Serbia's Disco Fruit crew has been putting out lush sounds that take in funk, breaks and soul influences on top of their bread and butter disco grooves for years now. This time they welcome back a label regular, Loshmi, who has put out plenty of edits here before now. His new one 'Dark Night' is a 60s-tinged high speed spy theme with funky brass and bristling drums all overlaid with rock-styled vocal yelps. The instrumental on the flip is a more paired back but just as hustling groove.
Ringleaders in new Rock N Roll Massive Wagons have announced their
new album 'Triggered' out on Earache Records
Having grown from beloved local heroes (becoming the first ever Lancashire
band to achieve a UK Top 40 album with their UK #16 album 'Full Nelson' in 2018)
to national treasures within the New Wave of Rock'n'Roll, Massive Wagons have
crafted an all new album of heavy duty rock'n'roll that stays true to the band's
influences whilst also pushing past the boundaries of what fans have
experienced on previous albums. Adding twists of tough punk and twinkles of
yacht rock, whilst keeping frontman Barry "Baz" Mills' iconic lyricism and the
band's electrifying no-nonsense rock recipe, the album proffers tracks which will
prove to be huge anthems in the live arena.
Baz explains how 'Triggered' stands out compared to the band's previous albums:
"I think this album is a lot more British sounding. I think we've managed to bring
our sound more up-to-date, it sounds fresh and exciting. It has much more of a
punk vibe about it, that being said, it’s still full of everything we love about guitar
music."
He continues:"There are some very angry, passionate songs in there. We all dug
really deep writing this one, some of them were a real labour of love. I think we
truly have made our best album yet. I know that's a cliché, but our other albums
felt like they had a foot in the previous one somehow, be it leftover songs, a
certain sound or style... But I think this one stands alone as a unique sounding
Wagons album."
Hitting play on SEAMOSS2, the latest missive from Portland noisetinkerers Sea Moss, is like punching the big red button on a cartoon
bomb before it explodes into a multicolored mushroom cloud
From the second Nap Time revs up, vocalist Noa Ver and drummer Zach
D'Agostino absolutely clobber the listener with a distorted hodgepodge of sounds
as raw and violent as they are winkingly playful, as if Black Dice and Melt-Banana
were caught in the middle of some kind of psychotic square dance together.The
duo's setup "which involves a primitive assemblage of hacked feedback
oscillators, colorful Rococo tin boxes, and a contact mic plugged directly onto
Ver's neck to capture her barking intonations " harkens back to an era of DIY
where live performance meant everything. Blurring the line between reckless
improvisation and tightly- knit compositions, the band achieves a disorientingly
complex interplay. Though Sea Moss's music may initially seem to be an act of
pure blunt force, the duo's true prowess lies in the intricacy of their rhythmic
interplay. As freeform as it all might seem, SEAMOSS2 contains the band's most
potent, precise compositions yet, refining the distinct style they forged on
disorienting releases like Bread Bored and Bidet Dreaming into a thrilling act of
controlled chaos.
In an era where the communal spirit of DIY feels more difficult to achieve than
ever, Sea Moss embody the classic ethos of weirdo punk music in all its absurdity
and wonder. It's this same sense of scrappiness that's earned them attention
from legends like Lightning Bolt and Machine Girl, and SEAMOSS2 illustrates why
they're every bit as deserving of their own trophy in the noise-rock hall of fame
one adorned in broken contact mics and scuffed-up scratches from one too many
bloody basement shows.
Time and duration are core themes in the work of both William Basinski and Janek Schaefer, and this long-distance collaboration took a suitably long gestation of eight years from start to finish. In that time, our collective perception of time has at times become disorienting. " . . . on reflection " remodels that instability as an exquisite work of art - one that is unmoored by time or space. Limitation breeds creativity, revealed as an expression of minimalism and close focus. Deploying a delicate piano passage from their collective archive, Basinski and Schaefer weave and reweave in numerous ways, forging an iridescent flurry of flickering melodies. The sounds of various birds heard from late night windows on tour can occasionally be heard throughout, ricocheting off mirrored facades, reflecting on themselves as they continually reshape their own environments with song. " . . . on reflection " looks backwards, a bustling revelry of positive emotions heard through the aging mirrors of memory. It is a celebratory meditation where sound shimmers through time like the light of the sea's waves glistening as it folds and unfolds upon itself. Created 2014-2022 between L.A. & London. Mixed at Narnia, Walton-on-Thames. For Harold Budd.
