We are not alone. Through the centuries we have created theories, heard stories, made films, and of course, music that is deeply inspired by the idea of the unknown, and the cosmos. We went far and deep into this cosmic void to gather 4 visionairs to help us present a new series on the label. "Visitations - Chapter 1", touches down through sonic dimensions with Damon Wild, Ben Sims, Steve Bicknell and Tadeo. These artists are amongst the few key figures who established the foundations of Techno music and continue to do so decades later.... Their influences are also undeniable to the aesthetics and sound of "Chronicle" and so we are more then honored to present each one of them on our new series. Their contribution to this compilation is of extraordinary measure, connected both in vision and purpose they provide us with extraterrestrial sounds that challenges the listener both intellectually and emotionally with each track standing strongly on its own while functioning in a cohesive way bringing the vision of Chronicle Records into focus.
Cerca:mark one
The fourth AF Trax release is a three-track EP from our long time ally The Fantastic Twins, who has the following to say about her EP:
This EP is a small collection of works I crafted over the past couple of years in the process of working on my live show. I have been performing versions of these tracks countless times and yet never played them twice the same way. To me, they have been material in constant motion, so shaping them into a 'finished' form was a risky challenge. Something I was also wary of - would it mean they would become set in stone Would it mean I'd have to somehow 'rationalise" the music - via the mind - as opposed to letting it run into the wildness of its physical live experiences
Whilst editing these tracks into a format that could be released, I realised that instead of shaping them into the mould my mind first intended to give them, I could in fact use the power they revealed each time I performed them to an audience and inject some of that energy - as much as it is possible to capture and recreate it in the studio - back into this EP. Then of course, it meant letting go on things I usually like to control more, and better.
But isn't it the power of music to let it take you where you didn't plan to go And how incomplete would the music be if our inspiration didn't feed off the collective experience of dancing to music together I've lost myself (and my twins) many times throughout the process - not only on German soil - I have sometimes landed in the wrong place, but I may have found one answer yet in the form of another question. Why are we here if we can't dance
That reminds me of the words of Pina Bausch 'Dance, dance or we are lost'. Lost in our internal struggles as individuals (or imaginary twins). Lost in a society where our relation to the other is often marked by fear, power or violence. We feel the need to resist. Yet nowadays, taking a political stance as an artist is too often being instrumentalised as another tactics or accessory to gather more popularity, reducing the political message to nothing else but a branding attempt. Isn't it anyway the power of capitalism to assimilate everything, even contradictory or once-upon-a-time subversive voices All to end up on a 'Rave' or 'Feminist' H&M t-shirt. Slogans that have been emptied of their initial force and substance, now replaced by their commercial value. I strongly doubt that more empty words poured in vain on social media will help us much. But, like Pina Bausch, like JD Twitch, I have always firmly believed in dancing as a physical, social and fundamental act that leads us to share a common space with others and embrace otherness. Standing together, dancing together when everything else forces us to divide.
Wehbba collaborates with ghetto tech legend DJ Deeon, to deliver another superlative EP on Drumcode.
Since his debut on Drumcode in 2017, Brazil's Wehbba has become one of the most dependable and impressive artists on the roster. Last year saw two standout EP's 'Eclipse' and 'Catarse' drop on the imprint, alongside 'Just', his strong contribution to A-Sides Vol.7. He also made his mark playing Drumcode events at OFF Week, Resistance Ibiza and the much talked about double header in Manchester and Bristol when DC took over Warehouse Project and Motion respectively.
A true master craftsman in the studio, his first contribution for 2019 is typically impressive. A huge inspiration to Wehbba since his nascent raver days, ghetto tech icon DJ Deeon contributes a fierce vocal to 'We Have Bass', after a serendipitous hook up in São Paulo. A peak career moment collaborating with one of his original heroes and the artist responsible for the classic 'Freak Like Me', the resulting percussive-heavy cut kicks like a rodeo bull. 'Third Wave' is coffee geek Wehbba's homage to his favourite brew, constructing the production to mirror the experience of a caffeine fix, as a loopy trance-inducing groove leads to powerful synth stabs that are heavy on impact. 'Steamroller' is a stripped back slice of techno driven by the Brazilian's Korg MS-20 and found form after it initially begun as a studio jam inspired by Richie Hawtin's 'Minus Orange'.
