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Swallow this: Part 4 of the Running Back various artists series here and as always, there is no long reading needed: 5 tracks by 5 different producers with different backgrounds and experiences. All somehow fit together and paint a bigger picture between remodeled deep house techniques and floor mechanics.
Yungruzt feat Eluize opens the dance with the emo-house poem Starlight. The young man managed to deliver a transcendental masterpiece that is best used for coming up - or down, if you will. A Human Connection is being made next by Baldo. Imagined and made for high times, the Barcelona mainstay applies a tried and tested formula isn’t failing here either: 303 morse codes, break beats and an on going automated voice message do the trick. The man like 9th House goes back to the deep with the yearning and beautifully composed piece Ara, while Tiger & Woods co-author Delphi trades the boogie and disco tropes for heartfelt piano house. Last but not least, new talent Signal Mute pushes it over the finishing line with another tearjerker. Shared joy is double joy!

There are records with empathy, records which are your friends and then there's the others... There might be little difference between them, a certain "je ne sais quoi", an "almost nothing but still something" which makes the difference between almost pointless and vital records. Despite, or rather thanks to his cynical despair, Matt Elliott's music never holds up a moralizing mirror to us - on the contrary, it creates a compassionate dialogue with listeners like the rhythm of two steps that synchronize to become as one. In 2016, Matt Elliot brought out his seventh solo album The Calm Before whose obscure title is neither exactly threatening nor comforting... the calm before what? Before the storm for sure but maybe also before the great record, the immediate classic we felt might be coming for a long time in the dual discography of the Bristol-born artist working under his own name and his electronic alias Third Eye Foundation. The elegant details and perspectives of Little Lost Soul (2000) already hinted at the upcoming masterpiece from the English singer-songwriter. The Mess We Made (2003) was Matt Elliott's first solo album and portrayed a universe in a kind of flight towards Balkan horizons made up of visceral despair. With the Songs trilogy, he put aside the electronic side of his work to continue working with a minimalist, stark and lucid style of writing. The Broken Man (2012) was full of tears and long laments sometimes carried by Katia Labèque's piano on a record which painted new shades of grey. On this record Matt began working with the producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist David Chalmin (La Terre Invisible) who has kept on collaborating with the Bristol-born singer since then. Their partnership continued on Only Myocardial Infection Can Break Your Heart (2013) and The Calm Before (2016). Stéphane Grégoire is the head of the Ici D'Ailleurs label which has accompanied Matt Elliott since 2005 and perhaps he describes this album the best: "This new record by Matt is without a doubt his best album to date, a record that takes him into another dimension where he fully asserts himself as a songwriter and singer of the calibre of artists like Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen or Johnny Cash." Matt Elliott's other records all seemed like empathic links between each other. Farewell To All We Know is an instant classic based on the sensitive piano and superb arrangements of David Chalmin, the sensitive cello of Gaspar Claus, the subtle bass of Jeff Hallam (who has also played with Dominique A and John Parish). There is a clear form of alchemy in all of this and still we find Matt Elliott's usual atmospheres and scenery, the same Eastern European folk music, long songs that take time to settle over time. Everything is the same but also is transfigured. By making his music stark and purifying and redefining the subject matter, Matt Elliott's work became so much more delicate. However this work is never frail nor really turned in on himself and thus becomes like a vital tune that vibrates and unfolds. The opening song Farewell To All We Know seems torn between the fear of what tomorrow may bring, inevitability and hope for the future in a permanent and progressive dramatic tension expressed by his Spanish guitar, the impressionist style piano and Matt's voice teetering on the edge of whispers. A funereal tribute to endless twilights and the dawns we all dream of seeing. There are touches of Leonard Cohen from Songs from a Room or Thanks For The Dance in The Day After That with Gaspar Claus's counterpoint cello. There is no spirit of resignation in Matt Elliott's work - life's path has to be followed against all odds. We have to follow the river's flow to reach the immense ocean and its infinite freedom. The haunted instrumental Guidance Is Internal harks back to the atmospheres of Howling Songs (2008) with its guitar parts full of scansions and muted threats. The music is transcendental but never seems afraid of the risk of falling. This is also what Bye Now tells us with its quasi-obsolete simplicity and sunburst melancholy reminiscent of the work of Luiz Bonfá, Bill Evans on Peace Piece or laidback crooners of the 50s. In Farewell To All We Know, Matt Elliott incessantly alternates between the dual desires to face up to the world or to protect himself from it. Hating The Player, Hating The Game is a lucid statement about the dullness of our daily lives sometimes, our right to get out of the game and no longer want to be part of it. Matt Elliott is tender but spares no one, particularly himself. Aboulia speaks of the tiredness of living and of looming death while Crisis Apparition says that there is always a time for reconstruction after chaos. This is like initially wearying wandering in the ruins of Aleppo with the slow dilution of the melody into a hallucinated drone. However the smell of great fires always fades and the earth always regenerates. Matt Elliott seems to suggest that the survival instinct is stronger than any cold winds could ever be. Matt Elliott never sings of certainties and prefers possibilities. Possibly the worst is over? Maybe... Maybe the storm has passed and devastated everything, now we just have to rebuild and live again. Farewell To All We Know shows us the distance that still needs to be walked and he walks next to you - right next to you, he is the friend who doesn't spare you the truth like all true friends really do.

The Cool Feedback Quartet’s music is quite similar to a philharmonic orchestra manipulating new material:
feedback, or in other words, the unexpected beauty of sound when it is let loose. Becoming its master so as to make the
best use of it, like a new instrument, the guitar pick up plays again on request. Harmonizing sounds like a string section
gone wild would, like light piercing through ether, tearing up the background and taking us for good to unknown territory.
The bandleader, Grégoire Garrigues, who first got the idea of the concept and got the ball to roll, is a well-known and
respected French guitarist.

absent origin’ reassembles and reimagines recordings and musical
scores composed by Mira Calix, globally, over the past decade. It’s a
collage album about edges and borders, cutting and tearing, and
composing new combinations that point to an audio visual manifesto for the 21st Century.

“Like Duchamp, I had started out wanting to make an album, or box, of approximately all the things I produced. In the end, I realised - as much as a collage is the coupling of two or more realities, it also offers the means to examine the materials and culture of an era, questioning and expanding its borders.” - Mira Calix

Every song on the album was created by applying a different collage
process relating to a different visual artist, spanning the history of collage to contemporaries of the practice. The sonic materials are subjected to a myriad of processes; layered, synthesised, constructed and assembled into electronic melodies, textures and complex, frisky dance rhythms that are constantly shifting in surprising ways. absent origin employs collage to make sense of the current moment of displaced voices, disjunction and political unrest.

Calix’s recording sessions from all over the world are the many
fragments we hear across the album; from India to Tasmania, Jordan to Belgium, China to Uganda, her former home of South Africa, to her
current home in Britain. Slicing into these are further recordings of
vocalists, percussionists, choirs, orchestras, quartets and soloists, never appearing in the form in which they were originally intended. The record is a polyphony of predominantly diverse female voices held together by pulsating baselines, haunting electronic sounds and orchestrated melodies and with them, we travel.

The album fizzes with a political energy and the interconnectedness of
everything. At this moment in time, there is an impossibility of separating one thing from another; the effect is strange and not exactly reassuring.

Collage suggests infinite possibilities and each track here is a singularly unique compositional combine, a dizzying hall of mirrors with its own unlikely harmony, its own distinctive rhythm. On ‘absent origin’, collage becomes the tool to make sense of a present that is often anything but.

2LP in printed inner sleeves with 5mm spine outer, printed insert and
digital download code.

When you’re trying to make it through tough times, you need a little light to find your way. That light blazes brightly on the alchemical second album from Penelope Isles, an album forged amid emotional upheaval and band changes. Setting the uncertainties of twentysomething life to alt-rock and psychedelic songs brimming with life, colour and feeling, ‘Which Way to Happy’ emerges as a luminous victory for Jack and Lily Wolter, the siblings whose bond holds the
band tight at its core.

