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The second LP by California rock n roll unit SPICE expands their palette of damaged anthems and addiction poetics with a more bristling, visceral sound, distilled from years in the trenches of bands, break-ups, and breakdowns. Singer Ross Farrar explains their chemistry succinctly: "We all got in a room and this is what came out." Viv is named for a precursor project of bassist Cody Sullivan and violinist Victoria Skudlarek, but also alludes to broader notions of vividness, sonic, visual, and otherwise. Engineered by Jack Shirley and mixed/mastered by Sam Pura in Oakland, the mix achieves that rare balance of every element being elevated but distinct, with voices, strings, and drums each given space to blaze parallel paths. Opener "Recovery" captures SPICE at their stormy, weathered best, booming drums and East Bay riffs skidding out in a rockslide of rapture, regret, and bruised melody ("You sacrifice perfect days to laugh through the night / you have to get out of bed / and it's hard / and it's hard / it's so hard to admit"), peaking in Ian Simpson's poignant single-note vibrato guitar solo; Farrar agrees: "The guitar says what we cannot." Other tracks embrace the group's shredded pop potential ("Any Day Now," "Dining Out," "Live Scene") and their speedway ripper mode ("Threnody"), with detours into oblique instrumentals ("Melody Drive") and orchestral balladeering ("Ashes In The Birdbath"). But what unites and ignites these songs across different energies and arrangements is their specific sense of emotion. Rawness refined into reckonings, approaching truth, born of cold mornings, bad luck, and too many wrong turns. Waking up where you're not supposed to be, living a life you don't recognize. The album ends with no end to its narrative, still fighting, still slipping. Farrar calls "Climbing Down The Ladder" a "relapse song - telling people you're okay but you're still fucking up." Heartbeat drums march under heartbroken guitars in an elegant downward spiral of defeat, delusion, and desperate hope, dreamed more than believed: "I said it was the last time / but I was up so high / 100 miles / 1000 miles / no me in sight / I saw into the next life / I wasn't dead / I felt so vivid in the next life."

Following a decorated career with Philly rock group Superheaven, singer and guitarist Taylor Madison meanders into newly-refined songwriter territory with the inception of Webbed Wing in 2018. Joined by Jake Clarke (drums) and Mike Paulshock (bass), the band fully realizes their innate genre-blending musicality.

Webbed Wing’s somewhat simplistic approach to songwriting explores what it means to birth a sad song without fully killing a mood, paired with a soundscape laden with nostalgia and a tasteful pop-rock resurgence. Taking notes from the likes of The Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub, Webbed Wing encapsulates everything lyrically gripping about indie and everything vibrant about modern pop. While also expertly intertwining the heaviness of metal and the earnesty of country, the band blends all these different aspects of their craft into something highly palatable and new.

Four years in making, Voyeurs In the Dark is Toronto artist Barzin’s fifth studio album. That the album is more cinematic in its scope and conceptual in feel than his previous studio albums can be attributed to the time he spent over the past several years composing the soundtrack for the independent film, Viewfinder. Voyeurs In the Dark retains that cinematic quality, and at the same time infuses the music with elements taken from Jazz, electronica, rock and pop. Having primarily explored the quiet side pop and folk in his previous four albums, Barzin has expanded his musical palate, broadening his sound towards a more an experimental direction, while still retaining his preoccupation with exploring the internal landscape. The uniformity of sound that characterized the previous albums has been abandoned for the expression of differing aspects of the self that at times hold opposing views and desires. This is best represented in the image chosen for the cover of the album, which depicts three figures in one body. The album seems to be the expression of not one unified self, but the various aspects of the self. Voyeurs In the Dark sees the artist plot a seductive, contemplative route through city haze, shuttling between graceful glimmering interludes, with wonderfully atmospheric songs at every stop. From opener Voyeurs In the Dark’s first guitar strums and the fizz of its drum machine, the record envelopes itself in a glorious shadow, as shown in the slow waltz of I Don’t Want To Sober Up, dancing around its own swirling guitar chords. On Watching, Barzin plunges himself deeper into a wash of cyclic bass, guitar and synth riffs, as the gloom grooves into light. It’s Never Too Late To Lose Your Life has a much more affirming and urgent tone, shade turning into shapes and motion, while To Be Missed In the End builds its own smoke in a cloud of saxophone and sparse guitar notes, closing out a record full to the brim with scatterbrain beauty and eclectic dusk. Voyeurs In the Dark will be released worldwide on Monotreme Records on May 6th on CD and limited edition180 g black vinyl LP with printed inner discobag and digital download card. Press highlights so far: Video premiere and feature interview on Rumore.IT. Airplay on BBC 6Music, Amazing Radio (UK and US), Glastonbury FM, Shoreditch Radio, Indie Music Discovery, Listen to Discover, Norfolk Radio. Press coverage in V13, Skope, Whisperin and Hollerin, Fame Magazine, High Violet, Indie Midlands, Beehive Candy, Music Won’t Save you. Feature confirmed for Wonderland Magazine. PUBLICITY - UK and North America press and radio Cannonball PR. Europe Five Roses Press

Single includes download. “Virginia Wing are not from the sedate school of dream-pop escapism…a hazy subversion of the traditional monochrome evocations of post-punk, a photo negative of an established form.” - The Quietus // “South London three-piece ally buzz and drone with sweetness and light” Guardian – New Band Of The Week // "A piece of noir-pop majesty that consistently pushes its own boundaries and frequently shatters the listeners’ sense of expectation" Loud and Quiet // "They possess a rare ability to dive deep beneath the skin.. a ghostly mix that flirts hard and fast with the avant garde while retaining a sly pop lustre" Mojo 4* // Following the 2015 release of their acclaimed debut album ‘Measures Of Joy’ on Fire Records, Camberwell based outfit Virginia Wing return with a striking new single. ‘Rhonda’, released for Record Store Day on 12” vinyl with a disco cut sleeve featuring artwork from longtime collaborator Florian Brooks. Recorded at Hackney-based Holy Mountain Studios with Misha Hering, ‘Rhonda’ sees the band expand the deep and varied sonic palette displayed on their debut ‘Measures Of Joy’. Featuring guest musician Koichi Yamanoha of Grimm Grimm, the single unfolds slowly as meditative incantations give way to a sprawling piece of experimental pop for the dance floor. The ambitious A-side flirts with disco beats and draws influence from a variety of schools of contemporary dance music whilst still remaining, at heart, a pop song. This is pop music with texture, depth and nuance; a daring and progressive piece. The B-side includes two new tracks: ‘Sisterly Love’ and ‘Daughter Of The Mind’ which further hint at the deviations we can expect on their second LP. Field recordings, ambient mediations and rhythmic experimentation abound; the new material sees Virginia Wing refining and reworking the sound conjured on their debut, a masterful workout.

