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* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates it’s 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.

* Deep Seven No.10, the infamous final 12” from Deep Seven that never reached a full release. Only a short promo run hit the shops in 1993 before the label closed for good. ‘Release’ brought to the series a continuation of the huge tracks that graced local label ‘Contagious’ in the early 90’s. As time passed, ‘The Jungle’ / ‘Musical Movements’ reached cult status, exchanging hands for hundreds of pounds when a copy surfaced on the market. The rarest of all the Deep Seven releases, with an additional version of ‘The Jungle’ that was not included on the original press. Remastered from the original DAT and presented on our 180g vinyl, this final 12” completes the entire Deep Seven back catalogue.

Promotion across chosen internet websites and Hardcore 12” vinyl communities.

EAT MORE HOUSE welcomes The Mechanical Man to the label family!
4 Superb house cuts not to be missed!

Rebuke returns to Drumcode with a trio of timeless dancefloor weapons.
The Irishman’s ‘Rattle’ was a standout of 2019, judged by DJ Mag as their no.22 top track of the year and is etched in the Drumcode discography as one of the most original releases to date. A valued part of Adam Beyer’s extended collective; he would have made his Drumcode event debut at WMC in Miami this March. Without a doubt, a sophomore EP was always on the cards.

‘Instatik’ kicks the work into gear, a rugged, reverb-heavy cut with industrial drums that pump like pistons and an undulating synth effect that makes you feel like you’re on a turbo-charged rollercoaster. ‘Livewire’ has the trademark Rebuke brain-scrambling stamp on it, a flurry of steelyard percussion bring the track to life, before a low-end melody swells to attention, rubbing shoulders deliciously with driving drumlines, for an uplifting second half. The title track ‘Obscurity’ is a dark slice of techno funk, filled with synapse-tickling arpeggios, before a rollicking groove takes hold and launches the track home at full-flight. Another thrilling and innovative release to add to the Rebuke canon.

“I think 2020 will go down in history as the craziest year of our lifetime. The future is still pretty unknown right now and things are drastically changing week to week. With that in mind, I felt ‘Obscurity’ would be a fitting title for my second Drumcode EP. It represents the state of being unknown, unclear or difficult to understand – feelings I’m sure most of us are going through right now. Most the tracks aside from ‘Livewire’ were written in quarantine; ‘Livewire’ was written right before the virus shut the world down, in a hotel room in Lima, Peru in January. This EP is my favourite to date as I think it shows a different side to my musical palette, whilst still developing the signature sound heard in all my music.” – Rebuke

Clarinetist, composer, singer & spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid presents this powerful live document alongside her band, Tha Brothahood. LIVE was mostly recorded on November 1st, 2019, at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Berlin, Germany, during the 2019 edition of JazzFest Berlin. For Angel and Tha Brothahood - which includes Deacon Otis Cooke (vocals, synth), Viktor Le Givens (vocals, auxiliary instruments), Xristian Espinoza (tenor sax, percussion), Norman W. Long (electronics, synths), Dr. Adam Zanolini (double bass, bass guitar, soprano sax, flute, percussion), Isaiah Collier (drums), and Asher Gamedze (drums) - it was the first stop of their first European tour. Angel and her band experienced a number of difficult, racially charged interactions during their two days in Berlin. But despite, or perhaps in light of the difficulties they faced, they performed a set at Berliner Festspiele that Angel considers to be one of their best ever. "The show was very deep, and really helped me to process all the rage, and uncomfortable things I was feeling... It made me think of all the artists of the past who endured way more than I ever will with this music industry. It was a very freeing and beautiful show... we played our ass off!!"

Main Source’s paean to the simple pleasures of relaxing with friends is built over two tried-and-tested samples. The dreamy, swoony sounds of Vanessa Kendrick’s timeless ‘90% of Me is You’ is ever-present during this stone-cold classic, while Sister Nancy’s unmistakeable ‘Bam Bam’ lends several elements to the mix. Throw in some Skull Snaps and Sweet Charles and you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for a roll call of Large Professor’s nearest and dearest.

There are plenty of reasons why so many regard ‘Breaking Atoms’ as an all-time classic album, and the sheer variety of singles lifted from it is chief among them. Large Professor was happy to roam over varied topics at a time when many rappers had a manic focus on one thing.

And where better to hang out with friends than at a barbecue? ‘Live at the Barbecue’ is rightly regarded as one of the best posse cuts of all time, and famous for showcasing the debut of one Nasty Nas. While he delivers a dope verse full of quotables over drums from Bob James’ oft-plundered ‘Nautilus’, credit is also due to the other guests. Fatal and Akinyele aren’t disgraced in this company, and Large Professor tops it off with a rare verse of pure brag-rap.

An undisputed entry in the pantheon of head-nod hip-hop, this is its first official UK release, and another debut on 7”.

• Samples Sister Nancy’s unmistakeable ‘Bam Bam’

• Taken from the all-time classic album ‘Breaking Atoms’

• Features the debut of Nas

Previously unreleased recordings by various lineups drawn from Derek Bailey, Tristan Honsinger, Christine Jeffrey, Toshinori Kondo, Charlie Morrow, David Toop, Maarten Altena, Georgie Born, Lindsay Cooper, Steve Lacy, Radu Malfatti and Jamie Muir.

Journalists often make the brief history of Free Improvisation conform to the idea that the history of music is a nice straight line from past to present: Beethoven… Brahms… Boulez. Thus Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and John Stevens — together with Brötzmann and co across the Channel — were the trailblazing ‘first generation’, forging a wholly new language alongside contemporary avant-garde and free jazz. Figures like Toshinori Kondo and David Toop, willing as they were to incorporate snippets of all kinds of music, were the pesky ‘second generation’, happily cocking a snook at the ‘ideological purity’ of Bailey’s non-idiomatic improvisation.
‘Company 1981’ shows up the foolishness — the wrongness — of such storylines. Check the eclectic collection of guests Bailey invited to Company Weeks over the years. He had clear ideas about the music, but he was no ideological purist.

One of the founders of Fluxus, Charlie Morrow injects blasts of Cageian fun into half the recordings here, whether blurting military fanfares from his trumpet, or intoning far-flung scraps of speech. Cellist Tristan Honsinger and vocalist Christine Jeffrey join in the joyful glossolalia, while Bailey, Toop and Kondo contribute delicious, delicate, hooligan arabesques, by turns.
The remainder are performed by a different ensemble: Bailey, bassist Maarten Altena, former Henry Cow members Georgie Born and Lindsay Cooper on cello and bassoon, the insanely inventive Jamie Muir on percussion, and trombonist Radu Malfatti, showing his mastery of extended technique. Were that not enough, there’s the inimitable purity of Steve Lacy’s soprano ringing high and clear above the melee. Glorious!

There’s always been this idea that Free Improvisation is somehow Difficult Listening, but when the doors of perception are thrown open and prejudice cast aside, you realise that it’s not difficult at all. “Is it that easy?” chirps Morrow, at one point. Indeed it is.
Enjoy yourself.

• When David Bowie and Iggy Pop relocated from LA to continental Europe, taking trains to Berlin, Paris and Warsaw, they would have come across new music that was very different to the burgeoning disco scene they left behind. “Cafe Exil” – named after one of Bowie’s favourite Berlin haunts – imagines the soundtrack that would have informed “Low”, “Heroes” and “Lodger”. It’s an awesome mix of electronica, Krautrock and experimental treats.

• There are key tracks from members of Can and Tangerine Dream, fascinating obscurities by German act Streetmark and Italian library maestro Piero Umiliani, the Herzog-soundtracking Popul Vuh, and highly collectible avant-strangeness by Annette Peacock. Czech-born Jan Hammer’s beautiful, light, atmospheric groove is among myriad surprises.

• “Cafe Exil” has been put together by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Jason Wood, author of multiple books on cinema and programmer at Home in Manchester. It fits in with other recent Ace compilations such as “English Weather” and “76 In The Shade” – it creates a mood, a time and a place. You’re right there, sat next to Bowie, drinking his Pernod and black, in a darkly lit Berlin bar.

• This 2LP set features a bonus track from Edgar Froese.

Funkiwala Records presents the third in the series of "Lokkhi Terra meets"albums, with the London fusionistas creating another unique sound-clash, this time with ex-Fela Kuti keyboardist and legendary UK Afro-beat ambassador Dele Sosimi, and members of his critically acclaimed Afro-beat Orchestra.

This particular collaboration has been bubbling away for a few years now, teasing audience expectations with a handful of sold out shows each year in between both bands busy schedules.
Featuring the two pianos of Kishon Khan and Dele Sosimi – Cuban percussionists/vocalists Geraldo De Armas (Yoruba Andabo), Oreste Noda (Ariwo), Javier Camilo (Ibrahim Ferrer) - a horn section led by Justin Thurgur (Bellowhead) featuring Yelfris Valdes (Sierra Maestra) and Graeme Flowers (Kyle Eastwood) to name a few – this is an All-star cast.

Kishon Khan's Lokkhi Terra have over a number of years now been quietly establishing themselves as one of London's more unusual heavyweight outfits, described as "Stunning Headliners… A majestic multi-cultural blend of sounds… effortlessly builds bridges between rolling Indian raga rhythms, Afro-Cuban grooves, Acid Jazz/funk and free flowing improvisation" (Timeout London). Included amongst the band members are London's top Cuban musicians, adding their infectious rich musical history to the city's melting pot.
When the band wanted to explore Cuban links with another of their favourite traditions, Afrobeat, who better to bring in then one of the Afrobeat originators – maestro Dele Sosimi – "Sosimi creates some of the most bewitching grooves in modern African music" E Jazz News.
Bringing together two Yoruba speaking musics - with different accents, from different sides of the Atlantic - Havana meets Lagos in London – A Cuban-Afrobeat-Experience. CUBAFROBEAT.

This first ever re-release of William Stuckey's extremely rare southern soul LP. When Brian Sears told me William was still with us and living locally I was shocked that nobody had spoken to him up till now. Not only that but he still had the multitrack tapes at his house.

Unfortunately the tapes were in a bad way and needed some serious work. Our good friend Dan at Audio Archiving Services in Holywood went above and beyond to restore the tape in small sections (despite baking it was still oozing gunk onto the tape transport and heads) then joining the audio back together perfectly. I know not many people would have gone to this trouble and I'm grateful as this music had one last chance.

The mix down at AOTN studio is brighter and clearer than the o.g whilst being true to the original mix, William was over the moon with the result when he heard it and we are excited to bring it to Vinyl, CD and Digital

Special thanks to Brian, Dan and Linkwood for the work on this project. Securing special music for the future is what we do and we just caught this one in time.

Martin Georgi is not a newcomer. He is more like one of those who like to stay under the radar. The sample-based music producer made his debut in the deephouse sector on his own more than 10 years ago, completely without a label or distribution. In 2016, the Berlin record label OYE Records became aware of the hitherto unknown artist and finally re-released the tracks from his debut. Since then, his early tracks have been compared around the world with the early works of Moodyman or Theo Parrish.
After more than 10 years and the maxi “9 to 5 is killing me” (2018), a second album is finally released on the underground label quietelegance records. Stylistically it ties in with the first work. “Money from the trunk” is the title of the new album and it includes socially critical issues such as class differences that are created by capital. Georgi plays with a large portion of irony and of course plenty of samples, which the passionate record digger skillfully processed into eight new songs.
Georgi not only stands out from the conforming deep-house crowd with his raw, unconventional production style, but also ensures that old-school sampling continues to have its place in current club music. In doing so, he reacts to global music trends, which he incorporates into his tracks through the finest sample operations. So it is not surprising that his new album “Money from the trunk” has a rap song as title song, for which the renown artistic-activist rap duo Fokn Bois from Ghana is jointly responsible. Also on the list of prominent guests are Felipe Gordon from Colombia and Delfonic from Berlin as well as Cornelia Lund from fluctuating images. Roskow Kretschmann appears as co-producer, whose name is associated with many other well established musicians.