 Produced by Jack and mixed by US alt-rock legend Dave Fridmann, the result is an intoxicating leap forward for the Brighton-based band, following the calling-card DIY smarts of their 2019 debut, ‘Until the Tide Creeps In’. Sometimes it swoons, sometimes it soars. Sometimes it says it’s OK to not be OK. And sometimes it says it’s OK to look for the way to happy, too. Pitched between fertile coastal metaphors and winged melodies, intimate confessionals and expansive cosmic pop, deep sorrows and serene soul-pop pick-you-ups, it transforms ‘difficult second album’ clichés into a thing of glorious contrasts: a second-album surge of up-close, heartfelt intimacies and expansive, experimental vision.

 Field recordings were made during a stay at a small cottage in Cornwall, where Penelope Isles began work on the album. With romantic heartache already in the air, things swiftly got worse:
lockdown began, claustrophobia kicked in and emotions ran high. As Jack puts it, “We were there for about two or three months. It was a tiny cottage with four of us in and we all went a bit bonkers, and we drank far too much, and it spiralled a bit out of control. There were a lot of emotional evenings and realisations, which I think reflects in the songs.”

 At different points along the way, Jack Sowton and Becky Redford left the Isles. An old friend, multi-instrumentalist Henry Nicholson, stepped in swiftly - “A godsend after a low time,” says Lily. Another friend, Hannah Feenstra, contributed drum parts; now, Joe Taylor is the band’s drummer. After Cornwall, the band redid many of the rhythm tracks, recorded a little in Brighton, then recorded more in Cornwall at their parents’ house. “It was,” says Jack, “a proper
rollercoaster ride.”

 The ride continued with Fridmann, whose recent credits include Isles’ favourites Mogwai’s No 1 album, ‘As the Love Continues’. As Lily puts it, the process of sending Fridmann a mix, receiving it back in the morning and then having five hours to make decisions on it resulted first in stress, then in something sublime. “I love everything he’s touched - MGMT, Mogwai, Mercury Rev. He would turn our mix into this electric, fiery thing. There were some moments that were
initially hard, like on ‘Miss Moon’, where he took out the bass when it gets to the chorus. But now it’s my favourite bit on the record. He made everything so colourful. It’s an intensesounding record - a hot record. It was so refreshing to have that blast of energy from Dave - it’s like he framed our pictures.”

 Away from the confines of the cottage, the Wolters also opened the door to a collaboration with storied composer Fiona Brice, whose credits include John Grant, Lost Horizons and Placebo. A
“big bucket-list tick” for Jack and Lily, the team-up results in glorious arrangements across the album: for Lily, ‘11 11’ stood out. “I was in absolute tears when she sent back the strings for ‘11 11’. It was like, oh my goodness, she’s nailed it.”

 On its release, ‘Until the Tide Creeps In’ received rave reviews from Q, DIY, The Line of Best Fit and many others, while finding champions in Steve Lamacq and Shaun Keaveny. It also become part of a lifeline for music fans during the 2020 lockdown when the band participated in Tim Burgess’s Twitter Listening Party. Meanwhile, extensive touring saw the Isles develop into a formidable live force, with ‘Gnarbone’ emerging as a sure-fire showstopper.

 Now, the Isles have 11 more showstoppers to add to the mix. At the album’s heart, the band’s core traits have never been stronger: the bond between the Wolters, a sensitivity towards complex feelings, a desire to celebrate life in all its facets and an ambitious reach combine to create an album that feels utterly, emphatically present on every front, rich in depth and uplift.

 LP pressed on 180g clear vinyl with A4 print.

Restless Heart will be available as a double-LP Deluxe Edition pressed on 180-gram silver vinyl which features the newly remixed album that’s closer to the sound Coverdale initially intended for his new solo release and features and features the singles “Too Many Tears” and “Don’t Fade Away.”

Mad Not Mad is the sixth studio album by Madness. Originally released in September 1985, it marked a departure from the band’s original line-up, with keyboard player Mike Barson taking a break from the group after an astonishingly successful run of five hit albums in as many years.

Style-wise Mad Not Mad presented a more polished side of Madness and contains some of their most sophisticated and political song-writing. The first single, ‘Yesterday’s Men’ finds the band in a smooth, reflective mood, dealing with the dispossessed characters in and around Camden Town, and ’Sweetest Girl’ is a cover of the iconic Scritti Politti track, while ‘Uncle Sam’ is a classic Madness romp relayed through the narrative of a soldier’s experiences during World War II.

Within a few weeks of its initial release, NME listed ‘Mad Not Mad’ at number 55 on their list of the “100 Best Albums Of All Time” and it remains in its 2015 list of the “50 Best Albums Released in 1985”.

This LP reissue is pressed on 180g black vinyl and features brand new liner notes by Chrissy Boy, Chas Smash, Woody and Lee Thompson.

The beast is back in black! And it‘s ready to crush the known boundaries of melodic metal!

Beast In Black, the international battalion of ground-breaking melodic metallers, is ready to blow your mind with their third album ominously titled ‘Dark Connection‘.
If you're into melodic and atmospheric heavy metal with an insanely catchy twist, this is the album you're looking for. There's no other creature like this walking the earth. None other bears these sharp edged riffs or piercing choruses. Not with these epic sci-fi, fantasy and cyberpunk stories to tell. Beast In Black is a wholly unique form of heavy metal evolution.
Dark Connection is an album which gathers all the elements from past, present and future of Beast In Black leader, Anton Kabanen. The raw melodic energy of early Battle Beast remains, but now Beast In Black are crafting their own sound within the genre thanks to the utilisation of wildly melodic guitars and multilayered synthezisers.

Remember the glory days of 80's metal? When you could spend hours and hours staring at the cover art of a heavy metal album as you start to discover what all the lyrics are about? Beast In Black is right there with you.Dark Connection is a deeply intricate heavy metal record. As you start to invest time into the songs, you’ll realise that there's something interesting happening at every layer, from the music to the cover art and also the lyrics. It's all tied up into one, to ensure the ultimate audio-visual metal experience.
”It's not a concept album in the traditional sense, but there are a few ongoing themes on the album. One of them might be familiar for fans of Beast-albums from even earlier than Beast In Black”, Anton teases.

”What if I told you that we're back in the world of cyberpunk? Indeed, there are tracks like Highway to Mars and Moonlight Rendezvous, which will let you into the cyberpunk worlds of the Armitage III anime-series and even some Blade Runner themes. In that sense we're back into the themes of the early Battle Beast albums.”
”Cyberpunk is all over the place on Dark Connection. You will feel it in the mood of the album, it's right there in the cover art and we have even carefully prepared a huge music video for you which is visually pure cyberpunk.”
Anton also gives his praises to insanely talented Beast in Black singer Yannis Papadopoulos, who delivers the best vocal performance of his career on Dark Connection.
”It's always a privilege to work with Yannis. He‘s one of those rare singers who can do anything! If he hasn't tried out something before, he figures out the perfect technique to do it in no time.He is a very physical and dedicated singer. He is ready to try 30 different takes on a song if he feels like that's what a perfect result requires. He doesn't just do one or two takes. He does as many as it takes!”
Thirteen songs, a mountain of irresistible melodies and influences from the retro roots of music to a plethora of futuristic themes and atmospheres. Every single song from Dark Connection could be a single. Beast in Black could create a music video for every last track. That's just how much dedication and passion has been immortalised in these songs.

All these moments on Dark Connection won't be lost in time, like tears in rain. Beast is Black has created a lifetime heavy metal exprience. Are you ready to face this eternal beast?

The beast is back in black! And it‘s ready to crush the known boundaries of melodic metal!

Beast In Black, the international battalion of ground-breaking melodic metallers, is ready to blow your mind with their third album ominously titled ‘Dark Connection‘.
If you're into melodic and atmospheric heavy metal with an insanely catchy twist, this is the album you're looking for. There's no other creature like this walking the earth. None other bears these sharp edged riffs or piercing choruses. Not with these epic sci-fi, fantasy and cyberpunk stories to tell. Beast In Black is a wholly unique form of heavy metal evolution.
Dark Connection is an album which gathers all the elements from past, present and future of Beast In Black leader, Anton Kabanen. The raw melodic energy of early Battle Beast remains, but now Beast In Black are crafting their own sound within the genre thanks to the utilisation of wildly melodic guitars and multilayered synthezisers.

