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A Civil Rights activist who marched alongside Jesse Jackson, preacher for Earth Wind & Fire, Stax recording artist, “Family Feud” contestant, Stephen Curry soundtracker, high school drop out, and Kanye samplee, Pastor T. L. Barrett stuffed a dozen lives into one. His signature 1971 spiritual soul jam “Like A Ship” has transcended its humble South Side Chicago beginnings, rediscovered by Leon Bridges and Beck and described by Radioheadʼs Colin Greenwood as “The most euphoric celebratory music that makes you want to jump around the house and explode with joy.” This box is the definitive statement on Barrettʼs two decades of recordings, 49 tracks spread across five LPs, including Like A Ship, Do Not Pass Me By Volume 1 & 2, I Found The Answer, plus a bonus album of singles and sermons, a 10,000 word blow-by-blow, and illustrated discography.

Born in Brixton, a child of the Windrush Generation, Letts’ slippery and unorthodox career is somewhat hard to define, without taking a few detours around London, New York and Jamaica. He began his working life managing the dauntingly hip Acme Attractions on Chelsea’s Kings Road, where he made a mark with his attitude, dress and, especially, the pounding dub reggae that vibrated the shop’s walls. His first gig as a DJ at the short-lived Roxy in Neal Street, became mythical for turning a generation of punks on to reggae. They in turn hipped him to their DIY ethos resulting in his reinvention as a filmmaker. This led to a shed-load of music videos (Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Clash, Bob Marley) not

to mention documentaries on the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, George Clinton and Sun Ra.



In the ’80s, he was part of Mick Jones’ new venture, Big Audio Dynamite and his innovative use of samples were a core part of their sound. Listeners of his weekly 6 Music radio show are taken on a musical safari that moves seamlessly between time, space and genre. It’s not called Culture Clash Radio for nothing. So this latest bulletin from Letts HQ is merely one angle of a multifaceted personality, his take on the JA tradition of the cover version.



The history of Caribbean music owes a debt to R&B as many of the early island releases were cover versions of US 45s. Ska’s breakthrough commercially, Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’, was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in ’50s New York. Cover versions became quite a thing in Jamaica and Don, following in that tradition, has dug deep with a selection of interesting dubbed out covers including thirteen exclusives.



“A disciple of sound system, raised on reggae n’ bass culture my go to sound was dub. Besides being spacious and sonically adventurous at the same time, its most appealing aspect was the space it left to put yourself ‘in the mix’ underpinned by Jamaica’s gift to the world - bass. But that’s only half the story as the duality of my existence meant I was also checking what the Caucasian crew were up to not to mention the explosion of black music coming in from the States. That’s why this version excursion crosses time space and genre, from The Beach Boys to The Beatles, Nina Simone to Marvin Gaye, The Bee Gees to Kool & The Gang, The Clash to Joy Division and beyond. You’d think it impossible to draw a line between ‘em but not in my world. Fortunately, the ‘cover version’ has played an integral part in the evolution of Jamaican music and dub covers were just a natural extension.”



There’s a diverse mix of classic and new, with legendary figures like John Holt, The Tamlins and Cornell Campbell, mixed in with British veterans Mad Professor and the irrepressible Dennis Bovell, while (relatively) young striplings Kiko Bun, Emily Capell and Prince Fatty deliver the goods, with laidback Texan groovers Khruangbin also offering an exclusive bass heavy-delight.



The song choices are diverse, from French dubsters’ OBF’s renditions of ‘Sixteen Tons’, the miners’ paean popularised by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s, to Ash Walker’s refix of Omar’s ‘There’s Nothing Like This’ and ‘All I Do Is Think About You’, immortalised by the ill-fated Tammi Terrell and preserved here by Quantic (the latter two both exclusives). Being a Rebel Dread compilation, there’s a cover (by Wrongtom Meets The Rockers) of The Clash’s ‘Lost In The Supermarket’ while Don’s exclusive, naturally, is a rendition of Big Audio Dynamite’s debut hit, ‘E = MC2’.



“Truth be told I’ve wanted to work with the Late Night Tales crew from the get go. We’re talking nearly two decades such was the allure of their musical aesthetic typified by curators like Nightmares on Wax, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Trentemoller, Khruangbin and countless others. Now being as old as rock n’ roll (born in ‘56) and having nearly 20 years of Culture Clash Radio under my belt I figured I was tooled up to musically juggle with the best of ‘em. But I wanted to carve out a space that was distinctly my own - something that reflected my musical journey and the culture clash that’s made me the man I am today.”

Essential Aliensis the 10th Helvetia album. Helvetia is the solo project of Jason Albertini from Duster. Helvetia resides in Portland, Oregon but was formed in Seattle, Washington in 2005 after Duster first went on hiatus. The songs onEssential Aliens were recorded over the last year, in Jason's basement. Since the band's inception, Jason has continued to employ a rotating cast of band members and collaborators, which now includes Steve Gere and Samantha Stidham. Steve and Jason also played in Built To Spill together from 2012 until 2018. In 2019 Duster started playing shows and recording again. During this time Jason started writing what would becomeThis Devastating Map. Released at the beginning of August last year, Post-Trash called it"a constantly shifting project that takes experimental lo-fi into brilliantly colored psych directions with a concise glow."Then the pandemic took hold. With normal life at a standstill and unable to hang with his bandmates, Jason focused his energy on his daughter's homeschooling schedule, and recording. He focused on finishing one song a day and was soon honing in on a new album. Essential Aliensdistills and simplifies the Helvetia sound. Reverb and delay are absent, replaced by warm fuzz and intimate room sounds. Progressions morph with stoner repetition and end in head scratch. Drums distort, muted bass lines prop up acoustic guitars blown out on a cassette four-track. Cheap electric guitars are barely in tune and recorded direct, almost painfully in your face. The songs are short blasts of psychedelic chill, unrooted by genre, a rummage around an alien radio dial. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart, to remind you that you can be strong. The visual elements for the album come from a recurring dream, which centers around a period in Jason's childhood when he lived in Basel, Switzerland, and believed that he lived with a ghost. In the dream, Jason's life becomes turned upside down because of a series of unexplainable events that turn out to be orchestrated by the ghost, and he wakes up convinced that he is a ghost as well. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart. To remind you that you can be strong. This is a weird blues.

Source Crossfire is a searing, brooding collection that documents the recorded output of Sofa one of Montreal's most shadowy, notorious, captivating underground art-rock ensembles of the mid-90s, and the first band to be released on Constellation charting the quartet’s febrile evolution through sonic palettes of North American post-hardcore and slowcore admixed with early UK post-punk, goth and dark lounge. In the words of one music writer of the era: "Like Slint and Big Black meeting for a Joy Division reunion."

Far Out Recordings presents the peerless and criminally undervalued Quartin catalogue, beginning with the reissue of Jose Mauro’s forgotten masterpiece Obnoxius. Over the course of the 60s, Roberto Quartin released more than 20 albums in Brazil on his label Forma, by artists including the likes of Eumir Deodato and Quateto Em Cy. Selling the rights of Forma to Polygram in 1969, Quartin struck out for pastures new at the dawn of the 1970s with the launch of his self-titled label. Significant works and high-water marks for Brazilian music overall followed in that decade’s first year, with Victor Assis Brasil Plays Antonio Carlos Jobim and the aforementioned Obnoxius. These singular gems in Brazilian music, difficult to categorise yet compellingly haunting, have for too long gone unheard.

Today, very little is known about Jose Mauro and as a result those searching for some kind of insight on the man behind the music must attempt to glean what they can from the music itself. One rumour claims he died in a car accident shortly before the album’s release, a fact that could have lent his brief musical career a touch of mythology were it not for how scant the details concerning any other aspects of his life are. The political turmoil from which the album emerged is significant also; recorded during an era of oppressive state censorship, the album, like all the Quartin catalogue, is the result of steadfast defiance in the face of a crushing military dictatorship. While many musicians of the era fled the country, preferring their prospects in the affluent, liberated USA, rebellious, young musicians like Mauro chose to stay and reflect their anger at the authorities through thinly veiled protest songs such as the stirring ‘Apocalipse’. Herein lies the basis for a more dramatic theory; that Mauro was in fact abducted by the military! Whatever the truth, the mystery remains unsolved, and all that remains is his bewitching music, all of which is composed by Mauro and Ana Maria Bahiana. Production on the record was cancelled after Mauro’s death and it was never sold commercially until its rerelease decades later. What appeal does Mauro’s music hold to today’s listeners, forty-something years removed from its conception? Simply put, there is very little else that sounds much like it all. Take the title track of ‘Obnoxius’. A wholly singular piece of music, blending string-drenched melancholia with orchestral pomp, sunny psychedelic strumming with propulsive percussion, topped off with Mauro’s yearning vocals. The result is indicative of Mauro’s unique blend of sounds from Latin Jazz and samba to psychedelic folk and baroque orchestration.