A Jean-Michel Jarre fan stretching back to his childhood, 'Another Mistake' was conceived after Wehbba saw the French legend in concert last year and was subsequently able to meet him backstage through a mutual friend. While creating the track, the producer imagined Jarre playing the main layers of the hook on his famous Laser-harp, eliciting an almost celestial quality with the melody. This is a stirring slice of techno fit for stadiums. The EP ends with 'Purge', the artist's stream-of-consciousness expression recorded in one-take and a beautiful beat-less way to conclude the work.
New York's indie disco freaks Phenomenal Handclap Band is back with a second single on Toy Tonics: Jail. With remixes by Detroit's Waajeed and Marcel Vogel of Lumberjacks in Hell. Including a club edit by Toy Tonics head honcho Kapote. The band was responsible for one of Toy Tonics' biggest tracks in 2018: Judge Not: The Ray Mang version became a hit on open minded dancefloors around the globe: with support from DJ's like DJ Harvey, Cassius and Gilles Peterson (who put it int his - best track of the year' list) but also more house DJ's like Berlin's Keine Musik Crew, Soundstream or Superpitcher. The band's members are kind of heroes to many connoisseurs of the funk/ disco scene. The band leader Daniel Collas was playing keys in Amy Winehouse legendary backing band. Other members are connected to Mark Ronson's crew or San Francisco's Stones Throw universe.. just to give u the bigger picture. With The Phenomenal Handclap Band they blend the unique vibe of 1970ies Power-Soul in the traditon of Charles Stepney and Rotary Connection with today's new disco vibe. Parcels, Toro Y Moi, Roosevelt are not that far. Important fact: All played live, no samples. Mixed by the champs at DFA. The band is part of Toy Tonics's masterplan to expand their dancevibes into more live played scenarios.. stepping out of the strict DJ context. Fun fact Paul McCartney wrote the band a letter saying how much he loved their music when he first heard the band on BBC Radio 1.
Any self-respecting scene can not do without a muse. Albeit a fragile one. Xen is a central figure in the (now not so) new Tel Aviv scene, having fluttered from projects to projects (with Red Axes, with Yovav Arzi or the soon to come Levantines), being herself kind of everywhere she goes, fragile yet strong, as if she was gaining gravity from both the little black hole inside of her and from the Garzen galaxy. These four tracks written and produced with Dori Sadovnik from Red Axes may be the epitaph to Xen are romantic underachiever, her chrysalis. Pere Adam has been a hit (whatever that means these days) with many luminaries such as Vladimir Ivkovic or Ivan Smagghe, pure angst in psychedelic dub. On Zel Meshugah, Xen & Dori amp the gothic, though more moon than beach, proving once more that all good songs are about heartbreaks. There is a certain sixties folk air to Ir Beton, some lofi sun shining through Xen's adolescent clouds. This new found positivity finds its expression in the flea market funk of Sugar & Wine, Xen shouting to the stars that life, even if bumpy, is now really worth living. -Words By Ivan Smagghe
hand-painted / signed / numbered / ltd. to 99 copies
Polyarrythmics is an EP by Mark Spn, a music producer and sound engineer who lives in London. While this is his debut EP under this moniker, he has recorded under various other aliases, one favourite being Holdie Gawn on Sylphe Records.
This release slows things down a notch from Mark's other output. He presents a densely layered work that conjures Herbie Hancock's sextant & Kirk Degiorgio's arps, J. Majik's mermaids & Underdog's attic tapes. It is cerebral and cohesive, made to be consumed as a sum of its parts: found sounds and urban field recordings, hushed Hammond grooves and modulated keys, muffled beats and unsyncopated rhythms, flickering electronics and hovering pianos.