Opaque pink vinyl LP. For fans of: Tirzah, Caroline Polachek, Erika de Casier, Oklou, Smerz. Between the ages of 2 and 18, Cora Gilroy-Ware lived in a haunted place. On the outside, this small edge of Connecticut coastline was a quintessential New England town. Yet beneath its quaint surface was a netherworld that got steadily darker over the course of those sixteen years. From a serious drug problem to environmental pollution leading to deadly illnesses, frequent suicides and an above average number of fatal accidents, something about this place was cursed. Amid this world Cora was an outsider, someone who preferred pop and RnB to the music of her peers, who mostly subscribed to the dregs of a Deadhead culture that was more nihilistic than utopian. Still, she found herself on weekends drinking in the woods with the rest of them, playing along until it was time to leave. Christmas breaks and summer months were spent across the Atlantic in a completely antithetical environment. In London, the city of her birth, Cora spent her teen years taking the bus home at dawn after raves under the railroad arches, or riding the tube to her cousin’s house in Camden. For a long time, Cora’s life was composed of these two strands—ghostly East Coast suburbia and inner-city London—which she was forced to fold in and out of one another like a two-strand French braid. She quickly learned to adapt and be whoever the particular moment demanded. Her outsider status was intensified by the fact that, being of mixed Afro-Caribbean and European descent, her family didn’t look like the others in Connecticut. In the 2000s, this meant Cora had to contend with a deeply ingrained kind of folk-racism, both conscious and unconsciously expressed. Nobody talked about these things back then, and she internalized a lot of shame. The ability to shape-shift became integral to Cora’s artistic practice. Her survival mechanism at school was to carve out her own worlds through visual art and dance. Music was less of a creative outlet than a way of life, something like a form of religion for her family, who all played instruments and saw music as the form to which all art aspires. She studied violin and learned enough guitar chords to write her first songs. Cora always wanted to be a performer, but, having moved around constantly, craved stability and independence. Eager to make her own way in the world, she began to write about painting and sculpture, which eventually led to time spent working in Naples, Italy and a day job teaching the History of Art at university level. It wasn’t until 2018 that Cora first shared her first songs with the wider world. Having collaborated and played live with Jam City (Jack Latham, who has co-produced each of her releases), she finally embarked on a solo career, which for her felt inevitable, only a matter of time. Following four acclaimed EPs—Toxic Femininity (2018), Lashes in a Landfill (2019), Dreamcatcher (2020) and Maiden No More (2021), this year will see the release of her debut album The Golden Ass. For her artist name she chose, “Fauness”: a play on the Latin faunus, a woodland god with the body of a man and the horns, ears, and legs of a goat. The feminine equivalent—fauness—is a modern invention, made up by rococo sculptors in 18th century France. Cora was drawn to this pseudonym because of its temporal layers and amalgamation of beauty and beast, which, for her, captures something of her complex personal story. an utterly individual voice in underground pop music" - The FADER // "a sparkling sweet pop ride" – NYLON // “It is hard to write a perfect pop song. It’s even harder to make it look as easy as London artist Fauness” - GUARDIAN GUIDE // Tracks 01. Lonely 02. Mystery 03. Peaches 04. Hours 05. Siena 06. Grape & Grain 07. Laura 08. High 09. Cinnamon 10. Girl In The Moon
Promise & Illusion is the first LP from Ecka Mordecai, following the release of her solo Critique + Prosper on Takuroku in 2020. Cello, voice, horsehair harp, violin and field recordings combine to spin narrative melody, rich intimacy and melancholic landscapes. Composed around an exploration of la charnière (from the French ‘hinge’), Promise & Illusion begins with the sound of footsteps and a door opening and closing repeatedly, unsure whether to let us into the mysterious interior beyond. We are reminded of the house of Penny Slinger in An Exorcism, an abandoned mansion of gothic hallways and inky corridors. “woe are we” twists violin and voice together into the sort of tension and high drama heard in “The Executioner” - Henning Christiansen’s soundtracks made for the films of his partner Ursula Reuter Christiansen in the 1970’s. Then things begin to soften, almost despite themselves. Distortion on ‘a unit has no unity’ can’t quite smother a rising tune on warped harp. The cello on ‘indigos’ - its voice pizzicato with a velvety sustain - brings comfort and clarity. Mordecai hums a line, feeling out the edges of a song in an intimate release of tension. We are across the threshold - into a romantic sort of nocturnal gloom that feels somewhat out of place in London’s experimental music scene. Trained on viola da gamba as part of a renaissance youth group in the historic midland town of Stafford, Mordecai went on to study performance art in Brighton, later graduating in sound art in London. She performed with David Toop and Rie Nakajima as part of Allan Kaprow’s Yard at the Hepworth Gallery, as well as performing scores by Yoko Ono and George Brecht solo at White Cube Gallery as part of Christian Marclay’s Liquids exhibition. Later, various moves across the north of England found her working with Andrew Chalk and Tom James Scott (forming the trio CIRCÆA), Miles Whittaker (of Demdike Stare) and performing alongside free improvisers. A myriad of influences have crossed her path, her work slowly taking shape across music concrète, improvisation and performance art. A more recent recording with Valerio Tricoli as ‘Mordecoli’ made during the development of Promise & Illusion found its final form as a cassette - a collage of sustained tones, ominous atmospheres and brief 4th wall dissolving vocal interaction. With both CIRCÆA and Mordecoli, Mordecai deals with landscapes - playing with the imaginary over the real and using improvisation as a useful way to dream. On Promise & Illusion, Mordecai sharpens her focus and pivots toward the interior over the exterior - the landscape becoming a personal, psychological one - both comforting and strange. Tracks 4, 5, 7 & 10 recorded and mixed by Adam Matschulat in December 2020. All others recorded and mixed by Ecka Mordecai. Mastered by Shaun Crook at Lockdown Studios, London. Artwork by Ecka Mordecai. Layout by Zofia Sobota.