Today, Obnoxius retains its strange, otherworldly appeal – A firm favourite amongst a small circle of deep diggers including Madlib, Gilles Peterson, Floating Points. Jose Mauro’s mournful and melancholic vocals create a dark, brooding atmosphere that stands in contrast to the usual joyfulness and high-spirited rhythm of the more prominent Brazilian music of the era. Despite this air of foreboding, Mauro’s confident baritones, chord patterns and sumptuous arrangements have the ability to induce in the listener an almost trance-like state of ecstasy. Mauro’s long hidden masterpiece, a complex and uniquely stunning work is being offered the chance to be heard by the wider audience it has always deserved. A second Jose Mauro release, A Viagem Des Horas, compiling more incredible tracks unreleased in Mauro’s lifetime, will follow, alongside other unreleased jewels from the Quartin catalogue, from the likes of Piri and Victor Assis Brasil…

A Mountain Of One are set to return to the musical landscape with their brand new track “Custard’s Last Stand”, released 30th July through new label AMORE via Above Board distribution. It is the first new piece of music the band have released in over a decade.

”Custard’s Last Stand” shows the band, made up of musical soulmates Mo Morris and Zeben Jameson, have lost nothing in the past decade. Recorded over Skype during the coronavirus pandemic, with Mo now in Bali and Zeben in west London, it is a shimmering, modern classic, experimental but accessible, melodic and adventurous. As ever, it is utterly unique, made in a musical universe all of their own.

“Custard’s Last Stand” EP is out 27th August, and will come with an incredible Denis Bovell Dub Remix, as well as another new track “Stars, Planets, Dust, Me”. The full EP package will come with a dub remix from musical pioneer Dennis Bovell.

The forthcoming album will be released this autumn. The whole project has been mastered then remixed for a forthcoming album by the legendary Ricardo Villalobos.

When they first started performing, they quickly became one of the most-acclaimed bands out there, with the likes of i-D, Sunday Times Culture, Pitchfork, NME and more raving about them and their inspired and original approach, led by Mo and Zeben’s almost telepathic understanding.

Sold-out shows and awesome reviews followed with “Collected Works” and “Institute of Joy”, two phenomenal records that have stood the test of time, criss-crossing folk, jazz, dance, rock and psychedelia.

A Mountain Of One have collaborated to create a coming together of music and virtual reality. With NYX VX, the band have developed a virtual world, one that will help provide inspired opportunities for artists looking to identify, connect and engage with audiences on multiple levels. This is the first stage of a new world that people will be building out and inhabiting, as venue for performances, home for musical and visual archives, space for play and exploration. Welcome to 'Stars, Planets, Dust, Me'.

Diana Ross sings “Thank You” to the world. “This collection of songs is my gift to you with appreciation and love. I am eternally grateful that I had the opportunity to record this glorious music at this time,” said Ms. Ross. Her new album, “Thank You” is scheduled for release this fall through Decca Records / Universal Music Group. The title track and first single,” Thank You,” will be available for streaming and download on June 17.

Recorded in her home studio, “Thank You" offers a powerful, inclusive musical message of love and togetherness. With its songs of happiness, appreciation and joy, it wholeheartedly acknowledges that we are in this all together. Her family, friends and loyal and loving audiences all around the globe have been an integral part of her wonderful life’s story. In this special moment, it is time to step into the light.

Ms. Ross co-wrote and collaborated on the 13 songs along with award-winning songwriters and producers including: Jack Antonoff, Troy Miller, Triangle Park, Spike Stent, Prince Charlez, Amy Wadge, Neff-U, Freddie Wexler, Jimmy Napes, Tayla Parx, Fred White, and Nathanial Ledgewick.

Let us come together in harmony and gratitude with Diana Ross now and for the future. “I dedicate this songbook of love to all of you, the listeners. As you hear my voice you hear my heart. "Let Love Lead the Way”

Spirits Having Fun records are ones made from and for shows and spaces—arrangements rooted in a deeply collaborative process, that come to life through intuitive and locked-in live improvisation. Following their 2019 debut Auto-Portrait, Two finds the New York and Chicago based four-piece continuing to challenge ideas of what a rock band can be, pulling apart their musical experiences and reimagining them as kinetic compositions, equally studied but palpably organic.

Two is constructed around gut feelings and strong grooves, elastic rhythms and playful pacing. Its twelve songs expand, contract, and make sharp turns between melodies under singer-guitarist Katie McShane’s meditative lyrics. “Broken Cloud,” which was also released last year on a compilation in support of Chicago Community Jail Support, offers a glimpse into her reflections on the natural world: "A city grew out of the ground / to a mountain it's only a blur."

True to its name, the internal logic of the band is also just a lot of fun, built on trust and deep-rooted musical relationships. Before there was Spirits Having Fun, McShane, bassist Jesse Heasly, guitarist-vocalist Andrew Clinkman, and drummer Phil Sudderberg had performed together in various arrangements over the years. McShane, Heasly and Clinkman met in a specific corner of the Boston underground in 2013, a time when a scene had coalesced around students from local music conservatories frequently collaborating with punk bands and noise artists, exchanging ideas and warping musical worldviews. Heasly and Clinkman played together in Cowboy Band, making mutant, free jazz-inspired takes on old country tunes. When Clinkman moved to Chicago, Heasly and McShane played in experimental groups like EKP and Listening Woman; in Chicago, Clinkman met Sudderberg playing in projects like jazz scene fixture Ken Vandermark’s high-powered band Marker.

Spirits first came together as an attempt at a long-distance collaboration among friends in 2016, driven by the simple feeling of missing each other; they’d meet up for marathon weekends here and there to practice, playing small loops through dive bars and art spaces around the Midwest—just enough for McShane and Heasly to afford plane tickets back home. Being split between Chicago and New York forced the project into a deliberate pace. “We tried to take it slow and let it be what it was,” said McShane. That sense of patience unexpectedly prepared them for March of 2020, when their planned tours and the release of Two were indefinitely delayed.

Two was mostly recorded in the summer of 2019 with the help of omnipresent Chicago engineer Dave Vettraino and DPCD’s Alec Watson, whose contributions on organ, synths, and piano are laced throughout the record. The album reflects a synthesis of solitary and communal songwriting processes—each song drawing on fragments written by individuals, which McShane threaded together and shaped through her distinct compositional lens, making the songs whole before returning to them to the band to mature collectively. When composing, McShane writes first on the keyboard before adapting parts for guitars played by herself and Clinkman. Their dueling approaches to guitar are complementary: McShane, being a newer guitarist, brings a freshness to the project (“I'm just discovering the whole time,” she says) while Clinkman has been playing since childhood.

“There's a lot more collaboration on this record,” says Clinkman, “in terms of all of us letting stuff bloom a little bit more.” The record’s first single, “Hold The Phone” is a good example of this process—it started with a playful intro riff from Clinkman, a melody and bridge added by McShane, a wobbly outro groove added by Heasly, which Sudderberg brought to life. Another single, the dynamic “See a Sky,” written primarily by Heasly, underscores the rhythm section chemistry at play across the record, the song ebbing and flowing around Heasly and Sudderberg’s eclectic percussive palettes.

“Entropy Transfer Partners” is the only song on the record with lyrics by Clinkman, and the album’s most politically direct—a call for solidarity in the face of systemic failures, an acknowledgment of the shared material devastation caused by our country’s ongoing healthcare and housing crises: “These are not things we're experiencing individually. We struggle through them collectively. And we could actually declare, all of us, that it doesn't have to be this way, and fight and organize to ameliorate some of those conditions.” (“We won't work to create the shit you monetize, to run our lives,” they sing.)

From front to back, Two is an absorbing listen simply for its impressive range. But as the members explain themselves, the complexity of the record is about more than its intricate riffs, or how often they count out an odd time signature, but how they reject the notion of boxing the songs in, letting the melodies take on lives of their own. “Making music that feels alive is important to us,” says Clinkman. “Music feels most powerful to me when it deepens our sensation of feeling alive and connected to other humans. It’s so easy to feel worn down and isolated; that your life’s value is fixed to your productivity at your job, or the things that you have or don’t have. Making music that feels joyful and fun seems like one effective antidote to that feeling.”

Two worlds collide to offer a brand new project. The lo-fi rock from Emilie Zoé and Nicolas Pittet blends perfectly with the sounds of the machines and samples of the leader of The Young Gods, Franz Treichler. The sound triangulates and takes the shape of an /A\. Zoé is an artist who converts the ghosts of everyday life into electric fulgurations on the extreme fringes of pop and rock; Pittet is her drummer, but above all he’s an all-round musician, as comfortable backing Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s primal dub as he is

fiddling with electronics (e.g. his project Kera); and of course, Treichler is the well-known leader of The Young Gods, and band that’s been setting the bar since 1986 when it comes to transforming rock by infiltrating its genome into machines.

This diversity of backgrounds, tastes and experiences might at first sight have appeared as a reason to stay apart from each other, but instead it’s proved to be a vector of mutual attraction. What /A\ offers contains no foreign matter: Treichler, Pittet and Zoé’s aesthetics are intertwined through subterranean links that strike by their clarity, like the pieces of a puzzle that is both unexpected and surprising.

It’s through this profound entanglement that the pieces, one after the other, succeed in materialising hitherto unseen faces. They create something new: Hotel Stellar delivers an otherworldly blues, a slow snake that oscillates between the abyss and redemption; We Travel the Light, with its guitars measured in megatons, invents the notion of a steamroller possessed by insane joy; Count to Ten is a wash of restrained melancholy infused with almost Birkin-like touches, which, as the minutes go by, bristles with scratches and sandy echoes, like synthetic dub; The Leaves is yet another strange beast which could be considered as the evolution of a trip hop theme that would have been left to mature for a few decades in the noblest of drums. “It’s red, it’s hot” says Zoé when asked to analyse the record. “You can feel like there’re waves coming at you, but you never really know when.”

