“One foot out the door, another in the otherworld…”
So begins Hannah Lew’s debut, self-titled solo record, soaked in imperious, wide-eyed pop songwriting and a girl-group/post punk aesthetic that belies the artist’s history in the U.S. underground. A towering, hook-laden album, it’s infused with an optimism and surrealism that conversely deals with the times we find ourselves in.
Recorded at home in Richmond, CA and in The Best House studio with Maryam Qudus in Oakland CA, with the assistance of a crack team of West Coast musicians, this album sees Hannah Lew stepping out from behind the legacy of her two groups Grass Widow and Cold Beat. While musically bearing similarities with her previous work, “Hannah Lew” is a bold leap into direct pop territory, making ample use of a vocal style that teases out the inherent melancholy in her melodies. Mastered by Sarah Register, each song is a perfectly honed nugget that frequently pulls the heart in two directions at once.
Themes of change, breaking up, shattering old ways of being are shot through the record. For the front cover, a photograph of the artist’s face was printed, ripped up and re-assembled, resembling the creative process embarked upon by Lew for her first “solo” material. The album feels instinctual, almost dream-like in its assemblage of sweeping synths and pulsating, propulsive drum machine beat patterns with Lew’s vocal performances sensitive and caressing over the top. Increasingly relying on the subconscious and dreams to guide her creative process, Hannah Lew frequently abandons literal interpretations or linear narratives, the songs seeming to exist in a swooning, effortless flow-state while remaining emotionally hard hitting.
On an album where every song could be a single, there are kaleidoscopic shades and varying emotional tones in abundance. First single Another Twilight is carried along a pumping, Italo-disco-style 4/4 beat and mono-synth bass line, the low end pulling at the heart and body. Lew’s vocal melody teases the track before swan-diving into a gorgeous chorus as she sings “it’s all over baby and I don’t mind… in decline, I take my time…” The album is suffused with moments like this. On slow builder Damaged Melody, an arpeggiated synth elongates the verse before a cascading synth showers down melodic glitter. The stunning Replica uses dual swirling synth patterns before a driving, synthpop chorus for the ages carries Hannah Lew’s vocal into the stereo field, sailing in on a high register singed with the embers of a break up.
In a departure from previous groups, her solo songs are guided by dreams and free association inspired by Dada and the Surrealist movement and sculpted afterwards. As such, the songs reveal themselves on repeated listens, revealing traces of heartbreak inspired by both personal and global elements - Hannah Lew regards the album “a wartime album.” On Move In Silence, Lew intones “there’s a war outside, just out of view,” revealing the dichotomy at play throughout. With the songs evolving naturally and in a flow state, the pressures and sadnesses of the modern age bleed through, mixed in with Lew’s inherent love, sensitivity and fractured-but-intact optimism. On the swooning, sublime Sunday layers of Numanoid synths open up for the commanding vocal performance pontificating on grief, love, pain as she “feels the ache on Sunday…” As the chorus builds and Lew’s call-and-response vocal adds to the emotional tension, it almost feels like too much to take.
Elsewhere, there are echoes of Hannah Lew’s previous work. On Time Wasted a bass guitar comes in with a heavy, punk attack before the synths and vocal harmonies reminiscent of later Cold Beat elevate everything. The glassy, sweetly resigned closer The Clock sounds like so classic it could be cover, a sweetened Jesus & Mary Chain tune perhaps, before it erupts into volcanic chorus that could only come from Hannah Lew in 2026.
quête:my baby shot me
- A1: Sweet Baby James
- A2: Lo And Behold
- A3: Sunny Skies
- A4: Steamroller
- A5: Country Road
- A6: Oh Susannah
- A7: Fire And Rain
- A8: Blossom
- A9: Anywhere Like Heaven
- B1: Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me
- B2: Suite For 20G
- B3: With A Little Help From My Friends
- B4: Rainy Day Man
- B5: Steamroller
- B6: Carolina In My Mind
- B7: Long Ago And Far Away
- B8: Riding On A Railroad
- B9: Close Your Eyes
The album that launched a thousand heavy-hearted singer-songwriters on their not-so-merry way, Sweet Baby James was arguably the first shot in what became the soft revolution of the early '70s. Taylor struck commercial gold with Sweet Baby James by augmenting his acoustic guitar and soothing vocals with laid-back accompaniment and penning a slew of songs that drew upon folk, soul, and rock influences. Musically mellow and lyrically restive, it put Taylor in the Top 10 and set the tone for a popular school of '70s sound.
- Willie, Waylon And Whiskey
- She Was My Baby
- If You Really Love Me (Outlive Me)
- Gotta Try Harder
- What The Hell Happened To The Cadillac
- You've Got My Heart
- Don't Let Honky Tonks Go
- Just Yesterday
- Life Is Like A Song
- Never Mend The Broke Spoke
- If I Can
- Unwanted
With Texas- sized defiance and drive, he's spent four decades flying the flag for his own brand of honky-tonk, outlaw country, western swing, and rockabilly. That signature sound has a name -- "Ameripolitan" -- and its originator is Watson himself: a singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor, cultural architect, and rulebreaking traditionalist for the modern world, championing the traditions that fly in the face of the homogenous mainstream. With Unwanted, he fires another doublebarreled shotgun blast of country twang and honky- tonk bang fueled by the heartaches, hard- won lessons, and high- speed thrills of a life largely logged on the road. Singing with a booming voice that could cut through the chaos of a packed dancehall, Watson runs the show like a roots-rock ringleader. He salutes his vices on the galloping "Willie Waylon and Whiskey," reflects upon a lifetime of loss with the gorgeous ballad "If You Really Loved Me (Outlive Me)," and gets wistfully contemplative on "Life is Like a Song." Entirely written and produced by Watson, Unwanted is the sound of an Ameripolitan diehard with plenty of life left in the tank, speeding toward a horizon of his own making.
