Search:negative a

Pressed on 140 Gram recycled eco vinyl

GENOCIDE PACT return with their eponymous new album. An overdose of gut-wrenching Death Metal, Genocide Pact is heavy, engrossing, and undoubtedly brutal. "This album reflects on the feeling of watching the world crumble while dealing with personal tragedy," says guitarist/vocalist Tim Mullaney. True to his word - every track on Genocide Pact is a sonic assault brimming with palpable malaise. From the guttural screams in the album's opener "Led to Extinction", to the driving double bass that carries "Perverse Dominion", and a head rattling low end on "Deprive Degrade" - Genocide Pact is wholly negative Death Metal. The fury behind Genocide Pact captures the band's collective frustrations and personal journeys through these turbulent times. "You turn on the news and see mass shootings, a global pandemic, endless war, and corporations and politicians trying to sell you bullshit. You pick up your phone and another friend or family member has died. On top of that, you’re broke as fuck and work endlessly for a boss that doesn’t even know your name. You find yourself paranoid, pissed off, and embracing nihilism," Tim Mullaney says. GENOCIDE PACT have learned to embrace the negativity, churning out one of 2021's ugliest and unforgiving records.

Léonie Pernet's second album Le Cirque de Consolation, to be released November 19th on InFiné & CryBaby, inhabits a world where borders dissolve and everyone makes their own unique and singular utopia. Hereby, the record questions the links between pop music, African cultures and electronic music, neo-classical music or the role of voice, whether human or synthetic. Sophomore albums can be a painful process for an artist - how refreshing it is to hear one so decidedly optimistic.

Textextext - (add your write up)

The sought after whirlwind of French Pop that exploded onto the scene with her debut "Crave", Leonie Pernet, returns with her second album, "Le Circque de Consolation", a sort of double negative of her first. While the yearning that sat at the center of "Crave"might not have been resolved, the young multi-instrumentalist and singer has found a new perspective - a more open and positive outlook on her own life and work. Perhaps telling, then, that the title was the first element of the album to exist: as it is and has always been a journey of personal (and collective) consolation first, a musical confrontation with the self.

"This record parallels my life's journey," confirms Léonie, "it reflects what has happened in my life since 'Crave' came out and how I feel today. There's still a lot of melancholy, but a lot more sunshine and light. In four years, I've become sober, which has saved me; I've worked a lot on my voice, which is a part of a desire to speak, to address my audience more directly, and also a more pronounced pop desire." In line with her new-found "openness", Leonie invites another musician into her creative process for the first time on "Le Cirque de Consolation": Jean Sylvain le Gouic, who lended his coproduction and perspective to her, while Leonie still plays almost all instruments herself with an astounding prowess.

Leonie's voice oozes with a new-found self-confidence and takes center stage amidst eclectic, distinctively fun and open-minded production. Sometimes she sings in English, mostly in French: "I worked a lot on my voice," confirms Léonie, "I didn't dare to sing before, neither live, nor on record, nor in the studio." Surrounding her astounding, intoxicating voice are forays into any direction imaginable: from harsh, experimental electronics to the more sombre, organic and quiet moments - and everywhere, there is the vision of Africa, (also Middle East) it's many sonic gifts and cultures.

Leonie has found a universal utopia that she craves for - a musical, cultural amalgamation that is decidedly non-western, political and poetic, rooted in self-discovery and the connection with other humans: African and oriental percussion, synthesizers, drum-machines; Léonie mixes genres and instruments with ease and precision. The French novelist and philosopher Édouard Glissant - whose work and writing had a big influence on Pernet - coined the term "Creolization ", the "bringing together of several cultures or at least several elements of distinct cultures, in one part of the world, resulting in new data, totally unpredictable in relation to the sum or the simple synthesis of these elements."

From "Hard Billy ", a techno-influenced rebellious anthem, to "Les Chants de Maldoror," a club and dance song propelled forward by feverish derboukas, to the deeply moving "A rebours" and its Afro-electronic rock. Léonie Pernet inhabits a world where borders dissolve and everyone makes their own unique and singular utopia. Hereby, the record questions the links between pop music, African cultures and electronic music (Intérieur Négro), neo-classical music (Le Cirque de consolation, Dandelion), or the place of the voice, whether human or synthetic as in the atmospheric "Vowel". Sophomore albums can be a painful process for an artist - how refreshing it is to hear one so decidedly optimistic.

We present the first release of the new Xtraperlo recs. sublabel called BLACK QUASAR, based on Electro / IDM / Acid sounds.

Emerging from the ashes of the band Church Of
Void, there is a new force rising up to pursue a
path in the name of doom. Fimir are set to release
their blistering debut album, ‘Tomb Of God’.
 Fimir were founded in 2019 by former Church Of
Void members G. Funeral, Magus Corvus, H.
Warlock, A.D. and Septic Apes’ drummer H.
Wizzard. From a mere spark in the dark and a
distant echo of forgotten riffs haunting in emptiness
from a collapsed doomstar of their former band,
Fimir got rid of their ghosts and started to work on
their first album right away, until the world went into
lockdown.
 The five-piece collective, hailing from the frozen
wastelands of Finland, used their time and
creativity wisely, and managed to put the final
touches on their upcoming debut, featuring six
heavy cosmic tracks unleashing an enthralling
blend of razor sharp riffage, haunting occult vibes,
ambient atmospheres and classic doom metal.
 For fans of Black Sabbath, Tiamat, Type O
Negative, Pentagram, Church Of Void, Reverend
Bizarre, Candlemass.
 LP on cyan coloured vinyl.

Clear Vinyl

Perc returns to Perc Trax with an EP designed to capture the energy and chaos of rave without relying on the same classic sounds that have been in constant use since the early 90's. 'Greed Dance' is Perc's first full EP in 14 months, following 'Fire In Negative' on Perc Trax back in September 2020. Since then Perc has pushed through lockdown with an intense production regime resulting in tracks being signed to Lebendig, Possession, RAW and Rote Sonne, as well as this EP for Perc Trax.

Originally started at Christmas last year, lead track 'Greed Dance' started life as an anger fueled full vocal track aimed squarely at the hypocrisy of certain sections of the dance music industry, but over time has been stripped down to a tight rhythm track with sparse vocal elements reflecting a change of mood as the UK's clubs and events were finally allowed to open again this summer.

B1 ' Resistor' takes a similar approach as previous Perc release 'Toxic NRG', looking to squeeze maximum dance floor drama out of a small group of continually tweaked sounds. Finally B2 track '240 Volts' layers rapid fire organ arpeggios over a rock solid kick & bass foundation to create something fresh for both Perc and techno in general.

'Greed Dance' will be released on limited edition cola bottle green 12" vinyl, packaged in a full colour double-sided sleeve designed by regular Perc Trax design crew Adult Art Club. The EP was written & produced by Perc at his home studio and mixed down by Perc at MAP Studios in London. The EP was
mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis, London

Long before John Brannon of Negative Approach cemented himself as a USHC icon, you
would hear rumblings about his pre-NA glam group, STATIC. Only a handful of people were
lucky/brave enough to see them live. Scenesters spoke of a tape but never seemed to have
one. Their most well-remembered song, Toothpaste and Pills, allegedly featured smashing
beer bottles against John’s mom’s basement wall as a percussion instrument. Could this be
real?

