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The fourth 10-inch EP from the 10th anniversary of U Know Me Records series comes from Immortal Onion. The album consists of 5 pieces. For those missing live concerts there are 2 songs taken from the band's performance on 8th of August at Jassmine club in Warsaw. The B-side starts with a rework of the song called "Leaving", originally composed by Hania Rani (who often performs with 2 members of Immortal Onion). The next song ("Zu Hause") was created especially for this album as the result of the band's experiments with electronics. The EP closes with a rework of "Eye Tracking" - a song from "XD Experience Design - made by Kadrych.

The rework of "Leaving" will be released only on vinyl and won't be available on streaming services.

Strictly limited edition - 300 hand-numbered copies. The first hundred will be released on red vinyl and copies from 101 to 300 as classic black ones.

The album was created with help of trusted people, who also worked on "XD Experience Design" - graphic design by Martiszu, mix by Envee (except the last song mixed by Maciej Stendek) and mastering by Eprom.

Kiwi Jr. is a phenomenal "rock" and/or "punk" and/or "indie-rock" (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar). Cooler Returns is their second album, and their first for Sub Pop. Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, Cooler Returns is truly a whole lot of fun. RIYL indie-pop from down under, things that are smart/exuberant/catchy all at once. Buildings burning in every direction; macabre unknowns in your friendly neighbor's basement; undecided voters sharpening their pencils: under pressure we could call Kiwi Jr.'s Cooler Returns "timely." But what year is it, again? On Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. cycle through the recent zigs & looming zags of the new decade, squinting anew at New Year's parties forgotten and under-investigated small town diner fires, piecing together low-stakes conspiracy theories on what's coming down the pike in 2021. Put together like a thousand-piece puzzle, assembled in flow state through the first dull stretch of quarantine, sanitized singer shuffling to sanitized studio by streetcar, masked like it's the kind of work where getting recognized means getting killed, Cooler Returns materializes as a sprawling survey from the first few bites of the terrible twenties, an investigative exposé of recent history buried under the headlines & ancient kings buried under parking lots. Not so long since their debut Football Money in archaeological time, unending gray eons later in the dog years of quaran-time, spiritually antipodean Canadians Kiwi Jr return to disseminate this year's annual report to the shareholders, burying the incriminating numbers in the endless appendices of a longform narrative record, a 3,000 word tract for stakeholders to pore over. These stories - memories of Augusts past, unrepressed & transcribed fast - go down easier thanks to meaningful changes enacted in 2019's KiwiCares Pledge: delivering on a promise to transition from Crunchy to Smooth by 2021, the caveman chug of Football Money has been steamed & pressed with the purifying air of a saloon piano - operated with bow-tie untied - and a spring green side-salad of tentatively up-tempo organ taps & freshly fluted harmonica. A chronically detuned spin of the dial through swivel-chair distractions & WFH daydreams, an immersive ctrl-tab deluge cycling through popular listicle distractions like the unentombing of Richard III, or the deja vu destruction of the Glasgow School of Art, Kiwi Jr. sing this song to an indoor audience, crisscrossing canceled, every other prestige distraction source wrung dry, only songwriting remaining to deliver engrossing tales to the populace, just how I imagine it worked in the old days. Fixing loose ingredients into a sturdy whip, Kiwi Jr. beam in live from the 9-5, striding into 2021 with a mastered brainwave that comes equally from the back room of the record store as the penalty box. And how do we, left holding this box of deliberate entanglements, sign off to those as yet uninitiated, undecided, uncertain, unseen, absent return coordinates - Best Wishes, Warm Regards, Good Luck? Cooler Returns, Cooler Returns, C o o l e r R e t u r n s ! Cooler Returns was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto, and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