Artist John Tsombikos has been commissioned to provide one-off artwork for the limited edition physical product, to be released in mid March. Hand painted, signed and numbered, limited edition of 99.
The Second 2019 Release On Seilscheibenpfeiler Is Reserved For One Of The Most Unique Producers Of Our Times And Marks The Label's Most Experimental Moment Yet. Peder Mannerfelt's Discography Stretches Back More Than Ten Years To When He First Started Putting Out Techno Records As The Subliminal Kid. Amongst Other Things He Helped Producing Two Acclaimed Albums By Fellow Swedish Artists Fever Ray And Gained Recognition Under His Real Name, Especially In Recent Years With Releases For Numbers. Or Hinge Finger And Critically Acclaimed Albums Like - controlling Body (2016) Or - daily Routine (2018) On His Own Imprint.
Last Year Mannerfelt Contributed To Modeselektion Vol. 4, Now He's Back With A Set Of Four Tracks Following His Unique Strain Of Abstract Techno. - life Without Friction Is About Disruption As Well As Peculiar Moods And Rhythms, And Other Than Its Title May Suggest, There's A Lot Of Friction And Tenseness In These Tracks. The Title Cut And - un - Air Show Mannerfelt In Almost Straightforward Mode, Always Ensuring It Never Gets Boring Or Too Comfortable. - lucid In The Sky And - hold The Line Combine Mellow Sounds With Stabs Of Noise And Twisted Percussion. As Always, Peder Mannerfelt's Productions Remain Unpredictable, But Predictably Great.
Fresh from 1986, another slo-mo Disco / Boogie / Garage banger from the Easy Street catalogue. That's right, this is that downtempo electrified sleazy Funk that keeps dance-floors pulsing. It has all the trademarks of the time, dope futuristic synths, slamming low-key drums and a sassy vocal performance from Kim Marsh lamenting a useless guy and her heartbreak! Classic Disco subject matter indeed. This one stands head and shoulders alongside the Tanaa Gardners, Barbara Masons and all the other heavy hitters of the time.
'Main Thing' is a true rarity today and used copies command a collectors price on the second hand record market. Every home should have a copy of this, no proper Disco collection is complete without it. A record that will never go out of style & will always provoke some buckwild reactions on any dance-floor it's dropped on!
Shout out to Easy Street, %100 legit re-issue, re-master & re-press, essential wax!
Chicago-based Matt Warren has been a DJ for forty years and has been a producer since 1984, when he released his debut single Rock The Nation. This inspired Matt to cofound Sunset Records in 1985, which released several house classics. However, in 1987, Matt resigned from Sunset Records and founded AKA Dance Music.
The first single that AKA Dance Music released was Bang The Box, which sold over 50,000 copies in America and nowadays, is regarded as the first hard house track. Bang The Box was the first of seven singles that AKA Dance Music released between 1987 and 1988. By then, Matt's second label was part the history of house music.
After the demise of AKA Dance Music, Matt Warren continued to travel the world DJ in some of the top clubs. Meanwhile, Matt continued to produce new music, remix tracks by some of the biggest names in music.
By the nineties, Matt was also writing, arranging, mixing, and producing a wide variety of artists and bands. He sometimes was asked to play on a number of albums. However, he still loved house music, and worked on several releases.
As the new millennia dawned, Matt continued to work in a variety of roles in the ever-changing music industry, and occasionally released some new music. Over the next few years, Matt has been working as a producer, engineer and remixer, which meant he had to put his own career on hold, until he began working with a familiar face.
