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Critically acclaimed, influential alt metal lifers earthtone9 return.

In Resonance Nexus, released via Candlelight/Spinefarm finds the band in fiery form. Their first new material in a decade sees the band not only harking back to their angular, chaotic, and ferocious roots but injecting an energy, urgency, and intensity beyond anything the band has released before.

The vitality of the songs is palpable, earthtone9 have both retained the essence of their musical identity, and channelled and distilled what they love about heavy music. In Resonance Nexus is a love letter to metal, a soundtrack imbued with persistence, love, pain and loss, determination and community.

Produced by Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve, Svalbard, Ithaca, Modern Error), In Resonance Nexus is a remarkable blend of stellar songwriting, crushing riffs and soaring melodies.

Moon Diagrams – the solo project of Deerhunter co-founder and drummer Moses Archuleta – returns with a second album, Cemetery Classics, on June 21. The 12-track album is a co-release between Sonic Cathedral (in the UK and Europe) and Angus Andrew from Liars’ new label No Gold (in the US and the ROW) and was mixed by James Ford. It features guests including Anastasia Coope, Patrick Flegel (Cindy Lee) and Josh Diamond (Gang Gang Dance). It’s Moses’ first new music since 2019’s Trappy Bats mini-album and the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed debut Lifetime of Love and everything seems a bit more extreme – from the Basinski-esque degradation of ‘Neptune’ to the Faustian industrial noise of ‘Listen To Me’ via Art of Noise-style postmodern pop (the first single ‘Very Much My Promise to You’), Daft Punk bangers (‘Fifteen Shows at One Time’), trip-hop, shoegaze, Jan Hammer, Depeche Mode, late Leonard Cohen and more. “It’s about finding out your arms are too short to box with god,” says Moses of the emotional force that courses through Cemetery Classics. “It’s the inverse of a desert island disc – a graveyard disc. Songs to take into the afterlife.”

Rare debut LP by the eccentric Peruvian singer Jean Paul "El Troglodita", known for his wild performances and extreme way of life. Enrique Roberto Tellería made his Peruvian television debut in 1965 under the stage name Jean Paul El Troglodita and wearing an imitation leopard skin suit. He would switch from melodic calm to shouting wildly or suddenly drop to the floor on his knees and smash the furniture like crazy. At the age of 19, DisPerú signed him to the label on the strength of these early performances. His first single included a freely translated version of 'Secret Agent Man' in Spanish. He began to work on the eleven cover versions that would feature on his first LP immediately, writing all his own lyrics and accompanied by the beat band Los Steivos. Despite the predominance of English beat music in Peru, the album only included three songs directly related to the British invasion: 'Bus Stop' by The Hollies, also played in raga rock style; 'Paint it Black' by The Rolling Stones; and 'The House of the Rising Sun', which follows the arrangement recorded by The Animals. So most songs come the American songbook. Apart from 'Tema de El Troglodita' (a versión of 'Secret Agent' by The Challengers), we find the bluesy 'Mustang Sally' (Sir Mack Rice). Two other US numbers, originally performed with orchestral accompaniment, were adapted to fit the rock band format: 'Poor Side of Town' (Johnny Rivers) and 'Take Me to the Moon' (Kaye Ballard). 'El verdadero amor' ('True Love'), an uncredited version is in a similar vein. The Spanish song 'Negro es negro' (Los Bravos) and the Brazilian track 'Que todo se vaya al infierno' (Roberto Carlos) also feature on the LP. El Troglodita's association with the so-called nueva ola, indicated on the back cover, needs clarification. In Peru, nueva ola was a mixed bag rather than a specific musical style and encompassed slow rock, twist, bossa nova and all the styles that the record industry produced to tame the wild rock 'n' roll impulses of teenagers in the early sixties. The Peruvian artists that performed these inoffensive Spanish adaptations of Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka or Frankie Avalon, were presented as successful models of youth culture. This was until 1964, when the Beatles with their mop-top haircuts hit the charts, vindicating rock 'n' roll and imposing the group format over the soloist model. Meanwhile the press continued to call any youth music recorded during the rest of the decade nueva ola. Jean Paul noted these distinctions early on and distanced himself from it in several statements. He saw his performance more in a style as a solo artist as following in the footsteps of e.g. Los Saicos. His 'hippie' lifestyle got him arrested by the new de facto military government in 1968, who accused him of promoting drug consumption and corrupting the Peruvian youth. The charges were soon dropped but his reputation was tarnished, and he ended up emigrating to Central America. The album includes Spanish sung versions of British beat songs and covers of the American songbook as well as various international hits.

LIMITED EDITION LILAC COLOURED VINYL LP WITH DOWNLOAD CODE
It's a year later and everything has gone from bad to worse.

Machiavellian Art and Riot Season Records present "Population Control". A Sonic Examination of the Mechanisms of Control.

An intense exploration of societal and self-imposed controls, encapsulated in a dynamic contrast between Side A's visceral anger and the introspective ambiance of Side B. This duality mirrors the contrasting themes of external control versus internal reflection.

"Population Control" extends beyond its predecessor, "Indoctrination Sounds," in both musical depth and thematic scope. The album confronts a broad spectrum of modern-day addictions - not just to substances, but to technology, social media, and the relentless 24-hour news cycle. These themes manifest across tracks like "A Slow Death," "Population Control (1) + (2)," "Fear of the Outside World," and "Crisis," each exploring the resulting isolation, paranoia, fear, and hopelessness. "Seaside Holiday," a critique of environmental negligence, specifically highlighting the issue of untreated sewage being dumped into Britain's waterways by private companies.

Previous praise:

"Incredibly progressive, psychedelic but massively discordant, saxophone and static infused psych rock chaos" (Nineherz)

"Nasty noise rock with sax and freeform jam segments, but also—because you may have heard music which answers to that description before—a stamp of individuality." (Maximum Rock N Roll)

"Want a weird and dangerous album with a lot to say then Indoctrination Sounds is that album. " (Outlaws Of The Sun)

"Indoctrination Sounds is a total exercise in distorted, claustrophobic riffs, uneasy, anxious vibes, and industrial noise." (The Sleeping Shaman)

Machiavellian Art are: Amy Murphy, Benjamin Thomas, Joe Parkes, John Andrews,Sam Hunt

‘EVERYTHING IS HERE’ is a journey through space and time, inspired by the more rarefied aspects of prog rock and the wistful side of psychedelia.


Fusing these influences with the accessibility of French electronic and the groove of R&B and disco, this album depicts the sweet dizziness of contemplation. Nostalgic, yet determined and modern in it’s genre blending, the first album of Kartell truly reveals what’s been underlining in his previous EP.