Remember the glory days of 80's metal? When you could spend hours and hours staring at the cover art of a heavy metal album as you start to discover what all the lyrics are about? Beast In Black is right there with you.Dark Connection is a deeply intricate heavy metal record. As you start to invest time into the songs, you’ll realise that there's something interesting happening at every layer, from the music to the cover art and also the lyrics. It's all tied up into one, to ensure the ultimate audio-visual metal experience.
”It's not a concept album in the traditional sense, but there are a few ongoing themes on the album. One of them might be familiar for fans of Beast-albums from even earlier than Beast In Black”, Anton teases.

”What if I told you that we're back in the world of cyberpunk? Indeed, there are tracks like Highway to Mars and Moonlight Rendezvous, which will let you into the cyberpunk worlds of the Armitage III anime-series and even some Blade Runner themes. In that sense we're back into the themes of the early Battle Beast albums.”
”Cyberpunk is all over the place on Dark Connection. You will feel it in the mood of the album, it's right there in the cover art and we have even carefully prepared a huge music video for you which is visually pure cyberpunk.”
Anton also gives his praises to insanely talented Beast in Black singer Yannis Papadopoulos, who delivers the best vocal performance of his career on Dark Connection.
”It's always a privilege to work with Yannis. He‘s one of those rare singers who can do anything! If he hasn't tried out something before, he figures out the perfect technique to do it in no time.He is a very physical and dedicated singer. He is ready to try 30 different takes on a song if he feels like that's what a perfect result requires. He doesn't just do one or two takes. He does as many as it takes!”
Thirteen songs, a mountain of irresistible melodies and influences from the retro roots of music to a plethora of futuristic themes and atmospheres. Every single song from Dark Connection could be a single. Beast in Black could create a music video for every last track. That's just how much dedication and passion has been immortalised in these songs.

All these moments on Dark Connection won't be lost in time, like tears in rain. Beast is Black has created a lifetime heavy metal exprience. Are you ready to face this eternal beast?

Belched from Hell’s depths into the rustic charms of the Witch County, Suffolk thirty long and disturbing years ago, CRADLE OF FILTH are undisputed giants of the heavy metal realm. Imperious purveyors of a perennially unique strain of dark, dastardly and wilfully extreme metal, with deep roots in the worlds of gothic horror and occult curiosity, the band led by Dani Filth has weathered three decades of tumult and trial, earning a formidable reputation as both a singular creative force and one of the most riotously entertaining live bands the metal world has ever produced.
From primitive early works like 1992 debut »The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh« to more expansive and theatrical classics like ‘Cruelty And The Beast’ and ‘Midian’, CRADLE OF FILTH defied trends and constructed their own idiosyncratic world of foul grandeur, becoming one of the UK’s most notable metal bands in the process. Since then, they have traversed the world countless times, hoovering up plaudits and praise from an ever-expanding international fan base. Resolutely prolific, the band’s catalogue has grown in depth and stature all the while, irrespective of line-up changes or the whims of the faithful.
In more recent times, CRADLE OF FILTH have hit an unmistakable hot streak of creativity and urgency. As a new line-up coalesced around the creation of 2015’s »Hammer Of The Witches«, fresh impetus propelled the band to new heights, as the revitalised crew became more in demand around the world than ever before. 2017’s ‘Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay’ repeated the trick with even more explosive flamboyance. Until a global pandemic brought the music industry to a jarring halt, CRADLE OF FILTH were almost permanently on the road and absolutely fucking flying. As a result, it should surprise no one that the band’s brand new album, ‘Existence Is Futile’, is yet another monumental and electrifying journey through the dark.
Buoyed by these recent triumphs, CRADLE OF FILTH recorded »Existence Is Futile« during 2020, piecing the record together in isolation, at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk with studio guru Scott Atkins (Devilment/Benediction/Vader). Although instantly recognisable as the work of these veteran blackhearts, the thirteenth CRADLE OF FILTH album is a wholly different beast from its immediate predecessors. Pitch-black, perverse and at times absurdly brutal and extreme, it hangs together with mesmerising fluidity. It is also absolutely rammed with giant, rousing melodies and moments of jaw-dropping invention. No one could mistake the venomously catchy likes of ‘How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose?’ or monstrous ballad ‘Discourse Between A Man And His Soul’ for anything other than CRADLE OF FILTH, of course, but ‘Existence Is Futile’ confirms that the band’s exploratory instincts remain as sharp as ever.
Underpinned by its huge and disarmingly organic production, »Existence Is Futile« is plainly the darkest and most unsettling album CRADLE OF FILTH have made in a while. Eschewing the band’s trademark twisted storytelling in favour of horrified glimpses into the mortal void and ruminations on the inevitable destruction of life on Earth, its poignancy and relevance to the cluster of nightmares facing humanity in 2021 is impossible to ignore, even if Dani Filth insists, not unreasonably, that he didn’t anticipate a global pandemic when the news songs were being written.
With the best possible timing, CRADLE OF FILTH were already due to make a new album during those long, lonely months of lockdown in 2020. Having grabbed the opportunity with both hands, Dani avows that unavoidable isolation from the rest of the world was the best possible incentive to get the job done, while also adding plenty of eerie atmosphere to the whole experience.
Sonically speaking, ‘Existence Is Futile’ is easily the most powerful and dramatic record CRADLE OF FILTH have ever made: it’s the sound of band’s enviable onstage chemistry spilling over into the studio, propelling each member of the band to new levels of intensity. Combined with the expected labyrinthine arrangements and moments of spellbinding bombast, ‘Existence Is Futile’ may be the most vivid representation of the CRADLE OF FILTH experience yet.
Also, diehard fans will be thrilled to learn that horror icon Doug 'Pinhead' Bradley makes a welcome return to the CRADLE fold, lending his dulcet tones to the epic ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, and to one of the forthcoming new record’s bonus tracks, as Dani explains.
“There are also two bonus tracks in addition to the album, one of which is the culmination to the ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ trilogy, which began on »Midian«.
For this we had little hesitation in enlisting our friend and actor Doug Bradley to reprise his narrative role. Doug lives in Pittsburgh, which he refers to ‘The Pit’, thus we directed his narrative over Skype from his local studio. He adopts this almost David Attenborough-ish role on ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, which is possibly the most politically astute song we’ve written of late. As a band we usually shy from branching into politics, but it’s something that needed spouting. The fact we’re fucking our ecology up and desperately need to address the situation pronto…”
So, if we’re all going to perish in the fire of our own stupidity, we might as well have a suitably deranged and destructive soundtrack to do it by.
A bewitching, fearless nosedive into the abyss, the band's thirteenth studio album confirms the ferocious efficacy of CRADLE OF FILTH in 2021. Bold, brave, wildly imaginative and heavy as hell, the band’s latest runaway train-ride through the flames is the perfect album for these most imperfect of times. As Dani concludes, “Be like the virus! Mutate and survive!”