The UK’s love affair with American soul music blossomed in the
mid 1960s, with the launch of the Tamla-Motown record label in
Britain. But by the end of the decade this passion took on a
distinctly homegrown twist with a new movement that grew out
of the North of England and Midlands’ underground soul and
R&B scene. It was here at dancehalls and clubs such as
Manchester’s Twisted Wheel and the Wigan Casino that
devotees danced the night away to uptempo, joyous US soul
records that always came with a heavy beat. Pretty soon the
movement had a name: Northern Soul. This collection is the
next best thing and it is all on vinyl, exactly how the movement’s
fans originally heard them

Ella Fitzgerald made her mark in the worlds of jazz and scat, and
during the Big Band era was collaborating with the likes of Louis
Jordan, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. But it was in the
1950's that she really made her mark, with a series of 'Songbook'
albums spotlighting all the great songwriters of the day. It’s been
said that Ella's unique interpretations delivered with a voice so
rich it was like cream in your coffee. Small wonder then that
she'd take a ground-breaking approach when it came to
recording an album of Christmas songs. Ella's Christmas album
was revolutionary in that it wasn't about Christmas in the
traditional sense and would go on to influence pretty much every
Christmas album since, for two reasons: It's really joyful, and it
really swings.

The Byson Family started 2021 in style, when their self-released, limited
edition debut album ‘Kick The Traces’ made a big impact from its soft
release.
It debuted at #1 on Independent Breakers; #3 on Scottish Albums; #5 on Americana Albums; and #9 on Independent Albums. Now ‘Kick The Traces’ is set for
a much wider discovery, with the release of its Expanded Edition on September
10th via their own Seshlehem Records label.
Press play on ‘Kick The Traces’ and you’ll discover rootsy heartland rock that’s
as evocative of sprawling road trips through America’s open highways as it is
soundtracking an escape into the Scottish Highlands. It’s a sound that echoes
the great bands whose music never ages: the strut of The Stones, the beatific
beauty of The Byrds, the riffs and reflection of Neil Young. But they’re also kindred spirits to the artists who extend that lineage in new ways: the joyous rush
of The War on Drugs and the alt-country adventures of Wilco, with a touch of
Calexico’s desert noir.
The Byson Family will make their long awaited return to live shows in September. They’re set to headline a homecoming show at Glasgow’s historic St. Luke’s
on September 25th. They’re also confirmed to support the resurgent Del Amitri
on a tour that includes the London Palladium and two nights at Glasgow’s Barrowlands.

Cobra Poems is a set of 10 new originals by Daniel Romano and the group
of exceedingly well-dressed talents known as the Outfit.
Here, they display an ever-increasing swagger and a rare ability to synthesize
a shocking amount of rock history into something new, relevant, immediate,
and yes, poetic. “If all the words of joy should shed their syllabic countenance,
would they not still resonate at this same frequency?
If distillate love made aural and amplified struck every unbidden ear, would
it not blossom with this same audible bouquet? Here then is the document ‘
the evidence, the proof, the truth, the real thing, the one thing, the only thing.
Daniel Romano’s Outfit, now and always. Call it communion. Call it a rhapsody.
Call it Cobra Poems. Go on. Dig it.”
Cobra Poems was recorded in Camera Varda, the Outfit’s newly built studio on
the banks of the Welland Canal. It will be supported by live dates in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United
States, and Canada in 2022.

When his mother brought Stanley Turrentine’s Salt Song LP back from a trip to Canada, Julien Lourau, then a teenager, was impressed by the scope of the sound and the groove of the saxophone. He was also charmed by the lush arrangements and funky sound of the record, typical of releases on the CTI label. Created by producer Creed Taylor, CTI left an imprint in the minds of 70s jazz fans much like Blue Note did in the 60s, and it even ended up releasing work by artists who started out on this mythical label such as Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard. The two even shared the same sound engineer, the great Rudy van Gelder.
Yet CTI, though highly prolific during its 15 years of activity, has not benefitted from the same aura as its predecessor. “To breathe life into this album, I listened to a wealth of CTI releases and discovered some I had never heard before. I noticed, oddly, that many of today’s musicians know very little about CTI - a label unfairly considered as minor.”

The choice of tracks was determined by Julien’s personal tastes, always keeping in mind a desire to help people discover them yet focusing on the joy of actually playing them too.

"The album is made up of 9 pieces. Mathieu Débordes got everything down to the nearest note before we even attempted to play them. CTI didn’t hold back in fuelling their compositions with brass and violins, but I erased this aspect and pared things down to a bass, drums and two keyboards."
English drummer Jim Hart, someone Julien worked with during his London years, propels the group - from hard-bop polyrhythms with “drum & bass” inflections to a reworking of classic Red Clay.

Sylvain Daniel on the bass and Arnaud Roulin on the analogue keys are two musicians close to the saxophonist, and that he met when they were students in 1999 while organising a master class at the Conservatoire de Nantes. Since then, they have become his esteemed companions.

The collaboration with young pianist Léo Jassef began on this recording, where he also plays the Prophet 5. The dynamic and overlap of the many keyboards played by Arnaud and Léo bring the record a richness of timbre and harmony that the strings and brass provided on the CTI recordings.
For the final track on the record, Julien called upon his friend of 30 years, guitarist Bojan Z, for a fresh, Gospel take on Love and Peace, a track recorded by Quincy Jones in 1969, which here, is dedicated to Bojan’s recently departed brother.

“When it comes down to it, this album really is as I had imagined it, with, luckily, a few unexpected turns. I created a playlist I then claimed as my own. But in the end, I must admit that I would have loved to have composed some of these tracks.”

Eight years deep into their existence, Paris-based Mawimbi are proud to present their debut album Bubbling.
Through their own label and events, the collective have championed up and coming artists who look to fuse african music
with the modern dancefloor. They’ve released records from Lya, Onipa, Afriquoi and James Stewart and brought
established artists and fellow travellers to such as Auntie Flo, Africaine 808, Awesome Tapes From Africa and Esa to
Paris. Now it’s time for the collective to unveil their identity as producers and musicians in their own right.
“Bubbling” refers to the many ideas, encounters and projects that the collective have come into contact with over
the past years. Through their events and their work as label curators and remixers (for artists such as Oumou Sangaré,
Blick Bassy, Cerrone, Onipa), Mawimbi have become known as ambassadors for “afro-electro” - whatever that might
mean - and their debut album buzzes with the contagious energy of the music they love. If you ask Mawimbi, Afro-electro
is about global and local inspiration, from both sides of the Black Atlantic. It’s about paying tribute to the forefathers and
the brothers and sisters in arms across the world. Afrobeat, highlife, South African bubblegum pop, Malian music,
maloya… Bubbling seeks to connect geographically separate but spiritually similar club sounds.
Hence “El Caribe” (feat. Ghetto Kumbé) is half cumbia, half Carribean dancehall, while “Ngana” (feat. Fatim
Kouyaté) has some elements of dub music and “Kakraa” (feat. K.O.G) nods to disco‐infused Ghanaian productions from
the 70s. Despite the influences, this is a record designed for home-listening, a nod to our present circumstances, but also
a deliberate step away from dancefloor. A moment of patience and reflection as much as joy and celebration.`
Above all, Bubbling is a personal record, about unexpected cross-pollinations and the collective’s individual
explorations of these musical territories. Mawimbi's own history is one of coincidences and chance encounters, and so is
“Bubbling”. All the collaborations were born out of the connections made over the last 8 years. A WhatsApp chat with
Zambian artist Mufrika, a spontaneous studio jam with Ghetto Kumbé in a Parisian Basement: these are captured
moments of real, vital connections made.
Like Mawimbi itself, Bubbling is a collage of relationships and shared experiences, shaped by nascent friendships
and musical encounters. It’s a truly DIY document in that sense, the sound of the last eight years of the Mawimbi
adventure: free spirited, passionate, warm and generous.

"The Witness" markiert eine gewitzte, unkonventionelle Linkskurve und zeigt Suuns in ihrer angenehmsten, offensten Form. Selbst aufgenommen und selbst produziert über den Großteil des Jahres 2020, ein Jahr voller Streit, Einsamkeit und Reflexion, zeigt "The Witness" die Band mit einer Lupe über ihren eigenen Standardzustand des Spielens und Auftretens. Es ist eine rasche Abkehr vom Vorgänger-Album "Felt" und erfreut sich daran, zufällige Ideen in ihren embryonalen Demo-Versionen zu ernten, als ob man ein glorreiches Feuerwerk in den Himmel entlässt. Mit dem Ausstieg von Max Henry als Vollzeitmitglied im Jahr 2018 und dem Wohnort-Wechsel von Ben Shemie, der jetzt einen Ozean entfernt in Paris lebt, manifestierte sich eine neue Herausforderung für das Trio, sich wieder zu finden, sowohl sozial als auch kreativ. Mehr als jede andere Suuns-Platte verwendet "The Witness" eine Jazz-Mentalität, die einen kontinuierlichen Vibe über die Vorstellung von separaten Kapiteln stellt. Es gibt eine Ebene der Entspannung, des Akzeptierens der Urinstinkte der Band und einen konzentrierten Versuch, diese Instinkte zu maximieren und zu überarbeiten. Für eine Band, die für ihre kryptische Anziehungskraft bekannt ist, markiert "The Witness" das bisher großzügigste, reduzierteste und berührendste Werk von Suuns.