Track list: 1 la charnière I 2 woe are we 3 a unit has no unity 4 indigos 5 study of a flame 6 la charnière II 7 promise & illusion 8 hush now you say 9 tempera 10 mistakes & continue
Red vinyl LP. Lars Finberg, confirmed genius guy and poet laureate of sunken 21st century Rock, acts as manager in perpetuity of THE INTELLIGENCE, primary vehicle for his prolific creative swirl and a project that has taken on new shapes across myriad trials and shifts. The project began in his Seattle bedroom – a lad and his Tascam cassette 8 track – with the classic Boredom & Terror and has now landed in his Los Angeles studio apartment – an urchin and his Tascam digital 12 track – with Lil’ Peril, a new album that finds Finberg 1000% back at the controls. Over the course of 11 albums (!), The Intelligence has established a backbone that boogies through revolutions, allowing each jam-crammed dispatch to feel and sound admirably unique. The angular sharp shocks heard in earlier years have steadily evolved into the ballooning grooves heard on more recent releases (including Finberg’s recent solo work). Lil’ Peril is a dreamy gamble that captures this current bubbling penchant in The Intelligence’s inaugural homemade mode. With inspirational templates as far-flung as LES PAUL, THE SPECIALS, LEE PERRY and MARY FORD, Lil’ Peril pulls off the absurd shift “from ‘No-Wave SANTANA’ to ‘SCREAMERS recorded by JON BRION’”. Playing shoulder parrot to studio engineers has no doubt informed Finberg’s approach to home recording, specifically in how much further he can go without wincing budget-minded eyes staring him down. This is immediately sensed on the opener “Maudlin Agency,” which begins with canned minimal bleep and closes with a full recreation of the “Brass Monkey” hook. These surprise-attack conclusions are a running current throughout the Lil’ Peril’s program and demonstrates that the main lesson Finberg has learned in The Intelligence is to never reel it in. Centerpiece banger “My Work Here Is Dumb” ranks among the finest Intelligence moments existent and an apex in Finberg’s songcraft, boasting a bonkers arrangement and a thematic gnaw that is both brutal and playful. The collection closes with the epic “Soundguys,” a suite cut-up that fuses CAN and STEELY DAN into one of the most dastardly tunes available for consumption in the plague age. As Finberg himself states, “They may say this is ‘lo-fi’, but I say it’s ‘no-CGI’”. “The band disintegrated, so it devolved back to the core idea: if I do every aspect, it’s indestructible.” 20 years on and Finberg has finally let everyone know what The Intelligence actually means! All those wily experiments and warm flubs have come back full circle and the shit’s pure goddamn gold. Proof positive that there is always some sort of cute trouble, farcical tragedy and Lil’ Peril at play with The Intelligence. - Mitch Cardwell, 2022. Tracklisting: 01 Maudlin Agency 02 70's 03 Keyed Beamers 04 Purification 05 My Work Here Is Dumb 06 Lil Peril 07 Frog Prints In Preset City 08 Portfolio Woes 09 Soundguys
The Vee-Gees (previously known as the Versatile Gents) were from Greensboro, N.C. The versalite Gents started the Group in 1967 originally as "the African Americans" performed at a talent show at Gillespie Park School, Geensboro, North Carolina. Soon After Virginia Massey a Senior Music Major at A&T joined the group and the name was changed to Gin And The Gents. After one year Massey left the Band and their name was changed to The Versatile Gents. They reformed and called themselves the Vee Gees in the early 70’s. The Members are Robert Evans (Vince Evans of the NFL's brother), Nathaniel Herring, Anthony Quick, CC Stewart, Cecil Young.In their band. Carlton Morales that wrote "Vallotte" and played with Julian Lennon on guitar. Kevan Tynes on drums. Walter Carlton on bass. They recored a beautiful sweet soul side call It’s hard to say so long on Jump in 1973. They came back to the studio in 1974 and cut the incredible Talkin on Jump off records. Vee Gees Talkin is the ultimate crossover tune, Spun by some of the best deejays in the world in the last 3 decades including Arthur Fenn, Keith Money, Andy Burns, Buey, Andy Dawes, Alexander Dimitriades Bentley, Jens Chreisti, Steven Clancy and many others. We’re sure you will be singing all day “Hey brother, brother, just had a talk with the man yesterday.. what did he saaaaaay? “