Taking influences in the space and dream pop aesthetic, the musical approach of the album embraces the 60’s and 70’s fascination for outer space, exotic locations, technologies and science fiction which was on the edge of becoming reality.

Nebulous textures and otherworldly sounds characteristic of space rock are infused throughout the record, while keeping a focus on making catchy songs, leaning on a minor-key groove and a pop yearning. It’s also a challenge and an artistic proposition to gather a wide range of genres to tell a story. Densely produced and cinematic, the album draws a truly living landscape where live bass, drums and guitars hold the line, evolving around hazy effects and synthesizer layers.

The seductive sounds of Portugal swing to Dark Entries on Rock Rendez Vous: Música Moderna Portuguesa 1985-1986, a compilation of vintage Iberian synth, wave, and postpunk gems.

The legendary club Rock Rendez Vous (RRV) opened its doors in Lisbon in 1980, heralding a new era in the Portuguese underground. Although touring acts like Killing Joke, Danse Society, or Echo & the Bunnymen graced its stage, RRV more vitally served as ground zero for a new generation of Portuguese bands, one simultaneously in touch with broader international musical movements while being invested in establishing a national sonic identity. Rock Rendez Vous culls 9 tracks of prime Portuguese indie tunes from the Música Moderna Portuguesa compilations released in 1985 and 1986, documenting the heyday of this movement. Jangly and brooding postpunk gems like “Levante” from Jovem Guarda, Projecto Azul’s “New Sides,” and Essa Entente’s “Festa Final” are well-represented here. Meanwhile, quirky Balearic-laced synthpop gems like D. W. Art’s “Mate” or Zona Proibida’s “Musak” add a subtly regional flare. Rock Rendez Vous: Música Moderna Portuguesa comes housed in a sleeve designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a photo of the club RRV, and also includes a double-sided insert with lyrics, photos, and liner notes.

Repress

For the first time ever this Modern Soul early '80s masterpiece finally gets a 7" release some 38 years later!

Quite simply "A Chance For Hope" is one of the all-time, under-rated gems from this era. How it never made to a single release before now we'll never know. One of the classiest 7 inch releases you're ever likely to see! Officially licensed, remastered and LTD 7 inch RSD release with replica artwork.

Compiled by label founder Dom Ore Miles Away: One is a collection of tracks that spans continents, era and genres. Rooted in soul this compilation features recordings from legendary musical figures side-by-side with perhaps lesser-known soulful gems – all beautifully bought together in one cohesive long player. Setting the tone is Idris Muhammad's spiritual-jazz recording I'm A Believer before moving into the modern soul and funk selections Miles Away have built their reputation around. We have the crossover-soul rarity Yes It's You by Eugene Smiley, the remarkable foot-to-the-floor soulful dance cut She's So Good by Solid Gold Revue, enduring soul funk explosion No Communication by True Transfusion, the gospel-infused Fantasy Ride by Uneda Dennard & the full length extended version of Superstar by Ruth Waters. Many tracks appearing here for the first time since their original release. On the second disc the compilation begins to weave a slightly different direction compared to the...

Days of Shaking continues M G's exploration into the kitchen sink dramas of modern suburbia but behind these songs of frustrated opportunities and the mundane realities of day to day modern living is a world of rumour and mystery, urban myths and the magical thinking we all use to bring shape to our lives, expectations and hopes Like a modern day book of wonders, the songs of Days of Shaking hint at UFO sightings, potential cave gods and visitations of the dead in dreams, all adding to the rich texture of people's wants and needs but ultimately our belief in hope. This balance is seen in the title track and album opener where the protagonist wonders whether he has witnessed a UFO but ends more prosaically with, "Where is the party tonight?/To stand by a tiki bar with Christmas lights/I want something I can't find/ we drive around dark tenements searching". Similarly the heroic fishing photos of 'City Map' poke at deeper yearnings: "is it true you can wake up somewhere new/ just shrug it off and transform?". Often referred to as the artist's artist M G has been a much sought after collaborator in the folk and Americana scenes, having significant tenures in the Simone Felice Group, The Duke and the King, Emily Portman's Coracle Band, Blue Rose Code, The Owl Service & Jon Boden's Remnant Kings.

Days of Shaking continues M G's exploration into the kitchen sink dramas of modern suburbia but behind these songs of frustrated opportunities and the mundane realities of day to day modern living is a world of rumour and mystery, urban myths and the magical thinking we all use to bring shape to our lives, expectations and hopes Like a modern day book of wonders, the songs of Days of Shaking hint at UFO sightings, potential cave gods and visitations of the dead in dreams, all adding to the rich texture of people's wants and needs but ultimately our belief in hope. This balance is seen in the title track and album opener where the protagonist wonders whether he has witnessed a UFO but ends more prosaically with, "Where is the party tonight?/To stand by a tiki bar with Christmas lights/I want something I can't find/ we drive around dark tenements searching". Similarly the heroic fishing photos of 'City Map' poke at deeper yearnings: "is it true you can wake up somewhere new/ just shrug it off and transform?". Often referred to as the artist's artist M G has been a much sought after collaborator in the folk and Americana scenes, having significant tenures in the Simone Felice Group, The Duke and the King, Emily Portman's Coracle Band, Blue Rose Code, The Owl Service & Jon Boden's Remnant Kings.

Great modern roots tune from Frankie Diamond of Still Cool, with rhythm by his long time collaborators Carl "Stereo" Fletcher and Pablove Black. The vocal saw very limited release on JA 45 back in the late 00's, the version side is now released for the first time ever.