Fast forward to 2020 and a few months into the covid-19 lockdown, Brannon came across a
bunch of tapes he dug out of a box in his Mom’s closet - STATIC “DEMOS ‘78”, STATIC
“LIVE AT GROSSE POINTE SOUTH H.S.”, STATIC “LIVE AT PLEWA HALL”. Holy shit! The
legend is true! And best of all, STATIC rule!

John Brannon grew up in Grosse Pointe Park just a few blocks from the Detroit border. John
was always into music, but as soon as he heard T-Rex, The Stooges and Alice Cooper, he
was obsessed (and still is) and had to start a band to channel his obsessions. With the help
of neighborhood kid and collaborator Billy Daniels and a local drummer simply known as
“Red”, STATIC was born.

Before Negative Approach changed the face of punk and hardcore, before Laughing Hyenas
scared the world silly and blew everyone else off the stage and before Easy Action started
melting minds all over the world, there was STATIC. STATIC was real. STATIC was real as
shit.

Third Man Records is beyond ecstatic to be providing this long-missing piece of the
American Underground Music puzzle. We worked closely with John Brannon and Warren
Defever, one of Third Man Mastering’s resident wizards, to put together this essential
collection of demos and live recordings.

Grains is the debut album by Numinos on Mille Plateaux. The Cologne-based producer, DJ, author and lecturer has been writing the tech-reviews in "Groove" for many years, tests equipment for various specialist magazines and teaches at the Institute for Pop Music (IFPOM) and Institute for Computer Music and Electronic Media (ICEM) of the Folkwang University.In his current creative phase, he conceptually deals with the topic of "granular synthesis".
A "grain" is thus, to a certain extent, a tiny spectral snapshot from a larger musical context - an infinitely expandable, flowing intermediate state. This is also where the connection to the cover motif is found that shows the negative of a photograph of a wild field and has been taken Bernd Adamek-Schyma: The negative as an eternal intermediate state between the motif and the developed image. And despite the fact that "Numinos" has a fully equipped studio with a wide range of instruments, the 20 Euro iPad app "Borderlands Granular" turned out to be the creative catalyst that enabled the trained pianist to implement his sound ideas with direct haptic influence.The app gives the Cologne-based sound artist the opportunity to extract tiny fragments from the sample based on their specific tonality, to recontextualize them and thus work out structures that are not audible at the original tempo.
The results are polyrhythmic sound scenes that appear harsh, artificial and strange in a moment, only to transform into contemplative, warm and familiar frequency stratification minutes later. Numinos deceives the listener in many ways. Above all with the supposed rhythm that does not exist. Because in fact almost all granular clusters within the pieces run in completely asynchronous loops. The addition of a simple kick drum then forces the brain to suddenly hear apparent triplets, quintoles or dotted eighths in these mathematically completely chaotic structures, which are purely fallacy.

Those well-acquainted with Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Wheez-ie can attest to his masterful dexterity both behind the decks and in the studio. For the uninitiated, his forthcoming release serves as another testament to the timely-yet-timeless quality his productions have since become championed for. Finding common ground through an emphasis on genre hybridization, Wheez-ie's latest offering, Horizons, benevolently marks the next entry in the rapidly growing catalog of John Frusciante and Aura T-09's Evar Records.

Set for release on October 1st, this 4-track collection has already received advance support from the likes of Nina Kraviz, Sherelle (with the track "Shut the Door" being featured as part of her official BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix), VTSS, Cera Khin and fellow Evar signee Kilbourne, exemplifying how Wheez-ie's tunes are not only certifiably rave-ready but can find a happy home in DJ sets of all styles.

Drawing influence from techno, industrial metal, darkcore jungle and big beat, Horizons culminates in a fierce exploration of sounds that efficaciously capture the essence of early 90s-era rave through a modern lens that is both perceptive and prophetic. While working from a referential or nostalgic place can be cheugy if not executed properly, the Texas-born producer is at his best when pulling from his encyclopedic knowledge of electronic dance music to provide that 2AM banger the dance floor didn't quite know it needed until the cathartic moment it explodes out of the speakers.

As exemplified by the depth of his discography, including recent additions courtesy of London's THEM imprint (2020's Negative Zone EP) and Perth, Scotland's Craigie Knowes (2020's ONLY HUMAN / WEAPONIZED), Wheez-ie has been fiercely applying pressure and challenging genre tropes from the very onset of his career, and doing so with immense care and understanding of nuanced cultural codes. Prioritizing feeling above genre, Wheez-ie's Horizons brilliantly showcases his multifaceted nature, with each track offering a different side of his dynamic arsenal as a producer and DJ.

For its first standalone release of 2021, Climate of Fear is proud to announce the debut album by NYC avant punk duo Clebs, aka Jason Nazary & Emilie Weibel. “Feed Me Gently” is one of those works that hits out of nowhere: a collection of songs so finely honed and unflinchingly unique it’s hard to believe this is the group’s first outing. Opening with “Negative Space,” the duo pull a deadly fakeout, with gurgling, saliva drenched musique concrète suddenly dive bombing into a ricocheting, noise-encrusted panic attack. Seasoned with trace amounts of 90’s electronica, Weibel’s atomized vocal work and Nazary’s careening drumwork set the tone for the rest of the album. “Feed Me Gently” draws its power from the tension between its snarling aggression and its eerily calm sensuality, with Weibel’s poetic incantations and choked birdsong weaving around melted synth lines, jazzy interludes and brutally deconstructed percussion. A deeply strange, fully formed soundworld, “Feed Me Gently” invites you to bask in its eerily sensual violence.

Porcupine is Echo & The Bunnymen’s most profound and personal album from their early period. Weathering band turmoil, rejections from their record company and spans of songwriting drought, the group emerged with a passionate and compelling set of songs described by vocalist Ian McCulloch as “coming to terms with the opposites in me.” Following their fourth Peel session in early 1982, the band chose Ian Broudie, leader of The Lightning Seeds and co-producer of Echo’s 1980 album Crocodiles, to produce Porcupine. While the album includes both “The Back of Love” and “The Cutter” (two of their most upbeat and successful singles), most of the material was fairly introverted and autobiographical.

Unfortunately suffering negative reviews upon release (including a misguided hate-piece in the NME), Porcupine has since become a gold standard for both the band and British underground rock from the ’80s. It’s also simultaneously their most retro album and their most forward-looking. The production is full of guitar effects that must have set the mind of Kevin Shields onto the path to My Bloody Valentine’s own masterpiece, Loveless.

In addition to the “The Cutter” and “The Back of Love”, Porcupine includes songs such as “My White Devil,” “Heads Will Roll,” and “Porcupine” that transcend and enlighten to this day. It’s an essential album from one of the most influential bands of the post-punk movement.

Ten songs, ten exorcisms of negative energy, ten lifesavers:
Before the last sounds of the gripping finale ‘Mountains’ have faded you have
become aware that this could be the new gold standard for contemporary metal, a journeyman’s piece that in a just world will propel VENUES up the ladder.
And then, at some point in the future, we can all say: Well, I always knew they’d
get that big!