"The Witness" markiert eine gewitzte, unkonventionelle Linkskurve und zeigt Suuns in ihrer angenehmsten, offensten Form. Selbst aufgenommen und selbst produziert über den Großteil des Jahres 2020, ein Jahr voller Streit, Einsamkeit und Reflexion, zeigt "The Witness" die Band mit einer Lupe über ihren eigenen Standardzustand des Spielens und Auftretens. Es ist eine rasche Abkehr vom Vorgänger-Album "Felt" und erfreut sich daran, zufällige Ideen in ihren embryonalen Demo-Versionen zu ernten, als ob man ein glorreiches Feuerwerk in den Himmel entlässt. Mit dem Ausstieg von Max Henry als Vollzeitmitglied im Jahr 2018 und dem Wohnort-Wechsel von Ben Shemie, der jetzt einen Ozean entfernt in Paris lebt, manifestierte sich eine neue Herausforderung für das Trio, sich wieder zu finden, sowohl sozial als auch kreativ. Mehr als jede andere Suuns-Platte verwendet "The Witness" eine Jazz-Mentalität, die einen kontinuierlichen Vibe über die Vorstellung von separaten Kapiteln stellt. Es gibt eine Ebene der Entspannung, des Akzeptierens der Urinstinkte der Band und einen konzentrierten Versuch, diese Instinkte zu maximieren und zu überarbeiten. Für eine Band, die für ihre kryptische Anziehungskraft bekannt ist, markiert "The Witness" das bisher großzügigste, reduzierteste und berührendste Werk von Suuns.

THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA is back! The band that formed as an idea of friends from several well known rock/metal bands (SOILWORK, ARCH ENEMY, MEAN STREAK) back almost a decade ago and has been dropping jaws ever since. With 5 albums already under their belt, 2 nominations for the Swedish Grammies, countless live shows and praises from fans and media alike, TNFO have steadily upped their game when it comes to paying tribute to a decade that influences all sorts of people and even industries to this day - the 80s. With hits like ‘Domino’, ‘Lovers In The Rain’, ‘West Ruth Ave’, ‘Divinyls’ or ‘This Time’, the band manages to maintain a variety of vibes and emotions within every album. From hard rockers, poppy digressions to progressive epics, disco-esque songs and almost cheesy yet loveable ballads.

Enter 2020, TNFO had just released their recent record, ‘Aeromantic’, and kicked off their European tour in support of it, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Björn Strid, the AOR dictator helming this exceptional collective called NFO, recalls “We made it one week into the tour after some absolutely amazing shows and then it all went south and we had to go home. Just about everyone on the tour got sick when they came home, with varied conditions.”
The band didn’t step back and accept the situation but decided to do what they do best instead: “It was pretty clear after some months into the Covid madness, that it was here to stay and that we weren’t gonna be able to tour for quite some time. So we made the best out of it. The remedy was simply to hit the studio again as soon as everybody was well again. It ended up being an incredibly creative 1,5 years and so many amazing songs came out of it.”

That being said, the second part of the ‘Aeromantic’ saga really captures what this band is all about: being in motion and romanticizing traveling, sometimes even with a broken heart - accompanied by the good things in life. Namely with songs like ‘White Jeans’, yet another jaw dropping classic rock gem about hot young love, cramped with nostalgia, or ‘Change’, which encompasses all the vibes you know from your favorite decade: Urgency, emotion, warmth and excitement. But also groovy danceable songs like ‘Chardonnay Nights’, a groovy, dreamy, yet uplifting homage to parties and hot love, or ‘Burn For Me’, a true feel good anthem for the summer - driving people to dance in the streets, all worries aside, to a brighter future.

On the other hand there are tracks like the almost progressive ‘Amber Through A Window’. A little throwback (at least titular) to the NFO’s epic 2017 album ‘Amber Galactic’: “Amber is with us wherever we go and I think she’ll keep coming back. She’s our mascot of escapism. The song was very interesting to compose. It takes you on quite a journey with key changes and goes from minor to major when you least expect it and throws you between different set of emotions. At the same time it feels pretty direct and operates like a mini epos. Really happy with how it turned out“, cites Strid.

Besides all this, the band has also stepped up their game when it comes to music videos for their timeless anthems. “White Jeans” for instance features Swedish TV personality Fredrik Lexfors and is a sweet little homage to the LGBTQIA+ community. “Fredrik is a good friend of mine and has loads of experience in the musical/theatre world and is super creative. He created this character called ”Kantorn” (The Cantor) some years ago and became a hit on YouTube. He has a very twisted and unique way of singing and acting, which is very funny. He was a part of Sweden’s Got Talent TV Show and went really far and became a crowd favorite. Fredrik has a lot of friends in the LGBTQIA+ community and I also have quite a few. We saw it as a joyful tribute and we’ve only gotten really good response. It’s of course also humorous but has a very nice balance and a very positive message.”

The bold and jovial video for “Burn For Me” on the other hand maybe among the biggest and best productions, the NFO ever recorded for the depths of the internet: “I’ve had this idea to film a ”Dancing in the Streets” video, where curious people come out of the woodworks and join the party in the streets. It’s a very classic 80’s scenario and very common in videos back then. Sort of the video to IRENE CARA’s ”Fame”. You don’t see it very often these days. We felt that it was needed and after “Burn For Me” was done I immediately envisoned it being the perfect ”post corona dancing celebration in the streets-song”.”

Those two videos are by far not everything the band will have to offer visually, but we won’t tell any more just for now. To be continued…

With all that new greatness up their sleeves, NFO are ready to take the world by storm – again! Even though coming up with a setlist for their scheduled tour starting in September may prove to become problematic according to the AOR Dictator: “Making a setlist might end up being a nightmare haha… I would be up for doing only songs off »Aeromantic I« and »Aeromantic II« since that’s really where we’re at right now, but I think most of our the Midnight Flyers would like to hear some old stuff, too. Maybe we could get away with it as long as we play “West Ruth Ave” as the ending song and create the good old conga train?”

Over the past 16 years, Rebelution has had nearly everything a band could
ask for: chart-topping albums, hundreds of millions of streams, a GRAMMY
nomination, even their own festival in Jamaica.The only thing they haven’t
had, it seems, is time.
“When COVID hit, we found ourselves in uncharted territory,” says frontman
Eric Rachmany. “Suddenly we were just sitting still, which was a completely
new experience for us.”
Difficult as it was to leave the road behind, pressing pause proved to be a blessing in disguise for a band that has emerged from lockdown with their most
captivating, eclectic record to date: ‘In The Moment’. Recorded remotely in the
midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the collection is deliberate and wide-ranging, infusing the quartet’s soulful, exhilarating brand of modern reggae with
addictive pop hooks, alt-rock grit, and hip-hop grooves.
The performances here are bold and self-assured, and the production is equally ambitious, drawing on swirling reverb and trippy delay to create an immersive sonic universe that’s both futuristic and vintage all at once. Strip away the
intoxicating atmospherics, though, and what remains is a work of profound
reflection, a probing, revelatory meditation that balances joy and introspection
in equal measure as it contemplates the meaning of time and invites us to sit
back, slow down, and live ‘In The Moment’.
Includes guest appearances by Busy Signal, Kabaka Pyramid, Durand Jones, and
Keznamdi.
coverage out in reggaeville worldareggae niceup Print: Rock at
Night Magazine
Radio plays for “Old School Feeling” on BBC Radio 2 David Rodigan, The Random Reggae Show Swindon 105.5 Swindown FM and Vibes FM Reggae My
Limits

In 2006 ARPANET returned with new LP "Inertial Frame".

Linked with both Drexcyia and Dopplereffekt camps, no one really knows for sure who ARPANET is.
Following on from their mighty "Wireless Internet" on Record Makers set a couple of years back and 2d "Quantum Transposition" on Rephlex in 2005, this album for Record makers develops their conceptual electronic fragmentation into yet another evocative and mysterious strand of sub-marine electro.

Though Inertial Frame serves the usual amount of killer loops, mysterious percussive treads and midnight melodies, Arpanet returns here for our greatest joy with BEATS and - please note the issue held in such an assessment- a whole bunch of fully SUNG tracks.

An instantly recognizable tapestry of Motor City soundscaping updated from the most seminal of archives, Inertial Frame TALKS the listener into derivative reflections on quantic physics and pays tribute to the works of 20th century great scientists.

MOTOR CITY addicts: this is your new holy grail..

Emerging from the Toronto warehouse scene, Tush is a rising electronic music act powered by Kamilah Apong and Jamie Kidd. Taking inspiration from electro funk, early disco, post-punk and '90s house; their debut album 'Fantast' embodies the rawness, vulnerability, and intimacy of the dancefloor.

'Fantast' kicks off with the slow burning 'Wavy Baby', an invitation to get close, get intimate and submit to the groove: "Vulnerability is the key to us getting to that next step of intimacy". Up next is lead single 'Chrysalis', a high octane ride through a technicolour fantasy world of heady synths and driving rhythms that propel Kamilah's voice into an erotic stratosphere.