Durch das 1966 auf Impulse! Records veröffentlichte Album “Spellbinder” wurde der ungarische Jazzgitarrist Gábor Szabó einem breiteren amerikanischen Publikum bekannt. Auf dem Album bot er eine originelle
Mischung aus modalem Jazz, osteuropäischen Folkeinflüssen und Popklängen, die er selbst als “Pop-Jazz”
bezeichnete.
- A1: Jimmy Reed Highway Feat Lou Ann Barton
- A2: Baby What You Want Me To Do
- A3: Bright Lights Big City Feat Kim Wilson
- A4: Big Boss Man Feat Kim Wilson
- A5: Good Lover Feat Lou Ann Barton
- A6: Caress Me Baby Feat Lou Ann Barton & James Cotton
- B1: Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth
- B2: You Upset My Mind Feat Lou Ann Barton & Kim Wilson
- B3: I'll Change My Style
- B4: Bad Boy
- B5: Baby, What's Wrong Feat Gary Clark Jr
- B6: Hush Hush Feat Delbert Mcclinton
- B7: You Made Me Laugh
It runs through the minds of men and women of a certain age, complexion, and place who grew up during the era of segregation and who defied their parents, the law, and all genteel propriety and custom by answering one bluesman's invitation to cross the color line and join him getting lowdown and dirty as he serenaded a generation from the bandstand, on jukeboxes, and through the radio.
To them, the slurred guttural sound of a wise man singing "Hush, Hush," putting down the "Big Boss Man" or advising the listener to "Take Out Some Insurance" before they behold the "Bright Lights, Big City" was a siren's call they had no choice but to answer. Even if they tried, they couldn't resist the steady, dirty rhythm punctuated by the twanging sting of an electric guitar note and the sweet wail of a harmonica. And when they leaned in close, they could even hear the barely perceptible sound of a woman's voice whispering forgotten lyrics into an ear.
Ain't nobody can do Jimmy Reed like Jimmy Reed could. But this drive down Jimmy Reed Highway with fellow Mississippian Kent "Omar" Dykes at the wheel with Jimmie Vaughan (older brother of the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan) riding shotgun and folks like, Kim Wilson, Miss Lou Ann Barton, James Cotton, Delbert McClinton, and Gary Clark, Jr., joining the duo, comes mighty close. As Omar guns the engine and peels rubber on the two- lane blacktop lined with no- good women, empty whiskey bottles, too many cigarette butts and bad intentions, he leaves John Law trailing behind eating his dust. Hop in for a ride and turn up the volume. The electric bluesman who shaped the minds and moves of a musical generation is alive and well. (by Joe Nick Patoski)
- A1: The Watson Brothers Band - Justwhistle
- A2: Jim Huxley - Tessa On A Magazine
- A3: Rick Penta - My Story Changes
- A4: Mak - That's Life
- A5: Palm Pizazz! - Silent Letter
- A6: Twice As Nice - Thoughts Of You
- B1: Barracuda - Baby I Love You
- B2: Elderberry Jak - Forrest On The Mountain
- B3: Dennis - Walk With Me
- B4: Jim Ware - Green Eyed Gypsy
- B5: John Lyle - Oh My Wind
- C1: Peter Kraemer - Let The Light Slip
- C2: Brian Freel - Nightrider
- C3: Michael Moore - Holland
- C4: Clete Stallbaumer - John’s Song
- C5: Ronnie White - The Jump
- D1: David Owens - Take Off Your Armour
- D2: The Squad - D L.m.h.i.m.a
- D3: Christoph Spendel Group - Forever
- D4: Awakening - Gotta Do Somethin / Might As Well Cultivate
‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ is the latest collection selected by Mikey Young (Total Control, EddyCurrent Suppression Ring) and Keith Abrahamsson (Founder and Head of A&R at AnthologyRecordings), the mangled minds behind the beloved ‘Follow the Sun’, ‘Sad About the Times’,and ‘…Still Sad’ compilations. The twenty tracks of ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ make a conscious(and unconscious) detour from its predecessors, sourced entirely from private press releases,spanning new decades and production modes within homespun folk, soft rock and otherwise70s and 80s FM radio adjacent music. The magic of ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ is the untold story of the artists behind these songs; thosewho missed the big time, but whose song craft and unrequited care hit the right notes, bothhigh and low.
Where ‘Follow the Sun’ and ‘Sad About the Times’ introduced us to the fame chasing, ambitioncrashing crooners who missed their shot in the mainstream, ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ delvesdeeper into the isolated wilds - a private world where production quirks, late-night tape hiss andone-man studio dreams were not necessarily a choice but the hand that was dealt.
With the parameters set to ‘private press only’, Young and Abrahamsson follow a circuitous trailof invention and emotion, documenting a spirit that’s more homespun, sometimes lonelier andoften a little weirder. The guitars still strum, but the keyboards’ hum is more prevalent andprecious; wistful harmonies brush up against lo-fi drum machines; a bittersweet fog lingeringover even the brightest melodies.