“‘Social Haul’ is a collection of songs to get to
know us by. The album loosely depicts a
protagonist challenging perceived negative
aspects of character, particularly in others,
attacking in stages or episodes. Not dissimilar to
that unfinished Bruce Lee movie.
“Including bouts with ignorance, through to
rebellion, disassociation, spiritual bypassing,
indifference and eventually light-enlightenment.
‘Social Haul’ centres around the middle distance,
the place in which we realise that no matter how
insignificant or excluded we may feel, we all have
something worthwhile to say.” - Social Haul
Produced with Daniel Fox (Girl Band), Social
Haul’s self-titled debut album is released via
FatCat Records.
For fans of IDLES, Dry Cleaning, Shame,
TRAAMS.
Press - Features in DIY, So Young, Gigwise, Under The
Radar.
Radio - Radio 1 Jack Saunders, Gemma Bradley, Radio 6
Steve Lamacq, Apple Music 1 Matt Wilkinson, Amazing
Radio.

Originally released on cassette by Good Person Recordings in 2016, Impressive Almanac is the culmination of Dan Shaw's bedroom experiments making minimalist post-punk. The entire album was tracked by himself at home shortly after moving from Seattle to his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Dan did not yet have any backing band at the time. The album shines with his raw and unfettered creativity, repetitive DI'ed guitars, and disaffected yet deeply personal lyrics about the banality of modern life.

Shaw says of the record: "Sharing this tape with friends in the Western Mass DIY scene soon led to the formation of Landowner as a full band. Even though we're a real band now with a real drummer and everything, the drum machines and repetitive riffs of these songs still serve as an important reference point for the vibe we strive to attain in our music today."

The album was quite formative for Born Yesterday Records. Co-owner and now Deeper bass player Kevin Fairbairn met Dan at a show in Western Massachusetts. Dan gave him a cassette of Impressive Almanac. When Kevin returned from tour, he was eager to show it to me and I quickly became obsessed with it. A year or so later when we were discussing starting a record label, we both knew that Landowner had to be one of the bands we talked to first. This release will roughly mark the three year anniversary of Born Yesterday's first release, Landowner's Blatant.

The Staples do it again with another Ska classic that is guaranteed to get you singing along. This song is something of a good time anthem with happy vibes contrasting with some of the negatives that are around right now. With this song Neville and Sugary Staple really know how to put a smile on people’s faces. I can see this becoming a live favourite.

Dr Pete Chambers BEM, Coventry Observer

My goodness, the best of two huge talents. Husband and wife team Sugary & Neville Staple haven’t disappointed again! Feel good ska-based melody, toe-tapping and butt-shakingly good!TRISH ADUDU, BBC RADIO CWR

Well known for changing the face of music not once, but three times, 2Tone music legend Neville Staple (From the Specials), also known as the ‘Original Rude Boy’ and his super sidekick wife, Sugary Staple, release their brand new song, ‘Be Free Baby’, on the highly respected, Pickout Records.

A super ska track which mixes the original influences of Jamaican sounds, along with the 2Tone style that this dynamic ska duo, take on tour with them globally, alongside their top band of musicians.

Written by Neville Staple, who has scores of music awards from 40 years of 2Tone & Ska hits and albums, and his super talented sidekick, Sugary Staple and acclaimed record producer Lloyd ‘Pickout’ Dennis this song is a truly happy song, to take our minds away from the difficult days of Covid lockdowns, into a party mood of freedom and dancing. Fans will love the irresistible skanking beat, along with super feel-good lyrics to sing along to.

“After recently writing a song about the Lockdown, which related to the tough days of staying home and following rules and so on, I decided we needed some uplifting music too.” Explained Sugary, Frizzle TV Award Winner and Skamouth Festival Founder. “There is so much doom and gloom about in the news and we know how music can really be so good for the human soul. This tune has a lot of love and feeling behind it, as it encompasses all the fun, freedom and thrills that we have on stage, when we perform live. A whole year of global touring has been postponed, so we put the vibrance of a live show into this song.

Neville agrees, “I love writing with Sugary, as we are both on the same wavelength. We feed off each other. We were both in need of getting out there and performing for the masses but have had all our 2020 shows moved to next year, so we decided to bring the party to everyone through this song. We love the traditional sound and the bluebeat vibes too, with a twist of 2Tone magic. It makes me think about our holidays back home in Jamaica and beach parties, street carnivals, gigs and festivals. This is a happy tune for dancing away the blues!”

Forged in the cavernous labs of Indianapolis, the XK3 EP by producer D.Strange, dives into the metallic underworld of alienated shadows to create brutal, icy electro. The submerged acid-tinged opener, "Sonic Recoil" ascends with a snarling pathos of trap hats that pierce through the looming fog of the club. "Negative Center" haunts in cunning dexterity and grooves with a jacking pace of brooding momentum. Somewhere in the maze of resonance droplets, cascading hats, and the ominous synth pads, the track "A Black Liquid Filled My Lungs" hypnotizes in its atmospheric acid electro hybrid. Right out of the gate, the self-titled track "XK3" punishes with off-beat synth shards and glitchy, mechanical snares that snap in anthemic propulsion. While "Ghost of Kashif" weaves itself in esoteric, yet evocative, soundscapes with an absolutely grooving, club menacing fashion. Rounding out the release, fellow Indianapolis producer Noncompliant contributes a cruel electro sub-heating take of "XK3" to help warm the boreal landscapes of the EP.

Reissue for John Joseph’s own all-star group 2017 debut album

At its purest, there is little that can match the visceral thrill and empowering spirit of hardcore. As front-man of New York City hardcore kings Cro-Mags, this is something John Joseph knows very well, and with Up In Arms, he and his Bloodclot compatriots deliver a furious collection that hits hard on every level. "In this band we're doing what each of us have always done: give it our all," he states plainly. "We work hard, and we have a lot to say. Look around the planet - people are fed up with the corrupt ruling class. They destroy the planet and kill millions for profit, and the formula for our response is simple: Anger + applied knowledge = results. Don't just bitch. Change it."

The results reflect the roots and passions of the individual members. Danzig/Murphy's Law guitarist Todd Youth was the first piece of the puzzle. "We've always talked about doing this record together, Todd had songs written and I had notebooks full of lyrics. In late September 2015, I went out to LA to do a triathlon and injured my calf muscle, so I couldn't race, and Todd said he could get some studio time. So, we went in and cut the demo. While there are things we may perceive as a negative in our lives, in fact the universe has a bigger plan, and that experience ultimately resulted in the record." Having been friends with Queens Of The Stone Age and Danzig powerhouse drummer Joey Castillo for three decades, the two musicians had long admired each other's work, and their collaboration has been a long time coming. Following Castillo's suggestion of bringing in Nick Oliveri (Queens Of The Stone Age/The Dwarves) to handle bass duties, the lineup was complete. The songs that comprise Up In Arms manifested after the quartet plugged in and let the music speak for them. "We didn't decide to try to play anything, these are the songs that happened when we started jamming, and I love this band because there are no egos involved. Our goal is to make the best music possible, period. I love it when those guys contribute with melodies, etc., and I've even helped with some of the arrangements. Because we all think alike, our lyrics deal with the issues of the day, and that makes for better songs."