In 2016, Matt was reunited with house diva Pepper Gomez, who was now running her own label Wake Up! Music. By then, Pepper Gomez had dawned the MyMy Lady G moniker and embarked upon a career as producer. She had travelled to Chicago, to record Elena Andujar's genre-meting album Flamenco In Time at Matt's Sound Studio Recording. Matt took charge of engineering, programming, mixing and production on Flamenco In Time while MyMy Lady G added backing vocals and assumed the role of executive producer on this groundbreaking project. After the completion of Flamenco In Time, MyMy Lady G asked Matt Warren if he would like to record an album
It didn't take long for Matt to answer in the affirmative, and in early 2018, he hit the comeback trail. He was accompanied by a group of talented musicians and vocalists including gospel singer and soulful diva Jan McGhee, Elena Andujar and legendary house diva Pepper Gomez who plays a starring role on the album. That album was recorded over the course of several months, and eventually became Music Is My Life which marks the comeback of Mark Warren.
Matt Warren has been away to long, now one of the pioneers of Chicago House makes a welcome return with a groundbreaking new album. This is Music Is My Life, the first ever Nu House album, which is guaranteed to transform Matt Warren's career and become part of dance music history.
Due to overwhelming demand for our 5LP boxset which sold out on the day of release, here are the first ever official individual re-issues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet.
The five albums; Shades Of Blues (1965), Dusk Fire (1966), Phase III (1968), Change Is (1969) and Live (1969), have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artefacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.
The complete Don Rendell & Ian Carr Lansdowne recording sessions are now available as individual LPs. We located and acquired the original analogue master tapes from the Universal vaults and created masters at Abbey Road Studios to produce audiophile quality 180g pressings replete with replica artwork - shape, design, and even paper stock. No stone has been left unturned to deliver this absolute labour of love to the highest possible standard! Inside is a link to a printable online pdf which contains never before seen photographs, interviews with the remaining living band members and liner notes from BBC Radio 3 presenter and award-winning jazz writer Alyn Shipton.
The band played together for seven years and during this fruitful time they made a plethora of deeply melodic, post-bop British jazz compositions that later on took influences from Indo and more spiritually guided jazz. Produced by the influential Denis Preston and recorded at his Lansdowne Studios in London, the band was primarily made up of saxophonist Don Rendell, trumpeter/composer Ian Carr, and pianist/composer Michael Garrick. This is UK jazz at its absolute finest and is a treasure not to be missed.
53 Degrees North marks SK_eleven s seventh release, as Setaoc Mass continues to add to his flourishing imprint; this time with a two-part EP release. 53 Degrees North Part One focuses its efforts on four-to-the-floor club-centric music the label head is renowned for. All four tracks are emblazoned with his signature, disparate pairing of light and dark sound palettes glued beneath rich, atmospheric textures and hypnotism - all the while keeping its muscular club chassis gleaming beneath. Part Two of the double release sees Coates revealing more of his experimental side. The second cut pays homage to past influences of the producer as he floats between ambient, IDM and electro cuts with ease, all rife with emotion and passion.
- A1: La Fine Equipe & Fakear - 5Th Season
- A2: Clement Bazin - Xo Ft. Jt Soul
- A3: Robert Robert - Okay Alright Okay
- A4: Fakear - Mana
- A5: Leska - Waterfall Ft. Madjo
- A6: Lénéré - Living Waters Ft. Clara Sergent
- B1: Jumo - Tout Ira Bien
- B2: Gangue - Geste Propre
- B3: Everydayz - Secret Fire
- B4: Kultur - Second Youth
- B5: Yann Kesz - Parabox 432H
- B6: Skence - The Speech
- C1: Fakear - Skyline
- C2: Clement Bazin - "Romeo
- C4: La Fine Equipe - Make U Greedy
- C5: Douchka - This Mood Ft. Hi Levelz
- C6: Everydayz & Phazz - Algeria
- C7: Robert Robert - Let Her Go Ft. Lia & Le Vasco
- D1: Unno - Walls
- D2: Jumo - Nomade
- D3: Awir Leon - Maybe We Land
- D4: Brnkfd - Sixteen Ft. Camille Michelle Gray
- D5: Hugo Lx - Doma Ft. Nia Andrews
- D6: Hoosky - Rush Hour
* Five years have passed since the first release of Nowadays Records.Launched with Fakear's signature (seen on Ninja Tune), the label founded by oOgo and Chomsky from La Fine Equipe has seen the growth of many projects such as Clément Bazin, Everydayz, Phazz (who produced for Travis Porter, did remixes for Soulection, Interscope and Mad Decent), Leska, Jumo and many others, all of them carried by the irreplaceable quartet of La Fine Equipe.