As with their previous collaborations, Young and Abrahamsson weren’t interested inconstructing a museum or drafting a historical survey. ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ is a sentimentalmixtape, assembled late at night when the mind wanders and old memories blur with imaginedfutures, those within reach and those far too mysterious to ever encounter. Songs wereunearthed in personal collections, deep YouTube burrows, dilapidated web archives and thedim corners of Discogs, with many selections tied not only to intuition but to personalconnection. Some tracks arrived via friends - Kelley Stoltz, a frequent guide for Young, tipped him off toboth Peter Kraemer’s lost gem ‘Let the Light Slip’ and Awakening’s revelatory closer - addingan unseen but deeply felt thread of camaraderie to the compilation.
The journey takes in a wide, strange sweep: The Watson Brothers Band’s ‘Just Whistle’ opensthe collection with a sigh and a shrug, a song that feels like it’s been waiting for decades to beheard again. Jim Huxley’s ‘Tessa on a Magazine’, rediscovered after a long and winding searchby Young, shimmers with a distinctly Australian melancholia. The heartbreak of Rick Penta’s‘My Story Changes’ and Twice As Nice’s delicate ‘Thoughts of You’ float easily alongside themore buoyant, radio-dream sheen of Barracuda’s ‘Baby I Love You’ and MAK’s sunshinedappled ‘That’s Life’.
Widening the aperture to the late 1970s and early 1980s allows for a deeper exploration intoevolving production techniques and musical technologies. The Squad’s ‘D.L.M.H.I.M.A.’ andChristoph Spendel Group’s ‘Forever’ crackle with the kind of bedroom synth warmth that couldonly come from the analogue age, while the soulful, yearning undercurrent of Awakening’s‘Gotta Do Somethin / Might As Well Cultivate’ caps the collection with a call for action - ormaybe just acceptance - in an accidental Brian Eno ‘Here Come the Warm Jets’ parroting.
While ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ moves away from the ‘sad man with guitar’ archetype that hoveredover its predecessors, it remains tethered to a familiar emotional gravity - a balance of longingand lightness that defines this corner of the musical universe. Each track shuffles gentlybetween resignation and hope, sadness and serenity, as if the artists themselves were chasinga dream just beyond reach, recording not for fame but for the simple act of getting it, thatprimal, creative itch, out into the world.
Available on CD and 2LP, featuring the third eye-opening artwork of Dang Wayne Olsen. Thedouble LP set arrives in an outrageous double-wide spine jacket with printed inners and adream journal entry by Pacific Northwest artifactual authority Josh Lewellen.
- A1: London Calling
- A2: Blitzkrieg Bop
- A3: Lust For Life
- A4: Going Underground
- A5: Teenage Kicks
- A6: Boys Don't Cry
- A7: Love Will Tear Us Apart
- A8: Making Plans For Nigel
- A9: Rat Trap
- B1: Hanging On The Telephone
- B2: Hong Kong Garden
- B3: Top Of The Pops
- B4: Ca Plane Pour Moi
- B5: Banana Splits
- B6: Cool For Cats
- B7: Into The Valley
- B8: Shot By Both Sides
- B9: Death Disco
- C1: The Sound Of The Suburbs
- C2: No More Heroes
- C3: Babylon's Burning
- C4: Cherry Bomb
- C5: Another Girl, Another Planet
- C6: (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
- C9: Because The Night
- D1: Brass In Pocket
- D2: Roxanne
- D3: Geno
- D4: Time For Action
- D5: Airport
- D6: Echo Beach
- D7: Over You
- D8: Is She Really Going Out With Him?
- E1: Gangsters
- E2: The Prince
- E3: On My Radio
- E4: Mirror In The Bathroom
- E5: Food For Thought
- E6: Life In Tokyo
- E7: The Number One Song In Heaven
- E8: Rock Lobster
- F1: Dog Eat Dog
- F2: C30 C60 C90 Go
- F3: Money
- F4: Nightclubbing
- F5: Are Friends Electric?
- F6: Underpass
- F7: Messages
- F8: Video Killed The Radio Star
- C7: Roadrunner (Once)
- C8: 2-4-6-8 Motorway
- A1: 337
- A2: 337
- A3: 337
- B1: 337
- B2: 337
- B3: 337
Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology. A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff. In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on 'The Work' and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland's teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland's own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland's wife of over 50 years. These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and "paramusicologists." Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.
Repress!
In the mid-1970s, a force of nature swept across the continental United States, cutting across all strata of race and class, rooting in our minds, our homes, our culture. It wasn’t The Exorcist, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or even bell-bottoms, but instead a book called The Secret Life of Plants. The work of occultist/former OSS agent Peter Tompkins and former CIA agent/dowsing enthusiast Christopher Bird, the books shot up the bestseller charts and spread like kudzu across the landscape, becoming a phenomenon. Seemingly overnight, the indoor plant business was in full bloom and photosynthetic eukaryotes of every genus were hanging off walls, lording over bookshelves, and basking on sunny window ledges. The science behind Secret Life was specious: plants can hear our prayers, they’re lie detectors, they’re telepathic, able to predict natural disasters and receive signals from distant galaxies. But that didn’t stop millions from buying and nurturing their new plants.
Perhaps the craziest claim of the book was that plants also dug music. And whether you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears), you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especially for them. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants…and the people that love them,” it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Plants date back from the dawn of time, but apparently they loved the Moog, never mind that the synthesizer had been on the market for just a few years. Most of all, the plants loved the ditties made by composer Mort Garson.
Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. When one writer rhetorically asked: “How was Garson’s music so ubiquitous while the man remained so under the radar?” the answer was simple. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytumcomosum. Julliard-educated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote lounge hits, scored plush arrangements for Doris Day, and garlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” He could render the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel alike into easy listening and also dreamed up his own ditties. “An idear” as Garson himself would drawl it out. “I live with it, I walk it, I sing it.”