LTD. LOSER EDITION

Kiwi Jr. is a phenomenal "rock" and/or "punk" and/or "indie-rock" (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar). Cooler Returns is their second album, and their first for Sub Pop. Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, Cooler Returns is truly a whole lot of fun. RIYL indie-pop from down under, things that are smart/exuberant/catchy all at once. Buildings burning in every direction; macabre unknowns in your friendly neighbor's basement; undecided voters sharpening their pencils: under pressure we could call Kiwi Jr.'s Cooler Returns "timely." But what year is it, again? On Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. cycle through the recent zigs & looming zags of the new decade, squinting anew at New Year's parties forgotten and under-investigated small town diner fires, piecing together low-stakes conspiracy theories on what's coming down the pike in 2021. Put together like a thousand-piece puzzle, assembled in flow state through the first dull stretch of quarantine, sanitized singer shuffling to sanitized studio by streetcar, masked like it's the kind of work where getting recognized means getting killed, Cooler Returns materializes as a sprawling survey from the first few bites of the terrible twenties, an investigative exposé of recent history buried under the headlines & ancient kings buried under parking lots. Not so long since their debut Football Money in archaeological time, unending gray eons later in the dog years of quaran-time, spiritually antipodean Canadians Kiwi Jr return to disseminate this year's annual report to the shareholders, burying the incriminating numbers in the endless appendices of a longform narrative record, a 3,000 word tract for stakeholders to pore over. These stories - memories of Augusts past, unrepressed & transcribed fast - go down easier thanks to meaningful changes enacted in 2019's KiwiCares Pledge: delivering on a promise to transition from Crunchy to Smooth by 2021, the caveman chug of Football Money has been steamed & pressed with the purifying air of a saloon piano - operated with bow-tie untied - and a spring green side-salad of tentatively up-tempo organ taps & freshly fluted harmonica. A chronically detuned spin of the dial through swivel-chair distractions & WFH daydreams, an immersive ctrl-tab deluge cycling through popular listicle distractions like the unentombing of Richard III, or the deja vu destruction of the Glasgow School of Art, Kiwi Jr. sing this song to an indoor audience, crisscrossing canceled, every other prestige distraction source wrung dry, only songwriting remaining to deliver engrossing tales to the populace, just how I imagine it worked in the old days. Fixing loose ingredients into a sturdy whip, Kiwi Jr. beam in live from the 9-5, striding into 2021 with a mastered brainwave that comes equally from the back room of the record store as the penalty box. And how do we, left holding this box of deliberate entanglements, sign off to those as yet uninitiated, undecided, uncertain, unseen, absent return coordinates - Best Wishes, Warm Regards, Good Luck? Cooler Returns, Cooler Returns, C o o l e r R e t u r n s ! Cooler Returns was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto, and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

Album composed, recorded and mixed by Elko Blijweert. Mastered & cut by Frédéric Altstadt. Original cover artwork painted by Joe Brockerhoff. Album pressed on 180g vinyl, in an edition of 500 copies.

Here we add a new classic chapter to tradition. A tradition known as the many exotic sounds of Maestro Elko B. The multi instrumentalist member of bands like ‘The Horse Head Bed’, ‘The Groovecats Deluxe’, ‘Dino And The Chicks’ and many more has once again composed a new solo album for Ekster. This fine and tasty selection of musical pieces vibrate colourful echoes ranging from blossoming fountains over casino-esque gambling. Space-cowboys play hide and seek with childlike innocence in an adult world. Many of the songs on “Realm of Rides & Romance”
have found its origin in Blijweert’s work as a composer of soundtracks for theatre, dance performance and artistic installations. Cinematic reflections providing EXO “Paradise Moods” by this multitrack one man band.

Recorded from 2017 to 2020, Elko has expressed finding inspiration in chance, the Sphinx, the casino, the Decap organ, colonialism, bats and frogs.

“The earth shall rise again...”
AMOR/LEMUR finds the Glasgow quartet AMOR in partnership with Norwegian improvising ensemble LEMUR to hopeful and ecstatic effect. Conceived before the onset of Covid 19 but finished during spring lockdown, their eponymous EP is the most loose, alive and elevated recording in AMOR’s catalog. AMOR/LEMUR takes the template of throbbing avant disco expanded upon on previous recordings for Night School and lifts it into new

territories, with new tonalities and unexpected turns on the journey. More than anything, the expanded, near- cinematic expression of human connectivity feels like a lightning new energy to grasp in the dark.