Sam Gendel and Antonia Cytrynowicz didn't set out to make a record – it just happened. LIVE A LITTLE, a collection of songs resulting from one late summer afternoon in Gendel's Los Angeles home, is less an album and more a moment. The ten tracks here were recorded mostly in one sitting, fully improvised, in the order in which they appear. It was the first and last time the songs have been played – a snapshot of an idea, an artifact of inspiration, at once both a beginning and an end. At the time of recording, Cytrynowicz was only eleven years old. The younger sister of Gendel's significant other and creative partner Marcella, Cytrynowicz is an artist in her own way. She has no formal musical training, but is the product of a creative family and is someone who makes art the way many kids do – in the purest way, simply because they are moved to. On LIVE A LITTLE, she spontaneously crafted all the melodies and lyrics on the spot as Gendel played alongside her. Cytrynowicz's musicality is sophisticated, strange, and other-worldly, and the resulting record is experimental jazz colliding with some sort of fantasy universe. Because of that, LIVE A LITTLE is a stand-out amidst Gendel's extensive and varied catalog. Over the years, the multi-instrumentalist has been known for his prolific musical output as both a sought-after collaborator and as a solo artist. During 2021 alone he collaborated with Vampire Weekend, Maggie Rogers, Moses Sumney, Laurie Anderson, and Mach Hommy, as well as released Notes With Attachments with Blake Mills & legendary bassist Pino Palladino. In the same year he also released the 52-track Fresh Bread, as well as the follow-up to the acclaimed Music for Saxophone & Bass Guitar with Sam Wilkes. Then Mouthfeel / Serene, AE-30, Valley Fever Original Score, and singles "Isfahan" and "Neon Blue." LIVE A LITTLE, though, exists on its own island. For one, the majority of Gendel's work under his own name skews instrumental, but here the playfulness of his saxophone and nylon-string guitar work alongside the twinkle of Cytrynowicz's voice. It’s the sound of unapologetic imagination running amok – and really, more than anything, the sound of having fun. Cytrynowicz is the ideal collaborator for Gendel, who throughout his career has remained largely unconcerned with the pageantry and presentation of the music business, instead focused solely on the music-making itself. Here, he found the purest sort of writing partner – he admires Cytrynowicz' "supreme openness," explaining: "Whatever is happening, she's there with you. We really meet right where we are. She's all ears, I'm all ears. I don't even know how to explain what it is. It just works out somehow." LIVE A LITTLE is a series of "what ifs" cascading into one another, off-kilter and experimental, a kaleidoscope of spontaneity and imagination. It's a sweet distillation of the musical present, of daring to follow through on an impulse – what happens when a project is helmed by someone who doesn't have time for second thoughts or self-doubt. The moment is the thing, and LIVE A LITTLE just happens to capture it.

An explosive collision of garage punk and weirdo art rock from Sacramento's most exciting export since Mayyors. Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances is a strange, haunting thrill ride driven by angular guitars, an unhinged drum attack and the dynamic, sometimes violent vocal delivery of Whittney K. Featuring long time members of the Sacramento punk scene, Drug Apts have released two E.P.s on Tyler Pope's (LCD Soundsystem, !!!) Berlin based label, Interference Pattern Records, the first produced by Death Grips' Zach Hill and Andy Morin, the second by Dub Genius and Slits producer Denis Bovell. "The band name is a reference to drug apartments, those Mid-Century Modern complexes scattered throughout Sacramento, with rows of palm trees out front and mock English names like Dorchester Court or the Royal Arms. Common features include: concrete stairs, prison-style walkways with dudes looking in your window every five minutes, moms beating their kids next door and cop car lights reflecting off the pool. An ex used to say, “I hate living in these fucking drug apartments,” and friends would say, “It’s three blocks that way, past the drug apartments.” We all spent time staying up and crashing in them, or we tried to sleep through the noise emanating from their windows. I hear they’re better these days, but who knows? So the name is rooted in places and times."

"A high-octane pop with a glam coat"

When listening to Hey You! - mastered at Air Studios by John Webber -, the energy the band exudes on every track is palpable, and live, they're simply something else, giving it their all on every number and completely winning over the audience. Visually, the band are are eye-catching as their music, looking straight like they've stepped out of the '80s. Fronted by the Debbie Harry-esque Rebecca Bex, BeXatron make as much of a statement visually as they do musically, and it's an extremely welcome breath of fresh punk air to see a band that is obviously so incredibly passionate about what they do, and that has the talent to back it up.

Since the release of the album, we have been played worldwide on various shows ranging from mainstream such as:

BBC Radio 6, BBC Introducing, Total Rock, Planet Rock, Soho Radio

but also had tremendous support from local community radio stations:

Insanity Radio, Resonance Radio - Spizz FM, Hunter's Bay Radio, Ontario Canada, Foxy Radio, Deal Radio - Low Life in High Heels, The Chuff Bus, Dark Hearts of Camden, Premium Blend Radio Show, Punk & Preppy Radio Show, Pennsylvania

Perfect for summer clubbing... or any season. Highly recommended. - MIKE NICHOLLS from Ghostwriter books

Sonic Party Sounds, and the packaging looks as good as the band - MARK TAYLOR from Metal Talk/RecorD Collector Magazine

This is the kind of music that is sure to thrive in inner city suburban surroundings - MUSIC NEWS 2 DAY

Cracking. Catchy stuff - SONIC NEWS

Die Berliner Band il Civetto ist am vorläufigen Ende einer kreativen Reise bei sich selbst angekommen, indem sie sich neu erfunden hat: Auf ihrem dritten Album »Späti del Sol« gelingt der Band mit sehnsuchtsvollen Melodien und mitreißender Gute-Laune-Musik eine neue Pop-Internationale. Fühl- und Erlebbarkeit ist auf »Späti del Sol« der Schlüssel. Die wehmütige Ballade »Barbazan« führt direkt in die Spätsommertage der französischen Pyrenäen, das elegant flirrende »Couscous mit Auberginen« lässt ohne Umwege die Aromen im Kopf explodieren, die durch ein Wechselbad der Gefühle swingende »Viel zu viel« zieht einen aus dem täglichen Hamsterrad direkt auf den Dancefloor. Der Titelsong »Späti del Sol« vertont Fernweh, Sehnsucht und das Gefühl, unterwegs zu sein ebenso wie die positive Energie einer lauen Sommernacht bei Rotwein mit gutem Essen und noch besseren Gesprächen. Kein Zufall: Der Mikrokosmos Späti hat in der Geschichte dieser Band eine zentrale Bedeutung: »Als wir früher in der U-Bahn gespielt haben, war vorher immer Treffpunkt am Späti«, sagt Sänger Leon Keiditsch, »und auch jetzt haben wir uns während der Pandemie mit Vorliebe am Späti versammelt.« Mit dieser von Liebe und Wärme erfüllten Musik haben sich il Civetto nun gewissermaßen einen eigenen Späti gebaut: Es ist ein utopischer Ort, an dem alle willkommen sind und wo der spielerisch-poetische Umgang mit Sprache und Musik den Gästen für einen Moment die Schwere nimmt - und sie sie leicht und beschwingt gen Himmel steigen lässt. Wie Friedenstauben. Da il Civetto ihre gesellschaftlichen und politischen Anliegen ebenso wichtig sind, wie die Musik selbst, sind die neuen Songs auf Deutsch getextet. Durchaus ein künstlerisches Wagnis, das aber voll und ganz aufgegangen ist. il Civetto haben für »Späti del Sol« eine derart hochpoetische, tänzelnde und sehnsuchtsvolle Pop-Sprache entworfen, dass man sich diese Lieder gar nicht mehr anders vorstellen kann. il Civetto sind auf »Späti del Sol« durchgehend »En Route«, also unterwegs, so der Titel eines weiteren, besonders gelungenen Songs, der die Bewegung mit hymnischer Kraft in sich aufgesogen hat, in der die Musiker sich zu großen Teilen der Produktion dieses Albums befanden.Es ist noch nicht so lange her, als nicht Protektionismus und Abschottung, sondern Ideen von einer gerechteren und besseren Welt die Diskurse beherrschten. il Civetto erinnern uns wieder daran - mit unwiderstehlichen Hits, zu denen man auf die Straße rennen, im Regen tanzen, wildfremde Menschen umarmen und im »Späti del Sol« Bier trinken will. Am Sehnsuchtsort »Späti del Sol« werden Visionen von einer gerechteren Welt im Geiste des Pop wahr, deshalb ist diese Musik so gut. Die Reise von il Civetto ist längst noch nicht zu Ende!"Späti del Sol" ist in Zusammenarbeit mit den Produzenten Ralf Christian Mayer (Cro, Clueso, Mark Forster) und Tim Tautorat (AnnenMayKantereit, Faber, Provinz) entstanden und ist ab 20.05.22 als CD & limitierte Vinyl & digital als Stream und im Download erhältlich und ab sofort vorbestellbar. Im Sommer ist die Berliner Band deutschlandweit auf der Späti del Sol Tour & Festivals live erlebbar.