But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: “When my dad found the synthesizer, he realized he didn’t want to do pop music anymore.” Garson encountered Robert Moog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society’s West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device. With the Moog, those idears could be transformed. “He constantly had a song he was humming,” Darmet says. “At the table he was constantly tapping.” Which is to say that Mort pulled his melodies out of thin air, just like any household plant would.
The Plantae kingdom grew to its height by 1976, from DC Comics’ mossy superhero Swamp Thing to Stevie Wonder’s own herbal meditation, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. Nefarious manifestations of human-plant interaction also abounded, be it the grotesque pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the pothead paranoia of the US Government spraying Mexican marijuana fields with the herbicide paraquat (which led to the rise in homegrown pot by the 1980s). And then there’s the warm, leafy embrace of Plantasia itself.
“My mom had a lot of plants,” Darmet says. “She didn’t believe in organized religion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatever created us was incredible.” And she also knew when her husband had a good song, shouting from another room when she heard him humming a good idear. Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.
Garson may have given the album away to new plant and bed owners, but a decade later a new generation could hear his music in another surreptitious way. Millions of kids bought The Legend of Zelda for their Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1986 and one distinct 8-bit tune bears more than a passing resemblance to album highlight “Concerto for Philodendron and Pothos.” Garson was never properly credited for it, but he nevertheless subliminally slipped into a new generations’ head, helping kids and plants alike grow.
Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the green thumb that made everything flower around him. “My dad would be totally pleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had no popularity at the time,” Darmet says of Plantasia’snew renaissance. “He would be fascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating this part of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then.” Garson seems to be everywhere again, even if he’s not really noticed, just like a houseplant.
- First It Was A Movie, Then It Was A Book
- Waiting Around To Provide
- Hey Baby
- Sexy
- Truck Flipped Over '19
- Big Something
- Dip Myself In Like An Ice Cream Cone
- Say Your Prayers Rock
- Pretty Eyes Lorraine
- You Don't Know
Cassette[14,08 €]
The promise of a Florry show, a now familiar caravan that has been honed over ambitiously trekked zig zags across America and Europe since the release of Dear Life Records debut The Holey Bible, is the redemptive promise and prodigal joy of rock and roll guitar music. Bred in the crackling warmth of the Philadelphia DIY scene, and forged with the alloys of community action, queer liberation and bedroom poetry, bandleader Francie Medosch and her absolute unit of collaborators have put in the work of sharpening their homespun tools to take up the mantle of the great lip-puckering rock and roll tradition pioneered by the likes of The Band and the Rolling Stones, but with proudly displayed Aimee Mann and Yo La Tengo bumper stickers on the rusty frame of the truck. At any second, the wheels could come off but they are steering just fine. For 'Sounds Like' Florry's sophomore effort as a fully realized band, Medosch and co. decamped to Drop of Sun studios in the nest of the Blue Ridge Mountains to record with Asheville wunderkind Colin Miller, a critical voice behind the records of MJ Lenderman, Wednesday and Merce Lemon and a powerful songwriter in his own right. Three powerhouse days in late 2023 solidified writing work done by the band earlier that summer in the now defunct Haw Creek compound under Miller's guiding suggestion. The result is a portrait of a ripping band cresting towards the height of their powers, uniquely equipped to capture a wildly loving, barn-burning camcorder clip of a turbulent trip with your best friends, without dipping into nostalgia bait. Lyrically, Medosch's utterances are both careful and excessive, the product of sifting through the rubble of classic good-time media, and finding what works for both her and her community to reach the heights of abandon. "The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album" The expansive personnel and continent spanning footprint of Florry casts a wide net for this community. Florry the band rolls deep in the heard of North American DIY, featuring Jon Cox (Sadurn, Son of Barb) on pedal steel, John Murray on electric guitar, Collin Dennen on bass, Will Henriksen on fiddle, Katya Malison (Doll Spirit Vessel) on Vox, and Joey Sullivan (Bark Culture) on drums. Medosch's recent move to Burlington Vermont entrenches the Philly born project firmly within the ranks of fellow alt-country upstarts Lily Seabird and Greg Freeman, and gives them a vantage just outside of Pennsylvania at the thresholds of New England and the Midwest. There is a new life breathed into this music that confirms Florry as equally rooted in place work, and at home on the vast roads of America. For listeners who fell in love with Florry's infectious charm on sweeping tours with the likes of Kurt Vile, Real Estate, MJ Lenderman, Greg Freeman and Fust, 'Sounds Like', provides a refreshing memento of the band that surely left them smiling. If the support behind 'The Holey Bible' provided validation for the insistent vision of these young artists, 'Sounds Like' finds them reveling in and honing their vocabulary. Praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan touched on the potential of their wild idiosyncrasies, and accurately predicted that their next steps would see them continuing to write their own story, like a 10 car pileup that you can't take your eyes off if you tried. Florry proves that they can let the car spin just out of control whenever they want, and you are welcome to ride shotgun while Medosch does donuts in the WaWa parking lot. The ceiling, it turns out, is truly the roof.