Kuldaboli returns to bbbbbb records, this time with a 6-track EP on which his idiosyncratic sound of icy, cryptic electro fully emerges. BBB015 being the second release of Kuldaboli on bbbbbb records is destined to be a historical release for the Icelandic dance music scene and a very important one for Kuldaboli’s legacy. The EP title ‘Ekkert nema ískaldur veruleikinn’ roughly translates to “nothing but the ice cold reality” and that is exactly what is delivered across the six tracks laden with poetic lyrics and spoken word.

In the opening track ‘Ég er bara ég’ Kuldaboli’s signature sound of uncompromising electro is overlaid with haunting vocals recited in Icelandic saying “I am only me and you are only you, people exchange words measuring each other out, trying their best at discerning life’s riddles’’. It is easy to say that Kuldaboli knows how to capture the listeners with deep reflections on subjects that most people are aware of but hardly ever speak of.

A2 ‘Ískaldur veruleikinn’ or ‘the ice cold reality’ is the most bouncy dancefloor track of the EP with the openings lyrics saying ‘’Are you telling me the truth? If I were to guess you are lying cold to my face’. The power of word play in this release is by far the most interesting poetic turn for Kuldaboli to date, where he shows great insight to the subconscious and human behaviour.

The smooth sounds of possessed Italo disco on A3 ‘Finn innri frið’, along with the funky bassline and trance like synths has perhaps the most positive vibe to it if you are not familiar to Kuldaboli, along with the playful opener of B-side ‘Afi kenndi mér íslensku’.

Following B2 no-bullshit-electro-track ‘Kuklari’, the final track B3 ‘Fönix úr ösku’ shows the haunting dark depth of depressurisation that vocal and electronics can create, where melancholic lyrics convey images of lost dreams of former lives.

"Dreamwalks" as well as the other songs on "A Dive Into the Subconscious" musically reflect the emotional level of memories and experiences of the producer. Drips Zacheer deals with central issues of his life, such as family, friends, travel and also fears and tries to reach the subconscious of his listeners through this sound game. The appropriately playful cover designs come from the Berlin artist and illustrator Rahel Süßkind.
Drips Zacheer is a real beatgeek on the midi controller. The 25-year-old musician has been producing hip-hop instrumentals for almost ten years, which are based on LoFi, Chill-Hop, BoomBap, jazz and also progressive rock and Bossanova. Until he was 19 he grew up in Chalkida, the capital of the Greek island of Evia, until he moved to Rhethymno on Crete to study audio engineering. He started out in 2011 as a producer for a befriended hip-hop crew, and in 2016 he began producing beats for himself. Since then he has established himself as one of the most relevant producers in the Greek beat scene and with his choice of sounds shows that he has a knack for vinyl samples and harmonic arrangements. His upcoming album "A Dive Into the Subconscious" makes it clear that instrumentals are not only used as a background for rappers, but have earned their own standing in the scene. Drips Zacheer produces beats to listen and linger - a little journey into your own subconscious.

The New Philadelphians recorded their sole 45rpm single "Mustang" for the local Quaker City Jazz label in the late 1960s. And what a monster it is. 8 minutes of smokin' soul-jazz at its best. If someone would claim this was an unreleased Jimmy Smith Blue Note recording from 1969, no one would doubt it. More information about Charlie Chisholm and the band can be found on Tramp's "Movements Vol.10" compilation album.

Reissue on vinyl of the fifth PJ Harvey studio album Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. Produced by PJ Harvey with Rob Ellis and Mick Harvey, and originally released in November 2000, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea features the singles ‘Good Fortune’, ‘A Place Called Home’ and ‘This Is Love’ and includes a duet with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on ‘This Mess We’re In’. The album won the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Reissue is faithful to the original recording and package, cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of longtime PJ Harvey producer Head.

It's 2020, it's virus season. For our first release on Kommerz Records we asked seven techno and house producers, we admire, to contribute six songs to listen to at home, rather than on the dance floor (as those are closed down up to this day). The result are six jazzy downtempo songs by DJ Piper of techno's most hyped live act Fjaak, Glenn Astro & Hodini, Cuthead, O-Wells aka Orson Wells, Manuel Fischer and Qnete. Holla @ our first compilation "Kommerz Season 1: Anti-Virus". "Kommerz Season" will be an ongoing compilation series, which we consider as one core of the label. We will use each season to showcase a new and unexpected take on beat making and instrumental music. "Kommerz Season" pays respect to the producers behind the music.

"Kommerz Season 1: Anti-Virus" was a spontaneous idea (as we didn't expect any of this Corona madness). Since we knew many techno and house producers share our love for instrumental hip-hop and downtempo music (while being stuck at home, too) we started to ask around friends and friends of friends. The tracks contributed by this deluxe cast speak for themselves. on our label's very first release.

Being aware this record features an all male and all white line-up we acknowledge our responsibility as a record label to work towards diversity in music. Our future discography can be held proof for that. Right now we're working on "Kommerz Season 2" featuring a diverse, 100% womxn line-up. Additionally, we're donating 10% of our benefits from "Season 1" to "No Shade", a Berlin-based collective running club nights and DJ training programs for female, non-binary and trans DJs with a strong focus on racial diversity.

When the film ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ was released in 1992, an EP of music from the film was dropped almost simultaneously. That EP, cheekily titled ‘White Men Can’t Rap’, featured a couple of exclusive gems, notably Gang Starr’s ‘Now You’re Mine’ and a cut from Main Source called ‘Fakin’ the Funk’.

The only single borne of that six-track EP was the Main Source track, released in remixed form on Wild Pitch records the same year. No surprise, it was head and shoulders above the rest.

Opening with those unmistakable harmonies from Main Ingredient’s ‘Magic Shoes’, the intro segues into a crisp beat borrowed from Grady Tate’s frequently sampled ‘Be Black Baby’ from 1969. Throw in a sprinkle of Kool & The Gang and you’ve got a track that would fit seamlessly onto Main Source’s masterpiece of an album, ‘Breaking Atoms’.

Instead, it’s the group’s last hurrah, the final collaboration between K-Cut, Sir Scratch and Large Professor before the latter departed the trio. It’s fitting that he saves one of his best vocal performances for last, railing at sell-outs with the assistance of his long-term collaborator Neek the Exotic.

Never released before on an official 7”, it’s a track that has lost none of its appeal, and the remix is the definitive version of this classic.

• Samples Main Ingredient’s ‘Magic Shoes’ and Grady Tate’s frequently sampled ‘Be Black Baby’

• First ever 7” release of the Remix

• Also available on Limited Edition Neon Green vinyl

Definite reissue of this No Wave classic, originally issued in 1979. Previous reissues of the Contortions and James White albums on Infinite Zero have been deleted for the better part of a decade. These are all officially sanctioned by the originating label, Ze Records; packaged in fold out digipaks, with deluxe 20 page booklets. The 21st century has produced a new generation of young contenders of all kinds, who have, within months, spread a new string of names across the planet such as The Rapture, Playgroup, LCD Sound system, Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Radio 4 and the likes, just to name a few. Once again the heat was initiated in NYC, even though its Lower East Side epicenter 'cleaned up' by Giuliani and Bloomberg, has moved a few blocks east and across the river to Brooklyn and Williamsburg. It might be wise to remind the younger ones among us that the origins of this new musical cycle is for the most part rooted in the No Wave movement of which James Siegfried aka James White, aka James Chance is undoubtedly one of its most prominent figures. New York City was hands down the artistic telluric center of the second half of the 20th century, especially from the 70's, on. Rising from the ashes of the Velvet Underground, a slew of local bands redefined the aesthetics of rock'n'roll which the merchants of the temple hastened to rename under various designations, such as punk, new wave, no wave, jazz-funk or even disco and disco-punk without forgetting to mention the original Electro designation pioneered by the band Suicide. One of the indispensable and emblematic figures of the mid-'70s is of course James Chance.

One of the bands that helped build the great Austin, TX music scene (the 'live music capital of the world'), Demian was actually Bubble Puppy with a new name and sound. While Bubble Puppy was classic psychedelia, Demian was hard rock in the vein of bands like Atomic Rooster. Recorded live-in-studio at L.A.s legendary 'Record Plant' studio in 1970, Demain was also one of the first bands to feature dueling lead guitars. Despite the high quality of the songs and the local buzz this album generated at the time, due to mismanagement, Demian soon faded into the record collecting beyond.

When it came to playing soul jazz with organ combos, jamming bebop with a quartet, caressing ballads or coming up with fresh approaches to Latin jazz and spirituals, the versatile Grant Green was at the top of his field. Among his many recordings, his most vital and adventurous remains Idle Moments. With such inspiring sidemen as Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Duke Pearson, Green is heard at the absolute apex of his creativity throughout this stunning set.

He builds up statements like a masterful speaker, sounds both passionate and thoughtful at every tempo, and never runs out of brilliant and personal ideas to express. Every phrase leads to the next one yet all of his solos are spontaneous. While the other musicians are inspired and in top form, Idle Moments is particularly notable as the height of Grant Green’s musical genius!

The roots of hard rock act Tucky Buzzard lie in psychedelic group, The End, who supported The Rolling Stones on an early tour, leading Bill Wyman to produce their sole LP. The band then morphed into Tucky Buzzard, now with scorching lead guitar licks and Hammond organ parts to the fore, and Wyman still on board as producer and manager. For their final album, Buzzard, released on Deep Purple’s Purple imprint in 1973, there is a mix of hard-edged blues rock, with a fine interpretation of perennial classic, “Who Do You Love,” and wistful originals like “Hanging On In There.” As ever, Wyman’s sterling production and presence on acoustic and electric piano makes this one a must for all Stones fans.

The ultimate pressings of the Beach Boys discography from Analogue Productions!
Original mono mix produced by Brian Wilson
One of 10 titles featuring 33 1/3 mono and stereo remastered editions: Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Beach Boys Party!, Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, most from the original master tapes or best sources available
Lacquer plating by Gary Salstrom and 180-gram vinyl pressing by Quality Record Pressings!

"It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water…I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life. I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album." – Paul McCartney

"All of us, Ginger (Baker), Jack (Bruce), and I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everything that's ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one." – Eric Clapton

"For those in search of an original mono in pursuit of sonic quality, search no more. This Analogue Productions pressing is now the definitive pressing and the one we chose to feature at our Classic Album Sundays events to honour the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds, an album that helped change the course of pop music." — Colleen ‘Cosmo' Murphy, Classic Album Sundays

"Overall though, this new reissue is the best sounding of all. The bottom end has more weight and solidity and the instrumental separation and front to back layering is nothing short of astonishing compared to the pleasing mush offered up by other editions. ... Pet Sounds belongs in every serious rock record collection and if you're going to have but one version this one from Analogue Productions is the one to have." — Music = 11/11; Sound = 11/11 - Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet Read the whole review here.

"What I can say is that Kevin Gray has been able to extract every last bit of information from whatever tape is in the box, and present it in a way that is pleasing and natural to the ear. ... in my opinion, the Analogue Productions pressings are now THE definitive issue of each Beach Boys album, and will be my reference copies until if and when something better comes along — which may be never." — Lee Dempsey, Endless Summer Quarterly, Summer 2015 Edition

To meet the standards of Analogue Productions, our Beach Boys album reissues had a mission to achieve: Present the band's music the way that Brian Wilson — famed co-founder, songwriter and arranger — intended. Mono mixes created under Wilson’s supervision were how the surf rockin’ California crew rose to fame! And we’ve got ‘em!

For the early part of the Beach Boys' career, all of their singles were mixed and mastered and released only in the mono format — they didn't release a single in stereo until 1968. In those days, hits were made on AM radio in mono. And the mono of those times worked well for Wilson, who suffers from partial deafness. In fact, for their first 13 albums, Wilson originally turned in all the final mixed Beach Boy albums to Capitol Records only in mono. The mono mixes were where Wilson paid intense attention, and the dedication paid off!

We’ve taken 10 of the most classic, best-sounding Beach Boy titles ever and restored them to their mono glory!

But there’s no disputing that the close harmonies and one-of-a-kind rhythms of hits like “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “Little Deuce Coupe” and more lend themselves naturally to stereo. So we’ve got your 2-channel needs covered with prime stereo mix versions as well.

