After being out of print for years, Atmosphere’s fifth studio album, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having, returns on vinyl. Following the breakthrough success of their four th album, Seven’s Travels, the group returned in 2005, showing impressive growth and inventiveness in their new compositions. Citing inspirations f rom a list of less-than-expected sources, including Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan, Shawn Phillips, Spoon, The Mars Volta, alopecia, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, The Beauty Pill, infected wisdom teeth, Craig Finn, TV On The Radio, Australia and I-94 East, among others, the album pushed boundaries without over reaching.
“Atmosphere has never sounded as pointed and focused as it does here on its fifth album.” –Billboard [8 Oct 2005]
“Both a return to form and a major step forward.” –URB Magazine [Dec 2005, p.94]
“Producer Ant’s production is full and springy. Whether flipping operettas on ‘Say Hey There’ or dropping pianos from five floors up on ‘Musical Chairs’ he’s got sundry abilities.” –Pitchfork [3 Oct 2005]
“Ant has never captured Slug‘s pen strokes quite like this, and as an emcee and a songwriter, Slug has never sounded this good over the course of an LP. [You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having] is absolutely their zenith, in every sense.” –HipHopDX [4 Oct 2005]
• Vinyl has been out of print for years.
• Written and performed by Slug. Produced by Ant.
• Features popular tracks “Smart Went Crazy”, “Pour Me Another”, and
“Little Man”.
• Vinyl packaging includes 12” gatefold jacket housing black double
Suche:night pitch
- A1: Converted
- A2: Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
- A3: Woke Up This Morning
- B1: U Don't Dans 2 Tekno
- B2: Bourgeoisie Blues
- B3: Aint Goin' To Goa
- C1: Mao Tse Tung Said
- C2: Hypo Full Of Love (The 12-Step Plan)
- C3: Old Purple Tin (9% Of Pure Heaven)
- D1: The Night We Nearly Got Busted
- D2: Sister Rosetta
- D3: Peace In The Valley
They have been called, amongst other things, "the best live band in Britain." Their music has graced everything from The Sopranos to The Simpsons, and celebrity fans include Irvine Welsh and the world's biggest selling author, Stephen King. They are undoubtedly the greatest American act the UK ever did produce, and their heady combination of techno and C&W, alongside a proclivity for rock 'n' roll decadence and an acute social conscience means that they are effectively a unique entity in modern music. Exile on Coldharbour Lane is the debut album by Alabama 3, originally released in 1997. The name and cover are references to Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones and Coldharbour Lane a major street in Brixton, South London best known for containing several after-hours clubs. Upon its release, the album received favourable reviews, including an 8.9 review from Pitchfork Media. The song "Sister Rosetta" was featured in the film "Barnyard". "Woke Up This Morning" is best known as the opening theme music for the television series, The Sopranos, which used the "Chosen One Mix" of that song.
- Campfire (4-Track Demo)
- Sundowner (4-Track Demo)
- A Night At The Little Los Angeles (4-Track Demo)
- Wander (4-Track Demo)
- Velvet Highway (4-Track Demo)
- Valley (4-Track Demo)
- Brother, Sister (4-Track Demo)
- Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun (4-Track Demo)
- Provisions (4-Track Demo)
- U.s. Mail (4-Track Demo)
“Friends! I am so pleased to announce ‘A Night At The Little Los
Angeles’ - the 4-track version of ‘Sundowner’. Recorded at
home and in my back shed - aka The Little Los Angeles - in
suburban Kansas during the summer and winter seasons of
2017 and 2018. This is quite simply the sound of me alone in a
room with a four-track to catch my songs as they fell out of my
mouth. When I later went into a proper studio to make
‘Sundowner’ my goal was to capture the essence of these initial
recordings, and here you will now have access to the very
essence I was chasing.
“In many ways, this feels like a proper album to me, as it’s my
initial attempt to capture the Kansas sunset and put it into
sound, whereas ‘Sundowner’ was an attempt of an attempt. I
love and am proud of them both, of course, but am happy to -
for the first time - share this vulnerable side of my songwriting
process with the public. Many of my favorite recordings have
been made inside of an artist’s home without regard of the
outside world, but instead deep in their own world that they’re
creating in real time. And with that - I’d like to invite you into my
own little world here and now and ask you to please... step
inside of... and spend ‘A Night At The Little Los Angeles’!” -
Kevin Morby
Released in 2020 on Dead Oceans, ‘Sundowner’, with Morby’s
distinctively conversational and reflective writing style, was
received with open arms and was beloved by fans and critics
alike. Pitchfork lauded it as “a vision of the Midwest that feels
mythical and enormous.” ‘Sundowner’’s vision was further
fleshed out in comprehensive features in Vanity Fair, New York
Magazine, Stereogum, The FADER, Vice, Aquarium Drunkard,
and more.