The promise of a Florry show, a now familiar caravan that has been honed over ambitiously trekked zig zags across America and Europe since the release of Dear Life Records debut The Holey Bible, is the redemptive promise and prodigal joy of rock and roll guitar music. Bred in the crackling warmth of the Philadelphia DIY scene, and forged with the alloys of community action, queer liberation and bedroom poetry, bandleader Francie Medosch and her absolute unit of collaborators have put in the work of sharpening their homespun tools to take up the mantle of the great lip-puckering rock and roll tradition pioneered by the likes of The Band and the Rolling Stones, but with proudly displayed Aimee Mann and Yo La Tengo bumper stickers on the rusty frame of the truck. At any second, the wheels could come off but they are steering just fine. For 'Sounds Like' Florry's sophomore effort as a fully realized band, Medosch and co. decamped to Drop of Sun studios in the nest of the Blue Ridge Mountains to record with Asheville wunderkind Colin Miller, a critical voice behind the records of MJ Lenderman, Wednesday and Merce Lemon and a powerful songwriter in his own right. Three powerhouse days in late 2023 solidified writing work done by the band earlier that summer in the now defunct Haw Creek compound under Miller's guiding suggestion. The result is a portrait of a ripping band cresting towards the height of their powers, uniquely equipped to capture a wildly loving, barn-burning camcorder clip of a turbulent trip with your best friends, without dipping into nostalgia bait. Lyrically, Medosch's utterances are both careful and excessive, the product of sifting through the rubble of classic good-time media, and finding what works for both her and her community to reach the heights of abandon. "The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album" The expansive personnel and continent spanning footprint of Florry casts a wide net for this community. Florry the band rolls deep in the heard of North American DIY, featuring Jon Cox (Sadurn, Son of Barb) on pedal steel, John Murray on electric guitar, Collin Dennen on bass, Will Henriksen on fiddle, Katya Malison (Doll Spirit Vessel) on Vox, and Joey Sullivan (Bark Culture) on drums. Medosch's recent move to Burlington Vermont entrenches the Philly born project firmly within the ranks of fellow alt-country upstarts Lily Seabird and Greg Freeman, and gives them a vantage just outside of Pennsylvania at the thresholds of New England and the Midwest. There is a new life breathed into this music that confirms Florry as equally rooted in place work, and at home on the vast roads of America. For listeners who fell in love with Florry's infectious charm on sweeping tours with the likes of Kurt Vile, Real Estate, MJ Lenderman, Greg Freeman and Fust, 'Sounds Like', provides a refreshing memento of the band that surely left them smiling. If the support behind 'The Holey Bible' provided validation for the insistent vision of these young artists, 'Sounds Like' finds them reveling in and honing their vocabulary. Praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan touched on the potential of their wild idiosyncrasies, and accurately predicted that their next steps would see them continuing to write their own story, like a 10 car pileup that you can't take your eyes off if you tried. Florry proves that they can let the car spin just out of control whenever they want, and you are welcome to ride shotgun while Medosch does donuts in the WaWa parking lot. The ceiling, it turns out, is truly the roof.
- A1: Shit On Me
- A2: Fucking Rotten
- A3: You, Me, Carpark, Now
- A4: Burn Your Home
- A5: Terror Australis
- B1: The Shaftmen - Shaftman - Toecutter Remix
- B2: Kill Intelligent Jocks (They Are The Master Race)
- B3: Scooter - Ramp ! The Logical Song (Progressive Mix) - Toecutter Remix
- B4: Nu-Lo
- C1: Donna Summer - Striving For Peace Between Mac And P C. Users - Toecutter Remix
- C2: Dave Dobbin & The Herbs - Beauty And The Beats - Toecutter Remix
- C3: Sokuseki Men - Big Toe Blues - Toecutter Remix
- C4: Kid606 - Lap Top. Hot. Shot. - Toecutter Remix
- C5: Dnil8R - Ft Mc Slurry
- D1: Baby, Don't Call Me - Xian Remix
- D2: Sodomecstacy - Shitmat Remix
- D3: Cum On Barbie - Sickboy Remix
- D4: Graveyard Haters - Maladroit Remix
- D5: Cut Up Cops
- E1: Ode To Brendan Phelan
- F1: I Milk Myself - Smoo Operator
- Riverside
- Marseille
- Alouette
- Blue Left Hand
- Velveteen
- Shotguns
- Rodeo
- Moon On The Water
- Talk Is Cheap
- Banshee
- Divinations
2023 was a whirlwind year for Oracle Sisters. The trio—Julia Johansen, Chris Willatt, and Lewis Lazar—followed the release of their debut album Hydranism with a globe-spanning tour that captivated fans and critics alike. From the highways between Knoxville and Nashville to sold-out clubs in rain-soaked Seattle, and festival stages across the UK, they logged countless hours on the road. Their journey was a tapestry of exhaustion and exhilaration, falling apart, brawls and disputes, love and acceptance. By the year’s end, just two days before Christmas, they found themselves in Tokyo, reflecting on the fleeting nature of time and the fragments of inspiration gathered along the way. It was there the seeds for their next album, Divinations, began to sprout. Composing as a true trio for the first time, Oracle Sisters pieced together sketches formed during stolen moments on tour. These fragments coalesced into Divinations, an album shaped by the band’s nomadic existence. The recording sessions spanned cozy Parisian studios, a barn in northern France, and the storied Valentine Studios in Los Angeles. Their creative process embraced experimentation—swapping primary instruments, playing with toy drum machines, and crafting melodies on quirky tools like the OP-1 and a baby Casio keyboard. This spirit of discovery lent the album a sense of spontaneity and wonder. At its core, Divinations channels mysticism and timeless storytelling. The band’s songwriting draws on diverse influences, from the surrealist poetry of Baudelaire and Rimbaud to the introspective philosophies of Carl Jung. Musically, echoes of Talking Heads, Air, and Leonard Cohen resonate throughout the album and tracks like “Riverside” delve into existential questions— “How far are you going? Is it more than money can buy?” Elsewhere on the album “Marseille,” born in the city that gave the song its name, kicks off as a trance with lyrics that play between the sincere and desperate self-help affirmations, we give ourselves while trying to find a bridge between our individual lives and a universal feeling. Lead-single “Alouette” is Oracle Sisters at their most direct; propelled by a driving bassline and exuberant strings, the track summons the sound of 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s rock n roll as they sing about “getting out of dodge, finding a pirate ship and sailing home.” Inspired by the book Caliban and the Witch, “Blue Left Hand” is a lyrical tapestry weaving together history, philosophy, and cultural critique. The lyrics, “It’s in the harbor of every page / It’s in the corner of the playwright’s stage / And every player and every fake / And every witch that we burned at the stake,” reflect on the forces that shaped the capitalist society we know today. Across Divinations’ 11 tracks it’s not only geographic boundaries that were crossed but also the boundaries of time and circumstance. While their work may not consciously reflect specific worldly events, they seek to embrace the universal and offer a space for healing. “Good music would make sense to a farmer in 17th century France as it would to a pastry chef in Slovenia in the 21st century,” shares Lazar. “It’s not written for any temporal powers that be. It’s about expressing our common humanity and taking it from there.” This intuitive approach fuels Oracle Sisters creative process - whether composing in a frozen French farmhouse or performing live with an ever-expanding lineup of collaborators, the band remains committed to exploring the unknown. Through Divinations, they hope to leave listeners feeling transcendent, levitating on waves of intuition and discovery.
