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From acid tribe to acid Hard techno... A travel into massives kicks and hypnotizing grooves...
Defenitly a bombastic rekurd !

Residing at the base of Mount Yōtei on Japan’s geologically wondrous island Hokkaido - with it’s volcanoes, hot springs and national park - Masaki “mfp” Konagi is no stranger to natural beauty. Having resided in L.A. and Melbourne in the past, mfp (or mindfullpeace) settled in this natural haven as the place to set down some roots and create.

Having begun his musical journey over a decade ago, including an appearance on Gilles Peterson’s “Brownswood Electr*c 2”, we are proud to announce his debut full length album “Natural Law”.

Drawing on long time collaborators and friends from his travels, mfp has pulled on his foundation in hip-hop and pushed its boundaries to breaking point, embodying the true ethos of the genre as an ever expandable principle.

Featuring Melbourne stalwarts Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote) and ALIEN (Piette Aillion) plus Sydney’s Natalie Slade (Eglo), funk maestro sauce81 and hip-hop hero Stan Smith, mfp’s productions ebb and flow, building and releasing pressure, exploring discord and harmony through electronic polyrhythms and diverse explorations in slaps, swirls, lopes and kicks.

Masaki has also opened the very first organic food store in the area - Pyram Organics & Plants - embodying his, (and our) ethos in food and music as a way to bring ecological awareness to reconnect with nature and our planet for sustainable living.

St Leonard’s premier manipulator of drones, loops and echoes delivers his most buzzed out, kosmische and beat driven work to date in a deluxe white vinyl album release for Castles in Space.

Here, Kieran explains the genesis and production of his masterwork:

“Eternal Return was unusual for me in that I actually set out to make an album, rather than find myself with a set of tunes that evolved into a project.

The “Eternal Return” is a concept I have been inspired by before. However it clicked with me in a more profound way recently. Far from seeing the prospect of living life over, unknowingly, on an endless loop as depressing, I suddenly felt amazing comfort in the theory. The Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” Far from being trapped in the loop I am elated to feel that it's simply about living the best life you can. One that you wouldn't fear having to live again.

To place the album in context against this newly realised perception, I think of the Side One as the battle to get to that realisation and enlightenment and Side Two represents the acceptance and the decision on how to proceed. The turning point is from thinking about the things I love most and what I would want to experience over and over again. I hope it is an uplifting listening experience. As it happens, the album originally had a darker ending. I think I actually learned a bit about my point of view during the process. There are drums, which wouldn’t often feature in my music (there are in fact more drums on this LP than in my combined output over the last 8 years) and the pieces are noticeably shorter, more focussed and concise than my usual longer form work.

Musically this album is probably the least clearly influenced by anything I regularly listened to. The main outcome was wanting to challenge myself and to add whatever the pieces needed and go with that. I think I was also probably pushed on by the wealth of amazing music being made by my peers across Bandcamp and social media. 2020 was an incredible year in this particular sphere of electronic music. The album was made as I started to transition from a semi-modular to a modular synth set up. I think that this was a key driving force, since a lot of the time I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. It is nice to be surprised by what you’re creating.

Finally, whilst this is in no way a “lockdown album”, the period of time in which much of it was recorded definitely had a bearing on how it sounds. For one thing I spent a lot more time around my studio space when working from home. In keeping with the album's theme, the lockdown also helped consolidate my feelings on what is important in life and what isn’t. One piece was in fact sketched out as a first draft while I sat on mute during a Zoom meeting.

‘Del Rio’ is the third album from the Austin triumvirate of guitarist Craig Clouse (Shit and Shine), bassist Nate Cross (Marriage, Expensive Shit) and drummer King Coffey (Butthole Surfers) and the band’s first release to feature vocals from Colby Brinkman (Taverner). While their two prior albums (2017’s ‘Laredo’ and 2019’s ‘Matamoros’) were somewhere on the periphery of rock music , ‘Del Rio’ is a step or several beyond and a real testament to human imagination (maybe you’re impressed by Tesla Powerwall batteries but that’s because you’ve not heard “Soft Taco”, yet)

Coming off a pair of records their respective labels could barely keep in stock and critical assessments that put reviewers’ own chops to the test (see below), USA/Mexico have delivered their most fully realized statement to date.

Prior praise for ‘Matamoros’ :

“Laredo was a bent-out sunstroke of processed vocals and noise-laden riffs, and its follow up Matamoros is slower, freakier, and somehow louder…too defiantly weird and alien for pigeonholing, that’s how they fit inside Austin’s storied noise rock and experimental music scenes: by refusing to fit exactly in anywhere.” Andy O’Connor, Pitchfork

“Monolithic without being monotone: dirty sounds and gritty textures sliding over each other like sandpaper wiped across a chalkboard.” Marc Masters, Bandcamp

“The amplifiers sound broken, the vocals suggest someone's got their leg caught in a mantrap while deep in the woods trying to poach fat brown hares, and the mixing desk squeals as if it is undergoing physical tort

'Leone' is the first meeting of electric guitarists Loren Connors and Oren Ambarchi. It's somewhat surprising it's taken this long as these two are connected by ongoing collaborators, like Jim O'Rourke and Keiji Haino. Connors, for more than 40 years, developed an iconic sound tethered to radical permutations of the blues. Ambarchi's own multi-decade transfiguration of the guitar inhabits a rarefied realm of abstracted tones and dissonance pitched between improvisation and composition. This album, like its title, is a sum of parts: solo performances by Connors and Ambarchi bookend a duo. On 'Lorn,' Connors unravels an aggressive ternary form, with an opening section wrapped in distortion and extreme phasing that contrasts against ghostly, distant single notes. Ambarchi's 'Nor,' supplants a guitar performance with melodic, shifting organ-like tones that are swallowed into a fluttering, glitchy squall. On 'Ronnel,' the duo, each audio landscape created by the two slowly rotates and overlaps the other, as if each is drawing the others' portrait on opposite sides of a translucent sheet. Recorded November 2017 by Bob Bellerue at the Issue Project Room. Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia and cut by Carl Saff. Cover illustration by Marissa Huber. Edition of 500; includes download.

Summer 2011, we discovered Triptides’ music through a music blog aggregator and immediately fell in love with it. Just after that, we decided to interview the band for our own blog and to release a single, their first-ever vinyl record, through our beginning sister label Croque Macadam. The single contained two songs Going Under & Outlaw, both coming from and self-released tape named Psychic Summer. One year later, Triptides released a CD album Sun Pavilion and we were releasing again another 7” record with the main single Bright Sky and an exclusive b-side (Darling). Both albums never were released as vinyl. 10 years later we are now releasing a beautifully remastered version of these two lovely albums. Since then, Triptides became one of the most endearing contemporary psych band alongside the dynamic Californian scene with which they share or shared members (Mystic Braves, Levitation Room, Frankie And The Witch Fingers…).
The Band then formed by the duo Glenn Brigman & Josh Menashe used to make their song from their Bloomington student home studio on an old Tascam 8 track tape recorder, already showing a deep interest for the sixties influenced music. If their first EP were showing some touching errors, despite the years passing, both Psychic Summer & Sun Pavilion are still offering a very nice musical experience for the listener. Their songwriting remains flawless and the DIY lo-fi production makes it sound as spontaneous and charming as it was back then. Our favorite songs such as Going Under, Who Knows, Satin Skies, Bright Sky, English Rain or Sun/Shine shows a great kraft for beautiful and catchy songs anchored in both a sixties tradition and the then-burgeoning modern indie-pop sound through very interesting surf influences and uses of a drum machine.
The reissue is a great opportunity to rediscover Triptides in their beginnings. The objects had been carefully made, Psychic Summer for example had a brand new artwork by psychedelic collage master Andrew McGranahan, both have color vinyl version and standard black. Far from being rough drafts, these two albums are still showing a beautiful angle on Triptides’ music and their always strong discography.

Summer 2011, we discovered Triptides’ music through a music blog aggregator and immediately fell in love with it. Just after that, we decided to interview the band for our own blog and to release a single, their first-ever vinyl record, through our beginning sister label Croque Macadam. The single contained two songs Going Under & Outlaw, both coming from and self-released tape named Psychic Summer. One year later, Triptides released a CD album Sun Pavilion and we were releasing again another 7” record with the main single Bright Sky and an exclusive b-side (Darling). Both albums never were released as vinyl. 10 years later we are now releasing a beautifully remastered version of these two lovely albums. Since then, Triptides became one of the most endearing contemporary psych band alongside the dynamic Californian scene with which they share or shared members (Mystic Braves, Levitation Room, Frankie And The Witch Fingers…).
The Band then formed by the duo Glenn Brigman & Josh Menashe used to make their song from their Bloomington student home studio on an old Tascam 8 track tape recorder, already showing a deep interest for the sixties influenced music. If their first EP were showing some touching errors, despite the years passing, both Psychic Summer & Sun Pavilion are still offering a very nice musical experience for the listener. Their songwriting remains flawless and the DIY lo-fi production makes it sound as spontaneous and charming as it was back then. Our favorite songs such as Going Under, Who Knows, Satin Skies, Bright Sky, English Rain or Sun/Shine shows a great kraft for beautiful and catchy songs anchored in both a sixties tradition and the then-burgeoning modern indie-pop sound through very interesting surf influences and uses of a drum machine.
The reissue is a great opportunity to rediscover Triptides in their beginnings. The objects had been carefully made, Psychic Summer for example had a brand new artwork by psychedelic collage master Andrew McGranahan, both have color vinyl version and standard black. Far from being rough drafts, these two albums are still showing a beautiful angle on Triptides’ music and their always strong discography.

Over the course of two decades The Body - Lee Buford and Chip
King - have consistently challenged assumptions and defied
categorization, redefining what it means to be a heavy band.
On ‘I’ve Seen All I Need To See’, they test the boundaries of the
studio to explore the extremes and microtonality of distortion to
find its maximal impact.
Their most incisively bleak album to date, a towering monolith of
noise, Buford’s booming, resolute drums paired with King’s
obliterated guitar and howl.
Course, bristling distortion contorts every instrument, with
samples of spoken word, cymbals, toms and King’s already
noxious tone emerging from layers of feedback.
Features guests Ben Eberle (Sandworm) and Chrissy Wolpert
(Assembly of Light Choir).
Recorded with long time engineer Seth Manchester at Machines
with Magnets (Lightning Bolt, Battles, Daughters) and mastered by
Matt Colton (Sumac, Brian Eno, Uniform, Sunn O)))).
Available on CD, metallic silver vinyl and black vinyl. LP formats
include digital download code.
The Body have collaborated with many, including Full Of Hell,
Thou, Uniform and Bummer.
“The distortion has this ability to envelope you, and not push you
away. It has this strange kind of beautiful timbre... once you give
into the sheer power of it, and let it take you on a ride then it
becomes this whole other kind of sonic experience.” - Matt Colton
The Body have continued to mould their sound into something
even more devastating, gorgeous and terrifying... As a whole, The
Body’s discography is, and will continue to be, without peer.” -
Metal Injection “Some of the most captivating heavy music around right now.” - Rolling Stone

Passion is the fifth and final part of a series of five double vinyl releases that bring together some of Ennio Morricone’s greatest soundtrack music. Each collection centres on a different movie genre, together they allow the listener to rediscover the unmatched genius of the greatest movie composer of all time. Passion once again reminds us that everything in Italian life is approached with gusto, energy and passion.

Passion is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies on pink and purple marbled vinyl. The package includes a 4-page insert with liner notes written by Claudio Fuiano. The gatefold sleeve contains a diamond glitter foil spot varnish on the outside and images of iconic movie posters on the inside.

Mosey was listed on the 2019 XXL Freshman Class list. His sound is often described as mumble rap and he was one of the breakout artists of the soundcloud rap phenomenon in the US. Certified Hitmaker' has been streamed 403 million times already. Whereas his previous album is not far off a massive 2 billion global streams across DSPs. Lil Mosey's single Blueberry Faygo is now platinum in the UK. In 2019 Lil Mosey became the youngest artist to successfully launch a music festival, Northsbest Fest, in his hometown. The album also features collaborations with Gunna, Chris Brown and AJ Tracey.

Scofield and Metheny. What more needs to be said? A masterpiece meeting of musical minds, these two guitar virtuosos entered the studio in December 1993 with Steve Swallow on bass guitar and Bill Stewart on drums to create one of the greatest jazz guitar albums of all time. Produced by Lee Townsend, I Can See Your House From Here is an 11-track set of Scofield and Metheny originals including Sco’s expansive title track and Pat’s rocking “The Red One” and the stunning ballad “Message To My Friend.”

Nach Crazy Rhythms Of Mata Hari, Shake Your Bones, dem Cool Cat Club und Born To Hula! Folgt nun der 5. Teil der DJ-Set Serie auf Stag-O-Lee. Wie auch bei den Vorgängern handelt es sich hier um einen auf 80 Minuten eingedampftes DJ-Set von einem verdienten Recken der Zunft - Keb Darge. Gaz Mayall folgt direkt mit Volume 6. Linernotes: Rockabilly didn't cross my world until the early nineteen eighties at a Dirtbox weekender in Bournemouth, until then I was a pure northern soul boy. I didn't really get stuck into collecting the stuff until a decade later, but when I did what a wonderful world of tunes opened up to me, and I went wild on it. I was very lucky to be doing a record stall in Camden market at the time just across from Boz Boorer and Neil Scott's stall. They along with other serious collectors Dave Vickers, Barney Koumis, Cosmic Keith, Jim Fox, Dave Crozier, and many others taught me all I needed to know. I only ever made one great rockabilly discovery which none of them knew, "Little Bit Lonesome" by Charles Ross, but I was happy enough buying all their recommendations as they were all new and exciting for me. I have done several rockabilly comps before, but sadly the Philippines typhoon in 2013 destroyed my village and forced me to sell the bulk of my collection. Here are some of my favourites that I never got round to putting out before that happened. Two of the aforementioned collectors are no longer with us. I therefore dedicate this comp to Dave Vickers and Cosmic Keith who both had a huge influence on my life and my musical taste.

