Can it really be just be over a year since Yard Act
exploded into the national consciousness with their
debut EP ‘Dark Days’, released via their own Zen
FC imprint? Yard Act have gone on to be one of
2022’s defining artists with the release of their
debut album ‘The Overload’, and their rise has
been as entertaining as it has been meteoric. And
as well as touring the world and smashing sales
records, they’ve still found time to continue Zen
FC, releasing acclaimed 7”s from Baba Ali and
Benefits.
Being the budding record industry moguls that they
are, they couldn’t bear to see the ‘Dark Days’ EP
languishing out of print. So they commandeered a
Danish pressing plant and rudely shoved their way
to the front of the queue, picked a new colour
(silver in honour of ‘The Overload’ finishing second
in the Album Charts) and rushed through a repress
in time for the summer. And while they were at it,
they sorted out a run on the format of the future –
the noble cassette.
So there you have it: while you’re thinking about
putting ‘The Overload’ at the top of your albums of
2022, you can enjoy the EP of 2021 all over again.
Saltern’s latest offering marks the first-ever release of “lost minimalist” Terry Jennings’ visionary 1960 composition, Piece for Cello and Saxophone, as arranged in just intonation by legendary composer La Monte Young for renowned cellist Charles Curtis. Born in Los Angeles in 1940, Jennings was a close associate of Young, Terry Riley, and Dennis Johnson, and an early adopter of minimalist tendencies, creating slow, sustained music, influenced by jazz, modalism, and late romantic classical music. Jennings died tragically in his early forties, most of his work lost to a chaotic life; however, his forward-looking music quietly exerted a lasting influence on composers including Young and Harold Budd. Composed over sixty years ago, Piece for Cello and Saxophone, foreshadows a number of movements in postwar avant-garde music.
Despite the title, there is no saxophone on this album. At over eighty minutes, La Monte Young’s justly tuned realization of Piece for Cello and Saxophone for cello alone unifies and extrapolates Terry Jennings’ dense harmonies, creating an extended field of complex sonorities in motion, all brought to life by the immaculate playing of Charles Curtis. The recording captures Curtis in a performance from 2016 reflecting more than twenty-five years of dedication to the piece.
Highlights:
• Saltern latest offering marks the first-ever release of “lost minimalist” Terry Jennings’ visionary 1960 composition, Piece for Cello and Saxophone, as arranged in just intonation by legendary composer La Monte Young for renowned cellist Charles Curtis.
'Accosting Form, Pure Intent" - Nathaniel Young's new album for Mysteries of the Deep - is a contradiction that makes sense. At once raw and elegant, it emerges from a place of constraint and desire. Its individual tracks reflect this paradox as the album unlocks itself like a koan: a riddle that, once solved, dawns on the listener like an epiphany.
Metallic emanations in "Communal Dysphoria" and "Comfort in Form," interpolated with echo and reverb, arise from the void and disappear back into it, moving like scattered precipitation over rugged, rhythmic terrain. Certain tracks speak to certain influences: in "Extrasolar" and "May I Speak Candidly," drone is tempered by synth pads and wistful ambience. "Zion Waits for No One" brings to mind a sense of the Chthonic: a dark, primitive creature submerged. A monster from the loch that at times breaks through the still, watery surface.
Despite the assorted elements at work, a visceral quality binds everything together. Even the record's more subdued works are textured and tangible, at times balancing or playing against the serrated edges of its more structured pieces. Like all compelling works, the sounds here exist in a liminal space that is not entirely classifiable. Still, it is wholly cohesive in both its moodiness and its adeptness.
Releases on Umor Rex, Blankstairs, Phinery Tapes, Hospital Productions
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Far Out Recordings proudly presents Milton Nascimento's Maria Maria. Recorded in 1974 and unreleased until almost thirty years later, the album was written as the soundtrack to a ballet which dealt with the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Raw, atmospheric and emotionally charged, Maria Maria reveals one of Brazil's greatest ever songwriters at his creative peak. Featuring an all-star cast of fellow Brazilian legends including Nana Vasconcelos, Joao Donato, Paulinho Jobim, and members of Som Imaginario, Maria Maria holds what Milton considers to be the definitive versions of some of his classic songs, including 'Os Escravos De Jó' and 'Maria Maria'.
Originally released in 2003 as a double CD package, with Milton Nascimento's 1984 follow up ballet soundtrack Ultimo Trem, Maria Maria will be available on vinyl for the very first time from December 2019, with Ultimo Trem set for vinyl release early 2020.
Milton Nascimento possesses one of the most immediately recognizable voices in Brazilian music: high and sweet and as breathtakingly sublime as that of any soul singer. It was this voice that the legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina fell in love with back in 1964, having heard Milton perform his song 'Canção do Sal (Sultry Song)' at a private party in Sao Paulo. Ellis went on to record the song in 1967 -giving Milton his first hit in Brazil and beginning a career that has spanned over 50 years.
Born in Rio on the 26th October 1942, Milton moved with his adoptive parents at the age of 18 months to Tres Pontas, a rural town in the state of Minas Gerais, 500 miles north of Rio. He began his musical career as a young teenager, singing in a crooner style he learnt from listening to Brazilian singers and US groups such as The Platters on the radio. Hungry for more opportunities to perform, Milton moved to Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, at the age of twenty. By the beginning of the 60s Milton had made a name for himself both as an accomplished singer and guitarist.
Milton became part of a local network of musicians, film makers, dancers, theatre directors and writers that included the journalist and song writer Fernando Brant as well as lyricist Marcio Borges and his younger brother Lo Borges. Together these four wrote and produced what would become Milton's milestone album, 'Clube da Esquina (Club on the Corner)'. The originality of 'Club da Esquina' shaped the local scene, and it reflects the essence of 'the Nascimento Sound'. Milton's religious upbringing as an Afro-Brazilian Catholic saw him exposed to church choral music from an early age. His love of this genre of music is apparent in both his celestial falsetto and vocal choral arrangements. This collection also displays his early fascination with evocative, non-verbal, scat-style singing, spare, harmonic guitar work and local folk music, jazz and rock.
In 1976, Milton and Fernando Brant teamed up with a new contemporary dance company called Grupo Corpo, whose Argentinian choreographer Oscar Araiz, would become a collaborator with the two musicians. Together, they conceived a show based on the composite life story of the daughter of a black slave called Maria. Nascimento wrote music to Brant's lyrics and "Maria Maria" was premiered in the main theatre of the Belo Horizonte Palacio das Artes that year. "Fernando wrote the lyrics for the ballet, but there were originally no lyrics for the theme song, "Maria Maria'". Milton and Fernando worked on the lyrics together, basing them on folk stories about black women of the countryside. Adds Milton "These memories are mostly things that we witnessed – Fernando and I – rather than what we experienced ourselves.
Milton's music is impressionistic, emotional and romantic. Relying on songs without lyrics as well as evocative vocalizing and choruses, Milton experimented heavily with Afro-Brazilian percussion and taped jungle sounds. His composing method for these recordings was highly unconventional: "I wrote the music for 'Maria Maria' in a tiny Rio apartment with friends and their kids running around and having fun! I love to be in noisy places, surrounded by people", he says.
The music on 'Maria Maria' was performed by an impressive group of young musicians who are today household names in Brazilian music, including Naná Vasconcelos (percussion and effects), Toninho Horta (guitars) and Paulo Moura (sax). Several vocalist including Naná Caymmi, Fafá de Belém, Beto Guedes, and Milton himself, had hits in years to come with reworkings of these songs.