- A1: The Nazz - Open My Eyes
- A2: The Easybeats - Good Times
- A3: Sir Douglas Quintet - She’s About A Mover
- A4: Can - Outside Your Door
- A5: The Music Machine - People In Me
- A6: Wynder K. Frog - I’m A Man
- A7: Sharon Tandy - Hold On
- B1: The Hombres - Let It All Hang Out
- B2: The Left Banke - I’ve Got Something On My Mind
- B3: The Seeds - The Wind Blows Your Hair
- B4: The Apple - Buffalo Billycan
- B5: Dantalion’s Chariot - ‘Madman Rising Through The Fields’
- B6: The End - Shades Of Orange
- B7: Warm Sounds - Night Is A Comin’
- C1: The Velvet Underground - Foggy Notion
- C2: The Modern Lovers - She Cracked
- C3: Kim Fowley - Bubblegum
- C4: The Balloon Farm - A Question Of Temperature
- C5: Fleur De Lys - Circles **
- C6: The Starlets - You Don’t Love Me
- D1: The Turtles - Buzz Saw
- D2: Lothar And The Hand - People Machines
- D3: The Open Mind - Magic Potion
- D4: The Swinging Medallions - Double Shot Of My Baby’s Love
- D7: The Creation - How Does It Feel To Feel
- D8: The Third Eye - Pass Myself
- D5: Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - I See The Light
- D6: The Action - I’ll Keep On Holding On **
Two-Piers präsentiert die nächste Killer-Compilation: "Weird Scenes From The Hangout (Psychedelic & Freakbeat Dancefloor Anthems 1967-1982)", kuratiert von Richard Norris (The Grid, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, The Time And Space Machine) und zentriert um seine Liverpooler Clubnacht "The Hangout" in den 1980ern. Dort brachten er und weitere DJs bewusstseinsverändernden Wahnsinn aus Psychedelia und Freakbeat auf die Tanzfläche. Herausragende Songs wie "The Left Banke - I've Got Something On My Mind", "The Turtles - Buzzsaw" oder "Can - Outside Your Door" wurden zu echten Hangout-Hymnen. Man widmete der eher trendy Ausbeute der Spät-Sechziger ebenso viel Zeit wie angesagten Acts, solange der Groove auf dem Dancefloor funktionierte. Das Hangout kam und ging im Nu, aber sein Erbe, psychedelische Fußstampfer auf die Fläche zu bringen, lebt weiter, gemeinsam mit der Liebe zu allem, was mit Beat und Freak zu tun hat.
** Exclusive tracks to Vinyl Format
- A1: Gene Townsel – I'm Walking Away
- A2: Mary Mundy – You Put A Hurtin' On Me
- A3: Touch Of Class – I Love You Pretty Baby
- A4: 94 East – If We Don't
- A5: Brief Encounter – (Don't You See) I'm Crazy About You
- B1: Al Wilson – La La Peace Song
- B2: Teresa Graves – Every Day's A New Day
- B3: Al Jarreau – Look What You've Done For Me
- B4: Liberation – Take My Best Shot
- B5: The Harmonics – Be Your Man
- B6: Three Shades Of Soul – Smooth Sailing
- B7: Ohio Players – Here Today And Gone Tomorrow
"My Lover The Killer" is the latest collaboration between Lydia Lunch and Marc Hurtado. They first worked together on the 'Sexodrone' track of the Etant Donnés's album "Re-Up" in 1999. Featuring Terry Edwards (Gallon Drunk), Ian White (Gallon Drunk), Mark Cunningham, We Are Birds of Paradise, David Lackner. "My Lover The Killer" is a collaborative project with Marc Hurtado. What began as a loose musical concept in the summer of 2012 became a prophecy written in blood by November of the same year. "My Lover The Killer" is a late night noir confessional. Sinister, sexy and mysterious, the music slithers, erupts and caresses the seductive vocals as they relay twisted tales rife with innuendo, promises and threats. The text is based on the murder/suicide of an ex-lover whom I had recently contacted for the first time in over a decade. Caught in the early fall hurricane which leveled the East Coast of America while enroute to Los Angeles, I had sent an invitation proposing that we meet for drinks. Two days later, during a alcohol fueled fight with his girlfriend about whether or not he should come to see me, he shot and killed her, called the police, turned the gun on himself, and died the next day on his 55th birthday. A tragic event, which "My Lover The Killer" attempts to make sense of. Each song is a rumination on the frightening effects of a mad love spun out of control and the haunting remnants of a lover who still stalks from beyond the grave.