Mastered by Kevin Gray, most from the original master tapes, and plated and pressed by Quality Record Pressings, the finest LP pressing facility in the world, these are awesome recordings to experience. And the look of each album befits its sonic superiority! Presented in "old school" Stoughton tip-on jackets, these time honoured favourites shine brighter than the originals!

Pet Sounds is famous for its use of multiple layers of unorthodox instrumentation as well as other cutting edge audio techniques for its time. It's considered the best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound.

Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best).

VH-1 named Pet Sounds as the No. 3 album in the Top 100 Albums in Rock 'n' Roll History, as judged in a poll of musicians, executives and journalists. It's been ranked No. 1 in several music magazines' lists of the greatest albums of all time, including NME, The Times and Mojo Magazine. It was ranked No. 2 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

A fixture on Copenhagen's music scene for nearly two decades, Nikolaj Jakobsen, aka Sugar, has to date thrived on concentrating - usually to the point of obsession - on one type of music at a time. Early on, it was punk: from his mid-teens he lived in the legendary squat and artistic community Ungdomshuset, toured worldwide with punk and metal bands, and was completely immersed in and dedicated to the city's DIY punk and metal scene.

Then in 2012 he set foot in a techno club for the first time, and his laser-like focus turned in that direction. Jakobsen began producing fast techno under the Sugar alias, and co-founded Fast Forward Productions, an agency and party that has gathered together the city's previously disparate band of fast techno and trance producers, DJs and collectives. Fast Forward has been instrumental in launching the careers of the likes of Schacke, Repro, Funeral Future and Rune Bagge, as well as Jakobsen himself.

Now Jakobsen is launching a new label that, even down to its name, is an open challenge to himself to focus on multiple musical styles at once. Perfumery, of which the Eyes Cream EP is the inaugural release, will be a home for his productions under the Sugar name and other aliases, as well as collaborative efforts with others. The label's open remit defies definitive categorisation of is to come, but its second release will be an abstract, atmospheric album by the cimbalom and tuba player and composer Anders Bo Eriksen, aka OPICA. On that record's heels will be collaborative projects with D.Dan and HVAD, as well as an experimental-minded debut LP by Jakobsen as Sugar.

Though Perfumery will be a platform for the exploration of new musical territories, Eyes Cream comprises four fast-techno hardware jams in Jakobsen's signature style. As well as showing off his knack for punning in a second language, opener Bright Side Of The Spoon is a classic Copenhagen splicing of darkness and light, with insistent, ominous bass waves leavened by twinkling synth textures. On the surface the middle two tracks, Eyes Cream and Try Me, are harder, flintier, Detroit-referencing tools. Just beneath, however, lurks the texture and warmth that is one of Copenhagen techno's prime calling cards. Perhaps the greatest treat of the EP is saved for last: Once And For No One is a gorgeous, gauzy, end-of-the-night banger that packs a hefty emotional punch.

All proceeds from physical and digital sales of the first EP on Perfumery will go to Sea-Watch.Org, a German NGO dedicated to saving migrants trying to reach Europe on stricken vessels in the Mediterranean.

Enter, ANGST a series of musical ‘essays on the ephemeral being’ by Portuguese pianist and composer Tiago Sousa.

After 2015’s Um Piano nas Barricadas (Discrepant, CREP23) Sousa expands his compositional chops by writing and performing along with a trio made of clarinet, percussion and vibraphone adding a magical realism aura to the music.

It was fate that the releasing of these compositions would arrive in one of the most troubled passages of recent memory, just as a new decade begins. If it was already established that anguish is one of the hallmarks haunting our modern era, these last few years expose this existential feeling with even greater urgency.

The album that Tiago now presents, part angst part nostalgic escapism addresses this very modern concern as well as other themes dear to the so-called existentialist thinkers such as Heidegger, Camus or Kierkegaard, who among others, seek to directly challenge the Being with various concepts such as Repetition, Temporality, Interiority, Despair…

Throughout the 8 themes here presented, a delicate attempt is made to sketch a phenomenological cartography through its content and form, loosely describing the feeling of being launched into the wide world and the discovery of one self. In other words, the artist’s aim here is to convey the growing pains that the whole question about the meaning of life throws at us.

In an approach that is difficult to catalogue, the album tries to avoid genres and crystallizations in which music presents itself as a vehicle to express the ineffable and the incommunicable, expressing instead a magical world of wonder and enchantment.

It was the end of a century, and as the 1990s inevitably applied its brakes, Dubstar were sent flailing through the windscreen of popular music. Their third album, the unfortunately-titled Make It Better, lay bleeding at the side of the road, itself a casualty of one-too-many personal and professional traumas.


In the following years there were some half-hearted attempts to record more music- even the occasional, low-key live appearance here and there- but it wasn’t until 2015 that Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie found themselves formally reconstituted and writing new material in dedicated earnest. Not because it was expected, but because they couldn't help it.

With the support and encouragement of legendary producer Youth, they began sessions for One, which represented the beginning of a new chapter in the Dubstar story, and one which has audibly benefitted from the passing of time. The album is generally considered to be the first worthy successor to their platinum-selling debut Disgraceful, and serves as generous compensation for the wilderness years, while promising even better things on the horizon.

Horace Andy's voice is an instrument that once heard is never forgotten, regardless of whether you first hear it on one of the numerous Jamaican reggae singles that he recorded during the 70s or - like most people - on one of the Massive Attack albums he collaborated on as a vocalist. His falsetto and his characteristic slow-motion vibrato breathed life into tracks like "Spying Glass", "Cuss Cuss", "In The Light", "Skylarking" or "(You are My) Angel", ensuring that they still continue to resonate deeply with listeners. His vocal style influenced countless root singers and the combination of his timbre with Massive Attack's spartan hip hop beats still inspires legions of fans and copyists all over the world. Echo Beach has now picked up on this tradition - and the much older tradition of versioning - by asking friends of the label to rework Horace Andy's classic tracks in their own sound outfit. But this time the label hasn't trawled old Studio One tapes for historic vocal snippets - that would sooo nineties; no, Horace Andy personally put in an appearance to sing new versions of his classic tracks on top of timeless and contemporary riddims. Age may have deepened his voice, but it is by no means weaker, as can be heard on this album, on which Echo Beach welcomes old friends and new faces: there's Rob Smith, who as part of More Rockers and Smith & Mighty was just as crucial for Bristol's musical reputation as Massive Attack or DJ Krust & Roni Size. Today, he ensures continuity by working under the label and producer name.

Remastered Limited Blue Vinyl with Gatefold Sleeve.
Includes A2 poster and 3 art prints of each individual band member.

Way back in 1982, Battersea based mod heroes The Direct Hits had released one single on Dan Treacy’s Whamm! record label, ‘Modesty Blaise’ earlier in the year. This was singled out in the music press as not just one of your average Jam crash / bang /wallop mod revivalist tunes.
Live gigs showed they had a mighty powerful set of catchy mod / pop tunes in the back pocket. Whamm! were struggling to provide the funds to record an album, the songs were too good not to commit to a full 12’ set, so the Direct Hits pooled their limited resources and self financed a very cheap one day recording session in a tiny studio in Tooting, South London called Broadway Sound.
Early on the morning of August 12th 1982 the band, comprising of Colin Swan, Geno Buckmaster, Brian Grover and their trusty roadie ‘Robbo’ assembled at the tiny studio to begin recording as many of their songs as they could get down on tape for the tiny budget they had scraped together. As most of the songs were already well rehearsed thanks to the band’s busy live schedule, the recording of the first nine songs on this disc were finished by mid afternoon without any problems. Throughout the late afternoon and early evening the band toiled over scant overdubs with limited keyboard facilities and a distinct lack of musical ability. The recordings immediately came to life however, when Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster’s stage-honed tight harmonies were added, there was no time for vocal overdubs, and the mixing was completed by midnight. Tired and worn out, the band ventured out into the cold night air happy with the days work, clutching the precious reel to reel tape.
Two weeks later the band came back with a friend producing, and recorded the three final tracks featured on this album which have a more rounded slightly less raw sound. All three were completed in an afternoon. Almost two years later they re-recorded some of these songs, and along with a handful of new songs from the pen of Buckmaster and Swan, recorded their ‘Blow Up’ debut album at Rendezvous Studios in Sydenham, South East London, released on Whaam! Records in August 1984.
So what you have here are the roots of some of these great songs. A few didn’t make it to the first album those that did, as you will hear, stayed reasonably faithful to the original arrangements.
The Broadway Recording Sessions take you right back to where it all started!

Lost Horizons release their new album ‘In Quiet Moments’ via Bella Union. The album features a stellar array of musical guests including John Grant, C Duncan, Marissa Nadler, Porridge Radio, Penelope Isles, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Tim Smith (Midlake), Ren Harvieu and many more.
In 2017, Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas had both abstained from making music for 20 years until they united as Lost Horizons and released a stunning debut album, ‘Ojalá’ - the Spanish word for ‘hopefully’ or ‘God willing.’
“These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world.” Thomas said at the time. “And this album has given me a lot of hope. To reconnect with music.... And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!” Thomas’ hopes had a mixed response.
On the plus side, the new Lost Horizons album ‘In Quiet Moments’ is an even stronger successor to ‘Ojalá’ with another distinguished cast of guest singers and a handful of supporting instrumentalists embellishing the core duo’s gorgeously freeflowing and loose-limbed blueprint that one writer astutely labelled, “melancholydelia.”
On the minus side, any hope for a better world, as Earth continues to freefall toward political and social meltdown. Then, to make matters worse, as Raymonde and Thomas buckled down to create the improvised bedrock that Lost Horizons is built on, the former’s mother died. At least Raymonde had a way to channel his grief.
“The way improvisation works,” he says, “it’s just what’s going on with your body at the time, to let it out.”
Raymonde (bass, guitar, keyboards, production) and Thomas (drums, occasional keys and guitar) forged ahead, creating 16 instrumental tracks to send to prospective guests. When he did, Raymonde suggested a guiding theme for their lyrics: “death and rebirth. Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn’t far behind. But I also said, ‘The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun.’”
Lost Horizons’ melancholy-delia also feels buoyed aloft by airy currents, informed in part by Raymonde and Thomas’ former respective bands: the legendary Cocteau Twins and Dif Juz. Their former bands were labelmates on 4AD in the mid-80s, which is how they first met.
“I think ‘In Quiet Moments’ is more in the direction of where we’re going,” Thomas concludes. “People have retreated into their lives and, in those quiet moments, reflected on the world, how we fit in and who we and trust. Maybe the next album will be about rebellion! But the road is long and winding. We just need to express ourselves in how we feel at the time.”
Coloured vinyl 2LP (disc one green, disc two blue) in PVC outer sleeve with printed text, 350gsm wide spined sleeve on uncoated/reverse board, 16pg booklet on standard paper with contributions from all featured artists and digital download code.

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

This is KORPSE, a quartet of death metal destruction from The Netherlands. Insufferable Violence marks KORPSE’s third full-length album, set for release via the indomitable Unique Leader Records on 26th February. By far the most brutal and dark album KORPSE has produced yet, the band deliver eleven tracks of jaw dropping Death Metal carnage. During Insufferable Violence’s forty-two minutes of chaotic punishment and depravity the band seem on a mission to turn their listener to dust beneath a ceaseless torrent of immensely heavy slam breakdowns, inhuman vocals, grinding speed and aggression. KORPSE once again bring their no-nonsense approach to the slamming death genre with no compromise or false overstatements in one of this year’s heaviest releases. The result is a deeply uncomfortable listen. Comments KORPSE: “We are very proud to present to you our third album called Insufferable Violence. The title is an obvious metaphor for what to expect from the new tracks; relentless brutal death metal in our signature style of the genre. Obviously, the songs are fast, brutal, aggressive, slow and groovy, but we didn't shy away from trying new things. We've incorporated a lot of death metal's neighbouring genres to spice up the mix, varying from beatdown to black metal, and from goregrind to tech death. We feel this is the absolute best album we are able to deliver at this point in our career and we sincerely hope you will become as excited about it as we are!” Founded by drummer Marten van Kruijssen in 2013 together with vocalist Sven van Dijk, guitarist Floor van Kuijk and bassist Robin van Rijswijk, KORPSE are widely regarded for their savage and uncompromising live shows. Previous albums the self-titled Korpse debut (2014) and Unethical (2016) grabbed the immediate attention of fans and press worldwide whilst allowing the band to tour throughout Europe and the USA playing many Summer festivals including Deathfeast, Neurotic Deathfest, Obscene Extreme, Stonehenge, Berlin Deathfest, Nice To Eat You Deathfest, UK Slamfest, Slamming Brutality, Fall in the Brawl, Chicago Domination Fest, New York Deathfest, Heidelberg Deathfest and touring with bands such as Scordatura, and Extermination Dismemberment. If by the end you’re not mauled to pieces, congratulations, you’ve just become one of the survivors of KORPSE’s aural battering ram.