'Don't Be Afraid' is about having the courage to love defiantly, urgently, and with intention. Driven by Jamie's infectious bass lines and FX blasts, it smoothly transforms into an uplifting gospel-infused track.

Two high points of the album, 'Jessica F***' and 'Marathons', highlight Tush doing what they do best. These tracks are the sound of the warehouse scene that birthed the project in the first place and the late night jam sessions that were full of possibility pre-pandemic. Here, Tush really stretch their improvisational muscles - the interplay of raw soulful vocals, hypnotic basslines, synth pads, and heavy disco rhythms is at the core of what makes them so invigorating.

'Fantast' closes with the uplifting sunrise energy of 'My Joy', the light at the end of the tunnel. "This song is enchanted by the backing vocals of my friends and chosen family, who are my cornerstones to working through the wonderful mess that I am". Kamilah adds "The track gives me this feeling that - no matter how hard the world tries to beat it out of me - I can and I have had to work hard to cultivate my own happiness in my own sacred spaces - one of those being Tush. Ultimately, this is all I really need".

Mannequin Records is elated to present for the first time on vinyl the reissue of Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici’s first video soundtrack, originally released in 1984 as an audiotape in less than one hundred copies. Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici (literally Mundane Mechanical Youth) or GMM was one of the most unclassifiable audiovisual experiences to emerge from Italy in the 1980s. Maurizio Dami a.k.a. Alexander Robotnick, a pivotal member of GMM, was responsible for the group’s music output.

Founded in 1984 by Antonio Glessi and Andrea Zingoni in Florence, GMM was an art collective whose production represents the quintessential expression of postmodern transmedia hybridity. GMM pioneered the genre of computer comics, created video installations, developed “multiple identity” performances, and was involved in fashion, media, and music productions, and later on produced cyberdelic environments, artificial reality projects, and proto-memes.

Alexander Robotnick’s first contribution to GMM was this soundtrack for the group’s eponymous first video, the animated version of a computer comics they coincidentally published on legendary Frigidaire magazine. Restored by Dami and reissued here for the first time by Mannequin Records, the composition was also split into two “suites” and released as an audiotape distributed by Materiali Sonori, also responsible for other releases by both Robotnick and GMM.

Determining in this work is Dami’s adoption of the alphaSyntauri, also known as the first affordable digital synth (priced less than $2000 when it was released in 1980), which was playable through its own software, “alphaPlus,” on the Apple II computer. The same computer was used by Glessi to “draw” the 3-bit strips scripted by Zingoni recounting the joyrides of the Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, three merciless cyborgs in black suit and sunglasses dividing their time between nightclubs, rapes and murders.

As Robotnick, Dami developed an innovative formula of Italo disco that was attractive to the dance floor yet at the same time highlighted the expressive properties of the instruments he used, notably Roland drum machines and Korg synthesizers. For the soundtrack of GMM’s videos and installations, he left aside the danceable synth rhythmics in favor of ambient sounds that produced rarefied atmospheres, psychological tensions, and enhanced states of consciousness.

Dami’s scores for GMM’s artworks could be associated with Italian avant-garde music of the 1970s and 1980s, ranging from composers who adopted electronics flirting with pop and songwriting to minimalist musicians exploring seriality and drones, including Franco Battiato, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Francesco Messina, and Riccardo Sinigaglia. Analogies could also be traced with the playful and humanizing approach to personal computers that characterizes the music output of Marcello Giombini and Doris Norton.

The futuristic escapism of minimal synth and ambient music’s psychological nature is infiltrated by drifting harmonics typical of new age, as if in search of a spiritual dimension of technology. Characteristic of the postmodern ethos of GMM Suite, in line with the humanizing approach to technology that is at the base of GMM’s computer comics, is the melancholic take at speculative dystopias in which human beings would find themselves increasingly trapped into identity crises: a true cyborg’s melodrama.

Let’s get back to the program. Picking up from where things were left off in July 2020…

Whilst most electronic producers of the dance-floor persuasion dabbled with conducting micro-symphonies for their micro-herbs, locked inside their micro-mansions, Dreems has dusted off his dance-floor accreditations and got back to work creating some serious indoor waves for Le Temps Perdu.

The Blue Water EP has all the stuff that encapsulates the label - raw, fun, powerful and free, yet deep, loving, warm and friendly. The music carries on from the previous Shark Water and Blue Hole EPs, calling all sea monsters with Die Orangen Remix of Shark Water, later emerging in calm waters for mermaid pleasing Iñigo Vontier Remix of The Dolphin Communion, and finally swimming into the salty, acidic tones of the Blue Hole (Break Mix).

Dear water-lily enthusiast, you need fear not, there is a hearty nod to the plant-life in Something Else for Spring that grows and sprouts new life with each turning phrase and finally blossoms with a sprinkle of joy. Label head-gardener V gives it the extra push put on the dance floor with his tougher take.

You grab a copy of the vinyl at some bricks and mortar stores if you are fond of wearing your scuba suit whilst browsing the shelves, otherwise head to the regular online outlets to get this small slice of history. It contains, we feel, the best of the past 2 EPs.

New York City 4-piece deliver a modern blues rock masterclass on their feisty debut album.

“A timeless classic rock sound that revels in lean riffs and raw emotion.” – Afropunk

In an age where artistic merit is awarded to those who shout the loudest, Dakota Jones pride themselves on an unwavering ability to leave a lasting impression. Spearheaded by Tristan Carter-Jones fierce and unashamedly uncensored songwriting, the band’s fast-growing reputation as formidable live act has stamped Dakota Jones with the hell-hath-no-fury power of Chaka Khan, the wild spontaneity of Janis Joplin, and the honey-dripping sensuality of Marvin Gaye. Their debut album’s message of proud black heritage and triumphant queerness manifests itself in Carter-Jones’ ability to challenge norms of adulthood and femininity as she takes a deep dive into some of life’s most visceral emotions.

Tristan Carter-Jones: “I’m a black, queer woman expressing myself through love and music. Some folks still find that to be a transgressive act in and of itself. I work to fight that idea. I write a lot about my
Continued over…
sexuality and the ways in which I express it. Songs about sex and love bounce back and forth between songs about heartache, hangovers and self-medication, and the pleasure and pain of truly finding yourself. I don’t think we get to hear these things from a woman’s mouth as often as we should.”

Serving as an instant tone setter, the album opens with the line "Stretch marks from growing pains" with Carter-Jones lamenting the woes of adjusting to adulthood on lead single ‘Did It To Myself’ - her husky and commanding vocal instantly asserting its place in the spotlight. The atmosphere soon turns steamy on the flirtatious title track ‘Blacklight,’ whilst fantasising over a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde love affair the funk-laden ‘We Playin Bad Games’ packs a punch with its tale of free spirits entwined in a haze of late-night revelry.

Elsewhere, stories of caustic heartache twist the knife into wounded blues guitar riffs on ‘Like That’ and ‘Black Magic (That Power)’, in which Carter-Jones’s stoical voice never once faulters as she mourns the memories of a previous flame. Personal prayer ‘Lord Please’ recites empowered words of reassurance, and solidarity in the face of injustice erupts into a rallying cry for change on the classic sounding ‘Noise’ – written as a reaction to the 2016 US election. “I woke up after the election feeling pure panic and fear in my body,” remembers Tristan. “I wanted people in a place of privilege to stand up for what I was feeling, stand up for injustice, stand up for all of the things we need to change as a country. I wanted their rage, and I wanted their noise.”

Finally, the band’s tender tropes of togetherness eventually boil into gritty, guitar-slung balladry on hidden bonus track, ‘California,’ where, knees buckling under the weight of past trials and tribulations, Carter-Jones sets out on one final journey of self-discovery, hastily pulling out from reality and leaving only a dust cloud in her wake.

Production comes courtesy of the Grammy-winning John Wooler, ex Virgin Records A+R and founder of the Blues label Pointblank who has worked with everyone from John Lee Hooker and John Hammond to Isaac Hayes and Van Morrison. The album also features a wealth of hugely talented and accomplished musicians, including backing vocalist Kudisan Kai, former backing vocalist for the likes of Elton John, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Beck, Sting, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott. Also present; Grammy winning keyboardist Jon Gilutin, who has spent years working with some of the industry’s most respected and iconic artists including Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Jackson Browne, Celine Dion, Bonnie Rait and Carole King. You’ll also hear the talents of acclaimed guitarist Michael Toles. Most well-known for being a part of the Stax Records group The Bar Kays, and for his contributions on famous records by Issac Hayes, Al Green, BB King, Johnny Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Albert King to name just a few.

Dakota Jones are a rising funk, soul and blues rock band from Brooklyn, New York City. Comprising of Tristan Carter-Jones (vocals), Scott Kramp (bass) Steve Ross (drums), and acclaimed musician Randy Jacobs (guitar) - former member of Was(Not Was) who has recorded for Seal, Bonnie Raitt, Tears for Fears, Elton John and many others. Though Carter-Jones and Ross first met in 1999 whilst at primary school, the band formed years later following a series of home jam sessions in 2016. The band’s collective alias originates from Carter-Jones’s middle name, ‘Dakota’. Dakota Jones have since released a string of acclaimed singles and EPs as well as received international attention for their track, ‘Have Mercy’ after it featured on Netflix’s 2019 film, Always Be My Maybe starring Ali Wong and Randall Park – and now after years of hard work and determination, the band are finally set to reveal their long awaited debut album. “We’d been regularly releasing EPs, waiting for our chance to come, and wondering what that would look like,” says Carter-Jones. “We didn’t realise until we started making this record that we needed to stop waiting for some break to come along, and just do it ourselves, independently.”