After more than two decades flexing his muscles on the local underground scene and gaining a legendary cult status on his Tenerife home turf, the island’s most famous postman, as he’s affectionately known by his consorts, Tomás de la Rosa aka Postman breaks radio silence to bulldoze his way through the canyons surrounding his hometown of Santa Cruz into an unknown and unsuspecting world. We present thus, Postman’s first ever album of original bangers, micro chopped two steppers and rage induced breakbeat anthems.

Constructed over the course of global confinement, Seeds of Light marks a return to creative activity from the man who regularly delivers your post (its not just a random artist name). Postman aka Tomás de la Rosa has taken his time, compiling sketches and unfinished songs, rummaging through the deep ends of his hardrive, stitching early production sketches with recent compositions, revising, reediting and rebuilding with a more mature and concise attitude, eventually completing, almost unintentionally, the perfect self referential retrospective album. Far from being just a compilation album, Tomás managed to create an explosive document, suspended in time, in which styles are intertwined regardless of fashions and fads – letting go of the ‘modern’ or ‘up to date’ burden - so common these days in electronic music.

It is not an easy album, like many of his previous work it demands extra attention to experience the full crystallization of his complex sound structures. We find ourselves in front of a truly surgically precise work of art whose result comes as a waterproof war machine, refined and incisive, resonating deep with soul and groove.

Postman develops his sound palette throughout the album from very basic sound snippets into a concrete dance world of synthetic sounds eventually creating a parallel reality where J. Dilla could be living in Chemnitz instead of Detroit and releasing records for a label called Raster-Throw. Glitch sampladelics!

Incursions into Grime are also abundant with nods to the ineffable East Man, reunions with his beloved Funkstörung or many other stimulating revisions of lifelong genres and breaks populate this multidimensional sound space, see soul, dancehall, breakbeat, two step and the UK hardcore continuum.

Special mention to the magnificent fluid artwork by the very talented Catalan visual artist Alba de Corral. A still photo from one of her kinetic AI systems programmed directly in code, which matches perfectly the essence of Postman's brutalist alien sound.

Vinyl limited to 200 copies

BT50 sees the return to the fold of XY0815.

Showcasing his ever-expanding palette, Gates Need Inputs Vol. I sees the Weimar based producer stepping away from the dancefloor.
Brighter in mood than previous contributions, the first volume of two, presents XY0815 displaying his typical finesse and restrained flex on electronica and downtempo.

Edition of 300 copies.

HIGHLIGHTS: 1967 descargas album by Peruvian percussionist Coco Lagos y Sus Orates, featuring Alfredo Linares, Charlie Palomares, Otto de Rojas, Mario Allison_ This album was recorded following the success of the descarga sessions released by New York label Alegre Records. It includes a version of Cal Tjader's 'Mamblues' and 'Brava pachanga', an original by the Father of Boogaloo, Joe Cuba, among many other stand-out tracks. Quality official reissue on 180g vinyl after years unavailable. Includes insert with liner notes. Details: 1966 was a prolific year for the MAG record label. The microphones were constantly on at the label's studios, recording timeless hits by Los Demonios de Corocochay, Betico Salas, Cholo Berrocal, Mario Allison, Alfredo Linares, Carlos Muñoz and Los Pacharacos, just to mention the most successful ones. The percussion playing by 29-year-old Peruvian Coco Lagos stands out on a number of these recordings. Coco continued his early career, and he played the conga drums for artists who passed through Lima, accompanying Pérez Prado, Oréfiche and Chano Scotty, among others. In the late 50s, he started working as a regular musician in the recently founded record company MAG, alongside musicians such as Ñiko Estrada, Mario Allison, Lucho Macedo...

Towards The SeaVery Limited new pressing on Orange/White Galaxy vinyl. This is for Indies only. Chelsea Wolfe's sound is best described with broad strokes: elemental, intense, radiant, ancient yet modern, intimate yet expansive, dark and sparkling. Hues of black metal and deep blues inform her ever-evolving electric folk—a warm force that wraps itself around the listener, encouraging uplift, seeking triumph. Her voice similarly haunts and soothes, with words that illuminate life's darker corners in order to reveal the unlikely truth and beauty hidden within. Originally hailing from Northern California, Wolfe's formative years were spent tinkering in her country musician father's home studio, however, she long lacked the confidence to share her work. Then, in 2009, an overseas excursion as part of a nomadic performance troupe ignited her passion for performing and initiated a renewed interest in writing and recording. After performing in cathedrals, basements and old nuclear plants to whoever would listen, she returned home with a new drive. She began toting around an 8-track and recording as the mood hit, eventually editing her findings into a breathtaking debut album, 2010's The Grime & the Glow. Marrying the gentle intimacy of folk, the atmospheric voodoo of death rock, and the bleak, sullen nihilism of black metal, Wolfe's sound effectively cast a genre all her own: a cavernous rumble, marked by stuttering drums, ethereal synths, and a wash of guitar, all very much in the service of one of the most hypnotic, celestial voices in modern music. Described as both healing and harrowing, enchanting and narcotic, the album established Wolfe as a force on the rise. Inspired, Wolfe then relocated to Los Angeles and recorded her second album, 2011's Apokalypsis, which found her in an actual studio with her live band. The songs captured therein maintained the strikingly visceral elements of her debut, further showcase Wolfe’s unique songwriting ability, while adding a serious heaviness of sound that balanced eloquently with her transcendent voice. Its release was subsequently met with critical adoration, and rightly landed on numerous best of 2011 lists.