Every track on Up In Arms lives up to the rallying cry of the album's title - the bursts of high energy hardcore act as the perfect accompaniment to Joseph setting his sights on injustice and the seemingly endless flaws of the contemporary world. The breakneck thrashing of "Slow Kill Genocide" is an anthem for everyone sickened by those responsible for "killing the planet and all its inhabitants through industry and war. They're fucking maniacs and must be stopped." The suitably titled "Manic" attacks with bared fangs, Joseph making it clear that you can only push someone so far before they will react with violence - a call to arms for the disenfranchised who want tomorrow's world to be better than today's. Tracked at NRG in Los Angeles, the raw, old-school production that leaps out from the speaker comes courtesy of producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, Revocation), and the record was mixed by Kyle McAulay at NRG. From the moment the opening title track explodes to life, it's clear that everyone involved is having a blast and playing from the heart, and that this is no frills / no bullshit music at its most passionate - every song evoking mental images of utter chaos in a heaving mosh pit.

For anyone approaching the album for the first time, Joseph has only this to say: "Turn the volume way the fuck up!" And with plans to tour everywhere, Bloodclot will be getting in a lot of faces in 2017 and beyond. "We are already writing material and the next album is in the works. But, for now, all we want is to hit the stage to support 'Up in Arms', and every single night leave every ounce of ourselves up there."

Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these
fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying,
you know it when you hear it. And you always hear it with
The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylanled act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and
purposeful bands - a unit dedicated to and continually
honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and
storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern
musical attack.
That signature style has been present through the
decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s
‘Bringing Down the Horse’ as well as more recent and
exploratory fare like 2012’s ‘Glad All Over’.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from
the group with whom he first made his mark, The
Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew
they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,”
he says simply. That life’s work continues with ‘Exit
Wounds’, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The
collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since
‘Glad All Over’.
‘Exit Wounds’ is an ode to people - individual and
collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some
stuff. “I think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle
you’re on - wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a
lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the
same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what
‘Exit Wounds’ signifies. And it’s not meant to be negative at
all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s
to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and
you think about those people and those things and you
carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right
now, we’re all swimming in them.”

‘Miracle’ is the new album from Manchester singer songwriter Francis Lung,
released on Memphis Industries.
“For me, ‘Miracle’ is about the struggle between my self-destructive side and my
problem-solving, constructive side,” says Francis. “I suppose through a lot of
these songs I’m dealing with these emotional problems, acknowledging the
negative aspects of my behaviour instead of burying them, and providing an
alternative point of view for myself.”
Despite its serious subject matter, ‘Miracle’ is far from austere in sound, marrying
the cinematic, dreamlike quality of Francis’s earlier music with the pared-back
charm of great singer-songwriters like Judee Sill, Jeff Tweedy and Elliott Smith.
The album opens with ‘Bad Hair Day’, a relentlessly catchy - and deceptively
upbeat - ode to hangovers and missed connections. “I’ve been calling on you all
night / But I never get through, I just get in the way” Francis laments; “I am a
cloud in the sun’s light / Whatever I do, whatever I say.”
Elsewhere, the title track finds him pondering the fickle nature of the music
industry: “I think of [‘Miracle’] as acknowledging and even encouraging the
feelings we’re not supposed to succumb to - giving up, giving in - just because it
can be comforting to hear it from someone else. ‘Why am I climbing these social
ladders and jumping through the hoops of this creative industry? Does this make
me happy?’”
These themes of longing and lacking, missing and being missed, reoccur
throughout ‘Miracle. “When I die / Will I be missed / Or am I missing the point?”
asks ‘Say So’; while ‘Lonesome No More’, inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut book of
the same name, begs the question: if loneliness was eradicated, would we miss
it?
By confronting these feelings, Francis is able to move forward, as triumphant
album closer ‘The Let Down’ proves. Its lyrics serve as a call to action, as
Francis wills himself (and the listener) to “Get up / Get something going / Do
something, do it / Do it now.”
‘Miracle’ was produced by Francis in collaboration with Brendan Williams (Dutch
Uncles, Matthew Halsall, Kiran Leonard) and Robin Koob (who co-arranged and
performed strings). The opportunity to take creative control was one Francis
relished. “I’m quite bad at delegating,” he admits, noting that he played every
instrument except strings on ‘Miracle’. The result is a cohesive, deeply personal
record, which is as vital as it is vulnerable. “I don’t want to be defined by my
anxiety, my depression or any history of substance abuse,” Francis says, “but I
do want to reach out to other people who have had similar experiences,
especially if it’s in a way that helps them feel a little better. To me, this music is
celebrating healing as much as it focuses on the darker sides of the human
psyche.”

Clear Vinyl

Post-minimalist American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri makes his Umor Rex debut with his new album, The Shameless Years. Inspired by a troubled socio-political climate, buried melodies punch their way through a bleak cover of noisy drones, periodically veering into some of Irisarri's most eerily pertinent music to date.

One of Rafael Anton Irisarri's most thematically and sonically cohesive records to date The Shameless Years came together in a relatively short burst of creativity starting at the end of 2016. Rediscovering some relatively older tools - namely Native Instruments' Reaktor, Absynth, and Kontakt software - Irisarri combined them with his collection of guitars, pedals, amps, and analogue processing gear, turning his Black Knoll Studio north of NYC into a powerful writing tool. Completed quickly by Irisarri's standards, let alone during a period of social upheaval in American society, the record faces down several key personal themes. The title, suggests Irisarri, could in fact be seen as a reflection of the era of shamelessness we're currently living in, a time of fake news and alternative facts.

Two tracks were completely remotely between Irisarri in New York and Umor Rex veteran Siavash Amini from his home in Tehran, Iran. This music came together at the peak of all the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric happening in the USA, not to mention the banning of Iranians from entering the country, explains Irisarri. The diptych with Amini, 'Karma Krama' and 'The Faithless', seems bathed in additional waves of sorrow and dread. The wash of symphonic stormclouds of synth drones and processed notes on the latter gradually appears and disappears over the course of thirteen mournful minutes.

'Rh Negative' marches gigantic guitars through towering valleys of scarred ambient noise dealing with Irisarri's own heritage, many of his ancestors having come to America to escape poverty and oppression. The refusal of modern America to extend similar sanctuary to refugees escaping turmoil weighs heavily on the composer. Elsewhere an emotional onslaught of notes buried in mounds of greyscale noise on 'Sky Burial' aims to deal with Irisarri's very own mortality - something he was recently confronted with following health scares, an accident, and a near-death experience in 2016. Pushing 40 as this album was being made, the composer is constantly aware that he's already outlived his own father, who died at the age of 32. Facing down both intolerance and the void, the epic soundscapes of The Shameless Years are a vast cry of emotion from Irisarri. The clock is ticking - gotta make the most out of it while you still can.

All songs written and performed by Rafael Anton Irisarri, except #5 & #6 written and performed with Siavash Amini. Design by Daniel Castrejón, photos by Camilo Christen. Mastered by James Plotkin.

The American Negro is an unapologetic critique, detailing the systemic & malevolent psychology that afflicts people of color. It should be evident that any examination of black music is an examination of the relationship between black & white America. This relationship has shaped the cultural evolution of the world and its negative roots run deep into our psyche. With an elaborate orchestral and soulful display, The American Negro re-invents the black native tongue: a politically conscious LP with a prescription to eradicate hate in America. "The American Negro is the most important creative accomplishment of my life. This project dissects the chemistry behind blind racism, using music as the medium to restore dignity and self-worth to my people": Adrian Younge is a multi-instrumentalist, film composer and producer with an analog studio and record store in Los Angeles. He is a member of The Midnight Hour and has produced for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Wu Tang Clan. He's composed for television shows such as Marvel's Luke Cage (with Ali Shaheed Muhammad), and films including Black Dynamite. He owns the boutique record label, Linear Labs, and is co-owner of Jazz Is Dead. When he's not working on scores for major studios or networks, he's making albums that speak to his own artistry. For The American Negro, Younge not only wrote, but played every instrument of the album's rhythm section; he also orchestrated a 30-piece orchestra and recorded them in his analog studio.