“Black Light really dives into a place of funk soul and everything that comes with it. There’s joy and dancing, sleek guitar licks and funky bass slaps. There’s pain and longing, and there’s the feeling of relief when you come out of that place and find your joy and purpose again. Black Light is my story.”

This is music by four strong individual players with room for eruptive solo-parts, but always held together by intense communication and beautiful interwoven melodies. The quartet's second album A History of Nothing (Trost records/TR170) got a huge number of excited reviews: A superb quartet outing. The music is all improvised, but it's firmly rooted in jazz, with superb interaction between all of the players, both on ripping, high-velocity blowouts and more delicate forays. (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader) Freedom is clearly a responsibility as well as a joy, and it's emphasized here by the group's shared commitment: each musician is constantly working in two directions, stretching further and creating cohesion. The music is improvised with such an ear to complementary detail that it's literally being collectively composed. (Stuart Broomer, Free Jazz Collective) Together, this quartet is dynamite. It's exciting to hear a European musician along with three Americans, and notice that they communicate so well. (Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts) Recorded by Klaus Hedegaard Nielsen at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, March 2nd, 2017 Mixed by Joaquim Monte and Rodrigo Amado, CD Master by Simon Wadsworth / LP Master by Martin Siewert

This is music by four strong individual players with room for eruptive solo-parts, but always held together by intense communication and beautiful interwoven melodies. The quartet's second album A History of Nothing (Trost records/TR170) got a huge number of excited reviews: A superb quartet outing. The music is all improvised, but it's firmly rooted in jazz, with superb interaction between all of the players, both on ripping, high-velocity blowouts and more delicate forays. (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader) Freedom is clearly a responsibility as well as a joy, and it's emphasized here by the group's shared commitment: each musician is constantly working in two directions, stretching further and creating cohesion. The music is improvised with such an ear to complementary detail that it's literally being collectively composed. (Stuart Broomer, Free Jazz Collective) Together, this quartet is dynamite. It's exciting to hear a European musician along with three Americans, and notice that they communicate so well. (Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts) Recorded by Klaus Hedegaard Nielsen at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, March 2nd, 2017 Mixed by Joaquim Monte and Rodrigo Amado, CD Master by Simon Wadsworth / LP Master by Martin Siewert

This very one Lost Boy from Brazil washed ashore the Lowlands' 'Finis Terrae', a produce of first-generation 'Shock Doctrine' and a real 'carioca' borne on the New World's 'Bossa Nova' and 'Esplendor Geometrico' of old 'Ancien Regime' para-military junta hat delivers quite some maximally dark and manic minimal wave of late, at times even slightly reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees and of Joy Division, and all sung through old and charming, slightly dissonant 'Samba' melody lines vaguely hailing from certain sinister up-hill 'Cicade de Deus' margins of a distinctly distant 'Vagamundo' Purgatory past in either the Portuguese, the English or the Spanish tongues, rendering the paranoia 'facsimile in Limbo' of the coming Futurist Global Orderly State, this deep-state 'Novo Estado Novo' within the current 'Nova Bossa Nova', this 'Guerra Nova Prometheida por uma Terra Nova Prometida', the World's Electronic New Wave 'Fado' of Digital Panopticon and similar forms of purely A.I.-bot-generated (nothing personal!) Totalitarian Torture 'Technique du coup d'Etat' in genuine random numbers as already foreseen and shown to all some long time before in the Magic Green on that 'Funky Dollar Bill', 'Novus Ordo Seclorum'... Mastered by Guy Tavares

Double Ultra Clear LP, Gatefold Jacket, Insert, Printed Inner Sleeves
A graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Ashe has been lauded by the likes of The FADER who raved about her ‘effortless voice’; People called her music, ‘deeply emotional yet so fun,’ Consequence of Sound
described her songs as, ‘accessible yet emotional’ and NME declared she’s ‘a
formidable new force in the pop world,’ among other accolades. Ashe’s touring resume includes performances at Coachella with Big Gigantic, and opening
slots for The Chainsmokers, LAUV, Louis The Child, Lewis Capaldi and more.
On TikTok Ashe gained 1 million followers, hitting over 2.5 billion video views
and 2.5 million videos created. On Instagram she has over 950K followers and
growing, approaching 520K followers on Twitter, and over 7.3 million monthly
listeners on Spotify. Her double EP Moral of the Story Chapters 1 & 2 is out now.
In 2020, Ashe also released the single ‘Save Myself,’ which garnered over a
million streams a week last summer, while the official music video saw #SaveMyselfMV trend on Twitter worldwide after its debut, including the U.S. at #5.
She recently contributed an original song, ‘The Same,’ to the new film and
soundtrack, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, her second placement in the
wildly popular Netflix franchise.
Ashe made her stunning late-night TV debut alongside Niall Horan on The Late
Late Show with James Corden, taped at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall and
her daytime debut on Ellen at the top of 2021. ‘Till Forever Falls Apart’ is the
first hint of more exciting new music which Ashe and FINNEAS recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Ashe’s debut album Ashlyn includes 14 songs
which she describes as ‘...deeply reflective and honest, full of stories of my
experiences with fear and pain and turning those hard things into joy and independence.
I’m an experiential writer and there was no way I was going to make an album
that didn’t address my personal journey, from my brother’s death this last year
to my own experiences with emotional abuse. I think you have to be vulnerable
to create something really great and I believe I did that. Writing this album was
also an opportunity to show that I’m not just a songwriter and a singer but a
producer and a musician with a very clear vision for my art.
Joni Mitchell refers to herself like a bee, gathering stories like pollen and trying
to make honey from it, ‘whether or not the flavor suits people is something
beyond my control.’ I really tried to take that approach to writing this album,
making something I loved above everything else. I couldn’t be more proud of
Ashlyn and I hope many people happen to love it too.”

Canadian collective The Hello Darlins, dubbed “the Broken Social Scene of
Americana”, release their first full-length LP Go By Feel on June 11, 2021.
With over 500,000 combined Spotify streams for their initial three singles, it’s
safe to say there’s a lot of anticipation for their debut album. The buzz began
building almost immediately after the Calgary, Alberta-based Americana collective debuted on the scene in early 2020, with American Songwriter calling the
group “the product of a talented pool of session musicians craving more,” while
Americana UK stated, “It’s great to see a band put together by the talented
folks who would usually be ‘behind the scenes.’”
So, who exactly are The Hello Darlins? The seeds of the band took root in 2016
when vocalist/producer Candace Lacina crossed paths again with keyboardist/
producer Mike Little after first meeting at a recording studio years earlier. Once
reconnected, they soon found themselves making music together in between
their work with other artists, an impressive list that ranges from Shania Twain
to Charlie Major, The Road Hammers to George Canyon as well as the late B.B.
King.
In short order, the couple began inviting others within their circle to participate, including Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies), Clay- ton Bellamy (The
Road Hammers), Matt Andersen, Dave and Joey Landreth (aka The Bros. Landreth), Russell Broom (Jann Arden), and ace fiddler Shane Guse.
On Go By Feel, this incredible collection of talent has forged a hybrid of country,
gospel and blues like no other, from the heart-wrenching ballads “Aberdeen”
and “Prayer For A Sparrow” to the classic country-rocker “Mountain Time” and
the album’s soulful title track.
Making music influenced by times of joy and sorrow is natural for Candace and
Mike, as both come from families with long musical traditions within Canada.
It all adds up to The Hello Darlins preferring to add “North” to the Americana
genre, a more than symbolic gesture that’s in line with a musical vision that will
continue to evolve as soon as the band gets a chance to play live with a lineup that could potentially consist of anywhere between five to nine players on
stage.
Until then, audiences will now be able to fully savour the tunes, musicianship
and production of Go By Feel, proof positive that teamwork ultimately leads to
exceptional results.

Having taken a break from music for a few years, South London’s ME REX began life in 2018 in the home of songwriter Myles McCabe experimenting with shouty, electronic bedroom pop. Armed with a slew of “surging gargantuan hooks” and themes of friendship, forgiveness, joy and dinosaurs, McCabe was quickly joined by longtime friends Kathryn Woods (guitar/vocals), Phoebe Cross (drums/vocals) and Rich Mandell (bass/keys/vocals). Now, graduated from producing songs at home to recording at Resident Studios in North London with Mandell behind the mixing desk: ME REX spent the latter half of 2020 bashing down the doors to the indie world with double EP ‘Triceratops/Stegosuarus’. Finding their penchant for constructing delicate threads of vocal layering to convey feelings of calm while building on luscious swathes of reverberated guitar and keys on single ‘Rites’, the band are not afraid to explore different musical concepts: shaping material that strays from traditional album and single structures that results in a sound that could easily find a home on the big screen as they do behind closed doors. Described as “making for both a potent and cathartic listen all round” by DIY magazine — as well as seeing praise from Stereogum, BBC 6Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio, For The Rabbits and Circuit Sweet — ME REX are back with a new and ambitious project ‘Megabear’, an album made up of 52 tracks that has no beginning or end but exists as a cyclical body of work.