In addition to traditional music publications, Morby appeared on
Adult Swim’s Fishcenter and Office Hours with Tim Heidecker.
Morby also made his network television debut on CBS This
Morning, where he performed the songs ‘Campfire’ and
‘Sundowner’ as part of a special joint performance with his
partner and fellow songwriter Katie Crutchfield, aka
Waxahatchee.
LTD Edition inklusive Bonus 7inch!
Park Hye Jin hat gestern ihr mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum, „Before I Die“, angekündigt, das am 10. September 2021 bei Ninja Tune erscheint. Das Album - komplett von der in Südkorea geborenen und nun in L.A. lebenden Produzentin, Rapperin, Sängerin und DJ geschrieben, produziert und performt - folgt auf die Veröffentlichung ihrer sehr erfolgreichen EP, „How Can I“ vom letzten Jahr, sowie auf eine Reihe von Kollaborationen mit Künstler*innen wie Clams Casino & Take A Daytrip („Y DON'T U“), Blood Orange („CALL ME“ Freestyle) und Nosaj Thing („CLOUDS“), sowie auf den Remix von Galcher Lustwerk für „Can You“.
Seit gestern Abend ist die Leadsingle und der Album-Opener, „Let’s Sing Let's Dance“ zu hören, ein wehmütiger Dance-Track, der Hye Jins mantraartigen Gesang über Klavierakkorde und wummernden Bässen platziert. Auf den anderen Tracks des Albums demonstriert sie eine deutlich erweiterte Klangpalette, in die sie eine Reihe von Einflüssen aus den Bereichen Elektronik, Hiphop und Downtempo einfließen lässt, um die bisher vollständigste Vision ihres Sounds zu präsentieren.
„Before I Die“ wird am 10. September 2021 auf Ninja Tune veröffentlicht, anschließend geht Hye Jin später in diesem Jahr auf Tour in Nordamerika, darunter eine Co-Headline-Show mit Shlohmo in New York, sowie Shows in Toronto, San Francisco, Miami und New Orleans.
Ihr Debütalbum folgt auf ein paar unglaubliche Jahre für die junge Künstlerin, in dem sie ihre gefeierte „How Can I“ EP auf Ninja Tune veröffentlichte. Eine Platte, die von Rolling Stone, Pitchfork („25 Most Anticipated Albums of the Summer“), FADER, i-D, Resident Advisor und vielen anderen hoch gelobt wurde und in zahlreichen „Best Of“-Listen 2020 von Billboard, The Guardian und anderen vertreten war. Auch in Deutschland fand die EP sensationellen Anklang, mit lobenden Artikeln und Beiträgen in u.a. Süddeutscher Zeitung, Rolling Stone Deutschland, im Missy Magazin, im Deutschlandfunk Kultur, im BR2, bei Radio Fritz oder im Musikexpress, die sie ebenfalls in ihre Liste der hoffnungsvollsten Newcomer*innen für 2021 aufnahmen.
Hye Jin wurde auch in die NME 100-Liste der „Essential emerging artists for 2021“ und in die „Generation V“-Serie des V Mag aufgenommen. Auch die britische GQ und Stereogum bezeichnen sie als „one to watch“. Die Lead-Single der EP, „Like This“, wurde auch im Soundtrack von FIFA 2021 verwendet und erhielt große Unterstützung von BBC Radio 1 und 6 Music, war #1 der „Top Electronic“ in den NACC-Charts (North American College and Community Radio) und in den „Top 200“ insgesamt, mit weiterer Unterstützung von KEXP, KCRW, SiriusXMU und mehr.
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
Blue Vinyl
Park Hye Jin hat gestern ihr mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum, „Before I Die“, angekündigt, das am 10. September 2021 bei Ninja Tune erscheint. Das Album - komplett von der in Südkorea geborenen und nun in L.A. lebenden Produzentin, Rapperin, Sängerin und DJ geschrieben, produziert und performt - folgt auf die Veröffentlichung ihrer sehr erfolgreichen EP, „How Can I“ vom letzten Jahr, sowie auf eine Reihe von Kollaborationen mit Künstler*innen wie Clams Casino & Take A Daytrip („Y DON'T U“), Blood Orange („CALL ME“ Freestyle) und Nosaj Thing („CLOUDS“), sowie auf den Remix von Galcher Lustwerk für „Can You“.