Skylax Armagnac's darling who released his first EP just a year ago, which had an international resonance with rave reviews from Resident Advisor, Bicep, Chaos in the CBD, Peach or even soul clap. Rightly some saw it as a resurgence, a modernized version of 90s New York house, silky and elegant in the Bobby Konders, Mr Fingers way. For this new EP, with fantastic remixes of the brilliant Simoncino, our French prodigy is inspired by the beginnings of trance on the title song (and title of the ep by the way) "The world as we know it (masterclass mix)", UK dub and rave influences, as on some Nu Groove releases (notably the first joey beltram) - the lead vocal sample comes from a speech in which Noam Chomsky describes the United States as a violent country and hard. According to the author "If this piece says something, I believe it is that the music and the party should not serve to forget the problems of the world, but rather to find the strength, the resources, the inspiration to solve them." On "Oh La Musique" Armagnac used the sound of his neighbors as a voice sample ! Indeed, during this incredibly complicated period that we are living in, confinement due to the devastating effects of covid 19, one of his neighbors played music really loudly and for 20 minutes ignored the other neighbors who were screaming "oh oh, the music" through the window. "Turning this moment of irritation into a sample to the glory of the music strikes me as pretty funny." Still according to the author. On B1, it’s a house masterclass lesson by the phenomenal & ultra prolific Simoncino, but do i need to remind you how much italians are masters in their way of paying homage to all the best house music that has ever been created & produced ? Good taste is often on their side ! The red zone club is a tense and incredibly effective mix that can be enjoyed either on a house or techno dancefloor, it is clearly a banger. B2 saw the italian master offers us a beautiful ambient mix. And to conclude "On My Own" is according to Armagnac "a title that speaks of the trust that one can place in one's fellow human beings and of emancipation." A superb EP that adds to the long list of must-haves from Skylax Records.

Having established himself as a core Apollo artist with three fantastic EPs since 2016, Sieren now steps up with a first full length for the label. 'Timelapse' is a majestic 13 track trip into this unique artist's very emotional fusion of post-bass bliss. Sieren aka Matthias Frick is a master of intricate electronics and bittersweet emotions, of deep atmospherics and compelling rhythms. He has been building a dedicated following for some years now, putting out his debut album on Christian Loffler's Ki Records in 2016. Inspired by a rich history of bass-driven UK sounds, he pairs that with a love of field recording and experimental soundscaping, and now shows he is an ever evolving master of his art on this stunning new record.

NEW REPRESS IN HARD CARDBOARD SLEEVE + OBI + INSERT WITH LINER NOTES
+ RESEALABLE OUTER SLEEVE.

Killer unreleased US album from 1972. Originally from Louisville, KY, Leslie’s Motel line-up included several members from The Oxfords as well as Blues Project drummer Roy Blumenfeld. They played explosive, bluesy hard-rock with powerful vocals and stunning guitar / organ, in the same vein as early Allman Brothers or Ten Years After.



Remastered sound from the original master tapes, insert with liner notes and rare pictures.

Take a much-loved UK soul gem, Loose Ends classic from ‘85 ‘Hangin’ On A String’ and hand it to the godfather of house, Frankie Knuckles to work his unquestionable magic and there was no doubt the result would be a slice of house music heaven. South Street Records unlock the vaults once again, reissuing this melding of transatlantic minds presenting a triple threat that sees both Frankie’s 1992 Club Mix and the elusive Classic Club Reprise sit alongside the Loose Ends Original 12 Inch Mix, on either side of a 12 inch.

Taking the best of London’s soul and coupling it with the heart of Chicago, the master Frankie Knuckles purrs this one out across the highways with a slung-back house interpretation of ‘Hangin’ On A String’. A bumping beat, punchy bass line and effortless percussive touches give the perfect platform for Loose End’s vocal dynamics to provide a power, emotion and sincerity often lacking in modern dance music.

Flip it over to find the Classic Club Reprise - straight up sunset business with Frankie side-lining the vocals to let the instrumentation sing with added trademark flourishes in true spiritual style. Finally, the Original 12 Inch Mix gets a well-deserved inclusion which, back in 1985 was a true game changer bridging a multiplicity of scenes in the UK with its use of drum machines and synthesizers whilst maintaining that pure soul vibe. A track that topped the US Billboard R&B chart, making Loose Ends the first ever British band to do so, it’s a UK soul classic drenched in drum machine hits, soaring synths and crunchy guitar licks that’s infused with an ‘80s electro style and a quintessentially London flavour.

The Master Scratch Band was first break-dance / hip-hop / electro funk band in Yugoslavia in 1984. The band members were Zoran Vracevic, Zoran Jevtic and Milutin Stoisiljevic, previously known as Data and Sizike. Jugoton, the biggest label in Yugoslavia, published Data 7'' and MSB's 'Degout' 12'' with limited edition cassette containing two bonus tracks. Impossible to find on the collectors market, Fox & His Friends team in collaboration with Jugoton / Croatia Records is releasing a full, complete version of the rare "The Breakwar" tape, with tracks "Tonight" and "Pocket" never pressed on vinyl. All tracks are sourced from original studio tapes. With the kind help of Zoran Vracevic on credit list and liner notes, this is now the ultimate Master Scratch Band album, released originally in a year 1984 when break-dance was in the peak of its popularity in Yugoslavia. While Data was synthpop, Sizike mellow synth-disco recorded in private studio, this release is pure breaks and hip-hop electro, done old-school way in one of the best studios in Yugoslavia, Enco Lesic's 'Druga maca' in Belgrade. MSB used impressive electronic gear and were helped by huge list of famous musicians and guests: Duca Markovic from hit-show 'Hit meseca' (Yugoslavian Top Of The Pops); Japanac on bass, Max Vincent of Max & Intro on synths, Dudu Vudu from Du-Du-A, Goranka Matic as photographer and many more. MSB sampling technique and choices are unique: from obscure industrial records to freestyle; from found-sounds to cut-up breaks and even real prank-calls. This is document of time that still sounds fresh and needs to find it's new, young audience of hip-hop history researchers, break-dancers, b-boys, b-girls and DJ's. When you know that it's produced in 1984 Yugoslavia, far away, but actually, so close to its USA & EU brothers and sisters, it's even more mind-boggling. Thanks to Fox & His Friends and Jugoton CR collaboration, this gem is waiting for your freezes, footwork and electric boogie moves. ----- Equipment used: Commodore 64 Computer, Roland MC-4B Microcomposer, Prophet Pro-One, RSF Cobol II Expander, Korg Mono-Poly Synthesizer, PPG Wave 2.3 Synthesizer, PPG Waveterm Computer, Boss DE-200 Digital Delay, Drumtraks Digital Drum Machine, Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, Electro Harmonix Vocoder, Linn Drum MKII, Juno 60, SH-101, SVC-350, VP-330 Vocoders, Polysix & MS10, Simmons drum module.

The thirteen song album has been remastered at the hallowed Abbey Road Studios in London from the original 1/4’ analog master tapes, and the vinyl processed with a new half speed lacquer cut to ensure the highest quality audio possible.
The bonus LP is a collection of outtakes of nearly every album track, including never before heard pre-production demo recordings, alternate mixes and arrangements, live material, an Archers of Loaf cover, as well as a newly recorded version of the album track ‘Caretaker’ which was recorded in 2019 on the literal last night in the house Stevenson grew up in, ten years after the song was originally written there.
The album features liner note essays written by musicians Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus who drew early inspiration for their own music and songwriting from the album. Also contributing liner notes are Pitchfork, NPR and Stereogum writer Nina Corcoran, as well Packaging: LP Deluxe edition, stoughton tip-on jacket gatefold w/ download card

Marie Knight's legendary 45 from 1964 that made her a name in the Northern Soul scene. Massive spin in Wigan Casino allnighters, officially reissued here for the first time with 'Say It Again' on the flip, as originally released.


DESCRIPTION
Singer and pianist, Marie Knight made her name as a gospel superstar recording for Decca in duet with the legendary Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Her first solo record for Decca arrived in the mid '50s, just a couple of years before her signing to Mercury. She later toured with rhythm and blues acts like the Drifters, Clyde McPhatter and Brook Benton. Three singles followed on Diamond in 1963/64 before she was signed to Musicor Records later in 64.

Her definitive non-religious song 'That's No Way To Treat A Girl', crafted in this period, failed to become a hit at the time but was the recording that would make her name with the Northern Soul fans in the UK many years later, standing as one of the most celebrated spins at the Wigan Casino allnighters.

The slow-paced ballad on the flip-side, 'Say It Again', is a beautiful deep soul song that echoes the gospel singing Knight had mastered over the years. After her deal with Musicor ended, she was unable to land another secular recording contract. "That's No Way To Treat a Girl' is officially reissued here with 'Say It Again' on the flip for the first time, as originally released.

• The Love Affair was formed in 1967 (originally as the Soul Survivors) and burst onto the UK charts in January 1968 when ‘Everlasting Love’ reached # 1. Featuring lead singer Steve Ellis’ distinctive vocals, this was followed by four more Top 20 hits, three of which were Top 10, including ‘Rainbow Valley’ (# 5), ‘A Day Without Love’ (# 6) and ‘Bringing On Back The Good Times’ (# 9).
• Side One of this album features all five hits (including a re-mastered version of ‘Everlasting Love’) plus the single unreleased at the time, ‘Time Hasn’t Changed Us’, after which Steve Ellis left the band.
• Side Two features six highlights from Steve Ellis’ solo career, starting with two favourites by Ellis, the band he formed with Zoot Money, produced by Roger Daltrey. Next up are covers of Jimmy Webb’s ‘Evie’, and also ‘Rainy Night In Georgia’. Taken from Steve’s 2018 album, ‘Lonely No More’ and ‘Cry Me A River’ both feature Paul Weller as co-writer, performer and co producer.
• The inner sleeve features liner notes by Steve Ellis and photos and memorabilia from his own collection. The record is pressed on 180g gold vinyl.

The latest signing to Parisian label No Format! (home to Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy and Mélissa Laveaux), Soweto-based 4 piece band Urban Village will release their debut album "Udondolo". Marrying the day-to-day experiences of black South Africans with ebullient elements from traditional Zulu music, Urban Village is the alias of four experimental musicians all born & raised in the township of Soweto at the tail end of apartheid; Urban Village release music under a name which specifically references the blend of cultures, music & rites which were assimilated into the now 1 million strong population of Soweto, when black South Africans from multiple provinces were brought to the area during the establishment of apartheid, under strict segregation from Johannesburg's white suburbs. Born for the most part in the last years of apartheid, whilst growing up the band plunged happily into house and dance music that turned the page of a heavy past. Guitarist Lerato came across older Zulu musicians and their style of maskandi playing. Lerato has since mixed styles from homelands and rural areas, sharpened in club jam sessions (where he went on to meet Tubatsi and form Urban Village) during which spoken word, hip-hop and jazz rub shoulders freely. "Udondolo" - partially recorded at legendary Downtown Studios in the heart of Johannesburg and at Figure of 8 studios in the leafy suburbs of Randburg - is a journey through all the colours of Soweto. This is where it draws its consistency, strength & identity. That of Soweto itself - a dormitory town designed to monitor those who were sent there, it has become a laboratory of music where the hopes of an entire people resonate, even today.

NEP was a loose multimedia collective formed in 1982 Zagreb, ex-Yugoslavia. The founder Dejan Krsic collaborated with various artists in a quest of re-thinking the stale concepts of art history, position of the author and the barriers between pop and elitist high culture. Heavily influenced by Walter Benjamin and Andy Warhol in theory and Brian Eno and Kraftwerk in music, Krsic created NEP as an umbrella term (meaning Nova Evropa or New Europe) of diverse rule-breaking activities, covering graphic design, music, photography, video, news-media and theoretical work. Musically NEP focused on experiments in ambient and tape-music, self-released and hard to find compilation tapes like "The Cassette Played Poptones" (1988). Deeply immersed in pop-culture, politics and art theory Krsic's search for perfect pop music with cutting critical edge peaked in 1989, the year 'Decadance' track was conceived in studio. Fox & His Friends published the single in 2017 with Snuffo Remix on B-side. It received rave reviews in music press like MixMag and DJ Mag and it is still played on dance-floors around the world. But the story around the NEP is musically (as well as artistically) much wider: for the first time Fox & His Friends team compiles best cuts from unreleased and rare NEP tapes, covering the period from 1985 to 1989 on POP NOT POP abum. Dejan Krsic is now famous graphic designer and art historian in Croatia. Other collaborators include Laibach and Borghesia photographer Jane Stravs, artist and TV director Gordana Brzovic, Jovan Culibrk, now Bishop at The Serbian Orthodox Church and Anja Rupel, singer of cult Yugoslavian synth-pop group Videosex as well as the other members of Videosex, Iztok Turk and Janez Krizaj who produced some of the tracks. Other collaborators were talented producers Robert Logozar and Davor Daga Devcic, singers Linda Cooper, Natalija, Alexx Kovacs... The list of collaborations is long. Some of the memorable moments on POP NOT POP album are early demo version of Decadance 'How Do I Dance To This Music?' with blue movies samples and drum machine experiments like early Cabaret Voltaire, then Krsic's reinterpretation of legendary Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express anthem as 'Transcendance', or 'Radical Chic', where Dejan himself and Anja Rupel from Videosex make lovely couple of dandy-esque fashionistas, singing chart-friendly radio synthpop tune that contrasts the A-side (The 'NOT POP' side) - full of experiments, dark wave and industrial nods to Test Department and Cabs. B-side is 'THE POP' side that will surprise most of the NEP followers from their early experimental cassette days. Sunny, danceable, joyfull pop that reveals the many faces of NEP. As Kraftwerk today is more of a concept than a band, NEP does the same by re-writing its products (musical, graphical, theoretical, activist) and constantly puts them in permanent state of change or re-mix. In the future, only NEP logo will be enough to consider something an art piece, and NEP will be everybody who wants to, as their Art Manifest claims. Until that day comes, 'POP NOT POP' is a document of how the vivid and creative were art-scenes in socialist Yugoslavia. Some of the graphic work, cut-ups from theory and Manifesto are also included on this LP, designed by Dejan Krsic aka NEP himself. This release is made from the original master tapes and published for the first time on vinyl.

