Search:one way records

EP compilation of essential UK house cuts recorded between 1987 - 1990. TIP!


Before British house and techno found its’ distinctive groove at the turn of the 1990s, one act led the way: Bang The Party, a trio who emerged from London’s vibrant underground party scene in the mid 1980s and proved, beyond any doubt, that UK producers could make music every bit as magical as the pioneering productions put forward by their counterparts in Chicago, Detroit and New York.

By the time long-running DJs and party promoters Kid Batchelor and Leslie Lawrence joined forces with trained engineer Keith Franklin at legendary North-West London reggae studio Addis Ababa in 1987, they’d spent years as DIY dance music activists in Britain’s capital city. They channelled these experiences and their love of imported house and techno sounds into a new project, Bang The Party, in the process becoming the first British act to appear on Transmat, a reflection of the quality and authenticity of their music.

The latest Rush Hour Reissue Series release offers a snapshot of some of the numerous gems nestled in the Bang The Party catalogue, delivering a much-deserved celebration of one of Britain’s most significant early acid house collectives. It features four fully remastered cuts recorded and released between 1987 and 1990 – on-point and far-sighted club workouts that sound as fresh and timeless now as they did when Britain was sweltering under its infamous ‘second summer of love’.

Fittingly, the EP begins with ‘I Feel Good All Over’, the group’s ground-breaking debut single. Dedicated to their home city and one of the earliest UK interpretations of house music, the track exists in the grey area between Chicago house and New York ‘garage house’ – all jaunty organ stabs, jacking Windy City beats, restless bass and soulful vocalizations. ‘Jacques Theme’, which follows, originally nestled on the B-side of that single release. An early, acid-flecked expression of hip-house with a British twist, breakdance-friendly bongo patterns and a dose of Larry Heard-inspired deep house dreaminess, the track remains an under-appreciated classic whose rap verses reflect the popularity of hip-hop in London at the time.

1988’s ‘Release Your Body’, Bang The Party’s most celebrated early release, was reissued in the United States by Transmat, reflecting the strong working relationship between Derrick May and Kool Kat Records’ Neil Rushton. A hypnotising affair propelled forwards by sweat-soaked drum machine beats, jacking fills and an addictive bassline, the track offers another near perfect distillation of the band’s Black American musical influences while delivering something genuinely new and fresh.

Rounding off the EP is a choice cut from Bang The Party’s sought after 1990 album Back To Prison. Doused in the star-lit synth sounds of the Motor City with jaunty organ stabs inspired by the kind of New Jersey jams championed at East Orange institution Club Zanzibar, ‘Let It Rip’ is a superb slice of deep house soul featuring a lead vocal every bit as emotive as anything laid down by Robert Owens. Like the rest of Bang The Party’s output, it has stood the time better than anything laid down by their London contemporaries.

Four essential cuts from Ghana & Cape Verde, compiled by Arp Frique...

Music is a great connector, bringing people together in many ways. On his journey in music so far, Arp Frique has been fortunate to meet many beautiful artists. The songs on this first edition of "Radio Familia" are deeply connected to the musicians he performs with. Join the music family on a trip through exciting sounds from Ghana and Cape Verde and listen to their story in both words and music.

Arp Frique never played a show without including Americo Brito’s epic song “C’est Dudu”. The song originally appeared on his album “Fidjo Di Mizeria” from 1989 but he had been performing his anthem for years and it came in many shapes and forms. After spending a lot of time in Paris, he (like many others in those days) got inspired by new records from Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially “kadans”. Incorporating latin piano motifs borrowed from salsa and merengue and a bold choice to sing in French, the song and album became an instant success for Americo in and outside the clubscene (note: DJs were not the primary source of dance music in those days, bands played all night to keep the dancers moving). The addition of C’est Dudu to this compilation became especially relevant since Americo recently passed away. Fortunately, his anthem just like all his other music will remain with us for decades to come.

While going through the archives with Americo Brito for the Radio Verde compilation, he introduced Arp Frique to a band called Imilux Star, of course again well connected with Americo. This Cape Verdean band residing in Luxemburg (where there is a substantial Cape Verdean community) definitely added a different flavor to the musical pallet the islands are famous for: heavy syncopated rhythms coming from the drum computer. They released two albums which both became very popular in their scene and the track “Yolanda” from their 1988 album “Jota Dê” got to Arp Frique’s attention too late to add to the Radio Verde comp. The band is still performing to this day in the Luxemburg-Cape Verdean live circuit.