Seit gestern Abend ist die Leadsingle und der Album-Opener, „Let’s Sing Let's Dance“ zu hören, ein wehmütiger Dance-Track, der Hye Jins mantraartigen Gesang über Klavierakkorde und wummernden Bässen platziert. Auf den anderen Tracks des Albums demonstriert sie eine deutlich erweiterte Klangpalette, in die sie eine Reihe von Einflüssen aus den Bereichen Elektronik, Hiphop und Downtempo einfließen lässt, um die bisher vollständigste Vision ihres Sounds zu präsentieren.
„Before I Die“ wird am 10. September 2021 auf Ninja Tune veröffentlicht, anschließend geht Hye Jin später in diesem Jahr auf Tour in Nordamerika, darunter eine Co-Headline-Show mit Shlohmo in New York, sowie Shows in Toronto, San Francisco, Miami und New Orleans.
Ihr Debütalbum folgt auf ein paar unglaubliche Jahre für die junge Künstlerin, in dem sie ihre gefeierte „How Can I“ EP auf Ninja Tune veröffentlichte. Eine Platte, die von Rolling Stone, Pitchfork („25 Most Anticipated Albums of the Summer“), FADER, i-D, Resident Advisor und vielen anderen hoch gelobt wurde und in zahlreichen „Best Of“-Listen 2020 von Billboard, The Guardian und anderen vertreten war. Auch in Deutschland fand die EP sensationellen Anklang, mit lobenden Artikeln und Beiträgen in u.a. Süddeutscher Zeitung, Rolling Stone Deutschland, im Missy Magazin, im Deutschlandfunk Kultur, im BR2, bei Radio Fritz oder im Musikexpress, die sie ebenfalls in ihre Liste der hoffnungsvollsten Newcomer*innen für 2021 aufnahmen.
Hye Jin wurde auch in die NME 100-Liste der „Essential emerging artists for 2021“ und in die „Generation V“-Serie des V Mag aufgenommen. Auch die britische GQ und Stereogum bezeichnen sie als „one to watch“. Die Lead-Single der EP, „Like This“, wurde auch im Soundtrack von FIFA 2021 verwendet und erhielt große Unterstützung von BBC Radio 1 und 6 Music, war #1 der „Top Electronic“ in den NACC-Charts (North American College and Community Radio) und in den „Top 200“ insgesamt, mit weiterer Unterstützung von KEXP, KCRW, SiriusXMU und mehr.
LTD Edition!
Wenn ein Großteil von DJ Seinfelds früherer Arbeit von sepiafarbenem Dunst geprägt war - ein Ergebnis der absichtlichen Lo-Fi-Produktionstechniken des Produzenten - dann rückt seine Musik auf dem brandneuen Album, „Mirrors“, fest in den Fokus.Aufgenommen zwischen Berlin und Malmö, ist „Mirrors“ der Nachfolger von DJ Seinfelds von der Kritik gefeiertem Debütalbum, „Time Spent Away From U“, von 2017 und sein erstes für Ninja Tune. Benannt nach einem Zitat von Armands Lieblingsschriftsteller, dem argentinischen Romancier Julio Cortázar, findet sich der Produzent auf dem Album in einer ruhigeren und geerdeten Stimmung wieder, nachdem ein unglücklicher Vorfall in seiner Familie ihn in den letzten Jahren dazu zwang, mehr Zeit zu Hause in seiner Heimat Schwedenzu verbringen.
2016 als Teil der Lo-Fi-House-Szene neben Produzenten wie Ross From Friends und Mall Grab bekannt geworden, veröffentlichte DJ Seinfeld (dessen Name auf ausgedehnte Sessions beim Schauen der klassischen US-Sitcom nach einer Trennung und einem Umzug nach Barcelona zurückgeht) 2017 sein Debütalbum, das unter anderem vom internationalen Rolling Stone und Pitchfork gelobt wurde. Es erregte auch die Aufmerksamkeit von Zeitgenossen wie Flume, Flying Lotus, Bonobo und Martin Garrix und führte dazu, dass DJ Seinfeld zu einem weltweit gefragten DJ wurde, der überall von Glastonbury bis Coachella, Warehouse Project, Sónar By Night und MoMaPS1 Sets spielte und die Bühne mit zahllosen Künstler*innen teilte, von Jeff Mills bis Stormzy, Underworld und Bicep, außerdem begleitete er Disclosure auf einigen Terminen ihrer US-Tour. Im Jahr 2018 erschien seine DJ-Kicks, wodurch er zu einer auserwählten Gruppe von DJs und Produzent*innen katapultiert wurde, zu der auch Moodymann, DJ Koze oder Nina Kraviz gehören. Um das Ganze abzurunden, eröffnete Aphex Twin seine Live-Shows mit dem DJ Seinfeld-Track, „Sakura“.