Collapso Calypso is the long-awaited third album from dreampop artist Chorusgirl. Initially planned for release in 2020, but the pandemic and a nervous breakdown brought everything to a screeching halt. It took Silvi Wersing - aka Chorusgirl - the rest of 2020 and 2021 to rebuild her life and reconsider everything, including her music and the band. She decided to relocate from London to her small hometown in Germany, to become a carer for her increasingly ill father and to take Chorusgirl back to its roots as a solo project, just like in 2014. She revisited old demos and wrote a few more songs, and steadily worked to complete the album as an anchor at a time of turmoil. With the album charting her progress back to health, she decided to call it Collapso Calypso, a riff on taking her despair for a dance. The album includes a multitude of references from music and film and features Silvi's trademark self-reflective lyrics on the themes of coming through a crisis, grief, resilience, and ultimately letting go, or the inability thereof, all set to the sounds of 60s girl groups and her favourite bands from the 80s. The release follows on from 2018 album Shimmer and Spin (Reckless Yes) and the self-titled 2015 debut (Fortuna Pop). “Chorusgirl pertain to a certain kind of cold, detached dreaminess you’d associate with a label like 4AD in its prime: their overall sound being seemingly informed by Lush’s successful hybrid of classic pop, fiery punk and shimmering soundscapes. … Yet, rather than reliving a sound there’s a sense here that Chorusgirl are more intent on reinventing it. Look no further than their debut self-titled LP for conviction.” (8/10) Line of Best Fit “Chorusgirl’s sound is distinctly London (although, more the London of the 80s than of now) but it’s also the sound of escaping London. (…) It’s the feeling of sleeping with the bedroom window open for the first time in months and waking up with a fresh wafting across your face.” Noisey “Chorusgirl explore universal themes with the catchiest of tunes, thundering rhythms, a wry sense of self and fascinating multi-meaning lyrics.” (8/10) Louder Than War “There’s no slack on the album – from the starting gate to the finish line, Chorusgirl bristle with static and nerves.” … Chorusgirl are simple, until they’re not. You might recognise the distant spirits, the razor chords, the surfy snarls. But where other bands coast on borrowed sound, Wersing bends it to her own life, creating a space that resonates with insight and empathy. Ever felt separate from the human race? Be comforted, for here is your kind.” (7/10) Drowned In Sound This is a record with teeth… one of the most impressive first albums of a year rich in strong debuts.” (5/5) NARC Magazine “Sparkling with bright rhythms and jangling pop…with hints of something shadier, bittersweet and more potent.” London In Stereo “Lovingly smudged guitars” (7/10) Loud & Quiet
First Time Pressing on Heavyweight 160 Gram Black Vinyl LP at 45rpm. Merchandising Sticker. Jodi is the solo project of Chicago based singer-songwriter Nick Levine. A co-founding and former member of the band Pinegrove, Levine first launched their solo project Jodi in 2017 with the release of the Karaoke EP as one of the first releases on Chicago indie label Sooper Records. The project would prove formative, going on to garner millions of streams online and launching Levine’s solo career as Jodi in earnest. Back in 2017, the following was said about the project: “Jodi has left us broken, bereft but in awe of a talent that can take a couple of seconds and make it your whole world.” – THE LINE OF BEST FIT // “Jodi nudges the listener into attention rather than pushing them into a forced experience: songs that feel nostalgic and hopeful – a comforting blanket of reassurance that’s sincere in its utterances of uncertainty and regret but ultimately optimistic for the future.” – GOLD FLAKE PAINT // Now, for the 5-year anniversary of the EP that started it all for Jodi, the project is being pressed and released for the first time on Vinyl. After the success of Karaoke, Levine went on to release their debut LP Blue Heron on Sooper Records in 2021, an album that received accolades from FADER, UPROXX, STEREOGUM (Album of The Week), THEM, COUNTRY QUEER, PASTE MAGAZINE, FLOOD MAGAZINE and Others. Tracks: Side A: 1. Remember 2. Coffee 3. Passerine Side B: 4. On The Sly 5. Scratchoff 6. Visitors