Belched from Hell’s depths into the rustic charms of the Witch County, Suffolk thirty long and disturbing years ago, CRADLE OF FILTH are undisputed giants of the heavy metal realm. Imperious purveyors of a perennially unique strain of dark, dastardly and wilfully extreme metal, with deep roots in the worlds of gothic horror and occult curiosity, the band led by Dani Filth has weathered three decades of tumult and trial, earning a formidable reputation as both a singular creative force and one of the most riotously entertaining live bands the metal world has ever produced.
From primitive early works like 1992 debut »The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh« to more expansive and theatrical classics like ‘Cruelty And The Beast’ and ‘Midian’, CRADLE OF FILTH defied trends and constructed their own idiosyncratic world of foul grandeur, becoming one of the UK’s most notable metal bands in the process. Since then, they have traversed the world countless times, hoovering up plaudits and praise from an ever-expanding international fan base. Resolutely prolific, the band’s catalogue has grown in depth and stature all the while, irrespective of line-up changes or the whims of the faithful.
In more recent times, CRADLE OF FILTH have hit an unmistakable hot streak of creativity and urgency. As a new line-up coalesced around the creation of 2015’s »Hammer Of The Witches«, fresh impetus propelled the band to new heights, as the revitalised crew became more in demand around the world than ever before. 2017’s ‘Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay’ repeated the trick with even more explosive flamboyance. Until a global pandemic brought the music industry to a jarring halt, CRADLE OF FILTH were almost permanently on the road and absolutely fucking flying. As a result, it should surprise no one that the band’s brand new album, ‘Existence Is Futile’, is yet another monumental and electrifying journey through the dark.
Buoyed by these recent triumphs, CRADLE OF FILTH recorded »Existence Is Futile« during 2020, piecing the record together in isolation, at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk with studio guru Scott Atkins (Devilment/Benediction/Vader). Although instantly recognisable as the work of these veteran blackhearts, the thirteenth CRADLE OF FILTH album is a wholly different beast from its immediate predecessors. Pitch-black, perverse and at times absurdly brutal and extreme, it hangs together with mesmerising fluidity. It is also absolutely rammed with giant, rousing melodies and moments of jaw-dropping invention. No one could mistake the venomously catchy likes of ‘How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose?’ or monstrous ballad ‘Discourse Between A Man And His Soul’ for anything other than CRADLE OF FILTH, of course, but ‘Existence Is Futile’ confirms that the band’s exploratory instincts remain as sharp as ever.
Underpinned by its huge and disarmingly organic production, »Existence Is Futile« is plainly the darkest and most unsettling album CRADLE OF FILTH have made in a while. Eschewing the band’s trademark twisted storytelling in favour of horrified glimpses into the mortal void and ruminations on the inevitable destruction of life on Earth, its poignancy and relevance to the cluster of nightmares facing humanity in 2021 is impossible to ignore, even if Dani Filth insists, not unreasonably, that he didn’t anticipate a global pandemic when the news songs were being written.
With the best possible timing, CRADLE OF FILTH were already due to make a new album during those long, lonely months of lockdown in 2020. Having grabbed the opportunity with both hands, Dani avows that unavoidable isolation from the rest of the world was the best possible incentive to get the job done, while also adding plenty of eerie atmosphere to the whole experience.
Sonically speaking, ‘Existence Is Futile’ is easily the most powerful and dramatic record CRADLE OF FILTH have ever made: it’s the sound of band’s enviable onstage chemistry spilling over into the studio, propelling each member of the band to new levels of intensity. Combined with the expected labyrinthine arrangements and moments of spellbinding bombast, ‘Existence Is Futile’ may be the most vivid representation of the CRADLE OF FILTH experience yet.
Also, diehard fans will be thrilled to learn that horror icon Doug 'Pinhead' Bradley makes a welcome return to the CRADLE fold, lending his dulcet tones to the epic ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, and to one of the forthcoming new record’s bonus tracks, as Dani explains.
“There are also two bonus tracks in addition to the album, one of which is the culmination to the ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ trilogy, which began on »Midian«.
For this we had little hesitation in enlisting our friend and actor Doug Bradley to reprise his narrative role. Doug lives in Pittsburgh, which he refers to ‘The Pit’, thus we directed his narrative over Skype from his local studio. He adopts this almost David Attenborough-ish role on ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, which is possibly the most politically astute song we’ve written of late. As a band we usually shy from branching into politics, but it’s something that needed spouting. The fact we’re fucking our ecology up and desperately need to address the situation pronto…”
So, if we’re all going to perish in the fire of our own stupidity, we might as well have a suitably deranged and destructive soundtrack to do it by.
A bewitching, fearless nosedive into the abyss, the band's thirteenth studio album confirms the ferocious efficacy of CRADLE OF FILTH in 2021. Bold, brave, wildly imaginative and heavy as hell, the band’s latest runaway train-ride through the flames is the perfect album for these most imperfect of times. As Dani concludes, “Be like the virus! Mutate and survive!”

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Fueled By Ramen will be reissuing one seminal album from our 25- year history each month throughout the calendar year of 2021, again this will be on Silver Vinyl as part of the FBR 25th Anniversary.

FBR 25 Podcast

We are currently working on a 16 part podcast that will delve into the history of FBR, it’s cultural relevance and Global impact over the past 25 years. Each episode will look at the careers of some of our most important artists, and deep dive into the making of albums told by the artists themselves in their own words.

25th Anniversary Merchandise

We announced the 25th Anniversary around Thanksgiving last year with our first 25th Anniversary limited merch drop, and then will be working throughout 2021 on new and exclusive designs to drop throughout the year.

Lu's Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN. Each volume features a themed set of songs by other artists curated by the multi-Grammy award winner, Lucinda Williams. The series aired as ticketed shows through Mandolin in late 2020 with a portion of ticket sales benefitting independent music venues struggling to get by through the pandemic. Like thousands of artists, Williams cut her teeth and developed her craft by playing in small, medium and large clubs throughout the country, and the world. These venues are vital to the development of artists and their music. Williams has never forgotten her roots, and often performs special shows in some of her favorite halls. This year, the Lu's Jukebox series will be made widely available on vinyl and CD. Volume 2, Southern Soul: From Memphis to Muscle Shoals, features covers of Al Green, Percy Sledge, Bobbie Gentry, Ann Peebles, Tony Joe White & more. It is scheduled for a July 9th, 2021 release.

In 2019, we celebrated the 130th Anniversary of
the birth of Charlie Chaplin. In 2020, we celebrated
the 80th Anniversary of the film ‘The Great
Dictator’. This year, we celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the movie ‘The Kid’.
 To celebrate these 100 years, Le Chant du Monde
present a deluxe 180g vinyl LP (full mono
remastered version) in luxurious casebound book
packaging.
 The release brings together the entire music of the
film, as well as many bonuses completely
unreleased to date, accompanied by a large format
24-page booklet including unpublished texts and
photos.
 An edition that will delight Chaplin lovers and vinyl
collectors alike

The Cool Feedback Quartet’s music is quite similar to a philharmonic orchestra manipulating new material:
feedback, or in other words, the unexpected beauty of sound when it is let loose. Becoming its master so as to make the
best use of it, like a new instrument, the guitar pick up plays again on request. Harmonizing sounds like a string section
gone wild would, like light piercing through ether, tearing up the background and taking us for good to unknown territory.
The bandleader, Grégoire Garrigues, who first got the idea of the concept and got the ball to roll, is a well-known and
respected French guitarist.

The popular #Ibiza compilation series returns on July 2nd with its fifth installment, #Ibiza 2021. The album brings together tracks and remixes from some of the world’s biggest names in dance music, including Claptone, Chicane, Sammy Porter, David Morales, Secondcity and Mark Knight. The collection also presents the hottest breakout tracks set to grace the island this year, including Gettoblaster’s recent Beatport number 1 ‘H O U S E’, and Jodie Harsh’s current UK radio hit ‘My House’. Radio promo: Jodie Harsh - My House: Playlisted on BBC Radio 1 (B-List) / No.1 in UK Upfront Club Chart. Other promo: Claptone - Zero: One of the biggest DJ names in Ibiza with his Masquerade parties at Pacha, Claptone moves up to No.41 in this year’s Top 100 DJ’s global rank. Zero is the first single from his upcoming third album.

Born in Brixton, a child of the Windrush Generation, Letts’ slippery and unorthodox career is somewhat hard to define, without taking a few detours around London, New York and Jamaica. He began his working life managing the dauntingly hip Acme Attractions on Chelsea’s Kings Road, where he made a mark with his attitude, dress and, especially, the pounding dub reggae that vibrated the shop’s walls. His first gig as a DJ at the short-lived Roxy in Neal Street, became mythical for turning a generation of punks on to reggae. They in turn hipped him to their DIY ethos resulting in his reinvention as a filmmaker. This led to a shed-load of music videos (Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Clash, Bob Marley) not

to mention documentaries on the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, George Clinton and Sun Ra.