Airplay from Mary Ann Hobbs, Liz Alker and Tom Ravenscroft and beyond
Reviews in Mojo, The Wire, Quietus, Uncut and more
On October 9ththe multi-instrumentalist Jack Wyllie (Portico Quartet/Szun Waves) presents his new project Paradise Cinema. It was recorded in Dakar, Senegal in collaboration with mbalax percussionists Khadim Mbaye (saba drums) and Tons Sambe (tama drums).
The impressionistic and dream-like quality of 'Paradise Cinema' is a stunningly effective realisation of Wyllie's experience, in ahypnagogic state of aural consciousness:
"I had a lot of nights in Dakar, when the music around the city would go on until 6am. I could hear this from my bed at night and it all blended together, in what felt like an early version of the record."
Atmospherically 'Paradise Cinema' is vaporous and enigmatic, but also percussive; existing in a paradoxical sound-space that's amorphous,yet still purposeful, serene, but propulsive and aesthetically sharp.
Khadim Mbaye and Tons Sambe, provide the rhythmic backbone of the record. There are traditional elements of mbalax rhythm, but it is often deconstructed or played at tempos outside of the tradition, so while it hints at a location it occupies a space outside of any specific region.
'Paradise Cinema' is also informed by notions of hauntology – a philosophical concept originating in the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida– on possible futures that were never realised andhow directions taken in the past can haunt the present.
On the album's title Wyllie comments, "there are a handful of old cinemas in Dakar – these big modernist buildings dotted around the city built around independence. They're old and derelict now, but feel to me like monuments to that period, when the city was flooded with utopian ideas about its potential futures."
As such it sits closely to 4thworld music – situated in an imagined culture and time that never came to pass. And while it contains rhythmic references to Senegal it combines these elements with ambient and minimalist music to produce a sound that sits outside of any tradition.
Setting the tone for the long-player's themes is the optimism-driven, balmy beauty of 'Possible Futures', where rich-toned drums throb and levitate in a stratospheric ether.
Like a time-lapse video of plants in bloom, 'It Will Be Summer Soon' is the sound of anticipation and growth. Rhythmically it flickers and flutters, evoking rainfall, or the blurred wings of a bird in in flight.
Casamance moves through field recordings drifting in and out of focus, beats pitched-down low and unfurling saxophone, whilst the ambient 'Utopia' was made mainly with processed saxophone and suggests a longing for a perfect world.
Galloping percussion juxtaposes with a wistful mood on 'Liberté' – a title that referencesa derelict modernist cinema in Dakar of the same name– a hauntological landmark, made more poignant by the its name being part of the French national motto.
Tying into the cover artwork, Jack explains, "the 'Digital Palm is a telecommunications mast disguised as a palm tree in central Dakar. As a modern piece of technology that on first glance looks natural, it mirrors the combination of modern and acoustic elements."
Perhaps eliciting a time that never came, or maybe still in hope of it yet to come, 'Eternal Spring' concludes the LP's otherworldly beauty with hypnotic drums powering a subtly-building, sparkling and powerful crescendo.
Jack Wyllie is a musician, composer, electronic producer who draws on influences of jazz, ambient, and the trance-inducing repetition of minimalism.
Wyllie performs and records in Portico Quartet, Szun Waves (withLuke Abbott and Laurence Pike)and Xoros. He has also collaborated with Charles Hayward, Adrian Corker and Chris Sharkey and released on Ninja Tune, Babel, Leaf, Real World and Gondwana.
Khadim Mbaye and Toms Sambe play in various mbalax groups in Dakar. Khadim has also toured internationally with Cheikh Lo.
For Indie Stores Only. Joan Shelley’s out of print 2014 album is repackaged here in a deluxe tip-on jacket and pressed on purple vinyl. Limited to 2,000 copies worldwide. Electric Ursa was recorded out of the spotlight in Louisville, Kentucky. A quiet, 8 song record which owes much to the post-rock history of its hometown on songs like “Something Small” and “Rising Air”, while “River Low” and “Electric Ursa” hint at the brilliant Over and Even waiting just around the corner. Electric Ursa brought Shelley to the national stage. Rolling Stone noted that the songs project “a huge, resplendently pained serenity” while Pitchfork declared that while the album “isn’t her debut, it is her absolute arrival.”