Milton says his compositions follow his visions "like a movie", and he believes that reflects his long love affair with cinema. "I only began composing because of enjoying the movies so much," he says. "I wrote my first song "Peace for the Coming Love" after seeing 'Jules et Jim' (the cult 60s French film directed by François Truffaut), with my friend Marcio Borges. We went early in the morning and watched it four or five times in a row, then went to Márcio's home and wrote the song."
The songs also include solo spoken passages set to music, clearly influenced by this style of French art cinema. On the title track, Maria's story is narrated and translated to music through the use of African Percussion, drums and metal signifying the field slave tools of the day. 'Trabalhos (Works)' runs to work rhythms and whipcracks: no words, just pain. 'Lília' documents the beating of the slave woman. After 'A Chamada (The call)' and the triumphant 'Era Rei e Sou Escravo (I was a king now I am a slave' things begin to turn and Milton employs tropical jungle cries to symbolize freedom. 'Santos Catholicos x Candomble (Catholic Saints vs Candomble)' represents the battle between African and European religions through the music of both sides. Milton's heavenly falsetto pours into 'Francisco' and 'Pai Grande (Great Father)' and the outstanding 'Eu Sou Uma Preta Velha Aqui Sentada no Sol (I'm an old black lady, sitting under the sun)' conjures images of an old woman sitting deep in the forest, her memories painted in drums, piano and voices.
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“Still Lives” is the third solo full length by the Finnish composer Marja Ahti, following a pair of releases on the Hallow Ground imprint. As a collection, it may be seen as a series of studies on the liminality of the listening act and an investigation into the physicality of sound. Ahti forges vivid electroacoustic environments from field recordings, analog synthesizers, acoustic feedback, magnetic tape and digital processing, resulting in a set of articulate, prickly, and surprising compositions. In the artist’s words, “These pieces could be conceived of as vanitas paintings of a kind – selections of mundane or archetypal objects, sounds that have their own distinct qualities, but exist only by virtue of being temporary events. From another angle, one could think of them as shrines – objects assembled and set in a particular relationship to each other, charging each other in their given constellations.” Marja Ahti (b. 1981) is a musician and composer based in Turku, Finland. Originally from Sweden, Ahti has been a part of the Finnish experimental music scene for more than ten years in different constellations. She is currently active in the duo Ahti & Ahti with her partner and as a member of the Himera artist/organizer collective.
Tiptoe between the toadstools of Liverpool’s city parks, and amongst the foliage you might find a Strawberry Guy, contemplating his next chord-progression. Composing hi-fi symphonies from within his humble abode, the Welsh-born songwriter is ready to share the fruits of his labour with debut album Sun Outside My Window. A timeless vista of ethereal balladry looking towards 19th Century musical maestros and works of art, it brings new meaning to the term ‘Modern Classic’ and is the most optimistic of lockdown records yet.
“It’s about seeing the simple things in life and them making you happy,” tells Alex Stephens, the Guy behind the Strawberry. “I remember this day when I was really down… looking out the window, the sun beaming in was beautiful, it made me want to go outside – it was simple but made me so happy in that instance.”
A one-man impressionist, painting majestic soundscapes, Strawberry Guy blends truthful lyrics with lush arrangements to conjure new emotive worlds. Inspired by composers of the Romantic period, or Debussy, Ravel, and other classical artists of the 1800s, his wonderland moves like a Monet painting where arpeggios dance between meadows of dazzling dynamics and dramatic key changes. As former keyboard player of The Orielles and Trudy and The Romance, the light through his floor to ceiling windows has caused a dramatic Greenhouse Effect and now ripening on solo terms, his innocent uploads of ‘Without You’ and ‘F-Song’ comfort 2 million Spotify listeners a month. ‘Mrs Magic’ has received 40 million streams, landing at #13 in its chart and countless fan-created videos have appeared on YouTube. “Throughout history composers have tried to capture emotion, painting their own impressionist pictures with musical brush strokes… I guess I’m just trying to do the same and people enjoy that,” he suggests modestly.
Named by musical friends Her’s after his impeccable taste in milkshakes, Strawberry Guy upturns ‘bedroom artist’ perception, as each idea is crafted into a widescreen wonder where vocals tag-team instrumentals and countermelodies flourish within the Georgian walls of his Liverpool flat’s small space. “I want it to sound like I’ve squeezed an 80-piece orchestra into my room, and for listeners to wonder how all those strings got there,” he says. “Working on the 4-part harmonies, the orchestra became real; I began believing in myself.”
Imitating nature’s effect on emotion, like 70s songwriters, or the fantastical soundtracks accompanying vibrant scenes in the Japanese animated Studio Ghibli films and video games, landscape is brought to the fore. Monet’s picturesque Meadow at Giverny features as the album’s accompanying artwork – perhaps a reminder of the rural Welsh countryside views through his childhood home’s window; “I was inspired by how calm and peaceful the image felt. Its painted lines show real-life scenes in a magical way, which to me reflects my music.”
Just as the first Strawberry Guy EP Taking My Time To Be offered a slowing down for the soul, Sun Outside My Window is musically unhurried, written and recorded over 2 years. “Recording as a lone berry meant I could run with my emotions in the moment and deliver something true; it would have been an entirely different album had it been recorded in a studio,” he says.
Modern Classic? Only time will tell. For now this Guy’s happy-sad world is here to get the juices flowing and with, pandemic permitting, a US tour in 2022, life looks a whole lot sweeter. Until then, take it slow, be at one with the wilderness and remember, when life gives you lemons, swap them for Strawberries.
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Remastered reissue of Het Zweet's 1987 self-titled LP + a bonus LP, consisting of previously unreleased material.
Marien Van Oers work under the name Het Zweet (“The Sweat” in English) originally came out in the 1980s (specifically 1983-1988), but listening to the new reissue of this self-titled album from 1987 can feel like one is listening to something that’s both much more current and also much, much older than that. Van Oers, who passed away in 2013, made music that tended to get classed as “industrial”, and tracks here like the steady, clanging churn of “From the Lowland” or “On Earth” show why, but he was as or more inspired by tribal music intended to produce trance-like effects via rhythm and (percussive and vocal) repetition. Using instruments made by himself out of anything from shopping carts to cardboard tubes, the music of Het Zweet locks into grooves that somehow feel more elemental and physical than many of his contemporaries. It never quite feels like Van Oers is emulating or echoing the music of any particular region or tradition so much as trying to synthesize all the ones he’s heard into some sort of ur-pulse, an overtone so powerful as to compel the “Massive Trance” the title of the last song on the record evokes.
While the 1987 Het Zweet has four track titles per side, and on listening you can discern some segues and places where it feels like new movements do shift into place, it’s fitting to have this record on vinyl where the listener is encouraged to experience each side as one uninterrupted piece. The bonus material included on this reissue expands Het Zweet from one LP to two, the second LP consisting entirely of previously unreleased material. This bonus LP is sequenced similarly, with three untitled tracks and two live excerpts presented as side-long experiences that belie their disparate origins with a unity of sound and purpose. Van Oers’ percussive nous and distantly yelled chants certainly sound capable of working up a sweat in both the performer and any movement- minded listeners, but maybe the most striking thing about Het Zweet is how vital it still sounds, despite its age and relative obscurity.