After the Bend is the second album from Louisville based Flanger Magazine, and the follow up to FM’s 2018 debut, Breslin. Whereas Breslin was the solo creation of Christopher Bush, an album noted for “an astute synthesis of ‘library music’ and solo acoustic guitar,” and “a seamless blend into the uncluttered and airier side of classic 1970’s giallo,” After the Bend is an ensemble affair. An ecosystem, a perfect mutualism bodies forth—of strings, outdoor recordings, electronics, reeds, and percussion—featuring new FM players Anna Krippenstapel (Frekons (Freakwater + Mekons), The Other Years), Jim Marlowe (Equipment Pointed Ankh, Tropical Trash, Sapat), Eric Lanham and Benjamin Zoeller (both from Caboladies). The various combos perform with both a distinguished efficacy and unhurried Sunday drift—charged and beautiful, pulsating and pleasing. The production is subtle and tasteful. Mutating past the old saws of bounded individualism, a strange form of tentacular life accrues, cyborgian-fungral-tangles of the more-than-human variety.

Robert Beatty’s cover art of otherworldly and interconnected river-scape gradients, coupled with song titles like “Reservoir,” “Falls Fountain Removed,” and “Sympathies for the River,” cue and clue the listener toward a river as a singular multitude analogue for the album. Interstitial gaps, clearings and openings give rise and merge into an accumulated flow from the tributaries of spirited improvisational performance, palimpsestic song cycles, and high fidelity studio production. The composite sound-image of After the Bend refuses to put both oars down into any one of the eddies of the folk, sound, chamber, electronic, or jazz idioms, and instead glides along the currents found within the slipstreams between.

Gathering samples, a River Doctor Limnologist inspecting the properties of After the Bend might note the specter of Leroy Jenkin’s free-violin heat-light deepin the water’s thermal stratification. Or mortgage the late-Maestro’s time with Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza to pay down the growing river heat budget. Or take one’s dirty buckets to the banks of the 19th laundromat where Walt Dickerson plays his vibraphone parts from Divine Gemini with dowsing rods. Or excavate the bedrock in the drainage basin, noting skeletal remains of a Shostakovich string quartet attempting to tune up a Kentucky Fiddle’s subsequent influence on the chemical composition of the water. Or consult the historical revisionist reenactment troupe’s episode of Fishing with John (Fahey) in which Codona, The Sea Ensemble and Nuno Canavarro guest host as their fleet of paddle boats churn river water into a regal lager, and all the fish get drunk in their quest for the leaner enamel Hosianna Mantra GPS coordinates of the Fattened Herb.

Bush and Marlowe recorded and produced the album at End of an Ear Studios, located in the Portland neighborhood, in the west end of the city of Louisville, bordering the Ohio River, between Kentucky’s Upper South and the Indiana’s Midwest, during the first year of the global pandemic, amidst the planet’s sixth great extinction event. As good a time to be alive as any other. (by Kris Abplanalp)

Most known for his role as songwriter and lead singer of punk rock band
Pennywise, JIM LINDBERG has been making inspiring, thought-provoking
music since the 1990's
Musically, he is influenced by an array of genres from punk and folk music to old
school country and americana. Lyrically, Jim takes inspiration anywhere from
transcendental philosophers to real life events; seeking always to tell a story or
find the answers to life's big questions.
This acoustic solo project is the first from JIM LINDBERG. Produced and mixed
by Tedd Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Lucero, Dropkick Murphys) it's full of heartfelt
songs, some rousing some sentimental, that are a departure for Jim but will
appeal to diehard Pennywise fans and fans of folky punk singers like Chuck
Regan and Frank Turner

RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. For a group that started over an initial idea to "create open ended music, quickly and haphazardly”, the logistical challenges of creating their second album in the midst of a pandemic, in a city that endured the longest lockdown in the world, created a need to redefine process. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we’ve worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution.” This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos

Futuropaco’s long sold out debut is finally repressed! it’s a wet, enigmatic cocktail of part 1970’s Italian library music, part krautalicious beat-galore and part riff-driven heavy psych. Justin Pinkerton, from Oakland, California, is the one-man army behind the opaque merge of seemingly different forces: from mad fuzz guitar breakdowns à la Morricone at his most intense, to the syncopated drum learnings of Can’s Jaki Liebezeit, Justin weaves a blanket of sound that’s simply loaded with deep vibes

Like a book club - only with albums.A simple, but beautiful concept

MJ McArthy (Zoey Van Goey) asked a small group of his pals to gather at The Laurieston – that mystical voodoo Glasgow boozer…that adored bar that defies all reason and logic – and they would talk about a record, track by track, and see what happens.They didn't know each other. There were theatre people:, Playwrite Douglas Maxwell, Isobel McArthur (actress and writer, the genius behind smash hit Pride and Prejudice Sort Of) and Cathy Forde (acclaimed YA novelist and playwright) and Rhona NicDhughaill who works for Gaelic arts company Theatre Gu Leor, as well as being an old band buddy of MJ's from their student days. Peter Geoghegan, award- winning firebrand political journalist and writer of the wonderful Democracy For Sale was there. And lastly - and slightly freaking them out on that very first night - were two actual Delgados: Emma Pollock and Paul
Savage.

And then…MJ had songs. MJ always has songs. And he started to wonder if this particular group of humans could, as well as talk about an album, make an album? For the musicians I don't suppose that was a particularly weird notion, but for the rest of the band it was quite a leap. However, MJ was adamant…let Album



Club become ALBUM CLUB. The Band!

RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we've worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution." This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos.

Penguin Cafe's A Matter of Life album is 10 years old in 2022 so gets this loving assembled anniversary reissue on clear wax via Erased Tapes. This was their debut album after the band was formed by composer Arthur Jeffes to commemorate his late father's own avant-pop project, Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It has been remastered for this edition and has an all new recording of the lead single 'Harry Piers.' It is a joyous record that is run through with British charm and pastoral feels. Tracks like 'Finland' are beautifully melancholic.

Thanks to this mini-LP format, Interface Palm gets to showcase more of his talent. He explores a wide range of influences and offers an overview of his wide musical palette, from broken beat, to cosmic jazz, hip-hop and house music. A true milestone for Interface Palm, this “Curated Space” mini-LP is the perfect example of artists willing to set new standards by blurring the lines of musical styles.

Welcome to the Broken District !

LNDFK (aka Linda Feki) presents her ground-breaking debut album, "Kuni" on Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings. Undeniably on the rise after her 2019 breakout performance at Primavera Sound, LNDFK has already caught the attention of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine, Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan (among many others) while being championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, and Jamz Supernova & landing spots on tastemaker playlists like Spotify's "Pollen" and "Fresh Finds."

"Kuni" is a spellbinding exploration of dichotomies: Love & Death (Eros & Thanatos), Flower & Fire, Delicacy & Violence, Poetry & Realism, Purification & Destruction. These opposites are reified in the 10-track LPs multifarious and multifaceted sounds, elegantly meandering through a variety of styles and genres, spearheaded by Linda and features the production wizardry of Darrio Bassolino who co-wrote the album.