In September of 2019, Deliluh took flight with sights set on new horizons.
A long plotted scheme to uproot the group from their Toronto home and
airlift them into the touring bastion of Europe seemed like a pot worth
gambling their stack on.
Their future in the old world was read with wide-eyed optimism, emboldened
by two albums newly waxed and tour dates rolling in. Greener pastures with
foreign allure, a promised land chalk full of experimental art and sound, and a
plethora of unconventional venues ripe for the picking... it’s open season, what
could possibly go wrong?
Well, the best laid plans... ‘Amulet’ is the first release since Deliluh’s departure
from Toronto, an opening document of the group’s transition to Europe. Mirrored images of the same composition occupy each side; ‘A’ performed by their
previous four-piece lineup (Kyle Knapp, Julius Pederson, Erika Wharton, Erik
Jude) and ‘B’ by the current active two-piece (Knapp and Pederson). ‘Amulet’
is set to be released July 30th on 10” via Tin Angel Records.
The lyrics depict a jewel thief committing crimes with the conviction of a merciless zealot, and justifying them with a spite for the status quo. The protagonist
amuses with the threat of being “caught”, a fate seemingly imminent and yet
laughable in the crooked context of societal greed. Knapp delivers sharp criticisms with a swagger liberated of fear, imploring us all to root for the anti-hero
in a time when danger is craved en masse.
The tonal contrasts between both versions testify to the group’s versatility.
The A side pulls tension by way of minimalism, leaning into a sinister synth
sequence that navigates a pitch dark sonic terrain. Swooning guitar, plucking
violin, whispering synths and darting tape effects peek in and out of the periphery, circling with unsettled starkness around Jude’s gloomy bass drone, through
until Wharton-Shukster’s string soaring climax.
Flip to the B side, and the immediate motorik groove turns the sequence on its
head, snapping to a gritty dance track for nights long yearned for. Pedersen’s
modular synth takes on a fresh persona of dusted drums and otherworldly high
hats, cracking on the beat while guitar scratches, processed sax, and string
synths build with harmonic euphoria, all until the tape slips and pulls the rug
from under the DIY dance floor.
‘Amulet’ demonstrates Deliluh’s potential growing fearlessly in the face of a
tight game. They promise a plentiful stash of recordings soon to be unearthed,
giving the sense that their recently tested process of creation has been far from
hindered. What comes next is anyone’s guess, though Amulet at the very least
reassures that we’re still, as always, in trusted hands.
Knapp: “It’s ‘adapt or parish’ these days.. We’re fortunate to be safe and
healthy, and thankfully, we’re not afraid of taking risks or evolving.”
Pedersen: “It isn’t the end goal that matters, but what you learn while exploring the paths that lead into unexplored terrain.”
Last autumn Leng Records welcomed a new name to the roster, Greek DJ/producer Lex, via some warming and colourful tracks on the label’s 10th Anniversary LP and sampler EP. Now the Athenian has returned with his first full release for Paul Murphy and Simon Purnell’s popular imprint.
Real name Alex Andrikopoulos, Lex first rose to prominence in his home city of Athens when he ran the Radical Soundz record shop during the first decade of the millennium. More recently his reputation has spread worldwide thanks to his association with Leng, a recent 12” on B2 Recordings and DJ sets that frequently join the dots between disco, house and techno.
His first full EP for Leng is arguably his most musically expansive collection of tracks to date, with a swathe of guest players – keyboardist Artis Boriss and drummer/percussionist Harold Perez most prominently – swinging by to help bring Lex’s vivid musical visions to life.
For proof, check out lead cut ‘Punta Allen’, an eight-minute chunk of organic dancefloor goodness in which Lex and his musical associates layer steel pan style melodies, spacey synthesizer flourishes, eyes-closed electric piano solos, warming chords and jangling guitars atop a heady bass guitar line, unfussy drums and sweaty pots-and-pans percussion. The track’s effortless evolution, which slowly unfurls before rising towards a gorgeous and joyous conclusion, is testament to the Greek producer’s dancefloor instincts.
You’ll find more low-slung, dub disco-influenced bass on the exotic ‘The Jamail Pass’, where mazy and feverish organ solos and rolling hand percussion provide a platform for Paqua member Alex Searle’s Nile Rodgers style guitar sounds. The track’s inherent funk – emphasized by occasional bass guitar solos and fills, as well as some tumbling synth sounds – is apparent throughout the track, something that only adds to its smile-inducing allure.