Before fronting classic post-punk group The Sound, Adrian Borland was a Wimbledon teenager enamored of Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground. With friends, he formed The Outsiders. In 1976, they home-recorded Calling On Youth, a searching full-length that straddles nihilo-punk argot (“Terminal Case” and “I’m Screwed Up”) as well as smudged glam balladry (“Start Over” and “Weird”). Its release in 1977, on the group’s own Raw Edge label, with Borland’s cityscape abstraction on the cover, marked the first independent punk full-length in the United Kingdom.

The Outsiders, featuring bassist Bob Lawrence and drummer Adrian “Jan” James, were punk in the moment before punk cut ties with solos and five minute songs. (Close Up, released in 1978, is more streamlined.) Like the Saints or Crime, they still trafficked in rock ’n’ roll. Calling On Youth, though, announces Borland as more than a precious teenage bandleader. The nervous introspection, wiry leads and negative space that he would refine solo and in The Sound, Second Layer and Witch Trials glistens throughout Calling On Youth, beckoning rediscovery.

Zwischen alternativem, modernem Metal und spürbarem Zeitgeist haben sich die US-amerikanischen Durchstarter TETRARCH in den letzten Jahren mehr als nur einen Namen in der Szene gemacht und sind längst über den Status eines Insider Tipps hinausgewachsen. Bereits das 2017 erschienene Debüt Freak wurde von der internationalen Presse und der Musikindustrie, als auch von Künstlern der Szene hoch gelobt und sicherte der Band eine einzigartige Position innerhalb des Genres.
Das 2021 erscheinende 10-Tracks starke Album Unstable manifestiert den Kometen-Status der Band und beweist deren musikalische Wandelbarkeit auf höchstem Niveau.
Der kommende Longplayer verliert keine Zeit, um die unkonventionelle, enorme Schlagkraft der Band unter
Beweis zu stellen und statuiert bereits mit dem Intro-Track „I’m not right“ ein explosives Exempel für neuartige Spielarten des modernen Metal. Die Zahlen sprechen für sich - die erste Single erreichte inzwischen über eine Millionen Streams auf YouTube - Tendenz steigend. Getragen von der beeindruckenden stimmlichen Varianz von Front-Shouter Josh Fore und den rasenden Riffs der Ausnahme-Gitarristin Diamond Rowe, bricht der Track zwischen puren Emotionen und einer beeindruckenden, neu-gedachten Hommage
an Genre-Größe der frühen 2000er.
Insgesamt liefern TETRARCH mit ihrer 2021er Veröffentlichung Unstable auf 10 Tracks und 37 Minuten
Spielzeit ein Paradebeispiel für starke Attitüde, pures Talent und triumphalen Modern Metal!

Veteran NYC based Scottish electronic musician Drew McDowall's latest work is his loftiest, most liturgical, and least industrial outing to date —and potentially the apex of his recent discography.Named after an ancient Greek word for votive offering, Agalmaexudes a hooded, devotional aura, creaking and keeling under vast rafters of stone, stained glass, and shredded wires. It's a music of majesty and mystery but also modernity, McDowall's refined modular system shape-shifting strings, piano, pipe organ, and choral masses into disorienting synthetic mirages of the sacred. He cites the intersection of “joy, terror, and the elegiac” as a centering inspiration –or, phrased more bluntly, “that 'what the fuck is going on' feeling.”



As a career collaborator himself, with stints in Coil, Psychic TV, and countless other shorter-lived partnerships, it's telling that McDowall chose this project to gather such an impressive spectrum of peers. Italian synthesist Caterina Barbieri, American drone organist Kali Malone, prolific multi-instrumentalistRobert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, operatic Humanbeast vocalist Maralie Armstrong-Rial, Saudi producer MSYLMA, and warped futurist beat-makers Bashar Suleiman and Elvin Brandhi cameo across the album's 42 minutes, contouring McDowall's nuanced negative spaces with shudders, shadows, and shivering flickers of serenity. Each of them shines in their spotlight, elevating these elusive alchemical states into surreal revelations of texture and transcendence.



McDowall's original working title for the record is revealing: Ritual Music.He speaks of his creative practice in ceremonial terms, negating binaries by seeking the middle path to anuminousequilibrium that erases the distinction between the inner and outer worlds.These compositions feel similarly processional and intuitive, at the crossroads of holiness and hallucination, the sacred vertigo of yawning naves rising into untouchable night skies. It's a vision of industrial music as enigma and invocation, cryptic hymnals of shroudedbeautysummoned in catacombs and crumbling cathedrals.



Despite its depths, Agalmais also an album of immediacy and emotion. Celestial laments of and for times of unrest and suffering. McDowall characterizes his initial intention for this music as an to attempt to convey experiences he felt incapable of putting into words: “To try and approach sublimity, or at least acknowledge it in some way.”Agalmamore than acknowledges the ineffable –it embodies it.

To mark his highly anticipated album announcement, Saint Raymond releases a fresh IG track titled Solid Gold. "Solid gold is about trying to rekindle the spark and make things work because you know that there is something special in the relationship and it’s worth fighting for. It’s about knowing that all of the good things override the negatives." - Callum (Saint Raymond) Saint Raymonds follow up to the UK top 10 album 'Young Blood', will be titled 'We Forgot We Were Dreaming' and is out on April 16th 2021. It will be followed by a run of warm up shows in April 2021 and full tour in Nov 2021.

The Norweigan wunderking of demented psychedelic song(de)struction is back with a fantastic collection of new songs. Gaute Granli is a one-man band, taking a complete stranger with thirsty ears by the nose, to leave him/her/them behind, confused and hungry for more recognisable hope. There's a constant form of recognition running through these 8 stretched songs, these strange flirts with folk music you think you already know, vocals that don't sound like they consist of words one knows and pop parts that are destroyed with a loop peddler. Although everything magically works, and made into a songstructure of sorts, a melancholic- almost religious air of desperation sits uncomfortably on top of all these songs like a frog that already got licked on its back twice in one morning. Limited to 300 copies, comes with an insert, download code and an Ultra Eczema sticker.

The collaborative debut of American minimal techno pioneer Troy Pierce and Colombian audiovisual artist Natalia Escobar aka Poison Arrow was conceived in reverse: first they created a collection of shadowy surrealist videos, then wrote music inspired by them. This inverted process proved remarkably fruitful. Shatter is a simmering, slow-burn noir odyssey inspired by the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, traversing subtle shades of sleepwalker dub, metallic lament, broken beats, and erotic negative space. It's an effectively unsettling evocation of the legend's core theme: “There is nothing more complex than a shattered heart, or a heart that can't love.”

Considering their shared background trafficking in darkened dance floor modes, what's most striking about Pierce with Arrow's partnership is its rhythmic restraint. The album's 10 tracks seethe and shudder between glamor and gloom, with only occasional dread-steeped metronomes mapping the malaise to a grid. They speak of pursuing a “spatial approach” with this project, which manifests in the music's immersive design and patient execution, each mangled clang and rippling pool of bass allowed to reverberate

its full flickering waveform.