In the ’80s, he was part of Mick Jones’ new venture, Big Audio Dynamite and his innovative use of samples were a core part of their sound. Listeners of his weekly 6 Music radio show are taken on a musical safari that moves seamlessly between time, space and genre. It’s not called Culture Clash Radio for nothing. So this latest bulletin from Letts HQ is merely one angle of a multifaceted personality, his take on the JA tradition of the cover version.



The history of Caribbean music owes a debt to R&B as many of the early island releases were cover versions of US 45s. Ska’s breakthrough commercially, Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’, was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in ’50s New York. Cover versions became quite a thing in Jamaica and Don, following in that tradition, has dug deep with a selection of interesting dubbed out covers including thirteen exclusives.



“A disciple of sound system, raised on reggae n’ bass culture my go to sound was dub. Besides being spacious and sonically adventurous at the same time, its most appealing aspect was the space it left to put yourself ‘in the mix’ underpinned by Jamaica’s gift to the world - bass. But that’s only half the story as the duality of my existence meant I was also checking what the Caucasian crew were up to not to mention the explosion of black music coming in from the States. That’s why this version excursion crosses time space and genre, from The Beach Boys to The Beatles, Nina Simone to Marvin Gaye, The Bee Gees to Kool & The Gang, The Clash to Joy Division and beyond. You’d think it impossible to draw a line between ‘em but not in my world. Fortunately, the ‘cover version’ has played an integral part in the evolution of Jamaican music and dub covers were just a natural extension.”



There’s a diverse mix of classic and new, with legendary figures like John Holt, The Tamlins and Cornell Campbell, mixed in with British veterans Mad Professor and the irrepressible Dennis Bovell, while (relatively) young striplings Kiko Bun, Emily Capell and Prince Fatty deliver the goods, with laidback Texan groovers Khruangbin also offering an exclusive bass heavy-delight.



The song choices are diverse, from French dubsters’ OBF’s renditions of ‘Sixteen Tons’, the miners’ paean popularised by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s, to Ash Walker’s refix of Omar’s ‘There’s Nothing Like This’ and ‘All I Do Is Think About You’, immortalised by the ill-fated Tammi Terrell and preserved here by Quantic (the latter two both exclusives). Being a Rebel Dread compilation, there’s a cover (by Wrongtom Meets The Rockers) of The Clash’s ‘Lost In The Supermarket’ while Don’s exclusive, naturally, is a rendition of Big Audio Dynamite’s debut hit, ‘E = MC2’.



“Truth be told I’ve wanted to work with the Late Night Tales crew from the get go. We’re talking nearly two decades such was the allure of their musical aesthetic typified by curators like Nightmares on Wax, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Trentemoller, Khruangbin and countless others. Now being as old as rock n’ roll (born in ‘56) and having nearly 20 years of Culture Clash Radio under my belt I figured I was tooled up to musically juggle with the best of ‘em. But I wanted to carve out a space that was distinctly my own - something that reflected my musical journey and the culture clash that’s made me the man I am today.”

Many great singers passed through the hands of late great soul/
R&B producer Jerry Wexler, from Aretha Franklin to Dusty
Springfield, but Etta James was a singer he willingly waited 20
long years to work with. “Etta is a church in herself,” he said in
his autobiography, adding: “Her voice is a mighty influence, her
musical personality able to express an extraordinary range of
moods.” He further described her as “A woman used but not
spent, abused but never defeated, vulnerable but though sheer
strength of will, victorious.” Her legend lives on in her music.
Press play and share her many emotions…

Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model” will be reinterpreted all in Spanish with 19 of today’s top Latin artists (Luis Fonsi, Sebastian Yatra, Juanes, and many more) representing a total of 9 countries. The lyrics have been precisely translated to have the featured Latin artists sing to the original multis. We are working closely with our Universal Latin label partners for artist participation and overall support on this release.

New York City 4-piece deliver a modern blues rock masterclass on their feisty debut album.

“A timeless classic rock sound that revels in lean riffs and raw emotion.” – Afropunk

In an age where artistic merit is awarded to those who shout the loudest, Dakota Jones pride themselves on an unwavering ability to leave a lasting impression. Spearheaded by Tristan Carter-Jones fierce and unashamedly uncensored songwriting, the band’s fast-growing reputation as formidable live act has stamped Dakota Jones with the hell-hath-no-fury power of Chaka Khan, the wild spontaneity of Janis Joplin, and the honey-dripping sensuality of Marvin Gaye. Their debut album’s message of proud black heritage and triumphant queerness manifests itself in Carter-Jones’ ability to challenge norms of adulthood and femininity as she takes a deep dive into some of life’s most visceral emotions.

Tristan Carter-Jones: “I’m a black, queer woman expressing myself through love and music. Some folks still find that to be a transgressive act in and of itself. I work to fight that idea. I write a lot about my
Continued over…
sexuality and the ways in which I express it. Songs about sex and love bounce back and forth between songs about heartache, hangovers and self-medication, and the pleasure and pain of truly finding yourself. I don’t think we get to hear these things from a woman’s mouth as often as we should.”

Serving as an instant tone setter, the album opens with the line "Stretch marks from growing pains" with Carter-Jones lamenting the woes of adjusting to adulthood on lead single ‘Did It To Myself’ - her husky and commanding vocal instantly asserting its place in the spotlight. The atmosphere soon turns steamy on the flirtatious title track ‘Blacklight,’ whilst fantasising over a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde love affair the funk-laden ‘We Playin Bad Games’ packs a punch with its tale of free spirits entwined in a haze of late-night revelry.

Elsewhere, stories of caustic heartache twist the knife into wounded blues guitar riffs on ‘Like That’ and ‘Black Magic (That Power)’, in which Carter-Jones’s stoical voice never once faulters as she mourns the memories of a previous flame. Personal prayer ‘Lord Please’ recites empowered words of reassurance, and solidarity in the face of injustice erupts into a rallying cry for change on the classic sounding ‘Noise’ – written as a reaction to the 2016 US election. “I woke up after the election feeling pure panic and fear in my body,” remembers Tristan. “I wanted people in a place of privilege to stand up for what I was feeling, stand up for injustice, stand up for all of the things we need to change as a country. I wanted their rage, and I wanted their noise.”

Finally, the band’s tender tropes of togetherness eventually boil into gritty, guitar-slung balladry on hidden bonus track, ‘California,’ where, knees buckling under the weight of past trials and tribulations, Carter-Jones sets out on one final journey of self-discovery, hastily pulling out from reality and leaving only a dust cloud in her wake.

Production comes courtesy of the Grammy-winning John Wooler, ex Virgin Records A+R and founder of the Blues label Pointblank who has worked with everyone from John Lee Hooker and John Hammond to Isaac Hayes and Van Morrison. The album also features a wealth of hugely talented and accomplished musicians, including backing vocalist Kudisan Kai, former backing vocalist for the likes of Elton John, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Beck, Sting, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott. Also present; Grammy winning keyboardist Jon Gilutin, who has spent years working with some of the industry’s most respected and iconic artists including Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Jackson Browne, Celine Dion, Bonnie Rait and Carole King. You’ll also hear the talents of acclaimed guitarist Michael Toles. Most well-known for being a part of the Stax Records group The Bar Kays, and for his contributions on famous records by Issac Hayes, Al Green, BB King, Johnny Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Albert King to name just a few.

Dakota Jones are a rising funk, soul and blues rock band from Brooklyn, New York City. Comprising of Tristan Carter-Jones (vocals), Scott Kramp (bass) Steve Ross (drums), and acclaimed musician Randy Jacobs (guitar) - former member of Was(Not Was) who has recorded for Seal, Bonnie Raitt, Tears for Fears, Elton John and many others. Though Carter-Jones and Ross first met in 1999 whilst at primary school, the band formed years later following a series of home jam sessions in 2016. The band’s collective alias originates from Carter-Jones’s middle name, ‘Dakota’. Dakota Jones have since released a string of acclaimed singles and EPs as well as received international attention for their track, ‘Have Mercy’ after it featured on Netflix’s 2019 film, Always Be My Maybe starring Ali Wong and Randall Park – and now after years of hard work and determination, the band are finally set to reveal their long awaited debut album. “We’d been regularly releasing EPs, waiting for our chance to come, and wondering what that would look like,” says Carter-Jones. “We didn’t realise until we started making this record that we needed to stop waiting for some break to come along, and just do it ourselves, independently.”