12 track vinyl LP and 18 track CD including bonus single and demo recordings. The Daggermen all went to Rede Secondary School in Medway, Kent. It was a school for those that failed their 11 plus, or who passed it but decided to go there anyway (as Jon pretends). Being in some of the same classes we became friends and found we liked the same music; The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, The Beatles and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. We started going to Carnaby Street, wearing Beatle boots and generally being a bit Moddy. Dave’s older brother, James Taylor, played organ in The Prisoners and we’d listen to cassette tapes of them along with other local band, The Milkshakes as we bounced on the trampoline during P.E. After watching both bands play live in local venues such as the M.I.C. club in Chatham we formed The Daggermen, working out who was going to play which instrument as we stood next to the now demolished school sports hall. No one can quite remember who thought of the name, The Daggermen (it was me) or how comes Jon was playing bass on a guitar in the band at the very start and then Terry took over when we started gigging (it was because he had a real bass guitar and a car). But the next thing was that we were supporting The Prisoners both in Medway and places such as the 100 Club in Oxford Street. Then, one sunny day at around the age of 17, I bumped into Billy Childish walking across a field. I formally introduced myself and told him that he should definitely come and see our band that night because we were “fucking brilliant”. He did turn up and bought us a tray of whiskies whilst we were on stage, a sure sign that he had liked it. This led to him and Russ Wilkins, bass player in The Milkshakes alongside Billy, asking us if we wanted to record an E.P. for Russ’s label, Empire Records. This was our first ever recording called Introducing The Daggermen which was made in a brick arch under Rochester bridge that we rented for £2 a week to rehearse in and lovingly referred to as ‘The Hole’. We got ourselves a “manager” (our mate, Vic Templar) and started playing up and down England, drinking as much as possible in the van on the way to each gig, often paralytic by the time we went on stage. Our musical style was a sort of mixture of punk and mod and we played covers such as ‘Heatwave’ (The Who’s version) and ‘Get Ready’ by the Temptations, along with Dave and Terry’s originals. Then came a change of line up when Jon resumed his position as bass player and Terry left for America. We started wearing military jackets thanks to Jimi Hendrix and made our first long player, Dagger In My Mind (I got the title off an episode of Star Trek, although I remembered it wrong and it should have been ‘Dagger Of The Mind’). The album was produced by James Taylor and Allan Crockford of The Prisoners at Woolly Studios on the Isle of Sheppey in 1986. This line-up played together for a couple of years up and down the country (also with a few gigs in France) before we called it a day and sailed off into the future in bands such as The James Taylor Quartet, The Kravin’ “A”s, The Solarflares and Billy Childish and The Buff Medways. As energetic youths we had a lot of fun and I am very proud to have been part of The Daggermen. We hope you enjoy these recordings, now all gathered together for the first time. Sincerely yours, Wolf Howard, Cafe Mozart, Chatham CD TRACKLISTING 1 – It’s You I See 2 – What Do I Do For You 3 – There’s No Escaping 4 – I’ve Been Hurt 5 – I Have Lost Heart 6 – You Were Meant To Be 7 – Every Moment 8 – Dagger In My Mind 9 – That Girl 10 – D’you Think Of Me 11 – I Feel The Regret 12 – I’ve Been Searching 13 – Now It’s You I Need 14 – Ivor 15 – One More Letter 16 – I Wish You Were Mine 17 – Bundle 18 – No Reason LP TRACKLISTING 1 – It’s You I See 2 – What Do I Do For You 3 – There’s No Escaping 4 – I’ve Been Hurt 5 – I Have Lost Heart 6 – You Were Meant To Be 7 – Every Moment 8 – Dagger In My Mind 9 – That Girl 10 – D’you Think Of Me 11 – I Feel The Regret 12 – I’ve Been Searching
'Perseverance', originally released in 2020, is a collection of songs which
didn't find their place on official albums by Peter Kernel throughout the
years, twelve demos, alternative takes and rarities that come with twelve
additional tracks available on a digital download card
One way or another these songs shaped the duo and brought them where they
are today. These tracks are like them: funny, sad, too much, not enough, flawed
and simply human!