Following a revelatory concert in Glasgow in January 2020 wherein the two sets of musicians met and performed together for the first time, a recording session was arranged the following day, resulting in the most elevated permutation of AMOR’s art to date. Each track was built upon a rhythmic bedrock of percussion and drums performed by Paul Thomson and samples/synthesizer by Luke Fowler. Thomson used bamboo Javanese gamelan (most notably on For You) and scrap metal, as well as traditional percussion and drums while Fowler incorporated processed ambient field recordings recorded in enclosed acoustic spaces around Glasgow. Singer/pianist Richard Youngs contributes some of the most bright and mindful work of his career. Acoustic bass player Michael Francis Duch, whose lush playing as ever provides the elastic spine to each song, scored the string parts for LEMUR on piano at home in Norway. The addition of swelling strings and drones fills out the AMOR sound significantly, lending a sonorous tone to 8 minute, epic closer For You or an ascending melodic introduction to Stars Burst that feels like a new morning dawning on a world saved from certain death. With the circumstances of lockdown forcing the musicians to work differently, a thread of optimism and utopia grounded in the moment weaves through these tracks. Unravel reveals a spine tingling vocal from Youngs. It’s a song about the simultaneously grounding and ecstatic effect of love, feeling connected to others. It’s a simple message, “I’m finding myself in your smile, always unravels me” speaks of ego death, the dissipation of the material into a nirvana of pure energy, the power of surrender. This isn’t a quasi-religious message, this is the power of each other, a love song to connection in a temporary age of isolation. Stars Burst is a play on the inner and outer cosmos, with narrator Youngs exploring wonder to a pounding galloping rhythm and snake-charming synth. It’s an open dance, with the group locked in together for the wild ride. Fear is the centerpiece of the record, starting with drones and scraped overtones before swirling synth notes filter upwards to meet reverberating minor chords. Over 8 minutes of tight but loose playing, Youngs is the shaman instructing us to use Fear as a celebration of the moment, embrace it and jump into the unknown. The only way to overcome your fear is to feel it, use it as an energy. The use of the studio as an instrument throughout side 2 is particularly important, with the dubbing and mixing prowess of engineer Paul Savage (who mixed unattended due to lockdown restrictions) and tape manipulations performed by Jason Lescallet coming into play. For You closes out with a largely instrumental, evolving composition that uses many of the abstract and novel aspects of this permutation to aid the trance. It’s massive, an unfurling creature with unexpected tonalities and serious heft.

A folk/bluegrass troubadour from Vermont who delves into shape-note traditions and Appalachian ballads and makes it all beguilingly his own. His guitar lines have the fancy fingerwork of a crack banjo player and his banjo lines have the tugging suspensions of a jazzer.’ – Guardian

‘Amidon is a rare Americana artist whose … signature banjo-strewn style … and disparate mix of influences play into a sound that is at once archaically rootsy and savvily refined.’ – Wall Street Journal

Sam Amidon considers his new self-titled album the fullest realization to date of his artistic vision. It comprises his radical reworkings of nine mostly traditional folk songs, performed with his band of longtime friends and collaborators. Amidon produced the record, applying the sonic universe of his 2017 The Following Mountain to these beloved tunes, many of which he first learned as a child. ‘Pretty Polly,’ for example, was one of the first traditional tunes he learned to play, and ‘Time Has Made A Change’ is a song that his parents – singers who were on the 1977 Nonesuch recording Rivers of Delight with the Word of Mouth Chorus – sang around the house when he was young. Amidon will perform two concerts at Kings Place in London on October 3. A limited number of tickets will be available in the venue, as well as tickets to stream the event from home. Further details are available here.