“Black Light really dives into a place of funk soul and everything that comes with it. There’s joy and dancing, sleek guitar licks and funky bass slaps. There’s pain and longing, and there’s the feeling of relief when you come out of that place and find your joy and purpose again. Black Light is my story.”

Only Up is the second Breeze album by producer and artist Josh Korody
(Nailbiter, Beliefs).
Enlisting a whirlwind of performances from Tess Parks, Cadence Weapon and
an array of the Toronto music scene, including members of Orville Peck, Tallies,
Vallens, Zoon, Sauna, Fake Palms, Rapport, Praises, Civic TV, Moon King, Blonde
Elvis, For Jane, Ducks Ltd, TOPS and Broken Social Scene. Only Up sees Korody
digging through and channelling three decades of anthemic British bands.
From the angular guitars of late 70”s post-punk (Gang Of Four, Wire), to the
lush gloom of 80’s electro-pop (Tears for Fears, OMD), with the dance floor
psychedelia of the Manchester sound (Primal Scream, Happy Mondays), and
through the late ‘90s and early 2000s post-punk / new wave revivalists.
When originally tasked with making this album, Korody and his long time music collaborator Kyle Connolly (Orville Peck, The Seams) quickly threw down
ideas in a session, however with Connolly embarking on a world tour, and with
Korody’s demanding schedule at his Candle Recording Studio, the project sat
unattended.
Somehow, by the time of the album’s delivery deadline, Korody not only orchestrated a creative ensemble of friends and collaborators, he wrote, recorded and mixed the entirety of the album in two weeks without a single regret
or compromise.
“It was the best way I could have done it. A strict deadline to make decisions,
move on and focus on things that matter the most. Every decision was made in
that headspace. The ease of technology to endlessly tweak with, it sometimes
can end up destroying records until there is no soul in it, no happy accidents
and it’s completely sterile. You can have a well produced record without going
down that dark rabbit hole.” Only Up is out via Hand Drawn Dracula.

Motown Collected brings together the biggest names in the rich history of this legendary label. From very early singles to the artists that made Motown a household name for decades to come and the cross-over pop success of the late 70’s and 80’s. Featuring legendary artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson and The Commodores, as well as gems from the likes of Marv Johnson, Barrett Strong, The Marvelettes and Tom Clay and pop superstars Rick James, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Debarge: just a selection of the 33 incredible tracks featured on Motown Collected.

The documentary Hitsville: The Making Of Motown’, featuring Motown founder Berry Gordy and many of this artists, will premiere in cinemas across Europe this summer as well.






RELEASE: 23-7-2021

MOV proudly presents new Collected compilation albums in collaboration with Universal Music. Motown Collected is the first one, available as a limited edition of 3000 numbered copies on white vinyl. It includes an insert with photos and credits.

REISSUE - from original press release: For three decades the reclusive Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus (RAIJ) have confounded musical classification and studiously declined every invitation to explain their unique form of musical and artistic experimentation. Initially the Liverpool outfit built their reputation on their extraordinary immersive multi-media performances combining multiple layers of visual imagery, elements of ritual, enigmatic samples, field recordings and mesmeric live music. Their cult status was further reinforced with the release of the now much sought-after two studio albums The Gift of Tears (1987) and Mirror (1990) and two EP collections, Liturgie Pour La Fin Du Temps (1992) and Paradis (1995). After an 18-year hiatus the appearance of a new RAIJ album, and the apparent relaxation of their strict vow of silence, are generating predictable excitement and expectancy. Beauty Will Save the World does not disappoint. RAIJ's intoxicating mix of ethereal beauty, dazzling soundscapes and oblique mystery reach new levels of intensity and subtlety. The album title - a quote from Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky - is one of the many literary, cinematic and spiritual references underpinning RAIJ's unexpected comeback. Founder members Paul Boyce, Jon Egan and Les Hampson, joined by a fresh wave of collaborators, have crafted an album of unique beauty and originality. Prolonged silence seems to have deepened rather than dimmed their creative impulse. As ever it is the breadth of musical genres, cultural references, borrowings and retrieved sounds that define the RAIJ aesthetic, but there is also a more consistently meditative and melodic strain that underpins the album's integrity and purpose. In a rare insight into the RAIJ's creative method, Jon Egan explains: "Although our work takes elements and inspiration from many disparate sources we have never viewed it as deconstruction. We are looking for the thread that connects every manifestation of beauty, however fragile, transitory and seemingly accidental. " In addition to the album release on Occultation, RAIJ's second coming also includes a live performance at this year's Greenbelt Festival and the re-release on vinyl of The Gift of Tears by California-based label Feral Sounds. "There is renewed interest and appreciation of our music and that's great", said Leslie Hampson. "We have never tried to cultivate obscurity or anonymity, we simply wanted to avoid having to explain and justify a creative process that isn't necessarily premeditated. Isn't it enough to listen to and experience it?"

Susanna is now releasing a live album of covers with a unique history. Recorded in Oslo and Asker (Norway) in 2019 and 2020
right before the pandemic hit, Live by Susanna and David Wallumrød is a collaboration by the Norwegian and her cousin David, also a prolific musician, whose seeds were unknowingly sown over 20 years ago.“We played a lot together in our childhood and youth, being cousins, growing up in the same small town Kongsberg,” says Susanna. After being highly active musicians for many years, they decided to do a concert together in 2017, at a tiny cocktail-bar concert series in Oslo. It was so much fun they decided to do some more shows. They did, and out of this came Live. The songs on Live are the same covers Susanna and David played together 20 years ago, with a few new additions. They are instantly recognisable classics by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and Tom
Waits, played in the way Susanna and David know best - voice and keys. Pure, simple, and stunning. David Wallumrød is one of Norway’s most used piano/keyboard-players, he has participated on over 150 albums and been a regular member in the bands of artists like Knut Reiersrud, Odd Nordstoga, Jonas Alaska, Band of Gold and Torun Eriksen. He has his own band called Spirit in the Dark. Susanna is the woman behind Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, a creator of bold, original and enrapturing music, capable of
building worlds to lose yourself in and collaborator with artists such as Jenny Hval and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Alongside this Susanna has also long been an interpreter of other people’s works, from AC/DC to Dolly Parton, Joy Division to Henry Purcell. Susanna has an ability to transform these works into music that sits comfortably next to her own work while never losing what made the original - and the original composer of the song - so special.

The Cold Stares will release their new album "Heavy Shoes" on August 13, 2021 via Mascot Records.
"Heavy Shoes" will be available on CD Digipack w/ 12 page booklet and 180 Grams Shiny Gold Vinyl w/ printed insert.
The great state of Kentucky is world renowned for many things. Bluegrass music? Of course. The smoothest, best-tasting Bourbon created by the hands of man? It doesn’t get any better. One thing that folks don’t always associate with Kentucky however is visceral, in-your-face rock and roll. The Cold Stares are determined to change that perception.
Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins have known one another for a long, long time. They grew up in Western Kentucky, just a stone’s throw from the border or Indiana, and attended different High School mere minutes down the road from one another. They originally started playing together in their early twenties before going their separate ways only to reunite in another outfit a decade down the line. “We were playing together in 2009 in another band that was doing really well,” Tapp said. “It didn’t work out, so we both kind of exited that band and contemplated retirement.” It didn’t take long before they were thankfully disabused of that notion.
That band is an intense amalgam of Led Zeppelin meets Free, Soundgarden meets Black Crowes; rock and roll wizardry where the riffs are hard, the vocals are searing, and the low end is capital “H,” heavy. Most of the album was recorded in a single day at Sam Phillips fabled recording studio in Memphis. “That’s our second record there, so there was a lot of familiarity going back in,” Mullins said. “The thing about that studio is that it’s old, and vibey. Sometimes you gotta bang on the gear a little bit to make it work. It’s kinda like the Millennium Falcon. It’s badass, but you just gotta get it running right.”