Kiwi Jr. is a phenomenal "rock" and/or "punk" and/or "indie-rock" (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar). Cooler Returns is their second album, and their first for Sub Pop. Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, Cooler Returns is truly a whole lot of fun. RIYL indie-pop from down under, things that are smart/exuberant/catchy all at once. Buildings burning in every direction; macabre unknowns in your friendly neighbor's basement; undecided voters sharpening their pencils: under pressure we could call Kiwi Jr.'s Cooler Returns "timely." But what year is it, again? On Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. cycle through the recent zigs & looming zags of the new decade, squinting anew at New Year's parties forgotten and under-investigated small town diner fires, piecing together low-stakes conspiracy theories on what's coming down the pike in 2021. Put together like a thousand-piece puzzle, assembled in flow state through the first dull stretch of quarantine, sanitized singer shuffling to sanitized studio by streetcar, masked like it's the kind of work where getting recognized means getting killed, Cooler Returns materializes as a sprawling survey from the first few bites of the terrible twenties, an investigative exposé of recent history buried under the headlines & ancient kings buried under parking lots. Not so long since their debut Football Money in archaeological time, unending gray eons later in the dog years of quaran-time, spiritually antipodean Canadians Kiwi Jr return to disseminate this year's annual report to the shareholders, burying the incriminating numbers in the endless appendices of a longform narrative record, a 3,000 word tract for stakeholders to pore over. These stories - memories of Augusts past, unrepressed & transcribed fast - go down easier thanks to meaningful changes enacted in 2019's KiwiCares Pledge: delivering on a promise to transition from Crunchy to Smooth by 2021, the caveman chug of Football Money has been steamed & pressed with the purifying air of a saloon piano - operated with bow-tie untied - and a spring green side-salad of tentatively up-tempo organ taps & freshly fluted harmonica. A chronically detuned spin of the dial through swivel-chair distractions & WFH daydreams, an immersive ctrl-tab deluge cycling through popular listicle distractions like the unentombing of Richard III, or the deja vu destruction of the Glasgow School of Art, Kiwi Jr. sing this song to an indoor audience, crisscrossing canceled, every other prestige distraction source wrung dry, only songwriting remaining to deliver engrossing tales to the populace, just how I imagine it worked in the old days. Fixing loose ingredients into a sturdy whip, Kiwi Jr. beam in live from the 9-5, striding into 2021 with a mastered brainwave that comes equally from the back room of the record store as the penalty box. And how do we, left holding this box of deliberate entanglements, sign off to those as yet uninitiated, undecided, uncertain, unseen, absent return coordinates - Best Wishes, Warm Regards, Good Luck? Cooler Returns, Cooler Returns, C o o l e r R e t u r n s ! Cooler Returns was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto, and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

LTD. LOSER EDITION

Kiwi Jr. is a phenomenal "rock" and/or "punk" and/or "indie-rock" (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar). Cooler Returns is their second album, and their first for Sub Pop. Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, Cooler Returns is truly a whole lot of fun. RIYL indie-pop from down under, things that are smart/exuberant/catchy all at once. Buildings burning in every direction; macabre unknowns in your friendly neighbor's basement; undecided voters sharpening their pencils: under pressure we could call Kiwi Jr.'s Cooler Returns "timely." But what year is it, again? On Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. cycle through the recent zigs & looming zags of the new decade, squinting anew at New Year's parties forgotten and under-investigated small town diner fires, piecing together low-stakes conspiracy theories on what's coming down the pike in 2021. Put together like a thousand-piece puzzle, assembled in flow state through the first dull stretch of quarantine, sanitized singer shuffling to sanitized studio by streetcar, masked like it's the kind of work where getting recognized means getting killed, Cooler Returns materializes as a sprawling survey from the first few bites of the terrible twenties, an investigative exposé of recent history buried under the headlines & ancient kings buried under parking lots. Not so long since their debut Football Money in archaeological time, unending gray eons later in the dog years of quaran-time, spiritually antipodean Canadians Kiwi Jr return to disseminate this year's annual report to the shareholders, burying the incriminating numbers in the endless appendices of a longform narrative record, a 3,000 word tract for stakeholders to pore over. These stories - memories of Augusts past, unrepressed & transcribed fast - go down easier thanks to meaningful changes enacted in 2019's KiwiCares Pledge: delivering on a promise to transition from Crunchy to Smooth by 2021, the caveman chug of Football Money has been steamed & pressed with the purifying air of a saloon piano - operated with bow-tie untied - and a spring green side-salad of tentatively up-tempo organ taps & freshly fluted harmonica. A chronically detuned spin of the dial through swivel-chair distractions & WFH daydreams, an immersive ctrl-tab deluge cycling through popular listicle distractions like the unentombing of Richard III, or the deja vu destruction of the Glasgow School of Art, Kiwi Jr. sing this song to an indoor audience, crisscrossing canceled, every other prestige distraction source wrung dry, only songwriting remaining to deliver engrossing tales to the populace, just how I imagine it worked in the old days. Fixing loose ingredients into a sturdy whip, Kiwi Jr. beam in live from the 9-5, striding into 2021 with a mastered brainwave that comes equally from the back room of the record store as the penalty box. And how do we, left holding this box of deliberate entanglements, sign off to those as yet uninitiated, undecided, uncertain, unseen, absent return coordinates - Best Wishes, Warm Regards, Good Luck? Cooler Returns, Cooler Returns, C o o l e r R e t u r n s ! Cooler Returns was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto, and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

“Instead of landscape sketches I wanted to go into more personal areas of my reality,” says Jim Ghedi of his third album In The Furrows Of Common Place. “To hold up certain aspects of society that were laying bare in front of me.”

Whilst Ghedi’s previous idiosyncratic take on folk has often been instrumental, exploring the natural world and his relationship to it through his music as seen on 2018's A Hymn For Ancient Land. His new album In The Furrow Of Common Place is a deeper plunge inside himself to offer up more of his voice to accompany his profoundly unique and moving compositions. “There were things I was seeing around me and being affected by in my daily life,” he says. “Socially and politically I saw defiance but also hopelessness. I wanted to be honest with the frustration and turmoil I was experiencing.”

The decision to include more of Ghedi’s vocals was a conscious one and driven by a need to say something. However, this isn’t a brash raging political polemic. As is now customary with Ghedi’s work, it is rich in nuance, history, poetry and allegory. Musically, the album is equally locked into this ongoing sense of evolution. Ghedi’s intricate yet deft guitar playing still twists and flows its way through the core, weaving in and out of gliding double bass, sweeping violin, gentle percussion and vocals that shift from tender solos to overlapping harmonies.

As with much of Ghedi’s work, there’s a rich connection between the past and the current. Musically, he continues to sit in a singular position of sounding distinctly contemporary yet also with a touch of traditional flair. This expands itself into the lyrical terrain here too. “I've been exploring contemporary issues and in that process discovering sources that correlate with similar issues in the past,” he says. “Which proves that these issues throughout history - environmental destruction, working class poverty etc - are ongoing.”

For all the socio-political and historical backdrop to the record it is not one that feels overwhelmed by it. Much like Ghedi’s work when it was largely instrumental - and some of it still is here - it flows and unfurls thoughtfully, with space still being utilised masterfully, creating room to pause and reflect. It’s another inimitable record from an artist that truly sounds like nobody else right now.

Demon Records presents Distortion: 1996-2007, the second in a series of four expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould.
Bob Mould’s career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. Volume two in this new series covers 1996 to 2007, beginning with the 1996 self-titled solo album and continuing through to Mould’s 2006 collaboration with Rich Morel BLOWOFF.

• 6 studio albums across 8LPs, including – Bob Mould, The Last Dog And Pony Show, modulate. (first time on vinyl), Long Playing Grooves. (first time on vinyl), Body Of Song, and BLOWOFF (first time on vinyl).
• Each album is presented with brand new artwork designed by illustrator Simon Marchner and pressed on 140g clear vinyl with unique splatter effects.
• Accompanying the studio albums is a new compilation Distortion Plus: 1996-2007 which features an array of bonus tracks including the demo version of ‘Dog On Fire’ (Theme from The Daily Show), B sides and other rarities (pressed on clear vinyl).
• Includes a 28-page companion booklet featuring: liner notes by journalist Keith Cameron; contributions from Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino; lyrics and memorabilia.
• Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering in Boston.

“The earth shall rise again...”
AMOR/LEMUR finds the Glasgow quartet AMOR in partnership with Norwegian improvising ensemble LEMUR to hopeful and ecstatic effect. Conceived before the onset of Covid 19 but finished during spring lockdown, their eponymous EP is the most loose, alive and elevated recording in AMOR’s catalog. AMOR/LEMUR takes the template of throbbing avant disco expanded upon on previous recordings for Night School and lifts it into new

territories, with new tonalities and unexpected turns on the journey. More than anything, the expanded, near- cinematic expression of human connectivity feels like a lightning new energy to grasp in the dark.

Following a revelatory concert in Glasgow in January 2020 wherein the two sets of musicians met and performed together for the first time, a recording session was arranged the following day, resulting in the most elevated permutation of AMOR’s art to date. Each track was built upon a rhythmic bedrock of percussion and drums performed by Paul Thomson and samples/synthesizer by Luke Fowler. Thomson used bamboo Javanese gamelan (most notably on For You) and scrap metal, as well as traditional percussion and drums while Fowler incorporated processed ambient field recordings recorded in enclosed acoustic spaces around Glasgow. Singer/pianist Richard Youngs contributes some of the most bright and mindful work of his career. Acoustic bass player Michael Francis Duch, whose lush playing as ever provides the elastic spine to each song, scored the string parts for LEMUR on piano at home in Norway. The addition of swelling strings and drones fills out the AMOR sound significantly, lending a sonorous tone to 8 minute, epic closer For You or an ascending melodic introduction to Stars Burst that feels like a new morning dawning on a world saved from certain death. With the circumstances of lockdown forcing the musicians to work differently, a thread of optimism and utopia grounded in the moment weaves through these tracks. Unravel reveals a spine tingling vocal from Youngs. It’s a song about the simultaneously grounding and ecstatic effect of love, feeling connected to others. It’s a simple message, “I’m finding myself in your smile, always unravels me” speaks of ego death, the dissipation of the material into a nirvana of pure energy, the power of surrender. This isn’t a quasi-religious message, this is the power of each other, a love song to connection in a temporary age of isolation. Stars Burst is a play on the inner and outer cosmos, with narrator Youngs exploring wonder to a pounding galloping rhythm and snake-charming synth. It’s an open dance, with the group locked in together for the wild ride. Fear is the centerpiece of the record, starting with drones and scraped overtones before swirling synth notes filter upwards to meet reverberating minor chords. Over 8 minutes of tight but loose playing, Youngs is the shaman instructing us to use Fear as a celebration of the moment, embrace it and jump into the unknown. The only way to overcome your fear is to feel it, use it as an energy. The use of the studio as an instrument throughout side 2 is particularly important, with the dubbing and mixing prowess of engineer Paul Savage (who mixed unattended due to lockdown restrictions) and tape manipulations performed by Jason Lescallet coming into play. For You closes out with a largely instrumental, evolving composition that uses many of the abstract and novel aspects of this permutation to aid the trance. It’s massive, an unfurling creature with unexpected tonalities and serious heft.

THERION have always been a band that have challenged themselves to explore new paths, while remaining true to their musical core values. For their 17th studio album, mastermind Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator Thomas Vikström have created something that has been previously unthinkable to the guitarist and the singer. "We have done the only thing that was left of all the different angles to explore", explains Christofer. "We have decided to give the people what they kept asking for. 'Leviathan' is the first album that we have deliberately packed with THERION hit songs."

True to the Swede's words, the album opens with the catchy and swift tune 'The Leaf Of The Oak Of Far' featuring female and male antiphonal singing as well as a choir that seems to have evolved straight out of THERION's breakthrough full-length "Theli" (1996). This is immediately followed by the obvious highlight 'Tuonela', in which Christofer cleverly underscores this hit-track's Finnish vibe by employing NIGHTWISH’s "metal voice" Marko Hietala. Next up in this parade of future fan-favourites is the title track 'Leviathan' that offers classic THERION material with operatic female vocals and a massive choir.

Christofer Johnsson's passion for classic voices, choirs, and orchestral elements as well as his penchant for epic melodies in combination with rock and metal shines clearly through the following sing-along ballad 'Die Wellen Der Zeit', which indicates another nod to German romantic composer Richard Wagner. "Ever since 'Theli', Wagner has been and will always be at the core of THERION", emphasises Christofer. "When we started to combine metal and opera, it was something new and original. Today, symphonic metal has long been a firmly established genre."

When THERION came into being in 1988 by changing name from the already existing band BLITZKRIEG, which was founded a year earlier, Christofer had rather taken inspiration from SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" among other classic metal albums. At the beginning, the Swedes were firmly rooted in death metal, a genre which they helped to define, as witnessed by their debut album "Of Darkness...." (1991). Yet even back then, there were hints of "something else" lurking beneath the rough surface.

The use of female vocals is another core ingredient of THERION today, which developed gradually. CELTIC FROST had basically introduced the female element to extreme metal on "To Mega Therion" in 1985. THERION began with both a female and male vocalist emulating a church like choir already in their sophomore full-length 'Beyond Sanctorum' (1992). With Symphony "Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (1993) and "Lepaca Kliffoth" (1995), Christofer continued to developed his trademark sound by gradually drifting towards cleaner vocals and more keyboards. With "Theli", the Swedes had firmly established a reputation of pushing the boundaries of metal in the 90s – among such acts as their compatriots TIAMAT, THE GATHERING, and MOONSPELL that were often referred to as "gothic metal" at the time.
THERION continued to break new ground leaving inspiration for others to follow in their wake: On "A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming" (1997), Christofer further explored the use of Near Eastern music in metal which he had already begun in 1992, while "Secret Of The Runes" (2001) dared to have Swedish lyrics in some songs. While critics were left confused and fans challenged, THERION were often ahead of their times and vindicated in hindsight. Even the band's 25th anniversary excursion "Les Fleurs Du Mal" has by now overcome the initial shock the album caused and is only beaten in terms of streaming by the classic "Vovin" (1998).
When Christofer faced the question of where to go next after the dramatic "Beloved Antichrist" (2018) had finally fulfilled his musical mission, his answer is "Leviathan" named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore: THERION have created a giant hit album – and for the first time in the history of the Swedes, their fans are not asked to explore something new, but simply to lean back and enjoy the best from their band!

Kiwi Jr. are a phenomenal rock and / or punk and / or indie rock (whichever you like more) band from Canada, made up of Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass) and Brian Murphy (guitar). ‘Cooler Returns’ is their second album and their first for Sub Pop.
Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, ‘Cooler Returns’ is truly a whole lot of fun. For fans of indie pop from down under and things that are smart / exuberant / catchy all at once.
‘Cooler Returns’ was produced by Kiwi Jr., mixed and engineered by Graham Walsh (METZ, Bully) in Toronto and mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Labs in Ottawa, Ontario.

This 180 gram red virgin vinyl LP reissue of the 1958 Bluenote album ‘Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ includes bonus tracks recorded live at the Olympia, Paris with the same personnel, also in 1958.
Together with Art Blakey on drums the line-up includes Lee Morgan on trumpet, Benny Golson on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass .
The 20-page booklet contains complete information with specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine.