"Kuni" opens with "Hana-bi," an ambient instrumental piece that sets the tone for the album. Inspired by the Takeshi Kitano 1997 film of the same name – particularly Joe Hisaishi's stunning soundtrack, as well as Kitano's paintings which appear in the film. "Hana-bi" expresses the dialoguing opposites of flowers and fire, the first of many dichotomous representations throughout the album. "Takeshi" acts as an extension and to "Hana-bi," albeit one of opposing sound, with its driving, highly syncopated drums (which reappear throughout "Kuni") – à la Karriem Riggins, Questlove, or Yussef Dayes – frenetic bass line, and jazz chords. Linda's sultry voice is interspersed, initially jumping around in scat fashion, being triggered as if a sample, before her lyrics come in; her vocals are used like an additional instrument, adding to the song's rich texture. "Kuni" truly hits its stride with the next song, "Smoke – a moon or a button" (its title lifted from the 1959 book by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip), which is structured like a jazz standard yet flows into neo-soul territory sonically with those prodigious drums a highlight once again.

LNDFK touches on experimental hip hop in two songs on the record (both of which were released as singles in 2021): "Don't Know I'm Dead or Not (feat. Chester Watson)" – track #4 – and "How Do We Know We're Alive (feat. Pink Siifu)" – track #9. Although they embrace a more hip hop-leaning sound, these songs by no means shy away from the exploratory theme, and feature two of the alt-rap scenes rising stars with Chester Watson and Pink Siifu who offer provocatively impressing verses, combining dense word play with unconventional flows. While these tracks may first appear to be outliers on the album, they are undeniably in tune with "Kuni's" message and sonic palette, acting as testaments to LNDFK's willingness to explore and experiment.

Meanwhile, "Ku" – the third and last single before the album release – furthers the pre-established future soul sound while meandering through nu jazz and left-field electronic. Inspired by the graphic novel and film, "Sin City," and its female assassin protagonist Miho, "Ku" is a musical interpretation of Miho's story, incorporating both her beauty – the first half of the song – and murderous tendencies – the second half – to create a stunning juxtaposition, culminating in an ambient finale that suggests the character's vulnerability and inner peace. The song gracefully bridges the gap between Hiatus Kaiyote-esque songwriting, Dilla's rhythmic syncopation, and Thundercat's instrumental prowess (LNDFK has shared a stage Brainfeeder labelmate Kamasi Washington).

Mixed in throughout "Kuni" are a series of instrumental pieces that function as something akin to an interlude. The aforementioned intro, "Hana-bi," and the album closer "se mi stacco da te, mi strappo tutto:" act as bookends, while "Om" indicates the half-way mark, and "Ktm" sees Jason Lindner add his sound the album. These tracks are the ambient foundation of "Kuni," representing the thematic duality of the work. Clocking in at only 24 minutes, "Kuni" packs an astonishingly diverse array of sounds, styles, and themes, all while showcasing virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess.

Appearing on "Hana-bi" and "Ktm," renowned international artists Asa-Chang and Jason Lindner add an additional perspective to "Kuni": Asa-Chang on "Hana-bi," and Jason Lindner on "Ktm." Asa-Chang - famously of the Japanese avant-garde group Asa-Chang & Junray - provides vocals and percussion to an alternate version of the instrumental opener, while the acclaimed keyboardist Jason Lindner offers his synth expertise on "Ktm." These features highlight the spirit of collaboration found in LNDFK's music, always willing to try out new ways of working.

LNDFK is a singer and songwriter, born of two cultures – an Italian mother and Arab father. She grew up in Naples, away from her father, the Sahara, her homeland and traditions, which has helped nourish the desire to rediscover – through art – an engagement to her roots. Her music melts with jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop influences, filtered through her experiences and sensibility.

Her first EP, "Lust Blue," was composed with the artistic production of Dario Bass and released by Feelin' Music; after that she released several singles that saw international radio support (BBC, NTS, Wordwide FM) and gained a massive audience on digital platforms. Together with her band, she toured around Europe, performing alongside such notable artists as Kamasi Washington and Mndsgn, among others. Most recently she toured Italy, and performed at Primavera Sound Festival 2019 in Barcelona.

"Kuni," is due out on NYC label Bastard Jazz Recordings in February, 2022, while the vinyl LP will follow shortly after.

The stoner rock combo Karma To Burn, also known as K2B, are noted for their uncompromising, mostly instrumental sound. The band was founded in 1994 in subterranean West Virginia and was picked up by Roadrunner Records in 1997. Only short after their signing, their self-titled debut album came out. Their riff-driven, heavily grooving instrumental songs blend almost the entire history of rock music, with the example of the featured cover of Joy Division’s “Twenty Four Hours”.

Karma To Burn is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear & black marbled vinyl and includes an insert.

The Decades Collected compilations are part of the new Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest names of each decade, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of listening to their favourite tunes while uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.

Various Artists - Eighties Collected features original hits like Wham! “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, Duran Duran “Hungry Like A Wolf”, A-HA “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, The Cure “In Between Days”, Pat Benatar “Love Is A Batteflield”, Culture Club “The War Song”, Robert Palmer “Pride”, Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Relax”, Simple Minds “Sanctify Yourself”, ABC “When Smokey Sings”, The Human League “(Keep Feeling) Fascination”, UB40 “If It Happens Again” and many more.

‘Wax Limousine’ is the third solo album from London’s Wesley Gonzalez. Set for release on 18th March via Moshi Moshi Records, the record is the follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed ‘Appalling Human’ and finds the indie stalwart delivering his most personal album to date, via a collection of 12 irresistible pop songs. The announcement arrives alongside the title track, which received its first play from Marc Riley on 6Music and its accompanying video, the second to be revealed from the record following ‘Greater Expectations’, released earlier this year. In support of the release, Gonzalez heads out on tour this November, headlining Electrowerkz on 25th and supporting Young Knives across the country (full dates below).

With its truly eclectic range of musical influences drawing on Gonzalez’s ever developing sonic palette, the album’s uplifting sound juxtaposes its themes, documenting the end of a long-term relationship and the overwhelming experience of dealing with a family member’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. ‘Wax Limousine’ navigates these hurdles with a razor-sharp wit and often brutally perceptive self-awareness, nowhere more so than on the new single. Inspired by both 'Faithless' by Scritti Politti and Aretha Franklin, it is Gonzalez’s version of an 80’s gospel song and, as he explains, written at a crucial point over the last 12 months

“This was written right after the breakup and cancer diagnosis. It was that early stage of a breakup where you can't really understand what went wrong for you or for your ex. There was resentment for the extreme change I had suddenly found myself in, and I was asking what it really was I did wrong. The title Wax Limousine came from old phrases like "as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike". I was trying to express how useless I felt within every situation that had just arrived at my doorstep.”

Wesley Gonzalez first made a name for himself as the leader of Let's Wrestle, whose tuneful and eccentric punk earned critical accolades and a devoted audience with three albums, including 2011’s Steve Albini produced ‘Nursing Home’. Gonzalez wasted little time forging his own path and quickly assembled a live band for his solo work, expanding upon the guitar-driven music of his former band, with an interesting concoction of classic 70’s pop, soul, and indie rock. Gonzalez released his debut solo record ‘Excellent Musician’ in 2017, then the follow up ‘Appalling Human’ in June 2020 through Moshi Moshi Records.