Closing out a very impressive first EP on Leng is ‘Angels of Rhythm’, a hazier, faster and more intergalactic excursion that cannily combines the low-slung bass of dub disco with the intoxicating vibes and warming dreaminess of deep house. The track’s intoxicating late-night feel is partly due to an undecidedly cosmic spoken word vocal from sassy singer Harrier Summer, though Artis Boriss’ pitch-bend-sporting synth solos and fizzing electronic noises certainly help. Driving but also deep and groovy, ‘Angels of Rhythm’ offers a memorable conclusion to a very impressive EP.
Synth legend Suzanne Ciani, Demdike Stare’s Sean Canty & Finders Keepers’ Andy Votel come together on this killer hour-long 2014 synapse popper of a collaboration pooling the occasional group’s esoteric collage-based approach into a remarkably foreboding session pregnant with a dread that’s never quite resolved. Think Vladimir Ussachevsky, Todd Dockstader, Spectre and Company Flow melted thru the Deutsch-Italo industrial DIY tape era and funneled thru an almost impenetrable fog of Ann Arbor basement noizze.
Hustling some of Neotantrik’s most amorphous gestures, ’241014’ is a four-segment movement of reduced Buchla treatments, destroyed vinyl loops and scraping foley suspense; like a cosmic dream diary layered into a collage of drones and clatters. Little in Ciani’s extensive catalogue has hinted at what’s on display here; the joyful lullaby-pop of “Seven Waves” or metallic alien soundscraping of “Flowers of Evil” are only hinted at. She instead paints new sonic vistas, allowing space for her collaborators to make themselves known; Votel’s chiming toy autoharp and Bubul Tarang (a Punjab string instrument) add a distinctive flavor, while Canty’s grimy drones and noise-soaked textures drizzle pitch-black molasses into the cracks and crevices. Together, the effect is a bit like hearing Philip Jeck improvising over Popol Vuh’s peerless Moog-led debut “Affenstunde” or Demdike Stare knocking out impromptu reworks of Tangerine Dream’s abstrakt early run.
Perhaps unusually, the trio have still never set foot in a studio together, exclusively maintaining their practice in-the-moment and on stage when schedules intersect. So it’s all the more remarkable that their improvisations naturally find a democracy of role and such a heightened level of intuition, beautifully converging their thoughts to mutual, open-ended conclusions that leaves billowing room for interpretation. In a most classic sense, it’s like the sensation of sleep paralysis or dream/nightmare ambiguity, with a level of suggestiveness that’s disorienting from end to end.
For the first time the recordings are now available in high fidelity (there was a tape version a couple of years back) - now remastered by Rashad Becker to better represent the otherworldly scope of their actions on stage, from the NWW-like queues and drone of ‘Scanned Accents’ and keening silhouette of ‘Second Action,’ to new sections of subaquatic Porter Ricks-like murk in ‘Anti-Contraction’ and the levitating webs of synth and tactile, sampled textures in ‘Last Canción.’ Tape music and synth music have long shared a passionate embrace, and here turntablism coolly slides in on the action. Canty and Votel’s background in beat tape assembly and crate digging pays off: they’re keenly experimental creators but bring an unfussy sense of rhythm and performance that’s miles beyond any facile repetition of a nostalgia for vintage glory. Combined with Ciani’s delicate Buchla work - it’s a unique proposition.
After spending nearly a decade recording and touring with the collaborative psych rock band Quilt, Anna Fox Rochinski has completed her first solo record, Cherry. Though this is her first solo outing, Quilt released three full length records on Mexican Summer between 2011-2016 and toured North America and Europe extensively via High Road Touring and Paper and Iron Booking, respectively. Quilt completed several headlining tours in both continents, as well as opening on tour for bands such as The War On Drugs, Luna, and Woods. Anna’s songs have been licensed and used for sync placement extensively, most recently in Netflix’s “You”, and Quilt signed a publishing deal with Third Side Music in 2016. Their music was featured in many press outlets including NPR and Pitchfork, and was performed live on KEXP, Late Night with Carson Daly, and NPR’s Tiny Desk. Initial pressing on limited edition opaque red vinyl
Written in the wee hours of the night, the late
Richard Swift’s ‘KFC’ is a winding sardonic
monologue about a rough night of food poisoning
following a quick dinner of fried chicken.
On the track, Swift’s vocal is pitched down and
distorted while accompanied by cooing vocal
harmonies and drums.
Lisa Milberg and Jon Bergström started their band Miljon over a pitcher of margarita in Mexico City and have since kept busy writing gorgeous little pop-songs in makeshift studios in and around their hometown of Stockholm, Sweden – mostly in their bedrooms and various cabins in various woods surrounding the city, never staying too far from the pine trees.