While Arp Frique was on the road with his lead singer Mariseya, they talked much and deep about Ghanaian music (especially highlife) and he learned a lot about the community from Ghana in the Netherlands, mostly in Amsterdam and The Hague. Mariseya’s dad, Nana Adomako Nyamekye, came to see their liveshow while in the UK which was very special to them considering he is one of the highlife artists Arp Frique has grown to be very fond of. His deeply funky and bubbly bass driven song “Obra Twa Owuo” is about life and death, telling us we should all love each other as we still have life to live. Originally released on “Ano Plan” from 1982, the album is filled with philosophical advice. In his own words: “A message to all humans that something awaits us all at the end of life. Let’s live together with love.

Bnnyhunna, from the Ghanaian community in the Netherlands, joined Arp Frique’s live experience several times playing keyboards and synthesizers. His dad Elvis Kwasi Ankomah, just like him, developed a high level of musicianship while performing regularly in church. The song “Fa Wokoma Mame” (give me your heart) from his only studioalbum “Mfa Menko” released in 1995 is about showing his love to a lady but only if she puts her trust in him completely. The album talks about love, pain, relationships and life. Having worked with artists like Daddy Lumba, Nana Ampadu, Amakye Dede and many other hiplife and highlife legends, he still plays in church every week and has been doing so ever since he was 15 years young.

The official new edition from this rare and great Afrobeat & Soukous masterpiece from Nigeria !

"Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra was an extraordinary group from the Central African Republic, founded by the sax player Rodolphe 'Beckers' Bekpa, also known as Master Békers, in the late 60's. The band achieved surprising domestic success after Beckers introduced the first drums to the Congolese Rumba rhythm. His innovation proved to be wildly popular so they were hired as the resident band of “ciel d’Afrique au Km5”, a night club in Bangui. The club was renowned as the temple of the Olympic Réal football team's fans and that visibility propelled them into becoming the official national orchestra.

1970 marked beginning of the band's international fame . Their fame spread beyond national borders until they became so popular that invitations began to arrive from nearby countries like Cameroon and Chad, the former of which the band would then tour that same year. The success of their performances prompted a further tour in 1972. According to Rodolphe Bépka, the audience enthusiasm Vibro encountered was bewildering. "We filled the old military stadium in Yaoundé in 1970, in 1972 the new Amadou Haïdjo stadium ... We are running with great success in the cities.” Their popularity was also growing in Chad, where they would tour several times through the early and mid 70's.

Towards the end of 1976, Vibro Success decided to take their music global and introduce Central African music to listeners worldwide. It worked. The turning point came in Nigeria. There the group achieved extraordinary success, with live performances followed by contracts with local labels like Scottie and Ben/Clover resulting in hit releases. Most of their LP's were originally released on this later label, Ben Limited, owned by Ben Okonkwo.

Ben, also known as Clover Sounds, brought a great number of the biggest bands from the country to market, bands like The Apostles, Akwassa,The Doves, Aktion, The Visitors, Mansion, Folk 77 and many others. Nearly all those groups started their recording careers in the label's studios based in the commercial heart of Aba, Abia State, one of Southeastern Nigeria’s largest cities. Aba at that time was a flourishing city, an important crossroads of people and culture with an intensive and active and cutting edge live music and nightlife.

But after that golden era the group began to lose its popularity. In the 1980's they returned to Bangui and resumed their old-time gigs in dance halls there - only to realize that their music didn't have the appeal it used to. Making matters worse, the domestic economic downturn accelerated, forcing the orchestra to slowly end its activities . Vibro Succès Intercontinental Orchestra disappeared at the end of the 80s and most of its members died in the 90s.

We discovered this LP during our first trip to Nigeria in 2016. While traveling in the east to meet up with a musician, we stopped for a night in a village. As often happens in Nigeria, information has a way of traveling fast. The news that a couple of white guys looking for records had arrived in the village the day before spread like light. When we awoke, we found a couple of elderly music lovers in the hall of our hotel with a little pile of records for sale. The nice cover of the “Drunkard” album was right on top!