Cologne-based, multi-instrumentalist and creative jazz powerhouse
Gianni Brezzo presents his full-length LP “Tutto Passa,” arriving via
Berlin’s Jakarta Records May 5th.
Gianni Brezzo is the jazz affiliated band / studio project headed by
Cologne-based producer & creative maestro Marvin Horsch, whose diverse musical profile is reflected both in his scene-hopping as well as his creative output. Besides producing cologne bands like Keshavara, Woman and Xul Zolar, Gianni has released a number of EP and LP’s since 2017, culminating most recently with “The Awakening” EP in 2021 on Jakarta Records. While Gianni’s works are usually instrumental only, “The Awakening” featured vocal appearances from Berlin/Tel Aviv based singer / producer J.Lamotta and soul singer Otis Junior from Louisville, Kentucky. Gianni’s tracks have consistently placed on Editorial Lists including Spotify’s “State Of Jazz” and “Café / Croissant”, and most recently was synced in an episode of Gossip Girl for HBO US.

Gianni’s new LP, “Tutto Passa” is a meditation around Marvin’s relationship to Italian culture, accompanied by research into Italian composers of the 60’s / 70’s such as Piero Umiliani, Stelvio Cipriani, Piero Piccioni and Armando Trovajoli to more recent work by Sven Wunder. Sonically rich, the album rides a sonic wave similar to some Matthew Halsall, Surprise Chef, El Michels Affair and BadBadNotGood all rolled into one beautifully luscious work. Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a career-defining work, arriving May 6th, 2022.

The albums 1st single, “Il Sole” will be released Wednesday, March 2nd with the LP pre-order announcement that Friday, March 4th to capitalize on Bandcamp Friday. The track is a perfect sonic voyage that encapsulates the growth of Gianni’s sound and gives a sonic peak into the LP. Subtle, yet lush layers of synths, horns, keys and strong, beat-driven percussion all ebb and flow together, bringing to mind the finest Library Themes of Umiliani, Sven Wunder, Janko Nilovic and others. Visualizer accompaniments for all singles provided by Robert Winter and his DIE OTTOS crew that perfectly captures the sonic mood.

The LP’s 2nd single, “Capture This,” will be released March 30th and is a splash of pure, groovy, jazz-funk. Instantly catchy, the track will have you imagining yourself in a movie that perfectly captures the musical themes: playful flutes, crisp, fluid guitar riffs, heart-pulling strings, all held together by a strong, swingin’ drum groove.

The third single is the stunning, swirling, thematic track “Rising Of My
Mind.” Careful layers of harmonized brass, flutes, percussion ebb & flow, bubbling up to the acoustic surface like sonic ripples effortlessly bursting from Gianni’s auditory palette. Only reaching the tracks full crescendo more than 2 minutes in, “Rising Of My Mind” is on that finest jazz tip, raising Gianni’s musical caliber into the skies.

Focus track is the effortlessly smooth, soulful jazz-funk piece, “Torino.” Certified fresh, the progression gives you that euphoric, elated feeling, like you’re finally arrived at that special place you never knew existed, but were always meant to find.

“Tutto Passa” is a project with a variety of moods ranging from Arthur
Verocai and David Axelrod inspired arrangements to lush, thematic jazz progressions with a swingin’ percussive edge. It’s a timeless release, one that would sit just as well in 1972 as it does in 2022, and one that, as Gianni says:
“…reflects exactly the feeling I had last year when I was in Italy with my own family. As a musician, I was looking for the challenge of a more orchestral approach on this album, which I hoped to achieve with my arsenal from the Cologne jazz scene and the support of musicians from around the world.”
Besides online promotion from the label and artist profiles, the album will further be promoted by external agencies within the US, UK & Italy

JOYFULTALK returns with its third album for Constellation; another vibrantly divergent stylistic take on the analog materiality and sensibility of electronic composer-producer Jay Crocker, whose previous two records forged trance-inducing polyrhythmic intricacy, each from a distinct angle and sound palette, each enlisting a single instrumental collaborator. Familiar Science rallies contributions from a larger cast of musicians into a looser, cosmic recombinant combo_still shot through with JOYFULTALK's singular mixing desk kinetics, but this time deep-diving into gnarled and twisted, spliced and diced out-jazz. Crocker draws inspiration from 1980s M-Base music and Ornette Coleman's harmolodic funk period, while his own prior history as an improv guitarist also resurfaces for the first time in many years_an element in this polyvalent artist's chemistry set that hasn't appeared prominently in his own music for over a decade. Familiar Science finds Crocker folding time (as lockdown will do), immersed in his present-day kaleidoscope of solitary art and music practices in rural Nova Scotia, while channeling his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Building outwards from roiling resampled acoustic drums, Crocker extracted additional sonic and rhythmic textures, then formed the head of each song using dusted-off archival recordings and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing. Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Alvvays) provided improvised drum tracks to be chopped and harvested; Nova Scotia-based Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) laid down resplendent excursions on saxophone and flute; Crocker's own dexterous guitar appears on several cuts. Familiar Science also poignantly features samples from live recordings by the late Calgary saxophonisticonoclast Dan Meichel, catalysing some of the album's heaviest contortions. Crocker weaves all these raw materials into exuberant compositions that blur the line between sizzling corporeal combo and sampledelic futurist jamz, variously conjuring (leftfield) Flying Lotus, (later) Tortoise, BADBADNOTGOOD and Squarepusher's Music Is Rotted One Note. The rubbery hyper-compression of boom-bap opener "Body Stone" initiates the séance, and the album offers a panoply of skittering grooves and soaring melodic pathways thereafter, through quags of heady jazz alternately streaked with dayglo delirium and other more vaporous states of revelry. Crocker's own wordless stacked vocals are the giddy secret sauce on several cuts, and his lead guitar work (in kinship with the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson or Jeff Parker) features on "Take It To The Grave", "Stop Freaking Out!" and the album's title track. More honeyed passages on songs like "Blissed For A Minute" and "Ballad In 9" center around Miller's bouyant alto sax and flute. Familiar Science is a rousing feast of noise-tinged polychrome electronic avant-jazz: richly harmolodic compositions teeming with intersecting textures and turbulences; exploratory, exhilarated and indeed joyful.

Before Madvillain, before Yesterday’s New Quintet and before Quasimoto or any other of his several alter egos, Madlib perfected his craft as an MC/producer in the Lootpack. Along with DJ Romes, and fellow rhymer Wildchild, they released the dusty full-length, Soundpieces: Da Antidote back in 1999, that laid down the foundation for the unique and dusty sound now associated with Madlib. The loose, freeform recordings on this collection are circa 1996 when the group was managed by Madlib’s father, and they show the now-renowned maverick producer in comparatively restrained form. Madlib’s scope and imagination was clearly fixated on East coast jazzy hip-hop production from the early ’90s, laying down soundscapes for his hungry crew including the likes of Kazi, Declaime and Medaphoar, who have all become well known underground rap vets. Madlib’s own strong mic presence is noticeable given his now only-on-rare-occasion rhyming, but it’s his production that is the most fascinating element here. While a resolutely hip-hop project, the burgeoning jazzy flourishes and Madlib’s heavily accomplished ear for sound makes the record an important starting point for adherents of his more recent exploratory work.