This reissue of Billie Holiday’s ‘Lady In Satin’ recorded in 1958 with Ray Ellis and His Orchestra also includes eleven bonus tracks recorded a year later with the same personnel.
The 20-page booklet contains complete information with specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine. “Every track is performed in an inimitable and extraordinary way, and the tragic mood never falls into the pathetic. Even today Billie continues to influence the style of innumerable singers and instrumentalists, both male and female. What’s the secret?
Just the fact that Billie Holiday simply invented a way of singing.” Penguin Guide to Jazz

This reissue of ‘Stan Getz Meets Oscar Peterson’ includes one bonus track from the same session produced by Norman Granz in 1957. With Getz on tenor saxophone and Peterson on piano are guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown.
The specially prepared liner notes are by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine. “Even though summit meetings don’t always end up with the expected results, this one, on the contrary, marks the blend of one of the most beautiful saxophone sounds in history with the most dazzling bouquets of notes ever imagined on a piano keyboard.” Jazz Magazine

‘Chet Sings’ by the trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker is a classic of West Coast cool jazz. Recorded between 1953 and 1956 this CD reissue includes 10 bonus tracks and vinyl inludes 2 bonus tracks.
The collective personnel accompanying Baker includes Russ Freeman on piano & celeste; Jimmy Bond, Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, bass; Peter Littman, Lawrence Marable, Bob Neel, Shelly Manne, drums; among others. The 20-page booklet features complete information and specially prepared liner notes by Penguin
Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine.
SINGS

This reissue of pianist Dave Brubeck’s classic 1959 album ‘Time Out’
features the classic quartet of Brubeck with Paul Desmond on alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass and drummer Joe Morello.
The bonus album is ‘Countdown - Time In Outer Space’ recorded in 1961 by the same line-up. The 20-page booklet contains complete information with specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine. “Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet has never lost its power of fascination. On these unforgettable tunes, Dave Brubeck and his alter ego Paul Desmond seem to be painting a canvas. Every note is like a touch of colour, expertly distilled, subtly hypnotic, ideally thought. “ Jazz Magazine

This reissue of ‘Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson’ includes 4 bonus tracks, also recorded in 1957 and produced by Norman Granz and the LP has 2 bonus tracks.
With Armstrong on both vocals and trumpet and Peterson on piano are guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Louie Bellson. The-20 page booklet contains complete information with specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz
Magazine.

This reissue of Nina Simone’s ‘Forbidden Fruit’ includes a bonus album, ‘Nina Simone sings Ellington’ plus 2 bonus tracks. On the 1960/1 recording Nina sings and plays piano, accompanied by Al Shackman, guitar Chris White, bass and Bobby Hamilton, drums.
The bonus album was recorded in 1961 with an orchestra conducted and arranged by Ralph Burns. The two bonus tracks are from 1957 with Jimmy Bond on bass and Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums. The 20-page booklet contains complete information with specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer Brian Morton and by France’s prestigious Jazz Magazine. “With Forbidden Fruit, Simone became one of the defining voices of the 1960s.” Penguin Guide to Jazz

Music For Nations release - the Norwegian music constellation Wardruna are renowned for their innovative and genrecreating renditions of older Nordic traditions. Composer Einar Selvik initiated the group in the early 2000s. Since the debut album in 2009, Wardruna have had vast worldwide success, transcending music genres, cultures and languages. The group has previously charted in both Germany and the UK and topped the North American Billboard World music chart for several consecutive weeks. The group's massive musical contributions to History Channel's TV series 'Vikings' has exposed their music to a broad audience worldwide.

NEW REPRESS IN HARD CARDBOARD SLEEVE + OBI + INSERT WITH LINER NOTES
+ RESEALABLE OUTER SLEEVE.

Ultimate US hard-psychedelic / proto-prog burner from 1971!!

Obscure Sabbath-esque hard-rock band Salem Mass self-released their only album in 1971. Recorded at a beer bar converted studio, “Witch Burning” consists of seven tracks full of ripping guitar, crazy Moog attacks, heavy keyboards, demented vocals and Satanic / Occult related lyrics, especially in the mindblowing ten minute long title track.



*Original artwork.



*Remastered sound from the original masters, insert with liner notes and rare photos / memorabilia.



Note: This is the only fully-authorized vinyl reissue of Salem Mass in the current market. Beware of inferior, low-quality bootlegs.

Legendary Turkish psych innovators Moğollar grace the Artone Studios in Haarlem for a masterclass in the original Anadolu psych roots, cutting a compendium of their rawest hits and most-wanted psychedelic rock classics – including the J.Dilla-sampled ‘Haliç’te Güneşin Batışı’ – for the latest edition of Night Dreamer’s essential Direct-to-Disc series.

In the beginning, there was Moğollar.

Formed at the end of 1967 with five young musicians, Moğollar were the original Anadolu psych originators. They were the first Turkish pop band who tried to blend the microtonal folklore and traditional instruments of rural Anatolia with Western pop and rock; they were the first Turkish psychedelic band to achieve overseas recognition, winning the prestigious French Grand Prix Du Disque in 1971 after a period in Paris; and they coined the very phrase ‘Anadolu Pop’ with their first album release. They were radical, innovative, and hugely popular, and when the great artists of the Turkish rock revolution appeared on the scene, Moğollar were already there – stars including Barış Manço, Selda, Cem Karaca and Ersen all recorded with them or briefly joined the line-up. Moğollar were and are the undisputed pioneers of the style.

More than fifty years after first forming, Moğollar materialised in the Artone Studios to give a masterclass in fuzzed-out folklore and Turkish psychedelic roots for Night Dreamer’s Direct-to-Disc series – a fitting follow-up to Night Dreamer’s BaBa ZuLa set, coming straight from the group who laid the foundations of the genre.

In 1971, having already released numerous singles, they secured an album deal with French label Guild International du Disques. Travelling to Paris that year, they recorded their first major statement, Danses Et Rythmes de la Turquie d’Hier à Aujourd’hui, a set later released in Turkey as Anadolu Pop. The album won a prestigious French award – the Grand Prix du Disque from the L’Académie Charles Cros, an honour that had been won in the past by Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. Moğollar, and Anadolu psychedelic pop, had arrived on the international scene.

In 1976, after many more releases and line-up changes, and pressured by an increasingly difficult political situation in Turkey, the group dissolved for seventeen years, and various members dispersing to exile in Paris and Berlin. However, after a petition from their fanbase asked them to reform, they agreed to play a comeback concert in 1993. It was a huge success, and reunited, they went on to record some of their greatest work. Led today by original member Cahit Berkay alongside original bass player Taner Öngür, and joined by Cem Karaca’s son Emrah, Moğollar continue to push their uniquely original brand of fuzz-scorched folk-rock and crackling Anadolu psychedelia forward into a new millennium.

For this Night Dreamer session, Moğollar spent two days in the Artone studios, recording sides A and B on the first day, and C and D on day two. With BaBa ZuLa’s Murat Ertel adding contemporary sonic punch behind the boards, the band revisited their most renowned hits to lay down energised new versions, and dusted off some of the most sought-after cuts from their enormous catalogue. The result is a showcase set by a band that are one of true pioneers in global psychedelic rock, and a masterclass in the true roots of the Anadolu psych sound: fuzzed-out, committed, and straight from the source.

Highlights of the set include:
-‘Haliç’te Güneşin Batışı’, an Anadolu psych classic which was first issued as the b-side to the ‘Ternek’ single in 1970, before being recorded again for the Danses Et Rythmes de la Turquie d’Hier à Aujourd’hui LP in 1971. A tense slab of roughneck psychedelia, the final breakdown of the original recording was sampled by none other than J. Dilla for the ‘Intro’ cut on Welcome To Detroit.
-‘Gel Gel’, a 1974 song with head-nodding tempo change, originally featuring Cem Karaca. It is here voiced by his son Emrah Karaca, now a permanent member of Moğollar.
-‘Çığrık’, a 1972 cut which originally appeared on one of Moğollar’s most coveted singles, is a funky psych-rock workout with an unforgettably riff, a ringing guitar motif, and twist of Led Zeppelin.
-‘Düm Tek’, the title track of the bands second full LP (Düm Tek, 1975), a raw psych screamer, laced with hardcore davul drum patterns.
-‘Bi’Sey Yapmali’, first recorded for the 1996 Dört Renk album, became the anthem of huge street protests that took place in Turkey that year after an investigation uncovered a huge network of state, police and mafia corruption.
-‘Dinleyiverin Gari’, a hit from the 1994 come-back album Moğollar 94, addresses a notorious corruption scandal of the era.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

An amazing session of spiritual soul jazz – and one of the rarest albums on Strata East! Shamek Farrah's soulful alto is matched with the free spiritual piano of Sonelius Smith, for a totally memorable session that virtually defines the essence of the Strata East sound! The music is free, but not too free; lyrical, but never indulgent; and always turning over with a fresh sense of imagination, and a soaring groove that's very much in the classic Strata East mode!

BLIXA SOUNDS is releasing a Special Edition of Miami, the classic 1982 album by punk rock legends The Gun Club.
This Special Edition not only features a remastered version of the original classic album, but also includes a 2nd disc featuring the Miami demos. The 2LP set features a 2nd LP of demos of the 12 songs on the album and the 2CD set features a 2nd CD of the complete 18 song demos.
This classic 1982 album has been digitally re-mastered and comes in beautiful gatefold packaging with extensive liner notes and archival photos and other collectable images.
The Gun Club recorded a few albums after Miami, but this one with the original band is the one that is considered their masterpiece!
Classic 2nd Gun Club album with a complete 2nd CD & LP of the Miami demos, never before released.
Digitally re-mastered from the original tapes.
2CD & 2LP collections come in high quality gatefold packaging that includes extensive liner notes and archival photos and images.

While Joe Henderson seemed to arrive fully formed on his auspicious 1963 debut Page One, the album was really a showcase for the transcendent collaboration between the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Kenny Dorham who would form a potent frontline team on numerous mid-60s Blue Note classics.

Page One opens with a pair of indelible Dorham compositions (“Blue Bossa” and “La Mesha”), with the balance of the six-song set penned by Henderson including his enduring theme “Recorda-Me.” Dazzling performances by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Pete La Roca further elevate this album making it one of the crown jewels of the Blue Note catalog.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

ACCEPT ARE BACK! The German kingpins of heavy metal will release their new, eagerly-awaited studio album via Nu- clear Blast on January 15th 2021. The ingenious title of the masterpiece is “Too Mean To Die”.
Speaking of heavy metal kingpins, when ACCEPT first launched at the end of the 70s, the metal genre didn’t even exist - at first the band could only be labelled with the (quality) seal “crazy loud and crazy wild”. Today we know that this was (and is) metal par excellence. And we also know that ACCEPT opened the door to thrash metal, inspiring giants such as Metallica. Guitarist Kirk Hammett recently stated in the German magazine “Gitarre & Bass”: “Wolf Hoffmann has a huge influence on me.“
ACCEPT, who once had their origins in the city of Solingen, a city of sound, have been a worldwide music phenomenon for more than 40 years. They still impress with razor-sharp guitar licks and a steel-hard sound. The band created all-time metal classics like “Balls To The Wall”, “Metal Heart” and many more.
Countless world tours and headline slots at the biggest, cutting-edge festivals cemented the band’s reputation as one of the best, hottest and loudest live acts ever. In addition, the band has sold millions of records, has achieved gold status in the USA, top 10 chart positions worldwide and a number 1 album (Germany, Finland) for “Blind Rage” (2014).
Now with “Too Mean To Die” their 16th studio album is in the starting blocks - it is the fifth album that US vocalist and front man Mark Tornillo has put his incomparable vocal stamp on.Recorded in the world music capital of Nashville (USA), ACCEPT’s music was once again produced by British master producer Andy Sneap, who is responsible for the mix. Sneap, who works for Judas Priest and Megadeth among others, has also been responsible for all ACCEPT productions since 2010.
Special circumstances often lead to very special albums. This is certainly true for “Too Mean To Die”, which of course alludes to the Corona period, although in a different way than one might assume. Hoffmann says: “Its to be expected that many musicians will address the Corona situation in their songs. There will certainly be slogans for cohesion, through which positive vibes should be spread, which is also good. But we have decided to not let ourselves be influenced by it. The fans will get a hard, direct and uncompromising metal album, but of course accompanied with a wink: We are too mean to die! Weeds do not go away! ACCEPT do not let themselves get down!”
Wolf isn’t wrong - the title track is a classic Accept cracker: dynamic and unwavering, turned up to eleven!
Zombie Apocalypse’, also relentless and hard, strikes the same note in the band’s signature style.
The first single - which will be released on October 2nd 2020 together with a remarkable video - is different. Titled ‘The Undertaker’, its a terrific midtempo number with great vocals and a built-in character that chugs along – certain to deliver some mermorable live moments! According to Wolf Hoffmann its one of the most catchy, pleasing pieces of the album.
New to the band, and thus to be heard for the first time on an ACCEPT album, is Philip Shouse (Gene Simmons Band, among others). The US guitarist fights hot duels with Hoffmann, while Uwe Lulis makes the guitar trio perfect and pro- vides the right rhythm. “Phil was part of our orchestra project and was also completely convincing live. We recognised his great talent immediately and simply didn’t let him go,” explains Hoffmann.
Just how varied the ACCEPT guitar trio performs on the new album is proven by one of the secret highlights: ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ – a beguiling ballad in which Mark Tornillo is at his best. The metal world knows that Mark can scream like no other, but here it shows once again that the frontman can also sing magnificently. “Mark sang this, for us rather unusual song stunningly well. The fantastic thing about Mark is that he not only masters the typical metal screams, but can also sing melodically and beautifully. He proves this impressively in this song”, chief guitarist Hoffmann raves.
In addition, ACCEPT have strengthened their team even further with newcomers Martin Motnik (bass) and Philip Shouse (guitar), thus forming an unbeatable team together with “Drum God” Christopher Williams and “Rhythm Mas- ter” Uwe Lulis.
There’s no doubt that with “Too Mean To Die” Accept are once again playing at the top of the Champions League of the genre. Wolf Hoffmann & Co. present the (music) world eleven masterpieces at the beginning of 2021 - eleven songs for eternity!

DJ Trace founded 117 records in 2013 and now drops his first solo release on the imprint with 'Retox' this winter. Deep rolling techstep is the vibe, each track a reflection of moments from the raves of the 90's. Now that the world faces an uncertain and dystopian future, Retox can provide a suitable soundtrack.

Available in 2x12inch clear or black vinyl. Mastered by Simon @ The Exchange.