At first we thought it was just another really good soukous album made by Vibro Success but after we heard “Drunkard” - we knew we had stumbled onto something very special. That was the “easy” part. Soon after, we had the idea of reissuing this LP and that was a bit harder. There were no credits on the cover and not much information about Vibro Succès. We started to ask to our friends to ask around, see if somebody knew them or the producer. That's when sadly we discovered that Ben Okonkwo had passed. So with no leads to follow and seemingly without any possibility of making progress on the matter, we "gave up" and returned to Italy.

A couple years later, in the summer of 2019, we found ourselves again in Aba. This time we had the chance to meet Nnamdi Okonkwo, the eldest son of the late Ben Okonkwo. After Nnamdi's mother and family agreed, he was glad to cooperate with us for the re-release of this special album."

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway — Genesis' gold-selling sixth studio album!
180-gram 45 RPM 4LP
Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Pressed at Quality Record Pressings and RTI
Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

Genesis' sixth studio album was released as a double album in November 1974 by Charisma Records and is the last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel. The group's longest album to date, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S..

The album is a concept album and tells the surreal story, devised by Gabriel, of a young Puerto Rican named Rael who embarks on a journey through a series of strange and bizarre events in New York City.

Musically, the album is a departure from the band's previous works, incorporating a wide range of styles including progressive rock, art rock, funk, and jazz fusion. The album features complex rhythms, intricate melodies, and dense layers of instrumentation, showcasing the band's virtuosic musicianship.

The album is notable for its use of storytelling, with each track contributing to the larger narrative of Rael's journey. The lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, and the album's surreal imagery has been interpreted in a variety of ways by listeners and critics.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway gained acclaim in the years after its release, reaching gold certification for sales in the U.K. and U.S.. In 1978, Nick Kent wrote for NME that it "had a compelling appeal that often transcended the hoary weightiness of the mammoth concept that held the equally mammoth four sides of vinyl together." In a special edition of Q and Mojo magazines titled Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, The Lamb ranked at No. 14 in its 40 Cosmic Rock Albums list. The album came third in a list of the 10 best concept albums by Uncut magazine, where it was described as an "impressionistic, intense album" and "pure theatre (in a good way) and still Gabriel's best work." A Rolling Stone poll to rank readers' favourite progressive rock albums of all time placed The Lamb fifth in the list.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is widely regarded as one of Genesis's most important and influential works, inspiring generations of progressive rock musicians.

Aarhus Jazz Orchestra has played its way into a role as one of Denmark's foremost big bands, whose mission is to push the boundaries of the big band genre, expanding and exploring its potential.  That ever-expanding mission is why Teitur got the call for this project. He's a singer, songwriter, musician, composer and arranger who moves freely between various musical styles and genres.  The writing began in 2020, reflecting the then-current state of things, the pandemic raging along with all of its frustrations, fears, insecurities, rules, and insistence to keep a social distance.  A limited edition 180g vinyl release.

Muireann Bradley is a young blues, ragtime, roots and folk guitarist and singer based in Ballybofey in County Donegal Ireland. “This is my first album. Most of these tunes were originally recorded by the great blues men and women who were making records from the 1920s and 1930s right up in some cases to the early 1970s. I have also found inspiration for the renditions recorded here in the playing of some of the musicians who began recording this music in the 1960s and later, and who in some cases learned at the feet of the greats. Many of these guitarists played pivotal roles in the 1960s blues revival and subsequent “rediscovery” of many of the greats of country blues. I grew up steeped in these old blues in the hills overlooking the valley of the River Finn just outside the town of Ballybofey in County Donegal. My father would play this music constantly at home and wherever we went in the car and talk about it endlessly whether anyone was listening or not, telling stories about the lives of these musicians as if they were legend, mythology or the evening news. My father could of course play all this stuff on guitar, I remember watching him when I was very young and thinking “I want to be able to do that”. When I was nine he agreed to teach me and bought me my first little travel guitar. I worked hard to learn how to play but as time wore on I seemed to have less and less time to practice as I became more and more invested in the combat sports I was regularly training and competing in. Then in March 2020 the first Covid lockdowns happened and all contact sports were shut down. I was lost for a while but soon found my way back to the guitar. I was now listening, playing and practicing with a new intensity and focus. In a very serious moment, I wrote out a list of tunes I was going to learn. The first tune on that list was Blind Blake’s “Police Dog Blues”. I’m not sure now how long it took to get that arrangement together but when it was ready we videoed me performing it and posted it on YouTube. It ended up getting a lot of attention, I remember my parents being quite shocked and soon after that Josh Rosenthal got in touch… and here we are! Each individual track on this album was recorded live in the studio and represents one entire take with me singing and backing myself up on guitar simultaneously. Most are either first or second takes. Nothing has been added or taken away, no overdubs or modern recording tricks of any kind have been used at all so at least in some respects this album has been recorded in the same way as those classics of the 1920s and 1930s