Painting is a new Berlin-based band featuring former Soft Grid members Theresa Stroetges and Christian Hohenbild as well as saxophonist Sophia Trollmann. Drawing on a broad palette ranging from experimental rock, electronic avant-garde sounds, unconventional pop and jazz, their debut album "Painting Is Dead" is a veritable kaleidoscope of sounds that ties in with a virtual room installation by Paula Reissig and a hybrid live show.

Over 25 years trash metal band Annihilator has brought us nothing but fast, technical and energetic trash music. Led by axeman Jeff Waters, these Canadian musicians have acquired the status of trash metal legends and are the highest-selling Canadian trash metal group in history, having sold more than three million albums worldwide.

Since their formation in 1984, Annihilator has released 17 studio albums and several live albums. Their sophomore album Never, Neverland was released in 1990 by label Roadrunner. It is the only album of Annihilator where Coburn Pharr recorded the vocals and features their hit “The Fun Palace”.

◾Eddie Vedder’s second studio album, including 16 original songs & new arrangements of classic standards. Featuring a number of songs that Vedder penned and first played live, Ukulele Songsalso includes a ukulele version of Pearl Jam’s 2002 track “Can’t Keep” and guest vocalists on two tracks: Glen Hansard on “Sleepless Nights” and Cat Power on “Tonight You Belong To Me.” Available on 180g black vinyl.

The Altons return with two awe-inspiring sides of soulful excellence. Bryan Ponce's delicate, plaintive vocal, this time accompanied by the sweet, rich timbre of Adriana Flores make for two earnest duets that exude palpable chemistry. On "Tangled Up" the pair sing of a love affair that has run its course but (against their better judgement) lingers in the form of late night entanglements and dream-induced longing - imprisoning the lovers on a carousel of heartache and despair. "Soon Enough" is a gorgeously sparse ballad rife with melancholic guitar, percolating percussion and a groove that will have you swaying side to side with the one you love.

Provogue / Mascot Label Group have three special vinyl reissues of
blues-titan Joe Bonamassa's back catalogue
'You & Me', 'The Ballad of John Henry' and 'Live from the Royal Albert Hall'.
His fifth studio album, originally released in 2006, 'You & Me' has been
remastered from single to 180g heavyweight 2-LP transparent orange vinyl - on
coloured vinyl for the first time. When released it hit the #1 spot on the Billboard
Blues chart and featured a crack band of Carmine Rojas (Bass), Jason Bonham
(Drums), Rick Melick (Piano/Organ) and Jeff Bova (Orchestration). At the time it
was declared his best work to date by Allmusic and features his takes on
Led Zeppelin's "Tea for One," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Your Funeral and My Trial"
and Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere" as well as Bonamassa originals
including "Bridge to Better Days" and "Asking Around for You."
With 25 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises,
he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a
toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can
experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.

'You & Me', 'The Ballad of John Henry' and 'Live from the Royal Albert Hall'.
The 2009 fan favourite and iconic 'The Ballad of John Henry' will be also available
on coloured vinyl for the first time, has been remastered on 180g heavyweight
2LP brown vinyl and includes a bonus track – B.B. King's "Chains and Things."
Bonamassa's seventh studio album saw him steamroll into another US Billboard
Blues #1 as well as it making waves across the charts around Europe. Well on his
way to becoming a superstar, several Bonamassa originals adorn the album as
well as covers of Tom Waits, Sam Brown and Ike & Tina Turner, highlighting the
sheer scope of his palette.
With 25 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises,
he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a
toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can
experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.

Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.

The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”.

In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity.

But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection.

“La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development.

The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff.

New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end.

However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record.

It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.

This sprawling collection by Belgian loner blues savant Bram Devens aka Ignatz encapsulates the mystery, murk, and melancholy of his uncanny craft at its most windswept and wayward. Originally issued via Goaty Tapes in September of 2015, this long-anticipated vinyl edition expands the saga with an additional 17 minutes of archival material. Deven’s palette remains constant throughout: feathery fingerpicking, modal loops, and intuitive six-string navigations interspersed with candlelit passages of mournful voice, alternately whispered, mumbled, moaned. His is an aesthetic of embers and resin, cracked masks and distant lights, of what’s left behind and what lingers on.

I Live In A Utopia was recorded following a relocation from his longtime base of Brussels to Landen, with a second child due soon: “I remember the weather being nice and having just bought a hammock.” The change of scenery seeded a promise of slower days and lighter times – no utopia perhaps, but a sense of faint hope glowing on the horizon. The songs slide between loose acoustic spirituals and smoky basement ragas, late afternoon haze and midnight moons, a seesawing restlessness reflected in the titles (“I Have Found True Love,” “Time Does Not Bring Relief,” “We Used To Smoke Inside”). The fidelity is grainy but vivid, refracted by tape warp and Flemish dust.

As always, Deven’s playing is deceptively elegant, raw but precise, attuned to resonance, radiance, and negative space. Echoes of Fahey and Jandek reverberate in certain moments but ultimately the world Ignatz maps is one incomparably his own. A landscape both doomed and dawning, weary but undefeated, tracing outlines of lengthening shadows. “I walk in the sunshine,” he sings, uneasily. This is music of a rare inner wilderness, poised at cryptic crossroads, devoted to its ghosts. I Live In A Utopia stands as an apex work by one of the underground’s most veiled and visionary talents.

Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Zully Adler. In co-production with House Rules & released in an edition of 500.

T. Gowdy has kept up a productive albeit mostly virtual pace since the release of Therapy With Colour (his third full-length album and first for Constellation) which dropped just as things were locking down back in spring 2020: performances at numerous festivals including MUTEK Montréal, Node Festival and NEW NOW; audiovisual pieces exhibited at various European galleries and events; a track and video for Constellation's Corona Borealis Longplay Singles Series; sound design for the documentary Atalaya by filmmaker Emma Roufs. Gowdy now returns with Miracles, his second full-length for Constellation, which draws on source materials originally performed in 2018 for an unreleased audio/visual project based around surveillance footage_a precursor to videocapped, monitor-based horizons that soon took on new meanings. Re-immersing himself in those recordings, Gowdy disassembles and deploys them as raw source material for new experiments with vactrols, noise gates and analog-to-digital triggering and aliasing, the original recordings juxtaposed anew amidst their successive textural and rhythmic treatments. Gowdy keeps this re-composition process stripped down, elemental and purposive, guided by an ascetic Aufhebung: synthesis as sublation_subjecting a temporal material/theme to analysis and transformation, reintegrating to form a whole that overcomes what it preserves without erasure, reshaping and intrinsically carrying its origins forward. Where Therapy With Colour was strictly and rigorously a set of stereo live performances, Miracles fuses iterative_though still spartan_layers of performance. "Therapy With Colour was about healing through self-hypnosis; Miracles is about forging a future with memory through subjection to trigger mechanisms" notes Gowdy. The result is a captivating collection of minimal IDM and oscillated electronics from the Montréal/Berlin producer, working primarily in a 120-140 BPM zone of tonal percussion and corrugated pulse. Gowdy's sensibility and sound palette gets deeper and dirtier, summoning new pathways of alluvial flicker and abraded euphoria. As the album progresses, low-pass gate vactrols coalesce into a clear and vital theme, conveying immanence through woody timbres at times reminiscent of the Shinrin-yoku aesthetic (Japanese `forest bathing'), though always with a grainy transcendence rather than invoking any clean pure sheen. Gowdy consistently heats and heightens the presence of each component in the mix, balancing different elements in democratic compression/distortion, attaining an unornamental and earnest form of mantric-industrial majesty. Miracles is live, corporeal, activated electronic music of the highest caliber, deployed with monastic and meditative focus.