Amidon and his frequent band of multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Chris Vatalaro were joined in the studio by Belgian guitarist Bert Cools (who played on his last EP), as well as Amidon’s wife, Beth Orton, who adds vocals on three songs. Acoustic bassist Ruth Goller and saxophonist and labelmate Sam Gendel also play on the album, which was mixed by Leo Abrahams. Sam Amidon was mostly recorded live in the studio. Amidon arranged the songs, which are traditional tunes, with the exception of Taj Mahal’s ‘Light Rain Blues’, Harkins Frye’s ‘Time Has Made A Change’, and ‘Hallelujah’, which is an 1835 William Walker shape-note tune using earlier words by Charles Wesley, found in the Sacred Harp collection of early American folk-hymns.

Sam Amidon is Amidon’s fifth recording on Nonesuch and follows the 2019 EP Fatal Flower Garden (A Tribute to Harry Smith). Additional recordings include his 2017 album The Following Mountain and Kronos Quartet’s Folk Songs the same year, on which he was a featured singer along with Rhiannon Giddens, Natalie Merchant, and Olivia Chaney; Lily-O in 2014; and his label debut, Bright Sunny South, in 2013.

Kiwi Jr. are a phenomenal rock and / or punk and / or indie rock (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass) and Brian Murphy (guitar). ‘Cooler Returns’ is their second album and their first for Sub Pop.
Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, ‘Cooler Returns’ is truly a whole lot of fun. For fans of indie pop from down under and things that are smart / exuberant / catchy all at once.
‘Cooler Returns’ was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

Ecstatic Meditations’, the follow up to 2016’s acclaimed debut solo outing ‘Interludes’, features six beautifully crafted new tracks leading with an edit of the 20 minute album opener and lead track ‘Journey In Ecstasy’. An adventurous deep listening experience, the new collection was recorded, mixed and mastered by Furse at his electronic studio on the Margate coast.
A sonic tapestry of sound that takes inspiration from the likes of Alice Coltrane, Laraaji, Eno and Steve Reich together with a new found appreciation for Japanese environmental music composers such as Akira Ito and Yasauki Shizimu. The result is an intense yet playfully refreshing take on ambient and electronic music.

When Ajax Tow travels in his Pop Western landscapes, you can be sure there’s always a perfect 70’s road trip soundtrack. Italians cowboys meeting the legendary Miriam Makeba in Rennes suburbs... For his 3rd album The Soul Vegetable Orchestra, Ajax Tow is bringing us on a ten tracks sonic adventure, where many inspirations and references collide. The succession of tracks inspires many feels and moods from sipping a good old bourbon, dance in the kitchen, or gallops though the plains of Napoli.

We can found the influence of Danger Mouse paying hommage to the late Ennio Morricone (Roma, 2011), a cinematic side of Shawn Lee and Misha Panfilov, from music library à la Jean-Claude Vannier to the Band Voilaa, a little glimpse of pimped Ninja tune, a Reworked organic Mo’Wax vibe, all mixed up and spiced up with a Tricky style.

This album is also the result of a collaboration with Dan Voisin (Modul-Club, Eighty…) at the production and drums with Rennes city scene musicians who gives a hand on this album: Romain Baousson (Coupe Colonel, Bikini Machine…) on drums, Sax Machine and Racecar (Saxtoys Records) on horns and vocals, Dj Marrrtin (Funky Bijou, Lord Paramour) on beatmaking, Medline (My Bags) on Flûte.

As a special guest, the late and legendary Miriam Makeba appears on “Magic Miriam”. “Feel it” is definitely setting a west coast on the LP with a Jurassic 5 inspiration, accompanied by a spicy rhythm, MC Racecar (Sax Machine) flows and lyrics brings even more energy to the track. On “Movie” and “Silence”. Ajax Tow give us a nice taste of his favorite psychedelic blends, romantic and intimate at the same time, where we found back Fuzz guitar with 60’s Eric Clapton style (Cream era) and Pink Floyd synths Flavors. The cinematic style and first notes of “So What” reminds Air first EP and the beautiful bass of “Melody Nelson”. For the dessert, “Smallville” is a kind of wedding cake with 70’s loops sprinkling that brings us to Phillipe Sarde’s La Grande Bouffe soundtrack, but with a more contemporary feeling.