Five years during which Nowadays Records released 75 EPs and LPs, toured in and outside of France, and generated several hundred millions stream plays.With its heart in the right place, its eyes on the emerging scene and its ears open on the world, Nowadays built itself a singular and racy identity through the time. Fed by inspirations like Stone Throw, Ninja Tune or Warp, the label places itself as an ambassador of a fast growing scene, defending it through its shows, releases, and events like the two Boiler Room shows in Paris and London.Without sticking itself to a musical gender, Nowadays keeps on widening its horizons by working with foreign artists and mixing the inspirations through its releases, driven by its sound and visual trademarks and aesthetics.
In order to celebrate those five years spent defending as many projects as musical crushes they had, and to thank its community made of more than 150 000 followers around the world, Nowadays unveils the 'Nowadays V', double album with a digital and physical release on November 30th.Through this compilation, Nowadays gathers on one side the tracks that marked its history and, on the other side, unreleased tracks that sometimes lead to collaborations such as the one between Clément Bazin and Leska, or the one between Fakear and La Fine Equipe.
One year on from the passing of label co-founder and artist Alex Smith, Flash as a Rat returns with its 6th instalment.
Digby, co-founder and brother to Alex, continues the siblings' form for emotionally intelligent and sound focussed minimal.
'Briefmacken' bumps through waves of kicks and glitches to arrive at moments of peaceful clarity, whilst 'Constantly' swings with off kilter hisses and pops around a metallic organ sequence, making it's claustrophobic way towards a beautifully layered string section at the crescendo.
The typically pared back artwork this time inverts the colour scheme from the brothers' first ever release on their own label, marking the record simultaneously the ending of one chapter and the beginning of the next.
Book/ Cd/ 7''/ Flexi
There are still precious few women at the helm of record labels, let alone Indian women, but Vinita stands out as a proud anomaly... a champion of the underdog, an underdog herself, a surrogate mother to unsung musicians, a relentless workerbee, a fan, a carer, a catalyst...' (Richard Milward, from the Rocket Girl 20 book)
2018 marked the 20th anniversary of Rocket Girl, one of the most eclectic and resilient small independent labels in the UK, steered single-handedly by Vinita Joshi. To celebrate this milestone, in March 2019 Rocket Girl will release a very special collection of music and literature, comprising a 16-track CD compilation of Vinita's artists past and present, a collectable 7' and flexi disc, exclusive Anthony Ausgang print, full 20 track download, plus a strikingly illustrated 70-page hardback book uncovering the history of the label.
Based on extensive interviews with Vinita, with contributions from many of her bands (Füxa, God is an Astronaut, Coldharbourstores, Pieter Nooten), the book's text is written by Faber author and long-time Rocket Girl supporter Richard Milward. Beginning with Vinita's formative years in Rugby in the 1970s and 1980s, the story covers not only the eventful history of Rocket Girl but also Vinita's teenage initiation into the music industry: managing The Telescopes, founding Ché with Nick Allport out of the ashes of Cheree, before finally going it alone and setting up her own label in 1998. It is both an inspiring and bittersweet tale. Vinita's staying power alone in such a challenging industry is worthy of its own tribute: she has built a record label on her own terms from scratch, she has overcome the loss of loved ones, survived a breakdown at the height of her label's popularity, and all in all her immense love of music, her strength and positivity in the face of adversity blazes throughout the book. Along the way we learn of the hits (and why Kurt Heasley's vocal cords seemed to be malfunctioning during the Lilys' Top of the Pops appearance), the near-misses (including a never-before-seen letter from Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers), the triumph of Vinita's first self-released LP A Tribute to Spacemen 3, her heartbreak losing Jason DiEmilio of The Azusa Plane in 2006, plus sad revelations concerning Television Personalities' Daniel Treacy's condition following his brain trauma in 2011...