Jacken Elswyth is a London-based folk musician, banjo player, and instrument builder. At Fargrounds is her third solo album, her first for the Wrong Speed label and the latest in a rich catalogue that repositions the spectral, vulnerable sound of the banjo away from its familiar role as signifier of the past and onto lands brave, new and unexplored. “The living wood is imbued with qualities that require engagement and understanding. Working with cherry, oak or walnut involves naming it an equal partner. The parallel, synchronous transformations of wood into instrument, of growing tree into resonating sound, musical tradition into musical flourishing, lie at the heart of Jacken Elswyth’s practices both as an instrument builder and as a creative musician. One might consider her primarily as a worker in wood, but whose craft and fields of expression are absorbed by those transitional and interim processes that manifest change. The traditional tunes included here have been cultivated and maintained by generations of players and collectors, pruned, grafted, and shaped over time. However, in this setting, their long-established forms seem to morph and shift. They audibly accrue unique qualities, blossoming and swelling into new modes of being, bright-stepping arrangements unfolding with a liveliness hinting at practices of ritual and community. Meanwhile, other pieces, creative cornerstones of this collection, appear fluid, partially formed. They suggest not the cultivation of new growth from established stock, but instead the actions of something on the verge of taking form. Working with raw elements of melodic and tonal abstraction, they illuminate the process of emergence and evolution. In this context, the title At Fargrounds is telling. It suggests a point set at some distance from any centre of human concerns, a liminal space in which the cultivated world encounters the world of other living things in their living state. Here, the innate strangeness of the maintained environment–vast lawns, sculpted hedges, vacant playing fields–encounters sprawling vistas of driftwood, dense thickets of brambles, stony hillsides. Across a full century-and-a-quarter, long-standing rural and pastoral musical traditions, at some distance from their origins, have been preserved, nurtured and re-shaped under the folk revival. Placed here, these artefacts now sit in alignment with unvarnished documents featuring the raw elements of sound-making. Their working-together is achieved through a universally-applied interest in musical growth and development. The juxtaposition and combination of these elements gives evidence of new, emerging approaches to community and social music: familiar, known, yet charged with an alien vitality”–CWK Joynes. “...she knows how to knit atmospheres, and does so to especially powerful effect during Scene 4b’s three minutes of stunning bowed banjo, yearning with longing and dread, while showing off her talent, curiosity and range”–Jude Rogers review of Six Static Scenes (Guardian Folk Album Of The Month July 2022) "Jacken is an emotive player with high technical ability. Further, she builds banjos and other instruments, and that intimate knowledge of the bones and fibres holding everything together means that her playing has very few cracks" - Foxy Digitalis

Following the model of the well- known Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson songbook albums reuniting the work of great American song composers, Dave Brubeck prepared Angel Eyes, dedicated to compositions by Matt Dennis.

After such classics as “Silhouettes” or “Dualism”, they were recognized as one of the first bands to develop the modern technical metal genre, all while sharing the stage with illustrious acts such as Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head and The Dillinger Escape Plan.

When disbanding in 2018, Dutch Math Metal wizards TEXTURES left a
significant hole in the global progressive metal community. However, after a break of 6 years, the pioneering Dutch metal six-piece has resurrected and announced their reunion with a new album and a return to the stages in 2024.

Throughout their career, they have had the honor of sharing the stage with illustrious acts such as Meshuggah, Sepultura, Machine Head and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Bands like Gojira, Volbeat, Parkway Drive and Architects supported them in their early years of their musical journey

Additionally, they have toured alongside esteemed acts including
Periphery, Amorphis, All That Remains and Arch Enemy, solidifying their influence on the modern metal scene. With their 3rd and 4th albums “Silhouettes and “Dualism”, the combo's innovative and distinct sound came to the forefront when they were recognized as one of the first bands to develop the modern djent genre.


Their pioneering efforts have influenced other notable bands such as
Periphery, Animals as Leaders and Tesseract, carving a path for a new wave of technical and heavy music. Their electrifying live shows quickly solidified their status as a must-see act at major metal festivals worldwide - and now, the band returns to claim their spot again.

2025 Repress

Released in 1969, this is probably the best modern British jazz LP of all time. A beguiling mix of East meets West rhythms, ideas and joy, repressed with an authentic flip back sleeve.

An original of this will cost you about £2000. Because it’s rare but mainly because it’s absolutely amazing. A sax player hailing from the Jamaican Alpha School. A sublime guitarist from Mumbai, an tight quintet with special guests that include Norma Winstone on improvised wordless vocals. One session, 1969, at the very peak of British jazz invention and sound. I could go on and on about this but no one will actually read it. This album is brilliant and addictive in so many ways. It really does not get batter. Miss this at your peril.

Seit mehr als 15 Jahren steht die französische Alternative-Metal-Sensation ONLAP für kraftvolle und motivierende Musik und gewinnt damit die Herzen von Fans auf der ganzen Welt. Jetzt veröffentlichen sie ihr lang erwartetes Album "Waves". Nach einer Serie von Hit-Singles und beeindruckenden Musikvideos ist dies nun der finale Schritt auf dem Weg zur ersten Albumveröffentlichung der Band unter dem Dach von AFM Records. ONLAPs Musik ist die perfekte Mischung aus energiegeladenem Hard Rock und der rohen Modern Metal-Kraft. Alles mit einer einzigartigen melodischen Finesse. Ihre starken Texte über Motivation, Zusammenhalt, Liebe und andere Kämpfe runden das Paket ab, für das ihre Fans sie so sehr lieben.

Kein Zweifel: Ohne Axel Rudi Pell wäre diese Welt um vieles ärmer. Der Bochumer Gitarrist und Songschreiber hält auch auf seinem 22. (!)
Studioalbum ‚Risen Symbol‘ die Fahne des melodischen Hard Rock hoch, ohne sie mit pseudo-modernen Stilvarianten oder effektheischenden Studiogimmicks zu verwässern. Gleichzeitig sucht er ständig nach neuen Einflüssen, spannenden Inspirationen und griffigen Hooks. Das Beste an den ARP-Hymnen: Sie sind treffgenau auf die charismatische Stimme von Frontmann Johnny Gioeli zugeschnitten. Der Amerikaner gehört zu den besten Rocksängern der Welt und bildet gemeinsam mit Pell, dem früheren Rainbow-Schlagzeuger Bobby Rondinelli und den beiden ARP-Langzeitmitgliedern Ferdy Doernberg (Keyboards) und Volker Krawczak (Bass) ein seit mehr als zehn Jahren perfekt eingespieltes Team, das Fans wie Medien gleichermaßen überzeugt. Veröffentlicht wird ‚Risen Symbol‘ am 14. Juni 2024 über Steamhammer/SPV. Für Ungeduldige gibt es am 3. April 2024 mit der ersten Single ‚Guardian Angel‘ und am 22. Mai 2024 mit dem Nachfolger ‚Darkest Hour‘ zwei Vorabsongs, die Pell treffend mit den Worten beschreibt: „Sowohl ‚Guardian Angel‘ als auch ‚Darkest Hour‘ sind typische-ARP-Songs, aber nicht unbedingt repräsentativ für ‚Risen Symbol‘.“

Announcing the debut album from one of London’s most electrifying acts, New Regency Orchestra. An 18-piece Afro-Cuban big band, inspired by the musical melting pot of NYC in the 1950s, but with the punch and power of a whole host of London’s best Latin and jazz musicians. Blowing new life into these compositions, the album is a reimagining of some of the finest music from that golden era. From early 1950s René Hernandez and Tito Puente, through to the 1970s salsa of Rafael Labasta and Orlando Marin, produced and performed with fresh fire.