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Long-time audiophile favorite returns as a 45 RPM on four 200-gram LPs! Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings! Every cricket chirp and dog bark in stellar detail! An essential upgrade to the listening experience; improved sonic intensity Roger Waters' take on America's entertainment-obsessed society
This audiophile favourite — and a brisk seller since its Analogue Productions 33 1/3 reissue in 2015 — is back with an upgrade. Now a 45 RPM 4LP 200-gram set, the remastered audio completed by long-time Roger Waters / Pink Floyd collaborator and co-producer James Guthrie is chillingly detailed — every cricket chirp and dog bark on this distinctive album has even more sonic intensity and dimension.
An unblinking look at an entertainment-obsessed society, Amused to Death addresses issues that have only grown in complexity and urgency over the past two decades. With Amused to Death, Roger Waters sounded the alarm about a society increasingly - and unthinkingly — in thrall to its television screens. Twenty-three years later, Amused to Death speaks to our present moment in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago. In 2022, television is just one option in an endless array of distractions available to us anytime, anywhere, courtesy of our laptops, tablets and smartphones. With eyes glued to our screens, the dilemmas and injustices of the real world can easily recede from view.
The 2022 4LP 45 RPM 200-gram vinyl edition of Amused to Death features remastered audio completed by long-time Roger Waters / Pink Floyd collaborator and co-producer, James Guthrie, and has been pressed at Quality Record Pressings. The updated cover and gatefold art is by Sean Evans, the creative director of Waters' 2010-2013 "The Wall Live" tour and movie.
Boris Bunnik with a Vernon Felicity debut album! Days Of Leisure is a very well produced warm and analogue sounding house album. Think Metro Area vs. Larry Heard and you are almost there.. This is the sound of the summer and a future classic in the making.
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Limited White Teal & Beige Vinyl. Spencer Zahn's second record for Cascine emerged from a series of piano sketches born of daily improvisations in Kingston, New York, where he relocated during the pandemic after 14 years in the buzz of Brooklyn. Inspired by the space and pace of upstate life, he explored a more restrained, resonant mode of playing, letting chords delay all the way to silence, until the seeds of songs took shape. Zahn accompanied himself on upright bass, finessing each piece without cluttering it, focusing on the notion of "the instrument in a room. Recruiting long-time collaborator Andy Highmore for piano duties, the duo booked time at Figure 8 Recording in Prospect Heights to craft the lulling, lyrical 12-track suite of Pale Horizon. The tonality of the instruments was central to Zahn's vision, fusing them to feel like a single entity, with upright bass blending in an elegant gradient with the low strings on the piano. An air of Keith Jarrett and Ryuichi Sakamoto hangs over the collection, acoustic and unhurried, stately but subdued, ruminative daydream melodies heard on the breeze in a quiet garden.
The Lost Daughter is a critically acclaimed 2021 psychological drama film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her feature directorial debut, based on the 2006 same-titled novel by Elena Ferrante.
The film stars Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, with Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris. Colman also serves as an executive producer on the film. The film follows Leda (Colman) who is on a solo-vacation at the seaside and becomes consumed with a young mother and daughter as she watches them on the beach. When a small, seemingly meaningless event occurs, Leda is overwhelmed by memories of the difficult, unconventional choices she made as a mother and their consequences for herself and her family. The seemingly serene tale of a woman’s pleasant rediscovery of herself soon becomes the story of a ferocious confrontation with an unsettled past.
The Lost Daughter premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where Gyllenhaal won the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay. At its opening night world premiere, the movie received a four-minute standing ovation from Venice Film Festival attendees. The film also received three nominations at the 94th Academy Awards for Best Actress (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Buckley), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Thescore is composed by Dickon Hinchliffe, founding and former member of Tindersticks. Dickon’s unique style of composition and arrangements developed from his classical study of the violin and song writing and recording in bands.
The Lost Daughter is available as a limited “Peal it like a snake, don’t let it break” edition of
750 individually numbered copies on orange marbled vinyl. The LP features alternative artwork designed by Yelena Yemchuk, a Ukranian professional photographer, painter and film director, best known for her work with The Smashing Pumpkins. The vinyl package includes an inset with pictures and liner notes by both Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dickon Hinchliffe.
Unstoppable elders of the L'Entourloop collective, King James and Sir Johnny, are proud to present on June 10, 2022 their long-awaited third and new album entitled "Clarity in Confusion". Featuring Alborosie, Promoe, Degiheugi, General Levy, The Architect ...
It is now official, 2022 will mark the return of the tireless seniors of the collective L'ENTOURLOOP! After a break to devote themselves to the creation of a new album and a new live show that promises to be exceptional, they are back on the road, more determined than ever!
The success of their last albums "Chickens in Your Town" (2015) and "Le Savoir-Faire" (2017), with their unique "Banging hip-hop inna Yardie Style" never cease to seduce sound-system, vinyl and French classics fans, all over the world.
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Yamila reveals her most intimate catharsis in Visions, an album that brings together and provokes the hallucinatory powers of music. Like an ancient herald, she announces the profound feminine mystique while crossing epic melodies full of pleasure and pain. This album is a journey that prodigiously unites baroque accents, Spanish folklore – such as flamenco – and contemporary electronic music.
Her voice and music – sometimes torn and others buoyant – could resemble the score for a biblical passage (ie. visions of the Apocalypse), for they are overflowing with physical ecstasy and sounds that one can touch. Visions is composed of different forms and rhythms. Pieces like "Visions V" evolve intensely with sharp and systematized hits –– powerful layers that bring us closer to Alessando Cortini's Forse era. "Visions II", for its part, shares intensity and power with flamenco ritual patterns, as if it were an old Andalusian scene dripping with oscillations and electric shocks. Yet there are luminous vocal pieces such as "Visions I" (featuring Rafael Anton Irisarri), inspired by Manuel de Falla's Suite Española composed in 1922. Here, an aural chiaroscuro with beautiful voices and choirs is deeply fused with daring drones. And it is in the ensemble of moments of Visions where Yamila's conceptual axis is rendered solid. Pain and glory, lacerating religiosity, feminism cauterized by power, and hallucinations as a source (or pretext/tool) to be heard.
Yamila exhibits a profuse aesthetic with her music that calls for a look at the far-past with romanticism and nostalgia. Visions is radiant, intense. A unique album.
All songs written and performed by Yamila Ríos (Spain), except “Visions I”, which features Rafael Anton Irisarri. Recorded between the Swedish winter and the Belgian countryside. Additional musicians: Simbad guitar on V-IV and V-I, Vera Cavallin harp on VIV. Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio. NY. Photos by Virginia Rota in Madrid. Design by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.
When words trail off at the beginning of claire rousay’s »everything perfect is already here«, ornate instrumentation is waiting to fill a void left by the breakdown of language. Yet it becomes clear as we trace rousay’s collaged sonic pathway that breakdown, of meaning and also of melody, is also a place to rest. everything perfect… is made up of two extended compositions that cycle between familiarity and unknowing. There are seemingly infinite ways to feel in response to these pieces of music, which shift tone across their languid duration, earnest like a familiar song but unbound from the emotional didacticisms of lyrical voice and pop form.
rousay builds a fluid landscape around the acoustic contributions of Alex Cunningham (violin), Mari Maurice (electronics and violin), Marilu Donovan (harp), and Theodore Cale Schafer (piano), whose respective melodies weave gently in and out, sometimes steady, sometimes aching, sometimes receding altogether in deference to less overtly musical sounds. That is, percussive texture in the form of unvarnished samples and field recordings: the rattle and rustle and the stops and starts of life unfurling, voices sharing memories nearly out of reach, doors closing, wind against a microphone. Everything comes from somewhere in particular, possessing the veneer of the diaristic, but sound’s provenance is secondary here and so these details become tangled and fused. On this release I hear such details not as individual ornaments or stories but the collective architecture of the greater composition. It’s an architecture that is not quite formed and thus full of openings out to the world unfolding.