Regular Rocket Girl designer Xiaofei Zhang has been given access to Vinita's vast collection of personal photographs, letters, flyers, press clippings and other keepsakes, arranging these alongside the text to give the book the feel of a technicolour scrapbook, a vivid chronicle of indie music past, present and future.
As Milward writes: 'The artists Vinita has worked with over the years are undisputed luminaries of alternative music, and stand up to any major indie label's roster: Spacemen 3, The Telescopes, Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Lilys, Low, Bardo Pond, Mogwai, Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman, Television Personalities, to name just a handful.' Likewise, the artists featured on the accompanying CD compilation reveal just how far-ranging Vinita's taste is, and how loyal her bands have been to her over the years. The disc opens with a special 'Rocket mix' of Silver Apples' 'Susie' - the band that adorned the A-side of rgirl1, the label's first 7'. From here, there are cuts from Rocket Girl stalwarts like Füxa and Bell Gardens, as well as tracks contributed by friends and supporters of the label, such as Andrew Weatherall and Mogwai. Arguably the most notable track (certainly the most poignant) is the Television Personalities' 'All Coming Back', one of just a few unreleased songs recorded before Treacy's accident, and released here with Daniel's sister's blessing.
Vinita began her career selling Loop/Telescopes flexi discs on New Year's Eve 1988 and, in homage to this bygone format, she has included a 7' flexi (featuring 'Fight For Work', an outtake from Mogwai's most recent LP, Every Country's Sun) as well as a standard 7' bringing together rare tracks from two Philadelphia bands she has championed since their formation: Bardo Pond and The Azusa Plane. The three discs are housed in pockets found in the book's inside covers, and there are yet more gifts: an exclusive print by Anthony Ausgang (the instantly recognisable artist behind MGMT's Congratulations and Füxa's Electric Sound of Summer covers), plus a free download code for all tracks featured across the various formats of the collection.
Vinita's story is anything but ordinary, and this extraordinary collection is the most fitting tribute to the label's legacy so far: a treasure trove of rare tracks and unheard stories for Rocket Girl devotees, a comprehensive introduction to the label for the uninitiated, and both an inspirational chronicle and cautionary tale for anybody interested in the history of British independent music in the past thirty years...
Label boss Perc returns to Perc Trax for his first full release since his career defining "Bitter Music" LP in May 2017, an album which featured the infamous "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me", one of the most played techno tracks of the year and Perc Trax's best selling track to date.
Conceived as a response to the endless stream of rip-off's, rehashes and re-edits that track spawned "Three Tracks To Send To Your Ghost Producer" strips back the vocals and melodic elements that characterised Bitter Music to present a raw, rolling, heavily percussive sound. Kick, toms and hi-hat rhythms play off each other whilst interlocking with the solid kicks that propel each track forwards.
From the spitting acid stabs of "Toxic NRG" to the brutal drop in "Driller" the three tracks are overflowing with the kind of in-yerface attitude that marks out the best of Perc's productions. Together they form an EP which once again highlights him as one of the UK's most forward thinking techno practitioners.