NRO is the brainchild of its artistic director, and the man behind Total Refreshment Centre and Church of Sound, Lex Blondin. Through a long-held passion for jazz, Lex discovered the explosive Afro-Cuban rhythms of mid-1940s NYC via the godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá. A time when two musical worlds collided in a fusion of creativity and energy, jazz luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker joining forces with Cuban greats like Machito and Chano Pozo. This vibrant sound was music to dance to and found a home at The New York Palladium, a formative space of freedom and expression that was key to the scene’s development.

Although dance-focussed in their makeup, those early recordings are not often heard in modern club environments and Lex dreamt of retelling their story with a contemporary dynamism. A slice of serendipity followed, as a slot at a new festival opened up and Lex jumped at the chance to make this idea a reality, an 18-piece big band breathing new life into these beloved songs.

Enlisting the expertise of some of the capital’s finest talent, Lex and co-captain Andy Wood, of Como No fame, put together a world-class line-up of talent. Bringing in Eliane Correa as musical director and bandleader, a fluid and interchanging 18-piece band was formed.

The album itself is a hand-picked selection of timeless Afro-Cuban jazz classics, reimagined with NRO’s unbridled energy. It contains ten incredible instrumental tracks including 'Pregon' with its anthemic horn stabs and the addictive head nod bounce of 'Mambo Rama', alongside two scorching vocal numbers in 'Papa Boco' and 'Labasta Llego'. Coupling a heavyweight rhythm section with a wall of horns, they provide a fresh spin on songs from Tito Puente and Chico O'Farrill, René Hernandez through to Rafael Labasta.

“Some of the tunes like Tito Puente’s ‘Mambo Rama’ and ‘Scarlet Mambo’ might sound like they went to a gym as extra drums and bass synth were added to them whilst the tune ‘Sahib & Tito’ is a mix of Tito’s ‘Mambo Buda’ and Sahib Shihab’s ‘Nus’. Our intention is to be both respectful to the innovators and inventors of this incredible music and to pay our dues, but also to add something special from London where the city’s new jazz scene connects with its Latin American musicians and the musical influences around us.”

This pure collective joy, shared experience and music you can’t help but move to.

Sechstes Album der norwegischen Prog-Rock-Meister um Multiinstrumentalist und Sänger Bjorn Riis.
Jeder Track zeigt die charakteristische Verschmelzung sanfter Selbstbeobachtung und dynamischer Energie, von den hypnotisierenden Tiefen von 'Dysphoria' bis zum eindringlichen Crescendo von 'Tyrants And Kings'. Die fünf Tracks bestechen durch unwiderstehliche Gesangseinlagen und virtuose Leadgitarrenarbeit, die zum Synonym für den Airbag-Sound geworden ist. Während sich das Album entfaltet, wird der Zuhörer auf eine Reise durch Selbstbeobachtung und Intensität mitgenommen, von der introspektiven Ballade 'Awakening' bis zu den erhabenen Tiefen der Single 'Erase'. Dieser Song weckt Anklänge an ihre gefeierte Arbeit auf dem Album 'Disconnected' und entwickelt sich von einer hypnotischen Basslinie zu einem Kraftpaket aus schweren Refrains, die den Grundstein für den epischen 15-minütigen Abschluss von 'Tear it Down' legen. Doch 'The Century of the Self' ist mehr als nur eine Klang-Odyssee - es ist ein Spiegelbild unseres modernen Zeitgeists. Das Album befasst sich mit Themen der Abbruchkultur sowie dem Umschreiben persönlicher Geschichten, und bietet einen ergreifenden Kommentar zu einer Welt voller Angst und Verurteilung.

Sechstes Album der norwegischen Prog-Rock-Meister um Multiinstrumentalist und Sänger Bjorn Riis.
Jeder Track zeigt die charakteristische Verschmelzung sanfter Selbstbeobachtung und dynamischer Energie, von den hypnotisierenden Tiefen von 'Dysphoria' bis zum eindringlichen Crescendo von 'Tyrants And Kings'. Die fünf Tracks bestechen durch unwiderstehliche Gesangseinlagen und virtuose Leadgitarrenarbeit, die zum Synonym für den Airbag-Sound geworden ist. Während sich das Album entfaltet, wird der Zuhörer auf eine Reise durch Selbstbeobachtung und Intensität mitgenommen, von der introspektiven Ballade 'Awakening' bis zu den erhabenen Tiefen der Single 'Erase'. Dieser Song weckt Anklänge an ihre gefeierte Arbeit auf dem Album 'Disconnected' und entwickelt sich von einer hypnotischen Basslinie zu einem Kraftpaket aus schweren Refrains, die den Grundstein für den epischen 15-minütigen Abschluss von 'Tear it Down' legen. Doch 'The Century of the Self' ist mehr als nur eine Klang-Odyssee - es ist ein Spiegelbild unseres modernen Zeitgeists. Das Album befasst sich mit Themen der Abbruchkultur sowie dem Umschreiben persönlicher Geschichten, und bietet einen ergreifenden Kommentar zu einer Welt voller Angst und Verurteilung.

Sechstes Album der norwegischen Prog-Rock-Meister um Multiinstrumentalist und Sänger Bjorn Riis.
Jeder Track zeigt die charakteristische Verschmelzung sanfter Selbstbeobachtung und dynamischer Energie, von den hypnotisierenden Tiefen von 'Dysphoria' bis zum eindringlichen Crescendo von 'Tyrants And Kings'. Die fünf Tracks bestechen durch unwiderstehliche Gesangseinlagen und virtuose Leadgitarrenarbeit, die zum Synonym für den Airbag-Sound geworden ist. Während sich das Album entfaltet, wird der Zuhörer auf eine Reise durch Selbstbeobachtung und Intensität mitgenommen, von der introspektiven Ballade 'Awakening' bis zu den erhabenen Tiefen der Single 'Erase'. Dieser Song weckt Anklänge an ihre gefeierte Arbeit auf dem Album 'Disconnected' und entwickelt sich von einer hypnotischen Basslinie zu einem Kraftpaket aus schweren Refrains, die den Grundstein für den epischen 15-minütigen Abschluss von 'Tear it Down' legen. Doch 'The Century of the Self' ist mehr als nur eine Klang-Odyssee - es ist ein Spiegelbild unseres modernen Zeitgeists. Das Album befasst sich mit Themen der Abbruchkultur sowie dem Umschreiben persönlicher Geschichten, und bietet einen ergreifenden Kommentar zu einer Welt voller Angst und Verurteilung.