4 songs EP for the lovers of Fuzz! 4 explosive and ultra fuzzy songs by our favorite French fuzz rockers, Dum Dum Boys! Play loud or don't play at all! The Dum Dum Boys' new 4 songs EP was born under the sign of Fuzz: The one-chord fuzz stomp of Do the Nothing (a brand new nihilist dance), the fuzz glam of Come on Now (Gary Glitter meets the Scientists), the fuzz boogie of Blame It on the Boogie (a dancefloor hit, but only in freaky discotheques), and - another one-chord song! - the fuzzy amphetamine rush of Ridin' Down the Highway (Guitar fuzz! Bass fuzz! Organ fuzz!). As the poet said: "Those who don't like fuzz, pass your way_"

Clear Vinyl

On Rock Island, their second LP, Palm produces evidence of a distinct musical language, developed over time, in isolation, and out of necessity. On the island, melodies are struck on what might be shells or spines. Rhythms are scratched out, swept over, scratched again. Individual instruments, and sometimes entire sections, skip and stutter. There is the sense of a music box with wonky tension or a warped transmission in which all the noise is taken for signal.

Like other groups so acclaimed for their compulsive live show, Palm has been burdened by the constant comparison between their recorded material and their touring set. On Rock Island, they render this tired discussion moot, using the album form to present that which could never be completely live, reserving for performance that which could never be completely reproduced.

Despite appearing behind the instruments typical of rock music, Palm trades in sounds of their own making. On these songs, one of the guitars and the drum kit are used as MIDI triggers, producing an index that can be combed through later and replaced with new information. The percussion is sometimes augmented so as to suggest a multiplication of limbs. The strings are manipulated to choke, crack, and hum like other instruments, or other bodies, might.

Working again with engineer Matt Labozza, the band spent the better part of a month in a rented farmhouse in Upstate New York. With the benefits of time and space, Palm recorded the various elements piecemeal, only rarely playing together in groups larger than two or three. While some members tracked, others holed up in the next room, experimenting with quantization, beat replacement, and other methods borrowed from electronic music. Even accounting for the many labors that brought them to be, these materials seem produced by an organic logic. Their complex friction forms a habit of thought, scores a network of grooves on the floor of the mind.

This is music with dimensionality. Sonic objects are deployed, developed, and dissected in various states of mutation. The listener flits about between the field and the lab. The tone is warm in a way only the sun could make, the pace as forceful and as variable as a gale. Whether one locates Rock Island in a sea or in a refinished attic (as in Greg Burak's album cover), whether one escapes to there or is banished, its psychic environs are charted clearly enough. Only at this remove from the mainland can we sense the conditions necessary for such a strange species of sound.

Big Crown Records is proud to present the debut full length offering from Les Imprimés, Rêverie. The stirring and ethereal sounds of Les Imprimés have been making fans of anyone who hears them since their first 7” single hit the speakers. Morten Martens is the man behind the band. Born, raised, and working in Kristiansand, Norway, he keeps a low profile while making his heartfelt, highly infectious, and unique music. This album is a long time coming for Martens and it is sure to make him a name to be reckoned with.

The first thing you notice listening to Les Imprimés is the high level of musicianship. Martens plays nearly every instrument on the recordings and handles the production and arranging. He has been making records for decades, winning a Spellemann Award (aka, the Norwegian Grammy) in 2006 for producing a Hip Hop album as well as getting nominations across three other genres. While awards and accolades speak to the level of his talent, this new album really shows who he is as an artist on his own terms.