Having assembled a collection of 13 pieces of proper flaskpost-disko, these demos were passed on to Studio Barnhus’ in-house mixmaster Matt Karmil, who worked his studio magic on the recordings, turning them into a seductively warm and spacious debut album. “Until then, our only expenditures for the album were wine bottles and taxis”, says the band.
This isn’t the first time Miljon has teamed up with Studio Barnhus, the ever-explorative Stockholm dance label. The band collaborated with Barnhus co-founder Axel Boman on the wistful piano-house ballad “Forgot About You” in 2018 (“a summer anthem … a marvel of simplicity” - Pitchfork) and the label’s core personnel are all regulars at Arranging Things, the design store (“Stockholm’s coolest” - Vogue) that Lisa runs with another friend.
Going further back, Miljon isn’t the first musical project of neither Lisa’s nor Jon’s – the former enjoyed her fair share of 00's indie rock success as drummer and eventually lead singer of The Concretes, while Jon has earned a reputation as the hardest working man in several Swedish music scenes, bringing energy and expertise to punk stages around the country as well as Stockholm’s electronic underground.
With Miljon, the two friends make sure to keep it short and sweet, happily celebrating imperfections. “We believe in ‘first thought, best thought’ and try to work on the songs as little as possible, instead trusting a good melody and a nice vibe, not overthinking it. We dare you to find a bridge on this album!”
With “Don’t They Know”, the duo presents not only 13 beautiful songs (perfect for shower-humming, living roomshuffling and warm summer night boombox-blasting alike) but also an album that turns into something grander than the sum of its parts.
“We made it because it’s the kind of album we’ve been wanting to hear ourselves. It’s all quite song-centric these days and it feels rare to find a whole album to step into and stay inside, you know? We hear great songs all the time, but we wanted an album that was its own little universe, with its own mayor, own happy hour, its own yard sales and extramarital affairs.”
“Don’t They Know” is released through Studio Barnhus as a vinyl LP June 18.
I tend to exist in the darker parts of the psyche, Jim Ward admits. “That’s where I’ve always been.” And yet what makes the musician so unique and downright compelling is how exactly at the moment when the world joins him in the darkness — take, for example, the ultra-challenging year that was 2020— it’s then Ward is able to claw his way back into the light. “All I was doing was basically meditating with a guitar,” Ward says of how every night during the pandemic,armed with a guitar as well as a bit of time and purpose, this prolific musician was able to churn out several riotous riffs that ultimately transformed into one of his most personal and profound albums to date. “I’ve always used music as an outlet for anxiety and frustration,” notes Ward, who has played in a slew of monumental bands, from the iconic post-hardcore band At The Drive-In to Sparta, aswell his alt-country project, Sleepercar. In fact, it’s this healing power of music, Ward offers, that led him to Daggers, the lauded musician’s new solo record set for release in 2021 via Dine Alone. “When my world has upheaval, it becomes about doing the work in front of me,” he adds. “And this record was pure joy: talking to my friends on the phone, swapping ideas with them, going into my head for a while, coming out with something.” So while Daggers is officially credited as a solo work, and Ward never entered the room with any of his collaborators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s effusive in his praise for them: notably the twin team of Incubus bassist Ben Kenney and Thursday drummer Tucker Rule, both of whom took Ward’s guitar riffs and helped propel them into fully fleshed-out songs. For Fans of: Sparta, At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta, Thursday, Incubus, Frank Eiro, Bear vs Shark, Glassjaw, ...Trail of Dead, Deftones, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, Queens of the Stone Age, Thrice, The Smashing Pumpkins Key marketing highlights: - Jim Ward is the lead singer and guitarist of Sparta and co-founder of post-hardcore band At The Drive-In. - Ward has toured with the likes of My Chemical Romance, Deftones, mewithoutyou and many more - Ward has received acclaim from Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Brooklyn Vegan, Alternative Press, Guitar World, Billboard and more. - Ward has performed on the late night TV programs of Conan and David Letterman. - Ben Kinney From Incubus playing bass on record and Tucker Rule from Thursday playing drums on record
- A1: Intro
- A2: Come Back To Me (Feat Junie & Rick Ross)
- A3: Wake Up Love (Feat Iman)
- A4: Lowkey (Feat Erykah Badu)
- A5: Let's Build (Feat Quavo)
- A6: 1800-One-Night
- B1: Mornin' (Feat Kehlani)
- B2: Boomin' (Feat Missy Elliott & Future)
- B3: 69
- B4: Killah (Feat Davido)
- B5: Bad
- B6: Wrong Bitch
- C1: Shoot It Up (Feat Big Sean)
- C2: Bare Wit Me
- C3: Lose Each Other
- C4: Concrete
- C5: Still
- C6: Ever Ever
- D1: Try Again
- D2: Friends
- D3: How You Want It? (Feat King Combs)
- D4: Made It
- D5: We Got Love (Feat Ms Lauryn Hill)
Being a jack of trades has enabled Teyana Taylor to become a master of all. From her smoky melodic vocals to her dynamic dance moves, the R&B superstar entertainer dips ’n dives between her talents as singer, songwriter, producer, director, dancer/choreographer, actor, fitness guru, model, and mother. When it comes to describing herself, the Harlem native can only think of one word: Everything. In 2014, Teyana’s love for the arts and R&B earned her the title of the first woman signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint.