“The world unfolding,” that’s a kind way of saying change, movement, loss, transformation. Things rousay here indexes, not without shards of desire or pain, still somehow what I hear is coarse peace in the in-between. These two pieces sweep you away and then bring you to earth, but which is which, anyway? Where am I now? What is different outside of me? What is different inside of me? Um. I think. everything is perfect is already here, like the answers to these questions, is loose and beautiful in surprising ways.
The music guides a certain experience of the world around. In claire’s music there is this marriage—not just a pairing or juxtaposition but an interrelationship, an eventual confusion—of song/texture, narrative/abstraction, figure/ground. Everything comes from somewhere in particular but not just the voices, the field recordings, the what is being said or meant, what matters is the where you are now. There are so many ways of anchoring oneself in the present, some have to do with fantasy or storytelling and some with accepting what is.
These two compositions find peace between these modes. They sweep you away and then bring you to earth, but which is which, anyway? Their mode of feeling is inquisitive. Where am I now? What has changed outside of me? What has changed inside of me? The music, like the answers to these questions, is loose and beautiful in surprising ways.
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In Love With a Ghost is back with a new Vinyl, Gay Story. Maybe it's time to get cute, to feel childish. In that moment, when you can drink iced tea for breakfast. The iconic sounds of In Love with a Ghost lay smoothly over layers of synthesizers throughout the album, making for an easy and endless listen.
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For the third release on De:tuned we proudly present The Kosmik Kommando AKA Mike Dred. Mike hardly needs an introduction; considered as one of the masters of the Roland TB-303 Mike has been releasing records under various aliases since the early 90s. He has recorded for high profile labels such as R&S and Rephlex as well as his own Machine Codes label. Together, with Aphex Twin, Mike was behind the Universal Indicator releases which are among the most collectible and sought after records in techno history.
De:tuned has worked closely with Mike to develop an 8 track project that gives props to the American Psychologist Timothy Leary and his proposed theory of 'The Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness'. This model describes 8 circuits of information that operate within the human nervous system. Each circuit refers to a different sphere of activity, enhanced by experimentation with a particular substance. Each circuit also represents a higher stage of evolution than the one before it and the higher the circuit, the fewer the people have activated it as the higher four circuits exist for those who migrate to outer space and live extraterrestrially.
The 8 Models are applied to the track titles that present a varied collection integrating acid house, techno, electro and rave culture.
3 of the tracks on offer here were written exclusively for Mike's live performance at the De:tuned 'Meeting of Minds' event in June 2012, which was Mike's first full live show in 3 years.
This 8 track project will be available on limited 180 gr white double vinyl with label and sleeve artwork by Mike himself. Stay Tuned!
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Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
For the third release on De:tuned we proudly present The Kosmik Kommando AKA Mike Dred. Mike hardly needs an introduction; considered as one of the masters of the Roland TB-303 Mike has been releasing records under various aliases since the early 90s. He has recorded for high profile labels such as R&S and Rephlex as well as his own Machine Codes label. Together, with Aphex Twin, Mike was behind the Universal Indicator releases which are among the most collectible and sought after records in techno history.
De:tuned has worked closely with Mike to develop an 8 track project that gives props to the American Psychologist Timothy Leary and his proposed theory of 'The Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness'. This model describes 8 circuits of information that operate within the human nervous system. Each circuit refers to a different sphere of activity, enhanced by experimentation with a particular substance. Each circuit also represents a higher stage of evolution than the one before it and the higher the circuit, the fewer the people have activated it as the higher four circuits exist for those who migrate to outer space and live extraterrestrially.
The 8 Models are applied to the track titles that present a varied collection integrating acid house, techno, electro and rave culture.
3 of the tracks on offer here were written exclusively for Mike's live performance at the De:tuned 'Meeting of Minds' event in June 2012, which was Mike's first full live show in 3 years.
This 8 track project will be available on limited 180 gr white double vinyl with label and sleeve artwork by Mike himself. Stay Tuned!
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Last delivered 12 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Rome’s own disco wizard L.U.C.A. aka Francesco De Bellis is back for his second LP Terra, hot on the heels of his Venus 12” EP earlier this year. In this far-reaching album, the Edizioni Mondo founder explores the deteriorating relationship between Man and Nature, and the dire consequences. The album is split into two themes - part one is Consacrazione (Consecration) and side two is Coscienza (Conscience) - as L.U.C.A. charts a trip through mankind’s psychic universe, and imagines worlds beyond our physical dimension.
The opening composition Cities is an uptempo number that slowly comes into focus, as dreamy drum machines emerge from the urban bustle, before settling into a soulful groove as keyboard, upright bass and guitar figures dance across bright percussion. As it builds up a head of steam, the piece gives way to an ambient, tribal breakdown, which is also echoed in the following song, Drum Talk. This second tune sets up in a fourth world dreamscape of drums, synths, and abstracted echo effects, and is peppered with word fragments from the bush of ghosts. By the time we’ve reached the third track, Congiunzione sounds like travelling at singularity speed, beaming in from a future where human consciousness and gaia can finally dance on a cosmic plain.
Part two of Terra details how revelation of the spirit can guide the mind, as Time Spirals rises out of a drum motif with a nod to classic ragas, as a disembodied voice asks questions on the nature of corporeality. The sound design is just as front and centre as the sitar and fretless bass, and the song gives way to a richly-layered soup that sounds like the vast space between atoms. It’s this shift from composition to ambience that is the dynamic core of Terra, giving L.U.C.A. plenty of space to showcase his next-level audio and arranging skills. Midway through part two, Giallo Assoluto begins with reverb tails and choral voices before expanding in brightness and texture until the audio field is practically levitating your hi-fi speakers, vibrating them with drones, twinkling keys and shards of digital noise. The closing composition Ritorno al Domani is a perfect balance of optimism and mystery. Tension and release collapse in on themselves as waves of ambient pads crescendo and then break over stretched-out sonic turbulence, before reversed synths bring the listener to a closing door, and the end of the journey.
It’s a mind-expanding musical exploration of other worlds and parallel universes which are surely all around us, and in many ways serve to remind us of the marvel that is our own planet.
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Last delivered 20 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
BURNING HEAT is a potent tincture, a focused distillation now years in the making. Carefully chosen from over 20 new productions and extensively play-tested at parties across New Orleans and beyond, BURNING HEAT is the latest collaborative effort by locals Quickweave (Jalen Dilosa) and Redance (David Yaconi); a split EP forthcoming on Hiatt dB’s New Orleans-based Mystery Zone Records July 1st 2022.
The 180-gram 12 inch features 2 tracks from each artist along with a pair of remixes split evenly between the “WHITE HOT” and “RED HOT” sides courtesy of Toronto’s Nick Holder and NYC’s AceMo, respectively. Its sound draws inspiration from the lessor-dug House stylings of the early 00s. With BURNING HEAT, Quickweave and Redance have repositioned the era’s lush textures and sensual atmosphere against heavier rhythms and more circular, hypnotic arrangements. The result? Deep club workouts focused on fostering connection, joy and romance on the dancefloor.