Moving away from being a hired gun on the touring scene naturally led him to start doing more studio work. Slowly collecting gear and getting more experience behind the boards he built his own studio on the island of Odderøya and was making a living playing with and recording other people's music. As the story goes, after those sessions would end he would work on his own project into the wee hours of the night. From these late night sessions, Les Imprimés was born and Rêverie began to take shape.

However, "it wasn't until COVID, when things locked down, that I was really able to find the time to focus on Les Imprimés" Morten says about creating and leading his own solo project. "It was a scary time. But I knew I had to do something with it." He took the sum of his influences, combined them with his own vibe and got busy writing the music, playing the instruments, and singing the songs. "It's soul music, but I don't exactly have the soul voice," Morten explains humbly. "But I do it my own way, in a way that's mine."

It is his sound, his fingerprint, his sensibility, that makes his music hard to categorize. He has crafted an album of songs with different energies that all fit together to make one gorgeous record. The lead single “Falling Away” starts with a raw drum break and turns into a lushly arranged tune that paints the picture of love when it slips away. On “Still Here” he professes his resilience through life’s twists and turns over a thundering track that puts a new spin on the B side ballad genre. Songs like “You” and “Our Love” mix tones from 60s and 70s Soul with arrangement nods to Doo Wop records while Martens’ lyrics and delivery leave you singing the melodies long after they finish. “Love & Flowers” finds Martens in a moment of clarity with a song that fits the niche sub genre of happy break up tunes, the four on the floor track will move the dancefloor while the message will resonate with anyone who put too much effort into the wrong situation in their lives. However, it is songs like “Muse” and “Chess” that really encapsulate the uniqueness of Les Imprimés as they push the boundaries of genre, one a profession of love for music and the other a cover of an electronic record respectively. Martens’ lyrics, emotion, and delivery truly make the whole thing come together and stand out from any of his peers. There’s an infectiousness and a pop sensibility in the writing that is done with the utmost class and taste giving Les Imprimés the rare quality of immediate attraction that only deepens the more you listen.

It’s rare to come across new talent that hits the spot with their music at just the right time. But then again you never know when it will happen, when that right one comes along, and for Vega Records that time is now. Mr. X a young new talent from Northern Jersey, USA takes it to the raw underground with driving electronic stabs and a deep pulsating bassline with swinging beats and unique perc sounds that pop in and out abruptly within the arrangement on the track entitled “The Curse” on Side A1.

Early distribution of the track to impacting djs in the dance scene, Honey Dijon, Kenny Dope, Anané, Luke Solomon, Melvo Baptiste, Joseph Capriati, & Louie Vega have all been championing the new hot track entitled “The Curse”. Side A2 “The Underground” has a hooky flip flop keys action happening with vocals saying “Thank You” creating a hypnotizing groove ala Mr. X Style. The B-side of the 12” starts with a steaming revisit to “The Curse” giving it another life on the dance floor along with the sample hits and catchy groove on “B-Side Only” created only in the way Mr. X can to make you jump on the dance floor. All hot club bombs, CATCH THE FIYAAAH

Señor Sapo is a character created based on the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl:

while capturing Sr. Sapo atop The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan
in The Valley of Mexico; dawn…

Augie Robles (the photographer) spotted an elementary school class of around 25 children with two teachers suddenly appear scaling the momentous stair case behind our subject!

They shouted;

“Sr. Sapo! Sr. Sapo!”
the name has stuck! they wanted to have their pictures taken with Sr. Sapo? however; they did not want to touch him as they thought his skin might be “viscoso” or “slimy”?