Limited Edition Polka Dot Vinyl - Includes Bonus 7" The Pipettes reissue their beloved debut album "We Are The Pipettes" on limited edition polka dot vinyl to mark the album's 15 year anniversary. Back on vinyl for the first time since its original release, the record sounds as fresh, funny and filthy as it did on it's release. Whether it's the string-drenched, four to the floor, call to the dance-floor clarion call of Pull Shapes or the lonesome melancholy of A Winter's Sky, it's a record full of the joys and the pains of youth.

Music From Memory are excited to introduce another new group for 2021, this time presenting the self-titled debut album from Loveshadow.

Currently based in San Francisco, the duo of Anya and Izaak initially met whilst working in an Oakland cafe in 2016. The two Californians quickly bonded over a track by the ’80s disco band Aurra which was playing over the radio and almost immediately their separate journeys in music became interwoven. They soon began to write music and creating their own work would become a way for the pair to get closer to the sound they were searching for, as well as enabling them to discover the healing power of making and listening to music.

‘Loveshadow’ was recorded predominantly in the Bay Area between 2017-2020 as well as whilst traveling to NYC, Chicago and around Portland. Having released previously as the outfit ‘S Transporter’ alongside Detroit friend Ryan Spencer, Loveshadow is formed of Anya as singer and song writer alongside Izaak on synthesizers, bass and percussion. This eight track album is the duo’s first release; exploring emotive Pop and DIY Funk leanings it stands as a joyful homage to the music they bond over, as well as an ode to their own love and friendship.

Albums often try to evoke a time and place, few manage to do that with such startling effect as the unlikely collaboration, Leave the Bones, between the multi-generational Haitian band Lakou Mizik, and Grammy-winning electronic music artist Joseph Ray. “Haiti'' is a word that conjures up a lot of images, it is a country judged by many, most of whom have never set foot on its shores. But its history is rich, its people proud and defiant, and nowhere is that more evident than in its music. Culture is what defines the country - its drums and Vaksins (traditional horns) are symbols of freedom and pride, liberty and struggle, and represent the escapist joy of dancing. Leave the Bones paints a musical portrait, a fresh glimpse of an oft misrepresented country, that through Vodou chants, chest-pounding Rara dance tunes and contemporary protest songs, conveys the listener to Haiti’s spiritual heart, a place that remains a compelling mystery for foreigners and a source of pride for every Haitian.

’Angelo lost his shit over it. Aaliyah’s 3rd favourite track of all time is on it. David Bowie rocked up with it to a TV interview, declaring it “the most exciting sound of contemporary soul music”.

In 1996, Lewis Taylor released his self-titled masterpiece. A true modern classic, it’s an album that was years ahead of its time. Forget 25 years ago, it could easily have been made in 2021. An effortless blend of neo-soul, sophisticated pop, smart grooves and laid-back white funk, it enjoyed rapturous reviews from critics and music legends alike. But the album never managed to make an impact and given what was likely a token vinyl release at the time, the original records have long since been near-impossible to find. Lewis Taylor’s Lewis Taylor remains a holy relic for some and criminally unknown to most.

Lewis Taylor’s impeccable influences created a dazzling sonic palette: the LP as a whole suggests the visionary brilliance of Prince; the vocal stylings evoke the yearning power of Marvin Gaye; the effortless guitar playing shares the virtuosity of Jimi Hendrix; the haunting tones conjure Tricky; the innovative production and engineering invite comparisons to studio mavericks like Todd Rundgren and Brian Eno; the multi-layered, complex harmonies flash on Pet Sounds-era Brian Wilson; the dark, drama is reminiscent of both Scott Walker and Stevie Wonder; the complex arrangements create textures and moods with the feel of Shuggie Otis on Inspiration Information; the bold experimentation is akin to progressive artists like Faust and Tangerine Dream; the atmosphere is in conversation with Jeff Buckley’s Grace… and we could go on. That might all sound like marketing hyperbole, but not as far as Be With is concerned. It is a genuine wonder how an album this good could’ve passed so many people by.

But despite all the reference points, the similarities are really only skin-deep because the album sounds truly original. It occupies its own distinct, strange universe that feels dark and brooding one moment, bright and joyous the next. Ultimately, Taylor sounds like Taylor.

Although you wouldn’t know it from the credits, the album wasn’t the work of Lewis alone. Sabina Smyth gets an executive producer credit on the original sleeve, but in fact she worked with Lewis on the production and arrangements, did a lot of the backing vocals and she co-wrote Track, Song, Lucky and Damn with Lewis.

Lewis clarified all this in a Soul Jones interview with Dan Dodds in 2016. He explains how not giving Sabina the credit she was due at the time was an unfortunate consequence of where his head was at and he’s now trying to set the record straight.

Together they created an exquisite and sensually-charged record, with a freshness to the writing that makes the songs catchy, melodic-yet-deep and sometimes even funky. The music is predominantly guitar-led and a mixture of organs and synths, live drum loops and electronic percussion make for a sort of modern soul backing orchestra.

On the surface the album is gorgeously laidback, but beneath the lush, sometimes slick, production there’s a murkiness in the seriously gritty funk/hip-hop instrumentation. Lewis Taylor can be a claustrophobic listen. Even its one-word, often seemingly throw-away track titles add to the sense of unease. In its most positive moments, there’s still a sense that things aren’t quite right. The magic comes from this compelling tension.

The languid, strutting “Lucky” is a sensational opening statement. Sinuous electric guitar winds around the shaking percussion with a killer bass line rattling your bones, and Lewis’s voice is sublime. Its six-and-a-half unhurried minutes manage to distill the work of Marvin, Al Green and Bobby Womack because yes, it’s *that* good. Up next is the tough, dusty drum and jazzy, unsettling psych-guitar workout of “Bittersweet”. Aaliyah described it the “perfect song”, which says it all. By turns loping and soaring, tightly coiled and blasting free, 25 years on its discordant, swaggering majesty still sounds like future R&B.

The swinging, blue-eyed funk of “Whoever” oozes sophisticated sunshine soul for hazy days before “Track” sweeps in. The music tries to lift us up, beyond the reach of the vocals trying to drag us back down as Taylor sings “my mood is black as the darkest cloud”. The spare, dubby electro-soul of “Song” closes out the first half of the album with barely contained dread as it creeps towards the lush, synth-heavy coda.

The smouldering “Betterlove” eases us into the second half, coming on like a languorous response to the call of “Brown Sugar”, before sliding into the shuffling, softly-rocking “How”. Somehow the remarkable “Right” manages to both warm things up and smooth things out even more. Taut yet luxurious, it’s definitely not wrong.

“Damn” was to have been the album’s title track and you might also be able to hear its influence on D’Angelo’s Voodoo, maybe most obviously in the chaotic closing moments of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”. Building to a screeching wall of noise that suddenly cuts dead, “Damn” sounds like the natural end to the album, with the celestial a cappella “Spirit” serving as a heavenly reprise.

When it came to the sleeve, art director Cally Callomon heard Taylor’s music as “sideways off-camera glances at a plethora of influences he had” and wanted to interpret that visually: “I went off into night-time London to see if I could find his song titles in off-beam low-fidelity photographs. I even found a shop called Lewis Taylor”. With a slide for each of the album’s ten tracks, nine of them are on the inner sleeve and the slide for “Damn” makes the front cover. It should’ve been the album’s title, but concerns over distribution in the US scuppered this.

One of UK soul’s most fascinating artists, Andrew Lewis Taylor is an enigmatic figure and a hugely under-appreciated talent. A prodigious multi-instrumentalist who got his start touring with heavy blues/psych outfit the Edgar Broughton Band, he released two albums of psychedelic-rock as Sheriff Jack before Island signed him on the strength of a demo alone. But Taylor was destined to be one of those artists unable (or unwilling) to be pigeonholed and despite the best efforts of Island’s publicity department the music never sold in the quantities it needed to or deserved to. Island eventually let him go in the early 2000s and in June 2006, Lewis Taylor retired from music.

Typical for the mid-90s, this CD-length album was squeezed onto a single LP for its original vinyl release. Simon Francis’s fresh vinyl mastering now spreads out the ten tracks over a double LP so nothing is compromised. And as usual, the records have been cut by Pete Norman and pressed at Record Industry. The original artwork has been restored at Be With HQ and subtly re-worked to work as a double.

This sprawling psychedelic soul opus really is a forgotten should-be-classic. We know that there are those of you who know, and as for the rest of you, we’re a bit jealous that you’re getting to hear Lewis Taylor for the first time.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday, in which Andra makes her feature-acting debut staring as Billie Holiday, will shed light on the innovative vocalist's embattled years as a target of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics--the unit sought to imprison Holiday on drug charges, a retaliatory action given her dedication to singing highly politicized songs like "Strange Fruit" and her efforts to integrate her audiences. In the upcoming film, directed by Lee Daniels and written by Suzan-Lori Parks, Andra stars alongside Moonlight lead, Trevante Rhodes.

Andra's iteration of the jazz-infused recording adheres to the cool, sultry stylings of Holiday's original. By stepping into her predecessor's persona, Andra brings the past to the present, adopting a vocal approach and musical sensibility that's nothing short of a classic.