These hard-hitting, DJ-friendly productions were made in part to power the duo’s post-lockdown come-back party venture, Mercy. Early demos and updated edits became part of the sound of our collective reconnection as lockdowns relaxed and infection numbers fell in Summer 2021. On BURNING HEAT you’ll hear late-night New Orleans in the dead of Summer – warm and inviting club cuts to soundtrack a low-lit, neighborhood backroom disco-dive. Polished from a trove of DJ tools made for the artists’ personal sets, this selection features nothing but guaranteed party-starters, vetted both in the studio and behind the booth.
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sferic venture a new set of plasmic ambient entertainment systems by Jonas Wiese’s TIBSLC, mining that slender but heady sweetspot between the earliest Vladislav Delay productions for Chain Reaction, Japanese environmental x architectural recordings and the sort of gear you’d hear from Move D & Jonas Grossmann at the late 90’s Source Recordings heyday.
sferic pick up the mantle of late ‘90s-into-‘00s ambient with a new variant primed for the times. Following the themes of their ‘Decisive Tongue Shifts - Situation Based Compositions’ album of 2021, TIBSLC (The International Billionaire’s Secret Love Child) distills their sferic debut into a crystal clear, hypersensitive set of eight tracks that slip seamlessly into each other’s space, recalling the amorphous end of Jan Jelinek’s ambient shimmers.
Where TIBSLC’s first album sprawled over two discs, this one relates to the same recording sessions, but glimpsed via more succinct windows of opportunity. In effect they’re like Hitchcockian, voyeurist snapshots of other lives in the urban complex woven into a melting emulation of the city at dusk, replete with infrasonic bass from streets below, and streaked with the wistful dream energy and fizzy optimism of a certain city life. In fleeting rounds of ephemeral shrapnel and synth pad washes, the eight parts evoke a sense of mental discombobulation, lending itself to ruminating on the unbearable lightness of being.
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“I’ve been playing since I was 11 years old,” says Charlie Gabriel, the most
senior member of the legendary Preservation Hall Band. “I never did anything in
my life but play music. I’ve been blessed with that gift that God gave me, and I’ve
tried to nurse it the best way I knew how.”
While he’s faced plenty of challenges nursing that gift for more than 78 years,
none likely rank with last winter’s passing of his brother and last living sibling,
Leonard, lost to COVID-19. For the first time ever, Gabriel put down his horn,
filling his days and weeks instead with dark reflection, a stubborn despondency
broken now and then by regular chess matches in the studio kitchen of Hall
leader Ben Jaffe, working overtime to bring his friend some light.
One such afternoon also included Joshua Starkman, sitting off in a corner
playing his guitar and half-watching the chess from a distance. When Charlie
returned the next day, he brought his saxophone. “I was just inspired to try it, to
play again. It had been a long time, and a guitar makes me feel free. I do love the
sound of a piano, but it takes up a lot of a space, keeps me kind of boxed in.”
That day was to be the first session for ‘Eighty Nine’, almost entirely the work of
Gabriel, Jaffe and Starkman, recorded mostly right there, in the kitchen, by Matt
Aguiluz.
Charlie Gabriel’s first professional gig dates to 1943, sitting in for his father in
New Orleans’ Eureka Brass Band. As a teenager living in Detroit, Charlie played
with Lionel Hampton, whose band then included a young Charles Mingus, later
spending nine years with a group led by Cab Calloway drummer J.C. Heard.
While he’s also fronted a bebop quintet, played and/or toured with Ella
Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, Aretha Franklin and many more, this is the first time his
name appears on the front of a record, as a bandleader.
Since 2006, Gabriel has been a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band,
featuring prominently on ‘That’s It, So It Is’, and ‘Tuba to Cuba’. ‘Eighty Nine’ was
different, and not simply due to a smaller ensemble. “We had no particular plan,
or any particular insight on what we were gonna do. But we were enjoying what
we were doing, jamming, having a musical conversation,” Charlie says, further
musing, “Musical conversations cancel out complications.”
The album includes six standards and three newer pieces on which Gabriel is a
writer: ‘Yellow Moon’, ‘The Darker It Gets’ and ‘I Get Jealous’. The record also
marks Charlie’s return to his first instrument, clarinet, on many of the tracks. “The
clarinet is the mother of the saxophone,” he says. “I started playing clarinet early
in life, and this taught me the saxophone.”
Finally, ‘Eighty Nine’ includes three tracks of Charlie singing. “I always sung, but
it wasn’t my forte to become a singer,” he says. “The truth is, people often
develop a real relationship with a song once they hear the words. Sometimes I
enjoy singing them.”
First pressing on translucent gold Loser Edition coloured vinyl
The roots of Naima Bock’s music are far reaching. Born in
Glastonbury to a Brazilian father and a Greek mother, Naima spent
her early childhood in Brazil before eventually returning to England
and various homes in South East London. This heritage combines
with more recent pursuits in Naima’s music. From the Brazilian
standards that the family listened to while driving to the beach, to the
European folk traditions she tapped into on her own, and the pursuits
that interest her today - studies in archaeology, work as a gardener,
and walking the world’s great trails - Naima’s music draws from
family, the earth and music handed down through generations.
Naima’s debut album, ‘Giant Palm’, is undoubtedly infused with the
Brazilian music of her youth and regular family visits. She found
inspiration in “the percussion, the melodies, chords - and particularly
the poetic juxtaposition of tragedy and beauty held within the lyrics.”
By the age of 15, Naima was embedded in the music scene of SouthEast London, eventually forming Goat Girl with school friends and
touring the world. After six years playing bass in Goat Girl, Naima left
the band to try something new. She set up a gardening company and
started a degree at University College London in archaeology
because, as she jokes, “I liked being near the ground.” During this
time, she wrote music, played guitar, learned violin, worked with evershifting South-London collective Broadside Hacks, and met producer
and arranger Joel Burton through Memorials of Distinction labelhead
Josh Cohen. Joel’s burgeoning interest in Western classical music,
global folk music, and experience in large scale arrangement and
orchestration informed the collaborative process that eventually
culminated in ‘Giant Palm’.
Recorded with the help of over 30 musicians (including Josh Cohen
on synth / electronics) by Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground at his
studio space in Streatham, South-East London, and engineered by
Syd Kemp, the songs on ‘Giant Palm’ represent a snapshot of a
specific feeling, of brief moments in Naima’s life that make up a larger
whole.
The expansive yet delicate arrangements highlight Naima’s love for
the collectivist values of traditional folk music, in which songs belong
to everyone, and singing can take on countless forms without the
need to exactly replicate something. “All the other representations
that I’d had of singing felt so unattainable,” she recalls. ‘Giant Palm’
finds Naima bucking these expectations to let her unique voice and
sense of communal creativity flourish.
"2022 marks a year of celebration for Roxy Music. Throughout the year, each of their eight studio albums, all heralded as modern classics, will be reissued as special anniversary editions with a new half-speed cut, revised artwork and a deluxe gloss laminated finish. In addition, Roxy Music will tour for the first time in more than a decade to mark the 50th year since their groundbreaking debut album.