Anfisa Letyago has established herself as one of techno's key players. An intrepid selector with a positive attitude, and an infectious smile, the Napoli based starlet has been making seismic waves within the industry for several years. Her own imprint - N:S:DA has been a home for her own dark-brooding style of techno, but it welcomes a brand new project to kick off 2022, with the first of 3 remix packs featuring a host of very special artists and artwork designed exclusively by Sergio Fermariello.

DJ Rush, a master of hard techno and wicked percussive elements, he's committed himself to the art of rhythm and drums. A Chi-town hero whose music transcends continental boundaries now takes his hand to "Rising Sun". Staunch and unrelenting, the barrage of bass drums keeps momentum at a hauntingly steady pace through the entirety of the track. A true drum-machine wizard who said "It was a pleasure to put my stamp on Anfisa's release. I felt her vibe and wanted to keep the traditional feel to the song but give it that Rush bump".

Adiel has graced the stages of some of the industry's most accredited venues, Panorama Bar, Dekmantel, DC10 and Concrete. She continues to bring her unique take on techno and doesn't disappoint with her kaleidoscopic iteration of "Orizzonte". Renowned for her ability to manipulate crowds with her mind-bending DJ sets and mosaic-like track selection, Adiel twists the original mix into a living techno organism of sorts, evolving and shifting through a deep palette of atmospheric sounds and vocal cuts. "It was a lot of fun to remix 'Orizzonte', it's maybe one of my best remixes and I am really happy about it" - adds Adiel.

Boston 168 leads us deep into an acid laboratory for this reinterpretation of "Gravity", masters of sound design and reformation of classic drum machines like the Roland 909, 808 and 707, the psychedelic and twisting nature of this Italian duo's tracks is unmatched. Currently residing in one of techno's capital party cities - Tbilisi, the pair hold down a residency at the legendary Khidi. "Gravity is the track that inspired us the most with its deep vocal, so we merged this with our cosmic sound" add the duo.

Very few producers have rode the pinnacles of techno as it unfolds through the decades, Chris Liebing is one such figurehead. Revered for his energetic, seize-the-moment style of DJing and music production Liebing is forever finding new ways to innovate within the booth. "Remixing 'Not There' was a huge pleasure, and the production process was very organic. I tried to take it in a little less melodic direction by just hinting it in the break". Says Chris Liebing.

This Germanic trailblazer continues to ignite dancefloors internationally between running his label CLR and juggling family life. Liebing steps up to the plate with his own take on "Not There" to conclude the pack. Instantly drawing your attention with his trademark grit laden kick drums and sweeping dubbed-out vocal shots, along with a hypnotic and body-jolting start to a literal Pandora's box of remix material.

"Someone like Anfisa, with such a high spirit and a smile that lights up any room deserves to have that same representation to her music. Good music will always put a smile on your face" adds DJ Rush.

Closing out another breakthrough year, Anfisa Letyago has established herself as one of techno's most talked about names. An intrepid selector with a positive attitude regarding all things art and dancefloor related, the Russian born starlet has been making seismic waves within the industry for a number of years. Past releases have been featured on revered labels such as Carl Cox's Intec, Nervous Records, Hotflush and Rekids. Letyago returns now with a brand new project primed and ready for her own imprint - N:S:DA. Originally a celebration of her own dark-brooding style of techno, the label has entered a metamorphosis of sorts, welcoming in a host of established producers to remix the labels first releases.

The unapologetically raw house sound of DJ Seinfeld opens up the third and final remix EP, putting his own spin on Letyago's deep cut 'Insidia'. Cavernous synthlines occupy the track's main body, reminiscent of late seventies golden-era Chicago house. The remix is laced with hard hitting percussion and bubbling sound fx, a supercharged production primed for widespread club usage. Seinfeld welcomes us into the project with his trademark, rough and gloriously danceable sound palette.

Letyago follows suit by revisiting 'Nisida', reshaping the track into an electro-acid workout adorned with sharply tuned drums and heavily-treated shimmering vocals. The euphoria-inducing breakdown at the center point of the arrangement unfolds weightlessly, building into an energetic barrage of low-end frequencies. Letyago's ability to raise and release tensions within a track is truly exceptional, a technique she has perfected over several years of DJing, witnessing at first hand the importance of building up to moments of high intensity on the dancefloor for maximum impact.

Drum and bass royalty, Calibre offers his dark and brooding interpretation of 'Don't Hide'. The original track has been wickedly morphed into an after-dark roller fit for extensive basement usage. Commanding and minimal, Calibre's remix has been executed with devastating precision, perfectly balanced space-age pads glide seamlessly across the disjointed rattle of breakbeats and white-noise imbued hi-hats. A painter, fine artist, multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer, this multifaceted Belfast producer never ceases to disappoint.

Closet Yi concludes the compilation with a slow burning techno metamorphosis of Letyago's 'Listen'. Subterranean and primal, the track unfurls from its ambient beginnings into a low-end focused four-to-the-floor rhythm steeped in misty reverb and distant chords. Based in Seoul, South Korea, Yi has played at some of the most respected underground clubs in the capital, including Cakeshop, Faust, Pistil, Contra and more. A welcome addition to the remix project and a seductive end to this shadowy collection of tracks.

Prolific London producer Lxury returns to the Lost Palms catalogue, this time with his second-ever solo long play - a honey-dipped journey through the rainbow colours of house music and its adjacent styles.

Living up to his name, no room is spared in Lxury's careful curation of full-bodied soundscapes which make for a truly immersive listening experience. Emotion-laden melodies and glistening pads grant permission for shameless self indulgence, whilst flickers of cooler, harsher tones add dynamism and depth. At times, this sounds like anthemic melodies, reverberating claps and sunshine-doused pads ("Motion" and "YT Storm"); at others, like mournful female vocals which are chopped and looped beneath a shuffling drum pattern ("Get Down On"). Elsewhere, highly-processed flutes and video-game-esque samples transport you to a neon speedway ("Ninja H2R Flyby") before industrial-sounding textures and down-tempo rhythms ease things to a blissful close ("Ride"). No matter where it is that Vivid Night Experience takes you, playfulness and warmth are guaranteed: two descriptors which have become synonyms with the Lxury's musical output.

Vivid Night Experience LP drops 29th April via Lost Palms