Sabaturin is Charles-Émile Beullac (Galerie Stratique, Canada) and Simon Crab (Bourbonese Qualk, United Kingdom). In the spirit of old school tape exchanges that resulted in musical collaborations developed over long periods of time but informed by the infinitely easier processes of the digital age, "Kenemglev" was assembled without the musicians ever meeting.

The title "Kenemglev" means "consensus" in Breton, something which quite naturally had to be achieved between both musicians. The other consensus was a sort of virtual middle ground symbolized by the Breton language, particular to a geographical area (Brittany) that both agreed would stand for a neutral meeting point between their respective native languages and, consequently, cultures. All titles are Breton words and the name Sabaturin ("standing on one feet", "to be off-balance") expresses mainly Charles' excitement: "Simon's bold approach has been some kind of a shock therapy for my music".

The sleeve was designed by Simon Crab, using a Chladni pattern simulation based on specific pitches. Looking like stained glass, it sort of reflects the way the music is presented: although including 9 titles, the album's tracklist flows uninterrupted on each side of the vinyl, semi-mixed, blended.

Detailed electronic ambience, glitches, loops and tiny details are augmented by a sort of signature rhythmic grid we recognize from "My Government Is My Soul"-era Bourbonese Qualk. It never settles into a formula and so the music remains loose, as much Mille Plateaux as classic 80s industrial shortwave-sampling or dub, rolled into one same entity, touching base with the gorgeous glitch dub "Morgouskus". This concludes a gentle and discreet album that doesn't require the validation of being associated with any of the current keywords in the electronic music scene.

Tibor Szemző returns with a new album, based on the music for his film about historic figure Alexander Csoma.

Tibor Szemző is a Hungarian composer, performer, media artist. Recently his album Snapshots From The Island (1987) gained renewed interest. Over the years Tibor Szemzo continued composing classical / electronic works. His pieces often include spoken texts, film and other media. He creates installations and composes music for his own and others’ films.

Csoma, his new album, is based on the music for this film about Alexander Csoma. Alexander set up to research the origin of the Hungarians 200 years ago. During his student years, before he enrolled in college, he and two fellow students vowed to go to Central Asia to discover the origins of their nation. In the first thirty-five years of his life, he spent his humble pilgrimage in Asia traveling and studying with Buddhist priests in Tibet in isolation, and devoted the remaining eleven years of his life to publishing some of the material he had collected in India.

Now on the 200th anniversary, Szemző’s Cinematic Opera wishes to pay tribute to Alexandar Csoma. Over the course of two vinyl sides classical and acoustic instruments are mixed with angelic voices, spoken word in German, Hungarian & English. Sounding like vintage Tibor Szemzo compositions, vividly performed by the Gordian Knot Company and the Voces Aequales Ensemble.

Remastered by Bob Weston, ‘Mountains’ comes back to us as a gold foil-embossed gatefold double LP and includes the previously unreleased original takes of ‘Return to Pirates’, ‘Poison Moon’ and ‘Killed by the Telephone’, which were delivered along with the original master tapes 20 years ago but were omitted from the final album.

The record is completed by a newly recorded orchestral version of ‘Valley of One Thousand Perfumes’ produced by composer Joe Wong (Russian Doll, Midnight Gospel) and mixed by Dave Fridmann.

At the turn of the Century, Timony (Ex Hex, Wild Flag, Hammered Hulls) was already a celebrated presence in American underground music - a fixture of D.C. and Boston rock ’n’ roll via her work in Autoclave and Helium respectively. By 1998, though, Helium was drawing to a close and Timony was feeling uncertain about the future. “I had never been good at the rock ‘n’ roll business, and making a living from being in a band just didn't seem like it was in the realm of possibility for me,” she writes. “I just knew I wanted to make another record because that was the part of being in a band that I liked the most.”