The collaborative debut of American minimal techno pioneer Troy Pierce and Colombian audiovisual artist Natalia Escobar aka Poison Arrow was conceived in reverse: first they created a collection of shadowy surrealist videos, then wrote music inspired by them. This inverted process proved remarkably fruitful. Shatter is a simmering, slow-burn noir odyssey inspired by the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, traversing subtle shades of sleepwalker dub, metallic lament, broken beats, and erotic negative space. It's an effectively unsettling evocation of the legend's core theme: "There is nothing more complex than a shattered heart, or a heart that can't love." Considering their shared background trafficking in darkened dance floor modes, what's most striking about Pierce with Arrow's partnership is its rhythmic restraint. The album's 10 tracks seethe and shudder between glamor and gloom, with only occasional dread-steeped metronomes mapping the malaise to a grid. They speak of pursuing a "spatial approach" with this project, which manifests in the music's immersive design and patient execution, each mangled clang and rippling pool of bass allowed to reverberate its full flickering waveform. Guest appearances by austere techno producer Konrad Black ("Obsidian Glass") and drum n bass institution dBridge ("It's A Love Story, After All") flow seamlessly into the whole, subtle sculptural accents on a dimly lit descent through purgatories of longing and lust. But the shadows recede for the record's closing cut, "Narcissus," which swells elegiacally in a mass of devotional drones over a muted heartbeat, like Narcissus gazing upon his reflection in holy awe: elusive true beauty, finally beheld, by itself.

Lydmor's new album 'Capacity' is a musical maze full of alluring mysteries. At the same time, it is part of a process of liberation, which is about opening oneself up and discovering one's capacity. For her previous album, Lydmor travelled to Shanghai. But on her new album, Lydmor has mostly travelled deep into herself. 'Capacity' is a contrasting musical work where fiction and reality merge into a multifaceted sound universe. It is the electronic pop artist's most personal, complex and conceptual album to date. There is almost a David Lynch'ish cut about 'Capacity'. The album is like a winding maze where it is difficult to decipher what is real and what is an illusion. Like a book with countless narratives. Without conclusions. Ambiguous. Full of alluring mysteries, dreams, reflections and messages about gender, identity, love, guilt and liberation. Rich in contrasts: Black/white. Silence/noise. Weakness/strength. Fiction/reality. Labyrinth/compass.
Multiple media has compared the quirky voice to the likes of Grimes, Kate Bush or Björk but inevitably the comparisons fall short. (Kaltblut Magazine) - With brutal honesty, unbelievable vulnerability and yet dreamy, she sings the soul out in her pulsating electronic pop songs. The soft, bright voice is deceptive. Denmark's "hidden gem" is a must-listen. (Flux FM) - She is every bit as innovative as Madonna ever was when she started out. Lydmor ticks all the boxes; the girl has everything. For my money she’s the most ground-breaking, inventive artist in Europe right now, possibly in the world. (God Is In The TV, UK) - A unique artist who somehow manages to combine sophisticated and subtle balladry with strident electronic pop, I’ve declared previously that I believe she is only one step away from becoming a big name. Perhaps the feelings are supposed to be mutually inclusive, as the song swings musically from simply cold to complexly hot. It is one that does try to combine both sides of her song writing persona, the introverted balladry and the more elaborate, extrovert electro-pop. (Nordic Music Review) - Revolting pop pathos, primed with pumped up beats. (Negative White, Switzerland)

Standard Light Rose LP! 'Flock' is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humour and glamour. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation. The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but 'Flock' is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favour of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980's Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk. Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is 'The Revolution Of Super Visions', an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky whack-a-mole bass line and synth worms. It underlines the discordant pop vibe that permeates 'Flock' and concludes on 'Solarised', a super-catchy, totally infectious apocalypse, a radio-friendly groove for last dance lovers clinging together in an effort to save themselves before the end of the night. The musician's exposure to an abundance of lost records served as a reminder that you still feel like an outsider in this world and that by overcoming fears you can achieve artistic freedom. Jane Weaver continues to metamorphise_ "A mind-expanding delight, devoid of retro posturing." The Guardian "Ominous and luminous, expansively spacious and sonically imploding, scientific, ephemeral and eternal" The Quietus

pink vinyl limited to 500
Insides’s music shimmers and tingles with the tantalising promise of a different direction that UK pop could’ve gone: future-facing and fresh, rather than nostalgic regurgitation.” Simon Reynolds, author and music critic, writing in  Euphoria re-issue liner-notes in 2019

“A sound still as dew fresh, dawn dazzled and shot through with luscious darkness as it was nigh on three decades ago.” Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, 2019

Insides are Julian Tardo and Kirsty Yates. They first recorded together in the early 90s as Earwig, and released an album, 'Under My Skin I am Laughing', which brought them to the attention of 4AD. Earwig morphed into Insides and  two further albums were released on 4AD’s Guernica imprint: ‘Euphoria' (1993) and 'Clear Skin' (1994). In 2019 ‘Euphoria' was reissued for US Record Store Day by Beacon Sound, and was hailed as a lost treasure by discerning outlets. 

'Soft Bonds' is Insides’ first release for 20 years. It’s the sound of heart-stopping slow motion, blood rushes, fingers digging into bruised flesh, and sleeping with clenched fists.

“We found some things that were recorded a long time ago. We added some things that have been haunting us for for years and recorded some other ideas that we’d just thought of. Recording started at home in 2012, and continued every now and then in our studio, on trains, in the Greek island of Naxos and while wandering around Cissbury Ring, Chanctonbury Ring and Devil’s Dyke in the South Downs. We finally walked away from the recordings in late 2019 and decided to release a small run of CDs and LPs on our own Further Distractions label.

'Soft Bonds' is about the past haunting the present, and gripping onto your crumbling sense of self. It’s informed by the spirit of This Heat/This Is Not This Heat, Patty Waters, Annette Peacock, Eartheater, Mhysa, Hailu Mergia, Scott Walker and Arca.”

The first track to be released, 'Ghost Music', was also the first to be finished and came about by scrapping the original structure, leaving only the trace elements. Working in the negative space that’s left behind, where rhythms are pulses and heartbeats and melodies are memories, it’s insistent, staring, but not shouting. Almost absent, or heard from another room. The video uses footage of Kirsty and Julian filmed and used in live shows in 1993 and cut with more recent footage from 2016. The past haunts the present.

“Pop loving the sound of itself to death. And hating the fact that it can’t stop loving.” Rob Young, The Wire, 1993

“...they seemed to be creating an entirely new version of pop. Their hooks were unmistakable, in that they triggered movement like perpetual-motion clockwork. Their grooves were sparse and spectral and nagged at you like breakbeats but made your heart and hair-follicles dance more than your feet. Their music was amniotic, ebbing and alive with iridescent melodic detail and lyrics that turned the turmoils and trauma of love into the sweetest searing honesty you’d been privy to since you first heard the Supremes.” Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 2011

‘Working With God’ is the new studio album from Melvins, featuring the 1983 line-up of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and Mike Dillard. This is the first time the trio have recorded together since ‘Tres Cabrones’.
‘Working With God’ is Melvins’ 28th (yes, 28th) full-length studio release and their first since 2018’s ‘Pinkus Abortion Technician’.
The band have been one of the most lauded hard rock bands to have helped develop the Grunge and Sludge scenes.
The new album is one of their most melodic and playful records - not just another ‘metal’ record, this will translate easily to hard rock and even mainstream rock fans as well.
The songs on the album are originals except for their take on Harry Nilsson’s classic ‘Fuck You’ and the well-known ‘Good Night Sweetheart’ that finishes off the album.
Released alongside the reissue of two classic Melvins albums on coloured vinyl.