The self-titled, full-length debut from Bones Owens is a selection of songs both gloriously gritty and undeniably euphoric. In a bold departure from the moody Americana of his acclaimed EPs Hurt No One and Make Me No King, the Missouri-bred musician’s first release with Thirty Tigers delivers a powerful sound deeply inspired by ’60s garage-rock, Hill Country blues, and the swampy roots-rock of bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival (“the first record I remember stealing from my dad when I was ten and just starting to play guitar,” according to Owens). A potent showcase for his formidable guitar work—a talent he’s displayed in performing with artists as eclectic as Yelawolf and Mikky Ekko— Bones Owens arrives as a full-tilt expression of Owens’ wildest impulses, all swinging rhythms, and swaggering riffs. Featuring heavily playlisted hits like “White Lines” and “Keep It Close,” Bones Owens came to life at The Smoakstack in Owens’ adopted hometown of Nashville. With production from studio owner Paul Moak—a five-time Grammy Award nominee who’s also worked with Joy Williams, Marc Broussard, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. “This album really came from opening for some good people over the last few years, from feeding off that energy from the crowd and wanting to write more songs that would feel exciting to play live,” says Owens, who’s recently toured with Reignwolf and Whiskey Myers. “It felt like the right approach to keep the production simple and record everything to tape - I think it creates a good type of nervousness that brings out the best in everyone. Nobody wants to be the one to mess up the take. Besides, all my favorite records were made that way. You can’t fake that sound.”

Driving anywhere in Texas can cost you half a day, easy. For example, it’ll take you over four hours just to get from R&B singer Leon Bridges’ hometown of Fort Worth down to Houston, where the psychedelic wanderers in Khruangbin hail from. The state is vast, crisscrossed with rugged expanses of road flanked by limestone cliffs and granite mountains, forests of pine and mesquite, miles of desert or acres of sprawling grassland, all depending on what part you’re in. And it’s all baking under the Texas Sun that lends its name to Bridges and Khruangbin’s new collaborative release. “Big sky country, that’s what they call Texas,” Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says. “The horizon line goes all the way from one side to another without interruption. There’s something really comforting about that.” On ‘Texas Sun’, these two members of the state’s musical vanguard meet up somewhere in the middle of that scene, in the mythical nexus of Texas’ past, present, and future - a dreamy badlands where genres blur as seamlessly as the terrain. It calls equally to the cowboys bootscooting at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, the chopped-andscrewed hip hop fans rattling slabs on the southside of Houston, the art-school kids dropping acid in Austin, the cross-cultural progeny who grew up on listening to both mariachi and post-hardcore out on the Mexican borders of El Paso. All of these things, overlapping in a multi-coloured melange, purple hues as vivid and unpredictable as one of the state’s rightfully celebrated sunsets. A journey through homesick reminiscences, backseat romances and late night contemplations, the kind of record made for listening with the windows down and the road humming softly beneath you. Like the highways that inspired it, ‘Texas Sun’ is guaranteed to get you where you’re going - especially if you’re in no particular hurry to get there. Khruangbin and Leon Bridges are critically acclaimed artists with extensive coverage in print and online, including the New York Times, NPR, FADER, four Grammy nominations (Leon Bridges), The New Yorker, Washington Post and Pitchfork, among many others.

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

One of Britain's most consistent and enduring death metal bands, Birmingham's Bolt Thrower has weathered the best and worst of times in the extreme genre's history without ever giving in to commercial temptations, or hardly even altering its sound. The fact that they were unusually blessed with a steady lineup throughout much of their career no doubt contributed to this stability, and though they were rarely bestowed wild praise for their efforts, with most of their competitors or contemporaries either adopting other styles or long retired, Bolt Thrower has gradually established itself as one of the best death metal bands ever to emerge from England. - Ed Rivadavia (All Music Guide)

In 2007 bassist Anneleen Boehme was one of the founders of LABtrio, which is considered as one of the most acclaimed Belgian jazz bands of the past decade. Just like her companions Lander Gyselinck and Bram De Looze, she quickly asserted herself in the most diverse contexts. Now Boehme is launching her "dream project": Grand Picture Palace. A jazz quintet and a string quartet that blend different worlds together. Boehme leads and plays bass and has been writing eight compositions that break through genre walls, music both powerful and elegant, showing how jazz and classical music can balance each other without cliches.

All recordings were made in the early summer of 2020 in the studio of mentor and fellow musician Nicolas Rombouts. The self-titled album 'Grand Picture Palace' will be released on February 19th 2021.

With his new album, Year Of The Living Dead, Vienna-born and LA-based producer John Tejada finds a blissful extended moment of balance between the new and the familiar. Anyone who’s followed his career to date, which has included four previous albums for Kompakt, outings for storied labels like Plug Research, Playhouse and Cocoon, and numerous remixes and collaborations – most recently, his Wajatta duo with actor and musician Reggie Watts – will immediately sense the warmth and eloquence that Tejada brings to his gilded, pliant techno and electro hybrids. But there’s more here, too; an explorer’s glimmer in the producer’s eye, as he gets to grips with new ways of working and being, while offering a reflective opening for the listener, something echoed in artwork by graphic designer and ‘contemplative artist’ David Grey.

“The album was started using tools I was unfamiliar with, which became an interesting exploratory process,” Tejada says. “Staying away from the obvious and having to re-learn simple things was a fun challenge.” You can hear these new creative pulsions pushing the eight tracks on Year Of The Living Dead ever-forward; the album has an unique cast, and though there are trace elements of the genres Tejada has indulged previously, he’s never quite put them together this way before. There’s the dubwise glitter sprinkled across the moody opener “The Haunting Of Earth”, the kind caresses found amongst the deftly woven textures of “Sheltered”, and the churchy melancholy, all hymnal and golden, of “Echoes Of Life”.

Year Of The Living Dead also speaks obliquely to its moment, though Tejada works this implicitly, allowing the strange circumstances of 2020 to cast their inevitable shadow without being obvious or didactic. “The production process began right before lockdown and continued through what felt like a very serious time for all of us,” he recalls. “Not being able to see or touch our loved ones made me feel we are all like ghosts. We can observe from a distance but cannot really be there. We are isolated and alone.” And yet, Year Of The Living Dead’s tenderness offers an out for that anxiety and loneliness, its intimate immensities gifting the album a redemptive and compassionate core. Compact and glistening, Year Of The Living Dead sculpts unassuming beauty.

Mit seinem neuen Album “Year Of The Living Dead“ findet der in Wien geborene und in Los Angeles lebende Produzent John Tejada die richtige Balance zwischen Neuem und Vertrautem. Wer seine bisherige Karriere verfolgt hat, seine vier Alben für Kompakt, Beiträge für Labels wie Plug Research, Playhouse und Cocoon, zahlreiche Remixe und Kollaborationen wie zuletzt das Projekt Wajatta zusammen mit dem Schauspieler und Musiker Reggie Watts, spürt sofort wieder die Wärme und Eloquenz, die Tejada in seine geschmeidigen Techno-Elektro-Hybride einbringt. Doch es geht auch noch einen Schritt weiter. Da ist dieses Aufblitzen des Entdeckers im Auge eines Produzenten, der sich mit neuen Arbeits- und Seinsweisen auseinandersetzt und dem Zuhörer gleichzeitig etwas sehr Offenes und Nachdenkliches anbietet, etwas, das im Artwork des Grafikdesigners und "kontemplativen Künstlers" David Grey nachklingt.

"Ich hatte angefangen, das Album mit mir noch unbekannten Tools zu produzieren, was sich zu einem interessanten Forschungsprozess für mich entwickelte", sagt Tejada. "Sich vom allzu Offensichtlichen zu trennen und einfache mal Dinge neu lernen zu müssen, war eine recht spaßige Herausforderung.“ Man kann diese neuen kreativen Impulse hören, die “Year Of The Living Dead“ auf einer Länge von 8 Tracks nach vorne treiben; das Album hat einen einzigartigen Ansatz, denn obwohl es Elemente der Genres gibt, denen Tejada zuvor gefrönt hat, hatte er sie doch noch nie zuvor so zusammengefügt wie hier. Da ist dieses dubbige Glitzern im atmosphärischen Opener "The Haunting Of Earth", die freundlichen Zärtlichkeiten, die man in den Texturen von "Sheltered" findet, und schließlich die heilige Melancholie im hymnischen "Echoes Of Life".

Auch “Year Of The Living Dead“ enthält Andeutungen auf die momentane Situation und erlaubt es, den seltsamen Umständen des Jahres 2020, ihren unvermeidlichen Schatten zu werfen, ohne dabei zu offensichtlich oder gar belehrend zu sein. "Der Produktionsprozess begann kurz vor dem (ersten) Lockdown und setzte sich in einer Zeit fort, die sich für uns alle als eine sehr ernste Zeit anfühlte", erinnert er sich. "Da wir nicht in der Lage waren, unsere Lieben zu sehen oder zu berühren, hatte ich das Gefühl, dass wir alle wie Geister sind. Wir können nur distanzierte Beobachter sein, aber wir können nicht wirklich anwesend sein. Wir sind isoliert und allein." Und doch scheint die Zärtlichkeit von "Year Of The Living Dead" einen Ausweg aus dieser Angst und Einsamkeit anzubieten, die grenzenlose Intimität des Albums enthält einen erlösenden und mitfühlenden Kern. Derart konsistent und schillernd formt "Year Of The Living Dead" eine unprätentiöse Schönheit.

These two tracks have been around since their first releases on Kent LPs in the late 80s. Taken from the Scepter/Wand tapes, the artists had one release each on those labels. Maurice Williams’ ‘Look My Way’ was recorded at the same session as the two songs issued on his Zodiacs-billed Scepter 45, although it outperforms them both.

It was assumed that ‘Not Now But Later’ by Walter Johnson was also an unreleased number, but a few years later, a Wand DJ copy was discovered in the home of the producer Billy Jackson, when the singer’s true identity was found to be Walter Wilson. However, Billy stated that it was an alias for Tommy Keith, who wrote and recorded some excellent soul music. It is a beautiful self-penned ballad in the Ashford/Simpson mould.

Country music has chased piety, poetry, and much else, but The Social World is unapologetic hardcore, beer-sodden country music reduced to its core values. No faking. No pretension.
Spare, unornamented, and straight from the heart, the songs on the “Social World” of Rodger Wilhoit are all that’s holy and true in beerhall country music. The instrumentation is only as full as it needs to be. The singing is careworn and deeply sincere. There’s nothing tentative or lukewarm in Wilhoit’s music. It isn’t going to meet you halfway.
It seems that there’s always more to discover. Most copies of Social World and Rodger’s singles were probably sold off the bandstand 40 or 50 years ago. They were among the thousands of records by local artists on local labels sold off local bandstands all across the country. Most ended up in garage sales, thrift shops, or landfill. But every so often, an artist will be resurrected, and find a new audience. Rodger Wilhoit is one such singer. At a time when most mainstream Nashville country music sounds so contrived and empty, it takes an artist like Rodger Wilhoit to remind us what it’s really all about.

The “nighters” at Wigan Casino initially ran from 2am-8am every Saturday night/Sunday morning. From midnight onwards, crowds would gather outside and spill over onto the road blocking the local traffic. As attendances grew the crowds became a problem, particularly to the local constabulary, and on the eve of the Casino’s 1st Anniversary – with a genuine threat of closure looming – a momentous decision was made. Gerry Marshall, the Casino’s owner, somewhat reluctantly decided to open the club’s adjoining cabaret lounge, known as “Mr M’s” (named after the man himself).