Rising from the fiercely DIY Philadelphia underground, CARLY COSGROVE graft achingly vulnerable lyrics atop a bed of mathy rhythms, intricate guitar work and a penchant for indie-rock cool meets emo authenticity. Their debut album, 2022's See You In Chemistry, was the sound of figuring life out in real time, tracing personal growth through anxiety, depression, and self-actualization - heavy subjects for a band originally formed as a low-stress side-project stopgap in 2018.

The quest for the answers to life's big questions is once again front and center on the band's second album, THE CLEANEST OF HOUSES ARE EMPTY, as Naylor, bassist Helen Bars and drummer Tyler Kramer find themselves face to face with the chronic emotional struggles of life in the modern age.

From the stop-start polyrhythms of first single "You Old Dog" and garage-rock sheen of "Random Dancing" and "What Are You, A Cop," which sounds like Motion City Soundtrack filtering "Everlong" through their idiosyncratic rock tilt, The Cleanest Of Houses is the type of record Carly Cosgrove simply couldn't have made last time - not musically, and certainly not emotionally. They needed to live, through hard touring and harder life experiences.

At the frayed bottom-edge of Indiana - just a moderate bike ride north of Louisville, Kentucky - multi-instrumentalist, artist and songwriter Ryan Davis' Americana-noir soundwaves have been emanating for years in a myriad of forms. As driving force for the lauded State Champion, long-running member of Tropical Trash, administrator of the esoteric and excellent Cropped Out festival, and lone proprietor of the Sophomore Lounge label, Davis lays down his first proper 'solo' release with Dancing On The Edge, a rich, 2LP tapestry of tunes that absolutely glows over seven expansive cuts. It's a pure collage of modernity and heritage. Recorded in early 2023 with help both in-studio and remotely from peers like Joan Shelley, Catherine Irwin (Freakwater), Will Lawrence (Felice Brothers, Gun Outfit, John Early), Jenny Rose (Giving Up), Christopher May (Mail the Horse), Elisabeth Fuchsia (Footings, Bonnie "Prince" Billy), and Aaron Rosenblum (Son of Earth, Sapat), the results herein are melancholic, gentle, minimal yet colorful in mood: a lilting highway accompaniment of crisp instrumentation and a relaxed, amiable approach to vocals with rhapsodic wordsmithery. Fans of the aforementioned artists as well as those of Souled American, David Berman, Kurt Vile and 'Comes A Time'-era Neil should all easily find bounty. While bare-boned and uncluttered in presentation, many of these pieces track over 6 minutes allowing a fair amount of expansiveness. Dancing On The Edge stares down into the navel of the American Experience underbelly with a fair amount of outward reach. Besides the Kosmische-synth and violin stabs reaching into a European element, stately organ swells build a musical bridge between 1969 Southern California and Felt's latter era smooth moves, with layers of intelligent gesture taking this well beyond the realm of its archetypal indie troubadour/acoustic songwriter tag. Music and mint juleps never went down so well together." Originally released via Ryan's own label, Sophomore Lounge, in the US late 2023, it picked up some incredible reviews: best of 2023 in both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, 9/10 lead review in Uncut, and a raft of other notable publications. "This is the sound of someone bearing a torch." - Bill Callahan (Smog) - RIYL Silver Jews, BPB, Lambchop, Cass McCoombs, Sparklehorse.

Seit ihrer Gründung haben REZN die reinen, monochromen Tiefen des Underground-Metal erforscht und sie mit den kaleidoskopischen Freuden von Psychedelia, Prog-Rock und Shoegaze verschmolzen. Mit ihrem neuesten Album Burden loten sie die tiefsten, düstersten Gräben ihres Sounds aus, ohne dabei den Bezug zum Kosmos zu verlieren. An der Schnittstelle zwischen den düsteren Dimensionen moderner Psych-Acts wie Black Angels, der höhlenartigen Düsternis und den mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren von Bands wie Spectral Voice und den taumelnden Low-End-Meditationen von Künstlern wie OM haben REZN ein Album von ungeheurer, den Verstärker anbetender Wucht und mitreißender Instrumentierung geschaffen. Burden wurde zeitgleich mit ihrem vorherigen Album Solace im Juli 2021 aufgenommen, aber anstatt ein Doppelalbum zu veröffentlichen, teilten REZN das Material in zwei separate Platten auf, jede mit ihrem eigenen emotionalen Timbre. Musikalisch bevorzugt Burden Riffs gegenüber Atmosphäre, Perkussion gegenüber Äther, Dissonanz gegenüber Schönheit, aber es gibt dennoch eine unbestreitbare Kohäsion zwischen ihm und seinem Vorgänger. Die Verbindung von brachialer Gewalt und erhabenen Texturen war schon immer eine Schlüsseltaktik in REZNs Ansatz - eine Dualität, die vielleicht ihre Tournee-Vergangenheit mit den Synästhesie-induzierenden Metallurgie-Kollegen Elder und Russian Circles erklärt - aber das Spektrum der quecksilbrigen Temperamente der Band fühlte sich noch nie so klar definiert und vollständig erforscht an wie auf Burden. Selbst die zurückhaltendsten Momente von Burden fühlen sich wie die Ruhe vor dem Sturm an, ein sich sammelnder Schwung vor dem strafenden Schlussstück und der Leadsingle ,Chasm", einem megalithischen, krautigen Brecher, der durch ein brennendes Gitarrensolo von Russian Circles' Mike Sullivan noch verstärkt wird. LP mit Lyric-Sheet & DLC, Digipack-CD mit Lyric-Sheet!

Seit ihrer Gründung haben REZN die reinen, monochromen Tiefen des Underground-Metal erforscht und sie mit den kaleidoskopischen Freuden von Psychedelia, Prog-Rock und Shoegaze verschmolzen. Mit ihrem neuesten Album Burden loten sie die tiefsten, düstersten Gräben ihres Sounds aus, ohne dabei den Bezug zum Kosmos zu verlieren. An der Schnittstelle zwischen den düsteren Dimensionen moderner Psych-Acts wie Black Angels, der höhlenartigen Düsternis und den mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren von Bands wie Spectral Voice und den taumelnden Low-End-Meditationen von Künstlern wie OM haben REZN ein Album von ungeheurer, den Verstärker anbetender Wucht und mitreißender Instrumentierung geschaffen. Burden wurde zeitgleich mit ihrem vorherigen Album Solace im Juli 2021 aufgenommen, aber anstatt ein Doppelalbum zu veröffentlichen, teilten REZN das Material in zwei separate Platten auf, jede mit ihrem eigenen emotionalen Timbre. Musikalisch bevorzugt Burden Riffs gegenüber Atmosphäre, Perkussion gegenüber Äther, Dissonanz gegenüber Schönheit, aber es gibt dennoch eine unbestreitbare Kohäsion zwischen ihm und seinem Vorgänger. Die Verbindung von brachialer Gewalt und erhabenen Texturen war schon immer eine Schlüsseltaktik in REZNs Ansatz - eine Dualität, die vielleicht ihre Tournee-Vergangenheit mit den Synästhesie-induzierenden Metallurgie-Kollegen Elder und Russian Circles erklärt - aber das Spektrum der quecksilbrigen Temperamente der Band fühlte sich noch nie so klar definiert und vollständig erforscht an wie auf Burden. Selbst die zurückhaltendsten Momente von Burden fühlen sich wie die Ruhe vor dem Sturm an, ein sich sammelnder Schwung vor dem strafenden Schlussstück und der Leadsingle ,Chasm", einem megalithischen, krautigen Brecher, der durch ein brennendes Gitarrensolo von Russian Circles' Mike Sullivan noch verstärkt wird. Indie-Handel exklusives farbiges Vinyl in Black, Mint and Bone A side/ B side, LPs mit Lyric-Sheet & DLC, Digipack CD mit Lyric-Sheet.