- A1: Fern Kinney - Baby Let Me Kiss You (Original Album Version)
- A2: Dennis Parker - Like An Eagle (Original 12" Mix)
- A3: Teddy Pendergrass - Life Is A Song Worth Singing (Original Album Version)
- B1: Earth Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland (Original 12" Instrumental Mix)
- B2: Slick - Space Bass (Original 12" Mix)
- B3: Chuck Cissel - Cisselin' Hot (Original 12" Mix)
- C1: Boys Town Gang - Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday (Original Album Version)
- C2: Karen Young - Hot Shot
- C3: Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch - One Love (Original 12" Mix)
- D1: Paradise Express - Dance (Original 12" Mix)
- D2: Gloria Gaynor - Love Is Just A Heartbeat Away (Nocturna's Theme)
- D3: Bionic Boogie - Risky Changes (Extended Version)
Welcome back to Demon’s ‘Disco Discharge’ series, originally issued in a series of 2CD collections between 2009 and
2012. The themed compilations of full-length, extended Disco originals, lovingly curated by the mysterious “MrPinks”
and with detailed sleeve notes by author and Disco aficionado Alan Jones, have remained in-demand among collectors
and the club cognoscenti. This time around, the series kicks off with ‘Classic Disco’ and ‘Disco Fever USA’, both issued
in new-formatted 2CD Deluxe gatefold sleeves and, for the first time, as 2LP coloured 140-gram vinyl editions.
While Disco happened the whole world over, ‘Disco Fever USA’ cherry-picks 12 milestones hailing from its American
birthplace on 140g White vinyl. Alongside lesser-known cuts from the likes of Fern Kinney, Gloria Gaynor and Boys
Town Gang there’s also another wealth of treasures including a rare instrumental version of Earth, Wind & Fire’s
‘Boogie Wonderland’, the sublime ‘Like An Eagle’ by sometime gay porn actor Dennis Parker and Bionic Boogie’s ‘Risky
Changes’, a track you could say predicted Chicago House sound a full ten years before the fact.
- 1: Do You Believe In Magic – The Lovin’ Spoonful
- 2: 7 And 7 Is – Love
- 3: Little Girl – Syndicate Of Sound
- 4: A Question Of Temperature – The Balloon Farm
- 5: Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love) – Swingin’ Medallions
- 6: Action Woman – The Litter
- 7: Talk Talk – Music Machine
- 1: I See The Light – The Five Americans
- 2: 96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians
- 3: Open Up Your Door _ Richard & The Young Lions
- 4: Laugh< Laugh – Beau Brummels
- 5: Stop! – Get A Ticket – Clefs Of Lavender Hill
- 6: I Cannot Stop You – The Cherry Slush
- 7: Frustration – The Mystic Tide
- 1: Run, Run, Run – The Gestures
- 2: It’s Cold Outside – The Choir
- 3: Free As The Wind = The Myddle Class
- 4: Whatcha Gonna Do About It – The Evil
- 5: What A Way To Die – The Pleasure Seekers
- 6: Road Runner – The Gants
- 7: A Little Bit Of Soul – The Music Explosion
- 1: Black On White – The North Atlantic Invasion Force
- 2: Dance, Franny, Dance – Floyd Dakil Combo
- 3: Going All The Way – The Squires
- 6: Blackout Of Gretely – Gonn
- 7: The Spider And The Fly – The Monocles
- 4: You Must Be A Witch – The Lollipop Shopps
- 5: The Witch – The Sonics
Vol 1[59,62 €]
- A1: Josephine Taylor - Good Lovin
- A2: Jackie Beavers - Sling Shot
- A3: Five Stairsteps - Come Back
- A4: Betty Everett - Bye Bye Baby
- A5: Tim - My Side Of The Track
- A6: Tyrone - You Made Me Suffer
- A7: Cash Mccall - You Mean Everything To Me
- A8: Andrea Davis - You Gave Me Soul
- B1: Jamo Thomas - Stop The Baby
- B2: Jean Dushon - All Of A Sudden My Heart Sings
- B3: Jimmy Dobbins - What Is Love (I Found Love) (I Found Love)
- B4: Chuck Bernard - Let's Go Get Stoned
- B5: Sonny Warner - Been So Long
- B6: The Cod's - It Must Be Love
- B7: Joyce Davis - Along Came You
- B8: Johnny Sayles - Deep Down In My Heart
In the 1950s Chicago was the blues capital of the world. But by 1966 musical tastes had changed. R & B had morphed into hard soul and newer soft soul musical stylings had coalesced from earlier doo wop motifs, with bigger and more sophisticated productions. This was the era of the small independent owners / producers, all vying for airplay and sales in a hugely competitive marketplace. This landmark LP showcases many of the best of this output – the sounds that hit music listeners and buyers straight from the street. The mix here is a perfect blend of the tough hard soul style and the softer soul sounds. Just right for the feet and the heart. Enjoy!