In May 1980 Flesh and Blood gave Roxy Music their second No’1 UK Album and peaked at No’35 in the US Billboard chart. The album was preceded by the single “Over You”, a No. 5 UK hit that also provided the band with a rare US chart entry at No’ 80. Two more hit singles followed: “Oh Yeah” (UK No’5) and “Same Old Scene” (UK No’12). Flesh and Blood also included two cover versions: The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” and Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour”. The albums artwork was envisaged and designed by iconic British artist Peter Saville. Each Roxy Music album has been Re-Issued with a fresh Half-Speed cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. London. To reflect the audio, all eight of the Roxy Music studio albums have had their artwork revised and with a gloss laminated finish so that each album is not just a record it’s a piece of art."
Jerone is a highly-skilled singer and entertainer who has been entertaining the audience by putting smiles on faces, warming people’s hearts, igniting song in the soul, and inspiring people to get up and move! His background in music takes him deep from Texas to the Hollywood music industry and back again.
Along the journey, he has developed skills in event management, event planning, singing, television, music production, theatre production, songwriting, recording, festivals, interpersonal skills, acting, and voice-overs.
After having released solo albums on Western Vinyl and Preservation, Domes presents the first entirely instrumental work of the California based multi-instrumentalist Heather Woods Broderick.
Domes is a collection of meditative pieces based around the cello. While not being her primary instrument, the cello holds a very special place for the artist. Throughout the past 2 years, Heather often felt the need to find moments of respite in response to the chaotic and turbulent times we all faced in that period. Her days started or ended with the cello. A single melody initiated a process in which new elements were gradually added to the initial loop until the sounds filled her up. This process and the instrumental nature of these pieces opened the path for self-reflection and enabled her to express emotions outside the world of words or lyrics:
“The cyclical nature of the loop combined with the sound feeling like it’s surrounding me feels serene and safe. My hope is that listeners experience this as well.” - Heather Woods Broderick
Domes is a documentation of that period and offers 7 pieces which to the artist feels like dense masses – strong grounding sounds that can hold weight or be used to disperse weight - in an emotional sense. The album title, Domes, reflects this idea as domes are made out of triangles – the strongest shapes in the physical world. Coincidentally, there are 7 different triangles. As such, the pieces on Domes each reflect a different triangle, a different strongest shape which offers the listener a solid basis to find rest and calmness.
Heather Woods Broderick is a composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Growing up in a family of musicians, music took root in Heather’s life at a very young age. Evenings spent singing along to her parents folk music collection began to shape her sense of song as a child. After many years of classical piano training, she began to expand her musical toolkit by learning to play guitar, cello, and flute among others. Deeply influenced by rich tapestries of the natural world, she excels at crafting sonic landscapes that reflect both lushness and intimacy. Heather has released three solo albums to date, and over the years has recorded and toured extensively around the world with a multitude of artists including Sharon Van Etten, Efterklang, Alela Diane, Horse Feathers, Damien Jurado, Lisa Hannigan, Laura Gibson, and more.
DJ Different's alter ego Terra Form explores the artist's tougher, uncompromising self; creating music that meets the needs of the dance-floor with the added ability to load us all into hyper-space. It's electro but with an added sense of largeness, combining carefully selected sounds with rawness at the center.
'Agripinaa' opens the EP with its commanding kick drums and mind-altering electronics, sending a signal for those willing enough to hear it. 'Trinity' then finds the perfect balance between grit and emotion; distorting naturally airy synths and proving that beauty can be found even in the most murky of sounds.
After the record's raucous opening, the ear-wiggling synths and wide-eyed electronics of 'Hydraulics Chamber' lure us back in, before the record takes a surprising turn - the stripped-back grooves of 'XV-88' show Terra Form's ability to use only a few nuanced sounds in both a playful and endearing way, while leading us perfectly down the meandering path to the record's closing sequence.
'MasterBlaster' couldn't be a better suited name and covers almost all the bases. A time-shifting, kinetic overcast that's both palpable and unapologetic. The Swedish based producer has never reached for the brakes since his career began, merging genres and melting minds. Now the age of Terra Form has well and truly begun.
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Graeme Martin and Liam Karima made the new pet deaths album to be
both explored and sat with
In age of dull disconnection and constant refreshing, unhappy ending, the London
duo's second full- length effort, was deliberately and acutely considered to be a
journey of its own; nine new songs but one whole immersive piece for the listener
to climb inside, in the quiet of reflection, in the sobering commute to and
from.Following on from the sparkling celestial folk of the band's 2019 debut To
the Top of the Hill, unhappy ending is the next step in pet deaths' somewhat
remarkable journey. Setting out to make their new album, the band had one
question in the forefront of their collective mind: Is life an unhappy ending, or do
we become part of a bigger movement to more positive things?
Across the album's nine tracks, this conundrum is explored in many and
meaningful ways, their subtle take on melancholic folk- pop conjuring a
bewitching atmosphere that hangs over every inch of the album. unhappy ending
thrives within the world it creates for itself, one of distinctive colours and shapes
that feel intimate and familiar but always slightly off- kilter, as if you've
momentarily stepped into someone else's dream. It sings of love and loss and the
unwieldy connection between those two things, in ways that feel quietly radiant
and beguiling, caught in an alluring contrast. Recorded at a residential studio in
Oxfordshire which they used as a retreat from the business of London – fleshedout and toyed with over time with their acclaimed producer Ian Davenport
(Slowdive, Gaz Coombes, Radiohead's Philip Selway) who encouraged the duo to
lean into the wilder parts of their creativity. Inspired, musically, by the spiritual
moments of Alice Coltrane, the freeness of Miles' 'Bitches Brew', with a sprinkling
of Talk Talk's 'Spirit Of Eden' in its colourful unravelling, unhappy ending is an
enveloping experience, touching upon universal themes but all shone through the
lens of Karima's signature perspective.
Tour in May & June in support of the release - dates in Newcastle, London, Bristol,
Manchester & Sheffield.
Pet Deaths previously supported the likes of Elbow and Arab Strap.
Support from So Young Magazine, Chris Hawkins (BBC 6 Music), DIY Mag, Clash,
Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1)
SINGLE VINYL EDITION OF DODHEIMSGARD'S 1999 MASTERCLASS OF
BOUNDARY-PUSHING EXPERIMENTAL BLACK METAL.To fans of black
metal, Dødheimsgard need no introduction, being one of the great
purveyors of the Norwegian Black Metal creative evolution
The band was formed in 1994 by Aldrahn (Thorns) & Vicotnik (Ved Buens Ende).
The early incarnation was that of a raw & at often melodic black metal band, with
their debut album also featuring Fenriz of Darkthrone on bass. In recent years,
Dodheimsgard has become known for its eclectic musical ventures & poignant
mood shifts, with a less chaotic, more considered approach compared to their
earliest works. Following the 'Kronet til Konge' & 'Monumental Possession'
opuses, there was a shift in direction as demonstrated on 1998's 'Satanic Art' EP
& by Dødheimsgard's third album, '666 International', Vicotnik had taken over a lot
of the writing duties, with DHG's style becoming more technical yet ferocious
black metal, with strong experimental ideas & industrial elements. Vicotnik's riffs
were inspired by cult bands such as Thorns & perfectly entwined with Aldrahn's
delightfully twisted lyrics & immense vocals to create something truly unique. In
its '666 International' incarnation, DHG (as they were later to be known) featured a
line- up of well- respected Norwegian musicians including Czral (Aura Noir, Ved
Buens Ends, Virus), Apollyon (Aura Noir, Immortal), plus Mr Magic Logic (Fleurety)
on keyboards, as the album was constructed over a period of time. All in all, '666
International' is rightly regarded as a highly influential masterpiece of avant-garde
metal by many since its release in 1999.