"When Candy Opera first appeared on the kaleidoscopic early 1980s Liverpool music scene, by rights they should have changed the world" ~ Louder Than War
"Very welcome news as a highly underrated band who is now back with a force. While their previous output is stellar, this new single is even more commanding of attention. This is absolutely stunning, the band reaching higher than ever before" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
Sometimes it takes a while to realise what you’ve got. So it goes with pop craftsmen Candy Opera, who emerged during Liverpool’s 1980s golden age and whose new LP 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' is their first collection of new material in nearly three decades.
Ahead of that, they present 'These Days Are Ours', a rally cry of hope for the current times and the first single from this long-play, which is due for release in mid-November via European / UK label A Turntable Friend Records. The video was created / produced by James
Davies and Paul Malone.
Mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Guy Massey and featuring back vocals by Paul Simpson of The Wild Swans, the track was recorded at Elevator Studios in Liverpool.
With all the hallmarks of an enduring pop anthem, this impeccably produced, adrenalin-fuelled song captures the essence of Candy Opera’s infectious energy and celebrates life with a genuine wonder-lust, whilst delivering the excitement of their live performances.
Following the overdue release of two archival sets - '45 Revolutions Per
Minute' and 'Rarities' (released in 2018 by Firestation Records., quickly selling out of their first runs) - their new album 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' picks up where the band left off, with 14 fresh songs ready for discovery of a sound as timeless as any Candy Opera output.
Candy Opera were formed in Liverpool in 1982 and went through various incarnations before calling it a day in 1992. By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV.
The band's current line-up is drawn from all eras of the band’s existence and features Brian Chin Smithers (guitar, vocals), Alan Currie (drums), Frank Mahon (bass), Paul Malone (vocals, guitar), Ken Moss (guitar) and Gary O'Donnell (keyboards, vocals, percussion).
This new LP also features a swathe of friends and contemporaries, including Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) and Phil Jones (Afraid of Mice). The result is an exquisite piece of pop craftsmanship that brings their songs into the light. This is a labour of love born of experience, but retaining the sense of wonder that brought the band together in the first place.

The fourth 10-inch EP from the 10th anniversary of U Know Me Records series comes from Immortal Onion. The album consists of 5 pieces. For those missing live concerts there are 2 songs taken from the band's performance on 8th of August at Jassmine club in Warsaw. The B-side starts with a rework of the song called "Leaving", originally composed by Hania Rani (who often performs with 2 members of Immortal Onion). The next song ("Zu Hause") was created especially for this album as the result of the band's experiments with electronics. The EP closes with a rework of "Eye Tracking" - a song from "XD Experience Design - made by Kadrych.

The rework of "Leaving" will be released only on vinyl and won't be available on streaming services.

Strictly limited edition - 300 hand-numbered copies. The first hundred will be released on red vinyl and copies from 101 to 300 as classic black ones.

The album was created with help of trusted people, who also worked on "XD Experience Design" - graphic design by Martiszu, mix by Envee (except the last song mixed by Maciej Stendek) and mastering by Eprom.