In March 2023, @ turned heads with their debut album Mind Palace Music that utilized an array of acoustic instrumentation and densely layered harmonies, like the great outsider folk records of the 60s and 70s and placed it in a modern setting. If Mind Palace Music was @ playing on story mode, their new EP Are You There God? It’s Me, @ is the darker, stranger side quest.
Mind Palace Music was written in very specific circumstances. The band was formed while they were confined to their homes during quarantine — Victoria Rose in Philadelphia and Stone Filipczak in Baltimore — exchanging musical sketches over iMessage and email. Even though the world has opened back up and they’ve been able to play together live, this EP was again created remotely while in their respective cities. What did change, however, was the production.
Are You There God? It’s Me, @ is @’s foray into electronic music — consisting primarily of software instrumentation (with the occasional flute, guitar or bass part sprinkled in). The band’s experience producing in this style was minimal, but they found the new process to be a rewarding exercise allowing them to explore new textures and structures made possible by computer music. Where their previous acoustic recordings had a looser and more human feel, these new songs allowed them to experiment with autotune and quantized beats. Rose was able to resurrect her passion for classical choir by singing and recording a capella vocal arrangements to be incorporated into Filipczak’s instrumentals.
Across five songs, @ call upon a higher power, as the title suggests, in search of fulfillment. While they try to remain hopeful, daily suffering casts doubt on whether that high power even exists. On “Soul Hole,” overtop an autotuned vocal loop and hyper-pop-esque production, Rose repeats “I’m going to the soul hole and I’m never coming back,” hoping to leave behind the material world and the desires that comes with it. “Webcrawler,” named after the pioneering search engine, might be considered Are You There God?’s epic. @ sees their search for meaning in life akin to how search engines pull together data from all over the internet to find answers. The music itself is even reminiscent of dial-up internet connection, with droning keys and machine-like drum programming until overheating and erupting into chaos, in the form of heavy-metal shredding, only to cool down again back on a loading screen.
While the band confesses the departure from their usual sound may only be temporary, it’s an exciting listen full of twists and turns that surprised even themselves. “We’re both really dramatic in our musical sensibilities and don’t shy away from ridiculous choices,” Rose recalls, “which can really be exaggerated when working mostly with electronic sounds.” Full of soul searching and sonic experimentation, Are You There God? It’s Me, @ is an encapsulating spiritual saga for the digital age.

"Nonesuch Records releases Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award–winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021’s Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by Sō – Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil… and Rectangles and Circumstance. Sō and Shaw’s upcoming performances will be announced soon.

Sliwinski says in the new album’s liner notes, “After a few years of touring Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part together, with a pandemic in between, we came to record our second album, Rectangles and Circumstance, as a road-tested band who knew each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies intimately.” He continues, “Most of the songs started with instrumental pieces or fragments of pieces from Jason or Eric.

“As both a songwriter and a classical composer, Caroline is accustomed to writing lyrics as well as setting them. Going over texts with her is like working on music: I collect a handful of poems and send them over to her, waiting to see if anything catches her interest, then I modify my search based on her feedback,” Sliwinski says. “For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode and ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake … The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.”

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and TV series including Fleishman Is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming. In addition to her albums with Sō, Nonesuch has released her two Grammy-winning albums Orange (2019) and Evergreen (2022), both of which feature Attacca Quartet. ‘Two-Step’, the first of Shaw’s songs with Ringdown, her duo with Danni Lee, to be released on Nonesuch is available now.

For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the twenty-first century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker). Their commitment to the creation and amplification of new work, and their extraordinary powers of perception and communication, have made them trusted partners for composers including David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nathalie Joachim, Bryce Dessner, Dan Trueman, Kendall K. Williams, Angélica Negrón, Shodekeh Talifero, claire rousay, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Bora Yoon, Olivier Tarpaga, and many others. Sō has recorded more than twenty-five albums, including a performance of Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet on the Nonesuch record WTC 9/11. Its members are the Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at Princeton University. Sō Percussion’s educational and community work includes the Sō Laboratories concert series and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers.
"

Yes, once again, CATS in SPACE are firing on all cylinders and ready to launch their long-awaited, blistering, double, live album this June, together with a documentary style film about their successful 2023 tour. FIRE in the NIGHT - Live was recorded during the ‘Kickstart the Sun - Part II’ theatre tour in 2023 when our fabulous sound crew captured the full two-hour show. As always, this release will be available in CD, vinyl and digital formats and due to the sheer length of the performance will once again be delivering both quality and value on double CD and limited double vinyl LP in a choice of colour variants - Fire red vinyl and spotlight white vinyl. A lead single, and crowd favourite, ‘Johnny Rocket’ was released ahead of the album in March 2024 on all digital platforms. 'For The Love Of It', a film made by James Heron of Carriage Return productions, chronicles the stage production from conception to delivery of the CATS in SPACE Kickstart the Sun tour. It is a detailed insight into the highs and lows of modern-day touring for original rock bands and shows the unique way that the tour was put together. All in all a fantastic opportunity to see behind the curtain before the release of the album! Whilst on the subject of ‘Johnny Rocket’, he is also set to appear later this year, in a full-length feature cartoon book designed and published by Sentinel Publications. The team are putting together the full ‘Johnny Rocket’ story that first appeared on the 2019 Daytrip to Narnia album and is set to be a very special publication. “We are super hopped-up with the recording of the album, thanks to our amazing live engineer Pete Russell and the fans who made every night so special throughout the tour. It really has captured the power and excitement of the band’s show...It will be a fitting finale to our time with Harmony Factory label, as we head down a new flight path for a very exciting future for all of us in CATS in SPACE. More to be revealed soon! As ever we have a LOT going on this year so keep your eyes peeled for updates…we are all thrilled to bits!”