This edition of '666 International' is presented on black vinyl in single sleeve,
retaining the original cover artwork & contains lyrics.
MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOGUE MASTER TAPES AND PRESSED ON MOFI SUPERVINYL
· A Bold Celebration of Romantics, Escapists, and Dreamers: Electric Light Orchestra’s Eldorado Marries
Rock and Symphonic Elements, Includes the Aptly Titled Hit “Can’t Get It Out of My Head”
· Mastered from the Original Analog Master Tapes for Audiophile Quality: Mobile Fidelity 180g Vinyl LP and
· Melodic, Beatles-Inspired Tour de Force Features Full Orchestra and Choral Section: Arrangements and Lyrics
Transport the Listener to Faraway Horizons
Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne did more than figuratively reach for the sky on Eldorado. Daring to be bold, and creating imaginative worlds that invite the listener to escape the mundane, the visionary composer-musician achieved a multidisciplinary fantasia and, in the process, a prog-rock landmark. Nearly 50 years later, the concept album's brilliance can be experienced like never before in cinematic fashion.
Mastered from the original analogue master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl vinyl at RTI, and housed in a tip-on jacket, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g LP of Eldorado allows the long-time audiophile staple to resonate with previously unheard dynamics, tones, and colours. Conjuring the feeling of journeying to different horizons, the record's songs teem with layer upon layer of details, which can now be heard as the producers intended.
Presenting the album with breath-taking clarity yet retaining the warmth, texture, and emotion that differentiate live music from reproduced sounds, this collectible reissue features reference-quality levels of in-the-moment presence, grand-scale sound-staging, and instrumental balance. Bursting with a veritable cornucopia of stimuli, MoFi's Eldorado LP also benefits from superb separation and immersive atmospherics that stem from the meticulous remastering process – as well as an ultra-low noise floor, industry-leading groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces courtesy of the MoFi SuperVinyl properties.
An artistic breakthrough that established Electric Light Orchestra as a pioneering band (and confirmed Lynne as the leading practicing Beatles disciple), the 1974 effort remains notable for its involvement of a full orchestra and choral section, the range of which are captured with exquisite results on this LP. Eldorado distinguished itself from the band's first two works not only via Lynne's sharpened songwriting but due to the hiring of an orchestra that augmented the group's three string players. Co-arranged by Lynne and conductor Louis Clark, the symphonic movements bolster the contagious fare without ever drowning it. The accents also act as transports into the varied narrative universes.
Finished as a story before Lynne put notes down on paper, Eldorado ironically owes its inspiration to Lynne's father. In response to his dad's criticisms about the band, Lynne conceived a melodic tour de force that, like The Wizard of Oz, which informs the cover art, emphasizes the power of everyday dreams and everyman heroism. It's no coincidence that the sonic journey begins with an overture punctuated by the words of a cynic who condemns "the dreamer, the unwoken fool."
Beautiful yet fun, ambitious yet consistent, Eldorado proceeds to celebrate such romantics and escapists. A Technicolor escapade marked by lush melodies, fluid crescendos, and an intoxicating blend of energetic rock and sweeping orchestral elements, the album weds rich imagery and sweeping sounds in manners that make the two inseparable. In Lynne and company's hands, reality and fantasy collide, and dissolve any dividing lines. The proof is not just in the epic production, but in the timeless (and catchy) nature of songs such as the balladic "Boy Blue," power-pop packed "Illusions in G Major," and, of course, the aptly titled hit, "Can't Get It Out of My Head."
Decades later, Eldorado doubles as the equivalent of an out of body experience, an invitation to break away from monotony whether you're listening to your Mobile Fidelity reissue on a large system or an excellent pair of headphones.
MoFi SuperVinyl
Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.
For the uninitiated, The William Loveday Intention is the latest band put
together by the multi-hyphenate Billy Childish
It would be impossible to pigeonhole Billy Childish as he has been
successful in music, art, poetry, photography, filmmaking, advocacy and
more
This fifth album from his The William Loveday Intention project may be his best
yet and his fan base is huge.
Having recorded over 125 albums over a career that spans nearly forty years,
every five years or so Billy is cited by a current top band as the embodiment of
rock and roll integrity. Running in parallel with this, every five years or so Billy
splits his group up and starts again from scratch.
Billy Childish and his bands have been championed by a succession of high
profile artists including the late Kurt Cobain, Beck, Jack White and even Kylie
Minogue who named an LP after one of Billy’s poetry collections.
Pharis and Jason Romero are pure craftspeople
A renowned banjo builder, Jason spent years developing his own personal
designs, and on 'Tell 'Em You Were Gold', his handmade instruments take center
stage. Over a half dozen uniquely crafted banjos are played by the duo in the
course of the album. There's conviction and delicacy in this music, which ranges
from duets that showcase the pair's deep psychic and artistic connection to solo
banjo meditations and full band romps. Recorded over six days in an old barn in
Horsefly, British Columbia, the album displays the multiple Juno Award-winning
duo playing music that is honest, direct, and reflective of life's beauty and
knottiness.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of their third album, Five Finger Death Punch release a special gold vinyl version of 'American Capitalist', which is limited to 3,000 copies. Including hits such as 'Under And Over It', 'Coming Down' and 'Remember Everything‘, this album is already a classic!
Japanese experimental group Les Rallizes Denudes are the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll enigma. Sometimes referred to as Hadaka no Rallizes or even as Hadaka no Rarizu, each appellation a variant of the name “Fucked Up and Naked” which equates to being high on hard drugs, they are seen as noise-rock pioneers, yet sifting fact from fiction isn’t easy with their oddball tale. Emerging from the radical hippie communes of Kyoto during the late 1960s, the band was formed in November 1967 by university student Takashi Mizutani, taking the overamplified, distorted guitar of the Velvet Underground as a starting point. Early demo recordings apparently suffered from poor sound quality, leading the perfectionist Mizutani to retreat from the studio environment, meaning that most of the group’s output has appeared as live bootlegs, with the occasional studio demo surfacing as well. Performances were initially staged as part of avant-garde theatre, though the band’s propensity for super-loud noise soon put paid to such collaboration; the ever-changing membership saw Mizutani the only permanent force, despite his embroilment in the 1970 Red Army hijacking of a civilian Japan Airlines flight, enacted partly through bass player, Moriaki Wakabayashi, who defected to North Korea in its aftermath. Though perhaps not quite as notorious, fellow improvisational group, Taj Mahal Travellers, has a backstory of random international travels that is almost as intriguing as that of Les Rallizes; formed in 1969 by six experimental musicians and an electronic engineer, they embarked on a series of improvisational gigs across Japan, notably including an all-day marathon held at a Kanagawa beach, and made their way to Europe in 1971, where they crossed paths with Don Cherry and other likeminded practitioners. They later drove from Holland to the Pakistan border, acquiring santoors in Iran on the way to help broaden their already unpredictable repertoire. The Oz Days Live release is culled from the Oz Last Days festival held in the autumn of 1973, to benefit Tokyo’s Oz Rock Café, which had been closed following repeated drug busts. Here the Taj Mahal Travellers are suitably cosmic, their echoing jams featuring looped vocal chants, disjointed string instruments and sparse, off-kilter percussion; in contrast, the contributions from Les Rallizes are more standard examples of instrumental psychedelic rock, which veers more towards the acid rock end of the spectrum as the performance progresses.