That night Northern Soul history was made. It was the start of an era, the birth of the “club within a club” and, as it proved to be, a temple to fans of Northern Soul “oldies”. Eventually at 3am the black double doors – which separated Mr M’s from the upstairs balcony of the main ballroom – burst open, and a sea of soulies hit the dancefloor for the very first time to the banging sound of “Hey Sah-Lo-Ney” by Mickey Lee Lane, spun by DJ Alan Cain and featured here in all of its remastered glory (side 1, trk 1).

Such was the incredible response to that first night in Mr M’s in 1974 that a petition did the rounds gaining over a thousand signatures demanding that it should continue every week! What had intended to be an emergency one-off event had unintentionally ended up being the longest, most popular “temporary” oldies venue EVER!

M’s, as it was more affectionately known, soon became the No.1 oldies venue in the 70s. It was unashamedly “100%” oldies and “100mph” dance tunes!!! It was like an engine room churning out vinyl memories week in, week out and the atmosphere and sounds are captured here!

Repress

Tomas Barfod, Tomas Hoffding and Jeppe Kjellberg aka WhoMadeWho have paved an illustrious career spanning numerous singles and two acclaimed full length albums. They have certainly been one of the few acts in the past decade to successfully redefine the term "crossover" in music thanks to their genre hopping creative tact. Now, WhoMadeWho team up with Kompakt to bring you this very special release.

Transparent Red Vinyls

"Iza jinjô ni… Shôbu!” Be prepared for the battle!

Wayô Records and SNK Corporation are pleased to announce their first collaboration project! For the coming of the new Samurai Shodown game from the legendary fighting game series, we are proud to present the international release of its soundtrack in both CD and Vinyl formats!

With its beautiful Japanese instruments, the music of Samurai Shodown (2019) combines the power of modern times with the spirit from the roots of the series, performed by the best traditional Japanese players, including the legendary HIDE×HIDE duo! This soundtrack features the theme song Revive the Soul and each of the character themes, for a total of two hours of epic music!

The original soundtrack on Vinyl includes 19 tracks on two 180g LP red-marbled discs in separate sleeve into a gatefold package.

The term 'tourbillon' has two meanings - it is the French word for "whirlwind" and also a device used in watchmaking to improve the accuracy of a timepiece. Both definitions feel apt when listening to Tourbillon, the latest release on Central Processing Unit from Australian producer Tim Koch. Following on from Koch's CPU debut Spinifex back in 2018 - an album that initially emerged via minidisc - Tourbillon is a four-track EP which dazzles with its perpetual-motion post-IDM productions.

These tracks draw you into their webs by forming dense interlocking sonic patterns over the course of several minutes. While the rhythmic programming and lattice of alien percussion tones can appear discombobulating at first, Koch also bewitches the listener with the slyly melodic synth work that he laces throughout Tourbillon.

Opening track 'Estranger' is a fine example of this combination. The first section here is a blend of blown-out drum sounds which comes off like an industrial electro tune run through a meat grinder. However, the track soon blossoms with the introduction of some amazingly atmospheric synth pads, and the two contrasting elements come together for a strange and rather beautiful whole.

'Estranger' finds a mirror-image in Tourbillon's final cut 'Hankert', a track in which more of those gurgling percussive tones play off the rich chord progressions that chirrup away in the background. Between 'Estranger' and 'Hankert' we get two propulsive grooves in the form of 'Disfugue' and 'Dreitark'.

How, then, to contextualize such unique material? Calum Gunn's recent outing for CPU is a good point of comparison, and the electronics here bang and whirr in a manner which nods to the post-IDM innovations of artists like μ-Ziq. One can also see Tourbillon as descended from acts like Cabaret Voltaire, the industrial electronics innovators from CPU's home city of Sheffield. However, Tourbillon is ultimately an EP which exists in its own lane, an open-minded and open-hearted set which runs with the futurist spirit of CPU and Koch's previous home of Merck Records.

Australian producer Tim Koch returns to Sheffield's Central Processing Unit with Tourbillon, an EP of otherworldly post-IDM productions.

RIYL: μ-Ziq, Calum Gunn, Proswell, Modeselektor

DRP (Dom & Roland Productions) was started in 2006 for Dom to collaborate with like-minded artists. Now 15 years in with an enviable roster from “Noisia” to “Amon Tobin” it is now the main home of Dom’s work.

Mando is one of Doms closest friends. He has been writing music for over 25 years. A gardener by day, he shuns the limelight and has always maintained writing music is his secret hobby! He had a studio in the room next to No-U-Turn in the 90s which was eventually taken over by Optical and Edrush.
Until fairly recently he never released anything! He has an amazing ability to create sick grooves, his style is raw and refreshing and not over produced like a lot of modern music. If i had to pigeonhole his style I would say 90s neurofunk.

Both these tracks play to his strengths. This is his first release on vinyl, so will become collectable!

DJ PLAY: What? In their bedrooms? These people regularly play DRP tracks… Rene Lavice, Laurent Garnier, Giles Peterson, Jerome Hill, Digital, DJ Bailey, DJ Lee, Bryan G, Fabio, Grooverider, Loxi, Andy C, Break, Kasra, Doc Scott, Dbridge, Goldie, Ant TC1, Gridlok, Ulterior Motive, Noisia + More.

Recorded on November 13th 1990 in Santa Cruz, CA, where the band were rehearsing for their upcoming Weld tour, Neil Young and Crazy Horse played a club show at The Catalyst which is now released here for the first time.
The show comprised three different sets along with a 12 minute encore of Cortez The Killer and all 3 sets including that encore are brought together here in over 2 hours of music.

Said to be one of the great live shows that Neil Young and Crazy Horse performed, the album includes live versions of songs from their Ragged Glory album, released just prior, along with classics from across their catalogue.

Recorded on November 13th 1990 in Santa Cruz, CA, where the band were rehearsing for their upcoming Weld tour, Neil Young and Crazy Horse played a club show at The Catalyst which is now released here for the first time.
The show comprised three different sets along with a 12 minute encore of Cortez The Killer and all 3 sets including that encore are brought together here in over 2 hours of music.
Said to be one of the great live shows that Neil Young and Crazy Horse performed, the album includes live versions of songs from their Ragged Glory album, released just prior, along with classics from across their catalogue.

We are proud to release one of the great, acclaimed double-sider 45s of soul music in our Repro series.

The Exits recorded these classic songs in Los Angeles and found success in releasing them on Pittsburgh’s Gemini label, charting at #34 R&B in 1967. The number of copies pressed has not prevented the price of originals rising way past the £100 barrier due to its excellence and the fact it is collected on several vintage music scenes.

The hit side was ‘Under The Street Lamp’, a beautiful paean to the street corner vocal groups of the 50s, where many Exits members first sang. The atmospheric flip, ‘You Got To Have Money’, was celebrated later on the rare and Northern Soul dance scene and is now a guaranteed floor-filler.

At an age of plastic and digital screen reigning, when it is almost impossible to feel anything in front of a contemporary art piece, it is still possible to be moved by a drum machine …. and a keyboard……

There are still artisans and sunday painters who will put a little of their troubles and their humanity at the service of their art. Certainly a merchant of colors in a previous life, Med paints his songs with a Benedictine patience, distilling its doubts in its small pop compositions with soft water reflections where everyone could see themselves as in a mirror.

MED is Médéric Gontier, guitarist of Tahiti 80, first solo effort. Where the band had not often ventured outside English, Med uses the French language and caresses it in the direction of its melodies. Produced with the help of Pedro Resende, these are ten pieces both aerial and aquatic, light but finally of a real consistency.

Immediately pop («Dans ses yeux»), reminiscent of the great French composers of the sixties («Avec toi») and with them that of the English of Broadcast to Vanishing Twin («Muzak»).

It’s a bit time for the Norman to make a pause and for that, to put his nose out, it’s freetime, the one of those who will never claim to be better than the others but whose records will be kept close to the heart.

-LTD. MAGENTA VINYL-

What is the utility of pain? Can it do anything but fester? In Ferneaux explores pain in motion, building audio-spatial chambers of experience and memory. Using an archive of field recordings from a decade of global travels, isolation gave Blanck Mass an opportunity to make connections in a moment when being together is impossible. The record is divided into two long-form journeys that gather the memories of being with now-distant others through the composition of a nostalgic travelogue. The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations. These scenes alternate with the building up and releasing of great aural tension, intensities that emerge from the trauma of a personal grieving process which has perhaps embraced its rage moment. An encounter with a prophetic figure on the streets of San Francisco presented the question of "how to handle the misery on the way to the blessing." This is the quandary of the impasse we now all find ourselves in, trapped in our little caves, grappling with the unease of the self at rest - without movement, without the consumerist agenda of "new experiences." The possibility of growth, always defined by our connections with others, held in limbo. Sartre said that "Hell is other people," but perhaps this is the Inferno of the present: the space of sitting with the self. A blessing is often thought of as a future reward, above and beyond the material plane. With In Ferneaux, Blanck Mass wrangles the immanent materials of the here-and-now to build a sense of transcendence. Here, the uncanny angelic hymn sits comfortably beside the dirge. The misery and blessing are one.

Mouse on Mars, the Berlin-based duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, approach electronic music with an inexhaustible curiosity and unparalleled ingenuity. ‘AAI’ (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence) takes their fascination with technology and undogmatic exploration a quantum leap further.
Emerging from a primordial ooze of rolling bass and skittering electronics, hypnotic polyrhythms and pulsing synthesizers propel the listener across the
record’s expanse. Hidden in the duo’s hyper-detailed productions is a kind of meta-narrative.
Working with AI tech collective Birds on Mars and former Soundcloud
programmers Ranny Keddo and Derrek Kindle, the duo collaborated on the creation of bespoke software capable of modelling speech; text and voice from writer and scholar of African Studies Louis Chude-Sokei and DJ/producer Yağmur Uçkunkaya were fed into the software as a model, allowing Toma and Werner to control parameters like speed or mood, thereby creating a kind of speech
instrument they could control and play as they would a synthesizer.
The album’s narrative is quite literally mirrored in the music - the sound of an artificial intelligence growing, learning and speaking. This exploration of artificial intelligence as both a narrative framework and compositional tool, allowing the duo to summon their most explicitly science-fiction work to date. Original artwork by Casey Reas, inventor of the computer graphics language Processing.
Recently, Mouse on Mars received the 2020 Holger Czukay Prize for Pop Music.
Mouse on Mars have been regularly streaming performances throughout 2020, partnering with organizations like Goethe-Institut, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Conditions of a Necessity and others and will continue these in 2021.
‘AAI’ is available on grey or black double LP packaged in a single sleeve with full colour insert / lyrics. CD comes with 8-panel poster booklet.
“Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner continue to create soundscapes that blur the line between programming and live musicianship, and sometimes between Earth and outer space.” - AV Club
“Enthralling and impossible to categorize.” - Pitchfork
“Sustained and ephemeral electronic sounds conjure unearthly open spaces… It’s not a song; it’s sound as a temporal phenomenon, a few minutes of sculpted attention.” - The New York Times

Founded by childhood friends Evan Stephens Hall and Zack
Levine, Pinegrove have already crafted three fantastic albums
- ‘Everything So Far’ (2015), ‘Cardinal’ (2016) and ‘Skylight’
(2018) - and achieved massive critical acclaim and a
widespread and devoted listenership. The band’s latest
album (and first for Rough Trade), ‘Marigold’, arrived in
January of 2020 and its themes of reflection and resilience
have resonated through an especially tumultuous year. Now
with tours cancelled and time on their hands, the band have
decided to put together something special for their fans.
‘Amperland, NY’ is yet another full album, this time
accompanying a feature film of the same name. The
collection features 21 brand new studio recordings spanning
Pinegrove’s career and catalogue, captured upstate in the
house where the band lived and recorded for 4 years - a
place they lovingly referred to as ‘Amperland’. But all good
things (and leases) come to an end and, before they bid
adieu to the space permanently, they gathered together for
one last performance with friends and family.
Featuring original member and keyboardist / vocalist Nandi
Rose (Half Waif) on many tracks - this collection will thrill old
and new listeners alike - with the band breathing new life
into fan favourites and deep cuts. From acoustic versions to
unique arrangements featuring piano, pedal steel and organ,
‘Amperland, NY’ touches on notes of folk and progressive
rock previously unheard on their studio albums. This will be
an essential addition to the Pinegrove catalogue and
encompasses all of the earnest and ecstatic live energy the
band is known for.
Double vinyl format housed in a heavyweight matte gatefold
package and comes with a fully annotated script and behind
the scenes photos from the film.