"When Candy Opera first appeared on the kaleidoscopic early 1980s Liverpool music scene, by rights they should have changed the world" ~ Louder Than War
"Very welcome news as a highly underrated band who is now back with a force. While their previous output is stellar, this new single is even more commanding of attention. This is absolutely stunning, the band reaching higher than ever before" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
Sometimes it takes a while to realise what you’ve got. So it goes with pop craftsmen Candy Opera, who emerged during Liverpool’s 1980s golden age and whose new LP 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' is their first collection of new material in nearly three decades.
Ahead of that, they present 'These Days Are Ours', a rally cry of hope for the current times and the first single from this long-play, which is due for release in mid-November via European / UK label A Turntable Friend Records. The video was created / produced by James
Davies and Paul Malone.
Mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Guy Massey and featuring back vocals by Paul Simpson of The Wild Swans, the track was recorded at Elevator Studios in Liverpool.
With all the hallmarks of an enduring pop anthem, this impeccably produced, adrenalin-fuelled song captures the essence of Candy Opera’s infectious energy and celebrates life with a genuine wonder-lust, whilst delivering the excitement of their live performances.
Following the overdue release of two archival sets - '45 Revolutions Per
Minute' and 'Rarities' (released in 2018 by Firestation Records., quickly selling out of their first runs) - their new album 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' picks up where the band left off, with 14 fresh songs ready for discovery of a sound as timeless as any Candy Opera output.
Candy Opera were formed in Liverpool in 1982 and went through various incarnations before calling it a day in 1992. By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV.
The band's current line-up is drawn from all eras of the band’s existence and features Brian Chin Smithers (guitar, vocals), Alan Currie (drums), Frank Mahon (bass), Paul Malone (vocals, guitar), Ken Moss (guitar) and Gary O'Donnell (keyboards, vocals, percussion).
This new LP also features a swathe of friends and contemporaries, including Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) and Phil Jones (Afraid of Mice). The result is an exquisite piece of pop craftsmanship that brings their songs into the light. This is a labour of love born of experience, but retaining the sense of wonder that brought the band together in the first place.

* A welcome reissue of Jah Warrior’s 1997 album `Dub From the Heart’.
* A venture into raw dub-wise territory with samples galore and weighty bass-lines built for sound system.
* Produced by Jah Warrior and mixed by Dougie Wardrop from Conscious Sounds studio,
* Limited to 500 copies only.

This album could easily have turned top-heavy. After all, here’s a record which, in just under 40 minutes, covers anything from Arabic scales to Japanese sounds, from free jazz references to concepts by Finnish pianist Kari Ikonen’s favourite painter Vasiliy Kandinsky.
To realise his vision, Ikonen even personally developed a device allowing him to play micro-intervals on his piano. And yet, things turned out differently: If anything, the results sound dream-like and mesmerising rather than stodgy and severe.
The album’s genesis may serve to explain this paradox. In August of 2019, Ikonen suddenly found himself with a month of free time. Without thinking twice and as if in a premonition of the Covid-lock-down, he recorded ‘Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions’ at his own home. His only companion was his beloved Steinway, captured by a personal selection of high-end microphones. Just a few days after the final session, the pieces landed on the desk of ECM- and Blue-Note-engineer Johannes Lundberg who mixed the album at his Gothenburg Epideminstudios. Clearly then, the music is spontaneous. But it’s also refined and deep. The influence of Kandinsky inspired
Ikonen to write some of his most complex and monumental pieces.