‘Heavy Shoes’ is Cold Stares’ best record yet, and they know it. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and doubt before Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins reached this moment, but it’s all the sweeter knowing they did it their way. “We’ve been through some tough times, and I’d say our band is a pretty good representation for blue collar people in general. People that work hard. We’re just a blue-collar American rock and roll band.”

Electrifying Rockshow meets bluesy film noir-mood!
Daniel Welbat sings as if he had hung out in the darkest bars for years.
With his five-man band, the extroverted frontman brings a brilliant 8222;Rock Noir”-sound to the stage that thrills both the audience and the press. Most of the songs were recorded in october 2019 by the NDR at the Hamburger Nochtspeicher. Shortly after that the concert was awarded by the OXMOX-Leserumfrage and chosen for the TOP 10 BEST CONCERTS in 2019 (next to P!nk, Robbie Williams und Udo Lindenberg) NDR and DLF are Radio Presenters. Print Presenters: MusiX, SCHALL, eclipsed, ROCKS, Good Times OXMOX-Leserumfrage picked the concert (next to P!nk, Robbie Williams und Udo Lindenberg) for the Top 10 best concerts in 2019.
WellBad is a “Live Band” and the people are craving for LIVE MUSIC!

Hospital Records are extremely proud to present ‘Smile & Wave’, the
second studio album from drum & bass’ friendliest MC, Inja.
With the biggest smile on his face, the lyricist, vocalist, poet, artist and storyteller delivers
16 tracks, seamlessly weaved together through Inja’s infectiously feel-good flow and sincere
wordsmithery. The entire album was produced by Whiney, further cementing their relationship as one of the most untestable dance music pairings. Also featuring Charlotte Haining,
Eva Lazarus, DRS, Fox, Cleveland Watkiss, Singing Fats, and DJ Marky.
Album title track ‘Smile & Wave’ is the musical embodiment of Inja’s playful demeanour.
Known for being the world’s smiliest artist, Inja wrote and recorded this feel-good bouncer
alongside his daughter who is “pretty much the first person to hear anything” he’s up to
musically. Expect a rude bassline and infectious wordplay.
Teaming up with superstar singer-songwriter Charlotte Haining, ‘Reach Out’ sees two of the
most distinct voices in dance music come together over a bittersweet wobbler written about
times when you feel “so out of place, out of reach” in the words of Inja. Having worked
alongside an impressive array of electronic artists including Hybrid Minds, Sub Focus, My Nu
Leng and Friction, Charlotte’s delicately powerful hooks are the perfect counterpart to Inja’s
heartfelt flows.
Luscious pads and dubbed out pianos and guitars set the scene on ‘Baby Angel’ featuring the
worldwide wave-maker Eva Lazarus who returns to Hospital Records for the first time since
featuring on Etherwood’s ‘Light My Way Home’ back in 2015. Having worked alongside staple
figures including Mungo’s Hi-Fi, Zed Bias and Gentlemen’s Dub Club, Eva infuses her reggae,
hip-hop and jungle flavours alongside Inja’s humbling storytellings.
Inja’s “personal favourite to perform live as it smashes every and any system”, ‘Explode’, is a
140BPM anthem featuring flows that will ignite any room and a killer instrumental that will
have you bobbing no questions asked. Proving himself to be a versatile and skillful microphone controller, Inja’s ability to shell down any tempo is ever more apparent on this upfront
banger.
Three legendary MCs unite on ‘Hands, Lights, Flames, Phones’ where Inja joins forces with
two of Manchester’s very finest - DRS and Fox. Sharp lyricism is rife as the triple threat of
three titan wordsmiths link up, seeing energetic bars bouncing off each other over a cold-cut
drum & bass roller. This is a combination not to be tested.
Inja has established himself as a pinnacle figure within the realms of drum & bass. Loved for
his ability to express his thoughts into honest, relatable lyrics in ‘She Just Wanna Dance’, a
spoken word piece for Amnesty International that was a viral online hit in 2017, and more
recently switching it up to ‘We Just Wanna Dance’ during the UK lockdown, expressing his
desire to be reconnected with ravers again. Then picked up by BBC News and Sky News.
On top of being the MC of choice for drum & bass powerhouse group Kings Of The Rollers,
Inja is no stranger to tearing things up on the airwaves with support from the likes of DJ
Target, Rene LaVice and Danny Byrd on BBC Radio 1 over the years. Since his debut ‘Blank
Pages’ album on Hospital Records in 2018, Inja has flourished as a multi-talented MC, vocalist, singer and songwriter with a series of singles including the Beatport Drum & Bass charttopper ‘Game Face (Stay Alert)’ alongside Whiney, as well as the infamous ‘Lumberjackin’’ on
Serum’s Souped Up.
"To all the supporters that enjoy anything I’m a part of, I would never have had the opportunities to see as much of the world as I have without you. My gratitude has no bounds and I’d
love to share a smile with you all one day.” - Inja

Walter Lure, best known as co-frontman and songwriter of the Heartbreakers, also led his own band, The Waldos. Their debut ‘Rent Party’ LP has been unavailable on vinyl since 1994. This limited edition in blue vinyl has two bonus tracks, from the 'Crazy Little Baby' 7" of 1991.

Sadly, Walter died in August 2020, the last of the ‘L.A.M.F.’ Heartbreakers. His memoir "To Hell And Back: My Life In Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers - In The Words Of The Last Man Standing" will be published by Backbeat in paperback edition on July 1, 2021. Upon the original ‘Rent Party’ release, AllMusic said - "The long awaited Waldos album proved to be a big success, at least artistically ... the Waldos tear through a set of tunes that are as much fun as a CD can have with its clothes on."

Walter Lure’s guitar-sparring partner in The Waldos in place of Johnny Thunders is Joey Pinter, whose self-titled solo album was released in 2015. The rest of the band is the late Tony Coiro on bass and Jeff West on drums except on the bonus 7” tracks, the late Charlie Sox.
The album features six Walter Lure originals, plus covers of Jerry Nolan, Gary US Bonds, Claudine Clark and Ray Charles songs. A limited edition in transparent blue vinyl, with inner bag.

Tape

"Precision ambient might be a suitable genre description for metra.vestlud's work. Every element has a clearly delineated meaning and purpose, and the precise interaction between these elements makes the musical pieces seem more like songs rather than Eno-style ambiences. From flowing water, to nervous birds and rich emotional textures, ∞ sends us onto a deep and thoughtful sonic journey about the flow of life and the many springs therin."

Artem Dultsev was born in 1993, in Revda, Russia. In 2010 he started to write music and later released under different aliases: Artem Dultsev, Moon Rabbit, Virusmoto. In 2017 he founded with a friend Daniil the label Faktura, where they began to release records from the Urals region. The history of metra.vestlud began In 2019 with the release of the album - Hydrogen Lifeforms (Faktura).

metra.vestlud began as a protest against the standard principles of sound recording and musical theory. All the rules and boundaries were shifted towards the unconscious - that something unique would emerge. But on the album ∞ - the other side of this sub-personality showed itself, the sensual side. The music of metra.vestlud is inspired by the eco-futurism and new age of the 80's-90's.

“The album is dedicated to my wife. In April 2021 we had a son.”

"Two days before the birth of our first child, I was sitting at home alone while my partner was already in the hospital. I wasn't able to visit due to Covid restrictions. Anxiously waiting for any updates, while Germany being in complete lockdown, searching for distraction, I did something I rarely do: look into the public-facing email account of my previous label. Normally, I only find spam in there, but this time there was an email that looked different, it was a demo I was supposed to consider for release. I could tell this person had listened to previous music I had been involved with and deliberately chose to send this to me. I could also tell right away that something special was being sent to me. I downloaded the music, listened to it, and to my surprise, was moved to tears. This was on a Friday night in Leipzig, around 32 hours before our child was born.