“Q’uq’umatz” (as it is known amongst the K’iche’ Maya) goes back to the Olmec culture and represents the duality of flight to reach the skies; whereas the reptilian (in most cases a snake) represents the ability to mingle amongst other creatures of the Earth;
Among the Aztecs he was related to the gods of wind; of the dawn; of merchants and arts; crafts; knowledge and the planet Venus: as well as their patron god of the priesthood…

THE FUTURE S0UND 0f YESTERDAY is as well a construct of the imagination; a fictitious “orchestra” with many imaginary characters; KENT CHESTERFiElD; LEE NAilZ; PHATTITUDE; EPiPHANY TALEUR; ThE ClARKETTES (they actually exist in the “real” world)…

The titles:
“0de to A Tree”;
is the culmination of a night out in Berlin; “…met a young man in a bar close to the “atelier”; he said he wanted to play something on a piano; we go to the place and he plays this melody over a rhythm though not in rhythm?
…basically edited none of it; then used a series of tone generators and filters to change the sound into all the soundscapes you hear in the final piece; the title was simply a tribute to the trees…” Eric D. Clark

“is it good for Ya’?”;
is a slow pumping House song with a message in the form of a question; “is it good for you?” as in “I could do it; however; should I? you know; look in a mirror and ask the question”…
the Music came about as an experiment at NADEL EiNS Studio in Berlin; Heavy bass at around 116bpm plus Erix’s cheeky vocal stylings weaving in & out of frame (as well key) deliver a unique aural experience!

the final track:
“Elsewhere playback”
is literally the playback of a track Eric did under the guise of KENT CHESTERFIELD for a party series he did in Sacramento CA with AJ Sachs…
it’s really just a tool; the good thing is you can drop -8 (or -16 assuming your tables are tuned) to bring it to a tempo one could easily rap over OR push it up to +8 and have a dry Tech number? Either way it BANGS! Dub Plates & Mastering did a swell job!!

overall a must for any Dance Music aficionado’s collection out on October 10th on SHADDOCK RECORDS !

"As his Double Platinum-certified album True Believers celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its release, Darius Rucker will now make the record available on vinyl for the first time.
In addition to singles including the title track and Top 10 hit “Radio,” the album most notable features Rucker’s Diamond-certified (11x Platinum) chart-topper “Wagon Wheel,” one of the top five best-selling Country songs of all time. “This album changed so much for me musically and for our live show,” says the three-time GRAMMY winner. “As a kid who worked as a clerk in a record store, there’s a part of me that has always wanted this album to live on vinyl, so this is a great way to commemorate 10 years of Believers.”"

12 original festive songs, characterised by Johnson’s characteristic songwriting excellence, ranging in tone from the sardonic to the sentimental, featuring traditional seasonal conventions (50s jazz, Father Christmas, mistletoe, sprouts etc) performed by The Xmas Irregulars: Sian Allen – vocals, trumpet, saxophone // John Forrester – vocals, double bass // Robb Johnson – vocals, guitar, tuned percussion // Fae Simon - vocals // Roger Stevens – vocal, piano with Arvin Johnson- drums, Saskia Tomkins – violin & viola // Recorded by Ali Gavan, Brighton Road Studios. Robb Johnson-Brief biography: Robb’s widely recognised as one of the UK’s finest songwriters. “An English original”, (Robin Denselow, the Guardian) “one of our best singer-songwriters ever” (Mike Harding) “one of this country’s most important songwriters (no argument!)” (fROOTS). His work includes two highly acclaimed song suites, Gentle Men, & Ordinary Giants, -a “masterpiece” (fROOTS), “monumental” (FATEA). Last year Murder at the Grange premiered to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences at The Ropetackle in Shoreham & Chats Palace in Hackney – “a cracker of a show… a delightful extravaganza and a uniquely dark and different way to celebrate the winter season” was Folk Radio’s opinion. The Xmas Irregulars: Sian Allen – actor-musician, resident singer at Walthamstow Folk Club // John Forrester – singer & songwriter, bassist in various bands // Fae Simon - studied opera, hip-hop, soul & jazz recording artiste // Roger Stevens – award-winning children's poet & novelist // Arvin Johnson & Saskia Tomkins are both ex-Irregulars – Arvin now drums with Manchester-based band Tigers & Flies, & Saskia now lives & works -to great acclaim- in Canada

Limited

Michael Forshaw is a techno, breakbeat and experimental producer and DJ from Blackpool, U.K. who’s known for his mastery of producing gritty, rough ‘n’ tumble techno music where every sound is almost overdriven to the edge of chaotic distortion. He refuses to abide by any rules, playfully smashing his music around like a cat toying with a mouse. He’s the ultimate example of why parents hate techno.