Alfredo "El Inca" Linares is one of the best and most beloved musicians in the history of salsa. Fans love his piano playing because of his authentic Cuban feel and 'swing' combined with progressive arrangements and uncompromising phrasing. "Lo Que Tengo" is full of rock solid dance floor killers and no filler, recorded in 1980 with some of the cream of the crop of contemporary Venezuelan salsa musicians (members of Mango, Madera, El Trabuco Venezolano, Los Dementes, Los Melódicos, Dimensión Latina, Guaco, and La Salsa Mayor) and launched there on the indie label A.L.G. Records as ¡Con Todo!, and then a year later on the much larger Velvet Records with a different cover. This a classic Alfredo Linares album, but with the updated studio sound of 1980s Caracas. With five perfectly paced salsas, one funky cha cha chá, a steamy bolero and a dance-friendly Latin jazz number to top it off, there is something for everybody on this record. Thankfully today's generation can now enjoy this rarity at a fraction of the cost of an original copy. Presented in its original artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl. Good to know: Alfredo "El Inca" Linares is one of the best and most beloved musicians in the history of salsa. Fans love his piano playing because of his authentic Cuban feel and 'swing' combined with progressive arrangements and uncompromising phrasing that puts one in mind of Eddie Palmieri. As a composer, arranger and band-leader Linares is highly respected as well. Ever since the 1960s in Lima Peru when his career began, his records have always been on point, being super tight, sharp, and hard as hell, what salseros call salsa brava con afinque. It's no surprise that Lo Que Tengo is exactly that: full of rock solid dance floor killers and no filler, played with verve and flair. Unlike some of his other records that were patched together from various sessions made in different studios (sometimes even in several countries!), this album has the advantage of being produced, recorded and mixed by Alfredo Linares all in one studio and block of time, and backed by hand-picked seasoned professionals who Linares had already played with, both in the studio and on stage, lending it a consistency and sonic integrity that is excitingly manifest in every groove. The album was recorded in 1980 in Caracas with some of the cream of the crop of contemporary Venezuelan salsa musicians (members of Mango, Madera, El Trabuco Venezolano, Los Dementes, Los Melódicos, Dimensión Latina, Guaco, and La Salsa Mayor) and launched there on the indie label A.L.G. Records as ¡Con Todo!, and then a year later on the much larger Velvet Records with a different cover. The LP was also released in Colombia (INS, 1982) and the US (Gallo, 1984), both editions utilizing the Velvet Records cover. During this time Linares had been in Venezuela for some five years and was under contract with a nightclub in Caracas. Through being on the salsa scene there he became friends with the band Mango and even guested on an album with them in 1976. After the contract was up Linares was a free agent again and he was able to draw on his friendship with Mango and assemble a band to back him, first for the Colombian/Venezuelan production Salsa de Verdad (Fonodisco, 1976) and then again with ¡Con Todo! / Lo Que Tengo. One of the distinctive aspects of Alfredo Linares tunes is the 'break' (la cierre)-there are always plenty of dramatic hand-clapping breakdowns followed by an infectious tumbao (sustained vamp) section that sends shivers up the spine and makes the dancers go crazy. In addition, Linares always lets his musicians stretch out, especially in the percussion section. Again, Lo Que Tengo is no exception: there are so many examples of typical arrangements here that one could call this a classic Alfredo Linares album, but with the updated studio sound of 1980s Caracas, which was awash in petro-dollars at the time and so had the latest equipment and a strong consumer base for the salsa market. The album's title tune (originally credited on the Venezuelan edition as 'Lo que tengo que crear'-'What I Have To Create') is by Mango's timbalero José "Cheo" Navarro and sums up Linares' central career philosophy: the musician lives every day to create music, to spread joy and create a party, without complications, wherever he goes. With five perfectly paced salsas, one funky cha cha chá, a steamy bolero and a dance-friendly Latin jazz number to top it off (note the bluesy piano solo from Linares and the sublime vibes of Mango's Freddy Roldán), there is something for everybody on this record. Thankfully today's generation can now enjoy this rarity at a fraction of the cost of an original copy.

Black Stone Cherry’s third album Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea offers another amount of the fully loaded southern rock from the group that was awarded the Best New Band at the Classic Rock Awards in 2007. The opening statement “White Trash Millionaire” refers to the celebrity culture and all the things that will come with being famous. The stomping riffs and country turn of their music is mixed all over the album. They’re bringing something a little bit dirty, but it never get’s too much of the good thing on this record. The melodic compositions, great vocal work and outstanding rhythms makes this another worthy release by the band.

Second installment of the Parisians Get a Room! on Insane Dances label.
This time the duo deliver two original tracks on the A side and have given the task of two remixes to I:Cube on the B side.

A1:The EP opens with an exotic dubby slow-mo track with a Cajun vocal sample gimmick supported by a heavy acid bass-line.

A2: New-beat is the key word here! A late mid tempo 80's Belgian beat style is mixed with Eastern influence to remind us of the Belgian good times sound.

B1: I:Cube gives us two different remixes of A1 "Cochon Toi Même" on the B side. The tempo rises into a dubby ethnic tribal vibe. Perfect for the late DJ set.

B2: A reinterpretation of "Cochon Toi Même" again, but this time with a more 90's feel. A fast light break-beat rhythm takes us on a psychedelic space journey, full of fxs and spacey pig sounds for the more adventurous