- A1: Hold On To My Love
- A2: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
- A3: Reflections
- A4: When I Need You
- A5: No Business Like Love Business
- B1: I Hear The Laughter
- B2: Magdalena
- B3: How Much Love
- B4: I Think We Fell In Love Too Fast
- B5: Endless Flight
- C1: Thunder In My Heart
- C2: Easy To Love
- C3: Leave Well Enough Alone
- C4: I Want You Back
- C5: It's Over
- D1: Fool For Your Love
- D2: World Keeps On Turning
- D3: There Isn't Anything I Wouldn't Do
- D4: Everything I've Got
- D5: We Can Start All Over Again
- E1: Stormy Weather
- E2: Dancing The Night Away
- E3: I Can't Stop Loving You (Though I Try)
- E4: La Booga Rooga
- E5: Raining In My Heart
- F1: Something Fine
- F2: Running To My Freedom
- F3: Frankie Lee
- F4: Don't Look Away
- F5: No Looking Back
In a career spanning 45 years, Leo Sayer has sold more than 80 MILLION records worldwide.
To coincide with Leo's forthcoming return to the UK for his 22-date 'Just A Boy At 70' tour, 'The Hollywood Years
1976-1978' is the second of a series of three Vinyl LP box sets.
'The Hollywood Years 1976-1978' comprises Leo's three studio albums. 'Endless Flight' (released 1976/UK
#4) 'Thunder In My Heart' (released 1977/UK #8) and 'Another Year' (released 1978/UK #15) and marked a
clear departure from his early albums.
Leo recorded these three albums with legendary producer Richard Perry, who brought in a variety of songwriters
and collaborators to work on the projects with Leo; it was a venerable Who's Who of the record industry.
Each vinyl LP Box set in this Limited Edition release, will be pressed on heavyweight 180g clear vinyl and contain
a signed 12'x12' print.
This project has been overseen by Leo Sayer, who remains one of the UK's great singer/songwriters of all time.
The Polyversal Souls are back with another collaboration with Ethopia's No. 1 soul singer Alemayehu Eshete. As they did on their first mutual release Alteleyeshegnem (PH45011), one more time the band presents a new interpretation of one of Alemayehu's classic songs.
Feqer Feqer Nèw is heavy soul at his best, completed by Alemayehu's trade mark vocal style. On Portrait of Alemayehu (Daytime), the Polyversal Souls are admiringly painting a picture of the master's gentle aura which surrounded him during the session.
A holy grail of European electronic dance music, and a classic at the Italian disco scene and Hamburg's Front club alike (you might have heard it on their recent Mastermix), is finally available again. Produced in 1984 by two mysterious friends during a hazy studio session in the small town of Aschaffenburg, Germany, it is best described by Discogs member goulashdj as 'a funny version of some Imam praying on top of an electronic Groove', .'Kairo' is all you want from an oddball record: fun and funky, weird and wonderful. Featuring original vocals by one of the two friends, it seems to be offensive to religious fanatics and devout Muslims (you better watch, where you play out the original). Therefore, a philosophical advisory or religious warning: 'No religion, god or believer was harmed during the creation of this record. We believe in the right to believe or disbelief in anything and everything that isn't inhuman.' For safety reasons, it includes a persecution-proof instrumental version by Boris Dlugosch as well as the original B-side and completely atheistic 'Kosak 2000'. And to close with Mark Twain: Man was made at the end of the week's work, when God was tired.
We are proud to present our first release of 2019, Kaleidoscope vol. II, featuring two new roster additions (Dalek One and Phossa) alongside label residents Clearlight and Bisweed.
01 - Dalek One - Frequency Shock
American talent Dalek One shows why he's quickly rising in the 140 scene with this debut release on Subaltern. And what a debut it is - 'Frequency Shock' with its ecstatic bass and synth lines gets everything right in all the right places, and we are honoured to press it to wax.
02 - Clearlight - Stuck Inside
Diving into deeper realms is Subaltern resident and psychedelic wizard Clearlight. 'Stuck Inside' lures the listener into a seductive maze of towering resonating frequencies. Once this pill has been swallowed there's no easy way out - this track is sure to be stuck inside your head for a while.