‘Banane Bleue’ (French for blue banana), the brand new album from Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, is a nomadic and truly European record, hailing from rented workspaces in some of the continent’s key cities - Berlin, Athens and Paris - and recorded with instruments that were often borrowed from likeminded musicians.
Written solely by Frànçois Marry himself, close collaborator and Weird World artist Jaakko Eino Kalevi was enlisted for production duties whilst Renaud Letang (Feist, Gonzales, Connan Mockasin) mixed the album.
The title of the album is taken from the ‘blue banana’ concept, a geographical theory that groups together a corridor of Europe’s biggest cities, originally conceived in the 1980s. The theory states that the blurring of these cities’ boundaries has resulted in the formation of one massive, interconnected megalopolis.
Expanding on the theory, Frànçois poetised it, picturing a luminescent blue banana shape that you can see from space with vibrant, ethereal currents that surround and bind us. It explores common cultural and romantic ground, creating an album full of missed meetings and misunderstandings.
CD into printed inner wallet and 8-page booklet.
Vinyl into printed inner sleeve with digital download card.

It has been twelve months since singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan chose to go sober, and life has changed a lot. In fact, the present day Lucy Spraggan is, in a multitude of ways, unrecognisable from the person of yesteryear. Control - both relinquishing it and taking it back - plus rediscovering oneself, is a recurring theme of the past year and Spraggan’s forthcoming album Choices. Aptly named, the songs that comprise the collection offer insight and introspection that saw her let go of alcohol, embrace exercise and a healthier lifestyle, move onwards through a divorce and find solace in its wake. Needless to say, it may have been necessary, but it was by no means easy. In conclusion, “it’s really just been an enlightening thing.”

"New York City’s layers of continuous noise have become the backdrop to a rising four-piece that NME already calls “one of New York’s most exciting new bands.” Just like the city, The Muckers’ sound is equal parts vital and timeless, resolute and vibrant.

As The New York Times tells the story, lead guitarist and vocalist “Emir Mohseni, was inspired by the Strokes to pursue a career in music — a passion that brought him to New York all the way from his native Iran.” The move, profiled across acclaimed publications, from Rolling Stone to Billboard, only marked the beginning of the band’s story. Upon landing in this new environment, Mohseni met the three guys that would become his closest friends, and build with him the vitalizing sound and enrapturing live show that The Muckers are garnering early praises for: Anthony Azarmgin at the bass, Chris Cawley on rhythm guitar, and John Zimmerman behind the drums.

“I was born here” said Alice Cooper, “and so was the sound and spirit of Alice Cooper.” Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group, “Detroit Stories” followslast year’s “Breadcrumbs” EP as a modern-day homage to the toughest and craziest Rock n Roll scene there ever was. Alice Cooper and Bob Ezrin gathered some legendary Detroit musicians (Wayne Kramer, Johnny “Bee” Badanjek, Paul Randolph and many more) in a Detroit studio to record “Detroit Stories”, Alice Cooper’s new album that celebrates that spirit for a new era. Finally, it would not be a proper collection of Detroit tales if it didn’t include a few songs featuring the Original Band members, Mike Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal. Joe Bonamassa also makes an appearance on the intro track “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. If 2019’s “Breadcrumbs” EP laid down the trail to the city, “Detroit Stories” drives like a muscle car right down Woodward Ave. Discover Detroit Stories as they were meant to be told. Available across 5 formats: CD / CD+DVD / 2LP Black, Boxset. Boxset inclues CD, T-shirt, Face Mask, Torch Light, 3 Stickers. Expected reviews across the broadsheets and tabloids. Daily Mail already picked this album as one of their 2021 albums to look out for! Current single playlisted at BCR2.

‘VIGNETTES’ sees the 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated singer-songwriter-guitarist and co-founder of The Lumineers exploring his myriad influences and early inspirations with a series of starkly beautiful cover versions spanning such legendary artists as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow, Jim Croce, Derek and the Dominos, and Warren Zevon. “The way I envisioned this album,” say Schultz, “was as if you had all these songs represented by little houses on a street, and then a tornado ripped through the town and tore them all the way down to the studs and foundation… that’s what you’d have with every one of these songs after I re-imagined them.

"On March 2, 1991 Serge Gainsbourg bowed out and left France orphaned by one of the most important singer-songwriters of French song. Thirty years later, his songs are still with us, proof of their quality. Indeed, beyond the many successes that have marked a career spanning more than thirty years, Gainsbourg's repertoire is abundantly rich. Always at the forefront of innovation, he has been able to adapt his delicate and classical writing with the most modern musical styles: jazz, reggae, funk ... without ever losing his eloquence or his soul. This 2LP Set sends us back and shows how Serge Gainsbourg was an emblematic and major figure.Reviews L’Echo, London Macadam,
ADS - L’Echo, London Macadam"

Fountains of Wayne is one of those rare bands that digs back into what pop music is all about -- good, fun tunes. Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1996. Recorded when the band was just a duo, Chris Collingwood and the late Adam Schlesinger provided almost all the instrumentation during the recording. Schlesinger and Porter had also been members of The Belltower, and bassist Danny Weinkauf later played with Lincoln before joining They Might Be Giants. Although the songs were written over a period of years (as outlets to make each other laugh through inside jokes and references to suburban New York and New Jersey), the album was recorded in just five days. The songwriting is straightforward and wonderful; nearly every song is a pop gem. The result is an innovative album - very few albums released in the 90’s are this pleasant, charming, and all-round likeable. The record is now available on transparent red coloured vinyl, in a limited edition of 1500 copies.

Back by popular demand, Memorials of Distinction is rereleasing Porridge Radio's shed-recorded debut album on a limited pressing of 1000 clear vinyl and CD. This comes after a year in which Porridge Radio's Every Bad, their first on Secretly Canadian, led to top reviews in Pitchfork, The Guardian, NME, The Times, The Quietus, Clash, Uncut, Q, The Independent, LOBF, DIY, Stereogum, Paste, Vice, amongst others, and then being shortlisted as one of the Hyundai Mercury Prize's 12 Albums of 2020. Porridge Radio started as Dana Margolin’s bedroom project, but grew to a Brighton-based band who, on this debut, inelegantly knotted together tender melodic pop songs with vicious and furious emotional outpour. After a series of home-recorded solo demos and the growing legend of their live shows on the UK DIY scene, they originally released this lofi debut full band LP in 2016. The album documents struggles with life, love and boredom - spelt out with sticky fingers by five idiot savants. RP&OF's lyrics, title and artwork, as well as the group's name, brings to mind a certain scrapbook absurdism at the core of Porridge Radio's earlier work. Faced with the dark abyss of existence, Margolin and co. scrape together some value from the nonsensical and the pointless, and then cling to it, giggling, for dear life.

*Repress*

We've been fans of Samba for a few years now and have been following his progress as he's risen to become one of the most sought after producers in the Dubstep scene today. When Sam sent us this EP, we were instantly blown away by the music.
Title track 'Kings' has become a huge dubplate within the scene with support from dons like Commodo and Mala. To us the quite melodic 808 bassline harks back to early Good Looking records vibes, while the crisp fresh production and drumwork firmly places this release in 2019.

Jamwax Records proudly presents We Sing Gregory. On this album, jamaican producer Bravo used the best roots and culture band, the undomitable Roots Radics, featuring Flabba Holt on bass, Style Scott on drums and Keith Sterling on keyboards, and hired legends Robbie Lynn on keyboards, Cat Coore and Chinna Smith on guitar, Stick on percussion, Dean Fraser on horns, thus ensuring a heavy and flawless riddim foundation and superb arrangements.

The Roots Radics were Gregory Isaacs band in the early 80's, playing on the Night Nurse and Out Deh! albums, touring around the world with the cool ruler. Gregory Isaacs' songwriting is magnificient and the subjects are always treated with humbleness and consideration for others.

That Japan’s breakthrough record Quiet Life was released in both 1979 and 1980 is uniquely fitting for a band who were about to step out of the glam rock, post punk shadows of the late 70s and deliver an as yet genre-less record that would come to define the 80s.

Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums.

The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new Abbey Road half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’.

We are working directly with original band members Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, producer John Punter and with consultant advice from band biographer Anthony Reynolds and the Japanese Shinko archive.

The release features newly restored original album artwork, new liner notes with contributions from band members and original producer, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia.

We were playing the track ‘Common Ground’ out and it was getting the dance floor hot! It was an instrumental at the time and Renato Paris was in the dance (a singer that EVM has been working with, plays keys with Moses Boyd and is one of Gilles Peterson's one to watch) he came up and asked, “What's This?” grabbed the mic, peak time and layed down this dope freestyle vocal, it was a jaw drop kinda moment for us all! That was it, we had to make it happen! So we linked up Renato and Duke and it became the lead track on the EP. An infectious song that literally drips in soul and future R&B, and just fits perfectly over the strings on this killer broken beat track! It’s one that will stick in your head and make you play it twice!

The whole EP is nothing short of quality. From the sultry jazzy Bruk vibes of '2017 Heat Wave' to the monstrous club track ‘ Nighthawks’ an up front stomper with live drums and a bassline that'll make you shiver inside that funky top line.

‘Got My 606 Back’ has been getting rinsed by the Summer dance Forever crew’s KC The Funkaholic and was well received by dancers worldwide when it was used for an SDF promo earlier in the year. We’ve since had many of them asking when this is coming out! This one is a real body mover, sweat towel advised!

Finishing up on ‘IFZ Shuffle’ a wicked little house shuffler that almost takes you back to the 90’s. It has this sweet piano breakdown that then introduces synths and congas until the groove kicks back in again. This track and the whole EP for that matter, works in a multitude of situations. It wont fail!

As one of the early pioneers of NYC’s unground dance movement Victor Simonelli channelled that New York house sound via range of labels he oversaw in the ‘90s. One such outlet was Big Big Trax and to provide a little light in these testing times, Victor has provided the keys to some of the label’s most treasured cuts, remastered for a new generation of listeners.

Classic’s from Afrimerican Coalition, Fibre Foundation and Insatiable featuring Mone with mixes from the man himself, all under one, conveniently 12 inch sized roof.

It’s hard not to notice such an unforgettable sleeve, and if the music it protects is half as memorable as the artwork, you know you just have to hear it. We don’t think you’ll be disappointed because yes, this is the majestic 1971 album Un Muñeco De Madera, courtesy of the shadowy Sola, and it sounds exactly as you’d want it to. Originally released on RCA in Mexico, it’s kaleidoscopic Acapulcan-funk.

The album’s endless grooves are propelled by softly rocking, quasi-library funk breaks. Vocally, Sola is in step with the 60s French pop-chanteuse style, but of course her lyrics are delivered in sensuous Spanish. Her voice is beautiful. Pillowy soft and tender, it can suddenly explode in mystical anger. These are ten tracks of moody, mysterious vibes that stir the spirit and sooth the soul.

The LP was written, arranged and directed by prolific Spanish composer Manuel Alejandro, the man behind an incredible number of now classic Latin love songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. As for Sola herself, next to nothing is known about the Mexican singer except the occasional whisper heard in only the darkest corners of the annals of music history. It’s said that upon growing disillusioned with the music industry she ended up in a convent of Carmelite Sisters. Fitting perhaps, given that Un Muñeco De Madera is a spiritual wonder of a record.