Clear Vinyl

DJ Trace founded 117 records in 2013 and now drops his first solo release on the imprint with 'Retox' this winter. Deep rolling techstep is the vibe, each track a reflection of moments from the raves of the 90's. Now that the world faces an uncertain and dystopian future, Retox can provide a suitable soundtrack.

Available in 2x12inch clear or black vinyl. Mastered by Simon @ The Exchange.

Elzhi, the “Syllable Sensei,” is back again with a highly anticipated release titled “Seven Times Down Eight Times Up,” This 12-track LP is a collage of memories and metaphors layered atop beats crafted by up-and-coming producer JR Swiftz. With collabs from Detroit artists, Monica Blaire and Fes Rock on two of the album's stand-out tracks, Elzhi’s new masterpiece showcases his ability to create meaningful concepts while Detroit’s own comedian and “Real Hip Hop Advocate” Foolish provides commentary throughout the album.
As one of Elzhi’s most cohesive releases to date, his wordsmithing abilities paint images of royalty, excellence, and zombies wearing Gucci, all with an underlying message of resilience. “Seven times Down Eight Times Up” is the mantra for a year that has seen lots of “downs,” and reminds us that no matter what we're faced with, we will remain undefeated, and get back up after being knocked down by this machete-wielding maniac we call “life.”

As Midnight Sister, multi-disciplinary LA artists Juliana Giraffe and Ari Balouzian make motion pictures. Yes, sometimes with moving images _ but most often only with the music they create together. Balouzian's serpentine, string compositions are movie scenes that allow Giraffe, a brilliant character actor, to cloak herself in a new roles and voices. A bit of Jon Brion's score work; some old Hollywood strings; a solid dose of glam and outsider disco from 70s independent cinema. Any perceived artifice is always matched by an indelible human fingerprint, something perfectly off. Giraffe and Balouzian's respective work in fashion, visual art, video and film scoring _ along with the gang of virtuosos with which they surround themselves _ all wonderfully coalesce as Midnight Sister. And if 2017's `Saturn Over Sunset' was their collection of short films about outcast life in The San Fernando Valley, then their new album `Paining the Roses' is the inventive, meta motion picture that cements them as auteurs. `Painting the Roses' is in many ways a fairy tale -- not so much the sweet-and-happyending kind as something richer, packed with imagination and rooted in the complex human messiness beneath a story's artifice. Frontwoman Giraffe describes it as "this tightrope of being real yet synthetic, organic yet staged, light yet dark, logical yet irrational, beautiful yet dilapidated. Joyful nonsense." Here, disguises like masks and paint are not meant to hide but to liberate, to "set a part of us free", and Midnight Sister often embody this themselves, appearing highly stylized, curious, warm and inviting but a little askew. `Painting the Roses' is a story told through the looking glass, one where we examine ourselves in a funhouse mirror but find clarity in its twists. Giraffe traveled to visit family in Argentina during the making of the album and reconnected greatly with that part of her family history, art and culture. Balouzian created the core album opener "Doctor Says" during a session in the desert outside of LA. The guitar, which reminded Giraffe of South America, has a slow, sweltering surf-tango to it, like Dick Dale doing Carlos Gardel. And even though the song was inspired by Giraffe's reconnection with Argentina, the song is about the fading of some close friendships during the making of the album. "Man, you have changed," Giraffe sings, unclear if tis directed to a friend or to herself. Later on the album, "Wednesday Baby" _ named after Giraffe's rescue dog _ is patient, subtly baroque pop. It follows Giraffe through one of those gloomy days spent in tunnelvision doldrums from which only a sunbathing turtle or your canine companion can pull you out. By the time collaborator Max Whipple's saw comes beaming down from heaven in the song's 3rd part, we're hypnotized by the song's charming ennui. The song lands someplace both familiar and aloof, a little slice of timelessness taken straight from The Cake of Perfect Songcraft.

"When Candy Opera first appeared on the kaleidoscopic early 1980s Liverpool music scene, by rights they should have changed the world" ~ Louder Than War
"Very welcome news as a highly underrated band who is now back with a force. While their previous output is stellar, this new single is even more commanding of attention. This is absolutely stunning, the band reaching higher than ever before" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
Sometimes it takes a while to realise what you’ve got. So it goes with pop craftsmen Candy Opera, who emerged during Liverpool’s 1980s golden age and whose new LP 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' is their first collection of new material in nearly three decades.
Ahead of that, they present 'These Days Are Ours', a rally cry of hope for the current times and the first single from this long-play, which is due for release in mid-November via European / UK label A Turntable Friend Records. The video was created / produced by James
Davies and Paul Malone.
Mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Guy Massey and featuring back vocals by Paul Simpson of The Wild Swans, the track was recorded at Elevator Studios in Liverpool.
With all the hallmarks of an enduring pop anthem, this impeccably produced, adrenalin-fuelled song captures the essence of Candy Opera’s infectious energy and celebrates life with a genuine wonder-lust, whilst delivering the excitement of their live performances.
Following the overdue release of two archival sets - '45 Revolutions Per
Minute' and 'Rarities' (released in 2018 by Firestation Records., quickly selling out of their first runs) - their new album 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' picks up where the band left off, with 14 fresh songs ready for discovery of a sound as timeless as any Candy Opera output.
Candy Opera were formed in Liverpool in 1982 and went through various incarnations before calling it a day in 1992. By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV.
The band's current line-up is drawn from all eras of the band’s existence and features Brian Chin Smithers (guitar, vocals), Alan Currie (drums), Frank Mahon (bass), Paul Malone (vocals, guitar), Ken Moss (guitar) and Gary O'Donnell (keyboards, vocals, percussion).
This new LP also features a swathe of friends and contemporaries, including Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) and Phil Jones (Afraid of Mice). The result is an exquisite piece of pop craftsmanship that brings their songs into the light. This is a labour of love born of experience, but retaining the sense of wonder that brought the band together in the first place.

In 1978 Pharoah Sanders went into the studio with pianist, Ed Kelly, who was an important figure in the local San Francisco and Oakland jazz scene. The two of them recorded six tracks which ranged from covers of standards, through soul jazz through to two real gems. The album was originally released as Ed Kelly and Friend due to Pharoah being contracted to Arista Records at the time. Indeed, as you can see, the cover shows Kelly playing next to Pharoah’s hat, shoes and Selmer tenor saxophone.

Rainbow Song, a Kelly composition, opens matters in a manner far removed from Pharoah’s work on his Impulse albums (although there had been a dramatic change of course when he signed with Arista and recorded). This is firmly in Grover Washington Junior territory with a liberal sprinkling of oh so tasteful strings. The Master’s sound is full and mighty as ever.

With the radio track out of the way it is business as hoped for and Newborn is a Sanders composition that burns with intensity. The power of his solo is as good as anything he has produced and he runs over the full span of the tenor’s range and onwards into territory lesser known or explored by 99% of sax players.

Sam Cooke’s You Send Me is treated with reverence and respect, with Pharoah delivering a sensitive and heartfelt rendition and ending with some extraordinary phonics, which we will meet again on later albums. Kelly’s accompaniment complements Sander’s playing before he receives his own space for a shimmering yet restrained solo which discloses what this non-pianist assumes to be an agile right hand.

Answer Me My Love is an early 50’s ballad with a fascinating back story. On its initial release in post-war Britain, covers of this fine melody stirred sufficient controversy for the song to be banned by the BBC. What led to it being barred from broadcast on the Light Programme and treated like Anarchy For The UK, Wet Dream and Give Ireland Back To The Irish? I can reveal that the reason for this draconian action was that the original version was entitled ‘Answer Me, My Lord’. In the olden days, it seems that a direct appeal to God was considered to be blasphemous- especially if set in a secular or selfish. Further research indicates that Nat King Cole made the most celebrated recording and that Bob Dylan used to sing it live in the 1990’s, presumably during his overtly Christian phase. Anyway, it is a grand tune.

Pharoah went on to record at least three studio versions of his great anthem You’ve Got To Have Freedom but the one here is the earliest incarnation that I am aware of. It is also the most restrained treatment of the theme, although Pharoah’s solo shows his ability to play with fire and power over the entire range of the horn. There’s plenty of space for Kelly’s piano too and he provides an elegant setting for Sanders’ exploratory work.

Jeremy Gara, drummer of Arcade Fire, releases his second solo album ‘Passerine Finale’ on Invada Records.

The album was mastered by Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent) and composed, produced and recorded by Jeremy over the last three years. ‘Passerine Finale’ is a varied collection of songs and disparate sounds, from arranged static noise to extended melodic drones, improvised and chiselled at, ignoring form or structure, and completed the moment things ‘felt’ something.

The album comes pressed on silver vinyl and is housed in a heavyweight sleeve with digital download card included, with artwork throughout by Jeremy himself.

Jeremy explains: “‘L_06’ - the visual thing, like the song it accompanies, comes from trying to push really simple objects and figures to a place where they hopefully, somehow, become imprinted with a kind of emotional energy - attempting to entwine single note drones and simple straight lines together tightly enough that they dance a little.”

Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Jeremy has been a member of Arcade Fire since 2004. Outside of the band, he has recently collaborated with bandmate Sarah Neufeld and world-renowned dancer and choreographer Peggy Baker on composing music for a large-scale dance production called Who We Are In The Dark and performed it live at various dance festivals. He’s also been touring and performing his solo material across the world since his first album, ‘Limn’, was released in March of 2016.

In unserer heutigen Kultur der permanenten öffentlichen Entblößung ist es selten, dass Künstler sich dazu entschließen sich am Licht der Öffentlichkeit vorbeizuschleichen. Das maskierte, schwedische Psych-Kollektiv GOAT ist da eine Ausnahme und wohl eines der großartigsten Popkultur-Mysterien der Welt. Ihr neues Album "Requiem" wirft dabei mehr Fragen auf als dass es sie beantwortet. Die einzige Erklärung, die die Band zu ihrem neuen Album abgibt ist, dass es sich dabei um ein "Folk-Album" handele und es sich mehr auf idyllischen Ritualismus als auf Acid-Freakouts konzentriere. Songs wie "Try My Robe" beschwören wieder einmal das heißblütige Pulsieren herauf, das uns schon 2012 mit "World Music" und 2014 mit "Commune" verführt hat.

"When Candy Opera first appeared on the kaleidoscopic early 1980s Liverpool music scene, by rights they should have changed the world" ~ Louder Than War
"Very welcome news as a highly underrated band who is now back with a force. While their previous output is stellar, this new single is even more commanding of attention. This is absolutely stunning, the band reaching higher than ever before" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
Sometimes it takes a while to realise what you’ve got. So it goes with pop craftsmen Candy Opera, who emerged during Liverpool’s 1980s golden age and whose new LP 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' is their first collection of new material in nearly three decades.
Ahead of that, they present 'These Days Are Ours', a rally cry of hope for the current times and the first single from this long-play, which is due for release in mid-November via European / UK label A Turntable Friend Records. The video was created / produced by James
Davies and Paul Malone.
Mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Guy Massey and featuring back vocals by Paul Simpson of The Wild Swans, the track was recorded at Elevator Studios in Liverpool.
With all the hallmarks of an enduring pop anthem, this impeccably produced, adrenalin-fuelled song captures the essence of Candy Opera’s infectious energy and celebrates life with a genuine wonder-lust, whilst delivering the excitement of their live performances.
Following the overdue release of two archival sets - '45 Revolutions Per
Minute' and 'Rarities' (released in 2018 by Firestation Records., quickly selling out of their first runs) - their new album 'The Patron Saint of Heartache' picks up where the band left off, with 14 fresh songs ready for discovery of a sound as timeless as any Candy Opera output.
Candy Opera were formed in Liverpool in 1982 and went through various incarnations before calling it a day in 1992. By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV.
The band's current line-up is drawn from all eras of the band’s existence and features Brian Chin Smithers (guitar, vocals), Alan Currie (drums), Frank Mahon (bass), Paul Malone (vocals, guitar), Ken Moss (guitar) and Gary O'Donnell (keyboards, vocals, percussion).
This new LP also features a swathe of friends and contemporaries, including Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) and Phil Jones (Afraid of Mice). The result is an exquisite piece of pop craftsmanship that brings their songs into the light. This is a labour of love born of experience, but retaining the sense of wonder that brought the band together in the first place.

Growing Bin say sayonara to summer with these bittersweet Balearic gems from Japan’s Nuback. Emotional pop and daydream dub to make you feel younger than yesterday. While the Discogs hipsters hastily hunt down the last, lost street soul OGs, Growing Bin choose instead to indulge in a little Nuback swing. Enlisting the talents of Tokyo’s Dai Nakamura, Hamburg’s home for sensitive sounds provide a much needed vinyl release for the misty-eyed ‘When The Party Is Over’ and ‘Heartbeat Summer’. Largely operating through his own Too Young Records, Nuback trades in textured soul, sympathetic synthesis and forlorn funk - a master at making you move while breaking your heart. Back in 2013, he waved ‘Goodbye To Summer, Again’, giving a digital release to these two tracks, which lurked a little low for the radar until Dai and Basso met somewhere beyond the algorithm, soon bringing this release to bloom. Opening with a fanfare of featherlight pads and full bodied bass, ‘When The Party Is Over’ is pure sonic seduction, holding both Balearic boogie and City Pop in a tender embrace. Delicate guitar and sparkling sequences tug the heartstrings with nostalgic beauty, and Dai’s smooth vocals are made to make you swoon. Emotional pop at its finest folks. On the B-side, ‘Heartbeat Summer’ drops the tempo and soaks up the sun, losing its cares in a haze of loved up dub. As soulful keys sink into spring reverb and steam kettle synths ride a rolling bassline, this downbeat delight lays back in the long grass, making shapes from the clouds and sipping a cool koshu. For summer lovers everywhere; A facemask ruins a first kiss, so start your romance right with Nuback.

• Ace’s 45th anniversary 7-inch selection continues this month by taking us back to our roots, and bringing you incredible previously unreleased alternate takes of two all-time classics of rockin’ 1950s rhythm & blues.

• R&B lovers will need no introduction to either Roy Brown’s ‘Boogie At Midnight’ or Lloyd Price’s ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’, but these recently discovered ‘Take One’s put whole new perspectives on two proven classics. The fast and furious ‘Boogie’ makes the issued 1951 master sound like a lullaby in comparison, while ‘Clawdy’ has an alternate opening line that would have guaranteed no airplay would have been forthcoming back in 1952.

• Both tracks are taken from new transfers of the original acetate and tape sources, and both play loud and proud. Each side of the 45 offers a representation of the original label design that would have been used, had they been issued at the time of recording.