03 - Phossa - Vacant
Another young talent - UK based Phossa - makes his first mark on the Subaltern roster with an intricate piece of sub science. Carried by distinctive bells and spooky vocals, the young Bristolian shows off his extraordinary production style.
04 - Bisweed - Profound
Rounding off this showcase of fresh sounds from the Subaltern universe is everyone's favourite Estonian - Bisweed! Following on from the acclaimed Subalt014 EP, this track oozes his trademark confidence in composition and sound design. Percussive fireworks, heavy subs and menacing synths combine to create an enthralling piece of music.
A mythical and misplaced masterpiece of lost soft rock and acidic folk funk by a one-hit wonderer lost in the wilderness for four decades. From the producer of Margo Guryan, writer behind Wool, Gerry Mulligan collaborator, Tarantino soundtracker and Wendy & Bonnie confidant, Paint A Lady now emerges from folkloric obscurity, to bring a wash of soft psychedelic colour to your vinyl collection and quench the repeat requests of a thirsty new found audience waiting for the rain.
Within certain record collecting circles, especially those who gather under the umbrella that covers fragile niches like 'acid folk' and 'soft rock', it's difficult to imagine a time when the legendary Susan Christie album didn't exist. When Finders Keepers Records first shared the unheard 60's songs like Paint A Lady, For The Love Of A Soldier and Echoes In Your Mind with a wide-eyed audience thirsty for organic soul and festival friendly acoustic funk, Susan's new found fan base instantly felt like they had known these songs all of their lives, and with a single needle drop we saw the birth of what could rightfully be described as an 'instant classic'. Which is why it's hard to believe that the music on this lost 60s acetate was only pressed 12 years ago. As our lucky seventh release in an international discography that now surpasses the 100 mark (and one of a small clutch of English language recordings on the label) Paint A Lady has slowly become one of our most requested re-releases, and with this 2018 edition it is technically accurate to say that this pressing is the first-ever reissue of this elusive and essential LP.
The oft over used term mythical applies to this album on many levels. Perhaps it's the woozy nostalgia found within the pop craft of Paint A Lady that has led to false rumours that original 1960's copies used to exist on the collectors market, or the bizarre claim that songs like the head-nodding title track, and the acid-drenched sound effects on Yesterday Where's My Mind were just a product of a contemporary studio band trying to create a fake folk funk red herring. As a result Susan Christie and her producer and husband of 40 years, John Hill have happily taken the repeat phrase 'unbelievable' as a compliment to their songwriting skills and foresight. In all fairness, with a decade to ponder, the original 1969 song titles alone do seem custom-built for the nostalgia market... No One Can Hear You Cry might lament the unrequited yearning for a record deal which never quite followed Susan's won one-hit wonder novelty hit I Love Onions; similarly When Love Comes might allude to the subsequent 35 year wait for the right label to eventually come along. Echoes In Your Mind and the aforementioned Yesterday... could easily allude to the haunting melodies that sat in the can on John Hill's studio shelf while his projects for Margo Guryan, Wool and Pacific Gas & Electric sat proudly in record racks before benefitting successful French cover versions or making their way on to Quentin Tarantino soundtracks. The track Paint A lady itself, complete with it's future-proofed sample-worthy rhythm section, seems like the perfect title for a mock rock pseudo psych contender - at which point you eventually step back and see the bigger picture. These guys were simply one drop too far ahead of their time; a family force of experimental pop perfection that late 60's America simply wasn't ready for. It is just over 12 years since champion record rustler Keith D'Arcy (who you'll meet on the inside sleeve) stumbled upon one of the original acetates that led to the final release of Paint A Lady, and it's almost a longer 50 years since Susan and John added their final touches to these recordings which tragically went into hibernation for over four decades.
Whether this album has been on your wish-list for what seems like a lifetime, or you are taking a plunge into this deep puddle for the first time, when the needle drops on the first track you'll find that Susan Christie, John Hill and Finders Keepers have been saving up for a very rainy day.




