- A1: You May Be Right (Glass Houses (1980))
- A2: Sometimes A Fantasy (Glass Houses (1980))
- A3: Don’t Ask Me Why (Glass Houses (1980))
- A4: It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me (Glass Houses (1980))
- A5: All For Leyna (Glass Houses (1980))
- B1: I Don’t Want To Be Alone (Glass Houses (1980))
- B2: Sleeping With The Television On (Glass Houses (1980))
- B3: C’etait Toi (You Were The One) (Glass Houses (1980))
- B4: Close To The Borderline (Glass Houses (1980))
- B5: Through The Long Night (Glass Houses (1980))
- A1: Allentown (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- A2: Laura (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- A3: Pressure (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- A4: Goodnight Saigon (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- B1: She’s Right On Time (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- B2: A Room Of Our Own (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- B3: Surprises (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- B4: Scandinavian Skies (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- B5: Where’s The Orchestra (The Nylon Curtain (1982))
- A1: Easy Money (An Innocent Man (1983))
- A2: An Innocent Man (An Innocent Man (1983))
- A3: The Longest Time (An Innocent Man (1983))
- A4: This Night (An Innocent Man (1983))
- A5: Tell Her About It (An Innocent Man (1983))
- B3: Christie Lee (An Innocent Man (1983))
- B4: Leave A Tender Moment Alone (An Innocent Man (1983))
- B5: Keeping The Faith (An Innocent Man (1983))
- A1: Running On Ice (The Bridge (1986))
- A2: This Is The Time (The Bridge (1986))
- A3: Modern Woman (The Bridge (1986))
- A4: Baby Grand (Duet With Ray Charles) (The Bridge (1986))
- B1: Big Man On Mulberry Street (The Bridge (1986))
- B2: Temptation (The Bridge (1986))
- B3: Code Of Silence (The Bridge (1986))
- B4: Getting Closer (The Bridge (1986))
- A1: That’s Not Her Style (Storm Front (1989))
- A2: We Didn’t Start The Fire (Storm Front (1989))
- A3: The Downeaster ‘Alexa’ (Storm Front (1989))
- A4: I Go To Extremes (Storm Front (1989))
- A5: Shameless (Storm Front (1989))
- B1: Storm Front (Storm Front (1989))
- B2: Leningrad (Storm Front (1989))
- B3: State Of Grace (Storm Front (1989))
- B4: When In Rome (Storm Front (1989))
- B5: And So It Goes (Storm Front (1989))
- A1: No Man’s Land (River Of Dreams (1993))
- A2: The Great Wall Of China (River Of Dreams (1993))
- A3: Blonde Over Blue (River Of Dreams (1993))
- A4: A Minor Variation (River Of Dreams (1993))
- A5: Shades Of Grey (River Of Dreams (1993))
- B1: Uptown Girl (An Innocent Man (1983))
- B1: All About Soul (River Of Dreams (1993))
- B2: Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (River Of Dreams (1993))
- B3: The River Of Dreams (River Of Dreams (1993))
- B4: Two Thousand Years (River Of Dreams (1993))
- B5: Famous Last Words (River Of Dreams (1993))
- A1: Reverie ("Villa D'este") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- A2: Waltz #1 ("Nunley's Carousel") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- B1: Aria ("Grand Canal") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- B2: Invention In C Minor (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- B3: Soliloquy ("On A Separation") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- C1: Suite For Piano ("Star-Crossed"): I. Innamorato (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- C2: Suite For Piano ("Star-Crossed"): Ii. Sorbetto (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- C3: Suite For Piano ("Star-Crossed"): Iii. Delusion (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- D1: Opus 5. Waltz #2 ("Steinway Hall") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- D2: Opus 9. Waltz #3 ("For Lola") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- D3: Opus 4. Fantasy ("Film Noir") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- D4: Opus 10. Air ("Dublinesque") (Fantasies & Delusions (2001))
- A1: Allentown (Live From Long Island (1982))
- A2: My Life (Live From Long Island (1982))
- A3: Prelude/Angry Young Man (Live From Long Island (1982))
- B1: Piano Man (Live From Long Island (1982))
- B2: Don’t Ask Me Why (Live From Long Island (1982))
- B3: The Stranger (Live From Long Island (1982))
- C1: Scandinavian Skies (Live From Long Island (1982))
- C2: Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) (Live From Long Island (1982))
- C3: She’s Always A Woman (Live From Long Island (1982))
- B2: Careless Talk (An Innocent Man (1983))
- C4: Pressure (Live From Long Island (1982))
- D1: Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (Live From Long Island (1982))
- D2: Just The Way You Are (Live From Long Island (1982))
- D3: Goodnight Saigon (Live From Long Island (1982))
- E1: Stilleto (Live From Long Island (1982))
- E2: Band Intro (Live From Long Island (1982))
- E3: Until The Night (Live From Long Island (1982))
- E4: It’s Still Rock N Roll To Me (Live From Long Island (1982))
- F1: Sometimes A Fantasy (Live From Long Island (1982))
- F2: Big Shot (Live From Long Island (1982))
- F3: You May Be Right (Live From Long Island (1982))
- F4: Only The Good Die Young (Live From Long Island (1982))
- F5: Souvenir (Live From Long Island (1982))
"The Vinyl Collection, Volume 2" vereint Billy Joels monumental erfolgreiche Alben aus dem späteren Teil seiner Karriere: "Glass Houses" (1980), "The Nylon Curtain" (1982), "An Innocent Man" (1983), "The Bridge" (1986) und "Storm Front" (1989), "River of Dreams" (1993). Außerdem gibt es 2 Titel zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl: die Doppel-LP "Fantasies & Delusions" und die 3er-LP "Live from Long Island" aus dem Jahr 1982. Alle Songs stammen von den Original-Album-Mastern, Zudem ist ein über 60-seitiges Booklet mit Billys persönlichen Anmerkungen und einem Essay von Rob Tannenbaum enthalten




