• No self-respecting R&B singles collector will want to be without a copy of this essential commemorative single, featuring two of the greatest names in 1950s black American music.

Bristol-based trip hop trio Jabu this week announced details of their second album. ‘Sweet Company’ will be released on November 20th via the group’s own do you have peace? imprint.

Sweet Company is the second album by Jabu. Where their first LP, Sleep Heavy, was an unflinching exploration of grief, dark and disembodied, Sweet Company’s deep, sedative soul feels like more of a lovers’ outing: optimistic, becalmed, looking outwards as well as inwards, and longing for the kind of human connections where ego and self-consciousness might dissolve. It is perhaps also an exhortation to love and accept yourself, to recover a lost innocence and peace – that paradise which has always been lost. Released via their own do you have peace? label, Sweet Company is on the one hand a very intimate and private-sounding work - the sound of life played out in a room, a bubble, a home, a head. The rhythms of everyday domesticity: listening to the plants, cars in the street, voices through the wall…. going to work, not going to work, sleeping heavy or not sleeping at all. Wavering on the brink of a revelation, of something just beyond the material world, while you wait for the kettle to boil. The core Jabu trio of producer Amos Childs and vocalists Jasmine Butt and Alex Rendall is present and correct. Sweet Company has theexhilarating sweep and confidence of a collaboration between people who trust and understand each other implicitly, and, secure in that knowledge, are able to give the absolute best of themselves to us. As before, Jasmine’s voice is a textural, painterly instrument, layered and blurred into abstraction, resisting the limits of language; the songs she sings on are portals into vast internal landscapes where the normal rules of gravity are suspended, every sound is smothered in a cathedral-like resonance, and you're both fearful and hopeful that you might never find your way back out again. Alex takes a more narrative, confessional and no less engaging pop tack: as on the gauzy, decelerated 2-step of ‘Lately’, with his masochistic, self-mocking entreaties to “be cruel to me … I like it when you make a fool of me”. Childs has a true hip-hop fiend's ear for a striking sample, and how to loop it to most hypnotic and rapturous effect, but here takes things to ever more powerfully uncanny and auteurish places, drawing inspiration from the voidal bliss-outs of shoegaze (AR Kane’s amniotic dream-pop epic 69 is one influence cited) and the space-time disturbances of dub, commanding both a raindrops-on-cobwebs delicacy and an immense, oceanic pressure. His productions seem to resist linear progression - instead they move by a kind of unstoppable diffusion, like weeds reclaiming an unkempt garden, or alien flora patterning the sea-floor and coral-caves of the subaquatic level of a computer game which may exist only in your, or his, imagination. Perhaps it's Daniela Dyson, the British-Afro-Colombian artist who contributes her vivid, energising poetic mysticism to two tracks, who best sums up Sweet Company's ambition and effect: “Me quiero perder en los momentos tan puros en su esencia que Las Horas mismas se detienen para ser testigo de nuestro amor” (I want to lose myself in the moments so pure in their essence / that The Hours themselves stop to bear witness to our love…). For a precious half an hour, we're invited to celebrate the smallness of our lives - and the limitless grandeur which that smallness contains. When it ends, we step back from the brink but things aren’t quite the same anymore: we’re haunted by what we briefly almost knew.

Bridges To Bremen is a full-length show performed by the Stones on the fifth and final leg of the Bridges To Babylon Tour. Filmed at the German city’s Weserstadion on September 2, 1998, the band had by then completed four legs in the stadiums and arenas of North America (twice), Asia and South America before finally landing in Europe early that summer. This concert film has been meticulously restored from the original masters, and the audio remixed and remastered from the live multitrack recordings. Four tracks from their Soldier Field performances in Chicago are included as bonus features. Eagle Vision’s SD Blu-ray range presents upscaled standard definition original material with uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound for the best possible quality. Formats include a 3 x 180gm black vinyl release. DVD details Region: 0, Picture Format: NTSC, DVD Aspect Ratio: 4:3FF, DVD Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS 5.1 Surround Sound, DVD Format: DVD-9. Blu Ray: Region: ABC (all) Picture Format: NTSC, BD Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (4:3PB, BD Audio: LPCM Stereo, DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, BD Format: BD-50

Barang Bang Records Archive Series vol. 1

Previously unreleased recordings
Compiled by Gianmarco Liguori

Bernie McGann - alto sax
Kim Paterson - trumpet
Bobby Gebert - piano (side A)
Andy Brown – bass
George Neidorf – drums

Recorded by Trevor Graham in Sydney, Australia (copyright 1966)

There is no more engaging nor distinctive alto saxophone sound on the planet than McGann’s.
Sydney Morning Herald

McGann takes the language of Bebop then bends and stretches it to fit the contours of his own remarkable im-agination.
The Wire

Bernie McGann’s sound is exciting and physical, as heated as any post-coltrane modernist.
Downbeat

A lost treasure of Antipodean jazz

This compilation documents part of an exciting period in Australasian jazz. Recorded in Sydney, 1966, we can hear Bernie McGann was already one of the great Australian jazz stylists. At the time, the only publicly available recording he made was two tracks on the Jazz Australia compilation (1967) (CBS BP 233450).

Two years earlier, McGann was living in Auckland, New Zealand (1963-64). It was here that he worked regular-ly with Kim Paterson, Andy Brown and pianist Dave MacRae, and the basis of this band came into being.

‘Lazy Days’, ‘Chuggin’, and ‘Sky’ were salvaged from a cassette in Kim Paterson’s collection, one of the few remaining copies. Originally intended for a radio broadcast, the master tapes were reportedly destroyed after the session.

‘Rhythm-a-Ning’ and ‘When Will The Blues Leave?’ were taped by Trevor Graham at the Wayside Chapel in King’s Cross. Graham was a Sydney music journalist and ally of the avant garde, with the foresight to capture some of what was happening at the time.

This album is also notable for a rare appearance by the mysterious American drummer George Neidorf (mis-spelt as ‘Neidori’ in the liner notes on the first Soft Machine album), an early influence on drummer Robert Wyatt.

Field recordings of a major artist in strong company – a lost treasure of Antipodean modern jazz.

Nils Frahm announces the release of Encores 3 on 20 September 2019, the third and final instalment of his Encores series. The three EPs will be available as one full length release titled All Encores featuring 80 minutes of music on 18 October, to follow his masterful 2018 album All Melody. Whilst Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with solo piano and harmonium at the core, and Encores 2 explored more ambient landscapes, now Encores 3 sees Nils expand on the percussive and electronic elements in his work.

“The idea behind All Encores is one we had from before All Melody; to separate releases each with their own distinct musical style and theme, perhaps even as a triple album. But All Melody became larger than itself and took over any initial concepts. I think the idea of All Encores is like musical islands that compliment All Melody.”Moulded during All Melody but refined by his live performances, All Encores is testament to Nils’ exceptional ability to craft his art on stage.

Artificially Intelligent which showcases his ‘mad professor’ organ, and All Armed which has been a live favourite for some time, appearing on set lists since 2015, are now available to hear on record for the very first time. The final track of Encores 3, as well as the whole series, Amirador, perhaps aptly nods to the Spanish word for ‘lookout’ and hints at what’s to come.

Frahm has been touring extensively following the release of All Melody, bringing his spectacular live show all around the world with sold out performances including the Hammersmith Apollo in London, L.A.’s Disney Hall, Brooklyn Steel, Le Trianon in Paris and Funkhaus in Berlin. Nils returns to the UK capitol for The Hydra’s summer 2019 series, headlining Printworks on August 23, with further European dates following the release of Encores 3 and All Encores. For all dates and tickets: nilsfrahm/concerts.

“Bernie Says” ist das Debütalbum des in South London ansässigen Produzenten Jake Milliner.

Aufgewachsen in einem musikalischen Haushalt und geprägt durch die Golden Era,
hat sich Jake in den letzten Jahren mit seinem abgespaceten und souligem Sound unter Boom Bap Fans (einschließlich T-3 von Slum Village) einen Ruf als “One To Watch” erarbeitet. Außerdem hat es Jake bereits geschafft Medien wie Boiler Room, Clash Magazine und Afropunk auf sich aufmerksam zu machen.

Jake produzierte bereits für Künstler wie Barney Artist, Hawk House, Bubblerap, Lord Apex, Zilo, Musiq Soulchild und T-3 (Slum Village). Mit seine Debut Album “Bernie Says” tritt Jake nun selbst ins Rampenlicht. Aufbauend auf seinen Boom-Bap-Wurzeln erweitert Jake sein Klangspektrum auf “Bernie Says” um Jazz- und Boogie, mit viel Keys und einem Alfa Mist Feature auf der ersten Single “Reminisce“. Einige andere Pianisten der aktuellen Londoner Jazzszene haben Ebenfalls an dem Album mitgewirkt, können jedoch aus vertraglichen Gründen nicht genannt werden. Gesangstechnische bekommt Jake Unterstützung von ehemaliger Hawkhouse-Sängerin Bubblerap und befreundetem Rapper 25.

Mehrere Stücke des Albums werden von wichtigen Radio DJ’s bei BBC 6, Worldwide FM und NTS gespielt, darunter Marry Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft und Don Letts.

Das Artwork basiert auf einem Kunstwerk des Londoner Künstlers Stuart Ruel.

light blue vinyl + purple vinyl

French ROD imprint returns with the second chapter of his "Rave Encounter" trilogy, featuring four original and exclusive bangers packed in another collectible 2x10''!

Frankfurt legend Marc Acardipane (The Mover - Planet Phuture) engages hostilities on a side with an hardcore ode to the label. Powerful breakbeat rhythms melt with hitting lines turn this "Rave Or Die" cut into a true underground and future classic anthem. Insane!

On the flip, German J. Lindenthal & R. Russino from Mental Fear Productions go dark with implacable "Constant Sorrow", a hypnotic yet doom-like song that fits pretty well to this odd period we are all living at the moment.

On the C-side, Scottish Dave Tarrida (boss of Sativae) signs his second contribution to ROD. Punishing "Rave Death Cult" skilfully combines bleepy tones to raging spirit for the greatest happiness of your neighbours!

Last but not the least, ROD mastermind Umwelt concludes the compilation in apotheosis with the rollin' "Chaos & Mayhem", a tense, brutal and oldschool masterpiece full of early 90's sounds.

If you enjoyed the first opus of "Rave Encounter", you'll 100% dig this brain-melting new release that goes further into murky industrial rave waters.

Dynamic Sounds Studio has its roots firmly set in Jamaica’s history. It was the first state of the art studio built in Kingston, Jamaica and a firm favourite with all the topflight homespun artists. Bob Marley chose to record the bulk of his seminal 'Catch A Fire' album there and many foreign musicians trying to catch some of that reggae magic and emulate that sound have beaten a path to its doors. As you will see the studio had a history already of its own, that was carved out before it became the aptly named Dynamic Sounds.

Originally named WIRL Studio's (West Indies Records Limited), it was set up initially to record Jamaica's versions of the American Rhythm and Blues tunes that were proving so popular  on the island. It was started back in 1958 by Political leader Edward Seaga an astute businessman, who had many interests around the island including clubs and bars. As the R & B music evolved into its own styles from Mento into Ska, one of its main protagonists Byron Lee and his band the Dragonaires would be at the forefront and be seen as ambassadors to the cause. Edward Seaga would choose the band to head the 1964 World’s Fair and take them to New York to showcase the Jamaican Ska Music. His political ambitions leading the American friendly JLP (Jamaican Labour Party) against the Cuban inspired PNP (People's National Party), would see him cutting back his other interests and lead to the selling of WIRL, lock stock and barrel to Byron Lee. On taking over the business he renamed it Dynamic Sounds and extended it to include not only a top of the range recording studio but a pressing plant to distribute the new hot sounds of the day directly to the streets of Jamaica. The address would also change to 15 Bell Road, it's old address No 13, seemingly too unlucky for such a fine establishment.

The studio has become part of the Jamaican culture and each twist and turn in its musical story has been caught and recorded here. We get on board when the music had slowed down to the reggae skank that we now know and love. We have picked some fine cuts that we feel best represent the times. The rhythms are pushed to the fore and the great Sylvan Morris a much-underrated studio master, always came up with some interesting effects to enhance the version cuts. A fine time in reggae's history caught at one of Jamaica's finest studios. Dynamic Sounds from a Dynamic Studio.....

This compilation sees the coming together of independent music makers from across the globe to meet in one place and gather as a single entity. That simmering hub of warmth and affection is known as Motor Jazz - a place for artists to congregate and share their devotion for songs that are infused with rhythms created by anodic wires, buttons and other digital paraphernalia. That's electronic music to you and me, and in this case electronic music with swing, a sense of freedom and improvisation that some might call 'Jazz'.

The album opens with the ominous drone of the Mega Corp., sounding like one of the parties responsible for 2020's almost post-apocalyptic feel. It's perhaps an unlikely opener for a what's a positive and optimistic collection courtesy of young musicians from across the globe, but we all need to be reminded of who's in charge sometimes, and Dutch producer Jon Sewi does just that!

The mood soon lightens though, with the soulful strings and enticing keys of Gladdics by the mysterious Black Soyls, before well established German musical artisan Renegades of Jazz brings the family in for It's Tea Time with ticking clocks, warm tea pots and slices of cake, whilst being serenaded by a very vintage sounding horn section.

Serafin Plum almost steer us into drum & bass territory with their off-the-wall percussive nugget Jagged, whilst keeping a calming hand on the shoulder (as all good parents should) with soothing keys, before it's playtime once again.

There's nothing conventional about the Motor Jazz family though, and after tea time and play time, it's time to rave! In Greek mythology, The Maenads were female followers of Dionysus; their name literally translating as "the raving ones". Often they were portrayed as being inspired by the god into a state of ecstasy through a combination of dancing and intoxication, during which time they would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus - a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. With a sound ranging between Jazz, Techno, Rave and Breaks their track, Opera, delivers a psyche and Jazz influenced piece with colliding styles, busy drums and rich melodies.

Heading over to Dublin, Ireland, and multi-talented producer, musician and DJ, Donal Sharpson (aka Double Screen) makes his presence known with grandiose brass preempting a four-to-the-floor wood block frenzy in the shape of Sheikah, complete with enthusiastic whoops and a persuasive bassline. Meanwhile, somewhere below the Irish Sea, aquatic artiste Stubby Dials delivers the bass worrying Put It On Ice the only way he knows how - living in a submarine, he emerges from time to time to leave his master tapes on the beach with a note saying "Release this!" before submerging, never been seen again.