Treviso, Italy-based two piece Kill Your Boyfriend will release their fourth album 'Voodoo' on October 14th via Sister 9 Recordings (Europe), Little Cloud Records (North America) and Shyrec (Itay). A frantic and hypnothising bacchanalia of Psych & Industrial tinged soundwaves, the new album is a collection of reverb laden necromantic charms, summoning the souls and bones of the greats in the Rock & Roll pantheon of the 1950s. The duo delivers such glittery dark enchantment via 7 hoodoo hymns, travelling with a crumbling, ghostly and magically whizzing Rocket 88, in the company of Marie Laveau and madame Lalaurie. It's a relentless whirl of Voodoo-Psych, Industrial-Billy, Electro-GrisGris, which you can dance to. The new LP follows 'Killadelica', where Kill Your Boyfriend had refined their debut signature sound, bridging the gap between the semi-obscure but hauntingly fascinating tradition of Veneto's Post-Punk (Death In Venice, Evabraun, Pyramids, etc.) and contemporary Psych-Nouveau. With 'Voodoo', Matteo Scarpa and Antonio Angeli, explore new genres and expand the sonic borders, without losing their original intent. They replace the synth bass with a bass-guitar, adding more fluidity and weight to a renewed and punchier rhythmic section. Electronic and acoustic percussion are fuller and heavier, and the band's new stomp-machine is a hyper-convulsive version of the saturated Rock & Roll and R&B drumming, from the cheap garage studios of 1950s indie labels. Sida A is the most Rock & Roll of the two, and it is inspired by Michael Ventura's essay "Hear that Long Snake Moan", which brought forward the idea that "the Voodoo rite of possession by the god became the standard of American performance in Rock’n’Roll" where the performers "let themselves be possessed not by any god they could name but by the spirit they felt in the music”. Each song invokes one or a set of the lost souls of the Rock & Roll era, with 'The Day The Music Died' referring to the infamous 3rd of February 1959. Side B descends deeper into the magic swamps of Creole magic, with music taking on a much more liturgical function, conjuring shamanic possessions via extra layers of tribal percussion. The band says of side B: "we see it as a one long ritualistic descent into a psychedelic underworld made of echoing voices, claustrophobic spaces populated by lost souls, enchanters and witchdoctors."
TRACKLIST 1. The King 2. The Man In Black 3. Mr Mojo 4. Buster 5. The Day The Music Died 6. Papa Legba 7. Vodoo
We love nothing more than belated success, from the Nightingales' rise to top cult band, to the string of five marvelous Blue Orchids LPs in six years (as much as Martin Bramah had managed in the previous four decades) . . . so give us more. Like David Westlake. The release of NME's C86 cassette heralded a new generation of artists who'd emerged since the preceding C81 assembled a set of acts who'd coaxed new dialects out of punk, rhythms, reggae and the avant-garde. Though variable, C86 became a phenomenon, making a bigger splash and enduring longer than anyone could have predicted. The evolution by 1986 of "independent" or "alternative" music into "indie" brought a modified focus. From C81's post-punk negotiations of politics and cross-cultural influence to C86's compact blasts of, on the one hand, effervescent melodic pop and, on the other, jagged Beefheart-esque racket. Tiny Global Productions has proudly presented already one of the best from C86. The Wolfhounds' leader David Callahan's talent evolved masterfully into Moonshake, and more recently to a strain of blistering raga-folk psychedelia which deals with sociopolitical issues in brilliantly idiosyncratic fashion. And what of another of the best from C86 - the Servants, David Westlake's band? Ambivalent about the invitation to be on C86, Westlake gave the NME a wrong-footing b-side, before keeping a distance from the noise around the compilation. Subsequent releases from Westlake and The Servants and Westlake attracted fine reviews but settled quietly into relative obscurity, despite musical involvement from various Housemartins, Go-Betweens and Triffids, a quest by Stuart from Belle & Sebastian to find Westlake and form a band; not to mention Luke Haines' own five-year presence in the Servants before forming The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Westlake went first into the law, then spent years in literary academia. Now the surprise arrival of My Beautiful England. The album is a masterpiece of concept, composition and performance, a conceptual work of truths and reflections of difficult but deft and unflinching expression. "It is not only fashionable now to denigrate England and its past; it is heresy to recognise good in it. The place that made me is disappearing. Its values and traditions. Among them: good manners, humility and clemency, resilience and perseverance, good humour. History is being refashioned – in spirit and material fact – by ideologues unshakeably certain they are in the right, and people are being distanced from their pasts. Some find themselves forced into passive acceptance of new distortions of the past, out of imitativeness or cowardice. I resist. This album is a memorial. Intentionally, a museum piece. It is a personal tribute to the England I knew."
ARCHITECTS have delivered their 10th studio album; an arena-ready
opus entitled, the classic symptoms of a broken spirit , the follow up to
their 2021 breakout album For Those That Wish To Exist, which hit #1 on
the UK sales chart.Finding yourself with a UK Number One album and
selling out arenas is enough for some to repeat a winning formula
Architects however, are forever moving forward. "It was definitely validating and
felt really cool for like a day," recalls drummer, producer and songwriter Dan
Searle of hitting the top spot with For Those That Wish To Exist."For a lot of the
bucket list things you reach in any career, there's a momentary gratification then
you're like, 'What next?' You just move on. By the time the album came out, my
head was already in the mindset of 'broken spirit'. That was where I was at."
Searle notes how it was their albums Lost Forever/ Lost Together, All Our Gods
Have Abandoned Us, and Holy Hell that really "cemented what the band was
about" and "took them to a new level" as a rock powerhouse and leaders of the
UK's metalcore scene – making it all the more "daunting" to reinvent themselves
on the records that would follow. "I wanted to make this album with a different
aesthetic. We were enjoying working with the synths and doing stuff that we
hadn't done before."