TERMINAL BLISS makes their Relapse Records debut with the unrelenting album Brute Err/atta! A veritable who’s who of Virginia punk, the band features vocalist Chris and guitarist Mike Taylor (Pg. 99 and Pygmy Lush), drummer Ryan Parrish (Darkest Hour, Iron Reagan, City of Caterpillar) and bassist Adam Juresko (City of Caterpillar). Inspired by the likes of Born Against, Gauze and Void—not to mention Black Flag, Crass, Negative Approach, Disrupt, Necros, Crossed Out and Disclose—TERMINAL BLISS conducted their first band practice on January 14 th, 2020. Just six weeks and five practices later, they were recording their full-length debut with Majority Rule frontman Matt Michel in the engineer’s chair. The name TERMINAL BLISS was born out of the merciless consumerism and environmental destruction that are America’s enduring legacy. From dystopian, sci-fi themes in tracks such as “March of the Grieving Droid”, to the apathy of the checked-out masses on “Small One Time Fee” and the personal recount of loss and the inefficacy of our healthcare system in "Clean Bill of Wealth", it’s the merging of personal experience and social critique that has informed the punk edge behind the members of TERMINAL BLISS for decades now. For TERMINAL BLISS, it’s become a crucial combination born of decades of playing live. (Unfortunately, the band’s first show was cancelled when the US began its COVID-19 lockdown.) “I realized early on that if you don’t write something that resonates with yourself on a fundamental level, it’s going to get trite when you’re performing night after night,” Chris Taylor says. “So, with the idea in mind that we’ll eventually play shows, I always try to write something that will resonate.”

Delicate Sound Of Thunder encapsulates a band at their best. Alongside the classic live album and full concert film (restored and re-edited from the original 35mm film and enhanced with 5.1 surround sound), included in The Later Years box set, all stand-alone editions feature 24-page photo booklets, with the 4-disc box edition including a 40-page photo booklet, tour poster and postcards. The 3-LP 180-gram vinyl set includes 9 songs not included on the 1988 release of the album, while the 2-CD includes 8 tracks more than its original release.

In 1987, Pink Floyd made a triumphant resurgence. The legendary British band, formed in 1967, had suffered the loss of two co-founders: keyboardist / vocalist Richard Wright, who left after sessions for The Wall in 1979, and bass player and lyricist Roger Waters, who had left to go solo in 1985, soon after the 1983 album The Final Cut. The gauntlet was thus laid down for guitarist/singer David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, who proceeded to create the multi-platinum A Momentary Lapse Of Reason album, a global chart smash, which also saw the return of Richard Wright to the fold.

Originally released in September 1987, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was quickly embraced by fans worldwide, who flocked to attend the live tour dates, which started within days of the album’s release. The tour played to more than 4.25 million fans over more than two years, and, as a celebration of the enduring talent and global appeal of David, Nick and Richard was unsurpassed at the time.

Filmed at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum in August 1988 and directed by Wayne Isham, the 2020 release of the Grammy Award nominated Delicate Sound Of Thunder is sourced directly from over 100 cans of original 35mm negatives, painstakingly restored and transferred to 4K, and completely re-edited by Benny Trickett from the restored and upgraded footage, under the creative direction of Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis. Similarly, the sound was completely remixed from the original multitrack tapes by longtime Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson with David Gilmour, assisted by Damon Iddins.

Pink Floyd’s stellar supporting cast for the live dates included: Jon Carin (Keyboards, Vocals), Tim Renwick (Guitars, Vocals), Guy Pratt (Bass, Vocals), Gary Wallis (Percussion), Scott Page (Saxophones, Guitar), Margret Taylor (Backing Vocals), Rachel Fury (Backing Vocals) and Durga McBroom (Backing Vocals).

Technical credits include: Film Producers: Curt Marvis and Carl Wyant; Director of Photography: Marc Reshovsky; Lighting Designer: Marc Brickman, with conceptual footage directed by Storm Thorgerson, except ‘Money’ directed by Storm Thorgerson, Barry Chattington and Peter Medak. Animation on 'Time' was by Ian Emes.

4-Track Guitar Music is the unassuming title of a cassette by Swedish composer Mats Erlandsson, which was originally released on Kali Maloneʼs and Maria W. Hornʼs XKatedral label in 2018. Composed using only, as the album title implies, a 4-track tape deck and an electric guitar, the music was later modified on the computer and re-amplified in the machine hall of Ställbergs Gruva, a disbanded Swedish iron mine.

The music is primarily composed using melodic motifs and canonical structures in which a set of pitches are transposed in octaves and delayed, creating an ever-evolving cyclical polyphony. Contrary to the albumʼs modest title, the music is a tour-de-force of exuberance and stoic catharsis, continuously bordering on a sense of ecstatic serenity, sincere contemplation and restraint.

Now Vaagner is proud to present the work on vinyl for the first time via a fully remastered reissue of 4-Track Guitar Music, with the Double LP including a bonus track titled "Cellar" by Mats Erlandsson which was not included on the original release.

As a composer, musician and sound artist, Mats Erlandsson is part of the vibrantly reemerging field of drone music in Stockholm, Sweden, and is associated with practices characterized by the extensive use of sustained sound.Erlandsson has undergone studies in composition in Stockholm, where he received a Masterʼs degree in Composition of Electronic Music. In addition to his own artistic practice, Erlandsson holds a position as studio assistant at the world-renowned Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm. He presents his work both as a solo artist and in collaborations, most notably together with Yair Elazar Glotman.Recent releases include Minnesmärke on Hallow Ground (2020), the collaboration Emmanatemade with Yair Elazar Glotman on 130701 (2020), Hypodermic Letters on Portals Editions (2018), Selective Miracles and Valentina Tereshkova on Posh Isolation (2016), and again together with Glotman, Negative Chambers on Miasmah (2017). Erlandsson has performed his work extensively, most recently at Présences Électronique hosted by the GRM in Paris, CTM 2019 and The Long Now in Berlin, Norbergfestival in Norberg, Sonica Festival in Ljubljana and in various music and arts venues around the world.

The collaborative debut of American minimal techno pioneer Troy Pierce and Colombian audiovisual artist Natalia Escobar aka Poison Arrow was conceived in reverse: first they created a collection of shadowy surrealist videos, then wrote music inspired by them. This inverted process proved remarkably fruitful. Shatter is a simmering, slow-burn noir odyssey inspired by the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, traversing subtle shades of sleepwalker dub, metallic lament, broken beats, and erotic negative space. It's an effectively unsettling evocation of the legend's core theme: “There is nothing more complex than a shattered heart, or a heart that can't love.”