Sometimes this world can be incredibly strange but in the most beautiful way. For some reason, someone from Yekaterinburg in Russia, close to where the European and Asian continental plates meet, decided to send me an unspeakably beautiful album for release on my new label (which I technically hadn't even founded yet). The album is centered around love and birth, and it sounds like emotion-fueled beginnings, like a meta-version of spring you can visit any season you like. And I received it less than two days before the birth of our child and a couple of months before the birth of their child - what are the odds? And not just that, I had visited Yekaterinburg many years ago with my parents due to a somewhat mysterious obsession my father had with the place and it had left quite an impression on me. There are some moments in life where you think: "please just pinch me". I am just not sure anymore how much of all of this can be attributed to chance. Probably a lot, but if so, it also means incredibly unlikely and beautiful things do happen even if they probably shouldn't.

In any case, I am grateful metra.vestlud reached out to me at this very special moment in time and I am grateful we have created something that will forever document a very special time in our lives. And we are incredibly happy that we are able to share this document with the world." - kofla tapes

∞ is dedicated to metra.vestlud's wife, In April 2021 they had a son.

Lu's Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN. Each volume features a themed set of songs by other artists curated by the multi-Grammy award winner, Lucinda Williams. The series aired as ticketed shows through Mandolin in late 2020 with a portion of ticket sales benefitting independent music venues struggling to get by through the pandemic. Like thousands of artists, Williams cut her teeth and developed her craft by playing in small, medium and large clubs throughout the country, and the world. These venues are vital to the development of artists and their music. Williams has never forgotten her roots, and often performs special shows in some of her favorite halls. This year, the Lu's Jukebox series will be made widely available on vinyl and CD. Volume 1, Running Down A Dream: A Tribute to Tom Petty, features songs from the namesake's celebrated career and is scheduled for an April 16th, 2021 street date.

A GROOVY SELECTION IN THREE ORIGINAL VINYLS TO DISCOVER THE GOLD NUGGETS OF FUNK, SOUL & HIP-HOP ! Selection by the journalist Olivier Cachin and illustrations by the artist LAZOO.

All killers and no fillers on this fabulous 1969 Motown masperpiece.

It is a shame that Jimmy lived in the shadow of those other Motown singers such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. It really is one of Motown's best albums!

Andy Gill begann mit der Planung einer Compilation zum 40-jährigen Jubiläum des stilprägenden Gang Of Four Debütalbums "Entertainment!" (1979), seine Witwe Catherine Meyer setzte nach seinem Tod 2020 die Arbeit fort und wandelte zusammen mit allen Beteiligten das Projekt in einen Tributsampler mit dem Titel "The Problem Of Leisure - A Celebration Of Andy Gill & Gang Of Four" um. Jede:r teilnehmende Künstler:in interpretierte einen Track nach Wahl aus Gang Of Four's 40-jähriger Karriere nach ihrem/seinem Gusto neu. Es beteiligten sich mehrere Protagonisten der internationalen Rock/Alternative-Szene, darunter Tom Morello & Serj Tankian (Rage Against The Machine), IDLES, Herbert Grönemeyer, Helmet, Gary Numan, Flea & John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Killing Joke, Warpaint, 3D aka Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack), La Roux, The Sounds, The Dandy Warhols, LoneLady, Hardcore Raver In Tears (aus China), Sekar Melati (aus Japan), u.v.m. Das Artwork steuerte der britische Kult-Künstler Damien Hirst bei. Das Doppelabum erscheint als 2CD Digipak, 2CD Casebound Book, 2LP Gatefold, limitierte MC.

A unique new album of poetry and music featuring Marianne Faithfull set to the music of Warren Ellis, and featuring Nick Cave, Brian Eno and Vincent Ségal
With She Walks in Beauty, Marianne Faithfull with composer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis releases one of the most distinctive and singular albums of her long, extraordinary life and career. It was recorded just before and during the first Covid-19 lockdown – during which the singer herself became infected and almost died of the disease – with musical friends and family including not only composer Warren Ellis but Nick Cave, Brian Eno, cellist Vincent Ségal and producer-engineer Head. She Walks in Beauty fulfils Faithfull’s long-held ambition to record an album of poetry with music.
It’s a record that draws on her passion for the English Romantic poets, a passion she fostered in her A Level studies with one Mrs Simpson at St Joseph's Convent School in Reading. From there she entered the world of As Tears Go By, of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Top of the Pops and the left-hand path of pop and stage stardom. Sixties iconography and outrage followed, as did her subsequent battles with addiction before her 1979 return to powerful female and artistic autonomy with Broken English, an album which featured her setting to music Heathcote Williams’ poem of eviscerating rage, Why D’Ya Do It?
Drawing deep on the poetry of Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Thomas Hood, Faithfull’s vocal performances set to Ellis’s subtle collages of sound draw out the heart, the quick, the vibrant living matter in all these great poems, making them fresh, renewing them with the complex, lived-in timbres of her voice, and set to a subtle palette of ambient musical settings. It’s both a radical departure and a return to her original inspirations as an artist and performer.
The greatest poetry is best heard, and Faithfull’s accounts of some of the greatest lyric poetry in our language – Keats’ Ode To A Nightingale and Ode To Autumn – are spine-tingling in their deep understanding of the poetry’s powerful currents of meaning and identification. On Nightingale, her voice opens up like an epic landscape, while in Shelley’s miniature masterpiece, To The Moon, she sounds otherworldly, as if calling down from another medium, and the atonal, otherworldly sound textures provided by Eno on Bridge of Sighs and La Belle Dame Sans Merci become a compelling foil for Faithfull’s haunting interpretations of these rich, dark poems.
“They’ve have been with her her whole life,” says Ellis. “She believes in these texts. That world, she inhabits it, embodies it, and that really comes through. There’s just something about the way she can deliver that is incredibly affecting.”
“Eventually I always end up where I was meant to be,” says Faithfull. “I’ve noticed that. It may take a long time, but I get there. I never forget these things. After all these years, I’ve drawn the strands back and they still mean something and they resonate more, actually, because I now have life experience. Life and near-death experience. Many times! Not just once.” She Walks in Beauty is scheduled for release April 30th, with artwork created for the album by British artist and lifelong friend, Colin Self, and with the full texts of the poems, and commentary, included in the liner notes. While Faithfull continues to recover from the after-effects of Covid-19, and the world around us continues to struggle with the impact of the worldwide pandemic, these are poems and performances to steady and lift the spirit.

Originally released on CD in 2012, Chapter's landmark compilation of 70s gay musical pioneers gets a vinyl release for the first time ever - and on limited baby pink vinyl to boot! Strong Love explores the first wave of openly gay songwriting, emerging after New York's Stonewall Riots kickstarted the modern gay rights movement in 1969. It took just a few years for the defiant chanting and interlocked arms of early 70s pride marches to reverberate onto record, and Strong Love begins with the earliest known example, 1972's A Gay Song by London hippie collective Everyone Involved. Across 15 tracks, the compilation takes in disarmingly personal folk, uplifting soul, outsider country and dark synth-rock. But tellingly, none of its songs could be considered well-known. New York's Steven Grossman released the first major label album by an openly gay artist in 1974, and Tom Robinson hit the UK Top 20 with the fiery Glad To Be Gay in 1978, but these are the exceptions. The coy ambivalence of Lou Reed and David Bowie was about as sexually adventurous as the 1970s music industry got, and most Strong Love artists released their own self-funded recordings in very limited numbers. Unlike their lesbian counterparts, who joined forces to create long-lasting record labels, strong distribution networks and considerable sales figures, gay male musicians in the 1970s existed largely in solitary bubbles. Which doesn't mean they didn't carve out niches of their own. Chris Robison played with the New York Dolls and Elephant's Memory, while LA glam seducer Smokey saw members of the Stooges and Quiet Riot pass through his backing band. Steven Grossman was covered by Twiggy and Scrumbly & Martin are infamous for their work with San Francisco drag hippies the Cockettes. Strong Love illustrate the vision, talent and raw courage that drove 1970s songwriters to sacrifice popular careers for the sake of honesty and selfexpression. Compiled by Chapter Music's Guy Blackman, with an evocative introduction from drummer RIchard Dworkin (who played with Blackberri and Buena Vista), the album is a powerful tribute to pioneering artists whose music has been neglected for too long.