Back in the Netherlands, Bram van der Hoeven, otherwise known as Lucinate, is an electronic Jazz producer par excellence. His effortless balance of organic musical roots like Fusion, Bossa Nova and Soul, into the world of modern beat orientated sounds is something to behold, and with The Cards he offsets life-affirming keys with rolling drums reminiscent of some of the seminal liquid Drum & Bass he grew up with.

As the global Motor Jazz family expands, we head to Canada, where the wonderfully monikered Woodpecking Mantis brings a little acid to the party with his squelchy, stuttering and brilliantly entitled Waving At A Melting Square Tooth Of A Specific Rabbit……. We're guessing they like acid a lot in Canada.

We're going down under to Newcastle, Australia next, where things take a more serene turn. Wrenasmir, known to his parents as Craig Smith, used to be a baroque pipe organist before he discovered samplers and synthesizers. Now he makes imaginary soundtracks at his studio for the twilight beachside city that lives in his head - full of vinyl and pixels and bittersweet memories. The gorgeous Lucempight is exactly that.

Keeping things low key and tranquil, Poets And Rockets, the latest offering from Jay Solomon is a horn driven slice of futuristic dub that makes way for The Motion Orchestra's majestic Midnight Sun, complete with Alexander Bednasch on double-bass, Mark Matthes on violins, Andy Sells on drums and David Hanke on electronics and production. Though influenced heavily by neo-classical and jazz sensibilities they occupy a musical space that sits in neither sphere, with a compositional style that deftly fuses the orchestral and electronic worlds. The full Motion Orchestra album, All One, will be released later this year on Bathurst.

Sixteen year old, self taught producer and multi-instrumentalist Teis Ortved is something of a prodigy. The Copenhagen based wunderkind has so far self-released two EPs, and if What, his offering here, is anything to go by, he's going to be making big waves across the eclectic music spectrum for years to come.

If Teis is the new kid on the block then what better way to round off this compilation that with its patriarchal figure. Funki Porcini has over a quarter of a century of recordings in his back catalogue, and has spent fifteen of those years dedicated to the independent UK behemoth that is Ninja Tune records. The Last Recording From Earth is exclusive to this album and is in many ways the perfect closing song. Perhaps more concept art than traditional piece of music, the idea behind it is that an alien archeologist has found this recording tens of thousands of years after humans have disappeared into the sand…. You never know, it might just happen, and hopefully Them To Us will take on a whole new meaning.

A​ - 45 rpm - ​ ​“Wanna Freak?” The funk stabs, groovy sub, and mutated disco vocals will make you Freak all over the place! From Spiltmilk’s recent album ‘Funk Side of A Moon,’ for mid tempo house lovers this slo-mo jam clocks in at 109 bpm.

B ​- 45 rpm - ​ ​“Addict”
Outspoken yet spacey, ‘Addict’s’ staircase bassline flatters the bassheads but keeps the g-funk future peeps innit! Keep an ear out for LA party rocker Ztrip’s latest 45 set, mashing up doubles of ‘Addict ‘ white label with popular g-funk jams!

Trevor Wyatt aka ​Spiltmilk ​is madly passionate about refining his sound techniques. It is all about the spacey mutated funk right now, grab a listen to this flavour filled Album: ‘Funk Side of A Moon’ out now on MSLX Recordings

Joshua Abrams’ first album Natural Information from 2010, superb avant-jazz, newly remastered at Dubplates & Mastering.

In his book Powershift, published in 1990, writer and businessman Alvin Toffler predicted that the century ahead would be defined by speed and that time itself is destined to become our most valuable commodity. When Joshua Abrams recorded Natural Information, originally released by Eremite in 2010, he was reacting against such commodification of time and the diminishing attention span that accompanies it by offering music with an irresistible groove, rooted in the sinuous rhythms of the human body and the full play of our senses.

At the heart of this music is the sound of the guimbri, a North African three-stringed bass lute, which Abrams started to play following a visit to Morocco during the late 90s. Traditionally the instrument has a key role in mystical healing ceremonies. Abrams, already a well-established figure in Chicago’s vibrant musical communities, had no desire to repackage tradition. He recognized however that the involving, springy and percussive sound of the guimbri was just the right voice to communicate vital data, to relay the natural information we all need in order to get back in touch with the pulsating continuities of a world we all share.

With Natural Information Abrams entered a new phase of his musical life, extending an invitation to the trance, where time intersects with timelessness. He carried with him a wealth of playing and listening experience. As a bass player he had worked with a host of notable musicians including guitarist Jeff Parker and percussionist Hamid Drake, and had been a member of back porch minimalism outfit Town And Country and the improvising trio Sticks And Stones.

The guimbri is a shaping presence on this remarkable recording, but Abrams also plays bass, bells, kora, sampler and synthesizer. Sympathetic friends including guitarist Emmett Kelly, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummers Frank Rosaly and Nori Tanaka join him for the project. They set out not to contrive some neat hybrid but to enable coordinated energies and enriching influences to pulse and flow through living, breathing music. Ten years further into a century seemingly dedicated, as Toffler foresaw, to the survival of the fastest, the deep involving groove of Natural Information seems still more relevant, more illuminating, more vital.

Joshua Abrams: guimbri, mpc, percussion, harmonium, bass, bells, dulcimer, donso ngoni, ms20
Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone
Emmett Kelly: guitar
Frank Rosaly & Noritaka Tanaka: drums

'Music For Us' is Italo-Disco in its pure state! If the two original versions on this 12inch reissue's main side by House of Music are "untouchables" as the "purists" rightly claim, the rebuilt version by Danilo Braca on the flip must also be considered a masterpiece! The original vocal is hot, Helene has a very sexy voice, while the instrumental has a strong groove, thanks to the excellent synthesizers and bass. It seems that Junei's 1987 'Let's Ride' was inspired by this milestone published five years earlier by Stefano Zito.
The sequences of this song, which has become legendary, now sound good, precise and without the distortion of the previous reissues.
By turning the vinyl you'll find a later work by Stefano Galante, the same composer and arranger who, along with Claudio Casalini, at the end of the 80s created a song renamed 'Music For All Of Us'. 13 sumptuous minutes completely rebuilt by Danilo Braca. The Italian DJ based in the Big Apple is a true magician in radically transforming a song without losing its original charm. His version, renewed with a more modern and universal taste, will certainly please everyone. Very captivating, it will attract many new young Italo-Disco fans.

In March of 2020 bassist Dezron Douglas & harpist Brandee Younger were nestled in their apartment in Harlem, New York, not long after every live concert in the world was cancelled and most folks in the United States were forced to shelter in place for the covid lockdown. With all their gigs cancelled and their incomes strapped.. the two came up with an idea. They would host a live-stream performance from their living room, where they would perform classic tunes for friends and family to watch online, and folks could send them donations. They called it “Force Majeure: Brunch in the Crib with Brandee & Dezron,” the first part in homage to the ubiquitous contract clause that never seems to have any use (except all of sudden, c/o a covid-induced live music industry collapse). The immense popularity of their first performance roped them into doing it again, and again, until it eventually became a weekly ritual for Douglas, Younger, and their many friends and family who tuned in every Friday morning (ourselves included). Knowing the beautiful, natural sound they made in their living room would be as enjoyable (or more) as a record as it was through a social media stream… we mailed them a microphone to record themselves. What’s heard on this album, Force Majeure, is a collection of highlights from Douglas & Younger’s legendary lockdown livestream brunch sessions. It includes gorgeous interpretations of songs by Alice & John Coltrane, The Stylistics, The Jackson 5, Pharoah Sanders, Kate Bush, Sting, and The Carpenters… plus some solid gold nuggets of their banter between tunes. It’s an uplifting suite of real, soulful comfort music – a spiritual salve, emanating warmth from the hearth of a Harlem sanctuary.

Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger are long time companions in life and in music. The two East Coast natives met early in life and have accompanied each other, personally and professionally, through their equally prolific careers. Douglas, a bassist who has established himself as a musician’s musician, is known to many for his work with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, David Murray, and Keyon Harold. Younger, a harpist who has distinguished herself as one of the premiere voices in her field, is known for her work with Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, and Moses Sumney. To the day Douglas and Younger often accompany each other in many of the ensembles they lead, respectively. The two played together in sessions for Makaya McCraven’s 2018 release Universal Beings, on which they are both featured artists. Of Force Majeure, McCraven says: “It’s a testament to the power of music to uplift us through the most challenging times.

New Wave and Afrofuturism

With a unique mix of music roots and cosmopolitan sounds Jaime Roos would become one of the most successful and significant artists of Uruguayan music.
Released in 1984, Mediocampo absorbs the new wave trend in a unique way, blending the sounds of synths and electric guitars with Afro drums and Latin rhythms. The songs jump from candombe to rock, from ballad to murga roots, from pop to experimental music. The album paved Roos’ path to stardom in Uruguay and is considered nowadays as one of his most substantial works.

500 copies. 140 gramms vinyl, 12 page booklet included!

Despite current circumstances, Speedy have had a busy year. The London-based label run by producer Dan Carey alongside Alexis Smith and Pierre Hall were recently coveted with the Best Small Label Award by AIM after being nominated for the second year in a row. Carey also picked up UK Producer Of The Year earlier in the year at the prestigious Music Producer Guild Awards. He also produced the critically acclaimed sophomore album ‘A Hero’s Death’ by Fontaines D.C. which landed a welldocumented No. 2 position in the official album charts.
Speedy Wunderground released their fastest ever selling 7” - The Lounge Society’s timely tour de force ‘Generation Game’, the second band to be signed to the label for a forthcoming EP release following Squid’s ‘Town Centre’ EP in 2019. They also announced the label’s first ever full album release - Tiña’s ‘Positive Mental Health Music’, with recent single ‘Golden Rope’ having just come off the A-list at 6 Music.
Bringing bands into the studio wasn’t an option so the label started an ongoing project called ‘The Quarantine Series’ in which Carey under his Savage Gary techno/electronic alter ego collaborated with artists and friends, old and new over the internet and then uploaded them to the label’s Soundcloud/socials with little or no fanfare - no PR-ing or radio pluggers, just let the bands do their own thing, organically.
The common thread throughout all is Carey, whether it be in his regular name or his Savage Gary guise. However, collaborators in the series so far have included a wide range of people: Kae Tempest, PVA, Willy Mason, Heartworms, Warmduscher, Charlotte Spiral, Boxed In, Stephen Fretwell, Goat Girl and more.
“We chose two tracks/artists that I think we really wanted to shed some more light on” says label co-runner Pierre Hall. “Two that we really didn’t want to go under the radar - and in our opinion reflect this parallel strand of the label that’s forming - with new artists we’re really excited about - and that will hopefully draw people in to explore the series as a whole.”
First on the release is ‘Wait & See’ from rising Bajan artist RoRo. A hypnotic masterful flow which meanders seamlessly around Carey’s pulsating electronics. It’s bursting with attitude and originality. “I saw Dan Carey play with Kate Tempest on one of my first few times ever being out in London” she says, “it was such an amazing show. I was extremely excited to then get the chance to work with him. I’d been trying to do so while in London, but it didn't quite work out that way. We did manage to make it happen remotely whilst I was back in Barbados though, and we knocked it out!”
Second is ‘Cigarettes Pt. 2’ from the enigmatic Londoner youngblackmale AKA Rutare Savage: “It’s a poem, transformed into a song by the ever amazing Dan Carey. It touches (lightly) upon the topics of fear of the police, drug and alcohol abuse, family, and pulling oneself out of a nihilistic worldview driven by a newfound lust for life. This is me trying to reason with the void.”

Favorite Recordings presents an exclusive reissue of the first private press eponymous LP by Sacbé, a Mexican Jazz Fusion masterpiece from 1977. Unique and beautifully recorded, with a breezy feel brought by the synthesizers, Sacbé could be likened to what Azymuth was doing at the same time in Brazil. Available as a vinyl-only limited pressing Deluxe Tip-On LP, coming with its original printed innersleeve, remastered by The Carvery.

Sacbé was composed of Eugenio (keyboards), Enrique (electric bass) & Fernando Toussaint (drums), three brothers hailing from the huge Mexico city, and their friend and sax player Alejandro Campos. Growing up in a family of musicians, they quickly became familiar with jazz music. However they were mostly self-taught, most of them choosing at first to work and study outside the music industry, but somehow, Eugenio had the opportunity to start studies at the Berklee Music University. Before leaving, he deeply wanted to play jazz with his brothers. That’s how Sacbé was created on a hot day of October 1976.

The band then built step by step a challenging repertoire including Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Milton Nascimento, Focus, Passport, and many more… Gradually, Eugenio started to compose more tracks, and through a cooperative work of arrangement, Sacbé ended up playing only their own compositions. That was not an easy choice for the band, resulting in a lot fewer opportunities to play in bars and clubs at night, while they were cumulating small jobs during the daytime. But their dedication, tightness, and integrity started to attract a wider audience thanks to their sessions at the Musicafé and helped Sacbé to assert its imprint within Mexico’s creative artistic circles. A group of artists with similar attitudes was created and they began working almost as a team, holding live shows, exhibitions, and dance performances, all with a very unique and creative proposal. It’s at this period that the band met Luis Gil, a young designer and recording engineer, who had access to one of the best studios of the city called LAGAB. Recording at nights and weekends for free, the Toussaint brothers had, therefore, the chance to really put their band quite literally under the microscope.

With tenacity, they explored all the possibilities of interpretations, structures and improvisations, collaborating with great musicians and finding themselves in the position of being their own producers, despite being only around 20 years old! This album is the result of this perfectionism ethics, shared by everyone involved. “Sacbé” means white road in the Mayan culture, it was the name for the roads connecting the main ceremonial centres with the jungle, made of roughly three feet of coral limestone. They were sacred roads used by high priests and warriors, which echoed the musical path of the three brothers. Putting the pieces together, they managed to create their own label and pressed 1000 copies of their reunited recordings in 1977. The artwork was painted by Enrique, inspired by the work of Le Douanier Rousseau and the Mayan jungle. Hopefully, the LP met some success in Mexico and California, opening many radio and TV doors for them. It was the starting point for a whole career of recordings, with a total of seven albums including various guests.

Previously Unreleased material recorded in 1979 at Allen Toussaint's legendary Sea-Saint Recording Studio in New Orleans, LA.

Freaky With You is a Six-and-a-half minute Psychedelic Disco Funk excursion taking you on a wild mojo trip with a four on the floor backbeat and extended conga breakdown peppered with some New Orleans Voodoo that reaches for the Bondye Celestial Heavens.

