kids and the May release of their critically acclaimed debut album Lost Friends. The band toured the world, including UK and European dates with Bloc Party and a sold out show at London’s Village Underground, as well as performing on several US TV shows including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Back home in Australia they were nominated for an ARIA, Australia's highest musical honor and earlier this year triple j gave them the prestigious Album of the Year award saying "Lost Friends possesses a chemistry that can't be faked. Tim Fitz and Harry Day bring a wealth of energy and inventive production but it's Hannah Joy's vocals that are the heart and soul of their music. Her shiver-inducing voice ranges from beautifully controlled to heedlessly raw as she renders the drama, confusion, and honesty in Middle Kids' lyrics."

In June the band will return to play their largest UK headline show to-date at London’s Heaven. Further, the band will also open for Local Natives throughout the US and have a sold-out Australian headline tour. All dates listed below.

“It’s hard to find your way, following the ghost,” sings Noah Alves on the title track from Middleman’s debut album, as the band explores ideas of how being chained to the past can hinder your forward momentum into the future. This creates a thrilling duality to the debut LP from the London DIY four-piece made up of Alves, Harper Maury, Rory White and Ted Foster. They are all young, in their early-to-mid-twenties, and very much focused in the now, harnessing an energy, urgency and rawness that feels fresh, alive and viscerally present. However, it’s also clear there’s a deep love of music that was made before they were born: the taut, wiry assault of Mission of Burma; the raspy yet melodic charge of The Replacements; the pioneering punk of Wipers, fleshed out via the more restrained and tender moments of Big Star or Neil Young. The result is a beautiful dichotomy of a record that both pays tribute to a rich musical lineage that the band are a part of, while also resisting the urge to get sucked into a dead end of nostalgia, mythology and recycling past glories.