Yes, once again, CATS in SPACE are firing on all cylinders and ready to launch their long-awaited, blistering, double, live album this June, together with a documentary style film about their successful 2023 tour. FIRE in the NIGHT - Live was recorded during the ‘Kickstart the Sun - Part II’ theatre tour in 2023 when our fabulous sound crew captured the full two-hour show. As always, this release will be available in CD, vinyl and digital formats and due to the sheer length of the performance will once again be delivering both quality and value on double CD and limited double vinyl LP in a choice of colour variants - Fire red vinyl and spotlight white vinyl. A lead single, and crowd favourite, ‘Johnny Rocket’ was released ahead of the album in March 2024 on all digital platforms. 'For The Love Of It', a film made by James Heron of Carriage Return productions, chronicles the stage production from conception to delivery of the CATS in SPACE Kickstart the Sun tour. It is a detailed insight into the highs and lows of modern-day touring for original rock bands and shows the unique way that the tour was put together. All in all a fantastic opportunity to see behind the curtain before the release of the album! Whilst on the subject of ‘Johnny Rocket’, he is also set to appear later this year, in a full-length feature cartoon book designed and published by Sentinel Publications. The team are putting together the full ‘Johnny Rocket’ story that first appeared on the 2019 Daytrip to Narnia album and is set to be a very special publication. “We are super hopped-up with the recording of the album, thanks to our amazing live engineer Pete Russell and the fans who made every night so special throughout the tour. It really has captured the power and excitement of the band’s show...It will be a fitting finale to our time with Harmony Factory label, as we head down a new flight path for a very exciting future for all of us in CATS in SPACE. More to be revealed soon! As ever we have a LOT going on this year so keep your eyes peeled for updates…we are all thrilled to bits!”

Der Zauber der Nacht ist in der Musik seit jeher ein Thema, von den Nocturnes der Klassik über Late-NightJazz bis hin zu Max Richters Erfolgsprojekt “Sleep”. Auf ihrem neuen Album hat sich nun auch Sängerin und Songschreiberin Arooj Aftab, die für ihr Album “Vulture Prince” 2022 als erste pakistanischstämmige Künstlerin mit einem Grammy ausgezeichnet wurde, dieses faszinierenden Themas angenommen.

Arooj versteht es Songs zu schreiben und mit sanfter, tiefer Stimme zu singen, die sich entspannt in die Gehörgänge schmiegen. Ihre Lieder sind einzigartig, weil sie in der Tradition ihres pakistanischen Musikerbes wurzeln, aber zugleich elektronisch-modern und auf subtile Weise grooven.

Mit “Night Reign” ist Arooj ihr betörendstes und vielfältigstes Werk gelungen. Unterstützung erhielt sie dabei von so unterschiedlichen kreativen Partnern wie Vijay Iyer, Maeve Gilchrist, Moor Mother, Joel Ross, Cautious Clay, Kaki King, James Francies und Chocolate Genius, Inc

Reflets de ses voyages, reflets de ses imaginaires, et figures tutélaires, notre bagpacker préféré prend un peu plus la route du western africain avec ses synthétiseurs comme unique boussole . Le fil rouge qui s'impose rapidement à lui c'est cet instrument qui
a traversé les siècles : le balafon. Il invite également leseprésentant.es du monde moderne, icône de la scène afro électronique à participer à l'écriture de cet incroyable deuxième album .


La production débute en novembre 2022 par une résidence à Korhogo, au nord de la Côte d'Ivoire. À cette occasion, Praktika invite le balafoniste burkinabé Innocent Kimpe pour sept jours de jam session. La transe s’opère et se matérialise dans 4 tracks aux sonorités très organiques.

Le voyage se poursuit par la rencontre avec le grand balafoniste malien Lansiné Kouyaté (Kouyaté & Neerman,Salif Keita, Fatoumata Diawara, Damon Albarn…).

Dans une atmosphère plus soutenue, techno de détroit et touches acides viennent colorer le timbre des lames de bois de vène, donnant vie à deux nouveaux morceaux.

Reprenant ses recherches, Praktika découvre par hasard l’existence de Zélé de Papara, chanteuse ivoirienne des années 90 méconnue du grand public, dont la voix et l’histoire singulière éveillent sa curiosité.
De retour à Abidjan, il propose à la chanteuse Jahelle ainsi qu’à la rare griotte Burkinabé Dafra Keita de poser chacune leur voix sur un morceau en hommage à la chanteuse Zélé de Papara, la cantatrice Sénoufo.

Nourri de l’énergie des rencontres, il collabore enfin avec Sly A 10, ancien batteur de (Tiken Jah Fakoly) et grand percussionniste en Côte d'Ivoire, qui lui partage ses rythmes dans un Track sombre teinté de bass music.

Mock Media, the new Canadian supergroup comprised of Garnet Aronyk (of Crack Cloud), Bennett Smith (of N0V3L), Austin Boylan (of Pottery) and Evan Aesen (of Painted Fruits), share their captivating debut album 'via Meat Machine Records (Crack Cloud, N0V3L, CLAMM)

Mock Media’s debut LP Mock Media II – out on Tin Angel records captures this firebrand four piece’s head-on plunge into enthralling existential contradictions: songs that explore the darkest corners of humanity, yet come out at the other end with the unwavering joy that marked their genesis. It’s an album of sneaky eclecticism: the high-wired punk rock stylings serve as Mock Media’s framework to clad their agog explorations into pop, electronic and world folk music.

Features nine of Rolling Stone magazine’s all-time Top 50 Marley songs and over 50 million YouTube views.

"On “We Are Where We Are,” a glimmering mid-tempo highlight from Annabel’s new album, Ben Hendricks sings of “a modern way to fill the empty space.” Worldviews, the band’s fourth LP and first in nine years finds the band reconciling with the ways the world has changed in the decade since they’ve been away. His protagonists are trying to determine the boundaries between what’s real and imagined, navigating their worldviews and the dominant ones around them, fighting for an escape or at least a distraction, wondering where the time goes, “going through the motions, running in a circle.” That could’ve been Annabel’s fate, too. But the core of the Ohio band is brothers Ben and Andy Hendricks, and as long as they’ve got each other, we’ve still got Annabel. In a world that feels so uncertain and so disconnected, where else is there to turn but back to Annabel? Think of Worldviews less like a comeback and more as the product of years spent gestating.