As a band who never stop writing, the kernels of the songs that make up the
classic symptoms of a broken spirit were already in progress before the ink had
time to dry on the artwork of their last record. Architects were on a creative roll,
and the record was born of that creative freedom. Produced by Dan Searle and
guitarist Josh Middleton, with additional production from frontman Sam Carter at
Decon's Middle Farm Studios and their own Brighton Electric Studios before being
mixed by Zakk Cervini, the band were buoyed by finally being back in a room
together after their last album was made mostly remotely due to COVID
restrictions. The result was something altogether more "free, play - ful and
spontaneous," Searle explains.
Carter agrees: "This one feels more live, more exciting and more fun – it has that
energy. We wanted it to be a lot more industrial and electronic. That was the main
mission. They can sit side-by-side: Mr. Electronic and Mr. Organic."
Released on gold vinyl, ‘The Coincidentalist’ and ‘Dust Bowl’ are two discs of Howe Gelb filled with randomness and happenstance, a typical treasure trove spanning all genres from alt country to Cohen-esque grandeur. They traverse, unflinchingly, his chameleon-like repertoire. This deluxe re-issue includes ‘Dust Bowl’ on vinyl for the very first time, with the records housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring updated artwork and liner notes. ‘The Coincidentalist’, originally released in 2013, features a raft of friends and collaborators including Bonnie Prince Billy, Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Steve Shelley, and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with John Parrish on mixing duties. Ever the focal point of Giant Sand and Gelb releases, the Arizona Desert serves as a key inspiration for the record, animating the barren landscape with stories of those that have navigated them. Praise for the release was not short, with AllMusic proclaiming that it’s “one of Gelb's most realized efforts; despite its relaxed, airy presentation, it's musically and lyrically provocative, as poetic, strange, and mysterious as the desert itself." The accompanying collection ‘Dust Bowl’ is a personal sketchbook of songs, a more stripped back set than it’s counterpart. Featuring everything from the country blues of ‘Porch Banjo’ and ‘John Deere’, to off-kilter piano ballads like ‘The Old Overrated’ and ‘Reality Or Not’ and the deconstructed desert pop on ‘Forever And A Day’ and the fragile ‘Man On A String’. ‘Dust Bowl’ is an insider’s view of Howe’s songwriting craft, a unique insight into the man himself. “‘Dust Bowl’ was primarily for fans that have followed me for a while. ‘The Coincidentalist’ is for the friends of the fans.” Howe told Under The Radar. While Nightlife magazine reported that; “Without warning, the Giant Sand frontman and polymorphous countryman dropped this compilation of house recordings via Bandcamp… At a time when so much harmless, soulless folk resonates, Howe Gelb is a mandatory point of reference for any fan of the genre.”
Remastered reissue of the eponymous debut album by legendary genre scramblers, Cerberus Shoal. Available on vinyl for the first time in over 25 years. Limited edition Toasted Peach colored vinyl, 500 only pressed. The long out-of-print, eponymous debut album by the prescient, genre-scrambling collective, Cerberus Shoal, showcases their humble beginnings as a progressive punk band with extraordinary promise. Recorded in 1994 and originally released the following year, Cerberus Shoal disTRR024LPC1 is an Indie Retail Exclusive on Rouge Colored Vinyl, 500 only while supplies last. The long out-of-print breakthrough third album by the forever forward-thinking New England collective, Cerberus Shoal, is rightfully considered a high-water mark for the band, and a quintessential example of what would eventually be commonly defined as “post-rock.” The first studio album to feature the members of fellow local experimental rock troupe, Tarpigh, Homb exemplifies the transitional magic and mystery that marked Cerberus Shoal’s brilliant early era. Unraveling their various influences – early 90s post-hardcore, shoegaze, avant-rock, psych-folk, early New Age – and weaving them into something uniquely rich and resonant seemed almost effortless to Cerberus Shoal, and perhaps no album epitomized that more than the lush tapestry of Homb. Finally available on vinyl for the first time ever, Homb Anniversary Edition is packaged in restored artwork with extensive new liner notes written by the band. The record has been newly mastered for vinyl by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and pressed onto audiophile-grade vinyl. “It’s another milestone for the always intriguing Cerberus Shoal.” Pitchfork // “Formed in the early 90s, this six-piece collective has steadily gained a name for themselves as one of the most interesting and original bands coming out of the North American indie scene today.” tilled the band’s earliest creative and philosophical influences – the rhythmic post-hardcore of Dischord Records; the disarming histrionics of Ebullition and Gravity Records; and the ominous, patient dynamics of Slint and Moss Icon – into a concise six-song document that is as much a snapshot of an era as a blueprint for much that followed. Cerberus Shoal Anniversary Edition is packaged in restored artwork with extensive new liner notes and newly uncovered photos from the earliest era of the band. The record has been newly mastered for vinyl by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, and pressed onto audiophile-grade vinyl. The enclosed digital download coupon includes a massive 30-minute instrumental bonus track not available on the LP. Track Listing 1. Rain (2:44) 2. Daddy As Seen From Bar Harbor (11:25) 3. Elena (4:56) 4. Change (7:31) 5. Breakaway Terminal Cable (6:24) 6. Rain (Reprise) (5:34)
Baltimore’s Julien Chang writes music that tunnels
toward a series of deeper truths, investigating
everyday existentialism, love and life, art and the artist.