The legendary Billie Holiday, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, spent much of her career being adored by fans across the globe. Beginning in the 1940's in New York City, the federal government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to escalate and racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, "Strange Fruit."

Led by Oscar® nominated director Lee Daniels and introducing Grammy® nominated singer-songwriter Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday unapologetically presents the icon's complicated, irrepressible life. Screenplay writer Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, pens this intimate tale of a fierce trailblazer whose defiance through music helped usher in the civil rights movement. NAACP Image Award® Nominee Trevante Rhodes and Emmy® Nominee Natasha Lyonne co-star along with Garrett Hedlund, Miss Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, Tyler James Williams, Tone Bell, and Erik LaRay Harvey.

Paper Birch is a collaborative experimental noise rock duo formed by Fergus Lawrie (Urusei Yatsura) and Dee Sada (NEUMES / An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump) in May 2020. United by mutual feelings of despair, fragility and hope, they passed ideas and sounds between London and Glasgow whilst the UK was in lockdown. The resulting 9-track debut LP morninghairwater is set to be released on vinyl, CD and digital. A melting pot of genres, morninghairwater twists and turns through moments of 60’s inspired
indie-pop, fuzzed out angular shoegaze and glitchy electronic soundscapes with astonishing ease. This album draws not only on the influence of both Lawrie and Sada’s individual back catalogues but which at times echoes with everything from Heavenly to Joy Division. The album also marks the beginnings of a collaborative relationship with renowned visual artist, Thomas James who has created thrilling films for Ghostpoet, Paloma Faith and most recently, The English National Ballet. Whilst morninghairwater may be a product of the universally challenging time in which it was recorded, the duo has already started work on their second album and Paper Birch looks set to be an enduring fixture of the UK experimental scene. Press and radio coverage for Paper Birch “an intoxicating squall of noise pop” - God Is In The TV “Sada’s signature softly cooed atmospheric translucent vocals prove a congruous fit with Lawrie’s
deeper, more grunge-y despondency; sounding at times like Psycho Candy-era Jesus And Mary Chain in harmonious matrimony with Mazzy Star, or, the Pop Group hooks up with MBV” - Monolith Cocktail “mixing in disparate elements from classic 60s pop to glitchy electronica to transportative effect” – Joyzine “with a strong baseline and a sea of roaring guitar, a bit like The Pastels vs My Bloody Valentine (nothing wrong with that!)” - Is This Music “The texture is suggestive, the atmosphere hypnotic and the climate oppressive” - Sun Burns Out “A true jewel of modern and underground psychedelic pop” - Acute Pop

Limited Coke Bottle Green vinyl, 250 copies only for the UK. Any future pressing will be on black vinyl. Massage feature Alex Naidus from Pains At Being Pure At Heart. Recorded by Lewis Pesacov (Fool’s Gold, Foreign Born, Peel’d). Massage was supposed to be low-stakes, no big deal "anti-ambition," as Andrew Romano, guitarist and vocalist, put it. The L.A.based jangle-pop group's first album, 2018's Oh Boy, was a sweet and simple weekend warrior's affair, or more specifically, an every-other-Monday one, as the band members gathered to bash out songs that offered messy but heartfelt tribute to their chosen heroes: The Feelies, the Go-Betweens, Twerps, Flying Nun. For Romano, not taking things too seriously is a dead-serious affair: “Nothing kills the kind of music we want to make faster than the sense that a band is trying too hard,” he says. The kind of music Massage makes sunny, bittersweet, tender is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little "There She Goes" by the La's, some "If You Need Someone" by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love," a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you're almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles. Still, on their sophomore effort, Still Life, they manage to take a quantum leap forward in songwriting, production, and depth, all somehow without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. Still Life resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-'80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit. When Andrew Romano and Alex Naidus first met in 2007, Naidus had just joined a band with his friends Kip Berman and Peggy Wang that was about to stumble into many of them. When Naidus finally left Pains for L.A. in 2013, two hit albums and a few world tours later, he started playing with Romano to recapture the no-stakes, suburban-garage joy of making music for its own sake. It was "friendship incarnate," Naidus remembers. The other members came from within the friend circle Gabrielle Ferrer (keyboard/vocals) is Romano's sister-in-law, Michael Felix (drums) is one of Naidus’ best friends, and David Rager (bass) is a childhood friend of Felix’s. When Felix moved to Mexico City in early 2020, Naidus’ wife, Natalie de Almeida, stepped in. The result is the finest batch of songs they've ever produced. From Naidus' velvet-lined JAMC tribute "Half A Feeling" to Ferrer's Let It Be-era Replacements-tinged lament "The Double" to Romano's "In Gray & Blue," these are gold-standard indie-pop gems from emerging masters of the form. Still Life glows with the sincerity and unfakeable warmth of the era they so lovingly channel. Like the best Gin Blossoms chorus you still remember, the songs on Still Life stir big, pure emotions, but beneath them, uneasy truths about adulthood linger, just below the surface. Maybe the exact mix of ringing guitars and two-part harmonies can chase those feelings away, or redeem them, for at least a minute or three. Massage won't stop trying.

Susanna is now releasing a live album of covers with a unique history. Recorded in Oslo and Asker (Norway) in 2019 and 2020
right before the pandemic hit, Live by Susanna and David Wallumrød is a collaboration by the Norwegian and her cousin David, also a prolific musician, whose seeds were unknowingly sown over 20 years ago.“We played a lot together in our childhood and youth, being cousins, growing up in the same small town Kongsberg,” says Susanna. After being highly active musicians for many years, they decided to do a concert together in 2017, at a tiny cocktail-bar concert series in Oslo. It was so much fun they decided to do some more shows. They did, and out of this came Live. The songs on Live are the same covers Susanna and David played together 20 years ago, with a few new additions. They are instantly recognisable classics by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and Tom
Waits, played in the way Susanna and David know best - voice and keys. Pure, simple, and stunning. David Wallumrød is one of Norway’s most used piano/keyboard-players, he has participated on over 150 albums and been a regular member in the bands of artists like Knut Reiersrud, Odd Nordstoga, Jonas Alaska, Band of Gold and Torun Eriksen. He has his own band called Spirit in the Dark. Susanna is the woman behind Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, a creator of bold, original and enrapturing music, capable of
building worlds to lose yourself in and collaborator with artists such as Jenny Hval and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Alongside this Susanna has also long been an interpreter of other people’s works, from AC/DC to Dolly Parton, Joy Division to Henry Purcell. Susanna has an ability to transform these works into music that sits comfortably next to her own work while never losing what made the original - and the original composer of the song - so special.

The Room will be Ricky Reed’s first artist album since becoming a house-hold-name producer, and launching his own label with Nice Life Recording Company. The project features Leon Bridges, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Dirty Projectors, Terrace Martin, Duendita, Ayoni, Lido Pimienta, St. Panther & John-Robert and more. The Room is a title that came to him in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the galvanizing of the Black Lives Matter movement across America and the world. He wanted to create a communal place where it’s as necessary to cry as it is to rejuvenate; where it’s as vital to be angry as it is to find joy. The music is an invitation to share experiences, commiserate, rejuvenate, and offer hope. It is upbeat in places, meditative always, and has real soul to it. Ultimately, Reed feels fundamentally changed by quarantine, particularly with his process of creating. All the songs were written via text and voice memos. The Room feels like an offering to the world at a time when Reed was back in the process again. Back at a new start. “When this comes out, whether it is well or not, the only thing that matters is that I made it.”

The Debut Album From The Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost - Mark Morriss
( The Bluetones ) Billy Reeves ( theaudience ) Crayola Lectern ( Lost
Horizons / Departure Lounge ) Mark Peters ( Engineers ) Co-produced by
Richard Archer of Hard-Fi Feat. Simon Raymonde ( The Cocteau Twins ) &
Thomas Anderson ( Gazpacho )
In 2001 Billy Reeves, fresh from introducing the world to Sophie Ellis-Bextor
(via their band theaudience) was smashed to bits by joyriders whilst in his Morris Minor - resulting in a two-week coma and a year in and out of hospital. In
2017 his brother gave him two mini-discs that had been saved from the wreckage, including demos of songs he had forgotten - due to crash-related amnesia.
Mark Morriss of chart-topping Hounslow janglers The Bluetones agreed to sing
them, so with the assistance of Richard Archer (Hard-Fi), along with Crayola
Lectern (Zofff / Departure Lounge), and Mark Peters (Engineers), these songs
would form the debut long player from The Helicopter of The Holy Ghost.
The original concept for the material was probably while Billy was signed to
Sony, which pointed toward a more commercial sound, however Crayola Lectern’s involvement on piano help send the recordings into a more ‘Canterbury’
direction, taking influence from Caravan, Robert Wyatt & the like.
Featuring a groovy guest line-up including Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins,
Dale Davis from Amy Winehouse’s band, Andy Lewis from Paul Weller’s group,
Smiley from Joe Strummer’s Mescalaros and Thomas Anderson of fellow Kscope
signees Gazpacho, the wide-ranging influence herein is evident throughout a
very sweet, gentle, calming album of originality and versatility.
The Vinyl LP edition of this album will be especially printed in an eco-friendly
manner, with no shrinkwrap being used, the record itself pressed on 100% recycled records and the board made up of FSC certified climate-friendly recycled
material. The whole package itself will be Climate neutral, having all its carbon
offset with ClimatePartner.