On the B-Side, Welcome To My World is a Modern Soul Steppers masterpiece. A version was also recorded by Joe Chopper for the Lanor Records label.

James Dumaine remembers the studio session well. After having oral surgery that morning, a grotesque, theatre of the absurd incident followed causing him to bleed onto the microphone as he was singing. That combined with the miscommunication with the audio engineer to watch the volume levels on his new synthesizer: The Engineer decided not to take heed to the warning… Half way into the recording all the band could see from the other side of the glass were heads frantically rushing to the mixing board. The synthesizer levels had caused the monitors in the control room to blow up. Superior Elevation wasn't invited back to record at Sea-Saint. 40 years later, with all that chaos, hoodoo and gris-gris enveloped into the magnetic tape, it magically survived the catastrophic 2005 floods during Hurricane Katrina and ended up in the hands of Mike Nishita along with many other Reel to Reel Tapes of Allen Toussaints' masters of The Meters albums he produced and recorded. It's available now, preserved with Family Groove Records.

WRWTFWW Records is profoundly enchanted to announce the full official reissue of Somei Satoh’s magnificent Avatamsaka Sutra inspired Mandala Trilogy with one additional never-released piece, sourced from original masters and available on double vinyl in heavy 350gsm sleeve with liner notes by passionate Japanese music connoisseur/collector/critic/dj Masaaki Hara.

Deep deep deep into the abyss…

The Mandala Trilogy blends Somei Satoh’s own slowed down Buddhist chant vocalization and early electronics to create a radiant and meditative atmosphere conveying serenity and timelessness. It includes three pieces recorded separately. "Mandala" was recorded at the NHK Studio of Electronic Music in 1982 and was included on the album Mandala/ Sumeru, released on Kojima Recordings’ ALM. "Mantra" was a NHK commissioned work, recorded at the same studio in 1986. "Tantra" was recorded at Victoria University of Wellington’s Lilburn Studios for electronic music and recording in 1990.

Included as a bonus is the 20-minute "Mai", a composition commissioned by harpist Ayako Shinoza-ki and recorded at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo on November 11th 2004. The piece was conducted by Tetsuji Honna and performed by the Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo. Satoh says: "The harp is one of my favorite instruments. Also, by combining my affectionate percussion instrument, the chromatic gong and steel drum, with the harp’s most beautiful tone, I attempted to bring out a mystical sound." Alt-hough it is not an electronic music piece, the stunning composition elegantly complements the deep mystical world that Satoh expresses in his Mandala Trilogy.

Mandala Trilogy + 1 is reissued in conjunction with Somei Satoh’s Emerald Tablet / Echoes LP, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

WRWTFWW Records is feeling total bliss as it announces the full official reissue of two major works from the great Somei Satoh gathered into one LP: the mystic and meditative Emerald Tablet (1978) and Echoes (1981), sourced from original masters and available on vinyl with liner notes by passio-nate Japanese music connoisseur/collector/critic/dj Masaaki Hara.

Fall into the ambient vastness, let yourself go…

Originally released by highly respected label ALM, these pivotal pieces of late 70s / early 80s Ja-panese experimental music majestically showcase Satoh’s intuitive approach to composition and mastery of creating infinite worlds of sound from very, very little.

Emerald Tablet, recorded at the fabled NHK Studio of Electronic Music in 1978, is a spellbinding take on musique concrète meets tape music relying solely on sound harmonics from tubular bell, cymbals, and 'kin' (Buddhist standing bell) overdubbed endlessly, voyaging into vertiginous sonic depths.

Echoes was composed for the Mist, Sound, and Light Festival, a 10-day event organized by the hot spring tourist association of Kawaji, Tochigi Prefecture, held on May 20-29, 1981. It was played in the Kawaji hot spring's Ojika river valley, with 8 gigantic loudspeakers set up on hills surrounding the stream and connected to an octuple channel-tape system - thanks to a combined length of cables exceeding one kilometer - while artificial fog rose from a ravine and laser beams shot up on the mountains. Cinematic and resonating, this breathtaking piece from Somei Satoh is a transcending sonic experience.

Emerald Tablet / Echoes is reissued in conjunction with Somei Satoh’s Mandala Trilogy + 1 double LP, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

We present to you our last release of this bizarre year, thirteenth release on 7” format, a new collaboration between Ojah and Nik Torp, keyboard player from The Specials.

The A side contains the track “Notting Hill”, a tribute to the famous carnival (greatly missed this year) featuring sounds of the vintage and rare Yamaha SK-20 organ played by Nik over a riddim formed by 80’s & 90’s synths and drum machines. Underlying the whole riddim is the recording of a baby’s heartbeat in the womb.

On the B side we find a dub version as is customary, sparse and full of fx, reminiscent of those open air dub sessions at Notting Hill Carnival, mixed live by Ojah on his analog console.

Limited edition of 350 copies, hand-stamped and hand-numbered, served in a thick custom reversed kraftliner sleeve.
Produced by Ojah, recorded at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London.
Organ by Nik Torp, recorded at Eastcote Studio 4, London.
Mixed & mastered by Oscar Pablos “Ojah" at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London, 2020.
Graphic design by Victor Castro.

all rights reserved

A year before Wild Pitch Records properly introduced us to the trio of Queens native Large Professor and Toronto’s Sir Scratch and K-Cut, the soon-to-be-legendary group self-released their own debut single. Dropping on Actual Records, the 12” of ‘Think’ and ‘Atom’ was soon a sought after rarity, with scarce originals still fetching upwards of three figures.

On it, they only hint at the greatness to come, while simultaneously showing that they’d already mastered the three-minute rap single – this is concise brilliance with no flab whatsoever.

Engineered by the late, esteemed Paul C, ‘Think’ is a study in how to turn well-worn samples into something new. The combination of several James Brown snatches, along with bits lifted from Lyn Collins and Jimmy Castor Bunch, could have been tired and almost parodic by 1989, but instead the group weave something interesting from old fabric.

‘Atom’ is arguably even better, built around a brace of elements from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1967 duet ‘Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl’. On it, Large Pro gives the first real hints that he’ll not just be a super-producer, but a committed MC to watch. Mixing threats with humour, positivity with braggadocio, it’s a calling card performance on a track that could have still sat comfortably on 1991’s ‘Breaking Atoms’ album.

Heavily bootlegged, this is the first official double-sided 7” release bringing together both these foundational cuts.

Blue Note 1967 - Classic Vinyl Reissue Series In 1967, pianist McCoy Tyner was ready for a new start. He had left the seminal John Coltrane Quartet two years prior and moved on from Coltrane’s label Impulse! Records, as well. With his Blue Note debut The Real McCoy, he made his masterpiece and firmly established himself as a creative force of his own. Featuring a world class quartet with Tyner joined by tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones, the album presented five timeless Tyner originals including “Passion Dance,” “Search for Peace,” and “Blues on the Corner.”

Over two years in the making, and it’s finally here. Amsterdam based, brand new old-school label “Betonska” kicks off with this highly diverse release for the selector, collector, radio host and club DJ.

Crisp instrumentation, tight retro drum computer programming and propulsive danceable bass lines are what you will find here. The Amsterdam based label will be focusing on previously unreleased and tough-to-find material from the 80s and 90s – all re-mastered, officially licensed and in collaboration with the original artist. In addition to the original material an occasional modern twist will be given by contemporary artists who cherish that signature sound.

The first release is an alternative issue of Flo Sullivan’s “Higher” release, originally recorded in 1984 in the world famous Amazon Studios in Liverpool and released in 1985. On the A-side both the 12” and the 7” version of the hard-to-get, firm synth-pop track “Higher” will be pressed on a loud 45rpm vinyl. The 12” version is the (bass-)heavier one, while the 7” version sounds more “organic” with an extended intro and an added horns part. The tracks on the A-side have been pressed before and are made available now again for the wider public, giving those tracks the recognition and attention they deserve.

The B-side focuses on previously unreleased original downtempo material by the same artist but released under her real name: Gayna Rose Madder. This, accompanied by a refreshing club-ready remix of one of those tracks by Vienna’s top-notch selector, producer and Neubau label owner: Heap.

Neither of the two original tracks “Over” and “Element” have ever been released on vinyl before, up until now. “Over” was written and recorded in 1983 in Splash Sound Studios in Liverpool. A beautiful melancholic synth-pop track, which was meant to be released, but unfortunately never saw the light of day. At the time it was recorded Gayna left her band “Shiny Two Shiny” and therefore needed a new deal from a different company for her solo releases. But by the time she found the right one, many newer songs needed release. Much later, in 2005, Gayna decided to self-release “Over” on a compilation CD to sell copies online.

“Element” is a spoken-word poem accompanied by a fire-crackling tribal kind of rhythm. It was written for a musical play and recorded in Sparks Studio Liverpool in 2004 and has never officially been released before. (For a short period it was available on a self-released CD on Gayna’s website; a compilation of the songs written for one of her musicals).

And last but not least, the icing on the cake is Heap’s remix of “Element”. He translated this spoken word poem into a refreshing 90s-style and danceable club-track to complete the diversity of Betonska’s first release. A chugging acid bass, breakbeat rhythms, crisp claps and sharp snares and a screeching lead synth to get you screaming on the dance floor.

Gabber remixes ! Bangerz !

In 2018 Far Out Recordings signed a record deal with Brooklyn born, nomadic producer Jneiro Jarel. Having just put the finishing touches to the recordings, Jarel suffered an ischemic stroke while living and working in Costa Rica and his wife Indigo was forced to set up a crowd fund to cover special medical transport back to the states to receive treatment. The release was put on hold, but thanks to the generosity of friends and fans around the world, Jarel was able to get the care he needed and is now on the long road to recovery. We’re overjoyed to finally announce that Jneiro Jarel’s After A Thousand Years is now set for an October 2020 release.

Throughout a career that has spanned over twenty years and seen collaborations with MF DOOM, Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, BadBadNotGood, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Kimbra and Khujo Goodie (Dungeon Family), Jneiro Jarel’s consistently distinctive, forward thinking productions, as well as his love for the music of Brazil, made his partnership with Far Out a perfect fit.

Recorded between New York, New Orleans, Miami and Costa Rica, After A Thousand Years features legendary multi-instrumentalist Bill Summers, famed for his work with Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Eddie Henderson. The album also features Malawian-American guitarist Masauko Chipembere who has worked with the likes of RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets.

For Jarel, After A Thousand Years is “a culmination of the longstanding musical contributions of the African diaspora.” Permeating the Brazilian music and Latin jazz Jarel has loved and drawn inspiration from, as well as the stateside jazz, soul and funk Jarel grew up around, the influence of Africa and its musical history, on both North and South America, is key to the album’s sound.

On lead single “Banana Peel”, Jarel’s outernational perspective makes for a track that is almost impossible to place geographically: you can hear the swing of Jarel’s native New Orleans jazz, the vibrance of Costa Rican rainforests as well as the influence of Jarel’s vast collection of Brazilian records. “Viberian Waves 1&2” is equally nonconformist, morphing from funky baroque-flavoured instrumental hip hop into a bossa inspired, percussive jam.

Taking its inspiration from the biblical prophecies found in the books of Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelation, foretelling the fully realized, physical and spiritual restoration of the earth and mankind after the thousand year reign of the Messianic Kingdom, After A Thousand Years contemplates and celebrates a world where everlasting love, peace, and harmony abound under a sovereign, divine rulership.

After A Thousand Years will be released on Vinyl LP and CD on the 30th October 2020 via Far Out Recordings.

FEEDBACK

“great release. Really like this!” Antal (Rush Hour)
“Banana Peel is exactly what we need now. Visionary Jneiro Jerel at his finest channelling healing sounds and rhythms from Mother Earth. A much-anticipated lens through Jneiro’s third eye. Thank you!” King Britt
“Sounding real good!” Errol Anderson (Touching Bass)
“I love it!!!!!!!” Raffaele Costantino (RAI RADIO 2)
“Sounds great. Congratulations. Will play it on my radio shows.” Batida
“Will pitch album to my editors” Dean Van Nguyen
“Please send me the full album once it's finished.” Francisco Noronha (Publico PT)
“Beautiful man. So happy that he's ok” King Hippo (WLPN-LP / Worldwide FM)
“cracking tune. already lined up to add to playlist. might go into radio show too.. love it” Oli Brunetti (Collectivo Futuro / Olindo Records)
“Amazing! Ive not heard anything from JJ for a long time but a welcome return, this is a cracking track. Looking forward to hearing more new material.” Mickey Jukes (1BTN FM)
“Very vibrant, fresh release! It gets better every time I am listening to it.” Shantisan (Superfly FM Vienna)
“This is a pretty special track , unique sound but very accessible , like it a lot and will play in my show Look forward to hearing the LP” Andy Wilson (Ibiza Sonica Radio)
“So good to hear Jneiro again, loving this cut. Thanks!” Chris Knight (Astrojazz)
“sublime !!!! will definitely play !!!” Mark Milz (Radio Corax)
“I-Robots approved!” Thanks for sharing...” I-Robots

Off the back of their stunning reissue of Minnie Riperton – Les Fleur / Oh By The Way, Selectors Series hit you with a 7 inch reissue of two straight from the heart, Philly Soul gems by none other than Bettye Swann.

Released on Atlantic Records in 1974 on separate 7 inch’s, the A side houses ‘When the Game Is Played on You’ a quintessential soul number with a bold and passionate message that Swann’s exquisite voice effortlessly delivers. “How does it feel baby, when the game is played on you”... payback of the sweetest kind.

Flip it over to find the smooth, soulful ‘Kiss My Love Goodbye’, a Spinners-esque track with stirring vocals that hit the heartstrings from the off.

Although late bloomers in the Northern / Modern soul scenes they became bona fide classics. Further interest was aroused when Tom Moulton remixed both songs in the ‘00s, igniting dancefloors wherever they were played. Not surprising though when you look at the credits on both tracks.

The Young Professionals were the new crack production team in Philadelphia at the time. Made up of the masterminds Phil Hurtt, LeBaron Taylor, Bunny Sigler and Tony Bell their incredible studio prowess shines bright in both these Bettye Swann recordings.

'How is it that one of Art Blakey’s greatest albums with the Jazz Messengers is so little known? The 1961 edition of the Messengers included Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass. In February and May of 1961, this group (with pianist Walter Davis Jr sitting in on two tracks) entered Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey and proceeded to lay down Roots & Herbs, a brilliant set of six Shorter compositions including the driving hard bop of the title track, the playful “Ping Pong,” and the clever “United.” The album was eventually released in 1970 and deserves a place among Blakey’s finest recordings.