Hendricks spends the chorus of “All Time” promising to “make up for all the lost time,” and Annabel makes good on that promise for the next half hour. Worldviews is the most locked in the band has ever sounded, perfecting and building on their indie-emo sound. The title track and “Dog” are classic Annabel, sprightly and jangly midwestern rock songs, while “Defense Mechanism” is a rougher-edged update; when they go in the opposite direction, it results in some of their best work: “Every Home Needs a Ghost” is spartan and spectral, worthy of its title, and the beautiful “Small Victories” dabbles in downtempo electronics. They don’t sound like a band returning after nearly a decade; they sound at the same time hungry and lively like scrappy upstarts and wizened and seasoned like they never left."

"French duo Human Rebellion make their debut on Alienata´s Discos Atónicos label with Polymorph, a 4 tracker killer EP in which we will find the perfect combination between techno, acid, electro & breaks.
Dark atmospheres and heavy beats topped with irresistible basslines, mesmerizing arpeggios & sci-fi textures straight out their analog studio.
Modern sound inspired by the powerful & punchy sound of the early 90’s electro-techno!
We are pleased to welcome Patrick & Charles to the Discos Atónicos Fam!

J & M Music Co US welcomes LeBaron James for another standout four-tracker that brings raw house and smooth disco together on one EP. Up first is 'Always Be True' is a deceptively simple sound that brings straight-up dancefloor beats with hooky pads. 'House Party' then has more heavy kicks and wild percussive patterns to liven up any party and 'One' then brings a more cool and laid-back disco groove that has a slick modern twist. Last but not least is 'Sugar And Spice' which brings a touch of sophisticated and chic instrumental vibes. It's a fourth different sound on a versatile EP.

Color Vinyl Repress

The world moves faster than ever these days, and even in the digital age, things can always be counted on to go in cycles. Despite all of the advances in computer recording technology, home studios, and electronic instruments, there is a flourishing interest in analog recording techniques and in recreating the mood and sound of vintage soul records. With one foot in the past but their eyes firmly set on the future, El Michels Affair are among the leaders of a resurgent funk & soul movement from New York City that’s sweeping both the music community and the charts.

Led by saxophonist/organist Leon Michels and producer/engineer Jeff Silverman, El Michels Affair began as a loose collaboration of session musicians (including members of top-selling acts Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, the Budos Band, and Antibalas) that looked to blend some of the vibrant quality of soundtrack records with the recording aesthetic of early reggae, and the rawness of 60's rock--they called it 'Cinematic Soul.' This delicate balance was evident on their 2005 debut album Sounding Out the City, which earned critical acclaim and acted as the inaugural full-length release for Michels and Silverman’s burgeoning label Truth & Soul (also the moniker for the duo as a production team).

The buzz generated from the album and a series of moderately successful 7” vinyl singles from Truth & Soul led to an invitation by Toyota’s Scion division for El Michels Affair to accompany the rapper Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan for a promotional concert. As avid Wu-Tang fans, not only were the band leaders thrilled with the opportunity, but Michels found that the ‘Cinematic Soul’ sound was consistent with the moods of RZA’s gritty soundscapes on the classic Wu-Tang releases. The concert was such as success, El Michels Affair went oan to play several more concerts nationwide backing Raekwon and other members of the Clan, and the shows led to the recording of two smash 7” singles featuring instrumental reinterpretations of the Wu-Tang classiac songs “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Bring Da Ruckus.” The singles combined to sell an extraordinary amount of over 7,000 units worldwide, and their success led to a contract in 2007 with indie hip hop powerhouse Fat Beats Records to record an entire album of Wu-Tang Clan interpolations entitled Enter the 37th Chamber.

Since the contract was inked, a worldwide explosion of retro soul led by Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings has transformed the pop music landscape, and the Truth & Soul production duo have been in strong demand, recording with everyone from breakthrough Grammy-nominated artist Adele to punk rock innovator Iggy Pop. They’ve been commissioned for official remixes of Amy Winehouse and Dinah Washington (for the popular Verve Remixed series), and produced for Australian multi-platinum acts Jet and Gabriella Cilmi.

Despite the eclectic group of clients for the Truth & Soul production company, El Michels Affair continued to build an audience within the hip hop community. A track from Sounding out the City was sampled for Ghostface Killah’s 2007 track “Shakey Dog Lolita,” and a horn part written and performed by Michels (for Menahan Street Band) was famously lifted for Jay-Z’s smash single “Roc Boys.” Truth & Soul also worked in the studio on original productions with multi-platinum producer Just Blaze (T.I.’s “Live Your Life,” Jay-Z, Usher).

With their increasing presence behind the scenes in the industry, El Michels Affair looks to have their status as recording artists rise significantly in 2009. With the release of their finally-completed album Enter the 37th Chamber, they can finally step out of the shadows of the retro-soul trend and establish their status as one of the most exciting and versatile bands in modern recorded music.

Obscure Formats is a sonic strike of moving body electronics. This modern metal machine music is directed, goaded and prodded into reaction by Robert Galbraith, Component Recordings founder and one half (with of the monster modular outfit that is Snowbeasts. Under the Obscure Formats moniker, he forges a tight, earthbound sound from synths, modular racks and drum machines to pound a path through your ears right into your mind. Tracks like pound and pulse with unrelenting beats, percussion and arpeggiating pulses. Within each Obscure Formats track is a harsh soundscape of angles, jagged edges and eerie drones. Obscure Formats - Agitations consists of 4 tracks of alluring body music with special remixes by AXKAN & Years of Denial.
Written + Produced by: Robert Galbraith Except Haunted & Blood Moon - Robert Galbraith & Elizabeth Virosa

One of the stand-out acts on Freshly Squeezed in 2023, ELLE & THE POCKET BELLES released increasingly acclaimed singles and videos across the year. Now their full 10 track album drops showcasing the diversity and strength of songwriting, musicianship and jazz-infused production. Now available on Clear Red 12" vinyl!

Not just a singles band, the album offers real jazz sophistication on songs like OLD FASHIONED and a moving theatrical flourish on DON'T YOU WORRY. But on songs like WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO... the group really show off the many years spent on London's vintage club scene refining their sound and style into the perfect distillation of a classic retro style in a thoroughly modern way.

Since release, the album has shared a combined 1 million streams across Spotify and YouTube, and several tracks have been featured on several editorial playlists on Spotify. SEE YOU LATER was played over 25k times across YouTube and Spotify in its first weekend, now reaching 700k streams. The album was also nominated record of the week by BBC Cornwall.

The group are reminiscent of a cross between classic 60s soul and 50s girl groups given a joyful and wry modern twist. ELLE & THE POCKET BELLES are gigging across the UK's summer festival circuit in support of their album.