Continuing with the ‘Limited As Fuck’ series of releases, on our fiercely independent techno label based in Scotland, we’ve got our Wonk-O-Vision meter turned up to FULL WONK and we’re wearing our spankin’ new, made especially for dancin’ and prancin’, high heels and big boys boots on, because Michael Forshaw ‘& His Dance Floor Disaster Show’ is about to smash into a night club near you.

On this ‘Big Titted Hit’ of a release you’ll learn how to ‘Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya’ in more ways than one as not only have Forshaw’s ‘Amish Numanoids in Space’ trax finally been printed on vinyl, but those Swedish farting wasp keepers TSR and Scotland’s own melodious mental menace Fear-E, along-with the vocal talents of he that should be King, Tunnan, have well-wonked out a pair of the most uncarpeted surface-slippin’ remixes you’ll have a difficult time not to do a group wonkin’ Watusi too. WONK ON.

Fust’s first record "Evil Joy" was a bitter domestic drama obsessed with the kitchen-sink passage of time measured by moments of leaving and returning. With "Genevieve", we find a different kind of leaving: leaving behind, leaving one’s old ways, starting anew, a small life together, in “Family Country.” Thus, Genevieve: an historical name for both the saintly and the ordinary, the peasantry and the family, the community and the wife, extreme devotion and absolute forbearance. While sonically and instrumentally louder than Evil Joy, Genevieve is thematically more quiet about its pains—more settled in its ways. It is a collection of pathetic love stories written in dedication to “small life,” moving from gentle exceptions (“I can take the late hours if you’re with me”) to pitiful admissions (“I’m never going to change when I leave…”). What comes with a quiet life? The highest forms of beauty, but we also find here songs of unspeaking companions, the sublime dread of having children, the balance of humility and humiliation, playing the fool for the greater good, and… budget birthday parties. With these stories of possible growth, "Genevieve" can’t help but also feature tried and true examples of crisis and repression: seeking a bygone lifestyle in an old friend who hasn’t changed much over the years, pissing contests, search parties as the form of community for melancholics with no clue what they’ve lost, old flames you won't let go and dying flames you won’t admit. "Genevieve" was recorded throughout 2021-2022 (mostly) at Drop of Sun studio in Asheville NC by Alex Farrar. The painting by Sasha Popovici is exactly right: a domestic scene yet unfinished. Many friends helped to make it much better than it was without them—Xandy Chelmis, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Indigo De Souza, MJ Lenderman, Courtney Werner.

2023 Repress

It's the quiet ones we should watch, they always say. Which is particularly astute advice right now, when loud, constant self-declaration and saturated 'brand' visibility have become the norm. But above the babble and brightness, some voices will always speak quiet volumes ­- with calm eloquence and the kind of certitude that comes from valuing the playing out, not just the prize.

Sweden's José González is just such a voice. He first charmed his way into the UK's earshot via the murmurous and elegant, classically finger-picked folk pop of his 2005 album, Veneer, which has since sold over a staggering 430, 000 copies in UK alone. Two years later came In Our Nature, a further exploration of José's influences (Argentinian Folklore, the '60s US folk tradition and the British pastoral folk-pop style of the same era), on which he resisted the temptation to beef up his alluringly introvert aesthetic. The albums made the UK Top 10 and Top 20 respectively.

Conceived as the natural third part in an acoustic trilogy, Vestiges & Claws is a(nother) hushed and delicate solo set that forefronts the artist and guitarist's compellingly intimate vocal style and intricate playing technique, but it's often strikingly rhythmic in nature and cohere's perfectly, with hand claps and taps on the body of his instrument underlining the songs' mantric rise-and-fall pattern, while elsewhere, over-dubbed guitar parts and multi-tracked vocal harmonies entwine to sweetly immersive effect.

The title refers to both cultural practices and biological features that survive despite having lost their original function, and to currently useful tools, ie the 'claws' of modern life.