THE ALBUM, released June 19 2020, was tapped by Pitchfork as one of the “most anticipated albums of the summer.” In addition to "Wake Up Love," Teyana’s masterpiece included her new graduation anthem "Made It," pegged by NPR as a “a triumphant, isolation-proof anthem for the Class of 2020.” In August, it was announced that "Made It" was picked by President Barack Obama as one of the tracks on his 2020 Summer Playlist.
Debuted at #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts, the album has spawned a number of standout creative moments, from her self directed video for “Lose Each Other” featuring Elton John. Following the release of her album, Taylor was awarded Video Director of the Year at the 2020 BET Awards.
The Black Bones story is born out of a shared obsession for crate digging, collecting, and the playing of weird and wonderful music. Their releases so far have manifested in a highly-sought series of seven psychedelic disco 12"s - picking up numerous Record of the Week plaudits on the way. This considered curation and skill for pulling together far-flung sounds fully informs their first original material. These four bold and adventurous club cuts are a thrilling mix of straight-up house sounds, new beat, industrial, dub, sleaze and all the other good shit that comes with low-lighting and a heavy sound system. Kicking off with the full throttle 120 bpm of 'ABTS' - the duo take you straight to the 'floor with one of the wildest rides we've heard in some time. 'Denied' pulls us in to darker territory - chest pummelling bass, ominous high-pitched warnings and a chuggy acid throw-down finding us once again lost in that 5am dance floor fog. Over on the flip and 'Punghi' combines a hypnotic groove, dubbed out FX, percussion and a tripped-out Eastern breakdown. One for the more adventurous DJs and dance floor! The EP is closed by 'Gabi' which sounds like minimal gone maximal with an insane industrial switch-up. Enough words! As always, Black Bones let the music do the talking and this ambitious debut can quickly find itself shelved alongside the records that have fuelled their lifelong obsession.
Jossy Mitsu (Rinse FM / 6 Figure Gang) makes her production debut on Astral Black. A resident DJ for the labels monthly club residency and host for their monthly radio shows, the club night-cum-label is the perfect home for Jossy's debut solo release. The Birmingham-raised, London based DJ has become known for her ability to shell down any club, whether that’s rinsing out a twisted concoction of sweaty House, Techno and left field club heaters, firing heavy-weight Rave and Jungle sets, or serenading you with her 2-step vinyl collection. Now holding down a Rinse FM residency and part of the much loved ‘6 Figure Gang’, the past 18 months has seen Jossy DJ across Europe and the UK, alongside artists such as Joy Orbison, Dance System, Maya Jane Coles & Dusky and perform at events such as The Warehouse Project, Glastonbury & Outlook Festival among many others.
Throughout the 4-tracks here on 'Planet J', Jossy invites the listener to take a step inside her sonic world. The meandering pads and scattering drum patterns of EP opener 'Odyssey' are seasoned with warped chords 8-bit arpeggiators and ticking cow bells reminiscent of producers such as Skee Mask or INVT. '1997' brings together pounding 4x4 kicks, bouncing basslines and pitched vocal samples, giving the track the makings of a house anthem and leaving the listener yearning for a return to sweaty basement clubs. The high octane energy of 'Turismo' takes the records BPM up a notch for a marathon of skittering snares drums, raucous percussion and menacing sub bass. Whilst the heavily reverbed chords and melodic basslines of subdued EP closer 'Ø' demonstrate Jossy's ability to create thoughtful electronic music whilst still retaining a
hard, dance-floor focussed edge.
The EP comes in a full colour sleeve with Planet J’s capital city visualised in a high-res CGI rendering courtesy of London-based designer Kerrie.IRL




