Considering their shared background trafficking in darkened dance floor modes, what's most striking about Pierce with Arrow's partnership is its rhythmic restraint. The album's 10 tracks seethe and shudder between glamor and gloom, with only occasional dread-steeped metronomes mapping the malaise to a grid. They speak of pursuing a “spatial approach” with this project, which manifests in the music's immersive design and patient execution, each mangled clang and rippling pool of bass allowed to reverberate

its full flickering waveform.

The album was intended as an experiment using musical styles Brubeck discovered abroad while on a United States Department of State sponsored tour of Eurasia, such as when he observed in Turkey a group of street musicians performing a traditional Turkish folk song that was played in 9/8 time, a rare meter for Western music. Columbia president Goddard Lieberson took a chance to underwrite and release Time Out. It received negative reviews by critics upon its release, but despite this, it became one of the best-known and biggest-selling jazz albums, charting highly on the popular albums chart when 50,000 units sold for a jazz album was impressive. It consequently produced a Top 40 hit single in "Take Five", composed by Paul Desmond, and the one track not written by Dave Brubeck. The cover art is just as important as the LP itself featuring specific artwork created by S. Neil Fujita best known for his covers for CBS Records, which introduced abstract art to jazz LP packaging.

Before fronting classic post-punk group The Sound, Adrian Borland was a Wimbledon teenager enamored of Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground. With friends, he formed The Outsiders. In 1976, they home-recorded Calling On Youth, a searching full-length that straddles nihilo-punk argot (“Terminal Case” and “I’m Screwed Up”) as well as smudged glam balladry (“Start Over” and “Weird”). Its release in 1977, on the group’s own Raw Edge label, with Borland’s cityscape abstraction on the cover, marked the first independent punk full-length in the United Kingdom.

The Outsiders, featuring bassist Bob Lawrence and drummer Adrian “Jan” James, were punk in the moment before punk cut ties with solos and five minute songs. (Close Up, released in 1978, is more streamlined.) Like the Saints or Crime, they still trafficked in rock ’n’ roll. Calling On Youth, though, announces Borland as more than a precious teenage bandleader. The nervous introspection, wiry leads and negative space that he would refine solo and in The Sound, Second Layer and Witch Trials glistens throughout Calling On Youth, beckoning rediscovery.

Created in 2006, Setenta, the Latin Soul Band spreads a unique mix over the world scene. For their fifth album Materia Negra, the Paris-based band returns to its roots: hard Latin funk with plenty of Afro-Latin percussion upfront in the mix contrasted with accents of lush vocal harmony and warm, breezy melody. But at its core, there is something essentially darker, rougher and funkier than their previous releases, especially in the guitar and synth work, bluesy minor key arrangements, and lyrical content. It’s essentially a heavier feel with this record, influenced no doubt on the negative side by the current dark times being experienced across the globe due to the pandemic, subsequent economic downturn and the lack of effective government leadership and global solidarity to deal with the crisis. On the positive tip, the inspiring Black Lives Matter movement and international protests against oppressive governments, systemic racism, corporate greed, global warming and environmental exploitation no doubt have something to do with the serious feel of Materia Negra as well.

Another crucial aspect to this newfound toughness is what band member and Latin Big Note founder and director Osman Jr. states is the group’s desire to address DJs and dancers who appreciate the rawest songs from Setenta’s previous productions. The desire is to leave their mark on the decks and dance floors of the planet with a genre that “we defend by taking the torch extended by our mentors such as Joe Bataan: Latin Funk!” Setenta’s sound has always been soulful, with plenty of tropical Caribbean roots, but this time there is an even stronger Afro-centric theme and gritty psychedelic R&B angle, clothed in galactic, outer-space trappings, bringing to mind another forerunner, Mandrill, as well as the Afro-Futurist mothership vibe of Parliament-Funkadelic.

Mow Records proudly presents L’enfants De Kita, the third album from a series of five, all produced by label owner Mowgan. Each album features vocalists and performers with African heritage, channeling Mowgan’s passion for the continent’s diverse sounds into vibrant, highly emotive productions. On L’enfants De Kita he teams up with Fanta Sayon Sissoko, a female performer from West African nation Mali. Based in Toulouse, where the album was recorded, Fanta’s musical roots go deep - her father played guitar and ngoni for Baaba Maal and her grandmother is Kandia Kouyaté, one of Mali’s best-known griot singers.

Mowgan always dreamed of working with a female singer from Mali, enchanted by their vocal style. After moving back to France a few years ago he bumped into Eric Diaouré, an old friend who he worked with in his teens. Eric is also a musician and just so happens to be from Mali. Mowgan revealed his ambitions to Eric and a meeting with Fanta was arranged - within a few days they were in the studio together.

Like the other albums in this series, L’enfants De Kita is a fusion of Mowgan’s love for African music and his penchant for electronic sounds. Fanta’s raw, affecting vocals are complemented by Mowgan’s considered production throughout with additional instrumentation from a range of performers, including a group of schoolchildren on ‘Tubani’. Featured artists include Solo Sanou (whose album ‘Soya’ was the second release on Mow Records) playing percussion, Mamadou ‘Madou’ Dembele, a multi-instrumentalist who plays ngoni, Yohan Hernandez on guitar and bass plus Madani Touré aka Chanana (a famous Malian rapper from the nineties) contributing to lead vocals on the album’s title track, with Tim Xavier handling mastering.

Mowgan’s approach to creating albums is to get a vibe going with the singer, produce a batch of songs and then select the best seven for each LP. It’s a pressure-free attitude that has led to some truly heartfelt productions, which encapsulate the purity of the creative process when it’s liberated from rigid constraints. You can hear this freedom of expression throughout L’enfants De Kita, Fanta in her element as she sings with passion and grace across all seven tracks.

The album begins with the title song ‘L’enfants De Kita’, which pays homage to Fanta’s hometown, Kita, in Mali. It is the centre of griotism, the local style of passing on knowledge from one generation to the next via spoken-word storytelling. Chanana joins Fanta on this one, which is the most ‘western’ sounding cut on the LP, Mowgan’s deft touch taking us to the dance floor, while Chanana adds extra depth with his rapid-fire vocal refrain. The glorious ‘Tubani’ tells the story of Djene Tubani, a girl who thought she was a bird. She disobeys her parents and neglects her friends, but eventually learns the error of her ways. Fanta’s vocals are amplified by the voices of a group of schoolchildren, including her own daughter.

‘Mobaya’ is a reminder that we can possess wisdom and deep knowing, but we can also enjoy ourselves; dance, sing and party. This is a club-focused production with 4x4 beats and a traditional house feel, which provide a wonderful accompaniment to Fanta’s uplifting vocals. Next up is ‘Dakan’, a cut which is all about destiny: Everyone has been put on Earth for a reason and by working together we can all achieve our destiny. Layers of percussion skip over the warm low end, with a lively trumpet appearing in the second half.

‘Dounouya’ explores the notion that we live in a world where everyone faces negative criticism. Fanta encourages us to take responsibility and move forward no matter what others think of us with this inspiring guitar-led cut. ‘Djonya’ highlights the fact that slavery still exists in today’s world - modern slavery, hidden from public view but still very much alive. “Our Africa is going to be okay if we all hold hands, if we are all together, all united,” she says. Finally,‘Badeya’, a great outtro which focuses on unity. We are all one family on this planet and this song speaks of people coming together but also respecting ourselves above everything else. The pace is slow and the instrumentation perfectly balanced to allow Fanta’s vocals to flourish.