Vestiges & Claws was recorded almost entirely by José and self-produced, mostly in his Gothenburg home, using computer plug-ins to achieve a warm, analogue sound. He prefers working alone, mainly for artistic reasons. 'There were a couple of things that enabled me to complete this record: one was curiosity, to be able to play percussion and do a lot of harmonies and also to produce and mix the album; the other was aesthetics. I love to listen to Arthur Russell and Shuggie Otis, to music that has been done mostly by one person in their solitary state.'

As José sees it, the record is his personal, 'zoomed-out eye on humanity on a small, pale blue dot in a cold, sparse and unfriendly space. The amazing fact that we are all here, an attempt at encouraging us to understand ourselves and to make the best of the one life we know we have - after birth and before death.

"Richard Edwards is in the pocket. He’s been there for several albums now: 2017’s Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, 2020’s The Soft Ache & the Moon, and 2022’s Ghost Electricity/Vampire Draw. Just as the Margot records defined his twenties, this “Beach Bum” era, as he calls it, may well define his thirties. That era is expanded in Two Sad Little Islands Drift Together, Two Lonely Little Monkeys Find A Tree: Rare and Unreleased 2015-2023.

Beginning with Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, Richard has been steering his ongoing body of work toward capturing a feeling of being at sea. Life can find us at sea in any number of ways–in a marriage or partnership, or in longing for one; in parenting, and its ceaseless wonders and worries; in bodies and minds that confound understanding (whether just our own, or also that of professionals); in our rotting world, which we’ve fucked up beyond all repair.

“What does that sound like, though?” you may ask. Like Mike Bloom’s cascading fingerpicking in “Lil Dead Eye-d (b.),” or the tranquilizing combination of Dave Palmer’s piano and Perla Batalla’s multi-tracked vocals on “Love (b.)” Like the L.A. based Section Quartet on “True Love Waits,” or the triumphantly stoned Velvet Ocean jam-session that is “Jane Greer With A Gun.” Like Richard’s use of melody and imagery on “Pink Lightning (b.)” and lead single “Benzedrine,” where he is masterfully accompanied by Erin Rae (on the former) and Maria Taylor (on the latter).

Unlike Richard’s past archival releases which have often featured home demo recordings, everything on Two Sad Little Islands has been produced in-studio. With this 3-LP vinyl set, Richard presents just over two hours of material that once again makes his case as one of the “most underrated songwriters of our time” (LA Review of Books)."

2023 Repress!
Since 2009’s critically acclaimed Machine Dreams they have not sat still, touring the globe and making some high profile friends along the way.
No one in their right mind would have expected the future of soul music to come from Gothenburg, Sweden. But there it is in the dreamy, rhythmical, shifting, moody rainbow creature that is Little Dragon. It is easy to see why some of the world’s top musical luminaries are falling over themselves to work with them. Stylishly seductive in their own right, their 2007 selftitled debut was filled with classy songwriting and cool production, with the stunning track ‘Twice’ getting played on Grey’s Anatomy and countless adverts since it’s release. Machine Dreams showed a bouncier side, as they flexed their dancing nous and came up with an album that would turn Prince’s head.
Damon Albarn invited them to collaborate on two tracks for last year’s Gorillaz record Plastic Beach, which became album highlights for the critics with Pitchfork describing the songs ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’ as “two of the most arresting things here; they’re airy, elusive and amazingly beautiful”.
Little Dragon started 2011 with a headlining tour of the U.S. and a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in March, thanks to a recommendation from super-fan Questlove of The Roots. In May, the band appeared on the track ‘Just Don’t’ from Raphael Saadiq’s Stone Rollin’, a record some are already calling the album of the year. Then Big Boi and DJ Shadow called to invite the group to work on new music.

Swedish producer Max I Million is simply on another level in the world of creating lush, jazzy hip-hop instrumentals, and he proves that point over and over again on his latest album, Shine On… From one

track to the next, the immensely talented beatsmith finds new ways to dazzle the ears with layers of creatively flipped samples, earworm melodies, and innovatively created sounds from household items. From the intro to the outro, Shine On…

embodies the spirit of what makes his music so compelling. This is the type of record you could put on your turntable and relax until you’ve had your moment of zen, or dig into the details of the music, like the unreal layering of “On My Mind” or the muddy funk of “Don King.” Those choices, both big and small, exemplify the love that Max put into this record, and they’re why Shine On… is absolutely his finest work yet.