Arriving in 2019 with his critically acclaimed album
‘Jules’, Chang set a precedent with his breezy, dreamy
debut and is now exacting his focus on 2022 with new
music.
Chang’s second album, ‘The Sale’, testifies to his
talents as he wrestles with enviable grace across his
new 12-track opus the idea of estrangement and the
problematics of artistic creation. Chang leans sonically
into indie-pop, with guitar-driven instrumentation
burbling across punchy drums and his layered,
ethereal vocals, yet the album is still replete with
touchstones of the psychedelic popcraft that
enamoured listeners on his debut.
Recorded partially in his hometown of Baltimore and
partially in his dorm room at Princeton, ‘The Sale’ is a
homegrown effort with Chang playing all instruments,
bar the odd exception of a few notable cameos from
Baltimore locals, classmates and old friends. Following
his debut ‘Jules’ - which saw Chang earn praise from
the likes of Pitchfork, Fader, The Guardian, NME, Loud
& Quiet, DIY and Billboard, alongside support from
BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music via Annie Mac, Jack
Saunders and Jamz Supernova - his new album
explores the discrepancy between two worlds, a
struggle to get comfortable in either one of them, and
ultimately an artistic fascination with this very struggle.
A statement of intent from an artist who promises to be
an important rising voice of our times, Chang’s new
album is released on CD and crystal clear vinyl.
"It's an album that will no doubt inspire the creation of new bands and artists, a collection of songs that record store employees will recommend to unsuspecting kids looking for something out of the mainstream, and who are ready to have their minds warped." – Flood // "Medicine Singers push powwow music into the avant garde" - The Fader // The debut album by Medicine Singers is a genre-smashing kaleidoscope of sound combining traditional powwow music with elements of psychedelic punk, spiritual jazz, and electronics in a stunning blend. Building on years of collaboration between Yonatan Gat and Eastern Algonquin powwow group Eastern Medicine Singers, the album features contributions from an all-star cast including jaimie branch, Laraaji, Ikue Mori, Thor Harris (Swans), Joe Rainey, and Ryan Olson (Gayngs). "I look at it like this, everybody is my brother and sister, no matter where they come from," says Medicine Singers leader Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson. "If their culture or music is different, I want to learn about it, and I want to play with them. I think it's our responsibility as artists to show the world that life is not about war and hate. Life is about music, peace, and culture. We need to communicate with people of different cultures and backgrounds. We need to show people how we can work together and make something beautiful." One Dollar of each Medicine Singers album sale goes to the Pocasset Pocanoket Land Trust. Tracklisting: 1. A Cry 2. Daybreak 3. Hawk Song 4. Sanctuary 5. My Brother 6. Shootingstar Press 7. Sunrise (Rumble) 8. Shapeshifter 9. Sunset 10.Reprise of a Cry
On a first, careless, listen, Stockholm four-piece Melby might seem like a
charming, fun little jangle-pop band - Pay a little more attention however,
and you'll find their waters run a lot deeper than that
The band have all the flash and sparkle of your favourite indie band, but add an
ability to touch moods and feelings with a meaning beyond most of their peers.
Their guitars, drums and synths rattle, roll and flicker around each other, all held
together by the soul-shiver in Wiezell's vocals, to make immaculate little guitarpop gems, equally dusted with sadness and sugar.Finding comfort in a sea of
uncertainty might be a good way to describe Looks Like A Map, the bands second
album. The record captures Melby at a moment where they're growing as people
and as a band, expanding the reach of their sonic horizons, and taking in deeper
and heavier themes, trying to find a home in an often-alienating world. The music
they made around that has a little touch of sorcery around it, sometimes soft as
smoke, sometimes woozy and dream-blurred, sometimes crashing and explosive.
But even through all that evolution, the heart and the soul have remained the
same, and Looks Like A Map still has that Melby-feeling, of a band who put all of
themselves into everything they make and their own blend of indie, psych, pop,
rock and folk. It's a new high for the band that have toured Scandinavia, Germany
and the UK and have played festivals such as Eurosonic, Reeperbahn and
By:Larm, and one that hints at even bigger things to come.