Much-loved single and title-track “Un Muñeco De Madera” opens the album. It introduces us to Sola’s sparkling Latin-funk, bursting with swaggering grooves sewn by tight drums, sweeping strings and lush keys. It’s followed by the serene but melancholic bossa groove of “Oye Mamá, Oye Papá” and the strings and guitar of “He Bajado Al Infierno” that hold up vocals reaching for an eternal truth. With full-on soundtracky feels, the rolling keys underpinning the Morricone-esque soundscape of “En Ellos Creo” will give you goosebumps. The gorgeous “Soy Rebelde” (“I’m Rebellious”), sets its gentle, piano-led delivery in delicate contrast to the lyrical sentiment.

Perhaps Sola’s most well-known track, the exotic bossa of “Tabu, Tabu”, is a formidable groove. Elegant bongos, prominent bass, delicate acoustics and a persistent flute blend with Sola’s unique voice; sinuous, sassy and forceful at the same time. The stunning “La Última Palabra”, while not literally the album’s last word, is nevertheless a stirring statement of strutting Latin soul, with more musical ideas packed into this one song than the entirety of most long-players.

If you hadn’t decided already, the final two tracks that are the funk-fuelled “Bada-Bada-Ba” and the horn-heavy percussive masterclass “Únete A Mi” will leave you in no doubt that this is one very special record.

Mastered with great respect by Simon Francis, cut by the master Pete Norman and with that sleeve lovingly restored by the Be With team, this re-issue ensures that Un Muñeco De Madera now sounds, looks and feels as beautiful as it deserves to.
: Un Muñeco De Madera (LP)

A few years ago, a certain Robin Schulz released a DJ mix on SoundCloud. Hailing from the town of Osnabrück, Germany and completely unknown at the time, he dubbed his mix “Wenn Träume fliegen lernen”, referencing the Peter Pan movie “Finding Neverland”. Seven years down the line, Robin Schulz hasn’t only found his Neverland, but keeps adding new chapters to his fairy tale.
Take this one, for instance: Robin Schulz is now the only German artist in the country’s chart history with three diamond-certified singles. Following “Prayer in C“ and “Waves“, his hit single “Sugar“ is the latest to officially reach this rare feat. Add his 275 gold and platinum awards in 30 markets, sales in excess of 20 million and nearly 8 billion global streams and you get the idea why the German DJ and producer is considered an exceptional phenomenon.
It should come as no surprise that he didn’t get there by accident. That also goes for his coming fourth album “IIII”, slated for a February 26 release. Over the course of three years, the creative powerhouse that is Schulz created ideas and worked tirelessly on the album whilst touring all around the world. “Of course, I’m absolutely stoked about gaining the third diamond award in my career”, Robin shares. “However, in my head I’m still that bloke from Osnabrück who wants to make it out there with his creative vision. With that ambition, I also approached my new album.” Some of the album’s songs are already well familiar – “Speechless” (feat. Erika Sirola)”, “All This Love” (feat. Harloe), “Rather Be Alone” (feat. Nick Martin & Sam Martin), “In Your Eyes” (feat. Alida), “Alane” (feat. Wes) and the current single “All We Got” (feat. Kiddo). Another 11 tracks are still to see the light of day and Robin is looking forward to releasing them soon: “I can’t wait to share the new cuts with you. I really hope you’ll love them as much as I do”, he says.
Robin is ready to write the next chapter of his very own fairy tale.





e 5. All We Got (feat. KIDDO) Explicit

Doppler Vinyl 2x180g (1xRed 1xGreen vinyl)

A few years ago, a certain Robin Schulz released a DJ mix on SoundCloud. Hailing from the town of Osnabrück, Germany and completely unknown at the time, he dubbed his mix “Wenn Träume fliegen lernen”, referencing the Peter Pan movie “Finding Neverland”. Seven years down the line, Robin Schulz hasn’t only found his Neverland, but keeps adding new chapters to his fairy tale.



Take this one, for instance: Robin Schulz is now the only German artist in the country’s chart history with three diamond-certified singles. Following “Prayer in C“ and “Waves“, his hit single “Sugar“ is the latest to officially reach this rare feat. Add his 275 gold and platinum awards in 30 markets, sales in excess of 20 million and nearly 8 billion global streams and you get the idea why the German DJ and producer is considered an exceptional phenomenon.



It should come as no surprise that he didn’t get there by accident. That also goes for his coming fourth album “IIII”, slated for a February 26 release. Over the course of three years, the creative powerhouse that is Schulz created ideas and worked tirelessly on the album whilst touring all around the world. “Of course, I’m absolutely stoked about gaining the third diamond award in my career”, Robin shares. “However, in my head I’m still that bloke from Osnabrück who wants to make it out there with his creative vision. With that ambition, I also approached my new album.”



Some of the album’s songs are already well familiar – “Speechless” (feat. Erika Sirola)”, “All This Love” (feat. Harloe), “Rather Be Alone” (feat. Nick Martin & Sam Martin), “In Your Eyes” (feat. Alida), “Alane” (feat. Wes) and the current single “All We Got” (feat. Kiddo). Another 11 tracks are still to see the light of day and Robin is looking forward to releasing them soon: “I can’t wait to share the new cuts with you. I really hope you’ll love them as much as I do”, he says.



Robin is ready to write the next chapter of his very own fairy tale.

We are excited to introduce you the new exclusive label from Finnish producer Artificial Latvamäki known for his legendary releases on labels like Curle, Morse, Trapez & Cocoon.

Remixes from the North is an Electro/Techno/Disco vinyl record with 6 remixes from Artificial Latvamäki's Suunta Trilogy, featuring artists such as Recue and CRC (one half of Morphology). The two sides of the record explore two different approaches: murky and scintillating

"Do you feel what I feel too?" Brijean Murphy floats the question at the start of Feelings, the full-length Ghostly International debut from Brijean, her collaborative project with Doug Stuart. Guided by a lush mix of charismatic keyboard chords, grooving bass lines, and radiant bongo-driven rhythms, the "Day Dreaming" lyric doubles as an invitation and a statement of intention. Brijean want you to move, physically, mentally, dimensionally; this is dance music for the mind, body, and soul. With Feelings, they've manifested a gentle collective space for respite, for self-reflection, for self-care, for uninhibited imagination and new possibilities. The album cultivates a specific vibe, a softness Murphy has come to call "romancing the psyche." Growing up in a family immersed in jazz, Latin and soul music, Murphy would become an accomplished DJ, session and live player in Oakland's diverse music scene and one of indie's most in-demand percussionists (Poolside, Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls). In 2018, she began recording songs with multi-instrumentalist and producer Doug Stuart, who shares a background in jazz and pop in bands such as Bells Atlas, Meernaa, and Luke Temple. Following their first sessions, which resulted in the mini-album Walkie Talkie (released in 2019 on Native Cat Recordings), the duo continued freeform hangs in Oakland, inviting friends Chaz Bear, Tony Peppers, and Hamir Atwal. "We improvised on different feels for hours," says Murphy. "Nothing quite developed at first but we had seeds. We re-opened the sessions a couple months later, after returning from tours, and spent a month developing the songs in a little 400 square foot cottage." Aforementioned album opener "Day Dreaming" is a dynamic celebration of newness: the excitement in finding deeper understandings of yourself as you get to know someone, something, or somewhere new. "Wifi Beach" drops a pin in pure psych-pop exotica. With Atwal on drums, Stuart on bass, Peppers on keys, and Bear engineering, the group improvised the track's intro sequence based on the vision of a lavish 1970s pool party. Establishing the scene is a mid-frequency drum kit disco shuffle augmented by tight congas and timbale effect, as Murphy sings in spurts: "I want to be / Deep in love / I want to be / Say you love me too / I want to be / Honey." The stanzas cut between "reflective moments of wants and being overwhelmed by feelings of the present," she explains. "A lot of the `love songs' I write are to my psyche, self-reflections on how to encourage tender perspectives and make more time for the sweet stuff." Though there is a loose, dance-oriented motif throughout, the material gives way to somnolent turns. On "Ocean," Brijean's anodyne lyrics, reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto's airy croon, float atop a brushed drum pattern, sparkling rhodes lines, and pittering and softly funky woodblock bops. The opening line sets up the rest, "In this gentle space we lay" _ among the album's propensity for movement, tracks like "Ocean" stand out by leaning back for momentary sways of blissful introspection. Murphy calls the charming "Hey Boy" a "psychedelic guide _ the exploration of finding what feels good _ through sorrow, anxiety, apathy." This mentality applies to Feelings on the whole: in these nebulous and verdant worlds of hazy melodies, feathery hooks, and percussive details, the songs simply want us to feel alive. They radiate in wonderful abandon and with a sense of devotion to the self. RIYL: Stereolab, Astrud Gilberto, Air, Little Dragon, Broadcast, Khruangbin, Poolside.

LTD. BLUE & PINK SWIRL VINYL

"Do you feel what I feel too?" Brijean Murphy floats the question at the start of Feelings, the full-length Ghostly International debut from Brijean, her collaborative project with Doug Stuart. Guided by a lush mix of charismatic keyboard chords, grooving bass lines, and radiant bongo-driven rhythms, the "Day Dreaming" lyric doubles as an invitation and a statement of intention. Brijean want you to move, physically, mentally, dimensionally; this is dance music for the mind, body, and soul. With Feelings, they've manifested a gentle collective space for respite, for self-reflection, for self-care, for uninhibited imagination and new possibilities. The album cultivates a specific vibe, a softness Murphy has come to call "romancing the psyche." Growing up in a family immersed in jazz, Latin and soul music, Murphy would become an accomplished DJ, session and live player in Oakland's diverse music scene and one of indie's most in-demand percussionists (Poolside, Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls). In 2018, she began recording songs with multi-instrumentalist and producer Doug Stuart, who shares a background in jazz and pop in bands such as Bells Atlas, Meernaa, and Luke Temple. Following their first sessions, which resulted in the mini-album Walkie Talkie (released in 2019 on Native Cat Recordings), the duo continued freeform hangs in Oakland, inviting friends Chaz Bear, Tony Peppers, and Hamir Atwal. "We improvised on different feels for hours," says Murphy. "Nothing quite developed at first but we had seeds. We re-opened the sessions a couple months later, after returning from tours, and spent a month developing the songs in a little 400 square foot cottage." Aforementioned album opener "Day Dreaming" is a dynamic celebration of newness: the excitement in finding deeper understandings of yourself as you get to know someone, something, or somewhere new. "Wifi Beach" drops a pin in pure psych-pop exotica. With Atwal on drums, Stuart on bass, Peppers on keys, and Bear engineering, the group improvised the track's intro sequence based on the vision of a lavish 1970s pool party. Establishing the scene is a mid-frequency drum kit disco shuffle augmented by tight congas and timbale effect, as Murphy sings in spurts: "I want to be / Deep in love / I want to be / Say you love me too / I want to be / Honey." The stanzas cut between "reflective moments of wants and being overwhelmed by feelings of the present," she explains. "A lot of the `love songs' I write are to my psyche, self-reflections on how to encourage tender perspectives and make more time for the sweet stuff." Though there is a loose, dance-oriented motif throughout, the material gives way to somnolent turns. On "Ocean," Brijean's anodyne lyrics, reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto's airy croon, float atop a brushed drum pattern, sparkling rhodes lines, and pittering and softly funky woodblock bops. The opening line sets up the rest, "In this gentle space we lay" _ among the album's propensity for movement, tracks like "Ocean" stand out by leaning back for momentary sways of blissful introspection. Murphy calls the charming "Hey Boy" a "psychedelic guide _ the exploration of finding what feels good _ through sorrow, anxiety, apathy." This mentality applies to Feelings on the whole: in these nebulous and verdant worlds of hazy melodies, feathery hooks, and percussive details, the songs simply want us to feel alive. They radiate in wonderful abandon and with a sense of devotion to the self. RIYL: Stereolab, Astrud Gilberto, Air, Little Dragon, Broadcast, Khruangbin, Poolside.

* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates it’s 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.
* We reach the penultimate Deep Seven No.9 that never made it to vinyl back in 1993. This is now available to own and settles the speculation over the missing 9th release that has accumulated for over 25 years. Ant Miles's last Hardcore production under the guise ‘Ironik’ comes in the form of ‘Feel the Feeling’. Uplifting original vocals feature over pumping basses and funk breaks capturing that ‘93 Hardcore vibe. The flip ‘Inspiration Station’ again features original vocals encompassing the Junglistic Hardcore flavours emerging from that era.