Our story begins in Jerusalem 1980 – Zadik Zecharia – a folk musician whose speciality is the Zorna – a traditional kurdish woodwind instrument – recorded a cassette of kurdish melodies played on Zorna and Dola, a kurdish drum.
The tape was released independently and distributed mainly around the kurdish-jewish community in Israel. Zadik mostly performed at weddings and ha as / celebrations and was also known by the nickname “Iron Lungs”, because of his ability to take only a few pauses for breath during his long gigs.
In 2005, one tape found its way to “Something on the Road” – an underground CD-r Jerusalem based label which reissued the music on CD-r. Overnight, these intense melodies became a cult phenomena in the hipster-ish circles of Jerusalem and beyond. The kurdish melodies could suddenly be heard during dj sets, topping electronic beats, or adding drones to heavy experimental sessions. which later led “Something on the Road’s” founder to initiate a remix compilation with Jerusalem’s nest producers. One of them is your truly, Mule Driver. The remix has became a cult by its own.
Fast forward to present time, a conversation with Legowelt about folk music led Mule Driver to dig an unreleased longer version of this techno remix. As well as ask the mighty Legowelt for his interpretation, that turned out as a killer acid track followed by an EBM – electro belter by Juju (Juju and Jordash) and PRZ (Clone).
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Light Touches Records is devoted to shed new lights on hot rarities, unknown grooves as well as forgotten classics.
2022 welcomes the first 7” on the label with two hot smoking tunes ready for the summer. “Cheeky” brings in some stomping latin-tinged rare groove and an incredibly infectious vocal hook. On the flipside, “Weeping Funk” is a dope gospel-like roller with a killer bassline.
All tracks have been carefully edited without overdubs, in order to bring the spirit of classic disco manipulators to today’s dancefloors!
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Sixteen arrives to the label straight from Detroit, by the owner of Vigilante Cartel - Dave P who is also known as Dirty Dave or Dirty Dave P, who has been releasing records since the early 90’s. This Electro & House infused 12’’ is made by the man together with his friend Rick Tuner and consists of 4 track journeys starting from the space and heading way beyond any known stratospheres known to mankind.
This record is very dear to these artists and to all the people who took part into making this project come to life. All aboard the “Saturn V” as it’s taking off into the wilderness of clubs & institutes of electronic music all over the world. The weather seems bright and the sky is clear, which makes it absolutely perfect conditions for the launch.
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Oslo-based American-Norwegian trio Buster Sledge releases their first
studio album Call Home in May 2022, following up on their self-recorded
and self-released debut Spirit (2020)
Fiddle, banjo, guitar and three voices are the vehicle for lyrical storytelling against
an orchestral background anchored in the acoustic music traditions of the United
States. Hailing from northern California, lead vocalist and songwriter Michael
Barrett Donovan mixes themes from personal experience with folk and country
music archetypes to breathe new life into time-tested song structures. Banjoist
Mikael Jonassen and guitarist Jakob Folke Ossum both share a thorough
appreciation for the fundamentals of bluegrass music, clear melodies and
harmony- singing through the lens of being trained jazz musicians. In eleven
tracks, Call Home tips its hat to artists such as Norman Blake, The Punch
Brothers, Tim O'Brien and John Hartford. Buster Sledge was the first group to
record in the recently relocated Globus Studio of Sjur Lyseid (Little Hands of
Asphalt) and his influence from behind the mixing board pushed the band into a
slightly-augmented acoustic sound with more streamlined arrangements which is
a suiting duet with the album art by William Hay that realizes a scene of a rider
overlooking a large river-valley in impressionistic swaths of color.
Banjoist Mikael Jonassen, from Bodo in the far north, is Norway's first and only
higher-education certified banjo player. Despite beginning with an electric banjo
and playing exclusively fusion jazz, Jonassen currently focuses his efforts on
Scrugg's style acoustic banjo and the playing of Bela Fleck and has taken several
trips to the US to learn from the masters. Jakob Folke Ossum, jazz- guitarist
turned flat- picking aficionado, discovered the sound of acoustic flat- picking
through Tony Rice and Bryan Sutton and meticulously taught himself from
records and videos. Fiddler Michael Barrett Donovan made a living as a musician
in New York City doing a master's in classical composition while touring with a
Grateful Dead tribute band. The three met in a comment section on a bluegrass
forum after Donovan moved to Norway in 2019. The rest of the story you'll have
to ask them at a show sometime. Buster Sledge has been on stage in many small
venues in southern Norway, don't miss them the next time they come to town!
1998'S CLASSIC SECOND STUDIO ALBUM OF SYMPHONIC, OCCULT
BLACK METAL
PRESENTED ON DOUBLE GATEFOLD VINYL & ON THE VINYL FORMAT FOR THE
FIRST TIME.Opera IX are a symphonic black metal band formed in Italy by
guitarist Ossian & released their debut album 'The Call of the Wood' in 1995 &
over subsequent years have become regarded as one of the most revered &
important Italian bands of the genre. The band's sound is an eclectic concoction,
moving beyond straight-forward black metal, mixing elements of thrash, doom &
death metal with symphonic elements, even folk influences. Opera IX is known for
their strong occult themes blended with topics of paganism & are also known for
being one of the first examples of a black metal band with a female vocalist.
'Sacro Culto' was the band's second album, originally released in 1998. Lead
singer Cadaveria used more melodic vocal experimentation this time with almost
operatic passages sitting alongside the trademark black metal style whilst further
evolving the central themes of occultism & paganism.
This edition of 'Sacro Culto' is presented on double gatefold vinyl & on the vinyl
format for the first time.
BBE Music presents the first ever reissue of ‘Classifieds’, an ultra-rare, privately pressed 1985 album by Moonshine aka Monica Rypma & Friends. A naive and charming dose of dreamy DIY synth-pop interspersed with off-kilter, ambient interludes, original copies of ‘Classifieds’ are now almost impossible to dig up, but lately, thanks to the internet, the album has earned a cult following from music obsessives all over the globe. Created by aspiring songwriter and recent music-school dropout Monica Rypma, incredibly the album’s recording and production was entirely financed from sponsorship and advertising, way back in 1985. Inspired by René Van Helsdingen, the Amsterdam based composer, pianist and crowd-funding pioneer, Monica decided to sell advertising space on the album sleeve and name the album 'Classifieds', designing the cover to mimic a newspaper’s small ads layout. Written and recorded in only 5 days with René Van Helsdingen collaborator, synth wizard and multi-instrumentalist Brian Batie producing, the album was engineered by Wil Hesen at Studio Farmsound in Heelsum. With Rypma assisting, Batie composed and arranged almost all of the music on the spot, and lyrics were dreamed up by Batie, Rypma and Brian’s friend Jenny Garner. With an album full of music she could be proud of, Monica called in help from friends and family to print, fold and assemble the albums. “The original cover sleeve had three coloured bands; yellow, green or pink” says Rypma. “These were not different pressings, as most people presumed, but came from the limited budget that was left for printing. As one ink ran out, another colour was used, and this method produced the three versions.” Once copies had been distributed to the record’s advertisers and sponsors, hardly any were left. Until now, that is!