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

Handscapes is a double live album by The Piano Choir featuring Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, and Sonelius Smith recorded in 1972.

At the time of release Ebony reviewer Phyl Garland said "One needn't be a "piano freak" to appreciate a truly new recording. First of all imagine seven gifted and talented pianists sitting down to seven grand pianos (with electric piano, organ, harpsichord, a few tambourines for spice) and proceeding to tear up these instruments - musically, that is. ...the torrrent of sound springing from their 70 fingers is so powerful and majestic as to be unlike anything one has ever heard."

In his review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos simply states "Brilliant"

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

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

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

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

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

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

With hits such as ‘Africa’ and ‘Rosanna’, more than 40 million albums sold and over 40 years of a career, TOTO is without doubt one of the superlatives of music history.

In the early 90s they had a short period as a four-piece featuring Steve Lukather (guitar & lead vocals), David Paich (keyboards & vocals), Jeff Porcaro (drums & percussion) and Mike Porcaro (bass). The line-up, with some additional touring members, performed this concert at Montreux in July 1991 and went on to make the “Kingdom Of Desire” album released in 1992, shortly after the tragic early death of drummer Jeff Porcaro.

The Montreux show combines the then unreleased tracks from the “Kingdom Of Desire” album with classic hits and covers of songs by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Now this set will become available as a heavyweight double vinyl gatefold edition.

People On Sunday is an original soundtrack to the 1930 silent film variously known as Menschen am Sonntag, Les Hommes le Dimanche and People On Sunday. The film is a key work of interwar German cinema, based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder.

Like Domenique Dumont’s earlier albums, Comme Ça and Miniatures De Auto Rhythm, People On Sunday evokes a more innocent, carefree time conjured by wistful electronics full of warmth and melody. Touching on the hazy exotica that made those two records so alluring, here Dumont draws on his love of classical music, library music and early electronic experimentation to create a timeless, optimistic sound. If his past productions possessed a certain Mediterranean quality, across these 13 new pieces Dumont’s shimmering synth-pop has an enchanting simplicity.

Part documentary, part fiction, the film People On Sunday follows a group of characters going about their business in Weimar-era Berlin over one weekend and shows normal life in Germany before dictatorship.

“The film shows people and their surroundings shortly before all of it was destroyed,” says Dumont. “Ironically, watching this movie with the eyes of today, it looks more surreal than documentary. And I can’t help but think and reflect about the times we are living in now. We might have similar desires people had a hundred years ago, but we now have a completely different approach to life.”

*People On Sunday is the third album by Domenique Dumont.
*Freshly signed to The Leaf Label, having previously released two albums on Parisian electronic/dance label Antinote.
*It follows on from the cult success of synth-pop exotica albums Comme Ça (2015) and Miniatures de Auto Rhythm (2018)The album was originally conceived as a soundtrack to the classic 1930 German silent film known variously as Menschen am Sonntag, Les Hommes le Dimanche and People on Sunday.
*It was originally performed at Les Arcs Film Festival, with plans for further film festival concerts when regulations allow.
*Watch the video for first single ‘People On Sunday’ featuring excerpts from the film.
*Artwork and design by artist Edward Carvalho-Monaghan.
*Support from Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, FACT Magazine, Gorilla vs Bear, KEXP, BBC 6 Music’s Tom Ravenscroft, Mary Anne Hobbs and NTS Radio’s Charlie Bones, among others.
*Dumont recently remixed Domino’s Jaakko Eino Kalevi, and has also reworked tracks by Cola Boyy and Mark Barrott.
*Festival appearances include Mutek Montreal, Dekmantel, Nuits Sonores, Milhões de Festa and the Venice Biennale.

‘Dekalb Works’ is the collaborative project of Austin Peru (Vision Fortune) & Daniel Creahan (Sweat Equity / Alien D). Born out of a shared deep sociological interest of dialects and cultural frameworks, and the effects these have on meaning within modes of speech, the pair here delve into the dialects of their own beginnings, mining US/British regional accents and weaving these situational scenes through a textured, intentionally disjointed, hand made soundscape of bass tension and fleeting, glistening melody – adding additional layers of emotion and meaning to everyday observations of language.

‘Duologue’ intends to blur the lines between perceived and constructed reality, occupying a gauzy, dreamlike space shared by the likes of Hype Williams & James Ferraro, where foggy sonars & deep subs provide the backbone to both eccentric and mundane ephemeral flutters of dialect.

‘Duologue’ revels in its variance of linguistic stylings – from the deep US south religious lament of ‘of a’ hovering above an ambience of Zither & Bells, to the doom laden sax skronk and vocal stutter of ‘with’, to the creeping stripped micro dub of ‘only’ which allows the familiar hue of the British news reader and typical West Midlands dialectical moments to clash – aptly documenting of an impending collision.

This is certainly one for heads into all things slow & spacious - for sure there’s a lot to digest and get lost in here across the records quite intentionally intoxicating ark, where touch points and historical nods range from Laraaji’s signature ambience to Ernest Hood’s visionary ‘Neighbourhoods’, filtered through modern outer sound explorers such as John T. Gast, Mark Lecky, and the bass minimalism of SND.

Altın Gün return with a masterful album that widens their critically acclaimed exploration of Anatolian rock and Turkish psychedelic stylings to include dreamy 80’s synth-pop and dancefloor excursions. Yol (Road) brings together all vectors of the AltınGün experience and delivers their most compelling and individual album to date.

Amsterdam’s Altın Gün have built a strong reputation for melding past and present to make brilliantly catchy, psychedelic pop music, as seen with their Grammy-nominated second album, Gece. They are also a renowned live band with strings of sold-out shows on three continents, who have consistently brought a muscular groove to their recordings. Yol, their third album in as many years, excitedly continues these trends; while also digging in deep to unveil a new palette of sonic surprises.

Though it draws from the rich and incredibly diverse traditions of Anatolian and Turkish folk music, Yol is not just a record that reframes traditional sounds for a contemporary audience. The album often presents a textured, avant-pop sound as evidenced by the debut single "Ordunun Dereleri.” Mysterious and atmospheric, the track is a thrilling evolution for the band. It patiently coaxes the listener into a resonant soundworld of down-tempo electro beats, majestic synths and Erdinç Ecevit's yearning vocal of unrequited love.

The album also signals a very different approach in making and recording for the band. Singer Merve Dasdemir takes up the story: “We were basically stuck at home for three months making home demos, with everybody adding their parts. The transnational feeling maybe comes from that process of swapping demos over the internet, some of the music we did in the studio, but lockdown meant we had to follow a different approach.”

Yol displays a noticeable dreaminess, maybe born from this enforced time to reflect. And select elements of late 1970s or early 1980s “Euro” synth pop also shines through. This new musical landscape was nurtured by certain instrument choices; namely the Omnichord, heard on ‘Arda Boylari’, ‘Kara Toprak’ and ‘Sevda Olmasaydi’, and the drum-machine, an instrument that is key to the gorgeous closing number, ‘Esmerim Güzelim’. Dasdemir once more: “bass player Jasper Verhulst loved the song. He said, ‘it doesn’t sound like Altın Gün, this sounds like a Turkish kindergarten music teacher from the 1980s using an 808!”

As ever, the tracks are the result of a true group effort, with ideas on Omnichord, 808 and other elements - such as field recordings and new age-esque ideas - continually kicked about between the six band members. At a safe distance of course. The record also owes something special to its production team, the band working this time with Asa Moto (the Ghent-based producer-crew, Oliver Geerts and Gilles Noë) who mixed the record. Before this Altın Gün always recorded on tape with their own sound engineer.

It would be wrong to say that what made Altın Gün such a loved and successful band has been left to one side. The pressure-cookers ‘Sevda Olmasaydı’ and ‘Maçka Yolları’ are classic cuts from the band. And their signature employment of a dizzying array of ideas and approaches can be heard with the marked Brazilian feel of ‘Kara Toprak’ and ‘Yekte’. Cosmic reggae filters through the grooves of ‘Yüce Dağ Başında’, and there is a steaming version of ‘Hey Nari’ which gives the traditional composition by Ali Ekber Çiçek a kick onto the dancefloor.

But with Yol, Altın Gün have maybe patented their own magical process of reimagining and sonic path-finding, one probably not heard since the late 1960s and early 1970s British folkrock boom. Less of a reworking than a seduction, their recordings transport the listener to a world where the original songs never previously inhabited. Merve Dasdemir again: “After we worked on them, they got a whole new life of their own. Maybe we went a little bit too far (laughs).”

LIMITED ONE OFF DOUBLE VINYL PRESSING (ONE RECORD SILVER VINYL, ONE RECORD BLACK VINYL TO MATCH THE SLEEVE ARTWORK) HOUSED IN A GLOSS VARNISHED GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH BLACK POLYLINED INNERS. (NON-RETURNABLE)

LIMITED ONE OFF CD PRESSING HOUSED IN A GLOSS VARNISHED CARD GATEFOLD SLEEVE TO REPLICATE THE VINYL VERSION
 
The follow up to Mainliner’s 2013 comeback album 'Revelation Space' has been rumoured for many years. I've even heard tales of several attempts being finished and scrapped in the last five years. I guess that's how hard it is to run a band when all the members are based on different continents and in other very busy bands themselves (Acid Mothers Temple & Bo Ningen notably).

But it's finally done. And if you're a fan, it's been worth the wait.

In Kawabata's own words ... "This new album is the second chapter of this present Mainliner. Finally we could open to the next stage to break old customs since 1995"

The killer trio from the 'Revelation Space' album is still intact, we have Kawabata Makoto (motorpsycho guitar), Koji Shimura (drums) and Kawabe Taigen (bass/vocals) and we're back to calling them just Mainliner once again ('Revelation Space' was issued as Kawabata Makoto's Mainliner)

Q. What does 'Dual Myths' sound like ?
A. Mainliner. Nasty!

It is the simple thing that is so hard to do. This is the paradox that musician Lael
Neale has lived within throughout her development as an artist. It is the reason she
became enthralled with poetry. Poems are a distillation. Lael says, “this challenge to
winnow away what is unessential is the most maddening and, ultimately, rewarding
part of writing a song.”
Lael’s new album ‘Acquainted With Night’ is a testament to this poetic devotion.
Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline
voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord. The collection touches on themes that
have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning and reaching
ever toward the transcendent experience.
Lael grew up on a farm in rural Virginia but for nearly 10 years called Los Angeles
home. Those years were spent developing her songwriting and performing in venues
across the city but the right way to record the songs proved more elusive. She says,
“Every time I reached the end of recording, I felt the songs had been stripped of
their vitality in the process of layering drums, bass, guitar, violin, and organ over
them. They felt weighed down.”
In a moment of illumination, the solution presented itself: do the simple thing. In
early 2019, in the midst of major transition, she acquired a new instrument - the
Omnichord - and began recording a deluge of songs. Guy Blakeslee, who had been
an advocate for years, set up a cassette recorder in her bedroom and provided
empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess.
Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her
perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence.
The first song she recorded was ‘For No One For Now’, which calls to mind the
agitated beat of driving fast on the freeway against the backdrop of the San
Fernando Valley’s bent palms. The song contrasts romantic idealizations with the
banality of folding sheets and toasting bread. It highlights her oft-thwarted attempts
to enjoy the day to day while her mind wanders off toward the dream, the ideal.
While Lael returned to her family farm in April 2020, Los Angeles is a player on this
album and ‘Every Star Shivers in the Dark’ is an ode to the sprawling city, the
outskirts of Eden. One can envision her walking from Dodgers Stadium to downtown,
observing strangers and her own strangeness but determined to find communion
with others. ‘Blue Vein’ is her personal anthem, a Paul Revere piece that gallops
through the town as a strident declamation. It is an amalgam of thoughts, concerns
and lessons as she nearly speaks the words, unmasked by flourishes, ensuring the
meaning cuts through.
Normally a morning person, Lael recorded most of these songs in the darkening of
the early evening, and so became ‘Acquainted With Night’.
CD in gatefold altpack.
LP first pressing on white vinyl.
Cassette with three-panel J-card in clear case.